The duel information was finalized.
Suzuki Mina, securing the first turn, scanned her five-card hand, her mind swiftly organizing her opening field.
"My turn. I normal summon Chocolate Magician Girl, then activate her effect, discarding one Apple Magician Girl from my hand to draw one card from my deck."
"I set one card face-down. My turn ends."
Seeing Suzuki Mina's textbook Chocolate discarding Apple play, the onlookers felt a chill down their spines.
At first glance, Suzuki Mina's field seemed weak—Chocolate Magician Girl had only 1600 ATK, easily destroyed in battle. But if the opponent attacked, Chocolate's effect would trigger.
Chocolate could revive Apple from the graveyard, halving the attacking monster's ATK and transferring it to Apple.
If Apple was attacked, she could special summon a level 5 or lower Spellcaster monster from the hand, halving the attacking monster's ATK again and transferring it to the summoned monster.
This combo, with two ATK halvings, meant even a 4000 ATK monster wouldn't survive the ordeal!
"That's it, huh? Interesting."
"My turn, draw!"
"I activate the spell card Red-Eyes Insight!"
"I send one Red-Eyes Black Dragon from my deck to the graveyard to add Red-Eyes Fusion from my deck to my hand."
"I activate Red-Eyes Fusion, sending fusion materials to the graveyard to summon this ace monster!"
"Fusion summon! Devil Dragon Black Skull Dragon!"
With a smooth sequence of cards placed on the duel disk, the green glow of Red-Eyes Insight projected, followed by the familiar fusion of two monster cards.
Summoned Skull and Red-Eyes Black Dragon overlaid for a double fusion!
Even students who'd seen this at the entrance exam couldn't help but inwardly curse at the absurdity of this deck-fusion spell card.
How could a card be so broken as to pull fusion materials straight from the deck?
The ace monster that emerged in the virtual projection, Devil Dragon Black Skull Dragon, was slightly different from the one seen during the entrance exam.
Its blood-red muscles seemed ready to burst, and the silver bone armor encasing the Red-Eyes Black Dragon burned with relentless flames.
"Here it comes, here it comes! That broken fusion again! It's this guy! But why's the name longer?"
"3200 ATK just like that? Absolutely busted!"
"But still, Ryo Nakamuta wouldn't dare attack Chocolate, right?"
"Suzuki Mina's deck thrives against attacks. Let's see what happens."
After their discussion, the students largely agreed that Ryo Nakamuta wouldn't opt for a direct attack, not just because of Chocolate Magician Girl but likely due to Suzuki Mina's mysterious face-down card.
But the next second, they were proven wrong!
"Enter the battle phase!"
"Devil Dragon Black Skull Dragon, attack Chocolate Magician Girl!"
"Blow her away!"
Ryo Nakamuta didn't hesitate, charging straight into the battle phase, completely ignoring Chocolate and the face-down card!
"It's over!"
"What's Ryo-bro doing?! Didn't I warn him…"
Ikeda Hiromu clutched his eyes in panic, unable to watch Devil Dragon Black Skull Dragon get toyed with.
Even Asuka shook her head slightly, about to criticize Ryo Nakamuta's recklessness, but swallowed her words.
Because one second later, a shocking scene unfolded, stunning everyone!
Chocolate Magician Girl, which should have triggered her effect, didn't. She stood there, lifeless, as Devil Dragon Black Skull Dragon obliterated her!
"Huh?"
"My gosh! What just happened?!"
Ikeda Hiromu blinked rapidly, staring at the duel field, his brain struggling to process.
The entire crowd fell into dead silence, utterly dumbstruck.
What was going on?
Was Chocolate Magician Girl throwing the match?
Suzuki Mina's eyes widened in disbelief, her face full of shock as her Life Points plummeted from 8000 to 6400 LP. Her heart roiled with turmoil!
What happened to Chocolate Magician Girl's trigger conditions?
Why didn't they activate? Why?
Why couldn't she even activate her trap card, Mirror Force?
Wait! Could it be!
"You! You! Your Devil Dragon Black Skull Dragon!"
"It has a battle phase lock effect, doesn't it!"
"No! It's a triple lock!"
Suzuki Mina wasn't foolish. She quickly realized that Devil Dragon Black Skull Dragon must have an effect that prevented the opponent from activating spell, trap, or monster effects during the battle phase until the end of the damage step!
"Ha! Pretty sharp."
"Not bad. This Devil Dragon isn't some vanilla monster."
"Not only does it have a triple lock, but after attacking, it can trigger a burn effect."
"I target Red-Eyes Black Dragon in the graveyard, dealing its ATK—2400 points—as damage to you, then shuffle it back into the deck."
"Now behave."
Ryo Nakamuta gave a faint smile, activating Devil Dragon Black Skull Dragon's second effect.
The projection of Red-Eyes Black Dragon in the graveyard transformed into a fireball, bombarding Suzuki Mina's surroundings, slashing her LP from 6400 to 4000!
"My turn ends!"
"Your move."
With the turn shift, a single counterattack in the second turn had halved the Life Point gap.
Ryo Nakamuta: 8000 LP. Suzuki Mina: 4000 LP.
Ikeda Hiromu and Kito Saku, Ryo's roommates, only now realized they'd underestimated him. This guy had plenty more tricks up his sleeve!
Devil Dragon Black Skull Dragon was a prime example!
A triple lock in the battle phase was insanely strong!
"When did the vanilla Archfiend Black Skull Dragon in the Red-Eyes deck evolve into a triple-lock, burn-effect Devil Dragon Black Skull Dragon?"
"How did I not know about this…"
Asuka pursed her red lips. She prided herself on knowing the Red-Eyes archetype well, including its cards and support.
But this Devil Dragon Black Skull Dragon was far beyond her expectations.
Maybe she should ask her brother, Tenjoin Fubuki?
The onlookers had already erupted into chaos.
How did a fused Red-Eyes monster have effects now?
What happened to the so-called vanilla Red-Eyes deck? Playing mind games with information advantage, huh!
"You know what?"
"If I could take second place among freshmen against Furuta-sensei's triple-lock Ancient Gear deck…"
"Then I definitely have a way to break through this lock."
On the duel field, Suzuki Mina quickly regained her composure despite the disadvantage. The determination in her eyes highlighted her persistence and seriousness.
Ryo Nakamuta watched Suzuki Mina, her graveyard, and her hand resources, a thoughtful look crossing his face as he began to suspect something.
The surrounding students and Asuka seemed to realize something too, their expressions shifting dramatically!
Could it be?!
That ace monster!
Was it the card that Bekas, president of the International Illusion Society, personally gave her?!
...
T/N:
Well yes I did research what Bekas is here's the photo of it unfortunately it's a fake card, and I think author did write Bekas because the cards picture is like of that Pegasus Crawford and he wants to add himor (just a speculation).