091 The Dark Corpse-Loving Demon’s Sanctuary Combo

“My turn, draw!”

Looking at the opening hand in his grasp, six cards strong with five spells and traps and a single monster, Dark Bakura laughed. What a gift from the heavens!

With a dream start like this, if he still could not win, then he had better stop calling himself the Dark Great Evil God Zorc and simply take the same surname as that old hag from the Light of Creation.

“Spell Card, Foolish Burial! By its effect, I send the monster Dark Doll, Necrofear, from my Deck to the Graveyard, and then activate the Field Spell Dark Sanctuary!”

A blue-skinned, hairless, feminine figure clad in iron armor, clutching a battered doll like a puppet in her arms, radiated a sinister aura from head to toe.

A monster like this, known among fans in his previous life as Dark Necrophilia, was sent to the Graveyard by Bakura’s Foolish Burial, thereby triggering the animated version of the Field Spell Dark Sanctuary.

Behind Dark Bakura, a blood-red castle suddenly materialized. Moments later, thick black-and-red mist poured out from it, spreading across the entire battle arena of the duel airship and shrouding it within an oval barrier.

On the sky-like wall of this blood-black prison, countless eyes and mouths appeared, even bizarre sights such as eyes embedded in mouths, making Joey and the others below the platform break out in gooseflesh at once.

“The Field Spell Dark Sanctuary is a Field Card that only takes effect when the monster Dark Doll, Necrofear exists in the Graveyard.”

After explaining the activation condition of Dark Sanctuary, Dark Bakura covered the remaining four cards in his hand, then summoned the last card in his hand, the only monster in his opening draw.

“I Normal Summon the Effect Monster Sangan! Then I offer it as a tribute to meet the requirement for Dark Sanctuary to remain on the field!”

For Dark Sanctuary to activate and function, Necrofear had to exist in the Graveyard. And for it to continue existing face-up in the Field Zone, the price at the end of each of its controller’s turns was to sacrifice one monster on the field as upkeep.

“However, this also triggers Sangan’s effect. I add a second Sangan from my Deck to my hand. My turn ends here.”

After adding the second copy of Sangan to his hand, Dark Bakura’s turn came to an end.

“My turn, draw!”

Looking at the layout on Dark Bakura’s field, Yugi did not rush into action. Instead, he fell into thought.

‘Four unknown set cards, and his only monster has already been tributed as the upkeep cost of Dark Sanctuary... Could Bakura be using the same sort of strategy as Odion did before?’

He had only watched Yugi versus Odion’s trap-based duel yesterday, and today he ran straight into Dark Bakura opening with four set cards. It was only natural that Yugi would think in that direction.

Of course, the main reason was that Yugi did not know the effect of the Field Spell Dark Sanctuary. Otherwise, he would not have mistaken Bakura’s strategy for a trap-heavy one.

But whether it was or not, he had no card in hand to break the back row, so he could only force his way through.

“Winged Dragon, Chimera! Direct attack Bakura!”

Entering the Battle Phase at once, Yugi ordered his strongest Fusion Monster, Chimera, to attack first.

Hearing the attack declaration, Dark Bakura on the other side could not help but smile.

“At this moment, I activate the Trap Card Silent Evil Spirit!”

Just as Chimera charged toward Dark Bakura and raised its claws to strike, a crimson wraith suddenly burst from the activated Trap Card and flew into Chimera’s body. In that instant, Chimera’s descending claw froze in midair.

“What’s going on?”

Seeing Chimera’s attack interrupted, Yugi frowned and asked. Dark Bakura answered with a smile.

“Silent Evil Spirit. This card releases a malicious spirit, negates the attack of one of the opponent’s monsters, and then transfers the owner’s attack command from that monster to another.”

As Chimera returned to Yugi’s side, the red spirit flew out from within Chimera and plunged into the nearby Magician’s Rod. Then, according to the effect of the card, it controlled Magician’s Rod to attack Dark Bakura.

‘At most, that would just make me lose 500 Life Points.’

Watching his own monster attack Dark Bakura, Yugi could not help frowning. He felt that things were not so simple. Would Bakura really go to all that trouble just to redirect an attack and shave off a mere 500 Life Points? He had to have another purpose.

And sure enough, the next second, Yugi’s suspicion was confirmed.

Magician’s Rod suddenly halted halfway through its flight. Then, amid Dark Bakura’s sneering grin, something invisible yet unmistakably present flew out from Magician’s Rod and rushed toward Yugi.

“Ugh... what is this?”

Feeling a sudden impact against his body, Yugi was completely stunned.

“Hahahaha! Yugi! How do you like that impact?”

“It’s because of you!”

Laughing loudly, Dark Bakura pointed at the space around them and said:

“The impact you just felt was caused by the effect of the Field Spell Dark Sanctuary!”

“As long as Dark Sanctuary remains on the field, it can create a ‘vengeful spirit’ that only I can see, and you cannot!”

“A vengeful spirit?”

That sudden supernatural term made Yugi’s eyes widen.

“That’s right! This vengeful spirit possesses the monster I designate, just like an Equip Card. When the possessed monster declares an attack, the damage from that attack is borne by the monster’s controller, which is to say, by you, Yugi!”

So the impact Yugi had just felt came from the possessed Magician’s Rod.

“You take the attack of the possessed monster, while I recover Life Points equal to the damage dealt by that battle!”

“Of course, this powerful effect also has some limitations: the battle damage dealt by the possessed monster is only half of its own ATK value. In return, my Life Points recover by that same half.”

After explaining the effect of this vengeful spirit, Dark Bakura could not help laughing again. But the next sentence Yugi spoke made him stop laughing.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Bakura.”

“What?”

“Take a look at your Life Points!”

At Yugi’s kind reminder, Dark Bakura lowered his head and glanced at the counter on his Duel Disk.

4000 LP.

“What’s going on? Why haven’t my Life Points recovered?”

That made no sense. Yugi had clearly felt the vengeful spirit’s impact. That should have been 1600 divided by 2, which meant 800 damage from Magician’s Rod. Then his Life Points should now be at 4800, should they not?