"That was… quite amazing. To think that Yuto-san has a card that can do something like that…" Mei muttered with a look of slight amazement on her face as the five of them walked towards the next venue for the continuation of the tournament, the largest stadium that the Heartland Dueling School possessed situated at the middle of the school.
This dueling school truly was a large place, almost as large as the Academia itself now that the purple haired girl thought about it. She could imagine that Yuuna would get lost in a place as large as this, she never was the best at directions what with her constantly getting lost in the halls and all.
The thought of the girl that was basically her older sister brought a bitter smile onto her face, she truly hoped that she was fone. She did go on and faced the Professor on her own after all, and though she knew that the girl had never truly been defeated in a duel if she got serious, the one that she fought was the Professor, and she was pretty sure that no one had ever seen him duel.
"Yeah! He's an amazing duelist!" Ruri wholeheartedly agreed with her with a large wide smile beaming on her face. "Isn't that right, Onii-sama?" She said as she turned towards the tallest of the group.
"You're certainly right about that, Ruri." And the oldest of their five man group, Shun Kurosaki nodded as he gave a small smile towards his little sister, who beamed at his confirmation. "I'm sure if there's anyone that can match against Kaito in dueling prowess, then it's you." The teal and black haired duelist said.
"W-well, I'm not that good." The topic of their conversation, Yuto, nervously looked away as he scratched his cheek in embarrassment, much to the amusement of Ruri who giggled at his reaction, making him blush.
Their meeting with the black and purple haired duelist was… quite embarrassing if she was being honest. Serena had almost tackled him when they first met, having thought that the black and purple haired boy was Yuri, and that meeting ended in a huge mess.
It was… incredibly strange. The fact that there was apparently someone who could somewhat pass for long lost twins for both Yuri and Serena was something that she never thought she would ever see.
But then again, she never had thought that she would have ever gone against The Professor, nor did she ever thought that she would even be sent into a whole different dimension with a whole different way of summoning.
Serena scoffed and crossed her hands as she glared at the boy. "I've seen how you duel, even if there's some part that can improve, you're certainly better than the other's that I've seen so far."
Ruri gave her a look for the convoluted compliment, while she groaned and slapped her face with her hand at her friend's antics. Yuto merely nervously laughed, "Thanks?" He said nervously, and Serena hummed before turning her head away to focus on something else.
She shook her head in exasperation, and turned to Yuto. "Sorry. What she means is that she believes in your ability, Yuto." She essentially translates for the purple haired girl. "But I agree, I don't think that there's anyone in this school that can contend better with Kaito than you. No offense."
She said the last part to the two other duelists who do attend the Heartland Dueling School, and thankfully they did not take the comment in a bad light. "None taken, It's true that I'm not as good as Yuto in dueling after all." Ruri conceded.
Shun eyed her for a few seconds before letting out a sigh and nodding along. "Though it is quite hard for me to admit, you are the better of the two of us in terms of dueling." The older teen grumbled.
"You do have the better dueling record, and just earlier I lost against you in a match." The teal haired teen grumbled out, and he then turned and slapped the smaller teen in the back, making Yuto yelp as he almost fell.
"So you better win your match with Kaito alright! You're the representative of the Spade Branch, so you better make us proud!" Shun said as he grinned, all while Yuto rubbed his back.
"Ugh, that's a lot of pressure…" The Phantom Knights duelists groaned, but he kept a wry smile as he accepted the support that they were all giving him, shaking his head and showing them a small smile. "Well, I guess I'll have to do my best then."
"And you better!" Ruri said. "Kaito's going to give his best too after all! So you have to do your best too!"
She smiled as she saw the three of the Spade Branch students smile, she could even see Serena smile at the corner of her eyes, also caught in the happy atmosphere that the three emitted.
It almost made her forget the lingering threat that always loomed right in the corner of her and Serena's mind, almost.
She saw a shadow on the corner of her eyes, and her head snapped to look, only to find one of the many empty corners that the maze of a school has.
"What is it?" She heard Serena asked, and she turned to see the girl frowning, a usual look that she would be seen ever since they arrived here, no doubt having seen the sudden change in her demeanor
"Nothing nothing." She waved off her friend's concern, though she could bet that the purple haired girl did not buy any of it, tracking and trailing to see what exactly she was looking at and frowned.
But no, she couldn't really lie to her friend, not with the situation that they were in, not with the danger that they might face. "No, it's not nothing." She whispered to not be heard by the three others who continued to talk to one another as she closed in to the ponytailed girl, making her tense as she narrowed her eyes.
"Hey, you remember where we arrived, right? That strange underground basement facility." She whispered, and the ribbon wearing girl nodded with a serious face. Of course she would remember, it was the place that they had escaped from before managing to find Tsukumo obaa-san and being taken in by the elderly grandmother.
It was one of the reasons why they were always on guard, the thoughts that the Academia's agents could be hiding anywhere caused them to constantly put their guards up, especially while they were around Ruri, Yuto, and Shun.
The possibility of them being targeted by the Academia was honestly worryingly high, the fact that Yuto and Ruri shared features with Yuri and Serena respectively, both being people whom the Professor wanted to hold close, made her incredibly worried for their safety.
"You think that they might be here." The yellow ribbon wearing girl drew a conclusion from the small bit of detail that she told her, the purple haired girl's green eyes darting from right to left to assess the area around them.
She nodded, confirming her suspicion. It could simply be her paranoia, god knows that she hasn't been getting enough sleep with the amount of time that she spent trying to learn how to XYZ Summon properly under Ruri's guidance, but she could see a logical reason for the Academia to place their spies in a dueling school, especially one as large as Heartland.
If what she had heard from Yuri's confessions as they rushed to save Sister Claire, Serena, and Reiji was correct, then the dimension that The Professor has had his eyes on the longest time was this XYZ Dimension, and the fact that he has an established hidden base in one of the buildings in the center of the city already shown them that they had been here for quite a while.
There was no doubt that that man had placed many spies in Heartland, and she fiddled with her purple jacket and red hat that hid her face, and Serena fiddled with her own hat as well.
They were adequate disguises, no doubt that anyone who had seen their photos or have seen them around the Academia could easily see through them, but it was the best that they could scrounge up with their DP.
She had suggested buying a wig or glasses, maybe some makeup or contacts to hide their features, but Serena insisted that they invested more of their DP to getting some better cards and even XYZ Monsters to go with their decks to prepare for whatever it was that The Professor has planned for this dimension, and she couldn't find it in herself to argue with that.
After all, she has to get stronger. She had to get stronger.
"We'll need to be careful while we're here." She whispered to the ponytailed girl, who nodded in response. They eventually broke their conversation as she heard Ruri calling out to them, apparently the trio had already walked quite far ahead of them as they were discussing the possibilities of one of the Academia spies watching the exhibition tournament.
"Keep an eye out." Serena said as they then left to convene with the Spade Branch trio, and dropped the conversation at that.
After all, they had a grand match to watch.
-
"Gah! I still can't believe that I lost to him of all people!"
"Don't worry nee-san! I'm sure that you'll get your revenge and beat him next time!" Allen said as he consoled his sister after her loss, patting her on the back as he nodded with a look of understanding on his face.
"I don't want to get revenge you idiot! I wanted to win against him then and there!" But instead of being comforted by the words of her little brother, she instead snapped at him and whacked him in the head, eliciting a cry of pain from the brown haired boy.
Then the two started to bicker against one another, and that bickering eventually devolved into calling one another multiple synonyms for the word idiot over and over again.
All in all, it was the usual theatrics of the Kozuki siblings that she had gotten used to over the week.
They were still in the Heartland Dueling School, though instead of the closed off auditorium that they had been when they caught the finals match between Heart Branch's own Myu and Clover Branch's own Kaito, they were now in a large open-air stadium, waiting for the grand finals to take place.
And, unsurprisingly, it was a match between Kaito Tenjo and Yuto.
She had only managed to catch the tail end of the match between Yuto and Anna, both being the finalists of their own respective branches, and sadly, only managed to catch the tailwind of the match where Yuto had sadly beaten Anna by using his signature monster to beat Anna's own.
Dark Rebellion is a niche Rank 4 option, a really usable easy to go into generic Rank 4 option, basically an easier to go into Borrelsword, with caveats of course, that can out genetically large beatsticks. Like in that case, Gustav Max.
Though the far funnier way to use Dark Rebellion is, and always will be, to overlay it into Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon Overlord and get a four material Zeus onto the board. Or in the case where you used the effect of Dark Rebellion first, a two material Zeus.
She's still grinding some DP to get that card. Hopefully she could get her one copy by the end of the day if she wins those matches that she promised the others.
But they weren't dueling soon, not now at least, that comes in later. Right now, they would have to focus on the upcoming match that was Yuto versus Kaito, a match between two known 'characters' where she couldn't quite know what the outcome would be.
She has a good amount of knowledge about the two boys, or rather, she has an in depth knowledge of both of their decks, Yuto's Phantom Knights more than Kaito's Ciphers if she was being honest, but the point still stands.
"In the end it depends on how they themselves play the decks." She didn't watch VRAINS, but from the clips that she remembered watching, the character that played Salamangreat, one of the most competent control deck ever printed, had piloted the deck in a more… aggressive style of play.
And though PK is an incredibly competent combo deck, and possessing easily searchable interactions in the form of Fog Blade, another easily accessible Extra Deck option that is spot destruction, which also floats, and another easily accessible Rank 4 that can out big bungusus like Kaito's Galaxy Eyes.
Though she say that, his current version of the deck won't have the strong cards that allowed the deck meta competitiveness and rogue play, those being of course the easily accessible Cherubini that freely lets him Foolish a Level 3, and Rusty Bardiche who can essentially do the same.
Not to mention the other strong cards that the deck has, those being Stained Graves and Torn Scales who does so much for the deck, and Arc Rebellion and Raiders Knight that easily gives them a way to also easily push for lethal.
In comparison, Galaxy-Eyes, or rather Ciphers are… well, Kaito seemed to at least be a competent pilot of the deck so that's something.
But still, just as any matches are, the outcome won't be predicted until the last card is played.
"Did you say something?" She heard Anna say, and shook her head back to focus.
"No, nothing important. Just stating the obvious, that is all." She replied back, and though the red haired girl's gaze lingered on her for quite a while, she eventually stopped after a humm and returned her focus back to the center stage.
"Anyway, who do you think will win?" Allen said as he started a new conversation and garnering the attention of everyone in their small little group.
"Well I'm rooting for Kaito!" Anna boldly declared with a huff as she crossed her hands over her chest. "I don't really know the guy much, but if he beats Yuto then he's good in my book!" She said, giving the answer to her little brother.
"Really? I would have thought that you would root for Yuto since you don't want him losing against anyone but you nee-san." And was immediately replied back bluntly by the one that asked the question in the first place.
"Haah! As if!" Anna glared at her little brother. "I want to beat him myself sure, but I won't mind if he loses to Kaito, even if he's not that bad of a duelist." Though the red haired girl muttered the last part under her breath, she managed to hear it as she sat right next to her.
"It depends really." She answered as she started to give her opinion on the question. "From what I see, Kaito's deck is a go second deck, specialized in removing, or in his case stealing, the opponent's monster and big one turn kill pushes. All focused on his ace monster, Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon."
And she placed a hand under her chin as she continued. "In Yuto's case, though we only caught the tail end of his match, he too was able to make a big push with his Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon was it? It did manage to beat and overpower Anna's Gustav Max after all."
"Che, he did that, didn't he." Anna grumbled out. "Yeah, that was really annoying too. I had burned him for 2000 and a Barrage Blast set too, but then apparently his monster summoned two more monsters when they're destroyed, and then he went to that Dark Dragon."
She nodded to the tidbit that the red haired girl gave her. "The Phantom Knights of Break Sword, it's a good generic Rank 3 option that is spot removal. By that I mean that it has an effect to remove specific cards on the board."
She saw Anna raise an eyebrow at the description that she gave it. "It does that? I just straight up destroyed it immediately with Barrage Blast after it was summoned."
"And that wasn't a bad decision, Break Sword can detach one material to target and destroy one card on each side of the field. If you had let it stay on the board and activate its effect, then Yuto would have just used Break Sword's effect to target itself and perhaps your Gustav Max, did you already flip your Barrage Blast earlier or did you flip and activate it at the summon of Break Sword?" She asked Anna as she tilted her head slightly.
Anna frowned, and mimicking her, placed a hand under her chin as she thought. "Yeah, I only flipped it right after he XYZ Summoned the monster since I wanted to immediately pop it."
"Which meant that the set card was an unknown card, to him at least." She continued as she added the clarification that the girl gave to continue her dissection of the match. "He probably meant to have traded his Break Sword with the set, or just traded it with your Gustav Max, which you technically did prevent him from doing as you popped it yourself with Barrage Blast."
And she nodded again. "Which, is fine too, you thought that the best decision at that point of the duel was to remove the XYZ Monster as soon as it hits the field and to his back for lethal in an open board at the crack back, it was just unfortunate that the monster in question floated."
And as Anna groaned, no doubt lamenting the plays that she made in her match once more, Myu nudged towards her as she looked up towards her. "T-then what you would have done? I-if you were in Anna-san's spot that is."
She hummed as she closed her eyes. "It depends really." And turned back towards the red haired girl. "If I remembered correctly, the game started off slow correct? With you taking a few hits and essentially then breaking Yuto's board with Gustav Max."
The yellow eyed duelist eyed her before answering again. "Yeah. Didn't really find much of my monsters to get to Gustav Max that fast. I summoned Ironwolf on my first turn and attacked him, only to have it beaten by that skeleton Rank 2 whatever its name was."
She raised an eyebrow at the mention of the usually not used Phantom Knight monster. "The Phantom Knights of Cursed Javelin? That's… certainly a card to summon. If I wasn't mistaken, it has targeting monster negation that also turns a monster's attack to zero, how did you out it then?"
And at that, Anna grinned. "Heh, it was easy! I just drew into that Fissure that you sold me!" Ah, that she certainly did. It wasn't a strong card by any means, no, but she did sell most of the old DM staples that are still legal to be played.
Though the red haired girl's choice of running the spell in a high powered deck like Trains when it already has a spot removal in the niche form of Derricrane, she wouldn't' judge another's deck building choices.
"Ah! Also!" The red haired girl shouted aloud as she turned and glared towards her. "Why'd that Field Spell that you sold me have to prevent me from doing damage! If it didn't do that I would have won!" She ranted out.
"Field Spell? Ah, Revolving Switchyard." She said as she nodded, getting a more clear image of how the duel had went. "It's to balance it out, I guess. The card does easily lets you summon a Level 10 monster from the deck after all."
"Well when you put it that way… Gah! I totally had him on the ropes too!" Anna immediately went and threw her hands in the air as her frustration perked up once more.
"Going back to Myu's question." She immediately moved on and turned back to the silver haired twin tailed girl. "I would have perhaps, used Barrage Blast immediately on whatever monster that Yuto would normal summon. What was it if you don't mind me asking?"
"Some weird monster with gloves in its name or something." Anna grumbled as she answered her question.
"Ah, the one that gives an extra stack- I mean, an extra 1000 points of attack to a Dark XYZ Monster that was summoned using it. No wonder that Dark Rebellion had managed to close the game." She muttered.
"Then he summoned The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots yes?" She asked again, and Anna perked at the mention as she eyed her again with a weird look in her eyes.
"Yeah. He summoned it since he had a monster or something"
"It's innate special summoning condition to special summon itself from the hand if he controls a 'The Phantom Knights' monster you mean." She clarified. Which meant that it was a normal summon reliant hand, though there would have still been some problems with getting a clear board since Ragged Gloves can Foolish any Phantom Knights card, possibly being Cloak to add any Phantom Knights card, or even any of the tribal traps that could special back Cursed Javelin just to get a name onto the board to special Silent Boots.
Which would then snowball into slowing down the match and allowing him to gain tempo back, what with getting some monsters on board as walls and Silent Boots graveyard effect to get a Phantom Knights spell or trap, possibly being either Shade Brigandine to go into a Rank 4 or Fog Blade to lock down Gustav Max.
She sighed and closed her eyes for a few seconds, before opening them again. "Either way, the match has already concluded. There's no use crying over spilled milk and all that." Saying so, she turned back towards the still frustrated looking older sibling of the Kozuki siblings.
"If you do want to get a revenge win against him, I would happily lend my aid. We can go over what his cards do to have you prepare for the upcoming match and all that." She said with a small smile.
And Anna jolted to look at her with a wild grin. "Now you're talking! I'm going to have you tell me all that his cards do after this is all over then!" And started to cackle evilly at the thought of her revenge match with the black and purple haired boy.
"Now that I think about it. How do you know so much about Yuto-san's cards Yuuna-san?" Sayaka asked the question that had no doubt plagued the minds of everyone in their group, or at the very least crossed their minds once or twice.
"Yeah! How'd you know all those cards and their effects?" Allen asked as he also pounced and leaned in to the question the glasses wearing girl asked. "Don't tell me… you really are a retired pro duelist?!"
"Oy! I'm not that old!" Though now that she think about it, shouldn't she be mentally over fourty at this point… She shook her head and huffed. "It's just a trait that any good card trader should have. You can't sell a card at a good price if you don't know exactly what they and other cards that could work well with them do."
"No, I'm pretty sure that normal card traders don't have a memory of, like, an entire library like you do though." Allen muttered aloud, to which received a nod from everyone else.
Well, it wasn't her fault that she has a good memory of things like this! She did spend this new life of her's constantly exposed to the card game, and scrolling through her Shop to look at cards was her favorite pastime! Other than dueling of course.
But before she could argue back a retort, the whole stadium was filled with the large noise that came from the many speakers that were situated around them. "Ladies and gentlemen! The time has come for the grand final of Heartland Dueling School's very own exhibition tournament!"
Cheers erupted around them, some coming from Allen, a few claps from Myu and Sayaka, while Anna sulked and crossed her arms with a huff. She simply sat on her seat in silence, waiting for the match to start.
"Today, we will watch two extremely strong duelists duel against one another!" The commentator said. "These two duelists have won against a tournament where two branches are pit against one another, and have won every single match to make their way here, in the grand finals!"
Another cheer resounded, filling the stadium and drowning any other noise, only seconded by the sounds of the commentator that was amplified by the speaker. "Now let us introduce our two duelists!"
With that call, their eyes immediately moved towards the opened doors, and out from it walked one of the two duelists that would be dueling for the match. "Winning against the other duelists of the Spade Branch, and winning against the duelists of the Diamond Branch, Yuto!"
The crowd cheered for the black and purple haired boy, who gave a small wave to the crowd along with a nervous smile, almost as if he wasn't used to this amount of scrutiny from the audience.
Which, if fair. Not everybody was a fan of the audience after all. And there was always the chance that this was his first big tournament, stage fright was a real thing after all.
"And his opponent is none other than the champion of the Clover Branch! The duelist who won against the duelists of the Heat Branch, Kaito Tenjo!" And as the blonde walked out from the waiting room and into the stage.
And the stadium shook. The amount of cheer that he received was far louder than what Yuto received, though such a thing made some sense with the popularity that Kaito has.
He wasn't known as Heartland Dueling School's current strongest duelist for nothing after all.
The two duelists eventually made their way onto the center stage of the stadium, a slightly elevated platform where they then proceeded to stand with a good distance between one another.
"As expected of you, Kaito, you managed to get into the grand finals." Yuto noted with a wry smile, no doubt already expecting that the older teen would have made it to the grand finals what with his dueling abilities and all, and he himself knows it first hand having faced him multiple times in the past.
"Haha, not with ease mind you." Kaito laughed and replied back with a smile. "I had a good challenge to get this far. Sayaka-kun and even Myu-kun gave their all to duel me, and they had me on the ropes many times during the match."
Having heard of a name that was unfamiliar to him, the black and purple haired duelist quirked an eyebrow. "Myu-san was it? I don't think I've heard of a duelist that goes by her name in your branch."
"She isn't." Kaito answered with a shake of his head, that small smile still plastered on his face as he reminisced on the duel that had happened not even an hour ago. "She is from the Heart Branch."
"T-the Heart Branch?!" Yuto exclaimed with wide eyes, quite baffled that a duelist in Kaito's caliber was pushed to the ropes by someone who came from the branch that was arguably the worst of the four branches.
"Indeed, it was an incredible match as well. It truly was an eye opening match. I did not think that someone could have gone that far by using Normal Monsters, but she managed to surprise me." Kaito added with a small giggle as he shook his head in amusement.
"H-hold on. Normal Monsters?! What do you mean you were pushed to the ropes by a Heart Branch student with Normal Monsters?!" Yuto continued to exclaim with a lost and confused look on his face, one which Kaito simply laughed and waved off.
"It surprised me as well! I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't been the one to duel her. But then again, she did also managed to defeat Allen-kun in her previous match." The blonde mused.
"W-wait, wait, wait! You're giving me too much information here! She beat Allen? That Allen?! Anna-san's little brother who has the same temperament and dueling style as her, that Allen Kozuki?!" Yuto exasperated as he kept pointing out the bits of details that Kaito seemed to be leaving out of context. "And she defeated him with a deck with Normal Monsters?!"
"And it was quite a deck too. I wouldn't mind facing her again. It was quite a fun match." Kaito mused with a small smile as he stroked his chin.
The Phantom Knights duelist groaned as he placed a hand on his face and shook his head, though one could see a small smile on his face. "You really need to explain more than just that, Kaito-san."
The blonde laughed for a bit more at seeing the exasperated look that the younger teen gave him. "Is that so? Then I guess I can introduce her to you after this is all over. I'm quite sure that Ruri-kun and Shun will be happy to meet someone new like her."
"Well, Ruri did just introduce us to her new friends, but the more the merrier I suppose." Yuto said with a wry smile, before shaking his head. "Well, we should get started then."
"Yes, let's." Kaito replied as he nodded along.
"I wish you the best of luck, Kaito-san." Yuto said as he activated his duel disk and took a stance, with his left hand extended in front of him, and his purple dueling blade appearing right in front of him.
"You as well." Kaito replied back with a smile, as he does the same thing. "And please, just Kaito is fine." Activating his own crescent shaped dueling blade and both duelists then prepared to start off their match.
""DUEL!!""
Yuto: 4000LP
Kaito Tenjo: 4000LP
"I will be taking the first turn!" Yuto declared, and Kaito nodded and allowed him to, both essentially play their best scenarios, with Yuto going to build a board with what she assumed would be strong trap cards while Kaito would take a crack at breaking the board.
"I will start by normal summoning The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak!" And Yuto started off his play with a normal summon of a monster, and a ghostly cloaked monster appeared, with purple wisps of fire floating around it, along with several floating bits of metal.
The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak - Dark/Warrior/Level 3/Effect: 800/1000
"If I control a 'The Phantom Knights' monster, I can special summon The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots!" And using the innate summoning effect of the monster in his hand, he summoned another monster, that being none other than of course, she cloaked monster that was Silent Boots, and as his namesake, he appeared without a sound as his boots hit the ground in attack position.
The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots - Dark/Warrior/Level 3/Effect: 200/1200
And now he has two Level 3 monsters on the field, it wasn't hard to see what he would do in this position.
"I will use the Level 3 The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak and the Level 3 The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots and overlay them! With these two monsters, I will construct an Overlay Network!" Both monsters then turned to purple pillars of light that crisscrossed one another, both lights eventually convening in the dark gold and black spiral that appeared in front of Yuto.
"O soul of knights felled in battle, stand once more with light that cuts through darkness!" He chanted as he raised his right hand upwards, and the spiral exploded in light. "XYZ Summon! Appear! The Phantom Knights of Break Sword!"
And the first XYZ Monster of the game then appeared on Yuto's side of the field, the monster itself being a ghostly apparition that seemed to be a combination of a knight and its trusty steen, wielding in its right hand a broken and chipped greatsword, as its two dark purple Overlay Materials orbited it.
The Phantom Knights of Break Sword - Dark/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 3/Effect: 2000/1000 OV: 2
"I will set two cards face-down. And I will end my turn." And with but a mere Break Sword and a set card, Yuto proceeded to end his turn, with but a single unknown card still remaining in his hands.
"That's… not much of a board." She muttered lowly as she inspected the board that Yuto had made as his first turn. Sure Break Sword would float, but if Kaito just steals it with Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon then it wouldn't quite matter, Yuto should know that too. Quite honestly, it was understandable with the current state of the metagame and the current pool of cards that Yuto's Phantom Knights has in possession.
He has neither access to the Link 2 and 3 that is Cherubini and Rusty Bardiche, the former being an easy way to send two Level 3 Phantom Knights cards to the grave without the need of Break Sword and allowing the trigger of their graveyard effects, while the latter can easily build their boards just like she had thought of earlier.
If the card that he set doesn't stall out Kaito from one turn killing him, be it one of the many trap monsters that the deck has to wall up, or just a Fog Blade to negate the activation of Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon that Kaito would undoubtedly summon in his turn, then this match could be over quite quickly.
"Then it's my turn. I will draw!" And Kaito then started his own turn, drawing as he went second and adding the sixth card onto his hand. The blonde haired boy with dark green spiked front and bangs checked the cards he had in his hands briefly before deciding on his move.
And as he decided, he took out a card from his hand. "I will start by normal summoning Cipher Wing!" And using his normal summon for the turn, Kaito summoned a six winged Machine Monster with the cipher-like rainbow pattern on its wings.
Cipher Wing - Light/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1400/1200
And with the normal summon successful, Kaito then revealed another card that he had in his hand. "Now I will activate the effect of Cipher Biplane in my hand!" He said as he activated the card.
"If a 'Cipher' monster is normal or special summon to my field, I can special summon this card from my hand!" And without a response being activated in the other side by Yuto, Kaito placed the card on his duel disk blade, and the four cipher winged plane appeared.
Cipher Biplane - Light/Machine/Level 6/Effect: 1000/2000
"He has two monsters on the field!" Myu exclaimed, only to then tilt her head in confusion. "But their Levels are different though. "
"Not for long." She said aloud as she eyed the silver haired girl. "Didn't you just faced Kaito earlier? You should have known what Cipher Biplane's effect was since you negated it and all."
"I-of course I did!" The twin tailed girl cried out before looking away shyly as she twiddled with her thumbs. "But I… don't actually know what it does. He just activated a monster effect so I negated it with Dolkka's effect."
She blinked, glanced at the silver haired girl who refused to make proper eye contact and giggled a little much to her embarrassment. So Myu had essentially gone 'click yes turbo' then, if she had been a bit more patient then the outcome would have been different, but then again, it had already passed.
"Now I will activate Cipher Biplane's effect!" Kaito declared aloud as he extended his right arm forward towards the four winged Machine that he called. "Once per turn, I can target two 'Cipher' monsters that I control, and change both of their Levels to 8 until the end of this turn!"
And with a wave of his arm, he declared the two targets that he would change Levels with Biplane's effect, they of course were the only two monsters that he controls. "I will change the Levels of both Cipher Wing and Cipher Biplane to 8!"
And with that declaration, both of the Cipher monsters that Kaito controlled had their Level modulated, changing both their Levels to 8, and allowing him for an XYZ Summon.
Cipher Wing - Light/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 1400/1200
Cipher Biplane - Light/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 1000/2000
"And now, I will overlay both the now Level 8 Cipher Wing and the now Level 8 Cipher Biplane!" And with that declaration, both monsters turned into golden motes of light, which then spiraled one another.
"With these two monsters, I'll construct an Overlay Network!" To which the two monsters that he had on his field entered a golden and black spiral as they turned into golden motes of lights.
"O galaxy that shines in the darkness! Become my servant to achieve my goals!" The blond duelist chanted as the whirlpool of power exploded with golden lights. "XYZ Summon! Descend! Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!"
And as the chant concluded, the XYZ Monster then descended from the skies, both of its eyes shining as if they were the galaxy itself as it unfurled its large wings which shined with its rainbow cipher-like pattern, the dragon letting out a roar that shook the whole stadium as it appeared.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 3000/2500 OV: 2
"And now, I will activate Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon's effect!" Kaito declared as he extended his arms forward towards his very own XYZ monster, which the roared with power. "Once per turn, I can detach one Overlay Material from it, then I can target one face-up monster you control and take control of it until the end of the turn!"
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 3000/2500 OV: 1
And with a loud roar, the dragon expanded its wings to their full size as it absorbed one of the two Overlay units that it has, and rained down light towards the one and only target that Kaito could legally use the dragon's effect on, that being none other than Break Sword. "I will target The Phantom Knights of Break Sword! Cipher Projection!"
And much to her amusement, Yuto lets it resolve, showing that the two backrow were indeed not Fog Blade. The ghostly knight and his trusty steed were then dispersed into motes of light, and once more took on form at Kaito's side of the field.
"While this effect is applied, The Phantom Knights of Break Sword will have its effects negated, its attack will become 3000, and it will also has its name changed to become 'Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon'!" Kaito explained further, as the form of the stolen XYZ monster then changed to become a translucent apparition of the dragon right next to it.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Dark/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 3/Effect: 3000/1000 OV: 2
"But it still isn't lethal." She muttered. What with Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon's effect locking him from direct attacking with anything other than the original XYZ monster, then he would be 1000 off of lethal.
But then again, Yuto still has two backrow set in his spell and trap zone, and if they were some of the many trap monsters that the deck has, then he might not even take any damage at all.
And he could maybe even OTK on the crack back, depending on the cards that he has of course.
"But since I activated Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon's effect, monsters other than it cannot attack directly this turn." Kaito further explained as he closed his eyes, and opening them again and moving on towards the Battle Phase. "Battle!"
I will attack you directly with Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon! Annihilation Cipher Stream!"
"At the start of the Battle Phase, I will activate my set card! The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine!" Yuto shouted aloud as he raised his hands and flipped one of his two set cards face-up, revealing the trap card as it shone on the field.
"This card allows me to special summon it as a Normal Monster! I will summon The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine in defence position!" And that he does, with the trap card on the field turning into a ghostly apparition of a black brigandine, with ghostly wisps of blue fire emitting from the armor's crevice.
The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine - Dark/Warrior/Level 4/Normal: 0/800
She frowned as she saw the play that Yuto had done, in a strange manner of course. If he had wanted to survive the turn and prevent himself from taking and form of damage, then he could have activated Shade Brigandine at attack declaration
Kaito raised an eyebrow, but still continued on as he entered the Battle Phase. "I see, so you intend to prevent my attacks then. No matter, I will attack your Shade Brigandine with my second Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon! Annihilation Cipher Stream!"
And the Break Sword turned Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon roared aloud, expanding its large wings as it opened its maw and shot out a stream of annihilation from it, the destructive attack aimed at none other than the newly summoned Trap Monster.
"Then I will activate my other set card! The Phantom Knights of Lost Vambrace!" And Yuto flipped his other set card face-up, revealing that it was another of the archetype's own Trap Monster.
"This card allows me to target one face-up monster on the field, and while it is still face-up on the field, 'The Phantom Knights' monsters that I control cannot be destroyed by battle! And it will lose 600 points of attack, along with its Level becoming 2 until the end of this turn!" The black and purple haired boy explained as he then pointed towards the only legal target on the field, that being the recently summoned The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine.
Because after all, both of the other monsters on the field have no Levels, they only have Ranks.
"I will target my own Shade Brigandine to change its Level to 2!" Yuto declared. "Then I can special summon The Phantom Knights of Lost Vambrace as a Normal Monster in defence position!" And with that, he then special summoned the trap card as another monster, the ghostly vambrace appearing in defence position next to the now level modulated Shade Brigandine, its none existent attack not receiving the attack decreasing effect of Lost Vambrace.
The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine - Dark/Warrior/Level 2/Normal: 0/800
The Phantom Knights of Lost Vambrace - Dark/Warrior/Level 4/Normal: 600/0
"I see, so that's what you were planning." Kaito hummed with a small smile, seemingly understanding the goal of Yuto's plays. "You needed a monster with a Level so that you can use Lost Vambrace. And with this you can nullify all of my attack as your 'The Phantom Knights' monsters won't be destroyed by battle this turn."
"And since they're both in defence position, I won't receive any damage." Yuto said with a smirk on his face.
"Indeed that is." Kaito nodded. "But even if they won't be destroyed, the attack still goes! I will still attack onto Shade Brigandine!" So Kaito says, and the beam of light that was shot out by the XYZ monster hits the ghostly brigandine, dealing no damage and not destroying the monster.
And Kaito then moved on to his second Main Phase, and continued to play his cards. "I will set two cards face-down. And with that I will be ending my turn." And so Kaito said, ending his turn with a failed attempt to break Yuto's board with two cards in his hands and two set cards in his spell and trap zone.
And with his turn ending, so does the lingering effect that stayed on the stolen Break Sword, the monster that was turned into a translucent copy of Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon reverted to its original form, that being the ghostly knight and his trusty steed, and returned back to Yuto's side of the field.
The Phantom Knights of Break Sword - Dark/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 3/Effect: 2000/1000 OV: 2
And along with that, the effect of The Phantom Knights of Lost Vambrace also lost its effects. The level modulation effect that it had given Shade Brigandine coming to an end, and so does the battle protection effect that it gives to the Phantom Knights monsters.
The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine - Dark/Warrior/Level 4/Normal: 0/800
"Then it will once again be my turn!" Yuto declared, placing a hand on top of his duel disk. "I will draw!" And draws a card for the turn, adding up to two cards in his hand. The black and purple haired boy looked at the cards in his hands, and his thoughts raced as he decided on a play.
And with a wave of his hand, he started the first play that he would do for the turn. "I'll start by activating the effect of The Phantom Knights of Break Sword!" Yuto declared aloud. "Once per turn, I can detach one material from this card, then target one card that I control and one card that you control, and destroy both of them!"
"That effect! So it really can do something like that!" Anna shouted aloud as she glared at the Dark Warrior XYZ that activated its effects, the monster raising its broken blade as it absorbed one of the two purple overlay units that orbited around it.
The Phantom Knights of Break Sword - Dark/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 3/Effect: 2000/1000 OV: 1
"I will target both your Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, and my own The Phantom Knights of Break Sword!" Yuto declared the two target's for Break Sword's effect, intending to destroy the two monsters and float with Break Sword's effect.
"Then I will activate the trap, Cipher Bit!" Kaito declared so, responding to the effect of Break Sword with one of the two trap card that he had set in the previous turn.
"That's the same trap that he used in his duel with Myu!" Allen exclaimed as he saw the card that Kaito played, and Sayaka absentmindedly nodded her head as she was too focused in watching the match unfold.
"This card allows me to target one 'Galaxy-Eyes' or 'Cipher' XYZ Monster that I control and attach it to that monster as an XYZ Material. And if I do, the next time that it would be destroyed, either by battle or card effect this turn, it is not!" The blonde Cipher duelist explained.
And he then pointed his right hand towards Yuto's one and only XYZ Monster. "Which means that it would not be destroyed by the effect of The Phantom Knights of Break Sword!" And with the chain of two cards resolving backwards, the trap card that Kaito activated then was absorbed into the large Cipher dragon, turning into another Overlay Unit for the large monster.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 3000/2500 OV: 2
And as the chain continued, the effect of The Phantom Knights of Break Sword then resolved. But with the other target, Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, being protected with the effect of Cipher Bit, the only one that was destroyed was only Break Sword.
Yuto scrunched his eyebrows as he frowned as he failed to remove Kaito's XYZ Monster from the field, but even then he still had more plays that he could do to possibly remove and destroy that monster from the field.
"Che, but that darned XYZ monster still turns into two monsters." Anna grumbled as she narrowed her eyes, knowing the graveyard effect of the monster having lost to it in her previous match.
"Then I will activate the effect of The Phantom Knights of Break Sword in my graveyard!" Yuto declared as he activated his XYZ Monster's graveyard effect. "If this XYZ Summoned card is destroyed, I can target 2 'The Phantom Knights' monsters with the same Level in my graveyard, and special summon them and increase their Levels by 1!"
Taking a second to take a breath, the black and purple haired duelist added the caveat that came with activating the monster's floating effect. "However, for the rest of this turn, I cannot special summon monsters except Dark monsters."
Done with explaining Break Sword's effects, Yuto then took out two cards from his graveyard and revealed them to Kaito and the audience, showing the two targets for the floating effect of Break Sword.
"I will target The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak, and The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots in my graveyard!" He declared the two targets, and with Kaito letting the effect resolves, Yuto resummoned the two Phantom Knights monsters, and both the ghostly cloak and the ghost warrior with silent boots had their Levels increased by one, both being summoned in attack position.
The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak - Dark/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 800/1000
The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots - Dark/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 200/1200
"Now I will take the Level 4 The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine, and the now Level 4 The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots, and overlay them!" Yuto declared as he raised his right hand upwards, and the two Level modulated monsters turning into purple motes of lights.
"Another XYZ Summon. And with two Level 4 no less." Kaito observed calmly, already having knowledge on the monster that Yuto would be summoning with the two monsters having already dueled the boy multiple times before.
No doubt, with the two Level 4 monsters on the field, he was going to be summoning his Ace Monster.
"With these two monsters, I will construct and Overlay Network!" Yuto declared so, and the two orbs of purple light entered the galactic spiral that appeared in front of him. "Cloaked in shadows and relentless in its objective, descend, here and now!"
And the spiral then exploded into darkness, and the silhouette of the monster appeared ever so briefly beneath the dark clouds, the dark purple orbs and bright molten gold eyes shining and seen even through the dark thunderous clouds that clad it upon its summon.
"XYZ Summon! Arise! Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon!" And with the chant completed, the dragon let out a roar that sent chills down to her spine, and flapped its wings and pushed away the darkness that cloaked it to reveal its full form.
And with its full form revealed, the dragon's molten gold eyes started directly onto the galaxy-like eyes of its gigantic opponent, sparks of electricity traveling its body as the dark dragon growled ominously.
This was this world, this dimension's own Dimensional Dragon, the XYZ counterpart to Yuri's own Starving Venom Fusion Dragon, and the other two Yu-Boy's signature Dimensional Dragons that she has yet to meet in this life.
A card that was quite fearsome for its time, the dark clad dragon with multiple purple orbs adorning its body and wings, along with dark red markings along its body reminiscent of a Numbers Monster, this was Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon.
Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon - Dark/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2500/2000 OV: 2
"Now Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon's effect!" Yuto declared as he continued his play right after summoning his signature Boss Monster. "I can detach 2 materials from this card, then target one face-up monster that you control, and halve its current attack! And if I do, this card will then gain that lost attack!"
Raising his right hand along with his own dragon raising its head for a roar, the black haired duelist shouted his target. "I will target Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon! Treason Discharge!" And the dark dragon roared.
Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon - Dark/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2500/2000 OV: 0
Shaking the entire stadium with its mighty roar, the Dark Dragon's wings seemed to expand on command, segments opening as they sparked with purple electricity. And with Kaito letting the effect resolve, that same wisps of purple electricity sparked along the body of Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, the Light Dragon letting an anguished cry as its power was sapped and drained.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 1500/2500 OV: 2
Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon - Dark/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 4000/2000 OV: 0
"Now I will activate the effect of The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak!" Yuto declared, activating the effect of one of the two monsters that he had summoned back with the effect of Break Sword.
"If this card is in attack positon, I can target one Dark monster on the field, then change this card to defence position to increase that monster's attack and defence by 800 points until the end of your turn!" He explained the monster's effects.
"I will target my Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon, to increase its attack even further!" And the ghost robe was then turned into defence position, and the Dark XYZ Dragon was emitted another burst of purple lightning as its attack increased even more.
Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon - Dark/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 4800/2800 OV: 0
"Battle!" Yuto declared as he immediately went on towards the Battle Phase. "The protection that CIpher Bit gives out can only be used once! So I will attack your Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon with my Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon! Lightning Disobey of Rebellion!"
With its command given, the Dark Dragon complied with its master's demands. With one last roar as its wings erupted with light blue ghostly wisps of power, its lightning clad body zoomed directly onto the gigantic Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, the large blade in its jaw shining as the Dark Dragon focused its power to a single spot.
"Then I will activate my face-down set card!" But even at the face of a monster whose attack surpassed his own XYZ Monster, Kaito kept his calm as he flipped up his own set card. "The Trap Card, Double Cipher!"
"That card-!" Yuto exclaimed, eyes going wide as he recognized the card that Kaito used.
And the trap card was then flipped face-up, the card glowing brightly as it was activated at the attack declaration, and Kaito began to explain the card's effects as his voice resounded across the whole stadium.
"If my opponent controls a monster with the highest attack on the field, Double Cipher allows me to target one 'Galaxy-Eyes' or 'Cipher' XYZ Monster that possesses XYZ Materials, and detach all of them to special summon one monster from my Extra Deck with the same name as that XYZ Monster!"
Saying so, the blonde Galaxy-Eyes duelist reached out towards his weakened XYZ Monster. "I will detach all XYZ Materials from Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, to special summon another Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon from my Extra Deck in attack position!"
And with the activation of the trap card resolving, the weakened Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon lets out another roar as its two Overlay Materials both flew away from it, both circling one another before coming together once more at the galactic spiral that appeared in front of the blonde duelist.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 1500/2500 OV: 0
And with a grand explosion of light, a third dragon descended onto the field, identical to the first Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon that was summoned first in every possible way, letting out a loud imposing roar as it was cheated out of the Extra Deck.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 3000/2500 OV: 0
"Che! But the attack still continues! Go! Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon!" Yuto continued his command as he does not replay to change the attack targets, sticking to attack the weakened original Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon.
And the attack hits its mark, with a loud roar that shook the stadium, Dark Rebellion XYZ delivered a devastating blow onto the weakened Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, and the Light Dragon then exploded upon destruction.
"Kuagh!" Kaito grunted audibly as he was almost blown off of his feet from the sheer shockwave that the attack let out, having almost been one turn killed from the attack of the strengthened Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon and only managing to survive with a sliver of Life Points left.
Kaito Tenjo: 700LP
And with the first blow to deal damage of the whole match, the crowd exploded. Many gasped and cried out as they saw Kaito receiving an almost lethal blow in a single attack and barely manage to cling on with the barest Life Points left and some cheering him on, many cheered on for Yuto as they saw him in a favorable position in the matchup.
Allen, Sayaka, Myu, and even Anna were the former, all four of them cheering for Kaito to come and win from his unfavorable position, though the latter cherry haired girl did it out of spite for the Phantom Knights duelists, and she simply observed in silent contemplation.
Yuto was barely off of lethal, no, he technically could have gotten lethal on board if he had activated the graveyard effect of Silent Boots to search for any of the available Rank-Up-Magic that he could possibly have in his disposal, and go into Dark Requiem XYZ Dragon.
Did he simply not see the line? Well, overseeing something like lethal does usually happen, even to the most competitive duelists, and it certainly doesn't help that he was put under the pressure of an entire stadium full of audience.
But even with his monster destroyed and his Life Points low enough to even lose to a card like Ookazi, Kaito preserved with a burning determination. "I will activate the effect of Cipher Mirror Knight in my hand!"
And revealing the card in his hand, the Cipher duelist started to explain its effects after taking a second to straighten himself. "When a 'Cipher' monster I control is destroyed by battle and sent to my graveyard, I can discard this card, send one card from my hand or field to the graveyard, and if I do, I can special summon that destroyed monster!"
"What?!" Yuto exclaimed with eyes as wide as dinner plates.
"I will discard it, and Cipher Etranger! Return! Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!" And with a raise of his hand, the gigantic galaxy eyed dragon returned back onto the field, roaring as it was revived from the graveyard.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 3000/2500 OV: 0
"Now Cipher Etranger's effect!" Kaito declared as he started a new chain. "If this card is sent to the graveyard, I can add one 'Cipher' spell or trap card from my deck to my hand!" He explained the card's graveyard effect.
Taking a card out of his duel disk, Kaito revealed a card that he would be adding with the second effect of Copher Etranger. "I will add to my hand the Quick-Play Spell, Rank-Up-Magic Cipher Pursuit!"
"A Rank-Up-Magic!" Yuto narrowed his eyes at the card that Kaito had added, and eyed the twin dragons that the blonde duelist had on the field. No doubt that he would use it to summon the evolved version of his Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon.
And as he checked his duel disk's screen, checking the graveyard that Kaito had, he remembered the effect of Cipher Etranger, a graveyard effect that would let it attach itself from the graveyard as an Overlay Material to one Cipher XYZ Monster.
"Which means that next turn he can activate one of his XYZ Monster's effects…" The Phantom Knights duelist muttered aloud as he could see the possible play that Kaito would do with the cards that he currently have.
There was no doubt that in the next turn, Kaito was going to use the effect of Cipher Etranger to attach itself to one of his two Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragons, and that he would be using its effects to steal one of his monsters, most likely his Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon, and he would no doubt be using those high attack monsters to clear his board of defence position monsters.
It was either that, or he would immediately use his Rank-Up-Magic immediately, and use two materials for his Boss Monster's evolved version, Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, and use two materials from it to steal two of his monsters.
So he would need to try and prevent something like that from even happening. "I will activate the effect of The Phantom Knight of Silent Boots in my graveyard!" He declared loudly as he moved on towards his second Main Phase of the turn. "I can banish this card from my graveyard, to add one 'Phantom Knights' spell or trap from my deck to my hand!"
And the black and purple haired duelist then took out a card from his deck. "I will add to my hand the Continuous Trap, The Phantom Knights' Fog Blade!" And using the graveyard effect of Silent Boots, Yuto added the infamous interaction that the Phantom Knights were known for into his hand.
"I will set two cards. And I will end my turn." And Yuto ended his turn, having exhausted most of the resources that he had for what was sadly a failed OTK push, ending with three monsters on the field, the largest being none other than his Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon and two defence position monsters, and two cards in his spell and trap zone, and no cards remaining in his hands.
"In the End Phase, I will activate the effect of Cipher Mirror Knight in my graveyard." Kaito declared once more, activating the other effect of the monster that he had sent to the graveyard to revive his destroyed Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon.
"With Cipher Mirror Knight's effect, I will be adding the Spell, Cipher Diffusion from my deck to my hand!" And thus Kaito added the spell card onto his hand at the end of Yuto's turn, and soon enough the turn player changed.
"Then it is my turn!" The Cipher duelist declared so as he placed his hand over his duel disk, closing his eyes briefly before taking a card from the top of his deck. "I will draw!" And with three cards in his hands, Kaito then started his turn.
"I will activate the effect of Cipher Etranger in my graveyard!" Kaito declared as he started his Main Phase One with the first effect of Cipher Etranger, and Yuto narrowed his eyes as his opponent went just as he had predicted.
"If this card is in my hand or graveyard, I can target one 'Cipher' XYZ Monster that I control, and attach this card to it as an XYZ Material!" And he then extended his right hand towards one of the two Cipher Dragons that he controlled.
"I will target one of my Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, and attach Cipher Etranger from my graveyard to it as an Overlay Unit!" And with the dragon letting out a roar, a ball of golden light shot out from his duel disk, and started to orbit the galaxy eyed dragon.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 3000/2500 OV: 1
"Now I will activate the spell, Galaxy Cyclone!" And he then revealed the unknown card that he had drawn for the turn, that being none other than the backrow removal spell that she had sold him.
"This card allows me to target one set spell or trap on the field, and destroy them!" And once again, Yuto's eyes widened as he heard the explanation of the relatively new inclusion to Kaito's deck, his head snapping towards the two set cards that he had set on the field.
He grew tense, for if Kaito managed to snipe his set Fog Blade, then that means that he has no method of interacting with the effect of Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, or perhaps the Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon that Kaito could summon.
And he eyed one of the two set cards. But if Kaito were to possibly target the other set that he has…
Kaito gauged the reaction that Yuto had as soon as he activated the spell card, and decided upon the target that he would be destroying. "I will be destroying the first card that you set!" He declared as he pointed towards the card that Yuto was eyeing.
And a bluish white galaxy-like hole then appeared beneath the set trap card, with Yuto not even chaining the card in question to get any sort of activation, destroying it and sending it to the graveyard.
Raising up his duel disk's screen, Kaito looked at the card that he had managed to destroy, and giggled softly as he saw what card he had sniped out blindly. "So it seems that I did not manage to hit it then." He said softly before shaking his head and continuing with his turn.
"And once again, I will activate Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon's effect!" Kaito declared once again activating the XYZ Monster's effect. "Once per turn, I can detach one Overlay Material from it, then I can target one face-up monster you control and take control of it until the end of the turn!"
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 3000/2500 OV: 0
And with a loud roar, the dragon expanded its wings to their full size as it absorbed one of the two Overlay units that it has, and rained down light towards the target that Kaito would declare. "I will target Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon! Cipher Projection!"
"Then I will activate the Continuous Trap! The Phantom Knights' Fog Blade!" And Yuto responded with one of his two set card, of course the card that was flipped face-up was none other than the Phantom Knights card that he had searched at his previous turn.
"I can activate this card by targeting one Effect Monster on the field, and negate that monster's effects, then that monster cannot attack, nor can other monsters target that face-up monster for attacks!" The black and purple haired duelist explained the Continuous Trap's effect, before pointing towards the card that he would target.
"I will target your Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!" And pointing towards the copy of the XYZ Monster that was activating its effects, the crowd once more went wild with the back and forth that they saw.
"There! Right there!" Allen shouted as he all but leapt from his seat and pointing towards Kaito. "He could just use that trick that he did against Myu! Where he uses that Quick-Play Rank-Up thingie to uhh… how do you explain it?"
"He could technically use the effects of Cipher Pursuit like he did in the previous game with Cipher Ascension, to dodge the negation, as you said, it is a Quick-Play Spell after all." She answered for the poncho wearing boy, having already searched the card on her Shop and read its effect as soon as Kaito added it to hand, humming as she crossed her arms in thought.
"However, if he sees the play." She started as a small smile adorned her face, her right hand tapping the duel disk in her left hand. "Then he would let it resolve."
And that he does, even with a Quick-Play Rank-Up-Magic in hand that would have allowed him to dodge the negation, Kaito allows for the activation of The Phantom Knights' Fog Blade to resolve and negate the effects of Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon.
Yuto immediately grew wary as he saw Kaito not use the card that he knew he had on hand, eyebrows furrowed as he kept his guard.
And it was only when they had entered an open gamestate after the chain resolved did Kaito activate one of the two known cards that he has on his hand. "And now, I will activate the Quick-Play Spell, Rank-Up-Magic Cipher Pursuit!"
And having activated the card, the holographic image of the Quick-Play Rank-Up-Magic appeared in front of the Cipher duelist, the large card shining as it was activated, and Kaito then started to explain the card's effects.
"If the difference between my Life Points and my opponent's is at least 2000, I can target one 'Cipher' XYZ Monster that I control, and special summon from my Extra Deck a 'Cipher' XYZ Monster that is one Rank higher than that target by using it as the XYZ Material! And imm" He explained.
And then Kaito raised his hand and pointed towards the target, the XYZ Monster whose effect was negated by the effect of The Phantom Knights' Fog Blade. "I will target my Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!"
And just like before, the Extra Deck slot of Kaito's duel disk opened, and Kaito took it out as he started to chant for the summon. "Rank-Up XYZ Change!" He shouted as he raised the card and placed it onto his duel disk's crescent projection..
"O galaxy that shines in the darkness! Spread light that shall never go out! And become a light that will shine the future!" He chanted as his monster started to change as it roared loudly, morphing as it shone, bathed in blinding light. "Descend! Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!"
And he summoned the evolved version of Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, with its larger wings and the signature rainbow cipher-like pattern in its wings shining brighter as the armour that adorned its body became more sleek and added with shining energies, the three headed dragon roared again as it appeared.
Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 9/Effect: 4500/3000 OV: 1
"And now I will activate Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon's effect! Cipher Super Projection!" The blonde Galaxy-Eyes duelist declared as he stretched his hand outwards, and the three headed dragon roared as it unfurled its large wings.
"Once per turn, I can detach up to 3 XYZ Materials from this card, and though monsters that I control can't attack directly for this turn except this card, I can take control of one of your face-up monsters until the End Phase!" He explained the monster's effect and rainbow coloured lights rained down from the monster's wings.
"I will detach one XYZ Material, to take control of your Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon!" And with that, the newly summoned dragon's one and only overlay unit disappeared, and without any card to respond with, Yuto's Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon was taken as it was bathed in rays of light.
Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 9/Effect: 4500/3000 OV: 0
"Dark Rebellion!" Yuto cried out as his Dark Dragon roared out anguish, disappearing into motes of light before it was then resummoned back in Kaito's side of the field.
"And while this effect is applied, the monster that I take control of has their effects negated, their attacks becomes 4500, and their names become 'Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon'!" And with that added bonus, the Dark Dragon was then turned and morphed into a translucent version of the three headed dragon, attack and all.
Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Dark/Dragon/Rank4 4/Effect: 4500/2800 OV: 0
"Now I will activate the Spell, Cipher Diffusion!" And Kaito still continued as he played his last card, the spell that was added by the graveyard effect of Cipher Mirror Knight at the end of Yuto's turn previously.
The image of the Spell card appeared in front of the blonde, and the card shone. "This card allows me to change the attack of one 'Cipher' monster with 3000 or more attack that I control to 0, then I can target one other 'Cipher' monster that I control, this turn, monsters other that the target cannot attack, and that target can then make up to three attacks during this Battle Phase!"
Done with explaining the effect of the spell card, Kaito then declared the two targets that he would target with the spell. "I will target the Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon turned Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, and my own Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!"
Both of the Cipher Dragons let out their respective roars, the second stolen Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon glowing with a weak purple aura around its body, and the original copy of the monster roared with even more power as the golden aura around its body seemed to overflow.
Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Dark/Dragon/Rank 4/Effect: 0/2800 OV: 0
"Now! Battle!" The blonde duelist declared aloud, moving straight towards the Battle Phase as he then waved his right arm forward to point towards his first target. "I will attack The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak with Neo-Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon! Destruction Cipher Stream!"
And with another loud roar, the three headed dragon reared its head backwards before then shooting a strong burst of destruction towards the defence position monster, instantly annihilating it with the attack.
Though he received no damage from the attack, Yuto was still almost blown off from the sheer shockwave that the attack gave, having had to raise both of his hands to protect from the harsh winds.
"Once more! I will attack The Phantom Knights of Lost Vambrace! Destruction Cipher Stream!" And using its second attack, Kaito ordered Neo-Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon to attack once more, and unsurprisingly the three headed XYZ Dragon's attack incinerated the Trap Monster.
And with that attack, Yuto's entire field was now bare and empty, allowing Kaito for a direct attack. "And now, I will attack you directly! Go! Neo-Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon!" The blonde duelist shouted.
"Destruction Cipher Stream!" And with that last shout, the three headed dragon attacked directly, shooting the devastating beam right towards Yuto, and the direct attack hits.
"GUAAAH!" And Yuto screamed as he was hit by the attack, staggering and falling backwards thanks to the shockwave that the enormous attack gave, instantly reducing the black and purple haired boy's pristine Life Points to zero with that single attack.
Yuto: 0LP
"AND WE HAVE A WINNER!" With the declaration of the commentator that she had all but tuned out throughout the whole match, the crowd went wild, and the stadium all but shake at the intensity of their cheers.
"YEAH! Good job Kaito!" Anna cheered for the winner, grinning maniacally all the while as she repeatedly punched the air in apparent happiness. "Hehe, now that I've seen him actually get defeated I feel relieved! Now I can definitely beat him if we duel again!"
"Agh! He was soo close too!" And in direct contrast to his sister that was happily humming, Allen held his head with both of his hands in frustration. He let out a long sigh as he rested his head on his fist. "Jeez, and I really thought that Yuto was going to win too. I should have expected Kaito to have won huh."
"But it was such a close match! Both of them did very well!" Sayaka praised the both of them with a large smile on her face. But that face then turned to a slightly confused face as the glasses wearing girl titled her head.
"But I wonder, if I wasn't mistaken, don't Yuto-san's trap cards have effects that activate when they are in the graveyard?" The lilac haired girl questioned.
"That indeed they do." She answered the lilac haired girl. "Most of the usable Phantom Knights trap cards has the ability to banish themselves to special summon a The Phantom Knights monster from the graveyard." She started the explanation.
"And since it is a Trap Card, the effect would be a Spell Speed-ah sorry, it's something that can immediately be activated in the graveyard even during the opponent's turn." She continued, cutting the part where she had almost mixed in her brand of unusual dueling lingo.
"Ah! If he could have summoned a monster during the opponent's turn, then he could've blocked one of Kaito's three attacks!" Allen summarized as he snapped his head towards her.
"'Could have' being the keyword on the situation." She said to him as they all started to stand, along with the audience, they slowly milled out of the stadium. "Though sad to say, the set card that Kaito had destroyed with his Galaxy Cyclone was The Phantom Knights of Wrong Magneteering, which is only activatable when an opponent's monster declares an attack to special itself as an effect monster, which means that it couldn't have summoned itself in a chain to dodge the Galaxy Cyclone." She answered his question.
"It's one of The Phantom Knights trap cards that doesn't have a graveyard effect to summon a monster. Unlike The Phantom Knights' Fog Blade that he used." She further elaborated.
"Huh? How'd you know what his set card was?" Allen asked as he looked at her with furrowed eyebrows and everyone turned to look at him. She gave him a deadpanned look as she lifted her duel disk.
Seeing the boy going more confused as she raised the item, she groaned as she placed her head in her hand. "Allen… did you forget that anyone could just access to the Dueling Network and check the ongoing of the duel?" Sayaka said to him in a low tone as she did the same as her all while shaking her head.
Myu gave him a deadpanned stare, and Anna burst out laughing as her brother's face went as red as a tomato at forgetting one of the basic functions of the duel disk
"S-shut up! I kust forgot okay!" And Anna only laughed louder at his outburst, the poncho wearing boy loudly coughed in his hands as he tried to steer the subject back.
"A-anyway! So that trap that Yuto used on Kaito's Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon could have summoned another monster?! Then why didn't he just do that?!" Another cry came from Allen.
"That's not how Continuous Trap works idiot!" Anna snapped as she slapped the back of his head, having stopped laughing from the previous antics of her little brother.
"Anna-san's right Allen. Continuous Traps don't work like that." Sayaka chided him, and Myu nodded in support while the brown haired boy caressed the back of his head to ease the pain all the while he glared at his elder sister.
"Continuous Traps would stay on the field unless stated otherwise, or until they are destroyed." She started an explanation as she saw the poncho wearing boy with a wry smile. "In the case of The Phantom Knights' Fog Blade, it would be sent to the graveyard when the monster that it was equipped with leaves the field."
"But didn't Kaito's Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon went, you know, changed into Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon?" Allen asked aloud, to which she shook her head.
"In the case of an XYZ Summon, or a Rank-Up in this case, the monster does not leave the field." She informed him. "And since Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon did not leave the field, The Phantom Knights' Fog Blade stays on the field."
"Seriously?" Allen groaned before he placed both of his hands behind his head and lets out a sigh. "Man that sucks. Wonder what would have happened if Kaito didn't hit that one set card instead."
"Well, The Phantom Knights of Wrong Magneteering can only be summoned as a Trap Monster on attack position, but the monster doesn't really have any attack points, well, it's nonexistent really, but it would then negate the attack." It would summon a monster with both zero attack and defence during an attack, and negating an attack would possibly mean that he could have survived this turn.
"And it would have changed the outcome to an extent." She informed them all. "If Kaito had destroyed The Phantom Knights' Fog Blade instead, the possibility of Yuto managing to survive would rise of course."
There would be two ways for Yuto to stall for the turn, especially with three monsters on the field. If he had sniped the Fog Blade, Kaito could start by ranking up instantly to Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, using the Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon whom he had attached Cipher Etranger, giving the monster two overlay material.
He could then essentially steal two monsters from Yuto, one of which would of course be Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon, the other being The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak. There's an argument to steal The Phantom Knights of Lost Vambrace, what with not wanting to leave Yuto with a Level 3 monster on the crackback, but letting him get a search if he were to destroy Ancient Cloak.
He would essentially do the same play, use Cipher Diffusion on the Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon turned Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon to give the original copy three attacks, and take a crack at the board.
The first attack would hit The Phantom Knights of Lost Vambrace, the second would trigger the graveyard effect of The Phantom Knights' Fog Blade to summon back The Phantom Knights of Break Sword, preferably in defence position to take another attack, and the third and last attack would be negated with The Phantom Knights of Wrong Magneteering,
And on the End Phase, the monsters would return to what they were before, Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon and The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak returning to the control of Yuto. there was a note that the attack of Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon would still remain 0 thanks to the effect of Cipher Diffusion, but it wouldn't matter that much.
Then in the end, it would depend on Yuto's top deck. If he drew any of his Level 3 monsters, he could go into another Break Sword, if he ran more than one copy, which he most certainly should, and destroy a monster, be it Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon or Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon.
He could of course, summon back the two Level 3 The Phantom Knights monsters back as Level 4s with the graveyard effect of The Phantom Knights of Break Sword, and possibly go into another Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon for another push like his last turn, or he could just use the graveyard effect of Ancient Cloak or whatever Phantom Knights monster he top decked to get one of the deck's many Rank-Up cards.
And that was the possible scenario that she presented to the group, and it garnered quite the reaction from everyone.
"What?! You're saying that that guy still has another XYZ Monster?!" Anna shouted, or rather screeched out with how loud she was going at it, making several heads turn towards them, but the cherry haired girl continued on anyway.
"Why I oughta-I'll make sure that I'll make him summon that darn dragon the next time I duel him!" Anna declared loudly with a growl as she cracked her first. "You know what? I'll do it right now! I'm going to go and challenge him for a match here and now!" And disregarding the fact that they were exiting a stadium and were inside a sea of humans, the girl moved to jump of the stadium's railings to straight up jump into the center where both Yuto and Kaito were.
And they all rushed to hold her down.
"Aah! Nee-san don't!"
"Don't do it Anna-san!"
"Anna-san! Don't!"
"Anna Kozuki, you will stop right now!"
"Shut up!" And the cherry haired girl shouted back at them, struggling to get herself out from the grip from all four of them who tried to stopher from doing something that was undoubtedly stupid.
"How can I just stay here with what you just said! I'm gonna have to duel him seriously right here and now!" The girl shouted as she continued to trash around to loosen all their grips.
"There's a time and place to challenge someone to a duel! Think about it for a second!" She tried to reason with the hardheaded train girl. "If you duel him right now after a full day of a tournament filled with dueling and right after he lost and all, he won't be giving his all!"
"T-that's right nee-san! There's no way that someone can still duel at their best after a whole full day of dueling!" Allen said to support her reasoning, and she flinched slightly at his claim, having done something like that herself.
Though she did assume that there was some form of spirit shenanigans in play, the fact that she didn't feel any form of tiredness and managed to keep her mind in tip top shape was very suspicious after all.
"A-anyway! You can't just go and barge into the center of the stadium! Not to mention that there's still the awarding ceremony right after this!" She reasoned once more, before an idea came and popped into her head.
"Fine! If you want to duel so much then you can duel me instead!" She shouted aloud as she kept pulling the girl to stop her from jumping off of the railing. And surprisingly, it works, Anna seemed to freeze and stop at her offer, and the four of them managed to pull the wild girl down, though it made them all fall onto the ground with a loud thump.
Everyone, barring the girl that had made the whole problem in the first place, seemed to let out a sigh that they had been holding. She groaned as she tried to pull herself up, only to jump in fright and yelped as she saw Anna's face right in front of her's.
"You really mean that." The girl said with an unusually calm look on her face, and she gulped and nodded her head. And as if a switch was flipped, the cool headed look that was on Anna's face morphed back into an impish grin. "Well Why didn't you say that in the first place!" She said as she grabbed her hand and pulled her up, eliciting another yelp out of her.
"Lets ditch this ceremony and go duel already!"
-
"Nee-san! You're going too fast!" He cried out as he caught up to his older sister who had all but ran and dragged Yuuna along with her into one of the empty parks in Heartland City, forgoing the many free to use dueling spaces in the school because, and he quite, 'the place is too stuffy'.
Even he isn't immune to his own sister's wild and random antics, and he lives under the same roof as her for goodness sake.
Instead of receiving an apology or the sort, his sister huffed and crossed her arms below her chest. "Took you three long enough." She said as she eyed him and Sayaka and Myu who slowly came up behind him, huffing to catch her breath after the short run that she had to make to catch up with them.
He eyed their red hat wearing companion, and saw that she, like his sister, wasn't even winded after they had sprinted out of the school. Though from the way that her eyes kept darting back and forth, she probably hadn't realized that they had even exited the school already.
"Jeez, why're you so eager to duel her anyway?" He grumbled as he crossed his hands behind his head and turned back to look at her. "Weren't you going to plan and train to beat Yuto or something? What's with the sudden change of plans?"
The red haired girl snorted at his question as she gave him a look. "Oh I'm still definitely going to beat him, that's for sure." She started before turning and looking at Yuuna, who pulled out a deck out from her jacket and froze.
He watched from the corner of his eyes as the red haired girl seemed to think for a good few moments, before placing the deck back into her jacket's inner pockets, and seemed to pull out a whole different deck, and checked the cards.
"That girl's strong. Probably stronger than Yuto, heck, maybe even Kaito." His sister said, once more in that unnaturally calm look on her face that she only used for incredibly serious situations. It was a look that he saw on her face when she learned that Sayaka was sometimes bullied for being too meek, a time where he still wasn't strong enough to ward off the bullies himself, and when she came back tomorrow, all of the so called bullies avoided the glasses wearing girl like the plague.
It was also a look that he knew she would adopt when faced against strong duelists, a look that he also saw in the short instance that he saw her duel against Yuto, the duelist that managed to stop her in her tracks.
The corner of her mouth twitched to briefly show a wild grin that he was more familiar with. "She's got the smarts. Heck, I bet that she's even smarter than Sayaka. You said it herself. The girl probably knows a library worth of cards in that head of her's, and given the fact that she's a card seller that already helps us basically build our decks-"
"There's no doubt that she already thought of ways to beat our decks." Allen summarized, knowing where his sister's thoughts would wander with the long winded explanation that she was giving.
And his reward was her regular impish grin, and she then made a mess of his hair much to his chagrin. "Nee-san!" He cried out as he pushed her hand away as she cackled in delight at his reaction.
"But yeah, that's basically it." She hummed as she pulled her hand away, looking distantly to where the red hat wearing teen was fiddling with the deck of cards in her hand before slotting it into her duel disk, and the machine then immediately shuffled the deck.
"You're probably not far off when you said that she's basically a retired pro." He heard her say, and he turned to look at her again, her right hand twitching as she placed it on her own duel disk. "No, maybe she's even something else from that. The way that she can just hear a name of a card or a deck and just lists cards that they're good with, their strengths and weaknesses, I don't think I've even seen pros do something like that." He listened closely to every word that she said.
"And the fact that no one's even ever heard off her before she popped out of nowhere just made her even more mysterious."
He gulped as he then slowly glanced at the red haired girl. He can't really argue back with his older sister's words, because every single one of them were true.
At first the reason why he called Yuuna a retired pro duelist was of course, since she thought that she was older since she was taller than even Kaito, and because she was smarter than any duelists that he's ever known, so what else could she be?
Then she basically dropped the bombshell that she was just as old as Kaito, only a few years older than them at that, and that made her even more mysterious like his older sister had just said.
The hat wearing girl was basically a genius that popped out of nowhere, she gave away rare cards like she gave away candy to children, and apparently has multiple decks that she could probably use to their full potential if she could back up her game knowledge with skills.
Which, he doesn't doubt she had considering that they were being taught by her. Even his sister takes the pointers that the red haired girl gave out, and she was basically the best in the Diamond Branch, though that title was still up to debate between her and Shark who decided to opt out of the exhibition tournament.
The wild grin on his older sister's face then turned into a full blown maniacal smile. "While beating her doesn't count as beating Yuto, I'll take what I can get. I'm fired up, and there's no stopping me!"
She then walked ahead towards Yuuna who had finished preparing herself, and the two red haired girls faced one another.
"I won't be holding anything back. So give me your best." She said coolly, activating her duel disk, acting completely different to what he had known her over the past week.
"That's exactly what I want!" His sister roared back, that manic grin still on her face as she activated her own duel disk, posing it right in front of her as she took on the challenge. "Try and stop my Runaway Deck if you can!"
""DUEL!!""