Board & Conquest 133: Combined Arms

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Three mighty ships were assembled against them. 

Epona’s group had briefed Wepwawet’s own team in detail about what each of Kronos’ vessels could do. Past Ark Timaeus was weak by itself and unable to move without water, but it continuously summoned 6 ranks worth of Beast, Avian, Reptile, or Bug Type creatures at the end of each turn, such as summoning one Rank 6 creature, two Rank 3, and so on; Present Dreadnought Critias was surprisingly fast on land and its cannons could hit a target from up to ten miles away; and Future Starship Hermocrates was a mobile, self-repairing weapons platform that could fly at incredible altitudes. Each of them also acted as pseudo-Altars, expanding  Kronos’ use of his Influence in a three-mile radius from each of them, although they didn’t provide any mana.

“He put his Idol inside Future Starship Hermocrates,” Wepwawet informed his allies after immediately checking its location with his Providence. “And he’s putting it as high up as the board will permit him to.”

“Doesn’t matter if you know where my Idol is if you can’t reach it,” Kronos taunted him. “I conclude my turn by paying half my remaining mana to cast my Pyramid Pension Plan Doctrine. Pyramid Pension Plan is special because every player must pay its maintenance cost, which will be half of each of your mana, rounded down!”

“What?!” Artemis choked in outrage. “Why do we have to pay mana to fund your Miracle?!”

“Because that’s what you were born for!” Kronos snapped back. “The only purpose of children and grandchildren is to pay for the comfort and lifestyle of the elderly! I brought you into the world, so I deserve compensation for your existence!”

“He’ll steal all the accumulated mana when the Doctrine is destroyed,” Wepwawet added after he finished reading the card’s description. “And the Emergency Budget Miracle in his hand will let him harvest Pyramid Pension Plan to gain more mana from it.”

“Hey, how do you know—” Kronos spotted the Panopticon of Terror on the field and glared at it. “You cheater! You pre-set the field to your advantage!”

“Like you and your bug slave didn’t, you hypocrite!” Artemis complained. 

“He has Chimeric Fusion, Atlantean Golem, and Chaos Gear in hand, too,” Wepwawet warned his allies. “He’ll likely use the first to fuse Atlantean Golem and Chaos Gear to summon a powerful creature.”

“And Chaos Gear will let him add an Artifact to his hand when it’s used for a fusion,” Ganesha surmised. “He’ll use his next turn to summon more creatures.”

“Let’s claim as many Altars as we can,” Wepwawet decided, their troops leaving their respective cities to advance on various mana loci. “We need more surges to compensate for his Pyramid Pension Plan until we can remove it.”

“Are you done prattling on about?!” Kronos grunted. “Doesn’t matter if you can see my hand now, you won’t be able to pay your pretty tower’s maintenance cost since my PPP’s tax takes precedence. It’s the boy-girl’s turn.”

“Grandma Rhea was right to dump you,” Artemis replied angrily. 

“I dumped her! She’s dead to me, and one day that will become very literal!”

Artemis ignored him and drew a card. Wepwawet confirmed that she had drawn a Rank 6 Antimagic Rod, alongside a hand made of Shaman Protection, Totemic Blade, 3R, Guardian Force, and Kaijuscale Shield.

Unfortunately, all of these Miracles had a minimum casting cost of three. She wouldn’t be able to cast anything this turn unless she received a six on her mana surge…

Which she miraculously did!

“Hell yeah!” Artemis cheered as she placed her Guardian Force face down. “I set a Rank 3 Prophecy and–”

“And you forget my Timecrash Hole activates during each turn!” Kronos cut in brazenly. “Another creature hits the field!” 

The hole in the middle of the board rippled and vomited up a huge chunk of rock that crashed onto the ground like a meteor. However, it only took Wepwawet a second to realize that what he mistook for ‘stone’ was just some buglike entity’s spiky shell. Six clawed legs erupted from the meteor-like shell alongside a single cyclopean eye, with the number ‘six’ floating above the creature’s head. 

“Oh, this one is nasty, Primordial Being Valos! A Commander, and it will stay for six turns!” Kronos laughed. “Go claim an Altar for me!”

That’s not good, Wepwawet thought. Since Primordial Being Valos had spawned near the center of the board, it and its skeletal elephant cohort were in an excellent position to claim two nearby Altars and allow Kronos to teleport troops closer to his enemies’ capitals. We have to knock out those two quickly. 

At least Artemis’ Guardian Force would let her cancel out a Miracle targeting one of her Champions. It couldn’t destroy Pyramid Pension Plan, but it would add some security. 

Wepwawet sent four groups to claim the Altars: Victoire’s three dragons alliance, a magmorian force led by Alexandrite and Peridot, the mimicship fleet led by Slimon and the Expensive, and a ground regiment led by Goreville and Baltro, among others. Ganesha did something similar by sending two groups of giants north and east, respectively, to seize two nearby Altars. As for Artemis, since her side of the board had few to no mana loci to capture, she collected her forces into a single large army led by her Mezozoic Emperor kaiju and sent it marching straight for Kronos’ ark to hopefully trample it. 

Wepwawet’s turn came up and he hoped for a one on his mana surge for once; as it meant he wouldn’t be able to pay for Pyramid Pension Plan’s cost since it would hit zero and destroy it.

Unfortunately, he received four mana, which Kronos’ PPP cut down to two. Wepwawet’s Panopticon of Terror crumbled due to his inability to pay the maintenance cost, leaving him unable to see the other players’ hands anymore.

“My Timecrash Hole summons another monster!” Kronos boasted. “Rank 6 Exploration Age Conquistador!”

A new creature spawned out of the rift: a pale humanoid with yellow eyes burning with greed, clad in a conquistador's armor, and holding a halberd surging with otherworldly power. He would have been quite intimidating, if not for the small number floating above his head…

“What, only one turn?” Kronos cursed. 

“The dice giveth and take away,” Ganesha replied with a gambler's wisdom. 

Timecrash Hole was a powerful Miracle, but its random aspect could screw over Kronos’ strategy depending on luck. Epona had also confirmed that slain creatures didn’t go back into the rift after defeat, so destroying the undead mammoth and Valos before they were sucked back in would put them out of commission for the rest of the battle. 

Wepwawet then drew Underworld Escape, which, while a good card, wasn’t ideal right now. He only had to take a look at his hand to see he couldn’t cast anything with a meager two mana. Even his currently optimal play—cast his Animal Kingdom Doctrine and then seize control of Kronos’ beasts and his undead mammoth—was beyond him for now. 

“I will hoard mana for now,” Wepwawet replied with some frustration. 

“You can’t play anything, can you?” Kronos taunted him. “Can’t you use your Providence to find a passable card?”

Wepwawet ignored him and focused on the board. Kronos had sent Valos, his skeletal mammoth, and his conquistador to seize one Altar in the center of the board. Kronos’ starship continued to ascend upwards in order to keep his Idol safe from attacks, his ark was slowly spawning a small army of various creatures, and his landship was racing to the northwest to both claim another mana loci and likely threaten Ganesha’s Idol. 

Wepwawet considered what to do. The Expensive could technically accelerate and cross the map in an instant, but he was wary of having it engage any of Kronos’ ships without backup. No, the priority was to take control of the board’s center in order to prevent Kronos from seizing the Altars there and containing the creatures summoned by his Timecrash Rift. He decided to focus on that while his allies continued to advance. 

Ganesha’s turn soon came and though Wepwawet couldn’t see the card he drew, he recalled the rest of his hand: Cancel Attack, Power Dice, Pay-For-Faith, Freedom of Movement, and Misleading Price. He didn’t need a lot of mana to cast some of them, so Pyramid Pension Plan shouldn’t hinder him too much. His friend gained five mana, which was cut down to three by Pyramid Pension Plan. 

“My Timecrash Hole activates!” Kronos waved his hand dramatically. “My conquistador is dragged back, and another monster will take his place!”

The conquistador monster began to float into the air as his timer hit zero and screamed upon being pulled back into the rift. The hole swiftly vomited up a new and far more majestic creature: an angelic, mechanical being with six iron wings, a Buddha’s porcelain visage, and great hands shining with light. The number ‘two’ floated above its halo. 

“Here comes End Times Pralaya, a Rank 8 Commander,” Kronos boasted, “So long as Pralaya is on the field, my mana surges will grant me the maximum amount possible each time!”

Wepwawet cursed. Taking down that angel was a top priority, but his troops wouldn’t reach them for one or two turns at least; too late to prevent Kronos from enjoying its effect. 

“I set a Rank 2 Prophecy on the field,” Ganesha said, ending his turn there. Wepwawet knew it was likely either Cancel Attack or Power Dice, which meant his friend could either stop an enemy Champion for a time or empower his own. 

All in all, this first round almost entirely focused on repositioning as each contestant’s various units spread over the board and slowly crossed the wasteland separating them from each other. Victoire’s aerial force seized an Altar, with the mimicfleet, Alexandrite’s group, and Ganesha’s forces being within reach of three more.

Unfortunately, Kronos’ Valos and Pralaya seized an Altar near the center, transforming the leyline into a vile statue of their master and thus allowing him to summon creatures closer to his enemies’ centers of power.

“My turn comes,” Kronos said with giddy excitement, drawing a card. “And thanks to Pralaya, I receive twenty-four mana from my four mana surges!”

“Which your own Doctrine will cut in half,” Wepwawet pointed out.

“Twelve is still more than enough!” Kronos retorted, his cruel eyes studying the rift. “Now, let’s see what I get…”

Lighting crackled from the Timecrash Hole, and the entire board shook. 

A terrible shiver traveled down Wepwawet’s spine as he sensed the waves of mana coming from the rift. The air vibrated from the event horizon as a massive shadow the size of a Divine Avatar emerged from its energies. 

“Do you feel that?” Ganesha asked, suddenly uneasy. 

“Yes,” Wepwawet replied with a scowl. “This has to be the creature that destroyed Hel’s army.”

Distant Future Machinedragon. 

The massive creature landed in the middle of the board, its sheer weight causing a small quake. It was a towering mass of stainless white steel shaped in the form of a bipedal dragon with a scorpion-stinger tail oozing energy, massive pincer arms, rocket launchers integrated into the chest, a mechanical face with beam weaponry integrated into its mouth, and two massive cannons on its shoulders instead of wings. The infernal machine came to life with a roar that dispersed clouds and sent dust flying in all directions.

However, the most terrifying part of that creature’s arrival was the number floating above its head: a big fat six. 

Damn it!

“My strongest creature, and it will stay for six turns!” Kronos boasted with a vile chuckle, his Machinedragon turning its twin cannons at Artemis’ Kaiju to the southwest. Many miles separated them, but the monstrous mechanical abomination began to aim anyway. “Now, I’ll pulverize that giant lizar–”

“I activate my Prophecy Cancel Attack!” Ganesha said. “This negates all of a Champion’s offensive Perks until the end of the turn!”

The Machinedragon’s cannons fizzled out before they could open fire, to Kronos’ annoyance. “No matter!” the titan said as he played his next combo. “I play Chimeric Fusion! By paying two mana, I can fuse two compatible Artifacts I have in my hand! I pick Chaos Gear and Atlantean Golem to create the Rank 10 Atlantean Colossus and summon it next to my newest Altar!”

A brief vision of a spinning gear with an eye in its center and a huge, hoplite-style mechanical golem appeared, only to merge into a single entity. Another Kaiju-sized machine appeared a stone’s throw away from the Machinedragon, a humanoid colossus of steel emitting noxious gas from its skeletal visage. Its hands were cannons, and its shoulders armed with rocket launchers ready to fire missiles.

“Using Chaos Gear as fusion material lets me add an Artifact to my hand, and I pick the Rank 4 Machine Emperor Prototype,” Kronos said as he completed his combo. “I immediately summon it and use my Providence to age it up into a rank 8 Advanced Machine Emperor.”

A steampunk humanoid machine appeared next to the Atlantean Colossus, only to change under the influence of Kronos’ Providence. An antiquated piece of machinery evolved through centuries of self-repair and improvement into a massive, crimson robot straight out of one of those ‘Tokusentai’ anime shows Wepwawet used to watch when he was in his human anime phase. 

“Advanced Machine Emperor buffs all my Artificial creatures so long as he’s on the board. Think of him as a highly effective manager.” Kronos waved his hand, causing the Machine Emperor, Machinedragon, and Atlantean Colossus to begin a death march to the southwest to intercept Artemis’ army. “My three machines are going to wipe out your entire zoo, my foolish granddaughter, and my other soldiers will send your boyfriend’s little pack back to the doghouse.”

“You’ve gone senile, old man,” Artemis replied with much bravery. “My kaiju will turn your bots into scrap!”

Wepwawet hoped his girlfriend could back up her claims. Her kaiju and Champions were a force to be reckoned with, but Kronos’ three buffed Artifact creatures were well worth an army on their own. This might be a tough call without their Miracles.

That’s the power of a meta deck, Wepwawet thought grimly. Cards that synergize extremely well to create an oppressive field presence. 

He checked the field again. Ganesha had added his first Altar, but his forces were now within range of Kronos’ Present Dreadnought Critias. Alexandrite and the mimicfleet were on the verge of each reaching a mana loci for Wepwawet, while Victoire’s group would soon make contact with Kronos’ time-displaced creatures. 

Every player had been building up their forces, but this period of setup would end in the next few minutes. 

The battle line was about to be drawn. 

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Metal giants walked the earth. 

Miles separated them from Victoire’s flying dragon squad, but they were big enough to tower over the horizon. Three mechanical terrors marched away from her position towards Lady Artemis’ own army to wage a cataclysmic battle to the death, and for once, Victoire felt almost lucky she would fight a different one. 

“Mistress!” Soumis shouted. “There is a big flea right ahead of us!”

Victoire squinted. One of Kronos’ Altars loomed over the wasteland under the rift in spacetime, his arm raised in a salute she somehow found obscene. A trio of enormous creatures protected it: a giant, rocky insect almost as huge as the Altar itself; a skeletal, gilded mammoth marching and trumpeting towards them; and a winged mechanical humanoid gathering light in its hands. All of them had numbers floating above their heads, with the machine’s being a mere flickering one. 

“Let us squash it,” Victoire confirmed. “Ignore the machine, it will disappear on its own soon, and focus on the Altar over the other monsters! Destroying it is our top priority! It projects an aging aura that will kill me if I get too close, but you dragons should be immune!”

“Of course we will be, we are immortal,” Glatisant replied, her scales coursing with lightning. “I assure you, my performance on Lune was a mere miscalculation on my part that I shall not repeat!”

That’s the spirit, Victoire thought as she raised her newly awakened shield and activated its power. A beam of psychic energy erupted from it and quickly coursed across the landscape. Having been briefed that the winged machine would disappear on its own within minutes, she targeted the giant bug. 

Her aim, sharpened by her god’s power and Rank-Up, was true in spite of the vast distance involved. The beam hit the creature in its cyclopean eye and caused it to shriek with anger, the sharp stones on its shell rising like a hedgehog’s spikes. They soon erupted and flew across the landscape in a rain of destruction. Victoire’s dragon mount and their other draconic allies opened their maw and unleashed their various elemental breathes in response, destroying a few projectiles and dodging others. 

The battle was off to an explosive start. 

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A/N: as warned in the update, next chapter will be on the next Saturday since I'm transitioning to a new schedule. Hope you've enjoyed this metadeck display otherwise ;)