A bald monk wrapped in robes appeared, his face fierce and his prayer beads held like a weapon ready to strike. He looked exactly like the type who believed in convincing people by force.
Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, ATK 1800.
Manjoume narrowed his eyes as he studied the monk. An ATK of 1800, equal to Dark Blade. Was this a mutual destruction play, or something else?
"Battle," Yugen said. "First, D.D. Warrior attacks Dark Blade."
So it was coming.
"Not a chance. I flip my face-down card!"
Light flashed in Manjoume's eyes as he revealed his back row.
"Trap Card, Sakuretsu Armor! When an opponent's monster declares an attack: Target the attacking monster; destroy that target."
He tugged his lips into a confident grin.
"Trying to use monster effects to banish my monster again? Too bad. The same trick will not work on me twice. The one getting destroyed is your monster!"
Yugen raised an eyebrow.
Sakuretsu Armor, huh.
Every Yu-Gi-Oh! fan knew this card. Throughout the entire history of Yu-Gi-Oh!, it appeared often in animation, but its successful activations remained at zero. Everyone who tried to use it seemed to lose, as if cursed by the world itself.
That curse was not going to be broken in Yugen's hands.
"I flip my face-down card," Yugen said. "Counter Trap, Seven Tools of the Bandit. I pay 1000 Life Points to negate the activation of your Trap and destroy it."
Manjoume's eyelid twitched again.
What?
Why did all of his cursed cards have counter traps backing them up too?
Yugen, LP 3300 to LP 2300.
With the trap countered, Manjoume's Sakuretsu Armor shattered into dust, continuing its undefeated streak of failure. The battle proceeded, Dark Blade slashing through D.D. Warrior, but in its final moment the warrior tore open a dimensional rift. Like a black hole, it swallowed both monsters, and they vanished together.
Yugen, LP 2300 to LP 1700.
Now Manjoume's field was completely empty, front and back.
"Then comes Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer," Yugen continued. "Direct attack."
Hailong stepped forward, flinging his prayer beads like hidden weapons. They smashed squarely into Manjoume's forehead, the impact making his head ring as if he had felt the weight of a god.
Manjoume, LP 5100 to LP 3300.
"At this moment, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer's effect activates," Yugen said. "When this card inflicts battle damage, I can banish up to two monsters from your Graveyard."
Although he could choose two, all of Manjoume's monsters had already been kicked into another dimension. Only the tribute monster from the start and one discarded monster remained in the Graveyard.
Yugen pointed to those last two cards.
With not only the field but even the Graveyard stripped of its remaining monster resources, Manjoume was completely disoriented. This was going too far.
They were already dead. Did he really have to chase them out of the Graveyard too?
"My turn."
Manjoume spoke in a low voice. The field was clearly against him, and he had no immediate way to counter, but his Life Points were still healthy. That meant he still had a chance.
"Draw."
When he saw the card he drew, Manjoume's eyes lit up. A grin crept onto his face as if a weight had been lifted.
"Heh, looks like the goddess of victory is still on my side."
Manjoume took two cards from his hand, sending one to the Graveyard and slapping the other onto the field.
"I activate the Spell Card 'Cost Down'! I discard one card from my hand, and this turn, all Monster Cards in my hand have their Levels reduced by two stars!"
Cost Down was a classic tool for reducing the tribute cost of high-Level monsters, letting them be summoned directly. It was also a well known trick frequently used by Seto Kaiba back in the DM era.
"And the card I discarded to activate 'Cost Down' was the monster 'Electric Snake'. When this card is discarded from the hand to the Graveyard, I draw two cards from my Deck. (ANIME EFFECT)"
Yugen said nothing. The draw engines in the anime world really were outrageous, firing off card advantage with no restraint at all.
"Resolving the effect of 'Electric Snake', I draw from my Deck."
With his resources replenished, Manjoume's mouth curved upward. Things finally seemed to be turning around.
"You caused me more trouble than I expected. Looks like I underestimated you. But this is as far as it goes."
Manjoume raised his voice.
"By the effect of 'Cost Down', the Level 6 monster 'Kaiser Glider' in my hand becomes Level 4, so it can be Normal Summoned without tributes."
"Therefore, I Normal Summon it. Appear now.
'Kaiser Glider'!"
A golden storm swept across the field, and from the vortex emerged a dragon clad in imperial gold, its body wreathed in flames of light.
Kaiser Glider, ATK 2400.
"Your little tricks end here. In elite duels, only raw power decides victory!" Manjoume swung his arm. "Kaiser Glider, destroy 'Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer'!"
The golden dragon opened its jaws, unleashing a spiraling blast. The monk holding prayer beads was pierced through and vanished in a burst of smoke.
Yugen, LP 1700 to LP 1100.
"I set one card face-down and end my turn!"
Manjoume took a deep breath. It was close, just one more push.
He had seized the tempo again, and with a little more pressure he could shatter the defense in front of him and land the finishing blow. Without even realizing it, his mindset had shifted from casually crushing a weaker opponent to a duel where only one of them would walk away standing.
It felt like a personal grudge had formed mid-duel. He had never wanted to crush someone across the table this badly before.
"My turn, draw," Yugen said calmly. "First, I activate this Spell Card from my hand, 'Giant Trunade'."
A green storm surged forward, and the violent gusts swept the entire field. Manjoume had to shield his face with his arms as the face-down card in his back row was blown back into his hand.
This card was a staple in Katsuya Jonouchi's DM era deck, and even in real play it had long been banned.
"Giant Trunade returns all Spell and Trap Cards on the field to their owners' hands."
"Tch." Manjoume glanced at the card returned to his hand and clicked his tongue.
His back row was gone, but it should still be fine. Kaiser Glider had 2400 attack, not something that could be dealt with easily.
More importantly, it had a powerful effect. If it was destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, it could return any one monster on the field to its owner's hand.
That meant even if the opponent somehow summoned a stronger monster next turn, it would be bounced away right after defeating Kaiser Glider. The more Manjoume thought about it, the better he felt.
The opponent only saw the set card and must have thought removing traps was enough. What they did not know was that a true elite duelist always planned multiple layers of insurance.
"I summon 'Mystic Tomato' in Attack Position," Yugen continued.
Mystic Tomato, ATK 1400.
Manjoume snorted. "As expected, all you can do is summon weak monsters as shields. Hm?"
Halfway through mocking, he suddenly felt something was off. Attack Position?
A bad feeling crept up his spine.
"Next, I activate a Spell Card from my hand."
Yugen swung his arm, and a Spell Card projection appeared before him.
"Spell Card, 'Creature Swap'! Each player chooses one monster they control, and the control of those monsters is exchanged!"
Manjoume shouted, "What?!"
"So annoying. Is your deck nothing but cards like this?"
"I choose the monster on my field," Yugen said, pointing at the large tomato-headed creature. "'Mystic Tomato'. Now you choose the monster to exchange."
Manjoume fell silent.
He had no real choice. His field held only 'Kaiser Glider'.
Because the card required both players to choose manually, the system would not do it for him. With a look of despair, Manjoume tapped his own 'Kaiser Glider', watching his 2400 attack monster get dragged to the opponent's field.