The giant insect crushed the unlucky boss with ease, triggering the chained explosion of Nitro Unit bound to its body. A thunderous blast followed, flames sweeping across half of Yugen's field as the shockwave washed over him.
[Yugen, LP 3000 → LP 1600]
"Then I set two cards and end my turn!" Shuichi Watanabe shouted.
"…"
"Impressive, Watanabe," the well-endowed upperclasswoman in the stands commented. "Even in a situation like that, he broke through in one push and regained control." Beside her, a student from the Duel Department nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, and judging by that setup, his back row should be solid too," the student said. "That freshman used some, uh, special methods to gain the upper hand, but it looks like this is as far as he goes. Still, his performance has been outstanding, and the judges should approve him."
Shuichi Watanabe thought the same way himself. He had a Hell Centipede with a massive 3600 ATK on the field, and one of his set cards was the Trap Card "Security Orb," which could switch an attacking monster to defense or destroy a monster if it was removed by a Spell and Trap Cards. It served both defense and counterattack purposes.
The other set card was the Trap Card "Holy Javelin," which could restore Life Points equal to the attacking monster's ATK. His defense looked nearly flawless, and he felt firmly in control of the situation.
What Shuuichi did not realize was that the Duel had already been decided. The moment he destroyed that 'Spell Calling' and allowed Yugen to search from the Deck, the end was effectively set.
Yugen said, "My Turn!, Card Draw."
The equation for victory was complete.
"I activate the Spell Card 'Giant Trunade'. All spells and Trap Card on both sides of the field return to their owners' hands!"
The storm rose again, and the set 'Monster Reborn' on Yugen's field and the two set cards on the opponent's side were all swept back into their hands. The back row vanished in an instant, leaving the field wide open.
Shuichi Watanabe looked at the two traps that returned to his hand and clicked his tongue. Losing the back row was annoying, but it did not seem fatal. Even without Axe of Fools, Hell Centipede would still have 2600 ATK, and his Life Points was also at 2600.
Could you really defeat me in a single turn?
Yugen drew another card that had been returned by the storm. "I activate the Spell Card 'Reinforcement of the Army' that I searched last turn. I add a level four or lower Warrior monster from my Deck to my hand. I add 'Gearfried the Iron Knight'."
Gearfried the Iron Knight had once been one of Joey Wheeler's signature low-level monsters in the DM era. By the GX era, it had become a common generic monster, something even Sho Marufuji remembered seeing used by random elementary school kids he dueled. Its appearance here, however, carried a very different meaning.
"Normal Summon 'Gearfried the Iron Knight'!" Yugen declared.
[Gearfried the Iron Knight, ATK 1800]
"Next, I activate the Spell Card 'Monster Reborn' that returned to my hand!" Yugen Do said. "I revive this card that was discarded to the Graveyard earlier by 'Graceful Charity'. Come back, Mythical Beast Cerberus!"
[Mythical Beast Cerberus, ATK 1400]
With Gearfried and Mythical Beast Cerberus appearing together, any experienced duelist could already guess what was coming. Seeing these two side by side meant only one thing. One of the earliest and most infamous combinations in Yu-Gi-Oh! history.
Shuichi Watanabe frowned. "You summoned all these weak monsters. What exactly are you trying to do?"
"Don't rush," Yugen Do replied. "The last card I'm going to use is this."
Yugen waved his hand.
"Equip Spell, Butterfly Dagger - Elma!"
[Equip Spell, Butterfly Dagger - Elma Effect: The equipped monster gains 300 ATK. If this card is destroyed while equipped to a monster and sent to the Graveyard, it returns to its owner's hand.]
At first glance, it looked like a cheap and useless Equip Spell. New players encountering Yu-Gi-Oh! for the first time would never understand how such an ordinary card had earned an eternal place on the forbidden list. No one on site realized how serious the situation had become.
"I equip Butterfly Dagger - Elma to 'Gearfried the Iron Knight', increasing its ATK by 300," Yugen Do said. "But Gearfried has an effect. He cannot be equipped with any Equip Cards. When an Equip Card tries to equip to him, it is destroyed immediately. Therefore, Butterfly Dagger - Elma is destroyed. (ANIME EFFECT)"
Shuuichi stared in confusion. "?"
Destroying your own Equip Spell, what was the point of that?
"At that moment, Butterfly Dagger - Elma's second effect activates," Yugen Do continued. "When it is destroyed while equipped and sent to the Graveyard, it returns to its owner's hand. So I recover Butterfly Dagger - Elma from the Graveyard."
Shuuichi frowned. "Even so, that doesn't do anything."
"Of course it does," Yugen Do replied. "I still have 'Mythical Beast Cerberus' on my field. As long as it remains, every time either player activates a Spell Card, it gains one Spell Counter. Its ATK increases by 500 for each Spell Counter it has."
[Mythical Beast Cerberus, ATK 1400 → ATK 1900]
"Just five hundred ATK? That's nothing, un…" Shuichi Watanabe stopped mid-sentence.
He finally realized something was very wrong.
"Equip Butterfly Dagger - Elma to Gearfried again," Yugen Do said calmly. "Because of Gearfried's effect, it is destroyed again, then recovered by its own effect. Since another Spell Card was activated, Mythical Beast Cerberus gains another 500 ATK."
[Mythical Beast Cerberus, ATK 1900 → ATK 2400]
"Y-you…" Shuichi Watanabe began to tremble. The students watching, no matter how slow, finally understood what was happening.
This was an infinite loop. One of the earliest, simplest, and easiest infinite loops in Yu-Gi-Oh! history.
Butterfly Dagger equipped to Gearfried, destroyed by Gearfried's effect, then returned by its own effect. This allowed infinite activations of a Spell Card in a single turn. As a result, Mythical Beast Cerberus's ATK could rise without limit.
Yugen repeated the motion again and again. The numbers climbed at a terrifying pace, far beyond anything a normal duel was meant to handle.
[Mythical Beast Cerberus, ATK 12400]
Shuichi Watanabe looked like he was about to cry. He could hardly imagine how much damage an attack with that much ATK would cause. Around them, the spectators were completely numb, and even the host seemed frozen in shock.
[Mythical Beast Cerberus, ATK 22400]
"Alright, that should be enough," Yugen said at last.
He could keep going, but endlessly repeating the process was tiring. The fact that his senior had not surrendered yet was impressive in its own way. To thank him for staying until the end, there was only one thing left to do.
"Mythical Beast Cerberus, attack 'Hell Centipede'!"
[Hell Centipede, ATK 2600]
Shuichi Watanabe said nothing. A roar like it came from the depths of hell erupted, and the overwhelming impact tore straight through him.
[Shuichi Watanabe, LP 2600 → LP 0]
The field fell silent. All eyes were fixed on Yugen, as if everyone present had turned to stone.
Silence fell over the arena. Only after Shuichi Watanabe's Life Points hit zero and he was blasted onto his back did anyone realize how quiet it was. For a long moment, nobody spoke at all.
Even the host stood there with his mouth open, frozen and unsure what to say. The shock almost made him blurt out one of Professor Chronos de Medici's favorite catchphrases. He had seen talented freshmen defeat defending members during recruitment before, but never anything like this.
He had spent more than two years in the Duel Department and thought he had seen every kind of scene. Yet a Duel like this was completely outside his experience. It simply did not fit any example he knew.
"Uh, well…" A tall senior on the stands even stuttered for a moment. She was staring at the field in disbelief. In a single Duel, someone had shown both a suffocating Underworld-style lock that said you do not get to play Yugi Muto today, and a flashy loop that reached a theoretical pseudo-infinite ATK.