Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

Although the Serpent God - Venominaga is "immortal," Professor Cobra himself is not. After losing the protection of the Soul Barrier, even though Jaden specifically chose to attack the Serpent God - Venominaga, which has the highest attack power, head-on, he still dealt a staggering 4100 points of combat damage to it.

Professor Cobra only had 3000 Life Points left, which were instantly wiped out. He was also knocked to the ground by the almost materialized Duel Monster's attack, and the virtual image of the Duel Monster on the field disappeared.

"Won!"

Manjoume and the others cheered for Judai's victory, as it meant they had successfully overcome the final obstacle to remove the "Death Bracelet" and would soon be able to free everyone in the academy from the shadow of the "Exposé Duel".

Seeing the joyful expressions on Asuka, John, and the others' faces, Jaden, having vented his emotions, calmed down from his previous state of anger and indifference. He also smiled and was about to raise his hand in his signature victory pose:

"We won! What a victory! Uh!"

Even if he wins the duel, the damage inflicted on Jaden's body by the Serpent God - Venominaga during the duel won't disappear so easily. The life-threatening venom has certainly been eliminated by the duelist's high fighting spirit (like Kaito Amagi), but the unhealed wounds will require Jaden to rest and recuperate for a period of time to alleviate the pain.

Having barely managed to deliver his final blow, Jaden had essentially exhausted all his remaining strength. He didn't even have the energy to finish his victory speech before swaying and collapsing backward.

However, Judai didn't fall onto hard ground; instead, she felt a soft touch behind her. Although she had just been celebrating Judai's victory with John and the others, Asuka's gaze hadn't left him. She was still thinking about the pain that had repeatedly shown on Judai's face during the duel.

She could also tell that in the final round, Jaden wasn't unwilling to unleash more, such as using the effect of [E·hero Shining Neoswingman] to appear and destroy the opponent's cards, but rather simply didn't have the strength and had to force himself to finish the duel.

Therefore, when Judai raised his hand to make a victory gesture, Asuka saw his slightly pale and unpleasant face and guessed that he would definitely not have the strength to stand up. She rushed over immediately and steadily supported him as Judai fell, letting him lie down in her arms.

"Hmm, Asuka?" Looking at the girl's face that appeared upside down in front of him, Jaden forced an ugly smile. "How embarrassing. You finally won, but you don't even have the strength to stand up. You're not like a hero at all."

“No, Judai.” Asuka smiled and shook her head. “You’ve done a great job. Didn’t you defeat Professor Cobra? In my heart, you’re already a hero who has brilliantly saved many people in the academy.”

"But, it's still a little short." Looking at the "Death Gauntlet" that was glowing on his hand, clearly drawing on the duel energy generated by this duel, Jaden took a few deep breaths uncomfortably. "Ugh. Even with the modified Duel Disk to offset this discomfort, it still feels a bit suffocating, like I can't breathe."

"It's fortunate that Asuka and I exchanged Duel Disks. Your Duel Disk, which has hardly ever been used in this kind of intense 'Exposé Duel,' barely helped me survive the 'Death Bracelet.' If it were my original Duel Disk..."

Wearing the Duel Disk that used to belong to Jaden, Asuka said gently, "But the 'Death Gauntlet' is about to be removed, Jaden, it's okay if you don't want to switch back."

"Heh, I think it's not that Judai doesn't want to switch back, but that Tenjouin doesn't want to switch back himself." Not far away, seeing that Judai still had the energy to lie on Asuka's lap, chatting while using his lap as a pillow, and had successfully passed the attack of the "Death Gloves" after the duel, Manjoume and the others breathed a sigh of relief and also started to tease him.

“Oh dear, it’s just their little hobby, Wan Zhangmu, don’t expose them,” John chimed in with a laugh.

“Alright Guys, let’s let our Hero enjoy some post-victory relaxation for now. It’s time for us spectators, who have been resting for the duration of a duel, to handle the aftermath of the duel.” Jim clapped his hands, drawing everyone’s attention. “There are three things to do. First, we need to figure out how to get down from this elevator platform that has no mechanisms whatsoever.”

“I prepared an electromagnetic pulse bomb on the way here, which can remotely trigger a sabotage signal. Perhaps we can try to restart the control device of this elevator to lower us down,” O’Brien said as soon as Jim finished speaking. “Or we can try to lower down using the steel cable I brought.”

"Good job, O'Brien bro!" Jim gave O'Brien a thumbs up without hesitation, praising him. "But if possible, I think we should take this elevator down. The steel cable descent is quite a challenge for me carrying Karen and for Jaden Bro, who is exhausted after the duel."

"The second thing is to take Professor Cobra back to be punished, right?" Manjoume glanced at Professor Cobra, whose "death gauntlet" was also lit up not far away, clearly indicating that his dueling energy was being drained. He had turned the power of everyone else's "death gauntlets" to the maximum, and now it was finally his turn to experience what kind of torture it was.

"After all, the evil deeds he committed cannot be so easily erased by being defeated in a duel." Although he is a gentle person, John is not a saint. He will not forgive Professor Cobra on behalf of those in the academy who have fainted because of his actions. "Although it is clear that Professor Cobra himself was influenced by a certain elf, that does not mean he is innocent. One thing at a time."

“When we get back to the academy, Hayato-sensei will have plenty of ways to punish him.” Manjoume nodded. “So we definitely can’t choose rappelling. Professor Cobra is such a big guy. Let me tell you, I can’t carry him down the rappelling.”

“Understood. I’ll start by trying to activate the bombs and disrupt the circuitry.” O’Brien nodded and got to work—after all, he had planted a double-digit number of bombs on his way here. Reality wasn’t like in the movies where you could just press a button on the detonator to precisely control the bomb’s detonation. He had to adjust the detonator to the specific signal frequency corresponding to the particular bomb before he could activate it.

“The remaining thing is the third thing, which is also our main purpose for coming here—to remove the ‘death gauntlet’ and end the ‘exposing duel’,” Jim said, holding up three fingers. “Although we can’t leave this ‘no place’ for the time being, fortunately, we have an outside helper who hasn’t come up.”

“It’s about two hundred meters from the bottom, right? Even from the ground, it’s nearly a hundred meters above the ground. We’re neither in contact with the earth nor close to the sky. And now that Professor Cobra has been defeated and we can’t go down, it truly is a completely isolated place, a place with no sky and no ground.” John paused, looking at Manjoume. “But how’s our ‘outside help’ friends doing?”

Holding up the pager in his hand, Wan Zhangmu spread his hands: "They said it was to maintain secrecy, but Amon Garlem was using a pager provided by O'Brien to communicate, so I wasn't really clear on the specifics of his operations before he initiated the call—"

"Dululululu~"

Before Manjoume could finish speaking, his pager went off, receiving a message from Amon Garlem.

“Calling ‘Volcano,’ calling ‘Volcano,’ this is ‘Cloud Monster.’” Manjoume hurriedly picked up the phone, but unlike Amon and O’Brien, he didn’t use code names to address each other. Instead, he said directly, “O’Brien is busy. You should have seen that Professor Cobra took us to the elevator platform. Amon Garram is trying to figure out a way to get us down.”

"Jaden Yuki has already defeated Professor Cobra. Don't tell me you're so slow that you haven't found something that was already found before."

"The duel is over? That's great." Amon's tone was relaxed. "My operation here is also going smoothly. Since I said I wouldn't let you down, I will definitely complete the mission."

"However, there is something I need to clarify. Although when I first came here, Professor Cobra had placed the life support pods containing the existence of the being and the device controlling the 'death gauntlet' in the main control room, I only found empty life support pods here now. The contents inside are gone, as if they have been moved by Professor Cobra."

"I'm working on the control program for the 'Death Bracelet,' which will take some time to unlock. You must be careful, and watch out for attacks from that unknown entity."

The pager hung up after playing its message, and at the same time, Professor Cobra, whom everyone thought had been defeated, suddenly spoke up: "In the end, why is it someone like you who wins the favor of the goddess of victory? Jaden Yuki!"

"Huh?! Professor Cobra!?" Jim and the others stared in astonishment at Professor Cobra, who had stood up from the ground as if nothing had happened. "Even Jaden, who only had 1000 Life Points left, was so weak. Why is Professor Cobra completely unharmed?"

"It's probably because, although this duel seems like a dark game, it was actually just Professor Cobra unilaterally inflicting real damage on Jaden with his materialized Duel Monsters." Manjoume frowned. "So much so that, although Jaden's [E·hero Shining Neos] dealt such a high amount of damage in one go, Professor Cobra was actually just like an ordinary person losing an ordinary duel and didn't suffer any serious injuries."

"No, you're underestimating Jaden Yuki. Actually, his monsters caused me quite a bit of damage. If I hadn't obtained a portion of that person's power, I might have been brain dead and suffered cardiac arrest by now," Professor Cobra denied, looking like he still had a lingering fear.

He then looked at Judai, his expression darkening: "But I still can't accept it, Yuki Judai. Why you of all people! A foolish person like you who only enjoys the thrill of dueling, although you have a talent for dueling, you have a clear flaw—you duel rather frivolously, fighting without any real commitment!"

"Why were you able to beat me?!"

Professor Cobra was incredibly unwilling to accept this. He had prepared a complete defensive strategy, with all resistances and immunity to combat damage, but in the end, he was still defeated head-on by Jaden Yuki's three-pronged attack. How could he possibly accept this?

"Who told you I'm not carrying anything?" With Asuka's help, Jaden stood up and faced Professor Cobra directly. "The hopes of everyone at Duel Academy, the expectations of my comrades, I'm fighting with something you, Professor Cobra, who fights alone and has no one to accompany you, that you absolutely don't have!"

"Hmph, carrying the expectations of others in battle can sometimes lead people down the wrong path." Professor Cobra said in a slightly subtle tone, "Duelists carry many things, but the one thing they cannot carry is the expectations of others, because what duelists carry is a power that they can use to control their bodies when the battle is in crisis."

"But if you're only fighting because you think you're carrying the expectations of others, when your main motivation for dueling—the excitement of the duel—disappears, you lose any chance of victory!"

"You've already been defeated, what nonsense are you spouting now?" Manjoume stepped forward impatiently. "Still want to duel? Then it's my turn to defeat you, Mr. Manjoume. Don't blame me for stealing your thunder. Yuki Judai, it's my luck to be able to deliver the final blow to him."

"Stop getting in my way, Manjoume Jun. At this point, I have no interest in duelists of your caliber! No, not just you, but actually all of you, including Yuki Judai, I no longer care about you. The only reason I'm still questioning Yuki Judai is because I simply can't stand that someone who has nothing to back him up can actually beat me."

Raising the "Death Bracelet" in his hand, Professor Cobra burst into maniacal laughter. "I've said from the beginning that the only reason I've appeared before you is to gather the final duel energy needed for that person's resurrection—and now, the energy is overflowing!"

"I'm waiting for that lord's resurrection to be completed, what are you waiting for!"

In the underground monitoring room, under the watchful eyes of Amon, who had already prepared a new container to take away [Yubel], a large amount of yellow electricity suddenly emerged from the life support pod. The orange-yellow dueling energy quickly filled the hand remnants left by [Yubel] in the life support pod, forming a semi-transparent body. At first, it appeared as a monster with demon wings, but for some unknown reason, the energy body changed again and turned into the appearance of a little boy.

Seeing the changes inside the life support pod, Amon hurriedly tried to smash it open, but then [Yubel], who appeared in the form of an energy boy, grinned maliciously and suddenly disappeared.

On the elevator platform, Yubel, who had just disappeared from the basement, instantly reappeared under the guidance of Professor Cobra's "Death Gloves".

Professor Cobra, panting heavily, knelt on one knee, but his smile remained unchanged: "Finally... it's done! Now my wish can finally be fulfilled!"

“Of course, Klaus Wallis, after all, we made an agreement.”

(Using a 3D costume to commit fraud, Yubel, are you still a Vtuber?)
The energy entity's face revealed an illusory appearance—Lick Wallis, the adopted son of Professor Cobra, who had unexpectedly met his untimely demise after a stroke of "great luck."

"Next, I will make sure you and that child are together forever."

"Lick." Upon seeing the familiar face before him, Professor Cobra couldn't help but smile, and his body completely relaxed.

But in the next instant, before even Jaden and the others could react, Yubel, whose only remaining hand was in a materialized state and who was dressed as "Rick," pressed his hand, wrapped in black lightning-like energy, onto Professor Cobra's head?!
Following her arm, the illusion was infused into Professor Cobra's head, instantly immersing him in a world of illusion.
(Identified as being affected by Conqueror's Haki) (End of Chapter)