Duels should be played with a smile.

The final, all-or-nothing strike did not transfer the title of King of Duels to a new challenger.

With five cards left in his hand, Yu watched Leyou, who had suddenly fallen silent, with a slight sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a feeling of mixed emotions, often including nostalgia or regret).

But that's how duels are; every move you make can change the outcome.

"Leyou, it seems the title of Duel King still belongs to me."

"Sigh..." Leyou sighed, "It seems that you are stronger in a duel."

All the monsters have already attacked, and there's only one card left in hand. With only 100 LP left, Leyou simply can't end this duel this turn.

really...

"I face down the last card, end of turn."

Leyou had already closed his eyes. Even though he still had three monsters on the field, he didn't think that the game with six cards in his hand would be able to take him down in one fell swoop.

"Come on, game, come and claim your crown."

Seeing that Leyou had given up resisting, the game couldn't help but chuckle.

He could understand the feeling of being one step behind.

"Leyou, you are already a very strong duelist. This time, I was just lucky."

"No, game, you don't need to deny it. I am inferior and admit defeat. Come on, let's end this duel quickly."

"In that case, I won't stand on ceremony!"

To be honest, Yu You breathed a sigh of relief because he really didn't have any other cards to defend with. He was used to using cards from the graveyard to save his life, but this time, all the cards he had thrown into the graveyard in advance had been dug up by Le You.

With a confident smile on his face, the gamer placed his hand on top of the deck. He hadn't drawn a card yet, but he already sensed that it was a card that could bring him victory.

"My turn, draw a card!"

"Leyou, victory is mine!"

But what greeted him was the smile on Leyou's lips.

"Oh, I'm really sorry, I had another face-down card just now. In order not to leave any regrets in this duel, I'll just activate it now."

Seeing that Leyou, who had given up and was waiting to die, suddenly started moving again, alarm bells rang in Game's mind.

"I activate a face-down trap card, [Destroyer Wheel], the same kind as the one used by Kaiba."

"I target the Phoenix God, destroy it, and then both sides suffer damage equal to its attack power."

The Phoenix God rose from the ashes once more, awaiting a rebirth that may never come, but the flames He left behind have already proven that it was His most dazzling moment.

"It seems the title of Duel King still belongs to me."

"It seems that I am stronger in this duel."

[Leyou LP: 4000 → 1600]

[Game Points: 100 → 0]

[Winner: Leyou]

"We won! What a Tanosi duel!"

Chapter Eighty-Eight: Let's Celebrate!

silence.

Everything fell silent.

The wind stopped, and the sound of the wind that had been ringing in our ears, along with the discussions and exclamations from the audience, all disappeared.

In a daze, it seemed as if there was a being whose face was indistinct, staring at me.

He was surrounded by an incredibly warm light.

His body was similar to that of a human, but he also had wings.

Those wings were neither feathers nor bat wings, but rather seemed to be made of some unknown metal that perfectly matched His body.

The tips of the wings gleamed with a metallic sharpness, but when the wings were enveloped in light, they gave off a gentle feeling.

Leyou couldn't see His face clearly, but he could sense that this great being meant him no harm.

There seemed to be a faint hint of goodwill in it—as if it were looking at a young child.

However, Leyou was certain that he had no connection with or interaction with this great being before him.

Leyou could only feel the gaze of this great being fixed on his chest.

In a daze, Leyou seemed to see Him open His mouth and say something, but he could not hear clearly or even remember what He said—he only knew that He had spoken, but he did not know what He said, or whether He was speaking to him at all.

This great being seemed to realize that Leyou was still unable to comprehend His words. He seemed to smile, raised His hand that held both light and darkness, and gently touched Leyou's chest.

……

"Oh! The Duel City Grand Finals have finally come to a successful conclusion!"

"Rejoice! A new King of Duel has been born!"

Startled by the enthusiastic shouts, Leyou instinctively looked at Iso next to him to see if he was holding a book or had an authentic Daige toy on his waist.

"Congratulations! The title of Duel King is yours from today onwards!"

The game, having put away its duel disk, walked up to Leyou and extended its hand confidently.

"I lost."

"You lost, but you didn't lose either."

Leyou grasped the outstretched hand, the hand belonging to both the Pharaoh and an ordinary high school student.

In that instant, he seemed to understand what it meant to communicate through duels, and what it meant to understand each other after a duel.

In that moment of handshake, he felt the will of the game.

Le You let out a long breath, feeling quite emotional.

"You lost not to me, but to the future, and to yourself."

"I don't know how to measure our strength in a duel, but I feel that, at least in some aspects, you are superior to me."

Looking around, the people below the stage had stopped clapping. After congratulating the birth of the new Duel King, they quickly ran up to celebrate this memorable moment together.

He lost the game, but they could all tell from his expression that he had no regrets about his defeat.

In that case, all we need to do is celebrate together.

Of course, before the main characters finished their conversation, these cheerleaders still needed to restrain their emotions a little.

"In other aspects, you are better than me. There's no need to be overly modest. If you can beat me, there must be a reason why you can."

Upon hearing the game's answer, Leyou was somewhat taken aback, but that surprise quickly turned into a victor's smile.

Since the loser has acknowledged their victory, there's no need for me to deny it anymore.

Next time, you can't be so obvious about letting people win. Your acting was subpar this time, and you were still caught in the end.

"Do you think the outcome would have been different if you had made a different judgment at that time?"

Instead of directly answering Leyou's question, the game smiled slightly and asked in return, "Shouldn't you be the one to answer this question?"

"I have never regretted any of the choices I made in the duel, and likewise, I have no regrets about my current fate."

"Being able to have such a thrilling duel at the end of this Duel City, I no longer need to ask for anything else."

He remained humble in victory and undeterred in defeat. After losing in the final, which was of utmost importance to everyone else, he displayed a far more carefree attitude than the others.

Not to mention, winning this duel was actually very important to him.

"You win, this is yours."

A unique red card, in which resides one of the Egyptian God Cards, the Sky Dragon.

"You don't need to give me this..."

"This is your spoils of war," the game said firmly, and without allowing Leyou to refuse, placed the last God Card into Leyou's hand.

The three God Cards have finally come together.

"You've won, so the spoils are naturally yours. If we need them, we'll come back to you in a fair and square way!"

It was "we" instead of "I," and Leyou noticed this and became curious about how far things had progressed between the two of them.

"Since you're so generous, I'll just give you all three God Cards first. In exchange, when you no longer need the Millennium Puzzle, you can lend me the Millennium Puzzle."

When will it no longer be needed? The answer to this question is obvious—of course, there is a second possibility, which depends on how strong the seahorse's gambling addiction is.

"Three God Cards and seven Millennium Artifacts, an equal exchange, makes perfect sense, doesn't it?"

As long as you don't give the God Card to the Millennium Hostage as soon as it's given to you, and then have it stolen again, that's fine.

That would be so embarrassing.

"That makes perfect sense. Thank you in advance."

The game accepted the proposal, but instead of immediately taking the God Card from Leyou, it turned to look at the Gravekeepers below the stage.

Since it concerns my own memory, it's best not to make any mistakes, so it's better to have a few extra precautions.

"After Duel City ends, what are your plans? Are you going to go back to your shop and be an ordinary shopkeeper again?"

"It's not impossible~ I'm actually quite lazy, let me rest first~"

Such a lack of ambition was clearly beyond the game's expectations. For a moment, he didn't know how to continue, so he simply turned his back and faced his waiting companions.

The game wasn't fast-paced, and he stopped halfway through.

He spoke again.

"If, if I had activated Divine Declaration earlier..." The game suddenly stopped halfway through the sentence. After pausing for about two or three seconds, the player shook his head and laughed, "Never mind, this question is meaningless. If we really want to discuss this question, then we need to talk about your choices from the very first round."

"So, in your opinion, who lost and who won?" Leyou asked.

"We'll only know the answer when we fight again. At that time, will you really use all your strength to fight me to the death?"

"Well... hahaha, I'm not sure how to say~"

"You... well, we'll talk about that another time! Congratulations, the new Duel King!"