ALL NOVEL chapter 132
132 – Side Story 6. Weekend with the Children (End)
“Where did it all go wrong?”
Ian Volkanoth, the hero of the Empire, and Dwight Volkanoth, born as the son of the great Empress Erzebet Arcana, frowned deeply as he witnessed the unfolding tragedy before him.
The cold air pierced his lungs, and the sensation of blood and flesh splattering seemed to engulf his entire body.
“If I had known it would come to this…”
He wouldn’t have done such a thing. He would have obediently stayed in the corner reading books as his mother and father had advised!
The feeling of regret swelled up as if going crazy, making Dwight’s mind distant.
It was the moment when, along with dizziness, Dwight grabbed his head.
“Brother.”
“Why are you like this, little brother?”
“Stop pretending to be in pain and hurry up to play Draw. Will you take responsibility if we lose a turn?”
“Sigh… Do I not even have a moment to contemplate?”
The moment when the words of Lugen Volkhanov, the second son and younger brother who came out between Ian and Ria, pierced Dwight’s ears.
After exhaling a deep sigh, Dwight could see the disaster he had caused.
“Darn it… If I had known it would turn out like this. When you asked me to duel, I should have at least pretended to faint from anemia!”
In fact, there was nothing special that led to this situation.
The parents had left the mansion empty to participate in the commemorative ceremony for the 70th Danotu held this month.
The bustling mansion soon fell silent as people left.
How long had it been since they had a quiet morning, finished a simple meal, and read a book?
Around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, when eyelids started to feel heavy, the incident exploded.
“Dwight! Dwight!”
“Hmm? Sister? What’s the matter?”
“I’m bored, want to play together? Stop reading your book!”
“What do you want to play?”
“It’s a card game!”
“A card game… Are you talking about Master Duel by any chance?”
“Yes!”
Master Duel. A card game created by Ian, Dwight’s father, as a new way to make money.
It involved collecting cards featuring all the monsters and heroes in Gaia, constructing a deck of 40 cards, and reducing the opponent’s life from 8000 to 0.
Of course, if it were just a simple card game, it wouldn’t attract groundbreaking popularity.
Naturally, Master Duel had innovative features not found in other games.
“Alright, let’s gather the others. How about the Shock Burden?”
“Um… How about setting it at around 70%?”
The Shock Burden system. In Master Duel, as life decreased, it wasn’t just about decreasing numbers.
With mutual agreement, the opponent’s attack could become a real one.
It wasn’t just a simple card game but a realistic strategy simulation, allowing players to use the empire’s heroes in their own hands, a unique feature of Master Duel not found in other games.
“70%… It’s a bit risky, but okay.”
A few minutes ago, Dwight was regretting his decision as if going crazy.
“Darn it… There’s nothing on our field, but on sister’s field, are there really five monsters with an attack power of 4000 each!”
The situation was dire.
The remaining allies’ life totaled around 9000. However, if the monsters on Nathalion’s field were to combine their attack power, it would be 20,000.
If they were to receive a stronger attack than their remaining life, the damage inflicted in reality would also be more severe.
If what he knew was correct, 11,000 damage…
“It’s like being hit by a Mana Expert’s intermediate-level attack head-on.”
With the adjustment set at 70%, it shouldn’t be a fatal blow. But for these children around 12 years old, it was not something they could easily withstand.
It will surely hurt enough to die.
‘I’m cornered. Can’t do this or that. I’d love to run away if I could…’
When I turned my gaze to the left for a moment, a gruesome scene entered Dwight’s eyes.
A man sprawled on the cold floor, unable to pull up his pants all the way.
“Gerald….”
Dwight’s younger brother. The youngest of the Volkanov household.
Born between Ian and Reyna, he tried to escape from the hopeless duel and ended up hiding in the bathroom, only to be caught by Neltalion and reduced to such a state.
Dwight vividly remembered the scene of pulling his brother out, hidden in a shell behind her, after a massive hand protruded from behind her and tore the bathroom door off, just like extracting a hidden snail.
Thud! Clatter!
“Gerald! Sitting in the bathroom for too long will give you piles! Were you trying to escape?”
“Cough! Please save me, anyone! Please help me, brothers! Don’t just stand there, please! aaah! Nanny Haley! Please save me!”
Crying out for Nanny Haley, who was absent with the parents….
If he chose to run away, he would probably end up like that too.
‘Inevitably… Is victory the only way to live?’
In the end, Dwight had no choice but to make up his mind.
“Brothers! Time will soon be up!”
“Quiet down, little brother. This time, it will all end with this!”
“Brother, did you have everything planned out? Of course! That’s what a future leader of the empire should be like!”
“Wait patiently! Show me my miracle.”
Pouring all his energy into his right hand placed on the deck. Sensing the time had come, Dwight cheerfully drew a card!
“Draw!”
“Brother! You drew something good, didn’t you? Right? That’s how it should be. Please!”
“… End the turn.”
“Come on!”
Checking the card, Dwight covered it with a gloomy face and ended his turn.
He was in a state where he couldn’t do anything with the trash card drawn.
He managed to buy himself one turn by laying it down, but it was not enough to relieve Rugen’s frustration.
“Darn it… In the end, do I have to do it myself?”
As he chewed on his lower lip, a bitter taste of blood began to fill his mouth.
“Ha. If I knew it would come to this, I should have gone to face the Danothu with Father like Karson….”
Regret was intense in the worsening situation, but Rugen raised his head.
The die was cast, and the situation unfolded.
If it was unavoidable, then he had to somehow turn the tide.
‘Yes… I have to do it.’
Since the eldest brother had collapsed miserably, wasn’t it up to the second, himself, to support the family?
Taking a deep breath as if exhaling hot air, Rugen resolved himself and began to consume his resources right away.
“I will use the Magic Card, Arrogant Jar.”
“Arrogant Jar?”
“Yes. I can draw five cards from the deck of the person I choose and add one of them to my hand. The rest go to the graveyard.”
“Um… Whom are you going to use it on?”
“I will designate Mr. Dwight.”
“M-me? Me?”
At Rugen’s unexpected choice, Dwight’s eyes widened in surprise.
It wasn’t against the rules, of course. But to logically utilize the cards in one’s deck, it would be better to find a card from one’s own deck to exhaust the resources available.
Yet, why would he use a valuable card on himself?
Perplexed by the incomprehensible situation, Dwight was taken aback. The man who had subtly approached him whispered.
“I suppose you don’t understand, sir.”
“Ulysses? Do you know why Rugen is acting this way?”
Ulysses Volkanov, Bianca’s son, continued to explain with a sly smile.
“It’s simple. The second sir is trying to find the only solution in the first sir’s deck to resolve this situation.”
“The only solution… There can’t possibly be a card in my deck for that.”
Upon Ulysses’s words, Dwight recalled the composition of his deck.
Although it was mainly composed of warrior party cards and had a considerable completion due to the substantial investment made, it didn’t quite match well with Rugen’s dark attribute-oriented deck.
“But… is there a card in my deck that can help Rugen? What could it be? Could it be the Asmodeus card, kept hidden due to its alluring illustration, in anticipation of some unforeseen social suicide?”
It was at that moment when he was pondering whether he should start preparing for potential surrender due to unforeseen circumstances.
“Why wouldn’t there be? Sir, you might not know, but that scoundrel Carlson has hidden some cards in your deck.”
“Eh? In my deck?”
“Yes. Carlson, in his fervor to build a deck with the allowance he received recently, has made Third Mother angry, so she inspects the cards before bedtime these days.”
Carlson Volkanov. Ian and Celia’s son, known in Volkanov as the pioneer of Master Duel, was said to be untouchable in this mansion following his father’s footsteps.
But he missed his presence, departed to watch the solo tournament with his father.
“Could it be that my brother’s warmth is nestled in my deck?”
Overwhelmed by emotion, Dwight felt a tear trickle down momentarily.
Of course, Carlson had hidden his card in Dwight’s deck to evade Celia’s inspection, but for now, it didn’t matter.
The card he had hidden would be the only solution to overcome this situation!
With that thought in mind, Dwight and Ulysses turned their gaze to Rugen’s fingertips.
“Here it is!”
“It’s here!”
As if waiting, Rugen threw a card from Dwight’s deck onto the field.
“I will bring the ‘Inexperienced Warrior Ariel’ card to my hand. Let’s summon her right away!”
“Summoning Auntie!”
The summoned warrior Ariel appeared on Rugen’s empty field.
Yet, Natalion felt no sense of crisis.
“Hm? That can’t block my cards, can it? Why did you draw that?”
“As Madam said, this card’s stats are not on the higher side.”
The Inexperienced Warrior Ariel brought from Dwight’s deck was a card with 1500 attack and 2000 defense points.
Certainly not unusable, but compared to other warrior party cards with outstanding stats, it was somewhat lacking.
However, there was no way that Carlson, a Master Duel addict, would hide a card that was only detrimental. Naturally, the Inexperienced Warrior Ariel had a tremendous effect.
“I will activate the effect of the Inexperienced Warrior Ariel here.”
“Hyo. Effect?”
“When there is only this card on your field, and there are three or more monster cards on the opponent’s field. By excluding the inexperienced warrior Ariel from the game, you can special summon one card from the deck.”
“A special summon for Ariel… Could it be?”
“You are probably right, milord. I shall summon the hero of the Volcanov lineage, Ian Volcanov, from the deck.”
The empire’s hero. With the condition of offering three or more monsters as sacrifice to summon, the insane effect of special summoning ‘Ian Volcanov’!
Kwooo!
The moment Ian was summoned onto Rugen’s empty field, a storm erupted.
Kwagwag!
“Argh! My cards…”
As if to tear everything apart, the wind blades swelled in size, beginning to destroy all monsters on Nathalion’s field.
It was all thanks to Ian Volcanov’s special effect.
“The great hero, Ian Volcanov, upon being summoned, can eliminate all monsters on the opponent’s field, and this effect cannot be stopped.”
“…”
“Furthermore! It can absorb the attack power of the destroyed opponent’s monsters! Thus, this card’s attack power is increased by 20,000, totaling 25,000!”
It was over. Nathalion’s field, which seemed like an impregnable fortress, was completely destroyed by Ian’s effect.
A card with an unprecedented attack power of 25,000 now existed on the field.
Now, if they directly attack the opponent, they can end this duel of death!
“I’m alive! I’m alive!”
They could escape this hell! All that remained was to attack Nathalion!
Thinking so, Rugen was about to reach out when…
“Then, I’ll use this.”
“Since the moment your father appeared, it’s been nothing but a struggle. What card could… Huh?”
“Oh…”
The atmosphere that had been heightened by the casually thrown card from Nathalion began to freeze instantly.
“I activate the trap card ‘Plunder’! When I have no monsters on my field and am attacked, I can leave 100 life points and consume all to take one of your cards!”
“One card. Could it be?”
“hehehehe… Ian is mine!”
Nathalion, looking as if he owned the world, smiled brightly as he looked at the field.
Despite the smile that seemed to come naturally, the faces of the Volcanov brothers were filled with the fear of death.
Clack!
As Ian drew his sword on Nathalion’s field, it was precisely at that moment when Dwight tightly shut his eyes.
“Brother. I have a suggestion, may I…?”
“What are you trying to say, Ahuya.”
“Brother, you are the son of the great Empress Erzabeth, who leads the mighty Calos Empire. It’s no exaggeration to say that you are the pillar to lead the empire! So, I was wondering, how about taking responsibility for this attack, as they say, with great power comes great responsibility?”
“Rugen… What on earth are you saying. Don’t you know the saying ‘A rolling stone gathers no moss’? Now that things are like this, it’s better to deal with the most useless one. Instead of this, how about we offer Ulises together?”
Startled by Dwight’s unexpected words, Ulises, who had been silent, turned his head and flared up.
“Brother? I am the one destined to lead the Tower of Blackness after Mother. Are you planning to kill me, the one who will lead the Tower of Blackness?”
“You may not know, little brother, but even before the Tower of Blackness, the empire was running smoothly.”
In the face of the fear of death, even the strongest bond between brothers can shatter.
Was it the sight of the cute little siblings squabbling that bothered him? In the end, Neltalion had no choice but to make a decision for the reconciliation of his siblings.
“Kids, stop fighting! Don’t do that. I will make sure we spend time together peacefully!”
“Sister? Peacefully spending time together. What a harsh thing to say…”
“I will use the magic card, ‘Swift Strike’! This way, you can each hit each other fairly once!”
“Oh no…”
Starting with Dwight, who was filled with despair, Rugen closed his eyes tightly, and Ulysses began preparing to flee from his spot.
“hehehehe! Attack! Attack! Attack!”
As they seemed oblivious to these actions, Neltalion cheerfully commanded Ian to attack.
Kwagwagwagwa!
From the tip of Ian’s sword, which was wielded succinctly, the aura of a Grand Master began to emanate.
If it hits, it will be bone-crushing. However, there was no means of defense.
Chwarruk!
Dwight, who weakly dropped the cards he held to the ground, humbly accepted his defeat.
Soon, Father’s attack would surely overwhelm him…
“Father, Mother. I will go see Grandmother first.”
It was a moment when he held back the tears flowing down.
“Ro Ayers.”
Kwaaang!
“Ugh!”
When the aura that tried to engulf the brothers suddenly appeared, it vanished upon striking the defense barrier.
A defense barrier that effortlessly blocked the tremendous force of the recoil.
There was only one person who could do such a thing.
“Oh. Father?”
“If you want to play, play in the room, not in the hallway. Your grandmother must have said that.”
“Were you guys dueling? Ah, if I knew it would be like this, I wouldn’t have followed…”
Ian Volkanov.
Upon the news of the return of the empire’s hero and their father, Dwight and his brothers shed tears of relief.
“Ian! I missed you!”
As if waiting for this moment, Neltalion embraced Ian as he dropped the cards, without a care for the chaotic state of the mansion’s hallway.
Even though the mansion’s corridor had turned into a mess just now, it probably didn’t matter.
Isn’t this the happy family life they longed for?
Ian, who chuckled softly, tidied up the mana lightly and then, looking at the children, spoke.
“Really? Then, let’s go have dinner with Dad.”
Seeing the children’s cheerful faces, Ian also smiled.