Villy Barrett, long accustomed to arrogance and entitlement, felt not the slightest hint of remorse at the scene before him.
"That's what you get for trying to lecture me, old man—your big mouth got you this!"
With no more wine to drink, he tossed aside the broken handle of the glass and kicked open the tavern door, leaving.
The alley at night was dimly lit, the occasional cold wind blowing through.
Yet the chill of deep winter couldn't dispel the heat boiling in Villy Barrett's chest.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Fueled by alcohol, his rage reached its peak.
"Alice Carlos, you bitch! You dared reject my engagement and even had your sister come out to beat me! Everything, everything, is your fault!"
Spewing vulgarities, Villy shifted all blame for the day's humiliations onto Alice.
"Since you've been unjust to me, don't blame me for returning the favor. A mere baron's family is as easy to crush as an ant. Don't think cozying up to the third princess will let you stand against the Barretts."
Drunkenly stalking through the alley, he cursed Alice while plotting revenge.
He had never been so humiliated—this was surely the angriest night of his life.
However, gradually, Villy began to sense something was wrong.
At first, he thought he was just lost from drinking too much. But after paying closer attention to the street signs, he realized that no matter how straight he walked, he always ended up back at the same signpost.
As if caught in a bizarre loop, the deserted alley stretched on infinitely in the silent night, with no end in sight.
An eerie wind blew past. By the fifth time he passed the same signpost, the winter chill finally overcame the alcohol, making him shiver.
"What the hell is going on? Am I dreaming?"
"A dream? If only you were so lucky."
A drawn-out, feminine voice echoed as a black-robed Barrier Mage—Megan—stepped from the darkness.
The same female Dark Duelist who was once defeated by Ren and Miles together in the hills behind Fusion Academy.
As the price for her loss, she had one eye taken; now she wore an eyepatch over the empty socket on her otherwise fair face.
"You! Who are you?!"
That black robe, almost blending into the darkness, told even Villy—pig-headed as he was—that she came with ill intent.
"I was ordered to place this barrier. The only way to leave… is to win a Shadow Game!"
"A Shadow Game? You're… a Shadow Duelist?!"
The shock sobered him instantly. Realizing her identity, Villy loaded his Deck into his Spirit Eyes.
"A stray skulking in the dark without proper training? Don't think you can beat a Starcrest Academy student!"
"You misunderstand, boy. I'm merely here to set the barrier. The one who'll actually face you in the Shadow Game… is someone else~"
Megan stepped aside, revealing another black-robed, hooded female figure hidden in the darkness.
"Well done, Megan. As expected of a Barrier Mage once famed across the continent."
The voice was all too familiar, making Villy's facial muscles twitch violently.
"Y-you… masaka…"
"What's wrong? Has it really been so long you can't recognize the fiancée you pine for day and night?"
She pulled back the hood, revealing long white hair shimmering with starlight in the moonlight, cascading like a galactic waterfall.
Gone was the opulent gown from the banquet. Even in a simple black robe, the moonlit beauty of the girl's face could not be hidden.
"Alice Carlos!"
Villy's teeth ground nearly to dust in fury. The woman who had caused his disgrace had now trapped him here for a Shadow Game.
Suddenly, he realized something else was off.
"A Shadow Game? Alice Carlos—your family publicly claims you don't have Spirit Eyes. Was that a lie? You know deceiving every family and even the royal house would have dire consequences!"
"Of course I don't have Spirit Eyes."
Alice's calm gaze stayed fixed on him.
"But someone like you deserves to have them? Frankly, a scumbag like you being a Duelist is an insult to this world."
She lifted her sleeve, revealing a Spirit Eyes hanging on her pale, slender arm.
Albeit this Spirit Eyes was unlike any Villy had seen—its glow was so dim it felt like one from which all Duelist spirit had been drained.
"Alice Carlos, you—?"
Ignoring his question, Alice drew a Deck from within her robe.
This shocked Villy even more—a person supposedly without Spirit Eyes having their own Deck.
"One last use left in this Spirit Eyes? That's enough."
Black mist spread through the barrier. Though Alice bore no Millennium Item, she could use Megan's aid to open a Shadow Game.
"Tonight, your father, Marquis Barrett, told me this matter wasn't over. I quite agree—after all, if you don't pull weeds out by the roots, they'll grow back."
Her signature skill—speaking the cruelest words in the gentlest tone.
For the first time, Villy felt a true Shadow Game envelop him, and his legs trembled uncontrollably.
"The marquis's son… how laughable. Where's that Starcrest Academy pride? Don't tell me you're scared of someone who's spent most of her life without Spirit Eyes?"
"Most of your life without Spirit Eyes?"
In the grip of abyssal fear, it was easy to lose reason.
And so Villy believed her words instantly.
Even if it was a lie, in a state of extreme tension, the mind would seize on anything that seemed to favor itself.
"So you're just a Duel rookie, Alice Carlos!"
"Heh."
With a charming smile, her red lips parted to drop a single word:
"Idiot!"
...
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