Duels should be played with a smile.

He must have switched to the Divine Shield - Reflective Mirror Force.

"My turn, draw a card!"

After glancing at his hand, Leyou thought that either his luck was bad or the system was malfunctioning.

They said acrobats don't die from hand stunts, but this time it's a nightmare.

But the card in his hand, with its green design taking up most of its surface, gave him new hope.

"I activate Pot of Greed! Draw two cards."

Drawing cards is fun, and drawing them all the time is even more fun. As long as you don't die from drawing cards, just keep drawing them!

The newly drawn cards are not yet useful, but the formula for victory is already mostly complete. Leyou continues to set a monster in the front row, set a card in the back row, and then, to play it safe, sets Torrent Tribute as well, thus ending the turn.

[Leyou: Hand 5 → 4]

Even though there was only one monster on the field, he wasn't flustered at all.

When the turn came back to Jonouchi, he couldn't help but laugh when he saw the cards he had drawn.

"I usually summon Rocket Warrior! It's a really powerful monster! Then I activate the Equip Spell Card Legendary Sword, which increases its ATK and DEF by 300 points!"

"It's not over yet. I'll activate another face-down trap card on the field, Metallic Spell Launch Armor, and equip it to Rocket Warrior as an Equip Card. Now his attack power is a whopping 2100! That's more than Black Panther Warrior! And even so, I still haven't summoned my ace!"

Black Panther Warrior: ?

"If gaining your approval is simply a matter of defeating you, that's too easy. How about adding a time limit? For example, do I need to defeat you within 7 rounds?"

The duel between the two had attracted a lot of people to stop and watch in a short period of time, and Jonouchi's words were agreed upon by many.

The recognition of his ideas made Jonouchi a little smug. He was someone who was not noticed by others, so he especially wanted to gain their recognition and attention.

"If that's all, it won't be enough to gain my approval, or rather, even if I do approve of you, it won't be the current you."

Leyou held the four cards in his hand and kept shuffling and cutting them quickly, with occasional swishing sounds.

"Duel Monsters is not a game where the outcome can be determined solely from known information; the key to a comeback may be hidden in all the unknowns."

As he spoke, Leyou glanced at Yuki Judai beside him, seemingly oblivious to what was being said. The bewildered boy appeared to understand but not quite, though he seemed to have memorized the words.

"In that case, let's talk after I defeat you!"

Jonouchi didn't understand the somewhat riddle-like words, but being a simpleton, he knew that if he won, everything would be fine.

"Enter battle! First up is the Leopard Warrior. Release a sheep derivative to attack the monster it covers!"

The jet-black leopard warrior took the lead, while the monster's defense was clearly inferior to that of the leopard warrior. The blonde, armored female warrior was no match for the naked orc warrior and was easily defeated.

But just before she left, a huge dimensional rift suddenly appeared, sucking her and the Leopard Warrior into it.

"The effect of the Dimensional Warrior is that it can only be activated after damage calculation when this card battles with an opponent's monster, and those monsters are banished," Leyou explained with a smile.

The Duel Disk spat out the card representing the Black Panther Warrior. Jonouchi patted his pockets, randomly picked one, and put the banished card in.

On the other hand, Leyou has a special area on the Duel Disk to prevent cards from being banished, so it doesn't need to be as complicated as Jonouchi's.

"My Leopard Warrior! But it's alright, I still have Rocket Soldiers! Rocket Soldiers, launch a direct attack on him! Rocket Slash!"

With two swords in his body and wearing specially made anti-magic armor, the rocket soldier can now be said to be the hope of the entire village. He charged directly with his sword and slashed at Leyou.

[Leyou LP: 4000 → 1900]

One strike cut off half of his health bar, but strangely, Leyou didn't feel any simulated impact emanating from the Duel Disk. However, considering that his Duel Disk was a system-generated artifact, he didn't pay much attention to it.

Seeing the Rocket Warrior's attack take effect, Jonouchi clenched his fist, but outwardly suppressed his joy: "There's nothing more I can do. End of turn."

His hand is in an awkward position right now. Two of his cards are spell cards with no clear purpose and are completely useless, while the other is his trump card.

Warrior can also reclaim Warrior monsters from the graveyard, but there are no monsters in his graveyard.

The other magic card is an equipment spell that cannot be equipped.

In the end, his ace monster had no chance to be played due to the rule that a normal summon could be performed once per turn and that monsters of level 7 or higher required two tributes.

At this moment, Jonouchi finally realized the consequences of having a deck that was too messy and disorganized.

[Within the castle: Hand 3 → 3]

Chapter Ten: A Candle in the Wind? No, that's far from enough! 3K

Seeing Jonouchi end his turn so decisively, Leyou's side became a little unsure.

In anime, everyone seems to have perfect cards, right? What big plan are you planning with three cards in your hand, Jonouchi?

After glancing at the cards drawn, Leyou pondered for a moment and then continued to act according to his plan.

"I usually summon the Magic Warrior Destroyer!"

A knight in gold and red armor stands with his sword in hand.

"If this card is successfully summoned, I can activate this effect: Place a Spell Counter on this card, and this card's ATK increases by 300 for each Spell Counter. But that's not the main point. I can also remove one Spell Counter from this card and target a Spell/Trap Card on the field to destroy it!"

With sword and shield in hand, the knight slashed the sword across the shield in his left hand, sending a crimson energy straight toward the only face-down card on the field inside the castle.

"A boomerang with a chain... Now, the equation for victory is complete."

"Magic Warrior, enter combat phase! Attack that sheep derivative! Magic Sword Slash!"

The knight easily killed the unused derivatives, thus reducing the number of barriers protecting the city.

When the face-down card on the field was destroyed, Jonouchi's face darkened noticeably, but after comparing the attack power of the monsters on the two players' fields, he was somewhat relieved.

Magician Destroyer has only 1600 attack power without counters, while his Rocket Soldier has a whopping 2100. The last sheep token on the field can also help him withstand one attack, and he also has a full 4000 LP. Even if Blue-Eyes White Dragon comes, it can't do anything to him.

Furthermore, one of the equipment cards he equipped for the rocket soldiers had a remarkable effect.

He wins if his next card is a Normal Summonable monster with an attack power of 600 or more!

"My turn, draw a card!"

Upon taking out the card he had drawn, Jonouchi's face immediately fell.

He's usually lucky, especially when it comes to gambling, but today he doesn't seem to be blessed with good fortune.

"I usually summon Earth Swordsmen."

[Earth Star Swordsman] ATK: 500

Jonouchi was currently missing his leopard warrior, which had been excluded and kept in his pocket, so he didn't notice that Leyou's hand had just been removed from a face-down card.

"But it doesn't matter, it's just a matter of one round sooner or later."

"If it really comes to an extra turn, I can still summon my ace monster, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and use it to win. Wouldn't that better demonstrate my skill level?"

His mind was filled with random thoughts until the conversations of onlookers snapped him out of his reverie. Only then did Jonouchi realize that the duel was not over yet.

"Enter battle phase! Rocket Soldiers, attack Magic Warrior Destroyer!"

The fully armed rocket soldiers obeyed the order, and just as the attack was about to land, Jonouchi began a time-stop commentary: "I activate another effect of the Metallization Magic Reflection Armor!"

"Using this card's effect, the ATK of a monster equipped to this card increases by half the ATK of the monster being attacked when damage is calculated. Magical Warrior Destroyer's ATK is 1600, so Rocket Soldier's ATK increases to 2900!"

When the time-stopping explanation was finished, the passersby all looked at him with admiration. So strong, so incredibly strong! He was only a hundred points away from being on par with the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon!

The rocket soldier slashed down with his sword, and the magic warrior was clearly no match for him. The aftershocks of the battle hit Leyou, causing considerable damage to his LP.

[Leyou LP: 1900 → 600]

"And then there's the Earth Swordsman! What a pity."

[Leyou LP: 1900 → 100]

It wasn't just Jonouchi who felt sorry; the other viewers felt sorry too. However, in addition to their regret, they also hoped to see an alternative ending.

However, Leyou had no time to deal with these things for the time being, because the system suddenly popped up again.

[Unlock Achievement: A Candle in the Wind? No, that's far from enough!]

[Some content has been unlocked; please use it yourself.]

I just wanted to play around, but I didn't expect to unlock an achievement, which was a pleasant surprise for Leyou.

"We can talk about these things later. Let's finish this game first!"

"Jonouchi-kun, how did you feel about this duel?" Leyou suddenly asked.

"Experience? What experience? I feel... it's alright?" Jonouchi replied, somewhat confused.

"Let me put it another way: how much of your strength do you think you exerted in this duel?"

"Of course..."

Jonouchi wanted to say that he gave it his all in every duel, but looking at the three cards stuck in his hand, he couldn't bring himself to say it.

Since returning from Duel Kingdom, I've basically never had a bad hand, but today's hand situation is really serious.

"Sometimes, the scales of victory have already tipped before the duel even begins. Some people can use their strength to put the scales back on, but others cannot do so so easily."

This statement was directed at both Jonouchi and Jaden Yuki, because both of their decks were truly a chaotic mess.

Jonouchi is a pure card deck. Let's not even talk about Jaden. His main deck system has always been the Fantastic Four. He starts with N cards for one, and then at the crucial moment, he prints a counter card that no normal person would ever use to turn the tide. Watching him makes Leyou's brain hemorrhage.

"What you're saying is hard to understand, but then again, this duel isn't over yet." Jonouchi looked bewildered; all he wanted was to qualify for the competition and then go see his sister.

"No, it's over." Leyou silently took over the turn from Jonouchi and drew the last card to be drawn in this duel.

"Even if you have a powerful monster with 2100 ATK on the field, your 4000 LP is still like a candle flickering in the wind to me."

"Judai, you are a genius, so there's not much I can teach you. So, remember the key points below, including what I just said!"

He turned around and gave instructions to Yuki Judai, and then Rakuyu was ready.

"If possible, Jonouchi, if you want to go further in the future, you should also experience it all!"

"First up is the long-awaited Trap Card, Weasel Rumble! It can only be activated if the total ATK of the face-up monsters your opponent controls is higher than your Life Points. Until the total ATK of the face-up monsters your opponent controls becomes less than or equal to your Life Points, your opponent must return the face-up monsters they control to their owners' Deck."

"My LP is only 100, so no matter how big your board was before, it's all for naught if you can't stop this trap card from activating! Many times, there's more than one way to solve a problem. Find hope in despair, Jaden Yuki, remember that!"

The Rocket Soldier with 2100 attack power was forced back into the deck, leaving behind a lone Sheep token with 0 attack and 0 defense.

"The second female warrior who usually summons from another dimension."

"Then I activated the Quick-Play Spell Card in my hand, Kuriboh's Calling Flute, and Special Summoned a Winged Kuriboh from my Deck."

"I activate Monster Resurrection, Special Summoning Resurrected Kuriboh from my Graveyard!"