In exchange, a round red tomato appeared on his side. Turning his head, he could swear the stupid tomato was grinning at him in mockery.
"Battle Phase," Yugen said. "Kaiser Glider, attack 'Mystic Tomato'."
The golden dragon fired its breath without hesitation. The tomato exploded into fragments, and the shockwave made Manjoume stagger back half a step.
Manjoume, LP 3300 to LP 2300.
"Damn it," Manjoume muttered through clenched teeth.
But it was not over yet.
"Mystic Tomato's effect activates," Yugen declared. "When Mystic Tomato is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon a DARK monster with 1500 or less ATK from my Deck!"
Manjoume's eyes widened.
To his credit, he understood the ruling immediately. Even though control had been switched, when a monster was destroyed it was sent to its original owner's Graveyard.
Mystic Tomato's original owner was Yugen, so its effect resolved for him, not Manjoume. Realizing this made Manjoume's expression turn even darker.
So I take the hit, and you get the search.
Yugen pulled a monster card from his Deck.
"By Mystic Tomato's effect, I Special Summon this monster.
'Don Zaloog'!"
Don Zaloog, ATK 1400.
"The Battle Phase continues. Since it was Special Summoned during the Battle Phase, 'Don Zaloog' can still attack."
Yugen waved his hand.
"Direct attack."
The one-eyed leader drew twin revolvers and fired rapidly. Virtual bullets tore through Manjoume once again.
"Gah," Manjoume groaned, forcing himself to stay upright.
Manjoume, LP 2300 to LP 900.
"At this moment, 'Don Zaloog''s effect activates," Yugen said. "When this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent: You can discard 1 random card from their hand."
"A random card from your hand gets discarded. Looks like it was the card on the right side of your hand."
Another shot rang out, piercing a card in Manjoume's hand.
He stared at the hole-riddled 'Widespread Ruin', his vision swimming. That trap could destroy the opponent's highest attack monster when they declared an attack, a card many duelists relied on for comebacks.
It was the same card that had just been blown back to his hand by Giant Trunade. Before it could ever be used, it was destroyed right there.
With a stiff face, Manjoume sent the card to the Graveyard. There was still a chance, he had one card left.
An Equip Spell, Premature Burial. Paying 800 Life Points could revive a monster from his Graveyard and often turned games around.
The problem was that his Graveyard was empty. Every monster he had owned had been banished.
"Main Phase 2," Yugen said, revealing another card. "I activate the Spell Card 'The Forceful Sentry'. I look at your hand, choose one card, return it to your Deck, then you shuffle."
Manjoume's face twitched as he forced himself to stay calm. Without a word, he shoved his final card back into the Deck, his expression contorted from the effort.
Just like that, his last card was gone. In real play, the match would already be decided, but considering the miracle draws common in this world, Yugen chose to play it safe.
"I set one card and end my turn."
It was the final lock to seal the duel.
"My turn."
Manjoume clenched his teeth, staring at the top of his Deck as adrenaline surged. Losing to an unknown rookie with no record was unthinkable.
He, Jun Manjoume, had entered countless tournaments. Even if he did not always win, humiliation like this was something he had never faced.
"But it's not over yet," he said to himself. "I'll bet everything on this draw."
"Draw!"
When he saw the card, Manjoume's expression turned complicated.
Graceful Charity.
A Spell Card that let him draw three cards, then discard two. In this situation, it was a miracle, giving him a chance to dig for a comeback.
Yet it reminded him painfully of the Premature Burial that had just been forced back into his Deck. If he still had it, he could have discarded a high-Level monster with 'Graceful Charity' and revived it for a dramatic turnaround.
Thanks to 'The Forceful Sentry', that line was gone.
Still, this draw gave him room to act. Manjoume steadied himself and raised the card, about to activate it, when he suddenly saw the opponent's face-down card flip up.
Trap Card, 'Drop Off'. When your opponent draws for their normal draw in their Draw Phase: Your opponent discards 1 card they just drew.
Manjoume froze.
It was the finishing trap, Yugen's last safeguard, cutting off even the chance of a miracle draw.
In the front row of the audience, Koji Sato jumped up from his seat and slapped his thigh hard.
"I know this feeling. This is exactly it."
"Did Manjoume just lose?"
In the stands, the two lackeys stared in disbelief, their faces frozen. As students from the same Duel Academy Middle Division, they knew exactly how strong Manjoume was. Without exaggeration, even among the elite-packed Middle Division, Manjoume was the top of their year.
And yet someone like Manjoume had gone and lost, just like that, to a newcomer in his first tournament. Was this newcomer some kind of monster?
The red-haired girl beside them also looked surprised for a while, then turned to the two of them. "Looks like your big boss lost."
The two lackeys looked at each other, thought for a moment, and then spoke.
"Oh, we made a mistake earlier. At first glance he kind of looks like him, but after a closer look, he is not actually our big boss," said the first lackey.
"Yeah, yeah, he really looks similar, hahaha," the second lackey added.
The red-haired girl narrowed her eyes. "So, what, his name just happens to be the same too?"
"Y-Yes."
The two of them forced the words out, gritting their teeth.
"What a coincidence."
The match had produced a huge upset, leaving the audience stunned. But no one felt worse than Manjoume himself.
Losing was one thing, but the worst part was the strange feeling that his opponent had never even tried. From start to finish, it felt easy and unhurried on the other side, as if the person across from him had only come to play around for a bit. It never felt like a serious fight.
The other side had not even summoned a single High-Level Monster. Manjoume believed he had fully built up his field and applied enough pressure, yet everything was brushed aside with casual ease. More accurately, it felt like punching into cotton, with all his strength going nowhere.
The whole duel left him feeling as if everything had been set up, built up again and again, until it was about to burst, yet there was nowhere to release it. He had never run into a match this infuriating.
"Wait."
As the other man put away his Duel Disk and turned to leave the field, Manjoume could not help calling out.
Yugen stopped and turned around.
"Who are you, really?" Manjoume asked through clenched teeth, unwilling to accept it.
Yugen met his gaze and gave a faint smile.
"Just a passing One-Star Duelist."
With that, he turned and walked away with ease. Manjoume felt as if he had been stabbed in the chest again and nearly wanted to spit blood.
One star? What kind of stupid system and stupid evaluation was this, calling that level one?
No matter what, Manjoume was stopped at the Top Eight this time. Going back, he would probably be scolded badly by his two older brothers. Losing to Rex Raptor would have been one thing, but losing to an unknown nobody like this, and in such a maddening way, was unbearable.
He must have had terrible luck to run into someone like this. At the very least, there was one thing Manjoume was certain of.
In this lifetime, he never, ever wanted to see this man again.
Yugen reviewed his matches from the past few days, drawing experience and lessons from real combat against local Duelists. So far he had not run into any truly tough opponents, but the matches made him realize a flaw in his earlier thinking.
He could not directly apply the real card environment of his own era to the animated world here. Hand destruction decks had once dominated competitive play and were still very strong here, but that alone worked well against average Duelists and would lose effectiveness against top-tier fighters from the animation.