Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

Chapter 1717: Rotten Oranges Are Rotten Oranges
"Your laziness has infected the other students, Judai," said Koji Sato, placing his finger above the deck. "Right now, you're like that moldy, rotten orange at the bottom of a box, so I've come to teach you a lesson!"

"My turn, draw a card!"

[Koji Sato: 4000LP, hand 6→7]

With a full six cards in hand, Sato Koji entered his second round. Anyone who didn't know better would think he had only just started his first round. Judai shook his head when he heard this: "Rotten oranges? Am I such a shameless guy? Anyway, we have business with Professor Cobra. We don't have time to listen to your complaints now, and we don't want to listen to your lectures!"

“But Jaden, you can’t beat us, neither Professor Klaus nor me.” Koji Sato glanced at the card he had drawn and said, “Because we have something you don’t.”

"The darkness in a duelist's heart, the burdens a duelist carries—none of these are in your lighthearted hero's dream." Koji Sato paused. "And I can say that not a single duel in my life so far has been fought for myself. Of course, Jaden, who is only thinking about himself, can't understand this."

"A duel not for oneself? What fun could there be in such a duel?" Jaden said subconsciously.

“Of course it’s not interesting!” Hearing Judai’s frivolous words, Koji Sato, who did not come from a wealthy family like him, clenched his teeth and recalled the past.

Born into a poor family, he embarked on the path of a professional duelist through his own talent. However, without any predecessors to guide him, he could only rely on duels to hone his skills. At the same time, in order not to burden his family, he also earned a living by performing duels.

(Young Koji Sato)

Despite his efforts to suppress his fatigue, the pain he had accumulated overworked eventually erupted at the worst possible time, causing him to lose to his opponent in the important professional tournament qualifying round. His talent, which should have been able to shine on the professional stage, ultimately failed to blossom.

There were even signs of this before. During his duel performance, he had fainted and collapsed due to the excessive impact. However, stopping the performance meant he would run out of living expenses. He could only grit his teeth and move forward like he was running a marathon, but unfortunately, he still couldn't make it to the finish line.

Speaking of the exhibition match that made him faint, he said that he collapsed halfway through the duel, which made the paid audience very unhappy, and they even threw trash such as beverage bottles at him.

While it's true that I didn't quite liven things up for the audience, the behavior of those spectators was worse than that of an underground duel. At least in an illegal underground duel, the audience wouldn't throw trash at the fighters they didn't like.

But it was during that terrible duel performance, in which I broke my glasses and didn't even get my performance fee, that I had a hallucination while I was unconscious. I saw my ace monster protecting me as I fell down. Unfortunately, the thrown objects easily passed through what was just a hallucination projected by the duel system.

It's strange to use real-world settings in a dream, but Koji Sato couldn't just dismiss it as a fleeting dream, especially since at the end of that dream he was protected by armor made of scabs, and his deck really did change afterwards, with the "Scabbed Scar Knight" appearing in his deck.

"You headstrong Jaden Yuki, I'm going to take you down!" Koji Sato shouted, playing a card from his hand. "Spell Card [Lightning Strike] activated! Destroy all monsters on your opponent's field!"

"Don't even think about it! I'll chain-activate my face-down card in the back row to counter the Trap Card [Elemental Protection]!" Seeing that Koji Sato was about to destroy his monster, Jaden quickly activated his card as well, saying, "When a Spell/Trap Card is activated, you can banish one face-up [E-hero] monster on my field until the End Phase of this turn. I banish [E-hero Order Neos] from my field!"

On the field of the tenth generation, [E·hero Order Neos]'s body transformed into a burst of light, instantly piercing and shattering the thunderclouds gathering in the sky, "Negatively destroying the activation of the Spell/Trap Card!"

Seeing that Judai had blocked his [Lightning Strike] with a card, Koji Sato smirked: "But Judai, you only have three cards left in your back row, and now you only have two left—if I were to activate this second card that you have to find a way to stop, how would you block it?"

"I usually summon [Dark Hero - Corpse Demon], then activate the Spell Card—[Spell Card "Soul Intertwined"]!"

As Koji Sato played his card, golden light appeared on his Dark Hero - Corpse Demon, as well as on Jaden's N - Gleaming Moss and E - Hero Neos, and continued to rise and gather in the air, as if it were about to dissipate at any moment.

"The Spell Card 'Soul Crossing' is a brand new card designed based on the classic Spell Card 'Soul Crossing,' inheriting its effect while also being enhanced." As a duel deck-building instructor, explaining the latest cards and the latest Forbidden/Limited Card List is also part of his teaching duties. He habitually explained the card effect he was currently activating, "Under the effect of the Spell Card 'Soul Crossing,' I perform a Tribute Summon of a One Monster."

"However, unlike [Double Summon] which only adds an extra summon, the effect of the [Spell Card "Soul Intertwined"] allows me to Tribute Summon monsters by replacing those on my field and Tributing monsters on my opponent's field. The trade-off is that the Tribute Summoned monster cannot be Tributed this turn."

Showing a card in his hand, Koji Sato said, "I specifically summoned [Dark Hero - Corpse Demon] as well because this card in my hand is a monster that can be specially summoned by using a three-body monster as a tribute, in addition to the normal Tribute Summon!"

"Release my Dark Hero - Corpse Demon and the opponent's two monsters, and Tribute the three monsters to Tribute Summon Divine Beast King - Barbaros!"

【Divine Beast King - Barbaros】【8☆/Land】

[Beast Warrior Race/Effect]

[3000/1200]

"Although 【Divine Beast King - Barbaros】is a Level 8 monster, it has a summoning method that can be done without tribute, with two tributes, or with three tributes due to its own effect. The most common method is to take advantage of its effect of not needing tributes to quickly summon it, and then combine it with cards such as 【Skill Drain】 to negate its own effect and become a powerful monster with 3000 ATK."

Upon seeing the [Divine Beast King - Barbaros] appear on Sato-sensei's field, Asuka said, "But that doesn't mean that the [Divine Beast King - Barbaros] summoned using a two-body sacrifice or the [Divine Beast King - Barbaros] summoned using a three-body sacrifice is useless."

"When a Tribute Summon is performed by sacrificing a Tribulation monster, the strongest effect of [Divine Beast King - Barbaross] will also activate - destroy all cards on your opponent's field!"

Compared to the classic monster [Lightning God - Guilford], [Divine Beast King - Barbaros] completely surpasses it in terms of attack power, summoning conditions, and effect strength. While its effect of destroying all cards on the opponent's field is somewhat less intimidating since Jaden no longer has any monsters on the field, destroying Jaden's two face-down cards in the back row is still a considerable achievement. [Divine Beast King - Barbaros] unleashed leaping lightning, surging at the tip of its spear, like a thunder god from mythology striking with overwhelming power. In the blink of an eye, the lightning pierced the entire field, clearing Jaden's back row.

However, although he was nearsighted, Mr. Sato was very certain that he had not seen wrong just now; one of the face-down cards in the back row of Judai had definitely been flipped over before it was destroyed.

As expected, before Koji Sato could even ask a question, Jaden had already pulled one of the destroyed cards out of the Spell & Trap Zone and displayed it in front of him: "Just as your [Divine Beast King - Barbaros] effect activated, I also chained the activation of this face-down card on my back row - the Quick-Play Spell Card [Kuriboh's Calling Flute]!"

"Special Summon Winged Kuriboh from my Deck to my field!"

"However, while Kuriboh's Calling Flute does Special Summon a monster from your Deck to the field, even though it takes effect before that of [Divine Beast King - Barbaros], the summoned monster will only be destroyed by the effect of [Divine Beast King - Barbaros], right?"

Hearing Koji Sato's words, Jaden said smugly, "Hmph, that's the best thing about my Aibo. The effect of Winged Kuriboh is activated when this card on the field is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, and it reduces the battle damage I take this turn to 0."

"Furthermore, the effect of my other face-down card in the back row, 'Troublemaker,' is that if this face-down card leaves the field, is sent to the Graveyard, or is banished due to an opponent's card effect, I can Special Summon a monster from my Deck or Extra Deck."

"While I can't use this effect to Special Summon monsters with the restriction 'This card can only be summoned by Fusion Summon,' it's just a regular monster," Jaden said, searching his deck and playing a card. "I Special Summon [E-Hero Bubble Man] from my deck to the field!"

【E·hero Bubble Warrior】【DEF1200】

The effect of [E·hero Bubble Man], known as "Greedy Man," can be activated upon entering the field and is not restricted to Special Summoning based on its own effect. In the current Jaden era where players are unarmed and have an empty field, even the [E·hero Bubble Man] characters available on the market can use their effects, not to mention that Jaden's [E·hero Bubble Man] has a special version of its effect.

"When there are no other cards on my field, I can activate this effect when 【E·hero Bubble Man】 is successfully Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned. I draw two cards from my deck."

[Yujo Judai: 4000LP, Hand 0→2]

"Using this method to avoid combat damage and replenish your hand?" Seeing Jaden's actions, Koji Sato, despite his prejudice against Jaden, had to admit his talent in duels. "You played well, but the more you do that, the more unsettling it becomes for me!"

"My [Convenient Ride] in the back row hasn't disappeared yet! Because even if my opponent draws a card outside of their draw phase, I can still draw two cards from my deck!"

【佐藤浩二：4000LP，手牌8→7→6→5→4→3→5】

With his hand back to five cards, Koji Sato didn't even glance at the cards he'd drawn. He waved his hand and said, "Now I'm going into the battle phase. I'll use [Scabbed Scar Knight] to attack [E·hero Bubble Man]!"

"Although [E·hero Bubble Man] has higher defense, I will not be harmed in battle because of the [Soul Barrier]!"

Clearly, the effect of placing counters by the [Scabbed Scar Knight] can be used not only when being attacked, but also when deliberately provoking an attack.

Like a wild beast, the [Scabbed Scar Knight] swung its claws at [E·hero Bubble Man], but failed to inflict any damage—neither on Jaden nor on Sato. However, this wasn't because the [Soul Barrier] or the [Scabbed Scar Knight] had zero attack power, but rather because of the single monster that appeared in Jaden's graveyard?

“Just now, my teacher, the effect of your [Divine Beast King - Barbaros] activated not only on my backrow face-down card, but also on this card in my graveyard.” Jaden took out a card and showed it off. “[Necromancer] can banish itself from the graveyard and negate the attack declaration when I am attacked for the first time this turn. Therefore, [Scabbed Scar Knight] cannot attack my [E·hero Bubble Man].

"In that case, I'll use [Divine Beast King - Barbaros] to attack [E·hero Bubble Man]!"

Knowing that Jaden could always create miracles by fusing [Hero] with each other, Koji Sato had no intention of leaving [E·hero Bubble Man] for Jaden. Unable to seize control with the effect of [Scabbed Scar Knight], he decisively used [Divine Beast King - Barbaross] to destroy it.

"My battle phase ends, and then in my main phase two, I pay 1000 Life Points to activate this Spell Card - Mischievous Twin Demons. My opponent randomly discards one card from their hand, and then chooses another to discard. In other words, they discard both cards in your hand."

Looking at the remaining cards in Jaden's hand, even though it required paying out his own life points, Koji Sato did so without hesitation to cut off Jaden's hopes.

[Koji Sato: 4000→3000LP, 5→4 cards in hand]

"You're chasing me too hard, teacher? But that's precisely why my card can activate its effect." Jaden said, showing one of his two cards, "If [E·hero Shadow Mist Lady] is sent to the Graveyard, I can add one [Hero] monster other than [E·hero Shadow Mist Lady] from my Deck to my hand."

"I choose [E·hero Sky Knight]!"

[Yujo Judai: 4000LP, Hand 2→1]

　A typhoon has recently made landfall in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Please be careful!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)