"My turn first—draw!!"
Glancing at her hand, a confident smile spread across Emily's otherwise ordinary face. She raised her hand and declared, "I activate the effect of Tricky in my hand! By discarding 1 card, I can Special Summon this card from my hand. I'll discard Card of Compensation and Special Summon Tricky!"
A strange mage draped in a blue cloak, with a "?" symbol painted across his body and face, appeared on the field.
[Tricky, ATK 2000]
"Next, I activate the effect of the Card of Compensation I just sent to the Graveyard! When this card is sent from the hand to the Graveyard, I can draw 2 cards!"
"She summoned a Level 5 monster with 2000 Attack right away, and even refilled her hand. Amazing!" Alicia exclaimed softly in surprise.
Yuui, however, wasn't impressed. What caught his attention was that spell Emily had discarded—Card of Compensation. That card was quite the efficient draw engine.
"Next, I Normal Summon Magical Exemplar!"
[Magical Exemplar, ATK 1700]
"Then I activate the Equip Spell—Wonder Wand!" Emily announced with a flourish. "This card can only be equipped to a Spellcaster. The equipped monster gains 500 Attack points!
"I equip it to Magical Exemplar! And at this moment, Magical Exemplar's effect activates—while this card remains on the field, whenever either player activates a Spell Card, place 2 Spell Counters on this card."
[Magical Exemplar, ATK: 1700 → 2200 | Spell Counters: 0 → 2 | Equipped: Wonder Wand]
"Finally, I set two cards and end my turn!" Emily inserted two cards into her Duel Disk and smirked. "Alright, show me the power that defeated Kexi Arce, Alicia-chan!"
"Don't act so familiar. We're not that close," Yuui said coolly. "My turn—draw!"
Alicia: "These cards… Yuui-san, are we using that strategy this time?"
"Yeah, haven't used it for a while. She'll make a fine test subject."
Glancing over his hand, Yuui declared, "First, I Summon Elemental HERO Clayman in Defense Position!"
A hero made of earth and stone, arms crossed and crouched low, appeared on Yuui's field.
[Elemental HERO Clayman, DEF 2000]
"Then I set two cards and end my turn!"
Seeing the plain setup—three cards on the field—Emily became even more convinced that Alicia's victory over Kexi Arce had been pure luck. Her disdain deepened.
"My turn—draw!"
After a quick glance at her draw, Emily immediately gestured. "I activate my set card—Trap Card, Windstorm of Etaqua! All face-up monsters on your field change their battle positions! That means your Clayman switches from Defense to Attack Position!"
A fierce wind swept across the field, and within it, one could almost hear an eagle's cry. Under that gale, Yuui's Clayman was forced into Attack Position.
[Elemental HERO Clayman, DEF 2000 → ATK 800]
Yuui raised an eyebrow. "So you came prepared with counter cards, huh?"
"Heh, of course! Your defense was so tough even Kexi Arce struggled to break it. Naturally, I prepared a few ways to get through it!" Emily said proudly, not even bothering to hide that her deck was built to counter Alicia's. "Next, I Normal Summon Gemini Elf!"
Two beautiful elven twins with impressive figures appeared on the field.
[Gemini Elf, ATK 1900]
"Battle Phase! First, Tricky attacks your Elemental HERO Clayman! Bizarre Magic!!"
As her words fell, Tricky clapped his hands together, forming a colorful sphere of magic between his palms before launching it toward Clayman.
Yuui instantly raised his hand. "I activate my set card—Trap Card, Ready for Intercepting! Target 1 face-up Warrior or Spellcaster monster on the field; change it to face-down Defense Position. I target my Clayman!"
A wave of energy surged, flipping Clayman face-down and back into Defense Position just before the magic hit.
[Elemental HERO Clayman → DEF 2000]
"Tch, you even prepared for that? Whatever, all that means is this attack doesn't deal damage!" Emily pouted a little, annoyed her move had failed.
Abruptly, then, her irritation soon turned to shock. As the magical blast struck, Clayman flipped face-up again—and Yuui shouted, "I activate my second set card—Trap Card, D2 Shield! Target 1 face-up Defense Position monster you control; its Defense becomes double its original value! I target my Clayman!"
"What!? Double?! That's 4000 Defense points!!"
Emily's eyes widened in alarm as Clayman's massive frame suddenly swelled into a towering five-meter giant.
[Elemental HERO Clayman, DEF: 2000 → 4000]
"Damn it… that card made me waste my combo early!" Emily cursed. She knew that if she didn't react, she'd take 2000 points of reflected damage from Clayman's enormous defense.
"Quick-Play Spell, Tricky Spell 4, activate! I send 1 face-up Tricky from my field to the Graveyard to Special Summon Tricky Tokens in Defense Position equal to the number of monsters on your field! You have only one monster, so I send Tricky to the Graveyard and Special Summon 1 Tricky Token in Defense Position!"
Tricky dissolved into light, and a near-identical token appeared in his place.
[Tricky Token, DEF 1200]
"And since I activated another Spell Card, Magical Exemplar gains two more Spell Counters!"
[Magical Exemplar, ATK 2200 | Spell Counters: 2 → 4 | Equipped: Wonder Wand]
"Oh, so you sacrificed a monster to avoid taking damage. A wise choice," Yuui commented mildly.
His calm tone only angered Emily further. "Tsk! A mere first-year—no, a Nameless One—acting so smug! Just wait, once that Trap's effect wears off, I'll wipe that look off your face!"
"Who told you my Trap Card's effect wears off?"
"What!?" Emily froze. "You mean it's not a one-turn effect!?"
"No. That Trap isn't limited to one turn." Yuui pulled the D2 Shield from his Graveyard. "Maybe it's because it's cheap, or because people don't care much about Defense stats, but not many ever bother reading this card's full effect. In fact, it's a continuous effect. As long as my Clayman stays on the field, its Defense will remain at 4000.
Even god-tier monsters would struggle to break through that kind of defense."
Emily's lips twitched. She'd never realized D2 Shield's effect was continuous. Which meant that unless she could destroy or banish Clayman, she had no way to get past that 800-attack 'weakling'!
As for battle destruction? Impossible… none of her monsters had over 4000 Attack.
Looking at the five-meter-tall stone giant before her, Emily felt like she was facing an impenetrable iron wall.
Yuui sighed. "Seems refusing to join your faction was the right choice. Your duels… are boring."
"You—! Don't get cocky! It's just a 4000 Defense monster! I'll crush it sooner or later!"
"If you can, then try." Yuui's calmness only made Emily more furious, as if she were punching at clouds.
"Hmph! In that case!" Emily glanced at her Magical Exemplar and raised her hand. "Main Phase 2! I activate Magical Exemplar's effect! Once per turn, I can remove any number of Spell Counters from this card to Special Summon 1 Spellcaster monster from my hand or Graveyard with a Level equal to the number of counters removed.
"I remove all four Spell Counters from my Exemplar to Special Summon from my hand—Shadowpriestess of Ohm!"
[Magical Exemplar, ATK 2200 | Spell Counters: 4 → 0 | Equipped: Wonder Wand]
A surge of powerful magic burst from Magical Exemplar, forming a glowing magic circle. From within the circle, a cold-eyed priestess in black robes, wielding twin whips, emerged.
[Shadowpriestess of Ohm, ATK 1700]
"Next, I activate the effect of the Equip Spell—Wonder Wand!" Emily continued, "By sending both the equipped monster and this card from my field to the Graveyard, I can draw 2 cards.
"I send Magical Exemplar and Wonder Wand to the Graveyard, and draw 2 new cards!!"
Magical Exemplar gripped the Wonder Wand as both dissolved into particles of light. Emily then reached toward her Deck and drew two new cards with a sharp motion.
The cards sliced through the air, stirring fuzzy ripples.
She glanced at the cards and her eyes sparkled with glee. A wild grin spread across her face as she burst into laughter. "Hahaha! Hahaha! You little brat, did you really think that just because your monster has 4000 Defense, I can't defeat you?! Let me show you how amazing I am!
"I activate the Spell Card—Magical Blast! It inflicts damage to your opponent equal to 200 times the number of Spellcaster monsters I control.
"Right now, I have Tricky Token, Gemini Elf, and Shadowpriestess of Ohm on my field—so that's 600 points of effect damage to you!!"
"Tch, she drew something troublesome," Yuui muttered, frowning.
Alicia: "[・ヘ・?] Eh? Yuui-san, it's just 600 damage! Why is that troublesome?"
"You'll see soon enough." Yuui braced himself, raising his arms to withstand the blast.
The next moment, the three Spellcasters on Emily's field gathered their magic into one point, firing a tri-colored magic blast at Yuui, knocking him back a step.
[Yuui, LP: 4000 → 3200]
"Hehehe, don't think it's over yet, kouhai!"
Emily sneered at the slightly staggered Yuui. "Magical Blast isn't a one-time use card! While it's in my Graveyard, I can skip my regular Draw Phase to add it back to my hand.
"Which means, next turn, I can deal you another 600 points of damage. I wonder… how many times can you endure it!?"
Alicia: "What! A Spell Card that can be used over and over again!? Yuui-san, what should we do?!"
"Relax." Yuui brushed the dust off his coat casually. "It's only 600 points of damage. Besides, who told you you'll even get another turn to use it?"
"Tch! Still talking big, huh? Let's see how long that confidence lasts!" Emily snatched a card from her hand and inserted it into her Duel Disk. "I set one card and end my turn!"
"My turn—draw!" Yuui glanced at his new card and thought, 'So it finally came.'
He immediately slapped the card onto his Duel Disk. "I Normal Summon Elemental HERO Sparkman!"
[Elemental HERO Sparkman, ATK 1600]
"Next, I activate the Equip Spell—Light Laser! This card can only be equipped to a LIGHT-Attribute Warrior. I equip it to Elemental HERO Sparkman!"
[Elemental HERO Sparkman, ATK 1600 | Equipped: Light Laser]
Emily's gaze shifted to Sparkman's glowing fist-mounted weapon—sleek, high-tech, and pulsing with light. She had never seen that Equip Spell before. Its name alone, Light Laser, suggested it probably possessed a banishing effect—clearly a special Equip Spell.
Then Yuui played another card. "I activate a second Equip Spell—Spark Blaster! This card can only be equipped to Elemental HERO Sparkman, so naturally, I equip it to him!"
[Elemental HERO Sparkman, ATK 1600 | Equipped: Light Laser, Spark Blaster]
"So it's Spark Blaster!" Emily recognized the card's effect, but there was nothing she could do to stop it now.
Yuui pointed forward. "I activate Spark Blaster's effect! Once per turn, during my Main Phase, I can change the battle position of one face-up monster on your field. I choose your Shadowpriestess of Ohm!"
Sparkman raised his blaster and fired a surge of electricity, forcing the Shadowpriestess of Ohm to shift from Attack Position to Defense Position.
[Shadowpriestess of Ohm, ATK 1700 → DEF 1600]
"Huh? You changed her to Defense Position when her Defense is equal to Sparkman's Attack? Wouldn't it make more sense to target Gemini Elf first?" Emily muttered in confusion, though a sense of dread welled up inside her.
Yuui simply raised his hand and declared, "Battle Phase! Sparkman attacks Shadowpriestess of Ohm—Laser Slash!!"
Sparkman's right hand ignited with blinding white energy as he lunged toward the priestess.
Seeing this, Emily hastily shouted, "I activate my set card—Trap Card, Half Unbreak! Target 1 monster on the field; this turn, that monster cannot be destroyed by battle, and any battle damage you take from battles involving it is halved! I target my Shadowpriestess of Ohm!"
A white barrier enveloped Shadowpriestess just as Sparkman struck, her twin whips crossing defensively to absorb the blow.
Emily smirked, about to mock Yuui—but he spoke calmly: "I activate the effect of the Equip Spell—Light Laser. The monster that battles the equipped monster is banished at the end of the Damage Step.
"So even though your Shadowpriestess of Ohm wasn't destroyed by battle and has the same Defense as Sparkman's Attack, she'll still be banished!"
"Hah!!"
On the field, Sparkman shouted, his laser sword blazing brighter as it tore open space itself. With a single kick, he sent the priestess hurtling into another dimension.
Sparkman: "A hero never holds back—even against a woman!"
...
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