Pandora's Great Escape Show

"Alright, Beomseok. I'll watch your duel again."

"Yeah, thanks."

When Atem agreed to watch my duel, Pandora clicked his tongue in annoyance and declared he'd take me down first, then led us underground. He said he'd received orders from Marik to keep Atem entertained, so he'd face me before challenging Atem afterward.

Once we reached Pandora's stage, we shuffled each other's decks and walked to our positions.

Magician Pandora shuffled the cards the way stage magicians mix trick decks. Atem scolded him, warning that it would damage the cards, but Pandora simply replied that his original profession was a magician, so this method felt natural to him. There was no helping it.

And then...

The moment we took our places, shackles with keyholes suddenly clamped around our legs, and the massive saw blades began to spin.

"What the hell is this?"

"The conditions are the same for me. Neither of us can run from this place."

"Now, allow me to present the great escape show performed by Magician Pandora in stunning detail!"

Before he even finished speaking, the saw blades began spinning with ferocious speed.

"Hahaha!! Hahaha!!!! This is a rotating saw blade used for grand illusions! Do you understand the rules of this duel now? The survival points are written where the blade will pass!"

"So every time my survival points drop, the blade gets closer to my legs."

"Precisely! You'll taste true terror each time your survival points decrease! Now, look beneath your feet."

Following Pandora's cue, I glanced down. A box was rising into position as he continued.

"Inside that box is the key to unlock your leg shackles. Win the duel, and you earn your freedom."

Pandora then burst into mocking laughter, sneering at me. Atem watched with a shocked expression and began to grow angry, but Pandora shot back, "Once I crush this brat, you're next!" while glaring straight at me.

"Don't worry, Yugi. I'm the one who's going to win this."

With those words, I activated my Duel Disk. Pandora and I shouted together.

"Duel start!"

We each drew five cards and the match began.

My opening hand consisted of Magicians' Souls, Thousand Knives, The Eye of Timaeus, Dark Magical Circle, and Black Magic Explosion.

I would go first. I drew my card.

"I'll start things off! Draw!"

I looked at the card I'd drawn. It was a Black Magic spell card.

"I activate the Continuous Spell Dark Magical Circle!"

"Dark Magical Circle? What kind of card is that? I've never seen it before!"

"Dark Magical Circle? What is that card, Beomseok?"

Both Pandora and Atem stared at me with puzzled expressions, asking for an explanation.

I went ahead and explained Dark Magical Circle to them. Since it was a Continuous Spell, I needed to use its effect right away anyway.

"What?! A card like that actually exists?!"

Pandora looked at me in utter shock while Atem watched with clear interest.

I should give him some Black Magician support cards later. He's the protagonist, and he's one of the few main characters I actually liked.

I checked the top three cards. One was Dark Magician, another was Thousand Knives, and the third was a duplicate Black Magic card.

Obviously, I chose the summonable Dark Magician and showed it to Pandora.

"The card I choose is Dark Magician!"

"Wh-what?! You drew Dark Magician right away?!"

Pandora stared at me, completely stunned. Atem watched with equal surprise at the immediate summon.

I set the useless Thousand Knives face-down and ended my turn.

"You're ending your turn without summoning a single monster? My turn! I summon Magical Marionette..."

Wait a second... If he summons it in Attack Position and attacks, he'll destroy my monster immediately and start chipping away at my survival points... In that case...

"I summon it in Defense Position!"

Now I just need one more monster on the field as tribute fodder so I can summon Dark Magician...

Pandora ended his turn.

It was my turn again, so I drew a card. The card I pulled was the Black Magic Ritual, Revival of the Black Magician or something similar. Actually, it was Magician's Salvation? No, it was the card that revives from the graveyard. The text said it was "Black Magician's Resurrection Tube" but I knew it as a support card.

"I flip a card face-down and activate a monster effect!"

"What? There's nothing on your field! How can you activate a monster effect?!"

Pandora started getting angry, claiming this wasn't some children's duel.

But this was a real effect, so I explained it properly.

"Wh-what?! You can summon Dark Magician that way too?!"

When I explained Magicians' Souls, Pandora shouted at me with a look of pure disbelief.

I naturally activated the effect of Magicians' Souls.

"I send a Dark Magician from my Deck to the Graveyard, then send Magicians' Souls to the Graveyard as well. Come forth! Dark Magician!!!"

"You had another Dark Magician in your Deck?!"

Watching Pandora freak out again, I activated the effect of my Continuous Spell Dark Magical Circle.

"I activate the effect of Dark Magical Circle! When a Dark Magician is Normal or Special Summoned to my field, I can target one card on your field and banish it!"

"N-no!!"

"The card I banish is Magical Marionette! Begone!"

The moment I banished Pandora's Magical Marionette, his field was left completely empty.

I decided to use the line that Yugi and Atem always said.

"Dark Magician! Black Magic, aimed straight at Pandora!"

"Uwaaaaah...!!! Graaaaagh!!!"

My attack dropped Pandora's survival points from 4000 to 2500.

Once it hit 1500, the rotating saw blade moved noticeably closer to Pandora.

"Now then, Pandora... I believe you have a Dark Magician in your hand, don't you? You cut a card in half and glued it to the back of a Dark Magician so you could draw it no matter what."

"Ugh... So you noticed?"

"What? Is that true? Beomseok! If what you're saying is true, then Pandora, you have no pride as a duelist!"

At Atem's words, Pandora's face grew serious.

A magician always keeps one last trick up his sleeve to surprise the audience until the very end...

"You have quite the sense of humor, Yugi! I am a magician! And you are simply one member of the audience watching my magic show. Please sit back and enjoy my grand escape performance!"

When his turn ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠came, Pandora summoned Killer Tomato in Defense Position.

"Killer Tomato in Defense Position! I set one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠card face-down... and end my turn."

Pandora stared at me with cold eyes as he ended his turn.

That face-down was definitely a Trap. Since he hadn't used any card destruction like in the original story, there was no Dark Magician in his Graveyard. That meant it was likely a Trap that would activate when I summoned a monster.

"My turn. Draw."

I drew one card. It was Magician's Rod. If I summoned this monster, I could search for Black Magic Explosion, which destroys Spells and Traps.

But...

Alright. I'll play along with your little prank this once...

"I summon Magician's Rod in Attack Position!"

Got him!

"I flip my face-down card! Trap Card, Sly Trap Hole!"

"What?!"

I was surprised Pandora even had a card like that. Sly Trap Hole was a fairly common card, not particularly rare. It wasn't strange for him to have it.

"I have no Trap Cards in my Graveyard, so I can activate this. I'll send the Dark Magician and Magician's Rod on your field to the Graveyard!"

"Khh...! But Magician's Rod's effect still activates! I'll draw one card from my Deck with its effect! Then I set one card and end my turn."

In a single moment, I had lost both my Dark Magician and Magician's Rod.

But I wasn't worried. The card I drew with Magician's Rod was Magician Navigation. That meant I could summon a Dark Magician even on Pandora's turn.

"Hehehe... My turn! Draw!"

When Pandora's turn began, he drew his card and immediately began using yet another card I recognized.

"Then... I summon Magical Marionette in Attack Position once again! And I activate the Spell Card Double Summon!"

"Double Summon?!"

After activating Double Summon, Pandora laughed as he continued.

"Hehehe... I will tribute my Magical Marionette and Killer Tomato to summon the strongest magician! Come forth, Dark Magician!!!"

Pandora had summoned a Dark Magician. But this one looked different from the usual version. While mine wore purple and black robes, Pandora's wore a mix of red and black.

Hehehe... Now the real game begins...

"Dark Magician, attack! Black Magic!!!"

"Ughhhhh!!!"

I took the hit from Pandora's Dark Magician. The sudden impact brought an unexpected wave of pain. I finally understood why duelists always looked like they were suffering when they took damage.

The rotating saw blade on my side began moving closer.

"Beomseok!"

Atem called out to me in a worried voice when I took the hit. I raised a hand toward him, telling him not to worry.

Seeing this, Pandora set three cards and tried to end his turn. I immediately activated one of the cards he had just set.

"Trap Card, activate!"

"What?!"

Pandora looked shocked that I had activated a Trap so suddenly.

"Magician Navigation! I Special Summon one Dark Magician from my hand! Then I Special Summon one Level 7 or lower Spellcaster or DARK monster from my Deck!"

"What?! So you let my Dark Magician attack on purpose?!"

"That's right... I wanted to feel it once. To know exactly how much it hurts..."

"You crazy bastard!"

Pandora started cursing at me, his face saying he couldn't believe I'd taken the hit just to know what the pain felt like.

I summoned the Dark Magician from my hand and the other monster from my Deck.

"A Dark Magician has one disciple... Allow me to introduce her! Come forth! Dark Magician Girl!"

When I summoned her, the cute monster appeared on the field with an adorable expression. She even turned around, looked at me, and winked. They could implement something like that?

Whatever. It didn't matter. If I ever went to the Spirit World later, I planned to collect a few of the humanoid female monsters anyway.

"Now that Dark Magician is on the field... you know what that means, right, Pandora?"

"Huk!"

I activated Dark Magical Circle and banished one of Pandora's set cards. He looked confused, clearly wondering why I hadn't banished his Dark Magician instead.

His turn ended like that.

"My turn. Draw."

When my turn came back around, I drew a card. It was Chocolate Magician Girl. I didn't need to summon her right now.

"I activate the Spell Card Thousand Knives! Destroy his Dark Magician!"

"Khh...! I activate the Counter Trap, King's Insight! I negate Thousand Knives and destroy it!"

Pandora used the Counter Trap King's Insight to negate my Thousand Knives.

I looked at Pandora and spoke.

"Pandora... Let ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me introduce you to a very special monster. I activate the Spell Card The Eye of Timaeus!"

"The Eye of Timaeus?"

I explained the card to Pandora. Since explaining it in detail would be tedious, I'll skip that part here.

[The card effect is too long so it's a bit much...]

"Come forth! Dark Magician the Super Sorcerer!"

"What the hell... is that thing?!"

Pandora looked utterly horrified at the fusion monster I had summoned. When I declared my attack, he activated the Trap Card Tragedy of the Guillotine, targeting and destroying my Super Sorcerer.

Watching my fusion monster get destroyed, Pandora began laughing at the lone Dark Magician Girl left on my field.

"Ahahaha! Now all that's left is that Dark Magician Girl? A 2000 ATK monster will soon be sent to the graveyard by my Dark Magician, and then you'll be next... Wait... What?!"

When he noticed the Dark Magician on my field, Pandora's face filled with shock.

"N-no... How?! Why is there a Dark Magician on your field?! D-don't tell me...!"

Pandora couldn't finish his sentence.

I spoke to him calmly.

"That's right, Pandora. Just as you feared."

"When Dark Magician the Super Sorcerer is destroyed, I can Special Summon a Dark Magician or Dark Magician Girl from my Graveyard to the field. Are you ready, Pandora?"

Using the effect of the fusion monster I had summoned, I Special Summoned the Dark Magician that was sleeping in my Graveyard. My Dark Magician immediately attacked Pandora's Dark Magician.

"Graaaaagh!!!!"

"The Dark Magicians destroyed each other...! What's left is the Dark Magician Girl... What?!"

Pandora ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠looked at the Dark Magician Girl's attack power and froze.

Her attack power had risen to 2900.

It seemed he'd realized the effect. He shouted at me.

"Wh-what?! Does Dark Magician Girl inherit the power of the Dark Magician in the Graveyard?! So you let them destroy each other on purpose?!"

"Exactly. Dark Magician Girl gains the power of the Dark Magicians in the Graveyard... Pandora, you who doesn't value your cards. It's time to pay for your sins!"

"Go! Dark Magician Girl! Black Burning!"

"Hiiiiiiik!!!! Graaaaaaaaaaagh!!!!!!!!!!!"

Pandora looked terrified at the sight of the incoming attack and tried to run, but the shackles around his ankles kept him in place. He couldn't escape. He took the full force of Dark Magician Girl's attack, his survival points dropping straight to zero.