Cursed Draw

Forging a Relic Card is simple enough once a non-living item be it natural or man-made accumulates a certain amount of Resonance Inside it. Someone with a True Deck can channel that Resonance into a sort of copy. This becomes the Relic Card. A spell on the other hand is a little bit more complex.

-Mysteries of the Deck Book 2, The Creation of True Cards

Chapter 34: Only A Game

Alabaster

The pirate stared down at Alley in disbelief as the blue light of his creatures and spells Demanifesting flowed into the cutlass.

Alley knew what the man must be thinking. ‘If he can Challenge me, why didn’t he manifest anything.’ Rather than let the man ponder it out Alley just offered the answer.

“Cursed,” He said with a wink up at the raider.

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope”

Alley winced as the man increased the downward pressure of his boot.

“And why should I risk a Challenge against a weird Deck when I can just kill you?”

“My Enhancer killed yours in what four minutes?” Alley grunted out. “ You think you can survive ten minutes with your Deck Locked?”

The long-haired man gave Alley one last little stomp for good measure before turning to walk back over to this sword.

“I accept,” He said without looking back at Alley. Smart of him to accept after separating a little. Had he remained standing over Alley the energy of the Arena would have forced him to his own side. Alley’s own recent experience in the hall of The Silver Sea Deep Hunters League was a good reminder you wanted to avoid that.

A lance of Blue energy fired out from the sword meeting a similar beam of teal light that came from Alley’s cloak. The fact that his half of the forming arena of energy was teal rather than a normal blue was strange. Yet it paled in comparison to the oddness of what was happening to Alley himself.

The moment the man had agreed to the Challenge Alley’s eyes flared with pale blue light and his perspective on the world shifted. He could see everything around him perfectly all of a sudden. The shadows were still there, he could see them but it was like they had ceased to matter. It was the same as when he had been able to see in the castle under the ground without any light sources.

On top of this, he could feel…something on top of his head something cold, heavy, and metal. Yet when he reached up there was nothing there, his hands passed through the air without any resistance. Paradoxically a moment later when he slicked his wet hair back out of his face the…nothing held his hair in place.

‘Okay. Sure why not, it's called Crown Of The Cursed King. I guess there is an invisible crown?’

“Alabaster Roe, Crown Of The Cursed King, Rank Twelve” Alley called across the quickly forming energy barriers.

Taking off his coat and tossing it aside the raider leader let out a snort and looked at Alley as if to say ‘Seriously?’

“Nestix Karieto, Greed Of the Hungry Corsair, Rank Nine.”

The Arena was now complete so the dealers began to glow again as the Ante mechanic activated. As with any Challenge, a randomly selected Card from each Library would be risked by both players. Alley doubted either of them would have much use for a Card belonging to the other, but they could at least trade them. Besides Alley was far more interested in learning anything he could about Karieto’s deck before the Challenge began in earnest.

Alley was unclear what the Relic did, but he was confident it had some power to it if it cost a Vial.

At the same time, Alley’s Vials appeared floating in the air above his head. He had been wondering how they would appear and his answer had come by way of a feeling rather than sight. Even without looking up he just knew they were there.

‘Part of the crown maybe?’

From Alley’s cloak came the projected image of his Ante card.

A powerful search card he would much rather have drawn than revealed. Still, as the weaker rank Alley would go first which was almost always an advantage. After the utter shutout he had experienced against Soren Alley had to admit he was a little bit rattled. Yes, he had talked big when Darius and the deep hunter had asked him if he could play with so many cursed draws in his Deck. Now that the possibility was right here in front of him it was kind of scary.

‘There is no way this guy is anywhere near Soren Creed’s level. Breathe, do your best to figure out what every card does, use every resource, and have fun with it.’

The last piece of advice he gave himself wasn’t just fluffy nonsense. In a Challenge even a higher rank person could be defeated by a single powerful attack if they couldn’t get out of the way in time. Being tense would only slow down his reactions and wear him out faster. No, if Alley wanted to perform at his peak he needed to be relaxed. The easiest way to do that was to treat the match like a game and enjoy himself.

Alley’s hand dealt, creating a series of five images in front of him.

Danse Macabre, Grave Caller, Wraith Master, Withered One, Split The Seas.

While Alley still didn’t know what most of the Creatures in his Library did this felt like a fairly strong hand to start with. Danse Macabre was a powerful spell card that would allow one of his creatures to attack the same turn it was Manifested. Split The Seas was a card he would have traded his right hand for back when he still wielded Aegis Of The Fisher Lord. It was a Water and Pressure Resonance spell that could destroy everything in play. It was utterly useless to him now. It would normally cost two Vials to play, as Crown Of The Cursed King didn’t share a single Resonance with the spell Card it would cost twice Alley’s total Vials to play.

He had inspected the Cards he could play extensively while the Knots family had been helping him prepare for the journey. The problem was without another True Deck to run practice Challenges against he had to wait until the real thing to figure it out. That was if he could of course. Some Cards were extremely unintuitive.

That being said, someone had built this Deck. It had a plan behind it, it had synergy. Even if he couldn’t see exactly what the Creature and Relics did. The Resonances, the puzzle in the castle, and even the names of the Monsters were strong clues. The Crown Of The Cursed King was a Deck that relied at least somewhat on Crypt manipulation.

“Are you going to take a turn or not?” Called Karieto irritably.

‘Everyone is always so impatient.’

Alley intended to Manifest a Creature in his first Creation Phase, he was simply trying to figure out which one. Grave Caller: No Cost, 1200 Power, 1 Vitality. Wraith Master: 2 Vials Cost, 1800 Power, 1 Vitality. The wraith Card must have some sort of powerful effect to cost two Vials with such weak stats. Finally was Withered One: No cost, 800 Power, 1 Vitality.

‘Alright, alright. I think I’ll hold the Wraith Master until later. I wouldn’t want it to be a Crypt effect and waste the Vials so early.’That left Grave Caller and Withered One.

Across the barrier the pirate leader was resting his hands on the hilt of his sword, the blade tip down against the deck. The blade was lit by the red glow of twelve full Vials embedded in it, with another four empty ones visible near the cutlass’ pommel. The pirate wouldn’t have to be anywhere near as conservative with his Life essence as Alley was already playing.

“Alright, for my first Creation Phase I Manifest Grave Caller”