"Then, let the game begin!!" Gdark announced, flipping his hand upward after he cleared his throat.
Pinkish sparks flowed through both sides of the board edges, convincing The Young Man to turn his intrigued attention onto it. The horde of sparks instantly vanished as they became the tribute on the forging capsule bar on the table edges, containing the heart-red liquid inside and the glittering number 20 on the side parts.
"Each player will have 20 life point in the starting turn," Gdark explained.
"I shall take the first turn," Gdark uttered, drawing the new card from the top of his deck and grinning in excitement. "So sad in the first turn, I could make an attack, but I could summon this one special card."
Gdark hurriedly placed his new card on the center of the table, triggering the storming gale to blow onto his opponent. Three gems on Gdark's mana zone reduced into a speck of dust, paying the cost for his newest card entrance. A glimmering magenta silhouette of the diamond-armored man with the horse-like helmet materialized in a duck position.
The gale on the board finally dispersed from the scene, persuading the silhouette to gain full access to its physical form by obtaining a firm standing. Gilbron widened his thrilled jaw on glancing at the tiny figure who was revealed to be the crimson-scaly armored knight with the gray horse-head shape helmet who grabbed the silk-golden trident in the right hand and a triangular shield in its left hand.
"I summoned Quartet Chivaladin by paying three costs of my mana," Gdark announced, raising his three fingers "A unit card with 7000 attack points, 8000 defense point, and lastly 3 critical points."
The Young Man hummed, "Critical point?"
"Is it the special point of the unit to inflict damage to your opponent right?" Gilbron guessed, snapping his fingers and delightfully smiling.
Gdark nodded, "Very much correct,"
"But critical point is not the only way you damage your opponent," Gdark continued, opening his enlivened grin.
Gdark boldly picked one more card on the edge right of his hand, revealing to The Young man who furrowed in surprise. The card he presented was none other than, the green-fame one with the artwork displaying a brim-yellow firework fleeing freely to the night sky and the aqua blue jewel on the top right that displayed the white number 2 in its center.
"I cast Poking Firework," Gdark uttered, peeking at one gem on his mana zone that shrunk until no more of their remains were left. "When it cast I can deal one damage to my opponent's life point."
A tiny fiery bolt came out from the card that acted as it getaway, luring Gilbron to raise his eyes of amazement at it. The bolt imminently tackled The Young man's jaw, blaring a stammering grunt as he felt the quick burn sting his nerve. He even trembled his upper body, wincing in pain.
The Young Man pointed his sight at the capsule bar beneath him and noticed the tiny drop of the liquid sublimed. Furthermore, Gilbron caught a clear glimpse of the number beside the capsule bar shifted into 19, indicating he lost one point. A worried face colored Casmine's, taking a deep breath to maintain her cool.
"Is Gilbron just recently felt pain when his rival dealt damage to him?" Casmine guessed, steering her sight at her twin sister who heaved her shocked eyebrows.
Gdark turned his attention to the twin and answered, "You're correct."
"Since your close companion demanded a deadly game, I granted his wish by making every damage being dealt, both of us will receive the pain," Gdark explained, returning his challenging furrow toward The Young Man who enthusiastically giggled.
Lorina groaned, "I thought it was just a simple card game where the loser lost his soul. Instead, it can hurt the player too."
"What a sick obsession," Lorina commented, lowering her voice and staring at Casmine who frantically raised her eyebrows. "Is there something odd?
"This is not a bait attack, it's a combo for one of his opponent's cards. Even though I'm not an expert, I heard there is a card that can attack in the first turn because of certain conditions" Casmine mumbled, sharpening her shaking stare at The Young man who marked his shocked gaze at his opponent's card on the center.
Gdark cleared his throat, "When I manage to deal a life point damage with a spell, Quartet Chilvaldin can make an attack even in the first turn."
"Go attack now Quartet Chilvaldin, Triump Pierce!!" Gdark raised his voice, pointing his fingers toward Gilbro and throwing his spell card into the Null zone behind the deck, quickly absorbing it.
The tiny armor knight on the table obediently plunged his trident forward and leaped toward The Young Man's direction. Gaining the view of Gdark's soldier's attempt to land a blow on him, Gilbron eagerly whistled and picked the card in the middle before gawking at his opponent.
"Since your card has an amazing effect on attacking in the first turn, can I cast a counter spell for it?" The Young Man asked, pulling the middle card.
Gdark panted in annoyance and reluctantly replied, "Sure you can since the rule stated you can cast a counter spell every time."
"Sweet, thanks because I have a perfect one to counter for this," The Young Man said thankfully, flipping his chosen card.
Two gems on The Young Man's mana zone dusted away, becoming the tribute as the cost for his spell card. More precisely, the card Gilbron's holding called forth the tiny azure metallic shield with the bronze eagle statue in the center that intercepted the path of the Quarter Chilvaldin.
"I activate Beholden Shield, it allows me to negate any kind of direct attack from a unit," The Young Man spoke.
A bluish gleam shone throughout the eagle statue when the trident skewered at the shield's surface. It deflected the trident attack, forcing Quarter Chivaldin to jump away and land on its master center area, resting his knees. Gdark bit his lips in burning annoyance especially with him gaining the sighting of the shield disseminated into thin air.
"You're lucky to broke my first turn burn combo," Gdark muttered, raising his eyebrows in suspicion as he watched The Young Man tossing the spell card into his null zone. "I end my turn!"
Gilbron coolly panted, "Good grief I manage to prevent that combo."
"Now draw your card," Gdark insisted.
Gilbron swiftly drew the card on the top, regenerating all the gems on the mana zones from both players. With The Young Man gaining a turn to move, he rubbed his chin and glossed over all the cards in his possession. He sneaked his stare onto his opponent's unit, grabbing two cards from the left side of the group of cards.
"Alright, first I pay two costs to summon Slimey Detonator Wyvern on the center!!" Gilbron mentioned, setting one of his cards on the center of his field and triggering the two gems inside his mana zone to fade out.
A rising wave embarked on the center unit field of Gilbron, evoking the winged creature to flee out. The wave dissolved into nothingness unfolding the true form of the unit card, a glittering neon green compilation of slime that merged into a wyvern with wide batwings, an elongated neck, and a head resembling a monitor lizard
"Slimey Detonator Wyvern might have a 1000 attack point and 2000 defense point, 1 critical, but I think it had a perfect ability to counter your frightening card," The Young Man mentioned.
The Detonator Wyvern locked its drooling eyes toward the resting knight and hopped onto its head. Then, the wyvern forcibly plundered into the inside of the Quater Chivaldrin by drilling its mouth, resounding the blaring of misery throughout the board. A severe side effect kicked into the knight as it tremored and uncontrollably spun its head, emanating the gleaming green light within its entire limbs.
"Once this card is summoned, I can remove it from the field to trigger its effect," Gilbron announced, pulling away the wyvern card and tossing it into the dept of The Null Zone. "The effect is it can reduce the attack and defense points by 5000."
"It means Quarter Chivaldrin only had 2000 attack points and 3000 defense points," Gilbron stated boldly.
Gilbron lifted another card and darted his eyes to the left, "Also, I'm going to spend the last remain of my mana in order to summon this awesome unit."
"Come forth, Brave Joelena!!' The Young Man raised his voice, landing his newest unit card on the left zone.
A blistering golden mist gushed on Gilbron's left unit field, revealing the silhouette of the goblin radiating a shimmering light within its eyes. The mist diminished when the goblin swung its hand to the left, unraveling its true form into Gdark who cautiously furrowed at its presence.
Gdark sharply caught a clear glimpse of the female goblin with the rugged white uniform, glimmering orange pants, and a red reflective surface club being held in her left grip. A relief atmosphere blew into Casmine as she remained focused on observing the match, puffing the bothersome air and beaming with cheerfulness.
"This unit has 4000 Attack points, 2000 defense points, and 2 critical," Gilbron explained and resumed his statement with a question. "I have a question, can I deal you a lifepoint damage if I attack your unit?"
"The answer is no, but I know exactly what you're going to do next," Gdark muttered, picking the card in the middle.
"Brave Joelena has an annoying effect, whenever the unit she faced has a lower attack point, it can deal life points based on the critical of the unit she destroyed," Gdark exclaimed.
"Nice guessing," Gilbron praised. "You indeed a Cardvalion's top player for figuring my early strategy.".
Gdark gritted, "Compliment me all you want, I don't care. I'm more focused on preventing it from happening."
"By paying four mana, I can activate this counterspell!" Gdark shouted, glancing at the four gems of his mana zone shattered into immeasurable pieces and flipping his newest card that unveiled the artwork of the spiky tornado impaled a bearded giant.
"Decimating Tornado," Gdark chanted loudly, dropping the spell card onto his null zone and casting the thundering magenta portal above his knight. "When I cast this spell, I can destroy my monster to negate a battle phase of my opponent."
Inside the portal, a drilling tornado filled with razor-sharp spikes broke out and lanced through Quater Chivaldrin's head. A mangling scream of torment roared from the knight's head before the tornado plunged deeper, splintering its entire body into hundreds of particles fleering away.
"The counterspell effect is not over yet," Gdark warned sarcastically, directing his hand toward his opponent after withdrawing his card from his center field and dumping it into his null zone.
"When I tribute a unit card with a critical point higher than 2 points, I can deal you four life point damage." Gdark proclaimed, showing his three lined-up fingers at his opponent who gasped.
The tornado marked its next prey onto Gilbron and simultaneously glided onto him like a speeding missile. The Young Man could only motionlessly frown at the tornado drilled into his chest, puking out a huge chunk of blood before he cried an agonizing bleat that broadly echoed in the whole arena.
"Gilbron!!" Casmine cried out his name, wincing in agitation when she marked her stare at Gdark.
"He just dealt five damage in an early turn, This guy truly built his deck on a burning strategy," Casmine murmured, switching her perturbed sight to The Young Man. "What a strong and terrifying opponent you face."
Lorina rolled her eyes and bickered, "Seriously, now this card game can even make people puke blood."
"At this point, I bet this asshole is more twisted than both of us combined," Lorina stated frigidly.
Casmine leered at her twin and replied, "Perhaps, I could agree on that too, Lorina."
"I hope you can turn this around Gilbron," Casmine whispered thoughtfully.
The drilling tornado quickly dissipated its physical form, unshackling Gilbron from the drilling moment as he was able to cover his bleeding chest. Numbness stung his nerve, forcing The Young Man to kneel and constantly panting hefty breath. The little chunk of liquid within the health bar on his field's edge evaporated alongside a number of his current life point shift down to 15.
"After enduring this, do you still want to continue this match or you chose to forfeit it?" Gdark sneered.
The Young Man giggled and countered, "Me forfeiting this match, no way."
"Instead, I'm becoming more excited to resume this match," The Young Man stated, swiftly regaining a steady standing position while rubbing his bleeding chest. "Especially with trying my best to find how to outplay your burn combo."
"I'm going to continue our match no matter the cost!!" Gilbron added eagerly.
Gdark giggled, "No wonder most Triumph Makers fear you."
"Not only do you have an overwhelming cosmic power, but you possess a persistent determination and unyielding willpower in a battle," Gdark commented, stretching his galvanized grin.
"However, those two factors are not enough to win this match!!" Gdark argued, broadening his eyebrows as he ignited the eagerness to resume the flow of challenging his potential rival and becoming the victor for his desirable outcome.
…
***