I Episode 0: Prototype Exhibition

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the final round of the Vanguard Arsenal Tournament!"

It was a hot summer day with partially clouded skies. The stadium crowd was roaring with excitement, in anticipation of what could potentially be the most exciting match of the tournament. Despite several incidents, including a fight between Dragon Empire and Magallanica nationalists and an attempt by a United Sanctuary noble to force a Gold Paladin Abyss Dragon fighter to withdraw from the tournament, the Vanguard Arsenal Tournament was thankfully going as planned. With the rise of the Deep Thought insurgency, unity between the six nations was more important than ever.

"At one end, we have Homura Mizuhashi! I'm sure we all know about with her; elite fighter of the Dragon Empire, veteran and several-time champion of the Nation Wars, Homura has already made her mark on the world of Vanguard!"

From one entrance emerged a girl with long, raven hair. She strode confidently to the fight table in her thick longcoat, showing no signs of discomfort in the heat of summer. The crowd cheered at her presence, chanting her name, but if one paid close attention, one could hear some boos in the crowd, and see people holding up signs saying things like "Justice for Magallanica!" and "Down with the Empire!". Regardless, Homura ignored the crowd, focusing only on the opponent ahead of her.

"And in the other corner, we have Sena Mikazuki! She's a rising star in the world of Vanguard, having taken several tournaments despite her relative inexperience, so I'm sure that some of you have already heard about her. This is her first time in a tournament as big as this one, and she's shown herself to be good enough to reach the finals, but can she compete against the Iron Lady of the Empire?"

From the other entrance emerged a blonde girl noticeably younger than Homura. Unlike Homura, who had made the conscious decision to present a certain image of herself to the audience, this girl was wearing a simple black blouse. The girl walked forward to the fight table, and the crowd continued to cheer, a little less loudly this time, with the subtle boos now replaced by cries of "Take her down! Take her down!" However, the girl pointedly ignored the crowd, keeping her eyes directly locked onto Homura. Homura found this curious; while she herself was used to fame and cheering crowds, this girl seemed to care nothing about the crowd even though she had likely never experienced a crowd as big as this one watching her before.

When they arrived at the fight table, both Homura and Sena set their decks on it, and Homura's side of the fight table glowed as it designated her as the fighter to go first.

Homura offered her hand, and with a serious look on her face, she said "Let's have a good match."

Sena continued to look at Homura in the eyes, as if she was sizing her up. A second later, Sena slowly reached out and grasped Homura's hand, accepting the handshake, saying nothing the entire time.

As they went through the motions of setting up the game, Homura attempted to get a read on her opponent. This Sena was clearly the aloof type, and while Homura was no stranger to acting aloof, this girl was different. As she shuffled her deck, cut Homura's deck, and mulliganed, she did so quickly, precisely, and with no hesitation, as if she wanted to get through this as quickly as possible. Secondly, unlike many of the fighters Homura had torn through during this tournament, this girl had enough common sense to keep her deck in sleeves, plain purple ones with no patterns or images on them. After they had finished, the announcer said, "Looks like they're ready to go. In that case, let's begin!"

"Stand up, the vanguard! !"

Homura's exclamation caused Sena to lean backwards and her face to shift in what seemed to be in annoyance, as if someone was shouting in her face; Homura quickly realized that was exactly what just happened. Sena had flipped up her first vanguard, Shadow Scout, Keidis, silently, having not said "stand up, Vanguard," leaving Homura to say the phrase alone. Homura briefly considered that her opponent had forgot to say the phrase because she was flustered at the pressure of being in a big tournament, but she realized that Sena was looking up at her with a somewhat impatient look on her face, as if she was waiting for her to make a move, and Homura realized that Sena's silence was deliberate.

At this, Sena quietly said, "Alright. Let's begin."

"Very well," Homura responded. "Ride! !" Conroe transformed into Aethonic, a young salamander boy, and Conroe soon appeared behind Aethonic in support. "Turn end."

Homura considered her opponent's clan choice. Night Hunter is a clan that specializes in shutting down the opponent's vanguard, whose offense is based on multi-attacking with rear-guards, making it evenly matched against Kagero, a clan that specializes in retiring the opponent's rear-guards whose offense is based around the vanguard, the two clans were evenly matched. In particular, Homura recalled, Night Hunter would have a good matchup against Kagero decks using the restanding Dragonic Sovereign, which were currently popular due to the Emperor of the Dragon Empire using Sovereign as his avatar. Homura's deck, on the other hand, was based around Skysplitter Dragon, whose modus operandi was increasing its drive checks to power up the rear-guards.

Sena drew a card, then placed Voidzone Caster on her vanguard circle, saying nothing the entire time. Keidis, a young human wearing light armor, moved to the back at the arrival of Voidzone Caster, an elf wielding dark magic. Voidzone Caster... Homura thought. ''A tech card against decks that like buffing their rear-guards. Not too useful against a vanguard-centric deck like Kagero, so it makes sense that she would use it as her ride.'' Sena then lifted Voidzone Caster off of the board, placed it back rested, turned Keidis sideways, and gestured to Aethonic. "12k."

She doesn't even say the names of her units when she attacks... "No guard."

Sena flipped up the top card of her deck, a Rusty Iron Toolmaker. No trigger. In response, Homura announced, "damage check," putting a card into her damage zone. Sena responded, "I end my turn."

"Stand and draw. Ride! Rear Drive Dragon! With a boost from Conroe, Rear Drive Dragon attacks!" (14000 power)

"I'll take it."

"Drive check!" Homura's drive check revealed a Three Blades of the Empire, Stormslicer Dragon - ''Good. Just what I needed.'' - and Rear Drive Dragon fired its mounted guns at Voidzone Caster. With that, Sena quietly performed her damage check, revealing no triggers. "Turn end."

Homura thought to herself, ''I have Skysplitter and Stormslicer ready in my hand. Night Hunter can easily neutralize Skysplitter Dragon, so I need to do as much as possible before Skysplitter Dragon becomes useless.''

Sena subsequently rode Dragonic Anarchy - a black dragon with two heads, not too dissimilar to, but with poisonous gas and dark purple energies billowing from its mouth. "Keidis's skill," Sena announced, putting Keidis into the soul and gesturing to Homura's vanguard circle. The area around Rear Drive Dragon suddenly blackened, and Rear Drive Dragon was surrounded with dark fog. Homura's vanguard circle was now afflicted by a curse, Night Hunter's special mechanic, and during Homura's next turn, her vanguard would lose 20000 power. Homura realized that Sena anticipated her next move - the "normal" play would be to wait until Sena could take advantage of Keidis's Counter Charge, but Sena knew that Homura planned to go on the offensive when Sena was weakest.

Resting Dragonic Anarchy, Sena gestured towards Rear Drive Dragon. (9000 power) To that, Homura responded "no guard," and Dragonic Anarchy's two heads blasted jets of dark energy at Rear Drive Dragon. Sena revealed the top card of her deck - Darkmender, Aida, a heal trigger - and healed one damage. "I end my turn."

''A heal trigger. Her G guardians are ready. This next turn is more important than ever.''

It's time. "Stand and draw." In the deepest, most commanding voice she could muster, Homura cried out, "Proud blade of the Empire! Bring a swift end to all who would oppose me! Ride! Three Blades of the Empire, Skysplitter Dragon!" Rear Drive Dragon shifted, changing into a tall and proud dragon with red armor, holding a massive sword almost as long as the dragon was tall. Only when Homura finished did she realize that Sena had a perplexed look on her face, looking much more annoyed than she did when Homura yelled "Stand up, the vanguard!" at the beginning of the game.

"Get on with it. I'm not impressed by your chanting."

Homura was forced to concede, in her mind at least, that her ride chant was indeed kind of silly. She felt a slight tinge of embarrassment, but she quickly brushed it off before it showed on her face. Having spent so much time in the world of Vanguard, Homura sometimes forgot what it would all look like to regular people. However, Homura had seen many new players come and go, and none of them were anything quite like Sena - most of them were quite eager to adopt the traditions of Vanguard, while Sena here seemed to willfully reject them. I wish she wasn't so rude about it...

"Call! Three Blades of the Empire, Stormslicer Dragon!" Next to Skysplitter Dragon appeared Stormslicer Dragon, a thunder dragon wielding two swords who stood as tall as Skysplitter. Homura had briefly considered calling Denial Flare Dragon, but she determined that it wouldn't help very much to call it and that withholding it to ward off any multi-attacking rear-guards was too important.

"Conroe boosts. Skysplitter Dragon attacks your vanguard, and its skills activate! Counter Blast!" Homura slid a card out of her damage zone, flipped it, and deftly slid it back under the other cards in her damage zone without lifting them. "Skysplitter Dragon gets an extra drive! Then, by discarding a card from my hand, Skysplitter Dragon gains 15000 power and 1 critical!"

Due to the active curse, Skysplitter Dragon had 11000 power, but it also had 2 critical and 3 drive checks.

"There's no need to announce what it does. I can read the card." Without another word, Sena placed a Quiet Punisher and a Dragonic Dark Hunter from her hand on the guardian circle, raising Dragonic Anarchy's power to 24000. If she chose to guard with Dark Hunter, she must already have a way to Stride next turn, Homura thought.

"Drive check!" Her first check revealed Dragon Dancer, Tara. "Get! Heal trigger! I give the power to Stormslicer Dragon." Her second check revealed Fire Chase Dragon. "Get! Critical trigger! All effects to Stormslicer Dragon." Her third check was an uneventful Denial Flare Dragon, and with that, Skysplitter Dragon raised her blade and charged at Dragonic Anarchy - but her blade was halted by Quiet Punisher and Dragonic Dark Hunter, after which Skysplitter Dragon backed off and resheathed her blade.

"Now, Stormslicer Dragon attacks your vanguard!" (21000 power 2 critical) "No guard," Sena responded, and Stormslicer Dragon struck Dragonic Anarchy with one of its electrified blades. "Skill activate!" Homura paid Counter Blast (1) and discarded a Barri from her hand. "Stormslicer Dragon superior stands, and it can perform a drive check with 1 drive during its next attack!"

"No guard." Stormslicer Dragon struck Dragonic Anarchy again (21000 power 2 critical), with its drive check revealing Sky Guard, Barri. "Get. Draw trigger." Among the two damage dealt to Sena was a draw trigger, which she flashed at Homura before drawing a card. Homura scanned Sena's face for any signs of displeasure at this turn of events, but her facial expression didn't change, as if she was more annoyed at Homura's loud proclamations earlier in the match the vastly more important fact that she was on the wrong end of two double-critical attacks.

"Turn end."

Homura currently had two Denial Flare Dragons and two Dragon Dancer, Taras in her hand, meaning that she was well-equipped to deal with any sort of rear-guard offense. But that's not what's dangerous about Night Hunter. In all likelihood, Sena expected Kagero users to have Denial Flare and to counter rear-guard attacks, so she would probably forgo committing to offense and focus on using the brutal anti-vanguard abilities of Night Hunter to lock Homura down until she could go for the kill, or bypass Homura's anti-rear-guard defense entirely with Dead Silence.

Sena briefly glanced at the card she drew before riding Dragonic Punisher on her vanguard circle - an abyss dragon wearing a longcoat (was it summer on Cray?) and brandishing a simple revolver. Without any fanfare, she placed Swift Executioner, Iera from her hand into her drop zone - Stride.

In the imaginary battlefield, a dark portal opened in the sky above Skysplitter Dragon's head as Sena sifted through her G zone in the real world. As Sena chose her card and placed it on her vanguard circle, a large three-headed abyss dragon emerged from the portal: Hell Dragon, Tyrant Overthrow.

"There it is! Generation! The power that calls for the future!" The announcer shouted as if no one in the audience knew what Stride was. "Sena has summoned Tyrant Overthrow, which allows her to retire the opponent's vanguard!"

''Out of the Night Hunter Strides, that would certainly be a safe option. It's a strict minus to the opponent, so it doesn't need too many rear-guards to be effective.''

Sena paid the cost for Dragonic Punisher's on-Stride ability, flipping the face-up damage closest to her in one swift motion before sliding it to the top of her damage zone. With this, Homura's vanguard circle was cursed again, and her vanguards would lose 3000 power this turn. Then, Sena activated Tyrant Overthrow's ability, paying Counter Blast (1) and turning over a. Tyrant Overthrow's three heads breathed jets of dark flame on Skysplitter Dragon, causing her to disappear into sparkles as she was retired. Without a grade 3 to discard, Homura discarded Fire Chase Dragon and Barri. At this point, Homura would choose a card from her hand, rear-guards, or soul to become her vanguard due to Tyrant Overthrow's ability, but since Stormslicer Dragon had, she couldn't choose it; she instead rode Rear Drive Dragon from her soul, returning to grade 2. Due to Dragonic Punisher's Stride skill and Generation Break 2, Rear Drive now had a measly 1000 power.

Sena then placed Tactical Fallen Angel, Averna on the board in the front row, activating its ability by paying Counter Blast (1). The black-winged angel fired a signal flare, and Franiel, another, younger-looking fallen angel wielding a crossbow, swooped onto the battlefield and gained 3000 power. Interesting that my opponent chose to call Franiel rather than a stronger attacker - I assume she wants to leverage its Resist against Denial Flare. Sena followed up by calling Rusty Iron Toolmaker, and a zombie wielding several rusty metal implements manifested on the field behind Averna. Then, Sena rested Averna and Toolmaker, gesturing to Stormslicer Dragon. (14000 power)

''So that was her plan all along - taking out both of my aces. First she retired Skysplitter, and now she intends to kill Stormslicer. If I defend Stormslicer, she'll probably damage deny me until Stormslicer dies, which makes Stormslicer useless anyways.'' "No guard!" Averna and Toolmaker charged at Stormslicer, and although Stormslicer fended off Toolmaker's sharp tools, he was caught off guard, giving Averna the opening to finish the thunder dragon with her gun.

Sena then attacked with Tyrant Overthrow, gesturing at Rear Drive Dragon. "No guard!" Checking the critical trigger Quiet Punisher, as well as a Dragonic Dark Hunter and another Franiel, Sena said "Critical to vanguard, 5000 to Franiel," just as Tyrant Overthrow's three heads blasted Rear Drive with jets of darkness-elemental energy. "Get! Draw trigger!" Mercifully, Homura damage checked a draw trigger, increasing her vanguard's power to 6000 and drawing a critical trigger to guard with.

Then, Sena attacked with Franiel. (12000 power) "Guard! Muzzle Flash Dragon, come!" A horned red dragon in golden armor manifested in front of Rear Drive, deflecting Franiel's crossbow bolts with its gatling guns.

"I end my turn."

Thankfully, at the start of her next turn, Homura drew. Still, she was in bad shape. She would she have to to regain a grade 3 vanguard. Her vanguard circle was cursed, which combined with Punisher's active effect reduced her vanguard's power by a whopping 25000. Her hand consisted of Barri, two Taras, Fire Chase Dragon, two Denial Flares, and an Artpique, meaning her hand was cluttered with defensive cards - and even worse, her defenses could easily be invalidated by Dead Silence, and her G guardians could be made useless by being forced to ride to grade 2 again. Homura knew that her only path to victory would be through Double Tomahawk Archdragon, but would it be enough?

Homura revealed her hand, as much as she did not want to expose her weaknesses to her opponent. "G Assist." Revealing a Skysplitter Dragon from the top five cards of her deck, she begrudgingly removed Tara and Fire Chase Dragon from her hand, then shouted, "Proud blade of the Empire! Be reborn in flames and raise your sword once again! Ride! Three Blades of the Empire, Skysplitter Dragon!" Sena looked at her quizzically again, but Homura pointedly ignored her.

With a triumphant flourish, Homura slammed Lava Flow Dragon into the drop zone as she said, "Generation Zone, release!"

Homura found herself in a starry void, and as she reached out to the light, she shouted "Great dragon of flames, annihilate all those who would stand against the Empire! Stride the Generation! Supreme Heavenly Emperor Dragon, Double Tomahawk Archdragon!" In a flash, Double Tomahawk Archdragon appeared on the battlefield. The dragon was clearly a future possibility of Dual Axe Archdragon, with their wings and axes massively enlarged.

"Double Tomahawk Archdragon's skill! Retire Averna and Toolmaker!" Double Tomahawk struck the ground with both of his axes, creating fissures that erupted under Averna and Toolmaker's feet and retiring them both. "Double Tomahawk gains 15000 power and 1 critical, and until end of turn, when you would guard with cards from your hand, you have to call two or more!" Homura called both Denial Flare Dragons and Artpique, and two golden, fiery-winged dragons appeared on both sides of Double Tomahawk, followed by a red dragon covered with seals.

''In all likelihood, my opponent's going to use that heal trigger this turn, since calling a G guardian bypasses Double Tomahawk's guard restriction. Between this measly hand and the opponent's G guardian, I won't be able to do much damage. Also, I'd like to kill Franiel before attacking the vanguard, but if I attack her with a rear-guard column, my opponent can easily block the attack with a G guardian and use that G guardian to cripple my vanguard further, allowing them to essentially block two attacks with the G guardian. I don't have any choice except a vanguard-to-vanguard attack first.''

"Conroe boosts, and Double Tomahawk Archdragon attacks your vanguard! Skysplitter Dragon's skill activates, giving my vanguard one drive!" (6000 power 2 critical 4 drive) Most Night Hunter G guardians focus on neutralizing the opponent's vanguard's offense, but since my vanguard's offense is already weak, she'll probably call the G guardian that furthers her board state, which means...

Heart Reaper.

A great black dragon manifested from thin air, striking Double Tomahawk's chest with its scythe. Heart Reaper's scythe tore out Skysplitter Dragon from Double Tomahawk's chest, impaling Skysplitter and causing her to disappear into light.

Opting to turn over a Swift Silencer and discard a critical trigger for the cost of Heart Reaper's skill, Sena gestured at the Skysplitter Dragon from under Double Tomahawk Archdragon. Homura obliged, putting the heart card into her drop zone and reducing Double Tomahawk's power to -5000. With the 15000 shield from Heart Reaper, Dragonic Punisher was at 26000 power, so this attack would certainly not hit.

"Quadruple drive!" Homura's first drive check revealed Sky Guard, Barri - "Get! Draw trigger! 5000 power to my unboosted Denial Flare!" Drawing into another Skysplitter Dragon, Homura subsequently drive checked Flame of Suppression, Atros, a Lizard Soldier, Galbag, and a Sky Divider Wyvern. Double Tomahawk, still reeling from losing his summoner, swung its axes again to strike Dragonic Punisher, only to be blocked by Heart Reaper's scythe.

"Franiel's ability activates," Sena said. As the vanguard's attack did not hit, Sena moved Franiel into her soul, drawing a card and Counter Charging (1).

"Boosted by Artpique, Denial Flare Dragon attacks your vanguard!" (13000 power) Sena responded with a "no guard," and Denial Flare Dragon and Artpique breathed jets of flame at Dragonic Punisher. Unfortunately for Homura, Sena damage checked a critical trigger, raising Dragonic Punisher's power to 16000; her right-hand Denial Flare, with only 14000 power would be unable to hit the vanguard. Unless...

"Flash call! Lizard Soldier, Galbag!" Homura called one of her Galbags behind Denial Flare during the attack step. "Galbag boosts, and Denial Flare Dragon attacks your vanguard!" (16000 power) At this, Sena called Gun Reaper and Franiel from her hand to guard the attack.

"Turn end. Since I lost my heart card, I ride Rear Drive Dragon from my soul once again." ''I've managed to whittle her hand down to two cards. One of the cards is Dragonic Dark Hunter, so she can Stride. I presume the second one is something she can use to go on the offensive next turn. I need to weather this next turn. But can I do that?''

I did not come here to lose to another idiot making a fool of themselves playing a children's card game.

Sena would probably never get used to the chuunibyou shouting that most other Vanguard players indulged in. When people played other games, they would engage in small talk or exclaim in reaction to the happenings of the game, and when they did yell, it would be in an intentionally ironic and silly manner. But with Vanguard, something about it inspired people to make themselves genuinely believe that they could use their imaginations to become astral bodies and possess people on. The worst part of it all was that they believed that imagination and belief were what made a Vanguard player better at the game, not things like strategy and tactics. Sena had no patience for the embarrassing, unironic, and redundant proclamations that Vanguard players made while playing it. Why couldn't they just play the game quietly?

Sena was aware of the effect her impatience and annoyance had on other Vanguard fighters, although she did not deliberately cultivate that effect. Most Vanguard fighters would get flustered and embarrassed, but Homura Mizuhashi here had hardly reacted to Sena at all. ''She really is as unshakable as they say. In a sense, that makes her even more ridiculous. Who could take themselves this seriously shouting these outrageous things while wearing a longcoat in the summertime?''

Sena pushed the thoughts out of her mind. She had a bad habit of underestimating her opponents, precisely because she tended to look down on them. Refocusing purely on the game, Sena drew her card - a Gun Reaper - and evaluated her options.

''She has two perfect guards, a heal, a grade 1, a grade 2, an unknown, and two interceptors. Since she's on grade 2, she can't call G guardians. I can get around Galbag easily enough. I can reduce the power of the opponent's vanguard by a significant amount, so she'll have to muster most of her cards to guard a single attack without a perfect guard. Overall, she can block at least two of my attacks, likely three, possibly more. Combined with her three damage, she can take five attacks.''

''My opponent has two small columns and an impotent vanguard column. I believe the right option here is to go on the offensive to get rid of as many of my opponent's cards as possible, so that she won't be able to muster a good rear-guard offense during their next turn. If I fail to win this turn, I'll probably have gotten rid of both of my opponent's Denial Flares.''

Sena discarded Dragonic Dark Hunter, then retrieved Reaper of Demons, Avaskaya from her G zone and placed it on her vanguard circle. Dragonic Punisher raised his gun and shot the air, cracking time and space and opening a massive portal. From the portal jumped a horned, white-haired woman wielding two guns, who landed on her feet as she touched the ground. This was clearly a succubus of Night Hunter - she was wearing a jacket and pants rather than skintight clothing.

"I activate Avaskaya's ability." Turning over a card in her G zone, she designated Homura's Rear Drive Dragon - it would get -12000 power, -2000 power times Sena's Generation Break count of 6.

Sena then placed Gate Magician onto the field, moving a Dragonic Anarchy from her soul to the rear-guard circle on the opposite side of Avaskaya. Gate Magician opened up a portal to a dark realm, from which emerged the Dragonic Anarchy from earlier in the game.

Sena then rested Gate Magician and pointed at Homura's vanguard. (9000 power)

''Between Punisher and Avaskaya, my vanguard's at -11000 power. My opponent's first two rear-guard attacks are 9000 and 12000, both of which need 25000 shield to block. My opponent's vanguard attack is an easy perfect guard. Depending on how many triggers the opponent gets, the follow-up attacks from my opponent's rear-guards will range from 25000 to 30000 shield - I'll assume both rear-guards will need 30000 shield to guard. So, I'll guard in this order -''

"No guard!" Gate Magician opened up a portal much like the one they summoned Dragonic Anarchy from, but instead of summoning a creature, nothing emerged from the portal except a blast of darkness. Homura's subsequent damage check was not a trigger.

Sena subsequently turned Anarchy sideways; since Sena's opponent had a vanguard whose power was 9000 or less, Anarchy gained 3000 power, but this did not change the amount of shield needed to guard the attack. (12000 power) "Tara! Atros!" Tara, a girl wearing traditional Empire clothing and playing a harp, appeared with Atros, a vicious-looking salamander man, and both of them projected shields to stop Dragonic Anarchy's blasts. "Denial Flare!" As the shield reached its limit, both of Homura's Denial Flare Dragons leaped from the sidelines and joined in, until finally, Dragonic Anarchy's flames of darkness guttered.

''I had one opportunity to muster 25000 shield, and that would be by guarding with Tara, Atros, and intercepting with both my Denial Flares. There's no guarantee that my opponent's rear-guards will be guardable with 25000 shield after the vanguard attack, so my only chance was now.''

Sena rested Avaskaya, pointing at the vanguard. Avaskaya disappeared into thin air. Discarding Galbag, Homura announced, "Perfect guard! Sky Guard, Barri!" Avaskaya suddenly appeared on Rear Drive's side to attack, but anticipating the strike, Barri's wyvern dived between the demon hunter and Rear Drive, allowing Barri to just barely block her attack. Sena began flipping the top cards of her deck, one by one. First, she checked a Quiet Punisher - "5000 power and 1 critical to Gate Magician" - followed by a Swift Executioner, Iera and a Dark Guardian, Veriz - "5000 power to Dragonic Anarchy."

And after that, I perfect guard my opponent's vanguard attack...

Sena then rested Gate Magician, to which Homura responded, "Perfect guard!" Discarding Sky Divider Wyvern, Barri blocked Gate Magician's energy ball.

Followed by perfect guarding whichever one of my opponent's rear-guards has crits.

Finally, Sena attacked with Dragonic Anarchy, which Homura chose to not guard - a fifth card entered Homura's damage zone.

"I end my turn."

If she pulled two critical triggers, I would have been dead.

"Stand and draw." Homura drew a Sky Divider Wyvern. Perfect.

Homura looked Sena in the eye as she took out Skysplitter Dragon from her hand and triumphantly shouted, "Proud blade of the Empire! Continue arising even in the face of adversity, and arise once again! Ride! Three Blades of the Empire, Skysplitter Dragon!" Sena returned Homura's stare, unflinching and face unchanging even as Homura stubbornly continued her embarrassing spiel about her avatar in front of her.

''Crap. I said "arise" twice.'' Homura couldn't stand having made a single mistake, especially with the judgmental eyes of her opponent on her. It took all her willpower to not show her embarrassment openly and continue her turn.

"Call! Sky Divider Wyvern!" A winged dragon with bladed wings took its place at Skysplitter's side, in front of Artpique. Then, Homura moved Galbag to the front row, and the dragonman leapt forward in acknowledgement of her command. Now that her hand was empty, she would ordinarily not be able to use Skysplitter's ability, but...

"Lizard Soldier, Conroe's skill! I add Aethonic from my deck to my hand!" Let's take out one non-trigger out of the deck.

Now, it's time.

"Skysplitter Dragon! With your mighty blade, strike down my enemy in one fatal blow!" Even though Skysplitter Dragon was afflicted by the curse on Homura's vanguard circle, she raised her blade, and began her charge.

"Skysplitter Dragon's first skill! Counter Blast, retire Anarchy, and Skysplitter gets drive +1!" Sena obliged without comment, putting Anarchy into her drop zone. "Sky Divider Wyvern's skill! Skysplitter gets drive +1, and I discard a card at the end of this battle! And finally, Skysplitter Dragon's second skill!" Discarding the Aethonic from her hand, Homura announced, "Skysplitter gets 15000 power and 1 critical. She also gets 1 drive for each card in my G zone, for a total of 2!" (6000 power 2 critical 6 drive)

"Can I check the number of cards left in your deck?"

The question shook Homura out of the high she had from chaining that string of abilities.

I don't think anyone has asked me that before.

"Furthermore, I would like to look at your drop zone and the face down cards in your damage zone."

''She's smart... but I can't help but feel she's showing off.''

After putting down Homura's cards, Sena evaluated her options. ''She has 6 triggers and 21 cards left in her deck. There's a 20% chance she'll get at least three triggers. If my opponent gets two triggers, then my opponent's columns will be 23000, 16000, and 17000, just barely enough to guard. Any more than that and I'm dead. I have to play to my outs and assume that my opponent will get two triggers.''

With that, Sena placed Gun Reaper and Averna onto the guardian circle, as slowly and precisely as she had called guardians at the beginning of the match. Even with the prospect of her impending defeat in the finals of a tournament, Sena felt no anxiety and little trepidation. Wins and losses didn't mean much to her.

"Sextuple drive!" Homura shouted. "First check!" No trigger. "Second check!" No trigger. "Third check! Get! Critical trigger! All effects to Galbag! Sky Divider Wyvern gains 5000 power from its ability!" A lesser player would have went for the flashy win with their vanguard, Sena briefly mused. "Fourth check! Get! Critical trigger! The power goes to Galbag, and the critical goes to Sky Divider Wyvern! Sky Divider Wyvern gains an additional 5000 power!" Might she actually pull it off...? "Fifth check!" No trigger. "Sixth check!"

...

"Get! Critical trigger!"

''Damn. How unfortunate.''

"I give the power to Galbag and the critical to Sky Divider Wyvern, and Sky Divider Wyvern gains an additional 5000 power!" Skysplitter Wyvern crashed into Gun Reaper and Averna's shields, after which she gracefully leapt back to formation. Homura discreetly discarded a card from her hand, but it mattered little.

"Galbag attacks your vanguard!" (22000 power, 2 critical)

I don't have a choice, do I? "No guard."

With a swing of Galbag's torch, Dragonic Punisher was awash in flame.

With six damage in her damage zone, Sena had lost, and Homura had won. Homura was breathless by the high of winning and the closeness of the fight. Sena, on the other hand, took a deep breath and sighed, and composed herself soon after.

Homura hated to admit it to herself, but judging by this fight alone, Sena was a good Vanguard player, and that was all Homura really cared about.

Sena, for her part, was unconvinced by Homura's skills. She simply had one too many trappings of the quintessential idiot Vanguard fighter for her to respect her yet. But still, I can't underestimate her.

The announcer cried out, "Homura Mizuhashi has taken the first round! Can Sena come back from this, or will she, like everyone else, fall before to the Iron Lady of the Empire?"

''Even though my deck is built to get lots of triggers, I almost feel bad about getting so many of them. Where would we be without best of 3?''