Goodwin suppressed his unease, sneering, "A fine attack—almost got me.
Unfortunately, my dueling is still better. Now, the preparations to summon the God are complete, which means your countdown to defeat has begun!"
Yes—the Earthbound Immortal. That's the source of Goodwin's—and all Dark Signers'—confidence.
Spell and Trap immunity, direct attacks—within 5D's, even Tetsu called them "cards capable of turning the tide in any situation." And that's just the Earthbound Immortals' single-card power, not counting any Destiny Draws.
Earthbound Immortals aren't quite on par with Egyptian or Wicked Gods, but they're still "Gods," with a powerful Destiny that ordinary monsters can't match. When Yusei first encountered them, he was left deeply shaken, even developing a fear of facing such monsters.
In terms of presence and intimidation, the Earthbound Immortals' debut was even flashier than the Egyptian Gods'.
"You're really that confident in your Earthbound Immortal?" Kira said calmly.
He spoke while quietly observing Goodwin. He judged that this person probably wasn't the real Goodwin, but he was certainly using Goodwin's deck. The confidence when mentioning "Earthbound Immortal" sounded just like a Dark Signer.
And the way he used the Sun and Moon Dragons so skillfully made Kira almost believe he really was Goodwin.
But if he truly was, why would he have the power of the Dark Signers and the Earthbound Immortal so early in the story? Why would he want to kill Yusei Fudo? That would contradict his original motives.
Well, whatever the case—let's focus on winning the duel.
"End of Battle Phase," Kira said. "Now, I activate Berserkion the Electromagna Warrior's effect!
By banishing a Level 4 or lower 'Magnet Warrior' from my graveyard, I can destroy a card on your field."
He revealed the card just sent to the graveyard.
"I banish the just-destroyed 'Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior' from my graveyard and destroy your 'Ceremonial Token'!"
Alpha's ghost appeared, becoming a bolt of lightning that merged with Berserkion's sword. Berserkion swung, the electrified blade cleaving the Token in half.
Goodwin raised his arm to shield himself from the blast, frowning. "Destroying my tokens to stop the Earthbound Immortal's arrival?"
"My turn ends," Kira said.
Goodwin: "Then it's my turn. Draw."
Goodwin discarded one card from his hand to the grave, then displayed another and placed it on his Duel Disk.
"'Ascator, Dawnwalker's' effect," Goodwin declared. "By discarding a card, I can Special Summon this from my hand in Defense Position.
Come forth, Ascator, Dawnwalker!"
Once again, the priestly art style—a figure dressed like an ancient tribal shaman—took a defensive stance on Goodwin's field.
[Ascator, Dawnwalker, DEF 1500]
"And the discarded card was the Spell 'Card of Compensation.' When 'Card of Compensation' is discarded, I can draw two more cards!"
Goodwin drew two more cards.
"The Dawnwalker controls the Fire Ant Ascators—his power can summon them forth."
Another card was automatically searched and popped out of Goodwin's deck.
"After Special Summoning himself, he lets me Special Summon a 'Fire Ant Ascator' from my hand or deck!
Again, from my deck, I Special Summon the Tuner monster—'Fire Ant Ascator'!"
The terrifying giant red ant from before reappeared—this time, Version 2—calmly standing beside the Dawnwalker, obediently awaiting its command.
"Level 3 Tuner monster 'Fire Ant Ascator'!
Level 5 'Ascator, Dawnwalker'!
Tune them together!"
[3 + 5 = 8]
"Shine again upon the earth—descend once more—
—Sun Dragon Inti!"
Fire Ant Ascator's body became three green rings, swirling around the Dawnwalker. The Dawnwalker's body turned transparent, five stars being pulled out and aligned within the rings.
Amidst a blaze of white-hot light, the sun rose again.
Sun Dragon Inti—resummoned!
"See? Even if you use dirty tricks to take down Sun Dragon, it's useless!" Goodwin shouted. "The sun will always rise again! Now that Sun Dragon is back, my Sun-Moon endless combo is reestablished!"
"Is that so?" Kira smirked.
"But I'm curious about something. You should have the Earthbound Immortal you just searched last turn, right?
You just Special Summoned Dawnwalker—plus the remaining token, you have two tributes on the field, and you haven't used your Normal Summon this turn.
You should be able to summon the Earthbound Immortal right now. But instead, you chose to summon Sun Dragon again."
Kira narrowed his eyes.
"Doesn't that mean the Earthbound Immortal can't protect you as well as the Sun Dragon combo? Because your Earthbound Immortal can't OTK me this turn, you're worried it won't protect you next turn—and you'll get OTK'd instead, am I right?"
He smiled.
"Looks like someone's not as confident in their so-called Earthbound Immortal as they pretend to be."
Goodwin's face darkened.
It sounded like a casual taunt, but Goodwin was shaken.
Because within the anime, there's a secret weakness to the Earthbound Immortals' effect.
Earthbound Immortals cannot be targeted for attacks. At first glance, that seems positive—means even stronger monsters can't attack them.
But in the anime, it actually means if you only control an Earthbound Immortal, your opponent can simply attack you directly—ignoring the Earthbound Immortal.
So, Kira was right. If, instead of summoning Sun Dragon, he summoned the Earthbound Immortal, but couldn't OTK this turn, his opponent could attack him directly next turn and win.
That's why Goodwin chose the Sun-Moon Dragon combo as his basic defense before summoning the Earthbound Immortal to finish things. In the anime, Goodwin used this tactic when facing the main trio alone.
But even in the anime, this weakness was only discovered by Yusei and the Signers during the duel. And at this point in the story, Earthbound Immortals had never appeared, and Goodwin hadn't even summoned one in this duel.
How could his opponent possibly know the Earthbound Immortal's weakness?
Goodwin was shaken, then his expression turned cold.
"Are you from the future?"