Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"You weren't even using your full strength in the fight... No, from the very beginning, the gap between us was so vast that it couldn't even be considered a fight..."

While the hybrid deck of [AtoZ] and [Disruption] certainly demonstrated overwhelming power, and even Hayato pulled out his strongest "God of Phantoms" to fight in this duel, in terms of the actual results, Hayato's life points, apart from the 1000 he paid out voluntarily, did not suffer even the slightest damage from Pegasus Moonwalker.

Even though he included the "Three Evil Gods" cards created by Mr. Pegasus based on the "Three Egyptian Gods" in his deck, he still met the same fate of being mercilessly defeated as he had years ago in front of Mr. Hayato.

“You’re too strong, Mr. Hayato…” Tenma Tsukiyuki raised his head again, a bitter smile on his face. In it was a regret that he had once again realized he could probably never defeat Hayato, and also a pang of heartache for Hayato. “You have always walked the lonely path called ‘the strongest’…”

"Hmph, I can't pretend I didn't hear that." Hayato heard Kaiba's voice in his ear, but his phone had already been disconnected. The voice wasn't coming from his cell phone, but from above.

The strong wind blowing downwards from the helicopter rotors had barely ruffled Hayato's hair when Kaiba, wearing a white trench coat, touched the high wall and slowed down, landing in front of Hayato. The nano-level protective gear covering his hands and knees retracted inside his trench coat. He straightened up and looked down at Tenma Tsukiyuki, saying, "The so-called title of 'strongest' is just something I've temporarily stored on this guy Kobayashi Hayato. I can take it back whenever I want, with my invincible Blueas!"

"Loneliness is nonexistent, because if this guy relaxes even for a moment, there are plenty of people behind him who will catch up and knock him off the throne of the strongest!"

With his arms crossed, Haima spoke confidently. Just then, the helicopter he was in slowly descended from the sky. In the clearing area that had been cleared by several security personnel from Haima Group, Guiping gripped the handle and landed from the rappelling rope, standing behind Haima.

Having overheard Kaiba's words, he showed no respect for his brother: "Although, it seems that your loss rate in duels with Hayato is currently 100% and you're completely unmoved."

"Impossible! I clearly drew with him once!" Kaiba immediately denied, refusing to acknowledge the fact that Keipai had stated.

"You're not talking about what happened in Duel Kingdom, are you? You still have the nerve to bring up the part where you ran away halfway through?" Keihei had a look on his face that said, "You and your record make me laugh."

As Hayato and Tetsuyuki's duel ended, Kaiba, who had once again spotted the two on the surveillance footage, immediately dispatched a helicopter to capture Tetsuyuki. Hayato had noticed the arrival of the helicopter with the "KC" logo when he looked up at the horizon.

While the Kaiba brothers were playfully bickering, Hayato looked at Tenma Tsukiyuki, who was being pulled up from the ground by Kaiba Corporation security personnel, and asked, "Tell me what you meant by what you just said, Tsukiyuki. As for the 'collaborator' thing, consider it a reward for serving my fans?"

“Fan service? Indeed, there’s no better fan service.” Tenma Tsukiyuki nodded and looked at Hayato, “Then, Mr. Hayato, besides Domino City, which has produced many legendary duelists, where else do you think is a suitable place to cultivate duelists with the potential to catch up with you?”

"Several years ago, when the Duel Academy was established, I was Mr. Pegasus's assistant and represented the International Illusion Society in liaising with the many corporations involved in the establishment of the Duel Academy. It was at that time that I came into contact with my collaborator. Although I knew that he had his own ambitions and selfish desires, in order to achieve my goals, I maintained my cooperative relationship with him until just now, until I was defeated by you, Mr. Hayato."

Hayato raised an eyebrow upon hearing this: "Are you talking about..."

"By using the connections of the International Illusion Society, I planted the subordinate of 'New Gluth'—that intern teacher named Ryuga—into the Duel Academy, and then guided you, Mr. Hayato, all the way to Domino City to search for clues about 'New Gluth.' The fundamental purpose of this series of actions was to lure you, Mr. Hayato, away from the Duel Academy so that my collaborator could begin his operation."

"And I, as the founder of 'New Gurus,' am the last barrier to keep you here as long as possible. As your admirer, how can I deny such an opportunity to duel with you?"

After a pause, Tenma Yuexing smiled, "However, after being defeated by you, my thoughts changed. That person thought that he could do whatever he wanted just because he got the powerful card he had been dreaming of, but after fighting you again, I know very well that even a 'god' cannot close the distance with you. My defeat of you as the user of 'Three Evil Gods' is the best example of that."

“Kagemaru, my collaborator is the founder of Kagemaru Pharmaceuticals and the chairman of the Duel Academy Board of Directors. His plan is to take advantage of your absence from the Duel Academy and use his organization called ‘Seven Stars’ to steal certain special cards.”

Hearing Tenma Tsukiyuki's words, Hayato frowned and turned to Kaiba, saying, "Tsk, it looks like my duel with you will have to be delayed for a while, Seth. After all, some untimely guy has appeared. What a nuisance. Can't that guy just stay home and wait for us to cause him trouble?"

"Hmph, remember this: you still owe me a duel. Go and get that guy who's not even a fourth-rate duelist." Kaiba sneered, completely disregarding Kagemaru. "Although I can't lend you my 'Blue Eyes' jet, Kaiba Corporation has plenty of the same model in stock. Hurry up and fly to the Duel Academy to deal with that trash. I don't want to see my Duel Academy ruined by that guy."

Seeing Kaiba casually pull out a card to start the jet engine, Hayato accepted it without hesitation and said with a smile, "You don't need to worry about that. The teachers and students in the school are not just for show. The main talents trained by the Duel Academy are those duelists who rise to the challenge."

The gaze shifted from the seaside city of Domino to the Duel Academy in the vast ocean. Samejima, who was temporarily acting as the principal as the vice principal, frowned upon seeing the message from Hayato in Domino.

"Kagemaru, one of the founders of Duel Academy, is going to lead an attack on Duel Academy? Why would I have such a strange dream?"

The title of Chapter 1117 was buried by Little Blue.

"According to historical records, the history of Duel Monsters cards can be traced back more than 3,000 years, while the history of Duel Monsters themselves is more than 10,000 years, which is older than the earliest appearance of human society."

"In the past, Duel Monsters were also known as 'Duel Ritual,' which was a very important ritual, and there were also special categories such as 'Duel Rush.'"

In class, Master Daitokuji held Pharaoh in his arms and explained to his students about Duel Monsters, occasionally revealing things that weren't even recorded in the textbooks.

"And the most special kind of duel is called the 'Dark Game,' which is an extremely dangerous duel where lives and even souls are at stake. However, if it were Professor Chronos, he would probably say that the Dark Game doesn't exist, but I think that's not necessarily true, meow?"

"Wow, the Dark Game, that sounds really intimidating."

Judai, with his arms behind his head and leaning back in his chair, held a pencil between his lips and nose. His textbook and notebooks were spotless, as if they were brand new, with nothing written on them. Rather, if this class hadn't been taught by Professor Otokuji, the headmaster of the Red Dorm, Judai would probably have been fast asleep by now. The fact that he wasn't even paying attention was already a big favor.

"That guy called 'Titan' from before seemed to have used the 'Dark Game,' right? Although the beginning part was indeed just pretending to be mysterious, he inexplicably got caught up in the real Dark Game."

Hearing Judai's sigh, Sho turned his head and said, "I have a feeling that you seem to regret it, big brother?"

“How could anyone feel sorry about something like that? It was a matter of life and death.” Misawa, sitting in the row in front of Judai, was distracted from his studies because the voices of the two people behind him were almost drowning out the voice of Mr. Daitokuji at the front of the classroom. He said to Judai, “Besides, there was even a fight for breaking into the old school building.”

"After successfully passing the Judgment Battle, we thought we'd celebrate by going camping, but then we accidentally stumbled into that ancient tomb and almost got buried alive. We must be having a run of bad luck lately, right? So unlucky," Marufuji Sho said weakly, wondering if he should ask someone for a talisman or something.

But Judai scratched his head and said, "I feel fine. Although they arrested you guys, didn't the [Gravekeeper Elders] say they were just trying to scare you so you wouldn't dare to go there again? They said a king instructed them not to harm us students, which means it was just a thrill and there was no danger."

"And I even received a gift from the victors, and they were really nice people." Following the rope around his neck, Jaden picked up a half-finished disc and said with a grin, his smile possessing a purity untouched by worldly wisdom. It was as if he hadn't cared about matters of life and death unrelated to the duel, but was simply reminiscing about the enjoyment of the duel itself.

"So nonchalant? Hmph, you're far too arrogant." From the back row, Manjoume sneered, "If you keep being so careless, one day you'll fall into despair and defeat in the Dark Game, won't you? Don't break down because you've lost too many precious things then, hahahahaha."

"Don't worry, even if you lose your courage, I will help you get back what you've lost."

"I'm talking about you, you jellyfish-headed bastard! And also, Mr. Manjoume!"

"Hey there~, lightning~"

Because Judai used a strange, drawn-out tone, Manjoume was successfully provoked and used two fingers to continuously launch "Hell Thrust - One-Shot Hand" to attack Judai in front of him. Judai, holding the textbook, continuously used "Binding Spell No. 81 - Sky Break" to defend.

"You two, students should act like students." Misawa sighed as he looked at the two noisy people behind him. These two never paid attention in class, so how come they were so good at dueling?

In other words, the teacher in charge of the class now is Daitokuji. If it were the strictest Professor Chronos, he would have already sent these two to the corridor to stand in the water buckets as punishment.

Even so, just as Judai pulled out his pre-prepared bento from under his desk when the bell rang, he heard Daitokuji calling his name from the podium: "You can eat lunch later, Judai-kun. Principal Samejima needs you to go to his office, meow~"

"Huh?" With a piece of fried shrimp in her mouth, Jaden blinked in confusion and ate the shrimp. "It's rare that Auntie Tomi has time to make me a special bento."

"Summoned to Principal Samejima's office? Looks like you're in trouble, Judai. Everyone knows Principal Samejima has a thing for Auntie Tomomi from the convenience store, right?" Manjoume crossed his arms and sneered. "How pathetic. Looks like you're going to get yourself into trouble—"

"By the way, Manjoume, you're the same, meow."

"what?"

Amidst Manjoume's bewildered expression, Daitokuji continued, "Not only that, but Tenjouin Asuka, Go, and Misawa Daichi, you all need to go to the principal's office together."

Using his exceptional memory as an alchemist, Daitokuji forcefully defied the world's corrective power and successfully uttered Misawa's full name!

This time, not only Judai and Manjoume, but also Misawa and Asuka, whose names were called, stood up and looked at Daitokuji in confusion.

If only Judai, Manjoume, and Misawa were called out, Asuka could understand. The boys were making such a big fuss, and she had already noticed that they weren't paying attention in class. After all, what Daitokuji-sensei had just said was a dark game that no one who hadn't experienced it would believe.

But she wasn't distracted, so why was she called on?

"Master Daitokuji, what does Principal Samejima want with us?"

Upon hearing Asuka's question, Daitokuji, who was feeling a bit overwhelmed by Misawa's affectionate gaze, quickly replied, "I don't know either, because I was going to be called to the principal's office just like you guys."

That's what he said, but Daitoku-ji had a vague idea of ​​the answer in his heart.

After leaving the classroom, the group of five teachers and students arrived at the top floor of the Duel Academy. In front of the entrance to the principal's office, Jaden was surprised to see two people walking towards him. They were none other than Professor Chronos, the head of the Blue Dormitory, and Ryo Marufuji.

"Oh my, Daitokuji-sensei, you're here too? You're all elites, aren't you? You were all invited by Principal Samejima, right?"

Professor Chronos, whose gaze swept over Daitokuji, Manjoume, and the others, noticed Judai in his bright red uniform. His smile faltered, and he raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing Judai. "Hmm? Who's this? Did you come to the wrong place? A bad student shouldn't be here~"

Upon hearing Chronos's words, Jaden patted Manjoume on the shoulder without realizing it and said, "Don't mind him, Inazuma, that's just how Professor Chronos is."

"I'm talking about you, you bastard, I'm talking about you!"

Daitokuji knocked on the office door, and after receiving permission from inside, he pushed the door open. Even Manjoume fell silent, and the group of seven entered the principal's office one after another.

Because Hayato left Duel Academy Island for Domino City, and the principal was not present, Samejima, who was the vice principal, temporarily took over as the interim principal. In the principal's office, there was a sign in front of the desk that read "Interim Principal". Principal Samejima had his back to the seven people and was facing the window, where he could see the island's scenery in its entirety.

"The forbidden card, one of the 'Three Phantom Demons'?"

After hearing the whole story of why Principal Samejima had summoned them here, Professor Chronos wore an exaggerated expression of surprise. "And the person who wants to steal those cards is actually Chairman Kagemaru of the Duel Academy Board of Directors? Oh my god!"

“The council has hardly ever interfered with the Duel Academy’s affairs in the past few years, but this year they’ve gone to great lengths and made a huge fuss because Jaden broke into the abandoned old school building.” Marufuji Ryo, the oldest student among the group, frowned. “Could the fact that Jaden ordered the Duel Academy before also be related to the chairman of the council?”

"The possibility is probably slim, right? Although it's highly suspicious that the mercenary who could kidnap Asuka could infiltrate the island so easily." Manjoume looked at Asuka beside him, "Besides, what benefit would the council gain from expelling Judai?"

"It might not be a good thing. Maybe they're worried that Jaden might learn something from that guy called 'Titan' that the chairman doesn't want anyone to know, so they're thinking of expelling Jaden while Hayato is away from school?" Asuka thought of her experience in the abandoned old school building, her face full of frustration.

She had been trying for a long time to get permission from Hayato to enter the old school building, but before Hayato could grant her permission, she was kidnapped by the mercenary and taken into the old school building.

Although they did find some things related to their brother, such as autographed photos and outlandish costumes, they found no clues related to his disappearance. They also felt a sense of loss that all their previous efforts had been in vain.

Jaden wasn't too bothered by the fact that he had been tricked by Kagemaru and forced to fight a duel. Rather, he was quite satisfied with being able to duel the legendary duelists, the Labyrinth Brothers, and had also formed a bond with Caesar.

"But then again, is the history of Duel Academy really that long?"

Looking at Principal Samejima with a puzzled expression, Professor Chronos, standing next to Judai, glanced at him and said, "It's true that Duel Academy has only been established for four years, but there's never been a rule that places with a short history can't have ancient things, right? Most of the collections in the British Museum are much older than the British Museum itself."

"Now be quiet, and then Principal Samejima, you can continue."

Samejima nodded and said, "It is said that the 'Three Phantom Demons' cards were sealed in the academy's underground when the school was first built. They contain ultimate magic power, and when they appear in the world, they will drag the world into darkness."

"This is something that Principal Hayato specifically sent me to look at in a diary he left behind. Although it sounds like a myth or legend, it is highly credible because it is Principal Hayato."

Pointing to a notebook on the table with the title "Hayato Kobayashi and the Deathly Hallows," Samejima said. The other six looked at the notebook, puzzled but impressed.

Only Daitokuji looked at the notebook and his lips twitched, because he knew very well that the notebook was not written by Hayato, but was written by Hayato himself. Even the signature was Hayato's name written by Daitokuji himself, and Hayato had participated in the writing when creating the story.

Besides, can you really believe what's written in a diary? What decent person keeps a diary? And rather than being a diary recording the "Three Phantom Demons"—a setting even he, the card maker, didn't know was true—it's actually closer to a crucial tool for unlocking that seal, because he remembers that the latter half of the diary was modified by himself into—

Just as Daitokuji was thinking about this, he saw Samejima turn the diary to the last page, revealing a thick stack of pages stuck together, and seven differently shaped golden metal blocks placed together in a rectangular space hollowed out from the center, each with twisted black text-like patterns on it.

"The seal that holds those three dangerous cards is called the 'Gate of the Seven Essences'. It is a mysterious structure that existed on this primitive island before the Duel Academy was established. Without special means, whether you dig three feet into the ground or use explosives, cutting, or other methods, you cannot enter the sealed area to retrieve the cards."

Reciting the settings mentioned in Hayato's diary, Samejima said, "And what is needed to open that seal are these seven keys. The chairman of the board, Kagemaru, who is targeting the card in the seal, did not come alone, but brought with him the duelist organization 'Seven Star,' which he built with his vast wealth and power."

"The way to unlock the seal using these seven keys is the sacred and just 'Duel Ritual,' which is the form of dueling monsters. 'You must win every duel related to the sealed key on this island.' This is a saying passed down related to the sealed key. Therefore, these seven keys must be separated and guarded by different people, and these seven people must be the strongest beings who absolutely cannot lose in the duel."

As soon as Samejima finished speaking, Jaden excitedly picked up a key, hung it around his neck with the attached rope, and said, "Anyway, it's all about dueling and winning, right? Yo-shi, just thinking about all the strong duelists coming to challenge me makes me really excited!"

"Hey, you bastard, you actually took the one I had my eye on!" Manjoume said unhappily as he watched Jaden take the best-looking 'T'-shaped key from the seven keys. He quickly grabbed one as well. "I'll take this one then. It's a bit ugly because it's '匚'-shaped, but at least it's symmetrical."

Compared to Judai and Manjoume, the others weren't so picky. Caesar took a "?" shaped piece, Misawa got an "F" shaped piece, Asuka took a "mountain" shaped piece, Professor Chronos took a "Z" shaped piece, and the last piece naturally belonged to Daitokuji. He picked it up without a second thought, while the orange cat Pharaoh in his arms touched the swinging key with great interest.

After everyone received a key, Chronos, feeling that he was the oldest, highest-ranking, and strongest among the seven, stepped forward and stood in front of the others. He said to Samejima, "Principal Samejima, please entrust the key to us for safekeeping. I swear in the name of Medici, those so-called Seven Stars will never be able to set foot in the Duel Academy!"

Behind him, Daitokuji scratched his cheek somewhat embarrassedly.

"By the way, Principal Samejima, how long until the 'Seven Stars' organization arrives on the island?"

Upon hearing Misawa's question, Samejima gave an awkward smile and held up five fingers.

"Five more days?"

As soon as Asuka finished speaking, she saw Samejima retract a finger.

"Four? What does that mean?"

Then Samejima withdrew one finger, and then another.

"Wait a minute, could it be!?"

The moment Samejima withdrew all his fingers, the group saw a colossal creature suddenly rise from the beach next to the Red Dormitory through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the principal's office!

That was a giant submarine that was ten or even nine times larger than the world's largest animal—the blue whale!