“Was the Duel’s script set long ago…?”

A chill pricked her chest first, then Lucimia drew a long breath, like mist folding into her lungs, and sat beside Rexi, roots sinking into earth.

Don’t touch option three yet; start with option two: the Time Stasis Bearer is Auril’s puppet.

Any evidence? Her thoughts fanned out like paper cranes; she began sorting her threads.

From the spiky‑haired man’s behavior on the sailboat—he was testing whether he himself was a Reversion bearer; every move was a net, cast to gather data for his helper.

Data was bait; the bait was for time powers. His purpose pointed like a compass toward more time.

So the Time Stasis Bearer aims to harvest other time abilities, to seize the Authority Power of Space‑Time.

Then a crack lines the mirror: if Time Halt is Auril’s puppet—or Auril and Time Halt are one—he shouldn’t have blocked Lucimia from his domain.

He had no motive there; he blocked her like a gate slammed at dusk, simply because he didn’t want her inside. That clashes with the Time Stasis Bearer’s hunt for her ability.

By that strand, option three and option two fall away like dead leaves.

So it’s option one? Is it?

But another knot pulls tight: why would a Time Stasis Bearer cooperate with Auril?

Their goals diverge like two rivers; how do they braid?

Does that make all three wrong? Is there a fourth card under the table?

What kind of tie could it be—father and daughter? husband and wife? Her mind fluttered like a kite on a sudden gust, then she reeled the string back in.

Now, the Time Stasis Bearer wants Lucimia’s ability; Auril doesn’t want her in his domain; yet during Auril’s Duel with her, time halted like frost over water.

What relationship fits these steps like stones across a stream?

If they’re one and the same, what’s Auril’s game?

Suppose—suppose he had the spiky‑haired man stage a play, a test of identity, to make Lucimia believe the Time Stasis Bearer wants her power—smoke tossed into the wind—to push her away from options two and three, and pick option one.

Then, when she tries to enter, he bars the gate, throws a riddle, makes her answer wrong, keeps her forever outside.

It sounds like option three, the mirror‑self relationship, fits like a lock.

So choose option three? One and the same?

Yet the taste stays strange on her tongue.

First, to pull that off, only one path works: Lucimia must successfully refute the spiky man’s slander, then chase him hard enough to force out his Time Halt and his Teleportation Array—and the longsword sigil etched on the Magic Array.

Only then could her thoughts be clouded; without that, she wouldn’t even know the spiky man tied to the Time Stasis Bearer, wouldn’t know the longsword sigil, wouldn’t know Auril as a Dark Deity.

But if Lucimia got herself caught on purpose on the boat, the fog wouldn’t settle.

If she just used Reversion, then followed with Devouring in brute force—how could he bet she’d choose debate over power?

Don’t forget: she argued only to test the waters; before that, she could’ve solved it with Authority Power, as clean as a blade.

“Wait—Authority Power?” The jolt ran through her like a bell struck at midnight.

She spotted the fracture—

The sailboat’s slanderer clearly didn’t know Lucimia had Authority Power. If Auril did know, he wouldn’t use a setup so easily cut by Authority Power—a snare fit only for common folk—his mind‑mud plan would fail.

And if Auril didn’t know, he still had no reason for that layout; he couldn’t use “Dark Deity, keep out” to stop her, didn’t need to stop her, couldn’t gamble she’d Devour the Teleportation Array and force the longsword sigil to surface.

He could only learn she had Authority Power at the instant she Devoured the Magic Array—and that moment comes after. That means the slander wasn’t Auril’s design.

In short: whether Auril knew or not, he wouldn’t weave that slander. He’d move with Authority Power, as thunder answers lightning.

So only one path remains: someone else set the slander.

And the spiky man’s slander had edge—no mercy, no leaks. Most people couldn’t rebut it.

That doesn’t look like a play staged for one watcher; if you’re acting for one pair of eyes, you don’t set the bar that high, that cruel.

Thus, option three drops away.

What about the two left?

The Time Stasis Bearer was testing Lucimia’s ability; he didn’t get a result, so the spiky man tried to flee, failed, and the Duel’s Authority Power erased his memory.

Meaning, he was mid‑Duel with someone; lose, and you die; with death, memory burns to ash.

He failed to verify and died—but that doesn’t fit; he could’ve escaped via the Teleportation Array.

That sigil appeared too abruptly, like ink splashed at the last second.

Last‑second ink…

Suddenly, Lucimia recalled Auril’s earlier talk with her and Rexi; his tone held a grin—his Duel could ignore many rules. He could play dirty.

Then maybe Auril forced a Duel on the spiky man. The Duel’s content: can the spiky‑haired man escape using the Teleportation Array?

He failed; the longsword flared, cut him down, wiped his memories clean.

And Lucimia needed the man’s memories for the Time Stasis Bearer behind the curtain.

“I think… I’ve pieced together a lot.” Lucimia breathed deep, like drawing a lake into stillness.

“Pieced together? Did you get the answer?” Rexi leaned in, eyes bright as stars.

“Almost. I’m close…”

From all that, Lucimia tossed the puppet option aside. It’s meaningless, needless. If you say the boat’s setup was indeed by the Time Stasis Bearer, but he was turned into a puppet in the last two hours—

That’s worse. That line could defend any guess, fogging every window.

And there’s no proof. It’s pure conjecture, unlike the ironclad chain that cut option three.

None of the threads point to puppetry. The puppet choice feels like a mind‑pollutant—no matter how you think, if you pre‑load one and three as answers, two slips in like a stain, but brings no evidence.

That also breaks the spirit of the Duel. A Duel’s answer must be something you can nail down, not a trick of words—unless this Duel’s topic is Debate.

So Lucimia split the path into two clean stones—

First: Auril and the Time Stasis Bearer are in cooperation.

Second: Auril and the Time Stasis Bearer are in opposition.