[Camilla, LP 700]
Her life points were reduced to a flickering candle in the wind in just one turn. The face of this beautiful vampire looked grim.
Such a fierce assault, such relentless pursuit, would qualify as top-tier even in the Duel Academy, let alone in the professional world.
The most hateful thing is that she had no defense against her opponent using a Cyber Dragon card deck. She had spied several times through the eyes of an apostle, and the young man in front of her had been diligently researching a decent Pure Dragon Race card deck...
If only she hadn't relied so heavily on the eyes of the apostle, and had checked this person's past records and actual battle experiences...
But it's too late for regrets now; she can only rely on pure duelist skill and technique to maneuver.
"My turn, draw a card."
Camilla said in a deep voice.
"I activate the Magic Card 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards from the deck."
Facing the dual pressure of Cyber Dragon and Laser Dragon on the enemy's field with such dangerous life points, and Cyber Laser Dragon has an effect to destroy monsters once per turn. If this draw can't reverse the situation, it's really over.
With that thought, a red glow flashed in the vampire's eyes, and the surge of unseen power seemed to turn into a breeze that lifted her strands of hair.
Upon drawing the card, joy flashed in her eyes.
"It seems destiny hasn't abandoned us Blood Race."
She said bizarrely, then raised her head, looking at Marufuji Ryo with a bloodthirsty gaze.
"Activate the forbidden Field Spell, Immortal Kingdom - Hell Castle!" (Original Card)
The card was inserted into the Duel Disc, and the surrounding roared with thunder, blood mist churned in mid-air, transforming into a blood-colored sky. An ancient castle stood proudly under the heavens, its eerie outline illuminated by a lightning strike.
Marufuji Ryo's face changed suddenly upon hearing this: "This is... a forbidden field!"
An unmaterialized animation original card, yet one of the few expressly identified forbidden cards in the animation. Hence, it can be seen that the animation world has its own prohibited card system compared to reality.
"Forbidden card? Hahaha..."
Camilla laughed aloud as if hearing something extremely amusing.
"The students in the academy are like flowers in a greenhouse, truly naive and cute." She said with a smile, "The world we are in is different from those who duel as if playing house.
In our world, dueling is life and death; true strength requires neither praise nor recognition from others. The only glory and proof are surviving countless slaughters.
Survival is the only testament to strength, so what talk is there of forbidden cards?"
Marufuji Ryo gritted his teeth.
Suddenly, he felt this in a way resembled a certain contrast between Yugen and himself. He was the traditional rule-abiding duelist who valued honor, yet would suffer losses in the harshest dark battlegrounds.
Yugen, on the other hand, is a duelist for whom tactics matter little as long as victory is the sole measure.
It's somewhat like the difference between arena battles and life-and-death fights in combat warfare. Arena masters are top-notch martial artists, but arena battles focus more on technique with many restrictions, and limitations on attacking specific vital points.
But in life and death struggles, what rules are there? In a life-and-death fight, what's forbidden in the arena becomes potent, and only deadly moves that can secure victory matter.
Someone like him is more suited to such dark battlegrounds?
"Effect of Immortal Kingdom - Hell Castle!" Camilla shouted, "Send an Undead Monster from hand to the graveyard; destroy all monsters on the field!"
Indeed, a forbidden card level effect. Yugen pondered but considered that this, even if transported from the animation into the physical card environment, is still significant.
In early environments, with no further ado, a hand card swap for a Black Hole effect surely is a super forbidden card. Moreover, there's no once per turn limit, and since it's exclusive to the Undead Race, discarding for the grave likely remains a usable resource.
As the Yu-Gi-Oh! environment accelerated into later stages, even a singular Black Hole field effect wasn't overly powerful. But this card is an Undead Race exclusive field.
If it happens to appear in an Undead Race underworld-dominant "Golden Country" environment...
Well, merely saying it hasn't been cardified logically makes sense.
"Discard the Undead race 'Vampire Lord' from hand, Hell Castle effect activates!"
Camilla screeched, her once charming face contorted into abstract muscle shifts, and her tongue stretched long.
"Let your Cyber Dragon be obliterated!"
With the forbidden card's power, a terrifying immortal storm swept through Marufuji Ryo's field. Cyber Dragon and Laser Dragon couldn't resist; both shattered into fragments.
Marufuji Ryo raised his arm to defend himself, biting his lip lightly.
"But even as a forbidden field card, it still has side effects. During the turn I use this effect, I can't perform a Normal Summon."
Camilla retracted her tongue and began giggling, occasionally casting seductive glances at Marufuji Ryo. Yet having just shown unsettling facial art, the greater the contrast, the more primal fear it induced.
"Activate the Magic Card 'Book of the Living - Forbidden Curse'!" Camilla said, "It allows one Undead Monster in one's graveyard to be Special Summoned, and one monster in the opponent's graveyard to be banished!"
A card from her graveyard exited.
"Special Summon the Undead race 'Vampire Lord', which I discarded as the cost to activate 'Immortal Kingdom - Hell Castle'!"
The Vampire Lord clad in black appeared on her field, with a swirl of his cloak echoing a confident laughter.
"As for your graveyard... Cyber Dragon, that should indeed be your card deck's absolute core, right?"
Camilla laughed heartily.
"In that case, let's banish one 'Cyber Dragon' from the game."
One of the three Cyber Dragons in Marufuji Ryo's field eroded away, disappearing in ghostly golden light.
Marufuji Ryo frowned.
Indeed, three Cyber Dragons are his soul, his trump card, always his persistence. Even losing one has a significant impact.
"And then banish the 'Vampire Lord' from the game!"
Camilla raised another card high, stretching out her tongue again, just having reassumed a seductive face only to abruptly contort into that facial art.
"This card cannot be Normal Summoned; it can only be Special Summoned by banishing one's field 'Vampire Lord' from the game!
Now reveal yourself here, and for the revival of the glorious vampire race, sacrifice all! Beyond the lord, the strongest vampire—
—Vampire Creator, summon!!"