"AND THE NEXT TWO CONTESTANTS WHO HAVE MET THEIR OPPONENTS ARE…" Mr. Heartland declared dramatically as the giant screens on the middle of the stadium flickered for a brief moment, changing the shown image from a closeup on Yuuna on her victory against Shark on a space-like field.
And taking a drastic shift as the scenery took a complete change, switching from outer space into a luscious green sea of trees, on which two of the four duelists who have not yet been shown were standing face to face against one another.
"Heartland Academy's very own Shun Kurosaki!" And upon the man's declaration, the multitude of screens on the stadium focused and increased the image of Shun, dressed in a relatively casual look as he stood at the ready in front of his opponent.
"And facing against him is none other than the other mysterious contestant of the World Duel Carnival-" And with a flicker, the screen switched yet again. "The masked duelist, Tron!" And focused right on the face of the metal masked duelist, the right half of his smile showed as it was not hidden under his mysterious metal mask.
"Oh so that's where Shun got to huh." Allen spoke as he sat straighter on his seat, fingers gripping the arms of his chair a bit tighter. "Alright! You can do this Shun! Just beat that kid and go to the semi finals!"
"Tron…" Serena muttered the boy's name as she saw the duelist stand leisurely in contrast to Shun's own form that was wary. "He's dangerous. I can't tell how the duel is going to go down. But Shun'll give up a good fight I'm sure of it."
"Um, then this means that Ruri is going to go against Kaito right?" Sayaka nervously added, making the others turn towards her. "They're the only two that haven't shown up just yet so…"
A brief silence befell the group as they digested the implication of that statement, and the twin tailed silver haired girl nodded her head. "That'll be a match. I know that Kaito-san is strong and all but Ruri-san is…" Myu trailed off, being the one that was least familiar with the purple haired girl in question, she could only assume that the more famous Kaito would be more favoured in the upcoming duel.
"Ruri will win that duel. I know that for sure." Yet in spite of that, Serena's bold declaration came much to the trio's shock as they turned to the ponytailed girl.
"Humuhumu! That's right! I bet that if you see Ruri duel now, you'll all be surprised with how good she is now!" Mei said smugly as she crossed her hands in front of her. And that look on her face softened slightly as she spoke with confidence. "She was the one that beat the both of us after all. Like Serena, I'm sure that she's going to give Kaito a run for her money."
After finishing that line, the purple haired girl shook her head as she returned to the duel shown in front of them. "But they haven't met each other yet it seems. Did they purposely make it so that each duel is going to play one after the other?"
"Well either way, Shun's duel comes first then. Let's all cheer for him so that he will win!"
"Yeah!" "Yes!" "Alright" And following everyone's declaration, they all turned and watched the duel unfold before them.
-
"Hello there! You must be… Kurosaki Shun-kun was it?" The metal masked boy said with a wave, tilting his head ever so slightly as he greeted the seemingly older teen with a wide smile, of which only half could be seen as it was hidden under the metal mask that he wore.
"And you're Tron, is that right? That mask of yours is quite distinct." The teal haired teen spoke evenly, his eyes locked in against the boy's singular visible eye. "Then I suppose we will duel then." He spoke out as he reached out with his left hand, activating his duel blade, letting the purple holographic projection manifest from his duel disk.
"Oh? What's this? We're just immediately going at it?" Tron said after a blink pressing a hand in front of his mouth. "No preamble? No pre duel banter? We're just immediately going to go at it?"
"What need is there?" The teen asked with a raised eyebrow. "The both of us are here to win aren't we? Then if that's the case then I won't waste anymore of our time with something as useless as that."
"Hm~ Is that so~?" Receiving his opponent serious answer, the metal masked duelist hummed, his one visible eye narrowing ever so slightly while the other hidden behind a red lens shone.
"Then I suppose it can't be helped~" The boy spoke in a sing song tone as he flourished his left hand, twisting his arm and snapping his fingers as his specially made ornamented duel disk manifested its sharp circular duel blade into existence.
"Then let's begin." Shun said as he leaned forward.
"Let's-" Tron spoke as he leaned back with a confident smile.
""DUEL!!""
Tron: 4000LP
Shun Kurosaki: 4000LP
"I suppose I will go first then." The masked boy said with his half visible smile, taking the first turn and forgoing the draw. The metal mask wearing boy's one visible eye glanced down to the cards in his hand before glancing back up to his opponent.
"Hm. Now then, what to do, what to do." The pale blonde haired boy hummed to himself, idly tapping the metal chin of his mask.
And as he took his time, his opponent certainly took offense to that. "If you're not going to do anything then just end your turn!" The midnight green haired teen said with a hiss. "I don't have time to deal with you. I have someone else that I have to defeat!"
"Oh my how scary! And you hold a grudge too!" Tron physically recoiled, pulling both hands close to his chest in mock fear. "But huh? What's this? Someone that you want to defeat?" He then said after visibly blinking a handful of times, humming as he tapped his mask's metal chin yet again.
"Well let's see here…one is your sister, one is your friend, two is an unknown, and I'm not it, so that leaves…" Pulling his fingers one after another, Tron visibly counted the number of other contestants that were in the tournament as his right eye went wide.
"Oh! I get it! You want to duel against Kaito-kun don't you!" He gleefully said while pointing towards his primly dressed opponent
"!" Shun gasps at his opponent's sharp wit, managing to deduce the opponent that he truly wanted to face. "How did you-!"
"Oh it's obvious! Really really obvious! You really need to just pick out which one isn't and the one that is is so obvious!" The boy giggled to himself, eyes crinkling with mischief as he took in the look of his opponent's face.
"But I guess you're right! There isn't a use to make this game longer than it should be, right?" He said, picking up a card from his duel disk's card holder and revealing it for him to see. "Then I suppose I should start! I will normal summon Heraldic Beast Basilisk!"
Placing the card onto his jagged and bladed duel blade, the winged beast appeared onto the field after a flash of light, opening its giant maw and letting out a roar as it flapped its leathery wings upon arrival.
Heraldic Beast Basilisk - Earth/Beast/Level 4/Effect: 1000/1400
"Now then, what's next, what's next. This will work." And after what seems to be a brief moment of deliberation, Tron pulled out yet another card that he then played on his duel blade. "The Spell, Xyz Reception. Which lets me target one face-up monster I control that has a Level, and special summon a monster with the same Level as that monster from my hand, but its effects are negated and its attack and defence become 0!"
With his opponent's eyes focusing entirely on him, Tron gave him his best smile as he pulled another card from his hand while pointing towards his monster. "I will target the Level 4 Heraldic Beast Basilisk, and special summon another Level 4 monster from my hand!"
With a smile, the braided boy raised the card high and placed it onto his duel blade. "Appear! Heraldic Beast Unicorn!" And right beside his winged dragon-like monster appeared a white horse, adorned with black armor with yellow markings, the horn atop of its head glistening under the artificial light coming in between the trees.
Heraldic Beast Unicorn - Light/Beast/Level 4/Effect: 1100/1600
Then as it was summoned through the Spell's effect, both its attack and defence were reduced to zero, along with the unicorn's effects being negated while on the field.
Heraldic Beast Unicorn - Light/Beast/Level 4/Effect: 0/0
"Another Level 4!" Shun said as he raised his duel disk to his chest. "So that's the kind of deck you're playing!"
"Fufu, I wouldn't say that this early. Who knows what kind of gimmick my deck has." Tron giggled as he spoke with a sly smile, before raising his hand and making another declaration.
"I will take the Level 4 Heraldic Beast Basilisk and the Level 4 Heraldic Beast Unicorn, and overlay them both!" Both monsters let out their respective cries as the basilisk and unicorn morphed Into shining brown and yellow beams of light, circling each other while a gigantic vortex appeared right in front of Tron.
"With these two monsters, I will construct the overlay network!" And with those words the pair of pillars of lights moved and swerved to enter the vortex, creating a giant explosion of light.
"XYZ Summon!" Tron shouted with glee as he threw his right hand forward, balling it onto a fist as a shining purple crest appeared on the back of his gloves. "Appear! Number 18!" And from the giant vortex emerged a new monster.
From the giant pillar of light that slowly receded, the monster's form soon was revealed. With a crimson shining core that floated right in the air, encompassed in a crystal-like growth that took the form similar to that of a crest, a large sharp wing floated right around it with a shining numeral 18, all while two shining golden orbs spinning around it.
Number 18: Heraldry Patriarch - Light/Psychic/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2200/2200 OV: 2
"A Number Monster!" The dark green haired teen hissed upon seeing the newly summoned XYZ Monster, noting the prominent naming scheme that it possessed.
"Oh? You're familiar with them? Well I suppose that if you got this far then you would have met quite a few of them, hm?" Tron hummed as his one visible eye narrowed, before he chuckled and raised another card.
"Well then, I will set two cards face-down. And end my turn." And with that Tron quickly finished his turn. Ending on a board with a single XYZ Monster and a pair of backrow. Using all of his resources to create his board as he then ended his turn.
-
"Well that's… something I guess." Allen couldn't help but say as he watched the masked boy end his turn. His face says it all, compared to the previous duel that they had watched mere moments ago, the start was incredibly lackluster.
"He did end up summoning an XYZ Monster, and he does have a pair of set cards in his Spell and Trap zone, which is certainly something but…" Myu agreed with him as she trailed off, sharing the same feelings in regards to the duel's start.
"Yeah compared to Shark and Yuuna that came before him, it's really underwhelming isn't it?" The purple haired girl couldn't help but chuckle, with Sayaka sharing Mei's sentiments with a nod.
"Yeah." The glasses wearing girl said before she then continued. "But then again that's great! That means that Shun-san can easily beat him!"
-
"Then it's my turn! I draw!" The dark green haired teen shouted as he drew his card for turn, starting out with six cards in his hand to attempt breaking his opponent's board. For a brief moment, the teen pondered as he eyed his opponent's monster.
'Number Monsters can't be destroyed in battle except against another Number Monster.' He thought for a brief moment as he eyed the horse-like XYZ Monster on his opponent's side of the field. 'Which means that I have to play around it just like I had the last few.'
Because Tron's hypothesis was indeed correct, like every other finalist of the World Duel Carnival, Shun had indeed met against a handful of Numbers users. The fact that he was standing here facing Tron said all that needed to be said for the result of those duels.
'I won't lose. I will meet with Kaito and give him a piece of my mind!' With his determination set, Shun roared out, "I won't let anyone stand in my way! I'll start with this! I normal summon a monster!" And proceeded to slam a card into his shining purple duel blade.
The card that he placed took the form of a monster that manifested right in front of him through the duel disk's solid vision technology. Taking the form of a blue winged metallic bird, flying in the air in front of its summoner along with multiple flying blade-like feathers.
Raidraptor - Tribute Lanius - Dark/Winged Beast/Level 4/Effect: 1800/400
"And I will activate Tribute Lanius' effect!" He shouted as he swung his hand to the side. "During my Main Phase, if this card was normal or special summoned this turn, I can send one 'Raidraptor' card from my deck to the graveyard!"
"Hm? Ah I see. You're setting up your graveyard, is that it?" The masked teen hummed as he watched his opponent reveal a card that he took from his deck.
"I will send the Continuous Trap, Raidraptor - Chain Lock from my deck to the graveyard!" Shun declared as he inserted the card that he was showing into his duel disk's graveyard slot.
But he was nowhere done of course, he was simply just starting. "Then from my hand, I will activate the effect of Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius!" He shouted, revealing yet another card, this one being the one in his hand.
"If I control a 'Raidraptor' monster other than Fuzzy Lanius, I can special summon this card from my hand!" He shouted the monster's activated effect in his hand, and the purple metallic winged beast manifested on the field with a cry right next to its brethren.
Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius - Dark/Winged Beast/Level 4/Effect: 500/1500
"Ah, and here you are doing the same aren't you." Tron chuckled, his smile ever present. "It seems you're playing a deck revolving around Level 4 monsters as well."
"I won't be so sure about that," Shun said with a smirk, revealing another card in his hand. "Because next I will use the effect of Raidraptor - Heel Eagle! If all monsters that I control are 'Raidraptor' monsters, I can special summon this card from my hand!"
With the monster's effect resolving, Shun placed the card into his duel blade, and with it a smaller purple metallic-winged winged beast monster appeared and let out a shrill cry, flapping its wings upon arrival.
Raidraptor - Heel Eagle - Dark/Winged Beast/Level 3/Effect: 500/1500
"A Level 3?" Tron scrunched his one visible eye, the smile which was only half revealed turning slightly into a frown. "Oh so you're playing a mixed sort of deck are you? That certainly makes things interesting."
"Then I will use this! The Spell, Raidraptor - Sanctuary!" The dark green haired teen shouted, not losing a single beat as he played another card from his three remaining cards, the light green bordered card's holographic projection materializing before him and having its art shining brightly on the field.
"If I control three or more face-up 'Raidraptor' monsters, Raidraptor - Sanctuary allows me to draw two cards!" Shun roared out, and Tron's one visible eye widened in surprise.
"Wha-?! So that's why you haven't XYZ Summoned yet!"
"I will draw two more cards!" The casual dressed teen roared as he drew two additional cards, going back up to four cards in his hand. Briefly glancing towards the cards that he had just drawn, Shun then waved his hand forwards.
"Then I will take the Level 4 Raidraptor - Tribute Lanius and the Level 4 Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius, and overlay both of them!" He shouted as both monsters let out a shrill cry, their bodies shining and turning into glowing purple pillars of light.
And Shun then began to chant as he raised his hands, all while a large gold and black vortex appeared between them, bringing more light into the dimly lit forest. "Avian hunter of the afterlife, seek the truth with your dark eyes, and grasp glory with your sharp talons!"
With the chant reaching its apex, he brought his hand down and roared. "XYZ Summon!" He called out, the two purple lines criss crossing one another as they entered the chaotic vortex, and exploded into a blinding pillar of light. "Take flight! Raidraptor - Force Strix!"
And the owl-like mechanical Winged Beast then graced the field emerging from the vortex of energy, spreading its brown segmented wings wide as it glided in front of its summoner protectively in defence position, two glowing purple orbs orbiting it.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/Winged Beast/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 100/2000 OV: 2
"An XYZ Monster! I knew it!" Tron shouted with a grin as he saw Shun summon forth his monster, before tilting his head slightly to the side. "Although it's not a Number Monster is it? Then it won't be able to stand against my monster you know~"
"Shut up! Force Strix gains 500 attack and defence for each other Winged Beast that I control! So with Heel Eagle on the field, it gains 500 attack and defence!" He shouted as the defending metallic winged beast shone with a dark purple aura.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/Winged Beast/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 600/2500 OV: 2
"Now Force Strix's effect! Once per turn, I can detach one material from this card to add one Level 4 Dark Winged Beast monster from my deck to my hand!" The teal haired duelist said in quick succession, immediately activating his XYZ Monster's effect as soon as it was summoned, the monster absorbing one of its shining purple orbs into itself to activate its effect.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/Winged Beast/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 600/2500 OV: 1
"I will add Raidraptor - Vanishing Lanius from my deck to my hand!" He said, shuffling the card into his now five card hand. "And then the effect of Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius in my graveyard activates!" He declared, waving his hand forwards as he continued on.
"Fuzzy Lanius? Ah I see, the one that you detached." Tron nodded as he glanced towards the missing XYZ unit of his opponent's monster.
"If this card is sent to the graveyard, I can add another 'Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius' from my deck to my hand!" He shouted, revealing the second copy of the card as he then shuffled it along with the other cards in his hand.
"Um. Hey now. Don't you have way too many cards?" Tron pointed out as he idly raised his right hand to point towards the six cards that Shun had in his hand. "I had to use all of the cards in my hand to do what I did, you know!" He whined, waving both of his gloved hands to the side to prove his point.
"Tch! You're certainly annoying aren't you!" Shun hissed as he watched his opponent's antics, growing more and more annoyed as he kept doing so. "I will reveal Pain Lanius in my hand and activate its effect!"
As the card was revealed, Shun then began to explain its effect. "If this card is in my hand, I can target one 'Raidraptor' monster that I control that has a Level, take damage equal to its attack or defence points that is lower, and if I do, special summon this card!"
With the monster's in hand effect explained, the teal haired boy moved his hand forwards and pointed towards the monster on his field that still had a Level. "I will target the Level 3 Heel Eagle! And take damage equal to its attack!"
Sparks danced through the teen's duel disk as his monster's effect took place, dealing damage to his own Life Points.
Shun Kurosaki: 3300LP
And then allowed him to summon forth the monster. "I will summon Pain Lanius in defence position!" He said as he placed the card on his duel blade, and the round green and white mechanical Winged Beast then made its way onto the field, being summoned in defence position.
Raidraptor - Pain Lanius - Dark/Winged Beast/Level 1/Effect: 100/100
"And if it's special summoned this way, this card's Level becomes the current Level of the targeted monster! Which means Pain Lanius' Level is now 3!" The newly summoned Winged Beast then glowed, spreading its small wings as it chirped, its Level changing to match that of the target for its effect.
Raidraptor - Pain Lanius - Dark/Winged Beast/Level 3/Effect: 100/100
Then as another Winged Beast appeared onto the field, a purple aura engulfed Force Strix as its stats were yet again increased.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/Winged Beast/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 1100/3000 OV: 1
"Wait, are you serious!? You're going to do another XYZ Summon! This time for a Rank 3!" Tron shouted with wide eyes as he saw his opponent gathered another pair of monsters with the same Level, notably being a Level lower than the one that he had summoned earlier.
"That's right!" The casually dressed teen said with a grin, waving his hand forwards as he shouted. "I will take the Level 3 Raidraptor - Heel Eagle and the Level 3 Raidraptor - Pain Lanius, and overlay them!"
Both the purple mechanical eagle and the round lanius let out their respective shrill cries as both transformed into shining purple pillars of light, while the typical shining black and golden vortex appeared right in front of Shun.
"I will construct the overlay network with these two monsters! XYZ Summon!" With the following chant, the pillars of light twisted and turned as they entered the dimensional vortex, before exploding and creating a blinding pillar of light.
"Descend! Raidraptor - Fiend Eagle!" And appearing with a shrill cry, a larger black and red mechanical avian appeared onto the field. Its wings spread wide as it floated right next beside the other XYZ Monster that he controlled.
Raidraptor - Fiend Eagle - Dark/Winged Beast/XYZ/Rank 3/Effect: 1000/0 OV: 2
Yet as a new avian comrade was summoned onto the field, Force Strix's attack and defence points were lowered with the loss of their numbers.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/Winged Beast/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 600/2500 OV: 1
"Then I will activate its effect!" Shun immediately called out, waving his hand forwards towards his newly summoned XYZ Monster. "Once per turn, I can detach one XYZ Material from this card, then target one face-up special summoned monster that you control, and inflict damage equal to its original attack on the field!"
The black and red mechanical eagle let out its shrill cry as it flapped its wings, one of the two orbiting deep purple orbs that being absorbed into it as a purple aura began to form around its body.
Raidraptor - Fiend Eagle - Dark/Winged Beast/XYZ/Rank 3/Effect: 1000/0 OV: 1
"Wha-! It deals damage equal to the monster's original attack?! Then that means-!" With his head snapping to turn towards the only monster that was on his field.
"I will target that pesky Number Monster of yours! So you will take 2200 damage!" The black and red winged beast flapped its wings as it flew upwards and twisted in the air, launching a wave of darkness that headed towards Tron's XYZ Monster.
"I won't let you! I will activate the Trap, Damage Diet!" The masked boy shouted as he shot his hand forward, flipping one of the two set cards in his Spell and Trap zone up as it's projection shone on the field.
"Damage Diet makes it so that all damage I take this turn is halved! Including your XYZ Monster's effect!" He shouted as he explained the effect of the Trap card whose effect he was chaining, and the effect then resolving as the wave of darkness that Fiend Eagle let out fully hit him/
"Kuh!" Tron hissed as he raised both of his hands in front of him, his braid flowing at his side as the grass and the trees around him shook from the XYZ Monster's effect, his duel disk chiming the ever familiar tune while electricity danced across the length of his arm as his Life Points was lowered.
Tron: 2900LP
"Tch! So you minimized it then." Shun grumbled, as he took another card from his now replenished hand. "Then how about this! I will activate the Spell, Rank-Up-Magic Raid Force!"
With that shout, the well dressed teen slammed the card onto his duel blade, with the Spell's holographic projection shining right in front of him.
"A Rank-Up-Magic?! You're saying that you're doing more?!" Tron couldn't help but complain as he saw the card that his opponent was playing, and his opponent begin to explain its effect.
"Rank-Up-Magic Raid Force lets me target one face-up XYZ Monster that I control, and special summon from my Extra Deck, 1 'Raidraptor' monster that is 1 Rank higher than that target, by using that target as the XYZ Material!" He said, reciting the card's text aloud as he then pointed towards his target.
"I will target the Rank 4 Raidraptor - Force Strix, and use it to reform the overlay network!" With his target declared, the defensive mechanical owl let out its shrill chirp as it swung both of its wings wide. The gigantic black and golden vortex yet again appeared, this time right above the XYZ Monster in the form of a dark cloud, and the giant winged beast transformed into a pillar of black purple light that flew right into it.
"The unseen bold falcon. Reveal your wings' unknown power here and now!" The teal haired teen chanted his summoning chant as he waved his hand upwards, and the black clouds rumbled with thunder. "Rank-Up! XYZ Change!" And then struck down the earth with a blinding pillar of light.
With the chant finishing the pillar of light and thunder transformed into a bright pillar of fire, and Shun called forth his new monster's name. "Come forth! Raidraptor - Stranger Falcon!" And with a beat of its giant bulky wings, the newly reformed XYZ Monster sliced through the pillar of fire, taking forth a new larger form with a maroon and golden colouring. Lines of magenta covering parts of its body shining as it let out a shrill cry, the marking right on its chest shining as it was summoned .
Raidraptor - Stranger Falcon - Dark/Winged Beast/XYZ/Rank 5/Effect: 2000/2000 OV: 2
"A Rank 5 XYZ Rank-Up! How amazing!" Tron couldn't help but cry out as his eyes twinkled at the monster's regal appearance. "But." He said again as his visible eye narrowed. "You should already know that only a Number Monster can defeat a Number Monster shouldn't you? So what exactly are you planning Shun-kun?"
"Hmph. That's exactly what I'm planning! I will activate Stranger Falcon's effect!" He shouted as the monster let out a loud chirping cry, fire forming from what seems to be the exhausts on its back.
"If Stranger Falcon has an XYZ Monster as an XYZ Material, once per turn; I can detach one XYZ Material from this card, to target one monster that you control, destroy it, and if I do, inflict damage to you equal to its original attack!"
"What!? Seriously!? Another effect that deals damage!?" The masked boy cried out as he saw one of the two overlay materials that the gigantic falcon was consumed by the monster's large golden beak, a pair of muzzles appearing right beside the mechanical falcon's head as they charged with energy.
Raidraptor - Stranger Falcon - Dark/Winged Beast/XYZ/Rank 5/Effect: 2000/2000 OV: 1
"I will target Number 18: Heraldry Patriarch, destroy it, and deal damage to you equal to its attack!" He shouted as the XYZ Monster let out another shrill cry, shooting a pair of golden beams down towards the giant floating XYZ Monster on his opponent's side of the field.
"Kuaaaah!" Tron shouted as he was thrown back ever so slightly and landing on his behind on the grassy ground below, the gigantic floating monster that he had being struck by Stranger Falcon's beam of light and creating an explosion that threw him to the ground.
But as his duel disk chimed through the card's effect damage, the masked teen groaned as he start to speak. "Because of Damage Diet, I only take half of the damage." He noted with a wince as his Life Points was lowered even further, but thankfully not yet enough for him to lose the game.
Tron: 1800LP
"Ugh... You-if I didn't have Damage Diet earlier, I would have been toast you know!" The metal masked boy audibly complained, much to his opponent's not apparent frustration.
"A shame. But it ends here!" Shun started to say sarcastically before he shouted as he waved his hand forwards. "Bat-"
"Hey, hey, hey, not so fast." Tron stopped him from moving to the Battle Phase as he began to dust himself off. "I activate the effect of Number 18: Heraldic Patriarch in my graveyard." He said.
"If this card is sent to the graveyard, I can send 2 'Heraldic Beast' monsters from my deck to the graveyard." Tron spoke, explaining the monster's effect as it was sent to the graveyard before taking out a pair of cards that he then revealed to his opponent.
"I will send Heraldic Beast Aberconway and Heraldic Beast Leo from my deck to the graveyard." He said as he then sent the two cards into his specially made duel disk's graveyard slot.
But he wasn't done with triggers just yet however. "And then Heraldic Beast Leo's effect activates. When this card is sent to the graveyard, I get to add one 'Heraldic Beast' monster from my deck to my hand except another 'Heraldic Beast' Leo."
Speaking the monster's effect made the boy's eyes widen, Tron pointing towards his opponent as he happily spoke. "Well what do you know! It's just like your Fuzzy Lanius! Only better! I'll be adding a second Heraldic Beast Aberconway to my hand if you don't mind."
"Tch. annoying. But it won't mean anything if your Life Points are almost nothing!" The teal haired teen shouted as he waved his hand forwards, the outer shirt that he wore flowing behind him as he declared, "Battle! I will attack with Stranger Falcon!"
The newly evolved XYZ Monster spread its wings as the lines on its body shone with energy, it closed both its wings closer onto itself as it formed a giant orb of darkness that pulsated with power, before letting it go to shoot a destructive beam towards his opponent.
Cutting through the grass and making the trees all around them shake from its sheer power, the beam of darkness directly struck his opponent creating a large explosion and a cloud of dust while some of the trees all around his opponent fell from the sheer strength behind the strike.
"The damage is halved by Damage Diet so I won't be able to defeat you this turn." Shun spoke as his hair flowed from the wind of the resulting attack. "But with only a speck of-what?"
Then he noticed as he narrowed his eyes, with the smoke and dust parting and allowing him to see his opponent, he saw that his opponent remained standing still with his ever frustrating smile, while a leathery winged bipedal dragon seemed to stand right in front of him.
"What is this-!"
"The Trap, Heraldry Change." Tron lazily said with a smile as he pointed towards the card in front of him, shining as its effect was activated. "When an opponent's monster declares an attack, Heraldry Change lets me special summon one 'Heraldic Beast' monster from my hand, then end the Battle Phase."
His hand waved forwards towards the red scaled and white armoured dragon that was now in front of him. "I summoned, of course, the Heraldic Beast Aberconway that I had added to my hand. I didn't have any other targets after all." He said as the winged dragon let out a cry in the face of its many opponents.
Heraldic Beast Aberconway - Wind/Dragon/Level 4/Effect: 1800/900
"Tch!" Shun gnashed his teeth as he saw the monster reappear onto the field, glancing down at his duel disk and saw that he had moved forwards to his second Main Phase. Just as Tron had said, the Battle Phase was prematurely ended.
With a click of his tongue at the annoyance that his opponent had not taken more damage than he had expected, the teal haired duelist waved his hand forwards. "Fine! Then I will use Heel Eagle's effect in my graveyard!"
Following that shout, Shun proceeds to explain the card's graveyard effect. "By banishing it from my graveyard, I can target one 'Raidraptor' Spell or Trap in my graveyard, and add it to my hand!"
With that said, a card made its way out of his duel disk's graveyard slot, to which he took and showed to his opponent as the effect resolved. "I will add Raidraptor - Chain Lock that I sent earlier to my hand!"
"So that's why you sent it! I see!" With Tron giving more unneeded commentary that vexed him, Shun took the card and placed it alongside the other four cards that he still had in his hand.
"Then I will set three cards face-down, and end my turn." He said as three face-down cards briefly appeared right before him before fading to obscurity, ending his turn with a pair of XYZ Monsters and three set backrow while leaving a pair of cards in his hand, those being the known Fuzzy Lanius and Vanishing Lanius that he had added earlier in his turn..
-
"AAAAAMAZING! In only a single turn with nothing but effects, the competitor Shun Kurosaki has managed to lower his opponent's Life Points by half!" Mr. Heartland shouted and continued on with the play by play of the duel, all while the audience cheered as the duel continued.
"Great! He's already down by half!" Allen said as he pumped his fist, grinning as he watched Shun's effect damage piling up one after the other. "If this keeps up, Shun can just end it all on the next turn! He'll just need to use those two monsters again and it'll be over!"
"But still, that Tron person…" Myu muttered as she narrowed her eyes, watching the giant screen as it zoomed in on the carefree and ever smiling masked boy. "He doesn't seem like much is he? Even that XYZ Monster that he summoned didn't do much while it was on the field."
"But it did save him didn't it?" Mei interjected as she joined the conversation. "I've dueled with Shun a couple of times, and his strategy usually revolves around attacking multiple monsters at once or doing so directly. With him just summoning one, he had to pivot and go through Stranger Falcon and Fiend Eagle to deal damage. And even then because of Damage Diet, he couldn't finish it in one turn."
"But still, Shun-san is as amazing as always." Sayaka couldn't help but say as she looked up to the teen's stern face as it was shown on the giant hologram at the center of the stadium.
"Yea! It's a shame that he couldn't finish it this turn, but he'll for sure get this all done by the next one!" Allen said with a large grin, while Serena kept her eyes locked into the masked boy. Frowning as she does so.
"I'm not so sure about that."
-
"Well then it's my turn! I draw!" Tron shouted as he drew a card form his special made duel disk, yet right before he could even begin his plays-
"Stop right there! I will activate my two set cards!" His opponent shouted as his hand shot forwards, two of his face-down set cards flipping up as they shone. "The Continuous Traps! Raidraptor - Chain Lock and Raidraptor - Reactor!
"Two of them at once!?" Tron shouted as he grabbed his head with both of his hands in shock, before then pointing towards the leftmost card. "Ah! That's the one that you added earlier! Just what do they do then exactly?"
And the teal haired duelist explained. "Raidraptor - Chain Lock's effect makes it that once per turn, if a monster with higher attack than the total attack of all 'Raidraptor' monsters that I control is summoned to your side of the field, I can target one of those monsters and change its battle position!"
Hearing the explanation from his opponent Tron couldn't help but frown. "Well that certainly sounds annoying. So whatever I summon that's higher than both your monsters combined gets changed to defence then? What a pity. But then I can just change it back on my next turn then."
"You wont get one." His teal haired opponent boldly declared, his hand swiping to gesture towards the other card that he had activated in sequence.
"Because of Raidraptor - Reactor's effect! Once per turn, if the battle position of a monster with higher attack than the total attack of all 'Raidraptor' monster that I control is changed, I can target one of those monsters, destroy it, and if I do, inflict damage to you equal to that destroyed monster's attack!" He roared, all while pointing right towards his metal mask wearing opponent.
"W-whaaaat!?" Tron shouted in shock as his one visible eye went back and took a step back. The boy narrowed his eyes as he processed the information that he had just heard from his opponent. "Right now you have both Fiend Eagle and Stranger Falcon, 1000 and 2000 attack each. So that means if I summon a monster with 3000 attack-"
"Then you're finished." Shun said as both of the monsters on his turn let out their respective shrill cries, spreading their wings as they did so. "With this, no matter what you do, if you were to summon a monster with a higher attack than both of my monsters, you'll lose!"
"He~ so it's just that then." Tron sighed as his shoulders slumped down, his right arm raised and seemingly wiping his metal mask as if he was wiping sweat. "You had me worried for a second. And here I thought that it was something that was actually hard."
The masked boy lowered his body slightly as he narrowed his eyes. "I just need to not summon a monster with that high attack points right? That's super easy for me, you know!" Tron said with his half visible grin.
"But first of all, let's start with this!" Tron said as he waved his hand forwards. "I will use the effect of Heraldic Beast Unicorn in my graveyard!" He shouted with a large smile on his face as he declared the use of his monster's graveyard effect.
"I can banish this card from my graveyard to target one Psychic-Type XYZ Monster in my graveyard, to special summon it!" With that said, the masked boy spread his hands wide as he selected his target.
"My target is, of course, Heraldry Patriarch! So come back my monster!" With the ghostly appearance of the armoured unicorn appearing on the field and shining its golden horn, the gigantic unformed monster returned as it floated ominously in front of its opponent.
Number 18: Heraldry Patriarch - Light/Psychic/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2200/2200 OV: 0
"But sadly if summoned this way Heraldry Patriarch's effects are negated. Such a killjoy right~ but it does fit under your monster lock doesn't it?" Tron said with his ever present smile as he waved towards his monster. "Which means that neither would be able to activate their effects."
Shun merely narrowed his eyes as he watched his opponent. "But as soon as you either summon one that does have a higher attack, or remove one of my monsters, then that situation changes."
"Eh, do you seriously think that I would summon more after I remove your monsters? Ah, you're probably thinking that I would just attack, don't you Shun-kun! You're thinking too highly of me." The masked boy chuckled as he shook his head.
"Oh no, no. Because what I'm doing is this! I activate the Spell, Xyz Treasure Ticket!" Tron shouted with glee as his eyes wrinkled with joy, slamming the card into his circular and lagged duel blade as its holographic projection appeared and shone right in front of him.
"This card lets me target one Rank 4 or lower XYZ monster that I control, and guess what? Let me draw cards equal to its Rank!" He laughed as he explained the card's effect, and took joy at seeing the shock on his opponent's face.
"W-what!?" Shun shouted as both of his eyes went wide as dinner plates. "A card like that exists!?"
"I'll target the Rank 4 Heraldry Patriarch! Which means…" He trailed off for dramatic effect as he then raised both arms and spread them wide. "I get to draw four cards!"
The teal haired teen gritted his teeth as he saw his opponent replenish his hand with what was essentially minimal effort, getting back to four cards in his hand. With a brief glance, a glint passed through Tron's single visible eye, as he then took a card from his new collection.
"Now then, let's see what these cards can do shall we?" He said with a wave of his finger, his right hand hovered towards one of the remaining ones that he had in his hand.
'I suppose I would have to thank you for this shouldn't I, Kamishiro Ryoga.' The masked boy chuckled in his head as he thanked the teen whose face briefly flashed in his head. 'It was only thanks to drawing out that latent power within you that you managed to duel against that mysterious girl to that extent. As I suspected, you certainly had something attached to you from outside of this world.'
His right hand that was hovering over his cards moved towards the left side of his face which was covered by his enormous metal mask as he smirked. 'And it's thanks to that power that you drew forth that I'm able to feel like this, to have anger and malice this pure is quite something isn't it?'
A glance down to the card that his hand had hovered over soon brought his thoughts to an end. 'And it's thanks to the connection that I had with you, I was able to draw forth from that power too. So thank you very kindly, Kamishiro Ryoga-kun.'
"Waiting to fight you early on is the right choice. It's only just now that I'm able to make something like this after all." Tron said as his hand moved, taking the card in question and showing it to his opponent.
"I will activate the Spell, Charge-Up Heraldry!" He shouted as the card's holographic projection appeared right in front of him, shining brightly with light and a hint of something else.
"By tributing one monster, Charged-Up Heraldry lets me special summon two 'Heraldic Beast' monsters from my deck in defence position. But for the rest of this turn, I can't summon monsters from the Extra Deck except Psychic or Machine monsters!"
"I will tribute Number 18: Heraldry Patriarch and summon forth two monsters from my deck!!" With a wave of his hand, the giant floating crest dissolved into glittering particles, and in its place Tron took out a pair of monster cards from his deck to reveal to his opponent.
"Come to me! Heraldic Beast Aberconway! Heraldic Beast Stad Whale!" And placing the cards into his half circular duel blade, and the last copy of the red scaled and white armoured dragon appeared, along with it a large blue and silver armoured whale that seemed to fly in the air as if it was on water.
Heraldic Beast Aberconway - Wind/Dragon/Level 4/Effect: 1800/900
Heraldic Beast Stad Whale - Water/Fish/Level 4/Effect: 900/1900
'Another card that I couldn't have used without that otherworldly power of yours. Ah you were such a useful tool Kamishiro Ryoga.' The masked boy couldn't help but chuckle, thanking the teen for his usefulness is allowing him to create these cards into existence. 'With these cards my revenge is all but assured.'
"That's-! Three Level 4 monsters!?" His teal haired opponent hissed as he saw him summon forth two additional monsters from the deck, making him chuckle aloud this time upon seeing his shocked reaction.
"Oh that's not all of course! I'll use Heraldry Patriarch's effect, and also use Stad Whale's effect!" He flamboyantly threw his hand forward, motioning towards the giant flying whale as it let out its cry while swimming in the air.
"If Stad Whale is normal or special summoned, I can discard one card and add two 'Heraldry' Spell or Traps from my deck to my hand!" He shouted, reading the card's effect aloud to his opponent as he then revealed the card that he would discard for its cost.
"I will discard Heraldic Beast Twin-Headed Eagle, and add to my hand the Quick-Play Spell Flash of Heraldry, and the Counter Trap, Heraldry Record!" Sending the card to his graveyard, Tron then added to his hand the two Heraldry cards to his hand, not forgetting to shuffle the now four card hand that he had.
"And you of course already know Patriarch's effect when it hits the graveyard don't you?" The masked boy said with a grin as he resolved the chain of effects, taking two more cards from his deck. This time to send them to the graveyard instead of adding them to his hand.
"I will send another Heraldic Beast Twin-Headed Eagle, and another Heraldic Beast Leo to my graveyard!" He said with a grin as he threw the two cards down to his grave, before then continuing on a new chain. "And then Leo's effect! I will add a second Heraldic Beast Unicorn to my hand!"
With the new chain of effect resolving, the formal dress wearing boy had managed to return back to five cards in his hand, where he then immediately used one of them. "And I will normal summon it!"
With the newly added card immediately being placed into his duel blade, the mystical armoured unicorn once more appeared onto the field. Letting out a loud neigh as it galloped forth.
Heraldic Beast Unicorn - Light/Beast/Level 4/Effect: 1100/1600
"Four whole monsters!" Shun hissed out, a bead of sweat falling from his temple as he bit his lips. 'Damn it. With four monsters on the field with the same Level, who knows what kind of XYZ Monster he's going to summon!'
Throughout his venture on the World Duel Carnival, Shun had fought against a handful of Number users, and though some were hard fought, his strategy to use his XYZ Monsters' removal effects had allowed him to snatch the victory.
The strategy that he had used this turn was no exception of course, and though his opponent had survived his initial onslaught, he had prepared just enough that he thought would halt his opponent's plays.
But sadly it didn't. He had unfortunately extended a bit too far that the combined attack points of his monsters made it so that his opponent could easily play under it.
Yet it was also a matter of the matchup. For if he had faced against any other of the contestants of the finals barring his own sister, then the lock that he had assembled, along with possibly his first initial volley of card effects, would have allowed him to secure an easy victory.
Such was not the case in this duel. "Now! Let's begin!" His opponent grinned as he waved his hand forwards, motioning towards the pair of red scaled dragons on his field. "I will take the two Level 4 Heraldic Beast Aberconway and overlay them!"
Both dragonic monsters let out their respective roars while they spread their leathery wings wide, their bodies shining and turning into shining green pillars of light while the dimensional vortex appeared right before the metal masked boy.
"With these two monsters, I will construct the overlay network!" Tron gave a simple chant as the two pillars swerved around one another, entering the gigantic vortex. "XYZ Summon!" Then creating a blinding pillar of light,
"Appear! My rage! Sakra Vendirage!" Crawling from the depths of the dimensional vortex, a giant monster appeared onto the field. Its circular head turning along with the many shining mandala's in its back eyeing its opponent, green otherworldly energy seemingly wafting from the monster's orifices along with the two shining purple orbs that orbited it.
Sakra Vendirage - Dark/Psychic/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2000/2500 OV: 2
"T-that-what is that!" The teal haired Heartland Academy student couldn't help but gasp as he faced against Tron's newly summoned monster. Unconsciously taking a step back as he felt the monster's mere presence.
It was wrong. Wrong. The card was something that wasn't meant to exist in this world, at this time, in this dimension. Its existence was as much of a mistake as the Number Monsters that had been spread around all around the city.
"How do you like it? It's quite the card isn't it?" Completely unbothered by the monster's otherworldly presence was his opponent, Shun's head snapping right towards the metal masked boy who was casually smiling.
"It's quite the card isn't it?" His opponent said with a smile as his one visible eye glanced towards the otherworldly monster on his field, while the other crimson lens on his metal mask seemed to shine ominously. "You can say that it's a present. I am still getting more and more surprised at how much power Kamishiro Ryoga truly had."
"Kamishiro Ryoga? Shark? You-!" Shun spoke, confused before his mind managed to connect the dots between his school's infamous delinquent's full name and the nickname that he knew him for, before speaking through gritted teeth as he stood his ground. "What are you! What did you do to him!"
"Oh! So you do know about him! Well that's a given isn't it? You're supposed to have come from the same school." Tron said with glee, clapping his hands in amusement. "But well, you could say that we had some fun together. And he helped me get the cards that I am using now in this duel."
With those words leaving his lips and more questions popping in Shun's mind, his opponent proceeded to continue with the duel as he raised his hand forward. "I will activate Sakra Vendirage's effect!" He shouted as the giant monster seemed to glow with otherworldly power.
"I can detach one material from this card, then target one Level or Rank 4 Psychic monster in my graveyard except another 'Sakra Vendirage' and special summon it!" The metal masked teen explained, as he then swung his extended arm to the side.
"So I will detach one material, and target the Rank 4 Number 18: Heraldry Patriarch!" Tron shouted as his monster grasped one of the two shining dark orbs that orbited the gigantic monster, crushing it in its hand as the otherworldly green aura that surrounded it grew in intensity.
Sakra Vendirage - Dark/Psychic/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2000/2500 OV: 1
"Now return! Heraldry Patriarch!" With a maniacal grin Tron took out the XYZ Monster card from his graveyard slot and slammed it back into his duel blade, and the gigantic floating emblem reappeared onto the field as it arose from a giant black vortex.
Number 18: Heraldry Patriarch - Light/Psychic/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2200/2200 OV: 0
"That monster again!" His opponent hissed after clicking his tongue, but he wasn't as worried as he had been before. 'I don't know what he's planning but I doubt that it'll be anything good. For now that monster is simply a 2200 attack monster that is indestructible by battle, and without any overlay materials it can't do anything. On the next turn I can-'
"Now onto the next one! I will overlay both the Level 4 Heraldic Beast Stad Whale and the Level 4 Heraldic Beast Unicorn!" Both monsters let out their respective cries, flopping in the air and raising their front legs as both transformed into blue and golden pillars of light.
And as the dimensional galactical vortex appeared before him, Tron continued his simple chant. "I will construct the overlay network with these two monsters!" With both pillars entering the shining vortex, it created an explosion of light.
"XYZ Summon!" Tron shouted with glee as he threw his right hand forward, balling it onto a fist as a shining purple crest appeared on the back of his gloves. "Appear! Number 8!" And from the giant vortex emerged a new monster. And that monster took the form similar to that of a giant blank mask with glowing red eyes shining behind black curved slits, with a head of glossy pale blonde hair attached onto it.
"That's! Another one!?" And the monster's form then began to morph right in front of Shun's eyes. Beginning with two pairs of stalk-like legs emerged under it, its hair twisting and morphing at the side of its head and behind it, and an equine-like body coloured blue and orange took form in flashes of glowing light. The numeral 8 shone in purplish energy from the monster's mask.
"Heraldic King Genom-Heritage!" Tron declared the monster's name as it let out a monstrous neigh, raising both of its front legs as its hair was swept with the wind while letting out a loud neigh that echoed throughout the forest.
Number 8: Heraldic King Genom-Heritage - Light/Psychic/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2400/1800 OV: 2
"Three XYZ Monsters!" Shun hissed, facing the brunt of the three monsters' cries as they stood, or floated in Heraldry Patriarch's case, in front of their summoner, boldly facing against Shun's own pair of monsters.
-
"UN.BE.LI.EV.EA.BL.EEEEEEEEEE! CONTESTANT TRON HAS SOMEHOW MANAGED TO TURN! THE! TIDEEEEEEEEEES!" The loud roar of the audience was accompanied by Mr. Heartland's ever boisterous voice resounding throughout the city, the visage of the half masked boy and the three XYZ Monsters on his field brought more excitement than ever before for all who sees.
"Crap he's got three whole XYZ Monsters on the board!? And two of them are Numbers too!" Allen shouted as he held his head in his hand. "What's Shun supposed to do here!?"
"This is… he's way more dangerous than I thought!" Serena hissed as she glared at the close up image of the ever grinning Tron. "First was that Shark person and now him too! Even if I had my-"
"Serena." Mei snapped to the purple haired girl, making her jolt in her seat. "You need to calm down. Much as I hate to admit, there's not much that we can do from over here anyway."
"Mei…" The ponytail haired girl trailed off after saying her name, eventually relenting and letting out a long sigh as she nodded her head. "Yeah. I guess you're right about that. Not much that we can do after all since the duelists can't be contacted while they're down there."
"The venue being underground probably meant that they could put jammers to prevent duelists from knowing what their opponents could do." The purple haired girl nodded. "Though of course it didn't prevent them from researching beforehand."
Saying so, the Fusion Dimension refugee turned towards the member of their group that seemed to be the most knowledgeable. "Sayaka, that IV person, he was really famous wasn't he?"
"H-huh?" Surprised at the question, the glasses-wearing girl scrambled to give the answer. "Y-yes! That's right. IV is…well, was the Asia Champion. He is quite the renowned duelist known all over the world."
"Never heard of em'." Serena grumbled as she crossed her arms, and Mei was quite thankful that her interruption meant she wouldn't need to answer whether or not she's heard of him too.
"Yeah well, knowing the guy now it's probably good that you don't know em' at all." Allen huffed as he crossed his arms, annoyed at the subject of their conversation. "The guy turned out to be a big jerk anyway, glad that Yuto got to stick it to em'!"
"Hush! Tron's doing something!" The silver haired girl hissed as she prompted the others to continue watching the screens, and they returned to focus as they watched the masked duelist continue with his turn.