Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"You're focusing on the wrong thing, aren't you!" Manjoume and Kenzan complained in unison.

"That's absolutely right! What do you all know? You've never had your name mispronounced!" Misawa said with a heavy and serious expression. "People really can't understand each other!"

"Don't argue, at least for now, you can all enjoy the joy of being winners together." Hayato interrupted their conversation, smiling as he took out several medals. "So now, congratulations on passing this event."

At the same time, several lovely girls emerged from Hayato's villa. They looked somewhat familiar, but Manjoume and the others couldn't recall where they had seen them before.

"Congratulations."

As Hayato walked towards the group with the medals, seemingly to present them with awards, the girls laughed and clapped, celebrating their achievement.

"Congratulations, Dilano Kenzan." A middle-aged man who looked like an archaeologist appeared in the garden at some point. As Hayato hung the bronze medal representing third place around Kenzan's neck, he also handed Kenzan a stone. "Take this. It is the skull of a new dinosaur that we just unearthed. We plan to name it after you."

"Really!?" Kenzan was overjoyed and took the fossil, admiring it dearly.

"Congratulations, Misawa Daichi." Another white-haired old man appeared. Misawa recognized him at a glance as Professor Bein Stein, who was going to give a lecture at the Duel Academy this semester and who proposed the theory of "Duel Unification". "You are truly excellent and outstanding. You are unforgettable at first glance. I am still missing an assistant. I wonder if you would be interested in helping me?"

"Of course I'd love to!" Misawa exclaimed excitedly as soon as Hayato hung a silver medal around his neck, shaking hands with Professor Bein Stein and accepting the invitation.

Behind Manjoume, Judai and the others had arrived at the finish line at some point. They said to Manjoume with envy, "Wow, Manjoume, you're in first place! That's amazing!"

"You idiot Judai Yuki, it's Mr. Manjoume!" Marufuji Sho scolded Judai, then looked at Manjoume with admiration, "Compared to Judai Yuki, you, Mr. Manjoume, are more suitable to be my older brother!"

"You've really impressed me! No, you're the most outstanding one in our family!" Even Manjoume's older brothers appeared here, looking at Manjoume who had accepted the gold medal from Kobayashi Hayato with a gratified expression, giving him a thumbs up and looking approving.

"Congratulations." The legendary duelists, including Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba, applauded around them.

"Congratulations." The designers from the International Illusion Society, led by Pegasus, presented him with a variety of powerful cards.

"Congratulations." All the teachers and classmates she knew in the academy admired her greatly.

Something seems amiss? But the air was so sweet that no one had the extra energy to divert their attention from everything around them to think about unimportant things.

Watching the three people lost in their own fantasies, the true form of "that demon," who was controlling numerous monsters to pursue them, calmly emerged from the forest.

"Compared to the previous [Star Warriors], this deck of cards is truly powerful." Looking at the ferocious monsters that appeared around Manjoume and the others, where the cute girls in their illusions were, the masked mysterious person stretched, revealing his graceful figure.

Chapter 1496: The impression color is pink, and the appearance has two states: a young girl and an adult girl—isn't that Haman?

One week ago—

"How have you been lately?" Hayato asked, looking at the girl sitting at his desk. He temporarily looked away from his computer screen and inquired about her recent situation.

“The benefits for employees at the Haima Group are certainly good, but you know Mr. Haima’s personality; he’s very busy with work.” The girl sighed, looking at the man in front of her with a hint of resentment. “Unlike you, Mr. Hayato, who spends your days leisurely at school.”

"What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think I'm just wasting my days at school? I'm busy too, okay?" Hayato glanced at the paused game on the screen and lied without batting an eye.

"Huh? Mr. Hayato, have you forgotten that there's glass behind you?" Pointing behind Hayato, the girl didn't give him any face at all. "I can see it clearly. Isn't that the 'Savage 7' game that International Illusion Society just released a trailer for recently? How come you're playing it now?"

“This is part of the job. I’m helping to test for bugs,” Hayato said matter-of-factly, then changed the subject, “On another note, isn’t it good that you’re busy? After all, isn’t this what you want, Sera?”

“I can’t argue with that,” Sera said with a smile.

(Sera ver. 2001)

The girl in front of Hayato was none other than Sera, the younger sister of Deva, who was a member of Prana and used the alias "Blue God" to try to cause a "dimensional ascent," and one of the many children adopted by Shadi Sin.

After the "Dark Side of the Dimension" incident, with Hayato retrieving the Quantum Cube, most Prana, including Ayane, had their golden inverted triangle "Prana" mark on their foreheads, which represented communication with higher-dimensional power, ascend to higher dimensions and disappeared. However, Sera was the only one who retained it, making her the only remaining Prana in the world besides Hayato.

(This matter is also recorded in Chapter 2 of Volume 10 of "Is This the World of Card Masters? The Yada Thief")

Therefore, in order to make up for the losses caused by the "Dimensional Dark Side" incident, Sera, as the only surviving member of the group, stayed in Domino City, occasionally going to the Kaiba Corporation's laboratory to assist with experiments. Meanwhile, the others, who had been spared by Kaiba, also volunteered to stay and become test subjects because they were worried about Sera.

Although at first Blue God thought he was going to be sliced ​​or electrocuted, what era are we living in? The Hippocampus Group no longer uses such outdated experimental methods. They simply took a small tube of blood from Sera and Blue God (who served as the control group), took a few X-rays, and occasionally put on a hat called a "brainwave detector" for a few minutes. That was all the experiment had to do.

During this period, Haima Group provided Lan Shen and the others who participated in the experiment with the same benefits as ordinary employees, including but not limited to a large employee dormitory, three massages and physiotherapy sessions a week, three luxurious buffets a day, and free access to a high-configuration internet cafe. This made Lan Shen and the others, who had never had a good life before or after being adopted by Xia Di, almost think that they were on vacation instead of being guinea pigs.

Unfortunately, Kaiba's research speed was too fast. In less than half a year, he had completely studied the things on Ayaka and the others who had lost their Prana abilities and had become "enhanced humans" who were only slightly stronger than "Old-Types". He also helped Hayato fully master the use of the Quantum Cube and its various applications. So Ayaka and the others' "vacation" ended very quickly.

As for Sera, as the only remaining Prana, her abilities haven't been fully explored by Kaiba yet. But for Kaiba, just getting started is enough. After all, if he really wanted to, Kaiba could become Prana too. Sera's abilities developed from childhood to adulthood are less than what Kaiba has developed in half a month through the research institute. So he lost interest in Sera and lifted the confinement, allowing her to leave Domino City.

It happened to be the graduation ceremony for Hayato, Yugi, and their graduating class, and Sera, having nothing else to do, went to watch. Hayato noticed a longing in Sera's eyes and asked her if she wanted to go to school.

As a result, the following year, a year after Duel Academy opened, the Duel Academy Middle School also began recruiting students from the public. Sera, then fifteen years old, had enrolled in a middle school a year earlier through connections with the Kaiba Group and successfully graduated. She then applied to Duel Academy, becoming a member of the class of 02. In other words, Sera was even an upperclassman of Fubuki and Kaiser.

However, compared to Caesar and the others, Sera was not well-known at the school. Only those who knew her knew that her strength was no less than that of the strong people in the academy at that time, but most people did not know that there was a very powerful senior in the Blue Dormitory. They knew more about the first batch of students recruited by the Duel Academy, which received much attention from society, and the three boys from the Blue Dormitory who quickly made a name for themselves upon entering the academy.

Last year, before Jaden and his classmates enrolled, it was the graduation year for Sera and her class. Because of the first graduating class, including Minazuki and others, who shone brightly in various fields related to Duel Monsters over the course of a year, the major corporations whose businesses involved Duel Monsters were quite concerned about the future of this second graduating class. Sera, who had been quiet for three years, finally showed some strength before graduation and became the representative of the graduates that year. With Hayato's recommendation, she got a job at Kaiba Corporation.

(Sera ver. 2006)

If you count the time, Sera, who is already nineteen years old this year, has already graduated and worked for a year. And because of her outstanding abilities, her background in the Duel Academy, and most importantly in the Kaiba Group—her card playing skills—she has risen through the ranks very quickly and has already become a department head.

However, since it was Hayato's invitation, Sera didn't hesitate to put aside her work and take her annual leave to come. Even Hayato didn't know the specific reason; he had only initially given it a try.

"So, Mr. Hayato, you want me to play the role of causing trouble for your students?" Sera asked with a strange expression. "Just like when you got the Quantum Cube and played the villain to cause trouble for Mr. Yugi Muto?"

"I thought I was here as a 'safety officer' to provide protection, just like Mr. Kajiki."

"Hey, how can you call it troublesome? This is a 'trial'." Hayato shook his finger. "As for the safety officers, we already have enough, but an overly safe environment can't cultivate strong individuals."

"What's wrong with growing up in a greenhouse?"

"This is the fate of duelists, you must understand, Sera."

"Treating people as tools? How can someone as grown up be so narrow-minded?"

"Because I can't just be a duelist like you."

What might seem like a disjointed conversation to outsiders is actually the most basic form of communication between Hayato and Sera, a Prana, or rather, a "New-Type."

Hayato looked at Sera and said, "Besides, although it seemed like I was forcing those children when I invited them, they actually wanted to grow by participating in such activities."

“I’m not trying to force things to grow faster. Sera, do you think you can stop a young man from setting sail?”

Sera understood Hayato's meaning clearly: he was asking if she was unwilling to help Hayato play the role of a "villain." She didn't give a direct answer but first shook her head to indicate that she wasn't refusing. Resting her chin on her hand and looking at Hayato, she suddenly asked, "I'd like to confirm first, is this the method you've chosen, Mr. Hayato?"

“Unlike the Atlantean emperors who cleansed the world and rebuilt civilization, and unlike Lord Shadi and Diva who unified people’s spirits.” Sera paused, glancing at the photograph on Hayato’s desk, “How much can a few children who inherit a portion of your ideas change the world and humanity?”

The photo was taken on Halloween last year. Hayato gathered together Jaden, Manjoume, and others whom he had defeated and punished by making them do homework. Even Caesar and Fubuki were in the photo. Professor Chronos took the group photo.

Hayato simply smiled and said, "The ones who create a new era won't be the old people."

No need for many words, this one sentence was enough for Sera. She nodded to Hayato: "Then I trust you, Mr. Hayato, and I'll join you."

"What exactly do you need to do?"

“It’s simple. Remember the ‘Summer Test of Courage’ we had back in school? Just dress up as a ghost and scare people.” Hayato nodded in satisfaction upon hearing Sera’s words. As he spoke, he took a deck of cards out of his drawer and placed it on the table in front of Sera. “To make you more intimidating, here’s your reward in advance—this is the deck.”

"Use these cards to create as much trouble as possible, trap the students who are about to reach the finish line, and stop them from moving forward. That's your mission. As the final trial of this 'wilderness survival,' those who climb over your high wall will also grow by overcoming the trial." Hayato paused, then smiled mysteriously, "Perhaps, a new Prana will be born because of this?"

"Oh right, you can borrow this too—the way to use it should be instinct, right?" A golden cube appeared in Hayato's hand.

—Let's go back to the present.

After Sera used the new deck given to her by Hayato, she set up traps near the finish line early on and kept patrolling, waiting for the students Hayato had his eye on to arrive. That's when Misawa ran into her.

The existence of the Quantum Cube not only allowed Sera to break free from the limitation that summoning materialized monsters would result in a significant loss of stamina, as was the case with Manjoume and the others, but also allowed Sera to regain some of her full-fledged Prana abilities. She was able to achieve, in a situation where she was alone, the abilities that previously required connection to the Prana collective network, such as altering her form, creating illusions, and even teleporting.

Now she no longer needs to mimic a grown-up appearance like she did five years ago, but she still wears a mask to hide her identity. At the same time, she doesn't forget to create an illusion for those who see her, so that they can see the most terrifying existence in her. However, what makes Sera a little nervous is that both Misawa and Manjou see Kobayashi Hayato, who exudes a devilish and evil aura.

Unfortunately, there was hardly anyone around to listen to her complaints, so Sera had no choice but to dutifully chase after Misawa and the others. During this time, she also used all of Prana's "spatial perception abilities," which Hayato called "New-Type," to constantly micromanage the monsters' attacks, keeping them at a level that looked dangerous but was actually completely safe from injury.

—Manjou and his group fled all the way down the mountain. Their biggest injuries were caused by their own car crashing into the ground when they rushed down the slope and couldn't stop. Sera had secretly laid out a buffer spider web at the foot of the mountain out of concern.

However, the chase ended quickly. While Sera set up the spider web for protection, she also left behind some aromatic gas that could induce hallucinations. Her new monsters happened to have the ability to secrete such substances. The hallucinating Manjoume and the others even walked into Sera's trap on their own and ended up sitting on the ground like this, laughing foolishly, as if they had seen something beautiful in their own illusions.

(Thanks to Mr. Ushio for providing the motion reference)

"Hehehe, dinosaur fossils."

"Hehehe, Professor Bein Stein."

"Hehehe, Judai."

What kind of crazy dreams do young people have these days?

"Then let these people stay here and enjoy their 'endless paradise'."

Looking at Manjoume and the others, Sera decided to leave for the time being and continue patrolling the surrounding area. "But, is this all the student that Mr. Hayato has placed so much hope in?"

Sera muttered to herself, her face filled with disappointment, but before she could finish speaking, she abruptly turned her head to look in one direction. The golden inverted triangle on her forehead lit up, as if she had sensed something: "This feeling, such a heavy aura of darkness! But I didn't feel any negative emotions, instead, I felt a sense of righteousness?"

"It's twinkling like a star... Could that be what Mr. Hayato was talking about, the new Prana, the new 'new human'?"

Without a moment's grief over the fall of Manjoume, Misawa, and Kenzan, they followed Sera's gaze and arrived here, riding a tandem bicycle in the distance with Yuki Judai and Marufuji Sho!

"What a strange smell, is it the scent of flowers?" Judai rubbed his nose uncomfortably, stopped the car a short distance in front of Sera, and looked at Manjoume and the others behind her. "Hey! Manjoume, Kenzan, and Natsume, what are you doing sitting here?"

"Everyone, what's with that weird laugh? It's just like the expression on Big Brother's face when his new toy arrives."

"How could my smile be so lewd? If I had to say, it's clearly Sho's expression when he looked at the 'Dark Magician Girl' poster that's more like it, isn't it?"

"Whoa! Don't go around spreading this kind of thing, big brother!" Marufuji Shoya, sitting in the back seat, leaned out, glanced at Manjoume and the others, and then looked at Sera, who was wearing a mask. "But who is this person? Is he also a security officer like Mr. Ameruda and Mr. Keith?"

"No, I'm not a safety officer. If I had to say, I'm the one who caused your companions to end up like this." Looking at Jaden Yuki in front of her, Sera couldn't find anything outstanding about him. After all, he wasn't as handsome as Kaiba or Hayato, and his carefree personality was about the same as Katsuya Jonouchi's. However, although he wasn't very tall, he was at least taller than Yugi Muto, who was the same age.

(Currently collecting bug reports for the new game demo: Achoo!)

"Huh? Why did you do that to Manjoume and the others!" As expected, Judai felt a bit hostile towards Sera after her deliberate provocation. "If they offended you in any way, couldn't you have just talked to them nicely?"

“Do you really think that verbal communication can make people understand each other and end the conflict?” Sera crossed her arms, adopting a cold attitude. “If I wanted to, I could certainly bring them back to normal and sober, but my original intention was to keep them here unable to move forward, and there is no reason to do so.”

"You want to rescue your comrades? But you don't seem to know how to ask others for help." On Sera's arm, the [Quantum Cube] formed a Duel Disk. Because of Sera's habit, the design was still the original version released six years ago, but its actual performance was almost the same as a modernized version, comparable to the latest Duel Academy limited Duel Disk used by Jaden and his friends.

(Oo)

"Fight! This is humanity's destiny. It's pathetic that we can only communicate through battle."

"Duel!"

[Sera: 4000LP, 5 card in hand]

"A duel? I'll just beat you, that's all." Seeing Sera ready for the duel, Jaden jumped off his bicycle. Marufuji Sho put it away and sat weakly to the side to rest, watching Jaden's duel.

"To rescue Manjoume and the others, I'll show you how I win!" Jaden made a quick adjustment to his deck, inserted it into the slot, and deployed his Duel Disk. "Duel!"

[Yujo Judai: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

Chapter 1497 The Trap Demon of Sera

"I've won the first attack, draw a card!"

Sera seized the initiative, drawing a card from her deck, glancing at it before adding it to her hand and playing another card. "First, I activate the spell card [Pot of Greed], drawing two cards from my deck."