Placido: "..."
At this moment, the Taiyi Emperor had nothing left to say, teetering on the brink of losing control.
Of course, it wasn't that he was truly hurt in the duel. After all, it wasn't him personally; he was just operating the robot called Ghost from behind the scenes, not participating in person.
This kind of substitute behavior might affect the Destiny Power level, preventing him from exerting his full strength, but generally, no matter how the substitute was beaten, it wouldn't affect the main body.
So he wasn't truly injured, just infuriated.
Fireball, fireball, endless fireballs...
Especially just in the last round, he had boasted shamelessly that someone as dignified as a Taiyi Three Emperor wouldn't be burned to death by something like a fireball. And then, before the round even ended, he was burned to death.
Thus, the bold words he had spoken earlier had become a boomerang, a slap in his own face.
No, this wasn't just a defeat; it was humiliation!
Actually, Placido didn't even come in with the intention of definitely taking down the opponent. Just like in the original animation, when Placido first contacted Yusei and others, he used a Ghost Robot as a substitute. This time, controlling the robot was also with exploratory intentions.
After all, they lacked intelligence on the one who replaced Godwin. If the opponent's strength was average, it would be convenient to deal with him without any further investigation into his background. And if the opponent was troublesome, losing would be fine, at least they could gather intelligence and gauge the situation.
But now it's different. After being humiliated in this hell of infinite fireballs, this encounter had escalated to personal grudges.
And the legendary Chaos Warrior, the true power... was it really used like this?
Placido started to doubt in his heart.
Chaos Warrior had long vanished in this dimension, a legendary-level monster of the past. Although they, the Taiyi, had time-travel abilities, they hadn't ventured much into earlier timelines nor battled opponents possessing a Chaos Warrior.
Could it be that this really is the correct way to use a Chaos Warrior?
After being bombarded by infinite fireballs, the Ghost was in a rather miserable state. Its black cloak was burned through, one of its arms blown off, sparks crackling from its severed arm, its empty eyes losing all luster, seemingly scrapped.
Even the D-Wheel parked behind it exploded with a loud bang the moment it was defeated. The internal Perpetual Motion Machine automatically scrapped itself, radiating arcs and flames, quickly burning into a heap of scrap metal.
Yugen approached and inspected the opponent's Duel Disc, only to find that the card deck installed in the Duel Disc was also starting to self-immolate.
"Cloning card, huh?" Yugen said.
It seemed that to prevent the Machine Emperor from falling into others' hands, cloning cards were used from the start, set to self-destruct once a defeat was registered.
Using a Ghost as a medium for remote dueling itself was a drain on the Duelist's Destiny Power, and using non-original cloning cards further reduced strength. Placido, in this encounter, probably exerted only fifty to sixty percent of his usual full strength. Though he lost, he most likely still wasn't convinced.
But that's okay, Yugen was ready to welcome him back anytime.
"But to think it's the Taiyi..."
Yugen looked at the burning wreckage of the D-Wheel on the highway, contemplating with his chin in his hand.
This was somewhat unexpected for him.
Could the forces causing trouble from behind the scenes truly be related to Taiyi, to ZONE, the ultimate antagonist of 5DS?
But why? It wouldn't align with their goals if different dimensions collided. Aren't they trying to prevent the destruction of humanity and create a bright future for this world?
Silent Magician appeared beside him, tugging at his sleeve.
"Hmm?"
Yugen turned his head to meet her gaze, locking eyes with hers.
"I see," Yugen nodded, "you mean, the Taiyi might not necessarily be enemies."
The Silent Magician lightly nodded.
"Indeed," Yugen pondered, "from their perspective, I, a person with no historical trace, appearing out of nowhere and replacing Godwin, might really count as a historical disruptor.
In that case, it's plausible to be considered an enemy of their organization."
He paused, rubbing his temples.
"But if that's the case, another mastermind behind the scenes must have sent future Godwin to this timeline and attempted to erase the Dragon Sealers to disrupt history.
In other words, right now, the Dragon Sealers and Dark Markers are the two main factions in a standoff, with my side covertly involved, an unknown mastermind, and then there's ZONE and his Taiyi..."
Undercurrents were surging, and it felt like the situation was becoming more complex.
When Yusei was imprisoned previously, it was the future Godwin who ordered for his elimination. Such a move shouldn't align with Taiyi's philosophy.
Though ZONE appeared to be an antagonist in the storyline, he secretly held anticipation for Yusei's potential. Throughout the entire plot, ZONE's presence lingered in the shadows, sometimes even intentionally guiding Yusei's evolution to help him overcome obstacles. Even at the end, when ZONE personally entered the fray, there was a hidden hope for Yusei to work miracles and defeat him.
ZONE, deep down, always believed Yusei had the potential to change history and create a better future. Such a ZONE would have no reason to place a pawn to eliminate Yusei prematurely while he was still weak.
However, since Taiyi itself was established to correct history, even if they weren't the enemies behind the scenes, they might still know something.
Currently having no other leads, making contact with them seems like a viable direction.
Yugen reflected that the Public Security Maintenance Bureau was a pawn placed here by Taiyi to secretly manipulate New Tongshiyi, so inversely, the bureau's secrets might contain some clues about Taiyi. It might be worthwhile to find opportunities to make contact with them next.
Aside from this, the other line being pursued involves the overt conflict between the Dragon Sealers and Dark Markers.
Last time, Yugen unexpectedly encountered the Skeleton Knight and discovered something unusual about him. It felt as if Rudger from two different dimensions was vying for that body, like two souls clashing with each other. This was somewhat similar to Godwin's previous situation and might also relate to who Yugen was investigating.
When the upcoming war breaks out, the Dark Markers should also start surfacing. It's a good chance to find Rudger and investigate further.
Just as he contemplated this, Yugen suddenly sensed something.
Standing on the roadside, he gazed far into the distance, spotting burning purple-black lines high above the direction of the Satellite District on the other side of the city, forming gigantic Nazca Patterns with purple flames blazing.
"Oh? The battle's already begun so soon,"
Yugen pondered.
"Is it Yusei?"