Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 811: Did you get picked?

Reverse time and space, correct the future, and all mistakes will no longer exist. Under the watchful eye of Alexander, the god of steam engines, all choices will lead to the correct ending without any surprise, even if it is only correct for Him.

For Gloria, who had struggled desperately and finally found a way to win in a desperate situation, it was more like a heavy blow. She stood there in a daze with a blank look, as if she couldn't react for a moment what had happened. Or maybe she reacted but instinctively didn't want to accept it because that meant she had to accept an absurd failure.

It was obvious that victory had already been achieved, but the results were artificially tampered with. If this is not considered ridiculous, then what else is?
Unfortunately, at this time, the girl had not yet realized that the blow was far more than that.

"Bypassing Alexander and attacking me directly is indeed a good idea, and it seems to be the only way to win, but its essence is still escapism. I have said that if you don't have the courage to face your mistakes, you will never be able to grow."

Tiantis looked at Gloria with complicated eyes. The girl was still immersed in the aftertaste of failure and had not come back to her senses. Otherwise, she would have seen a trace of regret in her eyes, as if she was very sorry to see that she was one step behind in this life-and-death duel. But it doesn't matter, she still has another chance, because the steam engine god Alexander is different from other gods. He was not born to cater to the ambitions of some people or to destroy some beautiful things, but to create a new world, a kingdom of God where everyone can get eternal beauty in machinery and steel. From this point of view, He is somewhat similar to the Witch Society.

Because of this, Alexander possessed a compassionate divinity in addition to absolute rationality. He gave humans opportunities more than once, wanting to witness their possibilities. In the end, he was defeated by the combined power of humans as he wished, and failed to create that ideal country. But Tiantis believed that he had never regretted it, and was even very pleased to see this ending. Therefore, before the collapse, he used the last bit of power he had left to launch the final divine art "Time and Space Restart", erasing most people's memories of the steam engine god Alexander.

He was sure that mankind had seen the road to the future, a road that was farther and more glorious than the steam engine and industrial civilization, and no longer needed a mechanical kingdom that stagnated time and closed space as a haven for escape, so he took the initiative to erase his own existence. If He did not do this, even if the Steam Holy War ended, those ambitious people and conspirators who had witnessed the power of the machine god would still summon Him again for various desires and use all means to hinder the development of human civilization.

This is also the reason why the cultists of Spacetime Enigma have been active in the dark world for many years but have never received a response from God: their God has long chosen to believe in humans and entrusted the hope for the future to humans, but this group of mechanical lunatics are still longing for Him to come again and change the face of the world with the distorted power of spacetime. How unrealistic this is.

They are the stubborn ones among humans, the fanatics of their own ambitions, who are willing to believe in their own wishful thinking until their death, and refuse to accept the mercy and compassion of God. So what about you, Miss Gloria? Do you understand the difference? Do you see that there is hope hidden behind despair? Can you overcome the mistakes that lie before you, and let Alexander the Steam God, and me, see your possibilities again?

Maybe you haven't realized this yet, but it doesn't matter. As I said just now, you still have a chance to prove it, provided that you don't give up.

Tiantis's cold voice seemed to come from across the clouds. When it entered the girl's ears, it seemed so illusory, but it seemed to have a real force, deeply hurting her fragile eardrums: "The way to make choices is between gains and losses. What do you want to get, and what are you willing to lose for it? Have you ever thought about this truth seriously, Miss Gloria? But now, why not experience its existence for yourself - Black Hole Loser."

Gloria was helpless as she watched this scene. She no longer had any cards to protect her companions. She even began to regret her reckless actions tonight that implicated so many innocent people. It all started with her own opinion. Many memories from long ago suddenly came to her mind at this moment. Those complex and mottled colors were like a terrifying ink painting, full of bizarre scenes. Every time she wanted to close her eyes to escape them, she would find that they were still flickering in the dark, so clear. That's right, the so-called fear is what you see when you close your eyes, sometimes colorful, sometimes dim, always squirming in the changeable.

But Alexander the Steam God is too powerful, and can even reverse time and space to correct the wrong ending. How should such an enemy be defeated?

Tiantis looked at Gloria deeply, the complex meaning in her eyes could not be interpreted by anyone, then she retracted her gaze and said lightly: "Activate the effect of Supreme Alexander. When this card is successfully Special Summoned, banish all cards in the opponent's hand, field, and graveyard."

After he finished speaking, Supreme Alexander slowly raised his huge arm, and a series of twisted black holes condensed and formed in his iron hand. Inside was a deep void, as if it could devour all tangible matter. One after another, black holes broke away from Supreme Alexander's palm, just like a dim and extinguished star that broke free from the bondage of gravity, falling uncontrollably and drawing several arcs in the night sky. The black holes that slowly rotated counterclockwise squeezed the void, making a crackling sound of being overwhelmed. On the paths where these black holes flew, the void twisted and collapsed, sagged downward, forming a series of sharp and cold cracks. At a glance, it was like the cracks on a broken mirror, gradually spreading the breath of death and destruction.

Gloria, who was still in a daze, trembled uncontrollably when she heard this. For the first time, a look of astonishment and disbelief appeared in her eyes: not only did the attack and defense power double, but it could even launch such a terrifying clearing effect, directly wiping out the situation she had been struggling to maintain. How could there be such a powerful monster in this world? No, that's not right. That's not a monster, but... a god.

[This card can only be Special Summoned by overlapping "Steam God Alexander - Mechanical Master" on your field through the effect of a monster. At this time, the two cards are considered to exist at the same time according to the rules. This card cannot leave the field and is not affected by the effects of other cards. The attack and defense of this card increase by 2,000 times the number of cards that were excluded or excluded face-down to meet the needs of the Ritual Summon. When this card is Special Summoned successfully, exclude all cards in the opponent's hand, field, and graveyard face-down. The opponent cannot activate the effects of monsters, magic, and trap cards in response to this effect. After this effect is activated, skip your next turn. ]

Each round of black holes released terrifying gravity, and the arc-shaped ripples visible to the naked eye formed a mighty tide, washing away all matter and living things. Gloria saw cards flying out of the cemetery in her lifeless eyes, being swallowed and absorbed by these black holes, and disappeared in the blink of an eye. The girls on the field were also trying their best to resist this majestic gravitational tide. Saint Xia Liya took the initiative to protect Rolena, and Nevier directly hugged Leticia in her arms, but it was all in vain. As the gravitational tide continued to be released, their hair, sleeves and skirts fluttered violently in the storm, and their bodies began to uncontrollably leave the ground and gradually fall into the rounds of empty and deep black holes.

A voice suddenly appeared. It was not ringing in her ears, but it was clearer than that; it was not coming from her heart, but it was closer than that. Gloria knew that this was "her" voice. She subconsciously pursed her thin lips and whispered, "I have already... tried it according to what you said, but..."

—Giving up again, Gloria?

[Attack 44000/Defense 44000]

[Steam Engine God Alexander - Supreme of Space and Time/God/12 Stars/Effect]

--I already said that.

The voice said coldly: There are many ways to defeat Him. Now that you have only tried the first one, have you concluded that you have no hope?

"But..." - Are you going to let everyone be disappointed in you again, incompetent and useless Gloria?

This sentence deeply hurt the girl's heart. She looked up blankly, but saw that in the fierce storm, the blue-haired girl suddenly turned back and gave her a gentle smile before being swallowed by the black hole. In her eyes, as clear and transparent as tree amber, there was no complaint or urging, only a trust from the heart.

The next moment, her figure disappeared at the end of the black hole, and all the black holes disappeared after swallowing the enemies, leaving only dense cracks in the void that spread like ice flowers, making people mistakenly think that a mirror had been broken here. Those sunken scars, like bottomless rifts, contained the residual sound after the wind was extinguished.

There was nothing on the field, nothing in the cemetery, and nothing in his hands. The god who controlled the power of time and space had slowly landed on the Indorsis Bridge. His golden body showed infinite loftiness and majesty. The golden light flashing on his head was firmly locked on Gloria, as if he wanted to witness whether she could still create something called possibility in such adversity.

"Due to the effect of Supreme Alexander," Tiantis' voice came faintly, "I skipped my turn. Now it's your turn again, Miss Gloria."

Her Royal Highness the Third Princess lowered her head, her bangs covering her forehead and eyes, and she said nothing.

"Gloria..."

The spirit Alice behind him was very worried about the mental state of the duelists. She wanted to comfort them, but she didn't know what to say. She could only stammer, "Don't be so discouraged. Xiaoxia and the others were just excluded, they are not dead yet. We can save them by winning this duel. Although, although the situation is not good now, it is precisely because of this that it is a good time to cheat, isn't it? People without cards in their hand will definitely trigger the destined draw. This is an immutable law in card games, so you must cheer up..."

"Thank you, Miss Alice."

Gloria slowly raised her head, her eyes becoming firm again: "I haven't given up, I was just listening... thinking about how to defeat Supreme Alexander."

"Really?" Alice's eyes lit up: "Have you thought about it?"

To be honest, even she, a game developer, didn't know how to fight against such a bad card. If she had to, she could only summon her fist in attack mode. But in reality, she might not even be able to beat Tiantis. This is really a sad story.

"Almost. However, the conditions are quite demanding." Gloria glanced at the deck on the duel disk. "The chance depends on the next card draw, so Miss Alice, if it is really destined to be a draw as you said, that would be great."

"Don't worry!" Alice assured him. Lingge and the others could almost imagine her patting her chest and making a solemn promise: "Everything is inevitable for a true duelist. Even the card drawing itself is decided by the duelist!"

Gloria couldn't help but smile when she heard this, but she quickly put away her smile, put her hand on the deck, and looked at Tiantis opposite her with a serious face: "Then, my turn--"

"Draw a card!"

As if she had put all her heart and soul into it, she pulled out the card with all her strength. She didn't know if it was an illusion, but Alice actually saw a shining golden light on the card, indicating that all this was a destined choice.

Except for Lingge, no one noticed that Gloria's hand holding the card was shaking slightly. The thin card seemed to have a weight of tens of thousands of pounds at this moment. Is the destined draw that Miss Alice said really true? What if it is not the card I want? If I fail here, what will happen to Miss Saint Xia Liya and the others who have been excluded? All kinds of distracting thoughts are interfering with Gloria's thoughts, making her mood far less calm and firm than it seems on the surface.

But escaping can't solve any problems. If you don't face it, does reality not exist? If you always hide behind the fog, you will want to give up your true self in the end, right? Thinking of what her other self said, Gloria exhaled a turbid breath lightly and slowly, then slowly withdrew her hand, flipped her fingers, and the card face and card picture suddenly came into her eyes, which made the girl stunned and unable to react for a while.

The spirits behind him could see it clearly. The card only depicted a group of ethereal gray mist. A hazy and soft figure could be vaguely seen in the depths of the mist. She seemed to be smiling, but also seemed to be just staring coldly, giving people an extremely contradictory but familiar feeling. If you want to know where this contradictory familiarity came from, Ling Ge was probably the first person to react, because the person who gave him the same feeling was holding the card in silence.

That’s right, the name of this card is—

[The Kingship of the Soul—Gloria].

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)