"Again... again I lost..."

Shirley lay down on the table, extended one hand, and let out a moan of despair.

Since Zola's and Zoe's games counted as one, there had been a total of eight games, and Shirley hadn't won any yet.

But there was good news: it was now Karina's and Shirley's turn to choose the game.

"Great! Let's turn things around with two consecutive wins!"

With that in mind, Shirley got up again, energetically shaking her fists.

“So, what’s the next game?”

“Hmph—” facing everyone's questions, Shirley said with a hint of disdain, a touch of laughter, and a bit of pride, “Karina, show us what you’ve got!”

Compared to Shirley, who had regained her motivation, Karina was still low on energy.

In the previous hide-and-seek game, she had expended a lot of energy, not physically, but mentally.

She slowly took out a small box, placed it on the table, and then slumped into a chair, discouraged.

Ignoring Karina's pitiful state, Shirley took the box and opened it carefully.

Fifty-four cards with a slight glow flew out, one after another.

After drawing a standard circle in the air, they were neatly arranged on the table.

The cards had combinations of symbols and numbers that no one else understood but that Shirley was very familiar with: clubs, hearts, spades, diamonds, numbers, and letters.

That's right!

These were the playing cards Shirley had recreated from another world.

Of course, these cards were not like the classic Earth style, the cards Shirley created had a distinct personal touch.

That is to say, literally as described.

Each card no longer had abstract figures but had transformed into "personal photos" of Shirley!

One could imagine the expressions on Shirley's friends' faces when they saw these fifty-four personal photos of her, each with a different style.

"Are you giving us these cards to collect?"

Tiffany said nothing and then picked a card from the table.

The overall style of this card was red, with a distorted reddish sun background.

Looking closer, one could see that the card Tiffany was holding featured the most flamboyant outfit of Shirley among all the cards.

Only slightly inferior to this card was the one next to it, a black card with a crescent moon background.

But anyway, Shirley looked really adorable in those cards, hehehe...

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Sure, if you want to collect these cards, it’s no problem."

As she said this, Shirley adjusted her short hair with her little hands.

She could understand the feelings of these friends who wanted to collect the cards because they were obsessed with her beauty.

"But before that, I need to use these cards to decide the winner, and the name of the game will be, let's call it, 'King Duel'!"

After thinking for a moment, Shirley figured her friends might not know what a card game was, so she improvised and named it "King."

“We, nine people, will be divided into three groups of three, and each group will choose a King for the duel. After choosing the King, the remaining two will be commoners and will automatically form a team, with the goal of making the King lose.”

“And the rule to determine the winner is to see whether the King’s cards run out first or if the commoners’ cards run out first. Oh, and if any of the commoners runs out of cards, the team has already won.”

“So, the mechanics of the game are...

1. Group Division: Players are divided into three groups of three.

2. King Selection: Each group elects a "King" for the duel.

3. Commoners: The remaining two players in each group become "Commoners" and form a team against the King.

4. Objective: The goal is for the commoners’ team to make the King lose. The commoners’ team wins if any of their players run out of cards first.

5. Winner: Victory is decided by comparing whether the King’s cards run out before or the commoners’ cards.”

Shirley quickly explained the rules of the entire "King Fight" game at a pace that made it irrelevant whether they understood or not.

“Ready!” Shirley clapped her hands in satisfaction, took a sip of vanilla tea to moisten her throat, and continued, “So, the game starts now!”

“Group division!”

“First group: me, Zola, and Sylvia.”

“Second group: Zoe, Nicole, and Norma.”

“Third group: Karina, Tiffany, and Rosamund.”

To separate Zola and Zoe, who were twins, Shirley immediately made the divisions without giving them time to protest.

Thus, confused, everyone gathered around the small table prepared by the vampire maid, and the first game of "King Duel" officially began.

“Duel for the... King!” After distributing the cards, Shirley was the first to speak.

Sylvia, still unfamiliar with the rules, recalled what Shirley had said and hesitantly said, “I’m not going to compete…”

“I’ll compete!”

Zola, not thinking much, just found it fun and said that.

“I’ll compete too!”

With very good luck, Shirley felt extremely confident about winning with the cards she received.

Moreover, she could swear she hadn’t left any special marks on the cards that would allow others to identify them.

Absolutely not!

Or... maybe?

“One four.”

“One... five?”

“One two!”

“Hmph, I don’t want to.”

At first, they just discarded some individual cards.

Then...

“Three belts and one!”

When it was Shirley's turn, she used the advanced technique of "King Duel" and played four cards at once.

The four cards combined to create a dazzling light, and everyone present was shocked by the strong impulse.

"I can’t accept this..."

"Incredible!"

Zola, completely unconcerned, didn’t care if her hand of cards was broken, she just wanted to play whatever she could.

Shirley’s larger cards hit the table, causing a gust of wind that made people unable to open their eyes.

Shirley and Sylvia leaned on the table, as if they were enduring a great impact.

“Let yourself be proud for a while...” Thinking that, Shirley directly chose to “pass.”

When it was Zola's turn to play again, she looked at her scattered cards and, a bit with a headache, played a "pair of tens."

“Good! Now it’s time!”

Seizing the opportunity, Shirley played a pair of twos, countering Zola.

Then, a sequence of cards made the two opponents unable to react.

“Now it’s…”

“Wait!” Sylvia suddenly shouted, “I still have cards to play!”

Only then did Shirley, who was excited, realize it was someone else’s turn.

“Oh, right.” Shirley replied indifferently, as the remaining cards in her hands already said it all.

Sylvia carefully chose some cards, blocking Shirley’s sequence.

“So, let’s finish!”

“Special card!”

Two of Shirley’s cards created a spectacle of solar and lunar brilliance on the table, and the previously played cards and the remaining cards of the other players started to spin uncontrollably, with the table as the center.

At the same time, a dazzling circle of purple light appeared, and a shadow of Shirley slowly emerged from this circle, announcing the winner of the game.

Of course, Shirley created such a “spectacle” only for herself; the others, even though they won, received nothing.

After Shirley’s exemplary victory in the first round, the subsequent matches also began...