That night, Alice nervously arrived at Yugen's room.
Yes, she really obediently came over. But she didn't seem to fully understand why, as if there was some kind of irresistible power in this person's words, making her feel uneasy all day, absolutely not daring not to come.
Right, I'm here to plunge a powerful duelist into a land of despair. This person seems to be the strongest duelist in this academy, probably the best prey for her.
Be confident, this person is the prey. She is the hunter, and the best one at that.
That's right, just like that. Alice regained her confidence.
Having sorted this out, and lingering outside the door for several minutes to encourage herself, Alice finally mustered the courage to knock on the door.
With a knock, she found the door wasn't closed. So she gathered her courage and stepped in.
"You finally came."
Yugen had been waiting, rose immediately, and without wasting words, his Duel Disc was already prepared.
"Come on, this is what you want, right? A duel?"
"Yes... yes!"
Alice stiffened her neck, trying to make herself look imposing. But her doll-like face had a childish quality, making her look a bit young, and somewhat ridiculous.
"I want... I want to plunge you into a realm of despair, extinguishing the light of hope for you duelists!" she shouted, "I want to make you never see hope again in duels!"
"Oh, that does sound frightening." Yugen smiled, "Then let's see it."
"Duel!" x2
[Yugen, LP4000]
[Alice, LP4000]
"I... I'll go first, draw a card!"
Miss Puppet drew a card, taking a couple of deep breaths to calm herself.
"I summon in defense position 'Confused Porcelain Doll - Alice'!" (Original Card)
The summoned card was a beautiful doll with golden hair, quite exquisite, but her eyes were vacant and lifeless, crouching defensively on her field.
[Confused Porcelain Doll - Alice, Defense Power 1000]
"Set two cards, then activate this card..."
Miss Puppet carefully drew another card from her hand, placing it into the slot that popped out from the Duel Disc.
"Field Spell 'Cursed Doll House'!" (Original Card)
With the field activated, a massive building rose. The dorm room vanished, transforming into a huge living room, with white walls, tall windows, and an ancient fireplace at the end.
"Turn ends."
"My turn, draw."
Yugen added the drawn card to his hand, then unhurriedly drew another card, inserting it into his Duel Disc.
"Special Summon 'Cyber Dragon'."
Yugen slapped the Monster Card onto the Duel Disc. A silver mechanical dragon roared, appearing on Yugen's field amid cascading sparks.
[Cyber Dragon, Attack Power 2100]
"Cyber Dragon can be Special Summoned from the hand without tributes if the opponent has monsters, and I don't have any on my field."
Alice nervously watched, her youthful face tense: "A 2100-attack power Upper-Level Monster just like that..."
"Cyber Dragon, attack 'Confused Porcelain Doll - Alice'."
Cyber Dragon opened its mouth, blue electrical light gathering at its edge, transforming into an evolutionary shockwave beam shooting straight at Alice's doll.
The doll slightly trembled, overwhelmed by Cyber Dragon's aura, but stubbornly withstood it.
"Confused Porcelain Doll - Alice's effect, this card won't be destroyed by battle!" Alice explained, "And when this card becomes an attack target, it deals 500 points of counter damage to the opponent!"
[Yugen, LP4000→ LP3500]
Seeing the damage indeed reflected back to Yugen, Alice seemed slightly emboldened, instinctively puffing up her flat chest, continuing to explain.
"Then, at the end of this effect, the control of this card transfers to the opponent!"
The exquisite golden-haired doll stepped over to Yugen's field, continuing to maintain a defensive stance.
"Oh, you're giving me control?" Yugen smiled, "This seems a bit interesting."
"At this moment, the Field Spell 'Cursed Doll House's' effect is also activated!" Alice said, "When the control of 'Confused Porcelain Doll - Alice' transfers to the opponent, the controller of this card can Special Summon a monster with 'Puppet Part' in its name from the deck!"
From her Duel Disc deck, she carefully searched and retrieved a Monster Card, then displayed it.
"I Special Summon 'Puppet Part - Blue'!"
What emerged this time was a somewhat creepy puppet head, still bearing a vacant gaze, its seemingly beautiful face cracked open, like something rolled out from a horror movie set.
[Puppet Part - Blue, Attack Power 0]
"A cursed puppet, quite the horror movie vibe. It truly is an Underworld deck." Yugen nodded slightly, commenting.
"However, at this moment, I also activate the Speed Attack Magic 'Land of the End' from my hand!
It can be activated when an opponent's monster is successfully Special Summoned, allowing one to select and activate a Field Spell Card from the deck."
Yugen's deck similarly executed a search, with the advanced Duel Disc automatically ejecting the selected card into his hand. The deck then automatically shuffled.
"I activate this card from the deck—
—Field Spell 'Chaos Space'!"
The chaotic vortex rose, and the dollhouse scene instantly vanished. A vast blue realm, like an endless ocean, dominated the field where both stood.
"Ah," Alice mourned, "my dollhouse..."
"Chaos Space is a Field Spell that places a Chaos Indicator every time a monster is banished from the game," Yugen explained.
Alice nervously peeked at Yugen.
"The banishing space... is he the type of duelist that relies on card banishment for combat?"
"This turn I haven't conducted a Normal Summon yet," Yugen said, "I set a monster face-down in defense position on the field, turn ends."
"Then my turn... draw a card."
Alice glanced at the card she drew and after some thought, looked up.
"Activate the Magic Card 'Pot of Greed', drawing two cards from the deck."
"Then Normal Summon 'Puppet Part - Gold'!"
Heavy black air swirled, revealing a doll's arm riddled with holes.
[Puppet Part - Gold, Attack Power 0]
"Straight into battle. Using 'Puppet Part - Blue', attack 'Cyber Dragon'!"
[Puppet Part - Blue, Attack Power 0]
"Oh?" Yugen looked at her with interest.
This damaged puppet head was an Ordinary Monster, with nothing but a single descriptive sentence, "A damaged doll's head."
So the trick mustn't be in the head...
"At this moment, activate the Speed Attack Magic 'Contraction', halving the attack power of the field's monsters!" Alice declared, "Reducing 'Cyber Dragon's' attack power to half!"
[Cyber Dragon, Attack Power 2100→Attack Power 1050]
Even so, Cyber Dragon's attack power was still higher.
But Yugen was quite interested, also wanting to see what the little puppet girl intended to do, so he cooperated with a wave of his hand.
"Then Cyber Dragon, hit back.
Evolutionary Shockwave!"