Board & Conquest: A Godly LitRPG

Victoire looked at her team with apprehension.

Filou, Viviane, Slimon, Soumis, Mistouffe, and the others each wore circlets of modified blackstone. Gaspar had contributed to their design from his experience with Archon, which should hopefully strengthen their protective enchantments.

"Those circlets should disrupt mental effects, to a point," Lourson explained. Although he wasn't supposed to be part of the core team, he arrived armed to the teeth anyway in case they had to deploy him in a pinch. "Any effect bypassing them will instead cause them to glow, easily identifying whoever's compromised."

"And they're a co-Lavaland-Verglane product too!" Mistouffe boasted, her travel bag overflowing with bombs, healing potions, and other emergency supplies. "You're wearing symbols of our countries' reconciliation!"

"Yes indeed, the Lavaland smiths channeled my genius designs aptly!" Slimon said. He had come with some kind of knightly helmet on top of his circlet for some unfathomable reason.

"Plus, they're pretty on top of being useful," Viviane mused. "I like them."

"I'm pleased to hear that," Victoire said before turning to face Glatisant, who had never stopped stalking her for a second. "Will you come to my aid should I summon you?"

"Yes, my child, of course you may call me," Glatisant replied with what could pass for kindness. "I am sure I can reason with this so-called 'King in Yellow.' What madness seized him to try destroying this bountiful land of monarchy will surely give way to my impeccable arguments."

Good luck with that. Then again, Glatisant might annoy the Titan enough to smite her, which would both earn them valuable time and remove one of her headaches.

"I still cannot believe the dragon god lost," Soumis complained. "What went wrong?"

"Simple, he was a victim of his own good heart," Glatisant said with the utmost condescension. "From the way he tried to gift elves with draconic grace, I assume he was trying to uplift their primitive race. Alas, his efforts were doomed from the start. So many wise and enlightened members of our kind have tried to guide the grass-eaters away from the path of mediocrity, and each time they were disappointed. Elves are a lost cause."

"Yes, that is it, it was his minions' fault," Soumis agreed with a furious nod. "They let him down!"

"The truth is that we dragons care too much." The worst part was that Glatisant could say that with a straight face. "We give to the world, we give, and we keep giving even when we are met with ingratitude. We hold the weight of the world on our wings, and sometimes it proves too much for some. Such is the great burden of the mighty."

Victoire and the others watched the two dragons get high on their own self-importance in collective disgust until Lourson broke the silence. "Lord Wepwawet can call on me and the others in a pinch. We're all ready to fight on a moment's notice."

"With all due respect, Lourson, I truly hope it won't come to that." Everything Victoire had heard about Hastur's abilities frightened her to her core. "Our enemy can replace any of us with a murderous double. I would rather avoid having to cut down someone wearing the face of a friend."

"Truly?" Lourson glanced at Glatisant and Soumis. "I can think of an exception or two."

Victoire chuckled. "Point taken."

"The thought of harming Milady…" Filou shook his head. "I find it unbearable."

"Remember protocol and let us hope these doubles cannot copy our minds," Victoire said. She held onto her spear and looked at the rift in the distance. It had grown since the last time she checked and now covered all of Stalheim. "Lord Wepwawet?"

"We are ready to begin soon," her god replied through telepathy. "Ready yourselves."

The last hour was upon them, and all three participants shared their decks with each other.

"I'm surprised you agreed to this," Wepwawet told Epona. Although Sun Wukong warned his deck was private, he knew him to be wise enough to put his feelings aside for the greater good, but the goddess of Valentine struck him as too paranoid to take the step. "Pleasantly so."

"I will concede this is a risk I would not have taken under normal circumstances… but desperate times call for desperate measures. The risk of defeat is too great to hold anything back." Epona presented Wepwawet with her deck. "Moreover, I could not face Axo again if I didn't do everything in my power to win this."

"The same goes for me." Wepwawet nodded in appreciation. "You're wiser than I gave you credit for."

"That side-deck feature is cracked!" Sun Wukong whistled upon checking Wepwawet's deck. "How did you unlock it?"

"I accidentally helped a native goddess ascend," Wepwawet replied, causing Epona to scoff. "I'm not sorry."

"The irony isn't lost on me," Epona commented upon finishing her review. "Very well, I have a good idea of what the both of you can do. Let us review our strategy."

They discussed various tactics and synergies to make the most of their decks, then provided details on their chosen Commanders and the key Champions they intended to bring into the fight. Overall, Wepwawet would focus on soldiers who could map out Carcosa and find Hastur's Commanders, Epona would summon mobile units, and Sun Wukong would adapt his lineup to the enemy's plays.

Wepwawet was quite impressed by his allies' decks, too. Epona's own was rather straightforward and almost entirely focused on buffing or empowering her Champions with the occasional heavyweight like that Sword-Gate weapon she used in Salamandra. She wasn't as versatile as Wepwawet, but she was good at what she did.

Sun Wukong's deck, by contrast, looked all over the place at first glance but actually included some pretty nasty combos and unconventional picks sure to throw curveballs in any plan. Hastur would never see some of those tricks coming.

"You're sure about your Commander pick?" Wepwawet asked Epona. "She's only Rank 6."

"Her abilities and character will matter far more than her Rank in this battle, and she's my fastest unit by far." Epona turned to Sun Wukong. "Considering your Providence, we'll need some sort of signal to anticipate your moves."

"Already done for you." Sun Wukong showed his deck, which he had divided into pairs. "I'll utter the partner's name when I'm about to use my Providence."

"Let's hope Hastur won't know about its particularities," Wepwawet said. "If we're lucky."

"Don't worry. I kept that trump card in reserve." Sun Wukong smashed his fist into his palm. "Are you ready to win big today, my menagerie?"

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"Your menagerie?" Epona snorted. "This is no time to joke."

"Come on, a horse, a wolf, and a monkey walk into a fight," Sun Wukong replied with a grin. "The team name writes itself."

He's trying to alleviate the mood before the big fight, Wepwawet thought. I can respect the attempt.

Unfortunately, Wepwawet could feel the rising tension as the countdown reached its end with a final notification.

Imminent Titan Incursion. Challengers, step forward to greet your opponent.

"Our time has come," Epona said solemnly. "Vae victis."

Wepwawet nodded sharply. "Let's give it our best."

"That goes without saying, my friend." Sun Wukong cracked his knuckles. "To battle!"

The three of them entered the rift between worlds and crossed into an intermediate interdimensional expanse. They each materialized an avatar into a vast pocket realm of swirling golden light and eldritch darkness at the edge of creation.

Hastur was waiting for them.

He cut a very different figure from Whiro. Where the other Titan had appeared as a great primeval monster, Hastur chose to appear as a thin, gaunt humanoid draped in tattered yellow robes covering almost every inch of his body. A hood with a broken crown of wood worn over it formed the head, but when Wepwawet tried to peek at the face, he only found the cold, pitch black darkness of deep space to be underneath it.

He didn't seem intimidating, nor did he radiate the violent malice of Whiro. In fact, it seemed as if Hastur didn't care to be here or how he looked. He didn't care about appearing alive. His was the cold indifference of entropy, seasoned with a dash of destructive nihilism. His presence sent chills down Wepwawet's spine the same way absolute and eerie silence unnerved mortals.

Hastur had been a god of shepherds once, but now he only led mortals to their end.

"We knew they would send you," Hastur said, his voice a faint whisper. "Your hopes are for naught. You have come to lose."

"Yeah, yeah, your reptile girlfriend said the same thing 'till we sent her packing," Sun Wukong replied, unrattled. "Do your worst."

"We shall."

Victory condition selected: Defeat all the enemy Commanders.

Over twenty lights appeared next to Wepwawet, each representing the soul of a Champion he had claimed. They would form his reserve force from which he could summon when needed. Sun Wukong's reserve force was smaller than his, but Epona had nearly the maximum of forty Champions to call upon. Hastur himself boasted a full reserve of creatures shaped from his own mana.

"Now each of you may select one Commander, to fight and die in your stead," Hastur explained with regal, yet empty courtesy. "But their Rank shall be subtracted from your mana pool."

"I choose Rank 7 Victoire Fleuret, Blade of Winter," Wepwawet replied immediately.

"Rank 6 Ravness, the People's Paladin, shall be my representative," Epona decided.

"And I pick Zhang the Naga-Sifu, Rank 9!" Sun Wukong finished.

Illusory representations of each Commander appeared in front of their patron god. Epona's pick was a female centaur clad in heavy silver armor, wielding a bow of gold, and Sun Wukong called upon a snakelike naga with a long white beard and tarnished emerald scales.

"We match your mortals with our own creations," Hastur replied upon waving his hand. "We pick Cassilda, Ghost Queen of Ythill, Rank 8; The Pallid Mask, Rank 8; and Magnos, the Apocalypse Prophet, Rank 1."

None of whom he fielded against Horus' group, Wepwawet noticed when the three creatures appeared. One was a ghostly banshee with a crown, her face hidden behind a black veil; a towering figure draped in yellow cloaks with a ghastly, tentacled white mask for a face; and a rotting, humanoid scholar with corpselike grey skin and two black holes for eyes. Miss Athena was right, he switched up his lineup.

However fearsome Cassilda and the Pallid Mask might look, it was this Magnos that bothered Wepwawet the most. Hastur would never send out a Rank 1 Commander to such an important battle unless he possessed an exceptional ability of some kind. The 'Apocalypse' in his name pointed to the fact that it would support the Titan's core strategy.

"As per the rules of Titans Incursions, we may now cast the Cursed City Carcosa Rank 12 Animism for free, which shall serve as our board." A card appeared in Hastur's hand. "Rise from the depths of Lake Hali, oh land of ruin!"

The card flew between the players and expanded into a large board. A black lake covered most of its surface, and from its depths a great ruined city the size of Roynimalia arose, full of black domes, monolithic towers, and soaring or half-crumbling spires. A maze of sinuous streets through which a cold wind blew began to form.

"An Altar has appeared for each of you, and three for ourselves," Hastur said. "Each shall produce a mana surge at the beginning of its owner's turn and may serve to summon additional Champions from your reserve."

True to his words, Wepwawet's Altar appeared in the bottom right corner of the city with Victoire materializing at its feet. Epona's Altar and Commander rose at the bottom left corner, and Sun Wukong's own on the upper left one. Three statues of Hastur, meanwhile, occupied different parts of the city. Other unclaimed mana loci surged at random locations across the streets, indicating spots which Commanders could claim on behalf of their god.

Altars would serve as landmarks, mana batteries, and relay points, but unlike the fight with Whiro, their destruction wouldn't end the game. Destroying those belonging to Hastur did represent a secondary objective in that it would reduce the amount of mana he could draw on and hopefully slow down the rate at which he could cast his Apocalypse cards.

Decks appeared next to each deity, all of them drawing a hand of five cards and heralding the start of the battle. Wepwawet mustered up his courage and looked at his pick.

Antimagic Lock, Maze Shift, Ice Barrier, Fire & Ice, and The Divine fucking Avatar.

Don't smile, don't smile, don't smile, Wepwawet told himself, struggling to win the battle against himself. This was a goddamn winning hand. The Divine Avatar already guaranteed an early lead since he had enough mana to keep it up for many turns, but Maze Shift on top of that was plain overkill. I'll cast the Divine Avatar the moment my turn begins to incarnate into an Altar, and then use my providence to hunt down the Commanders.

He would have to remain wary since Hastur knew he had the card in his deck, so he probably had a counter of some kind, but the battle was already off to an excellent start.

Hastur's Commanders immediately ran into the maze of streets. Wepwawet's Providence would allow him to guide his Champions—and those of his allies—to their rough location, but he waited for Hastur to take the first turn before launching the operation. The Yellow King drew a card and received a total of nine mana from his deck, bringing his pool to a total of ninety.

That was plenty to cast Apocalypse Cards.

"Now, we shall open the Ball of the Dead with the Rank 12 Animism Panopticon of Terror," Hastur said. The Altar closest to the city center began to transform the same way Wepwawet's Terraformers altered his own. A throne-spire grew beneath the King in Yellow's statue, its stony surface glowing with fleshy, greenish eyes.

Wepwawet's eyes widened in slight surprise. He didn't use that card against Horus.

"The Panopticon of Terror consumes 5 of our mana at the beginning of each turn as a maintenance cost," Hastur explained. "But so long as the Panopticon remains on the board, we may now see your hands."

Epona blinked. "Come again?"

"We follow this with two Doctrines: Rank 9 Doctrine Ex Nihilo and the Rank 7 Statement Ends," Hastur said. "The first lets us draw an additional card at the end of a turn per Miracle which has been removed from the game during it; the second lets us guess a Miracle in each of your hands once during our turn. If we guess correctly, it is removed from the game alongside all copies you might have in your deck, hand, or discard pile."

Wepwawet immediately checked his hand, only to notice green eye sigils on each of his cards. Uh oh.

Hastur gazed at Wepwawet the longest, likely because he hesitated between picking Maze Shift and the Divine Avatar, then raised a finger at each of his opponents in turn.

"We pick The Divine Avatar, Buddha Zodiac Protector, and Ride of the Valkyries."

"Seriously?!" Sun Wukong shouted in annoyance.

The Divine Avatar Miracle immediately disappeared from Wepwawet's hand, crushing his hopes.

Fuck!

"A deck destruction combo?" Epona cursed. "That's his alternate strategy?!"

"That's not all," Wepwawet said with a scowl. "Three cards have been removed from the game, so Ex Nihilo will let him draw three more times at the end of his turn. He's about to gain a sizable hand advantage."

The scarier part was that Hastur never used such a powerful combo against Horus' team, which meant he had held them back specifically to blindside the team in the second round. This indicated a much, much higher degree of foresight and finesse than the likes of Whiro ever showed.

This was going to be a tough fight.

"We shall end our turn with a Rank 10 Ritual heralding the end of all things." The King in Yellow raised his card, one which he had already played against Horus. "Apocalypse: The Dark Sun!"

Carcosa trembled, and darkness flooded its streets.