After taking Silenos's powerful attack to the face, Mizuchi lay sprawling on the ground, her arms spread out. Her condition appeared a bit disheveled, even her virtual body seemed somewhat distorted.
People seemed a bit dumbfounded by the rapidly changing style of the duel.
First, there were those Air Hummingbirds that kept bouncing back like an unyielding cockroach, then the Supreme Sun from the legendary Planet Series emerged, followed by Nephthys Phoenix God, which was almost like her card deck's nemesis...
And finally, what?
Orichalcos!?
When she saw Chidara, she hadn't realized yet. After all, Chidara is a small and unassuming monster, not very noticeable. She vaguely felt that she might have seen this monster somewhere before, but she couldn't recall where.
But it wasn't until that terrifying green Divine Puppet, wielding overwhelming oppressive power, descended upon her, with its 12,000 attack points, like a terrifying monster incarnate of a heavenly judgement, that Mizuchi suddenly realized—
—she had indeed seen it before.
Orichalcos... wasn't this the card deck of the World-Ending Demon King from ten thousand years ago?
The one who was said to have been brutally defeated by the Duel King in Duel City GX...
Yes, that's right. Although this Judge was rumored to be quite high in status, and indeed very powerful, especially among the Dark Duelists in the Underworld. It's said that the war in Duel City was just a few steps away from world destruction.
But despite such rumors, what people remembered more after hearing about the duel process was how he was toyed with by the Duel King's Lava Demon God...
It was only now that Mizuchi understood. It wasn't just that the unfortunate Orichalcos lost the match and disappeared; even his Orichalcos-formed card deck was taken away.
Mizuchi wasn't aware that the legendary Supreme Sun card she just saw was also taken from a certain dark world BOSS.
In fact, even the Air Hummingbird Yugen initially showed was from Kagemaru, the final BOSS of the animation chapter, though a tier lower than the previous two.
So, in some way, Mizuchi could say she was ganged up on by three big BOSSes and beaten to death, which wasn't too much of a loss.
"I didn't expect it; even the power of Orichalcos is under your control,"
Mizuchi slowly stood up, chuckling lightly.
"It's no wonder you're the Duel King, able to wield such extraordinary powers simultaneously... When they said you weren't an ordinary person, they truly weren't exaggerating."
In fact, Mizuchi was still being polite. There were some things she didn't voice aloud.
The external rumors about the Duel King weren't just about "not being an ordinary person"; those who had benefited from the current King's guidance often commented that he was simply not human...
"Well, now that all the cards to be played have been played. So,"
Yugen smiled as he approached her, extending a hand to Mizuchi, who still lay on the ground.
"What kind of destiny did you observe through the duel?"
Mizuchi was momentarily taken aback, then she broke into a gentle smile, extending her slender hand to grasp the one he offered, using his pull to stand up.
"Don't laugh at me. Honestly? I couldn't see anything."
Mizuchi said calmly.
"It seems Mizuchi's skills are still too shallow. Your destiny is as unfathomable as your strength, and with my limited capacity, I can't foresee it."
"You can't see through my destiny?"
Yugen had been curious about this. Saio possessed the ability to see the future, so from Saio's perspective, what did his future look like? Could he predict the outcome of their confrontation?
"Not that I can't see at all, but... more or less,"
Mizuchi said.
"In fact, I don't know if it's because of you or something else... because recently, similar situations have started to occur more frequently."
"What?"
"Changes in destiny," Mizuchi said, "Not only with me but also with my brother.
My brother and I have naturally possessed this power since childhood. For many years, there have been no errors... But lately, unexpected issues have started to occur frequently."
"How so?"
"Like Ed Phoenix," Mizuchi said, "He is the strongest duelist under my brother, and my brother's prediction for his victories has never been wrong.
But recently, he's been on a losing streak, every match breaking my brother's predictions."
"Or my subordinates, the Four Emperors. They were all destined to win battles with favorable predictions. But they encountered a man named Revolver, and their destined victories were also broken."
"Yuki Judai, Marufuji Ryo, Revolver... and then today's duel with you." Mizuchi revealed a perplexed expression, "In fact, even before today's duel, my mirror divination indicated that it should be my victory.
But your duel completely exceeded my expectations, and until just now, I never even felt I had a chance in this duel... but why?"
The more Mizuchi thought about it, the more puzzled she became, her eyebrows almost knit together.
"Has our power failed? Or is there some interference...?"
Yugen said nothing.
He certainly couldn't answer Mizuchi's questions since he hadn't even figured out how the Saio Siblings' power worked. The only thing clear from her words was that this power seemed to be failing lately.
Moreover, judging by the people she mentioned, this failure might have something to do with him.
The recent duel with Mizuchi and the duel with Revolver, for instance, were all directly involving him. Marufuji Ryo was also boosted by him during their time at the Academy, prematurely reaching the Hell Caesar stage, which could be seen as interference in his destiny.
Even Judai seemed affected by him and acquired New Space powers earlier than in the original work, possibly changing his destiny track. However, that didn't quite explain things since in the original work, Saio's power failed against Judai's destiny anyway.
Is it because he is a Transmigrator, not belonging to this world, making it impossible for Saio to observe his destiny?
Or is it possible that when Saio and Mizuchi make predictions about him, they are merely predicting the original persona's destiny, not his?
Because if they were predicting the original's destiny, and the result showed "an ordinary duelist," "easily defeated," that might not be wrong.
Of course, Yugen could only speculate. He wasn't a fortune-teller, and he had no understanding of these mystical matters. It might simply be that his power had reached a level that Saio's ability naturally couldn't perceive.
Which isn't that strange. In the original work, Judai surpassed the destiny foretold by Saio. Not to mention in DM, Seto Kaiba broke through the destiny predicted by Isis's Millennium Necklace with pure strength. Yugen personally believed that the Millennium Necklace's future prediction capabilities should not be inferior to Saio's.
"Mr. Yugen, actually today I didn't come just to challenge you."
Mizuchi's words brought him back to reality.
She spoke earnestly.
"I came here to request something from you. I wish to ask you to save my brother... No, not just that. I wish to ask you to save this world."