The Anime Trope System: Stone vs. Viper #2 a LitRPG. (ATS) Page 4

  "Let’s shower," Clyde said. "Maybe continue this later. Right now, I’ve got shit to do."

  Neko saw the determination in his eyes then reluctantly pull away, but not before kissing him.

  "Don’t think this is over," she said then smiled. "My sister’s got duty for two more days. I’m free to come and go."

  Clyde shrugged, unperturbed. He just knew she was going to be more trouble than she led on.

  [Volume 2.] Episode 12 (Part 2)

  When he stepped outside, fully fresh and ready to go, a plethora of senses and feelings, Clyde wasn’t sure how to describe them, struck the young man. Nature’s dominance only reigned in the city’s skies. Lost spirits were scattered and about, holding secrets, longing for purpose. The wind seemed to bend around and through the young man.

  Feeling the spirit energy of every living thing felt weird. Hell, Clyde didn’t even know what spirit energy was at first—the system never mentioned it. Alice simply threw the term at him, leaving the young man to compare it to animes watched in the past and context clues. He did eventually ask her, knowing it’d be ridiculous to risk his life on a mere guess. Alice called it magic of the soul, essence.

  When Clyde stopped in front of the maid café on Twentieth Street, he began to have second thoughts. This place couldn’t possibly ruin his reputation. No one here would call him a weeb, right? Well, too late to change the meeting place now, you goof, he thought.

  Fuck it, living and breathing, one must try it once. He walked in and had no trouble locating Selkie. Just follow the staring eyes of both male and female to the entity dressed in a stunning red cheongsam. He noticed Dark sitting one table away, as he approached Selkie. He gave the edge lord just a brief frown. Whether he liked him or not, they fought together. He honestly didn’t hate the guy. Quite the opposite, though he hoped to get more serious moments from the guy, not the edgy act he put on.

  Clyde didn’t consider chuuni much of a condition, but a faze. Not that he wanted to spend anytime judging the young man. They fought and bled together. Good enough for him.

  "Took you long enough," Selkie said when he sat down. Clyde started to ask Dark to join them, but Selkie interjected. "He’s watching and maintaining a sound barrier."

  Clyde nodded. Sometimes he forgot how strong the chuuni was—and before earning his powerup, nearly lost. He never flaunted that PVP in his face as a gesture of respect. Not that he’d let the chuuni know.

  "Let’s just get this talk over with," Selkie continued. "We’re leaving the city afterwards."

  "Really?" Clyde said. "Just when I was starting to tolerate the edge lord a little. And I could use Charley’s help to save our world. If he even cares about going back."

  "He won’t go back," Selkie said, "but he does care. That being said, his destiny lies elsewhere. If he remains in this city and another one of your type comes in, the balance could be thrown out of whack."

  "Any particular reason why you or Mortem thought it was a good idea to hide this?" Clyde said, folding his arms. "I mean doomsday by power-level cliché."

  Selkie sighed.

  "Telling you is kind of against the rules. Now stay focused and stop interrupting. I’m going to tell you what I can. You dig up the rest on your own."

  "You better not dump exposition on me," Clyde muttered, gaining the entity’s glare. She continued anyway.

  "This world, an anime in your eyes, was created by a powerful deity whose name I cannot speak. In fact, some say that particular watcher peeked into the future, saw anime, then created the dimension while earth was being constructed by some other deity. Satovia is like earth but is not. The myth and legends discarded in your world are actually real. They’re dormant in your world but breathe here. Although most are a lot more civil than how you humans depicted them.

  Clyde this world is real, a planet just like the earth. The reason you become anime is due to the rules of the dimension. The non-clash clause. The prompts and the stats you see are there to assist you. The Stone. You’ve been adjusting to the city and taking on the demon lord’s army. Kill him and this territory becomes yours."

  "That’s not what I’m here for," Clyde said. "The demon lord’s army is a helpful grind, but dangerous as fuck to the city. Nobody’s able to go out at night."

  "Kill the demon lords, go on adventures, find and solve mysteries, the choice is yours," Selkie said. "You know your endgame. You know whom you must face."

  Clyde gave her a Toru-style blank stare. Abruptly, he noticed Dark shuffling a deck of cards. The blue backs were very familiar.

  "Hey Edge Lord, where’d you get those?" Clyde said.

  Dark glared.

  "Just cards of a card game. Have a problem with that too, normie?"

  A man who knew anime tropes as much as Clyde was kind of far from normie, but he’d give the chuuni this. For now. It was kind of fun to mess with him.

  "Obviously," he said, "but I’ve been finding them everywhere, almost as if someone’s deliberating leaving them behind. I know these aren’t ordinary cards."

  Looks of alarm shot into the eyes of Selkie and Dark.

  "Mind if I see your cards?" Selkie said.

  "I’ve only found a few," Clyde said, "and they all randomly spawned somewhere I could see them."

  "Spawning, no Clyde, fate," Selkie said. "Only your soul can call these."

  The duo’s mouths went agape when Clyde revealed his collection. Dark nearly freaked out, though Selkie’s elbow to his gut calmed the chuuni down. "These cards are so incredibly…bloody impossibly rare. Did you make the contract?" she gave them back to Clyde.

  "I’m not sure how," Clyde said. "Some helpful system I’ve got."

  "Let’s do it right now," she said. "Dark will teach you the game afterwards."

  Dark grimaced at that but life seemed to come back to him when he looked at the cards.

  "Here? In front of all of these people?" Clyde said. "Look, you can make a dog wag its tail, but don’t toy with a man and his dignity."

  "Pfft, men. No one can see through my dimensional field," Selkie said, "nor can they interact with it."

  "Will the small amount of cards do? I’m asking questions, so I don’t get fucked," Clyde said.

  "Make the contract with your deck leader, which I’m pretty sure is the sorceress. She’ll form the deck for you. Now are you going to do it or not?"

  "A little too late to back down now," Clyde said. "Not that I know any of this shit, mind you."

  She gave the young man pointers about making the commitment.

  "Let us converse, you and I, my deck leader," Clyde said, repeating the chant in the singsong voice that the green-haired entity ordered. He channeled MP into the cards. They reacted with an intense glow.

  In a flicker of light, Clyde’s surroundings changed. Gone was the restaurant, replaced with a large library-like bedroom, cluttered with a mess of books. Even atop of the bed were books. Some floated in midair, some seemed glued to the wall. A bookworm’s dream.

  Suddenly, a beautiful woman with long golden hair and matching eyes appeared in front of him, smiling.

  "Welcome, love."

  [Volume 2.] Episode 12 (Part 3)

  The woman before him was mesmerizing, yet strange. She moved with the grace of a dancer, her eyes calculating, intaking Clyde inside and out. In fact, she seemed predatory. Her golden dress looked fancy enough to immediately draw the gazes of a king’s court. A contrast to the robes worn on the card.

  "Come, take a seat anywhere," she said in a musical voice. Despite making it sound like a choice, the sorceress sat him on the bed. "Give me your pledging words."

  Somehow, Clyde knew them without being instructed—he just did. They flowed out of his tongue, a chant and a song.

  "Let my strength reawaken the golden veil between our worlds. My essence becomes one with the cards. My deck leader, Amina, I call you into this world. Into my heart."

  The sorceress seemed giddy from the words. She walked over to Clyde and surprised the young man with an undeserved kiss. It took him a second to realize that’s how she made her deals. Magic-style.

  "With that sealing oath kiss, my power is yours," she whispered. "My power, heart, essence. I hope we’ll get to know each other, very well."

  [Your relationship with Amina has changed from neutral to interested.]

  [You have received the rest of the Sorcerer’s Creed deck. Congratulations, you can now challenge card bearers to a duel. You may choose a Real game with stakes, Non-real without stakes, or a practice game, a game without the magic used to summon attackers or events. Warning: there are dark forces out there that can only be dealt with via the game of Stone-Tokken. Losing to them will have dire consequences.]

  Just like that, he was back in the restaurant. Dark and Selkie’s stares seemed to penetrate him. Glowing gold marks that looked trees briefly flickered on Clyde’s wrists before fading out of existence.

  "The tree of life," Dark hissed. "Never thought I’d see it." He looked at Clyde. "I suppose you’re going to gloat."

  "Gloat?" Clyde said, "no." He shook his head. "I think I need therapy. Maybe guidance. Because over and over, I keep allowing myself to get pulled into things." He rested an elbow on the table. "So, there are dark forces and losing to them ensures dire consequences. Shadow realm shit probably. Goddammit. What did you trick me into? Don’t answer that. I know. The deities above were going to sign me up for this whether I wanted to play or not. None of them understand what’s like to be ripped from your world and thrown into both heaven and hell."

  Dark nodded.

  "No use complaining about it now. Unless you want to surrender your powers to me."

  Clyde shook his head.

  "Even I know it doesn’t work like that."

  "N
ot when you’re born with the power," Selkie said.

  "What? What do you mean, born with this?" Clyde said, raising an eyebrow.

  "You were born with your powers," she said. "Anyway, I’ve said too much. Way too much. Dark, teach him the game but don’t challenge him in anything other than a practice match, then let’s go. We’ve got a few hours left to get to the airport."

  "Can we take this somewhere else?" Clyde said.

  "We could always go outside in the heat," Dark said.

  "And what, play on the ground?" Clyde said.

  "No, a real game will summon something like a mat in front of you, midair," Dark said. "Suitable for a supreme being like me. But… well, you’ve seen Yu-gi-oh, right?"

  "Don’t tell me the—"

  "Yep," Dark said. "And you’ll lose real HP." He gave Clyde an evil grin. "Hope you enjoy the game."

  "Well, I guess this is far from the worse decision I’ve made," Clyde said, voice tinged with a little sarcasm. "Let’s get this over with. I suppose you’re not going to go easy on me."

  "The lord of the dark goes easy on no one," Dark said.

  Dark started with the basics of the game. Summon attackers and deplete your opponent’s life force. Each player is still subjected to HP damage during a Real or Non-real game.

  The chuuni drilled Clyde on the basics for nearly an hour until he felt the young man was ready for a practice game.

  "Let’s roll for first," Dark said, pulling out a small die. "In a Real or Non-real game, it’s determined at random by…well, you’ll see."

  [You have accepted a practice duel with Dark.]

  "Six to your four. I’ll start with this. Summon attacker Dark Flow, Hines. Go."

  "The practice game is going to feel dull," Selkie said. "But in the Real and Non-real, the environment can change. Also, there is no limit on the number of players in a fight, so if you’re outnumbered, run."

  [Field, opponent: Dark Flow, Hines.]

  Clyde drew from his deck, his hand now containing six cards. First-turn opponents weren’t allowed to draw.

  "First, I’ll play….Fever Draw. Paying two hundred life force. Draw two cards. I uhmm.."

  He was a little disappointed to not draw his deck leader until he saw the card that could remedy that. The cards in his hand seemed to shimmer and vibrate. "Let’s try this guy out."

  [Field, you: SC- Druid Karla.]

  "Her effect when summoned allows me to add a Sorcerer’s creed card from my deck to my hand then—"

  "Yeah, no, Hine’s effect triggers," Dark said, thrusting out his right hand. Clyde frowned.

  [Field, opponent: Hine’s instant effect.]

  "Once per turn, during any turn, I can deactivate your silly effect by discarding one Dark Flow attacker." He smirked. "Get that shit out of here."

  Clyde’s eyes widened. He also realized that both the chuuni and Selkie took this game very seriously. Too bad his effort was wasted.

  [Field, you, Druid Karla’s effect.]

  "Nice try but Karla’s other effect, which is also an instant, deactivates your effect first then destroy it."

  "What?" Dark said. Clyde was surprised it wasn’t one of those over exaggerated anime yells.

  "Now I’ll add my deck leader if you don’t mind."

  "Actually, do mind—I know how powerful that card is," Dark said. "So eat this. Action card, instant. Falling down." He made to sure to play that after Clyde added his deck leader. "We both shuffle our hands into the deck and draw the same number of cards and then one extra."

  Clyde glared at the smiling chuuni.

  "The great lord of the dark will not let some amateur have his way."

  Clyde frowned at his new hand. A hand without the deck leader.

  "Since Karla’s power is higher than Hines, kill."

  [Field, you, battle step, Karla attacks.]

  Clyde saw Dark move to play one of his cards and said, "let me guess. You’re going to stop the attack."

  "I’m going to do better than that, light lover," he said. "Feast your eyes on this." He made an exaggerated motion then placed his card on the table. "Action card, instant. Shattered offense. And I’m going to combo it with this." He sat down even another card. "Action card, instant, double damage. So not only does Karla goes bye-bye, but you take damage equal to her power. Doubled."

  "Wow, what bullshit," Clyde said as he placed his druid in the graveyard.

  "Welcome to my world." Selkie was leaning right over him. He turned, attempting to tune her out. At least she didn’t backseat-play his cards. Her perfume smelled incredibly expensive.

  [Clyde LF remaining: 500]

  [Dark LF: 1000]

  "May as well call it quits," Selkie said. "Now that you’re wide open, he’s going for the fucking murder house."

  Dark grinned.

  "Do you have more plays or will you end?"

  "I end my turn," Clyde said reluctantly.

  Dark nodded when he drew his card.

  "When I return to this city, you’d better be well-versed in this game. Because we’re going either Real or Non-real, maybe in the middle of my dark palace."

  "Dark palace?" Clyde said, confused.

  "Oh, we never told you where Charles is actually living," Selkie said. "I gave him one of my spare palaces. He has his own servants too, but if you ask me, many of them would rather ruffle his hair and spoil him than—"

  "Don’t carelessly give away my secrets," Dark exclaimed.

  Clyde nearly choked on the air.

  "You have a palace? What the fuck—these assholes only gave me an apartment. I have to fight to the death against thousands of nightmarish horrors and all I get is…." He paused, raising a hand at Selkie’s incoming protest. "I get it. Anime main character. This is still horseshit and I’d like to file a complaint."

  "Says the guy with a harem," Dark said.

  "I don’t have a harem," Clyde snapped, only to invoke Dark’s laughter. "Freaking palace and servants. You still up for trading stone for leaf?"

  A few moments of silence and they both laughed.

  "Well, time to die," Dark said. "Activating Hine’s other effect."

  [Field, opponent. Hine’s effect.]

  "He can tribute himself and evolve. I’ll let you see—"

  As if triggering a cliché, Clyde’s phone rung. He answered.

  "Clyde, you have to come quick. We saw Melody and Chika bolted after her," Harumi said. "Somehow Chika obtained her number and they’ve been taunting and arguing since last night. Can you ask Selkie to teleport you? We’re on Twenty-first street. Hurry."

  "We’ll be right there—shit. What is she thinking in broad daylight? Both of them."

  Clyde warped his phone back to the inventory. "We could really use your help, Selkie. Melody’s a trickster demon and is the daughter of some demon god."

  Selkie’s eyes widened. Even Dark stood, instantly recalling his cards into the inventory. Clyde did the same.

  "Where to," Selkie said, voice deadly.

  [Volume 2.] Episode 12 (Part 4)

  The jump made Clyde’s stomach lurch. No wonder why Dark preferred an airport—he couldn’t imagine transmitting over long distances. He pushed aside the need to vomit as he approached the scene. The standoff between a redhead and a silver-haired girl.

  Clyde wasn’t sure to be surprised or not when the first thing he noticed was the colossal amount of Chika’s aura rotating around her like a tornado. Melody looked as if she’d rather be anywhere else. He couldn’t blame her. Chika’s place of power was a dungeon with the difficulty level of Super Extreme.

  "Admit it," Chika said. "You’re trying to use him. I told you, I won’t have it, you bitch."

  "And I said I’m not—Oh, Clyde." Melody’s excitement sank when Chika blocked her path, murder oozing from the silver-haired girl.

  "What the hell, you two," Clyde said as he walked toward them, Selkie trailing with a deadly sense of calm. The young man knew she calculated and examined the trickster from the inside and out.

  "Move," Melody said to Chika, voice threatening.

  "What are you planning?" the silver-haired girl said. "We know what you are."