Chapter 89: Sanze

“I’ll activate another Equip Spell: ‘Guardian’s Power,’ and equip it to one of my ‘Transformable Machine Beasts – Gunner Dragon’!”

A card from Sanze’s back row materialized, golden guardian light enveloping the entire body of one Gunner Dragon.

“When the equipped monster battles, it gains a magic counter and its attack increases by 500,” Sanze said. “And by removing a magic counter from this card, you can protect the equipped monster from destruction by battle or card effects!”

“Then, I move to the Battle Phase!”

Sanze waved his hand and launched an immediate attack.

“With traps sealed, you can’t counter my assault! As I said, we’ll decide the winner this turn, Number One!”

“First, ‘Mathematician’ attacks the face-down monster!”

The face-down monster flipped over, revealing a blonde female magician, hunched on the field with her staff cradled in both arms.

【Apprentice Magician, DEF 800】

An DEF of 800 naturally couldn’t withstand the attack. The Mathematician swung his magical wand, but instead of a blast of magic, a long string of mathematical symbols and formulas spiraled around the magician like psychic pollution.

The Apprentice Magician struggled desperately, but finally, she couldn’t resist the power of mathematics. She screamed, clutching her head, then exploded with a thunderous crash.

Yu Xuan could relate all too well.

Math really could make you explode on the spot.

“The effect of ‘Apprentice Magician,’” Yu Xuan said. “When this card is destroyed by battle, special summon one Level 2 or lower Spellcaster-type monster from your deck in face-down defense position.”

He shuffled his deck and drew a card.

“Since ‘Apprentice Magician’ itself is Level 2 or lower, I special summon a second ‘Apprentice Magician’ from my deck in face-down defense position.”

“So it’s a ‘last words’ monster? Then ‘Gunner Dragon Unit One,’ attack the face-down magician again!”

At that exact moment, the effect of ‘Guardian’s Power’ equipped to the Gunner Dragon activated!

The Gunner Dragon’s attack increases by 500!

【Transformable Machine Beast – Gunner Dragon, ATK 2800 → ATK 3300】

The powerful cannon blast destroyed the second magician, naturally triggering its last words effect.

“This time, I cover one Level 1 ‘Sacred Magician’ from my deck.”

【Sacred Magician, DEF 400】

“Then, ‘Gunner Dragon Unit Two,’ attack the Sacred Magician!”

The face-down monster flipped, revealing the tiny magician’s true form. But in that instant, she swept her staff lightly—magic sparks fell into Yu Xuan’s duel field’s graveyard.

“At this moment, the effect of Sacred Magician activates. When this card is flipped face-up, you can add one Spell Card from your graveyard to your hand.”

Yu Xuan drew a Spell Card that popped out from his graveyard.

“I recover ‘Mischievous Twin Demons’ from my graveyard.”

Sanze: “You blocked it all?”

Now only his Gunner Dragon, whose attack had dropped to 400, remained unattacked—but due to Meteor Bow, it could attack directly anyway.

“Final ‘Transformable Machine Beast – Gunner Dragon,’ direct attack!”

Yu Xuan closed his eyes lightly, standing straight as he calmly absorbed the 3D projection’s cannon blast.

【Yu Xuan, LP 3000 → LP 2600】

The attack was barely a scratch—more for frustration than actual damage.

“Then, I activate the second effect of ‘Magical Wand’: send this card and the equipped monster to the graveyard to draw two cards.”

“I send ‘Magical Wand’ and ‘Mathematician’ to the graveyard and draw two cards!”

After drawing, he immediately played one of them.

“Spell Card: ‘Seven-Star Blade’! Exclude one Level 7 monster from your hand or field to draw two cards!”

“I exclude my Level 7, ATK-reduced ‘Transformable Machine Beast – Gunner Dragon’ from the game and draw two more cards.”

“Then, end my turn!”

Yu Xuan: “My turn, draw.”

“First, activate Spell Card ‘Desire’s Pot,’ draw two cards from my deck.”

Then Yu Xuan played the Spell Card that Sacred Magician had recovered from the graveyard last turn.

“Spell Card: ‘Mischievous Twin Demons’! Pay 1000 Life Points, randomly discard one card from your hand, then your opponent chooses one card from their hand to discard.”

【Yu Xuan, LP 2600 → LP 1600】

“For the random discard, let’s pick the second card from the left,” Yu Xuan said casually.

Here, unlike online duels, “randomly discard one card” typically means the opponent selects one face-down card at random.

“You thought I couldn’t possibly have a second ‘Twin Demons’ in hand, right?”

Sanze discarded the card Yu Xuan specified, then smiled confidently.

“Your guess was correct.”

“But! The countermeasures I prepared for you go far beyond that.”

“The second card discarded by ‘Mischievous Twin Demons’ is chosen by me—and I chose to discard this one.”

He revealed a Spell Card and sent it to the graveyard.

“I discard ‘Lightning Serpent’ from my hand. When this card is discarded by an opponent’s card effect, draw two cards from your deck!”

Yu Xuan watched with interest.

Damn, he actually brought this? And if he brought this, his deck must also contain ‘Compensatory Treasure’—he just hadn’t drawn it yet.

No wonder he’s a main character—packing so many extra components and never worrying about hand clog.

After drawing two more cards, Sanze smiled confidently: “I told you, my countermeasures are perfect, Number One. I’ve thoroughly researched and prepared for this duel.”

Yu Xuan shrugged, smiling faintly: “I knew you had preparations. I was just curious to see how you’d respond.”

“Oh? Still this calm? No wonder you’re Number One,” Sanze laughed. “Then let me see—your true, serious duel.”

“I’ve always been serious,” Yu Xuan chuckled. “I activate Spell Card ‘Hand Destruction’: both players discard all cards in hand, then draw the same number of cards.”

Both players discarded their hands simultaneously, then drew. But one card from Yu Xuan’s graveyard popped out.

“One of the discarded cards was ‘Compensatory Treasure.’ When this card is sent from hand to graveyard, draw two more cards from your deck.” (Original card)

Sanze said nothing, but his focus sharpened tenfold. Though Yu Xuan spoke casually, Sanze felt not a trace of tension from him.

It felt as if every countermeasure he’d taken, every apparent advantage on the field, meant nothing to Yu Xuan.

Yet that only made his soul as a duelist burn with greater anticipation.

“I will make you take this duel seriously!”

“I already told you I wasn’t holding back. But since you insist so strongly, I’ll keep my promise and show you my main force.”

“Exclude the Light-attribute ‘Sacred Magician’ and Dark-attribute ‘Apprentice Magician’ from the game for a special summon!”

Sanze’s expression shifted slightly: “Excluding Light and Dark attributes for this summon… could it be…?!”

“Souls of Light and Dark, sacrificed upon the field of Chaos—let the legendary warrior descend!”

The two magicians dissolved into beams of light and darkness, swirling into the churning black clouds above. Then a golden flash erupted from within, as if a blade had cleaved open Chaos itself—a magnificent armored warrior stepped down, bathed in golden radiance.

“The heavens and earth were opened—”

“—Chaos Warrior: The Herald of Opening, summon!”

【Chaos Warrior: The Herald of Opening, ATK 3000】

The entire field erupted in chaos.

“Mama mia!” Professor Greed shouted, covering his face. “Chaos Warrior?! No way!”

Asuka on the upper tier trembled: “H-how? The Herald of Opening… but that’s not—”

“The legendary Wangpai from Duel King Wu Teng’s deck.”

Kaizer Wang Youxuan of the academy was stunned for a moment, then his gaze toward the field turned hungry.

His duelist soul stirred.

Even he couldn’t suppress the urge to duel that freshman.

Naturally, someone else shared the same feeling—the jellyfish-headed boy.

“Oh oh oh this is so cool! Chaos Warrior! It’s Chaos Warrior!”

Jidai frantically shook Wang Tengxiang.

“I want to duel Yu Xuan!”

“Bro… you’re choking me…” Wang Tengxiang gasped.

But no one was more stunned than Sanze, facing the pressure of the legendary warrior firsthand. He involuntarily stepped back half a pace, astonished: “Your Wangpai … is this kind of monster?!”

At this moment, Sanze didn’t realize he was facing a variant of the world-champion deck “Chaos” that once dominated competitive play.

For a long time, “Chaos” was the absolute meta—every Yu-Gi-Oh! deck was simply classified as “Chaos” or “non-Chaos.” You either got crushed by the meta or joined it.

Even Yu Xuan’s earlier defensive duo of “Apprentice Magician” and “Sacred Magician” was a classic combo from early Chaos decks.

These two cards, one Light and one Dark, were perfect: the Dark-attribute Apprentice Magician’s last words provided excellent defensive blocking, while retrieving the Light-attribute Sacred Magician from the deck. And Sacred Magician could also recover a Spell Card.

Remember, early Yu-Gi-Oh! was flooded with overpowered Spell Cards—many now banned—whose single-card power far exceeded normal monsters.

The Spell Cards recovered by Sacred Magician—whether the then-unbanned ‘Desire’s Pot’ and ‘Angel’s Gift,’ the devastating ‘Hand Destruction’ trio, or field-clearing spells like ‘Black Hole’ and ‘Big Storm’—were all game-changing weapons.

With this defense, by the second turn, you could easily assemble the Light and Dark conditions in the graveyard, summoning your Wangpai , Chaos Warrior, to secure victory.

“The effect of ‘Chaos Warrior: The Herald of Opening,’” Yu Xuan said. “Chaos Warrior can sacrifice its own attack this turn to exclude one monster on the field!”

“Exclude the ‘Transformable Machine Beast – Gunner Dragon’ equipped with ‘Guardian’s Power’!”

“Chaos Dimension Slash!”

Chaos Warrior raised his longsword, one blade edge glowing with light, the other with darkness. A torrent of intertwined light and dark surged upward, forming a two-colored vortex. The massive Gunner Dragon offered no resistance—its dimension shattered under that single slash, the heavy mech sucked into the other side of space.

“Damn… Guardian’s Power is useless against the Herald of Opening?” Sanze gritted his teeth.

The Guardian’s power has the excellent effect of defending against both battle and effect destruction, but it is powerless against a slash that sends to another dimension.

“Then I’ll banish from the game the Light-attribute monster ‘Radiant Angel’ I discarded to the graveyard last turn, and the other Dark-attribute monster ‘Apprentice Magician’ in my graveyard!”

Sanze: “!”

Again, this summoning condition?

Are you saying your Opened Messenger has a Unit 02?!

Of course such a thing doesn’t exist. But while Great Opened is gone, You Xuan still has Little Opened in his hand.

“The mage who wields light and dark magic, now Jianglin —”

“—Chaos Magician, summon!”

【Chaos Magician, ATK 2300】

“Chaos Magician’s effect activates! Once per turn, by forfeiting its own attack, I can banish one monster on the field from the game.”

“Banish the last ‘Variable Machine Beast—Cannon Dragon’ from the game!”

Chaos Magician spun his palms, light and dark magic surging in his palms; a vortex of chaos erupted beneath Cannon Dragon’s feet. The heavy armor offered no resistance as it dissolved into the magical whirlpool.

Sanze: “.”

No way, sir, back to another dimension again?

Wanzhangmu, who had been driven into shell-shock by Jiang Dai’s attacks from the sidelines, finally lifted his head, a spark returning to his eyes.

He knew this move well.

This is exactly the feeling I want! Banish, banish them all, banish everything!

Send them all to another dimension!

“But at least now you can’t declare an attack this turn.” Sanze took a deep breath.

Great Opened and Little Opened have identical effects: during any turn you activate Dimension Slash, you cannot declare an attack.

“Not necessarily,” You Xuan interrupted.

Sanze: “!?”

“Yes, the Opened Messenger that activated this effect cannot attack this turn—but that doesn’t mean my offense is over.”

You Xuan revealed another card from his hand.

“Spell Card ‘Sudden Mutation’! Tribute one monster on my field to special summon one fusion monster from the fusion deck with the same level as the tributed monster!”

“I tribute ‘Chaos Warrior—Opened Messenger’!”

Sanze: “!!!”

Right—if I sacrifice the Chaos Warrior after it activated its effect, I can still attack this turn.

And since Chaos Warrior is level eight, I can summon a level-eight fusion monster without conditions!

“The black dragon that gained the power of meteors, that calls forth victory, manifest with the power of lava—”

“—Level Eight, Meteor Black Dragon, summon!!!”

The fusion form of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, obtained from the Duel Club—a massive black dragon whose body flowed like lava—descended onto the field, wings spread wide!

【Meteor Black Dragon, ATK 3500】

Sanze’s face darkened: “So… the legendary evolution of Red-Eyes Black Dragon, summoned without needing Red-Eyes Black Dragon itself…”

Sudden Mutation is a spell card that appeared in GX and was one of Jiang Cheng Shidai’s most commonly used cards—he usually used it to evolve “Elemental Hero Bubbleman” into “Neo Bubbleman.”

But in real competitive play, no one does this.

The combo You Xuan is using now was one of the common combos in top-tier decks back then. Chaos Warrior has an extremely simple summoning condition and can easily banish one monster directly to another dimension. Sudden Mutation perfectly compensates for the drawback of being unable to attack after using Dimension Slash, and effortlessly brings out a level-eight fusion monster that would normally be hard to summon.

But back then, world champions used level-eight fusions like “Electro-Head Dragon,” with 2800 ATK and the ability to attack twice per turn. After Chaos Warrior cleared the field, transforming into Electro-Head Dragon could instantly deal 5600 damage.

But in this world, obviously, the Double-Headed Dragon is in Caesar’s deck, and You Xuan hasn’t seen it on the market. After scouting, he found that the level-eight fusions currently available either had summoning restrictions or were utterly useless.

Meteor Black Dragon may be common, but at least it boasts the noble ATK of 3500—above Red-Eyes but below Obelisk—and more importantly, it’s free.

“Meteor Black Dragon, direct attack!”

Meteor Black Dragon opened its mouth and unleashed a pillar of lava-like flame, sweeping straight through Sanze.

“Ugh!”

【Sanze, LP 4000 → LP 500】

His life points instantly reduced to a flickering candle, Sanze gritted his teeth and knelt on the ground, his body still emitting holographic black smoke.

With his big monsters continuously sent to another dimension and no defense left to block this heavy blow, Sanze suddenly realized something.

Perhaps from the very beginning, his opponent had anticipated his “Trap Lock” strategy.

The combination of Chaos and Dimension Slash continuously banishes his monsters and launches relentless offense. Sanze’s own monsters keep being kicked into another dimension by annoying effects, and because of his own “Royal Decree,” he cannot use traps for defense.

In this situation, isn’t it himself who’s being annoyed by “Trap Lock”?

(End of Chapter)