A Shadow Game with the Nymphs # 8

Grooooooar—.

A colossus whose entire body seemed forged from rock and steel dragged its enormous frame into existence, manifesting before the world.

At the sight of it, Ankh threw her mouth wide open and could do nothing but gulp down breath after breath.

"Th-that's impossible…. He actually succeeded in summoning a God Card? The kind of card that, if summoned by someone unworthy, could overload their mana and drive their mind straight into madness…."

The High Priestess Teto was every bit as awestruck.

Gripping her staff tight, she let her golden eyes blaze with light.

"To think he wields with such ease a card crafted by remodeling the God-Tree Artifact known as the Slab of the Colossus…. But the real question is whether he can break free of the omnipotence and desire that a god's power pours into its holder…."

Seo Yerim, arms crossed, simply scowled and spoke up.

"I don't know what any of that means, but just kill it already…!"

The Pawn Soldier was the living incarnation of a god descended upon this land.

And yet, it was also bound by the Rules.

After all, a freshly summoned monster couldn't attack on the turn it was summoned unless special conditions were met.

"I pass my turn."

Feeling my mana draining away at a frightening pace, I passed the turn along.

Next turn.

I suspected that would be the last turn I could handle this artifact with my own two hands.

'Now, it's my turn. Draw.'

The woman who called herself the Demon God Apophis drew her card without the slightest intimidation from the colossus that towered over the entire stadium.

Then she let out a hohohohoho— laugh, dripping with villainy.

'I will tribute one Dog Serpent and pay 3 cost to summon a Plague Doctor.'

A perfectly ordinary card.

And now it was my turn.

Turn four.

I drew a card.

"Draw!"

Of course, no matter what I'd drawn, my play was already decided.

A direct attack using the colossus, plain and simple.

"Pawn Soldier, God Hand—urk."

But—.

Thump-. Thump, thump—.

My heart stopped me cold.

"What? Why aren't you attacking? Hey! Ha Ildo! What are you doing?!"

"The master of the house has suddenly stopped his attack…!"

My hand.

The card that had just been drawn into my hand, Blue-Eyed Kore, seemed to be staring straight back at me.

And that card's appearance struck something deep in me.

"…What… is this…?"

Countless visions flashed before my eyes.

Days gone by, when I'd been bullied by 'someone', used by her, and now and then lectured one-sidedly until my ears bled.

The card Blue-Eyed Kore—so uncannily like that very someone.

"This flashback…, this memory that shakes my heart and fills me with sorrow—."

Why? Why was a past like that suddenly surfacing?!

I stared right back at Blue-Eyed Kore, which seemed to be staring straight into my eyes.

O Blue-Eyed Kore…! What is it you're trying to tell me…!?

I…, I—.

"—I will trust this stirring of my heart! I activate the 4-cost spell from my hand, Ultimate Plague, Capitalism…! Ultimate Plague, Capitalism sacrifices cards on the field to restore my cost by their levels and draw that many cards!"

It was an utterly heinous card.

One that Illinoi had gifted me.

At the sight of it, Illinoi herself jolted in shock.

"The House Master has no minions on his field to sacrifice, it is…! If such a thing exists, it can only be the God Card—, the Pawn Soldier itself, it is…!"

"That's right! The card I'm sacrificing is a god—!"

Tchk—!

I pointed my hand at the Pawn Soldier of Obelisk.

At that, Oinoi and Coris gasped in horror.

"A God Card…."

"…As a tribute…!"

Ankh seemed equally stunned.

Clutching her own head, she nearly screamed in disbelief.

"Th-that lunatic just sacrificed a God Card as a tribute! What on earth is he doing…!? Has he lost his mind? Did he fail to control the God Card and go insane in the end…!? Snap out of it…!"

The High Priestess Teto was no less flustered.

"S-such a thing—my clairvoyance through my King's Staff never foresaw it…. The greed that a God Card exudes…, and yet his spirit can overcome even that…? Ha Ildo, just what are you—."

Everyone kept chattering on about this and that, but I was unstoppable now.

I drew 15 cards, and with the 19 cost I possessed, I summoned the ultra-rare, ferociously powerful Blue-Eyed Kore.

"Witness this! My pride, my soul…! The very things she tormented without mercy…! Come forth! My servant!"

Poof—!

Blue-Eyed Kore materialized into the world.

And her appearance was, in every sense of the word, a Kore.

Seeing her, Oinoi gasped in astonishment.

"It resembles Kore Yerim, it does…!"

"This Coris thinks so as well, it does…! That card is the one this Coris gave him, it does…!"

"Indeed, this must be the result of the collaboration between Duel Stone Co. and Telos Co., it is…! The reproduction quality is needlessly high-tier, it is…!"

An ATKing 3000, terrifying Seo Yerim.

Looking at her, I felt a swell of pride.

To think the day would come when I could command that Seo Yerim like a minion!

Sure, she was basically a clone summoned by a card!

Even so, it felt like all the bitterness and regret of my past days—ordered around and chewed out by the real Seo Yerim over this and that—was being washed clean away.

"What is that?! That's ME!"

The real Seo Yerim panicked.

Regardless, I resolved to do what needed doing.

"With my remaining 10 cost, I'll activate the 5-cost spell Charge Assault and the 5-cost Awkward Two-Handed Grip! Through these cards' effects, Blue-Eyed Kore gains Rush, allowing her to attack the opponent the very turn she's summoned, and Two-Handed Grip, allowing her to attack twice…!"

Attack power: 6000.

Flames carrying that attack kindled to life in card-Seo Yerim's hand.

"Go! Go and burn the city to cinders! Annihilating Burst Flame!"

FWOOSH—.

A torrent of searing flame hurtled toward the new masked Demon God.

"Crush! Obliterate! Total Devastation!"

Soon the masked woman let out a pained scream—'Aaaargh…! Ha Ildo, you bastard…! You're far, far too strooong…!'—as the smoke of the explosion filled the arena from wall to wall.

The Demon God Apophis—.

No, Yu Ari slipped away from her spot under cover of the explosion smoke blanketing the arena.

"This much should…, be plenty of help to my Senior, right?"

Yu Ari had never once been possessed by the Demon God Apophis.

Because the ritual had never been properly performed, the weakened Apophis had been incapable of seizing her mind.

It was a plan built entirely around that weakness, and thanks to Ha Ildo and the nymphs knocking down the executives of the Tomb Raiders so easily, the job had gotten even simpler.

'The original promise was for Teto to handle the weakened demon god personally, wasn't it? I have no idea why she handed that turn over to my Senior of all people…, but thanks to that, I got some good experience.'

All that remained was to hand the power of the Serpent Demon God sealed in her body over to the Egyptian priestess Teto and convert it into a Card, and the matter would be settled.

The fallen gods would become vital resources fueling the growth of the 5th Industry.

And Korea—having jointly cornered the tomb raiders' conspiracy alongside Egypt—would share in those benefits too.

'Best of all, my Senior gets to have magnificently defeated a villain and saved the world from crisis, so his name will climb even higher. He's being ostracized by all the A-ranks right now, after all. Once ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I wrap this whole affair up, I'll post about ten concept posts…. Heh heh heh….'

As Ha Ildo's renown kept rising, the petty ostracism would surely fade.

People inevitably gravitated toward the famous and the successful, after all.

Yu Ari felt proud that she had become the villain who fed Ha Ildo's experience points.

'Secret support that no one ever knows about. That's my role.'

With that thought, Yu Ari headed toward the promised meeting place.

Click-clack—.

As she walked down the back alley, someone appeared before her.

It was Seo Yerim.

"Yerim, what brings you here? Imagine running into you in a place like this."

Yu Ari had already taken off her mask and changed her clothes.

Facing her, Seo Yerim narrowed her eyes into slits.

"Yu Ari. It's you, isn't it."

"Hm? What is?"

"Don't even think about wriggling out of it. You might fool the dense Ha Ildo, but fooling me is impossible. We were chained together as rivals by sheer coincidence of timing—did you really think I wouldn't recognize your technique?"

"…I have no idea what you're talking about? What on earth is this about?"

"Fine, keep denying it all you like. Then I suppose I'm free to go tell Ha Ildo, hm? That Yu Ari is a nasty witch who runs around in a weird spandex suit and a new beak mask committing all sorts of evil deeds."

Grrrk—.

Yu Ari scowled.

Seo Yerim scowled right back.

"……."

"……."

The two women, past the point of conversation, hurled themselves at each other with everything they had.

Tatatata-. KWA-AAAAANG—!

The moment their kicks—each aimed at the other's head, each drawn high in a diagonal arc—collided in midair, a thunderous crack split the world, and every scrap of electricity across the entire district went dark.

Flicker, flicker—.

The arena's lights kept switching off and on again.

Apparently the aftermath of the recent ritual had left the local current and signal conditions in a rather sorry state.

"Thanks to Ildo, the power of the Serpent Demon God Apophis has been greatly weakened. I believe I can handle the rest on my own."

Teto, ranked 4th among S-Ranks, praised my contribution.

Still, to my own senses, something about it all felt oddly unfulfilling.

Compared to when we'd faced Typhon Hex, hadn't things wrapped up far too anticlimactically? Of course, there were plenty of good reasons for it.

The Demon God Apophis revived this time hadn't fully returned to power, and I'd had a God-Tree artifact of national-treasure caliber on my side.

"A God Card truly is something else, it is…! If it were to be sold, it would assuredly be ex-pen-sive beyond measure, it is…!"

"This Oinoi also wishes to touch it, she does…!"

"This Coris also wants to grab the God Card, she does…!"

The God Card.

I recalled the might of the artifact that had been powerful enough to fill the entire field.

A power that seemed to flip the very weather and warp space by its mere existence.

If it had swung that attack freely…, what would have become of this stadium?

"…Ildo, then would you kindly return the card to me now?"

At that moment, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Teto held out her hand to me.

Her expression was extremely cautious.

I cheerfully handed the card back into her palm.

"You saved my life with it."

It had been a truly tremendous experience.

When else would I ever get to touch a God Card?

It wasn't as though I'd ever gotten my hands on artifacts said to be usable only by S-Rankers with the sanction of a state or an institution.

And there was no denying that artifacts were overwhelmingly powerful.

That omnipotence—the way it guzzled down my mana like it was nothing….

Watching me, Teto let out a soft chuckle—hohoh—.

"Ildo, it seems you have no greed for power. Faced with this searing strength, even my younger sister Ankh, who trained her whole life as a high priestess, fell to her own sense of inferiority…."

"Ugh…."

Teto clapped a pair of handcuffs on her little sister Ankh.

Apparently Teto would be handling the custody of all the Tomb Raiders' captives herself.

"I covet the power of a God Card too, of course…, but it isn't mine, so returning it is only natural. It was a wonderful experience."

At my words, Teto's golden eyes widened.

Then she seemed to gaze at the God Card for a moment before slowly closing her eyes.

"Plenty of people can say obvious things, but fewer than you'd think can actually act on them. You are a fine man, Ildo. I can understand now why my sister lost to you."

"Um…, I didn't lose, though…! I just let my guard down because of that weird Crazy Skeleton card…."

Shk—.

Teto then received the Serpent's Key from Ankh.

And she said:

"Ildo, you're holding a stone slab, aren't you? The slab of a tailed spirit. If you wish, I can unbind the spirit sealed within that slab for you."

Really?

The nymphs were absolutely delighted by this news.

"The priestess is tremendously kind, she is…! She reminds this Oinoi of the priests she once met at the Temple of Hestia, she does…!"

"Hurry and free the 'tailed nymph' sealed in the stone slab, she must…! A tailed nymph—this Coris thinks she would be terribly delightful, she does…!"

"This Illinoi objects, it is…! A tailed nymph? Such a thing is a some-thing that violates the order of the world, it is…! Rather than compensating with such a thing, show me the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠money, it is…!"

In the end, it was decided that the nymph trapped in the stone slab would be set free.

And it was only a while later that I learned the scene of me summoning the God Card and sacrificing it had been broadcast live to Duel Stone communities across the entire world.

"……."

My fame had grown.

Though, admittedly, in a direction that was just ever so slightly off from what I'd been hoping for.