087 Copy Card: Sun God, Descend!

A scorpion. A colossal scorpion, its hide the color of blood!

Where a face should have been, the creature bore only a head with a gaping maw of savage fangs, and upon the skin of its back there was an organ shaped like the eye of eternity.

"The divine beast, the sacred guardian sealed within the temple's holy reliquary, is the guardian of the sacred card!"

"A sacred card? ...No way! That reliquary holds...!"

The one who had seemed to exist in the background all this time suddenly spoke up, making his presence felt at last. After the others cast him an oblique glance, they all turned in shock to stare at the enormous reliquary at the highest point of the temple behind the priest, their eyes fixed upon it.

"That's right! The card sealed within the holy reliquary is the third god card, apart from the Dragon of the Heavenly Underworld, the Sky Dragon of Osiris, and the Earth-Destroying God, Obelisk—the Sun Phoenix, the Winged Dragon of Ra!"

The two brothers played their parts in perfect harmony, while the others watching the duel gasped in impressed surprise.

Because the divine beast was a monster summoned through a special ritual, it could not attack on the turn it was brought forth. Just as the priest was about to declare the end of his turn, however, the one called Nam—the true Malik—used the power of the Millennium Rod to speak with him mind to mind.

"Priest!"

"Lord Malik?"

"Priest! On this turn, summon the replica card sealed in the holy reliquary—the Sun God!"

"What?!"

At the command from his lord Malik, the priest was utterly stunned. Outwardly, his eyes flew wide in unmistakable shock.

"That sudden surprise... He is in telepathic communication with Malik," Yuji observed, catching the change in the priest's expression and, recalling how the two were portrayed interacting in the original anime, quickly deduced the reason for that abrupt shift.

"Lord Malik! I... can I really summon the replica Sun God?"

This had not happened before. Within their organization, there had been countless occasions on which the replica Sun God was summoned during duels.

But every single time, the one who used the replica Sun God was the first to suffer its punishment!

At best, they would be left grievously wounded; at worst, they would die outright, or remain forever unconscious, reduced to a vegetative state.

As for the opponent, though they too would be punished, the severity of that punishment was far lighter than that borne by the user of the replica Sun God—though it still inflicted tremendous harm on both body and spirit.

"The replica of a god card possesses the power to reflect the heart of the duelist who uses it!"

"And for the Tomb Keeper clan, which has stood for three thousand years, surely we can make even a god our servant!"

"Priest! You survived as a member of the Tomb Keeper clan. With your indomitable will, I believe you can surely command the god card's substitute!"

"But I..."

The priest seemed about to protest, but Malik in his mind frowned slightly before smoothing his expression again and continuing.

"If you can use the replica god card, then I think my late father will acknowledge you as his son as well! Not a servant, but a true member of the Tomb Keeper clan, just like me!"

"..."

He remembered his former self, kneeling that night before his adoptive father—the biological father of Malik, the current chieftain of the Tomb Keeper clan—in order to truly become one of them, in order to shoulder Malik's burden of inheriting the clan's sacred mark.

And the result was—

A candelabrum smashed against him, and his adoptive father shouted at him furiously, threatening that he was never again to mention the matter of the Tomb Keeper inheritance!

Taking a deep breath, the priest withdrew from the telepathic exchange. His gaze hardened. He reached to his belt and removed the counterfeit Millennium Rod, then addressed Yuji across the field.

"Next, I shall prove that I am the true Malik! The card that best proves I am the wielder of a god card!"

The card that best proves it... No way!

In an instant, everyone's eyes turned toward the massive reliquary placed at the highest point of the temple behind him.

"Before I summon the god, I will first activate the special power of the divine beast, Serket."

Though it could not attack on the turn it was summoned, that did not prevent the priest from preparing for the god's descent.

"Serket! Devour the two trap monsters on my field!"

"What?"

At the priest's declaration, everyone froze. Devour his own monsters? What kind of bizarre move was that?

Quite literally, Serket opened its two huge claws, pinched up the two Apophis monsters, and stuffed them into its enormous maw one after the other, chewing them down.

As Serket devoured them, the three-dimensional projection system whirred to life and displayed Serket's new data.

(Divine Beast Serket, ATK: 2500 -> 3300 -> 4100, DEF: 2000 -> 2900 -> 3800)

"Serket's special ability is to absorb half the power of the monster it devours and convert it into its own strength, thereby empowering itself!"

The priest said this with a calm expression, speaking complete nonsense with serene confidence.

Yuji: "..."

As expected of Priest Hideki, he could spout nonsense without even changing expression.

"Now! The time of the god card's descent is at hand!"

With that, a streak of green light flew out from within the priest's body, while Serket itself transformed into a massive ribbon of red radiance. The two lights flew together into the temple's holy reliquary, where they were absorbed by the card sealed within—the replica Sun God.

"To summon the card sealed within the holy reliquary, the guardian divine beast Serket must be sacrificed! And so must half of my own life points!"

(Priest: 3400 LP -> 1700 LP)

"O soul of the god sleeping within the holy reliquary! Awaken! Descend upon this world now!"

With the priest's devout chant, the holy reliquary in the temple began to glow gold from within. As the lid opened, the light grew ever brighter, and before the eyes of all present, the immense three-dimensional card slowly rose from the reliquary.

(The descent of the Sun God BGM—"Power of the Millennium"—begins to play!)

"Boom!"

A pillar of golden light shot heavenward!

The once-clear sky was instantly swallowed by clouds.

And the very next moment after the heavens darkened, the golden column expanded to staggering size in an instant.

Its width alone rivaled an entire duel blimp.

Under the tense, exhilarated gaze of the onlookers, a dark silhouette slowly emerged from the depths of the golden pillar. When the golden light finally vanished, the immense golden figure stood revealed in the sky!

"Yitoyo! Great god!!"

At the priest's call, the golden figure gradually revealed its true form.

(The descent of the god BGM—"Divine Descent"—begins to play!)

"The Winged Dragon of Ra, descend!!!"