The Glorious Evolution

Gamble’s taunt drew the remaining Rifters’ attention to Levi..., but if the rodent expected them to start wasting their Tools out of spite, he was about to be disappointed.

”The Freedom Round begins! Akira?”

”Skip.”

The Taxman gave the same answer, followed by Mournful Spirit and Levi. Bad Penny declined last, ending the round without a single activation.

Levi had already gotten more than enough out of his last Tool. He wanted to see where the next roll left him before committing another... and the others evidently had similar intentions.

Their progress had been erased, no Mandatory Duels were waiting, and spending a valuable Tool wouldn’t necessarily recover what they had lost.

”Very well... keep your little treasures close,” Gamble said as the dice appeared before Akira. ”Let’s see how long you can afford to save them!”

She threw them without answering. Levi was only one tile ahead of her... whatever satisfaction he had gotten from stealing the lead could disappear with a decent roll.

The dice bounced twice before settling.

[Fortune Die: 6]

[Calamity Die: 6]

[Total: 12 — Additional Roll Granted.]

”Double sixes! Akira refuses to back down!”

A golden path lit up, and the Board teleported her from the seventy-eighth tile to the ninetieth.

”Enjoyed your lead?” she asked Levi.

’Win first...’ he thought, already calculating how much movement he needed to catch up.

Then her bonus roll landed.

[Fortune Die: 6]

[Calamity Die: 5]

[Total: 11]

The result appeared above the dice while the path illuminated all the way to the Throne’s steps... she only needed ten tiles to reach it, and she rolled... eleven.

For a moment, her supporters seemed unsure whether to believe what they were seeing. Then the celebrations broke out!

-WE WON! HAHAHA! WE ACTUALLY WON!-

-My Queen didn’t even need to fight! Pay up!-

-Holy shit... is this the first game won without a single fight by a Rifter?!-

Akira no longer bothered with the Rifters behind her. The Throne occupied her attention completely, its empty seat waiting at the end of the golden path.

One more teleportation... and it would be hers.

Even she found herself incapable of believing it.

”This bitch has coasted through the entire game on luck!” Arthur cursed, striking the table with his palm. ”How is this shit fair?!”

”Levi doesn’t even get another roll?” Jojo asked, worried.

Shia counted the tiles separating Akira from the Throne, hoping someone had misjudged the distance... but there were only ten. After everything Levi had endured, they were about to watch him lose without another chance to act.

Golden light engulfed Akira and deposited her on the ninety-ninth tile.

As she was about to take a step toward the Throne, an invisible force suddenly stopped her foot before it crossed the edge.

’What?’

The teleportation had ended, and yet she was still standing one tile short.

Before she could demand an explanation, a red carpet unrolled under her feet. A golden crown appeared at its center, facing the seat she had already considered hers.

Ding!

[Hidden Tile Discovered: Throne Chamber.]

[Throne Chamber’s Carpet — Tile 99.]

[All Rifters must halt upon the Throne Chamber’s Carpet to pay their respects before ascending the Throne. Ascension cannot occur before the next Dice Round.]

[Unused movement will be retained as a debt owed to the Rifter, payable at the start of their next dice turn.]

[Movement Used: 9 of 11 Tiles.]

[Movement Debt Owed to Akira Sol: 2 Tiles.]

”Pay my respects...?”

Akira’s nostrils flared as the meaning became clear... the Board owed her more movement than she needed to win, but it wouldn’t give it to her until everyone else had another chance to interfere in the Freedom Round!

She addressed Gamble with a level voice that did little to soften the accusation.

”You waited until I reached it to tell me this?”

”Yes! Make her pay respect properly!” Arthur shouted, suddenly finding nothing wrong with the game’s fairness.

Jojo forgot her unanswered question. For once, she was grateful for whatever nonsense the rodent had hidden in his rules.

On the board, the remaining Rifters began assessing their routes to the carpet.

The Taxman’s Position Exchange was an obvious threat, but the others still had Tools of their own... Akira had been given enough movement to win, not protection from what happened before her next turn.

’There it is...’ Levi thought.

After his previous experience with Gamble, he had found that clean path to victory difficult to trust.

The rodent wanted a climax, and this rule gave the others time to provide one without taking away Akira’s advantage... since the game’s detailed rules informed them that hidden tiles existed, he broke no rules.

She could still win... if she kept her place on the carpet.

-SHE ALREADY ROLLED ENOUGH! LET HER CLIMB!-

-Hahahaha! Where are all the people asking to get paid now?-

Gamble let the complaints compete with the celebrations before bringing the microphone to his mouth.

”Did you think the Throne wouldn’t have a little etiquette of its own?”

He extended his free paw toward the Rifters waiting behind her.

”Stand on the carpet, show some respect... and give your fellow guests a chance to say goodbye!”

Akira ignored the invitation. Arguing wouldn’t remove the restriction, and the Taxman had been waiting far too long for a position worth exchanging.

The remaining dice turns passed quickly, though none matched hers.

The Taxman reached the eighty-first tile, Mournful Spirit stopped on the seventy-third, and Levi advanced to the eighty-fifth. All three landed on standard tiles... close enough to threaten Akira with the right Tool, but none had reached the carpet through their rolls.

Bad Penny drew the worst result.

His roll sent him to the Prison Tile, where his high calamity luck triggered a sentence he had no Fortune Points left to negate.

[Two Dice Rounds of Imprisonment.]

Bars rose around the seventy-second tile, locking his Tools along with his position.

Bad Penny remained near the entrance as the last opening closed. Two Dice Rounds... the Board might as well have told him to wait until someone else finished winning.

When he finally sat, he chose the side of the cell facing away from the Throne... his expression was as sour as it could get.

”Freedom Round!” Gamble announced. ”Akira, will you be skipping again?”

Akira withdrew a small shield engraved with a circular arrow.

”Reversion Shield.”

The Tool dissolved into a transparent shell around her before fading, leaving the arrow suspended above her head.

[Reversion Shield Activated.]

[Anchor your current position for the remainder of this Freedom Round. Whenever an effect moves you to another tile, return to your anchored position after that effect resolves.]

”Go on, then,” Akira told the Taxman.

He had held Position Exchange over them long enough. Her shield wouldn’t prevent him from swapping their positions... but it would return her to the carpet afterward. Whatever tile he sent her to, he couldn’t leave her stranded there.

If he still wanted her position, he would have to share it with her.

The Taxman finished reading the notification before reaching into his inventory and withdrawing a small black seal.

[Sealed Record Activated.]

He crushed it between his fingers, leaving a dark symbol across his knuckles.

No explanation accompanied the announcement, giving Levi little to work with beyond the Tool’s name.

Sealed Record was the Taxman’s countermeasure against anyone else trying to move him. It recorded the tile he reached through his own Tools, allowing him to return there if another Rifter’s Tool displaced him afterward.

His own movements would update the record... they wouldn’t trigger its protection.

With Levi and Mournful Spirit still waiting for their turns, he intended to secure the position he was about to claim. Getting onto the carpet would mean little if someone immediately sent him away again.

Once the seal was active, he withdrew the Tool marked with two opposing arrows.

”Position Exchange.”

He selected Akira.

Two beams of light engulfed them, placing the Taxman on the red carpet and sending Akira back to the eighty-first tile!

The exchange finished... then the circular arrow above her head completed a rotation.

Akira vanished from the distant tile and returned to her anchored position, appearing beside the Taxman.

[Anchored Position Restored: Tile 99.]

[Reversion Shield Remains Active.]

[Mandatory Duel Pending.]

[Akira Sol — The Taxman.]

Her shield had worked exactly as intended. It restored her position after the exchange without reversing the Taxman’s movement... leaving both of them on the carpet.

Sealed Record had played no part in bringing them together. It had merely registered the Taxman’s arrival on the ninety-ninth tile, ready to protect him against interference during the remaining turns.

”So you came prepared to fight me,” Akira said.

”I came prepared to stay.”

The Taxman placed his briefcase beside him.

Levi couldn’t determine the seal’s precise function from its activation alone, but the order of the Taxman’s actions suggested a precaution. He had used it before committing himself to the carpet, despite knowing that Akira would return.

Around the venue, the spectators began arguing over the approaching duel. Akira had already accepted it.

”You should have come earlier,” she sneered. ”I was growing bored.”

”I prefer to make sure the journey is worthwhile.”

The Taxman moved his foot clear of the briefcase, leaving room to open it.

Gamble allowed the announcement of their duel to remain overhead as he called on Mournful Spirit... only to discover that she already had a narrow black ticket ready.

”Usurper’s Passage... I choose Akira Sol.”

[Usurper’s Passage Activated.]

[Temporarily enter the selected Rifter’s tile. Eliminating the selected target secures their position.]

The ticket burned inward from its edges, opening a doorway of black light.

Akira moved away from the Taxman before Mournful Spirit emerged. She could afford neither opponent at her back... especially when the new arrival’s Tool explicitly required her elimination to secure the position.

Mournful Spirit tucked her biwa against her side and approached the doorway.

”Since everyone is gathering so close to the Throne... it would be a shame not to join you.”

She stepped through.

[Mandatory Battle Updated: Three Participants.]

[Akira Sol / The Taxman / Mournful Spirit.]

Arguments about the duel broke off as her name joined theirs. Those who had just finished defending their predictions now had another contender to account for!

”THREE CONTENDERS!” Gamble announced. ”One Throne, three guests... and such terrible manners!”

Their names filled the giant screens as the spectators argued over who would survive... meanwhile, Levi was still on the eighty-fifth tile.

Jasmine had stopped reading the predictions about the three contenders. None of them included Levi... unless he reached the carpet this round, the winner might claim the Throne before he received another useful roll.

Gamble finally called on him.

”Celestial... your turn.”

Levi checked the three Rifters’ positions through his senses, considering the Tools they had just used. Two had activated safeguards, and Mournful Spirit had found a way to join them anyway.

The three Rifters waited for his choice before making another move. His turn was the last uncertainty before their battle could begin.

Gamble offered him an extra moment, letting the spectators notice the delay as well.

”Are you skipping?” he asked. ”Or... are you joining in?”