“Sal, at your service,” he said, making himself visible as he leaped from the top of a tree in front of me. However, his voice had come from behind me earlier. Either this was one of his twisted card magic tricks, or his camouflage buddy was here with him using her distort ability.
“Where the hell is she?”
“Somewhere far away, where she can’t meddle in anyone’s affairs with that pesky weapon forging ability of hers,” he said as he brushed his jacket off. Then he looked up his eyebrows at me with a smirk on his face, the prick fanning three cards under his chin. “I think we don’t have to overexert ourselves here. Super Strength, Physical Invulnerability, Mental Immunity, Flame Manipulation, and Thermoception. I have just the card that will do the trick.”
I loaded my meta, my flames setting my fists ablaze. Sal said a snarky remark about being grossly unprepared, and how our team should be grateful to be in fourth place. I lunged at him so I could shut that smart mouth of his, but instead of charging at Sal, I ran right into a tree.
Sal burst out in laughter as he pulled out the middle card from his hand and taunted, “Like I said, grossly unprepared. So how about all three of you do us a favor and stay out of the way?” He threw the card down as soon as Jane fucked me over with her distort ability. Once the card enlarged on the ground, it was over. There was no breaking out of it—the only thing I could do was anticipate its properties. And judging by the picture of the sorry sap locked in chains, I assumed that was what Sal had in store for me, too.
My knees dropped on the ground, pulled by an invisible force of magic. My fists chased down my knees, and suddenly, these huge metal cuffs swung around my wrists. They were linked to chains coming from the face of the card still underneath me, Sal walking over to me with a smug grin on his cold face. “We have just about seven minutes left on the clock. I hope you savor that point, Nero. Because it’s the last one you’re going to score in the finals.”
“You son of a—”
“With you bolted down, Reina missing in space, and Naomi out somewhere singing her last song, I’d say it’s about time to throw in the towel.”
Jane appeared at the edge of the top of the card, turning off her meta ability in sections of her body. The only parts on here that were visible were her head, feet, and hands.
She simply stood there and stared at me for a few seconds, that face of hers reminding me of Naomi’s. Except, her indifference had an aftertaste of curiosity, and I couldn’t tell if she was wondering how me and my team managed to get this far, or if she was wondering how someone like me was gifted with five different powers.
“Jane, time to go,” Sal fetched her, and they both left the side road.
“Crap, this is just perfect,” I grunted under my breath, yanking at the cuffs and chains. “How the hell am I going to get out of here?” I turned over my shoulder and saw the other card with the worm hole drawn on it, the gears in my head starting to turn.
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I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. Getting angry wouldn’t help me break free. I had to think strategically. There were still 7 minutes left in the match, more than enough time for a comeback.
“Sal’s meta magic cards…” I said to myself. “Just like any gift, it has a source. His soul extension, measured by stamina. I remember seeing somewhere that his meta has a range limit, but I can’t remember if that range has a direct impact on how strong his cards’ properties were.” I looked down at the giant cuffs on my wrists and curled my hands up into balls. Sal planned on keeping me tied up for the entire tournament, but I swore to my team and to my family that I was going to give this final round my all.
Yanking at them had already proven to be unsuccessful. So I concentrated my meta and increased the heat of my flames. I directed the energy to the metal around my wrists and tugged my arms. I tugged and strained against the cuffs, feeling the metal heat up as my flames intensified. The cuffs started to glow red, then orange, as the metal softened. With one final pull, I ripped my hands free, the cuffs clattering to the ground. The crowd gasped in surprise, but the commentators didn’t say a thing.
They didn’t comment because they didn’t want to give me away. Which confirmed that Sal didn’t know that I was free.
I flexed my fingers, my flames swirling around me. The pull from his card’s magic wasn’t as strong as it was before, and I was able to peel away from it. Now to find a way to get Reina free, and Sal was my target.
Sal wanted to play dirty? Well two could play at that game.
Moving like a ghost in the fog, I trailed them. My goal was to free Reina, and Sal was going to give me what I wanted. I turned my thermo mapper on to keep Jane in my sights, and then just as Sal and Jane were going to hop through a teleporter magic card, I made my move.
I snuck up on Jane and punched her at the center of her back. The girl was weak, 100 HP weak, and with a full strength punch from me, it was an easy lights out. By the time Sal turned around to hear what that noise was, my flame dragon had already been summoned, its jowls wrapped nicely around Sal’s body. I brought the asshole back to where he left us, my dragon dropping him off in his very own trap.
As I’d hoped, the cuffs snapped around his wrists just as they did mine.
“I had to refresh my memory,” I said. “All of those blogs your fans had up about how cool your powers were. It really helped me understand what I was up against.”
“You release me this instant!”
“I will, once you free Reina.”
He laughed. “And why would I do that? Any time now, Belhem will be here. All it takes is one titan transformation and he gets the best aerial view anyone could ask for. And once he scopes me out, it’s game over.”
“Hmhm, hmhm. Or, a second option, I beat the crap out of you and wish you freed Reina?”
“I’m not afraid of you!” he hissed. “You’re just a low-ranked hunter who got lucky enough to make it to the last round! Do you seriously think you can stand up against a titan shifter like Belhem? Or a master distortionist like Jane? Or a sorcerer like me?! You’re in for a rude awakening, pal, when you realize that this is as good as it gets for you!” Sal was getting cocky. He was at my feet, and yet, he continued his monologuing. But I didn’t have time to hear any of that. I snapped my finger and my beast roared, instantly shutting him up.
Sal gazed at me defiantly, but I could see the hesitation in his eyes. He knew I wasn’t bluffing, and judging by his temperament, he wasn’t the type to jump into the fray. Sal was more of a stand in the sidelines and let my tank do all of the heavy work kinda’ guy. He looked fragile and didn’t want to experience pain, but I wasn’t shy about letting him get his servings fresh from the kitchen. “Last chance,” I said. “Release Reina, now or later in the White Box. Your choice. You saw what I did to Jane, didn’t you? I’m sure she’s going to feel that in the morning. So how about it, Tarot Trick Tarzan?”