Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Following Jaden's command, C·hero Chaos Knight, who gained the ability to continue attacking by giving up the bonus of [Beloved Hero], did not leave after breaking through the interception of [Armor Dragon - Cyber ​​Dark Ultimate Dragon] and getting close to Caesar. Instead, he concentrated the light and dark energy in his hand that he had not exhausted and then fired a beam of light at Caesar at close range!

【C·hero Chaos Warrior】【ATK6000→5000→2400】

[Ryo Marufuji: 3600→1200LP]

"Motor! Motor! Next up is a direct attack from [Winged Kuriboh LV6]!" Jaden pressed his advantage, even if it was just 300 points of damage, he was greedy for it, "Flame Smash!"

Wearing a "suit" that resembled the flame launcher of [E·hero Flame Wingman], [Winged Kuriboh LV6] didn't let it exist just as a decoration. Wreathed in flames, it charged towards Caesar, causing Caesar's base score to drop three times.

[Ryo Marufuji: 1200→900LP]

At this point, Caesar's Life Points finally reached three digits. If he hadn't known that the phrase was forbidden, Jaden would have almost said, "Your Life Points are already as weak as a candle in the wind."

However, this also means that Jaden has already used all the monsters he can use in battle and attacked them. The only one on his field that hasn't participated in battle is the [Wool Token] with an attack power of 0. Otherwise, Jaden might have let it attack like [Winged Kuriboh LV6], even if it just scratches it a little.

Judai's hand only had one card left.

"Is this... the end?" Caesar looked at his remaining 900 life points and shook his head with some regret. "You're still short of the last 900 life points, Jaden. Your hunger for victory is still missing these last 900 points."

“Speaking of which, Caesar, I haven’t given you my answer yet.” Upon hearing Caesar’s words, Jaden suddenly changed the subject. “What ‘hunger’ and ‘response’? I really don’t understand, but I think you’re saying that ‘you can’t win without showing your hunger,’ right?”

“That’s right, because that’s all the respect I have for duels now. No, to be precise, all I respect is victory.” Caesar paused, looking at Jaden’s field. “But unfortunately, your duel seems to be a little lacking. The proof is that I still have 900 Life Points left, while you no longer have a monster that can deplete my Life Points.”

"Don't speak so soon, Caesar. Who says you can't clear your life points without monsters?"

Jaden glanced at the last card in his hand and played it, saying, "You can't win without showing your hunger... In that case, I'm sorry, Caesar, I have to show a 'hunger' that's several times more noble than yours!"

Caesar raised an eyebrow: "What...did you say?"

"It's this card, this card! A magic card, [Fire Hell]. Since you say you're 'Hell Caesar' now, then I'll have to unleash a hellish level of 'Thirst'!" Jaden said, playing the card in his hand. "Although I'd rather have a more interesting duel, since my opponent is you, Caesar, I must unleash an even greater 'Thirst' to win!"

"The opponent will take 1000 points of effect damage, and I will also take 500 points of effect damage simultaneously. This is the 'hunger' I'm showing for victory, Caesar!"

Since using "Reverse Electron Flow", Caesar's duels have gradually lost "respect and dignity" for others, himself, and his own cards. He has become obsessed with victory and will stop at nothing to achieve it. His dueling style has become so crazy that he will even take damage to create greater results.

But even he couldn't have imagined that Jaden would pull out such a crazy card today, using his most familiar tactic recently—self-harm while inflicting greater damage on the opponent—to secure the final victory!

A raging inferno erupted from the card Jaden played, first injuring Jaden himself, then rapidly spreading to the surrounding area. The endless steel jungle transformed into a burning sea of ​​fire, eventually engulfing Caesar and wiping out his last basic points.

[Ryo Marufuji: 900LP → 0]

What was Caesar thinking when the basic score was reduced to zero?

He was thinking that even if he struggled to fight with all his might, he still wouldn't be able to win.

He was thinking that the victory he craved had been taken away by Jaden with even stronger desire and hunger.

He was thinking that even if he mastered both the "inner electron flow" and the "outer electron flow" to their limits, he still couldn't become the ultimate victor.

Including his younger brother Marufuji Sho and his old friend Fubuki, most people in the audience thought that Caesar would be unwilling, angry, or even hysterical because he had lost the duel. However, under everyone's gaze, Caesar instead smiled with great joy and laughed heartily.

"Hmph hmph hmph hmph, hmph hehe hehe, ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Hahaha, hahaha, hahahahaha!" Although he didn't know what Caesar was laughing about, as the virtual projections around him disappeared and Caesar laughing loudly appeared in front of him, Jaden also imitated him, putting one hand on his hip and laughing loudly.

"Big brother? What are you laughing at?"

"Ahem!" Hearing what Marufuji Sho said in the audience, Judai was laughing so hard he could barely breathe. He coughed twice to catch his breath, then turned to Marufuji Sho with a silly grin: "Actually, I don't know what I'm laughing at, but seeing Caesar laughing so happily, I laughed along with him, ahahahaha."

Seeing Judai and the crowd in the audience who almost collapsed, Caesar gradually stopped laughing and said, "As expected, you didn't disappoint me, Judai!"

"Oh! I don't know what you were expecting, Caesar, but I'm glad I didn't disappoint you!" Jaden replied with a thumbs-up, "It was quite an interesting duel."

“Yes, you are fascinated by the joy of victory, aren’t you? This kind of captivating victory.” Caesar nodded in deep agreement. “But I am not without gains as a loser either. It’s not the false illusion of impending defeat given by Manjoume, but the real feeling of being defeated head-on, being swallowed up by desires that are even greater than mine. I knew all along that of all my opponents, only you could give me this feeling, Judai!”

"The invincible Caesar has finally fallen here. The agony of this defeat will burn me and resurrect the evolved, stronger 'electron stream' from hell!"

"It can certainly be used next time!"

“I see, I understand now.” Maeda thumped his palms and exclaimed in sudden realization, “No wonder Caesar was laughing so happily, because what he really wanted was to grow beyond his original, perfect self.”

“Because Ryo had gradually become perfect, he hadn’t experienced a period of rapid growth like before for a long time. It wasn’t until his duel with Manjoume that he was forced to grow to a certain extent,” Fubuki remarked. “But that growth was too weak and not enough to free him from his constraints.”

"The analogy is probably that of a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. Due to external forces, it emerges from the cocoon prematurely, but its wings are not fully mature and it cannot fly normally. The 'hell' that 'Hell Caesar' refers to is not a hell of failure, but a hell of being unable to grow. This is the feeling that Akira truly experienced in his duel with Manjoume."

After a pause, Fubuki shook her head helplessly: "Really, Ryo really hides his thoughts so well."

"Beneath the surface of actively pursuing victory, is he actually actively pursuing defeat?" Asuka understood what Maeda and her brother were saying, but she still couldn't quite grasp Caesar's motives. "Then why not challenge Hayato-sensei to a duel?"

"Heh, a duel with Hayato-sensei wouldn't even be a duel, it would just be courting death," Manjoume said disdainfully. "Growing through setbacks is a different thing from running into a speeding container truck on the street and dying. It's not about victory or defeat, but about 'equal footing'."

"In this regard, not only is Judai an idiot who has a card like [Lava Demon] but doesn't use it and instead tries to defeat Caesar head-on, Caesar isn't much better and is also thinking about finding an equal enemy to defeat him."

"This must be what they call 'failure is the mother of success,' right?" Misawa said with a relieved expression as he watched the two finish their duel. "But, in this way, the previous prophecy has been successfully broken."

"The prophecy... I remember it was, 'The duel between two people, one of light and one of darkness, who have abandoned their arrogant dignity and turned their hearts away, will end with darkness swallowing up light'?" Marufuji Sho recalled the prophecy he had heard before at the [Battle of the King of Light - Queen Mador], and after repeating it, he looked at the person who finally won on the field and smiled with relief, "Yeah, because it was my brother's victory in the end."

"The prophecy says something about 'darkness swallowing light,' but Big Brother can't possibly represent the dark side while Caesar represents the light, right? It's just a pity that the mysterious 'important item' that [Light King War - Queen Mador] placed with you in Gojo is now useless because the prophecy can't proceed."

"It's not Gojo, it's Misawa." Misawa corrected his name again with a sigh, then pointed towards Judai. "I'm not too disappointed. It's best if it's not of any use, and I've already given that thing to Judai."

As Misawa was speaking in the audience, Asuka and the others saw something suddenly rip open the front of Judai's shirt, and then a "short stick" tore through Judai's shirt and flew out, heading straight for Caesar who was not far away!

The group could see clearly that the "short stick" was none other than a piece of mistletoe from the [Astral Tree - Light Oak] they had met before!

Chapter 1398 Annihilation! The Five Students of Domino City!

If Jaden hadn't put away his cards so quickly, at least his [C·hero Chaos Knight] on the field could have intervened to intercept them;

If the monsters on Caesar's field are not completely destroyed, he can at least command the Cyber ​​Dragon and the others to protect himself;

—And, if it weren't for [King's Shadow - Lopte] suddenly hindering his actions with some kind of magic, at least Hayato would have been able to react in time to save Caesar.

But there are no "ifs".

The reality is that Caesar, completely unprepared when facing Jaden, could only watch helplessly as the carefully chosen, perfectly straight and sharp mistletoe, like an arrow, broke free from Jaden's embrace and pierced his own chest.

Caesar, who had been stabbed right in the center of his chest, could clearly feel his still-unsettled excitement and the sensation of his violently beating heart rubbing against the foreign object, but to his surprise, no intense pain came.

It wasn't like he used to use "internal electron flow" to feel the electric current from the card and forget the pain; he really didn't feel any pain at all. If he didn't look down, he wouldn't even realize that he had been pierced by this "mistletoe arrow."

"That's... [The War of the King of Light - Queen Mador]'s!?" Misawa looked at the stabbed Caesar in astonishment. "But... how could this be?!"

"Is that what the [Astral Tree - Light Oak] was referring to? But why did that thing suddenly attack Caesar!?"

Most of the people, including Misawa, still remembered what Queen Mador and the Astral Tree said back then. They planned to use the world's rejection of the Astral Tree to take away the invader who brought it to this world—a being named "Loki." Misawa was the person chosen by Queen Mador to carry out this step, while Jaden held the coordinates for positioning.

The reason it was carried by Jaden was because the only chance the guy hiding in the shadows would have to do something was during Jaden's duel with Caesar. But no one expected that before the "Loki" hiding in the shadows could even appear, the "coordinates" that Jaden was carrying would malfunction.

"Caesar?" Jaden, disregarding his tattered clothes, looked at Caesar, who was staring down at the "arrow" embedded in his chest, and asked, "How...are you feeling?"

“I thought I would enter a state of death and then be teleported back to where I was before.” Caesar frowned, not even trying to pull out the arrow. “But so far, it seems nothing unusual has happened?”

But it would have been better if he hadn't spoken. As soon as he finished speaking, the mistletoe arrow stuck in his chest suddenly dissolved into his body. Caesar's face stiffened, and he felt the temperature around him drop abruptly.

No, it wasn't the surrounding temperature that was dropping. Caesar could clearly see his breath condensing into white mist in the air. The freezing air, which he didn't know where it came from, was actually emanating from his own body and was even spreading outwards from him.

"Stay away from me—" Caesar tried to tell Judai and the others to keep their distance, but he watched helplessly as his body froze. Even in this state, he still didn't trigger the "death resurrection" mechanism and get teleported away.

More precisely, the plaza used for the duel suddenly had a hemispherical energy field rise up, enveloping everyone present. The water curtain that had risen before the [King Kaio Battle - Hal] was also frozen by the cold air released by Caesar, and could no longer float freely. Instead, it crashed heavily to the ground and shattered into pieces.

Vice Principal Samejima, Professor Chronos, and Pegasus, among others, instantly lost sight of the scene. Hayato, looking at the energy shield surrounding himself and the others, then glanced at [King's Shadow - Lopto], who had spontaneously emerged from the card: "Finally, you can't resist making a move?"

(A rough outline of the cover)

"There's no other way. If we had been any later, you might have discovered us and all our efforts would have been in vain." Twisting his wrists and ankles, as if he hadn't moved his body in a long time, [Shadow of Kings - Lopte] chuckled evilly, "It's really not easy to make a move under your nose."

"But when was that? I don't recall ever letting you move around here. And before I put you under my watch, the entrance to the [Bombardment Realm] was guarded by [Sword King War - Frode], preventing you from freely entering or leaving, right?"

“I have no obligation to answer the questions of prisoners who are no longer able to resist me.”

After a pause, looking at the energy shield that rose from under each person's seat and enveloped Hayato and the other adults like a plastic tube, [Shadow of War - Lopte] saw that their attempts to break free were in vain, and sneered, "That may be true, but if I can't show off this amazing plan to others, where will I get my sense of accomplishment?"

"If you can meet Mimir, the fountain of wisdom, and make him your subordinate, and those little devils can also meet friendly new friends in this world, then who says I can't have an assistant?"

"【Dragon of Light and Darkness】!"

Without calling out the name of the move, he simply let his card spirit suddenly appear and then launch an attack on [King's Shadow - Lopto]. However, even though it was a sneak attack, Manjou's [Light and Dark Dragon] attack failed to hit [King's Shadow - Lopto] even slightly. With its back to Manjou and the others sitting in the front rows, [King's Shadow - Lopto] easily dodged Manjou's attack and leaped into the field, which was now completely covered in frost.

"Although I don't know what's wrong with you, the thing on Judai suddenly attacked Caesar, Hayato-sensei was inexplicably restrained, and the temperature suddenly dropped." Unaware of information about [King of Light War - Queen Mador], [Astral Tree - Light Oak], and many other things, Banjou's gaze followed [King of War Shadow - Lopto]'s movements. "These things...it seems like you're the one behind them, aren't they?"

"Tsk tsk, mere mortals dare to attempt to harm a god? They can't even launch a sneak attack properly, what pathetic creatures." Looking disdainfully at Manjoume and the others, [King's Shadow - Lopto] didn't answer his question, only speaking arrogantly. He was willing to explain to Hayato only because of Hayato's strength, but he didn't even consider Manjoume's existence a threat.

But Manjoume only responded with a cold laugh: "A sneak attack? Would a decent person shout before launching a sneak attack? I never intended to attack you from the beginning. My real goal is to destroy that inexplicable thing that's restricting Hayato-sensei and the others!"

But [Shadow of Kings - Lopte]'s expression remained unchanged: "So, did you succeed?"

"Hmm?" Upon hearing this, Manjoume turned his head and discovered that although the attack of the [Dragon of Light and Darkness] had successfully hit the location where Hayato and the others were, it only destroyed the seats and the foundation below. The energy shields that restricted them seemed to extend all the way up from the ground without any wavering or being destroyed by the attack.

"What on earth is this thing?" Jonouchi glanced at Yugi and Hayato, and after confirming that Mai, Kyoko, and Rebecca were all safe and sound, he slowly threw a punch, as if gathering his strength, which landed on the energy shield. As expected, it failed to break through the device that even the attack of the [Dragon of Light and Darkness] couldn't break. "We can't get out!"

Although Jonouchi's tone was slightly affected, [Shadow of the King - Lopto] said proudly, "Of course, this is my special technique, specifically designed to deal with those guys who are hard to defeat but would be troublesome if left to run wild. For example, you powerful duelists."

Among the six people trapped in the energy shield, the only non-duelist—Kyoko—raised an eyebrow: "Huh? Me too?"

"Well, even someone as excellent as me has difficulty precisely controlling a pre-arranged spell to ensure it closes independently and doesn't activate along with the others." [Shadow of the King - Lopte] helplessly shrugged, acknowledging his shortcomings. "Anyway, one more won't make a difference. We're already here, so let's just catch them all."

"Although I don't quite understand the situation," Misawa said, drawing a card from his deck, "taking you out will solve all the current problems, right?"

Before him, [General-Purple Flame] raised his katana, gathering black flames that burned upon it.

"It seems so." Asuka also drew a card, and [Ancient Saint Dai - First Dragon] coiled behind her, with wind and clouds gathering in its mouth. "I'll attack that guy from the front."

"Don't even think about stealing my thunder! The left side is mine!" A flash of light emanated from the [Dragon of Light and Darkness] of Manjoume, transforming him into the even more powerful [Dragon King of Light and Darkness], aiming to launch an attack that [Shadow of Kings - Lopto] couldn't dodge. "You'd better dodge to the left, you bastard!"

"Then I'm stuck guarding the right flank?" Misawa frowned, regretting that he had already mentioned the need to assign attack directions. "And this guy might actually be what [Astral Tree - Light Oak] was talking about..."

"No matter who he is, I cannot forgive you for hurting Caesar and attacking Hayato and the others!" Jaden's voice came from behind [King's Shadow - Lopto]. Having failed to get close to the frozen Caesar, he made the same choice as Manjoume and the others: to deal with the exposed mastermind behind the scenes - [King's Shadow - Lopto] first.

The four cards drawn at once were perfectly harmonized under the power of another card, [Fusion], and shone with a dazzling golden light. [E·hero] blocked [King of War Shadow - Lopt]'s retreat.

"I'll lend you a hand, big brother!" Even Marufuji Sho pulled out his powerful card to help, "[Super Transportation Robot - Invisible Combination], don't let that guy dodge from the air!"

From the front, back, left, right, and even above, everyone present took out their respective card monsters to besiege [King of War Shadow - Lopto]. Even Maeda Hayato and Tenjouin Fubuki took out their respective monsters - [Death Koala] and [Red-Eyes Black Dragon] - to continue trying to break the restrictions imposed on them and Caesar.

However, even the powerful punch from the Lord of OZ couldn't break through the solid energy shield, and the ice originating from Caesar was still spreading rapidly even in the face of the black flames from the Red-Eyes Dark Dragon. Although none of Kobayashi Hayato, Muto Yugi, or Jonouchi Katsuya were anxious about being unable to leave, the others still wanted to free them as soon as possible.

Everything will be alright as long as Hayato Kobayashi launches an attack.

However, it seems that the best, and only, way to free Caesar and Hayato is to first eliminate [King's Shadow - Lopt]. Without any orders, almost simultaneously, five monsters from five directions launched an attack on [King's Shadow - Lopt]. Flaming slashes, misty breaths, dragon breath, and elemental swords enveloped the area around [King's Shadow - Lopt], ​​completely filling the space and leaving no room to maneuver.

Even from above, a pair of rocket punches rained down like Mount Tai, otherwise [King of War Shadow - Lopte] would have had a chance to escape into the air.

However, at that very moment, thunder suddenly roared from the dark clouds that had been there since the group arrived at the [Bombardment Realm], and then several bolts of lightning fell like cages, striking the area around [King's Shadow - Lopte].

The lightning, which appeared to be an attack, did not harm him in the slightest. Instead, it repelled the attack from the outside and protected [King's Shadow - Lopto]!?