"Repeatedly flipping to return monsters—so that's your kind of duel,"
Tania snorted.
"That's unfortunate. Looks like you and I are a bad matchup."
"Oh?"
"Duels should be fought head-on—with both sides' monsters and the duelists' wills clashing with everything they've got!" Tania said. "What's the point of a duel that dodges battle?"
"Is that so? Personally I find winning without fighting more interesting. Different strokes."
Kira chuckled.
"I set one card and end my turn."
"My turn. Draw!"
Though she'd been annoyed a moment ago, Tania's fighting spirit wasn't dampened—if anything, she raised her voice even more.
"In that case, let me show you what a blazing duel is! Let's see how long you can keep dodging…
I activate the Field Spell, Amazoness Arena!" (anime-original card)
The earth shook. A gigantic iron cage rose like an inverted dome, enclosing both duelists.
"When Amazoness Arena is activated, both players recover 600 Life Points!"
[Kira, LP 3500 → LP 4100]
[Tania, LP 4000 → LP 4600]
"While Amazoness Arena is on the field, whenever monsters battle, both players can pay 100 LP to inflict 100 damage to the opponent."
"Oh, that," Kira smiled. "A truly hot-blooded field for warriors."
This Field also best represented Tania's personality—she was probably the most purely battle-focused hot-blooded duelist in all of GX. Even Jaden couldn't match her sheer pursuit of the fight itself.
In simple terms, whenever monsters battle, each turn both players can mutually take an extra 200 damage. Whether to activate depends on each player.
From a real-card perspective this card is pointless—absurdly inefficient. And it's not even really burn—since the sender pays 100 LP to deal 100 damage to the opponent, there's nothing more pointless as "burn" than this.
But if you ignore real-card efficiency and look at it as an anime dueling effect, you can see the charm.
It's for fighting.
How it manifests is that both players can project a part of their consciousness using the field's supernatural power, like an extension of their body and will.
Then both rush forward as their mental projections and each delivers a hot-blooded hook to the other.
It's only 100 damage each, but it lets you feel the visceral thrill of trading punches mid-duel. By the end of Jaden vs. Tania, they got so into it that it practically turned into "punching each other to trigger the Amazoness Arena" —perfect for stirring emotions.
In other words, it legally summons your fist in Attack Position.
Of course, it only triggers when "monsters battle."
"I activate the Spell Card: Star Blast!" Tania said. "For every 500 Life Points I pay, I reduce the Level of a monster in my hand or on the field by 1.
I pay 1000 Life Points to reduce the Level of the Amazoness Queen in my hand from 6 to 4, so I can Normal Summon her without Tribute."
[Tania, LP 4600 → LP 3600]
"Therefore I Normal Summon Amazoness Queen!"
[Amazoness Queen, ATK 2400]
"As long as Amazoness Queen is on the field, none of my Amazoness monsters can be destroyed by battle!" Tania said. "Then I switch Amazoness Swords Woman to Attack Position!"
[Amazoness Swords Woman, DEF 1600 → ATK 1500]
"Now feel the power of Amazoness Arena—feel what a real duel is!" Tania shouted. "First, Amazoness Swords Woman, attack the face-down Pharaonic Guardian Sphinx!"
The swordswoman drew her blade, a silver arc slashing down!
"Sphinx has 3000 DEF. You'll use Swordswoman's damage reflection to bounce 1500 damage to me in one shot?" Kira nodded.
"Correct—and that will trigger the Arena!"
If Amazoness Arena triggers, Tania can let her consciousness leave her body and legally summon her fist to clock Kira.
It's only 100 damage—but it feels great.
Especially today—she didn't know why, but she couldn't wait to land the prettiest hook of her life on this man.
"Then I activate a Continuous Trap."
Kira lifted his hand unhurriedly.
"The Continuous Trap: Ordeal of a Traveler," he said. "When an opponent's monster declares an attack, you randomly select a card in my hand and guess its type.
If you guess right, the attack continues.
If you guess wrong, the attacking monster is returned to the hand."
"Nandato (What did you say)!?"
Tania's face twitched.
Another bounce-to-hand. Another battle-avoiding card.
If you hate head-on fights that much, why are you even dueling?
Still, she forced herself to play along: "Then, the card on your far right."
Kira had three cards in hand. He leisurely drew them out. "Alright—what type do you think this is?"
Tania furrowed her brow and stared at the card like she could see through it.
"…Spell?"
"A Spell, huh…"
Kira smiled and revealed it.
"Sorry—it's the monster 'Hieracosphinx.'"
"Uh, a monster…"
"Therefore, Ordeal of a Traveler resolves. Amazoness Swords Woman, return to the hand."
Her blade had only half left the scabbard before she turned into golden light and flew back to Tania's hand.
The battle didn't happen, so Amazoness Arena didn't trigger.
But Tania's desire to summon her fist only burned hotter.
"Argh—so mad!"
She shadowboxed twice and barked:
"But I still have my Queen's attack!"
"But your Queen's ATK can't beat the Sphinx's DEF," Kira reminded her with a grin. "And even if you attack to try and flip it early, the Sphinx can 'once per turn set itself face-down' at will.
Next turn I'll just set it down again and Flip Summon—your fielded monsters still all go back to the Deck."
"Don't underestimate me!"
Tania snapped.
"I attack your face-down Sphinx with Amazoness Queen!"
Kira raised an eyebrow with interest. "Oh? You're attacking anyway?"
So determined to trigger the Arena?
Or she just can't stand it and wants to summon her fist—
"Commendable spirit. But don't forget—Ordeal of a Traveler is Continuous. It doesn't have a once-per-turn.
When an opponent's monster declares an attack, you randomly select a card in my hand and guess its type."
He mixed his three cards face-down, then held them up with the backs to Tania. "Go on—pick."
"The one on the far left!" Tania barked.
She didn't even bother trying to act cute now.
"Alright—what type is it?"
Tania gritted her teeth.
He had three cards—two unknown, but she now knew one of them from before was a monster.
So by logic, she should guess…
"Monster!"
"Is that so?"
Kira smiled and flipped the card.
"Sorry—it's the Spell 'Spider Web.' Wrong again."
"Ordeal of a Traveler—return Amazoness Queen to the hand."
Tania: "…"
"My turn. Draw," Kira said. "I'll activate the card you just saw—the Spell 'Spider Web.' It adds a card that was sent to the GY during the previous turn to my hand." (Anime effect)
A strand of spider silk drew a card out of Tania's GY.
"I'll add the Spell 'Star Blast' from your GY to my hand," Kira said. "Then I activate Star Blast. I pay 1000 Life Points to reduce the Level of this 'Hieracosphinx' in my hand from 6 to 4.
Then I Normal Summon it."
[Hieracosphinx, ATK 2400]
"As long as Hieracosphinx is on the field, you can't choose face-down monsters as attack targets."
Tania: "…"
It even helps that damn statue draw aggro—are you kidding me?
"Then I Flip Summon Pharaonic Guardian Sphinx. On Flip Summon, all monsters on your field return to the Deck—though you don't actually have any monsters left right now, so no big deal."
Tania: "…"
[Pharaonic Guardian Sphinx, ATK 2300]
"Pharaonic Guardian Sphinx. Hieracosphinx."
Kira lazily lifted his hand.
"Direct attack."
[Tania, LP 3600 → LP 0]