Yugi / Marik
1300 LP / 3900 LP
Yugi looked back and forth between his hand and his field, a dozen thoughts processing as he formulated avenues for attack. But no matter what he tried, nothing worked. All he could hope to do was stall out and wait for something new, another card to tip the balance of this duel. Yet, there was only one more card for him before those swords were gone and Marik's monsters were free.
He'd better make it count.
"And now I set one card face down and end my turn." Doing just that, Yugi handed control of the game back to Marik, a not-so-confident look on his face. He'd been in tougher spots, for sure. But it'd been a long time since he'd cut it this close.
"My draw then," Marik called out, bringing the size of his hand to seven cards in total. Yet despite all the cards he had, he had not one option. With nothing else, Marik was forced to pass once more, pitching a card from his hand to bring his total cards back to six. "You can't hide behind those swords forever, Yugi. This is your last turn!"
His words rang true as the Swords of Revealing light finally faded away, releasing Marik and his field from their grasp.
"We'll just see about that!" Yugi called back, placing his hand over his deck. "As long as I've had the points to lose and the faith in my cards, Marik, it's never failed me— And it won't now!"
Jaden felt a jolt pass through him as he heard that, one that put an infectious smile on his face.
"I draw!" Pulling a rapturous round of cheers from the crowd, Yugi drew his card, not even looking at it as he swung it out wide. The whole game was resting on this— It couldn't disappoint. "Heart of the cards, guide me."
It wouldn't disappoint.
"I activate the magic of Pot of Greed! This Spell Card allows me to draw two cards from my deck!" Yugi proclaimed, eliciting another wave of excitement from the audience. All Marik could do was watch as his opponent added another two cards to his hand. "And now, I call upon the assistance of an old friend!"
"Is Yugi about to—" Jaden could barely contain himself.
"I tribute my King's Knight to summon, the Dark Magician Girl!" More than any other previous play, this was the one that got the biggest reaction from the audience. As Yugi's monster— a spunky girl in blue magician's wear —popped into view, a rapturous cry of affection filled the air, showering the Dark Magician Girl in a downright overwhelming level of love.
1700 DEF
"My my my, you've drawn quite a crowd just for little old me," she said with a giggle, in a voice she knew the crowd couldn't hear her with. "And oh my, quite an opponent as well. We'll need quite a trick to pull this one off."
"Hopefully, this one will be enough," Yugi said low to himself, looking at the last two cards in his hand. "Marik, I set one more card face down and end my turn. Tread lightly, however. Even an apprentice magician has her tricks."
"Yet at the end of the day, they remain what they are— Tricks. My draw!" Marik jumped straight into action, eager to strike while he could. "I'll begin by activating the Spell Card, Dark World Dealings!"
At Marik's side, the titular card in question appeared, depicting a large demon reaching for a card.
"This spell now forces us each to draw and then discard one card," he explained, immediately going to resolve the effect. A smile crossed his face as he saw the card he drew.
"What're you planning, Marik?" Yugi asked, half aloud as he drew for himself. Yet, when he pulled the card from the top of his deck, a shot of energy went through him. He knew what card that was. "Oh boy."
Yugi didn't give it much thought as he kept the card he drew, and discarded the other.
"Now, my Aleister may be locked away for one more turn, Yugi. But unlucky for you, you'll be seeing him sooner than you expected!" Marik called out then, as he raised up the card he drew.
"You didn't—!"
"I did! I Normal Summon my second Aleister the Invoker!" With a proud cry, Marik slammed the card in question onto his duel disk, calling upon his loyal sorcerer once again to his side. With a shrewd smirk, Aleister stepped onto the battlefield, pouring over his spellbook as Marik continued. "Now, I'll add back to my hand once more, Invocation!"
Slamming the book shut, Aleister hoisted his staff into the air, calling upon that now familiar spell circle to form once more.
"He's going to summon another of his Invoked fusions," Jaden called, watching as Yugi took a step back to look over the field. A moment later, Yubel appeared at this side, making him realize she had disappeared.
"Whatever it is though, Yugi will be ready," she noted. "He has Magician's Selection set, which can destroy Marik's monster as long as Yugi controls the Dark Magician Girl."
"Hah, so that's why he summoned her." Jaden smiled as he put the King of Game's strategy together. "Wait, since when can you go spy on people's face down cards?"
"Don't ask questions you wouldn't like the answers to, Jaden," Yubel explained with a snort as she returned his attention to the duel.
"And now, I'll cast Invocation in order to fuse together—!" Marik paused, looking to Yugi and giving him a smirk. "My two Fusion Monsters!"
"What!?" Yugi's eyes widened in shock, as Marik's Purgatrio and Mechaba were pulled into the clutches of Invocation, with Aleister standing by at the ready.
"I'm smarter than you think, Yugi. I know that you wouldn't have summoned the Dark Magician Girl unless she was necessary for your defense!" Marik declared, explaining his move as the Fusion was underway. "I fuse my two Invoked Fusion Monsters in order to summon, Invoked Elysium!"
With a flash of blinding light, both fusions disappeared, leaving Marik's field bare, aside for the studious Aleister. With a chuckle, he stepped out of the way—
—Of what came next.
The ground erupted, a jagged tower of bone shattering the earth and shooting up into the sky to meet it next. Moments later a second structure, a helix of gold, followed the tower, wrapping up around the bone as it drew the whole audience to stare in shock and awe.
"What kind of monster is this, Marik!?" Yugi demanded to know, as a bulbous form grew at the end of the boney pillar, unfettered as it rose into the sky.
Marik chuckled.
"Elysium! The fabled afterlife of great heroes!" he explained, pointing into the air as his monster finally began to slow down. The bulb at the very top expanded, growing an offshoot of bone in the shape of a sail. "This beast carries the knowledge of a thousand souls, it knows all things of the mortal realm!"
3200 ATK
"And what it can do, will astound you," Marik said with a smirk. "You see, Yugi, my Elysium can wipe your field of every monster of a specific Attribute, simply by sacrificing a monster of said attribute."
"So you intend on sacrificing your Aleister to destroy my Dark Magician Girl?" Yugi surmised, to which Marik shook his head.
"No, I have bigger plans in store for you. For you see—" Marik pointed into the sky again, as Elysium creaked back against the wind. "—My Fusion counts as all Attributes, Yugi! Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Light, and Dark!"
"Oh no!" Yugi's head shot up, as Elysium began to tip and go lopsided.
"Oh yes! By tributing my Elysium I can wipe your field of every monster!" Throwing his hand forward, Marik's words rang out as a command as much as it was an explanation. As quickly as Elysium established itself, it soon began collapsing, toppling down onto Yugi from on high. "You're finished!"
Shooting his eyes down to his field, Yugi began to panic as he thought of what to do. Three monsters on field, two set cards, and in his hand was—
Oh.
There was that.
"Is, is it getting warm for anyone else?" Jaden asked, his attention pulled away from the tense duel to the uncomfortable feeling aching his body.
"How can you possibly think of that right now?" Yubel asked, huffing as she looked at him. "Your precious Yugi is about to lose."
"I know but—" Jaden tore his gaze away from the duel, pulling his bag off his back and opening it up. "I think, it's coming from my deck!"
"You've done well, Yugi, but this game is mine!" Marik declared as the rubble of Elysium descended upon Yugi's field.
"Not so fast, Marik! I activate my Trap Card, Free-Range Monsters!" With that mighty declaration, Yugi's set card flipped up, revealing a card even Marik couldn't identify. "This card allows me to Tribute Summon in response to your monster's effect!"
"Summon whatever you want, Yugi! No matter what it is, my Elysium will destroy it all the same!" Marik cried in response, as plumes of energy began to surround Yugi's field.
"I found it! This card, it's burning up!" Jaden declared, pulling out the card in question as Yubel peeked over his shoulder. "It's—"
"I tribute my three monsters in order to summon—!"
"Raviel!"
"Obelisk the Tormentor!"
With a thunderous rumble, the ground at Yugi's feet shattered, a ravine opening up as his three monsters disappeared in flashes of light. The crowd scattered, the sight of the opening crevice sending them running in a panic. Only Jaden and his spirit companions remained as they watched the duel before them play out. They wouldn't miss this.
A moment of silence was soon followed by another earth-shattering roar, as the Earth itself shuddered with what came next. From the ravine that separated Yugi and Marik, a skyscraper-sized arm shot forth, grabbing onto Elysium seconds before impact. Marik could only stare in horror as his plan was thwarted, marking the arrival of the god.
4000 ATK
"Elysium has knowledge of all things in the mortal realm!" Marik declared, stepping back as Obelisk pulled itself from the ground, its hulking titanic body blocking the entire skyline in front of him. "It is from the realm of gods just like your Obelisk! Your monster should still be destroyed!"
"You're right Marik! Too right! And that's where you would be wrong!" Yugi answered, pointing forward with an iron resolve. "Your Elysium knows of all things of the mortal realm. It is all six base Attributes!"
As Obelisk rose to full height, Yugi pointed straight into the air, as a flash of red took his monster's eyes.
"But my god is Divine! So it is unaffected by your Elysium!" he explained. With that, Obelisk crushed the remnants of Marik's monsters in its fist, leaving Yugi's opponent with nothing but a lone Aleister on board.
Marik looked out at the situation before him— at the god he was facing, at the resources he still had, and the overwhelming odds before him. At once, something he said earlier came to mind, and his shock and horror drained away into acceptance.
"Alright, Yugi," he began, closing his eyes and snorting. "You win."
Marik laid his hand on his deck.
1300 LP / 0 LP
Yugi Muto wins
All at once, the serious look in Yugi's eyes disappeared, replaced by wide-eyed surprise as he realized the duel was done. His duel disk powered down and the ravine between him and Marik disappeared. A moment later, Marik and Aleister shared a nod, a hint of understanding, before the latter faded away.
The game was over.
"That, was close," Jaden said, breathing a sigh of relief so deep, one could have sworn he was the one dueling. A hundred emotions rushed through his veins— excitement and joy, fear and horror, confusion and doubt. But the most pressing feeling was the burning in his fingertips. "Ow, ow, ow!"
Jaden could no longer hold onto Raviel, the pure heat emanating from the card being too much for him. He was forced to scramble to find something to pick it up, while Yugi and Marik met in the center and began to talk.
"What's wrong with it? Don't tell me it's beginning to overpower you," Yubel scoffed, watching as Jaden wrapped the card in a piece of cloth and held it aloft
"It's not like that, Yubel," he said, lifting the card up and giving it a look, Raviel's ugly mug staring back at him. "It's like, it just got angry all of a sudden. I could almost feel it— like it wanted a fight."
"Could it have something to do with that, perhaps?" Banner's interjection pulled the attention of the two, as he pointed up towards a quite unmistakable sight.
Obelisk the Tormentor had yet to disappear.
"Man, today's just weird, huh?" Jaden said, shuffling Raviel away and picking up his bag. "Come on, we don't want to miss what those two are saying!"
"Well, it looks like the Heart of the Cards came through for you in the very end," Marik said with a laugh, graciously handing his Slifer Red Locator Card over to Yugi, who accepted it with a bashful smile. "I shouldn't have expected anything less from you."
Yugi laughed awkwardly as Jaden joined the scene, followed behind by the unmistakable form of Yubel.
"Well, if I had to be totally honest to you Marik, I wouldn't have had Obelisk there if it wasn't for your Spell Card that let me draw it," he confessed. "I wasn't counting on that happening at all."
Marik's smile weakened slightly, as he realized his opponent's win was more a matter of luck than anything. Well, more than it was usually.
That moment of quiet that followed between the two was when Jaden struck.
"That was so cool!" With a move straight from Duel Academy, Jaden jumped Yugi, wrapping his arm around the King of Game's neck and pulling him close. "You know Obelisk was the only God Card I hadn't seen up close before, so thanks for the show!"
"When did you—" Yugi stopped before he could get pulled into another rabbit hole of time shenanigans, instead deciding to just pull away from Jaden and make some room. "Heh, I'm glad you enjoyed the duel."
Taking a moment to look around, Yugi spotted the crowd from earlier beginning to shuffle back into the city square.
"And I think everyone else did too," he said, only slightly sarcastically. The other two shared a laugh with him at that.
"Well, it was great getting a chance to duel you again, Yugi," Marik said, turning away and looking off into the distance. He stretched. "Hopefully, we'll get that chance again! And maybe then you can show me some more new cards."
"Oh, uh, yeah. New cards!" Yugi's voice went a bit strained as he said that, glancing to the side as Marik took one last look at him.
"That's the spirit!" he said. "See you around then."
With a two-fingered salute, Marik said his goodbyes to Yugi and Jaden before walking off into the distance.
"Well, that's as good of a way as any to start a tournament, huh?" Jaden said then, pulling away from Yugi and taking a few steps in the opposite direction.
"Yeah, I think we did pretty alright," Yugi replied, putting on a small smile as Jaden turned back to face him. "Glad to hear I can still put on a show."
Jaden's expression went a bit sideways at that, as he gave an awkward laugh.
"Oh, yeah, you did, uh, great there!" His disappointment was palpable. "It was amazing seeing so many of your old classic cards, ya know? Would've been nice seeing some more new stuff— But you've got plenty of time for that!"
Despite Jaden's best intentions to hide it, his true feelings were pretty clear. He just told the King of Games that he needed to get his game on. Realizing that, Jaden immediately pivoted to the most immediate thing he could see.
"By-the-way-Obelisk-is-still-here," he blurted out, pointing over Yugi's shoulder.
Blinking in surprise, Yugi turned, taking a step back as he realized Jaden was in fact right. Obelisk the Tormentor hadn't left the field.
"Uh, is something wrong?" he called out, unsure if he was expecting a response or not. Expectedly, Obelisk remained still, staring out into the sky for a long while, as if it was looking out for something. Unexpected, however, was what followed.
With its glance shifting down to meet the two, Obelisk grumbled something unintelligible, before quickly fading away.
In the dead air that followed, Yugi and Jaden stared in confusion.
"That, was weird."
End of Chapter 13