Chapter 32: A Nuclear-Level Whitewashing Offensive
“My turn.”
Having learned from the two Labyrinth Brothers, and recalling his own memories, Yugi now fully understood the method for navigating the labyrinth. Seizing the initiative, he announced his move.
“I attack by summoning ‘Elemental HERO Sparkman.’”
The ever-diligent Sparkman appeared once more.
“Next, I’ll set a card in my back row, and have Sparkman advance by the maximum steps allowed for his level—four spaces!”
At Yugi’s command, Sparkman stepped forward from the giant projection card beneath his feet, marking his presence. The first stride brought him officially into the labyrinth, and with the last, he was just a step away from reaching the first corner within the maze.
“My turn.”
The turn passed to the elder brother, “Maze.”
‘Soon you’ll discover the true terror of the Labyrinth Field, boy!’
Maze grinned slyly, glancing at the five cards in his hand.
“First, I attack by summoning ‘Shadow Ghoul.’ Then I’ll set a card face-down, and finally, activate the Spell Card ‘Card Destruction!’ According to its effect, both players must discard all cards in their hands, then draw the same number from their decks.”
With five cards in hand, having just played three, he discarded the remaining two monsters. As Yugi discarded three and drew three, Maze activated the card he had previously set:
“At this moment, I activate the set Spell Card, ‘Polymerization!’ I fuse the ‘Shadow Ghoul’ on the field with the ‘Labyrinth Wall!’”
A fusion of monster and field, this was an unprecedented move, never to be surpassed!
Within the logic of “all things can be fused,” Shadow Ghoul truly became the embodiment of its card name.
“By merging with the Labyrinth Wall, Shadow Ghoul gains the special ability to traverse within shadows—just as its name implies! However, it can only phase through the walls of the labyrinth. Beyond them, it’s just an ordinary monster.”
Under such special field rules, even with restrictions, this was a dreadfully powerful effect.
Watching the Ghoul phase through the walls, rapidly approaching Sparkman at the bend with no distance limitation, Yugi quickly called out:
“Even though your Ghoul can freely traverse the walls, don’t forget: my Sparkman’s ATK is 1600, and your Ghoul’s ATK is also 1600! Even with fusion, if the two monsters clash, they’ll both be sent to the Graveyard!”
Yugi’s knowledge of “Shadow Ghoul” was limited to the original anime’s plot; he hadn’t studied the card further.
This led to Maze’s lengthy explanation, which left Yugi stunned.
“I forgot to mention, before the fusion, Ghoul was always an Effect Monster with a special power! Its effect is to amplify its own strength!”
Maze waved the two monster cards he’d just discarded in front of Yugi and explained:
“Ghoul’s effect is that for each monster in my Graveyard, its ATK increases by 100 points! Thanks to ‘Card Destruction,’ I sent two monsters to the Graveyard, and fusing with the Labyrinth Wall didn’t negate this effect. So right now, Ghoul’s ATK is 1800—200 points higher than yours!”
Yugi: “…Damn!”
As Yugi let out an exasperated curse, Ghoul, under Maze’s smug gaze, reached Sparkman and, without giving him a chance to resist, brought its claws down in a vicious strike!
“Sparkman is destroyed! Your life points will be deducted—what?”
Maze had just begun to announce a 200-point damage deduction when he noticed that Yugi’s life point counter hadn’t changed in the slightest. At that moment, his younger brother “Labyrinth” called out to him.
“Brother! That kid’s monster wasn’t destroyed!”
“What?!”
Maze quickly looked toward the site of the explosion, and as the smoke cleared, Sparkman stood unscathed.
“Sorry, but at the instant Ghoul attacked, I activated this Trap Card.”
Hearing Yugi’s voice, the brothers turned to see him holding up a Trap Card, its artwork depicting a spinning, silver-gray metal shield.
“Trap Card ‘Hero Barrier.’ When an ‘Elemental HERO’ on your field is attacked, you can activate this card to negate that attack!”
“Tch!”
Maze had hoped to seize victory with his Ghoul-Wall fusion, but to his surprise, Yugi’s set card was a defensive one.
“My turn. Draw!”
Seeing that Maze had no further moves, Yugi took the initiative.
“I activate the Spell Card ‘Polymerization’ from my hand! I fuse ‘Elemental HERO Burstinatrix’ and ‘Elemental HERO Avian’!”
Here it comes—the third fusion monster to appear in this duel: Flame Wingman!
“Then, I equip my last card, the Equip Spell ‘Horn of the Unicorn,’ to Sparkman.”
If Horn of the Unicorn is equipped to a beast-type monster, a single horn would sprout from its body. But when equipped to a humanoid, it simply boosts attack power without changing appearance.
“While increasing Sparkman’s ATK by 700, the Horn’s special attack—Thunder Strike—also grants Sparkman, who already uses ‘Lightning Attack,’ a 30% power boost!”
The Labyrinth Brothers: !!!
(Elemental HERO Sparkman, ATK: 1600 → 2300 → 2780)
“…Even so, if you can’t find Ghoul, no amount of attack power will help! At best, you just won’t be destroyed by Ghoul.”
Having fused Ghoul with Labyrinth Wall to form the new monster “Wall Shadow,” Maze bit out his words, feigning confidence.
Able to traverse the walls without limit, no matter how high your attack is, if you can’t find my monster, you won’t destroy it!
I’ll say this now—even if Seto Kaiba himself came with his strongest ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragon,’ he wouldn’t be able to harm my prized monster!
“Heh.”
Yugi let out a cold chuckle.
“Sore wa dō kana?”
He pointed at his two monsters. Understanding their master’s intent, Flame Wingman took Sparkman’s left hand in his right, unfurled his single wing, and carried Sparkman into the air.
“Forget it! In the Labyrinth Wall, monsters can’t fly through the maze!”
Seeing Flame Wingman take off, the younger brother Labyrinth assumed Yugi meant to fly over the maze with his monster’s wings.
“Who said I was going to fly over the maze?”
The Labyrinth Brothers: ?
Then what are you planning…
“Sparkman! Flame Wingman! Give me a nuclear strike!”
Flame Wingman and Sparkman: Understood, Master!