Inside the confessional, the completely sealed space was dim to the extreme, even during the daytime.
And in the middle of the confessional, there was usually a wooden partition separating the one making the confession from the clergy. You couldn't see the other person, only transmit sound—this both ensured privacy and guaranteed safety.
Only the brief flash of light from Spirit Eyes barely illuminated the dark space.
And along with the unauthorized activation of Spirit Eyes and the loading of the DDD deck, the puzzled Miles found himself unable to figure out what exactly these other-dimensional demon kings, awakening within a sacred cathedral, were trying to pull.
Because the silence had lasted too long, from the other side of the confessional partition, the nun's warm, gentle, spring-breeze-like voice slowly drifted into Miles' ears.
"Lost soul blessed by the gods, are you also troubled by your own sins?"
Just like the process when others entered the confessional before, instead of immediately confessing to the gods, if one maintained silence for a period of time, the nun would take the initiative to speak.
This suited Miles perfectly.
"Respected clergy, I am a foreign traveler. I happened to pass by this place, was moved by the sacred atmosphere of the church, and wished to purify my soul, yet I don't know where to begin. Please guide this lost me."
For a master swindler like Miles, making up something like this on the spot was effortless. He didn't even blink.
Outside the confessional, Irena and Nova, who were eavesdropping on this exchange through a magic mark, could only exclaim, 'Holy crap, Miles, you really have no shame.'
Of course, separated by a wooden board, the nun on the other side couldn't see Miles' expression, and naturally had no idea she was being fooled.
"The gods are benevolent. Even if you are not a believer, the gods will still bestow upon you equal forgiveness."
After that came another stretch of routine silence. Based on Miles' prior eavesdropping experience, just then, the nun should be using some special method to probe his sins.
So then, what exactly would his sin be?
Miles was genuinely curious.
Only this time, the silence from the nun opposite seemed to last a little too long.
So long that even Irena and Nova outside began to find it strange.
"Why did it suddenly go quiet?"
Lifting her ash-gray long hair, Irena checked the magic mark near her ear, confirming that the eavesdropping function was working properly, then showed a suspicious expression.
"Miles isn't doing something weird in there, is he?"
Nova's cheeks instantly flushed crimson, so nervous that even her speech became halting.
"/(//o/ω/o//)/ C-Could it be, the kind of novel Sally showed me before… about nuns kneeling and, besides praying, doing other things…"
Irena exclaimed in shock, "Is that woman named Sally not afraid of dying?"
The head maid, Sally, who often instilled all sorts of strange knowledge into the little princess, was fortunate that every time Nova mentioned her, the eldest prince was not present.
Otherwise, that head maid's head would have long since been hung on the walls of the royal capital for public display.
Meanwhile, inside the confessional, the nun Sylvia's shocked expression was no less than Irena's.
Sylvia had presided over the cathedral's confessional for so long, receiving hundreds of believers' confessions every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Among them, lost souls were countless.
In the deepest recesses of anyone's heart, there was always hidden sin; even saints were no exception. The only difference was whether the person themselves could realize the existence of that sin.
However, a situation like that of the young man opposite was the first time Sylvia had ever encountered.
She could not see the sin of this foreign traveler, this young man.
In such a case, some would certainly think… was it because this foreign youth who entered the confessional was simply too pure and spotless, too righteous and upright, to possess any sin at all?
The truth was precisely the opposite.
This was the first time Sylvia had encountered a case where the darkness entangling a soul was so immense that she could not make out the sin within it.
Or rather, the sins were far too complex, like text packed so densely that it became impossible to read correctly.
Her legs trembling, Sylvia even began to doubt just who exactly was sitting across from her.
Like a demon that truly existed… no, the soul of a single demon could not possibly construct such complex, colossal darkness.
Only by possessing the souls of multiple top-tier demon kings could one create a situation like this before her eyes.
Was this the demon Satan, coming to the cathedral to confess? No, he had come to smash the place!
"Um, excuse me, Miss Nun?"
After such prolonged silence, Miles naturally sensed that something was off.
And because they were sharing the same room, even though a wooden partition separated them, Miles could feel through the soles of his feet that the floor of the confessional seemed to be shaking.
Please, a soft-voiced, delicate nun trembling in the dark environment of a confessional? This made it very easy for people's thoughts to go astray, okay.
Besides, to make the nun's thighs tremble like that, just how terrifying did his sins have to be?
Miles was starting to doubt himself.
"Miss Nun, do I have some very serious problem?"
"Emmm…"
A soul that commanded multiple top-tier demon kings like Satan himself… Sylvia truly couldn't connect such a terrifying existence with the youthful, boyish voice opposite her.
Forcing her legs to stop trembling, as a clergy member, even when facing a demon, she could not show fear.
Moreover, judging only by the voice, the one sitting across from her should be a young boy—that would be what people call a shota, right!
In fact, the sin Sylvia had always buried deep in her heart and never confessed was that she was a full-fledged shota lover.
Shota—that was the treasure of all mankind. With such a simple XP, surely even without actively confessing, the gods would forgive her.
"Lost soul of the journey, you said you come from abroad. Exactly which country are you from?"
Miles froze. He was clearly the one who had come to confess, yet now the nun was questioning him instead?
Anyhow, which country he came from wasn't something that needed to be hidden. Besides, given his situation, which seemed more complicated than ordinary, he could only try to answer.
"I'm a student from Livorden."
"Student?"
"Yes, a student of Fusion Academy."
"Duel Academy!"
Sylvia's tone suddenly changed.
Originally, she had only asked casually because she truly didn't know what else to say.
But this question had unexpectedly uncovered extremely important info.
Since he was a student of a duel academy, he must be a Duelist.
And since he was a Duelist, things became much easier to handle.
"Lost soul upon your journey, the gods have decided to use another method to dispel the sin deep within your soul."
"Another method?"
Accompanied by the creaking sound of hinges turning, the door of the confessional was opened.
However, the one opened was the door on the nun Sylvia's side.
"Miss Nun?"
Since the nun had already left the confessional, there was no longer any meaning for Miles to remain in that sealed, dim space, so he followed and pushed the door open as well.
Then, for the first time, Miles saw face-to-face the true appearance of the nun he had previously only heard of.
Wearing a nun's veil, her shoulder-length golden hair, even with the trailing hem of the veil, framed her delicate features, making her exquisitely beautiful.
Even Irena, who always called herself a super beauty, seemed a few shades dimmer in front of this nun.
As for the exact reason… despite wearing the standard black-and-white nun's habit, it perfectly showcased Sylvia's incredibly sexy figure. Especially above her tightly cinched waist, that impossible-to-ignore fullness quite crushed Irena.
Such overwhelming sensual charm made it hard to tear one's eyes away from the sacred silver-white cross on her chest.
No wonder the young men who had previously entered the confessional would confess that they had taken the nun as the object of their fantasies.
With a nun image that perfectly combined pure holiness with beautiful sexiness, Sylvia had probably long grown accustomed to hearing confessions of that same type of sin.
"Um, Miss Nun, what is this about?"
Of course, beauty was beauty, but Miles was still full of doubts about the nun's sudden departure from the confessional.
And as for Sylvia…
He had hit her strike zone dead center!
Seeing Miles walk out of the confessional, Sylvia's legs couldn't help but tense.
So she hadn't heard wrong.
Although the one sitting opposite her was a bit older than a true shota in the strict sense, with such high looks, he could absolutely be considered a gorgeous young boy.
Legal and perfectly in line with her XP system, it was simply…
No, wait!
Shaking her head vigorously, Sylvia forcibly snapped herself out of that enchanted state.
No matter how pure and innocent his outward appearance seemed, no matter how much it stirred her heart, the multiple top-tier demons she had glimpsed within Miles' soul in the confessional were absolutely real.
And Sylvia had long heard that demons of hell used handsome appearances to deceive the world.
To think that even she, such a devout clergy member, had been bewitched for an instant.
An evil existence comparable to Satan, even employing charm techniques on her… this was truly terrifying.
Looking at the two people who suddenly walked out of the confessional, the little princess Nova was utterly baffled.
"Irena-senpai, what in the world is going on?"
"Whatever it is, there's definitely going to be a good show."
Never one to shy away from drama, Irena pulled the little princess back into the crowd, temporarily pretending not to know Miles.
"Lost traveler, the sins within your soul are far too complex and require a special method of confession."
"A special method of confession?"
Miles was just about to ask whether this so-called special confession method was actually serious when he noticed the Spirit Eyes on the nun's arm lighting up.
Combined with her reaction upon hearing that he was a duel academy student, Miles immediately understood.
So that's how it is; this kind of confession.
Then it was undoubtedly serious.
"No wonder DDD suddenly jumped out on its own."
In this supremely sacred cathedral domain, the DDDs, as other-dimensional demon kings, must have had their fighting spirit ignited in resistance.
They had been stimulated and awakened by this clergy member, who was also a Duelist.
"My principle as a Duelist is simple: if there's a duel, I never refuse. Forgive the offense, Miss Nun!"
Miles likewise lit up the Spirit Eyes on his arm.
Of course, at present, Miles didn't have enough DDD cards. Relying solely on DDD, he couldn't form a complete deck.
Before the duel officially began, Miles had to load other cards into Spirit Eyes to reach the minimum deck requirement of forty cards.
Within the cathedral, in front of the mysterious divine statue, a 'sacred' duel suddenly unfolded, and naturally, the surrounding crowd was filled with murmurs.
Of course, they weren't complaints, but rather a kind of reverent excitement.
"To think I could be fortunate enough to witness Lady Sylvia's duel… this is truly a blessing from the gods!"
"By the way, who is the one on the other side? He looks so young, yet his sins are so grave that Lady Sylvia must personally take action?"
"O gods, please forgive this heavily burdened soul and guide him onto the correct path."
Despite having done nothing at all, simply because the nun had engaged him in a duel, Miles was instantly classified by the crowd as someone burdened with grave sins.
And Irena and Nova, mingling within the crowd, heard all of these discussions.
"So Miles' sins are really that great?" Nova said in disbelief. "But he only just obtained his body. What sins could he possibly have?"
"Hmm…" Irena stroked her smooth chin, narrowed her eyes, and pondered for a moment before giving her answer: "The sin of being a scumbag!"
A perfectly reasonable analysis.
Alester-senpai would probably want to give you a thumbs-up.
"Lost traveler, before the duel begins, speak your name before the gods."
After activating Spirit Eyes, Sylvia swept her gaze across the massive statue within the cathedral that symbolized the God Cards.
"Miles."
"Then, clergy member Sylvia Diane shall, through a sacred duel ritual before the gods, guide sin toward forgiveness!"
"Duel!" ×2
"My turn, draw."
The duel officially began. Sylvia took the first turn and drew her opening card.
Her gaze had never been so serious. As a clergy member, dueling before the divine statue, Sylvia knew full well that she was the gods' representative, and that she absolutely could not lose to a 'demon' in such a sacred place.
"Let sin be the beginning, and sin the end! Under the guidance of the gods, unfold, my eyes that see through all sins! I activate the Continuous Spell Card [Malefic Territory]!"
[When this card is activated: You can activate 1 "Malefic World" from your Deck. While that card is in the Field Zone, neither player can target a card(s) in the Field Zone with card effects.]
"I add the Field Spell [Malefic World] from my Deck to my hand!"
"Malefic World?" Miles was startled.
As a nun of the sacred cathedral, Miles had originally thought Sylvia would at least bring out some Fairy monsters for show. Instead, she directly slapped down a card like [Malefic World].
In Miles' memory of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, Malefic was no ordinary deck.
That was the kind of suicidal-level deck that had once gone 1v3 against successive Duel Kings.
"By the way, can she really use Malefic monsters?"
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