After seeing Jaden Yuki's hand, Ghost Ogre's heart, which had been hanging by a thread, finally relaxed.
She had always believed that the Supreme King's HERO Deck would be at a disadvantage when facing a Backrow Heavy matchup. But looking at it now… had Ghost Belle been within the Supreme King's calculations from the very beginning?
With a hand like that, if Ghost Belle had to go second, she probably wouldn't even have the will to fight.
"Hey, what's wrong? You've been silent for a while now," Kosuke Kunizaki asked nervously, seeing Ghost Ogre float back.
"..."
Ghost Ogre ignored him. She simply crossed her arms and nodded repeatedly to herself. It's a good thing I surrendered to the Supreme King early... Bah, I mean, it's a good thing I turned toward the light. Otherwise, I would probably be tortured to death by him.
"Adoration, attack the opponent directly!" Jaden Yuki declared without hesitation.
Vision HERO Adoration leapt into the air, appearing instantly before Ghost Belle.
"Ugh!" Ghost Belle took a step back, only to see Adoration land a brutal elbow strike directly into her abdomen.
"Aaaah!" Her small body was sent flying backward. Ghost Belle's Life Points plummeted like water down a drain.
*[Ghost Belle LP: 4000 → 1200]*
"Heh... cough... What a pity," Ghost Belle struggled to crawl back up, wiping the corner of her mouth with a stubborn, cold sneer. "If you had used Fusion Destiny to send Denier to the Graveyard at the start, I might have lost this turn."
"Perhaps," Jaden Yuki said, lifting his arm and setting three cards onto the field. "But then the Duel wouldn't be very interesting, would it? With that, I end my turn."
Three set cards? Ghost Belle froze. What could three set cards in a HERO Deck be? Mask Change? Impossible. If it were Mask Change, the Supreme King would have transformed Adoration on the field to finish her off already.
Fusion? Miracle Fusion? Or perhaps a "Designator" card? She ran through every card a standard HERO Deck usually carried until her head began to throb.
"In any case, a HERO Deck has extremely high archetype concentration. It's impossible for him to carry irrelevant cards... But then again..."
But since her opponent was the Supreme King, she felt like anything was possible. Ghost Belle was no longer as relaxed as she had been at the start. From the moment Jaden set those three cards, she had sensed something was wrong.
"My turn..." She silently drew a card. Her eyes darted toward Ghost Ogre.
That girl just peeked at the Supreme King's hand... she must know what those three cards are, right? Belle gave Ogre a subtle look. However, Ghost Ogre simply rested her head on her arms and whistled, pretending she hadn't seen a thing.
That jerk. I thought she was a double agent lurking by the Supreme King's side, but she really has defected!
"Dammit." A vein popped on Ghost Belle's forehead as she took a deep breath. No matter. As long as I find a way to suppress the Supreme King, I still have a chance to win!
"The Draw Phase ends. Entering the Standby Phase," Jaden Yuki cut in, waving his hand. "According to the effect of Destiny HERO - Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer in the Graveyard, I Special Summon it back to the field."
Crimson flames erupted instantly. A black and red figure with crossed arms and wide wings slowly appeared beside Adoration. With two HEROes now towering over Jaden's field, the sheer pressure of his presence made Ghost Belle's expression even more unsightly.
"Troublesome HEROes... whatever." Belle gritted her teeth. "I activate the Spell Card, Pot of Greed! I draw two cards from my Deck."
Ghost Belle sent the draw spell to the Graveyard and added two cards to her hand.
"Looks like Belle has joined the forbidden card army, too," Ghost Ogre sighed. In this era, Pot of Greed hadn't been banned yet. Such a powerful draw engine was a staple in basically every deck.
Looking at the cards she had drawn, a hint of secret joy surfaced in Ghost Belle's eyes.
*[Waking the Dragon]*
(If this Set card in its owner's control has left the field because of an opponent's effect, and is now in the GY or banished: You can Special Summon 1 monster from your Deck or Extra Deck.)
"Due to the nature of the GX Era, the Extra Deck monsters for Traptrix aren't very effective," Belle thought. "So, I've stuffed my Extra Deck with all sorts of other monsters instead."
She glanced at her packed Extra Deck. Inside were nothing but super-powerful monsters with 4000 or 5000 Attack. And she knew that any normal Duelist, seeing Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer on their field and only one set card on the opponent's side, wouldn't be able to resist using the Enforcer's effect to destroy that set card before the turn ended.
Which meant... Heh heh heh. Ghost Belle laughed darkly. "I set one card... and then I en—"
Before Belle could finish, Jaden Yuki interrupted her exactly as she had hoped.
"In this instant, I activate the effect of Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer!"
It's coming! I've won! It's a guaranteed victory! Ghost Belle's eyes lit up. She was currently at the end of her Main Phase, but hadn't officially entered the End Phase yet.
Once the Enforcer destroyed her set Waking the Dragon, she could pull a powerful Fusion monster from her Extra Deck! Furthermore, because Jaden had interrupted the declaration to end the Main Phase, she could continue her turn, use her free monster, and enter the Battle Phase again!
It was killing two birds with one stone! Belle's heart overflowed with twisted joy.
"Go on, Jaden Yuki. Hurry up and destroy my set card~" she whispered, a sickly glow in her eyes. When you lose, you'll stay here forever and play with me.
"I destroy Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer on my field, as well as one set card in my Spell and Trap Zone," Jaden declared.
"???"
Ghost Belle was stunned. Wait. Destroying his own set card? What is he doing?
Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer was instantly engulfed in crimson flames. A moment later, a violent explosion consumed the Enforcer and one of Jaden's set cards. As the card was sent to the Graveyard, Ghost Belle finally saw what it was.
*[Artifact Scythe]*
"Wait! That card is!"
Before Ghost Belle could finish her exclamation, Jaden Yuki took the destroyed Scythe from his Graveyard.
"Artifact Scythe. While this card is a Monster Card, it can be set in the Spell and Trap Zone as a Spell. When this set card is destroyed during the opponent's turn and sent to the Graveyard, it can be Special Summoned. And, if this card is Special Summoned during the opponent's turn, the opponent cannot Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck for the rest of this turn."
Black light condensed on Jaden's field. A man with long black hair carrying a massive scythe stepped out from the radiance.
*[Artifact Scythe]*
*[Level: 5]*
*[ATK: 2200 / DEF: 900]*
"W-What? Don't tell me... you already guessed what I set?" Cold sweat poured down Ghost Belle's forehead. A deep, chilling fear began to take root in her heart.
She realized that every step she took had been firmly calculated by the Supreme King. Even her setting Waking the Dragon was part of his plan.
Indeed, everything was within Jaden Yuki's grasp. He had realized from the start that while a Traptrix Deck was flexible with its traps, it lacked Xyz, Synchro, or Link monsters in this era. Traptrix's low-level monsters alone couldn't defeat HEROes specialized in Fusion Summoning.
To win, Ghost Belle had to pack her Extra Deck with powerful monsters, and Waking the Dragon was her only viable win condition. When she deliberately set only one card, Jaden who had spent years in the murky OCG competitive environment immediately became suspicious.
Even if it wasn't Waking the Dragon, Jaden preferred to be cautious. He would rather destroy his own cards to trigger a lock than take a risk.
"Next, I activate another set card, the Quick-Play Spell, Mystical Space Typhoon!" Jaden flipped his second card. "I destroy the set card on your field!"
A violent cyclone erupted, instantly shattering Ghost Belle's set Waking the Dragon.
Looking at the fragments of her card, Ghost Belle stood dazed for a moment before collapsing to her knees with a thud. Her small frame trembled with terror.
She had been played like a toy by the Supreme King. Because of Scythe's effect, her Waking the Dragon had become a dead card. Even though it was destroyed, she couldn't activate its effect to summon from the Extra Deck.
"It's... it's over."
"Am I going to lose...?"
"If the Supreme King catches me... I'll... I'll die, won't I?"
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