-
"Ladies and gentlemen are you reaaaaaaaaddddyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!"
The screams that roared throughout the Heartland Stadium matched Mr. Heartland's enthusiasm, and why wouldn't it?
"In just a few short duels, we now stand at the precipice, to decide who will become THE GREATEST DUELIST OF THEM ALL!" The ever eccentric man twriled in his floating platform, spinning in place and spreading his arms wide.
"AND HERE. ARE. YOUR. FOUR. FINALIIIIIIIST!" Raising his hand, four giant projections manifested at his call.
"With a stellar record, he stands as one of the few students to have entered the World Duel Carnival! Having bested the famous Asia Champion, he continues forward to reach the top! The upstanding black knight, it'sssss YUUUUUUTOOOOOOOO!"
And behind him showed the zoomed in image of the purple and black haired teen, showing him in multiple angles as he dueled throughout the tournament. Showing the teen dueling against many duelists in multiple angles.
"Yeah! Go Yuto!" Allen shouted as he threw his hands up, a sentiment followed by others watching.
"And who would have thought that we would be getting another Heartland Dueling School student as our top four finalist! With her monster, she flew all the way to the semi finals! RURI KUROSAKIIIIIII!"
Once more the image behind him changed, this time it showed a long raven haired girl. Dueling against multiple duelists, and one against her fellow World Duel Carnival finalist.
"Go Ruri!" Not wanting to be outdone, Mei did the same as Allen and cheered as soon as her friend was shown on the giant screen.
"Next up is the mysterious masked boy! Anything and everything about him is shrouded in mystery! He had dominated all of his duels with ease! The metal masked duelist, TROOOOOON!"
And again, the screen showed the declared duelist, showing the half metal mask wearing boy. Unlike the other duelists so far, the images shown in his duels were sparse. Only showing the duel he had earlier during the quarter finals.
This time however, the group didn't cheer, even if many others in the stadium did. The duel against Shun was still very much fresh on their minds. And they didn't want to cheer for someone who had beaten their friend like that.
"And now, with an incredible record of 100 wins during the preliminaries, the duelist who entered the finals as the top challenger of the World Duel Carnival! THE MAJESTIC RED HAAAAAAAAAAT!"
Different from the others, the images that were shown this time were numerous. Each and everyone of them showing the duelist covered head to toe in red. Showing how they dueled against multiple opponents at once, multiple times even.
Cheers erupted among the crowds watching the replays. Many filled with awe at the sheer amount of duels that were shown. Hearing it was one thing, yet seeing the compilation shown before them revealed the sheer scale on those numbers.
"W-woah. I know that she placed first but this is… dang." The brown poncho wearing boy said with his mouth agape.
"Huhu, that's Yuuna for you." Mei said with her hands on her hips. Raising her head with a big smile on her face. "Beating 100 duelists like that is easy for her!"
"Amazing." Myu said quietly in awe, Sayaka too shared the same sentiment as she watched silently, though for her case she was simply lost for words.
"And now, we will see who among these four duelist would be crowned as the new champion of the WORLD DUEL CARNIVAAAAAAAL!" Mr. Heartland shouted. "Let's find out by watching the next DUEEEEEL!"
The cheers resounded throughout the city as the next duel began to be shown on screen.
-
Head turning left and right, there was nothing else that Yuto could do but look in wonder at the stage that was set for his next match.
"This place… is incredible." The words that left his lips were filled with awe, the grand factory that seemed to actually work in creating gigantic dragon-like planes. The sounds of giant machinery, of torch welding metal, of gears spinning in unison.
"Is this… an actual factory? DId they make something this large under the stadium?" Yuto couldn't help but wonder. With every step, his foot hits the metal floor below, and the sound it makes reverberates throughout the entire facility.
"No, wait, is this all… solid vision?" And his mind immediately wandered to the image of his class' teacher, Sakaki Sensei using the miniature version of a solid vision projector in his personal duel disk, one that had taken Heartland by storm and quickly implemented into duel disks all around the globe.
He'd shown how he was able to stand on a projection then, flying along with his monster. It was an impressive sight that still wouldn't leave his mind even now.
"Then that lava stage too, was that all solid vision as well?" He couldn't help but ask himself, if this was the kind of stage that they set up for just one of the matches, what did the other stages look like? What would the final stage look like?.
"My oh my! Look what the cat dragged in!"
The voice, childish and full of whimsy, brought him to heel. Stopping his brief exploration of the giant factory, he turned his head around to find who spoke.
"Up here dummy!" The voice giggled, and he arched his head upwards to see the shortest competitors if the finals looking down on him while sitting on a beam. His legs dangling as he kicked idly, half of his smile hidden by the metal mask that he wore.
"You're... Tron?" He tried to remember the name of the unknown duelist before him. Unlike most of them who he knew personally, and IV who he fought earlier being a well renowned duelist, he knew nothing about the duelist who he was facing.
"Haha, you remembered! Why I'm so honored to have one of Heartland Duel Academy's best student to remember my name." The boy said as his one visible eye curved, clapping his hands.
His posture was lax, his tone and voice were high pitched and full of energy like anyone his age should be.
But somehow... somehow Yuto couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. That this boy before him, who seemed younger than he was, was dangerous.
There was something unnerving about him. He felt it deep in his soul, and the fact that he'd made it this far clearly showed that he wasn't just all talk.
"But still, I bet this was a surprise for you wasn't it?" The boy giggled again, uselessly hiding the half visible smile on his masked face with a gloved hand.
"A surprise?" He supposed that finding him as an opponent would count as a surprise
"I mean, it actually looked like almost all of the finalists knew each other! Everyone but me! That made me feel a bit lonely!" Tron said with a sniff, cradling his head in his hands as his shoulders shook.
"I-"
"Ah, but that wasn't the surprise I was talking about, alright?" The hands parted, the boy's face a picture of complete innocence. "I mean, you probably thought that you'll have to fight against one of your friends, right?"
He couldn't exactly deny that. After all, against all the odds, the roster of finalists somehow consisted of his closest friends and people that he knew.
With him dueling against IV, the chance of him coming to face against another person that he wasn't at the very least an acquaintance was low.
But here he was, stuck in a large decorated duel room and pitted against the one duelist that he knew nothing about.
"but doesn't that just bring up the question, if you aren't dueling against them..." The boy tapped his metal mask idly, dragging the question out as his half visible smile grew and grew.
"just whaaaaaat happened to them I wonder~!" He laughed, his high pitched laugh echoing throughout the soulless factory.
The sense of unease bubbled further and further, and with the words that tron just spoke so did a mounting feeling of dread. "What do you mean?"
The boy giggled, hands once again failing to hide his ear to ear smile as his shoulders shook, until it devolved into a full-blown laugh that had him holding his stomach.
"Ha! Hahahaha! Your face! Ah, the look on your face is just too funny!" The masked boy trashed around, legs kicking into the air as his whole body shook with glee.
He'd be annoyed, no he was actually annoyed at his opponent's demeanor, if he wasn't also worried about the boy who was shaking while sitting at the edge of a girder several meters off the ground.
With his body constantly shaking and his legs repeatedly kicking up and down, it was inevitable that the metal masked boy eventually slipped off of the girder he was sitting on. Falling head first into the ground below.
"Watch ou-!" He dashed forwards to try and catch him.
Only for the spin in mid air, landing on the ground on his feet before he kicked off and rolled to disperse his momentum. Finishing his theatrical fall with a light skip before coming to a full stop.
He, on the other hand, kept himself from stumbling as he took a sudden stop. Though he was inwardly glad that his opponent was safe, he still gave the boy a look.
"That was-"
"Oh don't worry, that was completely safe! I had it all under control~" The boy giggled just like before, but for a brief moment, his eyes seemed different. A dull glaze that searched for something far away.
"Even after that taunt you still went and reached out huh?"
"Huh?" The boy seemed to whisper something, but with the sudden distance and the his slowly steadying heart beat after the stunt he just pulled, Yuto couldn't hear it.
In a moment, whatever it was that flashed in his eyes disappeared. Crinkling into the same amused look as he looked back at him. "Oh I was just wondering how lucky he was to have a friend like you! Now if only he had your demeanor, he might have lasted longer!"
"Tron, who are you talking about?" Yuto felt as if he knew the answer to his own question, much to his own mounting dread.
Tron giggled, amused by his reaction, something that he seemed to do quite a lot. "Oh, I don't know~ should I tell you~?" The metal mask wearing boy tapped his chin, head tilting up to look him straight in the eye, yet he can still tell how condescending he was being.
He didn't ask twice, simply frowned as he narrowed his glare.
"Oh, well if you look at me like that, I suppose I should!" The boy said cheerfully. "You see, my previous opponent was very mean! He had no manners at all!"
The masked boy huffed, crossing his arms and turning his head to the side. "I mean really! He wasn't even looking at me! Instead, he focused on a different opponent that he wanted to duel."
A smirk soon returned on his face. "But well, I guess he'll never be able to do that now I guess! I mean, he lost after all." He snorted, giggling at his own joke.
"Honestly, his plays were half baked. His strategy was all over the place. It was a real disappointment." The boy let out insults with the attitude as if he was talking about the weather.
"Tron." The earlier question about his friends.
"Honestly, it made me wonder how he got this far! I bet he was just lucky enough to find easy opponents to beat up."
"Tron." He was singled out, no, they all were. It was clear from the start how close they were. Mr. Heartland's introduction also added to that.
"But I suppose, in the end of the day, his sub par dueling skills and his determination can only take him this far. Props to him I suppose! It's definitely the farthest someone as weak as him could ever go!"
"Tron." He was just trying to get under his skin. Trying to get a rise on him so that he couldn't focus on the duel.
"But oh well, what can you do?" Tron shook his head as he shrugged his shoulders. "I guess it could be appropriate to even call him a third rate duelist with a fourth rate strategy. With a showing like that, anyone would be embarrassed to call him a friend or fa-"
And it worked.
"Enough!" He roared, teeth grinding as he balled his hands into fists. "I won't let you slander Shun's honor as a duelist any longer!" With a flick, his duel blade manifested.
Talking to the boy, no, the dishonorable duelist in front of him talk was a mistake. A mistake that Yuto would no longer fall for.
"Oh? And how did you know I was talking about him, hmm~?" The boy tilted his head, a mocking wicked smile on the half of his face that was seen by the world.
Tron mock gasped. "Oh! Could it be, that you were actually thinking the same thing all this time? Is that how you managed to guess who I was talking about?"
His lips moved, his mouth almost opening to give an immediate retort to protect his honor, but he managed to stop himself.
Even if he were to try and retort, to form an argument to counter Tron's, it would undoubtedly do nothing. Chances are, Tron would find a way to spin it in on itself just like he did just now.
Words would not do anything against the likes of him. Only action would.
And in lieu of violence, he would defend his friend's honor in dueling.
"Giving me the silent treatment? Well, you might just be smarter than your friend." The boy hummed, holding his hand outwards, duel blade coming into life.
"But let's see how long that lasts shall we?"
-
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN HERE COMES THE FIRST DUEL OF THE SEMI FIIIIINAAAAAAAALS!" Mr. Heartland shouted, twirling in his floating platform as the many giant screens flickered, and when they came into view, two duelists could be seen facing against one another.
"We have the enigmatic, mysterious, and most of all dominant masked duelist TROOOOOOON!" The flamboyant man called out as the metal masked duelist came in center.
"And the one facing him, the student from Heartland Dueling School who managed to make it past the quarter finals! The calm and collected knightly duelist YUTOOOOOO!" While facing him was none other than Yuto, glaring at the opponent in a way none had seen before.
"Yuto's up next? And it's against that Tron guy?" Allen said as he saw the screen showed the two. "Alright! Beat him up Yuto!"
"That guy… he's kinda scary." Myu muttered as she saw the giant screen showed the boy in question. "I hope that Yuto-san wins too. What he did to Shun-san was…"
"I-I just hopes that everything goes okay…" Sayaka gulped while watching nervously.
"I'm sure it will." Mei assured them, followed by Serena who agreed as she nodded her head. "Yuto's strong after all."
-
""DUEL!!""
Tron: 4000LP
Yuto: 4000LP
"Well since you seem to be a biiit hot headed right now, I'll do you a favour and take first." The boy said with a sickly sweet smile, taking the first turn all for himself.
That's fine with him, going second was also something that Yuto was capable of.
"But first off, this place is a bit too dreary for my taste, so why don't we change it up!" Taking a card from his hand, Tron raised it above his head.
"I will activate the Field Spell, Augmented Heraldy!" And brought it down onto his duel blade, a wave of energy pulsing from him to fill the entire field.
"Ugh!" He held out both arms and steadied his feet as he felt the world shift, light coming from the ground made him look down.
And he saw a giant sigil, a crest of some kind that shone an ominous bright red. Growing bigger and bigger as it engulfed the whole mechanical factory.
A different source of light caught his eye, up behind his opponent a shining figure forming tendrils of energy that surrounded them. Engulfing the space in a dome made of golden lines and crests.
It was all mere solid vision, yet just like the boy before him, he couldn't help the unease that grew in him as the crimson crest glowed below his feet.
"Be glad okaaaay~ I didn't even bother to use this against that friend of yours. He didn't seem like much, and I was right about that!" Tron beamed. "With Augmented Heraldry on the field, Psychic Type XYZ Monsters on the field can't be targeted by Spell or Trap effects. Both your or mine." His opponent explained with a spell.
"In addition, it also has another effect which I will use right now!" Tron said, raising his hand as the golden thing that floated over their head shone ever brighter.
"Once per turn, I can discard one 'Heraldic Beast' monster, to add one 'Heraldry' Spell or Trap card from my hand except another copy of Augmented Heraldry!" He explained.
"But I can't normal or special summon monsters during the turn I activate this effect except Psychic Type XYZ Monsters and 'Heraldic Beasts' even if this card leaves the field. Honestly, the restriction is a bit harsh with this card, don't you think so?"
Yuto did not answer back, simply kept his gaze clear on his opponent, assessing the new information. He hadn't heard of Heraldic Beasts before, but not knowing your opponent's deck was par for the course.
He unfortunately know little about Psychics as a monster type. Yuto vaguely remembered that someone from Diamond used Psychics, and he paid Life Points to activate their effects?
But they were clearly not these Heraldic Beasts that his opponent played. So the way they work could also be completely different.
"I will discard Heraldic Beast Leo, to add the Spell, Charged-Up Heraldry to my hand!" The masked boy discarded a monster from his hand, to add the aforementioned Spell Card.
"Now, Leo's effect activates!" Tron continued. "When Leo is sent to the graveyard, I add one 'Heraldic Beast' monster from my deck to my hand except another one of itself."
Explaining the card's mandatory graveyard effect, the masked boy took another card from his deck. "I will add Heraldic Beast Aberconway to my hand, and summon it!"
A card which he immediately summoned onto the field. Using his normal summon, the red skinned bipedal dragon manifested onto the field, white bone like plates adorning parts of his body like armor.
Heraldic Beast Aberconway - Wind/Dragon/Level 4/Effect: 1800/900
"But he won't be staying for long, since I'll be using Charged-Up Heraldry!" The masked duelist declared as he activated yet another card. The Spell's holographic projection shining as it was placed on the duel blade.
"This card lets me tribute one monster, to special summon two 'Heraldic Beast' monsters from my deck in defence position! But I can't special monsters from my Extra Deck except Psychic or Machine monsters."
The boy snorted. "Restrictions that I'm already under with the Field Spell and all, but that's semantics! I'll tribute Aberconway, to summon a second Heraldic Beast Leo and Heraldic Beast Stad Whale!"
And as the giant crest on the ground shone once again, the red and white dragonling in front of Tron disappeared as it melded into the ground, replaced by a pair of different beasts.
One was a golden lion, covered in equally golden armor across its body. The other a silver blue whale that swam in the air, its body too was covered in similar armor with edges on its head that imitated waves.
Heraldic Beast Leo - Earth/Beast/Level 4/Effect: 2000/1000
Heraldic Beast Stad Whale - Water/Fish/Level 4/Effect: 900/1900
"Two whole monsters!" And ones straight from the deck no less, all thanks to a Spell that he could get from his Field Spell. If he could do that every turn, then he'd have to compete with what was likely an XYZ Monster every turn.
"That's right~! But just so you know, that's not all." Tron said with a smirk, waving towards the aquatic monster floating on his field. "I'll be using Stad Whale's effect!" He declared, waving his hand towards the floating whale.
"If this card is normal or special summoned, I can discard one card to add two 'Heraldry' Spell or Traps from my deck to my hand!" The boy explained, and the silvery blue whale let out a whine as it flapped its fins.
"That's-!" Yuto's eyes widened. So he had even more ways to access his Spells?!
"I will discard Heraldic Beast Unicorn from my hand." He said, paying the cost as he discarded a different monster than what he had seen so far, "And add the Quick-Play Spell, Flash of Heraldry, and the Counter Trap, Heraldry Record from my deck to my hand."
With that, the boy still had four cards in his hand. Tron gave the cards in his hand a glance as he shuffled them, before looking back up towards him with a smile.
"Now then, let's get this show going shall we?" He smirked, raising his hand up, Yuto braced himself for what was coming.
"I will take the Level 4 Heraldic Beast Leo and the Level 4 Heraldic Beast Stad Whale, and overlay them!" The two heraldic monsters let out their respective cries, transforming into brown and blue pillars of light.
And before him, a galactical vortex began to form. "With these two monsters, I will construct the overlay network!" And the two pillars of light crossed one another as they entered it.
"XYZ Summon!" And exploded into a blinding pillar of light. "Appear! Number 18!"
A crimson chaotic numeral of 18 formed, followed by a shapeless liquid that solidified into a sharp form. A pulsating spiraling crimson orb, inside of a diamond-like crystal. An unformed crest that ominously floated before his opponent.
"Rank 4! Heraldry Patriarch!" A Number monster with a shapeless form, shining ominously in the form of a giant floating crest.
Number 18: Heraldry Patriarch - Light/Psychic/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2200/2200 OV: 2
"A Number monster!" He expected it to be something like this with how much he's been seeing them all throughout the tournament. "So this is your Ace Monster." That was the conclusion that he came to, after having seen many duelists using Numbers as their Aces.
"Hmm, I wonder." The boy hummed in his infuriating tone, keeping a mysterious smile as he took two cards from his hands.
"I will set two cards face-down." A pair of face-down cards manifested before Tron, before fading slowly. "And I'll be ending my turn now. Good luck, Yuto-kun~"
And Tron ended the first turn of the duel, ending with a single XYZ Monster on the field, and two cards face-down that was most likely the two cards that he had added earlier. Two cards still remained in his grip as he passed the turn to his opponent.
-
"And Tron starts the duel strong! To think that he would overwrite the scenery with his Field Spell is certainly something, but he managed to form up quite the field!"
"The set has to be those two cards that he searched for, right? That Quick-Play Spell and the Counter Trap?" Myu turned toward the others and received a nod of affirmation from Mei.
"That's definitely it. We already saw what they can do in his duel with Shun. And with that XYZ Monster already there too. Yuto's gonna have to do a lot to be able to handle those."
"Yeah, but I'm sure he can!" Allen shouted as he raised his fist angrily. "He'll win and avenge Shun! That's for sure!"
-
"Then it's my turn! I draw!" The turn player changed, and Yuto began his turn with the draw of his sixth card, quickly moving past the Standby Phase and into the Main Phase.
"I will normal summon The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak!" And he played his first card immediately, summoning the cloaked spirit with ghostly purple flames onto the field.
The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak - Dark/Warrior/Level 3/Effect: 800/1000
"And since I control a Phantom Knights monster, I can special summon The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots from my hand!" And with a swipe, he placed another card onto his purple duel blade, allowing the ghostly warrior to rise once more onto the field.
The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots - Dark/Warrior/Level 3/Effect: 200/1200
"Oh? Two Level 3 monsters already?" Tron hummed as his one visible eye switched back and forth from the two monsters on his side of the field. "Planning to summon an XYZ Monster already?"
And the smile he had took on a more sinister form. "Well we can't have that. I'll activate my set card!" He pushed his hand forward, flipping his left most set card.
"The Quick-Play Spell Flash of Heraldry!" And the flipped up card's projected figure shone on the field. "This card lets me target any number of face-up monsters that you control, and change their name to 'Unknown'!"
"Change their names?" And Yuto could only watched in confusion as golden tendrils emerged from the card, reaching and constraining both of his monsters as they seeped and disappeared into them. Leaving a crimson imprint of energy in the shape of a crest on them.
Unknown - Dark/Warrior/Level 3/Effect: 800/1000
Unknown - Dark/Warrior/Level 3/Effect: 200/1200
"This is..." The first time that he'd ever encountered a gimmick like this. He'd heard of changing a monster's Levels or maybe even their Types or Attributes, but names?
It certainly put a damper on a bit of his plans too, if it was timed correctly. He was quite thankful that he'd summon Silent Boots as soon as he did, if he had done it any later then he wouldn't have been able to do so.
"Oh? Are you maybe thinking that its just changing names and there's nothing more to that?" His thought was stopped by his opponent speaking yet again.
"Then why don't I show you something fun? I'll activate Heraldry Patriarch's effect!" With a grin, Tron activated his Number monster's effect. The giant floating ambiguous monster's crimson core shone with unworldly power.
"An effect on my turn!" He couldn't help but click his tongue. He's been seeing more and more effect like those on monsters against opponents who are stronger. Finding interactions on the opponents turn not only through Traps or the occasional Quick-Play Spells, but monsters effects whose sole purpose was to disrupt the opponent's play.
A strategy that he himself had used with great effect against IV. And one that his opponent seemed keen to use as well.
"You see, once per chain, during either player's turn, if two or more monsters with the same name are on the field, I can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, choose a monster among those with the same name, and destroy all other monsters with that name!"
The metal masked boy gave a mock gasp. "And oh would you look at that! The two monsters that you now have both have the same name! What a shocking turn of events!"
"!" Yuto could only grit his teeth as his mind fully understood his opponent's wordy explanation. Preparing himself for what was to come to his monsters.
"Now lets see... eenie, meine, ah well, I suppose I'll choose that one." Tron idly pointed at his two monsters back and forth, before settling on the cloaked warrior.
"So say bye bye to the other one~ Partriarch, if you would! Plain Coat!" With a smile and waving his hand childishly, and the monster above him absorbed one of its two overlay materials.
Number 18: Heraldry Patriarch - Light/Psychic/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2200/2200 OV: 1
The giant wing-like thing that it possessed then struck impossibly fast. One moment it was floating in around what seemed to be the monster's core, and the next it's jagged end was jutting out of Silent Cloak's body. The monster quickly dissolved into golden particles as it was destroyed.
"Oh, I suppose I should also mention." The masked duelist spoke while Yuto was still reeling at his monster's quick demise. "While this card remains face-up on the field, you can't summon monsters with the same name as any of the monsters chosen for Heraldry Patriarch's effect."
He giggled to himself as if he had found something funny. "Though I doubt that you'd have a monster with Unknown as its name."
As his opponent's effects finally finished along with its explanation, Yuto finally had a time to think.
The Number's monster that his opponent had was certainly something. An ability to destroy monsters who had the same name, and lock them from summoning monsters of that name was quite troublesome.
Was that how he defeated Shun? He knew that one of his strategies was to summon multiple of his Rank 4s. Did he use this XYZ Monster's effect then and lock him out of accessing it?
No, Yuto doesn't need to think about that now. It was a formidable effect if used right, that was no doubt. But it wasn't one that he couldn't work around.
He just had to not have two of the same monsters on field at the same time. An easy enough way to play around the monster's effects. He'd just have to be careful if Tron had any other ways to change his monsters' name just like what he did earlier.
"Oh, before you do anything, I'll be activating Heraldic Beast Leo's effect again." The half masked duelist said. "Since it was sent to the graveyard, I get to add another 'Heraldic Beast' to my hand."
The boy hummed as he thought for a moment, before taking out a card to show to him. "Here's another Heraldic Beast Twin-Headed Eagle that I'll be adding to my hand okay? You better remember what I add because I won't remind you~"
With a snicker, Tron shuffled the cards in his hands. Finally finishing the ensemble of effects that he's been activating one by one.
"Then if you're done, I'll activate the effect of Silent Boots in my graveyard!" He declared with a swipe. "I can banish this card from my graveyard, to add one 'Phantom Knights' Spell or Trap from my deck to my hand!"
The card was swiftly removed from play, and Yuto took a card from his deck and showed it to his opponent. "I will add The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine to my hand!"
He wasted no time to use it of course. "I will set one card, and activate the Trap, The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine!" He set a card face-down and immediately flipped it face-up, allowing it to shine on the field.
"Huh? You're activating a Trap card the turn it was set? That's cheating!" Tron accused while pointing and pouting at him.
His irritation built up from his opponent's charade, but he gritted his teeth and explained. "Shade Brigandine can be activated the turn it was set if I have no Traps in my graveyard."
"Oh in that case that's fine then. Go on." His opponent retracted his hand, an unapologetic smile half visible as he urged him to continue.
"This effects lets me special summon Shade Brigandine in defense position as a Normal Monster!" With the explanation done, he moved the Trap Card from his Spell and Trap zone and onto his Monster zone.
The flaming blue spirit residing on the armor on the giant holographic card's image manifested into a real monster that stood beside his other monster.
The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine - Dark/Warrior/Level 4/Normal: 0/300
"Now I will activate the effect of The Phantom Knights of Stained Greaves in my hand!" Yuto showed a third card in his hand, and began explaining its effects.
"If a 'The Phantom Knights' monster is Special Summoned to my field, I can Special Summon this card from my hand, then I can increase the Level of this card by 1!"
That said and done, he placed the card onto his duel blade. "Come! The Phantom Knights of Stained Greaves!" And the burning spirit residing in its fallen armor manifested onto the field, still holding onto its weapons even in the state that it was.
The Phantom Knights of Stained Greaves - Dark/Warrior/Level 3/Effect: 1200/600
"I choose not to change its Level." Yuto said, refusing to change its Level.
"Hm, so you have two Level 3s instead of 4s." His opponent caught on of course. Despite his irritating demeanor and blatant taunting, he was still someone who made it to the tail end of the World Duel Carnival.
"Now! I will take the Level 3 The Phan-I mean, Unknown, and the Level 3 The Phantom Knights of Stained Greaves, and overlay them!" He called out, the two monsters transforming into purple pillars of power as he performed his own XYZ Summon.
The familiar vortex of energy formed before him, and he continued. "I will form the overlay network with these two monsters!" And the two pillars made their way into the vortex, and exploded in color.
"Soul of the knights who fall on the battlefield! Now revive, become the light that rends the darkness!" And through the cloud of darkness that formed from the explosion of light, a galloping figure could slowly be seen.
"Xyz Summon! Come forth! Rank 3! The Phantom Knights of Break Sword!" With a wave of its giant sword, the cloud of dust parted, revealing the horse riding spirit in all its glory.
The Phantom Knights of Break Sword - Dark/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 3/Effect: 2000/1000 OV: 2
"Oh what a dark and scary XYZ Monster, I'm soo scared~" The masked boy's knees trembled as folded in on themselves. His whole body shaking to enforce an image of fear, if it wasn't for the blatant smile still clear on his face.
"I will activate Break Sword's effect!" He ignored the whole charade in front of him. "Once per turn, I can detach one material from this card, then target 1 card that I control and one card you control, and destroy them!"
The giant blade wielding warrior raised its weapon, and one of the two floating overlay materials it possessed was absorbed, empowering it with an aura of purple energy.
The Phantom Knights of Break Sword - Dark/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 3/Effect: 2000/1000 OV: 1
He then gestured towards his own monster and his opponent's. "Since your Field Spell only protect targeting from Spell and Traps, I will target Break Sword itself and your Heraldry Patriarch, to destroy both of them!"
"He~ mutual destruction is it?" His opponent didn't seem at all worried that his own XYZ Monster was being threatened by destruction. "So that's how you're circumventing the Numbers Rule."
And he laughed, all while raising his hand to the sky. "But you're too naive! I will activate the Counter Trap, Heraldry Record!" Flipping the second set card that he had, the Counter Trap that he had added in the previous turn.
"When an effect of your Xyz Monster is activated by detaching its own Xyz Material, Heraldry Record can negate the activation, and destroy it!" Tron giggled as the card's holographic projection shone on the field.
"A Counter Trap specifically against XYZ?!" He blanched at hearing the card's effect. He had gone for Break Sword exactly because Tron hadn't used the Counter Trap, a type of cards that was mostly known for negating effects, on his Silent Boots, Shade Brigandine and Stained Greaves, but he didn't expect it to be a specific counter against XYZ Monsters.
"That's right~ say goodbye to Break Sword!" With a flourish, a floating orb similar to an overlay unit came out of Heraldry Record's projection, heading straight towards Break Sword.
And pierced right through the horse-riding warrior, the XYZ Monster exploding in its wake.
"Kuh!" He grunted as he held his ground against the blast. But this was still within expectations! "I'll activate the effect of Break Sword!" He declared again.
"Another effect so soon?"
"If this Xyz Summoned card is destroyed, I can target two 'The Phantom Knights' monsters with the same Level in my graveyard and special summon them and increase their Levels by 1!"
"Oho! So a revival effect when it dies? And they change their Levels too. That's pretty stubborn." Tron mused on hearing the monster's floating effect.
He ignored the chatter as he took out two cards from his graveyard, the exact two monsters he used to summon Break Sword earlier. "Return! Ancient Cloak! Stained Greaves!"
The pair of monsters returned in all their glory, a brief purple aura emitted from their bodies as their Levels were increased from Break Sword's effect.
The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak - Dark/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 800/1000
The Phantom Knights of Stained Greaves - Dark/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1200/600
"For the rest of this turn, I can't special summon monsters except Dark monsters." He added on the stipulation at the end, a lock that he was now under due to the effect.
But now Tron didn't have anything else on field that could stop him. "I will overlay the now Level 4 The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak and The Phantom Knights of Stained Greaves!"
Both monsters let out their wispy battle cries once more, transforming into shining pillars of energy as the vortex appeared before him again. "I will once again construct the overlay network with these two monsters!" And formed a pillar of light as soon as they entered.
"From pitch-black darkness, rise up against foolish power, oh fangs of rebellion! Now come descend!" A form that seemed to come from malleable darkness, solidified into a draconic shape as its head, claws and wings took form.
"Xyz Summon!" He called down as he finished the chant. "Appear! Rank 4! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!" And his own signature monster, the black and purple dragon clad with crimson markings descended onto the field with a roar that shook the golden cage that Tron had formed.
Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon - Dark/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2500/2000 OV: 2
"Hoho! So this is what you were going for!" tron clapped as he looked at his monster with glee. Dark Rebellion growled ominously as Tron inspected it from head to claw.
Again, he suppressed the uneasy feeling he had at his opponent's carefree attitude and pushed on. "I will activate Dark Rebellion's effect!" He declared.
"I can detach two materials from this card, then target one face-up monster that you control, and its attack becomes half its current attack, and if it does, Dark Rebellion gains that lost attack!"
With the effect explanation finished, he pointed towards his opponent's sole monster. "My target is your Heraldry Patriarch! Treason Discharge!" Dark Rebellion mauled the two overlay unit that it had, its wings transforming as purple currents of electricity gathered.
Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon - Dark/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2500/2000 OV: 0
The lighting then struck the living crest, the monster lets out an indecipherable noise as its attack points was halved.
Number 18: Heraldry Patriarch - Light/Psychic/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 1100/2200 OV: 1
And was drained by Dark Rebellion, the dragon swelling with energy that it had absorbed from its opponent.
Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon - Dark/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 3600/2000 OV: 0
"Now Battle!" And with all that said, he moved on straight onto the Battle Phase. "I will attack your Heraldry Patriarch with Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon!"
The dragon let out another roar as it took flight, reaching the peak of the golden dome of energy that surrounded them.
"My did you not know Yuto-kun~ you seem familiar with them already, but Number Monsters can't be destroyed by battle against monsters that aren't Numbers you know~" The metal mask wearing boy said with a sing song tune.
"I know that for a fact. Just as I know that you'll still take the damage! Go! Dark Rebellion!" He roared forth in sync as the dragon descended toward the living crest.
"Lightning Disobey of Rebellion!" Power gathered on the blades of its maw, and struck true. Creating a huge explosion from the resulting clash of the two XYZ Monsters.
"Gya!" The metal masked boy's arms flailed as he was almost thrown off his feet from the blast, stumbling back a few steps but he soon regained his balance.
Tron: 1500LP
Yet even as his Life Points was reduced by more than half, he still retained his carefree smile. "Well that's certainly something." He hummed. "What do you have next then, Yuto-kun~? You've certainly done better than your friend has, that's for sure!"
"..." Yuto stayed silent in the face of the taunt.
"I will activate the effect of The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak in my graveyard." Yuto declared as he moved past the Battle Phase. "I can banish this card from my graveyard, to add one 'Phantom Knights' card from my deck to my hand."
In a quick moment, he showed the card that he was adding to his opponent. "I will add the Quick-Play Spell, The Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Launch from my deck to my hand."
He gritted his teeth as he added it to the ensemble of three other cards in his hand.
He screwed up.
Yuto liked to think that he was a calm person. He certainly was when compared to someone like Shark, or even Shun whenever someone mentioned something bad about Ruri, not that he himself wouldn't be as mad as he would be.
He thought that he was above Tron's jibes and comments, that he could ignore them and quickly finish this duel.
But as he glanced down at the card that he had just added to his hand, his grip unconsciously became tighter.
If he had just added this earlier, if he hadn't gone to the Battle Phase immediately and instead went into Requiem then he could have ended this duel then and there.
It seems he wasn't as cool headed as he thought he was, to make a rash decision that had costed him an easy victory.
Yuto shook his head. What's done is done. He'll have another chance at victory after this.
"I will set four cards," Four face-down upscaled projections of the cards appeared behind his monsters. "And I end my turn."
And he finished his turn with two monsters, one his signature XYZ Monster and the other a lingering Shade Brigandine. Four backrow disappeared as they were hidden until they were needed, and his hand barren of cards.