Card Strats

"Gladium." The tall darkness answered Azreal, taking a seat in a nearby empty chair. He had no intention of interrupting others. While this seemed polite, it was really just to keep an eye on the youthful crazy fanged witch who kept shouting the stupidest nonsense while playing the game.

She was having fun.

"Good to meet you."

Meanwhile, Viven was on a roll, having only used King Obadaia most of her games after the fight with Yuu. One guy made her drop Snow Elemental, Blizza, which was baffling. People didn't play Cray Elementals, that was a myth. A legend. They aren't real.

Chris watched Yuu walk out the door, knowing he was upset.

"...Well, at least everyone else is in good spirits."

Chris looked at the girl and her brother, noticing new people at the shop. Chris walked up immediately to greet them.

"Hi, are you two new here? I haven't seen you before!"

Chris stopped in the middle of his sentence, realizing his lack of manners.

"Right, I almost forgot to introduce myself! I'm Chris, or Christopher."

(WE NEED MEDICAL EXPERTISE AGAIN)

(LORD)

"I am the imperial darkness-"

"Her name is Viven and mine is Gladium. You can say we're new here, sure." Gladium immediately cut off his sister from making a long, annoying speech about her identity to Christopher, which shocked her. Why is everyone stopping her from that today?! Regardless, she regained her composure after shooting her brother a glare that was completely ignored. The bat-winged celestial pouted cutely, approaching the boy and her brother.

"At least tell people to call me Vivi." The lass demanded of her brother.

"Sure, sure, this is the 'Fanged Dark Angel, Vivi'. Don't ask for your own sanity." Gladium properly introduced Viven by her self-proclaimed title, then told Chris to not delve into the world of chuunis.

"The celestial darkness who resides in the Lightless Realm... I have attacked this small market with my plundering warriors: Granblue! May my mark be forever engraved." Viven declared, making known her visit as the psychopathic pirate fighter. Her chin was up, nose held high in the air with smugness and a feeling of triumph. "I wish you had chimed in sooner, Big Brother Gladi, you'd have seen me combat against a shady noble who walks in line with the darkness!"

Gladium's eye twitched at hearing that pet name.

"... And what, reprimand you in the middle of it?"

"... M-maybe you'd have waited for me to finish?"

"Maybe." Gladium forgave this little punk, reaching up and petting her as a sign of affection. Maybe he really would have let her finish before yelling at her.

Or maybe she's just in for Hell at home.

Chris was impressed with the girl's charisma, and even more impressed with her brother's ability to maintain composure.

This was new to him, usually, when he met people here, he would know them from different places before hand, so this was a completely different experience. Even though new experiences were usually looked at as frightening and dangerous by his family, he himself seemed to love the sudden turn of events presented to him. He continued to wear a welcoming smile, despite being lost in thought, though, after a brief moment, he snapped back into reality.

He had so many more questions he wanted to ask, but he prioritized them individually. Eventually he had decided to ask about the girl's opponent from before their conversation.

"I'm not sure if you saw him, but, that person that walked out, he looked upset. Is he alright?"

"Kukuku, I soundly defeated him, and he was upset by it!" Viven exaggerated, still smirking smugly. The game was actually even and down to the wire, despite how she made it sound...

Gladium quietly sighed to himself.

"Huh...I hope he didn't take it too hardly."

Chris normally worried about people individually, but the fact that he had no idea who the boy was kind of hurt his empathy. He looked at both of them, and nodded.

"I assume you both play the game, then? Are you going to be entering the team league?"

"Team League? The darkness usually works alone... But I've yet to hear about this." Viven spoke curiously. It was pretty obvious she probably didn't have friends to gather teammates, and Gladium's expression already showed significant disinterest. "Christopher! I demand you detail more of this event!" The Fanged Dark Angel requested, dramatically pointing toward the boy.

"Heh...right."

He reached into his bag and grabbed a folded flyer, unfolded it, and handed it to her.

"It's an event that happens later in the year where fighters set up 3 man teams and fight each other to the brim. Some of the strongest fighters in the world might be there."

He looked at Azrael and Mimmo.

"...I have yet to tell them about it, so keep it a secret for me, alright?" He laughed a little.

(I'VE COME TO RETRIEVE MY POWER! YOU CAN'T HANDLE IT!)

"Are there any non-team events by some chance?" The news of a tournament did intrigue him, being a competitive player and all. Hearing that there was a tournament with the theme of teams, knowing he knew no one to tag along with, he wanted to avoid that awkward situation as much as possible.

"Perhaps..?" He thought to himself.

"Are you looking for a team? Why don't you and your friends start one?" He inquired. He presumed Viven and her brother were friends with him, seeing as they walked in together.

Rihan turned back to Viven and turned away just as quickly. The idea of teaming with a girl who made a spectacle of herself on the first day of school was not something he thought would be possible nor in his best interest for the sake of preserving his sanity. He turned even more to see her brother, Gladium was his name. Tall, dark, and eerie were the only things Rihan found on him. He was intrigued at the start, however...

"No thanks. The girl alone is a handful but I don't know what his case is." thumbing back to the tower of darkness standing beside the girl. "I don't even know if he even plays, let alone if he's even good."

"We can hear you!" Viven, the pitch-black angel shouted angrily at Rihan. Gladium was largely unaffected, and if the people of this shop were entering, he was even less interested in the tournament. Though, he nodded in response to keeping Chris' secret.

"I play Shadow Paladin, I only play if there's someone good." Gladium answered coldly and bluntly, making it clear he was a new kind of league compared to kids that still go to highschool. Vivi chuckled quietly to herself, sharing her brother's arrogance, though for a completely different reason and wanted to only show off. She knew firsthand her brother's power, and didn't want to upset him or argue with it.

"If you wish to recruit me for such a competitive event..." Vivi started. "You will have to give me proof of your worthiness, Rihan."

Hearing the words "No Talent" in the distance in the shop Mimmo's eyes go cold as he stands at an empty fight table waiting for an opponent to see if hes improved in any way

"Oh?" The bait that the mixed hair Rihan sent out was taken. It was a childish tactic to say the least, even for Rihan's standards, but it proved effective, like it always does.

"I mean, we can have it out here if both of you want. Although..." he looked back at both of them. "I should warn you, I don't pull any punches. One mistake against me and its over." His competitive side began to glow but the look on his face showed that he was more than willing to the worthiness that Viven was anticipating. "So with that out of the way, I assume I'll be fighting the two of you back to back?"

"Didn't you hear me?" Gladium replied, "I only play if-"

He was cut off by the chuuni.

"Kuku... If you were pulling punches, I'd question your abilities as a man! Let us do combat, Rihan, and you will know pain through these fangs sinking into your neck! I might be merciful... if you swear loyalty to me."

Is she serious? Gladium thought to himself with a nervous bead of sweat coming down the side of his head as his sister in her usual act pursued obtaining a permanent servant. ... Or a friend, at least. She did need one, so the brother felt no need to interfere.

"We shall duel!" Vivi declared, pointing to Rihan, her still-servant for the day.

Azreal looked over at Mimmo spacing out at a fight table with a confused expression. Whilst the other people who filled the shop were all conversing Azreal walked over to his friend with a concerned expression and proceeded to set his deck on the table and wave his hand in front of his face.

"Yo Mimmo! You okay? Up for a fight?" Azreal said to his friend, who seemed to be looking at something over the horizon with almost transfixed intent.

!"Oh! hey Azreal sure thing ill fight"

Chris looked happy to have so many people with him at the card shop. But, it was apparent something was very much troubling him. He watched as the fight between Azrael and Mimmo unfolded, as well as trying to keep an eye on the other two's fight. He kept spacing out, which in this case, was not normal. He felt like something terrible has become of someone very close to him.

*What...is this feeling?*

He couldn't shake it, this horrible emotion had wrapped around Chris' neck, he couldn't even choke out a word. His eyes widened as he stared at the ground in fear.

Azreal wears a slight look of embarrassment with one hand scratching the back of his head.

"Eheh... That was a mistake on my part... My Bad, Good Job Mimmo." Azreal looked around the cardshop and looked at Chris, a smile stretched across his face

"Hey Chris, up for a fight? I gotta work out some kinks." Azreal looked over to his friend while holding up deck.

He would snap out of it, still not saying a word, still looking very concerned. He looked over at Mimmo as he walked to the fight table. He prepared his deck, and continued to struggle out of the grasp of his paranoia.

Chris picked up his cards, and looked at Azrael.

"Thank you for the fight, it was fun..."

He looked at the exit going to the park. He then looked back at Mimmo, and gestured a nod as a thank you for the information.

"I'm going to go talk to him...he's always at the park."

Watching the fight with Azrael and Chris end and seeing Chris concerned about Vince Mimmo gathers the courage to speak up.
"Chris fight me afterall i did fight your brother maybe if you see what my level was when i fought him ull get a better idea of his"
Darn hes gone already....Azrael care to go again i cant settle down now

Within Magallanica's own borders is where the naval forces of Granblue and Aqua Force clashed ferociously, a duel of multi-attacking savages and seamen across the great blue. Viven boasted her usual arrogance, striking quickly, only to be met with a much more destructive rush. Aqua Force's specialty was consecutive waves, and the grade threes flocking to the fanged angel's hand didn't help in the slightest against it. However, the grade two rush was halted by her scoring two triggers.

Gladium didn't think much of either of their skill. Viven was having a good time, and that's really all he was watching for. Though, he noticed Christopher's obvious unsettled posture. Was something the matter? His sibling instincts wanted to kick in and ask what the issue was, though, he refrained, since it was none of his business, and Chris' friends called for him instead.

"Hm..." The taller darkness was intrigued, seeing a larger issue than just the game. These kids are just in highschool, what's bothering- "Ah." He caught his thoughts, remembering he was only twenty, yet referring to the younger as if he was an old man.

Meanwhile, Viven's bat-winged heart pulsated, shining like it did against Yuu whenever she summoned a G Unit. It was an interesting kind of heartbeat, throbbing with Nightrose's Stride Skill was utilized, or the girl exerted "effort" with her imagination. A white-hot battle with her receiving a heavy handicap of nonstop grade threes.

And Rihan responded in kind, calling Sentinels as emergency rearguards, and striking with the "Hero" and "Reaper": "Thavas" and "Lambros" respectively. Viven was actually overwhelmed by the restanding prowess of the clan, resulting in her surviving Lambros' assault with a Heal Trigger, but being unable to stop anything else.

The fanged dark angel had fallen.

And she was upset.

"You were supposed to grovel and obey my command!" She cried, truly believing herself to be superior in the end. She acknowledged his skill, but gave a bit of a whiny "maybe I shouldn't have held back". A quiet murmur from a sore loser... she lost giving it her all too. Gladium knew she was lying, and Rihan probably did too, but the man didn't say anything. He only gave a "are you serious" expression. Though, Viven was caught off-guard. Rihan didn't just praise her skill... he said she has a friend.

Vivi didn't have friends.

"W-Wait... hold on." The angel responded, flustered. She had no idea how to react properly. People often stayed away from her in her insanity, unless they were equally as insane. Though, anyone she met that shared an Eighth Grader Syndrome moved away, or she could never keep contact with them. This... was the first sane person to actually offer friendship. "F-Friend... huh... Heh... V-very well! I shall call you a comrade!"

Aside from watching his sister lose, Gladium was happy the result was better this way, as was Viven. Yuu responded with anger and disinterest when he lost, but Rihan reached out. The giddy angel turned to her big brother, telling him: "Look brother, I found a comrade!"

"Yeah... you did."

Some other cardfighters wondered if Viven was just a loony and got lucky against Yuu. However, that awakened the imperial wrath of big brother, who turned to the side only to shoot the glare of a killer toward them. They immediately shut their mouths.

"Who's next? Or do you want to go again, Rihan?" Viven turned back to her companion, smiling warmly instead of obnoxiously.

After his loss to Christopher, Azreal donned a rather crestfallen expression. He hadn't been having the best luck in his games, his avatar had been failing him and he didn't understand why. Chatter still filled the cardshop and Christopher went on to fight his brother and Mimmo respectively. Azreal's head for some odd reason, was filled with voices. Not kind, or caring voices but words filled with malice and ill intent echoing through the noise of the cardshop. He looked around, in an almost dazed like state until his eyes rested on Gladium.

"Him... Fight Him, and free us..." The voices repeated again and again, their darkened words filling his ears and limiting his sight. He saw only his target, or as the voices said, his "prey".