I'm in Yu-Gi-Oh!, but I'm also in Machine Ascension.

"Time flies... In three days, it should be the start of the new semester at Duel Academy, right?!"

"So--"

The next second, while hesitating slightly about whether to ask Judai to play cards to complete the mission—after all, even if he didn't go to that "Jellyfish Head" with his ridiculously high card addiction, it wouldn't be long before he couldn't resist challenging him.

But soon, Youfeng immediately recalled the meaningful, lingering voice that Pegasus had uttered before leaving:

"...Although most of the world-class duelists I listed for you are acquaintances, there is a young man among the new generation who is known as a genius duelist and is quite interested in you, Yuuka..."

...

Based on the other party's description, Youfeng immediately guessed the identity of the boy Pegasus was referring to:

"Ed Phoenix...another holder of the [HERO] deck..."

After a slight sigh, Youfeng blinked and left his dormitory. Meanwhile, at the Duel Academy on the island, students carrying their luggage began to arrive as it was the first day of school.

Soon, as they rode the [Cyber ​​Dragon] D-Wheel, amidst exclamations from the crowd, they arrived at the newly renovated [Osiris-Red] dormitory. There, they saw Jaden Yuki, Jun Manjoume, Asuka Tenjouin, and others holding a duel magazine with serious expressions, seemingly discussing something.

Upon seeing You Feng, the expressions of the group instantly became tense.

"Senior Yuuka... that professional star duelist, Ed Phoenix, who crushed Marufuji-senpai in the World Duel Tournament, has infiltrated the Duel Academy..."

"and--"

The young girl, Asuka Tenjouin, paused slightly before continuing:

"Then he challenged Judai, but the deck he used was something hastily cobbled together from the card shop..."

...

Then, amidst Asuka Tenjōin's hesitant voice, Jun Manjō, who had his hands in his pockets, immediately nodded and continued:

"Although I don't want to get involved in this kind of thing... the other party's behavior is too strange—we suspect that they are specifically targeting you, Senior Yufeng!"

Accompanied by the deep voice of Manjou, Jaden Yuki, who had just finished fighting Ed Phoenix, slowly walked over:

"Senior Youfeng! Although I don't think that kid had any ill intentions... he mentioned you several times during the duel... it seems he has a very big ambition!"

Soon, "Jellyfish Head" Jaden Yuki was talking while gesturing with his eyes to the gray-haired boy in a white suit who seemed to be combing his deck on the shore not far away.

Almost simultaneously, the latter also noticed You Feng. A glint immediately flashed in his previously dormant eyes, and he slowly got up and walked over.

"Yuuka... are you the legendary duelist who once defeated President Kaiba and Yugi Muto?"

After a slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, the seemingly gentle and refined young man immediately added in a steady voice:

"Hmm...he's also the master of that duelist—Ryo Marufuji..."

At that moment, Edward smiled and waved the deck in his hand:

"Although the main purpose of coming here has been completely accomplished, I did not experience any enjoyment of dueling during my battle with Ryo Marufuji."

"I'm wondering if it would be possible to unleash an even more powerful force if it were Senior Yuuka—"

"Therefore, I now challenge you, Senior Youfeng!"

Then, Edward immediately drew a card representing the power of [Synchro] and displayed it in front of Yufeng:

"Furthermore, as one of Mr. Pegasus's test subjects, this duel is not limited to using the experimental version of the [Synchro] Summoning Mode!"

...

And soon, at Edward's invitation—though his demeanor was calm and composed, his tone was clearly excited—Youfeng nodded instantly:

"Now that you've defeated Ryo and gained Pegasus's approval, this duel seems completely unavoidable!"

"Then come on, let me use the God of Time Machines to exorcise your [HERO]!"

Soon, in response to Youfeng's comment, the two duelists on the shore of the [Osiris-Red] dormitory also immediately donned their Duel Disks and declared their duel in unison:

"DUEL!!!"

"DUEL!!!"

108. Edward, [Destroyer Phoenix], you think you can solo me the whole time? Wood Master!

Soon, as the two of them shuffled their cards into their duel disks, Yufeng immediately tossed a silver coin high into the air.

After mysteriously drawing a beautiful arc, Youfeng immediately gained the opportunity to choose the order of attack.

"Then I choose to take the initiative."

After a moment of contemplation, both players immediately drew five cards each as their starting hand for the first round.

After slightly adjusting his strategy, Youfeng immediately drew three cards from his hand and played them face-down in his back row:

"Now, I will set three cards face down in my back row, and then end my turn immediately!"

Soon, in that instant, following Youfeng's consecutive "three consecutive backcourt overs" and then his pass, Ed Phoenix, the white-suited youth who had initiated the challenge and was Youfeng's opponent this time, immediately took a deep breath and looked at Youfeng, the powerful and mysterious duelist he had heard so much about, with some confusion.

At this moment, his deep blue eyes were instantly filled with doubt.

"Backcourt... Suns' triple block?"

...

Amidst the boy's hesitant voice, Jaden Yuki and the others, who were spectating the duel, were also momentarily stunned upon seeing the current situation compared to before:

"Hmm... I didn't even get a frontcourt card, could it be that I had a bad hand... or perhaps—"

Soon, accompanied by the doubtful voice of the "jellyfish-headed" boy, his gaze immediately turned to the three mysterious cards in Youfeng's back row:

"In my memory, only dark fantasy sticker decks would play like this, right?"

At the same moment, amidst Jaden Yuki's hesitant and uncertain voice, Asuka Tenjōin and Jun Manjō, who were also watching, simultaneously shook their heads slightly.

"...Although Senior Yuuka possesses an extremely strong obsession with victory, he actually focuses more on utilizing the power of the monsters on the field to defeat his opponent..."

"Therefore, even with an exceptionally high level of understanding of dueling principles, in actual combat, Senior Yuuka couldn't execute such an extreme dueling strategy as the Underworld Duel..."

Soon, to Asuka's confident tone, Ed Phoenix, the elegant young man with gray hair, wearing a white suit and black shirt, who was Yuuki's opponent in this duel, also nodded slowly and pointed his finger at the main deck of his silver-white duel disk:

"Well then, I won't stand on ceremony, Senior Yufeng!"

Soon, with the boy's calm and firm voice, he immediately began his card-drawing phase:

"My turn - draw a card!"

In an instant, as a new card was added to Edward's hand from his deck, after a brief moment of contemplation, the young man immediately played his first card—

At the same time, Ed Phoenix, a prodigy duelist with an exceptionally strong and terrifying winning streak on the world professional stage, also glanced at Jaden Yuki, who had just fought him and was now watching the match, his eyes flickering slightly.

"Well then, watch closely—Juichi Yuki, and Yuuka-senpai, I'm about to embark on a completely different path from Juichi Yuki's as a [HERO]..."

"only--"

Soon, after carefully examining his deck once more, Ed Phoenix smiled slightly, a smile that had been absent for a long time:

"My Destiny HERO deck is far more powerful than Jaden Yuki's Elemental HERO deck!"

...

At that very moment, before the "jellyfish-headed" boy watching the battle in front of the [Osiris-Red] dormitory could react, the [HERO] card that was flashing in Ed Phoenix's hand was immediately played onto the field:

"First, I will Normal Summon a representative monster from the [HERO] category—[E-HERO Sky Warrior]—using a face-up attack!"

In an instant, accompanied by Edward's elegant figure, the powerful warrior that everyone had witnessed countless times and was very familiar with—riding the wind and soaring into the air, swinging its fist downwards—made its official debut as the first monster on the scene:

【E-HERO Skyman】

[Star rating: 4]

[Attribute: Wind]

[Race: Warrior]

[Attack power: 1800]

[Defense: 300]

"The opponent... is using the same [HERO] deck as Judai-kun?!"

Soon, just as the girl Asuka blinked her brown eyes in surprise at the gray-haired boy in the suit, Jun Banjou beside her also expressed his doubt:

"Hmm... A player like Edward, who has achieved near-legendary success in professional tournaments, is using the same deck as Jaden Yuki, the infamous underachiever from Duel Academy... This is truly beyond my imagination..."

Upon hearing Wan Zhangmu's eerie voice, Yuki Judai's expression instantly changed, and he protested with displeasure towards the boy wearing the [Obelisk-Blue] academy uniform:

"Damn it, Manjoume, you've gone too far..."

While making a slightly exasperated comment, Yuki Jaden's gaze immediately turns serious again when he sees his opponent summon one of his most trusted [HERO] monsters, [Sky Warrior], right in front of him during a duel with Yuuki.

"what the hell..."

"They claimed to be able to surpass me with their [Elemental Heroes], choosing a more powerful path, but they still used the power of [Elemental Heroes]..."

"You started with a Sky Knight, huh?!"

...

Soon, Jaden Yuki watched with great resentment as his "important partner" was casually summoned to the field. After grumbling in dissatisfaction, he clenched his fist slightly.

In response, Ed Phoenix's jade-like face quickly revealed the same "innocent smile" he had when he was pretending to be a newcomer before his identity was exposed:

"...Well...even so, heroes possess varying degrees of power..."

"Although it uses the [Elemental HERO] archetype, this card has a search function for all [HERO] fields, which is indeed very useful..."

"As a skilled professional duelist, there is no reason not to use..."

"..."

At that moment, accompanied by Edward's sincere yet undeniably mocking voice, Jaden Yuki's expression turned ashen for the first time since entering the Duel Academy.

...

As the atmosphere on the field grew increasingly tense, Edward took another deep breath and turned his gaze back to the battle between Youfeng and his opponent:

"Um... I'm sorry, Senior Yufeng, I shouldn't have been distracted during our rare battle together."

Faced with the boy's polite manner, Youfeng didn't know what to say, but simply shook his head slightly, indicating that the other party could continue his combo.

Ed Phoenix immediately nodded without saying anything, and after Normal Summoning [Sky Knight], he activated the card's effect without any controversy: