Duels should be played with a smile.

If it were just a simple defeat, it wouldn't have left such a deep impression on her. The key was the way she was defeated, which was quite embarrassing for a young girl to talk about.

After obtaining that memory, she tried to investigate the armor and the true identity beneath it through various means, but because she dared not make any big moves, she did not make much progress—the kind of memory that would lead to her death if spoken of was not revealed, she could not possibly expose it!

After searching in vain, she considered forgetting the memory, but at an exchange meeting between superdimensional and fusion dimensions, she found a clue.

She saw the exact same armor on the elf named [Masked Hero Dark Claw].

However, given that the other party was an "ambassador" level person who had merged dimensions, while she was just a talented student with some family background, asking rashly might cause some unnecessary misunderstandings. So in the end, she only managed to get some unimportant information indirectly.

After several twists and turns, unable to suppress her curiosity and thirst for knowledge, she learned of the existence of the tour and finally had a legitimate reason to come to the Fusion Dimension to explore the secrets that might be hidden in that memory.

That memory contained not only information about that duel, but she had also consulted many books in the library to confirm that the duel disks appearing in that memory were all old models from before the dimensional upheaval.

"I hope to find that opponent from that duel... To defeat a girl in such a despicable way, he's definitely not a good person! I must rid the world of this scourge!"

"And... if we could find information about those hidden secrets, that would be even better!"

The girl, lost in her daydream, excitedly clenched her fist, eagerly anticipating the moment her curiosity would be satisfied.

The top three finishers in the competition receive generous rewards, so if you win the championship, satisfying your curiosity shouldn't be too difficult.

She had heard that the hero named Dark Claw still served as an "ambassador" for communication with other dimensions in the Fusion Dimension. As a visitor from the Super Dimension, it was only reasonable for her to have a conversation with him after winning the championship!

Driven by her curiosity, the girl unleashed an astonishing amount of energy.

……

"Phew... another one... I didn't see this many NPCs in the matches a few days ago, why are there so many in today's matches? Is there something wrong with this?"

Driving the Skybreaker Arceus, Yuza Naoma flushed his opponent's entire field down the toilet, and with the bond between himself and his deck, he defeated another NPC opponent.

"If only my sister hadn't been defeated... As a teacher at the academy, she must have known something."

After putting away his duel disk, Yuza Naoma, who looked somewhat tired from defeating four or five NPCs in succession, looked around and walked towards a grove of trees not far away.

With the cover of the trees, his relatively short stature allowed him to hide himself well, thus avoiding the NPCs who had no concept of fatigue and the potential contestants.

Recalling his sister's instructions to him before he left, Shangmo couldn't help but feel a headache.

"In the second round, what you need to do is not to defeat as many other opponents as possible, but to avoid being defeated as much as possible."

Shang Mo didn't know how to respond to such a seemingly unspoken statement, but his sister was clearly a riddle-like figure who said, "I know, but I won't say," leaving him with no choice but to nod in agreement.

He wisely refrained from asking his sister how she was eliminated, since it was rather embarrassing for her to be eliminated while her brother had advanced.

"Luckily, I brought enough cards, otherwise I might have lost at the very end... In a duel of this intensity, the Magic Key deck seems a bit too weak."

Finding a tree trunk surrounded by weeds, Shang Mo carefully parted the weeds, sat down against the tree trunk, and while resting, analyzed his strategy for the upcoming match.

"Among the decks I brought, Huanlong Jun and Longhui Qiao are the strongest, but if possible, I still want to hide them for a while and use them in the round of 16 and beyond to help me get a good ranking."

"The strength of the Branded Death Prison Summoning Beast is also very high, but because I was too greedy and filled it with 60 cards, the stability of the deck may have some problems. If there is a hand card accident, it will be bad. I might as well take this opportunity to simplify it a bit."

Shangmo took out all six decks he had brought and began to adjust the deck construction.

All six of his decks were built by him through his special ability and communication with Duel Monsters. In a sense, they were all very reasonable builds—except for the deck that he greedily filled with 60 copies of the Branded Death Village Summoning Beast.

To put it more bluntly, it's a pure score-obsessed competitive deck.

Although Shangmo is young, his talent in dueling is undeniable. In addition, he has very high emotional intelligence. His dueling partners all recognize Shangmo's strength and his burning passion as a duelist.

Well... In the eyes of teenagers around the first or second year of junior high school, most people feel that, apart from winning, exchanging blows with each other's big monsters and blasting each other with their ace monsters is the way to best demonstrate a duelist's burning passion.

When Shang Mo fought against them, he would always summon all sorts of dazzling monsters in various ways, such as Xiong Kuiqiao, Long Huiqiao, and so on.

That's right, Shangmo's decks are actually divided into two types. One type is a Soul-oriented deck that involves playing big monsters and attacking each other head-on. The rest are all mainstream competitive decks.

He can use Xiong Kuiqiao to bring smiles to his friends, and he can also use Long Huiqiao to bring smiles to himself.

After resting and adjusting his condition, Shang Mo quietly emerged from the woods, randomly chose a direction, and set off again. However, this time he carefully observed his surroundings for any traces of NPCs. His next target was only the other contestants.

His deck is now at 1000% competitive level!

On the other side, Tarin, who had also taken a short rest, brought his satellite Shining and wandered aimlessly with a vague sense of direction, trying to find a true duelist who could give him a different kind of duel experience.

……

"Look here."

"what happened?"

"Doesn't this child look familiar?"

"Let me see... I think I vaguely remember her... If I'm not mistaken, isn't she the one who got utterly defeated by Jaden in the tournament? But why does she look exactly the same as she did back then?"

Leyou frowned in confusion. His experiences since leaving the DM world and coming to this hybrid world clearly told him that there was a certain connection between the two worlds, and that the time difference was probably about ten years.

But now there's this guy who didn't even appear in the original work, and who seems like he just wandered over from the set of the Kantai Collection to play cards, and he's really at a loss.

Leyou immediately thought of the biggest variable in this world. He poked Philvo's waist and asked, "Could it be related to those whispering elves again? Could she have been created by other elves?"

Philvo slapped away the mischievous hand with annoyance, and replied with a frown, "That possibility cannot be ruled out... but I know nothing about this person's situation, which makes it very worthwhile for me to investigate."

"Actually, the possibility is probably not high. When those guys left, their thoughts were very simple. They just wanted to see the world and satisfy their curiosity. As for me, because of my relationship with the Heart of the Elf, I know a lot of things, so I don't have much curiosity about this world. That's why I chose to stay."

Leyou nodded, indicating that he understood Philvo's explanation, then shrugged and spread his hands: "I understand the logic, but what you said later, what is the connection between it and what we were talking about?"

"You could say there is... but before that, I think I need to correct a misconception for you."

With a wave of his hand, Philvo drew a perfect triangle in front of Leyou, pointing to one of its corners and saying.

"The meaning of the word 'rationality' in our context is not the rationality that is opposed to 'emotion,' but rather it is closer to thought and existence, with a broader definition similar to 'mind' or 'intellect.'"

"But I don't seem to lack a heart or reason... at most, I'm just a little carefree." Leyou rested his chin on his hand, deep in thought. "So, according to your logic, essence and soul also have a deeper meaning?"

“I’m not you, how would I know those two meanings?” Philvo rolled his eyes and replied.

"But according to your explanation, I don't even know myself... And after saying so much, explaining it in such a complicated and confusing way, what does all this have to do with the fact that I'm in a world where playing cards can solve most things?"

Leyou felt a little dizzy and gave up thinking.

Philvo gave up on treatment and covered his face: "...So, you should just go play cards instead."

Chapter Fifty-Seven: The cart is about to run over the child.

"Should I call you PlayMaker-sama, or should I call you by your name, Fujiki Yusaku-kun?"

The brown-haired angel looked sullen. With her arms crossed, she displayed her beautiful figure while also expressing her dissatisfaction with the person in front of her.

"Sorry, I don't quite understand what you're saying..." Fujiki Yusaku blinked, looking somewhat innocent. "Zaizen-kun, you don't think I'm PlayMaker, that super hacker from the virtual world, do you?"

"And...Zaizen-kun, you seem quite different from how you usually are today."

He truly hadn't expected to be cornered by Zaizen Aoi. Although he had collaborated with Zaizen Aoi as BlueAngle in the virtual world before, using the identity of PlayMaker, he had always been very careful to conceal his true identity.

He was certain that he had never revealed his identity to any woman—women would only affect the speed of his actions, and the things he did in the virtual world were not suitable for involving unrelated people.

Despite Yusaku's feigned ignorance, Zaizen Aoi remained unfazed, simply staring at Yusaku without saying a word, just watching his silly expression.

To be honest, Yusaku isn't very good at putting on this kind of naive expression. He's more used to facing most problems with a blank expression. But according to his analysis, the success rate of pretending to be innocent with a cold face when facing girls might be a bit low.

"I never expected that Yuusaku, who's been labeled a 'cold-faced socially awkward person' by many classmates, could make such a 'cute' expression? It seems you really don't want your identity to be revealed..."

“I said… if you don’t want your secret as a PlayMaker to be exposed…” Zaizen Aoi’s tone gradually became dangerous.

Sensing the danger emanating from him, Yuzaku secretly became more vigilant, ready to make a run for it at the slightest sign of trouble.

He can just stop coming to school in the future. Anyway, graduation is just around the corner, and he won't miss out on another diploma.

"If you don't want your secret to be exposed, come to the virtual world and meet me."

To Yusaku's surprise, Zaizen Aoi made a seemingly ordinary request in a very dangerous tone, leaving Yusaku momentarily speechless.

Seeing Yusaku instantly switch from feigning ignorance to genuine silliness, Zaizen Aoi laughed smugly. She was very happy with her unexpected tactic and Yusaku's reaction.

"You don't think I'm going to make any strange requests, do you?" Zaizen Aoi leaned forward slightly and asked with a smile. Her manner clearly indicated that she was 100% certain of Yusaku's identity.

At least in Yuzuo's view, whether he admits it or not, it seems that the other party has already tacitly accepted it.

After racking his brains trying to figure out how he had been exposed, Yuzaku also had a new question in his mind: what exactly did this girl, with whom he was only "classmate" and "colleague" in a strict sense, want from him now that she had come to his door?

Surely it couldn't be a sudden whim, a challenge to a duel or a romantic relationship? He was just a ruthless card-playing man in a tight-fitting suit, not to mention that after achieving his former goals, he had long since become a lost soul drifting with the tide.

His current life goal is to have no goals. Having seen many ups and downs, he finds it difficult to get excited about anything.

The only person who had piqued his interest recently was the fireproof dragon, but that was all.

To put it more bluntly, he's only a teenager, but he's practically retired now, with the mindset of being halfway to the grave.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you thinking about? How can you be so distracted when you're facing a beautiful girl, and why are you radiating such a lifeless aura?"

Zaizen Aoi's cheerful laughter snapped Yusaku out of his reverie. When he came to his senses, he saw a pair of big eyes right in front of him, the person almost touching him. This made him instinctively take several steps back, and he almost tripped.

He felt that today's Zaizen Aoi was very different—at least, on weekdays at school, Zaizen Aoi was a very quiet and ordinary girl, and he rarely saw her taking the initiative to flirt with anyone.

Her current demeanor is more like that of the online dueling idol BlueAngle, after shedding her disguise.

"I was just thinking about some things," Yusaku replied casually, returning to his usual demeanor as if he were indifferent to everything.

"Is there anything that needs to be discussed in the virtual world? Can't we just say it here?"

Zaizen Aoi had already dropped her pretense in front of him, and Yusaku felt that if he didn't admit it, he would just be being stubborn, so he simply got straight to the point.

While Yusaku Fujiki might be polite to others, PlayMaker has always been straightforward.

"Nothing special, I just wanted you to meet me in the virtual world tomorrow. We'll talk about the details later."

Zaizen Aoi was acting mysteriously, refusing to reveal her intentions, but her ever-present smile clearly showed that she was in a very good mood. However, Yuzuru couldn't figure out why this woman was acting so strangely today, no matter how hard he thought about it.

Indeed, women's thoughts are the hardest to guess; a direct duel can actually provide a clearer understanding of their intentions.

However... noticing that quite a few classmates seemed to be looking this way, Yusaku felt that now was not a good time for a duel.

Although the real-life Aoi Zaizen doesn't have the same fame as BlueAngle in the virtual world, her status as the older brother still garners her a lot of attention at school. Seeing this girl, who usually appears very aloof, actively asking a boy out naturally attracts curious glances from many classmates.

Zaizen Aoi naturally noticed this as well. She slightly suppressed the smile on her face, made a few movements on her Duel Disk, and sent a message to Yusaku's Duel Disk.

"I won't say more. Remember to check your messages and come tomorrow. That's all." The girl said goodbye with a hint of shyness.

It was as if a gentle breeze carrying the fragrance of flowers had drifted by, and the girl, who should have been quiet, left with a carefree air, leaving Fujiki Yusaku, who was still somewhat confused about what had happened, standing there silently.

Without the beautiful girl, Yusaku, who was handsome but couldn't attract the attention of his classmates, suddenly reverted to his original ordinary, unremarkable demeanor. After briefly checking the message, Yusaku returned home with some confusion and began to think about what kind of targeted cards he should put into his deck tomorrow.

She probably wants to duel with herself tomorrow, right?

After all, that's what she said in her comment.