Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

In the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, all the other rules are the same, the only difference being that the first player can also draw a card. This clearly puts the first player in an advantageous position. Considering that he's not in a chef's world where "the first to serve always loses," Hayato naturally wouldn't let this easy advantage slip by.

And so began Hayato Kobayashi's first duel after arriving in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!

"My turn, draw a card!"

[Game: 2000LP, 5 cards in hand]

[Hayato: 2000LP, hand card 5→6]

Hayato drew a card with great flair before examining the six cards in his hand.

Five weak cards with less than 1000 attack and defense, and a spell card with a completely unclear meaning that I just drew. Hmm, a perfect hand.jpg

With a confident flourish, Hayato drew a card from his hand and excitedly slammed it onto the monster zone on the table: "The monster I'm summoning is this one, a whole stack of them! My glory, my Tamashii!"

Yugi, sitting opposite Hayato, was startled by Hayato's sudden excited shout. His heart skipped a beat: "No way, did Hayato draw some powerful monster in the first turn? Oh no, I haven't drawn any powerful monsters yet."

But when he looked down, he froze—

"Death Stalker", a 3-star warrior of the dark attribute, has an attack power of 900 but a defense power of 800, indicating a defensive stance.

"Then I set a card to the back row, and my turn is over." Belatedly realizing he had been too excited, Hayato quickly set the magic card he had drawn to the back row, ending his turn.

[Hayato: Hand card 6→4]

Oh no, I got a little too excited because I was dueling with my idol, Yugi Muto. After all, he's the first and strongest Duel King; anyone would be excited, right?

However, Jonouchi and the others who were watching quickly helped Hayato out of his embarrassment.

"Huh? The Death Stalker's attack power is clearly higher than its defense power, so why is it showing a defensive stance?" Jonouchi asked in confusion.

"Do you expect me, someone who's just started playing Duel Monsters, to give you the answer?" Honda pushed away Jonouchi's arm and made him stand up straight. "Watch carefully, it's time for the game's turn."

"My turn, draw a card."

[Game: Hand cards 5→6]

Compared to the high-spirited Hayato, Yugi's card-drawing action was much calmer. He drew a card from the top of his deck and put it into his hand, then hesitated slightly as he looked at the face-down card on Hayato's back field.

“Then, the monster I’m going to summon is this one,” Yugi said, drawing a card from his hand and placing the monster on the field, “'Dark Dragon King'.”

In a daze, he heard a dragon's roar. Hayato watched as the game summoned the 'Dark Dragon King' with 1500 attack and 800 defense to the field.

'It really is this one. The first DARK-attribute Dragon to appear in the entire Yu-Gi-Oh! series, although it will definitely have more screen time than Red-Eyes.' Hayato wasn't surprised that Yugi's monsters were much better stats than the trash monsters he had. After all, his grandfather, Sugoroku, owned a card shop, so Yugi naturally had the advantage of being close to him and getting his hands on any powerful rare monsters.

'However, it's within my calculations.'

"Why is it this card again?" Jonouchi, who was watching, wailed. "Why can Yugi always use such a powerful card so quietly? If it were me, I would have been as excited as Hayato."

"That's why you always lose to Yugi," Honda added insult to injury. In at least half of the duels where Jonouchi lost to Yugi, he was defeated by the "Dark Dragon King" summoned by Yugi.

"So, are you going to attack, game boy? I have face-down cards in my back row, you know?" Hayato urged, though it sounded more like a bluff.

Yugi wasn't bothered by Hayato's words and nodded instead: "Yeah, stopping because of fear of traps isn't my style."

“Then, use the Dark Dragon King to attack the Death Stalker.”

With 1500 attack power against 800 defense power, it was obvious that Hayato's monster would be defeated. However, because "Death Stalker" was in defense position, Hayato's life points were not lost at all.

"I see. That's why Hayato uses a relatively weaker defensive stance." Looking thoughtfully at Kyoko in the arena, she added, "Do we need to use different monster states to adapt to different situations?"

After declaring his attack, Yugi smiled and pointed at the "Death Stalker" on the field, saying to Hayato, "Hayato, the 'Death Stalker' has been destroyed and is going to be sent to the graveyard."

"So, what do you do?"

"What?!"

Shamelessly plagiarizing Yugi Muto's classic line right in front of the original owner, Hayato flipped over the face-down card on his back field and explained, "This is the card I face down."

"Time Machine"

"A spell that restores a monster's state to its pre-battle state when it is destroyed, right?" Yugi was familiar with most card effects, so even before Hayato explained, she understood what he meant.

At the moment "Death Stalker" was destroyed by "Dark Dragon King", Hayato activated "Time Machine" to send Death Stalker into a time rift, thus avoiding "Dark Dragon King's" fatal attack.

Yugi's face lit up with a bright smile: "You're strong, Hayato. This is sure to be an interesting duel. My turn is over."

[Game: Hand cards 6→5]

Upon hearing this, Hayato's expression suddenly turned somewhat unpleasant. He kept staring intently at the back of the game until Yugi said "End of turn," as if afraid that Yugi would play the classic "T" five-over.

I can understand your sarcastic tone, but if you conjure up a magic cylinder for me, I'll just summon my fist in an attack stance. Hayato thought to himself.

Chapter 9: Sacrifice for the Greater Good

"My turn, draw a card."

[Hayato: Hand card 4→5]

Hayato pulled out a card, glanced at it, and a look of delight appeared on his face.

At the same time, he placed the card he had just drawn and another monster card from his hand onto the field.

"I summon another 'Death Stalker' in attack stance, and then I use this spell on it."

Hayato summoned yet another "Death Stalker" and then placed a spell card in the spell zone of its row.

Within the blue border, the card depicts a demonic sword that looks sinister.

"The Demon Blade of the Food Souls?" Yugi recognized the card. "I remember its effect was a Spell Card that could Tribute other allies besides the targeted monster?"

“That’s right, let us sacrifice ourselves for the greater good, Death Stalker No. 1. This is a necessary sacrifice.” Hayato sent the Death Stalker, which had been resurrected by the Time Machine, to the graveyard.

"Feeding on the souls of its fallen comrades, each monster sacrificed increases 'Death Stalker II's' attack power by 1000 points!"

"Death Stalker", ATK900→1900

"Following in the Prime Minister's dying wish, we will punish the traitor who usurped the Han throne. 'Death Stalker' launches an attack on 'Dark Dragon King'!"

"Using the 'Time Machine' to preserve our strength, and then using the 'Demon Blade of the Soul Eater' to unify that power. What an impressive combo, Hayato." Yugi smiled as he placed the "Dark Dragon King" into the graveyard.

Game: 2000LP → 1600LP

"No problem, no problem at all." Hayato said modestly, but he couldn't hide the emotion on his face. Did you hear that? Even the first Duel King, Yugi Muto, praised my performance! I'm so proud!

"Then, my turn is over." Hayato placed "The Demon Blade of the Food Soul" into the graveyard and ended his turn.

[Hayato: Hand card 5→3]

It's worth noting that in the early Yu-Gi-Oh! rules, there was no distinction between Spell Cards and Trap Cards, and even Spell Cards themselves weren't categorized. Features like Fusion Spells activating during the opponent's turn and Equip Spells retaining their effects but being sent to the Graveyard after use were unique to the early versions. It wasn't until later that distinctions like "Normal Spells," "Quick-Play Spells," and "Equip Spells" gradually emerged.

Therefore, Hayato's actions here were not wrong.

"Hayato is really amazing. He summoned a monster with an attack power of 1900 points in just one turn." Jonouchi, who was watching from the sidelines, exclaimed, "It's incredible that such a powerful monster was summoned so early."

“If the game can’t summon monsters with an attack power higher than 1900, there’s no way to deal with Hayato’s ‘Death Stalker’.” Honda had also figured out some of the rules.

However, the game, which was their turn, was not as stressful as Jonouchi and the others had imagined.

"My turn, draw a card."

Yugi drew a card but didn't put it into his hand. He looked at Hayato with his "big, bright eyes" and said, "1900 attack power is really impressive. It was originally only 900, but thanks to the cooperation with his partner (the sacrificed 'Death Stalker': ???), it has reached such a high level. Even among all Warrior monsters, it is top-tier attack power."

“My strongest attacking monster was originally ‘Minotaur,’ but 1700 attack power is still a ways from 1900.” As he spoke, Yugi placed the card he had just drawn onto the field. “However, the monster I just drew is this one.”

Hayato stared wide-eyed at the card Yugi had drawn. The reason was simple: he also had that card—

"Dark Knight Gaia!!!"

The Dark Knight, riding a warhorse and wielding a cavalry lance, was summoned onto the field in an attack stance. With an attack power of 2300, he was among the top-tier warriors in the current era. Even with the "Demon Blade of the Soul Eater" boosting his attack power, the "Death Stalker's" 1900 attack power was still utterly powerless against Gaia.

"'Dark Knight Gaia,' attack 'Death Stalker.'" The game gave the order to attack without hesitation.

This time, however, the "Death Stalker" was no longer protected by the "Time Machine" and was easily destroyed by Gaia and sent to the graveyard, leaving Hayato's field empty.

My turn is over.

Without even placing a card, his turn ended the game.

[Hayato: 2000LP → 1600LP, 3 cards in hand]

[Game: 1600LP, Hand cards 5→6→5]

Looking at Gaia in the empty back row with its attack position, Hayato thought to himself, "If this were a real card, I would have crushed you in one turn." Unfortunately, Hayato's own ace right now is Gaia, so even if he drew Gaia this turn, it would be useless and would only result in both of them being wiped out.

"My turn, draw a card."

The first thing that catches the eye is the yellow border: "Paladin Atolis." If Gaia hadn't appeared earlier, summoning him might have been a good choice. But Gaia's 2300 attack power is more than enough to utterly destroy any monster in Hayato's hand at this moment.

Rather than wasting a decent card, it's better to use other ordinary cards as substitutes.

"I call 'Earth Warrior' in defense and end my turn."

[Hayato: Hand Card 3→4→3]

Sending out a small, weak card from your hand as a wall, its 500/1200 stats are not enough to defend against Gaia's attack; it can only delay the enemy.

"Huh? I thought Hayato would summon some powerful monster too." Honda looked at the "Earth Warrior" that Hayato had put into the arena with some confusion.

Jonouchi curled his lip and said, "Idiot Honda, do you think powerful monsters are so common? Gaia in the game is already considered a super powerful monster. Let alone 2300 attack power, even monsters with more than 2000 attack power are rare, okay?"

"My turn."

The game draws a card from the deck, but instead of summoning any other monsters, it allows Gaia to attack Hayato's "Earth Warrior" on the field.

In the next three rounds, the game continued in the same manner, with Gaia repeatedly defeating Hayato's monsters on the field—"Swordsman," "Hand of Judgment," and the third "Death Stalker."

[Game: 1600LP, 7 cards in hand]

[Hayato: 1600LP, 3 cards in hand]

Even when his hand reached its limit time and time again and he had to discard cards, Yugi did not choose to summon monsters to create an opening for Hayato, making his defense impenetrable.

To achieve victory, Hayato's only way out is to defeat "Dark Knight Gaia," who stands like a mountain blocking his path in the game.

"End of turn." Sending another card from his hand to the graveyard, Yugi remained calm and patient despite Hayato's constant defensive stance. It's no wonder he'll continue down the path of playing complex and challenging decks.

"Well then, it's my turn." Hayato placed his hand on the deck, preparing to draw a card. But suddenly, he had a strange feeling.

It was as if he could guess what card the next one would be.

Chapter 10: You have to shout the card loudly for it to respond.

“In this brief duel, I learned something.” With his hand on the deck and without drawing a card, Hayato felt he should trust his intuition this time. “The more you try to avoid problems and take shortcuts by means other than power, the further you get from your goal. Taking shortcuts is just taking a longer route.”