Depressed as he was, there was nothing to complain about, as it was expected.
Who told him to play a pure Hero Deck anyway?
"Can you only play a weak monster and do nothing more?"
Pandora even added this mocking comment. Then he chuckled, drew the next card.
"My turn!" He glanced at the card he drew and slapped it down without thinking, "Summon Malice Doll of Demise!"
A Monster Card materialized on the field under the effect of the projection, light and shadows intertwined to outline an eerie toy doll. Its jaw was dislocated, holding a small axe, and upon summoning, it let out a sinister laugh.
[Malice Doll of Demise, Attack Power 1600]
"First, get rid of that weak monster you are using for defense." Pandora waved his arm under his black robe, revealing a red magician's outfit, "Mystic Tomato! Crush that weakling monster!"
The big red tomato let out a cry, leaped high, and pounced toward Winged Kuriboh.
A tomato that jumps and shouts—it looked quite humorous.
Poor Winged Kuriboh, a Hero nonetheless, but with only 1000 defense points, even it was powerless against this tomato.
Our Elemental Hero gritted his teeth, seemingly tensing his muscles and exerting more force, but was still knocked into the air by the small tomato. The little tomato opened its mouth and viciously bit the Hero's arm, who then shattered like glass, disappearing from the field.
"Now you have no monsters left to protect you." Pandora sneered sinisterly, followed by another wave of his hand, "Malice Doll, direct attack!"
The little doll got the command and charged excitedly like it was injected with energy, swinging its axe.
You have to admit, these realistic 3D images in the Linked World are quite visually impactful. The doll looked like a toy possessed by a vengeful spirit in a horror movie, rushing forward, and the scene was quite nerve-wracking.
Youyu instinctively raised his arm to shield himself. The small axe passed through his arm—although the image passed through, it also brought a sensation of being impacted on his body.
According to the DM animation explanation, this is damage simulated by the Duel Disc... but how the Duel Disc you wear on your hand simulates impact damage is a mystery, maybe it can only be said that the black technology of Kaiba Company is too amazing.
[Youyu, LP 4000 → LP 2400]
It's also fortunate that he's up against a Duelist from the DM Era. Comparatively, duels in this period mainly followed a back-and-forth pattern, not as fancy as later on.
If it was any mainstream deck from a later period, Youyu would probably have been finished in this turn.
"Ha, just a third-rate Duelist?" Pandora snorted disdainfully, waving his arm again, making his cloak flutter.
"End of turn!"
"My turn."
Youyu drew another card, his expression changing slightly.
"Oh? Draw a rare card?" Pandora chuckled, seemingly noticing the change in his expression, "Then let me see your rare card!"
Youyu rolled his eyes at him.
"Alright, let me show you the strongest monster in my deck!"
He drew a card from his hand.
"Come forth! Elemental Hero Sparkman!"
Countless currents appeared, strong light emerged from the ground, a slim hero wearing a deep blue mask leapt out, wrapped with countless blue lightning that danced like sprites.
[Elemental Hero Sparkman, Attack Power 1600]
Pandora was stunned. He adjusted his hooded mask, blinking as if trying to confirm he wasn't seeing things.
"This monster... is your ace?"
"Yeah, yeah." Youyu nodded seriously.
Youyu claimed he was honest and didn't lie at all. Elemental Hero Sparkman indeed had the highest attack among the four weakest Heroes, a formidable attack of 1600 points, truly making it the strongest monster in this deck.
On the field, Sparkman seemed to understand that his Master named it the ace, and his whole demeanor changed, with his chest puffed and lightning crackling around, exuding an unmatched aura.
"Go, Sparkman!" Youyu pointed at Mystic Tomato, "Attack Mystic Tomato!"
The small tomato's expression changed drastically, its green leafy head nearly falling off in fright. Sparkman leaped high, extended his right palm, and a blue lightning bolt shot out like a spear, piercing through the small tomato, turning it into dust instantly.
[Pandora, LP 4000 → LP 3800]
Pandora maintained a blank expression, pulling the deck from his Duel Disc, spreading it out to search for cards, explaining darkly, "Mystic Tomato's Monster Effect. When this monster is destroyed by battle, you can Special Summon a Dark Attribute monster with 1500 or less attack from the deck.
I will summon another Mystic Tomato."
He found a second Mystic Tomato from the deck, placed it back on the Duel Disc, shuffled, and reinserted the deck back into the Duel Disc.
[Mystic Tomato, Attack Power 1400]
"My turn ends."
Youyu announced the end of his turn, but Pandora didn't rush to draw, instead glaring at him darkly.
"You boy... you don't have a single rare card?"
Youyu spread his hands, "I never said I had one."
Obviously, you assumed I had rare cards just by seeing the Duel Disc in my hand, but can't I just be a broke guy playing with Normal Monsters?
Pandora's face turned even more sinister, his gaze seemingly piercing through Youyu.
Youyu could actually guess his feelings, likened to a burglar climbing walls and breaking windows into someone's house, only to find nothing after rummaging through, leaving angrily with a "Damn broke guy" comment.
But Youyu said what can I do if I'm broke?
Is it my fault for not affording rare cards?
"In that case, don't blame me." Pandora laid a finger on the next card in the deck, saying darkly, "New rule, if you lose, I'll take your entire deck... and your Duel Disc! My turn, draw!"
He added a new card to his hand, glanced up, and glared at Youyu.
"Let me specially show you, the highest level magician in the Duel Monster Realm, the top monster that third-rate Duelists like you might never see in a lifetime!"
He said, dramatically raising the card in his hand.
"...Come forth! My most powerful servant—the Black Magician!"
Mystic Tomato and Malice Doll respectively turned into a beam of light and vanished, a blood-red mist rising like a whirlwind from nowhere.
The red top hat, armor-like robe, dark green staff, and the top-level magician appeared in the spinning blood mist, hovering in front of Pandora, arms crossed with the staff in front of him, wearing the same cold, confident smile as his master, assessing the enemy before him.
[Black Magician, Attack Power 2500]
This is Pandora's ace monster, the legendary Black Magician in the Duel Monster Realm.
However, unlike the Black Magician held by Muto Yugi, his Black Magician wears a dark red outfit, with brown skin.
Youyu even absent-mindedly considered that if the Black Magician in Yugi's hand was the reincarnated Egyptian Priest, then perhaps the Black Magician in Pandora's hand was the chieftain of some African tribe in its past life...
"Black Magician!" Pandora shouted, "Crush that weakling monster for me!"