Dark Yugi and Seto Kaiba's Battle City Duel (manga)

Dark Yugi and Seto Kaiba faced each other in a game of Duel Monsters in the second Battle City semifinal, in the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga.

Prior
After Death-T, Yugi had hoped to face Kaiba in a fair Duel. At the conclusion of the Duelist Kingdom tournament, Kaiba shared a similar sentiment, declaring his battle with Dark Yugi to be unfinished until he defeated Dark Yugi in a fair Duel. With Dark Yugi as the only Duelist that Kaiba recognized as a rival, Dueling him became one of Kaiba's goals in the Battle City tournament. Having seen the Tablet of Memory depicting himself battling Priest Seto, Dark Yugi wondered if the tablet had predicted his present-day conflict with Kaiba and believed they were fated to battle. Yugi entered Battle City, hoping it would give him the chance for the fair Duel with Kaiba.

After translating the effects of Dark Marik's God card, "The Sun Dragon Ra", Kaiba calculated the odds of his Deck defeating it as being 13%. Among the factors to improve his chances, he figured he would need to win "Slifer the Sky Dragon" from Dark Yugi and see "Ra" used in battle again. For these reasons, he decided he would need to face Dark Yugi in one semifinal and have Katsuya Jonouchi face Dark Marik in the other. His actions in the pairing-organizing battle royal, contributed to achieving these match-ups.

Kaiba regarded his semifinal with Yugi to be a Duel to determine the ultimate Duelist. As such he prepared a befitting setting, the "Sky Duel Coliseum", a Solid Vision virtual reality stage.

Following Jonouchi and Dark Marik's Duel, Jonouchi was left unconscious and not breathing. He was considered dead by Dark Marik. With one hour until the next semifinal, Kaiba instructed Dark Yugi to overcome his friend's death and return in time for their Duel. Dark Yugi began to lose the will to continue fighting, until the Millennium Tauk showed him a vision of him and Jonouchi Dueling in the future.

Dark Yugi returned to the top of the Duel Tower to face Kaiba. Kaiba had been worried that Dark Yugi's anguish would make the Duel a walkover, but was soon relieved to see that he still had his fighting spirit.

Duel
Kaiba announced that the site was too drab and unworthy of their Duel. He got the pillars at the top of the Duel Tower to fold back and activate their Solid Vision projectors, setting up the Sky Duel Coliseum. He declared that they would fight their decisive battle like Roman gladiators and prompted Dark Yugi to draw his sword from his Deck.

Turn 1: Yugi

As he drew, Dark Yugi viewed his right hand as holding his sword, his card, his pride and his left hand as holding his shield, his deck, his soul.

Dark Yugi Summoned "Queen's Knight" in Defense Mode and Set "Lightforce Sword".

Turn 2: Kaiba

Kaiba drew "The God of the Obelisk" and smiled, thinking that the god of victory smiled upon him. He began to focus on a way of putting three Sacrifices onto the field.

Dark Yugi wondered what kind of strategy Kaiba would use. He considered that it could be the Deck-destruction strategy he used against Ishizu Ishtar in this duel. But with Dark Yugi already accustomed to the ins and outs of that tactic, he suspected Kaiba would employ a yet unseen strategy.

Kaiba made plans for an instant-kill combo. He began by Summoning "X-Head Cannon" and Setting "Enemy Controller". He ended his turn, thinking he would finish Dark Yugi next turn.

Turn 3: Yugi

Dark Yugi noted how Kaiba neglected to attack, despite having the stronger monster and wondered if Kaiba was cautious of his face-down card, but considered that there may be more to it.

Dark Yugi Summoned "Kuriboh" in Defense Mode. Kaiba was unimpressed and thought he would teach Dark Yugi how foolish it is to play low-Level monsters against him.

Turn 4: Kaiba

Kaiba activated "Soul Exchange", taking Dark Yugi's "Queen's Knight" and "Kuriboh", allowing him to Sacrifice them, but also relinquishing his sacrificial privileges of his own monsters to Dark Yugi. As soon as "X-Head Cannon" went to Dark Yugi's side, Kaiba activated his face-down "Enemy Controller", allowing him to control "X-Head Cannon". By paying 1000 Life Points and entering the command "⬅ ➡ Ⓐ Ⓑ", he was able to Sacrifice "X-Head Cannon".

With three Sacrifices ready, Kaiba was able to Summon "The God of the Obelisk". As he announced what he was doing and put his fingers on the "Obelisk" card, Dark Yugi activated "Lightforce Sword", taking it out of Kaiba's hand for 3 turns. He taunted Kaiba, telling him not to get too hasty, as the game had only just begun. Kaiba smiled and thought the same was true for the countdown to Dark Yugi's defeat.

Cards used
The following cards from each players' Decks were shown: