Chapter 84: Insane Combo

“Storm, destroy all magic trap cards on the field!”

The strongest tool for clearing the back row swept across the entire field. Yu Xuan’s “Insect Net” defense line collapsed, and all three face-down cards in his back row were swept up by the storm.

“At the moment of destruction, chain-trigger one of those trap cards—‘No Entry!!’—and turn all face-up attack-position monsters on the field to defense position.”

“I use this effect to turn ‘Leader·Zarug’ into defense position.”

【Leader·Zarug, ATK 1400 → DEF 1500】

Another of the swept-up traps, barely visible in its shattered afterimage, was clearly “The Pit of Narak.”

Merely glimpsing the afterimage of that exit-red pit sent a chill through the spectators, and more of them silently thought, “I definitely don’t want to end up there.”

“Also, the other face-down card you just destroyed was a spell card—‘Divine Summoning.’” Yu Xuan said calmly, “When this card is destroyed by an opponent’s card effect and sent to the graveyard, you may select two spell cards from your deck and set them face-down on your field.” (Anime effect)

This spell card was used by Yugi Tenma in the anime, but when cardized, it was neutered to only search one Quick-Play spell.

Although the trigger condition—only activating when destroyed by the opponent—is inconvenient, the effect of selecting any two spell cards remains extremely powerful.

“I search for these two cards from my deck.”

Yu Xuan drew two cards that popped out from his deck.

“I set ‘Reinforcement of the Army’ and ‘Resurrection’ face-down on the field.”

“But now there’s no attack lock and no traps left!” Watanabe Shuichi shouted, “Activate the effect of ‘Hellfire Centipede’ in my hand!”

“When your opponent has monsters on the field and you have none, this card can be summoned directly without tribute by halving its original ATK.”

“Therefore, I summon ‘Hellfire Centipede’ directly!”

【Hellfire Centipede, ATK 1300】

“Then activate the equip spell—‘Foolish Axe’!” Watanabe Shuichi shouted, “The equipped monster gains 1000 ATK and its effects are negated!”

“Hellfire Centipede’s summoning effect is negated, so its side effect is cleared, and its ATK returns to 2600! Then it gains the boost from Foolish Axe—ATK rises to 3600!”

【Hellfire Centipede, ATK 1300 → ATK 3600】

“Now activate the equip spell—‘Nitro Device’!” Shuichi said, “This card can only be equipped to your opponent’s monster. When the equipped monster is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, inflict damage equal to its ATK to your opponent!”

“I equip ‘Nitro Device’ to ‘Leader·Zarug’!”

A bomb canister instantly bound itself around the defense-position Zarug, its rough face etched with utter despair.

“Hellfire Centipede, attack ‘Leader·Zarug’!”

【Leader·Zarug, DEF 1500】

The giant insect crushed the miserable leader with ease, triggering the chain explosion of the Nitro Device attached to it. A thunderous blast engulfed half of Yu Xuan’s battlefield, and the shockwave swept over him.

【Yu Xuan, LP 3000 → LP 1600】

“I set two more cards face-down. End my turn!” Watanabe Shuichi declared.

“.”

“No wonder Watanabe-kun is so good,” the busty senior on the stands continued her commentary, “Even in this situation, he broke through and regained control.”

“Indeed. And judging by his setup, his back row is now solidly fortified—he’s firmly anchored.” The Duel Club student beside her added, “That freshman may have gained the upper hand with some... peculiar tactics, but it looks like he’s reached his limit.”

“Still, his performance has been outstanding. The judges should definitely pass him.”

Watanabe Shuichi himself believed the same.

On his field stood Hellfire Centipede with a full 3600 ATK. One of his face-down cards was the trap ‘Security Ball,’ which could switch an attacking monster to defense mode. If destroyed by an opponent’s spell or trap, it could also destroy one monster on the field.

A premium trap with both defense and counterattack capabilities.

The other was the trap ‘Sacred Spear,’ which restored his LP equal to the ATK of any monster that declared an attack—another defensive trap.

His defense was nearly flawless.

But Shuichi didn’t realize it yet.

In fact, the moment he destroyed ‘Divine Summoning’ and triggered Yu Xuan’s deck search, the duel was already over.

Yu Xuan: “My draw phase.”

The formula for victory was complete.

“Activate spell card ‘Hurricane’—return all spell and trap cards on both fields to their owners’ hands!”

The storm surged again. Yu Xuan’s face-down ‘Resurrection’ and Shuichi’s two face-down traps returned to their owners’ hands.

Watanabe Shuichi glanced at his two traps returning to his hand and smirked.

The back row defense was gone, but it didn’t matter. Even without Foolish Axe’s boost, Hellfire Centipede’s ATK was still 2600—more than enough. And his LP was still 2600.

Can you really one-shot me in a single turn?

Yu Xuan drew another card blown back into his hand by ‘Hurricane’: “I activate the spell card ‘Reinforcement of the Army,’ retrieved last turn via ‘Divine Summoning’—add a Level 4 or lower Warrior-type monster from my deck to my hand.”

“I add ‘Iron Knight Gia-Fried’ to my hand.”

Iron Knight Gia-Fried was one of Jin’s signature low-level monsters in the DM era. By the GX era, it had become a common, generic low-level card—even random elementary schoolers dueling Marufuji in flashbacks used it.

Yu Xuan: “Normal summon ‘Iron Knight Gia-Fried’!”

【Iron Knight Gia-Fried, ATK 1800】

“Then activate the spell card ‘Resurrection’ returned to my hand!” Yu Xuan said, “Revive this card—previously discarded to the graveyard by ‘Angel’s Gift’—”

“—Magical Beast Cerberus!”

【Magical Beast Cerberus, ATK 1400】

Iron Knight and Magical Beast appeared simultaneously. Any seasoned real-card player watching now immediately recognized the terrifying combo—and many were already preparing to surrender on the spot.

Because seeing these two together meant everyone knew exactly what was coming next.

One of the earliest, most insane combos in Yu-Gi-Oh! history.

Watanabe Shuichi frowned: “Why summon so many weak monsters?”

“Don’t rush. My final card is this.”

Yu Xuan waved his hand.

“Equip spell—‘Butterfly Dagger—Echo’!”

【Equip Spell, Butterfly Dagger—Echo

Effect: Equip monster gains 300 ATK. When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard while equipped to a monster, return it to its owner’s hand.】

At first glance, it looked like a pathetic, worthless equip card—utterly mundane. A new player just starting Yu-Gi-Oh! might wonder: how could such a bland card earn legendary “blacklist-for-life” status?

Clearly, no one in the crowd yet grasped the severity. No one understood what Yu Xuan was planning.

“Equip ‘Butterfly Dagger—Echo’ to ‘Iron Knight Gia-Fried’—ATK increases by 300.” Yu Xuan said, “But ‘Iron Knight Gia-Fried’ has an effect.”

“He cannot be equipped with any equip cards. When this card attempts to equip him, the equip card is immediately destroyed.”

“Therefore, ‘Butterfly Dagger—Echo’ is destroyed.”

Shuichi: “?”

Why destroy your own equip card?

“At this moment, the second effect of ‘Butterfly Dagger—Echo’ activates: when this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard while equipped, return it to its owner’s hand.”

“Therefore, I return ‘Butterfly Dagger—Echo’ from the graveyard to my hand.”

Shuichi frowned: “Even so, this is meaningless.”

“Of course it is.” Yu Xuan said, “I still have ‘Magical Beast Cerberus’ on the field. Whenever any player activates a spell card, place one magic counter on it.”

“And its ATK increases by 500 for each magic counter on it.”

【Magical Beast Cerberus, ATK 1400 → ATK 1900】

Watanabe Shuichi: “Just 500 more ATK? What the—!”

He began to sense something was wrong.

Wait—

Could it be—

“Equip ‘Butterfly Dagger—Echo’ again to ‘Iron Knight Gia-Fried.’ But due to the knight’s own effect, it is immediately destroyed again.”

“Then, ‘Butterfly Dagger—Echo’ returns to my hand via its own effect.”

“Since another spell card was activated, ‘Magical Beast Cerberus’ gains another 500 ATK.”

【Magical Beast Cerberus, ATK 1900 → ATK 2400】

“Y-you—” Watanabe Shuichi began to tremble.

Even the slowest spectators now realized what was happening.

It’s an infinite loop!

One of the earliest, simplest, and most minimal infinite loops in Yu-Gi-Oh! history.

Equip Butterfly Dagger to Iron Knight, it self-destructs due to the knight’s effect, then returns to hand via its own effect—allowing you to activate a spell card an infinite number of times per turn.

Correspondingly, Magical Beast Cerberus’s ATK rises infinitely with each activation.

But in practice, this combo was never top-tier back then. Butterfly Dagger—Echo wasn’t banned until March 2005, and before that, it never achieved strong results in World Championships. Though the loop was brutal, it was ultimately just a flashy trick—it couldn’t compete with the dominant decks of the era.

Before his transmigration, Yu Xuan had once experimented with this deck using early cards out of curiosity, but found it far less devastating than he imagined. Success rate was low, and even if you assembled the pieces, one single negation would kill it instantly—it couldn’t beat the top-tier decks of the time.

But Konami has always had zero tolerance for infinite loops—anything even remotely connected to them has been banned since history began.

But tricks like this? They’re meant to be one-time dazzling spectacles.

And when they work, they’re incredibly cool.

In real life, turn time is capped—but in this world, there’s no limit. The anime only forces a turn end after a set time without action; total turn duration is unrestricted.

Watching the Magical Beast’s ATK climb endlessly, Watanabe Shuichi was nearly suffocating, trembling speechless.

“Brother, you—this—”

“Butterfly Dagger activates again—Magical Beast’s ATK rises again!”

【Magical Beast Cerberus, ATK 12400】

He was about to cry.

It was almost unimaginable how excruciating the three-dimensional impact of such an attack would be.

He wanted to say, “No, brother, don’t we have no grudge against each other?”

Is that really necessary?

The other spectators had long been numb; even the host’s jaw nearly dropped to the ground.

This turn of events even left Wanzhangmu, who thought he had already seen the true nature of this bastard, frozen in shock.

He stared for a long while, muttering to himself unconsciously.

“Who exactly are you?”

The entire arena fell silent, as if everyone had turned to stone, watching You Xuan alone operate like a recording machine.

【Magic Beast—Cerberus, Attack 22400】

“Hmm, that’s enough.”

Although I could keep going, operating nonstop is exhausting.

Come to think of it, Brother hasn’t surrendered or run away yet—he’s really something.

So, to thank Brother for not running away…

“‘Magic Beast—Cerberus,’ attack ‘Hell Giant Centipede’!”

【Hell Giant Centipede, Attack 2600】

Watanabe Shuichi: “.”

A roar from hell surged over him, a terrifying impact sweeping through his body.

【Watanabe Shuichi, LP 2600 → LP 0】

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(End of Chapter)