The stone spear and the breath of the demonic dragon collided head-on in the center of the sea. Their clash sent towering waves soaring into the bizarre night sky created by the dimensional fusion.
"If their ATK is the same, they should destroy each other, right…?"
Staring anxiously at the battlefield concealed behind the raging waves, the Dwarf King muttered.
[The Black Knight King – Artoria Pendragon Alter] destroyed.
"I activate the effect of the Black Knight King!"
Sending the black Xyz Monster card to the Graveyard through her Duel Disk, Hoshino declared:
"When this card is destroyed by battle, I can Special Summon 1 Level 7 'Heroic Spirit' monster from my Graveyard. I choose Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji and Special Summon her in Attack Position!"
[Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji ATK 2500]
Reappearing on the battlefield through the surging waves, Okita was Special Summoned once again. Now giant-sized once again, she wore an even smugger grin than before — the kind that made her look even more punch-worthy.
"Thanks for taking the lead, Miss Coldhearted. I'll step over your corpse and steal all the spotlight~"
At the same time, the enormous waves dividing the battlefield gradually subsided. After the violent collision, King Utgarda's side of the field once again came into everyone's view.
[Megalith Phaleg ATK 3700]
Okita, who hadn't even finished striking her pose, froze the moment she saw the gigantic divine statue still floating high in the sky.
"Hey, hey, hey! It wasn't destroyed at all! Weren't monsters with the same ATK supposed to take each other out?"
"Why…?" Saber Lily asked in disbelief. "That was another version of me giving it everything she had… and it had absolutely no effect?"
"I see… so it was because of the Field Spell."
Examining King Utgarda's field, Hoshino immediately understood. Before the battle had begun, the Field Spell activated by King Utgarda had created a portal floating directly above the Megalith statue.
[Megalith Portal Field Spell Effect: The first time each Ritual Summoned monster would be destroyed by battle each turn,]
"So that's how you got me…" Hoshino scratched her head with a wry smile.
"But while you may have made a small profit this time, I never come out at a loss! When Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji is successfully Special Summoned, I can add 1 card that specifically mentions this card's name from my Deck and Set it directly onto my field!"
Hoshino searched her Deck using her customized Duel Disk, took the chosen card, and placed it face-down in her Spell & Trap Zone.
Mirroring the Set action, the mech hovering above the swaying sea also set three gigantic holographic cards.
Having finished the Battle Phase, King Utgarda likewise selected one of the stone tablet cards before it and set it onto the ocean's surface.
Immediately afterward, the Continuous Spell King's Proof shone with a dazzling light beneath the dark night sky.
[King's Proof – Heaven and Earth Continuous Spell Effect: ②: During the End Phase, while this face-up card remains on the field, gain Life Points equal to the total number of Rock monsters on both players' fields and in both Graveyards ×1000.]
[King Utgarda LP 8000 → 13000]
"What kind of nonsense is recovering 5,000 Life Points in one shot?" Minazuki protested indignantly. "Referee! Somebody's cheating! How are we supposed to play like this?"
"So long as Rock monsters exist on either player's field or in the Graveyard, King Utgarda's Life Points will continue increasing without limit as the turns go by," Eve said grimly. "The absolute dominion of the Rock-Type… the King's Proof. This is the overwhelming difference between heaven and earth."
Yet after King Utgarda's Life Points increased, the strange sense of unease in Hoshino's heart unexpectedly eased a little.
"So that means… unless we deal at least 5,000 damage in a single turn, we aren't even truly hurting it."
In truth, Hoshino had already steeled herself mentally before the Duel had even begun.
After all, the opponent was a King whose true body rivaled an entire continent in size. There was no way its Life Points would be anything ordinary.
Without going all out on offense, they might not even be able to break through its outermost layer of defense.
[King Utgarda: 2 Hand Cards | 1 Set Card]
"Your turn, Yugi."
"Yeah!"
Giving a firm nod, Yugi drew the opening card of his turn from the customized Duel Disk connected to the cockpit on his arm.
"My turn! Draw!"
The dual-duel Duel Disk — Dual-Wield Style.
As soon as Yugi drew his card, the mech synchronized the motion, drawing a gigantic holographic card representing Yugi's Deck from the enormous Duel Disk installed on its right arm.
Hoshino Alter smiled.
["This is refreshing, Aibo. It's Yugi dueling this time instead of Atem~"]
Hoshino chuckled.
"Compared to you, another soul like Atem is practically the model of a hardworking partner."
Although Hoshino Alter occasionally took over during Duels, Hoshino personally handled the vast majority of them.
Unlike Yugi and Atem, whose body — and even height — changed whenever they switched control…
The two Hoshinos were born from the exact same concept. Even if they exchanged control of the body, almost no one could tell the difference, aside from someone with exceptionally keen perception like Akasha.
"Yugi-nii… are you really going to be okay?" Akasha asked worriedly.
"Now that the Duel has begun, there's nothing more to say. Just watch quietly."
Surprisingly, Kaiba — who had spent all of yesterday relentlessly mocking Yugi — had completely changed his attitude.
Most likely, Kaiba still didn't know that even after a Duel had started, two souls could continue switching places, and that when they did, their Decks would switch along with them.
To put it simply, it was a unique form of "cheating" reserved exclusively for Duelists who possessed two souls.
"Show me the strength that Atem keeps talking about — the strength born from sincerity and kindness… Yugi!"
As Yugi officially began his turn, the monster standing before him was Megalith Phaleg, boasting 3700 ATK and protected from battle destruction once per turn by the Field Spell.
"Hoshino, I'm borrowing one of your Set cards."
"Don't be shy, help yourself~"
Synchronizing their two-player Duel Disks, Yugi flipped over the rightmost of the three gigantic face-down cards on the sea's surface — the last card Hoshino had Set, searched by Okita's effect.
"I activate the Quick-Play Spell — Firefly's Flame of Integrity!"
[Quick-Play Spell Effect: Choose and apply 1 of the following effects.
● Target 1 "Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji" you control; return that monster to the hand, then reveal the top 3 cards of your Deck. Add 2 of them to your hand, then return the remaining card to the Deck.]
"I return your Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji to the hand, Hoshino, then reveal the top three cards of my Deck…"
"Huh?"
Okita turned back toward Yugi with an annoyed expression.
"Why do I have to go back into this starfish-head's hand? And you're actually wasting Firefly's Flame of Integrity in such a trivial situation. You know absolutely nothing about the Okita Style of dueling!"
Your so-called 'Okita Style' is running away before you die. How is that not wasting it?
"But Yugi, be careful," Hoshino reminded him. "After activating this card, you can't Special Summon any monsters this turn except 'Heroic Spirit' monsters."
That was the self-imposed restriction attached to Firefly's Flame of Integrity.
For Hoshino, who almost exclusively used Heroic Spirit monsters, it was practically no restriction at all. For anyone else, however, it was quite significant.
"It's alright, Hoshino."
Despite Okita's obvious displeasure, after synchronizing the two Duel Disks, Yugi successfully returned her card to his hand. At the same time, Okita's gigantic holographic figure vanished from above the sea.
"Alright, I'll take these two."
Thanks to Firefly's Flame of Integrity, Yugi selected two of the top three cards and added them to his hand. Together with the returned Okita, his hand count instantly climbed to nine cards.
"Then I activate the Spell Card Graceful Charity! I draw three cards, then send Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji and Gamma The Electromagnet Warrior from my hand to the Graveyard!"
"|ू･･`) Ah… Okita's back in the Graveyard again," Akasha remarked mercilessly. "Yugi-nii really did her dirty."
After adjusting his hand, Yugi placed a second Spell Card into his Duel Disk. As the mech synchronized the activation, a magnificent holy light of resurrection erupted across the battlefield.
"I activate the Spell Card Monster Reborn! I revive Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji, whom I just sent to the Graveyard with Graceful Charity!"
[Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji ATK 2500]
After completing a lightning-fast round trip through the Graveyard, the gigantic Okita reappeared, kneeling on one knee atop the sea while supporting herself with her sheathed sword.
"Damn it… Is this starfish-head messing with me?"
"Isn't this great?" Hoshino laughed. "Since Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji was Special Summoned, I get to search another card that specifically mentions her name and Set it directly onto the field!"
The previously Set Firefly's Flame of Integrity had been used up, but by reviving Okita, Hoshino immediately Set another searched card in its place.
In other words, through this sequence, Yugi had effectively gained two extra cards' worth of advantage.
"You should be careful, Master," Okita whispered quietly. "That starfish-head isn't nearly as harmless as he looks."
Perhaps it was the instinct of a warrior who had survived countless battles.
Before she could finish speaking, however, brilliant white light enveloped both her and Saber Lily.
"This turn, I Tribute Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji and Heroic Spirit – Artoria Pendragon Lily on my field to perform a Tribute Summon!"
"I knew it!" Before being sent to the Graveyard as a Tribute, Okita let out one final hysterical scream.
"Starfish-head! If you Duel like this, you'll never make any friends!"
Hoshino Alter laughed.
["Sending Okita to the Graveyard twice in a single turn… Yugi really is something."]
Watching the unusual disturbances spreading across the sea from inside the cockpit, Hoshino had a feeling.
"The truly remarkable part… is probably the monster Yugi is Tribute Summoning this turn. All that card draw was just to get this monster into his hand, wasn't it?"
Almost simultaneously, Yugi and the mech slammed the Tribute Summoned card onto their Duel Disks.
"— Black-and-gold Dragon of Destruction! Shatter the chains imprisoning you within the cracks of reality, and bring ruin upon my enemies! I Tribute Summon Gandora-X the Dragon of Demolition!"
[Gandora-X the Dragon of Demolition ★★★★★★★★ (Level 8)][DARK][Dragon/Effect][ATK 0/DEF 0]
"ROOOAAAR!!"
Tribute Summoned using Okita and Lily, the Dragon of Demolition possessed a colossal body rivaling Megalith Phaleg itself. Its roar alone stirred enormous tidal waves beneath it.
"I activate Gandora-X the Dragon of Demolition's effect!"
As Yugi declared its effect, countless crimson beams burst forth from Gandora-X's body, sweeping across the entire battlefield.
[Effect: When this card is Normal or Special Summoned from the hand: You can destroy as many other monsters on the field as possible, and if you do, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the highest original ATK on the field among those destroyed monsters (your choice, if tied).]
"Disappear beneath Gandora's Blazing Light!"
The countless crimson lasers sliced through the divine stone statue's massive body. Gandora-X's field-wiping effect bypassed the battle destruction protection granted by the Field Spell, reducing the Megalith to rubble.
[Megalith Phaleg] destroyed.
[King Utgarda LP: 13000 → 9300]
"And Gandora-X the Dragon of Demolition's ATK becomes equal to the damage inflicted by this effect!"
[Gandora-X the Dragon of Demolition ATK 3700]
"Next, I activate the Spell Card Double Summon! I gain an additional Normal Summon this turn! Come forth — Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior!"
[Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior ★★★ (Level 3)][EARTH][Rock/Effect][ATK 1700/DEF 1100]
[Effect: When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: Add 1 Level 8 "Magnet Warrior" monster from your Deck to your hand.]
After Gandora-X devastated the field, Yugi followed up with Double Summon, Normal Summoning Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior, whose gigantic Rock-Type form materialized on the battlefield.
"Battle! Gandora-X the Dragon of Demolition and Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior — attack directly together!"
Crimson laser blasts and thunderous electromagnetic strikes rained down simultaneously.
Even the unimaginably massive King Utgarda was shaken by Yugi's relentless assault.
[King Utgarda LP: 9300 → 5600 → 3900]
Not only had Yugi activated an effect that destroyed every monster on the field, but he had also unleashed a combined 9,100 points of damage in a single turn — with the finishing blow delivered by the Rock-Type monster Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior.
Had it not been for the massive Life Point boost granted by King's Proof, King Utgarda would likely have been OTK'd by Yugi in a single turn.
"H-Hey… what the heck was that?!"
"Yugi is way too strong!"