Chapter 157 - 157

"What's going on? Due to the god's effect, there shouldn't be any cards left on the field!" Keith, who had once again gained the upper hand thanks to the special effects of his Evil God card, furrowed his brows as he looked at the faint light flickering on Hoshino's field. "Keith, let me correct you on two points." Hoshino turned slightly, holding up two fingers in a cool gesture. "First, the card I drew this turn wasn't a Spell or Trap card, but an actual Monster card!" "What? That's impossible! You clearly just placed the card in the Spell/Trap zone!" Keith was utterly confused. "Second, this card represents the bond I have with my deck! It's the only card in my deck that could defeat you this turn, a small yet massive glimmer of hope!" "No matter what kind of hope it is, it will be erased by the Evil God. In the face of the Evil God, there is no hope!" "There is! Thanks to this card's effect, I can Special Summon a monster!" Hoshino drew the card she had placed in the Duel Disk's Spell/Trap zone and placed it onto the Monster Zone. "Because the set card [Heroic Spirit – Andersen] was destroyed, I can now Special Summon him according to his effect!" [Heroic Spirit - Hans Christian Andersen ★★ (2 stars)][LIGHT] [Spellcaster/Effect][ATK 1000/DEF 200] [①: This card can be set as a Continuous Trap Card in the Spell/Trap Zone. ②: While this card is face-up on the field, all [Heroic Spirit] monsters gain 300 ATK and DEF. ③: When this card in the Spell/Trap Zone is destroyed by an opponent's effect, you can Special Summon this card. ④: If an effect that would destroy cards on the field is activated, you can release this card to negate that effect and destroy it.] "Why do I always get stuck cleaning up these messes?" grumbled Andersen in a deep voice that didn't match his young appearance, as he materialized from the faint light on the field. "And what's with all this disgusting black stuff everywhere?" He lifted his shoe to shake off the sludge with a look of disgust. "You finally get to work after such a long time, and you're still complaining? What happened to the motivation you had when you overworked yourself to death?" Hoshino joked. In the past, when she hadn't yet pulled Merlin or Waver, Andersen had been her go-to support in difficult battles. "A writer only gets that motivation when they're on a deadline... but," Andersen shot a meaningful glance at the bewildered Keith, a mischievous smile forming on his face, "it's sometimes good to vent frustrations with easy tasks like this!" "No way! You placed a monster card in the Spell/Trap zone?!" Keith waved his hand in disbelief, refusing to accept the reality before him. "Instead of summoning it directly, I set it..." Keith's initial denial gradually gave way to horror. His eyes widened as he looked at Hoshino like she was some kind of monster. "Could it be…? Did you plan all of this? Did you even predict my Evil God's effect and the exact timing of when I'd trigger its self-destruction?!" "Did you plan everything?!" Keith shouted in disbelief. "Exactly! I never play a card without knowing the outcome!" Hoshino seamlessly completed Keith's despairing shout, as if reading from a script. "End this, Andersen. Let him feel the burning rage of an author!" Pointing toward Keith, Hoshino gave Andersen the final attack command. "Even an author has limits! You'll all taste the despair of a writer being hounded on their deadline!" Andersen swung his hand, holding an empty book and a quill. Massive ice spikes formed across the battlefield, creating a frigid path that rushed toward Keith. The roaring ice, like a dragon, engulfed Keith's body. "Muda, muda, muda!" Andersen, seemingly enjoying his rare chance to vent, shouted odd phrases as he furiously scribbled on the book's pages. "This is the story I've written for you—Keith's Bizarre Adventure!" The narrow alleyway was completely filled, and a towering wall of ice froze Keith with a twisted expression on his face. Even though it was all just a holographic image, the experience felt so real that Keith's brain, overwhelmed by the signals, shut down entirely. [Keith LP: 500 → 0] [Duel Over. The Winner: Hoshino Chiyuki.] "Phew! Finally, it's over. I feel like I haven't had such a tough duel in a long time." The moment Keith's Life Points hit zero, Hoshino's nerves finally relaxed, and her legs nearly gave out from the tension. "You did it, Hoshino!" Mokuba, overcome with excitement, leaped toward Hoshino, inadvertently knocking her over since her legs were already weak. "Ouch, ouch!" Hoshino rubbed her sore bottom, giving Mokuba, who was lying on top of her, a light smack. "Don't get so excited. It's not like this is my first win, though this one was tough." "Still, I've finally secured the second Evil God card…" As she spoke, Hoshino quickly looked up, realizing something. "As I thought, that bastard's trying to run again!" Keith had a history of trying to escape after losing. The last time he was defeated in the cave battle, he bolted without even leaving behind the Star Chip. Given the rarity of the Evil God card at stake this time, expecting Keith to stay put was wishful thinking. "Mokuba, where are the bodyguards you contacted?!" "They should be arriving any moment now. Damn it!" Mokuba cursed in frustration. Cheating after losing a duel was unacceptable in Battle City. If they had been on a main street, the patrol staff would have apprehended Keith on the spot. But Keith had cleverly lured them into a narrow alley, where no staff would pass by. "You brats! Don't think you can rest easy yet. I will be back!" Even though he had lost the duel, Keith, now completely shameless, didn't seem the least bit affected. But just as Keith was about to escape the narrow alley and make a break for it… Clang! The sound of chains echoed again. This time, the chains weren't binding a Duel Monster—they wrapped around Keith himself, holding him tightly in place. "Humans as shameless as you are even worse than stones!" Enkidu, inexplicably materialized in the alley, placed a hand on the wall. From the opposite wall, the Chains of Heaven shot out, ruthlessly dragging Keith back. "Huh? Enkidu, why…?" Hoshino asked, utterly confused, as she looked at the now-physical Enkidu standing beside her. "Master, did you forget to retrieve my card?" Enkidu asked with a bright smile, dragging Keith along as they spoke. Watching Enkidu, who was smiling brightly while dragging Keith across the ground, Hoshino couldn't help but swallow nervously. Come to think of it, she really had forgotten to take Enkidu's card out of the Monster Zone of her Duel Disk. After the Evil God's field-wipe effect, Hoshino had only pulled Andersen out from the Spell and Trap zone and played him onto the Duel Disk, without bothering to send the destroyed Enkidu to the graveyard. However, even if she hadn't manually removed the card, the Duel Disk should have automatically recognized that Enkidu had gone to the graveyard. But this situation was definitely beyond Hoshino's understanding… "How is this happening? The Duel Disk is only capable of holographic projection; it shouldn't be able to do something like this!" Mokuba, sitting atop Hoshino, was even more shocked than she was. "Mokuba, could you get off me, please?" Even though Mokuba was just an elementary schooler and light as a feather, Hoshino still felt awkward having him on top of her. "Ah, sorry, Hoshino!" Realizing his impoliteness, Mokuba blushed and quickly jumped off. In the brief exchange that followed, Keith had already been dragged back to their side, scraping across the ground. "So, Master, what do you want to do with this man?" Looking at the dumbfounded Keith, Hoshino couldn't help but recall his arrogant words when he tried to escape: "I'll be back!" She couldn't resist teasing him, "Wow~ You came back pretty fast!" "What is this? Why am I being restrained? Is this some kind of trap you set up beforehand?!" Keith, whose brain was spinning out of control, could only come up with this somewhat plausible explanation. "Could it be that all of this was part of your pla—" Sёarᴄh the nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Enough! Stop it right there! You're talking too much." Cutting off Keith's frantic speculation, Hoshino's eyes suddenly grew serious. "Now we're entering the question-and-answer phase. I ask, you answer. Got it?" "Huh? Why should I listen to someone like you?!" Even while restrained, Keith's twisted personality remained. "Oh, go ahead, Enkidu!" Bending down to stare Keith in the face, Hoshino snapped her fingers crisply. "Yes, Master!" With a blank expression, Enkidu tightened the Heavenly Chains. Even though the chains' power was reduced against those without divinity, they were still more than enough to make a mere human like Keith suffer. The sound of the chains tightening against his skin filled the alley, making Keith scream in agony. "It hurts! My bones! My bones are going to break!" The chains dug deep into Keith's flesh, their pressure unbearable. "That's... that's too cruel." Mokuba shivered involuntarily. As the younger brother of Seto Kaiba, he had seen his share of duels and intense moments, but this was far more brutal than he was used to. "So, Keith, are you ready to play the question-and-answer game?" Hoshino squatted down, a wicked grin on her face. "This girl's a demon..." The extreme pain made Keith's eyes glaze over, his bravado collapsing under the unbearable strain. "Enkidu, that's enough... If you tighten any more, he'll pass out." Noticing that Enkidu might have been going too far, Hoshino called for him/her to ease off. "Ah, too bad... Though he's garbage, his screams were quite amusing~" Sadist! Hoshino thought to herself, shuddering. She was convinced now—Enkidu might not be as overt as Gilgamesh, but deep down, Enkidu had a cruel streak. "Keith, where did you get that Evil God card?" Hoshino asked the question she was most curious about, now that Keith's resistance had been broken. "Hmph, do you want to know where my Evil God card came from, or do you want to know the real reason a card like this, which shouldn't exist, is in this world?" Smack! A loud slap landed on Keith's face, hard enough to leave a stinging sensation. "This is the question-and-answer phase. You only answer what I ask, no counter-questions." After delivering the slap, Hoshino shook her hand, wincing. "Ugh, your face is prickly as hell…" Keith's old, weathered skin, combined with his unshaven beard, had left her hand feeling raw. But the slap seemed to do the trick, as Keith finally started talking. "Rare Hunters," Keith muttered, clearly in pain but unwilling to resist any longer. "Rare Hunters?" Hearing the familiar name, Hoshino's brow furrowed. She had heard about them before, mostly from Ishizu and her brother Marik. "I defeated a Rare Hunter who had the Evil God card, and I won it from him," Keith confessed, his voice dripping with frustration. It was clear that losing the card to Hoshino had stung deeply. "You beat some random Rare Hunter and got an Evil God card? That's some pretty good luck," Hoshino commented, though she found it odd. "But being able to defeat someone with an Evil God card—that's impressive. I guess your title as the former U.S. Duel Champion isn't for show." "Hmph. Whatever my past titles were, it doesn't matter now. I've been utterly defeated by you," Keith said, his voice losing all traces of arrogance. It seemed that the defeat had finally sunk in. "So how much do you know about the Rare Hunters?" According to Ishizu, the Rare Hunters were a shadowy organization connected to Marik, but Hoshino was curious about how deeply they were tied to the Evil Gods. Keith shook his head. "I don't know much about their inner workings. I just know bits and pieces about the origin of the Evil God cards." "Oh? Interesting. Tell me more." Hoshino raised an eyebrow. If she could uncover the truth behind the Evil God cards, it might shed light on why they had appeared in the first place. "Tenma Yako, the child adopted by Pegasus." "Pegasus's adopted child?" Hoshino's mouth hung open in surprise. Of all the names she expected to hear, Pegasus wasn't one of them. "Wait, are you sure you mean Yako Tenma? I've only heard of Gekko Tenma," Mokuba interjected. He had been quietly listening to the exchange, but now he couldn't hold back his confusion. "Tenma Yako is the younger brother of Tenma Gekko. Both of them were adopted by Pegasus. Yako was utterly obsessed with Pegasus. To avenge the person who 'killed' Pegasus—namely, you—he used his soul to complete Pegasus's unfinished three Evil God cards." "Wait, hold up! When did I kill Pegasus?! I never did that!" Hoshino shouted in disbelief, feeling a familiar wave of unjust blame falling on her shoulders once again. "Hahaha, no, you didn't kill Pegasus, but after he went missing, someone spread a rumor to Tenma Yako that it was you who killed him," Keith explained, chuckling darkly. "And given how much Yako worships Pegasus, he definitely sees you as the one who killed his father." "Keith, how do you know so much about this?" Realizing something was off, Hoshino began piecing things together. It didn't add up that Keith, of all people, would know such personal details about Pegasus's adopted child. "Hahaha, you've figured it out, huh? The one who spread the rumor to Tenma Yako... was me!" "YOU BASTARD! ENKIDU, DO IT!" (*****) If you'd like to read 25 chapters ahead, please consider joining my Patreon: patreon.com/ANeet. Your support means a lot. Thank you!