Yu-Gi-Oh!: This is the real duel!

"Will you risk your partner's life to defeat me, or will you forgo this golden opportunity and leave the duel in suspense?"

"I'm really looking forward to your choice, Yuzuriha!!"

Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Chapter 183 Insidious Off-the-Spot Tactics

One wrong decision caused Malik to fall from an advantage to rock bottom!

He hadn't expected that the cover card for the game would be that kind of thing.

If he had anticipated that Yuzuriha would activate Fusion Release, he would have first used the destruction effect of Ra's Winged Dragon to destroy Armed Dragon, and then sacrificed Life Points to allow the God Card to make a direct attack.

Even if such tactics still cannot defeat Youche, at least they can destroy his troublesome trump card first.

but……

That no longer matters.

Amidst the battlefield, Dark Malik chuckled evilly as he slowly retracted the Millennium Staff in his hand. The increasingly heavy dark energy caused Youche's breathing to become rapid.

Previously, Malik was the one who had to make the choice, but now he has become the one who holds the advantage.

The stakes in this dark game have increased.

While Youche could win this battle and completely eliminate Dark Marik, he risked losing the Card Spirit who had always been his companion if he made the slightest mistake.

"Tsk..."

His hand, already resting on the deck, began to tremble with hesitation. Yu Che's brows were furrowed, and his increasingly cold gaze clearly revealed a rapidly deepening hatred for Malik!

"That Malik!!" At this moment, even the usually calm and collected King Yu couldn't help but get angry. "He actually dared to gamble with the life of a card!!"

"Oh no!" Yugi Ryuuji exclaimed worriedly, "Those card spirits are extremely important to Yugi, and under these circumstances, Yugi wouldn't dare risk launching an attack!!"

After the Noah incident, everyone present gained a basic understanding of card spirits to some extent. Even Seto Kaiba, who had always been superstitious about science, gradually began to pay attention to this concept related to "card spirits".

Everyone looked at the duel barrier, which was even darker than the sky, and they all felt anxious for You Che.

"What's wrong, Yuzuru?" Dark Marik still had that nauseating smile. "Afraid to draw a card now?"

"Aren't you best at fighting by relying on the bond with card spirits?"

"I only have two cards on the field right now. If you can draw a good card using your spirit, you might be able to end this terrible duel~"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot."

"The prerequisite for activating those cards is to summon your precious card spirits~"

"What if they get accidentally torn to shreds by the Dark Game? That wouldn't be good!"

"Shut up!!" Yu Che shouted, sweat beading on his forehead, staring at Malik's mysterious face card as he analyzed it in his mind.

The Underworld Guide's effect can only be activated when it is destroyed in battle, so the key now lies in that mysterious magical trap!

Based on his memory, Yu Che guessed all the cards Malik might have set up, but no matter how he eliminated them, there were just too many possibilities!

No...

We must not activate that disruptive triangular lightning!

You Che gritted his teeth.

Armed Dragon is protected by Continuous Spell Cards, but fragile Disruptors are not!

The condition for activating Disruptive Triangle Lightning is to summon three Disruptive monsters on the field. Even if you are well prepared, it is difficult to protect all three Disruptive monsters.

Recalling everything that happened during the Noah incident, and the disruption to the six brothers' difficult reunion, the original plan to rely on the bond to extract the "Disruption Mandala" was ultimately thwarted.

"Whoosh——————————————"

"My turn! Draw a card!!"

"Activate the Spell Card - Angel's Charity!!"

Draw three cards from your deck, then discard two!

You Che waved his arm, pinning his hopes on the cards he would draw next. But when he saw that he had received these cards without relying on the Elf Bond, his gaze froze.

"Oh? Looks like the card you drew wasn't that good~" Dark Marik taunted. "Is it related to your card spirit? If so, that's a real shame~"

However, You Che responded with a cold laugh: "You're wrong."

Malik was taken aback.

"The card I drew is—Double Spell!" Yu Che revealed the card in his hand. "This card can copy one Spell Card from your opponent's Graveyard!"

"Based on what I know about you, your deck will definitely include that Lure Doll card!!"

"Now that the duel has progressed this far, and most of your deck has been depleted, that card is definitely in your graveyard!!"

"So, I'm going to copy your decoy doll and lure your face card out!!"

"Activate the Spell Card - Double Spell: Discard one card from your hand, and activate one Spell Card from your opponent's Graveyard!!!"

"Nice!!" Ryuji Otogi exclaimed. "The Decoy Doll can reveal a face-down card on your opponent's field. If it's a Trap Card, it can force it to activate or destroy it directly! And even if it's a Spell Card, you can check what its effect is!"

“However,” Jonouchi said, realizing something amidst his surprise, “Yusho only has two cards in his hand right now, and he won’t have any more after activating Double Spell. Malik also has a defense-position monster on his field. No matter what, it will be very difficult for Yusho to defeat Malik this turn…”

Dark Malik's face darkened, but quickly he sneered and said, "So what? You think you can beat me this round?!"

The radiance of the double magic slowly shone forth, and beams of colorful light gradually converged, eventually transforming into a doll made of straw and burlap.

After being infused with magical power, the puppet seemed to come alive and flew towards Dark Malik's only face-down card on the field!

Triggered by it, the mysterious card slowly unfolded, revealing itself to be a Quick-Play Spell Card—Dark Demon Rebirth!

This card is a Trap Card in the OCG, but it's a Spell Card in the anime. In the original story, Malik used this card to successfully revive Ra's Winged Dragon once!

The effect of the Induced Doll ended, and since the target was a Spell Card, it was returned intact.

And Youche's heart sank as well.

The effect of Dark Rebirth is that when an opponent's monster declares an attack, you can choose one Spell Card from their Graveyard.

Malik kept this card with the intention of using it to copy Monster Resurrection, thereby resurrecting Ra's Winged Dragon from the graveyard once again.

However, since Youche has not used Monster Resurrection since the duel began, this card has never had the opportunity to reach its full potential.

"Disgusting..." You Che clenched his fist, thinking to himself.

Although this card is a bit tricky, at least I know what this guy's face-down card is.

It's impossible to defeat Malik directly right now, so we can only stabilize the situation first and destroy that card with Armed Dragon.

"I activate the effect of Armed Dragon's Thunder from my Graveyard, banish this card from the Duel, and add one Armed Dragon Spell Card from my Graveyard to my hand!" Yu Che announced. "I choose Armed Dragon's Thunderstrike! I activate the effect of Armed Dragon's Thunderclap, increasing the ATK of Armed Dragon Lightning Lv10 by its Level multiplied by 100! End of turn!!"

With the blessing of the Spell Card, the Wandering Armed Dragon was strengthened once again, and its attack power reached 5000 points!

But seeing that they couldn't defeat Malik directly, everyone couldn't help but sigh.

"Sigh! It's a pity. If Malik had set a trap card, Yuzuru would have won this turn!" Anzu said with some disappointment. Although her dueling skills were not very good, she could tell that Yuzuru was wary of that magic card and that's why he didn't attack.

Honda scratched the back of his head and said, "But continuing to drag this out should be beneficial to Youche, since Malik doesn't have many cards left."

"No, actually quite the opposite." Kong Quewu shook her head.

The group looked on in confusion.

With a serious expression, Mai explained, "Malik's deck must still contain cards that can revive Ra's Winged Dragon. Before his deck runs out, he'll draw cards with revival effects. Once Ra's Winged Dragon returns from the graveyard, even if he can't defeat Yugi, he can destroy Armed Dragon!!"

“However, Malik doesn’t have many Life Points left.” Looking at the battlefield, King Yu calmly analyzed, “With his mere thousand LP, it’s not enough to either increase the attack power of Ra Winged Dragon or activate its effect to forcibly destroy Armed Dragon. Next, it depends on who can draw the more crucial card.”

"Whoosh——————————————"

A chilling wind howled as Dark Malik grinned smugly and drew a card from his Duel Disk:

"Hehehe!!"

"I wasn't wrong, was I! Youche!!"

Even if you know what card I'm using, you still have no way to defeat me!

"My turn, draw a card!!"

"Attack Status Summon - Melguiter the Four-Faced Beast!!"

"Smack!"

The card was drawn, and a bizarre monster composed of four masks emerged from the dim purple light.

In this era of dueling development, duelists using normal monsters are rare, and as the leader of the Ghoul Gang, Malik is even less likely to include the meaningless Normal Bone in his deck due to resource constraints.

This strange normal monster may look weak, but it is actually an essential piece of the puzzle for Malik to summon powerful main force!

Melquito the Four-Faced Beast

【Four stars】

[Dark Attribute/Demon Race]

[Attack/Defense: 1500/1200]

After completing his Normal Summon, Dark Marik continued to swipe cards, grinning wickedly, "It's not over yet! Wandering Chaser!"

"Activate the effect of Masked Beast Death Guardian from your hand, Tribute two monsters on your field, including Melchior Four-Faced Beast, and Special Summon this card directly!!"

"Send the guide to the underworld and Melchior to the grave, come, my beloved servant!!"

At Dark Malik's call, the masked monster began to spin rapidly, its expressions of joy, anger, sorrow, and fear switching swiftly before finally culminating in a shrill and terrifying roar!

The two monsters emitted a thick black mist, and from within that mist, an extremely ferocious demonic beast roared as it appeared!

【Masked Beast - Death Guardian】

[Eight Stars]

[Dark Attribute/Demon Race]

[Attack/Defense: 3300/2500]

"Set one card face down, end your turn!" Dark Marik laughed smugly, looking completely confident. "You, Yuzuriha, I've set another face-down card~ I wonder if you'll be able to see through my trap this time~ Hahahahahahahahahaha!!"

You Che frowned: "Before the end of your turn, I activate the effect of Armed Dragon - Lightning Lv10, sending one card from my hand to the Graveyard to destroy the Dark Demon Rebirth you set!! At the same time, its ATK increases by 1000!!"

"Bang!"