Annabeth walked into the bronze challenge room, her gray eyes scanning her surroundings with sharp focus. Unlike the copper room—which had been small and cozy—this one was vast, with high ceilings that seemed to stretch endlessly upward. Every surface gleamed, made entirely of polished metal, reflecting the light so brightly it almost hurt to look at.
Standing in the center of the room was a tall man with short brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and an expression that radiated arrogance. He was dressed entirely in black, the outfit accented by a long white trench coat that swished dramatically as he moved. Strapped to his left arm was a strange, disk-like device that looked oddly high-tech.
He looked her over and smirked. In a tone dripping with condescension, he said, "Greetings. My name is Seto Kaiba, and I'll be the organizer for your second challenge." Without warning, he tossed a second disk toward her.
Annabeth caught it, though the weight surprised her.
"Your challenge is to defeat me in a duel. Do that, and you win. Simple, right?" Kaiba continued, the confidence in his voice making it sound more like a foregone conclusion than a fair fight.
As soon as the device landed in her arms, Annabeth felt a rush of knowledge fill her mind. She instantly knew what it was and how to use it, as well as the rules of a game called Duel Monsters.
Kaiba walked to the far end of the metallic field, his trench coat flaring behind him. "I'll give you a few minutes to organize a deck," he said with a smug smile. "Good luck. You'll need it."
Annabeth frowned, her gut reaction immediate and unfiltered: I don't like that guy. Aloud, she said, "Where am I supposed to get cards?"
She glanced down—and blinked in surprise. There was already a deck slotted neatly into her Duel Disk. Flipping through it quickly, she noticed something unusual: unlike Kaiba's deck, hers had a strange symbol on the card backs. Recognition struck—it was the same symbol she had seen on Levy earlier.
"Weird," she murmured under her breath.
Drawing her first five cards, she looked across the field. "So, who goes first?"
"I'll go first," Kaiba replied, his voice cold but brimming with self-assurance. "To give you a demonstration… on how it's done."
He drew a card and without hesitation declared, "I summon Battle Ox in attack mode!"
In an instant, a massive creature appeared—a humanoid ox clad in armor, gripping a huge battle axe. Its stats glimmered at the bottom of the holographic display: ATK 1700 / DEF 1000.
Kaiba didn't even pause before adding, "Then I'll place one card face-down… and end my turn."
Annabeth narrowed her eyes at Kaiba, her Duel Disk humming softly as she drew her next card. "Alright… my turn."
She studied her hand for only a moment, her mind already calculating possibilities and counterplays. With a confident nod, she declared, "I summon Macao to the field!"
A shimmer of light appeared before her, forming into the figure of an older man with slicked-back purple hair, tanned skin, and a neatly trimmed purple goatee. He wore a white trench coat that flared behind him as he stepped forward.
[ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1700]
"I activate my monster's special effect!" Annabeth continued, her voice steady but carrying a spark of triumph. "Anytime Macao is on the field, I can summon Wakaba to the field in attack mode!"
Another burst of light revealed a man with a brown pompadour, eyes closed in a laid-back expression, a pipe hanging from his mouth. He wore a green shirt patterned with flowers and red pants.
[ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1700]
"But that's not all," Annabeth said, her smirk widening. "Now I activate his special effect!"
Wakaba took a slow drag from his pipe, then exhaled a thick plume of smoke toward Kaiba's face-down card.
Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "What's going on?"
"Thanks to Wakaba's special effect," Annabeth explained, her tone edged with satisfaction, "he can use his Smoke Magic to reveal your face-down card—and if it's a Trap, destroy it."
"What?!" Kaiba snapped, his voice sharp with disbelief. His card shimmered into view—Mirror Force—before the smoke consumed it, shattering it into pixels.
Kaiba gritted his teeth, his glare locked on her. "Not bad… newbie."
"I'm not finished yet," Annabeth replied coolly, her competitive spark now fully alight. "Next, from my hand, I activate the Field Spell—Guild Hall!"
The metallic battlefield dissolved around them, transforming into the warm, bustling interior of the Fairy Tail guild hall. Long tables stretched across the room, banners fluttered overhead, and sunlight poured through tall windows.
"This gives any Fairy Tail wizards on my side of the field a 400-point ATK and DEF increase."
"What?!" Kaiba barked, his voice echoing in disbelief as he watched her monsters surge with newfound strength.
Macao: ATK 1900 / DEF 2100
Wakaba: ATK 1900 / DEF 2100
"Macao—destroy his monster!" Annabeth commanded.
Macao conjured purple flames in his hands, then hurled a roaring torrent of fire across the field. Battle Ox let out a guttural roar before being engulfed entirely. Kaiba's Life Points dropped from 8000 to 7900.
"I'm not done yet," Annabeth said, her eyes glinting with confidence. "Wakaba—attack him directly!"
Wakaba exhaled another heavy wave of smoke, this time aimed straight at Kaiba. The Duel Disk registered the hit, and Kaiba staggered slightly as his Life Points dropped to 6000.
Kaiba let out a low, irritated growl, his eyes narrowing into icy slits.
Annabeth calmly slid a card into her Duel Disk. "I place one card face-down… and end my turn."
Kaiba drew his next card, the corners of his mouth curling into a self-assured smirk. "You're not bad for a beginner," he said in his usual condescending tone, "but now… I think it's time I end this."
He slid a card into his Duel Disk with a snap. "First, I play Pot of Greed! This allows me to draw two more cards." He did so quickly, glancing at the new additions to his hand before his smirk widened. "You're done for."
"Next, I activate Cost Down! This lowers the Level of one monster in my hand, and the monster I choose… is Hyozanryu!"
Annabeth's brow furrowed as she instinctively prepared for the next move.
Kaiba's eyes gleamed. "Then, I activate Soul Exchange! This allows me to use one of your monsters as a Tribute."
Annabeth's voice rose sharply. "No!"
"Oh, yes," Kaiba shot back with cold confidence. "And the monster I choose… is Wakaba!"
A pillar of blinding white light engulfed Wakaba, shattering him into nothing. In his place, a massive white-and-gold dragon appeared on Kaiba's side of the field, its golden horn gleaming in the light.
Hyozanryu – ATK: 2100 / DEF: 2800
"Unfortunately," Kaiba continued in a clipped tone, "due to Soul Exchange, I can't attack this turn. So instead, I'll summon Z-Metal Tank in Attack Mode!"
Z-Metal Tank – ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1300
"But I'm not done yet," he said, voice tightening with focus. "I'll use its special effect, which allows me to Special Summon X-Head Cannon in Attack Mode and equip Z-Metal Tank to it for an extra 500 ATK and DEF."
X-Head Cannon – ATK: 2300 / DEF: 2000
Kaiba crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing. "I end my turn. Do your best to get out of this."
Annabeth gave a small, knowing smirk. "Pretty cocky… for a guy who hasn't even done any damage yet."
Kaiba's lip twitched in irritation. "I'll do plenty next turn."
Annabeth drew her next card and looked at it carefully before choosing her move. "I Tribute Macao… to summon Wendy the Sky Dragon Slayer!"
Kaiba's head snapped toward her. "Did you say… Dragon Slayer?"
"Sure did," Annabeth replied coolly.
Macao vanished in a swirl of energy, replaced by a small, adorable girl with long blue hair tied into twin tails, hazel eyes sparkling with determination. She wore a red blazer with white shoulders, a small yellow ribbon under her neck, a black skirt with white stripes, and black leggings.
Wendy – ATK: 2000 / DEF: 2000
"And thanks to my Field Spell, she gets an additional 400 points to her ATK and DEF," Annabeth explained, her voice sharp with calculation. "But that's not all. Thanks to being a Dragon Slayer, when she attacks a Dragon-Type monster, she gains an additional 500 ATK."
Kaiba's eyes widened slightly. "You're kidding me."
Wendy's stats surged.
Wendy – ATK: 2900 / DEF: 2400
"Wendy—destroy his dragon!" Annabeth commanded.
With a determined cry, Wendy leaped high into the air, summoning a massive wall of swirling wind that crashed down on Hyozanryu. The dragon roared before shattering into shards of light, and Kaiba's Life Points dropped from 6000 to 5200.
Kaiba gritted his teeth, his glare sharpening. "I hope you're proud… it'll only make it more entertaining when I crush you."
Wendy's ATK dropped back to 2400, and Annabeth, with a calm confidence, said, "I end my turn."
Kaiba drew his next card, his smirk widening. "I hope you enjoyed this duel," he said, his voice dripping with arrogance, "because I'll be ending it soon."
He slammed a card onto his Duel Disk. "I summon Lord of D. in Attack Mode!"
Lord of D. – ATK: 1200 / DEF: 1100
A tanned man in skeletal armor, draped in a flowing black cloak, stepped forward on Kaiba's field, gripping his staff tightly.
"Next," Kaiba continued, "I play The Flute of Summoning Dragon!" He held the card up dramatically before placing it down. "This allows me to summon a Dragon-Type monster directly from my hand… and I choose… my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
The ground shook as a massive, breathtaking dragon descended from above. Its flawless white scales gleamed under the light, its piercing sapphire eyes narrowing at Annabeth's side of the field.
Blue-Eyes White Dragon – ATK: 3000 / DEF: 2500
Kaiba's grin turned razor-sharp. "Unfortunately, due to your monster's ability, you'll only take 100 points from this attack… but that's fine. I have two other monsters waiting. Blue-Eyes—destroy that Dragon Slayer! White Lightning!"
Wendy's ATK surged back up to 2900 as she faced the mighty dragon, but even with her boost, the gap was too great. The Blue-Eyes unleashed a blinding beam of energy, swallowing her whole. Wendy let out a cry before shattering into motes of light, disappearing from the field.
Kaiba didn't miss a beat. "X-Head Cannon! Lord of D.! Attack her directly!"
Both monsters charged forward without mercy. X-Head Cannon's blaster roared, and Lord of D.'s staff struck with a chilling echo, dealing a combined 3600 points of damage.
Annabeth staggered back, her Life Points dropping from 8000 to 4400. She let out a low groan of pain and frustration, her jaw tightening as she tried to steady herself.
Kaiba threw his head back and laughed, his voice carrying across the field. "How will you overcome this… rookie?"