The zombie spoke in a dry, raspy voice, activating its Duel Disk and drawing five cards.
"Alright, let's give it a shot then."
Even for Kira, dueling a zombie—or something that at least looked like one—was a novel experience. He didn't mind trying it out.
"Then, I'll go first. Draw."
Kira drew a card, quickly scanning his hand.
"I activate the Spell Card 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards from my deck."
Starting off with a banned card for a +2 draw—surely Mr. Zombie wouldn't have any objections.
"I set a monster face-down in Defense Position."
Kira placed a monster card onto his Duel Disk.
"Next, I activate the Field Spell 'Catapult Zone.'"
A loud rumbling echoed as the forest vanished. A massive fortress rose in the background, and two enormous catapults made of heavy iron and wood landed on the plain like two impenetrable strongholds.
The dueling zombie squinted at the shifting scenery, occasionally letting out muddled groans from its nose. But it was unclear whether its brain could actually comprehend what was happening in the duel.
"I set two cards face-down and end my turn."
Honestly, Kira was a little curious about how the zombie would duel, and how it would attack.
It wasn't that he expected any flashy combos or powerful plays—he was simply interested in how much dueling ability a zombified duelist could retain.
After all, traditional zombies are always labeled as undead, brainless creatures—once someone turns into a zombie, they're essentially dead and can't think. If that were the case, they shouldn't be able to duel at all.
The zombie slowly drew a card, then squinted as if struggling to recognize its hand.
"Graceful Charity, activate." He said, "Draw three, then... discard two."
With grimy hands, he drew three cards, then clumsily picked two to send to the Graveyard. The whole process looked rather awkward.
"Continuous Spell 'Solidarity'... activate."
A green Spell Card shimmered into existence in the zombie's back row.
"Then, I summon Blue Thunder T45."
A bolt of lightning tore through the sky and landed in the catapult zone. The jet's body was a deep sapphire blue, sleek lines flowing across its frame as it descended with roaring engines.
[Blue Thunder T45, ATK 1700]
"A thunder... a fighter jet?"
Kira frowned, scrutinizing the zombie more closely.
"Don't tell me... you're Morita, the pro league duelist?"
Kira didn't know many pro players well; even if he'd seen some before, he rarely remembered them. But this Morita guy stood out because he remembered his deck featured several special fighter jet cards.
Blue Thunder T45, which was based on the K company's arcade game 'Raiden Fighters,' and another called 'Big Blade Beta,' based on a ship from K's side-scrolling shooter 'Gradius.'
But why would a pro end up turning into a zombie in a place ?
Morita ignored him, continuing: "Solidarity, ATK up."
Solidarity: If there's only one Type in your Graveyard, all your monsters of that Type gain 800 ATK.
Looks like his Graveyard is all Machines, so Blue Thunder's ATK increases by 800.
[Blue Thunder T45, ATK 1700 → 2500]
"Blue Thunder, attack the set monster."
The command sounded labored. Blue Thunder's engines roared as it launched, twin energy beams blasting toward Kira's face-down monster.
[Magician of Faith, DEF 400]
"Field Spell 'Catapult Zone' effect," Kira said. "When my monster would be destroyed by battle, I can send one Rock-type monster from my deck to the Graveyard instead."
The deck auto-searched, and a card popped out. Kira took it and displayed it.
"I send 'Tackle Crusader' from my deck to the Graveyard instead of destroying 'Magician of Faith.'"
Catapult Zone's effect acted like a stone barrier, protecting the magician. The lightning beams struck the stone, sending shockwaves through the field.
"Now, I'll resolve 'Magician of Faith's' effect."
Kira smiled, tapping the now-flipped magician.
"When this card is flipped, I can add one Spell Card from my Graveyard to my hand."
A golden light shone from his Graveyard, and Kira retrieved a card.
"I add 'Pot of Greed' from my Graveyard to my hand."
"Now, let's resolve 'Tackle Crusader's' effect," Kira continued. "When sent to the Graveyard, I can choose one of two effects:
Change one face-up monster your opponent controls to face-down Defense Position,
Or return one of your opponent's face-up Spell/Trap Cards to their hand, and they can't activate cards with that name this turn."
Kira pointed at Morita's back row.
"I'll return 'Solidarity' to your hand, and you can't activate it again this turn."
A phantom of Tackle Crusader flashed briefly on Kira's field. Golden light enveloped Morita's Spell Card, which turned into a beam and shot back to his hand.
Morita's hollow eyes spun around, thinking. His sluggish brain seemed to slowly grasp the situation.
With Catapult Zone on the field, whenever Kira's monster would be destroyed by battle, he could just send a Rock from his deck instead.
And by sending Tackle Crusader, he could either flip an opponent's monster face-down or bounce a back-row card.
In other words, every time his opponent tried to attack, he'd fall into a trap—one dug straight from Kira's deck. The rightful source is novel★fire.net
The zombie stared wide-eyed at Kira.
"Oh? Not bad, you can at least read the board and understand the situation," Kira commented.
Makes sense, though. As he'd thought earlier, if you didn't have any intelligence, you couldn't duel.
So in Yu-Gi-Oh, zombies are less mindless monsters and more like brainwashed duelists. Their heads might be filled with nothing but dueling, and they attack others through card games—but at least they can strategize.
Turns out, even being a zombie in this world requires skill. You even have to use your brain.
Of course, this was just a theory. More testing was needed.
And the way to test it was simple.
Just play a couple more turns and see if he gets mad.