Mai — Turn 4
She drew with a flick. The new card landed in her hand like a secret winking awake. She did not let the smile show her teeth—only the corners.
"I can no longer pay for mirror wall so it will go to my graveyard,"she said with a look of disappointment.
"I activate Monster Reborn," she said. The hologram sigil rose under her feet, old and hungry. "Come back to me, Harpie's Pet Dragon (ATK 2000)."
The dragon uncoiled out of the ground with a hiss like knives on silk, claws finding purchase, eyes narrowed. "And since I also Normal Summon Cyber Harpie Lady (ATK 1800, WIND), Pet Dragon adores the company gain 300 plus ATK for each harpie lady on the field, for 2300."
Bakura's eyes heated. "How sweet."
"Battle." Mai's hand cut forward. "Dragon—burn Necrofear."
Purple flame rushed. Necrofear skated an inch, shoulders braced, eyes unblinking as the fire crawled around her shape like liquid glass. The blow landed; she trembled, then laughed. It sounded like something walking on broken mirrors.
Bakura — LP: 2800 - 100 = 2700
Mai set a card. "I can be patient, too. End."
Bakura didn't flinch. If anything, his smirk deepened—slow, deliberate, the kind that made your stomach knot before you even understood why. His Duel Disk hummed as a dark, coiling energy began to seep from the graveyard slot. The air seemed to grow heavier, and the shadowy outlines of chains began to snake along the floor of the arena.
He raised his gaze to Mai, the lights catching in his eyes just enough to make them gleam like polished ice.
"Oh… you really shouldn't have done that," Bakura said, voice low and almost amused. "You see, Dark Necrofear isn't the sort of spirit that rests quietly in the grave. No, when you remove her from the field…"
His smirk split into a grin—sharp, predatory—as the spectral form of Dark Necrofear reappeared behind him, her chains dragging along the floor with a sound that made the hair on Mai's arms rise.
"…she takes something with her."
Mai's expression faltered as Bakura's voice dipped into something almost intimate, a whisper you didn't want to hear.
"That's her little parting gift, my dear," he said, tilting his head slightly. "I get to take control of one of your monsters… and I think I'll make your Harpie sing for me."
Dark Necrofear," Bakura continued, eyes dark, "remove the pet from its mistress."
Necrofear vaulted—too fast for a thing that tall—and scissored the dragon's throat with one lazy hand. The beast jerked, fanned its wings, and collapsed in a fretwork of purple light as it appeared on Bakura field.
Bakura — Turn 4
He drew; his cheekbones glinted under the lights. "We're almost done toying."
"I tribute summon SummonDark Ruler Ha DesATK 2450
Spirit Reaper dissolved into soot and a slow grin; in its place, a horn-crowned king strode forth, cape dropping in a black fall, trident scraping a line of sparks along glass. When he breathed in, the arena seemed to exhale.
"When Ha Des destroys an opponent's monster by battle," Bakura said, delighted, "its effects are negated. Even in death."
He lifted the trident, a conductor calling for strings. "Battle.Ha Des—strike Cyber Harpie Lady (ATK 1800)."
Steel sang; violet feathers exploded like confetti in a nightclub, beautiful and wrong.
Mai — LP: 1400
"Trap activate—Waboku!" Mai barked, flipping the set a half-second before the trident's tip reached narrative flesh. White-cloaked priestesses swept across the field, palms raised. The hit registered and then drained, battle damage turned to frost.
Bakura's eyes narrowed—not in anger; in interest. "Clever,since you no longer take battle damage this turn and I cannot destroy your monster by battle."
Mai — Turn 5
She drew and her breath snagged. For a moment, she wasn't on Kaiba's blimp. She was in a Vegas lounge, smoke and lights, winning a hand she should have folded. She came back with a tiny, private grin.
"I Normal Summon Harpie Lady 3 in defense mode (DEF 1400)." The youngest of the flock spiraled down, eyes fierce, hair wild. "And I equip the cyber harpie lady with the Axe of Despair—+1000 ATK, she becomes 2800."
Bakura's brows rose, pleased. "Ah."
"Battle," Mai said, voice velvet and iron. "Cyber Harpie Lady—carve Harpie lady pet dragon(ATK 2600)."
Her harpie lunged, the Axe whistling. The trident met it; sparks pinwheeled. Mai's jaw set; she pushed.
Bakura — LP: 2800 − 200 = 2600
"Main Two," she said, refusing to blink. "I set one. End."
Her chest was high and still, shoulders back, chin daring the world to see her bend.
Bakura — Turn 6
He drew his next card slowly, savoring the motion, eyes never once leaving Mai's. In that gaze, he read her—spite smoldering in her glare, steel in the set of her jaw, and the lingering glamour of a duelist who refused to break under pressure. It made his smile curve into something softer… yet infinitely more dangerous.
"Let's finish with a message," Bakura murmured, sliding the card into place with deliberate precision. "I equip my field spell—Big Bang Shot—to my Dark Ruler Ha Des."
The hologram shimmered, and Ha Des's massive trident ignited with an unearthly light, each prong wreathed in a swirling green aura.
"Attack points…" Bakura's voice dipped almost like a caress. "Two thousand four hundred and fifty… plus four hundred."
The Duel Disk chimed, confirming the calculation.
Ha Des — ATK 2850
"Ha Des…" Bakura's smile thinned into a blade. "…destroy her Harpie Lady Three."
The dark ruler lifted his trident with agonizing slowness, its glow intensifying until the arena floor was painted in sickly emerald. The weapon fell with a speed that split the air, the force of the impact cracking phantom stone beneath Harpie Lady Three's talons.
The winged beast screamed, the sound warping into static as her body shattered into fractal shards of light.
Bakura's eyes didn't leave Mai's. "Oh, and by the way…" His tone was almost playful, but his gaze burned. "Big Bang Shot gives my Ha Des piercing damage."
The words hit harder than the hologram's attack. The shockwave of the strike rippled past the now-absent Harpie, smashing into Mai's Life Points directly. The impact threw a rush of hot air against her, bright light searing her vision white—then dim, then white again, the world around her flickering like a candle under Bakura's shadow.
Mai — LP: 0
Her disk wailed; the holograms shattered like wet glass. Behind the instant silence, something else rose—a second sound, not from the speakers, not from any machine.
Shadows. Not the theatrical gloss of Bakura's field—these were older, colder, tight as wire.
The Shadow Realm opened like a pupil.
Mai's mouth shaped a word—Joey?—and then steadied.
The shadows took her anyway, curling around her like black silk being packed into a case. Her body blurred to light and then to absence, her last look a dare and a promise.
"Mai!" Joey lurched toward the rail; Odion's arm stopped him without effort. Kaiba's jaw ticked once; he said nothing. Rebecca's hands were clasped so tight her knuckles had gone paper-white. Connor reached, took one of them, didn't look away from the ring.
He bowed, slow and impeccable.
"Winner: Bakura." Kaiba's voice was a gavel dropped from orbit.
Marik's smile was all hunger. Jason watched the shadow-closed space where Mai had stood, eyes glassy with clinical interest, as if he'd observed a reagent foam just as predicted.
Joey braced both hands on the rail, breathing fast, eyes wet and furious. "I'll get her back," he ground out. "I swear it."
Bakura looked up at him and smiled with neighborly kindness. "Do," he said. "It will make for such a diverting round."
Odion's gaze slid to Marik. He enjoys this too much, he thought, as if too much had not long ago lost all meaning for the man he followed.
The blimp's engines deepened, banking for a new line over the midnight city. Somewhere below, wind harried a neon sign until it squealed.
Kaiba turned on his heel. "Prepare the next arena. Finals resume in the morning."
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