The Rules
Inside a large auditorium, all two hundred and fifty future Magic Duelists sat together in the stands as the two masked adults stood together on the main stage. The room was bustling as those ignorant of the realities of the game continued to make jokes and talk about what kind of spells they wanted to use based on what they saw on television.
"Hello, everyone!" The American's voice was heard coming from the surrounding speakers, gathering the kids' attention toward the front of the room. "Let's get this started, shall we?" As the masked man on stage spoke, the room went dark, only being illuminated by a wall projection that said 'Welcome to the Metaverse'.
"First thing's first, we should introduce ourselves. You shall call me the Game Master." The Game Master then pointed toward the masked woman beside him elegantly. "This is my wife, the Game Mistress." The masked woman then bowed graciously before her husband continued their presentation.
"As some of you may know, we are not in the real world. We are in the Metaverse. As of now, your real selves are connected to this digital world via the world's most advanced virtual reality equipment. Everything, and I mean, everything that you do in this world affects your real body; this includes the food you eat so make sure not to go overboard!" The masked man chuckled at his own words, though the crowd remained silent.
Awkwardly, he continued on. "Well, anyway, let's move on." The Game Master changed the projection, showing a slide that said 'What is the Metaverse?' at the top of it. "You may all be asking things like; 'Where am I? What is this place? What is the Metaverse?' so I will answer those things first. The Magic Metaverse was created to end all wars in the real world. Rather than destroying the planet with nuclear weapons and such, the Metaverse allows for all nations to send a representative here to fight for them in the Magic Metaverse Tournament!" The Game Master took a pause, scanning the room for any questions before continuing.
"The winner of the tournament is given enough money to be set for twelve lifetimes. The nation where they are from also receives a massive boost to their economy, giving a huge incentive for countries to participate. The top eight countries and participants' families are also rewarded for their efforts, though their rewards are minimal in comparison." Behind the Game Master, the projection changed, showing an arena of sorts.
"This is the Magic Duelists' Arena. We will go more in-depth later on, but this is where Magic Duels will be held." Once again, the image behind the man changed, showing a long list of rules for the sport.
"Let's go over some of the rules, shall we? There are three types of spells that a Magic Duelist can use: Offensive, Defensive, and Trap. Offensive Spells are what you use to take away your opponent's Health Points. When their Health Points reach zero, the duelist is eliminated. Self-buffs or stat boosts are also considered Offensive Spells. Offensive spells are cast, then are no longer present on the battlefield. However, stat buffs or status effects will remain active for three turns."
"Defensive Spells are placed onto the field via one of the five available slots and protect the user from taking damage. The Defensive Spell must be destroyed by an Offensive Spell before the user can lose Health Points. Debuffs to one's opponent also take the form of a Defensive Spell. For example, one could place a totem that lowers their opponent's damage. This debuff will remain until the totem is destroyed."
As the man spoke, one of the kids stood up and began walking out of the presentation room. It was the South Tsundoran boy, walking out with his hands in his tracksuit's pockets as his Chronicle followed beside him. The Game Master hesitated upon seeing the boy flee, though he didn't call him out, he simply let him go.
"Anyway... Then there are Trap Spells. Like Defensive Spells, these are placed on the field on one of the five slots and can be destroyed by an Offensive Spell. However, they do not protect the user from damage. If a Trap Spell takes a hit, the same amount of damage is dealt to the user. Traps do however have secret abilities, which are not revealed to the attacker until it is destroyed or damaged. For example, a Trap Spell could damage the attacker once destroyed. Trap Spells are the most interesting due to how infinite the possibilities are, they're risky but they're my personal favorite." The man scanned the room again, noticing a few confused glares before changing the screen behind him and proceeding with the explanations.
"Let's go ahead and talk about Chronicles. All of you have been chosen by your Chronicles after entering the Chamber of Awakening. Your Chronicle and Nature will determine how many Health Points you have at the start of the match, along with how many Magic Points it costs for a spell to be cast. Typically, the more powerful the spell, the more it costs." The man pointed a remote toward the projector, prompting the screen to change to a slide that was labeled 'Nature', which showed the five known Natures beneath it with their respective logos.
"As you know, there are five, well, six Natures. Fire, Ice, Wind, Electricity, Light, and the never before seen Dark Nature." Upon hearing this, nearly everyone in the room directed their attention to Kamari's Chronicle. Kamari continued looking straight, ignoring the glares in hopes that they'd go away faster.
"A person's Nature is determined by the person's personality, values, strengths, and weaknesses. Each Nature has its own pros and cons in battle, as well as a Nature that they have the advantage over and a Nature that has an advantage over them. Let's start with Fire, shall we?" Once again the man clicked his remote and the projection changed, showing the Fire symbol along with some information about the Nature.
"Those with Fire Nature typically have a more aggressive dueling style. They do some of the highest damage with a low-risk, high-reward playstyle. However, they are lacking in the technicality department, usually having more attacks in comparison to debuffs, Trap Spells, or status effects. It's the most basic, but don't let that fool you into thinking that they shouldn't be taken seriously."
"People with the Ice Nature adopt a more defensive style, using a mixture of Defensive Spells and Offensive Spells. It isn't too rare to see them using a Trap Spell or two as well, typically baiting their opponent into doing less damage. They could also simply cast a debuff as a Defensive Spell if they wish. Though they do less damage than Fire users, they have the most Health Points out of any other Nature, practically being the tanks of the bunch."
"Wind Nature users typically focus on buffs and debuffs to increase their own evasiveness and decrease their opponent's accuracy. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that attacks have a chance of missing, doing zero damage, and skipping the user's turn. Your Chronicle will tell you the chances of your attack hitting or missing. Much like MP cost, the rate at which an attack lands is decided by the Chronicle and by how powerful the attack is. Anyway, due to Wind users having such high evasiveness, they have lower HP."
"Electricity users rely on status effects that linger after a turn has ended and lightning-fast attacks, giving them the highest hit rate out of any of the other Natures. To balance this, their damage is quite low in comparison to other Natures but that low damage adds up after landing nearly every single attack."
"Lastly, we have the Light Nature. Light Nature users are glass cannons. They have the least Health Points out of anyone, but also the absolute highest damage potential. For the most part, those of Light Nature build up buffs or status effects to then unleash massive damaging single attacks." As those worlds left his masked mouth, the Game Master locked eyes with Kamari, noticing the black Dark Chronicle in the African boy's hands.
"Ah, I've already forgotten. There is no slide for it, but there is also the Dark Nature. Nothing is known about it, not even its strengths and weaknesses. Let's hope 126 over there will give us a good demonstration of its power, huh?" the man said awkwardly as he pointed directly at Kamari. Once again, the young Eswarian had to deal with the stares of his peers, whether they be out of admiration, fear, or disdain.
"Okay, so one last thing before we move on to the Magic Duel demonstration. As I mentioned, each Nature has what is seen as a good or bad matchup for them. Natures that have the advantage over others will have a higher critical rate. A critical hit will give the user a second turn, basically skipping their opponent's. A critical hit can be performed randomly, regardless of the user's Nature, but the critical rate increase when against certain Natures makes a substantial difference."
"Fire is good against Ice, Wind is good against Fire, Electricity is good against Wind, and Ice is good against Electricity. Light isn't weak or particularly strong against any Nature. Dark is of course unknown. Despite these advantages, going against someone who has the better or unknown Nature for the situation does not mean you've lost. It just makes for a good underdog story!"
The Game Master clapped his hands, looking over at his wife and back at the crowd before ending the presentation. "Okay, with that said, follow me and we will make our way to the Battle Duelist's Arena to showcase an exhibition match between myself and a handpicked opponent!"
The Game Master walked off the stage and the future Magic Duelists stood up from their seats to follow him like cattle.
None of them knew it yet, but everything would change for the young duelists by the end of the Game Master's exhibition match and the true sinister nature of the Magic Metaverse Tournament would be revealed.