第二章　三幻神あらわる
Chapter 2: The Three Mythic Gods Appear

Sugoroku’s shop in Domino City is visited by the tranquil early afternoon. Inside, Sugoroku, who looks like Yugi kept to dry in the sun for half a century, tends to the shop.
Today, there hasn’t been any sign of a customer since morning. The day of a game shop without popular video game or card releases is a boring one. Even so, the future of business doesn’t seem to bother Sugoroku. He appears to be entranced in a certain newspaper article.
“Hmmm… Mummy brought from Egypt on display at the Domino Museum…” A photograph of the sarcophagus being submitted to Domino Museum was on the front page with a color photo of the rightside-up, crystal “Pyramid of Light” lined right next to it.
“What’s this…!? Has it finally been found!?” His hands, holding the newspaper, quiver.
There might not be anyone who would believe it by looking at his present, decrepit appearance, but Sugoroku was once a genuine international treasure hunter. Even him obtaining the Millennium Puzzle which Yugi holds was a fruit of those adventures.
Sugoroku had heard about a rightside-up pyramid Millennium Item, counterpart to the Millennium Puzzle, from his old friends. As a treasure hunter, he had hoped of bringing both treasures together, but during his career, that wish never came true.
They found what he had dreamed of in his youth and put it on exhibit in Domino City. Sugoroku quickly began to close up shop in order to, of course, go meet the Pyramid of Light, the lover he has yet to see.

***

The afternoon bell rang at Domino High School. Classes were over and out of the small groups of students going home were Jonouchi, Anzu, and Yugi. However, the three’s legs suddenly stopped in their tracks. Students, who were overflowing from the school, were making a crowd in front of the main gate.
“What’s with that?” Jonouchi asks suspiciously. The high school doesn’t have a public entertainment route where entertainment travels back and forth.
The students stare at the outside of the main gate from the schoolyard. Jonouchi, with his tall figure, scoped the outside over the heads of the crowd. He saw that duelists, gathered from all over the world, were forming a dense crowd. There were people of different apparel, age, and skin color.
“What’s up with this? This is bound to be something awesome!”
Jonouchi suddenly looks behind him. Yugi was trying to see to the front by hippity-hopping.
“What’s awesome…?” Yugi showed his face from out the crowd without digression.
“It’s Mutou Yugi, the Duel King!”
“I’ve been waiting for you! Accept my challenge!!”
“Champion! Let’s have a duel using the Ante Rules with your three God cards on the line!”
The international duelists, who were encircling the place at a safe distance, ran at the main gate. Yugi, in complete confusion, stares in terror. Wading through the surge of people, Honda came running up.
“This sure is something, Yugi! You’re a world celebrity right now! The whole world knows about you becoming champion in the Battle City Tournament and getting the God cards!”
“This is bad. Yugi, you slip out the back gate.”
“But is it all right for me not to come out? I wonder if everyone understand and go home.”
“If you come out now, you’ll get wasted! Hurry and run! I’ll figure something out here.”
“Yugi, quickly!” Anzu grabbed the bewildered Yugi’s hand in a fret and started running.
“But…they came all this way to come meet me…”
“If you go up against opponents like these, it could go on forever!”
The duelists, not settling with Yugi not showing up, loiter around the outside of the school gate. Panic could be in store if things don’t change.
“I’m counting on you, Jonouchi!”
“Sure, leave it to me!” Jonouchi, shaking with excitement, rushed forward into the duelists and Honda stood behind him as if he were a bodyguard.
“Hold it, hold it, hold it! Hold it right there!!” Jonouchi stands in front of the Duelists with his feet set apart.
“Why is the Duel King running away!?”
“Is the Champion, Yugi Mutou, a chicken?!”
“Is he intending on running out with the God cards?!”
Jonouchi stood up to the Duelists. “What in the hell are you guys babbling about?! Yugi ain’t no chicken!”
“Then why doesn’t he fight us fair and square?!”
“He’s right! He’s right!”
“The Three Mythic Gods that Pegasus created aren’t just Yugi Mutou’s! They should be the treasure of Duelists over the world!”
There was a valid point in the Duelists’ words. Jonouchi was at a loss of words and gulped. His simplex brain cells couldn’t find any words that would convince the Duelists. The sound of his blood vessel around his temple could be heard snapping.
“Shaddap! If you got any complaints, say ‘em after you beat me! Katsuya Jonouchi, one of the final four in Battle City, is gonna make sure whether you guys have what it takes to challenge Yugi!”
Things were different from the times when he was in the final eight of the town tournament. Now, he may be one of the best five Duelists in the world.
Jonouchi put his Duel Disk on his arm. “C’mon, who’s stepping up?! Come and get it!”
“All right! I challenge you!” sounded a voice from the crowd.
The white-skinned boy that had already had his Duel Disk attacked to his body didn’t look anything like a boy with all the muscles he had.
“He’s got quite the body on him! Don’t lose, Jonouchi!”
“Are you stupid or something, Honda?! Duels aren’t about using brawn!”
While nervous on the inside, Jonouchi picked himself up. Using the schoolyard as a ring, the duel started.

***

Yugi ran while being forcibly drawn by Anzu and tripping.
“Jonouchi is keeping them busy. Now’s our chance!”
“I wonder if Jonouchi-kun will be okay…” Yugi was concerned not for himself, but his friends.
Anzu was searching for a place to hide themselves. A building in Ancient Roman construction, shining chalky white, appeared before their very eyes. This building, disproportioned in such a small suburban city, is the Domino City Museum. Anzu thought of hiding there for the time being.
“Yugi, in there!” Anzu, glancing back, loses sight of Yugi, who was supposed to be right next to her. Yugi was looking at a displayed billboard with keen interest. The poster read “Mummy and Crystal Pyramid Special Exhibit” and a picture of the Crystal Pyramid on it.

The Crystal Pyramid looked like the Millennium Puzzle turned upside down to Anzu. Whether it was because it was daytime on a weekday, there weren’t many people for the large-scale exhibit.
Artifacts that have surfaced in the present day, through many thousands of years, are displayed in an orderly fashion. Yugi and Anzu travel between the different exhibits and approached the glass case near the rear.
The mummy, with eyes, already worn down to its sockets, open, was housed in the sarcophagus. Yugi was deeply interested, but Anzu is a girl about it.
“This is making me sick…Let’s go to the next one.”
Anzu hurried them up to the next exhibit. Yugi was taken away from the mummy’s side with reluctance.
“It looks like the Crystal Pyramid exhibit is on the other side.”
Following the direction board, they headed for the adjoining room while eyes watch them through the glass. The pitch-black eye sockets of the mummy glared for a split second. Unbeknownst to that, Yugi and Anzu were at the display corner for the “Pyramid of Light.” A small old man was planted in front of the Pyramid of Light.
Without noticing the two behind him, Sugoroku looks inside as if in a daze.
“Wha? Grandpa, what are you doing here!?”
“Oh, Yugi, so you’re here? Look at this!”
“Huh? What is it…?”
“It’s said that the Pyramid of Light closely resembles the Millennium Puzzle in overall impressions. The engraved patterns and Text of the Ancient Priests are almost identical. Its crystal and, instead of the Eye of Wdjat, a red-eye jewel is set into it…”
Anzu gazed at the Millennium Puzzle worn around Yugi’s neck. “It really does look alike, but isn’t it being displayed upside down?”
“It’s not. From the direction of the Text of the Ancient Priests, the Hieratic Text, this is how it should be. This is a legendary treasure which I couldn’t find in the end.”
Sugoroku wouldn’t normally flaunt his past as a treasure hunter, but he would tell his dear grandson just a little bit about it. Yugi remembered that.
“Does it have anything to do with the Millennium Puzzle?”
“Mm-hmm. They say that the Pyramid of Light is the symbol of the King of Light. In other words, it exists on an opposite extreme to your Millennium Puzzle which governs the darkness.”
Yugi re-glanced at the Millennium Puzzle on his chest.
“Hmmm…There was something written on lid of the mummy’s sarcophagus on the other side too.”
“Mm-hmm, let’s get back there.”
“I don’t want to go that mummy again!”
Anzu, her eyes looking around restlessly, noticed the lithograph decorating the spot next to the glass case. Engravings, perceived to be the Three Mythic Gods, were chiseled on the triangular lithograph.
“You know something, could this be about the three God cards?” When Anzu looked back, Yugi and Sugoroku had already returned in front of the mummy’s sarcophagus. “For the love of…”
Anzu, following the two, without much choice in the matter, returned to the mummy’s sarcophagus exhibit. She stands squeamishly with the two a little ways apart. Yugi and Sugoroku were looking at the Hieratic Text on the lid of the sarcophagus.
“What’s this written here? Do you know, Grandpa?”
Having to live up to his grandson’s expectations, Sugoroku enthusiastically took a look at the Text of the Ancient Priests. “Hm-hum, the King of Light and the King of Darkness fight…and then the King of Destruction will be reborn…or something meaning to that effect is written here. This Hieratic Text is like a prophetic note of some kind.”
If they had seen something to inspire them in even the slightest, maybe they wouldn’t have overlooked the eyeballs shining slimily in the mummy’s eye sockets.
The vision of a man dressed in the attire of an ancient priest emerged above Yugi and Sugoroku’s heads. The man reached for their heads with them having no way of knowing that this was going on.
Yugi and Sugoroku were wrapped in a mysterious light which caused them to become dazed and the scenery around them jumps into white. Coming to, Yugi was in the middle of a sea of stars. In the swirling galaxy float pyramids of Light and Dark. The two pyramids draw nearer as if to call one another.
“What is this!?”
A voice echoed throughout his mind to answer Yugi’s question. “When both Light and Dark intersect…” An image in which Dark Yugi and Kaiba confront each other in a duel surfaces. “The King of Light will destroy the Sacred Beasts of Darkness and lay waste to the King of Darkness.” The image of Dark Yugi sunk to his knees. “When enough light is fulfilled…” A giant arm drew near on a triumphant Kaiba from behind, and grabbed his head. “The King of Destruction will reborn.”
Light gushes from the Millennium Puzzle, severing the image. Yugi looks up to see he is in his Mind Room within the Millennium Puzzle. Dark Yugi was sitting in the stone children’s room, looking mindful.
“Other Self!? What was that just now? Did you just have that vision too?” He tries asking the Dark Yugi.
“Yeah…I don’t know what it’s about, but maybe I’m this ‘King of Darkness.’”
“Then who’s the King of Light? I’m sure I saw an image of Kaiba-kun!”
“If the King of Light is referring to Kaiba, then who is the King of Destruction…? I sense that an evil power is afoot.”
“If this is foretelling the future as Grandpa said…”
“Kaiba might be a goner.”
“Kaiba-kun could!?”
It was then that at a briiiing, a shrill, resounding metallic sound, Yugi was brought back to his senses. Yugi opens his eyes to find that the alarm installed into the museum was ablare.
Anzu was looking at Yugi and Sugoroku, lying collapsed on the floor, worriedly. “Yugi! Grandfather! Snap out of it!”
Yugi was the first to have opened his eyes.
“Did you have that vision just now too, Anzu?”
“What are you talking about? I’m pretty sure that the place filled with light and blinded me, but…Look at that!”
Yugi looked to where Anzu was pointing to see that the mummy’s sarcophagus placed on one end of the room had been smashed to pieces and that the inside was empty.
“The inside of the sarcophagus! The mummy is missing!?” calls the guard who had instantly came running.
There was the voice of another guard coming from the corresponding room. “In here too! The Crystal Pyramid is missing!”
At that time, Sugoroku, who lay fallen nearby, comes to his senses with a “Mmph…” Yugi and Anzu, who were peering over him, took hefty sighs of relief.
“Anzu, you take care of Grandpa.”
“Where are you going, Yugi!?”
“There something that’s on my mind!” Yugi started to run.
“Hold on, Yugi…”
Anzu wanted to go chase after Yugi, but she couldn’t leave Sugoroku behind.
“Grandfather? Are you okay?”
Sugoroku vaguely watched the shape of the guards running around the building but suddenly regained his senses and looked at Anzu. “What happened to me?”
“You lost consciousness. Yugi said that he had a vision.”
“How long was I unconscious for?”
“A split second. But in that time, the mummy and the Pyramid of Light disappeared!”
“So that ancient mummy really did revive, did it…”
“That can’t be, it’s impossible.”
“Yes, through common sense, that is. However, the premonition on the lid of the sarcophagus told of the rebirth of the King of Destruction…Unpredictable things do happen in a world controlled by darkness.” Sugoroku looked around him and finally realized that Yugi wasn’t there. “Where’s Yugi?”
“I have no idea myself, but he went off somewhere in a hurry.”
“Could it be that Yugi and I had the same vision? It seems that something unimaginable to the common sense of this world is already on the move.”
“What is this ‘something unimaginable’?”
“Normally, I’d say the powers of darkness…but the enemy this time is much more terrible—the powers of light!”

***

Yugi rushed in front of the gates of the Domino City Museum in effort to inform Kaiba of the danger—the mysterious prophecy. He had no process in mind that could allow both Kaiba and himself to avoid the danger trying to attack them.
He feels pressed, but there are no taxis nearby. That is where a limousine shows up, screeching its tires, making a quick stop right in front of him. The backseat door opened with a solid thud and a bam. Who came out was Mokuba, Seto Kaiba’s younger brother.
“Mokuba-kun!? I thought you’d be heading to your brother right now!”
“What luck. This is a message from Brother. ‘I’m waiting at the Kaiba Land Event Dome’…” Mokuba’s eyes were somewhat frightened. It is quite clear that his heart trembles.
“I understand. Let’s go.” Yugi hopped in the car without hesitation. Mokuba was the only one in the backseat and Yugi sat down and his body sunk deep into the cushions. The driver’s seat is partitioned with black glass. The car drove off silently.
“Brother said for you to put the three God cards in your deck, no matter what. He said there would be no point unless he fights against the Duel King at his very best.”
“Mokuba-kun, I’m sorry but I can’t use the God cards.”
“Why not!?”
“The God cards have a power which transcends logic. They might override the system and inflict damage to its adversaries.”
“While that may be true, he probably won’t sit well unless you have the God cards. Brother isn’t acting normal nowadays. He’d probably use any means necessary to make you use the God cards…”
“What do you mean by saying he’s not acting normal, Mokuba-kun? If it’s okay with you, why don’t you tell me about it?”
“The truth is that I’m not very sure, but he’s acting weird, almost as if he is being controlled by something.” Mokuba’s troubled eyes shimmered as to protest of something.
“Just what you know is fine…So why don’t you tell me anything you know.”
“Right…After Battle City, I thought that the kind Brother I once knew would finally come back, but…” We’re both the only brothers me and my Brother each have in the world. A long time ago, since we had lost both our parents, we were put into a orphanage.”
Even be it Yugi, he wasn’t clueless about Kaiba and Mokuba. While en route towards the Duel Tower, the cite of the Battle City finals, they were abducted by a mysterious submarine. The culprit was Noa, the real son of Gozaburo, Kaiba’s adoptive father.
Noa had already suffered a premature death, and afterwards, his spirit was turned into programming and left in their computers; it was Gozaburo’s expression of the depths of his love towards his son. However, time passes on and Gozaburo’s visits with Noa in the virtual world became infrequent. Noa knew the reason was because he adopted Seto Kaiba as his son. The sadness of having lost the love of his father had been changed into a vengeance towards Kaiba and in order to beat Kaiba, Noa had recorded and analyzed everything on Kaiba. Yugi was sucked into that family love-hate drama. That was when, within the submarine, Noa showed them Kaiba and Mokuba’s past, recreated through Virtual Reality.
However, Yugi listened silently to Mokuba’s words. He thought that listening to all on Mokuba’s mind would be a key to the mystery behind Kaiba.
Mokuba started on his tale. Kaiba physically defended the small and bullied Mokuba. When Mokuba was down, Kaiba would play Mokuba in games which he was good at. In the time he spent playing with his brother, he forgot about everything which made him sad. To Mokuba, games were tools to tie both his and his brother’s hearts together. Those were the most peaceful and fun times for the brothers.
“But ever since our adoptive father, Gozaburo, visited the orphanage, Brother’s personality changed.”
Kaiba had challenged Gozaburo, who was a world chess champion, and defeat him. Touting his talents to Gozaburo, he had won his bet to be adopted. Since then, games to Kaiba were turned into tools, not to confirm affections, but to fulfill his own ambitions. After that, Kaiba’s progress was remarkabale.
Seto developed the Solid Vision System, under the tutelage of his adoptive father, for use in Duel Monsters. Kaiba, utilizing this system, tried to construct Kaiba Land, a game paradise which was a dream since his childhood, but Gozaburo disregarded Kaiba’s dream and utilized the system for military purposes. It was a possibility for Kaiba Corporation advance to a conglomerate. Despite his requests to build Kaiba Land, Gozaburo continued to disregard them. That was when Gozaburo Kaiba died abruptly.
Different rumors spread regarding Gozaburo’s death. Among one of them was that he was killed by Kaiba Seto. Even Mokuba has heard that one.
“I don’t believe in those rumors, but it is true that since then, with the Big Five trapped in the Computer World, the company has gone under one-man management. Brother has become all the more colder ever since around then…You would probably know about my Brother ever since then, Yugi. His interest seems to be in you more than me, his own brother, after all.”
“It’s not like that…There’s no way Kaiba-kun would forget about you.”
“Don’t console me! I hate games and I hate Duel Monsters. Duel Monsters has split us both apart!”
“Mokuba-kun…” Yugi was unhappy. A young boy’s heart was being damaged by Duel Monsters, the game which he loved so. He wanted to return Kaiba’s heart to him somehow or another. “Duel Monsters is supposed to have the power to tie hearts among people together. If I didn’t duel, I’m sure that I wouldn’t have been able to link my heart with Jonouchi-kun, Honda-kun, Anzu-chan, and…” he tried talking about his other self, but he suddenly held his tongue, “and…with my many rivals. It’s true that duels have a magical power which enthralls the heart of an individual. He’ll probably seem to be acting weird, temporarily, just as you said…but Kaiba-kun is sensible. I’m sure he’ll eventually open his eyes.”
“Duels link people’s hearts together, you say!? Then prove it to me! Get back Brother’s heart! Brother’s heart is frozen solid! Get back my old Brother that used to laugh together with me!”
The heart of the boy, pleading with tears in his round eyes, needed to have an answer, and Yugi decided.
“I understand.”
“Huh…!?”
“Stop the car at my house…The three God cards are at home.”

***

In front of Sugoroku’s house, Jonouchi trails in Honda’s heels with an exhausted look on his face and panting.
“I wonder if Yugi got away all right.”
“Am I ever beat. Oh well, it wasn’t that big a problem, right?”
“You liar. You better bet it was a problem.”
It was then that a limousine was driving past their very eyes.
“Huh? That car just came from Yugi’s house.”
“It’s heading towards Kaiba Land.”
Jonouchi saw where the car was going. The roof of the massive Kaiba Land Event Dome, which is where the straight road led to, shined red by the sunset being reflected off it.
The limousine stopped in the Kaiba Land parking lot and Mokuba and Yugi got out of the car. Mokuba had stopped at the Event Dome’s elevator and pointed at the door.
“Brother should be waiting for you inside the Dome.”
Yugi entered the elevator with his bag in hand and the door shut without making a sound with the red sunset running through the see-through elevator tube. Yugi took the three God cards from his bag and stared at them.
“Other self…” Yugi addressed, facing his other self within the darkness of his image. “I had planned not to use these three God cards…their powers are far too great and will affect the people that are dueling…Besides that, these cards just happen to be essential in order for you to regain your name. They must not be stolen by anyone else ever again.”
“Hmm...”
“But I want to use these cards just this once.” The Dark Yugi stares at Yugi’s earnest eyes. “I have to use them to save Kaiba-kun…It looks like something is happening to Kaiba-kun now…And according to the premonition, if I lose and Kaiba-kun wins…Kaiba-kun will die…”
“I feel an evil power. You should give up this duel, but even if I said that, you probably wouldn’t listen, anyway.”
“I have no idea what will happen once the duel starts. But I simply can’t afford to lose this duel.”
“There is indeed only one way to beat this premonition. And that has to be by fighting with the three God cards and defeating Kaiba…”
“Other Self, will you lend me your strength? With our powers, we’ll change the future predicted for us.”
“I will, Partner!”
The Millennium Puzzle around Yugi’s neck releases a sparkling plasma. The light shined brightly, concentrating into the Eye of Wdjat. Under the pressure being exerted from the Millennium Puzzle, Yugi’s hair floats up. The shining consumes the area and the two Yugis could be seen at the same time for a split second.
Wham! The personalities of Yugi and the Dark Yugi had switched places. The eyes which opened sharply were of Dark Yugi, who had already become ever so more intimidating. Dark Yugi picked up the three God cards and put them into his deck.

Around the same time, Honda and Jonouchi had followed the car and made it to Kaiba Land.
“Say, Jonouchi, do you really think that Yugi came here?”
“The car was definitely heading from Yugi’s house towards Kaiba Land.”
Mokuba showed up in front of the two as they prowled around aimlessly without a way to enter the Dome.
“What are you guys doing over there?”
“Mokuba!?”
“I’m sure that Yugi came here!”
“Yeah, Yugi is inside the dome.”
“Why did he come here?”
“So that he can get back my Brother’s heart.”
“Huh!?” Jonouchi and Honda interjected as they looked at Mokuba.

***

Kaiba was standing perfectly still in the Duel Ring installed on the Dome’s field. (I will surpass Yugi…surpass the Gods…and stand at the apex of Duel Monsters.)
Two new cards were stocked in Kaiba’s deck. Those cards were the secret strategies Pegasus developed to defeat the Gods.
The ties between Kaiba and Yugi ran deep. It started with them being in the same school with one being the representative of Kaiba Corporation and the other being nothing more than the mere inheritor of game shop with a love of games. Kaiba wasn’t even aware of Yugi being his rival.
However, once he started in Duel Monsters, he steadily distinguished himself. After being invited to Duelist Kingdom by the Game of Darkness video sent by Pegasus, he defeated leading duelists and ascended to the apex in a baffling amount of time.
Kaiba has always been looking at Yugi, as he keeps making it big, with eyes of jealousy. He can be the only man to become Duel King, and if it only weren’t for that other man, he could have been ruling and reigning over the world right around now—. There was only one way to quell his self-surprisingly violent mind and that was to smash his rival to pieces with his own hands.
He would stop at nothing, as did happen long ago when he got in right with Gozaburo, became his adoptive son, and took over the company. As when collecting the Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards or even when he tried to oust the Big Five and control the company to his own will…he has come through hell and high water to accomplish the impossible.
Kaiba suddenly glances at the field’s entrance to see Dark Yugi entering. Kaiba grinned and murmured, “So he’s arrived.”
At that very time, Jonouchi and Honda fly in from the stand entrance. The two leaned over the fence and looked at the Duel Ring. Mokuba entered the metallic booth that has a concentration of all the systems used to control the Dome. The booth traveled along the guide rail to the top of the ceiling.
“Yugi. How are you going to get back Brother’s heart? If you manage to do it, I’ll like Duel Monsters again…”
Kaiba and Dark Yugi stood, facing each other, on either side of the Ring.
“How good of you to come, Yugi. I’ll give you credit for that. I’m going to get back the title of Duel King here and today.”
“Wait, Kaiba! There’s an evil force at work in this duel. It might have momentous life-threatening consequences on you. And yet, you’re saying that you’re willing to go through with this duel?”
“Again with your occult tales…? Enough is enough. That aside, have you brought the three God cards?”
“I have. They’re already in my deck.”
“Life-threatening? That too sounds interesting. But all I want is to overcome you, the possessor of the three God cards. If I can do that, I’ll gladly give up my life.” Kaiba points sharply at the control room. “Mokuba, seal off all entrances and exits.”
“Yes, Brother!” Mokuba, in the booth, pushed a switch and a heavy mechanical sound blared across the spectator stands.
The shutters of Dome’s ceiling and all the entrances and exits close simultaneously.
“Kaiba, what are you up to? Why do you have to seal Kaiba Dome!?”
“Yugi, it’s so you won’t escape.”
“Grr!”
Yugi’s likeness floated right next to Dark Yugi. Even after swapping personalities, Yugi, while inside the children’s room in the ‘Mind Labyrinth,’ and Dark Yugi, while in the real world, can talk to each other in this way.
(Other self, it seems that Kaiba hasn’t realized anything, after all. Persuasion is no good. I think that winning the duel just might be the only way to change the future.)
“Mm-hmm, it appears we can only confirm the true nature of the evil during the duel.” Dark Yugi switched his gaze onto Kaiba. “I got it, then! I’m up for it!!”
“Without even having to fight, victory is already within my deck! Each player will take their shuffled cards and set them in the Duel Disk.”
The initial Duel Disk System was a gigantic machine that is installed in the Ring. However, now that it has evolved, it has become so compact that it can fit around one’s left arm. Following directions, Dark Yugi set his deck of cards into the Duel Disk on his left arm.
“Life Points are 4000! Counters, set!” Blue characters reading 4000 flash on the electronic scoreboard. “All of our duels up until now have ended up the same many a time! But this will be the last!! For when everything is over, you’ll have used up all of your strength and you won’t be able to so much as hold a card ever again!!”
“A duel that’ll use up all of my strength? I’ll take your challenge!”
“Duel!!” both Kaiba and Yugi cried at the same time.
“It’s my turn! Draw!!” As soon as Kaiba drew the first card, the duel had finally gone underway. “I summon Familiar Knight from my hand in defense mode!”
A hint of a Game of Darkness could still not be sensed. When it came back to be his turn, Dark Yugi summoned Queen’s Knight and commenced battle straight away. He wishes to win and end the game before any dark powers set in motion.
“Queen’s Saber Slash!!” The sharp sound of the female knight’s sword rang throughout the field.
When Familiar Knight let out the last throes of its life and disappeared from the field, Rare Metal Dragon cropped up on Kaiba’s side of the field. It was Special Summoned through Familiar Knight’s monster effect. Rare Metal has a level of 4 and attack power 2400. Kaiba leaving himself open to have Yugi attack was all part of his strategy to use Familiar Knight as a sacrifice to bring in the mightiest of 4-star monsters which cannot be Normal Summoned, Rare Metal Dragon.
(So, the dark power still hasn't taken him over, has it? Kaiba’s judgment as a duelist is cool and rational,) Yugi mentally murmured and smiled at ease.
“What’s so funny, Yugi…?”
“I’m going to take advantage of your own combo. You’re not the only one that can call out a level 4 monster through Familiar Knight’s destruction! I summon King’s Knight!” The two knights were lined up in front of Yugi, but the combo didn’t end on just that. “When the King and Queen are on the field, I can summon the Jack from my deck to the field.” Three knights based off of the King, Queen, and Jack face playing cards were all together. Now as long as he can bring in a God card into his hand, the preparations for summoning it are complete. “Then, I set one reverse card and end my turn.” Yugi forced himself to set a Trap card face down.
(Bringing together sacrifices for the summoning of God through a monster combo in no time at all…Yugi, it seems that your skills haven’t gotten rusty…Then again, I had factored that in as well.) The turn passes to Kaiba.
In a duel, if the element of luck were to come in, it would be the moment of a draw. Strength in drawing could possibly be an ability given by God. So, in this very case, whether what housed inside Kaiba is God or the Devil, there is no doubt that he is being acted upon by someone not human.
Kaiba drew the exact card he was expecting for from his deck: The Pyramid of Light. It was one of the cards he brought back from Pegasus’ villa. The card features a picture of a pyramid shining gold, as its name suggests. On the pyramid, a red eye, similar to the Eye of Wdjat, is wide open. The eye gave off the presence of a something not “good” but “ill,” and this ill presence seemed as if it were engrossing Kaiba.
Kaiba places the Pyramid of Light face down. (Yugi, quickly call upon your Gods!)
Even though the turns had switched, Yugi didn’t move right away and instead glanced at the two cards arranged on Kaiba’s side of the field.
(Why did he summon a level 4 monster with 2400 points yet not attack!? Is he being wary of my reverse card…? What could Kaiba be up to?)
Dark Yugi put his fingers on his deck and had a feeling as if an electric shock ran from his fingertips to his brow. Even if Kaiba were to show his devilish drawing, it wouldn’t even compare to Yugi’s drawing strength.
“This is it! I feel it!”
Dark Yugi draws The Saint Dragon of Osiris and the original Yugi’s form shows up right beside Dark Yugi.
(So it’s finally here, Other Self…) Yugi had a complex look on his face.
“Yeah, Partner, I understand how you feel! I admit that it’s dangerous, but we can’t save Kaiba unless we do.”
Yugi nodded in agreement. The two had their intentions certain.
“I offer my three knights on the field as sacrifices to summon The Saint Dragon of Osiris!” Dark Yugi cries, wrapping the three knights in light and sublimating them. The golden particles swirl in the sky above the ring, stirring up clouds.
Seeing the signs of the appearance of the God, Kaiba beamed, not in fear, but in great joy. (I’ve been awaiting you…God!)
With lightning gushing from the swelling clouds, the flying holy dragon made its appearance.
“Kaiba! I don’t know what you have face-down, but Traps have no effect on a God!” Dark Yugi glanced sternly at the God of the Skies. “Osiris attacks! Thunder Force!” The Sky Dragon opens his jaws with a crackling sound, and an intense shine runs through the sky. The electrical attack coming from the 3000 attack power Saint Dragon of Osiris’ mouth assaults the 2400 attack power Rare Metal Dragon. The purple flash runs through the space, leaving a burnt smell lingering and wiping Rare Metal Dragon off of the field. The pointed tip of the plasma also flew at Kaiba which made his Life Points decrease from 4000 to 3400. “I end my turn!”
“Awesome!” called Honda in the spectator stands.
“Sure is. This is gonna be a clear cut victory!” Jonouchi was certain. No, even excluding Jonouchi and it was a hundred out of a hundred duelists, they would probably all believe in Dark Yugi’s victory.
Kaiba drew his card with his mouth distorted evilly. “Yugi, I’m going to remove the three Gods which you hold from the field!”
“What!?”
“Magic card, activate! Obligatory Summon! This makes you Special Summon monsters as many monsters as possible from their deck to the field of the same type as a monster under your control.”
Dark Yugi and Yugi looked at each other in wonder. “Kaiba, what in the world are you thinking?”
(What could Kaiba be after by bringing together all three Gods out on purpose?)
“What’s the hold up, Yugi? Come on, call upon your three Gods! I’m going to surpass them!!” Kaiba screamed in the Duel Ring.
“That’s impossible! There’s no such card that can surpass a God!!” Dark Yugi scowled sharply at Kaiba. “I still can’t read Kaiba’s strategy. But the appearance of the Gods will surely change the future.”
(You’re right, Other Self!)
The certainties motivated Dark Yugi.
“The God of Obelisk and the Winged Dragon of Ra!!”
Gwoooosh! A gust of wind blows through the Virtual System Duel Ring and both Dark Yugi and Kaiba desperately hold their ground while the black clouds cascade into a space warp. By first extending its giant arm extends from the rift, The God of Obelisk then reveals its entire body, which is wrapped in an armor of thick muscle. Next, a mysterious bird came, spreading its wings, on to the scene from the swirl of dark clouds. This was the calling of The Winged Dragon of Ra.
The Three Mythic Gods, which possessed a presence unlike any 3D virtual projection, were arrayed above Yugi. Mokuba, inside the booth installed on the Dome’s ceiling, was looking at this sight with a shiver.
“Yugi…Can your three Gods open my Brother’s eyes? Can you bring my Brother back to me!?”