The Fourth Round Duel
I walked alone toward the fourth round. Since I was by myself, the Dark Marik was on high alert, watching Ishizu with wary eyes. The fourth-round duel ended up being me versus Ishizu.
'Sister!'
'Shut up! Main personality! Stay trapped in your corner!'
"Uwaaaah!!"
The moment his sister stepped up to duel, the original personality of Marik trapped inside the Dark Marik cried out for her. But the Dark Marik immediately sealed the main personality behind his own mental walls.
Fourth Round! Beomseok versus Ishizu! Duel start!
The instant Isono shouted the start of the duel, I took the first turn and drew my card. My hand consisted of Berry Magician Girl, Magician of Faith, Thousand Knives, Dark Magic Attack, Black Magician, and Magicians' Navigation.
'Beomseok... I can already see it. Your cards...'
'I'll summon Berry Magician Girl in attack position and draw Magician Girl from the deck.'
'Then I'll set two cards...'
Ishizu had already used the power of her Millennium Necklace to peek at what cards I drew. In her mind, she saw exactly which cards I had drawn and which ones I had set. When her turn came, she closed her eyes, drew her card, and began summoning a monster.
'And... I'll activate a magic card... Companion of the Grave...'
When Companion of the Grave appeared, Yugi, who had been watching, spoke up.
"What kind of card is that, Yugi?"
"It's a magic card that forces both players to reveal their entire hands. You show each other your hands, then each chooses two cards from the opponent's hand to send to the graveyard. The remaining cards are shuffled back into the deck, and then you draw the same number of cards you started with."
"Whoa, there's a card like that?!"
Yugi carefully explained the effect of Companion of the Grave. This was the DM world, after all. The card effects here were different from the real world. In reality, it had been nerfed for balance reasons. But before showing Ishizu my hand, I activated one of the cards I had already set.
'I'll activate Magicians' Navigation... and special summon Black Magician and Kiwi Magician Girl.'
I activated Magicians' Navigation and showed my hand to Ishizu.
'Berry Magician Girl, Thousand Knives, Dark Magic Attack, Black Magician, Magician of Faith...'
For some reason, Ishizu chose the two currently useless cards and sent them to the graveyard. I looked at Ishizu's hand: Monster Reborn, Magic Reborn, Kelbek, Agido, and Mudora. Since she had sent two of my magic cards to the graveyard, I told her to send Monster Reborn and Magic Reborn from her hand to the graveyard as well.
After shuffling my deck and drawing, my new hand contained Dark Magic Curtain, Eye of Timaios, Magicalize Fusion, and Kiwi Magician Girl. When my turn came around again, I drew Choco Magician Girl.
'I didn't look at Ishizu's deck in detail, so I'm not sure... but in the game, her deck was built around tribute traps. In that case, I should overwhelm her with special summons.'
'You drew Choco Magician Girl. Next, you'll use its effect to send Kiwi Magician Girl to the graveyard.'
Ishizu spoke the future she had already seen inside her mind, then closed her eyes.
The card drawn through Choco Magician Girl's effect was Apple Magician Girl. Right now, the only monster on Ishizu's field was Keldo. But I had no idea what her two set cards were. Unfortunately, Dark Magic Attack had gone to the graveyard, and although there was one more copy sleeping in the deck, I hadn't drawn it yet, so I couldn't attack recklessly.
Ishizu spoke the future she had seen through the Millennium Necklace inside her heart.
'Beomseok... you're probably thinking that I have traps related to tribute summons. That's correct... My deck is the one Kaiba used... a card destruction combo... And it's a deck built specifically to aim for the Obelisk the Tormentor... No matter what, I cannot beat you. However...'
'If I can at least save Marik... I will become your wife... no, even your slave. So please, show me your true power.'
Ishizu looked at me, thinking in her heart that she could never win. In the original future, it should have been Joey dueling Kaiba, not this. And Marik should have dueled someone other than Rishid. She had seen a future where he dueled some blonde woman and won with a dark duel. But everything began to change the moment the man named Beomseok appeared.
A few minutes later...
I continued the duel while staying wary of Ishizu's set cards. I activated Dark Magic Curtain to remove her set cards and pressed the attack. Ishizu kept putting out defense monsters, trying to buy time. But eventually...
Ishizu was ultimately defeated by Quintet Magician, which had been fusion summoned using five Magician monsters as material. Yugi, Atem, Joey, Kaiba, and even Marik were stunned when they saw Quintet Magician. They couldn't believe a Spellcaster fusion monster had 4500 attack points.
"A Spellcaster fusion monster with the same attack power as the Ultimate Blue-Eyes White Dragon... and it destroys all cards on the opponent's field too..."
"So that's the strongest attacker, Quintet Magician?"
"I can feel some incredible power coming from that magician..."
"I need to be careful of that monster called Quintet Magician."
Once the fourth-round match ended, Isono spoke to the remaining four—Kaiba, Yugi, Marik, and me.
The four of you who survived the first round, please take a rest aboard the airship. Those who were defeated will also be given free time, so feel free to do as you wish until it's time to return. We will now move to the semifinal venue.
And with that, the first round came to an end. Yugi and the others suggested throwing a celebration party, but I told them I was tired and retreated to my room.
After returning to my room, I sat down on the sofa. Then Ishizu entered with Sera following behind her.
"Ishizu..."
Ishizu sat down beside me. Sera, following the terms of our deal, challenged me to a duel. But the moment we both took out our hands, Sera placed her hand on her duel disk and surrendered.
"Yes... Master Beomseok..."
Ishizu bowed her head as she spoke. When I placed my hand on her shoulder, she flinched for a moment but quickly regained her composure. However, I couldn't take things any further than that. The reason was...
Because we were about to enter the Noah arc.
It was a duel that introduced the Deck Master rule. The BIG 5 had all been defeated by me, Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey. Their data was erased, and they died forever. And Gozaburo and Noah were defeated by Yugi and Kaiba. Gozaburo had desperately tried to steal Kaiba's body by altering his own data and attacking, but Noah, having come to his senses, held Gozaburo back, allowing us to escape.
And then... the airship began moving toward the true semifinal venue.