Chapter 1191: What is a Sacred Beast?

Green halos began to appear one after another. From within the swirling vortex of energy, black claws protruded. Inch by inch, living armor assembled itself onto a pair of armor wings covering the whole body, blade-like feathers slicing through space and stirring up violent tremors.

Crimson eyes swept across the battlefield. Engines roared as a storm of data and shooting stardust particles danced in the air, heralding the first Synchro Summon of this duel.

[Blackwing - Armor Master, ATK 2500]

Leo: "He summoned his ace on the very first turn! Crow is amazing as expected!"

Crow: "Of course! Lord Crow always goes all out! Go—Blackwing - Armor Master, attack 'Chaos Core'!"

Summoning Armor Master on the first turn was something Kira had accounted for among the possibilities.

At this point, neither Crow himself nor his Blackwings were perfect; in the early stages, Armor Master was his main ace. Even so, this card's effect was extremely powerful during this era. Back when Yu-Gi-Oh! first entered the Synchro era, even Kira himself suffered big losses against this card.

Blackwing - Armor Master: ATK 2500, cannot be destroyed by battle, and the controller takes no battle damage from battles involving it. Plus, when it battles an opponent's monster, after battle, it can place a "wedge counter" on that monster.

By removing a wedge counter from a monster, for this turn, that monster's attack and defense become zero until the end of the turn.

So, it's rather obvious: when it comes to fighting, this thing is essentially invincible. No matter how high your attack is, you can't destroy it, nor inflict damage through battle. Plus, any monster that battles it gets weakened immediately.

Of course, from a modern perspective, mere battle indestructibility isn't all that impressive; cards that destroy, banish, or bounce can easily deal with it. But in those days, when Kira's friends played it, he was shocked and would even suspect his friends were cheating with a fake card; otherwise, why would something so unreasonably strong exist?

Watching Armor Master charge ferociously toward him, Kira couldn't help but feel nostalgic.

"Such a nostalgic monster…"

Memories of carefree duels with friends—before he ever understood what a banlist was—came flooding back.

However...

At the moment the attack landed, the space above Chaos Core began to twist, as if a rift in time and space had suddenly torn open. Majestic and profound light burst forth, taking on golden and blue phantasms like ancient ghosts.

Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder! Raviel, Lord of Phantasms!

The Sacred Beasts appeared as flows of illusory light, otherworldly in posture. Hamon was surrounded by constant arcs of electricity, each thunderclap echoing as if from the depths of the universe.

All three opponents: "Nani!?"

Even as mere phantoms, their presence exuded an ancient pressure, sending chills and awe through everyone present.

"Relax. They haven't really appeared yet. This is Chaos Core's monster effect.

Whenever this card becomes the target of an attack or card effect, you can activate it. Send 'Uria, Lord of Searing Flames', 'Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder', and 'Raviel, Lord of Phantasms'—at most one of each—from hand or deck to the Graveyard."

Kira revealed the three distinctive monster cards—yellow, blue, and gold—then sent them to the graveyard.

"From my deck, I sent Raviel and Hamon—two Sacred Beasts—to the Graveyard."

Crow: "Then the attack continues. You take 2500 battle damage—"

Kira: "Sorry, but no. After sending the Sacred Beasts to the Graveyard, Chaos Core places two 'phantasm counters' on itself.

This turn, I take no battle damage. Additionally, whenever Chaos Core would be destroyed by battle or card effect, I can remove a counter instead."

Armor Master's blow stopped half a meter before Chaos Core, unable to progress further, forced backward by an invisible force. Transparent ripples burst out in front of Chaos Core, but the original was unharmed.

Crow: "Then I attack again with 'Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn'!"

[Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn, ATK 2000]

The avian Blackwing warrior swooped in for another blow. Of course, predictably, the attack was again stopped by the invisible barrier before Chaos Core.

Though the attack failed, Jack nodded:

Jack: "This is good, Crow. That's two counters removed from Chaos Core—now its replacement protection is gone!"

Crow: "I'll set a card face-down and end my turn!"

Yusei remained silent.

The Three Sacred Beasts were legendary monsters in Duel Monsters history—there were supposed to be three. Judging by the previous effect, Chaos Core could have sent all three from the deck to the graveyard.

Yet, the opponent only sent Hamon and Raviel—just two. Yusei didn't think the last one was missing from the opponent's deck.

Which meant...

Yusei:"Everyone, be careful!"

"Goodwin may already have drawn one of the Sacred Beasts!"

Everyone: "!!!"

Kira burst out laughing.

"As expected of Yusei Fudo—sharp as ever. And not bad, Crow Hogan. You went all out on the very first turn, so it looks like I'll have to get a bit more serious myself."

He smiled faintly.

"My turn. Draw."

"I activate the Spell Card, 'Card Destruction.' Both players discard their entire hands, then draw the same number of cards from their decks."

He discarded all his hand cards, drew anew.

"Then, I activate my face-down: Continuous Trap 'Delta Barrier'!

When this card is activated, I can activate all cards with the same name from my graveyard simultaneously." (Anime card)

Delta Barrier: when activated, you can also activate same-name copies from the graveyard, and once all three are on the field, once per turn, you can make the battle damage from a monster become zero.

The ability to negate battle damage is a bit niche, but the real point is—you can instantly gather three copies of the trap. It is clearly an exclusive support card for Uria.

This is one of the traps Yubel specifically built for Sacred Beast decks in GX.

"And just as Yusei guessed—yes, I already have a Sacred Beast in my hand."

With a dramatic flourish, three traps on the field exploded with invisible waves.

"Allow me to show you... what a Sacred Beast really is!"

…