"No way," Keiza said, putting her hands on her mouth. "That's never happened to Lizzy before. She's a powerful magician."

"It seems like she wasn't as great as I thought," the mystery man said. "I figured I was facing a challenge..oh well! I'll keep the boy and take out the other two!" The two kids hid behind the others in tears.

"She's gone, isn't she?" little Crow said, crying. Little Yusei didn't say anything because he was crying too much to talk. At the sight of seeing one of his closest friends down, William yelled,

"THAT'S IT! I had enough of your bad talk. You took Jack, hurt our friend, and made these kids sad! If you want Jack, Crow, and Yusei so badly, how about we settle this in a duel?"

"You're one to talk," the man scoffed. "But I accept your offer. If I can defeat a magician and a duelist, then no one will stop me!" He put his hand on his left arm and the dark blue hue was seen again, except it took the shape of a Duel Disk and a click! sound rang to indicate it's appearance. William got out his aqua blue disk from a backpack he carried and set it up as fast as he could.

"I'm not the guy that usually says this," Ryan began, "but maybe this is not a good idea..."

"He's right, and I don't say that too often," James mentioned. "We're not losing another friend today!"

"I know that," William said. "But Lizzy would've done the same thing if I did what she just did. And you guys would too! I have to fight.....for all of us!" As soon as he said that, a hue that was strikingly similar to the color of his disk ran throughout it, glowing brightly. James' eyes widened at the sight but then understood what William wanted to do.

"Okay, Will. You go for it! Take him down!!"

"Go, Will!" Aaliyah cheered.

"We'll be here for support," Dylan smiled. "So go do it!" William nodded and walked a bit closer to the man.

"This will be your ultimate demise!" the man shouted. As soon as they both said duel, they went head-to-head with each other. William was a Beast and Beast Warrior deck user while the man used a combination of Light and Dark monsters in summoning them from the Graveyard or tributing a monster to get another powerful monster in the field. The two were both using any tricks up their sleeves, but that ended when the evil man drew a card and grinned manically. William wondered why since the man had so many cards in his hand and had 1300 life points, while William had 1600.

"What are you smiling?" William exclaimed. "If it's a powerful card, then bring it on! I'm ready for it."

"Foolish child," the evil man said. "You will regret your words. I sacrifice two monsters on my field to summon one of my powerful monsters: Tragoedia!!!"

"Tra-what?" As two monsters were sent to the graveyard, a huge monster appeared with long spider-like legs and a ghoul face. William was shocked but then realized its Attack and Defense points were zero. Little Crow noticed too and exclaimed,

"You can beat it! It doesn't have no Attack or Defense points!"

"That may be the case," James said. "But look at its level. It's super high!"

"Ten to be exact," Ian added.

"That means it must have a big monster effect, right?" little Yusei said to the others.

"Yup," Ryan answered. "Let's see what it is."

"Tragoedia is one of my most powerful monsters because of its ability. Although I could have summoned it earlier because I have taken battle damage, it gains 600 points attack and defense for every card that's in my hand! And I have eight cards, which means my monster's points go up to 4800 points!"

"What?!" William exclaimed in shock. "You kept your cards just for that monster?!"

"Yes!" the man cackled. "But the fun doesn't stop there! Another ability Tragoedia has to send one monster from my hand to the graveyard and let me take control of one of your monsters on the field with the same level as the monster that in sacrificed. I choose Honest, a Level 4 monster, to go to the graveyard and pick your Phantom Beast Wild-Horn to be in my control."

As soon as he said that, William's monster went on the other side of the field. It left William with only two monsters on his field and the man with three. "Now that I have your monster, I can attack your Shadow Slayer in defense mode but can still take damage! Attack, Phantom Beast!" The monster did, and it took away 1500 life points from William. "I also attack Leotaur with Tragoedia as well!"

"This ain't working out for him," Aaliyah whispered. "If he takes one hit from that monster with 4800 attack points..."

"He's screwed," Dylan finished. "It's an immediate game over."

"But he can't give up!" little Crow exclaimed, clutching his fists tight. "If he does, we'll lose Jack!" He went in front of the group and yelled, "Will, don't give up yet! You can beat him!"

"Yeah, I'm sure you can think of something!" Keiza agreed with an encouraging smile. "Beat that guy hard!"

"Don't worry guys, I will!" William said. "You can count on me!"

"How on earth can you get yourself out of this predicament?" the evil man exclaimed. "Tragoedia is an unstoppable monster! You can never defeat me." William took a deep breath. He knew that it was true the monster is very powerful, but that wouldn't stop him from trying. In Duel Monsters, the player is supposed to think out his or her strategies in order to defeat the opponent. However, William usually doesn't think things out far enough for an actual plan and would call on the power of luck to get him through the battle. But he wanted to win against the man to get Jack and to avenge Lizzy, so he was thinking of any strategy he could come up with to make this happen.

"I guess I have to rely on my draw," William thought after the mysterious man declared that his turn was done. Finally, William looked at his deck with three fingers on the next card he would draw. He chuckled, remembering something he learned from his home in Yuina.

"So if I'm in a tight situation," William began, looking through his cards. "I should rely on my luck! Right, Yugi?"

"Well, not all the time," the spiked hair boy said. "It's not only luck that you need."

"Hm? Why not?"

"You need to believe in your cards," Yugi's counterpart explained, walking into the room. "Without faith, your cards won't come through for you. That's why it's called the heart of the cards."

"That's a little lame, Yami," William said with a raised eyebrow. "How do you know if it works?"

"Trust me," Yami smiled. "You'll know when the time comes."

"Okay....."

"Believing in your cards," William repeated softly. "That's what you said, Yami."

"Hm?" Ian said, listening. "What did you say, Will?"

"Remember when Yugi and Yami would always say something about "the heart of the cards"? That believing in them would guide you to victory?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Well right now, I'm gonna wing it," William said with a determined face. "But I'm also gonna believe in my cards because they can get me to victory!!"

And that's the end of this chapter! Thanks for reading this far and I hope you've been enjoying the story so far. Have a good day! :)