An infinite loop, or infinite cycle.
In Yu-Gi-Oh! dueling, certain cards, when specific conditions are met, can trigger their effects endlessly, achieving an infinite loop.
Pulling off such a combo is extremely difficult, requiring the use of many cards outside a single archetype, careful consideration of success rates and payoffs, and is a rare, almost mythical feat in duels.
The most famous example was Muto Yugi's duel in the DM dimension against the Puppet Master, where he achieved an infinite loop with Slifer the Sky Dragon to secure victory.
That's why the onlookers, both new and returning students, and even Furuta Hajime didn't immediately recognize Ryo Nakamuta's play as an infinite loop!
They'd rather believe the system had bugged out!
But the truth was undeniable: the system wasn't bugged. If it had been, the referee would've stopped the match immediately, and the school's tech department would've halted the duel.
In short, this was the infinite burn loop that Ryo Nakamuta had executed!
Realizing this, the previously rowdy onlookers' faces paled slightly, and even Furuta Hajime's expression turned grim!
In just a dozen seconds, his 8000 LP was nearly depleted!
"Three seconds."
"Two seconds."
"Last loop, and the duel's over."
"Furuta-sensei, I think I've won this match, right?"
Ryo Nakamuta shrugged, immensely satisfied with the masterpiece he'd crafted. He hadn't originally planned to use this infinite loop, but with Beelze, King of Diabolic Dragons in his generic extra deck, Forced Transfer inexplicably in his starter deck, and several non-archetype tuners from the Red-Eyes support cards, it all came together.
Thus, Ryo Nakamuta recalled a notorious, despair-inducing infinite loop from his own world!
"Hm, you've won."
"You're the most impressive freshman I've seen so far."
"It's been a long time since I've witnessed a combo like this in action."
"I think the top freshman spot of this class belongs to you."
Deeply shaken, Furuta Hajime quickly regained his composure. His gaze toward Ryo Nakamuta was filled with curiosity and respect. For him, this was the first time a freshman had made him eat such a bitter defeat.
And the first time he'd been burned to death by an infinite loop!
"By the way, how does this combo work?"
"Beelze, King of Diabolic Dragons's effect: When this card takes damage from battle or an opponent's card effect, its ATK increases by that amount."
"Red-Eyes Metal Flare Dragon's effect: As long as this card has xyz materials and is in the monster zone, whenever the opponent activates a spell, trap, or monster effect, it deals 500 damage to them."
"Neither has a once-per-turn restriction, so after playing Fireball, Furuta-sensei, does that clear things up?"
A sudden epiphany!
The explanation left all the onlookers, including Furuta Hajime, stunned. They finally grasped the insane power of this two-card infinite burn combo!
What shocked them even more was that these two seemingly unrelated cards could produce such a miraculous Yu-Gi-Oh! chemical reaction. Was this even reasonable?
"Does this combo have a name?"
"Of course. I call it the Double Dragon Secret Eight-Character Barbecue Technique!"
With that, Ryo Nakamuta removed his duel disk, took out his deck, gave a slight bow to Furuta Hajime, and turned to leave, vanishing into the crowd.
The surrounding students, new and old, tactfully parted to make way for him. Only after Ryo Nakamuta was completely out of sight did they let out a collective sigh of relief.
What kind of monstrous freshman was this?
Who else could give an examiner such a harsh lesson right at enrollment, pulling off an outrageous combo in a duel?
You call this a freshman?
Kito Saku, who'd been boasting earlier, fell silent. Swallowing hard, he stared in the direction Ryo had left, seemingly lost in thought.
"Sis, this guy's strong."
"Yep, I can tell. I wonder how he'd stack up against big brother Yusei."
Among the returning students, a pair of green-haired siblings chatted and laughed as they left the crowd, seemingly uninterested in the remaining freshman exams—or rather, convinced there was no need to watch further.
Unless something unexpected happened, the top freshman spot belonged to this Ryo Nakamuta.
…
Meanwhile, Ryo Nakamuta couldn't have been more thrilled. The respectful, curious, and even fearful glances from passersby told him his play was a complete success.
Sure, it might've made Furuta Hajime, the examiner, lose some face, but this duel was the key to establishing himself at this school—a critical move!
[Congratulations, host, for completing the task. System rewards successfully obtained!]
[1. Comprehensive Red-Eyes deck enhancement.]
[2. 500 Duel Points.]
[Tasks refreshed!]
[1. Defeat any duelist.]
[2. Obtain one new preconstructed deck.]
"Hm? Comprehensive Red-Eyes deck enhancement?"
"Wait, what are these Duel Points?"
As the mechanical AI voice echoed in Ryo Nakamuta's mind again, he calmed slightly. With a thought, a virtual interface resembling a Yu-Gi-Oh! game appeared before him.
It included deck functions like deck editing, deck searching, related cards, and related combos.
There was also a shop function, where Duel Points could unlock various deck usage permissions.
After reviewing it, Ryo Nakamuta felt both joy and concern.
The joy: All powerful Red-Eyes fusion monsters were now unlocked in his deck!
No more relying on those trash vanilla monsters!
The concern: The true big boss of the Red-Eyes archetype, Red Dragon Archfiend ("Red Dad"), wasn't unlocked.
Without Red Dragon Archfiend, a Red-Eyes deck was still just fish-eyes.
As for Duel Points, exchanging them for decks wasn't expensive—cheaper than buying from the International Illusion Society.
1000 points could reliably unlock a full archetype preconstructed deck with basic cards for plays. Unlocking stronger cards required completing more tasks.
Fortunately, he now had two tasks, giving him more ways to earn Duel Points.
"Eh, I'll check out the dorm conditions first."
"Might as well meet my new roommates too."
Snapping out of his thoughts, Ryo Nakamuta followed the dorm information on his duel disk, heading toward the direction guided by the Obelisk the Tormentor statue.
Meanwhile, in the principal's office of the Phantom God Dimension Academy, a bald, bearded man was reviewing the freshman admission rankings.
"Principal Samejima, this is the current top-ranked student based on the examiners' consensus."
"Here's his duel performance and recording from the exam."
"Please review it to confirm the bonus and deduction points."
Furuta Hajime, with a bitter expression, handed a duel USB to Principal Samejima.
Looking at Ryo Nakamuta's name at the top with a perfect score of 100, Principal Samejima couldn't help but feel curious about what kind of duel combo this kid had pulled off to earn such unanimous high marks from the academy's old-timers!
He vaguely recalled that when he was transferred to this academy as principal, almost no one had ever scored a perfect 100.
After mulling it over, Principal Samejima eagerly chose to watch the duel recording on the USB.
As Ryo's vanilla Red-Eyes one-card fusion played out, Samejima was stunned. When Ryo effortlessly pulled off fusion, xyz, and synchro summons in one go, Samejima's face paled. By the time the infinite loop obliterated Furuta Hajime, he couldn't help but stand up.
"What the heck? What is this?!"
"This is a duel a college freshman can pull off?!"
"You'd think a pro duelist… no, a Duel King came to take the entrance exam!"
"Double Dragon Secret Eight-Character Barbecue Technique?"
"Furuta Hajime, you didn't lose unfairly."
"He's truly worthy of the top freshman spot."
"Those old-timers' eyes are sharp as ever!"
Principal Samejima couldn't help but exclaim, his gaze filled with even greater admiration.
Hearing the principal's words, Furuta Hajime knew for sure.
This kid!
He'd firmly secured the top freshman spot, hadn't he?