"It's my turn!"
Ryuzaki drew a card and immediately revealed it.
"Spell Card, 'Graceful Charity'. Draw three cards from your deck, then discard two cards from your hand."
He replaced the cards in his hand, then quickly discarded two other cards.
The first of them was slammed directly onto the duel disk.
"I special summon this card, Gilasaurus!"
[Gilasaurus, ATK 1400]
"Ah, Duelist Ryuzaki starts right off with a special summon!"
Announcer Owatari timely explained to the audience.
"Gilasaurus is a monster card that has the ability to be special summoned directly from your hand. However, when using this ability for a summon, there's a side effect where your opponent can choose to special summon one monster from their Graveyard."
"Of course, the decision of whether to use this effect lies with the opponent. And now it's only turn 1, Duelist Yugen has no monsters in his Graveyard. So naturally, he cannot use this effect." Commentator Sasaki added.
Ryuzaki continued to reveal the second card: "Next is the second, special summon 'Gilasaurus' No. 2!"
[Gilasaurus, ATK 1400]
Ryuzaki hadn't been idle during his time away from the public eye. Though he was now called the "Legendary Duelist," it was simply due to his past duels with people like Yugi Muto and Katsuya Jonouchi. Especially Jonouchi; he used to look down on that commoner, but now times had changed, and he had fallen so low as to rely on his "beaten by Jonouchi" resume to make a living.
To return to his peak, he specifically refined his tactics, seeking the Dragon and Dinosaur archetypes that best suited him.
Finally, he settled on the quick-attack, suppressive strategy championed by the world's most famous dragon tamer, Seto Kaiba.
"Dragons are the strongest creatures; a dragon tamer must use ultimate power to suppress all!"
Ryuzaki roared.
"And swift quick attacks are the most suitable rhythm for dragons. Feel the power of dragons! Battle, first use the first 'Gilasaurus' to attack that face-down monster!"
The first dinosaur charged. Yugen's face-down monster flipped, revealing a small, red Machine-Type.
[Machina Peacekeeper, DEF 400]
Machina, an old archetype born in the DM era, first appeared in the "Yu-Gi-Oh R" manga that was released during the DM period. However, in this world, despite its early birth, it possessed considerable battle power in the current environment.
The Machina with only 400 defense was naturally easily destroyed. Yugen calmly sent it to the Graveyard, saying: "'Machina Peacekeeper's' effect activates. When this card on the field is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, you can add one 'Machina' monster from your deck to your hand."
He drew a card from his deck and showed it to Ryuzaki.
"I add the 'Machina Gearframe' monster to my hand."
"Machina?" Ryuzaki slightly frowned.
This was an archetype Yugen had never used in previous duels.
"Deliberately saving it to use only in the finals? Does that mean the archetypes he's used so far weren't even his main ones? Is he that confident?"
Ryuzaki was a little surprised. It wasn't uncommon for duelists to intentionally hide their main deck and use non-main archetypes in tournaments, but it was truly rare to see someone make it all the way to the finals without revealing their true strength.
After all, duels are one-shot, and there's no opportunity to switch archetypes midway. If someone holds back their main deck and their substitute deck gets beaten, leading to their direct elimination, they'd truly become a laughingstock in the circuit for years to come.
"But it doesn't matter; under the absolute power of my dinosaurs, it makes no difference." Ryuzaki roared, "Battle continues! Use 'Gilasaurus' No. 2 to attack directly!"
"Flip face-down card."
A trap card in front of Yugen activated.
"Trap Card - Magic Cylinder!"
Ryuzaki was startled: "It's 'Magic Cylinder'?"
Commentator Sasaki also excitedly said: "Ah, ah, it's 'Magic Cylinder'! The ace trap card once used by the King of Games, Yugi Muto! It can negate the attacking monster's attack and inflict damage to the opponent equal to that monster's ATK!"
A hard-hitting, powerful card like Magic Cylinder in the current 4000 LP environment naturally had a high market value, but by the GX era, it was no longer considered rare. Although it didn't get much official screen time in the anime, it made several cameo appearances. It could be seen in Jaden's deck during dormitory deck construction, Chazz Princeton used it when dueling random passersby, and even some other passersby had it in their decks.
This was also one of the few cards from Yugen's predecessor that he felt was still decent.
Ryuzaki took the reflected damage, his body swayed slightly, and he let out a soft "Hmph."
[Ryuzaki, LP 4000 → LP 2600]
"The first damage of the finals goes to Duelist Fujiki Yugen!" Announcer Owatari exclaimed, "Who would have thought, such massive damage to Dinosaur Ryuzaki on turn 1! It looks like even Ryuzaki will have to get serious now, doesn't he?"
Ryuzaki grunted, not caring.
This level was still within expectations. He already knew his opponent favored various trap cards, so attacking quickly with two low-level dinosaurs wasn't necessarily without the intention of triggering a trap.
Traps, while annoying, couldn't be completely avoided. After all, if you never stepped on them, they'd just stay there; you couldn't just stand by and wait for an eternity, could you?
Triggering a powerful trap like Magic Cylinder with just a 1400 ATK low-level monster, the result was acceptable.
"Now, the Battle Phase ends." Ryuzaki continued, "Next, I tribute two 'Gilasaurus' to Tribute Summon! From the endless darkness, break free from your cocoon, heed my call and appear here—
—Level Seven, Tri-Horned Dragon, summon!"
The two Gilasaurus vanished together in a vortex of air, golden claws and fangs extending, and the colossal demonic dragon's footsteps landed. The entire arena floor seemed to tremble under the realistic visual and physical effects.
[Tri-Horned Dragon, ATK 2850]
"Tri-Horned Dragon!" Commentator Owatari exclaimed, "Not only did he unleash a fierce double attack on turn 1, but he also went a step further to summon such a powerful high-level monster! It seems this is Ryuzaki's acknowledgment of the challenger's strength, indicating he intends to fight with all his might!"
With the demonic dragon on the field, Ryuzaki stood within the summon storm, feeling his entire aura surge like a rainbow, as if his height had even increased.
"Did you see? This is my new dragon, Tri-Horned Dragon! Stronger than the Red-Eyes I lost back then, stronger than Serpent Night Dragon, it's the symbol of my rebirth from the ashes!"
"Hmmph..."
Yugen initially wanted to say, "Your thing is just a Level 7 vanilla monster."
But then he thought, in an era where there weren't various Red-Eyes derived cards, both Red-Eyes and Serpent Night Dragon were apparently also vanilla monsters that required two tributes.
Alright, there was truly no way to refute that.
However...
He clapped his hands.
"Flip face-down card. Trap Card - Floodgate Trap Hole! When your opponent summons a monster, change that monster to face-down Defense Position, and it cannot change its battle position forever."
In layman's terms—
—I'm sending your Tri-Horned Dragon straight to the Underworld!
The majestic Tri-Horned Dragon couldn't maintain its stance, directly slipped, and fell into the large hole without a sound.
Ryuzaki: "..."
Both commentators: "..."
Looking at Ryuzaki, who still maintained his summoning pose opposite him, the cold wind blowing making him look somewhat desolate, Yugen suddenly had an inexplicable illusion.
The illusion that he was doing all sorts of nasty tricks.