"Five thousand six hundred points of damage in one go!"
Dragon was anxious a second ago, but now he's nearly leaping for joy.
"Amazing, as expected from Uncle Godwin!"
After all, this was the uncle who once hit himself hard with Gudong, truly powerful.
Luna added, "Even in a seemingly absolutely disadvantageous situation, to suddenly pull off a reversal move like this..."
At this moment, Great Saturn began to wobble precariously. Its scorching core seemed like magma churning; the massive iron ball looked ready to explode at any moment. Once it successfully detonated, Ludger would be killed instantly before his Earth-Bound God could even appear!
But being the leader of Dark Markers, Ludger had his countermeasures.
"Activate the cover card, Trap Card 'Sacrificial Altar'!" Ludger announced, "Liberate one monster on your field and recover Life Points equal to the original attack power of that monster!
I liberate 'Earth's Arachne'!"
Another massive altar emerged beneath the field, and Earth's Arachne's body instantly disassembled into endless blood-red, absorbed into the altar. The mist of blood exploded, then entirely absorbed into Ludger, converting into Life Points.
[Ludger, LP4000 → LP6400]
Dragon: "Six thousand four Life Points!"
"Not only that," Yusei continued, "but because 'Earth's Arachne' was liberated before 'Waste Destruction King' could destroy Great Saturn, 'Great Saturn' automatically destroys due to losing its equipped target as an Equipment Card.
This way, when the effect of Waste Destruction King resolves, Great Saturn is no longer on the field, causing Waste Destruction King's target to be lost..."
Akiza Izinski said, "Without being destroyed by effect, Great Saturn's effect won't trigger, breaking Godwin's killer combo."
Dragon: "Ah, how can this be! Darn, what a pity, it was such a beautiful combination..."
Although Great Saturn disappeared, Waste Destruction King's punches blasted several times through thin air, still releasing energy that entered the massive spider web field above. The field immediately collapsed, shredded to pieces by the turbulent energy.
"Moreover, now your field is completely empty." Yugen waved his hand, "Then attack directly with 'Waste Destruction King'."
The steel Demon God punched again, throwing four bursts of energy like cannonballs exploding directly on Ludger's face.
Ludger's body was blown into the air, spinning three hundred and sixty degrees in mid-air, before dramatically crashing to the ground.
If it were an ordinary human, just this one bombing could be enough to kill.
[Ludger, LP6400 → LP3800]
"Activate Magic Card 'Double Gate'." Yugen said, "Remove a same-name card from the game from the graveyard, draw two cards from the card deck.
Exile the other 'Double Gate' sent to the graveyard last turn from the game, draw two cards." (Original Card)
Yugen drew cards again.
Yugen: "Set two cards, and end the turn."
But Ludger didn't rise, remaining on his knees, with black smoke emanating from him. His knees slammed into the ground, his fingers dug deep into his hair, appearing to crush his own skull.
Dark purple flames burned in the sky, flickering between the shadows, two phantoms tore wildly within his convulsing body. One was the ancient knight with a skeleton-like face, the other was Ludger with a face full of dark marks.
"Ahhhhh!"
Ludger let out a loud roar, his voice shredded by two frequencies from his throat.
The onlookers were also taken aback, Dragon and Luna were startled into retreat.
Dragon: "What's happening? What's going on with this person?"
Yugen frowned slightly: "Ludger, you really are... being contested for your body by different dimensional selves?"
Ludger struggled for a moment, the two phantoms seemingly retracted back into his body, temporarily returning to normal. He wobbly stood up and said solemnly, "This doesn't concern you."
"That's hard to tell." Yugen replied, "What happened?"
Ludger pondered for two seconds, then still said, "As you see, someone stuffed another me into my body. Whichever of our souls achieves the goal first will gain control of this body.
As for the loser, they might soon disappear completely."
"Who did this?" Yugen asked.
But Ludger only shook his head; "I don't know, only aware it's an existence far beyond you and me, playing with our fate might be just a game for it."
Yugen suspected that might be the culprit he sought and asked further, "Then you said achieving a goal, what goal? Did that entity assign you a task?"
Ludger remained silent for several seconds, nodded, then shook his head.
"Task, if I must say there is one... It's to fulfill our respective original missions."
Ludger spoke softly.
"For me, the requirement is simple. As a Dark Marker, defeat all Dragon Sealers, overturn the laws of Yellow Springs on Earth, plunge this world into chaos... and defeat you."
Yugen raised his eyebrows: "Oh? They specifically mentioned me?"
"Yes, they said you're a huge obstacle that must be eliminated." Ludger answered, "If I must say, from my perspective, the only goal of that existence seems to be to summon darkness and chaos, nothing more."
He shook his head, unwilling to speak further, then firmly stated.
"But no reason matters anymore, what matters is that I won't die, won't be extinguished, I will win by any means!
My turn, draw card!"
Though others didn't understand what just happened or what the two did, clearly this life-staking duel was still ongoing.
Dragon: "Now there isn't a single defense monster on the field, that Earth-Bound God altar can't obtain new counters!"
However, Ludger just smirked and said, "Activate cover card. Trap Card 'Offering to the Binding God'.
Pay half of the Life Points, add two Earth-Bound God counters to the Continuous Trap 'Altar of the Binding God'."
[Ludger, LP3800 → LP1900]
As Life Points were paid, two additional purple flames ignited on the altar of the Earth-Bound God, as if Ludger sacrificed his own life, offering it as nourishment to the Earth-Bound God.
The crowd was shocked.
"This way, the altar's counters directly reached four!" Jack said.
Akiza said, "But now the Field Spell has been destroyed, without a field, the Earth-Bound God..."
Ludger sneered, "Activate Magic Card 'Planet Transformation', add a Field Spell from the card deck to hand.
I'll add the second Field Spell 'Spider Web' to hand from the card deck.
Then activate it!"
The Spider Web activated again, a giant white web-like structure seemed to cage the entire field.
Yusei: "Everyone be careful, it's coming!"
The descending pressure of the Earth-Bound God wasn't solely on the duelists; it significantly impacted these onlookers standing closely. Though a few were protected by the Dragon Seals from having their souls drained, the pressure from the Earth-Bound God remained immense.
Indeed, the next moment Ludger raised his arm high, his hand adorned with dark purple spider patterns seemingly burning.
"Send the Continuous Trap 'Altar of the Binding God' with four counters to the graveyard, summon the God of Summoning from the card deck by special summon!
Descend—
—Earth-Bound God Uru!!!"