Chapter 64: Encountering the Strange Sounding Bird (Part 2)

The Sound Choice Diva parted her lips slightly, preparing to sing, when dazzling electrical arcs suddenly flickered all around as if a circuit had shorted out!

"What...!" The Sound Choice Diva cried out in utter shock, her cheeks instantly turning pale as death.

"Crack—"

Accompanied by a terrifying sound of electric discharge, menacing arcs of electricity completely enveloped her.

"Ow..." The Sound Choice Diva stood there smoking all over from the shocks, tears of grievance welling up in her eyes. She quickly squatted down, buried her head between her knees, and began to sob quietly.

An Xixi watched the entire sequence of events unfold. After a long moment of blank staring, she finally snapped back to reality and shrieked at the top of her lungs, "Infinite Impermanence?!"

A Tier-1 hand trap. Its pattern was neither in the possession of the Duel League nor in market circulation, existing only in the hands of a very specific, privileged group of people.

The surrounding spectators were also dumbfounded, their brains momentarily crashing, while a few latecomers had just entered the stream.

"Just got here, why is the streamer summoning herself to the field again?"
"Streamer, streamer, why is your Sound Choice Diva smoking?"
"A brand-new method of suffering!"
"Xixi gets hit with an Imperm the moment she shows up, her brain is gonna flood!"
"Doesn't look like a mere data card. Fishing for minnows and pulling up a sea monster!"

A data card was simply a digital facsimile, where someone borrowed a physical card just to scan it into their account—purely a string of data. Data cards lacked spiritual resonance; Infinite Impermanence would merely flash its card artwork without any interactive electric discharge.

If the card was bound to a physical object, such as a Blasphemous Card or a Magic Card, then the played card would possess a living spirit and trigger corresponding effect-processing scenes.

Blasphemous Cards were not entirely devoid of spirit; they were merely constrained by their paper medium. The inherent spirit inside could not be released actively, but it could be scanned and read by machines and duel systems to create a passive display.

"Don't panic, Xixi! It's just one Impermanence, nothing major! Just treat it like eating an Effect Veiler!"
"Xixi can still Hee-Hee!"

Her hardcore fans refused to give up, desperately sending cheers and encouragement.

"Don't underestimate people!" An Xixi screamed in fury, displaying a card from her hand as she shouted, "Activate the effect of Demon Voice!"

"Discard the card Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite from my hand, and select 1 Angel Voice from my deck. Place both this card and that card in my Pendulum Zones!"

"Angel!"
"Demon!"

An Xixi raised one hand high, instantly capturing everyone's attention like a star on stage.

"Pendulum Scales—Set!"

Red and blue pillars of light rose up behind her, their indices fluctuating between the beams.

"Whoa." Li Guanqi's eyes lit up, and he muttered to himself, "This kid might actually make a good soup."

Truth be told, An Xixi was quite cute. As one of the five members of Tianchen Entertainment's ace female idol group, she was a true professional at entertainment dueling.

"Heh-heh-heh," An Xixi giggled mischievously, slamming down another card. "Activate the Spell Card, Resonator Selection!"

A little demon and a little angel fluttered to either side of the Sound Choice Diva, who looked rather troubled.

The defining feature of the Resonator archetype was that a single card possessed two effects: the Angel effect restored Life Points, while the Demon effect inflicted damage. In the absence of a complete set of Pendulum scales, the opponent would choose which effect applied.

Now that both the demon and the angel were penduled, she got to choose the effect herself.

"I choose the Demon's effect!"

"Take 500 points of damage, and add Resonator Invitation from my deck to my hand!"

A surge of vitality was violently yanked out of An Xixi's body. The Pendulum card Demon Voice spawned a counter, flashing a sinister, devilish grin.

Blue Player's Life Points: 4000 → 3500

Before reaching the Legend rank, the Life Point system operated on a standard four-thousand-point scale.

"Hmph-hmph-hmph—" An Xixi's expression twisted into a cunning smirk. "For the sake of victory, what does it matter if I walk alongside demons!"

Li Guanqi: "..."

She used to be such a cute kid, why did she suddenly turn out like this?

"It's blackened Xixi! Ah, I'm dead!" The viewers wailed in chat.
"I'm in love, I'm totally in love."
"This is precisely my aesthetic!"
"Go for it, Xixi!"

Encouraged by her audience, An Xixi slapped down yet another card. "Activate the Field Spell, Celestial-Demonic Sound Selector - 'Resonator Piano'!"

"As an effect resolution upon activation, add Angel Voice from my deck to my hand!"

With a sharp sweep of her arm, she plucked a card straight out of the void.

Observing this step, Li Guanqi roughly figured out a few things.

This Field Spell constituted an overflow of resources. Both the Sound Choice Diva and Demon Voice had already been used; the optimal play should have been to drop the Field Spell as the very first action to bait out any potential Ash Blossom, ensuring that the Sound Choice Diva and Selection would resolve safely.

This pointed to one of two conclusions.

Either she was a complete novice with zero awareness of Ash Blossom baiting.
Or, in this world, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring was exceedingly rare—so rare that duelists simply hadn't developed the awareness or the operational habits to play around it.

It was a pity he didn't open with Ash Blossom in his hand, otherwise he would have definitely taught his opponent a memorable lesson.

"Activate the effect of Zephyros the Elite in my graveyard!" An Xixi waved her hand and declared, "Return the Celestial-Demonic Sound Selector to my hand, Special Summon this card, and take 400 points of damage!"

The spectators flooded the chat: "The black bird is still chasing me!"
"Xixi, stop hurting yourself!"
"Just got here, is this teacher Shangyu's stream?"
"There are two Level 4 monsters!"

Li Guanqi apathetically tossed down a card. "Chain Maxx "C". This turn, every time my opponent Special Summons, I draw one card."

The audience instantly went silent.

An Xixi froze abruptly. Realizing what had happened, she frantically slammed down another card. "Quick-Play Spell, Resonator Invitation!"

"Special Summon Demon Voice from my deck!"

A childish, mischievous giggle rang out as a tiny loli demon burst forth from the summoning circle.

A gale of black wind swept away the Celestial-Demonic Sound Selector, while Zephyros the Elite flew out from the graveyard.

The aftershock of the black wind lashed against An Xixi.

Blue Player's Life Points: 3500 → 3100

"Hmph-hmph-hmph—"

The Pendulum card Demon Voice curled the corners of its mouth upward. Resonator Counters: 1 → 2

Li Guanqi ruthlessly drew a card.

"Maxx 'C' too?!"

As the chain finished resolving, An Xixi and the tens of thousands of viewers in the livestream room gasped in unison.

"The legendary hand trap, Maxx 'C'!"
"My opponent's got some serious backing, talk about pedigree."
"First she gets hit with an Imperm on appearance, and now she's forced to eat a 'C'? Is this even a real duel?"
"Fast-forward to bedtime."
"Eisen warning."
"To drop the combo or not to drop the combo, Xixi, that is the question."
"It's just a Maxx 'C'!" An Xixi shrieked defiantly, waving her hand. "Activate the effect of Demon Voice!"

"Banish Resonator Selection from my graveyard to copy its Demon effect."

"Take 500 damage, and add Resonator of Guidance from my deck to my hand."

Blue Player's Life Points: 3100 → 2600

"Clang—"

The smile on the Pendulum card Demon Voice grew even warmer. Resonator Counters: 2 → 3

"Finally, I have enough." A cold glint flashed across An Xixi's eyes.

The signature trait of the Resonator archetype: when the same type of counter reached three, one could perform an archetype-exclusive Link-1 summon. Though it looked like a Link-1 on the surface, it was essentially a boss monster.

This archetype simply had to compromise with the Maxx "C" strategy.

A square barrier of light descended from the sky. An Xixi smiled with utter confidence. "I set the Sound Choice Diva as the Link Marker!"

"Circuit Combination!"
"Resonate, screaming demon, descend here!"
"Link Summon!"
"Link-1, Resonator God-Eater - Storm Demon!"

As her words fell, the surrounding air froze over. The Storm Demon materialized, spreading its massive wings as a violent gust of wind whipped up, rustling the clothes of the audience members.

An Xixi was thrilled, utterly unable to suppress the grin spreading across her face.

"Whoa." Li Guanqi gazed up at the towering storm dragon in the sky, feeling a mild sense of admiration.

Then, he silently drew a card.