NOVEL NEXT Chapter 55: TST [55]
Smoke poured from Alban's entire body, the scent of scorched flesh thick in the air. His hair curled from the heat, his skin charred and blackened. He was still trying to figure out what had just happened.
If he were an ordinary person, that shock might have knocked him out. But having endured constant electrocution, Alban had developed a tolerance. He remained conscious—barely. His body screamed in agony, like needles stabbing him from within.
He stared at his Duel Disk in disbelief.
"What's going on? Why are my Life Points dropping so fast? What did you do?!"
Then his eyes widened.
All three [Trickstar Lycoris] on Morgan's field had activated their effects. Each activation triggered a chain reaction with [Trickstar Light Stage].
And when those effects resolved, [Dark Room of Nightmare] began to tally the chain count, loading each effect like bullets in a revolver. Each "click" hammered into Alban's LP, draining them one by one.
"AAAGHHH—!!"
The LP loss triggered more shocks. The device lit up again, discharging voltage through his already wracked body.
The constant sparking tormented him with no reprieve. Even with his supposed resistance, Alban nearly blacked out.
"Looks like you haven't seen many of my duels."
Morgan's cold voice echoed in his ears, sending a chill down his spine.
And she was right. Alban had barely watched any of her matches. As an information broker, he only needed to know that a name was valuable. Details didn't matter.
Now, of course, he deeply regretted not researching her Deck.
"[Trickstar Lycoris]'s effect."
"While this card is on the field, each time your opponent adds a card to their hand, they take 200 damage for each card added."
"With three Lycoris on my field, drawing one card deals you 600 damage."
Alban glared at her. Just drawing a card caused damage?
What kind of Deck was this?
But then, his expression turned puzzled. Drawing one card for 600 damage—the numbers didn't add up to the pain he'd felt.
"In addition to Lycoris' burn, there's also [Trickstar Light Stage]'s effect."
"Whenever a [Trickstar] monster on your field inflicts battle or effect damage, your opponent takes an extra 200."
"So that's 1200 damage in total. But don't forget about this card—[Dark Room of Nightmare]."
Alban's face went stiff.
That meant a single draw could cost him thousands of LP.
He only had 8000 LP to begin with… How many turns could he possibly survive?
Sweat beaded on his forehead. Now he understood why every major club had gone rabid trying to find this so-called mysterious duelist. He had no answer for Morgan's tactics.
No… wait!
He still had a chance!
Alban snapped out of it. On his field stood [Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World] with 2700 ATK.
Morgan's monsters had powerful burn effects, but their ATK was low. If he destroyed them all, the momentum could swing back in his favor.
And those shocks? No kid could handle that. If he could land just one hit, the rest would be easy.
His nerves steadied. He glanced at the card he had drawn and sneered.
"I activate the Continuous Spell [Dark World Archives] from my hand!"
"Discard 1 [Dark World] monster from your hand. All [Dark World] monsters you control gain ATK equal to the discarded monster's Level x100 until the end of this turn."
A perfect fit for his strategy—graveyard setup and a power boost. And the higher the Level of the discarded monster, the bigger the boost.
He happened to have a high-Level monster ready.
"I discard [Lucent, Netherlord of Dark World] from my hand!"
"And now I activate its effect!"
"If this card is discarded to the Graveyard by a card effect, Special Summon it!"
With a crack of thunder, a silver-armored demon appeared, pale bone wings unfurled and skull-blue from within.
[Lucent, Netherlord of Dark World] Level 6│DARK│Fiend│2400 ATK / 0 DEF
Thanks to [Dark World Archives], its ATK increased by 600, pushing it past 3000.
With preparations complete, Alban grinned ferociously. He was just about to enter the Battle Phase when he saw Morgan flip her set card.
"Now, I activate the Quick-Play Spell: [Hand Destruction]!"
...
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