"Let the slaughter begin!" Cloaked in a dark aura, Cú Alter charged forward, his spear cutting through a violent whirlwind.
[Yugi & Kaiba LP 3700 → 900]
Their life points plummeted, leaving a staggering 7,000-point gap in just one turn.
"To think the two of them together could be pushed this far... Is she really this strong now?" Even though Anzu couldn't analyze the duel like a pro, she could clearly see the overwhelming gap from the life points, field, and hand count alone.
Yugi winced from the virtual damage, his strained gaze locking onto Hoshino. "You've completely surpassed your usual level. Is the reason you're pushing yourself so hard really just a desire for the God Cards?"
The onlookers were shocked. They had never heard of Hoshino aiming for the God Cards.
"The God Cards?" Jonouchi repeated in disbelief. "Does she really want them? But why?"
"Hmph, what a pointless question!" Kaiba sneered, breaking his silence. "For a true duelist, coveting rare cards is only natural. She's simply kept her ambitions hidden—until now."
"Huh? Isn't this for building Akasha's deck?" Akasha asked, confused.
Little girl, you're flattering yourself too much.
"If she wants them, why not just give them to her?" Jonouchi said, his tone oddly serious.
"Jonouchi!" Anzu scolded, elbowing him for speaking without thinking.
"If I recall correctly, the God Cards are also important to Yugi," Honda reminded them.
"Indeed, I have a reason for collecting all three God Cards!" Yugi, regaining his composure from the virtual pain, found his fighting spirit reignited by Hoshino's relentless attack.
"Even if it's you, I can't hand over the God Cards without reason. As I said earlier, let's put everything into this battle and let the duel decide the fate of the Gods!"
"Haha, before you start spouting noble lines, take a good look at the field!" Hoshino pointed at the empty field on the other side.
With a barren field, only two cards in hand, and nearly a 7,000-point life difference, Yugi and Kaiba were facing overwhelming odds.
"Dueling isn't won on sheer spirit alone!"
"A barren field is the perfect chance for a comeback!" Even though it was Hoshino's turn, Yugi placed a card from his hand onto the duel disk.
"Now, I'll use this card to carve a path to victory! I Special Summon [Gorz the Emissary of Darkness] from my hand!"
A white mist swirled across the field, coalescing the energy from Cú Alter's spear into a towering figure.
[When you take damage from a card in your opponent's possession: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. You must control no cards to activate and to resolve this effect.]
[Gorz the Emissary of Darkness ★★★★★★★ (Level 7)][DARK][Fiend/Effect][ATK 2700/DEF 2500]
Hoshino studied the dark warrior with a sharp gaze. "A high-level monster, summoned from my attack? That's Yugi—fighting with everything he's got when it counts most."
"Heh, the Emissary's power doesn't end there!" Yugi waved a hand, and beside Gorz, another figure materialized as its energy coalesced.
"Activating Gorz the Emissary of Darkness's second effect!"
[When this card is Special Summon 1 "Emissary of Darkness Token" (Fairy/LIGHT/Level 7/ATK ?/DEF ?). Its ATK and DEF are each equal to the amount of battle damage you took.]
"Since I took 2,800 points of direct damage, I summon an Emissary of Darkness Token with 2,800 ATK!"
Beside Gorz, a silver-armored warrior materialized, her sword gleaming as if ready to strike.
[Emissary of Darkness Token ATK 2800]
"Matching Cú Alter's attack power, huh?" With the appearance of another Emissary, Hoshino's eyebrows slightly furrowed. "But even so, Cú Alter's immunity to destruction makes him invincible to monsters with the same attack power!"
Yugi remained silent, crossing his arms, signaling that his turn was over.
"Are you finished? Then I'll proceed." Without missing a beat, Hoshino played the card she'd prepared.
"Activate Atalanta Alter's special effect! By banishing Atalanta from the graveyard, I Special Summon her from my hand!"
A dense aura of darkness flowed from Hoshino's fingertip to the graveyard, covering Atalanta's card. Soon, a familiar yet noticeably different figure emerged on the battlefield.
[Heroic Spirit – Atalanta Alter ★★★★★★★★ (Level 8)][DARK][Beast-Warrior/Effect][ATK 2000/DEF 2400]
Atalanta emerged, her green attire replaced by a dark, ominous cloak. Her silver hair glimmered like starlight as she growled, "I'll burn everything, devour all… with this boiling power!"
"Is that even the same monster?" Jonouchi gasped, his eyes widening at Atalanta's ominous transformation. "Even with the same attack power, she's way more intimidating now!"
"Finally, I activate the effect of Mature Gentleman from the graveyard, banishing it… hehe." A mischievous smile played on Hoshino's lips as she pulled a card from her graveyard.
[Mature Gentleman Trap Cards Effect: During your turn, you can banish this card from your Graveyard. Look at the top three cards of your opponent's Deck and place them back in any order.]
"Since you don't shuffle your deck, I'll take care of it for you!" Hoshino grinned, her confidence unmistakable.
Since Yugi and Hoshino were far apart, they wouldn't hand each other their decks physically. Instead, the top three cards of Yami Yugi's deck materialized in front of Hoshino as a holographic display. From Yugi's perspective, he could only see the backs of the cards, not their contents.
"This card…!" As she examined the three cards, Hoshino's eyes widened slightly.
"Slifer the Sky Dragon!"
The brilliant crimson card stood out sharply among the other two. What's more, Slifer was stacked with Pot of Greed, a card that would replenish Yugi's hand.
"As expected of Yugi… If I hadn't intervened, he would likely have summoned a God next turn." For a brief moment, Hoshino felt the weight of the nameless Pharaoh's immense power.
After a moment's consideration, Hoshino rearranged Yugi's deck: Pot of Greed went to the bottom, Slifer the Sky Dragon to the middle, and Elf Swordsman to the top. While this would only delay Yugi from drawing his God card by a single turn, it was still better than letting him get it immediately.
"Why would you even keep something like Elf Swordsman in your deck?" Hoshino muttered, adjusting the deck order. Then, she set a card face-down on her duel disk, ending her turn.
Hoshino's remaining hand: 1 card; face-down cards: 1
"My turn. Draw!" Knowing that Hoshino had adjusted the order of his deck, Yugi merely glanced at the drawn Elf Swordsman with a subtle expression.
Hoshino smirked to herself, thinking, "Now he must regret keeping such a useless card in his deck."
As if reading her thoughts, Yugi smirked. "Do you think such a minor trick could stop me, Hoshino? You're too naive! I'll prove that there isn't a single useless card in my deck!"
"From my hand, I activate the Spell Card [Magical Stone Excavation]!"
[Magical Stone Excavation Spell Card Effect: Discard 2 cards, then target 1 Spell in your GY; add it to your hand.]
With just three cards in hand, Yugi sent all of them to the Graveyard as the cost.
"Is there a Spell Card in his Graveyard worth that much?" Hoshino frowned, contemplating.
"Hoshino, you seem to have forgotten something important—this is a tag duel," Yugi said, exchanging a meaningful glance with Kaiba.
Immediately understanding Yugi's intention, Kaiba scoffed. "Hmph, I'll lend you a hand!" Kaiba then drew a card from his Graveyard and flicked it toward Yugi.
"Thanks!" Yugi deftly caught the card Kaiba tossed his way and promptly placed it on his duel disk.
"The card I'm adding to my hand is Card of Demise! Its effect allows me to draw until I have five cards in my hand."
"So in this tag duel, Yugi can access Kaiba's Graveyard as well?" Hoshino frowned as Yugi played Card of Demise, the unease settling in. "Drawing up to five cards… Does that mean…"
As Yugi saw the familiar red card in his hand, he remarked, "I see you shuffled the God card's position. Well done."
"Why am I not surprised anymore?"
"From my hand, I activate Pot of Greed and Monster Reborn!" With Pot of Greed among the cards Hoshino had adjusted, Yugi naturally drew it after Card of Demise.
"Revive, Elf Swordsman!" The modest warrior Yugi had discarded earlier returned to the field, bathed in a pillar of light.
Though only a normal monster, Elf Swordsman seemed determined to leave its mark on this duel.
"Now, I have three monsters on the field!" Yugi threw down the red card in his hand, and thunder rolled across the sky, like the earlier intense battle with the Masked Duo.
"When lightning roars and chaos brews, the boundless power of the ancient magic awakens! I offer these three monsters as tribute, and with this, witness the wrath of the Gods!"
Yugi raised his hand toward the sky. Amidst lightning and dark clouds, a massive red shape began to emerge.
"Arise, my trump card—[Slifer the Sky Dragon]!"
[Slifer the Sky Dragon ★★★★★★★★★★ (Level 10)][DIVINE][Divine-Beast/Effect][ATK: X000/DEF: X000]
"Roar!" The enormous red dragon materialized on Yugi's field, its lightning-wreathed form coiling ominously in the stormy skies. Strangely, this monstrous creature had two mouths.
"Slifer the Sky Dragon's effect sets its original ATK and DEF based on the number of cards in the controller's hand, multiplied by 1000!"
[Slifer the Sky Dragon ATK 4000]
Jonouchi stared in awe at Slifer the Sky Dragon's towering form. "So this is Yugi's God…"
Hoshino frowned. "So Slifer the Sky Dragon raises its attack based on the number of cards in hand? This could be troublesome."
"Slifer the Sky Dragon, attack Marie Antoinette Alter!" Yugi commanded as the massive dragon coiled, its larger mouth crackling with a terrifying bolt of electricity.
"Thunder Force!"
"I activate my face-down Trap Card!" Though she hesitated for a moment, Hoshino firmly pressed her duel disk's command button.
"Trap Card—[Poster Girl]! Choose a Level 4 or lower Heroic Spirit monster from the deck and Special Summon it in Defense Position, boosting its DEF by 500! Come forth, [Heroic Spirit - Medea Lily]!"
(I changed the nagging shopkeeper to Poster Girl)
Before the thunderous lightning, a small figure trembled as she stepped onto the battlefield.
[Heroic Spirit - Medea Lily DEF 1500 → 2000]
"And thanks to Medea Lily's effect, I add one Spell or Trap card with 'Medea' in its name from my deck to my hand upon Special Summon!"
Yugi smirked as Medea Lily appeared on the field. "It's futile. The instant you summoned that monster, Slifer's lightning already sealed its fate!"
"What?!"
"Activate Slifer the Sky Dragon's special ability!"
[When the opponent summons, flip summons, or Special Summons a monster, reduce that monster's (ATK/DEF) by 2000. If the ATK or DEF becomes zero, destroy that monster.]
"Attack, Slifer the Sky Dragon! Thunder Force!"
Slifer's second mouth opened, releasing a devastating ball of lightning that struck Medea Lily.
[Medea Lily DEF → 0]
"Due to the effect, the monster with 0 DEF is destroyed!"
[Heroic Spirit - Medea Lily] destroyed
"Slifer isn't done yet! Let its blazing lightning destroy you!"
The lightning erupted across Hoshino's field, engulfing the delicate figure of Marie Antoinette Alter.
[Heroic Spirit - Marie Antoinette Alter] destroyed
[Hoshino Chiyuki LP 7650 → 5450]
(*****)
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