Psycho Duel Chapter 30: Master of Traps

If Walt wasn't missing an eye and the world of pain that came from being sprayed with acidic enzymes and nearly devoured by a young wyvern, and wasn't currently being chased by said wyvern and the murderous Bloodhound riding him, Walt would probably enjoy the sensation of flying.

He was in survival mode and he had trouble thinking straight. It was like that old boxer's adage. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Okay, maybe it wasn't that old. Not unless one considered Mike Tyson old. But the saying still stood. All his thoughts were jumbled in his head, lost in a red swirl of pain.

Everyone has a plan until they get a magical arrow through the eye.

It was as if the phrase summoned the next Bloodseeker Arrow. It came streaking from behind, piercing him in the back. The impact threw him forward. He dropped several dozen feet, tumbling mid-air, momentarily losing control of his flight trajectory.

He regained control, stabilizing. But he was hovering, stationary, no longer moving forward.  He looked down and saw the glowing arrowhead sticking out of his lower abdomen. That entire side went stiff. Keeping his balance in the air with his core sent waves of agony through his body.

Voidlock

Health Points: 29

The Bloodseeker Arrow disappeared then. Walt looked behind him and saw Jacob racing towards him through the Tennessee sky, the glittering electric blue grid in the background, his astigmatism causing the places where the barrier lines crossed to send streaking diamonds of light across his vision.

That's when the Bloodhound used his Hero Ability. One hand clutching his bow, Nok'Roshar, he put two fingers in his mouth with his other hand and whistled. A red glow pulsed through him and then a shrill cry sounded from below.

An owl emerged from a tree below and flew upwards. It began to change. Its wings grew bigger, increasing in size. The wingspan extending, tripling in length. The color of the feathers darkening from silver to black and red. The rest of its body followed the wings.

Its breast became large and intimidating. Its head ballooned, the beak somehow becoming more razor sharp. The moonlight reflected off it like it was the edge of a razor. The talons becoming deadly grappling hooks. The owl had transformed into one of Jacob's minions.

[Examine]

[Owlthonius Hearteater]

Owlthonius Hearteater. Set: Beast Tamers Bestiary. Minion. Rarity: Rare. The Bloodhound's eyes in the night sky. Can track particularly wily opponents who try to use the darkness of night to their advantage.

Swift Flight.

Talon Strike: 6 Attack, Cooldown: 5 seconds

Health Points: 5

Cost: Beast Tame

Fantastic. Of course he can just create airborne minions.

Then snatched a card out of the air. When he raised his hand again, he was holding an ivory hunting horn.

[Examine]

[Horn of Ligeia]

Horn of Ligeia. Object. Set: The Twelve Lords of the Hunt. Rarity: Legendary. The fabled ivory hunting horn thought lost in the deep wilds of Heartmourne.

Its call summons one of the Twelve Lords of the Hunt.

Cost: 5 Vigor Stones

The Bloodhound raised the horn to his lips and blew on the instrument. A low frequency note sounded across the landscape. It was a mournful sound that filled Walt's heart full of dread. He had no doubt that every creature or person within range of the horn stopped what they were doing to listen, their flesh prickling with goose-bumps and their blood running cold. A gray mist rolled out over the land.

On the rolling field below Grimscale and Jacob, something emerged out of the mist. At first it looked like some new type of monster. But as it came into view, it was revealed to be a large red fox.

And mounted on top was a green-skinned goblin clothed in leather armor and wolf hides. There was a long silver rifle slung over his back, and an assortment of chains and traps hung from the fox's saddle.

[Examine]

[Myrk Trapmaster]

Myrk Trapmaster. Minion. Set: The Twelve Lords of the Hunt. Rarity: Legendary. The infamous goblin huntsman, also known as The Master of Traps. Can catch any adversary on land, sky or sea.

War Whoop: Fires a bolas and net that roots opponent for 1 Turn

Goblin Sniper Rifle: 9 Attack, Cooldown: 30 seconds

Fox Bite: 5 Attack, Cooldown: 5 seconds

Health Points: 15

Cost: 7 Vigor Stones

Walt, almost passing out from the agony, made himself fly forward and away from his enemies. He clutched his side. Blood dripped out of the jellied mess in his eye socket.

I'm going to die here. I'll never reach Janice. Her and mom will only remember me as a fuck-up who threw away every good opportunity that came his way and pissed his potential away.

"Shut up!" Walt said. He gritted his teeth, addressing the voice in his head. "You shut the fuck up."

Below, Myrk Trapmaster hopped off his fox and pulled out a strange look gun that had a wide-rim barrel. The end of the thing looked more like a tuba than a firearm.

"Are you seeing this, Winternath?" Jacob said, talking to his Chat via a Chronico drone. He flashed his filed down teeth at the cam. "I want all of M-District to see this! Your boy is about to take down the NPC Voidlock everyone is getting all wet about! I hope all of you Slaycastfanboys are tuning in! Myrk, root this clown!"

Myrk fired the strange gun. There was a whoomph. A rocket-propelled pair of bolas flew into the night sky, a net shimmering between the spinning objects.

Walt cursed and swerved to the right. Behind him the bolas tracked him, trailing smoke through the sky. He swerved left and still they followed. It didn't look like he was going to be able to dodge them.

If he was going to be caught in a net, then he wanted to make sure he wouldn't crash to the ground where the rest of Jacob's minions could swarm him. He needed to mitigate damage. He needed to not die.

When the bolas reached him, the silver net entangled him. The material cut into his skin like wires. The bolas wrapped around him, thudding into his flesh, rattling his bones. The impact from them was sure to leave bruises.

He fell out of the sky, wrapped in the net. His gambit paid off. He didn't crash to the ground.

Instead, he crashed into a tree. The net caught on the upper branches, and he dangled there like a caterpillar in a cocoon. He gasped. His entire body had become one raw nerve ending. The pain took his breath away.

The gong sounded.

Turn 7

Vigor Stones 7/7

03:00

Begin

Draw?

The three Blood Mirrors hidden across the land procced, draining life from Jacob and transferring it to Walt. Not that it made much of a difference for Walt's Health Pool. He was still in the critical.

Voidlock

Health Points: 29

But Walt double-checked Jacob's Health Pool. Even though his mind was so jumbled and so wracked with pain, his instincts told him that there was an opportunity here. He'd need to see his hand first, though.

Bloodhound

Health Points: 61

Walt drew his hand.

Life Leech

Crucible Configuration

Soulbloom

Priest of the Blazing Shield

Wand of Green Skulls

Chronobite

Blood Mirror

Walt's remaining eye grew wide. Three of the cards were highlighted in his mind. He double-checked the numbers.

It's possible. As long as I can play the cards in this condition.

The Myrk Trapmaster card description said he would be rooted for one turn. Which meant he couldn't move. It didn't mean he couldn't play cards.

He Soultapped right as a thunderous crack came from below.

Myrk Trapmaster had fired his Goblin Sniper Rifle. He had used the back of his fox as a tripod to steady his shot.

The agony from the Soultap combined with the goblin bullet that entered his chest and exploded out of his back made Walt whimper.

Vigor Stones 8/7

Owlthonius attacked him then, his beak trying to peck out his remaining eye. Walt covered his face and the razor-sharp beak bit into his skin. But he was already so injured, already in so much hell, what was more pain?

Voidlock

Health Points: 1

In the distance, a new voice caught his attention. "There he is! Cornered and trapped like all prey inevitably find themselves!"

Katarina was arriving with her Flintlock Blaster. If she shot him once with it, he wouldn't have enough health to make this play work. He'd be dead.

"Shoot the dwarf!" Walt said, hoping his stealthed squad of Deadwood Witches would be close enough to comply.

They were. Katarina cried out in surprise as the Deadwood Witches materialized around her in a crescent and released shrapnel from their bone wands at her.

Grimscale appeared above Walt, descending, its claws reaching for him.

"Slaycast!" Jacob cried out, spittle flying from his pointed teeth. He shook Nok-Roshar above his head. "Witness the defeat of your over-hyped Voidlock!"

Walt had already played his card. It flew from in front of him up into the sky, appearing above Jacob.

Before Grimscale's teeth and talons could find Walt to deliver the final blow, the Crucible Configuration arrived.

A haunting church bell chimed and a portal opened above the Bloodhound. An invisible force lifted him off his mount and he hung cruciform in the sky, immobilized.

He couldn't even turn his head. The muscles and tendons in his neck strained as he tried to speak through stiff lips. "What..."

Cold blue light streamed forth and baroque pieces of interlocking strange metal formed a broken globe around Jacob. Unholy glyphs and ornamental diabolical designs were etched into the pieces.

The puzzle pieces assembled themselves, manacling the Bloodhound to a table in the shape of a cross. The cubes and parts kept shifting into place, rotating and clicking until he was completely walled in on the table. As if he was contained in a coffin where his face and parts of his stomach and chest were still exposed.

Hooks and needles extended from secretive pockets of the configuration, piercing his skin and pulling his flesh back, exposing the muscles and ligaments underneath. The device hummed with energy and Jacob screamed as his outer layer of skin was reconfigured into a mockery of the human form.

There was a pulse of cold light and the Bloodhound was instantly drained of thirty Health Points.

Thirty Health Points which transferred to Walt.

He felt a surge of rejuvenation so he played his next card, Soulbloom. For fifteen Health Points, the card allowed him to play his next spell.

Still stuck in the net, Walt tapped the Life Leech card with his finger. It was the final card in the combo that triggered the Blood Mirrors he had set up.

The card spun in front of him, faster and faster and faster. Beam of red energy shot into the sky from the creek, the forest and the culvert. The triune of Blood Mirror energy formed a red triangle that could be seen from satellite imagery in the middle of Tennessee.

The tip of the crimson pyramid was the Life Leech card. It refocused the three beams into one straight at the Bloodhound still trapped within the confines of the Crucible Configuration.

Life Leech itself drained twenty points of health from Jacob. The three mirrors drained another fifteen.

Walt had just nuked Jacob for sixty-five Health Points, obliterating his opponent.

The explosion of energy combined with the disappearance of all the minions on the battleboard resulted in a brilliant light show that played over the hills of Tennessee and the Cumberland Valley.

The net disappeared and Walt fell out of the tree, hitting the ground with a grunt.

The mutilated and withered husk of Jacob Maseria landed in front of him, his hollow face upturned in a permanent rictus. The Slaynami Card gauntlet dormant and encased on his hand like a bad omen.

Congratulations!

You are the Duel Winner!