"Arghhhh!!!"
The spell of the Five Magicians bombarded viciously, clearing Paradox's last LP while also blasting him far away, making him roll on the ground for two rounds and immobilizing him.
"Yugi, you're amazing!" said his number one fan, Judai, first to cheer.
Yusei hesitantly looked at Paradox, who was blown away and lay on the ground like a slop, "This guy... is he okay?"
In his pre-timeline, Yusei had already battled a group called "Dark Signers" and witnessed the horrors of Dark Duels, having experienced the substantial impact of terrifying monsters like the "Earthbound Immortal".
In other words, Crab brother clearly knows now that sometimes playing cards... can truly result in death!
This blonde beefcake won't just perish in front of them from a card duel, will he?
"He's fine." said Dark Yugi, putting away the Duel Disc. "He's merely lost consciousness."
Although the dark power of the Millennium Pendant could easily take lives, since awakening in the present world, the King has almost never done so.
Even if initiating a Darkness Game, it mostly just puts the opponent into a coma as punishment. Extreme measures like Marik's reckless soul erasure are rare cases.
After all, he can't leave AIBO with an impression that he's a tyrannical despot...
"He'll be unconscious for a while, but should wake up soon." Yugi assured, "Once he wakes up, we can question his motives and intentions."
The four Yugi-alike associates gathered around, surrounding the seemingly unconscious Paradox. Right then, someone's phone rang.
Yugi took it out to see that it was Anzu.
"Yugi, where did you go? Are you okay?"
A high-frequency female passerby from a park outing, suddenly left behind mid-tour, called worriedly.
...Indeed, the King suddenly sensed trouble while accompanying her, impulsively ran off to duel Paradox without a word, leaving the girl behind...
As the King answered the call, he realized he'd completely forgotten about the girl while engrossed in the duel...
Seeing the King in a dilemma, Youyu stepped up voluntarily, saying it's okay, we'll handle this person's issues, you can go back first.
Yugi appreciatively nodded. After all, they're friends who connected through cards and traversed life and death together; he trusted Youyu. So Yugi bid farewell to Youyu — along with the two oddly dressed, seemingly familiar strangers — and made his way down the staircase.
Watching the King's silhouette disappear, Yusei couldn't help but exclaim: "No wonder he's the first-generation Duel King of legend; his strength is unbelievably fierce."
"Yeah." Judai nodded in agreement and smiled, "You might not believe it, but I actually dueled Yugi way back..."
"Huh? Judai senpai?"
"Yeah." Judai nodded, "Honestly, Yugi didn't even fight seriously just now. When he does, he's terrifyingly strong."
"You can totally sense that." Yusei nodded in agreement.
"Not surprising, he is supposed to be the strongest duelist across generations…"
Judai paused, perhaps suddenly realizing something, then added, "Oh right, and of course, Youyu's also incredibly strong; it's said he tied with Yugi during the first Duel City Tournament for the Duel King title..."
He turned his head, only to find that Youyu, who had been standing beside him, was no longer there.
Huh? Where is the teacher?
Looking back, he realized Youyu was... he was squatting beside Paradox, scavenging his belongings...
Judai wasn't surprised, just smiled, instead feeling a sense of reassurance, with a "as expected of my teacher" look...
First confiscated was the Duel Disc. Paradox's future duel disc, which could auto-shuffle and auto-search, was something Youyu had long desired.
Then he could let President Haima study it, to see if it could accelerate the progression of the Smart Duel Disc's development.
Next was the large D-Wheel at the back which had to be taken back too. Paradox relied on this D-Wheel, which had a mini perpetual machine inside, to generate real-time "Yusei Particles", enabling him to perform Synchro Summons across various eras.
Even without Synchro, this D-Wheel itself is a time-space shuttle!
Dragging it back would never be a loss.
Of course, Youyu didn't forget to pluck Paradox's "Malefic" card deck.
Youyu wasn't exactly interested in the Malefic Performapal Deck, and the Spirit Cards Paradox snatched from different eras had to be returned to their original owners — otherwise, the timeline would be in chaos.
Yet, that didn't prevent Youyu from first collecting a set of the Malefic series.
Speaking of which, Yusei's "Stardust Dragon" should have been snatched by Paradox too. That card definitely needed to be returned to Yusei.
First, Youyu searched through Paradox's additional deck cards, surprisingly finding only a few.
He opened them up, only to find, shockingly, that Stardust Dragon was not among them.
"Youyu?" Yusei walked up.
Youyu frowned, vaguely sensing something was amiss.
When Paradox and Yugi dueled, he felt something was off.
Paradox's "Malefic World" he played, and the Malefic Monster he summoned just seemed less impactful compared to when he last encountered Youyu.
If in the last encounter, the "Malefic Monster" Paradox summoned was composed of Spirit Cards he captured from various eras, this time, the monsters just felt like mere holographic images.
And even when Paradox was knocked down, it seemed he hadn't summoned the real ace beasts from the Malefic Deck.
It felt as if he had been restrained, unable to give his all.
Could it be...
Quickly browsing Paradox's remaining deck, Youyu confirmed that many crucial cards were missing.
Besides Stardust Dragon, there were also major beasts like Malefic Truth Dragon, Malefic Paradox Dragon from the animations that were gone.
Judai quickly noticed the issue from the teacher's actions, immediately stepped up, and removed the white mask from the unconscious Paradox's face.
With the mask off, they were shocked to find there was no face underneath!
It was a blank white slate, devoid of features, not even a line; hard and stiff like a brick.
"This is just a Stand." said Youyu, squinting his eyes.
He had underestimated it.
After the last confrontation, Paradox knew Youyu was a tough opponent and was aware that future Duel Kings Yusei and Judai had crossed time to pursue him.
Knowing the opponent might be cautious, Paradox naturally wouldn't foolishly charge in unprepared.
This was a diversion tactic!
Yusei's dragon mark on the back of his hand lit up again.
"He's begun to act." Yusei stated, "This time even more fiercely than before!"
Judai asked, "Can you sense where he is now?"
"President Pegasus of Illusions Corporation just arrived." Youyu said solemnly, rising to his feet, "If nothing goes wrong, in a minute, he's preparing to meet President Kaiba Seto."
Judai realized, "Could that future guy be planning... to kill two birds with one stone?"