"Jonouchi!"
"Damn it... it has to be Mai!"
"She was the only one going after Jonouchi and Valon!"
Honda's fists were shaking. Seeing Jonouchi slumped against the chain-link fence, covered in wounds from head to toe, filled him with a fury he could barely contain.
He would never forgive that woman for doing this.
"No. The real enemy isn't her. It's the one pulling the strings behind the Three Musketeers and Mai."
Yami Yugi crouched beside Jonouchi, his jaw tight, his fist pressed against his knee.
"Wait... Jonouchi, I think he's..."
Kyoko noticed it first. The faint rise and fall of his chest. A slight tremor in his fingers. Her eyes went wide.
"Yu... gi..."
"!"
"Jonouchi!!"
He could sense them. Even in this state, half-broken and battered beyond reason, Jonouchi was forcing his mouth open, squeezing out every syllable like it cost him something.
"Don't talk! You're going to be fine, just stay still!"
Nobody had dared to hope. They'd all assumed his soul had been taken, just like the others. But somehow, against all logic, it hadn't.
"Th... is..."
His hand shook as he lifted it toward his Deck.
He had lost the duel against Mai. The Seal of Orichalcos should have claimed his soul along with his defeat.
But that card had shielded him. He needed to get it to Yugi. It would help him. He was sure of it.
A card every bit as powerful as the Legendary Dragons.
'Too bad. Couldn't pull off the win.'
'Hm? What's this?'
'Consider it a participation prize.'
'...Huh?'
The guy who ran the Dragon Ball War had tossed him a card right before sending him back. At the time, Jonouchi couldn't figure out what to do with it. He never imagined it would end up saving his soul at the most critical moment of his life.
"Yu... gi..."
"Take... it..."
With trembling hands, he held out two cards. Yugi, Honda, and Kyoko all leaned in.
The first was Jonouchi's pride: the ace he had always relied on.
[Red-Eyes Black Dragon]!
The second was a Fusion Monster. A card that even Yugi had never seen before.
[Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon]
The instant Yugi accepted it, he understood why Jonouchi had handed over Red-Eyes Black Dragon along with it.
"This card..."
He could feel the power thrumming through it just from holding it in his hand. A monster on the same level as the Three Phantom Gods.
"Heh... heh... I'm sorry... I can't use it myself..."
"But... Yu... gi..."
"If anyone... can... it's you..."
His injuries made every word a battle. But the three of them heard the meaning loud and clear.
"All right, Jonouchi. That's enough. Save your breath. I'm getting you to a hospital."
"And don't you dare die on me, you bastard."
Honda threw Jonouchi's arm over his shoulder and hauled him upright.
"Yugi, Kyoko and I will take care of Jonouchi and Valon. You go settle this. Give them everything you've got."
"Yeah. I'm counting on you."
He watched his friends disappear down the street, then looked down at the two cards in his hand.
Red-Eyes Black Dragon.
Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon.
He slid both into his Deck. His gaze lifted toward a tower in the distance. He could feel it from here: the unmistakable pressure of a duel already underway.
Mai had apparently taken Jonouchi's Legendary Dragon as well.
"Over there."
He broke into a run. A vow burned inside his chest. He was going to put an end to all of this.
"Wait for me, Dartz!"
Inside the building, Yami Yugi found his quarry.
The opponent who had just defeated Mai Kujaku stood before him.
Raphael.
The man who had once beaten him. The enemy whose victory had cost Yugi his partner.
To shake Raphael free from the darkness consuming him, Yami Yugi challenged him to a duel.
But even with the power of the Legendary Dragons at his disposal, Raphael proved to be an incredibly tenacious opponent.
'Just as I thought. The only way to save him is to take down that monster.'
'Guardian Dreadscythe. As long as he has a card in his hand, he can discard it to prevent her destruction, whether by battle or by effect.'
[Guardian Dreadscythe / ATK: 5500]
That staggering Attack Power was a wall no ordinary monster could hope to breach.
"But it's not impossible."
Glancing at the cards in his hand, Yami Yugi found his opening.
"Trap Card, activate!"
"Lightforce Sword!"
"One card from your hand is randomly banished!"
"!"
Raphael's expression darkened as his hand shrank by another card.
The intense exchanges earlier had already burned through most of the six cards he'd replenished with Card of Sanctity. Now, with only one card remaining, Dreadscythe's protection was down to a single life.
"And what exactly do you plan to do about it? How will you overcome this fate of defeat?"
He had just one substitution left, that was true. But with only three cards in Yugi's hand, Raphael couldn't see a path to victory.
If Yugi failed to finish things this turn, the next turn would belong to Raphael.
"I activate the effect of my Continuous Spell: The Samsara!"
'Hmph. Whatever he revives will obviously be the Legendary Dragon.'
Confident in that assumption, Raphael didn't flinch.
"Rise again!"
"Dark Magician!"
The resurrection of Yugi's iconic ace drew a stunned silence.
"Dark Magician? At a time like this?"
"What are you planning, Yugi?!"
Not just Raphael. Even Kaiba, watching from the back, went rigid.
"I'm going to prove it to you, Raphael. Destiny is not set in stone!"
His voice rang through the arena. Yami Yugi checked the three remaining cards in his hand and slid one into his Duel Disk.
"Spell Card... Polymerization, activate!"
"I fuse Dark Magician on my field with Red-Eyes Black Dragon in my hand!"
"That's impossible...!"
"A Fusion of Dark Magician and Red-Eyes Black Dragon?!"
Gasps erupted from every direction. Raphael and Kaiba stared in disbelief.
"Come forth!"
"Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon!"
Black flames cascaded from the sky. From within the inferno, a Duel Monster neither of them had ever seen before descended onto the field.
[Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon / ATK: 3000]
"What... is that?"
"Watch closely, Raphael. This turn, I'm tearing apart your so-called destiny."
"I activate Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon's effect!"
"During my Main Phase, I can target and destroy one monster on my opponent's field, then inflict damage equal to that monster's original ATK!"
Raphael let out a cold laugh.
"Hmph. And here I thought you had something clever to say."
"I'll admit the effect is powerful, but it won't work. When Dreadscythe would be destroyed, I discard one card from my hand to save her!"
The black flames crashed against an invisible wall. Dreadscythe remained standing, unmoved.
"It's over, Nameless Pharaoh!"
"Hmph... Sore wa dou kana!"
"What?"
Only then did Raphael notice that the monster on the other side of the field still had its weapon raised. The spear tip was still burning with black fire.
"I'm afraid you're mistaken."
"Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon's destruction effect can be activated a number of times equal to the Normal Monsters used as Fusion Material."
"And the materials I used were Dark Magician and Red-Eyes Black Dragon."
"That's impossible!"
The realization hit Raphael like a punch to the gut. Without a heartbeat's hesitation, he flipped his face-down card.
"Trap Card, activ..."
BANG!
The card shattered before the words left his mouth.
"Once per turn, when any card or effect is activated, I can discard one card to negate the activation and destroy that card! And when I do, this card gains 1000 ATK!"
[Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon] ATK: 3000 → 4000
Attack Power that rivaled the Phantom God Obelisk himself.
"How... is that... possible?!"
The certainty of defeat washed over Raphael. For the first time, the stoic duelist wavered.
He had bested the Legendary Dragons more than once, and yet here he was, brought down by a monster he had never even heard of.
[Raphael LP: 700 → 0]
As the duel concluded, Yami Yugi raised his gaze to the sky and called out, his voice echoing through the building.
"You're next, Dartz!!"
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]