"You actually equipped an Equip Spell to my monster..."
Knowing full well that Equip Spell had to be suspicious, Joey thought for a moment, then flipped his set card. "I flip my set card, 'Mystical Space Typhoon', to destroy 'Mikanko Water Arabesque'."
A gust of wind blew through, and Youmi's Equip Spell was destroyed by Joey.
Knowing Joey wouldn't be taken down so easily, Youmi nodded, then calmly activated another card's effect: "I'd love to praise your tactical insight, but you activated it too soon!"
"'Mikanko Water Arabesque' has two effects. One: the equipped monster cannot be destroyed by effects. The other is an effect I can only activate during my Main Phase.
"I Special Summon a 'Mikanko' monster from my hand or Deck whose original name differs from the equipped monster, then equip this card to the new monster.
"After that, the monster this card was originally equipped to returns to its owner's hand. If you activate 'MST' without reading an Equip Spell's effects, that's minus ten points! And now, the Graveyard effect of 'Mikanko Rivalry' activates!"
A projection of a Trap Card gradually formed on Youmi's field, and two girls—one red-haired, one blue-haired—ran out from it, tossing 'Mikanko Water Arabesque' back to Youmi.
"While 'Mikanko Rivalry' is in my Graveyard, if an Equip Spell is sent to my Graveyard, I can banish 'Mikanko Rivalry', then target one Equip Spell in my Graveyard and add it to my hand. Of course, the only card I can retrieve is 'Mikanko Water Arabesque'."
Youmi pinched the card between her index and middle fingers and waved it at Joey. "Looks like my luck's not bad today, Joey."
"Your luck is good... don't tell me!" Joey connected the dots. The card sent to the Graveyard by 'Double Spell' had to be a Spell, so Youmi only had one chance to send 'Mikanko Rivalry' there—"That 'Hidden Armory' from earlier?! Ahhh, Youmi, you really are lucky!"
'No, no, if we're talking luck, nobody can beat you.'
"I activate 'Mikanko Water Arabesque', but this time I equip it to 'Rookie Warrior Lady'."
Since 'Ha-Re the Sword Mikanko' was already in hand, equipping 'Mikanko Water Arabesque' to 'Marauding Captain' earlier was just baiting out the wind.
"Looks like that set card isn't something like 'MST'.
"In that case, I'll activate the effect of 'Mikanko Water Arabesque' to Special Summon 'Ha-Re the Sword Mikanko' from my hand. When 'Ha-Re' is equipped with an Equip Spell, I add 'Mikanko Fire Dance' from my Deck to my hand."
The 0-Attack monster appeared in Attack Position on Youmi's field.
"First, you equip my monster, now you Special Summon a 0-Attack monster in Attack Position?"
Youmi raised her Duel Disk and pointed at the effect text of 'Ha-Re the Sword Mikanko': "Entering the Battle Phase, 'Ha-Re the Sword Mikanko' attacks 'Marauding Captain'. Because of her effect: if she has no Equip Spell, any battle damage I would take from a battle involving her becomes 0. If she does have an Equip Spell, she cannot be destroyed by battle, and any battle damage I would take from her battles is inflicted to you instead."
Seeing 'Ha-Re the Sword Mikanko' walk over with her sword in hand like a professional insurance scammer, Joey immediately flipped his set card: "Since 'Rookie Warrior Lady' left the field, 'Marauding Captain's' Attack drops to 4000. If that attack goes through, then I— I flip my set card, 'Negate Attack'! When your opponent declares an attack, target the attacking monster. That attack is negated. After that, the Battle Phase ends!"
"So it wasn't 'Necro Fusion'?"
Youmi was puzzled. Since it wasn't Necro Fusion, were the earlier discards of 'Blue Flame Swordsman' and 'The Iron Knight' just a coincidence?
"Uh, what's 'Necro Fusion'...?"
"Pretend I didn't say anything."
Youmi tapped her head lightly and entered Main Phase 2 with a bitter expression.
Watching the duel, 'Iblee' was delighted, switching between feeding herself popcorn and feeding some to 'Ib', all while mocking Youmi for making a wrong prediction based on experience.
"Looks like the environment of Youmi's era made her misread the situation."
Noah, currently in the form of 'Kuribohrn', commented as well.
"I activate the Field Spell, 'Labrynth Labyrinth'." Thanks to the surrounding projection systems, the grand and resplendent Silver Castle rose before Joey once again. "As the arena for testing your progress, allow me to invite you back into my domain. I set two cards and end my turn."
Turn 3.
"Even though I've got more monsters on the field right now, I still can't relax at all..." Joey wiped the sweat from his forehead as he looked at Youmi's two backrow cards. "My turn. Draw."
He'd never seen the Mikanko strategy before, which seemed based primarily on 'kamikaze' tactics, nor was he familiar with Youmi's trap-heavy playstyle. He had no idea what those two set cards could be. Joey shut his eyes and drew—
"It's here!" Joey's eyes snapped open as soon as he saw the card's artwork. "I Tribute my 'Marauding Captain', 'Comrade Swordsman of Landstar', and 'Ipiria' to Tribute Summon! Appear now—'The Winged Dragon of Ra'!"
The three monsters on Joey's field transformed into golden light and poured into the card he was holding high, forming a golden sphere.
"Well done, Joey! Now all you need is to recite the chant, and Ra will enter Battle Mode!" Marik pumped a fist in excitement as Joey summoned The Winged Dragon of Ra.
Even though Joey's opponent was Youmi, someone dear to him, he sincerely felt thrilled to see Joey call forth a God.
Yet, Joey only uttered a few mismatched syllables... and then froze.
"Uh, ah... what was the chant again?!"
Joey scratched his head in embarrassment.
"Nani?!"
Marik's vision nearly went dark. He'd spent half the day teaching Joey Ra's chant, and this academic disaster had forgotten everything.
And Youmi was fully capable of deciphering Ra's abilities, so of course, she would know the chant. According to Ra's effect text, if Ra is not yet in Battle Mode, whichever Duelist recites the chant first gains control of it.
If that happened, Joey would have an empty field while facing a Ra with at least 5400 Attack!
"Youmi, you—" Marik looked toward Youmi, worried on Joey's behalf... only to see that she showed no intention of reciting the chant. "I see... As expected of Youmi. She wants to fight Joey head-on, so she refuses to seize control of a God by exploiting a technicality."
He was a bit far away, so he could only see Youmi's signature smile—he entirely missed the subtle twitch at the corner of her lips.
"What was Ra's chant again..."
Youmi regretted not memorizing The Winged Dragon of Ra's summoning incantation.
...
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