Yusaku said nothing, just drew his opening hand from the Deck.
After thinking for a moment, he drew out one card and revealed it.
"First I activate the effect of Gem-Knight Lady Nepyrim. When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, I can add 1 other 'Gem-Knight' card from my Deck to my hand."
"I'll add the Spell Card Gem-Knight Dispersion from my Deck to my hand."
After adding the searched card, he immediately slapped it onto the Duel Disk.
"I activate the Spell Card Gem-Knight Dispersion! Its effect lets me add 1 'Gem-' monster from my Deck or banished zone to my hand. During this turn's Main Phase, any effect damage you take becomes halved!"
"I choose to add Gem-Armadillo from my Deck to my hand!"
After adding the card, he continued.
"Next, I activate the other effect of Gem-Knight Lady Nepyrim. During my Main Phase, I can conduct a Normal Summon of a 'Gem-' monster."
He flipped a card in his hand toward Yusaku.
"I choose to Normal Summon the Gem-Armadillo I just searched!"
With his declaration, a monster clad in orange gemstones, shaped like a pangolin, appeared on the field.
[Gem-Armadillo]
[Level 4 / Rock / Effect]
[ATK 1700]
"Now I activate the effect of Gem-Armadillo!" Kazuki shouted. "When this card is Normal Summoned, I can add 1 'Gem-Knight' monster from my Deck to my hand!"
"I'll add Gem-Knight Quartz from my Deck to my hand."
After he added the card, he drew another one between his fingers and smirked at Yusaku.
"The formula for victory is already complete. Now it's time to resolve it. Watch closely, Yusaku. You're about to witness the strength of the Gem-Knight deck."
Yusaku crossed his arms and smiled. "Go ahead and start your performance. I really want to see how you plan to push through."
"You can laugh for now. But once your whole field is cleared, I'll see if you're still laughing."
Kazuki shot Yusaku a glance, then slammed a card onto his Duel Disk.
"I activate the Spell Card Gem-Knight Fusion! With this card, I can Fusion Summon 1 'Gem-Knight' Fusion Monster using monsters from my hand or field as material!"
"I activate it by using Gem-Armadillo, Gem-Knight Lady Nepyrim on my field, and Gem-Knight Quartz in my hand as Fusion Materials!"
Kazuki raised his arm high and shouted:
"Ruler of the Rock-type, descend now and carve away every thorn in my path! Appear, Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond!!"
"Opening with the Gem-Knight boss already!? Looks like Kazuki's dead set on wiping the opponent's field clean this time!"
"Gem-Knights are a going-second deck. Clearing monsters with no protection is child's play for them."
As they listened to Kazuki, the spectators stared at the center of the field without blinking, eagerly awaiting the monster's arrival.
But after a long moment, not only did no monster appear, not even a Fusion vortex formed above the field.
"What's going on?"
Seeing nothing come out, Kazuki frowned, took the card off the Duel Disk, slapped it back on again, and shouted:
"Descend, Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond!!"
Card off, card on again — still no monster.
Unwilling to accept it, Kazuki kept trying.
"Descend, Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond! Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond! Gem–…"
Kazuki: "?"
Spectators: "..."
After several failed attempts to summon his monster, Kazuki's brows tightened. He glanced down at his Duel Disk and found there was nothing wrong with it.
Since the Duel Disk wasn't the problem, that only left one conclusion.
Everyone turned to look at Yusaku, discovering he was standing there with a total spectator's expression, simply watching Kazuki's "operation."
When Kazuki finally stopped trying, Yusaku's lips curled slightly.
"Done trying?"
Kazuki frowned. "What did you do?"
"Man, are all you Crimson Sun Dojo guys this clueless?" Kaze shook his head. "You really couldn't be bothered to check the effect of the monster my senpai gifted you?"
Kazuki blinked, then quickly looked down at the monster occupying 1 of his Main Monster Zones.
"Gimmick Puppet Nightmare… 'The turn this card is Special Summoned, you cannot Special Summon monsters, except "Gimmick Puppet" monsters!!!'"
The crowd instantly erupted.
"As long as it's Special Summoned, you're locked into only Special Summoning Gimmick Puppet monsters for the rest of the turn? What kind of busted effect is that?"
"So that means, as long as this monster was Special Summoned, you can't Special Summon anything else this turn, no matter what?" someone asked.
"That's not it," Hinata pushed up his imaginary glasses in a very tactical manner. "Even if that monster leaves the field and gets sent to the Graveyard, for the rest of this turn you still can't Special Summon anything except 'Gimmick Puppet' monsters."
One of the Crimson Sun Dojo students behind Kazuki's eyes shrank to pinpoints. "A whole-turn lockout!?"
"Exactly." Hinata snapped his fingers. "You got it. Unfortunately, no prize."
On the field, Kazuki's face was rather ugly now that he understood what had happened.
He'd been just about to Fusion Summon his ace monster, only to discover he couldn't Fusion at all. Not only that, he couldn't Special Summon any monsters whatsoever. He was completely locked out.
"You already used up your Normal Summon," Yusaku said with a mild smile. "So now you can't summon any new monsters. Are you going to surrender, or should I end the Duel on my next turn? Don't forget, we agreed beforehand — the loser hands over their whole Deck. There's no such thing as surrendering for half the loss."
Kazuki looked down at the cards in his hand, took a deep breath, and said, "Surrender? No way. There's no chance I'm admitting defeat! And it's not like I'm guaranteed to lose!"
"I know your Deck pretty well. You've only got counters for monster effects, but nothing that stops Spells and Traps."
He revealed a card from his hand.
"Once you enter your Draw Phase, I'm going to activate this card. Your Mirrorjade only has a banish effect; it can't negate this at all. As long as its effect goes through, the turn will naturally come back to me."
The onlookers all shifted their gaze to the card in Kazuki's hand.
A tall Duelist among them stroked his chin.
"Threatening Roar, huh. I remember that card's effect — once it resolves, the opponent can't declare attacks for the rest of the turn."
"Yusaku's monsters don't have any Spell/Trap negation on them. So that card really can be activated next turn. Guess this Duel won't end just yet."
On the field, Kazuki slammed the card onto his Duel Disk and looked straight at Yusaku.
"I'll Set this card. I might not be able to clear your board this turn, but next turn you won't be able to attack either. This Duel is far from over! Who wins is still up in the air!"
"My turn ends. It's your move."
"Who wins is still up in the air?"
Hearing that, Yusaku chuckled, plucked a card from his Duel Disk with two fingers, and revealed it.
"Sorry, but the future you're imagining doesn't exist."
Kazuki: "?"
"So, at the end of your turn, I activate the Quick-Play Spell Card Branded in Red!"
"This card lets me target 1 'Despia' monster or 'Fallen of Albaz' in my Graveyard, add that monster to my hand, then,
I can banish monsters from my hand or field as Fusion Material to Fusion Summon 1 Level 8 or higher Fusion Monster."
Yusaku pulled a card from the Graveyard slot.
"I add Fallen of Albaz from my Graveyard back to my hand. Then, using the effect of Branded in Red, I banish the DARK Bystial Magnamhut on my field and the LIGHT The Bystial Lubellion in my hand as Fusion Materials!"
Yusaku raised his arm and shouted:
"Newborn dragon and ancient frost united as one! The rage at its peak, crystallized into a blade of absolute cold that cuts down all foes—
—Cleave all before you, Khaos Starsource Dragon!!"
The moment his chant ended, starlight poured down from the sky like a gentle rain.
With a thunderous roar,
A silver-white dragon with crystal-clear, almost transparent wings burst forth behind Yusaku.
Like a shell fired from a cannon, it spiraled skyward, tearing through the clouds, then dove back down like a bomber, streaking across the sky like a meteor.
[Khaos Starsource Dragon]
[Level 8 / Dragon / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK 2500]
Seeing the dragon soar into the air, Kazuki's pupils contracted sharply. "Starsource Dragon!?!"
The students behind him went completely pale the instant they recognized it. In the previous two Duels, they'd been blown apart by this dragon more than once.
Compared to the Crimson Sun Dojo kids' despair, the Takeuchi Dojo students who'd come to cheer were all fired up.
"Starsource Dragon! I remember the first time Yusaku summoned it, he wiped the opponent's board on their own turn! And now, it's their turn again!"
"They were hoping to turtle behind a Trap, but jokes on them — they won't even get to activate it. He's going to nuke it before it ever flips!"
On the field—
"I activate the effect of Khaos Starsource Dragon! When this card is Fusion Summoned, I can target a number of cards on your field up to the number of my LIGHT and DARK monsters used as Fusion Materials."
"I used exactly 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster to summon it!"
Yusaku pointed straight at Kazuki's field.
"I target your face-down card and Gimmick Puppet Nightmare! Say goodbye to your Set card and your monster!"
The dragon flapped its wings and soared into the air. Its silver-white wings slowly spread wide.
A split second later—BOOM!
A scorching blast erupted from its jaws, a tidal wave of searing flame that swallowed up Kazuki's monster and Set card in an instant, reducing them both to ashes.
"My turn. Draw!"
As soon as the card touched his hand, Yusaku swept his arm forward and shouted:
"I activate the effect of Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon! I send Albion the Branded Dragon from my Extra Deck to the Graveyard and banish your Gem-Armadillo!"
"Say goodbye to your monster!"
White ice crystals burst forth from the dragon's body, exploding into countless shards midair and piercing straight through the monster in front of Kazuki. The creature twisted, then shattered into glittering fragments and vanished from the field.
"Next, I activate the effect of Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous. During my Main Phase, I can Fusion Summon a Level 8 or higher Fusion Monster using monsters from my hand or field as material."
Yusaku revealed two cards from his hand.
"I fuse the Bystial Saronir I just drew and Fallen of Albaz in my hand and send them to the Graveyard to Fusion Summon!"
He quickly pulled a card from the Extra Deck and slammed it onto the Duel Disk.
"Fangs like bullets, tearing open a sealed-off world in a storm of new fire—
—Come forth! Level 8, Borreload Furious Dragon!"
As he spoke, a pair of blood-red eyes lit up inside a swirling black vortex behind him.
An instant later, a massive violet mechanical dragon, its body rebuilt into an array of weapon mounts, erupted from the vortex. It flew forward, positioning itself protectively in front of Yusaku, and let out a metallic roar.
[Borreload Furious Dragon]
[Level 8 / Dragon / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK 3200]
Yusaku raised his arm high.
"I activate the effect of Borreload Furious Dragon! During either player's turn, I can target 1 monster I control and 1 card you control, then destroy them both!"
"I target my Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous and your last monster, Gem-Knight Lady Nepyrim, and destroy them!"
Cartesia turned into a lance of golden light and was drawn into Borreload Furious Dragon's shoulder cannon.
A beam of pure destruction blasted across the field, ripping Kazuki's final monster to shreds.
"Battle!"
Yusaku pointed forward.
"Borreload Furious Dragon, attack directly!"
The mechanical dragon's shoulder cannons roared to life, unleashing a barrage that slammed straight through Kazuki.
[Kazuki Ichiki, LP: 8000 → 5000]
"Next, Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon attacks!"
Once more, ice crystals exploded from the white dragon's body, bursting and raining down like bullets, tearing through Kazuki's body.
[Kazuki Ichiki, LP: 5000 → 2000]
"And now for the finishing blow!"
Yusaku pointed again.
"Khaos Starsource Dragon, attack directly!"
The dragon beat its wings and rose into the sky. Its silver-white wings spread wide, a torrent of blazing flame building in its maw, then crashing forward like a tidal wave.
Watching the encroaching sea of fire swallow his vision, Kazuki's face twisted with unwillingness and despair.
He couldn't understand it. He'd brought the Dojo's trump card specifically for this Duel, and yet not only did he lose, he hadn't even managed to scratch Yusaku's Life Points.
But no matter how unwilling he was, that couldn't change the outcome.
The overwhelming blast hurled him backward.
"Guwaaaah!"
[Kazuki Ichiki, LP: 2000 → 0]
The moment the Duel ended, the system's voice rang out in Yusaku's mind at the same time.
[Congratulations to the Host for completing the mission]
Because the Duel ended so quickly, the spectators were left stunned, frozen in place.
Only when Kazuki crashed to the ground did people finally start to react.
"You've gotta be kidding me. From clearing the field to ending the Duel, that wasn't even two minutes!!!"
"Huh? I just took my eyes off this side for one second to check another Duel, and suddenly it's over. Can someone explain what the hell just happened?"
"..."
"The chapter's 5,000 characters, two updates in one go. I'm heading back to cook up more Duel lines. Also, thanks again to all the big shots for the flowers and various votes — I kneel!"
(End of Chapter)
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