"I'm really curious what it is about me that you fell for… Can't I just fix it?"
With his left hand making a slight adjustment to his Deck build, Youmi gripped his Seven Stars Gate Key and said.
"Anyway, since we're going to Duel, then let's do it!"
"My, I didn't expect Youmi-kun to be so proactive, but if we Duel here, it really won't feel like we can fully let loose. Let's go to the field I prepared."
Drawing her expression in a bit, Tania cleared her throat twice, then pointed in a direction. "Over there, the most suitable place for our ritual has already been set up."
Youmi remembered that Tania had probably asked quite a few students to build her an arena.
Following her all the way to an arena that he had no idea how long it had taken to complete, Youmi nodded, seeming to praise his classmates' hands-on ability.
"Youmi! Why are you here too? And that woman over there… I see. So you're the one who made the students work here?"
As soon as he entered the arena, Bastion saw Youmi appear together with Tania. "I see, Youmi, so you also noticed the intruder?"
Tania, who had just handed out small gifts to the classmates doing the work and then used her own pet to drive off Professor Crowler, walked over.
The moment she saw Bastion, the literary-young-man type, her eyes lit up with the same glow as when she had seen Youmi.
"Hey, you're not planning to make a move on Bastion, are you?"
To snap her back to her senses, Youmi waved his hand in front of Tania's eyes a couple of times, but unexpectedly, as if it had triggered some warrior's counterattack instinct, his left hand was immediately seized and flung away.
And Youmi reacted at once—clenching his left hand, he froze his own left hand together with Tania's right. Instead of being thrown away, Youmi slammed into the ground, then used a dragon's strength to suplex Tania and slam her down.
The phantom ice turned into mist and vanished. Youmi backed up two steps and came to Bastion's side.
"This person is one of the 'Seven Stars.' She calls herself the last Amazon King… for now, let's just count her as an older single woman. Don't let her set her sights on you. Anyway, she's our enemy, got it?"
Patting the Bastion, who for some reason was staring at Tania in a daze, Youmi gave him a quick freeze with a hand that still hadn't calmed down from the chill.
Bastion jumped in fright, then nodded, stepping forward with his Deck in hand. "W-wow, okay, I understand. Then this Duel will be handled by me—"
"That's why I'm saying I'll take this Duel. I'm really afraid you'll disappear afterward—Waaah!"
Just as Youmi was about to tell Bastion to calm down, Tania suddenly snapped out a long whip, tightly binding Youmi and yanking him over.
"Sure, then let's Duel this young man first!"
With a feverish expression, Tania pulled out her custom Duel Disk. "This Duel isn't a Shadow Duel, but it's a wager between you and me."
"If I win, first I'll take your Seven Stars Gate Key, and then I'll take both you and this Youmi-kun with me~!"
Bastion's face turned red as he said, "Then what if I win?"
Without hesitation, Tania said, "Then I'll only take this young man with me~"
"And win or lose, after this Duel I'll be leaving this place anyway, so in the worst case you'll only lose a key and two people. Pretty good deal, right~?"
"Hey, I didn't agree to that!"
Bastion nodded. "Fine, but I won't lose!"
"BASTION!!!"
Bastion looked at Youmi and said solemnly, "Sorry, Youmi. To protect the Seven Stars Gate Key, you'll have to be sacrificed… I'll remember you forever."
"DUEL!"
"DUEL~"
"Nooooo!"
TURN.1
"First move is mine~ Ah, this hand…"
"I activate the effect of Amazoness War Chief in my hand. You can only activate it if you control no monsters, or if the only monsters you control are Amazoness monsters. Special Summon this card."
Tania summoned a monster that looked a lot like Crow, then activated her effect.
"A Level 5 monster can be Special Summoned that easily?"
"That's right~ I activate the effect of Amazoness War Chief."
"You can only activate it when this card is Normal Summoned or Special Summoned. Choose 1 Amazoness Spell/Trap or 1 Polymerization from your Deck and Set it on your field. For the rest of this turn, I cannot declare an attack except with Amazoness monsters."
Tania revealed Polymerization.
"Next, I activate Polymerization, fusing the Amazoness War Chief on my field with the Amazoness Baby Tiger in my hand. I Fusion Summon Amazoness Pet Liger King in Attack Position!"
Tania's pet ran onto the field, staring at Bastion, its opponent, with its single eye.
"Then I activate the Spell Card Fusion Deployment. I reveal 1 Fusion Monster in my Extra Deck, and Special Summon 1 of its Fusion Material monsters whose name is listed on that card."
"I reveal Amazoness Empress, and Special Summon Amazoness Queen from my Deck!"
"I activate the effect of Amazoness Baby Tiger in the Graveyard. You can only activate it if this card is in your hand or Graveyard and an Amazoness monster is Normal Summoned or Special Summoned to your field. Special Summon this card."
"Because of Amazoness Queen's effect, as long as this card exists in the Monster Zone, your Amazoness monsters cannot be destroyed by battle. And—"
Tania pointed at her beloved pet.
"Because of Amazoness Pet Liger King's effect, as long as this card exists in the Monster Zone, your opponent's monsters cannot attack any monsters except this card!"
"Next, I Set two cards. End of turn!"
TURN.2
"I see, an ironclad defense? Then let me break it from my side~ My turn, I draw!"
"I activate the Field Spell Palace of the Elemental Lords!"
"Then I activate the effect of the Elementsaber Lapauila Mana in my hand. I discard two other monsters from my hand to Special Summon it."
At the same time, Palace of the Elemental Lords lit up with two-colored radiance.
"The effect of the Field Spell Palace of the Elemental Lords: Once per turn, if an Elementsaber monster in your hand or on your field would send cards from your hand to the Graveyard to activate its effect, you can send Elementsaber monsters from your Deck to the Graveyard instead. I send Makani and Malo to the Graveyard."
"Because of Lapauila Mana's effect, the Elementsaber and Elemental Lord monsters on my field cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects."
"Also, because of Palace of the Elemental Lords's effect, the monsters on my field gain 200 Attack for each Attribute among monsters in my Graveyard. Therefore, Lapauila Mana's Attack is now 2800 points!"
Although Tania could tell that Lapauila Mana's current resistances were strong and its Attack wasn't low, she still showed no worry. "It's useless."
"Because of Amazoness Queen's effect and Amazoness Pet Liger King's effect, you can't destroy my Liger King by battle~"
First, without using effects to clear the field, he couldn't get rid of her Liger King. And at worst, she could still kidnap a Youmi and take him back.
(Youmi: Branded profanity)
"That might not be the case. I've already started calculating the Duel formula from your very first move. Let's watch it unfold step by step~"
...
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