Duels should be played with a smile.

A series of data storms appeared and then slowly subsided. Just as Philvo was about to reach her destination, a somewhat familiar figure appeared before her.

"..."

"Hey~ it's been a long time, little guy."

"If I remember correctly, your name is PlayMaker, right?"

Chapter Eighteen: A Torrent of Despair

"A data storm is suddenly breaking out at a high frequency... this must be it."

With his connectivity and sensing capabilities, Playmaker can accurately detect data storms and thus navigate through the virtual world without hindrance by avoiding these chaotic data streams. However, today's unusually high frequency of data storms has piqued his curiosity.

When he followed his senses and found the area where data storms were frequent, he found a "familiar face".

"Long time no see, little one."

A hint of curiosity flashed in the enormous dragon's eyes, and Philvo transformed into human form under Playmaker's astonished gaze.

Having spent years wandering the virtual world and rarely interacting face-to-face with anyone except for duels, Playmaker's reaction upon witnessing this miraculous transformation was...

I didn't do anything.

He stood there like a log.

If his partner, the Fireproof Dragon, hadn't shown up and made his presence known, Philvo might have even thought he was encountering a Playmaker.exe unresponsive issue.

"If I remember correctly, your name is Playmaker, right?"

Playmaker nodded silently, while the fireproof dragon behind him couldn't wait to let out a shout, shrink its size, and fly in front of Philvo.

Like a fledgling returning to its nest, the tiny, even adorable little fireproof dragon snuggled against Philvo like a clingy kitten.

This surprised Philvo, who found it somewhat amusing, and also made Playmaker a little flustered.

When this guy was with me, he was quite arrogant... or rather, quite haughty. He only made a move at crucial moments. But now that he's met the big sister, he's really "returned to his true self," right?

Even though Playmaker is usually good at suppressing his emotions and can usually keep his emotions in check, he was at a loss for words at this moment.

However, upon further reflection, he realized that the little fire dragon hadn't been with him for very long, and considering its usual arrogant demeanor... it was just a typical little kid.

It seems... I really don't need to argue with a child; if I take it seriously, I'll just lose.

While Playmaker was both amused and exasperated, the little fire dragon came up with something new. Its size and appearance had become somewhat similar to the demon dragon. After flapping its wings a few times and breaking free from Philvo's embrace, it let out a childish roar, and the color of its entire body began to change.

It changed from its original blue form to red, then to dark green, and then back again. In just about half a minute, it demonstrated its skillful ability to switch forms—which also showed how proficient it was in its mastery of power.

"That's pretty good... It seems she's doing quite well with you, and you two get along very well too."

"Her?" Playmaker spoke for the first time today.

The pronunciation of second-person pronouns varies in many languages.

Philvo nodded slightly, a hint of smugness in his eyes: "Yeah... I saw you were lonely before, and this child was born around that time, so I let her stay with you. Well... the important thing is that she stays with you. The child's gender is just a coincidence, don't worry about it."

It was absolutely not because I was in the mood and created a little fireproof dragon of the gender "she" and gave it to Playmaker. Absolutely not.

Faced with Philvo's answer, Playmaker was at a loss for words. He was top-notch in terms of internet and dueling knowledge, but his social skills, while not nonexistent, were limited to the most basic verbal skills required of a protagonist.

When it comes to communicating with women, especially older women, he really only knows how to pretend to be an expert by remaining silent.

So he could only nod slightly, expressionlessly. He wanted to smile, but the shocking fact that his companion was female made it difficult for him to do so.

“The way you are…” Philvo shook his head slightly, sighing like an elder looking at a junior who had been single for over twenty years. “You’re not going to be able to win a girl’s heart like this.”

“I… have enough for duels.” Playmaker’s lips twitched slightly, and he said in a somewhat embarrassed low voice, “Other things are not on my mind for the time being.”

As Playmaker said this, a two-colored figure flashed through his mind—brown and blue. Which one was she?

"It's okay if we don't consider it for now, there's plenty of time in the future... But you're not that old, yet you're as lifeless as an old man, that's not good."

After teasing the little fire dragon a few times, Philvo, holding the little guy by the back of his hand, tossed it back to Playmaker.

"One of the reasons I entrusted this little guy to you was to help you become more cheerful."

"Why?" Playmaker frowned. His complicated life made him always wary of unwarranted kindness from strangers.

In fact, he still doesn't understand why he accepted the little fireproof dragon so easily—even though he did get along quite well with it during that time.

Using fireproof dragon to crack words and punch really fucking Tanoshi!

He even considered going to Go Onizuka to get his Oni Hair to fight against the Genbaku Ken.

“Why…” Philvo crossed one hand across his chest and rested the other on his chin, a strange emotion flashing in his eyes.

"As for why, it's probably because I was influenced by some bad guy, so on a whim, I just did it."

After giving a completely meaningless answer, Philvo's gaze toward Playmaker became subtle.

"If only you could learn from that bad guy. I reckon even when he's seventy or eighty, he'll still have the mentality of a child."

"That guy?" Playmaker muttered to himself, a hint of curiosity creeping into his mind about this complete stranger.

"You'll have a chance to meet again sometime... I have something to do, see you next time."

Suddenly remembering that she still had to be a tool for Leyou, Philvo's mood, which had been perfectly good because of encountering the Little Fireproof Dragon, dropped a level. In a bit of a hurry, she thought for a moment, then retrieved two decks that were very suitable for Playmaker from her deck database, converted them into data, and sent them to his duel disk.

"Consider this the feeding fee for this little guy, you can keep it for now... That's all, I'll be going now~"

Without giving Playmaker a chance to continue questioning, Philvo instantly transformed back into his dragon form and flew into the data storm.

"It's really... too mysterious. I had some questions I wanted to ask, but since you said there would be another time, I'll ask them later. Now, let's go and complete the next task."

Playmaker waved to the Firelink S, which had just been acting cute but had now returned to its normal size and was acting as if nothing had happened. He then opened the Duel Disk, checked the mission information for his destination again, and prepared to leave.

Living alone means relying solely on oneself for everything. To ensure sufficient funds for the coming period, Playmaker has recently taken on numerous commissioned tasks, requiring him to travel between several dimensions.

"Feeding expenses and such... seem to be quite necessary."

He had accumulated quite a bit of savings over the years, and if he spent it frugally, it would be enough for him to live on for the rest of his life, since his expenses were really low as a typical homebody.

But... glancing back at Fire Dragon, who was still standing there seemingly lost in thought, Playmaker realized he still needed to work harder.

The fire dragon's growth rate is directly proportional to his bankruptcy rate.

As a methodical and organized person, Playmaker felt it was necessary to plan ahead.

After fiddling around for a while, Fire Dragon finally came over slowly. Playmaker flipped over and mounted Fire Dragon's back, and set off again.

However, knowing the gender of the Fireproof Dragon made Playmaker feel a little awkward. To distract himself, he opened his deck database to check the feeding fee he had just earned.

Although Fireproof Dragon is incredibly powerful, it is also undeniably strong, which is why Playmaker is very much looking forward to the deck that Philvo has sent out this time.

The first deck was quickly reviewed and found to be very suitable for him, especially for clearing out weaker enemies. It can also be used as a decent small counter in the current deck.

The second deck...

The moment he saw that particularly conspicuous card, his pupils dilated in shock.

"Cyber ​​World Adventor... This extremely rare card, and the lingering spirit aura on it... There's no mistake, this must be the aura of an AI!"

He forcibly suppressed the shock in his heart, but the memories in his mind kept replaying, scene after scene from the past replaying before his eyes...

The fireproof dragon noticed the strange behavior of its master behind it and slowed down its flight speed.

After a long while, when Playmaker came to his senses, he had arrived at his destination, a connection point between the virtual world and the Synchro Dimension.

He currently has a commission in the Synchronization Dimension.

"Let's go complete the request first... But I must admit, I'm starting to look forward to our next meeting."

……

In the Synchro Dimension, in a dilapidated elven realm, Ella holds a small starlight chestnut ball as a light source, carefully searching for any possible clues in this realm that seems to have been attacked not long ago.

"Kuriri! (Put me down! I'm not a light bulb!)"

The Starlight Chestnut Ball emitted a soft, iridescent glow, its two eyes wide open, expressing its dissatisfaction.

"Stop fooling around... The atmosphere here is a bit special. Other monsters that can provide light, like the Origin Dragon, are too conspicuous. You'll have to make do for now... I'll have Kuriboh give you a lighting allowance when we get back."

After rubbing the starlight chestnut ball and making a blank check, Ella continued to move forward slowly, using the light it emitted.

As a secret realm of elves, this place seems to have been equipped with very strong protective facilities in the past, otherwise Ella wouldn't have needed to rely on the Starlight Kuriboh for lighting.

Ordinary night vision is a piece of cake for her; it's normal for the God of Despair to have some special abilities—although sometimes this night vision ability isn't used for anything worthwhile at night.

About a week ago, when Ella was strolling around with Yuki-onna, Yuki-onna suddenly sensed some special aura. However, Yuki-onna was too lazy at the time and just touched it. Ella, on the other hand, felt it was necessary to investigate, so she told Yuki-onna to go back and then investigated on her own.

Leyou's opinion on this matter was that he didn't care. Yuki-onna was always slacking off, so it was normal for her to slack off. Being dedicated would be abnormal. Ella's personality was at least much more serious than Yuki-onna's. Considering Ella's powerful combat strength, which even he often got beaten up, he had never been worried.

"This should be it... but we're too late."

Deep within the secret realm lies a cave guarded by a crystal gate. However, at this moment, the crystal gate is shattered, its fragments scattered on the ground by a powerful force.

After returning Starlight Kuriboh to the deck, Ella summoned Team Hope, cleared the broken gate, and ordered them to guard the entrance before entering the cave—this step might have been omitted if Leyou hadn't sent a message earlier saying that enemies were planning to cause trouble.

Upon arriving here, she sensed a familiar aura lingering within.

In order not to miss any clues, she chose to thoroughly explore the place before returning.

The cave behind the door was very long, and it took Ella a long time to reach the end. There were obvious signs of it being ransacked, and if an ordinary person came here, they would most likely leave empty-handed.

Fortunately, the owner of this place seemed to have foreseen this scene and left behind very important information in a way that outsiders could not detect.

"So...that's how it is? But the power of the primordial universe wanting to be projected into the derived universe can't be explained by mere coincidence...it can't be because...wait?!Who is it?!"

The Hope team, who remained outside the cave to guard the area, were wiped out instantly.

The power used by the newcomer was quite unique, so unique that after collecting vast amounts of despair and hope energy and sensing the emotions and consciousness of most people in the world, it was impossible to discern whether this power originally existed in this universe.

The only certainty is that the power used by the enemy is related to the duel.

Recalling the information Leyou had sent earlier, Ella's expression changed, and she quickly took out her card deck to examine it.

The power of the source code is immense, but even at its greatest, it is still only the power of this world.

Just a few seconds later, Ella suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her. She instantly became alert, looked up, and saw a figure slowly walking towards her.

"Give up the struggle. Although it is a different world and the power is distorted, as long as the commandments remain, the peace of despair will remain forever."

The newcomer was robust and dressed like a monk, but wore a huge, bizarre mask resembling bull horns, completely obscuring his face.

“My name is Marvin. I have been entrusted by the creator of this world to grant you eternal rest.”

"And, a desperate sleep."