"Creature Swap!?"
Damon's face darkened.
"Exactly. I choose my Mystic Tomato to transfer to your side of the field," Yugen said with a smile. "And in exchange, you must choose one monster to hand over to me. Of course, you only have one monster on your field anyway."
"Tsk..."
With a grimace, Damon had no choice but to select his only monster, Despair from the Dark.
The demon shifted over to Yugen's side of the field, while the little tomato hopped and skipped over to Damon's side.
"Now, for the Battle Phase," Yugen declared. "Ryu Kokki, attack Mystic Tomato!"
Ryu Kokki lunged forward, its skeletal iron fist ruthlessly crushing the tomato's body. The tomato exploded into fragments. Damon crossed his arms in front of him, his sturdy frame taking the damage head-on.
[Damon, LP 4000 -> LP 3000]
"In this moment, the effect of Mystic Tomato activates," Yugen said. "When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, I can special summon one DARK monster with 1500 or less ATK from my deck."
Syrus, the group's academic underdog, was once again taken by surprise. "Eh? But the tomato was destroyed on Damon's field. Shouldn't he be the one to search his deck?"
"When the effect resolves, Mystic Tomato has already returned to its original owner's Graveyard," Chumley explained. "Naturally, Yugen is the one who gets to perform the search."
"I... I see." Syrus looked at Chumley sideways. "Even Chumley knew that..."
Syrus suddenly felt like, looking around the room, he was the only "noob" left.
"By the effect of Mystic Tomato, I special summon Don Zaloog from my deck."
[Don Zaloog, ATK 1400]
Damon's expression remained dark. "Using Creature Swap to make me take the damage while you get to search your deck?"
"And now, Despair from the Dark, attack directly!" Yugen ordered.
Chumley cheered. "Great! If these next two hits land, Yugen wins!"
Alexis, however, was not so optimistic. "Will it really be that simple?"
Sure enough, Damon shouted, "I activate my trap, Draining Shield! Your attack is negated, and I gain Life Points equal to that monster's attack points!"
A multi-colored barrier manifested. The demon's heavy fist slammed into the shield, but its power was entirely absorbed.
[Damon, LP 3000 -> LP 5800]
Predictably, he had chosen to use the trap to block the strongest attacker, Despair from the Dark.
"Then, Don Zaloog, attack directly."
Zaloog pulled out his revolvers. Two shots rang out one bullet pierced Damon's chest, while the other blasted through one of the cards in his hand.
"Ugh..."
[Damon, LP 5800 -> LP 4400]
"Zaloog's effect activates. When it deals battle damage, the opponent must randomly discard one card from their hand."
Damon glanced at the card in his hand, which now bore the projection of a bullet hole. Suddenly, he let out a low, mocking chuckle.
"Heh... unfortunately for you, your monster hit the card I just drew."
He revealed the card.
"The Spell Card, Card of Compensation! When this card is sent from the hand to the Graveyard, I draw two cards!"
"His draw power worked against us again," Syrus said, frowning. "This guy's luck with drawing is really something else."
Jaden rubbed his hands together. "Interesting. I kind of want to face him myself."
Yugen shrugged. "I'll set two cards and end my turn."
"In that moment, I activate my face-down card!"
Damon's trap flipped up.
"Continuous Trap: Miracle Draw! During my Draw Phase, I can declare one card name. If I draw the declared card, you take 1000 points of damage. If I'm wrong, I take 1000 damage instead!"
This was the same Continuous Trap Damon had used against Jaden in the anime. The audience couldn't hide their astonishment.
"What kind of reckless trap is that!?" Alexis frowned.
"He has to guess the exact card out of his entire deck? That's impossible, isn't it?" Syrus found it absurd. "The probability of him taking the damage himself is way higher..."
"How fun. This is really fun," Jaden said, his eyes practically sparkling.
"It's my turn! I draw!"
Damon closed his eyes, his finger resting on the top of his deck. He seemed to immerse his entire soul into this single moment.
"The essence of the draw is like flowing water unchanging water that has flowed for ten thousand years. I can feel it... I can feel it! My next card is "
"Draw Thief!"
Damon whipped the card from his deck and held it up. It was indeed the Normal Spell Card he had declared: "Draw Thief."
"No way? He actually got it!?" Syrus was beyond shocked.
Alexis was speechless, simply staring at the wild, hermit-like student. Had this man truly cultivated the power to see the threads of fate while training in the mountains?
"Therefore, you take 1000 points of damage," Damon declared.
"You actually hit it. Impressive," Yugen noted. "However, I activate my trap, Energy-Absorbing Monolith. Any effect damage dealt by an opponent's card is converted into Life Point recovery instead."
It was essentially the effect damage version of Draining Shield. A massive, rectangular monolith manifested before Yugen. The beam of energy shot into the monolith and was filtered through, transforming into a golden light that washed over Yugen's body.
[Yugen, LP 1400 -> LP 2400]
"Oh, as expected of Yugen," Jaden said happily. "He's not going down that easily."
Damon nodded with satisfaction. "An opponent like this is the only way to truly test the results of my training. Now, from my hand, I activate the card I just drew: the Spell Card, Draw Thief!"
"This card allows my opponent to draw one card. If I can correctly guess the type of card drawn Monster, Spell, or Trap then all cards in my opponent's hand and on their field are returned to the deck and shuffled!"
This was another anime-original card Damon had used against Jaden.
The crowd gasped again. "What kind of crazy effect is that?"
Alexis looked at Damon with growing doubt. "He can predict his own draws, and now he can predict his opponent's as well?"
At this point, it was less about skill and more about psychic abilities.
Yugen drew a card as instructed.
Damon closed his eyes, centering himself for a split second.
Then, he snapped his eyes open and pointed a finger with the intensity of a certain detective child. "The card you drew is a Spell Card!"
Yugen smiled faintly and revealed the card he had pulled.
Spell Card: Pot of Greed.
"Correct."
However, it seemed Damon was holding back slightly. In the anime, when he used Draw Thief, he hadn't just guessed it was a Spell he had precisely named the card as "De-Fusion." To guess the exact card was firmly in the realm of supernatural power.
Of course, this performance wasn't perfectly consistent. In the original series, Damon eventually missed a guess on his next turn. It seemed that he was eventually overwhelmed by Jaden's "momentum," and once his heart was unsettled, his drawing prowess collapsed.
"Therefore, by the effect of Draw Thief," Damon shouted with a wide sweep of his arm.
"Every card on your field and in your hand is returned to your deck! Shuffle them!"
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