[Fleur Synchron, ATK 400]
A petite Synchro tuner monster, its entire appearance resembled an unopened flower bud: tiny hands and feet, eyes wide and mischievous in the heart of the bloom, with a sly, almost sinister smile on its face.
"The Tuner's here?" Kira mused.
Sherry declared, "Level 2, Tuner monster 'Fleur Synchron'!
Level 6, 'Centaur Mina'! Tuning!"
[2 + 6 = 8]
A fragrant breeze swept across the scorched battlefield. Silver-white starlight pierced the sky as the Synchro Cards began to glow, a graceful knightly figure leaping from the halo and merging into brilliant starlight.
"Noble white lily, the time for revolution has come! Grant me victory! Synchro Summon——
—Level 8, Chevalier de Fleur!"
Countless pink petals appeared from thin air, swirling and converging like a blizzard. Within the waltzing petals, a knight clad in silver-white armor emerged, living vines entwined in the seams of the armor, a sword wrapped with roses swaying and releasing a pure shockwave.
[Chevalier de Fleur, ATK 2700]
"So this is Sherry's ace monster?"
Akiza noted.
"But that ATK is lower than Scrap Dragon—"
Before she finished, Sherry cut her off sharply, "Of course I know that!
I activate the effect of 'Centaur Mina', used as Synchro Material for Chevalier de Fleur!
If it's sent to the grave as Synchro Material for a WIND, Warrior-type Synchro Monster:
I can destroy any one face-up monster on the field!"
Centaur Mina's vanished silhouette appeared again, as if the energy had been absorbed into the Chevalier de Fleur's sword. With a sword swing, Centaur Mina's phantom rode a gust, shattering Scrap Dragon in a single blow.
"Nicely countered."
Kira blocked the explosion's blast single-handedly, smiling.
"But, at this moment, my Scrap Dragon's effect also activates.
When it's destroyed and sent to the grave by the opponent, I can Special Summon any 'Scrap' monster from my graveyard, except a Synchro Monster."
The leftover Scrap Dragon parts reassembled, as if drawn together by magnetic force, forming a new Scrap monster form.
Scrap Beast, revived!
[Scrap Beast, DEF 1300]
Sherry clicked her tongue:
"It's just a pile of scrap metal, but it's endless!
But I still have attacks left!
Go, Chevalier de Fleur, attack 'Scrap Beast'!"
Chevalier de Fleur strode forward, drew her blade, and hacked at the freshly revived Scrap Beast with a flurry of petals. The little beast was instantly bisected!
"Apprentice Knight, attack directly!"
Sherry swept her arm.
The small, delicate knight leapt forward, slashing directly at Kira with a burst of sword energy.
Seeing Kira about to take damage, Akiza instinctively held her breath:
"There's still 'Dimension Wall' in the back row as a defense,
and Sherry's 'Centaur Mina', which could negate traps, is now in the grave as Synchro Material.
Attacking now could easily backfire.
But Sherry should know this well enough…"
She wouldn't be naïve enough to forget about Dimension Wall.
"Oh? Knowing there's a trap, but still approaching instead of retreating?
Moving in closer to me, Goodwin, like an exam student scrambling to finish the problems on an exam until the last moments before the chime?"
Kira smiled and waved grandly.
"Interesting. I'll accept the challenge, then.
Activating set card, Trap Card 'Dimension Wall'!
When an opponent's monster attacks, your opponent takes all the battle damage from that attack, instead of you!"
The previously failed trap activated again—the dimensional rift split open, forming a shield in front of Kira.
Sherry was prepared:
"At this moment, Chevalier de Fleur's effect activates!
Once per turn, when your opponent activates a Spell or Trap, negate its activation and destroy it!"
The sword in Chevalier de Fleur's hand spun with petals and slashed.
The Dimension Wall dimmed, filled by petals, and shattered into golden dust.
"Amazing," Akiza praised inwardly.
"As I suspected, she has an answer for Dimension Wall.
This Sherry is a top-tier duelist."
Sherry's ace, Chevalier de Fleur, can negate Spell/Trap effects—an extremely strong disruption in this meta.
These days, in modern Yu-Gi-Oh, it's common knowledge that negating monster effects is worth more than negating Spells/Traps.
But back in the earlier meta, things were the opposite: Spell/Trap negation was far more prized.
That's because monster effects weren't as overloaded back then; Spells and Traps were dominant.
Cards that could stop Spells/Traps were crucial.
Even so, likely because Spell/Trap disruption was so valuable in the Synchro era, Konami nerfed Chevalier de Fleur's effect when releasing the real card:
—In the real card, Chevalier de Fleur can only once per turn, on your own turn, negate a Spell/Trap activation.
The anime version isn't limited—whether on your own turn or your opponent's, you could use it any time. Hence why in the anime, Yusei and Sherry's mind-games center on this once-per-turn negation.
If it was the real card effect, Yusei would've blasted Sherry.
"Dimension Wall's activation is negated, Apprentice Knight's attack continues!"
Sherry shouted.
"Take this!"
"Not so fast."
Kira calmly flipped another set card.
"Activate Trap Card 'Power Wall'!
When I would take damage from an opponent's monster attack, for every 100 points, I send one card from the top of my deck to the grave—make the battle damage 0!" (Anime effect)
Kira tossed a stack of cards into the air, forming a defensive wall.
"Send 10 cards from the deck to the grave—battle damage becomes 0!"
…