"My turn, draw a card."
Hades draws a card.
"Activate the Magic Card 'Pot of Greed', draw two cards from the deck."
Hades instinctively feels a bit nervous. They're not hunting otherworldly visitors here for the first time, but so far no one has ever given him such a bad feeling.
He also doesn't feel the powerful fighting spirit of a high-level elf from this person, by experience there should be nothing to fear. But for some reason, he just feels this person's smile is a bit creepy...
Hades shakes his head to dismiss the uneasy thoughts.
Never mind, just go all out from the start and crush them.
"Activate the Field Spell 'Tomb of the Dead Emperor'!"
The massive mausoleum dominates the field, the long stone steps seem to be welcoming visitors. Ancient totems and stone walls embossed with hieroglyphs, eerie flames flicker in this space.
On either side of a stone corridor are endless pits, ominous clouds surround them. Countless terracotta warriors line up like a frozen army by time, neatly arranged in the giant pit.
At a glance, this mausoleum field is Neta from the legendary Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum, which was known to conquer and sweep across the lands, evident from both its ambiguously named card and the endless terracotta warriors on either side.
"Tomb of the Dead Emperor's effect, both players in this field can perform Upper-level Summons by paying 1000 Life Points and using terracotta warriors as tribute replacements." (Original effect)
In the animation, this card was used by Ed Phoenix, with discrepancies from the real card effect.
The animation described that only 1000 Life Points are needed to activate this field's effect, then regardless of how many Star Levels the Upper-Level Monster has or how many tributes are required for summoning, the warriors here can be used as replacements.
Whereas the real card later requires paying Life Points multiplied based on the number of tributes. Replacing one tribute requires 1000 points, two require 2000 points.
This modification is still reasonable. After all, in the animation everyone has four thousand points, paying 2000 points to summon an Upper-Level Monster makes this card seem quite hard to use. While in the real card environment, the base Life Points are eight thousand, making it much more flexible to spend.
"Use one terracotta warrior as a tribute replacement, perform Upper-level Summon!"
[Hades, LP 4000→LP 3000]
A terracotta warrior rises into the air amidst the mist. Hades starts gesturing wildly, chanting a bunch of meaningless murmurs, like some sort of spell.
"The god who rules Hell, which is myself—
——Netherworld Demon King Hades, summon!"
The sinister aura erupts, as if a pathway to the Netherworld has really been opened. The Netherworld Demon King wearing a horned crown holds a goblet, the crimson liquid within uncertain whether it's wine or blood.
[Netherworld Demon King Hades, Attack Power 2450]
"So quickly summoned yourself, huh."
Judai, experienced in these matters, is not surprised, just pondering today's regular act happening quite fast.
"It's not over yet!"
After summoning a duplicate, Hades himself erupts in black aura, as if his power surged again along with the summoning action.
"Then activate the Magic Card 'Ancient Rules', allowing you to Special Summon ordinary monsters above Five-Star from your hand."
A massive ancient scroll unfurls before him, accompanied by descending golden Celestial Thunder!
"Appear, my powerful demon ally—
——Demon's Summon!"
Golden lightning descends from beyond the sky, among the dark clouds, the Demon King with skeletal armor embraces his arms and descends.
[Demon's Summon, Attack Power 2500]
Two powerful Upper-Level Monsters called forth in an instant!
Hades feels an ever more abundant power flowing into his body, making him feel invincible.
This is the power bestowed by the Overlord Array, a gift from the invincible Lord Overlord to his loyal soldiers. Even just a fraction of this mighty force is enough to make them unbeatable!
"Go forth!" Hades is brimming with fighting spirit, "First it's myself, Netherworld Demon King Hades, attack the covered monster!"
Overwhelming darkness tears apart the cover card. As the card breaks, a quiet purple-haired witch emerges. She lets the oppressive darkness pierce through her, her body shattering as she leaves the field.
[Black Forest Witch, Defense Power 1200]
"Black Forest Witch," says Yugen, "when this card is sent to the graveyard, you can add a monster with Defense Power 1500 or below from the deck to your hand."
"A last word effect huh?"
Hades suddenly bursts into laughter.
"Hahaha, my favorite ability in life is this kind.
Netherworld Demon King Hades, effect activated! All effects of effect monsters destroyed in battle by Demon Race monsters on my field become null and void!"
Indeed, it's a rather counter-effective ability against last word effects, matching Hades' role as the "ruler of the Netherworld." The souls destroyed in battle have no right to exercise their talents before him.
Despite Black Forest Witch possessing an overpowered deck search ability, it cannot be applied.
"Just a moment ago I felt a bit uneasy, it seems I was overthinking. Under Lord Overlord's power, you have no chance!
Continue the attack, Demon's Summon, direct attack!"
Lightning gathers on the demon's body as celestial thunder strikes! Lightning catalysts gather towards Yugen's place, transforming into a thunderstorm that crashes down.
A deafening sound, the scent of burnt, pits explode on the ground one after another. Thunder rolls over Yugen's body, his figure seems to stagger.
[Yugen, LP 4000→LP 1500]
"Yugen!"
Judai is worried seeing him injured.
Yet Yugen only steadies himself, raising his hand.
"Activate the Trap 'Damage Capacitor'."
Yugen sends one hand card to the graveyard. Meanwhile, a complex mechanism appears on his field, with its central capacitor device absorbing all the golden lightning sweeping over him, storing it like a battery.
"When taking battle damage, discard a hand card and Special Summon an attack position monster from the deck with Attack Power less than the damage value."
Yugen's deck ejects a card, drawn into his hand.
"I received damage of 2500, Special Summon an attack position monster with Attack Power 2500 or below from the deck.
I Special Summon 'Black Scorpion - Thorny Mina'."
Golden light bursts from the capacitor, a leather-clad female thief emerges, lightly landing in the field, the whip in her hand moving as if alive.
[Black Scorpion - Thorny Mina, Attack Power 1000]
"This kid... could it be enduring damage is part of his strategy?"
Hades is slightly moved.
Being able to casually ignore the duel's damage, designing it as part of the battle...
Suddenly, he feels a bit alarmed.
However, even though he could choose any monster under Attack Power 2500, easily calling forth an Upper-Level Monster, the opponent only chooses this one with mere 1000 Attack Power?
Why is that?