Along the coast of Duel Academy, underwater.
The submarine from Galem Financial Group is still stationed here.
"Commander."
A financial group soldier reports to Aiko.
"There's still no communication today."
"I see."
Aiko waves her hand listlessly.
They've been on standby here for several days. Now, they don't even know the progress of the mission, whether the mission is still underway, or whether it's necessary for them to remain here.
People from Kaiba Group came a few days ago, essentially taking over the case.
Professor Kobra has already been exposed, and it seems he was personally dealt with by the Duel King. Galem Financial Group's mission was originally centered on Kobra, but now the primary target has disappeared.
As for the Elf in Professor Kobra's possession...
Even Kaiba Group has been alerted, so there's likely nothing left for them to do.
But even so, they haven't received any notice of mission cancellation yet—not exactly, they haven't received any notice for several days now.
Their main task here was to support Ammon, with Ammon being the one truly responsible for gathering intelligence and carrying out specifics. Commanding actions and notifying them to enter were originally Ammon's responsibility.
But the problem is the leader is now offline...
It's a situation Aiko has never seen in all her years working with Ammon.
As Galem Financial Group's hidden ace agent, Ammon's work has always prioritized the group, always charging at the frontline. He can always make the optimal judgment and issue the most accurate commands.
However, this time, Aiko feels as though Ammon has become uninterested in the mission—to the point where even the entire financial group seems irrelevant to him.
She even can't be sure if he is still executing the mission.
Nowadays, Ammon is frequently unreachable. To Aiko's knowledge, he seems to spend large chunks of time with the Duel King. The two lock themselves in a room, and after a day of shenanigans, no one knows what mischief they're up to inside.
For the first time ever, Aiko, who knows Ammon the best, begins to doubt.
Could it be the young master has been abducted from the financial group?
...
...
At this moment, Yubel is looking at Yugen with a peculiar expression.
"Can you not keep staring at me like that?"
Yugen nonchalantly replies, "What's wrong with just a glance? Don't be so petty."
Yubel: "Did you not hear that staring at a lady is quite rude?"
Yugen: "Huh? Are you considered a lady?"
Yubel: "..."
"Honestly, it's been a question I've had for a long time." Yugen shrugs, "Besides, I'm not looking at your body, I'm just studying your card."
Yubel: "That is my body."
Indeed, Yugen was in his personal laboratory, in front of him laid Yubel's card deck.
The three cards in the center are Yubel's core: Yubel herself, The Malicious Knight, The Demon Dragon of Extreme Sorrow.
"I've already cooperated with all the tests you wanted to do, you've collected all the data you wanted, what more do you want?"
Yubel is quite unhappy.
She begins to doubt that she has been duped. Perhaps this guy never planned to let her meet Judai, just sweet-talked his way into getting her to work and had ulterior motives...
...Okay, thinking it over a bit, she feels the thought doesn't hold water.
Because no matter what, she did just lose the duel. If he wanted, he could easily subdue her without any sweet talk, she wouldn't be able to resist.
But he hasn't done so.
"What do you really want?" Yubel asks gloomily.
"Nothing, just seeing if you're developing healthily." Yugen casually replied.
Yubel: "!"
"I meant your card."
Yugen smiled.
"Have you thought about how maybe your evolutionary path was wrong from the start?"
"Perhaps these stages two and three are not your correct evolutionary path, but monsters born from interference by some outside evil?"
Yubel frowned, "I don't understand what you're talking about."
Yugen, holding his chin, studies her for a moment.
Yubel apparently hasn't realized she has been possessed by the Light of Destruction.
In the recent duel, Yugen tried using the power of Darkness to clear the Light of Destruction from her, but failed.
But that was within his expectations. The Light of Destruction within Yubel might be stronger than any encountered before, since she went into the cosmos to be infected, and shared a longer coexistence period with it.
In the anime, too. Even though Saio, as the chapter's BOSS, had been possessed by the Light of Destruction for many years, after Judai defeated him with Neos's power, the Light of Destruction was cleared, and Saio's original personality returned.
In the last Other Dimension Chapter, Judai used 'Super Fusion' to merge his soul with Yubel, granting Yubel the ultimate darkness power of the Overlord, which completely cleared the Light of Destruction's influence. This act also resulted in a thorough merger of their souls, metamorphosing them into the final form known as the Twentieth Generation.
After the recent duel, Yugen could sense the malicious waves of the Light of Destruction had been suppressed but remained dormant in Yubel.
Even with Yugen's current abilities, eliminating it isn't easy, the simplest way is only to destroy Yubel along with it.
While that approach isn't absolutely off the table, Yubel remains a formidable potential asset to their camp, so Yugen is inclined to keep a backup plan unless it's necessary.
However, this thorny issue he won't worry about; he'll leave it to Judai. As the true main character, whether he uses card power to awaken the soul or relies on Mouth Escape, Yugen believes Judai will certainly find a solution.
The reason for studying Yubel's card deck is also for the deck's potential.
Yubel's deck is different from most decks he has collected and researched before.
If Yubel's deck evolves to its final form, it's a genuine powerhouse in today's environment. An enhanced Yubel is truly a legitimate, premium-tier Yu-Gi-Oh deck; be it system stability, operation speed, or final resistance strength, compared to past decks, it's already on a level comparable to the Three-body Problem's power.
Yugen puts away the deck on the table.
Forget it, research isn't a matter of a moment, and needs Yubel's willing cooperation. Once Judai resolves the issue with Yubel, she will likely cooperate.
"Let's not worry about all that now. Let's fix your physical problem first."
Yugen thinks it over. Yubel needs to consume Duel Energy and the darkness in Duelists' hearts in order to speed up her revival.
Now, with Ammon constantly waging battles in the Other Dimension, fighting on all fronts, sending Yubel to assist and claim some victories could make her revival faster on the battlefield...
Seeing him genuinely considering her, Yubel's stern expression softens slightly.
Her tone also softens, saying, "Actually, there's something you might want to know."
"What's that?"
"On your island," Yubel says, "there's someone else hiding with ill intentions."
"Oh?"