Fairy Tail: My Magic is a Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck — Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Dark Magician Girl

Night fell, scattering a brilliant canopy of stars across the sky and casting a tranquil, silver glow over the bustling town of Magnolia.

Inside a modest, detached two-story house nestled right against the town’s winding river, Chase finally washed away the grime of his journey. The cool water of the bath worked wonders on his fatigued muscles. While Fairy Tail proudly offered dedicated dormitories for its members, Chase opted to spend his hard-earned request reward money on this private riverside property.

It wasn’t that he particularly craved isolation, nor did the word ‘quiet’ suit his chaotic lifestyle in the slightest. The reality was far more practical: Makarov had unceremoniously kicked him out of the guild’s public housing. The Guild Master’s reasoning had been painfully sound, citing that constantly rebuilding a dormitory demolished by Chase’s collateral damage was draining the guild’s alcohol budget.

“There really is no place like home,” Chase murmured, stepping out of the bathroom with a towel slung around his neck. “It’s been over a year, hasn’t it?”

He walked into the spacious living room bare-chested, wearing only a pair of loose, light-blue trousers. The ambient moonlight caught the myriad of scars crisscrossing his well-defined chest and back. Among the faded nicks and cuts, one massive, jagged expanse of scar tissue tore diagonally from his shoulder down across his abdomen. It was a visceral, gruesome souvenir.

Proof that he had crossed blows with Ignia, the Flame God Dragon, and lived to tell the tale.

Dropping onto the plush cushions of his sofa, Chase let out a long breath. He reached over to the polished wooden coffee table and tapped the side of a specialized kettle. A faint pulse of Magic Power flowed from his fingertips into the metal. Instantly, the water inside bubbled to a boil, sending a plume of light steam and the rich, earthy aroma of black tea wafting through the air.

“Magic really is the ultimate convenience.”

Chase poured himself a cup, the hot ceramic warming his palms. He took a slow sip, letting the rich, bitter-sweet flavor wash over his tongue and soothe his throat. He leaned his head back against the sofa, letting the cool breeze from the magical air conditioning unit wash over his skin.

Drinking tea was his preferred method of decompressing. Causing widespread destruction technically counted too, though he rarely ever did that on purpose.

After letting the silence soak into his bones for a long while, Chase slowly opened his eyes. He raised his right hand. A brilliant light flickered at his fingertips, spiraling downward to form a compact, complex magic circle right on the surface of the coffee table.

From the glowing runic ring, a deck of cards materialized.

“Running into Ignia was a complete disaster, but I suppose every cloud has a silver lining,” Chase muttered softly.

His fingers ghosted over the top of the deck, drawing a single card that pulsed with a heavy, suffocating golden aura. He flipped it over, his eyes scanning the majestic, terrifying artwork and the complex text bordering it.

[Slifer the Sky Dragon]: A ten-star monster. One of the legendary Egyptian God Cards, possessing terrifying power capable of devastating the world. Requires a specific incantation to summon.

The deck granted to him by his unique Magic, Duelist’s Soul, was far from complete. Aside from a handful of guaranteed starter cards, new additions only dropped when he engaged in life-or-death combat against formidable enemies. The higher the intensity and danger of the battle, the rarer and more devastating the cards he could extract from the ether.

, the total number of cards in his deck directly dictated his overall Magic Power reserves. For someone who started out as an ordinary person, this expanding reservoir of magic was his greatest asset, the very cheat that had allowed him to skyrocket into the ranks of Fairy Tail’s S-Class Mages. Relying on standard meditation and physical training would have taken decades; if Chase wanted to reach the apex of power, the most direct path was to hunt down the strongest beings in the world and harvest their strength.

His arsenal was divided into three distinct categories: Monster Cards, Trap Cards, and Spell Cards.

Summoning Monster Cards drew heavily on his personal Magic Power. The higher the star rating, the more exhausting the toll. Before acquiring Slifer the Sky Dragon, the crown jewel of his deck had been the eight-star Dark Magician of Chaos, a monster that required him to burn through nearly his entire magical reserve just to manifest.

Trap Cards operated on a different axis. They required a brief chanting period and had to be physically set up in the environment prior to, or during, an engagement to achieve their “instant activation” effect. When he had paralyzed Natsu earlier with Spellbinding Circle, Chase had simply predicted the hot-headed Dragon Slayer’s trajectory, whispered the chant under his breath, and waited for Natsu to charge blindly into the snare. It was the literal definition of a trap.

Spell Cards lacked those tedious setup requirements, offering immediate utility, but they demanded a significantly steeper toll on his Magic Power compared to Traps.

“With my current reserves, forcing Slifer onto the field would probably drain me dry in seconds,” Chase mused, tapping the edge of the God Card against his chin.

Adding a ten-star divine entity to his deck had permanently expanded his Magic Power pool, but jumping straight to summoning a literal god was a gamble he wasn’t ready to take inside his own living room.

Deciding to play it safe, Chase slid Slifer back into the deck and drew a different card with a flick of his wrist. A familiar surge of Magic Power cycled through his veins.

Hummm!

A vibrant pink magic circle bloomed across the wooden floorboards of the living room. Petals of light drifted upward, revealing the silhouette of a petite, energetic figure forming in the center of the glow.

As the light shattered into shimmering dust, the girl fully materialized.

She had bright, expressive emerald eyes and long, vibrant blonde hair framed by slender bangs. She wore a blue conical hat accented with pink stripes, matching a yellow collar around her neck that held a gleaming red gemstone. Her outfit—a blue off-the-shoulder tube top, a short pink cape, and a matching pleated skirt—was perfectly coordinated with her blue and pink wristbands and boots. It was a design that effortlessly balanced youthful cuteness with obvious charm.

[Dark Magician Girl]: A six-star monster card. A genius prodigy highly skilled in the arcane arts of dark magic.

Unfortunately, Dark Magician Girl also possessed a passive, inescapable clumsiness. The absolute second her boots touched the floorboards, her ankle rolled. She pitched forward, arms flailing in a spectacular, Wendy-esque faceplant aimed directly at the coffee table.

At the very last second, using an impressive display of core strength, she twisted her waist, caught her balance, and popped upright.

“Ta-da! The one and only Dark Magician Girl makes her dazzling appearance!” she cheered, gripping her blue-and-pink staff in her right hand while flashing a bright peace sign with her left. “Long time no see, Master!”

Much like Lucy’s Celestial Spirits, the monsters residing within Chase’s deck were fully sentient. They possessed their own distinct personalities, memories, and souls. When they weren’t actively summoned to the physical world, they spent their time lounging around inside the pocket dimension of the deck.

“What do you mean ‘long time no see’?” Chase rested his chin on his hand, looking at the beaming blonde. “We literally saw each other two days ago.”

He sighed, shaking his head. “Also, can we please skip the dramatic entrance poses? Did you completely forget the lesson you learned from stepping directly into a fresh pile of cow dung last time?”

“What?!” Dark Magician Girl’s cheeks puffed out in instant indignation, her emerald eyes narrowing. “That was entirely your fault! Master placed the magic circle in a terrible spot!”

“Constantly perceiving the surrounding environment and making split-second tactical judgments is a fundamental skill for any Magister,” Chase replied, keeping his expression deadpan and authoritative. “If you accidentally stumble into an enemy’s strike zone because you were busy posing, it’s going to cost you a lot more than just a pair of dirty boots.”

“Oh, please. Master would never summon us directly into a dangerous trap,” she deflected, rolling her eyes while twirling her staff.

In truth, the cow dung incident had been entirely her own fault for not looking where she stepped. But what truly terrified her was the prospect of her mentor, the Dark Magician, finding out about such an embarrassing blunder. She would never hear the end of his strict lectures.

Eager to bury the topic, Dark Magician Girl trotted over to the coffee table. She carefully picked up the freshly poured cup of black tea and offered it to Chase with a sweet smile. “Since Master is finally back home, I wonder what grand task you summoned me for?”

Chase took the teacup, bringing it to his lips. Before he could take a sip, Dark Magician Girl leaned over the back of the sofa, peering out the window at the starry Magnolia sky.

She rested her chin on her hands, her tone turning entirely serious as she muttered, “Though, looking at the time… it seems it’s a bit too early to warm Master’s bed.”

Pfft—!

Chase violently choked, spraying hot black tea across the coffee table.

He whipped his head around, coughing. “When did I ever ask you to warm my bed?!”

“Huh? Does Master actually want me to?” Dark Magician Girl blinked innocently. She crossed her arms under her chest, tilting her head with a playful, teasing wink. “Hmm… I suppose it’s not entirely out of the question.”

A muscle feathered in Chase’s jaw. Without a single word, he reached toward his glowing deck and slowly, deliberately, slid the [Dark Magician] card halfway out of the stack.

“I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry!”

Dark Magician Girl’s teasing demeanor vanished instantly. She dropped to the floor, sliding on her knees across the wood until she crashed into the side of the sofa, desperately hugging Chase’s leg and begging for mercy before her strict mentor could be summoned.