As expected, there's nothing in this world that can't be solved with a card game.
However, Youyu was still very sure that he'd never heard of such a quest in the 1.0 version of the game in his previous life. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime, Darkness was full of style, even possessing the ability to drag all humanity into its consciousness and trap everyone in their own infinitely looping illusions.
Indeed, it sounds like a Yu-Gi-Oh! version of an infinite Tsukuyomi...
Such an incredible BOSS appearing in the 1.0 version would have surely caused a huge commotion, right?
The only explanation Youyu could think of at the moment was that Darkness hadn't fully awakened yet, and at most, it could only send one or two lackeys to scout the human world.
This quest might have been tackled casually by some player, and it wasn't difficult, so that's why he hadn't heard of it despite starting the game so early.
"Duel!" x2
[Mr. T, LP 4000]
[Youyu, LP 4000]
"It's been a while since I stretched my muscles. Let me use you as a warm-up, human duelist." Mr. T's lips twisted into a strange smile.
"I'll go first, draw!
I summon 'Dark Prototype', in attack position."
As the card was placed on Mr. T's Duel Disc, the surrounding darkness seemed restless. Black mist rolled closer, gathering on the field in front of him, gradually forming the entity of some kind of reptile.
It was a bizarre monster with a white mask, a clumsy body with four large legs, resembling a turtle carrying a shell on its back.
An LV 4 Monster with only 1400 attack, it seemed hardly threatening yet gave a foreboding feeling.
Youyu noticed that the surrounding darkness had somehow become denser. He realized that he couldn't even see the stars in the sky anymore.
"Set one card, my turn ends."
An image of a face-down card appeared at Mr. T's feet. He looked up, confidence painted on his smiling lips: "Alright, it's your turn."
Youyu narrowed his eyes: "My turn."
Although Darkness's power is considered to be cheat-level in this world, his underling, Mr. T, didn't have great card-playing skills.
"Summon 'Elemental Hero Heat'!"
Sparks burst from the seams of the darkness, forming a mass of flames in space. A hero commanding flames appeared from within, spreading his arms and unleashing a semi-transparent heat wave.
[Elemental Hero Heat, attack power 1600]
"Activating Heat's effect," Youyu continued, "Heat's attack increases by 200 points for each 'Elemental Hero' Monster on my side of the field!"
[Elemental Hero Heat, attack power 1600 → attack power 1800]
This card obviously wasn't from an initial deck full of Normal Monsters; Heat was another new hero Youyu managed to draw randomly from the System Card Pool these days by steadfastly opening packs.
Heat's initial attack power was 1600, and with its self-effect, it launched with an 1800 strike, making it quite usable as an LV 4 Monster in this game version.
(Sparkman: Great, I finally have a day off!)
"Battle!" Youyu waved his hand, "Attack with 'Elemental Hero Heat'!"
"At this moment, I'll activate my Set Card," Mr. T maintained his composed smile, "Trap Card - Zero Eye. This Trap Card can be activated when a Monster on my field is targeted for attack.
Reduce the attacking Monster's attack power to 0, then I can draw a card from my deck."
[Dark Prototype, attack power 1400 → attack power 0]
By then, Heat had already charged. Against the Hero, the Dark Prototype, whose attack was reduced to 0, stood no chance, its body pierced by flames and exploded from within, emitting a large mass of black mist.
The flames pierced through the Monster's body and continued, struck directly at Mr. T, its controller, blasting through his body — literally.
Mr. T's flesh seemed to be briefly shattered, with a large portion of his body blasted away by Heat's flames, breaking apart in mid-air into numerous cards amidst the swirling black mist.
But immediately, the cards were guided back to Mr. T's body by the black mist, filling in the exploded gaps, restoring him in the blink of an eye.
Youyu suddenly realized something.
This duel, the Monsters they summoned... didn't seem to be just projections but entities materialized by the ambient darkness's power.
In other words, the Monsters' attacks could actually inflict real damage on each other.
The LP reduction also corresponded to a genuine reduction in life. Losing might truly lead to death... or something even worse.
[Mr. T, LP 4000 → LP 2200]
Mr. T, with significantly reduced LP, must have sustained considerable physical damage as well, but this had no effect on him as merely a dark collective.
Maintaining a calm smirk, he continued, "At that moment, the effect of Dark Prototype was already triggered. When this Monster is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, I can Special Summon a Monster from my deck with attack points equal to the damage I received.
I just took 1800 damage, so I can Special Summon an 1800-attack Monster from my deck."
Clearly, he did this to trigger the effect, deliberately using the Trap Card to lower his Monster's attack power.
"Come out, Shooting Star Dragon!"
A beam of light shot from the deck attached to his Duel Disc to the sky, transforming into a shooting star. The blazing meteor traced an arc in the air, carving a huge semicircle, diving head-first toward the ground.
A dragon spread its wings amidst the flames, crouching on the field behind Mr. T, roaring fiercely at Youyu's Heat.
[Shooting Star Dragon, attack power 1800]
Youyu furrowed his brow.
Jonouchi had also summoned this Monster during a duel, and Youyu naturally remembered it.
At the time, Jonouchi used the "Polymerization" Magic Card to fuse his trump card Red-Eyes Black Dragon with Shooting Star Dragon, summoning the 3500 attack Meteor Black Dragon. In the 1.0 version, that was already quite an impressive Monster.
So, it seemed this Mr. T was aiming for the same?
But theoretically, a Rare Card like Red-Eyes Black Dragon should be exceedingly rare. Although not unique, its rarity should be top-tier.
Could it be Darkness's power allows creating any Rare Card in existence at will?
If that's the case, wouldn't that make them invincible in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!?
Youyu: "... End turn."
"My turn, draw!" Mr. T looked at him with a creepy smile, "This turn, let me show you, the possibilities of Darkness! I'll activate the Magic Card - Polymerization from my hand!"
Here it comes!
Youyu's expression tightened.
Could it be this guy really has a Red-Eyes?
Printing cards casually is over the top; even I, with a system, can't be as brazen as you!
"At this moment, I'll activate the Monster Effect of 'King of the Swamp' in my hand." Mr. T smiled, drawing a card from his hand, "This Monster can transform into any Monster during a Fusion Summon, substituting as Fusion Material.
I'll use King of the Swamp to transform into 'Red-Eyes Black Dragon'!"
His card, King of the Swamp, quickly projected itself into a solid form, its body twisting and deforming like a pile of mud, gradually transforming into the dark wings and dragon body, resembling "Red-Eyes Black Dragon."
"Using the transformed 'Red-Eyes Black Dragon' and Shooting Star Dragon on the field, Fusion Summon! Meteor Black Dragon!" Mr. T shouted.
Youyu: "... Let me interrupt for a bit. Buddy, are you using this as a substitute because you can't afford to draw a 'Red-Eyes Black Dragon'?"
Mr. T: "..."
At this moment, Mr. T, the dark emissary, incarnation of evil, and teller of truth, fell into a minute-long silence.
"... Shut up," he said.
So what? Is there a problem with not having Rare Cards? Who's looking down on whom?
Who says villains can't exist without Rare Cards?