For Takuto, the busy yet fulfilling work of internal affairs passed by in a flash.
The day of his participation in the all-faction summit was fast approaching.
Naturally, it was enemy territory, and thus unfamiliar ground.
Arriving early was crucial for information gathering if one wanted to maintain composure.
Takuto was journeying toward the agreed-upon location, just as the letter held by the Succubus envoy had instructed.
He had three traveling companions. The first was his confidant, Atou.
The second and third were the Hero Yu and the slave girl Ai, with whom a temporary alliance had been formed.
Of course, Takuto’s true nature was that of a "failure," and Atou’s was Vittorio.
This fact was not shared with the Hero’s faction, nor was there any need to share it.
As it stood, Takuto was currently issuing instructions from within the Mynoghra palace, his focus absolute.
"Alright, from here on we enter their territory completely. Well, supposedly this is an all-faction summit hosted by the Succubus faction. We probably won’t be attacked outright, but let’s stay vigilant, all of you."
"Gotcha! Well, this time it’s a small party. Even if we get attacked, we can just run. I’ve got a few escape spells, so we’ll be fine. Probably!"
"That’s right, that’s right! With Master here, any enemy is toast!"
"If only that were true. Anyway, once we go a bit further, we’re supposed to meet our guide. Until then, we travel on foot."
The group was extremely small.
Since he didn’t know what might await in enemy territory, Takuto had been unwilling to bring a single Mynoghra personnel member with him.
On that note, had it been just Takuto and Atou, they might have drawn suspicion, but with Yu and Ai along, it looked natural.
They could be seen as each attending with just their closest aide.
"However, Lord Takuto. This all-faction summit... what is its true intention? Whether it’s a trap or an attempt to foster friendship, the setup feels rather excessive..."
"Inviting everyone at once does have the advantage of making intentions clear, either way. But there’s no way to know until we open the box."
Vittorio, wearing Atou's skin, posed a question.
The fact that his trace of Atou was quite skillful left me with a distinctly complicated feeling.
Of course, the real Atou, who had been transformed into me, likely harbored even more indescribable emotions about it…
I'd appreciate it if that matter were attributed to advanced political judgment and let slide.
In any case, a peculiar party of two men and two women had been formed under the current circumstances.
On the road from the outskirts of Selduchi, a territory under Mynoghra's control, towards the Central Mountains and the El-Naar Spirit Contract Union.
Feeling a gentle breeze, Takuto subtly probed the surrounding presences and addressed Yuu.
He wanted to share information before proceeding further.
"Come to think of it, Yuu. You did say you were fundamentally incompatible with the Succubus faction, but how did you originally come to that judgment? I'd like to hear if you have specific reasons for being so fixated on countering them."
Normally, this should have been asked much earlier, but Takuto himself had been too busy these past few days and had forgotten.
He had also simply assumed she had received direct notice from the Goddess that they were enemies.
The answer he'd get would probably match his expectations, but he asked just to be sure.
If, by some chance, they had failed to share some critical information, it could become serious. On that point, Yuu had a prior instance of forgetting to mention that the Succubus faction was working with another player, so caution was warranted.
"Hm? Oh, right... since we've come this far, is it alright if I tell you? Do you know about Kigou?"
"Wasn't he a player who was already defeated? I learned about it through a global message."
The sudden declaration from the Succubus faction was more memorable, but there had been other important events before that.
One was the global message shown in Takuto's mind: a notification that a player named Masato Kigou had been defeated.
Since it was a witch name and player name completely unknown to Takuto, he had assumed it occurred in lands far from Mynoghra, but if Yuu was bringing up that name, he apparently had some connection to it.
The answer to that query, however, came from his carefree mouth in an incredibly simple manner.
"Oh, so that's how the system works. That means all players know he's been removed from the game. That's bad..."
"No way..."
"Yes, I'm the one who killed Kigou."
A moment of blankness. The air turns hostile, but that too passes quickly.
Takuto takes a quiet breath, then turns his previously forward-facing gaze gently toward them and asks just one question.
"Why?"
Not a "why" asking why they did something so inhumane.
He wanted to know what their intentions were, or what circumstances led to this.
He hadn't expected these seemingly kind-hearted two to be capable of killing from another camp, an act that was, in a sense, taboo.
Of course, if everything up to this point was a lie, then so be it, but Takuto felt that some unusual intention, different from the norm, was at play.
"We were attacked unilaterally; it was a 'had no choice' kind of feeling. There were misunderstandings on both sides, but since our ways of thinking were quite different, a clash was inevitable either way. I think King Takuto probably dislikes that kind of person too."
"For reference, what kind of person?"
"Men are stepping stones, women are trophies, that sort of thing? The type of asshole who thinks he's special and everyone else is just stupid, weak trash, and feels no remorse about sacrificing them."
Internally, he lets out a disgusted "Ugh."
This is Takuto's least favorite type. Not because they're self-righteous and self-centered.
He simply hates them for being stupid.
"Yeah, they show up sometimes. The kind who loses his grip and goes off the rails. Like someone who wins the lottery but ends up in debt a few years later because they had no plan."
"Honestly, I didn't want to clash with them either. You know how players, like, have some crazy powerful abilities? I wouldn't say Brave Questus is weaker, but you never know what they'll do, and that's genuinely terrifying."
He nods. He understands. He understands completely.
He's been made to swallow plenty of bitterness. Of course, that includes Brave Questus, which he wouldn't call weaker either.
Takuto no longer holds any illusions about other players.
Given that Yuu shares that understanding, the thought of deliberately picking a fight wouldn't even cross his mind. Especially since his primary goal is to live happily and pleasantly with Ai.
The demerits far outweigh any potential merits.
"I see. I'm painfully aware of the threat posed by the game system a player wields. So it sounds like you got unlucky, they picked a fight with you, and you couldn't escape?"
"Ai caught someone's eye, see? And that old fool had the audacity to say something like, 'Leave that woman with me, and I'll let you go,' with this sleazy grin on his face. When someone says something like that, you've got no choice but to fight, right? You'd agree, wouldn't you, Your Majesty?"
A bad actor in a cheap melodrama? Or the low-tier villain of a third-rate story?
Either way, Yuu could only feel sympathy for him. The opponent's story sounded so fabricated it almost felt like a deliberate falsehood, but Takuto knew all too well that such people truly existed in reality.
"Well, I suppose so. But I'm glad you managed to finish them off properly."
"Yeah, I made sure to deal the killing blow. The idea of letting them live only to have them come back for revenge out of spite is scary. That was the only option."
Then there was no problem. All was well.
The fact that Yuu hadn't shown any misplaced mercy, thus preventing a larger problem from sprouting up later, improved Takuto's impression of him. There were plenty of people like the foolish humans from before—people who naively displayed a sense of justice or sympathy, tried to settle things half-heartedly, and ended up scrambling later when things got more complicated.
Takuto was glad Yuu wasn't like that. If Yuu hadn't delivered the final blow, one more concern would have been added to Takuto's list.
No, wait. Takuto reconsidered suddenly.
He had a bad feeling. Frown lines naturally appeared between his brows.
(Their stories don't connect. I asked why he was hostile to the Succubus. So why is there talk about a player who's supposedly already been finished off?)
While Takuto was troubled by the small, nagging inconsistency, Yuu's story continued.
"And then, here's where it gets ugly. The game owned by Kigou—that turned out to be a trading card game."
—a trading card game.
It was a game with a dedicated fanbase that used cards depicting various illustrations and effects to engage in battles.
Each player had points like HP, and the objective was to reduce the opponent's HP to zero by using cards to summon monsters, cast spells, and employ special effects to attack.
That combination of complex, strategically demanding gameplay and the collectible appeal of the cards themselves, with their rarity tiers, fascinated countless people.
Tournaments held around the world, and cards that could command prices high enough to buy a house—this was the uniquely intense and feverish genre known as trading card games.
Even Takuto knew a little about them.
He couldn't afford to buy high-rarity cards or build decks to play against others, but he enjoyed looking up card information online or watching tournament matches. He had some knowledge. From the vast sea of games, Takuto named a few he recognized.
"Trading card... Anime-tic Universe? Blood and Crystal?"
"What was it again? Something with 'King' in the name, I think."
"The Seven God Kings, huh. The investment aspect is too strong for my taste, honestly. I like the world-building and gameplay, but..."
A game came to mind.
The Seven God Kings. Colloquially known as "Nanashin," it was especially peculiar among card games.
Because the cards themselves had acquired a certain commodity-like value, Nanashin cards were notoriously expensive, even among trading card games.
There was a time when it was joked that wealthy individuals stored Nanashin cards in their safes instead of gold bars, such was the frenzy.
For Takuto, who sought value in the game itself, the speculative bubble and boom detached from actual play were distasteful.
Therefore, when Yuuma brought up the name, he didn't feel particularly good about it.
(Maybe his Nanashin character could have clashed? There were quite a few game-breaking magic and monsters in that one, so it was lucky she didn't—though Yuuma was good at winning. I would have liked to see a Nanashin character at least once, but oh well, that's impossible now.)
Kigou, the Nanashin player, had already been eliminated from this world.
That meant the game itself should be eliminated as well.
What had Kigou's background been? What character had the witch used?
His interest was boundless, but those were things of the past, and nothing could be done about them now.
"Oh! You know about the Kings!? That's great! I don't have to worry about the information gap anymore!"
"...Huh? What do you mean? Oni-Gou was supposed to have been eliminated, right?"
The wariness that had faded due to interest in the Seven Divine Kings returns.
At the same time, an alarm blares inside his brain. Something bad is happening.
At the very least, that "something bad" is now being delivered by this man.
A bead of sweat trickles down the forehead of Takuto's shadow double, who is disguised here, and of the real Takuto himself, deep within the Great Cursed Realm.
"Well, uh, you see. It's like this... when we defeated Oni-Gou, it seems his deck somehow got left behind in this world! And then, the Succubus ladies took it!"
"You, you piece of...!!"
Takuto was genuinely furious enough to explode.
No, judging by the tone, he probably *did* explode. For Takuto, who usually maintained a relatively polite manner of speaking, this was extremely coarse language.
He must have been that shaken. It was probably for the best that he didn't spew outright abuse.
"I'm sorry! Seriously, sorry! I thought it would disappear! That it would be over once we beat him! Then his cards just fell onto the floor, and while I was thinking, 'Ah, it's a trading card, so maybe that's how it works?'..."
"I-I'm sorry! It's my fault too! I was about to be captured by the Succubus, and Master prioritized saving me instead! So I couldn't pay attention to the cards. By the time I realized, they had already escaped..."
Yuu and Ai apologize with teary eyes.
They're apologizing merrily together, but that's not the point.
"So, what does this mean? Does that mean the current Succubus faction has the Succubus and Elf armies, the Elven Saint, three players, two witches each, AND they've acquired the Seven Divine Kings' game system!?"
"Y-Yeah... that about sums it up... ahaha! Hearing it all laid out like that, we're seriously screwed, aren't we? Let's keep cherishing this alliance forever and always, okay!!"
"Obviously! Seriously, don't betray us, alright!? This isn't an act!"
"O-Oh! King Takuto, you don't betray us either!"
"How the hell could anyone betray us in this situation?"
This is bad. Extremely bad.
The enemy's military strength may be higher than anticipated.
Whether knowing his inner thoughts or not, he found the gently flowing breeze irritating in the reverse, and hurriedly recalled the Seven God Kings' system.
(The Seven God Kings require Mana of specific attributes to use their cards. Without Mana, they can do nothing... No, wait! This world has dragon veins! They were usable in "Eternal Nations," so assuming they wouldn't work in the Seven God Kings' system would be the strange notion.)
As if tailor-made, all the pieces fit together beautifully.
The Seven God Kings were specialized in individual combat for a game centered on direct confrontation, making them weak against numbers.
However, conversely, they could act with extreme strategic depth in individual battles, making countermeasures against an opponent's options difficult.
After all, numerous abilities and magic existed that could directly attack the opposing player.
If you let your guard down for even an instant, you would be devoured in the blink of an eye.
Reversals, giant-killings, one-turn kills, infinite combos...
As many strategies existed as there were cards in hand. That was the game of trading cards.
(Oh no, this is bad. Then I understand why the Succubus insisted on El-Na's territory. Somewhere in that vast land, there absolutely must be dragon veins. The number is unknown, but with just two, an infinite summon combo should be possible from a Mana-producing card! ...Damn it!!)
"Guhhh!!"
He let out an involuntary, voiceless cry.
Watching his state, Atou, who was beside him, whispered in a very, very pleased expression and tone.
"Hehehe. It seems things are getting exciting. I, Atou, am eagerly looking forward to seeing what sort of exploits Lord Takuto will display."
She encouraged him with a beaming smile he had never seen even from the real person.
He couldn't even glare at her right now――at the Vittorio inside her.
On the other hand, Yuu likely understood from Takuto's reaction that the situation was indeed critical.
His face pale, he repeatedly muttered, "We're screwed, we're screwed."
"Uuugh, Master. Please do your best. Ai believes in Master!"
"Do your best, Takuto ♪"
One girl spoke with sorrow, the other with joy—both cheering for their master.
Yet the subjects of their encouragement seemed not to hear a word, reacting with a pitiful degree of fluster for figures in the positions of the Hero and the King of Ruin.
==Seven God-Kings Ultimate Invincibility Ranking==
Welcome to the world of Seven God-Kings!
Seven God-Kings is a trading card game released by ○○ Company.
Now in its eleventh edition, with thousands of card types and infinite strategic possibilities.
Translated worldwide, tournaments are held day and night across the globe.
This site primarily features rankings for each card's performance and latest transaction value rankings.
Captivating characters and a rich world await you!
Come, join the battle with Seven God-Kings!
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