After Dark Ichigo and Gateau's duel, the tournament moved along at a brisk pace for the rest of that Friday evening and night. The next duel was back on the left bracket, and was between Ryouta's older brother, Shirou, and a French duelist named Paul Passereau. Paul was a mysterious blond man who possessed a mostly Ritual Monster-based deck, but secretly, he had pledged allegiance to Deep Blue, and had collected several rare cards during the preliminaries by stealing them from other duelists. He had ben affiliated with a branch of the Ghouls in France in the past, and with Deep Blue at the reigns of the once leaderless organization, he was ready to do his bidding, even if he was a human. Against him was Shirou Konno, who possessed two decks: A Horus-based deck that he had given to his brother Ryouta for the tournament, and a Zombie-based deck that he would use for the tournament.

Following a coin flip, Paul was chosen to go first, and drew his set of five cards. He looked over his hand and smiled, thinking to himself, "Alright, I can get a Ritual Monster out already with the cards I have. Master Deep Blue will be proud of my efforts."

Shirou drew his five cards and thought to himself, "If I win this duel, I'll be up against Deep Blue in the next round of duels. If I can eliminate the threat early, my brother and his friends will be elated." He then spoke to his opponent, telling him, "Alright Paul, are you ready?"

"Of course," he replied as he drew a card to begin the duel. "I activate Synthesis Spell, sending two monsters from my hand to my graveyard in order to Ritual Summon the mighty Lycanthrope, with 2400 attack!" As Lycanthrope took to the field, Paul added, "It also has the added effect of dealing 200 further points of damage for every Normal Monster in my graveyard when it deals battle damage! I then set a Magic or Trap Card and end my turn!"

Shirou was not too confident in himself right from the start, intimidated by the fact that Paul had summoned such a powerful monster so early in the duel. "I draw!" He appeared somewhat nervous as he looked over his hand and tried to make a decision. "Okay, uh... I summon Decayed Commander, with 1000 attack! Per its effect, I then Special Summon Zombie Tiger, with 1400 attack!" He then took a deep breath as he began his next move. "I then activate the Union effect of Zombie Tiger, equipping it to Decayed Commander to boost its attack to 1500! Additionally, not only can I discard a random card from your hand when it launches a direct attack, but the same applies when it destroys a monster, too! I then set a Magic or Trap card to end my turn!"

"Pathetic," Paul replied to him. "You left yourself open!" As he drew a card, he thought to himself, "It's as if he's given up already..." "I summon Giant Red Seasnake, with 1800 attack! Now, Lyncathrope, take out his pathetic attempt at a monster union!"

"You're overconfident," Shirou replied to him as he revealed his set card. "Reverse Card Open! Waboku! I no longer take damage during this turn, and my monsters cannot be destroyed by battle either!" Lycanthrope's attack stopped dead in its tracks before the wolf monster retreated back to Paul's side of the field.

Paul scoffed at his trap card. "You just got lucky. It only saves you for one turn. I end."

"My turn," Shirou replied as he drew his next card. "I activate Zombie Tiger's effect and decouple it from Decayed Commander to summon it to my side of the field! It may reduce Decayed Commander to 1000 attack, but bear with me, because I got a nasty surprise for you!" As Zombie Tiger marched forward next to Decayed Commanded, Shirou then held another card out. "I then activate United We Stand, and equip it to Decayed Commander, boosting its attack to 2600! Now, Decayed Commander, destroy his Lycanthrope!" Decayed Commander then charged at Lycanthrope and slashed its head off with his sword, destroying it with ease.

PAUL: 3800

SHIROU: 4000

Paul then revealed his trap card. "Reverse Card Open! Embodiment of Apophis! This is a Trap Monster, and I summon it as a Normal Monster to my side of the field with 1600 attack!"

"I see," Shirou replied, interested in the concept of Trap Monsters. "I gotta say, I've never seen one used in person before. They're pretty rare. Anyway, I end my turn by setting a monster."

"My turn," Paul replied to him, drawing a card. "I'll have my Giant Red Seasnake attack your Zombie Tiger, dealing you 800 damage!" Giant Red Seasnake quickly wrapped around Zombie Tiger and crushed it, destroying it easily.

PAUL: 3800

SHIROU: 3200

"I then switch Embodiment of Apophis to defense and end my turn," Paul concluded. "For now," he thought to himself. "I'll be on the defensive. Once I get my trump card out, though, I'll be on the go."

"My turn," Shirou began his turn with. "I summon Zombie Master, with 1800 attack! I then send one monster from my hand to my graveyard to activate its effect, allowing me to bring Zombie Tiger back to the field!" As both monsters formed on the field, a plan of attack also formed in Shirou's head. "This means that Decayed Commander's attack now goes up to 3400! Now, Decayed Commander, attack his Giant Red Seasnake!" Once again, Decayed Commander decapitated his enemy with a single slash of his sword.

PAUL: 2200

SHIROU: 3200

"And you thought the duel would be a sure thing," Shirou confidently told his opponent. "Well, looks like it isn't."

"Just wait," Paul replied to him as he drew a card. As he looked at it, he smiled. "I win..." He then revealed the card he drew. "I activate Curse of the Masked Beast and send two monsters I control to the graveyard to Ritual Summon my most powerful monster, the Masked Beast, with 3200 attack!" As the Masked Beast took to the field, Paul also switched his other monster to attack. "I then switch Embodiment of Apophis to attack mode! Now, Apophis, destroy the Zombie Tiger!" With this attack, Decayed Commander's attack power went down to 2600, enough for the Masked Beast to destroy it. Instead of going for it, however, Paul went for Zombie Master to deal more damage. "Now, Masked Beast, attack Zombie Master!"

PAUL: 2200

SHIROU: 0800

As Shirou began his turn, his hope of winning was even lower than before. "If I don't draw a good card this turn," he thought to himself. "I'm so screwed." He then closed his eyes in fear as he drew his next and possibly last card of the duel. However, he breathed a sigh of relief when he looked at the card. "I Special Summon Endless Decay per its effect! Per its second effect, its attack becomes 1100! This brings Decayed Commander back up to 2600 attack! I'm not done there, though!"

"What can you possibly do to reverse this?" Paul laughed at Shirou, amused by his hope of winning the duel. "I doubt you have anything strong enough to deal enough damage to me! Besides, why fight? Once Master Deep Blue takes control of this planet, you're going to die anyway."

"I'm gonna fight until it kills me," Shirou shouted back. "Because I have a family I need to protect! I Normal Summon Mezuki, with 1700 attack! I also activate Monster Reborn to bring back Zombie Master! If I do my math right, that should be enough to defeat you now that Decayed Commander is back up to 4200 attack!" He then readied himself for the finishing move of the duel. "Now, Decayed Commander, destroy his Masked Beast, and Mezuki, destroy his Apophis!" Both monsters charged headstrong at Paul's field, obliterating both of his monsters as he looked on in shock, realizing that Shirou's math was right.

PAUL: 1100

SHIROU: 0800

Paul shouted to his opponent, "This can't be happening! How did I get overwhelmed like this?!"

"Finally," Shirou concluded. "Zombie Master and Zombie Tiger, take him down and finish the duel!" Both monsters charged directly at Shirou and attacked him, ending the duel. However, much to Shirou's shock, the attack was not merely a hologram, but a real attack, and as he watched in horror, Zombie Tiger tore deep gashes in Paul's body and Zombie Master smashed his face in with its staff, adding further injuries and making a mess of blood below.

PAUL: 0000 (LOSES)

SHIROU: 0800 (WINS)

Shirou was disturbed to see what his monsters had done, and called out to his opponent. "Oh my God! Paul!"

Paul did not answer, instead coughing up a profuse amount of brown blood from his mouth before collapsing to his knees. The blood was clearly from the stomach due to its color and viscosity, and it was real. He said to himself as his vision slowly began to fade to black around him, "Master Deep Blue... I failed..."

Mokuba immediately ran out to the field to assist, screaming, "Get me a medical team here!" He was horrified to see what had transpired, and knew immediately that something was afoot. The holograms were not able to inflict real injuries, and yet Paul had possessed no ability to perform Shadow Games as he neither wielded a Millennium Item nor was a Cyniclon.

As he was about to reach Paul, a sudden flash of light saw Deep Blue appear on the field beside his body, causing Mokuba to stop. "Well, well, looks like you failed, Mister Passereau... How pathetic..." He then carelessly kicked his head a bit, not caring about his former associate's body whatsoever, before taking his duel disk off of his arm. As he then picked his body up and carried it, he turned to Mokuba and told him, "There's no point in calling firefighters to help him. He's already dead. Every duel that my associates and servants fight in in this tournament is a Shadow Game thanks to my powers. In this case, the loser was going to die."

"You're a monster," Mokuba shouted at him, disgusted by his callous attitude towards his allies as he charged at him, ready to throw a punch. "I'm gonna slug you!"

Deep Blue simply extended one of his fingers on his free hand out to Mokuba, using his powers to hold him back and freeze him in place. "You can't touch me. Anyway, enough of this charade." He then turned to Shirou. "Looks like I'll be facing you when we get to the next part of the brackets. Good luck, human. You're gonna need it." He then disappeared in another flash of light, stunning the crowd and freeing Mokuba from being frozen in place. Nobody knew what Deep Blue has planned next, but they all knew that it would be horrifying, and they all knew that he was going to pull no punches whatsoever. If anything, he was going to commit excessive acts of brutality against those who dared to lose against him.