Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

As he spoke, Manjoume placed a card retrieved from his deck horizontally on the Duel Disk.

[Triceratops] [DEF2350]

"It's not over yet. The card I sent to the graveyard when I activated [Special Hurricane] was this one: [Reincarnation Dragon - Sanghara]!"

Manjoume took a monster card from his graveyard and said, "I can activate this effect by banishing this card from my graveyard and targeting a Level 5 or higher Dragon monster in my graveyard. I can add that monster to my hand and then Tribute Summon it."

"The card I want to choose is—[Original Stone Dragon - Imperial Topaz Dragon]!"

"Oh no! Did Manjoume-senpai mess up?!" Kenzan suddenly exclaimed. "Activating the effect of a Spell/Trap Card in the Graveyard only counts as the activation of the effect and won't be negated by the [Light and Darkness Dragon King] chain. But the [Light and Darkness Dragon King] can follow up with the activation of monster effects in the Graveyard, right?"

“The [Dragon King of Light and Darkness] effect can still be used once, so isn’t he just deliberately using up his last effect?” Marufuji Sho exclaimed, covering his cheek in surprise upon hearing Kenzan’s words. “That’s definitely a terrible play!”

"Goldfish and dung, shut up!" Manjoume turned around and glared at Kenzan and Marufuji Shodo, who were wearing dinosaur headscarves but did look somewhat like goldfish. "You're just mediocre yellow-haired fools. You're 20,000 years too early to understand my advanced techniques!"

"Goldfish?" Marufuji Sho glanced at Kenzan's headscarf, while Kenzan looked at Marufuji Sho beside him. "Poop?"

"Die, Manjoume!" x2

"Putting them aside, I feel like I was also subtly criticized, huh?" Another student from the Sun God-Huang dormitory, Sanze, who was also present, complained with a face full of black lines.

"Don't worry about it, Manjoume-chan wasn't talking about you." Fubuki patted Misawa's shoulder to comfort him. "Mizawa Sora-kun."

"I'd rather you didn't comfort me..."

On the field, as Manjoume made his move, the [Reincarnation Dragon - Sanghara] from his graveyard appeared behind him as a phantom. The rosary on his body flew out and transformed into a portal connecting to the graveyard in mid-air. Then, the [Original Stone Dragon - Imperial Jade Dragon] from Manjoume's graveyard was actually successfully retrieved and returned to Manjoume's hand. The effect of [Reincarnation Dragon - Sanghara] was not negated by [Light and Darkness Dragon King]?

"Although I'm a newbie in Duel Monsters, Jun, you wouldn't be cheating, would you?!"

Faced with Nagasaku's false accusation, Manjoume snorted coldly: "Hmph, stop using your half-baked understanding of duels to speculate about others. This is a follow-up to the third effect of the [Imperial Bloodline of Primal Stones] that I activated earlier."

"After I successfully Special Summon [Cursed Dragon] in Defense Position, I cannot activate the effects of any monsters Special Summoned on the field until the end of this turn. [Light and Darkness Dragon King], summoned by Contact Fusion Summon, falls into this category. Although it is difficult to control as it will activate its effect on its own, as long as I directly block the activation of my Special Summoned monster's effect, even it cannot activate its effect on its own!"

From childhood to adulthood, he has often been tricked by the effect of [Dragon of Light and Darkness] in duels. It can be said that no one in the world understands how to use this "traitor" effect better than Manjoume. The new set of [Primal Dragon] add-on components he brought out can be said to be prepared to effectively suppress the power of [Dragon King of Light and Darkness] so as not to be harmed by it!

【Manjou: 1200LP, Hand 1→2】

In his hand were a "Roar of the Primal Stone" and a "Primal Stone Dragon - Imperial Topaz Dragon" that had just been added to his hand. However, since his opponent had no cards on the field at the moment, Manjoume had no intention of summoning the "Primal Stone Dragon - Imperial Topaz Dragon" to the field. Instead, he waved his hand and said, "However, although the effects of Special Summoned monsters cannot be activated, my "Primal Stone Dragon - Variant Emerald Dragon" was Normal Summoned by me. Now I will activate its second effect."

"Tribute this card, then send a Normal Monster from my Deck to the Graveyard."

Manjoume analyzed in his mind that because of the presence of [E·Hero Neos] in the graveyard, [Original Stone Dragon - Emperor Jade Dragon] was already able to control Saiou's [Arcane Power] deck, which so far consisted mostly of LIGHT monsters, thanks to its LIGHT attribute. There was no need to fill the graveyard with any more LIGHT monsters. On the other hand, his older brother's [D] deck didn't reveal much information, but it could be tentatively guessed that it was mainly Machine-Type EARTH. In that case...

Manjoume retrieved a card from his Duel Disk and revealed, "The monster I sent to the Graveyard is this one, an EARTH [Dark Knight Gaia]!"

"Then I place a card face down, and the turn ends."

【Manjou: 1200LP, Hand 2→1】

[Triceratops] [DEF2350]

【Dragon King of Light and Darkness】【ATK1400】

[The Royal Vein of Raw Gems] [Gaikka (The Roar of Raw Gems)]

"Although it's called 'Dark Knight,' it's an earth-attribute character," Asuka remarked from the sidelines. "Then, when it came to [Gale Dark Knight - Gaia], it became a dark-attribute character."

"Don't you think this is a lot like Hayato-sensei? Doesn't he always say he's a 'pure love' person, and he always says he uses a 'pure XX' deck?" Fubuki said with a helpless expression.

"However, Wan Zhangmei's deck actually includes a [Gaia] card? He really has quite a few hidden gems." Misawa said, noting down the information, knowing he would be able to use it next time.

Compared to the others, Kenzan and Sho were much more excited.

"【Original Stone Dragon - Imperial Topaz Dragon】can be summoned by the Triple Summon of a 【Original Stone】monster from your hand during your opponent's turn. It can be summoned simply by Tributing Manjoume's own 【Triceratops】monster. Furthermore, because there are three types of Normal Monsters in Manjoume's Graveyard, its ATK increases to a whopping 3500 points!"

"Not only that, it also has the effect of [Primal Dragon - Imperial Topaz Dragon]," Kenzan added. "Light and Earth attribute monsters will be banished the moment it enters the field, and even if they aren't banished, their effects will be nullified. [Primal Dragon] is too powerful. Judging from its immense strength, it might even be a dinosaur!"

"And then there's the activation negation provided by [Dragon King of Light and Darkness], plus Manjoume's face-down card in the back row. We've got this in the bag! Big Brother and Manjoume are definitely going to win!"

Even before Saiō's turn had begun, they were already popping champagne, eager to get everyone else to cheer and applaud.

However, after glancing at his deck, Saiou spoke up before even starting to draw cards: "Although things have stagnated for a long time, it's time to move forward, even if there's a cliff of despair ahead. Yes, that's right, fate has revealed the future to me once again, Manjoume, about your future—the answer is 'Tower'! A collapsing 'Tower'!"

"I foresaw your death!"

As Saiou spoke, he announced the top card of his deck in advance: "The card I'm about to draw, this [Arcane Array], is the beginning of your defeat and being swallowed by light!"

As Saiou flipped over the cards, the top card of his deck was none other than the magic card he had declared: [Arcane Array]!

Chapter 1538 The Ruler of Light

Wan Zhangmu's pupils contracted, but he quickly recovered and snorted coldly, "Hmph, that sounds impressive, but have you forgotten that you have [Nightmare Mirage] in your back row?"

"No matter what card you draw, if it's not a Quick-Play Spell Card like that [Arcane Array], it won't even have a chance to activate and then be negated by my [Dragon King of Light and Darkness] before it's sent straight to the graveyard!"

The effect of [Nightmare of the Mirage] took effect immediately as Manjoume finished speaking and Saiou entered the preparation phase after drawing his card. The [Nightmare of the Mirage] card that had just been displayed in his hand turned into bubbles and dissipated. Everyone who saw the effect of this card for the first time showed an "I see" expression.

"Wait, why do you all have that look on your faces?" Manjoume Seiji looked at the students around him with great confusion. "I remember that the usage rate of the [Nightmare of the Mirage] card was unusually high in your school's student card announcement, right? Basically, everyone who got it would use it. Why do you all look like you're seeing this card for the first time?"

"While we do see this card frequently and use it often... we see its card-drawing effect even more often," Asuka shrugged. "We've hardly ever seen its effect of randomly discarding cards from the hand."

"Compared to [Nightmare of the Mirage], we've seen more animated presentations from [Very Food]," Fubuki said with a subtle expression.

"Tsk, that guy, Hayato Kobayashi." Needless to say, Masaji Manjoume knew who started this trend and made this combo so popular that everyone had tried it too much. He complained, "The impact on teenagers is immeasurable."

[Zaiwang Takuma: 4000LP, hand 0→1→0]

"Hmm, affected by the [Nightmare Mirage], it has turned into a dream. The [Secret Ritual Array] I drew." Saiou watched his hand cards disappear without caring, and instead looked at Manjoume Nagasaku beside him and said, "Then, it's your turn to use the cards in your hand, Nagasaku."

"Yes, Mr. Saiō." Manjōme Chōsaku nodded respectfully, then looked at Manjōme and contemptuously played a card from his hand. "I originally intended to use up the last effect of your dragon, which has a color scheme that looks like a panda, last turn, but you prepared a card like [Imperial Bloodline of Primal Stones]... But it doesn't matter, I'll use up your last effect right now!"

"I banish the top eight cards of my deck face down to activate this effect! Special Summon [Machine Serpent - Murakumo Orochi] from my hand!"

"It's this monster..." Misawa hadn't forgotten the mechanical giant [Iron King Warrior] he had faced in the "Duel-Links" world. The [Kimitsu] series deck was the one he was using. This was the first time he had seen a [Kimitsu] deck in real life since then, and it was actually in the hands of Manjoume's older brother.

"Although it has decent stats and effects, and its summoning conditions are simple, the cost of banishing eight cards in face-down mode at once is quite high. Even a deck with a sixty-card limit can't afford to squander it several times." After a pause, Misawa added, "Moreover, this Special Summon will be a waste of time; [Kaibou Orochi] won't be able to be summoned at all!"

Just as Misawa said, although Manjoume Nagasaku played "Kibou-Orochi Murakumo", the next moment "Dragon King of Light and Darkness" immediately slapped it, sending it directly to the graveyard before it could be deployed, causing Manjoume Nagasaku to banish eight cards face down for nothing.

However, with only one card left in his hand, Manjoume's "Dragon King of Light and Darkness" also completely lost its final effect.

[Dragon King of Light and Darkness] [1400/1000→400/0]

The current attack power of the [Light and Darkness Dragon King] is not even as good as that of a small monster. In addition, with a mere 1200 points in base score, he is practically a candle in the wind!

Even if Saiou summons a monster with an attack power of 1600 or more, he can defeat Manjoume directly and send him off the field. Of course, this is on the premise that Manjoume does not activate any face-down cards in the back row, nor does he use the [Original Stone Dragon - Imperial Jade Dragon] in his hand.

"Although you've used up the last effect of [Dragon King of Light and Darkness]..." Manjoume glanced at Saiou's empty hand and sneered, "So how are you going to beat me? You don't even have a single usable card?"

“It’s not that I have none.” Saiou said, pointing to the graveyard area on the table with his hand, and said with a smile, “I’ve already said it, Manjoume, I see your fate is a ‘tower,’ a collapsing ‘tower.’ And the ‘Arcane Array’ that was sent to the graveyard with the effect of ‘Nightmare Mirage’ is the beginning of your fate. Doesn’t the random discarding of my hand cards into the graveyard correspond to the collapse of the ‘tower’?”

"Bare this [Ritual Spread] card from my graveyard and activate its effect!"

"What?! An effect that activates by excluding oneself in the graveyard!?" Manjoume was somewhat surprised. "Could it be that this was also within your expectations? He was sent to the graveyard by [Nightmare Mirage]?"

"Hmph, I told you, 'destiny' is unfolding before my eyes." Saiou said, taking a card from his graveyard. "Under the effect of [Arcane Array], I add one card from my graveyard that has a coin-flipping effect to my hand. The card I choose is—[Arcane Reading]!"

"Then I activate [Arcane Reading] to determine its upright or reverse position. If it is reversed, my opponent can choose one card from their deck and add it to their hand. If it is upright, I add one card from my deck that has the effect of flipping a coin, other than [Arcane Reading], to my hand."

In the front row of Saiō, the [Secret Ritual Reading] card was spinning, and stopped when he waved his hand and shouted "Stop"—it was in the correct position!

"The goddess of fate is smiling upon me! Then, under the effect of [Secret Ritual Reading], I add this [Ace of Grails] from my deck to my hand and activate it!" Having played a card he'd used once before, Saiou once again faced the spinning card and stopped. [Ace of Grails] was still in its upright position. "So, based on the position of [Ace of Grails], in the upright position, I draw two cards from my deck. Draw!"

"Then, the third [Ace of Grails]! And the result—of course, it's in the correct position! I draw again from the deck!"

【斎王琢磨：4000LP，手牌0→1→1→2→3】

"Because the Pot of Greed is a limited card that you can only bring one of, so he brought three copies of the Ace of Grails? This guy," Jaden complained. "And is the coin system broken? Why are they all face up? This is so unfair, I really want to draw two cards too."

"Are you in a hurry, Jaden Yuki? With only [Demon King of the Swamp] and [E·Hero Bubble Man] at your disposal, you're eager to show off your [Heroes] and have what you consider an 'interesting' duel, aren't you?" Saiou looked at Jaden and suddenly spoke, "What a filthy form of self-satisfaction."

"Dirty?" Jaden was stunned; it was the first time he had ever heard someone make such a comment about him.

"Isn't that right? You're enjoying the fighting, enjoying the destruction, using the power of your cards. But this isn't asking too much of you. I know very well that all humans are like this, enjoying the dark violence within their hearts. Yes, having witnessed the darkness of the human heart since I was very young, I've known this for a long time."

Saiou's expression was as if he were recalling the past. "Jealousy of others' abilities, rejection of those who are different from oneself, and resistance to a future one does not want—these are the inherent flaws of human nature. Therefore, humanity must be changed—with this 'white' that tears through the darkness of the human heart!"

"During my Main Phase, I open my back row face-down card—[Material Road]! This can be activated if there is one or more Level 4 or lower [Arcane Power] monsters in my Graveyard."

Behind Saiō, an illusion of an ocean appeared, and the lower-level [Arcane Power] monsters in his tomb, such as [Arcane Power V - Pope] and [Arcane Power VI - Lovers], sank into the deep sea.

“Excessive material satisfaction will only devour the spirit and lead to regression; human civilization will, in turn, be devoured by materialism.” Recalling the past and future of the world he had glimpsed through divination, Saiou’s expression turned serious. “As a continuous trap card, [Material Way] can send a Level 5 or 6 [Arcane Power] monster from my hand to the graveyard, and then add a [Spiritual Way] from my deck to my hand. However, it’s not that necessary, because I need to activate another face-down card next.”

Saiou said, flipping over another face-down card on the back field: "Conversely, excessive mental activity consumes matter, and the Earth cannot forever contain human desires. When there is one or more Level 5 or Level 6 [Arcane Power] monsters in my Graveyard, I can activate this Continuous Trap Card, [Spiritual Path]!"

In contrast to the ocean before, the illusion that appeared behind Saiou this time, along with the activation of the [Spiritual Path], turned into a dry desert, corresponding to the scenario of "resource depletion" that he mentioned. In the desert, the level 6 [Mystic Power XIV - Temperance] that Saiou had previously discarded was being swallowed up by quicksand little by little.

After the activation of [Spiritual Path], Saiou revealed a card in his hand and said: "The effect of [Spiritual Path] is to send a Level 7 or higher [Arcane Power] monster from my hand to the Graveyard to activate it. I chose this Level 7 [Arcane Power XVIII - Moon].

"Add one [Heaven's Road] from my deck to my hand."

After adding the card to his hand, Saiou paused for a moment, then suddenly said, "One of the necessary conditions is the right path, the path to 'Heaven'—that is, this magic card [Heavenly Road] that has been added to my hand."

"The second condition is a trustworthy friend. He must be a person who can restrain his desires, who does not seek wealth, sex, power, or fame, and who worships the 'law of God' over the 'law of man'—however, he is currently lacking."

"The third condition is a soul with immense energy, namely the [Mystic Power] that fills my graveyard with the cards corresponding to the Major Arcana!"

"The fourth condition is a coded suggestion, a necessary hint to ensure that I can remain stable even under any change—namely, the balance between 'matter' and 'spirit,' the perpetual trap cards [Matter Path] and [Spirit Path]!"

"The fifth condition is courage! The courage to give up everything to embrace the pure white light of the future!"

Saiou placed the Continuous Magic Card [Heavenly Road] in the Magic Trap Zone, then raised a card in his hand, abandoning all his previous composure and laughing loudly: "The right time, the right place, now is the time to knock on the gates of heaven, the time to summon the 'new moon'!"

(The card art for the Heaven's Road is the world, and it's somewhat related to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Rise of the JoJo series – after all, JoJo 6 was completed in 03.)

"You can activate this effect if you have one or more Level 7 or higher Mystic Power monsters in your Graveyard!"

The last magic trap area in the back field was filled, and three pillars of light suddenly appeared in front of Saiou, emerging from the [Material Path], the [Spiritual Path], and the [Heavenly Path] that was activated last.

"Fate has reached its peak!"

With just a blink of an eye, Saiou delivered a superb facial expression, raising a card he had drawn from his deck and declaring, "The extraordinary power of the Mystic Ritual, which will liberate these three pillars and transcend the 'world' at the end, will descend!"

"Before fate, all living beings can only cry and beg for mercy!" Saiou shouted. "Send one of each of my cards, namely [Heavenly Road], [Material Road], and [Spiritual Road], to the Graveyard. Special Summon [Arcane Power EX - Ruler of Light] from my hand, Deck, and Graveyard, ignoring its summoning conditions!"

"Descend—the ultimate [Secret Ritual Power], [Secret Ritual Power EX - Ruler of Light]!"

The three pillars of light in front of Saiou merged together, and the red, green and blue colors overlapped and turned into white. From the pillars of light, a huge monster rose up!

(Note: Animated version)

"These are my ace monsters, Jaden Yuki and Jun Manjoume! And they will be the ones to take your last lives!"

【Arcane Power EX - Ruler of Light】【10☆/Light】

[Angel Race/Special Summon/Effect]