"Luca Slint… are you really Luca?"
The figure that emerged from the mist—Luca Slint—looked exactly as she had before prison left her scarred, her beauty fully restored.
"Ugh, so gross!"
Princess Nova gagged on the spot. As the kingdom's sheltered jewel, she had never seen such gore.
Before them lay the Empire Marshal, Locke Slint. Half his face had been ripped apart by Luca's bare hands to extract the Millennium Eye, red and white fluids splattering the ground. Even Miles felt his stomach churn, forcing himself to look away from the grisly scene.
Regardless, the method itself was far too bizarre. The skull is incredibly tough… how could a girl like Luca, who looked as fragile as glass, crush half a skull with her bare hands?
Kaima said gravely, "Locke Slint deserved to die ten thousand times for what he's done. But to think his end came at the hands of his own granddaughter… what a display of family affection."
She had just beaten her own father bloody in a Shadow Game, and could still say this with a straight face. Truly Kaima.
"Grandfather? Hahaha! You really don't get it, do you?"
Luca laughed, clutching the blood-soaked Millennium Eye, her grin bright and radiant.
"To him, everything but eternal life was just a tool. Even his granddaughter. So in the end, being used by me once isn't so unfair… oh, right, dead men can't complain anyway."
With that, she stepped up to the fallen Reigun Seth and kicked him ten meters away with her white-stockinged leg. The Millennium Rod slipped from his hand, falling neatly into hers.
"These pompous nobles disgust me. Because of power struggles like yours, I rotted for half a year in that place, suffering endlessly. Just thinking about it makes me furious—ugh, one more kick!"
Meanwhile, inside the First Prison of the Capital…
"So the battle outside is finished. Millennium Items really are the most anomalous of existences."
Within the magical barrier they had set, Alester and Viel hadn't lost their life force to the Sacred Beasts' fog. Still, if it had persisted, they'd have had no way to escape the capital without a Millennium Item.
"Back to what we were discussing. What did you give that test subject as payment?"
"Aley, you really are fixated on that."
Viel's trademark mischievous smirk returned.
"Since you're asking so sincerely, I'll tell you. Nothing too special. The lab ruined the kid's body, so I made a new one and transferred his consciousness into it."
"You forged a new body? Like the one you just showed?"
"Not exactly~"
She made a cheeky 'not my fault' face.
"When I built the kid's new body, I added a little… extra spice. So it turned out a bit exaggerated."
"Exaggerated? How much?"
"Let's just say it surpassed human limits. Like—'I reject my humanity, JoJo!'"
"Seriously? You think that's okay?" Alester's lip twitched.
With Millennium Rod in her right hand, Millennium Eye in her left, and a replica Millennium Ring on her chest, Luca Slint stood in the mist, wrapped in darkness. Three-fold power surged, wreathing the girl's body in an unprecedented aura.
"This power is exquisite. And this body that can endure three Millennium Items at once… it's intoxicating!"
Indeed, she looked ecstatic, her angelic face twisting under the thrill.
Of course, a pretty girl's twisted expression was still easier on the eyes than an old man's.
Aisha muttered, "Miles… has Luca finally snapped completely?"
"She looks fine to me. More than fine—she used us all."
The mention of 'body' told Miles enough. The 'Luca Slint' they had once captured as a hostage must have been a fake body meant to deceive everyone.
Not even her grandfather Locke knew her scheme. She had tricked allies as well as enemies.
From the shadows, Luca had waited until the duel ended—until Locke was at his weakest—then struck, seizing two Millennium Items at once.
In the end, Miles and his allies, who had fought to the brink of death to win the Shadow Game, were nothing but her pawns.
"Dear Aisha Carlos, my best roommate, my only friend—I've missed you so much!"
"Sorry, you're a terrible friend. We'll pass."
"That's fine. You can't escape anyway. Now, let's resume the Shadow Game—the intruder duel!"
"Intruder duel?" the three echoed in shock.
The Spirit Eyes, which had dimmed after the Shadow Game's end, lit up again as if time itself had rewound.
The Graveyard, the monsters, even Life Points—all reset to the last moment before the duel ended.
[Ren, LP: 500]
[Kaima, LP: 2000]
[Aisha, LP: 2000]
On Ren's field: Elemental HERO Flame Wingman, summoned in the finishing move.
On Kaima's field: Deep-Eyes White Dragon, who had unleashed the nuclear blast of light.
Only Aisha's field was empty, her Winged Kuriboh LV10 having Tributed itself in the counterattack.
And all three were in topdeck mode, no cards in hand.
[Luca Slint, LP: 4000]
As for Luca, who had barged into the Shadow Game with full Life Points—because the three had already lost, she inherited no monsters, no cards in hand.
An empty field, an empty hand, and forced into a 1v3. Kaima scoffed, "You're nothing but a sandbag."
She pointed to Deep-Eyes.
"Deep-Eyes White Dragon's effect! It gains the Attack of the highest-ATK Dragon in the Graveyard! I set its ATK to 4500—the same as Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"
[Deep-Eyes White Dragon, ATK: 4500]
With one strike from Deep-Eyes, Luca's intruder duel could be ended in light.
...
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