The three Monsters used as Tribute vanished, and a pillar of light shot straight into the sky.
A pair of fiery red wings slowly spread across the horizon, as if wrapped in blazing flames. In between those wings appeared the silhouette of a dragon, sacred and noble, its winding body flickering in and out among the dark clouds.
A gigantic dragon head poked out from behind the clouds, opening both its upper and lower mouths at the same time. The instant it roared, it was as if an invisible shockwave of sound exploded, almost scattering all the gloom in the heavens!
Slifer the Sky Dragon, Summon!
"I-it appeared… Teacher Youyu's Egyptian God!"
Even though it wasn't his first time watching up close, seeing the Egyptian God descend from such a short distance still left Judai somewhat dazed.
No matter how many times he saw it, it always felt that overwhelmingly strong!
Audiences all over the world were boiling over.
The Egyptian God!
The existence that had been worshiped by countless Duelists for so many years, a symbol of the supreme power of this world, the Guardian of this planet!
With Duel King Youyu personally commanding an Egyptian God here, invaders are basically not worth a damn!
"Slifer's ATK is determined by the number of cards in the player's hand," Youyu said. "I have four cards in my hand right now, so Slifer's ATK is four thousand!"
[Slifer the Sky Dragon, ATK ? → ATK 4000]
"And since it descended by the effect of 'Thunderspeed Summon', we're still in the Battle Phase, so Slifer can attack!" Youyu shouted. "Slifer the Sky Dragon, attack 'Kozmoll Dark Lady'!
Superconductive Wave–Thunder Cannon!!!"
Although that warship called "Kozmo Dark Destroyer" looked like the bigger boss that ought to be shot down, Youyu knew that the "Kozmo" series of ships all have parting words when they're destroyed; they'll call out other, possibly even more troublesome guys from the Card Deck.
By comparison, "Dark Lady," with her once-per-turn ability to negate Monster Effects, was the bigger threat.
So of course this pain had to be cleared out first.
Slifer was also more than happy to come out for this temp job. Honestly, the three Guardian Gods were sometimes not very diligent, just hanging onto their titles and barely doing any actual work—but no matter what, Earth was still their turf, not some playground for random strays from the Cosmic void.
These outsiders had to be taught that Earth is under protection by someone… no, by some God!
Slifer opened its mouths, rolling thunder condensing into a sphere of lightning, the golden blast surging forth like a roaring river!
Dark Lady still seemed to be trying to block with that tiny Light Saber in her hand, but that little thing was far too puny before the torrent of destruction, not even worth mentioning. In the very next instant she was blown to bits by the roar of the Superconductive Wave.
[Light of Destruction, LP 4300 → LP 2500]
"Nice! Massive damage!" Judai yelled, excited. "This means our Life Points just pulled ahead!"
His gaze toward his teacher grew even more worshipful.
As expected of Sensei! He casually pulled off what I couldn't do even if I went all out!
Countless spectators, both on-site and online, erupted into frenzied cheers.
In a single turn he'd Summoned a Phantasm, a top-tier Elemental Hero, and even an Egyptian God!
As expected of the Duel King, the most reliable Guardian of this planet!
Even Kaiba Seto in a certain cockpit couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth. "Hmph, passable at best."
Mokuba: "Um, I know Youyu-niisan's Duel is really important and all, but big bro, maybe you should focus a bit more when you're piloting the plane…"
The Divine Strike of the Egyptian God had indeed worked. Light of Destruction's entire body flickered violently in the roar of the Superconductive Wave, that form made purely of light looking as though it was on the verge of being blown apart and dissolved.
He took quite a while to steady himself again.
"…You truly are different from many enemies I've encountered," Light of Destruction said flatly. "Even across the stars, few are as strong as you."
He paused, then lowered his voice. "But that changes nothing. Phantasms, Egyptian Gods—whether God or Demon, they are all but insignificant fragments in this Cosmic expanse, unable to stand against the torrent of fate.
My turn!"
After drawing, he glanced at the card and quickly revealed it.
"Magic Card 'Monster Reincarnation,'" he said. "Return all cards in my hand and on my field to the Card Deck and shuffle, then draw five new cards."
After reshuffling, everything Light of Destruction had left on the field vanished. The massive "Kozmo Dark Destroyer" likewise faded away and returned to the Deck—it was obvious that even that ship's firepower couldn't match the might of Slifer.
Youyu narrowed his eyes.
Even against a post-era Card Deck like "Kozmo," Slifer shouldn't be that easy to answer.
Right now Slifer on Youyu's side had an ATK as high as five thousand, and with a busted interference effect like "Thunder Ball," it was extremely oppressive against the Kozmo series. Light of Destruction couldn't just remove it on a whim…
"Magic Card 'Pot of Greed', draw two more cards," Light of Destruction said. "Then I activate the Field Magic 'Kyoutou Waterfront' from my hand."
Youyu: "…"
As seawater swept across the entire field, the Dueling Arena around everyone rapidly transformed into a coastal metropolis, countless towers rising up from the ground, and Youyu immediately had a bad feeling.
Damn!
He'd actually forgotten—even though the opponent had only been using "Kozmo" so far, the invincible "Kaiju" series had been part of Light of Destruction's Card Deck from the very beginning…
And Kaiju is itself an incredibly compatible Deck attachment. Because the performance of the individual cards is just that insane, it's not strange at all to see them grafted onto virtually any Deck system.
Come to think of it, the "Kaiju" series and the "Kozmo" series were originally cards from the same era in the Physical Card environment.
"I activate Quick-Play Magic 'Twin Twisters' from my hand, discard one card, and destroy up to two Magic or Trap Cards on the field."
Youyu did have "Thunder of Fallen" on his field, but Thunder of Fallen's ability to negate card effects could only be used when Uria was in Attack Position.
Since Uria had already used that effect the turn it was Summoned, it was now in Defense Position, so that ability couldn't be triggered.
"I discard one card, and destroy your Continuous Magic 'Jar of Avarice' and Continuous Trap 'Hyper Blaze'!"
The two cards were caught in the twin whirlwinds, thrown into the air and shredded into pieces.
"Next, the card I discarded from my hand is the Magic Card 'Card of Compensation'. When this card is discarded from the hand to the Graveyard, I can draw two cards!"
"With that, we now have 'Twin Twisters,' 'Jar of Avarice,' and 'Hyper Blaze'—three cards—sent to the Graveyard from our field, so 'Kyoutou Waterfront' gets three Kaiju Counters."
Light of Destruction raised his right hand high.
"Activate the effect of 'Kyoutou Waterfront'! Once per turn, if there are three or more Kaiju Counters on this card, I can add one 'Kaiju' Monster Card from my Deck to my hand.
I add 'Thunder King, the Lightningstrike Kaiju' from my Deck to my hand!"
Youyu let out a quiet sigh.
Well then, you play dirty, you pay the price sooner or later.
"Using 'Slifer the Sky Dragon' as Tribute," Light of Destruction revealed the card that Kyoutou had searched up for him, "I Special Summon 'Thunder King, the Lightningstrike Kaiju' in Attack Position on your field!!!"