Chapter 12) "The Game of Lies" Part II
The door burst open, and in stepped Eldrin, flanked by seven of his friends. Their presence alone filled the small dorm room with a heavy, suffocating air.
Lucien froze. "Eldrin… That's him. The only first-year who awakened with a Noble Rank beast. Just my damn luck…"
Alvaren, who had apparently left earlier and returned just now, blinked in confusion. "Uh… who are you supposed to be?"
Eldrin's sharp eyes narrowed as if the question itself was an insult. "You're telling me… you don't know who I am?"
Kaelith immediately cut in, his voice trembling with the slightest edge of unease. "A-Alvaren, that's Eldrin. Don't you know? He's the only first-year who obtained a Noble Rank beast."
Alvaren's eyes widened. "What? Seriously? That's… incredible!"
Lucien kept his mouth shut, but his thoughts churned. "Damn it… what the hell does someone like him want from us? Why come here?"
Eldrin's gaze swept the room, finally settling on the glowing illusions flickering above the cards. A smirk tugged at his lips.
"Well, well… how interesting. You're playing with magic cards, are you?"
Kaelith swallowed hard and forced a nervous laugh. "Y-yeah, we… we're just playing around, that's all."
With deliberate slowness, Eldrin stepped deeper inside, his entourage following, seven students spilling into the cramped space.
Eldrin's smirk widened as he leaned closer.
"So… how about I join your little game?"
Before anyone could answer, he gestured casually toward his companions.
"No, scratch that. We'll all join."
The seven behind him grinned, voices overlapping with mocking agreement.
"Yeah, let's do it."
"Hope there's room for us."
"Don't mind if we take over, right?"
Lucien's chest tightened. "Shit… what do we do now?"
But then a thought sparked in his mind. :Wait… this is a chance. Yes, a perfect chance!"
He straightened and forced a calm, almost careless tone.
"Of course. Join us. We don't mind at all."
The casual reply landed like a slap. Eldrin's eyes narrowed; he had expected fear, not composure. To him, Lucien's calmness felt like defiance.
"Sit down," he muttered to his group.
They sprawled across the floor without hesitation, claiming far more space than necessary, stretching out their legs, knocking aside a few belongings as if the room already belonged to them.
Lucien's gaze flicked over them, his expression unreadable. "Pathetic. All this show just to prove dominance. How laughable…"
As the cards lit once more, the illusions shimmered to life, small beasts circling above like sparks of living magic.
Lucien leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowing. He wasn't just playing the game anymore.
"Alright, Eldrin. Let's see who bends first."
Eldrin caught the look instantly, a sharp grin cutting across his face. He understood. This wasn't about cards, it was war, fought in silence, each move a weapon.
And as the first round began, their duel wasn't spoken out loud. It was a clash of wills, of silent strategies woven through every card played.
The trials within the cards grew fiercer, phantom beasts lunging, spectral traps snapping shut, illusions blurring the very air. One by one, players were forced out, their cards extinguishing in dull flashes until only two remained.
Eldrin.
Lucien.
The others watched as if it were just a game, but between the two of them, the air felt heavier than stone.
Eldrin's smirk sharpened. He leaned back slightly, his voice casual, yet cutting.
"Tell me, Lucien… what beast did you get?"
Lucien froze for half a second. "Damn it… this bastard. Of course Eldrin knew. He had been right there.."
Before Lucien could respond, one of Eldrin's lackeys laughed.
"Wait.. wasn't he the one who didn't get a beast at all?"
The laughter spread quickly, seven voices layering mockery over the room. Lucien's jaw tightened. He flicked his eyes toward Alvaren, who stood motionless, face empty,
"Yeah… just as I thought. And me? Nah. Maybe I shouldn't either. But… no. Not this time."
The illusions still swirled, circling like vultures, waiting for the next move.
Eldrin's field glowed with four radiant cards, each pulsing with the power of beasts ready to strike. Lucien, meanwhile, held a single card. One final piece of hope.. or despair.
"Damn… this is rough. Too rough. But… cheating's the only way left, isn't it?"
His fingers tightened on the card as he leaned forward, a flicker of dangerous resolve crossing his eyes.
If it takes bending the rules to crush him… then so be it.
‐‐‐
Lucien stared at the lone card in his hand. The glow was faint, pitiful compared to the radiant storm of Eldrin's four. A single spark against a blaze.
No chance… unless I make my own.
Eldrin's grin widened, sensing victory.
"You're finished, Lucien. Just fold. Save yourself the shame."
Lucien's fingers tapped the card, slow, deliberate. He forced a smirk.
"Shame? Hah. You talk too much, Eldrin. Let's see if you can still laugh after this."
And then he did it.
The card in Lucien's hand was weak.. an illusion-beast hardly stronger than a cub. But during the shuffle earlier, he had noticed something no one else had: the reflective surface of the illusion deck. If angled just right, one could catch glimpses of upcoming cards in the spread.
While Eldrin and his gang were busy jeering, Lucien had been "clumsy" enough to let his hand hover over the pile a little longer than normal. He saw them, saw the outlines of Eldrin's next draws. And in his single card, there was a clause, a subtle mechanic buried in the rules: a beast can shift its illusion to mimic the type of an opposing creature if timed on the same turn. A tiny loophole, one no one ever used, because who would be desperate enough?
"Perfect."
He played his lone card onto the circle. A frail-looking wolf cub flickered into existence, drawing laughter from Eldrin's crew.
"That's it?" Eldrin sneered. "A pup against my legion?"
But Lucien's eyes gleamed. "Not a pup. A shadow."
The cub shimmered, and in that exact instant, Lucien angled his hand, already knowing Eldrin's next beast. The illusion bent, twisted and when Eldrin summoned his proud, radiant stag, Lucien's cub howled and split into its perfect mimic, a dark mirror of the stag.
Eldrin's smirk faltered. "What…?!"
The room erupted. His friends gasped, confused. The rules hadn't been broken. Not technically. But it was too precise, too well-timed.
Lucien leaned forward, his smirk sharper now.
"Looks like your beast isn't so noble when it faces itself."
The two stags clashed, illusions tearing into each other in a storm of sparks.
Inside, Lucien's heart raced. "I cheated. Hell yes, I cheated. But I'm not done yet. This is my game now."
The two mirrored stags dissolved into sparks, the circle resetting. Eldrin's hand still held three cards, glowing bright and fierce. Lucien had nothing left in his hand but his wit and his smirk.
"Lucky," Eldrin spat, his voice colder now.
"Luck?" Lucien tilted his head, letting the word hang in the air. He leaned back, casual, as though the outcome had already been decided. "Funny how losers always call it luck."
That hit. Eldrin's jaw tightened, his grip on his cards stiffening.
Lucien's eyes flicked toward the deck. He didn't need to see the cards this time. Eldrin was rattled, impatient. He would overplay. Lucien only had to push him further.
"So?" Lucien drawled, "What's next? Another grand beast for me to tear down? Or will you just fold and save them the embarrassment of watching their 'friend' lose?"
A murmur rippled through the seven behind Eldrin.
Eldrin slammed a card onto the circle. A crimson wyvern burst forth, its wings unfurling in a wave of fire. The room lit up with its roar.
But Lucien only smiled wider. "Big. Loud. Predictable."
He didn't even look at his own draw, he didn't have one. Instead, he bent toward the circle and tapped the remnants of his last illusion. The faint outline of the cub still flickered at the edges, barely visible. A loophole. An afterimage.
He whispered, low enough for Eldrin to see but not hear the exact words. Letting imagination do the rest. The cub's shadow twitched, warped, until the wyvern's own flames bent unnaturally, feeding the illusion.
Gasps filled the room. The shadow of the cub stretched, and suddenly, an echo of the wyvern itself rose from the darkness, wings black as coal, fire inverted into frost.
Eldrin's eyes widened. "Impossible…!"
Lucien leaned forward, his voice cutting sharp as a blade.
"Not impossible. Just clever. You should try it sometime."
The wyverns clashed, fire against shadowflame, sparks flying across the walls. Eldrin's hand shook now, his certainty cracking.
Lucien watched him with cold amusement. He didn't need cards anymore. He had Eldrin dancing to his strings.
Inside, his heart was pounding. "Every move is a lie… but it's working. One slip, Eldrin, and you're mine."
The twin wyverns tore each other apart, dissolving into fragments of fire and shadow. Silence settled. Eldrin's hand clenched around his last two cards. Only two left.
"Well?" Lucien asked softly. "You've still got cards. Show me. Or are you afraid I'll twist them too?"
Eldrin's nostrils flared. "You.. don't…" He slammed a card onto the circle. A silver serpent uncoiled, its scales glimmering like moonlight.
Lucien leaned in, eyes gleaming. "A serpent. Fitting." He chuckled under his breath,loud enough for everyone to hear. "Careful it doesn't bite the hand that holds it."
The words slid under Eldrin's skin like poison. His jaw locked, his shoulders stiffened. He tried to command the serpent forward, but the more he shouted, the more the illusion wavered.
Lucien tilted his head, pretending to examine the beast. "Strong card… very strong. But tell me.. do you really believe it can win? Or are you just praying I don't see the cracks?"
The serpent shivered, its illusion faltering as Eldrin's concentration wavered. Eldrin's confidence was bleeding out in front of them all.
Lucien didn't need a card. He simply raised his hand, as though summoning something unseen. The afterimage of shadows flickered again, responding to his confidence, not rules. Eldrin's serpent hissed, recoiling as if threatened by an invisible predator.
"You see it too, don't you?" Lucien whispered, low, but his words cut through the silence like thunder. "Even your own beast knows you've already lost."
The serpent shattered into fragments, collapsing under Eldrin's faltering will. Gasps filled the air. Eldrin was left with a single card. Just one.
Sweat beaded his forehead. His hand trembled. His eyes darted, not at Lucien, but at his own followers, who stared with wide, uncertain faces.
Lucien leaned back, smirking like a predator.
"One card left. One chance to prove you're worthy of that 'Noble' title. Don't choke."
It was a blade disguised as a jest. And it cut deep.
Eldrin snarled, his pride forcing him forward. He slammed his final card onto the circle. A radiant phoenix burst upward, wings blazing, a creature of rebirth and glory.
Lucien only laughed. A cold, sharp laugh that echoed in the tense silence.
"A phoenix? Oh, that's perfect. Tell me, Eldrin.. what happens when even rebirth ends in ashes?"
The phoenix shrieked, flames roaring. But Lucien did nothing. He just stared, unflinching, letting the silence gnaw at Eldrin's nerves. The illusion wavered, just barely. Then more. Eldrin pushed harder, pouring will into it, veins bulging, face flushed.
Lucien whispered, almost kindly, almost pitying:
"Struggle harder. Maybe if you believe enough, you'll fool yourself."
That was the final crack. Eldrin roared, forcing his will into the card, but the phoenix shook violently, then tore itself apart in a storm of sparks.
The circle went dark. Eldrin's last card was gone.
Silence.
Lucien leaned forward, eyes gleaming in triumph. "That's the thing about you, Eldrin. You never lose to others. You only lose to yourself."
The words landed like a killing blow. Eldrin sat frozen, pale, humiliated.
Lucien finally leaned back, arms folded, smirk sharp as a knife.
"I had nothing. No cards. Just lies and shadows. And it was pretty enough for me."