Yūki pressed two fingers firmly against the face of the card.
His fingertips rubbed against its slightly textured edges.
The card he had just drawn from the top of his Deck reflected a dark golden sheen in the faint light deep within the void.
Its artwork depicted a ferocious demon god submerged in churning sulfurous magma, with a massive black iron cage cast onto its chest!
Lava Golem!
Yūki stared at the artwork, his lips spreading into an irrepressible grin, his facial muscles even trembling slightly with wild joy.
"Supreme King, my man, that Supreme King's Power of yours really was scary. It came barreling through and cut off my telepathic connection with my spirits. I thought I really was going to crash and burn today."
Yūki chuckled softly, spinning the card through an elegant half turn between his fingertips.
"But you overlooked one thing."
"A real duelist's draws have always depended entirely on pure luck!"
"As long as this card is still in my Deck, the bond between us doesn't need any Heart of the Cards Draw signal to connect us!"
Hum!
As though responding to Yūki's declaration, a ring of crimson sparks suddenly rippled through the void beside his Duel Disk.
A tiny, round, scarlet apparition, only the size of a palm, emerged. It was Little Red, Lava Golem's newborn spirit!
Warm sparks rose from Little Red's body. Waving two short, chubby arms frantically in midair, Little Red glared fiercely at the magnificent castle ahead with big, round eyes, making cheerful babbling cries as though cheering on its master!
Yūki flipped his hand and raised the card high above his head.
At that moment, the light of the rising laughter in Yūki's eyes seemed to tear open a corner of the purple-black demonic clouds churning above the entire