The Games We Play: Deck of Cards c4

[Continue Dungeon Diving?]

(Honkai Impact 3rd) [Dungeon 1/10]

[YES] [NO]

[Select Another Dungeon]

[Create New Dungeon]

'A new function. Well, I can dive somewhere else once I evolve Kiana at least once…'

With a quick goal set in his mind, he pressed [Yes].

The next moment he was standing in the last location he remembers.

He pulled out Kiana's card and summoned her.

His gaze went to her.

"...Hmm? What is it?"

"I learned how to improve you. Do you feel stronger?"

"...Umm…nothing? Nothing obvious at least." She said while checking herself.

"I see…so you will only feel different when your card reaches the evolution point," Raynor said while taking out his template card.

"...I guess… you are the one with power here." She shrugged casually and summoned her pistols.

"Yeah. Now let's go. We need to get more honkai cards for you."

"Okay!"

The pair proceeded to walk. While they are walking from time to time Kiana would just bathe in the affection she was getting from Raynor.

It's like it's fueling her to show off and perform at 110%!

Internally she is confident if she had this when she was in Arc City she could have soloed the enemies there and taken control of Herrscher of Void powers in a few short minutes!

'Well, maybe not a few minutes! But It would have been a shorter, less dark moment of my life!'

Eventually, they arrived at an open area… it looked like a jail with stairs on the sides, and there are three floors In total. It looked like a cheaply build place.

"...I don't like this. Where are the monsters?" The girl asked him as they looked around.

As they walked in the doors closed behind them and monsters started to spawn around them.

"...Oh this is the usual trap setting in dungeons." While commenting Raynor fused with the template.

"...You are not even panicking?"

"What for? I have you here."

This made her…blush hard as she proceeded to lunge at the enemies. Delivering kicks, blowing up zombified heads off with her pistols and simply pulverizing the foes, ruthlessly.

While Raynor himself was much more focused on his moves. Unlike his partner, he doesn't have a lot of experience and at the same time, he is slightly hesitant to fight these zombies…

He has no idea how Honkai works on him… like will he get poisoned?

Stuff like that makes him hesitant to simply dive in.

Regardless with his Holy Sword Arondight he quite easily cuts them down.

'Is it just me or it's easier to use the sword?'

After defeating 3 zombies while Kiana slaughtered 6, Raynor proceeded to pick up 9 Honkai cards and store them in his card holder.

"That sword of yours… what is that?" The girl asked him curiously as she noticed how effortlessly he cuts those zombies down.

"Holy Sword Arondight, the weapon used by Lancelot from King Arthur's legends."

"...Oh…I think something like that existed in my world as well. Cool… you have a weapon from myths!" He smiled for a second at how enthusiastic the white-haired was. It's contagious.

"Let's explore the floors. We maybe find some loot."

"Roger that!"

She rushed the stairs up and proceeded to explore the left side. Seeing this Raynor went to the right side.

The stairs reminded him of those emergency fire exit stairs they have outside buildings in the USA. Cheap-looking metal stairs.

~~~

"Nothing on my side," Kiana said while shaking her head.

"One room on my side. An Honkai card. This one is silver." The teen showed to her as he pocketed the exp card.

'This makes two treasure rooms… is it linked to my adventurer rank?'

For a second he got curious. If this is true then he is close to finishing this dungeon.

"I think we are close to finishing this thing." He mentioned to her as he then motioned to continue walking.

"Okay. This one doesn't feel long."

"It's an entry-level dungeon, Kiana. It should not be long in the first place."

She nodded at him.

The way to continue the dungeon they needed to reach the third floor and there were double automatic doors. After passing it they were greeted by three zombies with bows.

Kiana instantly shoot her pistols while Raynor lunged forward. He was not as agile as the white-haired girl, so he ended up getting an arrow into his chest but it bounced from the armour through he felt force behind it.

'Oof…hurts like hell…'

Though he delivered the vertical slash killing the zombified girl. By that point, Kiana already finished her two opponents.

This got them 3 new cards.

"Ray! Are you okay?"

Kiana swiftly walked over and inspected Raynor.

"I am fine. The armour took the brunt of the damage."

"...Good. Those three got me by surprise!"

He nodded at her words before looking around. He then motioned to her to continue moving forward.

Walking around another corner and then got another batch of zombies.

This time though…one of the zombie girls had two long swords.

"...ugh…I remember this well enough…" Kiana said with a groan as she proceeded to attack Raynor followed right after her, he pulled out a card and prepared to manifest it.

Once in position, he threw it.

The card glowed and a club appeared spinning which ended up smacking into the zombie girl's face.

"Nice one!"

Kiana used this moment to get close and blow the head off a zombie with one of her pistols.

The pair continue to advance as Kiana would pull their aggro to herself with her shots while Raynor would proceed to chop the libs off or just outright kill them.

Just like that they ended another group of zombies and the teen collected another 5 honkai cards.

"You are getting better by the battle! How do you do that!?"

Kiana asked him curiously.

He thought about what she said.

"...I guess, several factors? We are in my dreamscape, and I am fused with one of the best knights in existence. Some of his battle instincts are bleeding over to me most likely."

As Raynor said that he looked at the sword he was holding in his hand.

It becoming more and more natural to wield the Holy Sword.

"...Hoh…so another cheat…" She rolled her eyes. Another cheat thing. As expected from Raynor!

"Yeah-Yeah."

~~~

After beating the group of zombies the pair encountered another two batches of zombies. In total, this was 10 more cards.

Not bad for a dungeon dive but just as Raynor thought they arrived at large double doors.

"...This feeling. Haven't felt this in a while… a Honkai beast waiting for us on the other side." Kiana said with a serious look on her face she clenched her pistols harder.

"Hmm. Then let's do it. After this, we will be done with this dungeon."

"...Yeah…"

She was worried that its something big. As…well…she is used to facing overpowering monsters with quite a little support.

So when the doors opened she saw purple lightning gathering in one place as a purple-black portal opened and a Honkai Beast exit through it. It had a white carapace with purple lines going through it.

It had a massive shield and a spear.

"...a Templar?" Kiana said with a somewhat disbelief tone. She was in disbelief that it was…such a generic opponent!

Raynor heard how…well disappointed she was? Or more like expecting something more.

Well…

"Remember? First dungeon?"

"I take this attention from it. While you annoying it from the sides." Raynor instructed her as he rushed forward.

"...Aye-Aye!" After saying that she rushed at the beast from the side.

The teen swung his blade and the templar used its shield to block it.

The Holy Sword hit the mark. The cut was minimal on the shield. After the collision, the Honkai beast pushed forward.

Trying to overwhelm the teen.

'Right…I have been feeling for a while… why not try channelling magic into the blade?'

As he started to channel magic into his hands and then feed it into the blade, it started to glow.

"Hmm?" Kiana stopped in her tracks as she was about to shoot.

'He activated the Holy Sword? Looks cool!'

Honestly…magic stuff? Now that's interesting. As someone who comes from a science background any of that stuff sounds very much mystical!

What happened next…was the sound of a saw cutting through things!

With a burst of gold. The shield of Templar was cut in half. Raynor then burst forward and delivered another strike from the holy sword.

And just like that the Honkai Beast was cut in half.

"..."

*Ding*

[Congratulations! You Have Finished (Honkai Impact 3rd) [Dungeon 1/10]!]

[Adventurer rank went up!]

[Rank 1 >>> 2]

[Your Unkeep went up by 1]

[Total Unkeep: 2]

Raynor dismissed the notifications which he was relieved and excited to see.

At that moment Kiana walked over with crossed arms.

"...Magic is a hack and a cheat," Kiana said with a deadpan tone.

"Says the girl who controls space and time." He countered back. He knows well enough how a hack of a character she is…

"As if…I don't have a mystical sword from legends built by fairies." The white-haired girl bounced back with a huff.

"Don't you have weapons built from Herrscher Cores?"

"And? Doesn't beat the fact that you have mystical stuff." She said with another huff.

"...So you just spicy that your stuff is not a mystical item."

To his words, she just shrugged her shoulders.

Raynor simply sighed and picked up the silver honkai exp card.

"There should be a boss treasure room somewhere here."

"Right! Let's see what we got!"

As she said she rushed to look for semi-opened cell doors. Once she found she swiftly opened the cell doors and walked in.

It was a cell for two, it had more space, which meant that more chests were waiting for them!

"Nice! It's two!"

She opened one and grabbed the card and swiftly inspected it.

There was a confused look on her face.

"...What is that?"

The girl handed over the card to him, and then swiftly looked at the other chest.

'More gear for me…'

He said to himself as he saw a hoody on the card.

"It's a hoody Kiana…you don't recognise it?"

"Hmm? I do. But, how can you use a hoody from a card?"

To her question, he simply undid his fusion and then made the hoody manifest in his hand. It was a blue hoody with white sleeves…it screams Honkai-verse…as it had a futuristic design.

He then put it on and showed it to her.

"Like this?"

"Ehh? You can get clothes from this place!? Does this means I could get something cool as well!?"

"...We are in a dungeon…and I summon you from a card…"

He said with a deadpan tone as he felt up the hoody, it was soft and it invigorates him.

'Not bad for a Stamina hoody, and it has a hood.'

"...Smartass…"

He just shrugged at her and then proceeded to motion her to show the other card.

It was another silver card.

"Hmm?"

The card's drawing had the Schnicsal symbol on a black cape and a pair of heavy pistols. This was Kiana's gear…

[Ranger Valkyrie Gear]

[Companion Evolution]

[You need to have 'Kiana Kaslana' in the field to use this card]

"This one is for you," Raynor said with some disbelief. Is this the gear where Kiana has those sexy shorts!?

"...You are thinking something naughty!" She said that as she felt how he reacted to this card! She knows it! It's one of her battlesuits of some sort… the girl recalled that on some occasions she used some different clothes…

Now that she thinks about it…some of them are quite revealing!

'How did I not notice it before!?'

"...Well yeah? My favourite waifu just got a costume upgrade!"

She could only tank that excitement blast from him! Her ears turned red. She doesn't know specifics…not that she cares!

So without wasting time he summoned the dueling table and placed the Companion evolution card on the lower row.

The card glowed, showing activation was successful, he then selected on Kiana's card to 'equip' it. This whole session had that heavy Yu-Gi-Oh vibes to it.

That moment Kiana's bronze hard glowed and another card manifested above! It was floating in midair!

It was a silver card with Kiana dressed in her Valkyrie ranger clothes.

Raynor took it and inspected it.

[Kiana Kaslana 'Valkyrie Ranger']

[Evolved Companion Card]

[Cost: 3]

[Type: Mid Range/Long Range]

[Clasification: Evolved]

"...what!?" The White haired girl felt some sort of disappointment! And she simply could not handle it and wanted to fix it!

She still processing the fact that he wants to see her in different clothes this much!

'What will be his reaction once he sees me in Finaility? In flesh!?' Imaginary goosebumps washed her whole being!

"Can't use it." He signed with disappointment as he showed her the card.

"...Oh…these clothes…"

"Yeah. Look at the cost. I need 3 to summon this, while at this moment I can only generate 2."

Kiana blinked couple this.

"...Serious? We need to follow such…rules!?"

He rolled his eyes when heard that, he took the card from her and placed it on the duelling table…then tried to place it on Kiana's original card.

Nothing worked!

So rules are rules! With this game-like power!

Regardless, he had a new card!

"As you can see… I can't use the card."

"...Yeah… what strange place…"

Kiana didn't understand. How such rules could exist? Going through specific motions to access her powers!

This most likely will be the same with her Herrscher forms.

But Herrschers chained to rules like that?

How powerful is this dungeon-like system?

"It's interesting…to some degree, it reminds me of some of the other franchises.

Anyway…we are done here. Let's head back."

"...Okay…"

After the pair left the cell they walked towards a single door which had a green exit sign above it.

The moment Raynor passed through it his eyes opened and he saw his room ceiling…it was darkness.

For a second he rubbed his eyes, then took his phone and checked the time.

It was 2:15

'We finished it in just over 3 hours? Well… last night… another 2 hours? So 5 hours in total?'

Thinking for a bit he placed the phone back and mentally asked for the Deck menu to pop up.

There was a new section in the list, and it was the Companion Exclusive cards.

Two were there already…

And Honkai exp cards don't even react to them.

'Digimon evolution vibes right there…'

This means the ranger version of Kiana is set as it is, a Silver-tier 'Monster'.

'I wonder if I can have a Yu-Gi-Oh style game in future once I have enough cards.' He thought to himself as he dragged two Honkai silver Exp cards onto Kiana's original card.

[24>>>30]

[70 Remaining Until Evoliution]

'So silver is all things 3…good to know. Does this mean gold is 6?'

He thought to himself before putting the remainder of Honkai cards on Kiana's Bronze card.

[30>>>52]

[48 Remaining Until Evoliution]

*sigh*

"What now?"

"Hmm?"

He felt quite stuffed and warm…

"ohh… " He quickly sat down and took off his hoody and dropped on his gaming chair.

Once he was done he got back into his bed.

He then started to think about what to do he was kinda lazy and tired after the last dungeon. Plus little bit disappointed that he can't summon the ranger outfit…

"Hmmm…"

For a moment he thought about what to do.

"...Oh…I know…" A small grin appeared on his lips

He got up and swiftly went over and picked up his leather deck holder and pulled the top card.

The top card is Kiana and the second is Lancelot's Template.

So he got into bed and summoned the duelling table and then with a simple hand motion the white-haired girl was summoned.

"...Hmm… it's dark…"

"Yep. I decided to cuddle with you for the rest of the night…"

"...You…you work quick…don't you!?" The girl softly said as she knew not to raise her voice. Though her voice was semi-stuttering.

This was…well…unsuspectingly suspecting?

As if resigning to her fate she proceeded to remove her battlesuit and then sneaked into his bed.

Which was… unexpected… and same time… shocking.

"...Give me a T-shirt!" She asked with an embarrassed tone from under his blanket.

"...sure…"

He ended up giving her a white t-shirt the girl swiftly dressed up. Thankfully it was nighttime as it would be even more embarrassing.

"...Your bed is small…"

"...Perfect for hugging just like you like it."

She had no comment for that…he was right…

"...Anyway…I want to show you something…" As Raynor said that he pulled out his phone and started THE game.

"Hmm…What?" There was some dread in her voice.

"...some of the clips YOUR game has, and the music behind it."

"...You just want to torment me?" She asked with a resigned sigh.

"Don't be ridiculous. I won't show the bad ones. Only my favourites.

Like Bronya becoming Herrscher of Reason, You becoming Flamescion or Raiden Mei Herrscher of Thunder. Her soundtrack is godly…"

"...Geez…fine…" All she could do is just watch… after all…the position she was in…

He was hugging her and her head was on his chest… not that she had enough space to wiggle away…

The first clip was Bronya acquiring the Herrscher Core… Kiana doesn't know the details… exact details but it was an adventure… from the video and music…she was feeling goosebumps…

"...that bike… still one of the coolest things… Reason's powers are gun's weebs dream powers…"

"...Hmm… never thought about it that way… I guess…" Kiana said with a neutral tone as she paid close attention to the video.

"Next is you…" His words made her stiff.

"...Ugh…"

"...Fine…we can skip to Mei beating you up…" Stiff again.

"...Ugh…"

"...for your information, I WASN'T trying the hardest…AND I was shocked that she went full Herrscher!"

"...I don't need a proper explanation…I am just saying what is next."

Raynor's explanation made her simply stop, she realised that she embarrassed herself… again…

'Ugh… she was brutal here…' Seeing herself getting beaten down… no…just no…

~~~~~~~~

[-Card Deck-]

['Lancelot' Template Card] {Gold} (Tier 3)

[Club x2] {Bronze} (Tier 1)

[Rusted Dagger x5] {Bronze}(Tier 1)

[Restored Dagger] {Bronze} (Tier 1)

[Crude Staff x5] {Bronze} (Tier 1)

[Introduction to Sorcery x1] {Silver} (Tier 2)

[Mage Staff] {Silver} (Tier 2)

[Elementals] {Gold} (Tier 3)

[Honkai Katana] {Silver} (Tier 2)

~~~

[-Equipment-]

[Wristband] {Silver} (Tier 2)

[Stamina Hoody] {Silver} (Tier 2)

~~~

[-Companions-]

[Kiana Kaslana] {Bronze} (Tier 1)(Cost 1)

—[Kiana Kaslana 'Valkyrie Ranger'] {Silver} (Tier 2)(Cost 3)

~~~

[-Companion Exclusive Cards-]

[Ranger Valkyrie Gear]