Chapter 1027: Chapter 1027: The Flawed Era
"Malefic Cyber End Dragon, attack!"
The mechanical and metallic roar was accompanied by a jet-black thunderbolt spewing from the cyber dragon’s mouth. Plasmas surged with black flames, like an unstoppable flood, flipping the covered card and revealing its true form.
[Marshmallon, DEF 500]
"Jeez, such overpowered monsters right from the start?"
Moremarshmallon yelled.
"Who could possibly withstand this!?"
Of course, this wasn’t the "Moremarshmallon" Kira used against the Wicked Gods, the "Shining Sarcophagus" version, but the original Marshmallon that Yugi Muto used in Duel Monsters. Only now, the spirit inside the card was the same one as back then.
Just like Atem’s Dark Magician and Kaiba’s Blue-Eyes White Dragon, they’ve changed skins, upgraded, fused, and transformed into new forms, but no matter how many times they transform, they’re always the same spirit in different forms. Pile up all those versions, and you could make a whole deck, but it’s always the same spirit at heart.
Kira’s Marshmallon was the same. The original Marshmallon used by Yugi wasn’t rare by the GX era—many background characters in the anime used it. Since Kira now had the Marshmallon spirit, he just used the original version.
"Marshmallon can’t be destroyed by battle!"
Kira raised his arm, blocking the energy storm sweeping through Marshmallon’s tiny body.
"Hmph, but battle damage still counts," Paradox sneered, curling his lips in a dangerous smile.
"Malefic Cyber End Dragon retains Cyber End’s ability.
When attacking a defense position monster, if its attack exceeds the defense, the excess is dealt as piercing damage!"
Marshmallon only had 500 DEF, while Malefic Cyber End Dragon had a whopping 4000!
Even though Marshmallon is called an invincible shield, it only protects itself. Against piercing damage, the amount it can block is pitifully small. The terrifying energy strike pierced through Marshmallon and slammed into Kira.
Kira staggered back a few steps, his body almost toppled by the raging energy storm.
[Kira, LP 4000 → LP 500]
"Kira!"
In his earpiece, Mokuba couldn’t help but shout in concern.
A massive 3500-point hit in one blow. From the duel disk’s feedback, the damage seemed far beyond normal dueling levels—almost like the real damage of a Shadow Game!
Mokuba’s equipment quickly detected the anomaly. The source seemed to be the field spell "Malefic World," which was causing this extraordinary damage.
A field empowered by supernatural force!
And then there was Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
The moment Paradox summoned Malefic Blue-Eyes, Mokuba’s whole control room nearly exploded.
How could this guy possibly have a Blue-Eyes!?
Was it a fake card, like the ones Marik’s Rare Hunters used?
But they soon realized it wasn’t. Although Paradox was using "Malefic" versions of these monsters, the spirits summoned seemed to be real!
Even the Blue-Eyes spirit appeared genuine!
It was unbelievable.
Could it really be an alternate world—?
"I’m fine," Kira replied calmly.
He already knew Malefic World inflicted real damage on duelists, so he wasn’t surprised. This wasn’t quite like the traditional Shadow Games; Paradox was from the third series, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s, which featured sci-fi villains instead of supernatural ones.
These villains came from a ruined future and wielded technology far beyond the present. They could use tech to forcibly bind spirits, materialize them in reality, travel through time, rewrite history, and even replicate the effects of a Shadow Game.
"Malefic World," and the entire Malefic Deck, were all cutting-edge decks developed using such future technology.
Marshmallon drooped with guilt, glancing at Kira, "Sorry, my defense was too low..."
But Kira just smiled, "No, that’s exactly what I wanted."
He looked up.
"Even though you pierced Marshmallon, don’t forget its effect," Kira declared, waving his hand.
"When Marshmallon is attacked face-down, after damage calculation, the opponent takes 1000 damage!"
Marshmallon perked up, seizing the chance to redeem itself. Its soft body tensed, a burst of energy shot back at Paradox, exploding in his face.
[Paradox, LP 4000 → LP 3000]
Paradox staggered, but quickly scoffed.
"If that’s all your counterattack is, then the so-called King of this era is nothing special.
Attacking defense position Marshmallon is pointless.
I forgo Malefic Blue-Eyes’ attack.
I set two cards and end my turn."
Paradox waved, setting two back row cards and ending his turn.
Kira grinned, "Don’t speak too soon.
At the end phase, I activate my set card—
Trap Card: ’Rainbow Life!’"
A seven-colored rainbow appeared above his head. Kira sent a card from his hand to the graveyard, and the rainbow began to rain starlight down on him, surging into his body like a recharge.
"’Rainbow Life’ restores your LP to what it was at the start of the turn," Kira explained. "And then, in addition, restores you by the total damage you took this turn." (Anime effect)
Paradox’s expression finally changed, "What?"
"I started this turn at 4000 LP, so first, I return to 4000," Kira said. "Malefic Cyber End Dragon did 3500 piercing damage, so I recover another 3500.
My LP is now 7500!"
[Kira, LP 500 → LP 4000 → LP 7500]
"I see," Paradox frowned. "Even in this flawed era, those who bear the title of ’King’ aren’t so easily dealt with."
"You’ve been spouting weird nonsense from the start," Kira said. "Care to explain? What do you mean by ’the flawed era’?
And what did you mean earlier about things being ’in chaos’?"
Paradox stared at him coldly for a moment. Then he softly closed his eyes, speaking nonchalantly.
"I don’t mind telling you. ’Chaos’ refers to the history of Duel Monsters and even humanity’s development.
The ’flawed era’ is the era I’m now in—your present."
He opened his eyes, staring sharply at Kira.
"Take you, for example, Fujiki Kira. You are a duelist who should not exist on this timeline."
....
