Chapter 931: War of Despair

“The Savior Dragon has other abilities, doesn’t it?” You Xuan smiled.

Everyone: “!”

Especially Jack, whose expression was now the most bewildered, staring at You Xuan with uncertain shock.

Why does this man even know the effect of the Savior Dragon?

The Savior Dragon was a card that didn’t originally exist in the world—it was a miraculous card Jack forged by fusing the Red Dragon’s power. So far, he had only used it twice: the first time was during his duel with the Dark Sealer, Cali.

But as far as Jack knew, Godwin hadn’t been watching that duel. And no record of that duel existed for anyone to review—no one outside should have known the details.

So how could he know the Savior Dragon’s effect?

Wait, before that—

If the opponent had known the Savior Dragon’s effect from the start, does that mean everything—including the defeat of the Illusionary Emperor—was still within his calculations?

You Xuan said: “The Savior Dragon inherited the original effect of the ‘Lotus Demon Dragon’ and received further enhancement, correct?”

Jack growled: “Yes. When the Savior Dragon attacks, all face-down defense-position monsters on the field are destroyed after damage calculation!”

The Lotus Demon Dragon’s effect activates only after attacking a defense-position monster; the Savior Dragon activates as soon as it attacks.

Moreover, the Lotus Demon Dragon only destroys the opponent’s defense-position monsters, while the Savior Dragon sweeps indiscriminately—enemy or ally, any defense-position monster on the field is instantly obliterated. Even its self-sabotaging nature matches the original Lotus Demon Dragon perfectly.

And this effect is mandatory—it triggers automatically whenever an attack is made, leaving no choice even for its controller.

“Exactly,” You Xuan smiled. “Since your Savior Dragon just attacked, it was forced to activate its effect and destroy all defense-position monsters on the field.”

“So what?” Jack frowned.

At that moment, the Savior Dragon’s effect activated forcibly. The demon dragon roared, unleashing torrents of demonic flame like a burning tidal wave sweeping across the entire field.

Jack silently thought: the only defense-position monsters on the field were Godwin’s three “Illusionary Derivatives”—only Godwin’s monsters would be destroyed. It shouldn’t matter much.

But the next instant, You Xuan said: “Activate my face-down card: Trap Card ‘Ithaca’s Storm’!”

“Turn all monsters on the opponent’s field to defense position!”

A black bird appeared on You Xuan’s side, flapping its massive wings as a green storm surged into a tornado, sweeping across all three players’ fields.

“What?!”

Jack’s pupils shrank.

Damn it—if all monsters are switched to defense, that means—

【Savior Dragon, ATK 4000 → DEF 3000】

【Black Feather – Armor Wing, ATK 2500 → DEF 1500】

Cro’s Armor Wing was also switched to defense!

“You bastard!” Jack exclaimed. “You could’ve stopped this attack before it even happened!”

Indeed, You Xuan could’ve activated this face-down card earlier—then the Savior Dragon would’ve been switched to defense before attacking, invalidating the attack entirely, and You Xuan wouldn’t have taken the 4000-point damage.

But he didn’t.

Cro gritted his teeth: “This guy deliberately took the damage. From the start, he planned to use the Savior Dragon’s effect to destroy my Armor Wing.”

In an instant, another thought flashed through his mind.

Maybe this bastard never even considered whether it was worth it. He might’ve simply thought it’d be amusing to watch his own teammates destroy each other’s monsters.

You Xuan smiled: “What a pity. The Armor Wing, which stood as the final line of defense and blocked the Illusionary Army’s assaults—no one expected it would die at the hands of its own ally.”

Everyone: “...”

The feeling grew stronger—this bastard really did find it amusing to watch them destroy themselves.

You Xuan chuckled.

You claimed your friendship was invincible, didn’t you? Your bonds were unbreakable? Then why did you bring a traitor along?

The wave of destruction swept across the field. Godwin’s three Illusionary Derivatives and Cro’s Armor Wing were all erased by the Savior Dragon’s annihilation.

Of course, the Savior Dragon itself remained unharmed—not because it couldn’t destroy itself; its effect targets “all defense-position monsters on the field,” which includes itself. But the Savior Dragon possesses the immunity “cannot be destroyed by card effects,” so it escaped unscathed.

Otherwise, destroying itself would’ve been even funnier.

“And at the exact moment the Illusionary Emperor was destroyed in battle, this card also activated.”

You Xuan pointed to a face-down card revealed as the smoke cleared.

“Trap Card ‘Resurrection Ticket’!”

This card can only be activated when one of your monsters is destroyed in battle. During this turn, for each of your monsters destroyed in battle, you may destroy one corresponding Magic or Trap Card on your field and activate this card’s effect.

For each Magic or Trap Card destroyed, you may Special Summon one monster destroyed in battle from your graveyard back to the field.” (Original card)

Resurrection Ticket was one of the Trap Cards used by Yusei in the anime.

You Xuan pointed to his own back-row face-down card.

“Destroy this face-down card, and Special Summon from the graveyard the ‘Illusionary Emperor·Rabiel’ destroyed in battle this turn!”

“Again?!”

Everyone was numb.

Were these Illusionary monsters really immortal? Did they never end?

The ground shattered once more. The Illusionary Emperor, just slain by the Savior Dragon’s blow, rose again from beneath the earth, towering like a colossus beneath the sky.

【Illusionary Emperor·Rabiel, ATK 4000】

“Not yet—there’s the follow-up effect of Resurrection Ticket,” You Xuan smiled. “After reviving a monster on the field using this card’s effect, you may restore all battle damage inflicted during this turn.”

【You Xuan, LP 1700 → LP 5700】

Everyone: “...”

Silence.

Strange silence.

Especially Jack—his expression was vacant, his gaze fixed on the towering Illusionary Emperor, his eyes glazed over.

Is there truly no way to win?

He had already used everything he had.

He burned himself alive, cast himself into the abyss to find rebirth, used “Desperate Draw” to send his entire deck to the graveyard, staked everything on a final, desperate battle. He channeled the power of the Dragon Seal, borrowed the Red Dragon’s strength, forged a Wangpai like the Savior Dragon, and unleashed his ultimate, all-or-nothing strike.

In truth, he knew this attack wouldn’t finish it. Even if it dealt 4000 damage and destroyed the Illusionary Emperor, he’d lose next turn from having no cards left to draw.

So Jack had already admitted he was inferior—he admitted he wasn’t Godwin’s match. All he wanted was to give his team the maximum possible output before falling, to contribute as much as he could.

But in the end, he’d destroyed his own teammate’s Wangpai monster. The Illusionary Emperor returned as if nothing had happened, and the hard-earned damage vanished into nothing.

Jack Atlas, once the King, stared at his own hands, feeling more powerless and more self-doubting than ever since he began his Dueling path.

(End of Chapter)