Yu-Gi-Oh!: Starting with a Deck from Hell, Depressing the World, Part 37
Hearing that, Alexis, Syrus Truesdale, and the others immediately looked at Jiang He with concern, wanting to stop him!
"I'll be your opponent!"
Jaden Yuki also took a Duel Disk straight out of the backpack Chumley had brought and spoke to Titan, wanting to take on the duel himself.
But Jiang He quickly stopped them all.
"Since he's already called me out by name, this Shadow Duel ritual space recognizes him and me as opponents. Neither of us can be replaced."
Jiang He smiled calmly as he spoke.
"Besides, I was just looking for a suitable unlucky sucker to test my new deck on."
With that, he took the Duel Disk Jaden Yuki had just pulled out and strapped it to his left wrist.
At the same time, he inserted the Stealth Bird deck from hell that he had exchanged for at the system earlier that day!
"A new deck..."
"A suitable unlucky sucker to test it on..."
Hearing those two phrases from Jiang He, Alexis Rhodes, Syrus Truesdale, Jaden Yuki, and the fourth member of their group, who had been about to keep trying to stop him, suddenly fell silent.
They even looked at Titan's tall figure in the black trench coat with a hint of pity.
The new deck someone had mentioned.
It was probably another...
Deck from hell that brought "good news" to people with low blood pressure and sent those with high blood pressure to "heaven."
This guy even planned to depress his opponent in a legendary Shadow Duel!
At that thought, Alexis Rhodes and the others suddenly felt a little numb.
Even their fear of the Shadow Duel faded considerably.
"Duel!"
"Duel!"
At the same time, Jiang He, who had stepped forward, and Titan, standing some distance away, called out together.
As their Duel Disks unfolded, both drew their starting hands of five cards,
and [4000 LP] appeared beside each of them!
"Hmph, I'll go first. Draw!"
After a snort, Titan took a card that popped automatically out of the deck on the separate duel device in front of him and added it to his hand.
Then he took one from his hand and placed it directly on the unfolded Duel Disk on his wrist!
"I summon [Shadowknight Archfiend] in attack position!"
"Aaagh!!"
A dim, dark light flashed, and the hideous figure of a monster in a long purple robe, with bony wings on its back, appeared on his field and let out a strange cry!
Both its appearance and the vibrations of its cry were undoubtedly far more solid than those of monsters in an ordinary duel!
It was easy to feel that the monster truly existed!
[Shadowknight Archfiend] [Level: 4] [Attribute: fire] [Attack: 900] [Defense: 1500]
"Is Titan using a powerful Archfiend deck?!" Chumley exclaimed, recognizing it at once.
As someone who wanted to become a Duel Monsters card designer, he had a fairly solid foundation of theoretical knowledge.
"But precisely because the monsters in an Archfiend deck have such powerful attack or effects, they all have the negative effect of requiring a certain amount of life points to be paid during each turn's standby phase."
Alexis Rhodes spoke without concern.
Jiang He's expression, however, was a little peculiar.
Using an Archfiend deck that required a life point payment during each turn's standby phase against his burn deck...?
Wasn't that like an old man eating arsenic-asking for an early death?
"Hmph, the cost of an Archfiend deck? With this card, there's no need for any of that!"
Hearing what Alexis Rhodes said, Titan took a card from his hand and dropped it into the cylindrical Duel Disk on his wrist.
"I activate the Field Spell [Pandemonium-Archfiend's Lair]!"
"Rumble!!"
As a dark light shone, the space around the stone chamber suddenly rumbled as though the earth itself were shaking.
Soon, a dark crimson hall resembling an archfiend's skeletal claws appeared in its place, filling their view!
It wasn't merely a virtual image or anything of the sort. Jiang He could easily tell that the place where he now stood
had truly become the great hall of Pandemonium-Archfiend's Lair!
He could feel the floor of the archfiend's skeletal hall beneath his hand!
"Is this the power of a true Shadow Duel...?" A trace of interest appeared in Jiang He's eyes.
Chapter 55: Jiang He: I Almost Believed It
"It's a completely real Archfiend field...!"
Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, and the others also immediately noticed something strange about the activated Pandemonium field around them and were shocked!
Cold sweat once again appeared on the faces of Jaden Yuki and the others.
Alexis Rhodes looked at Jiang He with renewed concern!
Although she had considerable confidence in Jiang He's ability,
judging by what they could see now,
this legendary Shadow Duel really was a terrifying duel that could cause people actual harm!
The moment someone took damage, it would immediately affect their body!
Therefore, even if Jiang He won the duel in the end, he couldn't possibly escape completely unhurt!
After all, no matter how strong Jiang He was, it would probably be difficult for him to avoid losing any life points at all...
"Heh heh heh, that's right. This is a true Shadow Duel! It's no longer something fake!"
The eyes on Titan's mask glowed scarlet as he spoke with a chuckle.
He was trying to put psychological pressure on Jiang He.
He didn't want to lose the duel and then be completely swallowed by that darkness!
"If you hadn't been waving a light bulb around and pretending it was the Millennium Puzzle just now, those words probably would've had quite an effect."
Jiang He smacked his lips and nodded as he assessed the impression Titan was making.
As expected of a professional con artist skilled in hypnosis and magic tricks.
His performance really was good!
"You...!" Titan was immediately at a loss for words.
Then he could only snort to cover up his embarrassment as he spoke.
"Hmph, then I'll show you the true terror of a Shadow Duel! It's a forbidden realm most people can never cross!"
"The duel continues!"
"The effect of [Pandemonium-Archfiend's Lair]: as long as this hellish world suited to archfiends exists,
I don't have to pay the life points normally required during each of my standby phases for monsters with [Archfiend] in their names!"
"And when a monster with [Archfiend] in its name is destroyed by a means other than battle and sent to the graveyard,
I can choose a card from my deck with a lower level than the destroyed monster and add it to my hand!"
Wearing his pitch-black mask, Titan clenched a fist and spoke smugly.
"Then I set one more card and end my turn!"
"He used a Field Spell to get around the Archfiend deck's negative effect of paying life points every turn...!"
Alexis Rhodes exclaimed in surprise.
Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, and the others looked much more serious as well.
Without the negative effect of paying life points, an Archfiend deck would be much harder to deal with!
"Come on, it's your turn!" Titan said to Jiang He.
"I was going to make my move without you telling me. My turn, draw." Jiang He drew a card from the top of his Duel Disk's deck.
Looking at the card he had drawn, Jiang He smiled in satisfaction.
Although he hadn't used his once-per-duel destined draw ability, he had still drawn the soul of this Stealth Bird burn deck right at the start.
"I set a monster in face-down Defense Position, then set three cards and end my turn!"
Four sets on the first turn. Please be gentle.jpg
Alexis Rhodes, Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, and the others immediately felt that this opening was very familiar.
"He set a monster and three cards right at the start again. Could that monster be the elven-" Syrus Truesdale muttered with a strange expression.
But after saying "elven," he hurriedly caught himself and swallowed the rest.
"Hmph, Celtic Guardian of Noble Arms?"
Titan, however, simply chuckled and spoke, having easily "guessed" it.
Before accepting Professor Crowler's commission, he had just defeated a duelist and won two valuable rare cards from him.
One of them was [Celtic Guardian of Noble Arms], which had been used by the King of Games, Yugi Muto.
That monster had even given him a little trouble during the duel.
As a result, the word "elven" in that elven swordsman's name had left a deep impression on Titan, making the association almost a reflex.
"Oh no!" Syrus Truesdale's face filled with regret!
"Syrus!" Jaden Yuki, Chumley, and the others all glared at Syrus Truesdale.
After all, this was no ordinary duel!
If Jiang He lost, it would cause serious trouble!
Fortunately, if it was the elven swordsman, then the other three face-down cards on Jiang He's field were probably all "prison-style" traps.
What they all found a little strange, however, was...