Necroface, ATK 3300!
Seeing the panel of the ghastly, corpse-like monster in front of him suddenly soar above the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Lyman couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
A monster of a similar type to his own—or rather, the exact opposite.
Whether it's the Golden Homunculus he just used, or his signature Helios series, their common trait is to accumulate attack power based on the number of banished cards.
But this Necroface is the opposite; it gains attack by shuffling all banished monsters back into the deck. Their mechanics clash—against Lyman's alchemy deck, it's basically the worst-case scenario.
Lyman exhaled a long, heavy breath.
"But 'Necroface' is a DARK attribute," Lyman squinted, reminding him. "You haven't forgotten, right?"
"Of course not." Kira nodded, glancing at the Continuous Trap on Lyman's field: Elemental Absorber.
Elemental Absorber lets you banish a monster from your hand to block attacks from all monsters with that Attribute. Earlier, Lyman had banished the DARK "Luna the Dark Spirit" using this trap.
Though Luna has now been shuffled back into the deck by Necroface, the effect of Elemental Absorber remains active. The complex device on Lyman's field still flickered with dark light, making all DARK-attribute attacks futile.
"Then I activate the Spell Card 'Remove Trap'," Kira said, "to destroy a face-up Trap Card on the field. I'll destroy 'Elemental Absorber.'"
Lyman's backrow Trap card shattered, and the dark barrier and device exploded.
Lyman shielded himself from the blast and said helplessly, "So this level of defense really can't easily withstand the king's assault?"
"Next, I activate the Spell Card 'Wonder Clover'," Kira said. "I discard a Level 4 Plant-Type monster from my hand, then choose one monster on my field—it can attack twice this turn, but my other monsters can't attack. Not that I have any others anyway."
Kira smiled, revealing a card from his hand.
"I discard the Level 4 Plant-Type 'Mystic Tomato' to let 'Necroface' attack twice this turn."
"ATK 3300, and it can attack twice?" Lyman seemed a bit tense.
"Battle," Kira said. "Necroface attacks 'Golden Homunculus.'"
Tentacles shot out from the shattered head of the Necroface, binding the golden homunculus. The creepy doll face suddenly opened its mouth, spewing black mist that engulfed the artificial lifeform, corroding and crushing it while dragging it into its mouth to be ground to dust.
"Ugh—"
[Lyman, LP 2000 → LP 200]
Lyman staggered from the impact of the black mist, half-kneeling and clutching his chest.
"Impressive."
"Second attack incoming. Watch out, professor," Kira said. "Direct attack with Necroface."
The round, staring eyes of the doll seemed to flash with bloodlust. The tentacles shot straight for Lyman, as if to devour him as cruelly as the monster before.
"Going to swallow the professor too, huh? Brutal—cough, cough."
Lyman covered his chest, coughing twice. Clearly, his body was already frail, and the real damage from the Shadow Duel had made it worse.
"But the professor can't fall so easily yet." Still half-kneeling, he raised his right hand. "I activate my Set card, Trap Card 'Power Wall!'"
"Oh?" Kira raised his eyebrows.
Professor, why are you using Zane's card?
"'Power Wall'—when taking battle damage, for every 100 points, send the top card of your deck to the Graveyard. Battle damage becomes 0!" (Anime effect)
Lyman pulled a huge chunk of cards from his deck.
"So I send 33 cards from my deck to the Graveyard, and the battle damage becomes 0!"
The flying cards formed a shield, blocking Necroface's attack. But the cards didn't fall; instead, guided by an invisible force, they spun into a vortex and were sucked into Lyman's Chaos Distill.
"Chaos Distill's effect," Lyman smiled. "Since this card is on the field, cards sent to the Graveyard go out of play instead."
"So this turn, including the destroyed 'Golden Homunculus,' 'Elemental Absorber,' 'Power Wall,' and those 33 cards—all get banished!"
A total of 36 cards!
"Just like that, your banished resources are back up," Kira smiled. "Impressive as always, Professor Lyman. You immediately neutralized Necroface's threat."
"Heh, you're not bad yourself. That sudden burst almost put me out for good—dangerous indeed."
"Haha, all thanks to your teaching."
Kira humbly replied.
"I'll set two cards and end my turn."
"Then it's my turn—draw!"
He played the card he drew.
"Spell Card 'Akashic Record.' Draw two cards from the deck, but if any have already been used in this duel, banish them." (Anime Card)
"At this moment, 'Appropriate's effect,'" Kira said. "I also draw two cards."
Lyman glanced at his draws, then slowly raised his head, eyes narrowing again.
He usually squints behind thick glasses, looking harmless and cowardly, always ready to run away at the first sign of trouble.
But now, even with the same glasses and squint, he seemed like a sheathed sword, ready to strike at any moment.
"Facing the king of the dueling world, a single misstep and I'll be finished," he muttered, adjusting his glasses. "Maybe in this duel, the real challenger being tested is me."
He raised his hand, his red pupils flashing briefly.
"Continuous Trap—'Macro Cosmos!'"
Lyman's signature legendary trap instantly pulled the whole duel field into the endless cosmos. Stars glittered, with both duelists seemingly standing on opposite ends of a starry sea, separated by a boundless Milky Way.
"While Macro Cosmos is on the field, all cards sent to the Graveyard are banished instead. And, I Special Summon this monster from my deck."
Lyman clenched his fist, and it was as if a fire dragon burst out from his deck.
"Appear!
Helios - The Primordial Sun!!!"