Reading settings
text size
Text alignment
theme
Chapter 689: Traitor Dragon Mini

"Heh heh, unexpectedly knowledgeable, huh? Not only do you recognize the raw material, Orichalcos, but you also know about the existence of the Philosopher's Stone?" Diabolo said, stroking the unfinished Philosopher's Stone embedded in his chest as if showing off. "Allow me to introduce myself again."

"My name is Diabolo, and I am an Alchemist. My research topics are the 'Philosopher's Stone' and 'Human Transmutation'."

Pointing to the three monsters on his Field, Diabolo's tone was full of pride: "The monsters you see are byproducts born from my 'Human Transmutation' research. Their birth also advanced my research on the 'Philosopher's Stone'."

"Although they are just failed experiments, they are enough to become your undoing!"

"I Summon one monster in Face-Down Defense Position, then Set four cards. My turn ends."

[Diabolo: 4000 LP, Hand 0]

[Danger!? Tsuchinoko?][ATK 1300]

[Danger! Mothman!][ATK 1800]

[Danger! Ogopogo!][DEF 3000]

[Face-Down Defense Position Monster]

[Set Card] X4

"Seriously, compared to those trashy monsters on your Front Row, aren't the four Set Cards on your Spell/Trap Zone much scarier?" Hayato retorted, looking at the smug Diabolo. At the same time, Diabolo's performance confirmed that this guy had indeed been isolated from the World for a considerable time.

His failure to recognize Joey Wheeler, Yugi, and himself, who had been on a global live broadcast during Battle City, was understandable if he wasn't interested in television programs and hadn't watched it. However, because Dartz's incident hadn't been long ago, the existence of the Seal of Orichalcos had spread among many people attacked by Doma. Even in the most remote corners, people had heard the word "Orichalcos" to some extent.

Yet, Diabolo was surprised that Yugi and the others knew "Orichalcos". Judging from his reaction, he probably hadn't had contact with Human Civilization for decades.

As for the Duel Disk shaped from mist, Hayato could tell from the subtle modification marks on it that Diabolo had likely imitated it based on the specially modified Duel Disk Keipei had given him.

However, Alchemist, Human Transmutation, and so on—even Hayato couldn't fully understand what Diabolo was talking about for a moment. But it didn't matter if he didn't understand. For Hayato, there was only one thing he needed to do next—

"Alright, this time we're playing a pure Gaia Deck. Gaia is my old friend, and I must call Gaia immediately."

"My turn, draw!" Drawing a card from the top of my Deck, Hayato smiled slightly and raised his Duel Disk. "That Card Destruction indeed helped you Summon a large number of monsters, but you're not the only one who can utilize that Effect."

"I activate the Effect of Treeborn Frog in my Graveyard! If I have no Spell/Trap Cards on my Field, this card can be Special Summoned from my Graveyard during my Standby Phase."

As he spoke, a halo slowly rose from the ground not far in front of Hayato. A Frog with pure white wings on its back, looking as if it had ascended, appeared on Hayato's Field, topped with a halo.

[Treeborn Frog][Level 1/WATER]

[Aqua Type/Effect]

[100/100]

"A monster with only 100 ATK/DEF? Hmph, just a Small Fry," Diabolo said dismissively, looking at the newly appeared Treeborn Frog. "That kind of monster appearing on the Field is completely unnecessary, isn't it?"

"Is that so? Then watch closely and see what kind of power this Small Fry monster will radiate in my Hand." Hayato glanced at the six cards in his Hand and drew one of them. "By sending a Level 5☆ or higher monster from my Hand to the Graveyard, this monster can be Special Summoned from my Hand!"

"Bathed in the scarlet spiral spear, riding the gale towards the unknown world, come before me! Gaia the Fierce Knight Origin!"

Pausing for a moment, Hayato added before playing the card: "As everyone knows, if you don't call out the card's name with enough aura, the card won't respond to you. Shout its name loudly!"

"GAI—A—!!!"

Following Hayato's loud shout, Gaia, now in cool armor and riding a new mount, appeared. Joey Wheeler and Tristan Off-field exclaimed that it had that classic feel because of Hayato's signature shout.

[Gaia the Fierce Knight Origin][Level 4/EARTH]

[Warrior/Effect]

[1600/1200]

"Although it's a Level 4 monster that can be Normal Summoned directly, Gaia the Fierce Knight Origin has the ability to Special Summon itself from the Hand by sending a Level 5☆ or higher monster from the Hand to the Graveyard. Might as well use it," Hayato quickly revealed the Level 5☆ Curse of Dragon, the Cursed Dragon, then sent it to the Graveyard.

Diabolo looked at Gaia the Fierce Knight Origin, becoming slightly more serious, but still didn't pay it much mind. "A Level 4 with 1600 ATK, huh? Hmph, although it's stronger than Luster Soldier, it's still no match for my Danger! Mothman! with its 1800 ATK on the Field."

However, at the same time, Diabolo was thinking to himself: 'He's willing to spend a card from his Hand just to save the Normal Summon opportunity. Does he plan to Tribute the two monsters on the Field to Summon a Higher-Level monster in one go?'

'Heh heh heh, it's Muda Muda, Muda Muda. Among the Set Cards on my Spell/Trap Zone, I've prepared the super powerful Continuous Trap Card, Gravity Bind. That's an invincible card that can restrict all Level 4 or higher monsters from attacking. If he Summons a Higher-Level monster, he'll fall right into my Trap.'

'But I won't be kind enough to warn him. I'm really looking forward to the expression on these idiots' faces when Gravity Bind is Activated~'

Just as Diabolo expected, Hayato's goal in Special Summoning Gaia the Fierce Knight Origin instead of Normal Summoning it was indeed to perform a Tribute Summon.

"There are two monsters on the Field. One soul guides the light, and one soul guides the darkness. By Tributing these two monsters, I will Tribute Summon this monster!"

As Hayato raised the card above his head, the WATER Attribute Treeborn Frog served as the part that "guides the light", and the EARTH Attribute Gaia the Fierce Knight Origin reluctantly served as the part that "guides the darkness". The forms of the two monsters dispersed.

In their place, a giant dragon divided into black and white landed on the Field.

"The perfect black and white dragon! Light and Darkness Dragon! Amazing, truly amazing!"

Playing the monster card onto his Duel Disk, Hayato pointed at Diabolo. "The rule of victory has been confirmed!"

"Enter my Battle Phase!"

Diabolo frowned, looking at the card data that appeared alongside Light and Darkness Dragon.

[Light and Darkness Dragon][Level 8/LIGHT]

[Dragon Type/Effect]

[2800/2400]

As a LIGHT Attribute Dragon-Type monster with a high Level of 8☆, Light and Darkness Dragon had 2800 ATK, slightly less than Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and 2400 DEF, also slightly lower than Blue-Eyes White Dragon, but it was still a powerful monster with both attack and defense capabilities.

Diabolo's own Danger! Ogopogo! on the Field didn't need to worry about being destroyed by Light and Darkness Dragon because of its high 3000 DEF, but he had Danger! Mothman! and Danger!? Tsuchinoko? in Attack Position. If the one with the lowest ATK, Danger!? Tsuchinoko?, were destroyed by Light and Darkness Dragon, he would take 1500 Damage.

But it didn't matter. The reason he Summoned Tsuchinoko? was to bait the opponent into attacking, then activate Gravity Bind.

"The instant you enter the Battle Phase, I activate this Set Card on my Back Row, the Continuous Trap Card, Gravity Bind!"

Diabolo didn't press the Activate Set Card button on his Duel Disk; with his voice control, one of his Set Cards on the Back Row opened on its own, and a large green net that seemed to cover the entire Field flew out from the card art.

"Hahaha, you didn't expect this, did you? I prepared this card on my Back Row! The Effect of Gravity Bind can restrict all Level 4 or higher monsters on the entire Field from attacking!" Diabolo said smugly. "Your monster is immobilized!"

The green net seemed to weigh ten thousand pounds, falling from the sky. But as if to make a fool of Diabolo, Gravity Bind, which had crushed Danger! Ogopogo! and Danger! Mothman! on his Field the instant it touched them, was instantly shattered by a sweep of Light and Darkness Dragon's long tail before it even reached it!?

At the same time, Light and Darkness Dragon's ATK/DEF also changed.

[Light and Darkness Dragon][2800/2400 → 2300/1900]

"What, what's going on?"

"Ho ho, you don't understand? You don't understand why the situation is like this now? Then let me tell you." Diabolo looked at Hayato in confusion, and Hayato didn't keep him in suspense. With his arms crossed over his chest, he said with a smile, "Light and Darkness Dragon has a Forced Activation effect. Just now, the instant your Gravity Bind was activated, at the cost of decreasing its own ATK/DEF by 500 points, Light and Darkness Dragon negated the activation of Gravity Bind."

"Although it's a Continuous Trap Card, if its activation is negated, Gravity Bind is naturally sent to the Graveyard."

Hayato pointed his finger at Danger!? Tsuchinoko? on Diabolo's Field. "And now, it's still within my Battle Phase. Without the shackles of Gravity Bind, I will use Light and Darkness Dragon to attack Danger!? Tsuchinoko? on your Field in Attack Position!"

"Twin Arms - Zero-Point Gather Together!"

Following Hayato's attack command, Light and Darkness Dragon hesitated slightly, then instead of breathing dragon breath from its mouth to attack, it channeled the power of light and darkness from its left and right halves, gathering it in its two claws, transforming it into two energy balls, one black and one white, and launched them.

Seeing the incoming attack, Diabolo gritted his teeth and waved his hand again, giving an order: "Then this time, I chain Attack Declaration, and activate this Set Card, Sakuretsu Armor—"

"Muda Muda Muda, Light and Darkness Dragon's power doesn't have a once per turn restriction at all! Similarly, at the cost of decreasing its ATK/DEF by 500 points, it negates the activation of Sakuretsu Armor!"

Before Diabolo could finish speaking, Hayato commanded Light and Darkness Dragon to flap its wings, stirring up a gale that directly tore the Sakuretsu Armor, which had only just opened halfway on Diabolo's Back Row, into fragments. This time, Sakuretsu Armor was destroyed before it even fully appeared.

[Light and Darkness Dragon][2300/1900 → 1800/1400]

Although the Sakuretsu Armor, which could destroy the attacking monster, was negated by Hayato, Diabolo saw Light and Darkness Dragon being weakened again and breathed a sigh of relief. "What's this? Although it looked amazing, after being weakened twice, it's just an average level monster now."

"Boom!"

Light and Darkness Dragon's attack, after being weakened, landed on Diabolo's Field, destroying Danger!? Tsuchinoko?. However, the final damage dealt was a full 1000 points less than what Diabolo had estimated when it was first Summoned.

[Diabolo: 4000 → 3500 LP]

"Insignificant damage. I even got slightly nervous about that monster for nothing." After taking a mere 500 points of damage, which felt like a gentle breeze, Diabolo didn't even frown and looked contemptuously at Light and Darkness Dragon on Hayato's Field. After negating two Trap Cards, Light and Darkness Dragon's tail and wings were no longer clearly black and white, but had turned a dull gray.

Under the balanced control of the power of light and darkness, it possessed the power to resist everything, but this balance couldn't last. Light and Darkness Dragon's ATK had now dropped to only 1800 points. Danger! Mothman! alone was enough to result in mutual destruction with it, and at best, it could only support using its effect two more times.

"Your Light and Darkness Dragon can't change Battle Position anymore, can it? As long as I keep helping it activate its Forced Activation effect, its ATK will continue to decrease and become a flaw I can utilize. Let me help you decrease its ATK a bit more," Diabolo said, waving his hand to flip over another Set Card on his Spell/Trap Zone. "Trap Card, Damage Gate, activate!"

"I can only activate this when I take Battle Damage. I select one monster from my Graveyard with ATK less than or equal to the damage I took at that time and Special Summon it. Because I took 500 points of Battle Damage, I can Special Summon Danger!? Jackalope? from my Graveyard, whose ATK is exactly 500 points."

Pausing, Diabolo sneered, "But you said it yourself, Light and Darkness Dragon's effect is a Forced Activation. Damage Gate's effect will naturally be negated, and then Light and Darkness Dragon's ATK/DEF will decrease."

Hayato spread his hands helplessly. "Congratulations, you've learned to answer questions before they're finished."

As Diabolo said, as soon as Damage Gate on his Back Row was flipped, Light and Darkness Dragon passively negated it. As Damage Gate was sent to the Graveyard, Light and Darkness Dragon's body became half gray.

[Light and Darkness Dragon][1800/1400 → 1300/900]

"Heh heh, it's already at the same level as the weak Tsuchinoko?. But it's not over yet! I still have one more card on my Back Row that I can activate!" Diabolo didn't back down. Even though he had already decreased Light and Darkness Dragon's ATK to a very weak level, he still activated the last card on his Back Row. "Trap Card, Danger! Zone! The effect isn't important; it's going to be negated anyway."

This fourth Set Card completely drained Light and Darkness Dragon's power. After the two-colored flying dragon breathed dragon breath to negate the Danger! Zone Card, its entire body became dim and lifeless, as if it had lost its life force and turned into a stone statue.

[Light and Darkness Dragon][1300/900 → 800/400]

Now, Light and Darkness Dragon couldn't even break through the defense of Small Fry monsters like the Ojama monsters! Seeing this, Diabolo showed a proud smile.

However, Hayato also smiled.

"Oh my, what an amazing combo. Too strong, so strong I almost thought I was dueling against an AI," Hayato said, drawing a card from his Hand. Then he felt that wasn't quite right and corrected himself, "No, that's not right either. The AI Seto created is still very strong. This feels even worse than an AI. At least an AI wouldn't use up all its skills just because the opponent did a simple Normal Attack test."

"Although the Battle Phase has ended, I told you, this is a pure Gaia Deck."

As the card was inserted into the Duel Disk, a card with the name Dragon Mirror appeared on Hayato's Back Row. "The real duel begins now!"

Similar Novels