Chapter 395: Cliche, But Effective
Chapter 395: Cliche, But Effective
Loren looked up, his expression dazed. As the white light engulfed him, he initially felt pain, and his steps faltered.
But soon, even the pain faded away.
As if with the loss of life, his senses left him as well. He felt like a puppet, all its strings snapped by that last attack. His body fell backward uncontrollably, as if falling through an endless void, like Lucifer's nine-day fall from heaven.
Then he fell into an embrace.
Loren struggled to lift his head and saw the card that held a special meaning for him—the Paparazzi, his exclusive news photographer.
It was like an extension of his father, a sprite that had always guarded him.
"Dad," Loren whispered.
The photographer nodded to him.
Just as the duel ended, when everyone's attention was still on the field, You Xuan suddenly spoke to the silent judge across from him: "Now you should be relieved, right?"
The judge, who had maintained an impassive expression throughout, glanced in his direction.
"Oh?" he said calmly, "My last swordsman has also failed. Why should I be relieved?"
"Isn't that your plan?" You Xuan smiled. "Whether it's your swordsman or your enemy, either way, the souls belong to you in the end. After all, the Three Musketeers of Doma were just high-quality Duelist souls that you would eventually consume, right?"
You Xuan paused, narrowing his eyes.
"Moreover," he continued, "as the true murderer who killed his father and his fellow countrymen, it's only natural that you would feel relieved, isn't it?"
Everyone was shocked to hear this, and even Kaiba, who had maintained a calm and composed expression, couldn't help but frown and look over.
However, the shock on Loren's face might have been the most striking.
Loren, who had already closed his eyes in the photographer's embrace, with his consciousness almost gone, suddenly opened his eyes wide upon hearing this. He struggled to stand up again, driven by sheer willpower.
Within the shrinking green light, he stared intently at the judge with wide eyes.
"What did you say?"
But the judge did not turn his gaze towards Loren; instead, he looked at You Xuan with interest.
"How did you find out?"
Such a question was as good as admitting the truth.
However, given his status and the current situation, there was no point in denying it.
"Well, who knows?" You Xuan didn't elaborate further.
Because, in fact, he didn't know; he had simply guessed randomly.
Whether it was the Three Musketeers from the past or Xie Er, whom he had encountered before, they all had the same background format. A bitter and vengeful past, with a reason to seek power for revenge and devote themselves to Doma. But in the end, they all discovered that the one who had created their tragic past was none other than the very person they were devoted to.
It was an old cliche, nothing new.
Of course, Lord Snake God might have lacked creativity, or perhaps he thought that the reason something became a cliche was that it worked. Why bother with something new when the old tricks did the job?
So You Xuan's random guess seemed to have hit the mark.
"You... you?!?" Loren stared at the judge, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"Yes, it was me," the judge nodded, admitting it openly.
"As a swordsman of Doma, one needs to have an immense darkness within their heart and the drive to harness that darkness."
"Indeed," the judge admitted nonchalantly. "It was I who spread the virus that ravaged your homeland and brought about its destruction. And it was I who infected your father and ensured his death in front of you."
"You... you..." Loren sputtered, his face contorting with rage, or perhaps it was the loss of his life force.
That he could still stand and question the judge was a miracle in itself. Normally, by this point after a loss, the soul would have been drawn out by the Orichalcum barrier. It was only because he had been stimulated by You Xuan's questioning that he still had a semblance of consciousness.
He was using an incredible force of will and anger to resist the pull of the barrier.
"Oh, and by the way," the judge added casually, "it was also I who spread the news about 'Kaiba Corporation's secret and inhumane experiments' and their 'biochemical weapons development.'"
A slight smile played at the corners of the judge's mouth. "I arranged for informants to leak clues to your father and laid out bait for him to follow. He thought he was digging for the truth and justice, but in reality, he was merely following the trail of breadcrumbs I had left, like a puppet. Even his discovery of an earth-shattering secret and the subsequent attempt on his life that ended in his silence, was all according to a script that had been written long ago."
The judge spoke with a casual air, as if recounting a trivial matter of no consequence.
Even Kei'ichiro, who had been silent until now, couldn't help but feel indignant. "How dare you accuse us of developing biochemical weapons!"
Ever since Gosaburo's death, the Kaiba Corporation had halted all weapons development and focused solely on researching new card technologies. They had no involvement with biochemical weapons whatsoever.
However, You Xuan's words gave him pause, and he thought that perhaps there was a grain of truth to what the judge had said.
If one were to stretch the truth, it could be argued that if a powerful enough duelist with exceptional abilities were to materialize the full power of a virus card deck, it might very well be considered a biochemical weapon.
After all, the power of the cards encompassed all things in the world, and anything could be sealed within them. So, in a sense, it wasn't entirely false to say that the Kaiba Corporation could be involved in such endeavors.
"Aaahhhh!" Loren's anger reached its peak. The veins on his forehead bulged, and he roared as he lunged at the judge. His personal photographer, who had been standing behind him, rushed forward to stop him, but he, too, was affected by the tangible rage radiating from Loren's body. The green light radiated from Loren and enveloped the photographer, causing him to undergo a transformation as well. His eyes reflected the green glow of Orichalcum, as if anger itself had erupted from within him.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you—" Loren tried to throw a punch, but it was blocked by the green light barrier he had summoned. He could only helplessly pound on the barrier, his fists growing weaker by the moment. The barrier had shrunk to the point where it almost touched his face, and the suction force from above was becoming stronger.
"Excellent, excellent," the judge said with satisfaction. "The more angry you become, the more your inner darkness swells."
Loren had finally exhausted his last bit of strength.
An angry soul was extracted from his body and drawn into the green light, disappearing without a trace.
(End of Chapter)
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