Chapter 1154: Mutual Defense
"You wanted to know what my Temple of the Kings did?"
Kira grinned.
"Well, now you know.
Continuous Spell—’Temple of the Kings.’ As long as this card is on the field, the controller can activate any of their trap cards during the turn they’re set." (old effect)
This overpowered effect is long gone from modern Yugioh, watered down by the "once per turn" clause. But back in the day, Shrine allowed incredible trap dominance—a must-have for any "stall" deck.
The Enforcer was in shock. Even though his face was obscured, his eyes betrayed a mix of anger and disbelief.
He quickly understood the implication.
If traps can be activated the turn they’re set, then what were once delayed defensive tools are now instant—almost like spell-speed 2 hand-traps.
And for the Scrap-Iron Series, which reset after triggering, this meant there was absolutely no practical limit to their use.
If Scrap-Iron Scarecrow is on the field—you could never land an attack. If Scrap-Iron Barricade is in play, all of Kira’s monsters were essentially immune to destruction by effects.
No restriction, a perfect iron wall!
The Enforcer’s mouth twitched.
He couldn’t break through or bomb them away.
And that damned submarine...
Looking at Submarineroid sitting defensively on Kira’s field, he felt a headache incoming.
The opponent’s defense was nearly impenetrable, and that sub could ping him for 800 each turn. Left unchecked, he’d die by a thousand cuts—especially if things remained even as they were.
Worse, he was sure Kira had more combos up his sleeve—after all, this was only the beginning: those resettable trap pits, Marshmallow for stall, Submarineroid for chip damage, combined with the Shrine meant for trap optimization...
It was easy to imagine: the longer this dragged on, the deeper he’d be mired in endless traps. Things would only grow more dire.
The Enforcer scowled at his hand.
No breakthrough for now... Fine. He’d play it safe.
"I set a card, turn end," he said grimly.
Kira: "My turn. Draw."
He drew, took a glance at his new card, but had no intention of summoning more monsters or expanding his field. He simply switched Submarineroid from defense to attack.
"Switch Submarineroid to Attack Position."
[Submarineroid, DEF 1800 → ATK 800]
"Battle—Submarineroid, direct attack!"
The invincible submarine burrowed underground, about to strike.
Here we go again!
Even the immobilized President Clark, watching the duel, was speechless.
What is this deck, anyway?
Scrap-Iron Scarecrow plus Barricade, complete lockdown on attacking and monster removal, and every turn, a humiliating 800-point slap...
Honestly, it was sort of impressive.
And compared to getting wiped out by a flashy boss monster, this kind of slow, grinding defeat felt like death by a thousand cuts—not painful each turn, but plenty of time to savor your approaching doom.
Red light flashed in the Enforcer’s eyes.
A submarine?
"You think you can beat me with this? Me—the Enforcer of Iliaster?!"
He straightened, yelled in outrage.
"Don’t make me laugh!"
At the same moment, his back-row trap lit up, flooding the room with a blinding light.
"Continuous Trap—’Wall of Revealing Light’!
Pay life points in multiples of 1000 to activate.
For as long as Wall of Revealing Light is on the field, all opponent’s monsters with ATK equal to or less than the paid amount cannot attack!"
The Enforcer placed his right fist over his heart.
"I pay 1000 life points to seal Submarineroid’s attack!"
[Enforcer, LP 3200 → LP 2200]
The floor splintered, beams of light leaked through the cracks. Golden threads shot up from the ground, then spread into thousands of shards forming three concentric arcs—the Wall of Revealing Light.
A high-pitched metallic sound rang out as the submarine crashed into the wall of light. Sparks flew; Submarineroid retreated dizzily.
"Oh? That scared of my submarine?"
Kira grinned.
"For just 800 damage, you spent 1000 LP to block me. Am I really that scary?"
"Shut up," growled the Enforcer.
But this wasn’t just for this turn. Now, Submarineroid’s output was sealed.
Though the Scrap-Iron traps still gave him a headache, at least he’d blocked the opponent’s offense.
Now the duel entered the phase of a staring contest—both sides locked in perpetual defense.
Let’s hurt each other, then!
The Enforcer sneered inwardly.
So you want to stall? Well, two can play at that game.
He was Iliaster’s Enforcer, a veteran of countless timelines, and had witnessed more battles than most could imagine.
The Enforcer tightened his fists grimly.
"You people know nothing. You’ve never seen true despair—have never watched everything you care about die in your arms as the world falls to darkness.
The agony of being helpless to protect anything—of seeing the world swallowed by oblivion..."
He pounded his fist to his chest.
"To walk on bearing such despair, such pain—our resolve, you could never understand!"
"Oh? So you’re from the future too?"
Kira got interested.
"In that case, are you Z-ONE’s partner?"