Chapter 106: Deck Destruction versus Graveyard Comeback

Hidden in the shadowed corner, cloaked entirely in black robes, only his eyes were visible, revealing him to be a man.

“While inflicting 200 points of recoil damage, in accordance with the effect of the Scout, I special summon from my deck the ‘Gravekeeper’s Priestess’ with 1000 attack points in defense position.”

A slender woman appeared, holding a golden staff, her eyes veiled by a purple cloth, dressed in attire nearly identical to Isis’s. She was summoned at the call of the Scout.

“As long as the Priestess remains on the field, all face-up ‘Gravekeeper’ monsters gain 200 additional attack and defense points.”

“Wow! I didn’t expect Isis to be using a ‘Gravekeeper’ deck, one that actually appeared in the GX era rather than the anime!”

But considering how the duel had been altered by his own intervention—the ‘Dark Magician’ deck used in the “Three Era Protagonists Movie” summoned early, Seto Kaiba’s ‘Blue-Eyes’ deck appearing ahead of the “Dimension of Dark Shadows” movie, and now Isis’s ‘Gravekeeper’-based deck—none of this seemed all that surprising anymore.

“Tch!”

Though only 200 points of recoil damage, Kaiba still felt a twinge of discomfort. Frowning slightly, he covered two cards from his hand behind his “Lamp Spirit” and ended his turn.

‘Seto! I know exactly what those two face-down cards are!’

“My turn. Draw!”

“I summon ‘Gravekeeper’s Spellcaster’.”

A sorcerer with thick black hair and a staff shaped like a question mark appeared beside the Priestess. Upon entering the field, the Spellcaster’s lips moved as he uttered a spell, firing a jagged black beam from his staff. The instant it struck Kaiba, his life points equalized.

“The Spellcaster deals 500 points of damage to the opponent the moment he is summoned.”

Having explained the Spellcaster’s effect, Isis swiftly activated the last two cards in her hand through the duel disk.

“Equip the Spellcaster with the exclusive Spellcaster equipment cards ‘One-Shot Wand’ and ‘Miraculous Wand.’”

Gaining two wand equips at once, the Spellcaster’s power surged dramatically, instantly reaching nearly the same level as Jonouchi’s ace monster, the “Red-Eyes Black Dragon,” trailing by only 100 points!

“Entering the Battle Phase. Spellcaster, attack Seto Kaiba’s ‘Lamp Spirit.’”

Hearing Isis’s declaration, Kaiba’s eyes gleamed with anticipation. The trap he had laid was already sprung!

“At this moment, I activate the Quick-Play Spell ‘Shrink’! Reduce my ‘Lamp Spirit,’ originally 1800 attack points, to half its size!”

Shrink, shrink—the 3D projection showed the monster literally shrink to half its original size, as if a puppet had been tossed into a washing machine and shrunk.

“Next, I activate the Trap Card ‘Death Deck Destruction Virus’! Fall into the trap of death, Isis!”

Merely reducing attack power prevented the battle from being reversed. The Spellcaster’s magical assault struck the now halved ‘Lamp Spirit’ directly.

Though this made it easier to dispatch the opponent, the Lamp Spirit had already been infected by the virus. At the moment of destruction, the virus spread explosively, wafting into Isis’s domain.

“Dark attribute monsters with attack below 1000 serve as the virus’s vector—at their destruction, the virus spreads to infect your entire field! Whether in your hand, on your field, or even your supposedly safe deck!”

The first to be affected was the Spellcaster, who had destroyed the Lamp Spirit. Though the two equipped wands had greatly increased his strength, they also made him susceptible to the death virus.

Kaiba watched helplessly as the Spellcaster’s body gradually rotted under the virus’s influence, dissolving into a pool of thick black liquid.

“All monsters with attack above 1500, send them all to the graveyard! Ahahahahaha!”

Laughing in his classic three-stage chuckle, Kaiba relished the disappearance of the Spellcaster.

“……”

Silent, Isis methodically drew from her deck all monster cards with attack above 1500, which the intelligent duel disk pushed out one by one, sending them all to the graveyard. Her deck visibly thinned.

‘The destruction of the deck’s main monsters… Isis, was this also in your foresight?’

Before the city tournament started, he had visited Isis with Anzu and learned from her about “ancient Egypt 3000 years ago” and the “Nameless Pharaoh.” Yet, he had never personally experienced the “future” power of the Millennium Items.

Therefore, though aware that the Millennium Items wielded powers connected to “future” and “past,” Yugi had remained half skeptical throughout.

While Yugi and his friends were half-believing, our protagonist Yugi here fully trusted Isis!

He had watched the complete original anime, understood the powers of the Millennium Items, and knew about the series of decks released in later eras.

Moreover, Yugi was certain that one of those face-down cards was undoubtedly the core card of that deck, combining the history’s strongest FTK deck and the most powerful forbidden cards—the “Reversal of the Present and Underworld!”

Hence, Isis discarded cards so confidently. Though silent, she did not hesitate to send all those high-attack monsters to the graveyard.

‘Without the Giant God Warrior and not using the anime deck… how will Kaiba overturn his fate under these changes?’

Returning to the field.

Watching Isis discard six or seven monster cards to the graveyard, Kaiba’s lips curled upward. At this moment, he was only thinking, “The plan is half successful,” barely noticing the expression on Isis’s face as she discarded.

‘Isis! My deck destruction tactics are far from over!’

Meanwhile, Isis had already exhausted her hand—two equip spells and one three-star monster—so now with no effects to activate and no cards in hand, she could only end this “unfortunate” turn.

“My turn. Draw!”

Glancing at the card drawn, Kaiba’s eyes brightened. It was the second card in his deck with the effect to “destroy the opponent’s deck.”

“I activate the Spell Cards ‘Pot of Greed’ and ‘Grace of the Angel’ together! Draw five cards, then discard two!”

Activating two quick draw magic cards, Kaiba replenished his hand and deck graveyard. Then, he activated a spell card depicting a silver dragon resembling the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

“Quick-Play Spell ‘Silver Dragon’s Roar’! Revive the discarded ‘White Spirit Dragon’ from the graveyard!”

With the roar of the Silver Dragon, a massive white dragon, its belly skeletal in appearance, flapped its elegant white wings and soared forth from Kaiba’s graveyard to the field.

“‘Silver Dragon’s Roar’ can only revive a normal Dragon-type monster from the graveyard, and the ‘White Spirit Dragon’ is an Effect Monster, so it’s normally outside its revival scope. However, when the White Spirit Dragon is in either the hand or graveyard, it can be treated as a ‘Normal Monster’.”

Because it was a brand-new card no one had seen before, Kaiba unusually explained at length, clarifying his new monster’s effect to avoid suspicion of cheating—reviving an Effect Monster with a spell that only revives Normal Dragon monsters would certainly raise eyebrows otherwise.

“Also, the revived ‘White Spirit Dragon’ activates its effect! Upon successful Special Summon, it can banish one Spell or Trap card on the opponent’s field!”

Saying this, Kaiba pointed his right hand toward the face-down card floating just before Isis’s feet.

“Isis! I’m banishing this card!”

Seeing Kaiba target her central face-down card, Isis waved her hand and activated another face-down card beside it.

“Counter Trap ‘Negate’ activated! When an Effect Monster’s effect, Spell, or Trap card is activated, you can negate that activation and destroy it!”

In the original anime, Isis used this powerful “Counter Trap” twice in a duel against Kaiba!

Once, it destroyed his “Reversal of the Present and Underworld” deck; the second time, it nullified Kaiba’s “Magic Removal of Bacterial Weapon.” Another time, it negated his second activation of the “Death Deck Destruction Virus” during the draw phase.

“Tch!”

Helplessly watching his White Spirit Dragon destroyed, Kaiba, after setting two cards face-down, activated the second of his spell cards, one that allowed rapid hand replacement and strong graveyard buildup.

“Spell Card ‘Hand Destruction’! Discard two cards from my hand, then draw two cards from my deck.”

As Kaiba prepared to discard two cards to the graveyard, Isis activated a card she had used moments before.

“Counter Trap ‘Negate’! The activation of ‘Hand Destruction’ is negated and destroyed.”

Whether foreseeing the “future” or in the present, Isis refused to let Kaiba build his graveyard powerfully!

“...Tch! I’ll set one more card and then end.”

Frustrated inwardly, with his current hand, Kaiba could do no more. He feared Isis’s last face-down card was also the powerful “Negate!” He wanted to wait and use another card later to trigger that trap.