Chapter 255: The Pressure is on Lava Golem
"Lava Golem was originally my monster; it's perfectly understandable for it to return to my field," Hayato said, playing a second card. "Equip Spell Card, White Veil! I'll equip it to Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight on my field!"
A holy white light descended from the sky, landing on Gaia on Hayato's field. Its originally dark armor turned pristine white. The bloodthirsty Gaia, after donning the white armor, exuded a sense of holiness it had never possessed before.
Seeing that Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight, equipped with White Veil, showed no further abnormalities, Hayato breathed a sigh of relief.
He had obtained this White Veil in a previous pack opening, along with several other support cards for the "Armed Dragon" archetype—such as Armed Dragon Thunder, Myriad Thunder of Armed Dragon, and so on. There was also a special Armed Dragon LV10 - White.
Hayato had been startled when he pulled these two cards from the pack. Although they looked quite ordinary on the surface, they also appeared in the world of *Yu-Gi-Oh! GX*. Their user was Chazz Princeton, who used Armed Dragons—of course, that guy was just a kid right now.
But as far as Hayato knew, behind these two cards lay the shadow of a major antagonistic force in the GX world—the Society of Light.
Most antagonist characters appearing in *Yu-Gi-Oh!* had their own distinct characteristics, and the most striking feature of the Society of Light was its brainwashing ability.
In the original timeline, the human incarnation of the Society of Light, Sartorius, defeated Chazz Princeton in a duel and brainwashed him into becoming a follower. Chazz then aggressively spread the faith of the Society of Light throughout Duel Academy, continuously using duels to brainwash others. Eventually, he managed to brainwash most of the elite duelists in the academy into his subordinates.
Therefore, Hayato felt it was right to remain vigilant about these two cards. Even though they were already in use, if any unfavorable situation arose, Hayato would destroy them, even if it meant damaging the Millennium Ring on his chest.
Millennium Ring: "Please enable voice."
For now, however, the activation of White Veil seemed normal. Gaia, equipped with it, also indicated to Hayato that it felt completely fine, merely having suddenly developed a fondness for the color white.
With that, the duel continued.
"I enter my Battle Phase! I'm using Gaia to attack Clairvoyance on your field!"
"Go, Gaia! Heaven-Piercing Breakthrough: Limited White Edition!"
The dark knight abandoned its usual swift movements and pulled the reins of its white steed. It first performed a standard knight's salute before calmly spurring its warhorse into a charge.
Seeing this, Alba quickly said, "Then I activate the effect of Clairvoyance! When it's selected as an attack target, I can pay 800 Life Points to negate the attack! And, because of the effect of Brain Research Lab—"
"Muda da! When Gaia, equipped with White Veil, battles, you cannot activate Spell or Trap Cards until the end of the Damage Step! Furthermore, from the moment Gaia's attack is declared, the effects of all face-up Spell and Trap Cards on your field are negated until the end of the Damage Step!"
"Be ground to a pulp!"
A green beam of light shot from Clairvoyance. Seeing that the Field Spell Card, Brain Research Lab, was slow to activate and intercept the beam, Alba gritted his teeth. "Then, I'll just pay my own Life Points!"
[Alba: 2500 -> 1700 LP]
"Clang!"
As the green beam drew enough energy from Alba, his Clairvoyance raised its palm, and a spherical barrier instantly formed around it. Even Gaia's sharp spear piercing the barrier could only cause a ripple, failing to break through.
However, Gaia, whose attack was negated, did not return to Hayato's field. Instead, to Alba's surprise, it thrust its spear a second time.
"Attack negated, huh?" Hayato smiled as he played a card from his hand. "Quick-Play Spell, Double Up Chance! When a monster's attack is negated, double its ATK and it can attack again! Try to block this if you can!"
"Easy!" Alba watched as Gaia's ATK soared to a staggering 4600. He had no choice but to use the effect of Clairvoyance again. And due to the presence of White Veil, he still couldn't use the effect of Brain Research Lab for this activation.
[Alba: 1700 -> 900 LP]
"That's all you've got. It won't matter even if you attack with Lava Golem." Seeing the barrier of Clairvoyance block Gaia's second attack, Alba regained some of the composure he had at the start of the duel. "Brain Research Lab was only negated when your Gaia attacked. But no matter how many times your Lava Golem attacks, I can block them all!"
"Hmph, you fool. The equation for victory is already complete." Watching Alba's Life Points drop again, Hayato smiled. "It seems you haven't seen your own defeated future at all."
Lava Golem was hoping it could also land a proper attack. It was a powerful monster with 3000 ATK, after all; wouldn't it be unreasonable not to attack?
But Hayato did just that, unreasonable as it was. Under Lava Golem's surprised gaze, he ended his Battle Phase. "I enter my Main Phase 2. Then, from my hand, I activate..."
Noticing the dissatisfaction on Lava Golem's face, Hayato smiled and reassured it, "Oh, by the look on your face, you want to personally end this duel? What a shame, my Battle Phase has already ended."
"However, since you're so eager, I'll grant your wish."
Lava Golem suddenly felt a pang of regret. Why had it shown an expectant expression just now? It now had a very bad feeling.
"From my hand, I activate the Continuous Spell Card, Ectoplasmer!"
Alba watched helplessly as Hayato activated the last card in his hand. He had heard from other duelists that among the two Duel Kings, Yugi's dueling style focused on monster combinations and continuous spell and trap combos, while Hayato preferred to Tribute monsters.
He had originally wondered how anyone could bear to Tribute their cherished cards. Today, Hayato had opened his eyes.
"The effect of Ectoplasmer is, during each player's End Phase, the turn player can Tribute one face-up monster on their field to inflict damage to the opponent's Life Points equal to half of the monster's original ATK." Pushing up his non-existent glasses, Hayato looked at the horrified Lava Golem. "Go, Lava Golem! I've granted your wish to end this duel, haven't I~?"
"This is merely a necessary sacrifice!"
The lava humanoid struggled, transforming into a thick cannon-like blast of magma that shot out, effortlessly wiping out Alba's remaining Life Points.
Magma dripped from the air onto Gaia's head. Protected by its helmet, Gaia was unaffected. Only the plume on its pristine white helmet was ignited, as if its hair had caught fire.
Having dueled alongside Hayato through so many storms, Gaia indicated that it had completely grown accustomed to Hayato tributing monsters at the drop of a hat. In fact, it would be stranger if, one day, Hayato was reluctant to Tribute a monster.
[Alba: 900 LP -> 0]
***
This duel was just an appetizer. Although I wrote several chapters about it, it was still within a normal range, lasting only six turns.
Four updates today. Yesterday's prize quiz was solved not long after it was posted. I didn't expect your memories to be so good that someone actually remembered that minor character.
Also, some characters who appeared in previous volumes will start to be brought back in the upcoming plot.
(end of chapter)