"What a pleasant surprise." Goetia frowned as he looked at the five servants before him. To think that Gudako could still find a chance to scrape by in this situation. "Especially you, Tiamat. As a Beast, you were defeated and even joined the opposing side. It seems you have no shame left at all."
Unfortunately, Tiamat's intellect was not very high right now, so she could only respond with the roars of her singing version.
Then Goetia glanced at his own [ Flauros ], whose Attack Power had dropped so low it was barely worth looking at. This servant couldn't even break through Jeanne d'Arc, who had the lowest Attack Power. It was truly embarrassing to the extreme.
"Hmph, I'll set one card in the Backrow. End my turn."
[ Forneus ] Attack Power 3000 → 2000
"Don't forget the effect of [ The Time of Birth Has Arrived, With This, All Things Shall Be Corrected ]! Destroy [ Fifth Singularity ] from the Deck! Now only two Singularities are left." As long as he reached his next turn, no matter what trump card Gudako had left, it would be useless.
"My turn, draw!" The servants in the front row gave Gudako a great deal of confidence. These were all the pinnacle of servants in her understanding. Combined with the effect of [ Old Man of the Mountain ], even if [ Goetia ]'s Attack Power was high, there would be a way to defeat him.
"But before that, I'll have to deal with these troublesome guys!" Goetia knew exactly how strong the servants here were. Facing multiple Grands and a Beast-class equal to himself, he might actually lose. That's why he made preparations during his last turn. "I activate the Trap Card [ Incineration of Human Order ]!"
"It's useless! [ Tiamat ], [ Romulus ], and [ Old Man of the Mountain ] are all unaffected by your Trap effects!" Grands and Beasts have remarkable resistances; in most cases, they can only be dealt with by battling them down directly, and even then, battle destruction might be impossible.
"Who said it would affect them!" Goetia, of course, wouldn't make such a rookie mistake. "The target of this card is the Duelist! When this card is activated, the opponent must banish all the cards on their field, while my own cards are all sent to the Graveyard!"
"How could I let you get away with that!" Gudako was no pushover either. With so many powerful servants on her field, she naturally had a countermeasure! "Tiamat, please! [ Tiamat ]'s effect, by discarding one card from the opponent's hand, can negate one effect activation..."
But Gudako soon discovered that Tiamat's effect couldn't be activated at all.
"So I'm telling you, you're truly naive! Activating effects in response to this card is not allowed! Send these eyesores away for me!" From behind Goetia's throne, a massive disc-shaped structure rose, a giant wheel formed by multiple Demon God Pillars. The moment it reflected the Black Sun, a torrent of magical power that converged in the sky, sufficient to tear everything apart and spanning beyond the visible range, swept in, devouring and destroying everything.
When the magical torrent dispersed, all the cards on the field were completely annihilated. Even the Grands and the Beast were no exception.
"Then! Deal damage equal to the number of banished cards * 1000 to the opponent's Life Points! Including my side, a total of 12 cards, for 12000 damage. Fujimaru Ritsuka, die!!!!" Another checkmate. Even at full health, Gudako would be two lives in debt. Now, with her front and back rows completely empty, her hand size at 0, and most of her cards banished, Gudako, in Goetia's eyes, was already no different from a dead person.
"Your backrow has also disappeared, hasn't it? So, I can activate cards from my graveyard without paying Life Points, right?"
"?" Now Gudako's graveyard contained only a few Knights of the Round Table cards, and Goetia suddenly felt a wave of foreboding. "It's useless, this card's activation cannot be negated!"
"Thanks to you, Mash!" Gudako wore a relaxed expression. "I don't need to negate it![ Mash ]'s effect: If I receive effect damage, banish this card from the graveyard to change that damage to 0!"
"What!"
The suddenly appearing shield maiden stood in front of Gudako, blocking this fatal blow for her.
"Senpai, I was able to help you, wasn't I?" Mash smiled before disappearing, leaving only a shield behind.
If this weren't a card game, Mash would have truly been banished and had to be forcefully retrieved by sacrificing Fou. This outcome could only be described as a cause for celebration.
"Why won't you just honestly die!" His face darkened as several lethal blows were blocked. Going back and forth against an ant he could crush with his bare hands made him look absolutely pathetic. "This is your last turn! Enjoy it! I activate the Spell Card [ Birth of the Beast of Pity ] from my graveyard. This card can banish itself to Special Summon a [ Demon God Pillar ] related servant from the graveyard. Moreover, this summon is treated as a Proper Summoning! Since you know my true identity, you must know that [ Goetia ] can be treated as a servant with the Demon God Pillar field!"
"Then, I Special Summon [ Goetia ] to the field in Attack Position!"
Goetia, who had been banished from the field, returned once more. The Goetia summoned this time seemed to possess an even more powerful aura than before.
Seeing the look in Gudako's eyes, Goetia clenched his fist in satisfaction. Being summoned by Gudako was like being restricted, unable to fully deploy his Spirit Origin, making him no different from an ordinary Heroic Spirit. This time, however, it was different. "This time is not like before, I am in my complete form! When I am on the field, you cannot Special Summon! This time, no other servant will be able to help you!"
With Special Summoning sealed, Gudako's only remaining option was a single Normal Summon. Servants that could be Normal Summoned were all below Four-Star rank, and Goetia had never even bothered to glance at such weaklings. "So what if you respond? What use could those weaklings possibly be? A creature like you should have just died obediently in that explosion. Your struggles, your efforts, your very existence are all meaningless. The ending is already decided!"
"No, it's not!" Gudako looked at the cards in her hand and smiled. Now that she knew the truth, she understood that the duel was already over. "The journey itself has meaning! No matter what we face, humanity will struggle to survive. That's exactly why I'm standing here, and why the Heroic Spirits sent me here! All for this very moment! I Normal Summon... [ Romani Archaman ]!"
A lazy man wearing a neat Chaldea uniform appeared on the field, facing off against Goetia.
Yet, completely out of place for this great final battle, the man's mouth was stuffed with cake, and he hadn't even wiped the cream from the corner of his lips.