The imposing and mighty Dark Magician with a red robe and black skin landed on Pandora's side of the field, arms crossed, gazing at the opponent with a somewhat wicked smile on his face.
[Dark Magician, Attack Power 2500]
After the last encounter with Pandora, Youyu took away Pandora's entire deck, including the three Dark Magicians.
However, it's well known that Ghouls is the number one counterfeit card manufacturer in this world. They even recklessly made a dozen copies of the Divine Card "The Winged Dragon of Ra" in the original story (even though those who used them all met their demise), so it's certain that they mass-produced Dark Magician as well, with at least a warehouse full of them.
"Oh, starting off with your ace this time?" Youyu looked at that Dark Magician, "It seems you've made a bit of progress."
"Your arrogant attitude ends here! The other effect of 'Dimensional Magic': when a monster is successfully special summoned by this magic card, you can destroy one monster on the field. Disappear, Breaker the Magical Warrior!"
A coffin-shaped box appeared behind Breaker, catching him off guard as it dragged him completely inside and slammed shut. The golden coffin then exploded with a heavy boom, shattering along with the magical warrior trapped inside.
Youyu gently raised his hand to shield against the gust and dust stirred up by the explosion.
"Dark Magician!" Pandora shouted, "Direct attack, tear this guy to pieces for me!"
Following the command, the Dark Magician leapt up, his slender figure briefly suspended in mid-air. The whirling magic transformed into a sphere at the tip of his raised staff, crackling with crimson electricity, like a devil baring its fangs at its prey.
"At this moment, I'm activating a set card," Youyu pressed the activation button on his Duel Disc, "... Trap Card 'Magician Navigation'!"
"What!?" Pandora was startled and hurriedly straightened his mask, carefully examining the trap on Youyu's field.
The trap card depicted the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl emerging from a pitch-black magic circle. Clearly, it was a trap card exclusive to Dark Magician, but...
... why had he never heard of it!?
Pandora always prided himself as the top magician and confidently believed he was the world's foremost user of Dark Magician. He was thoroughly familiar with various strategies and combos related to Dark Magician, and he considered himself to recognize all cards related to the series.
However, he had never even heard of this "Magician Navigation."
Initially, Pandora assumed all of Youyu's Black Magic Deck was based entirely on the set he snatched from him last time, which is why Pandora was so confident when he confronted Youyu again this time.
After all, no one would know his old deck's strengths and weaknesses better than him.
But Dark Magician Girl and Magician Navigation were cards he had never heard of, clearly not something retrieved from him.
Pandora was really starting to panic now.
—Where on earth did this kid get these?
"The effect of 'Magician Navigation': special summon directly from the hand –
– Dark Magician!"
The array unfolded on the ground, a shadow shot up into the air from the array and landed gracefully after a somersault. The surging magic transformed into a crimson storm, and a green magic staff shot forth, which the mage caught precisely in his hand.
Dark Magician, summoned!
[Dark Magician, Attack Power 2500]
The two identical Dark Magicians stood on opposite sides of the field, confronting each other, their intersecting gazes seemingly sparking magic in the air. The magical domains clashed and intersected, creating a chilly whirlwind in the space.
Pandora, of course, didn't know that this Dark Magician was actually a quest reward given to Youyu by the system. He assumed it was a card Youyu had snatched from him.
Looking at this Dark Magician now gave him an inexplicable sense of humiliation. Seeing his former ace standing against him made him so angry that he saw green, as if he could see an endless prairie...
"It's not over yet. When 'Magician Navigation' is activated, I also need to special summon a Dark Attribute spellcaster of level 7 or below from the deck." Youyu drew from the deck, "Special summon 'Magician's Robe'."
[Magician's Robe, Defense 2000]
Another card Pandora didn't recognize. Moreover, that monster seemed a bit like the robe worn by Dark Magician, presumably another card paired with Dark Magician.
...Why are there so many cards I don't recognize!?
Pandora couldn't help but want to scream his soul out—am I the one playing with fake cards or are you? Does your family run a card-printing factory?
Well, he actually knew that it was impossible.
Duel Monster Cards couldn't be forged. Even Ghouls, with their world-class counterfeit card technology, could only copy existing cards into many fakes.
The production of Duel Monster Cards involved not only technology but also mysterious powers beyond current scientific explanation. It's impossible to print cards privately.
(Protagonists of Yu-Gi-Oh series: Yeah, yeah, printing cards is so unscientific, how could such a thing exist?)
Meanwhile, in Yue Hua's live stream chat, the viewers were ecstatic again.
"Magician Navigation! I told you Youyu would have Magician Navigation!"
"Waiting for a Dark Magic Circle alert."
"Waiting for Eternal Soul."
"Shouldn't they have that many? Otherwise, it would be too overpowered. If they had a complete set of these cards, they could cut through to the DM finale in this environment."
"..."
Well, they were right. Until Youyu used up all his thousands of Crystal Stones, he hadn't seen a trace of those two cards...
He could only guess that the version 1.0 linked world card pool didn't have these powerful cards. Honestly, he was already pleasantly surprised that the system put out Magician Navigation after pouring so many Crystal Stones into it.
Because, in fact, even in this environment, "Magician Navigation" was a bit overpowered.
The effect of Magician Navigation, special summoning a Spellcaster-Type monster from the deck, was mandatory, but Youyu's deck only had one Dark Magician. Whatever other spellcaster summoned this turn would be knocked down by Pandora's Dark Magician, so it didn't matter what was summoned.
The reason for choosing "Magician's Robe" was not only because this monster had a self-revival effect in the graveyard but also because he knew Pandora had never seen this monster and intentionally brought it out to show off and tease him...
Hey, look, another magician you've never seen before, how impressive?
Want it?
...Well, you can't have it. Does it frustrate you?
(Magician's Robe can be special summoned from the graveyard during the opponent's turn if you activate a magic trap.)