Duels should be played with a smile.

Then, Leyou saw the sphere float forward two steps and walk into the second monster area on its side.

Classic Special Summon: Myself.

But what happened next was beyond Leyou's expectations.

"I know I'm handsome, but don't use my image! It makes me feel really uncomfortable!"

The sphere, as a derivative of the hero, stood on the monster grid, then transformed into Leyou's appearance, even wearing a high-tech suit of armor that seemed completely out of place with the word "hero"—the same suit Leyou had previously acquired in the virtual world.

"What kind of hero are you from some future world?!"

"It comes from your heart!"

Watching the guy opposite him use his own appearance and the tone he loved to use to annoy others to annoy him, Leyou admitted that he was indeed disgusted again.

"That's enough! Don't make me sick! If you want to play cards, get on with it, stop dawdling!"

It's hard not to sweat soybeans.

"Alright, let's continue with the follow-up effects. When there is no [Path of Destiny] on the field, I can choose one Path of Destiny from the deck and place it face-up in the Spell & Trap Zone."

"Then, usually the three-eyed monster is summoned."

The Three-Eyed Monster, the workaholic searcher, makes Leyou want to start singing now—or just activate his Stand, Crimson King, to cut out the time spent on storytelling and fast-forward to the end.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a stand-in.

"For the Traveler's Journey effect, I've added [Riding a Dragon with a Dragon] to my hand."

Because the effects of these cards are ingrained in the player's DNA, the opponent doesn't even bother explaining the effects.

The Water Strike hasn't arrived yet, but the Ritual of the Messiah is equivalent to the Water Strike. The journey is already set up, and the dragon mount has been retrieved. All that's missing is the griffin. This is the standard starting move for a complete stalemate!

"Another effect of the Journey is to retrieve a Griffin from the deck and then discard a card from your hand. I will discard Riding Dragon."

Although the dragon mount I just retrieved was discarded, anyone who has played the game knows that discarding it is the same as not discarding it at all.

"Dragon Riding Effect: When this card is sent to the Graveyard, it can be equipped to a Hero Token."

Then, the dragon that had been thrown into the graveyard jumped up on the spot, and the guy with the title of the strongest AI also jumped and rode on the dragon's back.

Now, that guy has an effect that prevents it from being destroyed by battle once per turn, and the dragon can also target and discard cards once per turn during its own turn.

"Then there's the Griffin effect, because there's a Brave token on the field, so it can be Special Summoned."

The hero is ready to embark on his destiny's journey, with the wandering griffin riders coming to his aid—this was originally a very orthodox fantasy story, but in the current situation, it only means that the opposing side's stall has already begun to take shape.

With just one card and two Special Summons, I managed to create a Spell/Trap Monster effect that counters three monsters, a Main Rank card that bounces back, and the Brave Token on the field still had 2000 ATK and DEF.

With this initial setup in place, we can proceed with confidence and boldness, and feel free to act recklessly without worrying about something like eating a meteorite halfway through a story.

The only cost is that you can't activate the effects of non-Special Summoned monsters on the field this turn—this self-restriction is practically useless.

For example, the following steps.

"Using the Three-Eyed Monster as material, Link Summon [Reincarnated Flame Beast Unicorn Rabbit]. Since the Three-Eyed Monster is sent from the field to the Graveyard, its effect is activated, searching for [Sacred Tree Knight] from the Deck."

I used a Normal Summon once per turn on Three-Eyed Monster, but Three-Eyed Monster's effect is activated in the Graveyard, so Restriction had no effect whatsoever.

In fact, skilled players would have already started the next round when they saw the Tri-Eyed Monster summoned. Unfortunately, Leyou doesn't have a surrender button now, so they can only watch the other side talk.

What could he do? He was desperate too. He didn't have a single handful of traps. Although he might still have a chance to win, it all depended on whether the next draw would be kind to him.

With the Griffin Knights on the field ensuring they wouldn't be disturbed, the opposing storyteller became more at ease, completely ignoring Leyou's reaction and indulging in the joy of storytelling—while Leyou was imprisoned.

The unfolding process, etched into their DNA, was gradually revealed by the opposing side.

Special Summon the Divine Tree, then Link Summon the Water Machine with the Divine Tree and Unicorn Rabbit. The Water Machine summons the Jet Synchron, then Link Summon 3 directly to summon Hundred-Headed Dragon. Hundred-Headed Dragon spawns 3 tokens, then Tribute itself and one token to summon Orion Leviathan from the deck...

The skillful operation made Leyou yawn.

In short, after playing "Unicorn Rabbit, Divine Tree Machine Bro Hundred-Headed Dragon, Little Cupid, Curator Lemon Super Thunder Dragon" on repeat in Leyou's mind several times, the scene on the other side was finally finished.

Oh, no, there's one last step.

"I activate the Spell Card [Fusion Fate]!"

"My luck wasn't great; I managed to get both parts working, but it's okay!"

"Final Fusion! Confirmed! Divine Sprint Human Fusion!"

"Merge! Destiny!

"The Most Beautiful Newcomer! [Destiny Hero Destroys the Phoenix]!"

Don't ask why the opponent is still using the Fusion Destiny deck even though it's already 3→0. That's how AI decks work—otherwise, so many newbies wouldn't be getting crushed by AI.

With Divinity and Rushman sent to the graveyard, the man who took over Red Daddy's position and became the new generation's go-to accessory for the "slacker" finally made his appearance. Despite being a Hero Monster, he performs even better in decks outside of the Hero deck.

"You call yourself the most beautiful freshman? If you call yourself the most beautiful freshman, then to me you're just a beast!"

Whether it's the Crouching Dragon or the Young Phoenix, when such monsters appear on the opposing team's field, it always makes people inexplicably heartbroken.

Not to mention that as soon as Leyou saw the Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chick, he thought of the three red Crouching Dragons and three white Phoenix Chicks that he hadn't been able to enjoy before the ban list was updated.

In short, F**K! KONAMI!

At this point, the player's field is filled with six monsters, two of which can perform a triple counter in one turn, and there is also a Super Thunder Dragon to seal the search. In addition, there is a replacement monster in the graveyard called "Baldness Jun". However, as long as the player does not turn into a "Baldness Jun" and instead develops normally, he can still create a field that makes people despair.

Since both fusion materials have been drawn, the player who is essentially a loser now only has one card left in their hand. This means that if they don't draw any useless materials, they can create a board with two triple kills, one repeated resurrection without targeting, and a board with search and blocking effects, all with just two cards in hand.

If the other three cards are all hand traps, then the opponent can basically just run away.

In fact, Leyou had wanted to run away a long time ago. If he hadn't seen that his opponent only had one card in hand, and if he could still save himself if he drew certain cards in his next draw, he would have just waited to die.

"My turn is over, now it's your turn to perform!"

Even though it's his own face, and he's clearly so handsome, why does that tone of voice make me want to hit him?

Am I that kind of person? Obviously not! This must be the guy's problem!

"My turn... to be honest, if I want to win, my chances are only 60 out of 40, you know what I mean?"

Instead of going directly, he placed his hand on top of the deck. With five cards already in his hand, only the six cards that most people wouldn't put in the main deck but in the side deck out of the 45 cards in the deck could turn the tide.

"One drop? Barrier Wave? Or the Illiterate Battle?" The player who was just giving up understood what Leyou meant, but immediately asked, "Although I don't know what deck you have, generally speaking, only Barrier Wave can save you, right?"

One drop requires a lot of cards to be used. Many decks are unable to move when facing 4 interference monsters with only one card in hand. To win a tie, you need to face two hard counters first, which is not very realistic. Only Barrier Wave can negate all of the opponent's monsters and has the characteristic of not being chained by the effect.

"My deck has three copies of the 'One Drop' Barrier Wave, so my chances of winning this duel are currently six out of forty."

"But before I draw the card, I have something I want to ask you: is this situation actually part of my dream?"

With his hand resting on top of the deck without moving, Leyou asked the question with a serious expression.

Undoubtedly, this is a dream, but the key question is, to whom does this dream belong?

"Of course it's your dream, who else could it be? I don't dream."

"I see. Then I'll get ready to draw cards."

"Since this is my dream... then let it follow my will!"

Upon hearing such a declaration, the lazybones was even stunned for a moment. He really didn't expect that there would be such a development.

"Draw a card!"

There were no special golden effects that guaranteed a draw or a flashy gacha pull. Although it looked impressive, Leyou was just doing a regular gacha pull.

"You scared me!" The lazybones breathed a sigh of relief and immediately threw out his last card.

"Quasi-ranked G-drop, anti-3-war, alright, I'm fine now, please begin your performance."

The lazybones had a playful smile on his face, but he didn't notice that a similar smile appeared on Leyou's face.

"You're a quasi-G level loser, right?"

"uh-huh?"

"Then let me remind you of something: your deck still has 27 cards left."

"So what? You can't just kill me, can you? I have three Ash Blossoms and one Effect Mask in my deck. Even if you draw a Barrier Wave or something, I still have a chance to stop you."

Is that really the case?

"Then I'll begin my performance."

Leyou placed the card he had just drawn into the Spell & Trap zone, no longer hiding his smile.

"Quick-Play Spell [Forbidden Drop]: I send four cards from my hand to the graveyard. I choose your Phoenix, Lemon Dragon, Super Thunder Dragon, and Griffin. They are negated until the end of the turn, and their attack power is halved."

"So what if you have a perfect hand? Can you beat me at drawing the winning hand?"

In that instant, the man's smile vanished.

Because the hand containing the cards sent to the graveyard contains monster cards, the monsters on his field cannot chain Forbidden Drop to activate their effects. He can only watch helplessly as [Fallen Angel of Paradise] raises the Forbidden Grail and drips the contaminated liquid from it onto the monsters on his field.

"But you only have one card in your hand. Even if you play one card, I can still draw a card using G's effect. If I draw Gray and Effect Cover, I can make you stop playing."

"Is that really the case? Well, you'll see."

As he spoke, Leyou played his last card.

The moment the man saw that card, the light in his eyes vanished.

That card used to be called "The Hermit of Shiranui," but after shedding its original disguise, it revealed its true name.

【Winged Demon - Mara】

Amidst the howling of the demonic wind, the demon, originally a celestial dog, manifested in human form. Although dressed as a monk, its malevolent aura was completely undisguised.

"Normal Summon Mara, activate his effect. You don't have any cards in your hand right now, so you can't destroy me."

"Bōshū's effect: Special Summon a monster other than myself from my Deck, and I Special Summon the Tuner Monster 'Dahime the Fairy'."

Holding the [Water, Sky, Sun, Heaven, Illumination, Eight Fields Town Stone], the Nine-Tailed Fox walked gracefully out of the shadows in human form, her nine tails swirling behind her, her alluring figure captivating all who beheld her.

"Alright, you can draw your cards now. Now, tell me, if you don't have Yashiki-warashi in your deck, can you stop me?"

"Can you stop me from draining your deck?"

"Don't forget, you still have a Curator standing on your field who has to draw a card every time you do a Synchro Summon!"

[Number of cards remaining in the "playing dumb" deck: 27 → 26]

The player who was just giving up saw the card he had drawn, which was a Grey Flowing Beauty.

The lazybones was smug; the lazybones seemed to sense something; the lazybones was uneasy; the lazybones was terrified; the lazybones' face turned ashen; the lazybones... could no longer keep going.