Chapter 20: Humans Can't Beat Dogs

[Elemental HERO Poison Rose ★★★ Earth]

[Plant-Type/Effect ATK: 600 DEF: 1000]

A hero in the form of a budding flower, not yet fully bloomed, appeared on Ilin's field.

"Ilin Austin is indeed using a HERO deck," You Ling confirmed, feeling a pang of envy.

"Attack, Poison Rose! Destroy Aisha's face-down defense monster!"

Immediately after summoning, Ilin initiated the battle. With an attack power of 600, Elemental HERO Poison Rose wasn't particularly strong.

However, Ilin was confident in attacking despite not knowing Aisha's defense monster because she knew Aisha's deck too well.

Nearly half of the weak monsters in Aisha's deck couldn't withstand this attack.

The odds of winning were fifty-fifty.

"You lost the bet, Lin!"

You Ling flipped over the face-down defense monster card that had been attacked, revealing its true form.

"The monster I summoned in face-down defense position is—White Duston!"

[White Duston ★ Light]

[Fiend-Type ATK: 0 DEF: 1000]

Materializing gently from the opened card, the harmless and cute monster White Duston appeared on Aisha's field.

With no attack power but a defense of 1000, it surpassed Elemental HERO Poison Rose.

"Reflect 400 points of damage back to you."

"Lost the bet? It's too early to say that, Little Ai."

As Poison Rose clashed with White Duston, Ilin quickly played a spell card from her hand.

"A Quick-Play Spell Card that can be used during the Battle Phase—Graceful Dice!"

C-Level Spell Card.

[Graceful Dice Quick-Play Spell Effect: Roll a six-sided die. All monsters you control gain ATK and DEF equal to the result × 100 until the end of the turn.]

Above the two adorable monsters, a giant die summoned by Ilin's Quick-Play Spell was held by a small angel.

"If we're talking about gambling, it's only just beginning. Based on the result of Graceful Dice, increase Elemental HERO Poison Rose's attack power!"

The difference between Poison Rose's attack and White Duston's defense was 400 points. However, according to the rules, if attack power equals defense power, no damage is dealt, and no monster is destroyed.

If Ilin wanted to break through White Duston with Graceful Dice, she needed to roll a 5 or higher.

At first glance, it seemed like You Ling had the upper hand.

Of course, if You Ling hadn't witnessed Ilin's incredible luck during yesterday's game of Royal Monopoly, he might have thought so too.

Roll Result: 6

"You can't beat a dog in gambling," You Ling muttered to himself.

"Thanks to the effect of Graceful Dice, increase Elemental HERO Poison Rose's attack power by 600 points!"

[Elemental HERO Poison Rose ATK: 600 → 1200]

Blessed by the angel's enhancement, Ilin's blooming petal attack successfully overwhelmed the harmless White Duston.

White Duston destroyed.

Only a faint wisp of smoke remained, signifying the monster's disappearance from Aisha's field.

"Turn end."

"At the end of your turn, I activate my face-down Trap Card—Mass Deployment!"

A C-Level Trap Card Aisha had recently crafted using the reward spell points from defeating Kevin.

[Mass Deployment Continuous Trap Card Effect: During each End Phase, Special Summon Level 2 or lower Normal Monsters from your Deck. The number of monsters summoned equals the number of Level 2 or lower Normal Monsters destroyed by battle this turn.]

Like Three of a Kind, this was a Trap Card suited for Aisha's deck of weak, low-level monsters. It was also a Continuous Trap, meaning it would remain on the field as long as it was active.

As long as Mass Deployment was active, it would do exactly as its name suggested.

For every weak monster destroyed during the turn, it would summon an equal number of weak monsters from the deck at the end of the turn.

"Since White Duston was destroyed this turn, I can Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower Normal Monster to my field."

Spreading out the entire deck from the Spirit Eye, You Ling selected the monster with the highest defense among the weak monsters.

"I Special Summon in defense position—Witch of the Black Forest!"

[Witch of the Black Forest ★★ Water]

[Spellcaster-Type ATK: 0 DEF: 2100]

With an impressive defense of 2100 among low-level monsters, the blue-haired witch, whose chest was as flat as a steel plate, gracefully landed on Aisha's field.

"So this is the card that gave Kevin trouble. But this monster card wasn't summoned by you, was it, Little Ai?"

Thanks to her keen observation—or rather, her deep understanding of Aisha—Ilin knew that Aisha had never summoned this monster before.

"To get your hands on a card you've never had before, Little Ai, you've changed a lot. But that's natural. Everyone changes. Staying stagnant and complacent only makes you lose what you cherish."

"Lose what you cherish?" It was hard to imagine these words coming from the usually cheerful and lively Ilin. You Ling frowned slightly.

Aisha: "I think Lin-chan is referring to what happened eight years ago..."

A conversation only childhood friends could understand. Aisha explained to You Ling.

Despite Ilin's current lively and strong personality, eight years ago, she was even more timid than Aisha.

Back then, whenever trouble arose, Ilin would often hide behind Aisha.

However, everything changed after that incident.

—Eddie Austin.

The second son of the Austin family.

And also the one among Ilin's three brothers who doted on her the most.

No matter how mischievous, troublesome, or willful Ilin was as a child, Eddie would always clean up her messes.

"Leave it to me, Lin."

No matter the difficulty or danger, Eddie's warm, spring-like smile was the greatest comfort to the young Ilin.

Until that day came.

Aisha, Ilin, and Eddie were caught in a dark game orchestrated by cultists of an evil god.

To protect the two girls, Eddie risked everything and engaged in a duel with the cultists, known as a "Dark Game."

Every nation on the Elven Continent had laws explicitly banning Dark Games because they caused irreversible damage to the duelists.

Every clash in a Dark Game was a real battle, with the duelists' souls and life force at stake.

In the end, the outcome of that Dark Game was that Eddie Austin used a Self-Destruct Button to barely achieve mutual destruction with the cultists.

Although he successfully protected the two girls, Eddie's Spirit Eye was damaged by the Dark Game, leaving him unable to duel ever again.

"So that's what happened..."

After hearing Aisha's explanation, You Ling couldn't help but feel that the usually cheerful Ilin carried such a heavy past.

However, Ilin's cheerfulness also showed that the incident eight years ago didn't cause her to fall into despair.

Instead, the dark reality she witnessed pushed her onto another path—one of growth.

Placing her card down to officially end her turn, Ilin smiled.

"Only by constantly moving forward and growing stronger can I protect the people I cherish. I will definitely become a hero who protects my friends and family!"