"Ahhh... that felt so good!!!"

  Vio stretched her tired body.

  It had been ages since she'd played a game of Guide Rise this seriously.

  "Heh, must feel real good beating the crap out of a beginner,"

  Liora grumbled.

  She had just endured what could only be described as a torture chamber—Vio had bombarded her with relentless tactics she couldn’t even predict.

  "Hey, don't sulk!"

  Vio shot back.

  "Your playstyle didn’t feel like a beginner’s at all.

  You used strategies that are practically meta right now."

  "As your mentor, I just have way more experience.

  I’m used to how the flow of the game works."

  "In other words, if I keep practicing, beating you will be easy?"

  Liora snapped back coolly.

  "Could you not trample all over your mentor’s pride?"

  Vio asked, feigning a hurt tone.

  "A true mentor should accept it when their student surpasses them,"

  Liora replied, still a little sore about her loss.

  "Well, Enlightenment is a path that forces players to really understand both their own deck and their opponent’s deck,"

  Vio said with a shrug.

  "Know thyself, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories."

  She quoted fluently.

  "That’s from Sun Tzu, right?"

  Liora responded with a smirk.

  "I didn’t expect you to be into old stuff like that."

  "I have a lot of free time,"

  Vio replied, casually cleaning up the table where they had just battled.

  "So I’ve picked up a lot of random knowledge."

  Out of the corner of her eye, Vio watched Liora.

  She was deep in thought, carefully organizing the cards in her deck.

  Compared to when she had first walked into the shop,

  there was so much more light and emotion on Liora’s face now.

  Vio let out a small sigh of relief.

  Thank goodness, she thought.

  At least I won't have to hear any terrible news about her.

  Not from this girl, at least.

  "Vio?"

  Liora’s voice broke into her thoughts.

  "Could you help me organize my deck?"

  "Some of these cards seem kind of useless,

  and how many copies of the same card am I allowed to put in?"

  "Ah, maximum of four copies per deck,"

  Vio answered.

  "Here, it'd be faster if you looked up some reference builds online.

  If you find cards you need, I can set them aside for you to buy."

  "Will I get a discount?"

  Liora asked bluntly.

  "Dream on.

  Business is business!"

  Vio laughed, flashing a big grin.

  Even if the future was still covered in mist,

  at least for now,

  they were here for each other.

  ***

  Nicholas lay on the bed in his apartment, trying to process the irrational events that had just unfolded in his life.

  A floating, talking polar bear plushie.

  A secret tournament where the winner could wish for anything—and have it granted.

  If Nicholas ever told anyone about it, no one would believe him.

  They’d think he’d gone insane and needed to be institutionalized.

  Even though everything felt surreal, it didn’t mean he wasn’t going to participate.

  After all, it was just a card game.

  Nicholas had already prepared: watching guides, buying cards to build his deck, and trying a few matches at the nearest hobby store.

  Though he wouldn’t dare call himself a pro, he was at least confident enough to think he could beat a few other players.

  A notification chime echoed from his phone.

  He stood and walked to his desk.

  On the screen, a new message had appeared:

  “Desire Battle – First Match: Enlightenment VS Mirror. Tonight. Old observatory near the mountain at the edge of town.”

  Nicholas let out a sigh.

  Looks like he was up for the opening match.

  Beside his phone sat a Guide Rise card—

  It showed a grinning clown holding a molotov cocktail, his twisted smile painted across his face.

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  ***

  Liora walked through the dark of night, lighting her way with her phone’s flashlight. She followed a narrow path, half-covered in grass, until finally reaching her destination.

  An old observatory stood before her—slightly rundown, but still functional enough in her eyes.

  “Liora? What are you doing here?”

  Someone had arrived before her. A man who seemed to know her.

  “You are…”

  Liora tilted her head slightly.

  “Who?”

  Her expression was flat as usual.

  Nicholas let out a dry laugh.

  Having been a regular customer at the café where Liora worked, he had at least hoped the staff might remember his face.

  “I’m a regular at the café,”

  Nicholas offered, deciding to speak up.

  “I see you there all the time.”

  “Oh!”

  Liora’s eyes lit up slightly, as if a memory had surfaced.

  “You’re the poor guy who always orders yesterday’s leftover frozen sandwich!”

  Nicholas winced a little inside.

  At least remember me for something nicer… he thought.

  “So…”

  “You’re a Desire Battle participant too?”

  Liora asked, completely ignoring the shadow that crossed Nicholas’s face.

  “Wait—don’t tell me… you are too?”

  Nicholas looked genuinely surprised.

  “In that case…”

  “Welcome.”

  A new voice suddenly interrupted, grabbing their attention.

  Ursa had appeared.

  “Today marks the beginning of the Desire Battle.”

  “So we’re going to fight in this isolated place?”

  Liora asked, scanning the observatory.

  “Where’s the table?”

  “It’s not needed.”

  “Nicholas Nodelza,”

  Ursa said, pointing to the right, near the observatory entrance.

  “Stand over there.”

  Nicholas obeyed without question and walked to where Ursa had pointed.

  “Liora Vernhart, face Nicholas Nodelza.”

  Liora took her time walking across and then turned to face Nicholas.

  “Now, raise your Frontier Guide forward and declare—”

  ‘I will seize my desire!’

  In unison, Nicholas and Liora raised their hands forward, each gripping their own Frontier Guide card.

  “I will seize my desire!!!”

  They shouted together.

  A glowing blue circle of light formed, encircling both of them.

  In front of each player, a transparent platform materialized—these were their play mats.

  Nicholas was stunned.

  This was far beyond normal logic.

  There were no signs of technology anywhere around… and yet something that resembled the latest AR interface had just appeared before his eyes.

  Liora merely looked around calmly, pulled her deck from her jacket pocket, and placed it on the transparent panel.

  The panel glowed, and the Guide Rise battlefield formed on her side.

  Nicholas quickly followed her lead.

  Ursa floated into the air, hovering between the two competitors, right in front of the observatory entrance.

  “Now! Declare your Frontier Guides—and let the Desire Battle begin!”

  “Path of Enlightenment! Truth Scholar, Dorothy!”

  Violet particles of light gathered around Liora.

  They swirled together, taking the shape of a humanoid figure—and then, Dorothy materialized.

  She stood at Liora’s side, smiling gently at her.

  “Path of Mirror! Phantasmal Jester, Raftel!”

  A fracture appeared beside Nicholas, as if reality itself cracked like fragile glass.

  A clown-like figure leapt out of the rift.

  Raftel laughed menacingly, locking eyes with Dorothy from across the field.

  Both players placed their Guides into the Guide Zone.

  Their main decks began to shine, auto-shuffling themselves, and four cards floated toward each of them.

  “In that case, allow me to go first,”

  Nicholas offered.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Liora replied, seemingly indifferent about who went first.

  Nicholas smiled. His Path needed some setup first, so going first gave him a clear advantage.

  Nicholas’s Turn

  “Draw!” Nicholas drew the top card from his deck.

  “I generate 1 OP.

  Guide Call!”

  “Wicked jester who brings forth weeping—laugh upon the suffering of your victims!”

  “Phantasmal Jester, Raftel! I summon you to the arena!”

  In response to Nicholas’s call, Raftel laughed and twisted his head in a perfect 360-degree spin.

  “By paying 1 OP, I activate Raftel’s effect!

  I reduce the ATK of all my followers to zero!”

  Raftel’s ATK dropped from 2,400 to 0.

  “Turn end.”

  “You lowered your own ATK?” Liora stared intently at Nicholas, but he averted his gaze, not wanting to elaborate.

  “…Whatever.”

  Liora’s Turn

  “My turn! Draw!”

  “OP limit increased, I generate 2 OP.”

  “Guide Call!”

  “Seeker of truth who clears the fog of cosmic mystery!”

  “Lend me your guidance! Truth Scholar, Dorothy!”

  Answering Liora’s call, Dorothy stepped forward. A glowing spellbook appeared in her hands, opening as she prepared to chant a spell.

  “By paying 2 OP, I directly activate a Fixed Support from my deck!”

  “Omnigenerator, activate! I discard as many cards as I want, and for every two cards discarded, I recover 1 OP!”

  “Then by paying 1 OP, I activate from my hand—Construct Card: Gaia Library!”

  “As long as Gaia Library is on the field, all my face-up support cards can’t be destroyed by effects, as long as I control a face-up follower in the battle zone!”

  “Battle!”

  “Dorothy, attack Raftel!”

  Dorothy turned her gaze toward Raftel. Raftel, seeing this, smiled—so wide it exceeded human limits. Dorothy pointed at him and fired a bolt of blue lightning that struck quickly and violently. Raftel screamed in pain.

  He returned to the Guide Zone. Yet Nicholas didn’t seem afraid—instead, a smile began to creep across his face. Liora watched in confusion. Until suddenly—

  Liora screamed in pain, falling to her knees and clutching her chest.

  A number appeared above her head: 8,000, which then dropped to 6,750.

  She had expected something would happen in the Desire Battle—and had mentally prepared herself for it. Still, this pain stirred some uncomfortable memories within her.

  Meanwhile, Nicholas looked shocked when he heard her scream.

  So… the damage was actually felt by the players?

  What a sick system.

  But even so, a grin crept onto his face.

  “Wasn’t it a little too dumb of you to attack just because his ATK was zero?” he said smugly.

  “This is Raftel’s special ability—when he’s destroyed in battle, the opponent takes damage equal to half the ATK of the card that defeated him.”

  With Dorothy’s help, Liora stood back up.

  Now she understood where the damage had come from.

  Dorothy glared at Raftel, who simply responded with another grotesque grin.

  “…What a disgusting ability,” Liora muttered.