"Then at the moment you declare a Monster Summon," Yugen said, "I activate my Cover Card, Speed Attack Magic 'Speed Summon'.
I can perform a Normal Summon of one Monster from my hand."
Yugen waved his hand and set another Monster Card from his hand.
"And I set another Monster face-down on the Field."
Placido: "?"
His movements paused slightly as he frowned, staring at the freshly set Monster on Yugen's Field.
Seeing that right after he summoned the Core of Intelligence, the opponent immediately summoned another Monster to the Field, and in face-down position...
So that's it, a flip effect?
Placido, remotely controlling the ghost from behind the scenes, sneered inwardly, thinking he had already seen through the opponent's tactics. Trying to use flip effects to interfere—most likely a Reversed Monster with a powerful effect that removes the opponent's Monster upon being flipped.
But that level of tactic is useless against him, one of the dignified Taiyi Three Emperors, Placido!
"I activate Magic Card 'Black Hole' from my hand!"
The ghost flamboyantly raised the Magic Card in his hand.
"Destroy all Monsters on the Field!"
The Magic was inserted into the Duel Disc, immediately erupting with overwhelming power. Space was torn open with cracks, and a Black Hole as if from the far side of the Galaxy appeared above the Field, releasing endless gravity that dragged all things into that bottomless Void.
"Heh heh, maybe you were planning to use a Reversed Monster's effect to interfere with me, but my Duel stands above that level of tactic!"
Placido shouted, extremely full of himself.
Just wipe the Field with Black Hole; no matter what kind of ability your Monster has, it won't even get the chance to flip before being crushed to dust!
Yet as Yugen faced the annihilating Black Hole in the sky, he stared straight into that vortex for a moment, then actually let out a derisive laugh.
Placido frowned. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing, I just find your shallow understanding amusing," Yugen said with a smile.
Placido snapped, "Nani?"
"You seem to think I set the second Monster only to build a Reversed Monster line... Not really. The reason I chose to use 'Speed Summon' here is because I saw you summon 'Core of Wisdom'."
Yugen paused as he spoke, then gave a sinister smile.
"Core of Intelligence, the absolute core card that triggers Machine Emperor Wisdom Emperor.
When Core of Intelligence is destroyed by a card effect, you can Special Summon the five components of 'Machine Emperor Wisdom Emperor' from your hand and Card Deck, allowing them to combine and transform into your ace, Machine Emperor Wisdom Emperor, right?"
Placido: "!!!"
This time he was shocked—truly shocked.
How does this guy know the effect of his Machine Emperor?
The Machine Emperor doesn't belong to this era; it's a card from the ruined future, held only by them, the Taiyi Three Emperors. Their Three Emperors' plan in this era hasn't even begun yet, they've never acted in front of anyone, and yet the moment they make a move, the secret of Machine Emperor is already seen through—how is that possible?
"The Core can only summon Machine Emperor onto the Field when it's destroyed by a card effect, so your Card Deck is packed with field-wipe cards like 'Black Hole'.
Destroy your own Core to summon Machine Emperor, while simultaneously clearing the opponent's Field—it's killing two birds with one stone... so once you bring out the Core, your next moves become very easy to predict."
Yugen said calmly as he slowly waved his hand and flipped his back row.
"And this card is exactly why I deliberately set a new Monster before you activated 'Black Hole'.
I activate my Cover Card—
—Trap Card 'Starlight Avenue'!"
The Trap flipped open, and a road of Starlight reached straight into the Galaxy. The shining Star Dust turned into a guarding Sanctuary, instantly suppressing the celestial body of destruction hanging in the sky.
Yugen: "Starlight Avenue can only be activated when a Magic, Trap, or Monster Effect that will destroy two or more cards on your Field is activated."
Therefore, only when he had two Monsters on his Field would the trigger condition for Starlight Avenue be met.
"Negate that destruction effect and destroy it. Then, I can Special Summon this card from the Extra Card Deck—
—Stardust Dragon!!!"
Behind the scenes, Placido's eyes were about to pop out. "Nani!?"
The curtain of Starlight was pierced, and countless shining stars whirled in the sky, condensing into a slim white dragon form. Stardust Dragon spread its bony wings, scattering a rain of stardust as it spiraled upward through the glittering sky.
[Stardust Dragon, Attack Power 2500]
Placido was stunned; this Taiyi Emperor was truly shaken now.
Stardust Dragon? How is that possible?
Isn't that the emblem of the Dragon Sealer? Isn't there only one in the whole world, held by Yusei Fudo?
This guy...
"Are you someone from another time?" Placido asked darkly through the ghost's mouth. "What exactly are you?"
In this Dimension, Stardust Dragon is in Yusei Fudo's hands; that much is undeniable.
Cloning Cards aren't impossible, but with the current level of technology in this Dimension, it's impossible to clone a card like Stardust Dragon. Taiyi could pull it off, but even they would have to pay a hefty price. In the original work, Taiyi created a fake robot holding three Cloning Cards of 'Red Lotus Demon Dragon'. They did succeed in cloning them, but in the anime the Three Emperors themselves said it cost them dearly.
And Cloning Cards are ultimately different from the originals. Placido could feel it—this one in front of him was the genuine Stardust Dragon, not some replica.
Which leaves only one answer. This card is a Stardust Dragon from another Dimension, another timeline.
He just didn't recognize that this Stardust originally belonged to Paradox, and had been stolen right out of his colleague's hands...
"Well then, Black Hole's effect didn't go through, your Core wasn't destroyed, so you can't summon the Machine Emperor components from your Card Deck either."
Yugen said with a playful smile.
"So, what are you going to do next?"
"..."
Placido pondered for two seconds, then gritted his teeth.
The appearance of Stardust had completely thrown his plan into chaos.
Indeed, in the anime the only way to summon Machine Emperor onto the Field is to blow up your own Core with a card effect.
And Stardust Dragon's Monster Effect is to Tribute itself to negate and destroy the effect that would destroy cards...
You could say it's the Monster with the worst possible synergy with him.
Sure, Machine Emperor is touted as a 'Synchro Killer', but damn it, you need to be able to summon it before you can kill anything. With the opponent seizing the initiative and bringing out Stardust Dragon first, even getting Machine Emperor onto the Field had become extremely difficult.
So now the situation turned into Placido wanting to self-destruct, but the opponent's Stardust had him on lockdown, not allowing him to blow himself up. Things had become rather delicate...
"No way, right? The mighty Machine Emperor, the Synchro Killer, can't even deal with a mere Stardust Dragon? No way, no way, right?" Yugen kept laying on the taunts.
"You bastard... don't underestimate me."
Placido snorted heavily and glanced at his hand.
There was still a way!
"I set one card in my back row and end my turn!"