Chapter 971: Machine Duelist

Breo died without any surprise.

The loop of Flagbearer and Armed Regeneration was enough to keep the Thief’s Smoke Jade hand-depletion cycle going forever—provided that You Xuan himself paid 300 HP each cycle due to the perpetual effect of the “Regeneration” spell. As long as this continued, the “Torture Wheel” would burn Breo 500 HP per turn.

Unable to act, Breo could only stare helplessly as the Torture Wheel slowly burned him alive, 500 HP at a time. If there was any silver lining to this slow execution, it was that he had ample time to reflect on his own recklessness.

When this bizarre loop first formed, it nearly drove him into catatonia—all he could think was: Is this even a combo a human could pull off?

But he had no one to complain to. In truth, he himself bore the greatest responsibility for this combo’s existence—he’d been the one helping the opponent pile their graveyard full.

Without his help accelerating the graveyard setup, not only would the opponent’s graveyard effects and combo pieces have been harder to assemble, but the perpetual spell “Regeneration” also returned one card from the graveyard to the bottom of the deck each turn. To ensure that card was drawn again next turn, the deck had to be reduced to exactly one card—a condition he himself had enabled.

So Breo himself had been instrumental during this entire process.

When the combo first formed, Breo was furious and bewildered—he’d never encountered such a stupid situation in his entire dueling career, especially not being forced to sit idle, empty-handed, waiting to die, which made him dizzy with rage.

But during the slow execution, that rage gradually faded, replaced by fear. The way he’d been obliterated by this absurd combo made him realize one thing.

This duel, the opponent had merely been playing with him.

This deck, without exaggeration, was pure “acrobatics”—it didn’t even look like it was designed to win. Yet it worked. It left Breo with not a single card to play, forced to sit and stare as he died. That could only mean one thing.

The opponent was stronger than him—far stronger. The gap between their dueling abilities was so vast that even if the opponent wanted to lose, he couldn’t easily do so. He could casually crush Breo without even trying.

At that moment, Breo remembered something a companion had told him before he set out.

“Wu Teng You Xuan. His background is unknown, but he’s inscrutable. You’re unlikely to handle him. Don’t confront him directly—not yet.”

Breo had brushed it off with a casual reply. In his view, no matter how strong the opponent was, he still had a chance to fight.

Now he understood. The warning had been right. Too bad he realized it too late.

“Bang—Hiss!!!”

Breo’s D-Wheel’s front cover suddenly exploded, spewing scalding steam. Mechanical joints emitted piercing metallic groans as they overloaded. The wheels locked, and the entire D-Wheel lost control, flipping violently like a steel beast with its legs severed, skidding across the ground in a shower of sparks.

“Ugh—!”

Breo was flung violently by inertia, tumbling through the air several times before crashing hard to the ground, rolling a few more times before stopping. His goggles shattered, his cloak torn—but even then, he forced himself up on his upper body, a strange smile curling at his lips.

You Xuan braked and jumped off his D-Wheel. “Breo of the Unicorn Team? Is that right? What’s your goal? Why are you interested in me?”

Breo didn’t answer directly. Instead, he chuckled, his voice echoing with mechanical coldness: “Heh. Wu Teng You Xuan. That’s your real name, isn’t it?”

“You’re also an ‘anomaly’ in this dimension, aren’t you?” You Xuan raised an eyebrow.

That wasn’t wrong. You Xuan didn’t belong to this dimension either. Though he harbored no malice, to this dimension, he—a person who shouldn’t have existed in its original history—was indeed an “anomaly.”

“I was careless this time. But don’t celebrate yet… our ‘companions’ have already arrived in this dimension. You… have no chance.”

“What?” You Xuan was about to ask again.

“Zzzt… Self-destruct protocol activated.”

Breo’s eyes and the D-Wheel behind him suddenly flared with blinding red light. Mechanical joints emitted high-pitched electronic beeps.

The next instant, You Xuan’s pupils reflected the rapidly expanding fireball.

“Boom—!!!”

A deafening explosion engulfed the entire area. A blazing fireball shot skyward. Breo’s body and D-Wheel were shattered in the inferno, metal fragments spraying like rain. You Xuan raised a hand to shield himself from the heat. When the smoke cleared, only charred wreckage remained—and a few mechanical shards still flickering with red light.

In the instant before the firestorm consumed him, a cold silver light flashed abruptly. In the void, countless tiny specks of light rapidly coalesced into a magician draped in a white robe. The Silent Magician descended soundlessly, her staff lifting gently, tracing a brilliant arc in the air.

A transparent hexagram array unfolded rapidly before her, runes swirling like flowing water, forming a semi-transparent barrier. The firestorm slammed into it—and vanished without a sound. Flames split cleanly to either side, and the area where You Xuan stood didn’t even feel a whisper of heat.

You Xuan patted her silver-haired head. “Thanks.”

The Silent Magician tilted her head away, lips curling in a slight pout.

That awkward, averted expression seemed to say: Only now do you remember how useful I am?

The aftershocks of the explosion still trembled in the air. Scattered hot metal fragments hissed faintly with residual electrical currents. You Xuan slowly lowered his arm from his face. His pupils reflected the wreckage around him—

Charred gears, snapped hydraulic lines, exposed circuit boards…

—No flesh. No screams. Only cold, mechanical debris.

You Xuan frowned slightly. “This guy… a robot?”

Was Breo of the Unicorn Team a robot?

No—he was probably a robot designed after Breo, modeled after him. But the cards and deck he used were identical to Breo’s, and his tactics mirrored his. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! world, achieving this usually required copying the duelist’s very personality.

Like the companions beside Zone—Antinomy, Apollyon, and Paradox—who had died long ago but were revived in mechanical bodies using Zone’s technology.

Thinking of this, You Xuan tilted his chin, staring at the shattered remains now reduced to scrap. His boot crushed a still-smoldering metal shard.

Naturally, this technology made him think of Zone.

Should he just collect these parts and ask him?

(End of Chapter)