Duels should be played with a smile.

"They said there was something noteworthy here... but I've looked everywhere and haven't seen anything..."

"They even told me in advance to stay here a little longer, but it's been almost half an hour and there's still no sign of them. If they're waiting for someone, then the latecomer should at least kneel down and kowtow a few times to get my forgiveness!"

"terribly sorry."

A gentle voice suddenly appeared, and the Snow Woman subconsciously looked up in the direction from which the voice came from.

The next second, she gasped and began to think about how to take back what she had just said.

"I'm very sorry," the person said again. "I encountered quite a bit of trouble on the way and was delayed for a lot of time. I apologize again, and if necessary, I can offer you some compensation."

Her overly gentle attitude prevented anyone from feeling any ill will. Even if the Snow Woman was dissatisfied due to the long wait, she suppressed her dissatisfaction upon seeing the newcomer.

"Ah... haha, how could I possibly accept that? There's no need for compensation. It's easy to encounter monsters around here, so it's understandable that you'd be delayed a bit," the Snow Woman said with a laugh.

Although she is always bullied by Leyou, Yuki-onna's personality is somewhat devilish. If she doesn't restrain herself when "bullying the weak," it wouldn't be inappropriate to call her a villain.

The reason she became so agreeable was ultimately due to the identity of the person who came.

The black wings folded up after landing, and the jet-black armor with gold trim gradually disappeared, revealing the ordinary attire underneath. The weapon that was both a lance and a staff was hung on the back of the magnet, and the dragon tail slowly vanished.

One second he was a majestic knight, the next he had become an ordinary young man.

If one could ignore the dragon's might that he hadn't fully concealed, he was indeed quite unremarkable.

The reason why Yuki-onna wanted to leave earlier was not only because she was getting impatient after waiting for a long time, but also because she sensed that something was stirring in this area. Not being in her full state, she was actually a little afraid of something going wrong.

But after this ordinary young man arrived, the unknown thing that had been stirring just moments before had quietly disappeared.

"...Really, is this a surprise? No, it's not clear whether your arrival is a surprise or not, but I'm very curious how he got in touch with you."

If they couldn't get in touch with him, it's unlikely he'd send someone here to wait for them, right? That guy doesn't have any abilities like futurism.

"I'm not sure if it's a happy thing, but at least it won't be a bad thing... I don't really have any special feelings for him or for you. After living alone in this world for so many years, I think I should be able to talk to him as an independent being."

"As for how we got in touch... it was just a coincidence."

Red-Eyes Dragon Knight didn't explain how he got in touch with Leyou, but he did manage to express his attitude somewhat.

"One more question... How did you choose this location? Is there anything noteworthy about this place?"

At this moment, the Snow Woman had no idea what Leyou and the dragon knight in front of her were thinking.

Now that we've made contact, why not just meet up openly and that's it? Why do I need to be a mere communication tool?

Why waste your time and life coming here when you could go back to fishing?

"Regarding this location... it was all a coincidence," the dragon knight uttered a truthful but meaningless statement.

The Snow Woman's "Riddler, get out of the Fusion Dimension" look made the Dragon Knight realize his mistake immediately. He quickly added, "Actually, I contacted him unilaterally. When I returned to the Fusion Dimension before, I met Yata and Professor Chronos in this area. After talking with Yata, I asked Yata to pass on my message."

After speaking, the Dragon Knight spoke again, explaining why he had suddenly become a riddle-maker.

"I apologize, because my existence is somewhat related to Mahad. As you all know, Mahad is a priest, which is also roughly equivalent to a charlatan. So I occasionally engage in some charlatan-like behavior. Please forgive me."

"Fine... your reason can only be described as reasonable."

With an explanation and an attitude presented, the dragon knight's demeanor was nothing like that of a fearsome whispering elf; rather, it resembled that of a courteous gentleman.

"So, what should we do next?"

"Come with me first. Before we go see him, I need to make some preparations, which will also be of some benefit to you... I guess?"

After saying that, the dragon knight looked around and followed his senses to walk forward.

"It's also good for me?"

The snow woman immediately became interested and quickly followed, asking with great interest, "Leaving aside what the benefit is, why do you have something that would be beneficial to me?"

“Because it belongs to him.” The dragon knight replied as he walked. “The fireproof dragon was the only one who chose to stay, while I was the last to leave. For some reasons I don’t know, after I came to the fusion dimension, I found that I was still carrying a fragment with me.”

"That fragment has a magical power that seems to work on all elves. Before I left the fusion dimension, I stored it somewhere nearby. Since you've come here, it's no problem to give it to you."

The snow woman nodded as if she understood, though she didn't quite grasp what it was. But it seemed very powerful. In short, she figured she should just go for it. That should be it, right?

Because she spends all her time slacking off, and aside from playing cards, Yuki-onna doesn't really like to use her brain, leaving everything to Leyou to handle, her somewhat rusty brain suddenly became overloaded when she encountered a slightly complicated situation.

While the Snow Woman followed the Dragon Knight to retrieve some unknown fragment, a duel in the virtual world had already reached its climax.

Ella vs. Zetsu.

In the current situation, Ella seems to be at a significant disadvantage.

She had a few cards in her hand, but her front hand was empty. She then covered her back hand, and her opponent's hand was filled with several small birds surrounded by orbs of light.

The audience in the stands were basically cheering for Ella at this moment, and their visual animal instincts were on full display.

Moreover, in addition to being visual creatures, the audience also revealed another aspect of human nature.

Double standards.

"Sigh, the audience is really biased..." Ze Du shook his head helplessly. Despite his good looks, he was not as popular as usual. The voices from the stands were filled with disdain for him.

"He looks like a handsome young man, so why is his deck full of birds? Isn't that a bit...?"

"It's a person's freedom to choose which deck to use, and we shouldn't criticize that casually... But when I see the girl on the other side and her little animals being bullied by this big man with his little birds, I'm definitely more inclined to side with the girl."

Such conversations were taking place throughout the stands, and Sawatari was completely helpless in the face of these arguments.

What's wrong with a grown man playing with a bird?

It's worth noting that he went to great lengths to persuade Yuto and Hayabusa with various methods, and he also spent a long time arguing with Ruri before finally obtaining permission to copy a Lyric Bird deck.

There was nothing he could do; the Lyric Robin's spirits ignored him, so this was the only way he could obtain the deck.

As it turned out, they had been hiding this incredibly powerful OTK deck all along, until the semifinals, only to find that their opponent was a young lady who used small animals... no, the audience misled them, this was clearly an older woman!

In short, because he, a grown man, used a bird to fight against a female duelist who used small animals, many viewers thought he was bullying the weak. Sawatari really wanted to protest, because, to be fair, the small animal deck is not weak at all!

However, the strength of the deck is not everything; the duelist's own skill level is also very important. In Zedu's opinion, his current opponents are not very proficient in using the Animal deck.

The small animal that went first in the first round didn't make any significant impact and was easily overtaken in the second round, giving him the advantage.

With a chorus of 2 materials and a Nightingale with 1200 attack points and 6 materials, Zedu has already made his judgment: he has won this duel!

"Gather Nightingales! Six-hit combo!"

The birds swarmed around the Nightingale, and its companions provided it with immense power. A full 7200 points of damage were instantly poured onto the unsuspecting Ella, leaving her LP in a state of near collapse.

"This is it! Little Ruri! Attack now!"

With the canary as her material, Xiaoli's attack power reaches 1200 points. As long as she hits, the duel will be over.

"At this very moment, I activate the face-down Quick-Play Spell Card 'Fairy Tale Animal Chase Game', and Special Summon 'Fairy Tale Animal - Puppy' from my Graveyard!"

As Ella revealed the card, the fluffy little dog, exuding a comforting aura, hopped and skipped from the graveyard onto the field.

Her adorable appearance made many female viewers' eyes sparkle with hearts.

Of course, many male viewers also had their eyes light up, staring intently at the adorable little animal.

"Tsk... a bit unexpected, but not particularly unexpected..." Zetsu looked at the monster that, while undeniably cute, had indeed blocked his path to victory, and shrugged.

"The moment you successfully Special Summon, I activate Little Glass's effect, remove one Xyz Material, and return the Dog you Special Summoned to your hand."

The other cobalt spinel bird, which was used as material, left Little Liuli's side, lightly picked up the puppy that had just returned, and handed it back to Ella's hands.

As a result of losing this material, Xiao Liuli's attack power dropped to 700 points.

With nothing on the field, Ella naturally couldn't stop Xiaoli's continued attacks. Fortunately, because Xiaoli's attacks were reduced, Ella was able to retain her last bit of LP.

[Ella's LP: 100]

"Oh my! Under the fierce attack of Sawatari, Miss Ella is completely on her last legs. With only 100LP left, can she turn the tide of this match? Let's wait and see, and cheer for Miss Ella!"

"Hey, hey, hey, I can understand waiting to see, but isn't this support a bit too obviously biased?" Ze Du scratched his head and protested weakly.

"Consider yourself lucky. My turn ends here, and it's your turn. But I don't think you'll be able to turn the tide when your LP difference is 7900. Animal decks are indeed quite suitable for girls, but is it a bit unwise to use this deck in the semifinals?"

Ella glanced at Zetsu, who was talking eloquently, but said nothing. Judging from Zetsu's performance, he was clearly underestimating his opponent.

At the very least, he seemed unaware that Ella hadn't used a small animal deck before, which suggests he might not have even looked at his opponent's most basic information—or rather, he didn't continue reading after seeing that his opponent was a female duelist.

Based on the information I received from Leyou, this person does seem capable of doing such a thing.

"As long as my LP doesn't drop to 0, and as long as the duel isn't over, I'll always have a chance."

"My turn, draw a card!"

A chilling aura emanated from Ella. If Leyou hadn't said he wanted to test this guy, Ella wouldn't have had any intention of fighting him at all.

If you just use the direct color branch method to kill the big external god, there's no need to use small animals to act cute.

Although Ella also likes fluffy little animals, she usually just takes them out to play with and rarely uses them for duels.

"First up is this one, a Continuous Spell Card: Fairy Tale Animals' Staring Game."

A cute little rabbit appeared on the field, its big eyes blinking as it gazed at Ze Du on the opposite side and the birds on his field.

"What about the effects?" Ze Du asked after waiting for a while without getting an explanation of the effects.

"Don't rush, it's not time to activate it yet. I'll first use my normal summon to summon [Fairy Tale Animal - Little Rabbit]!"

[Earth · 2★ · Beast · Attack Power 0]

Generally speaking, monsters with zero attack and defense often have powerful effects.

But the little rabbit is different.

It's a blank slate.

But it is indeed special – referring to the large wooden stake underfoot with a defense of 2100.

But now, it is a normal summon, attack representation, attack power, 0.

When the little rabbit appeared, not only Zetsu, but all the audience members stared wide-eyed.

Is there something wrong with using such a valuable general admission ticket in this place?

Before the audience could even react to Ella's use of the bunny as a special move, her next move left them completely bewildered.

"That's how I entered the battle phase."

With a field attack of 0, facing two monsters, Ella enters the battle phase.

This move was so bizarre that even the professional commentators wanted to call the referee to ask Ella if she had made a mistake.

If you want to win a decisive battle, you need an empty field to activate the card from your hand!