Chapter 55. The Day Red-Dad Emerged! Welcoming the New Sword Emperor's Ascension!
At this moment!
Only now did the Duelists from the six Duel Worlds truly understand!
[Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon]—so that's what it was for!
Under the same line of play,
whether you make [Raidraptor – Arsenal Falcon] first or [Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon] first,
the final board doesn't change much.
It's still [The Phantom Knights of Rusty Bardiche] plus [Raidraptor – Arsenal Falcon] plus the backrow [The Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Launch]!
The difference is—
those final boards now have an extra [Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon]~!
And with [Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon] paired with a Rank-Up-Magic card,
you can Rank-Up to a Rank 8.
Which means you bring out [D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga]!
In the ARC-V world,
after hearing the entire line,
Yuya Sakaki from the Standard Dimension, Zuzu Boyle, and Gong Strong were already at a loss!
They thought,
at first,
that the Red-Eyes build was just a joke filled with random tech.
A clown deck with tons of off-theme cards.
What good could that possibly be?
Well, now,
the three of them ended up becoming the clowns instead!
All those off-theme cards—
they can actually be piloted like this inside a Red-Eyes Deck?
Damn!
What a load of nonsense?!
And the most tilted one wasn't any of them.
It was Declan Akaba, the user of the D/D/D Deck.
"What is he even saying?"
"My ace monster, [D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga]!"
"It can be teched into Red-Eyes as well?!"
"Heh, heh, heh! How interesting!"
"Does he even understand what D/D/D is?"
After getting tilted, Declan immediately started going off.
Yuya Sakaki beside him couldn't help but grin.
Looks like not only other Decks' tech cards,
even Declan's ace has become someone else's big boss now.
Main World.
Sei Yuki had already earned an extra two thousand bucks.
Enough for him to unlock the 5D's world.
But—
now wasn't the time.
Because the next short video
was exactly about Red-Dad—namely [Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon]!
Sei Yuki: "Ahem! Friends in the DM world, don't be hasty."
Sei Yuki: "You think Red-Eyes is over? You think Dark Magician's connection is over?"
Sei Yuki: "Actually, no. Here's a short video, and I believe once you finish it, you'll definitely be moved."
Sei Yuki: "You could even say this card ushered in a brand-new era."
In the DM world,
seeing Sei Yuki finally speak directly to them,
only for his first words to be so enigmatic, left them a bit at a loss.
Yugi Muto: "Mr. Yuki, what do you mean by that? Is there an even stronger card?"
Maximillion Pegasus: "Mr. Yuki, could it be that in your higher world, you've created some new Egyptian God Cards?"
Seto Kaiba: "Hmph. Trash and trash put together—what waves could they possibly make?"
Joey Wheeler: "Mr. Yuki, please don't hold back on us! Hurry and show it already!"
...…
As the DM world erupted into a chorus of voices one after another,
the next short video
had already begun.
Short Video: "The Day Red-Dad Emerged! Welcoming the New Sword Emperor's Ascension!"
Red-Dad yyds: "Welcome, Duel friends who clicked on the video."
Red-Dad yyds: "Anyone still here for this video must still be longing for and respecting Red-Dad to this day."
Red-Dad yyds: "In this video, I'll explain from beginning to end the day Red-Dad came into being, and everything that happened afterward."
"First, let's start from the day the info dropped."
"Year 9102."
"In that year, K-snake released a bunch of absurdly strong cards!"
"Let's not even talk about things like [Mystic Mine], 'Double—something,' and [Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star]."
"Nor about [Lightning Storm] or those 'Gizmek' beasts!"
"Let's just talk about October 15 of that year!"
"K-snake announced that a brand-new card had finished development!"
"And this one had a far more interesting background."
"On that day, the source of all evil was introduced!"
"That is—Red-Dad!"
"[Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon]!!!"
[Card Name: Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon (Level 8)]
[Attribute: DARK]
[Type: Spellcaster]
[ATK/DEF: 3000/2500]
[Materials: "Dark Magician" + "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" or 1 Dragon Effect Monster]
[Effect 1: Cannot be destroyed by card effects, and neither player can target this card with card effects.]
[Effect 2: During your Main Phase (this effect can be used up to the number of Normal Monsters used as Fusion Material for this card): Destroy 1 monster your opponent controls, then inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's original ATK.]
[Effect 3: Once per turn, when a card or effect is activated (Quick Effect): You can discard 1 card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that card, and this card gains 1000 ATK.]
A brand-new card text appeared!
At first, while the short video was playing,
the Duelists from the six Duel Worlds were still in a bit of a daze.
But the instant this card showed up—
the DM world went wild!
The GX world was dumbfounded!
The 5D's world started thinking hard.
The ZEXAL world got serious!
All dimensions in the ARC-V world were stunned!
Even the VRAINS world grew solemn!
This card!
Forget the rest—just the materials!
Aren't those just the two vanillas—Dark Magician and Red-Eyes Black Dragon?!
Wait!
Something's off!
A Fusion of two vanillas—and it has "Red-Eyes" in its card name!
Holy—!
This card
can be made with [Red-Eyes Fusion]!
A single card to bring out this 3000 ATK Red-Dad boss!
But that's not all!
Three thousand ATK—sure, that's normal, the stats of a boss.
But these effects!
They're busted!
Effect 1 is protection plus targeting protection!
Effect 2 pops a monster without asking questions and burns you for its original ATK!
Effect 3 is a Quick Effect negate—and the disgusting part is the permanent +1000 ATK!
Before the Duelists of the six worlds could fully wrap their heads around how terrifying this card was,
Red-Dad yyds kept going.
Red-Dad yyds: "This source of all evil—I vaguely remember that when it first appeared,"
Red-Dad yyds: "it was already crowned as the new 'Sword Emperor'."
Red-Dad yyds: "Let me explain: what is a 'Sword Emperor'?"
"Among us Duelists, 'Sword Emperor' isn't a single specific card."
"It's a title. When a card earns this title, it represents recognition of that card."
"For example, a single card so strong that many Decks—even if you bring your whole strategy to bear—still can't crack it,"
"yet you can chomp it in one bite with a 'turtle'—that sort of card can earn the 'Sword Emperor' title."
"In the old era, the Sword Emperor was [Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King]!"
[Card Name: Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King (Level 8)]
[Attribute: LIGHT]
[Type: Wyrm]
[ATK/DEF: 2950/2950]
[Effect: To Tribute Summon this card face-up, you can Tribute Continuous Spell/Trap Cards you control, as well as monsters.]
[Effect 1: Unaffected by the effects of cards with the same original card types (Monster, Spell, and/or Trap) as the cards Tributed for its Tribute Summon.]
[Effect 2: If this Tribute Summoned card is face-up on the field: Once per turn, you can banish 1 Continuous Spell/Trap from your GY, then target 1 other card on the field; destroy it. This effect can also be activated during your opponent's turn.]
Sword Emperor? Old Sword Emperor?
Huh?
What's all this?
Before they could even recover from Red-Dad's impact,
the Duelists of all six worlds immediately fell into pondering over this card that had long since been put on the list.
After reading its effects,
Duelists across the six worlds were all struck silent.
Easy to Summon.
Absurd resistances. If you Tribute monsters, Spell Cards, and Trap Cards as materials,
its resistances are basically maxed out.
Back in that old era,
you wouldn't even know what card to use to remove it.
And the disgusting part—
Effect 2 is a Quick Effect pop.
Taken together, no wonder this card became Forbidden.
It still hasn't been released.
Likewise,
the Duelists of the six worlds all noticed that both Red-Dad and this "Jailed Sword" were marked "Forbidden."
Though they were puzzled about how Forbidden/Limited works in the higher world,
they had an even bigger question.
Why could Red-Dad replace that card as the new "Sword Emperor"?
And the answer was about to be revealed.
Red-Dad yyds: "When this card appeared, the 8u crowd had already begun preparing for the new Sword Emperor to ascend."
Red-Dad yyds: "But the debate split into two camps. Back then, plenty of people still felt [Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon] was 'so-so,' 'fine,' or 'dead weight because of bricks,' and so on—those takes all existed."
"Of course, some argued it couldn't ascend, while others argued it absolutely could."
"With power like this, so what if it makes you run two bricks?"
"But regardless of the bickering, we have to mention this card!"
"[Predaplant Verte Anaconda]!!!"
[Card Name: Predaplant Verte Anaconda (Link-2)]
[Attribute: DARK]
[Type: Plant]
[ATK: 500]
[Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right]
[Materials: 2 Effect Monsters]
[Each hard once per turn.]
[Effect 1: Target 1 face-up monster on the field; it becomes DARK until the end of this turn.]
[Effect 2: Pay 2000 LP; send 1 Normal or Quick-Play Fusion Spell from your Deck to the GY, and this effect becomes that card's effect when that card is activated. After using this effect, you cannot Special Summon monsters for the rest of this turn.]
"With this card, we only need any two monsters to make Verte."
"Then Verte pays 2000 LP to copy Red-Eyes Fusion from the Deck."
"After that, Red-Dad hits the field."
"Yep, it's that simple."
DM world Duelists: "???"
GX world Duelists: "???"
5D's world Duelists: "???"
ARC-V world.
Fusion Dimension.
Yuri almost fell flat on his butt!
What the heck?
Predaplant?!
Huh?
This is Predaplant?
Isn't this card one of his archetype's cards?
And it's even a Link Monster?
What shocked him even more—
this card ended up being an engine piece for other Decks!
What the heck is this?
We're doing that now?
"Alright, alright! So that's how we're playing it!"
"Heh—interesting! Way too interesting!"
"So Verte copies Red-Eyes Fusion, and out comes the new Sword Emperor, right!"
Indeed.
The moment this card's info dropped,
which Duelist in any world wouldn't understand its meaning?
Getting Red-Dad on the field
had become low-commitment, low-threshold.
But—is that the only reason it's strong?
Obviously, it's far from just that.
Red-Dad yyds: "Sadly, Verte later became a Forbidden card as well."
Red-Dad yyds: "Let's not dwell on it—too many tears."
"Verte was innocent; the broken one is the new Sword Emperor, [Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon]!"
"I still remember it clearly."
"The day the new Sword Emperor arrived, so many players flooded the servers to play this card!"
"Some wanted to prove this card could ascend as the new Sword Emperor."
"Others wanted to prove it was just a lot of thunder with little rain—a trash card."
"Unfortunately for them, a few days of testing proved it!"
"Forget the rest—Altergeist already had a really hard time answering Red-Dad!"
"Sky Striker? They can watch from the sidelines—Red-Dad just waits for you to go into 'World Chalice'!"
"Without 'World Chalice,' how does Sky Striker push through Red-Dad?"
"Other Decks? Sorry!"
"They all started running Red-Dad."
"After that, the opposition vanished like smoke."
"So then, where exactly is Red-Dad strong?"
The video blogger coughed a few times, cleared his throat, and continued.
Even though the Duelists across all six worlds already understood how terrifying this card was,
forget everything else—
just these unheard-of Deck names and engines
had them at a total loss.
In the VRAINS world,
Altergeist user Emma Bessho nearly couldn't hold back her temper.
"This guy's way too arrogant!"
"My Altergeist can't get past this so-called Sword Emperor?"
"Hey! I'll show you!"
"The power of Altergeist!"
Emma let all her emotions out at once.
Sure—Red-Dad is very strong.
But her Altergeist isn't weak either.
"Quiet."
"Don't worry yet about whether your Deck is strong."
"Search your soul for a second."
"With what are you breaking [Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon]?"
Yusaku Fujiki tugged Emma back.
After that soul-probing question,
Emma fell silent.
Giving it careful thought,
with her Altergeist cards,
whether it's her ace, [Altergeist Memorygant],
or the Trap [Altergeist Protocol],
neither could cleanly answer that Dragoon.
Is this… just reality?
Red-Dad yyds: "Now, let's talk about power level!"
Red-Dad yyds: "First off, just from reading the three effects, you can already see where the power lies."
"Built-in protection, built-in destruction plus burn, built-in ATK pumping negate."
"All of those are visible strengths."
"And on analysis—"
"Summoning method: simple. With Red-Eyes Fusion, it's a one-card boss."
"Searching Red-Eyes Fusion? Whether through Verte, through [Red-Eyes Insight], or through [Black Metal Dragon], you can do it."
"Next are the effects—its second and third effects say 'once per turn,' but they don't say 'once per turn per card name'!"
"In other words, summon two Red-Dads—go on, think about it: which meta Deck can stomach a barrage of negates plus pops plus burn?"
"And even if it gets removed, no problem."
"[Red-Eyes Fusion] can bring out another one easily!"
"If not that, we can bring it back with [Red-Eyes Wyvern]!"
"Because if [Red-Eyes Wyvern] is in the GY and we didn't Normal Summon, we can banish it during the End Phase to revive a 'Red-Eyes' monster."
"After that, ..."
After one round of explanations and exposition,
the Duelists of all six worlds exploded.
Good grief!
All those earlier short videos on Deckbuilding—
turns out they were just appetizers!
The good stuff—
was indeed still to come!
DM world.
Yugi Muto and Joey Wheeler exchanged glances.
Then they looked back again.
Both of them broke into a smile.
What they were smiling at
wasn't the terror of Red-Dad—
but that their friendship could fuse into a card this powerful.
This is it—the power of friendship, right?!
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