Yugioh [775-777] (Patreon)

Chapter 775: The Doll Is Broken

"Amazing, amazing."

Kira clapped in praise.

Even though she'd summoned her ace, Alice had already used up her Battle Phase during the prep to call out the Doll Chimera. She couldn't attack this turn and could only end it.

"Then it's my turn. Draw."

He lazily flipped his set monster face-up.

"Since you didn't attack it, I'll flip it myself.

Flip Summon 'Magical Merchant.'

When this card is flipped, reveal cards from the top of your Deck until you reveal a Spell/Trap. Add that first revealed Spell/Trap to your hand, and send the remaining revealed cards to the GY."

"Randomly grabbing a Spell or Trap?" Alice said.

"Then I'll start." Kira turned over the first card, showing it. "First card, Monster, to the GY."

"Second card, Monster, to the GY."

"…"

Moments later, Alice's eyes widened more and more as she watched him dump practically half his Deck.

"Tenth card, Monster, to the GY."

"…"

"Twentieth card, Monster, to the GY."

"…"

"Twenty-seventh card, Monster, to the GY."

Alice's little mouth formed an O.

"Y-you, how—"

Kira smiled and gestured at his thick stack of a Deck.

"My Deck has a total of sixty cards," he said with a grin. "Guess how many Spells/Traps there are in it?"

Alice: "…"

"…"

"Thirty-second—hah, finally." Kira revealed a Trap in his hand. "The only Trap in my Deck. So this card goes to my hand, and the prior thirty-one cards all go to the GY."

Alice numbly watched him spill half his Deck into the GY, little head full of big question marks.

So what was the point of that?

"Among those thirty-one monsters I just sent, one of them was 'Makyura the Destructor,'" Kira said. "The turn this card is sent to the GY, I can activate Trap Cards from my hand.

So I activate the Trap I just picked up.

Trap Card: 'Skull Lair'!"

"Skull Lair lets me banish any number of monsters from my GY, then destroy 1 face-up monster on the field whose Level is equal to the number of monsters banished by this effect."

Alice was a bit lost. "Equal to the number of banished monsters' Level…?"

"In other words, your 'Doll Chimera' is a Level 5. So if I banish five monsters from my GY, I can destroy your Chimera."

Alice brightened. "Oh, I see!"

"So I banish five monsters from my GY to destroy Doll Chimera!"

The energy of five monsters surged into the Trap Card, loosing like arrows at the cursed doll!

"Not so fast!" Alice said. "I send two 'Doll Part Gold' from my Deck to the GY to negate Chimera's destruction!"

She dumped two Parts to the GY.

"And Chimera becomes even stronger because of it!"

[Doll Chimera, ATK 2400 → ATK 3200]

"Then I banish another five monsters from my GY and activate 'Skull Lair,'" Kira said. "Destroy Doll Chimera."

Alice started. This Trap doesn't have a once-per-turn?

"T-then I send two 'Doll Part Pink' from my Deck to the GY to negate Chimera's destruction!"

Alice sent two more parts.

"Chimera's ATK increases again!"

[Doll Chimera, ATK 3200 → ATK 4000]

"I banish five monsters from the GY," Kira said evenly. "Destroy Doll Chimera."

Alice's little face was turning pale.

She fully understood his intention now, but she was powerless—she could only keep going with a miserable expression.

"I-I send two 'Doll Part Red' from my Deck to the GY to negate Chimera's destruction…"

[Doll Chimera, ATK 4000 → ATK 4800]

"I banish five more monsters from the GY. Destroy Doll Chimera," Kira said coolly.

Alice was on the verge of tears. "I—I…"

"Right. You have four types of Doll Parts, up to three copies each—twelve in total—and they're all in the GY now."

Kira's tone was calm.

"You have no more parts to send.

Even if you can revive endlessly by sending parts, the Doll Parts in your Deck are finite.

There is no curse that can't be broken, and no night that never ends.

Doll Chimera—destroyed."

Skull Lair fired again. The cursed doll had its chest pierced through and finally exploded, no more reviving, as if even its grudges were blasted to dust.

"Skull Lair's effect again," Kira said. "I banish three more monsters from the GY to destroy your 'Alice the Wandering Doll.'"

Skull Lair fired once more; the last monster on Alice's field—Alice herself—was shattered.

Alice's face turned even whiter, lips trembling.

Stop blowing things up, please, I'm begging you.

This isn't even a duel!

"Then my Field Spell 'Chaos Zone' gains a Chaos Counter each time a monster is banished."

Kira spoke evenly.

"So count it up. How many cards did I banish this turn?"

"Huh?"

Alice froze for a second.

Then the doll lowered her head and started counting on her fingers.

"Mm, each time Chimera got blasted it took five, and blasting Alice took three…"

She looked up, cautiously.

"That's t-twenty… twenty-three?"

"Congratulations, that's correct. So smart." Kira smiled.

Alice, a little bashful, scratched her head with a shy grin.

Halfway through the smile, she stiffened again.

Wait, why am I happy when I'm about to get wrecked?

"Another effect of Chaos Zone: once per turn, you can remove four or more Chaos Counters from it; Special Summon 1 of your banished monsters whose Level equals the number of counters removed.

So from the twenty-three banished monsters, I'll Special Summon this one."

Kira revealed a monster.

"Professor Lyman, lend me your strength—

 —Golden Homunculus, summon!"

A giant of rock forged of gold, towering and imposing—the alchemical titan that synergizes well with Macro Cosmos, once used by Professor Lyman.

[Golden Homunculus, ATK 1500]

"Golden Homunculus gains ATK/DEF equal to 300 times the number of your banished cards."

Alice trembled harder.

"The number of banished cards, which means…"

"Correct. Excluding the Homunculus itself, I have twenty-two banished monsters," Kira said cheerfully. "Thus, its ATK becomes…"

[Golden Homunculus, ATK 1500 → ATK 8100]

"ATK eight thousand one hundred!?"

Alice's knees buckled and she collapsed.

If that hits, I'm absolutely gonna break…

She actually started crying.

I knew it—I should've trusted my instincts.

I never should've come to this man's room tonight.

This is hell!

"Golden Homunculus," Kira said, "attack Alice directly."

The golden giant raised a fist larger than Alice herself.

Alice crouched, clutching her head.

"Ahhhhh—"

[Alice, LP 1450 → LP 0]

Chapter 776: Correction

"Broken…"

"Really broken…"

The doll spirit Alice sat on the floor with her legs tucked, staring blankly at her cards scattered everywhere, not recovering for a long while.

Her Deck was strewn about. Since she used a Doll Parts build, the floor was littered with them—an arm here, a leg there, and several doll heads mixed in. It looked like she'd been dismantled by her opponent.

"Too much. Just too much."

Alice accused in her heart.

To be fair, she came today with the mission of "plunging the opponent into utter despair," to make a strong duelist lose the heart to duel, even kick the habit and swear off cards forever.

But now it seemed like she was the one getting cured of card addiction…

Alice rubbed her eyes; the tiny doll looked like she'd been punched, slumped and on the verge of tears.

Doll Chimera is such a pain to summon—you need Alice plus four Doll Parts to put it together. She managed it in one turn, got no praise, and instead it got blown up five times in one turn until not even dust remained…

In that moment, Alice felt a little silly for pouring everything into summoning that big boss.

And when the opponent casually dropped an alchemy beater with over eight thousand ATK afterward, Alice was certain.

She wasn't "a little" silly.

She was actually silly.

Ugh, dueling is the worst!

So this is the fabled realm of despair for duelists—the abyss where you never want to swing cards again?

She'd experienced it firsthand.

"Your Deck is interesting."

Kira smiled.

"Good play. That Doll Chimera is hard to bring out—at least you did summon it. Pretty impressive."

Alice looked up, eyes red.

She thought it was impressive too, but coming from him it sounded like mockery…

"Keep it up and come again next time." Kira smiled. "You're always welcome to send me back to the realm of despair."

Alice flinched instinctively, clutching her dress and scooting back.

Nope, not coming back. Never again.

I've already been there.

"I'm sorry!"

Alice prostrated herself.

Kira blinked.

"What?"

He didn't even react. Sorry for what?

Sorry you couldn't entertain me before you broke down?

"I—I remember now!" Alice bowed. "I wasn't supposed to be like this."

"I am a guardian spirit, meant to protect duelists' hearts. I should bring happiness and let everyone enjoy dueling."

"But I was weak, allowed darkness to stain my heart, and conceived such evil thoughts."

"But now I understand."

Alice knelt, face full of remorse.

"You wanted to show me—through a duel—how painful it is to have one's heart for dueling, one's hope, stripped away, didn't you?"

"I shouldn't resent, and I definitely shouldn't force that pain onto others. I'm fully awakened now, and I remember who I am. So…

I'm sorry!"

She bowed even lower.

Kira: "…"

Huh? That works?

In the original, Alice recalled her identity and duty at the end thanks to Jaden's passion—infected by the protagonist's unique charisma.

He hadn't expected you could literally beat sense into her.

Kira stroked his chin, pondering.

Could it be that my power keeps growing—dueling skill fused with the transcendent—so even a casual game has that kind of impact?

"Well, no need to be that guilty," Kira said. "The card-ripper was in the wrong. Punishment was deserved.

But venting on unrelated innocents and trying to harm them—that's where you were wrong."

Alice didn't dare speak.

"Since you've come around, that's good. But just letting you go is risky; there's no guarantee you won't hunt another victim next time…"

Alice looked up pitiably, eyes wide.

"T-then what should I do?"

Kira fell into thought.

…

The next morning.

"Excuse me—"

Jaden stepped into Kira's dorm and froze, wondering if he'd walked into the wrong room.

Because the moment he entered, he saw a tiny girl in a maid outfit—cute as a doll—on tiptoe at the window, scrubbing hard.

"Eh?" Jaden blinked. "You're…"

Noticing someone enter, Alice quickly put down her work and bowed.

"Hello. I'm Ra Yellow's new maid, Alice-chan. Pleased to serve."

"Maid?" Jaden looked even more confused. "Does the Academy even have maids?"

"Normally, no," Alice explained earnestly. "But Kira-sama said I am currently a criminal on probation. This is labor… labor…"

"Reform through labor," Kira prompted from inside.

"Yes, that."

Alice's little face was taut with solemnity as she resumed scrubbing the window with great seriousness.

Jaden: "?"

He frowned. "Wait, I feel like I've seen this girl somewhere…"

"She's the doll from Ms. Dorothy's shop," Kira said. "Originally a spirit that protects duelists, stained by darkness into a dangerous spirit.

After dueling me, she seems to have returned to normal, but we can't rule out risk yet. So she's under observation."

"I—I see." Jaden nodded.

Dueling with Kira… yeah, that tracks. Even the worst corruption would be cleared up.

The two sat down to talk. Soon Alice came in with a silver tray.

"These are snacks and tea I prepared. Please enjoy."

She set the tray down gently and went back to work.

Jaden took a bite, his eyes lighting up.

"Oh, this is delicious!" he said, satisfied. "Man, I wish Slifer Red had a doll like this too…"

"Forget that—how are you doing?" Kira cut straight to the point.

"Doing? How?" Jaden tilted his head.

"The Supreme King—he's inside you now, right?" Kira studied him. "Do you feel anything off?"

Chapter 777: Invitation

The Supreme King.

Hearing the name again, Jaden fell silent for a while, thinking.

But soon he looked up and laughed brightly.

"It's fine now."

"But you said he's inside you—you're one and the same," Kira leaned back into the sofa, lifting the teacup Alice had brought.

"So we have to consider the possibility he could lose control, don't we?" Kira paused, then added, "Or maybe you can stay stable normally, but under certain conditions there's still a risk—right?"

"You mean, if one day all my friends suddenly turned against me—or worse, someone might die because of me?"

Jaden's face grew serious.

Kira didn't answer, meeting his gaze just as seriously.

After several seconds of this strange stare-off, Jaden snorted a laugh.

"That's a bit much, right?"

But Kira didn't smile.

"Wait, you're serious?" Jaden raised a brow.

"It's a possibility we have to account for," Kira said. "We're dealing with a Supreme King who once ruled twelve dimensions. You faced him—you know how dangerous he is."

"I know, but… how to say…"

Jaden scratched his head, thought for a moment, then flashed his signature grin and gave a thumbs-up.

"In short, it's fine. I promise—he won't be a problem anymore."

Kira held his gaze a moment longer. Jaden kept the pose.

Finally, Kira shrugged.

"Alright, if you insist."

That was the plan anyway.

Dartz once said that the darkness in people's hearts can't be erased. Rafael thought he'd purged his inner darkness, and even the Orichalcos barrier vanished without claiming souls. But facing Dartz again, a few words rekindled Rafael's rage—and the barrier, along with the supposedly erased darkness, returned.

The Supreme King is Jaden's inner darkness; it can't truly be destroyed—unless you take Jaden with it.

So Jaden's optimal outcome—like many strong duelists—is to learn to face the darkest part of himself and coexist with it.

Kira actually felt that in the later anime, while Jaden could tap the King's power when serious, he'd only absorbed part of it—or couldn't fully wield it.

But now Jaden had that chance.

"By the way, Mr. Joey left the island today," Jaden said.

He and Joey hit it off and had gotten along well lately.

"He left?" Kira asked.

Joey had stayed mainly to help with their cross-dimensional expedition. Now that it was done, leaving wasn't surprising.

"Yeah… but he said he's just going to handle something and will be back for a victory party—to celebrate clearing the twelve-dimension raid."

Jaden tilted his head, thinking.

"He said Pegasus invited him."

"Pegasus invited Mr. Joey?" Kira found it odd.

Did those two keep in touch after Duelist Kingdom?

In fact, Kira wasn't the only one thinking that. The man himself was thinking the same at that very moment.

…

Riding an Industrial Illusions private jet to the island where Duelist Kingdom had been held, Joey Wheeler disembarked and looked over the familiar yet unfamiliar island, feeling a swell of emotion.

This was his starting point as a duelist, a place of special meaning.

When he first set foot here, he was a no-name duelist who barely knew the rules; his best result had been top eight in a local tournament, and he'd make misplays on stage.

On this island, he truly transformed into a duelist and first felt himself chasing after his best friend Yugi's footsteps.

Now times had changed. Yugi had long gone abroad, and the island was no longer Duelist Kingdom; the facilities were dismantled. It was basically Pegasus's semi-retirement home.

Still, it was odd. If Yugi—who became Industrial Illusions' nominal largest shareholder after Duelist Kingdom—and Kaiba, as a major partner, had stayed in contact with Pegasus, Joey himself hadn't had much contact since leaving the island.

So for Pegasus to summon him to his retirement island was strange.

"Welcome, Joey-boy."

At the castle, Pegasus himself came to greet him and waved for staff to give them privacy.

"Pegasus. Long time no see."

Joey strode up, waving casually.

"Your accent is still as amusing—ahaha."

Pegasus smiled gracefully, unbothered. "And you haven't changed at all, Joey-boy."

Since he was invited, Joey didn't stand on ceremony—he sat at the table, grabbed the sweets and coffee, and started eating.

Commenting as he ate:

"Mm, this tastes great."

"Oh, and the coffee's excellent too. Your retirement life's pretty sweet, Pegasus—color me jealous…"

Pegasus watched him dig in, legs crossed, smiling without joining in. "Retirement… if only I could be that leisurely."

"Hm?"

Joey looked up, puzzled.

"What, something not going well?"

"That's exactly why I invited you, Joey-boy." Pegasus straightened, serious. "Have you heard?

The cutting-edge astronomical unit we partner with observed a light wave from a cosmic white hole with the potential to destroy the world. We and KaibaCorp have been monitoring the possible impact of that evil fluctuation on Earth."

Joey nodded. "Don't know much, but I've heard a bit. What about it?"

"Recently, that same astronomical unit made a new discovery," Pegasus said gravely. "A threat to our world may not be limited to that light wave.

A force opposed to it—the darkness of the cosmos, which we're calling 'Cosmic Dark' for now—may also have the potential to engulf our world.

And you, Joey-boy—according to our observations, you…"

Pegasus paused, narrowing his eyes at him.

"…very likely came into close contact with a significant source of that 'Cosmic Dark.'"