Duels should be played with a smile.

"In this case, the cards that disappear, time seems to be forever."

……

"As expected, women are really a real pain."

PlayMaker said that women are really annoying, but the slight upturn of his lips made his words seem less convincing.

With a slight sigh, PlayMaker composed himself, feeling that his mind was in a bit of a mess.

The forced video call had completely disrupted his plans. To ensure that he wouldn't be caught and killed offline by a Blue Tear Angel whose personality had changed drastically before he was mentally prepared, PlayMaker had just been forced to sign some unequal agreements.

Logically speaking, it's somewhat ridiculous for a top-tier hacker to be either killed in person offline or forced to sign an unequal treaty online.

But in this world, many things are simply unreasonable—of course, there are also some things that require two hands to clap.

While worrying about how to deal with various situations he had never experienced before in the coming period, PlayMaker went to the basement of the villa, logged into his usual work account, and posted a "Long Holiday Notice" on his homepage.

With the Synchro Dimension commission completed and some extra money earned from Jack, PlayMaker felt he no longer needed to worry about feeding the Fireproof Dragon.

"I never expected that she herself would be traveling in the same dimension. She even went online to live stream while traveling. What's the difference between traveling and live streaming in a different place?"

After making a casual remark, PlayMaker left the basement and returned to where he usually logged into the virtual world.

He doesn't usually stay in this big villa in the Synchronous Dimension. The house is too big and there are too few people, which sometimes reminds him of some bad memories.

However, he will likely be staying here for the foreseeable future. He plans to return to the Pendulum Arc Domain via the virtual world and bring some things over.

Of the four dimensions, the Pendulum Arc is the most complex, containing elements of black, white, and gray. Many people who navigate the gray areas, including PlayMaker, reserve a place for themselves within the Pendulum Arc.

PlayMaker is different from others; he has many hideouts in the Pendulum Arc, and the one he's planning to visit this time is the one with the largest supply reserves.

During my vacation, I won't be taking on any commissions, but as a hacker, I always need to have my best equipment with me.

Moreover... recalling the mysterious noblewoman he had encountered in the virtual world, and the somewhat unscientific fact that after she was defeated, the Fireproof Dragon retrieved a blank card from the data storm caused by her disappearance, PlayMaker felt a long-lost sense of curiosity.

Even on vacation, you should keep your skills sharp. Just treat finding that person's true identity as a regular exercise routine.

Using the data storm guided by the Fire Dragon, PlayMaker bypassed security checks, logged into the virtual world, and after confirming his direction, rode his Duel Skateboard and followed the flow of the data storm toward his destination. Before long, he reached a connection point between the virtual world and the Pendulum Arc.

"Hmm? This feels like... the data throughput of this connection point is a bit low. It would be safer to switch to another one."

Leaving this somewhat unstable connection point, PlayMaker felt a sense of unease.

Just as he was about to cross the connection point, he felt a sluggishness he had never experienced before. Being particularly sensitive to data flow, he immediately stopped moving. At the same time, the fire dragon beside him flapped its wings, reminding him to find another place.

Normally, this level of connection point is enough for a single person to pass through, but today... the data flow seems to be significantly disrupted, and PlayMaker hasn't been able to find the cause in the short term.

"Something terrible is about to happen..."

He found several connection points in succession, but they were all the same as the first one. It was as if the cyber police of the virtual world had installed jamming devices on them. The data flow was very unstable and they were unusable. It wasn't until about an hour later that he found a slightly larger and more stable connection point.

Even so, this large connection point is not as stable as usual. A connection point that can normally accommodate dozens of people can now only accommodate five people per minute if you are lucky.

Thanks to his unique perception of the virtual world, PlayMaker avoided the unstable data stream, safely left the virtual world, and arrived at the Pendulum Arc's hiding place.

After packing up, in addition to the original plan, he brought a lot of equipment that he hadn't originally intended to bring back to the virtual world. After experiencing a small setback, he returned to the Synchronous Dimension.

"Plans never keep up with changes. I feel like my vacation this time won't be as long as I originally planned."

PlayMaker, who was installing and debugging the equipment, did not notice that after he posted his long vacation notice, many of his peers also posted similar announcements.

Suddenly, the hacking business that had flourished because of the virtual world fell into silence. Apart from the relatively low-level group of "bricklayers" who could not be called hackers, all the hackers who could travel between different dimensions through the virtual world chose to disappear temporarily. The once very popular business of smuggling people out of the virtual world came to a standstill in just a few days.

……

In a spacious and bright conference room, K took off his red glasses, leaned back in his chair, and listened to his subordinates' reports.

Generally speaking, those big demon kings and villains who want to destroy the world use places like temples, palaces, and castles as their bases, and they often make them very dark and terrifying.

K is utterly disdainful and disgusted by this stereotype.

He is a great god in this world! How could He possibly stay in a place no different from a sewer, like those villains who are destined to fail?

Even outside this world, the countless consciousnesses that make up Him are basically "successful people" and "superior people"!

He's an "entrepreneur" who's better at printing cards than printing money!

Isn't a clean and tidy meeting room ten times better than those gloomy and terrifying castle basements?

Listening to good news from capable subordinates in a spacious and bright conference room—that's the demeanor of a successful person!

Having some authority over this world, K can often achieve what he desires, which makes him subtly consider not destroying the world—humanity and this world are so interesting, he can stay here and enjoy the fun to his heart's content, which seems like a good idea indeed.

But soon, just as a program cannot disobey its underlying instructions, countless thoughts of wanting to destroy the world emerged, completely covering up, or rather—overwriting, his previous thoughts.

"This world must be destroyed! Only when this world is destroyed can we have more resources to create a new world, a better world!"

"Then...it brings more benefits...more wealth, and a better life..."

"And then what?" K's consciousness returned, and a new idea flashed through his mind.

"After that... probably after the potential of the new world is exhausted, it will continue to destroy and create?"

"And then continue to gain even more profits?"

"It seems so..."

"Never-ending? Endless? More and more wealth, a better and better life?"

"It seems so...more and better!"

"..."

"...Human thoughts and desires are truly strange. In their minds, they know that wealth is just a number after reaching a certain level, and they know that no matter how much wealth they have, their 'quality' of life cannot be further improved due to the limited material conditions at the time. So why do they still tirelessly pursue more wealth and a better life?"

"From this perspective, humans are really, really, really interesting!"

In the spacious conference room, K put his red glasses back on, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"What's even more interesting is that this world seems to have some traces that don't belong here, and these traces also contain similar ideas."

"What is this? According to them, shouldn't it be called 'capitalists' fighting each other?"

Recalling how easily he had awakened ten strange beings, K felt that things were getting more and more interesting.

"Who cares? I only have one thing to do. If I can enjoy some entertainment while doing this, that would be a good thing."

"Humans are really interesting!"

"Therefore... I must destroy this world! When the new world is born and reaches its end, I will reappear and enjoy an even more delightful spectacle than this one!"

"I think... I understand a little."

"Humans, ah, how interesting!"

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Let's Get Started!

"You old geezer, what do you mean?!" Crowe yelled at the guy opposite him, somewhat annoyed.

He was a white-haired old man who looked rather kind, and possessed a vigorous energy that seemed somewhat incongruous with his white hair.

The conclusion that he is energetic can be drawn from their meeting and the current situation on the field.

The encounter was very simple. As a high-quality older single man, Crowe had a very good personality. Even if he was taking a walk on the street and encountered an old man who had fallen to the ground, he would still dare to go up and help him up.

And unsurprisingly, he was then stuck with her.

However, Crowe wasn't too surprised. He had helped many elderly people and had a wealth of experience. Before helping the old man, he noticed that the old man was in good spirits and looked like he was about to do something important.

But when the old man wouldn't let go of him, and Crowe felt he needed to produce pre-prepared evidence to refute this old man who seemed to be trying to scam him, things took a slightly unexpected turn.

The old man grabbed him and started clinging to him, not to extort money, but to challenge him to a duel.

Amidst his embarrassment, Crowe couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for the old man—he was well-dressed and in good spirits, so he must have a good life, but he couldn't find anyone to duel with, which probably meant there was something going on in his family.

So, Crowe, who always respected the elderly and cared for the young, agreed to the request.

Then...

"Nothing much, just want to have a simple duel with you... and of course, to hear your cries of helplessness and despair."

A dark mist enveloped the two, and the ancient artifacts fell, signaling the start of the dark duel after both sides placed their bets.

The old man got the first move, and he did something really infuriating right from the start.

"Stack my two 4-star Sharks, Left-Handed Shark and Right-Handed Shark, together!"

"Xyz Summon! [No. 59 The Rebellious Chef]!"

The classic right-hand shark chef made Kro's face turn black. Putting aside whether he could draw the card to solve the chef problem, this kind of behavior of giving up right from the start was really infuriating.

Especially after discovering that what he thought he hadn't been fooled had turned out to be an even bigger trap, Crowe's expression never improved.

"She's just a mere chef, watch me..."

"Not just the chef! There's this too! The magic card [Countdown to the End]! Pay 2000 LP, and 20 turns after this card is activated, I will win instantly!"

"Now, my turn is over."

"Oh, right, now I can tell you my name. My name is Azdia."

With the chef and the countdown, being tricked by this combination made Kro feel ten times worse than fighting Mizuho Hyakuhou for three hundred rounds.

The fact that nobody wanted to play cards with this old man before must not have been an act, right? Who would want to play cards with someone like that!

"What... what a bad day! I don't care what your name is, you're my enemy now, and a really infuriating one at that!"

"Even if you're an old man, don't worry about how ruthless I'm going to be today!"

Anger arises from the heart and evil is born from the gall. Although it may sound a bit off, after glancing at his hand, Crowe was indeed ready to abandon all martial ethics.

There's no need to talk about martial ethics when dealing with this kind of old man!

"My turn! Once I draw that card, it's my turn to annoy you!"

Silently reciting to himself that he was willing to remain single for another year in order to draw that card that could turn the tide, Kro suppressed his heartache and placed his hand on top of the deck, filled with anger.

"A true duelist... needs no woman! Draw a card!"

Like a flash of lightning, the card that Crowe drew drew a golden arc in the air.

"Yadaze!"

"Old man! Watch closely, my Blackwing deck also has a Plan B!"

Even if you add a few useless pieces that you don't usually use, it won't clog your hand! A true duelist, as long as he eliminates the interference of women, is invincible!