One of them even mocked Yugen directly. "Ha, you are already a dead man. It is too late to surrender now!"
"It is not over yet. Next is the Spell Card 'Spellbook of Knowledge'! Banish 'Pot of Greed', 'Tribute Doll', and 'Mystical Space Typhoon' from the graveyard, then draw two cards from my Deck! (ANIME EFFECT)"
After summoning The Masked Beast, the sorcerer's voice sounded sharper and more twisted. His excitement was clearly growing.
"Then I activate the Equip Spell 'Violet Crystal'. The equipped monster becomes Reptile-Type, and its ATK increases by 800. (ANIME EFFECT)
I equip it to 'Seiyaryu', increasing its ATK by 800!"
Seiyaryu, ATK 2500 to ATK 3300.
"Hm?" Yugen frowned slightly.
Seiyaryu had been Special Summoned by the effect of 'Tribute Doll', and monsters summoned by that effect are unable to attack during the turn they are summoned.
"Heh, you must be wondering why I strengthened Seiyaryu, right? The answer is this!"
The sorcerer slammed down another card from his hand and shouted.
"Spell Card 'Cross Attack'!"
The Spell Card appeared on his field with rolling golden light, which enveloped both Seiyaryu and The Masked Beast.
"Cross Attack lets me choose two monsters on my field with the same ATK. This turn, one of them can attack directly, while the other cannot attack!"
The lackeys suddenly understood and began shouting again.
"So that is it. By using equipment to raise Seiyaryu's ATK to match The Masked Beast, he can make a direct attack!"
"And monsters summoned by 'Tribute Doll' already cannot attack this turn. He even made use of that!"
"A direct attack with ATK 3300. One hit like that and the kid's Life Points will be almost gone!"
"This is Lord Sorcerer's Duel. It is too strong!"
Yugen remained silent.
It really was a very anime-style combo. Even though he felt he was starting to grasp the idea of lucky draws and dared to experiment more with his deck, this kind of acrobatic combo still felt hard to adapt to.
"My 'Seiyaryu' now has the same ATK as 'The Masked Beast'. Therefore, I choose to sacrifice Seiyaryu's attack, and allow The Masked Beast to attack directly!"
The sorcerer let out a sharp laugh.
"Direct attack with 'The Masked Beast'. Feel the power of destruction!"
The massive demon lunged forward, its claws coming down toward Yugen's head. The strike was fast and overwhelming.
But in the next moment, something unexpected happened.
Silent Magician suddenly leapt out on her own and stood in front of Yugen. She spread her arms and blocked the demon's claws with her slender body, then burst into golden light and vanished.
"Nani?!!" the sorcerer shouted in shock. "What is going on? Why would a monster jump out to block the attack on its own?"
"Heh, that is the bond between a Duelist and his monster," Yugen said seriously. "The power of bonds can create miracles. Someone like you would never understand."
The sorcerer stared at him in confusion.
What was he even talking about. He suddenly recalled rumors about a Duel King from some unknown world who could talk rules into submission, but his thoughts were cut off when he noticed a Trap Card flipped face-up in the back row.
Trap Card, Call of the Earthbound. When the opponent declares an attack, the attack target can be reselected.
"Tch, so you noticed it," Yugen said with a click of his tongue. "That is right. I used the Trap's effect to reselect the attack target of 'The Masked Beast'.
So the attack target changed from me to Silent Magician. And because of that attack, I lost 1300 Life Points."
Yugen, LP 4000 to LP 2700.
Only then did the Masked Sorcerer let out a breath. Thankfully, he had spotted the back row in time.
"So much talk, but in the end you just used your monster as a wall," the Masked Sorcerer sneered.
Yugen did not respond. On his field, where Silent Magician had vanished, a white magic circle opened again in empty space. Waves of magical power burst out like a storm and spiraled straight into the sky.
"Nani?!?" the Masked Sorcerer exclaimed again. "Was she not already defeated?"
"No. What you did was simply release her true power. When Silent Magician is destroyed by battle or by an opponent's effect, I can Special Summon one 'Silent Magician' monster other than herself from my hand or Deck, ignoring its summoning conditions.
From the meeting point of chaos and order, silent light blooms. Magician of Light, descend here.
Silent Magician LV8!"
A transparent magical storm rose up, white robes fluttering as the mage who had just left the field returned once more. The magical aura around her was even stronger than before.
Silent Magician LV8, summon.
"ATK is actually thirty-five hundred!?"
Masked Sorcerer stared in shock. When the hall master first revealed Silent Magician, he had hinted at the LV LV Series system in a very deliberate way, so of course LV4 and LV8 versions existed. It was just that Yugen had not used them much before.
"Tch, I see how it is. The power of this Spirit is actually stronger than my strongest form, the Death Guardian Mage. Is this your trump card?" the sorcerer snorted.
But there was still a chance.
He looked down at the last card in his hand. It was a Trap Card called Covering Fire, whose effect would raise the attacked monster's ATK by the ATK of another face-up monster on his field. With practiced calm, he set the card face-down.
"I set one card. Turn end."
On the next turn, the opponent would certainly attack with Silent Magician. At that moment, Covering Fire would activate, adding Seiyaryu's ATK to The Masked Beast. The Masked Beast's ATK would jump straight to six thousand six hundred.
Silent Magician's attack would rebound, dealing 3100 damage in one blow. With the opponent's Life Points hanging at a fragile 2700, the duel would be decided instantly.
This was his reversal move. This Duel was already in his hands, or so Masked Sorcerer believed. He laughed coldly inside, though the frozen mask hid any sign of it.
"My Turn!, Card Draw."
Yugen drew a card, then calmly selected one from his hand and removed the "The Tricky" from his Duel Disk. He held it up with steady fingers.
"I tribute 'The Tricky.'"
"Hm?" The sorcerer frowned beneath his mask.
A Tribute Summon? With one tribute, that only meant a Level five or six monster. Against three monsters with over three thousand ATK on the field, that kind of creature should not matter at all.
Nani?!!?
As the The Tricky dissolved into light, a mechanical body emerged from the summoning circle. Sparks of electricity spilled across its frame, and red mechanical eyes lit up in the haze. The sorcerer's eyes went wide.
Jinzo!?
"Jinzo, the trap-locking monster…" The sorcerer's voice twisted as he glared at his back row.
An absolute nemesis of traps, feared even in the Spirit World, this red mechanical executioner rewrote the battlefield the moment it appeared. His carefully prepared reversal had become a useless card.
"How is this possible? Did you see through my strategy!?" the sorcerer shouted.
"Who knows?" Yugen shrugged.
In another life, he would have laughed and said it was just bad luck and a lucky draw. But this was the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!. He had not deliberately aimed for Jinzo, since calling cards at will was Yami Yugi's specialty, not something an ordinary Duelist could do.
Still, before drawing, he had paid extra attention to that back row card and briefly wondered if something disruptive might come. He did not draw removal, but he drew this instead. It was not true control over fate, but with the help of Spirit, he could nudge the flow of a Duel in subtle ways.
"Next, I activate the Spell Card 'Riryoku.'" Yugen continued. "I choose two face-up monsters on the field. Until the end of the turn, one monster's ATK is halved, and the other gains that same amount."