[Iron-Willed Training Trap Card Effect: Until the End Phase, "Heroic Spirit" monsters on your field cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects.]
Remaining Saint Quartz: 8
"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on here? Why are they all Kirei Kotomine?"
Looking at the card artwork displayed before her — featuring the priest with his trademark steel-like physique and formal fist-clasping pose — Hoshino couldn't help but complain.
"How strange. My blessing's magical power can't make contact with them at all."
Eve awkwardly scratched her head.
"Maybe I'm just not in good condition today?"
"Alright then, this useless shrine maiden has lost the last bit of value she had. Throw this freeloader out."
"(╯>д<)╯—"
"Sh-short… short?! Master, what are you doing!?"
Having apparently gotten the wrong idea, Kiyohime suddenly crawled out from under the bed after overhearing the conversation. Breathing hard, she grabbed onto Hoshino in a panic.
"You, get out!"
With practiced efficiency, Hoshino tossed Kiyohime out of the room and turned back to Eve.
"What do you mean by 'too short'? Do I need to drag out the process more? Maybe perform some kind of prayer ritual before pulling cards?"
Crossing her arms, Eve thought for a moment.
"It just feels like you were moving too fast today, Hoshino. I couldn't keep up at all, so my blessing's magical power couldn't make contact. Last night felt about ten times longer than today."
"Ten times longer… Ah!"
A realization suddenly struck Hoshino.
"I get it. Last night was a ten-pull, while today was a single pull. That's why it felt ten times longer to you."
"I don't really understand what a 'single pull' or a 'ten-pull' is, but that's probably what I mean."
Desperate to prove she still had some value, Eve nodded vigorously.
"So this shrine maiden's blessing only works on ten-pull summons, and she only has enough magical power to guarantee a single SSR."
With her extensive gacha experience, Hoshino instantly arrived at the truth.
"Damn it — you're basically a Lucky Bag!"
Eve: Gacha Support Tool → Eve: Lucky Bag Banner
"But I only have 8 Saint Quartz left now. I can't even afford a single ten-pull."
Looking at her pitiful remaining Saint Quartz, Hoshino sighed regretfully.
Or rather, Da Vinci's spending traps had been too effective.
Out of her original 380 Saint Quartz, exchanging for all three forms of Swimsuit Illya had left her with only 20 — nowhere near enough for a ten-pull.
Combined with the fact that Eve's blessing only activated on ten-pulls, Hoshino was beginning to suspect that the shady merchant had known everything from the start and calculated it all in advance.
"Hehehe. You think a tiny obstacle like this can stop me?"
"Too naive, Da Vinci!"
Skillfully turning on her computer, Hoshino opened the Virtual Duel Alliance's online battle software.
Without even leaving home, she could earn Saint Quartz through the vast ocean of the internet.
"Never underestimate the power of a hardcore grinder, Da-Vin-Ci—!"
[Network Connection Lost]
"ヾ(ﾟдﾟ)ﾉ What the heck is this? I'm not even trying to log into DNF, so why am I getting the six-character truth?"
Suddenly realizing something, Hoshino quickly opened a search engine page and checked her connection.
"As I thought. We're completely offline now."
Thinking about it carefully, after the dimensional fusion, the Nine Realms had been inserted into Earth's continents like pieces of a giant puzzle.
After a change that extreme, there was no way Earth's internet infrastructure could still function normally.
"Yeah, my phone has absolutely no signal too."
After lighting up her phone screen, the displayed 'Out of Service Area' notification further confirmed her suspicions.
"At this point, we're completely isolated from the rest of the world. I wonder if the rest of Earth has descended into complete chaos."
At least on Duel Academy Island, Kaiba had personally gone to explain the situation to the Principal.
Even though the internet was gone, word could still be spread manually.
By tomorrow, the island's residents would probably have a basic understanding of the situation and hopefully avoid unnecessary panic.
"Let's leave troublesome problems to the important people~"
Leaning back in her computer chair, Hoshino stared blankly at the ceiling.
Without internet access, online games were obviously impossible.
Mobile games requiring a network connection were out too.
If she wanted to kill time, her only options were offline games.
But under the current circumstances, she wasn't in the mood to calmly sit down and play anything.
Supreme King Jaden.
Dimensional fusion.
Earth merged together with the Nine Realms.
Originally, she'd simply gone out that morning to search for the World Legacy.
Yet as events spiraled increasingly out of control, by evening she found herself living in an entirely new world.
"Wait — the World Legacy!"
Hoshino suddenly jumped out of her chair.
"That's it!"
"Σ(゜ロ゜;) Wah!"
Eve, who had been quietly using Hoshino's distraction as cover to open a bag of potato chips, was so startled that she dropped the half-opened bag onto the floor.
"But what about the World Legacy, Hoshino?"
"The Star Grail."
"Now that the dimensions of the two worlds have fused together…"
Taking out the card [World Legacy – World Chalice], Hoshino also pulled out a spare Duel Disk — the one she'd received from Mai Valentine of the future timeline.
Changes in the worldline had affected the technological development of this world as well.
However, since that Duel Disk had originally been a product from ten years in the future of a different timeline, although it differed from modern standard Duel Disks, the fundamental technology wasn't all that different.
Well, except for AR Duel Disks, of course.
"World Chalice, activate!"
Placing the World Legacy card onto the Duel Disk, Hoshino intended to use the power of the World Chalice to display a map of the current world.
"If that works, we should at least be able to get a rough understanding of how Earth's geography changed after fusing with Yggdrasil."
Hoshino Alter commented:
["Using a World Legacy as a world map? That's so like you, Aibo!"]
Once the Duel Disk projected the image, the true appearance of the current world unfolded before Hoshino's eyes.
And it left her completely stunned.
Da Vinci hadn't been exaggerating at all when she said Earth's total area had effectively tripled.
The Nine Realms of Yggdrasil were simply too vast.
Compared to them, Earth's landmasses looked almost pitiful, as though they had been bullied into a corner. Only the Eurasian continent was large enough to even come close to comparing with one of Yggdrasil's realms.
As for Duel Academy Island, now trapped at the center of three different realms, it appeared to be separated from the original world by three enormous natural barriers.
"I knew things were bad, but seeing it with my own eyes is still pretty shocking."
"Wait, Hoshino…"
Noticing several flashing points of light on the giant map, Eve pointed them out.
"The World Legacy artifacts! The locations of the last two World Legacy relics are marked now!"
Because the map's total size had expanded threefold, the markers indicating the World Legacy locations had become proportionally smaller. Hoshino had been so distracted by the shocking changes to the world that she hadn't noticed them at first.
"But why? Earlier today there wasn't any reaction at all…"
With that question in mind, Hoshino looked toward the locations Eve was pointing at and instantly understood.
The remaining two World Legacy markers weren't located anywhere on Earth's original continents.
They existed within the Nine Realms that had been fused into the world.
"No wonder the World Chalice didn't react earlier today."
Hoshino nodded in understanding.
"So only three World Legacy relics existed in the human world. If the dimensional fusion hadn't happened, we probably would never have found the remaining two in our entire lives."
Hoshino Alter said:
["Do you think Supreme King Jaden fused the two dimensions together because he knew that?"]
"Even if that's part of the reason, the truth can't be that simple."
Hoshino calmly analyzed the situation.
"Otherwise, Jaden could've just explained everything to us directly. There would've been no need for him to leave without saying anything."
Examining the positions of the remaining relics, she noticed that one of them was relatively close to Duel Academy Island, located within one of the three realms surrounding it.
The other, however, was extremely far away — almost on the opposite side of the planet, roughly where the American continent had originally been.
"By the way, are there only five World Legacy relics in total?"
Hoshino turned toward Eve.
Based on her experience with legendary artifacts, these kinds of items were usually grouped in sevens.
She couldn't really explain why so many stories were obsessed with the number seven.
The Seven Dragon Balls.
The Seven Deadly Sins.
The Seven Beasts.
And so on.
"Originally, there were eight World Legacy relics."
Eve explained.
"So it's not seven? Disappointing…"
"But that's already a legend from thousands of years ago."
Eve's expression turned serious.
"A thousand years ago, before the Nine Realms enjoyed the peace they have today, war raged constantly between the nations. The world was drowning in suffering and bloodshed…"
Hoshino Alter interrupted:
["Why did this suddenly turn into a flashback narration?"]
"And according to legend, near the end of the war, a girl appeared carrying all eight World Legacy relics."
"With absolute power, she ended the war that had engulfed the entire world through her own strength alone."
"Even if all Nine Kings joined forces, they were still no match for her."
"Unable to defeat her even with all Nine Kings working together?"
Hoshino nodded.
"That's pretty impressive."
Hoshino Alter added:
["Though myths and legends usually exaggerate things."]
"But the price of ending the war was that three of the World Legacy relics were completely and irreversibly destroyed during the final battle."
"Afterward, the girl departed."
"Only the remaining five World Legacy relics were left behind, sleeping in different corners of the world."
Having finished her story, Eve sighed dramatically, tore open her bag of potato chips, and poured them into her mouth.
"This is the legend that's been passed down from one generation of Priestesses to the next!"
Crunch crunch.
"Even if the story is exaggerated," Hoshino reflected, "a girl ending a war and saving the world is still a pretty good story."
"There's also a bad-ending version of the legend, though."
Crunch crunch.
According to Eve:
"The girl who ended the war didn't leave at all."
"After realizing that her power couldn't truly save the world and would instead bring about a Ragnarök that would destroy everything, she chose to take her own life."
Swallow.
"That's supposed to be a tragic ending. Why are you eating potato chips while telling it?"
Hoshino complained.
"Because it's just a legend. Nobody knows whether it's true or not."
Eve shrugged.
"Every generation of priestesses just treated it as a story and passed it down."
"With that attitude, did the uselessness of the Priestesses get passed down through the generations too?"
"No!"
Eve proudly protested.
"The useless one is just me!"
"But even if I'm useless, I've still inherited the duties of a priestess and joined you in searching for the World Legacy relics!"
"Now that we've found their locations, let's leave immediately!"
"It's good to be enthusiastic, but tonight we're resting."
Throwing herself onto the bed, Hoshino instantly entered Refuse-to-Work Mode.
By any reasonable eight-hour workday standard, she'd already done plenty of overtime.
"If we rush into an unknown area to search for the relics without getting proper rest, and then we're too exhausted to defeat the guardian spirits, wouldn't that be counterproductive?"
"Besides, even without relying on the World Legacy relics, we already defeated six Kings."
Originally, according to Eve, the power of the World Legacy relics was essential for defeating the Nine Kings of the Realms. That was the only reason Hoshino had agreed to fly all over the world collecting them.
Yet aside from Hela — whose defeat could arguably be attributed to the power of the World Legacy used for Synchro Summoning — the other five Kings had essentially been defeated through the efforts of the duelists of this world.
"Maybe the girl in the legend really possessed power beyond the Kings."
"But even you admitted that it's only a thousands-of-years-old legend with an uncertain ending and questionable authenticity."
"Things are different now."
Hoshino grinned.
"The times have changed~"
"Ugh… I can't argue with that."
Unexpectedly, Eve backed down.
Unlike yesterday, she didn't stubbornly insist on her position.
"Last night, I thought defeating the Iron King was just a lucky miracle."
"But now six of the Nine Kings have already been defeated."
"I'm starting to wonder whether the World Legacy relics are even that important at all."
"…"
"The duty passed down through generations of Priestesses is to guide the chosen one in gathering the World Legacy relics."
"But after thousands of years, you're the only chosen person who's ever appeared."
"In other words, throughout all those centuries, no priestess besides me has ever actually come into contact with a World Legacy relic."
"…"
"And now, if it turns out their power isn't even necessary…"
Eve's voice gradually grew more melancholy.
"It feels like my entire reason for existing has suddenly been denied."
Growing increasingly depressed, she picked up Hoshino's half-finished soda from the table and took a huge swig.
To her, the sweet drink tasted as bitter as liquor meant to drown one's sorrows.
"So, Hoshino, can you understand how that feels?"
"Even if I'm a useless priestess, I still don't want to give up the last meaning my existence has."
"This is the only way I can fight as a World Chalice Priestess!"
"…zzZZZ~~~"
"That's so mean! You already fell asleep?!" Eve shouted in disbelief.