Yu-Gi-Oh! GX - Episode 174

'''Activate, Clear World! Ferocious Negative Effect''' is the one hundred and seventy-fourth episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime. Atticus Rhodes continues his duel with Nightshroud as the latter reveals he has possessed Yusuke Fujiwara. Fujiwara's "Clear" monsters are unaffected by his "Clear World" Field Spell, and thus it's devastating effects are only inflicted to Atticus.

Summary
Atticus Rhodes is glad to see that Yusuke Fujiwara is alive, as he has assumed he had died during his experiments. When asked why he did what he did, Yusuke replies that in the World of Darkness, there are no winners, no losers, no loneliness, no suffering - only a sense of unity. He states that all minds become one and all feelings are shared. He states that a person's dreams, the reality a person truly wishes for is what they will experience in the World of Darkness. Fujiwara appears to be fully under the control of Nightshroud (in the Japanese version of previous seasons, Nightshroud's name was "Darkness").

Atticus is unconvinced, and the duel continues. Fujiwara activates "Clear World", and four crystals appear in the sky, which block out the landscape and all of the Trueman clones. Save for the duelists, only Jaden Yuki and Jesse Anderson remain. Fujiwara reveals that "Clear World" forces both players to deal with a different negative effect depending on the attributes of the monsters they have face-up. "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" is a DARK-attribute monster, and the player cannot declare an attack with a monster of that attribute face-up while "Clear World" is active. Fujiwara states that both attributes and personality are unneeded things in the the World of Darkness. He then activates "Clear Sacrifice", removing the "Clear Phantom" and "Clear Rage Golem" in his Graveyard from play to Summon "Clear Vice Dragon" without Tribute. "Clear" monsters have no attribute, so Fujiwara is unaffected by "Clear World".

Atticus declares all of Fujiwara's musings to be "nonsense" and states that he is simply ignorant of unlimited potential of humankind. In order to help Atticus see more clearly, Fujiwara allows him to again witness what his friends are experiencing in the World of Darkness. Chazz Princeton is once again dueling in the Pro League and has not yet won a duel. Should he lose the one he's currently in, he'll be forced to retire. He suddenly finds himself on the street, and is challenged to an Ante Duel by a gang of thugs. He again has "Reload" in his hand, and is about to draw "Ojama Yellow". Fed up with the situation, Chazz instead draws the second card from the top of his Deck and Summons it - "Masked Dragon". However, he immediately finds himself back in his last Pro League match, and is immediately disqualified for his actions. He is then engulfed in waves of darkness, finally accepting his fate.

Syrus Truesdale is still attempting to build a "Cyber Style Pro League" with his brother, but cannot carry the weight. He informs his brother, who crumbles to dust as Syrus is engulfed in waves of darkness, he too, accepting his fate. Alexis Rhodes is failing as a teacher, and after encountering clones of herself who deride her efforts, accepts her fate and is engulfed in the black waves. In doing so, the three are essentially erased from existence as they are assimilated in the World of Darkness itself. Fujiwara attacks with "Clear Vice Dragon", but Atticus activates his face-down "Burst Breath", destroying both monsters. Using "Nihilistic Summoning Technique", Fujiwara Special Summons his removed "Clear Rage Golem" (though with zero attack points) and equips it with "Attribute Mastery" and "Attribute Bomb", declaring the DARK-attribute for both effects. The former will destroy any monster that battles with "Clear Rage Golem" without damage calculation, while the latter will inflict 1000 damage to the opponent when a monster is destroyed with "Clear Rage Golem".

Atticus manages to Summon "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" again, and reduces Fujiwara's Life Points to 200 with "Inferno Fire Blast". Atticus apologizes for being unable to save Fujiwara when he disappeared. Fujiwara attacks with "Clear Rage Golem" and "Attribute Bomb's" effect would win him the duel, but Atticus activates his face-down "Red-Eyes Burn", which inflicting the attack points of "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" to both players, thus appearing to end the duel in a draw. However, this is all revealed to have taken place in Atticus' mind, as Fujiwara looked into to it to determine what Atticus' darkness of heart was, so that the could exploit it. Determining that it was the fact that he couldn't save Fujiwara, the duel continues from when "Clear Vice Dragon" attacks. This time, Fujiwara discards "Attribute Mastery" with "Clear Vice Dragon's" effect, rendering "Burst Breath" ineffective.to negate and winning him the duel. Atticus is absorbed into the World of Darkness and Fujiwara calmly suggests that the final confrontation between he, Jaden and Jesse begin.

Featured Duel
Duel continues from the previous episode.

Nightshroud's turn

 * Activates Field Spell Card "Clear World". This affects every monster on the field, imposing a negative effect to the controller depending on the attribute. However, Nightshroud's Clear monsters are treated as having no attribute, so "Clear World" affects only his opponent.
 * Activates "Clear Sacrifice", removing "Clear Phantom" and "Clear Rage Golem" in his Graveyard from play to Special Summon "Clear Vice Dragon" (0/0) without Tribute in attack position.
 * Attacks "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" with "Clear Vice Dragon", with the latter's effect increasing it's attack points to double that of of it's target.
 * Atticus activates his face-down Tributing "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" to destroy "Clear Vice Dragon".

Atticus' turn

 * Summons "Hunter Dragon" (1700/100) in attack position. Atticus cannot declare an attack when he has a face-up DARK-attribute monster while "Clear World" is on the field, so he ends his turn.

Nightshroud's turn

 * Activates his face-down "Nihilistic Summoning Technique", Special Summoning "Clear Rage Golem" from his Removed from Play Zone, with zero attack.
 * Equips "Clear Rage Golem" with "Attribute Mastery", declaring the DARK attribute. Any DARK monster that "Clear Rage Golem" battles will be destroyed before damage calculation.
 * Equips "Clear Rage Golem" with "Attribute Bomb", declaring the DARK attribute. Whenever "Clear Rage Golem" destroys a DARK monster in battle, Atticus takes 1000 damage.
 * Attacks "Hunter Dragon" with "Clear Rage Golem", destroying it with "Attribute Mastery" and inflicting 1000 damage with "Attribute Bomb" (Atticus 700).

Atticus' turn

 * Activates "Dark Factory of Mass Production", adding "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" and "Hunter Dragon" from his Graveyard to his hand.
 * Summons "Red-Eyes Black Chick" (800/500) and Tributes it with it's effect to Special Summon "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" (2400/2000) from his hand in attack position.
 * Activates "Inferno Fire Blast", inflicting 2400 damage to Nightshroud, at the cost of "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" being unable to attack this turn (Nightshroud 200).
 * Sets a card.

Nightshroud's turn

 * Attacks "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" with "Clear Rage Golem", destroying it with "Attribute Mastery's" effect.
 * Atticus activate "Red-Eyes Burn", inflicting 2400 damage to both players (Atticus 0, Nightshroud 0).

Result

 * Attacks "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" with "Clear Vice Dragon".
 * Atticus activates "Burst Breath", but Nightshroud uses "Clear Vice Dragon's" effect to discard "Attribute Mastery" instead (Atticus 0).