Friday, nine o'clock in the evening.
Anna noticed early on that today, her father was not quite right compared to usual.
Although she was only an eleven-year-old elementary school student, Anna was more precocious than most of her peers. She didn't want to admit it, but it had something to do with the incidents in her early life.
Her mother passed away before she started elementary school. An extremely important part of her little world had been plucked away, and since then, her father was all she had left.
But if there was anything to be considered lucky, it was that she also had a good enough father.
Although his education level was not high, all he could do was manual labor, but he insisted on working three jobs simultaneously all year round and did his best to give his daughter the best.
And on the second Friday of every month, he would try his best to suspend everything at hand that night and take his daughter to her favorite amusement park.
It was not only to make his daughter happy but also for himself.
Because only Anna's smile was the biggest motivation for him to get up and welcome every tomorrow.
…at least it used to be.
Anna didn't know when it started, but things seem to have changed a little bit.
Although there was no definitive proof, Anna felt that her father might have quit one job—or more than one.
That didn't free him up for more time, however. On the contrary, she has recently discovered that her father seems to be busier than in the past few years.
He got up earlier in the morning and came back later in the evening. His whereabouts remained a mystery all day long, even if she asked, he never revealed a word.
Even the fixed monthly amusement park activities were canceled by him. This had never happened in the past, even during the busiest times.
But she also found that her father was more energetic than at any time in the past few years. He went out every day with full energy, and when he came back, he was very happy, sometimes humming a little song, his whole person seemed to be several years younger.
It looked like he had found some new spiritual sustenance.
At first, Anna had thought it might be a good thing—whatever the reason, at least her father was finally out of the shadow of the past.
Until today.
When she was led by her father with a rough and cocooned hand to the altar with a giant python sculpture and was told by her father kindly that her young and pure soul was fortunate to be chosen as the sacrifice of the Great God of Orichalcos, she finally woke up.
It turned out that her beloved father had already left her long ago.
That night, she saw her father in a stupid black robe with a hood, like a cannon fodder in a movie.
There were several other people dressed exactly like him who appeared to be his new companions. Anna didn't know anyone else, but she recognized Uncle Bacchus—he was one of the few friends of her father, and he seemed to be a taxi driver before.
Uncle Bacchus was a nice guy too. This man would sometimes look after Anna when her father was busy. She remembered that they once went to the playground together, and Uncle Bacchus also gave her a box of beautifully wrapped chocolates.
But now he was also dressed in a black robe.
When she came back to her senses, she was already standing in the middle of a huge altar. The altar happened to be built under the gaping mouth of the giant python sculpture. This made her standing on the altar look like a well-cooked dish. She noticed the imprint of a six-pointed star engraved on her feet, which looked like a masterpiece of a medieval mage in the movie.
Although she didn't quite figure out what was going on, she guessed that she might be dying.
However, whether it was her father or Uncle Bacchus, they all showed joyful smiles under the altar.
At this time, Anna couldn't help thinking of the fairy tales her mother had read to herself when she was very young.
In every story, when the princess encounters a crisis, there would always a handsome and brave prince, waving a sword and riding a white horse to come to the rescue.
…It looks like fairy tales are fairy tales after all.
The engraving of the six-pointed star lit up green, and the huge magic circle was activated. A dazzling green light lit up from the python's mouth and enveloped Anna's whole body. Her soul was sucked out through some evil ancient ritual…
…then the glow was gone.
The ceremony was forcibly stopped.
The faces of the believers changed quickly, and someone shouted: "The barrier has been destroyed!"
"Who dares to disturb our sacred ceremony?"
The door was blasted open with a bang, Anna's eyes widened in surprise, and she felt a faint anticipation in her heart.
Her royal highness actually appeared, and menacingly walked forward, with unstoppable vindictiveness and killing intent.
But they had neither white horse nor sword, only…
…fancy animal headgear?
"I found it, I found it! There really is a litter here!"
"How come there are so few creeps? It's not enough to divide…"
"Look! There's a loli over there!"
"Fuck it, loli is a treasure of mankind! Needless to say, these bastards will die tonight!"
The Doma believers also seem to be quite annoyed by the "sacred ceremony being broken". Several people immediately opened the Duel Disk, and Uncle Bacchus stood up first – he seemed to be the highest-ranking one in the group.
"Are you Pegasus' subordinates? You are seeking death." The believer said with a sullen face. "Then I'll let you take the place and become a sacrifice to the great god of Orichalcos!"
While many players around hadn't had time to speak yet, a certain streamer jumped out of the crowd.
"I'll be your opponent!"
As soon as this remark came out, several players nearby couldn't help but look sideways.
"Is Missy going to go?"
"Is it really possible? This guy looks like an elite creep. The difficulty may be a bit high…"
"I remember that our Missy can only play Easy AI Bot at most, and fail badly when facing Intermediate level?"
Miss Yuehua suddenly became unhappy.
How can you slander someone's innocence like this?
Anyway, I'm also the woman next to Yuei Vu-san, how could I be so bad at dueling?!
I once won against the Intermediate AI bot!
Miss Yuehua opened the Duel Disk angrily and took out the deck that she had kept secret until now and had never played against anyone. (because it's a gimmick deck)
To prove myself through this duel!
I, Miss Yuehua, am not a badass on paper!
"Hmph, is it actually a cute little girl who was sent here?" Bacchus sneered, "I'm really underestimated. It's okay, let you see the greatness of Orichalcos' power, it's up to you to be the first sacrifice!"
"Duel!" x2