"Duel!" x2
[Yugen, LP 4000]
[Genichiro, LP 4000]
"I have the first turn, drawing a card."
Genichiro takes the first turn. But he is not in a hurry to play a card, after looking at his hand, he just lets out a sinister chuckle, then sticks out his tongue to lick his lips.
"Let this duel be your dark feast. Let me savor your pain."
"First, I activate a 'Pot of Greed,' drawing two cards from the deck."
"Next, is the Magic Card 'Demon's Sanctuary'!"
A card is inserted into the Duel Disc, a magic array unfolds beneath, and a featureless metal figure emerges from the barrier onto the field.
[Metal Demon Derivative, Attack Power 0]
"The effect of Demon's Sanctuary allows me to Special Summon a 'Metal Demon Derivative' in my field," Genichiro said, "Then I will sacrifice this 'Metal Demon Derivative' for an Upper-Level Summon!
Guided by the will of darkness, let all enemies tremble under the shadows——
——Level 6, Dark Triangular Monster Bird Dragon, Summon!"
[Dark Triangular Monster Bird Dragon, Attack Power 2400]
"Then I cover two cards on the field, ending my turn."
Genichiro licks his lips again.
"Now it's your turn. Hurry, let me savor the darkness and pain, hahaha..."
His expression and actions always remind Yugen somewhat of the taste of a six-year-old Malik.
But this person only has the shape, not the spirit, compared to Mr. Malikma, who is a Yu-Gi-Oh! judge-level facial art master, he is still far behind.
"My turn, drawing a card."
Yugen also acts decisively on his side.
"I cover one monster in the front field, cover four cards in the back field, ending my turn."
Directly covering five to show friendliness.
"Hmm?" Genichiro is slightly taken aback.
Having watched Yugen and Ryuzaki's finals, Genichiro fully expected the opponent to still start with Mecha, but it wasn't the case.
Could it be that the deck used in the finals was not his main deck?
"Heh, just Covering Cards, huh? Such a slow duel will quickly turn you into a sacrifice for the darkness."
Genichiro sneers coldly.
"But at the end of your turn, I will activate this Covering Card..."
He flips over a Covering Card in the back field.
"Rapid Attack Magic - Flame of the End! This card allows me to Special Summon two 'Black Flame Derivatives' on my field!"
[Black Flame Derivative, Defense Power 0] x2
"During the turn this card is activated, I cannot summon any other monsters with other effects...well, but right now it's the end of your turn so I couldn't summon monsters anyway."
Genichiro said.
"Next is my turn, drawing a card."
After drawing a card, he pauses and looks at Yugen's Covering Cards in the back field.
"Maybe you are trying to temporarily delay your defense with traps...but such tactics are useless against me.
Activating Magic Card - Night Photography from my hand!"
The Magic Card floats in front of him with golden ripples, and a beam of golden light, like a sword piercing the night, shoots at one of Yugen's Covering Cards.
"Night Photography can destroy one Magic or Trap Card set in the opponent's back field. And when 'Night Photography' selects a card, the selected Covering Card cannot be activated!"
He points to Yugen's middle Covering Card in the back field.
"Destroy your middle Covering Card!"
Yugen waves a hand: "At this moment, activate a Cover Card..."
"It's useless," Genichiro said, "I told you, it can't respond to the activation of 'Night Photography'..."
"Can't chain the selected card to 'Night Photography,' I know. But I'm activating the card next to the one you selected."
Another Covering Card in Yugen's back field flips open.
"Trap Card - Demon's Deal! When the opponent activates a Magic Card, pay 1000 Life Points to discard one card randomly from the opponent's hand."
[Yugen, LP 4000→LP 3000]
The moment LP decreases, his heartbeat seems to skip a beat, and a strong stabbing pain surges in.
It feels as if a thorn has pierced inside his body, opening a breach in his heart, causing the essence of life to gush out like floodwaters through a broken dam.
"Uh..."
Yugen's body weakens and sways.
The Silent Magician appears next to him, casting a concerned glance at his master.
"I'm...I'm fine." He waves his hand.
It's just the first time, a bit of maladjustment.
No doubt, in this Dark Duel, losing LP really feels like losing life.
No doubt, if the Life Points reach zero in this kind of duel...you will die.
"Hahaha, can you feel it? This is the pain of the Dark Duel!" Genichiro laughs heartily, "Very good, just like this. Continue to suffer, feel the darkness slowly devour your life, that's the joy of a Dark Duel! Hahaha..."
Yugen: "..."
The existence of Dark Duels undoubtedly stimulated the awakening of many hidden psychopaths. Some potential criminals, lunatics, and serial killers became even more aggressive after gaining dark power, making them stronger, harder to catch, and more insane.
Some Dark Duelists aren't even in it to seek powerful abilities or gain any benefits through Dark Duels.
Some people simply enjoy the process of inflicting pain on their opponents.
Yugen quickly adjusted himself and continued: "The effect of 'Demon's Deal', you need to randomly discard a card from your hand. Discard the card on your far left."
"Suit yourself."
Genichiro carelessly put the chosen card into the graveyard and calmly continued speaking.
"But according to the effect of Night Photography, your Covering Card still has to be destroyed..."
"No, it won't." Yugen snapped his fingers again, "At this moment, I want to activate the card that was chosen by your 'Night Photography'.
Trap Card - Thunder Break!"
"Ha, are you stupid?" Genichiro looked at Yugen with a pitiful expression, "I already told you, the card chosen by 'Night Photography' can't be activated.
Can't you understand human language... what!?"
As he watched, the "Thunder Break" card in Yugen's backfield really flipped open, and Genichiro's green eyes widened. His eyes seemed to be filled with just one word—
—WHY?
How could your Covering Card chosen by Night Photography still be activated?
Could it be that you're a noble Kaiba Company platinum member, and your Duel Disc has cheat rights?
"It seems you truly don't understand."
Yugen calmly explained.
"Read the effect of your own card again. 'Night Photography' only says that the chosen card cannot be activated in response to the activation of 'Night Photography', but my 'Thunder Break' did not chain to your 'Night Photography'.
I chained my own 'Demon's Deal'; is there a problem?"
Genichiro seemed to have a big question mark pop up over his head.
He appeared not to understand.
"Is... that so?" The Dark Duelist was doubtful.
His face was filled with disbelief, asking if he was being pranked.
"Dude, you can't even understand this yet you come to gamble with your life?" Yugen squinted.
"I... of course I understand stuff like this."
Genichiro mumbled vaguely.
"I was just... testing your level, ahem... Right, that's it."
Although he still didn't quite get it, since this is how it was processed on the field, it seemed correct.
But truth be told, Yugen wasn't bluffing; this was the basic application of Yu-Gi-Oh! rules by a card enthusiast. Although the Magic Trap targeted by Night Photography cannot respond to its activation, inserting another effect in this chain naturally bypasses this restriction.
"You've got skills, kid." Genichiro squinted his eyes. "No wonder you were able to defeat that Ryuzaki; you're clearly not an average duelist... Well, only souls like that are worth sacrificing."
Yugen ignored him and continued processing the effect.
"Then, with the effect of the Trap Card 'Thunder Break', I can destroy any card on the field by discarding a card from my hand."
He sent a hand card to the graveyard.
"Destroy the 'Dark Triangle Monster Bird' on your field."
The dark clouds boiled in the sky, a demon-like hand extending, its fingertips releasing an astonishing lightning strike. The lightning hit the Triangular Monster Bird on Genichiro's field, and it immediately exploded into pieces.
"Furthermore, the card I discarded as the activation cost for 'Thunder Break' was the Magic Card 'Card of Compensation'. When this card is sent from the hand to the grave, I draw two cards." (Anime card)
The animated card draw engine is immensely satisfying, drawing until one's content.
"Tch... Night Photography didn't even protect the 'Dark Triangular Dragon'..."
Looking at his big monster that didn't even get a chance to attack before being countered, Genichiro pouted annoyingly.
But it's not a big problem.
Genichiro put one of his hand cards facedown on the field.
"I cover another card on the field, then activate the Magic Card - Life-Reducing Treasure Scroll!"
Yugen: "!"
WOC, it's actually the "Life-Reducing Treasure Scroll"?
The favorite card draw engine of President Kaiba in the anime. Users can draw cards from the deck until they have five cards in their hand, though they must bear the grave cost of "discarding all hand cards five turns later".
However, anyone who's dueled knows that, in Yu-Gi-Oh!, five turns would already mean grass several meters high on the opponent's grave...
Comparing it to this, the Pot of Greed—which was banned—is rubbish.
The card was later nerfed and physically printed years later, but players could only draw three cards, and after activation, they could not Special Summon, could not inflict damage to the opponent, and had to discard all hand cards at the end of the turn. Yet, even with such a weakened state, it still holds value in the physical card environment.
Any card enthusiast who traveled from another world couldn't possibly ignore such a reverse-engineered card draw engine, and Yugen naturally went searching for it too; unfortunately, he couldn't find it in the market. Originally, this card seemed to be used only by President Kaiba, rarely seen, maybe a luxury edition...
He didn't expect to come across one here.
Oh, the true desire!
But it doesn't matter.
Yugen thought that since this is a Dark Duel, if he won this match, the soul of the opposing player would naturally disappear. Once the person is gone, the card deck becomes owner-less, and picking up an owner-less item would be reasonable. Otherwise, leaving such a divine card idling around is too wasteful...
So, he wasn't intentionally coveting others' cards; he simply couldn't stand resource wastage.
As Genichiro was about to draw the cards, he instinctively hesitated.
He didn't know if it was a misconception, but he suddenly felt uneasy, noticing that...
...the kid across from him suddenly had a hungry look in his eyes.