Ishizu accepts the Cyber Jar

"There is no card in my deck... that can win this..." the poor priestess admitted, looking down at her Blast Held by a Tribute. What once had been a magnificent trump card was rendered useless by Kaiba's advanced knowledge and planning. He had one Blue-Eyes on the field and the other two waiting in his hand. All it would take was "Ancient Rules" or some similar card to replace the Blue-Eyes White Dragon if she destroyed it. Even if she could get her last Mudora powerful enough... assuming she drew it... assuming she could get three more cards into the graveyard... How long before Burst Stream of Destruction destroyed that?

Therefore, there was only one way forward: she had to accept the sorcerer's gift.

"This too is fate... I accept it," she finally agreed, drawing the card from the top of her deck. There was no sign that it had been added or substituted; her slender fingers drew it as gracefully as she would any other card, and it set onto the field in an unassuming manner, as though she'd just placed it to continue stalling a little longer. It was no act; she really felt so unaffected putting it down that it was surprising to her. What was the "cost" that the sorcerer had mentioned? If it was a little thing like abandoning her pride as a duelist, she would put her work as a priestess first and prioritize winning this duel, so that she could search for the sorcerer. It wasn't a priestess' place to indulge personal pride, regardless.

"Out of moves? I draw..." Kaiba spoke with a small frown, while surveying the field. Even with his vast dueling knowledge, he couldn't think of what fairy card Ishizu had that would help her out of this one. "Another small fry, I imagine. If it's Mudora, you've just wasted your last chance to beat 3000 attack points. I attack with Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" he commanded, issuing another order for his merciless dragon to blow her monster into graveyard ash. When the card flipped, he was taken back. "No! You and your tricks," he grunted, remembering how the Drowning Mirror **** had reset the duel earlier. Cursing aloud, he turned to watch something over his shoulder... Ishizu couldn't see a thing, but it was clear he was agitated.

Slowly, she recognized a figure taking shape over Kaiba's shoulder. It seemed to be... a referee? The man, with his thick sunglasses and slicked hair, looked even more out of place in the setting than either of them. "Mr. Kaiba. The tournament organizer has declared that activation of this flip effect requires solving the ceremonial puzzle," he explained.

"This... is a mockery! Your 'organizer' is crossing the line, taunting me with a puzzle, of all things!" the KaibaCorp president scowled, obviously still upset about the Millennium Puzzle he'd spent untold millions of dollars trying to reconstruct. "So what, why am I solving this? Ishizu is the one who played this worthless card! Don't waste my time with this!"

"The organizer thought you might appreciate the challenge! As for Miss Ishtar, perhaps she'd rather solve it herself? Somebody has to solve it!" the referee giggled, his voice seeming to warp slightly as if another man's was coming out from somewhere deep inside his belly. It left Ishizu with an even uneasier feeling. "Oh... I see. It would be... embarrassing, Mr. Kaiba. Embarrassing if you failed to solve it in front of all of these people."

Warning bells were going off in Ishizu's head. The card was cursed... the 'organizer'... the 'sorcerer'... whoever they were, they were playing to Kaiba's sense of vanity and it was clearly about to work. "Kaiba, don't! We've both been tricked, you mustn't accept the puzzle!" she protested, feeling almost sick with unease.

"Well, you saying 'don't do it' actually makes me want to give it a shot," Kaiba shrugged anticlimactically. "Show me the puzzle."

"But sir... It's right there," the official snickered, pointing across the field.

Ishizu suddenly became aware that she was no longer standing at one edge of the ring. At some point, she'd entered the very center. She couldn't see her own body... it was as if suddenly her own viewpoint was lined up with Kaiba's. She saw crowds of people. She saw spectators, other duelists, some of whom she knew from Battle City. She heard the roar of the crowd. Yet still, everyone was looking through her, even now... But Kaiba's eyes were fixed on that point. His face looked resolute and he'd made up his mind; he was going to quickly put the puzzle behind him.

The puzzle...

"Seto Kaiba! Stop!" Ishizu begged, finally understanding what was happening. She was no longer standing... her butt and back were held suspended by a gold platform, like a display pedestal, keeping her lying back at a tilted angle with her legs apart. Unfortunately, there were no puzzle pieces evident on the surface of this strange pedestal. There was only one puzzle evident in the arena... the one she was wearing. It hadn't remained invisible like she had; rather, it had been summoned ahead to this world, looking exotic, enticing, just waiting to be solved. "Come to your senses!" she pleaded, finding she was unable to change her position.

Kaiba approached with one hand extended...