"I lost."
The leader stood up and said.
"Is this the duel of Seto Kaiba? Truly flawless, no wonder he's the number one in the dueling realm today... I'm utterly convinced."
"As a duelist, you at least have some potential," Kaiba said. "A duel should be about the absolute suppression of power, crushing even the slightest chance of your opponent resisting.
And to achieve that, relying solely on monsters, magic, or traps isn't enough, only when they are all combined does it have meaning.
After achieving these, there's something even more important for a duelist, right here."
He gestured with a fist towards his chest.
The leader seemed to understand, then bowed deeply: "Thank you very much for your guidance, President. I will do my best and strive to do better in the future."
"Since that guy sees promise in you, don't disappoint him," Kaiba said indifferently.
"Yes!"
With just a brief exchange, those spectators around became extremely impressed by the legendary President Kaiba, feeling that under his renowned fame there was indeed a real master at work; meeting him today in person made them feel he was even stronger than rumors suggested.
The atmosphere became quite harmonious, fully portraying the vibe of a senior guiding a junior... That is if the junior wasn't a big guy dressed in a White Dragon maid outfit, which made the scene quite out of place.
Their leader really had a peculiar taste...
At this moment, a big guy in white stockings ran up from the back of the team, saying to the leader: "There's a situation!"
"What's up?" the leader asked.
"The cops... There's a squad of cops converging in this direction, it looks like they are coming for us."
"Cops?" The leader frowned and cursed under his breath, "What a bunch of bloodhounds, able to track us down even here?"
Cops... are they referring to law enforcement officers?
Yugen looked at Keihei: "Didn't you say they were doing good deeds?"
"That wasn't exactly my words, I said they used dark powers to fight evil and uphold justice," Keihei replied, "but you know, fighting evil can sometimes easily brush against some taboos."
Yugen thought about it, indeed. At least nine out of ten superheroes have had experiences of outsmarting law enforcement, so it's not surprising that justice and the law sometimes conflict.
The big guy in white stockings said: "The other side came with a whole convoy, even brought in an armed helicopter. Boss, I think we should quickly..."
Keihei was shocked: "What did you do to warrant such a chase?"
"Oh, nothing much, just that a new casino opened recently in the city. On the surface, it operates legally and with full licenses, but we found out that the owner is actually someone who plays in Dark Games."
The leader said.
"It's said that in that casino you can win everything. Not just wealth, but also fame, beauty, luck, anything is up for grabs. But the losers will truly lose everything, eventually even their souls have to be put on the betting table as a wager, and if they lose, they become the possession of the casino."
"A Dark Game using gambling as a medium, huh." Yugen understood.
Duel Monsters are the most powerful form of Dark Games, but they aren't the only form. In fact, the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series started as a mishmash of various types of games.
"Yeah. Later, the number of souls taken by that casino increased, we noticed and went to play with the casino owner." The leader said, "We won and defeated that guy, releasing all the souls he had sealed."
"Doesn't that sound like a good thing?" Keihei was puzzled, "How did it get linked to law enforcement?"
The leader scratched his head embarrassedly: "Oh, on my way out, I sorta set fire to the whole casino, purely out of habit. Then things escalated unexpectedly because it turns out that bastard at the casino had people protecting him higher up.
So after that fire, we immediately got wanted..."
Keihei: "..."
Habit, huh? This sounds like a repeat offender, guessing they've done similar things before.
"Well, no big deal, don't worry. Don't let such a small matter affect the President's mood."
The leader waved a big hand.
"Nakamura Beichuan, take your men and follow me. The rest continue escorting the President to rest." He smiled confidently, "We'll shake off those tagalongs and be back in no time."
A whole convoy plus a helicopter encirclement, yet his tone sounded as if he was dismissing children coming to ask for candy.
This made Yugen a bit curious about the specific methods of these Dark Duelists.
From the original series, it can be seen that people in this world possessing extraordinary powers are more inclined to use mysterious abilities, especially those related to mind control, illusion techniques, and other abilities affecting the mind that are more common.
If one can use dark powers to materialize card effects, then the types of abilities available expand significantly. Weather manipulation, elemental magic, energy projection... nearly anything could be possible.
The Duel Disc Yugen received last time from the AI Alpha attacking Academy Island had similar functions, able to materialize holograms, but its power was basically limited to the Duel Disc's output limits.
If there's a chance in the future to learn how to harness dark powers, that would be great.
Even more simplistically, finding a powerful Dark Artifact would be even easier.
Currently, the Thousand-Year Divine Artifacts have vanished into the Netherworld along with the Pharaoh, but even if the artifacts were still around, they would choose their own masters, and could carry the risk of backlash, so not everyone can wield them. But those are top-tier, world-ending level artifacts.
If he could obtain an artifact of a slightly lesser tier, Yugen thinks it might not be unmanageable.
The remaining team quickly escorted a few people to their resting place. Keihei soon went to Kaiba's room, and the two brothers set up a computer and quickly got busy.
Yugen didn't have much to do for the moment. But as he was on his way, he happened to catch a glimpse of a local arena outside a street, which piqued his interest.
If there's nothing urgent for now, I might as well head to the arena for a warm-up, and get a feel for the local duelists' culture, also share with them how this year's Duel Academy elites duel.
Though it's dinner time, having eaten quite heartily on the President's plane, I'm not really hungry. But conveniently there's a street food area nearby, trying some local specialties doesn't sound bad.
Before heading out, he casually asked Keihei if he wanted to join, but Keihei seemed busy pounding away at the computer, so he declined.
The sky falls dark early here, and stepping out it already felt chilly. The cold seeping like needles piercing the skin, the streets devoid of bustling crowds and traffic, only desolation remained.
Arriving at the food street, a blankness greeted, similarly empty. The air felt frozen, even the wind seemed to hold its breath, as if not daring to stir this eerie calmness. In the distant dusk, streetlights stood alone casting dappled shadows, making the deserted streets appear even more desolate.
Something is off.
Yugen has realized. It's not yet the dead of night, this street especially shouldn't be deserted.
This sign hints strongly at a possibility...
Yugen turned around, unsurprised to find someone standing behind him in the moonlight. That person had a tall figure, red hair, face covered below the nose, eyes filled with amusement.
"Fujiki Yugen, a student of Duel Academy, recognized by Seto Kaiba, a duelist even willing to bring along to this city."
A strange voice processed through a voice changer spoke.
The person spoke, raising a Duel Disc.
"I'd like to experience for myself... Is that alright?"