Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

"Quick-Play Spell Card [Light Piercing the Primal Stone] activated!"

Manjoume plays a spell card and reveals the "Original Stone Dragon - Variant Emerald Stone Dragon" that he just retrieved from the Graveyard. "You can reveal one 'Original Stone' card other than 'Original Stone's Light' or one Normal Monster card from my hand to your opponent, and then target one face-up card on the field."

"I've chosen the [King of Mist] on the opponent's field!"

In Manjoume's memory, the [King of Mist], with its ability to lock down and release monsters, was somewhat troublesome because his deck contained many monsters that required Tribute Summoning to be summoned, such as [Dragon of Light and Darkness] and [Primal Dragon - Imperial Jade Dragon]. However, the presence of the [King of Mist] would prevent those monsters from being summoned.

Therefore, even though the [King of Mist] only had 0 attack power, Manjoume still chose to nullify and exclude it.

However, linked with the [Original Stone's Light Piercing], Amon waved his hand and said, "In that case, I'll link [Original Stone's Light Piercing] to activate my back row face-down card—counter-trap [Divine Judgment]!"

On the field, the white-bearded old man appeared, waving his hand and repeatedly shouting "No way!" His power easily blocked the invincible [Original Stone's Light Piercing], rendering Manjou's attack ineffective.

However, powerful cards often come with great risks, and the risk of the card [Divine Judgment] lies in its activation cost—

"I must pay half of my Life Points to activate [Divine Judgment], which can negate and destroy the activation of Spell/Trap Cards. I can also negate and destroy my opponent's [Original Stone Light].

[Amon Garram: 3200→1600LP, Hand: 3]

"You're not stingy at all with spending Life Points to use cards." Watching Amon play cards like "Premature Burial" and "Divine Declaration" one after another, which require Life Points to activate, Manjoume raised an eyebrow. "But in doing so, you won't have a single card left in your back row, and there's also a "Lord of the Mist" on the field that has 0 ATK but is still in Attack Position."

“Although there are three Royal Magic Library cards that can act as walls, the Mist King with 0 attack power is an obvious weak point. Wouldn’t that mean even my E-Hero could defeat Amon directly through attack?” Jaden said strangely from the sidelines.

“But Amon Garram isn’t that kind of duelist, even if he’s a bit out of his mind right now.” O’Brien looked at the Field Spell Card. “Could it be that his reliance is that Field Spell Card that sounds like it has some synergy with [Lord of the Mist]—[Lord of the Mist Castle]?”

"Tsk, what a pity, I didn't draw any cards that target the back row." Manjoume was also a little annoyed that he didn't draw any cards like [Whirlwind]. Otherwise, he could have used [Whirlwind] to remove field spell cards, or used [Whirlwind] to clear the back row face-down cards before banishing [King of Mist] from the field.

However, there are ways to play without [Whirlwind]. Even though [King of Mist] hasn't been dealt with yet, it doesn't mean that Manjoume can't play his cards. His deck isn't limited to Tribute Summoning. While he does need some Liberation, it's not a necessity.

"A mere 1600 Life Points and only three 'Sealed' monsters in my hand. Whether you're just bluffing or you really have something to rely on, I'll just summon a monster first." The monster that was just shown was summoned by Manjoume. "My 'Original Stone Dragon - Variant Emerald Stone Dragon' has 1600 ATK, just enough to wipe out your Life Points. I will Normal Summon it!"

[Original Stone Dragon - Variant Green Cypress Stone Dragon] [4 stars/land]

[Dragon Clan/Effect]

[1600/0]

After summoning the monster, Manjoume waved his hand and said, "Next, when [Primal Stone Dragon - Variant Emerald Stone Dragon] is summoned, I will activate its first effect. I can set one [Primal Stone] Spell/Trap Card from my Deck to the field. I choose to set the Continuous Spell Card [Primal Stone Royal Vein] to the back row."

He reached out to the Duel Disk, waiting for it to retrieve the card he needed so he could catch it and place it face-down in the back row. But even as Manjoume finished speaking, the card he wanted to retrieve never popped out of the Duel Disk—not even the Duel Disk's automatic shuffling system was running, as if there were no cards in Manjoume's deck that he could retrieve.
"Huh? The machine is malfunctioning?" Manjoume frowned as he glanced down at the Duel Disk. "What's going on? I brought it here fully charged. But... everything else is working perfectly?"

“It has nothing to do with the machine, Manjoume is right.” Seeing that Manjoume was about to pull out his deck and manually search for cards like other people using mass-produced Duel Disks, Amon said, “Although you and Jaden Yuki both have special perspectives, the scenery that others cannot see has not brought you any broad understanding. Instead, your will is bound by the past shaped by human society, just like mine.”

"Could it be that you did something?" Manjoume looked up at Amon, his gaze sweeping over the cards on the field before settling on the Field Spell Card [King of Mist] behind Amon. "Is it because of... that Field Spell Card?"

“Because of the education I received, I’m filled with aversion to anything I haven’t learned; because of the values ​​shaped by my upbringing, I can’t act freely even in a free world; because I’ve seen the former ‘King of the Mist,’ I subconsciously feel it can’t be him.” Amon shook his head, raised his Duel Disk, and said, “Isn’t the answer right here on my field? This is the true power of the ‘King of the Mist’—not catalyzed by Yubel’s power, but the power awakened after truly giving birth to himself!”

(OCG version)
"The abilities of the [King of Mist] in the past were merely that, as a Level 7☆ monster, he could summon monsters using only one tribute or even without any tributes, and his attack power would become the sum of the original attack power of the tribute monsters. He could also seal all releases of both sides as long as he existed in the Monster Zone."

"But now the true effect of [King of the Mist] is that while [King of the Mist Castle] is on the field, [King of the Mist] can be summoned without any tributes. As long as this card is face-up in Attack Position on the field, the effects of all other Effect Monsters on the field will be negated!"

In the past, Amon's "King of Mist" was just an effect of "Sacrifice Sealing Mask," and while the suppression effect of not being able to release cards was not nonexistent, it wasn't particularly strong. However, the current effect of "King of Mist" is practically a "Skill Drain," indiscriminately negating the effects of all monsters on both sides.

No wonder that when Manjoume saw the [King of Mist] appear, the magic indicators on the [Royal Magic Library] characters on Amon's field dimmed. Although they didn't disappear, they were just in an inactive state. Manjoume thought it was because his [Clown and Locked Bird] had blocked the effect of the card draw.

This also explains why the [Original Stone Dragon - Variant Emerald Stone Dragon] failed to activate the automatic search system in Manjoume's Duel Disk, because its effect was already nullified the moment it appeared, so it could not search for cards.

"Tsk, you're quite the schemer. I wasted my Normal Summon by getting caught out by your information gap." Manjoume said unhappily. "No, thinking about it this way, you seemed to have mentioned two effects of [Lord of the Mist], but could you be hiding other effects, planning to ambush me again after I enter the battle phase?"

Although the ability of the Attack Position [King of Mist] to negate the effects of all monsters on the field is strong, Manjoume felt that it was still not enough to make Amon so bold as to place [King of Mist] on the field in Attack Position. In fact, Amon even paid out 1600 Life Points, which seemed dangerous. It made people feel that he must have some traps up his sleeve, waiting for Manjoume to step on them.

"It's just a negation effect that blocks monsters on the field. As long as [Primal Stone Dragon - Variant Emerald Stone Dragon] leaves the field, its effect will take effect." Manjoume said, picking up the card [Primal Stone Dragon - Variant Emerald Stone Dragon]. "Even if the first effect is negated, I still have this card's second effect to use."

"I will Tribute this card and send a Normal Monster from my Deck to the Graveyard. My choice is Diamond Dragon."

This time, the automatic retrieval system worked normally, popping the card "Wan Zhang Mu" from the deck. He caught it and sent it to the graveyard.

Then, Manjoume retrieved it from the graveyard along with two other cards, and at the same time, played another card from his hand.

"Next, I activate the Spell Card [Dragon's Mirror]. This card is a Fusion Spell Card for Dragon-Type Fusion Monsters. It can banish monsters from my field or Graveyard as Fusion Materials for Fusion Summoning!"

"The fusion materials must be a Primal Stone Monster plus one or more Normal Monsters. Primal Stone Dragon - Variant Beryl Dragon and the Normal Monster Emerald Dragon in my Graveyard are excluded as fusion materials!"

"The earth's ley lines tremble, the planet pulsates, and the most magnificent dragon will be awakened beneath the ultimate radiance!"

"Fusion Summon, Level 8☆!"

After playing a monster card, Manjoume shouted, "Roar!—[Primal Dragon - Underground Garnet Dragon]!" [Primal Dragon - Underground Garnet Dragon] [8☆/Earth]

[Dragon/Fusion/Effect]

[1600/0]

Seeing that the attack power of the [Primal Stone Dragon - Underground Yellow Arsenic Garnet Dragon] he had fused and summoned was still unchanged at 1600 points, Manjoume snorted coldly: "As expected, you lied when you were talking about the effect just now."

"Although you just said that the effect of [King of Mist] is to negate the effects of other monsters 'activated', the effect of [Primal Dragon - Underground Arsenic Garnet Dragon] is permanent and does not require activation. It could have increased its ATK by 1000 points per monster based on the number of Normal Monsters in the Fusion Material Monsters, which is a final ATK of 2600 points, but its current ATK is still 1600 points."

Pointing at Amon, Manjoume said, "In other words, the effect of [King of Mist] is not actually to nullify the 'activated' effect, but rather to truly nullify all other monster effects, just like [Skill Drain]!"

Amon, now exposed, pushed up his glasses: "You didn't believe me so easily, did you? Wan Zhangmu is very perceptive; your vigilance is truly remarkable."

"Well, what can I do? The opponent is a madman who infuriates me. But even after I exposed the truth, you're still not flustered at all? [Original Stone Dragon - Underground Yellow Arsenic Garnet Dragon] is the same monster I used in our last duel." After organizing his remaining cards, Manjoume said, "So, as expected—[King of Mist] or your [King of Mist Castle] still has a hidden effect that hasn't been revealed? It's just like the environment here, making everyone confused. It's really infuriating."

Although his anger was growing stronger, Manjoume controlled it well and channeled it into the duel: "Although I still have other plans, at least for now, I will go straight into the battle phase and use [Primal Dragon - Underground Arsenic Garnet Dragon] to attack [King of the Mist]!"

Sometimes, simple operations can produce good results. Instead of summoning a large number of monsters, since there are already monsters on the field with enough attack power to clear Amon's Life Points, there is no need to Special Summon more monsters. Attacking directly like this is also a good choice.

Unfortunately, the [Original Stone Dragon - Underground Yellow Arsenic Garnet Dragon] might not be able to defeat the [King of Mist], which seems to have an attack power of only 0.

Just as Manjoume declared the start of the battle and issued the attack command, the fog on Amon's field suddenly became even thicker, with some of the fog even connecting to the cloak on the shoulders of the [King of Fog], almost completely obscuring his figure.

The [Primal Stone Dragon - Underground Yellow Arsenic Garnet Dragon] with its boundless gaze spat out a beam cannon. When it struck the [King of Mist], the mist wasn't easily dispersed. Instead, the seemingly thin mist transformed into a tangible barrier, easily blocking the heavy attack. As a result, when the [King of Mist] raised its sword to attack the incoming beam cannon, its power was reduced to almost nothing, and it was easily sliced ​​through by the sword in its hand!
"Nani!?"

Not only that, but to Manjoume's astonishment, the [King of Mist] charged back at the [Primal Dragon - Underground Arsenic Garnet Dragon] with its sword raised. Dodging the latter's claws, it leaped up, sword raised to its chest, and pierced the [Primal Dragon - Underground Arsenic Garnet Dragon]'s chest with a single blow. The dying [Primal Dragon - Underground Arsenic Garnet Dragon] then smashed itself into dissipating mist with a single claw strike!

"They actually died together!?"

"It's not a mutual destruction." Just as Jaden expressed his doubt, Amon's voice came from the thick fog. Then, the fog began to gather and actually reassembled on Amon's field into the "King of Fog," which had just been "killed" by a single claw from the "Original Stone Dragon - Underground Arsenic Garnet Dragon"!
However, its location was different from before; it moved to another monster area that was empty on Amon's field, and one of the fireballs burning on the [King of Mist Castle] behind Amon was extinguished.

“The King of Mist wasn’t destroyed, could it be that it’s an effect that can’t be destroyed in battle?” O’Brien wondered, but then he dismissed it. “No, even if a monster can’t be destroyed in battle, the damage calculation will still be performed, but Amon’s base score hasn’t changed and is still 1600 points.”

"It's the combination of the effects of [King of Mist] itself and [King of Mist Castle], right?" Manjoume said with certainty, as if he had already confirmed the answer. "During the battle, [King of Mist Castle] did not appear to change at all. That is to say, the 'mutual destruction' of [King of Mist] and my [Primal Stone Dragon - Underground Yellow Arsenic Garnet Dragon] was achieved by [King of Mist] through its own effects. And [King of Mist Castle] only changed after [King of Mist] 'revived'."

"Hmph, although I haven't had many opportunities to show off, I, Mr. Manjoume, am a super dueling detective, and I'm extremely good at deduction!"

“You guessed right.” Even though he wanted to mislead, after Manjoume had already analyzed the situation to a great extent, Amon knew he couldn’t hide it from him, so he simply explained, “The third effect of [King of Mist] is the only effect he needs to activate—it can be activated when battling an opponent’s monster, and during damage calculation, the attack power of both monsters becomes 1.”

"So, the [King of Mist] was able to 'perish together' with the [Primal Stone Dragon - Underground Arsenic Garnet Dragon]." Jaden understood part of the situation just now. "That effect is quite effective against aggressive decks—but what about the [King of Mist's] 'resurrection'?"

“That wasn’t a resurrection. To be precise, the King of Mist was never destroyed in the first place.” Amon looked behind him and said, “When the Field Spell Card King of Mist is activated, it places five Tower Counters on the card. If a monster on my field is destroyed, I can remove one Tower Counter as a replacement for the destruction of another monster.”

"In that situation, the monster needs to be moved to another monster zone. After that, as long as [Lord of the Mist] is on my field, the monster zone where that monster was originally located becomes unusable. If there are other monsters in the monster zone after that monster is moved, the monster in the target monster zone is destroyed and that monster zone becomes unusable."

"So, one card can replace five destructions? That's incredibly durable, almost on par with the Greek hero Hercules." Manjoume scoffed. "Forcibly sealing other people's effects, forcibly reducing other people's attack power to your level and then destroying them together, and then relying on a Field Spell Card to prevent himself from being destroyed, what kind of 'king' is that?"

“Therefore, this card is called [King of the Mist]. It seems like a king, but it is actually hollow inside and lacks real power to support it.” Amon looked at the card in his hand. “That’s why I need the power of [Exodia] to fill the void in this card.”

"Is that so? So you were talking about the [King of Mist]. I thought you were introducing yourself. After all, you're just like that [King of Mist] – someone who seems to have the desire to become a 'king' but is actually empty inside. Even that desire itself is as illusory as 'mist' given to you by others."

Wan Zhangmu quipped sarcastically, then pulled a card from his deck. "And you don't actually think my [Primal Dragon - Underground Arsenic Garnet Dragon] is only good for probing your [King of Mist], do you? It won't be sacrificed in vain. It can activate its third effect when [Primal Dragon - Underground Arsenic Garnet Dragon] is sent from the field to the graveyard!"

"Special Summon a Normal Monster from my Deck in Defense Position to the field, and Special Summon 'Triceratops' from my Deck!"

Because the "Original Stone" card set includes powerful cards like "Original Stone Dragon - Imperial Topaz Dragon," which can banish monsters of the same attribute from the opponent's field based on the attribute of a Normal Monster in the Graveyard, Manjoume's deck also includes many Normal Monsters of various attributes—of course, they are all Dragon-type monsters.

[Triceratops] [DEF2350]

After the previous WIND-attribute "Emerald Dragon" and LIGHT-attribute "Diamond Dragon", this time he Special Summoned the DARK-attribute "Triceratops" from his deck to Defense Position. After placing the card, he said, "The effect of 'Lord of the Mist' is to negate the effects of monsters on the field and reduce their ATK to the same level. In other words, as long as a Normal Monster is on the field in Defense Position, the effect of 'Lord of the Mist' is rendered useless."

"Then how are you going to win?" Amon countered. "While the [Lord of the Mist] is good at defense but not offense, if you keep your monsters in defense position, you still won't be able to clear out my remaining Life Points. And as long as it's my turn, I can continue to use the effects of the [Royal Magic Library] to draw cards from my deck until I draw all five [Sealed] cards and unlock the power of [Exodia]!"

Although he had more basic points and hand resources than Amon, Manjou knew that Amon was right. Delaying the opponent was his disadvantage, because no one knew how many more draws Amon would need to collect [Exodia]. It might only take two turns or even one turn, while he didn't have a second [Clown and Lock Bird] to stop the opponent.

【万丈目准：4000LP，手牌：6→5→4→3】

However—he, Manjou, was not the kind of coward who would actually adopt the tactic of sitting and waiting for death; he naturally had his own reasons for doing so now.

"My battle phase is over, and I'm now entering my main phase two." Since the duel couldn't be decided directly in the battle phase, Manjoume simply entered the main phase two to continue his strategy. "I can only activate this spell card, [Advanced Draw], by Tributing a face-up Level 8 or higher monster on my field. I draw two cards from my deck. For this, I Tribute [Triceratops]."

Drawing out two cards, Manjoume's eyes lit up when he saw one of them, and he laughed out loud: "The so-called 'fog' is that kind of thing. When you don't know what the truth behind the hazy fog is, you can still create some sense of horror. But once you know the truth, you can no longer be afraid. Your deck is the same in this respect."

"The biggest threat to the [Exodia] deck lies only in the moment when your opponent is unaware of your winning strategy and carelessly lets you draw cards at will. Now that I know your deck's winning method, all that effort is in vain!" Manjoume laughed, displaying the card in his hand. "The proof is this card—the spell card [Heavenly Obedience]!" (End of Chapter)