"With this, Yugen has already collected six puzzle cards, right."
Marufuji Ryo said.
"Yes." Yugen said, "Sorry for taking away your chance."
Marufuji Ryo shook his head with a smile: "No, we were competitors from the start. A duelist's path should be paved by one's own hands. You won, so of course you should be the one to advance first."
But he paused and confidently said: "But I'm not planning to quit just like that. I'll win the missing last two puzzle cards as soon as possible, step onto the final stage, and face you again in the finals."
"Oh? Then good luck." Yugen smiled, "But even if we get there, I won't hold back."
"I'd expect nothing less."
Marufuji Ryo waved goodbye and prepared to leave. Now he's short one puzzle card, he needs to win at least two consecutive matches, so he needs to hurry.
But just before leaving, he paused, suddenly having thought of something.
"By the way." He turned back to Yugen, hesitated for a moment, but still asked, "Chimeric Fortress Dragon... you chose to focus on its development because you're confident in this card's potential?"
Yugen nodded: "Of course."
Marufuji Ryo pondered.
The Chimeric Fortress Dragon, although he doesn't use it often, he does have it. But having had it for so long, he hadn't noticed there were other development branches for this monster.
Indeed, this must be the difference in talent...
In the original animation, Chimeric Fortress Dragon doesn't allow fusion without Fusion Magic. Its attack power is 0, but it cannot be destroyed in battle, and the battle damage to its controller is 0.
Its effect allows attacks equal to the number of fusion material monsters an opponent has. Although seemingly meaningless, each attack declaration can deal 400 damage to the opponent.
That means if you use ten monsters as fusion material, hitting ten times could directly deal 4000 damage to achieve a quick victory.
Hmm, but after experiencing it, it feels like the version in Yugen's hand is more impressive...
...no, calling it impressive is not quite right, it's more like a mentality-drainer.
Though technically a fusion monster of Cyber Dragon, it's actually a Cyber Dragon killer. It freeloads the opponent's monsters, costing nothing to fusion, and reflecting on the emotions felt during the duel just now still makes one feel a bit stifled.
It's practically a total traitor to the Cyber Dragon family.
Such an underworld Cyber Dragon, indeed... indeed...
"...by the way, do you have any more of the 'Chimeric Fortress Dragon' developed in your lab?"
Marufuji Ryo finally couldn't help but ask.
"I also want to buy one."
Yugen laughed.
"Can't beat them? Then join them?"
But from Marufuji Ryo's perspective it's understandable to think this way.
Firstly, it's considered a new fusion form of Cyber Dragon, as a Cyber Dragon specialist it is unacceptable not having a home monster that others do.
Secondly, Chimeric Fortress Dragon is not only a Cyber Dragon killer, it is also a Mechanical Race killer for duelists using Cyber Dragons.
With this card, Marufuji Ryo's Cyber Dragons essentially have the ability to "unconditionally consume any number of Mechanical Race monsters from the opponent."
So that's why the Chimeric Fortress Dragon would be considered an environment-changing component. Its two strongest scenarios, the first is catching an opponent who's a Cyber Dragon player, and the second is a Cyber Dragon player catching an opponent from the Mechanical Race.
After the narrative progresses later, when the successor of the so-called Telekinesis Dojo, Makoto Inozuma, who uses an all-mechanical "Artificial Human" card deck, comes to challenge the Electronic Style Dojo and sees his Artificial Humans being eaten all at once by the Wheel Dragon, it would certainly be amusing...
"Temporarily none available, but it is in the development process."
Yugen smiled.
"Our team research discovered that Cyber Dragons actually possess unimaginable great potential, with substantial room for development. I actually had this intention before..."
He extended his hand to Marufuji Ryo.
"If Caesar is interested and would like to join our team, we welcome you greatly."
Marufuji Ryo, having just personally experienced Yugen's "latest achievement," hardly hesitated and directly shook his hand.
"Alright."
Yugen was also very satisfied.
With Caesar joining, the subsequent development of Electronic Style will surely have twice the effect with half the effort?
Speaking of which, Principal Jiaodao is actually the master of the Electronic Style Dojo. Doing forefront research on Electronic Style and getting some funding and resource support from the master is certainly justified.
After this competition is over, it indeed might be necessary to ask the old man for some gold.
Just as they shook hands and finalized the agreement, suddenly, a loud explosion was heard from the sky, akin to muffled thunder in the black clouds.
Everyone instinctively looked up.
Is this... going to rain?
"Strange." Yugen muttered, "Wasn't it said that it wouldn't rain during the competition?"
The weather forecast clearly stated no rain for these two days. And even if it did, President Kaiba would definitely launch a missile into the sky to prevent rain from affecting his card event...
But then he discovered that it wasn't just rain, but also wind.
An exaggerated storm, like a raging beast, had unknowingly approached this City of Duels. The originally peaceful streets instantly became noisy, the sound of wind and thunder interweaving, like a symphony of destruction.
The deep blue sky quickly turned into a dark lead-gray, clouds rolling like boiling water. Trees swayed in the strong wind, leaves swirling, dancing-like green snowflakes spinning in the storm.
Lightning suddenly split the black clouds, illuminating the entire city. Amidst the cloud layers torn by electric light, there seemed to be a pair of giant eyes, viewing everything with endless resentment and anger.
...
...
"...is it already time?"
A man stood at the dock, looking up at the churning black clouds in the sky, lazily saying.
He was a medium-build man, well-built yet not displaying excessive muscle. Clad in custom dark suit, with perfect tailoring, a tie loosely hanging on his neck, unruly drifting with the wind.
"Isn't it a bit early?" He said.
The voice in his earpiece replied, "It's not early anymore; the expected time from above was around this Duel City tournament period, it's about right now.
'Judge' will arrive at City of Duels in a day, all preparations should be ready..."
"Real ready or fake ready? Isn't the 'Sealing Artifact' still not in our possession?" The man said.
The person on the other end of the communication answered: "This is precisely why we've been summoned here. Regardless, it must be accomplished during this City of Duels..."
As they were speaking, a cold voice suddenly interrupted from behind.
"Though not sure what you're planning, sorry but it seems this might be where it stops."
The man turned around, squinting his eyes slightly.
"Ha, something interesting seems to be happening. I'll call you back later."
The person on the other end asked: "What's happening? Did someone arrive?"
"Yes, you surely won't guess who."
The man showed a slight smile.
"...Seto Kaiba."