Chapter 21: Just Who Is Your Tamashi, Anyway?

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“My turn! I draw!”

With magnificent flair, Hayato drew a card. Just as he had during his duel with Yugi the day before, he immediately took two cards from his hand and placed them on the Duel Field.

“I summon the Judgment Hand, then target it with Soul-Eating Demon Blade!”

The Guardian Winged Dragon gazed curiously at the card materializing on the field beside it, eager to see what its fellow warrior looked like. But the image on the card merely began to glow. The light was so dazzling that the Guardian Winged Dragon instinctively turned away—only for a long blade to suddenly pierce through its back.

Wearing the exact same expression as Tokiomi Tohsaka, the Guardian Winged Dragon turned its head in disbelief. From the image on the card behind it, a disembodied arm had risen into the air, gripping a sinister-looking longsword. That very blade had pierced straight through the Guardian Winged Dragon’s chest.

Judgment Hand — Level 3 / Earth — Warrior / Normal — 1400/700

Carrying a resentful hatred, the Guardian Winged Dragon was destroyed and sent to the Graveyard. Its resentment, meanwhile, poured into the longsword clutched by the arm.

“You destroyed your own monster? What kind of pointless card is that?” Shoji clearly did not understand the effect of Soul-Eating Demon Blade. In reality, aside from Yugi, who frequently dealt with Duel Monster cards, even Joey would have needed someone to explain the effect of Hayato’s card to him.

Naturally, he was utterly baffled that Hayato had sent the Guardian Winged Dragon he had gone to such lengths to save back to the Graveyard.

“Rest in peace, Guardian Winged Dragon. We’ll avenge you.”

With an expression of profound grief—entirely feigned—Hayato set another card in his back row and turned toward Shoji.

“I attack your Gemini Elf with Judgment Hand—”

“You fool! Are you an idiot?” Shoji wore a mocking grin. “Judgment Hand has only 1,400 attack points, while my Gemini Elf has a full 500 points more than that. Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

Hayato ignored him and instead began thinking seriously.

“Let me think of a name for the attack... Got it! Go, Judgment Hand! The light still shines!”

The attack name belonged to the ultimate holy sword of light, yet the Judgment Hand, wielding the Soul-Eating Demon Blade, radiated an evil darkness. The Gemini Elf desperately fired back with magical energy, but Judgment Hand swung its demonic blade and cleaved both the energy sphere and the Gemini Elf in two.

“How is that possible?” Shoji’s eyes widened in disbelief. “That was nothing but a pathetic monster with 1,400 attack points!”

Shoji: 2000 LP → 1500 LP

“Judgment Hand itself does indeed have 1,400 attack points.” Hayato—the true summoner of his fist—raised a finger and pointed toward the Soul-Eating Demon Blade in Judgment Hand’s grip. “But you forgot that I activated Soul-Eating Demon Blade just now!”

“Its effect is to offer every Normal Monster on my field other than the equipped monster as a Tribute. For each monster offered, the equipped monster gains 1,000 attack points.”

“In other words, Judgment Hand currently has 2,400 attack points!”

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Judgment Hand ATK 1400 → 2400

“What an overwhelmingly powerful Spell Card!” Shoji exclaimed, utterly stunned.

“If you’re going to be surprised, save it for after you lose, when you can mutter to yourself about it. I end my turn. Hurry up and start yours.”

Hayato shuffled his hand, then rubbed his stomach. He had eaten only a few pieces of bread at home that morning, and he was beginning to feel hungry.

Hayato: 1500 LP, hand 4 → 5 → 2
Judgment Hand ATK 2400

“Damn it! My turn!”

Shoji drew a card and glanced down at it. He froze for a moment, then burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! Even the heavens believe I’m the one who should win. I’ll wipe out that annoying monster of yours right now, Kobayashi Hayato!”

“I summon this monster, then activate a Spell Card!”

A gigantic black sword suddenly appeared in the air above the Duel Field. The evil intent contained within it was almost equal to that of the Soul-Eating Demon Blade. The greatsword plummeted toward the field, landing directly in front of the card bearing the monster Shoji had summoned.

The monster crawled out of the card and immediately seized the gigantic sword before it. In an instant, blackish-violet malice spread across its body, and within the darkness, two eyes could just barely be seen.

“Obsession Sword raises my monster’s attack and defense by 500 points. And after it’s sent to the Graveyard, it returns to the top of my Deck! My obsession is immortal!”

Shoji glared viciously at Judgment Hand, as though that severed arm were the filthy hand Hayato had draped over Miho Nosaka’s shoulder.

“The Necromancer Count I summoned already has 2,000 attack points. With a weapon in each hand—”

“Its attack power is 2,500!”

Necromancer Count — Level 5 / Dark — Fiend / Normal — 2000 → 2500/700

“Cut that loathsome hand to pieces and burn it to ash! Dark Sword Slash!”

A hideous grin spread across the silent undead creature’s face. It threw the rapier in its left hand, pinning Judgment Hand in place, then charged in with a leaping slash, Obsession Sword held aloft in its right hand. After a dazzling flurry of swordplay, Judgment Hand was hacked to pieces and consumed by demonic flames.

Hayato: 1500 LP → 1400 LP

Though he had taken damage, Hayato showed no sign of panic. Instead, he studied the Necromancer Count with interest.

“I didn’t expect you to have a ‘powerful monster’ like that, either. Though it is a little ugly.”

At least by the standards of the present day, 2,000 attack points was already quite impressive.

Shoji, however, was far from pleased as he looked upon the monster that had won him the battle. He had ordered his subordinates to collect more elegant or aristocratic monsters. Which idiot had stuffed such a completely tasteless card into the deck?

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Damn it. Once he dealt with Kobayashi Hayato, he would find out exactly who was responsible as soon as he got back.

“My turn en—turn end!”

Shoji declared his turn over, then deliberately waited for a moment, afraid that Hayato might activate the card he had set.

Shoji: 1500 LP, hand 5 → 6 → 4

“Then it’s my turn.”

Hayato drew a card. He did not summon a monster. Instead, he activated the card he had set.

“I didn’t expect you to have a few tricks of your own. In that case, I activate this card and summon my Tamashi!”

“Huh? Is Hayato going to summon Death Stalker?” Joey, watching from the sidelines, could not help commenting. “But Death Stalker only has 900 attack points. Even with Soul-Eating Demon Blade, it still wouldn’t stand a chance against the Necromancer Count.”

“I imagine Hayato has a plan of his own.”

During his duel with Yugi, Hayato had said that his Tamashi was Death Stalker. Thus, when they heard his declaration now, everyone assumed he intended to summon Death Stalker again.

But when Hayato’s set card flipped face-up, the image printed on it showed three hideous monsters dancing together.

“I activate Ojama Trio! I’m giving you these three powerful monsters!”

Three monsters flew out of the card image. They were none other than the Ojama Yellow, Black, and Green that Hayato had bought from Turtle Games a few days earlier.

However, they did not appear on Hayato’s field. Instead, they flew straight over to Shoji’s side of the field, flopped down wherever they pleased, and somehow produced beach loungers, parasols, and sunscreen, looking every bit like they were enjoying a leisurely vacation and shirking their duties.

“What are these disgusting monsters doing here? Why are they on my field?!”

Shoji’s roar was echoed by Joey, who asked in bewilderment, “Hayato, who exactly is your Tamashi?”

“Foolish. Who says a person can only have one Tamashi? Why would a Tamashi be something so inconvenient?”