“You passed your entire first turn with an empty field?” Yusuke asked.
“Pretty confident, aren’t you?” The Dark Ritual Priest gave him an assured look.
“My Duels are empowered by the blessing of our lord.
Such power is beyond the understanding of ordinary men.” Yusuke wasn’t particularly impressed.
He’d Set one card and passed.
There was no need to make it sound so mystical.
‘You’re only getting away with this because my card pool is garbage.’ If Yusuke had been allowed to bring one of the top-tier modern Decks from his previous life when he transmigrated, he would gladly have shown these primitive duelists what “beyond the understanding of ordinary men” really looked like.
“My turn—draw.” The Dark Ritual Priest had ended his turn without summoning a monster, leaving his field completely open.
That meant the trick was most likely hidden in his single Set card, perhaps some battle Trap waiting to punish a direct attack.
Yusuke understood the risk, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.
He didn’t have Mystical Space Typhoon or any similar Spell and Trap removal in his hand.
Actually, he didn’t have anything like that in his entire Deck.
Mystical Space Typhoon was an extremely useful generic card and naturally wasn’t cheap.
During the 5D’s era, back-row Spells and Traps still formed a major part of most Decks’ interaction, so outside of Turbo Duels, practically anyone who owned reliable Spell and Trap removal had every reason to play it.
Something as powerful as Heavy Storm, which could wipe out every Spell and Trap on the field at once, was even harder to get.
Still, knowing that the opponent had a Trap didn’t mean you could simply stare at it forever.
If you never stepped on the land mine, it would remain there indefinitely.
“I Normal Summon Assault Wyvern!” The bladed dragon spread its wings and descended onto Yusuke’s field.
[Assault Wyvern — ATK: 1800] Yusuke didn’t hesitate.
“Battle Phase.
Assault Wyvern, direct attack!” Assault Wyvern surged across the field, its metallic blades sweeping toward the hooded man.
Yusuke kept his eyes fixed on the Set card behind him.
‘All right.
Show me what you’ve got.’ More importantly…
‘Let’s see whether your Trap and I are destined to meet later.’ Yet to his surprise, the face-down card never moved.
Assault Wyvern crossed the entire field unopposed, its blade already within inches of the Dark Ritual Priest when a mass of black mist suddenly erupted from the man’s body.
The darkness swallowed Assault Wyvern whole.
The dragon gave a shrill cry and hurriedly beat its wings, retreating from the cloud.
More and more black mist poured from the priest’s mouth, nose, eyes, and ears.
Faint traces of bloody crimson swirled within it, as though the darkness were draining vitality directly from his body.
The mist gathered in front of him, twisting into a black vortex that settled over his field like a shield.
Yusuke frowned slightly.
The Set card hadn’t activated.
The Duel had only just begun, so the priest’s Graveyard was empty as well.
That left only one possibility capable of responding to the attack.
‘A hand trap?’ The Dark Ritual Priest’s eyes had turned completely crimson, glowing with an unnatural light.
He looked as though he had aged several years in the span of a few seconds, and his breathing had become heavy, yet an unmistakable excitement shone across his face.
“This is a cursed card that can only be wielded by sacrificing the duelist’s own life force.
It is said that none of its previous owners ever met a peaceful end.” His blood-red eyes gleamed.
“But if my life can serve as a foundation for the great work of our Order, what value does one insignificant life possess?” He slapped a Monster Card from his hand onto his Duel Disk.
“When a monster declares an attack, this card can Special Summon itself from my hand in Defense Position.” The black mist churned violently.
“O lonely bloodline condemned to wander beneath an eternal curse, take my blood as your offering and awaken—Vampire Fraulein!” The darkness slowly parted.
A young woman emerged beneath a black parasol, walking forward with the composed grace of an aristocrat.
She was strikingly beautiful, yet her complexion was so pale it was almost translucent.
Light golden hair framed a refined face, while her eyes glowed a deep crimson like freshly spilled blood.
Her long black dress was patterned with diamonds and lined in dark red, falling around a pair of long, pale legs.
[Vampire Fraulein — DEF: 2000] The elegant Gothic noblewoman had barely appeared before a suffocating pressure settled over the street.
Yet instead of being frightened by the ominous girl whose presence seemed better suited to a horror film than a card game, Yusuke’s eyes lit up with excitement.
‘He really does have a hand trap!’ There was a reason duelists said that no amount of preparation could completely protect you from hand traps.
Traditional Trap Cards had to be Set on the field before they could do anything.
A monster effect hidden safely in the opponent’s hand, however, could suddenly appear when you least expected it.
Hand traps from the early eras of Yu-Gi-Oh!
were nowhere near as efficient as their modern descendants.
The most famous early example was Yugi Muto’s Kuriboh, and most hand traps from those days primarily existed to interfere with attacks or reduce battle damage.
Even so, monsters capable of defending you directly from the hand had seen plenty of competitive use and were highly valued by duelists of the era.
After spending most of the day digging through Satellite’s miserable card pool without finding much that impressed him, suddenly seeing a monster with a genuine hand effect was enough to make Yusuke both surprised and delighted.
The Dark Ritual Priest had summoned his cursed trump card expecting Vampire Fraulein’s supernatural aura to intimidate his opponent, or at the very least earn a moment of surprise.
Instead…
Was that excitement on Yusuke’s face?
The priest couldn’t help himself.
“Can you not feel the power of this curse?” Why wasn’t this man frightened?
Yusuke’s answer only made things worse.
“That’s not right.” He stared intently at Vampire Fraulein.
“Why is my Fraulein in your Deck?” The Dark Ritual Priest fell silent.
“…” The nerve of this bastard!
He wasn’t even dead yet, and Yusuke was already looking at his card as though it belonged to him!
Was that remotely appropriate?
“Vampire Fraulein has more DEF than Assault Wyvern has ATK, so I’ll stop the attack,” Yusuke said.
“Then I Set one card and end my turn.” Under the rules of Duel Monsters, when the number of monsters on an opponent’s field changed during an attack, a Replay occurred.
The attacking player could then choose whether to continue the attack, select a new target if appropriate, or cancel the attack altogether.
“My turn—draw!” The Dark Ritual Priest was starting to get irritated.
He had revealed a trump card like Vampire Fraulein, a monster surrounded by genuine supernatural pressure and an aura straight out of a ghost story.
Most ordinary people would have felt at least some degree of fear.
Yusuke, on the other hand, hadn’t merely remained calm.
He was already wondering how to take the card for himself.
How could that not be infuriating?
“I Normal Summon Zombie Werewolf!” A silver-furred werewolf appeared on the field, its crimson eyes glowing beneath the night sky.
[Zombie Werewolf — ATK: 1200] “Next, I activate the Continuous Spell Spell Absorption.
Each time a Spell Card is activated, I gain 500 Life Points.” The Continuous Spell materialized behind his monsters.
“Then I immediately enter the Battle Phase!
Zombie Werewolf, attack Assault Wyvern!” [Zombie Werewolf — ATK: 1200] [Assault Wyvern — ATK: 1800] Zombie Werewolf seemed to pause for a moment.
If it could speak, it probably would have asked the obvious question.
‘You want me to attack that?’ The Dark Ritual Priest burst into laughter.
“I know exactly what you’re thinking!
Why would I deliberately attack a stronger monster with Zombie Werewolf?” Yusuke looked at him.
‘I wasn’t going to ask.’ “Because at this moment, Vampire Fraulein’s special ability activates!” The Dark Ritual Priest’s crimson eyes burned brighter.
“I offer up my own life force and turn my blood into power for my monster!”