"—Special Summon God·Immortal Phoenix!"
[The Winged Dragon of Ra] Level 10│DIVINE│Divine-Beast│? ATK
A massive body wreathed in divine flames, the Winged Dragon of Ra revived in its Immortal Phoenix form, soared above the abyss, and illuminated the night sky.
If the earth was being swallowed by the abyss of darkness, then the heavens were already shining with the light of the sun.
The strongest gods of light and darkness clashed and intertwined at this very moment.
On the ground, gazing up at the sun in the sky, Ren said in a daze: "The Winged Dragon of Ra… Is this the surging counterattack Miles has unleashed? It's shining even brighter than usual!"
Nova asked, "But Ra's Attack Points, if I remember correctly, equal the combined Attack of the three Tributed monsters, right? If it's Special Summoned directly from the Graveyard—"
[The Winged Dragon of Ra, ATK: 0]
Zero Attack Points. Revived from the Graveyard, Ra had no Attack Power. Yet the flames of the Immortal Phoenix burned hotter than ever.
"At the last moment, he revived a god with 0 Attack?" Irena gave a wry smile. "Somehow, that really fits his dueling style. Even in a hopeless situation, he still has to shock everyone."
"Not just shock!" Ren corrected her. "There's still more—there's a miracle!"
The Old Dominator Pope roared, "The Winged Dragon of Ra with only 0 Attack! Such a summon is meaningless!"
"Despite that, you're afraid, aren't you?"
Miles's words pierced straight into the Pope's heart.
"The meaning of the sun is to bring light to this world! To carve the path to victory—that is the meaning of Ra!"
Shouting toward the blazing phoenix in the sky, Miles activated Ra's unique effect upon revival.
"Immortal Phoenix's exclusive effect! When Special Summoned from the Graveyard, by paying 1000 Life Points, I can burn away every monster on your field!"
[If this card is Special Summoned from the Graveyard: Pay 1000 LP; send all monsters your opponent controls to the Graveyard.]
It doesn't destroy monsters—Immortal Phoenix sends them all to the Graveyard.
Pure destruction resistance cannot withstand Ra's Immortal Phoenix strike.
[Miles, LP: 2748 → 1748]
With Life as the offering, his soul once again linked with the divine. Transformed into the godly form of Aisha Yuna Carlos, her white short hair first turned gold under Ra's flames, then was dyed into a searing crimson by the Phoenix.
"No… impossible!"
The Pope instinctively wanted to step back, to avoid the onrushing waves of flame; regardless, at the top of the cathedral's bell tower, there was no way to retreat—one step back meant plunging into the abyss.
For the first time in his life, as both High Priest and Pope, he felt the urge to shrink away.
"Impossible!" he howled. "Even if the Phoenix can burn away all monsters, it cannot burn away the strongest Wicked God of the Abyss!"
Simple destruction resistance could not stop Phoenix's sending effect.
However, [The Wicked Avatar] possessed an absolute resistance: unaffected by any card effects, and cannot be Tributed.
With crimson hair and golden eyes, Miles controlled the divine form of Aisha Carlos. Her arm pointed toward the battlefield.
"Then what about your other monsters—and yourself? Can you withstand the Phoenix's flames? In this Shadow Game!"
Crying out, the Immortal Phoenix engulfed all the Pope's monsters in a blazing inferno, spreading its vast wings to blot out the sky.
"Now pray to your god, that your soul can withstand this strike! Ra, Winged Dragon of the Sun!"
In the Shadow Game, when monsters are destroyed, the effect manifests directly upon the Duelist.
Just like how Mokey Mokey shattered the Dogmatika follower and the Pope's mask last turn.
Now, the Phoenix flames were no different!
"—Immortal Phoenix!!"
Guided by Miles's roaring declaration, the Phoenix transformed into layers of overlapping flames, its massive wings crashing down upon the Pope's field.
In that instant, fire roared, a spiral inferno rose skyward, and a pillar of flame pierced through the cathedral bell tower.
The sound of blazing fire, of monsters being destroyed, of the Phoenix's cry—all intermingled with the Pope's soul screaming as it was consumed.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"You started this Shadow Game yourself, you used your own vile tricks first! Now repent in the flames of the God·Immortal Phoenix!"
He had sought to seize souls through the Shadow Game and forced Miles to hasten the duel by using the abyss's corruption.
And Miles simply returned the favor in kind.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
"Perish in divine fire, cultist!"
The pillar of fire erupted, the abyss dispersed, and even Norden, bearing the name of an Old God, burned away in the crimson blaze.
On the Pope's field, aside from the Wicked God, his two monsters—[Elder Entity Norden] and [Divine Knight Ishzark]—were all burned away to the Graveyard by the flames of Ra.
The Pope himself, after the flames subsided, was left smoking as though his entire body had been scorched.
Through the shattered mask, his pupils were unfocused, his trembling aged body like a flickering candle in the wind.
Aisha stammered, "Mr. Miles, d-did he… did he die?"
"Not yet, but he won't live long."
His soul disintegrating within the Shadow Game, with his broken soul and body, the Old Dominator Pope could no longer even Duel properly.
In the truest sense, when you cannot take down the monster, you take down the Duelist.
An outcome none could have expected—Miles had actually taken down his opponent himself.
"Then that's fine. It's over, right…"
Abruptly, then, before she could finish, a terrifying bird cry came from the sky.
It was not the call of the God·Immortal Phoenix.
Wreathed in raging black flames, the Wicked Avatar, which had not been sent to the Graveyard by Phoenix's effect, now underwent its final transformation after all other monsters had vanished from the field.
[The Wicked Avatar, ATK: 1]
The strongest Wicked God had become a blackened God·Immortal Phoenix.
Even as its controller, the Old Dominator Pope, had lost consciousness, the strongest Wicked God of the abyss, by its own will, condensed the form of the mightiest Egyptian God into itself.
"Pitiful human." The Pope's limbs twisted stiffly, yet from within his body came a voice like that of hell itself. "The Duel continues. You will not escape the abyss!"
...
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