For the Moonlight Cup, however, his presence was overwhelming. The newcomer's strength was eye catching, and he had clearly prepared carefully to seize this chance to make a name for himself, but fate had placed a mountain in his path.
"Alright, the countdown has begun," Wataru Komatsu announced. "Both duelists should now be entering their final preparations. Will the rising dark horse keep charging forward, or will the legend return as king? Let us watch and find out."
Yugen stood on the stage, facing the legendary Rex Raptor as they shuffled their decks. The man before him looked different from the image he remembered from the animated duels of his past life.
Back then, Rex Raptor had seemed much smaller, part of a short and scrappy pair. Now, years after those battles, he had clearly grown taller and carried himself with more weight.
Even though Yugen had to tilt his head slightly to meet his gaze, the pressure from the other man did not weaken at all. There was a calm confidence about him, the kind that came from standing above others for a long time.
While Yugen was quietly comparing memory and reality, Rex Raptor noticed his look and smiled, striking the pose of a seasoned master. "No need to be nervous. Just duel like you normally do. Don't carry any burden, participation is what matters. Show your style."
Yugen froze for a moment before realizing that the other man probably thought he was intimidated by a legend. The line about participation sounded like he had already been written off.
He smiled and went along with it. "Thank you, but I'm fine. I just remembered watching you duel on television back when I didn't even know how to duel yet, especially during the Duel King national matches."
Rex Raptor brightened instantly, clearly pleased, and his posture straightened. "So I ended up being half of your guide into dueling, huh?"
"Yes, yes," Yugen said sincerely. "I was especially impressed by your ace, Red-Eyes Black Dragon. That red dragon of possibility left a deep mark on my young heart."
The moment those words left his mouth, Rex Raptor's expression darkened. Red-Eyes Black Dragon had once been his pride, but anyone who had watched those matches knew he lost it in his very first duel to the gambler Katsuya Jonouchi.
There was no way the kid did not know that. Bringing it up like this felt like deliberate provocation, and Rex Raptor fell silent, already imagining how he would crush this ignorant rookie once the duel began.
"Oh right, and later you went on to compete in the Duel City tournament," Yugen continued, his expression pure enough that even he almost believed it himself. "I followed that as well."
"Especially when you summoned Evil Knight Dragon there. That was amazing."
Rex Raptor's face darkened even further. That monster had also been an ace of his, and it too had fallen in his very first match, defeated by a Duelist wielding Jinzo.
This felt like a second hit straight to the face. He took a deep breath, reminding himself that composure was everything in a duel, and that trash talk before a match was sometimes part of the game.
He would prove his strength with cards, not words.
"Duel!" both of them called out.
Yugen, LP 4000. Rex Raptor, LP 4000.
The right to choose turn order was decided at random and went to Yugen. He accepted without hesitation and chose to go first.
"I'll go first. Draw."
Yugen quickly drew three cards from his deck. "I set one monster in my front row and set two cards in my back row. My turn ends."
"Author: Name Taken"
"It's my turn!"
Rex Raptor drew a card and immediately revealed it to the crowd. "Spell Card, Graceful Charity. I draw three cards from my deck, then discard two from my hand." His hand shifted, and without hesitation he pulled out two more cards.
He slapped the first one onto his Duel Disk. "I Special Summon this card, Swiftfoot Velociraptor!" A dinosaur leapt onto the field, its form sharp and fast. "Then the second one, I Special Summon Swiftfoot Velociraptor number two!"
"Oh, Rex Raptor opens with Special Summons right away!" Wataru Komatsu said to the audience. "Swiftfoot Velociraptor has the ability to Special Summon itself directly from the hand, but when it does, the opponent can choose a monster in their Graveyard and Special Summon it."
"Of course, the choice belongs to the opponent," Takeshi Sasaki added. "And since this is the very first turn, Yugen has no monsters in his Graveyard at all, so that drawback cannot be used."
In the days he had been away from the public eye, Rex Raptor had not been idle. Though people now called him a Legendary Duelist, that title mostly came from the shine of having faced names like Yugi Muto and Katsuya Jonouchi in the past. Back then he had looked down on Jonouchi, yet now he found himself living off the story of having once been beaten by him.
To climb back to the top, he refined his tactics and searched for an approach that best suited dragons and dinosaurs. In the end, he settled on an aggressive suppression style inspired by the most famous dragon tamer of the age, Seto Kaiba. Speed and pressure were the core of this plan.
"Dragons are the strongest creatures," Rex Raptor shouted. "A dragon tamer must crush the opponent with overwhelming force!" He raised his arm. "Battle. First, Swiftfoot Velociraptor attacks that face-down monster!"
The dinosaur charged forward, and Yugen's set monster flipped face up. A compact red machine appeared on the field. "Machina Peacekeeper, Defense 400."
The machine was destroyed with ease, its low defense offering little resistance. Yugen calmly sent it to the Graveyard and said, "I activate Machina Peacekeeper's effect. When this card on the field is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, I can add one Union Monster from my deck to my hand."
He drew a card and showed it to Rex Raptor. "I add the Union Monster Machina Gearframe to my hand."
"Machina?" Rex Raptor frowned slightly. This was a series Yugen had never used in earlier matches. "Saving it until the finals means everything before this wasn't even his main deck. That's a lot of confidence."
Still, he did not hesitate. "It doesn't matter," Rex Raptor said loudly. "Under the absolute power of my dinosaurs, there's no difference. Battle continues. Swiftfoot Velociraptor number two attacks directly!"
"Flip the face-down card," Yugen replied. A trap card sprang open in front of him. "Trap Card, Magic Cylinder!"
"What? Magic Cylinder?" Rex Raptor blurted out. Takeshi Sasaki's voice rose with excitement. "That's Magic Cylinder, a signature trap once used in Duel King Yugi Muto's deck. It negates the attack and deals damage equal to the attacking monster's attack points!"
The reflected blast hit Rex Raptor head-on, forcing him to stagger back a step. He clicked his tongue, clearly annoyed but still composed. His Life Points dropped from 4000 to 2600.
"The first damage of the finals goes to Yugen Fujiki!" Wataru Komatsu announced. "No one expected Rex Raptor to take such a heavy hit on turn one. It looks like even Rex Raptor has to get serious now."