“Speaking of ‘true duelists’ this and that… you’re talking nonsense!” Snow’s temper flared up, partly because his opponent was confidently spouting a philosophy completely different from his own, and partly because his hand was indeed being read like a book. “Since you’re so arrogant, I’ll show you how it’s done!” With that, he made two moves in quick succession, “I’ll set one card first, and then… activate the Quick-Play Spell Card-【Hand Overdraft】 from my hand!”

This card can be activated at any time. When activated, both players immediately replenish their hand size to six cards, and discard three cards at the end of the next turn (of either player).

This card… Snow acquired through Tamamo-no-Mae’s effect. Given his hand size and field situation at the time (after setting a card, summoning a monster, and still having four cards in hand), activating it wouldn’t have made much sense, and might even have been a net loss. And in Feng Bujue's subsequent turn, he wouldn't have activated it either; he’d be losing cards himself, and giving his opponent more.

But at this moment, Snow desperately needed a Level 4 or lower Normal Summon monster to secure the victory, and his six cards (consisting of one 【Hand Overdraft】, one minor Trap, two high-Level monsters, one card he drew this turn, and a high-Level monster added to his hand by 【Mischievous Kappa】) didn't have one. So, after setting a Trap Card (his Spell & Trap Zones now had two empty spaces, with two set cards and one face-up 【Curse Grudge】 in the other three), he activated 【Hand Overdraft】.

Thus, under the effect of the Quick-Play Spell, Snow drew two more cards into his hand.

Although this approach didn't maximize the effectiveness of 【Hand Overdraft】 and even cost him a card, in this situation where “drawing a Level 4 or lower monster could very likely end the battle” and before this "chance to finish him," any degree of card disadvantage was acceptable.

Card games aren’t like Go or chess, which are “perfect information games”; instead, they're “imperfect information games” with randomness, uncertainty, and many random factors. In such games, many steps… can’t be judged as "right or wrong" until the very end.

Perhaps a decision that seems like a loss is, in essence, inconsequential, and may even later prove to be the optimal play; while a play that seems advantageous may ultimately become the foreshadowing of defeat…

And the most absurd, yet most enjoyable, aspect is that in some cases, even if a person makes a ton of mistakes, as long as their deck is strong enough, or even just lucky enough, they can still win.

But in any case, at this time, in this place… Snow's judgment was this, and… judging from the result, he actually drew the card he wanted.

"Heh… here it comes!" At this point, Snow had nothing to hide. Even if his opponent was bluffing earlier, when he activated 【Hand Overdraft】, his opponent should have confirmed that he was indeed looking for a low-Level monster. Besides, he was about to play this card immediately anyway, so he simply stated that he had drawn it. "No matter how much you shuffle the deck, drawing so many cards should give you one!"

With that, Snow slammed one of the two cards he drew onto the Monster Zone of his Duel Disk: "I Normal Summon-【Kurozuka】 from my hand!"

As his declaration echoed, an ugly old hag with tattered clothes, disheveled hair, and a hideous face appeared on the dueling field. She held a blood-stained kitchen knife in one hand, and a small cloth bag, still seeping blood, in the other, with a sinister grin on her face.

【Kurozuka】, also known as "Corpse Thief," is a type of ghost that haunts graveyards. It steals the corpses of people who have recently died and brings them to their homes to scare them, as a prank. Sometimes it just cuts off a part of the corpse and takes it for a stroll, which is why some people call it the Dissection Demon.

“Next is the Battle Phase…” After summoning the monster, Snow immediately followed up with a battle declaration, “【Kurozuka】, attack the opponent’s Defense Position monster!”

When launching this attack, Snow was basically certain that he had won.

In his opinion, there were only two possibilities for Jue Ge to survive: first, the monster he set had 2000 or more defense, and was unaffected by 【Oxygen Deprivation Zone】; second, this monster was an Effect Monster, and its Flip Effect could stop all three of his monsters’ attacks.

Logically speaking… both of these probabilities were very low, same as before… first, you have to have that kind of card, and second, you have to draw it at the right time.

However, the reality was…

“Hmph… well done.” At the same time, Feng Bujue was already smiling, “At this moment, the monster's Flip Effect activates!”

Before his words could fade, the monster card in face-down Defense Position flipped over and materialized on the field.

*Splorch*—

That was the sound effect of 【Kurozuka】's attack hitting the monster.

Because… Jue Ge's Defense Position monster was—【Unstable Slime】.

“【Unstable Slime】, Special Effect activate!” In the next second, Feng Bujue shouted with full momentum, “When this monster is attacked in face-down Defense Position and destroyed, split into two 【Slime Tokens】 and place them on the field in Defense Position.” He spread his hands and smiled, “Although 【Slime Tokens】 have 0 Attack and 0 Defense and cannot be used as Tributes, they can serve as walls to block your remaining two monsters.”

“Tch…” When Snow saw the slime split into two like jelly, he knew that his intention to finish off his opponent this turn had once again failed, “Of all things, it had to be this disgusting effect…”

【Slime Tokens】 have no gender, and even if they did, something with 0 Attack and 0 Defense couldn’t provide a boost to Tamamo-no-Mae next turn; moreover, these two things were obviously unaffected by 【Oxygen Deprivation Zone】, so they could block for the player.

“Nodera-bo, Tamamo-no-Mae, take out those two trash mobs!” Snow impatiently issued this attack command. His two powerful monsters easily squashed the two 【Slime Tokens】 like flies, but… Feng Bujue's LP suffered no damage at all this turn.

According to the rules of 【Mad Thoughts】, when a Defense Position monster is destroyed by battle, the player doesn’t take battle damage equal to the difference (unless the attacker has certain card effects that allow it to be calculated). Therefore, after this seemingly extremely unfavorable Battle Phase, Feng Bujue managed to survive.

“I… set one more card…” After all the monsters had attacked, Snow set a card in the last empty space in his Spell & Trap Zone, then, “…end this turn.”

“Ha!” Feng Bujue had been waiting for this moment, “Quick-Play Spell-【Magic Showdown】, activate!”

Thanks to the effect of 【Hand Overdraft】 just now, Jue Ge now had a full six cards in his hand.

Logically speaking, the moment Snow said "End Phase," both he and Snow would have to discard three cards from their hands.

But, Jue Ge preempted this "discard" effect by activating a Quick-Play Spell…

“What!” Upon hearing this, Snow’s expression immediately changed, “It’s 【Magic Showdown】!” He clearly knew the effect of this card, hence his reaction.

“When 【Magic Showdown】 is activated…” Feng Bujue began to explain with a passionate expression, “Both players must place all Spell and Trap Cards in their hands onto the field one by one and activate them immediately. If ‘activation is not possible,’ the card must be shown to the opponent and then set.” While speaking, he pointed his arm and continued with a mocking tone, “Given that your Spell & Trap Zones are now completely full, with no place to put any cards, this has nothing to do with you. Just watch me perform.”

“This guy…” Snow was grinding his teeth in anger, but he was helpless.

“First card!” Soon, Feng Bujue played a card from his hand, “Trap Card-【Friendly Fire】, the effect of this card is, during the opponent’s Battle Phase, and when the opponent has two or more monsters on the field, choose one monster to battle another.”

“Hmph… 【Nine-Tailed Fox Tamamo-no-Mae】 is unaffected by such things!” Snow said coldly at this moment.

“Don’t worry, I know her effect.” Feng Bujue said, “The effect of this card isn’t ‘controlling one to attack the other,’ but rather ‘acting on both monsters simultaneously,’ so Tamamo-no-Mae, as a monster immune to traps, cannot be selected as one of the targets. Fortunately… you have two other monsters on the field, don’t you?” He raised his voice, “【Nodera-bo】, 【Kurozuka】, battle!”

As soon as he declared this, the two monsters turned around and engaged in a passionate clash; as a result, naturally 【Nodera-bo】, with its higher attack power, emerged victorious… 【Kurozuka】's attack power was 1500, which was definitely higher than the defense power of Jue Ge’s 【Unstable Slime】 earlier, but now, it had lost in battle and dealt 500 LP damage to its master, Snow.

“At this moment, 【Kurozuka】's effect activates!” After Snow’s LP was reduced to 5500, he continued in a noticeably displeased tone, “When it is destroyed, Special Summon one 【Remnant Corpse Monster】 with 500 ATK and 500 DEF in face-up Defense Position.”

As he spoke, the bag that 【Kurozuka】 dropped on the ground after dying unfolded on its own, and then, a small monster composed of corpse fragments crawled out from inside.

“Second card!” Feng Bujue completely ignored his opponent and immediately played the second card, “Normal Spell-【Asceticism Jar】! When this card is activated, both players each select one card from their hand, show it to their opponent, and then shuffle it back into the deck; in the subsequent duel, whoever draws that shown card first immediately loses 1000 LP.”

Both he and Snow were efficient people. By the time he finished speaking, the two of them had already each chosen a card from their hand.

Snow chose a Level 7 monster that required two Tributes to summon, of which he now had two in his hand; simply put… keeping it would just clog his hand.

And Feng Bujue showed… a Level 6 monster that required a single Tribute to summon. Given that he only had three cards left in his hand now (having already played 【Magic Showdown】, 【Friendly Fire】, and 【Asceticism Jar】 from his six cards), even if he didn’t put this monster card back into the deck, he would have to discard it into the Graveyard later.

After the two completed the showing, they each returned their cards to the deck, and the Duel Disk automatically completed the shuffling.

“Then… third card!” A second later, Feng Bujue played another card.

“Just how many Spell and Trap Cards does this guy have in his hand?” Snow was starting to panic now, because up to this point, Feng Bujue only had one card left in his hand, which meant that… after this "chain" of his ended, he would only have to discard one card due to the effect of 【Hand Overdraft】 at most.

“Normal Spell-【Programmer's Oversight】…activate!” Feng Bujue’s actions continued, “The effect of this card is… to declare a card. Regardless of whether this card is on the field, in the Graveyard, in the hand, in the deck, or even has been ‘banished,’ regardless of the original effect of this card, as long as this card actually exists in this duel, then, during this current ‘phase,’ this card loses all its effects.”

“Ha!” Hearing this, Snow laughed, “Hahahaha… novice is a novice! This 【Programmer’s Oversight】 was your only chance to kill Tamamo-no-Mae! Just now, if you had just endured a little, discarded three cards… and then used this Spell on Tamamo-no-Mae during your Battle Phase, you could have killed her without triggering Tamamo-no-Mae’s death effect’ (yes, Tamamo-no-Mae has another effect).” He looked at Jue Ge with a contemptuous gaze, “But what did you do… because you thought discarding three cards was a big loss, you forcibly activated 【Magic Showdown】 during my End Phase. As a result, this magic that can ‘suppress even gods’ within a phase has been wasted by you.”

He was right, this card… was indeed an excellent way to take out God Cards, if it was activated during the Battle Phase; it could change Tamamo-no-Mae’s attack and defense back to 0, and restrict her death effect. At this time… if Jue Ge hit her with Sakamoto's 4000 attack, not only could the field situation be turned around… even their LPs could be evened out.

However, forcibly activating it during this "opponent's End Phase" was indeed useless.

However…

All of the above are just the thoughts of ordinary people.

“Hmph… when did I ever say that I was going to use this card on Tamamo-no-Mae?” A moment later, Feng Bujue also smiled, a sinister smile, a chilling smile.

In this duel, Feng Bujue was showing this kind of expression for the first time…

People who knew Jue Ge knew that when he showed this kind of expression, the person standing on the opposite side of him was about to have a very bad time…

“You… what did you say?” Snow didn’t understand what his opponent was trying to do, but of course, he would understand soon…

“The card that I am declaring is…” As Feng Bujue spoke, he slowly raised his right arm and pointed towards his Graveyard, “The one currently slumbering in my Graveyard—【Nameless King】.”

Snow could hardly believe his ears, and he almost blurted out, “What did you say! That’s impossible! How could 【Nameless King】 be in your Grave…”

His words were cut short…

Because at that moment, a scene from his memories flashed before his eyes.

“It’s… that time…” Several seconds later, Snow wore a look of horror, and muttered in a dejected tone.

“That’s right, it’s ‘that time.’” Feng Bujue said.

In this duel, Feng Bujue only had one "opportunity" to throw 【Nameless King】 into the Graveyard, and that was…

“I Special Summon 【Swordsman Trickster】 by discarding one card from my hand.” Feng Bujue repeated the sentence he had said in the first turn, “Remember?”

“You actually…” Snow was completely speechless, “At the very beginning of the game, you threw a card like 【Nameless King】 into the Graveyard…”

He didn’t understand, he really didn’t understand… he couldn’t figure it out, and he couldn’t comprehend it.

“What logic? What intention? What the hell!” Snow used a rhetorical device to fully express his current mood.

“Heh… that’s why I said, you’re still far behind.” Feng Bujue said, “You fool who looks down on duels… witness for yourself how a true duelist wins this match!”

After saying that, he made a cool and embarrassing move, and slammed his last card onto the Duel Disk.

“This is the fourth card I’m activating, and also the last card…” Feng Bujue said in a deep voice, “Normal Spell-【Monster Reborn】!” He paused for half a second, stood tall, and pointed his arm again, “Its target is, the strongest god who is considered a Normal Card during this phase and can temporarily be affected by Spell Cards… 【Nameless King】!”