“My turn.
Draw…” Jamie looked at his newly drawn card.
Calling the draw dramatically had failed to awaken any nonexistent “Shining Draw” ability inside him.
He quietly Set the card instead.
“Turn end.” Two face-down cards occupied his Spell & Trap Zone while his Monster Zones remained completely empty.
His untouched 4000 Life Points suddenly looked rather fragile in front of Weevil’s growing field.
Weevil placed his fingers on top of his Deck, a smug smile stretching across his face.
“Your field is completely empty now!
As long as I draw any monster with more than 900 ATK, you’re finished!” “My turn!
Draw!” His smile immediately widened.
“Hahaha!
I Normal Summon another Pinch Hopper!
That brings the total ATK of my monsters to a full 4100!
Your pathetic 4000 Life Points won’t survive this!
You’re so weak that I won’t even need to summon Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth!” Weevil was practically radiating the smugness of a third-rate villain.
He was so eager to finish the Duel that he did not even bother switching his Petit Moth—currently sitting at 0 ATK because of Cocoon of Evolution—to Defense Position before announcing his Battle Phase.
“Go, my Insect army!
Tear him apart!” “Stop!” Once again, Jamie raised a finger.
Weevil froze.
“The instant you declare an attack, I activate Kuribohrn’s second effect from my Graveyard.
I banish it, then target any number of Kuriboh monsters in my Graveyard and Special Summon them.” Jamie glanced toward his Graveyard.
“Although considering how this Duel has gone so far, I only have one Kuriboh monster down there.” Kuribohrn, who had been lying on the Duel Disk enjoying the show, immediately went back to work.
It flew into the Graveyard, found the Winged Kuriboh that had only just finished its previous shift, and threw the poor creature straight back onto the field.
At this point, calling it overtime no longer seemed appropriate.
Winged Kuriboh had been promoted to a full-time, twenty-four-seven position.
The little monster stared at the field with tears in its eyes.
Previously, it had been one tiny ball facing two monsters many times its size.
Now that number had doubled.
Four.
Winged Kuriboh slowly glanced over its shoulder.
For just a moment, it could have sworn that Kuribohrn’s enormous eyes were now accompanied by a monocle with a little gold chain.
A capitalist had been born.
Because the number of monsters on the field had changed, a replay occurred and Weevil had to choose his attack target again.
Unfortunately for him, the moment he saw that adorable fluffy creature standing in front of Jamie, all his excitement vanished as though someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over his head.
Victory had been right there.
He had practically been able to taste it.
Then, at the last possible second, the whole thing had been shoved back out of reach.
The frustration was unbearable, but he had absolutely no way around Winged Kuriboh’s effect.
All he could do was watch as Jamie successfully dragged the Duel out for yet another turn.
Pinch Hopper attacked and destroyed Winged Kuriboh once again, producing the familiar gentle breeze that protected Jamie for the rest of the turn.
Perhaps it was only his imagination, but Jamie could have sworn he saw a little halo appearing above Winged Kuriboh’s head this time.
Congratulations, Winged Kuriboh.
Achievement unlocked: [Shadows Die Thrice] “It doesn’t matter!” Weevil snapped as he ended his turn.
“You only bought yourself one more turn!
You’ll lose next round anyway!” His threat sounded noticeably less confident than before.
Winged Kuriboh was beginning to give him PTSD.
Jamie drew for his next turn, looked at the largely useless Trap Card he had received, and calmly Set it with the others.
Then his gaze fell on a Spell Card that had been sitting patiently in his hand for several turns.
A heartfelt smile appeared on his face.
Weevil Underwood, you had better thank KONAMI.
“I activate Swords of Revealing Light!
You already know what this card does, so I won’t waste time explaining it.” Golden swords of light descended across Weevil’s field.
Jamie spread his hands.
“Come on, everyone.
Prison time.” Going to prison was rarely enjoyable.
Being the warden, however, was another matter entirely.
The expression on Weevil’s face became so complicated that Jamie could practically chart it: thirty percent anger, thirty percent venomous resentment, thirty percent stubborn smugness, and the remaining ten percent helpless frustration.
Weevil knew the effect of Swords of Revealing Light perfectly well.
For three of his turns, he would be unable to declare an attack.
He had used DNA Surgery together with Insect Barrier to prevent Jamie from attacking, so Jamie had responded with Swords of Revealing Light and prevented Weevil from attacking as well.
You go to prison.
I go to prison.
Everyone has a bright future.
Technically, Jamie had not intended to imprison himself along with Weevil.
He had packed quite a few cards to help his ridiculous Deck function, with Pot of Extravagance being only one of them.
The problem was that aside from that single Pot of Extravagance, he had failed to draw any of the others.
That was simply the price of playing casual jank.
Bricking was part of the experience.
If you could not accept that, you had no business playing jank in the first place.
Weevil’s turn arrived again.
This time, he drew and activated another Pot of Greed, making Jamie stare at it with naked envy.
Unfortunately for Weevil, those two cards failed to produce anything like Mystical Space Typhoon that could remove Swords of Revealing Light, leaving him with no choice but to quietly end his turn.
“Just wait!
Once my Great Moth hatches, and once your Swords of Revealing Light disappears, you’re finished!” “Is that really your entire vocabulary?” Jamie examined the card he drew and smoothly Set it with the others.
“You can’t even come up with a new threat.
I strongly recommend going back to school and reading a few more books.
Imagine getting into an argument someday and realizing you don’t even know enough words to insult the other guy properly.
That would be embarrassing.” “Shut up!
You’re so annoying!” Neither player had drawn anything capable of clearing the other’s back row, and neither side could attack.
The resulting pattern of draw, Set, pass was beginning to awaken some unpleasant memories in Jamie.
Just before Weevil could finish his turn, Jamie raised one hand.
“Before your End Phase is over, I activate my face-down Call of the Haunted!
I target Winged Kuriboh in my Graveyard and Special Summon it in Attack Position!” Winged Kuriboh, who had finally collapsed into the Graveyard after literally working itself to death, was dragged back onto the field yet again by its shameless employer.
At least Swords of Revealing Light was still active.
For once, the poor creature would not have to experience the familiar routine of being summoned only to die immediately afterward.
Weevil’s eyelid twitched.
There was nothing he could do.
“Hmm…
my turn.” Jamie drew.
“I switch Winged Kuriboh to Defense Position.
Turn end.” Weevil silently drew a card.
Then he silently ended his turn.
Watching the dramatic change in Weevil’s behavior, Jamie struggled not to laugh.
‘I know what I’m waiting for.
I’m waiting to draw my key card.’ He looked at Weevil.
‘What exactly are you waiting for?
Death?’ There was little need to describe every moment of their shared prison sentence.
Swords of Revealing Light lasted only three of Weevil’s turns, while bringing out Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth required Petit Moth to remain equipped with Cocoon of Evolution for a full six turns.
Cocoon of Evolution had entered the field before Swords of Revealing Light, but even after the shining swords finally disappeared, Weevil’s supposedly ultimate giant fluttering moth still had not finished evolving.
Jamie had already worked out that the cards in his hand were enough to put a smile on Weevil’s face, so he saw no reason to drag the Duel out any longer.
Once his turn began and he had drawn his card, he finally activated the cards he had Set during their long stretch of mutual imprisonment.
“I activate my Trap Card, Reckless Greed!
I draw two cards, but in exchange, I skip my next two Draw Phases.
Then I chain my second Reckless Greed to the first, so I draw four cards in total!” Jamie had barely used any of the cards he had accumulated while both sides were locked down, and with another four entering his hand now, he was holding a ridiculous total of ten cards.
He placed two key cards face-down into the Spell & Trap Zones that had just opened up, considered his remaining options for a moment, then decided that was enough.
Jamie did not even enter the Battle Phase before ending his turn.
Since he still had more than six cards in his hand during the End Phase, he discarded a Level 8 monster that currently served no obvious purpose along with another useless monster.