Battle City (part 2)

Battle City Finals Quarterfinals For the quarterfinal round, the duels were to be staged atop Kaiba's airship, the Battle Ship with the draw determined at random. Yugi and Bakura would duel each other first. Although Yugi would get an early advantage, Bakura plays Dark Sanctuary, whose effect allows Bakura to possess one of Yugi's monsters so that when it attacks, the attack would be negated, and Yugi would lose life points. Bakura also plays the Destiny Board cards, which, when all five are played, would give Bakura an automatic victory. In desperation, Yugi is forced to summon Slifer and win the duel, as Slifer (Osiris) is immune to the effects of Dark Sanctuary.

Jonouchi duels Odion in the second quarterfinal match. Although Jonouchi is being done in by Odion's traps, he comes back and ties the match with 200 life points apiece, thanks to the three cards he had won in Battle City, especially Jinzo, which prevented Odion from using any trap cards. However, Rishid would play the Mystical Beast of Selket, which destroys the three monsters and left Jonouchi wide open. However, as Odion was still posing as Marik, Marik would force Odion to play his counterfeit God Card, Winged Dragon of Ra (Ra no Yokushinryū in Japan, "Sun Dragon Ra" in the English manga). However, the counterfeit card backfires on Rishid, striking down both duelists in the process. Although Jonouchi would win the duel by virtue of Kaiba's edict, the dark side of Marik was unleashed due to Odion being unconscious.

Mai would be the first to fall against Marik, as she is put in Marik's shadow game. Although Mai was being done in by Marik's traps, she manages to get the real Ra card from Marik and summon it. However, for Ra to obey Mai (and thus, for Mai to use the card), Mai must recite the hieratic text on the card. With Mai clearly unable to do so, Marik successfully recites the text, and uses Ra to attack Mai and win, leaving Mai critically injured (in the English anime, she is sent to the Shadow Realm).

The final quarterfinal duel saw Ishizu, then an eighth "mystery duelist", face off against Kaiba. Although Ishizu prophesizes that she will win, thanks to the ability of her Millennium Tauk (Millennium Necklace) to see into the future, Kaiba manages to systematically destroy Ishizu's deck using Crush Card (Deck Destruction Virus of Death in Japan) and Virus Cannon. Yet, Ishizu manages to play Reversal of Worlds, forcing both players to switch their Decks with Graveyards, thus leaving Kaiba with only six cards in his deck and Ishizu with her most powerful cards because of Kaiba's virus cards. In desperation, Kaiba attempts to summon Obelisk, while Ishizu, knowing Kaiba's intention, applied the Blast Held by a Tribute trap on Obelisk that would force itself to self-destruct when it attacks, causing Kaiba to lose. When Kaiba summons Obelisk, however, Marik's Millennium Rod [Priest Seto (Kaiba's past life)'s Millennium item] gave him a flashback of his past self and a dead girl named Kisara in front of what seems to look like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. He analyzes this and trusts in this card so he summons it even if it is a less-powerful card but still having sufficient power to win. Kaiba does so and wins. It is later revealed that Blue-Eyes is actually Kisara (Priest Seto's loved one)'s Ka monster. It also turns out that she sacrificed her life for Seto and her ka monster stayed loyal to Seto. This flashback was Kisara's way to save Seto's future destiny once more.

Afterwards, Marik and Bakura (bearing the soul of Light Marik) attempt to defeat Dark Marik in order to win Marik's body back but ultimately loses to Ra's One Turn Kill sending Bakura to the shadow realm. (Or in the Japanese version, he 'dies'.)

Note: The Virtual Realm Arc happens between the quarterfinals and the semifinals. Semifinals In the second series Yu-Gi-Oh! (known as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters in Japan), the Virtual World story arc would be played out before the semifinal rounds took place.

In the semifinal round, taking place upon Alcatraz Tower (not titled in the English anime, in which it is known only as "KaibaCorp Island"), a special, massive mechanical tower located on a lone island, the four duelists would take part in a four-way duel, with the first two losers playing in the first semifinal. Both Marik and Kaiba wanted to duel Yugi for their reasons, while Yugi wanted to duel Jonouchi while not letting Jonouchi duel Marik. Jonouchi, however, wanted to duel Marik for what he did to Mai. In the end, Jonouchi (and by extension, Kaiba) got what they wanted.

Like Mai, Jonouchi was subject to a shadow game, with each duelist being drained of life as each monster is destroyed. As Jonouchi is done in by Marik's traps and monster effects, Jonouchi manages to create a short comeback with reviving Jinzo after Marik is unable to name it as the bottom card of his graveyard, and later with Gilford the Lightning. However, the comeback was short-lived as Marik revives Ra and uses its Egyptian God Phoenix and One Turn Kill abilities to bring Jonouchi to the brink of defeat. However, Jonouchi, to Marik's surprise, manages to remain standing, and he summons Gearfried the Iron Knight in an effort to attack a wide-open Marik. However, Jonouchi collapses before making his attack, and Marik wins.

With Jonouchi being in critical condition (in the English anime, he is said to be "fighting the shadows" of the Shadow Realm), Yugi is forced to battle Kaiba when more pressing matters were at stake (namely, Jonouchi's health). The duel was evenly-matched, as Yugi's attempt to summon Slifer was countered by Kaiba's attempt to summon Obelisk. The two God cards would be summoned in successive turns, and after more jockeying for power with magic cards, the two evenly-matched God cards would destroy each other. With both God cards gone, Kaiba resorts to summoning his three Blue Eyes White Dragons, while Yugi would have Red Eyes Black Dragon, Jonouchi's "soul card". Kaiba would force the duel to end by playing Final Attack Orders, making both players discard all but three cards from their decks and prohibiting the defense mode. Using his three cards, Yugi manages to combine Dark Magician (Black Magician in Japan) with Buster Blader to form Dark Paladin (Black Paladin in Japan), and, along with Diffusion Wave-Motion, to win the duel. As the tournament rules states, Kaiba is forced to give up Obelisk.

During the duel, as Red-Eyes Black Dragon was being played, Jonouchi manages to regain consciousness. In the Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters anime (but not in the manga), he promptly challenges Kaiba to a duel for third place, just for fun. Kaiba declines, believing that dueling Jonouchi would be beneath him, but Jonouchi manages to convince him to duel. Although Kaiba would win, Jonouchi reveals that Kaiba had simply allowed anger to get the best of him in both his duel with Yugi and with Jonouchi (as witnessed by Joey once taking control of Blue Eyes White Dragon in their duel - a card considered to be Kaiba's prized possessions,using another Blue Eyes to destroy it). Finals Before the final match, however, Kaiba is convinced Yugi cannot win, yet he cannot allow Marik to win, both for his personal reasons and for the greater good. He believes he has the perfect card to defeat Ra, being Devil's Sanctuary (Fiend Sanctuary), which he gives to Yugi. Again, Marik turns the duel into a shadow game, in which the loser must forfeit their alter-ego. Marik discards Ra in his first turn, with the intention of reviving Ra for one turn at a time. Yugi, meanwhile, manages to quickly summon Slifer, but Marik simply revives Ra to deal with it. Marik then tries to use Ra's One Turn Kill against Yugi, but Yugi forces Marik to stop the attack with Devil's Sanctuary, creating a token so that, when attacked, would redirect the damage to Marik, causing him to lose. Marik saved himself by playing De-Fusion (apparently, Marik is fused together with Ra when he used the One Turn Kill ability) - thus, all of Ra's attack points turn into Marik's life points, and Ra, without any attack points, deals no damage to Marik. Yugi then quickly turns one token to three with Multiply, summoning Obelisk with them, and reducing Marik's life points to 700.

Yugi's triumph would be short-lived, as Marik would combine Metal Reflect Slime and Revival Jam to create an indestructible "God Slime". With Yugi unable to attack with Obelisk, Marik revives Ra once again to destroy Obelisk, but Yugi revives Slifer to block the attack (The move would be illegal in the real game). Then Yugi uses Soul Taker to defuse and sacrifice the God Slime, allowing Obelisk to use its special ability, Soul Energy Max, which would give Yugi an automatic victory should Obelisk's attack be successful. The attack fails, but Marik manages to revive Ra once again. This time, Yugi sacrifices Obelisk and another monster for his trusty Dark Magician, and along with Dark Magician Girl (Black Magician Girl in Japan), activate Ragnarok (Dusk of all Cards in Japan), which allows, at the expense of all his monsters, Yugi to finally destroy Ra, and, as Marik was using One Turn Kill at the time, most of Marik with it. The two sides of Marik begin to fight, the good side attempting to take control and allowing Yugi to attack as a way to atone for his actions, while the evil side attempting to stop Yugi's attack. With the help of a strugging Odion, the good side prevails. When the smoke clears, the good Marik has control of the body, and the Dark Marik is now his sacrifice. Marik forfeits his sole remaining life point, destroying his other self, leaving Yugi the last man standing. Yugi is now the owner of the three God cards, as well as the keys to unlocking the nameless Pharaoh's past.