Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Gentle breeze, clear skies, soaring flight!"

Upon hearing Jaden's declaration of attack, Kagurazaka didn't spout nonsense like some third-rate villain would say, "Trying to ram you with a monster with lower attack power? You're just asking for trouble." Just as Jaden believed that Kagurazaka could use his last face-down card for a final stand, Kagurazaka also believed that the card in Jaden's hand could bring him victory.

"Looks like this is the final attack, Jaden. Then we must go all out!" Looking at his [Dragon Magic Knight - Dark Magician] on the field, Kagurazaka waved his hand and shouted, "Void Slash!"

The kick from the flame-wrapped [E·hero Flame Winged Man] collided with the lance wielded by the [Dragon Magic Knight - Black Magician]. It wasn't a one-sided dominance; rather, the [E·hero Flame Winged Man's] superior flying kick gained the upper hand. After a brief stalemate, Kagurazaka witnessed the [E·hero Flame Winged Man's] flying kick actually pierce and destroy the [Dragon Magic Knight - Black Magician's] body!

It was at this moment that Jaden showed Kagurazaka the last card in his hand, saying, "Because of the effect of [Bubble Illusion], I activated the Trap Card [Roar of Pride] from my hand."

"This effect can only be activated when, during battle damage calculation, your monster's ATK is lower than your opponent's monster's, and you pay Life Points equal to the difference in ATK." Jaden paused, and the Life Points panel beside him displayed his remaining 1000 Life Points. "During this damage calculation, your monster's ATK increases by 300 points compared to the difference in ATK between your monster and your opponent's monster."

【Dragon Magic Knight - Dark Magician】【ATK2900】

【E·hero Flame Winged Man】【ATK2100→3200】

[Yujo Jaden: 1800 → 1000 LP]

Kagurazaka: 2000→1700LP

Although Kagurazaka still had 1700 points remaining in his life score, the duel was already over, because the [E·hero Flame Winged Man] who had defeated [Dragon Magic Knight - Black Magician] had come to him with the flaming dragon head raised on his right arm.

"【E·hero Flame Wingman】If a battle-destroyed monster is sent to the Graveyard, inflict damage to the opponent's duelist equal to the original ATK of that monster."

It wasn't Jaden who spoke, but Kagurazaka. He looked at the [E·hero Flame Winged Man] in front of him, smiled, and calmly accepted the flames that engulfed his last life points.

The moment their life points reached zero, he and Jaden on the opposite side exclaimed in unison, "What an interesting duel!"

Kagurazaka: 1700LP → 0

Chapter 1228 Game: I Have No Objections

After Kagurazaka and Jaden's duel ended, applause rang out from the beach.

Although it is equivalent to a regular high school, the management system of Duel Academy is much more relaxed than that of other high schools. However, the reason for this is that the special effects of the [Destroyer Dragon - Gandora G] in the previous game were really eye-catching. Even if they didn't know what was going on, these students, who were in their prime and had nothing to do, naturally came to the beach to join in the fun and witnessed the duel between Jaden and Kagurazaka.

Watching Kagurazaka skillfully wield Yugi Muto's deck as if he were the real deal, while Jaden Yuki meticulously deciphered Kagurazaka's strategies and engaged in a fierce battle of offense and defense, the two ultimately used their last monsters to finish the duel. Even though they didn't know why Yugi Muto's deck, which was supposed to be on display the next day, was in Kagurazaka's hands, the students who witnessed the duel still gave it a warm round of applause.

This is applause for the deck of the legendary duelist Yugi Muto, applause for Jaden Yuki who defeated Yugi Muto's deck, and also applause for Kagurazaka who made excellent use of Yugi Muto's deck.

Kagurazaka stole Yugi's deck because he couldn't win duels no matter how much he copied other people's decks. The world of Duel Monsters is cruel; if you can't win a duel, you're nothing. Moreover, Kagurazaka wasn't a student in the Red Dorm but in the Yellow Dorm. His excellent performance in the entrance exam made Kagurazaka, who hadn't made any progress all semester, seem particularly pathetic.

There's a saying, "I could have endured the darkness if I had never seen the light," and Kagurazaka is no exception. During the entrance exam, he imitated Seto Kaiba's Dragon deck and even managed an OTK to defeat the proctor. Unable to bear the teasing and contempt he received from others for his repeated defeats throughout the semester, he took the risk of stealing the game's deck.

This time, although he still failed despite stealing Yugi Muto's deck, it was different from before. This time, he wasn't simply imitating what he knew about his idols; instead, he tried to forge his own path for the first time. In the past, he would let borrowed ideas dominate his duels, but this time, for the first time, he became the helmsman of his duel.

The students watching also noticed this. If Kagurazaka had simply followed Yugi Muto's logic and continued the duel until defeat, they would still have applauded, but not with the fervor of this moment. And that applause would have been merely a display of Kagurazaka's well-known talent for imitation, nothing more. But the applause now was more for Kagurazaka's final change of mind, for leading the duel to its climax with her own independent thought.

How could they not give thunderous applause when they witnessed such a rare sight?

Professor Chronos, though his already pale face turned even paler when he saw so many students discover Kagurazaka's theft of Yugi Muto's deck, decisively changed his approach and adapted to the situation after realizing that the students were completely unaware of what had happened and were simply distracted by the duel.

He asked Jaden and the others to keep it a secret, and then told the students who found the place that it was actually a secret surprise prepared for the exhibition of Yugi Muto's deck the next day. Therefore, he specially asked Kagurazaka, who was the best at imitating duels in the whole school, to get used to Yugi Muto's deck in advance. During the exhibition that lasted for several days, several lucky visitors would be randomly selected each day to duel with Kagurazaka, who was imitating Yugi Muto.

—Since so many students have already discovered the "deck theft," the best solution now is to make the fact of the "deck theft" disappear and repackage "Kagurazaka stealing the deck" as "Kagurazaka using the deck." No matter how unreasonable it is, it doesn't matter, as it's better than the principal finding out that he failed to supervise properly.

As for whether Kagurazaka is willing to be a tool? Let's think about it from another angle. This doesn't mean he has to work for seven days and deal with different duelists every day. Instead, it means he has to do labor reform to atone for his crime of stealing cards. On the side, he can also openly continue to use the legendary duelist Yugi Muto's deck for a full seven days. He is completely "Rabillins eats Electro" - a silver (win) mahjong.

Of course, what Professor Chronos didn't know was that the headmaster, whom he was most worried about knowing the truth, was standing with the owner of the stolen deck and had watched the entire duel without his knowledge.

Although the original exhibition plan didn't include any idea of ​​students using game decks, visitors could only look at the cards through the glass and learn about some hidden information—nothing more. However, Professor Chronos's resourcefulness didn't seem to bother Hayato much; in fact, he quite hoped the students could grow faster through more duels. Besides, they weren't even using Hayato's deck.

"I have no objection."

Look, even the deck owner, the game himself, said he has no objections.

Come to think of it, although the cards look exactly the same, the game's spirits have long been transferred to new cards and added to the game's "Golden Chest of Light" series.

The few remaining images, such as "The Summoning of the Devil," inspired him to create the game after dueling with himself.

"But speaking of which, that kid named Kagurazaka actually summoned [Dragon Magic Knight - Dark Magician]. I thought he would fuse and summon [Super Magic Knight - Dark Magician Rider]," Yugi said casually.

Upon hearing this, Hayato couldn't help but retort, "What's the difference? Aren't they both stealing Gaia's mount and weapon? Is the Dark Magician really that fond of NTRing other people's things?"

"I don't think Hayato has the right to criticize others. I saw the duel data that Kaiba Corporation collected using the Duel Disk, the one they recently sent to the International Illusion Society, before I came to the Duel Academy," Yugi retorted. "They used Kaiba's Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and your Legendary Gladiator - Chaos Warrior to perform a Super Fusion, and the result was that Chaos Warrior, disguised as the Black Chaos Mage, rode the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon instead of becoming an Ultimate Dragon Rider?"

"When Pegasus saw that duel record, if it weren't for the data from [Hyperfusion], he would have suspected that I had taken control of [Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon] and was dueling with Kaiba."

"Don't worry about the details. People who worry about details are just 9." Hayato waved his hand and said, "Compared to those, I remember during the Duel Ritual with Atem, didn't you use the [Magnet Warrior] combo to defeat the 'God' card? Yet you've already finished making [Tools] in your [Golden Vault of Light] but haven't made [Magnet Warrior]?"

"Take your time with those weak monsters like 'Summoning of the Devil.' Why don't you finish making the 'Magnet Warrior' upgrade cards first? I've already come up with the design ideas for you. Like 'XYZ' or 'Guardian of the Gate,' you could split up 'Magnet Warrior' and combine them individually, or change the combination form from humanoid to a super cool giant battleship, how about that?"

"Speaking of giant battleships, it seems that the card design department recently submitted a design proposal for a 'Giant Battleship' deck set in outer space."

Upon hearing Hayato's words, Yugi said with a helpless expression, "However, the card design department is severely understaffed. Even I am powerless to help. Despite having many inspirations, the department's card production efficiency is still not improving. Recruiting new card designers is an urgent matter."

Yugi glanced at Maeda Hayato, who was gathered around Jaden, celebrating his victory. Yugi could tell that the other man did indeed have the talent of a spirit user, and he also believed that Maeda, who was recommended by Hayato, should not be bad at card design either.

However, since the other party is a student, it is necessary to consider whether to let him join the International Illusion Society before he has graduated, and it also depends on Maeda Hayato's own wishes.

Having seen how his deck would perform in the students' hands, Yugi had no intention of lingering there any longer. Otherwise, if the students around him noticed them and revealed his presence, he feared he wouldn't have a peaceful night. So, he and Hayato quietly left the coast.

But just as Hayato was leading the game to the place where off-campus guests could stay, they saw Jonouchi standing downstairs, looking around anxiously from a distance.

"Jonnori? What are you doing?"

Upon hearing Hayato's voice, Jonouchi turned around abruptly, running towards Hayato and Yugi with a relieved expression, exclaiming, "Hayato, Yugi! Thank goodness, you're finally here!"

"I just encountered a ghost!"

"A ghost?" Hayato looked at Jonouchi with some doubt. "I'm telling you, Jonouchi, you're over twenty years old, why are you still as suspicious as you were when you were in school? I've told you before that humans and ghosts have a non-interference agreement between each other inside and outside the bed."

"Those regulations are only good for fooling four- or five-year-old kids, right?"

"Who said that? Malik believes in that. Every time before going to sleep, he would desperately hide under the covers as soon as the lights were turned off to avoid ghosts that don't even exist."

“You were right to always call Hayato three-year-old…” Jonouchi said, then suddenly realized he’d gone too far off-topic and quickly added, “No, I really saw a ghost, not some invisible ghost hiding in the dark, but a real ghost!”

"He looks short, and his voice is exactly like Princess Mary's—he's like a ghost that came from the virtual world into the real world!"

Hayato and Yugi both know the "Princess Mary" that Jonouchi mentioned. She is an NPC character they encountered in the DM game where they trapped Kaiba. In the labyrinth modeled after the Labyrinth Brothers' deck, they rescued Princess Mary, who was offered as a sacrifice to the Five Dragons.

After the final battle with the Five Divine Dragons and the Five Great Bosses, Princess Mary revealed her true form—the Card Spirit [Holy Spirit]—and sent Hayato and the others out of the DM game world.

After that, the DM game world was extensively transformed by Kaiba Noa into a new virtual world, which was still used to trap Kaiba, as if the concept of the virtual world had a grudge against Kaiba. Princess Mary, who was originally in the DM game world, naturally disappeared into the chaotic sea of ​​data, just like the other NPCs.

Even though Kaiba redesigned the virtual world and created "Duel Link," the stage for the Duel Academy's top eight to battle in a month-long exchange tournament, the data that had already been completely destroyed still hadn't returned.

But now, Jonouchi tells them that he has seen Princess Mary again, this time in the real world.

"A virtual character has come to the real world... Hayato, do you know about this?" Yugi looked at Hayato with some doubt. Even though he was an adult, he wouldn't have any experience with this kind of situation. However, as the principal of the Duel Academy, Hayato might know the specifics.

"I don't know." Hayato spread his hands, looking completely unaware.

This is a lie.

The "ghost" thing is just Jonouchi's side of the story. If Hayato really saw Princess Mary, a virtual data that had long been deleted, appear in the real world, he would naturally be confused. However, Jonouchi did not see the "ghost's" specific appearance. He only saw that the person was not very tall and had a voice exactly like Princess Mary's.

Hayato immediately thought of someone—Saotome Rei, a "girl in love" who also had a criminal record for infiltrating Duel Academy in the original timeline, but only because she was chasing after a star.

Evidence? Isn't it obvious? Because her voice actress is the same as Princess Marie's—Eri Sendai!

Ahem, although Hayato had some guesses, “linking the character and the voice actor together” is not evidence. However, Hayato was curious that the Duel Academy, where he was now the principal, was not as well-managed as it was in the original timeline, where anyone could freely enter the Duel Academy Island.

Trying to smuggle themselves to the island by small boat is as difficult as winning a resurrection match for a prisoner. If they had used other, more conspicuous means of transportation, the smugglers would have been discovered long ago. The only ship that has recently docked is the transport ship from yesterday. Although there are valuable exhibition decks on board, and games are also on board, the transport ship is also carrying a large amount of supplies to be delivered to the island, so there may be some oversights in the supervision.

So, Saotome Rei took the opportunity to hitch a ride to the island, didn't she?

However, based on his speculation, Hayato said with considerable confidence, "Although I don't know who the ghost you saw was, Jonouchi, I'm 1000% sure of where she is. If I'm not mistaken, she must be at the Obelisk-Blue dormitory right now."

"1000% certain...that sounds a bit unreliable," Jonouchi remarked. "And Hayato, why are you so sure it's at the Blue Dorm?"

Hayato gave himself a thumbs-up: "This is the confidence that playing Yu...YGO gives me!"

Chapter 1229 The Wonderful Adventure of Li

"Ugh! I almost got caught!"

Hiding in the woods, the girl leaned against a thick tree trunk and muttered to herself, looking quite nervous. Just as Hayato had guessed, the one who had infiltrated the Duel Academy was none other than Saotome Rei, who was still only a fifth-grade elementary school student this year.

Because of Hayato's influence, the Duel Academy was established much earlier than in the other timeline, which affected the start time of each semester and even Kagemaru's patience.

After all, in another timeline, with Samejima as the principal and Kaiba not being very involved in the Duel Academy, he could have patiently waited for the victory to come. But now that Hayato is the principal of the Duel Academy, he has to go all out to seize every opportunity, even though in the end he still failed to achieve his wish of immortality.

Even now, with Kagemaru Pharmaceuticals already being shorted and swallowed up by the Kaiba Group and the International Illusion Society, the shameless old man Kagemaru had his portrait of himself in his youth hanging in the headquarters building had been casually thrown into the trash and burned to ashes by Kaiba, who found that thing an eyesore.

In another timeline, Saotome Rei disguised herself as a transfer student to Duel Academy, specifically to the Red Dormitory where Daitokuji was located—a place that was easy to fool. However, Daitokuji has now passed away and been swallowed by the orange cat "Pharaoh," who is temporarily acting as the dormitory head. Furthermore, Duel Academy, under Hayato's management, does not currently have a transfer student system that would allow Saotome Rei to slip through the cracks.

Logically speaking, she shouldn't even be able to come to Duel Academy Island as someone who isn't even a middle school student at Duel Academy. However, by chance, she received help from an uncle at the Domino City dock whose voice sounded a lot like her favorite idol. She successfully boarded the ship that was taking the game to Duel Academy Island and hitched a ride to Duel Academy.

The uncle who helped Saotome Rei come to the island seemed to have something to do, and left after helping Rei arrive on the island. Rei also started looking for her idol as soon as she arrived on the island.

The problem is that Duel Academy Island is just too big. Even if each student has a student handbook with a detailed map of the entire island, and doesn't bother to memorize the whole handbook like Misawa, there are still occasional students who get lost. This has even become an excuse for many students to sleep in late for class.

—Although completely useless, if you encounter a strict teacher like Professor Chronos, he might even point at the students in the Blue Dormitory who have arrived at the classroom long ago and say, "You're the only one who's late. How come the others aren't late?" and then make the late students write a self-criticism.

This situation isn't limited to first-year students. After all, Duel Academy is so large that even third-year students wouldn't dare say they've explored the entire island. Didn't you see that even an outgoing person like Jaden, who often plays around on the island, once got lost in the island's jungle for almost a week in a second-year student on another timeline?

As for Saotome Rei, although she is an absolute genius girl, if Duel Academy and its subordinate junior high schools hadn't rejected the general school's system of skipping grades, she could have skipped grades like Rebecca Hopkins, or even gone directly to university.

However, genius doesn't mean omnipotence. Even Rei Saotome couldn't know the layout of the Duel Academy's buildings without a map. Nearly four hours had passed since the ship docked and she secretly slipped onto the island before she finally managed to eliminate several impossible buildings and identify a few potentially high-level target buildings.

Don't think four hours is a long time. You have to remember that Li is only eleven years old this year. She also has to run around the island while trying to avoid those overly energetic students so that they don't notice her unfamiliar face. In order not to be too conspicuous, she even found out where the academy's warehouse was, found a school uniform that fit her body, and found a hat to wear on her head to cover her face.

Although it was already past seven o'clock in the evening and the sky was dark, Saotome Rei did not feel tired at all. Thinking that if she worked hard, she might be able to meet her idol today, she felt extremely excited and energetically set off towards her first destination.

The Duel Academy's classes end at 5 PM at the latest. 6 PM and 7 PM are the time when students are free to play and have fun outside, and when top students like Misawa secretly study in the library. Unless it's someone like Manjoume who is in a hurry to get back to the dormitory to surf the internet, few students will stay in the dormitory during this time.

Even Saotome Rei was quite lucky. No one knew what had happened on the shore, but a towering red pillar of light attracted the attention of many students who had nothing better to do. Since they were just taking a walk anyway, many students wandering on the island moved closer to the shore, which made it easier for Rei to move around and allowed her to reach one of the three buildings she had identified with great ease.

Never before has there been such a wonderful start!

However, after Saotome Rei sneaked into the building, she realized her judgment was completely wrong. The building wasn't the residence of her idol as she had imagined; it was merely a temporary lodging for tourists from outside the island. Furthermore, contrary to her mistaken belief that everyone was already drawn to the commotion on the shore, there was actually still one person inside!

"Ryuzaki, can't you just handle the pressure properly? Stop thinking about your suicide attack, [Infinite Terror Beast]."

"Honda, did you play something wrong this time? I feel a little sorry for Otogi, who was sacrificed by you to take the hit."

"Where's Yuta? Help him out! Yuta, why are you still farming jungle camps? Stop thinking about those three wolves!"

"I'm not fighting anymore, I'm so angry I'm turning red. I'm going to take a shower."

Just as Saotome Rei was about to leave the room, she bumped into a blond young man who came out of the next room and was playing the tower defense game "Duel Monster League" recently released by International Illusion with a few friends, who was having a headache.

In a moment of panic, Saotome Rei only had time to cover her face as much as possible with her collar and hat, hoping that her red dormitory uniform would confuse the other person. Before the other person could react, she took off running, shouting, "Get out of my way!"