An overwhelming storm was raging inside the Skeleton Knight's heart.
This guy—after withstanding such a powerful impact—not only seemed unfazed, but actually looked as if he was learning from and absorbing the Skeleton Knight's dark riding techniques.
He quickly tried to recall all the duelists he knew. Skeleton Knight considered himself fairly familiar with many strong fighters, including some with especially resolute wills.
After all, this type of "Dark Riding" duel was an ordeal meant only for those with unbreakable minds, or those truly seeking a thrill—any misstep could lead to ruin before one's life points even hit zero. So, every expert proficient in Dark Riding treated death with indifference and displayed extraordinary courage.
Yet even so, in Skeleton Knight's memory, he'd never encountered anyone who remained so graceful and composed under pressure.
He even briefly entertained the absurd suspicion that his opponent had deliberately let the earlier damage go through purely to experience and study his own dark riding techniques.
No, that was too ridiculous. In a life-and-death riding duel, to act with such reckless disregard… That was not simply looking down on one's opponent, but completely disregarding the line between life and death.
Was he truly not worried at all about losing?
"What's wrong? Is your turn over already?" Kira asked.
"Uh..."
The Skeleton Knight shook his head, trying to dispel such unsettling thoughts.
"My turn is over."
"Done? Then, it's my turn—draw!"
As Kira drew a card, a ray of golden light shot from the "graveyard zone" of his Duel Runner once again.
"Now, in my standby phase, since I have no spell or trap cards set, the effect of my 'Treeborn Frog' in the graveyard activates. It special summons itself during my standby phase."
Kira snapped his fingers.
"Come on back—Treeborn Frog!"
A tiny, golden-skinned frog with fluttering wings and a glowing halo atop its head reappeared on the field.
[Treeborn Frog—DEF 100]
Kira glanced at his hand and chuckled mysteriously.
"You dare to underestimate the power of 'Frogs'? Fine, I'll make sure you remember—with your whole body—what 'World Champion quality' truly means."
Skeleton Knight was confused: "What?"
Did that guy just say something about a champion…?
Kira, of course, didn't bother explaining. "If I control a Level 3 or lower WATER monster, I can special summon this card from my grave by discarding a card from my hand. I discard one card, and revive this monster from the graveyard—Fishborg Blaster!"
Kira discarded a card to the grave. On the side of his speeding Duel Runner, a swirl of water appeared. A steel-armored soldier leapt out from the spray—his weapon a high-pressure water gun, and a blue pipeline stretched from the weapon to the cockpit, which, rather than having a seat or pilot, looked like a fish tank—with the pilot being a literal fish! The cockpit bubbled with water.
[Fishborg Blaster—ATK 100]
A Level 1 Tuner with just 100 attack points, yet infamous enough to land on the Forbidden List. Back when Frog Decks won the World Championship, this guy definitely played a major role.
"And just now, the card I discarded to revive Blaster was the spell card 'Card of Compensation,'" Kira said. "When discarded, it lets me draw two cards from my deck."
Kira drew two more cards.
"Next, I tribute 'Treeborn Frog' to Tribute summon—Level 5, Des Frog!"
The little angelic frog dissolved into light, releasing a colorful swirling vortex, which in turn erupted with a rush of water. From within emerged a gigantic blue frog, bouncing alongside Kira's Duel Runner.
[Des Frog—ATK 1900]
"Tribute summon, huh?" Skeleton Knight grunted. "Big words, but it's just a frog with 1900 attack points…"
As he spoke, he glanced warily at the Fishborg Blaster.
"That thing… is it a Tuner—no way!?"
"Exactly."
Kira raised his right arm.
"When using Fishborg Blaster as Synchro Material, all the other materials must also be WATER monsters. Des Frog is WATER, so it meets the Blaster's restriction. I tune Level 1 'Blaster' with Level 5 'Des Frog'!"
This synergy was exactly why Blaster and Frog decks made up the core of a world championship build.
Blaster can only revive if there's a WATER monster on the field, and can only use WATER monsters as Synchro material. Des Frog is the only high-level monster in Frog decks—easily accessed by their system.
Blaster's 1-star, Des Frog's 5-star—making six stars in total, the key number for the nastiest Synchro monster of its era.
"The frozen star condenses at the tip of the blade—the spear of winter pierces the heavens! Synchro Summon—
—Level 6, Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!!!"
The Synchro glow exploded amidst a raging blizzard, shards of ice cascading from above, forming an inverted icy forest as blue-white marks etched across the field.
In the vortex, a holy, blue-white dragon burst from the ice. Its many crystalline scales shimmered in the snowstorm, each one edged with dagger-like icicles. Energy patterns ran along its icy neck, while raised spine shards glowed blue with each breath.
Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, summoned!
[Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier—ATK 2300]
The blizzard unleashed by Synchro summoning even made the Skeleton Knight nervous. But when he saw Brionac's attack stats, he relaxed a bit.
"Heh. Was expecting something more terrifying. 2300 attack? That's it? Just a six-star Synchro. Do you think you can defeat my Nethersoul Dragon?"
But despite his bluster, something about the dragon suggested a real threat.
But why…?
Kira soon gave an answer.
"Brionac's effect activates. I can discard any number of cards, then return that same number of cards from the field to their owner's hands."
Skeleton Knight: "!!!"
…