"I've heard Lord Overlord is the king of the Otherworlds, ruler of the Twelve Dimensions."
Yugen said.
"Your strength shouldn't be only at this level, right?"
Yugen knew full well that the Overlord right now was far from his peak. He hadn't truly devoured Judai's heart; his current state was incomplete, he didn't even have his signature Super Fusion. And since he'd used Judai as a medium to manifest in reality, the level of power he could exert should be limited; it was hard to say how much of his prime strength he still retained.
Even so, the Darkness he'd felt just now at the Red Dormitory was undeniably powerful. As expected of the Overlord—nowhere near full power, yet not to be underestimated.
On the Overlord's side, he looked at Yugen with heightened vigilance as well.
He had swept through the Twelve Dimensions, rarely meeting any true opponents along the way. But the fluctuation of power he sensed from this person faintly seemed enough to rival his own.
He instantly realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime opponent; even if he could take him down, it would definitely require effort.
There's actually such a powerful existence in this Otherworld? No wonder he had the guts to come straight to Overlord City to find him—he did have some skill.
These years the Overlord had been steamrolling every opponent; constantly bullying weaklings was honestly getting boring. Now that he'd finally run into someone who could fight, he actually felt a spark of interest.
"My turn, draw." the Overlord said. "I activate the Magic Card 'Angel's Charity'. I draw three cards from my Card Deck, then discard two cards from my hand."
In the next instant, a Magic Card materialized and floated midair.
"Because I discarded the Magic Card 'Card of Compensation', I draw two cards from my Card Deck." the Overlord said. "Next, I offer 'Demon-shaped Pestle' as a Tribute for an Upper-level Summon!
Piercing Demon, use your indestructible claws to shred the enemy!
Evil Heart Hero: Evil Blade Demon, summon!"
The Demon-shaped Pestle melted into a pool of black mire, and from it slowly rose a blue-clad Demon with arms folded across his chest. His whole body bristled with dangerous spikes covering half his face; on the backs of both hands were claws like Wolverine's, and the exposed mouth wore a mocking sneer at its prey.
[Evil Heart Hero: Evil Blade Demon, Attack Power 2600]
Although its outer appearance had changed quite a bit, judging from the Attack Power and Monster Effect, this should be a darkened Golden Blade Hero.
"Even though Evil Heart Hero: Evil Blade Demon is a Seven-Star Monster, if there's a Monster on the opponent's Field, I only need one Monster as a Tribute to Upper-level Summon it."
The Overlord played another Magic from his hand.
"Next I activate the Equipment Magic 'Fallen Evil Claw'. The equipped Monster gains 300 Attack Power."
"So you're buffing Evil Blade Demon's power." Yugen said.
"No, not Evil Blade Demon." the Overlord said coolly. "Even if his Attack Power increases, he's still far from surpassing Silent Magician.
I'll equip Fallen Evil Claw to 'Magical Warrior - Destructors'."
The red-armored Warrior suddenly grew a pair of claws in his hands, like razor-sharp dragon talons forged of King Kong steel. The Magic Guide Warrior swung them twice, and a mass of Darkness burst from the claws, wrapping his whole body in a layer of black aura; even his complexion turned dark.
[Magical Warrior - Destructors, Attack Power 1600 → Attack Power 1900]
Yugen: "You're equipping my Monster?"
"Correct." the Overlord said icily. "Now we battle. I attack 'Magical Warrior - Destructors' with 'Evil Heart Hero: Evil Blade Demon'!"
Evil Blade Demon's claws slashed out, aiming straight at the Magic Guide Warrior's throat.
The Magic Guide Warrior thrust his Long Sword forward, but in a flash of steel the blade was chopped into several pieces by the claws. He raised his shield to Block, but the opponent was too fast; a flying kick slammed into the arm holding the shield, and the Magic Shield was knocked from his hand, spinning up into the air.
The Magic Guide Warrior lost both sword and shield and had no choice but to counterattack with the newly gained Fallen Evil Claw. But Evil Blade Demon let out a taunting laugh, grabbed his arm with a backhand lunge, and the claws swept across.
With a resounding clang, the two sets of claws collided. Despite the huge Attack Power gap, the Magic Guide Warrior actually endured the blow head-on, staggering back two steps without being destroyed. However, the impact damage still transmitted from the Magic Guide Warrior to Yugen.
[Yugen, LP4000 → LP3300]
Only the equipped Evil Fall Claw weirdly flew from his hand, bounced up into the air, then suddenly spun like a hidden weapon and shot toward Silent Magician.
"The other effect of Fallen Evil Claw. When the Monster equipped with this card is destroyed by battle, Fallen Evil Claw returns to its owner's hand instead as replacement. After that, it destroys one Monster other than the Monster involved in that battle, and inflicts 600 damage to the opposing Duelist."
"I see." Yugen now actually found it quite amusing. "Pretty creative."
Obviously, this Equipment was originally meant to power up your own Monster. And when the equipped Monster is destroyed, it just returns to your hand as a substitute for that destruction, and can also blow up one opposing Monster—quite a good Equipment.
But the Overlord had equipped this card to the opponent. Even though the equipped Monster belonged to Yugen, the control of the activated Equipment Magic was still the Overlord's, and it remained in the Overlord's Magic Trap Zone after activation. So from the Equipment's point of view, the "opponent" in "destroy one Monster on the opponent's Field" still referred to Yugen's side of the Field.
So the result was that Yugen not only had to take battle damage, but also suffer his Monster being destroyed and eat an extra 600 effect damage.
Well, assuming the combo went through.
Silent Magician's face remained expressionless. She showed no panic at all toward the claw shooting toward her, merely flicking her Magic Staff casually. A blast of white Magic Power struck the flying claw midair and blasted it off to the side.
"Nice combo, but what a shame." Yugen said. "Silent Mage Lv8 is unaffected by your Magic Card effects."
"Tch..."
The Overlord grunted, feeling his opponent grow more troublesome by the second.
"I activate the Magic Card 'Burial Spell Treasure Scroll'. I remove the Magic Cards 'Hero's Legacy', 'Angel's Charity', and 'Card of Compensation' in my Graveyard from the Game, then draw two cards from my Card Deck."
The Overlord drew two cards.
"Next I activate 'Heaven and Earth's Treasure Scroll'. During a turn in which I performed an Upper-level Summon, I draw two cards. But the cards drawn this turn can't be used; if they can be Set, at least one must be Set."
He drew two more cards, then immediately pulled out three cards at once.
"I Set three cards to my back row. Turn end."
"My turn, draw."
Yugen said.
"I activate the Magic Card 'Magic Mastery'. I place one Mana Indicator on every card on my Field that can hold Mana Indicators, then add one 'Magic Mastery' from my Card Deck to my hand.
I place one Mana Indicator on 'Magical Warrior - Destructors'."
[Magical Warrior - Destructors, Attack Power 1600 → Attack Power 1900]
"Then Magical Warrior - Destructors' effect activates. I remove his Mana Indicator to destroy one Magic or Trap Card in your back row!"