That night, Alice nervously arrived at Kira's room.
Yes, she really did come obediently. She herself didn't fully understand why, as if his words carried some sort of irresistible force that kept her on edge the whole day—she didn't dare not come.
Right. I'm here to drag a strong duelist into a country of despair. He seems to be the academy's strongest duelist—the best prey.
Be confident: he's the prey. She was the hunter—the very best hunter.
Yes, that's right. Alice steeled her resolve again.
After sorting out her thoughts and lingering outside the door for several minutes to psych herself up, Alice finally mustered the courage to knock.
She discovered on the first knock that the door wasn't closed. She took a breath and walked in.
"You're finally here."
Kira had been waiting. He stood up right away. No small talk—the duel disk was already ready.
"Come on, this is what you wanted, right? A duel?"
"Y-yes!"
Alice stuck out her neck, trying to look imposing. But her doll face was youthful and childlike, which made it look a bit comical.
"I… I'll make you fall into the country of despair and snuff out the light of hope for you duelists!" she cried. "I'll make you see no hope in dueling ever again!"
"Whoa, that's scary," Kira chuckled. "Let's see it, then."
"Duel!" x2
[Kira, LP 4000]
[Alice, LP 4000]
"I—I'll go first. Draw!"
The doll girl drew, took two calming breaths.
"I set 'Alice the Wandering Doll' in defense!" (Anime card)
What she summoned was a refined blonde doll—very pretty, but her eyes were empty, devoid of spirit—crouching in defense to block for her.
[Alice the Wandering Doll, DEF 1000]
"I set two cards, then activate this card…"
She carefully slid another card from her hand into the slot that popped out on the side of the duel disk.
"Field Spell: 'Cursed Dollhouse'!" (Anime card)
With the field's activation, a towering building rose up. The dorm room vanished, replaced by a vast sitting room with white walls, tall windows, and an old fireplace at the far end.
"Turn end."
"My turn. Draw."
Kira added the card to his hand, then calmly played another card.
"Special Summon 'Cyber Dragon.'"
He slapped the monster card onto the disk. A silver mechanical dragon roared, appearing amid crackling arcs of electricity on his field.
[Cyber Dragon, ATK 2100]
"When the opponent controls a monster and I control none, Cyber Dragon can be Special Summoned from the hand."
Alice watched tensely, her youthful face taut. "A 2100-attack monster right away…"
"Cyber Dragon, attack 'Alice the Wandering Doll.'"
The dragon opened its maw; blue light gathered and became an Evolution Burst that blasted straight into the doll.
She shuddered—overwhelmed by the dragon's presence—but held firm.
"Alice the Wandering Doll's effect: this card cannot be destroyed by battle!" Alice explained. "Also, when this card becomes the attack target, it inflicts 500 damage to the opponent!"
[Kira, LP 4000 → 3500]
Seeing the damage land, Alice seemed a bit bolder. She unconsciously puffed out her airport-flat chest and continued explaining.
"After that, control of this card shifts to the opponent!"
The refined blonde doll strode over to Kira's field, still crouched in defense.
"Oh? You're giving me control?" Kira smiled. "That does sound interesting."
"At this moment, the Field Spell 'Cursed Dollhouse' activates!" Alice said. "When 'Alice the Wandering Doll' is given to the opponent, the controller of this card can Special Summon a monster with 'Doll Part' in its name from the Deck!"
Her deck searched, then she revealed the chosen monster.
"I Special Summon 'Doll Part Blue'!"
A somewhat creepy doll head appeared—again with empty eyes. The face, once seemingly beautiful, was split halfway open, like it had rolled off a horror movie set.
[Doll Part Blue, ATK 0]
"Cursed dolls, huh? Pretty good horror vibe. Truly a deck from the underworld," Kira nodded in appraisal.
"However, at this moment I activate the Quick-Play Spell 'Demise of the Land' from my hand!
When your opponent Special Summons a monster, you can activate this to select and activate a Field Spell from your Deck."
His deck searched as well; his advanced duel disk popped out the chosen card and shuffled automatically.
"I activate this from the Deck—
—Field Spell: 'Chaos Zone'!"
A chaotic vortex spun up; the dollhouse vanished in an instant. An expanse of azure, like an endless ocean, dominated the field beneath their feet.
"Ah," Alice lamented, "my dollhouse…"
"Chaos Zone places a Chaos Counter each time a monster is banished," Kira said.
Alice shot him a nervous glance.
"So he relies on card banishing—a duelist type that fights through banish mechanics?"
"I haven't Normal Summoned this turn," Kira said. "I set one monster in face-down Defense. Turn end."
"My turn, draw."
Alice glanced at the card, thought for a moment, then said:
"I activate 'Pot of Greed' to draw two."
"Then I Normal Summon 'Doll Part Gold'!"
A shroud of gloomy black mist coalesced into a battered doll arm.
[Doll Part Gold, ATK 0]
"Straight to battle. 'Doll Part Blue,' attack 'Cyber Dragon'!"
[Doll Part Blue, ATK 0]
"Oh?" Kira watched, intrigued.
The cracked horror-doll head was a Normal Monster with no effect; its text was basically "Broken doll head."
So the trick clearly wasn't on the head…
"At this moment, I activate 'Shrink' to halve a monster's ATK!" Alice said. "Halve 'Cyber Dragon's' ATK!"
[Cyber Dragon, ATK 2100 → 1050]
Even then, the dragon still had higher ATK.
But Kira was interested and wanted to see what the doll girl had planned, so he played along with a wave of his hand.
"Then Cyber Dragon, hit it back.
Evolution Burst!"