It's not that your effect didn't trigger.
It's because it's my turn, so I have priority.
When both our trigger effects activate at the same time, mine goes on chain first, then yours.
That's how Duel Rules work." Yuye explained.
"You have a trigger effect…
Don't tell me—it's Fenrir?"
The Spirit of Runick Fountain looked at Yuye's field.
Aside from Kshatri-La Fenrir, nothing else had an unknown effect.
It was immediately understood.
"Correct."
Yuye nodded.
Then he continued:
"Fenrir's third effect—
When your monster effect is activated, I can target one of your face-up cards and banish it face-down."
As he said that, Yuye's lips curved upward slightly.
His finger slowly pointed toward the Field Spell—Runick Fountain.
"The target of Fenrir's effect… naturally, is your Runick Fountain."
Face-down banish?
Takes a target on the field?
Hearing that the effect had resolved successfully, Runick Fountain became extremely uncomfortable.
If this effect went through, he'd lose a Fountain.
Even though he had three copies, losing one still hurt!
"Yuye is so strong!"
"Yuye is amazing!"
Compared to the Fountain Spirit's suffering, Muning and Hugui were glowing with excitement, cheering loudly for Yuye.
The three beast-spirits were also dancing around happily, obviously pleased with Yuye's play.
Seeing all this, Runick Fountain—who originally couldn't stop Fenrir's effect—felt even worse.
The only things that comforted it were:
Yuye's two Ash Blossom had already been banished, so it didn't need to worry about the Fountain search being negated.
Due to "last in, first out," the Fountain's effect would resolve first, meaning it would return three Runicks and draw three before getting banished face-down.
Losing the Fountain sucked, but drawing three cards made it barely tolerable.
So its voice echoed:
"The Field Spell Runick Fountain activates as Chain Link 2.
I target Runick Slumber, Runick Freezing Curses, and Runick Golden Droplet in my GY."
Chain resolves, last in, first out:
CL2 — Fountain returns three, draws three.
CL1 — Fenrir banishes Fountain face-down.
"Fenrir's second effect activates—
I search for a 'Kshatri-La' monster.
I add another Fenrir from my Deck to my hand."
"…"
Runick Fountain was numb.
A self-summoning 2400 beater that could banish face-down on response, and then search another copy of itself…
This was ridiculous.
Suddenly, it understood why Muning had warned all Runick Spirits:
"If you meet a Kshatri-La Spirit — run."
"They are the Great Exilers. We are the Small Exilers."
"Going second is unwinnable. Going first but eating a Macro Cosmos is still a loss."
Yuye continued his turn:
"I link Little Night and Cerberus to summon the Link-2 Cross-Sheep.
Then I use Fenrir and Imsety to link-summon the Link-2
I:P Masquerena."
After Masquerena was summoned, Yuye didn't enter the Battle Phase to destroy Hugui.
He simply ended his turn.
Seeing this, Runick Fountain felt even worse…
While the other Runick Spirits were thrilled.
Runick Quick-Play Spells could only be summoned to the Extra Monster Zone.
Now that both Extra Zones were occupied, the only way to summon was by drawing a Fountain or searching it with Flashing Fire.
"Masquerena?"
Runick Fountain stared at the unfamiliar card—
A monster with no archetype tag, and summoned using Fenrir?
It knew Cross-Sheep, but Masquerena…?
Although unfamiliar, they were now deep into a grind game.
Both sides had advantages:
Yuye had the board; Runick had the hand advantage.
It drew for turn and entered Main Phase 1.
"I activate Runick Flashing Fire to search Fountain,
activate Fountain,
Then, from my hand, activate Runick Freezing Curses targeting your Harpie—negate it and banish the top three cards of your Deck.
I chain Runick Destruction as Chain Link 2, targeting your Continuous Spell King's Sarcophagus, banishing your top four cards.
I chain as Chain Link 3—Masquerena's effect to Link Summon on your turn."
Yuye spoke calmly.
"You can Link Summon on my turn?
You have a second, Little Night?"
The Runick Spirit was confused.
Muning had explained deck construction—typically, you only run one copy of Little Night.
"Of course I don't."
Yuye shook his head, smiling.
"Tearlaments can't be used as a deck.
But that doesn't mean I can't use single cards from the Tearlaments.
Chain Link 4 — I banish 'Dogmatika Ecclesia' from my GY to target Little Night and return her to the Deck."
"..."
The Runick Spirit stared at its own hand, feeling despair.
This time, the situation was completely reversed.
Since it was its turn, it had priority.
Meaning Fountain's effect went first on the chain, Little Night went second.
And because the Field Spell would be banished before resolving, the "return 3, draw 3" effect couldn't activate.
No draw.
No recovery.
Resources cut off instantly.
It was left holding only one Fountain in its hand.
This was because earlier it greedily resolved two Fountains in a row, thinking Yuye had no Little Night and no Ash Blossom.
Trying to gain card advantage ultimately cost it everything.
Now, its perfect plan had collapsed.
Chain resolves:
CL4 — Ecclesia returns Little Night to the Deck.
CL3 — Masquerena links her and Harpie into Little Night.
CL2 — Runick Destruction destroys King's Sarcophagus; Yuye mills three.
CL1 — Freezing Curses fizzles due to losing the target.
Effects trigger.
Runick Fountain chooses not to activate.
Yuye activates Little Night to banish Fountain face-down.
With only one card left in hand, Runick Fountain could only end its turn.
There was nothing left it could do.
Its hope now rested on one thing:
If Yuye doesn't draw King's Sarcophagus,
There might still be a chance.
Fenrir + Little Night only totaled 4000 ATK.
Not enough for lethal.
"If the card in your hand wasn't Runick Destruction, this duel would already be over.
You don't need to think about it."
Yuye said calmly.
The Runick Spirit dimmed, confused.
From its perspective, Yuye had insufficient damage, and it still had Hugui on the field.
Yuye generously revealed his hand—
A Field Spell: Wall of the King's Tomb.
The Runick Spirit froze.
This was psychological damage…
"No wonder Night is so strong.
Even without the Horus field, and even with two Fountains banished, the opponent can barely fight back."
Hugui laughed.
"That's right.
Really shows my good taste."
Muning puffed up smugly.
"Oh, please. Everyone knows Night only contacted you because he needed Runick cards."
Hugui rolled her eyes.
"Still counts as me bringing in an excellent duelist for our archetype, doesn't it?"
Muning lifted her chin proudly.
"Yes, yes."
Hugui humored her.
"My turn ends."
Runick Fountain said helplessly.
At this point, it had accepted defeat.
Yuye hadn't used Horus or Tearlaments—
Yet it still lost.
Partly due to lack of information, yes—
But mostly due to its own greedy choices.
For example, during the last chain, if it hadn't been greedy, it wouldn't have lost all resources instantly.
On Yuye's turn, he drew—
King's Sarcophagus.
And that made the outcome certain.
He activated King's Sarcophagus, revived four big monsters from the GY,
Little Night destroyed Hugui,
and the four revived monsters attacked directly, ending the duel.
After losing, the Runick Spirit reflected on the duel.
Eventually, it realized—
Even if it knew everything Yuye planned,
except for that last greedy moment,
everything else was unavoidable.
Two face-down banishes were guaranteed.
As for negating Masquerena?
Impossible—
Masquerena could chain her own effect.
Even if she were negated, next turn, Yuye would just summon Little Night anyway via Harpie's recursion ability.
It was hopeless—
Delaying the loss was the most Runick could've done.
"This is the set I was in charge of. Please take it."
Runick Fountain spoke.
A bridge of water formed.
Inside floating bubbles were the missing Runick cards, carried to Yuye.
He examined them—Fountain, Flashing Fire, and several missing pieces—and smiled.
"Thank you."
"I wasn't strong enough.
No need to thank me."
Runick Fountain replied.
Then it faded from the room.
"Night, you're amazing!
Unless someone counters the entire archetype, you're barely slowed down at all."
Muning said excitedly.
"That's true.
But pure Runick doesn't go far.
The 'Sticker Runick' variant is strong but unstable.
Runick with Naturia works for now, but it won't last—
The raw power is too low."
Yuye nodded.
Even so, he was satisfied.
Runick had once been meta, even after "Sticker Fountain" got hit to 1 and Fountain got limited.
Its annoyance factor was undeniable.
After chatting with the Runick Spirits for a while—Yuye wasn't the type to grab cards and leave—
Half an hour later, his consciousness returned to the present.
Looking at the dozen or so key cards in his hand,
His smile became uncontrollable.
With Runick complete,
next…
was Tearlaments.
Yellow Rank gave him two Fusion bosses.
Now, he hoped the Black Rank reward would fill in the Spells and Traps.
Sending eight cards from the Deck to the GY per turn…
Even Tearlaments found that a bit excessive.