Mike wondered for a moment if he had heard correctly:
"What are you talking about? I won this game!" he exclaimed.
"Oh really? And can you remind me how it happened, my little Mike?" Shinki asked.
Mike was fuming, but he couldn't lose his temper while Clarc was being held hostage, so he agreed:
"We both played the "true or false game", where the one who won the most rounds out of the six played won the game, and in the event of a tie, the one who won the bet to know if Clarc would survive or not prevailed"
"Precisely" Shinki confirmed.
"What do you mean?" Mike asked. "We managed to save Clarc, so I won the bet and won the round"
Suddenly, Mike realized the problem and turned pale.
"Did you finally realize it?" Shinki scoffed. "The bet was not on "whether the captain of the guard will survive his wounds" but simply "whether the captain of the guard will survive." There was never a clear time limit, so it's safe to say the bet is still on"
It was Sora who intervened:
"Mr. Shinki, you challenge Mr. Mike to a different game every day at the same time, so we can say that the game ends after 24 hours, right?"
Mike's face brightened upon hearing this and he added:
"Sora is right, the time limit is 24 hours and it's already been two days, I won so admit defeat" he said.
He thought Shinki would at least argue, but Shinki just shrugged and said:
"I guess you're right. For me, the bet has no time limit but since it is the challenger, that is to say you Mike, who defines the rules, it is surely more logical to adopt your point of view. So, I guess I'll accept defeat and let you leave here whenever you ask"
Mike felt relieved, but it was short-lived:
"Unfortunately, as I am a sore loser, I still want to win, even if it is only in my heart. So if you decide to leave now, I think I'll have no choice but to offer the captain a holiday... well, into a black hole? Yes, a black hole looks good to me, don't you?"
Sora was shocked that King Shinki, whom he still considered his best friend a few days earlier, could so openly use his father as a hostage in front of him, in such a shameless way. Mike, on the other hand, reacted swiftly:
"What do you want in exchange if you free Clarc?" he asked Shinki.
The latter did not beat around the bush and immediately outlined his demands:
"Another game, where I choose the rules" Shinki answered. "For fair play, I would choose a game that you are already accustomed to and I agree to directly return Clarc to you and heal him so that he helps you during the game, and I will leave him to you even if you lose"
"Ah, also, there will be no world destroyed after the game if you lose, the only risk will be that Mike loses the right to start from this story in case of defeat and will have to redo other games, this time without punishment in case of defeat. That's more or less it, what do you choose?"
No matter how much Shinki asked the question, all three of them knew there was only one possible answer. Mike looked at Sora briefly to see if he had anything to say, then replied to Shinki:
"We accept the proposal" he said. "But before we begin, I would like to know something: why are you so keen to keep us here? Is that also Noir's order?
Hearing the answer, Shinki had an expression of deep pain, which took Mike and Sora by surprise.
"I really wish that were the case" Shinki said. "Unfortunately, life is not always the way we want it to be. Master Noir had already predicted that I would lose during the game two days ago, and even informed me about it"
Mike showed a surprised expression:
"How did they know?" he asked. "Did they guess?"
Shinki laughed bitterly, the pain on his face gradually replaced by bitterness:
"You should stop reasoning based on the principle that Master Noir is a being like us" he said. "Billions and billions of years ago, both in the Prime World and in the Platonic Sea, they had already achieved a mastery of the Imagination that far exceeds what you, me or anyone else can conceive, it is, so to speak, equal to Ei's. They doesn't need to guess, they can simply use Imagination to watch the course of events, and as long as there is no Prime World human involved, they can even change them at will'
Mike was torn between relief and fear: relief because it meant he wasn't concerned and fear because he had just learned to what extent the situation was beyond him, where he remained a human when the enemy was basically omnipotent. Shinki cut him off in his reflexion by speaking again:
"Anyway, this is where Master Noir informed me that I was going to lose and told me to just let things play out" he said. "And for the first time, I disobeyed Master Noir: knowing that I was going to lose, I set up this loophole in the last bet, while creating enough mental pressure on Mike to accept directly without remember to check if there was a flaw. This way, even if my defeat was assured, I would always have the opportunity to make up for it later, in this case today"
Despite himself, Mike was impressed to understand how well Shinki had planned his move. As he replayed the scene, it was Sora who broke the silence again:
"But as a result, Mr. Shinki, you still haven't answered the question: if it's not for but... for Mr. Noir, why do you want to prevent Mr. Mike from leaving so much?" he asked.
Shinki's response was prompt:
"Purely on principle, quite simply"
"On… principle?" Mike and Sora didn't understand, so Shinki explained to them:
"Think about it, from the moment I became a Traveler until now, I have always been loyal to Master Noir, and I have always wanted to be indispensable to him" he said. "For what ? Simply because that's all I can do: I'm already at the top of the Travelers in terms of power, I might as well use Imagination as the abilities assigned to me by history. But still, I can't even touch on things like the Ark or the Prime World: in simple terms, you could say I'm too high for fiction and too low for reality"
"I knew that for this superior being, I was just a replaceable chess piece, and yet my goal has never changed, interacting with Master Noir is the only thing that still manages to distract me"
It was at that moment, as Shinki looked straight into Mike's eyes, that his eyes finally showed his true emotions towards the latter: overwhelming jealousy and visceral hatred. Despite everything, Shinki continued speaking with a smile:
"Now let's say that all of a sudden, incapable people who are not even capable of stopping a destroyer by ganging up against him receive more attention than me from Master Noir and have more importance for him than I do. will never have any, simply because these incompetents come from the Primary World. I know that I should accept it because it is Master Noir's will"
At that moment, Shinki could no longer contain himself and finally lost his smile as he shouted:
"I can't do it! I can't! What does it matter if I don't come from the Prime World? What if I'm just a pawn on the chessboard? What does it matter if I am destined to lose?"
After all this time, the great and powerful King Shinki finally revealed his true feelings:
"I want to win against those of the Primary World even if I am only a Traveler! I want to be able to take the queen even if I'm just a pawn! I want to crush the winners even if I'm just a loser! Even in this story, the one to which I belong, I am only a secondary character destined to be dethroned by the hero, but I was able to go against the story! And today again, as a secondary character, I will thwart everyone's expectations and overthrow a main character!"
After this statement, Shinki snapped his fingers, causing an unconscious Clarc to appear. He used Imagination to wake him up and then, with his own powers, he sent him flying right next to Sora and Mike.
As the leader of the King of Worlds' guards, or at least former leader, Clarc had no trouble controlling his fallout, landing next to Mike and Sora, much like characters in superhero movies.
"Shows-off, as always!!!" Mike laughed. "Heh, I'm glad you're okay"
"Dad..." Sora began, feeling that this was an opportunity to break the ice between them but not knowing what to say.
Clarc opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Shinki, who had no intention of letting them have their little meeting:
"Good, now that everyone is gathered, we can start the game" he said. "You will see, the game is very simple, you have all already played it at least once"
In the meantime, Shinki's smile had returned but now he looked more like a demon showing its fangs than anything else.
"It's a game that will pit the heroes' camp, namely the three of you, against the royalty camp, namely the royal guard and me: it's a fight to the death!"
With these words, before the three friends could even realize what was happening, the entire guard charged and Sora and Mike were surrounded, while Clarc found himself all alone against Shinki.
"Oh, come on!" Mike grumbled as they found themselves once again separated from Clarc less than a minute after finding him.
Sora was of the same opinion, and showed his displeasure by causing screws to appear flying throughout the castle to attack the guards. Mike also entered the battle using Imagination, using techniques he had developed while training with Clarc. The latter, for his part, took out his sword and pointed it without hesitation at his former king, Shinki.
It was the beginning of the last battle that would take place in this story, and which would mark its destruction.