Chapter 2: 2nd Pack: Deck Building

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Trading Game

2nd Pack

Deck Building

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After the duel with Haru a bunch of stuff happened in the span of a month. Well, saying a bunch of stuff happened is an understatement now that she’s thinking about it.

First off was that a lot, and by that she meant A LOT, of people, mostly children mind you, tried to duel her.

That and a whole lot of Academia students too. Who at first just wanted to play with her seeing as she was the so called ‘strongest duelist on the orphanage’ and ‘so called genius’, titles that she had not even known she had.

At first she had just wanted to throw the match to not bother at all, but then realized that she would lose ALL of the DP that she had farmed on Free Duels and then promptly beat most of them, not just some of them, ALL OF THEM! The system kind of sucks in that regard! . She said most of them, because when their so-called boss of their group came up, and while she did want to try and beat him to get that sweet sweet DP, she decided to lower her profile since she already had spent all her DP so she let herself lose.

Well, that wasn’t saying that he wasn’t bad, just mediocre in her opinion. Though if that was what a Ra Yellow can manage, then it might not even be a pipe dream for her to take over and overthrow the whole island.

She already wasted most of her DP on some good stuff anyway. And which mean some useful stuff like the infamous Book of Moon, which had the unlock requirement of flipping a monster card twenty five times, Floodgate Traphole, which was harder because she had to destroy fifty set monsters for that one, and mostly some other control cards that she cram in any deck and call it a control strategy.

Hey, as long as it works.

But the others, she trounced them, no question asked of course, being the better duelist and her opponents somewhat frequent misplays due to them being, well, kids. And as for the teenagers who are more in tune with their deck, she won with the luck of the draw and knowledge of the choke point of Ancient Gears deck.

Case in point, Hunting Hound. Being their only target to actually fuse into Double Ancient Gear Hunting Hound, as it needs two specific copies of them, is a huge choke point as the Academia mandated deck did not, in fact, provide other measures to actually fuse the damn card!

And not like the card is actually good anyway. Its effect are mid if anything, it provides removal during battle against monsters that was summoned when it was on the field by placing gear counters on them, but none other cards in the archetype actually uses them, in fact as a veteran player of the card game in her previous life, she didn’t even know that there was a gear counter!

And it’s not like removing it from the field is hard or anything, it has 1400 attack points for a fusion summon monster that requires two specific materials! She would rather summon Ancient Gear Howitzer which was leagues better! And to quote a certain person, it doesn’t even float! Nor does it have protection! And it’s counter generating effect was a hard once per turn! Who would use that when you have Reactor Dragon, or big G forbid, Gadjiltron Chimera. 

Seeing that card being unironically being played in a deck that runs gadgets brings back memories of a truly older format. Days where traps like Forced Back was a game ender and tempoing your opponent with Raiza Icarus Attack was actually meta.

Ah, the good old days. Where she doesn’t have to fight though a board of ten negates with Forbidden Droplets or Evenly Matched or Lightning Storm.

And she can even buy those cards with the shop that the system big G gave her! Albeit they cost a whopping 100000DP for each. Costy, but considering the go second options that this world has, those prices aren’t half bad, though she doesn’t know what the unlock conditions are.

But as she sat on her bed, stroking the sleeping Mei’s hair who had fallen asleep on her lap as she gushed about her own accomplishments of defeating Haru and his goonies in duel, she thought that it was about time to ditch her Ancient Gear deck.

Because as it turns out, Mei was indeed a competent duelist. Why wouldn’t she really, after receiving what was basically her tutoring.

She likes gadgets, she really does, it was a good deck for the period where it came out and she also had fun playing it. And the addition of the gadgets on the Academia mandated deck wasn’t that bad if she was being honest considering the machine oriented deck, if they at least gave out Limiter Removal, then it would have been a great free deck.

Academia wasn’t half bad if this was how they treated orphans.

She did know about how they were going to basically invade a whole dimension and basically murder people by turning them into cards, but she’ll get there when she gets there, and there wasn’t really much she can do being a kid and all. 

To be fair they aren’t killing anyone as far as she knew. Just simply turning them into cards and probably imprisoning them all in a card case or something.

But they definitely did kill people from the clips that she had seen. That and dealing a heck ton of property damage on the XYZ Dimension to the point where it’s basically inhabitable, and by proxy also probably killing a bunch of people from the debris of mass destruction and starving the survivors to death because they won’t get enough food and water because their source would be destroyed.

So yeah, probably going to kill a bunch of people, but she didn’t really care if she was being honest.

Maybe she can sabotage a thing or two while she’s here, she’ll look into that later.

But back to the matter that she had been postponing for the last month. The starter decks that she had been given by the system are basically way, WAY, better than the Academia mandated deck.

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Structure Deck: HERO Rising

A deck that contains Elemental HERO monsters and their support cards. Contains an Elemental HERO Neos gracious amount of extra deck fusion options including Masked HEROes. Choosing this Structure Deck will grant you the perk “Favourite HERO!”

Favourite HERO!: (If your Ace Monster is an Elemental HERO) Allows you to start the duel with two Elemental HERO monsters and Polymerization in your starting hand.

Structure Deck: Armed Dragons

A deck that contains Armed Dragon monsters and their support cards. Contains the card Armed Dragon Thunder and their evolutions along with an extra deck of XYZ that is used as support along with the ritual monster Knight of Armor Dragon. Choosing this Structure Deck will grant you the perk “Level Modding”

Level Modding: (If your Ace Monster is Armed Dragon Thunder LV10) Allows you to start the duel with Armed Dragon Thunder LV3 in your hand, along with one of its evolved forms of your choosing.

Structure Deck: Monarchs Awakens

A deck that contains Monarchs monsters and their support cards. Contains the card Erebus the Underworld Monarch and Ehther the Heavenly Monarch along with the other monarchs and no extra deck options. Choosing this Structure Deck will grant you the perk “True Monarch”

True Monarch: (If your Ace Monster is a Level 8 monster with 2800 attack and 1000 defence) Allows you to start the duel with a random Monarch and a vassals/squire alongside one Monarch Spell and trap card.

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Well, she has to pick her Ace Monster first, something that she never thought she would ever do if she was being completely honest. She would usually be spamming boss monsters that makes negates on the field regardless of their archetypes after all.

That was… not what she had expected when the system that had more or less been silent for eight years only to suddenly be active. It felt wrong for her if she was being honest, seeing the perks that she could gain made her feel quite unnerved at actually wanting to pick any of the decks.

Then she remembered that she was in a world where dueling spirits bullshit happens every Tuesday, a dimensional invasion will happen in a few more years, and if she wasn’t wrong, a big dragon dude named Zarc or something tries to destroy the four dimensions.

She only knows the Supreme Kings because of Darkwurm and Gate Zero, otherwise known as donut, being a staple in pendulum decks that focuses on dragons, and Supreme King Dragon Starving Venom being banned alongside the Tyrant Neptune for the warcimes of small bird girl being an OTK enabler.

Not that Independent Nightingale is used in Lyrilusc decks anyway, their new XYZ is already competent enough with the rank one engine that the deck provides and the general winged beast support that Lord Kazuki Takahashi kept making Konami print.

Sure big G is an almighty being, basically being God and all. But this is Lord Kazuki Takahashi she’s talking about.

Anyway, the moment that she saw those decks, she knew that her choice had been filtered to two.

She loved Elemental HERO, being one of the main character’s deck and all, she really does. But after reading the list of cards that the deck actually contains and seeing that they didn’t have three copies of Stratos, running normal monsters and not to mention not having the Vision HERO engine, she opted that deck out.

Sure it has Sunriser and Darklaw, but the format that she sees people play is mostly big bungus hit hard here and most of them rely on battle traps which the only out HERO has was R - Righteous Justice.

I don’t want to play R-Righteous Justice, MST is a way better tech option thank you, and that card only costs 1000DP too! Twin Twister costs 1500DP too, and that destroys two backrow and can set up the graveyard!

Armed Dragons however was something that she considered playing.

They weren’t the strongest, heck they weren’t exactly rogue decks that can counter specific meta decks at her time. But the format that she saw people play wasn't exactly meta if she was being honest.

Armed Dragon LV10 can’t be stolen nor can it be destroyed by battle, not to mention easy to summon, and if she used Armed Dragon Lightning, Pile Armed Dragon, or even Armed Dragon Thunderbolt, it’s attack can go to 4000 and surpass it.

Having the ritual monster Knight of Armor Dragon was… weird if anything. But then she opened her shop option and saw that Pre-Preparation of Rites can be bought separately for 15000 DP which means that Knight of Armor Dragon and the subsequent ritual card can be easily searched if she put her mind into it.

Though said card was still locked, and she doesn't know what the unlocking conditions were so she would like to opt that card out of her deck probably.

The extra deck of XYZ monsters were definitely uncalled for, but no one expects you to take Armed Dragon Thunder LV10 and Armed Dragon LV10 - White and go into Gustav Max or Dora. Though actually summoning them would be unadvised, since this was the Fusion Dimension and all. Heck there’s even a copy of the original Armed Dragon LV10, which was an easy field nuke.

Not to mention the hand perk that it would give was basically cheating, it would be a pretty fun deck to play all things considered, especially in a format where everyone uses fusion monsters.

And if she picked this deck, she could be one step closer to the legendary Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon! Think of the possibilities!

It would have been interesting to play, if not for the notification that she received.

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Warning

As you are currently in the Fusion Dimension, and no gates to another dimension are opened, you cannot special summon monsters from the extra deck other than fusion monsters.

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That certainly put a damper in her plans from playing Armed Dragon Thunder LV10 XYZ, which was a good strategy for main phase two really considering that she was in a 4000LP format, Gustav Max would be quite broken to finish games on main phase two.

But then she remembered that she was in it to win it and not to just flex on her opponent, and picked Monarchs.

Monarchs are great, amazing even. It doesn’t have three Stormforth and only has a single copy of Domain, but it still made her choose it over the others. Not to mention always having a starting hand like that in a format where people rely on the extra deck she’ll be unstoppable!

And sadly, it doesn’t have three Pantheism. But! She saw that the unlock condition for it in the shop was to use Monarchs spell and traps 100 times, quite a high number, but if she farmed enough then she can definitely unlock it.

Heck, maybe she can even unlock There Can Be Only One! Since it’s requirements were to win with monsters with different types than the one already on her field multiple times, and with Monarchs whose monster typing is diverse, she can do that too!

And then she’ll be able to play full powered Monarchs! A deck that would be extremely strong in this extra deck focused format. After she gets more copies of Stormforth and Domain of course, both of which are cards that unlock conditions on the shop requires a bunch of tribute summoning.

And best of all, actually being able to play Monarchs consistently without bricking! Think of the possibilities! Such a thing was basically impossible in her old world!

If possible she would still want to add some cards to just boost up the deck’s consistency. Cards like Uncamoflight or Proof of Pruflas would suit it perfectly, heck maybe she’ll even run Treeborn Frog since that was cheaper than the two aforementioned cards. An addition of One For One would be a must, just like adding floodgates like Majesty's Fiend and Vanity’s Fiend.

If possible she only wants to run Eidos and Edea as a starter instead of having to run the other vassals, but seeing as she doesn’t have any other options she’ll just have to run Monarchs as pure as they are for now.

Well, not like she was going to duel right away, she couldn’t exactly explain where she got her cards and all. She was still an eight year old who just so recently sold all cards in her possession, most of her pocket DP comes from beating challengers that came to duel her and helping sister Claire whenever she could, and those aren’t really enough to suddenly come out with a whole full blown new deck.

She’ll just test it out at Free Duel later.

Fiddling with the blue screen that only her eyes can see, Yuuna set her Ace Monster to be Erebus the Underworld Monarch, because he’s the one that is the most useful at starting and at dealing with some established boards, what with being able to do a non targeting shuffle from the opponent's hand, field, or graveyard and all.

With that done, she closed her eyes and drifted sleeping in a sitting position with Mei at her lap, something that has become quite the routine nowadays.

-

When she opened her eyes, what she saw was not the familiar wooden ceiling of the orphanage, nor was it the face of Mei trying to jostle her awake, but instead to see a floating circular gear-like red gate within what was seeming the middle of a park.

As usual, she looked around the arena, checking to see if there were any walking wallets- she meant, random spawning duelists around the Free Duel space that big G had prepared for her to farm DP and sometimes, if she’s lucky that is, get some free cards. Soon enough she saw a test target for her Monarch deck and approached.

As soon as she came close enough, her target, a projection of an androgynous teenager with a red hat and coat, raised and armed their duel disk and so did she.

““DUEL!””

Red Hat: 4000LP

Yuuna: 4000LP

With a flip of a coin, and her calling tails, because tails never fails. But seeing that it landed on head, she clicked her tongue and let the red hat decide what turn they would go for. 

Red hat wordlessly declared that she would go second and went with their turn. They placed a card on the duel disk and a young maiden with blue eyes and long silver hair in an ornate tan  tribal dress with a dragon markings appeared on the field with open arms. It’s Kisara, definitely Kisara, no matter what anyone says it's just Kisara.

Maiden with Eyes of Blue - Light/Spellcaster/Level 1/Tuner/Effect: 0/0

Ooh, crap it’s blue eyes. It’s blue eyes and she doesn’t have non-targeting removal option. Which meant that she had to contend with a Blue Eyes. as she checked her cards on hand once more, she was reminded that she does in fact, have non targeting removal. 

And she might even have lethal if she played her cards right.

A face down set card then appeared behind the maiden, and the turn passed to her. “My turn, I’ll draw.” looking at her cards once more, she smiled as she can perform an OTK. 4000LP format was a blessing and a curse, monarchs are great and all since they lock out the extra deck, but if she gets something like Trickstars then she would become a menace.

“I’ll discard one card from my hand, and special summon Berlineth the Firestorm Vassal in defence position!” an armored being with their blue cape and side skirt stood ahead of her, spirals of fire twisting  in their hands showing their capabilities as the vassal to the fire attribute monarch.

Berlinenth the Firestorm Vassal - Fire/Pyro/Level 3/Effect: 800/1000

“Next I’ll activate Domain of the True Monarchs and the Monarchs Stormforth! One being a field spell while the others allows me to tribute your monster for a tribute summon. However, I cannot special summon monsters from the extra deck for the rest of the turn.” The scenery of the park then changed as black pillars rose from the ground below and light fog surrounded them.

“I’ll activate the effect of Domain of the True Monarch! Reducing the level of a monster with 2800 attack and 1000 defence by two for the rest of the turn! I’ll reduce the level of Erebus the Underworld Monarch from 8 to 6 allowing me to tribute summon it with one less tribute! Of course, I’ll tribute your Maiden with Eyes of Blue!”

From the sky a reverse tornado swallowed up the only maiden from the Red Hat’s side of the field and dissipated on her side of the field as it hit the ground. Not a moment later, the ground shook and an enormous black throne rose from beneath them, along with a bored looking absolutely massive black demonic armored giant. The monster glanced towards her opponent, his red eyes glowing with an otherworldly terror, and he then boredly leaned onto his armored demonic looking left hand.

Erebus the Underworld Monarch - Dark/Zombie/Level 8/Effect: 2800/1000

“I’ll activate the effect of Erebus!” she declared to her silent opponent. “If it’s tribute summoned, I can send two ‘Monarch’ spell or trap from my hand or deck, and then I can shuffle one card from your hand, grave, or field!”

She then took and showed two cards from her deck to her opponents. “I’ll send Pantheism of the Monarchs and The Prime Monarch to the graveyard, and I’ll spin your only card on the field back to the deck!”

With his red eyes glowing ominously, Erebus lazily raised his right arm and pointed towards Red Hat’s one and only card on the field. Darkness then gushed from the underworld below as it attempted to consume the card and return it to where it once came.

But before the card could be returned to the deck, Red Hat decided to activate it instead.

The card was a spell, a quick-play spell, depicting an image of the white dragon which was an iconic image of the card game. Knowing that her opponent was not able to converse with her, she looked at her duel disk’ screen to see what the card’s effect was.

“Rage with Eyes of Blue. Banish this card and as many cards as possible from your hand, field, and graveyard face-down, and if you do, special summon up to 3 copies of Blue-Eyes White Dragon from your deck. You cannot normally or special summon monsters the turn you activate this card except Blue-Eyes White Dragon… then that means-”

As soon as she finished reading the card’s effect, white and blue strikes of lightning fell from the heavens, thundering onto the Red Hat’s field. With a loud echoing roar that sends shivers down her spines,  three majestic white dragons descended from the heavens and glared at her and her monsters.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon - Light/Dragon/Level 8/Normal: 3000/2500

Welp, there goes her chances of OTK-ing her opponent. Can’t really walk through three 3000 attack monsters.

And it’s Blue-Eyes too! Hopefully the next card they draw is a brick that can signify the deck's name of being Brick-Eyes, a moniker that is incredibly true as far as her knowledge of the deck goes.

Alright, that’s quite a strong card with a heavy cost, she noted her opponent having no more cards in their hand, being banished face-down. She can out a single one with her Erebus since she had Domain, but for the others… She clicked her tongue and continued with her turn, thinking of a way for her to proceed from this position. “I’ll activate the effect of Pantheism of the Monarchs in my graveyard!”

Once again, she took and showed three cards from her, this time however all three cards were the same. “It allows me to show three ‘Monarch’ spell or trap cards from my deck and let you choose one to add to my hand, though with all three cards being copies, I’ll just add a copy of Tenacity of the Monarchs to my hand.” she declared as she added the card to her hand, only to immediately use said card on her duel disk.

“Now, I’ll activate Tenacity of the Monarchs! Allowing me to reveal a monster with 2400 or 2800 attack and 1000 points of defence and add one ‘Monarch’ spell or trap from my deck!” She then showed her opponent the only other card in her hand, “I’ll reveal Ehther the Heavenly Monarch, and add my other copy of The Prime Monarch.”

Hopefully she can finish this game without taking damage, which is something that she once since winning without taking damage does increase the DP that she receives.

“Battle! I’ll attack one of your Blue-Eyes with Erebus!” she declared.

Once more, Erebus’ red eyes glowed ominously as he lifted his right arm once more and dark malevolent energy rose from the ground and towards one of the three white dragons. Said target began to trash around, freeing itself from the dark ominous energy let out by the underworld monarch and prepared it’s own counter attack as it opened it’s maw to launch an attack.

“In this moment, the effect of Domain activates! Increasing the attack of a tribute summoned monster while it battles an opponent's monster by 800 points during the damage step!” the pillars around them glowed ever so slightly, and Erebus’ eyes glowed menacingly.

Erebus the Underworld Monarch - Dark/Zombie/Level 8/Effect: 3600/1000

The darkness of the underworld enveloped the white dragon, and fully consumed it and ending in an explosion as it was fully swallowed into the underworld.

Red Hat: 3400LP

“I’ll set one card, and end my turn.”

The turn controller changed to her opponent, and they drew their card for the turn. But before they could continue towards the battle phase, she interrupted their turn. “I’ll activate the effect of Ehther the Heavenly Monarch! I can banish one ‘Monarch’ spell or trap from the graveyard to allow me to tribute summon it! I’ll remove the trap card, The Monarchs Awaken and tribute summon Ehther by tributing Erebus, since it can be tribute summoned by tributing one tribute summoned monster!”

She’s glad that she sent that one trap with Berlinenth, not like that card is that useful against Blue-Eyes anyway.

A dark fissure appeared on the ground beneath Erebus’ throne, swallowing it and him whole, returning him to the underworld below. And in its place, a beacon of light shone from the heavens where Erebus’ throne once was, and in contrast to the dark color palleted Erebus, the figure and the throne that she sat upon was pristine white and outlined majestic gold, along with pure white cloths surrounding her silver armor as she hold her golden staff in her left hand.

Ehther the Heavenly Monarch - Light/Fairy/Level 8/Effect: 2800/1000

“Now Ehther’s effect! When she’s tribute summoned, I can send two ‘Monarch’ spell or trap from my hand or deck to the graveyard, then I can special summon a monster with 2400 or more attack and 1000 defence!” Once more she showed two Monarch spell cards from her deck to her opponent and sent them to the graveyard.

“I’ll send Return of the Monarchs and March of the Monarchs, to special summon Kuraz the Light Monarch from my deck!” She doesn’t like Kuraz since he can miss timing, but since she doesn’t have Seleglare it’s an adequate replacement. Not that she can use Seleglare’s effect in this situation anyway.

With a wave of Ehther’s golden staff, another beam of light came down from the heavens, and along with it descended a gigantic figure garbed in sparkling golden armor and cape, with his arms spread out. Golden sparkles surrounded his armor as he descended next to Ehther, whose size was still way larger than him.

Kuraz the Light Monarch - Light/Warrior/Level 6/Effect: 2400/1000

“Kuraz’s effect! When it’s special summoned I get to target two cards on the field and destroy them! Though the controller of those cards gets to draw equal to the number of cards destroyed… but ah whatever! I’ll destroy both of your Blue-Eyes!” from his light blue gloves, light began to emanate from Kuraz’s hands and he raised his arms and pointed them towards the two remaining dragons on Red Hat’s field. In a flash of light, the two dragons were annihilated and allowing Red Hat to draw two cards.

“I’ll activate the trap, The Prime Monarch! Allowing me to shuffle two Monarch spell or trap from my graveyard to my deck, and then draw a card! I’ll shuffle Stormforth and Tenacity and draw a card.” with three cards at hand and no cards on the field, Red Hat continued his turn.

The first card that he played was a spell card that she was familiar with, Bingo Machine, Go!!! And yes it really does have three exclamation marks in its name, thus basically being far more superior than the Mecha Phantom Beast card Scramble!! Scramble!!

The card allows Red Hat to reveal three cards from their deck that specifically list Blue-Eyes monster or spell and traps that list Blue-Eyes White Dragon or Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon in its effect, but with the namesake monsters in the graveyard, then Red Hat could only possibly search for a spell or trap.

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The card that Red Hat showed was… three of the same card which means that they’re basically adding it to their hand. And it’s Beacon of White, that might be a problem.

As expected, Red Hat activated Beacon of White, a card that can only be activated when there’s no Beans of White on their field and there’s three or more Blue-Eyes White Dragon in the graveyard. Red Hat then summs one of them and equipping it with said card, and with two more Blue-Eyes in the graveyard, the equipped one can attack twice.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon - Light/Dragon/Level 8/Normal: 3000/2500

Not only that, but Red Hat then proceeded to normal summon a monster. A certain spellcaster with a name that she thought was incredibly funny back in the day and was a card that you would rarely see in Blue-Eyes decks, but it seems that Red Hat’s variant ran it.

Lord of D. - Dark/Spellcaster/Level 4/Effect: 1200/1000

The skull wearing spellcaster brandished his dark blue robe, and with him on the field, no dragon monster on the field can be targeted with card effects.

And with that done, Red Hat then proceeded to worlessly decimate her field with the legendary dragon. Destroying her Ehther and Berlinenth, neglecting to attack Kuraz because it would return to her hand in the end phase.

She winced as the two blasts of destruction let out by the legendary white dragon destroyed her monsters and basically emptied her field as Kuraz returned to her hand.

Yuuna: 3800LP

When she thought it was all over, Red Hat then decided to flex on her at main phase two as they activated the spell card, Dragon Revival Rhapsody, allowing them to special summon two dragon monsters from their graveyard including a normal monster. Though she already knows what they’re going to summon.

With a threatening roar, the three legendary white dragons returned onto the field once more. Though thankfully Red Hat doesn’t go into his extra deck and summons something like Titanic Galaxy, which was something that she was extremely glad for.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon - Light/Dragon/Level 8/Normal: 3000/2500

She couldn’t help but gulp as the turn controller passed to her as she faced three of the legendary dragons.

“I’ll draw! I’ll activate the effect of Erebus from my graveyard! I can discard a ‘Monarch’ spell or trap to add from my graveyard one monster with 2400 or more attack and 1000 defence, I’ll discard Strike of the Monarchs and return Erebus to my hand!” It took her a second to decide what move she should do next.

“I’ll activate The Prime Monarch! Shuffling back Strike and Return to draw a card!” She took a deep breath and drew a card. She scanned the cards on her hand to devise a strategy. She now has five cards on hand, Erebus, Kuraz, Double Summon, Edea, and Erupt.

Well then, she doesn’t know if she can finish it this turn but she can surely clear the board with this. 

“I’ll summon Edea the Heavenly Squire!” She placed the card on her duel disk, and a silver armored with gold outlined individual descended from the heavens, floating down gracefully to her side.

Edea the Heavenly Squire - Light/Warrior/Level 1/Effect: 800/1000

“Edea’s effect! When she’s normal or special summoned, I can special summon a monster with 800 attack and 1000 defence in defence position, but I can’t special summon from the extra deck for the rest of the turn. I’ll summon Eidos the Underworld Squire!”

In contrast to Edea who descended from the heavens, Eidos clawed his way up from the ground below and stood next to Edea.

Eidos the Underworld Squire - Dark/Spellcaster/Level 2/Effect: 800/1000

“Eidos’ effect! When he’s normal or special summoned, I can tribute summon one monster in addition to my normal summon!” She took a long breath. “I’ll activate Domain! Lowering the level of Erebus in my hand by 2 and then tributing Edea to summon him!”

Edea disappeared, and in her place the underworld monarch returned from where he once came in all his glory.

Erebus the Underworld Monarch - Dark/Zombie/Level 8/Effect: 2800/1000

“Erebus’ effect! I’ll send a copy of Tenacity and Restoration of the Monarch from my deck to the graveyard, and I’ll shuffle your Lord of D. back to the deck! And Edea’s effect! If it’s sent to the graveyard I can target one banished ‘Monarch’ spell or trap and add it to my hand! I’ll add Pantheism!” with a wave of his hand, underworld darkness swallowed the draconic spellcaster, and returned him to the deck.

With this his dragons can be targeted again, now then-

“I’ll activate Double Summon! Allowing me to do another summon in addition to my normal one, and I’ll tribute Eidos to summon Kuraz the Light Monarch!” the monarch of light descended from the heavens once more, and bringing with him two targeting destruction.

Kuraz the Light Monarch - Light/Warrior/Level 6/Effect: 2400/1000

“Kuraz’s effect! I can target and destroy two cards on the field! I’ll destroy Beacon of White and one of your Blue-Eyes! Well, like last time, you get to draw two cards now.” With light gathering in his hands, Kuraz threw two balls of light toward her desired target, and destroyed them, letting Red Hat draw two cards.

“With Beacon of White gone from the field, the Blue-Eyes that was equipped with it is banished.” With a loud defiant roar, the other Blue-Eyes on the field is removed from play.

“Sadly, the turn that he is normal or special summoned Kuraz can’t attack, but that’s fine! Battle! I’ll attack Blue-Eyes with Erebus! And with the effect of Domain his attack will overpower Blue-Eyes!” with a wave of his hand, the waves of the underworld rose to the spot where Blue Eyes floated upon. And while it attempted to struggle free from it’s grasp, the single Blue-Eyes on Red Hat’s field was destroyed.

Red Hat: 2800LP

“With that I’ll end my turn.” she declared, passing the turn back to Red Hat and they drew a card. “But in your main phase, I’ll activate The Prime Monarch! Shuffling Tenacity and Restoration to draw a card.” She drew a card and let Red Hat continue their turn.

Red Hat then set a monster on the field, and then activating Return of the Dragon Lords. “Crap.” she muttered, as she heard the roar of the legendary white dragon as it returned to the fields once more.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon - Light/Dragon/Level 8/Normal: 3000/2500

Silently moving on to the battle phase, Red Hat ordered Blue-Eyes White Dragon to destroy her Erebus. With it’s Burst Stream of Destruction, Blue-Eyes White Dragon destroyed Erebus and sent him back to the underworld. She gritted her teeth as she felt the blow from the attack.

Yuuna: 3600LP

“Che! My turn! I draw!” She drew her next card and checked what it was. “I’ll activate the effect of Pantheism! I can discard a ‘Monarch’ spell or trap and draw two cards! I’ll discard Erupt and draw two!” seeing the cards she drew, she grinned.

“I’ll activate Frost Blast of the Monarchs! If I control a monster with 2400 or more attack and 1000 defence, I can destroy one set card on the field! I’ll destroy your set card!” The set card was none other than the White Stone of Legend, and though it was indeed sent to the graveyard, its effect wasn’t able to be activated as the three dragons were either in the graveyard, banished, and the other was on the field.

“Erebus’ graveyard effect! I’ll discard Strike of the Monarchs and add himself back to my hand! Then Domain! Reducing Erebus’ level by two.” the grin on her face grew wider. Red Hat has Return of the Dragon Lords, making it so that his dragon won’t be destroyed once, but since Erebus doesn’t destroy then-

She can win this turn.

“I’ll activate the effect of Eidos in the graveyard! I can banish him and special summon one monster with 800 attack and 1000 defence from the graveyard! Return, Edea!” with a blast of heavenly light, Edea returned to her side once more.

Edea the Heavenly Squire - Light/Warrior/Level 1/Effect: 800/1000

“Edea’s effect! When she’s normal or special summoned, I can special summon a monster with 800 attack and 1000 defence from the deck in defence position! I’ll summon Garum the Storm Vassal!” with a blast of wind, the green colored vassal of the storm monarch appeared on her side of the field.

Garum the Storm Vassal - Wind/WInged Beast/Level 3/Effect: 800/1000

“Now I’ll tribute Garum to summon Erebus the Underworld Monarch!” with a grin she summoned Erebus for the third time in this duel. Once more, the massive dark throne and the monarch that sat upon it returned to the field once more.

Erebus the Underworld Monarch - Dark/Zombie/Level 8/Effect: 2800/1000

“With Erebus’ effect I’ll send Tenacity and Restoration, and shuffle your last Blue-Eyes back to the deck. And with Garum’s effect, when he’s tributed for a tribute summon I can add one monster with 800 attack and 1000 defence to my hand except a copy of himself. I’ll add Mithra the Thunder Vassal.“ she added the thunder monster to her hand.

“I’ll then shuffle Tenacity and Frost Blast back to the deck with The Prime Monarch to draw another card.” she drew another one and closed her eyes to take a deep breath.

“Battle!” she declared. “I’ll attack you directly with Erebus and Kuraz!” The two monarchs then shot their respective powers towards Red Hat. Erebus attacked with a lazy wave of right hand to command the powers of the underworld and Kuraz sent a ball of light towards her opponent.

Red Hat: 0LP

With that the game has ended.

She let out a breath that she was holding as she saw the Red Hat figure slowly disappear, leaving behind with him a single card on the ground.

She walked towards it as she checked the amount of DP that she got, and when she picked it up and looked at it, she couldn’t help but snort.

It was none other than the titular Blue-Eyes White Dragon that she had fought against.

“That took longer than expected. Then again that was Red Hat instead of a randomly generated duelist.” She said to herself. “Uhh, I still want to do more duels… ah, it’s a Sunday anyway so I should be fine if I do more longer duels.” With that said, she walked after putting the card in her pocket.

-

When Mei woke up, she woke up with the face of Yuuna right in front of her face, still sleeping in the position that they were in during midday.

She stood up from her position, trying hard not to wake up the taller girl as she sat next to her.

For as long as she knew, Yuuna had been by her side. Be it in front of her when she was facing the bullies that would belittle her and mess with her or beside her whenever she was performing tasks like drying the laundry or other things that sister Claire asks them to do.

She likes Yuuna, she’s kind, strong, and gentle, not to mention smarter than everyone in the orphanage. Yuuna was as kind as sister Claire, willing to play with her whenever she asks and would help her whenever she needed help. Yuuna was strong, she would fight the bullies and win whenever they bothered her.

Mei doesn’t like to be alone, Yuuna knows that so she indulges her and lets Mei accompany her wherever she goes out. 

Yuuna would always take her whenever she went out to see the Academia students duel in public, well, it was more like she forced herself to come with her by clinging onto her while crying really.

Whenever they went out and saw the students duel, Yuuna would always comment on the duel. She would always point out the mistakes that the duelists made, the way to fix those mistakes, and even play out imaginary duels with ‘what if’ scenarios with the deck with whatever duelist that they had seen.

Yuuna likes dueling, and she was really, really good at it. When they got their deck from the Academia students, Yuuna was able to play with it unlike the Academia students that she had ever seen before. Even when the Academia students challenged her to a duel, she was able to defeat them all.

She knew that Yuuna lost to one of them, but she could tell that Yuuna was holding back. After being with her for as long as she remembered, Mei could tell when Yuuna was lying.

Her eyes would always dart over and refusing to see her in the eyes, she would scratch her cheeks with one hand, and would try to hastily change the subject.

Mei had no other friends in the orphanage, they would always make fun of her for being slow, for being weak, that’s why she adores Yuuna who was always kind to her. It was why she didn't want to be separated from her. Doesn’t want to be left alone again.

Just like with her father and mother.

So Mei wanted to be good at something that Yuuna likes, so that she doesn’t leave her.

So that she doesn’t be alone.

So Mei would always listen to whatever Yuuna says when they watched a duel, she would always take into heart her advice, would always note the mistakes that she would point out and would always review all that she had been taught whenever they returned to the orphanage.

It was how she herself had gotten so good at dueling, capable of even beating Academia students on her own just like Yuuna.

Even her bullies don’t scare her anymore, because now whenever she felt threatened by them she could just challenge them to a duel and defeat them.

Yuuna would compliment her whenever she wins a duel, giving her a hug or patting her head and ruffling her hair when she does. And occasionally, on very rare occasions, Yuuna would give her a card that can bolster her deck to make it even better than it was before. She would always say that she got it as a present after she won a duel, but Mei had never seen Yuuna receiving something like that.

Mei likes Yuuna, so Mei doesn’t leave Yuuna out of her sight whenever she can.

Mei knows that Yuuna keeps secrets, like how she knows cards that no one has heard of before or even knowing strategies that no one has ever thought of. But Mei knows that whatever secrets that Yuuna has, Yuuna will always be Yuuna, the sweet, kind, red haired girl that would always look at her and smile.

And Mei would never trade her for anyone else, not even for her parents.

With that, she returned to sleep once more on Yuuna’s lap.

-

Time continues, and even though it disheartens her to not actually use it, she still doesn’t use Monarchs outside of free duels.

Mostly to not arouse suspicion, though she’s pretty sure the Academia already has eyes on her the moment she first dueled from the amount of Academia students that kept challenging her day by day.

And another reason that she actually doesn’t switch decks was because of something that she had acquired at her system’s shop.

-

Structure Deck Unlocked

Ancient Gear Awakening

A structure deck that contains Ancient Gear cards, including Ancient Gear Golem and Ancient Gear Golem - Ultimate Pound along with Ancient Gear Fusion.

Cost: 1500DP

Booster Pack Unlocked

Metallic Gears

A Booster Pack that consists of Machine type monsters and their specific supports, contains cards from the archetype Ancient Gear, Wind-Up, Gadgets, and Machina

Cost: 150DP

-

As much of an incredible engine that spat out infinite material that they are, she sadly can’t and probably won’t, use Wind-Up. Dimension shenanigans and all that.

She can use them in Free Duels though, since apparently it’s a space between dimensions or something like that. She doesn’t really know nor does she care about the details.

Machina however, was free game, though really what she wants from them are possibly only Fortress or Citadel, maybe even Machina Overdrive and Machina Redeployment if she plays some more of the cards too.

Really the only reason she still plays with Ancient Gear was because the cards that the structure deck Ancient Gear Awakening is loaded with are some pretty good cards after all. Cards like the staple two of, because she doesn’t want a hand full of bricks, Ancient Gear Golem - Ultimate Pound, and a single copy of the cover card boy himself, Ancient Gear Golem.

What’s that about running three of each? Are you stupid? They’re bricks! You’re not supposed to hard summon them! You’re supposed to summon them through Catapult or just send it to the graveyard for fusion! Okay, maybe you would want them in your hand if you have Ancient Gear Frame on the field, and by the off chance that an idiot would actually remove it from the field with card effects- but that’s beside her point!

Her point was she’s only running a total of three of them. She’s already running a copy of Reactor Dragon anyway, so there’s that too.

Though they wouldn’t be bricks if she can discard them with Machina Fortress… but you can basically summon Fortress by discarding any Level 1 machine along with itself so the argument doesn’t really stick.

And she doesn’t have any use of the big golem anyway when it hits the grave. She can’t summon it out of Ancient Gear Reborn because of its summoning condition, and she doesn’t have the infamous Chaos Giant or Overload Fusion to actually use such graveyard setup.

In other news, Gold and Silver Gadget are on the Booster Pack! A welcomed addition to the increase of consistency and field swarming, though sadly she won’t be able to add a dash of adequate rank 4 monsters onto the mix because of dimension shenanigans.

Suffice to say she spent a lot of her DP on buying the Booster Pack, and some copies of the Structure Deck too since apparently a lot, and by that she meant A LOT of Academia students wants Ancient Gear Golem.

She doesn’t know why, and she doesn’t ask because they’re literal bricks in her hands, just in cardboard form, and sold them for a hefty amount of DP.

Idiots bought a copy of the card that she got a guaranteed one off for a whopping 5000DP! She profited 3500DP out of that transaction!

Then again, Ancient Gear Golem was quite a rare card on Academy Island apparently. Since the Academia was the one that made the Ancient Gear a mandated deck to freely give out to everyone who attends the school, and to orphanages like the one that she lives on, poor students that can’t buy a structured deck of cards or whose decks are weaker and less consistent that the Academia mandated one resolved to simply play the deck that they were given and strengthen it.

An action that she was also doing, though after spending a hefty amount of her funds on the Booster Pack that she had unlocked by summoning a whopping 100 machine type monsters, she’s starting to lean on making a Machina deck.

Machina Redeployment is strong, really strong. Summoning Machina Gearframe and adding Machina Unclaspare gets you two cards on the field and an archetype specific Foolish Burial, which was a perfect setup to dump Citadel and ready up a quick-play Raigeki.

It would have been better if the booster pack included Infinitracks. A combination of Machina and Infinitrack is quite powerful, especially with the amount of good Rank 9 monsters that the card game has on board.

Something for future her to figure out perhaps, and if she does want to go full Machina down the road, then she’ll have to ease the cards into her deck one by one as to not arouse too much suspicion.

She already knows that Mei is suspicious of the cards that she gave her, and the many cards that she has. Maybe she’ll tell her one day, but not today or anytime soon.

On the Rank 9 monsters though, she did find VFD. Not that she can buy the infamous Very Fun Dragon anyway. True King of All Calamities costs a whopping 150000DP and an unlocking condition of summoning Rank 9 monsters 150 times! Heck, Dyson Sphere or Heart-earth Dragon doesn’t even cost a tenth of that amount!

Which, while not hard in dedicated decks, not something that she can do right now.

She did check out Virtual World cards since she was already looking for Rank 9 monsters at the time, and the price tag and unlocking conditions made her belch at the numbers.

She’ll stick with what she has, thank you.

Back in the case of deck building, she would have two decks that she’ll play with. Monarchs because it was the starter deck that she picked and is currently the one that she would probably use in important duels and Free Duels because Domain is just that strong. And Machina Ancient Gear because Fortress is a 2600 beatstick and all main deck Ancient Gear monsters triggers Citadel because they’re all Erath attribute.

Funny how most machine type monsters are Earth, that screams synergy to her so she’s fine with it.

So after quite a splurge of her wallet, she has three copies of Machina Overdrive which is incredibly strong, A copy of Citadel that was hard to find because the Shop’s Booster Pack doesn’t run out, i.e. getting it depends fully on luck and she isn’t guaranteed one after buying a specific amount of packs, and two Fortresses because they’re also kind of bricky.

Thank goodness the Perk that she gained from picking Ancient Gear Golem as her Ace Monster makes it so that she doesn’t hard draw it or start with it in her opening hand. That would be hell if it was like that. Citadel and Reactor Dragon were something that she can still brick though, Fortress doesn’t count since it was special summonable.

In the case of the extra deck, she can make Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem and Howitzer! A single copy of Howitzer mind you, because that wasn’t in the structure deck and it was a Secret Rare what the fu- not to mention a single copy of Ancient Gear Megaton Golem, a card that was similarly hard to pull.

A card that she DOES somehow pull but is not willing to use however, Spell Gear, A GHOST RARE FOR SOME REASON that she managed to pull! It’s effect can possibly win her the game in some scenarios, but it was an inherent minus 2 that requires field setup and specific cards on hand, she doesn’t have time for that!

A card that she wished she had pulled instead of it would be Limiter Removal, but noo. Instead she gets a crappy super situational card that doesn’t help her at all.

So in the end she ended up with a half baked Monarch deck because she doesn’t have three Domain, Pantheism, or Stormforth, and Ancient Gear Machina that she hasn’t tested yet.

She hears someone banging her door, and no sooner she also hears the sound of her self-proclaimed, and system approved, rival. “Come out Yuuna!” Haru shouted just loud enough to rustle Mei awake from her sleep. “I’ve got new cards now! I can definitely beat you this time!” he boldly declared from behind the door.

She ruffles Mei’s hair, trying to ease her annoyance at being woken up by Haru of all people, and smiles.

Well. she might as well try the deck now she suppose.

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