“<Saffira, Queen of Dragons> didn’t opt to draw a card.” Zi Cai spoke with concern.
“Looks like Mu Ningning’s Deck doesn’t include any defensive hand traps.”
“A pure going-second OTK comp.”
“If she summoned <Natasha>, she could block the attack from <King of the Skull Servant>, but that would mean she couldn’t push through <Wightprincess> for lethal.”
“She got a bit ahead of herself.”
Hong Mi shifted the topic, shouting with excitement, “Wang Gu’s turn begins!”
“Three cards, can he make a comeback?”
“Another <King of the Skull Servant> with 8000 ATK incoming!”
“Whoooa———” The front-row audience waved glowsticks and support signs, while the back row pounded their seats in rhythm, generating a deafening roar.
“My turn, draw!” Wang Gu drew a card.
A gleam flashed in his eyes, and a slow smirk crept up his lips.
“Now this is a good card.”
He let out a cold laugh, and after a moment, slammed a card down: “Activate Spell Card, <One for One>!”
“Send <Wightprince> from my hand to the graveyard to Special Summon—”
“<Wightlord>!”
A beam of white light flashed, and a skeletal warrior cloaked in crimson emerged, drawing a rusted ancient sword that gleamed with an ominous chill.
Mu Ningning’s pupils dilated.
Her body went cold, as if sensing what was about to come.
“Activate <Wightprince>’s effect,” Wang Gu said coldly.
“Send <Skull Servant> and <The Lady in Wight> from the Deck to the graveyard.”
“Then activate <Wightlord>’s effect!”
“Send this card on the field to the graveyard to mill a number of cards from the top of my Deck equal to the number of <Skull Servants> or <King of the Skull Servants> in my graveyard.”
“There are seven <Skull Servants>/<King of the Skull Servant> cards in my graveyard.”
“Mill seven cards!”
“Seven-card mill?!” Mu Ningning turned pale instantly.
Tang Xin, Qin Dongzhu, and the others felt a sharp pang in their chests.
Wang Gu swept his arm forward, and seven phantom cards scattered through the air.
<Wightprince>
<Skull Servant>
<Dark Hole>
<King of the Skull Servant>
<Wightbaking>
<Mystical Space Typhoon>
<Wightlord>
“Hahahaha!” Wang Gu burst into laughter at the sight of the mill.
“Activate <Wightprince>’s effect!”
“Send <Skull Servant> and <The Lady in Wight> from the Deck to the graveyard.”
“Chain <Wightbaking>’s effect, add <King of the Skull Servant> and <Wightprincess> to my hand.
Then discard one card.”
With several shuffles, the graveyard piled even higher, releasing a ghastly black mist.
Above her head, the rationality meter tracking her mental state dropped rapidly from 75% to 66%.
“Below 70% now.” Mickey paused and tapped a few buttons on his wrist controller.
Several riot-control robots were dispatched and moved into standby near the duel arena.
Li Guanqi noticed the strange development and scribbled on Bai Zhi’s hand: “What does that 66% number mean?”
Even in duel in the anime, no such metric had ever appeared.
“That’s the Sanity Rate.” Bai Zhi explained.
“It monitors a Twin Shadow’s sanity fluctuations.
The higher it is, the more dominant the person is.”
“The lower it is, the more dominant the Shadow becomes.”
“If a Twin Shadow’s sanity rate drops below 50%, it’s very dangerous.”
“Twin Shadow?” Li Guanqi frowned, momentarily confused.
Bai Zhi pursed her lips, struggling to phrase it: “A Twin Shadow is someone who coexists symbiotically with a Ka.”
She tried to continue, but…
Wang Gu’s maniacal shout drew their attention: “Normal Summon———- <King of the Skull Servant>!”
A fierce wind howled as a majestic figure rose from a mountain of bones.
Dark cannons swirled around him, radiating an overwhelming aura.
“For each <King of the Skull Servant> and <Skull Servant> in my graveyard…”
“This card gains 1000 ATK!”
Dark energy surged around <King of the Skull Servant>.
His bones cracked and stretched, as if absorbing infinite resentment.
His body grew rapidly, in the blink of an eye towering ten meters tall.
<King of the Skull Servant> ATK: 0 -> 12000
“12,000 ATK.” Mu Ningning stared up at the giant, a chill rising from her feet to her skull.
Her sanity was slipping.
[62%]
[58%]
[55%]
As her rationality dropped, she began to hear chaotic whispers.
Voices that sounded like abyssal summons, demonic murmurs, hissing, coaxing, pulling at her mind.
“12,000 ATK!” Hong Mi shouted in excitement, oblivious to Mu Ningning’s dropping rationality.
This kind of thing was common in the Duelist League.
The audience exploded in chatter and exclamations.
“12k ATK?
That’s enough to annihilate Gods, flying or not!”
“Insane!
Insane!
Insane!”
“Pain Level 8, with 12,000 ATK?”
“Bianyuelong is down bad this round, first Jiang Yan fell, now Mu Ningning’s about to follow.”
“Battle Phase!” Wang Gu roared.
“<King of the Skull Servant>, attack <Saffira, Queen of Dragons>!”
King of the Skull Servant let out a furious roar, stretching out his skeletal arms.
Countless wailing spirits surged from all sides, slithering like serpents toward Saffira and Mu Ningning.
Mu Ningning’s face turned deathly pale, her blood drained.
King of the Skull Servant had 12,000 ATK, Saffira had 3500, that’s 8500 damage.
Pain simulation has three thresholds: 3000, 6000, and 10,000 damage.
8500 would trigger the second tier———– paralysis-grade trauma.
“Hang in there…” She staggered backward, trembling, her eyes glazing over.
Her rationality continued to fall, finally stopping at 52%.
In her subconscious mind, suffering physical trauma was preferable to her rationality dropping below 50%.
“Hahahaha———–!” Wang Gu suddenly laughed maniacally.
“I love watching you people cling to false hope!”
“Ah~ Struggle~”
“Come on!
You have to hold on to your sanity!”
“Hahahaha!”
“Activate the effect of the card in my hand, <Wightprincess>!” Wang Gu tossed out his final card.
“All monsters on the field lose ATK and DEF equal to their Level x300!”
A piercing wail of resentment echoed through the air.
<Seffira, Queen of Dragons>’s glow dimmed, ATK 3500 -> 1700.
<King of the Skull Servants>’s body swelled even further, ATK 12000 -> 13000 -> 12700.
“Damage: 11000.” Mu Ningning’s eyes went hollow.
A single instance of damage exceeding ten thousand triggers the third tier of pain-simulation shock.
Pain Level 8, Tier 3.
That means death.
Not pain, not injury, not madness———- death.
A sleep-from-which-you-don’t-wake kind of death.
Sanity Rate: 52% -> 48%
“No, no…” A second shadow suddenly appeared beneath Mu Ningning’s feet.
“Awaken, my friend!” Wang Gu laughed wildly, flinging his arm forward.
<King of the Skull Servants> struck <Seffira, Queen of Dragons> with a single claw.
The shockwave and torrent of resentful spirits surged toward Mu Ningning.
A shadowy image of <Cyber Angel Natasha> materialized over Mu Ningning, enveloping her entirely.
Boom———-!
Mu Ningning was blasted several meters away, slammed against the barrier, and bizarrely, remained completely unharmed.