Elemental Hero Great Tornado, summon!
The warrior who commands the storm appeared in the center of the field, bringing with him a roaring tornado. A visibly pitch-black storm shot straight into the sky, causing the arena to tremble under the force of the gale. The slender hero floated in the eye of the storm, his dark cape billowing in the wind.
[Elemental Hero Great Tornado, attack power 2800]
This was the last new Hero Fusion Monster that Youyu possessed in hand, with fusion conditions of an "Elemental Hero" Monster + a Wind Attribute Monster, which meant Edgeman could be fused with the Wind Attribute Featherman.
"Attack power 2800!? It's actually over the Skeleton Demon!" Tosawa Mukuro's face showed disbelief.
"And 'Great Tornado' also possesses a special ability," said Youyu. "Upon successful summon, all monsters on the opponent's field have their attack and defense halved!"
Tosawa Mukuro was even more astonished: "Such a powerful effect!?"
To duelists in this era, an attack power of 2800 was already a sufficiently powerful monster. Not only that, it possessed the terrifying special ability of "halving the opponent monsters' attack power"... Isn't such a monster unbeatable!?
The storm's hero raised his palm, and the tornado swept forward as if it had a consciousness. The demon's lightning was momentarily dispersed by the gale, and the skeletal demon was dragged into the storm's center.
The Skeleton Demon let out an unwilling roar, unleashing a lightning attack to resist the binding storm, but it was useless. Its stamina was rapidly weakening, and the momentum of the lightning released was no longer as strong as before.
[Thunder King - Skeleton Demon, attack power 2500 → attack power 1250]
Some duelists started wondering: "Wait a minute, wasn't the President's Skeleton Demon supposed to roll a dice and determine whether the effect would be effective or not based on the number rolled?"
"Yeah! Makes sense, why didn't the Skeleton Demon's special ability activate?"
"Is it a system bug...?"
More than one duelist had this question, and many were starting to feel surprised.
President Tosawa Mukuro himself had a slightly better understanding of the dueling rules. He gritted his teeth and said, "So that's how it is. The Skeleton Demon's effect only triggers when 'it is chosen as the target for an effect,' but Great Tornado's effect is 'lowering all opponent monsters' attack power' without choosing a target, so the ability didn't trigger?"
Youyu chuckled lightly: "That's right."
Simply put, the principle is this—
—My Great Tornado today isn't targeting anyone specifically, but all of your monsters here, their attack power has to be halved!
For the later players, this was a common knowledge level rule. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! rule system, many card effects require selection of specific targets to activate, and many effects like Great Tornado are directed at the entire field, not needing the selection of targets.
However, in today's era where duelists are still struggling with simple rules like "tribute needed for tribute summon," the target selection rules were a bit too deep and complex for most people to truly understand.
President Tosawa Mukuro was one of the few duelists capable of understanding this rule. But the more he understood it, the more awestruck he became of the young man in front of him.
He even considered the weakness of using the Skeleton King such as this!
This boy... whether it's card usage, strategy selection, or understanding and consciousness of the Duel Monsters game, is terrifyingly strong!
Though the duel wasn't over yet, Tosawa Mukuro discovered that deep down he had already accepted his defeat.
Or rather, he was almost looking forward to how his defeat would happen in the next turns.
He smirked and said with a chuckle: "Fusion Summon... Indeed, it can instantly call forth powerful monsters, an impressive move to instantly take control of the duel's momentum.
But this method also comes with certain limitations, which you must have considered, right? The fact that Fusion Monsters cannot attack in the turn they are summoned."
Indeed, every duel that Youyu played felt irritatingly constrained by this rule, especially with his initial card deck being heavily Shrine focused Elemental Heroes...
But it didn't matter.
He played the final card to conclude the duel: "Quick-Play Magic - De-Fusion!"
"Ha! You even hid this trick," Tosawa Mukuro laughed.
"De-Fuse the Great Tornado on the field and Special Summon the monsters used as Fusion Material from the graveyard back onto the field!" As he spoke, two cards popped out from Youyu's graveyard, "Come back, Elemental Hero Featherman, Elemental Hero Edgeman!"
[Elemental Hero Featherman, attack power 1000]
[Elemental Hero Edgeman, attack power 2600]
Everyone knew what was going to happen next.
"Edgeman, attack the Skeleton Demon!" Youyu commanded the final attack.
The golden metallic hero charged at the demon. The engine on its back spewed golden flames, transforming its form into a long streak of golden afterimage, like a sharp blade ejecting from a sheath.
The Skeleton Demon, with its attack power halved to 1250, was incapable of fending off Edgeman's offensive. The golden blade slice through the demon's body from top to bottom. The white-bone armor shattered with a sorrowful cry, and its body imploded with an unwilling roar.
[Tosawa Mukuro, LP 1000 → LP 0]
The crowd plunged into an eerie silence once again.
Though they had somewhat foreseen the President losing... witnessing it firsthand was still shockingly overwhelming.
Because it wasn't just about losing a duel either; it appeared the entire duel rhythm had firmly been in Youyu's grasp.
Even with Tosawa Mukuro summoning his ace monster, the elite rare card of the demon realm "Thunder King - Skeleton Demon," it seemed entirely futile.
From start to finish, the control of the duel stayed in Youyu's hands. He casually neutralized the opponent's offensive, saw through their strategy, and delivered a brilliant counter strike... appeared quite at ease.
Just who is this powerful duelist, and where did he come from? Why hadn't anyone heard of him before?
"I lost." Tosawa Mukuro stood up, "Thoroughly lost, not a shred of resentment."
"So now I can join you guys, right?" Youyu smiled.
"If you have the willingness, there's certainly no problem. On the contrary, having a formidable duelist like you join is an honor for us in the 'Nightwalker World'."
The strong are revered, strength is the true hard reasoning.
After witnessing Youyu's exceptional skills, Tosawa Mukuro found this overly handsome face more pleasing to the eye.
"Thank you, President." Youyu nodded, turning to the audience by the ring, "Then from now on, I kindly ask for your guidance."
The room full of tough guys erupted in cheers welcoming him.