Chapter 172. Yusei Fudo's True Feelings in the "Pulling Out the Screws" Scene! The 5D's World Earthbound Immortals' Power Exposed!
Kalin Kessler's expression and the terrifying darkness shrouding the Duel had already told Duelists from other worlds what they needed to know.
Who would've thought it!
The 5D's world really does have twisted, dark-persona Duelists!
On this point, the old guard in the Duel Monsters world felt a deep resonance after they understood the situation.
After Bakura, Marik Ishtar, and the others finished chatting with Yusei Fudo and the rest in the group, they exchanged looks.
They had their dark personas triggered by the Millennium Items.
But in the 5D's world,
it was the Earthbound Immortals that awakened a dark persona!
So then.
What on earth are the Earthbound Immortals in the 5D's world?
We have to get a proper handle on that!
In the short video—
the turn has already reached Yusei Fudo!
Yusei Fudo: "My turn! Draw!"
Yusei Fudo: "I activate the effect of the 'Level Warrior' in my hand!"
Yusei Fudo: "If my opponent controls a monster while I control none, I can Special Summon this card from my hand as a Level 4 monster."
"Then I Normal Summon the Level 4 Tuner 'Hyper Synchron'!"
"Tune 2 cards!"
"The prayers of the gathered stars will become a new shining star!"
"Become the path that lights up the future!"
"Synchro Summon! Stardust Dragon!"
"'Hyper Synchron's' effect—when it's used as Synchro Material, Stardust Dragon gains 800 ATK!"
"Battle! Stardust Dragon attacks your Hundred Eyes Dragon!"
Kalin Kessler: "My Hundred Eyes Dragon has gained the effect of 'Infernity Guardian' in the Graveyard!"
Kalin Kessler: "While I have no cards in my hand, this face-up card cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects."
Yusei Fudo: "But you still have to take the damage!"
Yusei Fudo: "You lose 800 Life Points!"
"Since damage was inflicted, I activate the effect of 'Hope for Escape'!"
"I draw 1 card from my Deck!"
"I'm betting everything on this draw!"
"Here it comes!"
"My combo is going to become a straight road of shining light!"
"I send Hope for Escape to the Graveyard and activate this card!"
"Trap Card! Miracle Locus!"
"You draw 1 card! Stardust Dragon gains 1000 ATK!"
"And this turn it can make a second attack!"
"Alright! Draw your card, Kalin Kessler!"
As soon as Kalin drew, Hundred Eyes Dragon's copied effect disappeared!
Seeing this, Duelists across the worlds collectively sucked in a breath!
As expected from the 5D's world's protagonist!
That draw—
was basically a godly topdeck!
He pulled the exact card that could crack the board!
Hundred Eyes Dragon can't be saved now!
Seeing this,
the group chat fired up again!
Joey Wheeler: "Hss! Big bro Yusei! Is this your bond with your Deck?!"
Weevil Underwood: "Heh-heh-heh, it's just good tone—nothing more!"
Yusei Fudo: "You could call it a bond, or the Deck's response."
Yugi Muto: "I feel this deeply too. It's like the Deck answers you from beyond the veil. My Dark Magician does this all the time."
Yuma Tsukumo: "??? You guys get that too? My Utopia does it as well!"
Syrus Truesdale: "Huh? Isn't your Utopia in the Extra Deck—how does it 'respond from the Deck'?"
After that round of debate, the protagonists and the old guard spiraled into even more discussion about miracle draws!
Plenty of second-mains got dark looks!
Reginald "Shark" Kastle, Seto Kaiba, Chazz Princeton, Declan Akaba, and others all recalled the times they got reversed by an opponent's miracle draw.
In the short video, the Duel continues.
Yusei Fudo: "Go! Stardust Dragon!"
Yusei Fudo: "Keep attacking! Destroy your Hundred Eyes Dragon!"
Kalin Kessler: "I activate Hundred Eyes Dragon's effect."
Kalin Kessler: "I add 1 card from my Deck to my hand!"
Yusei Fudo: "I activate my Trap Card!"
Yusei Fudo: "Its effect inflicts damage to you based on the monster my Synchro destroyed!"
"Your Hundred Eyes Dragon has 3000 ATK!"
"You'll take 1500—and doubled if it's a Synchro!"
"This is the end!"
Kalin Kessler: "Damn it! Yusei!"
Kalin Kessler: "Fooled you! Hahaha! I flip my Trap! 'Damage Translation!'"
"This turn, the effect damage I take is halved."
"I've still got 900 Life Points left!"
"Nice damage, Yusei!"
Yusei Fudo: "My turn ends!"
Kalin Kessler: "In your End Phase! I activate Damage Translation's effect!"
"I Special Summon 'Ghost Tokens' (Fiend/DARK/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0) in Defense Position up to the number of times I took effect damage this turn."
"Now it's my turn!"
"Hahahaha! Thanks to you destroying Hundred Eyes Dragon, I've added the strongest Dark Signer monster to my hand!"
"I Tribute the 2 Tokens on my field!"
"All souls will become food for the Earthbound Immortals!"
"Descend! Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu!!!"
After that peak-limit Tribute Summon—
a scene that shook everyone played on the short video!
Around the track, in the hazy edges, the souls of people actually appeared!
And the moment the Earthbound Immortal descended,
everyone's souls were absorbed away by it in an instant!
It was just an image on a screen—
yet the fear and pressure it brought
left every Duelist struggling to breathe!
What even is this!
They'd seen Earthbound Immortals in the higher worlds before!
So why did the 5D's world's Earthbound Immortal visuals
spur such a primal fear and dread in their hearts?!
What is going on here?!
Seto Kaiba: "Impossible! Is that Earthbound Immortal… divine? Why do I feel a reverence like when facing a god?!"
Yugi Muto: "This might be the 5D's world's version of divinity—similar in principle to our Egyptian God Cards!"
Jaden Yuki: "Earthbound Immortals look more imposing than our Sacred Beasts! Seems like Earthbound Immortals are no joke!"
Yusei Fudo: "When I first saw it, I felt just like you do. I've seen too many Earthbound Immortals by now—so I'm used to it."
Jack Atlas: "Yeah. You wouldn't understand how terrifying they are; only Yusei and I truly know."
The group chat immediately launched into a full discussion about Earthbound Immortals!
And that sharpened the Duelists' appetite to understand them!
Kalin Kessler: "Hahahaha! It's time to end this!"
Kalin Kessler: "I attack with the Earthbound Immortal!"
Yusei Fudo: "I still have Stardust Dragon on the field!"
Kalin Kessler: "Oh? Solevado kana? This is divinity!"
Kalin Kessler: "A god can attack directly!"
Yusei Fudo: "Then I flip my facedown Trap! 'Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!'"
Kalin Kessler: "How many times do I have to say it? This is divinity!"
Kalin Kessler: "A god ignores Trap Cards!"
Kalin Kessler: "Ciao! Yusei Fudo!"
"Hahaha! It's over! It's over!"
"Your soul will be food for my Earthbound Immortal!"
Yusei's Life Points couldn't withstand a 3000-point hit!
In other words,
this attack meant certain defeat!
Yes!
And under the rules of a dark Duel,
if Yusei Fudo lost, he would lose his soul!
But just as the Earthbound Immortal's hand was about to grab Yusei and the final 3000 damage was about to be calculated—
a scene that stunned everyone happened!
Even Yusei himself was dumbfounded at the time!
The wheel on the Duel Runner malfunctioned!
The engine smoked!
In a flash—
Yusei and his Duel Runner crashed onto the track together!
The crash and wipeout happened all at once!
And the devastating strike from the Earthbound Immortal that was about to land—
was nullified as the Duel terminated and the simulation vanished!
...
Kalin Kessler: "Heh-heh—so you get to keep your life?"
Kalin Kessler: "The Duel just happened to cut out right before you lost."
"Your Duel Runner's poor performance saved your skin."
"Next time, you won't be so lucky!"
"Hahahaha!"
In the short video,
as Kalin mocked him one last time and sped off on his Duel Runner,
the clip ended.
The famous "pulling out the screws" scene ended there!
The group chat instantly erupted in heated debate!
Rex Raptor: "What the—You can do that?! Like, seriously—this actually counts?!"
Chazz Princeton: "No way! I'm stunned! Big bro Yusei! Did your Duel Runner really break down for real?!"
Weevil Underwood: "Uh? So, big bro Yusei, that's kinda not taking the loss, you know. If it was an accident, forget I said anything. If you didn't want to lose, then I've got words."
Crow Hogan: "Hey, hey! What are you talking about! Isn't it obvious? It was clearly an accident!"
Kalin Kessler: "Even as my dark persona, I can confirm—it was indeed an accident. Yusei couldn't have made his Duel Runner malfunction on purpose."
Akiza Izinski: "Maybe there were signs it was going to break beforehand, and that dark Duel just pushed it over the edge."
The chat exploded in a flurry of hot takes!
Some Duelists argued Yusei couldn't take a loss.
Others said Yusei did it on purpose.
Of course, in the footage itself,
Yusei didn't make any move; at the last moment the Duel Runner just glitched by itself.
So some believed Yusei himself didn't know a thing either!
This back-and-forth
made the chat hit 99+ messages instantly!
Yusei, meanwhile, stayed silent.
Only when it looked like people might reach through the network and throw hands,
did Yusei finally speak up about something crucial.
Yusei Fudo: "Everyone, no matter how that 'pulling out the screws' Duel ended—"
Yusei Fudo: "I don't think it's the outcome any of you would want to see."
Yusei Fudo: "My bond with Kalin—or rather the bond within Team Satisfaction—has nothing to do with a win or loss."
"In a dark Duel, if I win—"
"Kalin Kessler's soul becomes food for the Earthbound Immortals."
"If I lose, then I'm the one who becomes food for the Earthbound Immortals."
"For me, either outcome is the worst possible result."
"On one hand, he's my best friend."
"And I'm also Kalin's best friend."
"Even if he's under the control of darkness right now—"
"I still have to find a way to save him, don't I?"
"Would you really stand by and do nothing when it's your own friend or partner?"
Those words
left Duelists across the worlds deep in thought.
The ones whose hearts were most stirred—
were in the DM world:
Yugi Muto, Tristan Taylor, Joey Wheeler, and Téa Gardner.
Their years of friendship and every little memory—
none of them will ever forget.
And the friendship between Yusei Fudo, Kalin Kessler, Jack Atlas, and Crow Hogan is the same.
Quickly,
the Duelists who grasped that this Duel's outcome meant nothing either way started speaking up for Yusei.
Téa Gardner: "Yeah—does the result even matter? Either way, someone gets hurt."
Kalin Kessler: "That's right. I know better than anyone what kind of person Yusei is. This Duel was meaningless from the start."
Joey Wheeler: "Exactly! Weevil, say that again and my fists are going to Attack Position!"
Yusaku Fujiki: "Yeah. You can't sacrifice your partner—you have to save your partner. Pulling out the screws was normal here."
In the main world—
Sei Yuki felt gratified after seeing how many Duelists across the worlds evaluated Yusei Fudo's "pulling out the screws" Duel.
As expected.
The Duelists of their worlds are different.
Or maybe—
their friendship is something that can't be measured by anything else.
Sei Yuki: "Duelists, there's no need to obsess over this famous short clip!"
Sei Yuki: "The main point is—the Earthbound Immortals in the 5D's world are absurdly strong!"
"Let me give you a quick exposure rundown of the 5D's Earthbound Immortals' might!"
"First, all Earthbound Immortals are Level 10 DARK monsters, they need a Field Spell in play, and they can bypass monsters to attack the Duelist directly."
"Their motif is the giant mysterious lines in the Nazca Desert of Peru—the Nazca Lines."
"They are: 'Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu'—when it destroys a monster by battle, it inflicts damage to your opponent equal to that monster's ATK."
"'Earthbound Immortal Aslla piscu'—if it leaves the field by a method other than its own effect, destroy all face-up monsters your opponent controls, then your opponent takes 800 damage for each monster destroyed."
"'Earthbound Immortal Cusillu'—if it would be destroyed by battle, you can Tribute 1 monster you control instead; then your opponent's Life Points become half."
"'Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua'—once per turn, inflict damage to your opponent equal to half this card's DEF; the turn you activate that effect, it cannot attack. Also, while it's in face-up Defense Position, your opponent cannot conduct their Battle Phase."
"'Earthbound Immortal Ccarayhua'—if it's destroyed by a card effect other than its own, destroy all cards on the field."
"'Earthbound Immortal Uru'—you can Tribute 1 monster you control; until the End Phase, take control of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls."
"'Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca'—once per turn, you can skip your Battle Phase; your opponent's Life Points become 1."
"Seven Earthbound Immortals in total!"
"Besides those individual effects—"
"they share several common traits!"
"1) This card can attack your opponent directly."
"2) Your opponent's monsters cannot target this card for attacks."
"3) If there is no face-up Field Spell on the field, this card destroys itself."
"That's why in the short video, the Earthbound Immortal pushed through Stardust Dragon and ignored the Scarecrow within that 'divinity' context."
"It's mainly because they have divine traits!"
After Sei Yuki finished,
the Duelists across the worlds finally wore looks of dawning realization!
Sure enough!
In the 5D's world,
the Earthbound Immortals are on the level of divinity!
They may not be Divine-Attribute, and not Divine-Beast,
but with that suite of traits,
plus Riding Duels auto-providing the Field,
with the Field that can't be destroyed,
the Earthbound Immortals are basically invincible!
And that last one, 'Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca!'
left them all completely tilted!
Good grief!
That card's effect is so busted?
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