Xodyc appeared in the hall, leaning against a wall that lead down the corridor. His eyes were closed, his hand on the hilt of his weapon, he was relaxed. He watched as chaos ensued in his mind, a serious expression on his face; brows narrowed.
"All of this chaos, and no one for me to test myself against." He thought to himself.
"How boring. I never get to have any fun."
Xodyc looked up a bit, suddenly sensing another's presence. He quickly opened his eyes as he swiftly swung his claymore, cutting an object in half. Xodyc straightened up as he turned to see that the halved object was in fact a card, and from out of the shadows he heard the sound of someone clapping.
"Bravo, boy." A voice said as the figure stepped forward.
"What is your business here, Luxord?" Xodyc demanded.
"Care to join me in a game of chance?" he replied, smirking.
Xodyc held his claymore at the ready. "A game?" he stated in a questioning method.
"A little more than a game. I'd like to think of it as a bit of a wager." Luxord removed his hood to reveal his face.
"What kind of wager?" Xodyc questioned.
"Whoever bests the other wins." Luxord said as he began playing with his cards.
"That doesn't seem like much of a wager to me, what are the stakes?" Xodyc smiled.
"Very intuitive Xodyc, very intuitive indeed. The first to run out of time is the loser and I sincerely doubt I have to explain what happens to the loser." Luxord smirked, summoning a deck of cards into his hand, twirling them about.
Xodyc glanced toward the deck in Luxord's hand.
"Why do you use cards?"
"I’d rather skip the formalities. After all you'll find out soon enough." Luxord replied shuffling his deck.
"I suppose we will." Xodyc said enthusiastically, "But hopefully you can entertain me." he thought as his strategy began mapping itself out in his mind.
Luxord summoned two cards from the deck in his hand, within seconds they grew from bite size into life size. He smirked as they danced and twirled around him.
Luxord held out his hand as the two cards were sent hurling themselves toward Xodyc.
"I guess that's why." Xodyc uttered, the first card managing to catch him off guard as he barely got his claymore up in time to block the second.
Xodyc went down to one knee, "Dammit." He muttered, glaring upwards at Luxord. Regaining his composure, he rose to his feet.
"I guess I didn't give you enough credit. Looks like I'm going to have to actually try this time." Xodyc smirked. Pointing his claymore toward the opponent, he quickly swung it down by his side as charged.
"Hmph." Luxord sighed, sending out three more cards to converge on Xodyc's location.
"Tell me boy, do you gamble?" Luxord asked, looking on.
"Only in card games." Xodyc replied, cutting the first two cards in half and narrowly clearing a back flip over the last.
"So do you believe that life ITSELF is a gamble?" Luxord retorted, once again summoning more cards as he slid the rest down his sleeve.
Xodyc didn't waste any time as he grew closer to Luxord cutting through all three cards while simultaneously leaping into the air to strike. "That trick is really getting old."
"One could say, life is determined by the choices one makes, thus some would say that it isn't a gamble, yet wouldn't one manage to uphold my theory since these ‘choices’ are a chance themselves?" Luxord smirked, watching as Xodyc grew closer.
"Don't you ever shut up?" Xodyc said, holding his claymore high into the air as he prepared to deliver the finishing blow.
Luxord chuckled a bit. "Your chances are as good as any other’s, but the question remains. Is your hand good enough to beat mine?" he retorted spinning as he turned himself into a card just as Xodyc's blow landed, flipping way to a safer distance. Xodyc smacked the concrete hard, his claymore spinning out of reach.
"I misjudged you. . ." Xodyc slowly got to his feet, panting a bit as he summoned his blade back to his hand.
"Since this is a game, I say we up the stakes a little." Luxord said as four cards rose from the ground - all face down. "Look closely, choose the wrong one and well. . . you'll know soon enough." He added, turning himself into a card and blending in with the others around him as they all began hovering underneath Xodyc's feet.
"Ugh.." Xodyc grunted, looking down, "You're really starting to piss me off." He watched the cards carefully, as if he were staring through them.
"I see the little trick behind your game Luxord, I know that you're HERE!" Xodyc slashed through his choice as Luxord's voice echo'd behind him.
"Wrong!" Luxord said delightfully.
"Shit." Xodyc’s eyes grew wide as the card he struck exploded, sending him flying in the opposite direction. He cried out in pain as he his body met full force with the cold pavement. And yet again, Xodyc found himself on the losing end of their little game. As he struggled getting up, Xodyc coughed up a bit of blood in the process.
"I can't keep this up for much longer. He's playing a deadly game and it's only a matter of time until he himself gets burned." Xodyc arrived at his feet.
"You hid yourself in with the fakes and just waited, didn't you?" he asked.
"You learn fast, but I wonder if it's a lesson learned too late." Luxord replied, summoning another deck of cards as a purple aura began glowing around him and the deck. Xodyc looked on in amazement as a sequences of X's and O's appeared over the top of Luxord's head.
"A Challenge is it?" Luxord questioned Xodyc, "Do you know the rules?"
"When will you stop hiding behind these fucking card games a face me man to man?" Xodyc grew angry
"My good sir. It is you who accepted my little offer, so don't go complaining when the cards aren't tipped in your favor" Luxord chuckled.
"Enough of the damn gambling references!" Xodyc yelled, rushing his opponent with claymore erect. However, as he grew closer, Xodyc began to feel as though he were running on air. As he looked down he realized his feet were no longer where they used to be, and as his claymore fell at his side, he was unable to even use his arms. He had been turned into a card!
"What the hell? A fucking card! Are you Serious?" Xodyc thought to himself as he just floated there; looking as Luxord again began summoning more cards to attack.
"Shit, I've got to think of something fast." He decided to retreat to a safe distance, that is until he found a way to make himself normal again.
"Is your wager so low?" Luxord asked tauntingly. "I simply manipulated your body to fit the rules of the game." he added jumping after his handicapped foe, his cards beside him.
"This is neither amusing nor respectable in battle." Xodyc responded. "But I can adapt." he thought as he began to float towards Luxord. He spun and twirled past the cards, and as sloppy as he was, fixed in on Luxord's position. As he drew nearer, Xodyc began spinning yet again, slicing his opponent across the chest and abdomen, knocking Luxord on his ass.
"You play the game quite well." Luxord replied, getting back to his feet and brushing himself off. He jumped forward, again sending out a barrage of cards that sent Xodyc sailing backwards into the wind. Back and forth they continued trading blows for several seconds until Xodyc felt his legs touching the pavement again; he summoned his claymore back to his hand.
"So there is a limit on just how long you can hold that changeling attack of yours, that's a relief." Xodyc smirked, glaring at Luxord.
"Well well, you're smarter than I originally gave you credit for." Luxord smirked, holding his hand to his mouth.
"What you say we finish our little game! After all there is a wager on the table." Xodyc shouted across the room, rushing Luxord; claymore digging into the concrete, ripping up chunks of the floor as he drew near, As he jumped high into the air, Xodyc flung flooring tiles Luxord's way.
As they homed in on his position, Luxord disappeared within two of his cards, reappearing behind them, just as he'd done before. As the tiles crashed against the floor, Xodyc landed safely back on the ground.
"You're keeping up. That's good. It's not very fun when your opponent doesn't have a good hand; or one that is easily predic-" Luxord was interrupted as Xodyc's fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him into the wall nearby.
Luxord hit the wall hard, feeling a couple bones crackle and pop.
"You have quite the left hook" Luxord laughed as he threw up a little blood, he could barely make it to his feet as he stumbled back, summoning his cards to help hold him up.
"I guess it's time to kick things up a notch." Luxord smirked, wiping the blood from his mouth. "Watch closely." Luxord said as he became a card himself. Then, he and the cards around him began to fall to the ground, shuffling around underneath Xodyc’s feet.
"Not this again. . ." Xodyc readied his blade as the cards came back up from the ground, dancing in and out of one another. "I won’t fuck it up this time around." He uttered to himself as he scaled up the side of the castle wall towards the cards, digging his blade into it as he ran along it. With a mighty blow, Xodyc blew out a junk of the wall and hurled it towards the cards, causing two to blow up on impact.
"How sad." Luxord said, disappearing. Reappearing beside Xodyc as he landed, Luxord threw a deck of cards that spiraled towards Xodyc, hitting him in the side.
"Do you know the rules?" Luxord put his hand back to his mouth as he smirked, summoning four more cards around him.
"I understand them perfectly." Xodyc retorted as he regained his balance, now looking at five cards, the same number as before. He studied them closely, honing in on Luxord's thoughts.
"Watch closely." Luxord said with a smirk, watching as Xodyc chose.
This time he was right.
"Damn." Luxord thought as his body broke free form the card, stunned. Xodyc charged him once again, throwing his claymore directly at Luxord's head. Missing narrowly, the weapon grazed the side of Luxord's head. When Xodyc arrived at Luxord, he grabbed him by the neck of his robe and unleashed a barrage of punches to Luxord's stomach, finally hurling him throw a stain glass window to the ground below. Xodyc jumped out after him, however as Luxord grew closer to the ground, he summoned his cards to his sides, floating safely to the bottom. As Xodyc fell down after him, Luxord summoned three cards, sending them at Xodyc as the two nobodies fell freely to the earth. Xodyc summoned his claymore back to his hand, spinning it at the hilt in a circular fashion, completely obliterating each card as he cut through them, gliding closer to Luxord. Just as Xodyc's blade was about to pierce his enemy’s chest, Luxord managed to put up a card to shield himself.
Xodyc sliced through the cards and much like the others, they exploded as his claymore struck the earth. However, he was able to narrowly escape it's impact, turning his back to the explosion to soften the blow; Luxord flipped away, landing safely on the ground.
Xodyc smirked as he stood up holding his sword at his side, staring down Luxord.
"What if I were to tell you I know your every move?" asked Xodyc, smirking.
"Even though I haven't showed you my hand?" Luxord interested.
"You haven't shown me all your cards, this much is true, but that isn't the key to the secret." Xodyc smiled.
"Oh?" Luxord replied.
Xodyc pointed to the card behind Luxord. "What you were planning to do was change that card and turn me into a die if I got to close, therefore gaining the advantage. Correct?" Xodyc swiped his blade into the air, pointing it back towards Luxord.
"However, when that advantage runs out, then you shall vanish in a stack of 10 cards." Xodyc finished, staring at how flustered Luxord appeared.
"Then that move must not be orchestrated" Luxord said, rushing Xodyc and sending a spiral of cards his way. As Xodyc dodged to his left to avoid any contact, he immediately noticed a cut in the deck, to which he inserted his blade and sliced the cards in half, jumping away from their inevitable exploding and kicking Luxord across his chin as he back away. Not wanting to be outdone, his opponent flew back and quickly summoning roughly thirty cards, hiding his true body.
"You maybe able to hide your body from me, but you can't hide your thoughts. I know that you are in fact right. . ." he paused, "HERE!" Xodyc shouted as he struck the card to his far left with a piece of the floor, and almost immediately, Luxord showed himself.
"How? How the hell did you know!" he demanded.
"I looked for the only card with thoughts. True I may not know the rules of the game completely but, with my ‘Ace,’ I don't really need to. Tell me Luxord, have you ever encountered a psychic?" Xodyc asked, smiling.
Luxord clinched his fists, "It doesn't matter what you are. All that matters is your gamble, our wager is still on the table!" He said confidently, holding his deck with ten cards fanned out.
"CARDS!" he yelled, tossing them all across the playing field.
Xodyc dodged and weaved between as many cards he could until he saw his chance. He ran towards Luxord, only to be turned into a die.
"You're luck has run out!" Luxord smirked, however to his surprise, Xodyc lunged at his stomach knocking him back a bit. He continued to dodge and weave, in this cat and mouse game of a wager until he had wasted enough time to regain his normal self.
As Xodyc returned to normal, he was standing before Luxord. "Well, unfortunately, it seems as though you were wrong. My luck hasn't changed any since the start of our little game . . ." he paused, ". . . I've had the upper hand the entire time." Xodyc smirked, taking a moment to pop his neck.
Luxord laughed in response, a smirk shone across his face, "Well well, look who's on top of the game." he said as he held all of his deck, fanning it in his hands. "Now that you've shown me yours. . .Let's see what you think of my ‘Ace.’"
Xodyc held his claymore tightly, moving as quickly as he could, anticipating the cards shooting after him. As he dodged one set of cards, Luxord appeared above him, two giant cards in hand swiping down to strike Xodyc. He didn't have much time but he managed to bring up his blade just in time to block Luxord's attack, managing to toss him back despite being hit by several cards after the attack. Xodyc continually succeeded in dodging the increasing barrages of cards, with the exceptional one or two that would break through his defenses. However, Luxord was becoming faster with each set of barrages he fired until he connected with a tornado of cards to the middle of Xodyc's chest, knocking him back a few feet as he skidded across the ground.
Xodyc coughed up a bit of blood as he lay there, piercing his blade into the ground as he pulled himself up.
"Well, aside from the ridiculous card tricks, it has been entertaining. Unfortunately, I can't keep this up forever. . ." Xodyc wiped his mouth, " It's time to end this!" He prepared for another attack, noticing that a wall of cards had surrounded himself and Luxord.
Luxord’s face beamed with a smile."Look who's on top of the game!" He said proudly, watching as Xodyc glanced around the interior of the circle. The X's and O's appeared this time, moving much faster above Luxord's head. "Do you know the rules?" Luxord sighed "This game is as good as mine." He chuckled with his hand to his mouth yet again.
"You're half right." Xodyc said, quickly choosing the correct cards, catching them deftly in his hand.
"One of us IS on top of the game, but it's not you." He peered at the look on Luxord's face, and with that he then threw the entire deck at Luxord, watching on as the cards all piled into his chest, knocking him into the air. His body came crashing down towards the earth, almost in slow motion as Xodyc cocked his claymore back and rushed towards Luxord's falling body. Seeing his opponent's weapon draw nearer, Luxord summoned a barricade of cards around his body to soften the blows but, his efforts were in vain, for as Xodyc reached Luxord he delivered several piercing wounds, slicing him across the stomach, arms and legs just before Luxord hit the ground with a great THUD.
As the dust cleared Luxord lay on the ground bleeding profusely from the wounds inflicted by Xodyc a few moments earlier.
"I. . . lost?" Luxord asked in astonishment.
"Yes, you lost." Xodyc said as he flung the blood off his blade. Luxord coughed up blood as he struggled to make it to one knee.
"Was my hand that predictable?" he questioned Xodyc yet again.
Xodyc looked down at him, "No your hand wasn't bad at all," he said, his voice devoid of emotion, "But mine was better; you gambled with far more than you actually had." Xodyc looked away from the nobody.
"Bravo . . . You play the game quite well. . ." Luxord said with a bit of a smile as Xodyc nodded watching him fade. . . into darkness.
He banished his claymore away.
"A little odd, but I'll take it." Xodyc said as he began to walk back to the main grounds, intending to keep track of how well the others were faring.