Bang Boom Pow

Tanuki forced himself upright, daggers trembling. He drew again. The card dissolved: The Turning Spire.

The crystalline floor shifted, tilting by degrees. Arsenyx adjusted instantly, his stance widening, his balance perfect. But Tanuki used the tilt to accelerate, lunging forward, daggers flashing.

He struck at Arsenyx’s chest, but the glaive intercepted, sparks exploding. Arsenyx countered with a downward strike that cracked the floor, sending Tanuki sprawling again. His HP dipped further, dangerously low.

Arsenyx’s voice carried, calm but edged. “You’ve learned to fight. But you haven’t learned to win.”

Tanuki staggered to his feet, chest heaving. His HP hovered in the red, his mana draining with each draw. He had already used more cards in the opening minutes of this round than in the entire first duel.

Arsenyx pressed forward, glaive spinning in a deadly dance. Each strike was heavier, sharper, more precise. Tanuki parried, dodged, countered, but each exchange cost him.

The predator had found his rhythm.

Desperate, Tanuki drew again. The card dissolved: The Twin Flame.

Warmth surged through him, syncing his movements with Atlas’s thunderous encouragement and NV’s razor‑sharp clarity. His strikes flowed smoother, his dodges sharper. He slipped past a glaive strike and slashed across Arsenyx’s side. Sparks flew, HP dipped further.

The crowd roared.

“He’s still fighting!”
“He won’t give up!”
“This is insane!”

But Arsenyx’s HP bar barely moved. The predator was still in control.

Tanuki’s breath came ragged, his daggers trembling. His HP was low, his mana draining, his body screaming for relief. But he refused to fall.

Across from him, Arsenyx stood tall, his glaive gleaming crimson. His HP was lower than before, but his stance was unshaken. He radiated inevitability.

The crowd’s roar shook the Citadel Theatre. Atlas shouted, desperate. “Don’t give up! You’ve come too far!”

NV’s voice was quieter, but sharper. “If you want to win, you’ll have to risk everything.”

Tanuki’s grip tightened on his daggers. The Deck of Echoes pulsed at his side, restless, alive.

Then I’ll risk everything.

=

The Coliseum was breaking.

The aurora above stuttered, its colors freezing, rewinding, then surging forward again. The crystalline floor warped, panels stretching like rubber before snapping back. Even the HUDs of spectators glitched, health bars flickering, chat feeds duplicating.

And at the center of it all, Tanuki drew.

The Deck of Echoes pulsed, then spat out something it had never shown before. A card with no face, no name. Its edges flickered, its surface static. The system stuttered, text glitching across his HUD:

[???]

The crowd gasped.

“What card is that?!”
“I’ve never seen it before, bug?”
“No, it’s real. It has to be.”
“I can’t believe it’s not butter!”

Tanuki’s daggers didn’t change. No flame, no frost, no chains of starlight. Instead, the world itself destabilized.

Arsenyx paused mid‑swing, his glaive hovering. His calm expression faltered for the first time. “What… is this?”

Tanuki lunged, daggers flashing. His strikes landed, shallow cuts across Arsenyx’s armor. Sparks flew as his HP dipped yet again. But the predator endured.

The world stuttered. Arsenyx froze mid‑animation, then snapped forward, his glaive completing its arc. The blade slammed into Tanuki’s side, his HP plunging.

The crowd roared, half in awe, half in fear.

Atlas’s voice cracked through the party channel, distorted. “Tanuki—what did you- but nothing else was heard besides static.

NV’s voice was clearer, but edged with unease. “It’s not a combat effect. It’s destabilizing the system.”

Tanuki’s heart pounded. He hadn’t meant for this. He hadn’t the slightest clue was this card was or what it did.

Arsenyx steadied himself, his glaive glowing crimson. “Whatever this is, it won’t save you.”

He pressed forward, adapting even to the glitch. His strikes were slower, more deliberate, but still precise, still deadly. Tanuki parried, dodged, countered, but each exchange cost him. His HP bled away, the “???” Tarot offering no protection, no power, only chaos.

Finally, the glaive swept in a brutal arc. The floor beneath Tanuki glitched, his avatar stuttering in place. The blade connected.

Tanuki’s HP hit zero.

The system declared: “Victory: Arsenyx.”

The Citadel Theatre erupted, but the cheers were laced with confusion. The glitches hadn’t stopped. The aurora still flickered. The floor still warped. NPCs in the stands stuttered, their animations looping.

And then, the system did something no one expected.

A notification appeared above Arsenyx’s head: [Reward Granted: ??? Tarot]

The crowd fell silent.

“Wait… he gets it?”
“The nameless card… it’s his now?”
“This isn’t like my shounen manga!”

Arsenyx lowered his glaive, his calm expression unreadable. He looked at the card hovering before him, its static glow pulsing. Slowly, deliberately, he reached out and claimed it.

The “???” Tarot dissolved into his inventory.

The glitches didn’t fade. If anything, they deepened. The aurora fractured into polygons before reassembling. The floor rippled like water. Across the MMO, players began reporting oddities: NPCs repeating lines out of order, quests looping endlessly, monsters spawning in the wrong zones. It was as if the world itself had changed. Permanently.

Arsenyx turned to Tanuki, who stood restored by the system but shaken, his daggers trembling in his hands.

“You’ve awakened something,” Arsenyx said. His voice was calm, but edged with weight. “I knew this card held secrets. Now I can find out how to unlock them."

There was no triumph in his tone. No mockery. Just certainty.

Then he turned and walked away, the “???” Tarot pulsing faintly in his inventory, its static glow refusing to fade.