Chapter 98: A Family Must Stay Together

The Bone King stared with the hollow black eyes in its skull, unable to tear its gaze away.

It was truly foolish.

It had thought being forced to the opposite side in a duel was the greatest humiliation—never imagining there could be something even worse.

The greatest distance in the world is when you’re on this side, and your lady is on the other.

In the hands of the most vile gravekeeper it had ever seen, its face twisted with shame and helplessness, yet bound by an irresistible cosmic rule, it was forced to obey every command of its enemy.

Oh, and now it had to stand helplessly watching from the other side.

The more it thought about it, the angrier it became.

The Bone King and its summoned clone both glared with bloodshot eyes.

“My lady, wait. I’ll defeat this brat and rescue you soon! You—you just endure for now.”

Before it could finish, You Xuan revealed another card from his hand.

“The effect of the card ‘Puppet Worm’ activates. Discard this card from my hand to gain control of one undead monster on my opponent’s field.”

“I take control of your ‘Bone King’.”

The Bone King: “.”

The mind-control effect in duels was absolutely irresistible. One second later, the Bone King watched helplessly as its own clone also defected to the other side.

Immediately after switching sides, the clone reached out and took the slender bony hand of the Bone Lady: “My lady, you’ve suffered too much. Don’t be afraid—I’m here.”

The Bone Lady was moved: “Your Majesty...”

The Bone King’s clone nodded firmly: “It’s over now. We’re together again.”

The Bone King felt as if a heavy mallet had struck its chest; its vision darkened, and the world spun wildly.

“You—you damn—cough cough cough—”

It clutched its chest, as if too enraged to speak.

If it weren’t a skeleton, it would surely have spat blood by now.

“The light-attribute ‘Chaos Magician’ and the dark-attribute ‘Magician Warrior – Destroyer’ are removed from the game.”

You Xuan raised a card in his hand.

“The souls of light and dark are offered upon the field of chaos—here, I summon the legendary supreme warrior! Heaven and earth are opened—”

“—Level 8, Chaos Warrior – Herald of Opening, summon!”

The souls of light and dark surged upward, intertwining into a spiraling vortex. Magic surged, blinding light exploded; blades of light and darkness split the waterfall-like curtain of radiance, and the Chaos Warrior emerged from the torrent of magical energy.

【Chaos Warrior – Herald of Opening, ATK 3000】

The warrior’s appearance unleashed a storm of chaos across the field; an invisible pressure swept over everyone. The skeletal soldiers outside trembled uncontrollably, as if crushed by a higher tier of dominance.

Yet the Bone King, standing on the altar—the one who should have felt the pressure most intensely—remained deaf to the Chaos Warrior’s arrival, its gaze locked unblinkingly on the pair of bony lovers across the field.

The Bone King’s clone held the lady’s hand.

“This is enough.”

“Now... we can be together forever.”

“Your Majesty...”

The Bone King: “.”

You Xuan: “Chaos Warrior, direct attack! Dual Opening Slash!”

Blades of light and darkness slashed through the air, carrying a vortex of chaos that transcended time and space.

Until the very moment it was swallowed by the blade-light, the Bone King’s gaze never wavered from the loving pair of bony lovers across the field.

In its final moments, it couldn’t help but wonder: Had its lifetime of slaughter and sin been so great that fate had suddenly sent this newborn dawn to torment it to death in the cruelest way?

But at least it was finally over.

Destroy me. Quickly.

Bone life isn’t worth it.

【Bone King, LP 1600 → LP 0】

The green ritual circle shrank; the Bone King’s soul surged upward, drawn into the vortex above and vanished.

Of course, its clone was immediately pulled away with its body—not just the clone, but also its Bone Lady, Bone Prince, Bone Princess...

The entire Bone Family Bundle vanished one after another in the rising green light.

It seemed that losing a duel on this altar didn’t just claim the duelist—it claimed the souls within the loser’s deck as well.

But on the bright side, at least they were together forever now.

A family must stay whole.

You Xuan stepped forward and pulled the deck from the dead Bone King.

Though the Bone King’s original form had been sacrificed in the ritual and its cards no longer housed spirits, they were still usable.

“Don’t worry,” You Xuan said seriously, “I’ll make good use of your cards—your lady’s, your children’s. I won’t let them go to waste.”

Or at least, I’ll sell them for money.

Hmm, we’ll see about that.

After all, Bone decks weren’t especially rare outside—easily purchasable.

You Xuan continued looting, but a skeleton’s corpse held no valuables; even the duel disk seemed to be a bodily transformation—a mystical artifact that couldn’t be removed.

But he pulled out a small green crystal.

“What’s this?”

“A fragment of Orichalcum,” said the Chaos Warrior.

Great Opening had fought against Orichalcum’s forces in his own dimension—he’d have some relevant knowledge.

“Is it dangerous?”

The Chaos Warrior shook his head: “It’s merely a symbol of status—a token granted by the demon god to select followers in occupied territories, marking them as its earthly representatives.”

You Xuan understood.

A command token, then.

His mind instantly sparked: “If someone obtained this, could they infiltrate the organization as a spy?”

“Uh, I don’t know,” said the Chaos Warrior, shaking his head.

Only regional leaders within the traitorous Snake’s faction possessed such a thing—not some random grunt. He hadn’t seen many.

“Regional leader, huh...”

You Xuan couldn’t help glancing again at the dead Bone King.

So this guy was actually a minor boss.

You Xuan turned to face the line of skeletal soldiers below the platform.

The moment Great Opening appeared, the skeletal soldiers froze in terror—especially after witnessing the Bone King’s fate. Not a single one dared speak.

Their crude brains couldn’t even comprehend what had just happened.

To them, the whole thing seemed like: the king’s wife ran off to the other side, then the king followed, then the king died.

Good news: their sacrifice ritual succeeded. Bad news: the priest got sacrificed.

But one thing they understood clearly.

This man—they couldn’t touch him.

You Xuan jumped down before the skeletal horde.

“Alright, I have a few questions.”

(End of Chapter)