Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

Chapter 1844 Tundra Storm (Not really)
【Shadowdew Myschel Leth】【10☆/Land】

[Mechanical Race/Fusion/Effect]

[2800/1000]

Hayato's base score plummeted after the appearance of [Shadowdome Misérable].

“Powerful cards often come with great risks,” Hayato said calmly. “The side effect of [Multi-Fused Fusion] is that I will lose Life Points equal to the combined ATK of the Extra Deck Fusion Material Monsters I use. Since [Shadowy Midrash] has an ATK of 2200, I will have 1800 Life Points left.”

"And, probably for the last time, I'll lower the level of [Five-Element Magician] and Special Summon [Level Thief Bug] from the Graveyard."

[Hayato Kobayashi: 4000→1800LP, hand card: 1→1]

[Five-Element Magician] [6☆/Dark→5☆/Dark] [ATK5500]

【Crystal Illusion Wing Synchronous Dragon】【ATK3000】

【Shadowdee Mystic】【ATK2800】

[Level Thief Bug] [ATK600]

As the Level Stealing Bug, which had just been sent to the graveyard by Multi-Layer Fusion, was resurrected, Hayato waved his hand again and said, "That's it, the preparations for battle are complete. I'm entering my battle phase!"

"First, use the [Five Array Magician] to attack [Master of Witchcraft - Sect Leader Vera]!"

"Secret Technique - Magic Bullet Quintet!"

The effect of 【Master Witchcraft Artist - Master Vera】 can be activated during battle with any Spellcaster-Type monster, but Hayato doesn't want to be countered and killed by Vera's monsters whose defense has suddenly increased when attacking with other monsters. The best way to deal with this effect is, like now, to directly use 【Five-Element Magician】, which has the highest attack power, to defeat 【Master Witchcraft Artist - Master Vera】 herself.

Vera either has to use up her effect now, or she'll be destroyed and unable to activate her effect to protect other Mage-type monsters later.

"Grumble, launching a full-scale attack right from the start? I guess being too charming isn't always a good thing." Vera saw through Hayato's plan, but still said narcissistically, "But if you think that's enough to defeat me, you're sorely mistaken. Don't underestimate your senior's wisdom!"

"While my attack and defense boosting effects can only be activated during damage calculation, I must activate this card in my graveyard before my opponent declares an attack!"

As she spoke, Vera took out a card from the graveyard. "Last turn, when Heine used [Monster Gate], he sent four cards to the graveyard, but at the end of his turn, he only recycled three of them with their respective effects—[Witchcraft Creation], [Witchcraft Cooperation], and [Witchcraft Alley].

"And now I'm using the last card that was sent to the graveyard with it, the Continuous Trap Card [Witchcraft's Guardian Spirit]!"

Behind Vera, a huge portrait rose up, depicting a stunningly beautiful and elegant witch—

Looking at the portrait of Vera rising up on the field, Hayato complained, "Have some shame! Is this how you describe a scene yourself and then add drama to your own portrait?"

"I don't want you to care!"

Vera blushed. The so-called "peerless beauty" description she had just made was actually just her way of introducing the card that had been raised. Patting the portrait, she couldn't help but say, "Besides, I was just as beautiful when I was young. What's wrong with telling the truth? Wouldn't you have some impure thoughts when you see someone as beautiful as me?"

However, after glancing at a certain part of the portrait, Hayato curled his lips into a disdainful smile: "His figure isn't even as good as my wife's."

Noticing Hayato's gaze lingering there, Vera blushed and said, "What did you say? My pectoral muscles are already quite large, okay? This is normal for a normal person. Any bigger ones are just useless burdens!"

"But, Lady Vera, didn't you try using the same secret technique before but failed—Eek! I, I didn't say anything!"

Heine's unconscious words backfired on Vera, who glared at him fiercely, and he quickly retracted what he had just said—unfortunately, everyone present had already heard it.

"Anyway, this is what I looked like when I was young. If I were here, I would definitely transform back to my original form to really amaze you. But now—" Vera paused, manipulating her staff-shaped duel disk to spit out a card, "The second effect of [Guardian Spirit of Witchcraft] cannot be activated the turn it is sent to the Graveyard. Banish this card from the Graveyard, target any number of my banished [Witchcraft] Spell Cards, and add those cards to my hand."

Vera had more than one [Witchcraft] monster banished, but unfortunately, [Witchcraft's Guardian Spirit] could only recycle Spell Cards. Therefore, she could only add [Witchcraft's Slacking Off], which Heine had banished using the effect of [Witchcraft Craftsman - Omni] in the previous turn, to her hand—and coincidentally, that card was the same one Vera used when she was slacking off.

"Hmm, they actually used my sleeping face as the card art. Oh well, I'll just treat it as an art photo shoot." The carefree, or rather, thick-skinned Vera quickly stopped caring about this and was about to add the card to her hand. "As long as I add this card to my hand, the attack and defense I can increase by my own effect will rise to a full 3000 points."

"Even if your [Five-Array Magician] comes, you won't fare well, and this effect lasts until the end of the turn. When it comes to strategy, you can't beat Lady Vera, hehehehe~"

Hearing Vera's sly laughter, Hayato snapped his fingers and said, "Don't start it, that's it."

"Huh!?" Just as Vera was about to grasp the card, the card that had appeared in front of her suddenly shattered into crystals and was banished again, failing to be added to her hand at all?
She looked up sharply at the thing that had stopped her, and there it was: the [Crystal Illusion Wing Synchronous Dragon]. It saw Vera looking at it and even giving Vera a provocative smile—if you could call it a mechanical smile on that crystal-covered face.

"【Crystal Illusion Wing Synchro Dragon】It evolved into its current form not just for looks! It's nothing but a graveyard card, watch me push it back!" Hayato waved his hand, "One of its effects is that it can only be activated once per turn when a Spell/Trap effect is activated, negating and destroying that activation!"

"In other words, you can still only use the two cards you currently have to fight against [Five-Card Magician]!"

Seeing that the [Five-Array Magician] was ready to attack, or rather, had already launched his attack, Vera frowned, but then relaxed: "Hmph, did you think you could suppress my momentum like this? Even if I am to be defeated, I will not give up so easily—at least I will show some of the momentum of 'Crystal of Great Sage' at the end!"

(The maid outfit Sandrian, the clothes even got bigger, the quality is really good)
Raising the two cards in her hand, Vera extracted the magic power from them, and the little girl's figure suddenly grew rapidly, transforming into a beautiful young woman in the blink of an eye. She launched her counterattack against the magic bullets falling from the sky, manipulated by the [Five Array Magician], "Using my own effect, I increase attack and defense power during battle damage calculation. Based on the two magic cards in my hand, the increase is 2000 points!"

[Master Witchcraft Craftsman - Sect Leader Vera] [DEF 2800 → 4800]

"Crystallization Magic - Tears of Light!"

The magic released by the now-grown-up Vera is noticeably stronger; she can even withstand attacks of the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon level. However, the problem is that the Five Elements Magician's attack power, after receiving the power of the Summoner Aleister, has surpassed that of the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and even the Five Divine Dragons!
With an attack power of up to 5500 points, it was devastating. In just a moment, it shattered all of Vera's counterattack magic bullets and directly hit Vera's body, sending her flying away from the arena and landing where the duelist was.

"Hmph, hmph, ughhhh~"

Seeing Vera instantly revert to her original form as a little brat, sprawled on the ground, screaming and emitting a foul stench, Hayato retorted, "Are you trying to scam me? You were clearly in defense mode; you wouldn't cause any battle damage, okay?" "But it hurts so much to be destroyed!" Vera rubbed her eyes hard, trying to squeeze out tears, but could only manage a weak redness. "That's so heartless! How could you hit such a beautiful and cute girl like me so hard!"

"What nonsense is this hundred-year-old woman spouting?" Beside Hayato, Alai couldn't help but lean forward and retort, "Why is this old woman acting like a virgin?"

"To be able to use this Chess and Tome reference, Alai, you're not exactly young either." Hayato shook his head and pointed to the next card. "Then next up is [Crystal Clear Wing Synchro Dragon]'s attack on [Witchcraft Artisan: Tailor Heine]—Clear Crystal Flame!"

【Witchcraft Craftsman - Tailor Heine】 has standard high attack and low defense stats. After all, it's impossible to give a perfect stat sheet after providing useful targeting resistance and speed-up card destruction. Only with its 1000 defense and the buff from Vera's effect can it possibly match the attack power of 【Crystal Phantom Synchro Dragon】. But now that Vera herself has been destroyed, it is simply no match for the latter.

A transparent laser beam was spat out from the mouth of the Crystal Phantom Wing Synchro Dragon. The seemingly harmless impact created a large cluster of crystals upon contact with the air. Although Heine immediately released the floating needles on his magic control staff to counterattack, he was not a Newtype pilot of the same caliber as Am O. Faced with such an attack, he could not even hold out for a moment before being destroyed as well.

However, compared to Vera who was directly knocked away, Heine only took two steps back to almost offset the impact. Since she couldn't stand on the field as a monster card and couldn't take over the duel that was actually being played by Vera, she simply jogged a couple of steps away from the field and ran to the side to continue watching the battle.

"Why didn't you come and help me up, Heine!"

"Eh!?" Like a student who had been daydreaming in class and was called by the teacher, Heine was startled by Vera's shout. "I...I...I thought Lady Vera was lying there on purpose."

"Because Lady Vera, you can find a comfortable angle to lie down and sleep anywhere," Vera said with a soft laugh, covering her mouth as the only remaining [Endymion's Handmaid - Jenny] on the field.

"Even Jenny, you're making fun of me! You're finished, I'm not helping you anymore!" Vera said angrily, looking at Hayato, "Attack now! Attack now! Quickly use any of your monsters to teach Jenny a lesson!"

“I don’t need you to tell me how to do this.” Hayato snapped his fingers. “[Level Stealing Bug] attack, Star-level Blast!”

"Well then, I'll be leaving now~" Jenny smiled nonchalantly, watching the series of "high-speed stars" released from the [Level Stealing Bug]'s body, letting them repel her, and then her body transformed into a bird in mid-air and flew into the sky and disappeared.

"Hey, why did you have to put on such a grand exit!" Vera complained, clutching the card of [Endymion's Handmaid - Jenny], but the latter didn't respond at all.

After three consecutive attacks, Hayato only had [Shadowdos Mystic Evil] left on the field that had not yet attacked, while Vera's side had also had all her monsters cleared, leaving her with no defensive means except for one face-down card that had not yet been revealed.

"Hmph, a mere 2800 attack points, go ahead and attack, I'm not afraid of such a small amount of damage." Vera said contemptuously, looking at [Shadowbringer - Mystic Evil].

Hayato glanced at Vera and nodded, saying, "There's really nothing to worry about. I'll just attack directly."

"Full computing power activated, artificial apocalypse—simulated black hole—released!"

Pressing something on the floating panels in front of him, a large number of metallic constructs appeared out of thin air around [Shadowdress Messiahre], seemingly some kind of computing unit. The enormous computing power was invoked along with the yellow-green lights that lit up. [Shadowdress Messiahre] mimicked the casting of spells with the machines in front of him like a spellcaster, and an inconspicuous black hole was materialized in his hands.

With a push forward, the miniature but incredibly powerful black hole was freed from its constraints. The immense gravity distorted and shattered the air. Seeing the black hole advancing towards her, Vera's indifferent expression vanished, replaced by a delighted smile: "It actually attacked! You fell for it, kid!"

"My final face-down card is a powerful Trap Card that can only be activated when the opponent's monster declares a direct attack—[Ripple Shield - Wave Power]!"

A blue energy shield, also known as "Water Reversal," unfolded in front of Vera, who wore an arrogant smile of utter confidence: "The appearance of a direct attack basically means that the opponent has an overwhelming advantage in the number of monsters I have, but the card [Ripple Shield - Wave Power -] can reverse everything, that is—return all the Attack Position monsters on the opponent's field to the owner's deck!"

"Your [Crystal Illusionary Synchro Dragon] effect is indeed strong, but it can only negate and destroy the activation of my Spell & Trap Card effects once per turn. Now that you've already used it on [Witchcraft's Guardian Spirit], all your monsters will be bounced back into your deck!"

"Whether it's the [Level Stealing Bug] that can keep regenerating, the [Five-Element Magician] with its super-powerful attack, the [Crystal Illusion Wing Synchro Dragon] that has exhausted its only means of counterattack, or the [Shadowdress Mystic Hera] that is about to attack me, victory ultimately belongs to me, Lady Vera!"

By clearing Hayato's cards with "Water Reversal," no matter what Hayato thinks during Main Phase 2, he won't be able to field any powerful lineups anymore. Then, as soon as Vera's turn ends, the several "Witchcraft" cards in her graveyard will return to her hand, making it easy for her to Special Summon monsters with over 1800 ATK on the field again—because Hayato's Life Points are only 1800 at this point.

"Hmph, it seems I'm still stronger. You little brat, you're such a weakling!"

As the [Ripple Shield - Wave Power -] was triggered by the attack released by [Shadowdome Mystic Evil], the blue ripples repelled the monsters on Hayato's field one by one back into the deck. Vera shouted, but when she saw [Shadowdome Mystic Evil] still standing next to Hayato, she was stunned.

"That monster, why?"

"Don't even think about pushing me away from Hayato!" [Shadowbringer Mystic] said fiercely to Vera, looking like a loyal dog guarding its food. "He belongs to me!"

"There's no need to make such a strong statement." Hayato explained, looking at Vera's puzzled expression. "Unfortunately, cards like 'Water Reversal' are ineffective against Xiaomi. Shouldn't we call it 'Big Rice' now?"

"The [Shadowdome Mystic Evil] on the field is unaffected by the effects of Spell & Trap Cards activated by the opponent, and is also unaffected by the effects of opponent monsters whose original Level is lower than this card. It can be considered as 'pseudo-all-resistance' - this effect comes from [Materialism]."

(Source of the effects of rice)
"That kind of excessive resistance. Tch, really troublesome." Vera showed a displeased expression when she saw that [Ripple Shield - Wave Power -] had failed to clear Hayato's area and left behind [Shadowdome Mystic Evil]. It was like seeing a toilet flushed but not all the stains washed away, with some stubborn dirt still sticking to the wall. "But like I said before, it's only 2800 points of attack power!"

"It's only 2800 points? But I need to remind you that [Shadowdew Mystic Evil] is no longer a mage, but a machine monster."

Hearing Hayato's words, Vera gave him a deadpan look: "You can still realize this, a user of a 'pure magician deck'? So what if you're not a magician but a machine?"

"Of course it's because the Machine race has a super classic Quick-Play Spell Card specifically designed for high-damage attacks!" Hayato took out his last card, waved it around, and inserted it into the Spell & Trap Zone. "Quick-Play Spell Card—[Limit Removal] activated!"

"【Shadowdew Mystic】's attack power is doubled until the end of the turn!"

The "pseudo-all resistance" that "Rice" possesses only means that it is not affected by the effects of the opponent's activated magic and trap cards. She can still be affected by the effects of the cards activated by Hayato. The moment Hayato played the card, the light emitted by those computing units instantly changed from yellow-green to red, obviously entering an overload state, and the pseudo-black hole suddenly expanded to twice its size!
【Shadowdew - Mystic Hreiz】【ATK 2800→5600】

Seeing that the attack power of [Shadowbringer - Mystic Here] had doubled, Vera knew that something was terribly wrong. She swallowed hard and quickly pleaded with Hayato, "Hee, can we make peace?"

"At this moment? You must be joking." Hayato showed no mercy, at least not to an old man like Vera who was three or four times his age. "A little brat like you deserves to be brutally murdered!"

As Hayato extended one finger to the sky with each hand, as if gesturing "You're about to lose this much health," the attack from [Shadowdew Messiah] struck Vera, instantly obliterating her in a single breath!
[Veer: 4000LP→0]

"Hayato Kobayashi, Win!" As Hayato clasped his fists together in a victory pose, [Shadowbringer Mystic] beside him provided the perfect narration.

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