Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Hmph, you're not the only one who can Special Summon monsters from the Graveyard. The [Supreme Sun] that was destroyed before was Special Summoned again on my field because of its own effect." Seeing Hayato's enthusiastic summoning, Tragodia also took a card from the Graveyard and summoned it to the field.

The demon of the sun has reappeared, but with a slight difference: the resurrected Supreme Sun was Special Summoned by Tragodia in Defense Position.

【Supreme Sun】【DEF3000】

After both players completed their Special Summon, before Hayato's Main Phase began, Tragodia spoke up with a cold smile: "During your Standby Phase, I'm going to use the effect of this 'Hansel and Gretel' on my back field. It can only be activated during your opponent's Standby Phase, increasing the ATK of all monsters on your opponent's field by 600. I'll let you have a taste of its power first."

A miniature house made of cookies, cream, and candy stands in the backfield of Tragodia, from which icing is sprinkled onto the three monsters on Hayato's field.

[Herbivorous Rhinoceros] [ATK 2700 → 3300]

[Herbivorous Sundew Lizard] [ATK 600 → 1200]

[Predatory Plant - Pitcher Plant] [ATK200→800]

"A card that actively increases the opponent's monster's attack power?" Guiping frowned and said in confusion, "The attack power of [Predatory Plant - Rhinoceros Horned Dragon] is now higher than that of [Blue-Eyes White Dragon]. As long as it attacks [Lava Burner], it can easily deal more than 1000 battle damage, clear the opponent's Life Points, and end the duel. Is this some kind of new kind of suicide behavior that I don't understand?"

"Just like how Hayato used the opponent's card and became a bad example, in addition to not using the opponent's cards, it's best not to happily accept the buffs from the opponent, since no one knows if the card the opponent puts face down in the back row will be a card like 'Magic Cylinder'."

The seahorse paused, then added, "Especially when the other party is still sarcastically praising your monster as 'so strong, too strong'."

"The increased attack power from [Hanselhouse] won't be refunded at the end of the turn, but miracles and magic are never free. Let yourself rot in your sweetness." Tragodia grinned maliciously, raising his hand in a clenched fist. "After the attack power boost, all monsters on your opponent's field with an attack power higher than 2500 will be destroyed, and each destroyed monster will become part of me, restoring my Life Points!"

"Die, you [Rhinoceros Horned Dragon]!"

Amidst Tragodia's resentful cries, the icing attached to the [Rhinoceros Horned Dragon] absorbed water and clumped together, actually squeezing all the moisture out of the [Predatory Herbivore-Rhinoceros Horned Dragon]'s body. The vines and flowers withered and crumbled, and the [Rhinoceros Horned Dragon] was destroyed and sent to the graveyard.

At the same time, the magic power that had been sealed and plundered by the power of the [Rhinoceros Horned Dragon] returned to Tragodia.

“One of the monsters was destroyed, so my base score has been restored to 500 points.” The pleasant feeling made Tragodia want to burst into song, but it resisted the urge and spoke instead.

[Tragodia: 1000→1500LP]

Feeling the power that had died return to its body, and magic filling its entire being once more, Tragodia regained its confidence. As an elf, it was already an immortal being, fearing nothing except being sealed. After all, it had been imprisoned in the stone slab for three thousand years, and the power-stripping effect of the [Rhinoceros Horned Dragon] was what it feared most, involuntarily recalling its past terrors.

But now, although those troublesome vines are still hanging on my body, with the blessing of magic, my body feels so light and I have nothing to be afraid of anymore!

Thinking this, Tragodia noticed that the Supreme Sun beside him was also entwined with vines.

[Supreme Sun] [10☆→1☆]

"Was the effect of placing a predator activated before it was destroyed?" Tragodia remembered the effect of [Rhinoceros Horned Dragon], which, in addition to the permanent nullification effect, also had the ability to place a predator. "But since [Rhinoceros Horned Dragon] has already been destroyed and sent to the graveyard, placing a predator is completely meaningless."

"Is that so? Let's wait and see." Hayato simply smiled coldly, offering no answer.

In just the preparation stage, Hayato and Tragodia played several cards in succession, making Kaiba, who was watching, very itchy to play cards, as if he had a card addiction. He wished he could drag Tragodia away immediately to play cards with Hayato in his place.

This was the first time he'd seen Hayato use the [Predatory Plant] deck. Although it looked fierce, it was much better than [Inferno Machine], which recklessly released other players' monsters; [Half-Dragon Maid], which seemed impossible to kill no matter how much it bounced around in the hand, graveyard, and field; and [Gaia], which always appeared alongside [Super Polymerization]. He really wanted to play against Hayato using this deck; it was a rare opportunity for a deck that offered direct combat...

Just as Kaiba was thinking this, he heard Hayato say, "That Supreme Sun has actually reappeared. It's so ugly that it makes me want to vomit."

"That's what I meant to say, but I'll activate the effect of [Nepenthes Pterodactyl] and take that monster that actually looks pretty cool since it's about to be mine!"

"The effect of [Nepenthes Pterodactyl], I remember it's..." Upon hearing Hayato's words, Tragodia recalled for a moment, but his expression changed. "Until the end of the turn, gain control of an opponent's monster of a level lower than its own? Damn it, was it placed as a Predator Counter just for that effect!?"

"Didn't you just say my monster was hideous?!"

"You must be mistaken. How could I say something like that to that handsome monster?" Hayato feigned innocence, his double standards evident as if he thought a certain smoke mirror was ugly before he drew it, but then desperately tried to find something about it that was actually quite handsome after he did. "Besides, that's clearly my monster!"

Upon hearing that Hayato had presumptuously claimed [Supreme Sun] as his own monster, Tragodia was furious. However, seeing [Supreme Sun] being pulled towards Hayato's field by the unyielding vines wrapped around it, Tragodia activated its backrow face-down card without hesitation: "Unlike that idiot brat Pegasus Night Walk, this monster has no special meaning to me."

"Rather than letting you take it and then use it against me, I'd rather squeeze every last drop of its value out of it now!"

"Trap Card, [Dark Deck Destruction Virus]!"

Just as [Supreme Sun] was about to fall into Hayato's hands, a dangerous, pitch-black toxin emanated from [Supreme Sun] as the back row card of Tragodia was opened. This toxin spread instantly upon contact with the ground, affecting Hayato's back row, hand, and even his deck!

"I can activate this [Dark Deck Destruction Virus] by Tributing one DARK monster with 2500 or more ATK on my field and declaring it to be a Spell or Trap Card. I declare a Spell Card." Tragodia said with a sneer, "I will check all the Spell and Trap Cards on my opponent's field, their hand, and all the cards they have drawn in the last three turns (calculated from their turn)."

"Within that area, all the cards of the declaration type were destroyed!"

As Tragodia finished speaking, the Supreme Sun suddenly exploded, completely detonating the virus that had spread earlier. It destroyed the Nightmare Mirage that Hayato had opened in the backfield and returned it to Tragodia's graveyard. The Predator Spawn that was being set was also destroyed.

At the same time, the three cards in Hayato's hand, namely [Heart Change], [Spiritual Exophysis], and [Super Polymerization], were also affected by the virus, destroyed, and sent to the graveyard, leaving Hayato with no cards left!

After activating [Dark Deck Destruction Virus], Tragodia was about to say something when he suddenly paused, stood frozen for a moment, and then muttered to himself with displeasure, "Tsk, you actually started struggling after seeing me release [Supreme Sun]? It's a bit too late to start resisting me now. It's useless; your value is merely to be my puppet, dancing under my control, a whirlwind of activity..."

Tragodia's words made Hayato raise an eyebrow: 'Pegasus in the Night, rebelling against Tragodia?'

Chapter 899 It's not pink, it's magenta

Raising his head to look at Hayato, Tragodia seemed to have regained control of his body. He looked at Hayato with disdain and said, "To think that three of your cards were destroyed in one go is quite an unexpected surprise. And each of those three cards is more dangerous than the last."

Hayato glanced at the cards that had been sent to the graveyard with some regret: "Yeah, I quite liked these cards. I was all prepared to use them to finish you off."

With just one [Summoning Exophysis], without needing any further expansions, Hayato can easily use the [Supreme Sun] that the bull brought over to deal 1500 damage to Tragodia and wipe out its life points, if the [Supreme Sun] is not released.

"However, at least we managed to get rid of that ugly [Supreme Sun] in this way."

"Did you change your aesthetic standards just because you can't get it yourself? The double standards are too obvious!" Even Tragodia couldn't help but complain. After a pause, he sneered and said, "But you shouldn't have forgotten the effect of [Supreme Sun], right? The reason I was able to release it without hesitation is that it will still revive in the next turn because of its effect."

While physical card conversion enhances most "planet" cards, the unique "stellar" card is different; its physical conversion is actually weakened.

The physical card 【Supreme Sun】 can only be Special Summoned by its own effect or by Tributing it. Furthermore, its Revive effect is not limited to when it is destroyed, and Special Summoning it requires discarding one card from your hand.

In contrast, Tragodia's [Supreme Sun] has no restrictions on the summoning method; even if it is sent from the hand to the graveyard, it can be Special Summoned directly in the next turn without any cost.

Unfortunately, although Hayato had "Called by the Grave" in his deck, he didn't draw it just now. Otherwise, if he had dug "Supreme Sun" out of the graveyard and banished it, he wouldn't have had to worry about it reappearing next turn.

Seemingly feeling a little uneasy without a powerful monster on the field, Tragodia took another card from his graveyard and placed it on the field: "But in the darkness before the sun rises again, let me add more despair to your life with this monster."

"This card is in my Graveyard. If this card is in your hand or Graveyard and a DARK monster on your field is Tributed, Special Summon this monster."

"Bound and shattered, wielding the power of the shadow world, your pink light a symbol of destruction, appear here, [Diablos, the Dark Lord]!"

As Tragodia placed the card on the Duel Disk, a shadow rose from the ground beside him, transforming into a four-winged dragon beast bound in chains. An irrepressible, powerful force emanated from its cracked skin, radiating light across its body.

Diablos, the Dark Lord [8☆/Dark]

[Dragon Clan/Effect]

[3000/2000]

Arrogantly setting his monster to attack stance, showing no fear of Hayato's attacks, Tragodia summoned [Dark Lord Diablos] and was about to utter a few more threats when he was interrupted by a roar from beside him. Frowning, Tragodia looked at [Dark Lord Diablos].

The deck it is currently using is the same deck used by Pegasus Night Walk. It is a deck based on the [Lava] deck that Pegasus Night Walk used before being controlled by Tragodia, with some adjustments and the addition of many powerful cards that Tragodia intentionally drove Pegasus Night Walk to collect, in order to absorb the power of those cards that have already awakened the spirits.

The same is how the Dark Lord Diablos was obtained. In order to obtain this card, Tragodia hypnotized Pegasus Night Walk and killed its user. It did the same with other cards, but this monster with the word "King" in its name was particularly arrogant and never gave up resisting it.

Tragodia initially thought it was just resentful that he had killed its user, or that it didn't want to lose its power. However, after summoning [Dark Lord Diablos] for the first time in a duel, he discovered that if it weren't for the rules binding it, [Diablos] would probably have already attacked him. Even now, it was still glaring at him fiercely and roaring incessantly.

Looking at Diablos with impatience, Tragodia didn't take it seriously, since it was beyond his control: "Shut up, you pink thing!"

Hayato glanced at [Dark Lord Diablos] and couldn't help but say, "That's not pink, it's magenta."

Upon hearing Hayato's words, Diablos immediately gave a thumbs-up and nodded quite amiably at Hayato. Tragodia, seeing Diablos, who should have been under his command, being so friendly to Hayato, suddenly understood the feeling he had experienced before during the "Suppression of Pluto" arc, where Hayato had NTR'd him.

"Hmph, that's not important at all. On the contrary, you actually have the leisure to care about such trivial matters, Kobayashi Hayato?"

"Your Predator Plant deck seems to be a deck that evolves through Fusion Summoning, right? In order to prevent dangerous monsters like Predator Plant - Rhinoceros Horn Dragon from appearing again, I must immediately make your Fusion Spell Cards unavailable. That way, you won't be able to Fusion Summon anymore, right?"

"Ritual Summoning is also blocked. Without Ritual Spell Cards, you can't perform Ritual Summoning. What can you do with those two weak monsters on the field? Tribute Summon them?"

"Oh, I forgot, you personally sacrificed your Normal Summon ability this turn using your own monster effect, and you're out of cards in hand. Die in despair and resentment, powerless and unwilling!"

"Next turn, I will use my restored power to steal your cards and take your life with my own monsters!"

Hearing Tragodia's harsh words, Hayato smiled contemptuously: "Fool, who told you that you can't perform a Fusion Summon without a Magic Card? Let me show you why Fusion Summon is the noblest summoning method! Watch carefully and learn well. I'll only demonstrate this once. Witness 'Contact Fusion'!"

The unfamiliar term startled Tragodia: "Contact fusion?"

"Activate the effect of [Predatory Plant - Sundew Lizard] only during my Main Phase. Select a Fusion Material Monster (including this card on the field) from my hand, field, and opponent's field monsters with Predator Counters and send it to the Graveyard. Fusion Summon that Fusion Monster from the Fusion Deck!"

"What?!" Tragodia was taken aback, but then said dismissively, "Hmph, it's useless. As long as [Dark Lord Diablos] exists in the Monster Zone, the opponent cannot Tribute this card, nor can it be targeted by card effects."

"While I'd love to say that the effect of [Predatory Plant - Sundew Frilled Lizard] is noble in its indiscriminate targeting, I never said my target was that [Dark Lord - Diablos]." Pointing at Tragodia, Hayato said playfully, "The fusion materials I've chosen are [Predatory Plant - Sundew Frilled Lizard] and the opponent's Duelist, no, Duel Monster [Tragodia]!"

"The target is me?!" Hearing Hayato target himself on the field again with the card's effect, Tragodia couldn't help but recall the nightmare of being bound and toyed with by [Rhinoceros Horn Dragon], and he deeply regretted ever personally entering the field. "No, no! That's my power!"

"It's mine now!"

As the [Predatory Plant - Sundew Frilled Lizard] forcibly snatched the [Tragodia] card from Tragodia's Duel Disk with its slimy tongue, Hayato caught it and held it above his head along with the [Sundew Frilled Lizard] card. "I never lie. If I say I'm the strongest evolved Dragon, I will definitely summon a Dragon monster as retaliation for your summoning of [Dark Lord Diablos]!"

As Hayato took out a card with a purple border and held it above his head, a phantom appeared behind him, which was immediately recognized by Kaiba and Ameruda.

"That monster, is it the [Ferocious Hungry Poison Fusion Dragon]?" Amerda, who had worked with Hayato, recalled for a moment and said, "When you use two DARK monsters on the field to Fusion Summon, it seems that you can steal the ATK of the monsters that your opponent Special Summons, right?"

"No, it's not the [Ferocious Hungry Poison Fusion Dragon]. No one understands dragon monsters better than me. That monster is similar to the [Ferocious Hungry Poison Fusion Dragon], but it's definitely not the same." Kaiba rejected Ameruda's guess, watching the phantom frantically devour the plundered energy, transforming itself into a more powerful form. "That dragon is evolving!"

"The materials are a [Predatory Plant] monster plus a Dark attribute monster with an original level of 8 or higher. The most ferocious, poisonous, eternally hungry, greedy, and powerful dragon will descend here, and what surrounds its birth is the dark power that you, Tragodia, do not belong to!"

"Fusion Summon! Witness the strongest evolved dragon!"

Hayato played the card and called out the purple dragon's new name:

"【Greedy Poison Fusion Dragon】!"

Bathed in the dark power painstakingly gathered by Tragodia, the dragon stretched its body and grew wildly.

The sharp claws and fangs grew longer and longer, and the stored power, like a precious jade that had turned from pale red to a deep scarlet, shimmered with an ominous light.

From behind, a pair of thorny wings sprouted, coiling around like flower buds. With just a wave, they spread a purple poisonous mist that eroded, plundered, destroyed, and devoured everything in all directions.

[Greedy Poison Fusion Dragon] [10☆/Dark]

[Dragon/Fusion/Effect]

[3300/2500]

The power of [Tragodia] was seized, giving birth to the next evolution of [Greedy Poison Fusion Dragon], and also the [Greedy Poison Fusion Dragon] that gave birth to the [Predatory Plant] deck in Hayato's hand!

So theoretically speaking, Hayato is playing a very authentic "pure [Predator Plant]" deck this time!

"Attack power of 3300 points, compared to [Blue Eyes]—" Guiping exclaimed subconsciously, but stopped himself under the death stare of Kaiba beside him.

"Even stronger than Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" However, although Kaiba managed to control Keihei, he also failed to defend against Ameruda. His Blue-Eyes White Dragon was once again used as a comparison of attack power.

After Tragodia's original card, Tragodia, was "super-fused" by Hayato, it appeared listless. Unlike the previous Rhinoceros Dragon, which simply sealed its power, this time the Greed Poison Fusion Dragon was attached to Tragodia's card when it was created, frantically absorbing its power before Hayato sent it to the graveyard, almost turning it into dried lobster.

Barely managing to rouse himself, Tragodia stared at the [Greedy Poison Fusion Dragon], whose attack power reached a staggering 3300 points. It would be a lie to say he wasn't afraid. To Tragodia, this monster was far more terrifying and dreadful than a billion murderous maniacs before him!

But it still stubbornly insisted, "It's just a monster with an attack power of 3300. Even if you attack, even if the target is my Lava Burner with the lowest attack power, you can't kill me in one go."

Tragodia's words are similar to "If we all rush at you, you might not be able to kill us all before you run out of energy," using the most arrogant tone to say the most cowardly thing.

After all, in its view, the [Lava Burner] has an attack power of 2100 points, and even if it attacks it, it will only cause 1200 points of damage. The remaining 300 basic points, although like a candle in the wind, are enough to withstand it.