Phantasmal Gods are invincible! They are beyond any form of conquest!

"That's right! Now let me reveal to you the special effects of Obelisk!" Malik spoke as he manipulated the puppet, showing all the remaining cards in his hand to the onlookers.

"Obelisk's first special effect—its attack and defense points are determined by the number of cards the controller has in their hand! For each card in the controller's hand, Obelisk's attack and defense increase by 1,000 points!"

"What?!"

"For example, right now, I have two cards in hand, so Obelisk's attack and defense are 2 × 1,000 = 2,000 points!"

As Malik uttered the specific value, the projector instantly displayed the increase from "?" to 2,000, and the Sky Dragon itself seemed to be surrounded by a visible aura of red energy, its power visibly rising to a new level.

"On Malik's next turn, he'll draw another card, meaning the Sky Dragon's stats will rise to 3,000 points!"

Keiping, still a child, was utterly shocked by such an outrageous effect, but in that moment, he suddenly realized something wasn't quite right.

"Wait! You claim Obelisk has limitless power, but according to the rules of Duel City, a duelist can have at most six cards in their hand at the end of their turn."

"So, that means the Sky Dragon's maximum attack and defense would be 7,000 points during your turn! Of course, you could add some spell and trap cards that increase your hand size, but that's hardly infinite power, is it?"

What Keiping noticed, Yugi and Kaiba had noticed as well. As Keiping said, under normal circumstances, the Sky Dragon's highest attack and defense would be 7,000 points, with spells and traps that add cards capable of increasing it further, but even then, it couldn't be called infinite power.

Malik was contradicting himself!

"Maximum 7,000 points?" Malik scoffed, as if he'd heard something amusing, and continued, "How naive! If I claim it has limitless power, naturally I have ways to solve this situation."

"What?"

"Open your eyes and take a good look at my back row cards!"

Prompted by Malik, the three immediately turned their attention to his spell and trap zone, and their pupils contracted in shock.

What did they see?

There was the continuous spell "Infinite Hand," which, as long as it remains face-up on the field, removes the hand size limit for both players;

There was the continuous spell "Survivor's Treasure," which, as long as it remains face-up, allows its controller to draw three cards from their deck every time a monster is special summoned from the graveyard;

And in the monster zone, there was the effect monster "Regenerating Slime," which, upon being destroyed by battle or effect and sent to the graveyard, immediately activates its effect and returns to the field!

"And that's not all! At this moment, I activate the set card 'Defensive Slime'!"

The card Malik had set from the very first turn was finally revealed.

"Defensive Slime, as its name suggests, as long as 'Regenerating Slime' is on my field, any attack from the opponent can be intercepted by Defensive Slime!"

The three: !!!

With the power of two continuous spells, the continuous trap and Regenerating Slime's defensive combo, the Sky Dragon's dominance soared as it let out a triumphant roar at Yugi, who seemed no more than an ant before it.

"It's not over yet!" Malik placed one of his two cards face-down, then raised his final card high and announced its name, stirring the crowd.

"I activate the ultimate hand replenishing spell, 'Heavenly Treasure'!"

Everyone: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ

Unbelievable! He had this in his hand all along!

The ultimate hand resource spell, which before the start of Duel City was classified by Yugi and Kaiba as a "limited card"—only one copy allowed per deck—had appeared so soon in the opponent's hand!

"'Heavenly Treasure' allows both players to draw cards from their deck until their hand reaches six cards. Since I have zero cards in hand, I can maximize its effect! But you, Yugi, have a full hand, so the effect won't apply to you!"

Yugi: "……"

"Damn! He used 'Heavenly Treasure' while Yugi's hand was full! Malik, you sly dog!"

As an observer, Yugi couldn't help but feel indignant for Yugi, and he silently cursed Malik's cunning.

"Six cards in hand means the Sky Dragon's attack will rise to 6,000 points! Then, I activate the normal spell I set earlier, 'Pot of Greed,' to draw two more cards from my deck! Now, the Sky Dragon's power reaches a terrifying 8,000 points!"

"Roar!!"

An 8,000 attack value—the highest ever since Duel Monsters was released! Even compared to the same race's "Obelisk the Tormentor," it was twice as powerful!

"By the way, since you didn't interfere with my gathering the tributes needed to summon the god, I'll kindly tell you all of Sky Dragon's effects!"

Though Malik spoke in a tone of benevolence, his true aim was to undermine Yugi and the unnamed Pharaoh's dueling resolve.

"Besides its unique attack and defense effects, Obelisk has other abilities!"

"The second special effect: as long as Obelisk is face-up on the field, it is unaffected by any trap card effects! The effects of magic cards, unless they remove it from the field, only last for one turn! The negative effects of monster cards below ten stars do not work on the gods!"

In the original anime, in the duel between Kaiba and Yugi, when both Obelisk and Sky Dragon were present, Kaiba applied his four-star monster "Soul Sword" (anime card) effect to Obelisk—when Soul Sword is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, a monster's attack on the field is increased by 1,000 points until the end of the turn.

From this, it can be seen that god cards accept positive buffs from low-level monsters, but negative effects from monsters below ten stars don't affect the gods.

"Moreover, Obelisk's control cannot be changed! Since I summoned it, as long as the duel doesn't end and it remains on my field, I am its absolute master!"

Kaiba activated "Obedience of the Divine Voice," allowing Yugi to search for Sky Dragon from his deck, thus proving that if the god is not on the field, its ownership can be transferred elsewhere.

"Lastly, Obelisk cannot be destroyed by monster, spell, or trap effects unless they are divine attribute or of a higher level!"

The only destructive spell effective against gods in the original work was "Twilight of the Gods," which required a tremendous cost to destroy even the highly resistant Winged Dragon of Ra.

[Twilight of the Gods, Quick-Play Spell. Effect: If at least two of the following monsters—Black-Robed Sage, Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, or Black Chaos Magician—are face-up on your field, you can activate this card. Banish all monsters in your hand, deck, and graveyard, then destroy all monsters on your opponent's field. Your opponent cannot respond to the activation of this card with the effects of spells, traps, or monsters.] (The last part wasn't in the original, but I added it myself, since the cost is so great.)

After explaining the second special effect, Malik immediately revealed the Sky Dragon's third special effect:

"The third special effect—whenever the opponent successfully summons, flip-summons, or special summons a monster, the Sky Dragon's second mouth opens! It fires a 'Summoning Lightning,' dealing 2,000 effect damage to that monster!"

"And there's more! If the monster is in attack position, the effect reduces its attack; if it's in defense position, it reduces its defense!"

"If that monster's attack or defense becomes zero from this effect, it is immediately destroyed and sent to the graveyard!"

In other words, any monster that appears face-up must have at least one stat greater than 2,000—or else, it will perish within seconds of entering the field!

"The final special effect! When Sky Dragon is in face-up defense mode, if the opponent activates a card effect targeting any of my monsters, all those effects can be transferred to Sky Dragon instead!"

This not only protects newly summoned or existing monsters from the opponent's card effects, but also neutralizes the opponent's strategies, since Obelisk is immune to traps, spell effects only last one turn, and monsters below ten stars cannot inflict debuffs.

"With such overwhelming power, how could there possibly be a way to counter it?!"

"Yugi, I advise you to surrender now! If you do, I'll pretend this duel never happened, you go your way, I go mine! We'll stay out of each other's business! Hahahahahaha!"

He revealed all the effects in one breath, hoping Yugi would surrender of his own accord!

The gods are invincible! They are the ultimate beings beyond strategy! The most perfect "monster card" in Duel Monsters!

...

...

PS: My personal summary of Sky Dragon's specific information. (Anyone care to add an illustration?)

[Anime version: Obelisk the Sky Dragon, effect monster, type: Divine Beast, attribute: Divine, level: 10, attack: ?, defense: ?, effect: To normal summon this card, you must tribute three monsters on your field.

①: This card's summon cannot be negated. When summoned successfully, no spell, trap, or monster effects can be activated.

②: This card is unaffected by trap card effects; spell card effects that do not remove it from the field only last one turn; unaffected by negative effects from monsters below level 10. Its control cannot be changed. Cannot be destroyed by effects of monsters, spells, or traps unless they are divine attribute. If this card is equipped, the equip card is destroyed. When special summoned from the graveyard, it is sent to the graveyard at the end of the turn.

③: This card's attack and defense are equal to the number of cards in your hand × 1,000.

④: When the opponent successfully normal, flip, or special summons a monster, activate this effect. Reduce that monster's attack or defense by 2,000 depending on its battle position. If this effect reduces a monster's attack or defense to zero, destroy it.

⑤: When this card is in defense position, if the opponent activates an effect targeting any of your monsters, you can transfer the effect to this card instead.

⑥: When this card is in the graveyard, if the opponent's monster activates an effect or declares an attack, send one "Monster Reborn" to the graveyard to special summon this card, and transfer the effect/attack target to this card. (Note 1)]

(Note 1: Effect ⑥ was specifically designed to match the original King's duel with Dark Malik, when "Monster Reborn" was activated during the opponent's turn, making Sky Dragon the shield for Obelisk! When "Monster Reborn" targets a god, it acts as a Quick-Play Spell, activating the set card on your field during the opponent's turn, discarding it during your own battle phase.)