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

Soon, Isono raised his right hand: "Let the Duel begin!"

[Yugi Muto: LP4000]

[Dark Marik: LP4000]

"Hehehe, I'll go first, here I come!"

Dark Marik licked a lollipop and then raised it high.

The eyeball on the Millennium Rod emitted a golden light, and the top of the Duel Tower was quickly shrouded in black mist.

"This is a Dark Duel!"

This was Yugi's first time facing such a brutal battle head-on. In the past, the Dark Duels were always handled by King, so he was a little nervous about dueling a Dark Duelist for the first time.

Of course, since Yugi could switch people at any time, he wasn't too scared.

"Hehehe, for this Duel with you, I've prepared the ultimate Dark Duel. Once one of us is defeated in the Duel, their soul will be devoured by darkness."

Since Dark Marik was still quite weak now and couldn't take other souls hostage like in the original story, he could only bet the souls of both Duelists.

"Alright, the gates of hell are about to open, heh heh heh heh..."

After laughing, Dark Marik's initial fear finally subsided.

Then he drew a card.

"Let's begin, my turn, draw!"

[Dark Marik Hand: 5 → 6]

He picked up three cards from his hand: "I'll summon [Underworld Guide] in Defense Position..."

Dark Marik played this card again.

[Underworld Guide: DEF 800]

"Then I'll set two cards and end my turn."

With two more set cards, he was satisfied and announced the end of his turn.

[Dark Marik Hand: 6 → 3]

"My turn, draw!"

[Yugi Muto Hand: 5 → 6]

After drawing, Yugi unhesitatingly inserted a card from his hand into his Duel Disk.

"I activate the Spell Card [Bitter Choice] from my hand."

Choose 5 cards from your Deck and show them to your opponent. Your opponent chooses 1 card from these. The card chosen by your opponent is added to your hand, and the rest are sent to the Graveyard.

Illustration here, available in updated versions.

[Yugi Muto Hand: 6 → 5]

Yugi laid out the five cards he chose and showed them to Dark Marik.

--[Exodia the Forbidden One], [Left Arm of the Forbidden One], [Right Arm of the Forbidden One], [Left Leg of the Forbidden One], [Right Leg of the Forbidden One]!

Dark Marik couldn't help but click his tongue: "Tsk! As expected, it's [Exodia] again."

But he quickly broke into a smile.

"However, sending [Exodia] to the Graveyard means you've abandoned your previous strategy, hehehe..."

This greatly reduced his pressure.

Then he chose one card to add to Yugi's hand.

Yugi immediately placed that card on his Duel Disk.

"I summon [Left Arm of the Forbidden One] from my hand."

With a flash of light, a giant yellow hand was projected in front of Yugi.

[Left Arm of the Forbidden One: ATK 200]

"Foolish! Yugi, this guy is using the same tactic as that old man!"

Seeing Yugi summon a piece, President Kaiba was frustrated. In his opinion, using this method meant abandoning [Exodia]'s strongest ability.

While this was true, the [Exodia] Yugi was summoning wasn't a piece of trash like Gousaburou's [Exodia's Undead].

At this moment, Yugi picked up another card.

"I tribute one monster on my field that is [Forbidden] to Special Summon this card from my hand."

Saying that, the Left Arm on Yugi's field disappeared, and he placed the card from his hand onto his Duel Disk.

"It's time! The true form of the Demon God, [Summoned God Exodia]!"

A pentagram opened a gate to another world, and a complete Exodia emerged from it, appearing on Yugi's field.

[Summoned God Exodia: ? → 5000]

Illustration here, available in updated versions.

[Yugi Muto Hand: 5 → 4]

"What!? Summoned God Exodia!? Impossible, I've never heard of a card like this! And its ATK is actually 5000..."

President Kaiba, who had been agitated, was stunned by the sudden turn of events.

At this moment, Yugi began to explain its effect: "Summoned God Exodia's ATK is determined by the monsters in the graveyard."

This card's ATK increases by 1000 for each [Forbidden One] monster in the graveyard.

That's why Summoned God's ATK is five thousand.

Yugi continued, "And this card is unaffected by the effects of other cards!"

"Nani!? A card with abilities comparable to God Cards exists!"

Dark Marik panicked immediately.

This was the most crucial point. The reason Yugi summoned this monster was to guard against Dark Marik's God Cards; complete immunity doesn't care if it's a God or a monster.

He was going to have a headache dealing with this.

Chapter 58: The God That Couldn't Be Summoned

"Here I come, Marik!"

Having summoned the immune Summoned God, Yugi could skip any probing and confidently proceed directly to the Battle Phase.

"I'm attacking! I'll use Summoned God Exodia to attack Underworld Guide, Demon God Flame Cannon!"

The demon obeyed the attack command, unleashing demonic flames and instantly obliterating the demon.

Afterward, Yugi said, "According to Underworld Guide's monster effect, when this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, it automatically activates an effect to destroy one monster on the field. However, Summoned God Exodia is unaffected by that effect."

Dark Marik's face turned grim. "Tsk, what an annoying ability..."

This was an effect he couldn't possibly deal with.

Finally, Yugi inserted two cards into his Duel Disk.

"I'll set two cards. My turn ends."

[Yugi Muto Hand: 4 → 2]

"And Summoned God Exodia's other effect activates."

It activates during the End Phase. Select 1 [Forbidden One] monster from your graveyard and add it to your hand.

"It even has an effect to retrieve [Exodia]!? What a terrifying card... This is so much stronger than the cards Kouzaburou used!"

President Kaiba instantly understood the vast difference between Yugi and his adoptive father.

At this moment, Yugi had already retrieved a card from his graveyard.

"I'll add Left Arm of the Forbidden One from my graveyard to my hand."

[Yugi Muto Hand: 2 → 3]

[Summoned God Exodia: ATK 5000 → 4000]

"Its ATK decreased... Sou ka! Although Summoned God Exodia is powerful now, as long as my ATK is high enough, I can destroy it, hahahaha..."

Seeing Dark Marik muttering to himself, everyone was speechless.

Yami Yugi: Is this guy crazy? Does he think AIBO's set cards are just for decoration?

Jonouchi: Exactly, exactly...

President Kaiba: ...

They knew Yugi's ruthlessness all too well. Remember how that brat was driven to doubt his life by Yugi's traps before?

Therefore, Dark Marik's impending miserable fate was predictable.

"My turn, Draw!"

[Dark Marik Hand: 3 → 4]

Dark Marik eagerly drew a card.

"Hahahaha, it's here!"

Veins were bulging on his face.

"Did you draw a God Card?"

Yugi immediately realized what that card was.

Dark Marik's smile grew more arrogant. "Hehehe, that's right. This card is the strongest God, The Winged Dragon of Ra."

"Then, I'll discard this card as a cost to activate the Spell Card Grave Rebirth, adding one monster from my graveyard to my hand, specifically Underworld Guide."

This exchange, which seemed like a loss, was indeed a loss, but his only goal was to send the God Card to the graveyard.

[Dark Marik Hand: 4 → 3]

However, this move genuinely shocked the audience.

Yami Yugi was confused. "Impossible! He actually discarded such a powerful God Card..."

Yugi shook his head, "No, it must be that [The Winged Dragon of Ra] has a hidden special ability, which is why it was discarded."

"A hidden special ability… now that you mention it, it's possible…"

King no longer dwelled on it.

He just didn't know what the opponent was planning.

However, the answer would be revealed soon enough.

At this moment, Marik pinched two cards in his hand.

"I'll set one card from my hand, then summon [Yōkei Sho]."

[Yōkei Sho: ATK 1700]

[Dark Marik Hand: 3→1]

"Summoning a monster in attack mode!? There's a trick!"

Thinking this, Yugi, reacting quickly, immediately clicked the button to flip over one of his set cards.

"I discard [Exodia the Forbidden One] to activate the Trap Card [Causality Cut]!"

Discard 1 card from your hand; target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls. Banish that face-up monster. If any cards with the same name as the banished card exist in your opponent's Graveyard, banish all of them as well.

[Yugi Muto Hand: 3→2]

[Summoned God Exodia: ATK 4000→5000]

"The monster I'm banishing is, of course, [Yōkei Sho]!"

As soon as Yugi finished speaking, Yōkei Sho instantly vanished from Dark Marik's field.

"Tch! Decisive enough…"

Since his monster was banished, Dark Marik's original plan had to be temporarily abandoned.

"Well~~, I'll let you off the hook for now, Yugi!"