Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Samejima took off his hat, revealing a thick head of beautiful hair, and nodded, saying, "Yes, we met on the island yesterday afternoon. At that time, he seemed to have won seven duels in a row and was only one star chip away from entering the castle, so he challenged me after seeing me."

"Although the duel was dangerous, I was ultimately the better fighter and won. Although we only wagered one star, it seems he dislikes me because I ended his winning streak, hahaha."

“However, we can’t underestimate him just because he lost to me once.” Samejima became serious and said solemnly, “If I were to fight him again, I can’t guarantee that I could win again.”

"The deck that guy was using seems to have super rare cards. Although it's not as scary as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, it seems that only a handful of people worldwide use it."

Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Soon, the passageways on either side of the pre-arranged dueling arena opened, and Jonouchi and Ptah each took the automatically moving elevators from their respective passageways to the dueling arena. After placing their decks on the arena, the old butler confirmed that both players were ready and announced loudly:

"I hereby announce that the first match of the Duel Kingdom Top 8 Selection Tournament will be between Katsuya Jonouchi and Ptah Garlem."

"The competition officially begins!"

"Duel!" x2

[Putah: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

[Within the city: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

"First move is mine! Draw!" A beat faster than Jonouchi, Ptah drew five cards and seized the first move. "You brat, let me show you the magnificent duel that belongs to me!"

"First, I will activate the magic card, [Sealed Mantra]!"

With the help of the virtual projection system, an old-fashioned wooden box appeared on the field in Ptah. The four corners of the box were firmly sealed with screws, as if something extraordinary was imprisoned inside.

"【Sealed Mantra】?! Could it be that deck?!" Although Ptah only played one card, the knowledgeable Yugi had already recognized the deck he was using. Samejima nodded, confirming Yugi's guess: "Ah, it's that 【Sealed Beast】 deck."

"The core of this duel revolves around the Spell Card 'Sealed Words,' summoning a large number of 'Sealed Beast' monsters to form an army and defeat the enemy. That's the dueling style of that Ptah Garlem." Samejima said seriously, "Even if he defeats a few 'Sealed Beasts,' it's useless. As long as 'Sealed Words' is still on the field, Ptah can summon a large number of 'Sealed Beasts' again at any time."

“When the number of monsters reaches a certain level, ordinary duelists will find it difficult to last even one turn.” Samejima looked at the duel arena. “Although it has the weakness of being relatively weak without the presence of the ‘Sealed Mantra,’ I didn’t expect to draw the core of the deck in the first turn.”

"Your friend Jonouchi is in danger. The only thing to be thankful for now is that Ptah couldn't attack because he attacked first."

Ptah's actions didn't stop after he cast the [Sealing Mantra]. Just as Samejima Iemitsu said, his summoning was only just beginning—

"Because of the presence of [Sealed Mantra] on the field, I can directly Special Summon [Sealed Beast - Inun] and [Sealed Beast - Nunurao] from my hand!"

As he spoke, Ptah simultaneously played two cards from his hand onto his field.

Chapter 110 I saw the security guard!

Two strangely shaped monsters were summoned onto the field by Ptah, and Jonouchi didn't seem to care much about them. Aside from their Special Summoning effect, the two monsters were unremarkable; their attack and defense were both quite weak, and they weren't worth paying attention to.

【Sealed Beast - Inun】【1☆/Dark】

[Demon Race/Effect]

[200/300]

【Sealed Beast - Nunurao】【2☆/Light】

[Angel Race/Effect]

[500/800]

"Is this all the monsters I've got?" Jonouchi looked at his hand and couldn't help but feel a little smug. "Well, it seems like the top eight is pretty easy. I feel like I'm super strong right now."

"Your expression suggests you don't think much of my [Sealed Beast]?" Ptah noticed Jonouchi's disdain and smirked. "Then let me show you my strongest [Sealed Beast]!"

"Offer the two [Sealed Beasts] on the field as sacrifices! Fuse the power of light and darkness, descend!"

"【Sealed Beast - Protector Dragon】!"

The two [Sealed Beasts], having been released as sacrifices, transformed into mysterious characters that floated across the field. These characters combined and arranged to form a completely new monster, which appeared on the Ptah field. With a furious roar, a bronze-named monster, possessing the appearance of both [Nunurao] and [Inun], was summoned.

"Roar!!!"

【Sealed Beast - Protector Dragon】【8☆/Land】

[Rock Faction/Effect]

[2700/2100]

"He summoned an eight-star monster in the very first round!" Jonouchi exclaimed in shock. "And its attack power is a whopping 2700 points!"

"Hmph, the power of [Sealed Beast] is far more than what you've seen." Ptah was quite satisfied with Jonouchi's performance. He loved seeing others admire and be amazed by him, which was why he played Duel Monsters. "Next turn, you'll witness the terror of my [Sealed Beast]."

"I'll set up a card in the back row, and my turn is over."

[Putah: 4000LP, 1 cards in hand]

【Sealed Beast - Dragon Protector】【ATK2700】

【Gaika】【The Sealed Mantra】

"Tsk, this is getting a bit tricky." Jonouchi glanced at his hand with some annoyance. In his first five cards, he drew the monster with the highest attack power in his deck, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, which he obtained from the dinosaur Ryuzaki. However, even Red-Eyes only had 2400 attack power, which was less than the 2700 attack power of Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

"In that case, I'll just have to rely on the next gacha pull. My turn!"

Upon drawing his card, Jonouchi's face lit up with joy. He glanced smugly at Ptah opposite him: "A mere monster with 2700 attack power? My deck is more than just for show. Watch how I defeat it!"

"Activate the Spell Card, [Demon's Dice]." Jonouchi played a card from his hand, somewhat smugly. "Its effect is to select a monster on the field and roll a die. That monster's ATK will be the value divided by the die roll until the end of the turn."

But Jonouchi's expectant gaze was met with disappointment. Despite playing a card, nothing happened on his field; it remained completely empty. "What... what's going on?"

"Hahaha, a mere commoner dares to dream of defeating my [Sealed Beast - Baolong] with those gambling cards that rely on luck?" Ptah laughed, while also explaining why Jonouchi's [Demon Dice] hadn't taken effect. "As long as I have [Sealed Mantra] on my field, [Sealed Beast - Baolong] will be protected by [Mantra]. No matter if it's a spell, trap, or monster effect, it can't even be targeted."

"So it's a noble effect that doesn't target monsters?" Hayato looked at the [Sealed Beast - Protector Dragon] surrounded by mysterious runes. "[Demon's Dice] is a spell card that requires targeting a monster to activate. It can't be activated when there's only [Sealed Beast - Protector Dragon] on the field. It's fortunate that Jonouchi didn't summon the monster first."

“If you have a monster on your field, because you can't target [Dragon Protector], it will actually weaken your own monster.” Yugi looked at the field with some concern. “Jonnouchi…”

"Not only does it have an attack power of 2700 points, but it also has such a troublesome effect." Jonouchi felt extremely troubled. "In that case, I usually summon the [Black Panther Warrior] in my hand, then set two cards face down, and end the turn."

A black panther warrior wielding a scimitar appeared on the field within the castle, looking at the [Sealed Beast - Baolong] on the opposite side, and let out a low growl without fear. According to [Rainbow Kuriboh]'s translation, it seemed to be saying something like, "I see Baolong."

【Black Panther Warrior】【4☆/Land】

[Beast Warrior Race/Effect]

[2000/1600]

By placing both cards face down, Jonouchi ended his turn.

[Within the city: 4000LP, 3 cards in hand]

【Black Panther Warrior】【ATK2000】

【Signature Card】【Signature Card】

"Hmph, although you're a powerful monster with an attack power of 2000, you're still too weak in front of my invincible army of [Sealed Beasts]." Ptah glanced at the field inside the castle and laughed smugly. "My turn, draw a card!"

"Oh, looks like my luck is pretty good too, I drew a powerful card. Well then, I'll take you down this turn!"

"Normal Summon [Sealed Beast - Charmgar], then equip it with the Spell Card [Shedding Skin Escape]!"

【Sealed Beast - Charmgar】【3☆/Water】

[Crawler Category/Effect]

[1200/1400]

A serpentine monster named after the Daughter of the Sun appeared on the field of Ptah. As soon as it appeared, a beam of white light shot out from its mouth and headed straight for Geka in the back field of Jonouchi.

“Because of the presence of [Sealed Mantra] on the field, the effect of [Sealed Beast - Charmgar] is unlocked,” Ptah explained smugly. “Once per turn, I can destroy one card in your back row. I chose the one on the left!”

"You dare to destroy my back row? Don't even think about it!" Jonouchi opened the face-down card that was the target. "Before you destroy it, I activate the effect of [Scapegoat] and summon 4 [Sheep Tokens] on my field. As a price, I cannot make any other summons this turn."

The white light that was heading straight for the face-down card missed its target. The face-down card in the game transformed into four adorable sheep of four different colors and appeared on his field. They weren't afraid of the two [Sealed Beasts] that were eyeing them menacingly. They just stood there with their heads down, as if they were looking for some grass to eat.

"Tch, you wasted one of my chances," Ptah said unhappily. "In that case, I would have used [Sealed Beast - Protect Dragon] to attack that [Black Panther Warrior]."

"Roar!"

The earth's ley line power surged within its body, and the Rock Dragon opened its massive jaws, a beam of bronze light wafting out as it was about to strike the [Black Panther Warrior]. Just then, Jonouchi also revealed the last face-down card in his back row.

"Activate the trap card before you attack!"

Chapter 111 Chen Daozai, you're flipping a coin again!

Just as the bronze aurora was about to strike the [Black Panther Warrior], Jonouchi activated his face card in time:

"Activate the Trap Card, [Chained Boomerang], before you attack!"

The Black Panther Warrior reached out towards the opened trap card, and a sharp, gleaming dart appeared in its hand. A chain was also attached to the dart.

"This card has two effects. Not only can it be equipped to my monster as an Equip Spell Card, increasing its ATK by 500, but it can also change an opponent's monster to Defense Position when it attacks. I can choose to activate either effect. I choose—"

Before Jonouchi could finish speaking, Ptah across from him scoffed, "Idiot, even if you wanted to change the effect of my [Sealed Beast - Protect Dragon], it wouldn't work. Don't forget, as long as [Sealed Mantra] is still on my field, [Sealed Beast - Protect Dragon] can reject any effect that targets it."

“(ˉ▽￣～) Tch~~” Jonouchi said unhappily, “Then I’ll activate one effect. The attack power of the Black Panther Warrior equipped with the Chain Boomerang will increase by 500 points.”

"Meow!"

The Black Panther Warrior let out a majestic roar, holding a sword in one hand and a throwing dart in the other, looking quite imposing.

【Black Panther Warrior】【ATK2000→2500】

"A mere 500 points of attack power increase! My [Sealed Beast - Protect the Dragon] is far superior to yours!" Ptah laughed. "Crush him! [Protect the Dragon]! Metal Myth Impact!"

"Roar!!!"

A breath brimming with destructive power erupted from the mouth of [Sealed Beast - Haru], easily engulfing the [Black Panther Warrior] on Jonouchi's field. While impressive, [Sealed Beast - Haru] ultimately held a higher stat line, thus damaging Jonouchi's life points.

[Within the city: 4000LP → 3800LP]

"Don't think this is the end!" Ptah waved his hand, "[Sealed Beast - Chalmugar], destroy those troublesome sheep!"

"boom!"

The serpentine sealing beast lashed out with its long, thin tail, easily blasting one of the [Sheep Tokens] on the field into a puff of smoke. However, because it was in defense position, Jonouchi was not harmed.

"Tch, saved by those troublesome lambs, what a tenacious fellow. My turn is over." Having failed to fulfill his initial prophecy, Ptah ended his turn.

[Putah: 4000LP, 0 cards in hand]

【Sealed Beast - Dragon Protector】【ATK2700】

【Sealed Beast - Chamgar】(Shedding Skin to Escape) 【ATK1200】

【Gaika】【The Sealed Mantra】

"【Baolong】not only possesses high attack power, but also has immunity to most magic, trap, and monster effects." In the audience, Samejima was explaining the situation on the field to Kyoko and Honda. "And 【Chamgar】, equipped with 【Shedding Skin Escape】, has the ability to be immune to battle once per turn."

"They didn't even leave a breakthrough? That guy named Ptah, who looked like just a spoiled brat, turned out to be such a powerful duelist." Mai exclaimed. "If we can't break that troublesome [Seal Mantra], those [Sealed Beasts] are practically an impenetrable wall."