The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　The haunted house was pitch black; you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

　Just as Dark was about to cast "Illumination," a scream suddenly rang in his ears, followed by someone carrying him in their arms.

　Although he was soft, he was single-minded.

　Dark had no choice but to drag Sophia back out of the haunted house. Sophia, whose face and ears were flushed red, immediately lowered her head in embarrassment.

　She thought she could overcome it, but she still couldn't hold back. Dak blinked and said, "I remember there's a Ghost Bar about two hundred meters to the west. You can sit there for a while. I'll be there around two o'clock." Sophia definitely didn't want to leave, but her feet were already moving on their own.

　She knew that if she continued to follow, she would only be a burden, so she readily nodded and replied, "Okay, you must come to see me at two o'clock!"

　Dark nodded again, somewhat helplessly.

　Sofia helped him a lot today; he's not the kind of person who uses someone and then discards them.

　After seeing Sophia off, Dak re-entered the giant haunted house.

　This haunted house is very large, but there are definitely no "ghosts" inside.

　Even the NPCs who play ghosts and monsters don't exist.

　When Dark was involved in the design, he pointed out that playing ghosts in this area was too dangerous for the NPCs and should be eliminated. That's how this haunted house came to be—a house with no ghosts.

　However, the interior of the haunted house is decorated in a very scary way, with many frightening mechanisms that replace the ghost NPCs in their function.

　Those who enjoy thrills will surely feel right at home here.

　In addition, most of the buildings in this ghost-themed competition area are equipped with soundproofing and light-absorbing barriers, which limit the range of sound and light to within ten meters.

　Therefore, once you enter, you will be trapped in a dark and silent environment, and fear will naturally arise.

　However, the brilliance of the dueling arena will not be limited.

　Once the contestants expand their domain, they can still see and hear everything and everything within that domain.

　Upon re-entering the giant haunted house, Dark immediately casts "Illumination" to create a ball of light that hovers above his head.

　The light emitted by the sphere dimmed rapidly after reaching a range of ten meters, and was quickly swallowed by darkness.

　The haunted house atmosphere is there, but finding opponents has become much more difficult.

　After walking forward for a while, Dark simply activated his "Eye of Truth" and quickly found a contestant sitting on a rockery eating a chicken leg.

　He paused for a couple of seconds, then finally stepped forward to greet him. The contestant turned to look at him, then exclaimed in surprise, "Bro, your eyes are glowing!"

　Dark took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and put away the "Eye of Truth," saying, "Duel!"

　"A duel? Sure, let me finish this leg first!" The contestant waved the fried chicken leg in his hand and then suddenly sped up his eating.

　When Dak smelled that aroma, he couldn't help but feel a twitch in his stomach. He thought to himself that he would definitely have a good meal after 2 o'clock, so he waited patiently for a while.

　One and a half minutes later, the contestant finished eating the chicken leg, wiped his hand, and jumped down from the artificial hill.

　Both players present their scorecards.

　Dark glanced at the player's ranking and saw that he was ranked as high as 68th!

　This ranking is almost the same as his, and he only managed to catch up with it with great difficulty by relying on the "Dragon King" arena.

　Looking at the scores, the two are indeed less than one point apart, one in front and one behind, with very close rankings.

　"Wow, how come your score is so high?" the player exclaimed suddenly, even more so than Dark.

　"You're not bad either." Dark sighed slightly, not expecting to encounter such a formidable opponent as soon as he entered the haunted house.

　That makes sense; just by looking at how calmly this player is eating a chicken leg in the dark, you can tell he's no ordinary person.

　But he didn't want to lose this duel.

　The opponent was a young mage in his early twenties who didn't even turn on a lamp in the pitch-black environment, which showed that he was very accustomed to such dark environments and probably had a deep understanding of ghost or dark magic.

　His casual, hippie-style clothes lacked any distinguishing features of a school uniform. If it wasn't a deliberate disguise, he might have been apprenticed to some reclusive master.

　“I never expected to run into a master while just finding a corner to eat fried chicken. My name is Dulles, what’s yours?” the contestant asked.

　Dark said, "Dark is hardly a master."

　Dulles jumped down from the artificial hill and said directly, "I think I've heard of you before, but that's not important. Let's see what you've got. Are you ready?"

　Dark said, "Of course."

　Dulles said, "Then let's get started."

　After saying that, the two immediately engaged in a duel.

　Once the duel field was connected, the area, which was 100 meters square, was illuminated by the field, and the surroundings became much clearer.

　Most of the visitors to this haunted house are there for the "adventure," and there aren't many people actually there to watch the duelists fight.

　While the two were building their decks, they only saw a referee with about a dozen spectators appear in their field of vision.

　Those ten or so spectators probably came specifically to follow the referee. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to find the duelists in this dark environment.

　Dark ignored the audience and focused on building his deck.

　His opponent is strong, and he cannot guarantee that he can win even if he holds back.

　They are very focused on winning, so they are very dedicated when building their decks.

　Two minutes later, he finished building the deck and shuffled it into the Duel Disk.

　After a while, Dulles also finished constructing his. The two nodded to each other and went straight into "Preparation Phase 2".

　Encounters like these happen all the time in this city of duels.

　Even the most timid person has gotten used to it by now.

　In short, it can be summed up in one word: "Gan" (扦).

　Dark draws cards directly.

　Once all five cards are in hand, a strategy should be quickly devised.

　Thirty seconds passed in the blink of an eye.

　The countdown for the "Battle Phase" round begins.

　Dark immediately drew "Devimon" and summoned it at the fastest speed.

　"In the name of Darkdemon, I summon the magical creature—'Devimon'!"

　He didn't have the "Paradise" card in his starting hand of five cards. In the past, he would have needed to devise a strategy to survive this turn.

　But at his current level, his need for Sin cards, especially "Elysium" cards, has long since diminished.

　Therefore, start with [[Devimon]], then connect the bond, infuse it with mental power, and activate Elysium Bond Evolution!

　Unable to contain its excitement, "Devimon" began to evolve the instant it synchronized with Dark's mind.

　Dark did not deliberately hold back, and directly caused it to undergo super evolution.

　After a short wait, "Devimon" has evolved into "LadyDevimon"!

　[LadyDevimon] is a Dark-type Demon, a Nine-Star Magical Spirit.

　As the first magical spirit to be deployed in the first round, it is not only not weak, but very strong.

　Now let's look at our opponents.

　Dulles, as expected of a mage specializing in ghost-type magic, didn't start with a Magical Spirit Card, but with a Ritual Card, a Ritual Card that could be triggered directly in an environment with a high concentration of ghost elements—"Birth of Terror"!

　The effect of the Ritual Card "Birth of Terror" is to draw power from the environment to create a Ghost-type Magical Spirit called "Terror Ghost".

　The birth of "terror ghosts" is highly random. Even in the exact same environment, it is impossible to predict what kind of terror ghost will be born. But basically, the more terrifying the surrounding environment, the stronger the terror ghost that is born will be.

　This time, Dulles created a "Terror Ghost" with a full nine stars, which is basically the upper limit of the star rating for "Terror Ghost".

　Upon closer inspection, one can see that the "Fear Demon" has a form that vaguely resembles the "Demon Girl," except that its face is rotting, its body is covered in tattered burlap, and cracks constantly open on its pale, exposed skin, oozing thick fluid and eyeballs.

　As the eyeballs fell to the ground, they all stretched out several thin, long spider legs and scurried away in all directions.

　Both being nine-star magical spirits, "Fearful Ghost" is clearly more suitable for the current haunted house environment.

　As for "LadyDevimon", although it is also a Dark-type Demon, it is really hard to feel fear after looking at it for a long time.

　However, the appearance of a magical spirit has no special significance in a duel. "Interesting."

　Dulles glanced at Dark's "Demon Beast," his smile widening. He raised his hand and flicked his finger, and the "Terror Demon" immediately opened its rotting maw, spewing out countless black mists along with a shrill howl.

　The black mist quickly filled half the field and continued to spread to the other half.

　Darke narrowed his eyes, and golden light instantly flashed in them.

　Meanwhile, LadyDevimon's left claw had transformed into a dark spear.

　It manipulated the power of darkness to wrap around the gun, and with a light tap of its slender feet in high heels on the ground, it was instantly enveloped in a mist formed by the power of darkness, fearlessly rushing into the spreading black mist.

　Darkness invades people's hearts.

　The black mist of the "Fear Ghost" can instill fear in people and erode their reason, ultimately achieving domination.

　However, if the opponent feels no fear, the effect is merely to obstruct their vision. Generally speaking, magical spirits that lack sentience are more susceptible to this type of mental influence.

　However, LadyDevimon felt no fear whatsoever; it felt nothing at all, only excitement!

　In the blink of an eye, "Ladymon" had rushed into the black mist and even reached "Terror Demon," thrusting her right spear with lightning speed.

　The "Terror Demon" reacted with lightning speed, its blood-red claws rising swiftly to grip the "Dark Spear" like pincers, preventing it from advancing further. Dulles retreated rapidly, completely disappearing into the darkness.

　His hands didn't stop moving; he continued drawing and summoning cards. "Terror Demon" was the only magic card in his hand that could directly create a nine-star magical spirit. But with "Terror Demon," he could activate another arcane card—"Night Parade of One Hundred Demons"!

　There are two conditions for triggering "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons". One is that it must be "night".

　Secondly, there must be a "Ghost King".

　The minimum requirement for "Demon King" is a nine-star magical spirit. After activating "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons", Dulles can summon all the ghost-type magical spirits in his hand that are no higher than "Demon King" at once.

　In actual combat, the maximum number of "Hyakki Yagyō" summons is nine.

　Of course, in magical duels, it is generally unlikely that you will have more than nine Ghost-type magical spirits in your hand.

　Therefore, Dulles started directly.

　Then, under the cover of darkness, something quietly appeared beside him.

　Two magical spirits appeared.

　These two magical spirits, one is nine-star and the other is six-star. The six-star magical spirit could actually be summoned directly, but it requires a special substance, which he has in very limited quantities and doesn't want to waste in the preliminary duel. The other nine-star magical spirit, on the other hand, requires a sacrifice to summon. Therefore, being able to summon these two magical spirits using "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons" this time is quite a bargain.

　However, Dark's second move was not to continue summoning magical spirits, but to use the item card "Proof of the True Ancestor" on himself!

　"Proof of the True Ancestor" has four effects. If used on oneself, it will transform one into a "vampire" for three minutes. After three minutes, magic power can be consumed to maintain the effect.

　The "Vampire" is a six-star character with variable magic power, 3000 attack, and 2000 defense.

　However, just like the Armor Transformation, the "Vampire" Transformation is not compatible with the "Character Card".

　The "Character Card's" health shield will cover the "Vampire's" surface, but it will not provide a defense bonus.

　In this situation, the amount of magic power a "vampire" possesses becomes irrelevant.

　Dark's transformation into a "vampire" was not originally for the sake of its magical power.

　What he mainly wants to obtain is the speed, flight ability, and ultimate move "Mist Transformation" of the "vampire"!

　After acquiring the "Mist Transformation" ultimate skill, Dark can turn his body into a blood mist when encountering danger, thereby avoiding physical damage.

　This greatly enhances its survival rate in this dark arena. Additionally, it can use its ultimate skill, "Command the Blood Beast," to summon a six-star "Blood Beast."

　Without hesitation, Darke summoned the Blood Bear immediately after transforming into a "vampire".

　The "Blood Bear" has the advantages of high health and defense, but it is relatively slow, making it a very obvious tank type.

　But Dark summoned it to be used as a sacrifice in the ritual!

　Sacrificing a six-star magical spirit, what do you want to summon?

　Of course, it's the six-star magical spirit—"Death Coffin"!

　Both teams set up their positions very quickly.

　However, the difference between the magical spirits quickly became apparent. Despite both being nine-star magical spirits, Dulles's "Terror Demon" was no match for "Ladydevouron."

　Although LadyDevimon's Dark Spear was caught by Terror's blood claws, it merely curled its lips into a smirk and unleashed its ultimate attack—Dark Wave—using the Dark Spear as a medium without hesitation! In an instant, countless dark red bats with purple vortexes swarmed out from the Dark Spear, surrounding Terror, who was almost within reach.

　The dark red bats turned into flames after biting, causing the "Terror Ghost" to burn.

　However, magical spirits have a weaker perception of pain, and puppets like "Terror Ghost," which are completely controlled by Dulles, have no concept of pain.