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"It's my turn!"
Ryuza drew his card and revealed it immediately.
"Magic Card: Angel's Offering. Draw three cards from the deck, then discard two cards from your hand."
After swapping his hand, he quickly revealed another two cards.
First, he placed one of them directly on the duel disk.
"I Special Summon this card—Fast Runner Raptor!"
[Fast Runner Raptor, ATK 1400]
"Oh, Ryuza is starting with a Special Summon!"
Commentator Xiao Du timely explained for the audience.
"Fast Runner Raptor is a monster card that can be Special Summoned directly from the hand. However, using this ability comes with a downside—your opponent can choose one monster from their graveyard to Special Summon."
"Of course, the decision to use this effect lies with your opponent. And since this is the first turn, Kiyougen has no monsters in his graveyard. So naturally, he cannot use this effect." Commentator Zzuoqi added.
Ryuza revealed the second card: "Next, I Special Summon the second Fast Runner Raptor!"
[Fast Runner Raptor, ATK 1400]
During his absence from the public eye, Ryuza hadn't been idle. Though now hailed as the "Legendary Duelist," it was mostly due to his past encounters with Yugi Mutou, Joey Wheeler, and others. Especially Kaiba Seto—back then, he had looked down on that mortal. But times had changed, and he now relied on his reputation as someone Kaiba had defeated to earn a living.
To reclaim his former glory, Ryuza had refined his tactics and explored strategies tailored to him and his dragons.
Ultimately, he settled on a suppress-type strategy exemplified by Kaiba Seto, the most famous dragon tamer in the world.
"Dragons are the strongest beings. A dragon tamer must exert overwhelming power to dominate!"
Ryuza declared.
"Swift offense is perfect for dragons. Feel the power of the dragons!" He ordered the first Fast Runner Raptor to attack the covered monster.
The first dinosaur charged forward. The covered monster flipped over, revealing a small red mechanical creature.
[Mechanical Peacekeeper, DEF 400]
Mechanicals were old cards from the DM era, first introduced in the Yu-Gi-Oh! R manga. Although born early, they still held respectable power in the current environment.
With a Defense of only 400, the Mechanical Peacekeeper was easily destroyed. Kiyougen calmly sent it to the graveyard and announced:
"The effect of Mechanical Peacekeeper activates. When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, you can add one Ally Monster from your deck to your hand."
He drew a card from his deck and showed it to Ryuza.
"I add Mechanical Skeleton to my hand."
"Mechanicals?" Ryuza frowned slightly.
This was a series of cards Kiyougen had never used in previous matches.
"Did you save them specifically for the finals? Does this mean your decks so far haven't been your main ones? Are you that confident?"
Ryuza was surprised. There were duelists who intentionally concealed their true strength by using weaker decks, but it was rare for someone to make it to the finals without showing their full potential.
After all, duels were one-and-done. There was no chance to switch decks midway. If someone held back their main deck and lost because of it, they'd be ridiculed forever in the community.
"Regardless, it makes no difference under my dinosaurs' absolute power," Ryuza declared. "Continue the battle. Attack directly with Fast Runner Raptor #2!"
"Flip Trap Card."
A trap card sprung up before Kiyougen.
"Trap Card—Magic Cylinder!"
Ryuza was startled. "It's Magic Cylinder?!"
Commentator Zzuoqi exclaimed excitedly: "Oh! It's Magic Cylinder, the signature trap card from Yugi Mutou's deck in the original series!"
"It nullifies the attack of the attacking monster and deals damage equal to its ATK value to the opponent!"
Magic Cylinder was a powerful card that dominated the 4000 LP environment. Its price reflected its strength, though by GX era, it wasn't rare anymore. While it rarely appeared in the anime, it popped up occasionally, even in dormitory card builds. Tenjiku used it, and even some random duelists had it in their decks.
This was one of the few cards Kiyougen had invested heavily in during his earlier days.
Ryuza took the counterattack damage and staggered slightly. He muttered under his breath.
[Player Ryuza, LP 4000 → LP 2600]
"The first blood of the finals goes to Kiyougen!" Commentator Xiao Du announced. "Who would've thought that Ryuza would take heavy damage in the first round!"
"This means Ryuza needs to step up his game!"
Ryuza snorted, unfazed.
This level of damage was expected. He had already anticipated that his opponent favored traps. Sending out two low-level dinosaurs in the first round wasn't without risk—it could be baiting him into falling into a trap.
Traps were annoying, but ignoring them entirely wasn't an option. After all, ignoring them forever wouldn't solve anything.
Destroying a powerful trap like Magic Cylinder with a 1400 ATK monster was acceptable.
"End of Battle Phase," Ryuza continued. "Next, I offer up the two Fast Runner Raptors as Tribute for an Advanced Summon!"
"Arise from the endless darkness—respond to my call and appear here—Level 7, Tri-Dragon Majesty, Summon!"
The two Fast Runner Raptors vanished in a vortex of air currents. Golden claws and fangs emerged, followed by the massive steps of the Tri-Dragon Majesty. The entire arena shook with the realistic visual effects and tactile sensations.
[Tri-Dragon Majesty, ATK 2850]
"Tri-Dragon Majesty!" Commentator Xiao Du exclaimed. "Not only did he launch a fierce double attack in the first round, but he also summoned such a powerful Advanced Monster!"
"This shows Ryuza acknowledges the challenger's strength. It signifies he intends to fight with everything he's got!"
Standing amidst the summoned chaos, Ryuza felt invigorated, as if his stature had grown taller.
"Behold! This is my new dragon, Tri-Dragon Majesty! Stronger than my lost Red-Eyes and Evil Knight Dragon, it symbolizes my rebirth!"
"Hmph..."
Kiyougen wanted to say, "You're just a seven-star commoner."
But then he reconsidered. In the days before various Red-Eyes spin-offs, both Red-Eyes and Evil Knight Dragon required two tributes as well.
Fine, there was no arguing that.
But...
He snapped his fingers.
"Flip Trap Card. Trap Card—Bottomless Trap Hole. When your opponent summons a monster, send that monster to the graveyard face-down, and it can never change its position."
In plain terms—
"I'm sending your Tri-Dragon Majesty straight to hell!"
Tri-Dragon Majesty had barely landed when it slipped and fell into the massive pit, unmoving.
Ryuza: "..."
Two commentators: "..."
Looking at Ryuza, who still stood in his summon pose and looked slightly forlorn in the cold breeze, Kiyougen suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of guilt.
It was as if he had done something terribly wrong.