You Xuan’s Ace

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"Direct attack from Machina Armored Unit Omega!"

The crimson mecha's engines roared as it charged forward, its blade raised high, aiming straight at You Xuan's defenseless field.

"This is the end! Accept your fate and surrender your soul!"

But You Xuan wasn't about to give up. "Activate face-down card—Trap Card, 'Mirror Force'!"

"What?! You had a Mirror Force hidden this whole time?!" Bandit Keith's eyes widened in shock.

"That's right. Mirror Force destroys all your attack-position monsters when you declare an attack!"

A shimmering blue barrier materialized in front of You Xuan, deflecting the crimson mecha's devastating slash. The reflected energy surged back in a dazzling explosion, tearing through Keith's field.

"Tch. Pitfall, Magic Cylinder, now Mirror Force… You've got one annoying trap after another…"

Keith scowled.

"I thought every card in a duelist's deck was carefully chosen, a reflection of their soul?"

"Then I guess your soul's just dirty…"

"…But that won't work!" Keith roared. "Counter Trap—'Anti-Revolution'! When an effect would destroy two or more cards on the field, negate it and banish that card!"

You Xuan frowned. This guy's got an answer for everything.

Facing an opponent with strong "destiny draw" luck made conventional tactics unreliable.

But in this era, "Starlight Road" didn't exist yet—though "Anti-Revolution" served a similar purpose. The unbreakable shield of Mirror Force shattered into fragments.

"Which means the battle continues! Machina Armored Unit Omega, direct attack!" Keith raised his voice again. "This time, it's really over—"

"During damage calculation," You Xuan swiftly discarded a card from his hand, "I activate the effect of 'Kuriboh' in my hand! By discarding it, I reduce the battle damage to zero!"

A translucent, fluffy Kuriboh appeared, shielding You Xuan from the lethal strike. The crimson mecha's blade stopped dead in its tracks.

"You've got that too?!" Keith groaned in frustration.

"Persistent little brat… Since 'Desperado Barrel Dragon' can't attack after using its effect, my turn ends."

Keith sneered. "Seems like you've bought yourself one more turn."

You Xuan noticed that Keith's Machina Armored Unit Omega didn't summon any tokens at the end of the turn—likely because the original manga version was a Normal Monster with no effects. (The real-life card adaptation added effects like boosting its own ATK and summoning tokens, but here, it was just a vanilla beatstick.)

The Spirit of Silence, who had been watching nervously, finally let out a sigh of relief. This duel was giving her emotional whiplash—first the joy of seeing Mirror Force, then the despair of its negation…

The young master's duels are way too intense.

What she didn't know was that even if Desperado Barrel Dragon could attack again, You Xuan had another Kuriboh in his Graveyard ready to block.

Ah, the glory of old-school hand traps.

"I'll admit, you've held out impressively," Keith said, shifting to psychological warfare. "But your tricks are exhausted. Your ace monster's already been crushed. Even if you somehow summon another high-level monster next turn, 'Desperado Barrel Dragon' will just destroy it again. And don't forget—my Continuous Trap, 'Barrel Shot,' will keep disrupting you. Face it, your chances of winning are practically zero. Resistance is pointless."

He smirked, crossing his arms. "But hey, it's not your fault. I'm just that good."

You Xuan deadpanned: "You lost to a Normal Monster."

("Normal Monster"—a nickname Kaiba once gave to Jonouchi, which later became widely known.)

Keith's eye twitched. "I'm the strongest card professor in America! Undefeated across the continent!"

You Xuan repeated, unfazed: "You lost to a Normal Monster."

"That—That was just bad luck!" Keith growled. "But I've crawled back from hell. One day, I'll find that guy again and reclaim my victory—"

You Xuan: "You lost to a kid hired by Pegasus."

Keith: "......"

Maybe we should go back to talking about the Normal Monster…

Bandit Keith's expression darkened. "I know your type. You're just like them. You think I'm a dishonorable duelist, right? That crap about 'a duelist's pride'?"

His fists clenched, veins bulging. "That's just winner's talk! Yugi Muto, Katsuya Jonouchi—they don't understand! The pain of falling from the top, being humiliated, mocked, your self-worth trampled into dirt! You think I like this? But not everyone can be Yugi Muto!"

His green-tinged eyes burned with resentment.

"Not everyone gets to charge forward like that. I tried. I fought. But nothing changed! That's how it is for most people. There's only one winner in a duel—everyone else is just a stepping stone. It's easy to spout noble ideals when you're on top, but the rest of us don't have that luxury."

He glared at You Xuan.

"You're some young prodigy, aren't you? You haven't experienced what I have. When you learn what true despair feels like, you'll understand. Then you'll see—'duelist's pride,' 'bonds with your cards'—it's all childish nonsense. The only thing that matters is power. Winning! By any means necessary—cheating, sabotage, even selling your soul to a demon!"

You Xuan: "…"

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No," You Xuan said calmly. "You're right. In this world, even without the power of the Orichalcos, you're still stronger than most duelists. And you're not wrong—there's only one true king of games. Not everyone can be Yugi Muto. But there's one thing you've misunderstood."

He met Keith's gaze.

"Yugi Muto, Katsuya Jonouchi—before they were 'winners,' they were duelists. A duel isn't just a tool for victory. A true duelist believes in their deck no matter what. It's not about the strong dominating the weak. That's why you'll never be a real duelist."

The Spirit of Silence, though already defeated, hovered nearby, her expression softening with admiration. If there were a "bond meter," it'd be skyrocketing right now.

You Xuan had been playing up the speech to boost his spirit's loyalty, but his words were genuine. In this world, seeking victory wasn't wrong—but losing sight of what it meant to duel would only take you further from the throne.

Bandit Keith was proof. Once a champion, his gambler's mentality—sleeve tricks, stealing entry cards—had doomed him. In a world where dueling held real power, such disrespect for the game was a dead end.

Just as the emotional climax seemed to peak, the sealed carvings on the cliffside suddenly glowed. A blinding radiance erupted, followed by a surge of energy that engulfed the entire duel field.

When the light faded, the carvings were gone.

Keith paled. This can't be…

Meanwhile, You Xuan looked down—and froze. The top card of his deck was shining.

Wait, what?!

Had his speech actually resonated with the sealed spirit here?

This felt eerily like Kaiba's legendary "heart of the cards" moment.

He took a deep breath and reached for his deck.

"SHINING DRAW—!"

The golden card arced through the air as he pulled it free. The moment it left the deck, a shockwave of energy erupted, spiraling into the sky.

Keith's panic spiked. "That aura… that power… That card—Don't tell me—?!"

Sure enough, when You Xuan looked, he was holding a card that had once been forbidden—the legendary warrior:

*Chaos Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning!*

As the card entered his hand, the spectral figure of the warrior appeared briefly, giving a respectful salute.

"My sword is yours."

You Xuan nodded.

"Then, Keith!" he declared. "Witness the true soul of my deck—my ultimate ace!"

"Tch. The legendary warrior, huh? Fine, bring it!" Keith spat. "Show me what you've got!"

"Gladly!"

You Xuan raised the card high, its aura radiating overwhelming power.

"I unleash this card's might—"

Bandit Keith braced himself, teeth gritted, waiting for the sealed spirit to descend.

The Chaos Soldier's spirit tightened its grip on its sword, ready to strike.

Then You Xuan continued:

"—I tribute your 'Desperado Barrel Dragon' and 'Machina Armored Unit Ω' to Special Summon this mighty fiend to your field!"

Keith: "…What."

The Chaos Soldier: "…What."

"From the molten depths of the abyss, the power of destruction and rebirth—"

You Xuan smirked.

"Level 8—Lava Golem!"

Bandit Keith: "????????"

The Chaos Soldier: "????????"

You're summoning… WHAT?!

Keith's jaw dropped as his two mechanical aces were swallowed by erupting magma, dissolving into molten slag. From the inferno, a burning, grotesque hand slammed onto the field, and a towering fiend rose—locking Keith inside a searing cage.

*[Lava Golem | DEF: 2500]*

"Lava Golem's effect," You Xuan said coolly. "It can be Special Summoned to your field by tributing two of your monsters. But the turn I use this effect, I can't Normal Summon."

He paused, then grinned.

"It's a powerful monster—with ATK rivaling Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

Here, have a free Level 8 beatstick!

Keith's face twisted in horror.

"Rivaling Blue-E—SCREW YOU! WHO WANTS THIS UGLY THING?!"

My Desperado… My Machina…

He was livid.

After all that buildup—the glowing carvings, the destiny draw—wasn't this supposed to be an epic clash of aces?

Why the hell is it LAVA GOLEM?!

The Chaos Soldier stood frozen, sword half-drawn.

"…Am I not needed?"

Then it hit him—Keith had no cards in hand, no backrow, and his Graveyard was empty of tricks.

Lava Golem's second effect:

"During its controller's Standby Phase, they take 1000 damage."

*[Bandit Keith | LP: 500]*

Meaning the duel was already over.

The legendary warrior pondered.

"…Should I leave?"

You Xuan, however, wasn't done. "Effect of 'Chaos Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning' in my hand. By banishing one LIGHT and one DARK monster from my Graveyard, I can Special Summon it!"

Even though he'd already won, he might as well give the newly loyal spirit a proper debut.

"I banish LIGHT-attribute 'Sorcerer of Silent Swords' and DARK-attribute 'Jinzo'!"

The two monsters materialized briefly before vanishing into a swirling vortex of light and darkness.

"One soul guides light, the other darkness—the gate of chaos opens!"

You Xuan raised his arm.

"Genesis of heaven and earth! Level 8—"

"Chaos Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, come forth!"

The warrior descended in a storm of energy, his blade cutting through the void. The sheer force of his presence made even the Orichalcos barrier tremble.

*[Chaos Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning | ATK: 3000]*

"Battle! Chaos Soldier, attack Lava Golem!"

The warrior's sword cleaved through the molten fiend, reducing it to slag.

"Chaos Soldier's effect! When it destroys a monster by battle, it can attack once more!"

You Xuan pointed forward.

"Final strike! Chaos Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, direct attack!"

"SPACE-TIME REND—GENESIS DOUBLE SLASH!!!"

The warrior leaped, his blade spinning as golden energy gathered—a slash that transcended time itself.

As the attack closed in, Bandit Keith's final thoughts weren't of rage, nor regret, nor even despair.

Just one phrase, echoing in his mind:

WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE LAVA GOLEM?!

[Bandit Keith | LP: 500 → 0]