“My turn, I activate my Field Spell card, Alliance Hangar.”
Kaiba glanced at the card he had just drawn and slammed it down.
“Clank clank!”
The Field Spell, with a grand gesture, rose from the ground, one hangar after another, thanks to Kaiba Corporation's virtual imaging technology.
Ordinary hangars house vehicles like cars and planes, but this one held Z-Metal Tread, Y-Dragon Head, X-Head Cannon, W-Ejection Wings, and other mechanical Alliance monsters.
“When this card is activated, I can add one Machine-Type LIGHT Alliance monster from my Deck to my hand. Come forth, Z-Metal Tread. I Normal Summon him, and based on the Hangar’s effect, I can equip him with one other Machine-Type LIGHT Alliance monster with a different card name.”
From the Hangar, Z-Metal Tread drove onto the field. Y-Dragon Head followed close behind due to the effect.
However, they didn't appear on the field simultaneously; instead, they landed in the Spell & Trap Zone, becoming equipment cards for Z-Metal Tread.
This was the characteristic of Alliance monsters—one monster could serve as an equipment card for another, boosting its stats or triggering different effects.
Seeing the changes on the field, Yugi thought to himself, this Alliance Hangar card is a real fake.
For an Alliance monster deck, this field's value was no less than Pot of Greed, perhaps even exceeding it.
This card could directly and precisely search for a specific card, and it could also accurately place another Alliance card related to it onto the field.
It was precisely because of this powerful effect that the Alliance deck ABC had secured a place in the mainstream.
However, upon seeing this, Yugi felt a sense of doubt. He remembered this card as something that appeared much later.
Although the card art featured Kaiba's monsters, he was certain that this card never appeared in the anime. Why did Kaiba have this card?
He felt that this world was somehow different from the anime world he expected.
He had already encountered many cards that shouldn't have appeared in the anime. During his battle against Insect Queen, he also saw a card that shouldn't have existed in this era, the Cocoon of Evolution.
“Fusion, eh? I can do that too. I'll overlay X-Leader Cannon with Z-Metal Tread on the field. Fuse!”
X-Leader Cannon flew above Z-Metal Tread, the two pieces joining together to form a new monster, XZ-Mech Cannon.
XZ-Mech Cannon, ATK: 2400 DEF: 2100
When he heard the word "overlay," Yugi's memories flickered.
He thought that since there were two four-star monsters on the field, Kaiba was going to use "Over-Lay" as well. Fortunately, "overlay" was just a literal stacking of cards.
Called overlay, but actually fusion.
“I activate the effect of XZ-Mech Cannon. By discarding one card from my hand, I destroy one face-down Spell or Trap card on your field.”
Kaiba's hand card turned into Mech Cannon bullets, shattering Yugi's face-down card.
The Noble Power of the Hanzo Knight perished!
However, Yugi was more concerned with the card Kaiba had just discarded with his effect than the destroyed Spell & Trap.
If he wasn't mistaken, it was a blue card. This guy, without warning, just threw away the Obelisk the Tormentor.
Yugi thought to himself, “Damn it, Kaiba wouldn't be summoning his god card this turn, would he?”
That would be a real tough fight.
However, Kaiba didn't do so. It seemed he hadn't drawn a card that could revive the god. He simply sneered, “You play a Fusion-based deck. Let's see if you can beat my fusion.”
“I set two cards face-down. My turn ends.”
The fusion monster couldn't attack this turn.
Kaiba set two more cards face-down, ending his turn. It was obvious that he had drawn more than one card that could be set during his last turn.
He was trying to lure Yugi into activating the effect of Gem-Knight, Amethyst so that he could activate his other Spell and Trap cards successfully.
“To beat me at fusion, huh? Interesting.”
Yugi understood the Chairman’s intentions. With his arrogant personality and habit of crushing others, what could be more thrilling than defeating someone at their own game?
Kaiba's XYZ deck, although it didn't require fusion, technically was a Fusion deck, with XYZ-Dragon Cannon as its main monster.
It boasted 3000 ATK and had a powerful effect to discard cards and destroy cards.
However, because of the Alliance Hangar's field effect, equipped Alliance monsters couldn't be Special Summoned this turn.
Therefore, this deck boss didn’t make an appearance.
For now, his odds of winning were still higher.
Of course, he couldn't rule out the possibility that Kaiba would play his god card without warning.
“My turn, draw.”
Yugi drew Gem-Knight, Lapis Lazuli.
He had to admit that the card game's connection perhaps really existed. Yugi felt that the chances of drawing this card were very high.
Seeing this card, Yugi smiled. This card had come at the right time. He had enough Gem-Knight resources, and now he had the ability to OTK, just like Kaiba.
“I Normal Summon Crystal Rose. I activate its effect, sending Gem-Knight, Topaz from my Deck to the Graveyard.”
Yugi played according to his plan, sending Topaz to the graveyard and retrieving Jade from it.
“Da-da-da-da-da-da…”
At that moment, the sound of airplane propellers and roaring engines suddenly erupted.
The loud, chaotic noise drew the attention of both Yugi and Kaiba, who were focused on their duel, causing them to look up.
As they looked up, Kaiba's pupils constricted and his face turned pale.
The helicopter that suddenly appeared in the sky was holding a man with a rope. That man was none other than his younger brother, Kaiba Mokuba!
“Mokuba!”
As everyone knew, Kaiba was a brother-lover. Seeing his younger brother kidnapped, the brother-lover was furious.
Mokuba, hanging in the air, seemed to sense something. He opened his eyes and cried out for help.
However, his voice was far too faint compared to the loud helicopter propellers. No one in the audience could make out what he was saying.
On the ground, the black-suited bodyguards, who served as a backdrop, also looked panicked.
This was their company's vice president. Although they weren't on company grounds, they weren't completely blameless. If the Chairman went ballistic, they definitely wouldn't get off easy.
Seeing Mokuba get kidnapped, Yugi put down his cards and his expression turned serious.
This world's Mokuba wasn't the Nine-Tailed Jinchūriki after all, so he couldn't just hand-roll a pill and beat up the kidnappers. He didn't need his brother to worry about him at all.