These High Times Are Killing Him
"Draw."
I pull a card from my pile.
It's a Pangoro... damn. My opponent has a Fearow set-up, so the type matchup is still skewed in his favor.
In the official Pokémon card game, Pangoro only has a single type: dark or fighting, depending on the version.
However, this is not the official Pokémon card game. This card was created with my demon eyes, and it represents a Pangoro from the anime, with its dual-typing and wider movepool preserved.
Thus, the rules of the game become wildly different.
"Draw."
Leaving my previous hand aside, I take a card from the second pile.
"Shit..."
It's a Blastmon.
"I'll summon Blastmon and use Diamond Tail on the Blizzard of Hell..."
That should knock her out, right...?
Game design is difficult...
I want to develop a ruleset that lets me use all the cards from all the franchises I collected. But it's not going well... especially because I don't have any classmates to play with.
When I ask them to play, they expect something like yu-gi-oh or magic instead of my own system. And they don't have the patience to playtest, nor the creativity for good feedback.
So I have to play against myself.
"Draw—"
"Hitoyoshi, can you stop muttering? I'm trying to pay attention."
"Sorry."
I apologize to the girl sitting by my right and turn back to the game.
I memorized the history book beforehand, so ignoring this class doesn't matter that much.
Honestly... school feels like a waste of time since I'll probably die in my twenties.
I'm not going to college. I don't really need a job with my powers. And all the stuff they're teaching doesn't seem useful. I'm only here because Mom and Dad said I couldn't become a drop-out.
Draw.
Mirror Alice Wielder. Nice! The other side doesn't have anything to stop this right now.
"Hmm..."
... Maybe I'm trying too hard? When you mesh all these different concepts, trying to stay faithful becomes impossible. If I have to consider every ability they have, characters with a deep bag become a pain.
Take this card, for example. Her signature ability in the light novel is summoning a mirror that can reflect a single attack at double the power. But she also has demonic magic and an evolved form of her mirror.
I'm not adding all that. From now on, Mirror Alice Wielder is a trap card that triggers when an opponent attacks me or one of my cards, reflecting twice the damage to the attacking monster or duelist.
Nice. Now I have to rework all the other hundreds of cards I have... I should be writing this down.
I sense someone pausing to look at me as I take out my notebook and pencil, and it's almost enough to make me laugh.
Sorry, sensei. I didn't suddenly become a decent student and start taking notes about your class.
[High Times]
Time truly flies when you're having fun.
Minutes turned into hours as I filled my notebook, and before I realized it, classes ended.
I even skipped lunch during my flow state, which is... kinda bad. If I don't eat properly, I'll die even earlier.
Although...
Reading it now, this is sloppy work. It might have become even more unbalanced than it was before.
I thought my experience as a player would carry me through this game-making business, but I was mistaken.
But maybe I'm being a bit too hasty. I should play a few matches against myself to make sure...
Will that really help, though? A match against myself means I'm always aware of the other side's cards and game plan, which will mess up my balance even further.
I can't turn to the internet for help. It would just be a beacon for the glowing people, and I doubt they'd have any game design tips.
"Hmm..."
I'll have to try asking around again.
[High Times]
The next day, I look for someone to play with.
"Yo, Hibiki, wanna play a card game?"
"Haha... sorry, Aki-kun, I'm too busy."
I ask my next-door neighbor, who's in college. But he's too swamped with his own stuff to help me.
...
"Do you guys wanna play a card game?"
"No."
"I'm eating now."
"What kinda game is it?"
In school, I ask a bunch of classmates sitting together during lunch break.
"Oh, it’s actually my own system, I haven't named-"
"Psst."
One of them pulls aside the only interested person.
"That's the weird transfer student I told you about, man. Don't go."
He whispers, but I still catch it.
The potential player retreats with a plastered smile.
"Actually, I'm not in the mood right now. Maybe another time?"
I don't bother with fake pleasantries and walk away.
"Hey, do you wanna play a card game?"
“Nah.”
“Wanna play a card game?”
"I'm in the middle of something."
"Do you wanna play?"
"You asked me last week and the answer is still no, Hitoyoshi."
"Do you wanna play?"
"Do you wanna play?"
"Do you wanna play?"
"Do you wanna play?"
"Do you wanna play?"
I never hear a single Yes from them.
"Sensei, are you busy?"
"What is it?"
"Are you busy?" I repeat.
"I..."
The teacher spots the cards in my hand and sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Listen, Hitoyoshi. You're a brilliant student, but you can't act like you're in middle school anymore. Your classmates and teachers aren't here to play around with card games. You need to start thinking about your future and..."
He drones on and on about doing things at the proper time and online alternatives, and I can't be bothered to listen.
Why...
Why am I even doing this again?
When I finish this game, will anyone even play it besides me?
... It shouldn't matter, right? The act of making something and having fun with it should be enough.
But...
How is that any different from what I was doing before? I was having fun using Sloth to travel around and collect all these cards in the first place.
Am I falling into the same trap again? Doing something because it seems fun and then dropping it because it's not meaningful enough?
"And for goodness sake, stop dyeing your hair... are you listening, Hitoyoshi?"
"Ahhh..."
I'm not built for this philosophical stuff.
Keep it simple. My time is too precious, so I can't spend it moping.
"It's natural, sensei."
Prematurely white. But still natural.
"Your registration form says different—Oi! don't walk away while I'm talking to you!"
[High Times]
"Greetings, Cursed One—ah. It's you..."
My favorite librarian greets me as I step into her turf.
"Hahaha~" I chuckle, clutching my heart in jest. "You're making me feel bad for wanting to read."
The demon inside my arm twitches, trying to claw itself a bit deeper, and I pull it down with my free hand.
Amane-chan doesn't notice my struggle. Her eyes went back to her grimoire as soon as she noticed it was me.
She flips a page. "You know where the manga section is... and what the rules are, hopefully..." she mutters at the end.
"Actually, I'm looking for something else this time. Do you have any books on game design?"
Her face scrunches up as she tries to remember it, and after a few seconds, she gives up and reaches for her data slate.
"... There are a few. Though they're all relics of the past."
"... all published over ten years ago?" I guess.
"Fifteen."
"That's fine."
I'm not making a video game, so it doesn't have to be that recent.
Amane-chan walks me through the library's sections.
"So. You're making a game?"
"A card game! But it's really bad so far. I'm hoping I can improve it after consuming some literature."
"By consuming you mean—"
"Eating pages, yeah. Don't worry, I'll make copies as always."
We stop before a bookshelf. She stands on the tips of her toes, grabbing three books and carefully handing them over to me.
"I see... good luck on your project, Hitoyoshi-kun."
"Thanks! I'll give you a free booster pack when I'm done with it."
She gets an awkward expression on her face.
How silly of me. A single booster pack isn't enough to make a deck, so if she has any intention of playing, my gift would force her to spend anyway.
"Twenty booster packs," I correct, clapping her on the shoulder.
"Uh... alright..."
I step away from her, satisfied.
The books are placed on the first empty table I spot, along with my backpack. I take my seat, and they disappear, swallowed by the Greedy Demon Vault Eye. Then, they reappear in the same places as copies.
As Remuneration, I take a few yen notes from my wallet, rip them in half, and stuff them inside my backpack.
Now, it's time for my meal.
I skipped lunch break again by looking for someone to play with... but it's actually good timing on my part!
After ripping off a page from each book, I use them as extra filling for my sandwich. The taste of decades-old paper is practically unnoticeable.
Finally, I activate the Eye of Information Devouring. Hundreds of pages worth of information flow into my head, and with them, dozens of ideas to improve my game.
Peace, quiet, a light meal, and a good book. What else could a guy ask for?
crack!
"Oh."
"You broke it, Nishitani... you're supposed to use your palm..."
"I didn't break it. It's an old controller, it was bound to happen sooner or later."
"Yet it occurred right after you lost all your currency... peculiar, isn't it"
Scratch the 'quiet' part, I guess. I didn't even notice people on the upper floor until now.
I recognize Ichioka's voice, but the other two are unknown.
I should be using this time to work on my game, but...
I have a fascination with meeting other demon hunters.
Sure, I always make terrible first impressions, but it's not really about friendship.
As I rise on the stairway, I realize there are actually four of them. Three are sitting on the floor around a TV, playing...
Mario Party?
The remaining one lays on her side, snoring against the wooden floor.
"Peculiar indeed," says a girl in a pea coat. She's holding a broken controller with a calm smile on her face. "Now we have the same amount, Ichioka."
"Hah!" The girl in Lolita fashion laughs, but her grin is strained. "What a foolish joke! My performance would be far better if my partner for the 'minigame' wasn't asleep. We should have ceased this tortuous excuse for entertainment as soon as Makoto's Sloth took over."
"What about the minigame before that?"
"Hmph. You should be ashamed of even bringing it up. A three versus one such as that would obviously favor The Crimsom Vermillion of The Night, so of course I put the barest fraction of my power into facing you all. As though I wouldn't have prevailed if—"
She's so effortlessly eloquent... I could listen to this for hours.
"Hey man, how's it going?"
The only guy in their group greets me, and the other two finally notice me and stop talking.
"Could be better," I reply, leaning on the staircase's railing. "Quick question: has that TV always been there?"
"Yeah. Amaryllis let us play as long as we kept the volume low," he explains. "I'm Lemon, by the way. But you can just call me Lem."
"I'm—"
"Aki?" Ichioka calls before I can introduce myself. "I'm amazed you haven't been banished from this archive, considering how Amaryllis narrated your first visit."
I scratch my cheek, smiling with all my innocence. "That's harsh, Ichioka... "
Amane-chan and I have an understanding. As long as I don't damage her things, I'll be fine.
I face the girl holding the broken controller. "Anyways..."
I clap my hands together, focusing my aura on my head and palms.
The technology aura provides the schematics, and the summoner's aura gives it structure.
"Tada~!" I sing, holding out a new controller.
"Oh, thanks. We can keep playing now," Lem says.
"Didn't you hear any of my words?" Ichioka crosses her arms, pouting. "We should have stopped ages ago. This insignificant 'party game' is a waste of my time."
"You're saying that because you're losing."
Nishitani echoes my words, delivering a twin assault on her proud figure. We smile at each other briefly before I wave the controller at her and add, "Besides, we need to replace it, or else Amaryllis will be sad."
The idea of disappointing the librarian makes Ichioka pout even harder, and I can't help but laugh.
I step over the last stair to give her the replacement...
And bump my nose on something invisible.
Eh?
What's with this random magic veil in the library?
"..."
... Must be a quirk of the pocket dimension.
I raise an aura-covered fist, and the three demon hunters look at me with wide-eyed expressions.
"What are you doing?"
The librarian's voice stops me in place.
I turn around, and there she is, wizard hat on her head, grimoire on one hand, and... an ice spear on the other.
I point at the veil, then lower my hand. It's a useless gesture since the thing is invisible.
"Barrier," I say like some sort of caveman.
Her brows furrow in annoyance. "And your first reaction was to try breaking it?"
I shrug. "I thought it was a glitch in the space magic."
This time, I point at the other demon hunters, and my finger makes a dull sound against the invisible wall. "I mean, they got to the other side just fine."
The ice in her hand disappears, yet her frown deepens. "That's working as intended."
Working as...
"Hah... hahahaha!"
So it's a veil that bars Aki Hitoyoshi?
Still laughing, I throw the controller at the girl with the pea coat since I can't get into the second floor.
Unlike me, it flies freely and lands on her waiting hands.
"Have fun, you guys," I manage to say between the chuckles, waving at them.
Man... I'm glad I didn't voice that 'we have an understanding' thought to Ichioka. She had this place Aki-proofed the entire time...
"Can't you let him in?" Lem asks. "We need someone to sub in for Makoto."
Ichioka is about to tell us she doesn't want to play anymore for the third time, so before that...
"Her?" I gesture at the sleeping girl.
"Him."
"Him."
"Him."
Wow. I could notice that he stopped snoring after I made the controller, but not that he was a guy?
"He hasn't been sleeping for a while," I tell them.
"Aww... busted..." Makoto whines, rising from his fake slumber into a kneeling position.
I jump over the staircase railing and land on the first floor, leaving their conversation to pick up.
"Why were you pretending you weren't awake?"
"I wasn't! That guy's voice woke me up, and I was trying to fall asleep again..."
"Why did you say 'busted,' then...?"
I return to my table for my backpack, and Amane teleports in front of me as I reach for the door.
"Boop."
She uses her eyes again, flickering an inch away from me and avoiding getting poked in the nose.
"Aki."
It's incredible how she can scold me and ask me to be serious just by saying my name.
"Are you mad at me?"
"... No? I thought you trusted me more, that's all."
I assumed that everything was the same because I didn't get banned. Which is rather funny in hindsight.
"I was worried for you. Some of the books in the upper levels would be dangerous considering your Gluttony—stop laughing!"
How am I supposed to hold it when she's puffing her cheeks like that?
"You don't have to explain yourself, Amane-chan! It's your library, isn't it?"
I give her a wink as I step past her to reach the door. "I'd be power-tripping a lot more if I had pocket dimension with actual visitors. So, by my unhealthy standards, you're doing fine!"
"If you say so... goodbye, Hitoyoshi-kun."
"Bye~!"
With a swipe of a card, the library fades away from view, bringing me to my home.
Ah...
If Amane-chan went out of her way to talk to me, my semblance must have been quite pitiful. I hope those four didn't think I stormed out upset...
Hmm... it doesn't matter.
The wrong impression, I only have one to make.
[High Times]
"Sure, I'll play with you."
"Really?! Thanks, senpai!"
On the third day of this card game business, I finally found an opponent.
Shiho Miura. She's a girl two years my senior who stumbled upon me as I got rejected by another classmate and tried to cheer me up.
I told her she could make me feel better by playing with me, and she... accepted.
I'm still coming to terms with it, honestly.
We're in an empty classroom. I'm using the teacher's chair and desk while she dragged one of the students' to sit opposite to me.
Shiho-senpai caught up to most of the rules quickly, and she didn't leave after losing badly in our first match, so everything is going perfectly.
"So, let's say I want to evolve a Pokémon..." she begins, fixing her glasses even though they're perfectly in place. She's done that at least a dozen times since we met.
It must be a tic.
Cute...
"You can evolve as many as you want in your turn, as long as you have the cards in hand," I explain, watching her next move.
Shiho-senpai notices my eyes on her cards and chuckles. "Oh, I don't have any Pokémon right now," she clarifies. "I'm asking in case I find any."
She's even trying her best to ask about the game without giving away her hand...
Ahh...
I've been blessed.
"I summon..."
She checks the card description one last time before setting it down. "... One-Cut Killer in attack mode. Entering battle phase... I attack your Sudowoodo with One-Cut Killer."
Though Sudowoodo's defense is higher than her card's attack, its effect will destroy it in the following turn. My face-down Mirror Alice wielder can reflect the attack... but it'd be a waste. I'll let her destroy it.
"I end my turn."
Hmm... She still has six cards in hand, and her zones are mostly empty. She's being too cautious.
"Draw."
I'm greeted by the image of a kneeling catgirl holding a giant coin. She winks at me.
"Heh... I Flip Summon Bell Gargoyle, then Normal Summon Lucky Cat, activating its effect on the monster I flipped!"
Shiho-senpai stares at me, then glances at the card's text. In that brief window, I reach into my pocket and palm what I need for my Battle Phase.
"... it says you need to flip a coin."
"Heads," I call it, flicking it in the air.
If it lands on heads, my Bell Gargoyle's attack doubles. Otherwise, it rises by 200.
Either way, it will surpass her One-Cut Killer.
The coin bounces twice, spins, and lands on the table's edge.
Heads.
I place Lucky Cat on its graveyard as per its effect. "Entering Battle Phase..."
Man, I hope she has a response to this. If she doesn't, her life points will go down to two thousand, and I'll be able to snowball this quite easily...
"Bell Gargoyle, destroy One-Cut Killer!"
I check her reaction.
Sadly, the cocky smirk of someone who has something up their sleeve isn't there.
"You really don't hold back, do you, Aki-kun?" Shiho-senpai asks rhetorically, putting her card in the graveyard. Her smile is still in place, though it's dimmer, considering she lost half her life points.
I pout. How do I say I'm already holding back without insulting her skills?
She's learning incredibly quick, really! But the gap in experience is too high.
"Also... I feel like Lucky Cat's effect is a bit too much..."
It's actually nerfed from her original game. There, it tripled attack and didn't eliminate her, so she could keep activating it as long as she survived.
But I'm doing this for feedback, so there's no harm in altering the card again.
"You might be right. Let's make both boosts flat in our next match—"
The bell rings, signaling the end of our lunch break.
"Ah..."
Once again, I lost track of time by having too much fun.
I scratch my hair, feeling an invisible something pressing against my throat.
I want to ask her to play with me again. After classes or tomorrow. But I can't get the words out.
"I ..."
"Do you want to skip class?"
Eh?
"Eh?"
Shiho-senpai avoids my gaze, messing with her glasses. "Err... it's just... I've been having a lot of fun, and..."
She shakes her head. "Forget I said anything."
...
"Let's do it!" I decide, grabbing the cards from the desk.
We could always play another day, but I don't know how many days I have left.
If I have to choose between my education and this girl, then there's no competition.
Surprised at my quick acceptance, Shiho-senpai blinks for a few seconds before helping me gather the cards, tokens, and dice.
"We can go to my apartment," she says, handing me the deck she'd been using. "My parents won't be home."
Oh.
"... Okay," I agree. "Okay," I repeat because my voice was too faint the first time.
I was about to suggest my place because I'm practically living alone. But it's kind of messy, so maybe this is for the best.
We reach for our backpacks at the same time. As she leans down to grab hers, Shiho-senpai's glasses slip slightly, giving me a view of—
Distantly, I feel my breathing stop as I meet her bare eyes.
There's animosity in those glowing red orbs. A burning desire to take what belongs to others. Jealousy.
Envy.
She's a cursed one.
"Aki-kun? Did you change your mind?"
The trance breaks when she adjusts the glasses. All I can see is the tilt of her head that makes her angelic blond hair sway and her soft lips pulled into a curious expression.
Shiho-senpai waits for me by the door.
She looks like the road to Heaven, but she feels like the road to Hell...
I shake my head.
"... Lead the way."
There might be something seriously wrong with me.
[High Times]
Her apartment is pretty far away from the school, but thankfully, no one spots us on our way there.
Once we get there, she takes me straight to her room, and we...
"Sniper Rifle, Scythe Pistol, Gravity Cannon, Flamethrower, and Chakram. With these tokens on the field, I can use Moonlight Vigil to summon Weapon of the Faithful!"
We play on her bed. There are a few snack breaks and chats about school life, but we mostly play cards.
It's about 15:25 PM right now. My classmates must be on their commutes, and I'm sitting on her bed, having the time of my life.
It's such a shame, though. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event.
"I can't thank you enough for this, Shiho-senpai. This game would have been in a much worse place if it weren't for you."
"It's no problem, Aki-kun. Honestly, I wasn't expecting a lot when you said you were making your own system..." she lies, brushing away a stray hair. "... But this blew me away! The designs, the rulesets, and the passion you play with... I can't believe someone like you was in the same school as me, and I never noticed."
I laugh. Yes, it is quite bizarre how I never spotted someone with her appearance at the school until today.
She grabs my Weapon of the Faithful card, turning it around and marveling at the picture of a gloomy young man who avoids my gaze.
"How did you get them to animate like this?"
I gently grab it from her hand.
"It's a feature of the material... since I made them with my Pharaoh's Gambling Eye. But you already knew that, didn't you? Betrayer-chan?"
I could have pretended for a little longer. And maybe I should have since there will never be someone as eager to see my cards as her. But... I couldn't think of a lie to tell her now.
My words crack her mask like a proverbial stone, revealing the full force of her glare. There really is something wrong with me, because that cold, murderous expression is more enchanting than any smile she gave me in the past few hours.
Perhaps it's because it's not fake.
"You saw through me."
She puts the glasses down and reaches behind her, pulling off a hair extension.
"Not immediately."
Those twins from the Demon Hunter Club only gave me a vague physical description, so it took me some time to piece everything together. Shiho Miura, if that's even her real name, is a Demon Eye wielder who kills others of our kind and takes their powers.
The Betrayer.
I should have suspected earlier. This day was too good to be true for someone like me...
Then again, I'm used to it. Fiction that blends into reality.
We leave the bed with slow, mirrored movements, standing at an uneasy distance. It's close enough for my Demon Claw to reach her, but she's certainly fast enough to avoid it.
"You still came here and allowed me to see your entire arsenal of cards. For what purpose?"
I shrug. "I had no one else to play with. Your feedback was nice, even if you were plotting to kill me."
Her lips curl down in disgust. "That's... pathetic. No friends at all? What about those fools from the demon hunter club?"
"Hey, let's not sink to name-calling. You're the one luring high school boys to abandoned houses."
At least have some self-awareness.
"You're rather relaxed for someone aware they're a victim," The Betrayer comments, tilting her head slightly. "Have you somehow called for help without me noticing...? You do know that won't make a difference—"
"Because of your Eye of Philosopher's World," I interrupt. "I know. And I didn't ask for help."
"Pride it is, then. No matter. I'll show you the error of your ways."
What a shame. I still had so much to ask her.
With a single finger, I beckon her. "Come at me."
Our eyes meet with a spark of demonic power, starting the battle.
She explodes first, cracking the floor with her first step and brandishing a knife that had been hidden in her school uniform.
My aura surges around me to block her—
Space warps around us, blurring my surroundings, including her visage. Like a specter, The Betrayer shrinks and stretches around my barrier, twisting to avoid the chains and swords summoned in her path.
She's getting faster. There's a weight on me, a gravity pulling her nearer, and soon I won't be able to react to her moves. So I meet her halfway, left arm burning, growing, bursting from my sleeve and glove as something deadlier.
At the same time, she shrinks even further, now nothing more than a black wisp that's trying to get inside my eyes.
I let her.
The Betrayer's power takes effect, and her form becomes human again. My claw pierces her gut, painting her white shirt crimson.
She leaps back, landing on the shore.
Shore...?
I take a step back, and sand shifts under my feet. The Pacific Ocean fills the horizon, going as far as the eye can see. The morning sun shines down on my bleeding opponent, revealing a wound that's quickly closing.
We're in Okinawa Main Island.
I spot a small figure in my peripheral, and...
It's me.
A younger me, with black hair and caramel eyes. He runs to the ocean in snorkeling gear while his parents watch from the sand, resting under an umbrella's shade.
So this is my closest memory.
Could be worse.
"You... what did you do to me?"
I blink, and the mirage of my one and only family vacation is gone, replaced by the glaring blonde woman.
While she focused on dragging us to this place...
"I took away two of your eyes."
In a perfect world, I would have sealed all her powers and ended the fight then and there, but her supernatural resistance worked too well. Still, now she can't teleport with the True Conscious Blinking Eye, nor ignore reality with the Eye of Causal Immunity.
"Eye Of The Released Witch. So you had something like this up your sleeve," she mutters, rubbing her eyes as if that's going to fix them.
"I thought you did your research," I mutter in disappointment, reaching for my pocket and destroying one of my cards with that same eye. Goodbye, Jack Frost...
The sacrifice unlocks my Greedy Demon Vault Eye, and I flip open the grimoire that appears in my hand.
In the meantime, a red glow surrounds my opponent. Her aura flares out like a nova, mixing with the ocean. And here I thought this arena wouldn't give her much of an advantage...
"Drown in your memories and die."
With a wave of her hand, she sends a tidal wave at me, blocking the sun from my view, along with her.
"... No force in the universe can keep a mage and their spellbook apart," I chant.
With a simple cantrip, the grimoire orbits around me, and I use my freed hand to feed decks into the duel disk covering my demon arm.
I can't deploy anything for now, though. The Betrayer still has an eye that allows her to take control of Demons, and I'm not sure if it'd work on my summons too.
I also can't use Eye of The Released Witch again so soon. It might backfire on this dying body of mine. The same goes for my other trump cards... so I have to bide my time until it's safe to go all out.
The tsunami is finally upon me.
I take a deep breath... and sink.
Inside the shadows, most of my senses die. I can't hear anything. I can't smell anything. I can't taste anything.
All I can see is pitch black.
Then... a great, green cobra.
No. I'm casting it from the darkness, so it can only be one color.
Nine... ten meters in length. Its body thins out and sharpens at the end, like a blade. Fangs capable of spitting the miasma coursing through its body. Multiple heads...? No. Too awkward to move around.
From the shadows, I rise, and my creation stays hidden.
The Betrayer's initial assault turned most of the beach into a puddle. Giant spectral weapons hover above the shallow waters, and when she spots me, their edges turn to me.
Below me, my shadow expands, rapidly darkening the wet ground. Above, spears and swords rain down, forcing me to leap away and meet the knife-wielding woman.
I take the initiative with a twin assault, swinging with my right and sending ethereal chains at her torso. I didn't use my larger Demon Arm. With her speed and weapon, if she attacks, it will still reach first.
The Betrayer knows this, so she commits. That's when my serpent appears, swallowing her shadow and most of her lower body.
She throws her knife as a last-ditch move, and I lean aside, letting her get pounced by my minion—
"Guh!"
The weapon was charged!
Like lightning, the glowing edge sends a spear of energy through my body, and I stumble across the shadow-covered beach.
Damnit! I need to see how she's handling my snake! But the electricity is locking up my body!
Alright... one second. I'll let my Demon Arm carry me for one second.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
I burst to my feet in time to see her tearing my minion's maw apart with her bare hands and rolling away to avoid the explosion of dark energy.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
"Hah... Hah... Hah..."
I'm burning up. My arm took most of her attack... but I was too sloppy using its aura to reinforce the rest of my body. It doesn't want to go back so soon.
... this Heat is too much... I can't move my left side well right now...
Thump...! Thump...! Thump...!
However!
That's not the side I use to draw my cards.
"Draw... Deep Stinger...!"
A giant, translucent blue jellyfish floats by my side, spreading its tentacles to protect me from the weapons fired by her.
The Betrayer uses one of her Demon Eyes to heal from my shadow beast's bite. That's fine. I have no intention of killing her with poison.
She glances at her fallen knife. It blinks to her hand again, buzzing with energy.
"Why... aren't you using... more of your Eyes?" I huff, already knowing the answer.
... Thump...! ... Thump...! ... Thump...!
"They're not needed for the likes of you."
"Hahahaha... Draw...!"
Goodbye, Machamp.
"Eye... of The Released Witch!" I destroy the card, unlocking my Vault for a second time and devouring the Artifact in her hand.
I could have tried to erase more of her eyes. I could have tried turning her into a card. But I used my trump card for Remuneration because the look on her face is oh so worth it.
... thump...
"Five... no. Six minutes," I correct myself, feeling my voice steady as the Demon Arm finally recedes. "If you don't have any more cards to play, I'll finish this battle in six minutes."
She doesn't, because she's bluffing. Her Sin is Envy, not Pride. If she had a secret technique capable of ending me, she would have used it already.
She's not applying her other eyes because my supernatural resistance is too high for them.
"Hmph." The Betrayer cracks a smirk, replacing her knife with an aura-shaped sword. "You're setting yourself up for failure."
"You're so wrong, but also so very right..."
She walks forward, leaving fractions of her aura on each puddle she steps on.
I flick a sphere of dark energy at her. A brilliant spear bursts into existence to block it, but an equally blinding chain pulls it away.
Darkness. Weapons. Chains. Elements. Our demonic energies take shape and clash, creating a cacophony of ranged attacks. My only summoned card, Deep Stinger, gets blasted with electricity and pops like a balloon, dying moments after trying to attack her.
"Draw! Enforcer!"
On its place, I summon a blond woman in noble clothing. She cracks a whip at The Betrayer, forcing her to twist away and block one of my summoned weapons.
I'm confident in using my cards now, and everything started with that shadow cobra I summoned.
It was a test to see what creatures she could control with her eye. But she didn't even bother controlling it, ripping it apart with her bare hands. I took a gamble and assumed she couldn't control it because it was a mindless lump of my aura.
So, I summoned a creature without a sophisticated nervous system. That's when she tried to use her Soulseeking Eye of Invasion, to little effectiveness.
I know that eye. I have that eye. So when my grimoire registered it, I knew what I had to do.
Her mind control relies on bypassing physical defenses by targeting the soul. So I just have to summon creatures that have no soul!
Such as the Enforcer. A maiden who lost her soul to arch-witches.
"Draw! Iron Maiden!"
The Iron Maiden. An automaton in the form of a girl.
"How...? How are you pulling the right thing every time?" she mutters, annoyed.
What a bummer question. Even if she was only pretending, I'd expect her to know this much after hours of playing with me.
"It's the Heart Of The Cards!"
[High Times]
Of course, I'm not exactly swimming in soulless summons.
But I also have cards that resist mind control.
"Draw! Mewtwo!"
"Draw! Psylocke!"
"Draw! Deadpool!"
And while she tries to destroy them, I can push my advantage and take control of the beach.
"Draw! Sandman!"
Those western comics I read a few days ago are really pulling through.
The Betrayer glares at my Sandman, recognizing his soul and mind are unprotected.
Thus, I intervene.
"Soulseeking Eye of Invasion!" we shout at the same time.
I meet her inside a floating void that randomly flashes with images.
"From our reality to my closest memory, to a fictional character's memory... quaint, isn't it?"
She turns up her nose at me. "I've seen stranger things as a cursed one."
... What a wet blanket.
We land on an alleyway in what's probably New York City.
The Soulseeking Eye of Invasion is weaker than her Eye Of Philosopher's World, so we're more limited on what we can do here.
No Demon Eyes. No Demon Auras.
The Betrayer breaks past my guard, grabbing me by the collar and shoving me against a wall.
She fights with a technique and killer instinct honed through various battles with other cursed ones.
My technique, obtained by devouring several martial arts manuals and DVDs, exceeds hers. But my muscle memory is lagging behind.
She stumbles slightly as the wall behind me breaks, and I drag her forward, kicking her leg and throwing her on the ground. I wheeze as her grip tightens, then pry her hand away from my throat.
crack!
I roll away from her, avoiding a collapsing roof section.
Because we're both checking each other's powers, the extent to which we can manipulate this memory landscape is also limited.
A crack on the structures here and there, a convenient prop appearing near her feet...
Her eyes burn, twin stars gathering energy—
And she proves me wrong by making the entire building start crumbling.
"Hahaha!" I cackle, swiping a hand to create a strong wind that blows away all the rubble. "Giving up, are we?!"
Instead of achieving mind control, She's trying to mindbreak my card with these brusque alterations.
An earthquake rumbles below me, and I jump at The Betrayer before everything collapses.
Her eyes burn into me, twin stars gathering energy—
BOOM!
Oh.
Despite the supernova that killed Sandman's mind, I was mistaken...
I saw myself reflected in her astral self. She's not gathering energy, she's... burning out.
We both kneel on the beach, breathing heavily.
"You're... weakening, aren't you? Just like me."
She shakes her head, defiant. "... I'm nothing like you."
... True. I've been weakening from the moment my demonic curse took hold. She chose to be like this by stealing too much power from others.
I don't get it, though.
"If you take my Eyes, you'll die even sooner. So why?"
What's the point of walking to your own death?
She laughs, lowly, mockingly. Somehow, it's still a lovely sound. "You truly are pathetic."
What a cruel woman. I hold back my other cards from kicking her while she's down, and this is the response I get.
"I desire your power, so I'm taking it. Even if I must put my future on the line."
"Is that you, or the sin of Envy talking? What's your goal with all these Demon Eyes? Keep killing and stealing until you can't?"
"Until I don't feel like it."
She stands.
"Until I can gaze at any cursed one and realize I'm fundamentally above them."
Takes a step.
"Until I'm so powerful that taking what little others have is a waste of time."
And points an aura-made weapon at me.
She knows what she wants, and—
—even if her reasons are stupid—
—she's stronger because of it.
And here I am, unable to match even her boneheaded resolve. I'm fighting to live, but I can't say why I live.
To finish that card game?
To not make my parents sad?
To...
Protect others?
Yeah... yeah. Let's go with that. She will keep killing others unless you stop her, Aki Hitoyoshi. And she'll use your own powers to do it.
Live so they don't die.
I clench my fist and rise to my feet. My Demon Arm becomes a sword that crosses with her summoned one.
"Sorry for yapping so much."
I dislike wasting other people's time, but I had to in this case. It's my once-in-a-lifetime event, after all.
"You look less pathetic now, so it's fine. Just don't use this as an excuse two minutes from now."
Two... Ah. The timer I placed due to my Power Limiter.
Our blades clash, and I retreat immediately, wary of her electricity. My summoned cards come to back me up.
From then on, it's a masterclass in combat. Sadly, she's the one putting it on, fending off three opponents at close-range combat while avoiding getting caught by any telekinetic assaults.
Twenty seconds in, one summon gets trapped in a water bubble and flung into the ocean.
Fifty seconds in, another two die trying to rescue it.
Eighty seconds in, my Demon Arm flares up again, and she takes advantage of my paralysis to destroy three more.
I thought... that in a straightforward battle like this, her biggest asset would be the True Conscious Blinking Eye. That's why even if I couldn't take all her powers, I focused on erasing it first.
But I was wrong. With some time for hand seals, she can still teleport using a ninjutsu aura. Her biggest weapon is the eye that's healing all her wounds. She would have been killed ten times over at this point if it weren't for them. Although her life force is waning like mine, because of that power, she only has to worry about old age.
Her voltage ramps up, destroying my Iron Maiden in a shower of sparks.
"Draw—Guh!"
One hundred and twenty seconds in, her fist breaks through my barrier and sinks into my gut, pushing out all the air inside me, along with blood.
I summon a cushion behind me that stops me from rag-dolling across the sand.
Both the sleeves of her school uniform are in tatters. Most of her hair has been dyed red in our blood. She grins at me, daring me to say anything now that my time limit has come and gone.
She's beautiful. But I already knew that.
"Pharaoh's Gambling Eye!"
I flash the empty card at her, pouring all my focus into making her mine. I can feel her image burning into the card as her hands blur into seals...
A poof of smoke. The card's picture only has her glaring face in it, and it's already fading away.
I... I failed.
"You're strong."
I also already knew that.
But...
As much as I hate to admit it...
"... I can't beat you as I am right now," I sigh, dropping to one knee.
... my body's heating up again... this is bad...
A hand grabs my chin, forcing me to look up at her.
"I warned you were setting yourself up for failure," she chides, preparing to decapitate me.
Would that be so terrible...? She needs to off me multiple times to take my powers, right?
I take a deep, shuddering breath. No matter how much I deserve it after talking big, I have to keep fighting.
"Wrong. I honestly believed I would defeat you at that moment."
But as a duelist, I can't help but set up alternate win conditions.
Admitting my inferiority and kneeling before her... that should be enough Remuneration for what's next.
"Third Eye Of Purest Sin."
The Betrayer shrieks as half her body gets branded into the card at my feet. She tries to swing at me, but that arm too, is already gone.
I blink, and it's over.
Then, I fall on my side.
Thu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-Thump!!!!
Pure, overwhelming heat fills my veins. I hear an even louder scream than before and clutch at my wildly beating heart.
Thu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-Thump!!!!
Each pound of my pulse batters against my ribcage. I'm melting. I'm breaking. I'm turning the sand below me into glass!
Thu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-ThumpThu-Thump!!!!
I knew! I knew this would happen if I overcharged an already powerful eye! But my body should be resisting better!
Thu-Thump... Thu-Thump... Thu-Thump...
Ah... the heat... it's at its peak... my throat... I can't even scream anymore...
The sand disappears. The beach is no longer there.
Back inside Shiho Miura's apartment, I explode in demonic energy.
...
...
...
White.
Heaven...?
No. A cursed one wouldn't make it here.
Gray.
The smell of smoke.
That's more like it.
I blink again, then spit blood.
I'm a crater inside a ruined bedroom.
"... T-T-The..."
I cough. More blood pours from my mouth, but I have to get the words out.
"The..."
Wait. Using an aura after what happened is suicide.
"Hah..."
I should... breathe while I still can.
Yeah. That feels good.
...
...
...
I take it back. It's awful. The burning isn't there anymore, but every time my body moves, it hurts.
But I push past it and grab The Betrayer card at my side.
I smile. She looks far less angry than I expected. Grumpy, that's what I would call her.
Then, I reach into my pocket, leaving the card there and taking my Data Slate.
It's cracked. The power button is stuck, so I pry off the cover to press it better.
Thankfully, it's not broken.
i'm dying pls help [location sent]
...
Aren't you always dying?
i'm super dying then power limiter stuff [location sent] pls
I shall be there shortly.
I check on my things while she's not here.
The barriers and protective cantrips on my duel disk, grimoire, and deck prevented them from being damaged in the explosion.
Eight of my cards were lost in the battle.
I'm still alive.
"... Aki...?"
She's here... my knight in shining armor...
Mithran-senpai looks at my pitiful form with concern.
"What happened? You said it was a Demon Impact, but what forced your hand?"
"I... I ran up the chim-ney..."
She blinks. "What?"
Damn. My voice is all sorts of messed up.
Her eyes turn to my surroundings, but the darkness creeping into my vision prevents me from seeing what she sees. Is she... is she really looking for a chimney? It's an expression, Mithran-senpai...
"I..."
She shakes her head and shushes me. "Nevermind. Let's save the conversation for when you're coherent again."
"Ogey..."
Effortlessly, she picks me up and takes me...
Where do we go from here?
"Mari's place."
"Ogey..."
[High Times]
"See? Betrayer-chan get~!"
Once we get to Aozaki-senpai's place, I can stand with a little help from Mithran-senpai.
"Hn," she grunts and nods once at the card, so I pocket it. "So you called out her deception, forced her to engage prematurely, and won."
She tilts her head. "Why didn't you ask for help immediately?"
"... didn't want to."
"And can you see why that was a mistake?" A figure appearing behind her asks.
It's... me.
An older me, with longer hair and deep bags under his eyes. He wears a black cloak and holds a scythe under his arm.
I glance at Aozaki-senpai, and there's not a single hint of shame behind that mask. Is she really delegating her scolding to one of my nightmares? And what's with this guy's getup?
"The Grim Reaper? Really?"
The manifestation of my inevitable death sticks out its tongue at me.
"Answer the question, smartass."
Wow. I have a really punchable face.
"Not really. I didn't know where most of the demon hunters were. By the time any of them saw my text and got to the scene, I would already be stuck in her memory dimension."
"It's about the gesture, you antisocial prick. Learn how to put trust in them—"
I swing at the nightmare, but it disappears before I connect.
Aozaki-senpai sighs. "Lessons aside, you still took out a major threat to our society."
She reaches down and stiffly runs a hand through my hair.
"Good job, Aki."
Ahh... head pats from an older woman... so this is what I fought for...
Her hand retreats, and she flicks my forehead.
"Stop making that face."
"Too late, this is already a core memory for me..."
Mithran-senpai begins dragging me away, and I raise a finger to make her pause. "Ah, one more thing. While I was fighting her, I finally thought of a title for myself. From now on, I'd like you guys to refer to me as..."
Hey... since when could Aozaki-senpai clone herself...? And why do I have two right hands...?
...
...
...
I blink.
My two senpai look down on me.
We're in my room. I'm still in my bloody clothes, but my duel disk sits in the corner.
Huh?
Is this a dream? I was talking to her about my title, which was...
Damn. I forgot.
"How long has it been?" I ask, voice dry.
"You passed out twenty-one hours ago," Aozaki-senpai states.
Huh. I expected to be out for longer.
"We treated you as best as we could, but healing auras refused to work on you, so we had to do things conventionally," Mithran-senpai explains.
Wait... I never brought a demon hunter here.
"How did you know where I live?"
"We broke into the school records."
I nod. "Cool..."
I wish I was there to see it.
"Put yourself on house arrest for a few weeks," my stern-faced senpai orders. "Don't exert yourself. No Demon Eyes. No Demon Auras. Only mundane card games."
"I'll bring your homework," Mithran-senpai adds.
"Okay... thanks, you two."
They step away shortly after. I hear the gate to my home closing.
I'm... alone...
Before I know it, I'm pulling out my most recent card.
"Is Shiho Miura your real name?"
She blinks at me from her two-dimensional prison, then shakes her head.
"What is it, then?"
A smirk. I read her lips—
Wouldn't you like to know?
"Yeah. You're the closest thing I made to a friend ever since the demonic curse got me."
She turns around, refusing to keep talking.
So... I'll be in bed for a few weeks. Hopefully, no one blocks me on their Data Slates two days in, or else I'll be forced to play cards against myself... again...