096 Entertainment: Guess what deck I am using this time.

"The Vampire Maggot’s swift attack can be unleashed during the first turn! Hahaha!" Watching as Yugi’s life points instantly dropped by 500, hearing his opponent’s muffled groan of pain, Dark Marik licked his lips and grinned wickedly.

Every bit of his opponent’s agony and struggle brought Dark Marik both physical and spiritual pleasure. Ah—how exquisite! Simply marvelous!

"In a Shadow Duel, losing life points doesn’t just cause real harm to the player—it has other effects as well! Look at your leg." Following Marik’s pointing finger, Yugi saw his right thigh; a chunk of flesh had vanished completely! He could see straight through to the darkness behind his leg where the flesh once was.

"My dear, as the wager, every life point you lose will result in your body being devoured by this dark space, bit by bit!"

"Of course, as long as the duel isn’t over, even if your body is swallowed by darkness, you can still continue your turn!"

Though the flesh on his thigh was gone, Yugi could still feel its presence—it was just invisible to his naked eye. Curious, he reached out and touched it; his hand passed right through. Yet, in his mind’s sensation, the limb still existed. The peculiar nature of a Shadow Duel—Yugi was witnessing it firsthand.

"Oh, and when your life points are restored, the parts devoured by the darkness will return! If your life points exceed the normal 4000, even after deductions, as long as they don’t drop below 4000, your body won’t be swallowed by darkness!"

The Shadow Duel was fundamentally fair—since Dark Marik created this space, it was up to him to explain its rules in full.

"My turn isn’t over yet! Now, I activate Vampire Maggot’s other effect!"

"What? There’s another effect!"

Below the arena, the crowd’s eyes widened; having an attack during the first turn was one thing, but now there was a second effect to activate! Was this card secretly manufactured by your Ghouls organization’s special technology?

"I’ll discard one card from my hand to change Vampire Maggot’s battle position!"

Discarding the second card from his starting hand, Marik’s Vampire Maggot switched from attack to defense, dealing damage this turn and ready to block an attack next turn.

"I discard a card from my hand, then set another card face-down. Turn end!"

Thinking of the card he’d discarded, Dark Marik couldn’t help but chuckle slyly to himself.

"My dear, very soon you’ll witness the true terror of the third God card! Especially one that slumbers in the graveyard!"

"My turn—draw!"

Now, Yugi finally looked at his starting hand, and just one glance caused his pupils to contract sharply, only to instantly return to normal—so quickly that Marik didn’t notice.

A perfect hand.

"Spell card, 'Graceful Charity'! Its effect lets me draw three cards and then discard two."

After glancing at the three new cards, Yugi made his choice without hesitation; he selected one and, together with another from his original hand, sent two effect monsters to the graveyard.

"At this moment, due to 'Graceful Charity,' 'Dark Necrofear' enters the graveyard, and the field spell 'Dark Sanctuary' in my hand is activated!"

"What?!"

Upon hearing Yugi’s declaration, not only the audience below the arena but even his opponent Dark Marik was taken aback.

He never expected Yugi to use the supernatural combo of his own partner. Yet, Marik sensed that Yugi’s strategy wasn’t centered around 'Destiny Board.'

While everyone speculated internally, the endless darkness of the duel space was suddenly enveloped by the power of 'Dark Sanctuary'—another force of darkness.

Of course, 'enveloped' was merely a figure of speech; within the Shadow Duel space, a new 'room' emerged—a chamber called Dark Sanctuary.

"No need for me to explain Dark Sanctuary’s effect, I presume."

Seeing Marik make no move to interrupt, Yugi drew three cards from his hand, placing two in the monster zone and the third in the spell/trap zone to activate it.

"Normal summon 'Sangan,' then use the spell card 'Double Summon' to set another monster face-down."

Everyone recognized Sangan, but the other face-down monster was unknown. Still, it was clear—Sangan was for maintaining Dark Sanctuary, while the face-down monster was the real key.

"Next, I activate the continuous spell 'Shadow Duel'!"

The spell card, sharing a name with Marik’s special space, was played. This continuous spell came from the system, materializing various characters’ abilities as cards.

All cards derived from character abilities had one thing in common—

Once face-up, they’re immune to all other card effects!

Character skills can’t be interrupted; thus, their card incarnations, once activated, remain on the field permanently.

"Spell card 'Card of Demise!' Draw cards until my hand reaches five! However, during my fifth turn’s standby phase, I must discard my entire hand."

The anime’s version of Card of Demise was exhilarating—draw five cards at once! As for its drawback? Throughout the DM storyline, it only became relevant once, during the mid-series movie, when the proud CEO finally experienced its side effect firsthand.

But only that once!

"Then, I activate three more continuous spell cards!"

Nightmare’s Torture Chamber, Hermit’s Cauldron, Alchemy Pot—Chaos Refinement.

"Hermit’s Cauldron, upon activation, lets me place a counter on it, then use its secondary effect!"

As he spoke, a wave of life-filled green mist drifted from the cauldron, enveloping Yugi completely.

When the mist faded, the crowd saw that Yugi’s life points had returned to the full 4000!

Yugi’s life points had changed after being shrouded by the green mist—meaning the cause was that cauldron.

"For every counter on Hermit’s Cauldron, I recover 500 life points per turn!"