My Body Moved on Its Own
"Black Skull Dragon, attack Harpie Lady 2! Black Thunder Flame Bullet!"
Following Joey's command, Black Skull Dragon exhaled an Energy Orb wreathed in lightning and black flame, striking towards Harpie Lady 2. Although she knew resistance was futile, Mai Valentine, not one to concede defeat, responded with a spirited shout, "I won't let you look down on me!"
"Harpie Lady 2, let's meet it head-on! Harpie Charge!"
However, spirit was one thing, but the difference in ATK couldn't be bridged by mere courage. The moment Harpie Lady 2 was hit by Black Skull Dragon's attack, it was destroyed, and Mai Valentine took the damage she expected.
[Mai Valentine: 2700 LP → 1000 LP]
As the black flame and lightning landed beside her, Mai Valentine showed no fear. Instead, she immediately activated the effect of a card in her back row: "Because Harpie Lady 2 was destroyed by your Black Skull Dragon, once per turn, I activate the effect of Alluring Mirror Split!"
From the large floor-length mirror in Mai Valentine's back row, another Harpie monster appeared.
[Harpie Lady 3] [Level 4/Wind]
[Winged Beast/Effect]
[ATK 1300 / DEF 1400 → ATK 1500 / DEF 1600]
Wild winds swirled around the Summoned Harpie Lady 3. Mai Valentine explained, "Like my other sisters, Harpie Lady 3's card name can also be used as Harpie Lady. Furthermore, because the effect of Harpie's Hunting Ground is mandatory, when I Summon a Harpie Lady, I must target and destroy one card."
"I have no Spell or Trap Cards on my field." Joey checked his field, where only Black Skull Dragon existed. "So, Mai, you have to destroy your own card now."
"Hmph, you don't think this effect is a drawback, do you, Joey?" Mai Valentine glanced at the cards in Joey's hand. "While I don't know what card you have there, now that Black Skull Dragon has already attacked, you don't have any monsters to destroy my Harpie Ladies."
"Ladies?"
"Exactly, because the card I'm choosing to destroy is Alluring Mirror Split on my field!" As Mai Valentine confirmed the target of the effect, a whirlwind from Harpie Lady 3 easily shattered the massive floor-length mirror in Mai Valentine's back row. "If Alluring Mirror Split on my field is destroyed by an opponent's effect or the effect of one of my Harpie cards, I can activate its second effect!"
"From my Graveyard, Special Summon one Harpie monster!" Mai Valentine watched the figure that appeared on her field after the mirror shattered and declared, "Return from the Graveyard, Harpie's Pet Dragon!"
"Caw~!!"
A slender pink wyvern appeared amidst the myriad shattered mirrors, responding to Mai Valentine's call with a dragon's roar. However, upon seeing the mighty Black Skull Dragon on Joey's field, it immediately cowered, hunkering down on Mai Valentine's field.
[Harpie's Pet Dragon] [Level 7/Wind]
[Dragon/Effect]
[ATK 2000 / DEF 2500 → ATK 2300 / DEF 2800]
"When did that card get there—I see, was it that Dark World Dealings from earlier?" Joey was surprised, wondering when Mai Valentine had sent Harpie's Pet Dragon to the Graveyard. But he quickly remembered that when he sent Summoned Skull to the Graveyard earlier, Mai Valentine also sent a card to the Graveyard.
"Harpie's Pet Dragon's effect allows it to gain ATK/DEF based on the number of Harpie Ladies on the field, with no upper limit to this effect. But, you can't attack anymore, can you?"
With that, Mai Valentine glanced at the top card of her Deck, thinking to herself:
'This aura... it's Power of Succession. Joey can't attack this turn, so if I just use Power of Succession next turn to Tribute Harpie Lady 3, Harpie's Pet Dragon's ATK will increase to 3300, which is just enough to take care of that Black Skull Dragon.'
'It looks like I'm still one step ahead, Joey!'
Just as Mai Valentine finished planning everything, she heard Joey on the other side suddenly start to laugh.
"In that case, I just won't attack."
"What?"
Joey flipped over the card in his hand, revealing its true identity—a Quick-Play Spell Card, Burial from a Different Dimension.
"A card that lets me target up to three of my banished or my opponent's banished monsters and return them to the Graveyard?" Mai Valentine recognized the card. In an era where there were few ways to return monsters from the banished zone to the field, many Duelists kept similar effect cards in their Decks to prevent important cards from accidentally being banished and becoming unreachable. Mai Valentine herself carried one.
"I will now activate this card's effect, targeting three of my banished monsters to return them to the Graveyard." As he spoke, Joey pulled three cards from his pocket. Two of them were Summoned Skull and Red-Eyes Black Dragon, which Joey had banished from the game earlier to Summon Black Skull Dragon.
The other card was Earth Star Warrior, one of the four cards Joey had banished from his Deck after using Roll of Fate.
Mai Valentine looked at Joey with some confusion. He was only returning three monsters to his Graveyard, yet he wore a confident smile: "It's just three monsters returning to your Graveyard. You shouldn't have any cards like Dragon's Mirror that can Fusion Summon using monsters in the Graveyard anymore, right, Joey?"
Joey nodded. "This Dragon's Mirror card was given to me by Chumley, a symbol of our bonds. I only have one. Besides, even if I had a second Dragon's Mirror in my hand, Dragon's Mirror is not a Quick-Play Spell Card, so it can't be activated during the Battle Phase."
Not only that, Mai Valentine wasn't like Joey, who would carelessly put Time Wizard in Attack Position and let others attack it. Her Harpie Lady 3 and Harpie's Pet Dragon were both in Defense Position. Even if Joey Summoned a new monster to attack, as long as it didn't have piercing damage, it wouldn't inflict any damage.
Just as Mai Valentine braced herself for whatever other cards Joey might use, Joey spoke: "Then, I end my Battle Phase."
"Huh?" Mai Valentine was also somewhat surprised. Joey had seemed so confident just a moment ago, why was he suddenly declaring the end of his Battle Phase? "Is it just ending like that?"
"Yeah, after all, I don't have any monsters left to attack with." Joey spread his hands, then pointed to the ground. "However, the power of Red-Eyes, slumbering in my Graveyard, is only just beginning to awaken."
"At the end of the Battle Phase, after the Fusion Summoned Black Skull Dragon has engaged in battle, I activate its effect!" As Joey declared the effect, the attacking Black Skull Dragon raised its demonized dragon claws above its head and slammed them heavily into the ground!
"Boom!"
The earth shook violently for a moment. The center of the desert where Harpie's Hunting Ground was located had a massive crater gouged out by Black Skull Dragon's sheer brute force. Within the crater, black flame from its body transformed into tangible lava, quickly filling the pit and forming a natural lava pool.
The dark-red lava pool had only formed for a few seconds when it suddenly boiled like water, and to Mai Valentine's astonished gaze, a colossal figure suddenly surged from the lava, cloaked in magma, and shot towards the sky!
Joey also seized the moment to explain: "I can target one Red-Eyes Normal Monster in my Graveyard, inflict damage to the opponent's Duelist equal to that monster's ATK, and then return that monster to the Deck!"
What else could be cloaked in a lava shell besides Red-Eyes Black Dragon, which had just returned to Joey's Graveyard? A few seconds after bursting from the lava, Red-Eyes Black Dragon dissipated into light particles and returned to Joey's Deck. The lava that had cloaked it, now without a host, plummeted directly towards Mai Valentine!
"Are you kidding me?!" Watching the scorching lava fall towards her, Mai Valentine, disoriented by the overly realistic projection, instinctively ducked and covered her head, fearfully closing her eyes.
But what struck her as odd was that, let alone the searing heat of the lava, even the impact she expected didn't arrive.
She opened her eyes in confusion, only to find Joey standing in front of her, arms outstretched, shielding her head. He, too, had his eyes closed, looking equally terrified.
"Ah, huh?" Almost the moment Mai Valentine opened her eyes, Joey also opened his with a confused expression, saying, "Why doesn't it hurt at all?"
"Idiot, are you so engrossed in dueling you've lost your mind? This is just a virtual projection!" From the audience seating, Chumley felt like he'd just witnessed something sickeningly sweet, as he grumbled.
The lava passed through Mai Valentine and Joey's bodies, returning to the ground. Although there was no impact, Mai Valentine still took damage to her Life Points due to Black Skull Dragon's effect.
[Mai Valentine: 1000 LP → 0 LP]
"Ah, um, I'm a little embarrassed." Joey belatedly realized he had made a mistake. "Seeing your frightened expression just now, my body moved on its own, subconsciously."
"Id-Idiot! Who was scared?!" Mai Valentine sharply turned her head away, covering her face with her blonde hair to hide it from Joey. Looking quite angry, she quickly distanced herself from Joey. However, while Joey couldn't see it, everyone in the audience seating saw Mai Valentine's blushing face clearly.
Croquet then announced the result of the Duel: "The victor has been decided! Duelist Mai Valentine's Life Points have been nullified, therefore the winner of this Duel is—"
"Joey Wheeler!"
I'm not very good at emotional scenes, so please bear with me.
Also, a side note: it was Chumley's long-awaited Duel.
Well then, please vote with recommendation tickets.
(end of chapter)