Page 354 of Light Leech

The announcer introduced me on the green side, then the old man as RegLon on the red.

“The gamble deck has been set to match the theme for this round. This rounds’ theme is…”

The field shifted to a frozen plain with miniature glaciers. Lava streams weaved around them with random eruptions of vibrant magma bursting from random cracks in the ice.

“... Hellish Tundra! Beware of your legends’ weaknesses when preparing for random damage from the battlefield. Now, for the gem of this theme…” The eggshells dissolved like frost clearing from a window. The fluid within evaporated before touching the ground. An infant dropped from each egg, clad in nothing but a loincloth.

“Help!” they screamed simultaneously as the soles on their feet faded to purple against the ice.

“Heed their calls, competitors! If one of your Lonesome Infants dies, you will automatically lose this bout. Please select their starting health and your ability cards.”

I adjusted my health to thirty-five, adding ability cards in addition to those they had added for this round, and gave my infant fifteen health.

“Begin!”

I glanced at our health total, seeing that this opponent favored their legends more than the last and gave twelve health points to their infant. RegLon had summoned four legends, two three-costs and two two-costs. Rather than a variety of creatures like mine, all of his had closer ties. Ralia had advised team synergy with my spirit type deck, but I had reason to believe that even my best combinations would pale in comparison to his legends who all shared the name. The two larger Tanuki Brutalists stood on the flanks of the gaunt Tanuki Skirmishers. The bipedal racoon-dogs looked just like the caricatures I had seen as doorstep decorations in East Arabasia, including the giant cartoonish eyes and oversized groin.

RegLon began, sending each Skirmisher out to attack The Pain, which dealt a damage but left it alive. One of the Brutalists raised his iron gauntlet in a shout, damaging the other Brutalists but allowing the Skirmishers to attack with Penetrate.

They eliminated The Pain again before I could use him and dealt two damage to me.

The other Brutalist lifted the infant, cursing the legend with the keyword Frozen. Despite the Brutalist now being a blue statue of ice, the infant suffered no damage in its grasp. I hadn’t expected my infant to take damage so early on, let alone on my opponent’s turn, but it suffered one point of damage.

Green infant: fourteen.

Red infant: twelve.

The lights turned on me. I played an ability card called Rebirth, which returned the infant to its egg for one turn. With my focus back on my legends, I activated Swine Servant’s chant ability, doubling Zhu’s attack for the rest of the turn.

“Play Multipider.”

I looked at Zhu and caught his glimpse. Rather than make him demand trust again, I followed through and summoned the card he had requested.

A reverse centaur appeared with an arachnoid torso spouting twelve arms, and two hairy human legs below. Each arm had a different modification, some with lights and others with blades. Looking at its abilities, I now understood Zhu’s request.

I chose to multitask, granting another legend with spread.

Zhu attacked with his double damage, spreading his fire-fueled staff swing’s damage to every opposing legend.

RegLon shook his head, arms still behind his back. I was relieved to see that he responded with simple disappointment where MayWat would have thrown a tantrum.

Fire spread across the field, melting the ice in its wake and angering the lava flow enough to cause a splash onto the Tanuki force. The Brutalist took it like a wall, despite the bald patches that remained after the attack. The Skirmishers stood much closer to the lava flow.

Zhu’s tidal wave swept over them, depleting their health to a few points and leaving their skin black and charred without a single hair. Though the frozen Brutalist was near the back of the arena, he was not spared from the attack. A few drops of lava melted him and dropped RegLon’s infant to the ground.

“Look at that combo!” The crowd roared with the announcer’s appraisal. “And an extra point of damage to the Red for dropping the infant!”

The infant turned back to RegLon, not crying, but with the voice of a disappointed grandparent. “Why do you hate me?”

Green infant: fourteen.

Red infant: ten.

RegLon glared at the infant for only a second, then tapped his cards. He summoned a four-cost Tanuki Herbalist, then activated her four-cost ability to heal the Brutalist to fill health and returned the Skirmishers to three-fourths of their full health.

The Brutalist then cast its two-cost impregnate, which played out as one would expect between it and the herbalist. Rather than focus on the act, I selected the pregnant keyword on the Herbalist.

Pregnant: target legend will spawn one to three Taniki Pups on the player’s next turn.