As Yusaku finished building his board, the advantage had clearly shifted to his side. Kitkallos briefly considered conceding—after all, she'd only wanted to check whether his Duel skills had gotten rusty after not seeing him for so long. Losing wasn't a big deal.
But then another thought crossed her mind.
As the "big sister," she had to set an example for the others. How could she just surrender so easily?
Taking a deep breath, Kitkallos lifted her chin and said seriously, "D-Don't think that calling me that will make me go easy on you!"
Hearing that, Havnis glanced at both fields, tilted her head, and said with innocent seriousness, "But with how things look right now, Master's the one with the advantage. If anyone's 'going easy,' doesn't that mean it would have to be Master?"
"You talk too much!" Kitkallos shot her a look, pretending to be mad.
"Hehe." Havnis stuck out her tongue and quickly hid behind Yusaku, giggling mischievously.
Watching the girls tease each other, Yusaku smiled gently. "The Duel's only just started. Who wins and who loses isn't decided yet. A temporary advantage doesn't determine the final result."
Kitkallos nodded rapidly. "Exactly! It's way too early to talk about the outcome!"
"Then my turn continues!" Yusaku snapped his fingers crisply. "I activate the effect of Tearlaments Kashtira that I just Summoned—and I also activate the effect of Primeval Planet Perlereino!"
"First, Primeval Planet Perlereino!" Yusaku declared. "If a 'Tearlaments' monster you control or in your GY is returned to the Deck or Extra Deck, you can target 1 card on the field and destroy it!"
"Just now, I returned Tearlaments Scheiren and Tearlaments Kitkallos to the Deck, so the activation condition is met!"
Before Yusaku could even choose a target, Havnis peeked out from behind him, pointed excitedly at Kitkallos's field, and shouted, "Master! Blow up that bad guy first!"
Yusaku naturally knew exactly who she meant. He affectionately ruffled her hair, then pointed straight at the monster on Kitkallos's field.
"I target your Tearlaments Reinoheart—destroy it!"
A brilliant blue glow erupted from the floor of the Duel field. A thick pillar of light blasted upward and pierced straight through Reinoheart.
"Boom!"
With a loud explosion, it shattered into fragments and vanished into the air.
After destroying Reinoheart, Yusaku continued resolving effects without pause.
"Next, Tearlaments Kashtira's effect! When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, I can send the top 3 cards of either player's Deck to the GY!"
"I choose to send the top 3 cards of my Deck to the GY!"
After the three cards hit the GY, Yusaku raised his hand again.
"Next, I use Tearlaments Kashtira and Tearlaments Havnis as Link Materials!"
"Link Summon! LINK-2—Spright Elf!"
The two monsters became twin streaks of light and shot upward into the Link Markers. The arrows [↖] and [↘] lit up in sequence.
A compact but intimidating figure emerged at the center of the Link Mark—Spright Elf, with four fin-like wings behind it like satellite receivers. Red lightning crackled around it, and four cannons glowed with a sinister crimson.
[Spright Elf]
[Thunder / Link / Effect]
[Link-2]
[ATK: 1400]
Kitkallos froze, surprise flickering in her eyes. This wasn't in her Deck at all—clearly something Yusaku had added himself.
"I activate Spright Elf's effect! I target 1 Level 2 monster in my GY, and Special Summon it!"
"I Special Summon my Level 2 Diviner of the Herald!"
A holy radiance bloomed. A girl in a white hood and a colorful dress appeared, ethereal wings of prismatic light unfurling behind her—an angelic presence that contrasted sharply with Spright Elf's mechanical menace.
[Diviner of the Herald]
[Level 2 / Fairy / Tuner / Effect]
[ATK: 500]
"I activate Diviner of the Herald's effect!" Yusaku continued.
"When this card is Summoned or Special Summoned, I can send 1 Fairy monster from my Deck or Extra Deck to the GY, and this card's Level becomes that monster's Level higher until the end of the turn!"
Yusaku glanced down at his hand, then briefly checked his resources.
With what he had, he could absolutely go all the way—make a high-end monster, then on the next turn accelerate into a big finisher and end the Duel cleanly.
But this was just an entertainment Duel with his own spirits. There was no need to swing that hard.
Smiling slightly, Yusaku said, "I send the Level 4 Fairy monster Mudora the Sword Oracle from my Deck to the GY. Diviner of the Herald gains 4 Levels until the end of the turn!"
[Diviner of the Herald]
[Level: 2 → 6]
As Diviner's Level rose, Yusaku immediately played another card from his hand.
"Next, I Normal Summon—Tearlaments Reinoheart!"
[Tearlaments Reinoheart]
[ATK: 1500]
The moment Reinoheart steadied itself on the field, Yusaku's voice turned sharp and decisive.
"Now I tune the newly Summoned Tearlaments Reinoheart with my Level 6 Tuner, Diviner of the Herald!"
"Synchro Summon! Appear—Level 10—Baronne de Fleur!"
Two beams of light intertwined into a blazing spiral of stardust that surged into the sky. Rose-colored radiance crashed down like a waterfall—
Hoofbeats shattered the glow.
A silver-armored knight rode out on a pure-white steed, sword raised, elegant and deadly.
[Baronne de Fleur]
[Level 10 / Warrior / Synchro / Effect]
[ATK: 3000]
"I activate Baronne de Fleur's effect!" Yusaku pointed at Kitkallos's field, voice firm. "Once per turn, I can target 1 card on the field and destroy it!"
"My target is your Tearlaments Kashtira!"
Baronne lifted her roseblade high. Petals and thorned light swirled together, beautiful and dangerous—then she slashed downward.
A crescent-shaped blade wave tore through the air and cleaved straight into the mermaid warrior.
With a thunderous blast, the monster exploded into pieces and dissipated.
"Finally, I Set three cards. Turn end!"
Kitkallos stared at Yusaku's field, quickly counting his monsters.
Spright Elf, Tearlaments Rulkallos, Tearlaments Kaleido-Heart, and Baronne de Fleur.
"…This doesn't look impossible to break," she muttered under her breath. Then she inhaled, placed her hand on her Duel Disk, and declared with conviction:
"My turn. I'm turning this around!"
The moment her fingers touched her drawn card, Yusaku's voice came—exactly as if he'd been waiting for it—carrying a faint smile.
"At the end of your Draw Phase, I flip my Set card. I activate the Continuous Trap—Gravekeeper's Trap!"
A face-down card at Yusaku's feet turned over. Dark, ancient light rippled across the artwork, radiating a heavy, mysterious presence.
"Gravekeeper's Trap…?" Kitkallos frowned slightly. It was another card she'd never seen before.
But she didn't dwell on it. She quickly scanned her hand, then Yusaku's board.
Right now, the only truly universal interruption on his field was Baronne de Fleur. If she could bait out Baronne's negate, she could open a lane for her Traps and her real plan next turn.
A sly glint flashed in her eyes.
She slapped down a Spell.
"I activate Painful Choice!"
"This card's effect: I choose 5 cards from my Deck and reveal them. My opponent selects 1 of them to add to my hand, and the rest are sent to the GY!"
Kitkallos drew five cards from her Deck and presented them to Yusaku with provocative confidence.
"I reveal Agido the Ancient Sentinel, Kelbek the Ancient Vanguard, Tearlaments Havnis, Tearlaments Scheiren, and Tearlaments Merrli!"
Then she smiled sweetly, voice dripping with suggestion.
"Master, pick one. Or—you can negate this with Baronne de Fleur, you know?"
Yusaku let out a soft laugh and swept his gaze across the five cards.
"You've already searched the mermaids before. Looks like you want to rely on them and your GY resources to break my board."
He paused, then spoke plainly.
"Then I'll pick the first one."
"…Seriously?" Kitkallos froze.
She'd meant to use Painful Choice to force out Baronne's negate—because she had another copy ready. But Yusaku didn't take the bait at all. Not only did he refuse to negate it, he calmly chose to dump the three key Tearlaments names into her GY.
Even Scheiren and Merrli at the sidelines stared at Yusaku in surprise, completely thrown off.
Havnis tilted her head, genuinely confused. "Master, why didn't you use Baronne-oneechan's effect to negate it? If Big Sis gets to dump all those starters into the GY, she can counterattack right away!"
Kitkallos swallowed down her shock, added the selected card to her hand, and sent the other four to the GY.
The instant the cards hit the GY, she raised her voice sharply:
"Then I activate the effect of Tearlaments Merrli that was just sent to the GY! And I chain—"
She stopped mid-sentence.
Her Duel Disk didn't respond.
No activation window. No effect prompt. Nothing—like it had suddenly "broken."
That was impossible.
Her Duel Disk was formed from her own spirit energy. It couldn't malfunction.
So if it wasn't the Duel Disk, there were only a few possible explanations.
Kitkallos snapped her head up. Havnis, Scheiren, and Merrli did the same—four pairs of eyes locking onto Yusaku at once.
Under their shocked stares, Yusaku smiled and raised a card from his GY.
"Exchange of the Spirit."
"This card's effect: if each player has at least 15 cards in their GY, I can pay 1000 LP. Both players swap their Deck and GY, then shuffle."
"But…" Havnis frowned, puzzled. "That just swaps the Deck and the GY. That doesn't stop Big Sis from activating GY effects, does it?"
Yusaku smiled and explained calmly.
"One card by itself doesn't lock down the GY. But this card—combined with the Continuous Trap I just activated—changes everything."
He tapped the face-up Trap on his field.
"Gravekeeper's Trap's effect: as long as there is at least 1 card in my GY, my opponent cannot activate the effects of cards in their GY, and they also cannot Special Summon monsters from their GY."
"Ah—!"
All four girls gasped at once, eyes wide.
Havnis blurted out, stunned, "So as long as that Trap stays on the field, Big Sis can't activate any GY effects at all—and she can't Special Summon from the GY either?!"
"Correct." Yusaku snapped his fingers. "Exactly like that."
The system-provided Deck was a one-to-one copy of Kitkallos's build—but Gravekeeper's Trap was something Yusaku had deliberately added.
In a Tearlaments mirror match, this card was practically a mirror-match god. One Trap was enough to completely crush a strategy that relied on the GY to function.
Yusaku looked up at Kitkallos and smiled faintly.
"With a multi-purpose negate on my field, a Special Summon negate, spot removal, and two Counter Traps Set behind me… do you still want to continue?"
Kitkallos looked at her hand. With her GY sealed, the quality of her current hand simply couldn't force its way through this board.
She huffed, then dismissed her Duel Disk.
"This time doesn't count. I only lost because I wasn't paying attention."
Yusaku laughed and, as always, gave her an easy out.
"I just got a little lucky. Next Duel, the winner might not be me."
At that, Scheiren suddenly seemed to remember something and murmured softly, "If Big Sis loses… then according to the old punishment from before… doesn't that mean Big Sis gets pinned under Master…?"
"Huh?" Havnis asked with pure, wide-eyed innocence. "What's the difference? Big Sis, Scheiren-oneechan, Merrli-oneechan—every time you play with Master, aren't you always 'under' in that circle anyway?"
She tilted her head, even more confused. "Every time, you shoo me away and say I'm still too young to watch. So what are you actually doing?"
Kitkallos, Scheiren, and Merrli went bright red in an instant. All three immediately looked at Yusaku with eyes that clearly said: This is your problem. Fix it.
Yusaku coughed twice, then patted Havnis's head and smoothly changed the subject.
"Well… you'll understand when you're older."
"Don't worry about that right now. You've never been outside, right? That's why I came—I'm taking you out to see the world."
"Come on. Let's go."
The moment Havnis heard the word "outside," all her questions flew straight out of her head. She cheered so loudly it was almost explosive.
"Yay! We finally get to go out!"
(End of Chapter)
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