Mello: "My turn. I draw."
He glanced at the card he drew and immediately revealed it.
"Spell Card: Graceful Charity. Draw three cards from the deck, then discard two cards."
He calmly picked two cards from his hand and sent them to the Graveyard.
"Next, I activate the Spell Card: De-Spell!" Mello said. "It can destroy one Spell Card on the field. If it's a set card, flip it to check; if it's a Spell, it must be destroyed."
Kirk: "You want to check my set?"
"No." Mello smiled lightly. "'Machina Gearframe' is a monster card, but when a Union monster is being used as an Equip, and it's in the Spell/Trap Zone, it's treated as a Spell Card.
So I'll use De-Spell to destroy Gearframe."
Green light shot like arrows from his spell, striking the orange-red plating on the steel giant. The alloy frame melted under the magical glow, sloughing off into a pool of iron and vanishing.
"Next I activate the Spell Card: Gladiator Proving Ground, adding a Level 4 or lower 'Gladiator Beast' monster from my deck to my hand."
Mello searched his deck.
"I add Gladiator Beast Bestiari to my hand."
"Then I Normal Summon Gladiator Beast Bestiari!"
A green whirlwind rose. A bird-beast warrior clad in exoskeletal armor with broad steel wings hovered high above the field.
[Gladiator Beast Bestiari, ATK 1500]
"Then I return 'Gladiator Beast Bestiari' and 'Gladiator Beast Murmillo' from my field to the deck."
Mello raised his right hand and clenched a fist in the air.
"Contact Fusion!"
Kirk was shocked. "Fusing without a spell?"
Gladiator Beasts were unearthed by the Industrial Illusion, but until recently they were only slabs, not yet printed as cards. So even the Industrial Illusion had no intel on their exact abilities or usage.
"Correct. Gladiator Beast fusions can return monsters from the field to the deck to fuse, without Polymerization."
Mello closed his eyes as if chanting an incantation.
"Fusion materials: 'Gladiator Beast Bestiari' plus any Gladiator Beast.
Warrior of the ancient raptors, soul entwined with the sword-fighter's spirit—become a veteran of a thousand battles! Fusion Summon—
—Gladiator Beast Gyzarus!"
The legendary Roman emperor—his name is written boldly in Yu-Gi-Oh! history. Anyone who lived through that era knows the fear of being ruled by Gyzarus. He was the undisputed boss of Gladiator Beasts' championship days—the absolute ace.
[Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, ATK 2400]
"When Gyzarus is Special Summoned, you can destroy up to two cards on the field," Mello pointed at Kirk's board. "Your 'Machina Fortress' and the set card in the center of your back row.
Those two are for the chopping block."
Emperor Gyzarus soared, wings beating. Two green twisters split left and right—one toward the steel giant, the other toward the set card—each tornado packed with a thousand feather-arrows!
"Then I chain the set card you targeted!" Kirk barked. "Trap Card: Roll Out!
Select a Union monster in your Graveyard and equip it to a suitable monster on your field!"
He pulled a monster from his Graveyard and slotted it into the Duel Disk as an Equip.
"From the Graveyard, I equip 'Machina Gearframe' to 'Machina Fortress' once more!"
The orange-red steel plating rewrapped Fortress. The green whirlwind shredded the already-activated trap in the back row, while the other twister hit the steel giant's body, only cracking the outer armor.
"Gearframe's effect: when the equipped Machine monster would be destroyed, destroy this card instead," Kirk said.
The powerful double-pop on Gyzarus's entrance startled him, but his skill let him weather it. That Gladiator Beast is strong, but its ATK is still lower than Fortress.
"Battle," Mello said. "Gyzarus attacks 'Machina Fortress.'"
"NANI?"
Kirk was shocked again.
He knows he's weaker in ATK yet still attacks?
But Gyzarus was already airborne. The wind swelled into a cyclone, a green storm carrying a rain of feathers straight at the mecha giant.
Kirk's mind raced.
It can't be suicide—there's definitely a trick. He couldn't guess it yet, but—
"I activate my set card!" Kirk flipped another set. "A second Trap Card: Roll Out! Equip a Union monster from the Graveyard to a suitable monster on the field.
Once again, I equip 'Machina Gearframe' to Fortress from the Graveyard!"
The overworked Gearframe could not find rest. Dragged from the Graveyard once more, it became a protective outer shell for Fortress.
"Heh, cautious even when you have higher ATK and a trap in hand. Good choice,"
Mello leisurely revealed a card from his hand.
"Quick-Play Spell: Indomitable Gladiator Beast. One of your Gladiator Beasts gains 500 ATK until the end of the turn."
[Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, ATK 2400 → 2900]
Seeing that card made Kirk break into a cold sweat.
Close call.
Good thing he activated Roll Out!. Attack-modifying Quick-Play Spells can be activated during damage calculation.
In Yu-Gi-Oh! rules, aside from Counter Traps, most effects can't be activated during damage calculation. If he had gambled and not activated the second Roll Out!, then when the opponent used a Quick-Play to boost Gyzarus during damage calculation, he'd have missed the window to activate his set trap.
"Once more, 'Machina Gearframe' is destroyed instead!"
The Gearframe armor took Gyzarus's blast and was destroyed, while the mecha giant stood.
[Kirk, LP 4000 → 3700]
"To block even that—impressive," Mello squinted. "But what will you do next time?"
Kirk was startled.
There's more?
He'd already fended off so many attacks—could there be another?
"At the end of the Battle Phase in which Gyzarus battled, it returns to the deck."
As Mello spoke, Gyzarus turned into golden light and flew back into his deck.
"Then Special Summon two Gladiator Beasts from the deck, except 'Bestiari'," Mello swept his hand. "Return 'Gyzarus' to the deck, Special Summon two new Gladiator Beasts.
Gladiator Beast Murmillo!
Gladiator Beast Darius!"
[Gladiator Beast Murmillo, ATK 800]
[Gladiator Beast Darius, ATK 1700]
Kirk recognized Murmillo, the ugly fish he'd seen earlier, and his pupils shrank.
"Murmillo's effect is—"
"Right. When Special Summoned by a Gladiator Beast's effect, destroy a monster on the field," Mello snapped his fingers. "'Machina Fortress'—destroyed."