"My turn, draw," Kira said. "I activate the Spell Card 'Trade-In'—discard a Level 8 monster from my hand to draw two cards from my deck."
Kira revealed a card.
"I'll discard this Level 8—'Black Luster Soldier.'"
Not the Envoy of the Beginning, but the original Ritual version first used by Yugi Muto.
Naturally, Kira hadn't had this card before; he'd gotten it this trip from the Black Luster Soldier research group at KaibaCorp headquarters.
Tenma's eyelids twitched.
"The legendary warrior?"
But he knew ever since Envoy of the Beginning was developed, it had been seen as Black Luster Soldier's evolved form. The old Ritual version was now more collectible than useful—so what could he do with it now?
"Discard 'Black Luster Soldier' to draw two cards."
Kira drew, then spoke calmly.
"Mr. Tenma, your passion as a duelist has inspired me. Thank you for letting me be the first to face the new form of Barbaros.
As a return gift—"
He slowly drew a card from his hand.
"I'll also show you a never-before-seen new form of Black Luster Soldier."
Everyone was shocked.
A new form of Black Luster Soldier?
Some of the quicker card professors glanced at Mokuba.
KaibaCorp had the top research teams working on this. They'd heard about it.
Did they make a breakthrough?
Mokuba quickly caught on: "You're going to test 'that' here?"
"Yes, I promised the team leader I'd test it in real battle and send back data. There's no better duel or opponent."
"I activate the Spell Card 'Reinforcement of the Army' to add a Level 4 or lower Warrior from my deck to my hand.
I add this card—"
He drew the card.
"Level 4 Warrior—'Beginning Knight.'"
Tenma held his breath.
Just a Level 4 Warrior… but it gave him a bad feeling.
"Then I activate the Ritual Spell 'Super Soldier Synthesis!'"
Kira raised the spell card.
"This card lets me send a LIGHT or DARK monster from my hand to the grave, then send a monster of the opposite attribute from my deck to the grave, to Ritual Summon 'Black Luster Soldier' from hand or graveyard!"
Everyone was shocked.
Pick materials from the deck?
Ritual Summon from the graveyard?
"I send my just-added LIGHT 'Beginning Knight' from hand and DARK 'Evening Twilight Knight' from the deck as materials to Ritual Summon!"
Light and darkness, black and white—the young knights became streams of energy, merging like a whirlpool pouring into the galaxy.
"One soul leads to light, one to darkness—the gates of chaos open—!"
A storm of chaos erupted, sword light splitting the heavens. A pillar of light descended, infinite particles forming the knight's figure amid the maelstrom. The sword cut through the light, and the knight's armor shone like stars.
"—Black Luster Soldier, Summon!"
[Black Luster Soldier, ATK 3000]
The pressure was even greater than Envoy of the Beginning, reminding Tenma of the time when the Gods descended, a storm swirling in the dueling arena.
It felt as if, at the moment Black Luster Soldier appeared, the battlefield belonged to him.
"But even so, his attack is only equal to King Beast," Tenma said. "And he doesn't have any special abilities that can surpass King Beast."
Because everyone knows, Black Luster Soldier is a vanilla—no effect text.
He said this, but inside Tenma felt a faint anticipation.
He could sense something different about this Black Luster Soldier.
"Black Luster Soldier, effect activate!" Kira waved his hand. "Once per turn, banish one monster your opponent controls!"
"NANI!?"
Tenma was shocked.
His face said, "Don't joke with me, I know that card doesn't have an effect!"
Or did it gain effects even though nothing's written?
"Dimensional Slash!"
All watched as Black Luster Soldier's sword cut through, its energy slicing space itself, the massive King Beast sucked into the dimensional rift.
Tenma: "!"
Why?
But he quickly guessed: "Those two Ritual materials…"
He'd thought earlier—they looked like young versions of Black Luster Soldier. There had to be some trick.
"Correct," Kira smiled. "'Beginning Knight's' effect gives the Ritual Summoned Black Luster Soldier an extra effect.
One is 'Dimensional Slash'—once per turn, banish an opponent's monster."
"I see—so it's given Black Luster Soldier an ability like 'Envoy of the Beginning.'"
Tenma smiled faintly.
"But even so, you haven't forgotten, have you?" Tenma reminded. "During 'Exchange' last turn, I took a card from your hand."
Kira nodded. "Kiteroid—discard to make direct attack damage zero. In the graveyard, it can nullify one direct attack."
"Right," Tenma smiled. "How will you break your barrier?"
Kira smiled.
"Black Luster Soldier, activate another effect."
Tenma was shocked.
Your vanilla has a second effect?
He quickly realized—
"The other Ritual material just now…"
"Correct. When 'Evening Twilight Knight' is used as Ritual material, Black Luster Soldier gains another effect," Kira said. "Once per turn, randomly banish one card from your opponent's hand until the end of their next turn!"
Tenma: "!"
Such a powerful effect!
"You only have one card in hand, so it must be 'Kiteroid,'" Kira said. "So, I banish 'Kiteroid'!
Twilight Dimensional Slash!"
The sword's light and darkness swept out, this time targeting a hand card! The sword light flashed, and Tenma's Kiteroid vanished, banished to another dimension.
"Battle Phase."
Kira commanded.
"Black Luster Soldier, direct attack on Mr. Tenma!"
Black Luster Soldier leaped, his sword of light and darkness transforming into thousands of blades that rained down like a storm.
Tenma looked up at the shining knight—the dazzling swordstorm mesmerized him.
"So this is Black Luster Soldier's new evolution…"
[Tenma, LP 500 → LP 0]
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