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Sophie and Lily took their positions on opposite ends of the arena.
[Battle Start]
Surprisingly, neither of them summoned immediately.
Both waited, holding their cards, watching the timer tick. It wasn't until the fifty-second mark that Sophie made her move.
[Card Name]: Greystone Sword Master
[Quality]: Blue (Rare)
[Rank]: Tier 1
A young warrior in plate armor materialized at the center of the field, iron sword at the ready.
Lily summoned almost simultaneously:
[Card Name]: Water Servant
[Quality]: Blue (Rare)
[Rank]: Tier 1
A translucent, humanoid figure made entirely of swirling water appeared at the edge of Lily's half of the field.
Sophie followed up immediately with a second card:
[Card Name]: Shield Maiden of Ironhold
[Quality]: Blue (Rare)
[Rank]: Tier 1
A female warrior appeared beside the Greystone Sword Master — lighter armor, faster stance, blade already drawn.
Sophie's Psionic Energy dropped to zero.
Lily, meanwhile, played something different — a spell card:
[Card Name]: Mist Veil
[Quality]: Blue (Rare)
[Rank]: Tier 1
[Effect]: Creates a dense mist. Combat power of water-attribute units is increased within the area.
The mist rolled outward, blanketing both sides' summoned units in a thick, wet haze.
On the field, Sophie's two warriors moved to engage. The Shield Maiden struck first — her sword flashed through the mist and pierced straight through the Water Servant's body.
The water split apart on contact. Then flowed right back together. Within the mist, the Servant's regeneration was nearly instantaneous.
The Greystone Sword Master coordinated from the flank, landing a solid hit that sent the Water Servant staggering. But it reformed again. And again.
Two minutes of fighting. Zero kills.
Round two arrived. Both sides regenerated to 200 Psionic.
Sophie held her cards. Didn't summon.
Lily, seeing this, held too. The three figures on the field continued their stalemate.
"Sophie's losing this if she keeps playing passive," Ethan said from the spectator seats.
Psionic Energy in the early rounds was precious. You should be pressing every advantage, not sitting back. Sophie could've easily sent one warrior to stall the Water Servant while the other rushed Lily's crystal — force her to summon defensively. And that mist only covered a limited area. The moment the Water Servant left it, its regen would drop off a cliff.
"How is she losing?" Jake clearly didn't see the problem.
Ethan glanced at him. Of course you don't.
"Just watch," he said.
Round three hit. Both sides reached 500 Psionic.
Sophie moved immediately:
[Card Name]: Healing Flower Fairy
[Quality]: Purple (Epic)
[Rank]: Tier 2
A tiny fairy — barely three feet tall — appeared on Sophie's side, trailing glowing pollen. Alongside it, she dropped a Tier 1 white card: a basic Greystone Initiate.
Lily answered with her trump card.
[Card Name]: The Venomancer
[Quality]: Purple (Epic)
[Rank]: Tier 3
There it was. The gap.
Sophie hadn't deployed a Tier 3 card. She'd gone with a Tier 2 healer — and not even a high-damage one at that.
The Healing Flower Fairy fluttered to the front line and scattered a shower of golden light. The Shield Maiden, who'd taken a few hits during the earlier skirmish, was instantly restored to full health.
But The Venomancer didn't care about healing.
A wave of toxic purple mist swept forward from her hands, engulfing the Shield Maiden and the Greystone Sword Master in a single blast. The poison ate through their defenses like acid. The Flower Fairy tried desperately to heal, but her restoration rate couldn't keep pace with The Venomancer's damage output.
In seconds, both warriors dissolved. The newly summoned Greystone Initiate lasted even less — three hits and it was starlight.
The Healing Flower Fairy's crowd-control abilities? She never even had time to use them.
"Her strategy's wrong," Ethan said flatly. "Why would she summon a healer first when she doesn't have the damage to match?"
"She might not have a Tier 3 Purple card," Jake said defensively.
Ethan looked at him. Paused for two seconds.
"Dude. Do you have a thing for her?"
"What?" Jake's head whipped around. "Am I that kind of person?"
"We made a pact, man. Stay single together. You can't just go dating someone behind my back."
"I — that's not — what are you even talking about?"
The stammering was all the confirmation Ethan needed. He turned back to the field.
From the moment Lily deployed The Venomancer, the match was essentially over. Sophie had nothing in her hand that could answer it. It was like playing Hearthstone — your opponent drops a 10/10 on the board, and all you're holding is a fistful of 1/1s.
That was the fundamental problem with cards in this world. Purple-tier and above were unique — one of a kind. And Blue cards, while infinitely copyable, just weren't strong enough to bridge the gap.
The battle ended quickly. Lily won.
"The Venomancer is just too strong," Sophie sighed, stepping off the platform. "There's nothing I can do against it."
"It's not about strength," Lily said gently. "Your deck's core is built around team support, not dueling. It's just a bad matchup for 1v1."
"Exactly," Jake chimed in, eager to comfort. "One loss doesn't mean anything. We're a team."
Sophie walked over to Lily and hooked her arm through hers. "You went way harder on me than last time. Were you going easy on me before?"
Lily smiled faintly. "When have I ever gone easy?"
The four of them chatted for a few minutes before Sophie brought them back on track.
"We've all seen each other's decks now. Let's try a 2v2 before our time runs out."
Both previous matches had ended fast — less than twenty minutes total. They still had time.
"Absolutely." Jake slung an arm around Ethan's shoulder. "Me and my boy here are going to crush you."
"Then I'll pair with Sophie," Lily said simply.
Ethan didn't care about the matchups. His main goal was field-testing his deck against different card pools. And honestly? Jake was kind of a weak link. But that was fine — it meant Ethan would have to carry harder, which meant more reps with his cards.
It was just training. Winning or losing didn't matter.
[Battle Start]
In team battles, the crystals weren't in the corners — they were at the edges of the field. Each player had their own crystal. If yours got destroyed, you couldn't play any more cards, though your summons already on the field would keep fighting.
"For the record," Jake said, card in hand, grinning, "I was going easy on you earlier. You believe that, right?"
He was trying to imply he was much stronger than he'd shown.
"Sure, Jake." Ethan nodded, already drawing his own cards. "Sure you were."
He opened the same way as before: Spirit Crystal into Big Big Wolf plus the scrap yard. Triple deploy, round one.
Jake summoned a Greystone Sword Master.
On the other side, Sophie and Lily opened with familiar cards — a Greystone Sword Master and a Water Servant.
"You take the front," Ethan said. "I need a minute to build."
Jake didn't hesitate. He ordered his knight forward.
After sending the command, he looked over at Ethan. "Hey — that Spirit Crystal card of yours. What quality is it?"
"Purple."
Jake's face fell. "Damn. I was hoping it was Blue. I would've killed for a copy."
Blue cards could be duplicated infinitely — anyone with the skill could make one. But Purple cards were one of a kind. No copies. No duplicates.
"Yeah, I didn't plan for it to come out Purple," Ethan said with a shrug. "Just happened."
Jake sighed. "Story of your life, apparently."
PLz Throw Powerstones
Author here people asked me for bonus chapter well i have ongoing 6 fics 4 on this account 2 on my main account AutumnXd and i am working on another 2 fics which will also be reworked like this one and my own orignal fic so i am kind of overworked but for you people heart i will upload bonus chapter per 1000 powerstones i know its hard well that's why i am doing it atmost i will have to give 1 bonus chapter a week that much is manageable, so peace.