The air in the auditorium felt heavier than it had all day.
Maybe it was the way the lights dimmed slightly as the center platform reconfigured itself, no longer a simple dueling lane but a triangular arena, three platforms evenly spaced, each facing the others. Or maybe it was the quiet. Not the excited kind that followed Jaden or the nervous kind that had surrounded Syrus earlier, but the kind of silence that meant everyone understood that this duel was different.
Three duelists.
Three decks they barely had a week to master.
And only one winner.
Dr. Crowler cleared his throat, tapping the microphone as the last of the students settled into their seats.
"Ahem! Attention, students! By the overwhelming and frankly baffling success of today's matches, we now arrive at the final round of the Tournament of Mastery and Adaptation!"
A holographic bracket appeared above the arena, collapsing inward until only three names remained.
Jaden Yuki.
Syrus Truesdale.
Jason.
"And as a special educational experiment," Crowler continued, clearly forcing enthusiasm through clenched teeth, "this final duel will be a three-way free-for-all! Each duelist will take turns normally, may only attack on their turn, and victory will be achieved when only one duelist remains with Life Points!"
There was a murmur through the crowd.
Jaden grinned and pumped his fist. "Three-way duel? That sounds awesome!"
Syrus swallowed, gripping the edge of his Duel Disk a little tighter. Okay… you handled Alexis… you can handle this, too… just don't panic…
I exhaled slowly. I then regained my focus.
We stepped onto our respective platforms.
To my left, Jaden bounced lightly on his heels, eyes bright with excitement.
To my right, Syrus stood straighter than I'd ever seen him before. His hands still shook slightly, but his eyes were focused. Determined.
"Each duelist will begin with 8,000 Life Points!" Crowler announced. "Draw your opening hands!"
Following his instruction, we each drew our cards, and he announced, "Now this wheel will determine who will go first!" A holographic wheel materialized and started to spin after this was announced. After spinning for a minute, the wheel revealed that Syrus would go first, followed by Jaden, and then me.
"You may all begin now, and may the best player win!" Dr. Crowler declared.
"Alright, I draw, and I will start by normal summoning Solar Flare Dragon in attack mode, then activate the spell card Final Flame." Dr. Crowler interrupted Syrus before he could say, "For this duel, all single-target spells that target your opponent will affect both of your opponents." At this point, both Jaden and I take the damage.
[Jaden LP; 8,000 -> 7,400]
[Jason LP; 4,000 -> 7,400]
"Okay, Syrus will have to be eliminated first." I realized that with these rules, Syrus could eliminate both of us in a turn or two, so I decided to set two cards face down and end my turn. Syrus said this as his monster's effect activated, dealing damage to both Jaden and me.
[Jaden LP; 7,400 -> 6,900]
[Jason LP; 7,400 -> 6,900]
"Well done, Syrus; that was wonderful. I will draw a card and start by summoning Thunder King Rai-Oh [Monster|Effect]. Thunder/Light
[★4] 1900/800
Neither player can add cards from their Deck to their hand except by drawing them. When your opponent would Special Summon exactly 1 monster (Quick Effect): You can send this face-up card to the GY, negate the Special Summon, and if you do, destroy it.
"Then I will attack your Solar Flare Dragon!" Jaden declared. jaden daclared. "To so fast jaden I activate my trap card, Ring of Destruction, targeting your Thunder King Rai-Oh, destroying it, and all three of us will take damage equal to his attack." Following Syruse's declaration, a ring of grenades encircled his monster, causing it to explode.
[Syrus LP; 8,000 -> 6,100]
[Jaden LP; 6,900 -> 5,000]
[Jason LP; 6,900 -> 5,000]
"Alright, I will set two cards and end my turn." jaden said with a large smile.
"Alright, I draw. I will start by activating Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy your last face-down card, Syrus!" After saying this, a small tornado blew Syrus's face-down card away. "Now I will activate the effect of Zalamander Catalyzer—"
[Monster|Effect] Fiend/Fire
[★4] 1600/200
You can reveal this card and 1 Fiend monster in your hand; Special Summon 1 of them and discard the other. When a monster is destroyed by battle involving your Fiend monster, while this card is in your GY: You can add this card to your hand. You can only use each effect of "Zalamander Catalyzer" once per turn.
"--- I will reveal this card and Belial - Marquis of Darkness and then I will special summon Belial—Marquis of Darkness and discard Zalamander Catalyzer."
[Belial—Marquis of Darkness Atk: 2,800]
"Now I will set one monster face down and presently I will attack your Solar Flare Dragon, Syrus." At my command, the fallen angel swung its massive sword, killing the small dragon.
[Syrus LP; 6,100 -> 4,800]
"Now I will set one card face down and end my turn." I said, Now, after a second, Syrus drew his card for the turn. "I will start my turn by activating pot of greed to draw two more cards, then I will normal summoning Blazing Inpachi—"
[Monster|Normal] Pyro/Fire
[★4] 1850/0
"Then I will have it attack your face-down monster, Jason!" At Jason's command, Inpachi slammed his burning fist into Doomdog Octhros, destroying it. "When you destroy him, his effect activates!" [If this card is sent from the field to the GY: Add 1 Level 8 Fiend monster from your Deck to your hand. You can only use this effect of "Doomdog Octhros" once per turn.]
After explaining the effect, I add one of the monsters that will help me finish this duel sooner.
"With that, I end my turn," syrus said. "My turn, I draw!" Jaden said in excitement. "Nice, now I will start by activating grateful charity and draw three cards and discard two." After saying this, Jaden drew three cards, thought for a moment about which cards to discard, and then said, "I will discard these two now." I activate my face-down card, Call of the Haunted, and use it to special summon one of the monsters I just discarded, so come out, Thunderclap Skywolf!"
Thunderclap Skywolf [Monster|Effect] Thunder/Light
[★7] 2500/2000
If this card is Special Summoned from the Graveyard: You can destroy all face-up monsters your opponent controls. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activate this effect.
"And because he was summoned from the grave, his effect activates, destroying all other monsters on the field." after saying this, the large blue wolf raised its head to the sky and released a thunderous howl, calling down two large lightning bolts, destroying our monsters. "Now I will normal summon The Calculator."
The Calculator [Monster|Effect] Thunder/Light
[★2] ?/0
The ATK of this card is calculated by multiplying the combined Levels of all face-up monsters you control by 300. [current attack 2,700]
"Then I end my turn," he said with a large smile. "I draw and I will start by activating the spell Allure of Darkness Draw 2 cards, then banish 1 DARK monster from your hand, or, if you do not have any in your hand, send your entire hand to the GY. Next, I will banish this monster. I activate the spell Change of Heart to take control of your Thunderclap Skywolf." after saying this, the once blue wolf turned purple and appeared on my side of the field. "Next I will normal summon Doomcaliber Knight—"
Doomcaliber Knight [Monster|Effect] Fiend/Dark
[★4] 1900/1800
Cannot be Special Summoned. When a monster effect is activated (Quick Effect): Tribute this face-up card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that monster.
"Next I activate the spell monster reborn and special summon Belial—Marquis of Darkness from my graveyard now I will move to the battle phase and have Doomcaliber Knight attack your The Calculator, Jaden." at this the knight sliced the machine in half.
[Jaden LP; 5,000 -> 3,300]
"Now I will attack you directly with your monster. Go Thunderclap, Skywolf; attack Jaden!" Jaden was hit directly by a blast of purple lightning.
[Jaden LP; 3,300 -> 800]
"Now I will attack you directly with Belial—Marquis of Darkness!" With a swing of his sword, he reduced most of Syrus's life points.
[Syrus LP; 4,800 -> 2,000]
"Now I will activate my face-down card, Destruct Potion, which allows me to select 1 monster you control. Destroy it, and gain Life Points equal to its ATK. I will destroy Thunderclap, Skywolf and gain 2,500 LP, and with this i end my turn."
[Jason LP; 5,000 -> 7,500]
"I draw and I will activate Gracful charity and draw three cards and discard these two, and then I will normal summon Royal Firestorm Guards—"
Royal Firestorm Guards [Monster|Effect] Pyro/Fire
[★4] 1700/1200
If this card is Normal Summoned: Target 4 Pyro monsters in your GY; shuffle all 4 into the Deck, then draw 2 cards.
"I will shuffle all four monsters in my graveyard and draw two cards—not so fast, Syrus; my Doomcaliber Knight's effect activates, tributing itself to negate your monster's effect and destroying it." At this doomcaliber, his shield glowed purple, negating his monster before they both exploded.
"I guess I will set these two cards and end my turn," syrus said. Looking over at jaden I could feel a weird form of magic coming from his soul that traveled down his hand and started to resonate with his deck as he drew for a turn in a dramatic fashion. "I draw. I will start by activating the continuous spell Wattcine. When a Thunder-Type monster you control inflicts battle damage on your opponent, you gain life points equal to the damage inflicted. I will then activate my monster reborn and special summon The Ascended of Thunder."
The Ascended of Thunder [Monster|Effect] Thunder/Light
[★7] 2700/2400
You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by paying 3000 LP. If this card Summoned this way in its owner's control is destroyed by an opponent's card (by battle or card effect): Gain 5000 LP.
"Sorry syrus but if either of us were to be the one to beat Jason, I will have to take you out first so no hard feelings." Jaden said this before declaring that his monster would attack Syrus directly. "Not so fast, Jaden! I activate both of my trap cards: the first is Solemn Wishes, which allows me to gain 500 LP for each card I draw, and the second is Sixth Sense, which lets me declare two numbers from 1 to 6. Then, your opponent rolls a six-sided die, and if the result matches one of the numbers I declared, I draw that many cards." Otherwise, send a number of cards from the top of your Deck to the graveyard, equal to the result. I will call 1 and 6 now."
After saying that, a large die appeared above the field and began to spin; eventually it stopped, revealing it landed on a 6. "Yes, that's what i was hoping for so I get to draw 6 cards and because I drew 6 cards I gain 3,000 LP," syrus said
And afterwards he was struck by a bolt of lightning.
[Syrus LP; 2,000 -> 5,000 -> 2,300]
"Well done, Sy, but because I dealt combat damage, i gain LP equal to the damage dealt." [Jaden LP; 500 -> 3,200]
"And with that I end my turn," he said with a large smile.
"I draw and activate the spell soul exchange and tribute your, The Ascended of Thunder and summon my The End of Anubis and move into my battle phase and attack syrus with it, taking you out of the duel!" With no options left to save himself, he was hit by a swarm of beetles summoned by Anubis.
[Syrus 2,300 -> 0]
"Now I will attack you, Jaden, with Belial—Marquis of Darkness!" The giant black sword struck Jaden at my command. [Jaden 3,200 -> 400] and with that I end my turn."
After taking a second to focus, he drew his card. "I draw!" he yelled before for the first time, he stopped smiling before continuing, "I will set one monster and end my turn."
"This was fun jaden dueling you and Syrus but this is the end. I draw, and now I activate the spell, "Big Bang Shot." The equipped monster gains 400 ATK. If the equipped monster attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent. When this card leaves the field, banish the equipped monster. And will equip it to The End of Anubis and have him attack your face-down monster."
A powerful blast of gold energy pierced Jaden's monster and struck him, ending the duel.
[Jaden LP: 400 -> 0]
Then as everything shut down, I finally realized that Crowler was announcing the end of the tournament.