'Is she even a student? Going straight for someone's entire Deck!'
The other rare card hunters stared at Morgan in shock. The students they hunted usually clung desperately to their rare cards... Morgan, on the other hand, was wagering her whole Deck.
Was she a veteran of wager duels?
Several hunters looked to Nina nervously, as if asking if they should back off… Morgan might be trouble.
Nina's Deck was their trump card for wager duels. Losing the Shadow Duelist deal was one thing, but if Nina's Deck was gone, they'd be out of the business entirely.
Worse still, they had many enemies. Without a strong Deck, those enemies would swarm in and take all their cards.
Under their watchful eyes, Nina wavered for a moment, then gritted her teeth. Even Shadow Duelists wanted Morgan's Deck—it had to be valuable.
A once-in-a-lifetime chance to strike it rich was right in front of her.
"Fine! I accept!" Nina declared. Her Linkuriboh peeked out from behind her, shivering and staring at Morgan like she was a monster.
Morgan, meanwhile, eyed the round little spirit with interest, wondering how Nina could touch it.
The group cleared a space, surrounding Nina and Morgan.
Jade watched Morgan hopefully—she believed Morgan would get her rare card back.
Both Duel Disks activated, Life Points appearing.
They each drew five cards.
"Duel!"
Nina took the first turn. "My turn, draw!"
Glancing at her hand, she smiled. She had to go all out—getting first turn would let her set up and lock Morgan down.
"I activate the Continuous Spell, Springans Booty, from my hand!"
"Send this face-up card from your Spell & Trap Zone to the Graveyard; activate 1 Great Sand Sea - Gold Golgonda from your Deck or Graveyard."
'Great Sand Sea?'
Morgan blinked. So she was running Springans.
A fairly niche archetype, and its boss monster wasn't particularly strong—it often relied on splashing other powerful cards.
"Then I activate the Field Spell, Great Sand Sea - Gold Golgonda!"
The surrounding forest faded into yellow sand, animal skeletons surfacing from the dunes.
"If you control no Springans Xyz Monsters: discard 1 Springans card; Special Summon 1 Springans Xyz Monster from your Extra Deck."
"I discard Springans Rocky to Special Summon Springans Merrymaker from my Extra Deck!"
A metal contraption resembling a whack-a-mole machine appeared on the field, covered in colorful shells.
[Springans Merrymaker] Rank 4│1100 ATK / 2000 DEF
"When this card is Special Summoned from the Extra Deck: send 1 Springans monster from your Deck to the Graveyard."
Nina's Duel Disk searched her Deck, sending Springans Branga to the Graveyard.
"I activate Springans Branga's effect! If this card is in your Graveyard: target 1 Springans Xyz Monster you control; attach this card to it as material!"
She attached Branga beneath Merrymaker, giving it two materials.
Isla frowned—she knew Merrymaker could be used as a stepping stone to bring out bigger monsters.
Jade tensed—this duel had started because of her, and with Morgan's Deck on the line, they couldn't afford to lose.
Rowe, meanwhile, was curious to see how much Morgan had improved since their match.
With Rocky's effect, Merrymaker now had two materials. It was time for Nina's real play.
"I overlay Springans Merrymaker to build the Overlay Network!"
"Xyz Summon! Gigantic "Champion" Sargas!"
A golden data vortex appeared, swallowing Merrymaker. From it emerged a massive red-armored humanoid machine, silver fists tipped with missiles.
[Gigantic "Champion" Sargas] Rank 8│2800 ATK / 1500 DEF
The rare card hunters cheered—this was one of Nina's trump cards, the kind of power that had let them keep winning!
Morgan was surprised—Gigantic "Champion" Sargas was a known powerhouse in her past life, once dominating the meta until stronger decks pushed it aside.
"I activate Gigantic "Champion" Sargas's effect! If this card has material: add 1 Springans card from your Deck to your hand."
She added the Quick-Play Spell, Tally-ho! Springans, and relaxed—this was key to her combo. She had to lock Morgan down this turn.
Despite her age, Nina was a cautious leader. She had researched Morgan and found a list of intimidating titles: mysterious duelist, undefeated promotion to Platinum, Junior Division Duelist League champion.
Could she really beat Morgan and take her rare cards?
No guarantee… but with a chance like this, she had to try.
"I activate Tally-ho! Springans! Remove up to 3 materials from your Xyz Monsters; add 1 Springans monster from your Deck to your hand, then Special Summon monsters from your hand up to the number of materials removed."
Abruptly, Morgan revealed a card from her hand.
Nina froze, thrown off mid-combo.
"I activate Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring from my hand! When your opponent adds a card from their Deck to their hand: discard this card; negate that effect."
A blond-haired girl in a kimono appeared, waved her hand, and turned Tally-ho! Springans gray before sending it to the Graveyard.
Nina's combo collapsed—her mind went blank.
The other hunters gaped—their boss's big play had been stopped cold!
"I… I…"
She set one card. "Turn end."
She could only pray Morgan couldn't clear Gigantic "Champion" Sargas.
Albeit seeing Morgan's smile made her heart sink… it felt like all her effort was child's play to her opponent.
"My turn, draw!"
Morgan noted that while Gigantic "Champion" Sargas's ATK was high, it had little protection—meaning it could fall into a Trap.
She smiled and glanced at her hand.
"I Normal Summon Traptrix Myrmeleo!"
A petite girl in dark orange appeared, a pit yawning open behind her.
[Traptrix Myrmeleo] Level 4│1600 ATK / 1200 DEF
"When Traptrix Myrmeleo is Normal Summoned: add 1 Normal Trap with 'Hole' in its name from your Deck to your hand."
She searched for Gravedigger's Trap Hole.
"I use Traptrix Myrmeleo to set the Link Arrows! Link Summon! Traptrix Sera!"
...
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