"Now it's my turn."
Wearing the conspicuous Duel Disk on his left arm, Jonouchi addressed the bound Kyoko.
He drew a card from the thick deck with his right hand.
"Come on out!"
"Tiger Axe!"
The strange card slapped onto the Duel Disk materialized into a tangible creature. A tiger standing upright, wielding an enormous battle axe.
Whoosh!
"!"
Unable to move her arms, Kyoko tried to activate the extension and transformation of the spear still clutched in her grip.
Only to discover it wouldn't respond. With no other option, she scrambled backward.
Slam!
The axe cleaved into the ground, leaving a web of hairline cracks.
"ROAR!!"
The tiger charged after her relentlessly, hacking away with wild swings.
Swish!
Swish!
Even shackled by the bizarre hexagram, Kyoko's agility remained largely intact. She dodged every strike with razor-thin precision.
"Lancer! Why aren't you fighting back?"
Watching through his familiar, Kayneth questioned why she could only dodge passively.
"Because I can't, obviously! This weird magic circle has sealed my ability to attack!"
As if hearing his doubt, Kyoko shot back irritably. If counterattacking were an option, she'd have done it ages ago. It was precisely because she couldn't that she looked so pathetic.
"Lancer's Magic Resistance should be quite high."
"Even so, she's restrained by Caster's magecraft?"
"It seems the opponent isn't as simple as we assumed..."
"Tch, normal attacks won't work, huh?"
No matter how many times she tried, she couldn't break free. In desperation, Kyoko switched to a different ability.
Snap!
Thorn-like chains lanced through the air, piercing the tiger from multiple angles.
"So it only seals conventional attacks."
Having identified the limitation, Kyoko shifted her gaze to the conspicuous mechanical device on Jonouchi's left arm.
"That thing is the core of your magecraft, isn't it?!"
Without a shred of courtesy, she targeted it directly.
Whoosh!
Like iron chains, crimson barbed tendrils surged toward him.
"Can't let that happen..."
Meeting the assault with remarkable composure, Jonouchi slapped another card onto his Duel Disk.
"Hrah!"
This time, a helmeted warrior wielding a massive axe appeared.
He swung the axe, deflecting the incoming thorn chains.
"Go! Attack!"
On command, the warrior leapt skyward and dove toward Kyoko.
"Hmph, like I'd get hit by something that slow!"
Scoffing at the descending strike, Kyoko sidestepped with ease.
Crash!
The axe buried itself in the ground, sending tremors outward.
"!"
But before she could comment, she picked up movement from another direction.
Whoosh!
Reacting on instinct, she yanked herself sideways using a thorn chain as a grapple, narrowly evading the flanking attack.
"He can summon more than one familiar?"
Staring at a second, identical axe-wielding warrior, Kyoko's brow furrowed.
In theory, Caster himself didn't seem particularly threatening. But the magecraft and familiars at his disposal were unlike anything anyone had ever seen.
"Pretty nimble, aren't you?"
"Looks like getting your Dragon Ball won't be that simple."
Two familiars pincer-attacking and neither could land a hit. Jonouchi was a bit surprised. Compared to dueling's rigid turn-based attack-and-defense format, real combat introduced the wildcard of evasion.
BANG!!!
CLANG!
Still couldn't touch her.
'I can't treat this exactly like a duel...'
While the format bore similarities, this wasn't a duel in the truest sense.
3001
3000
2999
'This war of attrition isn't going to work either.'
Glancing at the Life Points displayed on his Duel Disk, Jonouchi grimaced. Without a "Master" to supply magical energy, his power source was a problem. To avoid elimination, he had to keep his LP above zero.
Without a Master, Life Points ticked down continuously. He couldn't afford to take excessive risks in battle. Judging by how the girl had one-shotted Gearfried the Iron Knight, her attack power was at least 1800.
If she landed a hit, he'd be in serious trouble.
'Time to gamble.'
Checking his set cards and hand, Jonouchi made his decision. He reached for the top of his deck.
'Again... another card I've never seen in my deck.'
He couldn't preview what his deck contained. Every draw was a blind gamble. That was exactly what frustrated Jonouchi the most. Some cards he recognized, but the unfamiliar ones caused momentary mental short-circuits.
[Change of Heart]
'This should be one of Bakura's cards, right?'
'Mind control? Based on how things have worked so far, it should be able to control this girl too.'
'But even if I control her, I can't exactly make her kill herself.'
Slotting the green Spell Card into the Spell and Trap zone, Jonouchi wrestled with the dilemma. He was here to seize Dragon Balls, not to kill anyone.
"Oh wait..."
"Let's go!"
Striking upon a useful idea, Jonouchi activated the card.
"What?!"
Two spectral figures appeared, one white, one black. Kyoko's instincts screamed danger. An invisible wave pulsed outward, and in an instant, the light drained from her eyes.
"Alright, go fetch your Master's Dragon Ball for me!"
He had no idea how long the control would last, but Jonouchi trusted it wouldn't be too brief.
So he issued the command without delay.
Whoosh!
Watching the girl vanish, Jonouchi suddenly realized something.
"Wait... shouldn't I have removed her restraint first?"
Remembering that her normal attacks were still sealed by Spellbinding Circle, the belated realization hit him.
"Did Caster just... take control of Lancer?"
"That's way too strong, isn't it?"
Hidden at a vantage point, having witnessed the entire exchange, Waver was rattled.
The summoned familiars, the mysterious magecraft, and now even enemy Servants could be controlled...
"The most unpredictable element in this war?"
Lelouch observed in silence, then delivered his assessment.
If it were him, the first thing he'd do with control is force Lancer to eliminate herself, then hunt down the Master for the Dragon Ball. That would involve far less risk, especially since Lancer's Noble Phantasm and hidden cards remained unknown.
Having placed so much confidence in Geass, even he now felt reluctant to face Caster.
Because he couldn't gauge how many buried countermeasures this Caster had up his sleeve.
Judging by the Duel Disk, the Spell and Trap zones were already packed with unknown cards. That meant "traps" were always in play.
Any attack or direct confrontation would trigger the opponent's magecraft. Meeting this man face-to-face was inherently dangerous.
The optimal approach would be long-range elimination. The Knightmare in his arsenal seemed the ideal countermeasure.
But the real question remained: would super-long-range bombardment or area-of-effect attacks still trigger Caster's magecraft?
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]
PS:
[Change of Heart]: Target one monster on the opponent's field. Take control of that monster until the End Phase.
As the effect describes, it's mind control with a time limit. However, targets with high resistance can reduce the duration of control.
Let's just say it's a good thing Kyoko ran into Jonouchi. If it had been someone less scrupulous, Lancer's Class would have lived up to its infamous "tradition."