Inside the guest lodging on the Luofu, Mo Wang sat on his bed, looking as lifeless as a salted fish.
March 7th, standing beside him, was getting increasingly anxious.
Mo Wang had been in this state for a full two hours. The guy who was usually either causing trouble or on his way to cause trouble was now mired in a state of desireless grief. For March, this was as unbelievable as the sun rising in the west.
"Mo Wang, are you okay?" she asked, cautiously approaching him.
"I'm not okay."
Mo Wang merely glanced at her before hanging his head low once again.
"H-hey, look! There's a group of pretty Foxian ladies outside!" March 7th shouted, trying to cheer him up.
"Oh. Not interested."
Mo Wang's reaction was like that of a seasoned monk who had renounced all worldly pleasures. The thought of his good buddy, the Sky Thunder, being in pieces was so heartbreaking that even the sight of beautiful women couldn't lift his spirits.
It was like finally getting your hands on a brand new RTX 5090, only to break it after using it twice. Sure, it was under warranty, but it would take months for a replacement to arrive, and in the meantime, you just had no desire to play anything.
What are beautiful women compared to the glory of a super robot?
Oh no, he's really not doing well, March 7th thought, seeing his expression. The loss of his mecha had hit him so hard that even pretty girls had lost their appeal. What was she supposed to do now?
Could she find him another giant robot? Did they even sell things like that on the Luofu?
Just as March 7th was wracking her brain for a solution, the door to the room opened. Welt and a weary-looking Jing Yuan walked in.
"Mr. Yang! And you must be General Jing Yuan! You're back?" March 7th said, running over to them.
"Yes. I've explained everything to General Jing Yuan. The incident had nothing to do with the Astral Express," Welt replied, looking just as tired. It had taken him several hours to recount the entire sequence of events.
"Thank you all for your help in this matter," Jing Yuan said, forcing himself to stay alert as he addressed March and Mo Wang. "If it weren't for you, I would have never known that a Lord Ravager had been hiding on the Luofu for so long."
Honestly, it was a miracle Jing Yuan was still standing. The destruction of the port was a devastating blow to the Luofu. Although they had managed to contain the situation with their full force, the damage was immense. And while this was the best outcome they could have hoped for, the pressure on Jing Yuan was immense.
He had initially thought the incident was just the Stellaron Hunters planting a Stellaron, with the Abundance Emanators taking the opportunity to cause chaos.
Who could have guessed that the Destruction was also involved, and that a Lord Ravager had come in person? She had even managed to infiltrate the Luofu disguised as Tingyun, completely undetected.
If Mo Wang and the others hadn't discovered her, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
For now, it seemed Phantylia, whether she was dead or not, wouldn't be causing any more trouble for a while, which was a small mercy. But the problems of the Abundance and the Stellaron still loomed large.
The Luofu was facing a massive crisis. And while Mo Wang was a huge troublemaker himself, Jing Yuan was in no position to be picky. Having a top-tier Emanator on their side was, all things considered, a good thing.
"You don't have to thank us," Mo Wang said, finally speaking up. "Just one question: can you guys repair my Sky Thunder? Or at least offer some compensation?"
He remembered that the Luofu's mechanical engineering was quite advanced. Maybe they could fix it. If not, a reward would be nice too.
"About that... I can't say for sure," Jing Yuan said with an awkward smile.
He had seen the robot Mo Wang had piloted. A machine capable of withstanding Phantylia's self-destruction was extremely rare in the universe. He couldn't guarantee that his own technicians could repair something of that caliber. "We can only do our best."
"Sigh, well, give it a shot. If you can fix it, great. If not, I'll have to send it to Herta," Mo Wang said with a long sigh.
"In any case, we are grateful for your future assistance. There is still much to discuss regarding the Abundance and the Destruction. In the meantime, please rest here," Jing Yuan said before hurrying off to deal with his other duties.
Watching the exhausted General leave, one could only hope he wouldn't become the first general in Xianzhou history to die from overwork.
...
That night, Mo Wang took out his phone. The chat group was as lively as ever.
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: Sigh. My heart aches. I don't think I can love again.
[A Certain Hyperion's King of Slacking]: Oh? What happened? Did your wallet suddenly explode?
[A Certain Teyvat Blondie]: Doesn't look like it.
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: Question: I broke my Sky Thunder. Anyone know how to fix it?
[A Certain Savior of Human Order]: What? How did your Sky Thunder suddenly break?
[A Certain Video Store Owner]: Dude, did you take it to fight an Aeon? Can that thing even break?
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: Don't be ridiculous. I just pissed off Phantylia earlier today, and she decided to self-destruct. I had no choice but to use the Sky Thunder to stop her.
[A Certain King of Kivotos]: Phantylia blew up? So... is she dead? I mean, if she's dead, can the script even continue?
[A Certain Mankind's Strongest Martial Arts Genius]: Who knows. The Stellaron Hunters' script has gone so far off the rails, it's a miracle it's still going. Unless that guy can really see the future.
[A Certain Strongest Demon Lord]: See through fate and predict the future? Do people like that really exist?
[A Certain Ark's Succubus]: Elio's name can also be translated as Elijah, which is a classic prophet name. With a name like that, I'm half-expecting him to show up in this group chat someday.
[A Certain Soul Player Aspiring to be the King of Games]: No way! Don't tell me it's a future account of the big boss? @[A Certain Hyperion's King of Slacking]
[A Certain Hyperion's King of Slacking]: What? Even if I went to the Star Rail universe, I wouldn't become a prophet! Besides, that's not really our style, is it?
[A Certain Little Red Cap Destined to be a Chick Magnet]: I wouldn't be so sure.
[A Certain Most Hype Pokémon Trainer]: Is there anyone in this group who doesn't cause trouble? If you had a chance to mess with the other group members, you're telling me you wouldn't take it?
[A Certain DFO's Salted Fish]: Highly probable.
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: Forget about Elio for a second. What am I supposed to do about my broken Sky Thunder? Any ideas?
[A Certain Soul Player Aspiring to be the King of Games]: Uh, I don't know. To be honest, the Sky Thunder is basically a Duel Monster from a card. If the robot is damaged, doesn't that mean the Duel Monster is dead?
[A Certain Little Red Cap Destined to be a Chick Magnet]: Generally, if a Duel Monster is injured, you can try to repair it with your duelist's spirit. Maybe if you shout about friendship, bonds, dreams, and the future, it'll just magically fix itself.
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: Seriously? Is card repair really that mystical?
Mo Wang stared at his phone, at a loss for words.
[A Certain Little Red Cap Destined to be a Chick Magnet]: Unfortunately, that's just how Yu-Gi-Oh! works.
The Chick Magnet Mo Wang explained that in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, anything is possible. Even if you rip a card to shreds, as long as your duelist's spirit is strong enough, the card's monster can come back, and maybe even get a power-up.
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: So, you're saying I can't use it for now?
[A Certain Soul Player Aspiring to be the King of Games]: Probably. But I did get a new card recently. Want to give it a try?
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: A new card? What is it?
[A Certain Soul Player Aspiring to be the King of Games]: This.
[A Certain Soul Player Aspiring to be the King of Games] has uploaded an item: [Super Quantal Mech King Great Magnus]
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: Holy crap, isn't this from Super Sentai?!
[A Certain Hyperion's King of Slacking]: Whoa! A new robot!
[A Certain Teyvat Blondie]: That's so cool! After the Gundam is gone, Super Sentai takes its place?
[A Certain Savior of Human Order]: Is this... a classic mecha trope? Unit-01 is destroyed, so Unit-02 takes over?
[A Certain Video Store Owner]: Technically, isn't Great Magnus the predecessor to Sky Thunder? To be precise, he's the second Yu-Gi-Oh! mecha. The first one was Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon.
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: But why is it another Xyz monster? After Galaxy-Eyes, there's Great Magnus, and then Sky Thunder. They're all Xyz.
[A Certain King of Kivotos]: The Xyz archetype is full of Gundams. It is what it is.
[A Certain Mankind's Strongest Martial Arts Genius]: It looks cool, but isn't this thing harder to summon than Sky Thunder? I barely see anyone use it.
[A Certain Strongest Demon Lord]: Power is temporary, but style is eternal. As long as it's cool enough, even a salted fish can have its day. And no card, no matter how strong, can escape Konami's banlist.
[A Certain Ark's Succubus]: On that note, I have to mention a certain card that's been popular since the original Yu-Gi-Oh!, is still getting support, was the only championship-winning deck from the original cast, and still shows up on the competitive meta charts.
[A Certain Soul Player Aspiring to be the King of Games]: Ah, I know! It must be the Dark...
[A Certain Little Red Cap Destined to be a Chick Magnet]: That's right! It's our Blue-Eyes White Dragon deck!
[A Certain Most Hype Pokémon Trainer]: That broken Blue-Eyes deck can still beat a bunch of modern monsters after all these years. How much money did Kaiba pay Konami?
[A Certain DFO's Salted Fish]: That is... Invincible! Unrivaled! Strongest! Shatter! Pulverize! Grand Applause!
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: Alright, alright! I've got a new robot to play with! Woohoo! Time to let loose again!
[A Certain King of Kivotos]: Isn't this the definition of "out with the old, in with the new"? You've forgotten about Sky Thunder already?
[A Certain Mankind's Strongest Martial Arts Genius]: Sky Thunder: "I will not say a word until my divorce lawyer arrives."
[A Certain Strongest Demon Lord]: Heh, men.
Mo Wang completely ignored their teasing. With Great Magnus, who cared if Sky Thunder was broken?
Oh wait, he still cared. He would need his god-tier robot for fighting Aeons in the future. But for now, he was dying to test out Great Magnus.
...
"Er, Mr. Yang, what's with him now? Why is he suddenly so excited?" March 7th asked, bewildered, as she watched Mo Wang jump up from the bed. One moment he was completely burnt out, the next he was bouncing off the walls.
"Who knows? Maybe his robot got fixed," Welt replied. Speaking of the Sky Thunder, Welt felt a pang of sadness himself. He hadn't even had a chance to touch that robot before it was destroyed. He knew it was unavoidable at the time, but for a mecha lover, it was a fate worse than death.
If Welt knew that Mo Wang now had a combining mecha, he would probably lose his mind.
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: Oh, right, one more thing. @[A Certain Savior of Human Order]
[A Certain Savior of Human Order]: What's up?
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: Hey bro, can you get your hands on that soul materialization tech? Or maybe modify the Servant summoning system so I can use it here?
[A Certain Savior of Human Order]: That's... a bit difficult, but I can try. You'll have to give me some time, though. I'm a little busy right now.
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: ? What are you doing?
[A Certain Savior of Human Order]: Nothing much. Just digging up Charlemagne's grave in France.
[A Certain Train's Trash King]: (ー`′ー)?
(End of Volume V: Love Triangle of Mo Wang, Elation, and Preservation)