The one-eyed mercenary landed on Yugen's field, skillfully spinning a revolver in his hand and striking a pose he thought looked cool, slowly raising his head.
"So, after all, you still need to rely on my power?"
The Black Scorpion crowd spectating from the spirit body state: "The boss is so cool!"
"Black Scorpion?"
Iwamaru was puzzled. He wasn't familiar with this card deck but knew of it. The Black Scorpion Thief Gang was a common set, often considered filler cards with no real use that you might find when opening a card pack.
At least from what Iwamaru knew, no duelist of a certain level would use this deck as their main force.
Was the revolver using this deck?
"Leader - Zarug, attack 'Ore Giant'."
Zarug drew his gun and pulled the trigger. Two gunshots rang out, leaving two transparent holes in the giant, which then exploded with a boom, shattering into pieces of stone.
[Iwamaru, LP 4000→LP 3600]
Iwamaru raised his arm to shield himself from the impact, shouting, "At this moment, 'Ore Giant's effect activates!
When Ore Giant is destroyed in battle, it deals 500 points of damage to the opponent!"
A tornado emerged from the explosion and swirled swiftly towards Yugen, slicing through him like wind blades.
[Yugen, LP 4000→LP 3500]
"Then, Leader - Zarug's effect activates on this side," Yugen said, "When dealing battle damage to the opponent, choose one of two effects to activate.
The opponent randomly discards a hand card or sends the top two cards from their card deck to the graveyard."
Zarug swiftly spun the gun twice and pointed the barrel at the opponent.
Yugen: "Choose to randomly discard one hand card."
Zarug pulled the trigger, and a bullet pierced through one of Iwamaru's three cards, creating a void. The card immediately shattered into golden fragments and automatically flew into the opponent's Duel Disc graveyard.
"Tsk, I'm not done yet," Iwamaru said coldly, "The effect of the Continuous Magic 'Guiding Ore Vein'!"
The stones that fell to the ground from the giant's rupture didn't disappear but were suddenly suspended as if drawn by some force and quickly absorbed into the mine behind Iwamaru.
"When a Rock Race is destroyed, Guiding Ore Vein special summons a card with the same name from the deck.
Come forth, Ore Giant!"
The string of stones flew into the mine, emitted a burst of golden light, and then flew back out, automatically assembling into a golden giant figure.
[Ore Giant, Attack Power 1000]
"Next, activate the other cover card, the Trap Card 'Rock Plate Burst'!" Iwamaru revealed from the backfield, "With the Ore Giant on my field, each Ore Giant deals 1000 points of damage to the opponent. Then, all the Ore Giants on my field are destroyed!" (Original Card)
A circle of flames appeared beneath Yugen's feet, and flames surged up like lava, engulfing him.
[Yugen, LP 3500→LP 2500]
Then, a loud boom, and the golden giant's body exploded again, turning into scattered stones.
But, of course, the stones immediately flew up as if drawn by a magnet, flew into the mine, and then shot back onto the field, transforming into a giant figure once more.
"Guiding Ore Vein's effect, when the Rock Race is destroyed, special summons a card with the same name from the deck," Iwamaru said, "Special summon 'Ore Giant' third from the deck!"
[Ore Giant, Attack Power 1000]
The Hanuo Knights on the side began to stir.
"Why does this guy seem to be quite strong?"
"Isn't that obvious? How could he dare to challenge our Revolver Leader without some skills?"
"Don't worry," one henchman replied confidently with a grin, "Revolver Leader will soon teach him what a real duel is."
"..."
"Nice, you preserved your monster, built resources in the graveyard, and burned quite a bit of my Life Points,"
Yugen smiled and then drew four cards in one go.
"Cover four cards in the backfield, ending the turn."
"Four cover cards?"
Iwamaru was taken aback for a moment.
Is this a defense-oriented strategy?
He furrowed his brows but continued, "My turn, draw!"
Iwamaru drew a card.
"Activate the Magic Card 'Angel's Charity'. Draw three cards from the deck, then discard two cards from the hand."
He revealed one of the cards he discarded.
"Discard Magic Card 'Card of Compensation' from the hand, drawing two cards from the deck as a result."
But at the instant he drew the cards, Yugen snapped his fingers.
"Flip the cover card. Activate the Continuous Trap 'Free Ride'. Can be activated when the opponent draws cards outside the Draw Phase. Afterward, each time the opponent draws cards outside the Draw Phase, I can draw two cards from the deck."
Iwamaru was unimpressed and continued, "Then I will tribute the remaining 'Ore Giant' on the field for the Upper-level Summon!"
The Ore Giant was engulfed by a tornado, sinking into the ground. The earth trembled, then burst open. A golden emperor, as if crushing mountains and rivers, exploded with a colossal dust cloud as it emerged.
"Roar!!!"
The moment he summoned, Iwamaru was enveloped in golden flame-like light, his entire being exuding a powerful aura.
"Lend me the power of the emperor—
—Earth Emperor Granmat, Summon!"
[Earth Emperor Granmat, Attack Power 2400]
"It appears, your destined emperor," Yugen said.
True to Iwamaru's name, the Earth Emperor was his proud trump card.
Interestingly, in the animation, Iwamaru had more than one Earth Emperor as his signature Soul Card.
But it made sense. The emperor card activates its effect upon summoning. It's naturally more powerful when multiple are used.
"The effect of Earth Emperor Granmat, when successfully Upper-level Summoned, can destroy one set card on the field," Iwamaru declared, "Destroy the center card of your three remaining back cover cards!"
The Earth Emperor pounded its fists, and the cracks in the earth directly extended to Yugen's backfield.
"Then activate the chain effect of the cover card," Yugen said, "Trap Card 'Battlefront Return', resurrect a monster from the graveyard in defense position."
"A monster from the graveyard?"
Iwamaru frowned.
"Is it the five cards sent by magic effects last turn?"
"Exactly."
Yugen retrieved a Monster Card from the graveyard.
"Special summon 'Black Scorpion - Thorny Mina' from the graveyard in defense position."
The Earth Emperor's strike hit nothing, and the unleashed trap vanished from the field. The Black Scorpion female thief, clad in a black leather jacket and looking gorgeous, landed on the field, crouching and defending herself with a thorny whip in front of her.
[Black Scorpion - Thorny Mina, Defense Power 1800]