A flash of lightning reminded Yuushi that the situation wasn't good. His opponent had control of the field with her Ace Monster out though Yuushi tried to analyze his next move.
"First of all, I activate Mist Valley Thunder Lord's effect. Once per turn until the end of the turn, on either of our turns, this card can gain 500 ATK until the end of my turn by returning a card I control to my hand. I choose my facedown card!", Ryoko announced as the sound of the blasting winds drowned out the last parts of her sentence.
Sure enough, a card on Ryoko's field was caught in an updraft as it was added back to her hand. Mist Valley Thunder Lord screeched out as it prepared to attack (Thunder Lord ATK: 2600+500= 3100 ATK).
Yuushi was taken aback as he was preparing for the attack but Ryoko seemed to shift her head slightly back and forth between Yuushi's two monsters.
"I know that Yuushi has a Spell Power Grasp as one of the two cards left in his hand. That card is a lot of trouble right now. If I destroy his Flux Magician, he will play it on Magical Marionette which then gets to destroy my monster during that same turn with its effect and it'll drop to 2000 ATK. On the other hand if I destroy Magical Marionette now, he'll just use Spell Power Grasp on Flux Magician and add a Spell Counter on top of that by using Flux Magician's effect giving it 3400 ATK," she reasoned to herself.
Ryoko looked again at the two monsters as she lowered her eyes onto her hand before making her decision.
"With 3400 ATK, I won't be able to get through that at all with this hand...besides even if Magical Marionette destroys my monster, I'll have a counter to it during my next turn since it'll only have 2000 ATK. This'll be a bit risky since if Yuushi gets another on the field, I might lose."
Wutih a plan in her mind now, Ryoko pointed at Flux Magician and commanded, "Attack Flux Magician now!"
The Thunder Lord flew around in the sky as it gave off a final screech. With a thunderbolt roaring through the skies, Mist Valley Thunder Lord raised up its hands. The next lightning bolt struck Thunder Lord but surprisingly, the monster caught the lightning in mid-air and started to harness its power as its hands started to flash yellow. Thrusting out both its hands, the monster shot out a beam of lightning straight at Flux Magician who shot back a blast of lightning but was quickly overpowered as the area around Yuushi's monster exploded. The boy was blasted back onto the ground but managed to get up after a brief moment.
Yuushi- 3400 LP
Ryoko-3100 LP
Seeing her opponent recover, Ryoko continued her turn by placing setting back her card in the Spell/Trap Zone as she nodded.
"With that card set again, I'll end my turn then," Ryoko hesitantly said knowing that Yuushi already had an answer for her last move (Thunder Lord ATK: 3100-500= 2600 ATK).
"Even if Yuushi does a bit of damage, hopefully I'll make sure he gets some of my payback with interest," she thought to herself.
In the audience, Ayumi and Natsumi were watching the duel as well as Natsumi seemed a bit scared.
"That monster is really scary,"| the young girl said while shivering a bit.
Ayumi nodded and looked at the duel seeing Yuushi about to start his turn. "Don't worry. That monster won't harm you or anyone else. If it does, I'll protect you. Does that sound good?", Ayumi said trying to reassure the girl.
With a nod, Natsumi smiled back, "Ok. Thank you."
Back to the duel, Yuushi studied the situation as he put his fingers on the top card of his deck. "Here's my draw phase!", the boy confidently said. With a movement of his hand, Yuushi took a look at the card and nodded to himself.
Suddenly, a female voice interrupted him from across the duel as a Trap Card revealed itself. With a sudden blast of wind, Yuushi's drawn card fell to the ground and disappeared as he looked at the trap. It had an image of something hitting a person's hand causing it to drop a sword onto the ground.
Ryoko smiled as she explained, "Yuushi, when you draw a card during your Draw Phase, I can activate this trap causing you to discard that card right to the graveyard."
Looking at Rapid-Fire Magician, the boy duelist reluctantly sent the card to the graveyard slot of the Duel Disk as he looked at the two remaining cards in his hand. He had no monsters left so he had no choice but to skip a summon this turn as he grabbed another card and played it.
"Here's my second Spell Power Grasp. Once again, a monster on my field like Magical Marionette gains a Spell Counter and I can add the final Spell Power Grasp from my deck to my hand," Yuushi calmly stated.
The Duel Disk answered in response as a card stuck out of the Duel Disk before auto-shuffling itself. After revealing Spell Power Grasp to Ryoko, a faint white-purple light surrounded Magical Marionette and its puppet.
Ryoko knew what was happening but Yuushi explained it just incase she did not, "In addition to Spell Power Grasp giving my monster a Spell Counter, my Spell Card itself gives it another Spell Counter. Whenever a Spell Card is activated, Magical Marionette gains a Spell Counter. Thus it gains a Spell Counter for its own effect and one for Spell Power Grasp's effect. This gives it two Spell Counters. Furthermore, Magical Marionette gains 200 ATK for each Spell Counter on it (Marionette ATK: 2000+200+200= 2400 ATK, SC: 2)
Yuushi raised up his hand dramatically as he shouted out, "I'll activate the other effect of Magical Marionette. By removing two Spell Counters on this card, it can destroy a monster on the field. That Mist Valley Thunder Lord is my target!"
Magical Marionette smiled sinisterly as it shot out white strings towards Mist Valley Thunder Lord who tried to evade but was eventually tied down. The strings and Magical Marionette started to glow dark purple as Mist Valley Thunder Lord exploded causing a blast covering Mist Valley. The thunderstorm above still persisted through as Yuushi looked on (Marionette ATK: 2400-200-200= 2000 ATK, SC: 0).
"Using Magical Marionette, I attack you directly Ryoko!"
Upon hearing these words, Yuushi's monster shot out its sword-wielding puppet. The puppet grinned and quickly made its way over to his opponent as it leaped up into the air and slashed down twice, one with each of its swords. Ryoko was staggered back but recovered as she looked on a bit worried.
Yuushi- 3400 LP
Ryoko- 1100 LP
"Not bad, Yuushi," Ryoko said complimenting him.
Yuushi nodded to her back. "Thanks, but I end my turn now," he stated as the puppet returned.
Ryoko's turn start as she drew a card and looked at it. She immediately played the card she drew as a monster started to appear. A yellow bird appeared with yellow feathers all over its body except for the tips of the tail which extended out with orange feathers. It also had a whip-like line of feathers sticking out of its head (ATK: 1100, Level 3).
"I summon Mist Valley Thunderbird but there's going to be a lot more," the girl started to say as the winds of Mist Valley got stronger as Ryoko revealed another card in her hand. The wind picked up as white mist started to surround the two duelists and with one gust, the white mist faded. Something strange happened as Mist Valley Thunderbird disappeared off the field as Yuushi heard the cry of another bird up above. He looked up and noticed a blue bird with feathers of red, white and black surrounding its neck and tail (ATK: 1400, Level 4).
Putting Mist Valley Thunderbird back into her hand for a moment, Ryoko explained what had occurred, "Mist Condor up there can be special summoned by returning a faceup 'Mist Valley' monster I control to my hand. Here's where things get a bit tricky now."
The white mist completely faded but Mist Valley Thunderbird was still on the field despite Ryoko's earlier explanation. Furthermore, Mist Condor shrieked as its attacked increased (ATK: 1700).
Yuushi was a bit stunned and asked, "I thought Mist Valley Thunderbird returned to your hand in order to special summon Mist Condor so how is it back on the field? Not only that but Mist Condor got stronger as a result or something?"
"Good eye, Yuushi. First, when Mist Condor is special summoned using its effect, its ATK becomes 1700 instead of 1400. Additionally, Mist Valley Thunderbird's effect also activated during that chain. When Thunderbird is returned to my hand, I can special summon it again but when this effect is used, Thunderbird can't attack this turn which is fine since..."
Before Ryoko could finish her explanation, the wind again picked up from inside a canyon of Mist Valley. Yuushi took a minute to figure out what was happening but after seeing this effect once, he had a good guess.
"That's right. Your field spell allows you to special summon another Wind monster from your deck as long as another Wind monster like your Mist Valley Thunderbird goes back to your hand. This was initially caused by Mist Condor...", the boy said with a bit of hesitation.
Ryoko already looked through her deck for the card she wanted and started to summon it out. "Yeah and the monster I want to summon is going to be the Tuner Monster, Mist Valley Soldier!"
The wind intensified to such a degree that Yuushi had to plant his feet as a somewhat elderly blue-haired winged-human with white-blue wings and a dark blue scarf flew up through the valley. It pulled out two daggers as the monster landed near Ryoko who prepared her next move (ATK: 1700, Level 4 Tuner).
The clouds darkened once more as Yuushi looked on with amazement as the wind settled but the atmosphere was still as tense as ever. "All this with just sending Mist Valley Thunderbird back to her hand," Yuushi analyzed inside his mind as a thunderbolt from above broke his concentration.
"I'm going to attack with all I've got, Yuushi! I'm tuning Mist Valley Soldier and Mist Valley Thunderbird together!", she shouted to the skies.
The clouds above responded to her cry as the area turned slightly darker. Mist Valley Soldier flew into the skies before turning into four rings surrounding Mist Valley Thunderbird who faded into three stars. A bright light lit up the valley as a thunderbolt stuck down on it.
"The power of Mist Valley graces through the winds! Soaring above with the strength of the storms!"
This brewing storm was familiar to Yuushi as it had already happened once in the duel but he was still taken back by this surprise. There was only one monster Yuushi could estimate if a Level 7 Synchro monster of Mist Valley was being summoned.
"Synchro Summon! Descend, Mist Valley Thunder Lord!", Ryoko cried out as she finished her summoning chant.
Like before, the large green-gold birdman appeared through the clouds and onto the battlefield with a noticeable shriek (ATK: 2600, Level 7).
"That means you have two Mist Valley Thunder Lords?", Yuushi yelled out.
As the summon finished, Ryoko chuckled lightly, "Took me a long while to get another one but as you can see, I finally got another Mist Valley Thunder Lord in my deck. Like before, I'm going to use it's effect and return Divine Wind of Mist Valley to my hand so it gains an extra 500 ATK."
On Ryoko's Duel Disk, a slot popped open as she took out her Field Spell and put it back into her hand. The valley faded as the duelists returned back to the school setting of Delta Academy. With a bright yellow aura, Ryoko's Thunder Lord monster was powered up (ATK: Thunder Lord ATK: 2600+500= 3100 ATK).
"Now then, Thunder Lord, attack Yuushi's Magical Marionette with Thunder Stream!"
On her command, lightning struck from the clouds as Mist Valley Thunder Lord absorbed the energy into its hands and fired it off at Yuushi's monster. In a yellow flash, the attack struck the monster as an explosion triggered immediately afterwards. The smoke covered Yuushi who put his hands in front of him to cover himself from the smoke as he had one eye shut momentarily.
Yuushi- 2300 LP
Ryoko- 1100 LP
Ryoko pointed at her other monster and declared another attack. "Mist Condor! Attack Yuushi directly!"
The blue cried out and dove in from the sky. Yuushi saw it zig-zag as it finally disappeared. The bird's wing was then coated with a yellow glow as it flew into Yuushi with a wing stretched out. The wing collided with Yuushi's body knocking him down as Mist Condor flew back into the air once more.
Yuushi- 600 LP
Ryoko- 1100 LP
Yuushi got back up as Ryoko studied her hand for a moment. "Alright, just one last thing before I end my turn. I'll play Divine Wind of Mist Valley again and then I end my turn!"
The Field Spell activated once more as the battlefield returned to the familiar atmosphere of a valley surrounded by strong winds (Thunder Lord ATK: 3100-500= 2600 ATK). Ryoko looked at Yuushi's hand which contained two cards similar to her hand. She had two monsters but wasn't quite sure what Yuushi had.
She tried to deduce the situation as she knew one of the cards in his hand was Spell Power Grasp. "Even if Yuushi summons a decently powerful monster, I can always return Mist Condor back using Mist Valley Thunder Lord's effect. Flux Magician and Blast Magician are good but they don't have quite the firepower needed. His only chance right now would be Endymion but with only three cards after his Draw Phase, summoning him from nothing would be quite the feat. I'm in good shape then."
For a moment, Yuushi was thinking about his next move as well while looking at his deck. His cards were Spell Power Grasp and Synchro Boost. "That Thunder Lord can boost its ATK to 3100. No card in my deck has the firepower to take that out one against one. My extra deck on the other hand has something though. The only problem is, what will happen if I use it? Will I end up like those other Numbers users? No, what if there's something else I'm not even aware of which surrounds Arcanite Magician."
He looked around him and saw Ayumi in the audience, Hikaru watching on the sides and Ryoko as his opponent. They were all awaiting Yuushi's next move as the boy shook his head.
"Everyone's watching me and I know that no matter what happens, these are the people who have helped me out. These are the people who I've helped out. To them, I owe them the respect of giving it my all. As a friend and as a duelist, it would be rude of me to hold back anything I have so I'll do it."
"I draw!", Yuushi yelled out as he added another card in his hand which was a Spell Card.
"Not quite what I'm looking for but," the duelist with the glasses said to himself coming up with another plan, "I play the Spell Card known as Pot of Avarice."
The Spell Card appeared in front of Yuushi with the picture of an purple monstrous jar with its tongue sticking out.
"This card lets me choose five monsters in my graveyard so the monsters I choose are Alchemist of Black Spells, Flux Magician, Defender the Magical Knight, Rapid-Fire Magician and Magical Marionette. All of them except Flux Magician will go back into my deck while Flux Magician goes back to my extra deck."
Yuushi's graveyard slotted out the five named monsters as Yuushi put them all where he said he would as his deck's auto-shuffle function activated.
"After that, I draw two cards!", he said when the shuffling finished.
With an intense look, Yuushi drew the first card which was Magical Exemplar and then drew another monster and smiled. Noticing this, Ryoko tilted her head and wondered what he just drew.
"I summon Magical Exemplar to the field!"
Another card appeared on the field in front of Yuushi. This monster was a priestess with teal robes and white gloves as she opened her eyes and observed the battlegrounds of Mist Valley (ATK: 1700, Level 4).
"Next I add an Equip Spell to Magical Exemplar, specifically Synchro Boost. With this card, Magical Examplar gains 500 ATK and 1 Level," he added on.
The Equip Spell Card appeared and a small field of blue electricity coated Magical Exemplar as the monster powered up (Exemplar ATK: 1700+500= 2200 ATK, Level 4+1= 5).
Right after the electricity, two orbs of light surrounded the priestess as well while Yuushi further told Ryoko what was happening. "Since a Spell card was just played, my monster gains two Spell Counters (Exemplar SC: 2). Also, I'll use it's other effect and remove both counters. This lets me special summon a Spellcaster monster from my hand or graveyard as long as it it Level Two. I've got one right here in my hand, so I special summon Frequency Magician!"
A magician with a purple cape and white gauntlets appeared. The monster was also wearing a strange white helmet with a black visor as it emitted strange waves of energy (ATK: 800, Level 2).
"To be able to Synchro Summon at a time like this," Yuushi's opponent said in a bit stunned while trying to figure out what monster he was trying to summon.
"Let's do this! Time to breakthrough your defenses! I tune my Level 2 Frequency Magician with my now Level 5 Magical Exemplar.
Right after that, Frequency Magician turned into two spheres of light that turned into two green rings surrounding Magical Exemplar. The priestess levitated and turned into five white lights in which a pillar of light from the sky engulfed the rings.
"A magician matched only in the mythic era! The illuminating force from the cosmic legends! Synchro Summon! Appear, Arcanite Magician!"
The Synchro Monster appeared in front of everyone. Hikaru seemed baffled since he's never seen Yuushi summon that monster before. The audience looked on at the blue-armored magician with as much confusion. Ayumi could hear a lot of whispering about that card as did Yuushi who chose to ignore the whispering around him. Arcanite Magician swung its green staff and prepared for battle noticing the large bird creatures in front of it (ATK: 400, Level 7).
When the summon finished, Hikaru tilted his head sideways and asked out loud, "What the hell is that?"
Ayumi looked around and chuckled a bit, "Guess you decided to use Arcanite Magician. Good for you, Yuushi."
On the field, Ryoko took a step back in the presence of this monster knowing that she saw it somewhere and began to think of various questions. "Wait a minute, that monster was seen in the news. You have one too? Where'd you get it?"
Closing his eyes, Yuushi couldn't really answer that question since after all, he wasn't quite sure either. "Well, I'll tell you afterwards but that was actually me on the news. But right now, shouldn't you be worried about what's in front of you since my Arcanite Magician gains 1000 ATK for each Spell Counter on it and it has two right now (Arcanite ATK: 400+1000+1000= 2400 ATK, SC: 2). Not only that but," Yuushi started to say before showing another card in his hand, "I play my third and final Spell Power Grasp in my hand. It gives my Arcanite Magician another Spell Counter but I can't add another one to my hand since that was my last one."
The monster's staff glowed green as it was now surrounded by a green aura of power. With its arms in a battle stance, Yuushi knew that he currently had the monster with the most ATK on the field now (Arcanite ATK: 2400+1000= 3400 ATK, SC: 2+1= 3).
Ryoko gasped for a moment after seeing a monster with 3400 ATK but looked back at her hand and field while calming down.
On the other hand, Yuushi took a deep breath as he thought over his next move. "I could win the duel if I attack Mist Condor and deal 1700 points of battle damage but Ryoko can call use Mist Valley Thunder Lord's effect to bounce the card back to her hand. In that case, Mist Valley Thunder Lord is my target."
With a swing of his arm, Yuushi pointed out something, "I activate Arcanite Magician's effect. I remove a Spell Counter on this card and then my Synchro Monster can destroy a card you control. Go, Arcanite Magician! Use Pulsar Wave on Mist Valley Thunder Lord!"
By using up a Spell Counter (Arcanite ATK: 3400-1000=2400 ATK, SC: 3-1= 2), Arcanite Magician's staff radiated a green light that shone through Mist Valley. With the sound of wind being sliced, the Spellcaster monster released waves of green energy that sliced through the Thunder Lord which destroyed it.
The resulting explosion caused Ryoko to shield herself from flying back but Yuushi pointed at her other monster, Mist Condor. "Arcanite Magician's effect can be used multiple times per turn. I use that same effect again! Pulsar Wave!"
"What?", the girl shouted with disbelief.
Another flash of light shot out from Arcanite Magician's staff as similar green shockwaves of energy fired out of the weapon. The green waves sliced Mist Condor causing it to turn into pixels and disappear off the field (Arcanite ATK: 2400-1000=1400 ATK, SC: 2-1= 1).
"Go, Arcanite Magician! Attack Ryoko directly with Starlight Horizon!"
Magical energy started to crackle at the tip of the wand as a blue-green sphere of energy was forming. The sphere grew larger and larger until Arcanite Magician shot it out at Ryoko. The attack collided with the girl who screamed out while flying through the air. She managed to land on her back without any serious injuries. The end signal of a duel sounded off with a display of the score.
Yuushi- 600 LP- WIN
Ryoko- 0 LP
The buzzer-like noise concluded as Yuushi's Arcanite Magician and Ryoko's Divine Wind of Mist Valley digitized into pixels returning both duelists to Delta Academy.
Already standing by was Principal Tsubasa who officially announced the results, "The winner and the one to advance to the next round, Yuushi Sakudo!"
The audience clapped and erupted out as both duels were finished. Both the spectators and nearby duelists were chatting amongst themselves after seeing the type of duel that developed in front of their eyes. Ryoko managed to get up with a scowl on her face but that quickly disappeared into a chuckle. By the time she got up, Yuushi walked up to her with a smile on his face too.
Ryoko chuckled again, "I guess you were the better duelist today but I still had fun, a lot of fun."
"Same, thanks for that. You helped me realize something," Yuushi admitted while putting away Arcanite Magician.
The female duelist didn't quite know what he was talking about but the two of them left the stage.
Later on, the next duels started. Sakura against Yamato was taking place on the left side and Raima against Hikaru was taking place on the right side. All four duelists had drawn their cards and were at 4000 Life Points a piece.
"Duel!", the four of them collectively shouted out.
This time it was Yuushi and Ryoko's turns to watch Hikaru now. Sakura and Yamato had an interesting duel as well as Sakura used a Ninja-themed deck and Yamato was using a Warrior deck. It was taking some time since both of them were exchanging blows at about equal rates.
"So what happened with that Arcanite Magician card at the mall? You said it was yours right?", Ryoko curiously asked.
Yuushi did promise to tell her and so while Hikaru was dueling, he did. First he explained about the weird fortune teller, then the mall and the duel while concluding with the Numbers and Arcanite Magician.
"I know this is probably something I know the answer to already but I'll ask it anyways. Do you know anything about the Numbers or Arcanite Magician?", asked Yuushi.
Crossing her arms and thinking for a moment she answered back, "Sorry but I only heard of Numbers through the media like you and I don't know anything about Arcanite Magician, I didn't even know its effect. That was a nice move at the end that you pulled off though"
"But I just got a bit lucky," Yuushi admitted to her.
"Luck or not, you won didn't you? Just try to get that lucky against Masaki. From what I've gathered around the area, he's a second year duelist at Delta Academy but he's really good nevertheless," she said bluntly.
Her statement caught Yuushi's attention since he concluded that Ryoko knew something about him. "What do you mean by that?"
Ryoko looked up at the roof for a moment and answered back, "From what I hear, Reiji is the best duelist in the area and even recognized throughout Heartland and beyond as a great duelist. However, you know that he went on the trip overseas so he can't exactly participate in this tournament. With Reiji gone, many people say that at Delta, Masaki is the strongest duelist now and the favorite to win. I've heard that Masaki is about pro-level himself after ranking fairly high in several tournaments and even winning a few low-profile ones."
The boy pondered something else and replied, "Any advice for me when I face him?"
"You mean Reiji or Masaki? Well either way, both of them are really heavy users of XYZ monsters. That's about all I got, sorry about that," the girl said with a slight bit of regret in her voice.
"No, you're been helpful," Yuushi said trying to reassure her, "It was more information that I had to start with."
Hikaru and Raima's duel was coming to a close as Hikaru entered the Battle Phase with his Laval monsters. His opponent had the Permanent Trap Card ,Wattcannon along with a Batteryman D in DEF mode (DEF: 1900, Level 4). Hikaru has two monsters on his side of the field, Lavalval Chain (ATK: 1800. Rank 4) and Laval Dual Slasher (ATK: 2400, Level 5). Raima had one card in his hand and Hikaru had two.
Hikaru- 1400 LP
Raima- 2500 LP
Seeing that Lavalval Chain doesn't have enough attack, Hikaru went with his other monster.
"I attack Batteryman D with Laval Dual Slasher. Since I have more than three Laval monsters in my graveyard, even if I attack a DEF mode monster with Laval Dual Slasher, you take the piercing damage!", Hikaru shouted.
Hikaru's golem monster had two huge blades sticking out of its elbows as it charged forward. With a single swing of its elbow blades, the yellow and black battery with green body parts was slashed down casuing electricity to flow throughout the field.
Hikaru- 1400 LP
Raima- 2000 LP
"I can't defend against Lavalval Chain. I guess I'll have to take the hit," thought Raima as he focused on the roaring dragon.
Nevertheless, Hikaru was still focused on his golem monster as he looked intensely at Raima. He turned his head for a moment to see Natsumi in the audience near Ayumi still and nodded to his sister, "I activate another effect of Laval Dual Slasher. Since I have more than three Laval monsters in the grave, and I just attacked a monster in DEF mode, this card can attack for a second time! Laval Dual Slasher, show him your burning might and attack directly!"
Raima stood for a moment shocked at Hikaru's explanation and just muttered the words, "You've got to be kidding...just like that I lost."
Similar to before, Laval Dual Slasher ran up to the opposing duelist and did a vertical slash causing Raima to fall to one knee in defeat.
Hikaru- 1400 LP- WIN
Raima- 0 LP
"Your winner, Hikaru Aoki!", the principal declared
Hikaru pointed up to the roof and then turned his finger into a fist and shouted out a cry of victory. The audience felt Hikaru's spirit and cheered out loud along with him. The most supportive though came from near Ayumi as Hikaru could feel Natsumi cheering for him the loudest.
"That's my big brother!," she shouted out with joy.
Seeing her smile, Ayumi couldn't help herself and grinned a bit too.
As Hikaru made his way over to Yuushi and Ryoko, people start to talk as well. Natsumi overheard the general conversation and smiled after seeing her brother duel. The crowd was complimenting Hikaru's strength and was saying he would likely be another powerful duelist in the school.
The other duel was just about over as both duelists had a low amount of Life Points left as Sakura declared her attack. Both had one monster and if the attack connected, she would be declared the winner.
"Blade Armor Ninja! Attack Armony Arm!", she declared.
Yamato smirked and revealed his Trap Card, "You ran right into it. Now your monster is about to get its body blown in by Sakuretsu Armor!"
The Trap Card attached a shiny coating to Armony Arm as the ninja started to rush in and unsheathed its sword out.
With a motion of her arms, Sakura revealed her own facedown Trap Card. "I activate Trap Stun which negates the effect of all other Trap Cards on the field this turn."
The ninja did a few hand signs as the shining armor shattered and feel to the ground before disappearing as the now-armorless Armory Arm was slashed in half by the female duelist's purple and black armored ninja.
Sakura- 800 LP- WIN
Yamato- 0 LP
"Sakura Fubuta is your winner!"
The crowd clapped as the girl closed her eyes and sighed before walking off the dueling stage.
After a few moments of rest, Principal Tsubasa made his way to the center again with another announcement. "Now the final four have been decided. The semi-final duels will be Yuushi against Masaki and the other duel will be Sakura against Hikaru. Duelists, are you ready?"
On the left Yuushi and Masaki prepared while on the right, Sakura and Hikaru did so as well. Ryoko in the meanwhile joined Ayumi and Natsumi in the audience as she looked on.
"Oh, you must be Natsumi. Hikaru's talked about you," Ryoko said trying to introduce herself
The girl nodded and answered back, "You're Ryoko right? Wow, you must be a really good duelist if you made it that far."
Ryoko felt a bit embarassed and chuckled, "Thanks."
Ayumi looked at both duels but concentrated more on Yuushi's duel while looking at Ryoko, "Who's his opponent Ryoko? Do you know?"
She nodded her head and responded back, "The only thing I really know is that people consider Masaki to be the favorite to win and that he's been the winner of a few small tournaments and considered pro-level."
"Oh, really? Then Yuushi needs to really be in top form then," she replied back as they all watched.
"Pro-level, must be interesting for him at least," Ayumi thought to herself as she looked down to the ground for a moment and clenched her fist nervously while letting out a sad sigh to herself.
The four duelists had their decks shuffled by their Duel Disks as they stared at their opponents.
"Let's see if he's as good as people say. I'm interested in his deck now. I just need to keep my guard up and duel," Yuushi thought with a focused glare on his face.
The light-brown haired opponent looked on and was wearing a ragged grey undershirt and a brown and white long-sleeved shirt over that. Likewise, Masaki had his own glare as he got a read of Yuushi. "Yuushi Sakudo. Last duel, he played that Arcanite Magician or whatever. A tough monster but if that's his only trick, I'll win this."
On the other end, Sakura stared down Hikaru, "A Laval duelist. He's certainly got a lot of passion but I'll be the one to advance."
Hikaru looked at his deck as it stopped shuffling then at his opponent. "She looks harmless enough but I can't be deceived by that. She made it all the way here just like the rest of us so I have to go all out here."
All four decks stopped shuffling now as they each drew five cards a piece and prepared themselves. As if no words had to be spoken between them all, they all got ready and began.
"Duel!"
Yuushi- 4000 LP
Masaki- 4000 LP
Hikaru- 4000 LP
Sakura- 4000 LP
"I'll start things off", Masaki said to his opponent and drew a card.
"I summon Dreadeye Sailor!", he declared.
As he put the card on his Duel Disk, a zombie appeared with blue decaying skin. Surprisingly, this pirate didn't have an artificial limbs and the only strange thing was that it had an eerie glow. The zombie was still humanoid and had both arms and legs and even had a modified cutlass with a larger handle. The monster also had a long white shirt and blue pants and a white bandana (ATK: 1600, Level 4).
"I'll set these two cards down here and that's it for now," the older duelist said as two cards materialized near him
Yuushi nodded and began. He looked at his hand and it seemed decent enough. "I'll start things off a bit more aggressively and see how he reacts."
"I draw!, Yuushi said while raising his hand up in the air and holding a card, "First of all, I activate the Field Spell, Magical Citadel of Endymion!"
The Field Spell was put into its appropriate location as the area around the duelists shook and started to change. The scene transformed to that of an ancient city. The most noticeable feature was the large tower in the center as well as other towers on the large citadel's edge. A white-pink barrier surrounded the city as Masaki looked on somewhat impressed for a quick moment.
Even Yuushi liked how the citadel looked as he reached for another card and called out, "I use my normal summon to summon out Blast Magician!"
At his call, a magician with a robe big enough to cover his head appeared. He had an ambitious smile on his face while he was also wearing purple light armor underneath the robes and wielded a scythe-like weapon. A red mist surrounded him as he swung his weapon once (ATK: 1400, Level 4).
"On top of that, I play a Continuous Spell, Arcane Barrier!"
One of the statues in the citadel's center activated releasing a white magical wave that stretched to the boundaries of the citadel. White-purple markings appeared in the sky and reinforced the citadel. The large tower in the center of the Magical Citadel of Endymion reacted as glyphs started to form on it (Citadel SC: 1). Not only that, but Blast Magician also emitted a faint red mist as an image of fire surrounded him for a second (Blast SC: 1)
"When either of us activates a Spell Card, my Field Spell and also my monster gains a Spell Counter," Yuushi calmly explained.
"Next, I discard a card in my hand in order to special summon The Tricky!", was the next move the younger duelist declared.
Endymion the Master Magician was sent to the graveyard as The Tricky appeared onto the field. With a blue cape fluttering in the wind, a strange jester wearing all yellow and black appeared on Yuushi's field. On its face and chest were two large questions marks as it laughed out loud (ATK: 2000, Level 5).
Yuushi looked over at the pirate monster, "The Tricky, attack Dreadeye Sailor!"
The Tricky stood there for a moment as it raised up a hand. With a quick snap of its fingers, an explosion of blue mist occurred instantaneously at Dreadeye Sailor's location leaving no trace of the monster behind.
Yuushi- 4000 LP
Masaki- 3600 LP
Hikaru saw Yuushi launch a good offense at the start of the duel and cheered, "He's wide open for some damage!"
Hearing Hikaru and agreeing, the Spellcaster duelist commanded his other monster, "Blast Magician attacks you directly!"
After raising up its scythe for a moment, the weapon glowed red as Blast Magician leaped forward preparing to swing its weapon onto Masaki who activated his facedown card in response.
"I activate the card I set last turn, Ghost Guard!"
As the card was shown, a red line slashed through Masaki through the attack seemed to have just phased through but Masaki still was somewhat startled. Regardless, he started to draw cards from the top of his deck and revealed them to Yuushi who was now wondering what was happening.
A Spell Card called Book of Life was the first drawn card but Masaki drew the next card which was a monster known as Dreadeye Deckhand as he sent the card to the graveyard. Book of Life on the other hand went back to his deck as the deck started to shuffle.
Yuushi- 4000 LP
Masaki- 2900 LP
"Ghost Guard effect lets me take cards from the top of my deck until I get to a 'Dreadeye' monster. When this happens, I reduce battle damage by the ATK of the 'Dreadeye' monster. The other cards I draw get shuffled back in the deck. Since your magician had 1400 ATK and Dreadeye Deckhand had 700 ATK, I still take 700 points of battle damage," Masaki clarified for his opponent.
Yuushi wasn't exactly expecting things to go that smoothly as he put the last card in his hand facedown onto the field in the Spell/Trap Zone.
"I end my turn!", he plainly stated.
"Ready?", the brown-haired duelist asked.
Masaki drew and then picked out a card in his hand and placed it on his Duel Disk, "I summon Dreadeye Lookout!"
This time another pirate appeared. Even though it didn't have a left eye or an eyepatch to cover over it, this monster had a red vest and matching red bandana. It was wielding a smaller, thinner sword but had a telescope attached to its belt. Unlike the sailor though, this humanoid was more see-through (ATK: 1500, Level 4).
"I activate his effect. When Dreadeye Lookout is summoned to my field, I can search through my deck and I'll send Dreadeye Buccaneer straight to my graveyard."
Yuushi's opponent pulled out his deck and fanned it open. He looked through as his eyes shifted a few times before he revealed Dreadeye Buccaneer to Yuushi and placed it in his graveyard.
Observing the duel were the girls as they looked on.
Natsumi seemed puzzled and asked, "Hey, why doesn't he just use that monster instead of tossing it away like that? It seems like a good monster."
"I think he's going to use it soon," countered Ayumi.
Ryoko nodded in agreement, "It's no secret where Zombie-type monsters are the most dangerous."
As the auto-shuffle function on Masaki's Duel Disk stopped, he looked up and gave a confident smirk to Yuushi.
"If it's anything like the Card Phantom...no, the Card Shop Manager's Zombie deck, the most important thing I need to keep track of is his graveyard," Yuushi analyzed.
Original Cards
Ghost Guard
Trap Card
When damage calculation is about to take place, you can activate this card. Pick up cards from the top of your deck until you pick up a "Dreadeye" monster. The battle damage you receive is reduced by the ATK of that "Dreadeye" monster. The "Dreadeye" monster is sent to the graveyard and the cards you picked up are shuffled back into the deck.
Dreadeye Lookout
Level 4
Dark Attribute
Zombie/Effect
ATK: 1500, DEF: 1000
When this card is summoned, you can send 1 "Dreadeye" monster from your deck to the graveyard.
Notes: Starting now, the things that are underlined in this section are the names of various Original Cards. This is done just to make things easier to read. Furthermore, the "Original Cards" section will only contain cards that have had their stats and effects revealed by either the characters or the story. This is just for the purposes of storytelling and suspense.
Chapter 11 Preview
Ayumi: Congratulations Yuushi. Although, both of you had a great duel!
Ryoko: Yeah, but I still I wish I won that.
Hikaru: You'd better win Yuushi so that we can have a grand duel at the end of all this.
Ryoko: Not if Masaki has anything to say to that.
Yuushi: Tch, these pirates sure are persistent. Chapter 11: From Beyond the Grave.