"Akasha-chan, the so-called advantage doesn't only refer to the monsters on the field. The number of cards left in hand, the set cards in the back row, and the synergy between spells, traps, and monsters all combine to decide the outcome of a duel."
"At a time like this, you're still lecturing your opponent on how to play cards?" Mokuba looked speechless.
"Akasha-chan, your deck's spells and traps are all set up to quickly gain field advantage, but have you ever considered the feelings of the Duel Monsters that you're supposed to be working with?"
"Cards without souls... How could I possibly know how they feel?" Akasha's usually calm face showed a slight pout, revealing some of her hidden emotions.
"Cards without souls? What do you mean?" Now it was Hoshino's turn to frown.
Why did Akasha keep emphasizing that her cards had no soul? Hoshino was completely puzzled.
"Because they're all rare cards..." Akasha timidly answered, still responding to every question Hoshino asked with the same straightforwardness.
Given Akasha's honest nature, it felt like if Hoshino asked her about her set cards, she might actually tell her. Of course, Hoshino, being honorable (because she's cute), wouldn't do such a thing.
"But you can't just deny the soul of a card based on its rarity." Rare cards, due to their value and powerful effects, were often highly sought after by players in the market.
However, some people, seeing rare cards traded so often, began to think that these strong, rare cards lacked the kind of soul that comes from carefully considering how to build them into a deck.
This mindset is similar to the notion that was once popular in FGO—claiming that people who liked powerful Servants didn't truly love them. But that's a twisted idea.
Because whether a card is rare or a Servant is strong, those who truly love them won't care about their strength or value.
"Every member of the Rare Hunters has a lot of rare cards because Marik duplicates powerful rare cards infinitely, creating fake cards indistinguishable from the real ones."
"Fake cards?!"
This was bombshell information. Both Hoshino and Mokuba couldn't help but gasp in surprise.
Originally, they thought the Rare Hunters only did as their name suggested: rob rare cards from dueling enthusiasts worldwide. They had no idea they were also in the business of forging fake cards.
"So, Akasha-chan, does that mean your deck..."
"Yes, Akasha's deck is full of powerful fake cards made for me by my Marik-nii."
"I see..." Now Hoshino finally understood why Akasha referred to her cards as having no soul.
"But for the sake of Marik-nii, I must defeat you here!" With her hidden thoughts finally out in the open, Akasha seemed to gain a bit more spirit.
"I'll use the Lemon Magician Girl on my field as a tribute to Special Summon a monster from my hand!"
"A Special Summon? Not a Tribute Summon?"
"Come forth, [Silent Magician]!"
[Silent Magician ★★★★ (4 Stars)][LIGHT][Spellcaster/Effect][ATK 1000 / DEF 1000]
[Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned by Tributing 1 Spellcaster monster.]
A female magician clad in white starlight appeared with a stern expression, taking the place of the Lemon Magician Girl.
"Silent Magician's effect allows this card's ATK to increase by 500 points for each card in my hand."
"But Akasha-chan, you only have one card in your hand right now..." Hoshino glanced at Akasha's small hand, clutching tightly to the only remaining card.
[Silent Magician ATK 1000 → 1500]
Without responding to Hoshino, Akasha seriously placed her final card on her Duel Disk.
"I activate my last spell card, [Card of Demise]!"
"That's... a super rare card from brother's deck!" Mokuba exclaimed, clearly more familiar with this card than Hoshino was.
"A rare card from Kaiba's deck?" Sensing something off, Hoshino became wary. With Kaiba's wealth, any card included in his deck would undoubtedly possess genuine and powerful effects.
[Card of Demise Spell Card Effect: Draw cards until you have 5 cards in your hand. During your 5th Standby Phase after activation, send all cards in your hand to the Graveyard.] (Anime Effect)
"What?! That's such a broken draw effect! It's even more overpowered than Pot of Greed!" Drawing 5 cards in one go completely nullified the card advantage Hoshino had painstakingly gained over the past turns.
"Thanks to the spell card, I replenish my hand up to 5 cards. And because my hand size increased, the ATK of Silent Magician also rises." Akasha's small hands could barely hold onto the pile of cards she had just drawn.
[Silent Magician ATK 1000 → 3500]
"Battle phase. Attack, Dark Magician Girl!" After boosting her Silent Magician's ATK by replenishing her hand, Akasha quickly launched her attack.
"Ha~!" Once again, the Dark Magic attack shot out from the staff, locking onto Hoshino's defense-position Medea Lily.
[Dark Magician Girl ATK 2000]
[Medea Lily DEF 1800]
"There's no way I'll let you attack so easily. My set cards aren't just for show!" Now that she knew the Dark Magician Girl was a fake card, Hoshino had completely lost interest and didn't hesitate to activate her set card.
"I activate my trap card, [Child's Alarm]!"
[Child's Alarm Trap Card Effect: ①: When a [Lily] monster on your field is targeted for an attack or effect, you can activate this card. Special Summon a Level 6 or lower [Heroic Spirit] monster from your deck, then switch the target of the attack to the Special Summoned monster.]
The moment the trap was triggered, a siren echoed through the streets. Hoshino couldn't help but wonder if the real police might show up due to the noise.
However, despite her concern, the duel had to go on. After all, there's no law saying you can't duel with a blonde loli.
"Since Medea Lily was targeted for an attack, according to the trap card's effect, I'll Special Summon a Heroic Spirit monster from my deck!"
Quickly searching through her deck, Hoshino's hands had become more skillful to keep up with the pace of this deck's frequent searching mechanics.
"To take the attack in Medea's place, I Special Summon [Heroic Spirit - Emiya] in Attack Position!"
[Heroic Spirit - Emiya ★★★★★★ (6 Stars)][FIRE][Spellcaster/Effect][ATK 2200 / DEF 2000]
"What an annoying alarm sound, Master. For the sake of your social standing, you should probably avoid using this card too often." Emiya appeared, frowning as soon as he arrived.
"How could a girl like me suffer a hit to my social standing over something like this?" Hoshino pouted, retorting to Emiya.
"This isn't the time for jokes! The attack is coming!" Medea Lily, standing behind the broad and reliable back of Emiya, reminded him anxiously.
"Hmph, Medea Lily, just watch safely from the sidelines!" Emiya snorted, crossing the two blades in his hands coolly. "A mere counterfeit dares to defeat me? Don't get too full of yourself."
As expected of a master of creating fakes, Emiya immediately saw through the fact that the Dark Magician Girl on the other side was a fake.
"And it's not like it's my first time defeating a Dark Magician Girl." Back when he dueled against Yugi, Emiya had mercilessly cut down the real Dark Magician Girl while using his Unlimited Blade Works.
In a swift counterattack, Emiya, moving faster than the eye could see, sliced through the incoming dark magic with the blade in his left hand. Simultaneously, the blade in his right hand had already pierced deeply into the small body of the Dark Magician Girl.
[Dark Magician Girl] destroyed.
"Wow, you're an expert at stylishly defeating Dark Magician Girl!" Hoshino couldn't help but applaud after seeing Emiya's showy moves.
[Akasha's LP 4000 → 3800]
"Silent Magician, attack Emiya!" There was no emotional response from Akasha when her Dark Magician Girl was destroyed. To her, these fake cards truly seemed like mere tools.
Waving the wand of white starlight, the Silent Magician with an attack power of 3500 launched a dazzling attack.
"Can you block this, Emiya?"
"Heh, if I couldn't, it'd be a headache for you, Master." Emiya smiled confidently. "After all, a Hero must show his coolest side in front of children."
"Children? You mean me?" Medea Lily pointed at herself innocently.
The dazzling starlight hit the spot where Emiya was standing.
"Did it destroy him?" Akasha's tone had a hint of urgency. Even someone as calm as her was clearly concerned about the result of her Silent Magician's high-powered attack.
"Heh heh, Akasha-chan, let me give you a piece of advice." Hoshino smiled, her eyes curving into crescents with a playful edge.
"Whenever an attack creates a huge cloud of dust like this, and you hear someone say, 'Did it take him out?'..."
...
"It definitely didn't!" Emiya roared, somehow already in the air, right above the Silent Magician. The spot where Emiya had been standing was, as expected, completely empty.
"Caladbolg!" In mid-air, Emiya fully drew the black bow projected in his hands, aiming directly at the Silent Magician below at a perfect 90-degree angle.
[Emiya's ATK 2200]
[Silent Magician's ATK 3500]
"How is that possible..." Akasha was bewildered, unable to comprehend how Emiya, with an attack power of 2200, could counterattack the Silent Magician with 3500 attack power.
"This is the heroic figure of the Hero of Justice! Engrave it into your memory!" Hoshino bragged, flipping over her set card.
"I activate the trap card, [Hero of Justice]!"
[Hero of Justice Trap Effect: If you control a monster with [Emiya] in its name, activate its effects: When your [Emiya] monster battles with an opponent's monster, you can activate this card. Skip the Battle Phase and destroy the opponent's monster directly. Then, inflict effect damage equal to half of the difference between the original attack points of the two monsters.]
This exclusive Emiya trap card was the real reason why Hoshino had chosen to summon him out of all the 6-star or lower Heroic Spirit monsters in her deck.
"Go, Emiya! Drop that nuke!"
Calling it a "nuke" wasn't an exaggeration at all. The spiral sword, Caladbolg, accurately pierced through the Silent Magician and exploded on contact with the ground. The resulting explosion of red magical energy sent out massive shockwaves. If this weren't a holographic projection, Hoshino might have remarked, It's another day of nuclear peace.
"Wow!! So cool!" Mokuba was no longer paying attention to the warnings on his terminal, as the sight of Emiya's figure completely captivated him.
Because the explosion happened on Akasha's field, the energy naturally swept over her due to her proximity. Her delicate body struggled against the wind pressure created by the hyper-realistic holographic effects.
"Since the difference in attack power between Silent Magician and Emiya is 1200, you take half of that as effect damage!"
[Akasha's LP 3800 → 3200]
"Yes! The tide has completely turned!" Mokuba, who had been worried about Hoshino's field just moments ago, now saw how she had made a complete 180° reversal of the situation with her three set cards and the perfect coordination with her Heroic Spirits.
Now, Akasha had no cards left on her field.
"You're really strong, Hoshino-nee." Out of nowhere, Akasha started praising Hoshino.
"You must be using rare cards to be this strong. I've never seen any of them before."
"If you want to call them rare, they are pretty rare, yeah..." Hoshino scratched her face awkwardly, unsure how to respond to the sudden compliment.
"Even though your rare cards don't seem particularly powerful, how did you manage to counter Akasha's cards?"
Indeed, most of the monsters Hoshino had summoned didn't have very high attack power, and the individual effects of her trap cards didn't seem as potent as something like Magic Cylinder or Mirror Force. Even her strong trap cards had strict conditions to activate.
Hoshino wanted to explain how the synergy between cards made 1+1 greater than 2, but she held back the words.
"It's probably the soul of the cards, the trust between the Heroic Spirits and my deck, responding to me." In the end, Hoshino decided to explain it to young Akasha with that statement.
It wasn't about power or technique; it was the spirit that a true duelist needed to have.
"This is something you won't experience using fake cards, Akasha-chan."
"Master, that last card wasn't a fake," to everyone's surprise, the expert in fakes, Emiya, pointed out that Akasha's Silent Magician was not actually a counterfeit.
"Silent Magician is my favorite card. It's the only card in my deck that belongs to me," Akasha said, her previously emotionless eyes now showing a slight determination as she looked at her field.
"I can feel the response you mentioned just now from my Silent Magician, Hoshino-nee! I activate [Silent Magician]'s special ability!"
[Silent Magician's Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle or by your opponent's card effect, you can Special Summon one [Silent Magician] monster from your hand or deck, except [Silent Magician]. You can ignore the summoning conditions.]
"I Special Summon [Silent Magician LV8] from my hand!"
(*****)
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