The Waters Are Too Deep for You to Handle

Kaku Ichijou collapsed to his knees, his eyes vacant and unfocused, questioning his entire life. From his posture alone, he looked like the anguished culprit at the end of every Conan episode after being exposed.

It wasn't as though he had never lost before. He had long since gotten used to it—after all, he had sought the Grim Reaper's Power precisely because he rarely won at cards. Well, he couldn't exactly say he was used to it. This was his first defeat since obtaining the Grim Reaper's Power.

But there was nothing strange about losing. His opponent was the Duel King. Kaku Ichijou wasn't truly arrogant enough to think that gaining the Grim Reaper's Power meant he could look down even on the Duel King. He might lose, but he didn't care. He merely wanted to test this power and prove his Deck.

As long as he had the chance to face the Duel King and test the limits he had reached after obtaining this power, he had considered the possibility of defeat.

But even in his dreams, he had never imagined that he would lose to the Iai Draw he was most obsessed with.

Wasn't that supposed to be a flashy entertainment Deck?

Wasn't it because the Deck he loved so deeply was too much of a circus act, failing again and again and being mocked time after time, that he had finally been unable to endure it any longer and chosen to embrace darkness, selling his soul in exchange for the Grim Reaper's Power?

If he could play circus tricks without selling his soul, hadn't he sold it for nothing?

This was the first time in his life that he had been on the receiving end of Iai Draw, and by the end, he was completely dazed.

The