Clyde’s eyes widened then shook his head. Her first impressions told the young man a lot. Still, he figured he’d at least humor the woman.
“Here are my terms,” Clyde said. “If I win, you’ll step down as demon lord because I’m going to need your goons to stop spawning. Humans souls are being lost every night, and it has to stop. And I—”
“My servants and I don’t consume human souls, you fiend,” Noona said, pointing at Clyde dramatically. “Are you stereotyping demons now?”
“If you’re not behind it, then who?” Alice said.
“A wild demon may come from the woods sometimes,” Noona said. “My servants deal with it. The only missing human problem were the minotaurs, but… you’re that guy! I forgot to thank you for gathering them. I was teaching them how to be nice, so that they could release the captives. I think some of the minotaurs may still be out there in a camp somewhere. Well, unless the crusaders got them.” She sighed, appearing to be thinking of something.
“Why are you in power as a demon lord instead of head of household, like Alice,” Clyde said.
“Enough talk, evil doer,” Noona said. “Are you going to duel or what? I’ll have you leave for wrongfully accusing me.”
“Hmm, let’s add one more to my wager,” Clyde said. “If I win, you’ll be my friend. And friends help each other out.”
“I don’t plan on losing,” Noona said.
“By the way, we should probably take this outside,” Clyde said. “It’s going to start a Real game—and I’m pretty sure you know what that means.”
Noona’s eyes widened.
“Goodbye building,” she said. “Well, elevator’s this way. Let’s go.”
As they headed to the elevator the wide-eyed guards called after their master.
“Lady Necro, are you sure we shouldn’t escort you?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’m just going to win this duel and ban these people from our city.”
“Clyde, why are we not detaining her?” Alice whispered.
“Long story, but trust me. If anything, blame Mortem,” he said.
Alice’s eyes narrowed.
“I hate him. He’s always ruining your life.”
“I know right?” Clyde said.
“I’ve texted everyone the news,” Tear whispered. “They’re a little unhappy.”
“At least they’ve done their jobs,” Clyde whispered. “Otherwise getting in here would’ve been impossible.”
The somewhat crammed elevator trip felt a little awkward. Noona’s ass was positioned right on Clyde’s horn, which erected. She didn’t seem to notice—but the softness through her skirt triggered the young man’s inner beast. He felt a building nosebleed and willed it to hold back. Somehow, he didn’t spray.
“So, you’re a house head and not a demon lord?” Noona said to Alice. “How does that work?”
If there was room in the elevator, Clyde was sure they’d all fall over.
“You simply magically revoke your house out of demon realm politics,” Alice said. “The downside is that the other houses may believe you to be weak, not take you seriously. You lose any owned lands in the demon realm.”
“Pfft, I don’t go there anyway,” Noona said.
“Neither do I,” Alice said. “Tear does sometimes. Well, did.”
“I’ve got a network to run,” Tear said, “and the demon realm makes things convenient. Besides, I’m not the head of a household or demon lord.”
“You may be someday,” Alice said.
“I don’t think so,” Tear said. Her cousin giggled.
Clyde wondered if this counted as a raid boss, but the system didn’t reply. Despite being a “hard” raid, Tear turned out to be a cheat code. The young man almost mentally flipped the system off but decided it wasn’t worth the potential backlash.
Noona took her position, yards from Clyde, determined look in her eyes.
“After I beat you, you will apologize to my servants,” Noona said.
[You have accepted the challenge to a Real game.]
[Warning, this game has stakes that will be magically enforced.]
The familiar floating crystal mat appeared in front of both duelists. From an explosion of many colors, a blonde fairy woman appeared. She about eight inches or so tall with golden butterfly-like wings, dressed in a white tunic dress.
“Helllooooo everybody, my name is Lily and I’m too cute to contain. I will determine who shall go first. Oah! It’s you again.” She teleported in front of Clyde’s nose and kissed it. “Good luck saving us all, my lord.” She gave a bow.
“A fairy from the Outer realms,” Noona said softly. Clyde was suddenly thankful the streets were empty. Without the phenomenon civilians would see and experience a lot of things. And could die. Noona tilted her head, eyes on the young man. “She just called you lord.”
He shot her a blank stare.
“Lily, let’s just get this over with.”
“Ooh, she’s pretty, but... hmmm, I shall determine at random who will go first!” The fairy lurched into the air. “Noona Necro! You will make the first move, but you cannot attack on the first turn nor draw. Plan your defenses carefully, okay?”
Lily joined Clyde’s party off to the side to watch.
“Good luck, Lord Stone,” she said.
[Your relationship with Lily has increased to friend level 5 and intensely sexually interested. If she didn’t live in the Outer Realms and succumbed to the Supreme demon lord’s influence, she’d be…very close and personal with you right now.]
“Lord Stone? No way,” Noon said, eyes widening. “No way, no way, no way! You’re the Stone? Well, it’s too late to back down now. Believing in the heart of the cards will help me prevail, even against you!”
Clyde sighed. Why did he have to do this? Ah well, no use complaining. He wondered how the edge lord would react to all of this.
Episode 36 (Part 7)
[You’ve entered a Real game!]
“I’ll start with this!” Noona said, placing a card on her mat. She pointed at Clyde. “My father’s deck has no pathetic cards.”
“Are you fucking quoting… never mind,” Clyde said.
[Noona. Samurai Girl- Ina. Power: 10, Defense: 9]
A woman appeared on the battlefield, armed with a katana. Large breasts and a skin-hugging silk mini-dress told Clyde everything he needed to know about Noona’s dead father. He was a man of cultu—a pervert.
“When Ina is summoned, I can draw one card and then show it to you,” Noona continued. “If it’s an attacker, I can summon it then draw again.”
Clyde nodded, watching the beautiful demon lord dramatically draw a card. She definitely wasn’t aware of her cuteness. She revealed an attacker.
[Noona. Samurai Girl- Kari. Power: 26. Defense: 0]
“Ha! I can draw again. And when Kari’s summoned while there is another Samurai Girl on the field, she can summon a special friend directly from the deck.” The deck spat out a card, which the demon lord placed on the mat.
[Noona. Samurai girl- Protector. Power: 30, Defense: 30]
“Protector not only allows me to add my deck leader to my hand, but as long as she’s on the field, my deck leader cannot be attacked or targeted with your action cards.” Noona folded her arms. “But I won’t summon her just yet, so that’s my turn.” She smiled. “Your turn. Good luck and please have fun.”
Clyde blinked.
“Uhm thanks. And you too.”
[Field: SG- Ina, Kari, Protector.]
Clyde drew a card to start his turn. Three fucking attackers to deal with and they packed serious power. He revealed an attacker to Noona.
“I can summon this attacker as an additional summon. And if I do, I draw a card.”
It was time to flesh out more of what the sorcerer’s creed could do. A supposed legendary deck lost in time—and even put the edge lord on… the edge. The young man tried to ignore the glowing tree of life symbols on his wrists. What will they do
for him? Could they be utilized somewhere other than Stone-Tokken? What did any of this shit mean for the bigger picture?
[Clyde. SC Diviner Mena. Power: 20. Defense: 6.]
He drew the card then made his next move. The woman on the field dressed in a seductive black dress looked bored.
“Give it up for this guy,” Clyde said, summoning. “A returning contender.”
[Clyde. Wizard Otus. Power: 17. Defense: 20.]
“When summoned, I can add one magical weapon from the deck to my hand. Too bad Amina’s dimension isn’t in play or this would’ve been a bad day for one of your attackers.”
“Oh really?” Noona said. “Do your worst, evil doer!”
Clyde chuckled then grabbed the forbidden staff. It made sense. Wizards used staves. He placed the card on a secondary mat space behind Wizard Otus, meant for action cards. The effect came to life.
The man on the field, dressed in blue wizard robes materialized a silver staff, then stood in a combat stance against the three cool and collected samurai women. A white aura outlined him.
“Let’s activate the effect of Magical Weapon, Forbidden Staff,” Clyde said. “Otus, pass me that shit.”
Otus turned, nodded and tossed the staff to the young man. Clyde caught it with one hand and held it high, as if declaring something to the world. “The effect this time will be, reduction of Power. Until the end of the turn, all opponents power and defense become zero and their effects disabled.”
“Oh dear—I can’t let that happen,” Noona said, flustered. “Action card, instant! Samurai girl magical protection.”
Clyde watched as the staff in his hands crumbled into dust and burned.
“Fuck!” he dropped the ashes, blowing his hands.
[Your HP has dropped to 190%]
“While I control a Samurai Girl, I can disable a card or its activation,” Noona said. “Then I can summon, on your turn, another friend.”
A card popped from her deck and leapt onto a spot on her mat, glowing. “Say hello to Samurai Girl Micky.”
[Noona. Samurai girl- Micky. Power: 0, Defense: 0]
“When she’s summoned from the deck, she destroys up to two attackers on the field.”
The samurai girl Noona summoned teleported by Otus. “Quick attack!” Noona’s eyes widened when Otus blocked the attack with a transparent version of the forbidden staff, which popped out of nowhere. “What’s going on?”
Clyde smiled.
“If the effect of the Forbidden Staff doesn’t go off, all magic-users on my side of the field become immune to destruction card effects until the end of the turn.”
“Well that’s not fair,” Noona said, giving the young man a pouty face. “Fear not, because Micky has another effect that also activates on your turn. During either player’s turn, I can send her back to the deck to return one card on the field to the hand.”
Clyde’s eyes widened as green lightning stuck Otus. The wizard yelled in agony for seconds before his card floated back into the young man’s hand.
“Wow! What an exchange,” Lily said. Her voice echoed through the air as if she spoke into a microphone. “What will my Lord Stone do now?”
Clyde gulped. The exchange of horse shit sucked! If she could continuously summon Micky from her deck, he wouldn’t get anywhere. However, he still had an attacker on the field and more plays.
“A minor setback,” he said, “but let’s try this. I will activate Forbidden Weapon Ruby, equipping it to Diviner Mena.”
The bored-looking woman suddenly looked excited as the red glow of the gem surrounded her. “Ruby is a risk, but I will discard one card. Four random cards will be selected from my deck. One will be given to me. The other goes to the top of my deck. I can only do this effect once while this card is face-up on the field. Oh and Mena’s attack increases by five.”
[Clyde. SC Diviner Mena. Power: 25. Defense: 6.]
Clyde didn’t receive the card he was hoping to get, but it wasn’t bad.
[Noona’s Field: SG- Ina, Kari, Protector.]
[Clyde’s Field: SC- Diviner Mena.]
“Alright Mena, kill Ina,” Clyde said.
The Diviner nodded, aimed one hand at the hot samurai enemy, and unleashed red lightning from her palm. Ina yelled as she was hurled into Noona. A half-second later, the attacker turned into particles of grey light, which floated upwards into the air briefly before vanishing. Not much life force lost.
[Noona’s LF has dropped from 150 to 145.]
[Noona’s HP has dropped from 300% to 290%]
“Ow,” she said flatly as she stood, dusting herself off. “My father never mentioned how painful this game is.”
“My turn’s over,” Clyde said, putting on a solemn expression. “You may go.”
“That’s it? Your sole attacker is in trouble,” Noona said as she drew.
“Come on pervy nii-chan, you should’ve one-turn killed her!” Natalia said. “I want blood! Well, candy. But—ow!”
“Shhh,” Alice hissed.
“Pervy nii, Alice is bullying me,” Natalia said.
Noona giggled.
“You’ve got some nice friends there.” She placed a card onto her mat. “I’ll activate this action card, Samurai Soul. It returns Ina back to the field and increases her power by ten. Unfortunately, her effects get disabled, a small price to pay, evil doer.”
[Noona. Samurai Girl- Ina. Power: 20, Defense: 9]
She pointed at Clyde.
“And now for the moment you’ve been waiting for. Heart of the cards with me! By controlling three or more Samurai girls, I can summon my deck leader as an additional summon rather than using my turn summon. Here she comes!”
[Noona. Samurai Girl- Shogun Tusella. Power: 27, Defense:31]
The ground rumbled. A hole opened up from the ground on the field, unleashing a geyser of white light. Emerging from it was a woman dressed in a scantily clad version of a shogun’s uniform.
“I guess it’s time to lose,” Noona said. “The girls are going to take you down!” She gave Clyde the thumbs down, as if sentencing him to death, gladiator-style. The young man laughed.
“Show we what you’ve got, Noona demon lord,” he said.
“I’ll use one of Tusella’s effects,” Noona said. “Motivation speech! All of my attackers gain ten power until the end of the turn.”
[Noona. Samurai Girl- Shogun Tusella. Power: 37, Defense:31]
[Noona. Samurai Girl- Ina. Power: 30, Defense: 9]
[Noona. Samurai girl- Protector. Power: 40, Defense: 30]
[Noona. Samurai Girl- Kari. Power: 36. Defense: 0]
“Also, your attackers lose ten power for each Samurai Girl I control,” Noona said.
[Clyde. SC Diviner Mena. Power: 0. Defense: 6.]
“I will activate Action card, Double Dish! You’ll be taking double the damage from all of my attackers. And I think that’s my victory. Attack!”
Nobody on her side of the field moved. “What are you doing, Samurai girls, end this.”
Clyde chuckled.
“You see, they would love to, but there’s one insy winsy problem. Diviner Mena cannot be attacked. She has another effect, but I don’t believe it to be worth it for this duel.”
“What do you mean she cannot be attacked? Ugh. Fine, I’ll painfully leave the battle scene to go to my second main phase. Not being able to attack, my toosh. That’s not fair.”
Clyde winked then shrugged.
“If you think my deck’s bad…never mind, that’s not relevant. Continue your plays.”
“I should’ve done this in the first place, but you looked as if you were out of options,” Noona said.
His attacker, Mena, laughed. Clyde gaped then smiled apologetically at the demon lord. She smiled back, a good sport.
“Lord Stone holds up like a…stone,” Lily narrated, receiving the blank stares from his friends. “What will Noona Necro do?”
Noona placed an action card on her mat.
“I will use Action
card, Swift End. Destroys all attackers on your side of the field.”
“Your father’s an OP bastard,” Clyde said, “but that’s not going to work. The card that I received randomly was an instant, Last Clash. Disable one card effect or its activation then I can destroy one card on the field. Say goodbye to…can’t target the deck leader, so Protector it is then.”
Clyde’s action card cast a large black beam of magic which disintegrated Noona’s attacker. The other Samurai girls bowed at her pile of ashes then turned back to Mena.
“I end my turn,” Noona said. “Which makes all of the power collected drop back to normal. What a bummer.”
[Noona’s Field: SG- Ina, Kari, Shogun Tusella.]
[Clyde’s Field: SC- Diviner Mena.]
Clyde drew and smiled. Just what he needed.
“I’ll use Fever Draw. Pay forty life force to draw two cards.”
[Clyde’s LF has dropped from 150 to 110.]
He looked at his new cards, approving.
“Finally. First, I’ll activate Amina’s dimension.”
The environment around them, even beneath their feet changed. The sky shifted to a nighttime blue. Then they were in a giant library consisting of trillions of scattered and stacked books, some on shelves. A bookworm’s wet dream.
[Field Presence: Amina’s Dimension.]
“I don’t think so,” Noona said, activating a card. “Action card, instant, Samurai Girl Sneak Attack. I’m going to summon Micky in her defensive stance, from the deck, for a small life force cost.”
The Anime Trope System: Stone vs. Viper, #6 a LitRPG (ATS) Page 20