The pillars of lava resembled spewing volcanoes, and thunder from beyond the heavens crashed to the earth. Red dragons descended, and demons wrapped in golden skeletons rode lightning to reappear.
Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder, the two Phantasms that had just left the stage, returned immediately.
Additionally, for the very first time, claims to be the mightiest among the Three Phantasm (so they say), matching the destructive Obelisk the Tormentor from the Three Egyptian God, and originally inspired by Raphael, one of the four angels mentioned in the Bible—
——Raviel, Lord of Phantasms, Summon!!!
[Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder, Attack Power 4000]
[Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, Attack Power 9000]
[Raviel, Lord of Phantasms, Attack Power 4000]
The Three Phantasm, descend!
It jumped out so easily and abruptly that it could be said, "The Three Egyptian God stay silent when they see this," and "The Three Evil Gods will shed tears."
If one were to comprehensively rank the abilities and disadvantages of the Egyptian God, Evil God, and Phantasm, in terms of the difficulty of appearance, the Phantasm would undoubtedly leave the other two trios of brothers several streets behind.
Compared to those that can't be searched, require spots for normal summon, and need three offerings, the Phantasm is practically the model employee ready to be summoned at any time...
More than once, Youyu thought about if he could mimic the Three Phantasm and create an Egyptian God card named "The Creator of Light," with the effect of "use yourself as an offering to directly special summon" the Three Egyptian God, wouldn't that be wonderful?
Of course, as long as the Light Creator remains active, such a card would likely never appear in this lifetime...
"Because I now have the Three Phantasm present on the field, the effect of the Field Magic 'Fallen Paradise' can be activated." Kagemaru said, "Once per turn, when Phantasm is present on the field, I draw two cards."
The effect of Fallen Paradise activates, and Kagemaru's Duel Disc display screen switches to show the words "Draw Card" permission. He draws two cards, while the three Phantasm stand opposite the Egyptian God on Youyu's side.
Obelisk naturally refuses to show weakness when facing the trio, crossing its arms and glaring back with small angry eyes. However, with the three on the opposite side and him being alone, he is invisibly overshadowed...
"Though the 'Dark Summoning Beast' has the power to summon the Phantasm in one go, it's a pity that during the turn this effect is activated, I cannot enter the Battle Phase."
Kagemaru glanced at the two Set Cards in Youyu's backfield.
"While traps are useless against Phantasm, it can't be ruled out if they hold the potential to help you survive... Then Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, effect activate!
Trap Destruction!"
Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, destroys all Trap Cards on the opponent's field once per turn. (Anime effect)
Traps are precisely the specialty of the Lord of Searing Flames, as the mouth of the crimson dragon opens wide, and transparent sound waves sweep across Youyu's field.
One of the two Set Cards was revealed, shattered into pieces beneath the sound waves of the Lord of Searing Flames—that was the Trap Card "Security Orb," which could destroy a Monster on the field when destroyed.
Only, with the existence of three Phantasm and one Egyptian God on the field, all resistant to Trap Effect, this effect could be ignored.
The other Set Card did not react.
"Not a trap, huh..."
Kagemaru glanced at Youyu and let out a couple of eerie chuckles, then suddenly raised his tone.
"This turn can't enter the Battle Phase…but I have this card—Magic Card 'Turn Leap'! Using the activation point of this card as the starting point, leap forward three turns!" (Anime card)
A large transparent clock dial emerged, and its hands flew in circles as if out of control. Time within the limited space raced forward, and the fast-forward of three turns meant that battle restriction on the Phantasm was lifted.
"Because a new turn is reached, the effect of 'Fallen Paradise' can be activated again." Kagemaru said, "Once per turn, when the Three Phantasm are on your field, draw two cards from your deck!"
He paused, chuckled sinisterly: "And so, the battle restriction on the Phantasm has been lifted. Since it's a future three turns ahead, naturally it can enter the Battle Phase."
"It's a truly convenient effect, isn't it?" Youyu muttered to himself.
Indeed, except for the lack of Monster Effect resistance, the other universal resistances of the anime Three Phantasm are similar to the Egyptian God. When three such level Monsters appear at once, an ordinary person facing this situation would be finished...
...No, one should say an ordinary person would likely be finished before seeing even the second Phantasm.
"Battle." Kagemaru waved his hand grandly, "Attack! First, Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, attack Obelisk the Tormentor!"
Since the other two Phantasms currently have an Attack Power of 4000, they can't break through Obelisk's Defense Power of 4000. Only Uria possesses the ability to penetrate this layer of defense.
"The effect of the Continuous Trap 'Hyper Blaze' activates once again," Kagemaru said. "At the moment Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, battles, discard a Trap Card from the deck to the graveyard, and until the end of the turn, Uria's attack power becomes the total number of Trap Cards on both fields and in both graveyards multiplied by 1000 points!"
Right now, Kagemaru has nine Trap Cards in his graveyard, and Youyu's graveyard just received one. Discarding one more makes eleven, plus the Continuous Trap 'Hyper Blaze' itself on the field...
[Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, ATK 9000 → ATK 12000]
A twelve-thousand attack power!
But Youyu waved his hand: "Activate Set Card! Quick-play Magic 'Command Silencer'!"
Kagemaru raised an eyebrow.
Quick-play Magic?
"Command Silencer makes an attack declaration invalid, and then you draw one card!" (Anime Card)
Ninety percent of counter-attack type cards are traps, but Quick-play Magic that can defend against attacks is exceedingly rare. The card Youyu has is from the early Duel City days of President Haima.
Back in the Duel City days, President Haima was looking for strategies to counter the Egyptian Gods. Since the Three Egyptian Gods are immune to traps, almost all defensive trap cards are ineffective.
So President Haima specially printed this card specifically to defend against the Egyptian Gods.
Not only is it a Quick-play Magic, but its target isn't the monsters, it's the player—because it doesn't directly negate a monster's attack, but cancels the player's "attack declaration." Even for monsters like Silent Magician LV8 that "aren't affected by Magic effects" at all, this card can defend against them.
Uria's attack was canceled, and the remaining two Phantasms have an attack power only of four thousand each, undoubtedly not enough to break through Obelisk the Tormentor's defenses. So even though Kagemaru holds the mighty Three Phantasms on the field, his attack this turn is halted...
...But not quite!
"Tch, I was planning to save this card for later..."
Although he feels it's a bit wasteful, Kagemaru certainly won't let such a perfect opportunity slip by.
"Raviel, Lord of Phantasms, attack 'Obelisk the Tormentor'!"
Raviel roared, his whole body seemingly engulfed in blue flames. Obelisk responded defiantly with a thunderous bellow.
The duel between the corresponding counterparts—Phantasm and Egyptian God—unleashed their full power in a massive punch! The demon's entire arm seemed ablaze, while Obelisk in defense mode retaliated with an overwhelming palm strike.
With equal attack and defense power, it seemed like an evenly matched clash.
But at that moment, Kagemaru swiftly revealed a card.
"Discard 'Raviel, Lord of Phantasms - Shimmering Scraper' from the hand, activate effect!" Kagemaru cried. "During this turn only, Raviel's attack power doubles, and he can attack all monsters on the field once!"
Celestial Tyrant Fist—the name of the technique used by Raviel during attacks. Clearly, the card Kagemaru revealed represents another form of Raviel, embodying a powerful effect to support its original form.
This is a particularly powerful hand pit. Up to this point, Youyu's hand pits have mainly been defense type effects, represented by Kuriboh—either invalidating attacks or turning battle damage to zero.
Yet this 'Shimmering Scraper' can double Raviel's attack power in the split second before a battle commences!
A slight misstep in the duel, and falling into this hand pit might result in instant defeat by Raviel's punch.
Moreover, besides doubling attack power, this hand pit also allows "attacking all monsters on the field," combining extremely high burst, instant field-clearing, and extreme counterattack capabilities. It's a hand pit capable of completely altering the duel based on a single card, far superior to Raviel's own restrained effect.
And with 'Raviel, Lord of Phantasms - Shimmering Scraper' residing in the graveyard, it can be retrieved to the hand infinitely by sacrificing monsters on the field for repeated use.
Precisely because of this, even if using 'Shimmering Scraper' here, Kagemaru feels assured that he can easily retrieve and activate it again in the next turn, without loss.
[Raviel, Lord of Phantasms, ATK 4000 → ATK 8000]
Power contrast instantly becomes overwhelming, with Obelisk fully suppressed. "Divine Fist Smash's" blue glow is shattered, and "Shimmering Scraper" retaliates against destroyer divine power, splitting the blue giant's figure from the middle, reducing it to fragments instantly.
Obelisk the Tormentor, exits the field.
"With this, it's over." Kagemaru sneered.
[Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder, ATK 4000]
[Youyu, LP 400]
"Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder, direct attack!!!"