The [Malevolent Sin] swooped down toward the opponent's monster, hanging by its spider silk, its sharp fangs gleaming coldly.
"At this moment, I activate my Trap Card, [Infestation Terminus]!"
"By targeting 1 'lswarm' monster I control and 2 cards my opponent controls, I banish the first target to return the second targets to the hand."
The black evil dragon on Sugihara's field transformed into a ball of black mist, and countless tentacles emerged from the mist, entangling toward the two monsters on Yuji Itadori's field.
In the blink of an eye, both monsters on Yuji's field vanished, and the two cards on the duel disk ejected one after another.
Yuji caught the two rebounded cards and returned them to his extra deck. "I knew I didn't have enough ways to deal with the backrow, so you chose to activate this trap during the battle phase?"
With both fields now empty, Yuji had no choice but to end his battle phase.
"I set one card and end my turn."
Yuji set the trap card he had drawn with [Dodododraw], then ended his turn.
"My turn! Draw!" Seeing the drawn card, Yasuo grinned, though this smile looked rather grotesque against the scar on his left face.
"It seems you can't stop me, Yuji." Sugihara revealed the card he'd just drawn. "Quick-Play Spell, [Mystical Space Typhoon]! Destroy one Spell/Trap card on the field."
A gust of wind swept by, and Yuji's only backrow shattered.
"A trap card that reduces battle damage to 0 this turn?" Sugihara said. "But unfortunately, it can only be activated during the battle phase."
"Yuji, you should surrender. The attacks from my monsters will devour your soul. As a former friend, I don't want to hurt you." Yasuo said after destroying Yuji's backrow.
"I think I can still try." Yuji smiled freely. "How can a duelist give up until the last moment?"
"What's more, if the power you obtained in this war is the fire of revenge, then the power I obtained is the light of hope. If I can't even let that light warm you alone, how can I bring hope to the entire dimension?" Yuji said, looking at Yasuo's left eye haunted by runes.
"My hope died that day." Yasuo said, revealing a monster.
"I summon [Evilswarm Kerykeion] in Attack Position!"
"I activate the effect of [Evilswarm Kerykeion]!"
"Once per turn, by banishing 1 'lswarm' monster in my Graveyard and targeting another 'lswarm' monster in my Graveyard, I can add that monster to my hand."
"I banish [Evilswarm Heliotrope] from the graveyard and add another [Evilswarm Heliotrope] to my hand."
"I activate another effect of [Evilswarm Kerykeion]! This turn, I can Normal Summon an 'lswarm' monster in addition to my Normal Summon!"
"I summon [Evilswarm Castor] in Attack Position!"
"The effect of [Evilswarm Castor] activates! During the turn this card is Normal Summoned, I can Normal Summon 1 'lswarm' monster in addition to my Normal Summon."
"I summon [Evilswarm Heliotrope] in Attack Position!"
"I overlay the 3 Level 4 monsters on my field!" The scarlet rune in Sugihara Yasuo's left eye shone again, and traces of evil energy flowed from it, forming a swirling vortex of evil in the air.
"O Ouroboros, cycle of destruction and rebirth, come forth! Bring an end to this desperate world!"
"XYZ Summon! Rank 4, [Evilswarm Ouroboros]!"
With a hissing sound, a three-headed giant serpent emerged from the evil whirlpool in the sky, arching its body and flicking its forked tongue, staring at Yuji Itadori with scarlet eyes as if viewing prey.
[Evilswarm Ouroboros] ATK: 2750
"The hope you speak of should be the last card in your hand. That card must be a hand trap that can block my attack." Yasuo said.
"I activate the effect of [Evilswarm Ouroboros]!"
"Once per turn, by detaching 1 XYZ material, I can randomly send one card from my opponent's hand to the graveyard."
After Yasuo's words, the middle head of the three black serpents opened its mouth and swallowed one of the black orbs around it, then spat out a stream of venom that precisely landed on the last card in Yuji's hand.
"So now, will you surrender?" Yasuo asked coldly, the runes in his left eye flashing rapidly while his right hand trembled slightly.
Yuji was silent for a long moment, then looked at Yasuo again and said slowly: "Come back with me. Revenge against the Fusion Dimension isn't your burden alone."
"Do you insist on standing in my way?" Yasuo roared, evil spirits spewing uncontrollably around his body. "Do you understand that once this attack goes through, you will die!"
"Then let's try. As I said, my hope won't fall." Yuji said calmly, while noticing that Yasuo's slightly trembling body seemed to be desperately suppressing something.
...
After a long pause, Yasuo stretched his right hand tremblingly toward the duel disk, gritting his teeth as he said: "Fine, you win."
With that, Yasuo moved to press the surrender button to end the duel.
But at that moment, a sudden change occurred. The rune in Yasuo's left eye burst with scarlet light, and massive amounts of evil energy gushed from his left eye, surrounding him layer by layer.
"Human! What are you hesitating for?" A voice that didn't belong to Yasuo emerged from his mouth. "Now, devour his soul!"
"No... no... he's not an enemy!" Yasuo's own voice came out with difficulty.
"What's wrong with... Boss?" Renjiro asked anxiously from the side.
"There's something remarkable inside your boss," Yuji said.
"Yuji, Renjiro!... Run!" After shouting this with all his strength, Yasuo's body became completely surrounded by black mist, his eyes filled with scarlet.
"Do you think they can escape?" "Sugihara Yasuo" said slowly.
"Since you've gone to such trouble to emerge, don't you want to introduce yourself?" Yuji's expression hardened as he spoke coldly to the entity now occupying Sugihara Yasuo's body.
"Human, my name is Ophion, the end of the world." "Sugihara Yasuo" said.
"Kneel down and offer your soul! I promise to make you my servant." Ophion's voice seemed to carry some kind of bewitching power.
"You're too ugly, and being your servant would embarrass me." After hearing Ophion's words, Yuji said with a mocking smile. "Besides, I'm a soldier of hope—how could I join forces with you?"
"Then die!" Ophion, controlling Sugihara Yasuo's body, flew into a rage.
"Battle! [Evilswarm Ouroboros] attacks directly!"
The three giant serpents opened their bloody maws and rushed toward Yuji.
...
(End of this chapter)