Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"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 Judai is your equal in strength, 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 [Beast Warriors] already engaged in battle: "Although those monsters look like mechanical lifeforms, I can tell they are clearly awakened card spirits, right? Is this alright, 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 remain calm having him teach students about the preciousness and importance of Tamashi? And right now, John is still worried about killing Kobayashi Hayato's spirit...

“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 done. We can't just let that cause us to—"

"Don't forget our current situation!" Caesar interrupted John, asking him, "You're unwilling 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 this?"

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 imitated them perfectly, almost as if he were indeed a domineering teacher himself.

"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!"

Chapter 1787 Me, fighting Hayato? Huh... really?!

Before Caesar and John could react, Hayato had already decided on the method of the duel.

"Me, Kaiser Ryo, fighting Hayato-sensei? Eh... really!?"

John said, glancing at Caesar, only to find that although the other man was frowning, he still decisively took out his deck and raised his duel disk: "It feels like so many years ago that I last dueled with Hayato-sensei. It's been a long time since I faced such a strong opponent. Although I can't enjoy the joy of victory, it's a good test of my current strength."

"I'm also curious, how far have you come with 'electron flow' and 'internal electron flow'?"

John had originally wanted to ask Caesar for his thoughts, but seeing that both he and Hayato seemed ready, he didn't hesitate and took out his deck as well: "It's not a duel with Caesar, but a team effort... So I'm going in too, everyone, lend me your power!"

"Hmph, treating the card like family?" Seeing John's actions, Caesar turned his head, revealing a smirk with a contemptuous sneer on his face. "You're still just a child."

“Although I don’t approve of your ideology, let’s cooperate for now in this duel, ‘Hell Caesar’.” John deliberately said the name Marufuji Ryo now called himself, his expression barely maintaining composure. “However, you are not allowed to release my monsters without permission. That’s my bottom line!”

"So you're going to keep it to be released by Hayato-sensei's monster? Ha, what a pointless obsession." Without nodding in agreement to John's request, Caesar turned to look at Hayato, pushing his deck into the Duel Disk as he spoke. "John Anderson, I'm not going to be lenient with your feelings. There's no room for leniency in the brutal Duel Hell—especially when your opponent is the Duel King."

"If you get in the way of my challenge to Hayato-sensei, I'll be the first to take you down, so don't let my 'electronic flow' crush you like a speed bump. Fight with the will to die and the hunger for victory!"

“I’ll return the favor to you.” John pushed his deck into the duel disk as well. “I will never fall here. Since everyone is looking forward to my power, I will definitely grow to the point where I can answer everyone’s wishes—[Rainbow Dragon], please fight alongside me!”

"Duel!" x2

"Not bad momentum. Next, try to maintain the synchronization and cooperative fighting style you had when you shouted 'Duel' together earlier—otherwise, the price you'll pay is a drop in your shared life points."

Hayato showed the Duel Disk display screen with a base score of 4000. "Both of you have a base score of 4000. John and Ryo, you can take turns fighting. You can choose to go first or second."

John looked at Caesar and said, "I'll take the first strike, is that alright?"

"Whatever, as long as your monsters don't get in the way later." Whether it's "Cyber ​​Stream" or "Reverse Cyber ​​Stream," both are more suited to Caesar's strengths, especially when it comes to breaking through on the second turn. Even if he goes first to set up the field, he can't create any monsters with enough pressure. Does he expect him to summon a [Armored Dragon - Cyber ​​Dark End Dragon] to be eaten by Hayato's [Turtle Kaizan - Gamesialer]? So, it's up to John.

John raised his hand to signal Hayato, and said, "Then I'll start the attack, Hayato-sensei—my turn, draw!"

John Anderson: 4000LP, hand 5→6

"First, I activate the Continuous Spell Card [Crystal Tree]. As long as this card is in the Spell & Trap Zone, each time a [Crystal Beast] monster is placed in my Spell & Trap Zone, I place a jewel counter on this card."

John places a Continuous Spell Card on the back field, then plays another card from his hand. "Then comes the Spell Card 'Crystal Bond,' which adds a 'Crystal Beast' monster from my Deck to my hand and places another 'Crystal Beast' with a different name than that monster as a Continuous Spell Card in my Spell & Trap Zone."

"I search for [Jade Beast - Jade Pegasus] and add it to my hand, and place [Jade Beast - Amethyst Cat] in the Spell & Trap Zone."

John Anderson: 4000 LP, hand 6→5→5

Back row: [Gem Tree (Gem Marker 0→1)] [Gem Beast - Amethyst Cat]

As a dazzling purple crystal appeared in John's backfield, the Jewel Tree borne a gem fruit on its branches because the Jewel Beast had been placed in John's magic trap area.

However, John immediately used the card he had just added to his hand: "Then there's this card, the Continuous Spell Card [Bridge of the Heart]. While this card is on the field, I can summon one [Crystal Beast] monster during my Main Phase, except for Normal Summon."

"Using this additional Normal Summon, I Normal Summon [Crystal Beast - Jade Pegasus] from my hand and activate its effect to place one [Crystal Beast] monster from my hand, Deck, or Graveyard face-up as a Continuous Spell Card in my Spell & Trap Zone."

After a pause, John caught the card retrieved from the Duel Disk. "The card I chose is this one, [Ultimate Gem Beast - Rainbow Dragon]."

【Jade Beast - Jade Pegasus】【ATK1800】

【The Tree of Gems (Gem Markers 1→2)】

"Next, I will use the second effect of [Bridge of the Heart] - during my Main Phase, I will destroy one [Crystal Beast] card from my hand or field and add one [Crystal Beast] Spell/Trap Card from my Deck to my hand - the one I will destroy is this [Crystal Beast - Jade Pegasus] on my field."

Caesar, standing next to John, raised an eyebrow and said sarcastically, "You just summoned the [Jade Beast - Azure Jade Pegasus] and destroyed it in the blink of an eye? You have quite the relationship."

“My family and I have never resisted sacrificing for each other; what we resist is unnecessary sacrifice,” John explained. “And at this moment, Sapphire is destroyed so that he may be reborn!”

"If [Jade Beast - Jade Pegasus] is destroyed, it can be placed face-up as a Continuous Spell Card in my Spell & Trap Zone instead of being sent to the Graveyard. It adds a jewel counter to [Jade Tree] and the card I search from my Deck is this [Golden Jade Stick].

"Although the card name is not written, this card is used as a 'Jewel' card according to the rules."

【约翰·安德森：4000LP，手牌5→4→3→4】

Back row: [Sapphire Tree (Sapphire Markers 2→3)] [Bridge of Hearts] [Ultimate Sapphiremon - Rainbow Dragon] [Sapphiremon - Jade Pegasus] [Sapphiremon - Amethyst Cat]

With no monsters in the front row but a back row full of cards, John's "Crystal Beast" deck is significantly different from ordinary decks in this respect.

Shortly after that, John picked up [Ultimate Gem Beast - Rainbow Dragon] again and showed it to Hayato, saying, "While it exists as a Continuous Spell Card, banish [Ultimate Gem Beast - Rainbow Dragon] to activate its effect. Special Summon one Level 4 or lower [Gem Beast] monster from my Deck by negating its effect, and add one [Ultimate Gem God] from my Deck to my hand—Come to my side, Rainbow-Dragon!"

The monster Special Summoned by John from his Deck is [Sapphire Beast - Emerald Turtle]. However, since it was Special Summoned by the effect of [Ultimate Sapphire Beast - Rainbow Dragon], its effect is negated. But more importantly, it is the card John added to his hand that possesses the power to "cross space," allowing him to build bridges between people, between people and spirits, and even between worlds!

The mere act of John retrieving the card and adding it to his hand caused a strong aura to emanate from him. Caesar's trench coat fluttered, but his gaze remained fixed on the card in John's hand, a bloodthirsty expression on his face, eagerly anticipating its power.

"You've got the Rainbow Dragon sortie sortie in hand, huh?" Hayato watched John unfold his deck, not using cards like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to hinder him. He was quite looking forward to seeing how big a scene John could create without interference. "But, the conditions for the Rainbow Dragon's arrival haven't been met yet."

(Note: Animated version)

“To summon the [Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Dragon], we need to collect all seven [Gem Beasts]. Although we're still a little short, we'll achieve it soon.” John said, playing a card. “Before that, let me clear some space in my Spell & Trap Zone—activate the Spell Card [Rare Value]!”

"If I have two or more face-up [Crystal Beast] cards in my Spell & Trap Zone, I can activate this effect. I will randomly send one of them to the Graveyard and then draw two cards from my Deck."

As John activated [Precious Value], the round blue jade stone that his Amethyst and [Jade Beast - Jade Pegasus] transformed into after being destroyed shook for a moment. Then the jade stone shattered, and two cards flew out and into John's hand.

John Anderson: 4000 LP, hand 4→5→6

【Jade Beast - Jade Turtle】【DEF2000】

Backstage: [Tree of Jewels (Gem Marker 3)] [Bridge of Hearts] [Jewel Beast - Amethyst Cat]

"You destroyed the [Jade Beast - Azure Pegasus]?" Hayato glanced at John's hand. "I see. You were planning to use the effect of [Golden Jade Strip], weren't you?"

“After all, Sapphire’s effect isn’t once per turn,” John honestly admitted. “But before that, I need to send my [Jade Tree] to the graveyard.”

"The second effect of 【Crystal Tree】can be activated by sending this card with a jewel counter to the Graveyard. Based on the number of jewel counters placed, place the same number of 【Crystal Beast】 monsters from my Deck as Continuous Spell Cards face-up in my Spell & Trap Zone."

John held up three fingers. "After the [Gem Tree] left the field, I had three empty spell trap zones, and I also had three gem markers placed on the [Gem Tree]!"

"I will place three Crystal Beasts from my deck—Crystal Beast Cobalt Spinel Eagle, Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth, and Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger—face-up in my Spell & Trap Zone!"

The Jewel Tree, which had already borne three fruits, shattered with a crash, but its ripe fruits fell onto John's back field, turning into three dazzling jade stones that filled the magic trap area he had painstakingly cleared.

“Finally, I have four [Crystal Beasts] in my Spell & Trap Zone. So, it’s the perfect time to activate this card.” John said, revealing a card in his hand, “My family and I have an even better field for battle—the Field Spell Card [Rainbow Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins] is activated!”

The futuristic arena was transformed into an ancient Roman-style arena by being covered in rustic stone colors, with a striking rainbow hanging in the sky.

"Based on the number of 'Crystal Beast' cards in my Spell & Trap Zone, 'Rainbow Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins' gains different levels of effect. I currently have four 'Crystal Beast' cards in my Spell & Trap Zone, so 'Rainbow Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins' cannot be destroyed by card effects. Once per turn, it can halve the battle damage it deals to me. When a Spell & Trap Card is activated, I can send one face-up 'Crystal Beast' monster I control to the Graveyard to negate its activation and destroy it."

"And what I'm about to activate now is, once per turn, I draw one card from my deck."

John Anderson: 4000 LP, hand 6→5→6

【Jade Beast - Jade Turtle】【DEF2000】

Backstage: [Bridge of the Heart] [Jewel Beast - Amethyst Cat] [Jewel Beast - Cobalt Spinel Eagle] [Jewel Beast - Amber Mammoth] [Jewel Beast - Topaz Tiger]

Location: [Rainbow Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins]