My Turn!

%player%, do you have a moment?

I was about to go have a big breakfast, then wander the campus looking for anyone who needs a hand... All right, fine. I have nothing planned today.

Hmm... Good. Because someone who needs a hand is standing right in front of you.

Does this have something to do with that explosion?

It does. There's been a minor anomaly in the Traphase space, and I need your help with it.

So much for my lovely day off. Investigator %player%, ready to move out.

Where is this...

Hahahahahaha! So many guests here!

You there, do you play Cosmic Cards?

Why won't you play Cosmic Cards?!

Play Cosmic Cards with me, right now!

I'm going to make everyone here play Cosmic Cards!

What is going on here...

As you can see... there's been a small accident in the Traphase space...

This site is hosting the first experimental deployment of a new technology derived from the Traphase space, "Multiverse Link." According to the theoretical model, dimensional disturbance should thin the barrier between spaces.

Releasing simulated signals from a foreign plane drives the adjacent planes into a state of dimensional superposition. At that moment, the Silver is transmitted through to serve as an anchor linking the two planes.

Once that anchor has fully stabilized, bidirectional cross-dimensional transfer of matter and information with a spacetime that has no Silver becomes possible.

I didn't follow a word of that...

But... constrained by the limits of our current technology, low-intensity turbulence affects the barrier far less than predicted.

After trying a number of approaches, the data is unambiguous: our present equipment and theoretical framework are wholly inadequate to support this research.

So we intend to seal the project for now and resume it once the new instruments are finished.

So the situation right now is...

Just as we were preparing to shut the experiment down, the dimensional space registered an unexpected tremor.

Rather than let the opportunity pass, we boosted the equipment's output at once and successfully delivered the Silver into the target space through multi-channel asynchronous transmission...

...and after that, what you see here. A powerful unknown organism exists within that space, and the instant the two sides made contact, it began eroding the Traphase space at extreme intensity.

The superposition it produced has spread through the entire Traphase space. Strictly speaking, this is no longer the Traphase space at all, merely a highly infectious fragment of spacetime.

That is also why you were able to come here without Silver Resonance.

So what do we do now?

There are two options. The first is to use reverse anchoring to peel the Traphase space back out of this one.

Since the dimensional link currently depends on the Silver deployed into the opposing plane, recovering the Silver that serves as the anchor is enough to weaken the connection between the two spaces.

That approach would raise the time cost considerably, but our assessment places the technical difficulty within acceptable limits.

But that means no Traphase for us for a long while, right? What's the second option?

The second is...

A Card Master, found you! I can smell Cosmic Cards all over you! So, what do you say, want to come with me to the Cosmic Tavern? The place is packed with Card Masters, and they'll give you the most thrilling duels of your life!

%player% is my partner, a Keeper of Mythag. Not some card master, {Male=he,Female=she} won't be going with you anywhere.

You have induced dimensional erosion without authorization, and you now declare your intent to carry off Mythag's Keeper. Would you care to explain yourself?

Don't call me 'Your Excellency', I am Ignatiss, a... slightly over seventeen-year-old dragon girl! Now the owner of the Cosmic Tavern.

So, Ms. Ignatiss, what is the purpose of your actions?

Of course, to find more card masters and invite them to the Omni Tavern! I can sense the aura of a card master on {Male=him,Female=her}! {Male=He,Female=She} must have played Omnicards!

Miss, are you sure you have the right person? I've never heard of any Card Master, and I have no idea what a Cosmic Card is.

Cosmic Cards are exactly what you've been using to battle everyone here! I designed every single one of those cards, I'd know them even if you burned them to ash!

Ms. Ignatiss, what the Keeper is conducting here is the Traphase independently developed and optimized by Mythag university, not some Cosmic Card.

It may be that, at the level of underlying framework and operational logic, the two share certain similarities arising from generalized rules. That does not make you their original creator.

What! You're telling me these aren't Cosmic Cards... Hnngh, hold on... most of the rules are the same, but the fine details really are different...

In that case, would you kindly undo the spatial superposition? The Card Master you are looking for is not here.

...Right. That's what I'll do.

What was that?

Then it's decided, time to collect acorns!

Acorns?

That's right, acorns! Acorns are proof of power, and the beginning of every legend! Gather the most acorns and become the strongest Card Master!

We're both duelists, so of course a dispute gets settled with a duel!

I can feel it, countless versions of you, from countless different worlds, have faced each other here! So go on, decide who among you stands above the rest, and give me a duel to remember!

From now on, every match will produce Magic Acorns based on how the fight goes and how it ends, so duel all you like and rack up as many acorns as you can!

Once you've gathered enough acorns, I'll agree to duel you! And if I lose, I'll stop pestering you and put this whole space back exactly the way it was!

But if you don't gather enough, or if I win...

What do we have to give up?

This place becomes a branch of the Cosmic Tavern, and you get to be the waiter!

Sorry, but that price is far too steep. I can't accept it, Ramona...

(over comms) ...Is that so. All right, understood. Keeper, we can accept those terms. (whispering)

What? But if I lose...

Don't worry. This is the second approach I mentioned: using the subject's own conscious control to reverse the erosive state of the space as a whole, thereby dissolving the superposition.

A sentient entity capable of communication is an exceedingly rare case. If we can induce it to lift its influence of its own accord, the experimental data we obtain will advance the project enormously.

Even if %player% loses, it changes nothing. I'll set another plan in motion.

And besides... I trust my Keeper.

Ramona... ...All right. We accept your terms.

Excellent! Then it's settled! Let the curtain rise on our legend!

(Heehee, sure, these cards aren't quite the same as Cosmic Cards, but any way you slice it, the underlying logic is identical!)

(Which means there's no way the creator of the Cosmic Cards loses this! This space and its new server are mine, thank you very much! I can finally open the branch!)

Acorn number one thousand. That should be enough.

You can challenge Ignatiss now. Ramona, do you still need to collect more data?

Spatial particle diffusion parameters collected. Dimensional stability link fluctuation imaging successfully rendered...

Every baseline parameter we can gather has been collected and calibrated. All that's left is for you to defeat that dragon.

A thousand acorns, and so fast! You really are strong. Are you sure you won't come to the Cosmic Tavern?

With you at the Cosmic Tavern, the rebuilding would go so much faster! And we'd get way more first-rate guests entering the tournament, guaranteed!

Rebuilding?

Ah, uh... n-nothing! Ahem!

I don't know what happened to your tavern, but as Mythag's Keeper, it's my duty to protect this world. So I'm sorry, I'm not leaving with you.

I beat every version of myself across the other timelines to earn the right to face you. I carry their will now, and I'm challenging you.

Ignatiss, do you accept my challenge?

Heehee, of course! I've been dying for this!

Opening the branch and getting to duel someone as strong as you, just thinking about it gets my blood racing!

I, the Dragon of Mythag Ignatiss, the master of the Mythag Inn, and also the creator of the Mythag cards, accept the duel invitation from the Keeper of Mythag, %player%!

I created the Cosmic Cards. I cannot lose!

And I swear, in the name of the Keeper, that I will carry victory home to Mythag!

Here we go, Ramona!

Duel, begin!

You're down to a single character, and mine may be in rough shape, but every last one of them is still standing!

All my lethal combo pieces are in hand. One more turn and I end this duel exactly as planned!

You've got no chance left! Come on, then, Card Master of Mythag, let me witness your final struggle!

That's right... Only Ramona remains on my field as my sole Awakener, while my opponent's Awakeners are all still standing. In this situation, my life is like a candle flickering in the wind.

(Huh? Why does something feel... off?)

However, Ignatiss, in a card duel, as long as the life points are not zero, as long as there is still a chance to draw cards...

The reversal that shakes the final turn, it could come at any second!

Just as they believed in me, I... believe in my Awakeners.

They may have fallen, but the sliver of dawn they won for me still lights the way ahead.

My Turn! Draw!!!

(What's going on?! This awful feeling!)

Ramona, play Mythag's Blade.

Echoed Simulation on Mythag's Blade, damage to every enemy.

Activate Exalt! Read this world with that boundless intellect of yours, Ramona!

Activate a second Mythag's Blade, and a second Echoed Simulation!

Ngh! I never thought you had a card like that in reserve... So you're the same type as Maxwell, are you...

But both cost-reduced copies of Mythag's Blade have already been played, and your deck just went through its third reshuffle.

Which means you don't have the cost to play a third Mythag's Blade at full price, so in the end, I win anyway!

True. I don't have the cost for a third Mythag's Blade. But you knocked out my other Awakeners so quickly, and I have you to thank for that.

Once an Awakener falls, their cards no longer appear in the deck. So I have a 100% chance of drawing exactly the cards I need.

I play two Efficient Thinking cards, Arithmetica back up to 6!

What?!

Take this, my final Hand! Ramona, Mythag's Blade! Everything standing in our way, cut it all down!

I won, Ignatiss.

...Yeah. I lost. Heehee, you really are strong. That's the first time I've ever lost a Cosmic Card match.

You're giving me too much credit. It's only because my bond with these Awakeners runs deeper.

I could tell, you still weren't used to the rules of Traphase in that duel.

The health of Awakeners and the values of the cards differ greatly from Cosmic Cards. If we played a few more rounds, I wouldn't be confident of beating you at all.

Don't you talk about yourself like that! A win's a win. You don't have to soften it for me.

Besides, if you put yourself down, that makes me, the one who just lost to you, even weaker! Absolutely not!

All right, a deal's a deal. I'll put this space back the way it was, and I won't come after you two again.

Still... it really stings, having my journey end just like that. I wanted to play against so many more strong duelists, to get so many more people to know about Cosmic Cards...

But getting a duel like that with you at the very end of the road, that's more than enough for me!

Can you tell me... what this is all about?

The way you come across now... you're not the type to force something on people against their will.

My world lived through a great war once. The heroes fought with everything they had, and in the end they saved it from the Demon God.

I was there for that war myself, and I wanted the legends of those heroes never to be forgotten. So I modeled the Cosmic Cards on them, and I opened the Cosmic Tavern.

And to get their stories out to as many people as possible, the Cosmic Tavern keeps permanent portals linked to other worlds, so guests from anywhere at all can walk right in.

I hold Cosmic Card tournaments so the stories of the continent of Hopeland get told again and again. That way those people, and everything they did, will never be forgotten.

Sadly, linking worlds together burns through crystals at a terrible rate... In the end the tavern just couldn't pay for itself, and it didn't stay open very long...

Me, Leah, Betty... we... we really, truly miss every single guest, every single Card Master who ever came through those doors.

If I could, I'd keep the Cosmic Tavern running on and on and on, forever and always.

This space was my last-ditch effort before the crystals ran dry... I wanted to find somewhere else that could hold the tavern... but I never could find it...

Speaking of which, there was this mangy dog who promised he'd help me rebuild the tavern, and then one day he says something came up, turns into a black cat, and runs off! If I ever run into him again, I'll teach him a lesson he won't forget!

Maybe that's exactly why I got more and more restless and irritable, until I ended up like... well, like you saw when we first met. I'm so sorry! I really did put you through a lot!

But the crystals are gone now, and I don't have it in me to go searching for another space. So my selfish little journey ends right here. To make up for it, please, you have to take this!

Is this... a Posse?

It's my very last Radiant Crystal. I've got no use for it anymore, so I'd rather give it to %player%you as a memento.

The Silver Resonance generated during Traphase appears to have induced an irreversible, unidirectional shift in its conceptual structure. By its properties, the surface information it now presents bears extensive similarity to that of a Posse.

Barring anything unexpected, this object can now function as a Posse. Take it, %player%.

Thank you, Ignatiss, I will make good use of it.

Heehee, I'm so glad it's useful to you! But... but I do have one teeny-tiny little request!

When you look at it, could you maybe, just maybe... maybe think of us for a second?

I won't forget any of you, Innkeeper.

I can't say why, but I have a feeling there really is some special connection between you and this space, Innkeeper. Maybe that's what threw the phase off balance and let the two of us meet.

I don't know if we'll ever get the chance to meet again, but I'll always remember this much: in the middle of a Traphase, I faced an extraordinary opponent and heard an extraordinary story.

Hearing that is more than enough for me! Time's almost up. Any moment now this whole space will be restored, and I'll have to go.

You have to protect the things you want to protect! Don't ever let the bad guys tear them out of your hands!

I will. As the Keeper of Mythag, I will protect all of this with my life.

Goodbye, %player%! Boohoohoo... I'm going to miss you so much when I get back! Even though... even though it's really not fair... I really wanted to... but no, I can't be a bother to my friends!

Give it everything you've got, %player%! You have to win! I'll be praying for all of you from the continent of Hopeland!

Boohoohoo... Waaaaaah!!! Goodbye!! I'll miss you all!!!

...

Ramona. If we fail, will anyone remember us?

I can remember the people Dissolution takes away. But if... if I'm the one who disappears, will anyone remember me? Remember everything we had?

...

I don't know.

That question is too heavy, and too far off. I can't promise you anything here, Keeper.

But here is what I can answer...

I will be with you to the very last moment. Whether it ends in a bright future or in utter ruin, I will stand beside you all the same.

Even if the great day of judgment comes and unmakes the world, I will spend every last ounce of myself carving you into every brick and stone of the deepest halls of my memory, until eternal silence swallows me.

And when I sleep in that boundless dark, I will still be with you.

There's no need to put so much weight on yourself, %player%. Whatever comes, the road beneath our feet still leads toward the light of hope.

Just as you said a moment ago, "I believe in my Awakener", I have the same unshakable faith that my Keeper can save this world.

R-Ramona! Oh, right! How did the data collection go?

Flawlessly. Thanks to their cooperation, we've gathered a great deal of data we rarely get to see, everything from dimensional barrier strength coefficients to cross-planar signal penetration rates.

This alone still isn't enough for a stable Multiverse Link, but resonance between Silvers can significantly improve the stability of planar contact.

Which means I'll need %player%'s help again next time, though that's a matter for another day.

For now, let's enjoy the spoils of victory. I know a good restaurant, how about lunch together? Call it compensation for working on your day off.

Nice. Then I won't say no.

Oh, right, Ramona, if I actually lose the duel, what happens then? Do I really have to do what she wants?

Absolutely not. If all she wanted were this Traphase space, fine, but you're the only Keeper we have right now. No one in Mythag would ever accept a price like losing you.

Remember that first transmission I received? The researchers analyzed the space and found that sustaining a projection of her power here burns through an enormous amount of unknown energy.

According to what our instruments picked up, her reserves of that energy are already running thin. The moment they run out, she'll be forced out of this space.

And across infinite worlds, the odds of her ever finding us again are lower than the odds of the world blowing up one second from now.

And even in the worst case, even if a connection did form again, the academy would trigger emergency protocols at once and pour in whatever manpower and resources it took to pin her down. They would never let her take you.

I can't shake the feeling that we're pulling something pretty shady...

Strictly speaking, yes, it's a breach of the agreement. But where you're concerned, the academy will make an exception.

Come on, here's the restaurant. Time to enjoy our lunch.