"The result is decided!"
In a grand arena, the audience seats were packed, like a surging ocean. The referee, holding a microphone, passionately and loudly announced.
"The winner of the finals, the new Duel King is born! His name is... Fujiki Yugen!"
Applause and shouts, as if the entire space was ignited. Before the referee's voice even fell, the arena was already boiling, applause roared like thunder, instantly drowning the space. The audience stood up one after another, waving flags inscribed with the winner's name.
Yugen stood in the center of the arena, suddenly finding the lights a bit dazzling. All the cheers, shouts around him, the sudden supreme glory symbolizing reaching the pinnacle of this world, did not first bring excitement, but bewilderment.
Wait a minute, how did I get here...
Why does it suddenly feel like I've skipped a whole season of progress?
Yugen frowned.
He remembered that he seemed to have infiltrated a company called Abiak together with the president and Ameluda. They successfully entered the interior from the sewer system, hacked the direct elevator with Keihei's remote assistance, entered the server room...
...and then somehow ended up here?
Suddenly, he became the Duel King.
Not just that. He soon realized that the amount of money in the tail of his bank account left him bewildered, he had a garage full of luxury cars, and countless mansions under his name.
For example, the most recent one, a manor in the outskirts of the City of Duels, Tongshiyi.
Walking inside this gigantic manor, magnificent buildings, looking at the exquisite garden, fine sculptures, and artworks, he suddenly felt like a first-person spectator. As if watching a life of himself on another world line, a self who won everything through duels, climbed to the summit.
"Master Yugen, the bathwater is ready."
Turning around, he discovered that this manor even had a little maid. Her skirt fluttered lightly, white silk stockings clinging tightly to her slender and well-proportioned legs, revealing an exquisite collarbone and a majestic, mysterious cleavage, soft as clouds.
"Does Master want to take a bath now?"
The little maid smiled, and as she spoke, she began to undo her belt.
"Wait a minute." Yugen raised an eyebrow and gestured to stop her, "What are you doing?"
The little maid blinked, looking innocent, "Serving seafood to Master, of course."
Yugen: "..."
Seeing the situation was about to spiral out of control, Yugen coughed lightly.
"Silence."
With that utterance, the scene froze.
The massive mansion, the dreamy little maid, all twisted and distorted before his eyes. Colors blurred and chaotic, once-clear outlines began to blur.
Suddenly, everything seemed to turn into a shattered mirror, torn into countless fragments. All those vivid details vanished in an instant, replaced by chaos and darkness, as if he were in an endless void.
Only in front of him appeared a long corridor, its destination unknown.
The figure of the Silent Magician emerged beside him.
"Was that just now... an illusion?" Yugen frowned slightly, "Is it an enemy's ability similar to illusion techniques?"
The Silent Magician shook his head.
Yugen glanced at his right hand; at first, it felt somewhat out of place, but he quickly seemed to understand something.
"I see..." Yugen murmured, "This familiar feeling, this state is..."
Virtual body.
This was not in reality, but a digital state similar to when inside the Link System. This was akin to the high-tech principles of Kaiba Company; he had been accelerated by thought amplification to an artificially created virtual world, and all that he had just seen was a data projection.
And now, aided by the power of the elf, he broke through the false images shown to him, though he still remained in this virtual space, only now seeing a deeper layer of the scene.
Yugen looked down at the road extending beneath his feet.
"So, it's an invitation to us." He chuckled lightly, looking at the Silent Magician, "What do you say, should we accept this challenge?"
The Silent Magician nodded to him, raising the magic staff to his chest, indicating no problem.
With that, Yugen strode forward along the dark passage.
Soon he noticed that the structures on both sides of the path seemed to be mirror-like, revealing distorted images as he progressed forward.
Yugen recognized them; he knew everyone in the mirrors.
Like Ryuzaki Kyoryu.
His face was full of hatred and unwillingness, glaring at Yugen, "My revival match, my chance... you took everything from me!"
"Oh."
Yugen casually responded, passing by Ryuzaki gracefully without turning his head, leaving him behind.
Ryuzaki: "You @#%&!"
Then there was Sher from New Doma, also full of hatred: "You took my most important card deck, even my life, how does it feel to be a victor stepping over countless corpses?"
"Not bad." Yugen shrugged, "Your cards are quite useful."
Sher: "You damn..."
But the sentence never finished. Because Yugen did not stop, continued forward, leaving him behind.
Yugen quickly realized that appearing in these mirrors were all opponents he had previously defeated.
Some accused him of taking everything, some accused his duels of being built on their suffering, others said he was ruthless for victory...
But Yugen just smiled and kept moving forward.
Upon reaching a certain point, he stopped and said calmly into the darkness, "You can stop this meaningless exhibition.
You should realize these are all my defeated opponents, right? You don't expect to make me fearful with a group of opponents I already defeated, do you?"
A brief silence.
Then a pale blue light emerged in the darkness. A stream of data gathered, forming a humanoid shape, wearing a black coat, walking out slowly.
Judging by the appearance, he looked somewhat like President Kaiba.
"I've read your file and understand your situation, Fujiki Yugen," the person said flatly, "Judging from recorded duels, you seem undefeated. Though your evaluation in the intelligence file is already high, I would say you are still an underestimated duelist."
He paused, squinting his eyes, "But you've never truly respected your opponents on the path to victory, giving them the respect they deserve as duelists."
Yugen understood. What he said was likely similar to Kaiza Ryo's early theory in the animation. Kaiza's duels always prioritized respecting his opponents, which he regarded as the spirit of a duelist, until he met Ed, where he considered it more important even than victory itself.
However, even Kaiza abandoned such naive perseverance after experiencing society's harsh reality in professional leagues.
Yugen faintly chuckled.
"After all, a duel has been designed as a ceremony with only one victor from its inception." Yugen said flatly, "You can call it cruel, or ruthless, doing anything it takes.
But, in the end, only the victor can stand here."
He paused, speaking calmly.
"Of course, bearing the resentment of the losers is also the responsibility of the victor; this is the resolve any duelist should have when stepping onto the battlefield."
He displayed a mocking smile.
"I don't know who you are, but if you think bringing a group of defeated ones will shake me, isn't that a bit funny?"
The person squinted, silent for two seconds.
"I see." He nodded, saying, "It seems I underestimated you. Fujiki Yugen, a duelist with such skills and talent and unwavering and unlost spirits, is indeed rare. Apparently, what Seto Kaiba valued might not just be your dueling talent alone..."
He said, raising his arm, as a Duel Disc emerged from the data flow on his hand.
"Let me introduce myself again. My name is 'Delta', instructed by my father to capture you here," he said, "Since soft or hard approaches don't work on you, let's pass through here the way duelists do."