“Is that the end of your turn?” Atro asked, raising his brow as Tay had nearly lost himself in thought.

“Uh, yeah,” Tay said.

Atro attuned himself up and into Order 3, putting him back to a very healthy 81 Life, but then began to shake his head.

“I’m not sure how effective this’ll be,” Atro said. “But I suppose this is as good a time as any to bring this one out.”

And Atro placed down, in the middle of the table, a card with art that seemed to reach out of its very borders. It wasn’t a massive card, but it was a massive revenant.

And it’s Power proved that.

(25) Crystalline Smasher Behemoth

Shout: obliterate all Fragments. This revenant gains their Power as its own.

Create a Shard Fragment (1 Power) at the start of your turn.

Barrier 8 >>>

8 Power? 8 Power? Tay knew his Will of the Warlock cards were on the lower side of Power, but how was anything in his deck supposed to deal with that hulking crystal-crafted giant?

“If you didn’t know what a Fragment was, would you know a Behemoth?” Atro asked.

It did have a different type. Not a Fragment. Not a usual type Tay was used to playing against. So, Tay shook his head.

And Atro continued, “Behemoths are special revenants that can only come onto the board while you control no other revenants. They change the nature of your side of the arena. Your revenant spaces become fusion spaces, where you can place any card to fuse into the Behemoth.”

“Any card? Even Inert revenants?”

“Any card, Tay. They have so much flowing energy that they can basically assimilate any revenant into their massive forms. If we were in a battle duel, this shop could not contain it.”

“So, essentially, instead of thinking of it as a usual summon, it’s more like an augmentation to my board. It attacks for all the revenants I have in play, combined?”

“Exactly.”

“And do the other, fused revenants get obliterated if this one does?”

“They do. Therein lies the risk. But I’ll commit to it. And I’ll fuse my Deeprock Listener onto it.”

(10) Deeprock Listener Surging Revenants you control gain +1 Power. 3 >>

This was a long-faced, jagged-crystal creature, and Atro placed it onto his board behind the Crystalline Smasher, instead of underneath it. So, one could stack up three piles of revenant fusions to empower the Behemoth. Tay assumed that fusion spaces still followed the regular rules of fusion.

“And now I’ll swing my Crystalline Smasher at your Unthinkable Fiend,” Atro said.

Tay might’ve been a little more worried about the huge 11 Power creature as he moved his Fiend to Oblivion, if he couldn’t take solace in that fact that it only had one attack per turn. Atro hadn’t played any cards yet with auras like Flurry, so it seemed unlikely that he’d be able to pierce through Tay’s defenses.

Tay’s Life: 55 Atro’s Life: 39

And as he begun his turn, he knew his deck had its own ways of dealing with giant revenants. Though, even Tay had to admit, his deck was running a little low on options, as he’d thinned out well over half of his deck. At this point, the Replenish aura on his Headhunter was more hurting him than helping.

He needed to close this out fast, before he was forced into drawing his last card. Thankfully, he had just the card to end this game.

(20) Warlock of Midnight Darkness Unstable

Shout: reduce all foe revenant’s Power by half (rounded down).

Uproar: obliterate all foe revenants with less than 3 Power.

Decay <<< 3

In a game that had gone both in Atro’s and his own favor, Tay felt relieved to have his strongest card on the board. The Warlock stood within his card’s border, staff held high and hand wreathed in liquid darkness.

“So, that’ll leave my Crystalline Smasher at 5, because it’s rounded down,” Atro said. “But your Warlock doesn’t outright obliterate it with its own effects.”

“Doesn’t need to,” Tay said. “I’m going to have it attack into and over your Smasher, since it’s at 7 with its fusion.”

“Well that doesn’t feel great,” Atro said. “I suppose it’s all well and good then. I’ll be taking 4 damage from your Enforcer too, I take it?”

Tay winced, and then said, “Only if you don’t mind.”

“I’d mind more, I think, if you didn’t end up hitting me. I know how this game is looking, Tay, and I just want you to know that it’s fine.”

Tay felt his throat start to dry out. “I just don’t want you to lose your Ranking Card,” Tay said. “I don’t know—part of me is hoping you pull it back and come back from this.”

“You don’t have to feel bad for winning,” Atro said. “If I lose, I lose. It wouldn’t feel right if you went easy on me, or threw the game, just because I’d be losing my Bronze card for it. I can work out a way of buying another one.”

Tay placed his hand face down on the table. “Wait. You can’t afford one?” That had never occurred to him. Just how much had Mond actually paid for his—or this tournament registration? He hadn’t been present for either. But, looking around the shop once more, Tay noticed there were no children present. Sally wasn’t allowed to participate either. Was that because she was too young, or because she couldn’t afford it?

And Qallaz had claimed there was a lot of money to be made in Runicka… but just how much did everything cost?

Atro shrugged. “Maybe I’d be able to afford a new card in a couple weeks. At the moment, I can’t even afford the decklist that you’re playing, Tay. Will of the Warlock was my deck only in concept, but the coin it cost is just too much for my purse to bear. It took me months to earn my first Ranking Card. I’ll figure something out though. Don’t worry about it. Honestly.”

Tay hadn’t been worrying about it, but now it was impossible to ignore. How much had Mond spent on him for this opportunity? But was Tay prepared to win this game if it meant setting Atro behind in his goals not days, but weeks?

And that was just until the man could earn enough to buy himself another Runicka card. How long would it be before Atro got himself up to Iron if Tay knocked away the Bronze card he’d already won two stamps on?

“I want to say that I’m sorry,” Tay said, lowering his gaze.

Atro looked up and frowned. He waved Tay off. “You don’t have to be sorry. You’re in it to win it. We all are.”

“No,” Tay said. “There have been people in my past, Atro, who I haven’t been good to. I haven’t always had such good fortune, nor people watching out for me. To even have the chance to get to Stormwall, I had to wrong somebody close to me. I had to betray them.”

And Claudus would never forgive Tay for selling him out to Madam Principine. Claudus, a kind souler than even Mond, Tay had more than likely transformed into a vengeful wastrel, before stealing himself away from the orphanage in the dead of night, with Madam too distracted to notice.

“I don’t want you to be that,” Tay said. “I don’t want you to think that I’m betraying you—that I used you for practice and now want to knock away your Bronze card. It’s not like that.”

“I know, Tay. Honestly.” Atro wasn’t meeting his eyes anymore.

“If I lose…” Tay started. “Losing means throwing away the chance that Mond’s now given to me. But even still, a great part of me just wants to step away from this game.”

Atro blinked, and then met his gaze again, eyes hard and resolved. “If you do that, you’ll have to beat me over to the counter, because I’ll tell Em I conceded first.” Atro motioned for Tay to pick up his hand, and Tay obliged. “You play to win, Tay. And if you can close out the game, do it. Because I’m doing the same.”

Tay nodded, and then said, “Then before I end my turn, I’m playing and attacking you with the Unknowable Abomination.”

(5) Unknowable Abomination Inert

Shout: add Unthinkable Fiend from your deck or Oblivion to your hand.

This revenant gains +4 Power if you control Unspeakable Horror.

Decay <<< 3

Like the Fiend from earlier, the Abomination too had twin tentacles sprouting from its back. Curved horns lined its face, and it had the worst scowl one could ever possibly imagine. The card practically stained the table black with its shadow-blossoming glow.

“Also, because of its effect, I’m going to be adding my Unthinkable Fiend back to my hand,” Tay said.

And while it was nice to reuse cards from Oblivion, that wasn’t going to put a stop to him drawing out his own deck. Chipping away at Atro also helped, but Tay really needed an opening to close out the game.

“Is that going to be all? You can’t play the Fiend because your board is full.”

“You can make your move, Atro. I’m just going to have to draw from Replenish.” And Tay winced at his dwindling deck size. There couldn’t be more than eight cards left.

“Okay, so for my turn, first, I’m going to invoke my Shattering Magus.”

(10) Shattering Magus Stable Shout: you may sacrifice target Fragment. If you do, obliterate target foe revenant with 4 Power or less. Amplify 2 >>

The art wasn’t unlike Tay’s own Wandering Mage, but the woman depicted on the card seemed a lot sleeker and her robes were gusted up in a breeze. She had shards of frozen crystal whizzing by her body, presumably under her control. Those were the ancient magics of story—magics which no longer existed in the world, except in art.

And in Runicka.

“You don’t have any Fragments,” Tay noticed. “So, you’re just going to give up on that effect?”

“I don’t need it. I’m going to fuse my Deeprock Smith on top of it.”

(10) Deeprock Smith Surging Shout: summon Shard Fragments (1 Power) equal to target ally revenant’s Power. 1 >>

As with the Listener before it, the Deeprock Smith had a long face formed from crystal. Atro but did not place any Fragment cards down onto the table. Instead, he gestured to where they would’ve been otherwise.

“That’ll be four Shard Fragments,” Atro said. “But they won’t be sticking around for long, because now I’m going to be playing my Plainswalker card!”

(15) Plainswalker Surging Shout: obliterate all other revenants with 5 Power or less. Create Duskwalker Fragments (2 Power) for each revenant obliterated. Energize 6 >>>

Nothing struck fear into Tay’s heart more than this long-armed, bird-like furred strider making its way over an open plain. It had hooves, and a bearish tail. The whole creature seemed an amalgam of various different creatures. It even had spines protruding from its shoulders and pointing forward, like it were some sort of strange rhinoceros.

“So, it’ll replace your Shard Fragments with Duskwalker ones,” Tay said.

“And it gets rid of your Headhunter and Abomination.”

Sure enough, as Tay moved those to Oblivion, Atro placed his six Duskwalker Fragments onto the board.

Duskwalker Fragment 2 >>>

Staring down all that Power, Tay could feel his sweat gathering on his palms. But had his own plays—his own defenses—to put up too.

“My Skull of Dark Insights will come back from its Echo aura.”

(10) Skull of Dark Insights Stable

Dormant: gain Life equal to the cost of the revenant fusing with this revenant.

Shout: if this revenant was summoned from Echo, add Warlock of Midnight Darkness from your deck or Oblivion to your hand.

Echo < 1

“True enough,” Atro said. “But I’m going to use one of my six Duskwalker Fragments to run over it and take it out. Then, I’m going to trample over your Warlock with my Plainswalker.”

And just like that, Tay’s side of the table was empty. He had nothing left in the arena. And only a handful of cards left in his deck and hand. If one could even call them a handful.

“The other five Fragments will each hit you for 2 damage each,” Atro said.

Tay’s Life: 20 Atro’s Life: 4

But upon drawing for his turn, Tay grimaced. He shuffled the cards around in his hand and then looked down at the board.

“First, I’m going to drop my Fiend of Many Faces,” Tay announced.

All in all, this card, with its salamander-like body and plethora of faces, made him prefer the tentacle-powered grotesqueness of the Unthinkable Fiend and its ilk.

(10) Fiend of Many Faces Inert Shout: this revenant and a foe revenant swap Power. Provoke <<< 2

No sooner had it hit the board than Atro’s face softened. Tay forced himself to look back to his hand. He wasn’t done yet.

“Then, I’m going to follow it up with my Unspeakable Horror!”

(5) Unspeakable Horror Inert

Shout: add Unknowable Abomination from your deck or Oblivion to your hand.

This revenant gains +4 Power if you control Unthinkable Fiend.

Flurry <<< 3

The final one in his trio, the Unspeakable Horror seemed a gorilla with horns on the sides of its heads and a maw that could easily break a man’s skull in half. It’s appearance onto the board allowed him add the Unthinkable Abomination back into his hand from Oblivion. But it did something more than that too.

It signaled the end of the game.

“I’ll attack into and through your Plainswalker with my Fiend of Many Faces,” Tay said. “And then, with my Unspeakable Horror, I’ll attack—”

Atro held up a hand and Tay paused. Then, without words, he started picking up his cards.

“That’s okay, Tay.” Atro held out his hand. “I think I know when I’ve lost.”