A red car pulled up to a fancy gate. Once the car stopped, a 12-year-old boy eagerly opened up the car door and leaped out. He was wearing blue jeans and a black leather jacket with flames on it. His eyes were red, and his black and red hair hadn't been brushed in months, but because he was of Japanese descent, his hair was perfectly straight, so it looked more spiky than messy. His name was Koichi Kazan, and he was ecstatic to be lucky enough to go to Flamberge Middle School for a second year in a row. Beyond the gate was a path that lead to the boarding school for rich kids who dreamed of becoming professional Chaos Summoners and winning real money at tournaments by playing the card game Chaos Eternal. Koichi happily skipped down the path. With his head in the clouds, he lost track of the pavement and ended up tripping on a crack and scraping his knee.

"Oh well." Koichi said optimistically as he pushed himself back up off the ground, "At least I've got a cool hole in my jeans now!"

It was then that he noticed that he had left his fanny pack unzipped and his card deck and iPhone had fallen to the ground when he tripped. The cards were scattered everywhere, but he managed to pick them all up and painstakingly counted them to make sure he had all 30.

"Well, that's one way to shuffle my deck!" He said.

He picked up the iPhone. Thankfully, the screen wasn't cracked, but there was something else that troubled him. It was the time. He was late for the first day of school. At first, he was worried that his rival Vincent Verne would laugh at him for being late, but then he decided that it was better off this way because he would have probably laughed at him even more if he had arrived at the same time as Koichi and seen him trip. Koichi put his cards and iPhone back in his fanny pack and made sure to zip it up. Then, he entered the school.

All of the other students were still in the room at the entrance, but the introductory seminar was just ending. Koichi didn't really care about whatever it was that he had missed. It couldn't have been that important. And if it was important, he was sure his best friend Jian Lin would tell him all about it. He looked at the screen that was projected onto the wall. It listed which dorm rooms each of the 7th graders were supposed to go to. They were separated into four groups of four. Their names were listed under each group name. Group A consisted of Xander L'enfer, Shelby Winter, Carson Yang, and Hikari Hoshino. Group B was Ailis Asheart, Allison Grace, Genaro Luna, and Vincent Verne. Group C was Laurel Jubilee, Crystal Wakefield, Morgan Kirkland, and Raye Meadows. And, Group D was Koichi Kazan, Kjarl Eyland, Taelar Typhon, and Jian Lin.

Koichi was excited to be in the same group as Jian. He happily rushed to his dorm room to tell his friend the good news. When he got there, Jian was already there. He had short, somewhat messy, black hair and green eyes. He wore glasses with frame-less rectangular lenses. And like a lot of the other boys at Flamberge, excluding Koichi, Jian was wearing a fancy suit with a tie. One of the main differences between Jian and Koichi was that you could tell Jian was from a rich family by looking at him.

"Jian!" Koichi said excitedly, "We're in the same group! Group D! D for Destroyer! Yeah, let's call ourselves Team Destroyer!"

"Yeah, I know." Jian said nonchalantly, "I had it rigged."

"What do you mean?" Koichi asked confusedly.

"I made a deal with Principal Schwert." Jian said, "Basically, he was nice enough for once to at least put us in the same room together. Of course, if he didn't, I would have hacked the school computers and altered the data so that we would end up together anyways. But still, I wonder what those other two boys who were listed with us will be like."

"Now that you mention it, I don't recognize their names." Koichi said, "I don't think they were here last year."

"They weren't." Jian said, "The only thing that I can infer is that one of them uses a water deck and one of them uses a death deck. As you know, the four elements in Chaos Eternal are fire, water, death, and life. Each of the groups that we were put into has one student per element. And since I use a life deck and you use a fire deck, that narrows our other two roommates' decks down to water and death."

"Still, I wonder why they're not here yet." Koichi said worriedly, "Maybe they're lost!"

"That would make sense if they're new here." Jian said.

"I'll go look for them!" Koichi said, eager for adventure.

Koichi ran out of the room before Jian could stop him. He ran through the halls until he came across another boy. This boy had light blonde hair with bangs that covered one of his blue eyes. His skin was pale, and he wore a light blue suit.

"Excuse me!" Koichi said, "What's your name?"

"I'm Kjarl..." The boy said shyly.

The "j" in his name was silent, or at most pronounced like a "y".

"I'm Koichi!" Koichi said as he reached out his hand to shake hands with Kjarl, "Nice to meet you! You seem lost, but don't worry! I'll get you to where you need to be!"

Koichi confidently marched back to his dorm, and Kjarl timidly followed after him.

2: Water : Nexus

This was Kjarl's first time at Flamberge Middle. Until now, he had gone to ordinary schools and learned regular curriculum. But every day, his classmates would bully him and make him cry. His parents decided that it would be better for him to go to an easygoing school like Flamberge where he could play instead of having to do too much work. That way, things wouldn't be as stressful for him. But, all of that just made Kjarl feel guilty. He felt like a terrible whiny brat getting his parents to send him to a school for privileged kids who get to play all of the time. He had never even played Chaos Eternal before, but he had a deck of cards that once belonged to his brother who left to join the army. Kjarl hadn't heard from his brother for a long time, so he assumed he was dead.

Kjarl had lived a very sad life, but now, there was this crazy happy guy, Koichi, trying to make friends with him. Kjarl didn't know what to think of Koichi, but he had been lied to so much that he knew better than to immediately trust him. Still, he decided to follow him back to the dorm room just to see what would happen. When they got there, Kjarl saw Jian for the first time.

"Well, what do you know." Jian said, "You actually found somebody."

"This is Kjarl." Koichi said.

Kjarl felt slightly condescended by Koichi introducing him to Jian instead of letting him introduce himself, but deep down, he knew he would have been too shy to introduce himself, so he let the feeling go.

"Hi..." Kjarl said shyly as he waved to Jian.

"Hello." Jian said, "My name is Jian, and I am best friends with Koichi. I use a life deck. What kind of deck do you use?"

Kjarl took his deck out of his pocket and looked through the cards, trying to make sense of them.

"Blue." Kjarl said, "The cards all have blue on them. That's... really all I know about them."

"Then, it seems you have a water deck." Jian said, "But, I find it hard to believe you wouldn't know something as basic as that."

"I actually don't know anything about his game." Kjarl said, "I've never played it before."

"You've never played before!?" Koichi asked, "This'll be a great opportunity for us to teach you how! My friend Jian's an expert strategist!"

"Ok." Jian said, "Well, first of all, there are four elements in Chaos Eternal. The elements are fire, water, life and death. Fire beats death, water beats fire, life beats water, and death beats life. Each deck can only have one element. Your deck's element is water. Mine is life, and Koichi's is fire. If you play against Koichi, it will be much easier for you to win than if you play against me."

"Hey!" Koichi yelled, "Are you saying this noob could beat me!?"

"I'm saying that a water deck could beat a fire deck much easier than it could beat a life deck." Jian said, "It has nothing to do with skill, although I am sure you know very well that I am more strategic than you."

"Well, who needs strategy when you've got strength!?" Koichi argued.

"And, my cards have a higher average strength than yours as well." Jian said.

"Yeah, the ones you got illegally do!" Koichi argued.

"That's besides the point." Jian said, "Anyways, Kjarl, how about you have a go against Koichi, and I'll walk you through how to play the game. First, both of you must shuffle your decks."

Kjarl and Koichi shuffled their decks. They climbed onto one of the beds to use it as a makeshift game board.

"Each deck has 30 cards that represent different monsters or characters." Jian said, "At the beginning of the game, each player draws one card off the top of their deck and places it down."

"Wait, first we have to flip a coin to see who goes first!" Koichi said as he pulled out a coin and flipped it, "I call heads!"

The coin landed on heads. Koichi drew his first card.

"Well, that's an awkward one to start off with when introducing a noob..." Koichi said as he began to blush, "Of all of the cards in my deck, it had to be that one."

The card, which was titled with the name Tabitha Fox, depicted a red-haired showgirl with fire powers.

"I don't know about you, but it's those kinds of cards that I look forward to seeing the most when the time comes to enter the actual tournament with the 3D holograms." Jian said.

"Yeah, I guess you've got a point!" Koichi said as he blushed and grinned, "Anyways, pinup art aside, my card has 30 AP and 20 HP, and if you defeat her, you'll get 1 prize card."

"AP stands for Attack Points, and HP stands for Health Points." Jian explained, "Prize cards are cards that you earn by defeating opposing cards. The amount that you need to earn to win the game varies depending on the rules, but since this is your first time playing, I'll let you win once you get 3 prize cards."

"But, the only cards I have are the ones with my characters on them..." Kjarl said.

"Don't worry." Jian said, "I always keep this deck of prize cards with me. Once you earn one, you'll see that they're completely different from your character cards. But first, you need to draw your card."

"Ok..." Kjarl said as he slowly drew his card.

He placed it down so that it faced Koichi's card.

"Pomporo Worm..." Kjarl read the name of his card, which depicted a large aquatic worm-like creature, "It has 30 AP and 10 HP. And if you defeat it, you'll get 1 prize card."

"Excellent." Jian said, "Now, it's time to fight."

3: Life : Mystery

Jian had always been a prodigy, so he could have easily excelled at a normal middle school if not a high school or even a college, but he learned more about history and literature without going to school than most people do with going to school. Instead of being forced to learn about things that he didn't care about, he would look up his topics of interest on the internet and read about them in great depth. His greatest interest was mythology, and he loved to play Chaos Eternal because a lot of the cards seemed to contain references to various obscure mythologies. He went to Flamberge Middle School to learn more about the cards because he believed that there was much more to them what it seemed. He was a conspiracy theorist.

But now, in this moment, with the help of his best friend Koichi, he was teaching the new boy Kjarl how to play Chaos Eternal.

"First, it is Koichi's turn, so he draws a card." Jian said.

Koichi drew a card called Genshin. It was holographic and depicted a samurai whose hair and sword were made of fire.

"Awesome!" Koichi cheered, "This is my strongest card! Anyways, since I already have a character in play, this card goes in my backup."

Koichi placed the Genshin card behind the Tabitha Fox card.

"Now, Tabitha has an epic warrior to back her up if your monster defeats her!" Koichi said, "You can have up to 5 cards in your backup. Once you have 5 in your backup and 1 in play, you can't draw any more. But now, it's time for me to attack! My character Tabitha Fox has 30 AP, and your Pomporo Worm has 10 HP. However, because I'm using fire against water, my attack is halved to 15, but it's still enough to slay your worm!"

"What happens now...?" Kjarl asked.

"You're going to have to discard your Pomopro Worm card." Jian said, "Put it face up on the right side of your deck."

"And now, I get to draw a prize card!" Koichi cheered as he drew a blue card with orange text on it, "Prize cards are kind of like spells, but they can be used at different times depending on what their text indicates. But, spells are something else. Each card has a spell on it. The spell comes into effect after its card defeats an opposing card. My active card's spell is called Dance Of Fire. It would do 10 fire damage, or rather, 5 damage to your water cards if you had any cards in your backup. But, you don't, so I guess my spell is useless..."

"Now, Kjarl, it's your turn to draw a card." Jian said.

"Ok..." Kjarl said as he drew a card.

The card was called Amphitrite, and its picture was of a female warrior with a trident.

"Amazing..." Jian said as his eyes widened, "Where did you get such and oldschool card?"

"Oh, this deck belonged to my brother..." Kjarl said, "I guess it hasn't really been touched for a few years..."

"Well, cards have gradually gotten stronger average stats since then." Jian said, "However, some of the cards from that time did have some interesting spells that they don't make anymore, so each generation has is own advantages. Now, since Amphitrite is your only card, you must put her in play. As you can see, she has 30 AP and 10 HP. Since Koichi's cards are fire, your AP will be doubled against them, and Amphitrite will be able to do 60 damage, which is more than enough to defeat Tabitha. However, Koichi might be able to do something with that prize card of his."

"Let's see here." Koichi said, "My prize card is called Backup. It gives me the ability to combine my active card's HP with one of my backup cards' HP. Tabitha Fox has a defense of 20, and Genshin has a defense of 30, so when combined, they equal 50. But, that still wouldn't be enough to defend against Kjarl's card's attack! If I were to play the Backup card, I would end up losing both of my cards! And since Tabitha is worth 1 prize card and Genshin is worth 2 prize cards, Kjarl would win the game! I better just defend regularly and let this card get defeated."

Koichi discarded the Tabitha Fox card, and Kjarl drew a green prize card that was titled Brainwashing.

"Excellent job, Kjarl." Jian said, "Now that you have defeated one of Koichi's cards, your card's spell comes into effect."

"Neptune's Wrath..." Kjarl read the name of Amphitrite's spell, "20 water damage to up to 3 enemies..."

"Right." Jian said, "But since Koichi only has one card in play, your spell only damages that one card. However, since Amphitrite is a water card and Genshin is a fire card, she does 40 damage. And since he only has 30 HP, Koichi must discard him."

"Wait..." Kjarl said, "Koichi said that his Genshin card was worth two prize cards... And, I defeated it... Does that mean I win the game?"

"Not so fast." Jian said, "You can only get prize cards by defeating cards with your actual attacks, not with the effects of your spells. Genshin may have had more AP than anything even in my deck, but with a mere 30 HP, Amphitrite's attack would have been able to defeat him even without implementing the effects of water VS fire. But, I suppose you had no choice since your spell knocked him out before he had a chance to come into play. Now, Koichi will have to draw a new card to use against Amphitrite."

"All right!" Koichi said as he swiped a card off the top to the deck and slapped it onto the makeshift battlefied.

This card was of a deformed-looking demonic creature with horns and wings. It was called Rauhen.

"My card has 30 AP, and yours has 10 HP!" Koichi said, "Rauhen's AP may be halved to 15, but it's still enough to defeat Amphitrite!"

"All right..." Kjarl said as he discarded Amphitrite.

"And now, I get my second prize card!" Koichi said as he drew a prize card, "Awesome! I got the best one!"

The prize card, titled Assassin, was blood red with silver holographic letters.

"Is it my turn to draw a card...?" Kjarl asked timidly.

"First, Koichi's card's spell comes into play." Jian said.

"Actually, my spell, Burning Agony, has no effect because Kjarl has no cards in play." Koichi said, "It would have done 10 fire damage to each of your cards if you had any."

"In that case, Kjarl, you may now draw your card." Jian said.

Kjarl nodded and drew a card called Kraxis with a picture of a deadly-yet-sexy-looking woman with pale skin, black hair, glowing blue eyes, and revealing armor.

"All right..." Kjarl said, "This card has 20 AP and 20 HP, and it's worth 1 prize card. Can... I attack now?"

"Yes." Jian said, "It is your turn to attack."

"Ok..." Kjarl said, "I'll attack."

"Kraxis's attack is doubled." Jian said, "It does 40 damage to Rauhen, defeating him. Since Rauhen is worth 1 prize card, you may draw your second prize card."

"This could really come in handy..." Kjarl said after drawing and reading a prize card called Precision Strike.

"Now, each of us have received 2 prize cards!" Koichi said, "We each only need one more to win! This match is right down to the wire!"

"Wait..." Kjarl said, "It's time for me to use my spell, isn't it? Kraxis's spell is called Greater Frost Cage. It says... it prevents the enemy from drawing cards for 2 turns..."

"But, I already have no cards in play!" Koichi said as he began to blush, "Then, that means... you defeated me! No way! You just got lucky with the type matchups! That's all!"

"And ultimately, that's all that matters in the end." Jian said, "However, I believe that there is more to this game than just that. Now, excuse me. I have some research to do."

Jian walked off to his computer room.

"He calls himself a conspiracy theorist!" Koichi explained to Kjarl, "Well, my theory is that it's all just an excuse for him to spend hours looking at porn on his computer!"

Jian knew Koichi didn't want him to overhear him, but he overheard him. He didn't really let it get to him, though. He logged onto his computer to check his messages. This time, there was an unusual one that just said "Meet me on the roof. Now."

Jian left his dorm and made his way to the roof of the school. There, he saw another boy. This boy had long straight black hair, dark skin, and purple eyes. He was wearing a very fancy black and purple outfit.

"Our fates are intertwined." The strange boy said.

4: Death : Equilibrium

"So, you're the one who has been messaging me all of that information about the arcane truth behind Chaos Eternal." Jian said, "But, who are you and what are you doing here at this school!?"

"I am your new roommate." The other boy said, "You can call me Taelar. Taelar Typhon."

"So, you're the fourth roommate." Jian said, "But, what do you want with me?"

"I have no particular interest in you as a person." Taelar said, "It just so happens that you are the only one at this school who is interested in learning the truth behind Chaos Eternal. You also seem to be the only one with enough cognitive capacity to handle exactly how deep the truth goes without letting it drive you insane, which is unfortunate because to be honest, you're not the one I'm truly here for."

"Then why did you bring me up here?" Jian asked, "You want to battle!?"

"You have no idea what you are asking for, do you?" Taelar asked, "According to the information that you've given me online, you have a rather impressive life deck with several rare, promotional, and limited edition cards. My deck, however, consists of all of the most powerful death cards ever made. 30 different ways to mutilate your corpse. And considering the fact that death cards beat life cards, it would be seriously unwise to challenge me. Luckily for you, I brought you up here because I wish to converse with you in person."

"About what?" Jian asked.

"The Akashic Records." Taelar said.

"I've heard of those." Jian said, "I've read about them in online pdfs of old grimoires. But, I still don't have a firm understanding of exactly what they are."

"That's understandable." Taelar said, "They are indeed a difficult subject to grasp. Think of them as the data files of everything that exists and everything that ever existed and ever will exist. Now, imagine a universe that no longer exists. But, its Akashic Records remain, all thanks to a forgotten god."

Jian tried to comprehend what Taelar was saying, but he was interrupted by Koichi, who had rushed up to the roof with Kjarl following behind him. Once he had made it to where Jian was, Koichi stopped and panted melodramatically to catch his breath.

"Come on, Jian!" Koichi said, "You don't want to be late for the first day of class, do you!?"

"It's that time already?" Jian asked, "Thanks. I got a bit sidetracked here."

"Who's that guy!?" Koichi asked after he had noticed Taelar.

"He says his name's Taelar." Jian said, "Apparently, he's our other roommate."

"Well, great!" Koichi said, "Now that all four of us are here, we can all go to class together and meet our teacher!"

"I don't know about that Taelar guy..." Kjarl said, "His stare is really intimidating..."

Taelar analyzed Kjarl's reaction. So, this was what Kjarl was like. This boy clearly had no idea of just how much potential lied dormant within him. He could use an awakening. But, maybe later. Taelar decided that the best option for now wast simply to go to class with the other students.

When they got to class, they saw that their teacher was a strong-looking man with short blonde hair and a black suit with a red tie.

"Greetings, my students!" the teacher said, "My name is Mr Vanberk, and I will be your new teacher! From now on, the four of you, along with me will be referred to as Team Emperor! The other three classes also have their own team names. Mr Qinglong's class is Team Magician, Mrs Nephthys's class is Team Priestess, and Mrs Isophil's class is Team Empress. Today, Team Emperor (That's us!) will be going to the practice room to practice battling with Team Empress!"

"That's it?" Jian asked, "No class!? We just battle with our cards!?"

"I know, right!" Koichi said, "I was really looking forward to a 30-minute nap! But, I guess the teachers already taught us everything everything important about the game last year in 6th grade!"

"Yeah, but I was hoping we could learn more about the mythos behind the cards this year." Jian said.

"Nobody cares about the flavor text!" Koichi said.

"I care about it!" Jian argued.

"Well then, you're the only one!" Koichi argued back.

"I just don't get why it is that you don't want to learn anything." Jian said.

"Because the truth is disappointing!" Koichi said, "When I was a toddler, I actually believed that there were real dinosaurs that could breathe fire! But then, I found out that they couldn't actually do that, and I was kind of disappointed. So now, instead of wanting to learn the truth, I just want to use my imagination!"

Taelar also cared about the Chaos Eternal mythos, but he didn't say anything. He would rather stay quiet and be viewed as a mysterious loner than awkwardly barge into the two boys' conversation.

Once the four boys had made it to the practice room with their teacher Mr Vanberk, they saw four girls there with their teacher Mrs Isophil. The four girls were Raye, Morgan, Crystal, and Laurel. Raye was clearly a tough girl. She had green spiky hair and a black tank top with a matching leather miniskirt. Morgan also had a confident feel to her. She had long red hair and was wearing a masculine black suit with a red tie. Crystal was more girly than Raye and Morgan but just as energetic. Her light blue hair was worn in a long thin braid, and she wore a blue silk dress. Laurel was by far the most quiet and gentle of the four girls. She had short pink hair and a plain white dress. Their teacher, Mrs Isophil was a beautiful woman with long wavy blonde hair and a blue dress.

"So, you finally made it." Mrs Isophil said coldly to Mr Vanberk.

"It was harder than it looks to round these boys up!" Mr Vanberk said.

"I suppose everything's harder when you lack self control." Mrs Isophil said.

"Anyways, let's get these practice battles started!" Mr Vanberk said, "I'm sure our students are all very excited to get to test out their decks on each other."

"Dang right I am!" Koichi said, "Let me have a go first!"

"To avoid the unfairness of type match ups, each student will be facing the other student whose deck has the same element as theirs." Mrs Isophil said.

"All right, then!" Koichi said, "Which one of you has the fire deck!?"

Koichi was expecting it to be Raye or Morgan, but the two of them looked at each other and shrugged. Finally, Laurel stepped up to Koichi.

"I have the fire deck..." Laurel said quietly.

"You!?" Koichi asked as his eyes widened, "No offense, but you're the last person I would have guessed would use a fire deck!"

"Oh, well actually, I like fire cards..." Laurel said, "Their energy fills my heart with warmth."

"Then, it's decided." Mr Vanberk said, "The winner of this battle will receive this new fire card!"

Mr Vanberk pressed some keys on a keyboard, and a picture of a card appeared on a large screen in the room. The card was called Dream Demon, and its picture was of a burning demon with many arms and a red skull for a head with tentacles coming out of its mouth. It had 20 AP and 30 HP, and it was worth 1 prize card. Its spell, Wraith Of The Fallen, was capable of doing 10 fire damage to up to 3 enemies.

"All right!" Koichi said, "That card's definitely going to earn its place in my deck!"

5: Fire : Optimism

"This card, the Dream Demon, comes from the new expansion pack, Oneiros, which is the 128th expansion pack in all of Chaos Eternal!" Mr Vanberk explained, "It is the most powerful fire card from the Oneiros expansion pack, and it'll be all yours if you can win this battle!"

"Don't disappoint me, Laurel." Mrs Isophil said.

"Umm, ok..." Laurel said, "Hey, Koichi... Could you please go easy on me? I'm new to this game, and I only have weak cards..."

"Me!?" Koichi said, "Go easy!? Fat chance that'll happen!"

"As of this year, the school has installed Card Readers in this room." Mrs Isophil explained, "As you know, each card has a barcode on it. If you slide your cards into the Card Readers, they will scan your cards, and you will be able to see your characters fight on the big screen!"

"All right!" Mr Vanberk said, "The first battle will be Koichi VS Laurel! I will now flip a coin to see who will go first! If it lands on heads, my student Koichi goes first! And if it lands on tails, Laurel goes first!"

Koichi's heart raced with anticipation.

"Heads!" Mr Vanberk declared the result of his coin flip.

"Yes!" Kochi cheered as he jumped up in the air with excitement, "All right! Let's see which card I'll get to use first!"

Koichi shuffled his deck and drew a card from the top of it. He slid his card through the card scanner, and the alluring red-haired Tabitha Fox appeared on the screen, standing in the middle of a volcanic wasteland.

"Tabitha Fox, huh?" Taelar said, "The original version of that card was released in the 66th expansion pack, but you probably weren't even playing Chaos Eternal back then. The 66th expansion had a wild west theme, and the picture of Tabitha was illustrated by Nathaniel Fox. He drew his sister as a saloon dancer. Unfortunately, it was quite evident that Nathaniel only knew how to draw men's faces. He tried cover up his mistake by giving his character excessive makeup, but that just made her look like a drag queen. In the 109th expansion pack, which had a Mardi Gras theme, the Tabitha card was brought back in the form our generation knows and loves with stronger stats and a mask to hide her atrocious face."

"Get a load of this guy!" Koichi said to Jian, "He knows more about Chaos Eternal than you do!"

"I know, right." Jian said, "Finally, I have a friend who I can learn from!"

"Now, it's my turn to draw my first card." Laurel said.

Laurel carefully shuffled her deck, drew a card from the top of it, and slowly slid it through the card scanner. A mirror appeared on the screen, floating in the air and facing Koichi's character Tabitha. As the camera angle moved, the reflection in the mirror was shown to be a burning skeleton. The two cards' names and stats appeared on the screen. On the left side was Koichi's card Tabitha Fox with 30 AP and 20 HP. On the right side was Laurel's card Juno with 30 AP and 10 HP. A flashing blue button with the word DRAW on it appeared on the screen.

"What happens now!?" Koichi asked.

"Draw a card, and scan it through the Card Reader!" Mr Vanberk said.

Koichi drew another card and swiped it through the card reader. An orange raptor-like dinosaur with blue stripes and a frilled neck appeared behind Tabitha for backup. Then, a flashing red button wit the word ATTACK on it appeared.

"Now, how do I attack!?" Koichi asked

"Use the keyboard on the table in front of you." Mr Vanberk said, "Press the Enter key."

Koichi pressed the Enter key, and Tabitha shot a fireball out of her hand, causing Laurel's mirror creature Juno to burst into flames. Then, a picture of a prize card appeared on the screen. This card was called Reload, and its instructions said "Return a used prize card to your hand." Koichi could tell a card like that would be pretty useless this early in the game.

"In order to win this battle, you must have 3 prize cards in your hand." Mrs Isophil explained, "Used prize cards won't count unless you use the reload card to return them to your hand. But in order to do that, you'll have to sacrifice the Reload card, so the number of cards in your hand will remain the same anyways."

The blue DRAW button flashed on the screen again, and Laurel drew a card and slid it through the card reader. Her new character appeared on the screen as a sorceress with a crimson hooded robe, a magic staff, and two wolves by her side. This card's name was Arietta, and she had 20 AP and 20 HP.

"All right!' Laurel said in a more excited tone, but still retaining the timid sweetness of her voice, "My AP is enough to equal your HP!"

"I'm so glad I don't have to teach you how to scan your cards and use the keyboard like how Mr Vanberk had to teach that dumb boy." Mrs Isophil said.

"Well, actually..." Laurel said softly to herself, halfway hoping her teacher wouldn't hear her, "I didn't know at first either before he explained how..."

Laurel pressed the enter key, and Arietta shot a fireball at Tabitha, causing her to burst into flames. A prize card called Down To Size appeared on the screen. Its instructions were to subtract 30 AP from an opposing card that is worth at least 2 prize cards. Laurel pressed Enter to recieve the Down To Size card. Then, Arietta's spell, Remedy Wounds, was activated, giving her 20 more HP. Arietta now had 40 HP in all, and it was Koichi's turn. Koichi drew another card and swiped it through the Card Reader. An ugly giant with reptilian features appeared on the screen, standing beside Koichi's dinosaur. Next, an options menu appeared on the screen, giving Koichi the option to choose between the dinosaur Fenrra Kan and the Croatan Giant.

"Use the arrow keys and the Enter key to select your card!" Mr Vanberk explained.

"Thanks!" Koichi said.

Koichi looked at the stats of both of the cards on the screen. They both had 20 AP and 30 HP, so it was hard for him to decide which one to use. The screen didn't list what the cards' spells did, so Koichi looked back at the cards in his hand to read their spells. After deciding the Croatan Giant had a better spell, he selected the giant. The Croatan Giant stepped forward on the screen to face Arietta. Next, an option appeared on the screen for Koichi to either attack or use his Reload card. The Reload card wouldn't be useful at this point in the game, so Koichi used the arrow keys and Enter key to select ATTACK. Croatan Giant charged at Arietta and attacked her with his claws, taking her HP back down to 20.

"Aww!" Koichi said, "Why is there no blood!?"

"Trust me." Jian said, "If I was a graphic designer, I would create a mod to make this game show blood."

It was Laurel's turn. She drew another card and slid it through the Card Reader, still slowly and timidly, but somewhat more confidently than before. A demon with burning sigils carved into his red skin appeared behind Arietta for backup, and Laurel was given the option to attack or use her Down To Size card. Since Koichi's Croatan Giant was only worth 1 prize card, Down To Size would be useless, so Laurel chose for Arietta to attack. Arietta shot a fireball at the Croatan Giant, lowering his HP to 10.

It was Koichi's turn again, and he drew another card and scanned it. A large black dragon-like creature with three worm-like heads appeared beside the dinosaur and behind the Croatan Giant. Once again, Koichi was given the option for his Croatan Giant to attack Arietta or use the Reload card, and he chose to attack. Once again, the giant slashed at Arietta. And this time, he took away the last of her remaining HP. Koichi received a prize card called Banishment, which would give him the ability to send one of Laurel's cards back into her deck and make her have to shuffle it and replace her card with the one from the top of her deck. Once Koichi pressed enter to receive the Banishment card, the giant's spell, Entangling Flames, came into effect. A wall of flames appeared on Laurel's side of the screen. She would be unable to draw cards for 2 turns.

It was Laurel's turn again, and her only choice was to send her one remaining character out to fight Koichi's giant. Her demon stepped forward, and his stats appeared on the screen. His name was Ragnos, and he had 30 AP and 20 HP. Laurel selected the option for Ragnos to attack the giant. The horned skull that Ragnos held in his left hand opened up its mouth and breathed fire at the Croatan Giant, defeating him. Laurel recieved a prize card called Trade-Off, which had the ability to shuffle itself back into the prize deck and let her draw a different prize card. It was very similar to the Reload card. Ragnos's spell, Meteoric Rise, came into effect and did 20 damage to each of Koichi's cards. His dragon died, but his dinosaur remained with 10 HP left.

Koichi drew another card and swiped it through the card reader. This time, a half-dragon man appeared on the screen alongside the dinosaur. Koichi was given the option to choose between the dinosaur Fenrra Kan and the dragon-man Valkar. Fenrra Kan had 20 AP and 10 HP, and Valkar had 30 AP and 20 HP. Koichi became excited when he realized that either card would have enough AP to defeat Ragnos. He decided to go with Valkar just because he had the most powerful spell, even though he wouldn't even need to use it. Once Valkar stepped up to fight Ragnos, Koichi was given the option to attack or use a prize card. The Reload card still wouldn't serve any purpose at this point, and although Koichi doubted that Laurel would have a card with more than 30 HP, he didn't want to risk it by using the Banishment card. So, Koichi chose to make Valkar attack Ragnos. The gem on Valkar's chest glowed yellow, an flames appeared behind him, forming the shape of a dragon that swooped down at Ragnos and devoured him. After Ragnos had been defeated, the screen zoomed in on Valkar, and the words YOU WIN appeared. Koichi jumped in excitement at the fact that he had won the battle.

"All right!" Koichi said, "That Dream Demon card is mine!"

6: Water : Fruition

Koichi walked up to Mr Vanberk to receive the Dream Demon card.

"Congratulations!" Mr Vanberk said, "You won this card fair and square!"

"Yes!" Kochi cheered with his new card in his hand, "It's all mine! Now, let me see which one of my cards I should replace so that I can add the Dream Demon to my deck!"

"Laurel!" Mrs Isophil said, "What do you have to say for yourself after losing to Team Emperor!?"

"I… I'm sorry…" Laurel whimpered, "I did my best… I promise…"

"I know!" Koichi said, "I'll replace my Arietta card with the Dream Demon! There's no way Arietta can be very powerful if that weakling Laurel was using her!"

After hearing her teacher's disapproval and Koichi's remark, Laurel sat down in a corner of the room and began to cry.

"Don't worry, Laurel!" Raye said, "I'll avenge you! Now, which one of you boys has the life deck!?"

"That would be me." Jian said, "So, you're the life deck user of Team Empress. Interesting."

"Dang right I am, and I'm going to kick your butt!" Raye said.

"And with that being said, it looks like it's time for the second battle!" Mr Vanberk said, "This time, we have Jian VS Raye! And once again, I will be flipping a coin! If it lands on heads, the student from Team Emperor will go first, and if it lands on tails, the student from Team Empress will go first! The winner of the battle will receive this card!"

The screen showed a card called The Falling, which depicted a strange parrot-like creature. The card itself had 30 AP and 20 HP, and its spell was Horror Bash, which did 20 life damage to all enemy cards.

"And, it's heads!" Mr Vanberk announced.

"Heads." Jian said, "Just as I predicted."

"What, are you saying you're psychic!?" Raye said, "What an idiot!"

"Who are you calling and idiot?" Jian said, "I happen to be a prodigy! Now anyways, it's my turn to draw the first card."

Jian shuffled his deck, drew a card, and swiped it through the Card Reader. The screen changed to show a beautiful dancing woman with green and gold ribbons around her body. This time, instead of a volcanic wasteland, the background was the ruins of a temple in the jungle.

"Equinox, huh?" Raye said, "She's not very powerful!"

"Ok, I'll admit it." Jian said, "There are some cards that I only keep in my deck because they're sexy."

"You pervert!" Raye said.

Raye also shuffled her deck, drew a card, and swiped it through the Card Reader. Her card appeared on the screen as a large toothy flower with the upper half of a green-skinned woman coming out of its center.

"Well, at least my character has more than just her hair to cover her breasts." Jian said.

"Only you would notice something like that on my Earth Hemlock, you idiot!"

The cards' stats appeared on the screen. Jian's Equinox had 20 AP and 20 HP, and Raye's Earth Hemlock had 30 AP and 10 HP.

Meanwhile, Kjarl was over in the corner with Laurel. He saw that she was crying, and he wanted to comfort her.

"I'm sorry that you lost…" Kjarl said.

"Thank you…" Laurel said, "I guess… But, aren't you on the same team as the guy who beat me?"

"Yeah…" Kjarl said, "I am… But, to be honest… he was being kind of a jerk…"

"So, this is what he's like." Taelar said, "Fascinating."

"There's nothing fascinating about a traitor!" Koichi said.

Jian drew his next card to prepare for his turn. He scanned it, and a giant made of thunder clouds appeared behind Equinox for backup. Next, Jian selected the ATTACK button, causing Equinox to gracefully attack and defeat the Earth Hemlock. Jian received the Down To Size prize card.

"No fair!" Raye said, "My card had more AP than yours!"

Raye drew another card and scanned it. This time, a green dragon appeared on the screen to face Jian's Equinox. The card's name was Emerald Dragon, and it had 20 AP and 20 HP. It was Raye's turn to attack, and the Emerald Dragon defeated Equinox by breathing green fire on her. Raye received a prize card called Blood Potion, which had the ability to double the AP or HP of a fire or death card.

"Dang it!" Raye said as she stomped her foot on the ground, "This card would be so awesome if only it wasn't for the fact that I have a life deck! At least if I hang on to this card, it'll put me one step closer to winning the battle!"

The Emerald Dragon's spell, Greater Earth Hammer, activated and caused Jian's storm cloud giant to die. With none of his cards remaining on the field, Jian drew a new card.

Meanwhile, Kjarl was still trying to comfort Laurel.

"It's ok…" Kjarl said, "I have a weak deck, too."

"Do you?" Taelar asked, "If you'd like, I could give you a legendary card."

"What's a legendary card?" Kjarl asked.

"A card that is worth 3 prize cards." Taelar said.

"Wow…" Kjarl said, "None of my cards are worth more than 2 prize cards!"

"None of mine are worth more than 1…" Laurel said.

"None of mine are worth less than 2." Taelar said, "But anyways, I happen to have this legendary card with me right now, and since it is a water card and I use a death deck, I can't use this card, but I would like to think that I could trust you with it."

Jian scanned the card that he had drawn. It appeared on the screen as a cute girl riding a giant rabbit. Her name was Eostre, and she had 30 AP and 20 HP. Jian sent Eostre to attack the Emerald Dragon. The rabbit charged at the dragon and defeated it. Jian received a prize card called Biohazard, which gave him the ability to add 10 AP or 10 HP to a death card or change his deck type to death if it wasn't already death.

"This could come in handy since my opponent has a life deck and death cards beat life cards." Jian said, "But at the same time, if I use it up, I'll have to get another prize card to compensate for it because winning this game means having 3 prize cards in hand."

Taelar handed his legendary water card to Kjarl. The first thing that Kjarl noticed was that the whole card was holographic with a turquoise iridescence to it. The title of the card was King Of Flesh. The King Of Flesh had 30 AP and 50 HP, and his spell, Insatiable Bloodlust, had the ability to cause him to gain 10 more HP. But, what disturbed Kjarl the most was the picture. It was of a man wearing spiky gold armor over a turquoise silk outfit, but his jacket was unbuttoned and his torso was cut open with his organs exposed.

"I don't like this card…" Kjarl said, "The picture is gross…"

"You'll get used to things like that." Taelar said, "Trust me."

Raye drew and scanned another card. This one appeared on the screen as a valkyrie-like woman with long blonde hair and a black dress. Her name was Varana, and she had 20 AP and 20 HP.

"Awesome!" Raye said, "My card has just enough AP to take yours down!"

Raye selected the ATTACK button, and Varana shot a lightning bolt out of her hand, defeating Eostre. Raye received a card called Attack Bonus, which would give her the ability to add 10 AP to any card.

"Finally, a useful prize card!" Raye said.

Varana's spell activated. It was called Nature's Growth, and it added 20 to her HP, giving her 40 HP in all.

"Well, well." Jian said, "It looks like I might have to sacrifice my Biohazard card after all."

Kjarl began to complain about having a headache.

"Your head hurts?" Taelar asked.

"Yeah, it does!" Kjarl cried.

"When did it start hurting?" Taelar asked.

"I don't know…" Kjarl said, "It was when I was looking at that card that you just gave me!"

"Fascinating." Taelar said.

"I know where the nurse's office is!" Koichi said, "If you'd like, I could take you there!"

"Thank you… Koichi…" Kjarl said.

At least that's what he said out loud. But, there was a voice in his head saying that Koichi was being cheap and trying to redeem himself for being such a sore winner with Laurel. She told him to go easy on her, and he didn't. Kjarl didn't know if he could really trust Koichi as his friend, but he followed him through the school anyways. When they got to the nurse's office, Koichi introduced Kjarl to the nurse Thea, who was a young woman with long white hair, green eyes, and a cute pink nurse outfit.

"I'm sorry to see you like this." Thea said to Kjarl, "You look like you're in a lot of pain. What's wrong?"

"My head…" Kjarl said, "It hurts so much… It feels like there's a worm digging into my brain… No, actually… it feels like there's a knife in my head…"

"That's unusual." Thea said, "But, if it's just a headache, it'll probably go away if you get some rest. I'll let you rest up here."

There was a bed in the room, but it was one of those uncomfortable ones that are always in doctors' offices. Nonetheless, Kjarl climbed into it. Sleep was out of question. Kjarl's head hurt so much that he couldn't sleep if he wanted to. So instead, he began to look through his cards and decide which one he should replace with the King Of Flesh. He decided to replace Progenitor Salp, a bizarre jellyfish-like creature with only 20 AP and 10 HP. He took the Progenitor Salp card out of his deck and replaced it with the King Of Flesh card. That new card was so shiny. He put the holographic card on the top of his deck, moved the deck back and forth, and watched it sparkle. When Taelar had first shown him the King Of Flesh, he couldn't look at his picture, but now, he almost couldn't look away.

7: Life : Encephalon

The Chaos Eternal card battle continued between Jian and Raye. Each student had defeated 2 of their opponent's cards and received 2 prize cards. Raye's Varana had just defeated Jian's Eostre, and it was now Jian's turn to draw a card. He drew a card and scanned it. It appeared on the screen as a large muscular reptilian man with green skin, bull-like horns, and two swords. The card's statistics appeared on the screen, revealing that his name was Nmgeko and he has 20 AP and 40 HP.

"Nmgeko." Jian said, "According to the Chaos Eternal mythos, he was an ancient God Of War. At first, he defended an ancient tribe of humans from dangerous beasts. But when none of the beasts remained, he made the rest of the humans kill each other just so that he could watch them bleed."

"What the heck!?" Raye said, "How can your card have the same stats as mine right off the bat like that!? My card started out with 20 HP and ended up gaining 20 more because of her spell!"

"Nmgeko is an example of a rare card." Jian said, "Cards like him have higher stats than most cards. However, there is a price. If you manage to defeat him, you will receive 2 prize cards. But if you ask me, that's kind of unfair. Let's face it. Your card Varana has the same stats as Nmgeko, and yet she is only worth 1 prize card. Fortunately, I have a way of making this more challenging for you. Instead of attacking this turn, I'll choose to sacrifice my Biohazard card to change my deck's element from life to death for the rest of this battle."

Jian selected the Biohazard card on the screen, and his cards were given the statistics of death cards, making them resistant to Raye's life cards. With that, Jian's turn ended, and it was Raye's turn to draw a card. She drew a card and scanned it. A massive stone dragon appeared on the screen behind the valkyrie Varana.

"If you used a prize card instead of attacking, then I might as well do the same!" Raye said, "After all, I only need 3 to win! I already have 2 prize cards in hand, and your Nmgeko card is worth 2 prize cards, so I'll be free to use 1 of my cards up and still win the game if I defeat your card! Now, time to make my card's stats even higher than yours!"

Raye selected the Attack Bonus card, adding 10 more AP to Varana. She now had 30 AP and 40 HP.

"Impressive." Jian said, "But, it still won't be enough now that my deck type is death."

Jian drew a card and scanned it. An ugly monster with mushrooms all over its body appeared behind Nmgeko. Next, Jian selected the option for Nmgeko to attack Varana, and it only took one attack for him to defeat her.

"But, how!?" Raye said.

"Now that my deck type is death and yours is life, my attacks are doubled and yours are halved." Jian said.

Jian received a prize card called Back To Life, which would give him the ability to replace an active card with a card that had already been defeated. He decided that he would use it if Nmgeko started running low on HP, thus denying Raye the chance to get 2 prize cards from 1 card. Nmgeko's spell, Time Lapse, activated, making Raye unable to draw cards for 2 turns. Now that she was unable to draw a new card, Raye's only option was to send out her stone dragon to try to fight Nmgeko. The dragon moved closer to Nmgeko, and its stats appeared on the screen. Its name was Earthshaker, and it only had 10 AP and 20 HP.

"It looks like this will be an easy victory after all." Jian said.

"No!" Raye said, "I can't afford to disappoint my teacher!"

"So, that's what you're so worried about." Jian said, "So much for you being a rebellious bad girl."

"Hey!" Raye said, "Shut up!"

Raye selected for her Earthshaker to attack Nmgeko, but the attack only did 5 damage, and Jian's card still had 35 HP remaining. It was now Jian's turn again, and he drew another card.

"I had a gut feeling that I would draw this card soon." Jian said as he looked at the holographic card, which glistened green in his hand.

Jian scanned the card, and a sexy Brazilian dancing woman appeared on the screen beside Jian's mushroom monster. The sky on the screen became filled with fireworks, and the music changed to samba.

"What's going on now!?" Raye asked.

"When a legendary card is played, the atmosphere of the game changes." Jian said, "This is Maracatu, the queen of the Carnivale Of Souls. Like all legendary cards, she is extremely powerful and worth 3 prize cards. However, I won't even need to use her because the game will be won as soon as Nmgeko defeats your Earthshaker because I will be drawing my 3rd prize card. But even if I wasn't drawing my 3rd prize card, I still would win the game because Nmgeko's Time Lapse has made you unable to draw any more cards to replace your Earthshaker."

Jian selected the ATTACK button, and Nmgeko charged at the Earthshaker and defeated it by jabbing his swords into its eyes. The screen zoomed in on Nmgeko, and the words YOU WIN appeared.

"Dang it!" Raye said, "I can't believe I lost to such a nerd!"

"Why?" Jian said, "I found it to be very probable that I would win."

Jian walked up to his teacher to receive The Falling card that was rightfully his. He took the card and put it in his deck, replacing Anguin The Vile, a dragon with only 20 AP and 10 HP.

"I'm impressed by how much you know about Chaos Eternal." Taelar said.

"Thanks." Jian said, "But, I can't take all of the credit. I learned the majority of what I know by chatting with you online."

"That's it!" Morgan said, "I can't take it anymore! You boys need to stop winning all of these battles against my team!"

"Who's she?" Taelar asked.

"That's Morgan." Jian said, "Raye may be mean, but she's not even a bully compared to Morgan. And since Morgan uses a death deck, that means you'll be the one fighting her."

"Chances are that I'll be able to win easily." Taelar said, "If there is anything that I won't be able to handle with her, it will probably be the tantrum that will inevitably ensue after I win."

8: Death : Pain

"Then, it's settled." Mrs Isophil said, "The next battle will be between Morgan and Taelar.

"And, whoever wins will get this card!" Mr Vanberk said.

Once again, he pressed some keys on his keyboard to make a picture of a card appear on the wide screen. This time, it was a card called The Wailer. The picture on the card was of an old ghost queen with bleeding eye sockets. Her stats were rather impressive with 30 AP, 20 HP, and a spell called Spectral Time that prevented the enemy from drawing cards for 2 turns. But, Taelar wasn't impressed.

"Is that the best you've got?" Taelar asked.

"What are you talking about!?" Mr Vanberk asked, "This is an amazing card!"

"Any card that's worth only 1 prize card isn't worth my time." Taelar said.

"I'm sorry, but this is the only death card that came in the pack that I bought!" Mr Vanberk said, "You'll just have to do with it!"

"Leave it to you to be so unprepared." Mrs Isophil said.

Suddenly, Koichi rushed back into the room, panting.

"There you are." Jian said, "Where's the other guy?"

"You mean Kjarl?" Koichi asked, "I had to take him to the nurse's office! Apparently, he as having a really bad headache!"

"That's never good." Jian said, "At least you're ok. Anyways, I managed to win my battle, and I won this card."

Jian showed his new card The Falling to Koichi.

"That's awesome!" Koichi said, "Way to go!"

"By any chance, were there any cards in that pack, regardless of element, that are worth more than 1 prize card?" Taelar asked Mr Vanberk.

"Only this one." Mr Vanberk said.

Mr Vanberk changed the picture on the screen to that of a different card. This card was called Hypnos, and its picture was of a surreal entity with four arms. The barcode on the side of the card was blue, indicating that Hypnos was a water card. He had 40 AP and 40 HP. His spell was called Hallucination, and it had the same effect as The Wailer's spell, which prevented the enemy from drawing cards for 2 turns. There was also a symbol on the card that indicated Hypnos's worth of 2 prize cards.

"Excellent." Taelar said.

"Why?" Mr Vanberk asked, "You won't be able to use this card."

"I have a friend who will." Taelar said.

"Yeah, but I won't be able to use it!" Morgan said.

"You actually think you'll win." Taelar said, "How cute."

"Nobody calls me cute and lives to tell the tale!" Morgan said, "Now, let's get on with the battle already! It's been held back for too long already by your stupid arguing with your teacher!"

"Alright, then!" Mr Vanberk said, "It's time for me to flip this coin again! If it lands on heads, Taelar will go first! And if it lands on tails, Morgan will go first!"

"For your sake, I hope it lands on tails." Taelar said to Morgan, "You're going to need whatever advantage you can get."

"There's no point in that now that the prize is going to be a stupid water card that I can't use!" Morgan said.

The coin landed on tails.

"Yes!" Morgan said, "I do get to go first! I'm going to win this battle for sure! And when I win, I want to get The Wailer, not Hypnos!"

Morgan shuffled her deck, drew her first card, and scanned it. The screen changed to the battle arena, which resembled a graveyard this time. Morgan's card appeared on the screen as a wraith-like figure with a black cloak, a white mask, and a gold spell book. The card's stats appeared, indicating that the card's name was Elder Goran and he had 30 AP and 20 HP.

"Impressive for a basic card." Taelar said.

"What do you mean basic!?" Morgan asked.

"You have no idea what you're up against." Taelar said as he shuffled his deck, "Allow me to show you."

Taelar drew a card and scanned it. It appeared on the screen as an old man with a blue and gold suit of armor and a white staff.

"He doesn't look that powerful!" Morgan said.

Then, Taelar's card's stats appeared on the screen. This card was called The First King, and he had 20 AP and 40 HP.

"Well, would you look at that!" Morgan said, bursting out into laughter, "A rare card with less AP than my standard card! What's he going to do!? Stall me to death!? Anyways, it's my turn first!"

Morgan scanned another card, which appeared behind her Elder Goran as a man wearing a black cloak and a white mask and holding a crystal ball and a staff. Next, she selected the option for the Elder Goran to attack The First King. The Elder Goran shot purple lightning out of his book at The First King, but The First King survived with 10 HP remaining.

"Just you wait!" Morgan said, "By the end of this battle, I'll have you on your knees begging for mercy!"

Taelar scanned another card. His card appeared behind The First King. This card looked like a man with long black hair and glowing blue eyes, holding a sword and riding a horse. Both the man and his horse had spiky purple and gold armor.

"Now, it's my turn to attack." Taelar said.

Taelar pressed the ATTACK button, and The First King raised his staff in the air, causing an ethereal purple image of the grim reaper to appear before the Elder Goran and cut him in half, defeating him. Taelar grinned as he received the Biohazard card as his prize. Next, The First King's spell came into effect. It was called Soldier's Zeal. He raised his staff in the air, and a purple sigil appeared around him, giving him 20 more HP, bringing his HP back up to a total of 30.

"Well, well!" Morgan said as she looked at the card in her hands and laughed, "That's great and all, but it won't be enough because the card that I already have out on the field for backup has 30 AP!"

Morgan drew another card and immediately noticed how holographic it was.

"Actually, you know what!?" Morgan said, "Never mind! This one's even better!"

Morgan scanned the holographic card. When it appeared on the screen next to Morgan's cloaked sorcerer, it resembled the grim reaper except his cloak was white instead of black and his eyes were glowing blue and he was riding a huge white dragon. The entire arena changed so that it looked as if the card characters were floating in space, and the music changed to symphonic metal. Next, Morgan was given the option to choose between her basic card Bauta or her legendary card Death Eternal.

"I'm definitely choosing Death Eternal!" Morgan said, "Or, should I say deathinitely!"

She selected Death Eternal, and he rode his dragon up towards where The First King was standing. His stats were revealed to be 60 AP and 30 HP. Morgan eagerly selected the ATTACK button, and Death Eternal brutally defeated The First King, giving Morgan 2 prize cards called Heavy Armor and Faulty Armor. Heavy Armor gave her the ability to add 20 HP to one of her cards, while Faulty Armor gave her the ability to subtract 20 HP from an opposing card if it was worth more than 1 prize card, which all of Taelar's cards were. Death Eternal's spell, Deathly Presence, gave him 10 more HP, giving him a total of 40 HP.

"So, you have a legendary card." Taelar said, "I'm impressed, but it was foolish to use him when Bauta's attack would have sufficed to defeat The First King. Since your Death Eternal card is a legendary card, that means that he is worth 3 prize cards, which means that I will automatically win the game if one of my cards defeats him."

Taelar drew another card and scanned it. It appeared on the screen next to his horseman as an undead woman with a black and purple outfit, bloody nails, and a wand that glowed purple at the tip. Taelar was given an option to choose which one of his cards to send into battle against Death Eternal. According to the screen, one of his cards was called The Moon and had 40 AP and 20 HP, and the other one was called Necronomicon and had 30 AP and 20 HP. Since Death Eternal had 40 HP, the obvious choice was for Taelar to choose The Moon. The horseman rode up to fight Death Eternal, and his stats appeared, confirming that his card's name was The Moon and he had 40 AP and 20 HP. Taelar was then given the option to use his Biohazard card or attack. The Biohazard card would theoretically be helpful because it was capable of adding 10 AP or 10 HP to a death card, but if he used it, he wouldn't be able to attack, and the battle would end the next turn with Death Eternal defeating The Moon, and Morgan winning the battle. Fortunately, The Moon didn't need the Biohazard card to defeat Death Eternal. Taelar selected the ATTACK button, and The Moon charged at Death Eternal and defeated him by impaling his dragon.

"Ok, that time, there should have definitely been blood!" Koichi said.

The screen zoomed in on The Moon, and the words YOU WIN appeared. Taelar walked up to Mr Vanberk.

"Now, may I have that card?" Taelar asked.

"Sure, but I don't see why you'd want a water card." Mr Vanberk said as he handed the Hypnos card to Taelar.

"Like I said, it's for a friend." Taelar said.

9: Fire : Stamina

"None of this is any fair!" Morgan said, "I was so close to beating you!"

"I have no time for your complaints." Taelar said, "If you wanted to win, you should have used Bauta instead of Death Eternal. You see, although I don't use basic cards, they have their own advantage, which lies in the fact that each basic card is only worth 1 prize card. That in itself can be used as a strategy."

"I can't believe my students keep losing." Mrs Isophil said, "This is so embarrassing!"

"Well, a battle lost is a lesson learned, as my student has just demonstrated!" Mr Vanberk said, "Now, I believe we've got only one battle left!"

"That's correct." Mrs Isophil said, "The water element."

"Oh, that's me!" Crystal said.

Her voice was cute and cheerful.

"But, our team's water user is Kjarl." Jian said, "And, he's in the nurse's office."

"I'll go get him!" Koichi said, "He should be fine by now! After all, he only had a headache!"

"May I come with you?" Taelar asked, "I would like to give him the Hypnos card that I just earned."

"Sure!" Koichi said, "I'll show you the way there!"

Once they got to the nurse's office, they saw Thea sitting at her desk and Kjarl sitting on the hospital bed.

"How's Kjarl doing?" Koichi asked.

"Well, I was able to scan his brain, and it looks perfectly fine!" Thea said, "But, he seems to be hallucinating..."

"No way!" Koichi said, shocked.

"Fascinating." Taelar said mysteriously.

"Hey, Koichi..." Kjarl said, "Want to battle...?"

He had a crazed look in his one eye that wasn't covered by his hair.

"I'd love to, but not now!" Koichi said, "But, don't worry! We're just about to take you to battle somebody else! And besides, you already know that your water deck would beat my fire deck every time!"

"Of course..." Kjarl said with a slight chuckle.

"Tell me something, Kjarl." Taelar said, "Why is it that you use a water deck anyways?"

"Why do you ask?" Kjarl asked.

"You just... seem like the type who would use a life deck." Taelar said, "You remind me of... Someone I once knew who was obsessed with the preservation of life. I mean, you don't act exactly like him, but you look kind of like him. Your hair and eyes are the same colors as his were."

"Oh, well, this water deck used to belong to my brother..." Kjarl said, "And, I don't think he's the guy you're talking about either because he never used a life deck."

"Well, it's fine that you use a water deck." Taelar said, "After all, I have another card for you."

"Another one!?" Kjarl asked, "This one won't hurt my brain like the first one did, will it!?"

"It shouldn't." Taelar said, "The first card I gave you was a legendary card. This one is only a rare card."

Taelar gave Kjarl the Hypnos card. Kjarl put it in his deck, replacing a weak card called Niade, which depicted a cute blonde girl who Kjarl assumed was supposed to be a sea goddess, but she was too weak to be considered such in his opinion.

"Wait a minute!" Koichi said, "I've seen other people like Jian and Morgan use legendary cards! How come they don't get headaches or hallucinations!?"

"Kjarl is special." Taelar said, "He is what could be called... an empath."

"What's an empath!?" Koichi asked.

"The opposite of a psychopath." Taelar said, "He has extremely deep feelings, and his mind and emotions are easily bruised by his surroundings. It appears that he has become shy because various other people have teased him in his past and he took their insults to heart and kept them as a reference of what humanity is like. Not only can he feel the emotions of other people, but he can also feel the emotions of inorganic things that most people don't consider to have souls, such as Chaos Eternal cards. That's why he appears to be hallucinating. The cards are always trying to speak to us, but only the legendary ones have enough energy to be heard, and even they can only be heard by empaths."

"So, these cards have souls!?" Koichi said, "No way! I should take better care of my deck!"

"Technically, they contain the Akashic Records of forgotten deities." Taelar said.

"As if I know what that means..." Koichi said.

Kjarl got out of the bed and stood up.

"You ready to fight for Team Emperor!?" Koichi asked.

"Yes..." Kjarl said.

"Great!" Koichi said, "And, don't worry! Jian, Taelar, and I all won our battles! So, if you happen to lose, you don't have to worry because you'll still be on the winning team!"

"You think I'll lose?" Kjarl chuckled.

"Umm... no..." Koichi lied, "It's just that you don't seem that experienced."

"Taelar." Kjarl said, "Is it possible for somebody to be an empath and a psychopath at the same time?"

"I have seen stranger paradoxes." Taelar said.

"Well, let's go!" Koichi said.

The three boys arrived at the room where the battles had been taking place.

"All right!" Crystal said, "You made it back! Now, are you ready to battle me!?"

"Yes..." Kjarl said, "Yes, I am."

"Well then, it's time for this battle to get started." Mrs Isophil said.

"Whoever wins this battle will earn this card!" Mr Vanberk said.

He changed the picture on the screen to that of a card called Dark Water. The picture on the card was of a man who looked like a monk walking through the rain. He had 30 AP and 20 HP. His spell was called Dream's Torment, and it was capable of doing 10 water damage to up to 3 enemy cards.

"I need that card more than that girl does..." Kjarl said, "I have to defeat her!"

10: Water : Trauma

Kjarl had been hearing a voice in his head, which claimed to be the King Of Flesh. Normally, Kjarl had trust issues, but since the voice seemed to be omniscient, he trusted it and believed everything that it told him, although he didn't really understand most of the things that the voice talked about. But now, Kjarl had a battle to win against Crystal, and if there was anything that the voice was clear about for now, it was that he had to defeat her at any cost.

"It's time for the final battle!" Mr Vanberk said, "And once again, I will flip my coin! If it lands on heads, Kjarl goes first! And if it lands on tails, Crystal goes first!"

Kjarl silently prayed for the coin to land on heads, hoping the King Of Flesh would somehow read his mind and alter the coin's fate. But, it was no use. The coin landed on tails, and Kjarl blamed himself for not using reverse psychology.

"All right!" Crystal cheered, "It's my turn first!"

Crystal shuffled her deck, drew a card, and spun around cutely as she scanned it. The screen changed to the battle arena, which was a glacier this time, and Crystal's card appeared as a huge monster made of ice. According to the card's stats, his name was Titanus and he had 20 AP and 20 HP.

"And now, it's my turn..." Kjarl said with a crazed expression.

Slowly and methodically while praying to himself that he would get the King Of Flesh or at least Hypnos, he shuffled his deck, drew a card, and scanned it. His card appeared on the screen as a huge turquoise dragon with red wings. The dragon was called Cetus The Ravenous, and he had 20 AP and only 10 HP. Each card was capable of defeating the other with only one attack, but the problem for Kjarl was that it was Crystal's turn to attack.

Crystal scanned another card, which appeared behind Titanus as an old woman with a blue dress and a wooden cane. She didn't look that powerful, but Kjarl knew that appearances could be deceiving. Crystal selected the ATTACK button, and Titanus charged at Cetus and punched him in the side, defeating him. Crystal received the Biohazard card, which was virtually useless for a water deck facing another water deck.

Now, it was Kjarl's turn to draw another card to replace Cetus. He drew a card and scanned it, and it appeared on the screen as a giant black octopus-like creature with many turquoise eyes. This creature was called Kraken, and he had 20 AP and 20 HP. Kjarl selected the ATTACK button, and Kraken defeated Titanus by using his tentacles to constrict him.

"Yes!" Kjarl laughed as he received a prize card.

The card was called Brainwashing, and Kjarl would be able to use it to make one of his opponent's cards attack one of her other cards. Kraken's spell, Ice Star, activated. A star shape made of ice fell from the sky onto the old woman, doing 20 damage to her.

"We may be tied now, but just you wait!" Crystal said, "I'm going to win!"

Crystal drew another card and scanned it. It appeared next to her old woman as a bizarre sea monster that resembled a blue 7-headed cobra with lobster claws. Crystal was given the option to select a card to fight Kjarl's Kraken. Mother Lupescu had 30 AP and 30 HP even after being hit by the Ice Star, and Hellios had 20 AP and 20 HP.

"Hmm..." Crystal said, "Mother Lupescu has better stats, but I learned from Morgan's mistake that it's not good to use a rare card unless you absolutely have to! And since Hellios has enough AP to defeat Kraken, I'm choosing him!"

Crystal selected Hellios, and the serpentine monster slithered up to fight Kraken. Crystal selected the ATTACK button, and Hellios used his many heads to bite Kraken and defeat him. Crystal received a prize card called Deep Freeze, which she would be able to use to prevent Kjarl from being able to draw a card for 1 turn.

But now, it was Kjarl's turn to draw a card. He scanned his card, and it appeared on the screen as a beautiful half-rabbit woman with a white outfit and a glowing turquoise staff. Her name was Aqua Lepus, and she had 30 AP and 10 HP. Kjarl had the option to attack or use his Brainwashing card. The card would be useful since Mother Lupescu had enough AP to defeat Hellios, but so did Aqua Lepus, so it would be unwise to sacrifice the Brainwashing card. Kjarl selected the option for Aqua Lepus to attack Hellios, causing her to defeat him by shooting turquoise light out of her staff. Daniel received a card called Damnation, which would give him the ability to make his opponent shuffle a fire or death card back into their deck, but it was useless in this battle because his opponent had a water deck. Aqua Lepus's spell, Healing Song, came into effect, adding 20 to her HP, giving her a total of 30 HP.

It was Crystal's turn again, and she drew another card and scanned it. This strange card simply appeared as a mirror. Now, Crystal had the option to use Mother Lupescu, who had 30 AP and 30 HP, or Reflection, who had 30 AP and 20 HP. Either card would have enough AP to defeat Aqua Lepus, even with the bonus HP she received from her Healing Song. Prize cards didn't matter at this point since each player needed only 1 more prize card to win, so Crystal decided to choose Mother Lupescu.

"Now, it's time for you to face my rare card!" Crystal said, "Mother Lupescu is to most powerful witch in all of Chaos Eternal!"

Mother Lupescu floated towards Aqua Lepus, and Crystal was given the opportunity to attack or use a prize card. The Biohazard card might be useful for Crystal to change her deck type to death and tempt Kjarl to sacrifice his Damnation card, or the Deep Freeze card might also be useful for making Kjarl unable to draw a card to replace Aqua Lepus. But, neither of those cards mattered at this point because Crystal saw that she would be able to win the game just by selecting the ATTACK button. Mother Lupescu waved her hand in the air, and the ice cracked beneath Aqua Lepus, causing her to fall into the sea. The screen zoomed in on Mother Lupescu, and the words YOU WIN appeared.

"All right!" Crystal cheered, "That Dark Water card is mine!"

Crystal happily skipped over to Mr Vanberk to receive the Dark Water card.

"No!" Kjarl said, "This was not supposed to happen!"

Koichi didn't know what to think. He had never seen Kjarl so angry before. He watched in disbelief as Kjarl stomped up to Crystal and grabbed her throat.