Chapter 941: Future Deck

“Well done.”

Zone regarded You Xuan, who had just returned to his domain, and spoke calmly.

You Xuan was currently counting the cards he had just received from Zone, or rather, from one of Zone’s subordinate research institutes.

Zone was the actual controller behind the Taiyi Organization, which had traversed various eras of human civilization and established deep roots, hiding factions and organizations in every age. Among them were naturally some institutions related to card printing and dueling.

You Xuan had just received sponsorship from Taiyi—some new cards he found quite interesting—from one of these institutions.

For instance, an incomplete Tech Deck.

As the first deck in anime history to unveil “Synchro Acceleration” as its trump card, You Xuan had some interest in the Tech Deck. Moreover, thanks to Antinomy’s significant role and high popularity in the anime, the Tech Deck received certain enhancements in the future.

You Xuan didn’t know what the Tech Deck was like in the future world—whether it was an ultra-rare deck or as ordinary as the HERO decks of the GX era. But at least Zone had stockpiles; unfortunately, aside from the one Antinomy held, the rest were incomplete.

Not to mention, the heavyweight cards like “Tech-Blaster” for Synchro Acceleration and the ultimate trump “Tech-Cannon” were nowhere to be found.

You Xuan felt a slight sense of regret.

He was somewhat interested in the anime version of “Tech-Cannon,” but it seemed this one didn’t exist.

Simply put, You Xuan felt the anime version of “Tech-Cannon” suited him well—it could negate any form of summoning up to three times per turn, even invalidating the effects of cards that summoned monsters.

Such overwhelming suppression power—how delightful it would be to summon it?

Isn’t the most important thing in dueling joy? Is there any dueling more joyful than this?

Unfortunately, it didn’t exist.

But You Xuan suspected that Synchro Acceleration, as depicted in the anime, was a special kind of trump card that touched upon transcendent power.

The lore required one to attain the “Mirror Stillness” state to control Synchro Acceleration monsters. Even after Yusei obtained Meteor Dragon, each time he performed a Synchro Summon with it, he still drew a card with a completely blank image—only during the Synchro Acceleration process did the Meteor Dragon’s artwork appear.

So You Xuan boldly speculated that Synchro Acceleration monsters only revealed themselves after one had attained a certain realm, during the acceleration phase of a duel.

But You Xuan didn’t fully understand this so-called “Mirror Stillness” state, and the anime offered little insight into the psychological aspects.

Aside from the Tech Deck, You Xuan had received another unexpected bounty.

“There are this many of these cards?”

You Xuan counted a large pile of Machine Emperors and their various components, somewhat surprised.

He had assumed that the decks used by high-ranking Taiyi figures like the Three Emperors might be rare cards. But he hadn’t expected they weren’t rare at all—here at Zone’s place, they were mass-produced, with huge stockpiles.

Then again, that made sense. “Machine Emperors” were mass-produced machines in the ruined future, swarming the world like locusts.

They were said to have been created when the perpetual motion machines, corrupted by humanity’s darkness, underwent catastrophic reversal—these machines called “Machine Emperors” were automatically mass-produced as the reverse of the perpetual motion machines.

In the anime’s flashbacks of the future quartet, the last human resistance group’s primary enemy was the Machine Emperors. In the apocalypse, they were like Terminators, densely covering the entire Earth, exterminating humanity everywhere. It was as if the perpetual motion machines judged humanity to be a virus causing the world’s descent into darkness, and the Machine Emperors were the antibody designed to eliminate it.

But when Zone merged his personality with Yusei, attained the “Mirror Stillness” state, and summoned Meteor Dragon, all Machine Emperors collapsed before him and the dragon.

This also proved Yusei’s theory correct—that guiding the perpetual motion machines with the right heart, opening the path of dueling, could halt their reversal and prevent the apocalypse.

Zone had already transported the three stone tablets inscribed with Machine Emperor data from the future to this era. As long as those three tablets existed, mass-producing Machine Emperor decks wouldn’t be difficult.

You Xuan wasn’t particularly interested in the Machine Emperor deck used by the three Taiyi figures in the anime. The reason had been mentioned before.

True, Machine Emperors could absorb Synchro Monsters and swap components to gain multiple powerful monster effects—on paper, that sounded impressive.

But they were ridiculously hand-clogging.

The base form of a Machine Emperor required five components—five monster cards. And none of them could be drawn normally; you had to first summon the Machine Emperor Core, then destroy it with a card effect to special summon the five components—conditions so harsh they were excessive.

Of course, Destiny Hero didn’t clog hands, and the Three Emperors in the anime never suffered hand issues either. But even ignoring hand problems, the sheer volume of dead cards occupying deck space in the Machine Emperor system was daunting.

Even from an anime deck-building perspective, if a system consumed such massive deck space, it meant leaving no room for other utility cards.

If your deck couldn’t carry utility cards capable of handling bizarre situations, your ceiling was lowered. Maybe you’d be fine most of the time, but if you ever faced a single life-or-death scenario where your entire deck failed, you’d be done.

So You Xuan wasn’t interested in the anime’s fused Machine Emperor deck. But he still found the Machine Emperor series itself intriguing—after all, being able to neutralize any Synchro Monster made it a true powerhouse in this Synchro dimension.

The real-card version of Machine Emperor, however, struck You Xuan as even better: one Machine Emperor per card, with a summon condition of “when a monster on your field is destroyed by an effect and sent to the graveyard, you can special summon it.”

Though it lacked the five components and multiple monster effects of the anime version, it retained the most crucial trait: the ability to absorb the opponent’s Synchro Monsters. That alone was enough.

You Xuan roughly counted his gains. Zone watched him in silence for a moment, then said: “You seem interested in Machine Emperors.”

“Not particularly. But since they’re called ‘Synchro Killers,’ studying them won’t hurt.”

You Xuan put away the cards he had acquired and looked up at Zone.

“Alright, can I ask what your next plan is?”

Zone paused, then replied: “We’re hosting the world’s premier riding competition, WRGP, in one month.”

You Xuan was surprised.

One month? Already?

(End of Chapter)