Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Hell and Heaven! Heaven and Hell are broken!"

The arms of the [Super Transport Robot - Invisible Fusion] spun rapidly at the elbows, then raised its rotating arms in the opposite direction, clasped its still hands together, and charged out at the [Phantom Beast - Black Falcon] on David's field!

Before the [Phantom Beast Machine - Black Falcon] could react and take off, the [Super Transport Robot - Invisible Fusion] had already rushed in front of it, slamming its clenched fists, which were whipping up a green storm, into the belly of the machine, before leaping away to create distance.

The next moment, the [Phantom Beast Machine - Black Falcon] exploded with a deafening roar! The area it had been standing on was completely covered in smoke and dust!

"Ugh—!" Affected by the explosion, David Labb was completely deprived of the so-called "no harm from smoke" protection, and his basic score dropped sharply.

[David Labbour: 4000 → 2100 LP]

Thanks to the fact that the effect of [Super Transport Robot - Stealth Fusion] held by Marufuji Sho is an animation effect rather than a physical card effect, [Super Transport Robot - Stealth Fusion] did not lose its own attack power due to the attack. It destroyed David Rabo's last monster with just one hit, reducing his life points by nearly half and clearing the way for the latter's progress!

The smoke and dust were violently dispersed by the strong wind. David Labb couldn't help but look up at the sound and saw the Solid Beta, propelled into the sky by thrusters all over its body. Its upper body, which served as arms, overlapped to form a drill shape. Its upper body, spinning at high speed, was creating whirlwinds that sucked away the smoke and dust on David Labb's field, leaving the unsuspecting David Labb facing the robot in the air!

Knowing that accepting this direct attack would result in his defeat due to a loss of life points, David Luber could no longer maintain the arrogant and confident demeanor he had displayed before the duel began because of his choice of Marufuji Sho as his opponent. His eyes widened in disbelief as he exclaimed, "Impossible, impossible! He's just a nobody, how could I, David Luber—"

"You can't do that! You can't do that!"

Hearing David Rabble's words, Marufuji Sho retorted without hesitation, "Why not? I'm going to do it! It's the final battle, David Rabble, I'll use [Solid Machine β] to directly attack the opponent's duelist!"

"Solid drill bit!"

The high-speed spinning drill-shaped robot swooped down and instantly passed through David Labborg's body, appearing behind him in a cool pose. A large hole appeared on David Labborg's body in the virtual projection, making it seem as if he had been pierced through.

It ended too quickly. David Labb hadn't even realized that all his fundamentals had been wiped out before he glared angrily at Marufuji Sho.

But then he saw Marufuji Sho look back without any fear, and say to himself, "Although you said that 'small fry' didn't mean you remembered my name, the result is that I, whom you didn't take seriously and only regarded as small fry, have defeated you. David Luab, the one who defeated you is me, Marufuji Sho!"

"But unfortunately, I won't remember you, because I want to be like my older brother, a duelist who truly enjoys dueling, and you, who only have dark feelings towards Duel Monsters, don't deserve to appear in my memory!"

As he spoke, Marufuji Sho imitated Jaden's gesture, raising his index and middle fingers together and tracing them across his forehead. "I won! What an interesting duel!"

"You, you bastard!" David Labb wanted to say something, but the impact simulated by the virtual projection system arrived too late. The part that was "pierced" by [Solid Robot β] exploded. David Labb was blown away and fell to the ground like one of those monsters in tokusatsu works that self-destructs after being defeated. His remaining basic points were reduced to zero in an instant!

[David Luab: 2100LP→0]

Even though he had already declared victory and even though he had watched David Raborg's life points drop to zero, when Marufuji Sho discovered that his Duel Disk had actually gained points in the qualifying stage of the Exchange Tournament because of his victory, he still couldn't help but show an incredulous expression and even shed tears—not because of sadness, but because of excitement and exhilaration.

"I... I won? I beat that David? I actually did it?" Excitedly, he turned to look at the sidelines and waved excitedly to Jaden, "I did it, big brother!"

"Well done, Sho! After all that effort, you're able to put on a really impressive duel!" Jaden was also very happy for him, and said with a smile, "I told you you had to believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself, you can definitely do it!"

Marufuji Sho shook his head and said with a smile, "It's not just that! Without your trust in me, big brother, I wouldn't have been able to become so amazing!"

“I do say you should believe, but how useful is my belief? Right, Kai—” Turning his head, Jaden was surprised to find that Ryo Marufuji, who had been watching the battle with him just moments before, was nowhere to be seen. “Huh, where’s Caesar? Wasn’t he just here?”

"Li, do you know where he went?"

Rei Saotome shook her head: "I didn't notice either, because I was completely captivated by the way you cheered others on, Judai-san. You were as gentle and charming as the sun spreading warmth to others..."

Just as Jaden shuddered at Saotome Rei's rather subtle words, and the defeated David Labborg, raging in a fit of impotence, was being led by Professor Chronos, who had been waiting and incidentally explaining things to the two policemen, to have him tied up. Although it hadn't been stated beforehand, surely David Labborg didn't think he had absolutely no risk in his bet with Hayato?

Although the rule is that whoever loses the duel is expelled, Hayato could easily rescind Marufuji Sho's expulsion and have David Luber, the winner, expel the entire time he leaves Duel Academy Island, especially since David Luber has already lost. In that case, he would face more than just being expelled from Duel Academy.

Being blacklisted by the Kaiba Corporation and the International Mirage Society is the bare minimum. In addition, his personal information will be excluded from all Duel Monsters-related activities. Forget about buying tickets to watch other people's matches, even watching TV at home will be completely pixelated on the screen. In the current era of Duel Monsters' heyday, David Luber's punishment is almost as tragic as losing his identity document.

Who was the last person to receive such a punishment? It seems to have been a short guy who played with insectoid creatures, and back then, before Duel Monsters became a global phenomenon, he was only unilaterally blacklisted by the International Illusion Society, far less desperate than David Luab is in now.

At the same time, Hayato turned his head and asked Ryo Marufuji, who was following behind him, "You have a lot of thoughts after watching your brother's duel, don't you?"

“I witnessed Jaden helping many people grow.” Without directly answering Hayato, Ryo Marufuji recalled the duels he had witnessed Jaden perform: one against the bullied “Giants” duelist, another against Kagurazaka who stole Yugi Muto’s deck, and the last duel he had just seen, which was with Sho Marufuji.

Everyone who has fought Jaden has grown through his passionate duels. Even Marufuji Sho, who in his memory had never been able to stand up confidently, just now displayed the spirit of a duelist, which, though still immature, was already beginning to take shape.

In that case, I should also grow up.

Chapter 1255 Although they are both called Hayato, Hayato and Hayato are different.

"We only went camping for one night, but it feels like we missed out on so much?" Kyoko asked, puzzled, looking at Jonouchi who was yawning. "Even Jonouchi, who is usually so energetic, is so tired."

“No, usually even if something happens, even if this idiot stays up all night, he can still be full of energy and active in the morning.” Mai, who knows Jonouchi quite well, shook her head and poked Jonouchi’s waist. “This guy is obviously so tired because he stays up all night playing games.”

"Haha, it wasn't really staying up all night, just pulling an all-nighter."

“That’s even worse!” Najouchi sighed helplessly. “Anyway, it’s the same old thing about not winning a game and then stubbornly insisting on winning one more before going to sleep, right? I still can’t understand some of your strange competitive tendencies as men.”

"It's all Honda's fault for being such a jerk. Even if I go to bed early, I still can't sleep because I always lose the game by just a little bit," Jonouchi said, then looked at Kyoko and Rebecca beside him. "But why are you two alone, Kyoko and Rebecca? Where did he go to play the game so early in the morning?"

“Darling said he found a student with considerable talent in card design and wants to confirm as soon as possible whether he can be recruited by the International Illusion Club, so he went out to find Hayato Kobayashi very early,” Rebecca said, a happy smile on her face. “Darling is really working so hard for our happy married life!”

"Huh? Don't talk like the game is working hard for you. He's clearly doing it for his beloved Duel Monsters career, okay?" Kyoko said disdainfully, seeing Rebecca's touched expression.

Rebecca retorted with a cold laugh: "At least I helped Darling with some programming work related to card design, unlike some old women who only have some useless looks."

Kyoko couldn't stand hearing that. What she hated most was being called a "pretty face": "A mere sixteen-year-old brat, are you envious of adults' figures?"

"Sixteen is old enough to get married, okay? Besides, I can still grow!" Rebecca said this with a hint of guilt as she glanced at Anzu.

In just a few words, Rebecca and Anzu started arguing, clearly not getting along. Although they could get along well while playing games, once no one was there to mediate, conflicts would inevitably arise between these two rivals who were about the same age.

As the most mature of the three women present, Mai quickly stepped in as a peacemaker and calmed Rebecca and Kyoko down. At that moment, Jonouchi received a text message from the game.

"The game asked me if I knew anyone who used the 'Satsuma Dimensional Style,' but I don't even know what that style is," Jonouchi said, somewhat bewildered. "Is it something like swordsmanship?"

"I think I've heard of it, but I don't really remember it," Kong Quewu said, shrugging to indicate that she didn't know either.

Rebecca shook her head directly and said, "There's even less reason for me to know. It sounds like something I wouldn't be interested in. If it were something like the Muto style, I might study it in detail."

“You really had to go and study it.” Kyoko complained, but said smugly, “What? You think I’m the only one who knows the answer to this? Well, even though I’m a professional duelist, I’m still far behind top duelists like Jonouchi. It’s normal that you don’t know.”

"Kyoko, you actually know about this?" Jonouchi asked, somewhat surprised. "Tell me quickly, what is this 'Dimensional Flow' thing?"

“First, I need to correct something. The so-called ‘Satsuma Dimensional Flow’ is actually a wrong name that some Americans made up based on pronunciation without understanding what others were saying.” Kyoko glanced at Rebecca and continued, “The correct pronunciation should be ‘Satsuma Manifestation Flow’.”

Jonouchi, who was a little confused just now, understood immediately: "I was wondering why I hadn't heard of it. I know about 'Satsuma Jigen-ryu'. It's a swordsmanship school founded by Togo Shigeki, known as the 'Gyūgi Jigen-ryu Heihō' (Miyugi Jigen-ryu Swordplay), right? I heard that half of the four great killers of the late Edo period, including assassins like Okada Izō, came from this school."

"It's really surprising, Jonouchi, when did you become so good at history?" Kyoko said with some surprise when she heard that Jonouchi could actually say something.

"Hey, actually I found out about it while playing games. These days, a lot of games like to make historical figures into characters for players to draw. I'm pretty good at these kinds of gacha games, you know." Jonouchi said somewhat modestly, without telling Kyoko and the others that he sometimes even does live streams while wearing a costume to draw characters for them and earn some extra money on his own. He also often helps Mai with the gacha games that she plays.

Kyoko retorted, "Do you even have any skill? Anyway, the historical 'Satsuma Jigen-ryu' was indeed that kind of thing. If Tennen Rishin-ryu was the central school of the Shinsengumi, then Jigen-ryu was the central school of the Man-Slaying School. But in modern times, some of the successors of 'Satsuma Jigen-ryu' have used it in Duel Monsters."

"Ah, found it."

Anzu, who had been glancing down at her phone every now and then, said something and then showed the three people next to her the webpage she had brought up. The webpage featured a man with a large nose, muscular build, and a somewhat koala-like appearance.

"Maeda Kumazo, a professional duelist, nicknamed 'Jigenryu Menkyo Kaiden'!?"

"Although he's not at the very top, Mr. Maeda did achieve an impressive eleventh place in last year's World Professional Duelist Tournament. The tenth place ahead of him is the recently debuted prodigy Ed Phoenix, and ahead of that are top-tier legendary duelists like Kajiki Ryota, Ryuzaki, and Keith."

Recounting the content on the webpage, Kyoko said, "I have to say that Mr. Maeda is quite capable. It's already quite good that he was able to get eleventh place. It's a pity that his opponent, Ed Phoenix, didn't have a good tactical compatibility with him. Otherwise, he might have been able to improve by two places."

"The style he used was 'Satsuma Jigen-ryu,' which is a swordsmanship philosophy that involves raising the sword above the right shoulder and then swinging it sharply to the lower left, completely ignoring how the opponent attacks. Unfortunately, the recorder misheard the name and heard 'Satsuma Jigen-ryu' as 'Satsuma Dimensional Style.'"

After a pause, Kyoko looked at Jonouchi: "That's about all the information about Mr. Maeda Kumazo on the webpage. But Yugi suddenly asked what this person is up to?"

Jonouchi had already compiled the information he gathered into a text message and sent it to Yugi, also asking Kyoko about the question they both had. A few dozen seconds later, Yugi replied with another text message. Jonouchi glanced at it and said in surprise, "Yugi said that the student he found who has good talent in card design, his father is this muscular guy, and it seems like he's going to take him away from school?"

"Dad, Dad!?" Maeda Hayato was summoned to the principal's office early in the morning by a student who was delivering a message. Before he could react, he saw his father sitting upright in the principal's office with his arms crossed.

"Oh, you're here, kid." Nodding to Maeda Hayato, who looked almost exactly like him, Maeda Kumzo didn't get up but pointed to the desk on the other side and said, "I'll talk to you about what I need to talk to you about later. Right now, your principal and teachers need to talk to you."

In the principal's office, Hayato sat in his chair like a serious teacher, a rare sight. Noticing that Maeda Hayato was looking at him, he asked directly, "Do you have any interest in working for the International Illusion Club, Maeda Hayato?"

"Eh, the International Illusion Society? Huh? Me?" Maeda Hayato blinked, somewhat bewildered, and said, "Principal Kobayashi, why are you suddenly asking me this? I haven't graduated from the academy yet!"

“If it were anyone else, they might have called you KFC and said it was because they valued you and wanted to give you a chance, and that if you missed this opportunity, you might lose your last chance to change your fate.” Hayato shrugged. “But the real answer is that the International Illusion Company’s card design work has recently hit a bottleneck, and they urgently need to recruit new employees to supplement their manpower and labor force, so they were lucky enough to choose you.”

"Although your grades were a bit poor, resulting in you having to repeat a year, a closer look reveals that the subject you failed was mainly dueling practice. Your performance in that area doesn't necessarily affect your card design ability. In addition, you have a good foundation in art, which is why you were noticed by the head of the card design department at the International Illusion Club."

After a pause, Hayato added with a smile, "Especially since you possess the rare ability to see something as rare as a spirit, and your talent for searching in card design is impeccable."

"A... a spirit!?" Looking at [Disruptive Yellow], which had peeked out as Hayato spoke, only to be slapped back into the drawer by Hayato, Maeda Hayato glanced nervously behind him. "Um, what's that...?"

"Don't be so nervous, Maeda-kun. Your father is also a duelist who possesses a spirit." Seeing Maeda Hayato's surprised expression, Kobayashi Hayato shrugged and said nonchalantly, glancing at Maeda Kumazo, who was still sitting there listening to his conversation with Maeda Hayato.

There, a staggering, drunken angel in a suit, carrying a bottle of liquor, waved in their direction, seemingly greeting them. This was clearly Maeda Kumazo's card sprite. It must be said, compared to Maeda Hayato's silly "Death Koala," who ran off and wandered around the office as soon as he entered, now perched on Little Blue's head, Maeda Kumazo managed his sprite very well, clearly possessing the ability to communicate with it.

"As you can see, Mr. Kumazo, Maeda-kun is quite talented in this area."

"Heh, is that all the talent you're talking about, Principal Kobayashi?" Maeda Kumazo glanced at the Death Koala, who had been tricked by [Disruption Yellow] and his brothers into bending over and running around the room like a mount, and closed his eyes disdainfully. "A promise must be kept. I thought you, Principal Kobayashi, as the Duel King, should understand this principle."

"Hayato, do you remember what you promised me last year?"

Although he shared the same name as the principal, Maeda Hayato immediately realized that his father was calling him. After hesitating for a moment, he truthfully replied, "I repeated a grade because of my poor grades, so I promised you, Dad, that I would never waste my time in the Duel Monsters world again, where there's no reward..."

"For that reason, I took you to Ayers Rock in Australia. You originally planned to discard your deck there, but you changed your mind and kept it. You even came back to school and stubbornly wasted another year. I won't hold those things against you anymore." Maeda Kumazo, tall and imposing, slowly stood up and looked down at his son. "But it's time for you to wake up from your fruitless dream of Duel Monsters. There's no need to waste any more time going elsewhere."

Upon hearing this, Maeda Hayato's face was filled with hesitation. His dream was to become a card designer for Duel Monsters, and for this reason he had been working hard to improve his skills in this area for a long time. As a result, his progress in dueling skills and other aspects was minimal. Now that he had finally heard Principal Kobayashi say that he could be hired as a card designer by the International Illusion Company, was he just going to give up the possibility of pursuing his dream?

However, promises must be kept. I can't break my promise to my father for a dream that hasn't even come to fruition yet, can I?

Just as Maeda Hayato was wondering how to respond to his father, the door to the principal's office was pushed open again, and two people walked in carrying a pile of things.

The appearance of the first person didn't surprise Maeda Hayato; that person was Marufuji Ryo. Maeda Hayato guessed that he might have been called by the principal to help carry something. However, the appearance of the second person made Maeda Hayato's eyes widen and reveal an incredulous expression: "Yu-Yugi Muto!?"

"Hello, Maeda-kun." Yugi smiled gently at Maeda and placed the documents he had brought next to the stack that Marufuji Ryo had brought. He also thanked Marufuji Ryo, saying, "Thank you for helping me move these things, Marufuji-kun."

Shaking his head to indicate that he was welcome, Ryo Marufuji came to Hayato's side, leaving the conversation to the Maeda father and son and Yugi and the others.

"So, Maeda-kun, did Hayato mention to you that he wanted to recruit you into the card design department of Kokusai Mirage?"

Chapter 1256 I've never felt that XX was happy

"So it's you, Mr. Muto!" Maeda Hayato exclaimed, a mix of excitement and nervousness in his voice. "But...I..."

In the world of Duel Monsters today, the strongest duelist standing at the pinnacle is undoubtedly Hayato Kobayashi. He is also an idol in the hearts of countless duelists, just like Rei Saotome up to yesterday, many people admire him.

However, in the field of card design, although Pegasus, the "father of Duel Monsters," is still the most famous, the best card designer today is Yugi Muto, who is also a legendary duelist. After all, since losing the "Millennium Eye" after Duel Kingdom, Pegasus has continued to produce works, but his efficiency is much lower than before. It is only natural that the old Pegasus, who was always slacking off, would be surpassed by a talented and passionate successor like Yugi Muto.

Of course, another reason is that Pegasus can no longer simply change the angle and action to create new cards, like he did with the early cards, such as "Double-Mouthed Dark Ruler" and "Two-Headed Thunder Dragon", or "Lion Warlock" and "Sleeping Lion".

Jaden and Manjoume's goal is to become the next Duel King. Although they also admire the principal, Maeda Hayato actually admires Yugi Muto, the card designer, even more.

But can someone who can't even properly complete their studies at the Duel Academy, who can't even be a good duelist, really live up to Mr. Yugi's high expectations? Besides, they promised their father they would give up everything related to Duel Monsters...

“A good parent would never belittle their own child. That being said, what I’m about to say is what happened to my son.” Looking down at Maeda Hayato, whose head was bowed, Maeda Kumzo sighed and said sincerely, “As his teachers, you should know his true level of ability better than he does himself, right?”

"His dueling skills are practically limited to summoning monsters, but he doesn't even know how to properly activate their effects. His theoretical knowledge is barely passing. Although this kid is good at drawing, how can he be a qualified card designer under such circumstances? Is it just a matter of so-called 'passion'?"

"He doesn't even know how to describe the card's effect using standard International Illusion Society language!"

As Maeda Hayato's father, Maeda Kumzo was not the kind of bad parent who ignored his child's wishes and forcefully made arrangements for him. He was also not the rough and foolish person he appeared to be, despite his practice of kendo and its integration into duels. On the contrary, he cared deeply for his son and, in the past, gave Maeda Hayato ample freedom to choose his own path in life.