With Battle City officially underway, Domino City's streets were packed solid.
"Seriously… why are there so many people?"
A weary office worker drove through town, only to get completely trapped at an intersection—traffic frozen in place.
"Hey! Move it! Get out of the way!"
A traffic officer walked over and raised a hand apologetically.
"I'm very sorry, sir. Could you take a detour? During the Battle City Tournament, the entire city is under traffic control."
"Traffic control… because a company is holding a tournament?"
"There's no helping it," the officer said, deadpan. "This city is basically Kaiba Corp's property."
"That's insane!"
"I'm just following orders. Please move your vehicle along!"
"Tch—Kaiba, Kaiba, Kaiba… what's so great about Kaiba?!"
…
Kisaragi and the rare card hunter faced each other, both extending their Duel Disks.
"Duel!" ×2
Kisaragi Aoi LP 4000
Rare Card Hunter LP 4000
"Kisaragi, be careful—his deck has—" Joey began, but Kisaragi cut him off instantly.
"Joey. A true duelist shouldn't know their opponent's deck before the duel. That destroys the meaning of dueling."
"But—"
"I agree with Kisaragi," Yami Yugi said calmly. "Relax. Only those who've truly dueled her understand how strong she is."
The hunter snickered.
"Heh heh… I think you should listen to him. Otherwise you won't even know when you lose. That'd be tragic."
Kisaragi's expression didn't change, but her eyes sharpened slightly.
I already know exactly what monsters you're running. A competent duelist builds a strategy to counter the opponent's deck.
"Mind your own business."
"I'm going first!" Kisaragi drew.
"My turn—draw!"
"I set one monster face-down in Defense Position, set three cards, and end my turn!" (Cards in hand: 2)
"Looks like Kisaragi's being cautious at the start," Yami Yugi noted.
"That's no good… she should go aggressive on turn one," Joey muttered under his breath.
"Heh heh—my turn, draw!"
"At that moment!" Kisaragi interrupted sharply, pressing a button on her Duel Disk.
"I activate the Continuous Trap Eye of Truth! As long as this card remains on the field, you must keep your hand revealed!"
"What?!" the hunter barked, recoiling.
"Nice! Now Kisaragi can see his tricks," Joey said, relieved.
Kisaragi scanned the exposed hand.
"I see… it's Exodia. And you already have two pieces."
The hunter's face twisted, like he'd been stripped naked in public—every secret laid bare.
"But you're holding Graceful Charity. Because of Eye of Truth, during your Standby Phase you recover 1000 Life Points!"
Rare Card Hunter LP 4000 → 5000
"Tch… we just gave that guy free Life Points," Joey clicked his tongue.
"Don't worry," Yami Yugi said evenly. "Now that we know he's playing Exodia, that's actually good news for Kisaragi."
"I activate Graceful Charity! I draw three cards, then discard two!"
"As you discard cards from your hand, I activate my Continuous Trap Magic Thorn! Whenever a card is discarded from your hand to the Graveyard, you take 500 damage per card!"
"You discarded two cards due to Graceful Charity—so you take 1000 damage!"
Metal thorns erupted from Kisaragi's trap, lashing out and binding toward the hunter.
"Aagh!" He screamed.
Rare Card Hunter LP 5000 → 4000
"Hmph. So Kisaragi's running a continuous burn deck. That earlier 1000 heal is meaningless," Yami Yugi said, impressed.
"Exactly… that's Kisaragi," Joey nodded.
"Tch. What a pain…"
The hunter set a monster face-down in Defense Position.
"Then I activate Swords of Revealing Light! This flips your face-down monster face-up—and you can't declare attacks for the next three turns!"
Kisaragi suddenly laughed.
"Heh heh heh…"
"What are you laughing at?!" the hunter snapped, panic creeping into his voice.
"I'm laughing at how stupid you are," Kisaragi said coolly. "Activating Swords of Revealing Light just accelerated your death."
"What?!"
"Let me show you what I set."
Kisaragi flipped her monster.
"It's Morphing Jar. When this card is flipped face-up, both players discard their entire hands—then each draws five cards."
"YES! That means his three Exodia pieces get dumped into the Graveyard!" Joey burst out.
"And because of Magic Thorn, he discards four cards from his hand—so he takes 2000 damage!"
Rare Card Hunter LP 4000 → 2000
"Tch… end my turn!" (Cards in hand: 5)
Kisaragi stared at his revealed hand again.
"You still have three Exodia parts in hand… so your deck isn't running just one set of Exodia."
The hunter looked like he'd swallowed a mouthful of flies.
…
Kaiba Corp Headquarters
"President Kaiba, we've confirmed Miss Kisaragi is currently engaged with a rare card hunter. We've also determined the hunter is using counterfeit cards, which violates tournament rules. Should we intervene and halt the duel?"
Kaiba's eyes narrowed.
"Is that man one of Ghouls?"
Mokuba jumped up. "Brother, I'll go stop him from dueling Kisaragi!"
"No," Kaiba said flatly. "A small-time rare card hunter isn't a match for Kisaragi."
He leaned back, faintly amused.
"So it's that kind of deck… interesting. But it's obvious this duel is completely under Kisaragi's control."
From the start, Kaiba had ordered that any time Kisaragi dueled someone, she had to report it—and he'd had a tracker secretly installed in her Duel Disk to ensure she wouldn't come to harm somewhere he couldn't reach.
…
"My turn, draw!"
The hunter steadied his breathing, trying to convince himself.
Don't panic. Two more pieces and I win. I've sealed her attacks—so as long as I don't discard from hand, I won't take damage…
Kisaragi's voice cut through his thoughts like a blade.
"You're thinking about how to survive this turn, aren't you? Too bad—this duel ends now."
…
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 132)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter140)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter95)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter165)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 145
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 135
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 95
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 155
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 125
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 105
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 62
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 80
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 80
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 62
Uma Musume: I Want All 65
I Can Copy Unique Skills 53
Summoning an Evil God, but the 41
Supernatural Multiverse 45
My Harem Is Indescribable 35
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 46
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