The following takes place during Awakening of Evil.

Man, that was some good sleep! I managed to have a good thirty-minutes nap that was so recharging!

Anyway, between Yugi and Joey the one who won was (of course) Yugi and, at the moment, we're in the main room again as Isono is holding the lottery for the second round.

"The first Duelist in the second match will be…" he declares "Number 2: Richard Tsunami!"

"Good" I smirk "Let's see who will be my opponent"

"The opponent is…" Isono continues "Number 7: Marik Ishtar!"

Marik! The one that brainwashed Rebecca and forced me to duel her in a Life or Death Duel! "I'm going to beat you with my own two hands!" I declare as I look at him.

He doesn't answer, so we get to the top of the blimp (as I got up everyone explained me the rules as they told me about the Duel between Yugi and Joey) and we stand on the Duel Arena, our Duel Disks ready to activate.

"We will now begin the second round of the Finals!" Isono announces "Richard Tsunami VS Marik Ishtar!"

We both take each other's Deck and start shuffling it while staring at each other.

"You asked for it!" I think as I give him back his Deck and he does the same "I swear I'm going to defeat you!"

We then silently get into position and activate our Duel Disks. "Here goes!" I declare.

"LET'S DUEL!"

LP Richard 4000

LP Marik 4000

"I'm going first!" I declare drawing a card "I'll win for sure and take his God Card!"

I let the wind blow towards me so that the fresh air wipes my mind from all other thoughts and then I take the card I drew and place it on the Duel Disk. "On my turn I play this! Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness in Attack Mode!"

The sea warrior appears on my field (ATK: 1800).

"Let's see how you deal with him! I end my turn!"

He silently draws his card and places it in the middle of his hand. He then takes the leftmost card. "I activate the Field Magic Temple of the Kings!"

All of a sudden a giant temple appears behind him, a weird sarcophagus on top of it.

"This is a sanctuary for the Pharaoh's treasures! All beings other than the Tomb Guardians must humble themselves before this sacred ground!" he explains "Due to this card's effect you are limited to one face-down card per turn"

"What?!"

He then places two cards face-down. "Powerful traps are set to pass judgment against thieves and robbers" he says "My turn now comes to an end. So, Richard, do you have the courage to step into this sacred ground and face this trap-filled territory?"

"He's planning to activate his Trap Cards the moment I attack!" I think as I scan my hand, which contains Card Hexative, Double Attack, Forgotten Temple of the Deep, Water of Life and Cannonball Spear Shellfish "But I won't attack: instead I'll Summon as many monsters as I can while he waits for me to make a move. And after he'll play every Trap Card he's got in his hand… I'll use Card Hexative to block them and leave my monsters free way to attack!"

I then draw my card and place it on the Duel Disk. "I Summon Codarus!"

A childish version of Levia-Dragon – Daedalus appears on the field (ATK: 1400).

"I'll end my turn right there!"

"For my turn I'll place two more cards face-down" Marik declares "I end my turn"

"Just like I planned, he placed all his Trap Cards on the field!" I think as I draw my card "This turn I'll Summon another monster! Cannonball Spear Shellfish!"

The weird mollusk-like monster appears (ATK: 1000).

"Yes! The total Attack points of the monsters I control is over 4000!" I think "Marik, you fell into my trap! I activate Card Hexative!"

From the ground, some chains appear and start wrapping around Marik's Trap Cards. All of a sudden though, the chains disappear.

"Richard, you are the one who fell into a trap" Marik says "You may thought my Trap Cards would have been activated when you'd attack. But I was waiting for you to activate a Magic Card"

"Say what?!"

"Such tactics are child's play to me, the great Marik! This is the Trap Card you deserve! Judgment of Anubis!"

All of a sudden a huge purple fog appears and takes the form of a jackal's face.

"This card activates when the opponent uses a Magic Card" he explains "Every monster on the field is destroyed and the opponent receives half of their Attack points as damage"

"What?!"

The fog manifests some tentacles that stab my monsters.

"The total Attack power of your monsters is 4200, therefore you receive 2100 points of damage as judgment" Marik concludes.

"All my monsters… are gone…" I state as I shield myself from the blow and the fog disappears.

LP Richard 1900

LP Marik 4000

"Richard, this is only the first of the traps you'll fall into!" Marik says "So then, your turn must yet to end"

I smirk. "I must say I underestimated you. Just make your move!"

He draws his card and places it on the Duel Disk along with the leftmost card in his hand. "In this turn I place two more cards face-down"

"This again?!" I ask a little bit annoyed "Why don't you come at me?!"

"A Trap Deck is a good strategy. You have no right to call me a coward just because you cannot comprehend it"

"Whatever" I say drawing a card "I Summon Amphibious Bugroth MK-3!"

A red scuba diver-like robot appears (ATK: 1500).

"He has five face-down cards. All of them probably being Trap Cards" I think "I need to be careful. I place this face-down and call it a turn"

"In that case, I will simply end my turn without doing anything"

"I'm losing my patience!" I think as I draw a card and place it on the Duel Disk "I Summon Mermaid Knight!"

A mermaid with a shield and a sword appears on the field (ATK: 1500).

"I need to take a risk! Mermaid Knight, use Mermaid Slash and attack him directly!"

Mermaid Knight quickly rushes towards Marik, who declares: "I activate the Trap Card Eye of Ujat!"

All of a sudden a Wedjat eye appears on Mermaid Knight's forehead.

"Due to the effect of this Trap, the monster who sees the Eye of Ujat shall be under my control for one full turn"

"What the-"

"Mermaid Knight! Attack Amphibious Bugroth MK-3!"

"I had a feeling you'd do that!" I declare "I activate the Trap Card Forgotten Temple of the Deep!"

Marik looks in horror as a huge temple surrounds the entire field and creates a giant pool of water under our monsters. Bugroth then dives underwater, just in time before Mermaid Knight can reach it.

"Now Mermaid Knight loses its target!" I explain with a smirk "Plus, you just said you have a Trap Deck, so probably you don't have any Monster Card. This means that if I manage to get rid of your Trap Cards, you can't defend yourself!"

"Are you sure about that?" he asks "You've already fallen deep into my deadly trap"

"Say what?!"

"Just like you pointed out, I have a Trap Deck, which mostly uses Magic and Trap Cards. But what if a Trap Card can takes the place of a Monster Card?"

"Like a… Trap Monster?!"

"Allow me to show you! This is the card that shall deliver onto you the God's punishment! Embodiment of Apophis!"

The Trap Card reveals itself, purple smoke coming out of it.

"This card is a Trap Card that activates when you attack" Marik explains "And its effect Summons the monster servant of the Gods, Embodiment of Apophis! And, since I have three of the same cards, I can Summon three monsters!"

Two more Trap Cards reveal themselves and three snake-like monsters with a shield and a sword appear (ATK: 1600 x3).

"He Summoned three monsters at once?!" I exclaim in amazement.

Altered cards:

Forgotten Temple of the Deep
Continuous Trap Card
Effect: This card's name is also treated as "Umi". Once per turn, during either player's turn, you can remove 1 WATER monster you control. During the End Phase of the turn, Special Summon that monster. (Author's note: This card's removing effect is Spell Speed 2)

So, now Richard has to fight three Embodiment of Apophises! Will he be able to do it? You'll know in the next chapter! Until then, hasta la vista!