Unabara Ryusuke seemed to suddenly understand, a trace of fear appearing on his face.
"When Abyssal Assassin is sent to the graveyard, it retrieves Reversed Monsters from the graveyard. And Abyssal Assassin itself is a Reversed Monster.
Therefore, Abyssal Assassin A in the graveyard activates its effect to retrieve Abyssal Assassin B, and Abyssal Assassin B activates its effect to retrieve Abyssal Assassin A."
Yugen explained, revealing the two cards simultaneously.
"Therefore, I can return the two Abyssal Assassins from the graveyard to my hand."
"Of course, the effect of Magic Stone Mining just now retrieved the second Magic Stone Mining from the graveyard."
"Thus, I activate the second Magic Stone Mining from my hand. I discard the two recently retrieved Abyssal Assassins from my hand as the cost to activate this, and retrieve the first Magic Stone Mining from the graveyard."
Yugen displayed the two Abyssal Assassins in his hand briefly before discarding them to the graveyard. Then, a golden light emanated from the graveyard, and the first Magic Stone Mining was recovered by Yugen.
"Naturally, because another Magic Card was activated, the effect of Magician of Continuous Fire activates again. Whenever a Magic Card is activated, it deals 400 damage to the opponent."
At this point, not only Unabara Ryusuke but everyone observing around the Dark Web market understood.
Infinite Loop!
Magic Stone Mining A and B can mutually recover each other, creating infinite ammunition in the form of Magic Cards for Yugen. Meanwhile, Abyssal Assassin A and B can be repeatedly discarded as the infinite cost for Magic Stone Mining activation.
Ultimately, Magician of Continuous Fire converts this series of operations into output, and each cycle deals 400 damage.
This guy instantly obliterated his opponent in the first turn with an infinite loop.
The legendary First Turn Kill, commonly known as FTK!
First-turn kill, it's rare to encounter such a situation in the life of a Duelist, let alone an FTK, and especially with an infinite loop, leaving everyone utterly shocked.
Doesn't that make this person invincible? The opponent doesn't even have a chance to play a card, right?
Indeed, this was a ruthless loop, as evidenced by the later restrictions and nerfing of Abyssal Assassin by the K Society.
Due to its unique ability to infinitely recover, it was once limited to one copy as a restricted card. And now its text has been revised to only allow it to recover Reversed Monsters other than Abyssal Assassin itself, preventing self-recovery.
But back in those days, there was no such restriction, and it was a perfect match with Magic Stone Mining.
Unabara Ryusuke's expression was dark and solemn, yet he didn't surrender. Instead, he revealed a card and said in a deep voice, "Discarding Feathered Cotton Ball from my hand, all effect damage this turn becomes 0. This effect can also be activated during the opponent's turn."
The monster discarded from his hand jumped onto his field, blocking Magician of Continuous Fire's damage.
"Oh? There is such a thing?" Yugen's eyes lit up.
This was truly a rare item, even he hadn't seen it before.
Feathered Cotton Ball should be an Adjusted Monster in the future era. However, now it is just an ordinary Effect Monster, but as a hand trap that can block effect damage, it is quite good.
Not bad, it was worth coming.
"Alright, Feathered Cotton Ball's effect is activated, so I'll halt the loop for now."
Yugen shrugged.
"However, the effect of the two discarded Abyssal Assassins still activates, mutually recovering the cards back to my hand.
Next, I activate the Magic Card Temporary Truce; both sides draw a card from the deck, and until the end of the next turn, any damage taken becomes 0."
Both sides draw a card each.
"Then set a card, and my turn is over."
Unabara Ryusuke wiped his cold sweat away.
Revolver, though he had heard recent rumors about this dangerous person, little did he expect such peril, a momentary slip in the first turn would have obliterated him...
He immediately realized he'd underestimated, perhaps facing the most frightening opponent in his life, requiring careful coping.
"My turn, draw a card!"
Unabara Ryusuke took a deep breath.
This duel has no room for relaxation; all out from the beginning.
"Activate the Field Spell Legendary City - Atlantis!"
The field transformed, water filled the entire space, and they both found themselves in a massive underwater palace.
"Atlantis' effect, all Water Attribute monsters in hand and on the field decrease in level by 1 star, and the Water Attribute monsters in hand originally Level 5 become Level Four."
He raised a card high.
"Therefore, Normal Summon this card, appear—
—Dark Fortress Whale!"
The enormous whale fortress, like a biological mothership, emerged in the water!
[Dark Fortress Whale, Attack Power 2100]
"Furthermore, the Water Attribute monster's attack power increases by 200 in the Legendary City - Atlantis!"
[Dark Fortress Whale, Attack Power 2100→Attack Power 2300]
"Attack the Magician of Continuous Fire!"
The torpedo fired with a series of deafening roars, continuously exploding on Yugen's field.
"But due to the effect of Temporary Truce, I won't receive battle damage," Yugen said.
"But your Magician of Continuous Fire was destroyed!" Unabara Ryusuke said.
This was indeed crucial.
He was acutely aware that the opponent still possessed one Magic Stone Mining and two Abyssal Assassins in their hand, the potential infinite loop still persisted.
If the Magician of Continuous Fire remained on the field, next turn the previous cycle might repeat. This time he had no Feathered Cotton Ball to block damage, another series of infinite loop burning would leave him without recourse.
"That might not be the case."
Yugen snapped his fingers.
"Activate Trap Time Mechanism. The monster destroyed by battle returns to the field in the same form.
Return, Magician of Continuous Fire."
[Magician of Continuous Fire, Attack Power 1600]
Unabara Ryusuke: "..."
Onlookers: "..."
Evidently, it was all in vain; the loop remains established.
Next turn, the infinite burn of Magician of Continuous Fire would occur again, regardless of remaining Life Points, he was doomed.
Unabara Ryusuke gritted his teeth.
What a joke, being instantly killed by a mere 4-level Magician, doesn't it render him, especially as a Dark Web leader, akin to a rookie?
"Set two cards, end turn," Unabara Ryusuke said in a deep voice.
"Then my turn, draw a card. During the standby phase, the effect of Take Over 5 in the graveyard, remove this card and its same-name card in the deck from the game, and draw a card from the deck."
Yugen drew a card, glanced at it, immediately smiled at Unabara Ryusuke.
"Naturally, the effect of Magician of Continuous Fire, activating a Magic Card, deals 400 damage."
[Unabara Ryusuke, LP 3600→LP 3200]
"Next, let's skip the preliminaries and get straight to the point," Yugen continued.
"I'll discard the two Abyssal Assassins from my hand, and activate the Magic Card Magic Stone Mining..."