The past eight minutes were the most difficult in Tristan’s life. He tried to get up and use the Stone to teleport to another floor while Polter distracted Dennier, but his legs wouldn’t move.

He knew he was suffering from severe exhaustion and stress; from the moment he woke up to now, he had been fighting. Escaping the pirates on the Topaz and Ruby floors, the fear of getting caught while crawling through the hull with Sir Barrihald, the fights on the eighth floor, freeing Eila and battling Dennier… It had all caught up to him.

Then, the sounds of fighting sparked to life around him. Shouts, cards, pain. The other passengers and crew of the Serenity put their lives on the line to help him while he huddled away in a room.

He forced himself up on shaking legs.

Someone ran into the room. He was about to summon his deck when he saw who it was.

Eila. He’d told her his cabin earlier, didn’t he? He couldn’t remember.

She stared at him bracing himself against the wall, preparing to run back into the fight.

She ran to him and hugged him so tight he couldn’t breathe. He mumbled his protest, but she only hugged him tighter and brought them both down to the ground. Wrapped in her arms, he couldn’t hear the fighting outside anymore.

They stayed like that for some time, until at last she pulled away and fiercely reprimanded him for not resting until his deck refreshed.

He told her to not let Dennier fulfill the conditions of her Field card, as that would spell certain doom for the hostages. He told her to not engage with her directly, just keep her distracted and on the run. Though they had the strength in numbers, Tristan knew Dennier had the firepower to kill them all if she committed all her casts.

They had to buy time and not push too hard. Keep her on her toes, but not force her hand. He knew she would be hesitant to fully commit since he was still around, and if she used up everything, then she’d be a sitting duck for him.

She nodded and then left him there. He heard her voice join the others out in the hall.

He breathed. He focused. He waited.

Until at last, the message came.

You are no longer in combat. Your [Main Deck] has refreshed.

—🃁—

The first time Tristan rode a [Teleport Stone] with another person, they had their arm cut off. A part of him was hoping that would happen again, though he knew that result had come from the Stone being damaged.

The world twisted in a vortex of light. No, he was the light. Him and Dennier, who he somehow was still holding onto. Their energies merged, and a rapid flurry of impressions passed between him to her, her to him, too quick to parse.

Then, the Stone spat them out in the lobby. Tristan fell with a thud, Dennier landing beside him. Disoriented, he looked up and saw her looking back at him.

The two stared at each other stupidly for half a second as their minds caught up with their bodies.

She was the first to recover. Tristan saw her confused face twist into a snarl as her arm came swinging, card in hand.

He [Backstepped] out of the way of the Attack. As he was on his side, the card pushed him backwards and phased him through the banister of the elevated landing they were on. He fell a short distance into the receptionist desk below, banging his head against the edge hard. Cursing, he stood up and leapt over the desk out on the floor, then spun around.

Dennier stood atop the landing, staring down at him. The captain was disheveled, her tied locs set free and swinging, a crazed look in her gray eyes. She was breathing heavily. Not a few cards in her deck were grayed out.

Tristan needed to reapply [Enforce: Reveal] on her, as the card’s effect had vanished when his deck reset. He prepared to do so.

“I had a dream,” Dennier said, and Tristan paused. She seemed dazed. “A dream of retiring. No more bloodshed, no more murder. Peace.”

Anger surged through Tristan. When his deck had refreshed, he ran out into the hallway and saw the bodies of the injured lining the halls. He saw Eila healing a dying man, and she’d shouted that Dennier was heading to the Stone. He saw her aim her card at that young boy. He’d just barely manage to cast [Dark Kunai] in time to deflect it.

And now she dared speak of peace?

“The only peace you’ll know is the death I’ll give you,” Tristan snarled, shaking with rage. “And even then, I pray the gods of this world drag you down to hell. Monsters like you only deserve the pain you inflicted on others.”

She laughed, a bleak, harsh sound. “Maybe you’re right.”

She pulled and cast a card into the air. With a roar, her Summon appeared. The lobby was large enough for her [Sky Wyrm] to fly freely, and Dennier leaped atop its back. It reared and roared, the sound shaking the air.

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Tristan pulled and cast Funguy and Polter in response. His two Summons appeared before him. Funguy brandished its lance, while Polter swirled in the air, Dark energy crackling around him.

For a moment, Tristan met Dennier’s eyes. The calm before the storm, the world fading until it was just them two. A strange sense of understanding came over him. Not of her as a person, but of her as a cardbearer. Her essence, her Duelist’s spirit. It was the same as his.

Both of them knew only one of them was going to come out of this alive. Both of them knew this was it, the final stand.

The moment shattered.

Dennier flung her hand forward, and the Wyrm descended. Tristan cast [Jetstream] and burst to the side while mentally rattling off commands to his Summons.

Polter flew up and cast [Ectoplasm], the dark goo rushing out of its hands; the Wyrm effortlessly dodged out of the way, and Polter barely avoided getting hit by the beast’s thrashing tail. Behind it, Funguy chased, his lance glowing as it used [Empowered Lance].

Tristan heard the sound of the Wyrm’s breath skill charging behind him. He spun around and saw the monster’s jaws open wide, Air energy coalescing in a ball. Tristan cast [Midnight Javelin] directly at its mouth, and the Wyrm abruptly snapped its jaws shut and rolled out of the way of the Attack, which flew by harmlessly. Dennier remained atop, bent down with her hand gripping the pale-blur fur rippling around its neck, like a horseman clutching the pommel of her saddle.

It seemed like she was content to use her Wyrm to wear down Tristan’s casts and preserve her own. He had to kill the beast, now.

Tristan ran towards the monster, who adjusted and rushed at him.

Now!

he thought to Funguy, casting [Devourer’s Shriek].

[Devourer’s Shriek] popped, the cone of shrill sound unleashing. It hit both Dennier and the [Sky Wyrm], locking her deck and locking the monster’s movements. Like before, the Wyrm broke free easily, roaring in anger.

But Funguy had already launched its empowered lance. It blasted forward, aimed right at the Wyrm. Under Dennier’s command, it brought its wings tight against its body and dropped down. The lance flew by overhead.

Then looped back around and slammed down directly atop the Wyrm’s head. The beast shrieked in pain as the lance plunged into its skull, and the beast arced down to the ground. Tristan ran parallel to it, judging its path, and cast [Sinking Sands] a little ahead of it.

Dennier growled, hair whipping about her, and reached for a card as soon as the [Stun] faded. She cast it not at Tristan, but on the back of the Wyrm beneath her legs.

That card manifested as another Order rune, which infused the Wyrm.

The beast suddenly plummeted straight down, its wings splayed out by its sides. It fell with a thud, mere feet away from landing on the Trap.

She used [Enforce: Kneel] on her own Summon to keep it from hitting my Trap.

She turned her attention to the lance, confusion writ on her face.

She got her answer a moment later. The lance faded back towards Funguy running towards them—and out popped Polter, who had used [Possession] to take control of the lance.

The shade immediately used [Chilling Breath], affecting both the recovering Wyrm—who was still alive—and Dennier. The [Fear] skull formed on her cards as well as hovered over the Wyrm. In its damaged state, the Wyrm appeared to not be able to break the status effect as easily as it had the [Stun], and it shrieked again, bucking wildly back-and-forth as Tristan set Polter to attacking it. Dennier was thrown off into the air.

Tristan chain-cast three cards at the falling captain: [Enforce: Reveal], [Predator’s Mark], and [Nightmare Cleave]. The first card landed square, and the list of her cards and their current casts appears back in Tristan’s vision. She managed to jerk her head out of the way of [Predator’s Mark], but [Nightmare Cleave]

landed on her torso, the massive crescent of Dark energy sending her flying backwards.

A second stack of [Fear] added to her cards. Dennier landed on the ground with a grunt, rolled for a bit, and immediately got hit by Funguy’s [Dash] from behind. Her [Armor] flashed red once more, the glass starting to crack, as she flew forwards, tossed around like a ragdoll.

He directed Funguy to go assist Polter in distracting the Wyrm, who had recovered and was trying to take off into the air. It looked dazed, however, Air energy misting out of the wound in its head. Polter badgered it from the side, but its strength wasn’t in basic attacks, and its duration would run out soon.

Tristan turned his attention back to Dennier, who stood up. The woman was shaking; was she afraid?

No. Dennier threw her head back and laughed. The sound filled the room, a manic, frightening noise. She jerked her head back forward and spat to the side.

Tristan cast a [Dark Kunai] at her, testing her reaction.

She simply let the Attack hit. The weak card barely made her [Armor] flash before she pulled and cast two cards at the ground. The System told him in his vision that they were [Command: Bolts], her Novice Order Attack. [Fear] made them both disappear and fly off in random directions, hitting nothing. The status effect faded.

Tristan could see from [Enforce: Reveal] that she was dangerously low on casts. She still had all casts of [Galeforce] and [Tornado] left, but the rest of her Expert and Adept Air Attacks were down to one or grayed out. Her Support cards were all low as well; notably, she had no more [Windwalks], her dash card. This was also her last cast of the [Sky Wyrm].

But despite all that, she had everything she needed to fulfill [Domain: Sequence’s] condition. He needed to finish her before she could.

Tristan sprang into motion. He threw another [Dark Kunai] as a distraction, which she easily dodged this time, then used both charges of a [Shadow Step] towards the Wyrm, who had just bit Polter in half. He heard Dennier curse behind him as he popped out beside the monster charging its breath skill.

Tristan cast a [Predator’s Mark] and [Midnight Javelin] combo on the side of its neck as the monster unleashed its breath at Funguy. The Lancer evaporated under the force of the attack; his combo burst in turn, status effects spreading over the Wyrm’s body, Air energy spurting out of its new wound in gushes.

But the Wyrm didn’t die. It somehow swept its head around, its breath attack carving deep rends in the walls in its passing. Tristan managed to drop to the ground in time, the icy-cold breath roaring above his head. He spun around, back now to the floor, and cast a [Nightmare Cleave] at its wound.

The Attack finished the job at last, slicing straight through its neck. Its breath skill cut out as the beast’s head toppled. Right before it touched Tristan, it burst apart.

But he paid the price for focusing on the Wyrm. As he leapt to his feet, two cards flew right at him, too quick to dodge.

The first one was [Enforce: Reveal]. The Order rune blazed on his chest, revealing his deck to the pirate.

The second was her final cast of [Wind Cannon].