"Is it strange that I have Infinite Impermanence? I don't have a deck, but that doesn't mean I don't have powerful standalone cards."
Youye asked in confusion. He had often encountered Infinite Impermanence in Master Duel himself. So many people owned this card; there was nothing strange about him having it too.
Youye's retort left Wuping speechless. It did sound normal, but as far as she knew, unless you were strong enough—simply put, unless you had Heavenly-level potential—the spirit of this card would not even acknowledge you and would simply ignore you.
It was not just this card. The Effect Veiler Youye had Normal Summoned earlier was the same. Since it had been Normal Summoned, she had not paid much attention to it.
Now that Infinite Impermanence had jolted her, her sealed memories gradually became clearer. But her freshly awakened mind immediately crashed beneath the combined blows of Effect Veiler and Infinite Impermanence, and she gave up thinking.
Sheng Ning was comparatively less surprised. From the fact that Youye had run three copies each of Solemn Judgment and Glow-Up Bulb, she was certain that he was a King Rank powerhouse. He could obtain Original Cards from Master Duel every year, so if he had been lucky enough to acquire Infinite Impermanence and Effect Veiler, that was understandable.
Bai Yun'er quietly watched the duel, her gaze fixed on Youye as though she were contemplating something.
Effect resolution: Chain 2 Infinite Impermanence resolved successfully. Thunder King Rai-Oh's effect was negated until the end of the turn; Chain 1 Thunder King Rai-Oh's activated effect was negated.
"Quick-Play Spell from my hand, Runick Dispelling. This time, I chose to Special Summon a monster from my Extra Deck. I Special Summoned Wings of Runick - Munin!"
"Upon being Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, Munin's effect activated. I discarded one card to add one Runick Continuous Spell to my hand. I discarded the Infinite Impermanence in my hand and added the Continuous Spell Runick Allure to my hand!"
"Field Spell Runick Fountain's effect. I returned Runick Dispelling and Runick Flashing Fire from my Graveyard to the deck and drew two!"
"Go ahead."
After doing all that, his words nearly made Wuping lose her composure as she listened to his Combo. She remembered now: it was currently her Main Phase 2, and Youye had been making moves during her Main Phase 2. The problem was, the hardest part was letting her make a move. It seemed she could do nothing except end her turn.
Did declaring the end of her turn count as making a move? For a moment, she really wanted to ask if she could just not move.
"I end my turn." After staring at her hand for dozens of seconds and confirming that she truly had no playable cards, Wuping chose to end her turn.
"During the End Phase of either player's turn, Munin's third effect activated. I recovered 1000 LP!" (Youye LP: 6600→7600)
The moment Wuping finished speaking, Youye spoke. But his words made the smile on Wuping's face turn even more bitter. She had finally found an opportunity to lower Youye's LP a little, only for it to immediately recover to 7600. By the end of his turn, it would directly exceed 8000.
How was she supposed to fight this? For a moment, she felt a trace of regret. If she had not activated Red-Eyes Fusion and had just been beaten to death by Youye's three punches, perhaps it would not have felt this awful.
"My turn, draw!" Seeing the card he drew, Youye wore a hint of helplessness. He truly did not want to do this, but his draws had been too cursed. Then he looked at Wuping, signaling whether she had any objections to going straight into Main Phase 1.
Wuping shook her head, indicating that she had none.
In Main Phase 1, Youye began milling her deck.
"First, I'll use Baronne de Fleur's effect to destroy the Thunder King Rai-Oh on your field. Then I'll activate Runick Golden Droplet to let you draw one and banish four cards, with one Continuous Spell banished. After that, Runick Dispelling's effect: discard one and banish two, with one Continuous Spell banished. Then, Runick Slumber targets Baronne de Fleur, and you banish another three, with one Continuous Spell banished. Finally, Runick Fountain returns three and draws three."
Following Youye's actions, Wuping's deck, which had contained fewer than twenty cards, was suddenly reduced to only five.
Seeing that only five cards remained, Sheng Ning, who was watching the duel, could not bear to watch any longer. Others might not know, but she had dueled Munin before and understood that this was the most torturous point.
The reason was that with too few cards left, many Runick Quick-Play Spells could no longer use their banishing effects. That sounded like a good thing, did it not? Runick's entire lineup of interruptions was gone! Perhaps this could sound the horn for a counterattack and take down the Runick duelist?
But in reality, the cards in the Graveyard had no Graveyard effects, and the cards in hand were all useless bricks with no possible plays. All one could do was wait to die where they stood, unable to see even the slightest hope.
So she turned to Bai Yun'er beside her and advised her.
"Sister Bai, have your servant surrender. The rest of this duel will shatter her fighting spirit."
Bai Yun'er looked confused when she heard that. It was only one lost duel. What was there to have her fighting spirit shattered over?
She did not understand, but she knew Sheng Ning would never say such a thing without reason. So she considered whether to agree. When she looked toward Wuping, Wuping gave her a slight shake of the head, signaling her to refuse. Bai Yun'er slowly said,
"Sister Sheng, rest assured. Auntie Wu is a master at managing her mentality. Losing one duel will not affect her at all."
"Fine." Sheng Ning chose to respect another's fate.
Seeing that Sheng Ning's attempt to persuade her to surrender had failed, Youye recovered 1000 LP during the End Phase and chose to end his turn.
"My turn, draw!" Wuping drew a card, her eyes immediately filling with excitement.
She had drawn Red-Eyes Fusion again. With the remaining two turns, it was not as though she had no chance to end the duel before Youye drew Runick Blazing Light!
After Youye raised no objections, she eagerly entered Main Phase 1 and placed Red-Eyes Fusion onto her Duel Disk.
"I activate Red-Eyes—wait, why can't I activate it?"
She froze in confusion, standing where she was without understanding what had happened. Since she had started dueling, something like this had never happened before!
Was there something wrong with the Duel Disk? Impossible! Duel Disks had the Dueling Rules implanted into them. Each company that manufactured Duel Disks could only optimize their performance and machinery; the rules themselves could not change.
Which meant the rules would not allow her to activate Red-Eyes Fusion!
"Check the monsters in your Banish Zone and Monster Zone. If nothing unexpected happened, it's because all your monsters were banished, leaving Red-Eyes Fusion without suitable Fusion Materials, so it can't be activated."
Watching her blank expression, Youye spoke.
Upon hearing that, Wuping carefully began checking what cards were in her Banish Zone and Graveyard. Ten seconds later, she looked at Youye with hollow eyes.
Sure enough, there was no surprise. Every monster in her deck was either in the Banish Zone or the Graveyard. How could the rules possibly allow her Red-Eyes Fusion to activate successfully under those circumstances?
That was not even the worst part. Through her inspection, she also discovered that Dark Hole, which she had brought for clearing the field, the Cyclone for destroying Spells and Traps, and Pot of Avarice for recycling monsters had all been banished.
In short: for the remaining four turns, she could play on her phone while waiting to die.
For a moment, her professional smile vanished, replaced by bitterness. Incomparably deep bitterness.
Youye and Sheng Ning had clearly both known this would happen, which was why they had kept reminding her. Yet she had stubbornly insisted on her own way, and now she could only sit in prison and wait to die.
Sheng Ning sighed softly. She had once encountered something similar while dueling Munin, who stood beside her as though nothing had happened.
That feeling of having hope one second, then slowly sinking into despair afterward, was truly too crushing.
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