Chapter 241
"Defensive-oriented deck master, huh? Unlike before, you're surprisingly cautious this time, Chiyuki~."
When Noah referred to "before," he was alluding to their last duel, where Hoshino had recklessly summoned her deck master, Lily, to attack aggressively in the very first turn. Noah had viewed that move as outright reckless.
[Hoshino Chiyuki LP 4000 → 3000]
"Sorry, Senpai. Even though I managed to protect Kiyohime, our Life Points still took a hit."
"It's fine~." Hoshino smiled and gently patted Mash's head as the younger girl approached. "We'll win this steadily, step by step!"
"Steadily? There's no time for that, Chiyuki. Starting this turn, the Seven Turns of Creation will erase any possibility of your victory!"
Noah gestured arrogantly at the molten terrain beneath him. "This is the First Turn of Creation—The Primordial Earth!"
"Seven Turns of Creation?" Hoshino tilted her head, dismissing the declaration with a wave of her hand.
"Kid, you keep saying your growth stopped because of this virtual reality, but your Chuunibyou personality really matches your appearance."
"Once you experience the true power of my deck master, let's see if you can keep being so smug, Chiyuki."
With a cold snort, Noah ended his turn.
[Noah's Hand Cards: 3 | Set Cards: 1]
"Heh, before that happens, why don't you experience Mash's power first? My turn—draw!" Hoshino smirked and beckoned Mash over with two fingers.
Taking a deep breath, Mash planted her shield on the ground, a shy but determined expression on her face. "It's starting now, Senpai."
"Alright, let's summon a Heroic Spirit... I mean, draw one!"
Three glowing white summoning rings appeared on Mash's shield.
"This is the second effect of my deck master, Mash!"
[②: During your Standby Phase, if a [Heroic Spirit] monster exists on your field, you can select one [Heroic Spirit] monster from your Deck and add it to your hand.]
"Senpai, doesn't calling this 'summoning' feel a bit too much like rolling for gacha?" Mash muttered, clearly embarrassed.
"Gacha? This is the official Chaldea Summoning System, Mash. Don't let Da Vinci-chan corrupt your thinking!"
Mash paused, then nodded. "As expected of Senpai, you see things so clearly!"
Drawing the searched card, the summoning circles on Mash's shield glowed a brilliant gold.
"Noah!" With golden light behind her and magma below, Hoshino pointed fiercely at her opponent, making her declaration. "Seven Turns of Creation? Then I'll counter it with humanity's Seven Singularities! Let me show you the unyielding will of mankind that survives even when the world is torn apart!"
"The Seven Singularities? Even with all my vast knowledge, I've never heard of that. Did you just make it up, Chiyuki?"
"The real world is vast. It's nothing like this virtual world you think you control."
Slamming the card onto her duel disk, Hoshino's golden light intensified, revealing the Heroic Spirit she had summoned.
"Hundred Years' War of the Evil Dragons: Orleans! A time of burning battlefields where the Holy Maiden of Salvation and the Dragon Witch clashed! By banishing [Heroic Spirit – Jeanne d'Arc] from the graveyard, I Special Summon—[Heroic Spirit – Jeanne d'Arc Alter]!"
[Heroic Spirit – Jeanne d'Arc Alter★★★★★★★★ (Level 8)][DARK][Fiend/Effect][ATK 3000/DEF 2500]
[Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by banishing 1 [Heroic Spirit – Jeanne d'Arc] from your Graveyard. This card is also treated as a Fairy-Type.]
"Hey, Master, are you sure about this? I'm the villain, you know." Emerging from the golden light, Jeanne Alter held her cursed banner and spoke with a hint of disdain.
"All this talk about humanity... Wouldn't it be better if humans were just wiped out already?"
"If humanity gets wiped out, I'd die too~." Hoshino teased, unfazed by Jeanne Alter's tsundere tendencies.
Jeanne Alter's demeanor changed instantly. "You're different, Master! You're the kind who'd survive even if a comet hit the Earth!"
Noah chuckled coldly. "Flirting with your Duel Monsters, Chiyuki? It seems you've started to appreciate the wonders of a digital world like I do."
"Like you? Don't make me sick. Unlike you—a selfish shut-in trapping others in this virtual space—these waifus fight to save the world."
"Save the world? Can they match the grandeur of my Seven Turns of Creation? Feel its power! Witness the terrors of Earth's formation!"
With that, Noah flipped over the set card beneath him.
"Trap Card—[Earthshaker]!"
The magma flowing through the cracks in the ground began to surge violently.
[Earthshaker Trap Card Effect: Select 2 Monster Card Attributes. Your opponent then selects 1 of the 2 Attributes and destroys all face-up monsters with that Attribute on the field.]
"I choose DARK and FIRE Attributes. Chiyuki, now it's your turn to choose!"
"DARK or FIRE..." Hoshino tensed. If she chose DARK, Jeanne Alter would be destroyed. If she chose FIRE, it would mean sacrificing Kiyohime, summoned last turn.
"This is such a dirty move!" Forced into an impossible choice, Hoshino hesitated before finally speaking. "I choose FIRE..."
Kiyohime gasped in shock, her voice trembling. "Master... abandoned me? Impossible! Kiyohime, I..."
"It's the logical choice, Kiyohime!" Jeanne Alter smirked mischievously. "In this situation, it's obvious she'd choose to keep the strong."
Hoshino nodded, agreeing with Jeanne Alter's harsh truth.
"Even so, Kiyohime is still furious!" Hiding her grin behind her folding fan, Kiyohime let the erupting magma engulf her. "Tonight, Kiyohime will visit Master's bed and unleash this fiery anger!"
[Heroic Spirit – Kiyohime] destroyed.
"Damn it! How are you going to compensate me for this? I might not even dare go to bed tonight!" Hoshino shouted in mock rage at Noah's "despicable" actions.
Noah, unfazed, simply shrugged.
"Attack, Jeanne Alter! Show them the howl of a soul filled with hatred!"
Unsheathing her cursed sword, Jeanne Alter sighed. "Master, that's my line. Why are you stealing it?"
"Because—I'm furious!"
With Hoshino's roar, Jeanne Alter unleashed a powerful blast of black energy from her sword, obliterating Noah's Chiron.
[Chiron the Mage] destroyed.
[Noah LP 4000 → 2800]
(***)
In the Forest—
"Oh no, Yugi-nii is about to turn into an old man!"
Gansley, one of the Big Five, chuckled darkly. "Heh heh. So the legendary Yugi Muto, the one who once defeated Kaiba, is no big deal after all. In the face of my Deck Master, Deepsea Warrior, you can't even counterattack!"
[Deepsea Warrior Deck Master Effect: When the opponent declares an attack on your monster, you can tribute two monsters on your field. The attack target is redirected to the attacking player.]
[Gansley LP: 2100 | Field: Injection Fairy Lily, Catapult Turtle]
[Yugi Muto LP: 100 | Deck Master: Kuriboh]
"With two monsters on my field, my Deck Master's effect ensures that if you attack, your LP will be wiped out. Even if you don't attack, my Catapult Turtle will finish you off next turn. It's checkmate!"
Yugi's lips curled into a confident smirk. "Sore wa dou kana?"
Despite having no monsters on the field and only a sliver of LP left, Yugi remained calm. He drew his card and glanced at it, his smirk growing wider.
"Don't worry, Akasha-chan. I'll protect you. Otherwise, Hoshino would never let me hear the end of it."
Akasha quickly catching on. "Yugi-nii, you printed another card, didn't you!"
"I summon my Deck Master, Kuriboh, and activate its effect!"
"Kurri, kurri!"
Kuriboh began to glow with a radiant, seven-colored light as it floated protectively behind Yugi.
[Kuriboh Deck Master Effect: Once per duel, during your turn, your monsters' attacks can target your opponent directly.]
"The effect of Deepsea Warrior can only activate against monster attacks! Now I summon Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight from my hand!"
[Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight ★★★★★★★ (Level 7)][DARK][Warrior/Effect][ATK 2300/DEF 2100]
[If this is the only card in your hand, you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing.]
The radiant light from Kuriboh formed a shimmering rainbow bridge, connecting Gaia directly to Gansley.
"Ride the Rainbow Bridge, Swift Gaia! Direct attack!"
The dark knight galloped along the dazzling arc, bypassing Gansley's monsters and delivering a devastating blow.
"I-I... impossible!!"
[Gansley LP: 2100 → 0]
"Wow! Yugi-nii's printed card and trash talk led to a stunning comeback!"
Yugi calmly deactivated his Duel Disk, his demeanor exuding confidence. "Now's not the time to relax, Akasha-chan. That tremor earlier felt ominous. We need to regroup with everyone."
(***)
Back in the Duel—
"I summon a monster in face-down Defense Position, set one card, and end my turn."
[Hoshino's Hand Cards: 2 | Field: 1 Set Monster]
"Now, behold the second Turn of Creation of Heaven and Earth!"
Noah drew his card as the ethereal glow of his Deck Master, Shinato's Ark, shimmered faintly behind him.
"Next comes the great disaster that nearly wiped out the Earth during its formation: the Giant Flood!"
With a dramatic flourish, Noah activated a card on his Duel Disk.
"I activate the Spell Card [Giant Flood]!"
A massive wave of water erupted from behind Noah, cascading forward like a towering horizontal waterfall, threatening to engulf everything in its path.
"What is this—help!" Anzu and Shizuka screamed as the monstrous wave surged toward them.
"Don't worry; it's just a hologram... probably," Hoshino said, though her pale expression betrayed her doubt.
The flood washed over the field, leaving Hoshino gasping for air, her lips slightly purple. The once-molten ground had dulled to a lifeless gray.
As for Jeanne Alter, her virtual representation is less fortunate. Swept up in the flood, she yells, "Why am I the only one being swept away?!"
[Giant Flood Spell Card Effect: Activate only during your Main Phase 1. Send all monsters on the field and in both players' hands to the Graveyard.](Anime only card)
"So even monsters in my hand get destroyed? Lucky for me, I didn't have any," Hoshino said happily, looking at her two Spell Cards.
Unaffected, Noah discarded one monster card from his hand and then smirked cryptically.
"Life during the flood can only continue aboard the Ark. I activate the effect of my Deck Master, Shinato's Ark - Containment!"
"Containment?" Hoshino asked, narrowing her eyes.
The massive Ark opened its hull, swallowing the rushing waters and every monster caught within them.
[Shinato's Ark Effect: Every monster sent to the Graveyard is trapped in the Ark. Any monsters sent to the Graveyard afterward are also sent directly to this zone.](Anime Effects)
"From now on, no monsters will remain in the Graveyard. All of them are sealed away within the Ark."
"No monsters in the Graveyard? This is a bad." Hoshino muttered, scratching her head. A lot of her Heroic Spirits had effects that triggered in the Graveyard, and now that option was off the table.
"Furthermore, who knows what will happen to those monsters inside that Ark? Considering it's Noah's Deck Master, it's certainly not beneficial for me."
"With neither player having a monster on their field, the first to summon one would gain a significant advantage!"
"Hold on, that's not entirely true, Anzu," Shizuka interjected, tugging on Anzu's sleeve and pointing towards Hoshino. "Look closely, Hoshino still has a monster on her field."
"Impossible! After the Flood, a monster still remains?" Noah exclaimed in disbelief.
Standing defiantly, drenched but unharmed, was a man in a soaked suit, smoking a soggy cigarette.
"Ugh, even my cigarettes got wet. What a nuisance," he grumbled.
"How can this be? A monster survived the Great Flood?" Noah repeated, bewildered.
"Heh, getting Waver to take a break isn't that easy!"
Hoshino flipped over her face-down Defense Position monster, revealing Waver. Sliding his card into the Spell/Trap Zone, she explained, "Thanks to Zhuge Liang's effect, if he's sent to the Graveyard from the Monster Zone, I can instead place him in the Spell/Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell Card."
[Zhuge Liang Effect: If this card would be sent to the Graveyard from the Monster Zone, you can place it in the Spell/Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell Card instead.]
"Before your Ark could contain him, Waver relocated himself to the Spell/Trap Zone! I'm sorry, but it seems you'll have to continue working overtime, Waver~"
"You, sorry? Hah, you've never apologized for making me grind endlessly or for constantly using Arash NP!" Waver retorted.
(*****)
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