"We won!"
Jaden flashed a cheerful victory sign.
"That was a fun duel!"
Though he said that, his opponent was currently sprawled on the floor, eyes rolled back, foaming at the mouth, body twitching now and then—clearly not sharing the sentiment.
Jaden didn't mind.
It was a Shadow Game after all—losers always paid a price. But in this case, he was helping cultists trapped in darkness break free of their cult's control through dueling; the unpleasant side effects were just part of the withdrawal process.
Oh wait, not quite—he almost forgot. Strictly speaking, he was aligned with darkness right now, and the enemy with light. If anything, his job was to help those brainwashed by the light return to darkness.
Eh, not important.
Point is, he was doing good deeds. Through happy dueling, no less.
So Jaden left the foaming Society member where he was and smiled at the rest.
"Who's next?"
Everyone remaining flinched. As the boy's gaze swept over them, they all instinctively ducked their heads and avoided eye contact, like bad students terrified of being called on in class.
"You?" Jaden pointed at someone at random. "Come on, duel!"
The man jolted and shook his head rapidly. "N-no no, I'm already enlightened!"
"Huh?" Jaden blinked.
The man hastily tore off his blindingly white uniform, balled it up, and hurled it to the ground, then stomped on it with visible loathing.
"Why was I even wearing this garbage? What was I doing before?"
Everyone behind him stared, dumbstruck for a few seconds.
Then, snapping out of it, they all followed suit—stripping off their uniforms and slamming them to the floor. Some stomped hard, some cursed the Society of Light for wasting their youth, and some even spat on it.
Jaden was stunned, blinking twice, at a loss for words.
Uh?
Where's your faith? Where's the guidance of light? Weren't you ready to shed blood for the Cosmic Light?
While he stood confused, someone patted his shoulder from behind. Jaden turned and saw Kira.
"It's over," Kira said.
Jaden started, then quickly understood.
No wonder the Society's believers were flipping so fast, acting like they'd seen the light and turned over a new leaf. It looked like Kira had already eliminated the root cause, and the Light's hold on them was rapidly fading—that's why they were snapping out of it so quickly.
With that thought, Jaden finally relaxed.
Good. For a minute there he'd thought his dueling was so scary that the cultists woke up just to avoid playing him.
"That's it?" Joey came around the corner and strode over to them. "It's over already?"
He seemed a little unsatisfied, like he hadn't gotten his fill.
Joey hadn't fought much in recent years. He hadn't entered tournaments for ages, nor faced strong opponents. After a sudden burst of high-intensity matches recently, his itch for cards had flared up.
"Looks like it," Jaden said, glancing toward where Kira had come from.
There they saw Mello, who had previously been riding high with a conqueror's posture like he was about to rule the world. Now the filter had completely fallen off him; he sat slumped in a corner like a broken toy, muttering nonstop.
"No, you can't—"
"Give it back. My light, my other half. I'm the chosen one, I must—I can't…"
Joey, ever helpful, walked up to Mello.
"It's okay now. You've escaped the Light of Destruction—you're free."
Mello's eyes were vacant as he looked up at Joey.
"No, you don't understand," he said dejectedly. "Without it, I'm nothing. Now I've gone back to being a loser."
Joey frowned.
"If you think you need to rely on some mysterious cosmic fluctuation to not be a loser, then far as I'm concerned, you've already lost."
Mello had none of his former swagger, only gazing at him resentfully.
"You're a legendary duelist. Of course it's easy for you. People like you wouldn't understand."
"Me?" Joey chuckled.
"Maybe that's how it looks to you, but the thing I've heard most in my life is that I'm a third-rate hack, a talentless nobody."
"Maybe so. Maybe that really is me. I'm not the reincarnation of any priest, I've got no powerful spirit in me, I don't carry any miraculous artifact… hell, maybe I am just average."
"But—"
He pointed at himself and stood tall.
"I'm someone who doesn't know how to give up—ever. Every day I get up, I can look the guy in the mirror straight in the eye and tell him I'm better than I was yesterday."
Mello: "…"
Jaden was the first to step up, eyes shining. "Whoa—Joey-senpai, that was awesome!"
"Huh?"
Joey immediately got embarrassed.
"Was it? Ahaha, I was just mouthing off—but yeah, I know I'm cool…"
Kira kept quiet, though he couldn't help thinking: Joey, what you said isn't wrong, but coming from a guy who rolls a die with at least three sixes on it, it's… less convincing.
Probably only the President can get away with calling him a third-rate hack.
But on the topic of never giving up, Joey really does have the right to speak. He's blessed by fate, sure, but in DM he also lost his way up, got stronger the harder he was hit.
A mere human standing against the Egyptian Gods, tanking a God Blaze Cannon from The Winged Dragon of Ra in a top-tier Shadow Game and still climbing back up on bonds and grit—when it comes to will and toughness, even the series protagonists across generations might not match him.
"Anyway, the world's saved. Mission accomplished," Joey stretched.
"I'm hungry," Jaden said, rubbing his stomach with a grin.
"Oh, speaking of which, since we're out, why don't we go visit Grandpa?"
Joey's eyes lit up.
"And grab a bite on the way."
"Grandpa?" Jaden tilted his head. "Your grandpa, Mr. Joey?"
"Not mine," Joey said mysteriously. "You'll see when we get there."
…
A short while later—
In a modest old card shop in Domino, a white-haired grandpa swept the floor, pausing now and then to thump his lower back with a fist.
"Sigh, old bones don't hold up anymore…"
Just then, as if sensing something, his eyes brightened. He pushed open the door and stepped out.
"Yugi? You're back?"
But the moment he stepped outside, he saw an old acquaintance: Joey, accompanied by a red-jacketed boy with jellyfish hair and a sunny, handsome boy in yellow, all smiling and waving.
Jaden: "Ooh, so this is the legendary Mr. Yugi's house!"
Kira: "Hello. Sorry to intrude."
Joey: "Long time no see, Grandpa!"
"Oh, Joey and friends—come in, come in," Grandpa stepped aside, then muttered, puzzled, "Strange, I could've sworn I felt Yugi returning just now. My sixth sense used to be spot on…"