Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"【Ancient Rules】plus 【Demon-Zoya】, then 【Trap Booster】discarded a card, activating 【Metalization-Magic Reflection Armor】, a total of five cards were used. In other words, it was a five-for-one trade?"

Looking at Edogawa's [Steel Devil - Zoa] wandering the field, Jaden's smile was somewhat forced and disappointed. He wondered if his expectations had been too high, and subconsciously said, "Seriously? That's it?"

Chapter 1301 The Tenth Generation's "One" Kill

"That's it?"

Hearing Judai's unintentional remark, Edogawa became anxious, even turning red with embarrassment. "What do you know? This is a powerful monster with an attack power of 3000 points! And it's a powerful machine!"

"Can others do it?! And how many people can possess a monster with an attack power exceeding 3000 points?"

Watching Edogawa wander off with his arms outstretched, Jaden seriously started counting on his fingers: "Leaving aside Hayato-sensei and Professor Chronos, just talking about the classmates I know at school..."

"Needless to say, Caesar's [Electronic Termination Dragon] has an attack power that is far more than 3000 points, heading straight for 4000 points."

"Although the attack power of the 'Dragon of Light and Darkness' is a bit weak, I recently heard from Hayato-sensei that he seems to have obtained a stronger card with even higher attack power, called something like 'Dragon King of Light and Darkness,' which seems to have an attack power of more than 3000 points."

"Then Asuka's [Cyber ​​Angel - Miakaru -] has an attack power of 3000 points, Maeda's [Lord of OZ] has an attack power of 4200 points, and Sho's [Super Transport Robot - Giant Drill] has an attack power of 3000 points..."

Seeing that Judai was actually counting seriously and had actually named quite a few people, Edogawa Yuuri was sweating profusely and immediately interrupted, "Even if there are that many people, do you think they can all play their ace in the first round? Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"Besides, who told you my combo ends here? I still have a card I just drew this turn that I haven't played yet, and I'm going to activate it now!" As he spoke, Edogawa Yuuri regained his confidence. "That's right, this powerful equipment card, I'm going to equip it to [Steel Demon - Zoa]!"

"Equip the Spell Card [Gravity Cannon]! This card is an Equip Spell Card exclusive to Machine-Type monsters. Because it has become a Machine-Type monster, [Steel Demon Zoa] can equip this card, and once per turn I can activate the effect of [Gravity Cannon] to permanently increase [Steel Demon Zoa]'s ATK by 400 points!"

On the left arm of [Steel Demon Zoa], the metal claw melted into liquid, deformed and solidified, and reassembled into a metal cannon barrel, giving [Steel Demon Zoa] a means of ranged attack and increasing its attack power.

【Steel Demon - Zoa】【ATK3000→3400】

"Not only does it increase attack power, but [Gravity Cannon] also has the ability to nullify the effects of [Steel Demon Zoa] during the entire battle phase when it is fighting against an opponent's monster. This effect does not even need to be activated."

Edogawa Yuri grinned maliciously and said, "In other words, in front of the [Steel Demon - Zoa] equipped with the [Gravity Cannon], any monster can only fight with its original power, and the effects of monsters that activate after destruction will also be nullified and unable to hinder the [Steel Demon - Zoa] in the slightest!"

"So, enter my battle phase, and tremble and shudder before my [Steel Demon - Zoa], along with your minions!"

Because of the rarity of [Winged Kuriboh] and the uncertainty about its effect, Edogawa Yuri speculated that since Jaden had Special Summoned it in face-up Defense Position, its effect was likely one that activated after being destroyed, similar to [Killer Tomato], which Special Summons a monster from the Deck after being destroyed. This speculation also aligned with Edogawa Yuri's initial impression that Jaden's monsters were primarily defensive.

However, because of the existence of [Gravity Cannon], no matter what the effect of [Winged Kuriboh] is, its effect will be nullified in front of [Gravity Cannon], allowing Edogawa Yuri to confidently launch attacks on any monster on the field in Jaden!

"The monster I'm targeting is that [Winged Kuriboh]!"

With a wave of his hand, Edogawa Yuri directed [Steel Demon - Zoa] to annihilate [Winged Kuriboh] on the field.

The instant Edogawa Yuri shouted his attack declaration, [Steel Demon - Zoa] also aimed the cannon on Jaden's field with the cannon on his left arm. The suddenly unfolded gravity field captured and suppressed it, directly nullifying the effect of [Winged Kuriboh] that could protect Jaden from damage for an entire turn after it was destroyed.

However, before the Gravity Cannon could even fire, Jaden had already pressed the button to activate the back row face-down card and said to Edogawa Yuri, "Destroying my Aibo is not allowed, you old man from the Northern Branch School. It's too much for an 8-star monster to bully a 1-star Winged Kuriboh. How about we find a stronger opponent?"

As she spoke, a beam of light shone from the face-down card that Jaden had flipped open in the back row, shining on Winged Kuriboh. It freed her from the gravity field and continuously transferred energy to her, causing the wings on Winged Kuriboh's back to grow rapidly and expand to a size that was large enough to cover her and even Jaden behind her!

"That is?!"

"Quick-Play Spell Card, [Wings of Evolution], this is a unique enhancement card exclusive to [Winged Kuriboh], allowing it to evolve into a completely new form. It's not just your [Demon-Zoa] that can evolve." Jaden paused, displaying the two cards in his hand. "The effect of [Wings of Evolution] is to send one [Winged Kuriboh] on my field and two cards from my hand to the Graveyard, and then Special Summon one [Winged Kuriboh LV10] from my hand and Deck!"

The light of evolution gradually faded, revealing the form of Winged Kuriboh once more. However, Winged Kuriboh, having received the power of the Wings of Evolution and become the "evolved strongest Kuriboh," should now be renamed Winged Kuriboh LV10.

Jaden sent his two cards, [E·hero Winged Man] and [Hero Boy], along with [Winged Kuriboh] on the field, to the graveyard, and took out a card from his deck: "As the name suggests, [Winged Kuriboh LV10] is a Level 10 [Winged Kuriboh], which is a worthy opponent to [Steel Demon - Zoa]."

"According to Hayato-sensei, this is the kind of shout we should get at times like this!" Jaden shouted, holding the card high above his head and placing it horizontally on the Duel Disk, "Come out, Wagatsumashi!!"

Special Summon! [Winged Kuriboh LV10]!!!

Her pure white wings spread open, revealing a golden dragon. A pale golden glow enveloped her body, exuding a rather sacred aura, while the original [Winged Kuriboh] was located at the heart of the dragon.

To outsiders, the transformation of Winged Kuriboh into Winged Kuriboh LV10 after the Winged Evolution seems somewhat strange and meaningless, making it difficult to understand how that furry monster could have become such a dragon-like monster. However, for Hayato and Yugi, who learned about the Tragodia incident from Hayato, it seems quite reasonable.

Although they all have the "Kuriboh" field, "Kuriboh," "Winged Kuriboh," and Hayato's "Rainbow Kuriboh" have three completely different origins. "Kuriboh" is a stone tablet monster, "Rainbow Kuriboh" is a spirit born from the heart of Hayato's past life lover... cough cough, his past life acquaintance, Nefertari, while "Winged Kuriboh" is one of the keys to the seal on "Tragodia," representing the "feather" part of the scales that judge souls.

Therefore, it is reasonable that Winged Kuriboh, having obtained the power of the Wings of Evolution and maximized its potential, became Winged Kuriboh LV10, which fully displays the "feathers" part but lacks the "heart" part and has to fill it in by itself.

【Winged Kuriboh LV10】【10☆/Light】

[Angel Race/Special Summon/Effect]

[300/200]

Although somewhat intimidated by the appearance and imposing aura of [Winged Kuriboh LV10], upon closer inspection and discovering that its attack and defense stats were exactly the same as before its evolution, Edogawa Yuuri scoffed, "Tch, are you kidding me? You call it an evolution? It's just gone from a weakling to a slightly better-looking weakling, isn't it?"

"Even if you send your original monster to the graveyard, it will only trigger the battle rewind rule. I can still let [Steel Demon - Zoa] continue to attack!" Edogawa Yuri pointed a finger. "The fate of your monster will still be a miserable defeat under the attack of my invincible [Steel Demon - Zoa]!"

However, upon hearing Edogawa Yuri's words, Judai shrugged, spread his hands, and touched his nose in a typical novel protagonist's combo, then suddenly asked Edogawa Yuri, "So rei wa do ka na?"

"What?!"

Edogawa Yuri was taken aback because he saw that Jaden's Winged Kuriboh LV10 had entered a strange state as soon as it appeared on the field. The two huge wings behind it turned into light and expanded rapidly. In the blink of an eye, they turned into a pair of even bigger wings of light, which closed up and completely covered Jaden's field.

"【Winged Kuriboh LV10】is a monster that cannot be normally summoned and can only be Special Summoned through the effect of 【Wings of Evolution】. Its summoning conditions are extremely demanding. There is a saying that 'powerful cards are often accompanied by great risks.' To put it another way, the more demanding the summoning conditions are, the more powerful the card's effect is."

Jaden explained, "The effect of [Winged Kuriboh LV10] is that by Tributing this face-up card on my field, I can destroy all Attack Position monsters on my opponent's field and inflict damage to my opponent equal to the sum of the original ATKs of the destroyed monsters. This effect can only be activated during the Battle Phase of my opponent's turn!"

"I'm going to activate the effect of [Winged Kuriboh LV10] to destroy all the monsters on the opponent's field, oh dear, knock knock!"

"Release your own monsters to destroy all my monsters? That's not a monster version of [Divine Shield - Mirror Power -]!? And it's a version with the effect of [Magic Cylinder] added! What a fake card!" Edogawa Yuri looked surprised, finding it hard to believe that the [Winged Kuriboh] he looked down on and the evolved [Winged Kuriboh LV10] could have such a disgusting and perverted effect.

He looked at the [Winged Kuriboh LV10], which had been liberated and sent to the graveyard, and transformed into a giant wing of light on the field. Even with [Gravity Cannon], [Steel Demon Zoa] couldn't fight the [Winged Kuriboh LV10] already in the graveyard to negate its effect. But he still stubbornly said, "So what if you destroy my [Steel Demon Zoa]? It's just a mere 3000 points of damage. What kind of monster with more than 1000 ATK can you summon next turn to defeat me?"

"In the world of Duel Monsters, there are things like 'locked health' and 'comeback victory'. Making my Life Points almost nonexistent only makes me more certain that victory will be in my hands!"

Judai scratched his head in confusion: "Does the Northern Branch School actually practice such strange superstitions, or is it just your personal understanding? Although it is true that there are often cases where the side with the lower base score wins, are you misunderstanding the cause and effect? ​​It's not because the base score is lower that you can win. So, a lower base score means stronger. It should be that even if the base score is reduced to an extremely low level, the stronger side will not easily lose and can turn the tide and win under such circumstances."

After a pause, Jaden pointed to his Duel Disk again, "Besides, there's no way you can have 'locked health' or anything like that, right? Because the effect damage you'll take is more than just 3000 points."

"Huh? Wasn't it supposed to make me suffer the original attack power of the destroyed monster—" Edogawa Yuri hadn't finished speaking when he suddenly noticed three black demons with flowing long hair appearing out of nowhere on his field. He said in surprise, "When did these three monsters appear!?"

"I also activated the face-down card on my back field by chaining the effect of [Winged Kuriboh LV10]."

Jaden took out a Trap Card from his Duel Disk, shook it, and smiled. "It also requires the Tribute of a monster to activate. The effect of this Nightmare Demon Swarm, which I activated by Tributing [E·Hero Bubble Man], is to Special Summon three [Nightmare Demon Tokens] to my opponent's field in Attack Position."

"The Nightmare Demon Derivatives specially summoned by the Nightmare Demon Swarm will cause their controllers to suffer 800 points of effect damage per unit when they are destroyed in any way."

[Nightmare Demon Derivative] [6☆/Dark]

[Demon Race/Derivatives]

[2000/2000]

[Nightmare Demon Derivative] [ATK] X2

Seemingly worried that Edogawa might be overwhelmed with the numbers, Jaden proactively helped him calculate: "Because of the chain's 'later-first-out' effect, the first thing to be dealt with is the effect of [Nightmare Demon Swarm], which Special Summons three [Nightmare Demon Tokens] in Attack Position on the opponent's field."

"Next, under the effect of [Winged Kuriboh LV10], not only [Steel Demon - Zoa], but also the three attack-presenting [Nightmare Demon Derivatives] will be destroyed. Then, the total value of their original attack power, which is 3000 + 6000, or 9000 points of effect damage, will be given to the opponent. Finally, the 800 points of effect damage that each [Nightmare Demon Derivative] can cause when it is destroyed will be added, for a total of 2400 points."

"Finally, Edogawa from the Northern Branch School... Conan? You will suffer 11400 points of effect damage in one go!" Judai randomly guessed a name without certainty, and under the astonished and distracted gaze of Edogawa, he waved his hand and said, "Therefore, 'A Candle in the Wind'? No, even if your base score is doubled to 8000 points, you will not have even the slightest chance to enter the next round!"

"To achieve victory by unleashing one's own monsters—" Edogawa's wandering eyes were filled with terror. "Are all the students at headquarters monsters? Just who are you?!"

"I'm not some monster, I aspire to be a hero." After correcting himself, Jaden gave Edogawa Yuri a thumbs up and then pointed to himself, saying, "I am Jaden Yuki from Osiris Red, and my latest goal is to duel everyone in the school."

"Well then, it's time to end this duel!" Jaden shouted, watching the [Winged Kuriboh LV10] expand, absorbing all the attack power of the four monsters that had left Edogawa's field and gathering it into its light wings before unleashing its attack. "Then, self-destruct, Aibo!"

"This is a necessary sacrifice!"

The folded wings of light coalesced into a giant lightsaber that doubled in length, swiftly slashing down and engulfing all the monsters on Edogawa's field within its slashing range. After a single strike, they were all crushed, and the lightsaber continued to slash towards Edogawa without weakening in the slightest!

After a flash of bright light, Edogawa Yuri, who was terrified by the overly frightening projection effects despite it not being a dark game, collapsed to the ground foaming at the mouth. As his life points reached zero, a huge red cross appeared on his portrait on the screen above the duel arena, meaning he was eliminated, while a golden "WIN" appeared on Jaden's portrait.

Professor Chronos, who was providing the commentary, announced: "The outcome is decided!"

"The result of the first match is that Edogawa Yuri is out, while Yuki Judai from the Duel Academy headquarters advances to the next round!"

Chapter 1302 Mafti... Gauman is thinking about things a thousand years from now.

"Is it just my imagination? I feel like more and more people are being influenced by you, Hayato, and are starting to like winning by methods like freeing monsters."

Watching Judai instantly defeat Edogawa Yuuri and advance, Yugi wore a subtle smile. "The impact on teenagers is immeasurable."

Under the guise of "helping Kaiba debug the virtual world," but actually just playing a game of cards with him, Yugi and his companions didn't leave Duel Academy just like that. After all, they were already there, so they decided to watch the Duel Academy's exchange match first. At that moment, Yugi was sitting in the front row of the audience and said this to Hayato, who was sitting in the referee's seat in front of him.

“Impossible, absolutely impossible,” Hayato denied categorically. “How could a compassionate duelist like me influence others to become fond of releasing monsters? It must be Pegasus’s doing. Yes, that’s right.”

After careful consideration, Haima decided to use the fully virtual immersion game pod again in the semifinals of the academy exchange competition. After all, the computing power of the "Legendary White Stone" game pod had been tested and its limit had been confirmed, making it just right for the four contestants, referees with certain higher-level authority, and the numerous spectators.

While having more fighters isn't necessarily a bad thing, there's a certain probability that the virtual world won't have enough time to fully calculate the monsters' powers, just like during Hayato and his friends' duel. This uncertainty is what Kaiba hates most.

That's why the current top eight are still using what is considered a very basic dueling arena within the academy in reality—don't be fooled by the fact that the duelists seem to simply walk onto the stage wearing dueling disks, the numerous cables protruding from the edge of the arena reveal that it's not just a simple stage.

The functions of the virtual projection system are completely transferred from the dueling disk worn by the duelists. This part is handled by a high-powered virtual projection system that is spread throughout the room, achieving higher quality and larger-scale virtual projection. This allows the dueling disk to only need to recognize cards, greatly improving computing power and reducing reading latency.

And all of this is done without the need for any data cables. Duelists can use this function simply by standing in the dueling arena. It even has the function of wirelessly powering the dueling disk, preventing the possibility of someone being unable to accept defeat and pulling out the screw halfway through the duel. Isn't Haima Group's technology amazing?

"It's clear to us that the technology used in Duel Disks and Duel Arenas is more than enough to meet our current needs, yet Kaiba insists on pioneering a completely new field of dueling. It's truly incomprehensible." Jonouchi raised an eyebrow. "In this era—no, even decades from now—the current level of technology in dueling should be sufficient, right?"

"It seems that the seahorse is thinking about things a thousand years from now."

"He must have a lot of free time. Many people already have to work their hardest just to use current technology."

Looking at Edogawa Yuri being carried off the stage, Jonouchi continued, "Even though he was defeated in one fell swoop, even Master Sugoroku was only slightly frightened and exhausted."

"The virtual projection system used was a much weaker version than the one used by Haima back then, and he was also much younger than Shuangliu, yet he was so scared that he fainted?"

Beside Jonouchi, Mai rolled her eyes: "Do you think everyone has a heart as big as yours? Given the scarcity of students and the limitations of the cold and remote geographical environment, it seems that the Northern Branch of the Duel Academy doesn't even have a dueling arena."

"For that big guy who fainted from fright, it was actually his first time experiencing a 'peripheral' like the Duel Arena, which can drastically change the dueling experience. Although he didn't really notice the difference when that kid named Yuki summoned a monster versus when he summoned one himself, after [Winged Kuriboh LV10] activated its effect, even the most oblivious person should have noticed the stark difference in the virtual projection system," Rebecca said with an air of maturity, completely forgetting that she had only just turned eighteen this year.

"Huh? First time?" On the other side of the game, Kyoko said with some confusion, "But I clearly remember Hayato saying that the academy exchange tournament has been going on for a month, and during this time, students can apply to use the dueling ring to duel if they need to."

"So he's the real idiot. He noticed the words 'academy' and 'competition' in the name 'Academy Exchange Competition,' but he completely ignored the truly important 'exchange.' He just dragged his underlings from the northern branch campus around to rack up points. This kind of closed-door idiot, even if he raises his ranking to third, is still just a self-sufficient nobody. Even if he makes it to the top eight, he'll only be making a fool of himself."

Hayato shook his head helplessly, "It's a shame his name has the character 'Yu' in it. With this level of skill, he can't possibly pass for a member of the 'Yu family' at all."

Despite his weak abilities and arrogant, ignorant nature, he remains trapped in his comfort zone, refusing to step out even when given the opportunity to broaden his horizons and improve. As always, this year's top pick from the Northern Branch School is disappointing.

Even in Hayato's opinion, of the only two branch campuses with exchange students making it into the top eight this year—the Western Branch Campus and the Northern Branch Campus—the Northern Branch Campus is not as good as the Southern Branch Campus and the Eastern Branch Campus, which have no students making it into the top eight.

Speaking of the Western branch campus, coincidentally, one of the contestants in the second match after the duel between Edogawa Yuri and Yuki Jaden was an exchange student from the Western branch campus, Rachel Mackenzie.

In another timeline, the [Tragodia], sealed away three thousand years ago by an unnamed white dragon-controlling ancient Egyptian priest, struggled through a thousand years of torment and gained some breathing room. The object it chose to possess was not Pegasus, who had gone to ancient Egypt for archaeological research with Pegasus, but Rickard Phoenix, a card designer for the International Illusion Society—that is, Ed Phoenix's father.

This unfortunate fellow seems to have this inexplicable potential to be targeted by evil forces, but the potential is not enough for darkness to linger within him for long. This leads to a situation similar to Rickard Phoenix in this world, who was killed and had his card stolen after creating [D·hero Blood Demon-D], which possessed "The Light of Destruction". Rickard Phoenix, possessed by [Tragodia], realized that its power was insufficient to support his resurrection and decisively found another person to possess, and incidentally killed the unfortunate Rickard Phoenix.

The second possessor of Tragodia was none other than Paul Mackenzie, the museum's curator at the time. Innocent people were thus drawn into Tragodia's dark and bloody conspiracy, and Riki Mackenzie, who witnessed her father being manipulated by the darkness, also became its puppet.

However, another world is another world. The situation here is different from the root. Instead of possessing Rickard Phoenix, he chose to go his own way. [Tragodia] had no need to abandon the host who held the perfect identity of Pegasus's adopted son, the "father of Duel Monsters". As a result, the person who would have died because of his conspiracy survived.

—Okay, aside from Rickard Phoenix, that bastard still died. Just like Spider-Man's uncle, he's bound to have some bad luck and die eventually.