He gestured politely. Now it was your turn to play Yu-Gi-Oh!. Any real card player facing three unknown back row cards would already be sweating, but in this bright and naive era, Sato showed no sense of danger at all.
He even maintained a friendly senior's smile and spoke in a lecturing tone. "Didn't draw any monsters on the first turn? You should balance monsters and spells when building your deck. Anyway, my turn. Draw!"
"Wait," Yugen said, cutting him off and waving his hand. "The moment you draw, my trap activates. I flip Trap Card, Drop Off. During your draw phase, the card you draw is sent straight to the graveyard."
Sato froze. After a brief hesitation, he sent the freshly drawn card to the Duel Disk's graveyard. When he looked down at his hand again, he finally sensed something was wrong.
Neither side had summoned a single monster yet, and it felt like the duel had barely begun, but Sato's six card opening hand was already cut in half. Worse, he realized an even more painful problem. He had no monsters left in hand.
One of the discarded cards from Twin Demons had been a low level monster, and the card just sent away was another. Of the three cards left in his hand, none could be summoned. Still, there was a way out.
"Tch, in that case, I activate a spell card from my hand."
He slammed down one of his remaining cards. Monster Reborn. From DM to GX, it was a highly valued comeback card in both reality and animation.
"I use Monster Reborn to revive Zera the Mant from my graveyard in attack position!"
A warrior in green armor holding a greatsword appeared at the center of the field, standing tall as the first monster of the duel. Zera the Mant, ATK 1600
If he had a choice, Sato would not want to waste such a precious card on a weak monster, but he had no other plays. Hesitation in a duel meant defeat, and he had to seize the chance to build momentum.
"I flip a face down card," Yugen said calmly. "Trap Card, Bottomless Trap Hole. When you summon a monster with 1500 or more attack, that monster is destroyed and banished."
Zera the Mant had barely steadied his footing when a dark pit opened beneath him. He fell straight in, followed by a loud explosion, and vanished in a cloud of smoke.
Sato stared in silence.
With only two cards left in hand and an empty field, it might have been his imagination, but Ken Sato felt his blood pressure starting to rise.
Koji Sato closed his eyes and kept taking deep breaths, repeating the rule to himself again and again. A real duelist should stay calm even if a mountain collapsed in front of him, never letting impulse take over his judgment. Right now, remembering that rule while facing the brat in front of him was extremely hard. After all, hitting people was a foul.
With only two cards left in hand and nothing he could do, Koji Sato ground his teeth and announced the end of his turn. The turn passed to Yugen, and the happy time started again. The shift in momentum was so obvious that it almost hurt to watch.
"Draw," Yugen said, pulling a card from his deck.
At this point, Koji Sato's field was completely empty, front row and back row spotless. In this era, before Yu-Gi-Oh! was flooded with hand traps, an empty field was basically the same as standing naked in the street. It was the kind of situation where attacking felt natural and guilt free.
Yugen did not waste words and slapped the monster card he had just drawn onto the field.
"I summon 'Headman Don Zaloog' in attack position!"
A weathered one eyed warrior appeared on Yugen's field, an eyepatch covering one eye.
"Headman Don Zaloog, attack 1400."
"Enter battle," Yugen ordered. "Headman Don Zaloog, direct attack."
The warrior obeyed, pulling out two revolvers and firing wildly like Soo Tsubame. A string of projected bullets passed straight through Koji's body, and the invisible impact made him stagger back half a step.
In the latest duel systems developed by Kaiba Corporation, monsters summoned through the Duel Disk were not just holograms. They were paired with sensory impact devices that simulated force and pain. While they caused no real injury, they were more than enough to make a duel feel real.
"Koji, LP 4000 to 2600."
Taking the hit head on, he took a deep breath. It was only a trash monster with 1400 attack, something he could still endure. At least, that was what he thought.
Yugen smiled. "The effect of 'Headman Don Zaloog' activates. When this card inflicts battle damage, I can choose one of two effects. Either you discard one random card from your hand, or you send the top two cards of your deck to the graveyard."
Koji's eyelid twitched hard.
"Wait, you are not saying that you want to… you want to…"
His face twisted as fear crept in, and his body stepped back on instinct. It was clear which choice terrified him more.
"That's right," Yugen said calmly. "I choose the first effect. Another card from your hand is erased."
The sound of a gunshot rang out as Don Zaloog raised its revolver. A projected hole appeared in one of the two remaining cards in Koji's hand. Gritting his teeth, he sent another card to the graveyard, his eyes bloodshot with anger.
Now he had only one card left. This was not the only duel he had ever lost, and the opponent in front of him was not the strongest he had ever faced. But this was absolutely the duel that made him want to punch someone the most.
From start to finish, he had not even been able to play a single card.
"I set two cards and end my turn," Yugen said.
Two more face down cards appeared in his back row. This time, when Koji looked at those abyss like sets, his earlier contempt was completely gone. His breathing almost caught in his throat.
Again? Please, no. Just let me play one card.
The duel had clearly gone far beyond what the onlookers expected. The students on both sides exchanged looks, each one just as confused as the next. The duel felt strange, deeply strange, in a way that was hard to explain.
There was no fast paced offense or clash of power, only someone deliberately wrecking another person's mental state. There were no flashy summons or massive monsters, only the quiet satisfaction of denial. One side had not played a single card, so there was no strategy to analyze at all, while every move from the other side seemed driven by one idea.
Pure spite.
It was like a silent declaration that winning did not matter, as long as the other person was not allowed to play Yu-Gi-Oh!. That was the very definition of taking revenge on the world.
"Junior, this is not the right way to duel," Koji said, forcing himself to sound like a gentle senior.
His twitching facial muscles and shaking voice betrayed him. Yugen simply smiled and politely gestured for him to continue, signaling that it was his turn to play Yu-Gi-Oh! again.
That said, everyone knew how cruel Yu-Gi-Oh! could be. As long as one side could still play, that was already enough.
Koji unwillingly raised his Duel Disk again. "Then it's my turn," he said through clenched teeth.
He had only one card left in hand, an equip spell, useless without a monster. This draw would decide everything. A true duelist would never retreat here, just like the legendary Duel King Yugi Muto said, believe in your deck and it will answer you.
He believed in the bond between himself and his deck.
Koji Sato placed his fingers on the deck, took a deep breath, and prayed silently. Please, give me a level four monster. He drew the card in a smooth arc, full of hope.
The moment he saw the card, his pupils shook and he nearly burst out laughing. It was here. Not only was it a summonable monster, it was Magma Lizard Hero, level four with 1850 attack.