"Because the Counter Trap was activated, the effect of Meltiel, Sage of the Sky triggers. Let me see…"
Kira snapped his fingers casually.
"Since the Psychic Nightmare just looked at my hand and gained an ATK boost, I'll deal with the 'Psychic Nightmare' first."
The moment his words fell, Meltiel, Sage of the Sky shot out as a beam of light.
The golden lance pierced straight through the Psychic Nightmare's chest. Countless green electric serpents exploded outward from the demon's body. With a miserable shriek, the devil burst apart and shattered into pieces.
"The Psychic Nightmare has been destroyed once again!" the airplane-haired commentator announced. "A combination of Counter Traps and Fairy monsters—Kira has really brought out an incredible lineup today!
An endless stream of Counter Traps keeps negating the opponent's every action. Activating those counters themselves generates even more resources and more Counter Traps. Now, the very act of activating a counter can even destroy the opponent's cards!
By the time the Psychic Team realized what was happening, they had already fallen completely into the A Duel Should Be Fun Team's trap. With the formation already complete, the more they struggle, the deeper they sink! Can the Psychic Team reverse the situation and break the formation with just their remaining two members!?"
The commentator's tone had completely flipped. In his mouth, Kira had gone from the challenger fighting three-on-one at the start to the one now being challenged. At first, he had thought Kira would be at an absolute disadvantage due to the team format and numbers. But now, although the opponents still had two people left, the disadvantage had clearly shifted to their side.
Black: "I set one card. Turn end."
Frustrated, stifled, and burning with anger—but there really wasn't anything he could do.
Counter Traps were the noblest three-speed effects that could neither be chained to nor countered. In Kira's current deck, the value of counters had undoubtedly been maximized. There was simply nothing Black could do.
"My turn, draw."
Kira slowly drew a card from his hand.
"Then, the card you saw last turn—I'll use it right now. I activate the Spell Card 'Card Destruction'. Both players discard their entire hands, then draw the same number of cards from their Deck that they discarded."
Black silently discarded his hand and drew cards.
"At this moment, I activate my set card!" Kira swept his hand out, and another counter opened. "Counter Trap 'Drastic Drop Off'! It can be activated when the opponent adds a card from their Deck to their hand. The opponent discards one of the cards added to their hand!"
Black froze.
Adding a card from the Deck to the hand…
That's right.
This guy had just activated "Card Destruction." After both sides discarded their hands, they had to draw from the Deck, which naturally satisfied the condition of "adding a card to the hand."
But Drastic Drop Off made the opponent discard one of the cards that had been added to their hand—whether through searching the Deck or drawing. If multiple cards were drawn, the opponent could choose one to discard; they didn't have to discard all of them.
All this trouble just to strip away one card from his hand?
No!
Black's pupils contracted. In an instant, he realized the real problem.
"Because a Counter Trap was activated, the effect of Bountiful Artemis activates—I draw one card from my Deck," Kira said with a smile. "And the effect of Meltiel, Sage of the Sky—I gain 1000 Life Points."
[Kira, LP 5000 → LP 6000]
"Furthermore, while The Sanctuary in the Sky is on the field, Meltiel can additionally destroy one card on the field." Kira pointed at Black's only remaining Level 9 boss monster. "Destroy 'Hyper Psychic Blaster'!"
Having absorbed the power of the Counter Trap, Meltiel fired its beam once more.
The domineering light energy blasted through Hyper Psychic Blaster's chest.
The gunman's silver-white armor exploded from within, and the rapidly expanding fireball swallowed its entire body, burning it to ash.
Black's expression turned extremely ugly.
His front field was now completely empty. He had lost his final line of defense.
Such a fierce assault—and in just one turn, Kira had Synchro Summoned such powerful double Synchro monsters. Yet they had proven so fragile…
Since joining the team tournament, this seemed to be the first time in his life that Black felt so utterly powerless.
No matter what he did, it felt meaningless. He couldn't summon monsters, and his Spells and Traps couldn't resolve.
The opponent just kept countering, destroying cards, countering again, destroying again…
He couldn't even play a single card.
Such a massive gap in strength could not be bridged by any numerical advantage.
Black muttered bitterly to himself, "Just what kind of monster are you…?"
"Normal Summon 'Minerva, Scholar of the Sky'."
Another holy angel was Summoned to Kira's field. This one wore a loose white dress and a large rounded hat.
The staff in her hand was embedded with a green gemstone, and a pair of white angel wings extended from either side of the gem.
[Minerva, Scholar of the Sky, ATK 1700]
"I set one more card to my backrow."
As before, Kira set a card before entering the Battle Phase. After attacking, he might not get another chance to set.
"Battle." Kira smiled. "It was a short acquaintance, but it was still quite enjoyable. See you next time, Captain Black."
With a wave of his hand, he declared:
"Go forth. 'Van'Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord' and 'Minerva, Scholar of the Sky', direct attack!"
A double direct attack barrage.
The Dark Dragon Lord and the angel both crossed Black's empty field and bombarded his moving Duel Runner in succession.
Light and darkness intertwined.
The continuous explosions nearly flipped the Duel Runner over. Black let out a miserable cry as a large burst of steam erupted from the front of his Duel Runner. It was forcibly slowed down and quickly left far behind by Kira.
"Utterly unexpected! Who could have predicted such a development!" the airplane-haired commentator shouted. "Fujiki Kira has truly defeated two opponents in a row! He has consecutively taken down the first two runners of the Psychic Team, and he himself remains completely unscathed!
No, saying 'unscathed' isn't entirely accurate. Not only did the Psychic Team's first two runners fail to deal any damage to his Life Points, but Fujiki Kira's LP has even reached 6000. Moreover, he has already set up an iron-wall formation on the field. His state is even better than when he started!
On the other hand, the Psychic Team's final runner, Victor, must now take the baton under absolutely unfavorable conditions. Can Victor turn the tide…?"
At this moment, Black had reached the team pit stop and handed over to Victor.
With an apologetic look on his face, Black said, "Sorry, I couldn't…"
Victor remained silent with a dark expression. After completing the handover, he revved his Duel Runner and charged onto the track.
What else was there to say?
It was supposed to be a three-on-one with absolute advantage. Yet his two teammates had turned it into this situation. Now he had to carry the heavy burden forward.
Still, he wasn't about to give up so easily.
Victor's Duel Runner caught up behind Kira. He gritted his teeth.
The reason he was the final runner was that sometimes he had to clean up the mess for the team.
No matter how difficult the mess was today, he would hold it together no matter what!
…