"It's over and done. The first duel has ended with Marcus bringing in a win for Team Mystic, but that doesn't mean it's over for Team Fanrong." M.C. announced as the audience in China kept cheering for Team Fanrong. "They still have a chance if they can win the next two rounds. The next battle is set to be Jaw-Long vs. Felix. Will Jaw-Long redeem this lost and bring victory for Team Fangrong? We'll find out very soon."
...
Team Fanrong
Jaw-Long was in a deep meditative stance as he was preparing himself for his upcoming battle against Felix. Now that Team Fanrong has lost this battle, they can't afford another defeat.
"Do you think Jaw-Long can win?" Li-Jing questioned. "Even Muyang lost his duel when he does have some serious skill."
"Hey, watch it." Muyang said. "I'll admit that I lost, but that lost... It doesn't really bother me. In fact, I don't mind that I did. It's left quite a feeling in me, someone that actually gave me a challenge this time. In fact, it makes me want to face him again."
"I'm glad to hear that, Muyang. Perhaps what you needed was someone who could give you a challenge. Defeat can be quite the motivation to help you improve." Yuxuan claimed. "I'm glad that defeat helped you learn something, but I wish it didn't cost us. We are representing what Fanrong stands for. We cannot afford to lose the next duel. Jaw-Long, you must win this duel!" Yuxuan claimed as he won't accept anything else now.
"I shall." Jaw-Long said as he snapped out his meditation. Defeat can be quite the motivation, and it's motivating Jaw-Long to win.
...
Team Mystic
"Oh man! Winning really works on the appetite!" Marcus said as he was stuffing his face with sandwiches. "Now all Felix has to do is win his duel against Jaw-Long and we're good to go. Who wants to watch Yukina duel?"
"Hey!" Yukina complained.
"Too bad dueling can't do anything to help your manners." Felix said as he was doing some last minute preparation for his duel.
"But he's right. If you can, we win the whole match." Kent said. "When Yukina dueled Jaw-Long, his strategy revolved around his opponent having more cards in their hand. The more cards his opponent has, the better to his advantage."
"And his best monster that we know of is a ritual monster." Cindy said. "Felix, do you have ways to counter that?"
"Don't worry about me. I'll win." Felix said. 'I can do this. I know I can. All I have to do is keep calm and focused.' He thought. As he tried to think of that, he felt something ominous in him for a second. 'What was that?' He's trying to get his mind focus on winning, but what's going on in him? Both sides are really feeling the pressure to win this match. The one who wants it more will be the one that wins.
...
The Arena
"Here we go! It's now time to start the second round!" M.C. announced. "Hoping to redeem his team's loss, we have Jaw-Long!" Jaw-Long came out and was ready for a duel. "Against his opponent in hopes of earning Team Mystic the win, we've got Felix!" He wasn't getting much love from the stadium, but the girls thought he was attractive.
"I wonder... Are you really as strong as Yukina?" Jaw-Long said.
"Excuse me?" Felix said.
"It's just... I've seen Duel Battlers. I'm well aware of how powerful Yukina and Gray are, but you I'm not sure about. Can you bring me a challenge?" Jaw-Long questioned.
"You're about to find out." Felix said as he and Jaw-Long got themselves ready for this.
"Let's duel!" they both said as they were now starting with 4000LP.
"I'm going first, and I summon Gladiator Beast Bestari!" Felix said as he summoned out his monster with it having 1500atk points. "Since I now have a Gladiator Beast on the field, I can now summon Test Tiger from my hand!" He summoned out his tiger with it having 600atk points. "Next, by tributing Test Tiger, Bestari returns to my deck and I can bring out another Gladiator Beast! Rise, Gladiator Beast Augustus!" He said as he brought Bestari back, sacrificed his tiger, and brought out Augustus with it having 2600atk points. "That also allows me to use Augustus ability to summon Gladiator Beast Sagittarii!" Felix summoned out a new beast with it having 1000def points. "Now Sagittarii's ability activates! By sending Gladiator Beast Spartacus in my hand to the graveyard, I can draw two more cards!" He claimed as he did just that. "I place one card facedown to end my turn. Since we've reached the end, Sagittarii returns to my deck." Sagittari returned to Felix.
"Felix managed to summon out one powerful monster on his first turn. How will Jaw-Long counter?"
"My turn. I draw!" Jaw-Long said as he drew his next card. "I'm sure you are familiar with this card. I activate Sheng Shou Ritual!"
"He's playing it already?!" Cindy said.
"Here it comes." Yukina said with Felix bracing himself.
"Normally, I must tribute monsters whose levels equal the monster I wish to summon, but I have an exception." Jaw-Long claimed. "I just need to discard one monster: Sheng Shou Monk! He counts as all the monsters I needed!" Jaw-Long offered a monk in his hand with a magic circle forming on the field. "I ritual summon Sheng Shou Salamander!" He summoned out his giant salamander with it having 2400atk points. "Next, I'm activating my Ryoku spell! This will take half of the attack points of your monster and give it to mine!"
"I had a feeling that you would do that. That's why I have this! I activate Disarm!" Felix said. "By sending a Gladiator Beast in my hand back to my deck, your spell is negated!" He claimed as he returned a card in his hand to his deck and negated the spell.
"Hang on." Cindy said. "Why didn't Felix activate that when Jaw-Long activated his ritual spell?"
"He must have a strategy." Yukina said as they can only trust that Felix knows what he's doing.
"Nice try, but you made a bad call." Jaw-Long said. "Did you think I wouldn't have something else ready for my ritual monsters? I activate the spell Sheng Shou Enlighten! Since I ritual summoned a Sheng Shou this turn, this spell gives my salamander an extra 1000atk points until the end of this turn!" His salamander gained more power as it was now at 3400atk points. "Salamander, attack his Augustus!" His salamander unleashed a powerful blast of fire. It made contact with Augustus and destroyed him with Felix's life points dropping to 3200. "With that, I end my turn. Please try to make this more challenging." He claimed with Salamander's power dropping back to 2400.
"Jaw-Long is the first to deal damage! Can he keep this momentum now that he's got that powerful fire lizard?!"
"It's not over just yet. My turn!" Felix said as he drew his next card.
"Yes, and now that it is, I can activate my salamander's ability to deal you damage for every card that you have in your hand." Jaw-Long claimed. "Currently, you hold two cards. That means you lose 400LP!" Salamander attacked again as it blasted Felix with his life points dropping to 2800.
'I wasn't expecting him to have another power-boost for his monster, but I still have a way to deal with him.' Felix thought as the answers were right in his hands. "I summon Gladiator Beast Darius to the field!" He summoned out his horse gladiator with it having 1700atk points. "And now I'm activating Gladiator Beast Comeback to have Augustus make a comeback!" Augustus came back to the field and was looking for some payback. "Augustus, attack Salamander!" Augustus flew right at Salamander and slashed a mighty blade against Jaw-Long's lizard. It was destroyed and Jaw-Long's life points dropped to 3800.
"Ouch! Augustus made a comeback and got some serious payback!"
"And there's more to come! Darius, attack him directly!" Felix ordered. Darius attacked by smashing his fist against Jaw-Long. Jaw-Long tried to hold strong with his life points dropping to 2100. "Now that the battle phase is over, both Augustus and Darius return to my deck, and I can summon two other monsters to take their place." He claimed as he brought back both of his monsters. "I'll bring out Gladiator Beast Hoplomus and Reitari!" Felix threw in some defense with Hoplomus and summoned out a new beast resembling a crocodile with 800def points. "When Hoplomus is summoned, his original defense power becomes 2400. As for Reitari, I can now select one card in your graveyard and remove it from play. I choose your Sheng Shou Salamander, so you can't bring it back!"
"Unbelievable! Felix managed to take Jaw-Long's salamander out of the graveyard and is now out of reach!"
"That's what Felix must have been going for!" Yukina said. "He was probably trying to send both Jaw-Long's ritual spell and monster to the graveyard!"
"And then used Reitari's ability to get rid of it permanently!" Kent said as it seems like Felix managed to get rid of Jaw-Long's best monster.
"With that, I end my turn." Felix said.
"I see... Not a bad strategy, but I'm afraid it's not good enough. I draw!" Jaw-Long said as he drew his next card, and it sounds like he's got something planned. "You ended up choosing the wrong card. Sheng Shou Ritual has another effect! If I have no ritual monsters in my graveyard, I can return monsters in my graveyard and still ritual summon! I return Sheng Shou Monk in my graveyard to my deck to ritual summon!" Felix wasn't expecting a second ritual with the magic circle appearing on the floor again. "I ritual summon Sheng Shou Thunderbird!" Jaw-Long ended up summoning a bright yellow bird with two heads and was generating electricity with it having 2400atk points.
"He had another?!" Felix said.
"My thunderbird won't be able to destroy your monsters since I have more cards in my hand than you. Even if I do play this one in my hand, you still wouldn't have more than me." Jaw-Long said. "However, I can still inflict piercing damage! Sheng Shou Thunderbird, attack his Reitari! Strike down with Storming Twin Thunder!" His thunderbird gathered power and both heads fired beams of electricity. Both attacks blasted Reitari. It might have survived, but Felix still took damage with his life points dropping down 1200. "I was expecting more of a challenge. You'll have to do better than what you have been doing so I can enjoy defeating you."
"You might have pulled off a ritual summon, but you just triggered Reitari's ability to return to my deck!" Felix said as he took it back to bring out a new monster. "Now I summon Gladiator Beast Murmillo!" He claimed as he brought out Murmillo with 800atk points. "Once he's summoned, your thunderbird is finished!" Murmillow blasted water right at it. He managed to destroy the bird, but Jaw-Long wasn't worried.
"It was a good try, but I'm afraid you still can't win. I place one card facedown and end my turn." Jaw-Long said.
'He's still so calm. Is... Is that face-down something to help him?' Felix wondered.
"Jaw-Long lost another monster, but he doesn't seem bothered. Could it be that he has something planned?" That's what Felix is thinking, and Jaw-Long has been able to counter his moves up until now.
"It looks like this round is ours." Li-Jing said.
"Yep. We've got it." Muyang said.
"Careful. It's not over just yet." Yuxuan said.
"Jaw-Long has been able to match Felix move for move. If Felix can't make a comeback now, this duel might be all over for him." Felix couldn't believe it. Everything he threw at Jaw-Long ended up failing and he might end up losing.
'I... I could lose? Lose? No... No, I can't.' Felix thought as he was feeling tons of negative emotions and something in him was stirring. Yukina noticed it and saw something was wrong. "No! No! I will win! I will win! I will win!" Felix shouted as he was surrounded by a dark aura with his eyes glowing ominously.
"What's this?!" Jaw-Long questioned.
"What's happening?!" Yuxuan said as this didn't look good at all.
"I will win!" Felix shouted as that dark aura completely enveloped around him. "I will win!"
"Felix!" Yukina called.
"What's happening to him?!" Marcus questioned.
"I don't know! This has never happened before!" Cindy said.
"My turn!" Felix shouted as he sounded like he was going insane. "I summon Gladiator Beast Laquari!" He summoned out Laquari as it rose out with 1800atk points. "Now merge!" He shouted. All three of his monsters were now fusing together. "I summon Gladiator Beast Heraklinos!" He summoned out another beast with it having 3000atk points. Whatever was happening to Felix was affecting his monsters as well. that same dark aura formed around Heraklinos and made it appear much more menacing.
"Felix, stop! Something is wrong!" Yukina called, but Felix wasn't listening.
"Attack, Heraklinos! Destroy! Destroy all that is before you!" Felix shouted as he was attacking carelessly. This truly was a freightning to see. Felix isn't acting like himself at all.
"I... I activate my Sheng Show Protection trap!" Jaw-Long said as he found the strength to keep fighting and activated his trap. "With a Sheng Shou ritual in my graveyard, this redirects the damage to you!" Once the trap activated, Heraklinos smashed against a barrier and the force smashed into Felix with all of his life points dropping to zero.
"Felix!" Team Mystic shouted because that didn't look good. Felix was knocked to the ground and he was knocked out.
"It's over! The winner of this duel is Team Fanrong!" M.C. announced, but it didn't feel like a victory.
"I won?" Jaw-Long questioned as it just didn't seem right.
"Felix!" Yukina called as she and the rest of the team hurried to him and tried to help him. "Felix! Are you okay?! Say something!" Something weird happened to Felix and they couldn't make sense of it. It also ended up costing them the round.
"Now that this is over, both teams are tied with one win each. The next one between Yuxuan and Yukina will be the one that decides this!" M.C. announced. The two leaders looked at each other with an intense look. We'll soon see which team will be the one that advances.