Chapter 90. Childhood Bootleg Orichalcos "Heavenly God Sweep"! The First-Gen Old-Guard King's Reflections!
Other-world Duelists?
This news made Yusaku Fujiki and Akira Zaizen immediately realize something was off.
Jaden Yuki? A HERO Deck?
Yugi Muto? Dark Magician Deck?
Yuma Tsukumo? A Utopia Deck?
Whoa?
They're all Decks that were featured earlier in those short breakdown videos!
Yusaku Fujiki and Akira Zaizen both looked stunned.
Which means—
Up next—
Are their Decks going to get a Duel or a breakdown too?
This is going to be a blast!
At the same time—
In the big "One Big Happy Family" group chat—
Facing the sudden arrival of Duelists from the VRAINS world—
The Duelists from the other five worlds all jolted in unison!
VR.
Link?
Code Talkers?
Cyberse?
Salamangreat?
These are all Link Monsters!?
The old-guard Duelists from the five worlds quickly realized something was off.
This newly added world—
Is the sixth Link world, right?
In other words—the last world!
Yugi Muto: "Welcome, welcome! I'm Yugi Muto from the DM world. Pleased to meet you."
Yusaku Fujiki: "Pleased to meet you. Yugi Muto, huh? Dark Magician? I know you. That 'Red-Dad' Fusion boss earlier was using your ace as material, right."
Jaden Yuki: "Awesome! You're from the Link world! That Underworld Goddess earlier—that's a monster from your world, yeah?"
Theodore Hamilton: "Er, how do I put this? It's got nothing to do with us. Even we haven't seen a card that strong."
Yuma Tsukumo: "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Great! New friends again! So, uh, Link—can you explain it to us?"
Skye Zaizen: "Hehe! Let me! Simply put, a Link Summon is..."
Before long—
Everyone in the chat was chummy already.
Sei Yuki watched this, very satisfied.
But he also noticed that Akira Zaizen wasn't saying much.
This wasn't the time to worry about him.
After all six Duel Worlds had been gathered—
It was time to ease things in with some lighter videos.
Since the "childhood bootleg Millennium Items" set went over well last time—
Then—
Let's find another fun "ZCG bootleg" series.
With a chuckle, Sei Yuki set his sights on the famous bootleg Orichalcos series!
He believed that after this one—
The King of Games—namely Pharaoh Atem within Yugi Muto—would have a lot of feelings about it.
Target locked in—
A short-video title popped up:
"Childhood Bootleg Orichalcos! 'Whoever Uses It Loses' Seal?"
The moment that title appeared—
The Duelists of the DM world nearly lost it.
Yugi Muto, Joey Wheeler, Seto Kaiba, Tristan Taylor, and Téa Gardner all thought they were seeing things!
Orichalcos?
What the heck?
Orichalcos?!
Huh?
Wasn't Orichalcos already dealt with by them?!
Could it be—
The Higher World also has Orichalcos?
No.
Bootleg series—childhood bootlegs?
Oh. Then never mind.
They'd been worried that Dartz had shown up in the Higher World, and all of them—especially Yugi—exhaled in relief.
Because back in the day, the Orichalcos incident—
Left them with more than enough trauma.
For example—
Atem's loss.
Weevil Underwood getting hard-roasted.
The undying Orichalcos.
Dartz's Great Leviathan sitting at 0 LP.
All legendary moments!
Before they could dwell on it—
The short-video content had already begun.
Bootleg-Card Curator: "Hello! Good evening, Duel friends!"
Bootleg-Card Curator: "Friendly reminder: don't stay up too late! You've still got an 8 a.m. wake-up."
Bootleg-Card Curator: "Hahaha! Just kidding!"
"First, I wish all Duelists pull nothing but heat—may your luck keep climbing year after year!"
"Alright! Onto today's topic."
"It's the Childhood Bootleg Series: the Orichalcos arc."
"As everyone knows! When we were kids—"
"There was a kind of Deck we were obsessed with for its power."
"We craved that one bootleg among bootlegs."
"A card that almost wins on activation."
"As for which card—"
"Let's hold that thought and look at today's first card!"
"'Orichalcos Holy Capital — Atlantis'!"
[Field Spell: Orichalcos Holy Capital — Atlantis]
[Effect: This card cannot be destroyed by card effects, and its activation cannot be negated.]
[When this card is activated, Special Summon, ignoring Summoning conditions, any monsters whose names include "Orichalcos" or "Dartz" from your hand, Deck, Graveyard, or banished zone, and each of those monsters gains 1000 ATK/DEF during each of your turns.]
[Your monsters can attack your opponent's monsters directly, and monster attacks are mandatory. Your monsters cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects. This card can share the Spell & Trap Zone with a card whose name includes "Orichalcos."]
When the first bootleg card appeared—
DM world.
Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba—who had just calmed down—went sheet-white again!
Did they misread it?
Which keywords did this bootleg touch?
Huh?
"Orichalcos"! "Dartz"?!
It's Dartz!
Who Dartz is—they know all too well!
How did he—
Become a monster!
And that wasn't even the worst of it!
Yugi Muto: "Atem! Did Dartz ever use a card like this? His cards were bootlegs anyway!"
Pharaoh Atem: "I can say for sure—absolutely not! Even Dartz's cards weren't this busted!"
After double-checking their memories, Yugi and Atem were dumbfounded!
Cards even Dartz didn't have—
The Higher World had cooked them up?
Even as bootlegs—
This imagination was off the charts!
Going by the text, you can casually drop that Orichalcos boss, huh?
VRAINS world.
Having just joined the "One Big Happy Family" group—
They all got rattled by this card!
What is this?
Bootleg Orichalcos this vile?
Even the always-calm Yusaku Fujiki nearly swore out loud!
Fake!
Way too fake!
Which of these effects isn't fake?
But soon they cooled off again.
Maybe there are even faker cards up in the Higher World?
Bootleg-Card Curator: "Hahaha! Seeing this card—didn't that childhood memory wake right up?"
Bootleg-Card Curator: "That was just an appetizer! Quick comments:"
Bootleg-Card Curator: "The effect is quite strong, but it lacks protection against banish, so it still loses to removal."
"Strong—no doubt. One card pulling two bodies."
"But I don't rate bootlegs for actual play."
"Let's keep going with the next Orichalcos bootlegs!"
"'Orichalcos Doomsday Tone'!"
[Continuous Spell: Orichalcos Doomsday Tone]
[Effect: During each of your opponent's End Phases, place 1 Orichalcos Counter on this card. When this card has 6 Orichalcos Counters, you win the Duel. This effect is unaffected by your opponent's effects.]
"Second card!"
"'Orichalcos Dark Magnetic Field'!"
[Effect: Equip only to a monster whose name includes "Orichalcos." While the equipped monster remains on the field, your opponent cannot activate Spell Cards, and the effects of Spell Cards on your opponent's field are negated.]
These two—
Straight up insane!
No need to explain!
They had all six Duel Worlds molding!
What kind of bootleg gets this absurd?
The first one!
What does that mean?
Six counters!
If you stall—just hard-stall—you get to win!
Some veterans immediately thought of that throw-game "Cook" strategy.
But everyone quickly spotted the downside!
No built-in protection!
Right!
Aside from "this effect cannot be negated," that Doomsday Tone can still be banished or destroyed!
With that in mind, Duelists calmed down.
But the next card—no discussion needed!
A hard lock on your opponent's Spells!
That's nasty!
If you go first and stick this—
Your opponent can't solve you with Spell-based backrow removal.
They'd need a monster effect or a Trap.
That's a very strong piece of disruption.
Decks that rely on Spell starters get hard-checked!
And this—was only foreplay!
Bootleg-Card Curator: "Of the two above, the first looks strong, but needing six of your opponent's End Phases is hard."
Bootleg-Card Curator: "Maybe the second one is worth a look."
Bootleg-Card Curator: "But, if you combine them with other Orichalcos cards—"
"Things change."
"For example, pair them with this bootleg Trap!"
[Continuous Trap: Orichalcos Sacred Light]
[Effect: Activate by choosing 1 of the following effects.]
[Effect 1: Cards whose names include "Orichalcos" cannot have their activations negated and cannot leave the field.]
[Effect 2: Your Spell/Trap Cards are unrestricted; your opponent's monster effects are negated.]
[Effect 3: Your opponent cannot activate Spell/Trap Cards or place Field Spells.]
When this Trap appeared—
All six worlds fell silent.
Yeah.
Nothing to say.
Obviously you pick Effect 1—the busted "cannot leave the field."
Not only does it grant your side protection, it also gives every Orichalcos card "sticky" protection.
How do you even play against that?
Is there even a point?
As long as you draw this Trap and flip it—
Who wins?
You tell me.
Who still wins after that?
Every Orichalcos monster that follows—even a vanilla—can't leave the field!
Because the text doesn't restrict it to monster cards!
Once this resolves—
You've basically declared victory, right?
The veterans all drew a sharp breath!
Thank goodness these cards aren't legal!
Otherwise—
The consequences would be unthinkable!
Bootleg-Card Curator: "If the above bootlegs were legal—"
Bootleg-Card Curator: "Top players would immediately brew an unbeatable Orichalcos Deck."
Bootleg-Card Curator: "So maybe some dev out there can make a 'Bootleg Yu-Gi-Oh!' game so we Duelists can go wild?"
"Just don't make it a '648-gems-a-copy' Orichalcos Seal cash-grab."
"Ahem! I digress!"
"Let's keep going!"
"First card."
"'Orichalcos Dark Gift.'"
[Spell: Orichalcos Dark Gift]
[Effect: Draw 2 cards from your Deck for each "Orichalcos" monster you control.]
"Second card."
"'Orichalcos Curse.'"
[Quick-Play Spell: Orichalcos Curse]
[Effect: Can only be activated before the Duel (after deciding who goes first, before drawing). Your turn order gains the following effect.]
[Going first: Choose the top 5 cards of your opponent's Deck and add them to your hand. Those 5 cards are controlled only by you.]
[Going second: Choose 10 cards in your opponent's Deck and banish them.]
[If both players have this card, the player with the larger Deck size resolves theirs first.]
With these two—
The first one didn't shock them that much!
Compared to the earlier ones, it was downright reserved!
But that next one—
They completely lost it!
What is this ridiculous bootleg?
Different effects for first or second?!
No matter which—
You don't lose value!
And as a Quick-Play—
That means if you drew it for going first, you can already use it.
Whether it's your opponent's turn or your turn—
Basically, at all timings!
And the worst part—the going-second banish lets you choose the 10 cards.
Which means—
They're your choice!
At that realization—
Jaden Yuki couldn't hold it anymore!
Jaden Yuki: "I can't take this! I can't watch! Stop! This isn't a fair Duel!"
Joey Wheeler: "I'm dying over here! If you've got more cards, you get to resolve first! What if both sides have the same Deck size, huh?"
Yuma Tsukumo: "Holy—The Higher World really is built different. Their imagination for bootlegs is something else!"
Yusaku Fujiki: "A Duel like this is meaningless. Let's just say, making them illegal is the right call."
The chat blew up instantly!
And these cards had already pushed everyone to their limits!
And the final one—
Was the star of the show!
Bootleg-Card Curator: "Alright! After those bootlegs—"
Bootleg-Card Curator: "Here comes the card I held back earlier—the fakest of the fake."
Bootleg-Card Curator: "Presenting—'Orichalcos Heavenly God Sweep'!"
[Quick-Play Spell: Orichalcos Heavenly God Sweep]
[Effect: When activated, destroy and banish all cards in your opponent's Deck, hand, field, and Graveyard.]
[This card's activation cannot be negated, and this card's effect cannot be negated.]
With the final showstopper revealed—
All six Duel Worlds were stunned!
What effect?
Did they read that right?
On activation—
Destroy what?
Hand? Field? Graveyard?
And most importantly—the Deck!
What the—!
What kind of card is this!
You activate it and send literally everything your opponent has to the banished zone?
No way—
After this resolves, how is the opponent supposed to play?!
Is there even a point to continuing?
You can't play at all!
Because after it resolves, your opponent basically has no Deck left.
Which means—
On their next turn, they lose by Deck-out!
Basically—
A bootleg that wins on activation! Isn't that just nonsense?
The group chat, which had been chatting about the previous Duelists, went dead.
Then—
Messages exploded back to 99+.
Seto Kaiba: "You've GOT to be kidding me! These Higher World bootlegs are beyond ridiculous! Blowing up the Deck on activation—seriously?!"
Professor Crowler: "Mamma mia! Now that's heavyweight! Tell me—who imagined and made this bootleg?"
Aki Izayoi: "Is there even a game left? If I'm going second, I've already lost? It's over the moment we start?"
Kite Tenjo: "If this were legal, why would I hunt Numbers anymore? Just call me the Orichalcos Hunter!"
Z-ARC: "Good grief! I thought my Supreme King Deck was outrageous! Turns out there's always a higher mountain!"
Akira Zaizen: "All I can say is—bootlegs are bootlegs."
Message after message—
Yugi Muto could only sigh inwardly, again and again.
If he had ever faced Dartz with a Deck like this—
Let's be honest! If Dartz had possessed these cards back then—
He, Yugi Muto, and Pharaoh Atem—
Would have lost ages ago!
The world would have belonged to Dartz!
His goal—would've been achieved instantly!
At that thought—
Yugi exhaled once more.
Thank goodness Dartz didn't have these back then!
Just a few absurd Seals plus a limitless Great Leviathan—
Tell me—
How on earth was Yugi Muto supposed to win that Duel?
…
Enjoyed the story? Support me and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at: Patr*eon*.com/Resium
Free members can read 10+ Chapters Ahead of Release
Paid member can read 150+ Chapters Ahead of Release
Stories Available
Honkai? No, This Is Daily Life
Hogwarts Pet Master
Pokémon: Who Let Him Leave Pallet Town!
Scrolling Yu-Gi-Oh! Shorts