"It seems it's my turn," HellKing said coldly. "Draw! From the effect of Crimson Gaia, I add Scarlet Security to my hand. And now, I activate it! Scarlet Security destroys every Spell and Trap card on your side of the field!"
"I won't let you!" Luna shouted. "I activate my Counter Trap: Divine Punishment! Since The Sanctuary in the Sky is active, I negate your effect and destroy your card!"
"Do you really care that much for this artificial heaven?" the masked man sneered. "Continuous Trap, activate: Red Zone! When you activate a card or effect while Red Dragon Archfiend is on the field, I can destroy one card you control. I choose Archlord Zerato!"
A pillar of hellfire erupted from the ground, incinerating Zerato and leaving Luna's field wide open. At least I kept my Spells and Traps, she thought desperately. Let him try to attack—I'm ready.
"Go, Red Dragon Archfiend!" HellKing commanded. "Direct Attack! Absolute Powerforce! Burn in the flames of hell!"
"You fell right into my trap!" Luna yelled, flipping her card. "Magic Cylinder! I negate your attack and you take damage equal to your monster's Attack points!"
"I don't think so," the masked duelist replied calmly. "Crimson Fire! When a Spell or Trap effect would deal damage to me while I control 'Red Dragon Archfiend,' I can reduce that damage to zero and deal double that amount to you instead!"
"What!?" Luna's eyes widened in horror. She was about to take 6000 points of damage in a single heartbeat. "How... how could I lose like this?" (Luna's LP: 4000 → 0).
The moment the shockwave hit, Luna collapsed, feeling a massive surge of energy drain from her body. Alex rushed to catch her before she hit the ground, looking up in terror at the masked duelist and the dragon looming behind him.
"You're lucky," HellKing said to Luna. "That was only effect damage. If Red Dragon had finished you himself, you wouldn't even be able to stand. By the way... look at this."
He pulled a stack of fourteen cards from his back pocket. Luna gasped—they were fourteen different Synchro Monsters, all powerful dragons, versions and evolutions of his ace, including the legendary Red Nova Dragon.
"What is the meaning of this!?" Luna cried out.
"His Extra Deck only had one card during the duel," Alex whispered, swallowing hard. "He only used one Red Dragon Archfiend. To have all those other monsters and not even use them... that's insane."
"I have no need for other cards to defeat amateurs," the masked man said, turning away. "Red Dragon is enough. It has always been this way—him and I against the world."
As he walked into the distance, he pulled out his monster card and looked at it, whispering softly: "Soon, my friend. We will be free to fight the way we used to."
Later, Leo rushed into the infirmary, summoned by Alex, and hurried to Luna's bedside.
"What happened?" he asked, out of breath.
"I lost. That's what happened," Luna snapped. "I tried your 'story' nonsense and it didn't work."
"Don't be too hard on her," Alex said quietly. "She's just upset because she lost and ended up here."
"But that's not how a deck works," Leo insisted. "You have to feel a connection with your cards. Only then does the story truly make sense."
"Spoken like someone who loses every single match," Luna retorted, clearly annoyed.
"That's not going to last forever," Leo said with a bright, confident grin. "There will come a time when I won't lose anymore."
"I'll believe it when I see it," Luna muttered.
"You really are impossible to understand," Alex added, shaking his head.