"Appear, Machina Fortress!"
Steel assembled in the air, metal parts clashed, forming a huge metallic creation. It was equipped with black tracks, a long anti-aircraft cannon, and humanoid mechanical arms.
[Machina Fortress, Attack Power 2500]
"Machina Fortress, huh?" Youyu squinted, "That's a troublesome thing to have come out."
Machina Fortress was once quite common in the real card environment, with excellent single-card performance and combat capabilities.
First, it can be revived from the graveyard just by discarding Machine-Type cards from your hand with a combined level of eight or more, giving it an undead ability to spring back to life at any time.
And when it is destroyed by battle, it has a powerful effect to destroy one card on the opponent's field. When it becomes the target of an opponent's monster effect, you can also look at the opponent's hand and choose one card to discard.
Back in the real card environment at the time, this was already quite excellent performance.
"However, when 'Chocolate Magician Girl' is attacked, a Spellcaster-Type monster in the graveyard can be revived, and the attack power of the attacking monster is halved, forcing an attack..." Yugi thought to himself.
Magician Girl's "halving attack power" effect does not target, so even if Machina Fortress's attack power is halved, it cannot trigger the effect to check and discard the opponent's hand card.
And when Youyu activated Chocolate Magician Girl's effect in the last turn, he discarded a Spellcaster-Type monster from his hand, but it's still uncertain what that monster is. If that monster in the graveyard is another defensive Magician Girl, rashly attacking might lead to even greater losses.
However, Yugi still has other countermeasures.
"I banish the Magic Card 'Magician Inside the Pot' from the game to Special Summon 'Spell Striker' from my hand!"
A small warrior wearing a horned hat and a red cape appeared on the field, with small yellow gloves and holding a...
...Physics Holy Sword?
That thing did indeed look like a crowbar...
[Spell Striker, Attack Power 600]
"The first effect of Spell Striker allows it to be Special Summoned directly from the hand by banishing a Magic Card from the graveyard," Yugi declared, "and its second effect allows it to attack the opponent directly!"
"I see," Youyu understood, "So this way it can bypass Chocolate Magician Girl's defensive ability?"
"Not only that."
The game continued, and Yugi immediately revealed a card from his hand.
"Magic Card - United We Stand, equip to Spell Striker!" The Magic Card appeared before Yugi, "For each monster on my side of the field, the attack power of the equipped monster increases by 800!
I currently have Marshmallon, Green Gadget, Machina Fortress, and Spell Striker on the field, making a total of four. So the attack power increases by 3200!"
[Spell Striker, Attack Power 600 → Attack Power 3800]
Youyu's mouth twitched slightly.
"Hey, an attack power of 3800 with the ability to attack directly... isn't that against the rules?"
"AIBO, nice!" Dark Yugi also said, "If the attack goes through, it's a one-hit kill!"
[Youyu, LP 3000]
"Go, Spell Striker!" Yugi ordered, "Direct attack on Youyu!"
The power of the Magic Card concentrated all the strength of the monsters on the field onto the little Spell Striker. With a shout of "Ha", the tiny warrior made a small leap into the air, the weapon in hand resembling a Physics Holy Sword smashing down towards Youyu's head, carrying a life-taking white light...
"Flip Set Card, Trap Card - Half Unbreak." Youyu waved his hand to reveal the Set Card in the back row, "Select a monster on the field; that monster cannot be destroyed by battle this turn, and the battle damage to my side is halved.
My chosen target is—Spell Striker!"
A transparent shield was released from the Trap Card, enveloping Spell Striker like a bubble. While granting the Spell Striker resistance, its destructive power was weakened, and by the time it struck Youyu, its strength had diminished significantly.
[Youyu, LP 3000 → LP 1100]
"Nicely done, skillfully using a trap to reduce the damage." Yugi nodded in approval.
"Yes, after all, it's against Youyu," Dark Yugi added, "not an opponent who would be easily defeated."
"Then my Battle Phase for this turn is over."
Although Machina Fortress and Green Gadget hadn't attacked, Yugi thought their strength was insufficient to break through Magician Girl's defenses, so he decided to end the battle.
"Set one card, turn over."
Youyu looked at the Set Card by his feet, feeling increasingly uneasy.
Including the turns before this, with no response, Yugi now has three Set Cards in the back row.
Honestly, facing these three cards in the back row, Youyu felt a considerable amount of pressure...
But even so, Youyu still felt that this duel was quite different from what he had imagined.
Because Muto Yugi was supposed to be the strongest duelist in the entire DM World view by the end, even the seemingly invincible king ultimately lost to him.
Even when dueling with a casual mindset, Youyu originally thought he might not have a great chance of winning, or at the very least, he should have felt immense pressure.
However... how should I put it?
Though the "one-turn kill combo" with Spell Striker was indeed powerful, showcasing his skill level, it still feels somewhat different.
It seems as if this current Yugi as a Duelist lacked something, lacked certain critical elements.
Youyu felt that he couldn't sense the pressure that should come from a duelist of that level.
"It's your turn, Youyu." Yugi smiled gently, "Do your best to attack."
Youyu snapped back to reality, no longer lost in thought.
Of course, in any case, he had to focus on the duel first.
At the very least, he had to win this duel to have the right to critique.
But having said that, the formation on Yugi's field was not something easy to break.
Strong defensive monsters like Marshmallon, which won't be destroyed by battle, and Machina Fortress, which can destroy the opponent's card when destroyed and even revive itself from the graveyard.
Spell Striker, with an attack power as high as 3800, is also an issue. If it is not dealt with this turn, it can still directly attack in the next round. If it even touches Youyu, it's over.
Not to mention the biggest threat in the back row, which includes three Set Cards...
Anyway, the first step is to draw a card and then devise a strategy.
"My turn, Draw!" Youyu declared, "Magic Card - Graceful Charity; draw three cards, then discard two cards from my hand."
After drawing the cards, Youyu glanced at his hand, his eyes lighting up.
The formula for victory... is complete!