Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

As Hayato chanted, the water sphere's color was quickly stained with an ominous "red," turning into a scarlet hue, as if the sphere were entirely composed of blood!

A purple Fusion Monster card appeared out of thin air in Hayato's hand, which he held above his head. At the same time, a dazzling red light suddenly shone from the blood orb!

Hayato placed the card on the Duel Disk, called out the monster's name, and at the same time, the fusion monster he summoned wielded its weapon, sliced ​​through the blood orb, and came to Hayato's field!

"Tears of sorrow, drama of grief, a fusion of despair! Level 8☆!"

"【Death Prison Village Actor - Holy Tomb Visitor】!"

(【A very pitiful actor - who the hell are you going to hire?】)

[Death Prison Village Actor - Holy Tomb Visitor] [8☆/Light→8☆/Dark]

[Demon Race/Fusion/Effect]

[2500/2500]

Upon its appearance, [Death Prison Village Actor - Holy Grave Visitor], like the previous [A★ Spade Guessing Swordsman], had its attribute distorted to DARK by the power of the Field Spell Card [Dark World - Shadow Detauren-]. However, unlike [A★ Spade Guessing Swordsman], which exhibited a clear "darkening" effect, [Death Prison Village Actor - Holy Grave Visitor]'s DARK attribute actually suited its temperament better than its previous LIGHT attribute, and could even be described as thriving.

Watching his [Death Prison Village Actor - Holy Grave Visitor] spread its four wings, floating in mid-air like a butterfly, enjoying the freedom of the world, its dragon tail trailing lazily on the ground, Hayato smiled contentedly: "Truly, a beauty brimming with intensity, like the power of an angel~"

"No, this is simply a demon." Jonouchi frowned as he looked at [The Actor of Death Prison Village - The Visitor to the Holy Tomb]. Even the most knowledgeable among them couldn't help but marvel at the evil power they sensed emanating from [The Actor of Death Prison Village - The Visitor to the Holy Tomb] the moment he appeared.

A dragon's tail covered in barbs trailed behind it, and four fleshy wings on its back were hollowed out and inlaid with blood beads that looked like eyeballs, with sharp claws growing from the ends. Its armor was covered with scarlet blades, its helmet was a pair of horns pointing to the sky, and its lower limbs were like the reversed feet of a wild beast!

The crimson weapon held in the hand of the actor from the Dead Prison Village, the Holy Tomb Visitor, is a spear-like weapon with spikes that can open and close like scissors to bite off anything at the cut. It gives people the feeling that it can kill gods!

Although he knew Hayato liked to shout out summoning phrases randomly, but also liked to hide things in them, Yugi had been listening carefully to what Hayato was saying. Looking at [Death Prison Village Actor - Holy Grail Visitor], Yugi, who also had a deep understanding of mythology, analyzed: "If I remember correctly, 'Quem Queritis' seems to be the Latin for 'Who are you looking for?'?"

"In the Middle Ages, there was a type of drama that was attached to Catholic liturgy called liturgical drama. Although I wasn't really interested in it, I did learn about it by chance. At that time, liturgical drama was sung in a style close to hymns from beginning to end, and it didn't use the widely used English today, but rather Latin."

"In 10th-century Florence, there was a liturgical play called 'Whom Are You Looking For?', which seems to be the earliest liturgical play. The title comes from the enigmatic question uttered by the angel when the three Marys visited the tomb of Jesus."

"【Visitors to the Holy Sepulchre】...Does that refer to the person who seeks the Holy Sepulchre, and does that spear represent Longinus, who stabbed Christ the Son to death?"

Listening to the game's insightful analysis, and even with Jonouchi clapping with a look of "I don't understand but I'm impressed," Hayato nodded and then said quite frankly, "Actually, I have absolutely no idea why he's called that either."

"Huh..." Jonouchi paused for a moment, then retorted, "Hayato, you were shouting the summoning incantation so enthusiastically just now."

"Never mind whether I understand the card's references and prototypes. Just tell me, is the summoning phrase long enough or not? Is it cool enough?" Hayato shrugged. "Besides, why would I need to know the card's prototype? I just need to know that it's strong and useful, okay?"

"The fusion material requirements for 【Death Prison Actor - Holy Tomb Visitor】 are a 【Death Prison】 monster plus a LIGHT/DARK monster. 【Tragedy Death Prison Actor】 and the DARK monster 【Tearful Lament Mermaid】 naturally meet the material requirements, and its effect will declare my victory!"

With a wave of his hand, Hayato pointed to the only two monsters on the field, "A Level 6 [Silent Swordsman Zero] and a Level 3 [Magical Dark Merchant]. All the monsters on your field are non-Fusion Monsters with a Level of 8 or lower. Last turn, [Partner's Bond] Special Summoned two monsters for you at the cost of being unable to Fusion Summon from the Fusion Deck. Now, taste the bitter fruit of having no Fusion Monsters on the field!"

"The first effect of 【Death Prison Actor - Holy Grave Visitor】 can be activated during both players' Main Phases!" Hayato raised his hand and then slammed it down, "Reset the ATK of all monsters on the field, except for Fusion Monsters of Level 8 or higher, to 0 until the end of this turn!"

"Baptismal chant!"

Under Hayato's command, the helmet of the hideous [Death Prison Village Actor - Holy Grail Visitor] cracked open, revealing its empty interior. Only then did Yugi and the others realize that the [Death Prison Village Actor - Holy Grail Visitor] was not a living being, but rather a "armor" driven by a special power.

From the opening corresponding to the wearer's mouth, a woman's chanting voice emanated from the empty armor. It was as if the power driving the armor had even reproduced the voice of the previous wearer. After a brief moment of thought, Jonouchi lightly tapped his palm with his fist: "I remember that voice, it's [The Instructor Knight - Friedris]?!"

"Is [Death Village] the truth of [Teaching]...? In other words, it's the armor and sword and shield of [Teaching Knight - Friedrich] that transformed into [Death Village Actor - Holy Grave Visitor]?" Yugi said in surprise. "And according to you, Hayato, [Death Village Actor - Holy Grave Visitor] will also hunt down [Teaching Saintess - Exeria] and even his past user [Friedrich]?!"

"Is this the time to worry about such trivial things, Yugi Muto!" Kaiba frowned and reminded Yugi, who seemed unconcerned about the outcome of the duel and instead curious about the stories behind the cards, "If your monster's attack power is reduced to 0, you won't be able to withstand Hayato Kobayashi's next attack!"

Despite it being a decisive battle between Yugi and Hayato, Kaiba seemed more anxious than the two players on the field.

However, Yugi didn't seem worried at all. Instead, he continued to praise Hayato, saying, "In my refinement, the Golden Chest of Light has almost completed coverage in all aspects. However, the lack of fusion monsters is still a big problem. But I used the effect of the 'Partner Bond' to simply abandon the fusion method and instead strengthen the combat power in normal times."

"However, Hayato, you actually remembered that too, which is why you specifically used [Death Prison Actor - Holy Tomb Visitor], which is only effective against low-level non-fusion monsters, right? That's strong, incredibly strong!"

With a flick of his wrist, Yugi flipped up another face-down card from the back row and showed it to Hayato, saying, "So, chain [Death Prison Actor - Holy Grave Visitor], open my face-down card in the back row!"

"Pay 1000 Life Points to activate the Continuous Trap Card [Skill Draw]!"

Chapter 1294 Defense against Flash

(The concept of the Holy Grail Visitor is derived from the White Knight of the Demon Guide, and the upper left corner even says "Fleur Delis's Armor")

"Pay me 1000 base points to activate the Perpetual Trap Card [Skill Draw]!"

【Muto Game: 1700→700LP】

As the game progressed, the face-down card on his back field released an aura from the underworld, spreading like ripples across the entire field and indiscriminately enveloping the monsters on both sides' fields.

The first to be affected by the [Skill Drain] effect is naturally [Death Prison Actor - Holy Grave Visitor], which is currently using its own effect. [Death Prison Actor - Holy Grave Visitor], which was trying to use its own effect to strip all monsters on the field of their ATK, was instead preemptively stripped of its own power by [Skill Drain].

The actor from the Death Prison Village, the visitor to the Holy Tomb, who had been floating in mid-air, was suddenly caught by gravity and fell to the pitch-black ground. He barely managed to stand by using his spear to support himself, cursing, "This damn gravity!"

Following [Death Prison Actor - Holy Grail Visitor], another monster on Hayato's field, [A★ Spade Swordsman], is also affected. While continuous effects have many advantages over manually activated effects, they also have drawbacks. For example, now that [A★ Spade Swordsman]'s effect has been nullified by [Skill Drain], the ATK bonus it received from [Magic Dark Merchant] has also disappeared.

However, if the monster present is [Hungry Poison Fusion Dragon], even if its effect is negated, the attack power it gained from other monsters when it enters the field will not disappear. This is the difference between a continuous effect and an activated effect.

However, it wasn't just Hayato's monsters that were affected by the [Skill Drain] effect. This continuous trap card, which affects the entire field, also "benefited" Yugi's own monsters. The equipment on [Magical Dark Merchant] dimmed, clearly having lost its resistance to being destroyed. While [Silent Swordsman Zero]'s level increase didn't decrease due to the effect being negated, the attack power gained based on the level increase dropped back.

【A★ Spade Guessing Game (Swordsman)】【ATK4000→2500】

[Silent Swordsman Zero] [ATK 2000 → 1000]

“Paying 1000 Life Points to activate Skill Drain... So that’s why you activated that Extra Food last turn?” Hayato speculated, looking at the face-down card Yugi had opened. “While you gained enough Life Points to activate Skill Drain, you also lost the means to actively avoid its effect by removing Skill Drain from the field.”

“That seems to be true, Hayato, but I’ve only ever used the first effect of [Magical Dark Merchant] until now, I haven’t used its second effect yet.” Yugi smiled and pointed to one of the monsters on his field. “The second effect of [Magical Dark Merchant] is that it can send one of my Continuous Spell Cards or Continuous Trap Cards to the Graveyard during my opponent’s turn to activate its effect, allowing me to draw a card from my Deck.”

"While 【Skill Drain】can nullify a monster's effect, it can still activate the effect. However, the ability of 【Magical Dark Merchant】 to send a card to the graveyard is not part of the effect but rather the cost of activation. Therefore, it is possible to send 【Skill Drain】 to the graveyard and then successfully activate the effect after escaping the influence of 【Skill Drain】 to draw a card from the deck."

After a pause, Yugi looked at Hayato and said, "But even if I don't explain, you can understand, right? After all, you often use the monsters from [Hellfire Machine] together with [Skill Drain].

Almost all of the [Hellfire Machines] have the ability to Tribute monsters at Speed ​​2 as cost to activate their respective effects. If combined with the Field Spell Card [Dark World - Shadow Utopia-] that Hayato just played, they can even activate effects by Tributing opponent's monsters at Speed ​​2. And if they are combined with [Skill Drain], there will be a situation where all monster effects are negated, but the [Hellfire Machines] are still activating negated effects by Tributing opponent's monsters.

"I have to say, the appearance of [Skill Draw] was something I didn't expect. But because of its appearance, your base score in the game has dropped to only 700 points." Hayato looked at the two monsters on the field, one with an attack power of 1500 points and the other with an attack power of 1000 points.

On the other hand, even though the effects are negated, both [A★ Spade Swordsman] and [Death Prison Actor - Holy Grail Visitor] still have a solid 2500 ATK, surpassing all the monsters in the game!

Hayato still had three cards in his hand, including [Shaddoll Fusion], and Yugi had only two cards left in his back row after playing [Troy Bomb] and [Skill Drain]. He didn't continue playing and decisively entered the battle phase: "With your current fragile Life Points, can you even withstand the attacks of my monsters?"

"First, let's attack [Death Prison Actor - Holy Tomb Visitor]! Strike through the target in one blow and reduce their life points to nothing!" Hayato pointed at [Silent Swordsman - Zero], the character with the lowest attack power on the field, and waved his hand, "Take advantage of their weakest state and annihilate them! Attack [Silent Swordsman - Zero]!"

"A spear that pierces through the ferocious battle!"

The demonic, bloodthirsty knight aimed his sharp magic spear at [Silent Swordsman Zero] and hurled it like a javelin thrower!

The thrown demonic spear changed in mid-air, with sharp spikes constantly sprouting and growing on it. In a very short time, the demonic spear turned into a hedgehog-like mass. Then, the spikes on the spear suddenly split apart, turning into dozens of spearheads that rained down, enveloping [Silent Swordsman Zero]!

A seasoned warrior can deflect ordinary javelins with his weapon, and a master with superb skills can perfectly block even multiple javelins in succession. However, faced with this overwhelming rain of spears coming at the same time, even a grandmaster who can swing several swords at the same time would find it difficult to block. Moreover, the current [Silent Swordsman Zero] has a high level but no combat power to match it.

With only 1000 attack power, he would be easily destroyed by the attack of [Death Prison Actor - Holy Tomb Visitor], and the difference of 1500 points would be converted into combat damage, wiping out the game's base score!

unless--

"Chain Hayato, your attack declaration! Open my backrow trap card, [Divine Shield - Mirror Power -]!" Yugi finally played his favorite card, Hanno's Sublime... I mean, "Mirror Reflection," and a semi-transparent, mirror-like energy shield protected his monsters.

(Plummet into the bottomless abyss of despair! Surrender before the sublime power of Hanno!)

Pointing to Hayato's field, Yugi shouted, "This card can only be activated when your opponent's monster declares an attack. Under this card's effect, all attack position monsters on your field, Hayato, will be destroyed!"

First, [Skill Drain] negates the effects of all monsters on the field, preventing the appearance of monsters with destruction resistance. Then, a weak monster in attack position is used to lure the opponent into attacking, triggering [Divine Shield - Mirror Power -] to wipe out the opponent's monsters in one go!

As expected of a game, it easily pulled off a despicable combo that other heavy-hitting duelists couldn't, which is truly exhilarating and awe-inspiring!

"It's the sublime power of Hanno!? So strong, so incredibly strong!" Hayato raised an eyebrow as he looked at the face-down card Yugi had revealed. "And yet, none of my monsters have any resistance to effect destruction, or even if they did, they've already lost their resistance due to the existence of [Skill Drain]. Is this your scheme and your ultimate weapon, Yugi?!"

"Now that things have come to this, activate the flash defense!" As he spoke, taking advantage of the fact that this was a virtual world, Hayato actually pulled out a pair of sunglasses out of thin air and put them on!

The attack of [Death Prison Actor - Holy Grave Visitor] struck [Divine Shield - Mirror Power -], successfully triggering it and causing it to release a powerful light. The triggered [Divine Shield - Mirror Power -] instantly enveloped Hayato's [Death Prison Actor - Holy Grave Visitor] and [A★ Spade Swordsman] in holy light, seemingly intending to purify and pulverize them.

Moreover, not only were Hayato's two monsters, "Death Prisoner Actor - Holy Grail Visitor" and "A★ Spade Guessing Swordsman," blinded in an instant by the sudden burst of intense light, as if they had been hit by a flashbang, and even felt a little dizzy. This made him, who had just thought Hayato's sudden act of putting on sunglasses was somewhat comical, begin to wonder why he couldn't conjure up sunglasses himself.

Kaiba glanced at Jonouchi and said contemptuously, "What an ugly sight! You mediocre man, don't you even know such basic knowledge as not looking directly at strong light?"

"Impossible, how are you alright?" Jonouchi, who hadn't seen Kaiba make his sunglasses disappear after taking them off and pretending he hadn't been wearing them, rubbed his eyes and said incredulously, "Oh no, I can't see things very clearly. Kaiba, you annoying guy, why are you so realistic in this aspect too?"

What's the situation on the field right now?

"Hmph, do you think I'm some kind of commentator?" Despite saying that, Kaiba still explained the situation on the field for Jonouchi, who couldn't see clearly, "That guy, Hayato Kobayashi, there are still two monsters on the field."

"Two? But aside from the Shaddoll, which is positioned on the inside and therefore cannot be destroyed by [Divine Shield - Mirror Power -], shouldn't Hayato's other two monsters have already lost any potential resistance to destruction due to the effect of [Skill Drain]?"

"I never said that the other monster was still one of the two monsters that were on the field before," Kaiba said, looking at the new monster that had appeared on Hayato's field.

Hayato placed the card on the Duel Disk, casually tossed away his sunglasses, and looked at Yugi, saying, "Although [Skill Drain] has taken away the effects of my monsters, only the effects of the monsters while they were on the field were negated."

"If the face-up [Death Prison Actor - Holy Grave Visitor] leaves the field due to an opponent's card effect, activate its second effect: either add this [Death Prison Great Director] from my Deck to my hand, or Special Summon it to my field!"

"Come forth, Maximus, the great priest of the past, the destroyer who taught the Dragon Kingdom, and the leader of the evil forces!"

"[The Great Director and Drama God of Death Prison Village]!"

Under the influence of the out-of-control stigmata, his hands were completely deformed into the claws of an alien creature. The clothes on the body of the [High Priest of the Instruction] who once taught the Dragon Kingdom were similar to his former robes, and behind him, like the [Actor of the Death Prison Village - Visitor of the Holy Tomb], there appeared ferocious fleshy wings that looked like flower petals.

[The Great Director and Dramatist of Death Prison Village] [8☆/Dark]

[Angel Race/Effect]

[3000/1500]

"A demon race with light attribute and an angel race with dark attribute, what a terrible joke! No wonder Hayato said that the essence of [Death Prison Village] is something like 'tragic drama'." Jonouchi had an impression of [Knight of Instruction - Friedris], and naturally remembered [High Priest of Instruction]. He recognized that the [Great Director of Death Prison Village] was the [High Priest of Instruction] who had transformed into [Death Prison Village], and couldn't help but sigh.

"Hmph, a monster with 2500 ATK is no good. A monster with 3000 ATK is the one that's suitable to decide the final outcome." Unlike Jonouchi, whose eyes had recovered, Kaiba was more concerned about the fact that the monster Hayato Special Summoned after destroying the 2500 ATK [Death Prison Actor - Holy Grail Visitor] and [A★ Spade Guessing Swordsman] had a 3000 ATK.

What does this mean? It means that monsters with an attack power of 3000, such as Blue-Eyes, are indeed more suitable as the final trump card than monsters with an attack power of 2500, such as Dark Magician. Victory!

Yugi, who was wondering what Kaiba was thinking, looked at the newly appeared "The Great Director of Death Village" and said with some regret, "I was quite happy when I saw that your attack position monster on the field was actually destroyed in one go by the effect of "Divine Protection - Mirror Power -". It turns out that it's not that easy to withstand your attack, Hayato."

“Of course! If you could defeat your opponent so easily, it would make you seem like you’re not that strong, would it? It’s precisely this level of intense competition that makes a truly exhilarating duel,” Hayato said with a smile. “However, it’s almost time for the final showdown, Yugi.”

"Because of the [Skill Drain] ability, I specifically chose to Special Summon [The Great Director of the Dead Hell], which has the highest attack power in [The Dead Hell], and it's still in my battle phase." Pointing at the monster on the field, Hayato gave another command, "Continue the attack you couldn't finish before, destroy [Silent Swordsman Zero], [The Great Director of the Dead Hell]!"

"Deep Barrier - Dreamlike Bubble!"

Chapter 1295 The Mark of He, Activated!

"Deep Barrier - Dreamlike Bubble!"

In that instant, did the game see a sea of ​​blooming flowers?

It was something like that. After Hayato ordered the attack, the wings behind the [Great Director of Death Prison Village], formed from the power of the Abyss's imprint, fluttered and indeed gave him the feeling that it was some kind of "floral cluster".

(It roughly feels similar to the Crimson Scar magic mark—)

However, those vibrant flower clusters, though beautiful, concealed deadly intent. After receiving Hayato's command, the [Great Director of Death Prison Village] waved the staff he held in his right hand, manipulated the giant wings behind him to fill them with magic power, and magic bullets were quickly condensed in the hollows of the fleshy wings as if they were fruits, and then burst out and shot towards [Silent Swordsman Zero] who was in attack position on the game field!

It was like a replay of the scene when [Death Prison Actor - Holy Tomb Visitor] threw his spear. The monster being attacked was still [Silent Swordsman - Zero], who had the lowest attack power on the field. It was also facing the same dense barrage of attacks, leaving it no chance to retaliate.