"Direct Battle Phase."
Yugen gave the command directly.
"'Silent Magician' attacks the face-down monster!"
Silent Magician's staff deftly spun twice, and a white magic circle opened beneath her feet. Surging white light transferred into her hand, transforming into a torrent that swept across the opponent's field.
The face-down monster flipped up, revealing a large, grinning tomato in Defense Position.
[Mystic Tomato, DEF 1100]
The great tomato, of course, couldn't withstand Silent Magician's divine power. A rolling stream of light instantly pulverized it.
"Ha, you fell for it!" Bandit Keith roared. "At this moment, my face-down card activates!"
The face-down card in the backrow flipped up with a swish, its trap card image rising.
"Trap Card - Michizure! When a monster is sent to its owner's Graveyard, you can destroy one monster on the field!"
Keith's lips curled into a cold, sinister smile as he pointed at Yugen's field.
"That eyesore of a Spellcaster, leave the field right here! Destroy 'Silent Magician'!"
Golden light erupted from the trap card. The destroyed Mystic Tomato seemed to shoot out from the card in spirit form, like some kind of mournful phantom, intent on dragging Silent Magician into the abyss as well.
"Then, from my hand, I activate the Quick-Play Spell 'My Body as a Shield'!"
Yugen waved his hand, and surging data materialized into the image of a Spell Card before him.
"When your opponent activates an effect that includes 'destroy a monster on the field,' pay 1500 LP to negate its activation and destroy it!"
The magic took effect. The tomato phantom immediately changed direction, bypassing Silent Magician and striking Yugen directly. Yugen winced, stepping back half a pace, his lips twitching.
[Yugen, LP 4000 → LP 2500]
"Sure enough, it's a Shadow Game; the sensation is real."
Seeing her master take the blow for her, Silent Magician showed a look of alarm. She held her staff, her face filled with concern and a touch of helplessness.
"Ho? As a duelist, you actually took damage for your monster?" Bandit Keith scoffed mockingly. "After all, cards are just weapons, mere tools. A true强者 (qiáng zhě - strong person/master) is one who knows how to utilize every single piece.
The strong enslave the weak; that's an unchanging truth. A so-called duelist is someone who can enslave the strongest living warriors. Victory means sparing no expense. Everything can be discarded except for being the supreme ruler!"
Yugen squinted, examining him. He thought to himself, Dude, are you okay?
What the hell do you mean "sparing no expense"? If I don't shield Silent Magician in this situation, are you going to attack an empty field next turn?
But then he reconsidered, suddenly realizing this was a golden opportunity for a bond-building moment. Instantly grasping this, Yugen put on a very pained and struggling expression, gritting his teeth as he said: "You're wrong! A true duelist must believe in their monsters, believe in their deck!
Every card in a duelist's deck is carefully selected from an endless pool, connected to their soul, an irreplaceable companion. Someone like you, who doesn't understand even this much, isn't worthy of being called a duelist, no matter how much power you gain!"
Yugen mused that even though he failed at writing essays as a child and was chased by his language arts teacher, he hadn't missed a single generation of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime. Every protagonist had those long-winded speeches about bonds and believing in their deck. After hearing them for so many years, couldn't he just effortlessly spout a paragraph like that?
Sure enough, this verbal barrage seemed to have a good effect. When Silent Magician looked at him again, her icy little face was practically overflowing with emotion. Yugen guessed that if he could see the affection level, the silver-haired maiden's head might have popped up a "[Affection +99]" notification. This wave should definitely build some bond, right?
High bond, maybe even his destiny draws would be more accurate.
Yugen was quite pleased, even feeling a bit grateful to Bandit Keith for giving him this "rocket."
"So annoying."
Bandit Keith's face was cold, and he muttered lowly.
"This and that, you're exactly like those disgusting guys. All that talk about duelist's dignity, trusting the heart of the cards.
It's just endlessly irritating. You guys are the most annoying."
Yugen guessed that this guy was referring to Yugi and Jonouchi.
Bandit Keith had fallen into depravity after losing to Pegasus that year, from then on stopping at nothing to win. Before the Duelist Kingdom tournament, he even tried to steal Jonouchi's entry card to make him lose by forfeit. Later, during duels, he even used cheating methods like "hiding cards up his sleeve." He was a typical "win at all costs" kind of person.
"Then let me bury your naive ideas along with your so-called 'companions'!"
Bandit Keith raised his voice and yelled.
"The moment Mystic Tomato was destroyed, its effect had already activated! When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon one DARK monster with 1500 or less ATK from my Deck in face-up Attack Position!"
"I Special Summon 'Snipe Hunter'!"
[Snipe Hunter, ATK 1500]
"Then I Set one card, turn end."
[Silent Magician, ATK 3000]
"My turn, draw card!"
After this draw, Bandit Keith's movements visibly paused.
A brief silence, followed by his facial muscles beginning to contort, the corners of his mouth seemingly unable to resist turning up.
"Heh heh. Heh heh heh. Hahahahaha—!"
This reaction immediately made Yugen instinctively wary.
By the looks of it, he seems to have drawn something incredible?
"Ha, game over, kid." Bandit Keith laughed heartily. "I've drawn 'this card,' the ultimate embodiment of divine power!
Watch closely, I will use this card to awaken the darkness within me. My hatred of all these years, my rage, will devour this world's darkness!"
A slot on his duel disk clicked open. Keith raised his right hand high, like a devout believer, holding up the card. The card radiated a brilliant green light.
"Field Spell—
—The Seal of Orichalcos!"
Yugen: "!?"
At first hearing that, he thought he misheard.
Wait, what the hell?
Orichalcos? Isn't that from the DM arc? Shouldn't that be old history from almost ten years ago in this world?
Wasn't your organization's leader Dartz already finished off by Yami Yugi's fancy mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and that damned Orichalcos God was wiped out by the three Egyptian Gods? How can this thing still exist now?
But when that card was slotted into the duel disk, Yugen was sure he hadn't misheard.
Immediately, Keith's duel disk began crackling with green electricity, and surging energy infused his entire body. The lapels of his coat swirled with green mystical winds, and he himself lifted his head, yelling "Ah ah ah" like a Saiyan powering up, his entire body seemingly erupting with green flames.
Finally, the green light converged on his forehead, swirling into a six-pointed star emblem that glowed with an eerie green light.
"Ah~ power, I can feel the power!"
Bandit Keith roared as green light exploded from his body. At the same time, the duel fields on both sides were occupied by the six-pointed green star emblem. The green light shot straight into the sky, forming an unbreakable barrier.
The Seal of Orichalcos, in the anime, once activated, could not be stopped. It couldn't be negated or removed from the field by any means. The loser's soul would become nourishment for the Evil God, and neither duelist could leave unless one fell.
Of course, this thing was also called "whoever uses it gets sealed" in the anime, because everyone who activated it lost. This invincible curse even led to one of the invincible Pharaoh's few losses.
So, after all that, the so-called "Evil God" is the God of Orichalcos?
"But didn't your rubbish Evil God die at the hands of the three Egyptian Gods?" Yugen couldn't help but ask.
"Fool." Keith bellowed. "The God of Orichalcos is the darkness in human hearts, the dark will of this planet! No matter how many times it fails, it will always rise again!"
Yugen then remembered that Dartz, the boss of the Dorma arc in DM, had indeed said something similar.
"As long as humanity and this planet exist, the God of Orichalcos will never perish."
So, even though the three Egyptian Gods defeated it, it seemed like a temporary destruction, but in reality, it was just a seal. Its ambition had not disappeared.
No, or rather, by today, it might even be more arrogant.
Yugen tried to put himself in the perspective of the God of Orichalcos. If this guy were to awaken now and probe into the human world again, he'd probably be grinning from ear to ear.
The Pharaoh's gone, the three Egyptian Gods are gone. Isn't this the era of the God of Orichalcos?
Yugen suddenly felt a headache coming on.
This wasn't some small problem that didn't concern him. Who the hell said the Duel Monsters world was safe? I just got here, and I'm already facing an apocalypse.
However, he felt it wouldn't truly be an apocalypse. Although the new generation's protagonist, Judai Yuki, hadn't grown up yet, at least Seto Kaiba was still around in this era. President Kaiba had been researching new Blue-Eyes support behind closed doors for so many years; he probably wouldn't lose to an old boss who fell for a trap.
Furthermore, even if it got past Kaiba, there was still the real final boss, Yugi Muto. Even the Pharaoh was sent off by him back then. Who knew how strong Yugi Muto was now, eight years later?
Taking another step back, even if it performed exceptionally and truly couldn't be suppressed by Yugi, then the Pharaoh would at least have to perform the feat of sitting up in his coffin.
Seriously, does anyone actually think the Pharaoh going to the afterlife means he's permanently sealed?
So, the apocalypse wasn't something Yugen needed to consider right now. What he needed to consider was winning this duel and protecting his life.
Although the anime's outcome showed that whoever used the barrier would lose, the moment this card was activated, Yugen could clearly feel his opponent's aura change. Bandit Keith's figure seemed to grow significantly in his eyes, accompanied by an invisible sense of pressure.
It was easy to guess that this was a significant boost to Keith's "destiny draw" as a duelist.
The Seal of Orichalcos, in the anime, was equivalent to some kind of cheat-like divine artifact, a dark artifact that could borrow a portion of the God of Orichalcos's power. Once activated in a duel, even if the user was just an ordinary person, they could briefly gain a destiny draw comparable to a strong duelist.
From the anime's portrayal, this barrier was powerful enough to grant an otherwise insignificant bystander the ability to forcefully control Obelisk the Tormentor. Even Atem's attempt to use the power of the Millennium Items to destroy the barrier failed.
Therefore, preparing for the worst-case scenario, the barrier's enhancement of the user's destiny draw should not be underestimated.
"Ah~ kimochi (pleasant). The feeling of power is truly different."
Bandit Keith's eyes glowed green as he sneered.
"Now, are you ready to accept death?"