Chapter 57: Revolver's Assault

"Now that the Seal of Orichalcos has been activated, you no longer have any chance. Let this duel become the ritual sacrifice to revive the Great Evil God, using you and your beloved Elf!"

Bandit Keith waved his large hand, slapping a Spell Card onto his Duel Disk with a crisp snap.

"First, the Spell Card—Ground Collapse! This card can destroy the monster on your field with the lowest Attack Points!"

The green Spell Card unfolded across Keith's field with a rustling sound. The ground before You Xuan immediately began to tremble; the earth shook violently as if in an earthquake, splitting open along a chasm as deep as an abyss.

"You only have one 'Silent Magician' on your field," Keith sneered. "What a pity that such a beautiful magician girl meets an early demise."

"True Silent Magician, activate your effect," You Xuan said. "Once per turn, you can negate the activation of a Spell Card. Negate the destruction from 'Ground Collapse'!"

White light exploded outward with the Silent Magician at its center; the Ground Collapse card was blown into the air by a transparent storm of magical energy and burst into powder with a sharp crack. The shattered ground on the field restored itself to its original state.

"Tch, so you have such an ability after all."

Bandit Keith snorted in displeasure.

"Then I'll activate the effect of 'Snipe Hunter' next!" Bandit Keith declared. "Discard one card from my hand and roll a die."

"If the result is anything other than a 1 or a 6, I can destroy one card on the field!"

Dice.

You Xuan remembered; this guy seemed to be someone who liked playing with dice too. Including his signature trick of "cards up his sleeve," this man was simply a born gambler.

Though obviously, he hadn't managed to gamble successfully against Cheng Daozi back in the day.

Snipe Hunter was also a powerful low-level monster with a high usage rate in the early days of Yu-Gi-Oh!. As long as the die didn't land on 1 or 6, it could destroy a card; the probability was two-thirds, so unless one's luck was terribly bad, the success rate was quite high.

"Although the 'Silent Magician' in your front row is also quite an eyesore..."

Bandit Keith narrowed his eyes, his gaze shifting back and forth between the Magician and the face-down card in You Xuan's back row.

"Silent Magician has an effect that increases her Attack Points based on the cards in your hand. Yet you lowered her Attack Points just to set that card face-down, which means you believe that trap is worth that cost."

"Let me think; it's very likely a powerful trap capable of reversing the situation in one go, similar to 'Sakuretsu Armor'..."

You Xuan: "..."

"But it's useless!" Bandit Keith shouted. "I will make you understand that such shallow traps are ineffective against me! The effect of Snipe Hunter, Wheel of Fate!"

Although the effect description mentioned a die, judging by Snipe Hunter's monster design, the die was clearly replaced by the cylinder of his revolver. The dark gunsman raised his pistol, the rear of which featured a spinning cylinder. The pointer spun rapidly with a whirring sound for several circles, gradually slowed down, and finally stopped on the number "4".

"The number shown on the wheel is 4!" Keith laughed loudly. "Therefore, destroy the face-down card in your back row!"

Hand over your trap to me!

The sniper loaded a bullet into his chamber and fired with a sharp bang. The face-down card in the back row was pierced through and shattered with a crisp sound.

However, the card destruction only produced a brief visual effect. Keith caught a glimpse of the card art image; it wasn't Sakuretsu Armor, nor did it seem to be any generic trap, at least not one he had seen before.

"With this, your back row is now empty," Bandit Keith said. "Then, I activate the Spell Card 'Devil's Sanctuary' from my hand, Special Summoning one 'Metal Devil Token' to my field!"

[Metal Devil Token, Attack Points 0]

"Next, I activate the Continuous Spell 'Card of Demise'. With this, whenever I successfully perform a Tribute Summon using two or more monsters as tributes, I can draw two cards from my Deck!"

"Then, tributing 'Metal Devil Token' and 'Snipe Hunter', I perform a Tribute Summon!"

"Bring eternal nightmares to the enemy with a roar of metal! Level Seven—"

"—Revolver Dragon, Summon!"

The two monsters dissolved into sacrifices, their released energy coalescing within the summoning storm. Soaring particles assembled into a heavy, pitch-black steel form; three gun barrels like heavy cannons, sharp fangs, the sounds of gears meshing and metal grinding, as the steel giant dragon stepped onto the field.

[Revolver Dragon, Attack Points 2600]

This was also the trump card wielded by Bandit Keith that had appeared in the anime.

"Due to the effect of 'Card of Demise', I draw cards from my Deck!"

Bandit Keith drew two cards.

"The effect of 'The Seal of Orichalcos'! All monsters on my field gain 500 Attack Points, therefore 'Revolver Dragon's' Attack Points increase!"

[Revolver Dragon, Attack Points 2600 → Attack Points 3100]

"With this, it surpasses your Magician," Keith scoffed. "Battle! Using 'Revolver Dragon', attack 'Silent Magician'!"

The three cannons on Revolver Dragon's shoulders swiveled in unison, emitting the heavy sounds of mechanical structures operating and grinding. All three barrels locked onto the Silent Magician on You Xuan's field.

"At this moment, I activate the effect of Revolver Dragon!" Keith shouted. "When 'Revolver Dragon' attacks, I can toss a coin three times."

"During this turn, this card can attack a number of times equal to the number of heads resulting from the coin tosses!" (Anime Effect)

The three barrels locked on simultaneously, followed by the sounds of bullets being loaded and the revolver's cylinder spinning. Similarly, although it was described as tossing coins, in the solid vision system, the manifestation was a spinning cylinder.

After the loading was complete, two of the cannon barrels lit up with a golden glow.

"Heh, it seems I hit twice. During this turn, 'Revolver Dragon' can attack two times," Keith laughed loudly. "And your Life Points are only 2500, with your face-down cards already cleared, so this should be the end, right!"

"This is the absolute power of the Orichalcos; tremble before this force!"

"Attack of Revolver Dragon!"

"Fatal Revolver!"

First came the initial shot; a deadly tongue of fire poured forth from the left-side cannon of the Handgun Dragon.

"Then, at this moment, I activate a Trap Card from my hand!" You Xuan waved his large hand, and the Trap Card materialized within the data stream before him. "Magic Cylinder!"

"Nani?" Keith was shocked out of his wits. "Activating a Trap Card from the hand!?"

On what basis?

"It seems you don't recognize the very trap card you just destroyed."

You Xuan's Duel Disk ejected the face-down card that had just been blown up from his Graveyard zone.

"This card is the Trap Card 'Counter Trap'. In the turn this card is sent to the Graveyard by an opponent's effect, I can activate a Trap Card from my hand up to one time." (Anime Card)

"It's actually something like this!?" Keith's face turned ugly.

"Therefore, according to this effect, I activate 'Magic Cylinder' from my hand, negating your opponent's attack and inflicting damage to your opponent equal to that monster's Attack Points!"

A magnificent pair of magic cylinders had already manifested on You Xuan's field. The cannon blast from the Revolver roared into one of the magic cylinders, and merely half a second later, the other magic cylinder flipped around, reflecting that dazzling tongue of fire back exactly as it was.

"Ugh!"

Taking the full force of his own monster's Orichalcos-boosted cannon directly, Keith's face instantly twisted into an abstract distortion; he was sent flying by the blast, landing flat on the ground with black smoke rising from his chest and abdomen.

[Bandit Keith, LP 4000 → LP 900]

"Damn it..." Keith gritted his teeth.

He realized he had still underestimated his opponent.

Lowering Silent Magician's Attack Points just to set a card in the back row was itself a hint telling him "this trap is important." He thought he had seen through his opponent's intentions, but in reality, his opponent had seen through his attempt to see through them.

He was intentionally guided to destroy the back row, but in truth, that was a double trap; the real trap was actually hidden in his hand.

What a sinister brat.

Keith took a deep breath, sat up, and looked at him with cold eyes.

"I underestimated you," Bandit Keith said in a deep voice. "Cunning boy, but this changes nothing. Furthermore, because you consumed one 'Magic Cylinder' from your hand, Silent Magician's Attack Points must decrease again!"

[Silent Magician, Attack Points 3000 → Attack Points 2500]

"The battle is not over yet; my 'Revolver Dragon' still has a second attack remaining."

"Aim at Silent Magician once more, Fatal Revolver!"

The pitch-black cannon barrel was raised again, and the artillery fire roared out of the chamber. This time there were no obstacles; Silent Magician endured the impact head-on, turning into golden light and temporarily leaving the field.

[You Xuan, LP 2500 → LP 1900]

"But at this moment, Silent Magician's effect also activates," You Xuan said. "When Silent Magician is destroyed by battle or by an opponent's effect, I can Special Summon one 'Silent Magician' monster other than itself from my hand or Deck, ignoring summoning conditions."

"From the intersection of chaos and order, bloom a silent radiance; Magician of Light, descend now—"

"—Silent Magician LV8!"

The energy released after Silent Magician's destruction did not dissipate but reorganized into a white magic circle. An even more surging vortex of magical power erupted from within it; white light shot straight into the sky as the Silent Magician, now in different attire, spun through the air, her face cold as ice, returning to the field once more.

[Silent Magician LV8, Attack Points 3500]

"Tch, so she actually evolved and leveled up instead? What a troublesome brat."

Keith muttered, then waved his hand to slap down another card.

"Then I activate the Spell Card 'Pot of Greed'!" Keith declared. "In the turn a Tribute Summon has been performed, draw two cards from the Deck. However, the cards drawn by this effect cannot be used during this turn; if they can be set, at least one card must be set face-down on the field." (Original Work Card)

Keith drew two cards: "Since I performed a Tribute Summon of 'Revolver Dragon' this turn, I draw cards from my Deck!"

Then he drew one of them.

"Then I set one card face-down on the field. My turn ends."

(End of Chapter)