“I Normal Summon Assault Wyvern!” The dragon swept onto the field on broad wings, the bladed structure around its neck resembling a giant pair of shears.
It was one of the cards Yusuke had picked up from the cultists beneath the ritual cavern.
[Assault Wyvern — ATK: 1800] “A Level 4 monster with 1800 ATK?” Itagaki’s expression changed slightly.
“You actually have a card like that?” A Level 4 monster with 1800 ATK was already a respectable attacker even by the standards of early competitive Yu-Gi-Oh!.
In a place like Satellite, a card of that quality was naturally even harder to come by.
Yukine was just as surprised.
As far as she knew, her brother’s Deck hadn’t contained a single Effect Monster before.
When had he managed to get his hands on something this good?
“Next, I activate the Equip Spell Axe of Fools and equip it to Assault Wyvern.
The equipped monster gains 1000 ATK.” [Assault Wyvern — ATK: 1800 → 2800] Itagaki’s eyes widened further.
“An Equip Spell that boosts ATK by a thousand?!” Assault Wyvern had jumped from 1800 to 2800 ATK in one move, taking an ordinary low-Level monster and pushing it into a range that was impressive even among Level 7 and 8 monsters.
Not even the Fang Gang had many Equip Spells capable of providing such a massive increase.
Of course, Fujishiro Sakuma had never owned a card that valuable either.
Axe of Fools was another piece of loot Yusuke had taken from the ritual site.
“Of course, Axe of Fools doesn’t give that much power for free,” Yusuke continued.
“The equipped monster’s effects are negated, and during the Standby Phase of the equipped monster’s controller, that player takes 500 damage.” Losing the monster’s effects while also inflicting damage on its controller made Axe of Fools substantially worse than a similar Equip Spell such as Axe of Despair, so naturally its market value was much lower.
Even so, in Satellite it was still a highly desirable card.
“Assault Wyvern, attack Luna the Dark Spirit!” Empowered by the Equip Spell, Assault Wyvern had instantly become the strongest monster on the field.
It lunged forward and tore through the slender, long-legged dark spirit in a single pass, blasting her image apart.
Itagaki grunted and crossed both arms in front of himself to brace against the Solid Vision impact.
[Itagaki — LP: 1900 → 700] His lackeys immediately shouted in alarm.
“Boss!” Itagaki steadied himself and waved them off.
Then he looked up at the heavily strengthened Assault Wyvern and quietly sneered to himself.
He had no idea where this kid had gotten such powerful cards, but a rookie was still a rookie.
Yusuke had clearly chosen to attack Luna first because her lower ATK would let him deal more damage.
In his greed to squeeze out those extra Life Points, however, he had unknowingly thrown away his best chance to win.
Itagaki glanced at the final card remaining in his hand.
The Spell Card De-Spell.
It could destroy a face-up Spell Card on the field.
Naturally, since De-Spell was a Normal Spell, he couldn’t activate it during Yusuke’s turn.
But once his own turn began, all he had to do was destroy Axe of Fools!
Then his Copycat, still sitting at 2500 ATK, could simply crush Assault Wyvern once its ATK returned to 1800.
If Yusuke had attacked and destroyed Copycat first, things would have been different.
Even if Itagaki removed Axe of Fools next turn, Assault Wyvern’s original 1800 ATK would still be higher than Luna’s 1600, leaving Yusuke with the stronger monster.
As far as Itagaki was concerned, Yusuke had only seen one move ahead, while he had already seen two.
A smug sense of satisfaction began to spread through him as he watched his opponent miss the winning line.
One second later, Yusuke’s next card smashed that satisfaction to pieces.
“I activate my Set card.” Yusuke pointed toward his back row.
“Trap Card—Equip Shot.
It lets me transfer an Equip Card from one of my monsters to one of yours.” Itagaki froze.
What kind of ridiculous Trap was that?
Why would anyone give their own Equip Card to the opponent?
Wasn’t that basically handing them your own buff and helping them— Wait.
Itagaki’s eyelid twitched.
A horrible realization struck him.
Axe of Fools certainly granted a powerful 1000-point ATK increase, but that power came with the drawback of negating the equipped monster’s effects.
And every last point of ATK his ace Copycat currently possessed came from its own effect.
Its actual printed ATK was zero.
Which meant that if Axe of Fools were transferred to Copycat…
Yusuke gestured toward the Equip Spell again, wearing a bright smile.
“Here.
I’ll give you a powerful Equip Spell.
No need to be shy.” “It gives you a whole thousand ATK, you know.” Itagaki stared at him.
“…” No.
He didn’t want it.
Take it away!
Don’t bring that thing anywhere near him!
Unfortunately, card effects had no interest in his opinion.
Itagaki could only watch helplessly as the “powerful Equip Spell” left Assault Wyvern and attached itself to Copycat, generously granting his ace another thousand ATK…
after first erasing every point of ATK it already had!
[Copycat — ATK: 2500 → 0 → 1000] And as if that weren’t bad enough, the damned Axe of Fools would also burn its controller for 500 damage during the appropriate Standby Phase.
Itagaki only had 700 Life Points left.
If this somehow dragged on long enough, the stupid axe could practically kill him by itself.
‘So you get the ATK boost, and I get stuck with all the drawbacks?!’ Itagaki clenched his teeth.
Clever little bastard.
Still, it wasn’t over.
On his next turn, he could simply use De-Spell to destroy that cursed Equip Card— “And Equip Shot has another effect,” Yusuke continued.
“After the Equip Card is transferred, the two selected monsters immediately battle.” Itagaki’s expression went blank.
“…What?” It did what?
There was another battle?!
His eyes widened as though the rules of the universe had personally betrayed him.
“Second attack,” Yusuke said.
“Assault Wyvern, attack Copycat!” Assault Wyvern launched itself forward again.
Copycat had previously taken the form of Summoned Skull, but with Axe of Fools negating its effect, it had reverted to its original appearance.
All it could do now was awkwardly raise the enormous axe and its mirror in a desperate attempt to defend itself.
It never stood a chance.
Assault Wyvern flashed past.
Both the axe and Copycat’s mirror exploded into fragments.
[Itagaki — LP: 700 → 0] Itagaki staggered backward.
He looked down at the zero displayed on his Duel Disk, then at the fading Solid Vision projections in front of him.
For a moment, everything felt unreal.
Like a dream.
Yes…
This had to be a dream!
An incredibly stupid one.
He was one of the Fang Gang’s strongest duelists, second only to the boss himself.
And he had just lost to one of the most insignificant nobodies living in their territory?
‘How could I possibly have a dream this ridiculous?’ Still dazed, Itagaki slowly raised his head.
The instant he looked at the young man across from him, his entire body went rigid.
He even forgot to breathe.
At the moment of his defeat, something about the utterly ordinary young man before him seemed to change.
An impossibly dense darkness appeared to churn around Yusuke, stretching his silhouette until, in Itagaki’s eyes, it seemed to tower over everything around them like a vast shadow reaching into the sky.
The instant Itagaki met his gaze, an overwhelming terror seized him from somewhere deep within his soul.
He could barely breathe.