Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, Summon!
However, even Yugen could sense that although the summoned Sacred Phoenix had a certain force fluctuation, it mostly came from the power that Sierre had just absorbed from the idol. That card still did not have a spirit dwelling within it.
However, in this world, as long as they weren't bootleg or knock-off Duel Monsters cards, even without a spirit dwelling, they still possessed certain supernatural attributes.
The monsters summoned by a Duelist from each card were roughly equivalent to the relationship between a projection and the original spirit; in a sense, they could also be considered spirit avatars.
Sometimes, when a Duelist poured a lot of emotion into a certain card, it was possible to naturally attract a real spirit to reside within the card.
Therefore, it was also possible for an originally ordinary card to suddenly become a spirit card.
"'The Seal of Orichalcos' increases the attack power of all my monsters by 500 points as long as it's on the field," Sierre said. "Therefore, 'Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys'' attack power increases."
[Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, ATK 2400 → ATK 2900]
Judai stared at the green light mark that appeared on Sacred Phoenix's forehead for a long time, then couldn't help but say, "Don't you feel it? Your monster is groaning?"
"What if I hear it, and what if I don't?" Sierre said indifferently. "What a Duelist needs to consider is just victory. Trusting others only leads to betrayal. Ultimately, a Duelist can only trust themselves."
"That's not right."
Judai still wanted to argue, but was interrupted by Sierre: "First, you need the ability to defeat me before you can say anything else. I will now activate the Spell Card 'Last Hope of Nephthys'!
Choose one 'Nephthys' card on my field and one card on your field and destroy them.
I will destroy 'Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys' and your 'Elemental HERO Mudballman'!"
Flames erupted from Sacred Phoenix's entire body, turning into a firebird that struck towards Mudballman. In the burning flames, the sturdy body of the Elemental HERO was reduced to ashes along with it.
The lingering flames swept over, and Judai raised his arm to shield his face: "Ugh, he actually didn't hesitate to sacrifice his own monster for a mutual destruction..."
Sierre said, "Set one card, end turn."
Yugen: "Then it's my turn, draw.
From my hand, activate the effect of 'Thunder Dragon': by discarding this card from my hand, I can add up to two 'Thunder Dragon' cards from my deck to my hand."
Two cards went into his hand, and then he immediately played another card.
"Spell Card 'Card Destruction'! Both players discard all cards in their hands, then draw the same number of cards from their decks."
Hands were refreshed, and in this way, a large amount of Light and Dark resources were accumulated in the graveyard in one go.
"Then I will banish the Dark attribute 'Apprentice Magician' and the Light attribute 'Thunder Dragon' in my graveyard from play! O Wizard who controls the power of Light and Darkness, descend now——
——Chaos Sorcerer, Summon!"
Beams of Light and Darkness flew into mid-air, intertwined, and plunged into the vortex. Chaotic energy erupted, and vast magical power gradually materialized into a humanoid form. The Chaos Sorcerer turned and descended.
[Chaos Sorcerer, ATK 2300]
"So it's the power of chaos. Duel Academy students really do have some unusual cards," Sierre said indifferently. "Then I activate my set card, Trap Card - Torrential Tribute!
When a monster is Summoned, destroy all monsters on the field!"
The Trap Card flipped over, and a deep blue torrent surged out. The Chaos Sorcerer, who had just entered the field, was shattered into points of light within the surging rapids.
Judai: "Ah, Yugen's Chaos Sorcerer was taken out so quickly."
"It doesn't matter," Yugen said. "Then I use the effect of 'The Tricky' in my hand. By discarding one card from my hand, I can directly Special Summon this card."
He sent one card from his hand to the graveyard, the summoning formation opened, and the magician with a question mark drawn on his hat appeared on the field.
[The Tricky, ATK 2000]
"Then, the card I just discarded to the graveyard was the Quick-Play Spell 'Silent Burning'."
Yugen drew out that Spell Card again from the graveyard.
"By banishing 'Silent Burning' from play, I can add one 'Silent Magician LV8' from my deck to my hand," Yugen said, "'Silent Magician LV8' can be Special Summoned by tributing one Spellcaster-Type monster on the field.
I will tribute the Spellcaster-Type 'The Tricky' on the field!
Entrusting the silent wings of hope, oh magician of light, appear here——
——Silent Magician LV8, Summon!"
The Tricky's figure dissolved in the magic circle, and the white-robed magician's figure gracefully stepped onto the light magic circle and appeared, the magic staff in his hand gently circling.
[Silent Magician LV8, ATK 1000]
"Silent Magician LV8's attack power will increase by 500 for each card in my hand," Yugen said. "I have three cards in my hand, so its attack power increases by 1500!"
[Silent Magician LV8, ATK 1000 → ATK 2500]
"Silent Magician LV8, direct attack! Silent Burning!"
A vortex of light converged at the tip of the magic staff, morphing into a magic light orb that exploded on Sierre's face. The Doma Swordsman's figure swayed, taking half a step back, but stood firm under the impact of the substantial magic light.
[Sierre, LP 8000 → LP 5500]
Judai pumped his fist: "Excellent! A big chunk of damage in one go!"
"Truly talented."
Sierre rotated his neck joints.
Yugen drew three more cards into his hand.
"Set three more cards on the field, end turn."
"It seems you're not ordinary students. In that case, I'll have to get a little more serious," Sierre narrowed his eyes. "My turn, draw.
Entering the Standby Phase, first I activate the effect of the 'Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys' that was destroyed in the previous turn.
During my next Standby Phase after this card was destroyed by an effect and sent to the graveyard, Special Summon this card from the graveyard."
Sierre raised his arm.
"The Phoenix will be reborn from the ashes, and with its scorching flames, it will burn everything——
——Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, reborn!"
A swirling pillar of fire shot into the sky, and golden glittering wings unfolded. Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, reborn from the ashes!
[Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, ATK 2400 → ATK 2900]
"At the same time as its rebirth, the subsequent effect of Sacred Phoenix also activates," Sierre shouted, "When Sacred Phoenix is Special Summoned by its own effect, destroy all Spell and Trap Cards on the field!"
Sacred Phoenix let out a sharp cry, and as it unfolded its wings, a Fire Feather storm erupted, turning into a burning tornado that instantly swept across the entire field!
"It has such powerful abilities," Judai said. "But like this, your own field will also be destroyed."
"'The Seal of Orichalcos'' effect cannot be negated, and once activated, it cannot be removed from the field in any way," Sierre said coldly. "The final point of this battle is that only one side of us will have their souls become offerings.
Therefore, only your set cards will be destroyed."
He swung his arm, glancing over the four face-down cards on Yugen and Judai's field.
"So all your set cards will be destroyed for me!"
The Phoenix's flames swept through Yugen and Judai's entire field, and the four face-down cards were blown away together. He saw at a glance that among them were surprisingly two "Mirror Force"!
"Hmm?" Yugen and Judai looked at each other.
Clearly, one of them was set by Yugen and the other by Judai.
"Hahaha, sometimes we have very similar card choices," Judai scratched his head.
In the original work, Judai also used Mirror Force. Moreover, not only that, but it could be seen in his duel with Titan that Judai drew two Mirror Forces among his initial six cards, the only time in the entire history of Yu-Gi-Oh! anime that someone did this.
"It's a pity our trap cards didn't even have a chance to appear, sigh," Judai regretted.
"That's not necessarily true," Yugen smiled.
Just as the flames swept past, three of the set cards spun a few times in the air before flipping back face-down again.
"What?" Sierre frowned. "Why weren't they destroyed by Sacred Phoenix's effect?"
"Because one of the cards I set was the Trap Card 'Fake Trap'."
Yugen pointed to a Trap Card in mid-air that was still spinning.
"When an effect that would destroy a Trap Card(s) you control is activated, you can destroy this card instead. The other Trap Cards on your field are not destroyed."
If this were a real card game, the opponent could flip the card to confirm it was indeed set again, but in a duel in this world, you couldn't just walk over to the other side and take a look at their back row. Sierre could only glance at the anime-style performance just now and see clearly that the opponent currently had two Mirror Forces set in their back row.
"Ah, as expected of the academy's trap card master, did Yugen anticipate the back row wipe long ago?" Judai laughed heartily.
"Two Mirror Forces, it's truly an iron wall formation," Sierre said, "Then I still have effects to resolve during the Standby Phase. The card in my hand that was destroyed in the previous turn by 'Defender of Nephthys' was 'Chronicler of Nephthys'.
When Chronicler is destroyed by an effect and sent to the graveyard, during my next Standby Phase, I can add one 'Nephthys' card from my graveyard to my hand."
A card shot out from the graveyard and was drawn by Sierre into his hand.
"I return the Spell Card 'Last Hope of Nephthys' to my hand."
Judai: "Ah, it's that troublesome magic again..."
"Activate the Spell Card 'Last Hope of Nephthys'."
Sierre once again played the Spell Card that he had retrieved into his hand, the image of the Spell Card appearing in front of him, emitting a dazzling light.
"Destroy one 'Nephthys' card I control and one card you control!"