"No!"
Viper roared.
"I don't care! No matter what, I'm bringing you back. I will, I absolutely will…"
He jolted awake, and only then remembered he was still in the middle of a Duel. He snapped his head up and saw Kira standing calmly on the opposite side, watching him with an amused smile.
"Y-you…"
Viper's lips trembled for a moment, but he quickly forced himself to calm down and spoke in a low voice.
"You saw it."
Kira nodded. "I saw it."
He paused, then asked, "Who's that child?"
Viper pondered for two seconds.
"A child who deserved a much better life," Viper said coldly. "A child who died far too young because of heaven's unfairness. And I will stop at nothing to bring him back.
Don't try preaching to me, Duel King. I know the price this will cost. I know many may die because of it. But I don't care."
"I understand."
Kira nodded, then showed a provocative smile.
"But I never said I was going to preach to you. There's no need."
Viper froze. "What?"
"Because you're just about finished, aren't you?" Kira chuckled. "You can't bring him back, just like you can't beat me. Before you even get that far, you can't even attempt to summon your so-called ace.
Your Serpent God, the monster you're so confident is invincible, right? The Duel's gone on this long and it's still napping in your Deck."
Viper: "…"
"Face reality, Professor Viper. The truth is… you're just bad."
Kira said mercilessly.
"Because of your failure, you couldn't protect your child.
Because of your failure, you can't defeat me. You don't even have the ability to handle the Serpent God. You can't even summon it. That's how bad you are."
He shook his head again and again as he spoke.
Viper: "…"
His teeth ground together, veins bulged on his clenched fists, and his dark face even seemed to flush red as his blood pressure spiked from rage.
Adrian, standing in the same room, actually felt as if the temperature had risen… if it wasn't just his imagination.
He looked at Kira in shock.
He had to admit: aside from pure Dueling skill, he truly admired the King's ability to piss people off.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
Viper howled like a wounded lion.
"That so? Then do your best," Kira said mildly. "The Tripper Mercury's other effect. In the same Battle Phase, this card can attack twice."
Adrian: "!"
Reduce all opposing monsters' ATK to zero and it can attack twice in one turn…
The Tripper Mercury's original ATK is 2000. In other words, once it's summoned, it can very easily deal 4000 damage in a single turn. It's a monster born to OTK.
"As expected of the Planet series," Adrian muttered. "They're never never simple."
Mercury attacked again, sword swinging!
The blade traced a blue trail in the air, accompanied by a shrill sound as it tore through the sky, the sword light crashing straight down toward Viper's head.
"Damage Off Zone, final effect!" Viper shouted. "By sending this card to the Graveyard, I can make one instance of Battle Damage become 0!"
The sword light slashed down onto a transparent force-field barrier, rippling violently as it dispersed.
"So you barely blocked it, huh."
Kira commented.
"In that case, I set one card face-down and end my turn."
Viper was breathing heavily.
"Kill you… I will kill you, Fujiki Kira," he said in a deep voice. "I will crush all obstacles. No one can stop me! No one—
My turn, draw!"
The moment he drew, a flash of light ran across his arm. It was as if a non-human arm overlapped with his own.
Kira raised an eyebrow.
It wasn't Yubel in person, but it was definitely her power. She had given Viper part of her strength.
Viper glanced at the card he had drawn, then said in a sinister tone:
"You said I was weak. You said I couldn't control the Serpent God's power, right?
Then open your eyes and watch!"
"I activate the Field Spell, 'Mausoleum of the Emperor'!"
The surroundings shifted abruptly, the ground shaking violently. An imposing mausoleum took form, rows of torches lighting one after another, illuminating the eerie space. Countless terracotta soldiers stood towering amidst the rolling mists below, like an ancient dead army.
"Mausoleum of the Emperor: by paying 1000 Life Points, I can replace the Tribute required for a Tribute Summon!"
After being printed as a real card, the effect requires paying LP based on the number of Tributes—1000 for one Tribute, 2000 for two, and so on. But in the original anime, it didn't: you just paid 1000 LP to trigger the effect no matter how many Tributes you were substituting.
"I pay 1000 Life Points and use the soldiers within the mausoleum as my Tribute!"
Viper shouted.
[Viper, LP 1800 → LP 800]
"Descend once more, and grant me that power—
—Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes!!!"
Another day of being forced to work overtime. The Venom King emerged wearily from the darkness, lazily raising his arm of writhing snake heads, making a token effort at baring fangs and claws. Even his battle cry sounded half-hearted.
Not that it mattered, since he wasn't going to be on the field long anyway.
"I activate the Spell Card 'Dark Hole'!" Viper roared. "Destroy all monsters on the field!"
A cataclysmic celestial vortex opened, as if ready to devour even the stars. Kira's Mercury and Viper's own Venom King were both sucked into the whirlpool of the Dark Hole and instantly crushed under an irresistible pressure.
"Open your eyes and look!"
Viper clenched his fist and roared.
"The most ferocious, most powerful Venom Serpent God—now is its true moment of descent!
When 'Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes' was destroyed, my Trap had already been activated! 'Rise of the Sacred Deity'!"
The face-down card in his back row flipped up.
"From my hand or Deck, I Special Summon the final Serpent God—'Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes'!"
The Venom King vanished into Viper's own Dark Hole. As that wicked ritual activated, it was as if all darkness and despair gathered together and took form, manifesting as a living embodiment of terror.
A female-shaped upper body with voluptuous curves, Medusa-like hair made of countless small snakes. Both her arms ended not in hands, but in gaping serpent heads baring poisonous fangs. Her lower body was a long coiling serpent tail, her entire being radiating boundless evil.
Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes, descended!
"Finally…" Adrian raised his eyes to the terrifying creature. "He actually managed to summon it."
Even he felt it wasn't easy for this professor.
…Though the professor's mental state now seemed only a step away from outright insanity.
"Serpent God! Do you see? I summoned you, I did it, I summoned you!"
Viper burst out laughing.
"Effect of 'Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes'! Just like the Venom King, its ATK is determined by the number of Reptiles in my Graveyard!
Counting the Venom King that just went in, there are eight Reptiles in my Graveyard in total! So Vennominaga's ATK becomes…"
[Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes – ATK 4000]
Obelisk-class attack power!