"The All-Seeing Cards?"
Evidently, the elf maiden knew of the All-Seeing Cards. In the era she ca from, rumors of the deck were far more widespread than in the 18th Epoch.
"But will this really work?"
She understood Jenkins's idea, but since she still couldn't move, she was unable to speak. Jenkins, however, seed to guess her thoughts and shook his head.
"I think any special card-type item can likely be used in the ga. This is cheating, of course, but our brand of cheating is certainly more potent than our opponent's, who's just printing cards from nothing."
The living statue said nothing, rely staring as the Great Wisdom card continuously absorbed power within a brilliant light. This was the fortieth round. Once Great Wisdom was truly ford, Jenkins and the elf wouldn't even have a chance to make another move. Without hesitation, Jenkins threw down the card in his hand.
The All-Seeing Card landed in the center of the table, imdiately emanating a faint, speckled glow. Although Jenkins didn't know what specific effect it would have, its appearance did indeed suppress the mass of light that was coalescing from the other cards.
Even without a "Defusion" effect, The World did indeed have a suppressive effect on Great Wisdom.
"That's not a card from this ga."
The statue finally spoke.
"Yes, it's not," Jenkins replied, "but it's still a card. If the ga doesn't allow it, you can tell ."
"...This card can only be used once."
But clearly, it had been accepted as part of the rules, and Jenkins let out a breath of relief. He had been banking on this working, having noticed his opponent blatantly manipulating the ga. That had led him to conclude that the restrictions on his side probably weren't very strict, either. But since it was just a guess, he could only risk playing it in the final round. Otherwise, if it had failed and alerted his opponent, finding another loophole would have beco much more difficult.
Amidst its speckled light, the All-Seeing Card rose into the air above the table, ascending to the sa height as the coalescing light that was about to form Great Wisdom. Both were glowing, and though their brightness differed, both contained imnse power.
The three figures at the table remained silent, awaiting the outco. The light washed over their faces and the faces of the many wax figures surrounding them. They all waited, none of them intending to speak until the result was clear.
The elf maiden was especially tense. The reason for her silence was that she literally couldn't speak. She was ntally weighing how, if the All-Seeing Card failed, she could possibly convince Jenkins to sacrifice the platinum influence card. But thankfully, for now at least, her worries were needless.
In the end, the light of the All-Seeing Card overpowered the coalescing brilliance. The cards that had been absorbed and fused in an attempt to form Great Wisdom were affected by the power of the All-Seeing Card at the last mont. Hundreds of Steam-related cards fluttered down like snowflakes, scattering across the tabletop. The coalescing light vanished completely, and all the Steam-related cards lost their power.
At the very last second, a black shadow had appeared within the coalescing light, an image that nearly stopped the hearts of the two living people present. But in the face of unpredictable fate, the final fusion did not succeed.
The All-Seeing Card—The World—hadn't even unleashed its full power, but the slight shift in fate it produced, rely from being stimulated, was enough to save Jenkins.
The nurous Steam cards scattered on the table signified the failure of the fusion. For forty long rounds, the living statue had manipulated the ga, forcing Steam-related incidents to appear again and again. In the end, its sche was shattered.
The All-Seeing Card flew back into Jenkins's hand, and he put it away. He looked at the living statue. The Difference Engine's power within the statue had partly flowed into the now-vanished light during the card-printing process, and the statue seed to have lost its energy source. Its movents were far less fluid than before.
"Forty rounds. Is it over?"
Jenkins asked.
"No, it's not over. In the fortieth round, you must still face another event."
The Human Blight Erupts card flew from the deck onto the table. A jet-black light instantly dyed the pile of used cards black.
Black dust rose from the table's center, forming inky lines that shot toward the wax figures in the museum. Jenkins sorted through the cards in his hand, setting aside Elven Wind of Freedom and Heart of the Enraged Spirit Tree. He then took hold of the thirty Maintain Stability cards. So of these had been obtained through dream ssages sent to the elf maiden, while others were acquired through the effect of the Royal Marriage card.
"The Human Blight erupts. The kingdom falls."
The living statue declared, its voice devoid of its earlier emotion. Now, it sounded exactly like the Difference Engine.
"No, the kingdom hasn't fallen yet. I still have a way."
Jenkins threw all of his Maintain Stability cards into the center of the table.
The Maintain Stability cards, which were just ordinary effect cards, overlapped as they reached the center of the table, forming sothing like a great net that pressed down on the Human Blight card and its black aura.
"I use thirty Maintain Stability cards."
"It's useless. Once The Human Blight erupts, there's no way to reverse it."
"But it's only *erupting* now. The outbreak has just begun; it's not a foregone conclusion. As the king, I impose the effects of Maintain Stability on the entire nation. I order the people to stay in their hos, to remain calm and optimistic, and I have public representatives give speeches in the streets, promoting truth, goodness, beauty, and the chivalric spirit."
"Useless. The Human Blight is a Beast of Calamity."
The living statue repeated.
"No. The Human Blight is just a card."
Jenkins's eyes seed to glow. He leaned one hand on the table and stared at its center. A golden light flowed from his hand. The Human Blight Erupts tried to dye the thirty Maintain Stability cards black, but it failed completely. Likewise, Maintain Stability sought to suppress The Human Blight Erupts, but the cards couldn't even stop the blight's power from venting out into the wax museum beyond the table.
"You underestimate ," Jenkins said, watching the powers of the opposing cards clash. From the look of things, his thirty Maintain Stability cards were indeed at a disadvantage.
"But there's one thing you never wanted to realize. No matter what happens, a card ga is ultimately not reality, so it must follow the rules of the ga. So, even if in reality The Human Blight could never be suppressed by human thought alone, in a card ga, which is far more idealistic than reality, anything is possible as long as it's reasonable. And what's 'reasonable,' it seems, is not entirely for you to decide."
He took a deep breath.
"The governance of a nation can't be perfectly replicated in a card ga, but I have truly lived through it. Even a plague that sweeps the globe can be suppressed by rational governance. Even in a disaster that happens once in a thousand years, there will always be those who rush forward to face it... I've said too much. But you must understand this: don't underestimate the human heart, and don't underestimate the history I know. This round is my win."
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