"Iron Knight?"
Placido frowned slightly.
This monster was familiar to him, as it's a relatively common lower-tier hitter, not an unknown figure in the history of Duel Monsters. With four stars and 1800 Attack Power, it stood out among early lower-tier monsters. The monster's effect was something like... destroying the cards equipped to itself.
The monster effect is basically ignored, generally considered useless, and can be seen as a four-star blank card.
However, if you were in Yugen's own dimension, with Yugen's current reputation, most people would be shocked upon seeing the Iron Knight again, simultaneously wondering if "that card" was about to appear. But since this is a new dimension, Placido automatically ignored the threat of Iron Knight, deeming it an insignificant minor player.
"The turn in which Concentration Socket is activated, no monsters on its player's field other than the one accepting the effect can declare an attack."
Placido said coldly.
"Lastly, I'll set two cover cards face down on the field and end the turn."
Yugen: "My turn, draw.
Activate the Magic Card 'Pot of Magic Book', both players draw three cards from their deck."
Yugen replenished his hand.
"Next, I'll activate the Continuous Trap 'Great Cosmos' again!"
The Cosmic Space once again dominated the field. Placido wasn't surprised by this, considering it was the trap forcibly set back last turn. He hadn't forgotten the Great Cosmos's presence.
Yugen revealed another card from his hand.
"Magic Card 'Weapon Cave'.
By sacrificing this turn's Normal Summon, send the top card of the deck to the graveyard, then add an Equipment Magic from the deck to the hand."
Equipment Magic?
Placido frowned.
At this point, he couldn't determine what Equipment Magic the opponent intended to retrieve, but Iron Knight's Attack Power was 1800. Suppose an Equipment Magic that boosts Attack Power by 1000, like the "Demon's Axe," was retrieved; it could counterattack against his Machine Emperor... No, before that, Iron Knight's effect is to destroy its own equipped cards, making it impossible for anything to be equipped to it.
But why does he still feel uneasy about this?
Intuition told him that this guy on the opposite side wouldn't make meaningless moves. There might be some connection between Iron Knight's self-destruct equipment effect and the Equipment Magic being retrieved next...
His thinking speed was quick, considering much but doing so in an instant.
Finally, Placido gritted his teeth, deciding to trust his intuition.
"Activate the effect of 'Machine Emperor Divine Wisdom ∞'!" Placido shouted, "Once per turn, when the opponent activates a Magic Card, negate the activation and destroy it!"
Divine Wisdom swung its sword, breaking the magical field behind Yugen with its transparent Sword Qi, shattering the Weapon Cave into fragments.
Yugen squinted: "Oh? Do you know the Iron Knight Butterfly Short combo?"
Placido said nothing.
"Judging by your reaction, you don't know... You have no idea what I aim to do, yet purely instinctively negated my Weapon Cave. Your intuition for averting crises is indeed special.
However..."
Yugen paused, then laughed.
"Will you regret it when you see this?"
Saying this, he revealed another card.
"Magic Card 'Fireball'! Inflict 500 damage to the opponent!"
Placido nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Seriously...
Does anyone normal carry such a card?
[Placido, LP200]
The cost of one card is used to crudely exchange 500 Life Points from the opponent, the most common and least rare burn damage magic on the market, yet almost no one carries it.
But today, there is a peculiar individual carrying one, and he, the dignified Taiyi Emperor, seems as though he's about to be burned to death by this thing...
What a joke!
No, it's absolutely impossible. Even if he were to lose, it wouldn't be this way. To be burned to death by a mere Fireball, it's not his Life Points being burned, but his dignity as the Taiyi Emperor!
"Activate cover card, Trap Card 'Destructive Medicine'!" Placido declared. "Destroy the monster on one's field, and restore Life Points equal to the destroyed monster's Attack Power.
I destroy 'Lava Demon God', restoring its 3000 Attack Power as Life Points!"
Boom!
Lava Demon God exploded amid corrosive red light, and the shattering energy flowed into his body, converting into Life Points.
[Ghost, LP200 → LP3200]
After restoring Life Points, the Fireball collided head-on, exploding on Ghost's face.
[Ghost, LP3200 → LP2700]
"Such insignificance trying to use something like Fireball to insult me?" Placido sneered, "Thanks to the Lava Demon God you generously gave me.
I, Placido, even if destined to die, to be shattered into pieces, will never be defeated by something like Fireball!"
"Is that so?" Yugen laughed, "Then hasn't anyone taught you not to speak so absolutely?"
Placido snorted silently.
"Then I'll follow up by activating the Trap Card 'Rebirth of the Super Warrior' from the graveyard!"
Placido was surprised: "Activate a Trap Card from the graveyard?"
At this moment, a Trap Card was already spinning out from Yugen's field, extending into the air.
"Rebirth of the Super Warrior is the Trap that was discarded into the graveyard last turn by 'Handwriting Erasure', but cannot be activated in the turn it was sent to the graveyard." Yugen said, "By banishing this card from the graveyard, I can return a 'Chaos Warrior' monster from the graveyard to my hand.
I add 'Chaos Warrior - Messenger of Creation' to my hand."
Then two more cards exited his graveyard.
"Next, I'll banish the Light Attribute 'Silent Magician' and the Dark Attribute 'Chaos Wizard' from the graveyard, the envoy of light and darkness, opening the world once more—
—Chaos Warrior - Messenger of Creation, summon!"
[Chaos Warrior - Messenger of Creation, Attack Power 3000]
Placido glanced at the Chaos Warrior returning to the stage and couldn't help but pucker his lips: "Troublesome guy came back so quickly..."
But he could still withstand it.
Placido glanced at his set cover card.
The cover card was the Trap Card "Aggressive Defense." When the opponent declares a direct attack, it halves the attacking monster's Attack Power, and allows drawing one card from the deck.
In this way, whether the opponent uses Great Opening to banish the Machine Emperor from the game then directly attacks, or relies on its consecutive attack effect to first defeat Machine Emperor then directly attack, can both be defended against.
And it also speeds up card draw, offering an opportunity for counterattack in the next turn...
"Judging by your expression, even when facing the legendary Messenger of Creation, you don't seem afraid."
Yugen squinted his eyes, smiling.
"The Chaos Warrior has the abilities to banish monsters and attack continuously. Knowing this, yet you're not afraid, does that mean that cover card of yours... is most likely a defensive card that activates upon attack?"
Placido: "..."
"You should be afraid."
Yugen shook his head.
"The reason you feel fearless is just because you don't understand the true power of the Chaos Warrior."
"So now, let me give you a special demonstration..."
Yugen gave a playful smile.
"The hidden power that makes legends so legendary."
Placido's heart skipped a beat.
The legendary Warrior... hidden power?
The Chaos Warrior's abilities are not just what's described as the Monster Effect on the card?
"Activate the Magic Card 'Seed of Origin'!"
Yugen raised his hand.
"This card can be activated when 'Chaos Warrior - Messenger of Creation' exists on your field.
You can return two cards from the banished cards to your hand."
"Banished cards?" Placido frowned, "The cards you banished were only materials used when summoning the Chaos Warrior..."
At that moment, he suddenly noticed the cosmic space the two were in.
Right, the Great Cosmos!
After the Great Cosmos activated, all cards were banished instead of sent to the graveyard...
"Yes."
Yugen said calmly.
"Therefore, from the banished cards, I'm returning these two cards..."
He showed two Magic Cards.
"Returning the Magic Card 'Weapon Cave' and the Magic Card 'Fireball' to my hand."
Both Magic Cards were returned to Yugen's hand.
"Fireball..."
Placido frowned.
Attempting to burn me for 500 LP again? But my LP is no longer as fragile as a candle in the wind, what purpose does burning serve now?
"Of course, with this I can search for Butterfly Short using 'Weapon Cave', and with Iron Knight still on the field... Well, it's a shame you won't get to see this trick today.
After all, as I said earlier, it's been a long time since I've come out to show off, and today's main act is the Chaos Warrior."
Yugen said with a cheerful smile.
"Once again, activating the Magic Card 'Fireball', 500 points of damage."
[Ghost, LP2700 → LP2200]
Placido scoffed: "You think you can bore me to death with this?"
"It seems you still don't understand the situation."
Yugen sighed.
"You had a pretty strong sense of impending crisis before, but now you can't catch on?
As long as the Chaos Warrior - Messenger of Creation is on the field, I can use 'Seed of Origin's' effect to recover banished cards.
So let's say hypothetically..."
He gave a mysterious smile, showing another card in his hand.
"What if I have another 'Seed of Origin' in my hand?"
Placido was taken aback.
A second... Seed of Origin?
"Because of the Great Cosmos, the cards I activated were banished instead of going to the graveyard." Yugen explained, "So I'll activate the second one from my hand.
Magic Card 'Seed of Origin'. This time I'll return the first 'Seed of Origin' and the Magic Card 'Fireball' from the banished cards to my hand."
Placido: "!!!!!!!!!"
Two Seeds of Origin, one Fireball, Great Cosmos...
It's done for... no, it's over!
"Magic Card 'Fireball', 500 points of damage." Yugen smiled.
[Ghost, LP2200 → LP1700]
Placido trembled with rage: "You... you you you..."
"Are you asking if I plan to bore you to death with Fireball? Ahaha, you're quite the fortune-teller." Yugen chuckled lightly, "Once again, activating the Magic Card 'Seed of Origin'.
Chaos Warrior, open the dimension!"
The Chaos Warrior showed no emotion, mechanically swinging his sword to slice open the dimension. The previously used Seed of Origin and the Fireball just activated fell out of the dimensional rift, back into Yugen's hand.
Chaos Warrior: I'm just an emotionless wall breaker.JPG.
When the master said he wanted to show the opponent the true power of a legendary warrior, he kind of guessed what was about to happen.
Although this was somewhat different from the Chaos Warrior's past perception of his role and combat style...
Well, whatever, it doesn't matter anymore.
As long as the master is enjoying himself, that's all that matters.
"..."
After several cycles of repetition.
"...Once more, using Seed of Origin to recover Fireball, then activating the Magic Card 'Fireball'!"
Yugen was indeed having a blast.
Secret Technique: Infinite Fireball Hell!
[Ghost, LP 0]