Duels should be played with a smile.

"A hero needs much more than the great strength, meticulous planning, remarkable wisdom, courage to face everything, and determination to bear everything you mentioned."

"And a very crucial point is the strong self-control to restrain inappropriate behavior."

"Because they cannot control their behavior, the more powerful a hero is, the more likely they are to make serious mistakes."

“My intentions are very clear, but under my series of attacks, you have lost your judgment and self-control, and you only want to end this duel as soon as possible, to end this duel that may not be very pleasant for you.”

"Therefore, you turn a blind eye to the hidden dangers and are confident that you can defeat me with what you have."

"You're in a bit too much of a hurry."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sanyi's fist struck the fire-blowing furnace, and the furnace shattered instantly.

A dimensional barrier appeared behind the Fire-Blowing Furnace and in front of Edward. The attack from the Trinity Force passed through this dimensional barrier and struck Edward.

[Aide LP: 4000→0]

[Winner: Yuki-onna]

……

"Why did you talk to him so much in the end? This is not like you. If I remember correctly, lecturing is one of my hobbies."

The Snow Maiden rolled her eyes at Leyou, who was watching the show with amusement, and muttered, "What do you mean 'yours' and 'mine'? What's yours is mine, isn't it?"

"There's nothing I can do. The heroes in your memories left a deep impression on me, and then I thought of Edward's legendary invincibility. We just suddenly made the connection while we were playing."

“During the duel, I did sense something in his heart, so I just said a few words offhand.”

"Tsk tsk tsk, you really are..."

"Go ahead and laugh at me." The Snow Woman closed her eyes, looking like she was ready to be mocked, but she immediately opened them again, her eyes showing the kind of joy that Le You was very familiar with when she found something to amuse her.

"But honestly, it feels really good to lecture people!"

Chapter Thirty-Three: You're So Cool

"If you don't want things to escalate too much..."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Leyou felt something was wrong.

It gives off a feeling of "Madam, you don't want your..." or something similar to an indescribable scenario.

So he immediately changed his mind and said, "My suggestion is that we should make a quick getaway, otherwise you might be in big trouble."

Edward didn't feel anything special about it. As a player who was almost undefeated in his professional career, losing to an unknown female duelist outside of the professional league was definitely something that the media would write about extensively. He still felt lingering fear about similar things that had happened before, so after hearing the suggestion, he immediately left with Leyou and the others.

Of course, before leaving, he still imagined what the headlines of tomorrow's professional league newspaper would be.

Using his minor privileges as a professional league player, Edward employed some of the hero's power to conceal himself and successfully escape from the crowd.

A few minutes later, in a conference room of an office building that looked ordinary but was actually jointly controlled by the Professional League and the Fusion Academy, Edward, having tidied himself up, sat upright, ready to have an open and honest talk with Yuki-onna and the unfamiliar man and woman she was with about today's events, or rather, the misunderstanding.

"Miss Yuki-onna, I apologize for my previous offense, and... wait?!"

The Snow Woman looked at Ed, who had suddenly lost his composure, with some surprise, and followed Ed's gaze to look behind her in confusion.

He immediately frowned.

Not far behind the Snow Woman, Leyou was engaged in a silent duel with Ella—the kind of duel where they remained silent and communicated entirely through eye contact.

The battle seemed to be in danger. Leyou, who was using the Demon and Monster deck, was being overwhelmed by Ella, who was using the Xyz Banned Card. But just as Yuki-onna and Edward were paying attention, Leyou showed his true colors by pulling out a card and turning the tide of the battle.

“No doubt about it…” Edward murmured, staring blankly at Leyou who was tidying up his deck.

"What?" the Snow Woman asked in confusion.

When Yuki-onna asked him that question, Edward realized his lapse in composure, but he ignored it and quickly walked to Yu's side, bowed slightly, and asked very respectfully, "You must be Judai's teacher, right?"

"Clam?"

Leyou, caught off guard by the question, was momentarily stunned. "What did you say? Did you misspoke, or did I mishear you?"

“It should all be correct…” Edward stared intently at Leyou, making Leyou feel somewhat uncomfortable, before slowly saying, “You must be Judai’s teacher without a doubt.”

"Although I don't know your name, let's put that aside for now. I have a very important question I want to ask."

"As one of the legendary duelists, your presence here signifies that the lost fundamental dimension has returned?"

"Well..."

Leyou blinked, looking completely bewildered. After thinking it over carefully, he slowly spoke.

"I think we might be chatting across servers."

As for the claim that he was the teacher of the Tenth Generation... it's possible that in this world's timeline, there was a version of myself who became the teacher of the Tenth Generation, which is understandable. However, as for things like the fundamental dimension, Leyou knows absolutely nothing about them.

However, to be fair, the title of "Legendary Duelist" sounds pretty cool.

“You really might have mistaken me for someone else.” Leyou shook his head firmly.

“Absolutely right!” Edward shouted again, startling everyone present.

The snow woman was even more annoyed now.

I clearly won, so how come I'm now an outsider? All I got was an apology and that's it?!

But at this moment, Edward's attention was entirely on Leyou. He even excitedly grabbed Leyou's shoulder and examined him carefully.

It gave Leyou goosebumps.

"Even though I have never had a proper conversation with you, nor have I ever received any instruction from you, I can still be sure it is you based on that little bit of memory!"

Edward's constant use of honorifics completely baffled Leyou. Now, in Leyou's eyes, Edward was like a fanatical celebrity fan.

Dude, your persona has collapsed! Shouldn't you be a bit aloof?

"Let's assume I'm the person you're talking about... but according to you, you only have a few memories. How did you determine that?"

"Just because of that face!"

"Your face is exactly the same as the one I remember! There's no one else as handsome as you in my memory! There's absolutely no way I could mistake you!"

"..."

At that moment, Leyou had only one feeling.

It was... kind of awkward.

Although Edward's words make a lot of sense, something still feels a little strange.

……

Inside the academy, Judai, who had somehow donned his imposing yet aloof armor again, sat upright and spoke to the person on the light screen.

"This entertainment tour will be hosted by our Fusion Academy, and everything is ready."

"We will do our best to ensure the safety of the participants, and we have also taken corresponding measures regarding the Faceless Men."

"Because the number of participants exceeded expectations, the preliminary rounds may need to be extended accordingly, and the final competition date should also be postponed accordingly."

"I'll leave the rest of the details to you."

After a brief exchange, the light screen disappeared, and Jaden immediately leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh of relief.

"No matter how many times I come here, I can never get used to this serious atmosphere..."

He had just spoken with leaders of other dimensions in his capacity as the overlord of the fused dimensions, the leader of the academy, and the organizer of this entertainment tour, and the content of the conversation was naturally about the competition spearheaded by Arc Domain.

To the average person, it was just an exciting competition, but to those in the know, it was not just about duels, but also about resolving some hidden dangers.

"If this time, it really can alleviate or even solve the problem as those people predict, then I should be able to have a little vacation, right?"

"If those things didn't exist, I wouldn't have to be on edge all the time, afraid to even step out of this academy, right?"

The Faceless Ones are a type of "human" whose origins are unknown, which appeared after the dimensional upheaval.

They usually appear draped in black robes, their faces hidden, and their purpose is... somewhat subtle.

The reason for their appearance is still unknown, but once they appear, they will only do one thing: seek out powerful duelists to duel.

Wherever there are powerful duelists, and wherever there are enough powerful duelists, they may appear there and forcibly drag those duelists into duels.

Moreover, it's a duel in the dark.

Those defeated by the Faceless Ones suffer great damage. In severe cases, although it may not be fatal, it can cause them to fall into a coma—rumored to be that there may be other aftereffects as well.

And the one who defeated the Faceless One...

"You might receive some 'rewards' or gifts."

"award?!"

Leyou was a little confused at this point.

This sounds strangely familiar, doesn't it? Isn't this just like those randomly spawning elite monsters in online games? The kind that drop great loot when you defeat them.

During her conversation with Edward, Leyou learned a lot.

Because Edward insisted that Leyou was the teacher of Judai from his memories, he didn't hide anything and directly told him many things that would be considered secrets for ordinary duelists. Leyou didn't even understand why Edward trusted him so much. Maybe this was the self-awareness of a card player who had lost a match.

The world of card players is truly wonderful!

In short, Edward laid out many things, including the purpose of his trip and the most fundamental reasons that led to these events.

"The existence of the Faceless Ones has indeed caused headaches for the leaders of various dimensions, because their appearance is without warning, and after defeating them, they leave no trace other than a blank card."

"Initially, due to some misunderstandings, people in different dimensions regarded these Faceless Ones as invaders sent from other dimensions, which caused quite a bit of conflict at the time. Later, the misunderstanding was barely cleared up when some information was put together."

Edward had now transformed into a professional commentator, recounting the story of the Faceless Men in the spacious conference room.

"As for the reward I just mentioned... that involves some of our speculations about the origins of the Faceless Ones."

"The blank card left behind by the Faceless One is the so-called reward. In most cases, these cards will turn into a new card after a period of time, and it will always be a card related to the card holder's deck at that time."

"And another kind of reward... is some memory fragments."

"Fragments of memory?" Leyou couldn't help but ask.

It's reasonable to reward someone with a card if they win at a card game.

After winning the battle and obtaining some memory fragments, the art style suddenly became fantastical.

“That’s right.” Ed nodded. “They are just fragments of memories, and these fragments of memories all have one thing in common: they all come from memories in the basic dimension before the dimensional turmoil occurred.”

As he spoke, Edward looked at Leyou again, a strange look in his eyes.