The three orbs spun around the Gravesoul Tyrant, before finally flying towards Crosses fighters.

  Two struck his Steampunk Tank, destroying it, while only one struck the Harbinger of Discord, leaving him 4 Life from getting the second Harbinger into play.

  “A risky move that played off,” Balthazar declared neutrally. “Now Gravesoul Tyrant, direct attack.”

  The figure lifted its hand, and Cross felt something around his ankles.

  Glancing down he saw skeletal hands reaching through the ground to take hold of him as his Life dropped to 78, still 10 higher than his opponent.

  “And now you get two turns before I can play another fighter,” Balthazar noted, “but I highly doubt you'll have any you can play in your turn, leaving the advantage with me. Turn end.”

  “Draw.”

  Cross blinked at seeing his new card.

  Some of the older players he'd run across, mainly those who had faced some defeat that landed them in the Heaps, had told him that there was a spirit or soul in a players deck, that may help them with the exact draw they needed if the players bond was strong enough.

  It had even been given a name by a particularly spiky haired former player, the heart of the cards.

  Cross had always dismissed this as just meaningless superstition, reading too far into matters of chance.

  But right now, he found himself questioning that belief.

  “Summon Barrier W0LF,” he declared, calling forth one of the few cards from his deck he knew had spawned in the Heaps.

  Barrier W0LF

  Atk: 4 Def: 8 Life: 8 Level: 2

  Passive effect: at the end of your turn, create a W0LF PUP (Atk: 0 Def: 0 Life: 1 Level: 1, Passive effect: while you control another ‘W0LF’ fighter, your opponent cannot target this fighter for attack) in play

  The fighter that appeared was a four legged robot, panels of glowing light hovering over its joints and other weakpoints.

  It was the sort of fighter where its effect indicated it should be part of an archetype (like Bloodstone Tyrant, in hindsight), but he'd never seen any other W0LF cards and, like with Bloodstone Tyrant, could have just been referring to other copies of itself with its effect.

  It was also his strongest means of getting extra levels for his fighters, the W0LF keeping the PUPs safe while it remained in play even as it summoned more.

  If he had only been able to summon it more often, instead of only when both cards would be destroyed in the very next turn.

  Or he could have used special draw, but from experience using that for a level 4 fighter next turn was better than grabbing a level 2.

  “Harbinger, attack,” he commanded, a distortion passing over the Tyrant and leaving it at 13 Life, still over two thirds but that wasn't too important given its Atk was too low to do anything next turn.

  “And turn end.”

  One of the glowing panels on the W0LF fell off, forming into the first W0LF PUP as a new one formed on the original W0LF.

  Balthazar placed an eighth card in his hand, a two card advantage over Cross.

  “Turn end.”

  A soft glow covered his Tyrant, as it healed up to 18 Life.

  “Draw.”

  Another circumstantial card, one that he had kept in his deck to pair with Barrier W0LF if he could get it out.

  “Activate Level Lock,” he declared, placing the card directly into play. “By paying two levels, I can prevent you from gaining any levels next turn.”

  “I recognise that card, belonged to a scammer who used a stall deck,” Balthazar noted. “He would try to set up an ongoing Life drain, then block his opponent from playing until he could win. I had hoped I would never see it again after I destroyed that copy.”

  Cross blinked in surprise.

  “Er, you do know that anything that should be destroyed just ends up in the Heaps? That's how we get most of our cards and tradeables.”

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  “So, it is more than just what is thrown out. I will make sure to deal with further such incidents with more finality.”

  “Right. Well, Harbinger of Discord, attack Gravesoul Tyrant, and turn end.”

  The distorted attack dropped the Tyrant to 12 Life before a second PUP detached from Barrier W0LF.

  Balthazar added a ninth card to his hand and ended his turn again, his fighter returning to 17 Life.

  “Draw.”

  At last Cross was practically free to play any fighter from his hand, without sacrificing a level engine.

  The thought briefly crossed his mind how useful Barrier W0LF would be in a Tyrant deck, turning the two every three turns fighters into a one per turn as long as the W0LF survived the opponents fighters, but dismissed it to focus on the current match.

  All he needed was a fighter with 19 Atk, or 25 if he wanted to do damage right now, with enough Def to survive the next Tyrant.

  Or rather, enough Life, as most Tyrants seemed to have effects that let them deal damage that ignored Def.

  And in his seven card hand…

  “I sacrifice my W0LF PUPs to summon Martial-arts Scary Mascot!”

  It was one of his cards that Cross felt confident in stating belonged to an archetype, but he didn't exactly have any way to know what that archetype might be, each part of its name having archetype potential.

  Martial-arts Scary Mascot

  Atk: 20 Def: 8 Life: 17 Level: 4

  Condition: this card is the target for an attack, the first time in a turn

  Conditional effect: redirect the attack to another fighter you control that is a valid target for that attack

  The fighter was a technically humanoid figure, with odd proportions and covered in white fur, its head bearing enormous eyes and a cavernous mouth hanging open in a creepy smile, something hinting at being on the edge of visibility within from Crosses prior experience.

  “My Mascot and Harbinger will attack your Tyrant, while my Barrier W0LF attacks directly!”

  The Mascot lunged in, striking the cloaked figure with a quick combination of strikes moments after the Harbingers distortion hit and destroying the Tyrant, leaving the W0LF to bite at Balthazar directly, dropping his Life to 64.

  “Turn end.”

  As another W0LF PUP appeared in the arena, Balthazar drew a card, glaring at it briefly before adding it to his hand.

  “I'm not about to sacrifice a Tyrant this turn to protect some Life,” he declared, “not when I'll need a couple to destroy the Mascot. Turn end.”

  “Draw,” Cross declared, feeling hope budding within him that he could actually win this.

  The opening stages of the game had heavily favoured Balthazar, and his Harbinger felt closer to a liability than a benefit against an opponent who knew better than to destroy it, but now he was getting an extra turn clear of fighters on his opponents side of the arena.

  Granted he was going to play two next turn, but Tyrants didn't seem to play well together.

  A quick scan of his hand confirmed a lack of low level fighters, and the other cards not useful at this point, leaving him little choice in what to do.

  “Harbinger, W0LF and Mascot, direct attack!”

  The combined attacks dropped Balthazar to 26 Life, a staggering drop that placed him nearly far enough below his own to consider the match decided.

  “Turn end,” he declared, a second W0LF PUP appearing.

  Balthazar drew his next card, nodding at the sight of it.

  “I summon Tyrants Assassin,” he stated, placing the card down, before adding a second from his hand, “and Tyrants Guard.”

  Tyrants Assassin

  Atk: 28 Def: 0 Life: 4 Level: 3

  Condition: this card destroys a fighter in battle

  Conditional effect: deal 5 damage to your opponent

  Tyrants Guard

  Atk: 4 Def: 19 Life: 8 Level: 3

  Passive effect: this card is immune to loss of Life through any means but damage from being attacked

  Condition: a ‘Tyrant’ fighter other than a ‘Tyrants’ fighter is targeted for attack, any number of times per turn

  Conditional effect: deal 5 damage to the attacking fighter

  The two fighters were less imposing than the other Tyrants, clearly mortal servants of the rulers, one armed with an array of hidden weapons, the other in a heavy suit of armour and wielding nothing but a shield.

  “Tyrants Guard, attack the Mascot,” Balthazar ordered coldly.

  “But its Atk is too low to do anything,” Cross protested, “your fighter is only going to lose most of its Life.”

  “Its effect protects it from rebound damage,” Balthazar corrected, “and your Mascot only activates its effect the first time it is targeted each turn.”

  Cross realised what he meant as he watched the Guard throw a feeble punch at the Mascot, only to be smoothly countered and thrown back.

  “Tyrants Assassin, destroy the Mascot.”

  The Assassin vanished briefly, appearing moments later to sink his knives into the Mascots back, before throwing one at Cross to drop him to 73 Life and leave him clutching at his chest where the knife had landed, the pain matching that of some of his worst accidents in the Heaps.

  “Turn end.”

  “Draw,” Cross coughed out, his new card appearing before him.

  Right, he was down to the W0LF, with two PUPs, his low Life Harbinger, and four levels to spend on top.

  Enough to play any fighter bar a level X, which all supposedly had some restrictive effect or requirement to play them (which the two he'd seen certainly bore out).

  He just needed at least 27 Atk to to destroy the Guard, and he could win before Balthazar could play another fighter.

  And he had just what he needed, from his opening hand.

  “I sacrifice both my W0LF PUPs to summon Unstable Behemoth,” he declared, bringing out the fighter with the highest base Atk of all the cards to grace the Heaps.

  Unstable Behemoth

  Atk: 60 Def: 0 Life: 2 Level: 6

  On destruction: the controlling player takes damage equal to this cards current Atk

  The fighter was composed entirely of trash, dwarfing the rest of the fighters in the arena abd brushing the ceiling.

  “Unstable Behemoth, attack Tyrants Guard! Barrier W0LF, attack Tyrants Assassin! Harbinger of Discord, direct attack!”

  The attacks landed, destroying the last Tyrants and reducing Balthazar to just 12 Life.

  “And I end my turn,” Cross finished, panting slightly as another PUP appeared.

  Balthazar drew his final card.

  “I must admit I underestimated you. Do not believe things would have turned out this way if I'd taken you seriously ftom the start,” he warned. “But I shall not contest the result, you win fair and square. Turn end.”

  “Draw. Harbinger of Discord, attack.”

  The distortion passed over Balthazar, dropping his Life to 0 and ending the match.