Wait While I Tweak My Deck

Seeing someone step up to challenge him, AI Kaiba immediately swept out a hand and burst into another three-part laugh before suddenly clenching his fist. "As long as we duel, the winds of battle will roar without end! Come!"

"Wait."

Kira showed him no courtesy at all, raising a hand in a stopping gesture.

"You don't mind if I make a few adjustments to my deck, right?"

AI: "."

Naturally, the AI had no objections. So Kira took out his deck and began making adjustments.

Whenever a card player went out in his previous life, bringing a SIDE Deck alongside their Main Deck was basic etiquette. In official tournaments back then, however, the SIDE Deck could contain at most fifteen cards, to be swapped in according to the opponent's deck and strategy.

But this world had no such restriction, so Kira naturally didn't hold back. He carried no fewer than seventy or eighty cards in his SIDE Deck, enough to handle all sorts of situations.

Since it was Kaiba's AI, its main force was undoubtedly Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Though it mixed in other engines as well, its deck mostly consisted of Dragons or LIGHT Attribute monsters.

In the movie, Anubis, resurrected from Ancient Egypt, called Kaiba the "King of Light," while Dark Yugi, Atem, was the "King of Darkness." Their decks had indeed been deliberately designed as opposites of light and darkness.

Though Kaiba's Lower-Level Monsters had a wide variety of Attributes, his commonly used endgame monsters—such as the Blue-Eyes System and VWXYZ's Five-Fold Fusion mech—were all LIGHT Attribute.

And judging from The Dark Side of Dimensions, the real Kaiba's deck should have already included at least three powerful variants that had appeared before: Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon, Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon, and Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. The only question was how far this AI version had been updated.

If that was the premise, then compared to Kaiba's deck during the Duel Monsters era, this deck should have a higher proportion of the Blue-Eyes System.

After swiftly completing the swaps based on the information he knew, Kira inserted his deck into the Duel Disk and walked up to the AI.

"Now I'm ready. Let's go."

Kira, LP 4000

AI Kaiba, LP 4000

AI Kaiba gathered his emotions again. "As long as we duel, the winds of battle will—"

"My turn, draw."

Kira showed the AI absolutely no mercy, cutting off the line it had failed to finish twice.

AI Kaiba: "."

"I Set one monster in my Monster Zone." Kira drew out two cards from his hand. "Then I Set two cards in my back row. End Turn."

"Then it's my turn!"

AI Kaiba drew forcefully, making his white coat billow behind him. It was exaggerated, but he had to admit that the AI had learned the True Form's mannerisms rather well.

It not only had the original voice pack, but even the original cringe-worthy poses.

"Full speed ahead!" AI Kaiba declared. "I summon Lord of D.!"

Lord of D., ATK 1200

"Then I activate the Spell Card 'Flute of Summoning Dragon' from my hand!" AI Kaiba said. "This card can only be activated while 'Lord of D.' is on the field! It lets me Special Summon up to two Dragon monsters from my hand."

A dragon-shaped bone flute appeared in Lord of D.'s hand, and he played the melody that summoned dragons.

"First, I summon this card—

—Level Six, Crystal Dragon, summon!!!"

A mysterious dragon that seemed sculpted from pure crystal descended, its body transparent and gleaming as though countless stars had fallen into the mortal world. A faint blue glow flowed across it like stars glittering in the night sky, yet it carried endless draconic majesty.

Crystal Dragon, ATK 2500

"Then, this card!"

AI Kaiba raised the second Dragon card in his hand with an even more exaggerated pose.

"If that is endless darkness, then submit to the Dragon of Light and be dyed in light! Descend, my soul—

—Level 8, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!!!"

A wild gale seemed to sweep across the field, accompanied by roaring thunder and dazzling flashes of lightning. Its noble and majestic form emerged from pure white radiance, enormous wings slowly spreading as a dragon's roar shook the entire venue.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Summoned!

Blue-Eyes White Dragon, ATK 3000

The tourists in the venue were immediately stunned.

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon! It really is the legendary monster!"

"Even if it's just a virtual data card, this trip was worth it!"

Takeuchi Master could not help saying, "As expected of KaibaCorp's top-tier duel AI. It perfectly recreates Seto Kaiba's tactics. It summoned so many powerful Dragons on the very first turn."

"Indeed." Saito could not help nodding. "At this very moment, it really feels as though the one dueling is Seto Kaiba himself."

Even the academy's students, who already greatly admired Kira, could not help showing worried expressions.

This was the legendary Seto Kaiba. How could he possibly win?

"Hmph. You're nothing but a third-rate duelist with a fourth-rate deck. Now I'll show you the gap between you and absolute power!"

AI Kaiba raised an arm and shouted.

"Battle Phase! Crystal Dragon, attack the Set Monster—"

"Don't be so impatient." Kira waved his hand. "The moment you entered the Battle Phase, I activated my Set Card.

Continuous Trap—Dragon Capture Jar!"

A stone jar shaped like a dragon's head appeared on Kira's field, and an invisible force burst forth from its mouth. Magic enveloped the entire field; even mighty monsters like Crystal Dragon and Blue-Eyes White Dragon had no choice but to submit to its restraints.

Crystal Dragon, ATK 2500 → DEF 1000

Blue-Eyes White Dragon, ATK 3000 → DEF 2500

"The effect of Pot of Dragon Sealing: as long as this Trap remains on the Field, all Dragon monsters on the field are changed to Defense Position and cannot switch to attack."

Everyone: "!"

An incredibly powerful anti-Dragon weapon—it practically had the word "Targeting" written all over it. With just one card, it permanently sealed off the possibility of every Dragon on the opponent's field attacking.

Of course, Kira had not come up with this himself. Pot of Dragon Sealing was perhaps one of the earliest Dragon-hating cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! history. Pegasus had used it against Kaiba back in Duelist Kingdom, and it had enraged Kaiba to no end.

But Kira remained calm. It was only an Attack Lock; he even felt its suppression was rather mediocre.

Honestly, if he had the means, he would have preferred to use Buster Blader. That was the true strongest Dragon slayer of this era. Summon a "Buster Blader, the Destruction Swordmaster" through Fusion right from the opening hand, and it gained one thousand ATK for every Dragon in the opponent's field and Graveyard. Moreover, as long as Buster Blader was On the Field, every Dragon on the opponent's field had to switch to Defense Position and could not activate effects.

For an ordinary pure-Dragon duelist without cheats, seeing that thing on the other side of the field basically meant half a death sentence had already been handed down.

Unfortunately, Buster Blader was probably also one of Yugi's cards in this world, an ultra-rare card that was difficult to obtain.

Still, it was not a big issue. Even without such a supreme weapon, there were plenty of useful Targeting cards. Compared to them, Pot of Dragon Sealing merely locked attacks and was not the most effective option. He had simply drawn it first.

This AI Kaiba was unexpectedly intelligent. It seemed to mutter a curse under its breath before continuing its play.

"Then I will use Lord of D. to attack the face-down monster on your field!"

The two summoned Dragons had both been forced into spectator mode, leaving Lord of D. with no choice but to take the field himself.

"Activate Set Card." Kira flipped another card in his back row. "Trap Card—Dimensional Prison.

When an opponent's monster declares an attack, banish that attacking monster from the game!"

Space shattered. Dimensional Fissure opened amid flashing arcs of electricity, followed by a storming vortex. Lord of D. was halfway through his charge when his face changed in alarm, and he hurriedly tried to turn around and flee. But it was already too late. The endless rift swallowed him whole, and he vanished beyond the Different Dimension.

"A beautiful counterattack." Takeuchi Master analyzed, "At first glance, this Trap only dealt with the weakest monster on the opponent's field, but it was actually the most troublesome card."

A student asked in confusion, "Eh? Why?"

"As long as Lord of D. is On the Field, all Dragon monsters cannot be targeted by effects." Uncle Saito nodded slightly. "But once the most troublesome one is dealt with first, the protection covering the remaining Dragons disappears as well."

The surrounding spectators were already beginning to stir.

"He actually withstood such a fierce first wave of attacks. This kid is no ordinary duelist. If it were me, I'd already be lying flat."

"But it should only be temporary. Just watch—after all, that's Kaiba's AI."

Yet Koji Sato could not help smiling faintly when he heard that.

No, you were far too naive. It was only two traps—this was nothing yet.

The fun part of the duel was only just beginning.

As one of the earliest victims of Kira-style dueling, he trusted his professional judgment.

After his consecutive attacks failed, AI Kaiba drew his final Two cards.

"I set one card on the field. End Turn."