Titan's eyes widened as he lay on the ground.
Lost again.
And it was another one-hit kill.
You don't understand the pain of being one-hit killed twice in one night.
If the first time was against the Duel King and I was powerless, that's one thing—it makes sense because the Duel King is a symbol of absolute strength, and no matter how strong he is, it's not an exaggeration. It just proves that an ordinary Duelist and the Duel King aren't in the same dimension.
But how is this jellyfish-headed student, who looks so silly, also this strong?
Could it be that I've been crushing weak opponents for so long that I've already been outdated by today's standards? Are all Duelists this outrageous now?
...And what the heck is this "Lava Golem"!? Is this thing some kind of underworld Monster?
At this moment, Judai's two roommates came over, showering him with genuine admiration.
"Big bro, you're so strong!" Xiang's eyes were filled with admiration, "With such a powerful setup, you actually took him down in one turn!"
Judai scratched his head: "Not really, I'm actually pretty average..."
It's not that he's intentionally being modest; it's just how he genuinely feels.
No matter how hard he privately works on studying and improving, every time he duels him, he still gets lost in Youyu's endless strategies.
Youyu would always shake his head in the end and say to him, "Not bad, though. Although you've made good progress, you're still far from being a Duelist who can truly stand on their own."
Ever since he was young, Judai kept Youyu's assessment in his heart. So, he always considered himself to be "just good enough," never thinking he's exceptionally strong.
Yet Xiang and Hayato took Judai's words as sheer modesty.
Are you kidding? With such impressive skills, if he still thinks he's just okay, we might as well drop out right now and consider finding a job instead?
Because playing cards might really not suit them...
"But that 'Lava Golem' is really strong, huh?" Hayato mused, resting his chin on his hand.
"It depends on how you use it," Xiang said, "Giving your opponent a Monster with 3000 attack points for free is a big loss, but if you master it well, any card can unleash tremendous power.
For a Duelist like big bro, even the weakest card would definitely prove valuable!"
Xiang looked at Judai with firm admiration in his eyes.
He's already become shaped like a big bro. JPG.
Judai looked at the Lava Golem card, "Actually, at first, when someone told me to include this card, I refused..."
He fell into past memories.
Little Judai: Teacher, I don't want to include so many weird things, I want to play pure Heroes!
Youyu: Judai, include this Lava Golem for me!
Little Judai: I don't care, I just want to play pure Heroes, pure Heroes!
Youyu (picked up a copy of "Exam Express" right away): Are you going to include it or not?
Little Judai: ...
Honestly, even in the anime, Judai's Card Deck wasn't truly pure Heroes; he often included random and meaningless Monsters in it. Youyu felt that including a universal solution like the Lava Golem wasn't a problem at all.
Besides, a great person once said: "We Duelists should trust our Card Decks. If you believe he's a Hero, then he naturally is."
And so, from then on, Judai's Hero series happily welcomed a new eight-star addition, Elemental Hero Lava Golem.
In the dark, after watching the duel, Youyu could only shake his head repeatedly.
This Titan is truly hopeless, dragging him up resulted in a weakling; he couldn't even last one turn in front of the current Judai. It completely failed to achieve Youyu's anticipated teaching effect...
At this moment, Judai and his two companions had already arrived beside Asuka.
Judai supported the unconscious Asuka, gently patting the girl's snow-white tender cheeks: "Hey, hey, Asuka, are you okay? Wake up."
It was as if the person he was helping wasn't a delicate-looking girl but a good buddy he hangs out with every day.
Youyu: "..."
Well done, Judai, you have more potential than I do.
Yuki Judai, Innate Card Body, The Supreme King's presence, always drawing the right card, enviable, isn't it?
Don't be envious, he doesn't have a love interest.
Xiang sweated: "Big bro, isn't this a little too rough..."
"Huh? Is it?" Judai's face was full of innocence.
Asuka softly moaned twice, then groggily opened her eyes. The first thing she saw when she pried open her eyelids was Judai's face.
"Ah, you're awake!" Judai's face lit up with joy.
"...Judai?"
Realizing she was leaning on his arm, Asuka blushed slightly and quickly sat up.
"What's... going on?"
Her memory was a bit foggy. Her head felt dizzy, her whole self confused, unable to recall anything. She just massaged her sore temples.
Xiang said, "We found you collapsed here, Asuka..."
Asuka suddenly remembered in shock, "Right, I was by the abandoned dormitory... there was a strange person in black clothes! Judai, quickly inform the teacher, there might be an intruder on the island!
The person might be extremely dangerous, and the students missing from the abandoned dormitory might have something to do with him..."
Judai pointed to the disheartened "dead fish" lying on the ground beside him: "Do you mean this guy?"
Asuka: "..."
Right now, Titan felt really bitter inside.
He wanted to say, as for the students going missing, heck, I haven't even heard of that.
I just arrived on the island, haven't even gotten my footing, and got knocked out before I could start any mischief. The talks of students disappearing, heck, I've never even heard of it, okay? Don't wrongfully accuse people...
"When we got here, Asuka, we found you unconscious, and this guy called himself the Dark Duelist and took you as a hostage." Xiang said, "It was big bro who defeated him and saved you."
"Is... that so."
Asuka managed to recall the last bits of her memory before she blacked out. She got up and respectfully bowed to Judai: "If that's true, I'm sorry for causing you trouble. And thank you."
"No problem, it was nothing." Judai waved his hand generously, "We're all good friends here; it's only right to help each other out!"
Jonouchi behavior. JPG.
Seeing that nobody was paying attention to him, and with no sign of the suspected Duel King around, Titan maintained his stance of lying still and quietly began to crawl forward, seemingly trying to sneak away while no one noticed.
But, all of a sudden, he froze, suddenly letting out a "ugh ah ah" scream.
The youngsters were startled. Judai pointed at him and said, "Hey! Don't think that by pretending we'll let you get away! Faking illness is something I'm best at, you can't fool me!"
He's not just boasting. When he was young, every time he tried to fake illness to skip school, he might have fooled the schoolteachers, but he could never fool Teacher Youyu.
Once, he put a thermometer under a lamp to pretend he had a fever, but he overdid it, and the thermometer exploded, almost needing firefighters instead of an ambulance...
"Big bro... I don't think he's faking it." Xiang swallowed, timidly taking a few steps back.
Even the thick-skinned Judai realized something was off at this point.
If he's pretending... then he's putting way too much effort into it!
Swirling dark matter seemed to pour from the cracks in the ground, forcefully entering Titan's nose and mouth and eyes. Titan convulsed, struggling violently, just like a fish washed ashore by the waves.
He stood up—although saying he stood up might not be entirely accurate because he didn't use his strength to rise. Titan's joints twisted at strange angles, springing him from the ground, his eyes beneath the mask filled with chaos.
"Yuki... Judai."
He said in a low voice, lifting a hand like a zombie.
Surging darkness rushed towards Judai and his friends.
Golden light tore through space, slicing through the darkness, splitting it in half. A streak of golden afterimage shot out, crouching on the ground, twin blades crossing paths.
Masked Hero Koga!
Judai looked toward the direction where Koga had flown from, his face lighting up with joy: "Youyu... Principal!"
What a close call, almost slipped up...