The protagonist of the Yu-Gi-Oh! world might be the same person.

"It's useless, Jaden Yuki! We've set up a self-destruct logic. Once we lose the duel, we'll disappear completely, leaving not a single bit of power that you can use, hahahahahaha...!"

Soon after, Jaden was indeed unable to sense the other party's presence.

"Tch, what a troublesome enemy."

Chapter 278 The Riddler

After Mr. T's mask was destroyed, the cards that had been corrupted by darkness temporarily returned to normal.

Tenjouin Fubuki's memories were restored after Mr. T, who had absorbed the Darkness Mask, disappeared. It seems that the Darkness Mask was destroyed along with it, which caused her past memories to be unsealed as well.

However, as mentioned before, there was nothing that Jaden and the others wanted to know. Tenjouin Fubuki only remembered that her friend Fujiwara Yusuke was researching the power of Darkness. When Darkness took her away, it left the Darkness Mask with Fubuki, and she had no other memories.

So this trip was a waste of time. As for Ernest, he went with Fubuki, since he was Fujiwara Yusuke's good friend.

Things calmed down for a while afterward, but Jaden and the others believed that Darkness would definitely make a comeback.

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Nothing major happened at Duel Academy after that, and it was graduation season for Jaden and his classmates.

Of course, as this year's graduates, there are still graduation projects to be done. To put it simply, it's still about playing cards. However, Judai has played cards with most people in the academy over the past three years, so there's really nothing left to talk about. He quickly completed his final project.

Just as Jaden was preparing to graduate and leave the academy...

'Ring ring ring...'

Hearing his phone ring, Judai dialed the number: "What's wrong?"

A familiar voice came from the other end of the phone: "It's me, O'Brien!"

"Judai, the streets look strange, the situation is urgent, come to Domino City immediately!"

"Domino City?"

"Those guys have launched a massive attack, and all the residents of Domino City have disappeared!"

"what happened?!"

'Shhhhh...!'

Just as Judai was about to press him for more information, a static sound came from his phone, and the call ended.

Asuka, standing nearby, asked anxiously, "What happened, Judai?"

"I don't know... but O'Brien is probably in trouble now!" Judai said with a grave expression. "I'm going to Domino City. Do you want to come with me, Asuka?"

According to O'Brien, Mr. T's gang has reappeared, and if Jaden doesn't keep her by his side, they might take the opportunity to attack her.

Asuka understood Judai's concerns, so she nodded and agreed, "Okay, I'll go with you!"

After that, Jaden applied to the school for permission to use a speedboat and took his girlfriend to Domino City.

Meanwhile, O'Brien is defeated in a dead end by Mr. T, who is impersonating his father, using psychological tactics, and falls into darkness.

.....................

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By the time Jaden and his friends arrived in Domino City, it was already night.

Jaden and Asuka walked through the deserted streets. Not a single light was on in any of the buildings in the city, as if the people of the city had vanished into thin air, turning it into a dead city. Only the streetlights were still on, so that they could still see everything.

Asuka: "Is there really no one on the streets?"

"Those guys are already waiting for us..." Jaden's eyes gleamed with a golden light, and the power of Darkness permeated the entire city. "I'm afraid O'Brien has already been defeated by them..."

Looking at the large number of 'O'Briens' emerging from the surrounding area, one could tell that he had been killed.

Just as they were about to surround them, a powerful force came from not far away.

"Go, Dark Magician! Dark Magician!!"

boom--! ! !

With a loud bang, the group of Mr. Ts disguised as O'Brien who were close to Judai and Asuka were all wiped out, turning into a wisp of blue smoke and completely dissipating.

Jaden could sense that the power had completely annihilated these Mr. Ts, and the surrounding dark power had also weakened.

Asuka, however, looked completely bewildered: "W-what happened? Who saved us?"

"I heard about the Black Magician. There's probably only one person who can unleash that kind of power!"

Judai looked sharply toward the source of the attack, where a young man with a starfish-shaped hairstyle walked out.

"It really is you, Mr. Yugi Muto!"

With a hiss, the two finally saw who it was.

"We finally meet again, Jaden," Yugi said with a light laugh.

4 Upon hearing this, Judai felt his breath catch in his throat: "You actually know my name?"

2. "I've always been watching you, Judai."

Asuka, who was standing next to Jiu, asked curiously, "Judai, do you two know each other?"

"Yes, the first [Mask Change] and [Winged Kuriboh] that I used were both gifts from Mr. Game."

However, this time when they met again, Judai felt differently than when they met before he enrolled in school. His familiarity with the game was now much stronger, as if something about the other person was attracting his soul.

The game chuckled and said, "It seems your power has awakened."

"My power? You know about the Overlord?"

"No, I mean the other part, that piece of debris!"

Upon hearing this, Judai's pupils suddenly contracted. Even Hubert, who was hiding inside Judai's body, was shocked. This young man in front of him actually knew Judai's true nature.

Do you know what that fragment is?

“Of course…” Game nodded slightly and replied, “That’s right, I know, because I possess one of them, which is the origin of you and me, that’s why I care about you so much, and that’s why we are so attracted to each other.”

Judai & Hubert: !!! !!! !!!

Jaden's eyes widened instantly. Did Yugi mean that he and Jaden were actually the same person?!

This shocking conclusion came to his mind and stunned him.

Seeing Jaden standing there in a daze, Yugi smiled kindly and said, "Don't worry, I'm not here to take away your power. Your fragment plus mine is still not complete, and I won't force you if you don't want to."

"Perhaps one day all the fragments will come together and become one, but that will be a very, very long time from now... Of course, we all have long lifespans, enough time to think about this."

"I see..." Judai breathed a sigh of relief.

Asuka had no idea what the two riddle-solving people were talking about.

At this moment, the game suddenly changed the subject: "By the way, this city has been occupied, and the person you are looking for is no longer here. Those guys lured you here, so their target is probably Duel Academy. You should go back quickly, and I will handle things here."

"What did you say!?"

Chapter 279 Two more matches

"Let's talk about our business another time. I need to get back and deal with the enemy over there. Excuse me, Mr. Game!"

After learning from Yugi Muto that Darkness's target was Duel Academy, Jaden disregarded his relationship with Yugi and immediately grabbed Asuka and started running back the way they came.

After watching them walk away, the game turned its head to look at a certain corner.

"Jūdai has already left, so you don't need to hide there sneakily anymore."

"Oh dear! That's very rude of you, Your Excellency Yugi Muto, the King of Duels!"

A tall man with a voice like Takehito Koyasu emerged from the darkness, his face revealed by the streetlights. If Judai and Asuka were here, they would be very surprised, because the man was someone they knew.

Yugi slowly began, "I've heard about you from Kaiba, Saiou Takumi. What is your purpose in targeting Jaden?"

Faced with the game's death stare, Saiou couldn't help but smile bitterly: "My own sister is imprisoned by those guys. All I can do is obey their orders, so I'm going to defeat you and Yuki Judai!"

"I see. Although I sympathize with your situation, you are now on the opposing side, so I have no choice but to make you submit through a duel."

As he spoke, Yugi held up his second-generation Duel Disk, which he hadn't used in a long time.

Saiō decisively raised his duel disk: "Just what I wanted! Please enlighten me, Mr. Yugi!"

"Duel!!" ×2

Meanwhile, Jaden and Asuka had boarded the speedboat they had used to get there and were heading back towards Duel Academy.

Incidentally, they encountered John on their way back. John said he was summoned by O'Brien, but since O'Brien had been killed, he decided to follow Jaden.

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"Ughh ...

"Fubuki-senpai!"

"elder brother!"

It turned out that Judai and the others had just returned to the academy when they saw Tenjouin Fubuki being knocked down in front of the teaching building.

Before collapsing, Fubuki saw their return and weakly entrusted them with her final words: "Judai, Asuka... everyone has... been corrupted by Darkness. From now on... I'm counting on you, Judai... please defeat my dearest friend Fujiwara Yuusuke... and save everyone..."

After using her last bit of strength to finish speaking, Tenjouin Fubuki turned into a black card and disappeared.

Asuka: "Brother!!"

John: "Damn it! I'm too late after all..."

At that moment, Jaden also looked at the green-haired man standing opposite him, wearing a black trench coat.

Judai then spoke up: "So you're the real Fujiwara Yusuke? The one who gained Darkness power besides Fubuki-senpai. We've been looking for you for a long time!"

The man stared intently at Judai and the others, saying with a flippant expression, "Judai Yuki, John Anderson, the reason I'm leaving you for last is because you are unfortunate humans who cannot merge with Darkness. If you insist on obstructing us, then we'll deal with you all too!"

"If you can do it, come on!"

Without flinching, Jaden raised his Duel Disk and ordered, "John, you're in charge of the rest of those Mr. Ts. Don't let them interfere!"

John patted his chest and replied, "Yeah, I've got your back!"

Asuka also raised her Duel Disk: "I'll help too. With the cards Jaden gave us, those guys are no match for us. Don't worry about them, leave them to us."

"Ah."

Judai then turned his gaze back to the enemy in front of him.

Without exchanging any more words, the two immediately set up their duel disks.

"Duel!!" ×2

[Yujo Judai: LP4000]

[Yusuke Fujiwara: LP4000]

After the duel began, Fujiwara Yusuke decisively seized the first strike.

"My turn, draw a card!"

[Fujiwara Yusuke's hand cards: 5→6]

After quickly scanning his hand, he immediately placed a card on the Duel Disk: "I summon [Pure Cube] in Defense Position."

hum!

A flash of golden light appeared on the field, and a crystal pillar was projected, inside which was a red cube-shaped robot.

[Clean Cube: Defense 0]

"The Pure Cube...!?"

Jaden looked at the monster's appearance, which was somewhat similar to the "Pure Dragon" he knew. Could it be a card from the same series?

PS: In reality, the Cleanse deck only includes the physical cards for "Cleanse Dragon" and the original field card "Cleanse World". All the rest are cards exclusive to the anime.

At this point, Fujiwara Yusuke continued, "Being unbound by anything, existing detached from everything, that is Darkness! Therefore, all Pure Monsters have no attributes..."

"What?! No attributes?!"

Upon hearing this, Judai was immediately shocked; this was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing!

Immediately afterward, Fujiwara Yusuke threw out another card from his hand and shouted, "Then, I will activate a field spell from my hand: [Purify the World]!"

Swish!