Tournament Quarter Finals: Part 3

With the two contestants appearing on the singular dueling platform on the screen of the television of the waiting room, and although the room that she was in was quite sound proof, she could still hear the loud cheer of the crowd, though quite muted thankfully.

"Signore Sanders, who do you think would win in this duel?" The blond commentator asked as they waited for the duelists to start their bout of dueling.

The military outfitted dueling instructor hummed, seemingly in deep thought as he pondered on the question that was given by his fellow commentator. "I do believe that the match will be a close one." The grey haired man said.

"Young Haru is quite the newcomer, though if he is indeed trained by the pro duelist Joe Harule then perhaps the duel might fall in his favor." The man said as he stroked his moustache. "However young Ryoma is quite the strong duelist himself, and thus the duel itself is still in the air.

"Indeed, indeed!" The Obelisk Blue dueling instructor spoke as he nodded his head. "Signore Harule is quite well known around the island, he is quite the skilled duelist. And Signore Kemono is also quite well known for his own dueling prowess, so this duel will indeed be an interesting match"

The two young duelists glared at each other, wordlessly raising their duel disk and activating them, signing the start of the duel.

""DUEL!""

Haru Harule: 4000LP

Ryoma Kemono: 4000LP

"I'll go first!" The black haired boy shouted as he began his turn. "I'll activate the continuous spells, Ancient Gear Castle!" Activating the card, a gigantic brick building appeared between the two duelists.

"I'll set one card face down, then normal summon Ancient Gear Wyvern!" Placing the card on the duel disk, the metallic wyvern flew onto the field, letting out a screech as it did so as it flew on top of the brick castle.

Ancient Gear Wyvern - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1700/1200

"With Ancient Gear Castle on the field, Wyvern gains an extra 300 attack! And since it was normal summoned, Castle gains one counter!" The only monster on his field let out a screech as its attack was boosted by the effect of the castle, along with said castle gaining one counter each.

Ancient Gear Wyvern - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 2000/1200

Looking at the Level 4 monster with 2000 attack, the black haired boy had a large grin on his face. "And I'll activate its effect! When Ancient Gear Wyvern is normal summoned, I can add one Ancient Gear card from my deck to my hand!"

The boy then showed a card depicting a box filled with gears with robotic limbs. "I'll add Ancient Gear Box! And with Box's effect I can add an earth machine monster with 500 attack and or defence from my deck! I'll add Ancient Gear Knight!"

Adding the two cards into his hand, the black haired boy then activated the last card in his starting hand. "I'll now activate Polymerization! I'll fuse my Ancient Gear Knight and my Ancient Gear Box in my hand!"

The two machine monsters appeared on the field briefly, the robotic gear themed knight raised its lance, while the machine that was Ancient Gear Box spun as both of the monsters were deconstructed into gears and parts and combined into one.

"Soul of knight resting on ancient machines! Combine alongside the remnants of the past and reborn into a new power!" He chanted as he brought his two hands down. "Fusion Summon! Appear, Ancient Gear Howitzer! "

The sound of turning gears were heard as the machine monster appeared on Haru's side of the field. The monster sat on the field in defense position while it pointed its firearms towards the red haired boy.

Ancient Gear Howitzer - Earth/Machine/Fusion/Level 8/Effect: 1000/1800

"Since Ancient Gear Howitzer is unaffected by card effects, it doesn't gain an attack boost by Ancient Gear Castle." He informed his opponent. "But that's more than enough! I'll activate the effect of Ancient Gear Howitzer! Once per turn, I can deal 1000 points of damage with its effect! Howitzer Fire!"

With his command, the machine shot its salvo towards the red haired young duelist who simply growled in response as he put up both of his hands to defend himself from the attack.

Ryoma Kemono: 3000LP

"I'll end my turn." The black haired boy said as he ended his turn.

"My turn!" The red haired boy shouted as he growled towards his opponent. "I'll draw!" Drawing his card of the turn, the boy moved towards the main phase as he began to play his cards.

"I'll activate the spell, Gladiator Proving Grounds!" Ha said as he activated his first card. She nodded her head as she watched the screen showing the boy, starting with a ROTA is always nice, in GladBeast it isn't that bad too.

"This card lets me add a Level 4 or lower 'Gladiator Beast' monster from my deck to my hand! I'll add Gladiator Beast Laquari from my deck to my hand!" As he declared that, he showed the card that he decided to add to his hand, the fire type beast warrior.

"I'll activate the field spell, Colosseum - Cage of the Gladiator Beast!" With the activation of the field spell, the area around the platform shifted. What before was a mere marble platform was now a broken down colosseum made of stone fit for warriors to fight upon.

"Whenever a monster is special summoned from either player's deck, I can place one counter in this card! And for each counter, all 'Gladiator Beast' monsters gain 100 attack and defence!" He shouted as he continued to glare at his opponent.

"I'll summon Gladiator Beast Laquari!" The tiger beast warrior let out a loud roar as it hit the field, surrounded by a ring of fire and garbed in red pieces of armor. The monsters growled as it glowered towards the mechanical foes ahead of it, eager for battle, though the sound of gears from the pair of castles on Haru's field signaled that it gained more counters.

Gladiator Beast Laquari - Fire/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1800/400

"Battle!" The red haired boy declared as he glared at his opponent. "Laquari! Attack Ancient Gear Howitzer!" With a furious roar, the tiger warrior ran forward towards the defence position machine.

"Why would he attack with that monster?" Fubuki asked. "Clearly he wouldn't be able to destroy any of Haru's monsters with that right? So why bother?"

"There's certainly something going on with that card." The blue haired boy commented as he narrowed his eyes at the duel ongoing on the screen.

"What are you going to do with that weak monster?" Haru said with a condescending grin. "With a monster with that attack, you won't be able to even destroy my Howitzer, let alone my Wyvern."

"That's not true though." She said, earring the attention of the room's occupants. "Even though it doesn't get destroyed he can still trigger Laquari's tag out effect. Then he can pop off from there." She commented.

"Shut up!" The red haired boy shouted in response with an infuriated expression on his face in response to the black haired duelist's taunt. "I'll activate the quick-play spell, Indomitable Gladiator Beast! I can target one face up 'Gladiator Beast' monster that I control and it gains 500 attack until the end phase!"

The crowd let out a cheer as the red haired boy used the card. With a louder roar, the tiger beast warrior was now surrounded by a yellow glow, and its attack went up by 500 points. Enough for it to destroy the Howitzer.

Gladiator Beast Laquari - Fire/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2300/400

With his now empowered pair of claws, the tiger beast warrior let out a beastly roar slashed at the machine monster, destroying it and reducing it to mere particles of light.

The black haired boy clicked his tongue as his monster was destroyed, but his sneer turned back into a condescending grin quick enough. "I'll activate the effect of Ancient Gear Howitzer's effect. If this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, I can special summon one 'Ancient Gear' monster from my deck ignoring its summoning conditions."

The black haired young duelist then proceeded to pull out the deck's signature monster. "I'll special summon Ancient Gear Golem!" With the sound of turning gears, the gigantic mechanical golem towered upon the field.

Ancient Gear Golem - Earth/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 3000/3000

The sound of gears could be heard as the Ancient Gear Castle began its work, and the attack points of the gigantic golem increased by 300 points.

Ancient Gear Golem - Earth/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 3300/3000

"Hahaha! Now that I have this monster on my side, you won't be able to defeat me!" The black haired boy declared smugly at doing an incredibly simple combo. It seems that the boy still is like that huh? She's pretty disappointed if she's being honest, doesn't seem like it'll be fun if he's proud from just getting Golem on the field.

But as she had expected, he had upgraded his deck huh. She did see the market price for Howitzer, and she felt her eyes fall out of their sockets the moment that she saw how many zeroes that card has at its price.

She managed to pull one from her own packs which was given by the shop system, but the fact that the boy got that all by himself was… shocking if she was being honest.

Or maybe it was that Joe that she had met earlier that gave him that card, he was apparently a pro duelist after all, and one that has connections to Academia to boot, so the possibility that he had gotten the black haired boy the card by pulling some strings isn't zero.

She sure hoped that he hadn't wasted a buck ton of money just for that card though. Ancient Gears aren't even a rogue deck, and they can easily brick. She managed to circumvent that part of the weakness of the deck thanks to her perks, but the deck itself is only good for going second, and meh at going first.

And GladBeast? Well, they certainly weren't meta, but on playground format like what she's been seeing is usually being done in this world, the deck is quite good. What with its ability to pivot from strategies and all.

But sadly their dueling abilities were lowered with not having Vespiaus and Domitianus, one being a free special and the other being a monster negate and battle control.

But GladBeast can still pop off even without them, just like what she's seeing right on the screen.

"I'll activate the effect of Laquari!" The red haired boy declared. "At the end of the battle phase, if this card attacked or was attacked, I can shuffle it into the deck to special summon one 'Gladiator Beast' from my deck except another Laquari!"

"What?!" The black haired exclaimed surprised at the tag out mechanic that the Gladiator Beasts were known for.

"I'll special summon Gladiator Beast Murmillo!" With his shout, the tiger beast warrior let out a roar as it disappeared from the field, replaced by a blue fish man warrior with two large blasters-like attachments made of sea shells on his back, sitting in defence position.

Gladiator Beast Murmillo - Water/Fish/Level 3/Effect: 800/400

Seeing the monster appear, Haru laughed at its pathethis look and stats. "That?! You waste all that just for an 400 defence monster?!"

"Murmillo's effect!" The red haired boy declared, still glaring at his opponent. "When this card is special summoned by the effect of a 'Gladiator Beast' monster, I can target one face up monster and destroy it! Destroy Ancient Gear Golem!"

With a grunt, the fish warrior aimed the pair of blasters from his back to the gigantic golem of steel and gears, and pressurised streams of water shot out from his blasters. Said beam of water managed to destroy the gear golem. The black haired boy could only look shocked as his boss monster was destroyed in a single move.

"Colosseum gains a counter because Murmillo is summoned from the deck!" The opposing duelist declared as the faded green markings of the stone structure around them started to glow, imbuing the Gladiator Beast on the field with strength.

Gladiator Beast Murmillo - Water/Fish/Level 3/Effect: 900/500

"I'll set two cards face down, and I'll end my turn!" The boy angrily set two face down cards on his field before ending his turn.

"Wow~ he certainly did 'pop off' as you said he would." The brown haired duelist said as he turned towards her, seemingly amazed at her prediction coming true. "How did you know that that would happen?"

"Indeed." The grey haired boy of the group interrupted the conversation, doubling down on asking the question. "I am also curious about how you're so knowledgeable. Even as the son of a card designer myself I don't have as much insight as you do."

Oh, right, she's been explaining as usual not caring about the existence of others. Crap not everyone is supposed to know as much as she does, or at least a normal person isn't supposed to know what 'super rare' cards that are supposed to do.

Like, aren't Cyber Dragons supposed to be like, super rare cards that come from a super rare class or something. Cyber style or whatever it was, the deck came after years of training in a run down dojo or something.

Or was that Cyberdarks? She hasn't watched GX in a long while and it's been like eight years so the bits and pieces of lore that she has are already forgotten.

And shouldn't Edo's dad be dead or something? Man, this world is definitely not shaping up to the world that she heard from word of mouth of friends that actually watched the series.

So anyway, how to actually avoid suspicion in this situation? She already accidentally raised a flag by blurting out a bunch of knowledge of what was supposed to be super rare deck automatically, so how does she spin it so that it doesn't make it seem like she's a reincarnator with the abilities to know what every Yu-Gi-Oh! card in existence does?

Yeah, nothing is going to make them believe that anyway, so they'll still never be close to the real truth. She'll just have to wing it as usual.

"I know of most of the cards that are in the free dueling cards wikia." She started her explanation. "It was something to do other than helping Claire-nee-san doing chores, playing with the other children wasn't really that interesting for me. And it was the least that I could do as an orphan who wants to become a pro-duelist."

Mei nodded at her explanation, supporting her claim. That was a true fact, she would go out once or twice with Mei in tow to watch a duel going on between Academia students when they could, but most of the time if they weren't helping Claire-nee-san with chores they are browsing about cards through the free card database with the Sister Claire's computer.

Before anyone could say anything in regards to the matter of her knowing about rare cards like Cyber Dragons. "There were also times where I watched duels on U-Tube. One of those duels was between a user of Cyber Dragons, so I know a bit about them."

"Your explanation certainly goes over what the term 'a bit' means." The grey haired boy snarked. In response she merely shrugged her shoulders while looking like she was uninterested in the conversation by focusing on the screen where the duel was unfolding.

"The term normal is a social construct, and it doesn't really work on everyone. So is the term 'a bit', what I refer to as 'a bit' and what you refer to as 'a bit' is bound to be different." She said leaning slightly on Mei to let the smaller girl rest her head on her shoulder.

To be honest she was pulling that one out of her ass. She doesn't even make sense if she was being honest. This is what happens when you don't actually prepare an answer for any holes in your background beforehand!

"W-well, why don't we focus back on the duel right now?." Fubuki reasoned, trying to steer back the topic of the conversation back to what it was about at the start, which was about the duel between Ancient Gears VS Gladiator Beasts.

"Right, let's." She said, faking returning her composure. "I do know a bit about Gladiator Beasts, I've watched a duel of them." She heard the grey haired boy mumble the term 'a bit' under his breath once again, but ignored it. "And their tagging out capability. A thing to note is that the ability can be activated on either player's turn."

"Either player's turn?" The blue haired duelist asked, contributing to the conversation. "Does that mean that their effects would also activate then?" He asked.

She nodded, remembering the old days where Gladiator Beasts were meta decks alongside DAD. It was the time where those two decks were the only meta decks and nothing else, other than that one guy that managed to top with Counter Faeries.

"Yes." She answered the user of the Cyber Style as she watched the screen showing the black haired boy summoning an Ancient Gear Hunting Hound after he drew it. "Unless the monster that is attacked is destroyed, then their tag out mechanic would trigger and then the individual monster's effects too."

Ancient Gear Hunting Hound - Earth/Machine/Level 3/Effect: 1000/1000

"So unless you destroy the monster then they would be able to activate their effect huh." Fubuki said as he scratched his head while also watching the screen.

The black haired boy dealt 600 points of damage by the burn of Hunting Hound, reducing the red haired duelist's Life Points even further with burn damage.

Ryoma Kemono: 2400LP

She then watched the black haired duelist proceed to go to the battle phase. Not using the Hunting Hound's ability to fuse and instead aiming to deal more damage towards his opponent.

"If I remember correctly," She started as she saw the metallic hunting dog letting out a growl as it started to advance towards the fish man warrior to attack. "Gladiator Beast has cards that would help to survive the battle phase to trigger their effects."

She said that as she does remember the existence of Defence Tactics, though she remembers more of the equip card Gladiator Beast's Battle Manica that prevents battle destruction more than said trap card.

Speaking of said trap card, it was exactly one of the face down that the spiky haired duelist had on his field. And with the card's activation he now prevents Murmillo's destruction and prevents any damage that would have come if the monster had been destroyed.

She heard the crowd cheer at the reversal that the wild red haired duelist had done. "Oh~ so the deck has cards like that huh?" Fubuki said looking giddy ath the play that the red haired boy had done.

The black haired boy looked enraged at the fact that his attack had failed, and the boy even attacked the fish warrior with the mechanical wyvern in rage, even though he himself knew that it would deal no damage at all.

"That one was just unneeded, he's just wasting time." Mei grumbled looking annoyed by the useless move that Haru had just done. She snuggled even closer to her, and she patted the smaller girl's head to subvert the distaste that she had of the black haired boy who was dueling.

At the end of the battle phase, Ryoma activated his Murmillo's tag out effect, tagging out the fish man with a light green winged beast who was armored with dark green armor that even protected his wings, the monster was of course the infamous Gladiator Beast Bestiari.

Gladiator Beast Bestiari - Wind/WInged Beast/Level 4/Effect: 1500/800

"Ah it's Bestiari." She said, "That's the one that can destroy one spell or trap on the field and destroy it." A staple to most Gladiator Beast decks, as with Murmillo since that one was the monster removal, the two were the backbone to the deck after all.

With the summon of Bestiari, the stone structure of the colosseum glowed once again, giving more boost to the stats of the Gladiator Beast on the field.

Gladiator Beast Bestiari - Wind/WInged Beast/Level 4/Effect: 1700/1000

The spiky haired duelist activated his other face down, Double Tag Team and chained the effect of Bestiari to destroy a face down on the field.

The red haired duelist said something that she ignored, and with whatever command that was given by its master, the winged Gladiator Beast proceeded to shoot some of his green feathers towards Haru's only face down card, revealing that it was Ancient Gear Spark before destroying it and sending it to the graveyard.

And with the activation of Double Tag Team, the red haired boy can summon another Level 4 or lower Gladiator Beast monster from the hand or deck as he had special summoned a Gladiator Beast. And the monster that he chose to put on the field was the red armored tiger that was Gladiator Beast Laquari straight from the deck.

Gladiator Beast Laquari - Fire/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1800/400

"Since Laquari wasn't summoned by a 'Gladiator Beast', it doesn't get the tag out effect that it has." Mei pointed out, and she nodded at her observation as did some of the other duelists around the room.

"And since that Ryoma summoned another monster from the deck, Colosseum gets its third counter and raises the attack and defence of all 'Gladiator Beast' monsters on the field by 300 points." She informed her gaining a nod from the violet haired girl.

With another glow of the stone structure surrounding them, the Gladiator Beasts monsters on the red haired Duelist's side become even stronger than they were before.

Gladiator Beast Bestiari - Wind/WInged Beast/Level 4/Effect: 1800/1100

Gladiator Beast Laquari - Fire/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2100/700

She heard more cheer coming from the crowd, as well as nods and slight looks of awe and recognition from the duelists in the room she was in. She also took note of the smug look on Mei's face as she saw the black haired boy looking more annoyed and fearful of the monsters on the red haired duelist's field.

At the second main phase however, the black haired duelist proceeded to activate the effect of Hunting Hound, combining the two remaining monsters that he has on field to fuse into another copy of Ancient Gear Howitzer.

Ancient Gear Howitzer - Earth/Machine/Fusion/Level 8/Effect: 1000/1800

The black haired boy then proceeded to once again activate Howitzer's effect for the second time of the duel, dealing another 1000 points of damage to the spiky haired duelist and whittling his Life Points even further.

Ryoma Kemono: 1400LP

She heard more cheer coming from the crowd as the duel seemed to go in Haru's favor, what with Ryoma only having 1400 Life Points remaining in contrast to Haru who still has a pristine 4000 Life Points and haven't received any points of damage yet.

She didn't point out the fact that the duel also seemed to also somewhat fall in Ryoma's favour, what with him now having two GladBeast on the field and also having the possibility of going to the signature Extra Deck monster that was Gyzarus.

That or maybe Hearclinos if the red haired boy has another Gladiator Beast on hand. Or maybe even Nerokius if he feels inclined to go to that one instead. She would recommend Heraklinos more if she was being honest because that monster was a spell and trap negation on legs that wasn't a hard once per turn.

No wonder Gladiator Beast was meta, it has a walking spell and trap negation that was on an 3000 attack point body, and a continuous monster and spell and trap removal with the powerful cards that was Bestiari, Murmillo, and the contact fusion monster that was Gyzarus who can tag out back to Murmillo and Bestiari.

"My turn!" The red haired duelist shouted out as he drew a card from his duel disk. "I'll summon Gladiator Beast Dimacari!" With the boy placing the monster card on his duel disk's projection, an armored purple warrior ox made its way onto the field.

Gladiator Beast Dimacari - Earth/Beast/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1200

The monster then let out a roar as the stone structure on the field glowed once again, signaling the beast monster's increase in their battling prowess.

Gladiator Beast Dimacari - Earth/Beast/Level 4/Effect: 1900/1600

"I'll shuffle all three 'Gladiator Beast' monsters to fusion!" The red headed boy declared, earring a few raised eyebrows and gasps from the audience, along with the surprise and shock that his dueling opponent had.

"Fusing without a fusion spell?!" Haru shouted out looking incredibly befuddled by the move that his opponent had made. "How?! Shouldn't you only be able to fusion summon if you use a fusion spell?!"

"Contact fusion." She said, earning looks from the occupants of the room. "That's the method of fusion that Gladiator Beasts use to summon their fusion monsters. Instead of using a fusion spell like Polymerization, they instead shuffle themselves back into the deck."

"So it's somewhat similar to union monsters then." Ryo said. "But instead of banishing the monsters, they shuffle into the deck. And since Gladiator Beast monsters can special summon from the deck."

"They can use their effect again and again." Edo finished. "It's quite a strong deck. It's not surprising that he made it this far into the tournament."

Hoo boy and the kid hadn't even used cards like Gladiator Beast's War Chariot which was a monster negate, nor did he use cards like Tamer Editor that can cheat out any Gladiator Beast fusion from the extra, why was this deck not meta again?

Right, it was slow and relies on the battle phase. And the meta decks that she remembers were cards that can build boards on the first main phase while only relying on one card combos instead of needing a whole setup like Gladiator Beasts does.

The three monsters let out their respective roars as they began glowing and combining into a singular monster as the red haired duelist does his summoning chant. "O wandering souls of ancient gladiators! Gather under the name of the Emperor and present your battling prowess!"

Clasping his two hands together, he finished the chant as the Gladiator Beast fusion monster had made its way on the field. "Fusion summon! Appear! Gladiator Beast Heraklinos!" The fusion monster that has multiple characteristics of multiple Gladiator Beast monsters let out an earth shattering roar as it made its way on the field, wildly swinging its weapon as it did so.

Gladiator Beast Heraklinos - Fire/Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Level 8/Effect: 3000/2800

"And it comes." She mumbled out as she saw the fusion monster appear, pleasing the crowd and giving more fear to the black haired duelist on the platform. "The spell trap negation."

"Colosseum boosts Heraklinos' attack and defence by 300!" The spiky haired duelist declared as the stone structure glowed green once again, and the only monster on his field let out another loud roar.

Gladiator Beast Heraklinos - Fire/Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Level 8/Effect: 3300/3100

"Battle! Heraklinos! Attack Howitzer!" With a mighty roar, the Gladiator Beast fusion hefted its shield and weapon of choice, hitting the machine monster with its weapon and destroying it..

"H-Howitzer's effect! S-since it was destroyed by battle I can special summon one 'Ancient Gear' monster from my deck ignoring its summoning condition!" Haru stuttered as he picked a card from his deck to special summon.

"I-I'll special summon Ancient Gear Wyvern!" With a mechanical screech, a copy of Ancient Gear Wyvern had made it onto the field once more, appearing in a defence position as it shielded its farme with its wings.

Ancient gear Wyvern - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1700/1200

There were the sounds of grinding gears as the effect of the castle protected by the wyvern began to work and increased the monster's attack.

Ancient Gear Wyvern - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 2000/1200

"Since Wyvern was special summoned, I get to add an 'Ancient Gear' card from my deck to my hand! I'll add Ancient Gear Box! And with its effect I'll add an Ancient gear Gadget to my hand!" The black haired boy said as he added two cards to his hand.

"Bellissimo!" The blond commentator shouted in surprise as he put both of his hands on his face. "It seems that Signore Harule has managed to gain more advantage from the attack of Signore Kemono!"

"Indeed, the young boy is surely already planning to counter attack from his position. I expected nothing less from someone under the care of the pro duelist that is Joe Harule." His military uniformed garbed co-commentator added his own perspective on the match.

"But it does make you wonder doesn't it, Signore Sanders? Why did Signore Harule summon such a monster"

The violet haired girl beside her clicked her tongue as she saw the screen showing the crowd cheering for the black haired boy who faced the frightening Gladiator Beast. "If he had summoned anything else he would have probably lost."

She nodded at the violet haired girl's observation. If Haru had summoned anything else he would have possibly lost the match. The play was indeed the safest choice since he was pushed into this position by the red headed duelist.

If he had summoned Ancient Gear Golem, then the monster would have easily been destroyed by battle as Heraklinos' attack, causing a trade. But at that point in terms of resources, Ryoma's Gladiator Beast could have easily popped off faster than Haru's Ancient Gear.

And even if he drew a card like Ancient Gear Fusion or any other spell or trap card as his top deck, Ryoma could simply negate it with Heraklinos' effect of discarding a card and negating it.

But by summoning Wyvern and getting more materials in hand, he could at least stall if he faded his next draw step by setting Ancient Gear Gadget face down defence position and having two bodies on field.

He would still possibly lose in that position unless he has Overload Fusion though, but that would need him having Chaos Ancient Gear Giant too, a card that she doubts he has since it was an incredibly pricey card.

Like, seriously. Why would a card like that have so many zeroes?! It's a good card that's immune to two thirds of the cards in the game but does it have to cost an entire house?! With that amount of DP she could buy and build several decks by using her shop menu!

Truly, the card market was a scam of the century. And she was sure as hell going to abuse the inflation of prices of 'rare' cards that she has to make herself roll in DP after this tournament is all done and over.

The red haired duelist ended his turn with growl, certainly unsatisfied that he could not end the duel right then and there. His opponent looked nervous, he was sweating profusely while biting the bottom of his lip.

It would be hard for him to turn the situation around now that his opponent has summoned an incredibly powerful monster, and especially with the only cards that he can use to defeat his opponent's monster is inaccessible to him.

He would need an Ancient Gear Golem and a fusion spell to summon Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem, cards that he does not have on hand. And he certainly can't summon a card like that with only a single draw.

But he won't lose, he CAN'T lose. Not until he defeats her and proves that he's better than her.

"I DRAW!" He screams as he draws the card with gusto. He glanced at the card that he had just drawn, and a crazed grin wormed its way onto his face, enough to even make him giggle and eventually laugh out loud.

"HAHAHAHA!" He laughed irritating his opponent who merely growled cautiously at his sudden change of expression. "You're done! I'll summon Ancient Gear Hunting Hound!" Slamming the card on his duel disk's board, a metallic gear themed hunting dog appeared on his side of the field, angrily growling at his soon to be defeated opponent.

Ancient Gear Hunting Hound - Earth/Machine/Level 3/Effect: 1000/1000

"Hunting Hound's effect! I'll lower your life points by another 600 points!" With a growl, the mechanical hound pounced at its master's opponent and grazed the red haired duelist who put his hands up in a guarding position to defend against the solid hologram.

Ryoma Kemono: 800LP

"Oho! Is Signore Harule going to defeat Signore Kemono by dealing enough burn damage?" The blond haired commentator asked as the crowd began cheering even wilder.

"Hmm... I personally don't think that young Harule would be able to do something like that. Though something like that certainly can happen." The moustached co-commentator said, stroking his moustache as he did so. I personally think that the boy is going for a fusion, though what monster it is remains to be unseen."

The black haired boy laughed hysterically at the situation at hand. Even if the red haired wild beast in front of him had summoned his best monster, he would still win the duel, the draw that was the monster that he had just summoned proved that fate itself wants him to win.

"I'll activate Ancient Gear Hunting Hound's second effect!" The black haired boy declared with a manic smile. "Once per turn, I can fusion summon one 'Ancient Gear' fusion monster using monsters from my hand or field as fusion materials!"

The boy then showed the two cards at hand that he had just added last turn, and declared the materials that he was going to use for the fusion. "I'll fuse Ancient Gear Hunting Hound and Ancient Gear Wyvern from my field, and Ancient Gear Box and Ancient Gear Gadget from my hand!"

Saying so, the two other monsters whose name he called appeared on the field briefly. A metallic box with arms and legs and a metallic machine with a gigantic gear on his back briefly appeared beside the wyvern and hunting hound, before being disassembled into parts and gears to combine into one monster.

"A four mat fusion?!" The violet haired girl beside her declared, while she simply narrowed her eyes at the upset that was going to happen at the screen. There's only one Ancient Gear monster in the game that needs four materials, and that one can certainly beat through Heraklinos.

"O soul of ancient hunting hound residing in ancient mechanical machines! Together with the souls of wyverns and the bodies of ancient machinery, become one and show your incredible power!" The boy brought down his combined fists with maniacal glee and finished his chant.

"Fusion summon! APPEAR! THE STRONGEST GOD OF DESTRUCTION! CHAOS ANCIENT GEAR GIANT!" The monster that appeared towered over the fusion beast of Ryoma, and it certainly was a sight that took away the breath of the audience and commentators alike.

It was a gigantic monster with gears as the archetypes theme, with a giant singular gear sitting behind the monster's mono eyed head. It has gigantic versions of the hunting hounds head instead of fists and chest along with shoulder guards and other parts, though instead of their dark green coloring, the monster's was dark blue.

This was Chaos Ancient Gear Giant, the Ancient Gear's ultimate boss monster to beat all of their previous boss monsters. It was a monster that would soon enough bring nightmare and destruction to an entire dimension.

And it was at the hand of an eight year old child with anger issues.

Frick.

Chaos Ancient Gear Giant - Dark/Machine/Fusion/Level 10/Effect: 4500/3000

"BATTLE!" The black haired boy shouted manicallay as he enjoyed the shock and fear on his opponents face at witnessing the monster that he had just summoned. "I'LL ATTACK YOUR HERAKLINOS WITH CHAOS ANCIENT GEAR GIANT!"

Giving his order with glee, the gigantic monster raised one of its hands, energy charging on the mouth of the hound head of its hand. Haru took pleasure from the fear on his opponent's face, and gave his order. "CRUSH OF DARKNESS!"

With its mono eye glowing ominously, the dark giant shot out the blue beam of energy onto the fusion Gladiator Beast, and though the beast warrior attempted to defend himself with its shield, it was unable to defend itself through the machine's onslaught.

"GAAAAAA!" The red haired duelist screamed as he was thrown off of the platform from the solid holographic explosion that the attack had caused. He flopped onto the ground, making the black haired boy laugh maniacally at the sad and pitiful sight of his opponent who was laid passed out on the ground.

Ryoma Kemono: 0LP

"HAHAHAHAHA! I WON! I ALWAYS DO!" The black haired duelist declared as he revelled on his victory.

"W-winner! Signore Harule!" The blond professor of Obelisk Blue declared, looking shaken at the state of one of the duelists. "Send Signore Kemono to the medical bay! We'll continue the tournament shortly!"

Seeing the upsetting scene from the television screen, she glanced at the violet haired girl next to her to see the reaction that she had. The girl looked shocked at the screen, she assumed that she was terrified at the spectacle before her.

But instead the small girl was angry, furious even. "That boy!" She growled as she gritted her teeth and crushed her arm that was in her grasp. Ow. "Not only did he win with absurd luck he just has to rub it in! And he injured his opponent to boot!"

"I… don't think the solid vision is supposed to do that much damage." Fubuki muttered lowly but loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "Is the setting for this tournament not low? That kind of effect is something that you can only see in pro duels right?"

In response, Edo nodded his head slowly, looking quite shocked himself. "That's… indeed something that you would only see in high end professional duels. And even then those duels aren't meant to deal this much damage."

"And that Haru." Ryo said as he narrowed his eyes at the screen that was focusing on the smug looking black haired boy. "He doesn't respect his opponent, let alone his cards."

She agrees with the blue haired duelist, though she doesn't really understand that last part about respecting the cards thing. Must be another dueling lingo for the heart of the cards or something.

Well, the duel was a huge upset so she'll have to review that. There would have been a better chance for that Ryoma kid to actually win the duel if he had just attacked with his three monsters first instead of contact fusing into Heraklinos probably.

Because he could easily attack and destroy Howitzer with any of his Gladiator Beasts, and if Haru goes into Ancient Gear Golem instead of the Wyvern to end the battle phase, he could have simply turned the Gladiator Beast that attacked into Murmillo and popped the monster.

Said strategy wouldn't have worked if the black haired boy had Ancient Gear Fortress, since the card would protect the monsters summoned by Howitzer's effect for the turn they were summoned. Though that was only a possibility.

And sadly, her own Ancient Gear deck probably wouldn't be able to win if she were to face the black haired boy. If she goes first and is able to get Machina Citadel on field first then maybe she could get a win or two, but if the black haired boy summons Chaos Ancient Gear Giant, then she certainly isn't able to beat the boy.

Which means that she'll definitely have to play her Monarch if the black haired boy has even made it into the grand finals that is.

"Thank you for your patience, we will now resume the tournament." The blond ponytailed professor said with a bland tone and a strained smile. "We will move on towards the fourth match of the tournament, a match between the winner of the sixth bracket Signora Mei and the champion of the eight bracket Signora Sarah Dolly!"

With the duelist's name called, the two girls stood up from their seats and walked out of the room. Mei took a few seconds to snuggle into her side before rushing out of the room and into the platform out in the stadium.

Not long after the two girls went out of the room, the black haired duelist that had won the previous match walked in with poise into the room, looking complacent with what he had done. His mood sours as soon as he sees her, but he simply scoffs and goes back into his corner of the room.

None of the duelists of the room took the time to talk or even interact with the black haired boy, and so they simply sat in their seats silently waiting for the next duel to start.

-

Mei knew that the duel that she was going to do soon was going to be incredibly important for her future. This was after all, a tournament that would decide who gets what is basically a free scholarship to go into the prestigious dueling school, a place where Mei has been dreaming of going to.

Mei liked dueling, or rather it was a feeling that was acquired after watching many duels that Yuuna had shown her.

Like Yuuna, she likes the strategy aspect of the game, the battle of wits and stratagems between the two duelists who pilot the decks. She likes the aspect of needing to build your strategies around the opponents, to outsmart them and win the match.

But perhaps the reason as to why she really liked the game was because of Yuuna and how really invested she was in the game.

Mei liked Yuuna, that was a fact that was already known, and because she likes Yuuna who likes dueling, then Mei too would like dueling as well. And it certainly helps since Mei likes the game herself. It was the most popular form of entertainment after all, why would anyone not like the game?

Mei likes the way that Yuuna would teach her whatever she needs to know about the game whenever she asks, she likes how Yuuna would explain what she calls the 'play by play' and the misplays that each duelist does and what they could have done to do better.

Mei knows that Yuuna's teachings are abnormal, something that no other duelist that she has met has ever done or thought of.

But Mei also knows that Yuuna's teachings are what made it so that she could stand at this platform, facing the opponent before her in a match that would decide who would go to the finals.

And so, as Yuuna's one and only student in the art of dueling, she would make her proud by being the one who will face her in the grand final. After all, no one could beat Yuuna if she goes serious, and after finding out that Yuuna has been keeping her real deck a secret, then she would certainly be going into the grand finals.

"And we're finally at the final match of the beginning of the tournament, a match between Signora Mei and Signora Dolly!" The blond dueling professor exclaimed with a smile that could be seen on the screen.

"Signore Sanders, who do you think will be winning this duel?" The blond commentator asked his fellow dueling instructor, asking him for his insight on what the outcome of the duel would be.

"While I would like to say that the winner would possibly be young Sarah Dolly," The military themed dueling instructor started. "But as with the many duels that we had seen before, the winner of a duel is not decided until the last card is played, so perhaps we may see young Mei as the winner of the match."

In response to the black moustached man's comment, the blond professor nodded his head in agreement. "Certamente! A duel is not determined until the last card is played! And so, let us watch how the match is soon to unfold!"

"I hope that you've prepared yourself." The pink haired girl that was her opponent said before brandishing her duel disk. "Because I will not be holding back! So you should do your best to not embarrass yourself from losing against myself!"

Mei felt irritated, it seems that her opponents already thought that she was already the victor of the match. She respected confidence of course, as a person who had only been able to gain confidence in herself through dueling very recently, she respected her opponent who has the guts to say lines like that.

But Mei also thought that the girl in front of her was looking down on her, on her dueling style, and by connection looking down on Yuuna.

It was unforgivable. Mei will be doing her best to run the opponent before her to the ground.

Silently, she readied her duel disk, signaling that she was prepared to start the duel all the while glaring at her pink haired opponent. "Start already." She said in a low voice.

""DUEL!""

Sarah Dolly: 4000LP

Mei: 4000LP

"I shall be going first!" The pink haired girl declared. "I'll set one monster face down, and set two cards face down. And I will be ending my turn." With three face down cards on the field with one being a monster, the pink haired girl ended her turn.

"My turn. Draw." Drawing her card, Mei glanced at the six cards that she has on hand. "I'll be activating the field spell, Geartown." With the field spell card being played, and around them giant buildings of gears and metals appeared.

"I'll set a card." Placing a card face down on her duel disk, a holographic face down card appeared before her.

"Now I'll activate the spell Ancient Gear Catapult. While I control no monsters, I can target one face up card that I control to destroy it and special summon one 'Ancient Gear' monster from my deck ignoring its summoning condition." She explained the effect of her card as a gigantic metallic catapult cannon appeared.

"I'll destroy my Geartown to special summon Ancient Gear Hunting Hound from my deck in attack position." The gigantic catapult fired at the many gear based buildings, destroying it, and the machine then the sound of shifting gears could be heard as a mechanical hound appeared from the machine.

Ancient Gear Hunting Hound - Earth/Machine/Level 3/Effect: 1000/1000

"Geartown's effect, when it's destroyed and sent to the graveyard I can special summon one 'Ancient Gear' monster from my hand, deck, or graveyard. I'll special summon Ancient Gear Wyvern from my deck."

With a screech, the mechanical wyvern of Ancient Gears flew onto the field, floating down with it's metallic wings spreaded in front of her and prepared to fly towards her opponents to attack.

Ancient Gear Wyvern - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1700/1200

"Wyvern's effect, when it's normal or special summoned I can add one 'Ancient Gear' card from my deck to my hand, and I can't set cards for the rest of this turn." Saying so, she added the machine monster that had been seen multiple times in this tournament.

This deck truly was a common deck now that she thinks about it, perhaps when this tournament is over she'll try and build a different deck all together. She was sure that Yuuna would let her do so.

"I'll be adding Ancient Gear Box to my hand, and with Box's effect I'll be adding Ancient Gear Frame from my deck to my hand." Adding the two cards to her hand, the violet haired girl continued her play of the turn.

"I'll activate Ancient Gear Hunting Hound's effect, allowing me to fusion summon one 'Ancient Gear' fusion monster with monsters on my field and hand." Saying so, she waved her eight hand towards the two monsters on her field.

"I'll fuse Wyvern and Hound." The two monsters let out their cries, and soon become disassembled and become parts and gears to combine into a singular machine fusion monster.

Sending her right arm down, she completed the summon of the fusion monster with a simple chant just like Yuuna. "Fusion summon! Go! Ancient Gear Howitzer!" With the sound of turning gears, the winged machine monsters appeared on the field in defence position, loading it's salvo and peraped to receive an attack from her opponent.

Ancient Gear Howitzer - Earth/Machine/Fusion/Level 8/Effect: 1000/1800

With the summon of the fusion monster, the audience began to become loud with excitement. "Oho! It seems that young Mei has managed to perform a fusion summon! Without using her normal summon to boot!" The moustached commentator exclaimed, looking intrigued.

"Bellissimo! I did not think that Signora Mei would be this skilled of a duelist! And at such a young age too!" The blond ponytailed dueling professor commented as well.

"I see, so you're quite the skilled duelist then." The pink haired girl said as she narrowed her eyes, looking more serious than before. "But no matter! This Sarah Dolly will still be the victor of this duel!" She boldly declared once more.

"Howitzer's effect, dealing 1000 damage once per turn. Howitzer Fire!" She said ignoring the crowds, commentators, and her opponent to focus on the still ongoing duel. With her command, the winged machine monster shot out its salvo and dealt one fourth of her opponent's Life Points as damage.

Sarah Dolly: 3000LP

"Kuh! Don't think that something like that will be able to faze me!" The pink haired girl uttered as she lowered her arm from the defensive position that she had taken to protect herself from the blast.

"I'll activate Machina Reformation" She said, once again ignoring her opponent's comments. "I'll discard one 'Machina' card to add two 'Machina' cards with different names from each other from my deck to my hand, except a copy of Machina Redeployment."

She then showed the Machina card that she would be discarding. "I'll be discarding Machina Resavenger, and adding Machina Defence Perimeter and Machina Unclaspare." She said as he added both the continuous spell and the monster.

Not a second later she then took the monster that she had just added to her hand. "Unclaspare's effect, if this card is added to my hand, except by drawing it, I can special summon this card."

Placing the monster card on her duel disk, the dark machine monster appeared on her side of the field. With a right hand that was a gigantic sniper, the dark machine monster that was perpetually surrounded by a dark aura made its way onto the field.

Machina Unclaspare - Dark/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/800

"Unclapare's other effect. When it's normal or special summoned, I can send one 'Machina' monster from my deck to the graveyard. I'll send Machina Citadel from my deck to the graveyard." With that, she sent the boss monster from the deck to the graveyard and readied to special summon the monster.

"Oh! It seems that Signore Mei is preparing to summon the ferocious machine that is Machina Citadel!" The blond professor said. "And with its effect to special summon itself from the graveyard when an earth machine monster is destroyed, then it surely is making its way onto the field soon!"

"I'll activate the continuous spell Machina Defence Perimeter, while I control a Level 7 or higher machine monster, you cannot target my Level 6 or lower machine monster for attack and card effects."

The pink haired girl clicked her tongue. "A protection card then, and with that Ancient Gear monster being unaffected by card effects, your field will be harder to clear than it seems."

"Now I'll be activating the effect of Machina Irradiator, I can discard one other 'Machina' monster to special summon this card from my hand." Once more, she showed the card that she will be discarding from the hand to her opponent.

"I'll discard Machina Air Raider to special summon Machina Irradiator in defence position." The machine monster that made it onto her field was colored dark green, though a shade darker than Hunting Hound. It possessed a giant cannon on top of its tank-like underbody, already charging and prepared to perform an attack.

Machina Irradiator - Earth/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 1700/2400

"You're still summoning more monsters?!" The pink haired girl exclaimed, looking quite worried now at the field of the small violet haired girl that was starting to fill up with more and more monsters.

"There's still more coming." She simply said, much to her opponent's horror. "Irradiator's effect! I can target one machine monster that I control and special summon from my graveyard one ''Machina' monster with a different name and an equal or lower Level than that monster, and then destroy said monster."

She felt that a small smile was worming its way onto her face, as she was beginning to execute the last parts of her combo. "I will be targeting the Level 8 Ancient Gear Howitzer to special summon Machina Air Raider from my graveyard in defence position, and since Ancient Gear Howitzer is unaffected by card effects-"

"It will not be destroyed! Bellissimo, another great move done by Signora Mei! Will her ferocious combo ever end?!" The blond dueling instructor exclaimed in shock at the situation before him.

The machine monster then appeared on the field from the effect of Irradiator, looking no worse for wear. The monster itself was in the form of an aircraft with two propellers attached to a mechanical torso and a mono eyed head with hooks for legs.

Machina Air Raider - Earth/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 1500/2600

"I'm still not done." She informed her opponent. "Air Raider has a similar effect to Irradiator, but instead of summoning from the graveyard, it summons from the deck. I'll target Ancient Gear Howitzer to summon Machina Possesstrorage from my deck in attack position."

A giant metal crate then appeared between the hooks of the aircraft that was Air Raider, and the monster then released the crate from its hooks, and dropped it to the ground. From the crate appeared another machine monster shrouded in perpetual darkness, though this one had a bayonet for a right arm instead of a giant rifle.

Machina Possesstorage - Dark/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1500

"Since Possesstorage was special summoned, I can target one 'Machina' monster in my graveyard except Possesstorage and special summon it in defence position, but it cannot activate its effects this turn." Saying that, a card appeared from her duel disk, and she placed it on the holographic sword.

"I'll summon Machina Resavenger that I had discarded in defence position." She said as she summoned the last monster that filled her field, another monster perpetually surrounded by a dark aura with rocket launchers as arms and a stout form of body with a rectangular head with multiple red eyes.

Machina Resavenger - Dark/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1200/1800

"Battle." She said, moving onto the battle phase. "I'll attack that face down monster with Machina Unclaspare." The sniper handed machine dark monster then raised and pointed its right arm towards the only monster that her opponent controls, and shot a laser of darkness towards it.

The face down monster was flipped face up, and was revealed to be a blond female fairy with translucent light blue wings garbed in white clothes and golden pieces of armor holding a golden staff.

Shire, Lightsworn Spirit - Light/Fairy/Level 3/Effect: 400/1400

"I'll activate my continuous trap, Lightsworn Barrier!" Her pink haired opponent declared flipping one of her face down cards up. "When a 'Lightsworn' monster I control is targeted for an attack, I can send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard to target the attacking monster and negate the attack!"

The girl then sent the top two cards of her deck to her graveyard, and a barrier of light then surrounded the fairy monster, protecting her from the attack of Unclaspare.

"Oho! It seems that I had sent a 'Lightsworn' monster to the graveyard by the effects of Lightsworn Barrier!" The pink haired girl said with a smile. "Since there is a 'Lightsworn' monster in the graveyard, Shire gains a boost of 300 attack!"

The light fairy twirled her golden staff before being bathed by light for but a second, signaling that the monster had increased her attack ever so slightly.

Shire, Lightsworn Spirit - Light/Fairy/Level 3/Effect: 700/1400

"Lightsworn, a deck that focuses on sending cards to the graveyard." Mei commented as she narrowed her eyes at her opponent's monsters. "Then I'll be ending my turn then." She said, ending her turn instead of attacking.

If she remembers correctly, Lightsworn was a deck that focuses on sending most of the cards of their deck to the graveyard and triggering the monster's graveyard effect. Some of those monsters can special summon themselves from the graveyard when they were sent there, she opened her menu to glance at her opponent's graveyard and saw that the cards that were sent were indeed monsters, but not ones that could special summon themselves.

But if anything the only monsters that she remembers from that archetype was Ryko which was a flip monster that can pop any card on the field when flipped, and Judgement Dragon which was a field wipe.

Mei was now wary of her opponents' plays, not that she wasn't wary of her before, and she thought of ways to counter the monster that her opponent could possibly summon.

"So it seems that you know of the deck that I play. But it doesn't matter! Even if you filled your field with monsters, this Sarah Dolly will still be the victor of this duel!" The pink haired girl declared once again.

"My turn! I draw!" She said as she drew her card and made her have three cards on hand. The pink haired girl smiled as she saw the card that she had drawn, and Mei could not help but narrow her eyes as she prepared herself for the oncoming onslaught.

"I'll activate Solar Recharge! This card allows me to discard one 'Lightsworn' monster, and draw two cards, then send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard!" The girl spoke of the card's effects, and showed her the one 'Lightsworn' card that she will be discarding.

"I shall be discarding Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon to draw two cards and send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard!" Sensing the dragon monster to the graveyard, the pink haired girl drew two cards and milled two cards.

Seeing one of the two cards sent to the graveyard, the girl smiled once again. "I shall be activating the effect of Wulf, Lightsworn Beast! If this card is sent from my deck to the graveyard, I can special summon it!"

Placing the card on her duel disk's holographic projection of a sword, the beast warrior appeared on the pink haired girl's side with a blinding light, donned in white armor and armed with a golden trident and golden claws.

Wulf, Lightsworn Beast - Light/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2100/300

"And since 'Lightsworn' monsters are now in the graveyard, Shire gains more attack!" Twirling her staff once more, the fairy monster gained another boost of power.

Shire, Lightsworn Spirit - Light/Fairy/Level 3/Effect: 1600/1400

"Now I'll activate Charge of the Light Brigade! This spell allows me to send the top three cards of my deck to the graveyard to add one Level 4 or lower 'Lightsworn' monster from my deck to my hand!"

The girl sent four more cards from her deck to the graveyard, and then added a Lightsworn monster onto her hand. "I shall be adding Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner! And I shall be normal summoning her!"

The monster that was summoned was a blonde spellcaster with a golden crown wearing white clothing similar to Shire. Her hands glowed with power while her white scarf flowed along with the wind.

Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner - Light/Spellcaster/Level 3/Effect: 1000/1000

"Since two more 'Lightsworn' monsters were sent to the graveyard and each having different names, Shire gains more attack!" The fairy monster twirled her golden staff again, increasing the attack power that she has by 600 points.

Shire, Lightsworn Spirit - Light/Fairy/Level 3/Effect: 1900/1400

"I shall be activating Lumina's effect! I shall be discarding Ehren, Lightsworn Monk to special summon one Shire that had been sent to the graveyard!" She said as she discarded the monster from her hand and revived another copy of the fairy monster.

Shire, Lightsworn Spirit - Light/Fairy/Level 3/Effect: 400/1400

"Of course this other Shire also gains more attack since she is now in the field." The pink haired girl said as the pair of blonde light faeries twirled their staffs, one gaining a boost of power, while the one that had been on the field simply remained the same.

Shire, Lightsworn Spirit - Light/Fairy/Level 3/Effect: 1900/1400

"I shall equip Wulf with the equip spell, Lightsworn Sabre! Increasing his attack by 700 points!" The beast warrior then discarded his trident in favour of the rapier, and increased his attack by 700 points.

Wulf, Lightsworn Beast - Light/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2800/300

"Battle! I shall be attacking your Ancient Gear Howitzer with one of my Shire!" The light fairy then swung her golden staff towards the winged machine monster, creating a blast of light that destroyed the machine monster.

Mei clicked her tongue as her opponent destroyed her monster. "Howitzer's effect, I can special summon one 'Ancient Gear' monster from my deck ignoring its summoning condition. Come, Ancient Gear Golem.

From the smoke that was left from her destroyed monster, the gigantic golem stood up into its full height, towering over every single monster that was over every monster that was currently on the field.

Ancient Gear Golem - Earth/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 3000/3000

Her opponent frowned at the appearance of the giant monster that towered over her monsters, but continued to attack nonetheless. "I shall then be attacking your Machina Air Raider with Wulf!"

The beast warrior let out a howl as it swung its sabre towards the aircraft machine monster, bisecting it in two and causing an explosion. Mei watched the scene of her monster being destroyed calmly, this was the plan after all.

"Machina Defense Perimeter's effect!" She declared. "If a face up machine monster that I control is destroyed by battle or card effect, I can target one machine monster in my graveyard and add it to my hand! I will add back the Air Raider that you had just destroyed."

"I'll also be activating the effect of Machina Citadel from my graveyard! If a face up earth machine monster that I control is destroyed by battle or card effect while this card is in my graveyard, I can special summon this card. Come, Citadel!"

"Ugh! It's that monster!" The pink haired girl gulped as she saw the light blue machine monster appeared on her side of the field. "I'll activate my trap card! Vanquishing Light!" Sarah said as she flipped her other face down card.

"When a monster would be summoned, I can tribute one 'Lightsworn' monster to negate the summon and destroy that monster!" The pink haired girl declared. "I will tribute one of my Shire, Lightsworn Spirit, to negate the summon of Machina Citadel!"

Mei clicked her tongue at the counter that her opponent had played, but it didn't matter, she still had something that she could do to get the monster on the field. "In that case I will activate the trap card, Machina Overdrive."

She heard her opponent gasp as she activated teh trap card, realizing that she would be able to get the monster that was Citadel onto the field. "With this card I target one machine monster that I control and special summon one 'Machina' monster with a different name from my hand or deck, and then destroy said targeted monster."

The monster that she pointed to was Resavenger. "I'll destroy Machina Resavenger to special summon another Machina Citadel from my deck." With that said, the light blue monster that stood as tall as her Golem appeared.

Machina Citadel - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 3000/2500

"Citadel's effect." She said as her opponent was fencing her turn. "I can target one machine monster that I control and destroy it alongside all monsters you control with attack less than or equal to it. I'll destroy Citadel itself to clean your board."

The pink haired girl grimaced as she saw her whole field being destroyed by the monster that was Machina Citadel. But she soon then smiled as she continued on. "It seems that you have fallen for my own trap!" She says.

"On my second main phase, because I have four or more 'Lightsworn' monsters with different names in my graveyard, I can special summon Judgment Dragon from my hand!" Placing the card on the board, a giant luminescent white dragon descended onto the field, its wings spreading far and long to engulf the whole platform.

Judgment Dragon - Light/Dragon/Level 8/Effect: 3000/26000

Once more Mei clicked her tongue. She didn't think that her opponent had the monster, or perhaps she had thought that the pink haired girl would summon said monster to have more damage on board.

But to think that she would summon the monster right after she had cleared the field using Citadel. And since Citadel had already used its graveyard effect, it won't be able to revive itself this time when her monsters would be destroyed by the effect of Judgment Dragon.

"Judgment Dragon's effect!" Her opponent declared with a smile. "Once per turn, I can pay 1000 Life Points to destroy all other cards on the field! Light of Judgement!" With that command given, the dragon let out a roar, making both of the duelists wince as it then let out a breath of light that devoured the whole field.

Sarah Dolly: 2000LP

"But that is not all!" The pink haired duelist exclaimed once again. "Since I have more than five light monsters in the graveyard with different names, I can special summon Lightray Diabolos from my hand!"

Accompanying the quadrupedal white dragon now was a yellow dragon covered in armor of white scales with blue linings, along with translucent blue wings with lines along them. The light dragon let out a roar as it stood beside the dragon of judgement.

Lightray Diabolos - Light/Dragon/Level 7/EffectL 2800/1000

"And with that, I shall be ending my turn. And of course since Judgment Dragon is on the field, I shall send four more cards from my deck to the graveyard." The girl said as she ended her turn with a smile and passed to her.

But Mei was not nervous, she still had many ways to win from this position. "My turn then, I'll draw." Drawing the card of the turn, she looked at what she had just drawn. It could work, she can certainly win with this.

"I'll activate the effect of Machina Overdrive from my graveyard!" She started. "I can banish this card from my graveyard, then target three of my machine monsters that are banished or in my graveyard and shuffle them into the deck, then I can draw one card."

She then showed her opponent the three cards that she will be shuffling back onto her deck. "I will shuffle the Ancient Gear Golem, Machina Citadel, and Ancient Gear Wyvern back to my deck and draw one card."

Drawing another card, she couldn't help but smile. The pieces are all in position, she can win from here.

"Lets begin then, to begin I will normal summon Ancient Gear Frame." A smaller version of the body frame of the titular Ancient Gear Golem appeared in her field, alongside with the sound of grinding gears.

Ancient Gear Frame - Earth/Machine/Level 4/EffectL 1600/500

"Oh? And what are you going to be doing with that monster?" The pink haired duelist asked as she narrowed her eyes at the monster she had summoned.

"Finishing this duel." She said bluntly, surprising her opponent. "I will banish eight cards from the top of my deck face down to special summon Orochi, the Serpentron Sky Slasher from my hand!"

The seven headed machine let out a roar as it descended onto her field, facing off with the pair of dragons that were on the side of the pink haired girl.

Orochi, the Serpentron Sky Slasher - Dark/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 2450/2450

"That monster!" Her opponent exclaimed as she realized what the monster that she had just summoned was capable of.

"But that is not all." She said, surprising her opponent even further. "Since I have five or more monsters in my graveyard, each with different names, I can special summon Orbital Hydralander from my hand in attack position!"

The next monster that she had summoned flew over the two dragons that Sarah controls, as the multi-headed machine monster that was based on the Hydra flew high in the sky overlooking the monsters that were below it.

Orbital Hydralander - Dar/Machine/Level 8/Effect: 3000/1500

"Now I'll activate the effect of Orochi, Baniching three cards from my Extra Deck face down to destroy one face up card on the field. I'll destroy your Judgment Dragon." The mechanical mythical beast let out a mechanical roar as it shot multiple beams at the dragon of judgement who let out a cry as it was destroyed.

"Judgment Dragon!" Her opponent shrieked as her Ace Monster was destroyed.

"Now Orbital Hydralander's effect." She continued. "Once per turn, as a quick effect, I can send the top three cards of my deck to the graveyard to destroy one card on the field. I have to have at least two monsters in the graveyard, and no monster with the same name to activate this effect. I'll destroy Lightray Diabolos."

With its effect declared, the flying mechanical Hydra rained down beams of destruction upon the second dragon, destroying it alongside the pink haired girl's chances at victory.

"Battle. Finish it." With her command given, her monsters attacked her opponent for game, ending the match without even receiving any form of damage whatsoever.

Sarah Dolly: 0LP

"Winner! Signora Mei!"