Mechanical Requiem - Infernal Aria

Vio and Lisa stood facing each other, clearing everything unnecessary off the table. They spread their playmats across the surface, ready for the duel.

Liora chose to sit and observe. If Lisa really was a Desire Battle participant, learning her battle style would be valuable intel.

“Guide, stand by!” both players shouted in unison, extending their hands forward. Each held a card face-down, then simultaneously revealed them.

“Path of Fortress! Anti War Maiden, Frederica!” Vio’s card showed a girl cloaked in a green nun’s habit, aiming a rifle straight ahead.

“Path of Chalice! Hellrose Dragon, Ashendoom!” Lisa’s card depicted a terrifying red dragon. Rivers of blood flowed beneath it, scattered with bones — a true vision of hell.

Liora blinked, surprised to see Vio using this Guide. It was the first time she’d seen Vio summon that one.

“Ho!” Lisa’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “Frederica, looks like you’re serious about winning.” The graceful veneer dropped; her smile turned fierce, almost predatory.

“So, you’re finally dropping the act?” Vio sneered, still irritated by Liora’s earlier attitude.

“Act?” Lisa shook her head calmly. “It’s all about place and circumstance, Violetta.”

“We’re on a battlefield now, where even the purest souls can become beasts.”

“Ready?” Lisa locked eyes with Vio.

“My turn. Draw!” Vio began the battle by drawing her card first.

“Generate phase!”

“Arise from quiet flame and shatter the tide of war!”

“Guide Call!”

“Anti War Maiden, Frederica!”

Vio reached for her Guide and placed it on the central square.

“Frederica’s skill activates on summon!”

“I add ‘Anti War Dogma’ from my deck.”

“I set two cards face-down in my support zone.”

“Turn end.”

Lisa began her turn.

“Draw!”

Smiling, she added the drawn card to her hand.

“OP limit increase!”

“I pay two OP to summon Anemo Dragon, Sylpharz.”

“With its skill, I call a second Sylpharz from my deck!”

Now two followers stood on Lisa’s field, each with 1000 attack points. Vio clenched her hand tightly around her cards. The real threat wasn’t the followers—it was the Guide.

Chalice Path specialized in offense. That meant only one thing: some kind of attack boost was almost guaranteed.

As if ignoring the flicker of worry on Vio’s face, Lisa raised her hand high, her Guide card gripped between her fingers.

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“Bloom—flower that heralds the beginning of hell!”

“Guide Call!”

“Soar—Hellrose Dragon, Ashendoom!”

She placed her Guide onto the center zone with a theatrical flourish.

“Battle!”

“Not so fast!” Vio interrupted, slamming her card down.

“Reveal—Peace Bribe!”

“I pay 1 OP. My opponent draws one card, and their Battle Phase is skipped this turn.”

Lisa clicked her tongue in mild annoyance, drawing one card as required.

“Turn end.”

“My turn—Draw!” Vio began her turn.

“OP limit increase!”

“I pay two OP to activate the Support card—Anti-War Dogma!”

“If I didn’t declare an attack with any of my followers during the previous turn…”

“I send all your non-Guide followers to the Rest Zone!”

“And then, I inflict Direct Damage equal to half of their total ATK!”

“After that, my Battle Phase for this turn and the next is forcibly skipped!”

Watching from the sidelines, Liora gasped upon hearing the card’s cost.

That was a powerful card—board removal and direct damage in one. But skipping two full Battle Phases? That sounded insane… unless—

Lisa LP: 8000 → 7000

“Turn end,” Vio declared, calmly.

But it wasn’t over.

“At the end of my turn, since my Battle Phase was skipped by an effect—Frederica’s second skill activates!”

“I inflict 1000 direct damage to my opponent.”

“Impact Shot!”

Lisa LP: 7000 → 6000

Lisa was silent, staring at the board. Vio had just burned 2000 of her LP without attacking even once.

Then suddenly—

Laughter exploded into the room.

Lisa threw her head back, her expression filled with pure joy as she burst into wild laughter. It was so raw, Vio could only watch in silence as Lisa laughed like a madwoman.

“Beautiful!” Lisa shouted gleefully.

“This is exactly what I wanted, Violetta!”

“This is why I love Guide Rise!”

“My turn—DRAW!”

“OP limit increase!”

“I activate the Support card Omni-Raise from my hand by paying 2 OP—this increases my OP limit!”

OP Limit: 4 → 5

“But unfortunately, since it only raises my OP cap, I don’t generate any OP for this one.”

Lisa shrugged.

“Well, whatever.”

“I activate Ashendoom’s effect by paying 2 OP!”

“I expel two followers from my Rest Zone—”

Lisa slid two cards to the side of the table, beyond the edges of the playmat.

“Until the end of this turn, Ashendoom can attack twice, and both of its attacks gain Piercing!”

Piercing is an effect that allows a unit to deal damage to the opponent’s LP equal to the difference in ATK when it attacks a weaker follower. For example, if a follower with 1000 ATK attacks an enemy follower with 500 ATK and has Piercing, the opponent takes 500 LP damage.

“Battle Phase!”

“Ashendoom, attack Frederica!”

“Hell Destruction Burst!!!”

Ashendoom soared into the sky, opened its terrifying maw, and unleashed a wave of blazing orange fire directly at Frederica.

“Reveal! I activate Protection Barrier by paying 1 OP!” Vio shouted, flipping her last face-down card.

“For the first time this turn, if one of my followers would be destroyed in battle—it survives instead!”

“But!” Lisa shot back, eyes gleaming, “you still take damage!”

Vio LP: 8000 → 7500

“Once more, Ashendoom—attack Frederica!”

“Hell Destruction Burst!!!”

Frederica was consumed by the inferno and destroyed in battle, returning to the Guide Zone.

Vio LP: 7500 → 6000

“Turn end.”

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“My turn!” Vio called out, her voice steady.

“Draw!”

“OP limit increase!”

“Guide Call!”

“Frederica!”

Once again, Frederica descended onto the battlefield.

There’s no other choice… Vio clenched her fists. I have to use it!

“I pay 5 OP and access the Genesis Throne!”

“Frederica, receive the world's blessing—end this foolish war that taints our world!”

From her Extra Deck, Vio drew a card and slammed it onto the field.

“ASCENSION!!”

She placed the new card atop Frederica.

A glowing blue light enveloped the nun-like warrior. Her green robes darkened into jet-black. A pair of radiant mechanical wings burst from her back, shimmering with power. Her right arm transformed into a massive energy cannon, pulsing with lethal force. From her left eye, a brilliant beam of light blazed outward. Her once-blonde hair turned a sleek, starlit black—like the midnight sky itself.

“Anti-War Maiden Zwei: Frederica Regillus!!”

The mechanical angel looked skyward—her glare fixed upon the crimson dragon that had brought hell upon the earth.

Ashendoom met her gaze with a mocking snort, as if to taunt her—come if you dare.

The angel spread her shining wings.

And then—

She surged forward.

A flash of light. A burst of speed. The battlefield roared as the angel launched herself toward the arrogant dragon, determined to end its reign of destruction once and for all.