131. Weakling Suppression Art—Thunderbolt Bullet!

Although he had summoned the second Egyptian God, Slifer the Sky Dragon, in a breathtaking opening move, it was still his first turn. Even with a god on the field, he could not attack until his next turn.

After glancing at the three cards remaining in his hand, Yuyi hesitated for a moment before deciding to place all three into his Duel Disk.

“Set two cards. Then I activate the Continuous Spell Nightmare’s Mirage. My turn ends here.”

Without explaining Nightmare’s Mirage or even activating its effect, he simply placed the cards and ended his turn.

‘He was willing to sacrifice the Sky Dragon’s power just to activate a Continuous Spell and set two cards… What is Yuyi planning?’

Yugi had never seen Nightmare’s Mirage before, and without knowing its effect, he could not understand why Yuyi would willingly reduce Slifer’s power.

Still, this worked in his favor. Slifer’s second ability was already troublesome enough. If the god retained two or three thousand attack points on top of that, it would be virtually invincible!

“My turn. Draw!”

Yugi glanced at the card he had drawn, then at the five cards already in his hand, and secretly shook his head.

‘No… My strategy for defeating the Sky Dragon is still incomplete!’

“Spell Card, Pot of Greed—”

Yugi had just entered his first Main Phase and activated Pot of Greed from his hand, hoping to draw two more cards and complete his strategy, when Yuyi suddenly interrupted him.

“Yugi! The moment you finished drawing, the effect of my Continuous Spell, Nightmare’s Mirage, was already activated!”

“What?”

“Once during your opponent’s Standby Phase, Nightmare’s Mirage lets me draw cards from the top of my Deck until I have four cards in my hand!”

Yugi: !!!

Good grief… It was practically the equivalent of activating Pot of Greed during the opponent’s turn—and not an ordinary Pot of Greed, either, but an upgraded version of a Quick-Draw Pot!

Watching Yuyi replenish his hand with four cards through Nightmare’s Mirage, Yugi instantly understood why he had been willing to sacrifice the Sky Dragon’s power to activate the Continuous Spell. Without it, Slifer would have had only three thousand attack points. But now, not only did Yuyi have two set cards in his back row, he also had a completely renewed hand of four cards. His attack power was even a thousand points higher than before!

“A card that lets you draw up to four cards during your opponent’s Standby Phase must normally have some kind of drawback, right?”

Yugi had been startled by Yuyi’s move, but he quickly recovered. An effect this absurdly powerful had to come with an equally serious disadvantage.

“You’re right. Cards with effects this powerful generally have drawbacks of a similar magnitude. In the case of my Continuous Spell, Nightmare’s Mirage, its negative effect activates during my Standby Phase. I have to discard as many cards as I drew during the previous turn.”

“I just drew four cards, so on my next turn, I’ll have to send four cards from my hand to the Graveyard.”

As he spoke, Yuyi’s right index finger moved toward the activation button for Spell and Trap Cards on his Duel Disk.

“But since I dared to activate it, naturally I’ve already prepared a Combo to deal with that drawback!”

“At this moment, I activate the Quick-Play Spell Emergency Provisions! I send all Spell and Trap Cards on my field, except Emergency Provisions itself, to the Graveyard. For every card sent to the Graveyard by this effect, I recover one thousand Life Points!”

The classic combination of Nightmare’s Mirage and Emergency Provisions!

It had first appeared during the later, anime-original portion of the Duel Monsters era, in the KC Grand Championship hosted by Kaiba. Yugi’s grandfather, Solomon Muto, had demonstrated the Combo during his duel with his student, Joey Wheeler.

Later, the combo became widely known when it was used by the adorable Jaden during the early part of the next generation, GX. Once Nightmare’s Mirage was locked away on the Forbidden list in the real world, however, the anime never showed the classic combination again.

At present, the card Yuyi intended to send to the Graveyard was naturally Nightmare’s Mirage.

As for the other set card?

That still had a purpose.

“Incredible! He replenishes his hand and gains Life Points at the same time by using a Quick-Play Spell!”

“After watching this duel, I’m putting six copies into my own Deck!”

“Dream on! Never mind whether you can afford them—Nightmare’s Mirage hasn’t even appeared on the market yet!”

“Huh? Really?”

“…”

Yuyi had brought this famous combination before the public ahead of its time, and the spectators were no less astonished than Yugi. He had replenished his hand and restored his Life Points in one move. It was an entirely one-sided advantage!

“Spell Card, Pot of Greed. I draw two cards from my Deck.”

Yugi glanced at Slifer’s attack power, which had risen to four thousand and now reached the level of his brother Obelisk the Tormentor. He quietly steadied himself and continued the action that had been interrupted earlier.

No matter what happened now, if he wanted to inflict damage on Yuyi—even if only to bring the duel back to an even footing—he had to assemble the necessary strategy in his hand. Otherwise, he could only defend himself from this point onward.

‘No… Still not enough!’

He had drawn two cards, but neither was the strategic core capable of defeating Slifer.

“Following Pot of Greed, I activate another Spell Card: Graceful Charity!”

This was the last card in Yugi’s hand capable of helping him draw through his Deck. If he failed to find what he needed now, he would have no choice but to Set a card and end the turn.

“Draw three cards!”

Yugi could sense that the first two cards were not what he needed. Just as his heart had risen to his throat, the third card—

Finally, the right one!

“I discard two cards from my hand.”

He sent the other card drawn by Pot of Greed, along with one of the three cards drawn by Graceful Charity, to the Graveyard. At last, Yugi could begin his god-slaying maneuver.

“I release the three monsters in my hand—Alpha the Magnet Warrior, Beta the Magnet Warrior, and Gamma the Magnet Warrior—and send them to the Graveyard! Special Summon their combined form, Valkyrion the Magna Warrior!”

Drawn together by the magnetic force between the Magnet Warriors, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma instantly disassembled into massive components. Then, like blocks being fitted together, they assembled into an entirely new monster.

A magnetic sword in its right hand, a head shaped like a bull’s, and a pair of pink magnetic wings spread across its back.

“Hoh… The monsters in his hand combine directly into a powerful monster?”

Valkyrion the Magna Warrior could be considered one of Yugi’s signature monsters. As long as all three Magnet Warriors were gathered in his hand or on the field, they could immediately combine and transform into the mighty warrior. In a sense, it was quite similar to the XYZ series of Union monsters in Kaiba’s Deck.

“But Yugi, surely you haven’t forgotten the Sky Dragon’s second ability?”

Three thousand five hundred attack points was already extremely high, only five hundred below Slifer’s current power. One Equip Spell capable of increasing a monster’s attack would instantly allow Valkyrion to surpass the god!

“Ah! The Sky Dragon’s second ability! It comes from its ever-closed second dragon mouth!”

Having learned about Slifer’s abilities in advance, Yugi had deliberately chosen not to summon a lower-level monster. Instead, he had fused the three Magnet Warriors directly from his hand into the powerful Valkyrion. His purpose was to endure the attack from the Sky Dragon’s second ability!

“Sky Dragon! Let everyone witness your second ability now!”

“Roar!”

The moment Slifer heard that he would be able to display his power before his true master, he let out an excited, earth-shaking roar.

“When your opponent successfully Normal Summons, Flip Summons, or Special Summons a monster, the Sky Dragon’s second mouth opens! Depending on that monster’s battle position, it inflicts two thousand points of effect damage to either its attack or defense! If its attack or defense is reduced to zero as a result, that monster is destroyed immediately!”

In short, at least one of a monster’s attack or defense had to exceed two thousand points. Otherwise, the moment it appeared, it would be the moment of its destruction!

“Go, Sky Dragon! Inflict two thousand points of damage to Valkyrion’s attack! Thunder Blast!”

“Roar!”

The first great dragon mouth slowly closed, while the smaller mouth above it opened wide.

White and violet energy gathered within it. After Valkyrion assumed a defensive stance, the Sky Dragon’s second mouth spat out a sphere of white energy wrapped in purple lightning and flames.

‘Hang in there, Valkyrion!’

Yugi knew that Valkyrion’s attack power, which exceeded three thousand, would keep it from being destroyed by the effect. Even so, as he watched the warrior standing before him, its master could not help worrying.

On the field, Valkyrion knew that its own stats were sufficient to withstand the Sky Dragon’s attack. But it also understood something else: ordinary monsters like them were little more than card projections, while the Egyptian God before them had descended into the world in physical form.

Its stats might be able to withstand the attack, but the force behind a god’s assault was not something that could easily be endured.

Watching Valkyrion’s power fall below two thousand, Yugi gritted his teeth and carried out the second step of his plan.

“I activate Valkyrion’s only effect! I release Valkyrion itself, ending its combined form and returning it to the three Magnet Warrior monsters!”

“What?!”

Everyone watching the scene was stunned by Yugi’s declaration.

After finally summoning such a powerful monster and enduring the Sky Dragon’s second ability, he was actually turning it back into the three weak monsters from which it had been formed?

Was he joking?

The spectators—including Kaiba, Yugi’s sworn rival—had no idea what he was thinking. They all assumed Yugi had lost his mind.

But Yuyi, his opponent, understood in that instant exactly what Yugi was planning this turn.

The individual Magnet Warriors might be weak. But if all their power could be concentrated into a single monster through the effect of one card, then even a god could be dragged down from its throne.