Chapter 343: For victory

Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, at first glance, didn't seem to be anything amazing, but it was a card that unexpectedly brought a huge impact to the environment when it was released.

It was actually mainly because of Cyber Dragon.

The birth of this card, to some extent, was undoubtedly both love and hate for the Cyber Dragon, which was recognized as the strongest attacker in the environment at that time.

Looking at the favorable side, it meant that Cyber Dragon became the nemesis of all Machine-Types. No matter what powerful Machine-Type monster the opponent summoned, as long as you Special Summoned Cyber Dragon, then Cyber Dragon could eat all the Machine-Type monsters on the opponent's field in one breath and transform into Chimeratech Fortress Dragon.

It was equivalent to Cyber Dragon having a self-contained "Super Polymerization"-style field-clearing ability. Even if the opponent had five "unaffected by any effects" full-resistance bosses on the field, they were just high-quality food in front of Cyber Dragon.

But from a pessimistic point of view, it also meant that Cyber Dragon itself became the opponent's food.

Before the birth of this card, there would often be a situation where one side jumped out a Cyber Dragon and then the whole duel was suppressed by one Cyber Dragon. 2100 ATK was an absolute insurmountable barrier for low-level attackers, and the suppression power of one Cyber Dragon was once very strong.

But once this card came out, the situation was different. As long as the opponent casually played any Machine-type monster, they could eat your Cyber Dragon—no, even the controller themselves had to keep in mind that they couldn't casually summon a second Machine-type monster when they had a Cyber Dragon on their field, otherwise it would definitely be taken for free by the opponent.

And you couldn't hold the fluke of "the opponent might not have brought Fortress Dragon." Because unlike now, the rule that the Extra Deck could have a maximum of fifteen cards was something that only appeared in 2008, which was when the Synchro era officially entered.

The reason is said to be because the official organization used to give card sleeves to tournament participants, so many people would bring 99+ super PLUS versions of Extra Decks to get free card sleeves. Konami felt that if this continued, their wool would be sheared bald, so they limited the number of Extra Deck cards to prohibit this behavior.

By the way, in fact, there was no explicit regulation in the GX era that the Main Deck must be under 60 cards, only that it must be over 40 cards. The 60-card limit rule was also added in the "Master Rule" first implemented by Synchro Summoning in 2008.

At the same time, the Side Deck regulations were also adjusted. Previously, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Side Deck requirement was that it must be 15 cards, not one more or one less. After the Master Rule was implemented, it became "15 cards or less."

That should also be the first large-scale retirement wave in Yu-Gi-Oh!. Not only for the new summoning method of "Synchro Summoning," but many old players felt that it was unreasonable for the Main Deck and Extra Deck to have upper limits added. In the past, theoretically, one could hold a super-large deck of hundreds of cards that "had everything" for entertainment, drawing whatever they got and playing whatever they got, but after the new rules, it was impossible.

In short, before the Synchro era, the Extra Deck was unlimited. So almost 100% of players would definitely bring "Chimeratech Fortress Dragon" in the Extra Deck, so as long as you dared to use Cyber Dragon, you had to be prepared that it would definitely be eaten.

Of course, this phenomenon of physical cards was based on the premise that Cyber Dragon was a top-tier general-purpose attacker in the environment and almost everyone would bring it.

But the anime world was different. After all, Cyber Dragon wasn't something everyone had here, so the appearance of "Chimeratech Fortress Dragon" seemed to only disgust one person.

That was Marufuji Ryo, whose facial muscles were twitching faintly...

"Chimeratech Fortress Dragon's original ATK becomes the number of Fusion Material monsters for this card x 1000." Fujiki You Xuan smiled. "Because it was Fusion Summoned using two Cyber Dragons, the ATK becomes 2000."

【Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, ATK 0 -> ATK 2000】

Marufuji Ryo: "..."

Kaiser, who had been firm in his belief to this step, finally began to seriously think about a question—

—When the opponent is a dog, is there really a need to respect them?

This was the most difficult duel he had felt in his life, and it was also the first duel that made him feel that the way he had been firm about had been shaken.

It seemed that at this moment, his suppressed instinct, the longing for victory, reached its peak.

Must win, must win.

What bond with old friends, what respect for the opponent's victory method, these didn't matter anymore.

It's fine to lose to anyone, but I don't want to lose to this kind of guy.

A shadow was quietly spreading in Kaiser's heart...

"Battle." Fujiki You Xuan said. "'Chimeratech Fortress Dragon', attack Marufuji-kun directly!"

【Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, ATK 2000】

【Marufuji Ryo, LP 1600】

Marufuji Ryo gritted his teeth.

Am I going to end here, losing to my old friend's hand?

No, that's absolutely impossible.

He didn't want to lose. Not today, not now, not in this way, can't lose to this opponent.

"Activate face-down card!"

Marufuji Ryo stood up against the fire, and hot flames burned in his eyes again.

"Trap Card - Wall of Revealing Light!!!"

Fujiki You Xuan chuckled with interest: "Huo, actually using this move."

"Activate when the opponent's monster declares an attack and I would receive battle damage." Kaiser shouted. "Until the battle damage becomes 0, send a card from the top of the deck to the Graveyard for every 100 damage!" (Original effect)

After being turned into a physical card, it was modified to 500 damage.

Marufuji Ryo hissed and shouted, pulling out a large handful of cards from his deck in one breath, which fluttered in the air like flying snow.

"I... send nineteen cards from my deck to the Graveyard!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 344 =====

"This, this, this method of the Lord in Yellow is simply beyond imagination in its despicableness... ah, no, I mean exquisite." He continued his commentary, "Kaiser's powerful formation was actually broken by him so casually again.

In this way, Card Trooper hasn't attacked yet; if the attack goes through, it will still be Kaiser's defeat."

As he spoke, his tone couldn't help but carry a bit of regret.

He truly felt that Kaiser had tried his best. But there was no help for it; no matter how strong Kaiser was, he was ultimately just the King among students.

A King cannot beat a dog-thing that doesn't act like a human.

"Card Trooper, direct attack." Fujiki You Xuan said.

The triple-shot firing was like the judgment of the Grim Reaper. The firelight illuminated Marufuji Ryo's face, which looked somewhat disheveled under the projection effect; this Academy King no longer had the fighting spirit he had when he first entered the field, and his eyes only revealed a kind of heart-weary exhaustion.

He even discovered with surprise that, at this moment, the thought had once crossed his mind: should he just give up?

Give this match to him; he didn't want to fight anymore.

But the moment he realized this absurd thought, he immediately extinguished it.

No, that wouldn't do.

He was a duelist, a duelist who must always give his all and pursue victory at any cost.

Only a full-force battle, using every means to crave victory, was the best respect for an opponent.

Even if for this... even old friends had to be abandoned.

"Activate face-down card!"

Marufuji Ryo stood up, facing the firelight, and scorching flames reignited in his eyes.

"Trap card—Wall of Revealing Light!!!"

Fujiki You Xuan chuckled with interest: "Ho, you actually used this move."

"It can only be activated when the opponent's monster's attack would cause me to take battle damage." Kaiser shouted, "Until that battle damage becomes 0, send one card from the top of the Deck to the Graveyard for every 100 points of damage!" (Original effect)

After being made into a physical card, it was changed to 500 damage.

Marufuji Ryo shouted hoarsely, pulling a large handful of cards from his Deck in one breath, which fluttered in the air like falling snow.

"I send... nineteen cards from my Deck to the Graveyard!"

(End of chapter)