"No. My intuition told me that the S:P Little Knight in front of me wasn't that simple. She should have a second effect, maybe even a third." Wang Cheng stared at S:P Little Knight, his gaze deep.
Was it strong to make her with two monsters and banish a target? Strong, yes—but nowhere near overwhelmingly so. Saya might have a second or third effect, and either one of those effects could make S:P Little Knight the most universally useful Link-2!
Furthermore, S:P Little Knight was currently in the Extra Monster Zone. That might not matter for most other decks, but Runick was different. Runick's Special Summoned monsters could only be placed in the Extra Monster Zone. Without another suitable effect, Youye, whose Life Points were already low, could very well be finished next turn.
Munin simply watched quietly, waiting for the duel to continue.
"I activate the Continuous Spell Dimensional Fissure. Because of my self-restriction, I'll skip the Battle Phase. End turn." After placing Dimensional Fissure, Youye chose to end his turn.
The appearance of Dimensional Fissure made Wang Cheng and Luo Hao shake their heads. Chang Xingge's expression grew increasingly grave as well. Once it was on the field, any monsters she sent to the Graveyard would be banished directly, making them impossible to recover. It was equivalent to making her resources unreusable.
In a sense, it was certain that she only had one more chance to finish this duel. If she failed to seize it, she would have no chance of victory.
With that thought, she looked at the deck on her Duel Disk and drew!
When she saw the card in her hand, a trace of delight appeared on her face. Her chance to win the duel had arrived.
"Any objections if I go straight to Main Phase 1?" she asked.
"No." Youye glanced at his hand and answered with a smile.
"I Normal Summon Sacred Tree, then Link Summon Magician using Sacred Tree as material and banishing it. Then I Special Summon Magic Mirror to Magician's Link Point. Magic Mirror and Magician's effects begin a Self-Arranged Chain."
"Chain Link 2, Magician searches an archetypal monster. Chain Link 1, Magic Mirror targets one Mekk-Knight card on my field other than itself and one card on your field, then destroys them. I target Magician and the S:P Little Knight on your field!"
After saying that, she looked at Youye. Just as Wang Cheng and Luo Hao had thought, she had naturally considered that S:P Little Knight might have another effect. Now that she had proactively tried to destroy her, it depended on whether Youye would chain anything.
"Chain Link 3, I activate the Quick-Play Spell Runick Freezing Curses from my hand, targeting the Magic Mirror on your field. Negate Magic Mirror's effects until the end of the turn, then banish the top three cards of your deck!" Youye said with a smile, adding to the chain.
Seeing Youye's chain, Chang Xingge immediately understood. S:P Little Knight did not have a Monster Effect Negate. A weight lifted from her heart, and the hope rising within her grew stronger. With the cards in her hand, it became even more likely that she could finish Youye this turn.
The effects began resolving: Chain Link 3, Freezing Curses resolved successfully, negating Magic Mirror until the end of the turn and banishing the top three cards of Chang Xingge's deck; Chain Link 2, Magician's effect added Sky Dome from the deck to her hand; Chain Link 1, Magic Mirror's effect activation was negated.
"I set Magic Mirror and Magician's Link Arrows and Link Summon Leo. Then I Special Summon Star to Leo's Link Point. Sky Dome and Leo begin a Self-Arranged Chain. I choose Chain Link 1 Star and Chain Link 2 Leo."
Just as she was about to resolve the effects, she noticed that the timing had passed to Youye. Yet it quickly returned to her. She looked at Youye in confusion, curious about what interruption he still had in hand.
"Continue. I'll stop you when I want to make a move." Youye revealed an utterly harmless smile.
Could you maybe not stop me? Better yet, not make any moves at all?
Seeing that Youye had no intention of concealing the fact that he had an interruption in hand, Chang Xingge's face darkened. She did not know whether it was a Runick Quick-Play Spell interruption or one from S:P Little Knight, but she could not help silently complaining as she considered her options.
"Chain Link 2, Leo searches the Quick-Play Spell Mekk-Knight Contract and adds it to my hand. Chain Link 1, Star's effect adds Beasts from my Graveyard to my hand!"
"I activate the Quick-Play Spell Mekk-Knight Contract. Until the end of the turn, you cannot activate Spell/Trap or monster effects targeting my Mekk-Knight monsters!"
"Chain Link 2, I activate S:P Little Knight's second effect. When my opponent activates an effect, I target two monsters, including a monster on my field, and banish them until the end of the turn. I banish Saya herself and the Leo on your field." Youye immediately said with a smile.
Chang Xingge had no further response. The effects resolved: Chain Link 2, S:P Little Knight's effect banished Saya and Leo; Chain Link 1, Mekk-Knight Contract resolved successfully.
Seeing the effects resolve, Chang Xingge was somewhat surprised. This effect was far less powerful than she had imagined. It merely caused her to temporarily lose two monsters from her field, which hurt, but not too badly.
Just as she thought that, Wang Cheng and Luo Hao, who were watching from the side, could no longer sit still. Luo Hao blurted out, "Holy shit!!! What kind of absurd effect is that?"
"It really is absurd! That effect is way too flexible. If nothing unexpected happens, she can also dodge Effect Veiler and targeted cards, right?" Wang Cheng nodded silently, a trace of fear appearing in his eyes as he looked at Youye.
Yes, fear!
Blossom, Effect Veiler, Imperm—three universally useful cards—and the way Youye had adjusted his deck was already absurd enough. After Luo Hao had processed the notification last night, he had naturally reported it to the Provincial Supervision Bureau. As soon as work began today, some of the bureau's higher-ups had immediately wanted to take Youye as a disciple or find ways to bring him into the Supervision Bureau. At the very least, they wanted to offer him benefits and win him over.
Yet before any of those three proposals had reached a conclusion, another heavyweight had appeared—a heavyweight even more outrageous than Blossom. Wang Cheng was starting to wonder whether Youye was the incarnation of a high-level spirit. Otherwise, how could he be this ridiculous? How could he so casually pull out such absurd cards?
Munin, meanwhile, curled her lips into a smile. She felt that she needed to contact Hugin and the others in the Spirit World after such a long time. They needed to grant Youye greater authority over Runick and do their best to befriend him. Otherwise, once Youye truly rose to prominence, he might not even think much of the Runick archetype.
Helping Youye grow stronger was one aspect. Another was that if they gave Youye cards, the bond between him and the Runick spirits would definitely grow over time. Once it reached a certain point, she could use his cards with Youye's permission.
That was why, when she had seen cards like Blossom yesterday, she had not been as anxious as Bai Yun'er and the others. As long as she did not do anything Youye disliked, she would obtain them sooner or later. What was there to rush about?
After all, spirits were not like humans. There was no such thing as betrayal. Even spirits bound to multiple people were the same; when internal conflicts arose, they would still treat everyone fairly.
Chang Xingge frowned tightly, then relaxed. Dodging Effect Veiler? Dodging targeted cards? Did that matter now? No!
Youye's field was completely open, and he only had two cards in hand. If he did not have a Runick Quick-Play Spell, she still had a chance to finish him. So, she continued to Build a Board.
"I Link Summon a third Magician using Star, then Special Summon Beasts to Magician's Link Point. I Link Summon a third Leo using Beasts and Magician, then Special Summon Sky Dome to Leo's Link Point. I Link Summon a second Grand Monarch using Sky Dome and Leo!"
"I use Grand Monarch to declare an attack!"
"I activate the Quick-Play Spell Runick Flurry of Fowling and choose to Special Summon a Runick monster. Therefore, I Special Summon Geri in Defense Position."
"Come out, doggie!"
As Youye spoke, a purple dog wearing a scarf appeared on the field.
"Chain Link 1, Fountain's effect targets Rage Storm and Freezing Curses in the Graveyard. Chain Link 2, Geri's effect when Special Summoned from the Extra Deck lets me recover a non-Runick Quick-Play Spell from the Graveyard and add it to my hand."
"Following the principle of last in, first out, Chain Link 2 Geri adds the Continuous Spell Runick Allure to my hand. Chain Link 1 Fountain returns two and draws two!"
After doing all that, Youye glanced over his hand, then smiled at Chang Xingge. "Still attacking?"
"Attack!"
In just one turn, all her resources had been banished away. Not only had Youye not lost a single monster, but he had also gained more and more cards. If she did not attack, the duel would completely lose all hope!
"It's over." The moment she declared another attack, Wang Cheng and Luo Hao exchanged a glance. Luo Hao let out a soft sigh.
The instant his voice rang out, Chang Xingge suddenly realized another issue. Munin had two effects—how could Geri only have one effect that recovered cards from the Graveyard?
But... they had already entered the Damage Step. There was no way to stop it now. Wang Cheng and Luo Hao had clearly only spoken because they knew it could no longer be stopped.
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