"How am I supposed to show her? Play cards with her?" Hara Shichi looked at the pile of scythes, swords, and other weapons at Ghost Ogre's waist. She was even holding a talisman in her hand, looking like a character straight out of a battle anime.
"Uh, I'm not sure either." Yukikaze scratched her cheek.
"This is when the god herself needs to step in," Ai said from the side.
"You have a way?" Hara Shichi asked curiously.
"It's simple. Just stand in front of her, and I'll unleash my pure Duel Power. She'll definitely bow before us!" Ai declared confidently.
"..."
Hara Shichi could tell that neither of them was particularly reliable.
He would have to handle this himself.
As Ghost Ogre walked along, she suddenly noticed someone appearing before her. She instinctively gripped her sword hilt and asked warily, "Who are you?"
"A duelist who came for you." Hara Shichi bluntly revealed his intentions.
"You want me to follow you?" Ghost Ogre released her grip on the hilt. Her dark crimson eyes narrowed slightly before quickly returning to normal.
"I'm sorry, but I have a mission. There are Duel Spirits stronger than me on this mountain. Young duelist, go seek them out," Ghost Ogre refused.
"A mission? Can you tell me what it is?" Hara Shichi had no intention of letting Ghost Ogre go so easily.
Ghost Ogre froze, then turned her gaze toward Hara Shichi again.
"Perhaps... you can give it a try," Ghost Ogre murmured. Then she said to Hara Shichi, "Come with me. I'll take you to the trial grounds."
"Huh? The trial grounds? So that legend was true?" Yukikaze poked her head out from behind a tree.
"You're... that student who's been coming into the mountain lately?" Ghost Ogre blurted out when she saw Yukikaze.
"You know me?" Yukikaze asked in surprise.
"I've seen you many times. I thought you were here looking for powerful Duel Spirits, but you always left empty-handed," Ghost Ogre answered.
Yukikaze said embarrassedly, "A weak duelist like me wouldn't have any Duel Spirits willing to follow me..."
"Being weak isn't frightening." Ghost Ogre cut her off. "What's frightening is being content with weakness. Don't keep standing still."
"Oh, okay..." Yukikaze replied guiltily. Why did it feel like she was being lectured by a Duel Spirit...?
"The trial grounds were established thirty years ago by the headmaster of Duelist Academy. At the time, a powerful Duel Spirit appeared at the academy and wreaked havoc. The headmaster personally sealed it in the back mountain, then set up many trials, declaring that only duelists who passed them could wield that Duel Spirit."
"And my mission is to choose duelists I deem qualified to undergo the trials, while also preventing those with ill intentions from obtaining this power," Ghost Ogre explained.
"Why me?" Hara Shichi asked doubtfully. "Do you think I can pass the trials?"
"Because... without me realizing it, the back mountain seems to have become a forbidden area." Ghost Ogre's expression darkened. "I used to observe duelists one by one, determine whether they met the requirements for the trials, then appear before them and lead them to the trial grounds."
"But at some point, students stopped coming to the back mountain. Then, ten years ago, when a student secretly broke into the back mountain, he told me that the school had designated it a forbidden area."
"Did that student from ten years ago fail the trials?" Yukikaze asked curiously.
Ghost Ogre hesitated for a moment, as if she did not want to recall the matter, but she still said, "That student kept shouting that Xiaomi and Nana were the strongest Duel Spirits, that he didn't need any weird, random Duel Spirits. Then he laughed three times and left."
"Idiot," Ghost Ogre muttered, unable to stop herself from cursing.
"Ah! A Duel Spirit cursed!" Yukikaze cried out.
"..."
That student couldn't have been—no, he was one hundred percent Teacher Nafili. Hara Shichi twitched the corner of his mouth.
"We're here. This is the entrance to the trial grounds." Ghost Ogre stopped before a lake.
"The entrance is at the bottom of the lake?" Yukikaze asked in surprise.
"Yes. Step back a little. I'm drawing my sword." Ghost Ogre placed her pale little hand on the hilt.
"Drawing your sword? What for?" Yukikaze did not understand, but she soon got her answer.
A flash of sword light cut through the air. The once-calm lake was split in two like tofu, revealing a fissure about three meters wide. Within it, a flight of stairs leading straight to the lakebed appeared before them.
"As long as the lake surface is struck with enough force, the stairs will appear." Ghost Ogre sheathed her blade, which still radiated a chill.
"Oh, so that's how it works. I thought you really cut the lake in half." Yukikaze wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
Ghost Ogre said nothing and merely took the lead down the stairs.
Huh? Was she ignoring her?
"Let's go." Hara Shichi patted the dazed Yukikaze.
They followed the stairs all the way down to the bottom of the lake. Perhaps because the back mountain had become a forbidden area, the lakebed was remarkably clean, without any trash. At its center stood an old altar.
Ghost Ogre stepped onto the altar. Her snowy brows furrowed slightly, and a trace of worry flashed across her delicate, adorable face.
"What is it?" Hara Shichi asked when he noticed something seemed off about Ghost Ogre's expression.
"Just now, someone activated the altar." Ghost Ogre's tone turned grave.
"Someone entered the trial grounds without my knowledge!"
Doubles
"Someone infiltrated the trial grounds without my knowledge," Ghost Ogre said.
"Other than you, does anyone else know about this place?" Yukikaze asked.
"Impossible. Anyone who fails the trials has this memory erased." Ghost Ogre shook her head. "There's no point standing here and guessing. Let's go in."
"How do we activate the altar?"
"Just inject Duel Power into it." As she spoke, Ghost Ogre crouched and pressed her palm against the altar. The altar immediately lit up with white light, and before Hara Shichi could react, they had appeared in a vast underground space.
"The first stage is solving a puzzle duel. You must do it within one turn... Wait, who are you?" Ghost Ogre had just begun explaining the rules to Hara Shichi when she suddenly noticed two men in black robes standing in the space.
"Looks like Lord Wood's concerns were justified. I didn't expect some lost little mice to really wander in," one of the black-robed men said with a sinister cackle.
"They even look like Duelist Academy students. Heh heh heh, I love bullying little kids," said the other.
"Something's wrong. Yukikaze, run!" Hara Shichi shouted, only to see Yukikaze raise her fair wrist with tearful eyes.
"My wrist seems to be wrapped in something strange."
"This is... a Dark Duel! The loser will have their soul devoured!" Ghost Ogre stared at the black mist coiling around Yukikaze's wrist.
"A-Qi, yours has it too!" Ai hurriedly warned him.
Hara Shichi raised his wrist and found that black mist had somehow wrapped around it as well.
"Don't worry. Neither of you can escape. Once a Dark Game begins, no one can end it!" The black-robed man let out a chilling laugh.
Snap!
With a snap of his fingers, the black mist instantly spread, enveloping Hara Shichi and Yukikaze like a dueling arena.
"Then... let me hunt your souls!" The black-robed man unfolded his Duel Disk.
Black-Robed Man No. 1: 4000 LP Black-Robed Man No. 2: 4000 LP vs Hara Shichi: 4000 LP Yukikaze: 4000 LP
"Doubles? I've never played doubles before!" Yukikaze cried. Despite having become a duelist so long ago, this was her first doubles duel.
"It's fine. Other than everyone being unable to attack on the first turn, doubles rules aren't much different from normal duels," Hara Shichi reassured her.
Beep!
At that moment, Hara Shichi's Duel Disk sounded an alert.
"Looks like I'm going first." Hara Shichi said, "My turn, draw!"
"Huh? This card is... Ghost Ogre?" Hara Shichi instinctively turned around and discovered Ghost Ogre standing silently behind him.
"I can't stop this duel. This is the only way I can help you," Ghost Ogre explained.
"I understand. Then I'll be counting on you." Hara Shichi nodded.
Hara Shichi placed a monster card onto his Duel Disk. "Main Phase 1, I Normal Summon Magicalized Pâtissière - Jelly Angel."
The adorable Jelly Angel appeared on the field. However, her bright smile vanished amid the black mist surrounding them, and her cute brows knitted together instead.
"Pfft!" Black-Robed Man No. 1 could not hold back his laughter. "You actually summoned such a weak monster. Looks like you've already given up resisting."
"Whether she's weak or not isn't for you to decide." Hara Shichi's voice turned cold. "I activate Jelly Angel's effect. I Tribute herself to Special Summon a Magicalized Pâtissière from my Deck. I Special Summon Madolche Puddingscess in Defense Position."
"Next, I activate Puddingscess's effect. I banish Jelly Angel from the Graveyard to Special Summon Madolche Messenger from my Deck. I activate Madolche Messenger's effect to add Mage of the Madolche Night from my Deck to my hand."
"I Set three cards and end my turn. Yukikaze, you're up." Hara Shichi said.
"Got it. My turn, draw!" Yukikaze gently drew a card from her Deck.
"I got it!" Yukikaze looked at the card she had drawn and broke into a delighted smile.
"I Normal Summon Lone Fire Blossom!" Yukikaze directly summoned the card she had just drawn. "I activate Lone Fire Blossom's effect. Once per turn, I can Tribute one face-up Plant-Type monster I control to Special Summon one Plant-Type monster from my Deck. I Tribute Lone Fire Blossom on my field to Special Summon—Rikka Princess!"
An elegant woman in a long purple dress appeared on the field, holding a crystal-clear parasol.
Rikka Princess: Level 8, Attribute: Water, Type: Plant-Type, ATK 2600 / DEF 1200.
"Oh, it actually has 2600 ATK. Looks like you're a little stronger than your classmate." Black-Robed Man No. 1 sneered. "I wonder how much such a powerful card would fetch on the Black Market?"
"Hmph, I won't let that happen!" Yukikaze said, slapping a monster from her hand onto the Duel Disk. "I activate Rikka Grass's effect. If a monster on my field was Tributed, I can Special Summon this card from my hand in Defense Position."
The moment Yukikaze finished speaking, a little girl with blonde twin tails appeared before them. Compared to the mature woman beside her, the young girl had only 800 ATK. Fortunately, she had 1800 DEF, so Yukikaze summoned her in Defense Position.
"Next, I activate the Field Spell Card—Marincess World!"
After saying that, Yukikaze looked around. For some reason, the seawater that should have appeared alongside the Field Spell Card did not appear. The pitch-black mist still surrounded Hara Shichi and Yukikaze.
"It's useless. In a Dark Duel, there is only one field—the bottomless mist!" Black-Robed Man No. 2 explained.
"But Marincess World's effect still activates successfully. All my Water monsters gain 500 ATK and lose 400 DEF."
Rikka Princess: ATK 2600 / DEF 1200 → ATK 3100 / DEF 800. Rikka Grass: ATK 800 / DEF 1800 → ATK 1300 / DEF 1400.
"I'm not done yet." Yukikaze placed another Spell Card onto the field. "I continue by activating the Continuous Spell Card—Marincess Stage. Its effect prevents my Water monsters from being destroyed by battle with non-Water monsters."
With that, her defenses were complete. Seeing Rikka Princess's ATK exceed even Blue-Eyes White Dragon's, Yukikaze finally relaxed a little.
"I Set one card and end my turn." Yukikaze ended her turn.
"Since you're both done, it's my turn now." Black-Robed Man No. 1 said, "My turn, draw!"
"Oh ho, I didn't expect to draw it right away." The black-robed man revealed a meaningful smile.
"Then let me show you the abyss filled with despair." He raised the card in his hand and shouted,
"I activate the Spell Card—Black Hole!"
"Its effect destroys all monsters on the field!"
Could Xyz Summoning Actually Be a Very Simple Summoning Method...
The powerful Black Hole swept across the entire dueling field. The monsters on Hara Shichi and Yukikaze's fields turned to ash in an instant.
"Huh... You've got to be kidding?" Yukikaze looked at her completely empty field, her little face turning pale. "My ace that I worked so hard to summon..."
"Stay calm! Yukikaze, your LP haven't dropped. You still have Set Cards on the field and cards in your hand. The duel has only just begun." As Hara Shichi spoke, he returned the destroyed Puddingscess and Madolche Messenger to his Deck.
"Hey, destroyed monsters should go to the Graveyard! Don't you know the rules?" Black-Robed Man No. 1 shouted when he saw Hara Shichi's actions.
"Idiot, that's a feature of the Magicalized Pâtissière Deck. When their monsters are destroyed, they return to the Deck," Black-Robed Man No. 2 said.
"Huh? What's the point of such a boring effect?" The black-robed man scoffed. "Let me show you a stronger Deck!"
As he spoke, Black-Robed Man No. 1 slapped a monster card onto his Duel Disk. "I Normal Summon Fiend's Hand North River II! I activate his effect. During the turn this card is Summoned, I can Normal Summon one monster with 'Fiend' in its name in addition to my Normal Summon, only once. Then, I Normal Summon once more from my hand..."
Before you continue