The Twenty Virtues Book 1- The Twenty Generals

14- Child's Play.

"What is this?" Lysa said, observing the confusing aura around her. It wasn't a light; it was more like a transparent, golden plasma material. It had taken an oval shape around the girl, who floated in mid-air. It seemed to want to shape itself into something but struggled to do so. It was a warm and comfortable sensation; the child felt secure and content amidst that power.

"It looks like we can start the real game, brat." The manifestation of her mysterious ability had made Lysa momentarily forget her enemy. Rhoj held a deck of twelve cards, which she shuffled tirelessly in her hands. "You'll have three phases to defeat me; let's see if you can fight well."

"Phases?" Again, the woman treated things like a game, a joke. How could she find amusement in these things? How could she be interested in it? Didn't she see that it was wrong?

"The rules of the game are as follows: I can only draw four cards from this deck at a time, and with each card I draw, I will become more powerful. AHAHAHAH, come on, let me hear your scream, brat." The deceived then picked four cards randomly from the deck and threw them on the ground in front of her. She kept the remaining cards while saying with a psychotic smile, "Zodiac Game, first round."

The four cards that fell on the ground began to glow and turned into energy holes. From the cards emerged, respectively: a mermaid, lying on the ground motionless due to the lack of water to move, a huge Minotaur, as muscular and brutish as a real bull, a lion, roaring with such brutality that Lysa felt her body vibrating, and a young maiden, as delicate and sweet as a real princess.

"M-More people? HEY, who are you guys?"

"Don't even try, brat. They're just pieces of the game, they don't have their own consciousness except for the match." Lysa didn't quite understand what was happening, both with herself and her opponent. However, the girl felt a bit more confident thanks to her ability; if she acted carefully, she might make it out alive.

"How do the rules of this game work? I still don't understand."

"Seriously? How slow you are... it's simple. The one who is killed loses. In other words, it's kill or be killed." Kill or be killed. Lysa had never killed anyone; just the thought of doing it with her own hands terrified her. She wasn't even sure if she knew how. No, the best thing to do was to try to escape, find a way out. "Ready or not, here I come."

As she said that, the unexpected happened. Rhoj and her pieces, except for the lion, became invisible. The sudden disappearance of her enemy left Lysa confused until she felt an urgent need to rise higher, and by pure instinct, the girl flew higher.

"Flying doesn't mean you're out of my reach, you fool." Rhoj's voice echoed. Lysa tried to locate the woman but couldn't find her. One of the hotel chairs came flying toward the girl. The object broke into several pieces upon impact with the aura surrounding Lysa, but the girl didn't feel anything inside, as if she hadn't been attacked at all. "Alright then, how about THIS!"

With Rhoj's yell, the lion started running towards Lysa, being the only opponent she could see. The girl began to focus on staying as far away from the animal as possible. The feline then took a breath, turned, and made a motion as if throwing something at the girl, but she saw nothing. However, she felt a strong impact against herself, strong enough to throw her to the ground. Lysa quickly tried to fly up but was stopped halfway, trying and trying to rise but unable to, as if something with immense force was holding her back.

"What's happening here?" The girl then began to feel as if more things were grabbing her, and when she realized it, she was thrown back to the ground. She felt numerous impacts against her shield, each one more powerful than the last. The child herself wasn't getting hurt, but she began to see cracks forming on her golden aura. If she kept receiving so many attacks, she would soon start getting hit.