What do you mean, Senior?" It took Ye Lingling a full moment before she snapped back to herself, staring blankly at You Ye.
Even Bai Yun'er looked puzzled, unsure of what You Ye was about to do.
Only Mu Ning, off to the side, smacked her lips and sighed inwardly. Too ruthless. She'd been on the receiving end of this tactic once before — and back then, You Ye had completely wiped her field with it.
"The literal meaning," You Ye said with a faint smile. "I'm asking if you have any objections to entering the Battle Phase. If you do, you can respond during the Draw Phase, Standby Phase, or Main Phase One — take your pick."
The calmness of his tone made Ye Lingling's skin crawl. She couldn't explain why, but her duelist's instincts screamed that something terrible was coming.
Yet she had no idea what.
"…No objections," she finally managed, her voice trembling.
Of course, she didn't want to say that — but looking at her hand and field, she realized she had no effects left to use.
"Good," You Ye said, smiling ever so slightly wider. "Then I'll end the Battle Phase."
Before anyone could process that sentence, he continued casually:
"Before the Battle Phase ends, I activate a Trap Card from my hand — Evenly Matched. When I control no cards, I can activate this at the end of the Battle Phase from my hand. Then, until both players control the same number of cards, you must banish the rest face-down."
"My field has only this one card — Evenly Matched. That means… You can keep just one."
He paused, his tone turning playful. "Oh, and one reminder — unless you can negate it, resistances don't matter here. This effect is applied directly to the Duelist. Even immunity doesn't save you."
Ye Lingling's face darkened instantly. After a long silence, she muttered, "You're saying… even full effect immunity won't help?"
"Yes," You Ye nodded lightly.
She froze, staring at his Evenly Matched in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Bai Yun'er was completely dumbfounded. That's… that's our family's card, isn't it? And not just any card — one almost no one uses!
After all, what normal Duelist would skip their Battle Phase entirely just to clear the opponent's field? That was absurd!
But she couldn't help but admire You Ye's creativity. Without counter-traps or omninegates, this card was basically unavoidable. And in this situation — Ye Lingling had four monsters and a field spell — she'd be left with only one monster standing after the effect.
Probably White Relic of Dogmatika, her ace.
But even that monster would be a sitting duck; Runick spells could destroy monsters easily. White Relic might be unaffected by Extra Deck monsters, but not by Spell effects.
Just like that, what looked like You Ye's losing position — his Extra Deck nearly wiped out — was suddenly reversed by a single card.
Elsewhere, in a monitoring room of the Bai family estate, a middle-aged man watched the duel intently.
It was Bai Lingtian — the current family head, Bai Yun'er's father, and a Ground-Rank Duelist from the Blue-Eyes archetype.
When You Ye's Extra Deck had been reduced to just five cards, he'd thought the match was over.
He was expecting to see some incredible last-ditch strategy… but never expected a single card to turn the tide.
"Patriarch, that's one of our family's cards," his butler said quietly, noticing Lingtian's intrigued look.
"…What?" Bai Lingtian blinked, as if asking, Are you kidding me? How do I not know such a powerful card belongs to my own family?
"Yes, sir," the butler replied respectfully. "Three hundred years ago, our ancestors acquired it somewhere, but called it worthless — said it had no development potential. It's been sitting on the secondary list ever since. Two days ago, Senior You Ye exchanged it for it, so I made a note of it. I never imagined it could be used this way."
"Three hundred years ago… the ancestor called it trash?" Bai Lingtian murmured, expression shifting. After a pause, he said quietly, "Move it to the Top-Tier Card List. I'll speak with the ancestor myself."
"Yes, sir."
The butler bowed and turned to leave — but Bai Lingtian stopped him.
"Wait. Bring me the original copy of that card first. I want to test its strength myself before the ancestor takes it away."
"…Understood." The butler immediately realized what his master meant and hurried off.
Back in the duel room—
"So? Have you decided?" You Ye asked calmly.
Ye Lingling bit her lip. "I'll keep White Relic of Dogmatika."
You Ye nodded, unsurprised. Once Evenly Matched was resolved, the duel returned to the Battle Phase — and then he continued smoothly.
"I activate the Quick-Play Spell Runick Destruction from my hand to Special Summon Hugin the Runick Wings! Then I discard Card of Demise to activate Hugin's effect!"
"I chain my Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted, from my hand—" Ye Lingling began, but her words faltered halfway through.
She couldn't activate the effect?!
"You can't chain it, right?" You Ye smirked.
Ye Lingling froze. Indeed, despite the duel log showing they were in Main Phase 2, her card wouldn't activate. Why? Dogmatika Fleurdelis could be used in either Main Phase — she was sure of it!
Even Bai Yun'er was puzzled. She'd seen Lingling use Fleurdelis successfully countless times in Master Duel. Why not now?
"Check the phase," You Ye said lightly. "We're still in the Battle Phase. After activating Evenly Matched, the phase doesn't immediately shift. Quick-Play Spells can still be chained here. It hasn't transitioned to Main Phase 2 yet — and Fleurdelis can only activate during the Main Phase. That's why you can't use it."
Ye Lingling stared at her Duel Disk, completely dazed.
Quick-Play Spells… can be used like this?
Bai Yun'er scribbled mental notes furiously. Evenly Matched… that's our family's card! Once You Ye leaves, I need to get this explained properly.
She had no idea someone else in the family was already making that move.
"Alright, then," You Ye continued smoothly. "Hugin's effect resolves — I add Runick Fountain from my Deck to my hand."
"Now we move to Main Phase 2. I activate Runick Fountain, then from my hand, I play the Quick-Play Spell Runick Slumber, targeting Hugin. You must banish the top three cards of your Deck face down. Fountain's effect activates — I recycle Runick Slumber and Runick Destruction from the Graveyard and draw two."
"I just drew Runick Flashing Fire! I'll activate it — targeting your White Relic of Dogmatika for destruction! Then you banish the top two cards of your Deck face-down."
"I chain Dogmatika Fleurdelis from my hand to Special Summon her!" Ye Lingling shouted, panicked. Watching You Ye gain so many cards while her field crumbled made her desperate.
But the moment the words left her mouth, she realized her mistake.
A fatal one