Conner finally got to face Peggrin to save his sister and his company. They started their duel, but it wasn't looking good for Conner. All Conner had was his Virus Illness facedown, with it being useless at the moment, and had 3100LP. Peggrin had Luminous Sparta at 1400atk points, Luminous Coliseum, and all of his life points. Thanks to his patch, Peggrin is able to read his opponent's mind and take complete control of the duel.
"What's wrong, Conner? You look so mad." Peggrin taunted. "Try and keep in mind that this is still just a game."
"Just end your turn already." Conner said.
"Fine." Peggrin said. "For my final move, I'm going to play Luminous Lightning. Since Luminous Sparta was able to destroy your clown, you take 300 points of damage for each Luminous card I have on the field. Since I have a total of two, Sparta and my coliseum field spell, you'll be taking 600 points of damage." Lightning struck down on Conner and his life points dropped to 2500. "As an added bonus, I get to draw two extra cards." Peggrin drew two cards and he liked what he had. "I'll place these two cards facedown and end my turn."
"Conner is completely losing." Rin said.
"Even Ichika didn't give Conner this much trouble." Cecilia said. "How is Peggrin doing this?"
"It's that eyepatch of his." Ichika said. "It hold mystic powers. It allows Peggrin to read Conner's mind and know what Conner's going to do before he does it."
"Very funny, Ichika." Hector said as he didn't believe that.
'I wish Ichika was kidding, but that eyepatch Peggrin has really does have powers.' Ryu thought.
'There must be a way to beat Peggrin. He might be able to read our minds, but that can't mean he's unbeatable.' Ichika thought as he had to believe there was a way to beat him.
"It's my turn!" Conner thought as he drew his next card. He drew another card that could be quite the gamble, but it will have to wait. 'Peggrin knew about my trap somehow and was ready for it. He must have other counters ready for it, but I've got a couple tricks that even he won't be able to counter.' He thought. "I'm going to start by summoning Jinba the Genie to the field!" Conner summoned out his red genie as it came out with 1800atk points. "I could use my genie's ability to get rid of Sparta, but it's time some pain came your way."
"Oh really? Bring it on. I can take it." Peggrin said.
"Jinba, attack with Wishful Demise!" Conner ordered. Jinba breathed out a red cloud of smoke. Sparta got caught in it and was destroyed. Conner waited with anticipation on Peggrin's life points going down, but nothing. "What now? Why haven't you lost any life points?"
"Why? This is why." Peggrin said as he revealed his trap card. "Luminous Shield. When you destroy a Luminous monster, this trap prevents me from taking any damage. The downside is that I must send the top card of my deck to the graveyard." Peggrin drew the card he had to discard, but he was actually pleased with it. "Perfect. This is just the card I wanted to discard."
"What now?" Conner said as he knows this won't be good for him.
"The card I'm discarding is Luminous Cri." Peggrin said as he discarded the card. "When Luminous Cri is sent to the graveyard, I can take any of my warriors in my graveyard and special summon it to the field. I think I'm going to go with Luminous Churon this time." He summoned a white armored warrior that a morning star and had 1300atk points. "Don't forget that Luminous Coliseum gives all my monsters an extra 400atk points when my luminous warriors are special summoned." Churon's attack points increased to 1700.
"My genie is still stronger, but I'll be ready for whatever you throw at me Peggrin. I place one card facedown. That ends my turn." Conner said. Peggrin's patch allowed him to know what card he placed and was a little impressed.
'Oh my, Conner. I never thought you would be the type to take chances. You must be getting desperate.' Peggrin thought as he was enjoying seeing Conner squirm. "It's my turn now!" He drew his next card. "I'm going to activate Arrows of Luminescence. This allows me to destroy one spell or trap card on the field. Since your Virus Illness can no longer help you, I'll get rid of it for you." A series of arrows came down and destroyed Conner's trap. "What's more is that I can draw a card." He drew his next card. "Next, I'm activating Luminous Enlighten. This takes half of your monster's attack points and add it to Churon's." Energy was being transferred from Jinba and went to Churon as their attack points changed to 900 and 2500. "Churon, how about you give Jinba a parting gift." Churon twirled it's morning star around and smashed it against Jinba. Jinba was destroyed and Conner's life points dropped to 900.
"I can't believe how badly Conner is losing." Laura said.
"Peggrin's deck is the perfect balance of spells, traps, and monsters. Their effects compliment and support each other." Houki said. "On top of that, luck seems to be on Peggrin's side. He knows how to perfectly counter everything that Conner does."
"I can't believe this is happening to me." Conner said as he was getting frustrated.
"Oh, Conner. Don't you understand that I can see practically everything you can do. There is nothing you can hide from me." Peggrin said. Peggrin was getting to Conner. Nothing Conner has tried is working against Peggrin. He's almost out of ideas. "I see all and know all. Maybe you should just surrender. You're just embarrassing yourself." Conner was starting to think that way.
"Conner, don't give up!" Ichika called. "Remember what you're fighting for! You have to save Mila!"
"Mila!" Conner said. If he loses, she'll lose as well. He won't let it happen. "Peggrin, I've had enough of you and your games. I activate Ultimate Chance! I don't know how you're able to see what's in my hand, but if even I don't know what I've got, I might get the drop on you. That's why this trap allows me to discard every card in my hand." He discarded every card he had in his hand.
"This is a gutsy move, Conner. I never thought you would be the type to take chances." Peggrin said. "You must be getting desperate, but who am I to stop good shows."
"Conner's taking a big chance." Hector said.
"What's he talking about? He just got rid of his entire hand. He's got nothing to fight with now." Houki said.
"Not exactly." Hector said. "Ultimate Chance has another effect. If his next draw happens to be a monster, he can summon it regardless of the summoning conditions."
"You mean that if Conner can draw a super powerful monster on his next draw, he can instantly summon it?" Cecilia said.
"Yeah, but that's only if he draws it now." Ryu said.
"Well, let's see what you've got, Conner. It all comes down to what you draw." Peggrin said. "Since we've reached the end of my turn, Churon's attack points return to normal." Churon's attack points dropped back down to 1700.
'It all comes down to this draw.' Conner thought as he readied himself. Everything Conner is fighting for comes down to this draw. 'Mila, I will save you.' "I draw!" Conner drew his card and the suspense was growing. What did Conner draw? "Get ready to face your doom, Peggrin!" He played the card he drew and it ended up being White-Eyes Silver Dragon with all of it's 3000atk points.
"White-Eyes Silver Dragon?!" Ichika said as all of them were amazed at this.
"Oh my! I must admit that even I'm surprised!" Peggrin said as he really didn't see it coming.
"That has got to be the luckiest draw I have ever seen." Hector said.
"Conner never had any doubt. He believed in himself, his deck, and his deck answered. He opened his heart to his deck, even if he won't admit it." Ichika said.
"White-Eyes Silver Dragon, attack with Lightning Burst Blast!" Conner ordered. His dragon unleashed a powerful blast of lightning and blew Churon to dust. Conner was finally able to deal damage as Peggrin's life points dropped to 2700.
"Finally, you were able to deal damage." Peggrin said.
"Good luck trying to beat my dragon, Peggrin." Conner said. "You have nothing left in your hand. There's no way you can get out of this. All I have to do is wait until I get a clear shot with my dragon and you're finished."
"Aren't you speaking of victory a little too soon? I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." Peggrin said. Even while faced with that mighty dragon, he still seems perfectly calm.
"Go and make your move." Conner said.
"Okay." Peggrin said as he drew his card. "I know just the card to play. I activate a card from my graveyard: Shining Champ! I can activate the effect of this spell when it was discarded there. I was saving this for when that dragon of yours came out."
"From his graveyard?!" Ichika said.
"But when did you send it there?" Conner said.
"How quickly we forget. Remember when I activated Gladius' ability at the start of the duel?" Peggrin said. Conner remembered that he discarded a card when that happened.
"That means... You've been planning this from the very beginning!" Conner said.
"That's right. I knew you would play your dragon, and I saved it for this moment." Peggrin said. "This card allows me to summon any of my warriors from my hand, deck, or graveyard. I choose my mightiest warrior: Luminous Spartacus!" He summoned out a new warrior in white and gold armor with a flowing cape. It emerged in a bright light with him having 2800atk points.
"But it's weaker than Conner's dragon." Cecilia said.
"Not for long. His field spell will give it extra power." Hector said as Spartacus' power increased to 3200. "He also gains an extra 300atk points for every one of my warriors in my graveyard. I have four. That means he gains 1200atk points. Legendary Empower!" Spartacus gains attack points increased to 4400.
"It's stronger than Conner's dragon!" Houki said.
"It also has enough power to end this and there's nothing Conner can do about it." Hector said.
"I'm sorry, Mila. I failed." Conner said as he accepted defeat.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. You tried. Spartacus, attack with Champion Lightning!" Peggrin said. Spartacus drew his sword and build power. Spartacus unleashed a powerful blast of light that destroyed Conner's dragon and destroyed the last of his life points. "I guess that's it. That means I'm taking another prize." He held up a blank card and Peggrin's patch shined. Conner was blinded by the light as his soul was taken from his body. Conner was place in the card and trapped just like Mila as his body was just a lifeless shell. "So close yet still so far." He said as he held Conner and Mila close together.
"Well, guess that's it." Bane said as he was the only one that didn't care.
"I can't believe Conner actually lost like that." Houki said as all of them were shocked.
"He also lost his soul." Ichika said as they saw Conner's body being dragged away. "All he was trying to do was save his sister." Ichika couldn't take it anymore. "Why, Peggrin? Who are you to mess with our friends? Our families? What's it all for?"
"Ichika, I don't need to explain myself for you." Peggrin said. The spirit inside his charm wasn't going to put up with it either as he switched places with Ichika.
"Peggrin, I promise that when I defeat you, I will save my sister, Conner, and Mila. I will bring an end to your twisted game." Ichika vowed.
"That's assuming you actually get the chance to duel me." Peggrin said and looked to the four finalists. "You four finalists are truly the crème de la crème. I can't wait to see who will go against who and will be labled one of the best." Conner might have failed to defeat Peggrin, but Ichika won't. Only four remain and only one will be left standing to duel Peggrin. The finals will soon begin.