The Stone Golem was dead.
Scattered in pieces across the blasted clearing. Behind where it had stood, a passageway over ten feet high was revealed — the entrance to what was almost certainly a maze leading to the BOSS.
"Let's wait for Big Big Wolf." Ethan didn't enter immediately.
Recalling a card required line of sight, and Big Big Wolf was currently respawning somewhere in the Rift.
A few minutes later — before Big Big Wolf had returned — Ethan spotted another group approaching.
"You did this?" Captain Torres was at the front, carried by his Iron-Framed Cavalry summon.
Seeing the ground covered in stone rubble and mech fragments, his expression shifted to genuine surprise.
The Response Team had been making their way inward when they'd heard a massive explosion. Torres had immediately guessed it was Ethan's doing.
Regardless of the situation, they needed to provide support. If a group of talented young Card Makers died in this Rift, it would be a catastrophic loss.
Fortunately, all four of them were standing there unharmed.
"Yeah," Ethan said.
Torres surveyed the damage again. A battle of this scale required at least Gold-card-level power.
"What's the strength of your deck?" It was slightly blunt, but clearing the Rift took priority.
"I have two Gold cards," Ethan said. "They have Purples."
Torres nodded. Gold cards were rare, but not unheard of among elite families.
He'd already figured Ethan was from old money. How else could a college student field this kind of arsenal?
"Which family are you from?"
"Which family?" Ethan blinked. "The Cole family."
His name was Cole. What other family would he be from?
"The Manhattan Coles?" Torres's eyes lit up. "No wonder you're this strong."
Ethan said nothing for two seconds.
The Manhattan Coles were apparently some prominent Card Master family on the East Coast. Old money, old power. He'd never heard of them before this exact moment.
But if Torres wanted to make assumptions, let him. Correcting him would only lead to more questions.
What, you want me to explain that I'm just Ethan Cole from Bayshore City? That my biggest family connection is being on good terms with the stray dog "Biscuit" in my neighborhood?
"That Gold card of yours probably can't be used again, right?" Torres looked at the cave entrance.
The logic was obvious: the monster here was the Stone Golem. Those were mech fragments on the ground. The Gold card must have been destroyed in a self-destruct.
Just thinking about it made Torres wince. Purple cards were expensive. Gold cards were priceless.
Ethan was still considering how to answer when a voice echoed from the trees.
"I'm BACK!"
Big Big Wolf. Running toward them from somewhere in the underbrush, his lab coat singed but his grin intact.
Torres spun around, immediately dropping into a defensive stance.
"That's my summon," Ethan said quickly. "The one that self-destructed."
"Self-destructed?" Torres lowered his guard, confusion replacing alarm.
He'd seen over a thousand cards in his career. Never one with a self-destruct function.
What kind of person designed a single-use card on purpose?
He studied the approaching figure — an animation-styled character. Fully humanoid, but rendered in a style he'd never seen on a card.
First the kids, then the dinosaur, then the angel. Now an animated wolf in a lab coat.
What is it with young people and this art style?
For a hundred years, 99% of cards had been made in a realistic style. This was... something else.
"This is Big Big Wolf," Ethan explained, seeing Torres's dazed expression. "He's a scientist. The thing that self-destructed was his mech. He has the ability to respawn."
Torres looked at Big Big Wolf — who had arrived and was dusting off his coat with great dignity — and rubbed his chin.
"Gold card?"
"No. Tier 1 Purple."
"What?"
The word rang out from Torres and half his team simultaneously.
Ethan's friends were used to combat simulations. They knew his cards were strong, but they didn't have a visceral sense of how strong compared to real-world baselines.
These soldiers did. They fought in Rifts regularly. They knew exactly how much force it took to destroy an Epic-grade Tier 3 Stone Golem.
And a Tier 1 Purple had done it — then walked back from the dead?
Torres couldn't stop himself.
"This card of yours... is it for sale?"
"Old man." Ethan was still formulating a diplomatic response when Big Big Wolf stepped forward, his face literally expanding to fill Torres's field of vision in a way that shouldn't have been physically possible. "You want to buy me?"
His expression was pure disdain. Animated disdain. The kind of face that belonged in a freeze-frame.
"This Great King is absolutely not for sale." He pulled back, straightened his coat, and looked at Ethan. "Right, Ethan?"
Ethan was momentarily stunned. He'd never seen his cards use animated special effects in real life before — Big Big Wolf's face had stretched like something straight out of an animation.
Can they do that? Could I create purely comedic anime characters and have them use gag physics in real combat?
Something to test later.
"Ethan?" Big Big Wolf called again.
"Of course." Ethan looked at Torres with genuine apology. "Sorry — he's not just my card. He's my partner. I can't sell him."
"Fair enough. Just asking." Torres didn't push it.
A card that powerful — you'd never let it go.
"In that case," Torres said, turning toward the passage, "let me take point into the maze."