Chapter 10: National Duel Monsters Championship

Although filled with curiosity about the contents of the box, Yugi exercised self-restraint, placed the box down by his feet, and raised his head to look at the television screen. "It looks like the match has already started."

His words drew everyone's attention back to the program on television. Following a much-maligned yet indispensable block of sponsor advertisements, the grand finals of the nationwide Duel Monsters tournament in Japan, spearheaded by Industrial Illusions, were officially underway.

The player taking the first turn on the black side was "Weevil" Underwood, who excelled at combining insect monsters with magic cards, while the player on the white side taking the second turn was "Rex" Raptor, whose Dinosaur-type monsters specialized in overwhelming power and supreme precision.

"My turn, draw." Glancing at the card he had just drawn, Weevil set three cards face-down in his back row, smiled sinisterly as he summoned a monster in face-down defense position, and ended his turn.

"To set three traps in the back row all at once... this Weevil's deck is seriously shady," Hayato muttered, looking displeased as he watched Weevil pull off that "T"-shaped setup on the screen, driven by his already abysmal impression of the duelist himself.

Jonouchi glanced at Hayato with a speechless expression. Speaking of setting three cards on the very first turn, wasn't Hayato himself the one who used that dirty trick the most? Out of everyone present, he was the absolute last person qualified to call anyone else shady. Just as he thought this, Jonouchi happened to catch sight of Yugi.

Lately, when playing cards, Yugi had also begun to show a growing fondness for fighting with all sorts of set cards. The contagion of the shady duelist was already showing signs of spreading to others.

"My turn!"

Though both fourteen years old, Rex clearly did not possess the exaggerated height of a certain prematurely aged, tattooed, smoking and permed delinquent priest. However, the sheer aura that erupted the instant he drew his card made it impossible to remember that he was only fourteen.

Glancing at the monster on Weevil's field, Rex let out a chuckle and summoned his own monster to the field. "Blind defense is useless in the face of my invincible dinosaur army! I summon Saber Saurus!"

"Roar!"

Unlike Weevil's plain opening, accompanying Rex's summoning chant, a jet-black dinosaur descended onto the field. With robust, muscular legs clearly built for swift retreats and sharp claws capable of tearing an entire deck to shreds in a single go, it radiated pure dominance!

[Saber Saurus] [Level 4/EARTH] [Dinosaur/Normal] [ATK 1500 / DEF 800]

I've seen this move before—double summon a second monster and then overlay into a Divine Dragon, right? Watching Rex's play, Hayato couldn't help but recall the fun Dinosaur deck he often played in his past life. Using Rescue Rabbit to pull two Saber Saurus and then overlaying them for an Xyz Summon was one of his go-to plays.

"His attack power is actually a staggering 1500 points! Oh no, if this keeps up, my monster—!" Weevil played right along with Rex's move, pulling off a complex facial expression that mixed terror with panic, and panic with utter despair.

Seeing Weevil fall into a panic, Rex was overjoyed and immediately commanded, "Go ahead, Saber Saurus! Use those claws to tear and smash that monster to pieces!"

The face-down monster on Weevil's field was effortlessly slashed open by the lunging Saber Saurus, revealing its true form: a Level 2 Insect-type monster, Man-Eater Bug.

[Man-Eater Bug] [Level 2/EARTH] [Insect/Normal] [ATK 900 / DEF 200]

Faced with Saber Saurus's 1500 attack points, Man-Eater Bug was instantly destroyed, yet strangely, its corpse did not immediately vanish.

Seeing the monster on his field destroyed in a single blow, Weevil's expression abruptly shifted. "Ha! You fell for it, Rex! There just happens to be a trap card on my field that responds to a 'monster being destroyed,' and now I'm activating it!"

As it turned out, all his previous panic had been a complete act, purely designed to lure Rex into launching an attack against his monster. One of the three set cards in Weevil's back row flipped upward to reveal its true identity: Shift!

"This can be activated when a monster is destroyed and sent to your graveyard, by targeting one monster on the field and destroying it," Weevil said with a sinister grin, pointing a finger at Saber Saurus, which had just finished its attack. "Industrial Illusions has released quite a few new cards lately. Reckless fighters like you are about to lose this match right now!"

"I choose to destroy that Saber Saurus!"

The lingering corpse of the Man-Eater Bug twitched while Saber Saurus was caught off guard. Instantly, the stinger on the tail of the Man-Eater Bug lashed out in a sneak attack against the defenseless Saber Saurus. Lethal venom coursed through the stinger and was injected straight into Saber Saurus's body. Without even a chance to struggle, Saber Saurus collapsed, and the corpses of both monsters dissolved into particles of light side by side.

Not only that, but Rex's Life Points plummeted by 750 points due to the destruction of Saber Saurus.

[Rex: 2000 LP → 1250 LP]

"Heh-heh-heh-heh! That leaves your field completely devoid of monsters, and at the end of the turn, you'll lose the match outright," Weevil declared, outlining his strategy while putting on a theatrical display of pity. "How terribly unfortunate. You barely managed to make it to the finals, only to get wiped out by me before even surviving the first turn."

"Don't underestimate yours truly! My turn isn't over yet, Weevil!" Rex's expression showed not a trace of gravity; instead, he wore a look of complete confidence. "During my Main Phase 2, I activate the Magic Card Double Summon, and then I summon Uraby!"

"Roar!"

Accompanied by the same high-decibel roar, the same jet-black physique, and the same bipedal stance, Rex summoned yet another Dinosaur-type monster—and its attack power was even higher than the Saber Saurus that had just been destroyed!

[Uraby] [Level 4/EARTH] [Dinosaur/Normal] [ATK 1600 / DEF 1200]

"The moment I saw your set cards in the back row, I had my suspicions. Saber Saurus was merely bait. Don't underestimate me, Weevil!"

The two individuals on the television plunged into a fierce back-and-forth of offense and defense—one used traps to destroy monsters, while the other utilized magic to boost defense and reflect attacks, locked in an evenly matched battle.

"Th-That's incredible!" Jonouchi watched, dumbfounded. Before the match began, he had assumed that bug-using creep Weevil would be instantly crushed by Rex's dinosaurs. But looking at it now, both duelists possessed formidable dueling skills.

Hayato watched the trap cards deployed by both sides and a satisfied smile spread across his face as he thought to himself: That guy Pegasus refused every request to implement the 4000 LP rule, but when it comes to printing new cards, he's certainly enthusiastic enough.