Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 802 Isn’t it time yet?

In the darkness, a man in a silver-white long windbreaker appeared in front of the philosopher Dante, driving a pair of silver-white steel arms. The magic machine arms crossed each other to form a defensive posture, firmly protecting the only monster on the Tiantis field behind him. The turbulent elemental torrent swept past, but was separated when it hit the pair of steel arms, rushing to both sides like a flood blocked by a dam, and finally disappeared in the shadow of the Indorsis Bridge. All sounds were drowned by the darkness, and the duel field returned to calm.

The torrent receded, the steel arm vanished like a phantom, and the figure of philosopher Dante reappeared in Gloria's eyes. He looked unharmed, but his attack and defense were reduced by 1000 points due to the negative effect of the trap card activated by Tentis, and his original attack and defense values ​​were only 1000.

In other words, the philosopher Dante is now defenseless and no one can protect him.

"Nice defense, but if that's the case, it's not enough to completely resist my attack." Gloria praised, and then activated the magic card in her hand: "I activate the equipment magic card [Holy Book - Elemental Ruler], equip it to [Inheritor of Past Life Wisdom - Olvera] on the field, increasing its attack power by 1500 points."

[Holy Codex—Elemental Ruler/Equipment Magic]

[This card can only be equipped to a monster with "Olvera" or "Ringer" in its card name on your field, increasing the ATK of the equipped monster by 1500. When the equipped monster causes damage, you can activate this effect and banish a face-up card on your opponent's field.]

Surrounded by magic runes, Olvera raised her hand slightly, and a sacred code with five elements of water, fire, light, wind, and thunder on the cover appeared from the void and fell into her hands. At this moment, the girl's already high magic aura expanded again, and the surging elements visible to the naked eye almost tore the surrounding space apart. The sound of thunder roaring and fire splashing could be faintly heard.

[Inheritor of past life wisdom—Ovira/Attack 3500/Defense 3000]

"Now we are entering the battle phase. Miss Olvera, please use your elemental power to tear the enemies standing in your way into pieces. Attack [Alien Philosopher - Dante of Wensi], elemental magic: Sky Divine Punishment!"

The storm gradually subsided, and Olvera had no more power left. She had to take back the holy book. The silver-haired poet was no longer in her sight. The duel field returned to calm. Gloria's attack was ineffective. Although she successfully eliminated the opponent's monster, it did not cause as much damage as expected.

"But the pain never ends."

As Gloria's firm declaration fell, Olvera also opened the sacred code in her hand and turned to the page with thunder and storms, chanting mysterious and solemn spells. Then, the whistling wind blew dark clouds darker than shadows from nowhere, slowly spinning, forming a huge vortex above the head, creating a desolate and heavy atmosphere. In the center of the vortex, a tornado wrapped in lightning and enough to support the gap between the sky and the earth quietly formed, drilling out of the calm eye of the storm, like a sword falling from the sky, bringing the edge of destruction to the head of the silver-haired poet.

Gloria clenched her fist tightly. As long as this attack succeeded, it would directly reduce Tiandis's basic points by 3500 points. It was a heavy blow. In her mind, the spirit Alice behind her was also shouting: "So strong, so strong, Gloria! You can actually launch such a powerful attack, it turns out that you are the real KING!"

[Alien Philosopher - Martin Luther of Divine Dawn/Light/4 stars/Effect]

[Alien Philosopher - Dante of Literary Thought], whose attack and defense power are both 0, seems to have no strength to resist such a terrifying attack.

Tentis's development has not yet ended. She activated another trap card she set on the field in the first turn, and summoned another alien philosopher monster from her hand, which was also retrieved in the first turn, Martin Luther, one of the four philosophers of the Renaissance.

She waved her hand: "Activate the other effect of [Alien Philosopher - Dante of Thought]. At the beginning of the Damage Step of this card's battle, you can activate it. Release this card to reduce the damage caused to you in that battle to 0, and force the end of your opponent's Battle Phase. After this effect is activated, in this Duel, during the Damage Step of your monsters' battles, you cannot activate monster effects."

But it was too late. When the raging storm descended from the sky, as if it was going to completely swallow up the Tywell River, the poet standing silently on the river seemed not to see the divine punishment coming down on his head. Instead, he knelt on one knee, closed his eyes slightly, opened the white book in his hand, and solemnly recited the poem written on it -

"They twisted their bodies desperately to relieve the pain."

In the solemn aria, the body of the poet Dante gradually turned into a holy and beautiful white light. Instead of being blown away in the sweeping storm, it surrounded the tornado that fell from the sky, circling straight into the depths of the vortex, gradually eliminating the violent and desolate atmosphere.

A huge bronze horn appeared on the battlefield. A burly general in golden armor reached out and grabbed it. His face was hidden under the visor and could not be seen clearly, but he had a particularly striking red beard, which looked like it was stained red by the blood on the battlefield, giving people a sense of bravery and fearlessness. Anyone who has a little knowledge of ancient history can recognize this general. He is the Red Bearded King Barbarossa who led the Iron Blood Legion to conquer dozens of states in Minsuria and later established the Mindrias Empire. But the one who appeared in front of everyone at this moment was not the ambitious monarch, but a legendary general who pursued a domineering strategy, advocated frontal combat, always took the lead in every battle, and killed countless enemies.

"What?" Gloria's pupils suddenly contracted, obviously she had not expected this situation.

"I Special Summon [Alien Philosopher - Martin Luther of Divine Dawn]."

On this battlefield without blood and fire but equally filled with the smell of weapons, Barbarossa once again blew the horn to summon soldiers. The desolate and rough sound of the horn rose far into the night sky, declaring that the war would never end. When one person fell, another would stand up and step onto the battlefield that belonged to them.

Thus, with the sound of trumpets, the philosopher who had proposed "justification by faith" and had carved his name in religious history slowly walked out of the light. Unlike the poet Dante, the scientist Otto and the general Barbarossa, the theologian Martin Luther was a middle-aged man with black hair and black eyes, a calm and serious temperament, which easily reminded people of the stern priest in the church.

"At the moment [Alien Philosopher - Dante of Thought] leaves the field, I activate the Trap Card [Barbarossa of Tyranny - Call of the Ancient Horn]. According to the effect of this card, when my 'Alien Philosopher' monster leaves the field due to its own effect, I can Special Summon a 'Alien Philosopher' monster with a different name from my hand. After this effect is activated, I cannot Special Summon monsters through the effects of Trap Cards during this Duel."

Tiandis chuckled. "A raging offensive, suppressing the enemy through continuous attacks until victory is achieved, is this your idea, Miss Gloria? I can't believe that with your personality, you would adopt such an aggressive style of play. Unfortunately, your suppression does not work on me."

"Rain, snow, and hail hit them from time to time."

"I turned around to see the souls, and they were being attacked by the monsters."

[Attack 1500/Defense 1000]

After he came on stage, he turned around and bowed to his long-lost friend and leader, then turned around again and extended his hand to Olivia, saying solemnly, "I once had many things in my hands, but I lost them all; but what I put in God's hands, I still get, and he gives me double."

This is a sentence from Martin Luther's book "Catechism". Now that he said it himself, it seemed to have a unique flavor. The voice created ripples on the river surface. Before it dissipated, the void above Olvera's head suddenly twisted like the surface of the water. Several holy golden chains flew out of it and wrapped around Princess Berman's wrists and ankles at a speed that was difficult to react to. It seemed to lock up the source of her power, making the magic runes surrounding the girl dim, and the aura emanating from her body also became much weaker.

“W-What’s going on!?”

Olvera was startled and tried to break free from the golden chains, but failed.

"[Alien Philosopher - Martin Luther of Divine Dawn]'s monster effect," Tentis' voice came leisurely, "As long as this card is on your field and there are no monsters other than the 'Alien Philosopher' monster in your hand, graveyard, or banished zone, the original attributes of the level 8 or higher monsters Special Summoned by your opponent are changed to God attributes. At the same time, God attribute monsters cannot attack."

In other words, the ace monster with an attack power of 3500 that Gloria had summoned with great difficulty was blocked.

All the previous developments were in vain. The Third Princess bit her lip lightly, and then, as if subconsciously, she lowered her voice and asked, "Next...what should I do?"

When Alice heard this, she thought she was asking her a question, so she pretended to clear her throat. Just as she was about to give her some advice, Gloria suddenly said, "I see. Since the key is the monster, we just need to get rid of it. However, I don't have any more cards to unfold. I can only end the turn here, right?"

Without waiting for Alice to answer, she raised her head and placed a card in her hand on the magic trap area, saying, "In that case, I will cover a card and the turn ends."

Although they cannot launch an attack, there is still Ovira on the field with an attack power of 3500. The opponent will probably not be able to attack. As long as they can hold on until their next turn, they will be able to deal with the tricky monster and regain the advantage.

This is Gloria's strategy, but will it really go that smoothly?
"My turn, draw a card."

After drawing the card, Tiantis did not deploy it immediately, because she also knew that the high-attack monster on the opponent's field was very difficult to deal with, and she had to deal with it first, so: "I activate the second effect of [Alien Philosopher - Martin Luther of Divine Dawn]. If there is only this card on your field, you can activate it, liberate yourself, and then destroy all monsters on the opponent's field that have been transformed into god attributes. After this effect is activated, you cannot destroy the opponent's monsters through monster effects in this Duel."

"Varied--!?"

Before Gloria could finish her words of surprise, Martin Luther on the field had already taken a step forward, drew a cross in the air with his right index finger, and said in a deep voice: "Believers are justified and receive grace; before salvation, everyone is equal."

The theologian's body gradually disintegrated into white light spots amidst the solemn declaration. At the same time, the holy cross symbol rapidly expanded and approached Olvera with an awe-inspiring and inviolable momentum. Princess Belmang was at a loss and tried to resist, but her strength was restrained by the golden chains. She could only watch the cross symbol gradually enlarge in her eyes. A majestic aura came from it, making it impossible for her to resist.

Am I going to die?
Facing the trial that was already before her eyes, Ovilla couldn't help but think, and then she realized that in this duel, being sent to the cemetery did not mean real death. Just like just now, wasn't Lingge also sent to the cemetery, and it was she who did it herself...

Thinking of this, she felt much more relaxed, but she still felt a little regretful: if she entered the cemetery, it would mean that she could no longer fight alongside her companions, and could only be a helpless bystander in that cold place. Although she had never seen the cemetery with her own eyes, it was called this name, so it couldn't be a sunny and windy place, right?

But at this moment, she, who had already prepared herself mentally, suddenly heard the girl's voice in her ears -

"I won't let you succeed!"

Gloria took a deep breath, and when she looked up again, her eyes had regained their composure. "Activate the Quick-Play Magic Card [Call of the Fairy Inn], Special Summon a 'Merciful Relief - Ringer' from your hand, or return a Girl Sovereign Monster on the field to your deck, and add a Girl Sovereign Monster with a different name to your hand! I choose to return [Inheritor of Past Life Wisdom - Olvera] to the deck!"

The quick-play magic card that covered the field in the previous round was activated, and a wooden and stone hotel slowly rose from the water, and water flowed all over the sky. The orange lights in the hotel were lit, and the sound of the potted orchestra could be heard faintly, and everything seemed very warm. The door of the hotel was also pushed open by an invisible hand, as if inviting the lost travelers to enter this world surrounded by dreams and mysteries.

Olvera found a sense of security in the familiar hotel. She noticed that the golden chains around her wrists and ankles seemed to have loosened, so she broke free from them without hesitation, turned around and ran towards the hotel, immersed in the bright lights and cheerful music.

After Olvera entered the hotel, the door closed automatically, blocking all the storms from the outside world. The holy cross symbol came with great force, but it passed through the hotel like a phantom, leaving no trace. Only when the light spot transformed by the theologian completely dissipated and the cross symbol disappeared into the depths of the night did the door of the hotel reopen, and a card flew out lightly and fell into Gloria's hands.

"According to the effect of this card, I will add a [Fate Kingship - Saint Shallia] to my hand."

Gloria added the card she had just retrieved to her hand with a serious expression, leaving her field empty.

"You protected your companions?" Tiantis seemed to disapprove of this approach and shook his head slowly: "Whether you activate the effect of this card or not, Miss Olvera cannot stay on the field. In this case, why not keep it until the next round? Only in this way can it play the greatest role. I can understand your feelings for your companions, but you must know that sometimes making choices and sacrifices is the right thing to do, and being too soft-hearted will only lead you into the abyss."

"Just like Dante and Luther," she said, "Members of the Witch Society are never afraid of sacrifice, because we know that is the great mission we have been given and the price we must bear to change the world."

Dante's self-sacrifice protected Tentis from harm, while Martin Luther's self-sacrifice eliminated a powerful enemy for Tentis. In history, their endings were roughly similar. The association was built through trade-offs and sacrifices, and Tentis, as the founder and leader, deeply understood this.

"That's a nice way to put it." Alice couldn't stand her bossing Gloria around. She thought it was just a simple operation, but it had to have such a complicated meaning, so she said, "Why don't you sacrifice yourself?"

"If necessary, I will sacrifice myself." Tiantis heard her complaints and smiled slightly: "But now is not the time."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)