Chapter 25: Activated?

"Duel!" x2

[You Xuan, LP 4000]

[Xuan Yi Lang, LP 4000]

"I go first. Draw."

Xuan Yi Lang won the first turn. But he did not rush to play; after glancing at his hand, he let out a few sinister cackles, then stuck out his tongue to lick his lips.

"I'll let you thoroughly enjoy this duel, a feast of darkness. Let me savor your pain."

"First, I activate 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards from my deck."

"Next, the Spell Card 'Devil's Sanctuary'!"

As the card was inserted into the Duel Disk, a magic circle unfolded beneath his feet, and a featureless metal figurine emerged from the barrier onto the field.

[Metal Devil Token, ATK 0]

"The effect of Devil's Sanctuary allows me to Special Summon one 'Metal Devil Token' to my field," Xuan Yi Lang said. "Then, I tribute this 'Metal Devil Token' for a Tribute Summon!"

"Guided by the will of darkness, let all enemies tremble beneath the shadows—"

"—Level 6, Dark Tri-Gargoyle Dragon, Summon!"

[Dark Tri-Gargoyle Dragon, ATK 2400]

"Then I Set two cards face-down. Turn end."

Xuan Yi Lang licked his lips once more.

"Now it's your turn. Quickly, let me taste the darkness and the pain. Heh heh."

That expression, those movements, reminded You Xuan somewhat of six-year-old Ma Like.

However, this man had only the form, not the spirit; compared to Mr. Ma, a grandmaster of facial expressions worthy of being a Yu-Gi-Oh! judge, he still fell far short.

"My turn. Draw."

You Xuan was equally decisive.

"I Set one monster in the front row and four cards in the back row. Turn end."

Five Sets straight away to show friendliness.

"Hm?" Xuan Yi Lang blinked in surprise.

Having watched the finals between You Xuan and Long Qi, Xuan Yi Lang had fully expected his opponent to start with mechs again, yet surprisingly, he did not.

Could it be that this person didn't even use his main deck in the finals?

"Heh, is it merely Set cards? Such a lukewarm duel will soon turn you into a sacrifice for the darkness."

Xuan Yi Lang sneered coldly.

"However, during your End Phase, I will activate this Set card."

He flipped over one of his face-down cards in the back row.

"Quick-Play Spell—Final Flame! This card allows me to Special Summon two 'Black Flame Tokens' to my field!"

[Black Flame Token, DEF 0] x2

"During the turn I activate this card, I cannot Special Summon any other monsters by other effects. But since this is already your End Phase, I couldn't summon monsters anyway."

Xuan Yi Lang stated.

"Now then, it is finally my turn. Draw."

After drawing, his movement paused slightly; he glanced at the face-down cards in You Xuan's back row.

"Perhaps you intend to rely on Traps to temporarily delay and defend, but tactics of this level are useless against me."

"From my hand, I activate the Spell Card—Night Beam!"

The Spell card materialized before him amidst ripples of golden light; a beam of golden radiance pierced the night like a sword, pointing directly at one of the face-down cards in You Xuan's back row.

"Night Beam can target and destroy one face-down Spell or Trap Card on your opponent's side of the field. Furthermore, when targeted by 'Night Beam', that selected face-down card cannot be activated!"

He pointed at the middle card in You Xuan's back row.

"Destroy that middle Set card of yours!"

You Xuan waved his hand: "Then, at this moment, I activate my Set card."

"Useless," Xuan Yi Lang said. "I told you, you cannot chain to the activation of 'Night Beam'."

"I cannot chain the card you selected to 'Night Beam'; I know that. But the card I'm activating isn't the one you selected; it's this one right next to it."

Another face-down card in You Xuan's back row flipped open.

"Trap Card—Deal with the Devil! When your opponent activates a Spell Card, by paying 1000 Life Points, you can randomly discard one card from their hand."

[You Xuan, LP 4000 → LP 3000]

The instant his LP dropped, his heart seemed to skip a beat as a sharp, intense pain assaulted him.

It was as if a thorn had pierced his body, carving a gap in his heart, from which the essence of his life force gushed out like a flooding dam.

"Ugh..."

You Xuan's body went weak, and he swayed slightly.

Silent Magician appeared beside him, casting a somewhat concerned gaze upon her master.

"I-I'm fine." He waved his hand.

It was just the first time; he was simply not quite accustomed to it yet.

As expected of a Dark Duel; the sensation of losing LP felt exactly like truly losing life.

Undoubtedly, in such a duel, reaching zero Life Points would mean death.

"Hahaha, did you feel that? This is the pain of a Dark Duel!" Xuan Yi Lang laughed uproariously. "Excellent, just like that. Continue to suffer; feel the darkness slowly devouring your life. This is the joy of a Dark Duel! Hahaha!"

You Xuan: "..."

The existence of Dark Duels undoubtedly stimulated the awakening of many hidden psychopaths. Some potential criminals, madmen, and serial killers, upon obtaining dark powers, would become even more unrestrained, making them stronger, harder to catch, and increasingly insane.

Some Dark Duelists did not even seek great power or any benefit through Dark Duels.

Some simply enjoyed the process of making their opponents suffer.

You Xuan quickly recovered and continued: "Due to the effect of 'Deal with the Devil', you must randomly discard one card from your hand. Discard the leftmost card."

"As you wish."

Xuan Yi Lang indifferently placed the selected card from his hand into the Graveyard, calmly continuing to speak.

"But according to the effect of Night Beam, that face-down card of yours must still be destroyed."

"It will not." You Xuan snapped his fingers again. "At this moment, I will activate this face-down card targeted by your 'Night Beam'."

"Trap Card—Lightning Vortex!"

"Heh, are you an idiot?" Xuan Yi Lang looked at him with eyes full of pity for the mentally disabled. "I already said that a card targeted by 'Night Beam' cannot be activated."

"Do you not understand human lan—Nani!?"

Watching You Xuan's face-down card "Lightning Vortex" truly flip open in response, Xuan Yi Lang's green eyes widened in shock. His gaze seemed to scream a single word—

—WHY?

On what grounds can a face-down card targeted by Night Beam still be activated?

Could it be that you're a prestigious Kaiba Corp Platinum Member, and your Duel Disk has cheat privileges?

"It seems you truly don't understand."

You Xuan explained calmly.

"Read your card effect again yourself. 'Night Beam' only states that the selected card cannot be activated in response to 'Night Beam's activation. But my 'Lightning Vortex' did not chain to your 'Night Beam' activation."

"I chained to my own 'Deal with the Devil'. Is there a problem with that?"

A huge question mark seemed to appear on Xuan Yi Lang's forehead.

He seemed not to have understood.

"Is that so?" The Dark Duelist asked, half-believing, half-doubting.

His face was written all over with: You're not just making things up, are you?

"Buddy, if you can't even figure this out, why are you playing a life-or-death match?" You Xuan narrowed his eyes.

"Of course I understand such things."

Xuan Yi Lang mumbled vaguely a couple of times.

"I was merely testing your skill. Cough... yes, that's exactly it."

Although he still hadn't quite understood, since the field had already been resolved this way, it must be correct.

But heaven and earth bear witness, You Xuan was truly not making things up; this was merely a basic application of Yu-Gi-Oh! rules expected of any card gamer. Although a Spell/Trap designated for destruction by Night Beam cannot be activated in response to Night Beam, as long as another effect is inserted in the middle of this chain, it is naturally no longer subject to the activation restriction.

"You've got some skills, kid." Xuan Yi Lang narrowed his eyes. "No wonder you could defeat that Long Qi; indeed, you are not like an ordinary Duelist... Well, only a soul like this is worth sacrificing."

You Xuan paid him no heed and continued resolving the effects.

"Then, via the effect of the Trap Card 'Lightning Vortex', I can destroy any one card on the field by discarding one card from my hand."

He sent one card from his hand to the Graveyard.

"I destroy the 'Dark Tri-Gargoyle' on your field."

Dark, churning clouds gathered in the sky; a demonic hand reached out, releasing astonishing lightning from its fingertips. The thunderbolt struck the Tri-Gargoyle on Xuan Yi Lang's field, which immediately exploded into fragments.

"Additionally, the cost I paid to activate 'Lightning Vortex' was the Spell Card 'Card of Compensation'. When this card is sent from the hand to the Graveyard, I draw two cards." (Anime card)

Anime draw engines are just satisfying; drawing until one's heart's content.

"Tch. So Night Beam couldn't even save the 'Dark Tri-Gargoyle Dragon'?"

Watching his big monster get trapped and lost before it could even make a single attack, Xuan Yi Lang pursed his lips in displeasure.

But it was no big deal.

Xuan Yi Lang Set one card from his hand onto the field.

"I'll cover the field with one more card from my hand, then activate the Spell Card—Card of Demise!"

You Xuan: "!"

WOC, it's actually "Card of Demise"?

In the anime, this was Chairman Kaiba's favorite draw engine. The user can draw from their Deck until they hold five cards in hand, but must bear the enormous cost of discarding their entire hand after five turns.

However, anyone who has ever played cards knows that in Yu-Gi-Oh, five turns is long enough for several feet of grass to grow over your opponent's grave.

Compared to this thing, even the Pot of Greed, which guarantees a life sentence, is trash.

Years later, this card was brutally nerfed before being released as a real-world card; drawing five became drawing three, and it came with restrictions prohibiting Special Summons during the turn, preventing damage to the opponent, and forcing the player to discard their entire hand during the End Phase. Yet even nerfed to such an extent, it still held practical value in the real-card meta.

Any card gamer who transmigrated would absolutely seek out such a heaven-defying draw engine, and naturally, You Xuan had looked for it too, but alas, he hadn't seen one on the market for a while. In the original work, it seemed only Chairman Kaiba had ever used it, so perhaps few were printed, maybe a special edition for the wealthy.

He never expected to stumble upon one right here.

Looking at it really made him damn hungry for it.

But it didn't matter.

You Xuan reasoned that since this was called a Dark Duel, if he won this match, his opponent's soul would naturally cease to exist. With the person gone, the Deck would become ownerless property, and taking ownerless property was only right and proper; otherwise, leaving such a god-tier card on the roadside to gather dust would be a terrible waste.

So he wasn't intentionally stealing someone else's cards; he simply couldn't stand to see resources wasted.

Xuan Yilang, just about to draw, instinctively paused.

Whether it was an illusion or not, he suddenly felt uneasily aware that...

...the look in that kid's eyes across from him seemed to have suddenly turned ravenous.

(End of Chapter)