The scorching hammer strike of Dragonmaid Tinkhec smashed Mystic Tomato apart. In the nick of time, Miles used the body of the little princess to launch a counter-summon, narrowly escaping the danger of being literally annihilated.
"What's going on? This is my room? But why… why can't I control my body?"
The childish voice of the little princess echoed in Miles's mind.
To be honest, this was also the first time Miles had ever controlled the body of a little girl in soul state, and he found it very unnatural.
With Aisha, Ren, and even Irena before, they were all proper young maidens. While their bodies were different in detail, the control was roughly the same.
But with Nova, the little princess, it felt different. Mainly because in a child's body, everything seemed so much bigger, causing a constant distortion between vision and instinct.
Like right now—for example, the Dragonmaid before his eyes. Clearly, a red dragon drawn in such a cute style, yet in Nova's eyes, it looked massive.
"Nova, this matter can be explained simply or made complicated. Which do you prefer?"
This was already the fourth host body Miles had used. Though temporary, practice made perfect, so when faced with the girl's doubts after a body swap, he answered more calmly than before.
"Who… who are you?"
The unfamiliar male voice echoing in her mind startled Nova.
Yet, although it was unfamiliar, the voice sounded extraordinarily gentle and reliable, like a warm spring breeze brushing the soul.
And considering that just now, in that crisis, this voice had even used a monster summon to save her—purehearted Nova was more inclined to believe in the goodness of others.
Timidly, she said, "...Could you say it in a simpler way? If it's too complicated, I won't understand."
"Simply put, you can think of me as Aisha Carlos's second personality. To save Nova, who was trapped in the Shadow Game, I used the toy blocks as a medium to temporarily control your body."
"Second… personality?"
From her tone, it sounded like she understood a little.
This was the simplified explanation Miles had come up with.
After all, how could a twelve-year-old girl possibly understand things like death, reincarnation, soul lodging, or guardian spirits? Saying "second personality" was much easier.
"Aisha's second personality… is a boy?"
Suddenly, Nova realized, her tone filled with a twelve-year-old's curiosity.
"Wait… does that mean Aisha is actually a boy? In the book Sally always reads, there was a cute boy who looked like a girl. Sally said that was her… type."
Obviously, Nova had thoroughly misunderstood his simple explanation.
And what on earth had that maid Sally been teaching the princess? If anyone heard this, she could lose her head!
"You're not the Third Princess, are you?"
That decisive summon that smashed Mystic Tomato into tomato paste, coupled with Nova's sudden change in demeanor, made Luca instantly certain—both of them were Millennium Item holders.
"Using the power of a Millennium Item to transfer soul control? You actually lent your other self's soul for someone else to use? Aren't you being reckless, Aisha Carlos?"
"What's reckless about that!" Aisha shot back.
Luca tilted her chin up, her pale blue eyes curved into crescent moons as she smiled teasingly, as if seeing through everything.
"If you're too careless, be careful—it might get stolen~"
"??!"
Aisha, utterly exposed, lost all her confidence in an instant.
"Luca—why… why do you know this?"
"Hmph."
Her expression shifted from a smirk to a bitter smile, as if she were a fellow sufferer.
Meanwhile, Miles seized the chance.
Channeling mana into Spirit Eyes, he had to quickly help the little princess summon cards, reaching the minimum 40-card requirement for a Duel.
Two blue cards, two red cards. Together, only four.
"Summon!"
"...Huh?!"
But the result stunned even him.
He couldn't summon anymore—the mana stored within Spirit Eyes had already run out.
In twelve years, the little princess had never summoned a single monster, and all the mana she had accumulated was exhausted after summoning just four Dragonmaids.
"So these are Dragonmaids? The mana cost is insane!"
It wasn't as terrifying as The Winged Dragon of Ra, which couldn't even be summoned after consuming an entire amplification array of mana.
However, to use up twelve years of mana just for four cards—it completely ruined Miles's original rhythm.
No matter how strong Dragonmaids were, without even a full 40-card deck, wouldn't it be better to just do what Aisha did… summon swarms of weaklings?
"Why the long face?"
The seasoned Luca instantly saw through it—Nova couldn't summon any more.
"Controlling such a weak body that can't even complete a Deck—that's your biggest mistake. Aisha Carlos's other soul. In this Shadow Game, you're nothing but meat on my chopping block."
"Tch." The little girl clicked her tongue. Miles, exposed again, found it frustrating.
Without establishing a proper Duel, if it came down to pure monster power, Nova's immature Spirit Eyes couldn't possibly match Luca.
Not to mention—Luca likely had the Sacred Beasts on her side.
"Against you, this card should do nicely."
She drew a monster with 3000 Attack—a level that could easily overpower Dragonmaid Tinkhec.
"Monster Summon. Now, feel despair… huh?!"
She became the third person, after Aisha and Miles, to be shocked by her own results.
She couldn't bring forth her monster into physical form within the Shadow Game.
"Impossible! How can this be?"
There was only one explanation—summoning was forbidden by the rules.
Meaning the Duel concept had already been established… with just Nova's four Dragonmaids.
"How is that enough to meet the Duel requirement?" Even Miles was baffled. "Four cards alone can't possibly count."
"Um… other Aisha, I don't actually only have four cards." Nova's small voice came.
"This morning, when my big brother heard I had summoned Duel Monsters, he was so happy he immediately sent me lots of cards. They're in the pocket at the back of my skirt."
"Sent you lots of cards?"
If he sent them, they had to be rare tradable cards.
And described as "lots"… it really was fitting for the wealth and power of the royal Kaisers—born Homars, after all.
"And, don't call me 'other Aisha.' If you can, call me Miles."
"Miles?"
"Yes, that's my name."
"Hehe… that's strange. You're Aisha's second personality, yet you have your own name. Fine then, Miles."
Following her directions, Miles reached toward the back pocket of her skirt.
Though it was technically a skirt pocket, the position was behind her—right over her bottom.
Taking out the cards inevitably meant brushing against her soft, round little backside.
"Lolicon!"
Dark Aisha's perfectly timed jab landed.
Was this what Miles wanted? Of course not—he found it troublesome too.
After a soul swap, just trying to fetch a deck either meant lifting a skirt or grabbing a bottom. Do you know how much this hurt the dignity of a card duelist who wasn't even interested in that?!
Yet when he finally pulled out the deck sent by the crown prince and spread it open, he was floored by the gap between people.
'This Homar is ridiculously rich!'
Inside were all sorts of Spell cards, mostly B-rank, with several top-tier A-rank Spells among them.
Cards you'd rarely even see one of—Nova now held dozens. And each was undoubtedly a rare tradable card.
Compared to this royal Homar, born with ultra-rare cards at hand, Aisha Carlos—who had always fought hard with weak monsters and low-grade Spells—was truly a peasant.
Altogether, 36 rare Spells. Adding Nova's 4 Dragonmaids made exactly 40—the minimum deck size.
That's why the Shadow Game judged a Duel to have begun, forbidding Luca from casually summoning monsters or punching her physically.
But…
Though the deck was filled with rare and powerful Spells, there wasn't a single monster among the 36.
This left Nova and Miles with an absurdly lopsided deck—only four Dragonmaids as their fighting force. A true "Bond Deck."
As the name implied, a Bond Deck only functioned when you drew into your bonds—without monsters, you were done for.
Miles muttered under his breath, "Come on, Crown Prince, if you were going to gift cards, at least throw in some monsters. It's not like tradable monster cards don't exist."
Albeit the prince's intention was clear—he simply wanted to give his little sister universal Spells and Traps to support whatever monsters she liked.
As her brother, Homar Kaiser, knew full well: no matter how strong, if a monster didn't appeal to her tastes, Nova would never use it.
No one could have predicted that a Shadow Game would follow.
"No choice then. Even with just four monsters, we'll have to fight with what we've got!"
He loaded the Spirit Eyes Deck. However warped its construction was, this was their final hope… an absurdly expensive hope.
...
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