Yugen squinted his eyes.
As expected, he knew it. Such abnormal phenomena are mostly due to supernatural abilities at play, and the other party must have a certain level of skill.
As expected, the Silent Magician also floated out at this moment, staying protectively by his side with a hint of worry.
"Are you thinking that the opponent is unusual?" Yugen nodded, "I understand, don't worry, I understand."
Originally, following the president here was just to find cards to duel with, and at the same time, he had thoughts of acquiring new ones. And the opponent's Duel Disc was uniquely styled, something he hadn't seen before, same with the card deck — who knows if there's anything good in it...
"Then let's do this."
Yugen activated his Duel Disc.
"The sooner we start, the sooner it's over."
"Oh, you're not nervous and so confident?" the masked man smiled, "It's not bad for young people to have confidence, but whether you have the strength to match it…"
He didn't continue, but the implication was obvious that it remained to be seen.
"Duel!" x2
[Yugen, LP 4000]
[Masked Man, LP 4000]
"I'll go first, draw."
Yugen drew two cards from his hand.
"Set a monster in face-down position on the front field, and set a Cover Card in the back field. Turn ends."
"My turn, draw." The masked man rasped, "Now, I'll activate 'Pot of Greed', drawing two cards from my deck."
After drawing cards, he immediately played another card from his hand.
"Magic Card 'Angel's Charity', draw three cards from the deck, then discard two cards from your hand."
Yugen raised an eyebrow.
In the GX Era, Strong Desire Angels were used by almost everyone, but seeing two forbidden cards played so boldly in succession was rare.
"Activate the Speed Attack Magic 'Toy Machine Box'!" the masked man continued, "Discard one card from your hand to Special Summon three 'Robot Derivatives'!" (Original Card)
A card was discarded to the graveyard, and three toy-like small robots jumped onto his field.
[Robot Derivative, Defense Power 0]
"These derivatives cannot attack, but they can be used as tribute." the masked man said coldly, "So, I'll use two 'Robot Derivatives' on the field as tributes for an Upper-level Summon!
The source of chaos, demon of disaster—
—Disaster Demon, summon!"
The two robots turned into light particles and dissipated, thick dark clouds covered the sky like a massive black curtain. A storm began to howl, sweeping up leaves and dust. The storm intertwined in the air, producing a deafening roar.
The earth cracked open with gaping fissures, surging magma and black smoke poured out, rendering the field apocalyptic. A tall, dark demon, seemingly coated in hard scales, rose from the ground, with eyes seemingly burning with hellfire.
[Disaster Demon, Attack Power 2000]
"Disaster Demon's effect, once per turn, destroy one card each on my field and yours." The masked man commanded, "Destroy my third 'Robot Derivative' on the field, and your Cover Card in the back field!"
Disaster Demon roared, two Prison Flames spiraled upward. The third robot on the masked man's field melted in the black flame, while Yugen's Cover Card in the back field was also blown up and burned into a heap of black ash.
Trap Card - Magic Tube.
Yugen raised his arm to block the residue of the black flame.
"Magic Tube, huh. If I attacked recklessly, I'd be the first to take massive damage." The masked man said calmly, revealing another card from his hand, "Magic Card 'Shield Shattering', destroy the defense position monster on the field.
Destroy the monster you set in the front field as well."
The green light of magic pierced through, and the set monster in the front field was shattered as well. The set monster was the Magic-Guided Grocer.
"A flip effect monster, an attack would have triggered its flip effect, right?" The masked man's voice remained calm, "Amassing graveyard resources plus an imprecise search for magic and traps, that can be quite troublesome."
"Hmm, you've got some skill." Yugen nodded.
"I'm not like those third-rate opponents you're used to dealing with, treating me as such a Duelist will lead to losses."
The masked man said casually, with a wave of his hand.
"Disaster Demon's direct attack."
Disaster Demon leaped over Yugen's cleared field, its claws falling without resistance. Yugen raised his Duel Disc to block, the impact of the holographic image passed through the Duel Disc, making him stagger backward.
[Yugen, LP 4000→LP 2000]
"Hmm?" Yugen noticed something.
This pain...
...Seems like that's it?
There wasn't the intense impact he expected from a Dark Duel, it seemed like just the normal impact one would feel in a regular duel.
But the opponent should indeed possess powerful dark abilities, even Silent had warned him just now...
Yugen curiously took a closer look at the masked man.
Was it possible that the opponent didn't activate the Dark Game?
Why not?
"I told you." the masked man said coldly, "Going against me without showing your true skills will result in instant defeat."
Yugen smiled slightly.
"Maybe so. But what makes you think that just by clearing my monsters and Magic Traps, you've broken my setup?"
"Oh?"
The masked man raised an eyebrow, and then saw in the empty field before Yugen, a shadow appeared out of thin air.
A bizarre, unsettling shadow slowly wriggled on the ground, then the shadow gradually rose, its body twisting unnaturally, transforming into a human shape.
Finally, it changed into the form of a warrior with a sword.
"The effect of 'Messenger of the Netherworld - Gess' from my hand." Yugen flipped a card from his hand, "When there are no cards in your field and you take battle damage, this card can be Special Summoned.
Furthermore, Special Summon one 'Netherworld Messenger - Kaiyin Derivative'. The Derivative's Attack Power and Defense Power become equal to the damage I took."
[Messenger of the Netherworld - Gess, Attack Power 2700]
[Netherworld Messenger - Kaiyin Derivative, Attack Power 2000]
It's the same card used by Muto Yuugi, appearing in the side-story manga. Once this card was made into a physical card, it immediately caused a huge impact on the competitive environment of Yu-Gi-Oh! at that time, becoming an almost essential powerful hand trap in all decks.
Upon taking damage, it could immediately call out an Upper-level Monster with an attack power of 2700, making it a phenomenon-level hand trap that once rewrote the Yu-Gi-Oh! environment. At that time, duelists would almost always assume the opponent had a Gess in hand when their field was empty, and many times, without a way to deal with it, they wouldn't dare attack even if the opponent had an empty field.
So sometimes, even when there was no Gess in hand, players would deliberately pass an empty turn to bluff the opponent.
As a result, the Messenger of the Netherworld was restricted to one card from the late GX Era all the way to the late Xyz Era, indicating its strength.
"So that's it, the real trump card is in your hand,"
The masked man chuckled lightly, but with the voice distortion, it sounded somewhat eerie.
"Then I'll set one card face-down, turn ends."