While Dartz was preparing his ritual to cause chaos, the sudden outbreak of battle in Domino had reached its climax.
Various Doma outposts throughout the city were rapidly being taken down, and the influence of Orichalcos within the entire city was rapidly diminishing. Good news was continuously being transmitted back to headquarters, and in a matter of moments, Doma's active force within the city was reduced to less than one-tenth of its original strength.
Youyu, as the main force on the Nightwalkers' side, and Tenma Gekko, the leader of the Mirage Society, had both personally joined the battle.
Domino, reputed as the "City of Duels" by the world, had received relatively more force from Doma compared to other places. Within the organization, there were several high-level Dark Duelists stationed here.
Initially, these few experts performed impressively, defeating many Duelists on the Nightwalkers and Mirage Society sides single-handedly. But three of them encountered Tenma Gekko and their resistance ended there.
As the "Perfect Duelist," Tenma Gekko was one of the top-tier duelists in the current era. Even Youyu felt the pressure when facing his double angel blockade. Ordinary duelists were truly no match for him.
There were also two tough opponents that Youyu personally dealt with. Surprisingly, Xue Lang also took out a high-ranking officer, boosting his reputation among the players and proving that Youyu's investment in him since the game's launch was worthwhile.
Of course, as a trickster player, Youyu might not have been present to witness the act, but it's suspected that he might have gotten lucky again...
Unexpectedly, President Haima also stepped in to eliminate two people.
The president was quite interesting. When Youyu and Gekko proposed attacking Doma's stronghold tonight, the president dismissed it as "boring," seemingly not interested at all. However, he then "coincidentally" appeared at the battlefield.
It seemed that the president, upon seeing so many people gathering to duel, got the itch to participate due to a "spur of the moment," bringing his Duel Disc to challenge and assisting Youyu's side in taking down two high-ranking officers.
As the Doma strongholds were successively falling, soon, there was only one main battlefield left in the city.
That would be Doma's main base in Domino City, hidden just a few blocks from Kaiba Company. The outer facade was a tobacco and alcohol vendition company, its location could be described as incredibly brazen.
The battle inside the company building was also reaching its peak at this moment.
"Ahhh!!!"
Accompanied by screams and explosions, a player with a long string of IDs floating above his head was violently blasted away, slamming his back into the translucent green barrier wall, only to bounce off like a ball and crash back to the ground.
[Player xxx, LP 0]
This was yet another player who had been knocked out. The magic array contracted and swirled beneath his feet. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he regretfully muttered something about being so close, while his soul was extracted by the barrier, perishing on the spot.
Of course, a player's soul couldn't be sealed; at the moment of defeat, he would be judged dead and enter a revival countdown. The Seal of Orichalcos didn't actually seal anything.
Standing opposite was that Orichalcos devotee, named Aaron, one of the top-tier Dark Duelists within the organization, second only to the Doma Three Musketeers.
He was also the highest-ranking leader of the entire Domino Region branch.
With intelligence leaking and the stronghold's address exposed, all of Doma's bases in Domino were uprooted. Such a huge failure made Aaron, the person in charge, feel guilty of unforgivable crimes; he had resolved to stay in Domino until he perished in battle.
To this moment, no one knew how many players had fallen in front of him. This was also one reason why the last stronghold had yet to be conquered.
And at this instant, the transparent dome shattered with a "clang." A figure gracefully descended from the rooftop, landing in a crouch between the players and Aaron.
Youyu slowly stood up, raised his head, and locked gazes with his opponent: "Let's end it here. Your next opponent is me."
The crowd of players instantly erupted in excitement.
The girls even screamed out, as if they were at a concert seeing their idol.
Whoa, look! It's Youyu-san!
Alive! And moving...
The players busy dueling elsewhere couldn't help but steal glances over, while players with nothing better to do excitedly turned on their recording features, anticipating fresh video footage soon...
Aaron chuckled: "Interesting, it's the Duel King, is it? Very well. If capturing your soul can somewhat compensate for my mistake, then allow me to do so.
Duel King Youyu, it's only fitting that you be my opponent! Come at me!"
Youyu wasted no words and directly activated his Duel Disc.
"Duel!" x2
"I go first, draw!" Despite putting life and death aside, Aaron's eyes were still filled with fighting spirit, "I set one monster in Defense Position, then Set one card, ending my turn."
"My turn." Youyu drew a card and added it to his hand, then played a Magic Card, "Activating Magic Card - Graceful Charity! Draw three cards from my deck, then discard two cards from my hand to the graveyard."
He drew cards and discarded from hand, and the graveyard immediately glowed with golden light. A card that was just sent in quickly popped out.
"At this moment, the effect of 'Elemental Hero Shadow Mist' that I sent to the graveyard activates." he said, "When sent to the graveyard, I can add a 'Hero' other than itself from my deck to my hand.
I will add to my hand, 'Elemental Hero Edgeman.'"
He opened his card deck, fished out the metallic high-level Hero, and displayed it to his opponent.
"Humph," Aaron snorted, "Immediately adding a high-level monster to your hand, huh? But that kind of monster requires two tributes to summon..."
"Not necessary!" The golden light from the graveyard flared again, and another monster card he had just sent was ejected from the graveyard, "Another hero in my graveyard, 'Elemental Hero Necroshade's effect.
While this card is in the graveyard, I can summon an Elemental Hero high-level monster once without tributing!"
"What?" Aaron narrowed his eyes, "Not needing tributes? Planning to directly summon Edgeman..."
"Indeed, but before that..." Youyu played another card, "Using Quick-Play Magic - Mystical Space Typhoon, I destroy the Set Card in your back row!"
It proved Youyu's caution was justified. The card blown away by Mystical Space Typhoon was actually "Bottomless Trap Hole," a powerful trap that could destroy and remove from play any monster with 1500 or more ATK summoned by the opponent.
If he hadn't used Mystical Space Typhoon first, Edgeman might have been gone before even settling onto the field.
"Then, activating the effect of 'Elemental Hero Necroshade' in the graveyard!" Youyu retrieved the card from the graveyard, "Without tributes, I summon from my hand, 'Elemental Hero Edgeman!'"
Golden light burst forth, and the golden steel hero flew out with engine flames bursting behind him, shouting a battle cry while unsheathing the sharp metal blades on his wrists.
[Elemental Hero Edgeman, ATK 2600]
"Edgeman, attack that Defense Position monster!"
With a low shout, Edgeman shot forward, propelled by the engine behind him. The golden blade cut through the covered monster card, revealing a small frog with angelic wings and a golden halo on its head.
[Treeborn Frog, DEF 100]
With the monster destroyed, Youyu continued, "Edgeman's special ability allows him to inflict damage equal to his ATK exceeding the DEF of the Defense Position monster!"
After piercing through the frog, the momentum carried on and hit Aaron. He grunted, his body wavering as if almost toppling.
[Aaron, LP 4000 → LP 1500]
"I Set one card, ending my turn."
After the fierce assault, although he seemed to have gained a tactical advantage, Youyu remained cautious and not overly optimistic.
What caught his attention more was the monster he just cut down, surprisingly it was...
...Treeborn Frog?