The Secret Lore Card Duel

Within a Secret Realm hidden in a demon realm in Tokyo, lay a yokai hideout.

Inside a quaint Japanese-style house, a thin, dark-skinned man wearing a short coat sat on the floor. He held a brush and was painting with focused intensity. However, the 'canvas' he used for his work was actually a card featuring a yokai illustration. As the man’s brush moved across the surface, it left dark ink traces that vanished almost immediately. After a short while, the entire card began to glow with a faint purple light. The yokai depicted on it seemed to come to life for a moment before quickly returning to silence and becoming still again. Watching the card's reaction, the dark-skinned man stopped his brush and picked up the card to examine it, his expression filled with an unusual intensity.

At that moment, the sliding door was pulled open, and a fair-skinned man with short black hair and a kimono walked in. Seeing the card in the dark-skinned man's hand, he flicked open a folding fan. "Ah, managed to lift the restriction on another Secret Lore card? Hard work, Kyozai. At this rate, we'll have more new power to use."

"Just modifying someone else's work... it's boring, Encho. When will we create our own?" Kyozai spoke to the man named Encho. Upon hearing this, Encho's expression became somewhat troubled.

"Creating our own... that's a bit difficult at the moment. Spreading ghost stories and using them to create yokai is indeed our ability—the power of Hyakumonogatari from Lord Yamamoto. But unfortunately, that method is quite hard to implement right now." As he spoke, Encho folded his fan and looked out the window.

"The risk of spreading ghost stories, creating yokai, causing tragedies, and scattering fear out there is too high. Inari's influence is too great. If we were caught because of a manufactured incident and they followed the breadcrumbs back here, it would be disastrous. So for now, we can only change our strategy and gather the power of Hyakumonogatari from sources other than Yamamoto for our own use." While speaking, Encho fixed his gaze on the card in Kyozai's hand.

"To think the power of ancient Hyakumonogatari from a millennium ago only manifests as game cards... it's such a waste of the formidable strength contained within. Compared to mere play, they will have a much greater purpose in our hands... wouldn't you say, Kyozai?"

Hearing Encho's words, Kyozai didn't say much. After a pause, he spoke slowly.

"The cards on hand have all been unsealed. Are there any more?"

"Ha, that efficient? Truly expected of you. However, you'll have to wait a bit for new ones. Tamasaburo is out collecting. I just heard from him—he apparently collected some extremely powerful cards." Encho continued, looking out at the world outside once more. He opened his fan to cover his mouth, looking up at the white clouds in the sky.

In the afternoon, after school had ended and following the duel to help Hayakawa Rin win back her card earlier that day, Miketsu felt that playing cards was actually quite interesting. She had developed a slight addiction.

Consequently, after school, she went straight to a nearby card shop. After spending a few thousand yen she had picked up on the road, she haphazardly put together a deck. Since she wasn't familiar with the current meta, Miketsu didn't know which cards were good or bad. She just built her deck based on intuition. Then, she turned off her causality vision and stepped into the fray as a 'duelist' to face others in the shop—resulting in a perfect streak of consecutive losses.

'Ah... how can this be? Without my abilities, I can't even win a single round? Has my skill at cards not improved at all in a thousand years?' After losing a string of matches and several cards, Miketsu couldn't help but hold her head and sigh. Refusing to give up, she went for another stroll, picked up another few thousand yen, and returned to buy more cards.

'The deck must be too weak. This time, I’ll build a proper one and I'll definitely win!' With that thought, Miketsu took some time to learn about the strong decks in the current meta. She used a tiny bit of causality vision to open some packs, gathering all the top-tier cards into her hands. Then, she confidently challenged someone else again. The result? Garbage-tier hands prevented Miketsu from even triggering the effects of the so-called meta deck, and she was once again happily sent packing by her opponent.

This time, Miketsu really couldn't take it anymore. For a moment, she even began to doubt her life choices.

'Argh! Am I just born with no luck if I don't use my powers?'

'Wait, isn't the fate of ordinary people supposed to be under the control of the Mandate of Heaven? Even if I don't give myself a strong luck buff, my normal destiny should at least be at a standard level. What's with these abysmal draws? Is the Mandate of Heaven targeting me?' Complaining about her other self in her heart, Miketsu finally lost her patience. She activated her ability and gave herself a massive buff, granting herself forty consecutive divine draws—getting whatever card she wanted whenever she wanted. With the support of immense luck, Miketsu swept through the entire shop and then strolled out under the stunned gazes of the patrons and the owner.

'Phew. I shouldn't touch this stuff again. Winning by cheating feels a bit empty, no matter how much I win.' After all, those few rounds were purely for fun, unlike the task of winning back Hayakawa Rin's card from Matsuzo. Miketsu truly wanted to win a few rounds in a fair fight with someone else... no matter what the activity was.

Thinking this, a dissatisfied Miketsu walked on the path home. However, just then, a trace of a familiar, subtle demonic aura reached her nose.

"This is..."

Miketsu paused slightly, then turned her gaze toward the distance, murmuring once more.

"A Secret Lore Yokai."

A terrified expression appeared on the face of Stone Jizo.

In the shadows behind Stone Jizo, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed. He seemed to be in the middle of a pursuit.

Suddenly, from those shadows, a red malevolent spirit lunged out at incredible speed, pouncing toward the Stone Jizo. He scrambled to dodge but tripped, tumbling and rolling away until he slammed into a nearby wall, creating deep cracks in the stone.

"Oh no! My collection!"

During the fall, several Secret Lore cards illustrated with yokai patterns spilled out from him. Seeing the cards scattered, Stone Jizo hurriedly crawled over to pick them up. However, as he reached for the last one, a massive red foot stomped down on the card. Stone Jizo was startled and fell back onto his bottom, looking up in terror at the fierce, long-horned Red Oni before him.

"Heh. You have nowhere left to run. Be a good boy and spit out all the Secret Lore cards." Behind the long-horned Red Oni, a wolf yokai wearing tattered armor slowly emerged from the shadows. He picked up the card from beneath the Red Oni’s foot and fixed a deathly stare on the other stack of cards in Stone Jizo's hand.

"You... are you that card hunter who's been hunting Secret Lore cards everywhere? The yokai who can turn the secrets within the cards into reality for combat!?" Shrinking against the wall, Stone Jizo spoke in terror while clutching his cards. The wolf yokai gave a sinister laugh in response.

"Ho? You actually know about that? Have I become that famous? It seems I'll have to move to a new place before the Nura Clan comes looking for me." As he spoke, the wolf yokai’s expression became even more vicious. He looked at the cards in Stone Jizo’s hand and spoke again. "Hand over the cards. If you don't want me to smash you to pieces, give them to me now!" The cruelty in the wolf yokai's eyes intensified.

"Hmph. In that case, Horned Red Oni, go—"

Just as the wolf yokai was about to give the command to the Secret Lore Yokai he had summoned, a light, soft voice of a girl rang out in the alley.

"Oh? Is there a Secret Lore card duel going on here? How lively."

Hearing this sudden voice, both Stone Jizo and the wolf yokai were stunned. They turned their heads toward the source of the sound. There, at the mouth of the alley, stood a petite figure. She stood against the light shining from behind her, watching the scene within the alley.

"A human... girl?" Looking at the girl in a high school uniform appearing at the entrance of the alley, the wolf yokai couldn't help but speak in slight astonishment.

"You can see us? Are you an Onmyoji?"

Hearing the wolf yokai's words, Miketsu slowly replied with a faint smile. "An Onmyoji? Not quite. Right now, I'm just a duelist passing by. I heard someone was using cards to duel over here, so I rushed over. Well? Interested in a round?"

As she spoke, Miketsu pulled out a deck from somewhere and fanned them out, revealing the card backs. Seeing this, the wolf yokai was momentarily stunned, because he recognized that those were all Secret Lore cards!

"Hey, fellow duelist over there! Run! This guy is here to steal cards! He can turn the yokai in the Secret Lore cards into real ones! It's extremely—mmph!" Seeing Miketsu pull out Secret Lore cards, Stone Jizo immediately shouted a warning. However, the wolf yokai instantly drew the tachi at his waist and thrust the blade forward, jamming it straight into Stone Jizo's mouth, leaving him only able to make muffled groans.

"A round? Fine. Hehe, I didn't expect a little human girl like you to have so many treasure cards. But once you lose, all those cards will belong to me."

The wolf yokai looked at the Miketsu ahead and spoke greedily. "Of course. I'm not very good at cards, so please go easy on me."

"Of course, I'll go easy... Horned Red Oni! Eat that human girl and snatch all her cards!"

Pointing his finger forward, the wolf yokai gave a loud command. Following his words, the muscular Red Oni propelled its massive body forward. At that moment, a card appeared between Miketsu's fingertips as if by magic.

Although she had lost the Demonic Fang Blade, Miketsu could now control various energies at will. She could easily simulate the demonic energy she had used before. For instance, right now, she directly simulated the demonic energy of Ao Andon to imprint a card on the spot.

"Attacking the player directly? And a yokai of the ghost race... in that case..." While murmuring, Miketsu flipped the card in her hand. The illustration on its face depicted a handsome samurai holding a tachi.

"The Minamoto Clan has a famous sword; it severed the Ghost King's arm and slew a host of evil spirits. Secret Lore Summoning—Onikiri!"

As Miketsu spoke, a cloud of mist erupted from the card in her hand. From within the mist, a handsome samurai wielding a long blade rushed out. He swung his blade, and in a flash of brilliant light, he slashed the Red Oni into several pieces, which then vanished into the air as smoke. Against targets of the ghost race, Onikiri possessed a distinct advantage.

"What? That's a Secret Lore Yokai! How can your Secret Lore cards also summon real yokai!?" Seeing this, the wolf yokai spoke with his mouth agape in shock. Miketsu responded gracefully.

"Since you sent a fully unleashed Secret Lore Yokai to attack me, you have established the rules for this duel—to fight with real lives as the cost and real yokai as the combatants. I'm just playing by your rules." Miketsu spoke with a smile to the wolf yokai ahead. His expression turned grim as he pulled out another card from his person.

"Hmph. Although I don't know how you can also lift the restrictions on these Secret Lore cards, don't think you can beat me just because you can command them too! The Secret Lore cards I possess are beyond your imagination!"

"Witness this! This is the Queen of Arakawa! A powerful Secret Lore card based on a Yokai Lord! The pinnacle of water-manipulating yokai!" As the wolf yokai spoke, he slammed the card down. After a burst of blue smoke, the Queen of Arakawa, Kingyohime, appeared on the field. This was a card the wolf yokai had forcibly stolen from someone else not long ago, and it was the strongest card in his possession!

"Go! Queen of Arakawa! Take care of that human girl and her yokai!" the wolf yokai shouted loudly. Kingyohime immediately swung the coral in her hand, summoning countless water arrows in the air and firing them toward Miketsu and Onikiri.

At this moment, another card materialized in Miketsu's hand out of thin air.

"Arakawa... the pinnacle of water-manipulating yokai? That's not necessarily true." With a smiling murmur, Miketsu revealed the card she had just imprinted. Depicted on it was the image of an old friend.

"Arakawa was tyrannical, rife with calamities... Once, a water yokai suppressed Arakawa with his own strength and led the sea folk to resist the Sea Nation. Secret Lore Summoning—Lord of Arakawa!"

Surging water erupted from Miketsu's hand. Within the current, a figure with pale skin, a bare chest, and holding a sharp blade while treading on a swimming fish emerged—the Lord of the River. Clad in his armor from when he resisted the Sea Nation, he swung the demonic blade Kaikoku-saku. The Lord of Arakawa gave a command to the surrounding waters. The water arrows summoned by Kingyohime instantly froze in mid-air, unable to advance even an inch.

Seeing this, the wolf yokai recoiled several steps in shock and fell onto his bottom. "The... the Queen of Arakawa's attack was stopped! Lord... Lord of Arakawa? What kind of yokai is this!?" the wolf yokai shouted. A yokai capable of suppressing the Queen of Arakawa in water manipulation shouldn't exist in this country!

"Oh, this is just one of the ancient secrets buried in the past," Miketsu said with a smile. Then, she continued to give the order. "Lord of Arakawa, end this match. Attack!"

Following Miketsu's words, the Lord of Arakawa on the field swung his blade again. The water arrows he controlled shot forward, and in an instant, a burst of water engulfed the wolf yokai amidst his wails.