Chapter 049: Blazing Hot Diva—What Does It Mean to Be Number One?! (Leans Back Tactically)

“Without the Cartoon World, your cartoon monsters can no longer remain on the field! And since they’ve already been turned into cartoon characters, they can’t revert to their normal monster forms and return to your side!” With just a few words, Pegasus was left with nothing on his field—no, wait! There was still the set card, ‘Tears of the Mermaid’! Unfortunately, neither of Yugi’s last two moves triggered its activation condition.

Furthermore, all the cartoon monsters were destroyed because ‘Cartoon World’ collapsed, and since ‘Cartoon World’ was Pegasus’s own card, he would not be subject to the rule that inflicts damage equal to half the destroyed monster’s Attack Points upon its controller when an Attack Position monster is destroyed by a card effect.

“Turn end.”

“My turn. Draw!”

Pegasus barely glanced at the drawn card before raising his head to regard Yuei, his playful demeanor gone, expression now serious as he said, “Yuei, I underestimated you! You managed to collect dozens of star chips on your own across the island, then consecutively defeated Mai Valentine and Yugi Mutou to earn the right to challenge me!”

Everyone around was shocked.

Dozens—dozens of star chips?! Becoming one of the four finalists already meant each of them had collected exactly ten star chips within the allotted time, but Yuei had gathered several times that amount all by himself! No wonder he’d seemed to be waiting for them when they arrived.

“To face a duelist as formidable as you, I must show you my utmost respect and the pinnacle of my tactics!”

Yuei: “…”

Emmm, your pinnacle tactics? Didn’t you just rely on your own tailor-made ‘Cartoon World’ to win? Oh, right, I forgot Pegasus has even stronger cards in the original anime—Ritual Monsters!

“The key to my victory this duel lies in this card I’ve just drawn!”

As he spoke, Pegasus revealed the card he’d set earlier when he copied the Sailor Hero with Copycat, in order to trigger its effect.

“I activate the Ritual Spell Card ‘Illusion Ritual’! By offering the Level 1 monster ‘Dark-Eyed Illusionist’ from my hand as a tribute—!”

The Dark-Eyed Illusionist was drawn into an altar shaped like the Millennium Eye, thick purple-black smoke pouring from its mouth.

“Come forth! Ritual Summon! Illusion Monster—Relinquished!!”

Its head was a single, orb-like eye, its body demonic, yet its type was Spellcaster.

The second Ritual Monster from the original anime’s Duelist Kingdom arc—Relinquished!

(Relinquished, Level 1, ATK: 0)

“A Ritual Monster with 0 Attack? It must have a powerful effect, right?” After two days of dueling, Jonouchi, the former novice, could now appreciate just how dangerous a Ritual Monster summoned by Pegasus could be.

“That’s right! If it didn’t have a powerful effect, Pegasus would never summon a monster with zero Attack and Defense!” Yugi looked at Jonouchi with pride—his friend had grown.

Now, in the arena—

With his ace monster on the field, Pegasus transformed in an instant, his tone now openly contemptuous as he explained all of Relinquished’s effects without reservation:

“Relinquished’s effect activates! Once per turn, I can equip one monster on your field to it as an Equip Card.”

No sooner had he spoken than the hollow cavity in Relinquished’s abdomen widened into a void like a black hole, forcibly sucking in Yuei’s Wildwing Hero.

“Next, Relinquished’s Attack and Defense become equal to the monster it absorbed.”

The cavity closed, and Relinquished folded its wing-like appendages around itself, turning into a gray-white sphere. On the right side of its body, the absorbed Wildwing Hero’s anguished face and half its body protruded, the other half still trapped inside Relinquished.

(Relinquished, ATK: 0 → 1900, DEF: 0 → 2300)

“Finally, whenever Relinquished is attacked by an opponent’s monster, that attack is redirected to the absorbed monster instead. Any battle damage is inflicted on the original controller of the absorbed monster!”

This was the monster that tormented both the Pharaoh and AIBO in the anime!

Now, Yugi was only a spectator, with Yuei as the challenger. Would he be able to overcome this monster?

It was simple! With just three cards, the duel could be ended!

“Hmph! Pegasus! Your so-called illusion monster ‘Relinquished’—I need only two cards to deal with it. And to end this duel, I need a third card!”

“What!?”

Yuei’s bold declaration shocked everyone—three cards to end the duel… Could one of them be ‘The Noble Power of the Knight of Hanoi’? From Pegasus’s description, this ‘Relinquished’ didn’t seem immune to the effects of Spell or Trap Cards.

“My turn, draw!”

Without further words, Yuei moved to prove his claim through action.

“Ace Goblet! Reveal! Draw two cards!”

“Next, I summon ‘Elemental Hero—Blazing Lady’ to attack!”

The lone female among the ‘Fantastic Four’ of the Elemental Heroes—but it was this very monster that would easily deal with Pegasus’s Ritual Monster.

“And now, I’ll use the card you gave me!”

He raised his right hand. The card was blank except for a single line of bold print in the card name slot.

“The Glory of the King’s Left Hand?!”

Indeed, the card in Yuei’s hand was the very one the butler had insisted be inspected before the duel—a card to challenge Pegasus.

“You said that if I lost this duel, this card would reveal the shape of my soul. So, during this duel, what kind of image will it show?”

As Yuei finished his question, something miraculous happened—

The card’s border slowly shifted from yellow to green, the blank illustration box gradually filling with red, and the card name slot changed to display the first two characters of a monster currently on the field.

“Spell Card ‘Blazing Return’, activate!”

Blazing Lady’s exclusive spell card!

Empowered by this spell, Blazing Lady was now as her name suggested—her entire body enveloped in roaring flames, yet her commanding presence undiminished.

“This Spell Card can only be activated when ‘Elemental Hero—Blazing Lady’ is on my field! Under its effect, all other ‘Elemental Hero’ monsters on my field, except Blazing Lady herself, return to my hand!”

Pegasus: “What?!”

Though Wildwing Hero had become an Equip Card for Relinquished, he was still a monster at heart; once returned to the deck by Blazing Return (Fusion Monsters are returned to the deck), Relinquished would be left utterly defenseless!

“And finally, the Spell Card ‘H – Heated Heart’! It gives Blazing Lady 500 extra attack points! Pegasus, this duel is over—I win!”

Gazing at the radiant and charismatic Blazing Lady before him, Yuei pointed at Pegasus with a V-shaped hand gesture, his other three fingers curled, and laughed.

Printing cards? Lucky draws? Nonono! Defeating the enemy with the enemy’s own card—that’s the true spirit of a Duel King!