The air inside the arena seemed filled with lead.
Kurosawa panted heavily, his once crisply ironed uniform collar tugged loose, his chest heaving.
Anger.
Frustration.
And an indescribable irritation were gnawing madly at his reason.
Just last turn, he had slammed down a powerful monster with 2,800 ATK, ready to trample this arrogant first-year freshman underfoot.
Yet his opponent had casually played a Counter Trap, forcibly stripping him of his Battle Phase without even letting him touch the defending monster!
"Underhanded scum..."
Kurosawa ground his back teeth, glaring viciously at the untouched face-down monster in Yūki's front row. "Clinging to life with cheap defensive cards like that won't hide how pathetic your front row is!"
Kurosawa's field still looked overwhelmingly threatening:
In the front row stood [Dark Blade], its ATK brutally boosted to 2800 by [Axe of Despair], demonic flames rekindling along its twin blades;
Beside it knelt his Level 4 ace, [Kaiku the Ghost Destroyer], with 1050 DEF, ready to stand at any moment;
Two defensive face-down cards stood ready in the back row.
As long as he survived this turn, he could charge again next turn with his 2,800-ATK Dark Blade and crush this one-star freshman hiding behind his turtle shell!
Yet across from him, Yūki merely rested his fingers leisurely on top of his deck.
"My turn. I draw."
A card slid into his hand with a swish.
The instant Yūki's turn began, the black cannon emplacement in his back row suddenly erupted with the dull, grating sound of turning metal gears!
Click!
The first deep-purple energy core slowly lit up deep inside the cannon's chamber, visible waves of heat distorting the air around its thick barrel!
"During the Standby Phase, [Wave-Motion Cannon] gains one charge counter."
Yūki was as calm as a microwave announcing the time.
Kurosawa's right eyelid twitched violently.
One charge counter meant that if Yūki sent it to the Graveyard now, it could instantly blast him for 1000 damage!
But that was merely the appetizer.
The next second, Yūki's gaze fell on the face-down card that had long lain horizontally in defense in his front row, and an innocent, harmless smile slowly curved his lips:
"Since it's my Main Phase, no more sleeping. Get up and stretch."
Yūki swung his right arm, pressing his index finger straight toward his face-down monster:
"I Flip Summon the face-down monster on my field!"
Boom!
The ground in the Dueling Arena's front row shook violently. The dark card back flipped over with a crash, and amid the cold, savage roar of a mechanical engine, a dark-teal mechanical warbird covered in thick alloy armor broke through the curtain of light and descended onto the field!
Two eerie green electronic eyes suddenly lit up on its nose, and steam surged from the cooling vents in its alloy wings!
[Stealth Bird] [Level 3 / DARK Attribute / Winged Beast-Type] [ATK: 700, DEF: 1700]
The club members below froze:
"Stealth Bird? A trash monster with only seven hundred ATK?"
"What's he trying to do, Flip Summoning a bird with seven hundred ATK?"
"Have you lost your mind, freshman? Flipping it into Attack Position-who can you beat with seven hundred ATK?!" Kurosawa couldn't help laughing mockingly.
Yet Yūki didn't even raise an eyebrow, calmly snapping his fingers:
"The instant [Stealth Bird] is successfully Flip Summoned, its mandatory effect activates."
"It gives your Life Points a nice, enthusiastic bombardment for 1000 damage."
"Nani?!"
Kurosawa's smile instantly froze.
Vrrrm-!
With the low, grating whir of servo motors, the twin bomb bays in Stealth Bird's alloy belly burst open!
Two miniature cruise missiles trailing blazing exhaust screamed out, skimmed across half the field just above the tiles, and slammed squarely into Kurosawa Kōshin's chest!
Boom!!
The scorching blast from the physical impact system exploded against Kurosawa's chest. The tremendous impact drove him staggering several steps backward, slamming his back into the Dueling Arena's metal railing!
[Kurosawa Kōshin, LP 4000 → 3000]
A full thousand Life Points evaporated on the spot!
The watching club members below nearly had their eyes pop out:
"Holy shit! A thousand direct damage?!"
"No battle at all-it just flips over and takes his Life Points?!"
"And that cannon's still charging! What... what kind of burn monster is this?!"
Kurosawa clutched his faintly aching chest, gulping for breath as cold sweat slid down his nose.
Yet the torment that would send his blood pressure soaring had only just begun.
Yūki watched the panting Kurosawa at his leisure, smiling as he rested a hand on his Duel Disk's monster zone:
"Fireworks are over. Time to go back for a nap."
"I activate [Stealth Bird]'s own effect. Once per turn, during my Main Phase, this card can return to face-down Defense Position."
Click!
Under Kurosawa's dumbfounded gaze, the giant mechanical bird that had just fired two missiles folded its wings. Its alloy armor swiftly folded shut, and before more than two hundred people, it actually shrank back underground, becoming a horizontal dark card back once again!
The whole sequence was as smooth as a thousand-year-old turtle tucking its head into its shell!
Kurosawa nearly went mad. "You... you can fucking set it again after bombing me?!"
"Energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, senior."
Yūki smiled with utter sincerity, casually inserting the card he had just drawn into his back row:
"I set another back-row card and end my turn."
No head-on confrontation, no hot-blooded clash.
It flipped up to blast away 1000 Life Points, then brazenly shut and bolted the door again. The cannon in the back row was even still charging with a clatter, while two sinister, unfathomable face-down cards lay waiting beneath the floor!
The watching Duel Club members were all dumbstruck:
"That's so fucking disgusting!"
"You can't hit him, but he flips up every turn to burn you for a thousand, then ducks right back down?!"
"What kind of deck is this?! He's practically waltzing all over his opponent's mental state!"
The chatter stabbed like a dense swarm of poisoned needles, making Kurosawa Kōshin's vision darken.
I can't drag this out any longer!
I absolutely can't drag this out any longer!
If I let that cannon fill up with counters and let that metal bird flip over again, I'll be toyed to death on this platform today!
"My turn! I draw!!"
Kurosawa roared, viciously wrenching a card from the top of his deck with his right hand.
The instant he saw its face, dazzling, wild joy erupted in his eyes!
It was the ultimate board-clearing answer that could turn any situation around-the Quick-Play Spell [Mystical Space Typhoon]!
"Fujiwara Yūki, your turtle shell ends here!"
Kurosawa slammed the card into his Duel Disk:
"I activate the Quick-Play Spell-[Mystical Space Typhoon]!"
A roaring, violent hurricane rose from the ground, its fierce wind blades instantly sweeping toward the dark-red gravity field beneath Yūki's feet!
"I destroy your Continuous Spell-[Level Limit - Area B]!"
Boom!
The dark-red gravitational field groaned under the wind's unbearable strain, then shattered into a sky full of light fragments!
The gravitational restraints suppressing monsters of Level 4 and above completely collapsed!
"Roar!!"
[Kaiku the Ghost Destroyer], who had been forced to one knee, sprang upright! His robes snapped in the wind, and the demon-subduing vajra staff in his hand blazed with golden light as his 1800 ATK returned!
Beside him, [Dark Blade] still gripped the giant demonic axe, its ATK reaching [2800]!
"The gravity's gone!"
Kurosawa's smile turned utterly unrestrained as he thrust his right hand toward Yūki:
"My Spirit Reaper is standing again! And Dark Blade has a savage twenty-eight hundred ATK!"
"My two monsters have a combined total of 4600 ATK!"
Kurosawa grinned viciously:
"Even if your defending monster blocks one strike, the other will be enough to leave you barely alive! Next turn, I'll end this duel outright!"
"Enter the Battle Phase!!"
Kurosawa swung his right arm, eyes bloodshot, sending out the vanguard with the highest ATK on the entire field:
"Dark Blade, blow away his face-down monster and his back row! Black Flame Demon Slash!!"
The black-armored swordsman with twenty-eight hundred ATK roared and leaped into the air. Apocalyptic crimson demonic flames gathered around the demonic battle-axe in his hands as it came crashing down on Yūki's face-down monster with overwhelming force and an air-rending shriek!
The attack's momentum was astonishing. The gale simulated by the holographic projection even kept the spectators below from opening their eyes!
"What incredible ATK!"
"Twenty-eight hundred! Crush him outright!"
Excited cheers instantly erupted below.
Yet facing the destructive demonic flames crashing toward him, Yūki stood where he was, the hem of his thin school uniform not even stirring.
He looked at Kurosawa, who was roaring with sweat pouring down his face amid the scene in midair, his gaze even carrying a trace of benevolence.
"The moment you see your big monsters stand up, you can't wait to shove all your chips in."
Yūki sighed, slowly resting his index finger on the red trap activation button at the very edge of his Duel Disk.
"Sure enough, you primitives with nothing but ATK on your minds probably really can't fit anything besides muscle into your brains."
Yūki's voice cut through the roar of the battle-axe's raging flames.
At the very center of his back row, the card that had remained face-down for two full turns flipped upright with a crisp mechanical click!
The deep-red Trap Card bore two peculiar magical cylinders inscribed with eerie red-and-white runes.
Normal Trap-[Magic Cylinder].
The instant Kurosawa Kōshin recognized the card, his wild laughter caught in his throat like a choking rooster.
"Wh... what?!"
"Trap Card, [Magic Cylinder]."
Yūki's level voice sounded like a sentence from the god of death:
"It can only be activated when an opponent's monster declares an attack."
"Negate that monster's attack..."
Boom!
A pitch-black magical cylinder suddenly descended into the air, its opening radiating a bottomless, devouring vortex!
The 2800 points of demonic flames Dark Blade had unleashed with all its strength never even brushed a speck of dust in front of Yūki. The strange cylinder forcibly sucked them in, swallowing them completely on the spot!
The entire arena instantly fell deathly silent.
Then, under Kurosawa Kōshin's utterly terrified gaze, a second cylinder painted with a grinning demonic face silently appeared directly above his head!
Its opening hung downward, its black maw aimed straight at the crown of Kurosawa's head!
Yūki's voice rang out leisurely once more:
"And inflict damage to your Life Points equal to that monster's ATK."
"Twenty-eight hundred. Right back where it came from."
Vrrrm-!
Inside the inverted cylinder, the demonic flames instantly ran wild!
The savage 2800-point battle-axe flames that had originally belonged to Dark Blade, focused and amplified by the cylinder, rebounded with thunderous force and blasted Kurosawa Kōshin squarely in the face!
"No-!!"
Kurosawa's piercing scream was completely swallowed by the earth-shattering explosion!
Booooom-!!
Scorching shock waves erupted across the Dueling Arena. The holographic projectors emitted shrill overload alarms as the enormous blast lifted Kurosawa clean off the ground and hurled him heavily into the alloy railing at the Dueling Arena's edge!
The Life Point bar on his Duel Disk plummeted like a drop-tower ride!
[Kurosawa Kōshin, LP 3000 → 200]
In an instant, he had only a sliver of life left-200 points!
Before the smoke had even cleared, Yūki, without so much as taking a sip of water, reached over and activated the second Trap that had long lain waiting in his back row:
"I chain the Normal Trap-[Just Desserts]."
A Trap Card depicting runes being gnawed by evil spirits appeared in midair.
"For every monster on your field, inflict 500 damage to your Life Points."
Yūki extended a finger and very courteously counted from afar:
"One Dark Blade, one Spirit Reaper."
"Two monsters. A total of 1000 effect damage."
Yūki looked at Kurosawa, slumped beside the railing with an ashen face, and smiled politely:
"Thank you for the match, senior."
Two phantasmal evil spirits suddenly shot out of the ground and bit down on Kurosawa Kōshin's Duel Disk with a crunch.
The last two hundred life points dropped all the way to zero.
[Kurosawa Kōshin, LP 200 → 0] [Duel over! Winner: Fujiwara Yūki!]
The cold electronic announcement of the result echoed languidly through Building Three.
The more than two hundred Duel Club members watching stood frozen below the stage. The entire venue was so silent that a pin drop could have been heard.
Before you continue