Chapter 461

"Morphing Jar and Nightmare Penguin?" DD frowned. "Trying to use Nightmare Penguin's bounce effect to clear Destiny HERO - Plasma?"

"But it's useless! I said, while Plasma is on the field, all your monsters are blank slates; their effects cannot be activated at all..."

"That's only 'on the field'," Fujiki You Xuan said. "Plasma can negate the effects of all monsters on my field, but what if they aren't on the field?"

"What?"

"Quick-Play Spell 'Mystical Wok', tribute a monster on the field to gain LP equal to that monster's ATK or DEF."

Fujiki You Xuan waved his hand.

"I tribute 'Morphing Jar',"

【Morphing Jar, ATK 700】

"to gain LP equal to Morphing Jar's ATK."

【Fujiki You Xuan, LP 3300 → LP 4000】

"Gained LP?" DD frowned. "But even if you gained LP, it's meaningless in front of Plasma..."

But just as he said that, he realized something was wrong, his pupils suddenly contracting.

No, this is...!?

"Seems you noticed," Fujiki You Xuan smiled slightly and said. "Correct. Morphing Jar was already tributed to the Graveyard by Mystical Wok when its effect resolved, so it was in the Graveyard, not on the field, when the effect resolved. Therefore, this effect cannot be negated by Plasma."

It was the same trick he used not long ago to clear Sartorius's Light Barrier: tribute to escape, a classic dueling tactic.

"And Morphing Jar's effect..."

DD's heart shook again.

Damn it, this jar's effect is...

"Correct. Morphing Jar forces both of us to discard our entire hands, then draw five cards."

Fujiki You Xuan pointed to the top of DD's deck.

"And you must draw five cards, including that 'D-Force' on top of your deck, into your hand."

"So that's it!" Aster realized. "'D-Force' can only unlock Plasma's hidden power when it's face-up on top of the deck, but if it's drawn..."

All of Plasma's hidden abilities will be disabled!

"Furthermore, I activate 'Desert Sunlight' to flip the monsters on my field face-up. Both 'Morphing Jar' and 'Nightmare Penguin' have mandatory effects.

When two mandatory effects trigger at the same time, I can freely decide which one activates first and which one activates second."

This is what duelists commonly call "Self-Chain."

The principle is very simple: in Yu-Gi-Oh!, on the same chain, the effect activated first resolves last. Following this principle, when multiple mandatory effects trigger simultaneously, by placing the effect you want to resolve first at the end of the chain, you can freely determine the order of different effects.

"Therefore, of these two effects, I choose to activate 'Nightmare Penguin's' effect first, targeting 'Destiny HERO - Plasma' to bounce it back to the hand.

Chain 2, I activate 'Morphing Jar's' effect: both players discard their hands and draw five cards.

Chain 3, I follow up with 'Mystical Wok', tributing Morphing Jar to ensure it won't be negated by Plasma."

Fujiki You Xuan explained.

"Therefore, Morphing Jar avoided Plasma's restriction by tributing to escape, and we both draw five cards. Because 'D-Force' left the top of your deck, Plasma lost the ability to 'negate opponent's monster effects' and also lost the target-protection granted by D-Force."

"Finally, the effect of 'Nightmare Penguin', which was activated first, resolves. By the time Nightmare Penguin's effect resolves, D-Force is no longer on the field, and all of Plasma's resistances and suppression have disappeared, so Nightmare Penguin's effect goes through."

Fujiki You Xuan pointed his finger lightly at the opponent's field.

"Bounce 'Destiny HERO - Plasma' back to the hand."

Through a series of chains, the effects of both Flip monsters successfully resolved. Plasma roared in frustration, but was still engulfed by the water pillar surging from beneath him, having no choice but to transform into a blood-red arrow and fly back into DD's hand. Of course, with Plasma gone, the Black Luster Soldier that had been absorbed as an equip card also flew back to Fujiki You Xuan's side and settled into the Graveyard.

DD widened his eyes, his face full of disbelief.

"Impossible!"

"Plasma, empowered by D-Force, is invincible! How could it be broken!?"

Aster watched the dazzling series of changes on the field, and as a professional duelist, he was also deeply shocked.

Tribute to escape, self-chain... Plasma, which seemed almost unsolvable, was broken so easily and nonchalantly using a few weak cards combined in such a simple way...

Of course, in Fujiki You Xuan's view, there was nothing worth mentioning at all.

Isn't this just basic dueling operation?

Who among those still playing cards these days doesn't know basic things like self-chaining?

"Set three more cards, turn end."

"Damn it, to dare to treat my Plasma..."

DD glanced at his hand and looked up with a sinister expression.

!. Read

"You will regret this."

Aster felt amazed by Fujiki You Xuan's performance just now, but after the emotions passed and he thought about it carefully, he still felt as if his heart were hanging in mid-air.

Although he beautifully managed to clear the opponent's field, the crisis hadn't actually been resolved. Plasma and D-Force had only returned to DD's hand through this operation, like a time bomb with an invisible fuse.

As long as he gathered three tributes, Plasma would descend again, and D-Force could be activated again at any time...

DD was a former world champion, and his current state seemed even stronger than anything Aster remembered. He didn't doubt for a second that gathering three tributes again wouldn't be difficult for DD.

"My turn, draw!"

Sure enough, DD's eyes were already filled with a murderous glint, and he laughed loudly.

"Your beautiful counterattack is just delaying your death! If you're so afraid of the power of the Ultimate D, I will immediately this turn..."

"Activate face-down card." Fujiki You Xuan waved his hand expressionlessly. "Trap card 'Mind Crush'.

Declare a card name; if the opponent happens to have that card in their hand, all those cards must be discarded."

DD's arrogant expression suddenly froze.

Huh?

Declaring the opponent's hand, doesn't that mean...

"I declare 'D-Force'," Fujiki You Xuan said. "If you have 'D-Force' in your hand, please discard it."

He even said "please."

Of course, he could have declared Plasma. But he wasn't sure if Plasma had a summoning restriction in the anime; if not, discarding it to the Graveyard would just make it easy to bring back with a Monster Reborn or other revival cards, actually helping the opponent.

And even if there were a summoning restriction, normally there are many more ways to recover monster cards than spell cards. Monsters in the Graveyard are mostly resources, while spells are generally hard to reuse.

And under the anime's Plasma system, without D-Force, Plasma has almost no threat. It has no effect resistance, no suppression to negate the opponent's entire field, only its pitiful 1900 ATK for an 8-star monster.

Oh right, it can also absorb an opponent's monster and gain its power. But now Fujiki You Xuan has a Morphing Jar and a Penguin on the field; letting him absorb them wouldn't have any impact.

From DD's grimacing, twitching expression, he knew he had made the right choice.

"Kisama (You bastard)!"

(End of chapter)