Kisara exclaimed in surprise, "Miles, he actually inherited the Pharaoh's power!"
Dark Aisha grew both excited and proud, her small pink fists tightening. "The legendary strongest Duelist, the Pharaoh… then my Miles is super super strong now!"
"Since when did he become your Miles?"
Seeing she could no longer Duel Seto Kaiba, little Kaima obediently stepped back—yet still found the time to retort at Aisha.
"A vessel ought to have the awareness of a vessel!"
Anyhow, in her loli form, Kaima felt a faint sense of relief.
Though she had barely managed to force a draw against Kaiba in the previous Duel, if she continued any longer, given her currently shrunken body, she likely wouldn't be able to endure another fierce clash of White Dragons.
"Finish him off for me, Miles!"
And so in the end, little Kaima could only place her final hope of victory onto the man she had relied upon ever since they first entered the obelisk tower.
Perhaps it had nothing to do with being forcibly shrunk into a loli.
The duke Kaima Seth, who had persevered alone all the way here, may simply have longed for someone she could lean on.
And the obelisk tower merely drew out that hidden wish buried deep in Kaima's heart.
"Win all the way to the end and save everyone, Miles!" little Kaima silently prayed.
"I'm coming, Kaiba!"
"Come, Miles!"
"Duel!"
[Seto Kaiba, LP: 4000]
[Miles, LP: 4000]
The mechanical Duel Disk activated first, granting Miles the right to go first.
"My turn—draw!"
Drawing from the Deck that carried the Pharaoh's soul, Miles surveyed his opening hand.
Calling this the Pharaoh's complete Deck wouldn't be accurate.
Right now, the Deck in Miles's hand was more like a hybrid between Dark Aisha's Deck and the Pharaoh's—built from Kuriboh, random vanillas, and Dark Magician: a pile of soul cards.
"I Set a monster in face-down Defense Position. Turn end!"
He ended the turn by setting a monster. Don't ask Miles why he didn't set any traps—hand traps like Kuriboh are traps.
"You've inherited Atem's soul Deck. Don't disappoint me, Miles!"
Blue light rose simultaneously from Kaiba's right-ear headset and the AR Duel Disk on his arm. Facing this fated Duel, Kaiba was unquestionably at full throttle.
"My turn—draw!"
A pale-blue virtual card shimmered as Kaiba powerfully drew, revealing six cards before him.
His fingertip moved, flicking one card out.
"I activate the Spell Card 'Bingo Machine, Go!!!'"
[Reveal 3 cards from your Deck from the following categories for your opponent to see. Your opponent randomly chooses 1 of them. Add that card to your hand, shuffle the others back.
● A "Blue-Eyes" monster
● A Spell/Trap card that lists "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" or "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" in its text, except 'Bingo Machine, Go!!!']
Though they stood upon the land of ancient Egypt of 3,000 years past, the first card Kaiba played was a bizarrely high-tech, Blue-Eyes-Ultimate-Dragon-shaped bingo machine.
The bingo machine materialized on the field.
"I choose 3 'Blue-Eyes' monsters from my Deck and show them to you. Then you randomly pick one, Miles!"
"Understood. Go ahead, Kaiba!"
"Hmph!"
With a heavy snort, Kaiba selected three cards from his Deck. AR images projected them clearly before Miles.
"Make your choice!"
The three cards shown were:
[Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon]
[Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon]
[Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon]
'What the heck am I supposed to pick?! They're all Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon, there's no difference!'
And yet Kaiba still acted like Miles had a meaningful choice.
After displaying them, the three cards were flipped to their backs and shuffled.
Miles personally felt that shuffling was entirely unnecessary.
"Fine, I pick the first one."
"Hmph, your luck is terrible!"
"You've got some nerve saying that."
After receiving the "one out of three" Alternative White Dragon, Kaiba revealed another card from his hand—[Blue-Eyes White Dragon].
"By showing a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in my hand, I call forth the soul of my new servant—Special Summon, Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon!"
[Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon] Level 8│LIGHT│Dragon│3000 ATK
[This card can be Special Summoned by revealing a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in your hand to your opponent.]
The White Dragon spread its wings across the ancient Egyptian sky. The sight reflected in Kisara's azure eyes, stirring her heart.
"Seto…"
"Then I continue—two copies of the Spell 'Trade-In'!"
[Discard 1 Level 8 monster to draw 2 cards.]
Kaiba fired off two Trade-Ins back-to-back, discarding two Blue-Eyes White Dragons to the Graveyard and drawing four.
"Next—Spell Card, 'Silver's Cry'! Revive, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
[Blue-Eyes White Dragon ATK: 3000]
A second White Dragon descended, brightening the fated sky even further.
"Finally, I Normal Summon in Attack Position—Assault Wyvern!"
[Assault Wyvern Level] 4│LIGHT│Dragon│1800 ATK│1000 DEF
The crystal-bodied Assault Wyvern unfolded its wings as Kaiba's Normal Summon.
"This is the moment I've long awaited, Miles, Yugi!"
Kaiba thrust his hand forward, his aura surging with such force that even Miles felt the wind at his ear.
"Battle! Assault Wyvern—destroy his face-down monster!"
Its razor wings sliced the air, slamming forward with 1800 Attack. The face-down monster was easily torn apart.
Right after destroying it, Assault Wyvern's body was sheathed in light.
"Assault Wyvern's effect activates!"
[When this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle: You can Tribute this card; Special Summon 1 Dragon monster from your hand or Graveyard, except 'Assault Wyvern'.]
"The moment it destroyed your monster, I Tribute Assault Wyvern and Special Summon the second Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my Graveyard!"
Another White Dragon appeared. On the very first turn's Battle Phase of the player going second, Seto Kaiba had already assembled three Blue-Eyes White Dragons.
"Roar—!" ×3
And all three could attack.
A total of 9000 Attack points, roaring toward Miles's empty field.
"Too bad for you, Kaiba!"
Miles countered with the declaration of his card's effect, a holy light of wings enveloping his body.
"The monster destroyed by battle was Winged Kuriboh. During the turn, Winged Kuriboh is destroyed, all damage I would take becomes 0!"
"Kurii kurii!"
With the lifesaving effect granted by the little Kuriboh, Miles—shrouded in holy winged light—stood firm against the three Blue-Eyes Dragons in the sky without retreating.
"Tch, Kuriboh again."
Kaiba's lifelong nemesis, one he had tasted countless times from Atem. And now it was Miles' turn to torture him with it.
"I Set two cards. Turn end!"
Even commanding three Blue-Eyes Dragons, Kaiba could no longer deal damage to Miles, so he decisively Set his cards and ended his turn.
"My turn—draw!"
Turn passed. Barely surviving the assault of three descending Blue-Eyes, Miles continued drawing from his Deck.
"I activate the Spell Card 'Joker's Straight'! By discarding Kuribohrn from my hand, I Special Summon all three Poker Knights to my field!"
[King's Knight] Level 4│LIGHT│Warrior│1600 ATK
[Queen's Knight] Level 4│LIGHT│Warrior│1500 ATK
[Jack's Knight] Level 5│LIGHT│Warrior│1900 ATK
The three Knights—J, Q, K—gathered instantly on the Pharaoh's field, raising their shields in Defense Position against the three Blue-Eyes flying above.
Meanwhile, Miles glanced at his Extra Deck—showing no reaction.
"As expected, with both the Pharaoh's Deck and Dark Aisha's Deck mixed, I still can't overlay into Utopia!"
Aisha's exclusive Hope series required Rank 4 monsters to Xyz Summon Number 39: Utopia. Without that, upgrades like Utopia Double or Chaos Number 39: Utopia Ray were impossible.
"But even if I can't make Utopia—here, on the ancient Egyptian land and sky of 3000 years ago—there's a far more fitting way to fight!"
With the Poker Knights assembled, Miles hurled a Quick-Play Spell from his hand toward the sky.
"With this card, I proclaim the descent of the divine! Quick-Play Spell—Thunderspeed Summon!"
[Can be activated during your or your opponent's Main Phase or Battle Phase. You can Normal Summon 1 Level 10 monster. If you control "Queen's Knight", "Jack's Knight", and "King's Knight", you may apply the following instead:
● Add 1 Level 10 DARK or non-DARK monster with ? ATK from your Deck to your hand, then you can Normal Summon 1 Level 10 monster.]
"Since all three Poker Knights are on my field, the additional effect of Thunderspeed Summon activates—allowing me to search a Level 10 monster with ? Attack and Normal Summon it!"
A Level 10 monster with ? Attack—clearly pointing to the Egyptian God Cards.
In ancient Egypt, in a fated Duel on this land and sky, how could the Egyptian Gods be absent?
Just as Kisara had said at the beginning—here, closest to the concept of the underworld—one could freely wield the power of the Gods.
"Since I've inherited the Pharaoh's soul Deck, surely the three Gods are complete!"
His Duel Disk automatically ejected the eligible cards.
Two of the Egyptian God Cards that met Thunderspeed Summon's search condition were Slifer the Sky Dragon and The Winged Dragon of Ra.
Yet to Miles' surprise—the Pharaoh's Deck responded with three possible God Cards.
"What…?"
Among them, the foremost of the three Gods—The Winged Dragon of Ra—appeared in two different forms.
"I see… As expected of a Deck representing the Pharaoh's soul. Even Ra exists here in its complete forms!"
Miles chose decisively, using Thunderspeed Summon's effect to add the golden Winged Dragon of Ra card into his hand.
The instant he touched the card, the desert sands at his feet erupted in blazing flames of the Sun God, rising skyward into a brilliant red sun.
Kaiba clenched his fist. "This feeling… So it's Ra!"
Using the Poker Knights as Tribute, Ra would gain their combined Attack—5000 total—easily surpassing Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
However, Kaiba currently had three Blue-Eyes on the field. Unless the Immortal Phoenix form was revived from the Graveyard, Ra had no way to wipe all three at once.
"Drown in your naive fantasies, Seto Kaiba! None of your three Blue-Eyes will remain!"
"What did you say!?"
Before Ra had even appeared, the divine flames descending from the heavens engulfed all three Blue-Eyes.
"The monsters used as Tributes for this God's Summon aren't my Poker Knights. They're your three Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"
"Impossible, you're using my three Blue-Eyes as Tributes for a God!?"
Kaiba stared upward in disbelief at the sky now swallowed by divine flame.
From within those flames emerged the true presence of the Sun.
Miles swung his arm and hurled the God Card toward Kaiba's field.
"I Tribute your three Blue-Eyes White Dragons to Normal Summon—on your field—The Winged Dragon of Ra - Sphere Mode!"
Before everyone's stunned eyes, the three Blue-Eyes flying in the sky vanished instantly into Ra's inferno.
In their place, on Kaiba's field… Miles left him a sphere.
[The Winged Dragon of Ra - Sphere Mode] Level 10│DIVINE│Divine-Beast│? ATK
[This card cannot be Special Summoned. To Tribute Summon this card, you must Tribute 3 monsters on your field or Tribute 3 monsters on your opponent's field and Summon it to their field. Control of this face-up card returns to its original owner during the End Phase of the next turn.]
...
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