"When summoning Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes, all cards in hand must be discarded. Using this, I discarded the Magic Card 'Card of Compensation' from my hand."
The Judge drew cards from the card deck.
"This card, when sent from hand to graveyard, allows you to draw two cards from the card deck."
Now, his voice had become increasingly sharp, contrasting sharply with his previously calm and composed tone.
"To win now, you must defeat Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes... of course, that's impossible.
Now that Vennominaga has appeared, the duel is essentially over!"
The Judge took a step forward, green light surging in his eyes.
"No matter who you are, you will be destroyed along with the Pharaoh's spirit and the Phantom God that should have long been buried!
Attack of Vennominaga!"
At the same time as he spoke, he drew a handful of cards from the card deck with a flourish and threw them out stylishly in a 'Hell Caesar.JPG' pose, cards flying everywhere.
"Each time Vennominaga attacks, ten cards from the top of the card deck must be sent to the graveyard to be able to attack." The Judge said, "But it doesn't matter, you no longer have another turn.
Attack 'Winged Divine Dragon of Ra'!"
The Snake God couldn't wait and opened its huge mouth, a pitch-black vortex swirling to form a spiral shock wave, blasting towards the Winged Divine Dragon!
"Activate the effect of the Divine Phoenix once again." Yugen said, "Pay 1000 Life Points to destroy all opponent's monsters!"
[Yugen, LP 1800→LP 800]
Everyone was even more shocked.
"Does the ability of the Phantom God not have any limit to once per turn?!"
To be able to destroy the entire field during the opponent's turn without a limit to once per turn... what kind of defiance is this?
No wonder back in the day, they said in the Dueling Realm, possessing one of the Three Phantom Gods would make you invincible. Such terrifying power, let alone ten years ago, even now with the development of the Dueling Realm, ordinary duelists and card decks facing this power are reduced to being at a complete disadvantage, almost unable to resist.
Even Yugen had to admit that the animation effect of the Winged Divine Dragon was quite powerful, and it reminded him of an old friend called 'Celestial Thunder', the feeling of using them was somewhat similar...
The Phoenix charged once again!
The unstoppable divine flame swept across the entire opponent's field, burning everything. The Undying Flame ignited the sky and earth, even the clouds seemed to fall into a sea of fire.
The Judge gritted his teeth.
Within the Triple Barrier of Orichalcos, Vennominaga possesses complete immunity to the effects of magic and traps, with its only weakness being monster effects. However, Vennominaga also possesses resistance to effect destruction, which should somewhat compensate for this weakness.
Though after being made into a physical card, Vennominaga was modified to be a mere Reptile Race with no card appeal, in the animation it was a genuine Phantom Divine Beast.
And in the anime environment, the Divine Race has very strict hierarchical divisions, which directly affect whether the resistance and destructive effects can work against the opponent.
Just like in Duel City, the resistance to monster effects possessed by the Sky Dragon controlled by Atom was nullified in front of Malik's Winged Divine Dragon, but all effects of the Sky Dragon and Giant Divine Soldiers were ineffective against the Winged Divine Dragon. And in the comics, the effects of Atom's Sky Dragon and Giant Divine Soldiers were also ineffective against 'Evil God: Divine Incarnation', the highest-ranking of the Three Evil Gods, only the Winged Divine Dragon, belonging to the same highest ranks, could hurt 'Divine Incarnation'.
The comics, in fact, have a special magic card for the Divine Race that can elevate the divine tier, the Magic Card 'Divine Evolution'. In the comics, Atom used this card to temporarily elevate the Giant Divine Soldiers to the same tier as the Sun God, allowing the Giant Divine Soldiers to ignore the resistance of the higher tier 'Evil God: Divine Incarnation'.
Vennominaga also belongs to the Divine Race and naturally is subject to the hierarchical influence of divine tiers. If facing a higher tier divine effect, its destruction resistance naturally becomes ineffective.
Yugen, in fact, was not entirely certain if this strike would be effective against Vennominaga. After all, in the animation, the Phantom Gods and Vennominaga had no real comparisons. But the Winged Divine Dragon in Phoenix form should be top-tier in the Divine Race, so at least it's worth a try.
"Unwanted Phantom God." The Judge said sternly, "Then Speed Attack Magic 'Forbidden Sacred Garment', let one monster on the field lose 600 Attack Power until the end of the turn, cannot be targeted by card effects, and cannot be destroyed by effects.
I choose to use this card's effect to protect 'Vennominaga'!"
It wasn't clear if the Judge knew that Vennominaga couldn't withstand the flames of the Phoenix, or if he wasn't confident and wanted to play it safe—after all, at this point, he couldn't afford to take risks anymore. His victory or defeat was completely tied to Vennominaga. If Vennominaga was destroyed by the Phoenix, he would lose directly.
"The Triple Barrier of Orichalcos makes my monster unaffected by the opponent's magic trap effects, but my own effects are effective. And Vennominaga's Attack Power is infinite, reducing 600 points has no effect." The Judge said, "Phoenix's destruction becomes invalid!"
In DM, the effect description for the Winged Divine Dragon is "eliminate all monsters on opponent's field." However, at the time, effect text descriptions were already not standardized, thus some believe this "eliminate" means directly sent to the graveyard rather than effect destruction.
But this claim was overturned when the Winged Divine Dragon guest appeared in GX. By the GX era, the rules were more perfected, and the text was relatively standard compared to the previous generation. Franz explicitly stated that he destroyed all monsters on the opponent's field when using the Winged Divine Dragon effect.
The flames of the Phoenix returned void, while Vennominaga hissed triumphantly, like it was smugly satisfied.
"Vennominaga is invincible." The Judge shouted, "And this ends, shatter it, Winged Divine Dragon!"
The Snake God unleashed a chaotic vortex from its mouth, striking back at the Winged Divine Dragon. But the Divine Phoenix crossed its wings protectively across its front, forming what seemed to be a flowing barrier of flames!
The overbearing vortex exploded against the barrier, causing a dramatic shock wave to expand. The sky rumbled like thunderclouds, the ocean around the island swirled with turbulent winds, waves roared, and the entire island seemed to shake under the impact of the two divine forces, as if it were about to be overturned by divine power.
The same goes for Kida!
The flames dissipated, the Phoenix remained standing, and its fiery cloak endured the infinite strike from the Serpent God, only appearing to burn more fiercely. The flames persisted, the divine bird screeched loudly, and Yugen stood unscathed under the protection of the Divine Phoenix.
[Yugen, LP 800]
"Nani?" The Judge was astonished, "Even the infinite attack of the Snake God Vennominaga is ineffective!?"
I'm already infinite, why can't I affect you?
"What a pity. When the Winged Divine Dragon is Special Summoned, it transforms into the 'Divine Phoenix' state, unaffected by any card effects, cannot be destroyed by battle, and the battle damage to the player is also 0."
"Tch, troublesome Phantom God." The Judge snorted coldly, "But the Phoenix's effect only lasts for one turn, the summoned god cannot remain on the field indefinitely."
"I know."
Yugen nodded.
"The Special Summoned 'Winged Divine Dragon of Ra' must be sent to the graveyard at the end of this turn. Sleep for now, Winged Divine Dragon."
The Phoenix glared at the Serpent God one last time, but its time expired, and its divine power was exhausted. The fiery armor faded from its body, and the flames of the divine bird gradually diminished, disappearing into Yugen's Duel Disc, falling silent for now.
The departure of the Winged Divine Dragon was like the setting sun. Light and dark had been in balance, but with its disappearance, darkness immediately gained the upper hand.
The body of the Snake God Vennominaga released an endless darkness, enveloping the world like the deepest night ever, yet obscuring all the starlight, not a single star could be seen.
The Sun God departed, but the Evil God still stood. Everyone's spirits sank abruptly as the Winged Divine Dragon vanished, feeling as if the future was as dark as this encompassing darkness, devoid of hope.
"The Evil God with infinite attack power, even watching from the sidelines, makes it hard to breathe..." Marufuji Ryo murmured.
He didn't finish speaking, but everyone understood his meaning.
What kind of pressure must Yugen, who had to face and battle this entity on the field, be under?
"...Although the Winged Divine Dragon retired during the End Phase, the effect of the 'Subspace Material Transmission' has also ended."
Yugen revealed a card in his hand.
A ripple spread through the air, and from the transparent vortex, a steel twin-headed dragon emerged amidst surging electric currents onto the field. Metal components clinked with crisp friction sounds, and the Steel Giant Dragon sang its long cry.
"Cyber Twin Dragons returns to my field."
[Cyber Twin Dragons, Attack Power 2800]
"Twin Dragons..."
Marufuji Ryo watched as his former proud monster returned, yet there was no pride or comfort in his heart. Even in front of the Serpent God Vennominaga, the Twin Dragons appeared exceedingly feeble...
...No, perhaps it should be said that all regular monsters stand no chance against this entity.
Even the god-level monster 'Blue-Eyes Light Dragon' that Kaiba showcased defied normal logic, but in this scenario was powerless and no match for the Serpent God Vennominaga.
"My turn, draw a card."
Yugen drew a card.
The voice carried no sorrow or joy, calm and steady. There was no blood-boiling passion when facing a strong adversary as Judai might have, yet there was no fear either.
Although Marufuji Ryo's dueling style was far from aligning with the Master of the Yellow Robe, seeing his actions and reactions now, he couldn't help but secretly admire him.
Even when facing such an opponent, in such a situation, there was no retreat, not even the slightest hesitation.
"Activate the Magic Card 'Spider Silk', allowing me to add a card sent to the graveyard by the opponent one turn ago to my hand." (Original Card)
Yugen said.
"The card I want to retrieve from your graveyard is this one—
—Magic Card 'Revive the Dead'!"