Chapter 117: The Megamorph and Toll Combo Reprise
"Alright!" Joey Wheeler watched as Hayato escaped the initial crisis and even turned the tables, destroying the Monster Keith Summoned during Keith's Turn. He laughed happily, saying, "To think he Destroyed the Opponent's Monster during their own Turn! Then next Turn, Hayato just needs to Summon a few more Monsters, and he'll easily win, right?"
"I thought the All-American Champion was so amazing, but it turns out he's not even as good as that Insect Bastard."
Joey Wheeler's words stung Bandit Keith's fragile Inner Thoughts. He glared resentfully at the Spectator Area where Joey Wheeler was and said angrily, "You damn brat, shut up!"
He turned his head back to look at the Field, his eyes staring directly at Hayato through his sunglasses, thinking in his Inner Thoughts: 'This brat... could it be that he already knew I would use a Monster with a Destroy Effect?!'
'No, that's impossible. That kind of Mind Reading thing with that bastard Pegasus is troublesome enough with just him. It must be a coincidence. Right, Swamp Battleguard's own Defense is pretty good. This guy purely just stumbled upon a lucky break.'
Thinking of this, Keith's mood calmed down a bit. "Brat, consider yourself lucky you guessed right once and actually happened to bring this kind of Card."
"But your luck ends here. Yours Truly is getting serious now!"
Saying this, Keith played a Card from his Hand. "Witness Yours Truly's famous Card! Activate Magic Card, The Armored Starfish!"
"The Armored Starfish has the ability to look at the Opponent's Hand and take one of them. The humiliation of toying with me will be repaid with your own Card!"
"Not only can it look at the Hand, but it can also directly take one? That's too cheap." Hayato Ranted about The Armored Starfish Card, placing his Hand onto the dedicated Display Zone on the Duel Platform. He remembered this Card, The Armored Starfish, was so powerful in Effect that it wasn't even made into a Real Card.
The name "The Bandit" Keith is both because he is like a "The Bandit" eyeing Prize Money, sweeping through the Prize Money of major American Duel Monsters Tournaments, and also because his most frequently used Card is this Card, The Armored Starfish. Taking others' Cards and then using others' Cards to defeat others—this is "The Bandit," Keith Howard.
"Let me see what kind of Cards you have." With a smug smile, Keith looked towards the Duel Platform. Hayato's two Cards in Hand were currently being Virtual Projected onto the area in front of Keith. "Last Will, and Goblin Thief. Heh heh, not bad Cards."
"Although this Goblin Thief Card looks very suitable for me, but I haven't forgotten your annoying Ojama Monsters." Keith's Finger pointed towards Last Will. "I'll choose this Card."
After Keith chose Last Will, the Display Zone on Hayato's side of the Duel Platform flipped over. Last Will was sent by the Duel Platform's Mechanism to Bandit Keith's Hand, and Hayato returned Goblin Thief to his Hand.
Catching Last Will, the Card popped out by the Duel Platform, Bandit Keith had just happened to satisfy the conditions for using Last Will because his Twin-Barrel Dragon had been Destroyed by Hayato. With the thought of it not being his own Card and not feeling bad about using it, he used Last Will:
"Activate Last Will's Effect. Because this Turn, my Twin-Barrel Dragon was Destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, so I can Special Summon a Monster with 1500 ATK or less from my Deck."
"1500 ATK or less is just Small Fry." Hayato looked at Last Will, which had returned to his side after being used by Bandit Keith, and somewhat reluctantly put it into the Graveyard.
Keith flipped open his Deck and started searching. His gaze passed over the Monsters in his Deck one by one, pausing briefly on a Monster Card he had specifically put into his Deck for Hayato, and then continued searching.
'Kinetic Soldier is used to deal with Warrior Type Monsters, but its basic ATK is a bit too poor. If I Summon it too early now and it gets Destroyed by that Swamp Battleguard, it would be too much of a waste.'
"The Monster I will Summon to the Field is this one, Byser Shock." After choosing the Monster and Summoning it to the Field, Keith started shuffling his Deck. However, as a former professional Duelist, he used a special technique, arranging the Cards he had just confirmed in his Deck in the order he wanted and shuffling them to the top of his Deck.
Byser Shock [Level 5 / Dark Attribute]
[Fiend Type / Effect]
[800 ATK / 600 DEF]
However, on the surface, he remained calm. Putting his Deck back, he Activated the Effect of the Monster that was Summoned: "When Byser Shock is Normal Summoned, Special Summoned, or Flip Summoned to the Field, all Set Cards on the Field return to their owner's Hand."
"Your three Set Cards have been completely cleared away by me."
Hayato put the three Cards back into his Hand, subconsciously shuffling them around to change their positions, and looked at Bandit Keith. "If Swamp Battleguard was still in Face-Down Defense Position, that would be troublesome. But in the current situation, anyway, you can't Attack, right?"
"Tch, Set three Cards. My Turn ends." Keith Set three Cards from his Hand, feeling the current battle situation was tricky. Because the Destroy of Twin-Barrel Dragon was completely unexpected, it led to Keith, who had just started, having to begin thinking about how to defend against Hayato's counterattack, and even using Byser Shock, a Monster with quite weak ATK and Defense, as a Shield.
[Keith: 3700 LP, Hand 1]
[Byser Shock [600 DEF]]
[Set Card] [Set Card] [Set Card]
"Then my Turn, Draw!"
Hayato looked at his Hand and Drew a Card. "Attack Position Summon Masked Dragon. Then I Activate Magic Card, Megamorph, Equip it onto Masked Dragon."
A sturdy Dragon-Type Monster appeared on Hayato's Field. In its arms, it held a stone tablet inscribed with strange writing. After a flash of Light, Masked Dragon's body size actually shrunk to half of its original size.
Masked Dragon [Level 3 / Fire Attribute]
[Dragon Type / Effect]
[1400 ATK → 700 ATK / 1100 DEF]
"As soon as it appeared on the Field, its ATK decreased? This kind of Monster is designed too stupidly, right?" In the Spectator Area, Joey Wheeler Ranted.
Yugi, however, shook his head. "No, that's not it. I think that's the Effect of that Megamorph Card Hayato just Activated."
Reminded by Yugi like this, Joey Wheeler remembered that Hayato had indeed Activated a Magic Card after Summoning Masked Dragon. "Oh right, I remember now. The Effect of Hayato's Megamorph Card seems to be—"
"When my Life Points are less than the Opponent's, the ATK of the Equip Monster becomes Double its original ATK; but now my Life Points are higher than your Life Points, Masked Dragon equipped with Megamorph's ATK will instead become half of its original ATK." Hayato explained.
"After all, powerful Cards often come with risks. However, if I add this Card," he paused, then played another Card from his Hand, "Magic Card, Toll. Both players cannot Activate an Attack if they don't Pay 500 Life Points."
(End of this chapter)