Chapter 15: Revival of the Ancient Heroes

"Whatcha want, bro?"

Andrew stood in Matt's office, watching him take another sip from another glass of milk. With the resolution of the sorting round, the duelists were preparing for the semifinal rounds. However, Creighton had approached Andrew with the news that his brother wanted to see him, so he had come here to see what Matt wanted to say to him.

Setting the milk down on the desk, Matt asked, "How come you didn't play a card in that last duel?"

Andrew smirked. "Is that what this is about?" he asked back.

"You know I encourage participants to try their hardest no matter what," Matt said. "To see you not even bother is rather disappointing and shameful. You understand, I'm sure?"

Andrew rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "Yeah, I know," he answered.

"I imagine you're more than ready to give the rest of this tournament your best, yes?" Matt asked.

Andrew looked at him and smiled. "Absolutely."


After the semifinals had been determined, Yugi joined up with the others to go to where the final rounds of the tournament were to be held. As the admins had instructed them, they were to head to the room directly above the one they were already in, in which a makeshift arena of sorts was set-up. The friends were escorted into a set of stands on the side where they could watch the duel.

Kaiba was already at the arena by the time the others had arrived, ready and waiting for his opponent to arrive. Monica, however, was nowhere to be found, and neither was Andrew for that matter, but it didn't take long before he arrived at the arena. He was followed by none other than Matt himself, who walked over into the stands and sat down right next to Yugi.

"I hope you won't mind if I sit here," he said as he approached, to which Yugi simply nodded. Taking his seat, Matt looked on at the arena and more specifically his brother, who simply looked over at Kaiba smiling.

"Congratulations on making it this far in the tournament, by the way," Matt said to Yugi, though he did not look at him.

"Thanks," Yugi replied. "Your brother deserves some congrats too, being the first time he's been in a tournament."

At that remark, Matt smiled. "He's always been the better between the two of us, to be honest," he said. "I'd watch this duel very carefully if I were in your shoes."

Yugi looked back down onto the arena, where Andrew still stood smiling as confident as ever while he loaded his deck into the Duel Disk.

Now that I think about it, Yugi thought, he didn't even play a card during the match-ups.

At that moment, Yami appeared alongside Yugi. It's strange, Yami thought to Yugi, and yet I think he had a fairly good reason to do so.

That's what I'm starting to think too, Yugi thought back. It may be that he didn't want us to know what his deck would be and come up with a counter of some kind for it.

It makes me wonder just what kind of deck got him so far in the tournament as well, Yami thought.

At that moment, the tall female admin appeared on the field and looked up at Matt, who nodded as though to signal her. She nodded back and announced, "It's time! The first match of the semifinals between Seto Kaiba and Andrew-"

"Will now begin!" Andrew interrupted, drawing five cards from the top of his deck eagerly. Kaiba also drew out his hand and looked down at his cards.

The tall female admin was startled, but she continued regardless, "This duel will start with each player having 8000 Life Points and will continue on as a normal duel with normal rules. Let the match begin!"

Kaiba: 8000
Andrew: 8000

"I believe the first turn belongs to you, Kaiba!" Andrew said, smiling confidently as ever.

"I hope you'll learn to smile only when victory is yours," Kaiba said, drawing a card. "Now I'll summon my Vorse Raider (4/1900/1200) in Attack mode!"

The vicious beastman appeared once again wielding its wicked ax. It snarled at Andrew who remained unfazed by the move.

"And now I'll Set these two cards on the field and end my turn," Kaiba declared.

Andrew smirked. "My turn then," he said as he drew the next card from his deck. Observing his hand, he looked over at Kaiba.

"Tell me something, Kaiba," Andrew said. "Have you ever heard of the Ancient Heroes?"

"Is this supposed to be part of your move?" Kaiba retorted. "You're more than welcome to just skip your turn like you did in the match-ups."

"The Ancient Heroes have been around for thousands of years," Andrew continued, ignoring Kaiba's taunt, "and they've been protecting the world from the forces of darkness that threaten it each and every day. They've become battle-hardy monsters of tremendous power and brutal strength that would give even such monsters as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon a run for their money."

"Do you plan on continuing to fabricate this story or actually dueling?" Kaiba taunted again.

Andrew simply smiled. "You're right, I should really focus less on the fascinating tale of the Ancient Heroes," he said, drawing out a card from his hand, "and instead demonstrate to you their greatness. Behold then, Kaiba, for I'm about to introduce to you an ancient power beyond your grasp! I summon forth the mighty Ancient Hero Bladegon (4/2000/1200)!"

At that moment, the ground trembled and split open, releasing a fearsome monster with long bladed claws and a horn on its head that rose high above itself. It appeared to be a blue dinosaur, and its bladed tail lashed around as it looked deep into Kaiba's eyes. Its more humanoid body was adorned in a simple barbaric suit that resembled an A. It roared out in a fit of bloodlust and rage, ready for battle.

"Sounds like my guy's ready to tear into your monster," Andrew noted, "but first, I should really get into the moment and bring in home-field advantage. I activate the Field Spell City of the Ancient Pyramids!"

Suddenly a sandstorm burst forth out of nowhere and spread out across the field, transporting the arena into a mysterious desert land. Then behind Andrew arose three great pyramids made entirely out of stone.

"And now everything's in place," Andrew said. "Go, my Ancient Hero Bladegon! Destroy Kaiba's monster!"

The sharp dinosaur lunged forth drawing out its claws and preparing to hack and slash at Vorse Raider!

"You think your monster's so tough," Kaiba snorted, "but I can get rid of him easily! Go, Ring of Destruction! And I chain it with Ring of Defense!"

With the activation of each of his cards, two rings appeared, one attaching to Ancient Hero Bladegon while the other opened up and shielded Kaiba as the first ring exploded creating a thick cloud of smoke around Andrew's field.

"I'm sure you know this combo well," Kaiba smiled. "With this, your monster is destroyed, and we'll each take damage equal to its attack, only I will remain unscathed thanks to my Ring of Defense."

As the smoke began to clear, a glint flashed, and then suddenly Vorse Raider was speared by the long claws of the oncoming Bladegon, still intact. Kaiba stood shocked as his monster was vanquished right before his eyes.

Kaiba: 7900
Andrew: 6000

"See, sometimes you find a particularly useful piece of information in these old stories," Andrew commented on the other side. "It's true that your Ring of Destruction was able to at least inflict damage to my Life Points, but you were wrong when you said my monster was going to be destroyed."

"But how?!" Kaiba demanded. "How did your monster escape my trap?"

"He didn't," Andrew replied. "Of course, with the power of my field spell, he didn't have to either. You see, while we are located in the realm of my City of the Ancient Pyramids, all of my Ancient Heroes can't be destroyed by any of my opponent's magic, trap, or monster effects!"

"What?!"

The group in the stands was also shocked. "He's made his monsters immune ta card effects?!" Joey asked.

"That's an immensely powerful effect," Yugi noted.

Matt simply nodded. And this is only a part of his deck's strength, he thought.

"And now," Andrew continued, "I'll activate the Spell Split Duo card! With this, I can flip a coin twice and call it each time, and anytime I'm right, you'll be giving me 500 of your Life Points!"

Andrew then produced a coin and tossed it into the air, catching it and flip it face-down onto the back of his hand. "Alright," he said, "let's start with a call for heads!"

Looking at the coin, Andrew revealed the result to be heads. "Looks like someone's losing some Life Points," he remarked, "and it's not gonna be me!"

The effect of the card activated, summoning a tiny gremlin with a fairy nearby. The gremlin launched an attack on Kaiba and thwacked his Duel Disk while the fairy sprinkled a bit of fairy dust onto Andrew.

Kaiba: 7400
Andrew: 6500

"And now," Andrew again flipped the coin, "let's call it tails!"

He caught the coin and flipped it over, then he revealed the result: tails. The gremlin and fairy repeated their actions from before and altered each players' Life Points.

Kaiba: 6900
Andrew: 7000

"And now," Andrew said, "I'll Set one card face-down and end my turn."

Kaiba grimaced as the others watched on. "I guess this is the power of Andrew's deck," Tristan noted.

"Yeah, he's definitely a lot stronger dan he let on," Joey pointed out.

To think he's already got a monster with 2000 Attack points that can't be destroyed by card effects, Yugi thought.

Yes, it is a powerful set-up, Yami concurred. But that doesn't mean that his deck is unbeatable.

Kaiba looked up at Andrew, who taunted, "What's wrong? I didn't snatch victory away from you too quickly, did I?"

"Don't get too cocky," Kaiba warned. "This duel's just getting started. My move!"

Kaiba drew the next card of his deck and looked at it, smiling wickedly. "Now I summon the Lord of D. (4/1200/1100) in Attack mode!"

A intriguing figure dressed in dragonic robes appeared on Kaiba's field, proudly casting its cloak behind it as though to appear dominant.

"And now I'll activate The Flute of Summoning Dragon!" Kaiba announced.

A golden dragonic flute then appeared, and the Lord of D. grabbed onto and blew into the flute, creating a triumphant noise that echoed across the arena.

"With the powerful melody of the flute," Kaiba continued, "I can now summon up to 2 Dragons directly from my hand. And since I only have two cards in my hand, I can imagine even you can guess what they are. Come forth, my Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"

At the call of their master and the magical flute, two dragons appeared on Kaiba's field, roaring out thunderously towards the other side of the arena.

"Two Blue-Eyes in one turn?!" Joey remarked.

"Seems Kaiba's as good a duelist as ever," Yugi noted.

"Now go, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Kaiba declared. "Attack that small fry and wipe him off the field!"

The dragon charged up its powerful attack once again and fired off a stream of lightning towards the dinosaur on Andrew's field, creating a new explosion that kicked up a heavy amount of sand and dust.

Kaiba: 6900
Andrew: 6000

"And now that your monster's been eradicated," Kaiba continued, "I can attack you directly with my other Blue-Eyes White Dragon! Go, White Lightning attack!"

The second dragon then charged and fired off a stream of lightning at Andrew. Suddenly a shadow leaped out of the cloud of dust and intercepted the blow!

Kaiba: 6900
Andrew: 5000

"What in the world was that?!" Kaiba asked, but he soon learned he didn't have to as the smoke cleared to reveal Ancient Hero Bladegon was still on the field. Andrew simply chuckled.

"Again, my story wasn't just about telling you my monsters because of how entertaining it is," he said. "Don't get me wrong, it's a fascinating tale. But I figured you might be more interested in the part where my Ancient Heroes can't be destroyed in battle."

"What?!"

"That's right, Kaiba. Combined with my City of the Ancient Pyramids, my Ancient Heroes are completely indestructible!"

A great shock swept through the crowd and Kaiba as the truth began to sink in.

"You mean his deck's filled with indestructible monsters?!" Joey yelped.

"Not necessarily," Yugi corrected. "The monsters themselves can't be destroyed in battle, but with the City of the Ancient Pyramids, they also can't be destroyed by an opponent's card effects, making them seemingly indestructible. But there is one weakness in the defenses of this deck, and that's what Kaiba needs to find out."

Andrew smiled. To think he's almost right...

Kaiba simply glared and announced, "I end my turn."

"Not much else to do, huh?" Andrew noted. "Well, you prolly won't mind if I use this trap card then! I activate my Curse of the Ancients!"

Upon its activation, a foul wind blew across the field and sucked on Kaiba's Life Points quickly!

Kaiba: 6400
Andrew: 5000

"What the heck was that?!" Kaiba asked.

"That would be the first part of my Curse of the Ancients," Andrew replied. "It starts off by taking away 500 of your Life Points upon its activation. And now..."

Andrew drew the next card of his deck, and the wind blew across Kaiba's field again, this time aging his dragons.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon (8/3000/2500 - 8/2500/2000)
Lord of D. (4/1200/1100 - 4/700/600)

"...during each of our Standby Phases," Andrew explained, "my Curse activates and weakens your monsters by 500 Atk and Def each!"

"So that means-"

"That's right. In about five turns from now, your dragons will be completely powerless. But don't worry, I'll have probably destroyed them well before then."

"Why you..."

"Lucky for you," Andrew continued, "I can't attack with my Bladegon this turn since he attacked last turn, but I can still play a monster in Defense mode and end my turn here."

Kaiba simply drew his next card and watched as his monsters were blasted again by the dark wind.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon (8/2500/2000 - 8/2000/1500)
Lord of D. (4/700/600 - 4/200/100)

"Hang on," Joey said, "how come da Curse still works even though Kaiba's got that Lord of D. in play?"

"That's because the effect of the Curse can't be negated by its effect," Yugi explained. "The Lord of D. can only protect Dragons when they're chosen by a specific card's effect to be their target. Since the Curse of the Ancients doesn't target just one of Kaiba's Dragons, the Lord of D.'s effect can't be used to protect them."

"And since the Lord of D. himself isn't a Dragon-type," Matt added, "it can't protect itself from the effect either."

"Not that it would be able to anyway, since the Curse sweeps across Kaiba's entire field," Yugi pointed out.

"That's true," Matt said.

Looking at the card he drew, Kaiba smiled. "Looks like I'm about to take down your strategy," he said. "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon, and I'll use it to destroy your City of the Ancient Pyramids!"

The card summoned forth a powerful windstorm that formed into a spiraling tunnel of air. The wind column swept across towards the city, preparing to wipe it off the field. Andrew, however, remained unconcerned and smiling.

"I guess I didn't note that small detail," he said. "I activate the second effect of my City of the Ancient Pyramids!"

At that moment, Ancient Hero Bladegon leaped into the air and intercepted the typhoon, blocking its path and preventing it from reaching the city!

"Yes, go my Ancient Hero Bladegon!" Andrew called out. "Defend the city with your life! Protect it now and save the world for your friends!"

Soon, the typhoon grew weaker and weaker until it dissipated, with the powerful dinosaur finally sacrificing itself to the city's pyramids. The city stood as intact as ever. Kaiba and the others looked on in shock.

"I don't think I need to explain it much more than that," Andrew said. "My City allows me to tribute one of my Ancient Heroes in order to prevent its destruction. Fairly simple, isn't it?"

"Den dat means..." Joey murmured.

"That his deck..." Tristan attempted to continue.

"Has almost no weaknesses," Matt concluded. "So long as he can bring out his monsters and use their power combined with the City of the Ancient Pyramids' own effects, he can raise up a completely unstoppable army of monsters. This is the true power of my brother's deck."

Yugi looked over at Andrew, who continued smiling. Not only does he have a strong deck, he thought, but he's able to use it really well too. He really is a strong duelist.

Indeed, he may be able to defeat Kaiba, Yami noted.

"I'm not done yet!" Kaiba called out. "I switch Lord of D. to Defense mode!"

Lord of D. (4/200/100 - 4/200/100)

"And now I'll attack your monster with my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Kaiba announced.

The others were shocked again. "Why would he attack if he knows he can't beat dat monster?" Joey wondered aloud.

The mighty dragon soon charged and unleashed a burst of lightning at Andrew's monster. It flipped over, and a shower of pebbles was blown apart by the fierce attack. The attack continued towards an ornate jar that appeared, against which the attack split off, leaving the jar intact. As the attack cleared, an A on the jar could be seen.

"Looks like you've revealed my monster," Andrew said. "Meet my Ancient Hero Guardian (4/800/2000)!"

The scattered pebbles levitated and flew back to the jar, burying into it and reforming into a creature. A horned helmet of rock appeared over its shadowed glinting eyes, and it raised two shields in front of itself with its newly formed hands, one of them being triangular and bearing the A that was on the jar while the other was circular and bore an X with a circle in the middle.

"Luckily for you, my monster has the same amount of Defense as your monster's Attack," Andrew explained. "Otherwise, you might have suffered a bit of a nasty blow. Ancient Hero Guardian is able to double the amount of Battle Damage he inflicts onto you, so if your monster had even a little less Attack-"

"Can it already," Kaiba interrupted. "I came here to duel and defeat you! I don't care if you have a group of indestructible monsters. I will find a way to get through them and defeat you!"

At this, Andrew whistled. "Touchy," he said, drawing a card, "but we can fix that!"

At that moment, the dark wind blew out across the field once more, weakening the dragons even further.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon (8/2000/1500 - 8/1500/1000)
Lord of D. (4/200/100 - 4/0/0)

"And now I'll summon Ancient Hero Mirage (2/1100/200) in Attack Mode!"

A ghastly apparition appeared in the form of an armored soldier wielding a spear and covered in a cloak. Its A was formed on its chest plate.

"Go, Mirage! Attack the Lord of D.!" Andrew declared.

The soldier ghost lunged forward and struck through the crippled sorcerer's armor and destroyed it!

"Fortunately for you, your monster was in Defense Mode, so you don't take any damage," Andrew said. "I think I'll Set a card and end my turn here."

"Fine then, it's my turn!" Kaiba announced, drawing a card.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon (8/1500/1000 - 8/1000/500)

"I hope you've got a plan for those weakening dragons of yours," Andrew chuckled.

Kaiba ignored him, looking at the card he drew. "I activate the Card of Demise!" he said. "With it, I'm allowed to draw 5 cards with the exchange that in 5 turns I have to discard my entire hand."

After drawing his cards, Kaiba perused over his new hand. Smiling, he said, "I think I've found a way around your indestructible monsters. I activate the power of my Soul Exchange! With it, I'm allowed to sacrifice your monsters in place of my own!"

A glowing aura surrounded Andrew's monsters, preparing them for the sacrifice.

"Oh, I see. Take an alternative route!" Andrew mused. "Makes sense, except that I have ways around that. I activate my face-down card, Ancient Heroes' Shield, which protects my monsters from card effects for this turn!"

The aura faded away just as quickly as it appeared. Kaiba grimaced, his strategy foiled once again.

"In that case," he said, "I have no choice but to use this. I activate Polymerization to fuse the Blue-Eyes White Dragons on my field with the Blue-Eyes in my hand so that I can summon my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (12/4500/3800)!"

The corroded dragons were sucked into a portal along with a fresh and empowered one, fusing themselves together into an even more powerful three-headed dragon. The new dragon stared down at Andrew's monsters, prepared to strike.

"Now go, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" Kaiba declared. "Attack Ancient Hero Mirage with your Neutron Blast!"

The three heads charged up a powerful orb of lightning and unleashed upon the ghost soldier!

"If this attack goes through," Yugi exclaimed, "then Andrew will take a lot of damage!"

Just as he had finished, the attack landed and caused a massive explosion on the field once again shrouding Andrew's monsters. As the dust cleared, the ghost soldier remained firmly in place, and Andrew's Life Points were revealed to have remain unchanged.

Kaiba: 6400
Andrew: 5000

"Don't tell me-"

"Yep!" Andrew perked up. "You just wasted your attack! My Ancient Hero Mirage is just as his name suggests, a mirage, and that means your attack dealt no battle damage to me!"

Kaiba grimaced again. His monsters just don't know when to quit, he thought to himself as he Set a card from his hand and declared, "I'll play a card face-down and end my turn."

"Alright, guess it's my turn!" Andrew said, drawing a card and looking at it. At that moment, the dark wind roared across the field and weakened Kaiba's Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (12/4500/3800 - 12/4000/3300)

"Well whaddya know?" Andrew remarked. "I activate my Ancient Time Acceleration card! When I have an Ancient Hero on my field, I can use this card to look at the top three cards of my deck, then return any number to the bottom, and then draw the same number I returned to the bottom from top. Just think of it as a fancy way of drawing super fast!"

With that, Andrew looked at the three cards and nodded. "I think I'll return all three to my deck," he said, "and that means I can draw three new cards!"

Perusing his new hand, Andrew smiled. "Alright, now I summon Ancient Hero Morpher (3/0/0) in Attack mode!" he declared.

At that moment, a golden ring appeared and oozed a pinkish goo that formed into an amorphous humanoid being. The strange creature fleshed out an A that was similar to the As of the other Ancient Heroes.

"Perhaps I should explain my little friend's special ability," Andrew said. "In case his name doesn't give him away, he can transform himself into a monster on the field and become a perfect copy of them! So now I'm gonna have him copy your Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

The gooey creature began to shift and change shape until it transformed itself into a copy of the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, with the only differences being the ring on its back and the A replacing the natural M mark on the dragon's heads.

Ancient Hero Morpher (3/0/0) - Blue-Eyes Morpher Dragon (12/4000/3300)

"He just duplicated Kaiba's dragon!" Joey exclaimed.

"And now, my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon," Andrew declared, "attack Kaiba's monster with your Neutron Blast attack!"

The doppelgänger dragon charged up its own powerful beam of destruction and prepared to fire against its original counterpart!

"I don't think so!" Kaiba said. "I activate my Trap card, Attack Guidance Armor! This card will redirect the attack towards one of your monsters, so now I choose to redirect the attack towards your Ancient Hero Mirage!"

Suddenly, a new armor overlaid with the ghostly soldier's armor, and the copy dragon fired off its lightning blast towards it instead.

"Guess that was to be expected," Andrew noted. "Thanks to Mirage's effect, I won't take any damage, and he's not destroyed by this battle."

Kaiba: 6400
Andrew: 5000

"That's a shame," Andrew said. "I was hoping to wipe you out, but I guess that's yet to come. So I'll just Set these two cards face-down and end my turn."

"Then it's my move!" Kaiba declared drawing his next card. Meanwhile, in the stands, the others continued to watch.

"Man, dis is one tough duel," Joey said.

"Neither side is giving even an inch to the other," Yugi noted.

"That's my brother for ya," Matt said. "He may not always play seriously, but when he does, he's a force to be reckoned with."

As Kaiba looked over the cards in his hand, the foul wind emerged and weakened his dragon even further.

Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (12/4000/3300 - 12/3500/2800)

"I'm not out of the running yet," Kaiba said. "I'll attack that copycat with my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon! Show him what a real Neutron Blast looks like!"

The dragon roared and began charging its power.

"He's lost it!" Joey yelped.

"Maybe not," Yugi noted.

"And now I activate my Shrink magic card!" Kaiba continued. "This will reduce the attack of a monster down to half of its original attack points. And since your monster's Attack was originally 0, its current Attack is reduced to the same amount!"

"Not too shabby," Andrew nodded, "but I'm not going to let you get away with that. I activate Ancient Heroes' Chain Bomb!"

Out from the new card, a chain shot out towards Kaiba's Shrink card, piercing through it and attaching a bomb to it. The chain hurtled towards Kaiba's deck and pierced through it as well.

"With this card," Andrew explained, "I can negate the activation and effect of a card you just played and destroy it. In addition, I destroy all the other cards of the same name in each of our decks. Of course, I happen to know I don't have any Shrink cards in my deck, but who knows how many you have. Oh, and there's one other small thing to note."

The chain withdrew from Kaiba's deck, showing no other cards. Then the bomb attached to the Shrink on the field exploded, and Kaiba's Life Points got caught up in the explosion.

Kaiba: 5900
Andrew: 5000

"For each copy that gets destroyed, you lose 500 Life Points," Andrew continued. "And since the card was negated, Morpher still has all his attack points which means..."

At that moment everyone realized what he was getting at, and the dragon fired off its Neutron Blast at the false dragon. The false dragon counted with its own attack, which overpowered the original's attack and furthermore wiped out Kaiba's dragon, taking down his Life Points.

Kaiba: 5400
Andrew: 5000

"Seems you won't get much further than that, Kaiba," Andrew said. Kaiba simply glared and looked at the lone card in his hand once more.

"Just go," he finished.

"Gladly," Andrew said, drawing a new card. "And now, Kaiba, I believe you will be the first to lay witness to the strength of one of the strongest Ancient Heroes! In order to summon him properly, I need to sacrifice three of my other Ancient Heroes, and so with the powers of my Ancient Hero Guardian, Ancient Hero Mirage, and Ancient Hero Morpher, I summon my Ancient Hero Ultimus (9/3900/3500)!"

A glowing aura surrounded each of the Ancient Heroes in play, transforming them into three different orbs of light. The orbs rose up into the sky and formed a single vertical line. The lowest of the orbs transformed into a large circular platform, from which a small statue of a seated winged human appeared, its hands crossed over its chest, its knees coming up to its chest, and its wings expanded. The head of the statue was a decorative ornate jar into which the second of the orbs dove into. The third orb split itself into three smaller orbs which then grew into equal sizes, the two on the sides sprouting clear wings from their shadowed sides and gaining two distinct circles in their lighter sides. The highest orb glowed brighter like a sun and split open to reveal an eye of sorts. From this orb, two curved beams poured into the winged orbs, connecting the triad together as a curious spirit poked out of the jar where the middle orb had dived into. The spirit spiraled out, the distinctive Ancient Heroes' A on its body, and it spread its two pairs of smaller curved wings as it raised its hand towards the solar eye, completing the transformation.

"What in the world..." was all Kaiba could say as he looked upon the monster in awe.

"Dat monster's got 3900 Atk points!" Joey exclaimed. The others were equally awed by the new monster's appearance.

"Behold, Kaiba," Andrew announced. "The arrival of Ancient Hero Ultimus now dawns upon you. And now, Ultimus, unleash your divine fury upon Kaiba! Attack him directly!"

The spirit pulsed a power within the eye of the sun, which opened wide and fired down a great beam of light upon Kaiba, burning away at his Life Points.

Kaiba: 1500
Andrew: 5000

"If I didn't know you well enough, Kaiba," Andrew commented, "I would say you should surrender. Of course, I know you won't, and you've got more than enough Life Points to make a comeback. Time to try your luck with your next draw!"

Kaiba looked up at Andrew. "If you end up defeating me today," he said, "I ask this one thing: that you go all the way."

He looked towards Yugi in the stands. "I may lose to you now," he continued, "but my one true rival, the only person I consider to be my equal, is Yugi. So if you're better than me, then you're better than him as well."

Turning his gaze back to Andrew and drawing a card, he concluded, "I want you to prove that to me in the final match."

"Should probably focus on this one first," Andrew noted. "But I'll go for it."

"Good," Kaiba said. "I'll activate my last card then, Dragon's Mirror! With it, I'm able to summon a Dragon-type Fusion Monster from my deck provided I have the monsters needed for it in my Graveyard."

"Then I activate my face-down," Andrew said. "It's called Ancient Heroes' Seal, and it works similarly to my Chain Bomb."

The new card lashed out with three different scrolls decorated with seals on them, which stopped Kaiba's Spell card and sought for any other cards in his Deck.

"I negate and destroy your Dragon's Mirror on the field, as well as destroy any Dragon's Mirror cards in your deck," Andrew continued. "After that, those cards can't be used for the remainder of the Duel."

Coming up negative, all three seals dragged the one Dragon's Mirror to the Graveyard.

"Then it's your move," Kaiba said.

"The last turn, then," Andrew declared, drawing a card. "Before all that happens, though, Ultimus' effect activates, giving him an additional 500 Atk points during the Standby Phase."

Ancient Hero Ultimus (9/3900/3500 - 9/4400/3500)

"And now, Ancient Hero Ultimus, attack Kaiba's Life Points directly!"

The spirit once again charged up the eye with energy and fired down a ray of light upon Kaiba, burning away the rest of his Life Points.

Kaiba: 0
Andrew: 5000

"And the winner of the match is Andrew!" the admin called out.

The others looked on as Andrew gathered his cards and looked back up at Kaiba for a moment. Kaiba though had already turned his back and walked away. Andrew looked back up into the stands, smiled, gave a thumbs-up, and then headed out the door as well. Yugi watched him on his way out.

A deck of indestructible monsters. And a monster that gets stronger every turn. He may just be my toughest opponent yet.


"Mr. Zero, sir, we've found some results in regards to the search you wanted us to perform earlier."

"And?"

"So far, we have confirmed at least three duelists as suspects. We haven't quite gotten through all the results just yet, but we should have the end results by the time the last semifinal match ends."

"Fair enough. Who's on the list so far?"

"Right now, we suspect that Lucky Lynn and Leila Kimber - two of the finalists - are not who they appeared to be, as per your instructions."

"And who's the third?"

"Well, our third is a little iffy. We're not entirely 100% certain-"

"That's usually what it means to have something confirmed."

"Understood."

"So who is it?"

"Monica Toronto."


AUTHOR'S NOTES

Say WHAAAAA?! Monica is a suspect in an investigation?! And so are Lucky Lynn and even Leila?! What's going on! Do the cards hold the answer?

Ancient Hero Bladegon (Effect Monster)
Level 4, 2000 Atk, 1200 Def, Dinosaur, EARTH
Effect: Cannot be destroyed by battle. If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent. If this card attacks, it cannot attack during your next turn.

City of the Ancient Pyramids (Field Spell)
Effect: "Ancient Hero" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by your opponent's card effects. If this card would be destroyed, you can Tribute 1 "Ancient Hero" monster you control instead.

Spell Split Duo (Normal Spell)
Effect: Flip a coin twice and call it each time. For each correct call, inflict 500 damage to your opponent and gain 500 LP.

Lord of D. (Effect Monster)
Level 4, 1200 Atk, 1100 Def, Spellcaster, DARK
Effect: Neither player can target Dragon monsters on the field with card effects.

The Flute of Summoning Dragon (Normal Spell)
Effect: Special Summon up to 2 Dragon monsters from your hand. "Lord of D." must be on the field to activate and to resolve this effect.

Curse of the Ancients (Continuous Trap)
Effect: When this card is activated: inflict 500 damage to your opponent. During each player's Standby Phase: monsters your opponent controls lose 500 ATK/DEF.

Mystical Space Typhoon (Quick-Play Spell)
Effect: Destroy 1 Spell/Trap card on the field.

Ancient Hero Guardian (Effect Monster)
Level 4, 800 Atk, 2000 Def, Rock, EARTH
Effect: Cannot be destroyed by battle. Double any Battle Damage your opponent takes from battles involving this card.

Ancient Hero Mirage (Effect Monster)
Level 2, 1100 Atk, 200 Def, Warrior, LIGHT
Effect: Cannot be destroyed by battle. You take no Battle Damage from battles involving this card.

Soul Exchange (Normal Spell)
Effect: During this turn, you can Tribute monsters on your opponent's side of the field as if you controlled them.
NOTE: This is based on the anime effect of Soul Exchange, also sometimes known as Cross Sacrifice. In the real-game, a player can only Tribute 1 selected monster on the opponent's side of the field, and they cannot declare an attack during the turn the card is activated.

Ancient Time Acceleration (Normal Spell)
Effect: If you control an "Ancient Hero" monster: Excavate the top three cards of your Deck; place any number of those excavated cards at the bottom of the Deck, also place the rest (if any) on top in any order, then draw cards equal to the number of cards you placed at the bottom.

Ancient Hero Morpher (Effect Monster)
Level 3, 0 Atk, 0 Def, Aqua, WATER
Effect: Cannot be destroyed by battle. Once per turn: you can target 1 monster on the field; while this card is face-up on the field, this card's name, Level, ATK, DEF, Type, and Attribute become the same as the targeted monster, also it gains its effects.

Shrink (Quick-Play Spell)
Effect: Target 1 face-up monster on the field; its original ATK becomes halved until the end of this turn.
NOTE: There's a lot of weird rulings in regards to Shrink's effect, but the key one to note is this ruling:

"The effect of "Shrink" works like "Megamorph", setting a new current ATK based on original ATK. If the same monster is targeted by both "Shrink" and "Megamorph", only the effect of the card that resolved last will be applied."

With this in mind, the new current Atk that Ancient Hero Morpher would have had would be based on its original printed Atk, since Ancient Hero Morpher only copies the Atk of its target and thus gains Atk based on its target.

Ancient Heroes' Chain Bomb (Quick-Play Spell)
Effect: When a card or effect is activated: negate the activation, and if you do, destroy all cards with the same name in both players' Decks, and if you do that, inflict 500 damage to the owner of each destroyed card.

Ancient Hero Ultimus (Effect Monster)
Level 9, 3900 Atk, 3500 Def, Fairy, LIGHT
Effect: Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) by Tributing 3 "Ancient Hero" monsters you control. Cannot be destroyed by battle. If this card is destroyed and sent to the GY: Special Summon it. During your Standby Phase: this card gains 500 Atk.

Dragon's Mirror (Normal Spell)
Effect: Fusion Summon 1 Dragon Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, by banishing Fusion Materials listed on it from your field or GY.

Ancient Heroes' Seal (Quick-Play Spell)
Effect: When a card or effect is activated: negate the activation, and if you do, destroy all cards with the same name in both players' Decks, also neither player can activate cards or effects with the same name as the destroyed cards for the rest of the Duel.

It looks like Yugi will be dueling Monica, our suspect-in-training, in the next round! What dark secret is she hiding behind that helmet of hers? And what's her relation to Leila and Lynn? Can Yugi perform the task Leila gave him, or will he fall to Monica's supreme speed deck? Time to rev it up in the next chapter!