Chapter 42: Conquering the Battle Spirit (Part One)

"Let's get closer and take a look." Li Guanqi's card-gaming itch was acting up, and he wanted to feast his eyes on a duel to scratch it.

Back when he watched anime, he had harbored a deep yearning for street duels. During his college years, he once spotted people playing cards on the campus athletic field, which looked suspiciously like Yu-Gi-Oh.

Could anyone hold back from walking over to take a couple of peeks?

Absolutely not!

I must go and spectate immediately!

My name is Li Guanqi, and my hobby is watching people play card games.

Mickey clearly couldn't win against this card addict, moving forward by a dozen meters. As the surrounding passersby saw agents of the Spirit Enforcement Division approaching, they tagged along and closed in as well.

Viewed from the outside, the containment field appeared as a light blue spatial barrier where the duel inside could be clearly witnessed, and people could pass right through it.

While external sounds could not penetrate inward, the noises from within echoed clearly to the outside.

"I set one monster face-down and set two cards." The infected individual glanced over his hand and said in a deep voice, "Turn end."

Seeing this, Li Guanqi raised an eyebrow slightly.

A mature duelist, upon seeing a first-turn setup of one monster and two backrow cards, could roughly gauge the opponent's skill level or playstyle.

Low emotional intelligence: Bricked hand, total newbie.

High emotional intelligence: Level Four Fortress tier.

"My turn, draw!" Chu Chan's expression remained completely unperturbed as he drew a card.

[Vanquish Soul Heavy Borger]

The system timer ticked into the Main Phase.

"Activate the Spell Card, [Stake Your Soul!]"

"Reveal [Vanquish Soul Heavy Borger], Special Summon [Vanquish Soul Mad Love]!"

A dazzling radiance flashed across the field as a woman clad in a purple experimental lab coat appeared, surrounded by various mechanical apparatuses.

"Whoa—" Li Guanqi's eyes lit up as he turned to Mickey and said, "The Spirit Enforcement Division treats its people this well?"

"They even have [Vanquish Soul]?"

The power level of Vanquish Soul was simply not something the Skull Servants, Reptilianne, and Vampires in the league could compare to. Those archetypes barely scraped by at Tier 5, whereas Vanquish Soul easily commanded a Tier 2 spot.

With a deck like that, why not go to the league to make a name for yourself?

Why hole up in the Spirit Enforcement Division as a mere low-ranking agent?

Mickey casually replied, "Fortresses pour money into professional teams, but missing the playoffs means throwing cash down the drain."

"However, investing in the Spirit Enforcement Division always yields returns; every spirit detained is one less threat."

"Can't you borrow decks from the Spirit Enforcement Division?" Li Guanqi asked, puzzled once more, remembering how [Yubel] was borrowed. "Why not borrow a [Vanquish Soul] set?"

"If I borrowed it, what would my brother Chan use?"

"There's only one set of [Vanquish Soul]?"

"Do you have any idea how much the Fifth Division spent to purchase this [Vanquish Soul] core?"

"How much?"

"Thirty-five million."

"How—how much?!"

Li Guanqi was left completely numb. Thirty-five million for a single [Vanquish Soul] deck? Are we talking about play money here?

He knew card prices were expensive, but he never expected anything this exorbitant.

"Hmph, is that all?" the infected individual sneered dismissively.

Chu Chan ignored his opponent's provocation, waving his hand as he declared, "The effect of [Mad Love] activates."

"Add one [Vanquish Soul] Spell or Trap card from my deck to my hand."

"I flip my set card—" the infected individual said deeply, "[Skill Drain]!"

"Negate [Mad Love]!"

A white arm burst forth from the void, lunging swiftly toward [Mad Love], but the female scientist remained utterly unperturbed.

"Chain effect, reveal [Vanquish Soul Heavy Borger] in my hand." Chu Chan displayed a card from his hand and stated firmly, "Return [Mad Love] on the field to the hand, and Special Summon this card!"

"Tactical Switch!"

[Mad Love] pressed her mechanical arm, projecting an "OK" sign onto a holographic screen in the void before dissolving into a shimmer of light, neatly evading [Skill Drain].

A colossal electronic robot stood imposingly in her place!

"What?!" The infected individual's eyes widened in shock as he watched his [Skill Drain] hit empty air.

It operated on the exact same principle as Li Guanqi using [Nibiru] to dodge [Forbidden Chalice]: [Skill Drain] only targeted monsters currently on the field, so since [Mad Love] was returned to the hand by the effect of [Heavy Borger], she naturally managed to dodge it.

As [Mad Love]'s effect resolved, Chu Chan added [Vanquish Soul Continue] to his hand.

"Activate the effect of [Heavy Borger]!"

"Reveal [Vanquish Soul Razen] and [Vanquish Soul Pantera], and inflict 1,500 points of damage to the opponent!"

The heavy cyborg raised its mechanical arm, gathering a sphere of blue energy within its palm before blasting it fiercely toward the infected individual.

"Agh!"

The infected individual let out a miserable scream as the energy shockwave blew him back several steps, sending him crashing to the ground. His Life Points visibly plummeted by a massive chunk.

Red Player Life Points: 8000 → 6500

Within the Shackles Domain, card spirit feedback was amplified.

"Now that's what I'm talking about! That's the stuff!"

Li Guanqi watched with boiling blood; this was the duel of his dreams (to spectate)!

"It hurts... so painful!" The infected individual clutched his chest, gritting his teeth hard as he forced himself back up to his feet.

Chu Chan's expression remained ice-cold as he raised a hand and announced, "[Heavy Borger], solo Link Summon!"

[Heavy Borger] instantly transformed into a pillar of light shooting straight into the heavens.

"Boom—"

A fierce gale swept across the surrounding streets, forcing Li Guanqi and the onlookers to raise their arms repeatedly to block the wind.

"Link Summon!"

"Descend!"

"Link-1, [Rock of the Vanquisher]!"

A massive stone statue erupted upward like a miniature mountain, blotting out the sky, its ethereal shadow casting an oppressive weight over the area.

Attack: 0

"[Rock of the Vanquisher]..." The infected individual's breath hitched.

Chu Chan revealed a card from his hand and continued his plays: "Activating the effect of [Vanquish Soul Pantera] in my hand, this card is Special Summoned."

A gust of black wind swept by as an agile female panther warrior stepped onto the stage.

"Summon—"

Following that, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes as he slammed a card down onto the duel disk and shouted aloud.

"[Vanquish Soul Razen]!"

Emerging from the summoning circle was a blue-robed, blue-haired young man clad in jeans, gripping a heavy iron hammer in both hands with a gaze as piercing as torches.

Attack: 1800

Chu Chan raised the corner of his mouth slightly: "Activate [Razen]'s effect, add a non-Warrior-type [Vanquish Soul] monster from my deck to my hand."

[Razen] flashed an identical cold grin, slamming his hammer against the void, causing the very space around them to crackle with fracturing sounds.

The infected individual shuddered all over, taking half a step back.

High-spirituality cards naturally carried a heavy, oppressive presence.

"I add [Vanquish Soul Caesar Valius] to my hand," Chu Chan said in a low, authoritative voice.

"[Pantera]'s effect!"

"Reveal [Caesar Valius], [Pugnado], and this card to destroy all Spell and Trap cards in the same column as this card!"

"Next is [Razen]'s effect!"

"Reveal [Caesar Valius] and [Mad Love] to destroy all other monsters in the same column as this card!"

"The same column..." The infected individual glanced over, realizing that [Pantera] and [Razen] were directly lined up against his face-down monsters and backrow cards, sending a chill through his entire body.

[Pantera] and [Razen] lunged forward simultaneously, one swinging a heavy hammer while the other unleashed a sweeping leg kick.

"Boom, boom—"

His set [Ghostrick Zombie] and [Mirror Force] shattered into pieces amidst the echoing crashes.

The red player's field was instantly wiped clean. Having completed their tasks, [Pantera] and [Razen] retreated and took their stances back in front of Chu Chan.