Youyu looked at the shadow standing within the Life Support Pod, thought for a while, and then said, "President Kagemaru, your true purpose, ultimately, should be for yourself... to preserve your life, right?"
The massive mechanical device remained stationary, with no action, and the person inside the Life Support Pod showed no response.
"I know you're about to die," Youyu said. "No logical ability is needed for this, nor is any evidence required. Look at you now—in this device, clinging to your last breath, not knowing when you'll see the sunrise again, it's clear enough.
Throughout these long years, you've accumulated much wealth and gained powerful dark forces. Regrettably, none of these can help you resist aging; you cannot stop the footsteps of death, cannot halt the natural process.
But you're unwilling, you want to defy this inevitable law. You've researched the immortal bloodline, chased the Pharaoh's secrets of eternity, seeking the ultimate alchemy in legends that can make one eternal...
...All this has led you to today, hasn't it? The ultimate answer you've found, the thing that can grant you the power of immortality." Youyu didn't spell out what this was.
But if President Kagemaru is indeed the mastermind behind the scenes as in the original, he surely knows what Youyu is referring to.
The Three Phantasm cards, housing the presence of top-level Duel Spirits, possess the power to absorb the energy of Duel Spirits worldwide, granting life force to anyone.
As long as he holds those three cards, Kagemaru can return to youth.
After a long silence, the person inside the machine opened his low voice: "You know quite a lot."
It seemed he didn't deny the facts Youyu pointed out.
"More than you imagine," Youyu said. "But what I'm asking is, why did you send Titan to the island?"
Or rather, he's more concerned about—what does all this have to do with his student Judai?
At this stage, Judai is just an ordinary student—well, a gifted ordinary student, but even so, he had no reason to catch Kagemaru's attention.
Youyu isn't actually certain if Kagemaru hired Titan—that's precisely why he didn't proactively mention Judai's name. He's merely probing, wanting to know if Kagemaru is the employer.
"If you want to know," Kagemaru said, "you must first defeat me, Duel King."
Although he did not answer Youyu's question, he had already given Youyu an important message.
It seemed it was indeed his doing.
"Let me see your strength," Kagemaru emphasized again.
"As you wish."
In a Dark Duel, the loser has no right to resist or deceive; playing cards is always the simplest and most effective form of communication.
"My turn, draw a card!" Youyu said. "During the preparation stage, when there are no Magic Traps on my field, the 'Treeborn Frog' in the graveyard is Special Summoned!"
[Treeborn Frog, Defense Power 100]
He then revealed a card from his hand: "Activate the Magic Card 'Nibelung's Treasure,' equip the Equip Magic 'Nibelung's Ring' from my Card Deck to your field's 'The Blazing Mars,' then I draw five cards from my Card Deck!"
The Blazing Mars had a silvery ring embedded on its massive dragon head, and the power constraint made it groan lowly, spitting out sparks feebly.
Kagemaru understood: "Bound the most threatening effect of Mars, have you? But you still must find a way to break through my field's solid lineup."
"Actually, I don't need to do that," Youyu calmly said, "I'll use the 'Treeborn Frog' on my field as a tribute for a Tribute Summon!
The pitch-dark emperor of the underworld—
—Caius the Shadow Monarch!!!"
A dark quagmire flooded the ground, evil and cold aura spreading. That was a dark emperor, with an art style entirely different from all previous emperors. His actions, even his existence itself, exude an uncomfortable evilness; merely watching him seems to stir the evil lurking in everyone's deepest, darkest corners.
Caius the Shadow Monarch, Summon!
[Caius the Shadow Monarch, Attack Power 2400]
Kagemaru's voice grew a bit urgent: "This emperor's ability..."
"When Caius is successfully summoned, he can banish any card from the game," Youyu said. "However, when the banished card is a Dark Attribute monster, it deals 1000 points of damage!"
[Kagemaru, LP 900]
"Is that so," Kagemaru realized his intent, "without needing to break through my field's defenses, dealing direct damage..."
"Correct," Youyu said, "the duel is decided by the Duelist, not the monsters. No matter how powerful the monster, as long as the Duelist's Life Points hit zero, the game is settled.
According to Caius's effect, I'll banish the Dark Attribute 'Zoa' from the game, dealing 1000 points of effect damage!"
The ability of Caius activated. A dark sphere, encircled by lightning, was brewing in his palm, like he was holding some evil conglomerate, that could strip any existence from its dimension.
Zoa was targeted, this demon had no means of resisting the power of the Shadow Monarch. It cried out harshly, twisting with the space it occupied, like a paper crumpled into a ball, casually thrown into a dimensional wastebasket.
But Kagemaru at that critical moment flipped over a card from the backfield.
"Trap Card 'Blessing of the Holy Elf'!" Kagemaru said, "This card allows me to recover the field's monster count x 300 points of Life Points."
"Before 'Zoa' was banished, there were seven monsters on the field," Youyu said.
"Exactly, so I recover a total of 2100 Life Points." Kagemaru's gaze was icy.
The sacred blessing transformed into gentle blue light, illuminating his Life Support Pod, reflecting an eerie pale light on the glass cabin doors. Caius's impact followed closely, colliding fiercely with the device.
[Kagemaru, LP 900 → LP 3000 → LP 2000]
"Managed to block it, huh," Youyu said.
"And in this instant, I flip the cover card," Kagemaru's backfield card flipped again, "Continuous Trap—Double Payback! When an opposing effect causes yourself more than 1000 effect damage, place a counter on this card for every 1000 points dealt.
At the end of the opponent's turn, this card is destroyed and deals damage equal to the number of counters x 2000 points!"
[Youyu, LP 1400]
"Oh?" Youyu watched Caius's impact damage absorbed by the trap, "Has the problem been kicked back my way then?"
"Precisely," Kagemaru said, "the shackles are already on, the Grim Reaper is swinging his scythe. Do you hear the countdown, Duel King? Those are the footsteps of the Grim Reaper, the count of your life's end.
You will never uncover the truth, never understand my true purpose. Because you will perish here."
Paused, two sharp gazes shot through that layer of glass, through the bubbling liquid.
"You won't even know who I am."
Youyu's gaze shifted slightly.
What does this mean?
Isn't this guy Kagemaru?