"I activate 'Sacred Defense Barrier'!"
Ethereal blue flames leapt up, forming a glowing ring that wrapped around the Duel field.
In that instant, it was as if the valley itself collapsed. Billowing dust obscured the blazing sun, and all the rock walls fell away with crashing roars. The forbidden, slumbering royal valley crumbled under the weight of nature and dissolved into nothingness.
The blue flames now ruled the field—that was the realm of stone.
This card was never printed in real life; it's the Field Jim used in his signature anime duel against the Supreme King.
"'Sacred Defense Barrier' is a Field Spell specifically for Rock monsters," Jim explained. "In this domain, whenever any Rock monster is successfully Normal Summoned, you place a Protection Counter on that monster.
A monster with a Protection Counter can, when it would be destroyed—whether by battle or a card effect—remove one Protection Counter from itself instead!"
In other words, every Rock monster on the field effectively gets one extra life.
Of course, that Field itself wasn't Jim's real intended purpose. The important part was that the new Field pushed out the old one.
This was the rule in early Yu-Gi-Oh, and might feel unfamiliar to newer players. Early on, only one Field Spell could exist at a time. Even if the two players used different Fields, a newly activated Field Spell would simply overwrite the old one.
This used to be one of the most common ways to deal with problem Fields—using a new Field to push the old one out. Since that's treated as a rule action, it doesn't start a Chain and can't be responded to.
But that rule has been gone for many years now. In modern Yu-Gi-Oh both players can each have their own Field Spell in their own Field Zone; they don't conflict.
Under GX-era rules, Jim's old-style Field naturally pushed Kira's 'Necrovalley' off the field.
Freed from the shackles of Necrovalley, Jim instantly felt reborn; it was as if his whole body relaxed.
"Next I activate the Spell Card 'Graceful Charity'!" Jim said. "I draw three cards, then discard two cards from my hand to the Graveyard."
Clearly Jim wanted to use this opening to load his Graveyard. For Fossils, the Graveyard is crucial—he is running an archeology Deck, after all; every big monster is literally dug up from the grave.
Kira naturally couldn't let him do as he pleased.
"You managed to get rid of Necrovalley. Not bad, not bad. However…"
He smiled faintly and shifted his tone.
"What about this then?"
Jim froze for a moment.
Then he saw it: Kira raised his hand, and that eerie Trap card in his back row flipped up, revealing its grim, twisted talons.
Continuous Trap – 'Macro Cosmos'!
"Effect of 'Macro Cosmos'," Kira declared. "Any card that would be sent to the Graveyard is banished instead!"
Jim: "…"
A starry sky spread out over the sacred rock barrier above them, zooming closer until it felt like the entire field was suspended amid the stars.
From the endless void poured a colossal force—right above Jim's head, a black hole yawned open. Its infinite gravity seized the two cards he'd just discarded and dragged them into another dimension, erasing them from existence.
Jim fell silent.
He really was a fool. Truly.
He had thought that once he dealt with that Necrovalley, his Graveyard would be freed and he'd finally be able to unleash the Fossils he was so proud of.
But who could have guessed that behind Necrovalley, there was something this heavy waiting.
If Necrovalley had only prohibited grave-digging, now Macro Cosmos had simply taken his entire grave and blown it into space.
"Couldn't manage to send your Fossils to the Graveyard properly—what a shame," Kira said cheerfully.
Jim: "…"
He closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths, and quickly pulled himself together again.
He couldn't panic. It wasn't over yet.
Even if his Graveyard had been wiped, he at least still had some resources that had slipped in before. With Necrovalley now gone, he could finally move those around a little.
"I activate the Spell Card 'Fossil Fusion'!"
After enduring hardship upon hardship, Jim had finally played his key card.
"From my Graveyard and yours, I banish monsters and use them as Fusion Materials to Fusion Summon a 'Fossil' Fusion Monster!"
"Still going for a Fusion, huh." Kira smiled.
"From my Graveyard, I banish the Rock monster 'Shell Knight'. And from your Graveyard, I banish the Level 5 'Zaborg the Thunder Monarch' as materials for Fusion!"
Within the shared sanctuary of stone, the ground split apart. 'Shell Knight' from Jim's Graveyard and 'Zaborg' from Kira's both burst from the earth, but their bodies were decayed and crumbling, as if they'd lain underground for countless ages.
The two monsters were drawn into the swirling vortex of Fusion and absorbed into the 'Fossil Fusion' Spell Card. Then a tremendous energy surged from the whirlpool in the center of the card, as if it were cutting across infinite years.
"Fusion materials: a Rock monster plus a Level 5 or 6 monster! Fusion Summon—
—'Fossil Warrior Skull Knight'!!!"
A body made entirely of bone, its skeleton itself like an indestructible suit of armor. He wielded a sword and shield, cloaked in a mantle that seemed steeped in time.
['Fossil Warrior Skull Knight', ATK 2400]
Finally!
Jim felt that this might be the first time in his life that successfully activating 'Fossil Fusion' had given him such overwhelming satisfaction and sense of accomplishment.
Like all the frustration building up this whole time had been instantly swept away!
So this is the strange joy of dueling the Duel King…
"Battle!" Jim shouted. "'Fossil Warrior Skull Knight', attack 'Caius the Shadow Monarch'!"
['Caius the Shadow Monarch', ATK 2400]
Caius straightened up, gathering gloomy power between his hands.
"Same ATK," he snorted. "This guy's planning to drag me down with him?"
"He won't," Kira said calmly.
"He's got the Protection."
"…Eh?" Caius blinked.
BOOM!
Skull Knight's blade cleaved into the wave of darkness that Caius hurled. As expected, they were perfectly evenly matched; an explosion erupted where blade and blast collided.
Both monsters were swallowed up. But Skull Knight raised his shield, bracing himself and managing to weather the shock, merely staggering back a few steps. Caius, on the other hand, was blown to pieces.
"Field Spell 'Sacred Defense Barrier' gave my Rock-type 'Skull Knight' a Protection Counter when he was Summoned!" Jim shouted.
"I remove a Protection Counter to prevent Skull Knight's destruction!"
Now in ghost form, Caius started swearing. "Fair match! That one doesn't count! I want a rematch! I demand a rematch!"
…