Duels should be played with a smile.

John, a kind-hearted man, gets along well with almost everyone, and his easygoing nature makes him get along quite well with Manjou.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Manjou explained why he had suddenly appeared there.

"You're also planning to go to the Hyperdimension?"

"Also? Could it be that someone else went besides me?"

John nodded and recounted the information he knew: "As far as I know, Asuka and Caesar both left the academy some time ago. Asuka's whereabouts are unknown, but Caesar did go to the Hyperion."

"Have you discovered something noteworthy? Why are you all planning to go to the Hyperdimension?"

Recalling their previous conversation, John turned to Edward on the other side and asked, "You mentioned there was a place you wanted to check out. Could that place also be in the Hyperion?"

"Uh... I can only say, it's such a coincidence." Edward clicked his tongue, looking at Manjoume with some surprise.

John was now completely bewildered: "So, what exactly is on the other side of the Hyperion?"

“There…” Wan Zhangmu’s eyes flickered with uncertainty, filled with longing.

"The Three Phantom Demons told me that in the Xyz Dimension, there are many powers that are enough to make one reign supreme in battle against monsters."

……

A few days later, in the virtual world, countless viewers entered the completely transformed competition area using the viewing passes issued by the Fusion Academy. This time, the sixteen finalists would compete for the title of the first Duel King of the Tournament under the watchful eyes of the crowd.

The Pendulum Arc has deployed many cutting-edge technologies in this area. The renovated arena looks somewhat similar to the former largest fusion-dimensional arena, the Domino Arena, but inside, it uses virtual space folding technology to compress multiple spaces, allowing the arena to accommodate dozens of times more spectators than the original arena could hold.

"Oh my! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the finals of the first Entertainment Tour Competition! I am your professional commentator from Synchronous Dimension! In the following matches, I will provide you with the most accurate match analysis and commentary!"

"Enough with the small talk! Let's all cheer for this unprecedented event!"

"Then, enjoy it to the fullest!"

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Born Arrogant

In the Yu-Gi-Oh! XP rankings, dragons are overwhelmingly dominant, but within the dragon category, there is actually a subcategory.

Phantom Dragon.

If we take the Phantom Dragon out of the box, its dominance over other XP classes would be even more pronounced.

No one can resist the Phantom Dragon! No one!

The same applies to leisure travel.

His love for Huanlong was no less than his love for Longhui Qiao.

Whether it's the graceful figures of those phantom dragons or their powerful strength, they are enough to captivate anyone.

Since there's no immediate need to recreate the glory of the ceremony, Leyou is prepared to pull out his truly comprehensive "Dragon with Everything" set to bring joy to the contestants.

"Today! We will witness the birth of a new Duel King!"

"And now, all those vying for this throne are about to take the stage!"

Under the passionate commentary of the professional commentator from the Synchronous Dimension, the atmosphere in the arena could be described as extremely lively. As the event broadcast sounded, the sixteen duelists walked out one by one from the four passages of the circular arena.

The most eye-catching one is naturally Jack Atlas, but besides him, the most popular one... is actually Ella?

It can only be said that humans are indeed visual creatures. Even though many people may verbally deny their yearning for beautiful things, their hearts and bodies are often very honest.

At this moment, Ella was the second focus of attention on the field besides Jack, while Leyou, who was walking with Ella, was completely overshadowed.

High emotional intelligence is described as "green leaves setting off beautiful flowers," while low emotional intelligence is simply being a tool for carrying bags.

Of course, this is only in the eyes of most men. In the eyes of many women, Leyou is even more attractive than Ella.

All I can say is that human instinct is very honest.

"The sixteen duelists have entered the arena in turn! Now I will introduce them one by one!"

His professional skills as a commentator are undoubtedly excellent. As someone who persisted in commentating on duels when the world was on the verge of destruction, his professional skills are as steadfast as his professional ethics.

Thanks to his vivid introduction, the audience gained a preliminary understanding of the contestants.

Of course, the information he had was all the publicly available information available at the moment. For big names like Jack, there was no need to say more, as there was a lot of information about him. As for "unknowns" like Leyou who had never shown their faces before, their performance in this competition was the only information available to them.

Therefore, Leyou's description became "a duelist who is good at using various countermeasures to interfere with his opponent's actions and thus win."

Ella's introduction consists of only one line: "The ultimate queen who completely crushes her opponents with overwhelming force."

All I can say is that these people who gathered the information once again demonstrated the Japanese people's talent for being prone to chuunibyou (a Japanese term for someone with delusions of grandeur).

The opening ceremony didn't last long. Compared to the various performances, in this world where almost everyone is a duelist, people's anticipation for the duels was clearly greater.

Thus, after the Supreme King Judai took the stage to give a speech and announce the official start of the tournament, the final stage of this grand tournament finally began.

This was the first time Leyou had seen Jaden in this state since he came to this world.

Judging from his brief one or two-minute speech on stage, if this Judai were to take off his armor, he would at most be considered a slightly cold-blooded Judai.

However, considering his current status and position, Leyou couldn't help but become more curious about Jaden's experiences.

At the same time, he also vaguely sensed what was missing in the current Judai.

This is a judgment made by an anime viewer, a duelist who has fought Jaden Yuki in different timelines, and someone who has many connections with Jaden Yuki.

“His soul… is gray,” Ella said softly.

As the "soul" of Joyful Play, Ella also has a keen sense of other people's souls. Just as she sensed that Jack Atlas's soul was turbulent and fiery, she also sensed that Jaden's soul was proud, noble, lonely, and confused.

"Gray... It's ironic, isn't it? Such a fine young man, his soul should be incredibly bright and dazzling."

To put it bluntly, among all the protagonists of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Jaden Yuki is quite unique, at least in his interpretation of "growth."

He gained the most, but also lost the most.

Fortunately, by chance, he rediscovered some of his lost inner self and returned to his original cheerful self; otherwise, his ending might have been even more heartbreaking than that of Fujiki Yusaku.

But the Jade Emperor that appears and disappears before Leyou's eyes now has clearly taken a different path.

"Call me meddlesome or arrogant, but I really want to change this mediocre story, which is neither a tragedy nor a comedy, according to my own will."

Trying to change other people's lives according to one's own will is indeed an act that can be called "arrogant".

“Then go ahead and do it,” Ella said nonchalantly. “It doesn’t matter if you’re arrogant or not. No matter how you obtain the power to change the course and ending of the story, you can go ahead and do it.”

The Snow Woman represents the "essence," but Ella, as the "soul," is also highly consistent with Leyou in terms of thoughts and will.

In fact, being more pure-hearted, they are often more "arrogant" than Leyou, who tends to overthink things.

"The world is a book that is constantly recording. While you are rewriting the ending of others, you are also writing your own story. And your own story is, of course, determined by yourself."

“That’s right,” Leyou laughed. He felt incredibly comfortable with Ella’s words, which perfectly matched his own thoughts. “That’s exactly what I want to do! I’ve always been this arrogant!”

"Regardless of the method or the reason, if I want to do it and I can do it, then I will do it."

"So, let's go, it's time to bring smiles to others through duels!"

The tournament announcement came on, and the match schedule for the sixteen players was displayed. Leyou and Ella exchanged a smile and then went their separate ways.

They were both laughing heartily, but it's uncertain whether their next opponent will be able to laugh.

Shouldn't that be okay?

……

"Oh my! Player Leyou has used a completely different deck than before!"

"It's obvious that his opponent is a little nervous. Maybe he's anxious because his strategy against his opponent isn't working?"

"But it doesn't matter! As a qualified duelist, no matter what situation you face, you must bravely move forward, be prepared, and forge your own bright path that you should be walking on!"

The professional commentator lived up to his reputation; his passionate commentary perfectly stirred the emotions of the audience, making countless viewers eager to pull out their own Duel Disks and go on stage to show off their skills.

The sixteen players compete in pairs simultaneously. Viewers can choose which matches they want to watch or watch the featured table matches with the commentators on the main stage.

In the first round of the competition, Leyou was lucky enough to be selected for the focus table. Although he was a little socially awkward, he was also quite thick-skinned.

Once you abandon your sense of shame, it's not difficult to go from social phobia to social dysphoria or even become a social terrorist.

So what if you're surrounded by a crowd? As long as you calm down and enjoy the duel, you won't panic at all!

"Oh my!" The professional commentator picked up the microphone again, quite surprised by the deck that Leyou had pulled out this time.

Duelists don't need to submit their decklists in advance, since decks are arguably one of the most private things in this world. However, for the sake of commentary, players can reveal a little about the general theme of their decks.

"According to our information, Leyou is a participant from the Fusion Academy. However, he previously used a Synchro deck, while this time, the deck he submitted before this round of the competition was themed around Fusion. Could it be that he was hiding his strength before?"

"Oh my! Look! Look what Leyou is doing! He just set 5 cards to the back row and ended his first turn? Can he really defend against the opponent's offensive with such an opening without any monsters to defend against the attack? According to the previous data, his opponent is very good at attacking! Could it be that our Leyou's synergy with his deck is not good enough?"

Professional commentators are adept at using these professional commentary terms. For example, they would never say that someone has a bad hand; they would only say that someone's synergy with the deck is not strong enough and that the deck is not responding to the duelist's call.

"Oh no! The opponent has launched an incredibly swift attack, creating a board with an attack power of 9000 using only 3 cards. That's even more powerful than the legendary Kaiba! Player Leyou is in danger!"

"Wait! What is this?! Player Leyou actually used a Trap Card for Deck Fusion?! And that's not all! He then used the effects of monsters to copy the effects of Trap Cards and performed a second Fusion!"

"He's still using Fusion! This time he's using the Extra Deck as materials for Fusion Summoning! Has he mastered this super advanced Fusion method?! So strong, so incredibly strong!"

"Wait! Look! Because of the continuous use of trap cards and monster effects, Leyou's LP is practically gone... no, it's already in a state of near collapse. With so little LP, can he really block the opponent's attack?"

"Ooh! The opponent has launched a full-scale attack! Can Leyou withstand it?!"

"Player Leyou has activated another Trap Card! But this time it doesn't seem to be a Trap Card with the same theme as his deck. What?! This effect is too strong! All of the opponent's monsters have been forced back into the deck!"

"It's Leyou's turn! The opponent didn't have much defense in the backcourt, and Leyou won the match smoothly! Congratulations to the first winner of the first round!"

The cheers in the arena were deafening. After the duel on Leyou's side ended, the focus table shifted to Ella's side. Although Jack's game was also going on at the same time, people clearly preferred watching the beautiful girls playing cards to watching the grown men.

As soon as the main stage was switched over, we saw that Ella had also finished her work cleanly and efficiently.

The other fighters were still in the third round at most. Leyou's match ended exceptionally quickly because of his clean and decisive five punches in the first round and two punches in the third round. Ella's match was even more straightforward and brutal. She won the match with a single FTK and her opponent didn't even have a single hand trap. She was defeated without playing a single card.

This somewhat dramatic turn of events forced the main stage to look for the next focus table, and now, apart from Jack's game, there are no other matches worth watching.

In the first match, Leyou didn't pull out his all-encompassing dragon deck. He wanted to save it for later opponents, such as Jack, or... If he were to face Ella, this deck, which has everything but relies on pulling out everything, might be able to put up a good fight against her.

There's no way around it, Ella's deck has just too high a drop rate.

After the first round of matches concluded and a short break was taken, the organizers immediately arranged the second round of quarterfinals, showing that they really wanted to finish the competition in one day.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Leyou didn't encounter either Ella or Jack, so he randomly drew another deck and started a duel with his opponent.

And this time, he became the first focus table.

"Oh my! According to the information we obtained in advance, player Leyou has changed his deck again! Could it be that he is an all-knowing duelist? Audience! Let's look forward to his next performance!"