Chapter 934: You Xing

“The tyrant’s monopoly—now you can’t target Stardust Dragon this turn!” Kro shouted.

“Oh dear, you’ve banned my battle phase before it even began,” You Xuan said. “That’s certainly a bit troublesome.”

He shook his head and smiled.

“Since you’ve gone this far to keep Stardust Dragon, I’ll give you that chance.”

“Still, I’ll need to make a little preparation.”

You Xuan pointed to the grotesque giant tree rooted in the dark field.

“First, the effect of the field spell ‘Paradise Lost.’ Once per turn, if I control a Phantom Monster, I draw two cards.”

A faint blue aura radiated from Phantom King Rabiell, and You Xuan drew two cards.

In fact, this was one reason he chose the Three Phantom Monsters against You Xing’s trio.

Even though You Xing and the others were still novices with low ranks, they were the protagonists—their fate power was strong. Facing three at once, You Xuan couldn’t afford a casual deck. The Three Phantom Monsters were powerful, and as Phantom Monsters, they carried immense fate power—perfect opponents for these three.

Moreover, the Three Phantom Monsters radiated strong malevolence; their summoning triggered celestial phenomena and overwhelming pressure, perfectly matching the villainous role You Xuan played in this duel.

Finally, the reason was this ‘Paradise Lost.’

The biggest disadvantage of facing three opponents is card disadvantage: I start with six cards, while they naturally have eighteen—the resource gap is terrifying. But under the effect of the Phantom Monsters’ Paradise Lost, ideally, I draw three cards per turn, slightly narrowing the gap.

Indeed, by now, You Xuan had reversed his initial absolute resource disadvantage into an advantage. The three opponents’ cards dwindled, while his own grew. Even ignoring field presence and life points, he had already reversed the resource balance.

The situation for the trio was now dire. They were utterly outmatched on the field, and even combined, their total resources were fewer than You Xuan’s. In both field presence and card advantage, You Xuan had completely reversed his natural, massive disadvantage at the duel’s start into a crushing dominance.

If this continued, even if You Xing and the others managed to survive a few more turns with defensive measures, the gap would only widen. They’d have to constantly expend more resources to defend, while You Xuan’s resources, boosted by Paradise Lost, would only grow larger, pulling farther ahead.

At this moment, You Xing had already sensed the problem. Originally, with three against one, a prolonged battle should have favored them—yet now the situation had turned this way.

“Then I activate a face-down card,” You Xuan said. “Continuous Trap ‘Restricted Revival’—it can revive a monster with 1000 or less ATK from the graveyard.”

Everyone’s hearts tightened again.

A monster with 1000 or less ATK

The previously summoned Flame Emperor had been 1000 or less, but it had already been banished to another dimension by Kro’s ‘D.D. Crow’—it couldn’t be revived.

“I revive from the graveyard the 0 ATK ‘Phantom Summoning God’!”

【Phantom Summoning God, ATK 0】

Jack’s heart clenched: “That thing again!”

Kro: “This monster can immediately summon a Phantom Monster.”

“Exactly.”

You Xuan smiled lightly.

“I sacrifice ‘Phantom Summoning God’ to add one of ‘Flame Emperor Uria,’ ‘Phantom King Rabiell,’ or ‘Thunder King Harman’ from my deck or graveyard to my hand.”

“I add ‘Thunder King Harman’ from the graveyard to my hand!”

Lightning flashed across the sky; a colossal golden phantom roared behind the thick clouds.

Then, I can special summon one 10-star monster with equal ATK and DEF from my hand—Fire, Thunder, or Demon Type—ignoring summoning conditions!

Dark clouds rolled like lead over the altar; the descent of thunder resonated with the heavens. The sky shattered into fragments of azure lightning, and a mountain-sized shadow, bound in chains of lightning, crawled from the abyss. At the moment its true form appeared, thirty thousand bolts of thunder exploded at once. Golden bone armor shimmered with azure serpents of electricity; bone spines extending from its spine unleashed thunderous spears of colossal height.

Thunder King Harman, summon!

“Well, since I can’t enter the battle phase this turn,” You Xuan said, “I’ll leave Harman in defense position.”

【Thunder King Harman, DEF 4000】

“I’ll set two more cards. End my turn.”

You Xuan said.

“Alright, my formation is set. Come—let me see how strong your bonded hope truly is!”

As they had hoped, the turn finally reached You Xing.

But now You Xing lowered his head, motionless.

“You Xing?”

Jack frowned and snapped at him.

“What’s there to hesitate about now?!”

Yet You Xing remained silent.

After several seconds, he raised his head, his azure eyes fixed directly on You Xuan.

“Gothwin, you never actually wanted to destroy the world—indeed, you never truly meant to oppose us, did you?”

Everyone: “?”

All stared at You Xing in shock.

What was he saying now?

They’d fought to the death, reached this point, stood on the brink of the world’s descent into Huang Quan—why say this now?

“No, before that—”

You Xing shook his head suddenly.

“Are you really Gothwin?”

At these words, everyone was even more stunned.

What kind of question was that?

If not Gothwin, then who could he be?

“Oh?”

You Xuan narrowed his eyes, locking gazes with You Xing.

No wonder he was one of the most perceptive protagonists in Duel Monster history—though he didn’t know where the slip was, it seemed his disguise might be slipping.

Of course, if it fell, it fell—he’d always been indifferent. In truth, even You Xuan himself was surprised his disguise had lasted this long.

“Why do you say that?” You Xuan asked, intrigued.

“Because I’ve fought real Dark Duels against the Dark Signers,” You Xuan said. “Now I can sense the difference. Though this duel has real damage and pain beyond normal levels, my instincts haven’t sensed a life-or-death threat.”

I feel this duel isn’t truly a battle for life and death, as you claimed. And if it were, it certainly couldn’t be a battle for the world’s fate.”

So far, I haven’t sensed a single hint of killing intent from your dueling.”

You Xuan narrowed his eyes.

Killing intent…

You Xing was indeed a man with extraordinarily sharp instincts.

(End of Chapter)