"(;?д?) Krista, why do you look like you've suddenly gotten fired up?"
Feeling the killing intent, Aisha hastily stepped back.
How could she not be startled—the murderous aura bursting out from Krista at that instant was absolutely real.
The moment she learned that all she needed to escape her current predicament was to obtain the Millennium Puzzle, Krista didn't hesitate for even a second.
"Sorry, Carlos. I really need him!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the Spirit Eyes on Krista's arm began to flicker with starlight.
"No, this doesn't make sense." Aisha shook her head violently. "Weren't we supposed to be helping Krista find a solution to her problem?"
"And that's exactly what we just found," Krista said calmly.
"How is that a solution?!" Aisha protested, clutching the Puzzle to her chest. "No way! I'm not giving it to you, absolutely not!"
"Viel, Boss..."
Though anyone would find the proposal tempting, Ren immediately sensed that this smirking, bratty loli Viel was undoubtedly stirring up trouble.
"You definitely have some other plan, don't you? If this was really the only way, you wouldn't have bothered calling the two of them to the Magic Workshop."
"No, I called them here precisely because I wanted to see them fight," Viel admitted without shame. "Besides, there really isn't any other way."
Truly rotten to the core.
Of course, from Krista's perspective, obtaining the Millennium Puzzle not only meant freeing herself from her current crisis but also becoming the new host for the spirit Miles, living a life of mutual support and dueling together.
It was practically two blessings in one—a double stroke of fortune.
"This must be the outcome Father would have wanted!" (It wasn't.)
Regardless, for Aisha, there was no way she could accept this duel.
That last time with Ren had been a special case due to the magic fog's corruption.
However, this time, why should she have to risk the Millennium Puzzle and Miles himself in a duel against Krista?
"I refuse! I'm not going to duel you, Krista."
"Oh? Aisha Carlos, already thinking of running away?" said Viel, completely in full mischief mode, fanning the flames. "After all, every time you face trouble, I bet you do exactly what you're doing now—turn tail and let Miles handle the fight for you."
"Urgh..."
The words pierced Aisha's heart like a knife; her slender body trembled wildly.
Viel continued, "What about your own battles? Or do you plan to hide behind Miles for the rest of your life? If that's the case, you don't even deserve to wield a Millennium Item!"
"Aren't you being a little harsh, Boss Viel?"
Seeing her childhood friend stunned speechless under Viel's scolding, Ren couldn't bear it and tried to intervene.
"Ai-san has plenty of good sides too. It's not like you have to fight to—"
"Yes, you do have to fight!" Viel corrected sternly.
"For the bearers of the Millennium Items, battle is their destiny. A holder who runs from a duel simply has no right to keep their Item."
The destiny that draws Millennium Item holders to one another is also the destiny that compels them to fight.
Whether spirit or host, if one loses the will to battle, the other cannot remain untouched.
When Miles saw the fate of Camille, the spirit of the Millennium Key, he had seriously thought about this problem.
It wasn't enough for him alone to grow stronger—Aisha, as his host, must not remain weak either.
If someday he were to regain a body and leave the Millennium Puzzle, would Aisha have the strength and resolve to bear the Millennium Item's fate alone?
"Maybe this is the chance she needs… no, there might never be a better one."
A chance for Aisha to truly grasp the meaning of resolve in battle, and without the lethal danger of a Shadow Duel.
At worst, it would just mean changing hosts (not really).
Miles suddenly felt that maybe Viel wasn't quite so rotten after all.
Perhaps this whimsical magitech witch had deeper intentions than she let on.
"Miles, aren't you rushing things a bit?" Dark Aisha asked worriedly. "If you let my other self duel Krista now, won't she just get wrecked?"
After all, Krista was a top-tier third-year powerhouse at Synchron Academy.
And from the look of her now, there was no way she intended to hold back even a bit.
At Aisha's current second-year Fusion Academy level, she was almost guaranteed to be crushed.
Even Stardust-chan flapped her wings beside them and added, "And if you jump in to help her again, it'll just backfire, you know."
"I won't. Not this time," Miles said, sitting cross-legged with arms folded, unusually resolute.
He had to push Aisha a little.
"Miles, I..."
Sure enough, the next second, Aisha's small, pitiful voice came through.
Miles: "Think about it. Krista's dedicated Stardust Synchro Deck must be pretty good to use, right?"
Aisha: "Σ(?Д?;) Miles! Are you already thinking about changing hosts?!"
Dark Aisha: "Miles, you really are such a bad guy."
Thanks to Viel's mischief, the flames of battle were completely ignited, and before she realized it, Aisha Carlos was already standing at the heart of the blaze.
This time, she had to face the fire herself… Miles could no longer shield her from it.
She clenched her small pink fists, loosened them, clenched again—three times in a row—before finally taking a deep breath.
Aisha's gemlike emerald eyes grew steadily more determined.
"If this is the destiny of a Millennium Item holder… and if Miles wants me to fight… then I'll fight!"
"Oh? Finally fired up?"
Seeing Aisha's response, Krista's Spirit Eyes flared even brighter, impatience flickering in her gaze.
"Then whoever wins can take the Millennium Puzzle, right?"
"Wrong!" Aisha shot back firmly.
"Huh? Didn't you just agree to duel, Carlos?"
"The problem is, the Millennium Puzzle is mine to begin with! So you'd better be just as ready, Krista!"
The Spirit Eyes on Aisha's arm gleamed as she pointed toward Krista.
"If I win this duel, Krista… you'll stop trying to take Miles from me! And from now on, you'll stay quietly inside the Deck as Shooting Quasar Dragon!"
"Huh? You want me to stay in the Deck forever as Quasar?!"
Even Krista, who just moments ago had been so confident issuing the challenge, wavered.
Aisha's condition was that extreme.
That would mean if she lost… she couldn't be human anymore?
Albeit Aisha wasn't wrong.
The Millennium Puzzle rightfully belonged to the Carlos family. What Krista was doing now was nothing short of trying to steal both Aisha's Item and Miles.
Only on equal terms could this duel be justified. Without that resolve, the battle would be nothing but empty talk.
"Making Krista give up being human… that's a condition I never thought Ai-san could come up with," Ren swallowed nervously. "Looks like she's really angry this time."
Anger stat: 3000 Attack.
Indeed… if it were Ren and someone tried to take Miles and the Puzzle from her, she'd be even angrier.
"Hehe, things are getting interesting," Viel chuckled, her loli grin (and wickedness) shining even brighter.
"Good thing I got up early for this. Oh, and if you're going to fight, do it outside—don't wreck my shop."
Narrowing her eyes, Krista waged an inner struggle for several long minutes before finally opening her violet-blue eyes again.
"Fine. I accept your terms, Carlos!"
The duel conditions were set.
Either Aisha Carlos would lose the Millennium Puzzle—or Krista Shia would lose her humanity.
Before coming to Viel's Witch Workshop, Ren never imagined things would escalate this far.
It was turning into something even more intense than a Shadow Game. Both sides were betting on what mattered most to them.
"But… can Ai-san really win?" Ren couldn't help but worry.
Krista Shia was a genuine ace of Synchron Academy's third year: a rival who could even put Miles in a tough spot during a Turbo Duel. Now Aisha would face her alone.
Ren wasn't just afraid of losing Miles; she also feared that if her childhood friend really lost this duel, she might never recover.
"Ai-san… never recover?"
A stabbing pain flashed through Ren's mind—a memory echo from Super Polymerization.
As though some buried keyword had been triggered, her subconscious whispered that a broken Aisha was something terrifying beyond words.
"'Aisha Carlos destroyed the future with her own hands.'"
Viel said, "Whether she wins or not, we'll see. That said, this duel might let me witness something fascinating. Alester's judgment was right."
Having successfully provoked this battle, Viel's true interest lay in something far deeper than the rhetoric about 'Millennium Item holders' resolve.'
Yesterday, during the final Turbo Duel against Demolish, when Viel saw Aisha Carlos's body being controlled by Miles, she came to the same conclusion as Alester.
Aisha Yuna Carlos—this girl was unlike any other duelist.
Within her lay a causality thread that connected to the future itself.
If that power awakened, it could easily reshape the world.
Whether for good or ill, even one of the Three Sages like Viel wouldn't dare make that prediction.
...
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