Godwin suppressed an inexplicable unease in his heart and chuckled, "A nice attack, you almost took me out.
Unfortunately, my duel is still superior. Now that the preparation for the summoning of the god is complete, it means that your countdown to defeat has already begun!"
Yes, the Earthbound Immortal, that is Godwin, or rather, is the source of confidence for all the Dark Signers in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's antagonist team.
Immune to magic and trap effects and capable of direct attacks, in 5D's it was evaluated by Senior Ushio as "a terrifying card that can reverse the situation in any scenario." And this only refers to the single-card ability of the Earthbound Immortal itself, without counting the Destiny Power blessing.
Though not as formidable as the Phantom God or the Evil God, the Earthbound Immortal is still a "god," possessing formidable Destiny Power unmatched by ordinary Monster Spirits. Even Yusei, after first encountering the Earthbound Immortal, was left with a large shadow in his heart for a long time, and even an apprehension towards facing these unfathomable monsters.
In terms of appearance and oppressive might when summoned, the Earthbound Immortal's debut in the animation was not inferior to when the Phantom God first appeared.
"Do you have absolute confidence in your Earthbound Immortal?" Yugen said lightly.
As he spoke, he was still observing Godwin without showing any emotion. He judged that this person should not be Godwin, but the opponent was indeed using Godwin's card deck. And the confidence in the mention of "Earthbound Immortal" felt indeed like it belonged to a Dark Signer.
Furthermore, the opponent's compatibility with this Sun and Moon Dragon card deck genuinely gave Yugen the illusion that "he was Godwin himself."
But if he truly was Godwin, why would he have obtained the Dark Signer and Earthbound Immortal's power so early in the story? And why would he want to kill Yusei Fudo? Wouldn't that contradict his original plan in the original work?
Anyway, the cards should be played to win first.
Yugen said, "Then the Battle Phase ends.
Next, the monster effect of 'Electromagnetic Stone Warrior: Electromagnetic Mad God' activates.
The Electromagnetic Mad God can destroy a card on the opponent's field by removing a Level Four or lower 'Magnetic Warrior' monster from the graveyard."
Yugen revealed a card that was just sent to the graveyard.
"Remove 'Electromagnetic Stone Warrior: Alpha,' which was just destroyed in battle, from play to destroy one 'Sacrificial Stone Monument Derivative.'"
The virtual image of Electromagnetic Stone Warrior Alpha reappeared, transforming into an electrical light that merged into the blade of the Electromagnetic Mad God. The Electromagnetic Mad God swung its sword, and the electromagnetic-encircled sword light cleaved one of the statues in half.
Godwin raised his hand to block in front of him, intercepting the impact, and frowned, "Destroying derivatives to prevent the arrival of the Earthbound Immortal, huh?"
Yugen said, "Turn over."
Godwin: "Then my turn, draw."
Godwin discarded one card from his hand into the graveyard, displayed another card, and placed it on his Duel Disc.
"The effect of 'Divine Envoy - Red Ant' in my hand." Godwin said, "This card can be Special Summoned in Defense Position from the hand by discarding a card.
Come forth, Divine Envoy - Red Ant!"
The previous style of the priest was that of an ancient tribal dress, adopting a defensive stance crouching at Godwin's side.
[Divine Envoy - Red Ant, Defense Power 1500]
"And the card discarded by the Divine Envoy is the Magic Card 'Card of Compensation'." Godwin said, "When 'Card of Compensation' is discarded from the hand, I draw two more cards from the card deck."
Godwin drew two more cards.
"The Divine Envoy wields the power to summon the Red Ant..."
Godwin's card deck automatically searched, and another card was ejected from the deck.
"After being Special Summoned by its own effect, it can further Special Summon one 'Red Ant' from the hand or deck!
Come forth! Special Summon the Adjusted Monster 'Red Ant' from the card deck once again!"
The terrifying red giant ant that appeared in the previous turn, this time appearing obediently and staying beside the Divine Envoy, seemed to be following its instructions.
"Level Three, Adjusted Monster 'Red Ant'!
Level Five, 'Divine Envoy - Red Ant'!
Tune the two monsters!"
[3+5=8]
"Once again, become a radiant light shining upon the earth, descend anew——
——Sun Dragon-Inti!"
The body of the Red Ant transformed into three green light circles, encircling the Divine Envoy. The body of the Envoy turned transparent and illusory, until the five stars within were extracted and aligned in a line within the rings.
Amid a burst of fiery white-hot light, the sun rose once more.
Sun Dragon-Inti, summoned once again!
"Do you see? Even if you use despicable means to ambush the Sun Dragon, it's useless!" Godwin shouted, "The sun will rise again no matter what!
Now that the Sun Dragon is resummoned, the indestructible Sun and Moon Dragon combination has been reestablished!"
"Is that so?"
Yugen smiled playfully.
"But there's something I'm quite curious about. You should have the Earthbound Immortal you just retrieved last turn in your hand, right?
You just Special Summoned the Divine Envoy, plus the remaining derivatives on the field have already gathered two sacrifices for release, and your Normal Summon count hasn't been used this turn.
You should be able to summon the Earthbound Immortal. However, instead of the Earthbound Immortal, you chose to resummon the Sun Dragon."
Yugen squinted his eyes.
"Does this mean that compared to the Sun Dragon, the Earthbound Immortal can't protect you? Because your Earthbound Immortal can't instant-kill me within one turn, and you're worried that the Earthbound Immortal can't protect you next turn, and you might be defeated... is that it?"
He chuckled and said.
"It seems that someone doesn't have as much confidence in their so-called Earthbound Immortal as they claim."
Godwin's expression turned somber.
At first glance, it seemed like the opponent was just throwing out random trash-talk ridicule, but Godwin's heart was stirred upon hearing it.
Because there's a secret weakness in the Earthbound Immortal's effect in the animated world.
The Earthbound Immortal cannot be selected as an attack target. This seems like a positive effect, meaning that even if the opponent summons a monster stronger than the Earthbound Immortal, they can't defeat it because it can't be targeted for an attack.
But in the animation, the practical performance was that because the Earthbound Immortal can't be targeted for attacks, if the controller has only the Earthbound Immortal on the field, then the opponent can ignore the Earthbound Immortal and directly attack the controller of the Earthbound Immortal.
So Yugen was right. If he chose not to summon Sun Dragon Inti here and instead the Earthbound Immortal, the Earthbound Immortal Godwin possesses doesn't have the ability to one-turn kill the opponent. Conversely, next turn, the opponent might bypass the Earthbound Immortal and directly attack him, which might mean his loss.
To compensate for this weakness of the Earthbound Immortal, Godwin chose the Sun and Moon Dragon strategy. Set up the Sun and Moon Dragon formation as a basic defense, and then summon the Earthbound Immortal to ensure a kill. In the animation, Godwin faced the protagonist trio with this strategy.
But this weakness was only discovered in battle by Yusei and the Dragon Sealers in the animation. At this point, the Earth's Earthbound Immortal had not yet appeared, and Godwin hadn't summoned it in this duel yet.
How could the opponent know the Earthbound Immortal's weakness?
Godwin's heart was filled with suspicion for a moment, and then his face turned cold, and he asked in a deep voice.
"Are you... from the future?"