The tournament continued with a steady stream of duellists ready and willing to throw themselves against my electromagnet warriors though none could pull a victory from it. For them facing my effect monsters must have seemed like some sort of herculean task, in fact I was accused of cheating a few times though whenever my deck was tested using a card reader through some miracle the cards came through perfectly and my deck was verified real.

The duellists however kept coming, it was becoming exhausting even to sit and battle against the same monsters over and over again until eventually I finally found myself sitting across from the finalist. His name was Drenin and apparently he was pretty spectacular here. Supposedly he had won a bingo-esc challenge and been chosen to receive a promotional card still in beta stages, it was said to be a monster capable of utterly destroying any others on the field and that even the Blue-Eyes White Dragon (3000 ATK/2500 DEF) would fear its presence.

Of course the existence of such a card didn't scare me, my deck was designed to fight cyber dragon and ABC Buster Dragon Decks so monsters with high attack power weren't a threat to my deck but what did make me cautious about him was that in the entire tournament he hadn't used it once, even I hadn't managed such a feat as I used Berserkion several times by this point. I was certain that his deck was powerful but exactly how powerful was about to become apparent when he made his turn "Alright enough of this silence, I'll go first!" he shouted, drawing his hand before grinning "And looks like you're in for a bumpy ride" Drenin chuckled to himself, lifting a card from his hand "I'll set a monster and a spell/trap card, then end my turn" He paused, watching my as I drew my hand in response.

"What's wrong, are you scared… scared to see what terrors I have hiding in plain sight?" he barked immediately upon me lifting my hand "Scared?" I responded with a light smile, tilting my head slightly to the left "Scared of smoke and mirrors?" I spoke, setting a spell/trap before calling out "I activate Magnet Field; my field spell!" I smiled at him, raising a card from my hand "And then I'll normal summon my Delta The Magnet Warrior!" (1600 ATK/1400 DEF)

" with Delta's ability I can send one Gamma the Electromagnet warrior from my deck to the graveyard and I'll activate the effect of my Magnet Field, allowing me to special summon back my Gamma!" I placed the gamma in defense position as I reached back into my hand "And you know what that means don't you" I teased, knowing full well he had been too caught up in his own duels to watch mine "It means I'm allowed to special summon Alpha the Electromagnet warrior (1700 ATK/1100 DEF) from my hand who in turn sets the stage for my Berserkion, adding it to my hand!" I chuckled, pointing to my Delta with much confidence.
"Now my Delta will attack" I spoke clearly, staring into his eyes though I won't lie, he panicked me a little when he grinned, flipping face up his monster "My Green Phantom King (500 ATK/1600 DEF) has just enough defense to weather your attack" he spoke calmly, looking through the cards in his hand before looking back up at me "Then I'll attack with Alpha, destroying your phantom king!" I retorted, watching as he removed the card from the field before ending my turn. Drenin drew a card before smiling and placing another monster "Your turn" he spoke calmly, putting me on edge. He spoke as if I was playing directly into his hands but he couldn't have expected any of my moves, my cards didn't exist yet! "Alright, I hope you have a response to my most powerful monster then, I'll Summon Beta the electromagnet warrior (1500 ATK/1500 DEF) and then I'll banish Alpha, Beta and Gamma to special summon from my hand Berserkion the electro magna warrior!" (3000 ATK/2800 DEF) I placed the card on the field, pausing as I looked on at him "And looks like you're lucky today because due to Berserkions effect I'd need to banish a magnet warrior monster from my graveyard, unfortunately I only have one and it's on the field otherwise this duel would be over" I smiled, pausing for his retort though Drenin only smiled back, watching me closely "I don't feel like beating you this turn" I spoke, gesturing to Magnetic field "But I'll do some damage. My Berserkion will attack your defense position monster, then Delta will attack you directly, dealing 1600 damage to your life points!" I chuckled, leaning back as Drenin continued "You'll wish you defeated me, your monsters are about to be destroyed!" he called with a smirk as he placed a spell card on the field "Monster Reborn!" he called, laughing "Revive my Petit moth (300 ATK/100 DEF) in defense position. Perhaps you haven't been acquainted with my moth but you destroyed it last turn… my set monster remember?" he waited to see my startled expression before continuing "Next I'll equip it with the Cocoon of evolution, increasing my moth's defense to 2000 and now to deal with your berserkion I have a card I save for Valkyrion but it works here too… I activate a spell card; Breath of Light and it destroys all rock monsters!" he smiled as I looked down, realising my entire deck is made out of rock monsters though I begrudgingly placed my berserkion in the graveyard. "Now, is there anything you can summon in time to stop my cocoon of evolution?"

I let out a sigh, looking up to realise we had quite the following here. The other duellists from the other duels watching us closely though of course they would, we had proved to be the best out of all the duellists here and now we were facing off. The thought passed through my head at first but soon I found myself grinning, I had been reminded of the series and now I knew what card he had "So…" I began, looking up toward him with a confident smile, laughing slightly "that card you got… the Beta Card…" I smiled wider by the second, his attention finally drawn in full "I know what it is…" his eyes widened slightly as he watched me "No, it's the only one in the country at the moment, you can't have seen it before!" he called in reply, me shaking my head slowly "Oh how true you are, I wasn't in this country whenever I saw it.. No.. but if I remember correctly the last time I beat it I did this…" I paused, taking a deep breath as I called once more "I activate the effect of Berserkion Whenever it's sent to the graveyard, returning from my exiled cards Alpha, Beta and Gamma to my field in defense position, then I'll end my turn!" I watched him closely, his breathing had quickened and it was as if by merely mention previous experience with his trump card I had shaken his spirit… was this trump card the only reason he had gone undefeated this long?

He smiled calming himself "I-if you really knew what my card was then you'd be destroying me right now but you're just sitting there, nice try… it almost worked but I can see through your bark!" he called though his serious demeanor was met only by a cold stare, my lips curling into some description of horrid smile "Well of course I'm waiting, I want to crush it. It's not often you get to destroy perfection…" I chuckled, hear a loud sound as he pushed back his chair abruptly, his eyes widening "H-how…" he spoke, stammering for a moment before glaring at me though I responded with a smile "I may have been in duelist Kingdom until I got bored" I lied, gauging the response from Drenin though he simply looked puzzled "What's that…" he said under his breath before looking up at me "That doesn't scare me!" as if to try and hide his previous choice of words. "Don't worry I was merely in the Alpha, you'll learn about the event soon enough" I spoke, with a sigh which must have sounded like a sigh of frustration though in reality it was of relief, from this duel and my knowledge of the series I had been able to determine how far into the series I was and the answer was not far, this meant I could plan around the events of the series and exploit my knowledge of the future.
"Don't worry… I'll wait…" I spoke slowly, gesturing to him as I ended my turn though he simply drew a card and ended his turn too. This went on for a while as I kept up my act. A large part of this game being my attempt to panic him, cause him to make mistakes but soon the sixth turn arose, his hand raising to a card before he smiled "Alright… you asked for it now look upon perfection and weep… by sending Petit Moth to the graveyard I summon Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth! (3500 ATK/3000 DEF) and now I'll activate my second Breath of Light before I activate my Insect armour with laser cannon! Which raises my moth's attack from 3500 to 4200, are you scared now, my monster could defeat even the legendary Gate Guardian (3750 ATK/3400 DEF)

And I'll attack, destroying you once and for all!" he called, pointing directly at me as he took short, deep breaths. Sweat dripping from his brow, his facing turning into one of horror as I continued to smile back at him, flipping my trap card 'Call of the Haunted' "I use the effect of call of the haunted to resurrect my Berserkion" I spoke slowly, letting it sink in what was happening. "N-no…" he let out as my Berserkion returned before being sent back to the graveyard "And of course I take 1200 life point damage, making my life points 800 total" I continued, waiting for his response "N-no…" he continued, his eyes widening as he watched the field "Now I'll activate the effect of my Magnet field, Bouncing your Perfectly ultimate Great Moth back to the hand" I spoke softly as I saw him shakily remove the monster, entering his end phase "Now I win by summoning my final Gamma the electromagnetic warrior Whose effect special summons Alpha the electromagnetic warrior And they'll attack, inflicting 2500 life point damage to you"

I breathed a breath of relief, smiling as I gathered my cards and leaned back smiling as the sounds of cheering and the shopkeeper blending into the background, that was a difficult game and I'd have to be on lookout in the future for other duellists like him. Soon though I would claim my winnings and leave the shop, stepping once more into the vast cityscape though this time I wasn't alone, I felt a tug on my shoulder and turned around to see a tall, shadowy figure smiling at me "With those skills of yours you could get somewhere in the underworld if you'd be… willing to… risk it…"
I looked at him for a moment before he continued "Free housing and maintainance of course, we take care of our partners.."

I blinked for a moment, hand lowering to my bag as I stared back into his eyes
"I'm listening…"