Trials II

After failing the trail, Kamari was seemingly transported back to the training facility, falling backward onto his backside as Tom held in his own laughter. Hearing Tom's snickers, Kamari looked up at him with a cold, blank stare, compelling Tom to apologize through his laughter. "I'm sorry- It's just funny." Tom continued to laugh as Kamari rose to his feet, his blank coldness turning into a look of determination.

"I'm going back in." Kamari told him, approaching the display before once again pressing the Trials option. "You got this, mate." Though Tom found Kamari's failure to be amusing, he wanted him to succeed, sneaking in one last bit of advice. "Remember, you have to evolve. But in order to evolve, you have to know what part of you needs to change."

Hearing Tom's advice, Kamari once again had his mind transported to the Trials Arena, seeing Trialgram in front of him, waiting for him. The display above the faceless hologram was the exact same, having the objective of the trial along with the stats of both Kamari and the hologram.

[Trial 1: Defeat the enemy]

[Kamari Yelekal - HP: 1000 MP: 50]

[Level 1 Trialgram - HP: 300 MP: 120]

The floor beneath Kamari illuminated, signaling that it was his turn to move first. However, he paused for a moment, taking his time to really think of a strategy rather than attacking without a plan as he did before. As Kamari looked up at the timer ticking down from sixty seconds, showing how much time he had left for his turn, he tried thinking of a way to win.

'As of now, I can only attack one target at a time. Looking back, I can't remember if I've ever seen a Magic Duelist on TV put out an attack that can destroy more than one target at the same time. Even if I were to evolve my attack, giving me the ability to attack all three of his Defensive Spells at once, that still doesn't stop his main attack...'

Kamari remembered the way the Trialgram charged up a single attack that completely decimated his entire Health Points pool. If he were to beat this trial, he'd need something to counter that.

Seeing that he was running out of time, Kamari attacked the first Defensive Spell, or Ice Wall in this case, with his only attack. "Dark Fireball." he muttered before a black ball of fire shot out from his hand.

[Spell Cast: Dark Fireball]

[Spell Type: Offensive]

[Spell Cost: 100 HP]

Of course, his flames struck one of the Ice Walls, destroying it as he did before.

[Ice Wall: HP 0]

[Destroyed]

[Turn Shift]

Now that it was the Trialgram's turn, the hologram immediately attacked Kamari with a spell, the same small one that it used before: Icicle Blast.

[Spell Cast: Icicle Blast]

[Spell Type: Offensive]

[Spell Cost: 10 MP]

As the spell was cast, three massive spears of ice were sent directly at Kamari, striking him with devastating force. Through his sheer determination, however, Kamari did not fall to his knees this time, standing his ground while wincing through the pain.

[Kamari Yelekal - HP: 850 MP: 50]

[Turn Shift]

Once more, Kamari found himself waiting out the timer as it was his turn to move. 'I think I know what I have to do but...' Kamari was trying his best to take Tom's advice, knowing what parts of him needed to change if he wanted to evolve, however, despite putting all of his mental energy into it, his Chronicle remained unchanged.

Not wanting time to run out, Kamari attacked the Trialgram's Defensive Spell once more, aiming at one of the last two remaining walls of ice. "Dark Fireball."

[Spell Cast: Dark Fireball]

[Spell Type: Offensive]

[Spell Cost: 100 HP]

Kamari's pitch-black fireball soared through the air and across the field before inevitably striking one of the Ice Walls, destroying it and leaving just one more.

[Ice Wall: HP 0]

[Destroyed]

[Turn Shift]

Once it was the Trialgram's turn, it instantly attacked Kamari, sending its Icicle Blast attack directly toward him.

[Spell Cast: Icicle Blast]

[Spell Type: Offensive]

[Spell Cost: 10 MP]

Kamari mentally prepared himself as the gargantuan icicles flew toward him like frozen bullets before crashing into his chest. Once again, through his undying will, Kamari stood his ground.

[Kamari Yelekal - HP: 700 MP: 50]

[Turn Shift]

As the floor lit up beneath him, Kamari once again paused and found himself lost in thought. He considered dozens upon dozens of possibilities, though it was until about thirty seconds in that he realized what he needed to do. 'That's right...' he thought to himself before speaking out loud to Tom.

"Hey, you said something about me needing to be put in the situation itself to evolve, right?" he asked. "Yeah, that is what I said." Tom's voice was heard as he answered plainly, giving Kamari the confidence to truly enact the next phase of his plan. 'Then I need to wait until the big attack is coming.'

With his plan set, Kamari sent yet another fireball toward the Trialgram, this time destroying the final wall of ice.

[Spell Cast: Dark Fireball]

[Spell Type: Offensive]

[Spell Cost: 100 HP]

Kamari's pitch-black fireball soared through the air and across the field before inevitably striking one of the Ice Walls, destroying it and leaving just one more.

[Ice Wall: HP 0]

[Destroyed]

[Turn Shift]

Just as it did before, the Trialgram switched its strategy upon its final Defensive Spell being destroyed, raising its hand toward the sky as the display above it began to show the spell being cast.

[Spell Cast: Hellish Blizzard]

[Spell Type: Offensive]

[Spell Cost: 100 MP]

[Turn Shift]

The floor then illuminated under Kamari again. It was his turn, though it wasn't time for him to enact his plan just yet. "Dark Fireball." Kamari uttered as he once again fired his only spell, striking the Trailgram's body with his stygian flames.

[Spell Cast: Dark Fireball]

[Spell Type: Offensive]

[Spell Cost: 100 HP]

Kamari's eyes then looked up at the Trialgram's stats and he watched its Health Points drop, along with his own due to his spell costing Health Points to cast.

[Level 1 Trialgram - HP: 0 MP: 0]

[Kamari Yelekal - HP: 600 MP: 50]

[Turn Shift]

'One more turn...' Kamari thought to himself as he watched his enemy continue to charge up its spell.

Since the Trialgram's spell took two turns to charge, it was immediately Kamari's turn once again. However, things would end up being different this time.

[Turn Shift]

'Now that it's my turn, I can finally finish this bastard off! I can finally evolve!' Mentally, Kamari pictured what he needed to do in order to get out of this situation, picturing a spell that could absorb the damage of this attack. 'No, absorbing the attack won't be enough! I need to send it back to this bastard!'

As Kamari's inner voice bellowed, he looked down at his Chronicle, seeing that the pages were turning rapidly, manifesting the spell he had in mind. This was the moment Tom had talked about, the moment where his mind, body, and Nature needed to evolve in order to push past his limits.

'The only way I'll win is if I send this attack right back at this bastard's faceless face!' as Kamari's inner voice screamed those words, his Dark Chronicle calmed and stopped on a page. Kamari watched as words began to be written right in front of his eyes, his new spell was being born.

'Black Vortex: A trap spell that absorbs one single attack that is targeted toward the user. If this trap spell is destroyed, this spell has no effect. Cost: 80 Percent of remaining Health Points.' Kamari read his new spell in his head, forming a smile on his face as he did so. Due to it being a Trap Spell, Kamari cast the spell in front of him without saying a word.

Once the spell was cast, it appeared in front of Kamari as a card standing up on its edge with a jester on it, looking similar to a Joker card. This was how every Trap Spell appeared, having a homogeneous appearance so as to not spoil what it does.

[Spell Cast: ???]

[Spell Type: Trap]

[Spell Cost: ???]

Due to the nature of Trap Spells, the cost and name of the spell were hidden until the spell was interacted with or until the opponent was defeated. Though Kemari truly only had 150 HP remaining, the holographic display showed a false number of Health Points, still displaying as 600 HP.

[Turn Shift]

[Hellish Blizzard: Charged]

Due to the Trialgram's programming, it did not react to Kamari's Trap Spell as its moves are scripted. The Trialgram then threw its arm forward, releasing a storm of ice toward Kamari, just as it did before. However, this time, upon nearly hitting Kamari, his Trap Spell activated and a black hole appeared in front of Kamari.

[Spell Cast: Black Vortex]

[Spell Type: Trap]

[Spell Cost: 450 HP (80% of user's Health Points)]

Kamari's Black Vortex absorbed the enemy's attack, and as it did so, another black hole appeared before the Trialgram, sending its attack right back at it. The Trailgram was then struck by its own oppressive storm attack, its Hellish Blizzard, before the Trialgram itself dispersed into particles.

[Trialgram Level 1 - HP: 0 MP: 0]

[Trialgram Level 1 - Defeated]

[Trial End]

Kamari had won.