Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds: Duelists Beyond Light

"Boom————————"

Amidst the deafening explosion, Luciano screamed in defeat as the Meteor Dragon's powerful attack pierced through his health points.

Under the intense impact, the mysterious technological device beside Luciano emitted a bright light and released a shield, greatly mitigating the damage.

“Chi——————————”

The Duel Skateboard, billowing thick smoke, slowly came to a stop at the maintenance station. Luciano gritted his teeth, his face darkening.

"You lost too? I thought you were so strong," Placido said with a cold sneer.

Luciano has always seized every opportunity to mock him, and now Placido has found his chance as well.

"Tsk...you!" Luciano was about to retort angrily when José, the final D-wheel driver, interrupted him with the roar of his engine.

"Alright, everything is still in the plan. Leave the rest of the duel to me," the composed Jose commanded. "Make all the preparations ready. The Cradle of Curves is about to be completed."

Luciano and Placido ignored each other, but also did not respond to José.

The three of them were not in a superior-subordinate relationship. Even though José held a higher position, they were not subordinate to him. However, they still carried out the preliminary work for the curved cradle.

"So! Under the relentless onslaught of the New 5Ds team, the New World team has been forced to bring in their last duelist!" the commentator exclaimed excitedly. "Who knows if Yusei Fudo, with his powerful monster—Meteor Dragon—will be able to win the match in one fell swoop!"

"Or will José be able to stage a comeback and fight two against one?!"

Let's wait and see!

"The duel begins!!!"

“Duel!!!!!”

“Beep beep————————————”

[Yusei Fudo, SPC: 2→3→4]

[Jose, SPC: 6→7]

During the time it took for the New World team to make a substitution, Yusei Fudo had already completed a lap and gained an extra point of SPC.

Jose gazed at the meteor dragon radiating intense starlight in the sky, his eyes turning cold, and said in a deep voice:
"Let's begin the grand spectacle from this moment on."

"It's my turn, draw a card!!"

"Activate the High-Speed ​​Magic Card - SP Angel's Scepter!"

"Draw two cards from your deck, then discard one."

"Defense indicates summoning - Core of the Earth".

"Put down three cards, and the turn ends."

The Core of the Earth

【one star】

【Earth Attribute/Mechanical Type】

[Attack/Defense: 0/0]

“Beep beep————————————”

[Immovable Planet, SPC: 4→5]

[Jose, SPC: 7→8]

"Jose, whatever your plans are, we will stop you!!" Yusei Fudo shouted as he sped off. "There is still hope in this world, and we will protect this last hope!!"

José sneered and said, "Hope? When you see the same destruction countless times, you'll realize how foolish and stubborn you are."

"Come on, Yusei Fudo, I don't expect you to understand."

"Use all your strength to resist that grand destiny!!"

The members of the Three Emperors of the First Emperor—José, Luciano, and Placido—are in fact all one person—Apollia.

The three of them are the embodiment of Apollia's despair in his old age, youth, and adolescence. At the end of the world, Apollia became a robot, and in order to achieve the goals of the New Future Group, Apollia split himself into the Three Emperors of Taiyi.

Compared to Zone's intense and direct despair, Apollia's suffering is multi-dimensional.

He also has a deeper understanding of despair.

“Tsk…” Fudo Yusei frowned. “In the past timeline, even if we had won this duel, the circuit would have been completed, and the Curved Cradle event would still have been triggered.”

"But...that's assuming the duel always goes down to the last person!!"

"The circuit is definitely still a bit lacking right now. If I can defeat Jose and prevent You Qing from making his appearance, then the circuit's energy will be depleted..."

"In this way, after defeating Taiichi, we can completely shatter the New Future Group's plans!!"

“Swish——————————————”

With his mind made up, Fudo Yusei drew a card from Gale. With Meteor Dragon on the field, he could attack without any scruples.

"It's my turn! Draw a card!!"

"Activate the effect of Meteor Dragon, draw five cards from your deck!!"

"This turn, Meteor Dragon can make an attack that adjusts the number of monsters!!"

“Swish, swish, swish, swish————————————”

Five cards were flipped over, and four of them were Tuner Monsters!
With a wave of his hand, Fudo Yusei launched a fierce attack: "Meteor Dragon!! Attack the Earth Core!!!"

“Boom boom boom————————————”

Four meteors appeared in the sky behind the Meteor Dragon, one of which, burning with starlight, hurtled towards the monster on Jose's field!
At that moment, a face-down card appeared from Jose's backcourt, and he said in a deep voice: "Trap Card activated - Machine Limit Bomb".

"Choose one face-up Machine King monster on your field and one card on your opponent's field, and destroy both cards."

"I choose—Meteor Dragon!!"

Jose's purpose is very clear.

On the surface, activating this trap card can detonate Meteor Dragon and Earth Core, destroying Meteor Dragon while triggering Earth Core's effect to summon Machine Emperor God Land.

But in fact, Jose knew that Meteor Dragon had a counter-ability: when an effect that would destroy a card on the field was activated, he could negate that effect and destroy it.

What he needs to do is force Meteor Dragon to activate that ability!!
This was a completely open scheme. Fudo Yusei knew that Jose would definitely activate other face-down cards, but he could only choose to activate the effect of Meteor Dragon: "Activate the effect of Meteor Dragon, negate and destroy the effect of Machine Limit Bomb!!"

"Attack continues!!"

"Meteor Dragon!! Shatter the Earth Core!!" "The Earth Core's effect can only activate when destroyed by another effect; you cannot summon the Machine Emperor!!"

"Meteor Dragon, keep attacking!!!"

“Shuashua————————————————”

Two more meteors hurtled toward Jose in quick succession!
Each attack deals 3300 damage, enough to instantly kill Jose!
Facing the attack launched by Meteor Dragon, Jose remained incredibly calm: "Activate the Trap Card - Absorb Shield!"

"When the opponent's monster declares an attack, negate that attack and restore LP equal to that monster's ATK!!"

"The first attack will restore 3300 LP to my health through the absorption shield. The second attack will deduct that amount from my health!"

In the end, you didn't cause me any harm!!!

Fudo Yusei's gaze turned cold: "But... Meteor Dragon still has one more chance to attack, and I also have another monster on my field—High Speed ​​Warrior!!"

"High-Speed ​​Warrior!! Meteor Dragon!!"

"Direct attack!!!"

Upon learning of Fudo Yusei's decision, Jose sneered: "For you, the High Speed ​​Warrior is the card of hope for victory."

"But little did you know, that card would bring you destruction!"

"Just as you fools think your actions are all hope, they are nothing more than another kind of despair that deepens despair!"

"At the instant the high-speed warrior attacks, I activate the trap card—The Weakling's Desperate Struggle!!"

"You can activate this skill when an opponent's monster with 1000 or less ATK declares a direct attack. Special Summon 1 monster from your Graveyard and destroy both of them!!"

"I Special Summon Earth Core from my Graveyard. When Earth Core is destroyed, its effect triggers, destroying all monsters on my field!!"

"Then Special Summon Machine Emperor: Divine Land Infinite, Machine Emperor: Divine Land Top, Machine Emperor: Divine Land Attack Division, Machine Emperor: Divine Land Defense Division, and Machine Emperor: Divine Land Carrier Division from your Deck, hand, and Graveyard!"

"The combination of the five components will become my trump card monster—Machine Emperor Divine Continent!!"

"Use the effect of Machine Emperor - Divine Land - Carrier to prevent Meteor Dragon's attack from causing monster battle destruction!!!"

【Machine Emperor - Divine Continent】

【one star】

【Earth Attribute/Mechanical Type】

[Attack/Defense: 3000/1700]

"boom------------------"

An ion barrier was erected, completely neutralizing the Meteor Dragon's attack!

The members of the new 5Ds team all expressed their regret.

"What a pity... If Yusei had attacked directly with Meteor Dragon first, it could have dealt 3300 damage..." Ryuya couldn't help but say.

“However, Ryūya, Yusei’s decision was not wrong.” Yu Qing explained, “Yusei did not know what Jose’s card was. With the Meteor Dragon no longer having a counter effect, prioritizing the attack with a high-speed warrior was actually a very prudent approach. It can only be said that this attack lacked a bit of luck.”

The dragon beside him said worriedly, "But... next turn, the Machine Emperor will take away Meteor Dragon... Meteor Dragon can only prevent effect disruption, but it can't..."

"No need to worry!" Jack Atlas's deep voice came from the side. "You should have seen the past in the red dragon's light and shadow, right? The power of the Meteor Dragon is far stronger than we imagined!!"

"Set one card face down, end the turn!!" Yusei Fudo said, frowning.

“Beep beep————————————”

[Immovable Planet, SPC: 5→6]

[Jose, SPC: 8→9]

“Yusei Fudo, I know what you’re thinking,” Jose said. “We all know that the ‘exclusion’ in Meteor Dragon’s third ability—which excludes itself and then nullifies an opponent’s attack—is not Cost.”

"In other words, as long as I use the Machine Emperor God Continent to try to seize the Meteor Dragon, you will use that ability to evade it."

"However, if you dodge it, you'll only have one weak, high-speed warrior left on the field."

"It's my turn, draw a card!!"

“Swish——————————————————”

That's right, the animated version of Meteor Dragon's effects are just like that, much better than the OCG version.

In the original story, during a duel in the WRGP tournament, Meteor Dragon used this ability to leave without the opponent's monster attacking, thus avoiding the opponent's card effects.

For Yusei Fudo, his Accelerated Synchro Summoning isn't just about countering the annoying effects of Machine Emperor at the moment of Synchro Summoning; the Meteor Dragon he summons is completely beyond Machine Emperor's control!
"Zzzzzzzzzzz"

The wireless core of the Machine Emperor, Divine Continent, began to operate, and a powerful energy network spread towards the Meteor Dragon!

"Engine Emperor - Divine Continent - Infinite's effect!!" Jose shouted, "Once per turn, equip this card with one Synchro Monster your opponent controls as an Equip Card!!"

"Yusei!!"

"Let your dragon escape!!!"

Fudo Yusei calmly activated the effect of Meteor Dragon. A bright light flashed across the sky, and Meteor Dragon transformed into a blurry dragon shadow made of interwoven stardust just before it was captured!
The Machine Emperor Shenlu's abilities came up empty.

However, this gave José an opportunity to launch an attack.

"Ha...I'll offer the Machine Emperor's Land - Divine Continent - Defense Division as a sacrifice!" Jose waved a card and shouted, "Superior Summon - Machine Emperor - Divine Continent - Attack Division Type V!!"

"Due to component upgrades, the Machine Emperor - God Land, equipped with dual attack units, will have its attack power increased to 4800 and can now attack twice per turn!!"

"Although both are heteromorphic forms with dual attack units, unlike the mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex of Machine Emperor Shenkong, the form of Machine Emperor Shenlu will be the Heavy Rhinoceros Beetle!!"

"Attack!!"

"Machine Emperor - Divine Continent - Heavy Armored Rhinoceros Beetle Heterogeneous Form!!"

"A5-A1 Heterogeneous Assault - Crushing Blow, Ground-Shattering Shockwave!!!"

“Beep beep beep————————————”

【Machine Emperor - Divine Continent, Attack Power: 3000→4800】

The heavy armor surrounding the Machine Emperor God Land suddenly emitted a crisp sound of gears meshing. The originally shield-shaped defensive parts began to fold backward, and the defensive runes on the surface extinguished one by one, replaced by attack patterns covered with thorns!
With a hiss of the hydraulic system, the defensive section completely reassembled into a giant blade gleaming with cold light—the Attack Section Type 5. It was thicker than the original Attack Section, and its blade was wrapped in dark red energy, as if it could tear apart any defense!

The entire machine underwent a dramatic transformation: the torso compressed downwards, the back arched to form a hard carapace, the joints of the limbs protruded outwards, transforming into clawed legs, and the previously smooth armor plates cracked, revealing intricate gears rotating internally. The most significant change was in the head; the newly formed Attack Unit Type 5, resembling a rhinoceros beetle, extended diagonally forward, while the original Attack Unit shrank in size, forming a sharp secondary horn beside the main unit. Both horns, one large and one small, were covered with diamond-shaped anti-slip patterns, gleaming with a cold metallic gleam!

With a deafening roar, the Machine Emperor Divine Continent Heavy Armored Rhinoceros Beetle Heterogeneous Form slammed its massive horn into the ground with tremendous force!

From the point of contact, violent seismic waves spread outwards, cracking the earth in deep, spiderweb-like trenches wherever they passed, and billowing dust dispersed outwards in concentric rings!
Yusei Fudo's only monster—the High Speed ​​Warrior—is within the range of this seismic wave! (End of Chapter)