"Du…el~"
The zombie uttered in a hoarse voice, wielding the Duel Disc and drawing five cards.
"Alright, let's give it a shot."
Dueling a zombie—or at least something resembling a zombie—was novel even for Yugen. He didn't mind testing his skills against it.
"I'll go first, draw a card."
Yugen drew a card and glanced at it.
"Activate the Magic Card 'Pot of Greed', drawing two cards from the deck."
Drawing two from the Forbidden Card was something Mister Zombie presumably had no objections to.
Zombie: "…"
"I place one Monster Card face-down in Defense Position."
Yugen placed a Monster Card onto the Duel Disc.
"Then I activate Field Spell 'Stone-Throwing Area.'
A rumbling sound echoed, and the forest suddenly vanished. A massive castle loomed in the foreground, with two enormous catapults made of heavy steel and wood resting on an open field, resembling two sturdy fortresses.
The dueling zombie squinted at the transformed scene, his nostrils occasionally emitting vague groans, casting doubt on whether his brain could still process the dueling situation.
"Cover two cards on the field, end of turn."
Truth be told, Yugen was somewhat curious about how the opponent would duel and attack.
He wasn't expecting any elaborate maneuvers or powerful plays; he was simply curious about how much fighting ability a zombie-fied duel retained.
After all, traditional zombies often had labels like immortal and brainless. Many people turned into zombies equate to being dead, lacking the ability to think. But if that were the case, surely they wouldn't possess the capacity to play cards.
"My… turn, draw."
The zombie slowly drew a card, squinted as if studying it, seemingly struggling to discern his hand.
"Angel's Charity… activate," he said, "draw three cards, then… discard two."
With his dirty hands, he drew three cards, then painstakingly selected two cards from his hand to send to the graveyard. His movements were somewhat clumsy.
"Continuous Magic 'Unity of the Race'… activate."
The zombie's backfield saw the green Magic Card glow with golden light.
"Then summon a monster… Blue Thunder T45, summon."
Like lightning striking the sky, it charged into the stone-throwing area. The Thunderbolt Fighter's fuselage, a deep gemstone blue, showcased sleek fuselage lines and landed with engine thrusts.
[Blue Thunder T45, Attack Power 1700]
"Lightning… Thunderbolt Fighter?"
Yugen furrowed his brows and closely examined the zombie.
"Could you be… Morioka from the professional league?"
He didn't know many professional players in the circle, and even if he occasionally saw them, they rarely made an impression. However, he knew Morioka because he remembered his card deck featured several special combat aircraft series.
Such as the Blue Thunder T45, whose prototype was from K Society's arcade game "Thunderbolt Fighter", and another card, "Great Blade Beta", which was based on the aircraft from K Society's side-scrolling shooter, "Cosmic Cruiser".
But why would Morioka become a zombie in a place like this?
Yet Morioka paid no attention, continuing on his own: "Unity of the Race, attack… increase…"
Unity of the Race, when the same race exists solely in the graveyard, increases the attack power of all monsters of that race on the field by 800.
It seemed his graveyard was filled with Mechanical Race monsters, so the Thunder's attack power on the field increased by 800.
[Blue Thunder T45, Attack Power 1700→Attack Power 2500]
"Thunder attacks… the covered monster."
The instruction sounded cumbersome. The Thunderbolt Fighter ascended, engines thrusting, as two energy beams shot downwards, targeting the covered monster on Yugen's field.
[Divine Mage, Defense Power 400]
"Field Spell 'Stone-Throwing Area''s effect." Yugen said, "When my monster on the field is destroyed in battle, I can send a Rock Race monster from my deck to the graveyard instead."
The deck automatically searched, ejecting a card. Yugen drew it and displayed it.
"I send 'Intercepting Crusaders' from the deck to the graveyard, replacing the destruction of 'Divine Mage'."
The Stone-Throwing Area's effect manifested as a stone-built barrier shielding the mage. The Thunder's beam surged onto the barrier, causing rippling explosions.
"Now, let's resolve 'Divine Mage's effect."
Yugen smiled, tapping the magician flipped on his field.
"Divine Mage, upon flipping this card, allows me to retrieve a Magic Card from my graveyard."
The graveyard region of the Duel Disc emitted a golden glow, and Yugen drew the card from the graveyard.
"I retrieve the Magic Card 'Pot of Greed' from the graveyard to my hand."
Morioka Zombie: "…"
"Next, let's resolve 'Intercepting Crusaders' effect." Yugen said, "When this card is sent to the graveyard, I can choose one effect to activate.
Turn one of the opponent's face-up monsters face-down into Defense Position.
Or return the opponent's face-up Magic or Trap Card to their hand, and all cards of the same name cannot be activated this turn."
Yugen pointed to the opponent's backfield.
"Continuous Magic 'Unity of the Race' returns to your hand, and cannot be activated this turn."
The phantom of Intercepting Crusaders briefly appeared on Yugen's field, enveloping the opponent's Magic Card with golden light, before the card transformed into a beam of light and returned to the opponent's hand.
Morioka's vacant stare flitted about, pondering for a moment as his sluggish mind seemed to gradually grasp the scenario before him.
With the Field Spell "Stone-Throwing Area" active, as long as Yugen's monster is destroyed in battle, Stone-Throwing Area can replace it by sending a monster from the deck to the graveyard.
Then, by sending "Intercepting Crusaders" from the deck, he could choose to flip the opponent's monster to the Underworld, or bounce a Magic or Trap card back to the hand.
In terms of cost-effectiveness, any attack would hit a trap, and the trap is pulled from the deck…
The zombie stared at Yugen with wide eyes.
"Oh? Your intelligence seems intact, at least you can read the board and understand the situation you're in?"
Yugen remarked.
Indeed. As he had previously thought, without intelligence, one couldn't possibly duel.
In Yu-Gi-Oh!, the zombies are less about losing all reason and being driven purely by instinct; rather, it's a peculiar form of brainwashing. While driven by instinct to focus solely on card battles and attack others through duels, at least they possess strategic thought within the game.
This world, even being a zombie requires technical skills; you still need to engage your brain…
While this theory remains conjecture, it requires further verification.
As for how to verify it…
…It's simple.
Play a couple of rounds to see if he gets mad.