Chapter 6: What on Earth is a Field Spell?

"Go, Flame Swordsman! Smash that zero-attack piece of trash!"

No sooner had Goro the Boar-Head declared his attack after summoning Flame Swordsman than Hayato cut him off.

"You did just declare an attack, didn't you?" Hayato flipped over one of his three face-down cards. "In response to your attack declaration, I activate the spell card: Mysterious Chinese Pot. The effect of this card allows me to tribute a monster on my field to recover life points equal to that monster's attack or defense."

"Heh-heh-heh! I wonder which unlucky loser is going to be sacrificed?" Ojamellow—no, Ojama Yellow—grinned so wide his eyes vanished. In his view, whether it was Baby Dragon or Flying Dragon Warrior being sacrificed, the life points recovered would be far greater than his own.

"I choose to tribute Ojama Yellow!"

"Mm-hmm, the one being sacrificed is—wait, what? Ojama Yellow!?" At first, Ojama Yellow hadn't quite processed it, still wiggling his rear end happily. But the realization hit him instantly, and he turned his head to stare at Hayato with an expression of utter disbelief, pointing a finger at himself.

"This monster is just a zero-attack waste of space. If I leave him on the field, he's destined to be destroyed by you anyway. I might as well stir-fry him for a meal."

Ignoring Ojama Yellow's cries of "Don't do it, Aniki!", Hayato ruthlessly sent him to the graveyard, choosing to recover 1000 life points, matching Ojama Yellow's defense.

[Hayato: 2000 LP → 3000 LP]

"You were just playing me, weren't you? Fine, then I'll attack your Baby Dragon."

Because the attack target had disappeared, the attack was replayed, and Goro the Boar-Head selected a new target for Flame Swordsman. This time, Baby Dragon was successfully destroyed in battle.

"My turn end—"

"At the moment you end your turn, I have a card to activate." Amidst the murmurs of Joey and Tristan nearby—who were busy whispering, "It's that card again"—Hayato flipped up his facedown card. "Time Machine. Because of its effect, the destroyed Baby Dragon will return to my field."

Hayato once again performed his signature "yo-yo" maneuver, bringing back the Baby Dragon that had barely had time to bond with Ojama Yellow in the graveyard.

***

"You are absolutely relentless! Turn end!"

[Goro: Hand 6 → 7 → 6]

Goro's mood did not affect Hayato’s operations in the slightest. He drew a card from his deck. "During my draw phase, I’m activating another face-down card."

"More?!"

"Don't worry, it's not some outrageous effect. It's Reload. I shuffle my entire hand back into the deck and draw the same number of cards." After flipping Reload and sending it to the graveyard, Hayato placed his five cards back into his deck, shuffled, and drew five new ones.

"Goro the Boar-Head, right? You know, I’m actually quite an introvert. I prefer to play passively, even in Duel Monsters." Hayato muttered something nonsensical as he set two cards on the field. "I set two cards. Turn end."

[Hayato: Hand 4 → 5 → 3]

"Joke of the day: Hayato is bad at attacking and is an introvert," Joey quipped. "He definitely set something that only activates when he gets attacked."

The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener took it to heart.

"My turn, draw." Goro drew a card. He didn't summon a monster immediately, instead eyeing the two cards Hayato had just set. He had attacked Hayato's monster last turn; while he had achieved some success, it could also be said he had achieved nothing at all.

Aside from that useless Ojama Yellow being tributed to boost Hayato's life points to 3000, the other monsters remained exactly as they were. Furthermore, between the attack replay and the monster being destroyed only to be summoned back immediately, Hayato’s sequence of moves made Goro feel like he was being played like a puppet.

*I haven't summoned a monster this turn. Should I? That way I could wipe out all the barriers on his field in one go.* Goro hesitated, clutching a card in his hand. *But that blond guy over there doesn't look like he's lying. This guy might have set some other weird trap.*

"I attack that Baby Dragon with Flame Swordsman." After much hesitation, Goro chose not to summon a new monster, opting to attack with Flame Swordsman instead. Its attack power was more than enough to handle the current monsters; he didn't need to give his opponent any extra openings. So Goro thought.

Hayato did nothing, simply sending Baby Dragon to the graveyard.

***

"He didn't activate his face-down cards!?"

Hayato looked quite troubled. "Oh dear, I wanted to, but the conditions weren't met. Losing a wall like that is such a headache."

*Damn it, I was bluffed by his posturing!* He glared angrily at Joey, leaving the boy bewildered. Goro growled, "End turn. I have too many cards, so I'll discard one."

[Goro: Hand 6 → 7 → 6]

"Then, my turn."

Drawing a card, Hayato glanced at the monster Goro had discarded—a vanilla grunt. Satisfied it wasn't something like Kuriboh lurking in the graveyard, Hayato smiled. "Goro over there, I hear you're a fan of Pegasus. Have you heard about the new type of cards he's planning to release?"

"I activate the field spell: Ojama Country!"

"What? A field spell?!" For the first time, Goro looked panicked. "Impossible! I've memorized every card produced by Industrial Illusions; there is no such thing as a 'field spell'!"

"Regrettably, field spells do exist, and the card in my hand is proof. And soon, more new types of cards will be released." Hayato placed Ojama Country in the center of the field and activated its effect.

"The first effect of Ojama Country: while it is on the field, once per turn, I can send one 'Ojama' card from my hand to the graveyard to special summon an 'Ojama' monster from my graveyard."

Revealing Ojama Black from his hand, Hayato resurrected Ojama Yellow from the graveyard, then played another card: "Dark Factory of Mass Production. It allows me to return two normal monsters from my graveyard to my hand. I'll take back the Ojama Black I just discarded and the Baby Dragon that was destroyed earlier."

"And now, I activate the Fusion I set earlier!"