The Protagonist of the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Might Be the Same Person

However, a question arose. Yugi lowered his head and asked Isono below, "Um, Mr. Referee... what happens if I win directly with [Exodia]?"

Upon hearing those five famous words again, the President's face darkened.

"Hmph! You can then choose one person as your opponent, and the remaining two will form another group."

The President supplemented the rule on behalf of his employee.

"That makes things easier..."

Hearing the plan, Yugi breathed a sigh of relief.

However, upon hearing Yugi's words, both the President and Jonouchi couldn't help but feel a sense of dread.

"AIBO..."

The King didn't know how to persuade him regarding Yugi's madness.

Next, the four contestants would each draw a monster card to compare their levels. The one with the higher attack power would draw first. Of course, after the comparison, that card could not be added to the deck.

And the card Yugi chose was—

—[Dragon of Ruin Gandora]!

Jonouchi exclaimed, "No way, Yugi! You're giving up your ace monster with such a powerful effect?"

The President and Dark Marik were also surprised by Yugi's choice.

After the order was quickly determined, the duel began. (President → Dark Marik → Jonouchi → Yugi)

[Yugi Muto: LP4000]

[Seto Kaiba: LP4000]

[Katsuya Jonouchi: LP4000]

[Dark Marik: LP4000]

"I'm going first, draw!"

[Seto Kaiba Hand: 5 → 6]

Without hesitation, the President inserted a card into his Duel Disk.

"I'll set one card face-down, then summon [Bloody Beastman] in attack mode."

[Bloody Beastman: ATK 1900]

[Seto Kaiba Hand: 6 → 4]

The President cleanly ended his turn.

"My turn, draw!"

[Dark Marik Hand: 5 → 6]

"I summon [Underworld Guide] in defense mode."

With a flash of light, a red-skinned demon was projected in front of Dark Marik.

[Underworld Guide: DEF 800]

[Dark Marik Hand: 6 → 5]

"And with that, my turn ends."

Since no one could attack on their first turn, Dark Marik simply ended his turn.

"My turn!"

[Katsuya Jonouchi Hand: 5 → 6]

Jonouchi also decisively placed a card from his hand onto his Duel Disk.

"I summon [Black Panther Warrior] in attack mode."

[Black Panther Warrior: ATK 2000]

[Katsuya Jonouchi Hand: 6 → 5]

"Turn end."

Everyone was testing the waters.

However, Yugi had no intention of playing such a small game.

"My turn, draw!"

[Yugi Muto Hand: 5 → 6]

After drawing, Yugi held two cards in his hand.

He inserted one into his Duel Disk and said, "I activate the Spell Card [Ancient Rules] from my hand to Special Summon a Level 5 or higher Normal Monster from my hand. Come forth, [Dark Magician]!"

Yugi summoned his signature monster on the very first turn.

[Dark Magician: ATK 2500]

[Yugi Muto Hand: 6 → 4]

"I'll set two more cards, and my turn ends."

Yugi's turn also ended quickly.

[Yugi Muto Hand: 4 → 2]

"Alright, bring it on!"

Yugi swept his gaze across the three of them with a provocative look.

He seemed to be looking forward to the others attacking, and that was indeed the case.

Could President Kaiba endure such provocation?

Of course not, and so...

"As you wish, my turn!"

[Seto Kaiba Hand: 4 → 5]

President Kaiba didn't even bother to look at the card he drew and immediately launched an attack.

"Battle! I attack [Dark Magician] with [Bloody Beastman]!"

Bloody Beastman then turned and charged forward.

Yugi's eyebrows twitched. "Attacking with a monster with lower attack power? Do you have [Shrink] in your hand?"

President Kaiba snorted and quickly pressed the button to flip his face-down card, saying, "That's right, Yugi! I activate the face-down card [Shrink] to halve [Dark Magician]'s attack power!"

Dark Magician instantly shrunk by half, in a physical sense.

[Dark Magician: ATK 2500 → 1250]

"Yugi!!"

Jonouchi shouted worriedly.

Unfortunately for him, Yugi didn't react.

Dark Magician was quickly struck by Bloody Beastman.

Bang--!!

Dark Magician instantly shattered into pieces.

[Yugi Muto: LP 4000 → 3350]

President Kaiba was immediately surprised. "He didn't counterattack?"

But just then, Yugi suddenly burst out laughing. "I win this Duel!"

"Wh-What!?"

The three of them were stunned.

"So that's how it works, what a combo..."

The King, who knew Yugi's face-down card, understood Yugi's clever move, though it was a bit unfair to Dark Magician.

At this moment, Yugi had already revealed a face-down card.

"Here I go, I activate the Trap Card [Level Barrier]!"

"If a monster on my field battles or is destroyed by an opponent's effect, you can target that 1 monster to activate this card. Special Summon monsters from your Deck, any number of them, in Defense Position, until the total Levels become equal to that monster's Level. The effects of monsters Special Summoned by this effect are negated."

"[Dark Magician]'s Level is seven, so I can bring out monsters whose total Levels add up to seven, and the monsters I'm summoning are these five..."

[Exodia the Forbidden One: DEF 1000]

[Left Arm of the Forbidden One: DEF 300]

[Right Arm of the Forbidden One: DEF 300]

[Left Leg of the Forbidden One: DEF 300]

[Right Leg of the Forbidden One: DEF 300]

Seeing the five pieces on Yugi's field, everyone's faces turned ashen.

And it wasn't over yet, Yugi revealed another face-down card.

"Next, I activate my second Trap Card, [Recall Order], returning all monsters on my field to my hand."

Yugi held up the five pieces. "Since I have assembled [Exodia] in my hand, I win the Duel!"

[Seto Kaiba: LP 4000 → 0]

[Katsuya Jonouchi: LP 4000 → 0]

[Dark Marik: LP 4000 → 0]

President Kaiba & Jonouchi & Dark Marik: ...

No wonder Yugi had asked about the rules beforehand; he had been waiting for this moment.

With this, Yugi now had the right to decide the groupings.

Chapter 57: Summoned God, Exodia

On the dueling platform atop the Duel Tower, Dark Marik and Yugi shuffled their decks.

That's right, after Yugi gained the right to decide the pairings, he unhesitatingly chose Dark Marik, whom he urgently needed to deal with.

Dark Marik was also panicking right now. He had been terrified by Yugi's terrifying instant-kill tactics during the previous grouping. Even with the strongest God Cards in his hand, he didn't have much confidence in defeating Yugi.

So, he was shuffling the cards with all his might, trying to disrupt Yugi's Seal of the Orichalcos positions, preferably burying the key cards at the bottom.

Jonouchi watched from the side with concern. "Is it really okay for Yugi to face Marik so soon?"

Although the scene of Yugi's instant kill was still fresh in their minds, everyone still felt a bit scared of the might of the God Cards.

"Hmph! Yugi possesses the ultimate deck, [Exodia], no god can defeat it..."

President Kaiba wasn't worried about Yugi losing at all. He was also still thinking about how to counter the Seal of the Orichalcos.

After all, the methods Yugi used twice to summon the Seal of the Orichalcos were too horrifying; one wrong move and you'd be instantly defeated.

At the same time, he had a premonition that Yugi definitely had more than just those two tricks for easily assembling the Seal of the Orichalcos, so he needed to devise an effective countermeasure.

Not long after, both felt they had shuffled enough and exchanged their decks.

"AIBO, do you really not need my help?"

The King also wanted to step in for Yugi.

Yugi gently shook his head. "Not for now, Other Me. While I can't use the God Cards, in return, I can borrow the power of the stronger [Exodia], and only I, who is recognized, can fully control [Exodia]."

As he spoke, Yugi inserted his deck into the card slot.

"That's true. Then I'll leave it to you, AIBO."

Of course, if anything dangerous were to happen, the King would still intervene.