"The… Duel King?"
Lucien recognized Kira and froze, awe flickering in his eyes—quickly turning into excitement.
"Oh, hey Kira," Jaden waved cheerfully.
"This guy says he's some Reaper Duelist. Kinda spooky," Chazz said, pointing at Lucien, who was still posing on the bed, black miasma curling around the skull on his arm.
"You really came…"
Lucien grew more excited and raised his Duel Disk.
"Since I have the chance to be guided by the Duel King—let's do this!"
Kira glanced at his arm. "You sure your body's okay?"
"My life and soul were thrown aside long ago," Lucien sneered. "To get the chance to face the King, a single life is nothing. The Reaper can take it.
Come!"
He turned, clattered through the window, and landed in the courtyard behind.
Kira shrugged and followed, taking position opposite him.
A Reaper card with special spirit power—though it demands the duelist's soul, granting guaranteed god-draws—was interesting enough to test.
"Duel!" x2
[Kira, LP 4000]
[Lucien Grimley, LP 4000]
"I'll take the first turn. Draw."
Kira drew and immediately placed two cards.
"I set one monster in face-down Defense Position," he said. "Then I set one card face-down. Turn end."
"A set monster and a back row, huh."
Lucien gave a grim smile.
"Against Grim Reaper, that just gets you OTK'd."
Chazz frowned from the sidelines. "What's this guy saying? He's mouthing off to the Academy's Yellow king?"
"But it's true a lot of people have been OTK'd by Grim Reaper lately…" Syrus said. "Maybe he really does have something special."
Lucien played a Spell first.
"I activate the Spell 'Footsteps of the Goddess'!"
Holy light poured onto the field as a blonde goddess with white wings appeared, toes skimming the water as bubbles floated around her.
"Footsteps of the Goddess: check the opponent's hand. If they have a monster with 1500 ATK or less that can be Special Summoned, select one and Special Summon it to the opponent's field in Attack Position." (Anime card)
"Huh?"
They looked at each other.
Seeing the opponent's hand is nice, but forcing a Special Summon from it? Isn't that giving resources away?
Kira showed his hand without fuss. "Pick one."
His cards were projected for Lucien to see. He squinted, then pointed.
"Then Special Summon 'Magical Merchant.'"
Kira placed Magical Merchant onto the field.
[Magical Merchant, ATK 200]
"This guy actually forced a 200-ATK Flip monster into Attack Position," Chazz frowned. "So that's how he plans to create an opening to push damage?"
"It's not over. Footsteps of the Goddess also lets me Special Summon a monster with 1500 ATK or less from my hand. But that monster can't attack this turn."
Lucien placed another card.
"I Special Summon 'Invincible Demise Lord'!" (Anime card)
Darkness coiled, a black vortex yawning to the underworld. A twisted black fiend flew out, scythe in hand, cloak billowing, exuding a menacing aura.
[Invincible Demise Lord, ATK 1300]
"Though it's a Level 6 Tribute monster, its ATK is only 1300, so it qualifies for Footsteps."
He paused, then lowered his head and chuckled.
"Well, now I'm set. Maybe you haven't noticed, but…"
He squinted and whispered coldly.
"The Reaper… has already descended."
The spectators blinked, confused, when Lucien suddenly laughed and raised a card high.
"Now, I'll unleash Grim Reaper's power with this card—
—Spell Card 'Slash Draw'!!!"
The card art showed a hand poised at a sword hilt, ready to draw. The moment it hit the field, darkness billowed out. The vortex of death opened; Grim Reaper's specter appeared overhead, ready to swing its scythe at any moment.
"What is this card…"
The onlookers shielded themselves from the gale.
"This terrifying aura…" Syrus went pale. "Is that really Grim Reaper!?"
Chazz rolled his eyes. "Have some backbone. We just saw it—'Grim Reaper' is a Level 1 normal monster."
Still, the manifested image was undeniably terrifying.
"'Slash Draw': first, send cards from the top of your Deck to the GY equal to the number of cards on your opponent's field." (Anime effect)
The printed version was later nerfed to require discarding a card to activate, but in the anime it didn't.
"You have three cards on the field, so I mill the top three."
Lucien sent three cards from the top of his deck to the GY.
He smirked and continued.
"Then I draw one card. If that card is 'Slash Draw,' I send it to the GY and destroy all cards on the field.
For each card destroyed and sent to the GY, the opponent takes 1000 damage."
Of course, the printed card was changed to 2000 per card, since in 8000 LP formats 1000 is too little.
"He's actually using the Slash Draw strat!" Syrus blurted. "But isn't that considered a show-off card for casual play?"
Makes sense. Banking everything on a single god draw—hit it and you win instantly; miss and you fold. Doesn't sound like something a serious duelist would do.
Jaden nodded. "So that's Grim Reaper's guaranteed kill power. Your deck is…"
"Exactly! My right hand calls Grim Reaper of victory to guarantee the kill!"
Lucien raised his right hand, the skull spewing black energy.
"This draw will decide it all!"
...
2 Bonus chapters at 1000 PS