The air in the fissure chamber wasn't just thick; it was viscous, a stew of bruised egos and simmering resentment. The soft, pulsing glow of the wall fungi seemed to mock them, highlighting the tension in the set of Kuro's jaw and the cold fury in Nyxara's eyes. The laughter from the earlier games was a distant memory, replaced by a silence that was less peaceful and more like the calm before an execution. Kuro's humiliating self sabotage in Game 2 had been a public flogging, and the 'Baby Black Prince' was itching to return the favour tenfold.

Nyxara reshuffled the deck with the violent precision of a headsman sharpening his axe. The iridescent cards snapped together like tiny bones breaking. "A clean sweep is the only acceptable outcome now," she declared, her voice a silken threat. "It will be a fitting, final lesson in humility for our infant soldiers. We shall teach them that the nursery is a place for naps, not for notions of victory."

Kuro's storm grey eyes were locked on the board as if it were his father's throne room. "This ends with my victory," he stated, the words flat and absolute. "The previous match was a momentary lapse in concentration exploited by sentimental fools."

"An aberration you engineered with spectacular, world class incompetence, my little baby black prince," Nyxara reminded him, her tone light but her Polaris light flickering with protective energy.

Before Nyxara could deal, Shiro's voice, quiet but iron clad, cut through the tension. "I'm switching my constellation."

The declaration landed like a gauntlet thrown onto the stone table. All movement ceased.

"Switching?" Nyxara echoed, her hands freezing. "To what? Orion is a warrior. It is blunt and foolish, much like you my rain baby. But it is straightforward."

"I don't want straightforward Aunty," Shiro said, his amber eyes holding a strange, unnerving calm. "I want Chaos so I'd like Cetus."

The reaction was instantaneous and venomous.

"Cetus?" Kuro barked a harsh, disbelieving laugh. "The fucking sea monster? The chaotic mess of a constellation? You pick that when you've already given up! Is that it? You know you can't win so you just want to ruin the board for everyone else? Pathetic."

Lucifera let out a dry, dismissive hiss. "A statistically bankrupt choice. Its movement parameters are irrational. Its special abilities are tantrums, not tactics. It is the choice of a child having a fit, not a strategist. A worthless diversion."

Nyxara studied him, her head tilted like a bird of prey considering a strangely still mouse. "Explain yourself, rain baby. Orion is strength. Cetus is... chaos. It is a mess. It has no discipline, no order."

A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched Shiro's lips. "You will see," he replied, his voice a low murmur. He met their barrage of contempt with a placid silence that was somehow more infuriating than any shouted retort.

Statera was his only defender. She looked at him, seeing past the calm to the razor sharp calculation beneath. A slow, sly smile spread across her face. "Cetus is volatile," she conceded. "A tempest in a teacup. But in the right hands, a tempest can sink an armada. It suits you perfectly, my little rain baby." Her use of the nickname was a deliberate act of defiance; a banner raised in his defence.

Grudgingly, Nyxara swapped the carved 'Orion' piece for the sinuous, serpentine form of 'Cetus'. The mood plummeted from competitive to downright hostile. This was no longer a game; it was a punishment detail.

The deal was done. The first moves were a tense re establishment of positions. Nyxara's 'Corona' advanced with imperial purpose. Statera's 'Lyra' wove a defensive net. Lucifera's 'Sirius' began its silent, resource hoarding ritual.

Then came the betrayal of fair play.

As Nyxara gathered the deck to reshuffle after the first round, her fingers fanned the cards for a fraction of a second longer than necessary. Kuro, from his perfect angle, saw the flash of gold foil, an 'Event Horizon' card, the most powerful move in the deck, second from the top. Nyxara's eyes flickered to his. A microscopic nod. The unholy alliance was sealed. They would cheat, and they would enjoy it.

Their alliance was now overt. "We dismantle Lyra first," Nyxara declared, her finger tracing a path on the celestial map towards Statera's primary constellation. "She is the anchor of their morale. Break her, and the rest will crumble. Then we drown the pathetic sea monster."

Kuro nodded, a vicious sneer twisting his lips. "Let's grind his chaos into dust. Watch this, ghost. This is how a real player operates, not that whatever you're doing."

The assault on Statera was a clinical, brutal display of corrupted advantage. They used their foreknowledge of the deck to perfection. Nyxara, knowing a 'Solar Wind' card was coming up, baited Statera into moving 'Lyra' into a seemingly advantageous position to defend a minor star.

"Your turn, Councillor," Nyxara said, her voice dripping with false courtesy. "I'm sure you'll find a way to stem the tide."

Statera, unaware of the trap, played a 'Layline Weave' to fortify her new position. "The tide can be guided, Your Majesty," she replied calmly.

It was exactly what they wanted. Kuro, on his turn, drew the anticipated 'Solar Wind'. "Oh, would you look at that," he said with mock surprise. "This card lets me move any piece adjacent to a nebula two spaces. And look, your precious Lyra is right next to one." He didn't use it to advance his own piece. He used it to physically move Statera's 'Lyra' piece out of its fortified position, isolating it in the middle of the board, surrounded by their forces. "Whoops. Looks like your guidance system failed Aunty."

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Nyxara didn't miss a beat. On her next turn, she played the 'Event Horizon' card they had cheated to secure. "And this," she announced with glacial triumph, "allows me to make a capture move against any piece not in its home sector. And your Lyra is so very far from home, my dear Statera." She reached over and plucked Statera's primary star from the board, the soft clink of the piece hitting the table sounding like a death knell.

Statera's Polaris light flickered, not with anger, but with a profound sadness at the sheer underhandedness of it. She was effectively neutralized, her position crippled beyond recovery. She leaned back, a silent observer in her own defeat.

Shiro, meanwhile, played the perfect fool. His moves with 'Cetus' were bizarre to the point of idiocy. He advanced 'Cetus' into a dead end sector surrounded by black holes. He used a 'Tidal Wave' card that pushed Nyxara's piece closer to a valuable star. And most inexplicably, he began to willingly sacrifice his own stars.

With Statera broken, they turned their full, toxic attention to Shiro. His every move was met with a chorus of derision.

When Shiro used a 'Churning Depths' card that forced all players to discard and redraw, Kuro threw his hands up in exasperation. "For fuck's sake! What is the point of that? You had no hand to speak of anyway! You're just wasting everyone's time with this random, chaotic bullshit!"

Nyxara chuckled, a sound like ice cracking. "He's like a child throwing rocks at a wall. He has no plan, so he simply hopes the noise will annoy us into surrender. It is beneath contempt."

When Shiro then sacrificed a minor star to Nyxara for virtually no gain, Kuro howled with laughter. "You are just giving them away now? Is that it? 'Here, have a star, please don't hurt me!'.

Even his choice of movement was mocked. He moved 'Cetus' in a zig zag pattern that seemed purposeless. "The mighty sea monster appears to be seasick," Lucifera observed dryly. "It's navigation is… nauseatingly inefficient."

Shiro absorbed it all without a word, his face a placid mask. He let their insults wash over him, fuel for the inferno he was quietly building. He was the dumb fish, the beached whale, the chaotic idiot. He encouraged the perception, sacrificing another star, this time to Kuro.

"Fucking thank you!" Kuro said, snatching the piece. "I'll take your charity, since you clearly have no idea what to do with it."

"It's my turn next, the win is mine," Nyxara stated with finality.

"No it isn't" Kuro shot back. "My 'Draco' is one move away. I can end this now. The victory is mine. Admit it, you're already beaten."

They were so engrossed in their petty squabble over a victory they assumed was guaranteed, they didn't see Shiro draw his card.

He looked at it. And then the mask fell away. A slow, terrifyingly cold smile spread across his face. It was the smile of a trapdoor finally swinging open.

He placed the card on the table. Abyssal Whirlpool.

"The rule for 'Abyssal Whirlpool'," Shiro announced, his voice cutting through their argument like a scalpel, "is that it can only be played when Cetus has one star remaining. It returns every single star captured from Cetus during this entire game to their original sectors on the board."

He began to move the pieces. The star Nyxara had taken from him flew back to his control. The two Kuro had stolen returned. The one he'd lost to Lucifera. In one, earth shattering move, Shiro's 'Cetus' went from a single, pathetic star to controlling a cluster of four.

The arrogance on Nyxara and Kuro's faces curdled into dawning, horrific understanding.

"But," Shiro continued, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper, "because these stars were not captured through standard means this turn, but returned through a special effect, it triggers Cetus's hidden secondary ability: Feast of the Deep. For each star returned to me, I may immediately capture one adjacent star from any opponent on the board."

The chamber plunged into a silence so deep they could hear the drip of water in the distant tunnels.

Kuro's face went white. "You have got to be fucking with me."

When his turn ended, the board was unrecognizable. 'Cetus' now dominated the celestial map. Five stars. A perfect, catastrophic, impossible victory.

The silence was absolute, broken only by the sound of Kuro's stool scraping back as he shot to his feet.

"What... what was that?!" he exploded.

Statera surged forward, her face alight with fierce, overwhelming pride. She didn't just clap; she grabbed Shiro's face with both hands, pulling his cheeks playfully. "My brilliant, brilliant little rain baby!" she exclaimed, her voice thick with emotion. "You magnificent, chaotic genius! You were playing a different game entirely! You were magnificent!"

Shiro's composure finally broke, but not in the way of a victor. A deep, spectacular blush exploded across his face, clashing violently with his pale complexion. He was the master strategist one second, and a flustered boy the next. "M…Mother, please," he stammered, trying to gently pry her hands away, his eyes darting around the chamber in embarrassment. "Don't pull my cheek that hurts. Not now. I just... I beat those pathetic cheats, yes I saw you both look at the deck, but I said nothing because I was confident in my strategy."

Shiro's face flushed a deep crimson, embarrassment radiating from him as Statera's hands released from his cheek. She then pulled him deep into her arms, as if to shield him from the world's judgment. Her laughter was warm and rich, filling the chamber with a sound that was both affectionate and triumphant. "That you did my chaotic little rain baby!" she cooed, her voice brimming with pride. "You outplayed them all, even when they cheated. I'm so proud of you."

Shiro squirmed slightly, his flustered state evident in his stammered plea. "Mother, please...," he begged, his voice a mix of embarrassment and gentle resistance. Despite his words, he didn't fully pull away, caught between his embarrassment and the comfort of her embrace.

Nyxara's icy gaze sharpened, her voice cutting through the air with disdain. "You're delusional if you think we'd resort to such tactics," she sneered, her words sharp and dismissive. "Victory is won through skill, not conspiracy theories. You're grasping at straws to justify your luck."

Kuro's face twisted into a scowl, his voice rising in defiant defence. "Mother's right your trying to make you win sound more profound when it was just pure fucking luck," he snapped.

Lucifera's usually indifferent gaze flickered with a rare spark of respect. "Cheat all you like," she drawled, her voice laced with contempt for the dishonesty. "But in the end, it was Shiro who outplayed you. Skill over corruption, how refreshing." Her tone carried a grudging admiration, acknowledging Shiro's triumph.

Statera's embrace remained firm, her pride in Shiro unwavering. "Cheaters may win a battle," she declared, her voice steady and strong, "but they'll never win the war. My little rain baby proved that today."

The chamber fell silent, the weight of Statera's words hanging in the air. The war was far from over, with two games remaining to conclude a victor. Shiro, still nestled in his mother's embrace, felt the warmth of her support and the intensity of the unfinished conflict. His embarrassment slowly gave way to a quiet resolve, knowing the real game was still to come.

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