The dragon panted heavily, exhaling a scorching cyclone from its nostrils. The colossal divine dragon with five heads stood between heaven and earth, with a steel black dragon floating mid-air on the left, flapping its wings, and a towering ice blue dragon covered in frozen scales on the right.
[Five-Headed Dragon, Attack Power 5000]
[Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, Attack Power 2800]
[White Night Dragon, Attack Power 3000]
"Five-Headed Dragon." Youyu snapped his fingers, the hem of his black coat fluttering elegantly behind him, "Direct attack on the player."
The Five-Headed Dragon opened its mouths, unleashing a dazzling surge of multicolored impact. The blinding light screen appeared like a floodgate bursting in the sky, erupting a chaotic elemental stream with the dragon's breath.
"Ugh aaahhhh!!!"
[Player A, LP 0]
An unimportant player was blown onto their back, LP reduced to zero by the Five-Headed Dragon's strike, theatrically knocked down by the impact of the holographic projection.
The Five-Headed Dragon, despite being considered the disgrace of Dragon-Type, possessing only a formidable 5000 attack with no practical effects, still boasted an impressive presence thanks to its massive size. When attacking, the holographic special effects were maxed out, making it look cool and impressive—an excellent pretense effect.
The duel ended quickly, over in a few moves, but the entire process was filled with the spectators' endless exclamations of "Whoa!"
"Whoa! Future Fusion!"
"Whoa! Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon! The true powerhouse of Dragon-Type!"
"Whoa! Not even comparable to the weakest wall!"
Five-Headed Dragon: ...
"Next."
Youyu waved his hand, signaling for the defeated player to step down, while urging the next player in line to step up. Casually, he swapped out the card deck from his Duel Disc and replaced it with a new one.
Next up was Jianantou.
Jianantou took to the field, habitually adjusted his glasses, and flashed a grin at Youyu. Although he might have intended to ingratiate himself, his expression, akin to that of a suppressed beast, instinctively repulsed Youyu.
Jianantou's appearance, combined with that sleazy smile, clashed with Youyu's high charisma, making them naturally incompatible...
However, Jianantou was a player whose strategies Youyu was familiar with, and his technical skills were decent.
After a few turns, this duel also ended swiftly.
In the final round, Jianantou had "The Six Samurai - Zanji" on the field. He first performed a Normal Summon of "The Six Samurai - Yaichi," then Special Summoned "Grand General Shien."
Shien was currently Jianantou's ace card; it could be Special Summoned straight away as long as there were two Six Samurai monsters on the field. Not only did it have a respectable attack power of 2500, but it also had an effect to interfere with the activation of opponent's Magic Trap Cards, boasting considerable battle strength.
At the start of this turn's preparation stage, Youyu activated the Trap Card "Battle Mania," compelling all of Jianantou's monsters to attack during this turn.
Jianantou didn't mind, asserting that he usually played aggressively, occasionally even overly so. Being forced to attack was right up his alley.
Of course, before attacking, he needed to clear the backfield traps. Jianantou opted to use the effect of "The Six Samurai - Yaichi," to destroy Youyu's sole Set Card in the backfield.
But to his astonishment, when Yaichi's arrow pierced the Set Card, causing it to tear in mid-air, the card turned out to be——
——the Continuous Trap "Mirror Force Launcher!"
"Mirror Force Launcher," Youyu smiled, "When this card is destroyed, it can be Set back onto the field from the graveyard, and a 'Mirror Force' can be Set onto the field from the deck as well.
And the card Set by this effect can be activated this turn!"
The spectators' resounding exclamations of "Whoa!" echoed again.
Impressive, Youyu-san's collection of good stuff is ever-growing!
Countless souls itching to spend money couldn't hold back, just dying to buy buy buy!
"When 'Grand General Shien' is on the field, your opponent is limited to activating one Magic Trap Card per turn, but that only applies to Magic Trap Cards activated on the field. 'Mirror Force Launcher' is a trap activated from the graveyard, outside that restriction," Youyu explained.
What happened next was unsurprising.
Bound by the effect of "Battle Mania," Grand General Shien was forced to attack, and "Mirror Force" instantly wiped out Jianantou's Six Samurai on the field.
Jianantou clearly wasn't the type to pull a miracle comeback from being steamrolled, nor was he able to recover all his lost resources with a single draw amidst crisis. The outcome of the duel was inevitable.
"Well, you've passed," Youyu said, "Report back in a couple of days."
Jianantou rejoiced, appearing as though he was about to rush over and hug Youyu, but retreated under Youyu's unwelcoming gaze.
Throughout this streak of dueling, spectators captured nonstop screenshots and constantly posted. In just a few minutes, forums buzzed with news of what Youyu-san wielded, what deck he used, the scene was bustling.
Indeed, Youyu used this evaluation opportunity to simultaneously advertise his various decks.
He even showcased some decks that usually collected dust in his deck, showcasing them to the silly spectators.
For instance, the flamboyantly complex Cubic Deck sponsored by young enthusiast Aigami, vibrant in effects, but often clunky in play, yet still boasting a significant fanbase.
Admittedly, there were quite a few fans of this deck.
Watching Youyu perform a dazzling "Cubic Five-Strike Combo," unceremoniously OTKing the opponent, had many players incited with passion, even imagining themselves wielding Cubic Decks with victorious aplomb.
The "Hanno Knight" guild, where Cola Sprite was from, reportedly had its leader, "Just a Punching Bag," almost overturn their base in excitement upon seeing "Mirror Force Launcher."
"Buy! Must buy!" the guild leader exclaimed, waving his arms incoherently.
Mirror Force represents the Hanno Knights' romance!
This wave of advertisement was indeed necessary.
Youyu thought, considering so many years since version 1.0 had passed, it had been a long time since he won the Duel City Championship, earning the title of Duel King.
If any silly people thought he was an outdated powerhouse, wasn't this the time to reaffirm his presence?
And the advertisement effect was quite remarkable, as many players recalled the awe they experienced from Youyu-san's performances in the past.
As an NPC in the Yu-Gi-Oh World, Youyu san swapped over twenty decks today, no repetitions, not even pulling out his signature "Hero" series!
You tell me that's an NPC? That's practically a walking card warehouse!
However, by this point, Youyu decided to call it a day.
Playing cards is quite energy-consuming. Despite having an impressive endurance no ordinary person could achieve, there are limits, especially after dueling over twenty opponents repeatedly—a bit tiring.
So he called it a day. He told the remaining players to go back and prepare, and they would decide on the next evaluation's time a few days later.
Leaving the venue, the sky outside was entirely dark. Walking along Domino's nighttime streets, observing the bustling cityscape and feeling Duel City's changes over the years, a sense of familiarity arose within Youyu.
He was reborn in this city, where he fought and struggled, building everything from scratch.
This city granted him opportunities, and now he had the power to make it even better.
Within moments of walking, turning a street corner was Domino's famous landmark, "White Dragon Park."
...Indeed, over the years, this Duel City had been sculpted more and more into the likeness of President Haima's cherished White Dragon...
At the park's entrance, noise accompanied by splendid light effects could be heard. A large crowd of passersby was gathered, craning their necks to watch, and judging by the sound, it seemed a duel was occurring.
"AMAZING!" shouted a duelist in the middle.
Youyu raised an eyebrow, finding the voice familiar, as though he'd heard it before. He paused in curiosity, stepped forward, and joined the crowd of spectators.
Sure enough, a duel was ongoing at the center. On the right was a duelist with the face of someone clearly losing—so much that Youyu didn't even bother to pay them any attention—and on the left...oh, surprisingly, there was a "Black Magician," which was rather uncommon.
And the duelist commanding the "Black Magician" astonishingly was...
"Pandora?" Youyu was somewhat surprised.