Chapter 16: You Xuan Has Done All the Bad Things

"My turn!"

Ryuzaki drew a card and immediately revealed it.

"Magic card, 'Graceful Charity.' Draw three cards from the deck, then discard two cards from my hand."

After swapping his hand, he immediately pulled out two other cards.

First, he slapped one of them directly onto the Duel Disk.

"I special summon this card, 'Hyper Hammerhead'!"

【Hyper Hammerhead, ATK 1400】

"Oh, Ryuzaki starts with a special summon!"

Commentator Xiao Du provided an explanation for the audience at the right time.

"'Hyper Hammerhead' is a monster card with the ability to be special summoned directly from the hand. But when using this ability to summon, it has a side effect where the opponent can choose a monster in their graveyard to special summon."

"Of course, the decision to use this effect lies with the opponent. And since it's only the first turn, You Xuan doesn't have a single monster in his graveyard. So naturally, he cannot use this effect," commentator Sasaki added.

Ryuzaki continued to reveal the second card: "Then the second one, special summon 'Hyper Hammerhead' number two!"

【Hyper Hammerhead, ATK 1400】

Ryuzaki hadn't been idle during the days he was out of the public eye. Although he was now called a "legendary duelist," it was merely because he had faced Yugi Wu Teng, Joey Wheeler, and others back in the day. Especially Joey—he had looked down on that "ordinary guy" when they first met, but now that times had changed, he had actually fallen to the point of having to make a living on the resume of having been "beaten up by Joey."

To return to the peak, he specifically improved his tactics, looking for the approach that best suited his Dragons and Dinosaurs.

In the end, he locked onto the suppression-style tactics represented by the world's most famous Dragon Master, Seto Kaiba, with fast attacks as the core.

"Dragons are the strongest creatures, and a Dragon Master must use extreme power for comprehensive suppression!"

Ryuzaki shouted.

"And a swift fast attack is the rhythm that best suits dragons. Feel the power of dragons! Battle, first use the first 'Hyper Hammerhead' to attack the set monster!"

The first dinosaur charged. You Xuan's set monster in the back row flipped over, revealing a small, red Machine-type monster.

【Machina Peacekeeper, DEF 400】

Machina, an old deck born in the DM era, first appeared in the DM spin-off manga "Yu-Gi-Oh! R." However, although it was born early in this world, it still had quite impressive combat power in the current environment.

The Machina with only 400 defense was naturally easily destroyed. You Xuan calmly sent it to the graveyard and said, "The effect of 'Machina Peacekeeper' activates."

"When this card on the field is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, I can add a Union monster from my deck to my hand."

He drew a card from his deck and showed it to Ryuzaki.

"I add the Union monster 'Machina Gearframe' to my hand."

"Machina?" Ryuzaki frowned slightly.

This was a deck series You Xuan had never used in previous matches.

"Deliberately holding back until the finals to use it? Does that mean the decks he used until now weren't his main force? Is he that confident?"

Ryuzaki was a bit surprised. It wasn't unheard of for duelists to hide their strength by using non-main decks in the arena, but it was rare to see someone reach the finals without showing their true skills.

After all, a duel is decided in one match; there's no chance to change decks halfway through. If someone held back their main deck and got stolen by the opponent's substitute, leading to elimination—playing the pig to eat the tiger only to become a real pig—that would truly be a laughingstock in the circle for ages.

"But it doesn't matter. Under the absolute power of my dinosaurs, there is no difference," Ryuzaki shouted. "Battle continues, use 'Hyper Hammerhead' number two to attack directly!"

"Flip the set card."

A trap card popped up in front of You Xuan.

"Trap card—Magic Cylinder!"

Ryuzaki was shocked: "It's actually Magic Cylinder?"

Commentator Sasaki also excitedly said: "Oh, oh! It's actually Magic Cylinder, the ace trap used in the deck of the former Duel King, Yugi Wu Teng!"

"It can negate the attack of an attacking monster and deal damage to the opponent equal to that monster's attack value!"

Magic Cylinder, which was clearly an overpowered card in the current 4000 HP environment, naturally didn't have a low market price, but by the GX era, it was no longer rare. Although it didn't have many formal appearances in the anime, it had played a supporting role several times. When building decks in the dorm, one could see it in Jaden's deck, Syrus Truesdale had used it when fighting passersby, and even some other passerby decks had it.

This was also one of the few cards You Xuan's predecessor had grinded for that he felt was decent.

Ryuzaki took the counter-damage head-on, his body swayed, and he gave a light "Tch."

【Ryuzaki, LP 4000 -> LP 2600】

"The one who drew first blood in the finals is Fujiki Youxuan!" said commentator Xiao Du. "I never expected that he would deal such heavy damage to Dinosaur Ryuzaki in the very first turn!"

"Does this look like even Ryuzaki has to get serious?"

Ryuzaki snorted, not taking it to heart.

This level was within expectations. He had long known that the opponent was the type who loved all kinds of traps, so jumping out two low-star dinosaurs to attack right away was not without the intention of stepping on a trap.

Traps are annoying, but you can't avoid them completely. After all, if you don't step on them, they stay there, and you can't just stare at them until the end of time, right?

Using a 1400 low-level monster to trigger a powerful trap like Magic Cylinder was an acceptable result.

"Then the Battle Phase ends," Ryuzaki continued. "Next, I will use the two 'Hyper Hammerheads' as offerings for a Tribute Summon!"

"Breaking out of the cocoon from the endless darkness, listen to my call and appear here—"

"—Level 7, Tri-Horned Dragon, summon!"

Both Hyper Hammerheads disappeared into the airflow vortex, golden claws and fangs emerged, and the giant demon dragon's footsteps landed, making the entire arena tremble under the realistic visual images and sensory effects.

【Tri-Horned Dragon, ATK 2850】

"Tri-Horned Dragon!" said commentator Xiao Du. "Not only did he launch a fierce double attack in the first turn, but he also went a step further to summon such a powerful tribute monster!"

"It seems this is also Ryuzaki's recognition of the challenger's strength, representing that he is going to fight with all his might!"

The demon dragon appeared, and Ryuzaki, standing in the storm of that summoning, felt his momentum soar, as if his height had increased by a notch.

"See that? This is my new dragon, Tri-Horned Dragon! It's stronger than the Red-Eyes and Evil Knight Dragon that were taken from me back then, and it is the symbol of my rebirth from the ashes!"

"Hmm..."

You Xuan originally wanted to say that this thing of yours is just a 7-star normal monster.

But on second thought, in that era before all kinds of Red-Eyes series derivative cards, Red-Eyes and Evil Knight Dragon seemed to be normal monsters that required two offerings...

Fine, he really couldn't refute that.

However...

He snapped his fingers.

"Flip the set card. Trap card—Bottomless Trap Hole. When the opponent summons a monster, turn that monster into face-down defense position, and it can never change its battle position."

To put it simply—

—I'm sending your Tri-Horned Dragon straight to the underworld!

The majestic Tri-Horned Dragon hadn't even stood firm before its feet slipped, and it fell into that giant pit, motionless.

Ryuzaki: "..."

Both commentators: "..."

Looking at Ryuzaki on the other side, who was still maintaining his summoning pose and looked a bit desolate in the cold wind, You Xuan suddenly had an inexplicable illusion.

An illusion that he had done all the bad things.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 17 =====