Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Although I also wanted to use the cool 'Hero Arrives' card, Manjoume, I don't actually have that card in my hand. Instead, I do have the cards 'E·hero Bubble Man', 'E·hero Neos Man', and 'Swamp Demon King'."

"What?!"

After speaking to Manjoume, Judai's expression turned grave, then he looked at Saiou with a hint of fear on his face, "How...how did you know my hand? Could it be—"

“That’s right, it’s that ‘Could it be’?” Manjoume Nagasaku said smugly, “Mr. Saiō, he actually—”

"—Saiou, did you actually install a camera here to spy on my hand?!"

"Cough cough cough!" Manjoume Nagasaku almost collapsed, coughing repeatedly until his face turned slightly red. He was so angry with Judai that his face was flushed, and he said to Judai, "That's not true! Saiou-sensei's ability is to foresee the future!"

"Let's assume that the foresight wasn't achieved through some kind of spying and was genuine. But can you really rewrite the future and secretly switch the cards in Jaden's hand?" Manjoume looked at Saiou with disdain. "Jaden has already drawn these cards. If you're talking about foresight, how are you going to stop Jaden from executing that combo?"

(In episode 102 of the anime, Jaden faced Saiou. In the first round, Jaden drew a Bubble Gun from his starting hand, then drew two more, equipped a Bubble Gun, and ended his turn.)

(In the next turn, the hand of the main phase one is completely changed. Then, a double fusion card is conjured out of thin air. The burst and wings are fused into a flame wingman, then the flash is fused into a flash wingman, and finally the hummingbird is summoned.)

(In the third round, his hand even turned into Dolphin, R, and Hero Signal, confirming that Saio used Time Stop to give Judai a new hand.)

"Prevent Jaden Yuki from unleashing his combo? You're curious about that answer, aren't you, Jun Manjoume? After all, you've been repeatedly defeated by what you call Jaden Yuki's 'three-hit combo,' haven't you?" Saiou suddenly revealed a pitying expression. "Your brothers had such high hopes for you, and you also have outstanding talent in Duel Monsters, yet you've been repeatedly suppressed by Jaden Yuki."

"Having been defeated time and again, your self-esteem has probably been completely worn down. You've gradually started to think, 'That's it,' and started playing the friend game with Jaden Yuki. 'I want to surpass him, but giving up isn't so bad,' that's what you're thinking, right...?"

"What nonsense are you spouting? Who said I gave up on surpassing that guy, Judai Yuki!" Manjoume's pupils contracted as he glared at Saiou. "You don't even know me, so what makes that judgment of yours!"

“It’s fate, Jun Manjoume. I’ve already revealed your fate to you, haven’t I? —” Saiou took out a card from his robes, but it wasn’t the Duel Monster Card [Arcane Power XII - The Hanged Man] that he had shown to Manjoume before. It was just a Tarot card called “The Hanged Man.” “This ‘Hanged Man’ represents ‘stagnation’!”

"To fawn over the other party with a friendly attitude in order to delay the arrival of a battle that even you yourself think will only end in defeat."

Narrowing his eyes, Saiou looked at Manjoume and said, "Is this how you see Jaden Yuki?"

Instinctively, Manjoume took a step back. Then, when he realized his mistake, he was furious with himself and shouted excitedly to Saiou, "That's not it! I... I wasn't afraid of that Judai!"

Although Manjoume's tone was quite firm, he himself did not realize that he could no longer trust Jaden with the same unreserved trust as he had at the start of the duel, and instead, a vague hostility towards him had arisen.

"Is that guy trying to distract Manjoume and his older brother with words?" Although he hadn't taken Hayato's class yet and hadn't had time to learn "how to deal with trash talk in a duel," Kenzan keenly sensed Saiou's purpose. "Is he trying to sow discord between his older brother and Manjoume-senpai?"

"And how could Manjoume be so easily influenced by him? Was it because of his pretentious act, or was he anxious about his older brother's affairs?" Asuka frowned, about to shout something, but was stopped by Fubuki beside her.

Shaking her head, Fubuki said to Asuka, "No, it won't work. Encouraging them is one thing, but there's an unspoken rule in Duel Monsters: 'Observers keep quiet.' This is a battle between Jaden and Manjoume-chan; they have to rely on themselves. Besides, Asuka, do you think reminding them will bring Manjoume back to where she started?"

Asuka thought for a moment and shook her head, saying, "That won't work. It might just provoke Manjoume's rebellious side. Tsk, is that guy a fortune teller or a psychologist? He's using such dark psychological tactics." As she spoke, she glared at Saiou with disgust.

“Excellent fortune tellers are mostly excellent psychologists. I don’t know if this statement also applies to real fortune tellers who can actually foresee the future, but that Saiou guy is definitely not to be underestimated.” Misawa looked at Saiou and comforted Marufuji Sho beside him. “But judging from the fact that he avoided the question about Manjoume, he probably can’t stop Judai either, so you can relax.”

"Hmm? Even you think so, Misawa Daichi? I thought someone with such a brilliant mind would have a completely different perspective from others, but have you also become just another ordinary person because of playing games with Yuki Jaden's friends?"

To Misawa's surprise, Saiou actually noticed him because of a comment he made off the field and even replied to him. Looking at the cards on the field, Saiou had a sad expression: "But fate is absolute. When I see through fate, even I cannot stop the sadness welling up from the bottom of my heart."

"Do you remember what I said at the beginning, Judai Yuki?" After asking Judai a question, seeing his blank look, Saiou earnestly advised him like a dedicated fortune teller, "You must remember every word the fortune teller tells you, because no one knows whether this word will cause your fate to deviate and lead to ruin."

"When I activated [Arcane Reading], I said, 'Fate tells me to stop here.' At that time, fate chose the reverse position, allowing Manjoume Nagasaku to retrieve the card he wanted from the deck. But it was because I actively chose this fate that all my subsequent fates were on the right path to victory!"

Saiou waved his hand: "[Secret Power XIX - Sun]'s effect: When this card is Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned, it gains different effects depending on its position. When it is reversed, the effect is to destroy all of both players' Spell & Trap Cards. However, when it is upright, the effect is 'creation,' the opposite of 'destruction,' that is, to set one Spell Card with a coin-flipping effect from my Deck onto the field!"

"And the result... is, of course, the correct position!"

Once again, the card's position determination ended automatically before Saiou called a halt, and the result was exactly the same as Saiou's declaration. This ability to "predict" and "measure" the future is chilling, because Saiou, sitting on the throne of [Valhalla, the Castle of the Gods], truly exudes a godlike oppressive aura, giving the illusion that all the cards on the field are shrouded in his shadow, like puppets dancing with him.

"As you can see! The [Arcane Power XIX - Sun] in the right position retrieved a Spell Card from my deck, and that card was this [Holy Grail A]. Then I activated the face-down Normal Spell Card [Holy Grail A]."

Saiou retrieved a card from his deck without even looking at it, and then activated it immediately: "The effect of the upright 【Ace of Holy Grails】 is the same as 【Pot of Greed】, allowing me to draw two cards from my deck, but the effect of the reversed 【Ace of Holy Grails】 changes the person who can draw cards from me to my opponent."

By now, not only Asuka and her friends, but even Sho Marufuji had seen through Saiou's method of using cards related to the [Secret Ritual Power]: "Anyway, whether it's upright or reversed, the person drawing the card is always on your side, right?"

“No, the gift of one card from me is enough for Manjoume Nagasaku. I’m the one who should draw next, since I only have one card left in my hand.” Pointing to the remaining card on his table, Saiou drew two cards from the top of his deck, placed them face-down on the back row without even looking at them, and said, “My turn ends here—and the wheel of fate will stop here!”

"Look closely, Wan Zhangmu Jun, what terrifying despair lies ahead of your stagnant fate, a suffocating feeling that is heartbreaking and makes even time stand still!"

Saiou said, raising his arms high, "No, not as if! Because I will send two of my monsters to the Graveyard during my End Phase to activate the effect of [Arcane Power XXI - World] in its correct position!"

"Zawarudo! Tokio, Tomare!"

(World! Time, stand still!)

Chapter 1534 Genshin Impact, Activated!

"Time...stop?"

When Judai heard Saiou's words, he was taken aback and subconsciously repeated his lines.

"The power of [Secret Ritual Power XXI - World] is the power to dominate the 'world,' a terrifying power capable of halting even the seemingly unstoppable wheel of fate that moves forward forever—that is, to create a completely new 'world'! A world where only I can keep moving forward, while all other things and phenomena will be brought to a standstill!"

Saiou explained the card's effect, but the specific descriptions left Jaden and Manjoume completely confused.

[Zaiwang Takuma: 4000LP, 1 card in hand]

【Arcane Power XXI-World】【DEF3100】

[Valhalla, the City of the Gods] [Gaikka] x2

Although he didn't understand the exact effect of [Secret Power XXI - World], Jaden at least understood that Saiou had just sent two of his monsters to the Graveyard, leaving only one [Secret Power XXI - World] in Defense Position on the field: "In short, all I need to know is to deal with the monster in front of me. So, my turn, draw—"

Just as he was about to raise his arm to draw a card, Jaden suddenly widened his eyes, because he found that he couldn't raise his arm at all, as if the surrounding air had turned from a fluid into a hard solid, binding him.

"I can't move!?"

Not only his arms, but Jaden found that he couldn't even move his fingers. Although he could still speak and blink, he couldn't even turn his head!

"This feeling, Masaka!?" Manjoume seemed to be experiencing the same thing, and considering what Saiou had said earlier and his and Judai's unusual behavior, Manjoume suddenly realized a possibility, "How could it possibly have such an effect?!"

"Just as I said, no matter how surprised you are, you can't change it. This is fate, Judai Yuki, Jun Manjoume. Your fate is like this, stagnating and heading towards despair." Saiou said solemnly, "This is the effect of [Secret Ritual Power XXI - World] - the ability to skip an entire turn of the opponent!"

"There is no hopeful card-drawing phase, no mysterious preparation phase, no main phase brimming with possibilities, no strife-filled battle phase, and certainly no despairing ending phase. All things and phenomena will freeze and stagnate in this 'world,' this is the power of [Secret Ritual Power XXI-World], the power of 'Zawarudo'!"

Raising his hand to wipe away the tear that had flowed alone from his right eye, Saiou looked at Judai, a smirk playing on his lips: "Judai Yuki, what I received from your divination was the 'Fool,' representing the very beginning in the Tarot. Your duel is full of infinite possibilities—but before the 'World,' which is also the ultimate and pinnacle of all the Tarot cards—[Secret Ritual Power XXI-The World], your future possibilities have been erased and fixed as an inevitable defeat!"

“Because after skipping your turn, it will be my turn directly!” Manjoume Nagasaku, who had been waiting on the side, stepped forward and took over the ownership of the turn with a cold smile. “Just like the duel rules I mentioned at the beginning, the battle phase cannot be entered during Saio-sensei’s turn, but starting from the turn that was skipped for you, Yuki Judai, it has become possible to enter the battle phase.”

"And in my turn, you will face a direct attack in the current situation, with no cards on the field!"

"My turn, draw a card!"

【斎王琢磨→万丈目长作：4000→4000LP，手牌1→6→7】

“Saiou, who had exhausted his resources, was replaced by Manjoume’s older brother, who had a rich hand of cards… No matter how new he is to Duel Monsters, he should be able to summon at least one monster with an attack power of 900 or more in this situation, right?” Marufuji Sho covered his mouth. “Both the older brother and Manjoume, at least one of them will be eliminated before the turn even begins!?”

“Not only that, as long as at least one monster is summoned, [Secret Power XXI - World] can activate its effect again during the End Phase, skipping Jaden and Manjoume's turns once more, and then it will be Saiou's turn again!” Asuka looked at the field nervously. “This feeling of being ‘locked up’ by the whole world is something I don’t want to admit, but Saiou’s words couldn’t be more apt; there is indeed a kind of stagnant despair.”

"Now, can we only hope that Manjoume Nagasaku is a genuine newcomer, unable even to summon monsters...?" Misawa frowned, but he knew the possibility was extremely low, after all—

“First, here’s this monster card that Mr. Saiou helped me retrieve from my deck last turn—or rather, the turn before that—[Tool Game Book]!” Manjoume Chosaku revealed a card from his hand. “I will Normal Summon it from my hand!”

[Tools/Gaming Laptop] [3 stars/location]

[Mechanical Race/Effect]

[300/300]

—This is what Misawa didn't finish saying. Even though Manjoume Chosaku's original hand was extremely clogged and he had a bunch of cards he couldn't summon, because of Saiou's seemingly unlucky [Secret Ritual Card Reading], he was able to randomly select a card from his deck to add to his hand. The possibility that he wouldn't be able to summon a single monster was simply nonexistent!

Upon seeing the stats of the [Tool Game Notebook], Asuka and the others looked even more grim, causing Marufuji Sho, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, to tense up again: "It's a monster with 300 attack power, so why is everyone..."

“When a monster’s stats aren’t very high, you need to be wary of its effects, especially when its stats are 0/0,” Misawa said with a serious expression. “Although it’s a secret card from the Southern Branch School, before that, the ‘Transformer’ [D] deck belonged to our principal, Hayato. He has a record of dueling with people within the school, so I’ve investigated the effects of some of the cards.”

Upon hearing this, Kenzan carefully examined the senior student beside him, who also belonged to the Huang dormitory but had a very low profile, as if he were meeting him for the first time: "You can even get this kind of information, senior?"

"Don't underestimate my intelligence network! And also, Misawa!" Misawa said seriously, "In short, don't be fooled by its low attack and defense stats. That card's effect is that it's a powerful monster that can easily trade one for two and then summon even more cards!"

“Exactly! Although it doesn’t look very big, the computing power of this laptop produced by the Hikari Group is roughly equivalent to a super-large server from seven or eight years ago. The ‘Tool Game Laptop’ also has a very powerful effect.” Manjoume Nagasaku looked at the ‘Tool Game Laptop’ on the field, which was in defense position and therefore not in its transformed state. “When the ‘Tool Game Laptop’ is successfully summoned, its effect can be activated: add one Level 1 Machine-Type monster from my Deck to my hand.”

"I add this Level 1 Machine-Type monster, [D Telephone], to my hand."

Retrieving a card, Manjoume Chosaku picked up the "Tool Game Book" from the field and sent it to the Graveyard, saying, "Then I'll Tribute the 'Tool Game Book' to activate its second effect—Special Summon a 'D' monster from my hand, and after that, I can Special Summon an additional 'Tool Truck' from my hand and Deck!"

"Come out, here's the [D·Telephone] I just retrieved from my hand, and the [Tool Truck] from my deck!"

On the field, the [Tool Gaming Laptop] began to transform. The laptop split into three parts. The A side, where the screen was located, was attached to the keyboard on the B side, and the whole thing split into four rocket chambers. The C side, which contained a lot of electronic components, transformed into a small robot after a "Cybertron-style storage" transformation.

The computer USB flash drive flew out like a missile and landed on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Suddenly, the sound of a truck engine came from behind the dust. A blue truck carrying an old-fashioned desktop phone sped up and arrived at the Manjoume Nagatoku training ground!

【Tool Trailer】【6 stars/location】

[Mechanical Race/Effect]

[1300/0]

After the blue truck unloaded the [D·Telephone], the attack indicated that it also began to transform. The entire front of the truck split in the middle, the tires flipped sideways and became a base for fixing it, and the white trailer it was towing was completely open, from which a telescopic cannon barrel rose.

Although it only has 1300 attack power, which seems a bit underwhelming for its level, its transformation stance has a bit of the feel of [Heavenly Love].

The removed [D·Telephone] didn't sit idle either. After a dazzling transformation, it turned into two telephone hands that served as cannon barrels, and a small robot warrior with number keys on its shoulder that became a floating cannon array!

【D·Telephone】【1☆/Location】

[Mechanical Race/□□/Effect]

[100/100]

"There are two monsters on the field!" Seeing that Manjoume Nagasaku had not only summoned a monster, but also Special Summoned two at once, Marufuji Sho was extremely nervous. "We're doomed! The opponent's [Arcane Power XXI - World] can activate its effect again!"

"It's not just about being able to activate the effect!" Manjoume Nagasaku said proudly, "The effect of [Tool Truck] is quite terrifying, because once per turn, it can send any number of [D] monsters from my hand to the Graveyard, permanently increasing their ATK by 800 times the number of monsters sent to the Graveyard by this effect!"

"I'm sending five cards from my hand—[D·Telephone], [D·Scanner Printer], [D·Mobile Phone], [D·Camera], and [D·Alarm Clock]—to the Graveyard, increasing the attack power of [Tool Trailer] by a whopping 4000 points!"

Behind the cannon mounted on the 【Tool Trailer】, a hatch that seemed to be used to reload ammunition was open. One by one, the cards in Manjoume Nagasaku's hand were transformed into ammunition and loaded into it, causing its attack power to surge to over 5000 points!

[Tool Trailer] [ATK1300→5300]

However, upon seeing the [Tool Trailer] with such terrifying attack power, both Manjoume and Jaden fell silent, and even the onlookers on the sidelines were completely quiet.

After a long silence, Kenzan's吐槽 broke the silence: "Either their attack power is below 900 points, or their level is above 4☆ and they can't be normally summoned. So, without the [Tool Gamebook] brought by [Secret Ritual Reading], Manjoume's eldest brother really couldn't eliminate the eldest brother or any of Manjoume's members this turn?"

“I see now. No wonder Saiou said that the result of the [Secret Ritual Card Reading] was also his choice.” Fubuki said helplessly. “It looks like a doubles game, but isn’t this just like Saiou dragging Chosaku-san to take off by himself? I thought he would play a suitable combination to respond to Saiou’s support earlier.”

“Well, after all, unlike me and Jun, my older brother hasn’t had much experience with Duel Monsters. He’s just too busy…” Manjoume Masaji initially tried to save face for his older brother, but then gave up. “Fine, he’s just bad at it.”

"It's obvious. After all, even if you want to use the effect of [Tool Cart] to increase attack power, 4000 points is more than enough. There's no need to raise it to 5300 points," Marufuji Sho complained. "Isn't it just a waste of hand cards? Even if it's not wasted, you can't play it anyway."

Manjoume Nagasaku naturally heard everything that was said outside the arena. Although he obeyed Saiou's every command, it didn't mean that his personality would change drastically. He was still much the same as before—that is, just like Manjoume, he wasn't a good-tempered person: "Hmph, the irrelevant people are too noisy. No matter what you say, do you think a combination of two losers can withstand the attack of this group?"

"Once I enter my battle phase, I'll immediately use [Tool Trailer] to eliminate you, you disgraceful fellow, from the duel!"

Upon hearing Manjoume Nagasaku's words, Jaden, having recovered from the time stop, stretched his wrists and immediately shouted, "I won't let you do that! I was the one whose turn was skipped, so I'll be your opponent!"

"Chain effect of [Tool Wagon], I'm going to activate the Trap Card - [New Space Expansion]!"