Boom!
Bystander A: "Aargh!"
CEO Kaiba: "Hahahaha——"
Boom!
Bystander B: "Aargh!"
CEO Kaiba: "Hahahaha——"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"..."
Yugen stood outside the door, watching the bar quickly become a chaotic mess with dark duelists sprawled on the ground, and couldn't help but feel speechless.
How should he put it...
Although he'd long suspected Kaiba would easily dominate these guys, he still didn't expect it to be so exaggerated.
The feeling reminded him of Manjome's first arrival at the northern branch of Duel Academy in the anime, where he almost instantly defeated everyone, tearing through the branch.
In the anime, when protagonists obliterated unnamed extras, it was generally this kind of style. It used to make young Yugen, watching on TV, believe that dueling didn't require shuffling. He'd then enthusiastically tell his friends about this amazing discovery, and confidently use his unshuffled Exodia five-piece set to play cards with them.
And then... then no one wanted to play cards with him anymore.
But it wasn't his fault, because dueling in the anime really didn't seem to involve shuffling. Especially when the main characters were slaughtering bystanders, each game was more ridiculously skewed than the last.
Just like CEO Kaiba's rampage right now.
"Resilient! Invincible! Strongest!"
Kaiba stood amidst the fallen duelists.
"Who else!"
At this point, only three people were still standing in the bar.
Ryosuke, the center-parted hair guy: "Damn it, I knew it was the legendary Seto Kaiba, but I never expected him to be this ridiculously strong. In the blink of an eye, it's just us 'Bloodmoon Four Heavenly Kings' left..."
Beautiful bartender Inoue Kazumi: "Correction, it's Three Heavenly Kings. Fujimoto, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, has already surrendered."
Ryosuke: "..."
Fujimoto earnestly advised: "Brothers, just give up. Don't struggle. The CEO asked me to tell you, surrender on the spot and you'll get great benefits."
Aikawa Takuya, the big guy among the Four Heavenly Kings, exploded: "I'll strangle you first, traitor!"
Fujimoto quickly hid behind Kaiba, demonstrating his loyalty.
"Hmph, so you're the remaining three of some 'Four Heavenly Kings'?" Kaiba sneered, arms crossed. "You should be at least a little stronger than the other nobodies. So, who's going first? Or do you want to all come at once?"
The three immediately lit up.
Such a good deal?
They had no chance one-on-one, but if it was three-on-one, no matter how strong Seto Kaiba was, could he really defeat all three of them at once?
"Good, then it's settled, a fair and square three-on-one!"
Yugen almost spit out his drink. What the heck, "fair and square" three-on-one?
He admired the CEO's confidence. In real-life Yu-Gi-Oh, there are single duels and team duels, but multi-on-one is practically unheard of. Because the game isn't designed that way; differences in card advantage, field advantage, or even turn count usually make it impossible to win.
However, in anime, characters often take on three or four opponents at once when crushing bystanders, and they still utterly dominate.
According to a theory he'd seen circulating in the Yu-Gi-Oh community online, characters in the anime have a "fate power" setting, which is a duelist's talent to influence destiny and control the future.
But this talent is relative within a duel; if one person's fate power is stronger in a duel, it will suppress the opponent's performance. This is why important anime characters always start with a perfect hand and instantly defeat bystanders, but when high-level duelists face each other, their starting hands often seem quite ordinary.
Therefore, in this environment, compared to opponents with powerful monsters or decks, Yugen was more concerned with the opponent's fate power. After all, those so-called "great monsters" from previous eras, revered by contemporary duelists, were just so-so compared to the "fake cards" and "big brothers" he was familiar with from modern Yu-Gi-Oh; they weren't significantly stronger.
However, fate power is a powerful cheat that can give even a shoddy pile of cards battle strength far exceeding the norm.
To give a simple comparison: In current mainstream Yu-Gi-Oh, setting up a board that can consistently disrupt the opponent's plays with multiple card destruction or effect negation during their turn is already considered a decent setup. And that often requires a long combo, pushing through the opponent's hand traps, to achieve such a result.
But in this world, under a certain gap in fate power, the stronger duelist only needs to draw three or five trap cards similar to "Solemn Judgment" that can negate various opponent actions, plus a high-ATK monster on the field, and the suppression power can be just as strong as a mainstream deck years later.
In other words, in real life, it's more about deck strength, but in this environment, duelist strength is equally important.
Alright, so today we'll watch the CEO duel.
Although he felt that Kaiba would most likely not lose, he was still very curious how Kaiba would win despite a three-fold resource disadvantage.
One versus three. This was an excellent opportunity for him to observe a strong duelist's fate power up close.
"Duel!" x4
[Ryosuke, LP 4000]
[Kazumi, LP 4000]
[Aikawa Takuya, LP 4000]
[Kaiba, LP 4000]
"I'll go first, draw card." Kaiba said calmly. "In battle royale mode, the first turn allows no attacks. I set two cards and end my turn."
The three opponents all took a deep breath.
So arrogant? Three-on-one and he doesn't even summon a monster, just passes?
"Hmph, with such confidence comes a price, Seto Kaiba. My turn, draw card!"
First up was Ryosuke, the center-parted hair guy among the Four Heavenly Kings.
"I summon 'Marauding Captain'!" Ryosuke declared. "'Marauding Captain's' effect activates: when this card is successfully Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon one Level 4 or lower monster from my hand."
He smirked, revealing another card from his hand.
"I will summon, also a 'Marauding Captain'!"
[Marauding Captain, ATK 1200] x2
"So that's it, an attack lock?" Kaiba said indifferently.
"That's right, while 'Marauding Captain' is on the field, you cannot attack Warrior-Type monsters other than him." Ryosuke said proudly. "And there are two 'Marauding Captains' on the field."
"The effects of the two will create a cross-protection, meaning neither can be attacked." Kaiba stated calmly. "Your attacks are locked down."
"Exactly." Ryosuke shouted. "Next, I set one card to my back row, turn end!"
"Then it's my turn!" Next to play was the beautiful bartender Kazumi. "I Normal Summon 'Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast' from my hand!"
Like a heavy tank with metal treads, carrying spears and cannons on both sides, a metallic dragon head emerged from the center.
"'Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast' is a Level 7 monster, but it can be Normal Summoned without Tributes. However, when summoned this way, its ATK becomes half its original ATK."
[Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast, ATK 2800 → ATK 1400]
"Haha, but next I'm activating the Equip Spell 'Axe of Fools' from my hand!" Kazumi giggled. "The equipped monster's ATK increases by 1000, but its effects are negated. Therefore, I'm equipping 'Axe of Fools' to 'Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast', increasing Fusilier Dragon's ATK by 1000, and its effect is negated!"
Her two companions cheered.
Ryosuke: "Fusilier Dragon, due to its own drawback, has its ATK halved when Compromise Summoned. But if its effect is negated, its ATK will return to its original value!"
Aikawa Takuya: "Not only that, it will also gain another 1000 ATK from 'Axe of Fools' effect, utilizing both the positive and negative effects of the equip spell!"
[Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast, ATK 1400 → ATK 3800]
"Oh, this much is to be expected from the Four Heavenly Kings." Kazumi smiled confidently. "My turn ends."
"Then it's my turn!" Aikawa Takuya shouted. "I activate the Spell Card 'Polymerization'! I fuse 'Sea Koala' and 'Tree Otter' from my hand! From the ancient forest, summon forth, where beastly power intertwines in this moment, Fusion Summon—— Level 6, Koalo-Koala!"
A towering storm exploded within the Fusion vortex, and a huge, dark gray beast emerged from the whirlwind, landing coldly on the field.
[Koalo-Koala, ATK 2800]
"Next, I set one card to my field, turn end!" Aikawa Takuya was full of confidence.
All three were quite pleased with this start.
Three-on-one, and they opened with such a strong board. They truly didn't know how Kaiba could possibly turn this around.
Next, there should be a duel where you won't see the Blue-Eyes White Dragon for a while, so I'll give the CEO another chance. However, this duel, no matter how many words it takes, is guaranteed to be finished in tomorrow's chapter.