Turn 6 – Yugi (Pharaoh)
"Enough games!" the Pharaoh bellowed, his voice echoing through the chamber like thunder.
The Exterminator raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. "You look upset," he said dryly, though inside, his pulse quickened with anticipation. This is it.
"You dare target my friends…?" the Pharaoh growled, his golden eyes ablaze with fire. "You threaten Téa, Joey, Tristan… even my grandpa
The Exterminator didn't blink. He merely gave the faintest of nods.
The Pharaoh's hands clenched around his deck. The Seal of Orichalcos pulsed faintly within his hand, as though it could feel his anger—his pain—feeding it.
Inside his mind, Yugi's voice cried out:
"Pharaoh, don't! That card will change you! It takes your soul, your heart—it'll turn you into something we're not!"
But the Pharaoh couldn't hear him. Not fully. Not anymore.
"You'd use innocent lives to manipulate a duel…? That crosses every boundary of honor. You've walked into the realm of monsters."
The Exterminator smiled. Just slightly. "It worked, didn't it?"
The Pharaoh's duel disk hissed as he slid a glowing green card into its Spell Zone.
"You want darkness?"
He raised his arm high, lightning streaking across the ceiling of the shop.
"Then drown in it!"
"I ACTIVATE—THE SEAL OF ORICHALCOS!!"
The card ignited in blinding emerald light. The shop trembled as a cyclone of arcane glyphs exploded from the center of the field, circling the duelists with twisting symbols and sacred geometry.
A roaring ring of glowing energy formed around the Pharaoh—ancient, deadly, and pulsing with hunger.
The temperature dropped instantly. Cards on the shelves fluttered as invisible wind blasted through the room. Outside, the streetlamps flickered violently.
Green fire erupted around the duel. Glyphs crawled up the walls. The field transformed into an arena of dark, twisting energy.
[The Seal of Orichalcos – ACTIVE]
All monsters the Pharaoh controls gain +500 ATK. The loser of the duel forfeits their soul.
As the energy settled, the Pharaoh lowered his arm. His expression had changed.
In his place stood something sharper. Cold. Unforgiving.
"My monsters… shall be your executioners," the Pharaoh hissed.
[Beta – ATK 1700 → 2200]
[Skilled Dark Magician – ATK 1900 → 2400]
A second spell counter flickered on Skilled Dark Magician.
"Pot of Greed—draw two cards."
He barely looked at them.
"I now tribute Skilled Dark Magician with three spell counters—come forth, Dark Magician!"
[Dark Magician – ATK 2500 → 3000]
The mage emerged through a portal of shadows, power radiating. Yet... the Pharaoh's eyes were hollow. Cold. The magician's spirit recoiled slightly.
"Dark Magician—destroy his face-down monster!"
The Exterminator's monster shattered in a burst of glowing fur and energy as the attack connected, but instead of flinching, he merely adjusted his duel disk with cold precision.
His lips curled into the faintest smirk, devoid of warmth.
[Duelist Exterminator LP: 300 → 1300]
"You activated exactly what I wanted," he said with eerie calm. "When Nimble Momonga is destroyed by battle,I gain 1000 life points for each one destroyed and…"
A soft green light pulsed from his deck, as if responding to his will.
"…I can Special Summon up to two more copies directly from my deck—in face-down Defense Position."
Two cards ejected swiftly from his deck slot, sliding into his hand as if the duel disk itself obeyed him like a machine.
The Pharaoh narrowed his eyes, the faint emerald glow of the Seal of Orichalcos still casting shadows across his face. His gaze locked onto the second face-down card on the Exterminator's field, already suspicious after witnessing the first Nimble Momonga multiply like vermin.
His voice rang out—firm, commanding, resolute.
"Beta the Magnet Warrior—eliminate his second face-down!"
Beta surged forward, crackling with magnetic force, its metal joints clicking as it leapt into the air and spun, arm extended like a hammer of justice. With a resounding crash, it struck the face-down monster head-on.
The card flipped just as the impact hit—another Nimble Momonga.
The rodent-like creature squeaked briefly before it burst in a puff of radiant particles, its furry body scattered by the blow.
[Duelist Exterminator LP: 1300 → 2300]
Turn 7 – Duelist Exterminator
The Exterminator didn't move. He didn't need to.
Instead, he exhaled slowly—relief pouring across his face.
A low chuckle rumbled from his throat, cold and victorious.
"Finally," he whispered. "He gave in."
He looked down at his own hand. His cards—before dull, unresponsive—seemed to shimmer. Like they could feel it too.
No more divine protection from the heart of the cards.
The Pharaoh had just cut himself off.
The Exterminator smiled.
"You've made your first mistake, Pharaoh," he said aloud. "And your last."
The Pharaoh's gaze was locked on him, burning with fury.
"No more games," he growled. "You threatened my friends… You endangered lives. I won't show mercy to someone like you."
But even as the words left his mouth, they rang hollow.
Dark Magician watched from the shadows, silent and betrayed.
The Seal was a weapon—but one that demanded a price.
The Pharaoh monsters attack points had gone up. His monsters glowed with green power. His field looked stronger than ever.
But inside, something fractured.
And the Exterminator knew it.
"You think that Seal makes you stronger," he said coldly. "But all it did was cut the strings to everything that ever made you worthy of that strength."
"And yet you play without heart," the Pharaoh spat.
"I was born without Duel Energy," the Exterminator said, his tone flat—almost weary, as if the words themselves had been carried too long. The light from the game shop lamps caught on the edges of his face, sharpening the planes of his jaw, tracing the faint hollows beneath his eyes. "No spirit. No destiny draws. Nothing guiding my hand but the cards I touched."
For a brief moment, something—bitterness, maybe pain—flashed behind his calm exterior. "While the rest of you rely on your hearts of the cards," he murmured, "I drew dust."
His gloved hand rose, brushing against the tarnished bronze puzzles hanging from his neck—three in all, mismatched in shape and age. The cracked one still hummed faintly, a ghost of spent power; the others, smoother and whole, glimmered as if aware they were being noticed. He turned one between his fingers, its surface etched with faint hieroglyphs that pulsed softly in rhythm with his heartbeat.
"But now?" he continued, and his smile deepened—not out of joy, but defiance. "Now we're equal."
The relics shimmered faintly, their glow rippling through the dim room like liquid fire. He could feel them beneath his skin—their stolen magic threading through his nerves, patching the void where his Duel Energy should have been. It wasn't pure power; it was borrowed, scavenged, a counterfeit life drawn from those he'd defeated. But it worked. It gave him what the universe had denied him.
That's how I do it, he thought quietly, eyes narrowing as he looked past the Pharaoh. That's how I match them. How I draw the exact card I need when fate should leave me empty-handed.
He could almost feel the pulse of the puzzle pieces syncing with his deck—the subtle tug in his fingertips before every Destiny Draw. It wasn't the will of the cards. It was the will of the dead. The relics absorbed fragments of Duel Energy from every opponent who fell to him, twisting their spirits into his own weaponized instinct. Each draw he made wasn't guided by belief—it was guided by the remnants of those he'd already erased.
"I activate Card of Sanctity. We both draw until we have six cards."
A swirl of sacred energy filled their hands.
"I set one monster and one face-down. End turn."
Turn 8 – Yugi (Pharaoh)
Yugi, still within, whispered: "I can't let this continue…"
But the Pharaoh was fully in control.
"I activate Soul Exchange! I tribute your monster to summon Catapult Turtle at the cost of not being able to enter the battle phase!"
[Catapult Turtle – ATK 1500]
"Now, I use its effect to launch Beta the Magnet Warrior—you take damage equal to half its ATK!"
[Duelist Exterminator LP: 2300 → 1200]
The Exterminator flinched, then recovered.
"Now, I tribute Dark Magician for a final strike!"
The turtle adjusted its sights—but the Exterminator's trap sprang forth.
"I activate Rainbow Life! I discard one card. Now, all damage I would take becomes LP gain."
The magical blast surged—but instead of pain, it restored him.
[Duelist Exterminator LP: 1200 → 2600]
Yugi's teeth clenched. "I set two cards. End my turn."
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