"Answer my resolve and descend! The strongest knight—Dragon Master Knight!"
[Dragon Master Knight ATK 5000]
"Brother!" Mokuba exclaimed in uncontrollable excitement. "That's the Dragon Master Knight you fused back then!"
The Dragon Master Knight, nearly as massive as the giant Exodia, spread its wings and roared atop the Kaiba Corporation rooftop. Standing upon the back of Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, the Black Luster Soldier raised his sword, its tip pointing toward the heavens.
The moment this ultimate knight—the monster with the highest base attack power among all Duel Monsters—appeared, it seemed to embody Kaiba's unyielding refusal to sink into despair.
Meanwhile, the AR light on Kaiba's arm—previously suppressed by The Legendary Exodia Incarnate's demonic flame cannon during the last turn—now shone even more brilliantly.
"To forcefully summon a monster capable of rivaling Exodia under such conditions…" Harr's expression finally turned serious.
"Rivaling it? Don't say something so ridiculous!" Kaiba scoffed. "Dragon Master Knight's effect increases its ATK by 500 for every Dragon monster on the field except itself!"
On the field, besides Dragon Master Knight, there was also a Baby Dragon. Kaiba had deliberately summoned it earlier to boost the knight's power.
[Dragon Master Knight ATK 5000 → 5500]
"Now Dragon Master Knight's attack power surpasses yours! Accept your judgment, Exodia!"
With a roar, Kaiba initiated the Battle Phase. Representing the pinnacle of their respective domains, the two Duel Monsters clashed violently in the sky above Kaiba Corporation, the shockwave shaking the entire city of Domino.
"—Galaxy Crush!!"
The Ultimate Burst Stream of Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon intertwined with the Chaos Slash of Black Luster Soldier.
Back in the Dragon God Domain, this very attack had annihilated Five-Headed Dragon. True to its name, the strike capable of shattering even galaxies sliced through the enormous body of The Legendary Exodia Incarnate, cleaving it in two from bottom to top.
[The Legendary Exodia Incarnate — Destroyed]
[Harr LP 8000 → 7500]
"To think my Exodia would be defeated by a deck like that," Harr said calmly as he sent the destroyed card to the Graveyard. "Seto Kaiba… as one of the greatest duelists in this world, you truly cannot be underestimated."
"But the moment The Legendary Exodia Incarnate is destroyed by battle, its effect activates—"
[Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the GY: You can reveal any number of "Forbidden One" monsters in your hand, and if you do, draw 1 card for each.]
"In my hand is Exodia the Forbidden One, which I recovered from the Graveyard earlier. Therefore, I draw one card from my Deck!"
[Harr: 4 Hand Cards]
"So this is the power of a king? What a joke!"
Dragging his final virtual card onto the field, Kaiba ended his turn after destroying Exodia.
"I set one card. Your move!"
[Kaiba: 0 Hand Card | 2 Set Card]
"Don't get too cocky just because you gained a temporary advantage! My turn—Draw!"
At the start of his turn, Harr immediately activated the effect of Nekroz of Valkyrus to filter out useless cards from his hand.
"Using Valkyrus's effect, I release two Forbidden One pieces from my hand and draw two new cards from my Deck."
If Kaiba had not fused Dragon Master Knight last turn and destroyed Exodia at the limit, Exodia's attack power this turn would have been even more terrifying.
"Seto Kaiba, did you think destroying Exodia would let you rest easy? Then witness the ultimate magic power controlled by this king—the ruler of Spellcasters!"
Placing a Spell Card into the Duel Disk, the five pieces of Exodia in Harr's Graveyard were ejected simultaneously.
"—Spell Card: Magicalized Fusion!"
[Fusion Summon 1 Spellcaster Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck by banishing its materials from your field or GY.]
Magicalized Fusion was essentially the Spellcaster equivalent of the Dragon's Mirror Kaiba had used earlier—a Fusion Spell designed to fuse monsters from the Graveyard.
"I banish the five monsters in my Graveyard as Fusion Materials—Exodia the Forbidden One, Right Arm, Left Arm, Right Leg, and Left Leg of the Forbidden One!"
Kaiba's eyes widened.
"You're using the five pieces of Exodia as Fusion Materials?!"
"This is my strongest archmage! Fusion Summon—Quintet Magician!"
[Quintet Magician ★★★★★★★★★★★★ (Level 12)][DARK][Spellcaster/Fusion/Effect][ATK 4500/DEF 4500]
[Materials: 5 Spellcaster monsters]
[This face-up card on the field cannot be Tributed, nor used as Fusion Material; also, it cannot be destroyed by card effects.]
Amid the brilliance of five differently colored magic circles, the supreme magical formation descended. Though a Spellcaster, Quintet Magician possessed attack power rivaling that of Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.
"So this is… the ultimate magician…" Kaiba said cautiously. "But in terms of raw attack power, Dragon Master Knight is still stronger!"
"When Quintet Magician is Fusion Summoned using five Spellcaster monsters with different names, its true power is unleashed—"
Controlling the five massive magical circles floating around him, King Harr surrounded Kaiba's entire field with overwhelming magical energy.
[If this card is Fusion Summoned using 5 Spellcaster monsters with different names: You can destroy all cards your opponent controls.]
"Because all five pieces of Exodia are Spellcasters, Quintet Magician's effect activates. Every card on your field will be completely annihilated!"
"This is bad!" Mokuba cried. "If all of Brother's cards are destroyed, his remaining Life Points won't survive the attack!"
"I won't let you do that! I activate my Set Quick-Play Spell: Forbidden Chalice!"
[Target 1 face-up monster on the field; until the end of this turn, that target gains 400 ATK, but its effects are negated.]
"But Brother, even if Dragon Master Knight gains 400 ATK right now, it won't change anything!"
"Who said I was boosting Dragon Master Knight?" Kaiba said as he revealed the card and pointed forward.
"I use Forbidden Chalice to increase your Quintet Magician's ATK by 400!"
[Quintet Magician ATK 4500 → 4900]
The power of the chalice was forcibly injected into the five magic circles. The colliding magical forces canceled each other out, and the imminent destruction of Kaiba's field disappeared.
"When Forbidden Chalice increases a monster's ATK, it also negates that monster's effects! Which means Quintet Magician cannot destroy my Dragon Master Knight!"
Paying the price of giving the monster 400 ATK in exchange for negating its devastating field-wiping effect was an obvious win for Kaiba. And even with the boost, Quintet Magician's ATK still could not surpass Dragon Master Knight.
"You struggled and calculated well," Harr said calmly. "But before the absolute power of a king, it is still far too insignificant!"
He inserted an Equip Spell into his Duel Disk. The moment Quintet Magician was chosen, the magic circles around it blazed even brighter.
"—Equip Spell: Mage Power!"
[The equipped monster gains ATK/DEF equal to 500 × the number of Spell/Trap cards you control.]
"Finally, I set my remaining three cards face-down! According to Mage Power's effect, Quintet Magician gains 2000 ATK!"
[Quintet Magician ATK 4900 → 6900]
The three remaining cards in Harr's hand were all defensive Trap Cards he had drawn this turn. Combined with Mage Power, they not only boosted Quintet Magician's attack power but also created an almost impenetrable defense.
"Seto Kaiba—you have no chance left! Allow this king to shatter your final pride!"
The first to attack was Nekroz of Valkyrus, which immediately destroyed Kaiba's Defense Position Baby Dragon.
[Baby Dragon — Destroyed]
"Since the number of Dragon monsters on the field has decreased, Dragon Master Knight loses 500 ATK!"
[Dragon Master Knight ATK 5500 → 5000]
"And now—Quintet Magician attacks! Destroy the ultimate knight!"
"—Fivefold Arcane Explosion!!"
The five massive magical circles floating around Quintet Magician moved forward and stacked together.
The amplified magical blast formed a colossal arcane cannon, tearing through the skies of Domino City. The beam swallowed Dragon Master Knight, extending from the rooftop of Kaiba Corporation all the way to the distant horizon of the city.
[Dragon Master Knight — Destroyed]
[Kaiba LP 2000 → 100]
"Brother!" Mokuba cried out anxiously.
Swallowed together with Dragon Master Knight by the sudden surge of magical power, Kaiba's body trembled uncontrollably. The searing heat and the damage caused by the extreme computational overload ravaged his body.
"Stop using the Duel Links system to fight, Brother! You'll die!"
Mokuba didn't understand why Kaiba had abandoned his own deck and insisted on fighting through Duel Links. Because of that, he couldn't comprehend the resolve Kaiba had—to continue battling even while enduring pain far beyond human limits.
"Don't cry, Mokuba…"
Barely dragging himself back from the abyss of overloaded consciousness, Kaiba spoke in a low voice.
"I won't lose…"
"Oh? Even at this point you still refuse to give up?"
After completing his Battle Phase and setting all the cards in his hand, Harr ended his turn.
[Harr: 0 Hand Card | 3 Set Card]
"Then let me enjoy watching your futile struggle a little longer."
"My turn—Draw!"
However, the card Kaiba managed to draw with trembling fingers was merely an ordinary monster card randomly pulled from the immense card pool. It offered no real chance of turning the duel around.
"Is this where my battle ends…?"
Looking forward, Kaiba's pupils were dilated from the immense strain of linking his mind to the network. In that moment, he seemed to see a strange illusion.
—Two familiar figures seen from behind.
"I see… So it's simply that I refuse to give up fighting."
"I've fought all this time just to catch up to you. Until I accomplish that, the soul burning inside me will never calm down."
"Hoshino… Yugi—no, Atem!"
"I absolutely refuse to stop here!!"
A second virtual card appeared.
Aside from the card he had drawn this turn, another card began shining with a strange light as it descended before Kaiba.
"What?! That card…?" Harr frowned deeply.
"The Spell Card that was banished last turn by Premonition of Beginnings returns to my hand this turn!"
As Kaiba reached out toward the two figures in the illusion, he simultaneously touched the glowing card before him—the card that held the possibility of a reversal.
"Hoshino… Atem. So this is the power you've given me? Then I'll bet everything on it! —Spell Card: The True Name!"
"The True Name…?"
Seeing such a card for the first time, King Harr's expression grew even more serious.
Kaiba roared:
"The effect of The True Name—I declare a card name! Then I reveal the top card of my Deck. If it is the declared card, I add it to my hand!"
"—And then I can Special Summon a DIVINE monster from my Deck!"
"A Divine monster…?"
For a brief moment, Harr panicked upon hearing the word DIVINE, but he quickly regained his composure.
"No… Declaring the correct card from 530 million cards is absolutely impossible!"
Raising his arm high toward the sky, Kaiba clenched his fist as if trying to grasp something from the distant Duel Links network beyond the heavens.
"There is only one card I will declare… the roar of my eternally burning soul!"
"Come forth…!!"
From the network containing over 530 million cards, the card Kaiba revealed shone with the image of a pure white dragon king.
The card appeared in his hand.
"Impossible!" King Harr shouted in disbelief. "It's… it's Blue-Eyes White Dragon?! How could such a thing happen?!"
"You're finished!" Kaiba declared. "When The True Name successfully declares the correct card, after adding it to my hand, I can Special Summon from my Deck—"
The calm sky suddenly erupted with thunderclouds.
The Wrath of God ignited once more.
Descending in the name of the true king, scorching winds swept across the earth like a divine judgment that turned the living into corpses.
"Special Summon! —Obelisk the Tormentor!!"
[Obelisk the Tormentor ★★★★★★★★★★ (Level 10)][DIVINE][Divine-Beast/Effect][ATK 4000/DEF 4000]
"Obelisk the Tormentor… Is this… the god of this world?"
Seeing a God Card for the first time, Harr could already tell from its mere presence that the monster before him was fundamentally different from ordinary Duel Monsters.
"—Useless! I activate my Set Trap Card: Mirror of Oaths!"
[When your opponent Special Summons a monster from their Deck: Destroy that monster.]
"With the effect of Mirror of Oaths, the monster you Special Summoned from the Deck will be destroyed!"
Two black mirrors appeared beside Obelisk, extending cursed energy that wrapped around the giant blue body.
But in the next instant—
Obelisk swung its fists and shattered both cursed mirrors instantly.
Harr instinctively stepped back in shock.
"Impossible! A Special Summoned monster should have been destroyed by the trap!"
"Trap effects don't work on a God!"
Since Obelisk was unaffected by Trap Cards, the two other attack-response traps set behind Harr immediately became useless cards.
"Next, I Summon Vanguard of the Dragon from my hand and activate its effect!"
[Vanguard of the Dragon ★★★★ (Level 4)][EARTH][Dragon/Effect][ATK 1700/DEF 1300]
[You can send 1 Dragon monster from your hand to the Graveyard; this card gains 300 ATK.]
"I send Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my hand to the Graveyard to increase Vanguard of the Dragon's ATK by 300! And then I activate my final Set card—Silver's Cry!"
[Target 1 Normal Dragon monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it.]
"Come back to my side—Blue-Eyes!!"
[Blue-Eyes White Dragon ★★★★★★★★ (Level 8)][LIGHT][Dragon][ATK 3000/DEF 2500]
"ROOOOAAARRR—!!"
After five long years, Seto Kaiba once again summoned Blue-Eyes White Dragon onto his own field.
"No… I won't lose!" Harr clenched his fists. "Even if you summon more monsters, my strongest Quintet Magician still has overwhelming superiority in attack power!"
"Overwhelming attack power?" Kaiba sneered. "Then I'll show you what true overwhelming power really means!"
"Obelisk's effect activates!"
Spreading its massive arms, Obelisk the Tormentor seized Vanguard of the Dragon and Blue-Eyes White Dragon from Kaiba's field.
"Soul Energy MAX!
I offer my two monsters as Tributes to raise Obelisk's attack power to infinity!"
[Obelisk the Tormentor ATK 4000 → ∞]
Harr stared in disbelief.
"Infinite attack power?! How can any monster do something like that?!"
Kaiba pointed toward Harr's field and declared the final attack.
"Monster? No… it's a God!"
"Accept your defeat! Obelisk's infinite attack!!"
The limitless power gathered in Obelisk's fists crashed down with the force to shatter the earth itself, smashing into King Harr's strongest monster—Quintet Magician.
"—God Hand Crusher: Shockwave!!!"
"No… Impossible! I am one of the Kings of the Nine Realms! I refuse to accept defeat like this! AAAAAAAHHHH!!"
[Harr LP 7500 → 0]
[Duel End. Winner: Seto Kaiba!]