There Reishi stood, hopeless,despair-ridden and sad. Her hopes of winning this dashed in the wind along with any hope of rescuing simon and mina. Reishi stared into the abyss, her very being crushed into smithereens.

Reishi: ….

MQ: ….

Arthur: Reishi….

Hattori: Senpai… Please…

Shima: Is it… Over?

MQ: I await your next move, Darling.

The masked queen said in a serious voice.

Reishi looked down at her hand. There were only two cards left - Tornado winds and musical wyvern. She couldn't summon musical wyvern because she had already normal summoned this turn. Even if she had summoned it earlier, chess dragon could negate its effect. Tornado winds was a card that could destroy a face up spell card and that was pretty much useless in this scenario.

Reishi: I-I….

MQ: Before you say, 'end your turn', You must know I will win the next turn right? I assume both of the cards in your hand are dead draws and my monster will easily destroy yours next turn.

MQ: So, why don't you do us the favor of ending this futile struggle and stop wasting my time.

MQ: Do the one thing I asked of you this entire time - surrender!

Reishi: …!

The masked queen coldly and menacingly looked at reishi. Her glare pierced the girl to her very soul. The word surrender had never been in reishi's vocabulary, Quitting made her weak and vulnerable! Something she never liked feeling… but in such a hopeless scenario what could she even do? There was no card in her hand field or even graveyard that could help her out of this scenario.

Reishi: ….

Reishi looked at mina and simon. They were both still knocked out and unconscious. She regretted getting them both into this scenario, it was her fault. The masked queen wanted reishi and used them to get to her. Mina just wanted to find her friend and simon was just hanging out with his cousin.

Reishi: ….

She then looked back at her 3 friends who were with her. Arthur and hattori smiled at her in a motion of encouragement. Shima gave a blank expression but reishi could tell she still had her back. She turned forward and looked at masked queen in akeno's body. She realized that if she lost, Akeno probably would be too. -And yet there was no hope.

Reishi: I….I…..

Reishi: I surrender.

Arthur,Shima,Hattori: ….!

Reishi LP: 0

All of the monsters of the field vanished in an instant. Leaving only plumes of smoke in their wake. Reishi hung her head low, realizing that this was the end.

Mq: Atta girl!

The queen teased.

Reishi stood there with soulless eyes as all of the hope in her heart left, leaving her mentally drained. Her stupor was so deep she didn't even notice the masked queen approaching her. Arthur and Shima tried to intervene but they were stopped by the purple mist once more.

Reishi: Are you going to k-kill them? Simon and mina?

MQ: Hmm.

The queen teasingly put her index finger on her own lip.

MQ: Nope.

Reishi: huh?

MQ: I'll have mercy on you this time, reishi-kins.

Reishi: Why….?

Reishi looked up at the masked queen. Her pure eyes met the dark eyes of the possessed akeno as she explained her reasoning.

MQ: simply put, I'm not satisfied with this victory.

Reishi: 'Not satisfied?' Are you serious? How narcissistic could you be!

Reishi scolded.

MQ: Hold on! Before you get all snippity with me, Let me explain.

MQ: First of all, you were clearly emotionally compromised and it definitely affected your dueling tactics.

MQ: Secondly, I didn't get to show off all of my cards, nor any of my other tricks and trinkets. teehee.

She giggled.

Reishi: (This woman!) Grr…

MQ: Thirdly, This just isn't the way I wanted to beat you. It has to be more…. Grandiose. Plus, I want to meet you face to face, instead of stealing this broad's body.

MQ: -And for all those reasons, I'll let you and your friends go! Plus you get to keep musical dragon, for now.

The masked queen offered her hand to reishi, in sort of act of friendship. Reishi scoffed at the action and smacked her hand away. Her eyes and heart filled with hatred while she looked at the masked queen. This woman had taken two of her friends, beaten her in a duel and was now taunting her. -And yet she had the gall to say she was having mercy on her.

Reishi: Your pity is not something I want….

MQ: I can't believe you're scornful towards the woman sparing your friends' lives and not 'kidnapping you'! So ungrateful….

She scoffed.

Reishi: You need to leave akeno's body too! She's the whole reason this kerfuffle even started!

MQ: About that….

The masked queen looked to the side.

MQ: You know, it shocked me that this entire time that you haven't questioned why I specifically chose akeno.

Reishi: Huh?

Reishi: I-I thought it was because akeno was a friend of mina and mina is a friend of mine.

MQ: That's partially the reason why. -But there's another reason.

MQ: Akeno is a shadowmancer.

Reishi: ….!

Shima and Arthur: …..!

Hattori: Holy muffins! Called it!

Reishi: (Akeno was a shadowmancer? Really?)

MQ: Yes. Good ol' akeno was a pretty good shadowmancer. Though I suppose she had a soft heart.

Reishi: Taking people's souls will do that to a lady.

Reishi spewed.

MQ: Hehe. I suppose so.

MQ: One day, she came to me and said she wanted to leave my organization.

MQ: I said that she could leave on one condition, She beat me in a duel. However, If I won I would possess her body for use in this plan.

The queen explained.

MQ: You can guess what happened next.

Reishi: …..

Reishi was left speechless at this revelation. In a sense it made Akeno both a victim and a villain at the time. It made her question her own morality in a sense.

MQ: Ah, Its almost time for me to leave. So i'll direct my last message at you three.

She looked directly at shima, hattori and arthur.

MQ: From this point onwards, I'll be going after reishi relentlessly! -And anyone in my way will be destroyed. Do you understand?

Hattori: ….

Shima: ….

Arthur: ….

MQ: for your own safety, I suggest that you dissociate from her and live your normal lives. Or else you'll meet the fate of all the others who opposed me.

She warned while staring bullets at the three of them.

MQ: There's one last thing you should know about me, darling.

Reishi: What?

MQ: I don't leave loose ends.

Reishi: What are you talking about-

The masked queen began to slowly back away from reishi, all the while staring at her and smiling. Each step she took created a mischievously creaking sound. An echo began to resonate throughout the area while the masked queen did her devilish deed. She soon reached the edge of the scaffolding on Reishi's side and she smiled once more. It only took Reishi a few seconds to realize what she was about to.

Reishi: No wait! Please!

MQ: Goodbye darling~ We'll meet again soon!

The masked queen folded both of akeno's arms and fell backwards from the scaffolding. Her body fell like rock in a pond, taking only several seconds before a loud thumping sound was heard. Reishi closed her eyes. She didn't wish to open them, now or never. The truth of what had just happened was too much for her.