"What do you mean, Senior?" Ye Lingling finally came back to her senses after quite a while and asked.
Bai Yun'er also stared at Youye in confusion, having no idea what he was doing.
Only Munin beside them smacked her lips, silently complaining that Youye was too ruthless. He had actually used this move. When she had fallen for it before, Youye had practically ruined an entire field of hers.
"Exactly what I said. Do you have any objections to entering the Battle Phase? If you do, you could have acted during the Draw Phase, Standby Phase, or Main Phase 1." Youye asked with a smile.
Looking at Youye's smiling face, Ye Lingling felt a chill run down her spine for some reason. Her Duelist's intuition told her something huge was coming!
Unfortunately, she had no idea what that huge thing was.
"No objections." Ye Lingling looked at her hand, her heart trembling, but after thinking it over, she gave her answer.
Of course, she did not want to answer that way, but neither her hand nor field had any usable effects, so she could only say it.
"Fine, then I'll end the Battle Phase." Youye's smile became increasingly eerie.
"At the timing before the Battle Phase ends, I activate the Trap Card in my hand, Evenly Matched. If I control no cards, I can activate this card from my hand at the end of our Battle Phases. Then, according to its effect, until the number of cards on your field equals the number of cards on mine, you must choose cards on your field and banish them face-down."
"I only have one card on my field, the activated Evenly Matched. In other words, choose one card to keep."
After saying that, Youye paused slightly before reminding her, "A word of advice: against this card, as long as you can't negate it, no resistance matters. It is the noble effect of a Duelist."
At Youye's words, Ye Lingling's face instantly darkened. Then, seemingly realizing something, she said speechlessly, "You mean even complete immunity to effects is useless?"
"That's right." Youye nodded.
Hearing that, Ye Lingling fell silent as she looked at Youye's Evenly Matched.
While Ye Lingling was thinking, Bai Yun'er was stunned. Wasn't Evenly Matched her family's card? And one of those cards nobody used, at that!
What normal Duelist did not enjoy battling? Giving up the Battle Phase just to clear the field—was that something a normal Duelist would think of?
Yet she had to admire Youye's idea. Without Spell/Trap Negation or Triple Negate, this card could be said to be guaranteed to land. Take Ye Lingling right now—she had four monsters and one Field Spell on her field. After Youye's move, barring any surprises, Ye Lingling would only be left with her boss monster, Bai Tiandi.
But even if she kept it, it would only be a target. The Runick system could destroy monsters. Bai Tiandi was unaffected by the effects of Extra Deck monsters, but Runick Spells still worked on it.
It could only be said that Youye's disadvantage, with his Extra Deck nearly stripped clean, had been almost completely reversed by a single card!
In a room somewhere within the Bai family estate, a middle-aged man was watching Youye and Ye Lingling's Duel with great interest. The man was Bai Lingtian, the current Family Head of the Bai family and Bai Yun'er's father, an Earth-level Duelist of the Blue-Eyes Archetype.
When Youye's Extra Deck had been cut down to only five cards, he had thought Youye would need some impressive card skills to win. He had not expected a single card to turn things around.
"Family Head, this is one of our family's cards." Seeing Bai Lingtian's expression as he considered what card he could trade for it, the butler in a suit beside him immediately understood and spoke respectfully.
"???" Bai Lingtian stared at him in utter confusion, as if saying, Are you kidding me? How could I, the Family Head, not know our Bai family had such an amazing card?
"Our ancestor acquired this card somewhere three hundred years ago. He called it a trash card with no development value, so it was placed on the Tier 2 List. No one ever developed it. Senior Youye exchanged for this card the day before yesterday, so I took notice of it. I did not expect it to be used this way," the butler answered respectfully.
"A trash card our ancestor mentioned three hundred years ago? It's currently on the Tier 2 List?" Bai Lingtian froze, then fell silent for a moment. Looking at Youye on the computer screen, he slowly said, "Put it on the Special Card List. I'll personally speak with our ancestor afterward."
"Yes!" The butler nodded and stopped speaking, preparing to leave.
"Wait. First, bring me the Original Card of this card. I'll test its strength myself before I communicate with anyone." Seeing the butler leave, Bai Lingtian realized that once he informed the ancestor, the Original Card would definitely be temporarily taken by the ancestor. He therefore called the butler back and gave another order.
"...Yes." The butler instantly understood Bai Lingtian's intention and nodded in agreement.
Inside the Dueling Room.
"Well? Have you chosen?" Youye looked at Ye Lingling.
"I have. I'll keep Bai Tiandi." Ye Lingling gave her answer.
Youye nodded without surprise. Once Evenly Matched's effect resolved, the game returned to the Battle Phase, and he continued making moves.
"I activate the Quick-Play Spell Runick Destruction from my hand to Special Summon Hugin. Then I activate Hugin's effect, discarding the Spell Card Card of Demise from my hand."
"I chain at C2 with Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted from my hand—" Ye Lingling began. She already knew the effects of the Runick cards, so naturally she could not let Hugin search Fountain. However, she froze halfway through speaking.
Restricted by the Dueling Rules, she actually could not activate Fleurdelis's effect?
"Isn't it strange that you can't chain?" Youye asked, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
After a brief silence, Ye Lingling nodded. She did not understand. The Battle Phase had clearly ended and they were in Main Phase 2, so why could she not activate Fleurdelis's effect from her hand?
Could it be that Fleurdelis could only be used in Main Phase 1? Impossible! Main Phase 2 was rarely used, but she definitely remembered successfully using it there!
Bai Yun'er beside her was also confused. Since yesterday, she and Ye Lingling had dueled at least ten times in Master Duel, and Fleurdelis's effect had never failed to activate. Why could it not be activated now?
"Look at the phase. This isn't Main Phase 2—it's the Battle Phase. After using Evenly Matched, I can still continue chaining Quick-Play Spells. We haven't reached Main Phase 2 yet. Fleurdelis can Special Summon itself during a Main Phase, so you can't activate it now," Youye reminded her.
"Quick-Play Spells can be used like this too??" Ye Lingling looked at the phase recorded on her Duel Disk and was instantly dumbfounded. Her mind was filled with one thought: Wait, that works too?
"Senior truly doesn't just understand combos between cards. He has every possible use of every phase firmly under control too." Bai Yun'er silently memorized it. Evenly Matched was a Bai family card; once Youye left, she would immediately go and communicate about it.
However, she did not yet know that someone was already preparing to beat her to it.
"Since there's no issue here, Hugin's effect resolves. I add Fountain from my Deck to my hand."
"Next, we enter Main Phase 2. I first play Fountain, then activate the in-archetype Quick-Play Spell Slumber from my hand, targeting Hugin and banishing the top three cards of your Deck. Fountain's effect activates, returning Slumber and Destruction from my Graveyard to the Deck to draw two cards!"
"I activate the Blazing Flame I just drew, targeting Bai Tiandi on your field. I destroy it, then banish the top two cards of your Deck."
"I chain at C2 to Blazing Flame's effect and Special Summon Fleurdelis from my hand!" Seeing Youye gain so many cards while Bai Tiandi on her field was about to be destroyed, Ye Lingling grew anxious and immediately spoke.
But the instant she said it, she regretted it. She had made a mistake—a huge mistake.
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