Using the ID card provided by staff, Youmi opened her assigned room and set down her bag, pulling out her Deck case.
There was still time before match pairings would be announced, so she could calmly study her next Deck build.
Unlike tournaments in her own world, Duel City's quarterfinals—likely to accommodate Kaiba's goal of collecting the God Cards—allowed duelists to modify their Decks between matches. So technically, if she suddenly wanted to tech in some [Dinowrestler], she could... kidding, of course. This was a Bo1 format—no Side Decks.
"Now then, what should I do?" Youmi spread her Deck across her left hand, pulling several red-bordered cards from her spare case with her right and weighing her options.
[Dimension Wall]—a card that lets your opponent take the battle damage. She considered adding it since the Egyptian God Cards had particularly troublesome resistances. From studying [The Winged Dragon of Ra], Youmi had deduced the shared immunities and restrictions of the God Cards in this timeline:
Resistances:
While on the field, this card is unaffected by Normal Spells and Traps. However, it can be affected by non-destruction effects of other Spell/Trap types—what Marik called "High-Level Magic."
It's unaffected by the effects of monsters with a lower Level. Meaning, if you could somehow make a monster Level 10, its effects would work on the Gods. (Xyz and Link Monsters would count too, but in this era, the Extra Deck only had Fusion Monsters, so that was impossible.)
Restrictions:
To Normal Summon this card, three Tributes are required.
If Special Summoned, it's sent to the Graveyard during the End Phase of that turn.
Looking at [Dimension Wall], Youmi thought for a moment, then slotted three copies into the Deck.
They could bypass the Gods' resistances during direct attacks—far more useful than [Magic Cylinder]. If her opponent ended up being Kaiba's [Obelisk the Tormentor], it could even OTK him during a direct strike.
"As for you..." She looked at [Sphere Kuriboh], which floated out of the case, and apologized softly. "Sorry. You've always been with me, but I've never actually put you in the Deck."
After all, her Deck already had plenty of attack-response Traps—there wasn't much room for it.
"Kuri-kuri~"
[Sphere Kuriboh] didn't complain; it just nuzzled against her shoulder affectionately.
When she tried to pat it, though, her left hand flickered oddly—like a glitch in a texture map. The distortion vanished as fast as it came, but it left her uneasy. She lowered her hand and returned to her Deck adjustments.
"This is unexpected," came the deep voice of [Ten Thousand Dragon] from within [Sphere Kuriboh]. It sounded concerned. "I thought bringing you here wouldn't cause any serious interference. What did you do? You must've used your Spirit power for something reckless. The world is starting to reject you."
[Sphere Kuriboh] placed its small hands on her left hand, which shimmered again before glowing softly, stabilizing the disturbance.
"Maybe... chased the 'Great Evil God' using my true form," Youmi admitted. "I got hot-headed and tried to force that thing out of Bakura's body by sheer power. Shadi stopped me." She drew three [Torrential Tribute] from her case, placing them into her Deck and removing her old bait card, [Sakuretsu Armor].
"I see. The battle between the 'Evil God' and the Pharaoh is a fixed event in this world… you nearly erased it. Naturally, the world responded to suppress you." [Sphere Kuriboh] nodded sagely. "I can calm your instability for now, but don't use your Spirit power outside Shadow Games again. If you push your luck once or twice more, the world will forcibly eject you."
"And if I get ejected? What happens?" Youmi asked. Returning to her world was her main goal. If there was a way back without becoming Duel King, she wanted to know.
[Sphere Kuriboh] froze for a moment. Then, Youmi's vision stretched, and she was pulled once more into the vast void where she had once dueled [Ten Thousand Dragon].
"You won't return to your original world," said the dragon's massive head as it lowered before her.
Facing the restored male form of her true self, it continued, "Even if the world rejects you, you'll only be sent back here. And worse… you won't be able to return through the same card vessel. You'd have to bond with a new one, and I can't guarantee the timeline would align with where you left off. So if you still want to become Duel King, avoid crossing the world's correction threshold."
Looking down at her male body, Youmi sighed. "This form really is more comfortable. No—that's not right, it's just a mental construct. I'm still a wandering soul. The Labrynth body's such a pain… breaking beds, sore shoulders, maintaining appearances every day. Since you brought me here, can't you at least let me change vessels?"
[Ten Thousand Dragon] replied with a thunderous roar that blasted her consciousness back into [Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle].
Crashing out of her chair, Youmi tried to pull her horns out of the floor but couldn't. Just as she was about to call for help, Marik and Ishizu entered the room.
"Youmi-onee-san, are you okay?" Marik's eyes widened at the sight of her horns stuck in the ground—and at something else he probably shouldn't have seen. His gaze darted instinctively downward, but a warm hand quickly covered his eyes.
Ishizu, her [Millennium Necklace] glinting, said calmly, "Miss Youmi, I believe you could use my assistance."
"Please, help me up—and Marik, if you saw anything, I'll let you experience free-fall bungee jumping off the Duel Airship without a harness!" Youmi, cheeks flushed, kept one hand braced on the floor and the other on her lifted skirt, mortified but commanding.
"N-n-no! I didn't see anything! I swear!" Marik stammered, internally regretting that fleeting glimpse he couldn't unsee, quickly turning around and bolting for the door. "I'll, uh, come back later!"
...
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