"Duel!"
[Yutaka: 2000]
[Mai: 2000]
"My turn! Draw! The card I am going to draw will be Harpie Lady" As Mai drew a card from the deck, Yutaka instinctively wanted to call her out, but he stopped himself.
In this time frame of the anime, going first advantage wasn't that obvious yet, so they were allowed to draw a card at their first turn.
In fact, when you think about it, in this era, going first is actually a disadvantage because you can't attack your opponents directly, so the one going second could easily call a monster stronger than yours and gain an advantage.
It sounds dumb, but yes, in this time frame when most monsters were still blank beat sticks, this was a significant advantage.
Not to mention they didn't even have the habit of setting spell or trap cards yet. An average duellist's mindset was, why waste a slot on a situational trap card when you could just put in stronger monsters in the same slot?
This was also the reason why draw cards such as Pot of Greed and Graceful Charity were looked down on.
"I summon Harpie Lady in attack mode and set one card to end my turn!"
[Harpie Lady] [WIND]
[LV: ★ ★ ★ ★]
[WINGED-BEAST / NORMAL]
[This human-shaped animal with wings is beautiful to watch but deadly in battle.]
[1300 ATK / 1400 DEF]
See! She didn't set a... wait a minute!
"You set a card?" Yutaka asked, dumbfounded. He didn't see Mai using any trap cards; the only thing he remembered her using was the mirror wall in the duel against Marik.
Oh yeah! She had duelled against Marik! It was all coming back to him slowly.
Anyway, back to the topic, wasn't this still too soon for the duellists to understand the value of spell and trap cards?
"Of course, my harpie tactics will triumph over your ridiculous sheep tactics, Yuta! Hahahaha" Mai declared as she pointed at him.
Yuta, on the other hand, had shivers all over his body.
What was this secondhand cringe he was feeling?
Didn't she ever get embarrassed or anything?
Wasn't she supposed to be in her mid-twenties?
"Ehm, okay? Draw!"
Yuta looked at the card he just drew. Great, it was something that he could use to complete his combo. If nothing goes wrong, he should be able to finish the duel in the second turn, just like with Rex.
"I set down one monster card and one card in my back row to end my turn."
"Weak! Do you think the same tactic will work against me, Yuta? My harpie tactics will triumph over you thanks to my psychic powers! Watch it! I declare once again! The next card I am going to draw is Harpie's Feather Duster!"
Mai closed her eyes for a second before drawing and revealing her card.
It was indeed the Harpie's Feather Duster.
"It can't be!" Tristan looked at Mai in shock, while Yuta looked at him disdainfully.
What's cool about declaring your card?
Anyone can do that.
Yuta wondered what kind of an expression Tristan would make if he saw Pegasus, who could read your mind, or Kaiba, who could print cards straight out of the ground.
Compared to that, this was child's play.
"Surprised are you? Don't worry, I have many more surprises in the bag just for you. First, I activate Harpie's Feather Duster to destroy your set card!"
Harpie Lady suddenly took to the air, and her wings turned white before she shot off a gust towards Yuta's set card.
"Tch, am I cursed or something? This is the second time I am forced to use it prematurely. Don't tell me it has a rule like Sakuretsu Armor? Anyway, I activate Scapegoat!"
After Yutaka activated his set card, four colourful cotton candy-like sleeping sheep took the field.
"Just as I expected! Next, I summon Harpie's Pet Dragon in attack mode! It gains 300 ATK and DEF points for each Harpie Lady on the field!"
[Harpie's Pet Dragon] [WIND]
[LV: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★]
[DRAGON / EFFECT]
[This card gains 300 ATK and DEF for each "Harpie Lady" on the field.]
[2000 ATK / 2500 DEF]
[Harpie's Pet Dragon ATK 2000 → 2300]
"Harpie's Pet Dragon attack his set monster!"
The red dragon with a chain on its neck took flight as soon as Mai gave her order. Orange flames started to gather around in its mouth before he shot them down.
As the flames were about to hit the set monster, Mai was thinking about whether it was right to attack it just yet. Princess of Tsurugi dealt 500 damage for each card, so it sealed her options, and she was forced to attack it.
Still, 500 damage hurt a lot.
The best-case scenario was to attack it before setting anything, but since she went first, that was not an option for her. That was how important her set card was.
"I reveal my set card—"
"I know Princess of Tsurugi and reduce my LP by 500."
"No?"
Soon the set card was revealed. There stood a witch with three eyes. Two of her eyes were closed naturally as if she were sleeping, but the one in her forehead was opened to the limit with big red veins on it as if it belonged to a demonic entity.
"What's that card?" Tristan asked confusedly but then remembered he was the only one from the peanut gallery here, so he shut his mouth.
"Tristan, my good gentleman, let me explain. This card is called Witch of the Black Forest"
[Witch of the Black Forest] [DARK]
[LV: ★ ★ ★ ★]
[SPELLCASTER / EFFECT]
[If this card is sent to the GY: Add 1 monster with 1500 or less DEF from your Deck to your hand.]
[1100 ATK / 1200 DEF]
The Witch's DEF points were not enough to stand up to Pet Dragon's fierce assault, so she was promptly sent to the graveyard.
"Once my Witch is sent to the graveyard, I can add 1 monster with 1500 or less DEF points. Care to guess what?"
"...Cannon Soldier," Mai grumbled but played along anyway.
"Ding, ding, ding. You got it right, but unfortunately there is no prize for the lady." Yutaka cheekily added a Cannon Soldier to his hand after showing it to Mai, but he failed to notice the smirk on Mai's face when he did.
"So what if you added Cannon Soldier to your hand? Harpie Lady destroy one of the sheep tokens! Scratch Clash!"
"BAA" X4
As Harpie Lady flew over them, the four sheep tokens huddled together shaking in fear, afraid that they would be the ones to be picked by the fierce Harpie Lady to be her meal. Eventually, Harpie Lady picked out the Red Sheep token to be her dinner and swooped in.
The other three sheep brothers tried to protect Red by holding onto his hooves, but Harpie Lady was too strong, so it flew away with Red while he cried.
However, they did not notice that Blue Sheep was actually fake crying. It never liked Red anyway, and since Blue was the first one to be destroyed last time, it was happy that it was Red's turn this time.
Blue also wanted to be a Mega Sheep like his brothers and headbutt the opponent handsomely. It actually had a grudge against all his brothers since they left him out and acted handsome together last time without him.
Watching all of this, Yutaka didn't know what kind of an expression he should make and lifted his Scapegoat to carefully check the card.
These four sheep brothers were too lifelike to be ignored, but the question was, can spells even get Duel Spirits?
Wasn't that something only monsters could achieve?
Wait!
If Scapegoat could have a Duel Spirit, what would it look like if Bottomless Trap Hole got one?
Would it just burp after eating or rather destroying a monster?
The more he thought about it, the more curious Yutaka became. He wanted to add a bunch of traps into his deck to see if any of them would gain Duel Spirits and what that would look like.
"Ahem." Seeing that Yuta got distracted with his spell card for some reason, Mai coughed to remind him that they were still in the middle of a duel.
"Right, my turn! Draw!"
Yutaka still wanted to observe his sheep tokens more, but he didn't want to lose this duel to some random bullshit Mai cooked up on the spot.
He also felt very tired.
There was a 100% chance of him fainting once he finished this duel, so it was better to get it over with soon and just sleep.
"I summon Cannon Soldier in attack mode!"
As Cannon Soldier was summoned, Blue Sheep was so excited that it didn't know what to do.
As soon as the order was given, Blue Sheep would kick away all of his brothers, jump inside the barrel first, and headbutt the opponent. If they saw how handsome he was while headbutting Mai, all the female sheep back home would fall in love with him instantly.
"Haha, you activated my trap card! Trap Hole!"
"Nani" X2
This time, let alone Tristan, even Yuta was surprised. People actually played the vanilla version of the hole card?
Then he remembered this was the past when the game was just getting created, so it made sense.
[Trap Hole] [TRAP]
[TRAP CARD]
[When the opponent summons a monster, send it to the graveyard.]
As he saw the description of the card, Yuta was surprised.
This was... mediocre but still better than the real-life version.
It didn't have a restriction of 1000 ATK points anymore, and it wasn't restricted to normal or flip summons either.
Its effect also sent it to the graveyard rather than destroying the monster so it could avoid last will effects like Mystic Tomato.
Then again, with how prevalent graveyard effects were back in his era, this card didn't seem all that good.
If it were banished, however, that would be a different story entirely.
Blue Sheep was frozen on the spot as it watched the 'mighty' cannon soldier slowly sink into the ground.
Along with the Cannon Soldier, Blue Sheep's hopes and dreams also sank into the ground as a single tear fell from his eye.
Today, he failed to be a handsome sheep once again.
"Hahaha, without your Cannon Soldier, how are you even planning to defeat me, Yuta?" Mai laughed at herself triumphantly.
This showed that her tactics were right.
She could break his one-turn kill combo by using trap cards.
Even if she lost this duel, she could add a couple more trap cards to disrupt his tactics in the finals.
Unknowingly, Mai was developing a modern Yugioh duel mindset where instead of summoning the strongest monster, a duellist focused on disrupting the opponent's combo so that they WOULDN'T be able to summon a strong monster.
Whether this was a good or bad thing, only time would be able to tell.
Seeing how pleased she was with herself, Yuta didn't know if he should tell her that he had a monster reborn in his hands but decided to keep his mouth shut.
Even if he used the monster reborn card, he still wouldn't be able to defeat her during this turn.
His original plan was to summon cannon soldier, sacrifice the sheep, monster reborn witch, sacrifice her and lastly sacrifice the cannon soldier to achieve OTK.
In that Mai really managed to break his OTK but he could still reduce her life points to 400 points.
Though since there had to be a monster on his side of the field, he could only reduce it to 800. Then again, he could also fish for burn cards like Ookazi and Tremendous Fire from his deck to finish the job.
The problem was this was not fun, and Yuta didn't trust his luck enough to risk it. A part of him also wanted to summon Red-Eyes and see if he could print a new vest for him just yet.
Maybe something like defeat the pet dragon, summon it with monster reborn, poly and summon Red-Eyes Harpie Dragon or something like that.
Not to mention, Cannon Soldier and Scapegoat was not the only winning combo in his deck. He would be an idiot if he just put his faith into these two cards. As a modern player, that was impossible for him!
"Fine then, I activate a spell card, Pot of Greed! It lets me draw two more cards!" Yuta seriously declared, as if what Mai did truly messed with his plans, but he was seriously having too much fun right now. He always wanted to shout Pot of Greed's effects over and over again.
[Pot of Greed] [SPELL]
[SPELL CARD]
[Draw 2 cards.]
Looking at the cards he drew, Yuta smiled. A plan was already forming in his mind, and if it worked, he would win this duel without any suspense, but for that, he needed to draw his Red-Eyes.
"I set down two cards and end my turn."
"I don't understand why you even keep struggling. Your combo has been broken by me. Even your legendary dragon Red-Eyes is no more than food for my harpies, so why don't you just give up? I have already foreseen your loss with the card I am about to draw. Shadow of Eyes!"
Just like she declared, Mai drew the spell card Shadow of Eyes.
"Hey, Yuta. Don't you think this is bad?" Tristan asked worriedly. He knew how to play duel monsters but he was just a beginner in the game. Despite that, even he could see that things were not going well for Yuta.
"First of all, it is not Yuta but Yutaka. Secondly, so what? I already know I am going to win, so why sweat all the small stuff?" Yuta replied nonchalantly.
Hearing that, Mai felt insulted. How could he disregard her like this!? He was not even taking her seriously!
"Oh? Is that so? Then let's see how you deal with this! I equip my Harpie Lady with Cyber Shield! So now, aside from the 30% field bonus, my Harpie Lady gains an additional 500 ATK and DEF boost!"
[Harpie Lady ATK 1300 → 1700 → 2200]
"Then I activate my spell card Shadow of Eyes! With the effect of this spell card, my Harpie Lady will secrete special pheromones that will force all your monsters into attack positions!"
After playing her spell, the eyes of Yuta's sheep turned into hearts, and they started to walk towards Harpie Lady.
The Blue Sheep especially took the lead and wanted Harpie Lady to pick him as if he did not want to live in this world anymore.
It was such a weird sheep.
Yuta took mental note of this and decided to deal with Blue Sheep later.
This guy had the tendency to be a traitor, and he especially didn't want to be backstabbed by his own card and by a sheep, no less.
"Attack my Harpie Lady!"
"I activate my trap card! Threatening Roar!" Before Mai started her battle phase, Yutaka immediately activated his trap card. At least this turn he was still safe.
"Annoying, but since I can't attack anyway, I activate the spell card from my hand, Elegant Egoist, and triple my harpies. As a price, I can't attack this turn, but since I can't attack anyway, it is meaningless. Now, let me see you crack my field, Yuta!"
[Harpie Lady I ATK 2200]
[Harpie Lady II ATK 2200]
[Harpie Lady III ATK 2200]
Two more harpies appeared on the field, all with different hairstyles.
"Since there are two more harpies on the field, my Pet Dragon's ATK and DEF points also increase by another 600 points!"
[Harpie's Pet Dragon ATK 2300 → 2900]
"I also set down one card." Mai looked proudly at her field. Even Yutaka, a contender from the nationals, should fall under it, right?
"Doesn't matter, my turn! Draw!"
Ah, so that was why Pegasus banned physical attacks.
If not, Mai would have already gone over to give this hateful guy a punch.
She had used her aroma tactics to call out her cards before drawing them to put psychological pressure on him.
She used trap and spell cards to break his OTK.
She summoned a total of four monsters with over 2 thousand ATK points.
She stopped his monsters from being able to defend.
Despite that.
Despite all that, he was still nonchalant.
This hurt her pride.
For Mai, who lost her parents at a young age and was sent to an orphanage by her relatives to fend for herself, her pride became everything to her.
Yes, Mai was actually a rich girl once.
However, after an accident, her parents lost their lives, and as a child, Mai was left all alone in the world.
Her relatives quickly swooped in and stole her family fortune before sending her away to an orphanage.
The only reason she could survive those years was because of her pride.
She ran away from the orphanage, lied about her age and worked in a casino as a card dealer.
She learnt all the tricks of the trade while enduring the lecherous gaze of despicable old men.
That was also where she found her ace card, Harpie Lady.
This year she was only 19 years old! That should show how much she suffered in her teenage years while working in the casino.
Thanks to the invitation from Pegasus, Mai finally had a chance to turn her life around.
If she won this tournament, she would be a rich self-made woman.
Showing all those who looked down on her that she was the best.
That no matter what they did, they couldn't keep her down.
They couldn't keep Mai Valentine from achieving greatness.
So when Yuta was looking at her as if she didn't exist, it denied all of Mai's efforts, her pride, her very being.
She couldn't stomach it.
She needed to show Yuta and everyone else that she was the best!
"I activate the spell card Graceful Charity to draw 3 more cards." Yutaka wasn't even looking at Mai, so he couldn't see her expression. If he did, he would be scared shitless now.
"I discard Bacon Saver and Sangan to the graveyard."
"Sangan's effect activates!"
[Sangan] [DARK]
[LV: ★ ★ ★]
[FIEND / EFFECT]
[If this card is sent to the GY: Add 1 monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck to your hand.]
[1000 ATK / 600 DEF]
"I add Kuriboh to my hand."
[Kuriboh] [DARK]
[LV: ★ ]
[FIEND / EFFECT MONSTER]
[During damage calculation, if your opponent's monster attacks (Quick Effect): You can discard this card; you take no battle damage from that battle.]
[300 ATK / 200 DEF]
"Now, I normal summon Blue Flame Swordsman."
"Hey! Wasn't that Joey's card? But wait! This one looks blue!" Tristan said in surprise after seeing Yuta's card. The flame swordsman he knew had a red helmet and a red sword, but this one had a blue helmet and a blue sword. So it made sense that this was a different card.
Why did Yuta have it, though?
If Yuta could hear what he said, he would answer he had no idea. It was one of the cards from his OG deck.
At least, he also had a normal Flame Swordsman, so he didn't need to trade with Joey to get one more.
[Blue Flame Swordsman] [FIRE]
[LV: ★ ★ ★ ★]
[WARRIOR / EFFECT]
[During either player's turn, you can have this card lose any amount of ATK to have another face-up monster on the field gain an equal amount of ATK. When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon 1 "Flame Swordsman" from your Deck or Graveyard.]
[1800 ATK / 1600 DEF]
"Because of the field, my monster also gets a 30% stat boost."
[Blue Flame Swordsman ATK 1800 → 2400]
"Now, he is stronger than your Harpie Lady, Blue Flame Swordsman, get rid of one of those pesky harpies, Blue Flame Slash!" Yutaka was so into the game that he didn't even notice that he called the name of Blue Flame Swordsman's attack.
Or maybe it was because of the memories of the original body.
The point was he was getting more and more assimilated into this world.
In the future, he might even be able to utter cringey phrases like 'true duellist' and 'heart of the cards' and what not.
"That's where you are wrong. As a creature of the sky, my Harpie Lady negates your field bonus!"
[Blue Flame Swordsman ATK 2400 → 1800]
When Mai said that Yutaka looked like he swallowed a fly, which pleased her and calmed down her anger a little.
But if she knew what he truly thought, she would be even more furious than she was now.
Yuta, on the other hand, was questioning who came up with these bullshit rules?
It doesn't make sense.
If Winged-Beasts can negate the field boost of Warrior monsters, then why do they receive a bonus in the same field?
It's like Fairy and Fiend monsters get bonuses from the same field but because they are holy creatures Fairy-type monsters can negate Fiend-type monsters' field boost.
What kind of a Warriors must die bullshit is that!?
Seriously, K Corp, get your shit together.
Oh right!
In this world, it was the Illusion Society.
Ahem.
Seriously, Illusion Society, get your shit together!
"I activate the Bacon Saver from my graveyard."
"Activate a card from the graveyard?" This time even Mai was taken aback because it was the first time she saw a card that could be activated from the graveyard.
"Bacon Saver's effect activates. I can negate one attack by banishing it from the graveyard."
Soon a cute black pig with a yellow belt jumped out from the graveyard into the field.
The pig looked around curiously and made an 'oink oink' sound when it realised it was caught between two clashing monsters.
It was so scared that its little pig heart almost jumped out of its chest!
Then one of Harpie Lady's feathers fell on its nose, and it couldn't help but sneeze.
But when it sneezed, its skeleton literally left its body and hit Blue Flame Swordsman, pushing it back towards Yuta's side of the field.
Then before anyone else could take notice of it, the little piggy dove back into the graveyard.
At least it was safer there than it was here, dealing with these monsters.
The little piggy swore that it would never leave its house anymore and become a fat little otaku piglet.
"Tch, I set down one more card and end my turn." Yuta furrowed his brows.
This little piggy also looked like it had a Duel Spirit.
What was going on?
It's not like all the cards in his deck were Duel Spirits.
So was it because of the Duel Arena?
The The Harpie Lady trio and the Pet Dragon also looked lifelike, but since they were Mai's cards and she was a semi-main character, it made sense for her deck to include Duel Spirits.
But the OG Yuta wasn't even a side character in the anime, so how could his deck contain any Duel Spirits aside from Red-Eyes Black Dragon?
Seeing Yuta deep in thought, Mai felt better and better about herself.
Finally, the arrogance of Yuta was gone, and he was taking her seriously, which was exactly what she wanted.
She would now crush him to prove her superiority.
"My turn! Draw!" In her excitement she even forgot to call out the name of her card.
"Now my Pet Dragon! Attack those despicable sheep and win me the game!"
Before even the Harpie's Pet Dragon took flight, the Blue sheep token jumped into its mouth, almost as if saying, 'take me, take me!'.
"Tch, truly a traitor. I activate my trap card, Kunai with Chain! I switch Harpie's Pet Dragon to defence mode and equip it to my Pink Sheep Token."
[Kunai with Chain] [TRAP]
[TRAP CARD]
[Activate 1 or both of these effects (simultaneously).
When an opponent's monster declares an attack: Target the attacking monster; change that target to Defense Position. Target 1 face-up monster you control; equip this card to that target. It gains 500 ATK.]
[Pink Sheep Token ATK 0 → 500]
Before the dragon could close its jaws, Pink Sheep Token grabbed the chain that suddenly appeared in front of him and aimed it at Blue Sheep Token and pulled him back.
Bringing it back to their side of the field. He looked at this traitorous sheep and felt ashamed that they were brothers.
At least, he knew that he would never be a traitor like this blue scourge.
The Blue Flame Swordsman looked in disdain towards this sheep that shared the colour blue in its name and wanted to eat lamb chops for dinner.
The dragon, on the other hand, could just sit there without moving since it was forced into defence mode.
[Harpie's Pet Dragon ATK 2900 → DEF 3400]
"Doesn't matter, I still have my three Harpie Ladies. Ladies, finish the job and attack those little sheep!"
"I activate my trap card, Damage Diet. This turn all the damage I take will be halved!"
The first sheep to be attacked was obviously the Blue one which was kicked away by both Pink and Yellow sheep to be the sacrifice. Even though it wanted to be destroyed just now, it was Blue Sheep's own choice.
Now that it was betrayed by its own brothers, Blue Sheep Token felt aggrieved and swore revenge against them.
It died after giving one last sorrowful baa.
[Yutaka: 2000 → 900]
"Now, the second sheep token!" Mai declared, and another one of the harpies swooped in towards the remaining two little sheep.
The brothers looked at each other and nodded at the same time. Then Yellow Sheep Token took to the skies and was grabbed by Harpie Lady II before being crushed to death.
"I activate the effect of Kuriboh from my hand. I will take no damage from this attack."
Yuta discarded the Kuriboh he added for safety last turn. Showing that he already planned for the destruction of these sheep.
After all, they were sitting in attack mode with 0 ATK points, and he couldn't even change them to defence mode, so he obviously got ready for their inevitable destruction.
"There is still the last attack!" Mai ordered her Harpie Lady III to destroy the Pink Sheep Token.
This sheep was a fierce sheep.
It had no intention of going out without a fight.
As the Harpie Lady swooped in, it threw the kunai with chain in his hand towards her, but he forgot that he was just a weak little sheep, so the kunai fell down without even touching her. Seeing that, Harpie Lady laughed to herself and then ate the last little sheep.
[Yutaka: 900 → 50]
"Hahahaha! You might have survived this round, but your health is nothing but a candle in the wind. I will finish you off in the next turn." As Mai laughed, Yutaka had a strange smile on his face.
With her famous last words, the flag was already raised, so he was not afraid anymore. Even before drawing, he knew what card he was going to get.
"My turn! Draw! I activate Pot of Greed!"
"What?" Mai was surprised by Yuta's actions as he activated the card before even checking what it was. The perplexing thing was he was correct. It really was Pot of Greed.
"You are cheating! How can you know what card you drew before even looking at it?"
"Oh? So, you are telling me you were cheating?"
"What? No! I could see what cards I drew thanks to my psychic abilities, so it is totally different!"
"Then I knew what card I drew thanks to the flags you raised. What are you going to do about it?"
"You!"
Watching them bicker back and forth, Tristan had a weird expression on his face.
Was this how a duel was supposed to go?
Where was the tension?
Where was the glory?
This was basically two kids playing make-believe games.
One said his sword was poisonous that could kill even a dragon, and the other kid said since his dragon was a poison dragon, it was immune to poison.
It totally gave the same vibe to him.
"Anyway, I summon Red-Eyes Black Dragon! Then I equip him with Dragon Nails, granting him an extra 600 ATK points!"
[Red-Eyes Black Dragon ATK 2400 → 3000]
"Red-Eyes attack his Harpie Lady! Inferno Fire Blast!" Red-Eyes roared in excitement towards the sky.
It was finally back in the hands of its chosen duellist, and what's more, he looked stronger than ever.
"Useless! I activate my trap card Mirror Wall! Halving the ATK of your Red-Eyes making you lose the duel!"
[Mirror Wall] [TRAP]
[CONTINUOUS TRAP CARD]
[Halve the ATK of your opponent's attacking monsters.]
Before Red-Eyes could reach Harpie Lady, it was suddenly surrounded by crystal mirrors. Being the dragon it was, Red-Eyes didn't hesitate to headbutt its own reflection, getting weakened in the process.
[Red-Eyes Black Dragon ATK 3000 → 1500]
[Harpie Lady I ATK 2200]
"Are you sure about that?" Yuta smiled and waved his index finger.
"I activate my spell card Stamping Destruction!"
[Stamping Destruction] [SPELL]
[SPELL CARD]
[If you control a Dragon monster: Target 1 Spell/Trap on the field; destroy that target, and if you do, inflict 500 damage to its controller.]
Red-Eyes felt invigorated once more and headbutted the mirror wall one more time, but this time destroying it, and then Red-Eyes roared triumphantly.
The shards of the broken mirror wall hit Mai, reducing her LP.
[Red-Eyes Black Dragon ATK 1500 → 3000]
[Mai: 2000 → 1500]
"Now, Red-Eyes, finish that fly!"
This time Red-Eyes didn't even bother to gather his flames and instead just hit Harpie Lady with its tail like a horse swatting a fly. Crushing her to pieces.
[Mai: 1500 → 700]
"You still have 50 life points. In my next turn I will finish you!" Mai screamed, her eyes bloodshot. Harpie Lady was her soul, and seeing her get disrespected like that was not something that she could endure.
"Who said you still had a next turn? I activate Dragon's Gunfire to finish this duel!"
[Dragon's Gunfire] [SPELL]
[SPELL CARD]
[Activate only if you control a face-up Dragon-Type monster. Activate 1 of these effects:
Inflict 800 damage to your opponent. Select 1 face-up monster with 800 or less DEF, and destroy it.]
Red-Eyes Black Dragon arrived in front of Mai and opened its jaws. Mai could see the pinkish-red flames gather in its mouth, but there was nothing she could do but watch.
This was humiliating.
What was even more humiliating was that these cards were in Yutaka's hand from the start, minus red-eyes.
So he was basically playing with her.
If he played Red-Eyes and then destroyed her trap, there was no way she could have stopped his OTK.
"Hey, Tristan?"
"Yeah, buddy?" Tristan snapped out of his daze and looked towards Yuta getting ready to congratulate and praise him.
He still remembered Kaiba duelling Yugi.
The duel just now.
Especially after Yuta summoned Red-Eyes, the situation felt reminiscent of Kaiba summoning Blue-Eyes.
Both of them dominate their opponents just with their presence alone.
He wondered if he should start treating Yuta like Kaiba rather than Yugi since their demeanour and even their aces were similar.
"Catch me, I am about to fa—" Before even finishing his words, Yuta started to fall off the stage.
Seeing that Tristan rushed towards him and thankfully caught Yuta before he hit the ground.
"What's going on?" Mai asked, not understanding what was going on.
"Oh, nothing, he is just sick and has a weak body. So he keeps fainting after every duel." Tristan explained as he carried Yuta on his back, who looked flushed and was breathing heavily.
"Wait, so you are telling me he wasn't even in his best condition, and he could still duel like that?" Mai's eyes opened wide in surprise.
That was when she remembered Yuta's duel against Rex.
In that duel he had played Cannon Soldier in defence mode in case he failed and had even made sure to clear the board of spell cards with Harpie's Feather Duster before starting his combo.
Compared to that, his duel was indeed sloppy this time.
He did not even use the effect of Blue Flame Swordsman to boost the tokens' attack so that they could destroy her harpies.
Or even during when he was attacking in the last turn.
He didn't need to use Dragon's Gunfire at all.
The more she understood, the more Mai felt defeated.
Mai bit her lip in frustration and punched the three Star Chips onto Tristan's chest before leaving.
This hurt her pride more than anything.
When she was thinking he was finally taking the duel seriously, he was only trying to stop himself from fainting.
So she was not even in his eyes from the start.
This hurt.
This hurt a lot.
After all, who was Mai Valentine without her pride?
"What's the big deal? It was just a game. You are not even out of the tournament yet." Tristan spoke, but Mai did not respond as she left the Duel Arena.
She was not going to forget this and have her revenge in the finals.
She swore she would make him regret treating her like this.