With one decisive swing of her Heavenscape Lord, Chang Xingge's blade cleaved through Ki-Ri, destroying it in battle.
But before the dust even settled, You Ye smiled.
When Ki-Ri is destroyed by battle, its lingering will activates! I target your Heavenscape Lord—and destroy it!
The spectral form of Ki-Ri burst from the Graveyard like a vengeful spirit, dragging the mighty Heavenscape Lord into the void.
Watching her field now reduced to only the Runick Fountain, Chang Xingge fell silent.
She had known the gap between them was wide—but not this wide.
From start to finish, she realized with painful clarity: aside from the very first "Lightning Storm," everything else had gone exactly as You Ye had predicted.
Every move, every summon, every bluff—he had anticipated them all. She had never stood a chance.
"My turn's over." Chang Xingge exhaled and looked at You Ye deeply before ending her turn.
You Ye didn't urge her to surrender this time.
After dueling Wu Ping, he had learned that duelists in this world never concede—even in "garbage time."
Still, since she was a client, he wasn't going to drag it out unnecessarily or humiliate her.
"End Phase of your turn," You Ye said calmly. "Xiaoye Knight's effect resolves—she and Lionheart return to the field."
Then it was his turn again.
With all of Chang Xingge's resources exhausted, she could only watch as You Ye proceeded smoothly:
He Normal Summoned Effect Veiler, then used Runick Dispelling to special summon Hugin the Runick Wings, recycled with Fountain to draw one card, then Synchro Summoned Flower Synchron.
With Flower Synchron's effect, he destroyed Lionheart King, skipping his Battle Phase as part of the restriction.
By the time Chang Xingge drew for her next turn, there was nothing left to do but summon Mirror and crash it into Flower Synchron—one last gesture of dignity before losing.
On You Ye's following turn, he finally entered the Battle Phase.
With attacks from Hugin, Flower Synchron, and Little Knight Xiaoye, Chang Xingge's LP dropped to zero.
"You win, senpai," she said quietly.
You Ye hadn't toyed with her—he'd ended it cleanly. For that, she was grateful.
"You did well," he replied with a gentle smile.
"This is the reward I promised you." Chang Xingge produced a gleaming golden card and handed it to him.
"Herald of Orange Light?" You Ye murmured, studying it.
His eyes flickered with mild disappointment. Without the "Eva" combo piece, Orange Light wasn't particularly useful to him. Still, a side-deck option was better than nothing.
"This card… isn't good enough?"
As deputy director of the Duel Association's Hangzhou Branch, Chang Xingge was sharp enough to notice his expression. She tensed slightly—if You Ye found the reward too poor and refused to help her build her Drytron deck, that would be a disaster.
"It's fine," You Ye said lightly. "By the way—could you tell me what the other two cards are?"
Her face froze.
Those next two rewards… were a little embarrassing to admit.
"What's wrong?" You Ye tilted his head. She didn't seem like the type to lie—so her hesitation made no sense.
"Excuse me, Senpai," Luo Hao interjected, stepping forward politely.
You Ye glanced at him, signaling for him to continue.
Luo Hao gave a small nod toward Chang Xingge before explaining:
"The other two cards she has are Mudan the Sword Oracle—which no one can use—and Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World, obtained after resolving the Dark Duelist incident.
Both cards are in your reward list, but… to be honest, they're even less useful than Herald of Orange Light."
He wasn't wrong. Mudora was an unplayable brick in most decks, and Grapha's summoning condition was so specific that almost no one could bring it out.
However—
"Wait—WHAT!? GOD-TIER!!!"
You Ye's eyes lit up in pure excitement, his earlier calmness vanishing. Grapha was good, sure—but the real treasure was Mudan the Sword Oracle.
With that, he was one card closer to building the Tearlaments Ishizu hybrid deck!
"Uh—it's Mudora," Luo Hao corrected quickly, thinking You Ye had misunderstood. "Level 4 EARTH Fairy-type, 1500 ATK, 1800 DEF—unknown effect. Not actually a god card."
"I know. That's why I called it divine," You Ye said, eyes gleaming. "It fits every condition perfectly."
"???"
Luo Hao was completely bewildered.
The card that even national-level duelists couldn't find a use for—divine?
Even Chang Xingge looked utterly confused.
Mudan might have "God" in its name, but the stats were mediocre, and no one even knew its full effect yet.
"Senpai, does that card really have such a broken effect?" Wang Cheng asked, glancing curiously between them. Even Mu Ning leaned forward, listening.
"For most meta decks—no, it's useless," You Ye replied. "But for one future archetype I'll be building… It's a godsend."
He didn't elaborate. Revealing his plans now would be foolish.
"I see." Wang Cheng nodded. Everyone else got the message and didn't pry further.
"Then, Senpai… about the deck construction?" Chang Xingge asked softly, eyes full of hope. This was her chance to grow stronger.
"No problem," You Ye said. "Let's head to Master Duel. I'll show you the proper Drytron build and demonstrate how it plays."
He paused briefly. "But—you'll need to get the cards yourself. I can't help with acquisition."
"Of course! I understand." Chang Xingge nodded eagerly, smiling for the first time since her defeat.
"Senpai," Luo Hao suddenly said, taking a step forward. "After you finish helping Xingge, would you also grant me a duel? I want to see how far I still am from your level."
He handed over a card.
You Ye took it, curious—and his eyes widened.
It was El Shaddoll Winda, one of the Extra Deck cards he'd been missing!
He grinned. "Deal. In fact, why don't we make it interesting? I'll duel you using Drytron—so you can truly see the gap between us."
"No problem!" Luo Hao replied enthusiastically. Then he hesitated. "But… is Drytron really that strong? I heard it's a new Ritual archetype, but it's hard to make consistent. Unless—it needs multi-archetype support like Swordsoul?"
"Exactly," You Ye nodded. "It's a multi-engine deck."
He thought for a moment, trying to find the right comparison.
"How strong is it?" Luo Hao pressed.
You Ye smiled faintly. "Let's put it this way—if true Drytron goes first, and its combo isn't stopped by heavy disruption… then the opponent can just sit back and watch."
"Watch?"
"Yes," he said, eyes gleaming. "Because once Drytron's combo starts rolling, it doesn't just control the duel—"
He paused, a smirk curling his lips.
"—it removes your opponent's right to duel."
The three humans and one Duel Spirit froze.
They'd expected Drytron to be strong—but this? A deck that literally took away the right to duel?
What kind of end board could do that!?