"What's this 'Hyperfect'? A made-up mashup of 'Hyper' and 'Perfect'?"
Joey's self-given title got a careless scoff. Youmi, using a slightly mocking tone, pointed at a Dark-blue-clothed Rare Hunter across from her to pick as an opponent. "You annoy me, so you'll do as an appetizer. Hurry up and put your Duel Disk on."
"You picked me as your opponent? Looks like your luck isn't great, girl." The Rare Hunter member, looking mischievous, stuck his tongue out—there even seemed to be a tongue-piercing on it. "My ultimate deck will drive you to despair!"
Turn.1
"I'll take the first turn! I've done my homework—you run a trap-heavy deck, right? If you can't secure going first, I've already won half the match." The hooded Rare Hunter duelist cackled as he drew six cards, glanced them over, and laughed louder. "Seems your defeat is imminent. Hand over any rare cards now and you'll suffer less humiliation~"
He was running a bootleg Exodia deck made by Rare Hunter—three copies of every piece. In his hand, he already had both arms and the left leg; just two more pieces and he'd outright win the duel.
"Alright, alright, it's just a luck bet, isn't it. You two handing me two puzzle pieces on a silver platter is awfully convenient. Carrying those things around would make your shoulders sore anyway~" Youmi rubbed her aching shoulder, gathered her five-card hand, and flashed a beguiling smile at her opponent.
"Friendly reminder: if you don't assemble Exodia this turn, my personal suggestion is you surrender. Otherwise, next turn I'll send you to the underworld~"
Youmi knew the opponent's deck was stuffed with the old Exodia parts; trying to complete Exodia in the next turn was a desperate gamble that would cost lives. Apart from Emma Bessho or someone of the same caliber, she didn't believe anyone could honestly lay out five corpse pieces for her right away.
"You're all bark now. Just wait until I'm prying your mouth open and see how stiff your jaw remains then. I activate the Spell Card [One Day of Peace]. Both players draw one card, and until the end of your next turn, neither player takes any damage." The hooded duelist activated a draw spell, took one card from his deck, then stared at it and fell into thought.
"Whatever, my advantage isn't gone. I activate the Spell [Graceful Charity]—draw three cards, then discard two."
Three more cards went by; they were all wall monsters and trap cards unrelated to Exodia. The hooded Rare Hunter man's hooded face showed a few dark stress lines as he helplessly sent [Left Leg of the Forbidden One] and a mundane monster to the graveyard.
"Oh... a deck that mills a lot?" Tapping her Duel Disk out of boredom, Youmi recalled the cards she'd seen sent to the grave and made her own calculations.
From his five-card hand, he chose two. "Then that'll do."
"I Set one monster, end my turn." Resigned, the hooded man set a monster and ended his turn.
Under current rules—limited to one Normal Summon per turn—he didn't expect to lose in a single turn; moreover, with [One Day of Peace] active, he wouldn't take damage above zero next turn anyway.
"Wait there. At the end of your turn, I send one card from my hand and a [Labrynth Chandraglier] to the graveyard to activate its effect. From the Deck I set a 'Labrynth' Spell/Trap on my field." Youmi halted the Rare Hunter man's motion and fluidly shuffled two cards from her hand into the graveyard.
"You said if I don't go first, I can't pull off a trap strategy—wrong. A trap only needs to be Set on the field for one turn to be used; so I'll just Set traps during your turn. I Set [Welcome Labrynth]."
Staring at the Set card appearing on Youmi's field, the hooded Rare Hunter fell silent. After a long pause, he blurted, "You Set a Trap on my turn?!"
"If something as trivial as that makes your jaw drop, you should see a doctor after this duel, because next I'm going to dislocate that jaw of yours—" The effect of the card sent to the grave, [Absolute King Back Jack], activated.
That effect can only activate if this card is sent to the graveyard. "I look at the top three cards of my Deck, then return them to the top of my Deck in any order I like." Youmi indicated her graveyard, activating the effect of the other card she'd just sent there.
"Changing the top of your Deck; I see… it's to draw the card you want?" The Rare Hunter man mused. "I've changed my mind. Looks like your Deck has a lot of strong stuff. I want your entire Deck!"
"If you can eat that much, fine Since the stakes just went up, I'll raise you: as the raise I want your entire Deck... no, wait, as the cost I want your life as a Duelist" Youmi didn't take his arrogant words to heart; after all, the [Graceful Charity] he played earlier hadn't decided the duel yet, so Youmi felt fearless.
He can't just draw Exodia by playing a single [Maxx 'C'].
"Too bad I'm not bloodthirsty. We'll talk raises later. I rearranged the top cards, and I also activate [Absolute King Back Jack]'s other effect. On the opponent's turn you can banish this card from the grave to activate its second effect. Flip over the top card of my Deck: if it's a Normal Trap, Set it on my field; if not, send it to the Graveyard.
"Of course it must be a trap★ ca★rd~"
Youmi drew the top card, pinched it between her fingers, and flipped it toward the Rare Hunter man: it was the red-backed Trap [Mind Crush].
"A card Set by [Absolute King Back Jack]'s effect can be used this turn. I declare a card name and activate [Mind Crush]. Its effect: if the declared card is in the opponent's hand, they discard all copies of that card from their hand. If it's not in their hand, I randomly discard one card from my hand."
Youmi saw with otherworldly vision—though the Rare Hunter man had deliberately covered a card face to prevent her from looking, the card sent to the grave was indeed [Left Leg of the Forbidden One]. "I declare [Left Leg of the Forbidden One]. Come on~"
That [Mind Crush] had originally been included as a counter for the company president's luck-of-the-draw three-Blue-Eyes perfect opening; running into an old Exodia deck was just good fortune.
Still, even if the president milled three Blue-Eyes to the grave, he'd probably pull a [Dragon's Mirror] fusion to make Ultimate Dragon.
"I-I only have one. It's sent to the grave." Although his face was hidden, Youmi was certain her opponent now wore a deathly pale expression.
Turn.2
"Since your play was that, then..." Youmi drew with flourish. "Nice card~" She nodded, then Normal Summoned a monster.
"I Normal Summon [Vampire Lady]. We go straight to Battle Phase: I activate [Welcome Labrynth] to Special Summon [Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle], and attack your Set monster with [Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle]."
The axe-wielding fiend queen appeared beside Youmi; though still sleepily droopy-eyed, she winked at her, then mercilessly smashed the opponent's Set monster with her axe.
"You Set a [Luster Dragon] in Defense with 1600 Defense, and it's destroyed and sent to the grave."
Because of [One Day of Peace], neither player takes damage, so the Rare Hunter man wouldn't feel too bad about Youmi not using [Vampire Lady]'s attack to burn 50 LP. But if he couldn't draw a lifesaving card, surviving to his next turn would be doubtful.
"Next, I attack you directly with [Vampire Lady]."
On Youmi's signal, the vampire in a purple-red dress stepped forward and symbolically scratched the Rare Hunter player's chest with her claws.
"What's the point of attacking with a monster that does no damage?"
"Would you believe me if I said it's just to watch the attack animation?"
[Vampire Lady] has an effect: after her attack that would deal battle damage turned to zero, she can declare a card type to mill one card from the opponent's Deck. But because the damage is rendered zero, and the ruling treats that as no damage being taken, that effect couldn't be used. What a pity.
('I messed up the ruling about damage being set to zero while writing this chapter; that's my own blunder—it's normal if there's a misplaced note.)'
"Main Phase 2: targeting [Vampire Lady] I activate the Spell [Ruthless Denial], sending [Vampire Lady] to the Graveyard and sending a random card from your hand to the Graveyard—the leftmost one please. Then I Set one card."
Youmi revealed a hand card and couldn't hide a pleased smile as she placed it in her Spell & Trap Zone.
[Ruthless Denial] wiped out the opponent's [Right Leg of the Forbidden One]. Then Youmi played a second Spell on her field: "Then I activate the Spell [Exchange]. We reveal our hands and each choose a card to add to our hands. Since I just Set a card, now I only have one card: [Pot of Duality]. Time to take a peek at your hand~"
Handing the opponent her [Pot of Duality], Youmi wrested the [Right Arm of the Forbidden One] from his reluctant grip. Then, as if thinking of something, she stepped away, turned her head slightly, and loudly muttered to herself with her back turned: "Come to think of it, [Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle] has an effect where you can target one Normal Trap in your Graveyard and Set it on your field. Who to Set..."
Before she could return to her seat, a desperate surrender cry came from behind and a shriek of "I never want to duel again!"
Youmi walked back, picked up the deck and Duel Disk the collapsed Rare Hunter member had left, brushed dust off the [Pot of Duality] she had just swapped, and squinted as her gaze shifted to the other Rare Hunter member still trembling but unmoving.
"What, you're still standing there? Are you hoping to duel me? That makes me happy~ Why don't we start right now!"
Silver irises emitted an unnaturally dazzling glow in the night as Youmi snapped her eyes open, organized the Deck, and made a move to duel.
"D-Don't come over here!!!" The Rare Hunter member under her stare couldn't withstand the pressure and dropped his Duel Disk and Deck, fleeing.
Heaven and hell, nothing more.
Youmi collected the other guy's Deck and Duel Disk as well and said to the still-present [Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle], "I don't want those two to just run away like that—could you deal with them for me, 'me'? Don't kill them; just make them suffer a little~"
The elegantly-dressed demon queen twirled her double-bladed axe like a conductor's baton, grinning wickedly and giving a subtle nod to Youmi before disappearing into the night.
...
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