"Heh heh heh. I activate the Spell Card–[Allure of Darkness]!"
Rikka flung the green-bordered Spell Card onto her Duel Disk.
Not far away, Aleister's phantom figure drifted over to Raku's side. His eyes, always tinged with malicious amusement, narrowed slightly as he looked at the card radiating an eerie aura on the Duel Disk.
"Your little sister, who always uses a LIGHT-attribute Starry Knight deck, is actually carrying Allure of Darkness. How do you feel about that?"
"Unacceptable." Raku clenched his fist.
"Indeed." Aleister chuckled with schadenfreude. "Your sister is still far too unqualified, to be so easily tempted by a power that demands such a heavy price. With that kind of mentality, she won't last long in this world."
"I'm the one who's unqualified."
Raku let out a stifled breath.
The smile on Aleister's face instantly faded. He turned his head and stared at Raku.
"Tch." He clicked his tongue, a trace of boredom flashing through his eyes. "I thought you would be confused by this and abandon those soft, burdensome emotions. What a thoroughly dull answer. So then, Mr. Good Guy, what do you plan to do now?"
"Duel." Raku looked at the girl across from him, whose eyes were still red though she stubbornly refused to admit it. "And then… properly apologize."
"Can you do it?" Aleister's fingers tightened unconsciously around his staff.
"I'll do it first." Raku didn't hesitate in the slightest and floated forward. "Before, I avoided it because seeing my family cry because of me made me feel awful. It made me think about how useless I was. To avoid facing that sense of helplessness, I ran away."
Raku stopped, his back to Aleister.
"Now I can see that only caused an even bigger mistake. As a man, as an older brother, I can't keep running anymore."
Aleister froze in place.
On the face half-hidden beneath his hood, a rare trace of panic flashed across it.
He thought of Endymion. He thought of Rilliona.
Back then, they had also tried to pull him back.
But he had stubbornly believed that emotions were nothing but obstacles.
And now, faced with the same situation, the same choice… his partner had made the exact opposite decision.
Aleister silently turned away. His figure, along with his staff, completely dissipated into the gray fog of Zombie World.
Raku drifted to Phila's side.
"Phila," Raku spoke, "let me take over the duel from here."
Phila didn't ask why. She simply nodded obediently and relinquished control over her mental space.
Using Phila's body, Raku lifted his head.
"I chain to your [Allure of Darkness]."
Rikka was taken aback. She could keenly sense that although it was still that same white-haired girl, the hesitant warmth she usually carried was gone, replaced by an inexplicably familiar presence.
That tone… was irritating.
"I activate the first effect of [Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon Lord]. During your turn, I can target one Zombie monster in my Graveyard, except [Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon Lord]."
Raku's hand steadily pointed toward the Graveyard on the Duel Disk.
"Special Summon it. I Special Summon [Vampire Fraulein] from my Graveyard in Defense Position!"
Deep underground, a coffin was pushed open.
The noble yet deathly Vampire Fraulein stepped out once more, descending gracefully onto the field.
[Vampire Fraulein, DEF: 2000]
"Revived, huh?" Rikka snorted, placing her hand on her Deck. "Well, so what. Resolving [Allure of Darkness]'s first effect: I draw two cards. After that, if I have a DARK monster in my hand, I banish one of them. If I don't, I send my entire hand to the Graveyard."
Two cards were cleanly drawn from the top of the Deck.
Rikka glanced at the newly drawn cards, then immediately pulled one from her hand and threw it into the Banished Zone.
"I banish [Thunder Dragondark] from my hand. Then [Thunder Dragondark]'s second effect triggers: if this card is banished or sent from the field to the Graveyard, I can add one 'Thunder Dragon' card from my Deck to my hand, except [Thunder Dragondark]."
A card popped out from the Deck.
"I add [Thunder Dragonduo] to my hand!"
Rikka's impatience was becoming evident.
"Next! I activate the first effect of [Thunder Dragonroar] in my hand! Discard this card to activate it–add one 'Thunder Dragon' card from my Graveyard or Banished Zone to my hand, except [Thunder Dragonroar]!"
Another card was sent into the Graveyard.
A crisp notification sound rang from the Graveyard slot on the Duel Disk.
Rikka gripped the card that had just popped out and raised it high. Within the gray fog of Zombie World, the swirling pattern on the card's surface looked especially striking.
That was the [Thunder Dragon Fusion] she had just used.
Rikka held the Spell Card she had just recovered between her fingers, her gaze locked tightly onto the white-haired girl across from her.
"I activate the [Thunder Dragon Fusion] I just added to my hand!"
The Graveyard slot of the Duel Disk burst with dazzling light, tearing open a gap in the gray fog of Zombie World.
"I return two [Thunder Dragondark] from my Banished Zone and one [Thunder Dragondark] from my Graveyard to the Deck. Fusion Summon!"
The sky was torn apart once more.
"Descend upon this place–[Thunder Dragon Titan]!"
The violent three-headed dragon descended again, its thunderous pressure almost crushing the tiles of the open plaza.
Rikka lifted her chin, her oversized black coat fluttering wildly in the lightning.
"Heh heh heh! Go ahead and feel this overwhelming power!"
Raku spoke.
"Actually, the Starry Knight deck suits you better."
Raku looked directly into Rikka's eyes. "Just now, you could have activated Thunder Dragon Fusion's Graveyard effect first–banish it to search a Thunder monster. After that, you could've used [Thunder Dragonroar]'s effect to recover Thunder Dragon Fusion from the Banished Zone. You're too eager to show power."
"That tone…"
Rikka stiffened like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
A mixture of anger and grievance ignited within her azure eyes.
"Tch, what do you even understand?!"
Rikka shouted, her fingers frantically moving across the Duel Disk.
"[Thunder Dragonduo]'s text: this card cannot be Normal Summoned. It can be Special Summoned by banishing one LIGHT and one DARK monster from my Graveyard! I banish the LIGHT monster [Thunder Dragon Titan] and the DARK monster [Thunder Dragonroar] from my Graveyard!"
Light and darkness clashed within the Banished Zone as a purple-black dragon beast filled with destructive energy tore through the air.
"Special Summon–[Thunder Dragonduo]!"
Right then, Rikka pulled out a card from her hand.
"As the Summon resolves, I discard [Thunder Dragon] from my hand to search another Thunder Dragon from my Deck!"
"After that, I chain–activate [Thunder Dragon Titan]'s first effect: when a Thunder monster's effect is activated in the hand, destroy one card on the field! I destroy your [Zombie World]! And because a monster effect was activated in the hand, Thunder Dragonduo's Attack rises to 3100!"
The gloomy tombstones and fog collapsed under the golden lightning, and the plaza returned to its original stone pavement.
"Your precious lockdown is gone!"
Rikka tightened her grip on the Thunder Dragon she had just searched. "Then I activate Thunder Dragon's effect from my hand again–discard it, search another Thunder Dragon! That way I can trigger Titan's effect again and destroy your Dragon Lord–"
"You're still too reckless."
Raku's calm voice cut off Rikka's declaration.
"I chain to your [Thunder Dragon] discard effect–Chain-2, I activate [Wightprincess] from my hand!"
A skeleton engraved with a princess's image flicked from Raku's fingertips into the Graveyard.
"Because Thunder Dragon Titan's effect is a Trigger-Quick Effect," Raku raised a finger, "it must be activated immediately after its trigger condition is met. But now that my Wightprincess has been inserted into the chain, Titan's original timing has been missed. This is called missing the timing."
"Resolve the Chain in reverse order. Wightprincess's third effect: send this card from your hand or field to the Graveyard; all monsters on the field lose Attack and Defense equal to their Level or Rank ×300 until the end of the turn!"
An extremely chilling wind swept across the plaza.
The once-mighty Thunder dragons seemed to have their life force drained, their massive bodies visibly shrinking.
[Thunder Dragon Titan, ATK: 3200 → 200]
[Thunder Dragonduo, ATK: 3100 → 700]
[Aloof Lupine, ATK: 1700 → 500]
Raku's field suffered the same fate.
[Moissa Wight, ATK: 300 → 0]
[Vampire Fraulein, DEF: 2000 → 500]
[Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon Lord, DEF: 2400 → 0]
The plaza fell silent, with only the sound of sea wind passing over the stone pavement.
The battlefield that had just been filled with towering, epic monsters had instantly turned into a lineup of frail, barely-standing creatures that looked like they could collapse at any moment.
Rikka stared blankly at the Thunder Dragon she had just searched, her hands trembling uncontrollably as she held the card.
...
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