"Duel!"
Sakaki Yuuya: 4000 LP
Manjoume: 4000 LP
"The first turn is mine. I draw!"
Glancing at his starting hand, Sakaki Yuuya memorized each card, then quickly drew four more cards without hesitation. One by one, he slotted them into his Duel Disk.
"I set one monster face-down, then place three cards face-down in the back row. I end my turn."
Seeing the four card projections appear in front of Yuuya all at once, the surrounding crowd of first-year students couldn't help but gasp in shock.
Whoa there! It's just the first turn, and you're already leaving your opponent completely in the dark! Setting spell and trap cards in the back row is normal, but you even set your monster face-down—how's your opponent supposed to read you at all? That's just savage!
Manjoume glanced at the four set cards in front of Yuuya, frowning slightly as he began his turn.
"My turn. I draw!"
His eyes moved down to scan his starting hand, and a grin slowly formed on Manjoume's face.
As expected of me! I've already drawn the card Professor Chronos gave me in the first turn!
Thinking this, Manjoume pulled out three cards from his hand and, after a brief pause between each, placed them into his Duel Disk one after another:
"First, I Normal Summon V-Tiger Jet in Attack Position!"
A yellow tiger-shaped fighter jet appeared in front of Manjoume. Immediately after, a Continuous Spell card projection rose behind the jet.
"Continuous Spell Frontline Base! Thanks to this card's effect, once per turn, in addition to my normal summon, I can Special Summon one Level 4 or lower Union monster."
"Come on out—W-Wing Catapult!"
With Frontline Base's effect, a blue fighter plane loaded with missiles on both wings appeared on the field.
As soon as W-Wing Catapult appeared, V-Tiger Jet soared up together with it in a spiral motion, starting to dismantle mid-air.
"I banish V-Tiger Jet and W-Wing Catapult from the field to Special Summon the Fusion Monster—VW-Tiger Catapult!"
Like assembling a toy model, the two aircraft deconstructed and recombined into a larger gliding war machine, floating with electromagnetic levitation.
(VW-Tiger Catapult, Level 6, ATK: 2000, DEF: 2100)
"Entering Battle Phase! Attack that set monster—Tiger Catapult, fire your missiles!"
Receiving the command, VW-Tiger Catapult fired two dark gray missiles from the missile bays on its wings, leaving streaks of white smoke in the sky as they homed in on Yuuya's monster—just before impact, a blue-and-white energy shield suddenly appeared, blocking the barrage!
"Trap Card—Destiny Travel! When your opponent declares an attack with a monster, you can negate that attack. In return, the monster being attacked is banished."
Yuuya's only monster on the field was banished, leaving his front row empty.
So he negated my monster's attack? That means the set monster must've had less than 2000 DEF…
Manjoume speculated silently. If the defending monster had 2000 DEF or more, there'd be no reason not to let the attack go through for a potential damage reversal. Therefore, he concluded the set monster's defense was lower than Tiger Catapult's attack.
"I'll set one card face-down and end my turn."
As Manjoume set a card, Yuuya drew from his deck.
"At this moment, Destiny Travel's delayed effect activates! During the Standby Phase of the next turn after this card was activated, I can return the monster that was banished by this card's effect to the field, in the same battle position it had before being banished."
As the card projection of "Destiny Travel" disappeared from the field, the previously face-down banished monster returned to the center Monster Zone in front of You Ye, in the same position as before.
After glancing at the cards he drew this turn, You Ye reached out to the monster card that had just returned from the banished zone.
"Flip Summon — Elemental HERO Clayman."
"Clayman? What a trash monster!"
Seeing the monster's true form revealed through the flip summon, Manjoume sneered in disdain. Although his earlier prediction had been wrong, that didn't stop him from insulting Clayman as a trash monster. And even if he hadn't said it aloud, it was what he truly believed deep down — as long as he didn't say it, who could prove otherwise?
"Clayman is not some trash monster!"
Before the player in question could even respond, Judai — watching the duel from the sidelines — stood up from his seat and shouted in defense of You Ye, who used the same Clayman card as him.
"Hmph!"
With a dismissive snort, Manjoume ignored him completely. Meanwhile, You Ye simply declared the end of his turn.
"Huh? This guy isn't playing any more cards? Then why'd he even flip the monster?"
"Clayman might be considered one of the so-called 'Four Useless Heroes,' but in Defense Position, he still has 2000 DEF — enough that Manjoume's 'Catapult Tiger' can't destroy him. But now, because of the flip summon, he's been switched to face-up Attack Position instead of face-down Defense… I seriously don't get what this red-capped guy is thinking!"
Everyone watching was baffled by You Ye's move — returning a banished monster, flipping it face-up… and then doing nothing else? That was it?
"My turn! Draw!"
Drawing his next card, Manjoume glanced at the illustration, then looked directly at You Ye, whose face was still obscured.
"I don't know what kind of guy you are, but your duel ends here!"
"I activate the Spell Card Pot of Greed to draw two more cards from my Deck… Then I Normal Summon X-Head Cannon in Attack Position!"
After replenishing his hand, Manjoume once again summoned a monster whose name began with a letter — a machine from the "Union" series, just like his earlier V-Tiger Jet. Though X-Head Cannon was technically a Normal Monster, it was still part of the same fusion set.
"Next, I target X-Head Cannon and activate the Spell Card — Fusion Tag!"
The artwork of this card included a military commemorative silver medal, along with Elemental HERO Electrum, showing its link to the Fusion Deck.
"Using Fusion Tag's effect, I reveal the Fusion Monster XYZ-Dragon Cannon from my Extra Deck."
As he spoke, Manjoume took out the Fusion Monster "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" from the Special Card Slot — a section of the Duel Disk opposite the main Deck, which included the Extra Deck and banished zone — and showed it to You Ye.
On the field, after confirming with a nod from You Ye, the targeted X-Head Cannon was slowly enveloped in magical energy and began to transform into the appearance of the revealed Fusion Monster.
"Until the end of this turn, the monster targeted by Fusion Tag — in this case, X-Head Cannon — will have its name treated as XYZ-Dragon Cannon, so long as it's used as Fusion Material."
Glancing at the fully transformed X-Head Cannon, Manjoume continued his turn:
"Now, I banish from the field both the Fusion Monster VW-Tiger Catapult and the renamed X-Head Cannon, which can be treated as XYZ-Dragon Cannon!"
The mechanical monsters, all named with English letters and part of the same archetype, rose into the air and began to disassemble themselves.
"Special Summon — VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!"