Vampire Lord, reborn!
[Vampire Lord, ATK 2000] Vampire Lord came back to life on the field.
At the same time, the Dark Ritual Officiant’s tall frame swayed slightly, and he coughed hard several times, looking a little unsteady on his feet.
Through the shadow of his hood, the man’s face was faintly visible, pale as the vampire he commanded.
Yushin understood at once.
Paying with his own life to duel, was that it?
There was always a certain type of person in the Yu-Gi-Oh!
world: everyone else paid in cash, but this guy paid in years off his life instead.
People like that usually didn’t have the god-tier draw luck or the ability to print a winning card out of thin air, so they had no choice but to sacrifice their own lifespan for supernatural power instead.
“Is it really worth it?” Yushin said, shaking his head.
“Trading for power this way, even if you can keep winning, how long can that last?
How many more duels does your life even have left in it?” “It doesn’t matter.” The Dark Ritual Officiant steadied himself and said, his voice ice-cold.
“For those of us from the Satellite, our lives were always worth about as much as scrap paper to begin with.
Lives with no value, no meaning, just living mechanically day after day, like walking corpses.” He glanced down at the card in his hand, and his tone suddenly rose.
“But our faith gave us meaning!
Through our supreme lord, we gained power, and more importantly, we gained a purpose, an ideal worth devoting our lives to.” Yushin said, “You mean that whole plan about bringing the Netherworld’s ruler down to rule over humanity?” “Correct.
When that happens, everyone will be granted eternal life.
There will be no more exploiters and exploited.
True equality will finally arrive!” There seemed to be a black flame burning in the man’s eyes.
“I don’t know what kind of being you are, occupying that boy’s body in front of me.
But you aren’t human, so you wouldn’t understand.
For lowlifes like us, dragged through the mud at the very bottom of society, you have no idea how fortunate it is to even have an ideal like this to hold onto.
“If it’s for the sake of that goal, even if I have to burn away my own life, even if I never live to see that ideal actually come true, it doesn’t matter!” Yushin said, “So this is what you’d call a martyr for the cause.” Still, he kind of wanted to say: watch your mouth, buddy, who are you calling not human?
The Dark Ritual Officiant called out loudly, “I’ll banish Vampire Lord from the field.
Descend— “—Vampire Genesis!” Black mist wrapped around Vampire Lord, a wave of cold burst outward, and a low, rumbling shudder pressed down on the air itself.
A mountainous, undying body emerged, deep violet muscle coiled and bulging over every inch of it.
Just standing there on the field, it radiated a surge of raw, violent menace.
[Vampire Genesis, ATK 3000] “Vampire Genesis can only be Special Summoned by banishing Vampire Lord from the field.” the Dark Ritual Officiant called out.
“Then Genesis’s effect activates!
Once per turn, by discarding one Zombie-Type monster from my hand, I can revive a Zombie-Type monster from my Graveyard with a lower Level than the one discarded.” He revealed yet another high-Level vampire card in his hand.
“I’ll discard the Level 6 Cursed Vampire from my hand, and revive the Level 5 Vampire Fraulein from my Graveyard!” He raised Vampire Fraulein, recovered from his Graveyard, high overhead, letting out a loud, guttural roar.
In that instant, Yushin could clearly see blood-red, dark crimson energy being drained straight out of the man’s body, flowing into Vampire Fraulein’s card.
As if accepting a blood sacrifice, the vampire noblewoman stirred back to life.
The elegant, pale girl touched down lightly on the field, holding her parasol, her blood-red eyes heavy with exhaustion.
[Vampire Fraulein, ATK 600] Having been drained yet again, the man across the field was starting to lose focus.
His vision had begun doubling, his footing had gone unsteady, and he looked utterly hollowed out.
Yushin murmured, half to himself, “Dueling really is a physically demanding job…” “As long as it clears the way for our faith, what does it matter if it costs me my life?” There wasn’t a trace of doubt in the Dark Ritual Officiant’s voice.
“This turn will be the final battle.
This attack will carry through my resolve— “—Vampire Genesis, attack Summoned Skull!” Vampire Genesis’s whole body was engulfed in bloody mist, and then it seemed to dissolve entirely, transforming into a massive, blood-red tornado that swept across the field toward Yushin in full force.
The Dark Ritual Officiant said, “And the instant battle begins, Vampire Fraulein’s effect activates!
In multiples of 100, up to a maximum of 3000 Life Points, I can convert it all into power for an Undead monster.
“I’ll pay the maximum amount…
converting all 3000 of my remaining Life Points into power for Genesis!” He raised his right hand high, as if devoutly offering his own heart up to his lord.
As if his very life force were being drained out of him for real, a torrent of energy equal to 3000 Life Points surged into the bloody mist.
The man’s face grew paler and paler, but his eyes had never looked more resolute, as if he genuinely believed the life he was giving up would lead the way to that ideal future.
[Dark Ritual Officiant, LP 4200 → LP 1200] Offering up 3000 Life Points meant Genesis, already sitting at 3000 ATK, would now reach a full 6000, twice the ATK of the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon!
Power that terrifying should have been enough to sweep away anything in its path!
But unfortunately, cruel reality sometimes refused to bend to human will.
Sometimes, no matter how unshakable your resolve, no matter how ready you were to sacrifice everything, none of it mattered in the end.
Faced with that arrogant, blood-red storm born of a life sacrificed, Summoned Skull simply swatted it aside with a casual backhand, as if to say— “—Sit.” BOOM!
The demon’s thunder shattered the crimson storm outright.
Vampire Genesis’s life-or-death strike was crushed with almost no effort at all, and Summoned Skull’s Descending Thunder, unstoppable and undiminished, tore straight through and struck the Dark Ritual Officiant himself.
The hooded man, already unsteady on his feet from having spent so much of his own Life Points, stood no chance against a lightning strike that domineering.
He was blasted clean off his feet in an instant, crashing hard onto the ground.
[Dark Ritual Officiant, LP 1200 → LP 0] The man lay sprawled on the ground, black smoke curling off his whole body, eyes wide with utter confusion.
“Wh…
why…?” He hadn’t hesitated to burn away his own life.
Genesis had a full 6000 ATK.
This attack should have been world-ending.
And yet, right now, staring clearly at the zeroed-out Life Points on his own Duel Disk, all he felt was a dizzying vertigo, like he’d been dropped straight into a nightmare.
“Such a shame,” Yushin said flatly.
“If you hadn’t been so wrapped up in the drama of your own self-sacrifice, or if you hadn’t been so drained you could barely think straight, you might actually have noticed.” The man, dazed, said, “Noticed what?” “The instant you declared your attack, my Trap already activated.” Yushin pointed at the last card left in his back row.
The man narrowed his eyes, straining to focus his blurring vision.
Let’s see…
Trap Card.
Amanojaku’s Curse.
For this turn only, reverses every effect that raises or lowers ATK or DEF…
…into the opposite!?!?
That’s right.
Right at the instant of the opponent’s Attack Declaration, Yushin had activated Amanojaku’s Curse.
Except, following the fine tradition of anime protagonists everywhere, activate the Trap and say nothing about it, he’d played it without a word of explanation.
Not only that, when he’d set the card, he’d deliberately placed it in the back-row slot directly behind Summoned Skull’s own Monster Zone.
That way, when the Trap activated, Summoned Skull’s own holographic projection would help block it from view, at least a little.
Yeah, he’d picked up this trick from a certain student named Jaden Yuki, the one who’d used Neos to block his own sneaky Trap activation.
This, too, was just part of how dueling worked in the anime world.
The Dark Ritual Officiant’s expression went blank, as if struck by lightning.
ATK-raising and lowering effects reversed, reversed…
Didn’t that mean that his final, desperate sacrifice of 3000 Life Points had actually lowered Vampire Genesis’s ATK by 3000 instead?
Which meant, at the exact instant battle occurred, Genesis’s ATK had actually been…
[Vampire Genesis, ATK 0] Having finally worked it out, the man collapsed completely, slumping to the ground, his head tipping back.
Pfft— He spat out a mouthful of blood.