Chapter 1308: Timelords and I Are Fated

Metallic shrieks of distortion echoed in the night sky. The nautilus hovering device frozen into an ice sculpture by Ice Barrier Dragon - Trishula tilted at a 45-degree angle as it plummeted toward the ground. Moonlight refracted off the frosted shell in a pale blue glow, like a falling frozen comet.

However, at that moment, snowflake-patterned low-temperature shockwaves layered outward like countless invisible icy hands grabbing the fake Z-ONE's falling mechanical body.

One hundred meters above ground. Water molecules in the atmosphere spontaneously crystallized, instantly forming a five-meter-diameter spiral slide. This ice-crystal escape passage shimmered with pearlescent luster and was covered in fine anti-collision ridges. When the nautilus device crashed into the slide entrance, the ice layer emitted wind-chime-like cracking. Tens of thousands of hexagonal ice crystals burst out from the friction, trailing a galaxy-like diamond path in the night sky.

The fake Z-ONE's device bounced like an out-of-control mining cart along the winding ice slide. Each impact left radial cracks. It slid and fell all the way to the ground, plowing a twenty-meter trench before bouncing three more times. On the second bounce the left mechanical wing arm stabbed into the rock layer, spinning the entire body. The third landing was like a skipping stone. After smashing several boulders it finally lodged into a meteor-crater-like depression.

He barely stabilized the machine, then laboriously maneuvered the mechanical body out of the crater. Two thick mechanical arms braced against the sides of the pit. Mud and dirt slid off the silver-white mechanical body as it pulled free.

He looked up at the sky toward the culprit who had nearly caused him to crash, yet had also released cold air at the last moment to buffer his fall and save his life.

Kira rode his Duel Runner with transparent wings flapping behind him. The majestic and icy Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier slowly descended from the air.

The fake Z-ONE pondered briefly before asking, "Why did you save me?"

Kira tilted his head, seemingly puzzled.

"Killing you—what benefit would that bring me?"

The fake Z-ONE stayed silent.

"In the duel just now, although you tried to test my strength and used future technology to make duel damage real, the degree wasn't lethal. Also, I didn't sense any killing intent from you during the duel."

The fake Z-ONE sighed softly. "In that case, perhaps that is what I lacked. If I had fought with the resolve to kill or be killed, the result might have been different…"

"No, it wouldn't have."

Kira shook his head.

"If the result were different, it would probably mean I wouldn't have saved you and would have watched you crash into a pile of scrap metal. You didn't lose because you lacked fighting spirit, but because you are simply not as strong as me."

The fake Z-ONE: "..."

Although he suspected the opponent was telling the truth, for a victim who had just suffered repeated bouncing plus a Trishula feast, it didn't feel good at all.

In fact, this was Kira's most direct summary of the duel.

In the anime, duels were first and foremost about destiny power. A strong duelist could still win with a vastly inferior deck under destiny power suppression. There were countless examples: Yugi beating top AI decks with weak cards, or Yusei in prison defeating the warden with a mishmash deck.

But that was when there was a huge gap in duelist strength. When the gap wasn't large, deck power and matchup became important.

Clearly this fake Z-ONE wasn't strong enough to suppress Kira with destiny power. Under the condition of Kira having prior Timelord intelligence and using a modified world-champion deck, he suffered a crushing defeat.

Kira glanced behind him. The real Z-ONE was also slowly descending and landing behind him. The gaze beneath that iron mask carried a complex look.

No wonder. Although Z-ONE had only watched as a spectator, it felt like watching himself get brutally beaten, and the opponent had seemingly prepared a luxury gift package specifically for him. The feeling was indeed subtle.

Kira judged that although it was a copy, this replica was probably inferior to the real Z-ONE.

Z-ONE's replication technology was miraculous—the copied personality was almost indistinguishable. Under perfect replication, even destiny power levels could be referenced when copying strong duelists. Otherwise the copy couldn't handle the original's bizarre decks.

But Kira believed there was a limit.

For example, using Z-ONE's technology to copy Yugi Muto would never allow the copy to casually open plot armor like the original. Similarly, Z-ONE's realm might already be too high, so replicating him couldn't produce someone as strong as the original.

"Regardless, you won."

The fake Z-ONE said as his thick mechanical arm removed the deck from his Duel Disk.

"As agreed."

Kira took the deck from the mechanical arm. He casually spread it out and quickly scanned it. It was indeed the Timelord deck from earlier.

"A copied deck from Z-ONE?" Kira looked up and asked.

But the other party shook his head.

"No. Timelords are special. Even among all of Z-ONE's achievements, they are quite unique. They are too powerful to be easily replicated. Even Z-ONE only has one of each type…"

He glanced at the real Z-ONE floating behind.

"Isn't that right?"

Z-ONE did not respond, but his silence was probably acknowledgment.

Kira understood. "So this deck is the genuine original used by Z-ONE in your dimension?"

Though phrased as a question, Kira already knew the answer after one glance.

At his current level, the first contact already let him feel the powerful energy of the Timelords from this deck—divine spirit energy fluctuations that copies could never match.

"Correct," the fake Z-ONE said calmly. "But he is already dead. He wanted to save his world, but that wish has long since failed. Keeping this serves no purpose."

Although today he had been beaten quite miserably by Kira, that was under the premise of Kira's own destiny power and information advantage, plus effective counters.

In reality, without preparation or countermeasures, Timelords were still very strong.

Cannot be destroyed and immune to damage, with one punch often clearing the board—such shameless cards naturally paired perfectly with heavy trap and Continuous Trap lockdown decks.

Thinking of this, Kira couldn't help but show a satisfied smile like an old farmer after a bountiful harvest while looking at his new deck.

He had felt this way for a long time.

Timelords were indeed fated with him.