"I draw! I activate Graceful Charity, which allows me to draw three cards and discard two. I'll set a card facedown and summon D.D. Assailant (1700/1600) in attack mode. I'll end my turn with that," Akia concluded her first turn.
"There it is! Akia's Different Dimension monsters!" Jounouchi exclaimed.
Rishid then dew his card. As soon as he did, however, Akia interrupted him by activating her trap Card, Jar of Greed, which made her draw one card from her deck.
"I shall proceed with my turn," Rishid said, "I activate Temple of the Kings. With this spell card, I can activate Trap Cards the same turn they are set and you will only be allowed to activate a maximum of two Magic/Trap Cards per turn. I'll set two cards and end my turn."
Akia was observing every move her opponent made, trying to figure out what kind of strategy he was planning to use. She knew that he would probably not use the Egyptian god card, since he was not actually Marik, but she still needed to be on her guard.
"I draw," the red-eyed girl started her turn. She looked at the card that she just drew and smirked. It was one of the new cards she had acquired during the tournament. "I'll activate the spell Soul Absorption!"
"Soul Absorption?"Jounouchi asked.
"This continuous spell makes me gain 500 Life Points whenever a card is removed from play,"
Akia explained, "I'll set a card facedown and end my turn."
"Woah, where did she get that?" Otogi asked.
"From the two bozos we tag dueled against," Mai answered. "It's the perfect card for Akia-chan's deck."
Marik was observing the match intently. Rishid had to win this duel to convince everyone of his ruse. After seeing some of Akia's duel, he knew it wasn't going to be an easy match.
Rishid drew his next card and set two facedowns before ending his turn. Akia started her next turn, drawing her card. Her eyes widened at her luck. She had just drawn Macro Cosmos. It was time to show off her new and improved deck.
"I set a card facedown and set a monster in facedown defence position. I'll end my turn with that," Akia concluded.
"Why isn't she attacking with her D.D. Assailant? Marik is wide open!" Jounouchi asked.
"I think she's being extra cautious with the facedowns he has laid down," Yugi replied.
That was exactly what Akia was wary of. She did not know what kind of cards Rishid had, but it seemed to be centred around trap cards because of the effects of his Temple of the Kings. She had to be careful not to trigger any potentially devastating traps.
Rishid drew and Akia interrupted him once more.
"I activate my continuous trap card, Macro Cosmos!" The red-eyed girl exclaimed. "While this card is on the field, any card sent to the graveyard is removed from play instead."
"She's really strengthened her deck during this tournament," Yugi said.
The Spirit of the Ring was internally rooting for Akia. At this point he couldn't care less about Marik's plan. It had nothing to do with Akia anyway.
"Big brother, how strong of a duelist is Akia-san, actually?" Shizuka turned to her brother to inquire about it, since she still had some trouble following along.
"She's one of the strongest duelists out there," Jounouchi replied, "I've never seen her lose a duel before except against Yugi sometimes."
Shizuka gasped in awe and resumed watching the duel, trying to follow what was going on. Rishid ended his turn, unable to do anything without Akia attacking him. Akia also passed her turn after drawing her next card. Rishid followed suit one more time.
"They both keep skipping their turns," Honda stated.
"It's probably because they are both defensive style players," Yugi explained. "It seems that both their decks rely on the other person attacking."
"Doesn't that mean that they won't be able to do anything during the whole duel?" Anzu asked.
"Well, it's probably going to take longer for either of them to play a move, but I'm sure that eventually they will, once their field is set with a solid defensive foundation," Mai replied.
Akia drew her next card and set another Jar of Greed facedown. This time, Rishid was the one who interrupted her.
"I activate my three facedown traps Embodiments of Apophis to special summon the three Trap Cards as monsters (1600/1800) in Attack Position," the Egyptian man said.
"Trap Monster Cards?" Jounouchi inquired.
"I've never seen them before," Yugi replied.
"Quite the unique cards, they are," the Spirit of the Ring, acting as his host commented.
Three monsters then materialized on his side. They were all weaker than Akia's D.D. Assailant (1700/1600).
"Akia could totally take them on!" Jounouchi exclaimed.
Yugi frowned, knowing that this seemed way too calculated of a move for Rishid to have left them unprotected like that. Akia glanced at her opponent's remaining facedown card and knew that it was probably a trap that would activate once she attacked.
Rishid did in fact play his move to bait her to attack, since he had Eye of Ujat facedown on his side of the field which would allow him to change the target of her attack to any other monster on the field. However, Akia ended her turn without attacking.
"She's being very passive in her play," Mai commented.
Rishid drew his next card, and, just like before, Akia activated her Jar of Greed, which made her draw another card from her deck. Her Life Points then went up to 4500.
"Her Life Points…!" Jounouchi exclaimed.
"It's because of her Soul Absorption card," Yugi explained.
"Because of her Jar of Greed that was removed from play once its effect was resolved," Mai added.
"That could add up pretty quickly then," Anzu commented.
For the next few turns, both Akia and Rishid drew cards and passed their turns, until Akia had too many cards in her hands. She was forced to discard one, which resulted in her gaining another 500 Life Points, bringing her total up to 5000.
"Even with nothing happening, Akia's got an advantage with her Life Points," Jounouchi said.
"My girl knows how to strategize," Mai commended her friend.
Rishid drew his next card.
"It's time to activate my Temple of the Kings' next effect," he stated as he looked Akia straight in the eyes. "I will seal away the card that I just drew."
He then revealed the card in his hand. This lead to everyone gasping.
"Why…?!" Akia gasped. Did Marik actually give Rishid the god card to make it more believable that it was him?
"Why?" Rishid replied, "because I am Marik, the wielder of the Winged Dragon of Ra."
Akia frowned. She knew that it would be bad news if he succeeded in summoning that card. She had to do something about it before then. Rishid ended his turn after unsettling everyone with his revelation.
"I draw!" Akia declared. "I'll use Raigeki to destroy your three trap monsters."
"Not so fast," Rishid interjected, "I will use Judgement of Anubis to negate your effect. I can activate this trap card when my opponent uses a Spell Card. That effect is negated and all monsters on the field are destroyed. Half of all of that attack is deducted from your Life Points."
"Oh no! That's a huge chunk of her Life Points!" Honda exclaimed.
Akia smirked, finally feeling like this duel was moving forward. "I won't go down that easily! I activate my own trap, Dark Bribe. This will negate the effect of your Judgement of Anubis, but will let you draw one card instead. So just like how I intended it, your three trap monsters are destroyed and removed from play, along with my Raigeki and our two additional traps. That's going to be a lot of Life Points for me! I'll end my turn with that."
Just like Akia said, her Life Points went up by 3000 points, bringing them up to a total of 8000 Life Points.
"That's an insane amount of Life Points!" Otogi yelled out.
"Way to go, Akia-chan!" The one masquerading as Bakura cheered.
Marik was not as happy about all of this, however. Even though Akia had not touched Rishid's Life Points, she was still somehow at a clear advantage. If things got out of control, he had a backup plan in mind to win this duel and convince everybody that Rishid was him.
"I did not expect less from the Queen of Games," the Egyptian man said to his opponent. "I draw. I will activate Cup of the Sealed Soul. I will also activate my facedown, Seal of Serket. When these two cards along with my Temple of the Kings are on the field, it allows me to special summon Mystical Beast Serket (2500/?) in attack position. I will use my monster to attack your facedown monster."
Rishid's monster easily destroyed Akia's monster, which was revealed to be D.D. Scout Plane (800/1200). As soon as it was destroyed, Rishid's monster gained 400 attack points, bringing its attack up to 2900 points.
"So it gains attack equal to half of the monster it destroys, right?" Akia concluded.
"Correct," Rishid replied. "Impressive deduction skills."
Akia smirked at the compliment. Due to her D.D. Scout Plane being removed from play, Akia gained another 500 Life Points, bringing her total up to 8500 Life Points. As soon as Rishid ended his turn, D.D. Scout Plane was summoned back to Akia's field in attack position.
"Let me guess," Rishid suggested, "since this is also another one of those different dimension monsters, its effect is that it gets summoned back to your field if it was removed from play. Did I get that right?"
"Yeah, that's right!" Akia exclaimed, genuinely enjoying her duel at that point. "Your deduction skills are not half-bad either!"
Her opponent smiled, temporarily forgetting about what he had to do and just enjoying the duel.
"Is it just me or are these two getting along?" Otogi asked.
"Akia! Stop fraternizing with the enemy!" Jounouchi yelled out.
"First Namu-kun, then Bakura-kun, and now Marik? Akia-chan, you need to stick to one, you player," Mai teased her friend while laughing.
Akia almost choked on her own saliva when she heard what her older female friend said.
"Mai-san…! Don't say all that nonsense so easily!" The red-eyed girl shouted out in panic.
Her friends chuckled at her reactions, which lightened the mood. Rishid watched the interaction, wishing this brightness to enter Marik's life as well. He was aware of how important Akia was to his brother and he hoped that one day she would pull him out of his darkness.
"Alright, enough of that, I draw!" Akia resumed the game.
She then switched both her D.D. Scout Plane and D.D. Assailant to defence position. When she ended her turn, she was forced to discard another card from her hand, removing it from play, and bringing her Life Points up to 9000. Rishid started his turn, drawing his card, and attacked Akia's D.D. Scout Plane once more to bring his Mystical Beast Serket's attack points up to 3300. This also brought Akia's Life Points up to 9500. With that he ended his turn, which brought back Akia's D.D. Scout Plane to the field.
"I draw," Akia started her next turn. "I will switch my D.D. Scout Plane to defence position and set a card facedown. With that I'll end my turn."
"Draw," her opponent continued, "I'll attack your D.D. Scout Plane once more to bring my Mystical Beast Serket's attack up to 3700 points. I'll set a card and end my turn."
Akia's Life Points went up to 10000 as a result and her monster was back on the field once more.
"She's untouchable at that point!" Jounouchi exclaimed.
"Not much can graze those Life Points, even if he attacked her directly," Mai added.
"Akia-chan, you can do this!" The Bakura impersonator cheered.
The black-haired girl smiled at the support she was getting and her next card.
"Alright, this is it!" Akia declared, "I summon Gren Maju Da Eiza!"
"There it is! Akia's signature move!" Honda yelled out.
"But, its stats are not high enough," Yugi said.
And just as he predicted, Gren Maju Da Eiza's attack and defence points only went up to 2000, since she only had five cards that were removed from play.
"Oh no! Did she miscalculate?" Anzu worriedly asked.
"She probably has something else up her sleeve," Jounouchi said.
"That's right, I'm not done!" Akia agreed with her blond friend. "I play Card Destruction, which makes us both discard our full hands, removing them all from play thanks to my Macro Cosmos."
Rishid discarded the six cards in his hand and Akia discarded the four in her hand, and with the spell she had just used, she had ten cards removed from play in total. This brought up her Gren Maju Da Eiza's stats up to (4000/4000). It also brought her Life Points up to 15500.
"I'll attack your Mystical Beast Serket with my monster," Akia declared.
"I thought you were more careful than that," Rishid intercepted, "I activate Eye of Ujat, which allows me to retarget your attack to another monster on the field. I choose your D.D. Assailant! This will take care of both your monsters at once!"
"I am careful," the red-eyed girl retorted, "and that's why I only attack when I have a backup plan! I activate my trap card Solemn Judgement, which negates your Eye of Ujat at the cost of half my Life Points. My Gren Maju Da Eiza's attack will continue its original course!"
"I won't let you!" The Egyptian man interjected once more. "I play my trap card Negate Attack to stop your monster's attack."
With all the back and forth, Akia's Life points had gone down half to 7750, then back up to 9250. Her Gren Maju Da Eiza's stats also went up an additional 400, bringing it to (4400/4400).
"Way to go, Akia!" Yugi cheered.
"Never thought it would get this intense with a bunch of traps countering each other," Jounouchi commented.
"Akia-san is so cool," Shizuka said.
"But why isn't Marik using his god card?" Mai whispered to her friends.
"It is odd," Honda replied, "I mean it's better this way for her."
"What if…" Jounouchi trailed off, remembering his suspicions about Namu. The blond young man glanced back at him, only to be met with the latter's friendly smile.
Rishid drew his next card. He was in a bind, and he knew it. He thought of using Mystical Beast Serket to attack Akia's D.D. Scout Plane once more to increase its attack, but it would still be 300 attack points too weak.
Marik was feeling the suspicions arise concerning his identity, so he decided to proceed with the second part of his plan.