The result was exactly as Viel predicted. After about an hour and a half, Miles suddenly felt his soul waver, and then he returned to the Soul Room inside the Millennium Puzzle.
However, this time when he returned to the Soul Room, Miles felt something he had never experienced before.
Weakness.
Even while inside the Soul Room of the Millennium Puzzle, his soul was starting to show signs of an unstable existence.
"Miles, are you okay?" Dark Aisha came up to him worriedly.
"I can't say for sure that I am." From the way Viel was talking, it didn't sound like she was just trying to scare him.
If this continued, was his soul really going to end up with the tragic fate of being torn into four pieces?
"From now on, I might not be able to switch souls with other people anymore," Miles told Dark Aisha honestly.
"=A= I think that's great, actually. That way you won't be running around everywhere like some playboy." Dark Aisha gave it to him straight.
"Am I really that trashy? I just… wanted to play different Decks."
It had nothing to do with women at all. What Miles wanted most was the feeling of playing with brand-new Decks.
Stardust-chan complained, "Wow, Miles, that line is just like, 'I just want everyone to be happy,' super scummy, you know."
Although not being able to freeload off other Decks anymore did make Miles feel a little regretful, compared to his soul getting ripped into four pieces, Miles would rather obediently stay by Aisha's side until he'd earned the two million he needed for his body's Human Transmutation.
Albeit there was still one thing that Miles really cared about: when he switched bodies with Krista and passed through the Stardust Tunnel, what exactly was that gigantic celestial body he saw?
Miles had always thought that he couldn't leave Krista because he'd been forcibly pulled in by the gravity of that massive planet.
Now it seemed that maybe that huge planet was, like a Quasar, some kind of symbol that existed within Krista's soul.
Once the time limit ended and the body swap was finally released, Krista also succeeded in completing it.
"When the united stars become one, a new bond shall light up the future! Become the shining path of radiant light! Trinity Accel Synchro! Shooting Quasar Dragon!"
Trinity Accel Synchro—I Synchro Summon myself.
After watching Miles summon Shooting Quasar Dragon twice at point-blank range, and having already mastered Trinity Accel herself, this time, Krista really had no reason to fail.
Looking up at Shooting Quasar flying overhead, Krista's face blossomed into a deeply satisfied smile.
"Take this, Luca!—Cosmic Creation Strike - Birth of Creation Burst!"
"Aaaaaaaaaah!"
[Luca, LP: 4000 → 0]
The duel target who cooperated with Krista to complete the Shooting Quasar summon was Luca, who did her best to resist, yet still couldn't change the outcome.
Instantly one-shot by Shooting Quasar's radiance, the living legend once again did her job with her usual professionalism today.
"That should take care of everything."
Krista deliberately bounced around twenty meters away from Aisha, and this time, even after the two-minute time limit passed, she still wasn't teleported back to Aisha's side.
"This is the feeling of freedom. I'm free, I'm free, long live freedom!"
Miles could feel Krista's unparalleled joy from twenty meters away, and he had to admit that the past two days really hadn't been easy on her.
Even though she'd regained her body and her freedom, and even re-bought a D-Wheel, one of Krista's Millennium Items—the Scale—was truly lost.
In that sea of fire caused by the berserk magic stones, it had fallen into the endlessly flowing leyline, and no one knew where the Millennium Scale had ended up.
Could it have just been melted by the high temperature?
At the very least, for a Millennium Item that stood at the mysterious pinnacle of the Spirit Continent, that shouldn't be its ending.
"Let's head back~"
Once things wrapped up, Miles and Aisha finally returned to their normal daily life together.
Although Aisha herself would occasionally wonder why the real Miles was exactly the same as the one she'd imagined, every time she thought about it, she couldn't help recalling the improper things she'd done to Miles in the Soul Room; Her tofu-brain would crash from shame, and she'd be unable to continue thinking.
As for Viel's advice, it was that Miles had just been switching souls far too frequently these days.
If he really wanted to avoid the outcome of being torn into four pieces, and he ran into a situation where he absolutely had to switch to a new host, he'd at least have to wait a month for his Soul State to stabilize a bit.
If you can't even hold out for a month, how can you say you're not a playboy?
For someone who'd lived so many years, it was rare for Viel to care about a person—or rather, a soul's life or death.
After all, he was her potential VIP customer. Viel believed that with Miles's ability, it wouldn't take him long to scrape together the two million required for his body's Human Transmutation.
On top of that, Miles still owed her money for the D-Wheel.
Taking out a little blackboard and hanging it by the door, Viel drew a few strokes on it and said to Luca, "Remember this, Miles still owes us 133 SP Points. We absolutely can't let him skip out on the bill."
"Okay," Luca replied.
She just didn't know if, in this reborn Axet Republic, there would ever be such a thing as SP Points again.
That night, Miles checked the Magic Points accumulated on Aisha's Republic Knight's Badge.
A legendary item that could make Magic grow from nothing and gain a natural growth rate. When he'd first gotten it, the growth rate had been incredibly fast, but then it gradually slowed and finally leveled out.
+1
That little "+1" symbol that would occasionally pop up in front of Aisha's eyes was now only appearing about once every ten-odd minutes.
Remaining Magic Points: 82
"So in one day—no, in half a day—it gained nearly a hundred points?"
Setting aside those early points that had surged crazily at first to show off the Badge's presence, Miles estimated that once things leveled out, the Republic Knight's Badge would bring in roughly a hundred Magic Points per day. Even if he was off, it wouldn't be by much.
Natural growth of a hundred points per day… that was an absolute windfall.
Especially with an infinitely growing item like this, the Magic Points would pile up come rain or shine.
Just during the two-week Tri-Academy exchange program, that much time was enough to stockpile 1400 Magic Points—equivalent to one copy of "Card of Sanctity".
Not to mention how many Spells could be accumulated by the time Aisha's second-year term ended after nearly a full year.
By then, Miles would probably have completely burned through the Magic Directory.
Thinking about it that way, buying one of the High-tier Magic Directories from Viel's shop really did seem worth considering.
After all, if he wanted to freeload, he'd have to take a long-distance international trip every time. And at Aisha's current pace of Magic accumulation, the frequency of synthesizing High-tier Spell Cards later on definitely wouldn't be low.
The Tri-Academy Turbo Duel Tournament still had three days of matches left.
However, the second leg of the matches had been scheduled for five days later.
The reason for such a long gap was simple and easy to understand.
That nuclear blast of infinite Attack that Oga Slint had unleashed had blown a gigantic crater into the Turbo Duel track.
Although under the rules of the Spirit Continent, ordinary duels that weren't Shadow Games could never truly endanger a Duelist's life, the destruction dealt to the Duel Field by powerful forces didn't pull any punches.
Vice Principal Raiden of Fusion Academy had already experienced this firsthand.
And now it was Vice Principal Orcus of Synchron Academy's turn to suffer.
Repairing a Turbo Duel track was several times more expensive than fixing an ordinary Duel Arena.
And just the repairs alone would take four whole days, which was why they'd set the second round of matches for five days later.
Those five days off would also give the three academies time to seriously think through their tactical plans going forward. (And incidentally, it would let the Republic Knight's Badge rack up more Magic Synthesis Points in the background.)
The first day of the tournament ended with each academy taking one win apiece, perfectly even.
Nevertheless, the battles ahead would, without a doubt, be far harsher for Fusion Academy.
The reason was simple—
"I see. So Miles can't perform Soul Exchanges for a while now," Irena understood.
"Even though I've never had a Soul Exchange with Senpai Miles myself," said Ecclesia, still in her Saint form.
"Eh? Ecclesia, you can sense Miles too?" Ren asked in surprise.
"Do I look like an idiot? You senpais were all way too obvious, not even trying to hide it. So I asked Senpai Irena about it."
"In the end, it couldn't be hidden after all." Aisha's feelings were mixed… another woman who now knew of Miles's existence, even if she was her kouhai.
"It was bound to come out sooner or later anyway," Irena explained. "Anyway, lately, we really have been relying too much on Miles. Even a spirit companion gets tired, after all."
"Then, Senpai Miles won't be able to fight anymore in this Turbo Duel Exchange Tournament?"
Ecclesia naturally referred to Miles as "Senpai" too, and of course, Miles didn't mind gaining one more adorable Saint kouhai.
"No, it's not that I can't fight at all."
The glow of the Millennium Puzzle flickered, and to explain—and to discuss strategy—Miles swapped bodies with Aisha and appeared before everyone.
"At the very least, fighting while linked with Aisha is still fine. Even so, for now, that's the only person I can safely exchange with."
Following Viel the Gremlin Loli's warning to the letter, Miles had no intention of switching with anyone else for at least a month.
And that led to another problem.
Aisha had already participated once.
According to the rules of the Tri-Academy Exchange Turbo Duel Tournament, each Duelist representing their academy could appear a maximum of two times.
That meant Aisha and Miles only had one chance left to battle.
If Fusion Academy used Miles as their ace in the hole, he'd most likely be saved for the final day.
That was a rule shared by nearly all Duel events—to make the final day's matches as thrilling as possible.
On the last day, victories would be counted as double points.
In other words, winning one match on the last day would be worth two from the previous rounds.
This created the opportunity for an academy to stage a dramatic comeback even if they were behind in points.
With such a special rule, every academy would undoubtedly reserve their strongest Duelists for the final day.
At the same time, there was another rule for the grand finale: the two Duelists fielded by each academy could not repeat.
Meaning, there wouldn't be a repeat like today's—Krista dueling twice in a row.
"XYZ Academy's final-day lineup will definitely include Oga Slint."
With the True King of All Calamities and the infinite-Attack Divine Serpent Geh as his twin trump cards, Miles couldn't think of any reason XYZ Academy wouldn't field Oga Slint on the last day.
"And as for Synchron Academy, if I'm not mistaken, one of their last-day Duelists will be Nid Hogg, the user of the Three Polar Gods."
Those were, for now, the two biggest trump cards Miles could anticipate from the other academies.
"Aisha and I will take the field on the last day. That means we'll most likely face one of those two."
Since the Duel order each day was randomized, they couldn't plan like Krista had, who'd arranged to fight Miles—another Stardust user—by dueling twice on day one.
So most likely, Fusion Academy would face either the Serpent or the Polar Gods—one or the other.
The best case would be if the Serpent and the Polar Gods fought each other.
Of course, where there's a best case, there's also the worst.
The worst case would be facing both of them.
Fusion Academy's two Duelists on the final day would then have to fight Oga with the Serpent, and Nid with the Polar Gods.
"Let's assume the worst-case scenario. If we each face Oga Slint and Nid Hogg—two different Gods—I can handle one of them. What's your plan for the other?"
Miles's tactical analysis was calm… so calm it impressed everyone in the room.
If you're going to analyze, start from the worst-case. Discussing best-case scenarios was meaningless.
That mindset came from the wealth of competitive experience Miles had accumulated during his lifetime in countless card tournaments.
Even if they weren't Yu-Gi-Oh! events, experience in major competitions was universal.
"I guess that means it's my turn," Irena, the only third-year senpai present, stepped forward first. "Can't promise I can beat a God, though. So don't expect too much."
Miles knew Irena's type: she could perform stably or even above her limit in balanced or low-tier matches; albeit, when facing an unquestionably stronger opponent, she tended to lose confidence.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so scared to face Alester not long ago.
"I can go too, Miles," Ren said, standing up. "Even if we face Oga Slint again, as long as we stop him before he reaches infinite LP, it's doable. I lost once, but now I've got experience."
"No, I think that'll be nearly impossible."
Having cleared the Orichalcos dungeon, Oga had, just as Leon said, fully mastered and absorbed the infinite power of the Serpent.
And after so many life-or-death Duels across the Spirit Continent, Miles had long since learned one truth:
In this land, metaphysics and luck mattered just as much as skill.
Just like how he could never stop the Old Dominator Pope from summoning The Wicked Avatar.
Now that Oga had completely assimilated the power of the Orichalcos, stopping him from using and absorbing infinite Attack would be incredibly difficult.
Even if they packed their Decks with counter cards, the odds of drawing them at the right time in a real Duel would be slim.
So a strategy like Ren's, to prevent the Serpent's descent, would be exceedingly hard to pull off.
"To fight infinite power, the simplest and most direct way is to have infinite power ourselves."
"Have infinite power ourselves?!" the three of them exclaimed in unison.
Irena protested, "Hey, Miles, you do realize infinity isn't something you can just pick up off the street, right? That kind of power's barely even mentioned in ancient texts."
"Not entirely impossible, though. We can take a gamble."
Miles's gaze shifted—finally settling on Ecclesia, with the cross-shaped stigmata on her forehead.
"You'll take the stage on the last day, Ecclesia. And here—this is yours. Something you asked me to hold onto last time."
The key to the Obelisk Tower, sealing Obelisk the Tormentor.
Miles reached into the pocket of Aisha's flat chest and pulled it out, handing the key back to Ecclesia.
...
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