"It's my turn!"
Due to the dire situation around him being too conspicuous, Judai didn't think much and quickly drew a card to begin the duel, hoping to finish this duel quickly, eliminate the enemy before him, and save the village.
"Draw card, activate Spell Card, Convert Contact, when there is no monster on my field, send one 'Neo-Spacian' each from my hand and deck to the Graveyard. Then, I can draw two cards."
He quickly sent the monsters from his hand that were temporarily unsuitable for use to the Graveyard: "I'll send Neo-Spacian Glow Moss from my hand and Neo-Spacian Flare Scarab from my deck to the Graveyard, and then draw two cards."
He quickly drew cards, glanced at the two cards, then slapped down a Monster Card: "Defense Position Normal Summon, Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird!"
Swish—
Bright white wings spread open, revealing a red bird-man from within its wings.
Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird, LV 3, Wind Attribute, Winged Beast-Type, DEF 600.
This is the deck Judai heard a certain voice giving him in the Cosmos after losing to Ed.
"Neo-Space Series," which were the cards he drew himself and sent out during a Kaiba Company event when he was a child.
Those important partners returned to him at his most lost moment.
"Air Hummingbird's effect, for each card in the opponent's hand, restores 500 Life Points."
"Honey Absorb!"
Air Hummingbird flew up, approached the Legendary Flame Lord, and aimed its mouth at the cards in the Lord's hand, converting five cards into flowers like a bee collecting honey, increasing Judai's Life Points.
Yuki Judai LP: 4000→6500.
"Set two cards, end turn!"
"Air Hummingbird, a formidable monster I've never seen before," the Legendary Flame Lord said with a sinister smile.
Judai said nothing, fully focused on his opponent.
"Speaking of which, we haven't decided the stakes of this battle yet, have we?"
"Anything is fine for that kind of thing. If you want my life, take it!" Judai wasn't bothered by such trivialities.
"Hahahaha—how could that be?" laughed the Legendary Flame Lord, "If you lose, your power will naturally become mine!"
He gazed at the surroundings with intense red eyes: "Ah, I have a good idea."
"My turn." The Flame Lord drew a card from his deck.
"Activate Spell Card, Magic Absorption."
Magic Absorption?
A card that restores 500 Life Points whenever a Spell Card is activated for both parties.
"Normal Summon, Fire Princess."
A fiery red girl appeared on his field.
Fire Princess, LV 4, Fire Attribute, Pyro-Type, ATK 1300.
Fire Princess?!
"Oh no, big brother, that's a monster that gives the opponent 500 damage for every Life Points recovery," Shou's basic knowledge was quite extensive.
What—
Judai carefully watched the monster, ready for a fiery attack.
He had dueled with many spirits before and had participated in many Darkness Duels, so he was quite experienced with this, knowing how to fight to lessen his suffering.
"Activate Spell Card, Pot of Greed, can draw two cards."
The Flame Lord casually drew two cards.
Because the Spell Card was activated, his Life Points would also increase.
Legendary Flame Lord LP: 4000→4500
Meanwhile, Fire Princess's effect would also activate.
Only to see the fiery red sorceress raise her Magic Staff, seemingly about to send flames toward Judai.
However, before she could fully unleash the flames, the Legendary Flame Lord raised his hand, igniting the flames and tossing them around, hitting a house.
Yuki Judai LP: 6500→6000.
"What are you doing!?"
Seeing this scene, everyone present showed an incredulous look.
"Hahahahaha!" laughed the Legendary Flame Lord maniacally, "I've decided, every time your Life Points drop, I'm going to destroy the surrounding trash!"
"Mom!!"
"Ah—"
Some surviving spirits who had escaped screamed at this sight.
"Bastard—" Judai gritted his teeth and glared at his opponent.
"Kenzan!" Shou quickly came to, disregarding any conflict with Kenzan at this moment, shouting, "Let's go save them—"
Get the spirits out of the collapsed houses and flames!
"Struggle all you want!"
"Why do such things!"
"Why?" The Flame Lord gazed at Judai, his sinister smile fading as his expression slowly shifted from laughter to anger, "You, who wield brand new cards, how could you possibly understand the pain of our kind!"
???!
"I need power, only power, only strong enough power will keep me from being abandoned! As long as there is enough power, nobody will look down on me!"
He said, fierce and cruel.
He wasn't an indigenous member of the Critical Point, but rather a spirit born of the Human World Duel Monsters.
Though he was an excellent High-Level Monster, though he was an exceptionally strong LV 7 Ritual Monster, with the emergence of new cards, with the arrival of new spirits, his kind of 'classic' card was gradually abandoned, eventually wandering into this dimension in confusion.
Until recently, he was enveloped by the Power of Light, feeling strong enough to rival the commanders of various regions, those days were long-lost joy.
But—
With the occurrence of a certain event, the Power of Light departed from him, while he hadn't weakened, he couldn't grow crazily powerful like before.
Once he thought of his kind of 'archaic' card being abandoned one day, he felt fear and anger.
"I want to destroy more, I want to gain more power!"
The Flame Lord looked at his hand cards, selecting one: "Activate Ritual Spell Card, Trial by Fire!"
"Sacrifice Ganesh Elephant from hand, Ritual Summon!"
With arms wide open, he screamed furiously: "Ahhhhh!!! Burn for me!!"
Flames grew madly, scorching the surrounding land black as ink.
"Ritual Summon, myself!"
Legendary Flame Lord, LV 7, Fire Attribute, Spellcaster-Type, ATK 2400.
Meanwhile.
Flame Lord LP: 4500→5000.
Yuki Judai LP: 6000→5500.
Flames erupted from him, like a meteorite, crashing nearby, dropping next to Marufuji Shou.
Despite having a target, his physical prowess wasn't as strong as the well-trained Fusion Department individuals, being knocked away by the impact, luckily at the critical moment, he shielded a spirit with his hands, saving it from disaster.
"Shou!!"
Judai exclaimed.
"It's okay, big brother, keep dueling..." Marufuji Shou stood up with effort, comforting the spirit in his arms, then turned back to give his brother a smile.
"Shou..." Judai took a deep breath.
After seeing that Kenzan had also sent out a large group of spirits, and both of them cabling the spirits, Judai was finally relieved.
This time, he could focus on the duel.
"Tch..." The Flame Lord scoffed.
"Then let's battle!"