"Yuki Judai?" Youyu furrowed his brow, "Are you sure that's the name?"
"If I pronounced it correctly, it should be." Titan pointed to the scrapped device that Youyu had just put away, "That's what was written in the message from that machine."
This matter started to catch Youyu's attention.
Goodness, daring to target my adorable student?
It suddenly became a personal vendetta.
But who is it? And what is their purpose?
The GX plot is just beginning, so theoretically, Judai should still be just an unnoticeable freshman with no reason to attract attention. In the anime, as more and more things happen in the academy and the plot continues to advance, Yuki Judai starts to enter more people's sight.
At this point in time, who would be interested in Judai?
Could it be...because of The Supreme King?
Youyu and Yubel had a specific conversation about The Supreme King. Although Yubel was not pleased at that time, after being helplessly cornered by Youyu, Yubel reluctantly shared what she knew while glaring at him with a slight hint of grievance.
She assured Youyu that throughout Judai's life, The Supreme King's power had only lost control once—during the time Aigami tried to send them to the Other Dimension.
It might be the power of the Quantum Cube that triggered a switch deep within Judai's consciousness, causing The Supreme King's persona to awaken briefly from its deep slumber.
But it was just a brief awakening.
The Supreme King's soul was in a deep slumber, and even when it woke up, it was more of an instinctual response in dueling; rather than genuinely waking up, it was more like a sleepwalking state.
...Yes, while sleepwalking, The Supreme King thrashed Aigami to the point where he couldn't tell which way was north...
There were no other incidents apart from that one.
So, Titan's mysterious employer, could it be... Aigami?
Although it seemed unlikely, Youyu decided that if he had the chance, he should ask Aigami about it after all.
Coincidentally, it had been a while since he last contacted Aigami and his little Prana partners. After all, everyone used to play cards back in the day, so they are card friends. Card friends not seeing each other for so long, Aigami must surely miss him a lot, hearing a familiar voice would definitely bring him joy...
"That's all I know." Titan said cautiously, "May I... leave now?"
"Leave?" Youyu glanced at him sideways, "Leaving like this wouldn't be too easy on you, would it?"
Titan felt a chill in his seat after hearing this reaction, and said bitterly, "Mr. Youyu, I really am just taking money to do the work—as of now, I don't even know what it is I'm supposed to do! I beg you..."
But it seemed like this guy was indeed just disposable cannon fodder and wouldn't yield any more valuable information.
Youyu glanced at Asuka, who was still unconscious nearby—he had confirmed that she was merely asleep and was fine. Then, Youyu had a thought, activated the Duel Disc's projection screen, and glanced at the map.
He saw a green light point departing from the direction of "Osiris Red" Dormitory, moving toward here at a steady pace.
Evidently, that was his adorable student Yuki Judai.
Because Judai, being the protagonist, had a knack for attracting trouble, Youyu had installed a transmitter in Judai's Duel Disc to prevent him from getting involved in troubles that he couldn't handle at his current level of strength, allowing him to confirm his whereabouts at any time.
Just as expected, Judai's trouble-making soul was acting up again.
Perhaps due to historical inertia, similar to the animation's plot, Judai and his roommates got interested after hearing Teacher Daitokuji from their dorm telling ghost stories about students disappearing back in the day. They decided to explore the school's restricted area in the middle of the night.
Judging by their speed, Judai and his buddies might be here in about three minutes.
Youyu thought for a moment, picked up the Card Deck that Titan had handed over, and quickly checked it.
Flipping through the cards, he couldn't help but complain, "What kind of meaningless stuff did you stuff into the Card Deck? If you had high-level cards that were difficult to use, that'd be one thing, but what's the deal with these Normal Monsters?"
Titan: "I...I..."
However, Youyu interrupted him before he could defend himself, "Having Normal Monsters is one thing, but what's up with this 'Injection Fairy Lily'? Isn't your deck supposed to be a Fiend-Type deck? Is that thing a fiend too?"
Injection Fairy Lily, a Spellcaster-Type with an attack power of 400. However, during battle, it has an effect that allows you to pay 2000 Life Points to increase its attack power by 3000 points.
This card was fairly useful in the early Yu-Gi-Oh! environment and was even historically the first monster to be banned.
Yet, looking at her slender waist, long legs, and angelic features, she seems quite out of place with the Fiend-Type deck's style, doesn't she?
Tough guy Titan felt awkward and said, "It's...a lucky card, yes, a lucky card..."
Youyu narrowed his eyes.
Well, who would've thought that you'd have a taste for this sort of thing, with your bold eyebrows and big eyes.
Some people pretend to play with fierce and terrifying skull-featured Fiend decks, but secretly slip in busty angel chicks...
"This card's useless, get rid of it." While speaking, Youyu already pocketed the "Injection Angel."
Titan dared not say "No," nodding and bowing, repeatedly agreeing with Mr. Wang of Duels...
With a bunch of miscellaneous and useless cards removed, Titan's deck thickness was suddenly halved. Youyu thought for a moment, then added some more useful General Cards and filter draw cards to the deck before putting the adjusted deck back into the Duel Disc on Titan's chest.
"Okay, now your deck's battle strength should be pretty decent, definitely much stronger than before." Youyu nodded, seemingly pleased with his handiwork.
At this moment, the muscular man looked completely bewildered, utterly confused.
He had provoked this Duel King, got thoroughly beaten up, yet the other party didn't confiscate his deck as rumored... and even enthusiastically helped him adjust and strengthen it?
Heck, could the rumors all be lies?
Actually, Duel King Youyu wasn't a Duel Disk Hunter at all, but instead a broad-minded, helpful person who didn't hold personal grudges?
Just as Titan was about to express his gratitude with a joyful face, Youyu said, "Don't get it wrong, your deck is already mine, as is your Duel Disc—though I'm not particularly fond of its style.
I'm just lending it to you for now because you still have a task to complete."
Titan: "?"
"That person you're looking for, Yuki Judai, is a student on this island." Youyu said coolly, "He'll be here in about a minute.
I want you to do what you did when you first met me and have a rematch with Judai just like we did."
Titan: "???"
He was a bit confused, "Do you mean...?"
"I mean, tonight, I was never here, and you never saw me." Youyu pointed to the unconscious Asuka and then to Titan, "You snuck over here, hypnotized this girl, and were accidentally caught by Yuki Judai and his classmates.
Then you challenged him to a Dark Duel—but this time, it's not a real Dark Duel, just the blinding techniques you used in the past, got it?"
Titan was confused.
"You want me to duel with him again? Using this deck you strengthened?"
"That's right." Youyu nodded, expressing satisfaction.
Looks like you're not as dumb as you look, understood it in one go...
"So... should I win against him?" Titan asked cautiously.
He still hadn't fully grasped the role he was supposed to play. Could it be that this student had been offending the Duel King... so he was deliberately using this chance to let him teach the student a lesson?
Youyu chuckled, "Win if you can... Tell you what, if you manage to win, I'll pretend tonight never happened.
You can keep the cards I strengthened in your deck, and I'll act like I never met you today, sounds good?"
Titan's eyes lit up.
What a great opportunity!
Having prepared to accept his fate, Titan suddenly felt a ray of hope.
So if he wins against this Yuki Judai, there's still hope for him?
Ha! That should be a piece of cake, right?
If I can't beat the Duel King, does that mean I can't beat just a student?
"Alright, leave it to me, sir!" Titan straightened his back, "My reputation in the industry is top-notch; I guarantee to complete the task!"
"Let's see how you perform then."
Youyu waved his hand and disappeared into the jungle from Titan's sight.
In no time, Yuki Judai and his friends' voices could be heard.
"Asuka!" That was Marufuji Xiang's voice.
"What's happening?" This was their other roommate, Maeda Hayato from the Osiris Red dormitory—a round figure resembling a walking koala.
"Who are you!?" Judai clearly noticed Titan, "Step away from Asuka!"
"Hahahaha! My name is Titan, the renowned Dark Duelist of the Underworld! Yuki Judai, I am here to hunt your soul!"
Titan laughed maniacally, putting on an evil villain facade—winking towards where Youyu disappeared, as if to ask, "How's my acting?"
Watching from the shadows, Youyu sighed leisurely.
This was something he had thought about for a while.
That under his guidance, Judai had grown much stronger compared to the same point in the original story.
Strong to the extent that the opponents he faced in the original series and the challenges he went through were trivial in comparison, providing no real challenge or training effect...
So as a teacher, he had to think of ways to create tougher challenges for his student.
Otherwise, Youyu estimated that with Judai's current strength, someone like Titan would pose no challenge at all...
"Judai, you better learn to be grateful in the future." Watching the two outside readying themselves for battle, Youyu muttered to himself, "There might never be another teacher as thoroughly considerate as me in the world."