Shadow Game with the Nymphs # 5

“This is the Night Pyramid—the one we took from Atlas.”

Seo Yerim, Korea's #19 S-Ranker, held out a palm-sized pyramid figurine.

It was a crystal-crafted artifact, and it looked enormously valuable. Sssss— A sinister mana also crept up along her palm as she held it.

Seo Yerim could tell at a glance that this was a magic item recovered from a rift—and among magic items, one so remarkable it could rightly be called a national treasure.

“What the hell is this thing supposed to be?” Yerim asked.

Teto, Egypt's S-Ranker known as the High Priestess, had been watching the monitor. She tightened her grip on her staff and answered in a soft, composed voice.

“It is one of the five divine treasures that seal gods. An artifact unearthed from the T-Rank Rift known as the Inverted Pyramid, which opened deep beneath the Valley of the Kings. The Night Pyramid has the power to siphon human souls—that is, mana—and store them away.”

An object that forcibly stripped away the mana a human being possessed. The mere fact that such a thing existed made Yerim's expression contort with distaste.

“You're luring criminals who carry this kind of dangerous item into Korea to wipe them out in one sweep. And under the guise of a tournament, no less. You really are a rotten person, you know that?”

“We extend our sincere gratitude for the cooperation of Korea and its corporations. The Egyptian government and Duel Stones will never forget this debt. May it also usher in a new era of positive exchange between us.”

Yerim found something about the calm, softly spoken Teto that rubbed her the wrong way.

Come to think of it, the card game called Duel Stones itself had bothered her too.

They claim the cards were made from stone tablets discovered inside a pyramid? And that they carry some kind of occult effect? And people just spread that stuff around the world and play with it like it's nothing?

Of all the ancient spells and hexes recovered from rifts, an enormous number had effects that had never been clearly identified. Was it really okay to broadcast a card game derived from such things to the entire planet?

“…….”

Yerim narrowed her eyes and studied Teto. If the woman tried anything suspicious, she would step in and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠personally knock her down a peg or two.

As that thought crossed her mind, Teto spoke.

“The ones you must beware of most are the tomb robbers who wield the Serpent's Ankh. The Serpent's Ankh can imprison souls within cards and stone tablets—or manifest them. Even every nightmare that was once sealed away….”

The surrounding space warped and was swallowed by darkness, as if night had suddenly fallen.

I could tell right away that this space was a kind of rift—one sealed off from the outside world.

“What is this?”

I tensed up hard. Just then, the woman clutching that strange key let out a cackling laugh.

“Then it's my turn…! I summon the 1-cost card, Mummy Seed…!”

Poof—!

A pale, spectral thing burst forth from the card in her hand, and in the next instant a bandage-wrapped, zombie-like creature stood before me. It was far too vivid to be mere augmented reality, and the smell of rotting flesh made it disturbingly, horrifically real.

Seeing it, Oinoi spoke up in a flash.

“Ahh…! Oinoi sensed wondrous mana flowing from these cards, and it turns out Oinoi was right all along…! The cards of this Duel Stones game must have been forged upon the mana ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of things that truly exist…!”

“Of course…! That strange key is surely a tool that liberates the mana sealed within cards and manifests it into reality…! It must be very expensive, that is what I say…!”

“Which means we might be able to use that key to free the tailed nymph trapped in the stone tablet…! Oinoi is terribly, terribly tempted…!”

Manifest cards into reality? So an object like that actually existed. Yes, that was definitely something you could call a national treasure—a genuine marvel.

“That's right. My Ankh's Serpent's Ankh can liberate sealed stone tablets and cards. Though only within the constraints of this card game's rules…!”

Tak—!

The woman who called herself Ankh produced another card, a 0-cost one.

“I also summon the 0-cost card, Delinquent Gang – Kim Dalgun. And with that, I end my turn.”

A 0-cost card. Cheap to play, but it had a measly 100 attack / 100 defense and no effect whatsoever.

And yet—

When I saw the manifested card, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

It looked so exactly like Kim Dalgun—one of the gang junior underlings Lee Jina had once told me about—that for a moment I couldn't breathe.

Hadn't they said he'd gone missing?

“That's not a regulation card, is it? So you can use unofficial cards too?”

“That's right. In this Shadow Game, it's allowed. And I can turn the losers of a duel into cards. Beat that card down, and the soul of this thuggish man will suffer genuine, grievous harm as well.”

You've got to be kidding me.

What kind of scam item is that supposed to be?

“Ildo, I've done quite a lot of research on you. They say you're a righteous man. So tell me—can you bring yourself to destroy this card? And can you defeat my cards?”

From the woman's words—her eyes narrowing like a serpent's—I could piece together what her deck truly was.

Most of her cards had been made from actual, living human beings.

“Ildo, what kind of cards would you and your adorable little beasts make, I wonder? I simply can't wait. You'd surely make splendid rare cards. Don't worry—I'll treasure you. So, so preciously—.”

It was, in every sense, a desperate corner.

With no other choice, I reached way back and pulled out the 'deck' I had completed long ago, back in elementary school.

Come to think of it, this was probably the first time I'd played Duel Stones since grade school.

“Ildo, a righteous man like you could never destroy my monsters.”

“Heh.”

I looked down at the cards in my hand. It felt like old memories were seeping out of them, one by one.

Tak—!

I drew a single card from my hand and laid it on the field.

“I activate the 1-cost spell, Cloth-Melting Slime Trap…! Its effect: deal 200 points of direct damage to the opponent—!”

“Wh-what?”

Ankh faltered. Then my card materialized and latched itself onto her body.

Wheeeing.

Ssssss—!

An acidic slime clung to Ankh's frame.

Wing-ya-wing.

“Kyaaaaagh! Wh-what is this thing!?”

Ankh shrieked as she watched the rider suit clinging to her body melt away. I hadn't expected even that to manifest. Incredible!

Ssssss—!

As the rider suit dissolved, Ankh's bronze-toned figure began to emerge into view. The truly astonishing part was that her skin was tattooed all over with strange, arcane hieroglyphs.

“D-don't look…!”

All her earlier high-handed swagger was gone; flustered out of her wits, Ankh scrambled to cover herself with her arms and hands.

Paying her no mind whatsoever, I studied my own card.

“My turn's not over yet.”

Tak—!

I played one more card. It was the 0-cost spell, Blood Sacrifice.

“This lets me pay for the cards I play this turn with 1000 of my own life per cost, instead of spending it. My life total is 5000, so I can pay out up to 4 cost like this—.”

“Ha! You idiot! Shave your life down and you'll feel real pain, like your very soul is being struck! You've never even played a Shadow Game before—do you really think you can endure the suffering of the soul…!?”

Tak—!

I placed the 3-cost spell Creeping Tentacles onto the field.

Three thousand of my life went flying. It was a dizzying sensation—but honestly, more bearable than I'd expected.

Ankh, however, could not seem to bear it at all.

“Kyaaa! Wh-what is this!?”

Sploooosh—!

The manifested tentacles coiled around Ankh's arms and legs, binding her tight.

“Ahh—! That is a most heinous torture card…! The master of the house was clearly a practitioner of the torture deck…! Truly cowardly and wicked cards, that is what I say…!”

That's right. The Creeping Tentacles I'd played was a card that dealt 1000 points of damage for every single card the opponent used on their next turn.

Back in elementary school, this was exactly how I'd run my decks—harassing the opponent's plays and bleeding them dry with pure, unadulterated torment.

“Ankh, I have no need to face your monsters at all. Thirty-five of my cards are burn cards—direct-damage cards—not field monsters. Your turn.”

“Y-you coward! You filthy degenerate! Pervert! Demon beast! Ildo, everything you've shown us until now was one great lie—a sham! You unclean wretch! You vulgar, vulgar man!”

“…No, I'm fighting fair and square, according to the rules.”

Slick, slick—.

Ankh found the sensation of tentacles coiling around her body absolutely, unbearably vile.

Turn two. Ankh scoured her hand.

“…….”

Ankh ran what was broadly known as a Minion Deck—flood the field with cheap 0-cost cards and seize control of it outright. Every one of those cards was an innocent hostage, its soul stolen and pressed into cardstock.

People could never bring themselves to attack cards made of fellow humans, and so they crumbled one after another under Ankh's one-sided offense, falling helplessly.

But things are looking grim right now…!

Her deck operated much like a squirrel-rush deck, flooding the field with low-cost cards in a heartbeat—which made Creeping Tentacles, a card that punished every card played, the purest possible counter to her.

“Come now, Ankh. It's your turn. For every card you use this turn, you'll take 1000 points of damage.”

Her second turn. The cost available to her was 2.

Playing two 0-cost, Level 0 cards meant eating 2000 damage outright. And yet passing the turn without doing anything felt even more dangerous.

Ildo. Because there was no telling what fresh 'torture' that man with the shining, handsome face would inflict on her soul next turn.

I can't believe Ildo was such a cowardly man! I assumed he'd run an honest, face-up field battle deck! I was dead wrong! You sneaking rat! You gutter slug!

Cold sweat poured from every pore of Ankh's body.

If I can just draw that card from my hand… if I can draw the card they call a god card, I can win. The card that summons by sacrificing the monsters on my field in place of cost—if only I can draw it…!

Heh-heh—. Laughing under her breath, Ankh attacked Ildo with Mummy Seed and Kim Dalgun, then passed her turn.

“Kgh! Wow, that really does hurt!”

The tentacles coiled around Ankh's body dissolved away, their one-turn duration spent. Feeling her limbs come free again, she taunted Ildo.

“Ildo, your energy is down to less than 2000. I'm sitting at 4800.”

“I know. This is my second turn. I'll use… the coin token that the second player receives. The player who goes second gets one token card that restores 1 cost at 0 cost, right?”

Ildo played the Coin card, bringing his total to 3 cost.

What on earth is he planning? Ankh watched him with taut nerves as Ildo laid down a 0-cost spell card.

“I activate Carry Over. It transfers all of my remaining cost to my next turn.”

“What? Ha! You fool!”

Three cost.

Ankh spread every card she owned across the field.

Using Archaeologist Amy, she even searched out the card she'd been hunting and stacked it on top of her deck.

Priestess of the Serpent God was a Level 10 card that could be special summoned by offering three monsters on the field as tribute. Its effect was terrifying—and devastatingly powerful.

After all, it read: When this card is summoned, deal 3000 points of damage to the opponent immediately.

Next turn. The moment I summon that card, it's over for you, Ildo! Whatever you do on this third turn of yours—no matter what you pull—it won't matter!

Ankh heh-heh-heh'd to herself.

Now it was Ildo's turn.

On his third turn, Ildo played a single card from his hand.

“I'm carrying over 3 cost from last turn, so I have a total of 6 cost. And the card I'll play now is a monster card—Masturbating Mad Skeleton.”

“Th-that card is…!”

Back in elementary school.

I had acquired a single rare card.

Its name was Masturbating Mad Skeleton, and it was an immensely powerful card. Back then, though, one question had nagged at my young mind.

What's 'masturbating' mean?

I had no idea. So one day ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠during class, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I raised my hand and asked my homeroom teacher, Ms. Kim Yeppeum, “Teacher, what does masturbating mean?”—and her face went crimson as she cried, “Ildo! Don't you dare make fun of your teacher!” and confiscated my entire stack of cards on the spot.

Looking back on it now, it was mortifying beyond words.

I still couldn't believe that story was real. It actually happened, I swear. And to this day, I couldn't fathom why anyone had named the card that.

“I smell the stench of a flashback in here…!”

Anyway.

As it turned out, Masturbating Mad Skeleton was a knockoff of a card called Great God Wiener.

And like most pirated counterfeit cards, it boasted absurdly broken performance.

“But you said it yourself, didn't you? In this game of darkness, you don't need a regulation card to play. The cards you and your ilk create get recognized as real cards too, Ankh. So this one should be perfectly legal.”

“……!!!”

The cost I had available was 6.

Six times 1000 was 6000 damage—and Ankh's life stood at 4800.

Which meant this game was my victory.

Grrrrroooooow—!

The Great God began to manifest.

Faced with that towering, overwhelming presence, Ankh clutched at her own face and howled.

“N-not this…! St-stop it, stooooop…! Eeeeeeek…!”

Ankh's life hit zero.

Drool ran from the corner of her mouth, cold sweat rained down her body, and she shuddered like a frog struck by lightning before collapsing to the floor in a boneless heap.

Seeing her like that, the nymphs shrieked all at once, as if to say now's our chance!

“It is decided! Everyone shall beat this wretched creature to their hearts' content…!”

“This Coris wholeheartedly agrees, that is what it is…!”

“Of course…! And while we're at it, we shall also steal that expensive-looking Ankh of hers, that is what I say…!”

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud—!

The nymphs piled onto Ankh and wailed on her without mercy, and the rift-like barrier that had wrapped itself around me shattered with a resounding crash.

What that meant was simple.

Victory—mine. Ha Ildo's.

“As expected, justice prevails.”