Jason lowered his hand and adjusted his glasses with surgical calm. "There it is," he murmured. "Equilibrium achieved."Marik's chest heaved. "Why… why are you doing this? You were my mentor! You taught me everything about dueling, about power, about—" His voice cracked. "We were going to get revenge on the Pharaoh who destroyed my family!"
Jason's smirk deepened, slow and deliberate. The crowd fell utterly silent.He took one measured step forward, his tone turning cold, clinical — almost bored."Ah, yes," Jason said. "Your family. Your parents. The grief that shaped you, the hatred that made you kneel before a god that would never care."
He tilted his head slightly, voice lowering to a whisper that carried across the arena like a chill.
"It was me, Marik."Marik froze. "What…?"
Jason's smirk grew. "It was me who killed your parents."The words fell like a hammer. Gasps rippled through the onlookers — Yugi's eyes went wide, Rebecca's hand flew to her mouth, and even Odion's expression fractured into raw shock.Jason continued, unblinking.
"You were just a child. Broken. Alone. I needed a vessel — someone to hate the Pharaoh enough to help me gather the Millennium Items all in one place without suspicion. So I changed your memories. I made you believe it was him."
He lifted his hand slightly, tapping the edge of his sunglasses as if adjusting an invisible lens. "A simple neurological rewrite, assisted by the Millennium Key. Elegant, isn't it?"Marik's face drained of color. His breathing quickened. "No… no, that's not true. You—You're lying!"
Jason smiled, but there was no humor in it. "Deny it all you wish. The truth has never cared for belief."He raised the Millennium Key between his fingers — it shimmered faintly in the dark aura of The Wicked Avatar. "You see, Marik, I needed the events of Battle City to unfold exactly as they did. Every duel, every Item, every God Card—all gathered in one place. All under my observation."The scientist's tone grew darker, quieter, and infinitely colder.
"You were my variable, Marik. My instrument of chaos. The Pharaoh, the Items, the Gods… I needed someone driven enough to draw them all together."
His lips curved into that same calm, deadly smile. "And now that the data has been collected… I no longer need you as a pawn."Marik staggered backward, eyes wide with disbelief. "You used me… for all of this?"Jason nodded once. "Of course. You were perfect, Marik. Predictable, emotional, hungry for revenge.
You played your role beautifully."He took a step forward, voice soft but venomous.
"But this story ends as all experiments do — with the disposal of what's no longer necessary."The Wicked Avatar loomed larger behind him, its silent gravity distorting the air, pulling Marik's aura toward the void. The heat that had once radiated from Ra was gone — replaced by the cold vacuum of annihilation.Jason raised the Millennium Eye embedded in his left palm. It glowed faintly, gold light cutting through the shadows.
"I think it's time you remember everything," he whispered.Marik's scream tore through the arena as the Eye's light struck him full in the face.
The Millennium Key glowed, twisting the air, rewriting the mind that had once been shattered by grief and lies. Memories flooded back — the truth of their deaths, the shadow of Jason standing over them, calm and detached even in murder.Marik fell to his knees, clutching his head. His Duel Disk sputtered, the projection field flickering out around him.Jason's voice was calm, almost tender again.
"I ruined your whole life, Marik. Every memory, every emotion, every choice you thought was your own. All of it… was mine."Yugi's fists clenched at his side, fury flashing in his eyes. Joey took a step forward, his voice raw. "You sick freak! You used him like a puppet!"Jason didn't even turn. "Science requires sacrifice, Mr. Wheeler," he said lightly.
Marik's turn came like the scrape of a knife on porcelain—slow, sharp, and trembling. The air was cold now, unnaturally still after The Wicked Avatar's arrival, as though even the holographic arena feared to move. The audience barely breathed.
Marik's hand hovered over his deck. His fingers twitched. Sweat glimmered on his temple despite the chill. He drew, eyes darting down to the card—Monster Reborn.
For a fleeting heartbeat, hope flickered in his gaze. Then it died just as quickly as it had come. The reality hit him: he couldn't activate it. The Wicked Avatar's oppressive power sealed every Spell and Trap on the field. The very systems of the Duel Disk seemed to resist him, as though the void itself rejected any interference.
"Locked," he whispered bitterly, voice barely audible. His knuckles whitened around the card. "Even the dead won't rise against him…"
He took a steadying breath, jaw tightening, and slid another card onto the disk. "I set one monster face-down," he said hoarsely. The hologram materialized weakly before him—a simple, unmoving silhouette crouched under the Avatar's shadow.
He lowered his arm. "End my turn."
The words came out like a confession.
Across the field, Jason's lips curved into a faint smirk, the only hint of emotion beneath his dark lenses. His Duel Disk beeped softly as his turn began. He didn't rush. He didn't gloat. He simply spoke, his tone almost kind.
"You think hiding will save you, Marik?" he asked, voice low, measured—like a doctor explaining a prognosis to a dying patient. "That you'll get another turn, another chance to wipe out my life points?"
He tilted his head slightly, one hand resting lightly on his Duel Disk. "I'm afraid I can't allow that. The experiment ends now."
Jason drew, his movements as calm and precise as ever. The moment the card touched his hand, a smile ghosted across his lips. "Perfect."
He placed a card onto the field with surgical certainty. "I Normal Summon Destiny HERO – Dunker."
A burst of energy flared behind him as a muscular, armored figure crashed onto the field. Its body gleamed with cybernetic plating, one arm morphing into a cannon-like gauntlet pulsing with dark orange light. (ATK 1200)
Jason adjusted his glasses, the glint reflecting off the lenses like a surgical light. "And now," he said smoothly, "I'll activate the Spell Card, Card of Sanctity."
The holographic spell flared to life between them, its light so bright that for a moment, even The Wicked Avatar's black surface reflected it faintly before consuming the glow entirely.
"Both of us," Jason continued, "draw until we each hold six cards in our hand."
He drew without hesitation, the sound of each card sliding free from his deck sharp and clean. Six in total. Across from him, Marik's trembling fingers mirrored the motion, drawing through gritted teeth, his breathing shallow and uneven.
Jason examined his new hand briefly, like a scientist reviewing lab results, then looked back up with that same, unnervingly polite expression. "Now, let's proceed with the conclusion."
He held up one card from his hand, fingers steady. "Destiny HERO – Dunker's effect."
A pulse of orange light flickered from Dunker's cannon arm, the air vibrating with contained force. "By discarding 'Destiny HERO' monsters from my hand," Jason explained, his tone even, clinical, "I can inflict 500 points of damage to your Life Points for each one discarded."
He reached into his hand, selected two cards, and flicked them into his Graveyard slot in one smooth motion. The Duel Disk beeped twice—sharp, final.
"I discard Destiny HERO – Disk Commander and Destiny HERO – Decider."
Dunker's arm charged, glowing brighter with every word. "That's 500 damage for each."
Marik's Duel Disk emitted a piercing alert. His Life Points began to drop.
Marik's Life Points: 901 → 401 → 0.
The impact hit like thunder. A blast of dark-orange energy ripped across the field, engulfing Marik's side in an explosion of light and wind. The shockwave rolled through the blimp, scattering loose papers and whipping at the spectators' clothes and hair.
Marik stared at his empty field, eyes huge, pseudo-friendly façade burnt away. For a second, just a second, there was a boy there: shocked, bare, human.
Jason didn't bow. He didn't announce the obvious. He turned his shoulders, letting the lab coat whisper.
Officially, the duel had ended the moment The Wicked Avatar erased Ra and the last sliver of Marik's life points. The scoreboard read Jason Smithson—WINNER. The blimp's spectators murmured without cheering, an ugly sound like sand grinding in a machine.
Marik's hand shook so hard the Millennium Puzzle clattered against his chest before he ripped it free. His eyes burned, wet with fury and betrayal.
"You'll never touch this!" he shouted, voice cracking. "You belong in the depths of the Shadow Realm—may the Pharaoh send you there himself!"
With a ragged breath he hurled the Puzzle across the arena. The puzzle spun through the cold air, glinting once in the artificial light.
Yugi lunged forward and caught it against his chest, stumbling to one knee but holding it close, fingers tightening protectively around the ancient gold.
Jason's expression didn't change. Behind the dark lenses of his glasses his eyes were unreadable, the corners of his mouth lifting in a faint, dismissive curve.
"I have no interest in the millennium puzzle," he said. His voice was calm, almost bored. "Not right now."
Marik's glare could have burned through steel. "You… monster—"
Jason raised his hand, and the Millennium Eye embedded within his eye flared to life. The golden light that poured from it spread across the floor like a living net. "Your rage is noted," he said evenly. "But I no longer require your existence."
The light struck Marik full in the chest. He cried out as tendrils of energy coiled around him, dragging him backward, his body distorting into streams of color and shadow. His Duel Disk shorted out with a shower of sparks as the projection field warped violently.
The energy compressed into a single gleaming shape—
a trading card, its surface swirling with faint, ghost-like patterns. Marik's image flickered within it, his eyes frozen wide in mid-scream.
He raised the card to his mouth. The gesture was deliberate, almost ritualistic. The moment his teeth pressed down, the holographic surface shimmered violently, bleeding blood that streaked across his fingers.
Jason bit once, testing the texture as though analyzing a specimen. His expression didn't change. After a moment, he exhaled and let the card fall from his hand. It disintegrated into a cloud of scarlet before hitting the floor.
"Curious," he said at last, voice calm as if lecturing a class. "It's… different from ordinary cardstock. The resonance carries a faint metallic taste, like raw, uncooked pork. Dense, unsophisticated. Lacking complexity."
He wiped his hand against his coat as if brushing away dust. "But fascinating nonetheless."
The onlookers stared in horrified silence. Joey took a step forward, fists clenched. "You're sick, man! Who even does that?!"
Jason smiled faintly at the outburst — not cruelly, but as though he were mildly entertained by a child's tantrum. "You call it sickness, Mr. Wheeler," he said smoothly. "I call it curiosity. Understanding the boundaries between life and death, between soul and symbol — that's progress."
Mai's face hardened. "You turned a duel into a laboratory," she snapped. "And lives into experiments."
Jason gave a small, theatrical shrug. "Everything in life is an experiment, Miss Valentine. The only difference between you and me…" He tapped the Millennium Eye, its golden iris spinning once more. "…is that I record the results."
He stepped toward Marik. Odion strained against the invisible hold, face thunderous, veins standing in relief on his neck. Joey tried to move, but Yugi held him again with a desperate shake of the head.
Jason reached past the ruined boy to pluck the Millennium Rod from his belt. The wicked blade at its tip glinted under the dome lights. Then Jason looked to the fallen God card where it lay in the tray—The Winged Dragon of Ra—its art dull now, the card just cardboard again after divinity's flame fled.
He picked it up between thumb and forefinger like a specimen slide, then tucked it into his coat with practiced care. "And the prize."
"Odion found a shred of movement, enough to rasp, "You will not touch him again."
"Oh, but I will," Jason said, voice soft. He raised his free hand and lightly touched Marik's temple with two fingers.
The Millennium Rod pulsed again in Jason's grasp, as if affirming his command. He twirled it once, the motion elegant, practiced — far too natural for someone who had only just claimed it. The golden ring at its head glowed faintly, casting long, twisting shadows that danced across his face. For a heartbeat, the entire arena was bathed in the Rod's sinister light.
Up in the stands, Yugi, Joey, and Mai watched in horrified silence. The golden reflection from the Rod flickered in Yugi's violet eyes, mirrored by the faint gleam of the Millennium Puzzle pressed tightly to his chest.
"Jason…" Yugi said quietly, voice laced with warning and disbelief. "You're meddling with powers beyond your control."
Jason turned just enough for his profile to catch the light — sharp, severe, and perfectly calm. "Control?" he echoed, a low, amused laugh slipping past his lips. "My dear Pharaoh, control is the only constant in the universe. Chaos is simply unrefined data waiting to be structured."
He looked down at the Rod again, tracing a gloved thumb over the hieroglyphs etched along its surface. Each stroke of ancient text shimmered faintly under his touch, responding to his will.
"Your ancestors created these Items to contain the divine," he said softly. "But I will use them to replicate it."
The words fell like cold metal, their weight echoing through the blimp's silent chamber. Jason's voice dropped lower, the precision of his diction slicing through the air.
"Ra was proof of concept."
Joey slammed his fist against the railing so hard the sound cracked like thunder. "You're insane! You're playin' god, and one of these days it's gonna come back and burn you!"
Jason smiled — not wide, not manic, just faintly, a curve of confidence devoid of empathy. "Fire burns only the unprepared, Mr. Wheeler," he replied smoothly. Raising the Rod, he let a spiral of golden flame coil lazily around its tip before it vanished into sparks. "And I never conduct an experiment without the proper safety measures."
He turned toward the field, where the shattered remains of The Winged Dragon of Ra's hologram still glowed faintly against the metal. "I will become something greater than gods," he said, his tone deepening into conviction. "The first being with omnipotence across the multiverse— a mind unbound by superstition or limitation."
Up in the stands, Rebecca clutched Connor's hand tightly. Her voice trembled as she whispered, "He's a monster."
Jason's head tilted at that — the faintest flicker of amusement curling at the corner of his mouth. "Monster?" he mused, turning his gaze toward them. "No. Monsters destroy for pleasure. Scientists destroy for understanding. That's what separates us."
He slid the Winged Dragon of Ra card into his deck case and slipped the Millennium Rod beneath his arm. Then he turned to leave. His coat swayed lightly with his movements, each step echoing like the steady tick of a clock winding down toward some unseen conclusion.
Yugi stepped forward, his voice carrying across the silent arena. "Jason, this ends here!"
Jason paused but didn't turn around. His voice came softly, almost drifting like smoke.
"On the contrary, Pharaoh," he said. "This is only the beginning."
He lifted his hand slightly, the light of the Millennium Eye pulsing from his palm. The faint golden glow spread over his shoulders as he continued, tone turning almost reverent.
"I now possess four Millennium Items and two of the six Divine Beasts. When I acquire the rest, the veil of mystery will fall — and the world will awaken to its final truth. A scientific utopia, where every question is answered, every secret exposed, and every possibility realized."
The wind from the dueling field stirred his coat as he approached the exit. The light above him dimmed, casting his figure in silhouette.
He paused at the threshold, tilting his head slightly — just enough for the faint gleam of the Millennium Eye to catch the edge of the light. "And when that day comes," he said softly, almost tenderly, "you'll thank me, Pharaoh… for the perfection I create."
Then Jason stepped into the corridor beyond, the doors sliding shut behind him with a hiss. The echo of his footsteps faded into silence — leaving only the stunned faces of his onlookers and the faint, golden shimmer of the Millennium Rod's departing light.
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