Very soon, a hole filled with glue appeared beneath the magician's feet, sticking him in place.
[Dark Magician: ATK 2500→1250]
"How could this be? My strongest servant, Dark Magician..."
Pandora looked miserably at the magician before him, controlled by a single card.
"Damn it, then I activate the Spell Card, Thousand Blades!"
This card could only be activated while Dark Magician was on his field, targeting 1 monster on the opponent's field. Destroy that monster.
[Pandora's hand: 1→0]
"Disappear, Silent Magician LV4!"
A swarm of small blades appeared on the magician's field and shot toward Silent Magician, shattering her.
"It feels like AIBO has this well in hand. His opponent doesn't seem as difficult as I thought."
Seeing that Pandora had no cards left in his hand, King let out a sigh of relief.
"My turn is over."
With nothing else to do, Pandora directly ended his turn.
First Victory
"My turn, draw!"
[Yugi Muto's hand: 3→4]
"I summon Trickster Elf Swordsman from my hand."
The fodder swordsman was immediately projected onto Yugi's field.
[Trickster Elf Swordsman: ATK 1400] [Yugi Muto's hand: 4→3]
"Battle! I attack Dark Magician with Trickster Elf Swordsman!"
The fodder swordsman cleaved Dark Magician apart with a single slash.
[Pandora: LP 3100→2950]
"Then I attack you directly with Silent Swordsman LV5!"
Silent Swordsman slashed Pandora.
"Uwaaaah—!"
Pandora cried out involuntarily.
[Pandora: LP 2950→650]
"Finally, I set one card. My turn is over."
Yugi set a card and ended his turn.
[Yugi Muto's hand: 3→2]
"My turn, draw!"
Pandora eagerly drew a card.
[Pandora's hand: 0→1]
"I summon Vengeful Killer Doll from my hand."
A doll holding a huge axe appeared on Pandora's field.
[Vengeful Killer Doll: ATK 1600] [Pandora's hand: 1→0]
"Battle! Then I activate my set card, the Quick-Play Spell Arrow of Seal Magic!"
This card could only be activated at the start of either player's Battle Phase. After this card was activated, neither player could activate the effects of Spell or Trap Cards until the end of the turn.
"You won't let me activate Traps?"
Yugi looked at the set card on his field.
"That's right! I attack Trickster Elf Swordsman with Vengeful Killer Doll!"
The doll raised its axe and chopped the fodder swordsman to pieces.
[Yugi Muto: LP 4000→3800]
"With that, my turn is over."
Pandora crossed his arms and smiled.
"My turn, draw!"
[Yugi Muto's hand: 2→3]
After drawing, Yugi pointed at Silent Swordsman and called out.
"During my Standby Phase, I activate Silent Swordsman LV5's effect."
When this card inflicted battle damage through a direct attack, during the Standby Phase of his next turn, he could send this card on the field to the Graveyard to activate this effect. Special Summon 1 Silent Swordsman LV7 from his hand or Deck.
Silent Swordsman grew taller once more.
[Silent Swordsman LV7: ATK 2800]
Pandora hurriedly pressed a button on his Duel Disk.
"Now! I activate the Trap Card, Dark Magician Resurrection Coffin!"
When the opponent successfully Normal or Special Summoned a monster, he could target that monster and 1 Spellcaster monster on his field to activate this card. Send both monsters to the Graveyard. Then, he could Special Summon 1 Dark Attribute Spellcaster monster from his Deck or Graveyard.
A coffin appeared on Pandora's field. It then opened and sucked in the doll and Silent Swordsman.
"Come back, Dark Magician!"
Dark Magician appeared on Pandora's field once again.
[Dark Magician: ATK 2500]
"Not only did I destroy your ace monster, I also revived my Dark Magician! Hahahaha!"
Pandora covered his face and laughed wildly.
"You deliberately targeted the moment Silent Swordsman LV7 was Special Summoned? Not bad, but I've already won this duel."
"Reveal my set card! I activate the Trap Card, Co-op!"
During the turn this card was activated, his monsters could not attack directly.
: He could discard 1 monster from his hand and target 1 face-up monster on the field to activate this card. That monster's ATK and DEF became equal to the respective values of the monster discarded to activate this card until the end of the turn.
"I discard Destruction Dragon Gandora, a monster with zero ATK in my hand, and make Dark Magician's ATK zero."
The wrong way to use Destruction Dragon.
[Yugi Muto's hand: 3→2] [Dark Magician: ATK 2500→0]
"Nani!? Its ATK became zero!?"
Seeing Dark Magician suddenly wilt, Pandora was completely dumbfounded.
The other set card on Yugi's field was also flipped open.
"Then I activate the Continuous Trap, Limit Reverse!"
Choose 1 monster with 1000 or less ATK from his Graveyard and Special Summon it in Attack Position. If that monster was changed to Defense Position, destroy that monster and this card. If this card left the field, destroy that monster. If that monster was destroyed, destroy this card.
"I Special Summon Silent Magician LV4 from my Graveyard."
The little magician appeared on Yugi's field again.
[Silent Magician LV4: ATK 1000]
"Impossible! My noble Dark Magician actually lost to such trash!"
Pandora clutched his head and shouted.
"Go! Silent Magician LV4, attack Dark Magician!"
The little magician summoned a small orb of light with her staff and smashed it into Dark Magician, who shattered in response.
[Pandora: LP 650→0]
Yugi had finally claimed his first victory since the Duel City tournament began.
Second Opponent
After the duel ended, Pandora suddenly rolled his eyes back. His stance became unnatural, as though he were being controlled.
"Marik again?"
Yugi stared warily at his opponent.
"Yugi, although you are merely the Pharaoh's vessel, your strength is troublesome."
Marik's voice came from the other side, though Yugi did not quite understand it.
"The Pharaoh's vessel? What does that mean? Who exactly are you?"
Although Yugi did not understand, his intuition told him that Marik's words were related to the other Yugi.
"This is revenge. The revenge of the descendants of the Gravekeeper Clan, who have lived in darkness for three thousand years!"
Marik continued to speak in baffling words, though Yugi could tell that he harbored resentment toward the other Yugi.
"Revenge... Gravekeeper Clan... Gravekeepers..."
Yugi did remember the Gravekeepers. In his memories, they were also an archetype, and the most famous card in the Gravekeeper deck was the Field Spell King's Valley of Slumber.
"At the borderlands of Egypt's tombs lives a group of Gravekeepers. To protect the lost Pharaoh's secrets, they were even deprived of the freedom to contact the outside world. Our existence is like that of shadows. Since ancient times, our clan has lived only to protect the King's Valley and the Millennium Items, and our ancestors all died because of this fate. It can only end after we hand our memories over to the soul of the Pharaoh, who will one day be revived!"
Marik continued explaining the background of the Gravekeeper Clan.
"Memories... Does this have something to do with the seven Millennium Items on the stone tablet containing the Pharaoh's memories?"
Yugi seemed to have thought of something.
"That's right. I possess one of them. Until I offer it to the Pharaoh, I must protect it even at the cost of my life. That was how I was taught from childhood. The problem is, where exactly is the Pharaoh's soul? The only way to find out is to gather all three God Cards. Whoever obtains the three God Cards will gain the title of Pharaoh, and by offering the seven Millennium Items, will recover the lost memories!"
Marik revealed the crucial information.
"The three God Cards... the lost memories..."
Yugi's eyes widened.
"Our clan made enormous sacrifices to protect the Millennium Items. So did I, and so did my father. The way to put an end to this cursed fate is to take revenge on the Pharaoh's soul and make him disappear once again. And since the God Cards reveal the Pharaoh's location, as long as I gather all three God Cards, I can become the new Pharaoh!"
As he spoke, Marik's tone grew increasingly excited.
"A new Pharaoh..."
Yugi felt that the other man's logic was rather strange. In terms from his previous life, Marik seemed to have become obsessed.
"To find the three God Cards, I formed Gryus and have already obtained two of them. The last one is in this city, in Duel City. And lurking within this city is a Rare Hunter who possesses the God Card Slifer the Sky Dragon. He will soon appear before you. Keep a close eye out. Until next time, Yugi."
After he finished speaking, Marik's voice no longer came through.
"Slifer the Sky Dragon!? That won't be easy to deal with..."
Yugi remembered that this card had been called the Pitfall Dragon in his previous life, but he would not underestimate it. Especially with its anime effect, its suppression ability was absurdly strong in the current environment.
"Still, in the current environment, it won't be easy to summon it quickly."
Thinking this, Yugi relaxed somewhat.
He then walked over to the collapsed Pandora, crouched down, and found a Puzzle Card on the Duel Disk.
As for Pandora's rare cards, Yugi did not take them. He and King had discovered that the edges of all three Dark Magicians had been cut by Pandora. Neither of them wanted to use cards like that, and since the rest were not particularly useful, they did not take a single one.
Afterward, Yugi notified President Kaiba's younger brother, Kaiba Mokuba, to come deal with Pandora.
Before you continue