Dark Great Mage Exodia, a figure truly known by all within the Duel Monster Realm. Whether in the present or the past, anyone who plays cards would have heard of this mage's name.
Exodia, also known as the "sealed Egyptian Envoy," requires all five components to be gathered in a player's hand simultaneously to forcibly rewrite the victory rules of the game, achieving victory from a rule-based standpoint.
As mentioned earlier, the strength of a card's effect in Duel Monsters directly reflects the strength of its spirit; the more domineering the effect, the stronger the spirit's power.
Judging by this criterion, the Dark Great Mage Exodia, capable of rewriting game rules and achieving direct victory, undoubtedly possesses god-like power among Duel Monster Spirits across all dimensions.
The Great Evil God Sock scorns nearly all spirits—his overwhelming power certainly allows it. Yet seeing the lone head unsealed by Priest Simon, and feeling the aura even through its seal, Sock cannot help but feel some fear.
Fortunately, Simon didn't start with the five sacred pieces, which would have made Bakura defeat Sock instantly. Otherwise, losing not to Yugi or Youyu but to a mere NPC in this RPG would indeed make Sock lose face.
Of course, starting with the five sacred pieces in this world view is practically impossible.
In the animations, neither protagonists nor villains ever have a standstill hand, despite having card decks with only one core monster and the rest being Magic Traps.
Especially with those final chapter bosses, their decks revolve around the same tricks, relying on fixed card combinations to initiate, and they happen to always draw those initial cards, highlighting reliance on high-level dominion.
Yet even so, none, including the original divine draw master Muto Yugi, have ever gathered the "Exodia" components purely by divine draws within the first two turns.
The reason is simple: Exodia is too strong.
The title "sealed envoy" for the Dark Great Mage is well justified. The duel itself is essentially a ritual, a battle ceremony to break the seal. Gathering the five slumbering Egyptian envoy components from the card deck in the duel process is the ritual's flow.
Amon in "Yu-Gi-Oh! GX," despite acquiring the Exodia card deck, still needs to go through the duel process to break the mage's seal. Moreover, he must sacrifice the soul of his most beloved to summon this powerful ancient mage.
Exodia is absolutely invincible; once summoned in a duel, it guarantees the summoner's victory. But for a Duelist, the greatest challenge is unsealing this mage. If their Life Points hit zero before the ritual completes, it's all futile.
The homage for summoning a god-tier spirit is steep.
Understanding this, Bakura quickly calmed down, smirking evilly.
"Hm, Exodia, you say? Interesting." He licked his lips, "Old man, you've successfully caught my attention. Seems you are indeed a worthy opponent. However..."
He paused, squinting his eyes as he sneered.
"...do you really think your old bones can endure until Exodia's emergence?"
Simon ignored him, holding the stone tablet bearing Exodia's head and continuing to cast Magic, activating a new tablet.
"With Magic, I call upon the Spellcaster's weapon—Wonder Wand!"
Wonder Wand, Equip Magic, can only be equipped to Spellcaster-Type Monsters. Equipped monster's attack increases by 500.
The only monster on Simon's field naturally receives the magic staff—the Witch of the Black Forest, whose eyes remained shut as her slender, pale hand emerged from her wide black sleeves to gently grasp the staff, amplifying her Magic Power.
[Witch of the Black Forest, ATK 1100 → ATK 1600]
"Wonder Wand, hidden Magic activated!" Simon continued, "Sacrifice the witch and the wand together to obtain a new tablet!"
Wonder Wand's secondary effect allows sending this card and the equipped monster to the graveyard, drawing two cards.
The witch and wand both dissipated into golden rays, with countless light specks pausing in mid-air before melding into a hefty tablet that landed with a heavy thud.
"Witch of the Black Forest, going to the graveyard, also triggers its Magic ability!"
Witch of the Black Forest, when sent from the field to the graveyard, allows adding a monster with DEF less than 1500 to the hand from the deck.
With DEF less than 1500, Simon's chosen monster is evidently clear.
"The tablet I call upon is..."
Chains burst forth from the void, suspending a giant tablet descending from the sky.
"...'Right Arm of the Forbidden One'!"
In two turns drawing so many cards, retrieving "Exodia the Forbidden One" from the graveyard, and precisely fetching "Right Arm of the Forbidden One" from the deck, even the Great Evil God Sock couldn't help but be slightly anxious.
Drawing two cards, then precisely searching for the right arm, Simon's hand will reach a frightening seven cards. It's terrifying to face Exodia without knowing what the opponent's hand contains.
Bakura's mind at this moment is like walking a tightrope. He seems to feel that the invincible Dark Great Mage is already hovering invisibly above his head, and the immense power makes breathing difficult, making it seem not surprising at all if a move suddenly comes out and wipes him out.
Bakura couldn't suppress his impatience. As the effect of "Witch of the Black Forest" triggered and the Egyptian Envoy's right hand was about to join Simon's hand, he waved his large hand and flipped over the stone tablet.
"Activate Set Card! Trap Card - Death Follower!" (Anime Card)
Bakura squinted his eyes and sneered: "This card forces both players to discard all cards in their hands and take damage of 100 points for each discarded card, then draw five new cards each.
Hey, I don't know how many pieces of Exodia you've gathered in your hand, but at least one of them is 'Exodia the Forbidden One', right? So do me a favor and throw them all away!"
Priest Simon's face changed slightly, looking at Bakura with a mixture of surprise and a hint of icy severity.
This Thief King... What a strong survival instinct!
Bakura timed his "Death Follower" perfectly.
Because at this moment, Simon already has four pieces of "Exodia" in his hand!
Exodia the Forbidden One, Left Arm, Left Leg, Right Leg, the four components are all gathered in his hand.
Now, as soon as the effect of "Witch of the Black Forest" is resolved and the last piece, "Right Arm of the Forbidden One", is added to the hand, the ultimate seal will be broken. The invincible Exodia will descend, and by then, no matter what skills Bakura possesses, he won't be able to escape the Dark Great Mage's judgment.
Priest Simon made a name in his youth by mastering Exodia, and indeed, his strength is formidable. To gather all five parts of the Dark Great Mage in just two turns is quite a feat for a summoner.
Unfortunate, just one step away.
Helplessly, the old priest could only watch as the four Egyptian Envoy tablets disappeared before him, together with his other two hand cards.
[Simon, LP 3100 → LP 2500]
[Bakura, LP 4000 → LP 3700]
Six cards discarded into the graveyard, replaced by five new cards. Only then was "Witch of the Black Forest's" effect processed, and the stone tablet of "Right Arm of the Forbidden One" fell before Simon.
It's a pity, one step short. The other four stone tablets of the Forbidden One are already in the graveyard; now only this final card remains in his hand.
However, this elderly priest's strength goes beyond this.
"Indeed, you won't let me fall so easily." Simon sneered, "As expected. Then with the power of the magic 'Double Summon', I summon 'Right Arm of the Forbidden One'!"
The stone tablet fell with a clang, chains scraping over its surface with a clear clanging sound. A golden magic array appeared, and a right hand abruptly emerged from the magic array, remaining on the field.
[Right Arm of the Forbidden One, Attack Power 200]
"Hey, hey, is your head broken?" Bakura taunted, "What's the point in summoning pieces of Exodia?"
Could it be that this old man was so angry about the broken sealing ceremony that he decided to summon the Great Mage's right hand to slap his own mouth?
But soon, he knew the answer.
Simon closed his eyes and began muttering... It sounded like some ancient incantation.
Bakura: "?"
He began to have an ominous feeling.
What is he going to summon? Why does it feel like a Winged Dragon of Ra with all these chants?
Soon after, Simon opened his eyes wide, raised his arm violently, and a stone tablet was seemingly drawn by an invisible force, soaring high into the air.
"I use 'Right Arm of the Forbidden One' as a sacrifice! The seal is broken!
Appear, The Legendary Exodia Incarnate!!!"