[The Legendary Exodia Incarnate ★★★★★★★★★★ (10 stars)] [DARK] [Spellcaster/Effect] [ATK: ? DEF: 0]
[This card is unaffected by other cards' effects.]
Unlike Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord, the golden Exodia Incarnate appears more traditional, almost as if it were the true form of Exodia.
"Another form of Exodia? This is truly eye-opening." Hoshino couldn't help but marvel, her expression frozen in astonishment.
However, Hoshino's stunned reaction seemed to displease her two spectators.
"Hoshino, now isn't the time to praise the enemy!" Mokuba reminded her.
"Yeah, yeah, Hoshino-nee, you should be more aggressive!" Akasha chimed in.
Hoshino turned back and jokingly scolded the two, "Even if I were aggressive, I couldn't be more aggressive than this thing in front of me!"
Exodia Incarnate's appearance could easily scare children, and with a body even larger than Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord, its sheer presence completely overwhelmed Hoshino's side of the field.
"The Legendary Exodia Incarnate cannot be Normal Summoned. It can only be Special Summoned by tributing one Forbidden One monster on your field."
"So, you used Exodia's head as a tribute..." Upon hearing this condition, Hoshino felt a chill down her spine.
If it weren't for the effect of Necromancy returning two pieces from the graveyard to the deck before Gekko attacked, all five pieces might have already been gathered in the graveyard this turn.
"In my graveyard, I have the left leg, right leg, and head of Exodia. Exodia Incarnate's ATK increases by 1000 for each Forbidden One monster in the graveyard."
[The Legendary Exodia Incarnate ATK 3000]
"This attack power is on par with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Mokuba shouted in astonishment.
"Please stop comparing everything to Blue-Eyes..." Hoshino said with a helpless expression. "This thing completely outclasses Blue-Eyes in every way!"
"Since my battle phase has ended this turn, I'll set two cards and end my turn."
Gekko ended his turn with only one card left in his hand, which had been revealed by Heart of the Underdog to be the Right Arm of the Forbidden One.
"And at the end of the turn, the effect of [The Legendary Exodia Incarnate] activates!"
"!!!"
[At the end of your turn, you can select one [Forbidden One] monster from your graveyard and add it to your hand.]
"I add the [Exodia the Forbidden One] from the graveyard to my hand!"
Adding the head of Exodia from his graveyard to his hand, Gekko now had two cards in hand.
"Are you trying to complete Exodia by gradually retrieving the pieces from the graveyard? But..." Hoshino, beginning to understand Gekko's strategy, smiled faintly.
"But there's a flaw in this. As the pieces in your graveyard decrease, so does the attack power of Exodia Incarnate!"
[The Legendary Exodia Incarnate ATK 3000 → 2000]
"Unlike Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord, whose attack power gradually increases, the Exodia Incarnate's power decreases. Even though it has the advantage of being unaffected by other card effects, do you think 2000 attack points can survive a turn?"
Pointing out the flaws in Gekko's monster without mercy, Hoshino drew a card from her deck with determination. "Now it's time for my counterattack!"
"Go, Hoshino! Show him what you've got!" Mokuba encouraged.
"Go, Hoshino-nee! Give him one too!" Akasha chimed in again.
Give him one...?
"Anyway, first, I'll activate the effect of my Continuous Trap Card, [Avalon of the Radiance Path]!"
[②: During your Main Phase, you can send this card and the monster it targets to the graveyard to Special Summon a [Heroic Spirit - Artoria Pendragon] from your hand or deck.]
Drawing out the Avalon of the Radiance Path from her duel disk, Hoshino placed it, along with Li Shuwen, into the graveyard.
"Go forth!"
The moment the cards entered the graveyard, the golden particles floating around the field explosively increased and condensed.
"Special Summon, [Heroic Spirit – Artoria Pendragon]!"
Guided by the golden light, Hoshino drew the Artoria card from her deck and placed it on the duel disk.
[Heroic Spirit - Artoria Pendragon ★★★★★★★★ (8 stars)] [LIGHT] [Warrior/Effect] [ATK 2400/DEF 2000]
With an imposing presence that could even sway the heavy curtains behind her, the King of Knights, wielding a golden holy sword, stepped onto the battlefield.
"A monster modeled after King Arthur, huh? How interesting," Gekko remarked, clearly impressed by the fame of the legendary figure.
"Hmm..." Akasha, who had been excited just a moment ago, now appeared significantly less enthusiastic.
"That's the monster that defeated Akasha. I don't like it!" Akasha pouted, already showing signs of holding a grudge despite her young age.
"Huh?" Artoria's expression became suddenly complex. "A king who cannot earn the affection of children can hardly claim to understand the hearts of the people."
"Ahem... Artoria, you slashed her with your sword just an hour ago, and now you expect her to like you? That's asking too much!" Hoshino said, laughing.
Though it seemed like Artoria had recently been putting a lot of effort into "understanding people's hearts," Hoshino thought the first thing she should do was get rid of that giant blanket behind her.
But that was something Artoria would have to figure out on her own...
"Next, I activate the effect of [Heroic Spirit - Gilgamesh (Young)] in the graveyard."
[If this card is in the graveyard, you can activate its effect to add one [Gilgamesh] monster from your deck to your hand.]
"The card I'm adding to my hand is this..." Hoshino quickly searched her deck and revealed the card. "[Heroic Spirit – Gilgamesh]!"
"Hahahaha, who dares call upon the name of the King?"
"You did!" Hoshino quipped. Despite not yet being summoned, the presence of this King was already undeniable.
On the other hand, Artoria looked shocked. "Master! Even though you summoned me first, why do we need this golden Archer?"
Because it's free, Hoshino thought to herself, unwilling to say it out loud in front of Gilgamesh.
"Since I haven't performed a Normal Summon this turn, I'll summon another monster from my hand!"
After a moment of contemplation, Hoshino threw down a monster card.
"[Heroic Spirit - Elizabeth Báthory]!"
"How mean! Ever since we came back from the other world, you haven't summoned me even once!!"
"You're so mean, manager-chan! I missed you so much!"
Elizabeth, on the verge of tears, was clearly overwhelmed with emotion after being 'sealed' in the deck for too long. The moment she appeared, her feelings were all over the place.
"Sorry, sorry, it's because..." Hoshino quickly came up with a plausible excuse, waving her hand dismissively.
"It's because you're my secret weapon, Elizabeth-chan! I can't just show you off all the time!"
"Uh!" Elizabeth's little dragon tail twitched slightly; she was obviously very pleased with Hoshino's improvised explanation.
"Oh, I see, that's exactly right! After all, Elizabeth is super strong!"
"Yeah, that's right! Go, Elizabeth-chan, battle!"
"Oh!"
[Heroic Spirit - Elizabeth Báthory ★★★★ (4 stars)] [FIRE] [Dragon/Effect] [ATK 1300/DEF 1000]
Elizabeth: "So weak! It doesn't feel strong at all, this stat!!"
"Though the stats seem weak, Elizabeth's effect is perfect for the current situation!"
[This card's ① effect can only be activated once per turn. ①: It can be activated when the opponent adds a card to their hand. One of those cards is returned to the deck and shuffled, and both players draw 1 card. ②: Once per turn, you can target 1 face-down card on the opponent's field. That card is returned to the hand.]
The ① effect could forcefully shuffle an Exodia piece back into the deck whenever Gekko added it to his hand from the graveyard, perfectly countering Exodia Incarnate's assistance in assembling the five pieces.
Assuming Elizabeth could survive one turn...
"And now, let's activate the ② effect, Elizabeth-chan! Target the rightmost set card in Gekko's back row!"
Since Gekko had ended his last turn by setting two cards on the field, Hoshino could only choose one of them.
"Based on Elizabeth-chan's effect, the selected set card returns to the hand!"
"Ahem!" Elizabeth cleared her throat, smiling. "Then I won't hold back!"
"Lalala~~~!!!" Her ear-piercing 'singing' made the set card at Gekko's feet tremble.
"That familiar song again, it's so grating!"
"Ugh, Akasha feels terrible!" Akasha complained, covering her ears.
Both Mokuba and Akasha winced at Elizabeth's performance, tightly pressing their hands over their ears. Even Hoshino grimaced a bit, despite knowing it was just a holographic effect.
"Hehe, an interesting effect, but it's just a little bit lacking..." Gekko didn't bother returning the set card to his hand. Instead, he calmly pressed a button to activate it.
"Activate the set card you just targeted, Continuous Trap Card [Obliterate!!!]!"
"Darn, it was chained?!" Hoshino's eyebrows shot up in realization.
Gekko's move left both spectators, Mokuba and Akasha, completely puzzled.
Mokuba, sensing the song had stopped, cautiously lowered his hands from his ears and asked in disbelief, "Hoshino, didn't you just bounce that set card? How could he still activate it? That's cheating!"
"Yeah, yeah! You're cheating, white-haired mister!" Akasha shouted, glaring at Gekko.
"No, this chain is valid, and the reason is that the Duel Disk acknowledges Gekko's move," Hoshino said seriously.
This was the first time since coming to this world that an opponent had used a chain to avoid a card leaving the field during a duel. "As expected of the so-called Perfect Duelist, Tenma Gekko. You've really surprised me."
"So, what exactly is a chain, Hoshino?" Mokuba asked, still confused.
"Gekko's Trap Card [Obliterate!!!] chained Elizabeth's effect. In the Duel Monsters rules, when resolving a chain of effects, it's done in reverse order. The last card used is resolved first."
"Which means!" Akasha, a naturally gifted child, quickly caught on after Hoshino's brief explanation.
"Exactly. In this situation, Gekko's Trap Card's effect will resolve first, followed by Elizabeth's effect of returning the card to the hand," Hoshino finished.
Gekko seemed impressed by how quickly Hoshino understood his move. "As expected of the Duel King. There's no need for extra explanations, which is a huge help."
"Hoshino, where did you learn this? Even I, who helped program the Duel Disk, didn't know about it," Mokuba added.
"From experience..." Hoshino's mouth twitched slightly, recalling the countless duels she had endured during that night at Pegasus's castle, where she engaged in a 'training' session that felt more like torture with a certain detective.
"Since you understand so well, I won't make any more unnecessary explanations. I'll go ahead and activate [Obliterate!!!]!"
[Obliterate!!! Continuous Trap Card Effect①: You can target 1 monster on the field; send 1 [Forbidden One] monster or [Exodia] card from your hand or Deck to the Graveyard, and if you do, return that target to the hand.]
"I'll send [Left Arm of the Forbidden One] from my deck to the graveyard and target your [Heroic Spirit - Elizabeth Báthory] to return her to your hand!"
With two giant yellow hands outstretched, Exodia Incarnate aimed at Elizabeth on Hoshino's field.
"What? No!" Seeing the menacing Exodia hands reaching for her, Elizabeth's voice trembled with tears. "I just appeared, and now I have to go back? That's not how an idol should behave!"
Though her plea was pitiful, the rules were absolute. Exodia's hands shot forward, and in an instant, Elizabeth was sent flying back to Hoshino's hand.
The reason she was 'sent flying' and not destroyed was that Obliterate!!!'s effect merely returned the monster to the hand.
"How frustrating! I'll be back! QAQ!" Elizabeth became a shining idol star disappearing into the sky.
"But even if Elizabeth was returned to my hand, her effect has already been activated. Gekko, your Continuous Trap Card Obliterate!!! must also return to your hand!" Hoshino announced with a smirk.
Even though Gekko chose to send back Elizabeth instead of the stronger Artoria, it showed how troublesome Elizabeth's effect of disrupting Exodia's piece-gathering strategy was for him.
"At least it delayed his next Obliterate. Elizabeth-chan, your sacrifice wasn't in vain." Hoshino gave a small nod of approval. Since Trap Cards need to be set for a turn before they can be activated, it meant that next turn, when Gekko set Obliterate!!!, Hoshino wouldn't have to endure two consecutive firewave cannon blasts.
"Now it's a one-on-one, Gekko!" Hoshino declared confidently.
The only remaining monsters on the field were Hoshino's Artoria Pendragon and Gekko's Exodia Incarnate.
"It's a pity, but when I activated [Obliterate!!!], Exodia Incarnate's attack points surpassed your King Arthur! Since a new piece entered the graveyard, Exodia Incarnate's attack power has increased!" Gekko countered.
[The Legendary Exodia Incarnate ATK 2000 → 3000]
"Hahaha, even a Perfect Duelist has miscalculations sometimes!" Despite Exodia Incarnate's rising attack power, Hoshino showed no fear as she commanded her Artoria to attack.
"Go, Saber!"
The golden holy sword traced a brilliant arc in the air before slashing heavily at Exodia Incarnate.
"The reason for your failure is simple: you sent back my beloved Elizabeth-chan!!" Hoshino shouted, her voice full of confidence.
(*****)
If you'd like to read 25 chapters ahead, please consider joining my Patreon: patreon.com/ANeet. Your support means a lot. Thank you!