Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

Chapter 1744 The Closed World
After realizing that Loki, the Supreme God Emperor, was sowing discord between Hayato and Odin, the Supreme God Emperor, in order to act as a guide for the long-defeated "Light of Destruction," even Hayato was amused by this idiot.

It must be said that He has a real talent for playing the clown, as can be seen from the image of His true form, Loki, and the Shadow King Wars: Levadin who tried to evolve and transform in the "Duel-Links" world.

Unfortunately, in the end, he was just a clown, and now he's been dragged to the depths of the astral plane by Thor, a place undetectable by any detection equipment, to be tortured and executed. According to Thor himself, he has at least nine ways to thoroughly torment Loki—nine!

Hayato, on the other hand, was lying on a deckchair with Odin, one of them wearing sunglasses and basking in the sun, looking quite relaxed.

"Getting some sunshine is very good for your health."

"Right? The light and heat emitted by my [La] are just right."

"It's a pity that these sunglasses made by humans are only available in the form of double-eye lenses, so they're a little awkward to wear."

"There's nothing I can do. I didn't know I was coming to the 'Astral Plane' beforehand. So even if I had those one-eyed sunglasses, I had no reason to wear them."

"That's true."

Hayato and Odin seemed to be doing nothing, chatting idly like two retired old men, but in reality—well, they really didn't have anything to do, but it wasn't out of their own volition.

"Trust me, it's definitely in this spot." The Silver Princess of the Labyrinth pointed confidently to the chest of the Crystal Wing Synchronous Dragon. "Although there may be individual variations, the dragon's power will definitely be concentrated in the heart. That's what the stories say."

"Do you understand dragons better than me?" [Albus's Fallen] glanced at [Silver Princess of the Labyrinth City] and said speechlessly, "Dragon blood is the carrier of dragon power, okay? Breathing to generate magic is a dragon's signature ability."

"Neither. [Crystal Wing] is clearly a mechanically modified dragon, right? So I think the dragon scales—that is, its armor—are where the power is gathered." [Temple's Water Spear] said, rejecting the arguments of [Silver Princess of the Labyrinth] and [Fallen Descendant of Albus] in one fell swoop. "So to extract the power of the divine spear Gungnir to open the portal, we should strip off its armor plates!"

"I'm a dragon too, okay? You're all wrong!"

"You're not the same kind of dragon, so your experience is completely irrelevant. You should follow my advice, since I'm more knowledgeable!"

"What nonsense are these two inexperienced brats spouting? I am a magic master, just follow my instructions!"

"As the lord of Silver City, my knowledge and experience are far beyond what I can achieve!"

"Calling someone a brat? What's wrong with me being born smart?"

"Hey! I can't explain this damn gravity to you guys!"

Although the three were arguing inexplicably, their overall goal was quite consistent: to extract the power of Odin's spear "Gungnir" from the Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon.

Meanwhile, [Summoner-Aleister] glanced helplessly at the few "people" still engaged in endless, meaningless arguing and complained, "You have time to argue about these things, but not one of you is willing to lend a hand? What a bunch of bastards."

“Let’s try again.” With that, Alai beckoned, and the Crystal Wing waiting beside him unfolded a crystal reflector on its body, allowing Alai to carve something on it, before extending it toward the location of the previous teleportation portal.

However, all that stood there was an archway; the portal was not open. Even when Alai guided the Crystal Wing to extend part of its wing inside, there was no reaction. At most, the frame of the archway flickered, like a faulty light bulb.

While stretching out its wings, [Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon] glanced worriedly at [Albus's Fallen] and the others behind it. As their conversation gradually turned to "dissection," "I fused with it," and "Let's cast a summoning spell and see what it can become," it couldn't help but tremble a little. The [Fierce Hungry Poison Fusion Dragon] beside it patted its shoulder helplessly, expressing its sympathy but being unable to help.

According to the Linker of Nephthys, this portal connecting the Astral Plane and the Great Forest of Birds and Beasts opens for seven minutes every seven hours. However, after Hayato arrived, the portal remained open for almost half an hour until Hayato's duel with Odin, the Supreme God Emperor, ended, and Odin changed his mind and sent the power of the Triads to Earth.

After asking Odin, Hayato learned that although the portal in the other world only opens for seven minutes, the flow of time in the "Astral Plane" is different, roughly 1:10. In other words, if Hayato had left through the portal, although he spent about half an hour playing cards here, in the eyes of the Nephthys Linker on the other side, he might have only been gone for two or three minutes.

Well, here's the question: if the time ratio is 1:10, shouldn't the portal close after an hour? But actually, it's quite reasonable, since the portal's opening time was determined by the [Nephthys's Linkers] based on their past experience, and no one went through the portal during the test.

But just now, not only did Hayato arrive at the "Astral Plane" through the portal, but more importantly, [Supreme Holy Emperor - Odin] also sent the power of the "Triple Gods" out through the portal. Although space tunnels sound magical, they are actually based on the law of conservation of energy. The greater the "mass" of the teleported object, the more it will consume the remaining time. This caused the portal to be forcibly shut down after sending out the cards of the "Triple Gods".

Even so, at least the underlying logic of the portal—at least sending the object passing through the portal out—has been activated; otherwise, the remaining duration of the portal wouldn't be enough to cover the cost of the "Three Gods" card teleportation.

This directly resulted in the portal not only closing prematurely but also entering a state similar to "overdue payment," requiring approximately five hours to recover. From the perspective of the other world, the portal's next opening time might only be delayed by a few hours, but seven hours plus five hours equals twelve hours. For Hayato, this means he would be trapped in the "Astral Plane" for another one hundred and twenty hours, or five days, before he could leave.

Hayato asked Odin what he knew about the portal and what he could do to make it open sooner. But Odin, the Holy Emperor, said that all he had to do was use a special item to pre-charge the portal with energy. The so-called "periodic opening" was simply the portal opening automatically when it was fully charged with energy.

However, Odin then stated that it was impossible to fill the portal without a specific type of energy. After all, this was a channel for traversing worlds, not an electric car on the street. Only an artifact like His Gungnir could "charge" it, and only Gungnir could do so.

Other options, such as [Polar Star Treasure - Ice Shield], are stable but lack sufficient power, or [Polar God Emperor - Thor]'s Mjolnir, have enough energy output but are too violent.

Just now—[Crystal Wing Synchron] stole [Odin's] gun! It even assimilated directly into its body, making it impossible to remove.

"Oh, Alai, are you still trying?" Hayato turned his head to look at Alai. Even though Alai tried several times, he could only make the portal flicker a few times and there was no sign of it reopening. He said indifferently, "Take your time, okay? Why are you in such a hurry? If being in a hurry would work, I would have been in a hurry long ago."

“That’s true. Although it’s very different from the human world, we in the Astral Realm can still meet your basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, whether you’re human or elf,” [Supreme Holy Emperor - Odin] said lazily. “In a few days, the energy here will be full, and then the portal will open naturally.” “The problem is, I just remembered I left a bag of hazelnut chocolates in your fridge, Master. And not all the elves came to this world with you, Master. At least [Half-Dragon Maid - Laundry Dragon Girl] and the others are still guarding the house,” [Summoner - Aleister] said seriously. “If we don’t hurry back, the chocolates I left will definitely be eaten!”

"Ah, now that I think about it, I do keep a bottle of soda in the fridge, don't I?" Hayato raised an eyebrow. "Luckily, I put it in the refrigerator instead of the freezer. Wait a minute! Now that I think about it, Ran will definitely eat all the snacks in the fridge because I'm not around!"

“Tsk, now that I think about it, I’m starting to get anxious too. I should head back soon.” Hayato said, turning to Odin. “Since the portal here is no longer working, I’ll have to ask you to find me another exit, Odin.”

"Huh?" Alai was taken aback. "So, Master, you knew all along that there were other exits to this world?"

"It wasn't early this morning, I just found out while chatting with Odin while I was sunbathing."

"Then why didn't you say so earlier, Master?" Looking at the portal that he still couldn't figure out, Alai couldn't help but complain, "I've been fiddling with it for ages."

"Because you didn't ask." Hayato said with an air of self-righteousness.

Seeing that Hayato was considering leaving, Odin said helplessly, "He really knows how to order people around. I'm supposed to be the King of Gods, aren't I? Oh well, he's rested enough to recover."

As he spoke, Odin stood up and asked, "There must be legends about our 'Astral Plane' on the other side of the human realm, right? So—have you heard of the 'Rainbow Bridge'?"
-
Transmission in progress dividing line —
Meanwhile, on the other side of the story, just as Hayato was following Odin through another passage to leave the "Astral Plane," back in the real world, at the Duel Academy...

"I set a card face down, and the turn ends."

Professor Cobra, placing a card face-down on the back row, stood with his feet firmly planted on the muddy swamp, sneering at his opponent. "You're already trapped in this swamp, Jaden Yuki! You have no chance of winning now and will soon be devoured by the venom in this swamp!"

Klaus Wallis: 3000LP, hand 5→4

[Viper King - Vinomiron] [ATK2500]

【External Venomous Hydra】【ATK2000】

Backcourt: [The Viper's Resentment] [Face Card] x4
Location: [Snake Venom Swamp]

Although there are only two monsters on the field with relatively low attack power, Professor Cobra's back row is packed with cards. The face-down cards he used in the previous turn were returned to his back row during the end phase to prepare for the opponent's attack.

And right now, isn't Professor Cobra's opponent none other than Judai?
“Although [Venom King - Venomron] has resistance to the effect of [Snake Venom Swamp], Professor Cobra, your [External Venom Hydra] doesn’t have that kind of resistance, does it?” Jaden said, panting heavily, seemingly exhausted. “Therefore, during your end phase, the effect of [Snake Venom Swamp] activates!”

Although it's Professor Cobra's card, because its effect is forced to activate, the performance makes it look like the opponent's card was activated under Jaden's command. Suddenly, a small snake made of venom leaps out of the crimson swamp and bites Professor Cobra's [External Poison Hydra] on his field. It then transforms into a mark attached to the wound, indicating that the venom has entered its body.

[External venomous multi-headed snake] [Venom indicator 0→1] [ATK2000→1500]

“At the end of each player’s turn, [Snake Venom Swamp] will place Poison Counters on all face-up monsters on the field except for [Snake Venom] monsters—but Jaden Yuki, your monsters will do the same!” Seeing his monsters’ ATK decrease, Professor Cobra was unconcerned, simply pointing to Jaden’s field and saying, “Even if you survive my attack this turn, the power of your monsters will only weaken over time!”

[Yuki Jaden: 6000LP, 3 cards in hand]

【E·hero Golden Blade】】【Poison Indicator 1→2】【ATK2100→1600】

[E·hero Steam Healer] [Poison Indicator 0→1] [DEF1000]

【E·hero Ironwall Gunner】【Poison Counter 1→2】【DEF2500】

Backcourt: [Time Capsule] [Flap Card] x2
The monster on the field in the Jaden series, like the [Exo-Hydra], was bitten by a venomous snake that leaped out of the swamp. However, the attack power of the other two monsters, apart from [E-Hero Goldblade], did not decrease. This was not because they were not affected by the effect, but simply because their attack power had no room to decrease.

Beside him, Manjoume said solemnly, "Under the effect of [Serpent's Resentment], every time the opponent's Reptile-Type monster is destroyed, a new monster can be Special Summoned to snowball the effect. In the end, it actually resulted in [External Venomous Hydra], a monster with such an disgusting effect that it reduces the ATK of all Fusion Monsters on the opponent's field by their original ATK value!"

"In this way, Jaden's fusion summoning is almost completely blocked, unless the fused monster has an additional attack power boost. But just now, even [E.Hero Sunrise] and [E.Hero Earth Core] were destroyed by the opponent." John also looked distressed. "This forces Jaden to use [E.Hero Ironwall Gunner], which can attack in defense position, to defend, and [E.Hero Steam Healer] to recover from damage."

“But that [Viper King - Venomron]'s effect is really overpowered. It can actually increase its attack power based on the number of Reptilian monsters in the graveyard. With the help of that [Snake Rain] card, it replenished the graveyard that my brother just cleared with [Soul Release] in the blink of an eye, boosting its attack power.” Jim stared at [Viper King - Venomron] and said, “But, that monster just now actually attacked [E. Hero Earth Core Hero] on its own, like it was trying to scam us. Could it have some even more outrageous effect?”

“Luckily, Judai blocked the attack with his Magic Cylinder, but if we don’t finish off the opponent quickly and get dragged into a war of attrition, Judai will definitely not be able to hold on.” Asuka paused, glancing at Judai, who looked exhausted. “Whether it’s his base score or his stamina.”

"But there's one more thing—you guys can talk, but could you come and lend a hand? Right now, it's just O'Brien and me dealing with these snakes!"

"Gah!"

"Sorry, I forgot about you, Karen."

Hearing the crocodile's cry, Asuka reassured it and then continued to look around seriously with the wooden stick in her hand. Around them, countless venomous snakes were constantly crawling out of the Snake Venom Swamp and attacking them. The snakes that were killed by the wooden sticks simply turned into venom and returned to the swamp, and two or even three more would quickly crawl out to take their place, as if they were endless.

(Image and text unrelated)
　The Punishment Trick is really fun, especially when paired with the Diviner. You can play without touching Self-Restraint, relying solely on the Reversal effect and Pendulum. But the most satisfying thing is burning six or seven thousand HP of the opponent in one go. Winning a game makes you feel good all day. I wonder what other ways to play it will be developed in the future.
　　(End of this chapter)