Yushin said, “Passing on your very first turn?
That’s confident of you.” The Dark Ritual Officiant, brimming with confidence, said, “My dueling carries power granted by our lord.
It isn’t something an ordinary person could understand.” Yushin wasn’t impressed.
It was just a pass.
No need to get all mystical about it.
The only reason this guy got to talk this big was because Yushin didn’t have the right cards on hand right now.
If he’d been able to bring even one meta-relevant modern deck along with him when he transmigrated, he’d have made these cavemen see exactly what “something an ordinary person couldn’t understand” actually looked like.
Yushin said, “My turn.
Draw.” Not summoning a monster and just passing outright meant the trick was probably hiding in that face-down card in the back row.
Maybe some kind of trap that would trigger the moment he attacked directly.
Still, guessing as much didn’t help much.
He didn’t have anything in his hand like Mystical Space Typhoon, or another back-row-clearing card.
No, forget his hand, he didn’t have one anywhere in his whole deck.
A super-versatile card like Mystical Space Typhoon wasn’t cheap either, since in the 5D’s-era dueling environment, back-row Spells and Traps still held a pretty significant defensive role.
A back-row-destroying card like that was the kind of thing basically everyone ran the moment they got their hands on one.
As for something even more efficient, like Heavy Storm, which could sweep every Spell and Trap off the field at once, that was priced well beyond what money could buy.
Still, plenty of the time, even knowing the opponent had something hiding in their back row, you couldn’t just sit there staring blankly with no Mystical Space Typhoon in hand.
After all, a trap that never got triggered would just sit there forever.
Yushin said, “Normal Summon, Assault Pterosaur!” [Assault Pterosaur, ATK 1800] Without hesitation, Yushin pushed straight into battle.
“Battle Phase.
Assault Pterosaur, direct attack!” Assault Pterosaur beat its wings and soared clean across the field, its steel talons slicing straight toward the hooded man.
Yushin kept his eyes locked on the man’s face-down card.
Come on, let’s see what kind of trap that is, and whether fate’s got anything in store for me…
But to his surprise, that face-down trap never so much as twitched.
Assault Pterosaur flew clean across the field, its blades nearly reaching the man’s body.
But right as they were about to connect, thick black mist suddenly billowed off the hooded man, swallowing the dragon whole.
Assault Pterosaur let out a sharp, shrill cry, beating its wings frantically to break free.
The darkness kept pouring out endlessly, streaming from the man’s mouth, nose, eyes, and ears, a faint crimson tinge of blood bleeding through it as it came, as if something were being drained straight out of his body.
Then the darkness coalesced into a pitch-black vortex in front of him, settling onto his field like a shield.
Yushin’s brow furrowed slightly.
The set card in the back row hadn’t responded at all, and the duel had only just started, so the Graveyard was still completely empty.
That left only one thing that could have responded to his attack.
…A hand trap?
The Dark Ritual Officiant’s eyes had turned a solid crimson, glinting with an eerie light.
He looked like he’d aged several years in an instant, breathing hard and heavy, but with a barely-contained excitement written across his face.
“This is a cursed card that can only be mastered by sacrificing a duelist’s own vitality.
Legend has it none of its past wielders have ever died a peaceful death.
But if my own insignificant life can become a cornerstone of our faith’s great work, what does that matter?” His eyes still crimson, he slapped a Monster Card down onto his Duel Disk.
“This card can be Special Summoned from my hand in Defense Position during a Monster’s Attack Declaration.
Lonely, cursed blood that wanders still, awaken, drawn forth by my own blood—” “—Vampire Fraulein!” The black mist slowly dispersed, and a girl carrying a black parasol stepped out at an unhurried pace.
Her features were elegant, breathtakingly beautiful, but her skin was a nearly translucent, ghostly white.
She had long, pale-gold hair, and eyes so red they looked steeped in blood.
Her long dress, black with a diamond lattice pattern, was lined with a deep crimson underlay, and beneath its hem, a pair of long, pale, well-proportioned legs showed through.
[Vampire Fraulein, DEF 2000] The elegant Gothic noblewoman’s summon settled onto the field, bringing with it a suffocating sense of pressure.
But faced with that pressure, faced with this ominous girl who carried more than a hint of genuine horror about her, Yushin felt no fear at all.
If anything, a flash of excitement lit up in his eyes instead.
There really was a hand trap!
As the old saying went, you could guard against a thousand things, but a hand trap was the hardest of all to guard against.
Compared to a Trap Card, which had to be set on the field in advance to work, a hand trap, one that could spring out of nowhere straight from your opponent’s hand, was the kind of thing you could never fully prepare for.
Early-era Yu-Gi-Oh!
hand traps were nowhere near as efficient as modern ones, with the legendary hand-trap pioneer in Yugi Muto’s own hands, Kuriboh, as the classic example.
Most hand traps back then were the type that responded specifically to an attack.
But even so, monsters that could activate an effect straight from the hand to defend against an attack were already regulars on the competitive stage, prized by old-school players of the era.
So it wasn’t hard to imagine: after digging through junk-pile Satellite cards for the better part of the day without finding a single one worth a second look, suddenly running into a Monster Card with an actual hand-trap effect left Yushin both startled and thrilled.
Having summoned his cursed ace, the Dark Ritual Officiant had fully expected that even if the sinister pressure radiating off this vampire girl couldn’t outright cow his opponent, it would at least catch him off guard.
But completely against his expectations, what was that look on the man’s face across from him?
Was that…
excitement?
The Dark Ritual Officiant couldn’t help but ask, “Can’t you feel the power of this curse?” Why wouldn’t this guy ever get scared?
But the answer he got from Yushin was: “Wait, hold on, why is my Lady in your deck?” The Dark Ritual Officiant: ……..
Outrageous!
I’m not even dead yet, and you’re already looking at my card like it’s your own property.
Is that really appropriate?
“Vampire Fraulein’s DEF is higher than my Assault Pterosaur’s ATK, so I won’t attack,” Yushin said.
“I’ll set one card.
Turn end.” Under Yu-Gi-Oh!’s rules, if the number of monsters on the opponent’s field changed mid-attack, it could trigger what was sometimes called a Battle Rewind, giving the attacking player the right to reconsider whether to continue the attack or call it off instead.
The Dark Ritual Officiant said, “My turn, draw!” He was more than a little irritated by now.
He’d already revealed an ace like Vampire Fraulein; any normal person, feeling the girl’s supernatural pressure, the horror-movie air practically radiating off her, should have at least trembled a little.
But not only was this guy not afraid, he was apparently already scheming about pulling cards out of his deck.
How could that not make him angry?
“I summon Undead Werewolf!” [Undead Werewolf, ATK 1200] The Dark Ritual Officiant said, “Next, I activate the Continuous Spell, Spell Absorption.
Every time a Spell Card is activated, I recover 500 Life Points.
“Then straight to the Battle Phase!
Undead Werewolf, attack Assault Pterosaur!” [Undead Werewolf, ATK 1200] [Assault Pterosaur, ATK 1800] Undead Werewolf: ?
I’m attacking Assault Pterosaur?
Seriously?
The Dark Ritual Officiant laughed heartily.
“Right about now, you must be wondering why I’d choose to attack with the lower-ATK monster, aren’t you?” Yushin: No, I genuinely wasn’t wondering that at all…
The Dark Ritual Officiant said, “Because at this exact moment, Vampire Fraulein’s special ability is also activating!
I’m sacrificing my own life, turning my own blood into a monster’s power!”