Swarming menace

It is early in the morning as I stare at the sky above. I’m sitting in class near the windows, as the teacher rambles on about features in Crystale. The lessons themselves are useful, there is no denying that, but I can’t seem to focus all that well. Whether it is the looming threat in the Ivanda Circle, or the seemingly dire state of Joey, it simply doesn’t feel like a moment to sit and follow classes leisurely. The missing seat in front of me is a constant reminder of how things are far from okay right now. “Lloyd!” The teacher yells out my name abruptly pulling me back to reality. It has happened a couple of times by now. I take a glance at the board. If I have to take a guess she was talking about the Rank Up system, which the man from the Children of Rhea. He used it quite efficiently at that. He removed all the damage I did so far and in some cases Ranking Up can even unlock new abilities for a Servant to use. They can also gain a buff in HP and ATK. I wonder if that other Crystale player our seniors were up against also used Rank Up to beat them. Probably, but even if he did, it couldn’t have been only that which made him so dangerous. “Lloyd! It seems you are more in need of a practical lesson today!” The sudden scream brings me back again as I must have instinctively looked back out the window. “Ah, sorry teach, that wasn’t my intention.” She slowly walks up to me pulling out a unique crystal from her pocket. She may have a smile on her face, but it is clear for everybody to see that she is ticked off. “Class, let’s move to the arena for now. Lloyd is going to give us all a demonstration today.” You could cut the tension in this room with a knife. Nobody dares to speak as slowly everybody gets off their seat. I follow reluctantly as the teacher keeps her sharp eye on me along the way.

We all arrive at the roof of the school. A miniature stadium was built here for the students to practice Crystale. Nowadays, however, it is mostly used for tests. I stand on the opposite side of the teacher who hasn’t lost her menacing smile up until this point.

“Well Lloyd, it is time to give the rest of the class a little demonstration.”
“Does that mean we finally get to see that mysterious Crystal Pool of yours?”

“Were you aware, Lloyd?! C.A.S.S has been busy creating its own crystals. All so that one day, everyone will be able to participate in Crystale. They were so kind as to lend a few to me to test them out. So, be a good student will ya?”

“You mean to say, can I be your guinea pig?!”

“Not at all. I’d even say this is a great opportunity to show everyone why they call you the Ace of the Academy!”

“Well if you put it like that, I guess I can’t really decline.”

We lift our crystals high as they start to glow. Crysend!

A field materializes around the two of us excluding us from all the other students standing around us. We may not have a direct line of sight of them but they can still see us. Hexagonal tiles appear underneath us forming the playing field each with their own color representing their element. We both pull our starting crystals from the void as our duel begins. The teacher begins, pulls a crystal, moves one tile forward, and then summons a Servant to her side.
“Pay attention Lloyd, as I am about to teach you a thing or two. This one is called Voidmin B.” I guess since these crystals were created, the Servant doesn’t look like much as this Voidmin B is nothing more than a yellow wisp. The teacher moves the Servant one more tile ahead and then ends her turn. She moved her Servant to a spot I could immediately attack. Time to take advantage of that.

“My turn! I summon Cameal! I then move it towards Voidmin B”

After getting Cameal into position, the teacher interjects.

“You disappoint me, Lloyd. Elements on the field affect the ATK points of Servants. You just moved to a Dark element tile, so a Light elemental Servant loses 5 ATK points.”
“Well, it is a good thing I wasn’t done yet, is it!? I use the Spell Divine Light. With it, I can change 4 tiles of the field to the light element. Take a guess which tiles I’m going to change!?” She doesn’t respond but she quickly understands what I was aiming at. Changing the tile to a light tile not only removes the ATK points Camael lost but instead increases his ATK by 10.

“I guess you do understand. The elements on the field can increase or decrease ATK points depending on the Servant that is on them. Light and Dark are opposites in this regard, so that was a good move.” Camael now has 50 ATK, which is enough to take down Voidmin B. I attack with Camael but once again I get interrupted. “You should always expect Trigger Spells when the opponent saves their MP, Lloyd. I’ll use Servant’s Shield! This gives Voidmin B 40 points of Destructible Armor. I am also going to use this chance to use another Trigger Spell, called Voidmin Mirror Strike.”

Her Servant, which had 0 ATK, now gains 25 ATK points. Camael strikes, removing the Destructible Armor as well as doing 10 points of damage. Voidmin B now strikes back, since it gained ATK points because of Mirror Strike. I ended up losing more in that fight than my teacher.

“It isn’t over yet Lloyd. Voidmin B effect now activates. When it is damaged without being sent to the Higher Plane it can summon a Voidmin Token next to it.”

“It doesn’t seem that strong to me.”

“That let them deceive you. As you know Lloyd, Tokens are treated as Servants on the field, although they aren’t sent to the Higher Plane when destroyed.”
“I am aware. You don’t need to remind me. I activate Holy Shield granting Camael 10 points of Destructible Armor and then End my turn!”

#Teacher: Voidmin B: 40 HP, 0 ATK; Voidmin Token: 20HP, 10 ATK#

#Lloyd: Camael: 25 HP (10), 50 ATK#

It seems the ATK boost that B Servant got was only temporary. Regardless her Servants aren’t as strong as I thought. “Let’s see how resilient you are Lloyd,” she says as she starts her turn. She moves her units a tile past Camael before making her next move. “I summon Voidmin A and move it next to Camael. Allow me to educate you on Arts. They are specific abilities that Servants can carry. This little one has Assassin which prevents opponent’s Servants from countering. Tackle his Angel, A” Another plain wisp, this time colored red slams into Camael. With 10 ATK the Servant doesn’t do much damage but Camael can’t do anything in response. Thanks to the Destructible Armor, Camael didn’t lose any HP in this fight so I am still good at this point.

“Don’t ease up just yet Lloyd. Surely you can expect Voidmin A to have a wonderful ability of its own by now. When it deals damage to an opponent’s Servant I can summon a Voidmin token next to it.” She then moves the new token one tile towards me, ignoring Camael. “Continuing with this lesson by addressing that Voidmin B also has an Art called Defender. This means it can take an attack meant for another Servant one tile away from Voidmin B, so you can’t freely attack my Tokens.” One token is adjacent to Voidmin B but the other is on his own. Clearly, she isn’t overlooking that fact, right? “Lastly I activate my Summoner’s ability Villiocharge, which summons three more Voidmin Tokens next to me. They can’t act this turn so I’ll end my turn.” That’s four tokens now, excluding the two Servants she has on the field.

“W-Wait a minute! Aren’t you only allowed to have up to five Servants on the field at once”

“Oh, paying attention now are we.”

“Yes, you are only allowed to have up to five Servants on the field at once. As you said yourself, tokens are counted as Servants on the field so that would make it six now.”

“How very right you are. However, These tokens don’t count toward that limit, so I can have as many as I want. Though I can’t summon any new Servants, though. But I think you have a more pressing issue at this moment, right?!”

I’m not sure what she is getting at. If she means that they can attack me and cause me to lose Lives, then I am way ahead of her. She may have many units but they can all be easily dealt with. Wait a second. Each Servant can only attack once per turn, but she managed to summon four Tokens in one turn. Is she trying to swarm the field with these tokens so I don’t have enough attacks to deal with them? I’m still at the starting tile, so my moving options are limited. Regardless of which direction I might try to move, I can still get attacked by one of these tokens. I guess I just have to erase those tokens as fast as possible!

#Teacher: Voidmin B: 40 HP, 0 ATK; Voidmin A: 40 HP, 10 ATK; Voidmin Token (4x): 20HP, 10 ATK#

#Lloyd: Camael: 25 HP, 50 ATK#

“My turn! I’ll move one tile and then I summon Azreal! Thanks to Camael all other Light Servants gain an additional 10 ATK so Azreal now has 40 ATK. Now Azreal take down that Voidmin Token!”

“As if I’d let you harm my precious pawns. I activate the Trigger Spell Booster B. Until the End Phase, Voidmin B becomes a Defender (2) as well as healing it for 10 HP.”
With Defender (2), Azreal’s attack is redirected to Voidmin B.

“Azreal doesn’t have enough ATK to destroy Voidmin B.”

“That is true, and you know what that means, right? Its effect once again activates and I get another Voidmin Token. It’s a bit crowded near you so I will have to do with summoning it to the opposite side.”

I click my tongue, getting a bit irritated as that token is still next to me. I quickly direct Camael to attack the token instead. Voidmin B once again intercepts taking the attack of Camael. With its HP now reduced to zero it, at the very least, is sent to the Higher Plane and its effect isn’t activated this time. But I guess my problems are far from over. This is starting to become a trend. A very annoying trend!