**Chapter 81: Your Monster is Really Useful**
Looking at the confident expression on Hayato's face, Anacis smiled, "It looks like you've drawn a good card, haven't you?"
"I trust my deck, and my deck responds to me," Hayato said with a smile, playing a card. "Uncle Anacis, let me show you a card that embodies the bonds between me and my comrades! Activate the Spell Card, (Change of Heart)!"
Hayato played the eternally forbidden card he had acquired from Dark Bakura. Immediately, a half-red, half-black Heart appeared on the Field, flying into the (Sea Dragon - Daedalus) on Anacis's Field. (Daedalus)'s sharp eyes instantly became hollow, and it drifted like a sleepwalker over to Hayato's Field.
"My (Daedalus)!" Anacis tried to awaken the (Sea Dragon - Daedalus) that had been affected by (Change of Heart) with words, but clearly, he wasn't the kind of trainer who could heal his Pokémon by simply shouting "Get up!" He could only watch helplessly as his Ace monster ran over to Hayato's Field.
"That's, my card?" Bakura was slightly surprised to see Hayato playing his card, but he quickly remembered hearing a voice ask if he had any objections to "taking his cards" before he had fully awakened. That voice, was it Hayato?
However, Hayato was, after all, the one who rescued Bakura from that dark spirit, so Bakura felt grateful that Hayato had taken his cards.
Bakura himself wasn't very interested in Duel Monsters, no more than Tristan or Téa. Most of his deck had been collected and built by "another Bakura," and both the card art and effects were quite disturbing. Compared to his father's gift, the (Millennium Ring), Bakura felt that deck was more like an "ominous item."
Seeing the (Sea Dragon) on the Field turn its spearhead and stand on his own Field, Hayato smiled. "Uncle Anacis, your monster is really good, but in the next second, it'll be mine."
(Sea Dragon - Daedalus) [ATK 3100 → 2600 → 2100]
Watching his Ace monster appear on the opponent's Field and have its ATK lowered by the effect of (Star Boy), Anacis felt a sense of being snatched away. He replied unhappily, "But (Change of Heart)'s effect only lasts for one turn. By the end of the turn, the (Sea Dragon) will return to my field."
"In that case, I just need to end the Duel this turn, right?" Hayato said with a smile. "You have one (Star Boy) with 1050 ATK on your Field, and your LP are only 3250. I just need to gather monsters with a total ATK of 4300 on my Field."
"That's what I said, but unfortunately, I only have one (Power of Succession) in my hand," Hayato revealed the remaining card in his hand. "However, I activate the effect of (Ojama Modification) in my Graveyard."
"A Spell Card activated in the Graveyard!?" Anacis had seen cards that activated their effects after being destroyed, but a card used from the Graveyard was a first. "But I remember (Ojama Modification)'s effect is to Banish Ojama monsters to Special Summon Fusion Material, right? You shouldn't have any Ojama monsters left in your Graveyard."
"That's its first effect; I'm using its second effect." Hayato pulled out the three Banished Ojama Brothers from his pocket, his fingers firmly holding down the three unruly creatures that always wanted to run around. "By banishing (Ojama Modification) from the Graveyard, I can return three Banished Ojama monsters to my deck and shuffle it, then draw one card."
After stuffing the three Ojama monsters into his deck and giving it a quick shuffle, Hayato felt a familiar aura emanating from the top of his deck and couldn't help but smile. "Speaking of which, Uncle Anacis, have you ever heard this saying?"
"A Duel Monsters deck has 40 cards, but the possibility of each draw is not one in forty, but infinite."
"Infinite possibility?" Anacis looked at the young man opposite him and unconsciously smiled. "Then show me your possibility, young man—no, Hayato!"
"Draw!"
The moment he drew the card, Hayato felt a flash of light cross his eyes. Even without looking, he could sense that the card in his hand was (Gaia The Fierce Knight). However, although the aura was the same, the might it brought was completely different.
Looking at the transformed (Gaia), Hayato revealed a knowing smile. "So that's how it is..."
"I Set one card from my hand, then I activate the effect from my hand!" Placing (Power of Succession) on the Field, Hayato revealed (Gaia). "When this is the only Monster in my hand, I can Normal Summon it without Tributing!"
"The swift wind constantly by its side intensifies, transcending limits, come to my side! (Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight)—"
"—(Gaia)!!!"
Though its appearance was the same, the aura around it became even more condensed. Riding a warhorse faster than the wind, (Gaia) descended in its new form!
(Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight) [Level 7 / DARK]
[Warrior / Effect]
[ATK 2300 / DEF 2100]
"A new 'dark knight'? As expected of a young person, truly full of possibility." Anacis marveled, looking at the (Gaia) on Hayato's Field that had transformed from a Normal Monster into an Effect Monster, and from an EARTH Attribute into a DARK Attribute. For the first time, he felt that he was already old.
He had only just entered middle age, he thought.
"However, Hayato, you haven't forgotten the effect of my (Star Boy) on the Field, have you?" Anacis reminded him. "Even though it appeared later, your (Gaia) will also be affected by its effect!"
(Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight) [ATK 2300 → 1800]
"Of course, I remember. After all, it's the last obstructing monster. But Uncle, you haven't forgotten that (Power of Succession) card, have you?" Hayato activated the (Power of Succession) he had Set earlier.
The body of the (Sea Dragon - Daedalus), which had been standing on the Field, gradually turned to ash. The essence of its power transformed into countless specks of light, merging into the (Gaia) beside it.
"(Power of Succession) allows me to Tribute one monster on my Field and transfer its full ATK to another monster," Hayato explained. "Completely inherit the power of your predecessor, (Gaia)! This is the final (Power of Succession)!"
(Gaia) [ATK 1800 → 4400]
"That's truly remarkable cooperation," Anacis said with a smile, watching as the (Gaia) on Hayato's Field, having absorbed all of (Daedalus)'s power, pierced (Star Boy) with a single spear thrust.
[Anacis: 3250 LP → 0]
(end of chapter)