"!"
Watching the intruder draw a series of rectangular cards from the strange device on their arm, Genos didn't hesitate. He thrust both arms forward, the internal mechanisms of his forearms whirring as they reconfigured.
His palms were equipped with high-yield emitters capable of condensing and firing "Qi",a mysterious substance provided by Bulma. Genos didn't fully understand the physics of it, but he knew one thing for certain:
It was exponentially more powerful than any conventional energy source he had ever used.
"Such an impatient one..."
"Eager to take the first turn?"
Yubel sneered, holding a hand of five cards she had just drawn from the [Duel Disk].
She drew a draft of magical energy from the host body's Master,Amakusa, whose mana was being siphoned unconsciously across the connection,and glanced at her hand.
With a flick of her wrist, she set two cards face-down in her Spell/Trap zone and summoned a single monster in Defense Position.
[LP: 4000]
Entering this familiar combat protocol, Yubel knew the rules. If her Life Points hit zero, she would lose this manifestation. Until she understood how this new world affected the game's mechanics, she needed to play conservatively.
In Genos's sensory display, a grotesque creature materialized. It was a floating, neckless head with no torso, its left eye replaced by a pulsating, nest-like tumor. Dozens of squirming tentacles sprouted from its skull,a truly abhorrent entity.
[Necroface]
KABOOM!!!
The high-intensity "Qi" blast erupted from Genos's palms, a pillar of white light that tore through the night. The resulting energy storm was visible for miles.
The entity in front of Yubel didn't last a second. It was pulverized into digital fragments and vanished.
"AAAAGHHH!!"
The backwash of the explosion sent Yubel tumbling backward.
The earth beneath her was pulverized, a wide trench carved into the ground as if a giant plow had been dragged across it.
In the distance, the Qi blast reached the end of its trajectory, blooming into a massive hemispherical dome of light that made the ground groan and shake.
"That's some impressive attack power..."
"!"
Genos stared in disbelief as Yubel slowly pushed herself back up, looking remarkably unharmed.
'How is that possible?!'
He had channeled every ounce of his current energy reserves into that shot. No one,nothing,should have been able to walk away from that point-blank.
"If I'd taken that head-on, I might have been erased," Yubel noted, glancing at the deep crater his blast had carved into the distant plain.
"But you're out of luck."
She had summoned her monster in Defense Position. Unless this Servant possessed some kind of "Piercing" attribute, no amount of raw physical force could deal her damage while her monster stood in the way.
"And thanks to your destruction... it's been sent to the Graveyard."
"Giving this one the perfect opening."
Yubel laughed, a sound of pure delight as she slammed another card onto the [Duel Disk]'s surface.
The digital icon of [Necroface] was ejected from the slot, and a swirling mass of black mana began to solidify on the field. A massive dragon, wreathed in dark energy, rose from the earth.
ROAR!!
"What?! A dragon?!"
Watching from the castle ruins, Gored couldn't believe his eyes. Legend-tier creatures didn't just appear from thin air like this.
"Hmm."
"A small price to pay."
Yubel watched the top five cards of her deck vanish into the Graveyard, but she didn't care.
The dragon before her was colossal,at least half the height of the blue titan she had seen earlier. This was a creature even she hadn't summoned before in this world.
[Bystial Magnamhut] , ATK: 2500
"Recharging!"
"I won't miss next time!"
Genos glared at Yubel, his core humming as it drew more energy.
He deduced that the previous creature must have acted as some kind of "decoy" or "shield." If that was the case, the math was simple:
Ignore the dragon and strike the Master directly.
"Your thoughts are so transparent."
"In that case, I'll see what happens when I let you try."
Yubel didn't command her dragon to attack. Instead, she stood her ground, waiting with a mocking smile.
WHOOSH!
In less than three seconds, Genos reached full charge. His silhouette blurred as he lunged forward.
The move was so fast it created a sonic boom that pressurized the air. He darted between the dragon's legs, appearing directly in front of Yubel.
BZZZZT!!
The glowing emitters were inches from her chest.
The energy began to build, a blinding point of light ready to detonate.
"You've declared an attack... haven't you?"
Yubel grinned, and one of her face-down cards flipped up with a metallic snap.
BOOM!!
Genos's Qi cannon roared, the point-blank detonation engulfing Yubel in a blinding sphere of white fire.
Genos was certain he had hit her. At this range, evasion was a physical impossibility.
Or so it should have been.
As his sensors continued to relay active life-signals from within the smoke, he froze.
The dust settled, revealing a green barrier shimmering around Yubel's body. She looked perfectly fine, not a single scratch on her host's clothes.
The numerical display on her [Duel Disk] flickered and changed.
[LP: 4000 → 7000]
"Magnificent."
"So your attack power is scaled that high?"
Yubel licked her lips, her expression one of morbid pleasure.
[Draining Shield]
The trap she had just activated was a simple one: negate one attack and gain Life Points equal to the attacker's strength.
"!"
Bizarre.
Genos realized that the intruder's combat style had shifted completely. Previously, she had been a fighter; now, she was operating more like a "Caster" who manipulated the laws of the world itself.
ROAR!
The [Bystial Magnamhut] let out a deafening roar, its tail sweeping toward Genos in a blur of bone and scale. He immediately leaped backward, clearing the area.
'Dr. Bulma, requesting immediate analysis!'
As he retreated, Genos relayed the visual and sensory data back to the lab.
He needed to understand the logic behind these "cards." The device on her arm was clearly the source of the anomaly.
'I've received the feed. Analyzing now. Be careful, Genos!'
Hearing Bulma's voice in his ear, Genos turned his attention back to the massive dragon.
"Now... let's try this one."
"I wonder what will happen to you?"
"Will you simply die... or will you be reduced to a pile of scrap metal?"
Yubel's taunt sent a chill of alarm through Genos's circuits.
As he braced himself for a physical assault, he felt a sudden weight around his neck. Out of thin air, a heavy, jagged collar had appeared, studded with primitive Hand Grenades.
"!"
He hadn't sensed any incoming projectile or magical energy. He reached up, trying to wrench the device off.
Yubel let out a cackle as she revealed her second face-down card.
Its name...
[Ring of Destruction]!
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]