Duels should be played with a smile.

【Ren Amamiya LP: 6400】

[Travel LP: 4000]

"My turn, draw a card."

After the round ended, both face-down cards that Jaden had placed were usable, but he didn't immediately perform the move of clearing the entire field with Zero-Zero Acid Water.

He was waiting, waiting for the right opportunity.

"We're getting into the preparation phase. Regardless of whether you guys have anything to do or not, I have something to do first."

Without even looking at the cards drawn, Mr. Phantom Thief began his actions. He had a premonition that there would be quite a few things to do during the preparation phase of this round.

"The effect of the excluded Chaos Source Gate can be activated during your next preparation phase if it is excluded."

"Special Summon this card, banished. If there is a [Number Network] in your Field Zone, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the combined ATK of all banished Xyz Monsters of yourself and your opponent."

"Return once more, Gate of Chaos!"

Another vortex appeared out of nowhere on the field, with the silhouette of the Gate of Chaos faintly visible.

Jaden hesitated briefly before preparing to activate the effect of the Resolver in the graveyard to avoid the damage. As for Masked Change, he could wait.

"I'm starting..."

"Let me go first!" Yusei sent a card from his hand to the graveyard before Jaden could do it.

"Before your Chaos Gate Special Summon, I activate Enhanced Tokens, and this turn I can draw one card each time you Special Summon."

Jaden looked over with some surprise. If he hadn't lost his G last time, Yusei probably would have lost his too. One G each for two rounds would probably have given that guy a hard time. Although they were two different people, they were considered to be on the same side. The increased G was limited to once per turn by card name. If one person lost it, the other person naturally couldn't lose it either.

If this guy can't pull out another Graveyard Finger this time, he'll probably have a lot of resources and a huge advantage when it's Yusei's turn.

Mr. Phantom Thief is indeed unable to produce the Tomb Finger card right now. He only has three cards in his hand, and in a one-against-three situation, the difference in starting hand resources is simply too great.

Without any graying or pointing, G passed through smoothly. The Chaos Gate, unhindered, returned to the battlefield, and the unhindered, enhanced resources allowed Yusei to replenish his supplies.

"It's just drawing cards. As long as we finish you off in this round, no matter how many cards you draw, it will be in vain!"

"Gate of Chaos, unleash the power of chaos!"

Having gathered the power of the other three Gates of Origin, the Gate of Chaos returned with a surge of energy that erupted from within, hurtling towards the trio of Youyouyou.

"I'm starting..."

"and many more!"

Just as Jaden was about to activate the Graveyard Resolver effect to avoid effect damage, Yugi suddenly spoke up to stop him. And in that moment of delay, the Chaos Gate's attack had already hit them.

[Travel LP: 4000 → 1000]

[Yusei's hand: 3→4]

"Cough cough cough... Game-san?"

Jaden waved away the smoke and looked at Yugi with a puzzled expression. If he wasn't certain that Yugi wouldn't deliberately cause trouble, he would have suspected that there was a mole among them.

"Jūdai, sometimes, not all harm needs to be avoided."

He gave a casual explanation, then picked up his last card from his fingertips and shook it slightly as a signal before falling silent.

Even when facing multiple opponents, teammates cannot reveal their hand cards to each other. In the previous Jaden series, having Yugi perform Fusion Summoning was simply a matter of changing the operator, which didn't violate the rules. However, if Yugi were to reveal his hand cards to his teammates at that time, it would be considered a foul.

"Heh! I don't know what your intentions are, but after taking 3000 points of damage, your LP is now as weak as a candle in the wind!"

It feels pretty good to be able to say these forbidden words as long as you don't care about winning or losing.

"I have nothing more to do in the preparation phase, now let's move on to the main..."

"That won't do!" Judai, whose actions had been interrupted three times in a row, finally managed to interrupt someone else's actions just before entering the main phase.

The Masked Change card has been covered up and it's time to activate it. Otherwise, once the main phase begins, Mr. Phantom Thief, who has turn priority, can simply use Scapegoat and Absolute Zero as Link Summoning materials, and Jaden's Masked Change card will become useless.

As for why Absolute Zero could be used as material for the Link Summon, it's obviously because it's for summoning that woman.

The only woman who could get a card player who wouldn't date to date.

Jaden had no doubt that the guy opposite him had that woman in his Extra Deck. After all, he had already pulled out Super Polymerization and Rhinoceros Horn Dragon, so it wouldn't be strange to have another one like Hades.

He even suspected that the guy had that terrifying monster in his Extra Deck, but Jaden couldn't guess what method the guy would use to summon it.

"I activate the Quick-Play Spell Card [Masked Change]! Target Absolute Zero on my field. Send him to the Graveyard, then Special Summon 1 [Masked HERO] monster with the same Attribute as him from my Extra Deck."

Even if you only choose which monster to Special Summon when you need to deal with the effect, everyone knows that what will come out later is acid.

Moreover, when Absolute Zero leaves the scene, his terrifying abilities will also be activated.

Therefore, we must make the best use of resources before that.

"I'll chain your Masked Transformation and activate the Rhinoceros Horned Dragon effect once more, targeting Apollos again!"

"Go, rhinoceros horn dragon, once again extend your tentacles toward the noble goddess!"

The thirsty rhinoceros horned dragon once again extended its wicked claws toward the goddess, but the goddess, of course, showed no mercy and fired one of her remaining two arrows, shattering the rhinoceros horned dragon's saliva and tentacles.

[Divine Bow Attack Power 1600 → 800]

Even though Jaden knew that as long as Absolute Zero left the scene, the evil Rhinoceros would be frozen and shattered by the storm from the extreme cold, just as the Rhinoceros's predatory mark landed on Apollosa, the pure white Apollosa, as bright as moonlight, would be forever tainted by that filth.

Once defiled, there's no going back.

Uh... In layman's terms, once the Rhinoceros Horned Dragon's predator counter is placed, it remains there indefinitely. If other cards that can utilize this counter appear later, then things will be very bad—for example, cards that can directly release a Ferocious Hungry Poisonous Predator Fusion Dragon with a counter placed on it.

In short, at the cost of 800 attack power, Apollossa preserved her last bit of purity and the last arrow that could have helped her teammates.

The rhinoceros returned empty-handed, looking somewhat dejected, because it knew that that was its last hunt.

With no other obstacles in sight, the pure white Absolute Zero slowly stood up, reached behind him, and pulled out a black belt.

After equipping the belt, tapping the box at his waist, and then flicking the pointer in front of the belt, Absolute Zero slowly struck a strange pose in front of everyone.

"MaskedHERO, Hensin!"

A dazzling light flashed from the belt, followed by a surge of water. The dark purple water enveloped the pure white hero, melting the ice and turning it into acidic water that corroded everything.

"MaskedChanged! The hero has arrived! [Masked Hero Acid]!"

[Water, 8-star, Warrior race, Attack 2600, Defense 2100]

As soon as the hero appeared, wielding a water gun that looked like a genuine Dai Ge toy, he fired a projectile with a powerful corrosive effect at the Field Spell Card Zone on Mr. Phantom Thief's field, destroying the magnificent but non-resistant Source Network.

"The effect of acid water is that when it is successfully Special Summoned, all Spell & Trap Cards on the opponent's field are destroyed, and the ATK of all monsters on the opponent's field is reduced by 300. However, the ATK reduction effect is not very useful."

Judai explained the effects of the acidic water with a smile, though a hint of regret lingered on his face.

It's a regret for the other side.

"At the same time, because Absolute Zero left the field, his effect also activated."

Destroy all monsters on the opponent's field!

"Go, Absolute Zero Hero, let the enemy feel the biting cold of the polar winter!"

The hero has departed (referring to taking out his belt and transforming), but the biting cold wind he left behind has not disappeared. The cold wind turned into a blizzard, which raged across Mr. Phantom Thief's field. When the storm dissipated, only a mess remained.

Nothing was left behind.

"Now that I have nothing to do, you can proceed with your main phase!"

Looking at the three cards in his hand, Mr. Phantom Thief felt his fist harden.

What happened to that adorable Jaden when he was little to turn into such an annoying guy? No, wait, it seems that according to his original growth trajectory, he used to like saying "Katcha" after defeating others.

"If you think your brilliant maneuver has cornered me, you're sorely mistaken!"

Sometimes, going too far isn't necessarily a good thing!

A gust of wind suddenly blew around Mr. Phantom Thief, making his cloak flutter and his black hair look a little messy.

"During the Main Phase, if there are no other cards on your field besides [Wall of Numbers] in your hand, you can send this card from your hand or field to the Graveyard to activate this effect. Activate 1 [Number Network] from your hand or Deck."

"Reflect the truth once more! The power of the source number will be revealed here!"

Countless source number networks once again filled the entire venue, and with their reappearance, the atmosphere in the venue became tense once more.

Yugi clutched his last card, his mind racing. Jaden had no more cards in his hand, and his face-down cards were useless against the monsters that were about to appear. The 800-attack Divine Bow on the field was clearly no match for the monsters that were about to appear. Now, Yusei was the only hope for the entire village.

"Are they coming again? Those terrifying monsters?"

"That's right, a monster representing the power of the source number is indeed about to descend, but it's not what you think," the Phantom Thief kindly explained to the three people opposite him, while looking at Jaden again.

"Being a hero isn't easy! You can't be a true hero by recklessly defeating everything!"

"What do you mean?!" The familiar tone made Jaden instinctively ask, but in that instant, he immediately switched to an even more hostile tone and asked, "Does someone like you, with your eccentric and nonsensical manner, even have the right to comment on the actions of heroes?!"

"No." The Phantom Thief slowly shook his head, seemingly completely unconcerned by Jaden's question. "I'm just reminding you that as a hero, you must be prepared to step forward and also be prepared to bear the consequences!"

"The Wall of Source Numbers has strict activation conditions, and the Direct Line of Source Numbers also has the restriction that no other monsters can be present before it can be activated. Now, you have made these restrictions clear to me!"

"With the effect of the Source Number Network, I have once again sent the direct lineage of Source Numbers to the graveyard. Return! Gate of Source Numbers!"

The four Gates of Origin have descended once more, and this time, the Electromagnetic Turtle is no longer in the game's graveyard.

[Yusei's hand: 4→5]

"If these alone are not enough to demonstrate the mistakes you have made, then you will soon witness firsthand the calamities that your actions will bring upon you!"

"Spell Card [Source Number Chaos Ritual] activated!"

Upon hearing the word "ritual," both Jaden and Yugi seemed to have triggered a key phrase, reflexively looking at the card in the Phantom Thief's hand. However, upon hearing that it wasn't a ritual magic card, they secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"This card can only be activated during the turn that 【Chaos No. 1 Chaos Source Gate - Empty】 on your field is destroyed by a monster effect, by targeting 1 【Source Network】 from your Graveyard and 4 【Number】 Xyz Monsters that you banish."

Jaden's expression instantly turned into a picture of an old man's cell phone on the subway. What was this? He had been completely outmaneuvered? Such demanding activation conditions were something he couldn't have met without using his Mask Transformation.

"I will use those five cards as Xyz Material to Special Summon them from my Extra Deck!"

"The sorrow of chaos is the work of the lowly. The dream of heaven and earth is an endless illusion. O God of nothingness, wield darkness as your weapon, and strike the light with your hammer."

"Appear, Chaos No. 1000!"

"【Chaos No. 1000 Dreamlike Void God Primal Number Celestial Spirit】!"

Pure white wings, yet adorned with jet-black feathers; a pure white body, yet filled with the essence of demons; the power of the source flows through His majestic form; the power of creation is held in His hands.

[Light, Tier 12, Demon Race, Attack Power? → 10000, Defense Power? → 1000]

[Yusei's hand: 5→6]