Yusaku activated a Spell.
"[Activate] Spell Card—[Scareclaw Straddle]! I can target 1 'Scareclaw' monster in my GY; Special Summon it in Defense Position!"
"I target [Evil Scareclaw Nemesis] in my GY, and Special Summon it in Defense Position!"
[Evil Scareclaw Nemesis]
[DEF 2600]
Seeing the newly appeared monster, Hiroshi froze for a moment, then clutched his head and shouted.
"I thought you were trying to kill me on the spot, but you're just trying to summon a second [Number 89: Diablosis the Mind Hacker], aren't you? Did you forget something?"
He glanced toward Yusaku's GY.
"You already banished all your monsters with your own effects. Your GY is nothing but Spells now!"
"Even if you had [Monster Reborn], you still couldn't bring back another Level 7!"
"And without two Level 7 monsters, you can't summon a second [Number 89: Diablosis the Mind Hacker]!"
Yusaku looked at him as if he'd heard something ridiculous.
"Who said I'm summoning [Number 89: Diablosis the Mind Hacker]?"
"And how did you decide I can't Xyz Summon, period?"
Hiroshi shook his head, voice cracking in disbelief.
"Xyz Summon with one monster? That's impossible!"
"Impossible?" Yusaku's smile sharpened. "Then let me show you how one monster can still Xyz Summon."
He pulled a card from his Extra Deck and displayed it.
"Effect of [Kashtira Arise-Heart]."
"In a turn where a 'Kashtira' Xyz Monster has activated its effect, I get one chance to Xyz Summon this card by placing it on top of a 'Kashtira' monster I control."
"This turn, I'm Xyz Summoning using a lower 'Kashtira' monster."
"So I can place this card directly on top of the monster I just Summoned—[Evil Scareclaw Nemesis]—and Xyz Summon!"
Yusaku raised his arm high, his voice rolling across the arena.
"Incarnation of ruin and finality, absolute god of destruction—descend here and annihilate this chaotic world completely!"
"Xyz Summon! Rank 7—[Kashtira Arise-Heart]!!"
In the instant his words fell, a blinding crimson pillar erupted skyward. A warrior clad in red mechanized armor descended from the light, a gigantic battle axe in hand, radiating overwhelming pressure as it landed on the field.
[Kashtira Arise-Heart]
[Rank 7 / Xyz]
[Materials: 1]
[ATK 3000]
"Next, because it's [Kashtira Arise-Heart]!"
"This card's effect: If my opponent activated a monster effect this turn, I can choose 1 Normal Spell or Normal Trap from my Deck and send it to the GY."
"Normally, a card sent by this effect can't be activated that turn, but if I also control a 'Kashtira' monster, I can add it to my hand instead!"
"This turn, you activated [PSY-Framegear Gamma], and Special Summoned it along with [PSY-Frame Driver]—so I can add a Normal Spell straight from my Deck to my hand!"
"I add [Gift Exchange] to my hand!"
"Right at this moment." Yusaku's tone dipped.
"Because [Kashtira Arise-Heart] is on the field, as long as it remains face-up, any card that would be sent to the GY is banished instead."
Hiroshi's brows creased. A chill crawled up his spine.
With that monster on the field, the [Gift Exchange] in Yusaku's hand wasn't just a "play." It was a guillotine aimed straight at the heart of his Deck's plan.
"So the [Triple Tactics Thrust] I activated earlier didn't go to the GY—it gets banished instead."
"And the moment a card is banished, [Kashtira Arise-Heart]'s other effect activates."
"Whenever a card is banished, it must activate. So because [Triple Tactics Thrust] was banished, I attach that banished card to [Kashtira Arise-Heart] as Xyz Material!"
[Kashtira Arise-Heart]
[Materials: 1 → 2]
"Now, I activate the effect of Field Spell [Primitive Planet Reichphobia]!"
"If there are 3 or more Defense Position monsters on the field, this field's Defense goes up by 1000 and its Attack goes down by 1000!"
"Your monsters, plus my two 'Shangri-Ira' machines, are all in Defense Position. The condition is fully met!"
"So I activate this effect and destroy a monster you control!"
Yusaku raised his hand and pointed directly at Hiroshi's Monster Zone.
"I destroy your [PSY-Framegear Gamma]!"
The instant he finished, a pitch-black, brownish curtain of light burst from the ground and swallowed Hiroshi's Monster Zone.
With a thunderous boom, Gamma shattered on the spot—yet because of [Kashtira Arise-Heart], it didn't go to the GY. It turned into light and was banished instead.
"Right at this moment!" Yusaku shouted again.
"Because a card was destroyed and banished, [Kashtira Arise-Heart]'s effect activates again!"
"I attach the banished [PSY-Framegear Gamma] as Xyz Material!"
[Kashtira Arise-Heart]
[Materials: 2 → 3]
"Now the materials are in place!"
Yusaku swept his arm and barked the declaration.
"I activate [Kashtira Arise-Heart]'s effect!"
"Once per turn during either player's turn: I can detach 3 materials, then target 1 card on the field; banish it face-down!"
Hiroshi's face drained pale.
"Exactly." Yusaku snapped his fingers. "And that means I can lock two more of your zones."
He pointed without hesitation.
"I banish your [PSY-Frame Driver] face-down!"
Arise-Heart surged upward, then chopped down with brutal force. A black blade-wave tore through the air like a laser, piercing Driver in an instant. The targeted monster warped, collapsed into a twisting shadow, and plunged into the banished zone face-down.
"At this moment!"
Yusaku looked straight at Hiroshi.
"My two [Kashtira Shangri-Ira] activate their effects and lock your last two Monster Zones!"
Two crimson lasers ripped across the field and struck the final two Monster Zones with pinpoint precision.
Hiroshi stared at the sealed zones for a heartbeat—then suddenly threw his head back and burst into laughter.
"Yusaku, Yusaku."
"But you still missed by one step in the end!"
"You didn't lock my last two Spell & Trap Zones!"
"If you'd locked my Spell & Trap Zones instead of my Monster Zones, maybe I really would've had no way out."
He paused, a smug glint flashing in his eyes.
"But you sealed the Monster Zones."
Yusaku's smile didn't waver.
"Then you really think I'd know you have [Dark Ruler No More] in hand… and still not lock your Spell & Trap Zones?"
Hiroshi froze.
"Why?"
"Because those two Spell & Trap Zones—" Hiroshi blurted, then stopped, eyes widening. "Wait… what?"
Yusaku's gaze turned deep, almost cold.
"I told you already. You dragged yourself into the abyss."
"The moment you activated [PSY-Framegear Gamma], the timeline changed."
He paused, letting the words sink in.
"I originally planned to mill your Deck into nothing."
"But the fact you activated Gamma made me change my mind."
"Do you remember how I was able to activate [Triple Tactics Thrust] in the first place?"
"I searched it, and the activation condition of [Triple Tactics Thrust] is that my opponent activated a monster effect this turn."
"So it was you—step by step—who pushed yourself into a dead end."
Yusaku slammed his newly added Spell onto the Duel Disk.
"I activate Spell Card—[Gift Exchange]!"
"Both players banish 1 card from their Deck face-down. Then, during the End Phase of this turn, each player adds to their hand the card their opponent banished by this effect!"
Hiroshi's eyes went wide.
"????"
The crowd erupted—because they remembered what those zone-lock machines did.
As long as a card was banished face-down, the lock effect would trigger again.
The players in the stands were even more stunned, then started cackling.
"I'm dying. Yusaku's really going for the kill and still making it personal."
"That Gamma activation was insane. At first Unicorn got negated and I thought he bricked, but it didn't slow him down at all—he got even stronger."
"Gamma put two monsters on Hiroshi's field, gave Yusaku the extra draw, stacked materials for Arise-Heart, let Arise-Heart banish to trigger Shangri-Ira locks…"
"And now he uses Triple Tactics Thrust to search [Gift Exchange] so Hiroshi has to banish face-down again and lock his last zones. I can't breathe."
…
On the field, Hiroshi stood there blankly.
All he did was activate one monster effect—so how did it turn into this?
Like a butterfly effect, it became an unavoidable control chain, step by step, until he was shoved into a corner with no exit.
Yusaku looked at him, voice flat.
"[Dark Ruler No More] isn't anything special."
"I'll give you something better."
He pulled a card from his Deck and displayed it.
"This is [Forbidden Droplet]. It's stronger than [Dark Ruler No More]."
"But you won't get the chance to use it."
He banished [Forbidden Droplet] face-down from his Deck, then clenched his fist.
"Watch the timer. If you stall too long choosing your card, you'll be ruled as having lost by time under the tournament rules."
Hiroshi fell into despairing silence.
Whether he chose or refused to choose, he was dead either way.
After a long pause, he suddenly yanked the top card of his Deck and slammed it into the Duel Disk.
"I choose to banish [[Unknown Card]] from my Deck face-down!"
Yusaku chuckled softly.
"Not even going to think about it? Fine."
"Then since you banished a card, the effects of my [Kashtira Arise-Heart] and my two [Kashtira Shangri-Ira] will all activate."
"First, [Kashtira Shangri-Ira]."
"I lock your final two Spell & Trap Zones—completely sealed!"
Crimson lasers carved across the air, and the last two Spell & Trap Zones were stamped with unbreakable red X seals.
At this point, every single zone on Hiroshi's Duel Disk was covered in crimson marks.
"Next, [Kashtira Arise-Heart]."
"I attach the banished [PSY-Framegear Gamma] as Xyz Material!"
[Kashtira Arise-Heart]
[Materials: 0 → 1]
"Finally." Yusaku set one card face-down in his Spell & Trap Zone.
"I set one card. End my turn. Your move."
Hiroshi lifted his head, madness flickering in his eyes.
"Aren't you curious why I still won't surrender even now?"
"It's because I packed three copies of [Santa Claws] in my Deck specifically to deal with high-resistance monsters!"
"As long as I draw it, I can turn this around!"
Yusaku gave him a brief, indifferent glance.
"You're running a 60-card Deck. And you're that confident you'll draw it?"
Hiroshi sneered.
"I believe in my Deck."
He pressed his hand to the Duel Disk.
"My turn. Draw!"
But the moment he added the drawn card to his hand, Yusaku's voice rang out again.
"At the moment your Draw Phase ends, I flip my set card."
"I activate Continuous Trap—[Mask of Restrict]!"
"As long as this card is in the Spell & Trap Zone, neither player can Tribute cards!"
After activating it, Yusaku looked at Hiroshi, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
"Oh, and by the way. I only drew this because of you."
Hiroshi: "..."
He looked at the card he'd just drawn.
It wasn't [Santa Claws].
And even if it had been, it wouldn't matter—[Mask of Restrict] meant he couldn't Tribute anything anyway.
Hiroshi was completely broken now. He looked at the cards in his hand, then at the monsters on Yusaku's field, his voice shaking.
"Why… why is it that whenever you want a card, you can draw it, but I can't draw a single key card?"
"Why?" Yusaku folded his arms, expression calm. "Because I know exactly where my Deck's weaknesses are."
"So I run three copies of what I need. Drawing it is normal."
"But compared to luck, what I really want to say is—"
His confident smile rose again, unwavering.
"For the strongest Duelist, everything is inevitable."
"Even drawing itself can be created by the Duelist."
Hiroshi: "???"
(End of Chapter)
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