Chapter 123: Ch121. Challenge for answers
The Master’s voice echoed through the chamber, reverberating off the metal walls as his eyes flicked over Miles. The silent observers, the masked figures, remained unmoving, as if the air itself had thickened with the tension in the room.
For a moment, the Master’s stillness was unbroken, but his eyes, dark, calculating, and wide, betrayed an emotion that did not quite fit the control he had carefully crafted.
Shock.
It was subtle, a flicker of something behind his cracked porcelain mask. His lips parted slightly, and the air seemed to grow colder.
"How do you know of the Card Soldiers?" The words came softly, as though he had not quite processed them fully. His fingers twitched almost imperceptibly.
Miles did not flinch. His stance was firm, and his grip on the scythe had tightened, not out of aggression but from sheer readiness. The moment hung in the air between them, the question suspended like a challenge Miles had no intention of avoiding.
"I’ve seen them before." Miles replied, his voice steady and sharp, betraying none of the weight that lurked beneath.
The Master’s expression shifted, his gaze narrowing just a fraction, his posture slowly becoming less casual. He regarded Miles with renewed scrutiny, as if sizing him up in a different way now.
"And what of it?" The Master said after a brief, heavy silence, his voice flat but his eyes flashing with a dangerous gleam.
"I won’t say anything more until you answer my question. Why do you have them? What is their purpose?" Miles stood his ground.
The Master took a step forward, his long coat rustling as if reacting to the question, but he did not answer right away. Instead, he regarded Miles with a cold calculation, as if measuring the depth of his resolve.