Alpha knelt on the ground, his head tilted to one side, and his whole body was crackling with electricity, with broken parts scattered everywhere.
"Damn...thing..."
"What did you say?"
Yugen put away his Duel Disc and walked up to him.
Alpha slowly and arduously lifted his head. During this movement, more sparks burst from his neck, making it seem like his head could fall off at any moment.
"I'm sorry, Fa...ther. I tried my best, but he's...too strong..." he murmured to himself.
Yugen couldn't help but think that whatever else could be said, the quality of this thing seemed decent. Maybe the mechanical body's resistance was strong; despite being burned like this, it hadn't shut down.
"You won this time. But don't think...it's over."
Alpha said haltingly.
"You're already...on our list. I seem to be just a defective product, but Delta...is the only...perfect one among us.
He will find you and complete the task I couldn't finish. Even you aren't...his match..."
Yugen furrowed his brows.
He had heard this "Don't be so proud, I'm just the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings" line in many other places...
Delta, sounds like an AI designation too.
Maybe it's a tougher AI?
"So the 'Father' you're talking about, who are your group's instigators?"
But Alpha no longer responded, only muttering to himself, "Father, I'm sorry. I can't...continue to help you with your work. I have to...go ahead."
As he spoke, his voice grew softer until the light in his broken eyes went completely out.
"He's gone." Yugen stood up.
A voice behind him spoke: "There's no need to ask any further."
Yugen turned in surprise: "President Kaiba?"
Seto Kaiba had somehow appeared there, with a sharp-suited Keihei at his side.
Judging by the stance, they had probably been there for a while.
Yugen pondered.
So the president was silently watching him duel from behind again, just like back at Pegasus Nightwalker's place.
He suddenly realized the president seemed to enjoy secretly watching him duel...
"Remarkable, Yugen. In one duel, you achieved infinite attack power, infinite explosive cards, and infinite life-draining, and you evolved so many different offensive tactics based on LOOP..."
Keihei's eyes were filled with admiration.
"Ahaha, not really." Yugen replied modestly.
After all, it was the crystallization of the wisdom of his predecessors, it had to be impressive.
"Hmph."
Kaiba said nothing, but his thoughtful brother translated: "Oh, my brother means he also thinks you're impressive. He's more and more looking forward to facing you in a match."
Yugen nodded: "I understand."
After a pause, he said: "These guys claim to be designed based on the president. I'm thinking they might be related to the hackers who invaded earlier."
"We heard that." Keihei said, "Actually, we've been making progress in tracking them as well. After detecting an invasion of Duel Academy, we came over immediately, thinking it might be those hackers again."
"Their primary target is likely those three cards on this island." Kaiba said nonchalantly.
Yugen cast an inquiring look at Keihei: "Those three cards?"
"Oh, students shouldn't know about them. But for you, there's no harm in telling you." Keihei said, "Three 'Phantom Demon' cards. Cards that are said to conceal immense power in the current Duel Monsters realm, said to grant their possessor eternal life.
They're powerful, but also considered to possess an evil force, and could be very dangerous. For now, they're sealed in a facility on the island."
"I see."
Of course, Yugen had known about it for a while, but he pretended it was his first time hearing this secret.
"But, why would they come for me? I don't think I have anything to do with Phantom Demons..."
"That, I don't know." Keihei scratched his head, "I guess...maybe they're impressed with your dueling skills, or your Elf Affinity talent. Well, you are indeed a very unique duelist I've ever seen, so it's not surprising you'd draw attention..."
At this time, Principal Jiaodao also arrived. The principal shook hands with President Kaiba, the academy's top sponsor, and repeatedly apologized for the academy's inadequate security measures, promising to improve in the future.
Yugen thought, it's okay, principal. While our academy's security is flimsy as paper, it still somewhat exists. Starting from the second year, security practically becomes non-existent, and Academy Island becomes a bus anyone can enter freely, regardless of relevance.
In the third year, the academic department practically disappeared, and the entire school flew off to the Other Dimension, all the frontline pressure was fought by the students. The principal also was constantly on business trips, basically hidden, while Professor Momomya took on the function of the entire faculty alone...
Following up, Judai and Asuka also reported they encountered adversaries and dueled them in conflicts, but ultimately secured victories without incident.
The AI Judai defeated was quite unlucky, falling off a cliff and instantly dying. But the one Asuka took down still had some life left.
Reportedly, the AI called Gamma was still muttering incoherently as it was carried away, mumbling about "this isn't a duel at all," "this isn't an Angel at all," "give me back my monster," and the like...
It's likely it was cowed into system collapse by the electronic Ox Angels Nasadiya.
The Kaiba Group staff who followed the president to the island quickly cleaned up the battlefield, collecting the remains of the three machines and conducted a simple cleanup operation.
"We're very close now, once we analyze these three AIs, we should quickly find clues to who's pulling the strings." Keihei said to Yugen, "If we find anything, I'll let you know right away."
After all, the opponent clearly stated that Yugen was also on their target list, so he wasn't an outsider anymore.
"Alright." Yugen nodded readily.
He unconsciously touched the brand new Kaiba Company card deck he had just drawn, still warm in his pocket.
You say these AIs come and go, but they all specifically travel long distances to bring gifts. And they didn't even use data cards this time, all are plug-and-play physical cards.
How polite of them...
If more good things like this happen, he wouldn't mind it at all.
Finally, Keihei took a furtive glance in Kaiba's direction, seemingly ensuring that his brother was occupied commanding the staff team and wasn't paying attention to them, then whispered softly.
"And also...although my brother would certainly not allow me to say this, I still want to say thank you."
"Huh?"
"For the things you said." Keihei chuckled lightly, "I heard it all. Honestly, I was a bit moved. While many people respect my brother now, seeing him as the pinnacle of duelists, there aren't many who truly understand him.
Many just think of him as arrogant and rude, some even call him a dictator in a sense...but I alone know he never forgot why he fights."
"Having been through hell, he understands the value of dreams even more." Yugen smiled lightly, "It's a pity, even if he were truthful to the board, no one would believe a 'dictator' dreams of bringing smiles to children everywhere."
"Haha, never mind the board, there's barely anyone in the broad Kaiba Company who truly knows him aside from me. I think the last person who truly understood him, who knew him, was actually probably Yugi..."
Keihei shook his head, feeling a bit regretful.
Inside his heart, he secretly admired, even yearned for, the kind of indestructible friendship Yugi and Joey had, and has fantasized about joining that group with his brother.
But eventually, perhaps they were just not of the same kind, and now they haven't been in touch for many years.
"Knowing there are people in the world who see my brother the way I do makes me really happy." Keihei said again, "Thank you."
"No problem, I think there are actually quite a few people who think that way, I'm just one ordinary duelist among them."
Yugen waved his hand generously.
"No need for thanks..."
"By the way, we're heading back to the company next. There's a few newly developed card decks at headquarters, interested to come take a look?"
"Lead the way."