"I lost."
The team leader stood up and spoke.
"So this is the dueling of Seto Kaiba? Truly flawless. You are undoubtedly the number one man in the world of dueling today... I am completely convinced."
"As a duelist, you have some potential," Kaiba said coldly. "Dueling should be an exercise in absolute suppression. You must crush even the slightest possibility of a counterattack from your opponent.
To achieve that, relying solely on monsters, spells, or traps is insufficient. It only has meaning when all three are forged into one. Once you have mastered that, the most important thing a duelist possesses is found here."
He raised his fist and gestured toward his heart.
The leader seemed to have an epiphany and bowed deeply. "Thank you for your guidance, President. I will do my utmost and strive to improve in the future."
"Since that fellow thinks highly of you, do not disappoint him," Kaiba said dismissively.
"Yes, sir!"
After only a single exchange, the crowd of onlookers was filled with immense respect for the legendary Seto Kaiba. They felt that his reputation was truly well-deserved; seeing him in person made them realize he was even stronger than the rumors suggested.
The atmosphere was briefly harmonious, like a senior master guiding a junior disciplethough the effect might have been less jarring if the "junior" hadn't been a massive, burly man dressed in a Dragonmaid outfit.
Their leader really has some questionable tastes...
Suddenly, another burly man in white silk stockings came running from the back of the group. He shouted to the leader, "We have a situation!"
"What is it?" the leader asked.
"The feds... a team of cops is closing in on our position. It looks like they're coming for us."
"The cops?" The leader frowned and cursed under his breath. "What a bunch of bloodhounds. They actually managed to track us here?"
You Xuan looked at Mokuba. "Didn't you say they were the ones doing good deeds?"
"That's not exactly how I put it. I said they used Shadow Power to punish evil and promote good," Mokuba replied. "But you know, sometimes punishing evil involves breaking a few taboos."
You Xuan thought about it and realized he was right. At least nine out of ten superheroes had a history of playing cat-and-mouse with law enforcement. It wasn't strange for justice and the law to clash occasionally.
The man in white stockings spoke again. "They brought an entire convoy and even deployed armed helicopters. Boss, I think we should move fast..."
Mokuba was stunned. "What on earth did you guys do to bring that kind of heat down on yourselves?"
"Oh, it's nothing much," the leader said. "A new casino opened up in the city recently. On the surface, it was all legal and fully licensed, but we discovered the owner was actually a Shadow Game player.
It was said that you could win anything at that casinowealth, fame, beauty, luck... anything. But losers would truly lose everything. Eventually, they'd be forced to put their very souls on the line as chips. Once they lost, they became the property of the casino."
"A Shadow Game using gambling as a medium," You Xuan noted, understanding.
Duel Monsters was the form of Shadow Game where its power was most effectively channeled, but it wasn't the only form. In fact, Shadow Games were diverse; the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga didn't start with card games but rather a hodgepodge of various games.
"Exactly," the leader continued. "As more and more souls were taken by that place, we took notice and went to play with the owner. We won, took the guy out, and released all the souls he had sealed."
"Doesn't that sound like a good thing?" Mokuba asked, puzzled. "How did the Public Security Bureau get involved?"
The leader scratched his head sheepishly. "Oh, before I left, I happened to set the entire casino on fire. Just a habit of mine. It turned out to be a bigger mess than I expectedwho knew that bastard had powerful people protecting him from above? Once the fire went up, we were put on the most wanted list."
Mokuba: "..."
A habit? This guy was clearly a repeat offender. He had probably done this many times before.
"Don't worry about it, it's a small matter," the leader said with a wave of his hand. "Don't let these trivialities ruin the President's mood. Nakamura, Kitagawatake your men and follow me. The rest of you, continue escorting the President and his party to their quarters." He gave a confident smile. "We'll lose those tailing dogs in a few minutes and meet back up with you shortly."
Despite the convoy and the helicopters, his tone was as relaxed as if he were shooing away children asking for candy.
This made You Xuan increasingly curious about the specific methods these Shadow Duelists employed.
From the original story, it was clear that those with supernatural powers in this world tended toward the bizarremental manipulation and illusions were the most common. If they could use Shadow Power to materialize card effects, the range of abilities would be vast: weather manipulation, elemental magic, energy projection... almost anything was possible.
The Duel Disk You Xuan had taken from AI Alpha during the attack on Academy Island had a similar function, allowing Solid Vision to become physical, but its power was limited by the Duel Disk's output.
It would be great if I could learn to harness Shadow Power in the future, he thought. No, an easier way would be if I could just pick up a powerful Shadow Item.
The Millennium Items had disappeared into the Afterlife along with the Pharaoh. Even if they were still around, such artifacts chose their own masters and carried the risk of backlash. Those were world-ending tier artifacts, after all. However, You Xuan felt that if he could find a lower-level item, he might be able to master it.
The remaining escort team soon brought them to their lodging. Mokuba quickly headed to Kaiba's room, where the brothers set up their computers and immediately became busy.
You Xuan couldn't really help with whatever they were doing. However, on the way there, he had caught a glimpse of a local arena just a street away, which piqued his interest.
Since I have nothing to do, I might as well go to the arena for a warm-up. I can see what the local duelists are like and show them how the elites of this year's Duel Academy play.
Although it was dinner time, he wasn't particularly hungry after eating his fill on Kaiba's private jet. There happened to be a snack street nearby, and he thought it would be nice to try some local specialties.
Before leaving, he asked Mokuba if he wanted to come along, but Mokuba was typing furiously on his computer and declined, clearly occupied.
Night fell early in this city, and it was already chilly when You Xuan stepped outside. The cold felt like fine needles pricking his skin. The street was devoid of the usual hustle and bustle of people and traffic; only a dead silence remained.
When he reached the snack street, it was similarly deserted. The air felt frozen, and even the wind seemed to have held its breath, as if afraid to disturb the eerie stillness. The distant streetlights flickered lonely in the yellow dusk, casting mottled shadows that made the empty street look even more desolate.
Something was wrong.
You Xuan realized it instantly. It was far too early for the streets to be this quiet, especially a snack street.
There was a high probability this sign pointed toward one thing...
You Xuan turned around and, as expected, found a person standing behind him in the moonlight. The figure was slender with red hair, but the lower half of their face was masked. Their eyes glinted with amusement.
"Fujiki You Xuan. A student of Duel Academy, a duelist recognized by Seto Kaiba... a duelist he was even willing to bring along to this city."
A strange voice came from the figure, sounding as if it had been processed through a voice changer.
The person raised a Duel Disk.
"I would like to test your skills... if that isn't a problem?"
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