Who Let Him Play Yu-Gi-Oh!

Kira put away his Duel Disk and clapped the dust off his hands.

His opponent was a bit stronger than he'd initially expected. The main surprise was when, midway through, the opponent drew an "Caius the Shadow Monarch"—not that this card alone had a huge impact on the duel, but rather because it was inhabited by a spirit.

In terms of spirit strength, Caius the Shadow Monarch didn't feel weak. Even without being summoned, simply bestowing fate energy upon the duelist was quite a hassle.

But it was fine—nothing too hard to deal with. In the end, Kira managed to win rather easily.

"How could this be…"

King of Yamimakai collapsed to the ground, his breath weak, his body beginning to emit a golden glow. This was the fate of a defeated spirit duel participant—even the corpse would disintegrate and vanish.

"I actually lost, even after borrowing Lord Caius' power…"

"Calm down, you're not the first, and you won't be the last."

By now, Kira had dispelled his magical disguise and was back to his original self.

"You… you're not… cough, cough…"

King of Yamimakai's eyes widened.

"Right, I'm not."

Kira admitted cheerfully.

"You… cough… spy, infiltrator…"

"Yeah, yeah, that's me."

Kira continued to admit it openly, and as he spoke, he bent down and pulled the deck from King of Yamimakai's Duel Disk.

This action caused the already dying King of Yamimakai to cough up more blood.

"You… you… urgh…"

With a final spurt of blood, King of Yamimakai collapsed completely, eyes wide open, breathless.

Then his whole body began to disintegrate, turning into golden light particles, vanishing into the air.

Kira took the deck, continued walking out, and fished out the key card as he walked.

Caius the Shadow Monarch.

A cloud of black mist drifted out, gradually forming a phantom image of the evil god. Those crimson eyes peered at Kira through the swirling darkness, their gaze both fierce and faintly confused.

"Who exactly are you?"

By now, Caius had realized something. The reason this duel had been so one-sided wasn't just because of some traps.

He could sense that this person hadn't even used his full strength.

But where had this wild-card duelist come from?

He thought to himself: though King of Yamimakai was nothing special in his eyes, with Caius' blessing he shouldn't be someone that just anyone could bully. Yet this person had not only won but completely dominated both of them.

Caius pondered for a moment.

He was a spirit who knew how to adapt. Teaming up with King of Yamimakai was just an organizational assignment, and now that guy was dead, and this new guy seemed to have ideas after taking the deck, Caius's mind quickly became active again.

As a wise spirit, he should know when to seek a new path for himself.

But as the dignified Shadow Monarch, he still had to keep up appearances. So he coughed, hiding in the mist, and put on a mysterious air:

"To have killed the duelist who possessed me—you're quite bold, boy."

But before he could finish, Kira cut him off.

"Shut up first, I'll deal with you later."

Kira simply shoved him back into the deck and stuffed it into his pocket.

Caius: "…"

By now, he'd exited the cave, but the outside world had changed dramatically.

The pitch-black sky was covered by massive black clouds, like waves of darkness rising from an abyss; thunder rumbled like ancient beasts roaring and shaking the earth.

Then, from deep within the clouds, a surge of power burst forth—at first like a black sword splitting the world, but then it revealed itself: a giant, winding serpent!

A terrifying serpent god, its body winding across the sky. Its deep, cold eyes reflected the entire land, its massive maw bared sharp fangs, and it let out a deafening roar.

The God of Orichalcos!

"It's already revived?" Kira frowned, his expression tense.

This thing had only been defeated long ago by the combined power of the three Egyptian Gods. Now, with them gone, if it had truly revived, it would be a real problem.

"No, that's just a remnant image. Its true body is still sealed," said BLS, floating out and speaking in a low voice. "But it's probably coming for us—or rather, for the thing we just found."

Kira understood.

A Millennium Puzzle derivative, huh…

It was easy to imagine that, after being defeated by the Pharaoh last time, the serpent god would utterly hate this sealing artifact. Even in a crippled, sealed state, as soon as it sensed its presence, it would rush over, even if it had to crawl.

The minions gathered in the valley had already been scared silly. The Lich King was the first to grovel on the ground, shivering, chanting their master's name and praising his power, hoping flattery would win them protection.

It was useless.

Even in a crippled state, the serpent god's manifestation was draining. In midair, its huge body writhed as it summoned a massive hexagram barrier that blotted out the sky. All the followers linked to Orichalcos had the hexagram appear on their foreheads and were lifted into the air.

No one could resist. Their eyes widened as they felt their souls being pulled from their mouths, ripped out of their living bodies, turning into green light that shot into the vortex in the sky.

The soulless bodies then fell like puppets with their strings cut.

The serpent god inhaled the souls of all its minions at once, its phantom body growing slightly more solid, baring its fangs and roaring at the valley!

"Tch, what a mad god."

Kira frowned slightly.

BLS drew his sword, ready to fight. Silent Magician also appeared. Jinzo looked reluctant, but seeing his teammates getting ready, he had no choice but to put on a brave face.

But looking at the giant serpent in the sky, Jinzo's feelings were written all over his face—

—Fight the serpent god? Seriously?

Even if it's crippled, it's way out of my league, right?

Just then, Kira felt a warm sensation at his side.

It was the artifact he'd picked up—a Millennium Puzzle derivative. The Eye of Wdjat began to glow.

Kira focused.

Sensing the serpent god's arrival, the artifact activated on its own?

In the dark, thunderous sky, a golden beam of light shot from the Eye's mark, piercing the darkness, like the sun's fire erupting from the earth's core!

The golden light soared into the clouds, instantly dispersing the darkness, rising to the serpent god's height before exploding. At first, it was a rapidly expanding fireball, but then a shape began to emerge from the flames.

In the center of the fire, a blurry figure appeared. It was the outline of a divine bird, slowly spreading its wings, its body covered in flames like burnished gold. Its head slowly rose, and its eyes, burning with holy fire, opened.

The serpent god screamed—part rage, part fear, part fury.

Because it recognized its opponent: from ancient myth, thought to have vanished from the world, a god at the pinnacle of Duel Monsters.

The Sun God—The Winged Dragon of Ra!

PS: Bonus Chapter 500 PS