The Final Duel and the Airship to the Finals
"Hahaha! There's nothing left on your field! It's my turn! Draw!"
Marik drew a card as his turn began. He then tribute summoned his Magician's Valkyria to bring out the Black Magician Girl. Next, he activated a spell card from his hand.
"Spell card, Sage's Jewel! If a Black Magician Girl exists on the field, I can special summon a Black Magician from my hand or deck!"
And just like that... a Black Magician began to appear on Marik's field. The one he summoned wore deep red robes, just like the Black Magician that had belonged to Pandora. Having summoned it, Marik immediately declared an attack.
"Black Magician, attack! Black Magic!"
"Gaaah...!!!"
I took the full brunt of the Black Magician's attack. My life points, which had been at 4000, plummeted to just 1500. Marik laughed mockingly, his voice dripping with ridicule.
"Hahaha! You have no chance of winning now! That's why you should have accepted my offer when I proposed a deal! Hahaha!"
"It's not over yet! Monster effect, activate!"
"What?!"
When I announced that I was activating a monster effect, Marik looked at me with an expression that said he thought I was talking nonsense.
"The monster effect I'm activating is Magician's Kuriboh... During the Main Phase or Battle Phase of the turn I took damage from battle or a card effect, I can send Magician's Kuriboh from my field to the graveyard to special summon one Black Magician or Black Magician Girl from my deck or graveyard!"
After explaining the effect, I special summoned a monster from my deck.
"Come forth... Black Magician!"
I special summoned the Black Magician using Magician's Kuriboh's effect. But Marik's expression didn't change at all.
"Hmph...! What can you possibly do with just one Black Magician? I'll set one card and end my turn."
"It's my turn! Draw!"
The card I drew was the Eye of Timaeus. In my hand, I also held two Thousand Knives and one Dark Magic Attack. I immediately activated both Thousand Knives to destroy Marik's Black Magician and Black Magician Girl, then tried to activate Dark Magic Attack to wipe out all of his spells and traps.
Marik countered with the trap card King's Insight, protecting his Black Magician from destruction. Now only our Black Magicians remained on the field... To deal with Marik's, I would have to force a suicide attack. But... I had Magical Rise Fusion in my hand.
"Then... I activate Magical Rise Fusion! By banishing five Magician-type monsters from my graveyard—Black Magician, Magician of Black Chaos, Chocolate Magician Girl, Berry Magician Girl, and Kiwi Magician Girl—I fusion summon the strongest magician! Come forth... Quintet Magician!"
I banished the five magician monsters from my graveyard, and the strongest magician of their kind began to descend onto the field.
Quintet Magician
クインテット・マジシャン
Attribute: DARK | Level 12
ATK 4500 / DEF 4500
Spellcaster / Fusion / Effect
5 Spellcaster monsters
This card can only be special summoned by fusion summon.
①: If this card is fusion summoned using 5 different Spellcaster monsters as material, you can activate this effect: Destroy all cards on your opponent's field.
②: While this card is in the Monster Zone, it cannot be tributed, cannot be used as fusion material, and cannot be destroyed by card effects.
"What? Its attack is 4500?!"
"And... when Quintet Magician is successfully summoned using five different types of magicians, it destroys every card on your field!"
"What did you say?!"
Boom!!!!
When Quintet Magician waved its staff, every card on Marik's field was obliterated, leaving only drifting smoke behind.
"Next, I activate the Eye of Timaeus from my hand... special summoning the Super Magical Knight Black Cavarly...!"
"And with that... my turn is over, Marik!"
In the end... Marik lost to me. In a final desperate move, he tried to use the spell card Lightning to destroy my monsters, but while Super Magical Knight Black Cavarly was sent to the graveyard, Quintet Magician's destruction immunity meant it couldn't be touched. After that, Marik couldn't draw a monster to defend with and was defeated. The connection controlling An Sujin was severed, and she collapsed on the spot.
Of course, since this had been a duel against An Sujin, I sent her straight to the Exclusive Dimension. From now on, no one in the DM world would remember that An Sujin had ever existed. Not even the Marik who had been controlling her. He would remember dueling me, but the existence of the woman he had possessed would be completely erased from his mind.
After sending An Sujin to the Exclusive Dimension... I had collected all seven map cards. Just one more and it would be time for the finals...
Somehow I ran into Mai Valentine, and standing beside her was Joey's little sister, Kawai Shizuka—Joanne. I challenged both Mai Valentine and Joanne to duels and won, then sent them both to the Exclusive Dimension. Joanne wasn't even a duelist, but I gave her the Duel Disk that An Sujin had been carrying and challenged her anyway.
Mai Valentine's deck was a Harpie deck. She was visibly shocked when she saw my Black Magician deck, and used Harpie's Feather Duster to destroy all my spell and trap cards. But she couldn't overcome my monsters' overwhelming power and was easily defeated.
Joanne, having zero knowledge of dueling, only summoned level one to four normal monsters before losing to me.
By the time I had beaten both Mai Valentine and Joanne, it was already evening. I easily defeated a few random extras wandering nearby, and then my eight map cards finally gathered together, pointing toward a single location.
"So this is... the site of the finals?"
When I combined all eight map cards, a bright light began to shine from one particular spot. I walked toward where the cards were glowing. A few minutes later, I arrived at the destination the map cards had indicated... Domino Stadium in Domino City. The lights inside the stadium were on, suggesting people were present, and the sound of what seemed like a helicopter echoed from within.
When I entered the stadium, I saw Yugi, Joey, Honda, Duke, T.S. Kaiba, Bakura, Marik, and Rishid already there. Including myself, that made seven people. Since Ishizu Ishtar wasn't here yet, it seemed she hadn't arrived. Yugi's group was chatting among themselves as if nothing felt out of place.
Even though An Sujin and Joey's sister Joanne were gone, no one mentioned them at all, as if they had never existed. Joanne was supposed to be Joey's little sister and the girl Honda had a crush on, but since I planned to leave this DM world after the Battle City arc anyway, it didn't really matter. If I hadn't dueled Mai Valentine, the eight slots would have already been filled and I wouldn't have made it to the finals—so running into her first had been a stroke of luck.
As for Bakura, just like in the original story, I could occasionally see flashes of the dark Bakura. It looked like he had defeated the Skull Servants group in a Shadow Game and successfully advanced to the finals.
When Yugi's group noticed me, they greeted me warmly. Kaiba, however, looked at me with wary eyes. That was because, aside from Yugi, he probably thought I was the only duelist who used Black Magicians after I had defeated Pandora.
Marik and Rishid still seemed to think we didn't know their true identities. Marik continued acting like he was Rishid, pretending to be friendly and suggesting we all get along. But... the moment his gaze landed on me, it sharpened with caution. I pretended not to notice and looked elsewhere.
And so... I boarded the airship headed for the finals together with Yugi's group. Marik and Rishid boarded as well. Since one person was still missing, two staff members stood around awkwardly, wondering what to do. That's when two women of Egyptian descent wearing niqabs approached.
They showed the staff their eight puzzle cards to receive entry permission. One of the staff members noticed the mysterious woman behind them and asked,
"Participant verification complete. But who is the person behind you?"
"She is my real younger sister. A few spectators who weren't participants were allowed on board earlier, so it should be fine, right?"
"Of course. Please board quickly. We're about to depart."
With those two women as the final passengers, everyone boarded the airship bound for the finals. The two staff members stepped on board, radioed that everyone was accounted for, and gave the order to depart. The airship door slid shut with a heavy clang.