“And here I wondered who it was.
Turns out it’s you.
What, you beat one of our class’s bottom-ranked nobodies on a lucky break and now you really think you’re invincible under heaven?” A savage grin tugged at the corner of the boy’s mouth.
“The name’s Tendo, ranked 12th in Class 5’s combat standings.
Want this card back?
Fine.
But I’ve got a rule: if you want to take something from my hands, you take it on skill.” He swung his arm out, leveling the Duel Disk before him, his eyes turning especially sinister.
“Duel me.
You win, take the card.
You lose, and not only do I tear this card up, the most precious ace in your Deck becomes mine too!” Nate said nothing, simply walked coldly over to Kai, and helped the still-shaken fellow to the base of a stone pillar.
“Brother Nate…
be careful.
When he dueled me just now he wasn’t even using his full strength.
His Deck’s burst power is terrifying…” Kai warned, still rattled.
“It’s fine.
Leave it to me.” Nate gave him a reassuring look.
With that, he planted himself again, the Duel Disk on his left hand giving off a resonant hum, the sapphire light-blade tracing a cold arc through the air.
“Duel!” the two of them barked in unison.
The Duel Disks instantly hummed open into pale-blue light screens, data streams flowing swiftly across the surfaces, clearly displaying the two players’ starting Life Points.
[Nate, LP 8000] [Tendo, LP 8000] The first-turn order was revealed at once: [First turn: Tendo].
“My turn first!” Tendo barked.
He glanced over his hand, a wild, arrogant smile crossing his face.
“Let me show you the strength of a Red-Eyes Deck!
I activate the Spell, [Cards of the Red Stone]!” “This card’s effect: I send one Level 7 ‘Red-Eyes’ monster from my hand to the Graveyard, then draw 2 cards from my Deck.
After that, I can send one ‘Red-Eyes’ monster from my Deck to the Graveyard.” “I send the Level 7 [Red-Eyes Black Dragon] from my hand to the Graveyard, draw two cards from my Deck, and then send another Red-Eyes monster from my Deck to the Graveyard too!” Having swiftly cycled cards and stacked his Graveyard, Tendo slammed a monster card onto the Duel Disk.
“Next, I Normal Summon [The Black Stone of Legend]!
I activate its effect, releasing this monster to Special Summon a Level 7 or lower Red-Eyes monster from my Deck.
Come forth, [Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon]!” Pitch-black flames surged within the underground palace, and a black dragon with blood-red eyes descended onto the field with a roar.
[Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon] [Level 7 / Dragon / Effect] [ATK: 2400] “And that’s not all!
Next I Summon a monster, one that can be Special Summoned from my hand by banishing a face-up Dragon-type monster!” “Behold the strength of the Red-Eyes!
I banish the [Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon] on my field from the game!” Tendo abruptly raised a card from his hand and laughed wildly.
“Descend!
Dark emperor who rules over all dragonkind, Special Summon, [Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon]!” As the Flare Dragon’s afterimage scattered, even more violent dark-red lightning tore through the air of the underground palace.
A massive dragon, clad head to toe in pitch-black alloy armor, radiating a terrifying pressure, crashed down with a roar, shaking the surrounding stone pillars into a faint tremble.
[Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon] [Level 10 / Dragon / Effect] [ATK: 2800] As the duel went on, more and more people poured into the Ruins.
The students from the lower-ranked classes, seeing the monsters that had appeared on the field, all went wide-eyed.
In just one turn, without even getting a chance to engage, he’d called out a top-tier monster with 2,800 attack?
So this was the strength of a Class 5 elite?!
“Scared yet?
But this is only the beginning!” Tendo swept his hand wide.
“I activate [Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon]’s effect!
Once per turn, I Special Summon a Dragon-type monster from my hand or Graveyard.
Revive, the [Red-Eyes Black Dragon] I sent to the Graveyard at the start!” The Darkness Metal Dragon roared to the heavens, a pitch-black magic circle lighting up before it, and the classic Red-Eyes Black Dragon beat its wings and returned to the battlefield from the Graveyard.
[Red-Eyes Black Dragon] [Level 7 / Dragon / Normal] [ATK: 2400] Not far off, Rio Kastle watched this scene, her ice-blue eyes flickering faintly as she murmured to herself.
“Using draw-filtering to stack the Graveyard, then using the Black Stone’s Special Summon as a stepping stone to meet the Darkness Metal Dragon’s Summon condition, and finally using the Darkness Metal Dragon to pull the Black Dragon up from the Graveyard…
an exceptionally fluent resource flow.
He’s a high-ranked student, no doubt about it.” “Now, let me show you absolute power!” A flicker of fervor flashed in Tendo’s eyes as he slotted a card into the Duel Disk.
“I activate the Spell, [Polymerization]!
I fuse the [Red-Eyes Black Dragon] on my field with the [Summoned Skull] in my hand!” The air above the underground palace seemed to ignite, a pitch-black vortex opening up over Tendo’s head.
“Roar of the black dragon and thunder of the demon, intertwine and become the ultimate nightmare that burns all to ash!
Fusion Summon, descend, [Archfiend Black Skull Dragon]!” “Roar!!!” Along with a deafening rumble, a terrifying massive dragon, its whole body covered in exoskeleton-like pitch-black armor, dark-red sparks blazing along its wings, burst forth from the firelight.
That violent aura was even more terrifying than the Darkness Dragon that had just defeated Kai!
[Archfiend Black Skull Dragon] [Level 9 / Dragon / Fusion / Effect] [ATK: 3200] “Finally, I Set one card and end my turn.” Tendo crossed his arms arrogantly and sneered.
“And a word of warning: while [Archfiend Black Skull Dragon] is attacking, you can’t activate any card effects until the end of the Damage Step.” “Which means, whatever last words those small-fry monsters of yours have, or whatever laughable offensive or defensive Traps you’ve got in the backrow, in front of it they’re nothing but scrap paper!
And 8,000 Life Points, to me, is as fragile as a candle guttering in the wind!” Facing this terrifying scene with a combined attack as high as 6,000, plus the powerful suppression that could lock down effects, Nate’s expression remained like an iceberg, not even blinking an extra time.
“3,200 attack, plus a 2,800 hunk of scrap iron…
is this the full extent of your confidence?” “What did you say?!” Tendo started.
“This Deck in your hands is an outright disgrace to the name of the ‘Red-Eyes’.” Nate slowly raised his head, what looked like pitch-black dark flames dancing in his deep eyes.
“Open your eyes wide and watch closely.
I’ll show you right now…
what the true pinnacle of a Red-Eyes Deck looks like!”