-PHASE OPEN-

“Shoot! No Range Strikes this turn. Phase Close!" Faith ends her turn.

It was Jacques’ suggestion to use the term strike. Even though Faith has only said it a few times, he is beginning to loathe hearing it now.

"Phase Open!" Jacques draws his card.

Her happy face annoys him, the way she cheerfully examines her cards...

‘Brat…It’s like she flipped a switch…’

Jacques is aware of where Faith’s King is. He can deal a heavy blow…

But first, there is a more pressing issue to address...

‘WHY IS THAT QUEEN CARD OF HERS STILL HERE!?’

The Queen of BurningHearts is casually floating around in the air on her back.

The King gives her a look of disapproval, not pleased with the carefree attitude.

‘Its true location on the grid has not been revealed to me yet, so it loitering around is a distraction.’

He rotates the Field Dice, but before rolling it, he has a request for Faith.

“Listen brat, concealed Reserve or Royal Rank cards are not permitted to-"

*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSH*

The Field Dice drops to the grid…

An irritated Queen of BurningHEARTS gifted Jacques a wave of fire. Still pointing the scepter at him.

Faith is quietly laughing.

The King is grumbling about the Queen's juvenile actions, but Jacques...

Even though he is unharmed as the “attack” was only for show...

To say he is fuming...is an understatement...

The black aura around him has a repelling effect…

His one wish right now is to march on over, rip apart that card, and choke the laughter out of the girl wearing that stupid red ribbon!

‘Make the baby beg…beg for me to let go…’

But he needs to be civilized and bide his time.

“FINE. STAY. I’LL KEEP MY EYES ON YOU!”

The Queen admires her nails, not acknowledging his words.

The Field Dice had landed on a 4.

Rather than guard his remaining zones, “I add two cards to the grid and advance!”

Nothing in range of any Field Clashes, but...

He wants to teach these vermin a valuable lesson!

"I give up a 3, 4, and a 5 card from my hand to call a LV.12 strike of my own!"

…

An ethereal mist surrounds Jacques' half of the war grid…

Nightfall Swamp, the tiles, the stone slab. Everything!

The Queen instinctively moves back to shield Faith. The King readies himself.

Peeking around the skirt of The Queen, Faith cannot make out a thing from the mist…

…until a glint can be seen within…

The mist slowly takes the shape of a ghostly visage, zigzagging around Faith's side of the grid….

Snaking around The Queen…

This phantom is a mere inch away from Faith's face…

…before changing direction back to the air above.

The fog parts…

…a woman’s face is revealed…

Her eyes are shut…

Her arms are folded…

A seductive body shape, levitating above…

She has four horns and a pair of bat wings on her side.

Faith's eyes are drawn to a red 12 just above her breasts.

The number is bloody and fresh…

This woman's skin is an otherworldly pale…whiter than snow…to even touch her…your own mind may freeze just by dreaming about it…

...the cold…

...

…death…

HER EYES SNAP OPEN! White eyes surrounded by black scleras! A gateway to another world!

She is staring at Faith…

Gesturing with her hand for Faith to come here.

The woman opens her mouth, and more mist creeps out...

…

Faith begins to hear ominous laughter. This demon’s lips are not moving, but it feels as if it belongs to her…

The laughter is coming from different directions, like Faith is in the center of a crowd...

"The Queen of NightSPADE!” Jacques provides an introduction.

“Beautiful, is she not? A once in a lifetime standard. I think she has taken a liking to you!"

A disturbing and sensual *aaahhhhhhhhhh* replaces the laughing…

The Spade Queen deepens her gaze with Faith…

…

…caught in a trance…

Faith’s eyes start to go blank, and she begins to lightly pant…

Jacques flashes a key and stands up, “I can unlock your seat if you want to get closer for a nice friendly chat…”

The gaze deepens further…Faith is panting more…The Heart Queen tries to snap her out of it but to no avail…

“…or would you rather…”

The Spade Queen licks her bottom lip…

“…let her taste you?” he asks.

Faith breaks out in a sweat…

“…but only if you promise to be quick…” wagging his finger.

The Heart Queen stares daggers at Jacques!

In between panting, Faith moves her quivering lips…

She whispers, “…stop…”

Jacques replies, “Stop? How come?” he flaunts around the key…

“Is the baby upset? Let her come to you then!”

“Give her a chance to say sorry…”

“Let her comfort you…any way you’d like-”

He has noticed that The Heart Queen is still focused on him and is burning with bright flames…

The haunting laughter returns sharper than ever!

Eerily growing louder, the sound twisting, the demonic The Queen of NightSPADE floats a single space forward…

…and stabs deep into her own cheeks with her fingernails!

But in a split second, The Queen of BurningHEARTS is covering Faith from the awful sight.

She had been spared from that infernal image of the demon’s face slowly peeling open…

Jacques is busy basking in his Queen’s shadow, but Faith is crying out of sheer terror.

Managing to not give it away inside The Heart Queen’s coat…

…

The face of The Spade Queen is back to normal.

However, the pressure of her presence has yet to subside...

Jacques rolls the Range Dice. It lands on a 9.

…

He glances at Faith, no need to say anything.

…

When the Range Dice lands on a 9, it is an unstoppable offensive.

The pressure mounts.

He points to The King of BurningHEARTS…

“SCUM! GET OUT OF HER SIGHT!”

“NIGHTSPADE RAY!!!”

In the blink of an eye, a savage laser is forcing its way through the air from The Spade Queen’s fingertip!

Causing the atmosphere to violently warp and contort!

The King looks back at Faith and The Heart Queen, closes his eyes, and accepts his fate.

At the moment of impact, a giant red orb of energy crackles. It keeps expanding.

…

The King is gone.

Even the tile he stood on has vanished…

Previously, only one candlewick above the word King was extinguished…

Now the other three have blown themselves out…

They leave a thin smoke trail that spirals downward on the stone.

No other cards appeared to have been harmed. The King absorbed all the power from the strike.

It is a blessing that a new foe is operating in the confines of the game…the blast radius could have swallowed the entire war grid!

Faith is gripping her chest as tight as she can, trying to keep it together…

To lose three Soul Four-Ce all at once is an indescribable pain.

Blood is spewing from her mouth and nose.

The Queen of BurningHEARTS reaches out a hand of comfort for Faith, but halfway through opts to stare down The Queen of NightSPADE.

The sound of laughter is still echoing…

She lifts a finger again, beginning to charge a second laser. The Heart Queen conjures a raging fire in response.

Murderous intent from both, the tiles are becoming uneven from this dangerous near-collision of power!

Jacques finds this amusing and breaks it up, “Phase Close!”

The Spade Queen turns to mist and slithers to the bog below.

Jacques pulls over an extra wood tile from the game box with his aura, “Thankfully, you came prepared!”

…

“PHASE OPEN!” shouts Faith.

The Heart Queen is surprised to see her ready to push on!

After drawing a card, she floats behind Faith, wanting to see what she got.

Faith smiles at her, and she smiles back.

They have a plan!

She rolls a 6 on the Field Dice! YES!

“Ya won’t see me back down! GO! RANGE STRIKE!”

She is going for it again! Another LV.10 strike! Faith subtracts an ACE and a 4 card to create a difference of 10!

It has failed once already, but this time…

…the Range Dice lands on a 2…

*EH!?!?!?!?!?!?!?*

The Heart Queen dashes over! Scepter pointing down, ready to swing at the die like a golf ball. They need a higher number!

Before it can connect, she feels a tug at her skirt. Faith is shaking her head “no” and cracks a grin at Jacques…

…he has not attempted to counter roll by discarding a card from his hand.

His face confirms it. He won’t be doing anything about it.

The grid shakes!

The ground splits!

A large ruby rises from the crust!

It glows a brilliant light and ignites into flames, and they rocket upward!

The flames spread open, broad feathery wings, creating a comforting warmth beneath it…

“FALCON OF BURNINGHEARTS! LV.10!”

Faith has a creature capable of flight too!

Circling the skies majestically, unlike its other fallen boney counterpart.

It focuses on a card next to an empty III-zone.

Braking to a hover, even Jacques can feel the heat.

“RAINBOW WISP!”

Thrashing its wings, a flurry of prismatic feathers hurtles down the grid!

The targeted card reveals itself!

A tornado of rainbow feathers pummels an unassuming plain wooden doll into the air.

The doll clacks back down to its tile. Battered, but not broken.

It is The Jack of NightSPADE! LV.11!

Jacques loses a single Soul Four-Ce, drips a tiny bit of blood from his lip, and flicks it off.

The Falcon returns to its tile, perches on the ruby stone, and disappears back to its hidden origin.

Jacques gives The Queen of BurningHEARTS a cursory glance, still wishing she would return to her card too, but he already has an answer…

Floating, as usual, The Heart Queen taunts him by fluttering her fingers.

“It’s your move, chump! Phase Close!” Faith is on fire!

The essence of games!

The HEAT of battle!

-CHAPTER END-

The passionate duelist.

-PHASE CLOSE-