I’m in Marvel, but I play Yu-Gi-Oh!?

Alexander slowly pushed himself off the shattered ground.

Every movement hurt.

His arms trembled violently under the strain while lingering arcs of dark lightning still crawled across his body from Summoned Skull's direct attack.

For a brief moment, his vision blurred.

The pain was unlike anything he had ever experienced before because it wasn't merely physical; it felt as though something had directly struck his soul itself, which was true and yet a grin slowly spread across Alexander's face.

Not because he was winning or because he had a perfect plan, but because he was genuinely enjoying himself.

His heart pounded violently inside his chest while excitement surged through his body despite the agony, 'This… This is the kind of duel I have always loved. A real battle where both sides constantly try to surpass one another. No predetermined and predictable combos. No fifteen-minute solitaire turns. No endless negates that made it impossible for one to play. Just two duelists desperately adapting to survive and win. This is...'

Alexander wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth before laughing softly, "Huhuhu..."

Then his laughter quickly became louder and louder, "Hahaha. HAHAHA! This is amazing!"

On the opposite side of the field, Summoned Skull silently observed him.

The ancient Duel Spirit said nothing, still, its glowing green eyes narrowed slightly, 'That young man had just taken direct spiritual damage powerful enough to incapacitate most humans, yet he still stands. More than that, he looks excited. How interesting...'

Meanwhile, Alexander finally forced himself fully upright before taking a slow breath and focusing on the duel once more and announcing, "My turn…"

He drew, and the floating card immediately joined the other already in his hand. Then Alexander's expression gradually stiffened, 'Monster Reborn and Graceful Charity. This isn't good...'

Alexander's eyes quickly shifted toward the opposing field.

[Summoned Skull - ATK 2500 / 1200 DEF]

[Shadow Tamer - ATK 800 / 700 DEF]

His own field remained completely empty; at the same time, his thoughts rapidly accelerated, 'Monster Reborn is useless right now. None of the monsters in my Graveyard can overpower Summoned Skull…'

Then his gaze unconsciously shifted toward his deck, 'Which means my only chance is Graceful Charity.'

A tense expression appeared on his face as he realised that even that wasn't enough, 'No… Even if I'm lucky and draw Elemental Hero Neos and then manage to summon him by taking advantage of the combination of Graceful Charity's discard and Monster Reborn... that only deals with Summoned Skull.'

His eyes narrowed, 'Shadow Tamer would still remain on the field, and since Neos and Summoned Skull would take each other out, with no other monster on the field, Shadow Tamer can easily deal the final blow the next turn.'

The realisation made his heartbeat speed up further as he recognised, 'Which means... I need another card. Something capable of reversing the entire field. Burn damage. Field removal. Anything.'

His expression became increasingly grim because only one card came to his mind, 'Raigeki would be the most optimal solution... but there is only a single copy in the deck. The odds of actually drawing either of those cards are absurdly low.'

Alexander slowly exhaled. In the end, the conclusion remained painfully simple, 'I need a miracle.'

The moment that thought crossed his mind, Alexander's expression steadied; then he slowly waved his hand while still enduring the pain of Summoned Skull's previous attack and said, "I activate Graceful Charity. This card allows me to draw 3 cards, then I must discard 2 cards."

The floating card glowed brightly before transforming into an angel-like figure that turned to face Alexander and smiled gently before cupping her hands.

Then the top three cards of his deck shone in an almost blinding light before they slowly floated toward the angel figure's cupped hands.

Alexander mentally reached for the first one, which joined the other cards in his hand hovering in front of him.

His heart pounded loudly as the shining light faded away, revealing the card, making him mutter, "…Beastking of the Swamps."

His expression immediately twitched slightly, 'This one is useless. At least in the current situation.'

Alexander clenched his jaw before willing the second card to come to him, then his eyes widened slightly as the shining light faded away.

A smile slowly appeared on his face, "Elemental Hero Neos…"

For the first time since the duel started turning against him, Alexander saw a narrow path toward survival.

The monster card emitted a faint glow; it was subtle, gentle, almost warm.

Alexander blinked briefly, then his heartbeat accelerated once more as his gaze slowly shifted toward the final card floating over the angel's cupped hands, 'One card left. One final chance. I'm so close...'

The battlefield suddenly felt incredibly quiet.

Alexander's fingers hesitated briefly as he stared at the floating card, 'What if it isn't enough? What if this is where everything ended?'

At that exact moment, a faint but clear pulse shook him out of his thoughts.

Alexander froze.

He felt something resonate from within his hand as Elemental Hero Neos shone softly.

The warm light surrounding the card briefly intensified, and, strangely enough, Alexander suddenly felt calm and confident as though someone was reassuring him.

-Draw-

Without hesitating further, Alexander focused on the final card and pulled it toward himself, and then he froze.

His eyes widened as he exclaimed, "What...?"

The card in his hand was unfamiliar. No, that wasn't correct.

He knew this card, but it shouldn't exist, not yet, not in this era, not in Series 1.

Alexander stared at the Equip Spell in stunned silence.

[Neos Force]

For a brief moment, his mind went completely blank for a moment before his thoughts started to run rampant, 'I never created this card. It isn't inside the Card Database. The YGO System shouldn't have been capable of generating it. Which means...'

Alexander's gaze slowly shifted toward Elemental Hero Neos.

The HERO monster continued emitting that faint warm glow, then Alexander smiled and muttered, "I see... Thank you..."

There was no more hesitation in his eyes or confusion, only trust.

He immediately completed Graceful Charity's effect by announcing, "I discard Beastking of the Swamps and Elemental Hero Neos."

Both cards flew toward the Graveyard, then Alexander immediately raised another card, "Now, I activate Monster Reborn, which allows me to target one monster in both players' Graveyards and Special Summon it to my side of the field."

The Spell Card erupted with radiant light.

A massive pillar of energy descended from the sky directly onto the battlefield as Alexander called out, "I Special Summon Elemental Hero Neos! Behold the might of the Hero from Neo-Space!"

The Spiritual Energy across the ruined landscape suddenly became unstable, and then light pierced the crimson sky.

The oppressive darkness surrounding the battlefield weakened as a heroic figure slowly descended from above.

It was a humanoid warrior clad not in armour but in a body of gleaming white that looked sculpted from living light itself.

Deep cobalt markings flowed across his powerful frame like streams of energy frozen beneath polished ivory, converging upon a brilliant azure core embedded in the centre of his chest.

His smooth, expressionless face bore only piercing green eyes beneath a swept-back crest, giving him the unmistakable appearance of a celestial champion rather than a mortal fighter.

Elemental Hero Neos landed between Alexander and Summoned Skull.

[Elemental Hero Neos - ATK 2500 / DEF 2000]

The moment Neos appeared, Alexander felt it immediately.

The chaotic Spiritual Energy surrounding the battlefield calmed noticeably; even the pressure radiating from Summoned Skull weakened slightly.

For the first time since the duel began, the battlefield no longer felt dominated by Duel Spirit's energy.

Alexander immediately waved his hand and launched the newly obtained card and said, "And now... I activate the Equip Spell Card Neos Force and target Elemental Hero Neos, who gains 800 ATK points!"

The Equip Spell activated instantly.

Brilliant streams of light wrapped around Neos' body before merging directly into him.

The HERO's aura immediately intensified as his power surged violently across the battlefield.

[Elemental Hero Neos - ATK 3300 / DEF 2000]

For the first time during the duel, Summoned Skull's expression visibly shifted as the ancient Duel Spirit stared silently at Neos for several seconds before slowly grinning.

At the same time, Alexander pointed forward and immediately commanded, "Neos! Attack Summoned Skull!"

Elemental Hero Neos shot forward like a meteor while Summoned Skull roared and charged as well.

Light and darkness collided violently in the centre of the battlefield.

The resulting shockwave shattered the surrounding terrain, and for a brief moment, both monsters struggled against one another, but then Neos overpowered it completely.

Summoned Skull's body cracked apart before exploding into countless fragments of Spiritual Energy, and the remaining force pushed back the real Summoned Skull while damaging its Life Points.

[Summoned Skull - 3150 LP]

But the attack didn't end there as Alexander smiled and said, "The moment Summoned Skull was destroyed, Neos Force's other effect activates. When the Neos equipped with this card destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, I also inflict damage to my opponent equal to the original ATK of the destroyed monster in the Graveyard. In this case, the 2500 ATK of the Summoned Skull!"

At the same time, a massive surge of energy erupted from Neos, which he then condensed into an energy ball that shot forward before slamming directly into Summoned Skull, making it grunt in pain as it was pushed further back, its feet leaving a trail in the ground.

Then the Duel Spirit's eyes widened slightly as its Life Points drastically dipped.

[Summoned Skull - 650 LP]

Alexander smiled confidently while thinking, 'Hell yeah! The duel has completely reversed its course in a single turn.'

Still, Alexander quickly forced himself to calm down as the duel wasn't over yet, so he announced, "I end my turn. At the same time, Neos Force's last effect activates."

The moment he said those words, Neos Force detached itself from Neos before transforming into a streak of light that returned to Alexander's deck, which shuffled itself.

At the same time, Neos' power returned to normal.

[Elemental Hero Neos - ATK 2500 / 2000 DEF]

Summoned Skull started its turn silently before it drew one card, then after a brief pause, it simply set one monster face-down before changing Shadow Tamer to defence position.

[Shadow Tamer - DEF 700]

Then it ended its turn, making Alexander blink briefly while thinking, 'That was it? No counterattack? No attempt to destroy Neos?'

For a moment, Alexander felt slightly confused still, he quickly focused on his own turn, "My turn."

He drew, and the moment he saw the card, Alexander froze briefly, then he slowly smiled. It was again Neos Force.

At that point, Alexander finally understood that it wasn't mere coincidence or luck, but that Neos was actively helping him.

The realisation filled Alexander with strange warmth, and without hesitation, he activated the card once more, "I equip Neos Force to Elemental Hero Neos!"

Light erupted around the HERO once again.

[Elemental Hero Neos - ATK 3200]

Alexander immediately pointed toward the defending monster and ordered, "Neos! Destroy Shadow Tamer!"

Elemental Hero Neos charged forward instantly.

The young woman barely had enough time to raise her whip before Neos' attack completely destroyed her, and since the monster had been in defence position, Summoned Skull received no battle damage.

But then Neos Force activated again, and a blast of energy erupted from Neos again before striking Summoned Skull directly.

The Duel Spirit remained completely motionless as its Life Points finally reached zero.

[Summoned Skull - 0 LP]

Silence filled the battlefield then the oppressive atmosphere slowly began fading away as the duel was over.

Alexander had won.

For several seconds, neither side spoke, then Summoned Skull suddenly laughed.

A deep, thunderous laugh filled with satisfaction before it said, "Hohoho! Well done, creator candidate."

The ancient Duel Spirit crossed its arms while staring directly at Alexander, "You have proven yourself worthy. I agree to the creation of my cards in your world."

Alexander slowly exhaled. Only now did he fully realise how tense the duel had actually been.

His entire body, maybe better said spirit, still hurt, but despite that, he felt amazing.

Then Summoned Skull's expression became more serious as it added, "However, there is one condition."

Alexander blinked as the Duel Spirit continued, "I do not wish for countless copies of my card to spread carelessly throughout the Material World."

Its green eyes narrowed, "Excessive replication would contaminate my power with too many impurities, maybe even risk weakening me."

Hearing that, Alexander immediately understood the concern, so he explained the rarity system he had planned to implement, "It isn't a problem, I already planned to implement a strict rarity system which will divide the cards into 5 categories: Common, Rare, Super Rare, Ultra Rare, and Ultimate Rare. Among those rarities, only Common cards will have unlimited copies. Others will have a strict cap on their number. For example, yours will be a Rare card that will range from 10k to 50k at most. However, that is the final number; in the current stage stage the number will be much lower, maybe 1k or even less."

As Summoned Skull listened, the Duel Spirit slowly nodded and said, "That arrangement is acceptable."

Alexander smiled slightly while thinking, 'Good. This solves a potentially massive future issue... One that has ruined Yu-Gi-Oh! in the other world.'

Suddenly, the surrounding Spirit Energy started destabilising, and Alexander's vision blurred before the Spirit World rapidly started fading away.

"Your time here has ended," Summoned Skull declared. "Farewell, young creator."

The next moment, everything went black before Alexander abruptly opened his eyes back in the real world.

His breathing was ragged, and cold sweat covered his body.

At the same time, a familiar mechanical notification appeared before him.

[Ding!]

______________________________

[Binding Successful]

______________________________

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!