Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Jaden looked at Manjoume, who was standing on the dueling platform talking to thin air, and scratched his head in confusion: "Uh, are you rehearsing a play, Manjoume? Are we disturbing you?"

"Judai!?" Hearing Judai's voice suddenly come from behind, Manjoume nearly fell over in a panic, completely unaware that Judai, Sho, and Maeda had somehow arrived at the dueling arena. "When did you get here!"

"Huh? Us? Because Master Daitokuji said you seemed to be looking for me, we just found our way here. We didn't hear what lines you were rehearsing, Manjoume..."

“It’s Mr. Manjoume!” Judai’s words relieved Manjoume, who then corrected him again, “But you didn’t hear me—”

"...I started listening from the part where 'Caesar has been defeated by me'."

"That basically means starting from the beginning!"

Seeing the excited Manjoume, Judai waved his hand casually: "Don't worry about the details."

"But who is 'Caesar'?"

Because of the height difference and the fact that he had lowered his head, Judai, who had turned around, did not notice the obvious inferiority complex on Marufuji Sho's face and asked Maeda, who had been in school for a year.

Hayato Maeda clearly knew about the man called "Caesar," but before Maeda could introduce him to Judai, Manjoume interrupted him and diverted Judai's attention: "You don't need to know who that person is. Since you've come to me willingly, then let's duel, Judai Yuki!"

"Manjoume, do you want to duel? Right now, right here?"

Seeing the note that read "Unfinished" still pasted on the dueling platform where Manjoume was, Jaden reminded him.

“This is clearly the unfinished dueling arena the principal mentioned. He specifically said this morning that we can’t use this place without permission. If we duel here, we might get expelled on the first day of school.” Marufuji Sho also filled in the gaps for Jaden, who was asleep at the time and didn’t know the details. “If it’s a top student from the Obelisk-Blue dormitory, it’s fine. But if it’s one of us students from the Osiris-Red dormitory, we might get expelled on the spot.”

"This year's freshmen are so insidious! Is this his real purpose?!" Maeda Hayato's small eyes widened as he stared at Manjoume. "Even for us students in the Osiris-Red Dormitory, do they have to resort to such despicable tricks as a backup plan?!"

"That's not true at all, you idiots!" Manjoume said angrily, after hearing the three of them portray him in just a few words as the kind of despicable guy who would pull out a screw when he was about to lose and threaten to jump off a building to prevent others from defeating him. "The Duel Academy, no, most of the Duel Disks and Duel Platforms on the market these days are manufactured by the Manjoume Foundation, which has a partnership with the International Illusion Company and the Kaiba Corporation. Do you think I wouldn't know if this place is suitable for them?"

"The infrastructure here has been fully installed. All that's missing is an engineer who knows a bit about virtual projection system parameter settings to do the final debugging. I already got the installation files from the engineer who was supposed to be on this business trip, and I've already completed the data debugging here."

Wan Zhangmu took out a USB drive and shook it, then put it away again. "Today is the first day of school. All the other dueling arenas are already full. Only this dueling arena is not used because others consider it unfinished. Or are you planning to postpone our duel and make us wait in line for ten days or half a month?"

“There’s no need for that. I hate queuing.” Jaden shook his head abruptly, raised his Duel Disk and said, “Since you’ve said so, Manjoume, let’s duel here. I’m actually just as excited as you are to see how strong you’ve become after all these years.”

"It's Mr. Manjoume! And who's expecting you to become any stronger? I just want to defeat you, the guy who has humiliated me countless times. Don't get me wrong!"

Manjoume spouted his usual arrogant tsundere remarks, but as he watched Jaden walk up the steps to the dueling arena, he wore an expectant smile.

Maeda Hayato scratched the back of his head and looked at Marufuji Sho beside him: "Did Yuki know that top student from the blue dormitory before?"

“Yeah, that seems to be the case, and it sounds like Jaden used to win more often.” Sho nodded proudly, as if he were talking about himself, not Jaden. “And you probably don’t know, but in the practical test of the entrance exam, Jaden actually defeated that fierce Professor Chronos.”

Hearing Marufuji say this, Maeda recalled what Daitokuji had said before: "It seems that Daitokuji-sensei also said something like that. It seems that Judai's written test score must have been very poor. But it's really enviable that he can duel so easily and happily."

Maeda's eyes were filled with longing as he watched Jaden put on the school-issued Duel Disk on the dueling stage.

“Right, right?” Marufuji Sho almost agreed with Maeda, but then belatedly remembered that although Judai’s written test score was 110, the tenth from the bottom among all the candidates, he himself seemed to be worse, number 119, so he chose to remain silent and not say anything more.

"Alright, let's begin the duel, Jaden Yuki. If I defeat you, I will have achieved my dominance in the first year. This will be the first step I take to conquer Duel Academy!" Manjoume took out his deck and inserted it into the Duel Disk he had already put on. A black and white illusory dragon shadow flashed behind him.

'Roar! '

Maeda Hayato and Jaden both covered their ears in unison, leaving Marufuji Sho somewhat bewildered.

"Strange, why is there suddenly a shouting sound?" Maeda Hayato wondered, glancing at the dueling platform where the note hadn't been torn off yet. "Could it be that this dueling platform isn't properly set up?"

Judai smiled knowingly: "As imposing as ever, Manjoume."

"Ha, do you think this is good? I've been woken up by this guy more than once. I really can't understand how the principal can put up with so many of his friends at the same time."

(At this moment, Hayato, noticing that the table was a bit uneven, was using [Disruption Yellow] to prop up the table legs.)

They looked at each other, and Manjoume and Judai said in unison:

"Duel!" x2

【Manjou: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand】

[Yujo Judai: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

Chapter 1068 Traitor? Wu Kanglong!

"I'll take the first turn. Draw a card!"

With practiced ease, Manjoume drew five cards that automatically popped out from the top of the duel disk, seized the first move, and then drew another card from his deck.

Looking at the card that unsurprisingly popped out of his hand again, Manjoume's lips curled into a smile: "Hmph, just in time. I activate the Spell Card [Discount Shopping], sending a Level 8 monster from my hand—this [Dark Storm Dragon]—to the Graveyard, and drawing two cards from my Deck."

"Next, I'll show you my hand: [Nebula Dragon - Nebula] and the Level 8 Dragon-Type monster [Triceratops], to activate the effect of [Nebula Dragon - Nebula]." After glancing at the two cards he'd drawn, Manjoume showed them to Jaden and placed them face down on the Duel Disk. "Special Summon these two monsters to my field in Defense Position. Come forth, [Nebula Dragon - Nebula] and [Triceratops]!"

[Nebula Dragon - Nibraron] [8☆/Light]

[Dragon Clan/Effect]

[2000/0]

[Triceratops] [8☆/Dark]

[Dragon/Normal]

[2850/2350]

A strange dragon of light from the stars and a dark dragon with three horns appeared on the field. The casual summoning of two high-level monsters onto the field immediately stunned the onlookers, Sho Marufuji and Hayato Maeda.

However, looking at the two monsters in Defense Position, Jaden was quite excited: "Wow, compared to before, you still have four cards left after summoning two tributes. Did you go all out from the start, Manjoume?"

"It's Mr. Manjoume!" Manjoume waved his hand, inserting a card into the Spell Trap Zone. "Going all out? Of course, I can't be careless when dealing with you. But, it's still a little while before that guy appears. I'll activate the Continuous Spell Card [Chaos Shield] first, by harmonizing the power of light and darkness, the DEF of all monsters on my field increases by 300 points!"

[Nebula Dragon - Nibralon] [DEF0→300]

[Triceratops] [DEF2350→2650]

"The attack power of the two defense-position monsters has increased again!" Marufuji Sho glanced at the two monsters on Manjoume's field. "They summoned such powerful cards so easily, and now they're going to increase their power again. They're leaving no way for their opponents to survive."

Maeda Hayato didn't say anything, but he actually disagreed with Marufuji Sho's statement. He had a baseless premonition that the voice he heard earlier might not have been a malfunction of the duel system, but rather came from the person opposite Yujo, and that the owner of that voice was definitely not one of the two monsters on the field, but someone else entirely.

Based on the conversation between Yuujou and that person, could it be that these two monsters are going to act as—

After activating the Continuous Magic Card, Manjoume sneered, raised the card in his hand, and said, "The stage is ready. Unleash your pent-up energy, my ace!"

"Release the monsters [Nebula Dragon - Nibra Dragon] and [Triceratops], and I shall summon this invincible monster!"

"With your radiant body, cleave through the veil of darkness; unleash the ultimate fang that wields the power of chaos upon your former rival!!"

"Waga Tamashii! [Dragon of Light and Darkness]!!!"

The light-attribute [Nebula Dragon - Nibra Dragon] and the dark-attribute [Triceratops] dissipated into black and white particles that rose into the air, filling the body of a new giant dragon on the left and right. Its azure eyes suddenly lit up, and the two-colored dragon, with angelic white wings and demonic black bat wings, descended upon the vast field, letting out a roar that convinced Maeda Hayato that he hadn't been hallucinating!

"Roar--!!!"

【Dragon of Light and Darkness】【8☆/Light】

[Dragon Clan/Effect]

【2800/2400→2800/2700】

After summoning his strongest ace, Manjoume was quite pleased with the shocked expressions on Marufuji Sho and Maeda Hayato's faces. When he saw that Jaden's face still held his usual confident and excited smile, he snorted coldly and said, "Hmph, you're as infuriating as ever. At least you should show some shock when you see my ace appear, right?"

"While I do want to, how many times have we dueled in the past? Don't you always summon the [Dragon of Light and Darkness] in the first round, Manjoume? He's really sticking to you."

"It's Mr. Manjoume! And you have no idea how others feel, do you even know the pain of being woken up in the middle of the night!" Manjoume said coldly. "Feel the pain, think about the pain, accept the pain, understand the pain. In front of such a powerful [Dragon of Light and Darkness], all you will experience in the duel will be the pain that I feel as well as you feel."

"Set two cards face down, my turn ends."

【Manjoume: 4000LP, 0 cards in hand】

【Dragon of Light and Darkness】【ATK2800】

Chaos Shield, Gekko x2

Looking at Manjoume, who was raising his hands and looking arrogant, Marufuji Sho and Maeda Hayato were somewhat puzzled.

"While it's impressive that you summoned a high-level monster in the first round, I don't understand what 'feeling pain' means."

Maeda Hayato looked at the [Dragon of Light and Darkness]. The monster gave him a special feeling, one that he had only felt in a very small number of people since he entered the academy, such as Mogi Yuu, who entered the academy in the same year as him, and Principal Kobayashi Hayato. Even in the "Caesar" who reigned supreme at the Duel Academy, he had never felt that special feeling. "Could that monster have some special effect?"

"It's probably just a bluff. Even though he's a top student of Obelisk Blue, he still makes inexplicable moves in duels." Marufuji Sho, who didn't share Maeda Hayato's unique perspective, glanced disdainfully at the Continuous Spell Card [Chaos Shield] on the field behind Manjoume. "A Continuous Spell Card that boosts defense, but the monster on the field is in attack position. Even I would never make such a move."

Although Marufuji Sho couldn't do what Manjoume had done before—easily summoning two high-level monsters—that didn't stop him from pointing out the "flaws" in Manjoume's operation.

Manjoume completely ignored the two underachievers' words, only glancing at Hayato Morita with slight surprise before turning his gaze back to Jaden: "Alright, jellyfish head, start feeling the pain now. You shouldn't have forgotten your memories of the [Dragon of Light and Darkness]'s effects along with your dueling skills over the past few years, right?"

"Haha, no way, Manjoume's Lightning." Hearing Manjoume call out that familiar name again, Jaden laughed and retorted, his finger resting on the top of his deck. "My turn, draw!"

"Then, you can usually summon [E·hero Skywalker]!"

A warrior equipped with wing-like turbine-like aircraft landed on Jaden's field, the turbines on his wings whirring violently, about to create a gust of wind. At the same time, Jaden spoke, "When [E·Hero Sky Warrior] is successfully summoned or Special Summoned, choose one of its effects to activate, namely—"

Before Judai could finish speaking, Manjoume impatiently said, "Too long-winded, don't activate it!"

As they were talking, Marufuji Sho and Maeda Hayato saw the conspicuous [Dragon of Light and Darkness] on the field of Manjoume suddenly move and roar at the [E·hero Sky Warrior] that had just appeared on the field of Judai. The air currents stirred up by its breath alone caused a storm that suppressed the wings of the [E·hero Sky Warrior].

With a loud "bang," the [E·hero Sky Warrior]'s turbine aircraft overloaded and burned out, failing to activate its effect.

【E·hero Sky Warrior】【4☆/Wind】

[Warrior Race/Effect]

[1800/300]

"As long as the [Dragon of Light and Darkness] or the Sealed Dragon exists on the field, the effects of monsters, spells, and trap cards will be unable to be activated."

Upon hearing Manjoume's explanation, Jaden added, "Actually, it just negates the effects of monsters, spells, and trap cards when they are activated. It's still useless against counter trap cards that can't chain monster effects, and it will not only affect me but also Manjoume himself."

"Besides, there's a saying, 'Powerful cards often come with great risks,' so such powerful effects don't come without a price, do they?"

"Hmph, a mere 500 points of attack and defense, I can afford to squander it." Manjoume turned his head away and snorted coldly.

[Dragon of Light and Darkness] [2800/2700→2300/2200]

"It can actually negate any effect and activate such a powerful effect? ​​Is that the power of the Blue Dormitory's top student's ace monster?" Marufuji Sho looked at the [Dragon of Light and Darkness] with a trembling expression. Even though its attack power had decreased, in his eyes, it was proof that it had already negated an effect once, making it even more frightening.

Hayato Maeda also understood why Manjoume activated the cryptic "Chaos Shield" before summoning "Dragon of Light and Darkness." Normally, "Dragon of Light and Darkness" has 2800 ATK and 2400 DEF. Each time it negates an activation, its ATK and DEF decrease by 500 points, meaning Manjoume could negate a maximum of four of Judai's card activations.

However, the Chaos Shield activated before the Light and Darkness Dragon is introduced is a continuous spell card and cannot be negated by the Light and Darkness Dragon introduced later. After increasing the Light and Darkness Dragon's DEF by 300, its value becomes 2800/2700, which effectively increases the number of times the effect can be used, changing it from four counters to five counters.

Although he couldn't quite grasp the card effects during the duel, even Maeda Hayato, just by watching from the sidelines, understood Manjoume's dueling strategy.

A duelist typically has a maximum of six cards in the first round. If four card activations are negated, they can still manage to use two cards. But if five card activations are negated, leaving only one card, what can they do? At least in Maeda Hayato's experience, they can't do anything at all.

"This is such a familiar environment, Manjoume. The activation of the [Dragon of Light and Darkness]'s nullification effect reminds me of my childhood." Judai, perhaps unaware of the enhancement that [Chaos Shield] provides to [Dragon of Light and Darkness], still said with a smile, "But the biggest drawback of its powerful effect is not only that it requires reducing one's own power, but also that it is forcibly activated."

"If I use the card's effect a few more times, the 'Dragon of Light and Darkness,' which resembles a wall of sighs, will actually become a 'traitorous dragon.'"

As he spoke, Jaden played a card from his hand and said, "I activate the Spell Card [Planet Transformation], adding a Field Spell Card from my Deck to my hand—but it will be negated by [Dragon of Light and Darkness]."