"Chapter 312: Noah, You Motherf*er
The towering **Archfiend Dragon - Black Skull Dragon** stood tall behind Joey Wheeler. A smile hung on his face, clearly pleased with himself for Summoning the powerful **Archfiend Dragon - Black Skull Dragon** on the first turn.
"Although Fusion Summoning doesn't use up my Normal Summon, I don't have any more Monster Cards in my hand," Joey Wheeler muttered to himself, glancing at his hand. He drew two cards from it. "Then I'll Set two cards. My turn ends."
[Joey Wheeler: 4000 LP, Hand 1]
[Archfiend Dragon - Black Skull Dragon] [ATK 3200]
[Set Card] x2
"Alright, it's my turn." Hayato had a look of delight on his face as he drew a card from his Deck. He was in a fantastic mood right now, and if you asked why, it was naturally because of the excellent hand he held.
**Harpie's Feather Duster** won from Mai Valentine, **Exchange of the Spirit** obtained from Ishizu Ishtar, the god-tier card drawing card **Graceful Charity**, the frequent resident of the forbidden list **Executioner Makyura**, the King of Milling **That Grass Looks Greener**, and the **Red Reboot** he had just drawn.
After receiving **Exchange of the Spirit** as a gift from Ishizu Ishtar, Hayato had assembled a Deck centered around the **Exchange of the Spirit** card. And as if the goddess of destiny herself had heard the expectation in Hayato's heart, he had drawn all the key cards on his first turn. As long as his combo wasn't interrupted, Hayato could easily achieve an FTK.
The Deck he was using this time was a 60-card Deck packed with various card drawing and stall/survival cards. Although he wouldn't need the stall/survival cards now due to his incredible luck, it didn't mean the extra cards in the Deck were useless.
Next, Hayato only needed to use **That Grass Looks Greener** from his hand, which had the effect of "sending cards from the Deck to the Graveyard until the number of cards in the Deck is the same as the opponent's," to mill a large number of cards at once. Then, he would use **Graceful Charity** to send **Executioner Makyura** to the Graveyard, triggering its effect to "activate Trap Cards from the Hand," allowing him to directly use **Exchange of the Spirit**, which met its conditions, to exchange the Decks and Graveyards of all four Duelists on the field.
During this process, the only thing that could potentially interrupt Hayato was the unknown Set Cards in the backrow of the other three.
Joey Wheeler's Set Card was likely a Dice Card for ATK/DEF modification. One of Kaiba's Set Cards was definitely **Crush Card Virus**, and the other was probably a card used to Summon his beloved **Blue-Eyes White Dragon** in a flashy way.
The one most worth guarding against was Yugi Mutou. He had a total of three Set Cards in his backrow. If any interference cards like **Seven Tools of the Bandit** were activated among them, Hayato would be quite annoyed if his combo was interrupted.
Therefore, to prevent any unpleasant situations later, Hayato played a card from his hand. "I activate the Spell Card, **Harpie's Feather Duster**!"
"Is that Mai's card?" Joey Wheeler was slightly surprised to see **Harpie's Feather Duster** appear. He had always thought only Mai Valentine had this card. Did Hayato have it too? A moment later, he suddenly remembered the effect of **Harpie's Feather Duster**.
That card's effect seemed to be to destroy all Spell/Trap Cards on the opponent's field?
Even in a one-on-one situation, the effect of **Harpie's Feather Duster** to destroy all of the opponent's Spell/Trap Cards on the field was quite powerful. Not to mention in this four-player free-for-all, the other three were all considered Hayato's "opponents." The Set Cards in the backrow of Yugi Mutou, Kaiba, and Joey Wheeler were all considered the attack target of **Harpie's Feather Duster**!
"Oh no, my Set Card!"
Joey Wheeler looked nervously at his Set Card in the backrow. Although **Archfiend Dragon - Black Skull Dragon**'s ATK was among the highest in his Deck, it was ultimately a Monster with no protection. To prevent it from being destroyed without leaving any battle results, Joey Wheeler had specifically prepared a **Metalmorph** in his backrow.
However, this card was about to be destroyed.
Kaiba also frowned, looking annoyed. His two Set Cards in the backrow were **Crush Card Virus** and **Sakuretsu Armor**, which prevented direct attacks when his field was empty. He could only watch helplessly, unable to do anything about the activation of **Harpie's Feather Duster**.
A giant Harpie's Feather Duster appeared on the field, stirring up a fierce wind that swept towards the cards in the backrow of the other three. Hayato said, "The biggest advantage of going first turn is the Trap Cards you've already Set in your backrow. If I want to make my play, I can't do it without clearing these annoying traps."
And sure enough, Yugi Mutou, who wouldn't sit by and watch his Set Cards in the backrow be destroyed, flipped one of his Set Cards. "I won't let you destroy them! I use my Set Trap Card, **Magic Jammer**! When a Spell Card is activated, discard one card from your hand to negate and destroy the Spell Card's activation!"
The tornado was about to flip and destroy the Set Cards in the backrow of the three, but as Yugi Mutou paid the hand cost to activate **Magic Jammer**, a large six-pointed magic circle appeared over the three backrows, confining the violent hurricane within the magic circle and isolating its influence on the outside.
Seeing that his cards in the backrow were saved, Joey Wheeler couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, while Kaiba maintained his ice-cold face.
But seeing **Harpie's Feather Duster** blocked by Yugi Mutou, Hayato smiled. "As expected, you had cards for a counter, Yugi Mutou. But unfortunately, your counter was completely within my expectation."
"In chain to the activation of **Magic Jammer**, I pay half of my Life Points to activate the Counter Trap Card **Red Reboot** from my hand!"
Joey Wheeler exclaimed in surprise, "A Counter Trap Card that can be activated directly from the hand?!"
Yugi Mutou was also a little surprised. "I remember that card. It's the card Hayato used when he dueled Ishizu Ishtar. Its effect is..."
"It negates and Sets the Trap activation, and you can even Set one Trap Card from your Deck on the field," Kaiba said, frowning. "The cost is half your Life Points. He just casually spent half of his Life Points like that?"
A red button appeared in Hayato's hand. As he bent his thumb and pressed the button, the **Magic Jammer** that Yugi Mutou activated to block **Harpie's Feather Duster** flickered with static like a television channel with a bad signal. The six-pointed magic circle quickly dissipated, and the unobstructed strong wind successfully destroyed all the Spell/Trap Cards on the field, including the **Magic Jammer** that Yugi Mutou had Set again and a newly Set Trap Card.
As the backrows of the other three were cleared, Hayato's platform also rose to about halfway up because his Life Points were reduced to half of their original amount, making him the first among the four to leave the ground.
[Hayato: 4000 → 2000 LP]
"With this, the troublesome things are gone," Hayato said with satisfaction, looking at everyone's backrow. He drew a card from his hand and activated it directly. "I use the effect of the Spell Card **That Grass Looks Greener**. This card can only be activated if the number of cards in my Deck is greater than my opponent's."
"The total number of cards in the Deck I'm using this time is the maximum of 60. The current number is 54, which is more than Yugi Mutou's 33 cards, who has the fewest cards in his Deck among you."
Although Yugi Mutou, Kaiba, and Joey Wheeler hadn't used any card drawing cards yet, Yugi Mutou's Deck had one less card than theirs due to the **Red Reboot** Hayato had just used.
Saying this, Hayato reached out and grabbed the thick stack of cards that automatically popped up from the top of his Deck, a total of exactly twenty-one cards, and then threw them into the Graveyard with a flourish.
"Until the number of cards in my Deck is the same as my opponent's, I send cards from the top of the Deck to the Graveyard. I'm basically dumping my Deck!"
"Then, I activate **Graceful Charity**. I draw three cards from my Deck and choose two cards from my hand to discard."
Hayato's series of operations made not only Kaiba and Yugi Mutou, but even Joey Wheeler realize that Hayato seemed to be building up to some big move.
"A large number of cards were sent to the Graveyard by Hayato. Is he going to use [Quintet Magician] or [Dragon's Mirror] to Summon [Quintet Magician] and [Five-Headed Dragon]?"
"So many cards were sent to the Graveyard, already more than twenty? I really don't understand what he's trying to do."
Kaiba's and Joey Wheeler's voices reached Yugi Mutou's ears. Hearing Joey Wheeler mention that there were already "more than twenty" cards in Hayato's Graveyard, Yugi Mutou's eyes suddenly widened. He looked sharply at the two cards Hayato was about to send to the Graveyard from his hand.
The card **Executioner Makyura** came into Yugi Mutou's sight.
"As expected, Hayato, the card you're going to use is that one, isn't it?" Only then did Yugi Mutou finally see through Hayato's strategy, but unfortunately, it was already too late. Yugi Mutou, who only had one face-down Monster on the field, could do nothing at all.
"Did you notice? As expected of Yugi Mutou. That's right, the card I'm going to use is this one." Hayato had a smug smile on his face as he flipped over the **Exchange of the Spirit** card to show it. "The effect of **Exchange of the Spirit** is that when there are 15 or more cards in my Graveyard, I swap the Decks and Graveyards of all Duelists on the field, exchanging the cards in the two zones."
"Because **Executioner Makyura** was sent to the Graveyard, this turn only, I can activate Trap Cards directly from my hand!"
"Activate [Exchange—"
Just as he raised the card in his hand and before he could place it on the Duel Disk, the lights in the airship hall suddenly went out. A strong vibration came from under Hayato's feet. He quickly grabbed the handrail to steady his body.
The images of the Duel Monsters flickered and disappeared. As the airship tilted, Hayato suddenly remembered something and said through gritted teeth, "Noah, you motherf*er!"