Chapter 28: It's actually 3600 attack power, so strong, too strong!

This wasn't Lucky bragging; in prison, he truly was the most formidable Duel Monster player. Even his escape was largely thanks to his Duel Monster cards; he had won information regarding the guards' patrol patterns from others through duels.

"I'll take the first move." Without any politeness, Lucky snatched the right to go first and drew a card from his deck.

【Hayato: 2000 LP, Hand: 5】 【Lucky: 2000 LP, Hand: 5 → 6】

Clutching his hand while keeping his pistol lowered, Lucky looked down at his cards with a satisfied smile. *As expected, the last few days have indeed been my lucky days. Truly "Lucky"!*

"You're really out of luck, kid. Or should I say, I'm just too lucky? I didn't expect to draw my ace monster on my very first turn," Lucky said triumphantly, drawing a card from his hand and playing it.

"I summon my strongest monster, 【TM-1 Rocket Artillery Spider】!"

【TM-1 Rocket Artillery Spider】【7☆/FIRE】【Machine/Normal】【2200/2500】

He drew his deck's strongest monster on the very first turn? Looking at the card Lucky played, Hayato thought the guy's luck was a bit too excessive; he'd be better off playing Blue-Eyes White Dragon and starting with a twenty-four-star hand plus Fusion and Polymerization.

"My turn isn't over yet. I'm also going to equip these two Spell cards to my precious baby."

Lucky's play didn't stop with the summon; rather, it was just the beginning. He played two Spell cards in one go. Furthermore, both of them were 【7-Cards】!

【7-Cards】— Can only be equipped to Machine-type monsters. Increases the equipped monster's ATK or DEF by 700.

"What I want to increase is, of course, the ATK. Under the effect of these two Spells, my precious baby's current ATK is—"

"3600!"

【TM-1 Rocket Artillery Spider】【ATK 2200 → 3600】

"My turn is over." Lucky looked at the monster on the field, whose ATK was now higher than a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, feeling quite proud. Even when playing cards in prison, he had never had such a smooth setup. This kid in front of him seemed exceptionally unlucky.

However, whether the kid was unlucky or not had nothing to do with him; as long as he was having fun, it was enough. "Kid, start your struggle. No matter what kind of monster it is, my Rocket Artillery Spider can easily crush it."

【Lucky: Hand 6 → 3】

"Even if I'm struggling, there's no need to start with full health. It's not like I'm Caesar." While muttering a meme that Lucky couldn't understand, Hayato drew a card and then set three cards face-down in his backrow. "I set three cards. The monster I summon is this one."

The card Hayato played made Lucky laugh the moment he saw it. "Haha! Even knowing my 【Rocket Artillery Spider】 has such massive ATK, you actually dare to attack by summoning a monster? I thought playing against a brat like you would be a way to relax, but this is truly disappointing."

【Paladin Atolis】【4☆/LIGHT】【Warrior/Normal】【1800/1800】

"You shouldn't say that, Mr. Lucky. I believe that when facing difficulties, one must bravely meet them head-on." Hayato smiled slightly without further explanation. "My turn is over~"

【Hayato: Hand 5 → 6 → 2】

"My turn. Haha, looks like this game is about to end." Lucky drew a card, glanced at it, and then laughed. "Since you've chosen to take the beating, I shall grant your wish. My favorite, 【TM-1 Rocket Artillery Spider】, attack!"

"Well, due to the massive difference in ATK, my 【Atolis】 will be destroyed by 【Rocket Artillery Spider】, and I will take 1800 damage from the difference." Hayato sent the destroyed 【Paladin Atolis】 to the Graveyard, but his expression was so calm that it made one wonder who was actually at a disadvantage.

【Hayato: 2000 LP → 200 LP】

"Don't you worry about your Life Points at all?" Lucky looked at Hayato strangely.

"I'm certainly nervous. After all, my Life Points are currently like a flickering candle in the wind, while your Life Points, Mr. Lucky, are 1000% of mine." Only then did Hayato unhurriedly flip over one of his face-down cards. "However, I have this card set."

"【Damage Vaccine ΩMAX】?" Lucky had never seen this card.

"The effect of this card can only be activated after I take damage through any means. Regardless of how much damage I take, I can recover Life Points equal to the amount of damage received," Hayato explained. "Because I took 1800 damage from the 【Rocket Artillery Spider's】 attack, I will now recover 1800 Life Points."

【Hayato: 200 LP → 2000 LP】

"What kind of cheap card is this! Doesn't that mean you're invincible!" Seeing the damage he had just dealt vanish, Lucky felt extremely annoyed. As a murderer, he quite enjoyed the damage brought by destruction, but if the other person didn't care about the damage after the destruction, it made him feel terrible.

"Not exactly. The recovery from 【Damage Vaccine】 happens after the damage is dealt. If the damage I took had been any higher, I would have lost." A smile appeared on Hayato's face. "How 'Lucky' indeed."

"You brat. Hmph, my turn end—"

"Before your turn ends, Mr. Lucky, I have the effects of two cards to activate." Hayato interrupted Lucky's declaration of ending his turn and flipped over both cards on his field.

"First, I activate this, and then I activate this. I'll process the effect of the second card first." Because the concept of a "Chain" didn't even exist in this era, Hayato used a different way of phrasing it. "【Time Machine】. I can revive one monster that was destroyed this turn."

"Come back, 【Paladin Atolis】!"

【Paladin Atolis】【ATK 1800】

"Damn it! Does that mean I've effectively done nothing just now?!" Lucky was in an incredibly foul mood. In his entire turn, the damage he dealt was recovered, and the monster he destroyed was revived. Aside from consuming two of the brat's cards, he had accomplished nothing.

"That's not quite true. Didn't you summon three powerful monsters, Mr. Lucky?" Hayato said with a smile.

Lucky was puzzled. "What powerful monsters? I clearly didn't summon any monsters."

"You didn't summon them yourself, but I used this card to summon them for you." Hayato pointed to the card whose effect had not yet been activated. "【Disturbance Trio】. Its effect is to send three nuisances to the opponent's side so they don't come back."

From a perspective Lucky couldn't see, within the artwork of the 【Disturbance Trio】 card Hayato had opened, the three awakened Card Spirits—the Disturbance Brothers—were being thrown out while carrying their luggage. Flying through the air, the three spirits were incessantly shouting, "Aniki~!" and "Aniki!"

"It's quite a relief to be rid of those annoying burdens." Looking at the three nuisances sent to Lucky's field, the smile on Hayato's face was incredibly genuine; one could visibly see him relax significantly.