Comment Corner:
Anon: Ah that would be pretty funny wouldn't it?
Guest Critic: It's a neat rogue deck, relatively cheap if I remember correctly. But yes, VFD is hit for the good of everyone sadly, but what did you expect. I don't know really, it is a bit too overpowered for my taste. Well good thing that there's a whole tournament where a lot of people gather isn't it? Zoos would be pretty fun. Probably not though, I've been limiting the duelists around to actually use cards that are out during the run of Arc-V so no. She probably can finagle a win if I'm being honest. I'm already juggling enough original characters so probably not.
Hoshizora Hitomi: It is one of my favourite decks, glad that you enjoyed it!
Zet4: Thanks for reading! It's less they ran and more of those patented Academia lose gets thrown back to the Fusion Dimension kind of thing. Well that was basically what that other guy did with Dystopia so… yeah.
Guest: Yep it is, and now its here too.
Rem Ryuga: May he rest in peace.
King Atem: Yea its a nickname that someone suggested and I thought that its funny enough to write it for a line. There'll probably be a lot more names for her circulating in the Fusion Dimension that we don't know really, so I'll take some of yours if you'll let me : )
Yuto Ijika: May he rest in peace.
Yugioh Guest: Well, they pulled out the better floodgate you see. The based Academia floodgate of Fusion Trench! No seriously, they ran this floodgate in the anime and I am not joking. It's ass. Probably buyouts or something yes.
A Synchron Fan: Hey don't diss Ancient Gear like that, Cobin Diez gave a good showing on the NAWCQ in July! Give it some respect lmao. Beastborg is weird, super gimmicky and really inconsistent. That's about it. It will most certainly be a mixture of both because people would surely be dumb enough to throw themselves at the most profitable target. Oof, same to be honest, but mostly because of my locals game moving to a venue that's pretty far away from where I'm at. Kek sure just ping me whenever you're free honestly, my schedule is very flexible.
Shadow Guest: Kek. Cool, glad that you're at least enjoying writing. Those are duels alright, hope that you at least write some fun interaction for those. Eh, it was super early branded builds where people still thought of using Branded Fusion as just a Foolish Burial. You really are just using it for yapping at this point lmao.
Peter Kim: If its Reiji that you're mentioning then he didn't really watch Yuuna duel against The Professor, but he can probably glimpse what Yuri learned from her.
Pjo crossovers: Kinda not, that's what Generaider is like. Nope, it would still be Generaiders for the most part.
Guest: It is a funny one yes.
Kingofbots: Glad that you enjoyed it! Well, would she even have the time is the better question. Oh that's a neat way to allow her to Fusion Summon again, I'll note it. But yeah, there isn't much decks that use both is there? Unless you count Instant Fusion to Norden as one.
Guest: Thanks!
Anthony Galupo: Probably not. That would be super funny though.
White War Crewmate: True! It is indeed Haruto. Hey, morally correct arson is the best kind of arson.
MercyChimes: Welp.
yann0406: Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
Now have a chapter with a slower, anime-esque duel since Yuuna is nowhere near : )
Anyway, I own what I own.
Which apparently includes,
A Link that I have for some reason:
PandorasJailofCreativity/membership?view_as=patron
Discord Link that I have for some reason:
4bg8TRm2Gk
Twitter that I have for some reason:
mobile. / pandorajail
Shout out to Zeranion, pyro stick figure 76 and 13arabba who actually paid for , along with the people on the discord, absolute madlads.
Note that this work is also crossposted on Webnovel, AO3, and Space Battles, all because I hate myself lmao.
Trading Game
46th Pack
Numbers Eveil
"GOOOOOOD EVENING! Residents of Heartland City!" A flamboyant man shouted at the top of his lungs as he spun and danced, ending his short performance as he spread both hands wide, showing the pristine clothing that he wore, the cane he held glinting under the shining lamp above him.
"I am Mr. Heartland! Mayor of Heartland City, and the event manager of the current World Duel Carnival!" The man expunged as he twirled the cane in his hand. "And I am here, to give you, the citizens of Heartland City, along with duelists from all over the globe who came to attend this grand tournament, to make an announcement."
Saying so the man tapped his cane onto the ground below him. "And that announcement, is none other than the World Duel Carnival… will begin soon!" He declared boisterously as he spread his hands wide once more.
He took a moment to pause, intentionally giving time for his announcement to settle in, before he raised his hands in front of him in a stopping gesture. "Now, I know what many of you out there are thinking. 'But Mr. Heartland! The World Duel Carnival is supposed to begin in three more days! Not in a few hours!'" He said, intonation and voice going into a higher pitch and morose as he imitated someone who had just heard the announcement he had made.
"And to that, I say yes!" And regained his bravado as he threw and catched the cane in his right hand, leaning forward and showing the wide grin that he sported. "I am a firm believer of the saying 'The early duelists gets the pack!' and this case is, in truth, not so different!"
The man leaned back and stood tall, both hands on his cane as he placed it right in front of him. "After all, even now, there are countless accomplished duelists from all across the world who came here for the World Duel Carnival in this city! What kind of man would I be if I let them wait even longer!"
Mr. Heartland expert twirled the cane in his hand, pointing its end forward as the twin orbs shone thanks to the light. "And now, with the announcement over, it's best to explain how the World Duel Carnival would undergo would it not?"
He raised his left hand, as he strolled to the left, and a wide screen appeared next to him that revealed three blank rectangles.
"And of course, what better way to start than with a grand beginning! And what else could be grander than with a Battle Royal! A free for all!" He shouted as he raised both hands again, as the two leftmost rectangles spun and revealed the word Battle Royal Day 1 and 2 respectively.
"Until the end of tomorrow, the preliminary round of the World Duel Carnival will commence as a grand Battle Royal! Where any participants can duel against one another in order to gain points!"
A twirl of his decorated cane allowed him to stay as the focus as he continued. "The area will be none other than the entire city! And those who would go out of the bounds during the duration, however, would sadly be counted as disqualified."
A twirl saw him spread his hands wide once more with flourish. "And what better way to determine points than by a duelist's own records! The points that you carry to begin with will be based on your win and loss ratio according to your duel disk!"
The flamboyant man's arms waved as he continued. "This means that accomplished duelists who have accrued many victories would become great bounties that anyone could possibly defeat to gain a mass of points!" He shouted aloud.
"But of course, this isn't merely a scavenger challenge to defeat strong duelists, no, this is a Battle Royal!" He exclaimed. The screen beside him flickering and changing to the image of multiple figures facing against one another.
"Should you see a duel begin between two participants, then anyone, and by that I mean anyone, can enter and join in the duel! With a measly cost of half their starting Life Points!" He shouted, revealing the gimmick of the Battle Royal which was the beginning of the World Duel Carnival.
"The points however? Well, they would only go towards the duelist who deals the final damage and defeats their opponents." Mr. Heartland said with a mischievous grin. "So you all better watch out for that!"
He chuckled as he twirled the cane in his hand, tapping it onto the floor as he leaned onto it and continued. "But of course, that doesn't mean that anyone could simply interfere in the middle of a duel and simply grasp another's victory from their clutches then forfeit, all duels have to be finished! And a forfeit means forfeiting your points to your opponents!"
"He languidly flexed his arm up into the air, only to thrust his hand out at the camera with three fingers raised. "Each duelist has three chances! Three losses during this preliminary stage of the World Duel Carnival means that they. Are. Out! And eliminated from the tournament!"
And with a smile, he raised a finger as he continued. "For fairness due to the battle royal rules however, duelists cannot duel against the same opponents. To prevent someone from forcing a duelist out straight from the battle royal of course."
Then his face went hard, the mirth that he had shown disappearing as he went serious. "Any and all violations of the rules, basic or not, will be punished by the cane and monitoring judges." His attitude returning to happiness is to go lucky once more.
Mr. Heartland took a moment to stop as he placed a finger on his chin, tapping it as he took on a questioning look. "But how would you get points quickly? Wouldn't that mean that you have to defeat as many duelists as possible in the mere span of two days?" He asked.
"Well worry not!" He answered himself as he spun in place, twirling his cane in hand. "For there is a simple way for you to get a large amount of points with merely a single duel!" He shouted, slamming his hand on the screen beside him as it shone, images swirling before it revealed a single word.
"Bounty!" The green haired man shouted, his words similarly mirrored by the screen beside him. "A bounty system will be implemented during the duration of the World Duel Carnival! The location of the duelists with the highest points around you will be shown on your duel disk!"
The screen beside him turned into an image depicting several white figures surrounding a person, depicted in red. A large golden sign written 'bounty' shining and flashing above their head.
"Work together! Work against one another! Do whatever you need!" The man tapped the screen once more, and the image that it showed switched into a circular shaped radar, showing several white dots and a singular blinking red dot. "Challenge them! Win! And your points will skyrocket by a large margin!"
And he gave a short laugh. "But if you lose? Well, your points would go to that very duelist of course! Making their bounty rise, higher and higher! Making them an even bigger target for others!" Mr. Heartland shouted with arms spread wide, his bright white teeth shining through his grin.
He twirled once again, flapping the coattails of his suit as he tapped his cane once again. "And the best will be the eight duelists who score the highest points in the coming days! Eight finalists who would enter a classic style tournament, determining who. Is. The. Best!" He shouted with flourish, waving his arms and spreading them wide.
"We are looking for the best of the best ladies and gentlemen! The strongest! Greatest! Smartest duelist to be crowned the champion of the World Duel Carnival!" The man shouted, Throwing the cane up in the air, only for it to be caught with an elegant twirl and tapped against the stage.
And then, leaned forward, showing a bright smile. "And that, could be you."
He snapped the fingers of his free hand as he continued. "The location of bounties and the points that you possessed can be found in the official site of the World Duel Carnival. Along with the more in depth explanation of the rules as well. Make sure to read them, because I sure know that some of you won't!" The man said with a cackle.
With all of that said, he once more tapped his cane as his eyes bored straight forward. "Go forth! Duelists! The path towards the future begins as soon as the clock strikes three! Don't forget to register the decklist that you will enter with! The first day of the World Duel Carnival will last for seven hours!"
Then he gave a grin straight towards the camera. "Entry for the World Duel Carnival will last until the last minute! With all that said, let the World Duel Carnival… commence!" And flourished as he spun and spread his hands wide.
The screen then cuts to black. Ending the transmission.
Heartland City was touted as the city of the future, one built on the foundation of ground breaking technology. A veritable paradise for those who lived in it, where most of your needs could be found.
Such was something that could only be done due to how advanced the city was, with how most of their residents' needs could be fulfilled, Heartland City turned its focus to the next matter of importance.
Entertainment.
Along with the help of a certain top hat wearing duelist, the advancement of solid vision technology went through leaps and bounds, and along with it, the advancement of dueling styles.
Such was once again certainly helped by a certain entertainer taking time of his day to entertain the masses with his performances when he was not teaching on the laudable Heartland Dueling School.
Yet even without the focus on the newly advanced solid vision and dueling technology, Heartland City which focused on the development of entertainment and general technology made the city a veritable box of jewellery of entertainment. With a whole section of the city being an amusement park, and large screens plastered on buildings and walls to show the current raging fashion and upcoming events.
One of such things lay in the centre of the city's section, a shopping center where many people gathered around as they watched the brand new announcement which had resounded throughout every corner of the illustrious city.
"That's… I can't believe this…"
"No way! I'm not prepared to actually duel right now!"
"A card trader! I need to find a card trader right now!"
The same reaction was something that was shared by many others that watched the transmission. Whispers turned into shouts and roars as every word that left the man's mouth stoked the dueling spirits of all that listened
"Hmph." Serena hummed as she crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing as she watched the announcement that the flashily dressed man replayed across the many screens on the buildings, along with several holographic displays strewn around, and of course the large blimp that hovered in the city's sky.
"This stinks." Serena said with a frown as she watched the fancily dressed Mr. Heartland explain the rules for the city wide tournament once again, the video and its message repeating over and over again all across the city.
And she wholeheartedly agreed with her. They both certainly should know when something is blatantly suspicious. They knew of the Academia after all.
"H-huh?" The raven haired girl standing right beside her said aloud as she turned to her, the surprise clear on Ruri's face at her statement. "W-what do you mean Serena?" She asked her.
"I think Serena meant that this is suspicious." She added on, coming to her friend's defence.
And Ruri turned to her with a questioning look, "What do you mean Mei?" The raven haired girl asked her to elaborate.
She does, of course. "The World Duel Carnival was-is supposed to be a world wide tournament right? That's in its name after all. It's an event that has quite a lot of backing to it, sponsored by big names companies and famous pro duelists. It should have a solid schedule that everyone agreed to. So for it to suddenly be forwarded like this…" She trailed off as she let out a sigh.
"I'll say that I also feel the same as Serena. This is quite suspicious."
"Like I said. It stinks. Something doesn't seem right here." Serena said with a huff, taking her eyes off of the screen as she began walking out, breaking off from the crowd. And they all followed her.
"That's…" Ruri said again, taking a moment as she crossed her arms in front of her as she followed suit. "Well… when both of you put it all like that then… I guess that makes sense." She said as she nodded her head, a small frown forming as she glanced back at the crowd that remained on the square of the mall that they were walking around in.
"A battle royal huh…" She muttered as she glanced left and right, watching people talking to one another animatedly, talking about the most recent announcement. Some were taking out their decks and began looking at their cards, while others were trading and selling cards with what time they had left.
"I don't think anyone will be prepared for something like that." She said with a grimace, just thinking of the complications that could happen with how the rule set of the tournament which was explained briefly. Letting people essentially pile on someone to gain all of their points, or rather for one to get all of their collective points was…
"This is definitely not like your normal tournament." Serena said aloud, the frown that was on her face twitching. "The preliminaries for it at least. If these two days somehow doesn't devolve into a mess, it'll be a miracle."
"I'm sure that the staff and the judges would stop something from going too far." Ruri said her own thoughts on the matter, tacked on with a small forced smile as she herself gave some thought into it. "But… I guess it would be quite troubling won't it?"
"I think so too." She said, agreeing with Ruri with a nod, and Ruri showed her a grateful smile. "Moving this whole schedule forward is suspicious. Incredibly so. But it's still a world scale tournament isn't it? I'm sure the security and such is top notch."
Yet, she gave Serena a glance, and she shared the same look as she does. This tournament was something that was supposedly planned for quite a while, so for it to suddenly be held a few days earlier than it was supposed to was already strange, but not that much alarming.
Only, this was a World scale event, as the name implies. Duelists from all across the globe were coming over to Heartland, the city of the future, to attend it.
For a tournament of that scale to move their schedule up, and for it to be so sudden like this, was already ringing alarm bells for Serena and herself. And she doesn't doubt that some others would find it strange as well.
But what those people wouldn't know was of course, the danger that lurked waiting in time. The Academia and their planned invasion.
And there's always the possibility of them getting ambushed by them if they went alone, if they were already here anyway. Or worse, if they somehow mistook Ruri as Serena like they did and ambush her.
But in truth, neither she nor Serena knows truly what the Academia even meant by an invasion. Though Serena seemed to know more than her having overheard the Professor giving a speech of some sort to the illustrious Obelisk Force regarding their grand plan of invading the XYZ Dimension.
And having seen the XYZ Dimension herself, she could tell that it would be… unprepared.
Not to mention that the invasion, whatever that meant, would be sudden for the residents of this world, but they would also be using a method of summoning that they have never encountered before.
It took Serena and herself quite a bit of time to even get to grips with how XYZ Summoning works, and then trying to perform the XYZ Summon themselves. Though that of course needed them to have access to XYZ Monsters themselves.
Well, sure they managed to find some XYZ Monster, what with it being the dimension's singular form of extra deck summoning, they found quite a bit of them being sold by card shops and card traders.
But finding ones that could actually work well and mesh with their own decks took a bit more time. Though she had at least found some that worked well.
"What do you think we should do then?" She asked as she stopped reminiscing, focusing on the present and the problems that they'll have to face now, since both Serena and herself had decided to throw their hats into the fold of the tournament, in order to gain momentum and for the enormous DP prize.
"Hm? What do you mean Mei? We just have to duel a lot of people or that bounty that he explained, win, and not lose three times right?" The indigo ponytailed girl asked with a raised eyebrow, glancing back at her as they continued to walk at a brisk pace.
"No, no, I mean what our plan should be." She elaborated. "With how the battle royal rules are, and how people can just jump in an ongoing duel, then it might be best if we have someone to watch over and stop something like that from happening."
Because that was surely what some people would do. Especially for duels against those bounties that are basically revealed to everyone.
People would wait for others to duel the bounty, wait until both duelists get their Life Points low, and swoop in to clear up and get all of the points.
"You want us to do something like that?" Serena said with a small frown, the disdain for the idea of ganging up against someone clear on her tone without her explicitly saying it aloud. The same look was held by Ruri, the raven haired girl frowning as she held a hand close to her head.
She shook her head as she gave her answer. "No. Not at all." She said, "I don't like the idea as much as you do, but it's a possibility, and something that people would most definitely do against us."
"Hm." The ponytailed girl hummed with a frown as she gave it a thought. And clicked her tongue as an annoyed look graced her face. "That sounds about right. With the ruleset that the tournament is in, people can just wait in line and interrupt in the middle of a duel and whittle down a bounty or something."
"Right." She nodded, having seen that Serena had reached the same conclusion that she had. "It isn't that much of a problem when you're probably starting out and not having enough points, everyone would probably start fighting one on one like usual. But as soon as you get enough points, or after you win against a bounty-"
"Then you'll be the new bounty. Since you'll have the most points then." Ruri understood her point immediately as she finished her sentence for her. "And then people would start coming for you, and possibly going in with others too."
The three fell into silence as they walked aimlessly, biding their time as they waited for the tournament to fully begin.
"But would grouping together even work?" The one to break the silence was the only raven haired girl among them, raising a question for the hypothetical situation that she had raised.
"Hm? How so?" She asked back, wanting to hear Ruri's reasoning for thinking so. "If we group up then we can stop someone from being overrun right? We can stop people from interrupting duels and the like."
"Well yes, but then what about the points?" The long haired girl pointed out, waving a hand forward as she presented her argument. "The case for stopping someone from interrupting a duel is fine, the possibility of people just keeping entering a duel over and over again sounds… draining to say the least."
Yet even as she conceded that point she presented a problem with that strategy. "But then we wouldn't really have that many points wouldn't we? Personally that is." She said.
"Because if we're going through this together, then we'll share the points between all of us. Not to mention, even if we go against a bounty, then we would have to choose who would duel against them and get the points don't we?"
"And it's not like we can group against a bounty." Said Serena, adding her own points for the argument. "The rules said that a duel has to be finished. Which means that even if we do work together against a bounty-"
"We'd then have to fight against each other won't we? Darn it, I guess they actually thought about that then." She clicked her tongue as she bit her thumb and narrowed her eyes, fully understanding what the two of them were trying to point out. "And that's basically us giving all of our points to one of us, and trading our three chances to lose too."
"The ruleset does feel 'all or nothing'." Ruri muttered. "We can essentially only lose twice if we still want to be in the tournament. But even losing once means that we'll be at a large disadvantage because we'll lose all of the points that we have."
"That's true. And that means that if we lose on the second day, even if we haven't lost twice, we could basically be out of the tournament." The ponytail haired girl said, continuing Ruri's line of though and adding her own points by looking at the consequences of losing at the second day of the preliminaries.
"Ugh. The tournament hasn't even started and I already have a headache." She groaned out as she placed a hand on her head. "Then with all that said… should we split up?"
"By the sounds of it, it's probably the best strategy if we want the most points." Serena nodded, a wolfish grin forming on her face. "And if people do start ganging up on any of us, then we can just beat them all. More points for us!"
Seeing her friend's enthusiasm brought out a giggle off of Ruri. "I guess that's true." She said with a small smile, something that she herself shared when seeing Serena's antics. Only for that smile to fade away as the girl's pink eyes widened. "Ah! I forgot!"
"Huh?" She turned to the raven haired girl at her sudden exclamation. "What's wrong Ruri?"
"Ah, no, it's just that I forgot about something that I needed to tell you two!" The long haired girl said as she gained both of their attention, and spoke. "It's something that nii-san and Yuto too said to tell the both of you."
"Shun? And Yuto too?" Serena said aloud as she crossed her arms in front of her, wondering what Ruri's brother and the Yuri look alike wanted to tell them.
"Right, nii-san said that we should watch out for Kaito."
"Kaito?" She asked, wondering where this was going, and thought about it for a short second. "Well, I guess I would understand considering how strong he is but-"
"No, no. It's nothing like that Mei." Ruri said as she shook her head. "He said that something might have happened to Kaito. The last time that nii-san met him, he acted strangely. Like he wasn't himself anymore. He was really worried about him when I saw him at home." The girl said as she fidgeted, hugging her arm close as she glanced away
"That's…" She shared a look with Serena at Ruri's explanation, that very explanation sounding incredibly vague yet ominous. And was certainly sending alarm bells ringing inside her head.
"What did Yuto say then? And why aren't they here anyway?" Serena asked as she moved the conversation along, to which Ruri nodded and did so.
"Ah, nii-san and Yuto said that they were preparing something for the tournament, but I think they also didn't expect the tournament to be expedited like this, so they're probably also busy like we are with last minute preparations. Or more." The raven haired girl answered.
"But anyway, their messages! Well, Yuto actually warned me about two things." Ruri began, "First off was that we should watch out for some unusual XYZ monsters. I think he called them Numbers?" The raven haired girl said, slightly unsure of herself.
"Unusual XYZ Monsters?" She muttered aloud. If she was being honest, all XYZ Monsters were unusual to her, but that was most certainly what someone who was too used to one Extra Deck summoning method would say.
Yet she digressed. "What makes them so unusual then?" Serena asked from beside her, frowning as she crossed her arms.
"Well, I think he mentioned that they can't be beaten by battle? I think." She said, "And that we should at least watch out for their effects. He mentioned that they were stronger than the usual XYZ Monsters."
"So we're probably going to meet some then." The ponytailed girl said with a click of her tongue. "If they're strong, then there's no doubt that the duelists in the tournaments would have them, the strong ones at least."
"Hah… that certainly sounds like something that would happen." She said with a sigh. "But it wasn't like we expected this to be easy."
"Well that's true isn't it." Ruri giggled at her comment, before continuing and mentioning Yuto's last message. "And for the other thing that he said, Yuto warned that we should watch out for someone that wears all red. A red hat and jacket."
"!" "!"
"He didn't really get their name, but we should probably watch out for anyone dressed like that." The raven haired girl said, before she saw both of their reactions. "Huh? What's wrong?"
"I-its not-"
"That Red Hat, it might be someone that we know."
"Serena!" She shouted at the girl beside her, only to snap her mouth as she stopped and gave Ruri a look of apology at the surprised look that the raven haired girl sported, before sending a glare at Serena. "Sorry, its just-"
"We didn't think that she's here." The ponytailed girl said for her, head turned and not meeting the eyes of the girl who shared her face. "It might not even be her, but…"
"O-oh. so it's like that." The long haired girl muttered, looking at the both of them as a multitude of emotions passed through her face, before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"I-think that it's best for us to split up now. And make our last preparations before the tournament." Ruri said, opening her eyes again.
"...Yeah. I guess that's true." She muttered, still reeling from the surprise that Yuuna of all people could possibly be here, yet shoving the possibility back to the corner of her mind as she focused on the current set of problems that she and the others were facing.
"So I guess we're all splitting up then?" Serena said, to which Ruri nodded.
"Yes. I guess we are." Once more, silence befell the three of them as they digested all of the information that they had shared with each other. The strategy that they all decided together, and what they would do from this point on.
"Then, none of you better lose alright." Serena said as she held a hand forward towards Ruri and herself. "Because I won't, and I'll be waiting for you two at the finals."
Ruri gave the girl a smile as she mirrored her counterpart, holding her own right hand forwards and meeting Serena's. "Right. I'll do my best to make sure that I do."
"Same here." She added her own two cents and did the same. The three of their fists meeting at the centre of the triangle formation that they had made.
"Alright then, let's win this!" Serena shouted as she then raised her fist, and the two of them followed suit.
"Yes!" "Right!"
"Then, is everything set in place?"
"Yes sir. We have accounted for almost all of their presence in the city."
"Almost?"
"Uh, well sir, it's… there is a source of energy that we've known, "
"So an anomaly." The figure clicked their tongue in annoyance. "No matter. Can we track their location?"
"Ah, we should be able to do so sir. If we go over the readings-"
"Good. put them as a bounty for the tournament."
"S-sir?! But what if they aren't participat-"
"Do I need to repeat myself? I said, put them on as a bounty."
"I-yes sir. We will do that as soon as we can."
"Good. You best do that soon, my next announcement is supposed to air in merely a few minutes."
"Y-yes sir!"
"Hmph. Maybe I should have hired better assistants." The figure said with a snort, turning their head to look down towards the city of the future from outside of the glass windows.
"I do hope that you know what you are doing with this plan of yours, good doctor."
And just like that, the pair of purple haired girls bid farewell to their raven haired friend. Following their own paths as they headed back to prepare for the upcoming tournament just like everyone else.
Then, in a span of mere hours, another announcement was heard all across the city of Heartland.
Right as the announcement was made by the one and only Mr. Heartland, a handful of the large screens all across the city shifted and changed what they showed.
Those who had once been a screen showing advertisements of products or live viewings of pro duelists battling against one another changed to reshowings of the flamboyantly dressed man once more explaining the rules of the upcoming tournament. Playing it on repeat so that none could miss the explanation.
Others however, simply show a counter, or more correctly a countdown timer.
And when would the timer end? For all of the residents of the city who awaited the up and coming World Duel Carnival which had been advanced, such questions need not be answered.
For they already knew what it was for.
As soon as the countdown struck zero, the screen went black, which then turned into static which was accompanied along with many others as a voice once more resounded throughout the futuristic city of tomorrow.
"Ladies and gentleman, this is the moment that you have all been waiting for!"
Said picture of static then faded as a myriad of colours began to show, shining akin to that of a rainbow.
"The heart pounding, heart throbbing, heart breaking tournament of the year!"
The screen shifted again, showing a large shining ruby in the shape of a heart. One that spun in place with an illustrious shine.
"Now. Are you ready?"
Said heart then flew, flying as it kept spinning as a large globe appeared beneath it, a pair of golden orb orbiting the giant blue sphere leaving behind them a trail of light.
"Let the World Duel Carnival Begin!"
The large heart shaped ruby shone as it stopped spinning, the words 'World Duel Carnival' appearing right on top of it as a larger, more stylized font of 'WDC' appeared right in front of the globe below it, a ray of light showing a glint at their ends.
And with that announcement, the largest tournament of the XYZ Dimension began.
She ran before the man's voice could resound throughout the city, already on her feet unlike many who stayed transfixed to Mr. Heartland's announcement and turning on one another for a duel to get points.
No, if she wants a chance to win at this city-wide tournament, then she has to aim for the big fishes.
With that goal in mind, she pulled her duel disk up, following the instructions that Mr. Heartland had given and using the radar function which had appeared on the WDC's site, and searched for the nearest bounty that was in her area.
"There's one not far from here. In a park huh, I guess that makes sense. People usually gather there anyway." She mumbled as she turned off her duel disk, putting her left arm down as she made her way to the marked location as fast as she could.
It wasn't long for her to get there, it was lucky of her to listen to Serena and split up because otherwise she would have most likely gotten here first. As soon as she reached the center of the small park, she laid her eyes on her target.
He certainly made it easy to find him
A teen dressed with formal wear of all things, with bright red colours along with white and pink accents decorated with golden linings, his attire was paired with white pants and red boots, accented just like his clothes. And finishing his look was none other than a white cravat.
The short pink haired teen stood the form of another fallen duelist, letting out a breath as he deactivated their duel disk before noticing her. Giving a small smile as he does so.
"Oh! I'm guessing that you're here for a duel too huh?" He said as he dusted himself, already noting her for a duelist participating in the World Duel Carnival, just like the person whom he had just beaten most likely.
"Ah, yes. It seemed that you certainly didn't waste any time." She said as she kept her eyes on the groaning man that he had just beaten, who had pulled himself up and shaking his head. Then her eyes returned to the emerald eyed teen.
"Oh? Ah, this is just a funny coincidence really, he really did just challenge me as soon as the tournament began?" The teen said with a laugh as he rubbed the back of his head.
'Well if there's one thing, he certainly earned his way to become a bounty.' She noted. 'The tournament certainly hadn't started for long, and to have beaten someone in such a short time isn't something to scoff at.'
"But where are my manners?" He said, closing his eyes before opening them again as he regarded her. "My name is III, let us have a fair match." He said as his left hand, where his duel disk was strapped to, was waved outwards.
He wore a special duel disk unlike any she had seen before, unlike the usual sharp edged duel blade, the light haired teen's duel disk bloomed as a petal shaped bright red duel blade emerged, III taking point as he brandished his now activated duel disk against her.
And she did the same, while introducing herself just like he did. "Mei. And I hope for a good match as well!" She shouted as she brandished her left hand, a green shining duel blade extended from her duel disk.
And thus, her first duel of the tournament then began.
""DUEL!""
Throughout the many wide screens around the city, along with the many duels of duelists fighting against bounties streamed throughout the world.
Many of those who were not duelists, or duelists who were not participating in the World Duel Carnival watched as the duels were played on the many screens all across the city.
The screens showed the various high profile duelists, many of which were known by the locals for being pro duelists, and with them being some of the bounty duelists which were shown on the screen, it brought excitement to the crowd as they watched them duel.
But for one person, the focus was not on those well known professional duelists who were undoubtedly a cut above the cloth, but towards one of their opponents. A young girl with purple hair and matching coloured jacket.
She stood there, transfixed on the screen as she watched the girl begin a duel against another person whom she vaguely knew.
"Mei?" Yet her voice was drowned by the cheers of the many audience that had grown around her as she snapped back and focused towards her own duel.
III: 4000LP
Mei: 4000LP
"I will go first!" The pink haired teen shouted as he took the first turn, readying himself as he began looking through the five cards that were in his hand. "I will start by normal summoning Chronomaly Gordian Knot!" So the boy declared as he placed the card onto his wing-like duel disk, and purple boxes tied by a thick brown rope appeared onto her opponent's side of the field, floating in front of him as they appeared.
Chronomaly Gordian Knot - Earth/Rock/Level 3/Effect: 300/900
"Chronomaly Gordian… Knot?" She muttered the name of the unfamiliar archetype and the unfamiliar monster as she watched her opponent carefully, keeping her guard raised as her opponent continued playing.
Though to note, she has absolutely no idea what the monster even was. 'What even is a gordian knot?'
"And then, its effect activates!" He declared with a wave of his hand. "When Chronomaly Gordian Knot is normal summoned, I can special summon one 'Chronomaly' monster from my hand, and if I do, this card's Level becomes the current Level of that special summoned monster!"
As he finished explaining the monster's effect, III then proceeded to take another card from his hand and showed the monster that he would special summon. "I will special summon Chronomaly Mayan Machine!"
And that monster took the form of another ancient relic, one which was a strange silver machine vaguely shaped like that of an animal, a relic of time that flew across the field until it stopped right beside his other monster.
Chronomaly Mayan Machine - Earth/Machine/Level 3/Effect: 1500/700
Though it most likely referenced something, her mind could only see it as one thing. 'That looks like the vacuum cleaner that Sister Claire used to clean the orphanage.' she thought as her opponent continued with his turn.
But with the two monsters sharing the same level, Gordian Knot's level stayed the same. And such was an advantage that the pink haired teen took as he waved his hand upwards.
"I will take the Level 3 Chronomaly Gordian Knot, and the Level 3 Chronomaly Mayan Machine, and overlay them!" The teen shouted as the two monsters turned into brown shining pillars of lights, crossing one another as a vortex of black and gold appeared before him.
"It's coming!" She braced herself as her opponent began a simple chant.
"With these two monsters, I will construct an overlay network! XYZ Summon!" He shouted as the two pillars of light entered the vortex, and exploded into a pillar of light. "Appear! Chronomaly Crystal Chrononaut!"
And from that pillar of light a monster then appeared, with purple wings spread wide and arms both extended wide, the purple alien-like monster with a shining crystal in its chest descended onto the field, with its eyes shining as it eyed its opponent, a pair of shining golden orbs orbiting the newly summoned XYZ Monster.
Chronomaly Crystal Chrononaut - Light/Psychic/XYZ/Rank 3/Effect: 2100/1000 OV: 2
"I will set two cards face-down, and end my turn." So he said as he placed another card from his hand to his Spell and Trap zone, and proceeded to end his turn with an XYZ Monster, a singular set card, and a single card left in his hand.
"Alright. Then it's my turn! I draw!" She declared as she drew for turn, starting out with six cards in her hand, inspecting the card that she drew before her eyes gazed at the board that her opponent had formed.
'Those set cards that he has is most definitely a Trap card of sorts.' she thought. 'There wouldn't be any reason for it not to be, otherwise he wouldn't use all of his resources to get that XYZ Monster onto the field. Unless… Does that XYZ Monster have an effect to protect itself?'
While her mind whirled with the many possibilities of what her opponent's card could be and what they could possibly do, she began her turn as she took a card from her hand and played it. "I will start by playing the Spell, Machina Redeployment!" She shouted as the card's holographic projection shone before her.
In truth, she didn't truly want to play this deck for this tournament. If anything, she would have preferred to use the deck that Yuuna had given her, ABC. Especially with how it could make use of the XYZ Monster that she has, Gear Gigant X, with how the deck could get two Level 4 monsters onto the field easily.
Though why none of the ABC pieces could use their effects if they were detached as materials from an XYZ Monster, she could never understand. They were on the field! Under the XYZ Monster! How does that not count!
But if anything, she and Serena don't want to show their cards, specifically their Fusion Monsters, too soon. Especially not with the strange situation that this tournament has.
So instead, she would do her best with this deck of her's.
She then explained the Spell Card's effect. "With its effect, I can discard one 'Machina' card, to add two 'Machina' cards with different names from each other from my deck to my hand, except another copy of 'Machina Redeployment'!"
And showed the card that she would discard for its effect. "I will discard Machina Cannon from my hand, to add the Monster Card, Machina Gearframe, and the Continuous Spell, Machina Defense Perimeter." She declared, discarding the monster card from her hand, and adding the two cards to her hand.
"A card that adds two cards from the deck…" III muttered, narrowing his eyes at the activated Spell Card.
"And I will normal summon it!" And she continued on by summoning the monster that she had just added, the orange armoured machine monster appeared with a whirl of mechanical sounds.
Machina Gearframe - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/0
"Then its effect activates!" She declared, just like her opponent had activated a monster's effect as soon as it was summoned. "When this card is normal summoned, I can add one 'Machina' monster from my deck to my hand, except another copy of Gearframe!"
"A card that adds another on its summon!" The pink haired boy muttered as his eyes narrowed, starting to see the gears of her deck turning and raised his guard even further.
With that declaration done, and her opponent not responding with any card effects of any sort, she took out a card straight from her deck and revealed it to her opponent. "I will add Machina Unclaspare from my deck to my hand." She declared aloud.
"And I will activate its effect!" Then continued on with the deck's linear line of combo. "If Machina Unclaspare is added to my hand except by drawing it, I can special summon it, but I cannot special summon monsters for the rest of this turn except Machine monsters!"
And she placed the monster card right onto her duel blade. "Appear! Machina Unclaspare!" Then the monster appeared onto her field, the giant cannon wielding monster possessed by darkness manifested right beside Gearframe, its eyes shining red as an aura of malevolence surrounded it.
Machina Unclaspare - Dark/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/800
"That's! Two Level 4 monsters on the field just like that!?" III shouted with wide eyes. "And it was essentially from that one Spell activation!"
"That's not all! Unclaspare's effect!" She shouted with a wave of her hand. "If this card is normal or special summoned, I can send one 'Machina' monster from my deck to the graveyard, except a copy of Unclaspare!" She explained the monster's on summon effect, and took out a card from her deck to reveal to her opponent.
"I will send Machina Citadel from my deck to the graveyard!" She declared, inserting the card that she took from her deck into her duel disk's graveyard slot as the effect resolves.
Then continued on with her turn, as her opponent had pointed out, using the two Level 4 monsters that she now has on board.
"I will overlay the Level 4 Machina Gearframe, and the Level 4 Machina Unclaspare!" She shouted with her right hand raised upwards, and both monsters turned into a pillar of brown and purple light respectively. And a galactical vortex appeared right before her.
"I will construct an overlay network with these two monsters! XYZ Summon!" And the two pillars swivelled around one another as they entered the vortex of black and gold in front of her, and exploded into a pillar of light.
"Appear! Gear Gigant X!" And came in her own XYZ Monster to face against her opponent's, a mechanical giant made out of gears appeared onto the field, the gigantic gear that spun on its back stopping as it struck a pose upon its appearance. Two brown orbs orbiting the monster.
Gear Gigant X - Earth/Machine/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2300/1000 OV: 2
"An XYZ Monster. But it's not a…" The formally dressed teen muttered and trailed off upon seeing her perform an XYZ Summon, before shaking his head and focusing back onto the duel.
"Then I'll activate Gear Gigant X's effect!" She shouted, waving her left hand towards the XYZ Monster before her. "Once per turn, I can detach one XYZ Material from Gear Gigant X, to add one Level 4 or lower Machine monster from my Deck or graveyard to my hand!"
With that declaration the gear at her XYZ Monster's back began to spin once more as it raised one of its hands, grasping one of the two shining orbs that orbited it, using it to activate its effect.
Gear Gigant X - Earth/Machine/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2300/1000 OV: 1
"Adding more cards?!" The teen said in shock at seeing how much she was adding cards to her hand.
But his surprise was promptly ignored as she took a card from her deck and revealed it to her opponent. "I will add Machina Possesstorage from my deck to my hand!" She shouted, adding the card to her hand.
Though she was nowhere near done with her turn. "I will activate the Continuous Spell, Machina Defense Perimeter!" She declared as she placed the card that she had added earlier in her turn onto her duel blade, with the projection of the Continuous Spell manifesting ahead of her, and shining as it was activated.
"While I control a Level 7 or higher Machine monster, you cannot target Level 6 or lower Machine monsters that I control for attacks, nor target them with card effects!" She said, explaining the card's continuous effect while it stays on the field.
"A Level 7 or higher? But an XYZ Monster won't count as they don't have Levels." III muttered as he narrowed his eyes, a frown on his face as he continued watching her continuing her turn.
"From my hand, I activate the effect of Machina Irradiator!" She said, revealing the monster card that in her hand. "I can discard one other 'Machina' monster, to special summon this card from my hand!"
Finished with explaining the monster's effect, she then revealed the card that she had added with Gear Gigant X. "I will discard Machina Possesstorage, and special summon Machina Irradiator in defence position!"
And she special summoned another monster from her hand, this one taking the form of a dark green mechanical tank-like monster with a gigantic cannon fitted right atop of it, the mechanical monster's machinery letting out a humm as it positioned itself defensively before her.
Machina Irradiator - Earth/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 1700/2400
Now she had set up the ideal board, and she could perform the deck's ideal combo. "Now I'll use the effect of Machina Irradiator on my field!" She shouted, waving a hand towards the monster.
"I can target one Machine monster that I control, special summon from my graveyard one 'Machina' monster with a different name and an equal or lower Level than that monster, and if I do, destroy that targeted monster!" She explained the monster's on field effect, and declared her target.
"I'll target Machina Irradiator itself! And special summon back Machina Possesstorage from my graveyard in attack position!" She shouted with a wave of her hand, and the bayonet armed possessed machine appeared before her field as it was revived from the graveyard.
Machina Possesstorage - Dark/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1500
And with its appearance, the green mechanical tank that was Irradiator disappeared from the field. Taking itself out in order to summon Possesstorage onto the battlefield.
Now begins the large chain of effects. "And now, I'll use the effect of the summoned Machina Possesstorage! If it is normal or special summoned, I can target one 'Machina' monster in my graveyard except another copy of itself and special summon it in defence position, but it cannot activate its effect this turn!" She said, explaining the monster's on summon effect.
"I will target Machina Irradiator in my graveyard, then chain the effect of Machina Citadel in my graveyard!" She shouted as she declared the monster's effect target. "If a face-up Earth Machine monster that I control except a copy of Citadel is destroyed by battle or card effect while this card is in my graveyard, I can special summon this card!"
But she wasn't done yet of course, "Then I will chain the effect of the Continuous Spell, Machina Defense Perimeter!" She shouted aloud, chaining the three card effects in succession.
"Wha-!" Her opponent stumbled back at the chain of effects, yet had nothing to chain himself as the effects began to resolve backwards.
"If a face-up Machine monster that I control is destroyed by battle or card effect while Machina Defense Perimeter is on my field, I can target one Machine monster in my graveyard, and add it onto my hand!"
Though she does have several Machine monsters in her graveyard, her target was clear. "I will target Machina Gearframe, and add it back to my hand!" She said, adding the monster card that she had detached for the effect of her XYZ Monster, and adding it back to her hand.
"And then I will summon Machina Citadel in attack position!" She shouted and waved her hand upwards, and with a flash of light her deck's signature Boss Monster appeared onto the field, a gigantic cyan coloured four track legged mechanical giant, with weapons for arms, arming the weapons in question against her opponent.
Machina Citadel - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 3000/2500
But that of course wasn't the only monster that was going to be summoned from the graveyard on this chain of effects. "Return, Machina Irradiator!" She shouted with a wave of her hand, and the green tank-like machine appeared back onto the field in defence position.
Machina Irradiator - Earth/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 1700/2400
"That's! A board filled with monsters like this!" The pink haired teen gritted as a bead of sweat fell across his head, it was a field of monsters, two of which possessing attack higher than even his singular XYZ Monster.
But that didn't mean that it was easily broken by the flood of monsters that his opponent had summoned, for he still possessed two set card on his Spell and Trap zone.
"But I'm not done yet! Possesstorage effect!" She declared, waving her right hand and the cards in her grasp as she motioned towards the monster that she had summoned onto the field with Irradiator's effect.
"More effects!"
"I can target one other 'Machina' monster that I control, and one Spell or Trap card that you control, and return them to the hand!" She shouted, explaining the monster's on field effect to bounce both her own monster and her opponents backrow.
"What!?" III stumbled again at the effect explanation, eyes wandering towards the two cards that he had set.
Seeing that reaction, she eyed the two cards that he had set and tried to see if he had any reactions to either, yet found no particular tells from her opponent which could determine which set card had more value.
'It was up to chance then.' She though with a frown as she closed her eyes for a brief moment, and made her decision. "I will target the Machina Irradiator that I had just summoned back, and your first set card, and return them both to the hand!"
"Tch!" The formally dressed teen clicked his tongue as one of his set cards was returned onto his hand, and the Machina Irradiator that she had summoned back with the effect of Possesstorage along with it.
Though there was still a single set card, and an XYZ Monster with an unknown effect, she went out to the next phase of her turn. "Battle!" She shouted with a wave as she entered the Battle Phase.
"I will attack your monster with Gear Gigant X!" With the command she sent forth her first monster to battle, sending the XYZ Monster to fight against one another. The mechanical giant reared its fist back as it readied to strike the crystal alien that her opponent had summoned.
And yet, that was exactly what her opponent had waited for. "I've got you!" The pink haired teen shouted as the attack was declared, rearing his left hand and swinging it out towards his own XYZ Monster. "I will activate the effect of Chronomaly Crystal Chrononaut!"
"A battle related effect!?" She said with surprise. 'No, if anything she should have expected this! There should have been a reason for III to have just summoned it on his first turn! And a defensive effect that would activate on the Battle Phase makes sense!'
As her mind reeled from the simple mistake that she had made, her opponent explained his monster's effect. "Once per turn, during the Main Phase or when this card is targeted for an attack, I can detach one XYZ Material from this card, this turn, this card cannot be destroyed by battle or card effect, and you take any battle damage that i would have taken from battles involving this card!"
"Wha-!" She gasped with wide eyes as she saw her opponent activate an effect reminiscent of Ruri's own Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale, though in hindsight the effect was quite worse considering the monster's own stat line.
Yet that line of comparison did not stop the alien XYZ Monster from absorbing one of its two shining overlay materials onto the crystal in its chest, using it to empower itself and gaining its effect.
Chronomaly Crystal Chrononaut - Light/Psychic/XYZ/Rank 3/Effect: 2100/1000 OV: 1
'No! There's still a way to salvage this situation!' She thought, the effect was an annoying one for sure, but she had faced Ruri enough to know that she could deal with something like this.
"Then I will chain the effect of my Machina Citadel!" She shouted, chaining the effect of her own monster in response.
And once more it was III's turn to be surprised at the response. "What!?"
"As a Quick Effect, I can target one Machine monster that I control, and destroy both that Machine monster and all monsters you control with attack less than or equal to it!" She explained her deck's Boss Monster effect, and waved her hands towards the effect's target.
"I will target my own Gear Gigant X, and destroy your monster!" She shouted as she swung her fist forward, the eyes on Machina Citadel briefly shining as it then aimed its cannon towards her opponent's XYZ Monster, intending to destroy both it and her own XYZ Monster in quick succession.
"It has a strong effect like that!" III shouted with surprise, before he swung his hand outwards, "but I was waiting for something like this! I'll activate my set card! The Continuous Trap, Stonehenge Shield!"
With that declaration and a swing of his wing-like duel disk, his last remaining set card was flipped face-up, revealing the Continuous Trap that he had set, and it began shining as it was activated.
"I can activate Stonehenge Shield by targeting a monster on the field whose original attack is 3000 or higher, that target's attack becomes 0, it cannot attack and its effects are negated!" He shouted, explaining the Continuous Trap's effect while face-up on the field.
"That's-!" An incredibly specific card that completely stops her plays, a counter that works perfectly for this moment. "No way!"
And he waved his hand once more, pointing towards the one and only target that the Continuous Trap could target to use its effect. "And for its effect, I will target your Machina Citadel!"
From beneath the ground, around the mechanical giant that was Machina Citadel, plates of giants stone began to erupt and surround it in a formation resembling the Stonehenge, firing bolts of lighting towards the monster in its center and preventing it from using its effects while also lowering its attack to nil.
She could only watch as her monster let out a mechanical whine of gears and metal as it was rendered useless on the field.
Machina Citadel - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 0/2500
And with the resolution of that chain of effects, Crystal Chrononaut's effect then resolves, and the eyes of the purple Psychic XYZ Monster shone as it readied itself in the face of Gear Gigant X.
"Now! Chronomaly Crystal Chrononaut! Reflect Flash!" III shouted with a wave, as the XYZ Monster in question gathered both of its hands in front of its chest, and shot a flash of thunder in the form of a fist back towards the attacking monster, knocking it off its balance as it was struck by the counter attack.
"Kya!" And the damage that her opponent should have taken was reflected onto her instead, small sparks of electricity raining down from the residue of the battle as neither monsters were destroyed, and yet she still took the damage.
Mei: 3800LP
"Ugh. Then…" She grimaced as her monster returned onto her side, and her Battle Phase essentially skipped with no ways of dealing damage, she had no choice but to move onto her second Main Phase as she parsed the five cards that she has in her hand, with two already being known and are currently useless in the current situation.
Though sadly, for a starting hand it didn't have much to continue for going first sadly. If she had made some different plays then perhaps-"I'll set two cards face-down." She said as she set two of the cards in her hand on her Spell and Trap zone.
"And I'll end my turn." Then sadly proceeded to end her turn with a grimace, as she finished with a board consisting of a handful of monsters, a set card next to a Continuous Spell which protected her lower level monsters from targeting and battle, along with three cards in her hand with two of them being the Gearframe that she had added from her graveyard and the Irradiator that she had returned onto her hand.
"Then it's my turn! I'll draw!" And as her turn ended, her opponent's then began. With the card that he had just drawn for turn, he now started with three cards, one being the card that he had set on the previous turn.
He took a glance towards the card that he had just drawn, and grinned. III then continued on with his turn as he moved onto his Main Phase, swinging the card that he had in his hand upwards before placing it onto his distinct duel disk. "I will normal summon Chronomaly Nebra Disk!"
And with that card that was played appeared a whole new monster on her opponent's side of the field, a strange disk-shaped monster with golden carvings engraved onto it, floating onto the field right beside to the floating purple floating alien.
Chronomaly Nebra Disk - Light/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/1500
"A Level 4?" She muttered at seeing the monster at seeing the newly summoned monster. "But the earlier monsters were Level 3, and even a Rank 3 too, can the deck pivot? A Level change maybe?"
Yet as she was mulling over the many possibilities of what her opponent's play could mean, III continued with his turn. "Now I will activate the effect of Chronomaly Nebra Disk!" He shouted, waving a hand forward towards the monster in question.
"When this card is normal summoned, I can add one 'Chronomaly' card from my deck to my hand except another 'Chronomaly Nebra Desk'!" He explained, reciting the monster's effect as it is normal summoned onto the field.
It was a good effect, of that there was no doubt. And the possibility of him getting an extension and having a Rank 4 monster was something that she couldn't let go without a fight. "Then I'll activate my Trap card, Bottomless Trap Hole!"
Such was her declaration as she waved a hand out, flipping up one of the set cards that she had and revealing it to be Bottomless, having decided to take out the normal Trap Hole and putting in its upgraded version in its place.
Though there were arguments to instead use its other variation in Floodgate Trap Hole, a decision that she had agonised over, completely removing a summoned monster from the field was something that she couldn't pass up in comparison.
"When my opponent summons a monster with 1500 or more attack, and can destroy that monster, and if I do, banish it!" She explained as the card's holographic projection shone brighter, and she pointed towards her opponent's monster. "I will destroy your Nebra Disk, and banish it!"
"Bottomless Trap hole! I won't let you!" Her opponent roared back as he took another card from his hand, and placed it onto his wing-like duel disk. "I will play the Quick-Play Spell! Forbidden Lance!"
And he revealed another card that he had in his hand, playing it as the card's image was projected before him, right behind the newly summoned monster. "Forbidden Lance allows me to target one face-up monster on the field, and until the end of this turn, that target loses 800 attack!"
"Losing attack points?" She muttered. "But why would that-"
"-but it then becomes unaffected by the effect of other Spell and Trap cards!" He shouted as he raised his hand, finishing with explaining the Quick-Play Spell's effect as a decorative spear appeared in his hand, and he threw it towards the disk-shaped monster.
"Wha-!" She gasped as the thrown spear then slowed down and floated next to the chosen monster, orbiting around the monster as it granted it immunity to Spell and Trap effects at the cost of reducing its attack points.
Chronomaly Nebra Disk - Light/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1000/1500
An effect which made her Bottomless Trap Hole useless, as it resolved without effects with its intended target now being unaffected from its effects. Which then allowed the chain of effects to continue resolving.
"I will add the Spell, Chronomaly Technology from my deck to my hand! And I'll activate it!" III said as he added the card to his hand, and then immediately placed it onto his flowering duel disk.
"Chronomaly Technology allows me to target one 'Chronomaly' monster in my graveyard, banish it, then look at the top two cards of my deck to add one of them to my hand, and send the other to the graveyard." He explained.
"However, I cannot special summon monsters for the rest of the turn except 'Chronomaly' monsters." He added on the last part that was most likely tacked at the end of the Spell card's text.
Having detached for his XYZ Monster's effect on the turn prior, there was only one target to pay the card's cost with. Such was the card that the pink haired teen took from his duel disk's graveyard slot. "I will banish Chronomaly Mayan Machine from my graveyard, and do so!"
III banished the declared card from play, and took two cards from the top of his deck and held them in hand. His eyes went from one to the other, before he made his declaration. "I will add Palenque Sarcophagus to my hand, and send Chronomaly Colossal Head to the graveyard."
With that said, the formally dressed teen did just that, adding the former to his hand and sending the latter onto his graveyard. He took a brief moment to arrange the cards in his hand, before he then took out the card that he had added and declared.
"And I will activate it!" He declared, placing the card that he had just added to his hand to his decorated duel disk, the Spell card's projection shining in front of him. "Palenque Sarcophagus allows me to draw two cards if I control a 'Chronomaly' monster!"
"A draw spell!?" She said aloud, eyes wide at seeing the archetypal card that would allow his to draw two cards at essentially no cost.
"And I draw!" III shouted as he drew two additional cards, getting back up to four cards in his hand, being up one card than he had with when he began his turn.
"And now, I will use the effect of Chronomaly Aztec Mask Golem in my hand!" He shouted, revealing the card. "During my turn, if I have activated a 'Chronomaly' Spell card previously this turn, I can special summon this card from my hand!"
The card was then placed onto his duel disk's flowery duel blade, and a mass of brown formed before him, taking the shape of a headless gigantic golem made of earth. Then a decorated mask of earth erupted from the ground, flying and attaching itself into the newly formed monster as it took its place right next to III's other monsters.
Chronomaly Aztec Mask Golem - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1500/1000
As she had suspected, his deck could pivot between several Ranks. "Two Level 4 monsters!" She gritted out.
Once more, the pink haired teen raised his hand upwards as he stared down at her. "I will take the Level 4 Chronomaly Nebra Disk, and the Level 4 Chronomaly Aztec Mask Golem, and overlay them!"
With that shout, two monsters turned into golden and brown shining pillars of lights respectively, both pillars of light crossing one another as a vortex of black and gold appeared before him for the second time of the duel.
"With these two monsters, I will once more construct an overlay network!" III shouted as the two pillars of light entered the vortex. "XYZ Summon!" And exploded into a pillar of light as soon as he brought his hand down.
"Appear! Number 36!" And the monster that appeared took the form of a large flying round blue ball, a gigantic large round ball that dwarfed his previous XYZ Monster, and eclipsed even her largest monster in size.
"Wha-!"
"Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk!" And with that name said aloud, the large round sphere's form became translucent, revealing the floating city-scape that existed within it, and the large egg-like orb in its centre. The large numeral 36 shines at the translucent sphere's shell as two golden orbs shine around its form. Summoned forth in attack position.
NUmber 36: Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk - Light/Machine/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2000/2500 OV: 2
"A…. Number? That's… is this the thing that Yuto was-" She muttered as she faced the newly summoned XYZ Monster with awe, shaking her head as she attempted to recenter herself and focus on the duel.
'Usually a monster like that wouldn't be much of a problem. Even if it's an XYZ Monster, since its attack is lower than Citadel. Or it would be if it wasn't for that Continuous Trap.' was the line of thought that went through her mind as she glared at the set card that had prevented her from winning on the previous turn, and bit her lip as her opponent continued on with his turn.
"Now, battle!" He declared as he moved on to his own Battle Phase, flourishing his hand as he began to declare attacks.
"Tch! Because of Machina Defense Perimeter, you can only target Machina Citadel for attacks!" She shouted, reminding her opponent of her Continuous Spell's continuous effect, preventing him from attacking her other monsters as long as Citadel remained on the field.
"Hmph, well since it has 0 attack that shouldn't matter!" The pink haired teen said with a small grin as he waved his right hand forwards. "I will attack your Machina Citadel with Number 36: Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk! Sparks of Vril!"
The sphere-like monster shone, the orb in its centre shining brightly as the blue sphere that surrounded it turned deep red, glowing in power before it gathered its energy for whatever attack was about to rain on its chosen target.
Her eyes wandered towards the last set card, biting her lip before she closed her eyes and opened them wide, her mind set as a plan formed in her mind. "Then I will use my set card!" She shouted aloud.
And flipped the last set card that she had on her field, that being of course her deck's signature Trap card. "The Trap, Machina Overdrive!" She shouted, as the trap card's artwork shone on the field as she chained its effect to the attack declaration.
"Machina Overdrive lets me target one Machine monster that I control, and lets me special summon one 'Machina' monster with a different name from my hand or deck, and if I do, destroy that targeted monster!" She declared, explaining the Trap card's effect.
"That's!" III shouted, eyes wide in realization. "Another card that destroys a monster you control too! Don't tell me that the target will be-"
"I'll target my own Machina Citadel!" She shouted and waved a hand towards the monster that was the attack target, and as the effect resolved she summoned another monster from her deck with a different name. "Appear! Machina Air Raider!"
And before her came another mechanical monster, one that unlike the others she had on her field, did not remain on the ground. The whirling sounds of a pair of rotors resounded across the field as a flying machine appeared onto the field, its form hovering above the ground as it appeared onto her side of the field in defence position.
Machina Air Raider - Earth/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 1500/2600
Then the effect of the Trap card continued, and the weakened machine monster was destroyed. Removed from the field and being sent to the graveyard.
"When Stonehenge Shield's target leaves the field, it is destroyed." III said with a grimace as the Continuous Trap card that had binded her monster disappeared along with it, the teen eyeing the newly summoned monster.
And she could see where his line of thoughts was. "And with Machina Defense Perimeter on the field, you can't attack my lower level monster and have to attack Air Raider instead!" She said aloud, a small smile on her face as confidence began to build.
Though inside, she was kicking herself. 'I could have done this earlier.' She tried not to grimace to show her opponent her inner thoughts. 'If I had done it earlier, like during his Main Phase, I could have used Air Raider's effect to destroy a Machina and summon back Citadel and wipe the board. I could have stopped him from summoning that XYZ Monster of his.'
But that didn't really matter anymore as the mistake had already been made, and the window of opportunity had passed. But that doesn't mean that she couldn't start doing her best to make up for that misplay.
"Tch, fine, then I will-"
"But that's not all! I'll use the effect of Machina Air Raider!" She shouted, cutting off her opponent and waving a hand towards her newly summoned airborne monster. "During your turn, as a Quick Effect, I can target one Machine monster that I control, and summon a 'Machina' monster with a different name and an equal or lower Level than that monster, then if I do, destroy that targeted monster!"
It was essentially a Quick Effect version of Irradiator's effect, though it can only be activated during her opponent's turn. But it was the perfect one for the situation that she was in. "I will target Machina Possesstorage!" She shouted, waving out towards the monster in question.
With her opponent not doing anything in response, she took out a card from her deck, and she placed the monster card right onto her duel blade. "Appear once more! Machina Unclaspare!" And a second copy of the cannon armed monster then manifested onto the field.
Machina Unclaspare - Dark/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/800
And as it appeared, the bayonet armed dark machine was destroyed through Air Raider effect, and once more she began to activate a long chain of effects. "Now I'll use the effect of Machina Uclaspare, Machina Citadel, and Machina Defense Perimeter!" She shouted, chaining the effects all in unison.
"The same combination of effects again!" The formally dressed teen said with a frown, eyes narrowed as he saw the effects chained together.
And began to resolve, starting off with her Continuous Spell. "I'll add back Machina Possesstorage from my graveyard to my hand!" She said, returning the monster from her graveyard to her hand.
"And I'll summon back Machina Citadel! Return! My monster!" With a wave of her hand, the cyan coloured gigantic mechanical monster returned onto the field, ready to face against her foe once more.
Machina Citadel - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 3000/2500
"Then with Machina Unclaspare's effect, I will send Machina Ruinforce from my deck to my graveyard!" The waved and declared as she took out the card in question, and sent it to her graveyard straight from her deck, finishing and fully resolving the chain of effects,
Before she then started a whole new one. "But I'm not done yet! I'll use Machina Citadel's effect!" She shouted with another wave towards the newly summoned Boss Monster, the mechanical sounds that followed her declaration coming from the monster in question.
"Kh! You really are just playing on my turn aren't you!" The light haired teen said through gritted teeth as she made her declaration.
And that comment certainly made her grin. "That's right! And this time, I'll target Machina Citadel itself, and destroy all of your monsters with lower attack, which is both of them!" She declared, targeting the monster on her field with the highest attack and intending to destroy all of her opponent's monsters along with it.
'Then on the next turn she could just do the same line as last time with Irradiator and Possesstorage and win the duel-'
"Attack points… wait! As if I'll let you! I'll use the effect of Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk!" The formal dress wearing teen shouted, waving a hand up towards the XYZ Monster in question who began to shine brightly as its name was called.
"What!?" She said aloud in surprise. "That's-what!? What are you-"
"Once per turn, during either player's turn, I can detach one XYZ Material from this card, then target one face-up monster that you control, and change its attack to zero until the end of this turn!" He said, explaining the monster's effect as it took one of its two shining overlay unit right into its core, absorbing it and using it for its own effect.
NUmber 36: Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk - Light/Machine/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2000/2500 OV: 1
"What!? No!" She shouted in alarm, realising how bad the situation was if that effect were to resolve. "If it changes a face-up monster's attack to zero then-"
"I will target your Machina Citadel! Infinitesimal Cannon!" The formal dressed teen shouted with a wave of his hand, as the floating XYZ Monster used its effect, sending a blast of energy towards the newly summoned monster and reducing its attack to zero.
Machina Citadel - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 0/2500
Small sparks of electricity then came from the cyan coloured mechanical monster, as Machina Citadel's effect resolves with no effect, not even destroying itself as none of her opponent's monsters has lower attack than it currently had.
"N-no way!" She muttered with wide eyes, shocked as her opponent had managed to turn the odds in his favour once more.
"Now, I'll continue the attack!" Her opponent shouted, now redeclaring his attack as she had used all of her interactions for naught. "I guess the attack target doesn't change after all! I'll attack your Machina Citadel with Number 36: Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk! Sparks of Vril!"
Again, the giant sphere that surrounded the monster in question glowed an ominous ed, before it the fired down sparks of fire towards her weakened monster, and this time, she could do nothing to stop the incoming attack.
"Kyaaaa!" She screamed as the damage from the battle hit her, and the chain of effects that had happened essentially making it a direct attack that she had tried to prevent in the first place. The damage itself almost made her lose her footing, somehow hurting more than t should have. She could do nothing but hold up her hands as the chime resounded from her duel disk as her Life Points were lowered.
Mei: 1800LP
"I will set two cards face-down." He said, moving off of the Battle Phase as soon as the attack landed, not attacking with his other monster having less attack points than the other monsters that he could attack, and set down the two cards that he had remaining in his hand.
"And I will end my turn." III said as he closed his eyes, ending his turn with a board of two XYZ Monsters, two set cards in his Spell and Trap zone, yet no cards remained in his hand.
Her turn then began, and she placed a hand over her duel disk as she shouted so. "Then it's my turn! I draw!" And drew a card for turn, starting off this turn with five cards in her hand.
All that she had to do was break her opponent's board. Something that was easier said than done, what with how her opponent's monsters were quite hard to get off of the board.
'Two set cards, a monster that can basically beat me if I attack it, and one with a reflection effect too.' She thought, assessing the board state that her opponent had crafted for himself, and grimaced.
'I have to force out that Chateau Huyuk's effect somehow.' She thought, mulling the choices that she has as she glanced at the cards in her hand. 'I can't do it through the Battle Phase. With how low my Life Point is, if I try to attack it I will lose. So the only other way to remove it has to be…'
Inspiration struck her, a line of play forming in her mind. A way that could secure her an advantage and possible victory. All she had to do was simply make it true. "I will activate the effect of Machina Irradiator in my hand once more! I will discard Machina Possesstorage to special summon it!"
With her discarding one of the known monsters that she had in her hand, the green tank-like monster appeared back onto the field. The titular sounds of whirling machinery resounded as it made its way next to her other monsters.
Machina Irradiator - Earth/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 1700/2400
"Two Level 8 monsters! Could it be-" III muttered as his eyes narrowed at the monster's appearance, bracing himself for what was to come.
But she had something that she needed to do first of course. "I'll activate Gear Gigant X's effect! I'll detach its last material to search for another Level 4 or lower Machine monster!" She declared.
The last overlay unit that floated around Gear Gigant X then disappeared, absorbed inside of the giant monster as it was used to activate its effect. The large gear in its back spinning as its effect was activated for the second time.
Gear Gigant X - Earth/Machine/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2300/1000 OV: 0
"And I will add Machina Resavenger from my deck to my hand!" She shouted, adding the monster card to her hand, and shuffling the now four cards that she had. Then continued on.
"And I will use the effect of Machina Irradiator!" She shouted, waving a hand forward as she declared the monster's effect for the second time of the duel. "I will target Gear Gigant X! And summon back Machina Possesstorage that I discarded!"
A hand was waved up, and with the effect of Machina Irradiator, the bayonet armed possessed machine monster once again returned onto the field, swinging its arm as it made its way and filled up her final board space.
Machina Possesstorage - Dark/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1500
Only for a spot to immediately be made as its appearance came with the cost of Unclaspare. The monster being destroyed, as was the effect of Irradiator summoning back Possesstorage.
"And since you destroyed a monster-"
"I can activate the effect of Machina Defense Perimeter! Though not Machina CItadel as Possesstorage isn't an Earth Machine." She said, activating the effect of her Continuous Spell.
"I will add back the Machina Unclaspare that I had just destroyed." She said, adding back the card from her graveyard slot to her hand.
Then played one of the cards that she had in her hand. "And I'll use the Quick-Play Spell, Magnet Reverse!" She shouted. "Which lets me target a Machine or Rock monster that is banished or is in my graveyard that cannot be normal summoned or set, and special summon it!"
Done with the explanation, she chose the one monster that she wanted to return back onto the field. "And I will summon back Machina Citadel to my field!"
And returned the cyan mechanical monster back onto the field, both weapons at the ready to face against her opponent. Or rather, to protect its summoner, as for once, she had summoned the monster in defence position. Just in case he were to attempt to crash into it with his other XYZ Monster.
Machina Citadel - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 3000/2500
Of course, with her field once again full of monsters, she couldn't special summon the Machina Unclaspare that she had just added to her hand with its own effect. Though there really wasn't much that she could use it for anyway.
"And now, I will use its effect!" She shouted as soon as she could, immediately using its effect. "This time, I will target Gear Gigant X, and destroy all of your monsters!" She declared as Citadel's cannon arm then moved and pointed towards the gear-based XYZ Monster, charging its energy as it prepared itself to destroy it and all of the monsters on her opponent's field.
"So that's how it is." III said as he narrowed his eyes. "Fine then! I will use the effect of Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk, targeting Gear Gigant X! Infinitesimal Cannon!" He countered back, activating his own XYZ Monster's effect in the same chain.
And the monster in question did just that, using its last overlay unit to activate its effect and turn Gear Gigant X's attack to nothing. The blue sphere-like dome shone as it prepared to activate its effect.
NUmber 36: Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk - Light/Machine/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2000/2500 OV: 0
The chain of effects then resolves backwards, a blast of energy being shot from the floating giant sphere towards her own XYZ Monster, reducing its attack down to zero.
Gear Gigant X - Earth/Machine/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 0/1000 OV: 0
And in doing so, essentially blanking the effect of Citadel one more. But now, he can't do that anymore, because that effect of Chateau Huyuk needed him to detach materials from that monster.
"Now you can't use that anymore." She said with a small smile, and now she could freely use Citadel's effect next turn and wipe the board. Though she certainly wasn't out of the woods yet of course.
"I will switch Gear GIgant X to defence." She said, and the giant machine made of gears took a knee and crossed both of its arms in front of it in a defensive position. "Then I'll-"
A thought struck her, she had thought that she could possibly end the game in a handful of turns, whittling down the board what with her opponent's XYZ Monster no longer having an overlay unit to blank Citadel's effect, she could wipe III's field and attack directly and what not.
But.
'No, I can finish this duel here and now!'
Such was the thought that went to her mind, one that she immediately grasped and heeded. It was a hail mary, but she had essentially used all of her opponent's interactions, and if she could get her last monster onto the field, she could check that set card in his backrow if needed.
Because speed was also important. This was a battle royale after all. She needed to beat as many duelists as fast as possible to get points. A path for lethal like this was something that she shouldn't ignore.
And it was something that was possible because of a card that she had gotten specifically for this deck. She followed the new line of play that she had thought of on the spot. And said,
But she wasn't done yet. It was another gamble, what with the two set cards that he had, but this time! "I will use Possesstorage's effect! I will return both Machina Air Raider, and your second set card to the hand!"
The possessed machine monster raised and swung its bayonet arm as a wave of dark energy pulsed around it, that same energy pulsed from her two designated targets, and both were returned to the hand, her opponent not chaining whatever set card that she had targeted.
"So that means that it either didn't meet its condition, or it was a bluff… then that last one is probably…" She murmured, eyeing the last set card that her opponent had, doubts beginning to fester before she shook her head. "No, whatever that is, I can handle it with that!"
The disappearance of her second Level 8 monster however, seemed to have eased her opponent, but it was too bad for him then that it wasn't staying in her hand for long.
And with that declaration of self assurance, she took out the card that she had bounced back to her hand and showed it to her opponent. "And I'll use Air Raider's effect! Just like Irradiator, I can discard another 'Machina' monster to special summon this card!"
Though there were certainly other targets that she could use for its summoning cost, she revealed the monster card that she had added with Gear Gigant X. "I will discard Machina Resavanger from my hand, and special summon back Machina Air Raider!"
She placed the card on her shining duel blade, and the flying machine monster once again reappeared back onto the field right beside its mechanical brethren.
Machina Air Raider - Earth/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 1500/2600
"So it has the same summoning effect as the other! As I thought you're going to-!"
"I will overlay the Level 8 Machina Air Raider, and the Level 8 Machina Irradiator!" She shouted with her right hand raised upwards, and both monsters turned into a pillar of brown lights, and for the second time of the duel, a galactical vortex of light appeared before her.
"I will construct an overlay network with these two monsters! XYZ Summon!" And the two pillars swivelled around one another as they entered the shining vortex, before exploding into a pillar of light as a monster then came form.
"Appear! Googly-Eyes Drum Dragon!" One which took the form of a mechanical dragon, one that was quite rotund with a large drum-like belly. Bits of gold and maroon in its body and small wings contrasted the dark blue plating that it possessed, while its green googly eyes shined as it let out a mechanical roar upon its entrance. Two brown orbs of light orbiting around the newly summoned XYZ Monster representing its overlay material.
Such was her second XYZ Monster, a monster which was essentially a giant beatstick that she could go into and convert from the two Level 8 monsters with lacklustre attack points.
Googly-Eyes Drum Dragon - Earth/Machine/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 3000/2500 OV: 2
"Another XYZ Monster!" III shouted, eyeing the newly summoned monster warily. "But it isn't…" And trailing off once more, as his eyes wandered away from her giant monster and down to her.
She ignored him of course, for the monster wasn't really that important, but its effect was. "Then I will use its effect!" She shouted, waving a hand forwards to the monster in question.
"Once per turn, I can detach one material from this card, to have it gain 1000 attack until the end of your next turn!" She said, explaining the monster's effect to raise its attack points as the mechanical drum dragon crunched down on one of the floating brown orbs that it had, using it to activate its effect on the field.
Googly-Eyes Drum Dragon - Earth/Machine/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 3000/2500 OV: 1
"An attack gaining effect!" Her opponent muttered as the effect resolved, a brown aura surrounding her mechanical dragon as it let out a roar, its attack points raising through its own effect.
Googly-Eyes Drum Dragon - Earth/Machine/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 4000/2500 OV: 1
In truth, though an attack increase of 1000 points was quite substantial, it wasn't what was important.
The important part was summoning an XYZ Monster to free up a monster zone. And detaching an overlay unit put a monster to the graveyard.
"Now I'll banish the Level 4 Machina Unclaspare and the Level 8 Machina Air Raider, and special summon Machina Ruinforce from my graveyard!" She shouted as she removed the two monster cards from her graveyard, and brought forth another monster onto the field.
Said monster taking the form of a gigantic monster, one formed through the combination of other monsters. Black plates and silver metal emanated dark energy shining under the light of the sun as it rose to its full height, rivalling her Machina Citadel as it prepared its many weapons to fight against her opponent's monsters.
Machina Ruinforce - Dark/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 4600/4100
"What!?" III Shouted with wide eyes at the monster's appearance. "That was-the monster that you sent to the graveyard earlier!? 4600 attack!? How did-" III gasped at seeing the mosnter's attack points, far higher than any of his others.
"Machgina Ruinforce can be special summoned from my graveyard by banishing Machine monsters from my graveyard whose total Levels equal 12 or more!" She explained with a small grin, reading out the monster's summoning condition out to her opponent.
"That's!" III's eyes widened, realisation dawning onto him as he seemed to have put the dots together. "Then the reason that you summoned that XYZ Monster, no, this whole time you were aiming to summon that monster!"
Her mouth twitched again, as her plan slowly began to come to fruition.
"Tch! No, if it's just something like that then my Chronomaly Crystal Chrononaut can-"
"Battle!" She shouted, moving on to the Battle Phase before her opponent could finish. Waving a hand forward to her new hulking monster, and gave out her orders. "I will attack Number 36: Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk, with Machina Ruinforce! Ruin Buster!"
The monster's menacing red monoeye shone, glinting as it raised its arms, weapons and all. Aiming all of them upwards towards the floating city encased inside its shining spherical dome. Charging and preparing its strike against the opponent's Number monster.
"Tch!" III clicked his tongue, and waved a hand out as he declared an interaction to stop the oncoming attack. "Then I will activate the effect of Chronomaly Colossal Head in my graveyard!" He declared.
"A graveyard effect!?"
"As a Quick Effect, I can banish Chronomaly Colossal Head from my graveyard, to target one attack position monster that you control, and change that target to defense position!" He shouted the monster's graveyard effect, and pointed out towards the attacking monster.
"I will switch your Machina Ruinforce to defense position!" The pink haired teen shouted, a hand outstretched towards the gigantic monster. Intending to prevent the attack from landing.
"A battle trick from the graveyard!?" She shouted with surprise, clicking her tongue in annoyance. That's, she hadn't expected something like that! An additional battle trick put her entire plan in jeopardy. If that set card is another battle trick then-
She bit her lip and shook her head. 'No! There's still a way to salvage this!' She thought. She'd made a mistake for not seeing the line earlier and having summoned Citadel in defense position. She could possibly negate this with Ruinforce, but that wouldn't check that set card. So-
But. On the off chance that that set card isn't a battle trap then if she were to negate this then… she would win the game, here and now.
The thought passed her mind for a second, and she made a snap decision. She scowled and begrudgingly allowed the effect to resolve. The gigantic machine of darkness powered down as it crossed its arms before itself. Falling into a defensive position due to the graveyard effect of her opponent's monster.
But that was fine. She still has another beater that can possibly close out the game. Or at the very least, deal as much damage as possible to her opponent.
"Then I'll attack your Chateau Huyuk with Googly-Eyes Drum Dragon!" She shouted and waved a hand outwards once again, the giant mechanical dragon letting out its mechanical roar as it opened its maw, charging its attack against
And if that set card is indeed a battle trick then she can immediately negate it with Ruinforce. And if that resolves, she would still win the game.
"Then I'll use the Trap, Orichalcum Mirage!" Her opponent began as soon as she declared another attack, only now revealing the set card that he had set in his previous turn. And began to explain its effect. "When an opponent's monster declares an attack, I can change the attack target to another 'Chronomaly' monster that I control!"
III waved a hand up as the trap card's effect was explained, and declared the target for its effect. "I will switch your attack to Chronomaly Crystal Chrononaut!" He shouted, as the purple alien XYZ Monster let out a war cry as it spread its wings.
"So it was a battle trap!" She said as she narrowed her eyes, her suspicion confirmed. Yet she couldn't help the feeling of relief that flashed through her, having apparently made the correct decision of not negating her opponent's first battle trick of the turn.
Because otherwise? With the attack target being redirected to Chronomaly Crystal Chrononaut who had that battle damage reflecting effect, then she would have lost then and there.
But thankfully, with this, she won't be losing this duel. "Then I will use the effect of Machina Ruinforce!"
"What!? An effect now of all times!?" The pink haired teen shouted in surprise as he saw her activate the monster's effect, of course not knowing the Battle Phase related effect that it possessed.
"Once per turn, when you activate a card or effect during the Battle Phase, as a Quick Effect, Ruinforce lets me pay Half of my Life Points, to negate that activation, and if I do, I can halve your Life Point!"
"Wha- Half my Life Points?!" He shouted with his eyes wide in shock at the possessed machine's effect alongside of its cost. A streak of electricity running across her forearm where her duel disk lay as she paid for its cost.
"Khhh!" She clicked her tongue and cringed at the static shock, alongside the titular chime of her lowering Life Points as she paid half of what remaining she had to pay for Ruinforce's negation.
Mei: 900LP
The singular eye of the giant mechanical monstrosity, coloured all in black with streaks of yellow rose to its full intimidating height, its whole body letting out a ray of blood red as it shot out a wave of energy towards her opponent's Trap card, negating its effects.
"Gakh!" And hitting her opponent with its beam attack as well, with the formally dressed teen being able to do nothing but hold both of his hands high in front of him in an instinctive response, minimising what damage the realistic hologram would deal towards him as his Life Points was cut in half.
III: 2000LP
And with that Life Point cut, the attack now spelt the end of the game. "Now it's over! Go Googly Eyes Drum Dragon! Purge Stream!" She shouted as she waved her hand forwards, and the mechanical dragon followed her given command and shot out a stream of energy, accompanied with an array of nuts and bolts along with it, all of which headed towards the flying sphere protected monster in the sky.
And the attack landed, the beam of energy striking off of the blue sphere that protected the monster's interior, before that defence was soon broken through, and the beam directly hit the Machine XYZ Monster's core, which destroyed it in a grand explosion that turned it to mere shards of light.
With the destruction of the monster too came, the damage that was dealt to her opponent. "GUAAAAGH!" And III was thrown down from the resulting explosion above them, falling to the brick road below them as he took damage from the blow, landing him exactly on zero Life Points.
III: 0LP
With that, the duel ended. She let out a sigh of relief as the realistic holograms all around them began to dissipate, leaving only her standing as her opponent picked himself back up.
And as stood to his full height, a plethora of emotions seemed to pass his face, before he settled on a smile as he congratulated her. "Well, congratulations! I hadn't thought that you could have beaten me so handily!"
"Ah, no. if anything it was a close game." She said as she mirrored his smile with her own, shaking her head as she mentally reviewed the many misplays that she had done, and plays that she could do to be better.
Learning from mistakes was always something that Yuuna and Sister Claire always hammered on its importance. For anything and everything really, and for something like dueling, it was no different.
"But still, your XYZ Monsters…" The pink haired teen began as he looked at her, deeply, his eyes moving up and down as the smile on his face twitched for the briefest of moments. "They certainly were something! Though was it everything that you have?"
She kept her smile as she laughed at his question, meeting his emerald eyes with her own. "Well, who knows?" She answered vaguely, knowing full well that the teen was fishing for information from her.
The fact that he went for something like this was quite telling of his personality, and yet she couldn't really feel any sense of hostility in his tone, or any sort of malicious intent. It was a question purely made off of curiosity.
Just like most of the residents of Heartland, she could tell that III was a kind person. A strong duelist of that she was certain having almost lost against him, but he was nice.
As she bid him goodbye however, a plethora of duelists emerged from their hiding spots. Some muttering that they didn't get their chance to interrupt right in the middle of the duel, while others immediately challenged her as they activated their duel disks.
She merely took a deep breath and reactivated her own, obliging their challenge as she then faced them while the formally dressed teen watched with interest from the side, along with a handful of others.
Serena was right. Barely an hour in, and this tournament was already looking like a huge mess.