Chapter 22: The Jaws of Defeat

  The swing was as strong as ever, but he hit only open air where Ambrose had been just a second before.

  [Spider’s Ascent] did work on the barrier, as it turned out. He scuttled up about fifteen feet while the audience gasped and pointed at him. Travel cards almost always made fights more exciting, as Jessica’s [Leap] had shown in her matches. Flight of some kind would’ve made whoever wielded it a near-certain winner in some match-ups, and burrowing…Well, not all cards were useful.

  “Holy crap, I nearly soiled myself,” Ambrose said, not having to pretend to be shaken. One good hit from that club would probably be enough to drop him. The same could be said of [Reggie], who snapped his jaws fruitlessly beneath him. “Can you hit me up here, or am I going to spend the rest of the match picking at you from above?”

  Raeleq frowned and let the club droop. “That’s…That’s not fair.”

  Ambrose burst out laughing, clinging to the barrier with both feet and one hand. He used his free hand to point as he laughed. “Did you actually go into a match with me expecting things to be fair? C’mon Rae-Rae. Come up here and get me.”

  He didn’t have to do this forever. All he had to do was kill [Reggie] and this match would be his in a matter of seconds. Which begged the question of whether he should spend his next few cantrips on whittling the creature down, or wait until his [Assassin’s Strike] came back into his hand.

  “You…” Raeleq snarled and hurled his club with all of his strength.

  Ambrose actually had to move, and the impact against the barrier startled him bad enough that he nearly dropped to the floor anyway. “Whoa! That was a close one. But guess what, Rae-Rae?”

  He held up his hand again, fingers spread out. One by one he ticked the fingers down, leaving the middle one for last before the Countdown ended.

  Round 3

  Cantrip: [Vampiric Kiss], Spell: [Sleight of Blood], Creature: [Festering Wretch], [Black Hound]

  He had to resist cackling. His final hand before the shuffle was perfectly suited for keeping the two busy, and maybe earning the win just like that. Thanks to [Mark of Service]’s ongoing cost, he only regained half his four mana. But that, of course, was what [Sleight of Blood] was for. Once he could act again, he immediately cast the [Festering Wretch] beneath him.

  The summoning circle paused his timer almost as soon as it started, as the undead creature formed from the feet up.

  Raeleq wasn’t content to let things end like this. He directed [Reggie] forward and brought his left hand forward in an almost open palm. The tips of his fingers bent inwards, and a red and green light flowed from him to the tyrannosaurus. The creature’s mottled green and brown hide took on an otherworldly red sheen. It surged forward with renewed fervor and strength.

  Ambrose moved way out of the way before the creature could even get close. [Reggie] ignored him and focused on the creature he summoned instead. The [Festering Wretch] barely finished being summoned when the dinosaur’s head lowered and chomped the creature. Stick-thin, rotting legs stuck out from his maw before he crunched.

  Big mistake.

  Raeleq knew what this creature did, but he had been so focused on stopping Ambrose from doing anything that he had his creature act first. When [Reggie] bit down, the zombie popped right open and spilled its acidic innards all over the dinosaur’s jaw, tongue, and throat.

  A pitched whine left the creature, sharpening in pitch until it could no longer be heard. Raeleq gasped. “Reggie, no!” He rushed to the creature, though as far as Ambrose knew, he didn’t have any healing spells, or anything to help.

  “Looks like your pet can’t handle spicy food,” Ambrose called out.

  [Reggie] opened his mouth and tried to spit out the [Festering Wretch], but it it was too late. Within a few seconds it dissolved into nothing, leaving only the raw, sizzling damage it dealt on the way out.

  “You sadistic bastard! That doesn’t even put him out of his misery.” Raeleq looked genuinely hurt.

  “It’s just a card, it won’t remember any of this in ten minutes,” he said. Then from his safe perch, he cast [Sleight of Blood], readying his body to pay the price for the next spell. It was time to use the new creature the headmaster had forced on him.

  With a new roar of anger, Raeleq abandoned his club. He got a running start and jumped, climbing into Reggie’s back. The dinosaur ran along the barrier, picking up speed as he closed the distance, a new glint of determination in his eyes.

  Ambrose took a deep breath, and cast the [Black Hound] on the ground nearby. His strength waned, and the fifteen foot drop became fuzzy and wavy in his vision. If he hadn’t kept one hand on the barrier, he might have fallen.

  If he’d fallen, chances are [Reggie] would’ve gotten him and paid him back for his little trick. But when the wild wizard and his dinosaur mount got close, Raeleq shifted his weight and leaped at him.

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  Everything in him told him to move, to get out of the way, but there was a curious sort of inevitability in that leap. Although it was temporary, the fatigue held him down, perfectly vulnerable and unable to move or cast spells while his last one was still forming.

  Raeleq collided with him into the barrier, smashing Ambrose like a pancake. All the wind went right out of him, and together they crashed to the ground. If there was any luck at all, it’s that the massive wild wizard cushioned his fall. The comfort didn’t last long, because soon two massive arms wrapped around him and squeezed until it felt like his head was about to pop off.

  “Good fight, but you’re done,” Raeleq barked.

  “Am…I?” Ambrose gasped out. A second later, a black figure collided into his foe from behind, sharp teeth latching onto his leg and ripping and tearing.

  He dropped out of Raeleq’s arms and prepared to cast his cantrip, but it was too late. The Countdown ended, and it was time for a new hand.

  A surge of…not pain exactly, but a weird twinge in his brain told him his deck shuffled, and one card faded from his awareness, dormant until the fight ended.

  Round 4

  Cantrip: [Vampiric Kiss], Creature: [Night Terror], Spell: [Sleight of Blood], Signature Creature: [Hateful Imp]

  [Assassin’s Strike] had deactivated. There would be no killing Reggie with an easy spell.

  He cursed mentally, but that wasn’t his only problem.

  Due to his [Mark of Service] and [Black Hound]’s ongoing costs, he had zero mana to cast on spells. Another [Sleight of Blood] would likely make him pass out, and even if he was able to cast the [Night Terror], it wouldn’t help his goals much. Not at this point. It left him with two options, and neither were especially decisive for the twenty odd seconds or so it would take for his next hand.

  When things sped up again, Ambrose forced his heavy limbs to move. The [Black Hound] continued to snarl viciously and tear at Raeleq’s leg with its powerful jaws. It lasted for another second before [Reggie] enforced the food chain and pulled it off.

  The wild wizard scrambled away, the leg bloody enough that it didn’t look like he could use it. But then he stood and turned on Ambrose. [Reggie] bit down with killing force, and the hound disappeared. The dinosaur whined again in pain, which gave Ambrose an idea. He cast his [Hateful Imp] and backed away to the barrier.

  Raeleq and his pet turned in his direction. Ambrose moved up the barrier like a spider once more, though his speed wasn’t half of what it was with his fatigue. They were both in bad shape, but Ambrose could at least do something about it from afar.

  “You’re getting really annoying,” Raeleq yelled at him. “You’ve fought well, but how much do you have left?”

  Ambrose thought about it while the imp formed behind them. “You know something funny, Raeleq? I’m pretty sure your sister would’ve beaten me by now.”

  [Reggie] roared, though it lacked the power it once had. Ambrose made a show of slipping down the barrier, close to biting range. The dinosaur didn’t need to be commanded to rear up and snap at him. He nearly got his leg a couple of times, but the lanky wizard drew it back up in time.

  “She already did,” Raeleq pointed out with a nasty smile.

  The [Hateful Imp] took to the air on its big, awkward wings. It wasn’t the most graceful creature in flight, but it got around. Through their link. Ambrose felt its hatred towards him, and even more for the plan. Chances are, it was going to die again for nothing.

  “Oh no, I’m slipping, heeeelp,” Ambrose said unconvincingly, sliding down a few feet.

  The dinosaur was ready and jumped, snapping its jaws shut…over the diving imp. It made it into the open mouth, which was big enough to contain its entire body without having to worry about the teeth so much. It hit the back of [Reggie]’s throat, where it slashed, bit, and howled hatefully.

  “What did you do?” Raeleq demanded, clapping his hands to his head in horror. The imp’s long, spaded tail hung out from two teeth the size of butcher knives, flicking wildly.

  “Just killing your pet,” said Ambrose. A hole appeared in the creature’s neck, pouring blood. A tiny claw followed, and then the hole widened and a simian face poked out, eyes glowing red. “Oh look, he ate his way out!”

  [Reggie] wavered, and then listed awkwardly to the side. Blood poured out of the new hole, and from between those big teeth. The damage the [Festering Wretch] left behind made it easy for the imp to shred the inside of the tyrannosaur’s throat.

  And then, just to add insult to injury, Ambrose pushed off against the barrier and jumped, landing awkwardly on the creature’s back. He pressed his glowing right hand against it and cast [Vampiric Kiss].

  The spell still didn’t do too much damage, and wouldn’t until it evolved and grew in power. It was, however, enough to finish [Reggie] off. The dinosaur convulsed, and then fell still. The imp broke through the hole in his neck and pulled itself out.

  “You bastard,” Raeleq repeated and cast [Ironwood Club] again. He was battered and bloody, panting from exertion, but the renewed anger in his eyes screamed of fight still left in him.

  It went out not long after Reggie’s hide turned grayish, and the dinosaur opened and closed its jaw testingly. The damage didn’t matter anymore, but now Raeleq had to face the same nightmare he inflicted on all his opponents.

  “You ready to smack [Reggie] around?” Ambrose asked. “He might remember it and hold it against you.”

  The two looked at each other, neither willing to be the first to break, but it was clear the fight was over. Eventually, Raeleq dismissed his club, and held his hands up.

  “I yield,” he sighed.

  Ambrose grinned, but it was short lived. With the fight over, the barrier came down, and their remaining spells ended. Which meant that the shadow wizard dropped ten feet to the ground. He landed hard and wrong, but he was still the victor.

  The crowds went wild, and Ambrose picked himself back up to soak in their adulation, fear, and even plenty of boos from some of Raeleq’s fans. That was fine. He didn’t need to be popular, or anything like that. All he required was acknowledgement, respect, and maybe a cold drink now that it was over.

  Raeleq approached him, fire in his eyes. Ambrose almost expected a punch to the face, but it was a handshake instead. He took it, then tried not to squeak in pain as the much larger man squeezed tight.

  “It was a good match, but you’re still a bastard. Next time, I’ll get you.”

  “Next time, I won’t go easy on you,” Ambrose lied. He took his hand back and shook it out before he scanned the crowd.

  He met Molly’s gaze and pointed a single finger at her. The meaning was clear: you’re next. Once he beat her, there would be no one in the standings who could compete with him. With this victory, he was one step closer to that Wildcard, without even having to steal it. Nothing was going to stop him.