Jayr POV - Challenge Space - ???

  Jayr - 800

  Nikita - 5500

  After looking at the card in my hand, I decre, "Now that is the Standby Phase and you sent a bunch of cards to the GY, I activate the effect of one of them, specifically, Arkbrave Dragon, that lets me target 1 Level 7 or 8 Dragon monster in my GY, except "Arkbrave Dragon" and special summon it, and I chose the level 7 Darkbze Dragon, which I summon in attack position."

  As I say that, a fire tornado briefly appears on the field which is then blown away by a slender bd red menag-looking dragon who now stands beside my other two monsters, Gaxy-Eyes Cipher X Dragon and Gaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon.

  Darkbze Dragon - ATK 1200 / DEF 1000

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Seeing the new monster, Nikita ents, "Really that's it? It's kinda weak... Didn't you have aer dragon in yY?"

  I smile ign her question and tinue, "Now, the ditions to activate Darkbze Dragon's effect are met. After all, if this card is Special Summoned from the Graveyard, Its ATK and DEF bee double its inal ATK and DEF. At the same time, I put both Gaxy-Eyes Cipher X Dragon and Gaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon in attack position."

  Darkbze Dragon - ATK 2400 / DEF 20axy-Eyes Cipher X Dragon - ATK 4000 / DEF 30axy-Eyes Full Armor Photon - ATK 4000 / DEF 3500

  After that, I take a look at the field and try to find the best way to get out of this situation, 'Hmm... Yuki-Onna and Gashadokuro are in attack position, and Dakki, Soul-Abs Boower, and uruma are in defense position... First of all, I have to take care of Soul-Abs Boower, but I also have to watch out for the Mayakashi Synonsters' tricky effect that lets them be Special Summoned from the GY when a 2 levels higher Synonster on the field gets destroyed at the cost of banishing another zombie monster in the GY... Moreover, Darkbze Dragon is actually a danger as it could very well cause me to lose this duel as its attack is way too low, and would easily be an attack target...Let's do this.'

  ing up with a pn, I start to act, "First, I detach 1 material from Gaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon to activate its effect, and then target 1 face-up card you trol, Soul-Abs Boower, aroy it."

  Quickly my monster follows my order aroys Soul-Abs Boower standing in front of a still-calm Nikita, after that, I start the Battle Phase and decre, "Darkbze Dragon attack Dakki, the Graceful Mayakashi."

  Darkbze Dragon easily swops toward its target aroys it with its Fire Breath, but sihe monster was in defense position, it caused no damage to my oppo, then I say, "Now that it has destroyed a monster by battle a it to the GY, Darkbze Dragon's other effect be activated, whiflicts to you damage equal to that monster's inal ATK, in this case, 1000 LP."

  Nikita - 4500 LP

  I don't stop here and tihe assault by , "Gaxy-Eyes Cipher X Dragon attack the defense position uruma, while Gaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon attack the attack position Yuki-Onna."

  Under my and both dragon easily wipe out their targets, with Gaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon causing a damage of 1600 LP, leaving on the field only the attack position Gashadokuro, the Skeletal Mayakashi with its ATK of 3300.

  Nikita - 2900 LP

  I end the Battle Phase and made my move to ehat I have a ce to survive Nikita's urn, and so I say, "Now, I use Gaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon as a material to XYZ Summon the Rank 9 Gaxy-Eyes Cipher Bde Dragon."

  Instantly with a bright fsh of light Gaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photos its pitch-bck armor revealing the multicaxy-Eyes Cipher Bde Dragon with the two huge bdes ing out of its forearms.

  Gaxy-Eyes Cipher Bde Dragon - ATK 3200 / DEF 2800

  Spoiler

  [colpse]After that, I expin, "And now, I detach 1 material from this card, then target 1 card on the field to destroy it, and I choose Darkbze Dragon."

  Instantly with its bdes, Gaxy-Eyes Cipher Bde Dragon bisects Darkbze Dragon and sends it to the GY, and with that, I end my turn.

  Seeing all that, Nikita ents impressed, "Not bad... I'm surprised, while your deck isn't perfect, it isn't all that bad, sidering the limit we had in our choices...Anyway, I draw."

  Jayr - 800

  Nikita - 2900 LP

  Nikita looks at the card and ents with a smirk on her face, "Oh gosh! You are very unlucky." then she says, "I summon Soul-Abs Boower in attack position."

  Soul-Abs Boower - ATK 400 / DEF 1500

  Seeing that menace back, I 't help but curse out loud, "What the fuck! Are you printing those cards on need like Yugi Muto!? It is the sed time I er you and you draw another card that turuation around! Are you sure that your cept is Gravity and not Luck!?"

  Nikita shrugs her shoulder and says with nonce, "I just have a better deck." thearts once again, "Now I start my Main Phase, first, I activate Yuki-Musume's effect, I send 1 zombie card from the Deck to the GY, and special summon Yuki-Musume from the GY in defense position, then I activate Yuki-Onna, the Icicle Mayakashi's effect, so I banish Yuki-Onna, and summon 1 zombie Synohat is banished or in the GY and I choose to summon Tengu, the Winged Mayakashi in attack position. With both these special summons, Soul-Abs Boower activates once more."

  Yuki-Musume, the Ice Mayakashi - ATK 0 / 1900 DEF

  Tengu, the Winged Mayakashi - ATK 2600 / 1500DEF

  And with that, 4 more cards are gone from my deck leaving me only with 5 of them, at this point, I already know what her move is going to be and realize that I'm going to lose this first duel.

  Indeed, Nikita starts the Battle Phase and decres, "And with this, I win. Tengu attack Gaxy-Eyes Cipher Bde Dragon"

  Tengu follows her order and starts a suicide atta Gaxy-Eyes Cipher Bde Dragon whids with Tengu beiroyed and Nikita receiving a negligible damage of 600 LP.

  Nikita - 2300 LP

  But it is here that things get nasty, as Nikita expins, "With Tengu destroyed by battle ao the GY, I activate Tsuchigumo, the Poisonous Mayakashi's effect, I banish another zombie monster in the GY and special summon Tsuchigumo in attack position, and with this Soul-Abs Boower's effect of sending 2 cards from the deck to the GY and Tsuchigumo, the Poisonous Mayakashi's other effect of both pyers sending 3 cards from the deck to the GY activate. And with this, I end my Battle Phase and my turn. I win!"

  Tsuchigumo, the Poisonous Mayakashi - ATK 2000 / DEF 1800

  Indeed, with this, a total of 5 cards go from the dey GY, and sinow I'm uo draw cards, I lose for Deck Out and soon Gravity's voice is heard as he decres, [The winner of the first duel is Nikita who is now leading 1-0. Please ge your ded as the loser Jayr choose who will start first.]

  Without hesitation, I i in the duel disk the deck I'm more familiar with, then I say, "I'll start sed." while thinking, 'Now I have to truly focus. I 't lose anymore!'

  Quickly we start the new duel, ah draw five cards, looking at my hand, I 't stop a smile from f on my face as I think, 'As expected from the deck I'm most patible with... unless something ued happens, I end this iurn.'

  Jayr - 8000

  Nikita - 8000

  Meanwhile, Nikita starts her turn and from the first card that she pys I already know what to exped 't help but grimace, "I summon Magi's Rod in attack position."

  Magi's Rod - ATK 1600 / DEF 100

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Then she expins, "When this card is normally summoned, I add 1 Spell/Trap from my Dey hand, that mentions "Dark Magi" and I choose the tinuous Spell Card Dark Magical Circle which I instantly activate, making me look at the top 3 cards of my Deck, then I reveal 1 of them that is "Dark Magi" or a Spell/Trap that mentions "Dark Magi", and add it to my hand, and also pce the remaining cards on top of my De any order."

  Then she reveals Soul Servant, Dark Magic Expanded, and a Dark Magi, and of course, among them, she picks up the Soul Servant to add to her hand.

  Nikita then reveals one of the cards in her hand and tinues, "Now I activate Illusion of Chaos' effect. By revealing this card, I add 1 "Dark Magi", or 1 non-Ritual mohat mentions it, from my Dey hand, then pce 1 card from my hand on top of the Deck."

  She adds a Dark Magi and pces Illusion of Chaos on top of her deck, theivates another card from her hand, "Now, I activate Magis' Souls' effect, I first send the Dark Magi in my hand to the GY, then I also send Magis' Souls and special summon the Dark Magi from the GY."

  Soon one of the most iic cards of the game makes its appearaall handsome guy with a purple robe, ic hat, and green staff, the ace monster of the first protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, Yugi Muto, and one of the most supported cards in the game.

  Dark Magi - ATK 2500 / DEF 2100

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Of course, Nikita's first tur end here, "I also activate the quick spell card Soul Servant which lets me pce 1 card on top of the Deck from my hand, Deck, Y, that is "Dark Magi" or mentions "Dark Magi" or "Dark Magi Girl", except "Soul Servant, and I pick up Illusion Magic, then I banish Soul Servant from the GY to activate its other effect that lets my draw card equal to the number of Dark Magi, Paldium, or Dark Magi Girl on the field but sihere is only Dark Magi, I draw only one card."

  She still doesn't stop and while I start to think about the various Universes I could visit with my family, she makes her py, "Now, I py the spell card Illusion Magic that allows me to tribute 1 Spellcaster monster; add up to 2 copies of "Dark Magi" from my Ded/Y to my hand, and I tribute Magi's Rod."

  At this point, I already expect what is i, 'I pyed with way too many people using this form of deck, so much that even without Crateris I see the move they make before they even think of them.'

  Indeed, Nikita's move is something I already expected especially seeing her field setup, "Now I py the spell card The Eye of Timaeus to Fusion Summon a monster using Dark Magi as material"

  At this point, I mutter, "Here he es...", while Nikita decres excitedly, "I Fusion Summon Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon!"

  Soon the mohat for a period visited my nightmares makes its appearance more, Big Daddy Dragoon, a pale white-haired Dark Magi whose robe bees pitch bck dragon-shaped armor with golden or, a 3k beatstick that 't be targetted aroyed by card effects, that destroys oppo's monsters and deals burn damage equal to their attack, and more important, it also has an Ome that if successful makes its attack raise by 1000 points and that be easily summoned with 4 different cards.

  Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon - ATK 3000 / DEF 2500

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Looking at its menag figure as it stares at me daring to make any move against it I 't help but remember, 'For a time you couldn't py a game without meeting it in some form even with decks using a totally different strategy or theme... And then... came Branded and its merry band...'

  While I was thinking that, Nikita finally set one card face down and ended her turn with a fident smile on her face.

  I draw a card and looking at it I 't help to smile, then I start my turn with, "I activate Ritual Spell Card Nekroz Kaleidoscope, which allows me to tribute 1 monster from the Extra Deck to Ritual Summon 1 or more monsters from my hand, and I tribute Elder Entity N'tss to Ritual Summon-" but before I could tinue, Nikita says, "Wait! I use Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon's effect, I discard one card from my hand ae the activation of your spell card, and si ends up in the GY, Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon gains 1000 attack points."

  Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon - ATK 4000 / DEF 2500

  At this point, I start to ugh loudly in Kaiba style, "Hehehe. Hahaha! HAhA, HAA! You made a very costly mistake! Let's end this! Culture please start the music!" stunning Nikita, who still doesn't uand what is going on.

  Under my request, 4 huge speakers appear around us, and a piece of nostalgic familiar music starts first with some light drums, which is then followed, by the iic electric guitars, and soon the lyrics follow as Make-Up music, "?Dakishimeta Kokoro no kosumo. Atsuku moyase Kiseki wo okose. Kizutsuita mama ja inai to. Chikaiatta Haruka na ginga?"

  Soon the song picks up and Nikita excims, "Don't tell me this is the opening of that old anime!?" and in the background, the vocalist yells the chorus, "? Pegasasu fantaji. Sou sa yume dake wa. Dare mo ubaenai Kokoro no tsubasa dakara. Saint Seiya. Shounen wa minna. Saint Seiya. Ashita no yuusha (oh yeahh).?"

  Ihis is the inal opening of Saint Seiya's anime, Pegasus Fantasy by Make-up, quite a fitting song sidering the fact that my curred deck is built around the Nekroz archetype, which draws direspiration from my own universe, after all their lore is of a that perfected magical rituals to weave the power of legendary monsters into armors via a magical mirror, and cd themselves into them, basically, they are like the Muvian who made the Cloth weaving the power of the steltion into them and the Saints who wears them.

  Meanwhile, I tinue my py as the musitio make my heart pump faster, "Since Elder Entity N'tss was sent to the GY, I also activate its effect that lets me destroy 1 card on the field and I choose the face down card."

  Instantly, the phantom image of Elder Entity N'tss swops down aroys the face-doierg it with her spear.

  After that, I tinue as the song moves toward its climax, "I activate the effect of Nekroz of Briona my hand, by discarding this card, I add 1 "Nekroz" monster from my Dey hand, except "Nekroz of Brionac", and I add Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz, then I summon Diviner of the Herald in attack position."

  A cute winged pears in front of me holding her hand in a prayer stah a calm smile on her face.

  Diviner of the Herald - ATK 500 / DEF 300

  Spoiler

  [colpse]As soon as she appears, I tinue, "Sihis card was normal summoned, I activate its effect that lets me send 1 Fairy monster from my Deck or Extra Deck to the GY, and if I do, increase this card's Level by that monster's Level, until the end of this turn, and I send Herald of the Arc Light from my Extra Deck, which as the effect that when it is sent to the GY this card let me add 1 Ritual Monster or 1 Ritual Spell from my Dey hand, making me add, Nekroz of Cusos."

  I do not have any iion of stopping and tinuing with my bo, "I activate the effect of Nekroz of Cusos in my hand, by discarding this card, I add 1 "Nekroz" Spell/Trap from my Dey hand, and I add the Ritual Spell Card Nekroz Kaleidoscope, which I quickly activate, and sending another Herald of the Arc Light from my Extra Deck, I Ritual Summon Nekroz of Unicore in attack position."

  The monster is quickly summoned, it is a young man with long grey hairs and green eyes, wearing a white armor styled around some kind of uni and armed with a spear with a peculiar mirror near its bde that aims at Nikita, and as soon as he appeared e starts to emanate a strange aura that seems suppressing Big Daddy Dragoon.

  Nekroz of Unicore - ATK 2300 / DEF 1000

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Seeing that, Nikita frows and asks, "What is going on?" and with a smile, I expin with a smirk, "This is Nekroz of Unicore's effect, as long as it is on the field it es the effects of all the face-up monsters on the field that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, this means that Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon is only a simple and very vulnerable high attack monster. Moreover, I once again activate Herald of the Arc Light's effed add Nekroz of Decisive Armor to the hand."

  Then I tinue, "Now, I activate the Ritual Spell Card Nekroz Cycle, which lets me Ritual Summon a monster from the GY and I tribute Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz, which has the effect of being able to be used as the entire requirement to Ritual Summon Nekroz of Brionac, plus when Shurit is tributed, I add 1 Warrior "Nekroz" Ritual Monster from my Dey hand and I add Nekroz of Trishu."

  Soon, a new monster appears beside the other ohis is Shurit, a young man with heteroatic eyes, ohe reen, and red and gray hair, wearing an armor styled after an ice dragon with a sword with the same mirror between the bde and the hilt.

  Nekroz of Brionac - ATK 2300 / DEF 1400

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Without giving Nikita any ce to retaliate, I decre, "Now, I activate Nekroz of Brionac which lets me target up to 2 face-up monsters on the field that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, and shuffle them into the Deck, and of course, I target Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon!"

  Nekroz of Brionac also unleashes its aura that pushes back Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon until it is forced to leave the field leaving Nikita defenseless as she mutters, "Ah... this is bad..."

  Of course, I still have a few moves left, and so I tinue, "Now, I activate the st Ritual Spell Card, Nekroz Mirror, which lets me Ritual Summon any "Nekroz" monster from the hand, but I tribute monsters in the GY as requirement by banishing them, and I banish Shurit from the GY that be used as the entire requirement to Ritual Summon Nekroz of Trishu in attack position, which has the effect of banishing a card from the field, from the GY and a random card from the hand. I target Dark Magical Circle and Dark Magi in the GY."

  With a burst of energy, Nekroz of Trishu appears on the field, and with that energy, it destroys the targeted cards on the field, GY, and hand, its appearance is that of an older-looking Shurit wearing a different armor still styled after an ice dragon, but this one looks a lot strohan the Brionac armor.

  Nekroz of Trishu - ATK 2700 / DEF 2000

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Right now, on the field, I have enough attack power to cause damage equal to 7800 LP, but I still have otle move to make before attag, "And stly, I activate the effect of Nekroz of Decisive Armor in my hand that by discarding this card, then I target 1 "Nekroz" monster I trol and it gains 1000 ATK and DEF until the end of this turn. I target Nekroz of Trishu."

  Nekroz of Trishu - ATK 3700 / DEF 3000

  Then I start the Battle Phase, point at Nikita, and and, "Everyoack for an amazing 1 turn kill!"

  Under my and, all the monsters on the field attaikita at the same time, bringing her LP to 0, at the same time, the musi the background ends.

  Jayr - 8000 LP

  Nikita - 0 LP

  Soon after that, Culture's voice is heard as he decres, [The winner of the sed duel is Jayr and the score is now 1-1. Please ge your ded as the loser Nikita choose who will start first.]

  Nikita then quickly ges her ded mutters, "Woah! That for sure was one crazy bo. It was quite a while since I was 1 turn killed by someone, and now the situation is also quite tense as we reached the st duel... Luckily I kept my best deck st, especially sidering that I was able to rebuild and even upgrade the one I used when I participated in the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship of 2019... sure, I didn't win but that is only because I ended up fag that Kouki Kosaka and his Sama deck... damned meta-sve, I lost t of how many Sama were present at that tour..."

  Hearing that, I 't help but freeze for a moment, 'Wait! What!? Are you tellihat she took part in the fug World Championship? Damn, she is that good? Luckily I was able to limit somewhat her ability to build a deck...'

  While thinking about that, I remove the Nekroz deck from the duel disk and ihe st ohat tains one of the most lethal cards I have ever seen in this game.

  Nikita smiles and says, "I'll start first!" and soon after that, she draws 5 cards, then she quickly starts her py, "I summon Witchcrafter Potterie in attack position."

  And with a cute pop, a small blonde child with a cute smile appears in front of her.

  Witchcrafter Potterie - ATK 0 / DEF 2000

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Quickly after that, Nikita tinues, "Now I activate, Witchcrafter Potterie's effect which lets me Tribute this card, then discard 1 Spell from my hand, in this case Witchcarfter Holiday to Special Summon 1 "Witchcrafter" monster from my Deck, except "Witchcrafter Potterie", I special summon Witchcrafter Haine in attack position."

  And ie Pottierie's pce, the cold beauty Haine makes her appearance.

  Witchcrafter Haine - ATK 2400 / DEF 1000

  Spoiler

  [colpse]After that, Nikita smiles and says, "I set 1 card face down and with this, I end my turn, at the same time, si is the End Phase and I have a Witchcrafter monster on the field, I activate Witchcrafter Holiday effect that makes it return from the GY to my hand."

  Seeing that, I 't help but blink in fusion while thinking, 'Already done? When she said that this was her best deck, I expected something able to pull off an almost infinite bo that takes almost a year to plete, moreover, I don't remember how this archetype works as I didn't py against it many times... Something isn't right, better be careful.'

  Then I start my turn, "I draw." and start to carefully look at my hand, and 't help but smirk thinking, 'Not bad... not bad at all. With this, I start with a bang.'

  After firming, my strategy, I start to py, "I py the Quick Spell Card Ojamatch, which lets me send 1 "Ojama" card from my hand or face-up from the field to the GY after that I add to my hand, 1 "Ojama" monster with a different name and 1 "Armed Dragon" monster from my Ded/Y, then, immediately after this effect resolves, I ormal Summon 1 of those monsters, I discard Ojamagid add Ojama Blue and Armed Dragon Thunder LV 3, then I normal summon Ojama Blue in attack position."

  Soon a small, ugly, almost naked blue humanoid monster with a regur head wearing a floral red bikini brief appears proudly on the field with arms crossed while also sending a wink at a grossed-out Haine.

  Ojama Blue - ATK 0 / DEF 1000

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Seeing that, Nikita excims out loud, "What!? Really!!? An Ojama Deck!!? That's your st deck? Are you fug kidding me?"

  Odyin