Ch 50 – Deus Ex Machina

Looking at the man in front of him with a confident smile, Braun looks at his dueling disk and looks back in his memories on the flow of the Psychic Force around him when it was created, the essence of victory seemingly ingrained into the existence of the dueling disk itself, one of the vital forces of creation for this world itself.

"So, what do you like to bet?" Braun asked, licking his lips while sliding his hair back.

"I would bet my deck-"

"No, I would like you to bet your money, in turn, I would bet my own deck," Braun cuts the man's words, smirking as the weak will of the man in front of him easily wavered with his commanding tone.

"Fine," the man said.

"Ladies first," Braun said in a sarcastic tone, inciting the man further as he grits his teeth.

"I draw!" the man said, putting his finger at the deck of cards and drawing five cards within an instant.

"I first summon Cow in the attack position, then I use its special ability to create milk. Then, I would use my spell card Create Grass and feed it to the Cow card, then using its ability once more, I would have 4 milk! Using that milk, I would be able to turn it into cheese by turning my Cow into the defense position. Using that cheese, I would empower my Cow to Level 5! But that's not all, due to its third hidden ability by leveling up to 5, I would be able to turn it into a Cheesy Cow! Using its ability, I would be able to use my last card, Cheesy Flirts, to allow me to take a random Love Monster from my deck and… Aha! I summon, Succubus!" the man shouts, slamming his right arm down on the summoning fields as the ground in front of them shows holographic projections of the current events.

"You finish yet?" Braun asked, glancing at the holographic projections in front of him as he learned how it works.

"Not yet! I then use the Succubus special ability when there is a Mammal Monster in the field and use its ability, Breeding! Now I have 2 Cheesy Cows! And due to the evolution line of Cheesy Cow! It transcends into Holy Cheese Cow and makes 5 MILK! Using that milk, I feed it into the Succubus and transform it into the Milky Succubus! Using its special ability to make Demonic Milk, I would be able to transform the newly born Cheesy Cow into a Demonic Cow! With the forces of light and dark milk in my hands, I would be able to force fusion the Holy and Demonic Cow into one and make the Nephilim Cow who swallows the Milky Succubus for nutrition and level it up by 5 levels! Turning it into the God Cow!" the man shouts as an explosion of light erupts in front of them, the cow turning into a being of pure light in the shape of a humanoid cow.

"With infinite attack and health by my side, you can't hope to defeat me newbie!" the man smirks, his win already in the grasp of his hand from turn one, for he is a Level 5 gamer!

"I draw," Braun nonchalantly said, drawing 5 cards from his deck while his Deus Ex Machina activates at full force.

[Heart of the Cards – Level 1]

Looking at the 5 cards that appeared in his hand, he raises his eyebrow at the description each card gave to him.

"YOU FOOL! I SUMMON THE FORBIDDEN MONSTER!" Braun shouts all of a sudden causing the man to raise his eyebrows in confusion, but his eyes soon widen when he realizes what Braun ment, and if his trembling right arm seemingly shaking from the surge of power indicates anything, despair soon enters his mind.

"NO! IT CAN'T BE! DON'T TELL ME!" the man shouts in horror as if he has heard the most terrifying thing in his whole life, his heart thumping in fear at the absurd luck the man in front of him received from the heavens themselves.

"I SUMMON THE FORBIDDEN GOD! DEUS EX MACHINA!" Braun shouts, turning his arm that holds 5 cards to show the 5 parts of the god of victory, Deus Ex Machina in the grasp of his hand.

"NO!" the man shouts, his face seemingly burning from the light that erupted from the magical construct in front of them, his life points falling into 0 while the humanoid body made of light floats in the middle of the battlefield in front of them, their arms crossed on their chest showing boundless power.

Falling to his knees from despair, he turns his head up and looks at the man in front of him in despair, his breath hitching while his arms and legs trembled.

"Heh, give me the money punk," Braun said, walking up to the man with a condescending stare.

"Fuck you man, what the fuck is your ability anyway?" the man said, standing up and taking out a wad of cash from his pockets and clicking his tongue in annoyance.

"It's a secret," Braun said, grabbing the money and pocketing it into his pants while whistling in joy.

"Now, do you have any inns to recommend?" Braun asked while looking around the open street they were on trying to see if there were any inns he could rent.

"Yeah, just over there is a relatively decent inn with an alright price," the man said with a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck and turning around, leaving Braun all alone while he looks at his new ability.

[Deus Ex Machina – Level 1]

[Heart of the Cards – Level 2]

Nodding his head, he spins on the tip of his heels and glances at the distant inn in front of him.

(A Few Minutes Later)

Lying on his new bed temporarily rented from the inn owner using 1 silver coin after some charming along the way, feeling the pouch full of coins in his pockets, he closes his eyes and browses through his current knowledge of the world.

'The world of Victoria under the control of the God V. Estimated to be tens of thousands of years old considering there were signs ancient Egyptians have lived in this place from the books I read. Kidnapping the natives of the world outside its subdimension to harvest the essence of victory from its players and natives like cattle. And with the goal of getting a stronger host, it set up a system where one must win against the 5 kings of the 5 continents to challenge the God and see who would win, and considering its vast power, finding its body would be harder than what I would like, so fighting his avatar head-on it is.' Braun concludes in his mind, his consciousness going into the surrounding area around him as if he was looking in an omniscient manner.

Shooting up from his bed, Braun opens his eyes and looks at the map plastered on the wall in front of him.

'The Eastern Continent under the reign of the Undefeated King, rumored to be undefeated under the heavens themselves. Whether it be card duels or a fight of the body, he is an unstoppable force who shall remain undefeated.' Braun thought, the route to the center of the continent is shown in a clear line, and seeing that he was on the southern end of the continent, it would take him a few weeks before reaching the center of the continent.

'And considering he's virtually a reality warper like I am right now, leveling my ability first to perhaps Level 5 is a goal to achieve first.' Braun thought, letting out a yawn from his mouth and opening the window beside him to look at the bustling street in front of him.

Looking at the players and natives of this world walking around, he shakes his head at the current medieval state of this continent, and considering supernatural abilities exist, it must mean that the player V chose are incompetent.

Though he is on the outer rims of the continent so it's only natural that it's poorer around here.

Closing the window, he walks back to his bed and lies down on his back once more, closing his eyes for the final this time day and falling into sleep.

(The Next Day)

Sitting in the pub on the first floor of the inn, Braun looks at the man in front of him with a confident grin.

"Royal Flush," Braun said with a sly grin on his face as the bald man looks at him with bloodshot eyes.

Standing up with a stomp, the man takes out a pouch of money and tosses it to Braun in a hurry, hastily leaving the place as Braun leans his head on his right arm and glances at the other people around him with a grin.

"Anybody else wants to play some friendly poker?" Braun asked, in response, everyone hastily turns their head around leaving him all alone with his earnings.

Standing up, he grabs the wooden mug on the table beside him with his left arm and chugs down the last of the beer before leaving the pub to find new opponents and gather some victory essence.

[Deus Ex Machina – Level 1]

[Heart of the Cards – Level 3]

Entering onto the open street, he walks around with the pouch in hand, its brown fabric dangling from his right arm as everyone in the street could hear the sound of coins clinking with one another, their greed being excited and tease from sound alone.

Continuing to walk towards the gates of Iyagon, the kingdom he was currently in, he glances at the people walking around him with an analytical gaze, their values, their worth, their personalities, history, character, it was like an open book for him to read freely.

Bouncing the pouch of coins, he determines that this was enough to get a trip to the next kingdom in line, Laeborg.

Famous for its residents who can take control of vicious supernatural beasts roaming the world, they have fighting arenas where they pit those monsters against one another in a brutal fight to the death, an arena where he can surely get another ability and gain more understanding of Deus Ex Machina for himself.

A world where monsters roam around, could it get any more isekai fantasy trash than this?

Shaking his head, he finds himself outside of Iyagon and on the open fields of grass, the fresh breeze hitting his face at full force and not blocked by the walls covering the kingdom.

Looking around, he sees that there seems to be no carts parking around yet considering it was early morning and most would appear around afternoon or late morning to take passengers.

'Hmm, some should appear any second now, that pond over there should be a good place.' Braun thought, walking towards the pond in the far distance hidden behind a small hill, he crouches down on the grass floor and looks at his reflection on the clear pond of water in front of him.

'Joining the Adventurer Guild is counterproductive considering I would leave this world in a couple of months if my estimations are correct, so spending time hunting monsters isn't really that valuable other than gaining combat-related abilities. But when I can purposefully incite humans to attack me…' Braun thought, and as expected, an arrow whizzed past his head and onto the clear pond in front of him, its calm state being disturbed and producing countless ripples.

"I challenge you into a duel of the death, my wager? My life," a feminine voice behind him said, calmly turning his head around, he finds a player right behind him wielding a wooden bow in her right hand while a quiver of arrows was strapped to her back.

"Duel accepted," Braun said, standing up from his sitting position nonchalantly as he calmly looks at her with a bored gaze, his gaze unnerving her mind for a split second but the sound of coins jingling inside his pouch pushed her further into the grasp of avarice, the manipulation of the seven deadly sins grabbing her very soul and pushing her into the scythe of death.

Hastily grabbing an arrow from her back, she tugs the string of her bow back and points it straight at Braun who continues to look at her with a calm gaze, the unnerving feeling returning back but the sound of the jingle reigniting her greed once more, and without hesitation clouding her mind, she shoots the arrow straight to his head who just stayed still without moving.

From meters to feet, and finally centimeters, the arrow arrives right in front of his forehead, and his death was already determined by the girl, but as if his body became intangible, the girl watches his head sway to the left at incomprehensible speed while a screen flash in his vision.

[Auto-Evasion – Level 1]

Stretching his hands to the back of his body at blinding speeds, the sound of an arrow hitting flesh was heard and she sees the arrow was now in the grasp of the man, and as he stomps his left foot to the ground while the muscles in his right arm bulge, and just like clockwork, another translucent screen appears in his vision.

[Aim-Bot – Level 1]

Twisting his waist, he transfers all of his body's force to his right arm, maximizing the strength of the throw to its fullest potential, and as the sound of an arrow whizzing through the air was heard, the world suddenly turns into pure darkness as if she has just entered the never-ending void, leaving her unable to comprehend what happened even after death.

AN: This is 2311 words, you're welcome.

Writing is hard, so send me some powerstones.

(June 13, 2022 – 201st day of writing)