At this moment, Paradox was already facing a dire situation.

With Archlord Kristya on the field, neither player could perform Special Summons. For his "Malefic" deck, this was basically a death sentence. Most of his monsters had now become nothing but dead cards in his hand—completely unusable.

His only ace in the hole, the "Skill Drain" trap, was now sealed away by Royal Decree, along with all of his other backrow traps, rendering them completely unusable.

However, today this time traveler was perhaps destined to learn a painful lesson: there is no "worst," only "worse."

Whenever you think things have hit rock bottom, you must steadfastly believe—

—Things can always get worse.

"Battle Phase ends. Entering Main Phase 2."

Kira slowly drew two more cards from his hand and set them down nonchalantly.

"I’ll set two more cards face-down."

Paradox eyed Kira’s backrow warily.

More backrow. But with Royal Decree on the field, all traps are nullified. This is the same condition for both players, right? No matter how many cards Kira sets, Royal Decree will lock his own traps as well—he can’t activate any of them.

Is this to prepare for the possibility that Decree gets removed, or the formation gets broken?

Thinking of this, Paradox felt even more troubled.

This damned Duel King—his current setup already seemed insurmountable, yet he was still preparing his next move, playing so cautiously. For what?

But he couldn’t worry about the distant future; the current board was already giving him a headache.

The next moment, however, Kira revealed another bright red trap card from his hand, smiling warmly.

"The effect of ’Makyura the Destructor’ is still active this turn. For this turn only, I can still activate trap cards from my hand. So, I’ll activate this card, Continuous Trap—

—Imperial Order!"

The entire field erupted in an uproar.

Imperial Order! Alongside Decree, the two great "Royal" lockdowns!

"Imperial Order is similar to Royal Decree," Kira explained. "While Order is on the field, all Spell Card effects are negated!"

One locks traps, one locks spells. With both, all spell and trap tactics are completely and utterly shut down.

Paradox was shocked, but immediately barked out: "Are you crazy!?

Imperial Order itself is a Continuous Trap—won’t it be negated by Royal Decree?!"

This is a contradiction!

"No," Kira smiled. "This is exactly why the ’Splendid Venus’ from the Planet Series is needed.

While ’Splendid Venus’ is on the field, all Spell and Trap Cards you control—their activation and effects—cannot be negated!" (Anime effect.)

Paradox’s pupils contracted. He immediately looked up at Venus.

Splendid Venus has that ability?

So that means...

"Exactly," Kira squinted. "As long as Venus is on the field, Order can’t be negated by Decree, nor can Decree be negated by Order.

So I can freely use any Spell or Trap Card—these two won’t negate each other."

He paused, then smiled.

"Of course, Venus only grants this immunity to its controller’s Spells and Traps. As for you..."

He didn’t finish the sentence.

But Paradox’s body had already started to tremble slightly.

Not from fear, but from pure anger.

Damn it!

Now he fully understood the setup Kira had established.

Archlord Kristya locked Special Summons, which for a Malefic deck basically meant no monsters.

Imperial Order sealed Spells, Royal Decree sealed Traps. Splendid Venus made sure they didn’t conflict, turning all the locks into a one-sided lockdown.

What the hell is this!?

How is anyone supposed to duel under these conditions?

He was about to lose his mind.

He was a man from the future—a survivor from a destroyed future, battle-hardened by countless hardships. He was familiar with Duel Monsters history, knew all the archetypes and styles. That’s why, when traveling back in time, he felt a sense of superiority, thinking even the Duel King was just a relic of the past, nothing compared to his own knowledge.

But now, he was sure: the current timeline was definitely wrong—absurdly so.

Because in all known history, there had never been a Duel King so devious and twisted, and he had never even heard of him.

No, throughout the history of Duel Monsters, even counting all those so-called embodiments of darkness or terrifying demon gods, none had ever been so dark as this man!

To be able to twist an Angel deck—supposed to represent light and hope—into something so insidious, can you believe it?

The others in the research institute were all dumbstruck, except for Mokuba, who only smiled calmly. "Told you, he’s truly an unlucky outsider. Who knows what bad karma led him to cross paths with Kira in our world..."

"My turn is over," Kira reminded. "What’s wrong, not going to draw?"

Paradox stared blankly for several seconds, then looked down at his duel disk.

Draw?

Oh right, the duel’s still going.

But... is there any point in going on?

A wave of helplessness washed over him, as if it would swallow him whole.

This feeling was not unfamiliar.

Once, he watched his familiar world collapse around him, saw friends, family—everything he knew—swallowed by a vortex of despair.

He watched the apocalypse come, watched despair consume everything around him, powerless to do anything.

Just like this duel.

He was still alive, his Life Points remained. But even if he lived, the way forward was completely blocked. An angel in name but a demon in nature blocked all possibilities.

He could only watch helplessly as the end approached, as the remaining world was consumed...

He gently closed his eyes.

But in the darkness, familiar faces appeared before him.

"Aporia..."

"Antinomy..."

"...Z-ONE."

That’s right. He couldn’t give up yet.

He and his companions had vowed to work together to rewrite history.

He remembered what Z-ONE said when the surviving warriors gathered to cross time and change fate:

"...If we succeed, history will be rewritten—maybe our very existence will be erased.

If we fail, the world will still be destroyed, and we may be remembered as humanity’s greatest sinners.

Even so, are you still willing to follow me?"

Everyone had answered, without hesitation: "We’re willing!"

"..."

Yes, the decision was made long ago.

The future is not yet decided.

No matter how dark or hopeless things look, they must carve out a path forward. That was their resolve from the start.

This determination could not be defeated so easily.

A fighting spirit rekindled in Paradox’s eyes.

"My turn—draw!"

...