Chapter 56: The Activated Barrier

“Battle Phase.”

Yuxuan issued the command without hesitation.

“‘True Silent Magician,’ attack the face-down monster!”

The Silent Magician’s staff twirled gracefully twice as a white magic circle unfolded beneath her feet. A surge of brilliant white light flowed into her hands, transforming into a powerful current that swept across the opponent’s field.

The face-down monster flipped over to reveal a massive tomato grinning maliciously.

[Killer Tomato, DEF 1100]

Of course, the giant tomato stood no chance against the Silent Magician’s overwhelming might. The torrent of light blasted it into dust instantly.

“Heh, you fell for it!” Thief Keith shouted. “At that moment, my face-down card’s effect activated too!”

The face-down card in the back row flipped over with a clatter, and a projection of a trap card rose up.

“Trap Card – Comrade! When a monster is sent to the graveyard, you can destroy one monster on the field!”

Keith’s lips curled into a cold smile as he pointed at Yuxuan’s field.

“Annoying magician, time to exit the stage here! Destroy the ‘Silent Magician’!”

Golden light blossomed from the trap card. The destroyed Killer Tomato’s spirit seemed to shoot out in spectral form, like a wailing soul intent on dragging the Silent Magician into the abyss.

“In that case, I activate the Quick-Play Spell ‘Shield of Myself’ from my hand!”

Yuxuan swung his arm, and a rolling data stream materialized before him into the form of a spell card.

“When your opponent activates an effect that includes ‘destroying monsters on the field,’ pay 1500 Life Points to negate the effect and destroy the card!”

The spell took effect immediately. The Tomato’s vengeful spirit veered away from the Silent Magician and slammed directly into Yuxuan. He grimaced in pain and retreated half a step.

[Yuxuan, LP 4000 → 2500]

“As expected from a dark duel, the pain feels real…”

The Silent Magician’s face showed a mixture of concern and confusion as she looked at him, clutching her staff.

“Oh? A duelist taking damage in place of his monster?” Thief Keith sneered coldly. “In the end, cards are just weapons, tools. The true strong are those who know exactly how to use every piece.”

He paused, smirking wickedly.

“The strong enslave the weak—that’s an unchanging truth. A duelist is a warrior who commands the strongest creatures. Victory demands everything be sacrificed except the king who leads!”

Yuxuan eyed him warily, thinking, “Dude, are you serious?”

“Sacrifice everything,” he mused sarcastically. “If I don’t block for Silent, am I just gonna leave my field clear for you to hit next turn?”

But then he realized this was the perfect chance to build some rapport. Straining to look earnest, he gritted his teeth and declared, “You’re wrong. A duelist is someone who trusts their monsters, who believes in their deck!

Every card in a duelist’s deck is carefully chosen from an endless library, a partner connected to their soul, irreplaceable. If you don’t understand that, no matter how powerful you become, you don’t deserve to be called a duelist!”

Though Yuxuan had never been good at writing essays—his language teacher had chased him down for failing—he’d never missed an episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. Every protagonist had their long speeches about bonds and trusting the deck. After all these years, imitating one was a snap.

Sure enough, the words seemed to work. The Silent Magician’s icy face softened, clearly moved as she looked at him. Yuxuan guessed that if there were a “favorability meter,” the silver-haired girl’s score just skyrocketed by +99. This had to count as bonding, right?

Stronger bonds might even sharpen his luck in drawing cards.

Yuxuan was quite satisfied, almost wanting to thank Thief Keith for this unexpected “boost”...

---

“So annoying,” Thief Keith grumbled with a scowl.

“This and that, you’re just the same as those disgusting guys. All that talk about duelist pride, trusting your cards… it’s all just noise. You’re the most hateful of all.”

Yuxuan suspected he meant Yugi and Jounouchi.

After losing to Bakas back then, Keith had descended into depravity, willing to do anything to win. Before the Duel Kingdom tournament, he even tried to steal Jounouchi’s entry card to force a default win. During duels, he resorted to cheating like hiding cards up his sleeve—a typical unscrupulous type.

“Then let me bury your naive thoughts along with those so-called ‘partners’ of yours!”

Keith raised his voice.

“At the moment the Killer Tomato was destroyed, its effect had already activated! When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, you can Special Summon a DARK monster with 1500 or less ATK from your deck in face-up Attack Position.”

“I Special Summon ‘Stealth Sniper’!”

[Stealth Sniper, ATK 1500]

“I set one card face-down, and end my turn.”

[True Silent Magician, ATK 3000]

“My turn, draw!”

After drawing, Keith’s movements abruptly froze. A brief silence followed before his face twisted, lips curling into an uncontrollable grin.

“Heh heh... heh heh heh... hahaha—!”

Yuxuan’s guard instantly went up.

Looks like he drew something incredible.

“Heh, game over, kid,” Keith laughed maniacally. “I drew ‘this card,’ the ultimate embodiment of god-given power!

Watch closely as I awaken the darkness within me. All the hatred, all the fury I’ve accumulated over the years—I will use it to engulf the world in darkness!”

A compartment on the side of Keith’s duel disk snapped open. Raising his right hand like a devout follower, he held up the card, which radiated a dazzling emerald light.

“Field Spell—

—Orichalcos Barrier!”

Yuxuan’s eyes widened in shock.

At first, he thought he’d misheard.

Wait, what? Orichalcos? Isn’t that from the DM era? That should be ancient history by now in this world, almost ten years ago!

Wasn’t the leader of that organization, Daz, already defeated by the King? The so-called Orichalcos evil god was even destroyed by the Three Egyptian God Cards. How is this thing still around?

But as the card and field merged into the duel disk, Yuxuan was certain he hadn’t imagined it.

Green sparks crackled violently inside Keith’s duel disk. Energy surged through his entire body, his clothing billowing in emerald whirlwinds. He tilted his head back and let out a Saiyan-like roar, as if engulfed in green flames.

---

Eventually, the green light concentrated on his forehead, forming a six-pointed star symbol that radiated an eerie green glow.

“Ah~ power, I can feel it... power!”

Keith shouted, green light bursting from within him. The duel field beneath their feet was now covered in the glowing six-pointed star, the green radiance shooting skyward, forming an impenetrable barrier.

The Orichalcos Barrier, once activated, cannot be stopped. The souls of the defeated duelists become nourishment for the evil god. Neither can leave until one falls.

Of course, in the anime this was known as the “Lose-by-Using” Barrier, because anyone who activated it lost. This invincible curse even accounted for one of the rare defeats of the Pharaoh...

So all along, that “evil god” was actually the Orichalcos god?

“But didn’t your so-called evil god die at the hands of the Three Egyptian Gods?” Yuxuan couldn’t help but ask.

“Fool,” Keith snarled. “The Orichalcos god is the darkness in the human heart, the dark will of this planet! No matter how many times it’s defeated, it will always return!”

Yuxuan recalled that Daz, the DM arc boss, had said something similar.

“As long as humans and this planet exist, the Orichalcos god will never perish.”

So although the Three Egyptian Gods defeated it, it was only sealed away, not destroyed. Its ambitions remained.

Or perhaps, by now, it had grown even more brazen.

Yuxuan tried to imagine the Orichalcos god’s perspective. If it awakened now and peered into the world, it would surely be overjoyed.

The Pharaoh was gone; the Egyptian Gods were defeated. Wouldn’t this mean the Orichalcos god’s reign was imminent?

Yuxuan felt overwhelmed.

This was no small matter to ignore. Who said the world of Duel Monsters was safe? He’d just landed here and barely gotten his footing before the apocalypse struck again...

But of course, he doubted it would be total annihilation. Though the new protagonist Jounouchi Judai had yet to fully mature, this era still had Seto Kaiba. The Kaiba Corporation president had been secretly refining the White Dragon’s new form for years. Facing the old boss again, he might just hold his own.

Besides, even if it got past Kaiba, there was the real ultimate boss behind the scenes—the “Obelisk Game.” Back then, even Pharaoh had been sent packing by him. Who knew how powerful he’d become eight years later?

And even if it somehow overwhelmed the Obelisk Game and couldn’t be stopped by Yugi, Pharaoh would at least have to put on a show of doing sit-ups in his coffin...

Ridiculous—no one seriously believed Pharaoh’s trip to the Underworld was a permanent retirement, right?

So the apocalypse wasn’t imminent, and it wasn’t Yuxuan’s concern now. What mattered was winning this duel and staying alive.

Though the anime’s result was that anyone who activated the barrier lost, Yuxuan immediately sensed the opponent’s aura had shifted the moment Keith played the card. Keith’s figure seemed to tower over him, radiating an invisible pressure.

It was easy to guess that Keith’s “fate power” as a duelist had skyrocketed.

The Orichalcos Barrier was essentially a cheat artifact in the anime, a dark relic that borrowed part of the Orichalcos god’s power. Once played, even an ordinary person could temporarily wield strength rivaling a mighty warrior.

The anime showed it was powerful enough to let a mere nobody forcibly control the Obelisk Giant. Even Atum’s attempt to destroy the barrier with the Millennium Puzzle failed.

So in the worst case, this barrier’s enhancement of the user’s fate power could not be underestimated.

“Ah~ kimoji (so good), the feeling of power is totally different…”

Keith’s eyes gleamed green as he grinned malevolently.

“Now, are you ready to die?”