Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

The three-colored gear parts had just appeared on the field when their location was suddenly engulfed by a burst of purple flames. [Hellfire Machine - Decimal] detonated itself, turning into a pillar of fire that swallowed them up. Hayato used his own normal summon to cancel out one of Game's normal summons.

Watching his [Tricolor Gadgets] disappear, Yugi said with a slight regret, "Although I added the effect to [Tricolor Gadgets] to trigger traps by [Trap Hole] summons, allowing it to retrieve a related card from my deck and set it to the back row after being destroyed by battle or card effect, it seems to have no resistance to banishment effects like [Inferno Lilith].

"But it doesn't matter if it fails to retrieve [Golden Chest of Light] from my deck, because I actually summoned it just to bait out the effect of your [Inferno Machine Decimal], Hayato." With a sly smile, Yugi revealed a card from his hand. "From the very beginning, I already had the card [Golden Chest of Light] in my hand."

"Activate the Continuous Spell Card, [Golden Chest of Light]!"

The golden vault slowly rose in the back of the game, corresponding to the [King's Coffin] on Hayato's field. Hayato, seeing that the game had actually activated the [Golden Vault of Light] from his hand, couldn't help but complain, "Even after all these years, your mind is still as dirty as ever, trying to trick me with a search, huh?"

"In other words, what powerful monster are you planning to summon next, Game?"

Yugi nodded and said, "Hayato, you who witnessed the 'Duel Ritual' between me and my other self back then should still remember that [Sealed Golden Chest], right? It was the symbol of my first encounter with my other self and also the symbol of my final farewell to my other self."

"However, the bond between us will not be severed by the separation of the underworld and the human world. Our story will continue in the light, and that is how this [Golden Casket of Light] came to be."

After a pause, Yugi waved his hand and said, "The first effect of [Golden Chest of Light] is that as long as this card is in the Spell & Trap Zone, it cannot be destroyed by monster effects. Then, the third effect is that once per turn, if the opponent Special Summons a monster from the Graveyard, I discard a Spell Card from my hand and then target that Special Summons monster to send that monster back to the Graveyard."

"And now, I'm going to use the second effect of [Golden Chest of Light] once during my Main Phase: add one card from my Deck that has the name [Golden Chest of Light] on it, except for one card from my Deck. I've chosen this card: [Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G]!"

"Next, if I have [Golden Chest of Light] on my field, I can activate the effect of [Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G] to Special Summon it from my hand!"

"Platinum Tyrannosaurus Rex, break the taboo that seals the mortal realm and the underworld, and bring destruction to my enemies! Come forth, the Destroyer Dragon in a new form bearing the forbidden name of 'Geas,' [Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G]!"

A deep red beam of light suddenly rose before the game, then split into numerous tiny laser beams, which condensed into closely packed deep red gems. A ferocious, destructive dragon, its body inlaid with lines formed by these gems, appeared on the field, letting out a mournful roar!

【Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G】【8☆/Dark】

[Dragon Clan/Effect]

[0/0]

"【Destruction Dragon】? A monster symbolizing your will to part ways with Atem." Hayato raised an eyebrow. "But if it's still called 【Destruction Dragon】 instead of 【Annihilation Dragon】, then its effect wouldn't be...?"

"【Destruction Dragon - Gandora G】inherits the effect of 【Destruction Dragon - Gandora X】, not 【Destruction Dragon - Gandora】. It can be activated by paying half of my Life Points, destroying and banishing all other cards on both players' fields except for itself." Yugi pointed at Hayato and said, "Just like how the effect of 【Golden Coffin of Light】 subtly countered your effect of 【Horus】resurrecting from the graveyard, the effect of 【Destruction Dragon - Gandora G】 happens to counter 【Coffin of the King】!"

"Although the King's Coffin grants your Horus resistance to non-targeting effects, that resistance will immediately disappear when the King's Coffin is destroyed!"

"I pay half of my Life Points, activate the effect of [Destruction Dragon - Gandora G], and chain-activate the Quick-Play Spell Card [Whirlwind] in my hand to destroy [King's Coffin] first and remove the resistance of [Horus]!"

"Destroy everything, roar of the Light Dragon!"

A deep red laser beam erupted once again from the jewel on the surface of [Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G] on the field, enveloping all the cards on both sides of the field and indiscriminately destroying them!

(Sorry, wrong set)

Chapter 1218 Bliss~

"What is that?"

Looking at the countless red beams of light shooting into the sky from the coast, Judai and Asuka exchanged a glance, their faces full of confusion.

"That direction, I remember it's the direction Sho went, right? Did something happen there?" Jaden asked, watching the laser beam flash across the sky. "Judging from the situation, was someone with Yugi Muto's deck dueling with someone else?"

Jaden's speculation is based on the fact that it was already nighttime. After a long day of classes and qualifying matches, there shouldn't be many people wandering around outside. It could be either the thief who stole Mr. Yugi's deck or people like them searching for the former.

However, Jaden remembers that neither Maeda, Sho, nor Misawa, nor Manjoume had any cards in their decks that could unleash such a huge laser beam. In other words, this scene was very likely a virtual image released by the person who took Yugi-sensei's deck using a card.

—It can only be said that Jaden's intuition was somewhat accurate, but not entirely so. That towering red light had absolutely nothing to do with Kagurazaka stealing the Yugi deck, but it just so happened to be a special effect created by Yugi who was holding the Yugi deck.

But at least on the surface, Asuka also felt that Judai's guess was very likely, and the two of them immediately rushed towards the direction where the beam of light disappeared.

Before long, Jaden and Asuka arrived at the shore and immediately saw Marufuji Sho standing in a very conspicuous position, dueling with someone.

"Is that... Kagurazaka?" Seeing the face of the person dueling with Marufuji Sho, Judai recalled seeing Kagurazaka earlier that day. Asuka also frowned. "That Kagurazaka from the Yellow Dorm, the copycat duelist? Marufuji Sho is dueling him... could he be the thief who stole Yugi Muto's deck?"

"Wait a minute, he's imitating a duelist's words, could it be—"

"It's like Yugi Muto himself is using the deck. It's flawless in both offense and defense. It's too much!" Sho Marufuji's hands trembled slightly as he didn't notice the arrival of Judai and the others behind him.

He had fought with all his might during his turn, and finally managed to clear all of his opponent's monsters and turn the tide of battle into his own advantage. However, just as he was about to launch his direct attack, his opponent used a "Counter Gate" to negate the direct attack of his monster, causing his decisive strike to miss.

Not only that, the opponent, who had no cards left in their hand, drew the card 【Gaia, the Dark Knight of Gale】. Because they only had this one card in their hand, the card drawn by 【Counterattack Gate】 was even Normal Summoned by the opponent.

With monsters appearing one after another, face-down cards coming in endless streams, and matching magic cards being pulled out in set after set, Marufuji Sho was almost in despair facing such an impeccable deck.

"I'm ending my turn."

With his monsters and his opponent's monsters all destroyed one after another, leaving only one monster, Marufuji Sho had no cards left in his hand and had no choice but to end his turn.

At this moment, the other party also spoke up: "Don't forget the side effect of [Power Welding]. Although the attack power of the [Steam Gyrobot] on your field has doubled to 4400 points, you will suffer damage equal to its original attack power at the end of your turn."

"Ugh—Ugh!"

The steam generated by the overheated [Steam Gyrobot] on Marufuji Sho's field blew past him, forcing him to subconsciously take a half step back, almost causing him to lose his footing on the rugged rocks on the shore.

【Marufuji Sho: 2300→100LP, 0 card in hand】

[Steamplane Robot] [ATK4400]

Card Merchant

"Although my life points are already as low as a candle in the wind, I should be able to hold on as long as I have [Steam Gyrobot] on the field. Then, when it's my turn, I can use [Steam Gyrobot] to attack again, and even if I draw bad cards, I can use [Card Merchant] to exchange them back into my deck and draw them again."

Lacking confidence in his card draw, Marufuji Sho even included the [Card Merchant] in his deck, which allows him to return a card from his hand to the deck for redrawing during the Standby Phase. At that moment, he muttered to himself, trying to give himself confidence, "Yes, that's it, no problem."

"As long as the [Steam Gyrobots] launch an attack, everything will be alright."

However, Kagurazaka, who was opposite him, sneered after hearing Marufuji Sho's words: "Sore wa toka na! You don't have a next round, Marufuji Sho!"

"My turn, draw a card, and then the card I previously banished with the effect of [Sealed Golden Chest] will be added to my hand at this moment." Taking a card from her pocket, Kagurazaka showed it to Marufuji Sho, "That's this card, [Dark Magician Girl]!"

"The Superior Summon of the Rank 6☆ [Dark Magician Girl] requires a tribute. Release [Gaia, the Gale Knight] on my field. The great Dark Mage has a disciple. Superior Summon [Dark Magician Girl]!"

"It's [Dark Magician Girl]!?"

Under Marufuji Sho's astonished gaze, Kagurazaka unleashed the [Gale Dark Knight - Gaia] with an attack power of 2300 points. Then, the lively mage girl passed through the spatial magic circle and appeared out of thin air on Kagurazaka's field.

Dark Magician Girls, ATK2000

Upon seeing the adorable "Dark Magician Girl," Marufuji Sho, who had been obsessed with her since birth (lol), couldn't help but show a fascinated expression: "'Dark Magician Girl,' a Level 6 DARK Spellcaster with 2000 ATK and 1700 DEF, is an extremely rare card that you only see in Yugi Muto's deck. It's also a super popular monster card that has consistently ranked in the top three in the International Mirage Society's Duel Monster Popularity Ranking. It even has an effect that increases ATK! Ahhhhhh!"

"To see such a rare card, I'd die happy!"

Just now, Marufuji Sho had the idea of ​​running away in his fear. He subconsciously wanted to find someone to save him, even though he knew it was futile. He wanted to shout "Big brother, save me!" to relieve the pressure in his heart.

But what if the Dark Magician Girl appears? Even if she's here to save me, I should wait a bit. At least let the cute and charming Dark Magician Girl attack me first, whether she hits me with her staff or kicks me.

"Hehehe, pure bliss..."

"Why did you replace the [Gale Dark Knight Gaia] with an attack power of 2300 with the [Dark Magician Girl] with an attack power of 2000? Why would you intentionally replace the monster with one that has a weaker attack power?"

Unable to contain his doubts, Jaden spoke up, bringing Marufuji Sho back to his senses. He wore a panicked expression, as if someone had witnessed his mad and disgraceful behavior: "Big brother!? When did you get here?!"

Kagurazaka glanced at Jaden, a confident smile playing on his lips. "Don't underestimate my Dark Magician Girl. She and Dark Magician are my most trusted servants. The key to victory in a monster duel isn't the performance of a single card. My puzzle to victory is complete!"

"This face-down card I set in the back row since the first turn is activated, and the Spell Card [Dark Magician Burst] is activated! It can only be activated if I control [Dark Magician Girl], destroying all face-up monsters on my opponent's field!"

"Then, I enter my battle phase! [Dark Magician Girl] attacks the opponent's duelist directly!"

"Dark Magician Burst!"

Upon hearing the voice of [Dark Magician Girl], Yugi turned to look at the distant coastline and witnessed Marufuji Sho being blasted away by the [Dark Magician Girl] with a look of utter disdain, his base score instantly dropping to zero and him losing.

"Yugi, you didn't take the Dark Magician Girl's spirit with you?" Hayato asked, looking at the Dark Magician Girl card spirit in Kagurazaka's deck. "But it feels different from the one I knew before?"

"Because that's not the Dark Magician Girl you know, Hayato." Yugi said, and a semi-transparent figure of the Dark Magician Girl appeared beside him. However, after realizing that the person opposite him was Hayato, she almost instantly shrank back into the card. This feeling of being afraid and wanting to run away when she sees Hayato is just right.

"The deck used for the exhibition was rebuilt by replacing the same cards, but when I was taking cards from the International Illusion Company's inventory, I discovered that one of the 'Dark Magician Girl' cards had awakened as a spirit without anyone having used it." As he described this, Yugi's face showed a helpless expression. "I actually wanted 'Mana' to befriend her, but 'Mana' is very exclusive and doesn't want 'Dark Magician Girl' to come near me at all."

"So you put that [Dark Magician Girl] in the deck on display, huh?" Hayato said, looking at [Dark Magician Girl] in the distance, where the image disappeared after the duel ended but the spirit showed no sign of returning to the card and was even waving to Jaden. "The level of awakening is really high, isn't it? It feels like it has even reached the third stage where it can materialize on its own for a long time, right?"

Seeing Hayato leisurely gazing into the distance, Yugi laughed and said, "Hayato, is it really okay for you to be so relaxed? I just used [Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G] to clear all the cards on your field."

"Although I also removed [Nightmare Mirage] for you so you don't have to discard your hand next turn, having your entire field cleared means I can attack you directly now."

On the field, the red gem on [Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G], which had just released a laser beam that attracted Jaden and the others, slowly dimmed its light. However, the dimming of its light did not mean that it had reduced its power. On the contrary, as a large number of cards were banished by its effect, [Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G] actually increased its power.

Hayato has Nightmare Mirage on his back field, along with a face-down card of unknown meaning, four Horus monsters on the field, and finally, the Tricolor Gadgets that were banished by Hayato's Inferno Decimal before the game. At this moment, the total number of cards banished by both sides is a full seven!

"The second effect of 【Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G】 is that this card's ATK increases by 300 points for each banished card. Since both players currently have seven banished cards, 【Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G】's ATK increases by 2100 points!"

[Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G] [ATK0→2100]

After the dust from the effect of [Gandora G - Destroyer Dragon] dissipated slightly, Hayato noticed that the [Golden Coffin of Light] on the field in the back row had not been destroyed or banished due to the indiscriminate destruction effect of [Gandora G - Destroyer Dragon]. After all, [Gandora G - Destroyer Dragon] itself has resistance to being destroyed by monster effects; otherwise, [Gandora G - Destroyer Dragon] would have become a "traitor dragon".

Not only that, the [Golden Chest of Light] opened slightly at this moment, and under the guidance of [Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G] on the game field, a stream of light shot out from the [Golden Chest of Light] and landed on the game field, transforming into a mage girl.

"The follow-up to the third effect of 【Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G】 is that after destroying and banishing other cards on the field, you can Special Summon one Level 7 or lower monster with 【Golden Chest of Light】 in its card name from my Deck, and the Level of the monster Special Summoned by this effect is increased by the number of cards destroyed by its effect."

The game shows the card drawn from the deck, saying, "I Special Summon this card, [Silence Magician Zero], and then I destroyed a total of six cards due to the effect of [Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G], and [Silence Magician Zero]'s Level increased by 6 stars!"

[Silent Magician Zero] [4☆/Light→10☆/Light]

[Mage Race/Effect]

[1000/1000]

At the same time, Hayato also noticed that as the level increased, the image of [Silent Magician Zero] rapidly grew from a little girl who was about the same height as the game in high school to a mature woman who is much taller than the game even now, with a curvaceous figure that even the wide mage robes cannot hide.

"【Silent Magician】, is that the card that symbolized your growth, the one that defeated Atem with the combined power of 【Dark Magician】 and 【Dark Magician Girl】? Putting aside strength and such, at least your new deck is full of homage."

Hearing Hayato's words, Yugi smiled and said, "I think we should mention the strength, Hayato. [Silent Magician Zero] is quite strong, you know."

"When her level is higher than her original level, her attack power increases by the difference multiplied by 500 points. Now that [Silent Magician Zero]'s level is as high as 10☆, her attack power will increase by a full 3000 points."

[The Silent Magician - Zero] [ATK1000→4000]

"With no monsters on the field right now, if you take the attack of [Silent Magician Zero], which has the same attack power as the 'Legendary [Obelisk the Tormentor],' Hayato, your Life Points will be wiped out in an instant, right?" Yugi joked, taking advantage of Kaiba's absence.

Hayato smiled, crossed his arms, and asked Yugi in return, "So, Yugi, when did you start to have the illusion that 'I don't have any monsters on my field'?"

The smoke and dust that had enveloped Hayatoba were dispersed by a strong gust of wind, revealing four scarlet eyes and a dazzling, menacing golden armor inlaid with red and green gems.

"I'm sorry, Yugi, but the face-down card in my back row isn't the 'Very Food' you thought it was, but the trap card 'Trickster.' With your cautious and steady dueling style, you would never overlook my back row, but it is precisely because of this that the effect of 'Trickster' was triggered."

"If the 'Troublemaker' card leaves the field due to an opponent's card effect, is sent to the Graveyard, or is banished, its effect can be activated to Special Summon a monster from my Deck or Extra Deck."

"Eldlich! Gold! Evolution!"

"Holy King? Lich? Mad Corpse!" Hayato held a card above his head and said, "Golden spirals converge at one point, transforming into the red stone of the conch shell. Drink the flawed elixir and become an immortal mad king!"

Special Summon! [Golden Madman - Aldridge]!

The golden armor, imbued with the Philosopher's Stone, was covered by a Phoenician purple cloak. The Fibonacci spiral—the "golden spiral"—twisted into a red jewel set in the center of the chest, providing it with inexhaustible magic.

The ferocious [Golden Madman] looked at the game with its four mutated red eyes and roared!