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

The living room in Qiu's house.

"Please enjoy."

"Thank you."

After placing the refreshments on the table and pouring a cup of tea for the two of them, Aki's mother prepared to leave the living room so that Yusei and Aki could have a private chat.

But before leaving, she went to Aki's side and whispered in his ear, "Aki, your father (Izayoi Hideo) has gone out to work again. Hurry up and get the Wandering Star while he's away~."

Qiu blushed instantly. "What are you saying? What do you mean by 'take away the wandering star,' Mom?"

"Hehe~!" Setsuko Izayoi walked away with a knowing look on her face, leaving Aki alone in a frenzy.

"Honestly, Mom, what are you thinking?"

Yusei watched this scene with envy. He lost his parents at a young age, so he valued the bonds between people very much.

"That's great, Qiu, you've made up with your family again."

Hearing Yusei speak, Aki snapped out of her reverie and replied with some emotion, "Yes, I used to think that there was no place for me in this family anymore, but after listening to your advice, I mustered up the courage to come back here. After we opened our hearts to each other, I realized that my parents had never given up on me, and the place I longed for had always been here."

Yusei also remarked with emotion, "Yes, the bonds between family members are not so easily severed."

"This is all thanks to you, thank you, Yusei."

"Ah."

Yusei gladly accepted Qiu's thanks; there was no need for him to be coy.

"Let's get back to the main topic. You've come to talk to me about the Dragon Seals, right?"

Yusei: "Well, to be precise, it's related to the Dark Signers, the archenemies of the Dragon Signers."

"The Dark Marker?"

With Qiu puzzled, Yusei began to briefly recount the events of the past two days.

"An evil god who treats people as sacrifices?! Even Yusei's former companions have become one of them?!"

After hearing Yusei's explanation, Qiu was naturally shocked, and then frowned and said, "But to know about the Dark Markers, we need to gather all the Dragon Markers. That man named Godwin seems very suspicious..."

"Yes, I know very well. Godwin ordered my companions to be taken hostage to force me to compete in the Lucky Cup. Such a ruthless person must be plotting something..."

Then Yusei said with some helplessness, "However, the world is now on the verge of destruction due to the resurgence of the Earthbound Gods. The only person who knows the truth is probably Godwin, so we have no choice but to accept his demands."

"I see..." Qiu thought for a moment and quickly agreed, "I understand, I will go with you."

"Is this a good idea? I didn't want to involve you in this, Qiu."

"But there's nothing we can do about it, Yusei. Besides, you said it yourself, the Dark Signers are the enemies of the Dragon Signers. Those people will come after me sooner or later. I have to fight to protect my family!"

Aki clenched her small fist and said firmly, "Besides, Yusei, didn't you say we're comrades? Isn't it only natural for comrades to help each other?"

“Yes, we are companions.” Upon hearing Qiu’s words, Yusei was taken aback for a moment, then smiled slightly.

He was rather indecisive, not considering his companion's resolve.

"By the way, before I go see Godwin, I'd like to see Dewayne first. I haven't seen him since the Lucky Cup ended. Could you come with me, Yusei?"

"That man?" Yusei suddenly remembered the red-haired man who tried to manipulate Akira on the day of the finals. "Do you still believe him?"

However, Qiu shook her head. "No, after he denied your feelings for me, I suspected that he had been using me all along. I still don't dare to face the truth."

"So you want to confirm this?"

"Yes, this is my last unresolved issue. Regardless of the truth, at least I can be sure whether I want to continue living in this paradise."

"I see..." Yusei pondered for a moment, then agreed, "I understand, then I'll go with you."

Just then, the car that Miss Shenying had sent was waiting outside the villa.

Chapter 51 Dewayne and the Darkmarkers Join Forces?!

Nighttime, outside the headquarters building of the Utopia Sports Center.

"We've arrived. Yusei, please wait here for me for a moment."

"I see."

Considering the unpleasantness she had with Dewayne because of Yusei, in order to avoid a conflict, Aki decided to meet with Dewayne alone first.

Of course, if anything unexpected happens, Yusei can get there quickly from here.

Before coming here, Yusei had already investigated and found that the Paradise Movement was a special organization composed of 'psychic duelists'.

The so-called 'psychic duelist' refers to a duelist who is born with superhuman mental strength and can materialize dueling monsters. Because this ability can easily cause great destruction, they are usually regarded as monsters by those around them.

The Utopia Movement is an organization that specifically takes in these homeless people. The organization is full of psychic duelists who are all regarded as monsters and have the same tragic past. Among them, the most outstanding is Izayoi Aki, who possesses the Dragon Footprint.

At first glance, the Utopia Movement appears to be a righteous organization dedicated to rescuing homeless psychic duelists, but is that really the case?

During his investigation, Yusei discovered that a significant number of the psychic duelists taken in by Dewayne had gone missing!

Although Yusei didn't know how these people had lost contact, he was certain that Dewayne's true purpose in forming the Utopia Movement was definitely not pure.

"I hope nothing bad happens to Qiu..."

However, the more you try to prevent accidents from happening, the more likely they are to happen.

Suddenly, the dragon mark on Yusei's right arm emitted a strong red light. 'This reaction... could it be a Dark Signer?! A Dark Signer is in this building...?'

'Oh no, Qiu is in danger!'

Just as I thought of this, a wall of purple flames suddenly rose up around the building, quickly forming a giant lizard-shaped painting that surrounded the building.

"Has it already started?" Upon seeing this, Yusei immediately rushed into the building.

After running up and down several floors, I finally saw Qiu standing upstairs, along with a large, black-haired woman in a black dress.

"Is that the second Dark Marker? I need to get to Qiu's side as soon as possible..."

However, just as Yusei was about to continue running up the stairs to this floor, a fireball suddenly shot towards Yusei's head.

"What!?"

Realizing what had happened, Yusei quickly rolled over and narrowly avoided the attack.

boom--! ! !

At that moment, the violent explosion naturally caught Aki's attention upstairs, who saw Yusei taking cover from the attack downstairs: "Yusei!?"

Mystie, the Dark Signer standing opposite, chuckled coldly, "Heh, it seems the other Dragon Signer can't interfere with our duel. It was indeed the right decision to cooperate with Dewayne."

"Dewayne actually cooperated with the Darkmarkers, how could this be...?"

"Unfortunately, that is the truth, Aki Izayoi."

"why?"

Missy said coldly, "Because this is your punishment!"

"What did you say?"

“I know very well that Dewayne is no good man, but he wants to destroy you, and I want to take revenge on you, so our goals are aligned.”

"Revenge? What do you mean? What are you talking about?"

Missy: "Fine, I don't think you'll confess honestly. No matter what you say, that child won't come back. But I'll at least make you apologize, make you go to the underworld to apologize to that child."

"Alright, let's begin our destined duel, Izayoi Aki!"

"..."

As Aki and her friends began their duel, Yusei's side finally encountered their enemy.

"You actually dodged my attack, you're quite skilled. But I won't let you go up there, Yusei Fudo."

The person blocking Yusei's path was none other than Dewayne, whom Missy had mentioned.

Yusei stared at him coldly, "Dewayne, you actually helped the Darkmarker. You were using Qiu all along."

Dewayne flicked his incredible hair and said disdainfully, "So what if she is? She's just a pawn, yet she dares to disobey me. In that case, I might as well destroy her."

Yusei narrowed his eyes. "So, if I want to get to Aki's side, I have to defeat you, is that what you mean?"

"That's it! Let me show you the true power of a psychic duelist! Qiu will go easy on you, but I won't!"

With an inexplicable overconfidence, Dewayne raised his Duel Disk towards Yusei...

"A duel? No choice... I have to go!"

Yusei skillfully opened a portable card box, took out his deck, and set it onto the Duel Disk that had been prepared beforehand.

"Duel!!" ×2

【Yusei Fudo: LP4000】

[Dewayne: LP4000]

"I'll attack first!"

[Dewayne's hand: 5→6]

Dewayne seized the initiative without hesitation, shouting, "Summon [Heavenly Eye]!"

As he slammed the card onto the Duel Disk, a burst of light rose in the front row, and a mechanical clown with only an outer shell and no body appeared.

"Then, I'll activate the quick-play spell [Emergency Teleport] from my hand!"

"This card can Special Summon 1 Level 3 or lower Psychic-Type monster from your hand or Deck... Come, [Psychic Protector]!"

Then Dewayne raised his voice and shouted, "I'm using a level 3 [Mental Protector] to adjust the star rating of a level 2 [Sky Eye]!"

"Let the fire of hatred that burns in the abyss of my heart transform into a black raging torrent and ravage this world!"

"Synchro Summon! Appear, [Magic Homunculus]!"

In an instant, flames rose, and a 'magician' dressed in technological attire emerged from the firelight and landed on Dewayne's front field.

【Magic Android: Attack Power 2400】

Then Dewey grabbed another spell card from his hand. "I'll activate another Quick-Play Spell Card from my hand, 'Psychic Collector.' This card can Special Summon any number of Level 2 or lower Psychic-Type monsters from my Graveyard, but as a price, I'll take damage equal to the sum of those monsters' Levels multiplied by 300."

"Come back, [Heavenly Eye]!"

[Heavenly Eye: Attack Power 1200]

[Dewayne: LP4000→3400]

"I'll set two more cards face down, and the turn ends."

[Dewayne's hand: 6→1]

"Although I cannot attack during my first turn as the first to act, the effect of [Magic Homunculus] activates during my end phase!"

"【Magic Homunculus】During its End Phase, it recovers 600 Life Points equal to the number of Psychic-Type monsters it controls. I have two Psychic-Type monsters on the field, so it recovers 1200 Life Points."

[Dewayne: LP3400→4600]

Chapter 52 The Psionic Clan of a Salted Fish

"My turn!"

[Yusei Fudo's hand cards: 5 → 6]

"A Psychic-type deck...?"

Yusei squinted at the monster in front of him. Most of this race activates their effects by paying up life points. With payment comes recovery, so many of the cards related to the Psychic race are tied to their own life points.

Aside from a series of Psychic-type decks, it's generally a rather weak race, lacking any particularly strong backrow decks. So...

"When you have no monsters on your field, you can Special Summon 'Scrap Frontier' from your hand."

After the off-white mechanical warrior entered the field, Yusei then threw out another card from his hand: "Then, I activate the Spell Card [Synchro Overtake], by revealing a Synchro Monster from my Extra Deck, I add one Synchro Material from my Deck or Graveyard with the name of that monster to my hand or Special Summon it. This turn, I cannot Special Summon any monster other than a Synchro Monster from my Extra Deck."

"I reveal [Junk Warrior] and Special Summon [Junk Synchron] from my Deck."

As the passageway opened, the model worker's figure was immediately revealed.

Immediately afterwards, Yusei shouted, "I'm using a Level 3 Scrap Frontier to tune a Level 3 Scrap Synchron!"

"O holy lance that illuminates the starry sky, liberate souls and awaken the world! Synchronize Summon, [Stardust Assault Warrior]!"

In an instant, a bright green light shone, and the Stardust Warriors, wielding two screwdrivers as weapons, landed on the front line of the wandering star.

Stardust Assault Warrior: Attack Power 2100

"At this moment, the monster effect of [Stardust Assault Warrior] activates. If this card is successfully Synchro Summoned and you have no other monsters on your field, Special Summon 1 [Scrap] monster from your Graveyard."