The Coiling Serpent #4
Chrrrrrk!
A deafening clash of metal gears grinding together echoed as a bizarre serpentine form erupted from beneath the Gorgon Swamp.
Instead of scales covering its body, the Chain Gorgon was forged entirely from iron chains, slithering ceaselessly with rattling clinks up the slender tree trunk.
★2 / Darkness Type / Snake Family
Stats: 1,000 → 1,300
“Chain Gorgon is also a Snake-type creature, so its stats rise due to the Gorgon Swamp effect. I end my turn! At this moment, three Venom Gauges stack onto the Gorgon Swamp!”
Ripples spread through the violet mire at the center of the field. Diego had made his preparations, bracing for his opponent's turn.
[My turn! I summon Mist Monkey!]
AS-1023 drew its card. Without a moment's hesitation, it slammed one from its hand onto the field.
Shoooo...
White mist seeped into the poison-choked field of the Gorgon Swamp.
The eerie fog coalesced into the shape of a small monkey.
★1 / Water Type / Beast Family
Stats: 900
[Battle! I attack Gorgon Taipan with Mist Monkey!]
As expected.
AS-1023 charged the Mist Monkey straight into Diego's side, as if it knew nothing but aggression.
Of course, the outcome was the same as the previous turn.
The Mist Monkey dissolved into fog as it lunged, but Gorgon Taipan crushed its core with ruthless precision in a single bite.
[The moment Mist Monkey is destroyed in battle! Its special ability activates!]
“...”
[Battle damage to me from Mist Monkey's destruction becomes 0, and I recover 1,000 Soul Points! Plus, I can summon another Mist Monkey from my deck to my field without using a summon right!]
Diego showed no reaction; he already knew the ability.
But then—
AS-1023 finally played a move beyond Diego's expectations.
[And at this moment! I activate a creature's special ability from my hand!]
“...From your hand?”
Diego stammered at the unexpected declaration. Glancing reflexively, he saw the wizard smirking sinisterly.
[When a Beast-family creature on my field is destroyed in battle! By paying 1,000 Soul Points, I can summon this card—Guardian Black Bigfoot—from my hand without tribute!]
“...Guardian Black Bigfoot...?”
Unlike any card AS-1023 had played before, it was a name Diego had never heard.
Diego didn't know every support card in existence, but his instincts screamed.
That's an Origin Card.
“What's wrong...? I never said even once that AS-1023's deck was made entirely of support cards, did I?”
The wizard sneered, driving the nail home. Before Diego could snap back, a massive ape materialized on AS-1023's field. He could only stare blankly.
Its body was shrouded in coarse black fur like steel wire. Standing about 3 meters tall—and hunched, so even larger in truth.
Thud!
Bigfoot, indeed. Annoyed by the sticky Gorgon Swamp clinging to its ankle, it stomped, leaving an enormous footprint. Massive even for its size.
★4 / Earth Type / Beast Family
Stats: 2,600
-Grrrrr...
Gripping a club fashioned from a whole tree trunk, Guardian Black Bigfoot flashed its rage-filled yellow eyes.
【AS-1023】 3,000 → 2,000
“Kee-eeek!”
[And at this moment, Mist Monkey's special ability applies!]
【AS-1023】 2,000 → 3,000
The Soul Points deducted for summoning Guardian Black Bigfoot refilled, and another mist-formed Mist Monkey appeared at its side.
Guardian Black Bigfoot shielded the Mist Monkey with its body, as if protecting it.
AS-1023 hopped in place, screeching as if reassured by the sight.
Diego saw the monkey's true heart in that gesture.
AS-1023—this monkey—likely yearned for the power to protect its kin.
Turning monkeys into Magic & Creature players. How many had been sacrificed as test subjects to achieve that absurd goal?
If AS-1023 had witnessed it all, its desire to protect its kind might have forged an Origin Card from its psyche.
Born from rivers of blood.
...But.
In the end, it escaped alone. What that implied was—
[Continue battle! I attack Gorgon Taipan again with Mist Monkey!]
“Kee-eek—!!”
—that it alone survived.
As if responding to Diego's thought, the cards shimmered. Visions of AS-1023's past flashed through Diego's mind like a panorama.
Most were scenes of helpless wails as kin died one by one.
...What is this?
A hallucination? Probably. The gray tower wizard scribbled in his notebook indifferently, proof it wasn't shared.
Maybe this is...
Resonance. When kindred spirits—or those whose 'vibes match'—play Magic & Creature, they sometimes glimpse each other's psyches.
AS-1023, with its faint psyche, hadn't seen Diego's. But Diego had seen clearly.
The boy's fists clenched tight.
Meanwhile, the magitech device on its head beeped coldly, issuing commands. AS-1023 clutched its head in agony but couldn't resist.
That device assisted its thoughts, selecting the 'optimal judgment' from them.
Sacrificing Mist Monkey. Not what AS-1023 wanted.
Just one fragment among countless possibilities from its small mind.
“Kee-eeek!!”
Yet that fragment led to killing its kin.
The Mist Monkey charged Gorgon Taipan per orders, pierced by its fangs, and fell.
Mist Monkey's special ability triggers! Battle damage becomes 0, recover 1,000 Soul Points! Summon new Mist Monkey from deck!
“Kee-eek...!”
[This special ability can only activate twice per turn. So no additional attack with Mist Monkey. But.]
-Grrrrr...
[Guardian Black Bigfoot's special ability activates! Once per turn, if your Beast-family creature is destroyed in battle while this card exists, it can attack once more this turn!]
Guardian Black Bigfoot gains extra attack!
-Kraaaaaah—!! “Kee-eeek—!!”
The enraged apes' cries of fury and grief echoed through the forest in resonance.
Hot bloody tears streamed from their eyes.
[Battle! Attack Gorgon Taipan with Guardian Black Bigfoot!]
-Kroooaaar—!!
A guttural roar shook the midnight forest.
The massive ape, tears of blood streaming, charged across the bubbling violet swamp toward Diego's lair of serpents. Its crude wooden club creaked under its iron grip.
Its towering 3-meter frame and huge feet cleaved through the mire in seconds, bringing it before the viper.
-Hiss!
Gorgon Taipan hissed threateningly—a sound that would buckle ordinary knees—but to the furious Bigfoot, it was mere defiance.
Whoosh!
A heavy thud cut the air, followed by the crunch of wood and flesh shattering.
Guardian Black Bigfoot's club smashed Gorgon Taipan tree and all.
“Tch...!”
【Diego Borromeo】 Soul Points: 5,000 → 2,660
Diego's Soul Points plummeted by nearly half in one blow. Grimacing, he prepared for the next.
Guardian Black Bigfoot's attack wasn't over.
[Continue with Guardian Black Bigfoot—attack Snake Shaman - Gorgon Witch Doctor!]
Drool spilled from the beastly ape's maw. Its jaundiced eyes fixed on the nearby Snake Shaman.
The Gorgon Witch Doctor, piping a frantic melody in resistance, froze under that murderous glare—like a mouse before a snake. Ironic.
-Kroooaaar—!!
The club that crushed Gorgon Taipan swung again, slicing wind, pulverizing the Gorgon Witch Doctor's lower body, splintering trees.
Only wreckage remained in fury's wake.
“Urk...!”
【Diego Borromeo】 Soul Points: 2,660 → 710
Diego's Soul Points nosedived. Barely enough for one more hit.
Fortunately, the huffing Guardian Black Bigfoot lumbered back to its side.
“Heh heh heh... Quite the comeback. Successful enough, I'd say...”
The wizard muttered ominously.
“Oh, can we add one more condition if we win? Recommend a top Nicola Class first-year student. For AS-1023's duel data. What do you say? Winners take all, right?”
The wizard, having gauged Diego's inferiority complex, provoked deliberately, knowing he'd refuse.
Sure enough, Diego's furious glare shot back—but.
...Huh?
Beneath those razor-sharp eyes flickered not the rage the wizard expected.
Instead of retorting, Diego turned to AS-1023 and Guardian Black Bigfoot.
If facing an academy student, Diego might have burned with envy again.
Why can't I have a card as strong as Guardian Black Bigfoot? Or Ricardo's dragon?
But now.
Crushed by Alberto, fleeing to this forest, embracing his 'serpent' self.
Facing an opponent that mirrored him yet wallowed deeper in misery.
Feeling that wretched past not with eyes, but heart.
Diego's mind settled strangely calm. Oddly so.
The hellfire of inferiority still bubbled deep in his psyche. Of course.
Inferiority, jealousy, rage... Decades of thick, dark emotions wouldn't vanish overnight.
But one dormant feeling stirred faintly amid the muck.
Pity.
His mother, wasting away yet whispering he could be a true noble, a dragon.
Shunned by her one-night lover, scorned by wife and son as a commoner.
The pity he'd felt for her—thought extinguished when she left this world—now flickered faintly in Diego's heart.
Guardian Black Bigfoot. A high-rank beast that bursts forth with superior combat prowess if conditions met.
But its emergence demanded kin's sacrifice.
Just as AS-1023 awakened its Origin Card witnessing countless deaths.
Guardian Black Bigfoot embodied the monkey's blazing rage—and the powerlessness and sorrow of failure.
Diego felt anger from that truth.
Not for himself, but for another.
“My turn.”
Diego placed a card atop his deck. A pulsing throb raced up his fingers to his heart.
Thump. His heart responded. Like rejoicing at the revived light after long wait.
...Origin Cards are born from a player's psyche.
Usually requiring extraction and processing magic; Federico Academy scans students periodically.
If a new wave detected, they craft and provide it.
But rarely, one awakens spontaneously. Without magic.
Dramatic trigger. Psyche shift... Or tiny but real growth.
As with Diego now.
“...You remember, wizard.”
“Pardon?”
“If I win this, you end your idiotic experiment.”
“Yes, of course. But.”
The wizard smirked.
“Can you? Soul Points under 1,000 now... Chain Gorgon falls next turn, and it's over?”
“Hmph.”
Diego snorted. His jet-black eyes, shining clearer than before, glared unwavering.
“Whether I can isn't for you to decide.”
His grip tightened on the top card.
“It's for me—and my cards!”
The new card drew smoothly, almost eagerly. Staring at the faintly pulsing card, Diego's eyes widened.
“This is...?”
A card he'd never slotted. Never even seen.
Now in his hand.