Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 805: Can we become more mature by overcoming our mistakes?
The effect of Joan of Arc brought all efforts back to square one. Helplessly, Gloria could only let Saint Shalia and Olvera also launch a direct attack on Tiantis, reducing her basic points back to 8000, and then placed a card to declare the end of the round.

“It’s okay!” Alice was afraid that her duelist’s momentum would be frustrated and she would never recover, so she quickly comforted him, “We have three 8-star monsters on the field right now, and my attack power is as high as 5000. No matter what kind of monster she summons next, it will only take one sword to kill it. So, I have the advantage!”

Before Gloria could answer, Tiandis, who had just drawn a card from the deck, chuckled and said, "That's hard to say, Miss Alice. You must know that attack power is not the only criterion for measuring monsters. Monsters that look weak may also have strong souls. As long as their strength is gathered, they can create incredible miracles."

"Don't say such nonsense in front of me!" Alice shouted angrily, "Strong is strong, weak is weak, a Blue-Eyes White Dragon with 3000 attack points is stronger than a worthless cockroach with 500 attack points, and I, with 5000 attack points, am even stronger, invincible, and the strongest! Do you dare to defy me who has the Holy Sword?"

Lingge and everyone else were speechless after listening to this. They knew that the genius player had fallen into his old habit of mocking his opponent as soon as he had a little advantage. Moreover, compared to other people's words full of positive energy, your words of bullying are even more meaningless, aren't they?

Seeing that Alice was still stubborn, Tiantis did not force her, and said slowly: "Then let me prove this to you, Miss Alice."

She glanced at the card she had just drawn, and a satisfied smile slowly appeared on her lips: another core card in this deck finally came into her hands. Perhaps the deck was responding to her call. When the leader needed it, the members of the Witch Society would never let her down, because they knew that the leader would not let them down either.

Tiantis added this card to his hand, but was not in a hurry to activate it. Instead, he looked up at the gray-haired girl opposite him and said, "I am actually surprised by your performance so far in the duel, Miss Gloria, because you have never played a similar game before. You can achieve this level with just a simple understanding of the rules. Should I say that you have a strong ability to understand, or do you have a natural talent?"

"Of course it's because I, a talented player, am here to guide him!"

Someone shamelessly took credit for it, but no one paid any attention to her, including Gloria. After being silent for a while, she suddenly lowered her head, letting her bangs cover her misty eyes, and whispered, "Forget the compliments, Miss Tiantis, this is not just my credit."

This modest statement was in line with the character of the Third Princess. Although Linger was keenly aware that there seemed to be other meanings hidden in this sentence, it was not the right occasion to ask questions, so he buried this doubt in his heart and did not ask. Tiantis shook his head after hearing this, and seemed to disagree with Gloria's modesty. This was normal. After all, the companions of the Third Princess did not understand the rules of dueling and basically did not give her any useful suggestions, while Alice only made random suggestions. From this point of view, it was indeed thanks to Gloria's dueling talent that she could always maintain the advantage.

Gloria hesitated, then nodded.

This means that she always has a complete set of deck resources, and Tiantis's cards are not recyclable, no matter if they are sent to the graveyard or inside. As long as the duel continues, she will continue to activate the effects of the cards, and the self-severance she will suffer will become more and more, and eventually she may not be able to use any effect at all.

The [Alien Philosopher] deck used by Tiantis and the [Girl's Royal Power] deck used by Gloria both operate by releasing monsters to activate effects. The difference is that the core of the [Girl's Royal Power] deck is the card "Merciful Relief - Ringer". All the lower-level monsters in the family have the effect of searching Ringer and releasing Ringer to search for their own superiors. Then, by recycling the lower-level monsters in the family and the Ringer in the graveyard, they can specially recruit their own superiors and activate various powerful effects to resolve the opponent's situation. The tactical concept is to rely on 8-star big monsters to stand on the field, supplemented by various simple and crude equipment magic cards to increase attack power and defense power, and continuously suppress the opponent.

"It doesn't matter who deserves the credit, Miss Gloria. Anyway, in this duel, your personal ability cannot be ignored." Tiantis said, "I believe that by now in the duel, you have already seen the difference between our two decks in terms of operation and tactical concepts, right?"

On the surface, whether it is an offensive and defensive battle to suppress the scene or a war of attrition for resource exchange, Her Royal Highness the Third Princess's deck is more advantageous.

When others thought of this, they could not help but recall Ringer's decision to insist on letting Gloria play this cartridge before the game started. At that time, Alice was still yelling and making a fuss about what she would not let go of Ringer. Now, comparing the performance of the two, they could only sigh that the young man's premonition was really accurate.

However, the [Alien Philosopher] deck does not have a clear core. The effects of all the lower-level monsters in the family are activated after they are liberated, and are often accompanied by serious side effects. The self-restraint (operation restrictions on duelists) that lasts for a whole duel makes it impossible for her to recycle these monsters even if she wants to. However, the effects of these monsters are without exception both disruptive and defensive. Therefore, her tactical concept should be to build a triple line of defense through monsters, magic and trap cards, while disrupting the opponent's deployment to protect herself and continuously consume the opponent's resources.

But this tactic doesn't seem to have any effect on Gloria, because the resources of the [Girl's Royal Power] deck can be recycled. The Ringers in the lower level of the family and the graveyard can be recovered through the effects of the upper level monsters. The cost required to activate various effects is not to send to the graveyard or exclude from the game, but directly return to the deck. For example, the trap card [Blessing of the Ancient Tree] that Gloria just placed on the field can directly return the level 8 Girl's Royal Power monster on the field to the deck when it leaves the field, and then add a level 4 Girl's Royal Power monster that is not mentioned in the monster card name to the hand. In this way, even if Tiantis clears his own field, Gloria can continue to deploy by summoning the retrieved monster in the next round.

But this is exactly what she is most worried about.

Because even she could see it, how could Tiandis not see it? But she still looked calm and composed, which meant that there was indeed some backup in that deck, which was the trump card she relied on, right?

"These two decks are the embodiment of our thoughts. Therefore, the operation mode and tactical concepts of the decks can essentially be regarded as the different beliefs and paths of the two duelists." Tiantis suddenly said: "You cherish your companions and rely on their strength, but you don't want the battle to lead to the sacrifice of your companions. This idea is reflected in the [Girl's Royal Power] deck, which is to continuously return monsters on the field and in the graveyard to the deck. Sometimes, we would rather give up a better way of playing and protect them from any harm. I have to say that this is a very naive idea and very fragile." "We are different. We also cherish the feelings between like-minded partners, but we also deeply understand that there is no ideal in the world that can be achieved without sacrifice. Sacrificing beautiful wishes, sacrificing sincere feelings, and even sacrificing all the happiness and sadness since the birth of life... Compared with this, sacrificing life is already the smallest price. But if the ideal is not out of reach, then this sacrifice will be meaningful."

"Therefore, the members of the Witch Society have always been committed to pursuing their ideals and sacrificing themselves. Dante, Martin Luther, Lenoir, Barbarossa, Napoleon, and Joan of Arc—"

She counted the names that were still fresh in her memory one by one. Behind each name stood another name that had been forgotten. When a person vowed to erase his existence from the history books and live in the hearts of the world with another identity, no sacrifice could make them feel afraid: "Galileo fell on the observatory he built with his own hands, Plato died on the eve of the victory of the philosophers' war; Barbarossa was assassinated by the extraordinary in his later years because he supported magicians, and Joan of Arc fell with her beloved warhorse in the last battle to liberate the White City; Agricola collapsed in the laboratory while studying the properties of magic-conducting metals, and Darius fell in the battle against the false evil god 'Glorious Sigma'... Among the philosophers of the association, only a few can have a good end. Despite this, this identity is still the goal that the apostles of the association are eager to pursue. After the mid-year meeting every year, the Special Assessment Bureau will receive more than a hundred reports on applications for the code name of philosophers. Why do you think this is, Miss Gloria?"

The gray-haired girl could only remain silent.

"Of course, I'm not saying that sacrifice is always right. The premise is that the sacrifice you make is on the right path, and at least it should give people hope for success. Or, after you make a mistake, do you have the courage to sacrifice yourself to correct it?" Tiantis said: "Let me tell you, Miss Gloria, our Witch Society is not always right, because on the road of replacing magic rules with physical rules, we are also pioneers and explorers. We will inevitably make mistakes, but we have the courage to face them. People, only by overcoming the mistakes they have made can they defeat the immature self of the past and move towards a more correct path."

"If you have a great ideal but want to realize it without making sacrifices, it means you are not mature enough and you don't have the courage to face your mistakes." Tiantis's eyes swept across Gloria, and stopped at Alice, Rorona and Saint Shalia on the field in turn, and finally fixed firmly on the blue-haired girl. Saint Shalia was speechless for a moment, and it was hard to tell whether her words were sincere or false, whether they were one-sided theories or earnest warnings?
"You still have doubts, which is normal." Tiantis didn't care about her silence and smiled casually: "Then next, let me show you the mistakes that the Witch Society has made. He is also the most dangerous and difficult enemy the society has encountered since its establishment, but in the end we still defeated Him, and thanks to Him, we have improved many of the immature aspects of the past. This is the growth brought by overcoming mistakes. And you, you also have to try to defeat Him, because since you are determined to be the enemy of the Witch Society, you must prove that you have such power. It is not enough to rely on passion alone. If you can't even deal with the defeated opponents of the society in the past, how can you stop our great cause?"

What is the most dangerous and difficult enemy that the Witch Society has ever encountered? What mistakes have they made?
The girls on the field looked at each other in bewilderment, and for a moment they hadn't reacted. However, a memory suddenly emerged in Ling'er's mind: a few days ago, in the dimly lit church, a kind and amiable elder sat on a bench and narrated a piece of history from the past, a past that ordinary people had long forgotten and buried deep in the years...

"I Normal Summon, [Ungranted Philosopher - Midai]." Tiandis said softly, and at the same time gently pressed a card in his hand on the duel disk.

A light flickered, and a woman with long light blonde hair and sea blue eyes appeared on the duel field. Her clothing was very peculiar, looking like a dark blue religious robe, but with brass patterns on the collar, cuffs and hem that resembled gears, springs and metal bearings. In her hand was a brass scepter, and on the top of the scepter was a miniature steam engine surrounded by six worn gears, which was emitting scalding hot air as the night wind whistled, spreading like white mist in the night.

However, what is more concerning than her appearance is her name.

“Mechanical Saint…” Gloria murmured, “Mide?”

The first person in history to be refined by the conceived god, the woman who issued the December Declaration in the May Wreath Square, thus opening the curtain of the vigorous Steam Holy War, now appeared in front of everyone in such a calm manner.

But it’s not over yet.

"Activate the effect of [Ungranted Philosopher - Dayang] in your hand," Tiandis showed them another card in his hand: "When [Ungranted Philosopher - Midai] is on your field, Special Summon this card. After activating this effect, in this duel, [Ungranted Philosopher - Midai] on your field is regarded as [Mechanical Saint - Midai] in the card name, and [Ungranted Philosopher - Dayang] on the field is regarded as [Holy Creation Knight - Dayang] in the card name."

Another flash of light appeared, and a young man with long black hair and dark brown eyes walked out slowly. He was wearing brass armor like a medieval knight, but the shoulder armor, arm armor, and leg armor were still decorated with gears and bearings, which were holy emblems of the Steam Cult. In his hands, he held an overly large copper giant sword and a copper tower shield shaped like a gear set. In the hilt of the giant sword and the center of the tower shield, there was a miniature steam engine embedded. At this moment, like the steam engine on the top of the scepter in Saint Midai's hand, it was also running slowly, spewing out scorching hot steam from the exhaust holes, which distorted the shape of the river and the air for a moment.

Another familiar historical figure stepped onto the duel stage.

[Mechanical Saint - Mida / Light / 4* / Effect / 0 Attack / 0 Defense / This card is also considered an "Alien Philosopher" monster according to the rules]

[Holy Creation Knight - Dayan / Dark / 4 stars / Effect / ATK 2000 / DEF 2000 / This card is also considered an "Alien Philosopher" monster according to the rules]

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)