Vampire's Curse: "…"
He never imagined that some rando he bumped into on the road would open with a play this heavy.
Lullaby of Obedience, snatching his namesake straight from his Deck—just hearing that was busted enough. The only thing worse would be the Lullaby of Obedience + Thunder King combo.
"Well? Choose," Kira tilted his head.
The vampire shot him a look, then muttered, sullen, after a moment.
"I choose… to Special Summon myself to your field."
"Ahaha, how courteous."
Kira smiled and caught the golden light that shot out of his opponent's Deck between his index and middle finger.
"In that case, I'll just have to accept your fealty, reluctantly.
Come, Vampire's Curse—Special Summon to my field!"
As the card slapped down, the vampire's projected avatar shot across and landed before Kira, manifesting as another Vampire's Curse that now stood facing its original.
[Vampire's Curse, ATK 2000]
Watching their lord betray himself, the vampire grunts clicked their tongues and sneaked glances at their commander's face. It was pale to begin with, but now it was so dark it looked like ink might drip off.
"Battle," Kira said. "Thunder King, attack Vampire Bat."
Vampire's Curse's face hardened, his voice turning hoarse and cold. "If you dare covet the power of our bloodline, you'd better be worthy of it.
I activate my set card—the Trap Card: Malevolent Catastrophe!"
Mm?
Kira raised a brow.
That card destroys all Spell/Traps on attack declaration—no, that's the printed version. This one—Marik used it in the anime—its effect was…
"When the opponent declares an attack, destroy all monsters on the field!"
Vampire's Curse flung his arms wide and roared.
"So every monster on the field—including myself—is destroyed!"
A purple-black vortex yawned open; waves of erasure washed across the field. The monsters on both sides were sucked in and, after futile struggling, annihilated.
"Whoa, ruthless—even to yourself," Kira chuckled.
"Traitors to His Highness must all die," the vampire aristocrat said proudly, chin lifted. "Myself included."
"His Highness?"
That caught Kira's ear.
"And the great bloodline does not die. No matter how many times, as long as there is fresh, delicious blood, we will rise from our coffins anew—even against lowly lackeys of the Supreme King!"
"The Vampire Bat on my field has an effect. When this card would be destroyed, I can send another copy from my Deck to the Graveyard and make its destruction negated!" (anime-only card)
He revealed another Vampire Bat and sent it to the Graveyard.
"So Vampire Bat's destruction is negated."
"Whoa, nice," Jaden said. "That leaves only Kira's monsters destroyed."
"Hmph, not just that." Vampire's Curse laughed. "I myself am immortal. No matter how many times you fell me—give me fresh blood, and I'll resurrect!"
As he spoke, the Vampire's Curse that had been destroyed and sent to its owner's Graveyard crept, eerily, out of the slot on his Duel Disk—then sank its fangs into his own neck.
One Vampire's Curse bit the other's neck and drank greedily, leaving two signature puncture marks on that pale throat. The sight was downright macabre.
As the blood flowed, the corpse's face quickly regained vitality. The cursed bloodline sprang back to the field in peak condition, landing in front of his "original" with arms crossed.
"Huh?" Jaden blinked. "He sucked his own blood to revive?"
Vampire's Curse: "When Vampire's Curse is sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon it by draining 500 of the duelist's Life Points!" (original effect)
[Vampire's Curse, LP 4000 → 3500]
In the manga, the description was "regenerates by drinking the player's blood," but in practice it functioned as paying 500 Life Points. The printed card watered it down to only reviving after battle destruction, and the instant revive was changed to the next Standby Phase.
"Of course, since I was the original controller and it went to my Graveyard, I pay the 500 Life Points and Special Summon it to my field," Vampire's Curse laughed. "And when it revives by this effect, it gains 500 ATK!"
[Vampire's Curse, ATK 2000 → 2500]
In the printed card, the ATK boost resets if it leaves the field, so even if it's destroyed and revives again, it caps at base ATK +500, i.e., 2500.
But the original ruling was different. The card professor who used it told Yugi outright: Vampire's Curse is immortal.
No matter what monster defeats it, it returns stronger the next turn. So in the original context, it likely stacked +500 on top of whatever ATK it had when it last left the field—the more times you beat it, the stronger it got.
An immortal monster with no ceiling—so long as the duelist's Life Points could keep up.
"Whoa, not only did he keep the Vampire Bat, he revived stronger too!"
Grinning, Jaden started chatting idly with the vampire grunts.
"Your boss is pretty good, huh. Not bad at all."
The vampires: "…"
His attitude threw them off so hard they didn't know what to do with themselves.
They almost wanted to ask: whose side are you on?
"Cracking the Thunder King lock, huh. You're clearly not like the other spirits around here," Kira said with an approving smile.
"But of course."
At this, Vampire's Curse seemed proud, lifting his chin.
"I am a noble vampire knight in His Highness's service—not like those riffraff who bend the knee to the Supreme King's tyranny!"
"A vampire knight, I see. Impressive—respect," Kira said with a smile. He set two cards from his hand.
"I set two and end my turn."