Chapter 22: You think using life-reduction cards is despicable, then what about my life-drain

“You make it sound like it actually makes sense?” Jonouchi was dazed by Hayato's words. Thinking about it that way, it seemed true—there was no rule stating a person could only have one Soul Card, right?

For example, if a person's Soul Card was Blue-Eyes White Dragon, would summoning Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon through a fusion of three Blue-Eyes mean they had sacrificed their Tamashii?

Without continuing to babble with Jonouchi, Hayato explained the effect of [Disturbance Trio] to a frantic Shoji: "The effect of this card I've activated is that I summon three 'Disturbance Tokens' to your field that cannot be Tributed."

"Cannot be Tributed!?" Shoji was losing it. Under the current rules, there was no such thing as "Tributes" for monster summons; only a few Magic Card effects required Tributing, such as when a monster equipped with [Axe of Despair] is destroyed, allowing one monster to be Tributed to return [Axe of Despair] to the top of the deck.

Or, for instance, Hayato's [Soul-Eating Magic Blade], which, upon activation, forcibly Tributes Normal Monsters on his own field.

"So you're saying these three monsters—which are as disgusting as a week-old stinking durian thrown from the sixth floor and crushed ten times by a steamroller—are going to occupy space on my field indefinitely!?"

Hayato ignored Shoji's bizarre metaphor and added, "Not only that, but when they are destroyed, they will inflict 300 points of damage to you."

"What kind of fake card is that!?" Shoji was already suffering enough looking at [Necro Baron], and now Hayato had sent three even uglier monsters. "You three pieces of filth, just die already!"

"Eh~"

"Ha~"

"Burp~"

The three Disturbance monsters were as thick-skinned as if they were relaxing on a beach. Even though they heard Shoji's roar loud and clear, they acted as if they hadn't heard a thing, behaving like dead pigs that weren't afraid of boiling water. In particular, the one-eyed, long-tongued Disturbance Green even rolled over on its beach chair because the sunlight on the rooftop was too strong.

"Damn it!"

Shoji's teeth were nearly grinding to dust. He wished he could follow Hayato's lead, summon his own fist onto the field, and tear those three Disturbance monsters to shreds. However, Hayato would not end his turn early just because of Shoji's hatred for the Disturbance monsters. "The 'Disturbance Tokens' are all Level 2, Light-attribute, Beast-type monsters with 0 ATK and 1000 DEF. Although destroying just one will deal damage to you, unfortunately, the monster with the highest ATK in my hand is this one."

Slapping his hand onto the field, Hayato summoned [Death Stalker]. Looking at the opponent's dual-wielding, 2500 ATK [Necro Baron] and his own puny 900 ATK, the newly summoned Poison Scorpion Warrior, [Death Stalker], looked somewhat lost.

*Wait, boss, that guy on the other side is clearly not in the same league as me. It feels like you're trying to get me killed.*

"Hmph, you actually dare to stay in Attack Position facing my [Necro Baron]? You're looking for death." Shoji couldn't help but laugh at Hayato's poor play. [Necro Baron]'s ATK was 2500, a full 1600 points higher than [Death Stalker]'s 900, and even higher than Hayato's remaining 1400 Life Points.

To waste his summon on a small fry—even if he used some Equip Spells to raise his ATK, what would it matter? He could just destroy those annoying Disturbance monsters; it was only 300 damage after all. By his next turn, he could easily wipe out Hayato's Life Points!

"Oh dear, I'm 100 points short of the Disturbance Tokens. What a blunder, what a blunder," Hayato said with feigned regret, drawing another card from his hand. "Just kidding. I'm going to activate this Spell Card."

A Spell Card appeared on Hayato's field. Before Shoji could even see what it was, a sudden whirlwind erupted from the card's artwork, sweeping up [Disturbance Yellow] from its beach chair.

[Disturbance Black] and [Disturbance Green] turned to look, only to find their brother had abandoned his lazy demeanor. Instead, he was standing beside [Necro Baron], waving his tiny fists with a look of burning passion.

"The Spell Card I'm activating is [Defense Prohibition]," Hayato said unhurriedly, gesturing toward the Spell on the field. "According to its effect, I can change one Defense Position monster on your field to face-up Attack Position. I choose the 'Disturbance Token' that was just summoned to your field."

"The monster changed to Attack Position! This way, Hayato can deal massive damage to Manjoume in one go! Great!" Jonouchi was full of excitement, but Yugi looked somewhat worried.

"Battle start! Go, [Death Stalker]! Crimson Poison Needle!"

The stinger on the back of the upright scorpion warrior gathered strength and lunged forward. [Disturbance Yellow], in its boxer-like stance, had no time to react; it remained frozen in shock before being instantly killed by [Death Stalker]. Shoji took the full 900 points of battle damage.

[Shoji: 1500LP → 600LP]

It wasn't over! Because [Disturbance Yellow] was so weak, the impact of the stinger sent it flying. The holographic image flew directly toward Shoji's face. An ugly yellow monster wearing disgusting red-striped underwear tried to sit its butt right on his face. Startled, Shoji swung a punch but hit nothing, only then remembering it was just a hologram.

However, the loss of Life Points was real.

[Shoji: 600LP → 300LP]

"You damn bastard!" Because he had lost his composure due to [Disturbance Yellow], Manjoume Shoji blamed everything on Hayato. "Next turn! Next turn, my [Necro Baron] will destroy that small fry of yours. Taste the wrath of Manjoume!"

"Regrettably, you won't have a next turn." Hayato did not declare the end of his turn after the attack. "According to the rules of the game, there is a Main Phase 2 after the Battle Phase. Although most people don't use it, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. In my Main Phase 2, I activate this Spell Card."

Hayato revealed a Spell Card from his hand and placed it on the field.

"There's still a Spell Card left!?" Shoji's eyes bulged as he stared intensely at the card, trying to discern its effect.

"The name of this card is [Goblin Thief]. As the name suggests, it's a Goblin whose profession is a thief." A chubby Goblin popped out of the card, acting shifty. Treating everyone as if they were blind, it crept toward Shoji's duel platform, hunching over to search for something on the ground.

"Why is it on my field again!?" Shoji was on the verge of a breakdown. First a rotting corpse like [Necro Baron], then the disgusting Disturbance monsters—especially [Disturbance Yellow] nearly sitting on him—and now a greasy Goblin?!

"The Goblin Thief doesn't steal other things; it steals your Life Points. According to its effect, I can siphon 500 Life Points from you." As Hayato spoke, the Goblin Thief dug a glowing orb out of Shoji's duel platform. Having succeeded, it immediately sprinted back and placed the orb on Hayato's duel platform.

[Shoji: 300LP → 0] [Hayato: 1400LP → 1900LP]

"Congratulations, Shoji-kun. Your house was robbed. The 'lost everything' kind of robbery."

Shoji was infuriated by Hayato's words: "You shameless jerk! Using such a despicable life-reduction card... that's not manly at all!"

"Wait a second, if you say that, isn't Volcanic the most underworld-style deck in the world? Besides," Hayato wasn't about to accept the label of "despicable," "if you think using life-reduction cards is despicable, then what does that have to do with my life-siphoning card?"

*Ah, the duel construction still feels a bit lacking. Actually, I could have used [Goblin Thief] in Main Phase 1, but I saved it for Main Phase 2 for the sake of the plot.*

*And even the appearance of [Death Stalker] was just to leave enough HP for [Goblin Thief] to finish him off. In reality, I could have just used [Baby Dragon] to settle it.*

*But others make comebacks with powerful top-decks, while I'm using weaker cards. That should be fine, right?*

*As for [Disturbance Trio], I gave a detailed description during the selection phase earlier, so it shouldn't be hard to guess (three monsters, destruction-related, though [Disturbance Triangle Hurricane] would also fit).*

*The aftermath of the duel with Manjoume Shoji will play a role later, serving as a way to advance the main plot behind the scenes, though the reason seems a bit trivial—something about romance.*

*But considering his younger brother is also that kind of person, it's reasonable for him to be like this in his youth. Plus, the deck was provided by a subordinate, so it avoids the "rich idiot" trope from GX where people claim common cards are rare.*

*By the way, surely no one has failed to guess that his brother is Manjoume Jun, right?*

*Come to think of it, he could actually be called Manjoume Lightning (since "Lightning" sounds similar to "Manjoume").*

*Next up is the duel between Yugi and Kaiba, the duel of destiny. The protagonist won't interfere too much, but I also need to figure out a way to head toward Duel Kingdom.*

*Author's note: Limit is 500 words, and I actually wrote 475. Incredible.*

*Is it a bit too wordy?*

*Anyway, please recommend, collect, and comment (most important!)*

(End of Chapter)