As Professor Crowler relayed the opponent's conditions, the atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became much heavier.
Only Youmi remained utterly unaffected.
What a joke.
The Deck Lady Labrynth had taken from the exhibition was currently in his hands, and it even contained Mikanko. What was there for him to be afraid of?
The replicated Deck Youmi had used during the Duel City period had actually only been displayed for less than a week after being returned, and he had already requisitioned it again.
Zane pondered for a moment, then immediately took out his own Deck and handed it to Youmi. "The requirement is just that the monsters themselves can't have 500 or more Attack, right?"
"Youmi, take my Cyber Dragon Nachster and use it. As long as you aim to send cards to the Graveyard as your core objective and resolve Cyber Dragon Nachster, defeating someone who's never really been exposed to dueling shouldn't be a problem."
"Zane…" Youmi looked at Zane, who was being so decisive, and felt his favorability toward him increase by several degrees. "You actually…"
A Deck was a Duelist's soul, yet Zane had lent his out so decisively, even kindly providing ideas for improvement and a path to victory.
Zane Truesdale was undoubtedly a Duelist worthy of respect and deep friendship.
After giving it some thought, Chazz also immediately took out his own Deck and handed it to Youmi. "You don't have to consider Zane's Deck either."
"Even though those three guys are pretty weak on their own, as long as you combine them with a Field Spell and Polymerization, you can easily lock down the opponent's field and deal heavy damage. You should use my Deck instead."
"Chazz…"
Although deeply moved, Youmi still refused both of their Decks.
"Don't you guys even look at who I am?"
Youmi took out his Mikanko.
Professor Crowler tugged at his handkerchief with a conflicted expression and asked worriedly, "Are you really sure this is okay, Youmi-kun?"
"I heard from Principal Sheppard that this duel is also tied to matters like compensation, y'know."
"Apparently, Chairman Seto Kaiba agreed to the demands of Chazz's older brothers. As long as you win this duel, Duel Academy will be merged into a part of the Princeton Group, y'know!"
"What? My brothers actually made such a demand?"
Chazz wore a shocked expression. "How could that Seto Kaiba possibly agree—no, if it's that Seto Kaiba, then it's only natural that he agreed."
"After all, Youmi, you're such a special individual. He's probably expecting you to use a special Deck to make my brothers stumble hard."
"I think he's probably just hoping to see me get messed with, and at the same time maintain a high standard until he comes looking for me for a revenge match."
Chazz was half of Seto Kaiba's disciple. Unlike Bastion and the others, who had seen Youmi's cover blown and Alexis have her identity self-destruct revealed by Youmi, Chazz had relied on his understanding of Seto Kaiba and his own intuition to determine Youmi's identity early on.
Even so, while he had no doubts about Youmi's strength, hearing that his brothers had such intentions still made him unable to hold back.
"If it weren't for me, none of this would've happened. Youmi, let me fight in your place!"
"No way. This is my duel~"
"But… Zane, lend me a few cards to use. Cyber Valley… you should have it, right?"
...
"I didn't expect you not to run away. But that's perfect. I'll use this absolutely powerful Deck to defeat you."
On the duel field, in front of the TV stream, Slade Princeton put on his Duel Disk and sneered inwardly.
"Heh heh, Seto Kaiba. Your blind confidence in a mere student—I'll shatter it right here."
"Duel Academy, as the first step of our Princeton Group entering the dueling world, will surely be the most profound and most successful step."
Shaking his head and wagging his finger, Youmi walked onto the duel field, still wearing the Fallen of Albaz outfit. "That's really going too far, Chazz's brother~"
"Greed knows no bounds, and in the end the mantis stalking the cicada falls prey to the oriole."
"If you don't understand that, I'll teach it to you right now~"
"Duel Academy is a place that's given me many joyful memories, and Kaiba counts as half a friend of mine. I can't let you take this school away."
Slade waved his hand, clearly not taking Youmi seriously at all. "Big words are easy to say now."
"You're nothing but a student. I don't need to discuss grand adult ambitions with you here."
"Let's duel. With this Deck, I'll crush you immediately!"
"DUEL!"
"DUEL~"
TURN.1
According to the system's assignment, the first turn was given to Youmi.
"First move is mine. I draw!"
Youmi had deliberately confirmed with Professor Crowler beforehand that this duel would apply the current Forbidden & Limited List; Otherwise, he would probably be thinking about instantly finishing the opponent with Magical Scientist and Catapult Turtle right now.
"Here, let me briefly introduce the friendly service I'm providing. In this duel, every monster I use has an original Attack of… what was it again?"
"Right, 0. I Normal Summon Cyber Valley. This is one of them~"
A uniquely designed Cyber Dragon appeared on Youmi's field.
"Next, I Set three cards, then end my turn Come on, hurry up and attack already"
TURN.2
"A monster with only 0 Attack not even in Defense Position? Looks like you're just all talk. My turn, I draw!"
"I Normal Summon Lord of D., then activate The Flute of Summoning Dragon, Special Summoning White Night Dragon and Dark Horus from my hand!"
He slammed down two obscure monsters at once. Youmi glanced at their effects through the signal receiver and nodded.
"Then I activate the Spell Card Polymerization, fusing Divine Dragon Ragnarok from my hand with Lord of D. to Fusion Summon King Dragun!"
"As long as this card remains face-up on the field, the opponent cannot target Dragon monsters with Spell, Trap, or Monster effects." "Once per turn, I can also Special Summon a Dragon monster from my hand. Well? This is my strongest field!"
Looking at that mysteriously old-school King Dragun, then at his own face-down cards, Youmi sighed. "Targeting protection, huh?"
"That really is a headache. I was originally planning to put on a show for you about what 'so strong, really too strong' looks like~"
"I can't understand a word of what you kids are saying. I declare my Battle Phase."
"King Dragun, crush that annoying Cyber Valley for me! Trash monsters should just disappear like that!"
Youmi pointed at the Cyber Valley on his field and declared, "I'm guessing you don't really understand the true value of Cyber Valley."
"Cyber Valley's effect activates! This effect can only be activated when this card becomes a battle target. Banish this card, I draw one card from my Deck, then the Battle Phase ends."
Youmi added a card to his hand, then looked at Slade with a smile.
"Alright, now you don't have a single card in hand. How about you behave and end your turn instead of wasting the audience's time~"
"No need for you to tell me. I end my turn!"
TURN.3
"My turn, I draw~"
Youmi glanced at the monster he had just drawn, then slapped it down onto the field.
"I summon Cyber Valley in Attack Position. Turn end."
"That annoying monster again—"
TURN.4
Slade Princeton drew a card from his Deck with an irritated expression.
"You're the one saying I'm wasting time. Since you've already lost any hope of winning, just surrender obediently. I end my turn!"
Knowing full well that attacking Cyber Valley would just cause it to banish itself, let Youmi draw one card, and end the Battle Phase, Slade checked his hand, confirmed he had no way to deal with it, and directly chose to end his turn.
After all, his younger brother Jagger had said that in this game, hand cards were like capital—you couldn't let your opponent accumulate too much starting capital.
TURN.5
"A very correct choice, but also merely a choice that looks correct on the surface."
"Unfortunately, it seems that this is just your style~"
After drawing another card from his Deck, Youmi narrowed his eyes and selected one from his previous hand.
"The Jester Confit in my hand can be Special Summoned from the hand as long as there isn't another copy of itself on the field."
A balloon-stepping, top-heavy clown appeared in front of Youmi's field.
"Cyber Valley's effect activates. Target this card and one face-up monster I control. Those monsters are banished, and I draw two cards."
After drawing two more cards from his Deck, Youmi smiled again.
"I summon Cyber Valley. Haha, looks like there's still one last copy left in my Deck~"
Several dark lines appeared on Slade's face. "Using only monsters like these… are you mocking me?"
On Youmi's face hung a warm smile that looked brilliantly sunny, yet made one's blood pressure spike. "How could this be called mocking?"
"For it to be mocking, I'd have to be stronger first, right?"
"This should be called me being so shaken by Mr. Slade's overwhelming power that I can only struggle on in such a pitiful way instead~"
TURN.6
"My turn, I draw!"
"You really are a slick-tongued brat, but this is where it ends! I activate Raigeki, destroying all monsters on your field!"
Slade topdecked Raigeki. A bolt of lightning descended, about to wipe out Youmi's Cyber Valley.
Youmi's eyes lit up as he flipped his face-down card. "Heave-ho~ Raigeki of all things, such a rare card."
"Then it wouldn't do if I didn't return the favor properly. I flip my face-down card, Anti Raigeki! When the opponent activates Raigeki, destroy all of their monsters instead!"
"Since you're the head of a wealthy family, I'm guessing you've maxed out Raigeki in your own Deck, right~"
"I thought this card was going to be useless, but who knew you'd cooperate so well."
The reversed Raigeki destroyed all of Slade Princeton's monsters. Not only did this move fail to deal with the Cyber Valley that had troubled him for so long, it also wiped away the field advantage he had painstakingly built up.
"You little brat!!! Even if my field has been wiped out, how are you going to defeat me with nothing but monsters with 0 Attack?! I end my turn!"
Sitting in the spectator seats, Alexis nudged Jaden. "Hey, Jaden, don't you feel something?"
The blunt Jaden didn't react much and asked back, "What kind of feeling?"
Alexis frowned, unable to determine whether the thought in her mind was just her imagination. "It's just…"
"I feel like Youmi seems really angry today. Normally, he's been acting really… oddly carefree, but I can just feel his anger from over here."
"Is Youmi the type who becomes calmer the angrier he gets?"
Hearing Alexis's analysis, Jaden Yuki suddenly realized and nodded. "Oh, that…"
"Yeah. Youmi must be standing up for Chazz. Because of the previous exchange program, Chazz is temporarily staying in the Red Dorm, right?"
"I could hear Chazz having a huge argument with his brothers even from my own room. That's probably why."
TURN.7
"Then I'm very happy that it's my turn again. I draw~"
"I activate Card Destruction. Both players discard all cards in their hands, then draw the same number from their Decks~"
Youmi discarded all of his hand and drew again. "Mm-hm, I drew some pretty good cards."
"I activate Pot of Desires. Banish the top ten cards of my Deck face-down, then draw two cards!"
Seeing Youmi banish a full ten cards just to draw two, Slade laughed loudly. "Banishing your own Deck just to draw two cards?" That's completely meaningless, isn't it?"
"You're not even running Pot of Greed—just an ordinary student after all. If you're going to surrender, do it now. It's still early, so I can hurry up and go handle the transfer procedures."
"Is that so? I didn't expect this duel to end so fast. Then go ahead and properly experience this final turn—Final Turn~ I activate Soul Release!"
"Select up to five cards from both players' Graveyards combined and banish them! I banish one Necroface from my own Graveyard, along with Card Destruction, Pot of Desires, and Anti Raigeki!"
As the four cards were banished, the usually silent Zane in the spectator seats suddenly understood.
"So that's it. Youmi, that was your target?!"
Bastion also immediately grasped Youmi's objective and began clapping enthusiastically.
Jaden didn't have the same breadth of card pool knowledge as the other two, and at this point he was baffled.
"Hey, which one is it supposed to be? Why does it feel like the winner's already been decided?"
Bastion pressed Jaden, who had leaned forward, back into his seat and explained, "Just watch, Jaden."
"I didn't expect him to actually use that card to turn the drawback of banished cards into an advantage. As expected of Youmi."
"Necroface's effect activates! When this card is banished, both players banish the top five cards of their Decks!"
Slade didn't care at all as he drew out five cards and tossed them away. "It's just destroying five cards from my Deck. You're still far from winning!"
"It's already over. Don't blink. This is the last monster you'll ever see~ I Normal Summon Gren Maju Da Eiza!"
A crimson monster with unknown Attack appeared on Youmi's field. At the moment it landed, its Attack was still 0.
But immediately afterward, both its body and its Attack rapidly surged.
"Gren Maju Da Eiza's original Attack and Defense are both undefined, but they become the total number of cards you have banished from the game ×400."
"I've banished two Cyber Valleys; one each of Candy Clown, Necroface, Card Destruction, Pot of Desires, and Anti Raigeki; the five cards banished by Necroface's effect; and the ten face-down banished cards whose information you can't confirm due to Pot of Desires. Therefore, Gren Maju's Attack is—"
[Gren Maju Da Eiza, ATK: ? → 8800]
"An Attack of 8800… That's practically the combined total of three Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"
Looking at the enormous Gren Maju, fear welled up in Slade as he staggered back two steps.
"And with that, it's the end."
"Gren Maju Da Eiza, direct attack!"
"Remember this well—our wager! This is the power unleashed for the sake of the friend of the very Chazz Princeton you looked down on!"
Perhaps because he was truly angry, as Gren Maju's aura ignited around Youmi in an orange-red blaze, the monster became somewhat more corporeal.
A blow of 8800 Attack directly blasted Slade off the field.
"AAAAAAAH!!!"
[Slade Princeton, LP: 4000 → 0]
Since this wasn't a Shadow Game, he was just thrown down rather hard.
"Hey! To treat my big brother with such disrespect… I'll definitely pursue this—"
Running over from the stands to help Slade up, Jagger pointed at the approaching Youmi and was about to speak when his brother stopped him.
"That's enough, Jagger. We lost. We can accept the loss. Call Chazz over."
Not expecting his brother to be willing to swallow such a huge loss, Jagger was just about to say something when he was interrupted again by Slade.
"We underestimated dueling. I never thought that even after pouring such a huge amount of money into a Deck, we'd still end up losing to a student."
"I was too careless. I underestimated the complexity of Duel Monsters. I'm sorry, Chazz."
His face, pale from the shock of the fall, regained a bit of color as Slade looked toward Chazz, who wore a worried expression yet avoided meeting his gaze due to their argument.
Pressing his right hand against his left arm, Chazz turned his head aside and said, "I never thought you'd say something like that, big brother."
"You always… looked down on Duel Monsters, and thought that I, who worked hard at it, was just the dead last in the family."
"That just shows how short-sighted your second brother and I were, both aiming to dominate politics and business. Now I understand why Seto Kaiba agreed to such a childish condition of mine…"
Slade stepped away from Jagger's support and stood in front of Chazz, bowing deeply. "I've always harbored strong prejudice against you. That's my fault as your brother. I'm truly sorry, Chazz—and you as well, young man!"
"Big brother…"
Watching Slade Princeton apologize to him, Chazz felt a swirl of complex emotions.
"I know my brothers have always thought that I, who've achieved nothing in politics or business, was incompetent."
"And honestly, I didn't want to accept your apology either. But this is a prize Youmi won, so I also want to take this opportunity to state my position to the two of you."
After steadying himself, Chazz said, "From now on, I'll use my own strength to establish myself in the dueling world without relying on the support of the Princeton Group."
"I'll make you understand just how vast the influence and power are of the Duel Monsters you looked down on and of Chazz Princeton, whom you also looked down on."
First pointing at his two brothers, then clenching his right hand into a fist, Chazz continued.
"In the near future, I'll definitely make sure you hear this name—'Chazz Thunder'—a name that will absolutely resound throughout the dueling world!"
"Chazz…"
After listening to Chazz's declaration, Youmi walked down from the duel field. "Since Chazz is done speaking, I'll add a word too."
"Your apology has no meaning to me, but I sincerely hope you'll properly face your younger brother."
"Like you, I'm also an older brother. I know very well that I haven't done well myself, and I've even caused many consequences because of it.
"There's an insurmountable rift between me and my own younger brother now… something I regret deeply to this day."
"That's why I don't want another family of brothers to develop such a divide. If you truly learned something from this duel, then at the very least, remember this piece of advice."
With that, Youmi left briskly without a single lingering thought, completely ignoring the TV reporters who were gathering to interview him.
Slade straightened up, blinked, then looked at Youmi's retreating back and smiled faintly, as if relieved.
"Chazz, your friend has truly taught me a great deal. Why don't you come talk with me and Jagger later?
"No fame or profit involved. Ever since your second brother Jagger and I got busy with our careers, it seems we haven't really had a proper talk like this anymore~"
...
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