The So-Called Destiny

"Emergency Provisions restores 1,000 Life Points for each Spell or Trap in the Back Row sent to the Graveyard," Kira said. "Originally, 'Nightmare Steelcage' had a side effect."

At the Standby Phase of my next turn, I would have had to randomly discard cards from my hand equal to the number of cards I drew from Steelcage's effect this turn.

But before that happened, I used Emergency Provisions' effect to send Steelcage to the Graveyard and restore Life Points.

And the Trap Card 'Atmospheric Regeneration,' which was activating in the same chain, was also sent to the Graveyard. That restored a total of 2,000 Life Points."

Kira, LP 2000→LP 4000

With that, not only had the monsters on the Field returned to their original state, but his Life Points had also shot back up to their previous total. Aster, as his opponent, could not help feeling a sudden sense of frustration.

It was as though everything he had done had been pointless.

As though no matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, he would ultimately be unable to change anything.

"Just like the destiny Saiō always talks about, right?" Kira smiled.

Aster's heart skipped a beat. He frowned. "What did you say?"

"The destiny Saiō talks about," Kira said. "I'd bet he always used to say things like that to you, right? That everything was predestined, that destiny had already been decided, that beneath the wheel of fate, all people could do was go with the flow, blah blah blah."

"What are you trying to say?" Aster asked.

"Nothing. Look, I'd even bet Saiō always predicted that you would be the victor, that any opponent challenging you was as laughable as someone trying to shake the wheel of fate."

Kira smiled faintly.

"Isn't that exactly