Left Arm of the Forbidden One.
For anyone familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh!, or even those who had only a passing interest in the game, this card immediately brought another to mind.
[Exodia the Forbidden One], otherwise known as Exodia!
The gathered spirits stared in stunned silence at the legendary card. Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and the other future spirits couldn't even keep their mouths closed.
"H-how did a set like this end up in Yubel's hands?"
"A card this rare... completely out of print in the future, something that only exists in myths... how can it be appearing here?"
"Hey, wait, is that a fake? A card like Exodia shouldn't even exist in the real world!"
"Ash Blossom, is... is that a real card?"
"If it were a fake, the Duel Disk would have flagged it long ago," Ash Blossom said, wiping cold sweat from her brow as her eyes twitched.
Heavens. To think she would see a card in this world that was nothing more than a legend in the future. This was just too much.
[Exodia the Forbidden One] was the very first 'Special Victory' card in the long history of Yu-Gi-Oh!. As long as you gathered [Exodia the Forbidden One], [Left Arm of the Forbidden One], [Right Arm of the Forbidden One], [Left Leg of the Forbidden One], and [Right Leg of the Forbidden One] from your deck into your hand, you achieved an unconditional victory!
"But gathering all five components at once is no easy feat." Ash Blossom swallowed hard, her heart pounding.
In most Yu-Gi-Oh! duel formats, the minimum deck size was forty cards. In other words, one had to find a way to pluck five specific cards out of forty to meet the victory condition. The difficulty was no less than building a perfect field to suppress an opponent. In fact, it was likely even harder.
Even so, throughout the game's long evolution, many methods had been developed to gather Exodia quickly. However, the success rate for completing it in a single turn remained miserably low. Especially in a team duel like this.
"For Yubel to dare use such a deck in this duel... she must completely trust Jaden to hold off the assault from the two Kaibaman."
Still, no matter how much she trusted him, this was a bit much.
Looking at the four giant dragons on Kaibaman's field, along with a [Lord of D.], Ash Blossom couldn't help but break into a cold sweat for Jaden Yuki.
Could he succeed? Jaden...
"Exodia... really?" Kaibaman slowly recovered from his shock.
He had to admit it. The moment [Left Arm of the Forbidden One] appeared before his eyes, he was genuinely startled. Seeing a legendary card like that in person was enough to make anyone's heart skip a beat.
But... looking at her, she clearly hadn't gathered all five pieces yet. Otherwise, the moment she drew the Left Arm, he would have already lost.
"Anyway, now that I know those cards are in her hand, I have to finish this duel as quickly as possible." Kaibaman drew a card from his deck. "My turn!"
His eyes scanned the field. Elemental HERO Sunrise, Masked HERO Dark Law, and Yubel.
Although Yubel, with her 0 ATK, seemed like the easiest target to crush, Kaibaman knew better. High-level monsters with 0 ATK couldn't be judged by common logic.
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack [Sunrise]!" Suddenly, Kaibaman turned his gaze toward Sunrise.
"What?" Ash Blossom's expression shifted. "He's choosing to attack Sunrise?"
"Eh? Could he actually know Sunrise's effect?!" Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit cried out.
Sunrise's effect allowed it to destroy one card on the field once per turn, provided that a HERO other than itself was involved in battle. This effect was incredibly useful for both offense and defense. But the prerequisite was that a HERO other than Sunrise had to be the one battling.
Kaibaman seemed to have seen through this. He avoided the lower ATK of Dark Law and instead launched an attack against Sunrise, who had higher ATK. Was this a duelist's intuition?
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon! Burst Stream of Destruction!" Kaibaman roared with passion.
Intense light gathered in the dragon's maw before erupting toward Sunrise.
"Sunrise allows all monsters on my field to gain 200 ATK for every different attribute among monsters I control." Jaden Yuki glanced at the monsters on his field. "I have two attributes on my field right now."
[Elemental HERO Sunrise] (Light)
[Masked HERO Dark Law] (Dark)
[Yubel] (Dark)
"Therefore, the ATK of all monsters on the field rises by 400!"
[Elemental HERO Sunrise]: 2500 -> 2900 ATK
[Masked HERO Dark Law]: 2400 -> 2800 ATK
[Yubel]: 0 -> 400 ATK
"Even so, my Blue-Eyes White Dragon still has the higher attack!" Kaibaman clenched his fist.
"No, a HERO isn't so easily defeated." A smirk played on Jaden Yuki's lips as he immediately waved his hand to flip his face-down card. "Activate Trap! [Negate Attack]!"
"When an opponent declares an attack, it negates the attack of one monster and ends the Battle Phase!"
A massive vortex manifested before Blue-Eyes White Dragon. A powerful repulsive force pushed the dragon back, causing its massive body to stall right in front of Kaibaman.
"Hmph, just some petty tricks." Kaibaman gnashed his teeth.
"And it's not over yet," Yubel added with a cold sneer. "In this instant, I activate my trap card!"
"Continuous Trap, [Obliterate!!!]!" With a wave of Yubel's hand, the face-down card on the field slowly flipped open.
"By sending one [Forbidden One] monster or one [Exodia] card from my hand or deck to the Graveyard, I can return one monster on the field to its owner's hand."
"I choose to send [Right Arm of the Forbidden One] from my deck to the Graveyard." Yubel pulled a card from her deck and discarded it. "And now, I return one Blue-Eyes White Dragon on your field to your hand."
Vrrr~
One of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons on Kaibaman's field immediately dissolved into a beam of light and returned to his hand.
"Dammit, stalled again?" Kaibaman gritted his teeth, his earlier arrogance completely vanished.
He understood the situation perfectly. Even though the Exodia components were being sent to the Graveyard, there were far too many ways to retrieve cards from there. If this continued, his defeat was only a matter of time.
Kaibaman and the other Kaibaman looked at each other, giving a subtle nod as their gazes met.
"We must secure victory before the end of the next turn."
"Otherwise..."
"My turn ends!" Kaibaman declared, tightening his grip on his hand in frustration.
It seemed he finally realized that something was very wrong. Seeing Kaibaman's initial smugness replaced by growing agitation, Jaden Yuki's smirk widened.
It seemed that to get someone with the President's personality to quiet down, you had to make them fully aware of their current predicament.
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