“How do you use cards? It all depends on how you live. A tailor will know of sowing, stitching and maybe some commerce. A fisherman will know how to get his bounty from the water.

Living in war teaches you how to survive.”

~Knight Gadfly

A black wolf bigger than a semi-trailer truck lunged at Devin from a blindspot. He only noticed the faintest movements before he saw the jaws of death—

—An arcanist donning a suit of shiny armor tackled the giant, black wolf to the ground. They tussled in the dirt for no less than ten seconds until the arcanist gained the upper hand with a grip from behind. He crushed its gut in a chokehold so powerful that a snap rang over the din of combat, folding the wolf in two like a piece of trash.

Devin conjured a vault portal to stash the Spear of Fear while pulling out another item. He pushed his resources into the red toy in his hands, throwing the imbued Ball at the encroaching wave. The red ball smashed through various bodies with its immense magical density, multiplying again and again to effectively create a rampart of bodies within seconds.

It won’t stop them for long, but it was enough time for the two to get back on their feet and get their bearings. Walters gave Dev a nod as he directed the balls to drive the monsters back with his arcanium before jumping back into action.

You wouldn’t think he could jump so far wearing so much metal. Devin shook his head at the bizarre sight, refocusing on the horde of monsters around him.

The waves consisted of giant, mutated versions of local fauna. Wolves, lizards, birds, rats, squirrels, ants. Devin even saw more than a couple of humongous black bears thrown into the mix. He kept his eyes on their towering frames for no longer than a couple moments, but even then he was punished by the beasts nipping at his heels.

The monsters attacked him relentlessly from every angle, crawling over the mound of bodies to surround him. They clawed and pushed at his front while trying to maul his back. Rodents the size of cats tripped him up while gnawing through his boots; birds bigger than four men put together dropped down to smash their talons into his head, especially aiming for the face.

Devin made sure to go above and beyond in his vengeance against them in particular, plucking every bird from the air that dared to get close enough. He didn’t even need Rage to do it, his substitution with Explosive Strength and Last Stand gave him more than enough speed and strength to catch his berserk enemies.

Last Stand (Uncommon)

Compounded Trap/Dynamic

On your last legs, you will stand tall

and fight with your all

1st Circle—Based on POW stored over time

Passively increases the quality of POW

Synergy Detected!

Enduring Power

(Last Stand)(Explosive Strength)

Stamina is twice as efficient

He was sure his wrath was helping him as well, allowing him to not only retain control of his body despite its new explosively strong nature, but also channel that power to greater heights.

Few of the beasts could get past his resilience, and any cuts were promptly healed by his regeneration, but the prolonged battle was quickly getting to him. The nasty cuts and bits stacked up, healing slower as more piled up one after another no matter how many Balls he threw into the horde nor how many bodies he crushed or ripped apart.

No matter how much life and stamina Collect Potential gathered, Devin was still slowing down.

A giant obese rat with a particularly grating field pushed its brethren aside, barreling straight into Devin’s legs. Preoccupied with the annoying birds in the sky and being surrounded by field-generating monsters, he failed to notice it until tackled him into the blood-caked dirt.

The elite rat punched through his flesh with its long, dirty fangs, piercing all the way to the bone. Devin screamed. Last Stand activated, at the cost of his circle. His power surged, compounded by Explosive Strength, allowing him to kick the fat bastard off of him, but it was too late.

Sensing blood in the water, the beasts around Devin were swept into a greater frenzy, converging on the arcanist like sharks in a bloodbath. They dug through his skin, ripped into his flesh—savoring the blood that poured over their fur, feathers, and scales. Devin's screams turned into wails. His mind stopped thinking.

Blue light flashed through the darkness of crowded bodies; the beasts that clamored over Devin were suddenly pushed away as a red, opaque boar was conjured into existence. Its summoner was on the verge of unconsciousness, carried in the crimson currents of wrath sweeping through the enormous boar’s body.

Superhot steam blew out of the lifelike conjuration’s nose, melting any beasts unfortunate or stupid enough to be directly underneath it. It roared, carelessly stomping on the horde of monsters as it carried its master to the nearest group of arcanists, who were also struggling against the army of beasts.

The conjured boar squashed an untold amount of monsters between its hooves and tusks before it breached the line of monsters and strolled toward the tense group of arcanists. It spit Devin out of its body.

Then unexpectedly, the conjuration n did something it had never done before. It turned around, digging its hooves into the ground and tilting its tusks towards the horde of beasts just as Big Bertha did to him before charging again.

Devin blinked his eyes. What am I watching? He asked himself, watching his conjuration ram through the mass of bodies, keeping the majority of the horde back. He mentally pulled up the card description as the group of defenders ran up to him, changing for any changes. Yet, there was nothing except for its usual class and flavor text. The card did seem to have a better connection with him though, despite being summoned by Dewey.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

A golden light swept over him, healing the wounds his regeneration and resilience failed to keep up with. He groaned in relief, feeling the hole in his leg close.

The peace didn’t last more than a second.

The Bainbridge Defenders, the group he had met earlier, were positioned behind a literal wall of bodies, letting the mages on the wall rain hellfire, icicles, and every other magical projectile they had onto the monsters further out. Their bombardment tore the beasts apart, dividing the beasts into manageable groups the Defenders fought one at a time.

Maybe I should’ve listened to the briefs.

“You should’ve listened to the briefs, you dimwit!” Peter yelled over the magic barrage, using a golden staff to heal himself.

Devin spat a wad of blood from his mouth, giving the British man a bloody smile. “Sorry, I wasn’t here for it. I had other stuff going on.”

“Oh my word, more important than not dying?!”

“If I get a second date, I’ll let you know!” Devin joked, testing his healed muscles.

Peter’s eyes went wide with surprise, staring at Devin up and down, letting out a boisterous laugh once he found what he was looking for. He slapped his blood-drenched back, “That’s the spirit! Stick with me, and I’ll make sure to send you back to your lady, kid.”

Devin nearly refused the offer on principle, yet he paused. The beasts constantly threw themselves at the defenders, uncaring of the blood they shed or even their lives. They did whatever they could—even diving straight onto a spear—all for a drop of blood.

He hesitated to throw himself back into that for a third time; his back dripped in a nervous sweat just thinking about it. How the hell have we been winning against THIS?

“Hey, wait up!” Devin yelled at Peter, who was jogging back to the frontline.

The tide of beasts surged as Devin’s boar faded from existence. He ran up to the wall of bodies, manifesting his Spear of Fear. The massive field of dread made the defenders flinch, but it made the monsters cringe for the first time. It gave the fighters a chance to regroup and press the advantage.

He wielded his ebony spear with a clumsy skill, but that changed by the moment. With [subjugate] blanketing the artifact, his awareness flowed over the weapon, allowing him to use it just as he would his own limbs.

Despite being longer than he was tall, Devin had no problem adjusting to the length, waving it over his allies’ heads to smash monsters. He weaved between limbs and bodies to score fatal stabs on the monsters that dragged the defenders into prolonged fights.

They fought for what felt like hours. The defenders pushed the beasts back until their numbers dwindled to a trickle.

When someone offered to switch out with him to let him rest, Devin gladly took it, stabbing his spear into the ground. Even though it was in passive mode and wasn’t taking any circles to use, he still fed it a thread of arcanium to maintain the aura of fear. The hesitation and inaccuracy it introduced was very valuable to the defenders.

Even though he really didn’t need a break—with Collect Potential refilling his stamina and arcanium—he took it anyway. Combat showed him how he could make his combat deck better. Devin sat with his back to the moat-like the rest of the resting arcanists; he sank into his deckspace as fast as he could, rearranging his decks one more time.

Main Deck: Dewey, Boar’s Charge, Rage

Side Deck: Explosive Strength, Collect Potential

Devin floated a distance away from his deckspace, giving him something similar to a bird’s eye view. He admired the beautiful microcosm, especially concentrating on the star that represented the cards in his decks. Their forms were more card-like and concentrated than they ever were before.

Boar’s Charge was a must have in a chaotic battlefield like this, and for that same reason he kept Collect Potential as well. It gave him incredible staying power, saving him multiple times over and over again. It highlighted the gap between getting torn to pieces within minutes and regenerating for as long as he could sustain the card with his mental endurance.

Incredibly painful, but it was better than being dead.

He re-equipped Rage, unable to get a proper feel for Last Stand’s timing to use it properly. Although he sighed in relief, glad to have the card back in his deck, Devin couldn’t forget how it clouded his mind and judgment—he needed both.

As it was right now, Devin was having a hard time just staying alive.

“You alright, bloke?” Peter stumbled beside him, looking way more exhausted than he did at the beginning of the night.

He cracked his eyes open. “Okay as anyone can be, I guess.” Devin shrugged.

“Yeah, tonight is just horrible. Compared to yesterday, this is all butterflies and dandelions.” Peter said, popping a squat next to him. He looked around before pulling a leather-bound flask from his jacket and taking a long swig.

The British man sucked in a breath, wordlessly passing the flask to him. Devin looked at it for a moment before he gave in and followed Peter’s lead. Only to promptly regret it; his taste buds reeled from the influx of whiskey. He gulped, the liquid fire burning all the way down where it sat in his stomach like lead.

Peter slapped Devin in the back again. “That’ll put some hair on your chest, aye?”

“That tastes worse than the paint thinner Flannigan serves.” Devin let his tongue hang out of his mouth, rather tasting the blood-reeking air than the poison Peter was handing out.

“That old man is giving out puss-crap. This is the real deal.” He took another swig before putting it back into his pocket. “Everyone treating you okay?”

“Fine enough for people who are also fighting for their lives.” Devin shrugged once more. “I’m glad that you invited me back into your group. Fighting against a mob of monsters…is more than a little terrifying.”

“Yeah, it is pretty dodgy out here.” Peter remarked as he watched his teammates put down the rest of the monsters. They gathered as many shards as they could, upgrading their cards and weapons in preparation of the next wave. “But you do what you can.” He left Devin with that, smacking his knees to get up and give some more healing to the injured defenders.

Devin admired people who could look at the world so simply. The world hadn’t been so black and white for him since he was a kid.

Maybe I’m looking at this all wrong. He thought to himself, watching the leader of the Bainbridge Defenders in the distance, confronting his third elite monster—a bobcat that seemed more like a tiger than a feral cat. There’s no point in running away by myself. I need people, and a lotta people can use a person like me.

He clasped his hands into fists, feeling the superhuman muscles grow taunt. I’ll fight for others, if only to live for myself.

Walters allowed the mutated bobcat to tire itself out from clawing against his full suit of armor. He stood there, waiting until the beast got just close enough, and grappled the bobcat to the ground. It was almost funny looking until the man in the suit tore an entire leg from the monster's socket.

“I should avoid getting on his nerves.” Devin whispered to himself.

He was about to look away when he noticed a row of monsters at the edge of the original town limit that definitely hadn’t been there before. He sprung to his feet, weaving between the crowded area to jump for his spear.

The town grew quiet as the soldiers and other defenders saw the next wave form out of the darkness. A palpable dread that had nothing to do with Devin’s spear settled over Bainbridge.

They stood in the shadows, staring creepily as even more beasts materialized from the shadows behind them. Worse than that were the honest-to-God goblins, green creatures the size of children, chittering and whopping with mouths that stretched from ear to ear, filled with sharp, black teeth. They manifested on the beasts as if they were nothing more than mounts, armed to the teeth in gnarly, yellowed bone weapons and armor covered in sharp points, blades, and blood.

No one on either side moved; the townsfolk were paralyzed from spine-chilling terror while the monsters writhed in the darkness barely contained by an invisible leash.

Several figures at least three times bigger than the other monsters rose behind the horde, each containing a field so heavy, so potent that Devin’s brain stuttered with a sudden headache from just perceiving them.

More than ten such elites and bosses loomed behind the army of monsters, appearing from out of the shadows, which was punctuated by the emergence of the most powerful monster he ever laid eyes on. A crimson goblin taller than any man rose from the darkness at the forefront of the monster army, continuing to rise into the air as it was superseded by his mount—a mutated mountain lion bigger than a freaking bus.

The combined field of the two lashed out like a gale, sweeping over the entire town to distribute its terrible weight. Devin’s headache intensified—his chest was squeezed until the air in his lungs was stolen by the gravity conjured by the pair of elite bosses. The horde of monsters raised their heads as one to howl, roar, click, scream; using whatever noise they could to imbue fear into the hearts of their enemies.