Why did you start unfolding?

For a moment, Yu Ming felt things were slipping out of his control.

What?

This isn't some harmonious, "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" environment after all?

Then who's going to back me up when my Axe Raider gets into a fight?

Still, the current developments weren't entirely unacceptable.

Graceful Charity, with its ability to draw three and discard two, seems to have a powerful deck-thinning effect, but for an anime character's deck, it doesn't offer much of an improvement.

Not to mention, in this era, very few cards could effectively utilize the graveyard. The graveyard was literally a graveyard, far from the "resource zone" that could be freely jumped in and out of in later eras.

Silent Doom could only revive Normal Monsters and they couldn't attack, and Machine Hunter, being a Normal Monster, had no other effects.

From this perspective, Keith's intention was obvious—simply using them as tributes to summon higher-level monsters.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

While summoning a 5-star or 6-star monster in one turn might seem like an oppressive field to a native, it was really nothing special.

"Tch, this is annoying. That look in your eyes is exactly like Maximillion Pegasus'."

Yu Ming looked at Keith, only to see his expression twist directly, showcasing Yu-Gi-Oh!'s traditional skill—"face art."

"It's like you can always control the situation, always remain calm no matter what happens, and you forever look at others with that condescending gaze!"

So, what does your grudge with Pegasus have to do with me?

Yu Ming wanted to say something, but Keith waved his hand.

"Pay for your arrogance with this card!"

Oh no, I've become a substitute.

Watching Keith get fired up on his own, Yu Ming's mouth hung slightly open.

However...

"Never mind."

No matter how much commotion there was, old-school card pools shared a common characteristic: few special summon points, and normal summon points were precious. Many players would choose Cyber Dragon as an engine because of this.

After all, even counting some un-Orica-ed cards from the original manga, special summoning was always a capability reserved for only a few cards in the early days.

"Spell Card—Ties of the Brethren."

Just like this card.

"Pay a thousand Life Points to Special Summon two monsters from your Deck with the same Level and Type as a monster on your field (original)!"

With that, his field now had three Level 4 Machine-Type monsters without using a Normal Summon.

"Hmm..."

With his arms crossed, Yu Ming suddenly fell silent.

A moment later, he asked what he believed to be an incredibly sincere question:

"So, did you shuffle?"

"OOOOHHHHHH!!!"

Keith Howard LP: 4000 → 3000

"..."

Keith, why are you making such a loud noise?

Watching Keith's ferocious "face art," like that of a wild beast, Yu Ming suddenly felt exhausted.

Keith's deck had indeed been shuffled by Yu Ming himself earlier, but he couldn't guarantee that this guy, with a history of cheating, wouldn't pull some trick.

But whether the opponent cheated, or he himself had shuffled this opening hand for him, neither option was acceptable.

Whoosh

A crimson fluid flowed from Keith, gradually gathering into a viscous vortex. Although Yu Ming didn't know what that had to do with the words 'brethren' and 'ties,' it must have been the summoning effect.

"Appear now!"

Anyway, it shouldn't be a big problem, right?

What Level 4 Machine-Type monsters did Keith have again?

Staring at the dark red vortex, an electric motor spewing black smoke leaped out of it.

"Motor Shell!"

Motor Shell (LV4)
Attribute/DARK
Type/Machine
ATK/1300 DEF/1800

Hmm, a low-level monster from the Motor family.

In the manga, this was also Keith's card, with an effect that left a token when it left the field. In fact, in the original, leaving a token didn't even count as a 'summon.'

So, the other one...

When Yu Ming's gaze shifted to the other side, his breathing instinctively hitched.

As the crimson vortex dissipated, a purple metallic body emerged. Its hands were short, thick metal claws, its main monitor glowed with a red light, and a dark cannon barrel extended from its back.

Its name was...

"Cannon Soldier!"

"It's this thing?!"

Cannon Soldier (LV4)
Attribute/DARK
Type/Machine
ATK/1400 DEF/1300

As the summoning light faded, Yu Ming felt his head begin to pound.

What else could be said?

It's beautiful, everyone!

"Hmph, it seems you've realized how terrifying it is too."

On the other side, Keith, who seemed to have recovered, finally noticed the change in Yu Ming's expression.

He smiled with satisfaction.

"On the first turn, monsters cannot directly attack, but Cannon Soldier is not affected by that restriction!"

Kzzzt

The heavy war cannon suddenly reached out and grabbed the 'fellow' beside it, which was spewing black smoke. It violently disassembled it into a pile of scrap metal and loaded it into its cannon.

"I'll use Motor Shell as fuel for the bombardment!"

Then, the dark cannon barrel turned directly towards Yu Ming and then burst forth with a dazzling light.

"Enjoy a taste of hell!"

Within the visible flash of fire, Yu Ming suddenly felt an intense heat.

Immediately after, the familiar smell of gunpowder seemed to dissipate into the air again.

This should absolutely not be an effect of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s traditional 'holographic projection.' And without the so-called 'mass projection technology' of A5, any past iterations that could achieve this effect could only be summarized with one phrase:

"Is this a Shadow Game?!"

"Fire!"

Boom

The scorching cannon fire struck. Yu Ming felt as if he was deep within a scorching inferno.

The dizzying faintness urged him to collapse immediately, but his clear consciousness used pain to warn him to stay awake.

And under these two vastly different sensory impacts, he even felt something being stripped away from his body.

Yu Ming LP: 4000 → 3500

Through his somewhat blurry vision, Yu Ming saw the cannon soldier seem to make another move.

"When Motor Shell is destroyed, it leaves one of its parts on the field."

"A token..."

Motor Token (LV1)
Attribute/EARTH
Type/Machine
ATK/200 DEF/200

Of course, stats of this level were not meant for offense.

"I'll use the part left by Motor Shell as a tribute!"

It could be used for summoning, and of course, it could be used as a cannonball.

"Cannon Soldier, fire!"

Bang

Boom

Yu Ming LP: 3500 → 3000

Through his blurry vision, the burning fire once again struck, and the intense pain almost numbed his nerves.

In the complete darkness, only Keith's clear roar echoed:

"It's not over yet! I'll tribute Machine Hunter to summon Motor Smasher!"

"Motor Smasher (LV6)"

"Attribute/DARK"

"Type/Machine"

"ATK/2100 DEF/1200"

He remembered that after this card was made into a physical card, it also merged with the effect of a Motor Support Spell Card.

But whether it was the physical card or the original, they both contained the same effect:

"When this guy is destroyed, two parts are left on the field."

Tokens!

And two of them!

"Keep firing!"

Amidst a blur of fire, he simply gazed at the remarkably clear figure in the distance.

Right, that's why this guy ended up in the ban list.

"Cannon Soldier..."

This guy doesn't have a once-per-turn restriction!

Bang

Bang

Bang

Yu Ming LP: 3000→2500→2000→1500

"Guh..."

Amidst the continuous roars and intense heat, Yu Ming felt everything around him rapidly disappearing.

Mental crisis detected. System is initiating emergency protection.

Drowsiness and darkness descended, completely engulfing everything.

"...System?"

Opening Heart Room.