Mau, the Gravekeeper (lv 1)
Type: Dark
Atk: 100
Hp: 100
Race: Fiend
A level 1 monster, indeed if you look at it, it's quite weak and has nothing special.
However, I know it too well.
It's not its skill, but its Passive, a very annoying Passive.
Gravekeeper: Allows resurrection of dark and ghost type monsters, as well as Fiend race monsters. However, if that monster is sent to the grave again after the Passive is activated, it cannot be resurrected anymore.
With that innate ability, it is very suitable for creating a combo.
The only lucky thing is that it is a very weak monster at the beginning of the game, so her summoning it here doesn't change much.
Well, if Aelith, or now called Yami Aelith, didn't have a card printer inside her bag.
"How did she do that?"
"What is that? The passive of that bat?"
"Changing form in battle, that sounds cool!" Lucas said excitedly.
Shut up Lucas, this is not the time for you to be happy when your friend is very worried.
"Mau! Use the skill Dark Territory!"
What the-
Immediately, the arena was covered in darkness, making everyone hard to see.
"Class Arthur has a student who can create this kind of monster? Quite promising." Riffon said, making the students of class Arthur beam with pride while class Charlemagne's faces all twisted.
Kaiser looked at the match, staring at Igor.
'Great, its skill is also a problem, I underestimated it too much...'
Area creation skill, one of the cool skills that can create an area of a type, making monsters of the same type increase 50% Atk and Hp while monsters of opposing types will decrease by 50%.
In addition, this area skill can last for 3 turns, and after 3 turns it will disappear, and the area creation skill cannot be used again.
Ah, spell cards that create weather are also counted as area creation.
Each different type area will create different effects. If it's a dark type area, it will make all monsters except Dark type have difficulty seeing because it's too dark. While an ice type area will make monsters have a higher chance of catching a cold and freezing.
Looking at the black cat licking its fur, now both its Atk and Hp are 150, meaning I have to hit it twice, which is extremely difficult because my monster only has 100 Hp.
"Wu?"
Fluffy now looked around because it didn't know where the opponent was, making me sweat.
"What's wrong? Worried?" Yami Aelith's voice rang out, her tone provocative.
"Yeah, can't deny it." I smiled, making her raise an eyebrow.
"Why are you smiling?"
I then looked straight into her eyes, my expression serious.
"Because I pushed you to this level, making you have to do something to change your monster and use this skill on my monster."
"..."
The opponent was right, she didn't believe there would be someone who almost made Aelith lose, so she replaced her to duel instead.
This made her lose in terms of fair play already.
Too bad I'm not someone who cares too much about fair play, ultimate victory is everything.
So...
"Can't deny that with just one weak monster you almost succeeded in defeating me, but everything will end here."
Suddenly, Igor heard a familiar music sound.
'...wait a minute, isn't this her theme?!'
Damn, the main character's theme is playing!!!
"Mau! Charge and attack!"
Her black cat immediately rushed forward, raising its claws to slash at Fluffy.
"Defend!"
"W-wu?!"
Startled, Fluffy immediately defended, successfully parrying the black cat.
'Very skilled at parrying, indeed a tough opponent.' Yami Aelith thought to herself.
"Mau, slip past it and attack the life core!"
Hearing that, I was startled and thought of the next command.
Seeing the cat preparing to raise its claws to slash, I realized there was a way.
"Fluffy! Bounce back with all your strength!"
Fluffy followed the order and bounced backward.
"Mau, dodge it!"
The black cat stopped, then jumped to another spot.
Fluffy then charged straight into my life core.
500 lp > 400 lp
"W-what?! What is he doing?!" Lucas was confused.
"Seems like his monster can't see anything?" Alvin thought aloud.
Kaiser twitched his eyes slightly.
I told you not to turn our class into a joke, and you do this?!
"..."
"Pfft, you attacked your own life core? Do you need me to let you redo it?" Yami Aelith laughed.
"No thanks."
I didn't expect my own monster can attack my life core, I have to be more careful from now on...
[Turn 1 ends! Draw card phase]
Cold Wind had cooled down, I started thinking while looking at that black cat.
Its speed is quite fast, plus its body is pitch black, making it hard for Fluffy to see no matter how hard it tries.
I need to do something. Currently this is the opponent's territory, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to counter it.
Think... Think...
I looked at the skills, reading the information.
Cold Wind: Releases a cold breath, with a 10% chance to freeze (note, ice type monsters can sense other monsters when in the cold breath area, this is a common feature of all ice type monsters).
Passive: Thick Cotton: Reduces 50% damage if the opponent attacks in close combat.
...I have a way!
[Turn 2!]
"Fluffy, quickly use Cold Wind on the arena!"
Fluffy blew out a stream of cold air across the arena, making everyone confused except Yami Aelith.
'He intends to use the cold to sense my monster? Dream on!'
"Mau, jump to the opponent's life core and attack!"
If the opponent has good Parry ability, it would be stupid to attack it directly.
Right when the black cat jumped toward the life core following her command and raised its claws, both Yami Aelith and everyone were surprised to see Fluffy had already stood blocking the life core from the beginning.
So the black cat slashed at Fluffy, sending it flying to another spot.
"Wu~!!" Fluffy shed tears from the pain, but it still stood up to continue fighting.
"What, it can still fight?" Everyone was surprised, Yami Aelith narrowed her eyes.
Only 25 Hp left, meaning even with defense, that thing would still lose.
"Alright, Fluffy, can you sense it?"
"Wu!"
"Hmm."
Igor's eyes became more serious than ever, then he gave the order.
"Attack!"
"Tch, dodge it Mau!"
Fluffy charged to attack, the cat dodged to another place.
"Attack!"
"Defend!"
Clang!
The cat's slash was parried by Fluffy, making Yami Aelith sweat a drop.
"Keep attacking!"
"Defend! Defend!"
Clang! Clang!
Two attacks were parried immediately, making her feel this guy was extremely difficult to deal with.
"Dodge now-"
"Attack to the left!"
Right when the cat dodged, Fluffy suddenly lunged at the exact spot it dodged to.
"What?!" She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Fluffy attack exactly where her cat dodged.
Bump!
150 Hp > 50 Hp
"Not done yet! Keep attacking!" Igor clenched his fist, his eyes shining.
Seeing Fluffy charging again, she sweated and started calculating the timing.
"Defend!"
Boing!
Her black cat successfully parried Fluffy.
Her eyes looked straight into his, his eyes shining, completely focused on the match without looking away.
She knew those eyes well... And why was there some strange music playing in her ear? (Igor Theme)
"Jump up!" Igor ordered, Fluffy stomped on the ground then bounced high into the air.
"Attack!"
"Attack!"
Both gave the attack order at the same time, Fluffy and the black cat charged at each other.
Slash!
"..." Everyone watched, not knowing who won the match.
Immediately, the Dark Territory disappeared, everyone saw the two monsters on opposite sides.
"..."
Fluffy fell down, its HP had dropped to 0.
...I lost.
"Igor Snowy from class Charlemagne, right?" Yami Aelith's voice rang out, making me pay attention to her.
"Yeah?"
"I will remember you." She said, then her expression gradually changed, her gray eyes turned into golden eyes.
The black cat suddenly moved like a PNG, going down to the spell circle and the demon bat was brought up.
"Ah... Thank you for trying your best." She greeted me then left.
I stood there, looked at Fluffy who had fainted, then sighed and walked over.
"Well, you tried your best. After all, she played with card printing while I played fair play."
"Wu..."
"It's okay, it's okay, go back to the card." I picked up the card, Fluffy then returned to the card, and I left.
On Aelith's side.
'Aelith, that guy is very promising.'
'Promising?'
'Yes, because at the very end, he entered that state.'
'Huh? What do you mean?'
'From ancient times, when the Demon King Furnit was still alive and the card battle system was still rudimentary, people who used cards to fight were always in life-and-death situations because they were hunted by the demon army for their ability to defeat the Demon King. Therefore, they were always ready to fight with all their might and fully immersed in card battles.'
Then Yami Aelith's voice became solemn.
'At that time, a state that only card duelists have appeared, the Absolute Flow. That state allows their minds to focus entirely on their match, completely ignoring any distractions, every aspect of the match is observed very clearly and their tactics are very fast. And once they perfectly achieve this state, that person can merge as one with their main monster on the field, feeling every sensation their monster experiences.'
'Everyone has this state, the important thing is whether their fighting spirit is strong enough to activate it. But that guy, Igor Snowy, did it. Although only at the initial stage, one thing is certain: his future is very bright.'
'...You talk more than usual, don't you?' Aelith said.
'Hmph, it's because he impressed me too much.'
Aelith then looked toward class Charlemagne, watching Igor walking down from the arena.
'We will fight again someday...'
***
After that class, both classes changed clothes and went to the cafeteria to prepare for the afternoon.
Of course I was noticed more than usual from my class to class Arthur.
But the malice was no less, specifically from Kaiser.
"What are you looking at?" I took a plate and walked to the cafeteria lady, seeing Kaiser behind me.
"I clearly told you not to turn our class into a joke, yet you didn't listen to a single word?" Kaiser glared, the anger inside him about to erupt.
Jeez, it was just one mistake of hitting my own life core and you're angry like you're about to tear me apart??
"Hey, that was just a mistake, why are you nitpicking so much Mr. Second Place?" Lucas jumped in, defending me.
"I don't talk to lowlifes like you, red-haired guy who looks like a chicken."
"I'M NOT A CHICKEN YOU ARROGANT FOUR-EYED NERD!"
So Lucas wanted to rush in and punch Kaiser if I hadn't stopped him in time.
"Enough, lose is lose. It doesn't mean I don't have a chance to fight again. After all, I don't have the skill to print cards in the middle of a match like she does."
"Print cards? You mean when her monster suddenly changed into another monster?" Lucas said.
"Wow, you're getting smarter. I'm proud of you."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!"
Then Lucas got his plate filled by the cafeteria lady, all super spicy food.
"Oh right, my uncle sent a reply letter."
"Huh? Really?" I suddenly got excited looking at him.
"When we're done eating I'll give it to you, I'm so hungry!"
"Move along, don't just stand there." Kaiser said.
"I know!" Lucas angrily replied then walked away.
Kaiser and I got our food and looked around, seeing Lucas waving his hand to call us over. Kaiser and I decided to choose a spot far from Lucas.
"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!" Lucas came over and sat down.
"Oh, there's Alvin, let me call him over." I waved at Alvin who was looking around for a seat.
Alvin saw me waving and came over, sitting with us.
"Congratulations Igor, even though you lost to a student from that class, you still tried your best to get there."
"You're making me hurt more."
"Huh? Hurt? Why would you feel hurt?"
'It's basically saying I tried hard but still failed!!' I cried inside, not answering Alvin.
"Oh right, I just heard some interesting news from the seniors. Do you guys want to hear?" Alvin looked at all three of us.
"I'm hungry, not in the mood to listen." Lucas said while munching, enjoying his food.
"Not interested." Kaiser ate his food elegantly.
"What's the matter?" I asked. After all, eating without listening to something would be boring.
"Well, a senior from class Gilgamesh challenged a Guardian."
The moment they heard that, the ears of the two who said they weren't interested perked up.
"...Are you kidding?"
"100% true. After all, I have a cousin in the journalism club."
Ah shit, paparazzi.
"So, who is the challenger?" I poked a piece of vegetable with my fork and put it in my mouth.
"I think it's Gutius."
Oh, so it's that senior? Confident enough to challenge a Guardian, as expected from a student of class Gilgamesh.
"Who is the Guardian he wants to challenge?" Lucas asked curiously.
"I think it's..."
I picked up my glass of water and slowly drank.
"The Fairy type Guardian."
"PFFFT!!" I spat the water on Lucas's face.
"..." Everyone looked at Lucas, who blinked repeatedly with his wet face.
Damn it, when drinking why do you always aim at my face?! There's Kaiser next to me, why do you keep targeting me?!
"...What did you say? The Fairy type Guardian?"
"Yeah, the Fairy type Guardian."
"..."
Dragon type... Fighting against Fairy type... Insane.
That Gutius guy isn't confident, he's just too arrogant!! Have you even looked at your own deck before challenging her??