Amid wave after wave of roars and thunderous crashes, shadows blanketed the entire Palace of Dark Demons.
Beneath shadows that seemed impenetrable even to the lightning of demonic descent, the evil dragon lowered its head.
"Five-Headed Dragon (Lv. 12)"
"Attribute/DARK"
"Type/Dragon"
"ATK/5000 DEF/5000"
It looked impressive, but for various reasons, no one actually used it as a main monster.
After all, by modern standards, even the errata'd Fusion version requiring five Dragon monsters was already an exorbitant cost, let alone this early Ritual version.
When it first appeared, "Five-Headed Dragon" not only required a dedicated Ritual Spell to Tribute five offerings, but those offerings also had to possess different Attributes. Its activation requirements were even harsher than "Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain."
And in the original work, the only reason the Big Five could gather the necessary Tributes was because they took advantage of the village rules.
But now...
"Zero back row, zero cards in hand."
Hades had emptied every resource he had paid Life Points to obtain in one go, only to bring out a monster that was merely intimidating to look at.
In a sense, this was perhaps an even more heavyweight version of Mr. Jaden's pioneering "five-for-one" Fusion play.
But how should one put it?
"Behold the might of the evil dragon!"
If the person involved thought there was no problem, then there was no problem.
"Five-Headed Dragon is an evil dragon summoned by five elements. The balance of the elements prevents it from being destroyed in battle by monsters of those five Attributes, and when Five-Headed Dragon descends, it shall unleash an Elemental Burst!"
"Elemental Burst"
That card did exist. Under normal circumstances, its activation requirements were also among the harshest.
But if it could actually be activated, its effect was not weak.
Its text was simply and brutally straightforward:
"Everything on your field will be destroyed!"
"But I only have one monster and one Set Card on my field..."
"Destroy them all!"
With Hades's loud roar, the evil dragon spread its wings.
The central head of darkness lifted high.
"Yu Ming..."
As its indistinct hiss echoed through the air, the dragon heads around it gathered streams of light in varying colors.
Savage, terrifying, as if they would devour everything whole.
Yet such a calamity was not impossible to evade.
It was even extremely simple. All it took was a simple command and gesture.
"Activate my Set Card!"
At almost the very instant the elemental bombardment fell, the warrior who had been waiting in formation charged forward. The twin blades in his hands seemed to possess supreme power as they forcibly tore through the bombarding elements.
"What?!"
Before Hades's astonished eyes, the Warrior of Darkworld swung his twin blades and drove them into the central head of the evil dragon.
Amid a series of wailing roars, the elements split apart and collapsed, and the shadow over the Palace of Dark Demons was completely dispersed.
"This... is impossible. That warrior is merely a mercenary from Darkworld. How could he possess such... such power?"
In the end, his initial shock gradually turned into silence, because he realized that his entire line of thinking seemed to have been wrong.
Up ahead, the Warrior of Darkworld was likewise on the verge of collapse.
Though he still stood proudly, the cracks covering his black armor caused him to vanish from the battlefield.
"Trap Card—'Crude Man's Counter-Stab.'"
From behind him, the duelist controlling everything spoke calmly.
"This card lets me Tribute one Warrior monster on my field to destroy one card on the field. When that card is destroyed, I draw one card from my Deck."
"So you spent your subordinate's life to perish together with the evil dragon..."
"I don't want to hear that from you. It's not like the demons under your command come free, either."
At that, Yu Ming sneered.
"Rather, the reason this happened was because the terminal you chose had no resistance at all."
"But how could you have drawn such a card at such a crucial moment?"
"Yeah, I'd like to know that too. Why was that, I wonder?"
From a certain perspective, this was also a common flaw in anime.
Things like the President's White Dragon and the Pharaoh's Dark Magician—those two were also heavyweight examples of having absolutely no resistance.
But interestingly, even though there were plenty of cards that could deal with them back then, those cards basically never came up whenever they faced those two. Only White Bride might get humiliated and cuckolded in all sorts of ways due to certain special preferences.
But Hades had clearly not reached that level, and if one followed the anime's logic of "drawing cards is destiny"...
"It can only mean your drawing skills aren't good enough."
"Impossible! I have clearly gained control over my own destiny!"
Hades roared.
"Even though I only just awakened from the scene, there were no omissions in the spells I cast. Everything developed in the direction I desired!"
Great, this guy was losing his mind again.
Rolling his eyes, Yu Ming placed a hand on his Deck.
"You have no cards in hand, and your Field Spell has no effects you can activate. You can't make any moves... so we'll go straight to my turn. No objections, right?"
"No..."
Bzzzt.
Though Hades himself might have objected, the indicator lights on the Duel Disk had already lit up.
"My turn, I draw... forget it."
After staring at the card he had drawn for quite a while, Yu Ming could not help sighing.
"Letting you stand there ranting and calling out souls actually made you summon one."
"What did you say..."
"I activate the Spell Card—'Noble Ritual Art.'"
A green radiance spread outward, bringing with it a pillar of green light that shot into the sky.
"Until the total Levels equal that of the monster being Ritual Summoned, I can Tribute Normal Monsters from my hand to Ritual Summon from my Deck."
Then, a vicious figure gradually dissolved away.
"I Tribute the Level 4 'Slaughtering Giant' in my hand to summon this guy from my Deck!"
"From... the Deck?"
As if he had heard something utterly unprecedented, Hades could not help widening his eyes.
But just as he was about to say something, the figure reflected in those crimson eyes nearly robbed him of his ability to speak.
"Paladin..."
The black knight slowly stepped forth and raised his black cloak.
"'Paladin of Dark Dragon'!"
"Paladin of Dark Dragon (Lv. 4)"
"Attribute/DARK"
"Type/Dragon"
"ATK/1900 DEF/1200"
"Impossible! Why would he appear in a place like this?!"
The moment he saw that black figure, Hades could not help shouting.
"Who besides him could wield the power of the Dark Dragon?!"
He stared straight ahead, as though he wanted to discern something from the knight's face.
Yet beneath the visor's cover, only a red gleam bloomed in the knight's eyes.
"Battle Phase. Direct attack."
"Urgh..."
Hades LP:3500→1600
The blade wreathed in black fire tore through his body, even ripping away the cloak that had concealed him.
Only at this moment was the Archfiend's hidden form completely exposed.
Beneath the seemingly bloated robes, his limbs could only be described as shriveled. The horns on his head had long since broken, and the skull-like bone on his chest was covered in cracks.
Though Yu Ming did not understand all that other random nonsense, the message conveyed by such an appearance was easy enough to understand.
"A zombie?"
Before you continue