Deaf, Are You?

Come to think of it, this seemed to be his first time experiencing something like this.

Clutching the cards in his hand, Yu Ming could not help looking straight ahead.

"Demon Soldier (LV4)"

"Attribute/Dark"

"Type/Demon"

"ATK/1900 DEF/1500"

One Normal Monster stood on the field, with two Set Cards in the back row.

If this had been his opponent's setup, he would have been delighted, because it was such a standard anime-style opening.

But when it was his own...

"Urgh..."

Glancing at the three cards still clenched in his hand, Yu Ming felt as though his heart was cramping.

The Normal Monster still sitting there and the Spell Cards that he simply could not play were telling him, their master, one very important thing through their very existence:

He.

Yu Ming.

Had bricked in what might have been the most important Duel of his transmigration career so far!

"How did this even happen...?"

His opponent only had a monster with a graveyard effect on the field, an empty Graveyard, and two Set Cards in the back row, yet he had no way to deal with it.

He had clearly stuffed cards like Pot of Greed and Graceful Charity into his Deck—cards destined for the forbidden list—yet he had not drawn a single one.

More importantly, under rules where going second meant starting at a one-card disadvantage, he had no choice but to play according to his opponent's mood!

"My turn, draw."

Under the pale-blue firelight, the demon's chilling smile was reflected.

"Hmph. To command demons such as these at will at your age... you have achieved something on the path of Red Magic."

"Don't..."

Looking at the utterly sincere seriousness on Hades's face beneath his hood, Yu Ming could not help clutching his chest.

"I can't breathe, brother. Stop talking."

He felt so embarrassed his toes could dig out a three-bedroom apartment, but unfortunately, the former Lord of the Underworld had no idea what he was feeling right now.

"However, mere Red Magic alone cannot help you withstand my attack."

Or rather, Hades simply did not care about such things.

"Now, experience the pure power of brutality and destruction!"

At that moment, Yu Ming could only watch helplessly as he raised one finger.

Then...

Rumble

The roar of thunder gathered and surged at the demon's fingertip.

Of course, this did not mean Hades had decided to stop playing cards and start beating people up himself.

"I activate the spell I set last turn!"

Behind the crisscrossing lightning, Yu Ming saw the flipped-up Set Card.

It was red!

"A Trap Card?"

"I shall consume my own mana and unleash the destructive power of Dark Magic!"

"No, who explains card effects like that?!"

Rumble

Under real-card rules, this might have been the moment to call for a timeout and summon a judge, or suggest carefully inspecting the opponent's card to see what its rules-compliant text was supposed to say.

But this was different.

There were no such things as timeouts in a Shadow Game, and no matter how much Yu Ming complained about the absurdity of it, the raging lightning was already racing toward him.

"Raigeki Break!"

"Tch."

Beep

Rumble

The surging lightning descended and struck Demon Soldier directly. White smoke accompanied by intense heat spread out, seeming to conceal everything on the battlefield.

Watching this, Hades folded his arms across his chest.

"It was merely a lesser demon in the end. Before greater power, its only fate is to be reduced to ashes."

"If it were the only one, that would indeed be true."

"Hm?"

The sudden voice made Hades's murky eyes, like stagnant pools of blood, tremble.

Once the white smoke dispersed, Demon Soldier still stood tall, as though that Dark Magic had accomplished nothing at all.

"This is..."

But that was not to say nothing had changed.

"Claws?"

At some point, a pair of dark, razor-sharp steel claws had wrapped around the soldier's arms.

The lightning that should have destroyed it danced in the palms of those claws, only to be crushed apart by the soldier.

"Equip Spell—Claw of Hermos."

Yu Ming lightly tapped his Duel Disk.

"This card prevents the equipped monster from being destroyed by effects. At the same time, the equipped monster gains 600 ATK."

"Demon Soldier"

"ATK/1900→2500"

"But when I activated my spell, you should not have had a chance to equip anything to your familiar. Unless..."

"When you activated Raigeki Break, I chained my Set Card to yours."

Meeting Hades's unpleasant gaze, Yu Ming merely showed him the card that had temporarily left the Graveyard.

"Weapon Call—this Trap Card lets me search my Deck and equip an Equip Spell of my choice to a monster on my field."

"I see. I did not expect that, beyond Red Magic, you were also proficient in White Magic. I underestimated you."

"Magic, magic... Anyone hearing this would think we were playing some wizard game..."

"However, since you are trying so hard to protect your familiar, that means your Red Magic studies are still incomplete!"

"..."

"Now, let me show you the essence of Red Magic."

Under Yu Ming's hesitant gaze, the demon swept out one massive hand.

As flames burned, the phantom of a demon slowly emerged. It had a ferocious shell, yet stood as straight as a general as it drove its blade into the ground.

"My loyal servant shall offer up his life and open the path to transformation."

"Archfiend General..."

As Hades sang in a manner resembling an aria, Yu Ming merely watched the demon's figure gradually turn into a mist of blood.

Honestly, he had automatically filtered out Hades's completely noncompliant "chanting." What mattered was nothing more than his card's effect.

"The path of a demon's ascension shall begin! Blood and life shall gather in darkness, forging the supreme through countless trials!"

If he remembered correctly, Archfiend General's effect was to send itself to the Graveyard as a cost, then search the Deck for a corresponding Field Spell.

"I call upon your name."

And that Field Spell was...

"Pandemonium."

Rumble

Amid the thunderous roar, the surrounding scenery changed.

Bone spikes stretched out from the barren earth. Amid the demons' shrill howls, liquefied Magic Descent Thunder boiled atop an altar.

"Witness the path of demon transformation!"

"You already activated a Field Spell?"

"I shall borrow its power to guide forth my supreme spell!"

"I asked whether you activated it or not?"

"You shall witness that terrifying form..."

"Are you fucking deaf?"

Boom

At last, perhaps because Yu Ming had finally raised his voice enough for Hades to hear, the archdemon interrupted his solo performance.

A trace of bewilderment surfaced in his scarlet eyes, and rare uncertainty appeared on his face.

"You..."

"What do you mean, 'you'? Why is it so exhausting just talking to you?"

"I..."

"Enough with the bullshit. You activated the Field Spell, right?"

"I... I did."

"Good. Then I'll flip my Set Card and chain a Quick-Play Spell."

A gust of wind rose across the roaring field.

Something very simple...

"Cyclone."

Corrected the issue with the number of Set Cards at the end of Chapter 43 _(:з"∠)_

I mainly reconsidered the Duel's structure and realized writing it this way would be more interesting.