"Zaborg the Thunder Monarch's direct attack!"
Lightning surged into a sphere in Zaborg's hand, then roared toward Jim like a thunderous comet.
But Jim wasn't planning on tanking the damage. "I activate my face-down card!
Trap Card 'A Rival Appears!'"
"I choose 1 face-up monster on your field, and then I can Special Summon 1 monster from my hand with the same Level as that monster!"
The Trap in Jim's back row flipped face-up.
"Using A Rival Appears!, I choose your Zaborg the Thunder Monarch!"
"Zaborg is Level 5, so I can Special Summon a Level 5 monster from my hand as well."
He pulled out a monster from his hand.
"The monster I'm Special Summoning from my hand is this one—come forth—
—Labyrinth Wall!"
The ground shook with a thunderous rumble. Though it was "just" a monster being summoned, the commotion was like a Field Spell being activated. With a violent tremor, massive labyrinthine walls burst up from beneath the earth, criss-crossing to form layers of barriers in front of Jim.
[Labyrinth Wall, DEF 3000]
"Labyrinth Wall, huh. A 'Millennium Shield'-class absolute defense," Kira said. "In that case, I'll rewind the attack step and cancel the attack."
Labyrinth Wall—Level 5 Normal Monster, 0 ATK but 3000 DEF, making it a defensive powerhouse on par with Millennium Shield. It first appeared in the Paradox Brothers' deck, and in the future real-card environment would eventually be spun into a full-fledged Labyrinth archetype.
Of course, in this era, "Labyrinth" hadn't yet become an official sub-type; right now it was just a high-DEF Rock Normal Monster.
"I Set 2 cards. Turn end," Kira said.
"My turn, draw!" Jim declared.
"I activate the Spell Card 'Pot of Greed' to draw 2 cards from my Deck."
He drew 2, and the corners of his mouth curled upward.
Perfect. It's here.
Jim looked up with a confident smile.
"Mr. Kira, did you know? There are many incredible things hidden in this world," he said. "Ancient fossils that have existed since long before the dawn of human history, buried deep beneath the mantle.
Mysterious powers from prehistoric ages that only modern science and human wisdom can unearth!"
"Fossils, huh," Kira said. "Jim Crocodile Cook, you're quite the archaeology fanatic."
"Ahaha, that's right. And my Duels are the same way. The best moment in a Duel is when you awaken those slumbering powers in the Graveyard, summon them back to the field, and let them reveal a brand-new form polished by endless years of time!"
Jim raised his voice.
"And that romance of archaeology is best expressed in my Duels through this card—
—Spell Card 'Fossil Fusion'!"
Kira narrowed his eyes slightly, a smile tugging at his lips.
Just as expected.
"Fossil Fusion lets me banish Fusion Materials from either my own GY or yours, as specified by a 'Fossil' Fusion Monster, and Fusion Summon that corresponding Fossil Fusion Monster!"
Jim called it the romance of archaeology, and it really was. The effect of this Spell is exactly as it looks—put bluntly, it's grave robbing.
It digs up his own grave and his opponent's, stealing monsters from the opponent's GY as his own Fusion Materials—that's Fossil Fusion's signature trait.
In the printed version, that concept is kept and enhanced: for example, Fossil Fusion monsters can't be targeted by monster effects, and when a Fossil Fusion monster is destroyed, you can recover "Fossil Fusion" from your GY to maintain your resources.
But those are all buffs from the printed version; Jim's anime-series card has none of that.
And right now, Jim had an even more awkward problem standing right in front of him—
"Definitely a Fusion method tailor-made for an archaeology maniac," Kira said with a light laugh.
"But it's a shame. For an archaeologist, this is probably the worst excavation site you could ask for."
As he finished speaking, Jim suddenly saw the color draining out of the Fossil Fusion he had just slotted into his Duel Disk. Pale, translucent lightning crackled over it, and then the Spell simply fizzled out, turning see-through before vanishing entirely.
"!"
What's going on?
"My Fossil…?"
He snapped his head up.
He looked around at the valley he was standing in—the oppressive cliffs, that eerie sunlight, as if it too were locked inside this sealed cage.
"Is it because of this Field?" Jim realized with a jolt.
"Noticed it, have you," Kira said. "Necrovalley is a Field guarded by the royal protectors. It's a forbidden cemetery where no intrusion is tolerated.
Here, any attempt at grave-robbing, reanimating corpses, or messing with the Graveyard in general is strictly forbidden."
He paused, then translated into more standard card-game language with a faint smile.
"In Necrovalley, all effects that would affect cards in the Graveyard are negated, and neither player can banish cards from the Graveyard."
"!"
What? I can't banish cards from the GY? Doesn't that mean my entire Fossil deck—
Realizing how serious the problem was, Jim clenched his teeth.
"My Fossil Fusion… is sealed?"
For someone like him, a hardcore archaeology nut, this really was the worst possible Field. Fossil Fusion's biggest defining trait was digging up both GYs to create all kinds of Fossil boss monsters; blocking grave-digging was basically the same as sealing off his deck's entire main offensive backbone.
And even without Fossil Fusion, his trump card "Gaia Plate the Earth Giant," which he'd used against the Supreme King, also required banishing 2 Rock monsters from his GY to Special Summon itself.
A big monster with 2800 ATK that comes out with a condition that simple, and on top of that halves the ATK of the monster it battles—under normal circumstances, that's a very high-quality heavy hitter. But in this Necrovalley, even if he drew it, it would just sit dead in his hand forever.
And beyond just banishing, this valley also shuts down GY recycling, revival, and any effect that meddles with the GY, which is another huge blow.
It's no exaggeration to say that this one Field Spell alone had just cut off more than half his game plan.
Jim suddenly felt a phantom toothache.
As expected of the Duel King—he'd whipped out an anger-inducing artifact like it was nothing and casually slapped it down. No wonder he'd gone out of his way to fetch this Field using multiple search effects earlier; as soon as this card hit the field, half the Duel was already won…
"Your Fossil Fusion fizzled, it seems," Kira said, eyes narrowing slightly. "So now, what will you do?"
Jim mulled it over a moment.
"…I switch 'Labyrinth Wall' to Attack Position."
[Labyrinth Wall, DEF 3000 → ATK 0]
"Then I activate this card—"
Jim swept another card into his Duel Disk.
"Spell Card 'Shield & Sword'!
All face-up monsters on the field swap their original ATK and DEF!"