"The Sacred Beasts' cards?"
Bending down, Miles picked up the three cards lying on the ground. If half the blame lay with the Millennium Items, then surely the other half belonged to these Sacred Beast cards.
Raviel, Lord of Phantasms.
Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder.
Uria, Lord of Searing Flames.
Three legendary dark cards said to grant their wielder eternal life.
Regardless of their actual power, that temptation alone would surely give rise to another Locke, a third Locke—more who would fall into darkness in pursuit of immortality.
"This darkness and responsibility… I'll bear them myself!"
And so Miles made the difficult choice to take the three Sacred Beasts, to keep them from further cursing the Spirit Continent.
Aisha's brow furrowed, "Mr. Miles, you're just indulging a card-collecting hobby, aren't you?!"
"Nonsense! My heart and deeds are clear as a mirror—all I do is for justice!"
The chains of desire, darkness, and greed—he would sever them with his own hands.
Of course, merely taking the cards didn't mean he would put them in his Deck. That would require careful thought. At a glance, though, with their summoning conditions, putting them into Aisha's Deck would only clog it up. Most likely, he wouldn't use them.
"We did it, Miles, we won!"
Two girls' voices cried out in excitement. Before Miles could return his body to Aisha, they had both tackled him at once. He felt Aisha's already-light frame knocked off balance by two soft impacts—one even lighter than hers.
"Hm?"
Ren and Nova, sprawled atop him, met each other's eyes, both asking the same question at once.
"Why do you know Miles, too?" ×2
The young princess blinked her golden eyes innocently, but Ren froze as realization struck her.
The next second, Miles felt a sharp pain at Aisha's waist—Ren was pinching her hard.
"Ren… you?" Miles asked, enduring the pain.
"Miles, you didn't… did you? With a child like the Third Princess?"
Her eyes darkened, as if she were about to revert to the shadowed state she had shown when dueling Aisha with Evil HEROes.
"Ren, do I still get a chance to explain?"
"Explain yourself, beast."
Not entirely unreasonable, at least… she was willing to hear him out as he briefly explained how Princess Nova had fallen into the Shadow Game. Though throughout, her fingers kept mercilessly digging into Aisha's slender waist, leaving Miles quietly groaning.
"So in the end… another has joined us," Ren sighed once she heard the truth. "I thought it was just Kaima we'd added…"
"Hmph, don't count me in so easily!"
Remembering the humiliation of her body being controlled by Miles, Kaima—her pride towering—felt utterly disgraced. 'To think I, Kaima Seth, endured such shame. I'll remember this grudge.'
"Aisha, it's time to switch back. I'm tired."
"…"
"Aisha?"
Unusually, she did not answer right away. Normally in the Soul Room, she was like a loyal pup waiting for her master—always ready with a reply, even just a quip. But now, she was absent-minded.
"Aisha? Aisha Carlos?"
"Ah—Mr. Miles! Sorry, I was spacing out!"
Like a student caught napping in class, she blurted out an apology. The truth was, Ren and Nova's sudden closeness had stirred her sense of crisis.
"Be careful, and it might be stolen away."
She remembered Luca's warning. Was she being too carefree? Had she been too naive? What if it really were stolen?
The barrage of soul-searching questions nearly pulled Aisha into a spiral of doubt.
Finally, she replied, and Miles added, "I don't blame you. I just think it's time to switch back… we've shared bodies long enough."
It had been the longest they'd ever stayed swapped, since the mist first fell. Any longer, and even her body might forget its true owner.
"Alright, alright, let's switch. Hurry back, Mr. Miles!"
This time, Aisha welcomed the change eagerly—hoping to get him away from the other girls.
The Millennium Puzzle glowed, and Miles at last returned to the familiar comfort of his Soul Room.
"Welcome back, Miles. You've worked hard this time." Waiting for him was Dark Aisha, wearing a smile she had secretly practiced many times—a little stiff, but unmistakably meant as a "welcome home."
"I wasn't the only one. Your support was a huge help." Miles flicked his fingers, sending the Trap Card [Wonder Xyz] back into her hand.
That card, swiped from Dark Aisha's summoning pile, had been the key to overturning Cameron Slint's duel, and the very trigger for the birth of [Number 39: Utopia Roots].
"Teach me next time—how to summon cards in the Soul Room."
"You want to summon cards too, Miles?"
Dark Aisha's ahoge quivered in surprise.
It was simple: if cards from the Soul Room could be brought outside, then if he could summon like she did, his Deck could grow stronger faster. He had tried in the past, but he was just an ordinary person, used to daily life and duels—not sword and magic.
Even copying Aisha's method, he had never once succeeded. For him, it was already in the realm of the supernatural—too hard to master alone.
Dark Aisha sighed. "It's impossible. This kind of thing requires talent."
"Ah? You're saying I don't have talent?"
"I'm saying I don't have the talent to teach you…"
Her voice wilted. Self-doubt was etched deep in her bones… she knew she'd been expelled from Fusion Academy because her summoning skills weren't good enough. Now, asked to teach Miles, her cheeks puffed in frustration.
...
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