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

　However, the intelligent "Astarmon" continued to fire at a rate of one shot per second.

　The "Golden Salmon" bullets consume ten points of magic power each, and one bullet per second can last for four hundred and fifty seconds, or a full fifteen rounds.

　For the next fifteen rounds, Dark had no idea what kind of magical spirit he could summon!

Chapter 1547 Darkdemon's First Qualifying Victory (5k)

　Time is slipping away, bit by bit.

　As the commotion on the dueling stage subsided, the audience's attention naturally turned to the projection display showing the round countdown.

　The fairy mist gradually spread to the blue team's territory.

　Dak stopped to observe Dulles when he was only five or six meters away from him.

　By this point, he could clearly sense the extremely strong aura of death emanating from Dulles's location.

　This aura of death was mixed with the aura of the dueling arena. Although intense, it was not easy to distinguish.

　Dark emerged from the "Misty Field" and came into Dulles's view.

　But he soon discovered that Dulles did not react to his approach.

　Furthermore, since Dulles has not summoned any magical spirits since firing the "Astaroth," it can be basically confirmed that he is currently in a state of being cut off from the outside world and unable to move freely.

　"This hiding technique is far inferior to Professor Enid's."

　"Dark couldn't help but whisper."

　Dulles's method of hiding not only has the same flaws as the "illusionary realm," but also has drawbacks that the "illusionary realm" does not have.

　The Astaroth responded so perfectly that it almost completely sealed Dulles within the space he created.

　Dark was able to roughly discern that Dulles was currently in some other dimension.

　But he can't do anything in that alternate dimension. Therefore, unless he can stay hidden in that alternate dimension forever, the outcome of this duel is already a foregone conclusion.

　Dark was at a loss for words when it came to evaluating this self-inflicted predicament.

　He had initially thought this duel would be relatively dangerous. In particular, Dulles's opening move, which drastically altered the dueling arena, gave the impression that he would immediately unleash his full power.

　And after that, Dulles did indeed summon a very powerful "Terror Ghost".

　But after that "fearsome ghost," everything seemed to come to a standstill. Dulles stood there, motionless.

　Like a prisoner awaiting hanging.

　"I wonder if, after a while, I'll be able to apply for a ruling of passive play."

　After waiting for another round, Dark turned to look at one of the four referees.

　But the referee himself was completely bewildered.

　Because he had absolutely no preconceived notions about such matters and had never encountered this situation before.

　In a normal duel, even if the duelists are hiding in a "turtle shell," they will definitely try their best to launch a counterattack.

　In other words, he will definitely come out of the "turtle shell".

　Even Professor Enid, who was almost entirely hiding in the "illusory realm," was still summoning new magic cards.

　But after Dulles fired the "Astaroth" shot, he did not move at all, and did not even summon another magic card. This makes us wonder what state he was in and what he wanted to do.

　The four referees looked at each other, exchanged quick words, and finally shook their heads slightly, indicating that they could not make a decision.

　"Di!"

　Another round has passed.

　The duel had now entered its fourth round.

　The holographic projection shows that Dulles's Duel Disk is functioning properly.

　It has now automatically drawn three rounds of magic cards, increasing Dulles's hand from four to ten cards.

　In other words, the number of cards in a magic duel in this world is not yet limited, otherwise he would have already started randomly discarding cards.

　But if this continues, Dulles's deck will be completely drained by the nineteenth round.

　However, in this world's magical duels, there is no rule that the match ends when the deck is empty.

　"Beep!" The fifth round begins.

　Dark's hand has now been restored to nine cards.

　If this continues, the "Paradise? Misty Field" effect will be removed.

　Dulles had been hiding in that "alternate dimension" for almost two minutes. Dark frowned, about to ask the referee again, when he suddenly noticed a small freckle on Dulles's face.

　Having spent so much time with Professor Harvey, Darke naturally recognized it at a glance—it was a "livor mortis"!

　"Why did livor mortis appear on his body?" Those who frequently perform autopsies know the answer.

　Lividity is caused by the cessation of blood circulation after death. Blood in the cardiovascular system lacks power and accumulates in the lower part of the body along the vascular network. The blood vessels in the upper part of the body are empty, while the blood vessels in the lower part of the body are congested. The capillaries and venules in the lower part of the body are filled with blood, which appears as dark red to dark purplish-red spots through the skin. These spots start out as cloud-like or striped, and eventually gradually form patches, which are called livor mortis.

　In other words, this phenomenon only begins to appear two to four hours after a person dies.

　But Dulles was clearly not dead—otherwise the duel would have ended automatically—yet "lividity" appeared on his body.

　A thought struck Dak, and he immediately understood.

　The space Dulles used to hide must have been a space associated with the "dead".

　Lividity occurs on the skin of living organisms due to specific reasons.

　Even if he is not dead yet, it means he is very close to death.

　As livor mortis develops over a large area, he will be closer and closer to death.

　"Professor Enid's prolonged stay within the 'illusory realm' would place a tremendous burden on her brain."

　"Was the price Dulles paid for hiding in a realm of the dead—being assimilated into the undead?"

　After a moment's thought, Dak was already very close to the truth. He immediately became slightly worried.

　Dulles was merely one of his opponents in the dueling match, and the two had a fairly pleasant interaction; they were far from being "enemies."

　He certainly didn't want Dulles to be assimilated into the dead just because of a duel.

　However... since it's during a magical duel, shouldn't things return to their original state after the duel ends?

　The spirits of the dead are transformed from the dead.

　Between the living and the dead, there must be a process of becoming the dead.

　The duel will end the moment Dulles is confirmed dead.

　The rate at which livor mortis appeared on Dulles's body accelerated significantly.

　In the blink of an eye, several more pieces appeared.

　This means he can't hold on for much longer.

　"Then wait a little longer."

　Being able to win the game easily isn't necessarily a bad thing.

　Dark stepped back slightly and summoned Renamon from the fairy mist, then Mega Evolved it into Priestmon.

　The "Priest Beast" can wield the "Death Rune" to summon a barrier that protects our forces.

　As the saying goes, nothing is ever wrong.

　"Di-"

　The sixth round.

　The "Mist Field" effect only lasts for five rounds before dissipating.

　But Dulles's body was covered in so many livid spots that they completely obscured his face.

　The scene, combined with the terrifying environment of the dueling arena, was like being in a zombie movie, sending chills down one's spine.

　The audience outside the stadium was completely silent.

　The commentator fell silent, unsure of what to say. But at that moment, a slight ripple appeared where Dulles was standing!

　Dark remained vigilant and thus detected it immediately. The slight fluctuation carried the aura of the undead and a tremor of space. Dulles finally couldn't resist coming out!

　"call out--"

　A bullet burning with hellfire entered Dulles's forehead, but as if in a phantom, it pierced through the back of his head.

　That slight fluctuation appeared with absolute precision in that instant. Dulles abruptly opened his eyes!

　The lividity on his body did not fade immediately, but his body clearly gave the impression that he was "alive".

　(Astaroth) fires one bullet per second.

　After dodging the bullet, he had one second to physically evade it.

　His body lunged downwards almost instantly; it was the fastest movement he could make.

　The next second, Astaroth's second bullet flew over its head.

　"Escaped!"

　Zoe's voice entered his mind. Dulles felt a sudden surge of joy.

　He can only last a maximum of three minutes in the "dead space".

　But the closer he gets to his limit, the more rigid his body and even his mind become.

　Especially those last thirty seconds, it's a rapid process of freezing. So he could only hold on until now, and then he had to come out. The action of him coming out of the "death space" and lunging forward was done on Zoe's orders.

　His unconditional trust in Zoe was what allowed him to dodge the bullets that were fired just one second apart.

　Now that you've dodged that bullet, it's time to retaliate!

　He didn't stop, but continued rolling to the side. This was the route Zoe had planned for him over those two minutes. Dodging the first bullet was just the beginning.

　He had to keep dodging the second, third, fourth... and even more bullets!

　More importantly, he needs to cast a normal summoning spell during this tumbling process.

　At the very least, that magic card needs to be summoned to turn the tide.

　"In the name of Dulles..."

　"It flew back!" Zoe's voice suddenly rang out. But Dulles completely ignored it.

　As the saying goes, "once bitten, twice shy," if he hadn't been influenced by Zoe, he wouldn't have been forced to hide in the "Dead Space" before even being able to summon his second magic card.

　The magic card he is about to summon is called "Undead Legion".

　This is a magic card with a similar effect to "Hyakki Yagyō" (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons). Its effect is to designate one of the summoned undead as "Legion Commander" and thus summon more undead to form an army.

　Those undead cannot have a star rating higher than "Legion Commander", which is the undead "Terror Ghost"!

　Dulles considered himself lucky; the duel was far from over! He now had fourteen cards in his hand.

　Of the fourteen cards in his hand, eight were Magical Spirit cards. All the Magical Spirit cards he put in his deck were Undead. Among those eight Undead Magical Spirit cards, there was one three-star, two six-star, four nine-star, and one twelve-star.

　This means that if given just three seconds, he can summon seven of the Magical Spirits cards in one go, and then immediately sacrifice them to summon the Twelve Star Magical Spirits.

　That wasn't his final trump card, but it was enough to give him an advantage... Even if he couldn't gain an advantage, it would at least allow him to hold on... He should be able to...

　Three seconds is an extremely short time.

　Dulles concentrated to the limit; he had never felt such a high level of concentration before.

　No matter how much he rolled around or how noisy Zoe's voice was, he was not interrupted from his summoning.

　Finally, three seconds later. "It's over!"

　The moment Dulles snapped out of his state of complete mental concentration, he heard Zoe's wail.

　The wailing was so agonizing, it was as if it had died again. Dulles paused, looking at the glowing "legion of the undead," and then...

　It was affected by its own [earth knock 1], but the net only lasted for a short three seconds, less than three seconds.

　His full eight thousand "health points" were reduced to 0.

　His actions were swift, his movements were flawless, and he did everything to the best of his ability in the process.

　But those eight thousand "health points" still became zero. He wasn't even given a chance to "fight for the last man." "What happened, Zoe?" Dulles couldn't help but ask. His voice was amplified slightly by the projection.