"Eighteen thousand against forty-five thousand — Hoshino-nee and Yugi-nii still have the field advantage, at least!" Akasha said excitedly.
That one Golden Victory Sword, which pulled their Life Points back up from the brink, made Savior Mk. II standing over the sea look even more imposing.
"And because Magical Girl – Miyu was banished as Fusion Material, her own effect can activate to recover her and add her to the hand!"
By adding the banished Miyu back to the hand, Hoshino gained at least one more chance to transform a Magical Girl monster on the field.
Minazuki said: "Also, King Utgarda can only use the one card it drew this turn. As long as our output keeps up, we can grind those Life Points down no matter how many there are!"
No sooner had he spoken than King's Proof activated its once-per-turn effect, adding a Rock monster from the Deck to the hand.
"Uh, I miscounted. It should be two usable cards…" Minazuki added awkwardly.
"Wait, that Rock monster isn't Morphing Jar?" Yugi said, glancing at the stone slab card King Utgarda had added to its hand.
[FLIP: Both players discard as many cards as possible from their hands, then each player draws 5 cards.]
"So it was trying to use Morphing Jar to replenish its hand all at once." Hoshino understood. "But since it's a Flip Effect, even if it's Normal Summoned face-down this turn, it won't activate until next turn at the earliest."
King Utgarda Normal Summoned the stone slab card in face-down Defense Position onto the sea. There was no need to think too hard about it — it was almost certainly Morphing Jar.
Hoshino Alter said: ["In that case, King Utgarda shouldn't have much room to maneuver this turn. It can probably only recover something like ten thousand Life Points at most."]
"'Only' recover ten thousand Life Points?" Hoshino's mouth twitched slightly. "The happiness of the rich really is plain and unadorned, huh."
However, just as everyone assumed King Utgarda would simply end its turn and wait for Morphing Jar to flip next turn to replenish its hand, a golden ray of sunlight shot out from the face-down Defense Position stone slab card.
[Book of Taiyou Spell Card Effect: Target 1 face-down monster on the field; change that target to face-up Attack Position.]
The Dwarf King immediately sensed the danger. "A Spell that forcibly flips a face-down monster… Could it be that it searched Morphing Jar this turn because it already had this card?!"
Bathed in the radiance of Book of Taiyou, the monster hidden beneath the face-down stone slab — an enormous Morphing Jar with a row of neat teeth and huge eyeballs — materialized and flipped face-up, as though mocking the ignorance of everyone present.
[Morphing Jar ★★ (Level 2)][EARTH][Rock/Flip/Effect][ATK 700/DEF 600]
Then the black face extending from the jar swallowed everything — the virtual hands belonging to Hoshino and Yugi held by Savior Mk. II, as well as the stone slab card King Utgarda had placed before itself.
"After both sides discard all their hands, they each draw 5 cards. Then since those cards are going to be discarded anyway, I'll chain Magical Girl – Miyu's effect!"
Using Miyu's effect, Hoshino transformed Miyu's form. Golden armor replaced the pure-white outfit and equipped itself onto Miyu.
"— Fusion Summon! Magical Girl – Gilgamesh Miyu!"
[Magical Girl – Gilgamesh Miyu ★★★★★★★★ (Level 8)][EARTH][Warrior/Fusion/Effect][ATK 2000/DEF 2000]
["Magical Girl – Miyu" + "Heroic Spirit – Gilgamesh Child"]
After the chained effect of Magical Girl – Miyu resolved, Morphing Jar's effect then sent Hoshino's last remaining hand card to the Graveyard before she drew 5 cards from the Deck.
"Being able to replenish our hand is nice, but if the front line keeps getting stretched out, this is only going to get more troublesome."
If possible, Hoshino would rather not replenish her hand at all and instead let King Utgarda end the turn immediately, so that Yugi could launch a counteroffensive next turn and slightly narrow the Life Point gap.
"If their Life Points keep going up like this, Yugi, why not just have the Winged Dragon of Ra hit it with an infinite-power punch?" Hoshino suggested.
"That wouldn't work, Hoshino…" Yugi said with a helpless smile. "After all, the Winged Dragon of Ra is a Divine-Beast Type, so even infinite ATK wouldn't really mean much here. We need to think of another way."
"Damn it, this Rock monster restriction is so annoying!" Hoshino clicked her tongue in frustration. "At this point, the two worlds have already merged. Whether this method can even completely erase a King of the Void World is still unknown."
The Dwarf King quickly added: "Even if the two worlds have merged, if the concept they represent hasn't changed, then the win condition hasn't changed either. This isn't the time to be willful, Hoshino."
"Fine, fine, I know! I was just complaining a little!" Hoshino puffed out her cheeks unhappily. "I'll keep going, all right?! The effect of Magical Girl – Gilgamesh Miyu activates —"
[When this card is Fusion Summoned: You can Set 1 Equip Spell from your Deck to your field.]
"I Set the Equip Spell Key of the King's Law to the back row!"
After King Utgarda's hand was replenished to 5 cards, it resumed its main phase after Hoshino Set the Equip Spell.
And unlike the previous endless stream of Rock monsters being Ritual Summoned in succession, when King Utgarda's turn resumed, the Continuous Spell stone slab King's Proof in its back row suddenly shattered.
"Hm? King's Proof disappeared? Did it run out of energy?" Eve asked hopefully, as if she could see a glimmer of light.
"Sorry, but your hopes may be misplaced." The Dwarf King looked at the card information on the monitor with a complicated expression. "King Utgarda's King's Proof didn't disappear — it evolved."
[King's Proof – All Things Continuous Spell Card Effect: You can activate this by Tributing "King's Proof" you control, if your LP are 40,000 or more.]
"Forty thousand Life Points… even the activation condition is outrageous," Minazuki said in shock.
"I've never heard of a King that can have two King's Proof cards!"
Eve angrily waved her fist. If she weren't trapped inside Savior Mk. II, she probably would have torn King Utgarda apart with her bare hands.
"A King's Proof that's practically cheating is already bad enough with just one! How are we supposed to fight two of them?!"
"That's why I warned you from the beginning that the remaining three Kings are absurdly abnormal. Any judgment made from a normal perspective probably doesn't apply to them."
The true body was Summoned, and as the effect of King's Proof – All Things resolved, King Utgarda Special Summoned itself from the Deck in Attack Position.
[Utgarda, Generaider Boss of Delusion ★★★★★★★★★ (Level 9)][LIGHT][Rock/Effect][ATK 2200/DEF 2700]
Fortunately, even though its true body had been Special Summoned onto the field, there was no second image of King Utgarda appearing. Otherwise, with a body that enormous, two of them would have been enough to blow up the entire battlefield.
"So you Summoned yourself, huh? Planning to go head-to-head?" Hoshino raised her middle finger and taunted it. "My Primal Being Token is sitting at 16600 ATK on the field. If you've got the guts, come ram your stone head into it!"
As if responding to Hoshino's provocation, the indescribable entity hidden beneath the sea let out several eerie cries.
["Aibo, isn't the true form of that thing Cthulhu? Why does it sound so creepy…"]
In some versions of the Cthulhu mythos, it is said that the incomprehensible Old Ones parasitized Earth from the cosmos by riding the impact of a comet. That legend is very close to the effect of Nibiru, the Primal Being.
"What's there to be afraid of? Just think of it as Abby, and that should be fine, right~?"
Continuing its turn, King Utgarda — unable to overcome the ATK gap with its true body alone — slammed a Spell Card slab from its hand onto the field. A dim hexagram spread from beneath the card, covering the sea.
[Owner's Seal Spell Card Effect: Return control of all monsters on the field to their owners.]
"Damn it, why does it have that card?! It must have been printed on the spot!" Hoshino, who had just been trying to keep up a fearless front and had even taunted it moments ago, completely lost her swagger in an instant.
Tokens were, of course, also monsters. And the effect of Owner's Seal was to return control of the Primal Being Token that King Utgarda had Summoned onto Hoshino's field back to its own.
["Printed on the spot… Maybe this King Utgarda card was made specifically to work with Nibiru, the Primal Being. Now that I think about it, even though the Token was Summoned onto your field, Aibo, it never actually posed any threat to King Utgarda at all."]
Not only had it failed to threaten King Utgarda, King Utgarda had even absorbed 16600 Life Points from the exchange. That treacherous creature wasn't even this professional.
Minazuki asked in confusion: "Return to the original owner… then what if my Deck is borrowed?"
Akasha replied: "Then of course you have to return it… (`Д´)ﾉ This is not the time to be making dumb jokes!"
As the sea began to ripple, the Primal Being Token hidden beneath the water wriggled its incomprehensible, colossal body and returned from Hoshino's field to King Utgarda's.
"I treated you with complete sincerity, and you betrayed me this easily. Damn it!"
Losing a monster with 16600 ATK was, of course, heartbreaking.
And the most fatal part was that the monster with 16600 ATK had now crossed over to the opposing side.
"Since you refuse to be decent, don't blame me for being harsh! The effect of Magical Girl – Gilgamesh Miyu activates!"
After control changed, Hoshino immediately triggered Gilgamesh Miyu's effect, sending a rain of golden Noble Phantasms crashing down into the seawater where the Primal Being Token lurked.
[Once per turn: You can send 1 Equip Spell from your hand or field to the Graveyard; destroy 1 monster your opponent controls. This effect can also be activated during your opponent's turn.]
"I send the Equip Spell Azrael from my hand to the Graveyard to activate this effect. I choose to destroy the Primal Being Token!"
"— Take this! 'Gate of Babylon'!"
Along with Miyu's cry, directing the light of the Noble Phantasms, the Gate of Babylon unleashed a merciless barrage that pierced the water's surface and triggered an enraged howl from the incomprehensible monster.
[Morphing Jar] destroyed
"Hey, hey, why did it destroy Morphing Jar? Miyu, did you miss your target?" Hoshino asked blankly.
"No way, Master. All of the Noble Phantasms hit the target with perfect accuracy. There's no chance of a miss!" Miyu said with confidence.
"Miyu didn't miss. The destruction effect was forcibly redirected." The Dwarf King looked at the King's Proof – All Things effect that had just activated on the monitor and explained:
"The effect of King's Proof – All Things — when a Rock monster you control would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can choose another Rock monster you control to be destroyed instead."
"Why are you only telling me that now when it's so important?!"
"Because before King's Proof – All Things officially activated, I didn't know either! In any case, Hoshino, you were careless and wasted a precious destruction opportunity!"
After the Dwarf King and Hoshino finished trading blame, on King Utgarda's field, the shattered giant Morphing Jar burst open from within, and the Megalith statue Megalith Phaleg emerged, brandishing its stone spear.
[Megalith Phaleg ATK 2500 → 4000]
"That should be the final effect of King's Proof – All Things." The Dwarf King stared intently at the monitor and said with certainty:
"That effect is — when a Rock monster you control is destroyed, you can activate this to Special Summon a differently named Rock monster from the Graveyard!"
"Wait, let me confirm that effect first!" Hoshino and Yugi, having instantly grasped the key point, asked at the same time:
"Does that effect have a once-per-turn restriction?"
The Dwarf King said in despair: "No… As long as King Utgarda wants to, whenever a Rock monster it controls is destroyed, it can Special Summon another Rock monster from the Graveyard infinitely. In other words, the moment King's Proof – All Things activated, we had already lost any chance of breaking through the wall King Utgarda had built."
"Utterly hopeless… it's all over, no ne!" Crowler, sprawled on the floor, lost even the strength to stand after hearing the final effect of King's Proof – All Things.
Eve also sank into despair and sat down on Crowler's lap. "How are we supposed to fight this? There's absolutely no hope at all!"
"Hoshino!"
"Yugi!"
However, after exchanging a glance, Hoshino and Yugi were the complete opposite of the despairing atmosphere around them. After confirming King's Proof – All Things' final effect with the Dwarf King, they almost shouted in unison:
"We can win! At last, we've found it — the only breakthrough this Duel, abnormal as it is to the extreme, has shown us!"