Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Bakura asked Yugi, "Yugi-kun, does Jonouchi-kun have any cards in his deck that can destroy the back row?"

"Well, yesterday when he was organizing his deck, he finally decided to put in a few [Whirlwind] cards. If he drew [Whirlwind], he could destroy that [Sealed Mantra]. But..."

Yugi didn't finish his sentence, but everyone else understood his meaning. Even if Jonouchi drew [Whirlwind], destroying only one [Sealed Mantra] wouldn't turn the tide of the battle; the existence of those two [Sealed Beasts] remained a huge threat. Yugi knew Jonouchi had a card that could break this deadlock.

"You absolutely have to draw that card, Jonouchi-kun."

"My turn, draw!" During Jonouchi's turn, he drew a card, glanced at it, and paused slightly, his gaze shifting from the field to the audience. His eyes met those of Yugi.

This card is...

'I see, I think I understand now. Thank you, game.'

Jonouchi seemed to read something in Yugi's eyes, and regained his confidence, saying to Ptah across the dueling platform, "Although your [Sealed Beast] is quite powerful, I will not lose with my partner!"

"Normal Summon: Time Magician!"

As Jonouchi played his card, a clock-shaped monster appeared on his field, dressed in a comical magician's outfit, looking quite adorable.

However, Mai's expression in the stands was quite grim. This was the monster that had caused Jonouchi to draw this card, which had aged and destroyed all of his Harpies and summoned the Millennium Dragon to turn the tide and win.

[Time Magician] [2☆/Light]

[Mage Race/Effect]

[500/400]

"That kind of weak monster dares to attack? Does it have some powerful effect?" Ptah didn't recognize this rather rare card, but that didn't stop him from being wary of [Time Magician]. "But whatever effect that monster has, [Protect Dragon] can refuse your destruction."

“That’s not necessarily true.” Jonouchi smiled smugly. “【Time Magician】can activate its effect when it is Summoned, Special Summoned, or Flip Summoned.”

"Time magic!"

On the field, the spinning disc atop the wand that the Time Magician was holding suddenly enlarged to almost its entire size, and the patterns engraved on it became clearly visible. The disc was divided into six sections, each containing alternating skull and bomb icons. With Jonouchi's command, the pointer on the disc began to spin rapidly.

"The effect of [Time Magician] is that it destroys all the monsters on your field, or all the monsters on my field are destroyed, and it all depends on where the wheel finally lands." Jonouchi explained the effect of [Time Magician]. "Although I don't really like using gambling cards, I have faith in the game that gave me this card!"

"Time, stand still!"

With a resounding "Dio-ri-Dio-ki!", the pointer on the Time Magician's wheel actually began to slow down. Under everyone's watchful eyes, the pointer finally stopped at the bomb zone, which represented "destroy the enemy monster."

Chapter 112 Dimensional Fusion, yyds

"Great!" Jonouchi exclaimed excitedly. "The final result is heads! Therefore, all the [Sealed Beasts] on your field will be destroyed because they have traversed the river of time!"

The effect of [Time Magician] was successfully activated. It raised its wand high and opened a distorted spacetime rift. From that spacetime rift, seemingly endless power from the river of time surged forth. Even the [Sealed Beasts], symbols of mythology on the Ptah field, had their runes rapidly dimmed and worn away in the face of the river of time.

Once the advanced special effects of [Time Magician], which made it seem as if someone was behind him, ended, Ptah's field was completely empty, leaving only [Sealed Mantra] and a face-down card.

"This is terrible!" Ptah panicked. He thought he had built an invincible defense, so how could there be a monster with this effect? ​​Is this a gambling card? "My [Sealed Beast - Protector Dragon] should be able to refuse the effect because [Sealed Mantra] is present!"

"But [Time Magic] is fair to everyone; it works without needing to choose a target!" Jonouchi seemed quite smug. "I've wanted to destroy those privileged class cards for a long time!"

Ptah's expression was grim: "However, your [Time Magician] will also disappear from your field after casting a powerful spell. Even if my field is empty, you can't attack me."

Unlike the physical version of the card, the [Time Magician] used by Jonouchi, whether in the anime or manga version, is of the type that "activates its effect upon summoning" and "leaves the field after activating its effect." Moreover, he has already used his normal summon power to summon [Time Magician] this turn.

Theoretically, Jonouchi, whose arena was also empty, couldn't attack Ptah. However, having fought his way to the quarterfinals in the intense Duel Kingdom selection process, Jonouchi had learned something and his dueling skills had improved.

"Hehe, that's not necessarily true." Jonouchi rubbed his nose and played a card from his hand. "Activate the Spell Card, [Rough Man's Foresight]! If I have no monsters on my field, I can Special Summon one Level 4 or lower monster from my Deck!"

"Come forth, [Giant Axe Raider]!"

The legendary strongest monster, the invincible Axe King, appeared from the lightning. With its sturdy armor, powerful arms, sharp axe blade, and imposing aura, it declared its title as the strongest as soon as it appeared.

[Giant Axe Raider] [4 stars/location]

[Warrior/Normal]

[1700/1150]

"[Giant Axe Raider], launch a direct attack on Ptah!" Summoning the powerful Axe King ignited Jonouchi's passion, and he ordered enthusiastically, "Jonouchi, strike!"

With a rather absurd attack name, the [Giant Axe Raider], known as the Axe King, charged towards Ptah and swung his axe down with force, taking away a large amount of Ptah Garlem's health.

"Cough!"

[Putah: 4000LP → 2300LP]

"Hmph, you've seen how powerful I am now, haven't you? You arrogant fool." Jonouchi chuckled smugly, then set his cards face down. "Two cards face down, my turn is over."

[Within the city: 3800LP, 0 cards in hand]

[Giant Axe Raider] [ATK1700]

【Signature Card】【Signature Card】

"Damn it, it's my turn!" Ptah looked at Jonouchi's smug face and was quite annoyed. "I activate the Spell Card, [Words of the Corpse]. When I have [Words of the Sealed] on my field, I can draw cards equal to the number of [Sealed Beasts] in my Graveyard."

"【Inun】, 【Nunurao】, 【Baolong】, and 【Chamgar】, I have four 【Sealed Beasts】 in my graveyard, so I can draw four cards."

[Putah: Hand cards 1→4]

Having replenished his hand with a large number of cards in one go, Ptah's expression regained some composure. He glanced at the cards he had just drawn and smiled: "That guy over there, the one called Jonouchi? That's quite surprising. You actually managed to defeat my invincible [Sealed Beast - Dragon]. I'm starting to look at you in a new light."

"As a reward, I will show you the invincible army from the [Sealed Beasts]!"

"Activate the Spell Card, [Soul Release]! Select a total of five cards from both players' Graveyards and banish them from play!"

A blue, transparent spirit rose from beneath the field, containing several cards that had been sent to both players' graveyards during the previous battle. Jonouchi was somewhat surprised to discover that, apart from one of his own [Black Panther Warrior], the other four were all Ptah's own [Sealed Beasts]?!

"You banish your own monster from the game? Can't you hear the cards crying?!" Jonouchi's view on Duel Monsters is the same as Yugi's—both believe the cards have minds. But this Ptah here is actually offering to banish his own monster from the game?

"Just watch quietly, you mere commoners. I have my reasons for doing this." Watching [Soul Release] completely clear the [Sealed Beast] from his graveyard, Ptah triumphantly played his next card. "I banished monsters for this moment. Activate the Spell Card, [Dimensional Fusion]!"

A spatial rift reappeared in the sky, but this time the guide was no longer Jonouchi's [Time Magician], but rather the [Dimensional Fusion] card that Ptah had just activated. Mysterious runes flew out from the rift in the sky and landed on Ptah's field. The [Sealed Beasts] that had been so painstakingly destroyed and sent to the graveyard had actually reappeared on the field?!

“【Dimensional Fusion】will allow me to pay 2000 Life Points and then Special Summon all monsters except those from the Special Summon.” Having spent 2000 Life Points lavishly, Ptah looked at the 【Sealed Beasts】that had re-formed on the field and smiled with satisfaction. “The 【Sealed Beasts】are the embodiment of 【Truth】; they are invincible!”

"You actually summoned a monster again?" Jonouchi felt quite troubled because he clearly remembered that he didn't have any cards that could retrieve monsters from the graveyard, and the Time Magician, which could break the strong resistance of the Sealed Beast - Protector Dragon, had just been used up last turn. "In that case, I can also summon the Black Panther Warrior that you banished."

A curved blade flew out of the time-space rift and landed on the field within the castle. The previously destroyed [Black Panther Warrior] returned to the field within the castle due to the effect of [Dimensional Fusion].

【Black Panther Warrior】【DEF1600】

Although the Black Panther Warrior's defense was decent, Jonouchi was far from at ease looking at the field in Ptah.

【Sealed Beast - Inun】【ATK200】

【Sealed Beast - Nunu Rao】【ATK500】

【Sealed Beast - Charmgar】【ATK1200】

【Sealed Beast - Dragon Protector】【ATK2700】

"It's not over yet! I haven't performed a normal summon this turn!" Ptah still had two cards in his hand, and he played one of them, "Normal Summon [Sealed Beast - Baoa Baolang]."

"That's enough, you weaklings! Be devoured by my mighty army of [Sealed Beasts]!"

Chapter 113 Ptah: I've already activated my invincibility buff.

"That's enough, you weaklings! Be devoured by my mighty army of [Sealed Beasts]!"

“First, there’s the effect of [Chamgar]: when [Sealed Mantra] is on the field, it can directly destroy one Spell/Trap Card on your field.” Ptah casually pointed. “Now your field is completely filled, and even if you have a card like [Scapegoat], it won’t save your life.”

A flash of white light, and one of the face-down cards that Jonouchi had set in the previous turn was covered by the heat breath spewed by [Chamgar]. Before it shattered, the face-down card revealed its true form: [Demon's Dice], which had failed to activate at the very beginning of the duel.

Jonouchi had thought that if Ptah summoned some powerful monster, he might be able to use this to trick him, but who knew that the strongest one was still the [Sealed Beast - Baolong], which could not be the target of the effect.

"In that case, I'll activate the effect of [Demon's Dice] before you destroy it!" Cheng thought to himself. It would be a waste if it were destroyed anyway, so he might as well use it. "Designate the [Sealed Beast - Bao A Bao Lang] that was just summoned and activate [Demon's Dice]!"

A chibi-style demon appeared on the field, throwing a giant die it was holding. The die rolled several times on the ground before coming to a stop, finally landing face up with a 1.

"Damn it, that's why I don't like using gambling cards!" Gambling King Castle rarely makes a mistake. The effect of [Devil's Dice] is to reduce the target monster's attack power to one-tenth of the number, but one-tenth is still 1. The value of [Sealed Beast - Bao A Bao Lang] will not change at all.

"Tch, what a boring charade." Seeing Jonouchi's futile, death throes, Ptah smiled contemptuously. "Then, my final assault is about to begin!"

At Ptah's command, his five [Sealed Beasts] charged at Jonouchi's field, including three [Sheep Tokens]. Leading the charge was [Sealed Beast - Boa Boro], which Ptah had summoned this turn using his Normal Summon.

【Sealed Beast - Bao A Bao Lang】【4☆/Flame】

[Crawler Category/Effect]

[1700/1000]

As the counterpart to [Chamgar], the "Son of the Sun" [Boa Paulo] possesses the strongest attack power among the lower-level monsters of the [Sealed Beast] series, and also has the effect of destroying the opponent's monster after battle.

Its target was the [Black Panther Warrior] who had just appeared on the field inside the castle. Although it had 1600 defense points, it was ultimately unable to withstand the attack of [Bao A Bao Lang].

The remaining three lower-level [Sealed Beast] monsters each targeted a [Sheep Token], and after a round of attacks, only one [Giant Axe Raider] remained on the field inside the castle.

"[Sealed Beast - Baolong], attack [Giant Axe Raider]!" Ptah commanded.

A flash of bronze aurora, and Axe King's tough body was annihilated, causing the city's basic points to drop once again.

[Within the city: 3800LP → 2800]

"Well, even though you still have 2800 life points, my invincible [Sealed Beast] can take you down as easily as breaking a chopstick. I'll let you linger on for one more turn." With that, Ptah placed his last card face down. "Ambush, end of turn."

[Putah: 300LP, 0 cards in hand]

【Sealed Beast - Inun】【ATK200】

【Sealed Beast - Nunu Rao】【ATK500】

【Sealed Beast - Charmgar】【ATK1200】

【Sealed Beast - Bao A Bao Lang】【ATK1700】

【Sealed Beast - Dragon Protector】【ATK2700】

[Given] [Sealed Mantra] [Given]

Although the base score was ridiculously low, Ptah traded it for a rather impressive monster lineup.

Honda, watching from the stands, noticed something: "Wait a minute, all of this guy's monsters on the field are in attack position?"

"After all, you can only attack in attack position. In a way, this Ptah Garlem is just like Jonouchi, a guy whose mind is only on attacking," Anzu complained. Because from the start of the duel until now, every monster Ptah has summoned has been in attack position, and not a single one has ever defended.

"No, that's not what I meant." Honda shook his head, pointing to the field with a hint of excitement on his face. "That guy's weakest monster only has 200 attack points, and he himself only has 300 life points!"

Kyoko looked at the field and couldn't help but feel happy: "Really! That way, Jonouchi can just draw a monster with an attack power of 500 or more and then attack to win!"

The two of them couldn't help but feel a little happy, because in this situation, it was clear that Jonouchi had a better chance of winning. But neither Yugi, Hayato, Mai, nor Samejima thought so. "Putah Garlem, although he seems arrogant, is actually a very meticulous guy."