If they could not exceed five cards, they could not Summon, could not activate Spells, and could not set Traps. All they could do was stare at the five ugly tokens on their field as they snored, ate snacks, and read newspapers.
Worse, each of those tokens had the restriction that they could not be used as Tributes. That meant they could not reduce their monster count through high level Summon either.
There was no solution.
The spectators gasped when they saw this. Even the students who were already familiar with Yugen's style were stunned.
Even by his usual standards, this Lockdown Array had reached a new level.
The two from Meikyu Brothers stood there stiffly, as if their minds had shut down. They almost wanted to tell Yugen that this was not how a Duel was supposed to be played.
Then the Ojama Token actually triggered an animation effect.
The yellow token sipped tea and let out a satisfied breath. "It really is more comfortable over here."
Ojama Token (Green) said, "Oh dear, sorry for taking up your space."
Ojama Token (Yellow) laughed. "Great atmosphere here. Very cozy."
Ojama Token (Black) simply snored.
The two from Meikyu Brothers felt their blood pressure rising.
"All right, then it's My Turn! Draw!"
Having discovered a new world of Duel, Judai Yuki was clearly enjoying himself.
"First I activate a Spell Card 'Cost Down'. I send the Normal Monster 'Ojama Green' that Yugen left me to the Graveyard and draw two cards from my Deck!"
Ojama Green vanished, and Judai Yuki resolved his Draw.
"Next I activate 'Polymerization'! I fuse 'Elemental HERO Burstinatrix' and 'Elemental HERO Clayman' from my hand!"
The fusion completed.
"Come out, the cannonner who guards the defensive wall. 'Elemental HERO Iron Wall Gunner'!"
A heavily armored female cannonner landed in a half kneel on Judai Yuki's field, shield in her left hand and a rocket launcher braced behind it.
'Elemental HERO Iron Wall Gunner', DEF 2500.
"'Iron Wall Gunner's' effect. While this card is in Defense Position, it can halve its ATK and attack the opponent directly while remaining in Defense Position!" (ANIME EFFECT)
"You what?!"
"Therefore, I halve its ATK and attack directly!"
'Elemental HERO Iron Wall Gunner', ATK 2000 to 1000.
Rockets streaked across the field and exploded in front of Meikyu Brothers.
"Gah!"
Meikyu Brothers, LP 6000 to 5000.
The legendary brothers were trembling now.
'Iron Wall Gunner' was a rare kind of Elemental HERO that could stay in Defense Position and attack directly, a strange effect in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Card Pool. On its own it was not that powerful.
But in this situation, it was terrifying.
Under 'Spatial Constriction', they could not play cards or Summon. Their only chance was to wait for the opponent to Summon a monster and then crash one of their tokens into it to destroy themselves.
The tokens had 0 ATK, so crashing them would deal heavy damage to themselves, but it would free up a monster zone. If they could destroy even one token, they would go down to four, and finally be able to play a card.
A single 'Heavy Storm' could blow away that hateful 'Spatial Constriction'. Or a 'Dark Hole' could wipe all the tokens and break the lock.
But who would have thought their opponent would Summon a Elemental HERO that could attack directly in Defense Position?
If they attacked a Defense Position monster with 0 ATK, they would only take damage. The token would not be destroyed.
Their faces twisted further as they looked at the armored heroine on Judai Yuki's field as if she were a warrior from the Underworld.
Weren't Hero decks supposed to focus on high attack and fair head on battles?
Why was this Elemental HERO so disgusting?
Unable to do anything, Meikyu Brothers could only pass. It became Yugen's turn.
"I normally Summon 'Inaba White Rabbit'."
'Inaba White Rabbit', ATK 700.
"'Inaba White Rabbit's' effect. If the opponent controls a monster, it can attack directly." Yugen smiled. "I will use Judai Yuki's 'Elemental HERO Iron Wall Gunner' and my 'Inaba White Rabbit' to attack directly."
"Ugh!"
Another round of direct attacks.
Meikyu Brothers, LP 5000 to 4300 to 3300.
"You little brats," Paradox Brother (Elder) muttered through clenched teeth.
At least they had Summoned a new monster.
Even though 'Inaba White Rabbit' only had 700 ATK, it was enough. The Ojama Token had 0 ATK. Next turn, they could crash a token into the Rabbit and destroy it.
"'Inaba White Rabbit' is a Spirit monster," Yugen said calmly. "Its effect is that during the End Phase of the turn it was Summoned or Flip Summoned, it returns to its owner's hand."
He picked up the Rabbit he had just Summoned.
"So I return it to my hand. End turn."
Silence.
They had nothing they could do. They could only stare as turns passed between Yugen and Judai Yuki, while 'Iron Wall Gunner' and the Rabbit took turns attacking them directly.
No one at Duel Academy had ever seen a Duel like this, not the students, not the professors, not even the administrators.
Actually, this could not even be called a Duel.
The result had already been decided the moment 'Spatial Constriction' resolved.
What followed was Death by Dismemberment.
For the first time in their lives, Meikyu Brothers felt that having eight thousand LP in a Tag Duel was a curse.
It dragged on far too long.
At last.
Meikyu Brothers, LP 0.
After the final direct bombardment, the two brothers collapsed onto the ground. Their eyes were empty, but there was a faint look of relief on their faces.
It was finally over.
Meikyu Brothers left while shouting.
Even after the two great duelists were escorted out of Duel Academy, they were still in a daze. Until the very end, they were probably still asking themselves how someone's Duel could be that vicious. Students of Duel Academy? First year freshmen? What kind of joke was that?
If they had a choice, they would rather face Yami Yugi or Joey Wheeler again. Even if they were crushed instantly, at least it would be quick and clean, not like being slowly carved apart in public. Especially that Jellyfish Hair, who even jumped in front of them after the match and made an annoying little gesture.
"We won! That was such a fun Duel!"
Meikyu Brothers: "."
For a second, the brothers almost rolled up their sleeves to fight for real. Fun? Sure, a real fun Duel.
They turned away with dark faces and stormed off. As far as they were concerned, they would never set foot in Duel Academy again.
"I really didn't expect that," even Asuka Tenjoin in the stands said, briefly at a loss for words.
Daichi Misawa looked complicated as well. "Yeah. Even a Legendary Duelist lost."
He did not finish the sentence, but they both understood the rest. It was not just that a Legendary Duelist had been defeated. A Legendary Duelist had been completely broken.
Anyone could see that when Meikyu Brothers left, the two of them were mentally shaken. It would not be surprising if they went home and started fighting each other. The teachers and students had found the Duel very entertaining and agreed with Judai Yuki that it was fun, but once they calmed down and thought about it, the future of the Duel world felt a little grim.
This combination had been heavily modified by Yugen. In real competitive play, there had once been a prototype called Macro Cosmos LOCK.
It was one of the early Deck builds. Calling it truly competitive was generous, since it only brushed the edge of the meta and was weaker than the top decks of its time.
From the name alone, centered on the continuous trap 'Spatial Constriction', a pure lockdown strategy built to shut the opponent out. The reason it was considered more of a fun deck was that setting up the lock was difficult, and it could easily be disrupted before completion. But once Lockdown Array was established, with the shallow Card Pool of that early era, it was almost impossible to break.
The moment the lock was complete, the opponent was basically alive but already dead.