At noon, one would have thought the royal capital's dense fog might scatter beneath the midday sun, yet it showed no signs of fading.
The darkness of the fog, into which even sunlight could not penetrate, continued to engulf the duelists still fighting within.
"Stay behind me, Alice."
While searching for Ren, Alice and Ilon also encountered an ambush from Shadow Duelists hidden within the fog.
Alice Carlos, who lacked Spirit Eyes, had to be protected.
As her childhood friend, Ilon believed this firmly. He placed himself before Alice, facing the malice emerging from the darkness alone.
In a Shadow Game, an ordinary duelist usually only had two to three turns. Dragging on too long would overdraw their mental strength, leading to unconsciousness and immediate defeat.
"Rooooar—!"
[White Night Dragon] Level 8│WATER│Dragon│3000 ATK / 2500 DEF ×2
They looked like icy versions of Blue-Eyes White Dragon—nearly identical in form, with the same Attack and Defense stats.
Two roaring ice dragons flapped their wings, condensing the surrounding fog into frost.
The one who summoned and controlled these two White Night Dragons was a Shadow Duelist cloaked in black.
"Freeze and destroy everything, White Night Dragons!—Breath of the Frozen Night!"
Though her robe shadowed half her face, her red lips and the seductive lilt of her voice as she declared the attack revealed that this Shadow Duelist was a woman.
The light of extreme frost pierced across the field, easily destroying Ilon's face-down Defense Position monster.
"Are you alright, Ilon?" Alice, shielded behind him, asked with concern. "Don't push yourself too hard."
"I won't lose to some coward hiding in the dark, Alice!"
With his childhood friend supporting him, Ilon Austin would rather die than lose face before the girl he liked.
"Come to think of it, Alice, this is the first time you've cared about my duel… Even though it's a Shadow Game, I feel kinda happy."
Was this the so-called suspension bridge effect?
When men and women face danger together, the fear-induced pounding of the heart can be mistaken for the thrill of romance, bringing them closer.
Maybe this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance!
If he could show his cool side to Alice and overcome this crisis, surely her affection for him would rise sharply.
"No, Ilon, what I meant was…" Alice shook her head. "If you think you can't win, I'll just run first. I don't want to get caught if you lose."
"S-so that's what you meant." Ilon's lips twitched.
She wasn't worried about him at all… he had completely misunderstood.
But if it weren't true feelings, who would choose to play the fool?
Still, Alice wasn't wrong. It was the most rational choice.
To remain so calm in the midst of danger… Alice Carlos clearly wasn't affected by any suspension bridge effect.
"White Night Dragon, direct attack!"
As Ilon and Alice spoke, the icy strike pierced the battlefield, hitting Ilon directly.
[Ilon, LP: 4000 → 1000]
His Life Points plummeted, and the chilling impact of the Shadow Game made his teeth chatter uncontrollably.
"I think I'll head out first, then!" Alice decided.
"Wait, Alice! My battle is only beginning… a battle of Heroes!"
After taking the direct hit, two monster cards in Ilon's Graveyard activated their effects.
"Heroes? What heroes?"
The woman Shadow Duelist frowned upon hearing the word.
After two turns of battle, Ilon's field had no trace of any Hero—not even a single monster.
"Of course, a Shadow follower wouldn't see them. This fog itself can be called the home field of my Heroes—the Vision HEROes!"
Retrieving two cards from the Graveyard, shadows of Heroes really did emerge within the mist behind Ilon.
"In my Graveyard, Vision HERO Minimum Ray and Vision HERO Multiply Guy each have effects. When I take damage, they can be placed in my Spell & Trap Zone as Continuous Trap Cards."
Not Special Summoned from the Graveyard, but set in the back row as Continuous Traps. That was the Vision HEROes' trait: hidden, waiting in the Spell/Trap Zone.
"Strange heroes. My turn ends."
"My turn! Draw!"
The card he drew was the most crucial Spell for a Hero counterattack.
"Watch closely—the ultimate Hero counterstrike! Spell Card, Vision Fusion!"
[Fusion Summon 1 "HERO" Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, using monsters from your hand or field as Fusion Materials. If you have monsters placed in your Spell & Trap Zone as Continuous Traps, you can also banish up to 2 of them as Fusion Materials.]
A Spell used only for Heroes—or rather, Vision HEROes. It even allowed banishing HEROes set as Continuous Traps or Spells for Fusion.
"I fuse Vision HERO Witch Raider in my hand with the two Vision HEROes in my back row! Three HERO fusion!"
From the mist, three Hero shadows gathered together on Ilon's field. Their fusion expanded, growing into a massive form unlike any ordinary HERO.
"From the vision mist emerges the form of justice—Triple Fists to shatter the world! Fusion Summon! Vision HERO Trinity!"
[Vision HERO Trinity] Level 8│DARK│Warrior│Fusion│2500 ATK / 2000 DEF
[3 "HERO" monsters]
[When Fusion Summoned, this card's ATK becomes double its original ATK. This card can attack 3 times during each Battle Phase, but cannot attack directly.]
The huge red HERO stood with hands on hips, its form resembling a giant combining robot more than a humanoid Hero.
"You fused three HEROes for a monster with only 2500 Attack?" The woman Shadow Duelist sneered. "Even if it can attack three times, its Attack is still far below White Night Dragon."
"The difference is too great indeed. But the weaker side… is you! Look closely with those eyes clouded by darkness—at Trinity's Attack!"
[On the turn this card is Fusion Summoned, its ATK becomes double its original ATK.]
[Vision HERO Trinity, ATK: 2500 → 5000]
Though it couldn't attack directly, 5000 Attack against monsters meant ultimate devastation.
"5000 Attack? Impossible!"
"With two White Night Dragons at 3000 Attack each, there's no better target! Battle, Vision HERO Trinity!"
Charging into the Battle Phase, Trinity unleashed a mighty punch with 5000 Attack. Only the shattered ice shards of White Night Dragon could comprehend the justice within.
[Shadow Duelist, LP: 4000 → 2000]
"One more strike to end this!—Trinity Beam!!"
From its eyes, chest, and abdomen burst three destructive beams, annihilating the second White Night Dragon.
"AHHHHH!"
[Shadow Duelist, LP: 2000 → 0]
With the woman's anguished cry beneath her black robe, justice shattered the Shadow Game barrier, leaving her unconscious.
"See that, Alice? I won!"
Exhausted from the toll of the Shadow Game, Ilon still turned at once to give Alice a thumbs-up.
"Yes, yes, yes (perfunctory), so amazing~ (extremely perfunctory)"
Though she praised her childhood friend aloud, Alice's gaze was fixed on the royal palace.
In this fog that should blind all vision, without Beaconbugs, no one could even tell where the palace was. Yet the light of the Goddess of Sweet Revenge had marked it clearly for a moment.
The divine light had lasted only seconds before vanishing, proof that the duel in the palace had already ended.
"We've searched this long without finding Ren. I don't think she's in the North District."
One south, one north—Alice and Ilon had searched, while Aisha and Professor Field took the other side.
Despite circling the North District, they found nothing—except the Shadow Duelist that proved the danger hidden within the fog.
"If Ren is in the South District, Aisha and Professor Field should've found her by now. I think returning to the manor would be safer."
From the duel, Ilon realized Shadow Duelists weren't just small fry. After all, no mere lackey could summon monsters on the level of two Blue-Eyes.
And since Alice lacked Spirit Eyes, Ilon didn't want to risk her life in another Shadow Game.
"Head back now?" Alice glanced at the time on her pale wristwatch. "Isn't it a little early?"
"Early? Alice, what are you waiting for?"
"Ah, I meant…" Alice looked up at Ilon at a 45-degree angle, a faint blush on her cheeks. "After so long, don't you want to stay out a bit longer on our date?"
"…Huh?"
…Who could resist that?
With a beautiful childhood friend using that tone to suggest a date, Ilon was instantly defeated.
"Th-then… let's search for Ren a bit longer."
Though guilty that looking for his sister had become an 'excuse for a date,' that hint of forbidden sweetness was irresistible before Alice's beauty.
What's wrong with being a simp?
Maybe, in the end, simping brings everything!
…
Meanwhile, inside the palace—
"Young girl, this duel… I have lost."
The Empire's Marshal, keeping his word, lifted the Shadow Game barrier binding Lord Kaiser.
"I… I have a question." Still tied on the ground, Luca turned to Locke Slint with a complicated expression. "If you just admit defeat like this, what about your dear granddaughter?"
The wager included both Kaiser and Luca. If Locke surrendered, Miles surely wouldn't just let Luca go.
"You really tricked me, old man. I won't forgive you!"
"Don't be so hasty, Luca."
Laying down his golden staff, Locke slowly sat cross-legged on the palace floor despite his loss.
"Taking the royal family's Spirit Eyes was part of my deal with Reigun Seth. But if it proves too costly, it's better to abandon it altogether."
The calculating Marshal judged: with the Millennium Puzzle's wielder blocking him, forcing a robbery of the Spirit Eyes would drain what little energy he had left—an unprofitable trade.
That was why he had proposed a duel outside the Shadow Game, with rules that stopped short of death—to test the strength of the Puzzle's holder.
And his result proved him right. If he had gone all-out against Aisha Carlos in a Shadow Game, they both likely would have perished.
"What is this old man planning?" Miles grew uneasy. Locke had admitted defeat so decisively, only to sit unmoving in enemy territory.
"This fog will linger long. The true battle is only beginning."
"True battle?"
"War would be a better word."
Plotting even within enemy lines, Locke Slint tapped the ground with a bony finger, as if calculating.
"It's about time."
Diiing—!
A deep chime echoed through the fog-filled capital, striking unease deep into every heart.
"Inferno Tempest—The Varian Empire's military might is the greatest in the world!"
From the fog-covered skies above, where the bell tolled, a massive flaming warhead descended like a nuclear bomb, hurled into the capital below.
The Inferno Tempest's blast targeted today's gathering place of Livorden's noble families and duelists—the manor.
The nuclear requiem resounded, dyeing the royal capital, peaceful for a century, in the crimson of war and disaster.
...
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