A few months ago, Egypt.
Beneath the wilderness forgotten by time, a history seemingly sealed for millennia was hidden.
Then amidst that eternal darkness, a crack suddenly appeared.
"Wait, I think I found something..."
Voices could be heard outside the crack.
"Here! Over here! Just beneath this!"
The sound of tools chiseling, the crack quickly being widened. A beam of modern technological light pierced the silence of millennia, unveiling the dark veil. In this depth untouched by sunlight, the air was filled with a damp and ancient aura.
A team of archeological excavation members poked their heads inside, their headlamps slicing through the darkness like golden swords.
Everyone had a look of excitement as if they were making history.
"The local village legend is true, there's really something here..."
"Be careful, we've heard what's inside might be dangerous."
"Don't be nervous, no matter how dangerous, it's already been thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of years," someone joked, "Time will sort everything out for us."
The team members cautiously navigated through the intricate tunnels and stone chambers, feeling as if everyone's breathing and heartbeat echoed in the confined space, sounding remarkably clear.
And when they reached the deepest part underground, what awaited them was... a stone slab.
The stone slab, full of the scars of time, intertwined with mottled moss and earth, ancient and terrifying. The carvings on it resembled some kind of demon shape, decidedly minimalistic like a stick figure drawing, yet somehow, those rudimentary lines conveyed a chilling realism.
Every team member took one look at the carvings on the slab and then turned away in unison, not daring to look again.
"Hey, look over here."
Someone pointed to the stone wall beside them, and everyone gathered around. They saw ancient text carved into the stone wall on that side.
"Eddie, you're the expert." Someone looked at their accompanying team member, "Can you decipher what it means?"
"I'm not sure, but I can try."
The man named Eddie stepped forward, shining a light on the text on the wall, squinting for a closer look.
"I think it says... the name of the slab? It seems to be called..."
Eddie pushed up his glasses.
"...Zok."
The moment the name fell, all the lights in the darkness suddenly went out.
It was as if the name had broken a taboo, awakening a being that had slumbered for thousands of years.
And in the last moments before the light extinguished, the simplistic demonic figure on the stone slab seemed to... open its eyes.
...
...
A few months later, now.
Yugen must admit, there are still areas he overlooked.
Duel Academy felt like his backyard; most of the time he knew everything happening in every corner of the island. But Yubel helped him realize there were blind spots in his control.
On this Academy Island, in his backyard, a makeshift outpost lay hidden at the foot of a volcano, like a hunter's observation post.
Boom!
With a burst of Magic Burst, the door was blasted open. Yugen walked through the swirling dust and smoke, looking around.
An ominous outpost.
That's his first impression.
The room's four walls were filled with meaningless symbols, like hieroglyphs from an ancient civilization. Inserted among them were some rudimentary murals with abstract depictions. It looked vaguely like a scene of people performing a ritual, with storm clouds gathering over an altar and a massive demon appearing in the sky.
"I recognize that name."
The eyes suddenly fixated on the hieroglyphs on the wall.
Yugen glanced at him, "I didn't know you were so cultured. What's written here?"
"The master of darkness, the end of all things," Eyes said, "Zok."
Even Yugen couldn't help but frown.
Zok, that Great Evil God? The one who has been in a love-hate relationship with Atom for three thousand years?
If it's that guy, then indeed he should be a top-tier opponent. But as far as he knew, Zok was personally defeated by the Light Creation God, and should have been reduced to ashes.
Even blown to smithereens, could he still make a comeback?
So is this Descent Sect's so-called Evil God Zok?
Then a voice came from the shadows of the room.
"It's just an empty shell."
Yugen turned, seeing a man who had somehow appeared at the entrance, with a gloomy expression.
Without a care for anyone else, he walked in the room, stood beside Yugen, and looked up at the mural on the wall.
"The ultimate demon, who even once stepped on the gods, possessing unmatched power to drag the entire world into eternal darkness... Yet even so, what of it?
It lost, utterly ceased to exist. What remains is only a sorrowful shell, the great body that once housed the Great Evil God, and is now merely an empty shell."
Yugen studied him for a moment. This appeared to be an ordinary man, wearing casual clothing with no distinguishing features, sunglasses, and tousled blonde hair. He stared at the text and murals, seemingly in a trance.
"So, who might you be?" Yugen asked.
"Me? You can call me Eddie."
Eddie didn't even turn to look at him, just walked past him. He picked up the Duel Disc from the table and placed it on his hand.
"But who I am isn't important, what's important is I need the Elf in your hand."
Yugen: "So, you are with the Descent Sect?"
"I suppose so," Eddie said.
Eyes: "Be careful, I think this guy is peculiar."
"I know."
But since the opponent initiated a duel, the only thing to do is to fight first.
"Duel!" x2
[Yugen, LP4000]
[Eddie, LP4000]
"I'll go first, draw."
This time, by chance, Yugen got to start, so he dove right in, no hesitation.
"Activate the magic card 'Angel's Charity,'" Yugen said, "Draw three cards from your card deck, then discard two cards from your hand."
Yugen drew and then discarded cards from his hand.
"Set a monster face-down in Defense Position on the field," Yugen said, "Then set another card in the backfield face-down, end turn."
"My turn, draw."
Eddie, with a blank face, glimpsed the monster he had drawn before playing it.
"Normal Summon 'Ten Thousand Hands God.'"
Although its race is Angel, the appearance of Ten Thousand Hands God is far from angelic. It has a horrifying face, a pair of glaring eyes, and even though not exactly ten thousand, it is covered with arms, and the 3D projection of it would fit right in with children's nighttime scares.
[Ten Thousand Hands God, Attack Power 1400]
"Ten Thousand Hands God's effect," Eddie said, "When this card is successfully summoned, from the card deck add one Ritual Monster or Ritual Magic Card to your hand.
I add this Ritual Magic from the card deck..."
He searched a magic card from his deck, showed it and added it to his hand.
"Add the Ritual Magic 'High Ritual Technique' to my hand."