The Vampire's Curse was flattened by one reflected shot. Feeling his life ebb away, it was as if all strength were leaving his body; his limbs turned boneless, and he collapsed, unable to muster even a shred of force.
A total loss.
Yet it didn't feel like losing a normal Duel.
He could now see that from the start, the opponent's Deck had no plan to square up head-on. Amazoness Swords Woman, Reflect Bounder—those small fries were one thing. But even the ace-level boss of the Deck turned out to be a thing like that.
A Level 10 boss!
This was his first time ever seeing a Level 10 boss, and likely the last. And yet both its art and ability were nothing like the Level 10 boss he'd always fantasized about.
A Level 10 that turtles—can you believe it?
Of course, if Kira heard that, he'd just laugh.
We're barely getting started.
Oh, honest folks from another world—get hit with an Amazoness Swords Woman and a Yubel a couple times and you're already about to lose it.
If someday you hear there's a Deck called "Mikanko," won't you just vomit three liters of blood and drop dead on the spot?
Let's just say "degenerate/burn/reflect" play didn't spring up out of nowhere in some era; throughout the long history of Yu-Gi-Oh it's never gone extinct. As the game sped up and top-tier Decks got stronger, the degenerates evolved right along with them and always kept a seat at the table.
The meta's boards get faster and flashier; the degenerates' lockdown grows by the day. Any era, they're always there.
The vampire's worldview began to wobble.
The only Level 10 big-shot he ever met in life is a 0 ATK turtler, and he couldn't help wondering—could it be that his understanding of Dueling had always been wrong?
Could it be that real masters' Duels are, in principle, entirely different from the pecking battles of us low-tier spirits?
Maybe a Duel is supposed to be like this...
The more he thought, the more it seemed plausible. Looking back, the opponent had crushed not just the board but his mind, eroding his mental defenses until he grew more irritable the longer it went. In hindsight, that's also an excellent psychological tactic.
A pity he seemed to have reached his limit. At life's end he'd glimpsed the true higher art of cards—only to stop here.
"Forgive me, Your Highness. It seems I can't fight to the end for you..."
The vampire slowly closed his eyes.
Then realized something.
Wait—why am I not dead yet?
In the spirit realm, these are battles of life and death. When your LP hits zero, your real life ends. He should be gone already—
He opened his eyes to see Kira walking up calmly. Kira wore an ominous pendant, black miasma coiling off him, radiating a sinister yet imperious kingly air that made one avert their eyes.
"You're not going to kill me?"
the Vampire's Curse asked in a low voice.
"We're not the Supreme King's army. If anything, we might even be on the same side."
Kira came to stand over him and smiled gently.
"We're on our way to the Supreme King's citadel to make trouble for him."
Headed to the Supreme King's citadel—
The vampire started, his eyes widening as if to see whether this man was just bluffing.
Going after the Supreme King? The invincible Supreme King!?
They say when the King first descended, resistance flared everywhere, one challenger after another defying him.
But in the end, the King crushed all twelve dimensions with overwhelming force. The fate of all challengers was without exception to become corpses beneath his throne.
At some point, no one challenged the King anymore. Even though the blood clan still resisted, none of them entertained the idea of challenging that supreme throne.
Because it's impossible.
The Supreme King's strength is not in their dimension—this is common knowledge. He's the emblem of the unbeatable, the god of war undefeated. To challenge him is just seeking death.
"By the way, if it's on the way, we'd like to stop by the vampire clan and have a look. Could you point us to where that is?"
The vampire was even more surprised.
This man didn't even know where their castle was?
If he were a local, that would be common knowledge. The castle has stood where it is since who knows how many years ago. The Supreme King's army has attacked several times and hasn't broken it yet.
But word is reinforcements have been transferred in, and another attack may come any day. That was why the vampire had been so anxious—he didn't know if their castle could survive the next assault.
Thinking of this man's strength, he quickly realized: if the reinforcements the Supreme King's army transferred were a commander like this, their castle would really be doomed.
The bloodborn hesitated, then shook his head. "I won't tell you."
He believed, somewhat, that these two weren't with the King—but he kept his guard up.
Kira only nodded in understanding and didn't press. He crouched in front of the vampire and slowly reached out a hand.
The vampire saw him crouch, saw that eerie black aura coil around his hand, the pendant on his chest flickering ominously, and felt a growing sense of dread.
His body tried to recoil, but his limbs were somehow bound by an invisible black fog. No matter how he strained, he couldn't move, and could only watch that hand, fingers extended, draw closer to his face.
A chill washed over him like falling into an icy cavern. He tensed. "W-what are you doing?"
"Oh, trying a new trick I learned. It's fine, don't worry—just opening up your brain to take a look." Kira smiled.
"!?"
Listen to yourself!
He immediately realized—this was a Dark Duel technique!
In the spirit realm, they'd only heard the rumors. Here, while Summoned monsters deal real damage, a Duel can only decide life or death. The winner can reduce the loser to ash, but that's it.
Dark Duelists are different, they say. Through a Dark Duel you can do far more than kill: manipulate, read minds, bind souls, and so on.
But only fairly high-tier powerhouses in the spirit realm can wield that power.
The Vampire's Curse could almost feel something burrow into his head, and his face went pale. "Y-you're going to do something to my brain..."
"Don't squirm. You won't get hurt. At worst it'll sting a little... probably."
Behind him, Jaden watched Kira at work. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but swallowed it.
He only thought to himself: Kira is looking less and less like a good person...