"When luck runs out..."
Joey closed his eyes.
Then he chuckled twice—an odd, almost creepy laugh.
"Oh? What’s so funny?" Pegasus narrowed his eyes.
"Nothing," Joey said lightly. "It’s just—Pegasus, you..."
He lifted his head, scorn in his eyes.
"Without your Millennium Eye, you really are second-rate."
"What did you say?"
Anger flashed across Pegasus’s face.
He controlled it well and immediately returned to normal.
"Is that so, Joey Boy? It seems you really do have some bite now. Then let me see if your strength matches your confidence.
I set two cards."
He slid two cards from his hand and set them with a flourish.
"My turn ends."
"As you wish—watch closely and see my power.
My turn—draw!"
Joey drew, pausing as he glanced at the opponent’s backrow.
Three set cards, one of which was the "Mirror Force" that failed to activate last turn.
Pegasus might think Joey had forgotten, but tough luck—Joey’s memory was sharp.
One way or another, he had to deal with Mirror Force first. Without Black Skull Dragon, he no longer had trap immunity; he needed to attack cautiously.
"I activate the Spell Card ’Graceful Charity’."
He slid the Spell into the Duel Disk.
"Draw three cards, then discard two."
He currently had no way to play around traps.
"Come on, my Deck—give me strength..."
Joey drew.
"I set three cards," he said. "Then I activate the Spell ’Card Destruction’! Both players discard their entire hands, then draw the same number of cards!"
Three more set cards appeared. Then he discarded his hand and drew anew.
Pegasus drew as well, chuckling: "Trying to dig for an answer through draws, are we?"
"Not done yet. ’Card Destruction’ hit the Spell ’Card of Compensation’," Joey said. "I draw two more cards."
After the flood of draws, Joey’s face lit up.
"Grandpa was right—if you believe, your Deck will always answer."
The Grandpa was of course not his own, but Yugi’s grandfather, the famous perennial Millennium hostage Solomon Muto—also Joey’s dueling mentor.
"I Normal Summon ’Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight’!"
The Gearfried the Iron Knight, a Joey staple of the early days—popular for a solid 1800 ATK at Level 4 and a sleek design.
Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight is his new guise; in recent years Gearfried hitched a ride on the Red-Eyes train, gaining the proud Red-Eyes tag to become part of the archetype.
[Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight, ATK 1800]
"Then the effect of ’Black Metal Dragon’ in my hand," Joey continued. "During my Main Phase: I can target 1 ’Red-Eyes’ monster I control and equip this card from my hand or field to it."
"Equip to a Red-Eyes monster..." Pegasus mused. "I see—Gearfried has evolved into a member of Red-Eyes."
"Exactly. So Black Metal Dragon equips to Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight! The equipped monster gains 600 ATK!"
Joey smiled.


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