Inverted Deck

Inverted Deck (Chapter 55)

Chapter 55

A cool breeze rolls through, as my body gets stiffer and stiffer. 

That Deal I did was incredibly risky, not only expelling that much Internal Aether from my body at once, but to command it on a molecular level, and right after the Crescent Slash. A bigger target, more Aether, consecutive deals, put too much strain on my body. That feeling I get when my leg falls asleep, my whole body feels like tgat right now times 10. I need to take a moment to slowly bring in the amount of Aether I've lost. It wasn't as big of an area of effect as I thought it would be, but even still I'm glad told Prince Talos to get away, I didn't want him getting caught in it. It's probably for the best if he stays out of this, he has a future kingdom to run.

I drop the Aether made crescent sword to ground as what feels like electricity runs through my fingers.

"As soon as I'm done recovering, I'll-!"

"Enter into round two, right?"

I hear a female voice that sends a sharp chill up my spine.

I struggle and turn my neck upwards as the sound of someone's boot buckle clacks against the bricks of the broken up road.

"I-Impossible!! It can't be!!"

My breath momentarily freezes inside of my lungs, and icicles shoot through my veins as my entire body goes cold, when I see that long green and black hair.

"I-I killed you!!" I yell out in an exasperated breath, as Garm walks up unscathed. "I saw you... I saw you-!"

"Die?" Garm asks.

I stare in disbelief with my jaw hanging low as every hair on my arms and the back of my neck stands on end.

"Both of those statements... are correct. You did see me die, and you did kill me."

"Then how!?"

"What? You don't think a Joker such as myself can subvert death? You've got a lot to learn, hun. And that Deal you did seems... incomplete to say the least, it seems to be you just came up with the Deal just then or over time through the fight. Whichever it is, it's impressive, being that usually Cardholders come up with moves over time, preparation and experimentation. I wonder is that your Talent, hm? To come up with Deals on the spot, hm?"

Suddenly the Shroud Scale's tendrils climbs up my neck and surround my Nexus, causing me to have flashes of some vision.

I see me, using Lunar Waxing Shredder on Garm again but from a third perspective this time. For some reason my eyes remain open as Garm disintegrates from the dome of white and black around them.

"What's happening? I closed my eyes when she started disintegrating so why-?"

My thoughts immediately come to halt as I see something odd.

As her body continues to de materialize, Garm takes her half materializes hand and yanks out a long glowing green strand of her hair.

"What is she-?!"

She tosses the strand of glowing hair out of the Deal target range. Right before it touches the ground it starts glowing and growing into what looks like a person. A girl. The girl quickly grows black and green hair. I watch as another Garm quickly grows from the strand of hair, as the original Garm's body breaks down at the same pace. 

"What is-!"

I immediately snap back to reality.

"You... you're a clone of some sort..."

"Wroooooong!" Garm exclaims. "I'm a living, breathing thing with organs and feelings just like you. So was the other Garm you killed. We are both Garm. You only killed the main body, but not fast enough, now I am the main body."