"The Royal Divine Hall, you wanted to know what this card does just now?"
Yugen chuckled softly as he spoke.
"Well, now you know.
The Continuous Magic 'Royal Divine Hall,' as long as this card exists on the field, all Trap Cards controlled by the hall's controller can be activated immediately in the turn they're set." (Previous version effect)
This overpowering effect has become a relic in modern Yu-Gi-Oh!, unfortunately saddled with the restriction of "once per turn per card name." But in the early days, it hadn't been trimmed down, and the hall remained a powerful arena for greatly enhancing trap control abilities, a must-have good partner for the Underworld.
Executioner: "!"
Although the Executioner was masked, without needing to see facial changes, Yugen could feel that shock mixed with anger just through his eyes.
He instantly understood what this meant.
Traps can be activated the moment they're set, which means traps that originally required a turn delay to use could essentially be played directly from the hand, greatly enhancing their practicality within the rules.
This alone was strong enough. And if combined with the Scrap Iron Scarecrow from the Scrap Iron Trap series, it unexpectedly produced even more surprising chemical reactions.
The Scrap Iron series traps don't go to the graveyard when activated, but instead are reset face-down on the field. The Royal Divine Hall allows the traps that are set to be activated the turn they are hidden...
Doesn't that basically mean there are no usage limits?
In other words, as long as Scrap Iron Scarecrow is on the field, the Executioner's attacks will never get through. And as long as Scrap Iron Fence is present, it's like Yugen's monsters are all endowed with resistance to being destroyed by card effects.
There's practically no limit to the number of uses, it's like an impregnable defense!
The Executioner's mouth twitched.
Unable to attack, cannot blow up.
And then that submarine...
He looked at the Submarine Robot crouching in defense mode on Yugen's field, and suddenly felt even more overwhelmed.
His side's offensive tactics were almost entirely blocked, and the other side's submarine could slap him with 800 blood value per turn. Like this, one slap per turn would eventually kill him...
Moreover, this scenario assumes that the field situation doesn't change and only maintains this lineup.
Indeed, just the opponent's current lineup made him feel overwhelmed, with no apparent breakthrough method. Yet, he wasn't optimistic enough to think that the opponent's tactics were limited to this.
The opponent started with these two reusable traps, the defensive-only Cotton Candy, and the submarine responsible for face-slapping. Then with the clearly trap-specialized "Royal Divine Hall"...
It's easy to imagine that the opponent would continue laying all kinds of defensive lines, increasingly troublesome traps. The longer the game drags, the deeper he'd sink into endless traps, making the situation increasingly unfavorable.
The Executioner faced the cards in his hand with a sullen face.
No breakthrough method for now... fine, let's use this move to deal with it for now.
"Set one card, turn end." The Executioner said gloomily.
Yugen: "My turn, draw a card."
Yugen drew a card, glanced at the card, and wasn't interested in further summoning monsters or expanding the formation, but only in switching the submarine on the field from defense to attack.
"Then 'Submarine Robot' changes to attack mode."
[Submarine Robot, Defense Power 1800 → Attack Power 800]
"Battle." Yugen said, "Submarine Robot, direct attack!"
The invincible submarine once again submerged underground, preparing to break through.
Here it comes again, just as expected!
Even Clark, who was lying on the ground unable to move, felt speechless watching this duel.
What kind of deck is this?
Scrap Iron Scarecrow and Fence create an impenetrable lock on attack and monster destruction, and then the humiliating slap of 800 points per turn beats the opponent to death...
Not to mention, it does seem a bit strong.
Plus, compared to being brilliantly one-shot by the opponent's big monsters, this kind of death feels like being cut by a blunt knife. 800 points each turn isn't very painful, but it gives you ample time to slowly experience the approach of death.
Red light flashed in the Executioner's eyes.
Submarine?
"This thing... you want to defeat me with this thing? Taiyi's Executioner?"
He suddenly straightened his chest, angrily roaring.
"Don't joke with me!"
As he spoke, the trap card in the backfield was already activated, and the brilliant light from the trap card instantly enveloped the whole room, almost blinding everyone.
"Continuous Trap 'Light Protection Wall'!" the Executioner declared, "Pay life points in multiples of 1000 to activate.
Then, according to the paid life points, as long as Light Protection Wall is on the field, opponent monsters with attack power below the paid life points cannot attack!"
The Executioner's right hand clenched into a fist placed against his chest.
"I pay 1000 life points to block the attack of 'Submarine Robot'!"
[Executioner, LP3200 → LP2200]
The room's floor seemed to crack, light gushing from the cracks in the ground. First, three thin golden lines pierced through the concrete, followed by the whole floor splitting like shattering tempered glass, creating a web-like pattern. The golden light divided into thousands of rays, piecing together into three evenly spaced arc-shaped light screens.
A piercing metal twisting sound was heard, and it was the sound of the submarine ramming into the light wall while tunneling underground. Sparks flew, the submarine became dizzy and swayed back to Yugen's field.
"Oh? This afraid of my submarine?"
Yugen laughed.
"But it's only an 800 attack power just, yet you chose to spend 1000 life points to defend against it... Tsk tsk, am I that intimidating?"
"Shut up."
The Executioner replied coldly.
It wasn't just to fend off this turn's attack; this way, the submarine's output was temporarily sealed.
Although the Scrap Iron trap defense on the opposite side was still daunting, at least he managed to block the opponent's attack method.
So now the situation came to a stage of mutual staring across the table.
Come on, let's hurt each other!
The Executioner snorted coldly in his heart.
Isn't this just a standoff? Who can't do that?
He was Taiyi's Executioner, having battled across countless timelines with the organization. The battles he's witnessed and experienced far exceed the imagination of most eras' duelists.
Clenching his fists tightly, the Executioner growled.
"You guys understand nothing. Never having experienced true despair, never felt the anguish of everything you care about dying in your arms, the end of all things.
The pain where you can't protect anything, only watch as the world falls into darkness..."
He pounded his chest with his clenched fist.
"The resolve we've built from carrying such despair and pain, how could you understand!"
"Oh? You're from the future too?"
Yugen found this interesting.
"So, you're also a part of Z-ONE?"