Duel Lyceum

Entering Duel Lyceum (2)

               As the dust settled their life counters appeared in front of them. Lyder had three and Sebastian has fourteen.

'My turn,' Lyder said. 'Draw.' A card materialised in front of him. He had expected to draw Arthur because of Royal Communication. 'I hope you pay attention to this one, teach.'

'I sacrifice a Sword/Sorcery Knight to normal summon my rank two monster Sword/Sorcery Arthur. When this card is summoned, I can banish a rune and a spell card from my graveyard to get a Sword/Sorcery conductor card from my hand. I choose the Sword/Sorcery King's Crown.

'By using Sword/Sorcery Arthur and my remaining Sword/Sorcery Knight as material, along with my Sword/Sorcery King's Crown as a conductor card, I can alchemy summon a Sword/Sorcery King Arthur from my extra deck.' With a flash of light King Arthur strode into the battlefield, his crown shining. He stood proud with twelve attack and ten life.

'When a card is alchemy summoned, the conductor is treated as an equip card. When Sword/Sorcery King's Crown is equipped to King Arthur I can discard a card once per turn to summon a rank two or lower Sword/Sorcery monster from my deck. The card I discard is Sword/Sorcery Volatile Magic, and the card I summon from my deck is Sword/Sorcery Merlin in defence position.'

Joining the king was a wizard, robes drooping over his body.

'When this card is summoned, I can banish a card from graveyard to deal three damage. I choose Sword/Sorcery Volatile Magic, which, when banished, deals three damage to target player.' Merlin raised his staff and launched a ball of fire at Sebastian, who now had eight life left.

'I can sacrifice Sword/Sorcery Merlin to draw one Sword/Sorcery Conductor card from my hand, which will be Sword/Sorcery Excalibur. As Sword/Sorcery King Arthur is Alchemically Active, I can add another conductor to him, which will of course be Excalibur.

'Battle! King Arthur, attack the Molten Cannon. When Arthur kills an enemy with Excalibur, it deals three damage for every remaining enemy on the field. This is the end!'

King Arthur slashed his sword, cutting the Molten Cannon like a knife through warm butter. Dust billowed out, clouding the arena. In the corner of his eye he saw the life counter. He could not believe it.

'You were so close.' Sebastian laughed. 'Who would have expected a draw. Why did you go for my Molten Cannon? When it is destroyed it deals three damage to the opposing player.'

'R – really?' Lyder fell to his knees. He couldn't believe it. If only he had chosen any other monster. 'I went for it in case I failed. In case things didn't turn out well, to eliminate a reliable source of damage.'

'I had no cards in my hand. No rune cards too.'

'I didn't notice.'

As the dust cleared, he found Sebastian standing over him, hand reaching down, begging to be accepted. Lyder accepted and their hands gripped.

'Your deck is certainly something. What can I say, you passed!'

'I.' It took a moment to register in his head. 'I passed? But it was a draw.'

'Don't get hung up on the details. Only twenty percent of our students manage to defeat their opponent. Besides, if we battled again, you would have won. I daresay you'll be paying more attention to how many cards someone has in their hand and field from now on.'