Word had not gotten out yet that he possessed a deck, nor had he officially gone out to duel. Once he started dueling publicly, others would definitely study and develop counters against the Runick engine.
After all, he was different from Munin. As a spirit of the Runick archetype, she did not lack cards. In contrast, with only one Field Spell, any opponent with a functioning brain would put in cards like Cosmic Cyclone to counter him. Once the field was banished, the Runick engine would be finished.
It would be different if he had two Fountains. One would serve as insurance, and he could also use another combo. After all, the Field Spell's effect was not once per turn per card name!
"That was what I was thinking too. But since you've helped me so much, Kitkallos, I'll let you see Tearlaments at its strongest." Youye was naturally not made of stone. Kitkallos had helped him this much; it would be hard to justify not using Tearlaments now.
"At its strongest?" Kitkallos was full of confusion. Her Tearlaments were already this powerful—did they have another form?
"Watch closely. The cards I've chosen are Herald of Orange Light and Kelbek the Ancient Vanguard!" Youye did not explain further, intending to prove everything through action.
"Huh?" Kitkallos looked even more bewildered. One was from the Herald archetype, and the other was from some unknown archetype. What did those two cards have to do with her Tearlaments? They were completely unrelated, weren't they?
Just as Kitkallos stood there looking lost, the Puzzle Duel began and asked Youye whether he wanted to chain to G. Naturally, Youye immediately chained!
"Of course I'm chaining! I activate Herald's effect as Chain Link 2! When the opponent activates a monster effect, I can send this card and one Fairy-Type monster from my hand to the Graveyard to negate that activation and destroy it! I send Kelbek the Ancient Vanguard from my hand and Herald to the Graveyard to activate it!"
Effect resolution: Chain Link 2, Herald's effect, successfully activated;
Chain Link 1, G's effect, activation negated;
"Youye, I'm touched, but you—huh?" After the effects resolved, Kitkallos saw Youye throw away his entire hand just to stop G. She was about to persuade him, but froze halfway through her sentence.
"When Kelbek the Ancient Vanguard is sent from the hand or Deck to the Graveyard, I can activate its effect and send the top five cards of both players' Decks to the Graveyard."
After Kelbek's effect activated, Youye looked at Kitkallos with a mischievous smile and asked, "What were you saying just now?"
"You're awful!" The instant he used the mill-five effect, Kitkallos blushed and pouted coquettishly.
As a native Tearlaments spirit, she did not need anything spelled out to understand what milling five meant in a duel where the deck order had been casually arranged.
Among the five cards Youye milled this time, four had Graveyard effects, including Keldo the Sacred Protector. Even the card without an effect was King of the Swamp.
It reminded Youye of an old lyric: Tearlaments Ishizu, Herald mills Kelbek, Kelbek mills Keldo, then beats you into an idiot~
"Several of the cards I sent to the Graveyard have effects, so I'll begin arranging my own chain!"
"I choose Chain Link 1, Shaddoll Beast's effect to draw one; Chain Link 2, Merrli's effect to Fusion Summon using monsters in the Graveyard, on the field, or in the hand; Chain Link 3, Havnis's effect to search the archetype Trap Card from the Deck and add it to my hand; Chain Link 4, Keldo the Sacred Protector's effect, making both of us mill another five!"
Just as Youye was preparing to continue after resolving the effects, he discovered that the Puzzle Duel had frozen, leaving him unable to operate it. It had not skipped ahead either; it was like someone had pressed pause during a replay.
Then, after roughly ten seconds of this, the Duel Stage vanished. The Dueling Rules directly acknowledged Youye's victory in this manner.
Youye:?
My chain had only just begun, and you already ran away?
"That was incredible! Even the Dueling Rules were scared and refused to keep dueling you! When I go back, I'm adding Herald of Orange Light and the Ishizu Monsters to my build too. Let's see whether the Kashtira of Visas Amritara still dare to banish my family!" Kitkallos gazed at Youye with shining eyes. She had originally thought her Tearlaments had reached their limit, but now it seemed she could become even stronger.
"Standard play." Youye waved it off indifferently. This was merely the basic operation of Ishizu Tearlaments.
As soon as Youye finished speaking, the previously blank space began to glow with a soft pale-blue light. Beneath that light, four cards appeared in Kitkallos's hands.
Under that pale-blue radiance, a pale-blue character for "Yellow" slowly appeared on Youye's arm. This marked the beginning of his rank, as well as his becoming a true duelist.
As the pale-blue light faded, Kitkallos suddenly threw her arms around Youye and handed him the four cards in her hand, speaking excitedly.
"Youye, I can give you new cards now! And they're Tearlaments' end-board cards: Tearlaments Rulkallos and Tearlaments Kaleido-Heart, as well as our archetype's Counter Trap, Primeval Planet Perlereino, and Continuous Trap, Tearlaments Sulliek!"
"It's all pure archetype cards. Aside from that useless Field Spell, everything is complete! As long as we obtain multiple copies of the same cards, Youye, you'll be able to use me!"
"Use you?" Youye accepted the cards and looked at the bold Kitkallos with a faintly wicked smile.
"N-No, I mean use our Tearlaments!" Kitkallos blushed and hurriedly released Youye.
"Don't run. I'll collect a little interest this time. Until we meet again!" Youye grabbed the fleeing Kitkallos, kissed her forehead, and spoke softly.
The moment he finished speaking, the scenery around him changed instantly. Kitkallos stood beside him with a red face full of reluctance, but before he could say anything, he had already returned to the stone platform. Other than the four additional cards in his hand, nothing about him had changed.
"Congratulations on completing your certification, Senior—and obtaining new cards as well!"
When Chang Xingge saw Youye open his eyes, her gaze swept over the four cards in his hand. Smiling, she immediately stepped forward to congratulate him.
"Mm. This certification really was worth celebrating. Not only did I have a good time, but the gains were pretty decent too."
Youye nodded with a smile. His wheelchair Tearlaments deck was now complete. Combined with the generic cards he had exchanged for earlier, all he lacked were around a dozen Main Deck cards with Graveyard effects, along with some Extra Deck cards. Once he got those, he could get it running.
"You had a good time?" Chang Xingge and Munin both wore varying degrees of curiosity on their faces.
"Mm. Unfortunately, I only got halfway through before the Dueling Rules ran away." Youye nodded, his eyes full of regret.
He had waited so long and still failed to collect an entire deck. Opportunities to use the rules to settle a personal score like this were rare. Unfortunately, the Dueling Rules had fled far too quickly. It had felt good, but not good enough.
"Gasp~"
The two women simultaneously drew in a sharp breath, becoming even more curious about what Youye had done to make even the Dueling Rules run away.
Yes, both women chose to believe him. There was simply no reason not to. Munin knew Youye's strength, while Chang Xingge knew that no duelist had ever received four cards during Yellow Rank certification. Even a certain King Level Duelist recorded by the Duel Association had only received two during certification!
Receiving four cards at once spoke for itself!
Please bookmark, please keep reading, all kinds of support are welcome. Time to keep dueling myself for materials~
Before you continue