King of the Volcano

"Murmillo's effect: after battling, Gladiator Beast Kaiser returns to the Deck!"

Kaiser, who had only just appeared and thrown a single punch, immediately turned into golden light and flew back into Mello's Deck. Though Kaiser had left the field, his ghostly image remained behind.

Murmillo spread his arms, and the phantom instantly overlapped with him like a spirit possession. Murmillo's aura surged dramatically.

"Then Murmillo's ATK increases by the ATK of Kaiser that returned to the Deck!"

Gladiator Beast Murmillo, ATK 1000 → ATK 3400

Although Murmillo received a Physical Card Adaptation after Arc-V aired, its effect had been weakened considerably. Both the effect that returned the Gladiator Beast it Special Summoned to the Deck and the effect that gained ATK from its companion had been removed.

"Having inherited Kaiser's power, Murmillo has now surpassed Volcanic Demon!" Mello said. "Gladiator Beast Murmillo, attack 'Volcanic Demon'!"

Kaiser's phantom overlapped with Murmillo, and the latter's momentum soared. His longsword slashed down, and as the blade fell, it was as though Kaiser's steel feathers filled the sky and fired in a barrage, blotting out everything.

Volcanic Demon was instantly riddled with holes and let out a muffled groan. Murmillo's blade followed, cleaving down from its face as a huge fireball exploded with a boom.

But when the flames cleared, the blazing head and lava-like demon quickly emerged from the smoke once more.

"What?" Mello frowned.

Kira revealed a monster card.

"Among the cards sent to the Graveyard by the Continuous Spell 'Volcanic Wall' earlier was this one," Kira said. "Sacrifice Kuriboh. When one of your monsters would be destroyed by battle, you can Banish this card from the Graveyard instead."

The fluffy little ball floated beside him like a Ghost and chirped smugly twice.

"Kuriburi!"

Mello gave a low snort.

"But