Chapter 72. Back-and-Forth Frenzied Fusions Stealing Monsters! The Minotaur Is About to Be Wiped Out!
Duel turn countdown.
Staring at the ticking timer.
At this moment.
"Abyss-God Branded Startup" finally snapped back to his senses.
He was still in a Duel.
And the board he had painstakingly set up—the resource-intensive "Branded Blue-Eyes" field—
Had become nothing more than the plaything of the opponent "So OP It's a Win," who was bull-charging to the extreme to win.
Pure-love war god!
How could he possibly give up now!
Isn't it just four Tokens plus Hippo?
Just do it!!!
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "You— I— I seriously give up!"
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "Activate the effect of The White Stone of Ancients."
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "Banish The White Stone of Ancients to add Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon from the Graveyard."
"At the same time, the Continuous Spell Branded Regained returns the White Stone, then I draw 1 card."
"Then I Set 1 card!"
"My turn—ends."
"With an extra card in hand, I discard Fallen of Albaz."
"Your move."
"...."
Gnashing his teeth, Abyss-God Branded Startup ended the turn.
Damn it!
If he could, he'd love to crawl through the internet cable and teach that guy a lesson!
Turn passes to "So OP It's a Win."
So OP It's a Win: "It's my turn!"
So OP It's a Win: "As expected, your monsters are both stylish and useful."
"Then I'll switch all five of these monsters to Attack Position."
"I use my Dictator of D. to attack your Performapal Hip Hippo!"
Yours?
Since when did it become yours?
Abyss-God Branded Startup's face was turning green with rage!
But anger aside, the Duel had to go on!
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "Flip my Set Quick-Play Spell!"
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "Branded in Red!"
"Effect activates—I add Fallen of Albaz back to hand and conduct a Fusion Summon!"
"I fuse a Hippo Token, Hip Hippo, and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon in my hand!"
"Guardian Chimera—Fusion Summon!"
"Chimera's effect—destroy 2, draw 1!"
"I'll destroy your— ahem— I'll destroy what was originally mine: Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon and Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon!"
With the effect resolving successfully—
Jet Dragon returned to Abyss-God Branded Startup's Graveyard.
But Mirrorjade wasn't destroyed.
So OP It's a Win: "Ha ha ha! That won't work."
So OP It's a Win: "With Jet Dragon on the field granting protection from other card effects that destroy, if you choose multiple, you can only blow up Jet Dragon—you can't blow up Mirrorjade. Heh-heh-heh."
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "No problem, no problem—heh-heh! Just you wait."
So OP It's a Win: "Then I'll have Dictator of D. battle and destroy your Hippo Token."
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "When a card on the field is destroyed, my Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon in the Graveyard Special Summons itself!"
So OP It's a Win: "With my remaining two monsters, I'll battle and destroy your last two Tokens."
So OP It's a Win: "I'll move to Main Phase 2."
So OP It's a Win: "I activate the Spell—Mind Control!"
"This lets me take control of a monster until the end of the turn!"
"Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon is mine again!"
Still his bull-monster???
What the—!
I can't take this!
Seeing that card, Abyss-God Branded Startup couldn't hold back his emotions anymore!
And this—
Was only the beginning!
So OP It's a Win: "Then I'll use Jet Dragon and Dictator of D. to Link Summon Verte Anaconda."
So OP It's a Win: "Activate Verte Anaconda's effect and pay 2000 Life Points!"
"I send the Quick-Play Spell Super Polymerization from my Deck to the Graveyard!"
"I fuse Verte Anaconda with your Guardian Chimera!"
"Come forth—Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!"
"My turn ends!"
Super Polymerization?
Copy Super Polymerization with Verte and fuse using his monsters?
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "Fine—fine—fine! Now I'm actually mad!"
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "Before your End Phase ends, I activate the effect of Bystial Magnamhut in my hand!"
"I banish 1 LIGHT monster from your Graveyard to Special Summon it!"
"Now it's my turn—draw!"
"Normal Summon Fallen of Albaz!"
"Activate Albaz's effect!"
"I discard The White Stone of Ancients!"
"You like fusing with my monsters?"
"Then I'll fuse Fallen of Albaz with your Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!"
"Fusion Summon again—Lubellion the Searing Dragon!"
"Lubellion's effect—discard my second Fallen of Albaz!"
"Shuffle back Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Albion the Branded Dragon from the Graveyard as Fusion Materials!"
"Come on—see the power of the Blue-Eyes line! Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon—Fusion Summon!"
"Don't rush—The White Stone of Ancients' banish effect adds back Blue-Eyes White Dragon from the Graveyard!"
"Branded Regained—return the White Stone, then I draw 1."
"I activate the effect of Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon in my hand!"
"Reveal Blue-Eyes White Dragon to Special Summon!"
"Alternative's effect—destroy your Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon!"
"Jet Dragon's effect—jumps right back to my field!"
"..."
As ace after ace hit the field via Fusion—
Duelists across the six Duel Worlds could all tell!
The duelist "Abyss-God Branded Startup" before their eyes was truly enraged!
And this anger wasn't just talk!
It seemed—
He had reached the absolute limit!
Ready to explode at any second!
Because—
Abyss-God Branded Startup was still building his board! He looked like he wanted to dump every last resource onto the field!
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "I activate Chaos Form!"
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "Tribute Jet Dragon to Ritual Summon Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon."
"I Special Summon Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous!"
"Cartesia's effect—use itself and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon in my hand to Fusion Summon!"
"Granguignol the Dusk Dragon!"
"I'll open the previously Set Ultimate Fusion!"
"Alternative White Dragon on the field! Two Blue-Eyes White Dragon in the Graveyard!"
"Fusion Summon—Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate Dragon!"
"Ultimate Fusion's effect—destroy your Deep-Eyes White Dragon!"
"..."
Right now—
The Abyss-God Branded Startup duelist had assembled an absolutely terrifying, maximum board on his field!
After his first board got bull-stolen away—
With relentless effort, he pulled the advantage back again!
On Abyss-God Branded Startup's field stood:
Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate Dragon, 4500/3800!
Granguignol the Dusk Dragon, 2500/2500!
Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon, 4000/0!
Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon, 3400/2900, in a Link arrow!
Lubellion the Searing Dragon, 2500/3000!
Bystial Magnamhut, 2500/2000!
This lineup—
Was several times more absurd than the opening board!
Meanwhile, the opponent "So OP It's a Win"—
Had only the earlier bull-napped Bystial Lubellion left on the field!
All the other monsters had been cleared in the process!
Because of Branded's storytelling and the plays Blue-Eyes White Dragon had just laid out—
All six Duel Worlds were boiling over!
Almost every duelist was rooting for Branded!
Duel Monsters world!
"Nice! Beautifully done! That Branded guy!"
"You finally know how to use Blue-Eyes White Dragon, huh!"
"Just flatten him like that!"
Seto Kaiba could not be more delighted at this sight!
Especially at the moment when he had assembled the various Ritual and Fusion Blue-Eyes ace monsters all at once!
For a second, Kaiba nearly felt like that guy was the real Kaiba—
And he himself was the fake!
This is the power of Blue-Eyes White Dragon Fusions!
This one's in the bag!
At least, in the Duel Monsters world—
Whether it was Seto Kaiba, Yugi Muto, Joey Wheeler, or the others—
They were almost all thinking the same thing!
With six monsters on the field—can this still be turned around?
They really didn't believe it!
5D's world.
Yusei Fudo and Jack Atlas took a deep breath after watching this round of mutual minotaur-style stealing!
And what amazed them wasn't just the back-and-forth bull-stealing between these two duelists!
More importantly, on the brink of tilt—
This duelist "Abyss-God Branded Startup" could still keep calculating a guaranteed-win combo in his head,
Then execute that combo in an extremely short time!
That was wildly outrageous!
If it were them—
They wouldn't know how to rebuild the field at all!
How to reverse the wind and expand the advantage to the max!
"Strong! Not bad! This Abyss-God Branded Startup guy's got the stuff!"
"Now he's gotta win, right?"
"That so-called Minotaur guy has no back row, and only one monster on the field!"
"Surviving this turn is basically impossible!"
Crow Hogan, with his signature poisonous commentary, jinxed it again.
Just when everyone thought Abyss-God Branded Startup had a sure win—
The result flipped.
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "Tyrant Dragon! Destroy your last monster—Bystial Lubellion!"
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "Take 900 LP damage!"
So OP It's a Win's LP dropped to 5100.
No monsters left on his field!
As if the match had been decided.
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon! Direct attack! You're finished!"
So OP It's a Win: "Oh? Solelavo docana?"
So OP It's a Win: "At this instant—Battle Fader in my hand activates!"
"When your opponent's monster declares a direct attack: I can Special Summon this card from my hand."
"Then end the Battle Phase. If this card leaves the field after it was Summoned by this effect, banish it."
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "Nani???"
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "You actually packed that card? I f— you bought a—"
Abyss-God Branded Startup really wanted to swear!
Who plays such a degenerate Minotaur deck like this?
A single Battle Fader!
Shut down the attacks of all his monsters!
Utterly ridiculous!
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "Granguignol the Dusk Dragon—activate effect."
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "You activated a monster effect and Special Summoned a monster!"
"Then I can only choose to banish itself to conduct a Fusion Summon!"
"Fusion Summon—Despian Proskenion!"
"In the Graveyard, Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous returns to hand at the End Phase!"
"My turn… ends."
Reluctantly, Abyss-God Branded Startup ended what should have been a game-winning position!
Passing the turn over felt like eating dirt!
This Duel—
Had already turned into a prison cell!
No way—
He can still break through so many of his monsters next turn, right?
No way, right!?
He shouldn't be able to—?
But once again, the jinx refused to grant them mercy.
Turn passed to "So OP It's a Win."
So OP It's a Win: "Heh-heh-heh, the show begins! A Minotaur feast!"
So OP It's a Win: "I Link Summon using Battle Fader!"
"Come—Link Summon Relinquished Anima."
"Anima's effect—equip your Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate Dragon to Anima."
"Its ATK becomes 4500."
...???
Relinquished?
I'm done!
Truly done!
What is all this even supposed to be?
What kind of filthy nonsense is this?
The cheers of duelists across the six worlds gradually faded.
Every duelist stared, wide-eyed and empty-headed, at what came next.
This guy—can still keep bull-stealing?
No way?
Are we really gonna get jinxed again and have the entire field bull-stolen away?
So OP It's a Win: "Then I activate a second Mind Control!"
So OP It's a Win: "I choose Despian Proskenion—gimme that!"
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "Chain—Despian Proskenion's effect."
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "I revive your Starving Venom Fusion Dragon from your Graveyard!"
After resolution—
Starving Venom Fusion Dragon went to Abyss-God.
Despian Proskenion went to the Minotaur.
So OP It's a Win: "You've used it, but I haven't used my Proskenion yet."
So OP It's a Win: "I activate Despian Proskenion's effect."
So OP It's a Win: "I choose your Guardian Chimera in the Graveyard."
Abyss-God Branded Startup: "I'll activate Bystial Druiswurm in my hand—chain to banish the Chimera in the Graveyard, and Special Summon Druiswurm!"
So OP It's a Win: "Huh? You're so mean, bro!"
So OP It's a Win: "Then I activate a third Mind Control."
So OP It's a Win: "Give me back my Starving Venom Fusion Dragon."
"Oh, and I also have Change of Heart!"
"Your Tyrant Dragon—gimme that too."
Insane!
Truly insane!
This guy's Minotaur stealing has gone completely mad!
Just how desperate is he for his opponent's monsters?
Seeing this—
Even though they weren't the ones dueling, duelists across the six worlds were getting tilted!
Is this a Duel?
You call this a Duel?
Stop!
This is not a Duel at all!
Where is this a Duel?
Joey Wheeler: "No way! Is he addicted to stealing or what! You can play like that?"
Jaden Yuki: "This isn't fun. A Duel like this isn't fun at all!"
Akiza Izinski: "Can someone give me his address? My Black Rose Dragon would like to blow up the field."
Reginald "Shark" Kastle: "Sis Akiza, no need to trouble you—just toss him into the river and feed the fish."
All the duelists looked at Abyss-God Branded Startup with sympathetic eyes.
From the tone of the discussion, you'd think they wanted to rip off the Minotaur's mask right now!
As for the poor Branded player—
After this sequence, Abyss-God Branded Startup's field had been bull-cleared down to just a few monsters.
The original six monsters—what looked like a sure-win board—
Had been completely bull-stolen away by the opponent!
What a collapsing Duel...
The most devastated of all, Abyss-God Branded Startup looked at the last four monsters on his field and fell into thought.
Bystial Magnamhut, Lubellion the Searing Dragon.
Bystial Druiswurm, Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon.
These four monsters.
Are done for too!
They can't hold!
They can't possibly hold!
Next—comes his Battle Phase!
Just Tyrant Dragon alone can deal with three of his monsters!
And Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon has 4000 ATK!
It still can't stand up to Relinquished Anima that absorbed Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate Dragon!
No way?
His field—
Is going to get cleared again?
Then how is he supposed to come back?
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