Source & Soul: A Deckbuilding LitRPG

“You remember the plan?”

Hull looked at me like I was asking after pointless reassurance instead of critical confirmation that would affect our survival over the next few minutes. “I helped make it, didn’t I? Relax, Hintal.”

I jerked a nod. If he had repeated our stratagem back to me there would have been a much higher chance of that, but he dropped the faceplate on his armor, signaling an end to the conversation.

Across the way, I could hear Prince Gerad yelling at his Deepkin partner. He had been paired with Hull’s bunkmate of all people, Harganaut, and few days went by now where the prince didn’t complain about the deadweight he had been saddled with. Gerad wasn’t entirely wrong in his characterization of the dwarf: in preparation for the match, Harganaut had only summoned three Common Sump Trolls, a pitiful force compared to the rest of us.

Fighting Gerad this way was perhaps unfair, and after seeing firsthand how the King treated him, I was beginning to feel a touch of empathy toward the prince. However, when weighed against the years of verbal abuse and bullying I had taken at his hands and those of his lackeys, my conscience was more than comfortable with using this particular circumstance to thoroughly trounce Gerad – in fact, I desperately wanted to.

Shaking his Legendary sword in the Deepkin’s face did finally elicit a stony shrug, and the dwarf brought two Soil Trolls into being. The addition didn’t worry me: Souls such of those were unlikely to make much of a difference when we were starting the match with as much source presummoned as we wanted.

A hand on my shoulder turned me around. Atrea hovered there, her wings beating in slow rhythm to keep her aloft a few feet above the ground.

“Your ally is right,” she said. “Now is a time for excitement, not worry. Justice is at hand.” She knew all too well what sort of treatment I had received from Gerad over the years. There had even been some nights where she had held me wrapped in her wings as I wept, the cruel mockery too much to bear, particularly on days where I had also disappointed Tipfin or my parents or was receiving equally cutting remarks from my brothers.

“It is,” I assured her. “I’m just eager.”

I still wasn’t accustomed to the way Atrea’s eyes emanated a piercing azure light, but having her there was certainly a comfort. All it had taken was a thought, and her aura extended not only to the Souls I had summoned but also the miniature demon horde that clustered behind Hull, the group hissing and clawing eagerly at the metal ground, fingers and fangs limned in ghostly blue. I was sure Gerad would target her the first chance he had, particularly due to the new Relic he was wearing.

I had nearly kept Atrea unsummoned at the start because of that, but, as far as I knew, Gerad’s deck only contained one form of fast removal, and if he used that on her, he wouldn’t have it available against our other threats. His Soul abilities let him have 22 cards though, and a hand of 11 – everything would need to work out just right for us to best him.

“Ready yourself,” Edaine called from off to the side. There were still no Dueling Domes cast for our practice, to better simulate what we would experience in the field. Veterans represented our continued protection, and had Spells in hand to stop any damage we might take past our cards. I was continually impressed at how coordinated and thorough they were, particularly with four of us afield now; only once had a student been truly injured, but Edaine had swiftly stepped in, using the same sort of Order healing that the Paladins in training possessed, but of higher rarity. Of course, Edaine had used this lapse to emphasize the importance of keeping a few cards in one’s Mind Home for added safety, and after seeing the freckled girl Anya gasp back to health, shivering and wild-eyed, we had all been doubly sure to do so.

Next to the General and the half dozen veterans was the remainder of our class. Esmi threw me an encouraging wave, which warmed me even from a distance, and the elf trio let out an ululating warcry – ever since I began cultivating Life source with them, they seemed to view me as an honorary member, which I quite appreciated. Afi was looking our way, too, though after what Hull had told me about her unexpected request, I was sure she was watching him, not me.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Edaine shift, and I immediately refocused on our opponents across the way. We weren’t allowed to start within the squared off training space, and we had learned in our earlier exercises that being the first to act mattered.

“Begin!” the general shouted.

I charged forward, Hull at my side. My pressummoned Souls came with me, my Master Shieldbearer perfectly matching my stride, ready for any oncoming threat, while my Master Assassin angled away from us, arms held out behind and black cloak flapping as he sprinted toward his target.

Atrea flew above me, but she wasn’t as fast as my pure Air Souls, so the Carrion Condors and Zephyrs edged ahead of her.

However, even my winged troops could not match the speed of Hull’s demons, the pair of Marauders and Gremlins careening toward Gerad’s line of Paladin Souls as if they were starving, saliva dripping from their slavering maws.

But it would not be our Souls who struck first. That privilege was mine alone.

“This will be over in time for tea!” I shouted at the prince and dwarf, focusing two Order Source and casting Penitence on Kitsanya, who was without a doubt the linchpin of Gerad’s forces.

As expected of a Legendary, she needed no command from her summoner to know how to react. Using her ability to counter the Spell would be pointless, so instead, she vanished, opting to destroy a Soul in the split second before Penitence affected her. My eyes shot upward, and sure enough, the Ghost reappeared in a smoky haze, latched onto Atrea, who floundered in the air at the sudden, additional weight.

“No you don’t!” I cried, snapping a second Spell off.

With a single merit, I had picked up a few different Commons for sideboarding, and today, this Spell fit my needs perfectly. One of my Zephyrs crashed into the pair, taking the deathblow meant for Atrea and breaking into shards.

The Legendary looked down at me in frustration, but then vanished, her ability used up for the time. What remained of the Zephyr continued to fall through the air, shimmering motes that swirled toward me. They passed by like a fresh breeze, prickling my skin pleasantly, and one of the Order source I had used to cast the Greater Good came back to ready.

All in all, the exchange had gone exactly as I had hoped.

“Now, Hull!”

Hull didn’t break stride as he devoted one of his Nether source. As we had practiced, I devoted one of my Order, willing the energy his way, and for a wonder, a card vanished from where it floated beside him. A blast of arcing, purple power shot toward where Kitsanya had reappeared at her original position.

Unsurprisingly, Gerad wasn’t about to let his Legendary be destroyed, not when she had the power to defeat us single-handedly. He cast an upgraded Protection, which due to the size of his own hand – 11 cards – began to coalesce as an enormous gold shield between Kitsanya and the Nether blast.

Before the Spell could finish forming, the threads of it were pulled away, like watching a tapestry unspool, the gold and ivory cords sucked into the mouth of Hull’s Spell Drinker demon, who gulped the raw energy down eagerly.

I saw Gerad’s face contort in rage, and he cast a second Protection, which was slightly smaller than the last due to his reduced hand size. It was no good though, because during the same time I had used the one Air Source I had left unsummoned to refresh the Spell Drinker with an Air Source Explosion. So, just like the last, it licked the Order Spell down happily.

With a shout of defiance, Gerad used his third and final Protection, but Hull countered with his other Unstable Rift, which I again helped fuel, this time with one of my Life Source.

It was only as I was watching the second blast of Nether catch up to the first, pushing past an unfinished shield of Protection, that I realized a version of Fate’s Grace time slowing must be affecting us all. There was no way otherwise that we could be making so many decisions that were all occurring within seconds of each other, if not on top of each other. As if to prove the point, the moment before Kitsanya was turned to shards by Hull’s Spell, she vanished in a haze of smoke again, reappearing by Hull. She cracked one of the Nether Source floating above his head, the orb of purple disintegrating. She then made a move for the Talisman that pulsed brightly on his chest, charged now with the feedback from two Unstable Rifts.

Before she could destroy that anchor of our offense, I cast a second Greater Good, retargeting her onto my Master Shieldbearer. The Legendary was yanked away from Hull, and appeared near me but was unable to do anything to my bodyguard because he had no Relics equipped on him. I gave her a parting wink as her ability expired, returning her to where she had begun, just in time for Hull’s second Unstable Rift to take her full force in the chest. Everything that had been delayed from the various castings all sped back into realtime, creating a reverberating boom as the first Rift blast collided with the one Protection Spell that hadn’t been consumed by the Spell Drinker. It didn’t matter though, because Kitsanya’s body was already a charred husk toward which both my Carrion Condors were diving, necks extended.

“Yes!” I shouted. It was the destruction of only one Soul, but the amount of resources that had been expended on both sides showed just how pivotal it was.

Hull’s answering cry was to send two separate blasts of red energy, each worth 5 damage, straight at Gerad. The prince was equipped with the maximum of four Relics, just as Hull was, but none gave him Resistance, so he played cards from hand to block the blow. I watched closely, seeing him use an Epic Spell to stop the first and then two Equalities for the second, the red and gold cards shards that were created like a fireworks display.

I was sure he had another of one of those two Spells already charged in his Orb of Holding that hung at his hip, but even with my Soul-enhanced sight, I couldn’t tell which until he actually used it on his turn.

Hull’s lead demons were about to crash into the trio of paladins, when Gerad’s heroes stepped forward through their ranks.

With all the cards from hand that Gerad had been forced to spend, I could see that Agata was only a 6/6 now, the quill he held in dextrous hands glowing with a much softer light than it had before, but Hilbrand was still a force to be reckoned with.

I thought I would need to call out to Hull again, but he impressed me by summoning three more demons all on his own.

All of his new arrivals damaged him, which was the point, triggering his Talisman, which he had charged up before the match began. What’s more, Hull spaced them by a hair, so each sent a unique charge of energy racing toward Gerad that would need to be stopped separately, whittling down his hand further. The prince saw the twisting red streamers coming his way and shouted at the Deepkin.

“Protect me, you oaf!”

I didn’t think that the dwarf would assist, but I glanced that way to be sure.

Harganaut’s craggy face peeked out from behind the trolls he had encircled himself with, none of which he’d sent to Gerad’s aid. To my surprise, the dwarf lifted a hand, and some of the Earth source that hovered around him dipped in the air.

The sound of exploding stone turned me to the right, and I saw the Talisman’s tiny blasts stopped by plates of rock appearing in front of Gerad – Earth’s Source Power – once, twice, three times, stopping him from needing to spend any more cards.

Because of this, Agata was strong enough to not only destroy the Marauder he faced, plunging his nib into the demon’s eye, but he also absorbed all the damage that might have carried over to Gerad. At the end of the tussle, Agata remained standing in bloodied and torn robes with 1 health to his name. Hilbrand had an even easier go of it, his sword flicking out and severing the other Marauder’s head before its claws ever had a chance of touching the Mythic.

I winced as both demons went down. I had been sure that at least one would have gotten through with their Overkill. At this rate, we should have kept them back to do their guaranteed damage to Hull, and thus Gerad, through the Talisman. There was nothing for it now though, and at least Hull’s monstrous Epic didn’t disappoint.

The towering creature had been following along just behind its smaller kin and crushed one of the Paladins underfoot, not even needing Atrea’s Precision Aura to get the job done. If either Hull or I had more source, we would have summoned the Night Terror on the field to use its arrival effect on one of the Mythics, or the same with another Penitence from me, but what little source that remained, three for me and one for Hull, was already slated for other plans – plans I prayed worked out in our favor!

The smaller demons Gerad let through without worry, knowing his Shield would make it to where most couldn’t even harm him.

Only the Root Imp with its Attack of 3 was able to get past the Relic, doing 1 damage because of Atrea, and thus forcing Gerad to discard a Soul that could have destroyed us if Hull’s forces weren’t so fast.

At the same time, Gerad struck back with his Legendary sword in a sweeping arc, cleaving in half four of the demons, as if their gnarled hides were mere butter, and leaving only one Bog Imp alive.

Hull himself was now grappling with the two remaining Paladins, his Hammer crashing side-to-side, but unable to deal damage to either since Atrea’s buff did not extend to summoners.

But that was when my own forces arrived: both my Condors, empowered by the flesh of two enemy Souls, and Atrea, striking at the prince with sword, beak, and claw. Gerad’s Shield stripped 2 damage from each of their attacks, but they still did 6, stripping another – and hopefully last – Fate’s Judgment from his hand. Gerad tried to fight back, but his Legendary sword hung heavy in his hands, unable to be used again just yet, letting my three Souls wing away unscathed.

And then my Master Assassin was there, throwing poisoned laced daggers at Hilbrand. Almost quicker than I could follow, the Mythic sped forward, his rapier leading the way. Their Fast Attacks being Fated meant that they would strike each other at the same time, but as the point of Hilbrand’s sword connected with the Assassin’s head, it sliced open the black cowl, revealing my Soulforged Helm underneath.

The Relic shattered, nullifying the blow, while two knives protruded from Hilbrand, one from his neck and the other his chest. Even mortally wounded, the Mythic still managed to give the Assassin a salute with his sword before crumpling to the ground, defeated and another feast for my Condors.

“Do it!” Hull shouted from where he was still locked in with the Paladin Souls.

I nodded sharply in reply and spent the last of my Source on my biggest Spell: the one that Kitsanya surely would have stopped if she was still here – and the one that represented Hull’s and my teamwork together even more than this match did.

A gust of cool wind circled up from my feet and spun outward, buoying all my Souls and the same for what remained of Hull’s demons. With Gerad’s forces depleted and on the backfoot, now I could attack in the order I wished instead of being constrained by source speed.

With an almost casual flick, the Master Assassin sent a dagger into the armpit gap of one Paladin’s Armor, destroying that Soul. Hull was able to finish off the other by switching to his second weapon Relic, the Vampiric Blade, and charging it with his final source of Nether, the buff doing just enough damage to let the Blade pierce its heart and turn the Soul to shards, which cascaded around the purple glowing steel.

Hull’s giant Epic roused itself and squished Agata, though it also perished, both collapsing to the ground, the demon with an echoing moan of blood yet unshed.

My Condors pecked away at each new enemy corpse, and Hull’s Spell Drinker shambled forward, swollen from the torso up to much larger proportions due to the two Spells it had eaten.

“Get him!” Hull and I both cried, and Atrea, the engorged Condors, and the Spell Drinker – the only ones with enough attack to matter – converged on Gerad. With their buffs, the four could deal 26 damage together, but each of them were losing 2 because of Gerad’s infernal shield. That was still 18 damage though, near a full deck’s worth, and as I watched the Souls batter away at him, him shedding cards, I held my breath that it would be enough.

The first card the prince lost was yet another Fate’s Judgment, absorbing a full third of the 18. The other two, and the last two, were both more Oversource, each stopping 3 more. That should be everything, I thought giddily; I had counted 11 cards on the field and 11 in his hand, which meant, despite Edaine’s continued warnings, the prince had kept nothing in his Mind Home.

“Help me!” Gerad bellowed, just as the veterans moved to act. Once again, a stony hand lifted from behind the protection of trolls, and to my utter disbelief, cast three Hardenings in quick succession, turning Gerad’s exposed skin to stone and absorbing the final 6 damage.

I stood there in shock. After all our planning, all our work, we had failed because we had assumed Harganaut would do next to nothing.

“You fools!” Gerad shouted, pushing his way past the slumped and recovering Souls that had nearly ended him not a moment ago. “You utter pieces of trash. Even two on one you can’t –”

And that’s when Hull’s Armor stabbed him, triggering his Talisman for 1 damage: the spark zipped toward Gerad in a red streak, striking him in the chest.

It happened so quickly that even the watching veterans didn’t react fast enough, the small blow knocking Gerad back. The prince had been wounded, but with his extra soul Health he hardly flinched. Instead, his head snapped toward his Deepkin partner.

“You useless pile of rubble. Why didn’t you protect me?”

The dwarf considered him for a long moment before responding. “You didn’t ask.”

“Gerad, you are out,” Edaine said with cool efficiency. “Harganaut,” – the general seemed to lose some of her air of command – “are you going to attack them?”

Harganaut peered at us through the arms of his Soul wall. The three Sump Trolls could have done some damage but nothing worrying, not with Hull having his Sucking Void up since the start and me with my bodyguard beside me.

“No,” Harganaut said, shaking his square head. “Don’t care to.”

Edaine looked briefly to the sky, and I swore she was repressing a long sigh. “In that case, it appears that Basil and Hull are vic –”

“This is the last time you belittle me, you unwanted whoreson,” Gerad interrupted with a hateful hiss. “I’ll see you dead!”

The crown prince charged at Hull, his Legendary sword hefted high. I didn’t think the Relic would do any Fated damage since Gerad had no cards left in hand, but the crazed look in his eyes told anyone watching that he didn’t care. He was going to try and hurt Hull, however he could.

But I didn’t have to let Gerad have his way. Not anymore. I commanded my Master Shieldbearer to intercept the two, and found that, disconcertingly, neither it nor I could move. It was the strangest thing – like Fate’s Grace, but inverted – for even though I was frozen, Gerad and Hull were still converging.

I couldn’t turn to see if Edaine or any of the others were trapped as I was, but thinking of the general brought a new, somewhat terrifying possibility to the fore of my mind. Was this… Apotheosis?