"I set one card and end my turn!"
Setting the only Trap in hand, Miles ended the turn with a blank face.
"Just as I thought… you've no means left to resist, brat with the Millennium Puzzle!"
Absolutely certain of victory, the Empire Marshal—restored to youthful vigor—seemed to shine.
"My turn. Draw."
He didn't even bother to look at the draw; so certain was Locke Slint in the victory his Millennium Eye foresaw.
…Still, may as well glance.
More than the drawn card itself, what Locke most needed to confirm was his opponent's heart. The only variable now lay in what Field Spell Miles could access through the Trap 'Metaverse'.
[Metaverse — Trap: Take 1 Field Spell from your Deck, and either add it to your hand or activate it.]
He poured still more magic into the Millennium Eye, driving it to pierce even deeper—down to the opponent's truest subconscious, and even which Field Spell that Trap would bring forth.
"No one escapes my gaze! It's been so for a hundred years—and will be so for all my eternal life!"
Dark light flashed without restraint from the Eye, spearing through the frail girl's body to the depths of her soul. Locke sought Miles's deepest thought at this very moment.
"'So I'm going to lose…'"
That was the precise answer the Eye delivered after laying the opponent's heart bare.
"Ha… haha… hahahahaha!"
The Marshal's smile swelled from mild to manic. Nothing left to fear. The foe had lost his will to fight; his subconscious admitted defeat. What could be more reassuring?
"So you've already conceded, kid. No one can fool their own subconscious. I'm already the victor."
Just like every duel in the Marshal's century of life—at the end, the Millennium Eye always saw the moment the foe's resolve broke. Even the Puzzle's bearer was no exception.
"Now, the only question is how to make you suffer most in this Shadow Game!"
His rage at the stolen life-force not yet spent, Locke finally glanced at his draw.
"I Tribute my three Phantasm Tokens to Advance Summon—'The Tripping Mercury'!"
[The Tripping Mercury] Level 8│WATER│Aqua│2000 ATK/2000 DEF
[This card can make a second attack during each Battle Phase. If this card was Tribute Summoned by Tributing 3 monsters: While this card is face-up on the field, all monsters your opponent controls lose their ATK and become 0.]
The dual blades signified two attacks per turn. Like The Supremacy Sun and The Suppression Pluto, another of the Legendary Planet cards strode into the dark.
"Mercury, huh?" It was the third Planet card the Slint family had shown—hard to ignore. And an 8-star using three Tributes? Odd—until Locke explained:
"When Tribute Summoned with three Tributes, Mercury gains an extra effect. While it stands, all your monsters' Attack becomes 0!"
Waves spread through the darkness, encasing the 4000-ATK 'Dark Soul Token' in a massive sphere of water.
[Dark Soul Token, ATK: 4000 → 0]
Now, not only was Hamon at 0, so was the Token born from Hamon's stolen power.
"Enraging me comes at a price. You'll feel it—body and soul!"
He'd double Raviel's Attack with Shimmering Scraper, then smash the 0-ATK Token with a nuclear punch. The resulting 8000 damage would, in the Shadow Game, obliterate the white-haired girl's body and soul alike.
"From my hand—'Raviel, Lord of Phantasms - Shimmering Scraper'! Pulverize everything, Raviel!"
[Raviel, Lord of Phantasms, ATK: 4000 → 8000]
The second 8000-ATK fist bloomed in the Shadow Game. With a bellow, Locke hurled it at the 0-ATK Token—
—and then, in the very next instant, something the Millennium Eye had not seen in a hundred years happened.
"In a Shadow Game, you even choose the line that hurts more. How vicious, old man!—Trap, 'Metaverse'! I activate a Field Spell straight from my Deck!"
Miles was nothing like someone who'd lost his will to fight.
"Impossible… your subconscious clearly admitted defeat just now!" Locke drove the Eye again—and saw: "'Who's giving up! Peek again and I'll kill you, old fossil!'"
No one could lie to their own subconscious—yet for the first time, the Eye had been fooled.
"From my Deck—I activate the Field Spell 'Chicken Game'!"
The new Field immediately overrode the Sacred Beasts' 'Fallen Paradise'. Locke hadn't used its draw this turn because the Eye had already 'confirmed' the opponent's surrender.
Who could have guessed—the Empire Marshal, wielder of an Eye that had pierced hearts for a century, would be deceived at last.
[While this card is in the Field Zone, the player with the lowest LP takes no damage.]
The racing arena replaced Fallen Paradise's tree, granting the lower-LP Miles immunity to all damage.
Even with the Token at 0 and Raviel at 8000, no damage would be dealt.
"How can this be… no damage? Someone who can deceive the Millennium Eye actually exists!"
Miles smiled. "Do you know why the Millennium Puzzle is the chief of the Items? Because it can check the others—including tricking the Millennium Eye."
Humans can't lie to their subconscious—but deceiving the Eye is not the same as deceiving oneself. The Puzzle can do it.
Aisha shouted with a (￣ー￣) face, "Mr. Miles, you tricked me!"
"Don't be mad, Aisha. To fool the enemy, you sometimes have to fool your allies first."
Before the previous turn ended—
"This looks bad, Mr. Miles. No… very bad!" If Locke could see the dead end from Miles's last three cards, Aisha—whose body he wore—could see it too.
"It feels impossible to stop Raviel's Shimmering Scraper." Aisha didn't know Miles had tucked 'Chicken Game' into the Deck.
"Still, you have a way, right?"
"It's very bad. In fact, unwinnable."
"Eeeh? Unwinnable? Really?"
"Pearl-truth. Since we'll lose anyway, why don't you take the last turn for me, Aisha?"
—Soul Exchange!
So with a simple feint, Aisha set the last card—thinking, 'So we're going to lose…' And that was exactly what Locke's Eye read: a different soul's thoughts at the key moment. That was how the Puzzle tricked the Eye.
Standing amid the new Field, Miles declared, "Thanks to 'Chicken Game', with me at lower LP, all damage I take becomes 0. Attack all you want—it won't matter!"
However, Chicken Game bears a fatal flaw: during the Main Phase, either player can pay 1000 LP to destroy it.
Thus, it had to be deployed via 'Metaverse' during the Battle Phase. Had Locke used Fallen Paradise's draw to find removal—or forced an earlier chain—Miles would have lost everything. To deceive the enemy, he had to deceive his ally as well. A wager fit for 'Chicken Game' in name and art.
A game of nerve—two racers speed toward a cliff, never braking, only accelerating. Whoever brakes first loses—the chicken.
"Old man, your overreliance on the Eye became your weakness!"
Had he dueled like a normal man—without the Eye—he wouldn't have grown so arrogant, wouldn't have assumed the foe had lost all will with a set card still live, wouldn't have skipped Fallen Paradise's draw, wouldn't have wasted a Shimmering Scraper.
Using a face-up Trap to execute a plan tailored against the Eye itself—that too was a hidden 'hole card'.
Of course, even fooling the Eye didn't change the fact that Miles' last two cards held no fighting power.
...
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