Chapter 3

"I use my Magnet Reverse spell card. This allows me to revive a rock or machine monster sent to the graveyard this turn and bring it back in defense mode," Yugi explained.

Valkyrion the Magna Warrior returned to the field, eliciting Slifer's second mouth.

Unfortunately for Atem, the ability cannot be turned off at will so by virtue of Slifer's monster effect and the Magnet Force trap effect one of Atem's Egyptian Gods had to bear the hit.

The unfortunate soul was Obelisk the Tormentor.

Bang!

Obelisk the Tormentor was wiped out at his own brother's hands.

Viewers across the myriad worlds were awestruck as the Egyptian Gods they now worshipped were being destroyed before their very eyes.

As the tomb keepers asked to watch over the Egyptian Gods, the Ishtar siblings who were watching their screens were filled with mixed emotions.

The Egyptian Gods worshiped as the greatest among all of Duel Monsters were being destroyed by a regular boy. Sure that boy was paired with the Pharoah's soul but now the two were separate so Yugi was doing it all with his own power.

"One down. Two to go. Now, Valkyrion separate!" Yugi commanded.

A shiver went down everyone's spines. Was it really going to happen?

The three Egyptian God cards were destroyed in one turn!

Atem could do nothing but watch as Yugi's combo went unimpeded and the last two Egyptian God cards were blasted to dust by one of their own.

With no Egyptian Gods on the field, their divine might went with them.

"Phew," Syrus Truesdale sighed in relief. It was terrible watching the duel with the heavy atmosphere in the air.

"Wait, a second," he thought. Turning to Jaden next to him, he asked, "How come you were okay?"

Jaden scratched his head, puzzled. The might of the Egyptian God cards were amazing but he didn't feel too strenuous under the effect of the second-hand divine pressure. He just thought it was because he was a good duelist, not knowing anything about how his background factored into things.

With the Egyptian God cards no more, the duel will now truly begin.

With one activation of Polymerization, Atem fused Gazelle the Mythical Beast with Berfomat from his hand and summoned Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast.

Chimera: [2100 ATK]

Chimera made short work of a magnet warrior before Atem ended his turn.

"Man, Yugi destroyed the Egyptian God cards and the Pharoah just bounced right back," Mokuba Kaiba remarked.

"No," Seto corrected his younger brother. "Yugi may have lower LP but he managed to come up with an unprecedented strategy to defeat the Egyptian God card.

I've never seen anything like it before.

I was wrong, Yugi truly is the King of Games."

While the Seto Kaiba on the screen praised Yugi, the one in front of it couldn't help but frown.

He may admit that Yugi is a talented duelist but he doesn't like the idea of himself admitting it so easily.

Several prideful duelists also questioned what they would do in Seto Kaiba's position but they just as quickly refused to believe that they would do the same.

Yugi tributed his remained magnet warriors to summon Buster Blader and destroy Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast.

Atem: [3500 LP]

Finally, after so long Atem has taken his first bit of damage.

"What kind of deck is he playing?" Yusaku wondered.

Yugi's deck synergy was mainly around using rock and machine-type monsters but a clunky monster like Buster Blade seemed counter-intuitive doesn't it?

Unfortunately, the DM world doesn't work on the law of probability but on possibility. If he can draw it and needs to, a DM world duelist is likely to draw it.

With Chimera destroyed, Berphomat was resurrected from the graveyard allowing Atem to keep a monster on the board.

"I set a card and sacrifice Berfomat to summon Beast of Gilfer in defense position."

Beast of Gilfer.

An oddly difficult monster to deal with.

If Yugi runs into it, his monster will fall prey to its ability but if he doesn't then Atem will likely be able to make use of it anyway.

If he had to choose, it is better to just get rid of it now so Atem cannot use it later.

With one sword slash, Buster Blader destroyed the Beast of Gilfer before falling prey to its effect.

Buster Blader: [2600 ATK] - [2100 ATK]

"My move. I set a card and activate the spell card, Awakening from Beyond. In exchange for giving the opponent the right to draw two cards I can then add a monster from my graveyard to my hand." Atem.

What? Letting your opponent draw two cards, what monster could be worth it?

Couldn't be an Egyptian God, right? Atem is left with no monsters so how could he summon it?

With only so many possibilities, the myriad of duelists all came to the conclusion that there was no conclusion.

Even Atem's soulmate, Yugi was stumped.

"Trying to guess what monster I brought back. Don't, because it's a monster you didn't even know I had. Summon Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight!"

"How did that get in his graveyard?" Joey exclaimed.

In the ARC-V world, Reigi Akaba came to a conclusion.

"It was during the first turn," Yusaku explained to the clueless AI in his duel disk.

"When he summoned The Tricky," Varis explained to his Knight of Hanoi.

Their speculations were correct as Atem explained the sequence of events that let this happen.

Atem explained, "This level seven monster can be directly summoned if it's the only card left in my hand."

"Why would you get rid of such a powerful monster in only the first turn of the duel?"

"Because when I built this deck I knew it would get to this point. That's right Yugi, I knew you would defeat the three Egyptian God cards!" Atem proclaimed.

What!?

Everyone was speechless.

Do you mean to say you planned for your prized Egyptian Gods to be defeated even before the duel began?

Buster Blader was defeated by Gaia but Yugi had a set trap card Soul Rope ready.

By going down to 1200 LP, Yugi replaced the destroyed Buster Blade with a Witch of the Black Forest.

Yugi then sacrificed Witch of the Black Forest to summon the high-ATK Summoned Skull to get rid of Gaia the Fierce Knight.

Summon Skull: [2500 ATK]

Atem: [3300 LP]

By sacrificing Witch of the Black Forest, Yugi was also able to search his deck for Marshmallon and add it to his hand.

Pushed into a corner, Atem stared back at Yugi knowing that he is the greatest opponent he has faced.

"My move. Now I'm going to draw the one card I need to help me in this situation, Big Shield Gardna!"

What!?

Atem is calling his draw before he even makes it.

A smart duelist like Reigi Akaba realizes, that duelists in DM were more mystical than he imagined. If Atem says he is going to draw a card, he is going to draw it 100%.

As expected, without even seeing the card Big Shield Gardna directly summoned itself to the field.

Believers of science will be damned, this act of mysticism shut up many scientific minds across the myriad worlds.

Even Yugi and Atem's closest friends called these hacks but the Ishtar siblings on the scene clarified that Atem's willpower made it so his next draw would be the card he needed.

It can be said that Fate listens to the Pharoah, Atem!

Yugi begins his turn with the spell card Pot of Greed. With the effect of Watapon, since it was drawn by Pot of Greed it was directly summoned to the field. Yugi then sacrificed it to summon Curse of Dragon.

Curse of Dragon: [2000 ATK]

With two high-level monsters on the board, Yugi was able to reduce his damage from attacking Big Shield Gardna while dealing a lot in the following attack.

Yugi: [1100 LP]

Atem: [1400 LP]

Things are finally starting to wind down and it is nearly time to say goodbye to Atem.

Watching their other-selves grapple with this reality on screen, Yugi's friends looked at each other knowing that things cannot turn out any other way.

"I sense an old friend. I draw and activate the spell card, Dark Magic Curtain. I give up half of my LP to summon my strongest and most faithful servant Dark Magician."

A dark red curtain appeared on Atem's side of the field and summoned a swirl of dark clouds overhead. A purple light shone down and a purple-robed magician came down to the field.

Atem: [700 LP]

Atem then equipped a Book of Secret Arts to Dark Magician increasing its ATK.

Dark Magician: [2800 ATK]

"Attack Summoned Skull! Dark Magic Attack," Atem commanded.

An intense burst of light emitted from the Dark Magician's staff, blowing up the demonic skeleton. Intense energy surged and made viewers behind the screen panic as they felt a powerful sensation like when the Egyptian Gods were on the field.

"Such powerful duel energy," Reigi Akaba remarked. "No wonder he speaks so highly of it."

"Is Atem also a psychic?" Akiza Azinski wondered.

Inside a tube, a dilapidated Yubel wondered if Atem was a good opponent for the Supreme King.

"Nice work," Atem complimented the Dark Magician.

Viewers didn't expect however for the Dark Magician to talk back.

"My king, I have journeyed across time and space to serve in this battle."

Watching the duel inside the Millenium Puzzle, Atem was speechless at this exchange.

Who are you, Dark Magician?

For some reason, seeing Dark Magician like this Ishizu on the sidelines experienced a strange vision of ancient Egypt that she could make neither heads nor tails of.

"Seeing Yugi up against the Dark Magician, we could sell tickets to see this," Mokuba Kaiba joked.

While the duel was no laughing matter, Yugi truly was out of options so he switched Cure of Dragon to defense mode and set his Marshmallon to brave the storm.

Atem knew better than to attack Marshmallon. So he chose Thousand Knives to be his card of the turn.

With no way out, Yugi could only watch as Thousand Knives destroyed Marshmallon, and Dark Magician the Curse of Dragon.

Yugi's friends could only watch in fear as Yugi lost his remaining ground against the Pharoah.

Yugi is totally on the defensive once again.

With no other choice, Yugi set a card and summoned Blockman in the defense position.

"Is that all you've got? I use the Dark Spear equip spell to give my Dark Magician the ability to deal piercing damage. Dark Magician attack," Atem commanded.

"I use Soul Seal," Yugi responded. "I pay half of my life points to end the battle phase."

Yugi: [400 LP]

How long can this keep up?!

All of the audience was at the edge of their seat. One wrong move and any player could be eliminated.

When Yugi's turn came, he drew a card that many will remember from this day on.

"I activate Gold Sarcophagus. I remove a card from my deck and if you ever activate that same card, yours will be negated."

What kind of card is this?

Yugi needs a way out now, not several turns in the future if it even happens at all.

What are the chances your opponent will play the exact same card you remove with Gold Sarcophagus?

Then again, Atem's deck was made with this specific flow of duel in mind so Yugi might be able to pull ahead by doing something similar.

If it does happen, it will be poetic as the Gold Sarcophagus is remarkably similar to the box that originally contained Atem's Millenium Puzzle.

Yugi then changed his Blockman from one monster into two using its monster effect. Taking these as tribute, he summons Gandora the Dragon of Destruction.

Yugi's friends on the side couldn't help but marvel at the sight of Gandora.

As seen in a flashback, this Gandora dealt a pivotal blow by defeating Yami Bakura and establishing his independence.

Meanwhile, Yami Bakura was not amused at all of the digs the people on the screen were making at him. He vowed to defeat Yugi no matter what.

Gandora the Dragon of Destruction's ability is to remove all of the monsters on the field from the game but Atem was ready with the trap card Dark Illusion, allowing Dark Magician to avoid it. On the bright side, Yugi was able to draw as a result of Dark Illusion.

With no other choice, Yugi set two cards and ended his turn.

It is the climactic turn.

Atem attacked with Dark Magician and Yugi countered with Magician's Circle.

Magician's Circle allowed both players to special summon spellcasters from their decks with Yugi choosing Silent Magician and Atem choosing Dark Magician Girl.

Cheer!

Across the myriad of worlds, many viewers were taken in by the Dark Magician Girl with a few on the side of Silent Magician.

Dark Magician Girl nodded at Dark Magician, motioning for him to continue his attack.

Unfortunately, Yugi and Silent Magician are never ones to be counted out.

"I activate the spell card Spell Textbook," Yugi calls out. "I discard the remaining cards in my hand and draw a card. If it is a spell, it is used right away. This will determine everything!"

Everyone watches with bated breath as Yugi draws his card.

"I activate Card of Sanctity. We all draw until we have six cards and for every card that you draw Silent Magician will level up. Go Silent Magician!"

With only one card in hand, Atem must draw five cards allowing the feeble magician to grow from a miniature mage to a full-blown enchantress.

Silent Magician: [3500 ATK]

Not willing to watch her master be destroyed for nothing, Dark Magician Girl silently pleads to Atem to activate his spell card Magicians Unite. This allowed Dark Magician Girl to join in the fight with Dark Magician but their attack was no match for Silent Magician.

Their noble sacrifice, however, allowed Atem to escape defeat.

Countless viewers watched in shock as the master and student charged up to their deaths.

Atem: [200 LP]

"Now, we are both at 200 LP. This is the final turn Yugi. You've put up a good fight but it sadly isn't enough."

Isn't enough? Yugi still has Silent Magician, what could beat her?

"I activate Monster Reborn. Now, I will resurrect Slifer the Sky Dragon."

One last time, the divine might of an Egyptian God descends onto the field as Slifer rises out of the underworld.

Slifer: [4000 ATK]

Atem's move was enough to say it all. It seems that the winner of the duel will be...

Wait!

The Gold Sarcophagus is shining!

The card chosen was Monster Reborn. Due to the effects of Gold Sarcophagus, since Atem attempted to use Monster Reborn, his is negated.

Slifer the Sky Dragon returned to the underworld as Atem is left with nothing.

The Yugi in front of the screen looked down at the Millenium Puzzle on his neck and knew, the other him has won this duel.

Atem knew it too as he closed his eyes in acknowledgment.

All of the duelists across the myriad worlds sent a silent salute to the ancient Pharoah returning to rest.

With one last tearful command, Silent Magician blasted Atem's LP to 0.

Atem consoled Yugi before walking up to the doors of the afterlife.

On one side are all of his friends he made inside of the Millenium Puzzle while on the other side are his faithful servants.

Yugi and his friends know how tearful it is to send off their friend but they just know that he will stay in their hearts even if he is gone.

With one last gesture, Atem walked through the doors and moved on.

"(DM World) Yugi Mutou Vs Atem: The Winner is Yugi Mutou."