Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Unlike Armed Neos, E-Hero Cosmic Neos inherits the ability of Neos Fusion Monsters to return to the deck during the End Phase, much like most Ultraman who can only fight on Earth for three minutes before disappearing.

However, before Manjoume could get excited about the loss of such a powerful monster, Jaden continued, "And at the same time, destroy all the cards on the opponent's field!"

"what?"

Upon entering the field, [E·hero Cosmic Neos] unleashed a gravitational field to suppress the opponent and activate their field effects. With no other actions, he was about to leave the field when he raised one hand above his head. Star-like light and heat gathered in his hand and he threw it down, instantly exploding and clearing all the cards on the field from the player's hand—including the [Monster Reborn] card that he had just set!

【Manjoume's masterpiece: 2600LP, 0 cards in hand】

With the field empty, what Nagasaku waited for was Manjoume's round!

"Well done, Jaden Yuki, but you've done your part, haven't you?" Watching [E·Hero Cosmic Neos] disappear, Manjoume showed no regret for the powerful monster's demise; instead, he was spurred into a fight of equal strength. "Now it's my turn to shine!"

"My turn, draw! Then, during my Standby Phase, because I have the Normal Monster [E. Hero Wingman] on my field, I add [Original Stone Dragon - Variant Emerald Stone Dragon] from my Graveyard to my hand!"

【Manjou: 1200LP, Hand 0→2】

"One has 2000 life points, the other has 2600 life points. It's over!" Manjoume glanced at Saiou, then at Manjoume Chosaku, and played a card from his hand. "I'll first Normal Summon [Primal Stone Dragon - Variant Emerald Stone Dragon] and activate its effect—I'll set one [Primal Stone] Spell/Trap Card from my Deck to the back row!"

The slender dragon reappeared, and just as it was about to search for cards for Manjoume, Saiou suddenly spoke up: "This is the moment I've been waiting for—the moment when the opponent summons a monster!"

"Fate is still on my side, I am still the guide of the future, and it's not time to lose yet!" Saiou revealed a card in his hand and said, "Normal Spell Card [Presence of Fate], if a monster is summoned on my opponent's field, I can send this card from my hand to the Graveyard to activate one of my Normal Spell Cards!"

"The card I'm going to activate is this [Ace of Swords]!"

"The effect of [Sword A] is to select one face-up monster on the field and perform a position check. If it is face-up, inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's ATK; if it is face-down, the opposite occurs and you take the damage."

Above Saiō's head, the card [Ace of Swords] hung like the Sword of Damocles, about to begin spinning. "And the answer fate gave me, of course, is right—"

"Counter Trap Card [Winged Wind] activated!"

Before Saiou could even finish speaking, the instant the [Ace of Swords] appeared, Jaden suddenly pressed the button to activate the face-down card, declaring, "This card can only be activated if [E-Hero Winged Warrior] is on my field. It negates the activation of a Spell/Trap Card and destroys that card!"

"Having caused so much trouble for others, and still claiming to be the master of fate and the future, prepare to be met with a crushing blow from a hero, Saiou!" Judai said, looking at his opponent. "I'll use this card to extinguish your hope!"

"Oh!"

The Jaden's [E·Hero Winged Warrior] flapped its wings and created a whirlwind, instantly destroying Saio's [Sword A] in the endless feathers. At the same moment, Saio and Manjoume Nagasaku's usable cards were completely wiped out, both in their hands and on the field.

Meanwhile, Manjoume took a card from his deck and placed it in the back row. He glanced at Jaden and said arrogantly, "Who asked you for help? This guy is probably going to be taken down by his own card effect soon. You're wasting my time... But, Winged Wind is pretty cool. It's just that having a card like that in your deck is really pointless. You're something else."

After a pause, Manjoume flipped the card he had just placed face down over again: "As a reward for pleasing me, let your monster share the crown of victory with me!"

"The card I set from my deck is the second 'Original Stone's Royal Vein. As part of the effect processing when this card is activated, I add one 'Original Stone' card from my deck—this one, 'Original Stone's Light Piercing'—to my hand." After a pause, Manjoume continued, "But more importantly, the second 'Original Stone's Royal Vein' provides a second ATK boost, increasing the ATK of my Normal Monsters and 'Original Stone' Monsters on the field!"

【E·hero Winged Warrior】【1900/1000→2800/1000】

[Original Stone Dragon - Variant Green Cypress Stone Dragon] [ATK1600→3400]

There was no need to play the two cards in his hand. Manjoume waved his hand and commanded, "Then, the final battle phase! Use the monsters on the field to launch an all-out attack!"

"【E·hero Winged Warrior】, Direct attack on Saiou Takuma—" After a pause, Manjoume looked at Jaden, who immediately shouted out the name of the attack move, "Winged Burst!"

Although it is an ordinary "ordinary" hero, with the blessing of two "Original Stones", the attack power of "E·hero Winged Warrior" has reached 2800 points. If there is one more Normal Monster in the Graveyard, its attack power can even surpass "the legendary "Blue-Eyes White Dragon"!

At Saiou, the hero who rides the wind unleashed a rain of feathers, instantly wiping out Saiou's life points and sending him flying backward in an exaggerated manner, crashing to the ground and falling unconscious!?

[Zaiwang Takuma: 2000LP → 0]

"Saiou!?" Although they had spoken as if they were severing all ties, Edward couldn't help but run to Saiou's side to check on him after he was defeated. After all, they had shared so many years of friendship; a few words couldn't erase those feelings completely.

Upon arriving at Saiou's side, Edward discovered that Saiou couldn't be awakened even by shaking his body, seemingly having truly fallen into a coma due to the immense impact of the Duel Monster battle. Furthermore, Edward noticed that Saiou's Duel Disk had stopped functioning because his Life Points had reached zero, and several cards slid out of the Graveyard, including the completely non-Tarot card, "Mystic Power"—"Mystic Power EX - Ruler of Light."

Under Edward's gaze, the card art of [Secret Power EX - Ruler of Light] was gradually enveloped in white, making it look as if the card art had faded. This made Edward have a guess, and his eyes looked at the unconscious Saiou with a bit more expectation.

But Manjoume had no interest in paying attention to Saiou's condition. He was only staring at his elder brother, Manjoume Nagasaku, and sneered, "After all, this duel started to wake you up, and now it's the last chance to attack you. I knew it wouldn't work without putting in some effort, didn't I, Nagasaku-nii?"

"Right, right?"

Looking at the imposing [Original Stone Dragon - Variant Emerald Stone Dragon] before him, Manjoume Chōsaku subconsciously repeated Manjoume's words.

【E·hero Winged Warrior】is "almost surpassing the legendary 【Blue-Eyes White Dragon】", but 【Primal Dragon - Variant Beryl Dragon】has already surpassed the "legendary 【Blue-Eyes White Dragon】". This 【Primal Dragon - Variant Beryl Dragon】, with an attack power of up to 3400 points, is about to launch a direct attack on him?

Isn't this a bit dangerous?! Saiou was knocked unconscious after taking 2800 points of damage, while I took 3400... Could it be that this kid is planning to take my life?!

"That can't be right! I'm your older brother, what are you trying to do!"

"Under the influence of others, you've become incredibly foolish, brother. How can we possibly build our Manjoume Consortium well with someone like you by our side?" Manjoume's lips curled into a smile. "I suppose you, like those [Secret Ritual Power] monsters, are incapable of feeling pain—you'd better be incapable of feeling pain, because I don't care whether you feel pain or not!"

"To eliminate insects and shoot down the sun, the day is now!"

Swallowing hard, Wan Zhangmu's tone suddenly softened, carrying a hint of pleading: "Xi, can we reconcile?"

"At this very moment? Brother, you must be joking!" Manjoume waved his hand, "[Original Stone Dragon - Variant Emerald Stone Dragon], attack Manjoume Chosaku directly. Remember, attack with all your might!"

"A meteorite fell from Mount Tai!"

Wielding a massive rock disc, the [Original Stone Dragon - Variant Emerald Stone Dragon] crashed down on Manjoume Chosaku's head. The scene of that collapsing sky was Manjoume Chosaku's last memory. When his life points reached zero, the duel ended, and the virtual projection system removed all the special effects on the field, what reappeared before Manjoume and the others was Manjoume Chosaku lying on the ground, face up, eyes rolled back in the sky, unconscious.

[Manjou no Nakamaro's work: 2600LP→0]

Chapter 1544 Prince Sai: I, the weak one, have already won the revival match!

"An unfamiliar ceiling..." Saiou slowly opened his eyes. Awakening, he stared at the unfamiliar ceiling before him, feeling a terrible headache. "Ugh, my head..."

"Take a deep breath; dizziness is normal."

Subconsciously, Saiou took a deep breath as the speaker suggested, and clearly felt that his headache was indeed relieved a little and he felt more comfortable. Then his gaze turned to the side and he saw Kobayashi Hayato standing at the head of the bed.

"!?"

No wonder the voice sounded familiar; it was Kobayashi Hayato. However, the way one hears their own voice is different from how others hear it. He had heard people say more than once that his voice sounded very similar to Kobayashi Hayato's, or even exactly the same. So that's how his voice sounds to others?

But why is this guy here?!

"Your next question will be, 'Why are you here? And where am I?'"

"Why did you appear..." Saiou suddenly stopped speaking, realizing that what he had said was exactly the same as what Kobayashi Hayato had said. Although he still had a headache, he forced himself to sit up so that he wouldn't be looked down at by Kobayashi Hayato, whose gaze was like that of someone looking at an ant. "Is this interesting?"

"It's quite interesting. After all, I can hardly imagine my voice sounding so aggrieved." Hayato looked at Saiou, arms crossed. "And, you actually didn't fool me?"

Saiou frowned and said, "Because I saw your future when you turned off the power. Even though you're not actually at the academy, you're using a virtual projection to scare people? What a twisted sense of humor."

After the four-person doubles duel between Jun Manjoume, Jaden Yuki, Chosaku Manjoume, and Saiou, Chosaku Manjoume was knocked unconscious by a powerful attack from Jun Manjoume's monster. However, upon waking up, he had indeed successfully broken free from Saiou's brainwashing, just as Jaden and the others had hoped.

Manjoume Nagasaku was not only fully aware of his actions during the brainwashing period, but also had a thorough understanding of them. After all, Saiou's brainwashing was not the brainwashing of the "Millennium Staff". He relied on mobilizing a certain emotion in a person at the psychological level, so that the person would be dominated by that emotion and become his servant.

Just like Saiou's actions in the original work, he first approached Manjoume, who had always lost to Judai, claiming that he could give him the power to defeat Judai and arouse his self-esteem; then, the "albinned" Manjoume continued to expand his influence in Obelisk-Blue, forcing Asuka to duel him in order to protect the Blue Dormitory, arousing Asuka's sense of inferiority in the duel, and finally, he deliberately ignored her to make the unwilling Misawa take the initiative to seek a fight, and then used sophistry to induce Misawa to think that "joining the White Dormitory is equivalent to gaining recognition".

Anyway, it's still the same old fortune teller stuff, similar to horoscope enthusiasts. It relies more on psychology than actual prophecy, not just on the power of the light waves emanating from Saiō. It still requires some brainpower. Unlike the Millennium Staff, its brainwashing method is simple and brutal. It's like the EW from Arknights, even a three-year-old could play with it. It makes people stare blankly after using it, and even after healing, they drool.

(Malik: Achoo!)

This also explains why, in the original work, Jaden and his friends broke free from Saiou's brainwashing by shaking the minds of those who had been brainwashed. For example, they stimulated Manjoume to make him want to defeat Jaden with his own strength again, stirred up Asuka's "ice and snow" emotions and rekindled her confidence and passion, and Misawa realized that what she needed was not recognition but truth just by watching Jaden fight against her true idol, Dr. Stain, and found herself again (and ran naked).

This is the correct way to solve the problem of Saiou's brainwashing. It can eradicate the traces of the light wave from the root. After all, even the special emotion that the brainwashing relies on has been changed, so the brainwashing will naturally become ineffective.

While Manjoume Nagasaku's memories were also erased after being defeated in the duel with Judai and his group, Hayato knew very well that this method was only a temporary fix. In the original work, there was another character who was unbrainwashed in the same way, namely Prince Okin, the owner of the laser satellite that Saiou had been plotting to acquire. Although he was briefly freed from brainwashing after losing a card game to Judai, he was instantly brainwashed again and turned into a puppet after just being glared at by Saiou during their final battle.

It is currently unknown what kind of emotion Manjoume Chosaku was using when he was brainwashed by Saiou, but the process of him being defeated by Manjoume and Judai and thus freed from brainwashing was by no means the first, but rather a forced removal that still left a seed of trouble. No one knows when this hidden danger will erupt.

The above information was obtained by Hayato from Vice Principal Chronos and Coach Napoleon. However, it would take him at least a day or two to return to the school. It was unlikely that there would be any problems with Manjoume Nagasaku in the short term. Hayato simply instructed the school to handle the matter properly and to take a virtual projection system to his bedside to scare Saiou.

As for how Professor Chronos and Coach Napoleon knew about this, it was because they were on their way to the docks to welcome the Manjoume Foundation members who were carrying the branch school's secret cards, as well as the arrival of Ed Phoenix, the popular freshman of the year, as his agent in the professional dueling world. However, due to their mutual targeting, both of their cars had their tires punctured, so they had to run all the way from the school to the docks. When they arrived, they could only see Manjoume delivering the final blow to his older brother.

The president of the Manjoume Group, who was carrying secret cards provided by the branch school, was knocked unconscious, and the precious cards in the duel disk were scattered all over the ground. The legendary agent who accompanied him, Takuma Saiou, was also attacked. No matter how you looked at the scene, it seemed that Jaden Yuki and Manjoume were going to do something to them—such as stealing rare cards? That's why they were waiting for them at the usually deserted dock!

Otherwise, why would they have gone so far as to use such ruthless force in the duel? Manjoume Nagasaku's nose was even bleeding!

Instructor Napoleon was about to punish those suspected of engaging in misconduct on the spot. After all, in his view, although there were quite a few excellent students among those present, Judai's red dormitory uniform, which represented a "bad student," was too conspicuous. Naturally, Instructor Napoleon thought of things like "school bullying," "gang formation," and "Yakuza," believing that Judai was very likely the "bad apple" who led the other students astray, the "bad apple that spoils the whole bunch."

Fortunately, Professor Chronos, who was previously in a similar position to him and is now acting as the vice principal, accompanied him. Even though he had some prejudice against poor students, especially those like Judai who had an extremely poor attitude towards learning, he was not as arbitrary as Coach Napoleon in concluding that it was Judai and his classmates' fault. After all, he had been teaching Judai and his classmates for a year and knew that they were definitely not that kind of people.

—Because he knew that with Jaden Yuki's thought process, he would never steal a powerful card that someone else was transporting. If he were to steal, he would steal fried shrimp from someone else's plate.

It was thanks to Professor Chronos's intervention and the opportunity he gave the group to explain, especially with the presence of Edward and Masashi Manjoume, two strong witnesses, that the misunderstanding was cleared up.

Although Professor Chronos still criticized Judai and the others for being idle at school and for clearly assigning too little homework, he still firmly declared in his capacity as acting vice principal that Judai and the others were not responsible for the matter. This left Coach Napoleon extremely unwilling, and they had a conversation with each other: "Professor Chronos, you will regret this!" "Coach Napoleon, I am the acting vice principal!"

Because Manjoume Nagasaku had been knocked unconscious once and was bleeding from the nose, and Saiou had also fallen into a coma after losing the duel, they were quickly taken to the school infirmary by the school janitors and examined by Ms. Ayukawa Megumi. — And then, this is the scene of Saiou waking up.

"...Saiou?" Just as Saiou was confronting the projection of Kobayashi Hayato, which was merely a virtual projection system, another voice rang out. Edward, who was lying at the foot of the bed, was awakened by Hayato and Saiou's voices. It seemed he had been guarding Saiou's bedside for a long time. As soon as he woke up, he looked at Saiou on the bed with concern and asked, "Saiou, are you awake? Are you alright, Saiou?"

The question he asked stemmed from Edward's long-held feelings for his friend, but Edward hesitated because he remembered the "truth" about him that Saiō had revealed before he fell into a coma.

Upon hearing the sound and turning around, Saiou finally noticed the presence of his close friend. His expression softened visibly, and he said gently to Edward, "I'm alright, Edward, completely alright."

"My storm seems to have passed."

Others might find it confusing, but Edward knew what Saiō meant, and he exclaimed excitedly, "Really?! That means Saiō, you—"

"Yes, at that time, I seemed to be completely dominated by that destructive power, becoming arrogant and manic. I even used special powers in the duel to try to dominate the two people I was dueling with, just like I would dominate others. However, thanks to them, they defeated me in the duel, causing that power within me to backfire."

Saiō placed a hand on his chest and sighed, "How many years has it been since I felt this relaxed? The wheel of my fate has finally stopped..."

“That’s wonderful, Saiou.” Hearing Saiou say that he was no longer troubled by the power called “Light Wave,” Edward was genuinely happy for him. “Your fate has changed, all thanks to Judai…”

“Not just Judai, Edward. Have you forgotten the prophecy I made?” Saiou shook his head. “It wasn’t just ‘The Fool’ who stopped the wheel of fate, but also ‘The Pope.’ One guided me in the right direction, and the other created miracles. It was Judai who stopped me from making more mistakes, but Edward, you are also an important person who changed my destiny.”

"King Zai..."

“Ed…”

"Wow, what a cheesy pair of gay guys, and it just so happens to be at my school. This is so embarrassing." Hayato looked at Saiou and Edward, who were gazing at each other with "affectionate eyes," and rubbed his arms, which didn't actually have goosebumps, with an uncomfortable expression.

Why are two grown men being so affectionate? Bakura is so much cuter!

While thinking, Hayato took the coffee that Bakura handed him, who had a shy look on his face, and took a couple of sips to perk himself up.

"You say you've been freed from control, but Saiou is thinking, how can you convince people that you've truly broken free from the influence and returned to yourself? And do you think you can escape the responsibilities that bind your past self by using the excuse of being controlled? I won't let any greedy person who dares to extend their claws to my academy get away with it."

Hayato's tone was icy, "You may become an apostle of the Light of Destruction for a time, but in my eyes you will be a lackey of the Light Wave for life, a light for light!"

The hero I like is the dark-style [D·hero] who seems to have run off from the DC movie set. I thought that compared to Jaden Yuki and the others, I was already a hardcore extremist. I never thought that I would have a day when I thought that others were too extreme.

However, he also knew that this was partly due to his long-standing relationship with Saiou, because Hayato's words were indeed correct. Even after spending so many years with Saiou, he hadn't noticed that Saiou had already been affected by the light wave. Naturally, he couldn't be sure whether Saiou had truly gotten rid of the light wave now.

He valued his friendship with Saiou, but he also knew that he couldn't let others bear the risk that "Saiou hasn't actually gotten rid of the Light Wave" because of his own impulsiveness.

"I am truly sorry for what I have done in the past, Mr. Kobayashi." Saiou sincerely apologized to Hayato's virtual projection, "Including the theft of Mr. Yugi Muto's deck that was on display here last year, it was all my fault."

“Simply saying that won’t make up for the trouble my actions have caused this school, nor will it prove my current clear-headedness. But I will prove myself in my future actions.” After a pause, Saiou turned to look at Edward. “Edward will also be keeping an eye on me.”

“That’s right. After all, Saiou came to the island as my agent, so I’ll take care of him from now on.” Edward nodded without hesitation, agreeing to the responsibility of supervising Saiou.

Looking back at the location of Hayato's projection, Saiou thought for a moment and then said, "I know I cannot prove my sanity right now, so I will stay in this ward and will not go out. However, I also have something to tell you, Mr. Kobayashi—that I am not the only puppet of the Light Wave in the world."