Duels should be played with a smile.

"Draw a card!"

With a slender hand drawing an arc in the air, the Snow Woman drew the card at the top of the deck. She had spotted a powerful card, one that would give the Snow Woman, who was in dire straits, the power to fight back.

This card... is very strong, strong enough in every aspect.

However, in the current situation, the greatest significance of drawing this card is not only because of its effect, but also because of the glimmer of hope that its high strength can bring.

"At times like this, I begin to understand why that guy always shouts slogans out of nowhere."

The other card was held between the snow woman's two fingers; she would use this card to pry open that sliver of hope.

"Now, I hold the future in my hands!"

"I will set the pendulum scale for [The Purple Poison Magician]!"

"Your nocturne is over, now it's my turn to play your dirge!"

Chapter Six: What to do when the pendulum stops swinging? The answer is to start it again!

When she discovered that her deck had been corrupted by some unknown force, Yuki-onna was somewhat desperate.

But when she remembered that she had borrowed a deck from Leyou, she instantly felt much more at ease.

If a deck has already fought its way through the world in a battered state for various reasons, then when the deck is corrupted, it will only return to its original miserable state.

Fortunately, the Magician deck is quite professional when it comes to wheelchair racing.

Not to mention... using a flawed form to fight against the culprit who made him flawed, isn't that also a kind of revenge drama?

"Hmph, it wasn't for nothing that I paid such a high price. Today I'm going to smash you to pieces!"

"Is the purple poison in my hand set with a pendulum scale, or is it linked?"

The magician, who was transformed from a fused dragon, stood quietly beside the snow woman. Relying on the useful power of the purple poison, the snow woman immediately provoked her.

"I'm using a Pendulum deck. Once I collect a bunch of Pendulums, I can Pendulum Summon. Hurry up and take down my Purple Poison!"

With the Wind Demon present, the Snow Maiden cannot have the effects of monsters with the Light attribute, but the Magician is not afraid at all, especially with Purple Poison. If the opponent does not know this, it is common to trick them into using one Purple Poison to deceive two cards.

Unfortunately, this time the opponent isn't the kind of person who wouldn't bother to learn about pendulum cards just because they're presented as lengthy essays.

Or rather, it was their sudden inspiration that led to the creation of the Pendulum deck, a mechanism whose deck effect text is as long as a short essay.

"I'm not stupid, tsk tsk, you really underestimated me." The capitalist remained completely unmoved, his flower on the field still playing with the violin in his hand, and Gaika in the back field didn't make a sound either.

"Hmph, coward! You didn't even look at the first pendulum card, so you'll just pretend you can't see the second one either!"

The key card drawn this round was taken out by Yuki-onna and placed on the other side of her.

"Set the Magician with the Insightful Eye card in your hand to the pendulum scale on the other side!"

Insightful Eyes is a LIGHT monster, but when used as a Pendulum Scale, it becomes a Continuous Spell—Taunt can't control Spell Cards.

A golden ornament resembling the Thousand-Year Eye appeared on the other side of the pendulum area, followed by countless streams of light overflowing from the ornament, outlining the appearance and attire of the Magician of Wisdom Eye. His wise mind allowed Wisdom Eye to master endless magical knowledge, and after his arrival, it would be a piece of cake for him to browse through all the magical knowledge.

Because this deck is a copy borrowed from Leyou, and it was created very recently, it doesn't include any elves.

“A familiar aura. I have quite a strong impression of this card.” The capitalist narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the wise-looking man shrouded in an aura of intelligence.

"I can let the purple poison go and pretend I didn't see it, but I can't ignore this discerning eye."

"Speaking of which, the spirit associated with this card isn't exactly a pushover either..."

During the magician's heyday, the Insightful Eye was no ordinary person; his unparalleled resource management ability forced him to experience the pain of driving in a wheelchair.

Or rather, that marked the beginning of the Magician family's history of wheelchair racing.

"So, of course I can't let you pass!"

"Counter Trap Card [Nine Branches of Dragon Star]! You can activate this card when a monster effect, Spell Card, or Trap Card is activated while you control a [Dragon Star] card. Negate that activation, and return that card to its owner's Deck. Then, destroy 1 other [Dragon Star] card you control."

In the sky, a huge tree-shaped phantom appeared, and nine-colored light flowed out from the giant tree. One of the rays landed on Yanlong Star and enveloped it.

The next second, Yanlongxing roared to the sky, and smoke and clouds enveloped his figure as he shot towards Huiyan like an arrow.

The power of the giant tree intertwined with the power of the dragon star, unleashing both destructive and creative forces. The golden light representing the destructive force shattered the Flame Dragon Star into fragments, while the creative force protected the Eye of Wisdom and returned it to the Snow Woman's deck.

Even if a pendulum card is destroyed, leaving it in the Extra Deck or Graveyard may cause other consequences. The safest option is to return it to the Deck.

and...

"The effect of Light Dragon Star in the Graveyard: When this card is in the Graveyard, and a Light Dragon Star monster you control is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the Graveyard, you can activate this effect. Special Summon this card from the Graveyard. If this card Special Summoned by this effect leaves the field, banish it."

In the cemetery, starlight converges once more, and the sparks left behind by Yanlongxing when he left become the torches guiding Guanglongxing back.

Immediately afterwards, the tiny spark was pinched by the withered, skeletal fingers, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

"You have a backup plan, but do you think I don't? Activate Grave Finger, except for your Light Dragon Star! Is there a chain reaction?" The Snow Woman leisurely flung out the Grave Finger in her hand, directly slicing up the Light Dragon Star.

One reason why Yuki-onna's hand isn't very good is because she has cards like Graveyard Finger. Now, if you can just throw it out and get a Flower of Health, you'll make a profit; if you can't, it still has some effect.

The capitalist glanced at the Baroness, who was still engrossed in playing the violin, and shook his head slightly.

"In that case, I'll continue! You can only activate one card per turn: the Spell Card [Duelist's Descent]. It can only be activated if there are cards in the Pendulum Zone on the field. Search your Deck for cards with the [Pendulum] field!"

Is there a chain?

Nine flowers had already been used, and the capitalists were even more concerned about the interference with the flowers. After some thought, they shook their heads again.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony! Search for [Dragon Swordsman Radiant Star - Pendulum]!"

The moment this monster was retrieved and drawn, the capitalist felt a familiar aura—the mark of those cards that were on the leaderboard.

It is also the mark of those rabble who are fighting against themselves, preventing them from arriving here in their full glory.

"What are you looking at? Even if you just manually limited this card to 1, you can still have a good time!" The Snow Woman glared at the capitalist who was spying on her and cursed.

"Set the Radiant Star of your hand to the pendulum scale! Come on, let's see!"

Continuing to provoke her opponent, the Snow Woman wanted to see if she could use a simple and direct tactic similar to the boy who cried wolf to trick her opponent.

Her opponent responded quickly—not in the way she wanted.

"I've caught one that slipped through the net, so I'll have to teach it a lesson! I can wait until you activate it before destroying this card, but I don't want to leave you any extra resources!"

"Chain your activation, activate the effect of the Flower Baroness, negate and destroy your activation!"

Let the nocturne be played once more!

Under the Baroness's control, the rose petals transformed into a storm, easily destroying Radiant Star and leaving only a pile of petals and the faint echo of the nocturne in the air.

When a Pendulum Card on the field is sent to the Graveyard, it will go directly to the Extra Deck instead of the Graveyard, provided that it is on the field.

Setting a Pendulum Card is done when a Continuous Spell Card is activated upon encountering another Pendulum Card. At this point, the Pendulum Card is not yet on the field. Therefore, the destroyed Radiant Star is sent to the Graveyard and cannot be used as a resource in the Extra Deck for Yuki-onna to manage.

"Tsk... You finally got away with it, right? Now I'm going to start my performance." The Snow Woman smiled and waved her last two cards.

The capitalist ignored the snow woman's words and waved his hand, saying, "I'm not ready to fight, so do you think you have the ability to do so?"

"If you really do have it, then that's your skill."

"Tch..." the Snow Woman muttered under her breath.

The advantage of a pendulum is its continuous supply of resources, but the disadvantage is that it is difficult to deploy and has high requirements. Obviously, the opponent knows this and is not so easily fooled.

"Universal Summon [Overlord's Favored Dragon Dark Wyvern], and search the Deck for [Overlord's Gate Zero] based on its effect."

[Dark 4★ Dragon 1800 Attack Power]

Dark Wyvern, another card limited to 1, unsurprisingly, was scrutinized by the opponent, who seemed to be pondering something.

After using up her Normal Summon, Yuki-onna, who only has one Pendulum Summon on the field, cannot perform a Pendulum Summon. Furthermore, the scale of her Overlord Zero is 0, and the scale of her Purple Poison is 1. The scale of the last monster she has left in her hand is also an awkward 4. Yuki-onna is now undoubtedly in a very awkward situation.

If you search for "Overlord Gate Infinite", the 13 scale is indeed usable, but this noble 13 scale also has the self-restraint of only being able to Special Summon when there are no monsters on the field.

There's really no way to deal with this now.

Pendulum decks can't use Pendulums, and there's nothing in the Extra Deck for her to use.

What should I do?

"If we can't use a pendulum, then we'll just have to use a regular pendulum!"

Dark Wyvern is not a mage, so Purple Poison in the Pendulum Zone can only transform into Tajibalasan and perform an OMO.

"I'm ending this round now! Come on! It's your turn to perform!"

The sudden announcement of the end of the round made the three spectators behind them sweat for Yuki Onna. Compared to the capitalist's Water Hundred Deployment in the first round, Yuki Onna's response in this round was not entirely nonexistent, but rather that the capitalist had defended against everything.

"Sister Yuki-onna is in big danger right now... Sister Qiu, how much do you know about the pendulum? Does Sister Yuki-onna still have...?"

"I... to be honest, I don't know much about pendulums, but even so, I can tell that she... sigh, it's just that her opponent was too despicable, resorting to such underhanded tactics and crooked methods. She doesn't deserve to be called a duelist at all!"

Yuki-onna overheard Aki and Ryūko's conversation, but didn't know what to say.

That guy over there, if I'm not mistaken... he really isn't a duelist.

That's a damn scoundrel!

Those are the damn capitalists who should be dragged out and hung on streetlights!!!

They are utterly heartless villains who even want to destroy the world.

In the recent duel, and from the few words her opponent uttered, the Snow Woman even made a very bold yet very reasonable guess.

"Those heartless merchants, those scoundrels, won't stop until they've squeezed every last drop of profit from a product... The fact that they've descended into this world as an embodiment of will undoubtedly means something special has happened, causing them to prepare to drain the pond to catch all the fish, extracting as much remaining value as possible as quickly as possible, and then..."

Recalling the possibility in Leyou's memories of another world with a subtle connection, the Snow Woman felt a surge of resentment.

"Using the remnants of the old world to form the foundation of the new world... This isn't just about taking everything; it's about not even sparing the ashes!"

Anger welled up inside her, and the more the Snow Woman thought about it, the more convinced she became that her guess might be the correct answer.

But the next second, she felt a little discouraged.

"Sigh, what can we do? The bond isn't strong enough, so we just have to accept it."

With a soft sigh, Yuki-onna instantly switched from an excited state to a passive state. Her overly practiced manner made the opposing capitalist slightly suspicious—only one card in her hand was unknown, and she had practically nothing on the field. Was this a trap or a genuine passive state?

"It doesn't matter what your last card is, your weak board presence won't be able to mount any useful countermeasures..."

"My turn, draw a card!"

"During the Standby Phase, another effect of Baroness of Flowers can be activated: target Star Dragon in my Graveyard, return this card to the Extra Deck, and Special Summon a monster from the Graveyard!"

The Flower of the Covenant can only be used once per face-up appearance. Once the Flower of the Covenant has been used, it only has the effect of destroying cards. It is better to pull a monster onto the field and then Synchro Summon her later.