Crossing the rainbow in her Magical Girl form, the alluring pink-clad Enkidu successfully evaded the terrifying burst of destructive energy unleashed by Utgarda, Generaider Boss of Delusion.
However, after the destructive energy pierced through the three Magical Girls and Lily monsters — none of whom could be targeted by the opponent's card effects — it instead chose to banish and shatter Hoshino's last Set card: Phantasm Summon.
[Phantasm Summon] banished.
"Yikes! If Phantasm Summon gets banished, we won't be able to recycle it anymore!" Akasha exclaimed uneasily.
Although the Magical Girl Deck relied on Fusion Summoning to make its plays, and Phantasm Summon could only be activated once per turn, whenever a Magical Girl Fusion Monster was sent to the Graveyard, they all shared an effect that let the player recover Phantasm Summon from the Graveyard back to the hand.
But once it was banished, recovering the Quick-Play Spell would, under normal circumstances, become nearly impossible.
"You're really showing absolutely no mercy, huh?" Hoshino sighed helplessly as she took the Set Phantasm Summon from her Duel Disk and placed it into the Banished Zone.
"Be careful. Even though Enkidu wasn't banished, the Chains of Heaven have already been broken," Kaiba warned.
The instant Utgarda, Generaider Boss of Delusion activated its own effect, it shattered the dense web of chains covering the field. From that point onward, it had completely broken free from Enkidu's effect that prevented it from declaring attacks.
The Dwarf King explained:
"After Tributing the two Rock monsters on its field to activate the banishing effect, Utgarda, Generaider Boss of Delusion has three monsters remaining on its field — the same number as Hoshino."
Enkidu's effect could only prevent the opponent from declaring attacks while the opponent controlled more monsters than its controller. If both players controlled the same number of monsters, the effect no longer applied.
"Mamma mia! Don't tell me its true objective from the very beginning wasn't banishing cards at all, but reducing its own monster count just so it could attack!" Crowler cried, clutching his head in disbelief.
Even after Tributing two Rock monsters, King Utgarda still had its main body, the Megalith, and two remaining Rock monsters capable of attacking.
And with the ATK those monsters possessed, if even one of them struck Jack or Illya directly, it would instantly wipe out both Hoshino and Yugi's remaining Life Points.
The Battle Phase continued.
After the energy burst from Utgarda's effect subsided, its main body immediately declared an attack on Jack on Hoshino's field.
"We're out of Set cards! What are we supposed to do now?!" Eve cried in despair.
"We're not out just yet! At the moment you declare an attack, I banish Wish Upon a Star from my Graveyard to activate its effect!"
[Wish Upon a Star Spell Card Effect: ②: When an opponent's monster declares an attack: You can banish this card and 1 Spell/Trap from your Graveyard; this effect becomes the effect of that banished card when it was activated. You can only activate this effect if you control 2 or more face-up "Magical Girl" monsters.]
Hoshino banished Wish Upon a Star from her Graveyard. Since Illya and Enkidu were both face-up Magical Girl monsters on her field, the activation requirements were perfectly met.
"So it copies the effect of a Spell or Trap banished from the Graveyard?" Minazuki guessed. "Most cards that can respond during an attack declaration are Trap Cards."
"I know! It has to be the Magic Cylinder Yugi Set earlier!" Akasha declared confidently.
"Even though it was destroyed before it could activate, Wish Upon a Star can still banish it from the Graveyard and use its effect to reflect the attack damage. Just what you'd expect from the king of defensive Traps!"
"Magic Cylinder alone won't be enough!" Kaiba immediately pushed back.
"Magic Cylinder can only reflect the attack of King Utgarda's main body. That amount of damage is insignificant against it now. Meanwhile, Hoshino would have no way to stop the remaining monsters' attacks."
While everyone was still wondering which card Hoshino intended to copy from the Graveyard, out on the ocean battlefield, Magical Girl Enkidu smiled gently as she took Swimsuit Illya's hand.
"Here we go, Illya. This is my very first mission as a Magical Girl. Please take care of me, Senpai~"
"S-Senpai?" Illya twitched at the corner of her eye.
"I feel like you're way more excited about this than I expected… Do you really want to be a Magical Girl that badly?"
"You never know unless you try. Perhaps I'll discover a kind of joy I've never experienced before."
As the light of Wish Upon a Star spread across the battlefield, a brand-new magical crest appeared where the fingertips of the girl and the "girl" touched.
Enkidu & Illya:
"Our wish — humanity's love, the future's hope, the path to victory! Gather, light of the stars, and bloom into miraculous magecraft!"
As Magical Girls Enkidu and Illya completed their joint incantation, the magic awakened from the Graveyard in response to King Utgarda's attack, instantly turning the tide of the Duel.
Hoshino declared:
"The Spell Card I banish together with Wish Upon a Star is…"
Yugi continued:
"Mystic Box!"
Just as Enkidu and Illya chanted in perfect harmony, Yugi synchronized with Hoshino's move, revealing the Spell Card he had previously discarded to the Graveyard through Morphing Jar.
[Mystic Box Spell Card Effect: Target 1 monster you control and 1 monster your opponent controls; destroy your opponent's targeted monster, then give your opponent control of your targeted monster.]
Activated directly from the Graveyard, a giant Magic Box appeared on the field without warning, trapping both Jack and Utgarda, Generaider Boss of Delusion inside.
"Huh? What's this? It looks really fun!" Jack's curious voice echoed from inside the box.
"With the effect of Mystic Box, I destroy Utgarda, Generaider Boss of Delusion, then transfer control of my Heroic Spirit – Jack the Ripper to you!"
The sound of shattering echoed across the sea as countless swords pierced through the box imprisoning Utgarda, Generaider Boss of Delusion.
[Utgarda, Generaider Boss of Delusion] destroyed.
When the blades were withdrawn and the box opened once more, the one who stepped out with an excited grin was none other than Heroic Spirit – Jack the Ripper, who had originally belonged to Hoshino.
"That was so much fun! Can we do it again? Jack wants to play some more! …Huh? Mommy, why are you all standing on the other side now?"
Hoshino Alter sighed.
["This silly child… She doesn't even realize she's been traded away. She's just far too innocent."]
"Now the number of monsters on both fields has changed once again! Go, Enkidu!"
After control of Jack was transferred, only Enkidu and Swimsuit Illya remained on Hoshino's field, once again satisfying the condition for Enkidu's attack-locking effect.
"— Magical Girl: Chains of Heaven!"
Magical Girl Enkidu raised her slender arm high above her head. From within her form-fitting Magical Girl outfit, countless chains extended once more, sealing the entire field.
Illya stared in amazement.
"Where are all those chains even coming from?!"
Ruby laughed.
"If you start questioning that now, you've already lost, Illya~"
Meanwhile, on King Utgarda's field, Jack was tightly bound from head to toe by the Chains of Heaven, yet her innocent smile never faded.
"After the box, now it's chains? This game is getting even more fun, Mommy~"
"Please stop talking, Jack," Hoshino said, clutching her chest as her guilty conscience began to ache. "Just hold out through this turn. I'll bring you back next turn, okay?"
King's Proof – All Things began to shine. After Utgarda, Generaider Boss of Delusion was destroyed by a card effect, its effect activated, selecting a Rock monster with a different name from the Graveyard — Fossil Dragon Skullgios, which had just been sent to the Graveyard as the activation cost — and Special Summoning it back to the field in Attack Position.
However, even the enormous fossilized dragon was immediately bound tightly by the Chains of Heaven the instant it was Special Summoned, leaving it completely unable to attack.
"Then… that completely shuts down this turn's offense."
Looking at the single remaining card in King Utgarda's hand, the Dwarf King finally let out a small sigh of relief.
"But merely stopping the attack has already taken this much effort… Have Hoshino and Yugi really found a way to turn this Duel around?"
With every monster on the field immobilized by the Chains of Heaven, King Utgarda chose to abandon its Battle Phase.
However, abandoning the Battle Phase didn't mean ending its turn.
Upon entering Main Phase 2, King Utgarda played the last card in its hand.
[Wave-Motion Cannon Continuous Spell Effect: During your Main Phase, you can send this card on the field to the Graveyard; inflict 1000 damage to your opponent for each of your Standby Phases that have passed since this card's activation.]
"After having all its attacks completely sealed, it's charging up Wave-Motion Cannon instead?! That's just cruel!" Eve shouted furiously.
On the monitor, a massive cannon materialized on King Utgarda's field, gradually gathering energy. With each of King Utgarda's Standby Phases, its direct damage would increase by 1000.
Hoshino and Yugi only had 1100 Life Points remaining.
Even without entering the Battle Phase, after just two of King Utgarda's turns, the cannon would have accumulated enough power for a guaranteed finishing blow.
In other words, Wave-Motion Cannon was undoubtedly the death countdown that King Utgarda had placed upon Hoshino and Yugi.
They had, at most, until Hoshino's next turn to decide the Duel.
Otherwise, they would lose automatically.
[King Utgarda LP 45000 → 55000]
"The final showdown has to be decided within these last two turns… against those remaining Life Points and King's Proof – All Things with its impregnable defense," Kaiba said grimly.
"It's over… There's no hope anymore!" Eve wailed.
"No."
"Two turns are enough."
"We can still win!"
"My turn! Draw!"
As his turn began, Yugi drew his card and, without the slightest hesitation, placed an Equip Spell into his Duel Disk.
"I activate the Equip Spell — D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation!"
[D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation Equip Spell Effect: ①: Discard 1 card, then target 1 of your banished monsters; Special Summon it in Attack Position and equip this card to it. When this card leaves the field, destroy that monster.]
A dimensional rift opened across the field.
By discarding one card as the activation cost, Yugi could return one of his banished monsters to the field.
"At a time like this, he's choosing to Special Summon a banished monster?" Zane wondered. "Is there a key monster in the Banished Zone?"
"I discard Slifer the Sky Dragon from my hand and Special Summon the monster Hoshino banished — Heroic Spirit – Merlin!"
"W-What?! He sent a God Card to the Graveyard?!" Kaiba exclaimed in shock.
"W-What?! He's summoning Merlin?!" Akasha cried out, equally surprised.
Flowers bloomed through magecraft.
Pink petals drifted across the sea beneath the night sky, creating a dreamlike scene of breathtaking beauty.
Amid the shower of blossoms, Merlin stepped lightly across the water's surface.
Yet unlike every other Duel Monster affected by Savior Mk. II's giant Duel Disk, he did not become gigantic.
[Heroic Spirit – Merlin ★★★★ (Level 4)][LIGHT][Spellcaster/Effect][ATK 1000/DEF 1000]
His body remained exactly the same as usual.
Like a gentle breeze sweeping across an open meadow, the Flower Magus Merlin appeared utterly out of place upon this colossal battlefield.
"Yo, Hoshino~! Your favorite Grand Caster candidate, Merlin the greatest magus among magi, has arrived to save the day!"
"You're just someone who only qualifies for Grand Caster but goes around pretending you've actually taken the position," Hoshino shot back. "More importantly… why are you the only one who's still normal-sized?"
"That… that's impossible!"
The Dwarf King's entire worldview seemed to shatter.
Staring fixedly at Merlin on the monitor — still his ordinary size — she looked as though she were witnessing something that simply could not exist.
"The giant projection technology used by Savior Mk. II is absolutely irreversible! Any Duel Monster materialized through the system should be incapable of maintaining its original form through its own will!"
"Hmm… how should I explain it?" Merlin smiled toward the monitor's camera.
"I simply didn't want to become gigantic, O King of the Dwarves~"
"'Simply didn't want to'…"
"…Just… such a casual reason…"
"…actually surpassed the system I devoted everything to creating…"
The Dwarf King blinked with hollow, lifeless eyes at Merlin on the monitor.
Oddly enough, she looked even more devastated than she had during the several moments in the previous turn when defeat had seemed inevitable.
"Lady King seems to have taken quite a blow…" Hoshino muttered. "Merlin, aren't you just a little too bad at reading the room?"
Merlin casually sat down cross-legged.
Gently tapping the ocean's surface with his staff, ripples spread across the sea, and within their reflection, the distant landscape of the Garden of Avalon seemed to appear beneath him.
"The reason I refused to become gigantic…"
"…is because only in this form can I accomplish what's about to come."
"After all…"
"…I intend to recreate a land overflowing with hope."
"…even if I have to stake my qualifications as a Grand Caster on it."