Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

Chapter 1786 Caesar: The cowardly me of the past is dead.

"Oh my god! We won't lose either!" Taking the lead, Jaden rushed into the arena without hesitation and excitedly began the battle.

Manjoume and Asuka followed closely behind. "Don't even think about getting there first!" "That 'Pisces' is mine!"

"Wait for me, bro!" x2
Marufuji Sho and Kenzan followed him in side by side, while Jim and O'Brien also entered the dueling arena looking eager to try their luck.

"I'll be going first, Ryo~" With a wave, Fubuki also entered the room. In the blink of an eye, only John and Caesar remained beside Hayato. As for Misawa? He hadn't come to this class in the first place. Instead, he was at school with Daitokuji, researching ways to travel back in time.

"What, do you have any questions for me?" The eight people who have entered are now challenging the four [Beast God of War] in pairs, while there are still two empty seats waiting for their opponents to enter. Hayato didn't urge John and Caesar, but just looked at the two of them and asked casually.

“I thought you would find someone to duel with me, instead of using your Duel Monster as a trial like this,” John said, somewhat troubled. “Because I remember you saying that before, Master?”

When Hayato left the Duel Academy to find other students in the dormitories, there were indeed plans for John to find more people to duel in order to grow and discover the power of the [Ultimate Jewel God - Rainbow Dragon] as soon as possible. However, now that Hayato has returned to the school, he has changed his mind and switched to the current special training method.

"That's why I came here too," Caesar said. He wasn't very interested in simple monster battles. He originally came to continue attending classes as a graduate because he wanted to have the chance to play cards with John, but he didn't expect Hayato's class to be such a "free-for-all".

“Because I rather arbitrarily used the way our generation grew up to educate you, although I don’t want to admit it, it was all a mistake made because of youth.” Hayato said with a sigh, “Although he seems to be a hot-blooded idiot like Jaden, John’s personality and dueling are actually the opposite. He is a strategist full of probing and weighing.”

"This is certainly influenced by the fact that the deck you used in the past and present is the Insect-Type, which is weak individually, and the Crystal Beast, which only has a few monster cards and has to play in combination to preserve its strength. But it also shows your personality. The so-called 'seeing a person through a duel' is not some kind of metaphysics but has a real application."

“Simply fighting with others can certainly help you grow, John, but the dueling opponents required for your dueling style to develop are very demanding. First, they must be able to put enough pressure on you, forcing you to think hard about how to win. Then, your opponent must be the type that even someone as gentle and peaceful as you would want to win, and thus subconsciously crave power.”

"Ordinary students can't put enough pressure on you, and too strong opponents will only make your bland personality unable to generate any competitive spirit. Although Jaden is of similar strength to you, your duel will eventually turn into a friendly exchange and interaction; someone who doesn't know better might think you're flirting."

Listening to the explanation of strength, John understood: "Is it precisely because my strength and Judai's strength are comparable, and we are both 'Spirit Masters' with topics we can relate to, that our relationship is too good, so even in a duel we can't have that kind of ruthless spirit of risking our lives and fighting for everything? Is it what is called 'being too familiar to fight'?"

“Although that’s probably not exactly what it meant, it’s close enough.” Hayato nodded. “I was looking forward to seeing how your special training at school went while I was away for a day, but when I came back, I saw you and Jaden had just finished a match and were reviewing how to execute more interesting combos.”

“It cannot be denied that having a close friend can also be a driving force for a duelist to become stronger. Competition can actually accelerate a duelist’s growth, and this applies to you and Jaden as well. However, our current focus is still on unlocking the power of the [Ultimate Jewel God - Rainbow Dragon].” Hayato paused. “Ultimately, the way for your accumulated growth to blossom will still be through duels with others, but let me slightly modify the way you accumulate nutrients before that.”

"The monsters of the [Beast-Bearing God of War] are monsters that are active in this arena. They often engage in wild battles, and only the victors can leave the arena and live. Therefore, they do not have any concept of holding back when they fight. They are suitable opponents to hone your competitive spirit, John."

However, even after hearing Hayato's words, John still hesitated as he looked at the [Beastmasters] already engaged in battle: "Although those monsters look like mechanical lifeforms, I can tell they are clearly awakened card spirits, right? Is this okay, Hayato-sensei, to take down your important spirits?"

He didn't tell Hayato and Caesar that his lifelong dream was to become a bridge between humans and elves. He was willing to kill even vicious hostile elves without hesitation, but with harmless elves, his principle was always to prioritize communication and try to avoid harming each other as much as possible.

Even knowing that the defeated Pokémon wouldn't die, he still found it difficult to bring himself to fight Hayato's Pokémon, unless it was a duel, in which case he could accept it more.

Caesar's face twitched upon hearing John's words. Although John had dueled with Hayato since childhood and knew him from a young age, and was even adopted by Rafael, Hayato's "former colleague," it was clear that Rafael would never tell John about Hayato's past, whom he considered a "negative figure," or explain his dueling style in detail. Furthermore, John, who had only come to the Duel Academy this year as an exchange student, did not know as much about Hayato's dueling as Caesar did.

When Hayato explained that they were choosing cards to select "Tamashi," Fubuki, Caesar, and the others couldn't help but hold back. After all, anyone who has known Hayato for a long time knows that while he may not have much integrity, he certainly has a lot of "Tamashi," and he even calls newly acquired cards his own Tamashi.

He himself claimed that he was not a scumbag, but that Tamashi had just broken into many pieces.

But that's not all. The dueling style of the Duel King, Hayato Kobayashi, is well-known to the world. Everyone knows that his specialty is to sacrifice monsters in various ways to gain an advantage in the duel. The more frequently a card appears in his deck, the easier it is to sacrifice it. In other words, his "Tamashi" has either already been sacrificed or is on its way to being sacrificed.

How could anyone bear to have him teach students about the preciousness and importance of Tamashi? And right now, John is still worried about killing Kobayashi Hayato's spirit or something.
“Your worries are unnecessary, John Anderson,” Caesar said. “Although in this world the existence of card spirits has become a physical, living being that dies when killed, the card monsters summoned by duelists do not die when defeated, just like in a normal duel.”

“Of course I know that, but not dying doesn’t mean there’s no harm. We can’t just let it go for that reason—” “Don’t forget our current situation!” Caesar interrupted John, asking him, “You’re reluctant to harm the elves, no wonder you were criticized by Hayato-sensei for not having a strong enough will to win. So you think it’s okay to keep everyone in this dangerous world because of that?”

John paused, then said, "I never said anything like that, but are you saying that it's okay to sacrifice something to get others to leave?"

“Yes, that’s only natural. If you want something, you have to be prepared to lose something, right? Sacrificing something for victory is inevitable.” As an adult, Caesar said rationally and calmly, “To me, Duel Monsters and Card Spirits are things that are less necessary than leaving this world and can be discarded.”

"But to me, they're my family!" Holding his deck and feeling the presence of the [Crystal Beasts] so close at hand, John said to Caesar with some disappointment, "I've heard about you many times from Jaden, Ryo Marufuji. As 'Kaiser Ryo,' I was really looking forward to seeing what interesting duels would unfold after we met."

"Disappointed? That's because the cowardly me of the past is dead. Standing before you is 'Hell Caesar'."

John, who values ​​Card Spirits because of his lonely past, and Ryo Marufuji, who is willing to abandon his old friend [Cyber ​​Terminator Dragon] for victory, have completely different philosophies and are irreconcilable. However, Hayato did not give them a chance to continue their confrontation and clapped his hands to attract their attention.

"You two, have you forgotten that this is my class time? Why are you asking so many questions when I'm assigning you tasks?" Recalling the expressions of the unscrupulous teachers he'd encountered in the past, Hayato's imitation was so perfect, it was as if he truly was a domineering teacher.

"Under the power of this arena, battles won't cause fatal injuries. Both you and the monsters of the [Beast Belt Fighting God] can unleash your full potential without worrying about killing your opponent." After answering John's initial concern, Hayato paused and then continued, "However, even if you wanted to fight the remaining [Beast Belt Fighting God] now, I wouldn't allow it."

"While I did say earlier that you should hone your survival instincts and will to win by fighting monsters, since your philosophies are so incompatible, then you should have a proper discussion through a duel. Just like I said before, 'to see a person for who they truly are through a duel.'"

When Hayato suddenly asked them to start playing cards, John thought for a moment and readily agreed: "No problem, I'll use a duel to persuade Caesar."

Just like John's ideal mentioned earlier, he wanted to become a bridge between humans and elves. In John's view, Caesar's thinking was simply using elves as tools. It was hard not to think of the elf hunter he had met in the SAL underground laboratory not long ago. The difference was that the latter had gone so far as to wantonly harm elves, while in John's view, Caesar still had a chance to change his mind and correct it.

Ryo Marufuji agreed to the duel, which suited him perfectly. Even without the ideological differences with John, he still wanted to duel John and see the [Crystal Beast] deck. Even with [Blue Eyes], which was practically Seto Kaiba's personal deck, there was a fourth copy in the world that he didn't have. But each [Crystal Beast] card was unique in the entire world. How could Kaiser possibly let go of this opportunity to duel John?

They exchanged a glance, confirming each other's fervent fighting spirit. John and Caesar were about to move to a suitable spot to begin their duel when Hayato quickly stopped them, asking, "What are you doing?"

"Huh? Didn't you just say we should have a duel, Hayato-sensei?" John asked, somewhat puzzled.

“But this position isn’t really suitable for a duel,” Caesar explained.

Because the surrounding environment has been replaced by the [Disc Arena - Beast Belt God Circular Arena], the three of them are currently at the entrance of the arena. It's fine for people to pass through, but the space here is too small for duels.

"Of course I know there aren't enough spaces here, but judging from the way you two are acting, it looks like you're about to duel each other." Hayato, wearing his unfolded Duel Disk, popped the Field Spell Card [Disc Arena - Beast Ring Arena] out of the Field area and retrieved it, but the surrounding environment was still the Sky Arena next to the volcano.

"Don't get me wrong, what I meant from the beginning was this—since the two of you can't understand each other and coexist, then team up for a duel, and the person who will be your opponent is none other than your teacher, me!"

With a snap of Hayato's fingers, the three instantly shifted positions, appearing in the center of the arena in what had been an empty space. [Beastmaster "King" Xuanyuan XIV], seemingly imposing, immediately lost his composure upon seeing Hayato appear beside him: "Lord, are you going to use us, meow?"

"No, I have to teach my students today, so I don't need you." Hayato glanced at him, thinking to himself that if he brought you along, Caesar might take advantage of the fact that you're a Machine-type monster to roll a tire. The appearance of [Cyber ​​Dragon] and the special summon of rolling a tire are things that [Beast God of War "King" Xuanyuan XIV]'s own effect can't counteract.

John is a heavyweight, his deck is full of trap cards. After Jaden, he's another pure lover of trap cards. Rafael must have corrupted him, he's too bad!

"Let me show you the power of the 'Idolmaster'... cough cough, I mean the newest and coolest [Radiant Saint] deck!"

I'm going to watch Mygo's live performance, ciao~