CHAPTER 407: CHAPTER 406: FORGOTTEN PAST

"Still haven’t remembered, huh."

The Arbiter watched Jaden.

"You keep saying that—what are you talking about?" Jaden frowned.

But the Arbiter said no more.

"My turn, draw." The Arbiter said, "I activate the Spell Card ’Graceful Charity.’ Draw three cards, then discard two."

He drew, added them to his hand, then discarded two.

He looked up.

"Last turn, you destroyed my ’Armageddon Knight,’ which had sent ’Stygian Street Patrol’ to the graveyard. That means there are two DARK monsters in my graveyard.

And with the two I just discarded, I sent another DARK monster to the graveyard. That makes three DARK monsters in total."

Jaden was taken aback.

Three DARK monsters in the graveyard... so what?

But Kira’s eyes narrowed.

Three DARK monsters—that means...

"So the condition for this card’s summon is met. This card can only be Special Summoned if there are exactly three DARK monsters in the grave."

The Arbiter slowly raised the card in his hand.

"Let the power of darkness descend—

—Dark Armed Dragon, summon!"

"Dark... Armed Dragon!?" Jaden was shocked.

He’d seen Armed Dragon before, a trophy card of the Northern Academy, inherited by Chazz.

But this Dark Armed Dragon was new...

A mighty dragon, covered in steel blades, roared as it descended—just like the "Armed Dragon LV7" in Jaden’s memory, except its body was pitch black.

[Dark Armed Dragon, ATK 2800]

"Impressive," Kira frowned.

Dark Armed Dragon—just from the name and look, you could tell it was a dark version of Armed Dragon. When it debuted in the real card game, it caused a huge stir: easy to summon, top-tier attack, fantastic removal effect. For a long time, players thought it should be banned, like the Chaos cards.

In the end, it never was banned, but it was limited for over a decade, which says enough about its power.

"Dark Armed Dragon’s effect: by banishing a DARK monster from my graveyard, I can destroy one card on the field."

He banished a card from his graveyard; its image appeared in midair.

"I banish ’Armageddon Knight’ from my graveyard—let it become ammo for Dark Armed Dragon.

Dark Armed Dragon, destroy ’Elemental HERO Flame Wingman’!"

Armageddon Knight’s image was swallowed by darkness, energy flowing into Dark Armed Dragon. Black energy shot toward Flame Wingman.

Jaden frowned.

Just as Kira warned—anything could happen in a duel.

This Arbiter really could use any deck, not just his signature cards.

But Jaden had his own tricks!

"I activate the trap ’Guard Mines’! When a card effect would destroy my monster, negate the activation and destroy it. Then inflict 500 damage to your opponent!"

The trap worked—floating bomb spheres formed a shield in front of Flame Wingman! The black energy ball exploded against the wall, setting off a chain of blasts that rebounded toward Dark Armed Dragon, engulfing it in flames.

[Arbiter, LP 1900 → LP 1400]

"Nice counterattack!" Midori cheered. "Not only did he save Flame Wingman, he took down such a strong monster!"

"Not bad,"

But the Arbiter calmly revealed another card.

"Spell card: ’Monster Reincarnation.’ Discard a card, take a monster from the graveyard back to the hand."

He discarded a card; the graveyard glowed with black energy. Dark Armed Dragon immediately returned.

"I retrieve ’Dark Armed Dragon’ from my graveyard."

"That guy again..." Jaden said. "But Dark Armed Dragon needs three DARKs in the graveyard. Your ’Armageddon Knight’ was just banished."

"True," the Arbiter noted, "but when I used ’Monster Reincarnation’ to get Dark Armed Dragon back, I discarded a card, remember?"

Jaden: "So that was..."

"Right, it was another DARK."

He raised the card again.

"Once more, darkness descends—

—Dark Armed Dragon, summon!"

Dark energy erupted again. The black dragon twisted its hulking form, returning to the field!

[Dark Armed Dragon, ATK 2800]

"Now I activate Dark Armed Dragon’s effect again—banish another DARK from the graveyard to destroy a card on the field."

He banished another monster from his grave.

"Dark Armed Dragon’s effect can be used as many times as you have ammo in the graveyard. There’s no activation limit.

So I banish another DARK to destroy ’Elemental HERO Flame Wingman’!"

With fresh ammo, a black energy sphere formed before the dragon, launched at Flame Wingman!

This time, there was no trap to protect him. The dark energy exploded against Flame Wingman, who groaned and vanished.

Jaden raised his arm reflexively: "Flame Wingman..."

"Now for battle."

The Arbiter smiled mysteriously.

"Let me help you recall a little more."

"What?"

The Arbiter waved his hand.

"Dark Armed Dragon, direct attack."

As he gave the order, a strange green light flickered in his eyes.

A black blast exploded on Jaden.

[Jaden, LP 4000 → LP 1200]

A dark current swept over him—he braced for pain, but none came.

No pain, only endless darkness. All sight and sound was swallowed, as if even his senses were stripped away.

And in that void, that voice called again.

"Jaden... Jaden..."

"Jaden Yuki..."