The Future of the Apocalypse / Fudo Yusei?

"I couldn't have gotten it."

Adu acts swiftly and decisively, immediately summoning a Flying-type Pokémon to carry the two of them to the Ilex Forest.

This is it.

Following the other party's direction, You Zhi saw the Anomaly covering the ancestral hall, which indeed contained powerful spiritual energy, surpassing all the Anomaly he had encountered before.

Upon approaching, he sensed a strong and familiar malice.

Adu said, "You felt it too, didn't you? This intense malice towards humanity is very similar to the malice I felt from that giant serpent. I thought you might have experience in this area, which is why I invited you to come along."

"They are indeed very similar, at most differing in quantity, but the God of Orichalcos should have already been destroyed. Even if he were to be reborn, that would be thousands of years from now. There's no reason for him to revive so quickly."

Furthermore, God of Orichalcos is not a spirit, and You Zhi's cheat didn't work when he saw it, indicating that there is no corresponding Spirit Realm and it has nothing to do with Anomaly.

"No matter what, we have to give it a try."

A-Du walked towards the Anomaly, You Zhi followed without hesitation.

After being swallowed by the Space-Time Vortex, You Zhi immediately sensed something was wrong. This time, instead of the dizzying sensation he experienced before, he entered a subspace. Despite having nothing beneath his feet, he was able to stand steadily.

"Intruder detected. Combat testing begins."

Accompanied by an electronic sound, a giant mechanical sprite appeared in sight. It had a pair of golden metal arms, a cross-shaped screen in the middle with a human face projected on it, and a metal pillar below it, giving people a strong sense of oppression.

[Timelord Sandion (10-star) Light]

[Lineage: Steel, Fighting-type]

[Level: 50]

[Attack Power: 4000 (4000)]

[Defense Strength: 4000 (4000)]

[Fairy-Type, Effects: ① Omitted; ② Omitted; ③ This card cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects, and battle damage for both players in a battle involving this card becomes 0; ④ Activated at the end of the Battle Phase when this card is battling, inflict 2000 damage to your opponent; ⑤ Activated during your Standby Phase, this card returns to its owner's Deck.]

Upon seeing the cheat description, You Zhi immediately realized that there was more than one Timelord, and the one he encountered was clearly stronger and more troublesome than the one Pryce had encountered. The opponent's characteristic was not to bounce the enemy back to the Pokémon Card, but to directly deal 2000 points of true damage, which would probably kill any Pokémon below 4 stars in one hit.

As for the fifth effect, wild Pokémon don't have Pokémon Card, so it won't activate.

Moreover, in Spirit Duel, this might not be a negative effect; it's as if every attack has a built-in bounce effect.

Before he could finish thinking, the Timelord Sandion launched an attack, his metal arm slamming down with tremendous force.

As You Zhi dodged, he couldn't help but marvel at how troublesome his opponent was. Since the opponent couldn't be disrupted by battle effects or take battle damage, that left only effect damage and immunity.

Excluding them isn't difficult; by utilizing the properties of Icejade Aegirine, you can chain the attack while the opponent is dealing 2000 damage, thus eliminating them.

The problem is, judging from the other party's previous statement, this guy is both a tester and a referee. If the referee is banished to another dimension, does that mean he passed the test?

If that doesn't count, then wouldn't he be stuck in this godforsaken place until the other party returns from another dimension?

If we use effect damage, we can only rely on Lunalight Cat Dancer's ability to deal 100 points of true damage with each attack. But the opponent is a 10-star monster, a tank with tons of health. How long would it take to scrape her skin clean?

If she makes a small mistake and gets hit twice by the opponent, Lunalight Cat Dancer's health will drop to zero.

"Forget it, I'll do it myself."

After much thought, You Zhi still couldn't come up with an efficient solution, so he had no choice but to take matters into his own hands.

Facing the oncoming mechanical arm, he blocked it with one hand, then kicked the Timelord far away. Next, he clashed his fists together, each gathering powerful divine power.

"Divine Fist Shatter Annihilation Wave!"

Chapter 230 Doomsday Future

The violent shockwave of divine power struck the Timelord Sandion. The destructive effect was ignored, but the effect of inflicting 4000 points of true damage could not be exempted, and the Timelord was instantly shattered and sent flying.

Bang!

One of the Timelord's metal arms exploded and detached from his body, his entire body crackling with electricity. Even the face on the screen showed a pained and distorted expression, looking completely bewildered. He probably never imagined that his opponent could beat him up like this without even summoning a spirit.

Regardless, it ultimately withstood the blow.

You Zhi didn't go up to finish off the enemy; he couldn't waste the experience points. He immediately summoned Lunalight Cat Dancer and used a piecemeal approach.

Although the Timelord resisted with all its might, it was not particularly agile to begin with, not to mention it had lost an arm, making its movements even more cumbersome and helpless against guerrilla tactics.

Against any other opponent, it would have attacked the trainer to force the Pokémon to defend itself, but it clearly wouldn't dare do that now—this trainer is far more terrifying than the Pokémon!

A moment later, the Timelord, stripped of its last bit of life force, collapsed helplessly. The spiritual power generated by its explosion was absorbed by Lunalight Cat Dancer, instantly boosting its level.

"Test passed, please proceed."

As the electronic sound rang out, a brightly lit door appeared in front of You Zhi.

"In other words, this is actually a test of the intruder's strength; if they're not strong enough, they don't even qualify to enter the Spirit Realm —in a way, it's quite humane."

You Zhi sighed, recalled the Lunalight Cat Dancer, and strode into the portal.

There was still no dizzying teleportation process; as soon as he stepped through the portal, You Zhi arrived in a desolate new world.

"If only other Anomaly could be teleported like this, we need to keep up with the times... Hmm, this Spirit Realm isn't looking good."

Everywhere you look, there are collapsed houses, severely damaged public facilities, and roads that have been neglected for a long time. There are no people or animals to be seen; it looks like an apocalyptic scene.

That would have been fine, but You Zhi had experienced the post- Spirit Realm of elves before. The World Chalice World was a world where a highly advanced technological civilization had been destroyed and then fell into an agricultural civilization. But he also discovered that the spiritual energy in this world was unusually turbid and filled with intense desires.

"The elves, having absorbed the spiritual energy here, will likely descend into madness and lose control, while the Three Sacred Beasts Demons will remain unaffected."

Looking around, I couldn't find anyone to ask.

"We haven't seen Adu either. Has he not passed the Timelord's test yet, or has he been teleported to another place?"

You Zhi waited for a while but Adu didn't appear. He guessed that it was the latter situation, so he decided to start the search first.

Considering that if there were survivors, they were more likely to live in the city center than in the suburbs, since it was easier to obtain supplies in the city center, he headed towards the densely populated areas of buildings, focusing on finding shopping malls and supermarkets.

However, after searching for more than two hours, visiting five supermarkets and two large shopping malls, he still couldn't find a single person.

"What can be confirmed is that this world has a fairly high level of civilization and abundant resources, but it doesn't quite reach the level of science fiction."

As You Zhi was pondering, he suddenly became alert and quickly leaped backward. A beam of light descended from the sky, landing where he had been standing and leaving a scorch mark.

"A direct sneak attack? Does this world have absolutely no code of conduct?"

When You Zhi looked up, he saw a humanoid, yellow-skinned robot floating in mid-air, pointing one hand at him.

[Meklord Army Granel (4-star) Earth]

[Genealogy: Steel]

[Level: 20]

[Talent: Balanced]

[Attack Power: 1600 (1600)]

[Defense: 1200 (1200)]

[Machine-Type, Effect: This card gains 100 ATK for each "Meklord" monster on the field other than this card. When this card is Normal Summoned, you can target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; that monster's ATK is halved until the End Phase.]

The robotic arm fired beams of light repeatedly, but the movements were too obvious, and You Zhi dodged them all.

Since the opponent's level was low, defeating them wouldn't yield much experience, so he didn't bother summoning any spirits. Instead, he used the buildings to block the opponent's view and took the opportunity to unleash an Aura Sphere, blasting the opponent into the air!

"A post-apocalyptic setting, mechanical lifeforms that attack humans on sight... it's starting to resemble the World Chalice World more and more... Wait a minute, if it really is the same as the World Chalice World, will this Meklord Army be like the Krawler, summoning a whole bunch of friends after destroying one?"

Although You Zhi is strong enough to handle any number of the Meklord Army of that level, there's no need to be so high-profile since he's new here. What if he attracts the BOSS's attention?

To be on the safe side, it's best to gather intelligence first, understand the world-building, and roughly estimate the enemy boss's strength before deciding whether to mindlessly overpower them or play it safe and develop your strength.

So he concealed his presence and fled quickly.

As it turned out, his guess was correct.

Before long, hundreds of the Meklord Army surged in from all directions, conducting a thorough search of the destroyed machine wreckage.

Just as You Zhi was about to leave, he suddenly heard a loud shout. Turning around, he saw a young woman covered in dust pulling a girl and running away in a panic, while another man made a terrified sound and charged towards the Meklord Army.

Clearly, the three had been hiding in a nearby building, but fearing being discovered by the Meklord Army, they had no choice but to flee. The young woman tripped and fell, and was unfortunately discovered. So the man had to use himself as bait to attract the Meklord Army's attention, thus buying time for his wife and daughter to escape.

"He dared to go in without even an elf; that's quite the man."

You Zhi had no choice but to stop and turn around to save the person.

There was no way around it; even if he didn't consider himself a kind person, he was ultimately the one who caused this mess, so he had to take responsibility.

But before he could make a move, a white figure streaked across the sky as fast as a meteor, its fierce aura destroying all the Meklord Army it encountered.

The remaining Meklord Army raised their arms and fired at the enemy, but the enemy was too fast and dodged erratically, so all their shots missed.

At the same time, accompanied by a slight engine noise, a red motorcycle that looked like it had been illegally modified rushed into the battlefield. The rider waved his arm and coldly gave the order:

"Stardust Mirage!"

The white figure in the sky circled once, then suddenly split into four identical clones that rushed towards the Meklord Army. Wherever they passed, only a series of explosions remained, and soon all the Meklord Army were annihilated.

(The host: Yesterday I had a headache, nausea, dizziness, and weakness all over my body. Today the symptoms have been greatly reduced, and I only have phlegm, cough, and fatigue. I'll continue to rest. Anyway, no one is rushing me to come to work at my unpopular workplace.)

Chapter 231 Yusei Fudo?

After easily eliminating the Meklord Army, a white figure hovered above the red motorcycle; it was a white skeletal dragon.

Before You Zhi's cheat could provide any authentication information, the motorcycle owner retrieved the White Dragon from the Pokémon Card.

Now You Zhi confirmed that this world was definitely not the Spirit Realm!

When he first saw the family of three fleeing from disaster, he realized they were just ordinary humans, which aroused his suspicion. However, considering that there were ordinary villagers in the World Chalice World who also couldn't trigger the Cheat Appraisal, he didn't rush to conclusions. But now that even the Pokémon Card has appeared, it's enough to prove that it has nothing to do with the Spirit Realm.

"This guy on the motorcycle looks familiar. Could he be a character from some Yu-Gi-Oh!! series? So, have we entered the main storyline this time?"

Under You Zhi's observation, the motorcycle owner took off his helmet, revealing a cold but reliable face with a yellow band mark on his left cheek. Of course, what attracted the most attention was his hairstyle, which made people think he was very good at playing cards.

"My name is Yusei Fudo. Are you alright?"

The motorcycle owner asked the family of three.

"Ah! You're the man who teaches meditation on the radio?" the man realized.

"That's right. The current disaster is caused by human desires triggering the rampage of the Perpetual Motion Machine. As long as everyone cultivates Clear Mind and suppresses their negative emotions, the Perpetual Motion Machine can return to normal."

The woman asked hopefully, "Can things really go back to normal? Can we really go back to how we were before?"

Yusei Fudo nodded firmly and said without hesitation, "As long as everyone works together, we can definitely achieve it!"

The hostess asked impatiently, "How do we learn this 'Clear Mind? Are there any talent requirements? Can we learn it?"

"Anyone can learn this if they put their heart into it, but it's much more efficient if someone guides you step by step. Would you like to come with me to the shelter in the suburbs? There are many like-minded people there." Yusei Fudo offered his invitation.

The woman hesitated, but the man decisively said, "We're willing to go. Please protect us along the way... This place has been discovered by those robots; staying here is certain death."

Upon hearing the explanation, the woman suddenly understood and hurriedly nodded in agreement.

You have half an hour to pack your luggage. You should have your own transportation ready, right? We'll leave in half an hour.

After sending the three away, Yusei Fudo turned to You Zhi and shouted, "Friend, can we meet up?"

You Zhi had no intention of hiding, so he walked out openly, and just then he recognized the other person's identity—the protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh!! III!

What's a little strange is that he remembers Yu-Gi-Oh! -Oh! III wasn't set in a post-apocalyptic world; instead, people often watched duelists play cards in large stadiums—that is, Riding Duel.

However, if the Yu-Gi-Oh! Pokémon can be modified into a mess, then it doesn't seem like a big deal that the Yu-Gi-Oh! world has been modified into an apocalyptic setting. At least it's much more acceptable than Yusei Fudo pulling out Poké Ball to summon Dragonite for battle.

"My name is You Zhi. I was the one who lured these Meklord Army here. Thank you for eliminating them for me."

"You're welcome. So, it was you who summoned the spirit just now?"

Yusei Fudo observed curiously for a while, then asked, "You haven't cultivated the Clear Mind, yet you can summon spirits and Meklord Army to fight. Could it be that you are also from the outside world?"

"Also?"

"Not long ago, our comrades in the shelter encountered a powerful female duelist who claimed to be from another world. Because she didn't understand our situation, she suffered a great loss. Even so, she still saved many people, and everyone is very grateful to her."

You Zhi guessed that the other person was referring to Lorelei, who had entered earlier, and nodded, saying, "If there are no surprises, we come from the same world. It would be best if we could meet."

"I was just about to invite you. We are going through the most difficult time right now, and the Sanctuary warmly welcomes powerful duelists."