Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

The other effects of 【Awaken Your Sleeping E·hero】 are not important; what matters is its first effect: it increases its own ATK by 300 points based on the number of monsters used as fusion materials. 【Awaken Your Sleeping E·hero】, when fused using four monsters as materials, will gain a whopping 1200 ATK, adding to its original 2500 ATK...

It was only natural that a single blow would wipe out Koji Sato's basic points.

[Koji Sato: 2900LP → 0]

"In the very end, is it just this fleeting brilliance?" Watching his basic score being wiped out, Koji Sato smiled with a hint of relief. "Indeed, Judai, you made it all the way to the end by relying on your intuition."

Although he was defeated by Jaden, the world is sometimes like this. Even if you are defeated, it doesn't mean you have to agree with the other party. Even if you lose the duel, it doesn't mean that Koji Sato has to change his mind and agree that Jaden is right: "Even in the end, it was still such a light duel. To be honest, it was a little disappointing to me."

"However, Judai, as long as you continue on the path of dueling, admire heroes and consider yourself one, one day you will still find the important things you need to carry..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the armor of the [Scabbed Scar Knight] on Mr. Sato Koji's body shattered with a "whoosh," and the orange light of the "Death Gauntlet," which was no longer suppressed, bloomed on Mr. Sato Koji's right wrist.

The phantom of the "Howling Scarred Knight" that existed in John and Jaden's sight behind him vanished like smoke, and Mr. Sato collapsed due to exhaustion—but in his hand, he still tightly gripped the card of the "Howling Scarred Knight".

The direction in which the unconscious Koji Sato fell was obviously not carefully chosen, and right in front of him was a bottomless ditch. If he fell into it, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Fortunately, although Jaden was briefly weakened after the duel and unable to reach Mr. Sato in time, John and Asuka, who had been watching the battle, had plenty of time to react and immediately went to Mr. Sato and Jaden's side to support them.

"Are you alright, Judai?" Asuka asked with concern as she helped Judai up. "Your base score was reduced so much, are you feeling unwell anywhere?"

"Although I feel more physically exhausted than before, it's clear our Duel Disk has been modified by Hayato-sensei." Jaden shook his head to indicate he was mostly fine, just a little tired after the duel, but not to the point of collapsing like the other students. "I feel like even if I had to fight another match, I wouldn't—"

"That won't do. Didn't you hear what Sato-sensei pointed out about your mistakes?" Asuka interrupted Jaden sternly. "Since you know that the [Hero]s can unleash tremendous power when they unite during duels, shouldn't you rely on others like me more often in your daily life?"

“If a person recklessly fights alone and tries to hold on, that is not a heroic act but just ‘showing off’.”

Now that Asuka had said all that, what could Jaden possibly say in rebuttal? He could only obediently let Asuka help him to the side and sit down against the wall.

"Tenjōin, you really care about Judai, don't you?" John, watching Asuka patiently wipe the sweat from Judai's forehead with a handkerchief, and then helping Satō-sensei across the bridge to sit down against the wall, couldn't help but tease, "You're so envious of Judai~"

“Sodayo!” The phantom of [Jade Beast - Ruby Beast] leaped onto John’s shoulder, indicating its agreement with John’s words.

Although she didn't see the [Jewel Beast - Ruby Beast], Asuka could at least hear John's words as a human. She calmly said, "I really don't know what you've misunderstood, Anderson. I was just doing what I should have done after Jaden fought so hard for everyone's safety."

If they were in the forest, Asuka could have used her tone to deceive them, but with the defeat of Professor Sato Koji, the previously closed entrance to the underground laboratory was unlocked, allowing the bright lights inside to spill out and illuminate Asuka's blushing cheeks.

"Although you fell before finishing a duel, Jaden, I can tell that you're not in good enough shape to fight another match, are you?"

As one of the first to experience the power of the "Death Gauntlet," John hadn't yet tested how much the special duel disks used by everyone could counteract the full power of the "Death Gauntlet." However, he could see through the light that the sweat on Jaden's head hadn't disappeared after Asuka wiped it, and he knew that Jaden was definitely putting on a brave face.

Faced with the oppressive gazes of John and Asuka, Jaden helplessly raised his hands in surrender: "Seriously, I really wanted to say that cool line, 'I can spend the whole day with you,' why did you have to expose me at a time like this, John?"

“Just like you, Jaden, aspire to be a hero, I also want to prevent my friends from getting hurt,” John said with a smile. “Like Tenjouin just said, let’s rely on us more, shall we?”

“Alright, then you guys can have your chance to shine next.” Judai smiled and said, but his expression turned serious when he looked at the open entrance gate. “But we need to hurry, everyone at the school is waiting for us.”

"Furthermore, we can't let Professor Sato's sacrifice be in vain. If we manipulate his mind, we'll have another reason to settle scores with Professor Cobra!"

Just as Judai finished speaking, Mr. Sato Koji, who was also leaning against the wall, coughed: "Cough cough... I think I can still be saved. There's no need to make it sound like I'm already dead..."

"Huh?! Teacher, you didn't faint?" Feeling like he'd been caught talking behind someone's back, Judai awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Perhaps it was the [Scarred Knight] that protected me?" Without the ability of a "spirit user" like Jaden and others to see their own card spirits, Koji Sato could only guess based on his own feelings. "He used his power to protect my spirit, allowing me to barely say a few more words here."

"I don't know how much longer I can hold on, but don't interrupt me before I fall into a coma again." After giving Jaden a special look, Professor Koji Sato said seriously, "I started using this underground forest last year to conduct my dueling experiments. Living in the absolutely safe Duel Academy for so long made me lose my vigilance. When I encountered Professor Klaus in this underground place, I was completely unprepared and was ambushed and knocked down by him and his subordinates who brought him to the island."

“Deep in this underground laboratory, he used some kind of power to mentally manipulate and physically modify me. The target was not only me, but also an exchange student who came to the main campus this year—Amon Garlem. But in addition, someone who seemed to have been hired by Professor Klaus to become his subordinate was also modified.”

"And according to their respective mental states, Amon Garham, who was most affected mentally, was placed in the forest, while I, who could still maintain a certain level of rational thinking, lingered in front of this gate, and the remaining person, whose mental state was not affected at all by the modification... was behind the gate as Professor Klaus's last barrier."

After glancing at John and then at Asuka a few more times, Koji Sato finally looked at Judai and said, "Even now, I still hate bad students like you, Judai. This is the obvious difference I make between you and John Anderson, who has excellent grades, and Asuka Tenjouin, who listens attentively in class."

“However, I never intended to make students stronger by hurting others, like Professor Klaus did. Even for students like you, I don’t want to see you get hurt. So be careful as you go. I remember the last person had set up a lot of strange traps in the lab.”

"If you still want to be a hero, then try to do it, do what heroes should do, must do, and must do..."

He solemnly patted Judai on the shoulder, and Koji Sato finally exhaled his last breath before collapsing against the wall and falling unconscious again.

"...Sato-sensei is fine, he's just asleep." After checking, John found that Sato Koji was indeed unconscious and not really dead. He helped Sato-sensei lie down in a comfortable position. "Let Sato-sensei rest here for a while, and we'll take him with us when we go back."

"That's all we can do now." Jaden caught his breath and forced himself to stand up. "Well then, let's move on."

"Jūdai... no, it's nothing, but I'll help you from now on."

Seeing this, Asuka knew she couldn't stop Judai from being stubborn, but instead of stopping him, she helped him stand up and supported him. "But let's make this clear first, if we ever have a duel again, neither I nor Anderson will allow you to make a move."

"Hahaha, how stingy of you, Asuka." Judai chuckled, looking at Asuka. "But I initially thought you'd hold me down and not let me get up."

"Hmm, because I've heard that saying before." Asuka winked playfully at Judai, "'Protecting a man's dignity is also a woman's restraint,' or something like that~"

"Hey, I can hear you! I can hear your flirting over there!" At that moment, Saotome Rei's voice suddenly came from the terminal that Judai had casually put into his breast pocket. "I didn't disturb the duel before, but what's wrong with that old woman now! What shameless things are you saying to my Judai-sama!"

"Rei?!" Judai looked at the terminal in surprise, realizing that the communication had indeed never been interrupted. "How long ago did you start listening?"

"You haven't hung up the communication since you asked me for the map of the underground research institute, right, Judai-sama? So I heard it when that Sato-sensei suddenly clapped her hands and joined your conversation!" Saotome Rei's voice was somewhat annoyed. "You must resist that woman's temptation, Judai-sama! You already have me, don't let that old woman take advantage of you!"

"Hehe, will that kind of thing even happen?" Asuka, who was always called an old woman, moved closer to Judai and pressed her chest muscles completely against Judai's body, a little annoyed. "But in order to properly support Judai as she walks, necessary physical contact is also essential, right?"

"Wow! You old woman, what are you doing!"

"Saotome Rei, I'm doing something incredibly greedy right now," Asuka teased Saotome Rei on the other end of the terminal. "If you're nearby, try to stop me."

Just before Asuka hung up the call, Judai and John clearly heard Saotome Rei shouting, "There's a cow! There's a cow!"

"Hmm, Judai is really on a tough road in every sense of the word." John was also in a good mood, thinking it would be so interesting to see Judai being fought over by two girls, right? Although Sato-sensei said that Judai did not bear the burden of being a "hero", he carried a lot of burdens in other aspects.

"Tenjōin-kun, you take good care of Judai, and I'll go ahead and scout ahead," John volunteered. "After all, with Judai in your current state, it'll be difficult for you to react in time if there's any danger, right?"

"Another point is that, not to brag, but as 'spirit users' who can see the existence of 'card spirits,' my family members are very suitable for scouting ahead for us and checking for the traps that Teacher Sato mentioned along the way."

As he spoke, not only the [Jade Beast - Ruby Beast] on his shoulder, but also John's other six [Jade Beasts] appeared around him one by one—of course, only Jade Generation could see them.

"I see, so other people can't see the card's spirit and therefore won't cause any trouble? I didn't know it could be used like that." Jaden exclaimed in sudden realization, "This is indeed a unique advantage of 'Spirit Users,' how come I never thought of it before?"

"If it were used in other situations, like helping me check the answers to my exam paper directly outside the classroom during a test..."

"It's a pity, Judai." However, Judai's fantasy was ruthlessly shattered by Asuka before it could even surface. "If it were an exam, how would you possibly get Winged Kuriboh to pass you the answers without Hayato-sensei, who can also see Spirits? Hayato-sensei probably even knows that so-called 'Kuriboh language'."

"N-What?!" Judai looked utterly devastated. "I finally found a shortcut to become a top student, why can't I use it?!"

"It's not so much that your first reaction, Judai, was to use such a rare talent for that kind of thing," Asuka sighed. "In that respect, Anderson is more upright than you..."

However, when Asuka looked at John, she found that he suddenly turned his head and started whistling, pretending not to hear what she was saying.

“Wait a minute, John, could it be that you…” Jaden also noticed John’s awkward look. “Oh right, it seems like there aren’t as many people at the North Branch who can see the Card Spirits as there are at the main campus!”

"You guys shouldn't ruin the prestige of 'Spirit Master' abilities in my mind..." Asuka couldn't help but complain, "With your performance, it's really hard for me not to suspect that Manjoume, who always outperformed me in middle school, also used 'Spirit Master' abilities to cheat."

(Manjoume, not far away: Achoo!)

Chapter 1722 The Reason for the Duel

Although Mr. Sato told Judai and the others to be careful of possible traps set behind the entrance gate.

However, after Judai, Asuka, and John cautiously advanced for about five minutes, they still hadn't encountered anything that could be considered a trap. Even the [Jewel Beasts] that John sent out to scout didn't encounter anything suspicious.

"Although bringing this up suddenly might be a bit troubling for you," Judai, who was still being helped along by Asuka despite claiming he could at least walk normally on his own, chatted with the two of them, "Asuka, and John, what are you dueling for?"

"Why are you asking about this all of a sudden..." Asuka looked at Judai with some confusion. "Is it because of what Professor Sato said earlier?"

"Well... it's impossible to say I don't care at all." Judai touched his brow, using a small gesture to cover up his embarrassment. "One thing that can't be denied is that Sato-sensei probably sees it very clearly. As for me, it's just because it's interesting."

"No, I was surprised and happy, but I guess I like dueling because it's fun."

"Is it because of that reason, Jaden...?" John looked at Jaden with some embarrassment. "But it feels like making a little girl lift her skirt in the street to say the reason for your duel in front of others."

"What was that weird analogy? It's not that bad." Asuka retorted, but paused before saying it, then showed the same shy expression, "...Okay, I take back what I said before. It is indeed a little embarrassing to just state my reasons for dueling like that."

"Huh? You two only said sorry after I finished speaking? How could you do that?" Judai complained somewhat resentfully when John and Asuka remained silent. Noticing that Asuka had glanced at John while speaking, Judai thought for a moment and immediately understood why Asuka wasn't speaking. Perhaps it was because she wasn't actually very familiar with John.

After all, reality isn't like Europa Universalis where "my daughter's daughter is still my daughter." A friend's friend doesn't necessarily mean they're friends. I'm friends with Asuka and I have a good relationship with John, but John and Asuka are just acquaintances at best, not very close.

"Don't worry, Asuka, John isn't the kind of person to blabber. He would never spread secrets he heard from friends to others without permission." To make her words more convincing, Judai gave an example: "Last week I told him that I was the one who tore Sho's Dark Magician Girl poster when he was a freshman, and he's kept it a secret ever since."

"Although the main reason is that Marufuji has been doing his best to avoid the dinosaur guy's duel all this time, and it was two years ago, so he may have forgotten about it by now," John complained, but still raised his hand and solemnly promised, "However, I really don't have the habit of gossiping, and I would never laugh at other people's dreams."

"John has already put it this way, Asuka, you should consider it." Judai, with one arm still draped over Asuka's shoulder, leaned closer to her and said, as if egging her on.

But when Asuka met Jaden's gaze, she clearly saw the lingering confusion that troubled his heart beneath his feigned cheerfulness. Clearly, although he had won the duel, Sato-sensei's words were still haunting Jaden; he genuinely needed a reason to duel with someone else as a reference point to dispel his confusion.

Thinking of this, Asuka could only sigh helplessly: "Judai, if you say so, of course I will believe John-kun... Okay, but you guys must swear that you will never laugh at me."

"Although I want to keep this story short, I think it really starts from when I first encountered Duel Monsters as a child. The trigger was during Duel City. My brother was completely captivated by the duels of the four finalists of Duel City—Hayato Kobayashi, Yugi Muto, Seto Kaiba, and Katsuya Jonouchi—which were broadcast live on TV. He even took it upon himself to have a hairdresser cut our hair to resemble those of the two legendary duelists."

Pointing to her hairstyle, Asuka complained, "Even though I was young back then, I'm still a girl, so I definitely have my own sense of style. What my brother did made me really angry, but it also made me curious—just how captivating are Duel Monsters that they could make my brother so obsessed?"

"Then, I saw an incredibly vast world. Here, you can be anyone you want to be and walk any path you want to take. For me, who had been oppressed by my brother's shadow at the time, this was undoubtedly an unprecedented experience of freedom."

Asuka had already confided in Jaden about her hidden inferiority complex and sense of inadequacy. Although John wasn't very clear about the part about "Tenjōin Fubuki's shadow," Asuka didn't explain too much, since she mainly wanted to share her reasons for the duel with Jaden.

"Do I want to surpass my brother? Maybe I have thought about it, but that's not the reason for my duel. As for protecting everyone, for justice, or becoming the strongest, I don't have such lofty thoughts. After all, in Hayato-sensei's words, I am like many other people, my soul is bound by gravity."

“I think it should be ‘recognition’. What I’m pursuing in the duel is something called ‘recognition’. Recognition of my abilities, not calling me ‘Fubuki’s sister’ because of my brother’s existence; recognition of my talents, not being swayed by my appearance; recognition of my thoughts, not looking down on me because of my inferiority complex.”

Looking at Judai, Asuka's eyes burned with determination. "The person who can give me that kind of 'sense of recognition' is the person I want to protect, the person who is the justice for a selfish person like me, the motivation for me to become stronger, and the reason for my duel."

After listening to Asuka's story, John looked at Judai with a gossipy gaze, but Judai had an approving expression: "Asuka, you really chose a difficult path. It must be hard to find someone like that."

"It's not that difficult..."

Asuka said softly, while John teased from the side, "It's more like it's both far away and very close—Goo-wa!"

Although she was supporting Judai, Asuka still managed to free her hand to give John an elbow. Seeing John shut his mouth in time after being hit by her, Asuka raised an eyebrow and said, "Now that you've heard what I and Judai have to say, it's your turn, John. Now it's your turn to tell us your reasons for the duel."

"Well, I'll just say it if you ask me." John was actually a little regretful; he'd been so enthusiastic about watching the show and joining in the fun, and now he had to pay for his gossip. Asuka felt embarrassed, but he felt the same way—a little ashamed to reveal his reasons for the duel in front of others.

However, with the groundwork laid by Judai and Asuka, it was indeed much easier for John to speak.

"My reason for this duel... no, I think it should be called my purpose. Just like Asuka asked, Judai, you have to keep it a secret and not tell anyone, and please don't laugh at me."

John rarely showed a serious expression. "That happened before I met the [Jewel Beasts], during my adoptive father's trip to America. One day, I was strolling around the street when I accidentally discovered a [Gummy Bean] card sprite wandering around."

"Out of curiosity, I followed him into the alley, only to find a child lying on the ground with many Duel Monster cards scattered around him, as if he had just lost a duel."

"Upon inquiry, I learned that the child's most cherished 'Gummy Bean' card had been stolen. The person who stole the card suddenly challenged him to a duel and proposed a card bet, but he lost the duel and also lost the chance to win back his beloved companion."

"The Gummy Bean's sprite disappeared before I arrived, but I think it was the Gummy Bean who, even after being taken away, could not forget his friends and wanted to help that child. That child did not have the vision of a 'Sprite Master,' but his heart was undoubtedly resonating with the heart of the Gummy Bean."

"Because of the 'Spirit Master' ability, I've always been thinking about the responsibility behind such an ability. After that duel, I think I understand. The communication between duelists and cards doesn't necessarily have to rely on such a rare ability as the 'Spirit Master.' Even if you can't see the cards, duelists can still communicate with spirits. But I think the 'Spirit Master' ability exists to make it possible for more people to do this."

"To paraphrase a quote from Sato-sensei, 'With great power comes great responsibility.' As for me, I want to become a 'bridge,' a bridge that bridges the invisible chasm between humans and spirits, enabling them to understand and communicate. That is the reason for my duel."

After listening to John's explanation, Asuka said earnestly, "John... your dream is great."

“I believe you will succeed, John.” Judai also gave John a thumbs up.