What a wonderful way to conclude this duel. Probably my favorite duel so far in the series. What a great comeback from Yugi while also developing as a character. Kuriboh got a little bit of love here for a moment, despite being used as a sacrifice to bring upon the Black Luster Soldier. What an awesome ritual card too. Yugi sacrifices two weak monsters to open up a gateway that he sends his stronger monster Gaia the fierce knight through so that it comes out as the Black Luster Soldier with 3000 attack points. With that, Yugi basically solidified his victory. He was able to destroy Mai's Harpy Dragon, which caused Mai to lose her will to battle any further. She claims she doesn't want to see her Harpy Ladies get hurt. Which makes sense for her character though. So because of that, she covered her cards with her hand as a sign of surrender. Yugi wins the duel and thanks Mai (to her surprise) for helping him realize that he was starting to lose sight of his "heart", of himself. And Mai didn't take this as a loss, but more of a stepping stone to becoming stronger. They both grew in this situation and that's great to see as a reader. That's what made this duel even better than just the fighting. Beautifully done.
