Discard any number of cards—does that mean you could clear the whole field in one go?
Skeleton Knight was deeply shaken.
Not only could this effect return any number of opponent's cards, but the old version of Brionac had no activation limit. That meant, if you replenished cards during the same turn, Brionac could keep using its effect again and again—potentially forming an infinite loop if the deck allowed for repeated replenishing of the hand!
And, even if the opponent summoned new monsters after Brionac cleared the field, Brionac could simply bounce them away again.
For all this, Brionac was a Level 6 monster whose summoning required nothing more than generic Tuner + non-Tuner materials—and it was printed in an era nowhere near today's game speed.
It was basically marked for a spot on the Forbidden List since the day it was released.
"I discard two cards," Kira said, "targeting 'Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon' and the 'Dark Soul Token' summoned by my Monarch."
Kira pitched two cards to the graveyard.
"Spin! Brionac's Glacial Torrent!"
A surge of icy blue light shot from Brionac, splitting in midair to target both the Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon and its related token. Both vanished amidst the snowstorm; the zombie returned, grumbling, to Skeleton Knight's Extra Deck, while the token exploded and was destroyed.
"Battle!" Kira said. "Brionac, direct attack!"
Brionac opened its jaws and spat forth a stream of ice. The freezing flow swept over the course; even Skeleton Knight's zombie horse nearly froze.
At that instant, Kira floored the throttle, pushing his Duel Runner to max—ice-blasted air boiling away behind him, the high-pressure stream from Brionac blasting straight through Skeleton Knight.
Boom!
[Skeleton Knight: LP 4000 → LP 1700]
"Ughh... cough!"
Skeleton Knight staggered from the smoke, hacking and clutching his chest.
"This pain, this impact…"
He stared in disbelief at Kira, whose earlier demeanour suggested he'd never tried Dark Riding before—he'd thought this was just a rookie. But the way Kira handled the acceleration—something was not normal.
Could it be… with just one demo, his opponent had already learned the skills to enhance the sensation of Dark Riding?
"It's still a bit out of sync with my monster's attack," Kira mused aloud as he rolled his Duel Runner to a stop.
"Getting the burst control just right is tricky… Riding Duels really are a test of skill. Kinda tough."
Skeleton Knight: "..."
Suppressing his shock, Skeleton Knight turned to face forward, rendered speechless.
Monster!
Whoever this guy was, disguised as Rex Goodwin or not, he was an utter monster.
"My turn is over," Kira declared.
"My turn—draw!" Skeleton Knight replied.
He checked Brionac, floating over Kira's field.
"Brionac from the Ice Barrier—indeed formidable, but MY power is not so easily crushed!"
"Normal summon—'Mezuki'!"
[Mezuki—ATK 1700]
Kira grinned nostalgically. "Mezuki, huh…"
Of course he wouldn't forget this card—he'd helped develop it back in the GX Dimension. In the GX anime, it belonged to Misawa as part of the original manga-only "Yokai" type. After his revisions, it became a powerful support card for Zombie-types in the real game.
But this was the 5D's dimension, not GX. In 5D's, Mezuki had always been a Zombie-type with its proper effect.
Skeleton Knight drew out a card.
"To make me use this card's power… You're a worthy. But—it ends here!
Activate spell card: Ghost Fusion!"
Space seemed to rip apart. On the other side of the void was another dimension, from which emerged a force capable of swallowing the world.
"This card lets me Fusion Summon a Zombie using monsters from the field or from my deck!" (Manga effect.)
Another card from the Skeleton Knight's manga-only arsenal and, like his ace, Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon, one that got an official card release—though the effect was changed.
In the real card, you must have lower LP than your opponent to use deck fusion materials, and you can fuse monsters from your hand, deck, or graveyard, but if you use any not on the field, one must be banished.
The manga effect had no "lower LP" restriction, and didn't allow fusing from hand, but didn't require banishing materials from outside the field, either.
"I send 'Mezuki' from the field, and 'Alghoul Mazera' from the deck, to the grave for Ghost Fusion!"
The shadow of a grim Zombie warrior materialized from the deck, swirling with Mezuki into a dark vortex, their bodies twisted and rekindled as one under immense pressure.
"With two souls of the dead, I call the Lord of the Underworld! Break through the gates of Hades—appear once more!
—Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon, return!!!"
The extra-deck dragon that Brionac had just bounced last turn roared back to the field, dripping with necrotic menace.
[Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon—ATK 3000]
"So soon?" Kira smiled. "You sure are a persistent dragon."
"And now," Skeleton Knight continued darkly, "I banish 'Mezuki' from my grave—the one just sent there as Fusion material, to activate its effect! When Mezuki is banished, it can special summon another Zombie from the grave!
And I choose to revive—Alghoul Mazera!!"
PS: In the Manga, Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon was called Underworld Dragon Dragonecro. Idk why they changed it.
…