"Hahahaha! See, this is my strongest servant, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
President Kaiba let out a series of laughs, and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon joined in with a roar. Once Kaiba had his fill, he turned back to decide on his target for attack.
Kaiba's gaze traveled back and forth among the three on the field.
At this moment, the "Gilford the Lightning" on Yugi's field and the "Lava Golem" on Youyu's field had both been sacrificed by Kaiba using a Magic Card's effect. Now, the other three fields were completely empty.
This round, only President Kaiba had the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "Vorse Raider" on his field, with a combined attack power of 4900. In theory, he could take out any one of the three players this round.
This is the unique feature of the free-for-all rules — individual strength is hard to fully leverage under such regulations.
After all, once one's turn is over, the player must wait for three other players' turns to pass before getting another turn themselves. If all three others decide to target you first, even a god couldn't save you.
For instance, right now...
"The first one to leave the stage has been decided!" Kaiba shouted, "Blue-Eyes White Dragon, direct attack Marik! Burst Stream of Destruction!"
Marik's mouth twitched, and he couldn't help but curse inwardly —
—— I'm totally screwed!
Damn, why does it seem like the whole world is against me?
Upon reflection, it really wasn't just his imagination. Last round, Yugi didn't hesitate to target Marik first with Gilford the Lightning, Kaiba's Command Silencer was used on Marik, and Youyu's Robber of the Seven Tools was also used on Marik.
Marik retaliated by sending Youyu a high-level monster that automatically reduced LP, but its effect hadn't activated before Kaiba manually sacrificed it...
What a chaotic free-for-all! You've all teamed up to take me down!
Six-year-old Marik was so angry he felt as if the three before him had conspired together against him...
Although he didn't say anything, Youyu probably could guess what Marik was thinking.
But could he blame the three of them?
Six-year-old Marik, you should take a good look at yourself and reflect on why the other three jumped at the chance to pummel you?
But Marik had one more card: "Set Card activated, Continuous Trap - Nightmare Wheel!"
The Trap Card flipped, revealing Marik's last trap. The 3D projection system displayed the image of a black metal wheel in mid-air, adorned with fang-like silver spikes on both sides. The massive metal wheel spun rapidly, shooting straight toward the Blue-Eyes.
"Nightmare Wheel is a Continuous Trap that can block the attack of one enemy monster!" Marik shouted, "As long as Nightmare Wheel exists, that monster cannot attack. Additionally, during each of my turns, the controller of the monster loses 500 LP!"
Yet another classic Marik-style trap, with a touch of grotesque flair.
Originally, the Nightmare Wheel would tie up the target monster in a discordant play of restraint, but the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was far too large to fit on the wheel, thus the spiked wheel plunged into its chest.
The white dragon let out a sorrowful cry, but the light bullet it had been charging was helplessly extinguished. Its head drooped, as if apologizing to its master with a call.
"Blue-Eyes!" Kaiba gritted his teeth in frustration.
At this moment, Youyu suddenly realized why Kaiba's wife always seemed to get involved with weird setups...
"Tch, struggling to the end!" Kaiba waved his hand, "But I still have 'Vorse Raider' left to attack. Battle! Vorse Raider, direct attack Marik!"
Vorse Raider leapt forward, bringing its axe down directly. Marik's resources were finally depleted, forcing him to take the full blow.
[Marik, LP 4000→ LP 2100]
"End turn!" President Kaiba snorted.
"My turn!" Youyu drew a card, "From my hand, I activate Magic Card 'E - Emergency Call,' adding 'Elemental Hero Featherman' to my hand from the deck.
Then, Magic Card 'Polymerization,' fusion between 'Featherman' and 'Lady Heat' in hand!
Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, Fusion Summon!"
The images of Featherman and Lady Heat emerged, transforming into green and red beams respectively, merging into a spinning vortex to cultivate new power.
Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, summon!
[Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, ATK 2100]
Upon seeing this hero appear, Marik seemed to have already guessed what Youyu's next card would be...
"Finally, activate Magic Card 'Quick Attack'!" Youyu inserted the card into the Duel Disc and waved, "Granting Flame Wingman the ability to attack this turn!
Use 'Elemental Hero Flame Wingman,' direct attack Marik!"
Marik: "@!#&"
What the heck, three against one, this isn't fun!
Weren't we promised we'd each fight our own battles every round?
All false pretenses!
Where is the organizer? Where can I lodge a complaint? I want to accuse them of discriminating against Egyptians! There's foul play in the tournament!
...Oh, the organizer is teaming up with them to beat me, then never mind.
The hero with a green body flew straight at Marik, enveloped in flames like a burning human missile.
The flames exploded fiercely, while simultaneously a large cloud of smoke burst forth, swallowing Marik and the lift he stood on.
Marik nearly got disqualified and ejected from the match due to his aggressive language, inappropriate word choices, and accusations against the organizer.
[Marik, LP 2100→ LP 0]
Marik gritted his teeth, gave a snort without saying a word, as his lift ascended to zero LP.
Marik, the weakest duelist of the Ishtar clan, was undoubtedly the first to be eliminated.
But as previously noted, this duel was just to determine opponents and turn order, and the concept of winning or losing didn't exist here. Therefore, reaching LP zero actually had no real impact.
So six-year-old Marik was purely annoyed because the other three had teamed up to pummel him...
Since someone had been eliminated first, the outcome wasn't in question.
Now Yugi and Kaiba were locking eyes, seemingly determined to fight their fated battle in the semi-finals, putting an end to their rivalry.
Youyu used Flame Wingman to take out Marik early on, and with Kaiba and Yugi having the next turns, even the simplest guess could reveal the duel's outcome.
It was inevitable that Youyu's LP would fall to zero before his next turn. His lift soon soared upward, reaching the same height as Marik.
Marik rolled his eyes at him as if saying, "You were so smug about beating me earlier, but now you're up here with me all the same?"
However, Youyu was unfazed by it.
After all, they did enjoy thrashing him around!
Moreover, Youyu managed to pick the seemingly weakest among the final four, so regarding advancement, it might not be too bad...