Duels should be played with a smile.

What does it represent?

"Or rather, what do you feel when you duel?"

“Of course it’s happiness!” Leyou answered without hesitation. “I’m a person who likes happiness, so I like things that bring me happiness.”

"So in order to stay happy, I will keep winning."

The seahorse, who had become a spectator in the audience, snorted disdainfully again. This guy, after being exposed by me, has completely stopped pretending now, right?

"So, what do you think a duel is in this game?"

The game remained silent, as if considering how to answer the question, before slowly speaking after a moment.

The moment he opened his mouth, Leyou sensed that it was as if two similar yet different people were answering his question at the same time.

"At first, I only learned dueling to make friends with others."

"At first, I only went to duel with others in order to unravel the mystery of my memories."

"But later, after I made some truly close friends, I gained a new understanding of dueling."

"But later, through repeated duels, I experienced more and gained a new understanding of dueling."

"A duel is an exchange between hearts."

"A duel is a clash between souls."

"A duel is a manifestation of the will between duelists!"

For a fleeting moment, the image of the nameless pharaoh and the boy who loved games seemed to overlap completely.

"I see... I think I can sense your will."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Leyou felt something was amiss. It seemed that, unintentionally, he, a not-so-serious duelist, had once again placed himself in a superior position, while putting the real duelist in the position of challenger.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. Let's begin this long-awaited duel! I'm in incredibly good shape right now! Like I've drunk some really strong liquor!"

"That's right! At this point, nothing else matters. Let's have a proper discussion through a duel!"

Main quest in progress

[Goal: To become the King of Duels]

[Rewards have been revealed]

[Reward: The True Name]

Too lazy to deal with this ambiguous mission, Leyou just wants to enjoy the duel.

Then win.

"The final match of the Duel City Tournament is about to begin!"

The tool-like Isono stood between the two, loudly proclaiming.

"Leyu, versus Yugi Muto!"

At the moment the duel began, Philvo once again broadcast the duel to the world. Previously, even the duel between Leyou and Kaiba had managed to catch some small fry, so this duel with the Pharaoh in the lineup was sure to catch at least one or two big fish.

Suddenly, Haima also pulled out a mobile phone that didn't quite fit the era. It was probably one of his employees reporting to him about the sudden global broadcast. When he was dueling before, his subordinates didn't dare to disturb him and only informed him afterward. Now that this situation had occurred again, they had to report it immediately.

"Don't worry about it. I roughly know what's going on. Anyway, this is very beneficial for the promotion of Duel Monsters and our company's reputation. We can just sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor."

After hanging up the phone, Kaiba shifted his attention back to the duel. Company matters could wait; he couldn't miss this duel.

This duel had the largest global audience and the largest live audience—because the previous contestants had all been hammered into the audience and incidentally served as commentators.

The audience was clearly divided into four groups. Kaiba and his brother stood alone to one side, looking somewhat out of place. Malik, who had recovered, Rishid, who had woken up, and Isis also stayed quietly to one side, occasionally exchanging a few words, seemingly discussing the future of the Gravekeepers after this match.

This time, Philvo didn't mingle with Jonouchi and the others because Ella came too.

Ella's demeanor didn't quite mesh with the group of friends and family, so Philvo simply led Ella behind Leyou and quietly became an audience member.

However, it must be said that the two of them standing together are truly eye-catching—especially when Philvo intentionally or unintentionally controls the camera and occasionally secretly broadcasts Ella's back view to the world.

Imagine something called despair, and that feeds on despair, suddenly receiving a large amount of well-intentioned emotions. What would happen?

What's this called? Good fall?

The specifics are unknown, but Philvo is quite curious—she has the same quirky sense of humor as Leyou.

"Game start!"

"Duel!"

"I'll take the first strike!"

All I can say is that Yugi Muto is truly remarkable; he's so good at seizing the initiative that even though Leyou was fully focused, he was still slightly inferior.

"My turn, draw a card!"

Looking at the cards in his hand, the game smiled slightly, a smile that made Leyou feel uneasy.

But after seeing his hand, he felt it was alright.

Actually, Leyou had thought about how to deal with a card-printing player in the DM era before, and the final conclusion was: be cowardly!

That's right, as long as you're cowardly enough, you can truly be invincible in the DM era.

Because this era is mostly straightforward, even many of the cards are attack and declaration traps. If you don't attack, they won't be triggered. You can slowly dismantle the opponent's defenses using various methods, and only attack when you are absolutely sure you are safe.

"Defense position summons [The Elf Swordsman Who Tricks the Enemy]!"

[Earth, 4-star, Warrior race, Attack 1400, Defense 1200]

The game first summons his hard-working swordsman, who appears one of the most frequently. This hard-working swordsman has the effect of not being destroyed in battle by monsters with an attack power of 1900 or more, and he is quite useful in this era.

To be honest, after witnessing the seahorse summon five dragons in one go, I thought the game would also feature something like summoning the entire Black Magician's family in one go. But seeing such a simple and unpretentious elf swordsman, I felt a bit bored.

"I'll cover three more cards in the back row, then the round ends."

The game was permeated with an aura of the underworld, which momentarily halted the intense atmosphere of the finals.

Okay, forget I said anything before. Your three-point cover is much more powerful than five dragons.

"My turn, draw a card!"

"Wait!" the game announced in a heart-stopping statement.

"In that instant, I activate my face-down Continuous Trap Card! [Gravity Web]!"

"As long as this card is on the field, monsters of level 4 or higher cannot attack! Combined with the defensive properties of the Elf Swordsman, it will prevent most monsters from breaking through my defenses."

The game chuckled, seemingly indicating that the Pharaoh was on the account, but the style of this underworld duel was more like Xiao Biao's.

Or did these two directly undergo hyperfusion?

"Leyou, I know you're a duelist with a variety of dueling styles and deck compositions, so I specially prepared this lockdown for you. This way, I'll have enough time to figure out your tactics!"

"Interesting." Leyou smiled with interest. "As expected of you, Game. But why should I launch an attack?"

"As long as I don't attack, your blockade will soon become ineffective against me."

"Defense position summons [Nephthys' Prayer]!"

A little girl dressed in a red priestess outfit, with a skin tone similar to Isis's, emerged from the flames and appeared on Leyou's field in a crouching, defensive posture with her head in her hands.

[Wind · 2-Star · Mage Race · Attack 0 · Defense 2000]

"Look, this is the deck I'm using this time."

"Nephthys? Is that Phoenix? A 2-star Nephthys with a defense of 2000 points? Looks like you really have no intention of attacking."

Nephthys is one of the Ennead in Egyptian mythology, and Pharaoh Yamyugi instinctively felt familiar with the name.

"You weren't planning on attacking either, were you? During the main phase, I'll activate the effect of the Prayer, then select..."

"I can't let you activate this, your monster effects are all very dangerous!" Yugi pressed the button on the Duel Disk with incredible speed, activating a red face-down card.

"I activate a face-down Continuous Trap Card! [Chain of Demons]!"

"Target your Prayer units on the field. As long as this card is on the field, your Prayer units cannot attack, and their effects are negated!"

A dark green chain flew out from the trap card and bound the prayer. It seemed that because the prayer was just a little girl, the binding method was relatively complete.

"You seem a little surprised," Game chuckled, his tactics having worked.

"Of course I'm surprised." Leyou frowned. "I just casually released an effect, is it really necessary to react like this?"

Actually, Leyou was puzzled. This was clearly Jack's card, so how could you have printed it decades or even centuries in advance? That's going too far!

“It might not be necessary to deal with others, but it’s essential to deal with you,” Yugi said solemnly. “Because in your duel with Kaiba, I discovered a crucial point: you seem to be very good at using one or two cards to mobilize your entire deck.”

"And the deck you run can unleash amazing power, capable of leaving Kaiba, who uses the God Card, completely helpless."

"In addition, since you are a duelist with a versatile style, before the match, I added a lot of cards that could interrupt your actions to my deck. Whatever you want to do, I just want to prevent you from doing it."

"A deck that can't form synergies will see a significant drop in combat power! That's the change I've made for victory!"

Leyou could only nod in agreement with such a statement.

What else could he say?

As expected of the Pharaoh, he directly mastered the beat strategy without any instruction? If he were told about other summoning methods, would he immediately pull out a Golden Kingdom deck and max out the entire Void Universe, becoming a ruthless card player?

"I'll continue my turn, but I should remind you that most of my decks have more than one way of functioning, and some decks are even able to continue functioning after being interrupted two or three times in a row."

"Activate the spell card [Nephthys's Hope] to destroy both my Prayer and your Elf Swordsman."

The prayer opened his arms, transforming himself back into flames, and rushed towards the defending elven swordsman.

A swordsman's sword can sever an enemy's body, but it cannot extinguish flames.

It devours the enemy, the flames transform into a tiny spark, return to the graveyard, and await the moment when the fire reignites.

Destruction is for rebirth.

"Set one card face down, end the turn."

The family and friends in the audience were puzzled: "Jonnouchi, do you know why Rakuyu wanted to destroy his monster? 2000 DEF should be enough to block most attacks, right? And why didn't he destroy Yugi's other cards?"

“I’m not entirely sure either.” Jonouchi shook his head. “Their duel seems to have become somewhat different from the very beginning.”

"My turn, draw a card!"

[Game Hand: 3]

"During your Preparation Phase, I activate the face-down Continuous Trap Card [Nephthys Awakening], which increases the ATK of any [Nephthys] monsters I control by 300."