"Orichalcos is now active, you no longer have any chance. Let this duel become a sacrificial ritual for the recovery of the Evil God, with you and your beloved spirit together!"
Bandit Keith waved his hand, slapping a Spell Card onto the Duel Disk.
"First, the Spell Card - Fissure! This card can destroy the monster on your opponent's field with the lowest ATK!"
A green Spell Card unfolded on Keith's field. Yugen's field immediately began to shake, the ground quaking violently as if in an earthquake, a deep chasm ripping open across the surface.
"You only have one 'Silent Magician' on your field." Keith sneered, "What a tragic beauty, that Spellcaster girl."
"True 'Silent Magician' effect activates," Yugen said, "Once per turn, I can negate the activation of a Spell Card. I'll negate the destruction from 'Fissure'!"
White light exploded from Silent Magician as its center, and the Fissure card was blown skyward by a transparent magical storm, exploding into dust with a pop. The fractured ground on the field also returned to its original state.
"Hmph, it even has that kind of ability."
Bandit Keith grunted unhappily.
"Then I'll activate the effect of 'Snipe Hunter'!" Bandit Keith said, "Discard one card from my hand, and roll a die once. If a number other than 1 or 6 appears, I can destroy one card on the field!"
Dice...
Yugen remembered, this guy also seemed to like playing with dice. Including his "Sleeve of Card" trick, this guy was a natural gambler.
But obviously, he never gambled with Jonouchi back then.
Snipe Hunter was also a powerful low-level monster with a high usage rate in early Yu-Gi-Oh. As long as the die result was not 1 or 6, it could destroy a card. The probability was two-thirds, so as long as luck wasn't too bad, the success rate was still very high.
"Although the 'Silent Magician' on the field is quite annoying."
Bandit Keith narrowed his eyes, his gaze shifting between the Spellcaster and Yugen's Set card.
"Silent Magician has an effect that increases its ATK based on the number of cards in your hand. And you're willing to lower her ATK just to set that card, which means that's a trap you believe is worth it. I'm guessing it's very likely a powerful trap similar to 'Mirror Force' that can instantly turn the tide."
Yugen: "..."
"But it's useless!" Bandit Keith shouted, "I'll make you understand that such crude traps are useless against me! Snipe Hunter's effect, Wheel of Fortune!"
However, although the effect description mentioned dice, based on the image of the "Snipe Hunter" monster, the dice were clearly replaced by the revolver on its pistol. The dark gunman raised his pistol, the rear part of the pistol carrying a spinning cylinder. The pointer spun rapidly for several turns, gradually slowed down, and finally stopped on the number "4."
"The number on the cylinder is 4!" Keith laughed heartily, "Therefore, I'll destroy your face-down card!"
Give me your trap...!
The Snipe Hunter loaded a bullet and fired with a bang. The face-down card was pierced and shattered with a pop.
However, the card only had a momentary special effect when destroyed. Keith glanced at the card's image; it wasn't Mirror Force, nor did it seem to be any immediate trap, at least not one he had seen before.
"Now your back row is empty," Bandit Keith said, "Then I'll activate the Spell Card 'Fiend's Sanctuary' from my hand to Special Summon a 'Metal Fiend Token' to my field!"
[Metal Fiend Token, ATK 0]
"Then I'll activate the Continuous Spell 'Precious Cards from Beyond'. Now, whenever I successfully Tribute Summon a monster using two or more monsters as Tributes, I can draw two cards from my Deck!"
"Next, I'll Tribute 'Metal Fiend Token' and 'Snipe Hunter' to Tribute Summon! Let the metallic roar bring eternal nightmares to the enemy! Level 7—"
"—Barrel Dragon, summon!"
The two monsters disintegrated as Tributes, releasing energy that condensed within the summoning vortex. The rising particles formed a dark, heavy steel body, three dark barrels resembling heavy cannons, sharp fangs, grinding gears, and metallic friction sounds. The steel giant dragon landed on the field.
[Barrel Dragon, ATK 2600]
This was also Bandit Keith's ace monster that appeared in the anime.
"According to the effect of 'Precious Cards from Beyond,' I draw cards from my Deck!"
Bandit Keith drew two cards.
"'The Seal of Orichalcos' effect! All monsters on my field gain 500 ATK, so 'Barrel Dragon's' ATK increases!"
[Barrel Dragon, ATK 2600 → ATK 3100]
"Now I've surpassed your Spellcaster." Keith scoffed, "Battle! Attack 'Silent Magician' with 'Barrel Dragon'!"
The three muzzles on Barrel Dragon's shoulders simultaneously shifted, emitting heavy mechanical operation and friction sounds. The three muzzles all locked onto Yugen's Silent Magician.
"At this moment, Barrel Dragon's effect activates!" Keith shouted, "'Barrel Dragon', when attacking, can flip a coin three times. This turn, this card can attack a number of times equal to the number of heads!" (Anime effect)
The three muzzles all locked on, followed by the sound of bullets loading and the pistol cylinder spinning. Similarly, although it said "coin flip," in the holographic projection system, it appeared as a spinning cylinder.
After loading was complete, two of the cannon barrels glowed with golden light.
"Ha, looks like I hit two shots. This turn, 'Barrel Dragon' can attack twice." Keith laughed heartily, "And your Life Points are only 2500, your Set cards have already been cleared, so this is the end! This is the absolute power of Orichalcos, tremble beneath this power! Barrel Dragon attack! Fatal Shot!"
First was the first shot, a deadly flame pouring out from the left cannon barrel of the pistol dragon.
"Then at this moment, I activate a Trap Card from my hand!" Yugen waved his hand, and the Trap Card appeared in the data stream in front of him, "Magic Cylinder!"
"What?!" Keith was extremely startled, "Activate a Trap Card from your hand!?"
How was that possible?
"You don't seem to recognize the Trap Card you just destroyed."
Yugen's Duel Disk moved the just-destroyed Set card to the Graveyard Zone.
"This card is the Trap Card 'Cross Counter Trap'. During the turn this card is sent to the Graveyard by an opponent's card effect, you can activate one Trap Card from your hand once." (Anime card)
"It was that kind of card!?" Keith's face turned ugly.
"Therefore, according to this effect, I activate 'Magic Cylinder' from my hand to negate your attack and inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of that monster!"
The gorgeous magical twin barrels had already appeared on Yugen's field. The pistol cannon's blast went into one side of the magical cylinder, and only half a second later, the other side of the Magic Cylinder rotated, reflecting the dazzling flames back with unchanged intensity.
"Oh a!"
Directly taking the Orichalcos-boosted cannon blast from his own monster, Keith's face immediately contorted abstractly. He was directly thrown to the ground by the blast, with black smoke still rising from his chest and abdomen.
[Bandit Keith, LP 4000 → LP 900]
"Damn it." Keith gritted his teeth.
He realized he had still underestimated his opponent.
Being willing to lower Silent Magician's ATK just to set a card was, in itself, hinting to him that "this trap is very important." He thought he had seen through the opponent's intentions, but in reality, the opponent had seen through his seeing-through intentions.
He intentionally led him to destroy the back row, but in reality, it was a double trap; the real trap was actually hidden in his hand.
What a sneaky kid.
Keith took a deep breath, sat up, and looked at him with cold eyes.
"I underestimated you," Bandit Keith said in a low voice, "Clever kid, but that changes nothing. Also, because you used one 'Magic Cylinder' from your hand, Silent Magician's ATK will decrease again!"
[Silent Magician, ATK 3000 → ATK 2500]
"The battle isn't over, my 'Barrel Dragon' still has a second attack remaining. Once again, target Silent Magician, Fatal Shot!"
The dark cannon muzzle rose again, and fire blasted out with a roar. This time there was no obstacle, Silent Magician withstood the impact and temporarily left the field as golden light.
[Yugen, LP 2500 → LP 1900]
"But at this moment, Silent Magician's effect also activates," Yugen said, "When 'Silent Magician' is destroyed by battle or an opponent's card effect, you can Special Summon one 'Silent Magician' monster with a different name from your hand or Deck, ignoring its Summoning conditions. From the converging point of chaos and order, a silent radiant light blossoms, the light Spellcaster, descend here—"
"—Silent Magician Lv8!"
The energy released after Silent Magician's destruction did not dissipate but reformed into a white magic circle. An even vaster vortex of magic power shot out from it, white light soaring into the sky. Silent Magician's figure rotated, her expression as cold as ice, and she returned to the field once more.
[Silent Magician Lv8, ATK 3500]
"Hmph, it even evolved and leveled up? What a troublesome kid."
Keith muttered, then waved his hand and slapped down another card.
"Then I'll activate the Spell Card 'Card of Heaven and Earth'!" Keith said, "During the turn I Tribute Summon a monster, I can draw two cards from my Deck. However, cards drawn by this effect cannot be used this turn, and if possible, I must set at least one of them on the field." (Original anime card)
Keith drew two cards: "Since I Tribute Summoned 'Barrel Dragon' this turn, I draw cards from my Deck!"
Then he drew one of them.
"After that, I set one card on the field, and end my turn."