"What a troublesome man you are."
After his surprise, the Pope's eyes beneath his shattered mask burned with anger, before twisting into a mad grin.
"I know, heheh, I know! Against someone like you, unless I utterly crush everything, you'll never give up!"
"It's your soul that will be completely incinerated!"
So long as [The Wicked Avatar] stood on the field, the Pope could not take battle damage. Beneath the hexagram's light, even if Miles ordered his last Mokey Mokey to attack, it was meaningless.
"I end my Battle Phase!"
Because [Triangle Power] had boosted his Mokey Mokeys' ATK, at the End Phase, all his Level 1 Normal Monsters would be destroyed.
"Then help me one more time, Mokey Mokey! I activate Spell Card [White Elephant's Gift]!"
[Send 1 face-up Normal Monster you control to the Graveyard; draw 2 cards.]
"I send my [Mokey Mokey] to the Graveyard and draw two cards!"
The Mokey-Mokey version of Pot of Greed. Using a Mokey Mokey as the cost, Miles had to create possibility from despair.
"Draw! Drawwwwwww!"
Two new cards entered his hand. Miles scanned their faces.
"Use everything possible to create possibility. Let's see this one—Normal Summon in Attack Position, [Kuribandit]!"
He hadn't used his Normal Summon yet. He slapped down the round-bodied Kuriboh variant.
[Kuribandit] Level 3│DARK│Fiend/Effect│1000 ATK/700 DEF
Bigger than the usual Kuriboh in size, stats, and Level, Kuribandit materialized, floating before him.
"I Set five cards and end my turn!"
"Five?!" Not only the Pope, but the townsfolk gasped.
Miles emptied his hand, every card set to his backrow. Even knowing Spells and Traps couldn't touch the Wicked God, he still resisted with a field of five Sets.
Even a god—dare you defy me when I hold five backrow?
"The bonds between cards hide the path to victory!"
As his turn ended, the effect of Triangle Power destroyed his two remaining Mokey Mokeys. At the same time, Miles raised his arm.
"At the End Phase, [Kuribandit]'s effect activates!"
[During the End Phase of the turn this card was Normal Summoned: Tribute this card; excavate the top 5 cards of your Deck, add 1 Spell/Trap among them to your hand, send the rest to the Graveyard.]
Kuribandit vanished, its thieving hand flipping through the Deck, turning over five cards. Four went to the Graveyard, one came to his hand.
"And this is my all-in bet on my Deck's possibilities!"
He chose the lone Spell/Trap among them and sent the rest away.
With Kuribandit gone and no Mokey Mokey left, Miles had no monsters. And so the Avatar reverted to a powerless black sphere hanging in the sky.
Given its nature, with Miles fielding no monsters, if the Pope failed to draw another, the situation was actually safest.
"Hoping for luck? Then I'll shatter your last hopes!"
With Miles's turn finished, the Pope flipped his final Set.
"—Trap Card activate: [Monster Rebirth]!"
[During the turn a monster was destroyed by battle: Target 1 monster in the GY; Special Summon it as if by Monster Reborn.]
"Since [Dogmatika Ashiyan] was destroyed this turn, I send [Monster Reborn] from my Deck to the Graveyard to activate it!"
Surging waves, the Old God's tide once again flooded the night sky duel.
"I Special Summon [Elder Entity Norden] from the Graveyard! Then Norden's effect revives the Level 4 or lower [Cyber Jar]!"
[Elder Entity Norden, ATK: 2000]
[Cyber Jar, ATK: 900]
It was the highest-power field [Monster Rebirth] could revive.
"My turn, draw! I Tribute [Cyber Jar] to Tribute Summon—[Divine Knight Ishzark]!"
[Divine Knight Ishzark] Level 6│LIGHT│Warrior/Effect│2300 ATK/1800 DEF
[When this card destroys a monster by battle, banish that monster.]
The holy knight in white armor raised his blade. With its 2300 ATK, it became the strongest on the field, forcing the Avatar to shift into its black form.
[The Wicked Avatar, ATK: 2301]
It reflected the darkness in even the most sacred of monsters, corrupting the knight into a fallen shadow.
"Using an empty field to weaken the Avatar—what a foolish ploy. Now it's over!"
The Pope commanded his monsters forward: the trident of the sea god lifted a tidal wave as Norden launched a direct attack.
Facing the flood, light rose from Miles's Graveyard.
"—Effect of [Kuribohrn], activate!"
[When an opponent's monster declares an attack: You can banish this card from your GY, then target any number of Kuriboh monsters in your GY; Special Summon them.]
"I banish [Kuribohrn] to Special Summon [Kuriboh] in Defense Position from my Graveyard!"
[Kuriboh, DEF: 200]
One Kuriboh had been sent to the Graveyard by Kuribandit's effect. Now, one banished, one revived—becoming a tiny shield against Norden's flood.
[Kuriboh destroyed]
The small, round creature was instantly swept away, lasting only a second on the field.
"Just a Kuriboh…?"
So tiny, so fragile. Its resistance seemed useless against the abyss consuming the town.
"Such a weakling dares stir the waves? Useless! Futile!"
The Pope mocked, his half-mask echoing madness, accelerating despair.
"But it did stir them," Miles whispered.
"What?"
"Just a little Kuriboh, just a weakling—yet, it still managed to stir them. A tidal wave to overturn this duel!"
As Kuriboh was destroyed, Miles flipped one of his Set cards. The sight of it made unease flicker in the Pope's eyes for the first time.
"—Trap Card activate: [Graverobber]!"
[Select 1 Spell/Trap in your opponent's GY; this card's effect becomes that card's effect.]
The sneaky thief's card turned into a mirror—the same Trap the Pope had just played.
"I copy [Monster Rebirth]! Since a monster was destroyed by battle this turn, I Special Summon one from my Graveyard as if by Monster Reborn!"
He raised his Spirit Eyes high, shining above the abyss, as the tiny splash Kuriboh had made became a tidal inferno.
"A blazing wave of rebirth! Rise from my Graveyard—divine phoenix form, Ra—!"
"SKREEEEEEE!"
A piercing cry split the heavens as Miles used [Monster Rebirth] to revive his God Card—[The Winged Dragon of Ra]!
"The god revives in flame, reborn as a Phoenix to bring slumber to fiends!"
The Millennium Puzzle blazed on his chest as he chanted this first-ever revival from the Graveyard of Ra.
Bathed in fire, its body reforged, it returned with the power of Phoenix Form.
"I told you—the soul to be incinerated is yours! Special Summon—Immortal Phoenix God!"
...
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