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The new graphic on every screen in the arena read “Danger Zone (brought to you by The Ol’ Pickaxe Hardware StoreⓇ (“When you’re in trouble, a swing by The Ol’ Pickaxe helps get the job done”),” and the start of Yuliya’s turn was punctuated by a guitar riff that sounded almost but not quite like an actually famous song the arena managers couldn’t get the rights to. Whatever the song was, Yuliya didn’t know it, and besides, she had more important things to think about. She was in the Danger Zone, after all. Still, after her Draw Step, she’d have seven cards in hand to Arden’s zero, and both of those numbers in their respective positions were good numbers to have from her perspective. And she was already developing a plan -- that was why she’d searched out the card she had. Yuliya looked at the Thunder Dragon Fusion one more time as if to confirm it was really going to do what she said it would before mentally checking herself -- she still needed to go through the turn as though it were any other. But a comeback Arden had asked for, and who was she to turn down such an offer? “I guess I should’ve been careful what I wished for, Arden, but I could extend the exact same warning to you as well,” Yuliya said. “Draw!” BGM - Hotblade - Showdown Yuliya’s poker face was not very good -- her eyes must have lit up the moment she laid them on the newest addition to her hand. Even if they didn’t, everyone must have heard the “Oooh” that escaped her lips. “I’m at… twelve hundred Life Points, yeah?” She checked the number on her wrist, though she just as easily could have checked any pulsating number in the arena. Either way, she was correct. “Okay, cool. That’s, like, doubly not zero, then. But I’ll leave you in suspense as to what this mystery card is, I have a fusion summon to do first. I’ll activate Thunder Dragon Fusion!” Even as she slid the card briefly into a slot, the arena began to darken. The field was preparing for something massive. “What makes this particular fusion spell special is that instead of using monsters from my hand as material like a normal Poly, this one uses Thunder Dragon cards in my graveyard or banished and shuffles them back into my deck. The card I want needs three, so I’ll choose two of these Thunder Dragons proper and… I think this banished Dragondark would like to be in my deck also, that sounds good.” The cards popped out of their respective slots, and, as Yuliya moved them back to her deck, afterimages of the three monsters started swirling around above the field, spaghettifying more and more as they neared the center of the spiral. A new card fired out of her duel disk and into the air, and Yuliya snatched it. “I summon Thunder Dragon Titan!” The distorted monster images started to mesh together, changing in shape and size with every convulsion, until it became a mass of light and sparks. One head emerged, then another, then a third, and the Titan flew out of the glowing mass and landed in the center of the field. As befitting a monster worthy of such a title, it announced its presence with a roar that sounded like a thunderclap. “Thirty-two hundred attack, same as yours. Or --” she glanced at the Zombie Master still hanging out amongst the dragons “-- same as your big guns,” Yuliya said. “Most impressive. Just take care not to destroy my dragons by battle, or else they’ll get back up. But surely, you already knew that.” “Sure, sure,” Yuliya said. “I mean, zombies, right? Even if I didn’t know that I think I’d be able to assume. But I’m not done summoning yet -- I haven’t even explained Titan’s effect yet! It comes in three parts, though one of them isn’t going to be too important, I don’t think. The first is how to summon it, ‘cause I don’t have to use a fusion spell if I don’t want. I can just banish another Thunder-type fusion monster and a Thunder-type monster in my hand and skip all that other stuff. That being said, obviously, it won’t let me just replace this one with another, that’s where this nifty card I just drew comes in: Instant Fusion!” The image on the card was that of an instant noodle cup, and so too was its holographic representation as Yuliya slid the card into a slot. It rattled around like there was something alive inside, and underneath the INSTANT FUSION logo, it had a little slogan. Yuliya read it aloud. “‘All the fun in fusion, without any of the work!’ Okay, that’s not entirely true. I have to pay a thousand life to use it, like, now I’m only at two hundred, and the monster has to be level five or lower, and it can’t attack, and it gets destroyed at the end of turn. That’s not a lot of fun. But it just so happens that there is a level five Thunder fusion that’s perfect for my purposes. Come forth, Kaminari Attack!” It was kind of a weird name to say since there was a verb in there -- a verb commonly used to describe a Duel Monsters action, even! -- but the thunder spirit still erupted from the insta-cup and immediately started working on forming a stormcloud. It wouldn’t say for long, though. “Like I said, I can banish it and a monster in my hand to summon another Thunder Dragon Titan. I’ll just banish this Thunder Dragonroar. I won’t even use its banish effect, I’ll just get right to the good part. Thunder Dragon Titan!” As one might expect, instead of several monsters like before, only the image of Thunder Dragonroar appeared above the field, hovering just above the Kaminari’s cloud until another flash of lightning and subsequent thunderclap replaced both of them with a second copy of the tricephalic monster. “If nothing else, you’re certainly coming out on top in how many heads you can field in one turn.” “They do say six heads are better than two, so yeah. Should be enough, I think, because of these Titans’ second effect: Whenever I activate the effect of a Thunder Dragon in my hand, I can destroy one card on the field, and that’s for each effect I activate and for each Titan. So, if I, say, use this O.G. Thunder Dragon to search out one of the ones I just shuffled back in -- fun fact! Did you know Thunder Dragon says ‘up to?’ -- I can plink off two of your Necro Dragons, just like that. That sounds like a good idea, I think I’ll do it.” All twelve eyes on all six dragon heads on all two Titans glinted, fueled by the Thunder Dragon going to the graveyard as they zeroed in on Necro Dragons One and Two. They flew forward and began coiling around the two zombified dragons until the Titans had their prey almost completely enveloped, a process that only took a few moments, and, just another one later, they had shattered the two holographs into shards of light. “Well, that was fun,” Yuliya said. “Wanna see me do it again? I only found one of those Thunder Dragons last time, remember. There’s still one more in the deck, so yeah, let’s do it again.” The two Thunder Dragon Titans didn’t even return to their original positions on the field, they simply turned on Arden’s two remaining monsters. The Titan dealing with the Zombie Master didn’t even have to fully envelop the thing, it simply sent the monster on its way with a flick of its tail. Only then did they return to Yuliya’s side. “Now it’s my turn to do some maths,” Yuliya said. “Two thirty-two hundred attack monsters, minus zero monsters on your side, or spells, or cards in hand, compared to your six thousand four hundred Life Points…” She brought out the fingers again, but they were for show this time, so only for a moment. “That’s exactsies, I think.” Arden LP: 6400 -> 3200 -> 0 The crowd had already erupted into cheers even before both Thunder Dragon Titans had delivered their final attacks, and as soon as they had, a massive “WINNER: YULIYA SEKELSKY” appeared on the arena Jumbotron accompanied by chibified versions of her, blue hair and all, jumping for joy in a cute two-frame loop. Yuliya took a moment to take it all in -- she was one step closer to ultimate victory. She hoped she’d set the standard for future duels in the tournament, too. Obviously, they couldn’t all be as good as hers, but they could be close. They met back in the center of the field for congratulations, commiserations, and general sportsmanship. Arden was the one who spoke first -- she certainly didn’t seem too fussed in Yuliya’s eyes. “A comeback with wonderful execution, if I do say so,” she said. “Hey you surprised me with that previous turn enough that I had to do something,” Yuliya replied. “Good game, well played. And fortunately for you, I was going to suggest ‘winner pays’ no matter what result, so linner is on me.”

Another +10 done. Can get the final copy of Saleh next month, which means I can start work on Summer Norne and one of either Maria, Lena, or Sakura now.