AUTHOR’S NOTE: As you probably know by now, dear reader, the master rules changed again. Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz Monsters can be Special Summoned from the Extra Deck to a Main Monster Zone. Link and Pendulum Monsters have to follow the old rule. Of course, in this series, players can still Special Summon each “Extra Monster Card Type” from the Extra Deck once per turn.
“Who are you talking to?” Anubisius asks in bewilderment, glaring at the wall as if he could see the invisible person he suspected Yukio of conversing with if he looked angrily enough.
“I was just giving an author’s note to the audience.” Yukio innocently answers.
“What audience? Who’s there?” Anubisius draws a pistol and pulls the trigger, but nothing happens. He is out of bullets. He throws the gun away in frustration, pulls out a final weapon in the form of a light retractable spear, and hurls it at his enemy only for Yukio to catch it.
With no arms left, all his literal and figurative darts spent, Anubisius has no choice but to duel. He savagely yawps, calling on the dark powers of the Millennium Key, and the shadow game begins. He makes a begrudging gesture to Yukio, grunting, “Ladies first.”
Yukio: 8000 | Anubisius: 8000
YUKIO’S TURN: “I set a monster and two backrows. Turn end.”
ANUBISIUS’S TURN: The high mage laughs. “You fool! You’re as passive as a prey animal, no match for the wolf that hunts, dominates, kills. I activate Pot of Greed (Spell). Guess what it does. Next, I pitch a card to activate Twin Twister!” The two cyclones sweep away Yukio’s backrow much to his chagrin.
“My Field Spell, Lost Sanctuary (Field Spell), come alive!” Anubisius calls forth a prehistoric jungle on his field, obscuring the momentum generator behind him with mountainous trees and dense thickets of ferns. Anubisius then uses its effect, Special Summoning Metamorphosed Insect Queen (ATK 2800) from his hand, bringing animal life to the primeval land.
Next stage of the onslaught. “I Normal Summon Arsenal Bug Squad (ATK 2000)!” He conjures a pulsing miasma of small insects to infest the air. “And I use its effect to equip another Arsenal Bug Squad from my Deck.” This doubles the thickness of the living cloud behind Anubisius.
“And I activate Cocoon of Ultra Evolution (Quick-Play Spell)! With this Tribute, I call forth PERFECTLY ULTIMATE GREAT MOTH! (ATK 3500)” Under Anubisius’s cue, numerous small insects fly above the canopy, disappearing, and one great insect loftily floats down.
I banish two Insects in my Graveyard to Special Summon Doom Dozer (ATK 2800)!” A giant millipede joins forces with the giant ant and the giant moth.
Preparations complete, Anubisius heralds battle. “Doom Dozer, attack the facedown monster!” The creature buries underground and comes up the other side, breaking Yukio’s feeble clown monster from below.
“This activates Dungeon Dice Master (DEF 0) from the Graveyard.” Yukio says. “I banish it and roll a dice. Its effect depends on the results. Go!” An oversized pink die appears, casting itself high in the air and toppling on the ground, revealing “6”. With that result, Yukio Special Summons another Dungeon Dice Master (DEF 0) from the Deck.
“A dice rolling Deck.” Anubisius scoffs. “I do not want an amateur who wins by luck. Metamorphosed Insect Queen, take down the clown!” The regiis volucris darts in the air with swift wings, devouring the weak monster on Yukio’s field.
“My second Dungeon Dice Master (DEF 0) activates!” Yukio announces. He banishes the monster from the Graveyard and rolls “4”, letting him return a Trap to his hand.
Anubisius finds the situation funny, being emboldened by his early success. “It suits you because it portends your sorry fate. Doesn’t the number ‘4’ symbolize death to you Japanese?” He does not await an answer to his rhetorical question. “Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth, sack him!” The strongest of insects sweeps a hurricane of poisonous spores at Yukio, who can only cover his head as he bears the brunt of the assault. (YUKIO LP 8000 → 4500) On that note, Anubisius ends his turn, and his Insect Queen lays an egg, an Insect Monster Token.
“Do you not understand the depth of your inferiority against me!” Anubisius boasts. “In the primitive world of the Lost Sanctuary, only the strongest creatures survive while the runts of the litter perish. We try taming the jungle in vain, but our liberal democracies are naught but essays in denial and cowardice. The frightful laws of the jungle remain and it shall always be so. Only women and feminized men, now coddled by their superiors, can so arrogantly escape reality.”
Yukio has enough of this blathering. “For a Saudi warlord, you sound like a white boy atheist.”
“And yet you have no refutation for my arguments. You can only deny the truth. I am your alpha, and I will dominate you like the scrawny beta loser that you are!”
“Here’s a refutation, you obnoxious dork.” Yukio lashes out. “I’m the ‘beta male’, but I dated, played card games, and sired a child with the most dangerous woman on earth. Only three men in existence have a chance of putting her down, and you’re not one of them. Flex your sweaty abs at the gym all you want. Everyone knows you’re a coward who runs away when the battle gets tough.”
Anubisius roars, and summoning the power of the Millennium Key, he hurls Yukio crashing against the wall so hard it cracks. “Think you’re not a bottom now?” He bellows, striking a fearsome posture.
Yukio begins his next turn, still stuck to the wall, without comment but with defiance.
YUKIO’S TURN: ”I activate Pot of Greed (Spell) to draw two, then activate Dungeon Dice Arena (Field Spell).” The chamber behind him transmogrifies into a large green and white grid.
“I Special Summon Gator Dragon (DEF 1800), which I can do since you control monsters but I don’t, and I Set two backrows.” A winged alligator on its hind legs, scales the color of rust, guards its master. If everything pans out as Yukio plans and hopes, he can make a counterattack.
ANUBISIUS’S TURN: “This Duel is done. Doom Dozer, shred my opponent’s only defender!” The gargantuan millipede slinks on for the kill, slippery as oil.
“Now! Gator Dragon, use your effect!” Yukio shouts. A die pops from the ground, flies into the air, and crashes down, rolling “3”. Gator Dragon glows a fiery red as a poker heated by a blacksmith, appropriating half of Doom Dozer’s ATK to its DEF. Doom Dozer seizes its prey only to shriek away from the scorching pain. (Anubisius LP 8000 → 7600)
Anubisius, seething, clutches his fist as if he can destroy Yukio’s monster with his mind. “My Perfect Moth, destroy that eyesore!” The moth conjures a hurricane of poisonous miasma so strong not even Gator Dragon is a match.
Yukio knows this, so he saves the day again. “I activate Warp Gate (Continuous Trap)!” A wormhole forms behind Gator Dragon and protects it with a repellant field at the same time. “I can save my monster from death by battle once each turn, and now for the fun part. I’ll swap Gator Dragon for another monster in my Deck.” Gator Dragon vanishes and Gilafore (DEF 600) takes its place.
“How pointless.” Anubisius scoffs. “Metamorphosed Insect Queen, weed out this runt!” The insect queen devours the small lizard-like dragon in her sight.
This kickstarts a combo, as Yukio announces, “I both activate Gilafore in the Graveyard and my facedown Soul Rope (Trap)! Long story short, I Special Summon two monsters from the Deck! Go, Blast Lizard (DEF 1200) and Knight of Twin Swords (ATK 1600)!” (Yukio LP 4500 → 3500)
“Blast Lizard, use your effect!” Yukio shouts as a die appears and rolls “1”. Undeterred, Yukio activates his Field Spell, Dungeon Dice Arena, to reroll. The die spins on the ground like a top, rolling “4”. With this effect, Blast Lizard chucks a bomb at Anubisius’s Field Spell.
Anubisius reacts quickly, discarding an Insect monster to save Lost Sanctuary from destruction. “And your Blast Lizard is still on the menu!” He insists.
The endurance of the green master bomber annoys Anubisius further. “I Tribute my Insect Token so Metamorphosed Insect Queen attacks again, and I choose Blast Lizard to be her next victim!” The queen devours her own offspring, then advances for the kill.
“No, he’s not.” Yukio gives a refutation. “Waboku (Trap)!” An order of priestesses arrive to dispel the insect queen’s assault with magic, then vanish as quickly as they appeared.
Anubisius stamps his foot, so lost in anger his concentration broke. The Millennium Key loses its power over Yukio, who gratefully unpeals himself from the wall to duel properly.
YUKIO’S TURN: “I use Blast Lizard’s effect.” He rolls “2”, letting him destroy a monster. Blast Lizard spares no expense, throwing three bombs at Metamorphosed Insect Queen to put her down.
“Knight of Twin Swords, attack Doom Dozer!” Yukio commands. His blue knight leaps to assault the formidable giant millipede, and three dice appear, rolling “1”, “5”, and “6”. Not satisfied, Yukio activates Dungeon Dice Arena while the battle between knight and millipede rages on, rolling “6”, “6”, “3”. Knight of Twin Swords doubles its original ATK and gains 1500 ATK on top. Now, welding 4700 ATK, the knight uses his newfound power to slay the demonic insect. (Anubisius LP 7600 → 5700)
Yukio is not done yet. “I banish Gilafore from the Graveyard to use its effect while still in the Battle Phase. I tune it with Blast Lizard and Knight of Twin Swords to Synchro Summon Thursday, the 12th Grave (ATK 0)!” With the arrival of the skeleton of a long lost giant, Yukio uses its effect, absorbing all the ATK of Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth through black magic. Thursday gains 3500 ATK while the moth crumbles to dust, destroyed.
Yukio can see the light at the end of the tunnel growing slightly bigger. “Thursday, direct attack!” The giant skeleton lists its walking crutch, now using it as a staff, and casts a malicious spell.
The deathly magic hits Anubisius, but to Yukio’s shock the high mage’s Life increases instead of decreasing. (Anubisius LP 5700 → 9200) “I activated Empress Ladybug of Life (ATK 1000) from the Graveyard, letting me convert damage from direct attacks into healing, and I Special Summon it in Attack Position.” A large, round, red insect with a black heart on its back arrives to protect her master.
Yukio’s optimism deflates. He is still in a bad spot, yet he presses on, hoping the light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train. “I activate Dangerous Machine Type-6 (Continuous Spell).” With the oversized bingo machine constructed, Yukio ends his turn.
Zarathustra the Serpent 