The woman before him was mesmerizing, yet strange . She moved with the grace of a dancer, her eyes calculating, intaking Clyde inside and out . In fact, she seemed predatorily . Her golden dress looked fancy enough to immediately draw the gazes of a king's court . A contrast to the robes worn on the card .

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"Come, take a seat anywhere," she said in a musical voice . Despite making it sound like a choice, the sorceress sat him on the bed . "Give me your pledging words . "

Somehow, Clyde knew them without being instructed—he just did . They flowed out of his tongue, a chant and a song .

"Let my strength reawaken the golden veil between our worlds . My essence becomes one with the cards . My deck leader, Amina, I call you into this world . Into my heart . "

The sorceress seemed giddy from the words . She walked over to Clyde and surprised the young man with an undeserved kiss . It took him a second to realize that's how she made her deals . Magic-style .

"With that sealing oath kiss, my power is yours," she whispered . "My power, heart, essence . I hope we'll get to know each other, very well . "

[Your relations.h.i.+p with Amina has changed from neutral to interested . ]

[You have received the rest of the Sorcerer's Creed deck . Congratulations, you can now challenge card bearers to a duel . You may choose a Real game with stakes, Non-real without stakes, or a practice game, a game without the magic used to summon attackers or events . Warning: there are dark forces out there that can only be dealt with via the game of Stone-Tokken . Losing to them will have dire consequences . ]

Just like that, he was back in the restaurant . Dark and Selkie's stares seemed to penetrate him . Glowing gold marks that looked trees briefly flickered on the Clyde's wrists before fading out of existence .

"The tree of life," Dark hissed . "Never thought I'd see it . " He looked at Clyde . "I suppose you're going to gloat . "

"Gloat?" Clyde said, "no . " He shook his head . "I think I need therapy . Maybe guidance . Because over and over, I keep allowing myself to get pulled into things . " He rested an elbow on the table . "So, there are dark forces and losing to them ensures dire consequences . Shadow realm s.h.i.+t probably . G.o.ddammit . What did you trick me into? Don't answer that . I know . The deities above were going to sign me up for this whether I wanted to play or not . None of them understand what's like to be ripped from your world and thrown into both heaven and h.e.l.l . "

Dark nodded .

"No use complaining about it now . Unless you want to surrender your powers to me . "

Clyde shook his head .

"Even I know it doesn't work like that . "

"Not when you're born with the power," Selkie said .

"What? What do you mean, born with this?" Clyde said, raising an eyebrow .

"You were born with your powers," she said . "Anyway, I've said too much . Way too much . Dark, teach him the game but don't challenge him in anything other than a practice match, then let's go . We've got a few hours left to get to the airport . "

"Can we take this somewhere else?" Clyde said .

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"We could always go outside in the heat," Dark said .

"And what, play on the ground?" Clyde said .

"No, a real game will summon something like a mat in front of you, midair," Dark said . "Suitable for a supreme being like me . But… well, you've seen Yu-gi-oh, right?"

"Don't tell me the—"

"Yep," Dark said . "And you'll lose real HP . " He gave Clyde an evil grin . "Hope you enjoy the game . "

"Well, I guess this is far from the worse decision I've made," Clyde said, voice tinged with a little sarcasm . "Let's get this over with . I suppose you're not going to go easy on me . "

"The lord of the dark goes easy on no one," Dark said .

Dark started with the basics of the game . Summon attackers and deplete your opponent's life force . Each player is still subjected to HP damage during a Real or Non-real game .

The chuuni drilled Clyde on the basics for nearly an hour until he felt the young man was ready for a practice game .

"Let's roll for first," Dark said, pulling out a small die . "In a Real or Non-real game, it's determined at random by…well, you'll see . "

[You have accepted a practice duel with Dark . ]

"Six to your four . I'll start with this . Summon attacker Dark Flow, Hines . Go . "

"The practice game is going to feel dull," Selkie said . "But in the Real and Non-real, the environment can change . Also, there is no limit on the number of players in a fight, so if you're outnumbered, run . "

[Field, opponent: Dark Flow, Hines . ]

Clyde drew from his deck, his hand now containing six cards . First-turn opponents weren't allowed to draw .

"First, I'll play… . Fever Draw . Paying two hundred life force . Draw two cards . I uhmm . . "

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He was a little disappointed to not draw his deck leader until he saw the card that could remedy that . The cards in his hand seemed to s.h.i.+mmer and vibrate . "Let's try this guy out . "

[Field, you: SC- Druid Karla . ]

"Her effect when summoned allows me to add a Sorcerer's creed card from my deck to my hand then—"

"Yeah, no, Hine's effect triggers," Dark said, thrusting out his right hand . Clyde frowned .

[Field, opponent: Hine's instant effect . ]

"Once per turn, during any turn, I can deactivate your silly effect by discarding one Dark Flow attacker . " He smirked . "Get that s.h.i.+t out of here . "

Clyde's eyes widened . He also realized that both the chuuni and Selkie took this game very seriously . Too bad his effort was wasted .

[Field, you, Druid Karla's effect . ]

"Nice try but Karla's other effect, which is also an instant, deactivates your effect first then destroy it . "

"What?" Dark said . Clyde was surprised it wasn't one of those over exaggerated anime yells .

"Now I'll add my deck leader if you don't mind . "

"Actually, do mind—I know how powerful that card is," Dark said . "So eat this . Action card, instant . Falling down . " He made to sure to play that after Clyde added his deck leader . "We both shuffle our hands into the deck and draw the same number of cards and then one extra . "

Clyde glared at the smiling chuuni .

"The great lord of the dark will not let some amateur have his way . "

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Clyde frowned at his new hand . A hand without the deck leader .

"Since Karla's power is higher than Hines, kill . "

[Field, you, battle step, Karla attacks . ]

Clyde saw Dark move to play one of his cards and said, "let me guess . You're going to stop the attack . "

"I'm going to do better than that, light lover," he said . "Feast your eyes on this . " He made an exaggerated motion then placed his card on the table . "Action card, instant . Shattered offense . And I'm going to combo it with this . " He sat down even another card . "Action card, instant, double damage . So not only does Karla goes bye-bye, but you take damage equal to her power . Doubled . "

"Wow, what bulls.h.i.+t," Clyde said as he placed his druid in the graveyard .

"Welcome to my world . " Selkie was leaning right over him . He turned, attempting to tune her out . At least she didn't backseat-play his cards . Her perfume smelled incredibly expensive .

[Clyde LF remaining: 500]

[Dark LF: 1000]

[Log: Karla's back flow- 150 . Doubled- 150 . Fever Draw- 200 . ]

"May as well call it quits," Selkie said . "Now that you're wide open, he's going for the f.u.c.king murder house . "

Dark grinned .

"Do you have more plays or will you end?"

"I end my turn," Clyde said reluctantly .

Dark nodded when he drew his card .

"When I return to this city, you'd better be well-versed in this game . Because we're going either Real or Non-real, maybe in the middle of my dark palace . "

"Dark palace?" Clyde said, confused .

"Oh, we never told you where Charles is actually living," Selkie said . "I gave him one of my spare palaces . He has his own servants too, but if you ask me, many of them would rather ruffle his hair and spoil him than—"

"Don't carelessly give away my secrets," Dark exclaimed .

Clyde nearly choked on the air .

"You have a palace? What the f.u.c.k—these a.s.sholes only gave me an apartment . I have to fight to the death against thousands of nightmarish horrors and all I get is… . " He paused, raising a hand at Selkie's incoming protest . "I get it . Anime main character . This is still horses.h.i.+t and I'd like to file a complaint . "

"Says the guy with a harem," Dark said .

"I don't have a harem," Clyde snapped, only to invoke Dark's laughter . "Freaking palace and servants . You still up for trading stone for leaf?"

A few moments of silence and they both laughed .

"Well, time to die," Dark said . "Activating Hine's other effect . "

[Field, opponent . Hine's effect . ]

"He can tribute himself and evolve . I'll let you see—"

As if triggering a cliché, Clyde's phone rung . He answered .

"Clyde, you have to come quick . We saw Melody and Chika bolted after her," Harumi said . "Somehow Chika obtained her number and they've been taunting and arguing since last night . Can you ask Selkie to teleport you? We're on Twenty-first street . Hurry . "

"We'll be right there—s.h.i.+t . What is she thinking in broad daylight? Both of them . "

Clyde warped his phone back to the inventory . "We could really use your help, Selkie . Melody's a trickster demon and is the daughter of some demon G.o.d . "

Selkie's eyes widened . Even Dark stood, instantly recalling his cards into the inventory . Clyde did the same .

"Where to," Selkie said, voice deadly .

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