Thief Keith walked away howling.
...
...
"So you went to the Elf Realm?"
A few minutes later, Keihei Kaiba, who had arrived at the ruins, looked at Yugen in astonishment.
After winning the duel with Keith, the Orichalcos Barrier immediately contracted, extracting Thief Keith's soul. Then there was a dizzying turn of events; after a cloud-piercing journey, Yugen quickly returned to the ruins.
Yugen landed and let out a long breath.
Finally back.
That was so close, good thing he was quick with his hands and feet, managing to pull off Thief Keith's Duel Disc just before being teleported away, hugging it tightly in his arms during the transport. He couldn't help but admire his reflexive speed in snatching the Duel Disc; if he'd reacted even a split second slower, he might not have had time to loot before being teleported away, and that would have been a big loss…
Keihei had also come over in person to confirm the situation after hearing about the incident at the ruins.
"Seems like it."
"And then you met people from New Doma?"
"So they're called New Doma?" Yugen scratched his chin, "How do they relate to the old Doma?"
Keihei said, "Currently no direct connection has been found, we only know that they also use the 'Orichalcos Barrier' and hunt duelists' souls through dueling."
Yugen understood: "So, was President Kaiba investigating them all this time?"
He seemed to instantly comprehend why a certain organization would have President Kaiba going through so much trouble to track them personally.
Eight years ago, Kaiba had experienced firsthand the might of the organization called Doma, and saw with his own eyes the power of the God of Orichalcos. Now the Three Phantom Gods were gone, and if the Evil God awoke again, he would naturally be the world's primary line of defense.
Even from a personal standpoint, this must have been a memorable hurdle in Kaiba's career as a duelist.
Because back when he faced the former leader of Doma, Dazi, he teamed up with his old rival, the Dark Game, to face him, yet still lost the duel, with his soul nearly devoured by the God of Orichalcos. It was only during the duel that the Dark Game created a White Card, scoring two consecutive hits, that they narrowly managed to turn the tide.
So in the end, it was Yugi who ultimately overturned Doma. Now that Atom is no longer around, if there is an opportunity to face the God of Orichalcos again, the president would certainly not miss it.
"The 'Judge' that President Kaiba mentioned earlier, is that New Doma's leader? Is it Dazi?" Yugen probed.
Keihei shook his head: "Currently its identity is unknown, only the codename is known. But I think it might not be him; someone else seemed to have awakened the Orichalcos power sealed by the Pharaoh."
Yugen tried to recall DM's storyline. At the end, Atom used his "Heart's Container" to seal the God of Orichalcos, representing the world's dark will. Dazi, seeing the end was near, sank with the ancient Atlantis ruins into the sea and disappeared. It seemed he exited the stage, but there was always the possibility of his return since he was not confirmed dead.
"But even Keith joined New Doma, didn't expect they are now attacking the Elf Realm…," Keihei said, "You really managed to beat him, huh."
Yugen nodded in agreement: "Yes, yes, it was truly precarious, I was very fortunate to win in the end. I think it's because my card deck isn't strengthened enough; if only I had more rare cards…"
Keihei scratched his head: "But we've already shown you all the cards in the branch's inventory last time... Oh right!"
He slapped his forehead as if something came to mind: "You're a student at Duel Academy, right? Then showing you 'that' shouldn't be against the rules."
"What?" Yugen was taken aback.
"It's the powerful rare cards just completed by the company, from the latest series not yet released," Keihei smiled, "Originally planned to be transported to Duel Academy.
However, the number of these cards is limited, and there will be a rush to get them once they reach the academy; buying one or two packs would already be good. Since you're a student at the academy, selling them to you first isn't against the rules."
The powerful rare cards planned for transport to Duel Academy, could it be...
Yugen immediately recalled scenes from the GX anime's early episodes.
There was an episode where shortly after the semester started, a naval fleet headed grandly towards Academy Island, with fighter jets escorting in the sky. The captain, looking all worried, carried a briefcase emblazoned with the Kaiba Company logo, saying "No matter what, this thing must be delivered safely."
His first reaction was thinking how surreal it was to use an entire fleet and fighter jets to escort a box of cards.
Upon thinking carefully, it seemed even more surreal since if someone really wanted to steal that box of cards, the fleet and jets might not be of much use.
After all, no matter how mighty a naval fleet's artillery would be, could it really beat someone in a card duel?
However, those cards were never bought by students, since Professor Chronos had intercepted them all before the students dismissed.
He bought all the cards and gave them to Chazz, telling him to use those rare cards to crush the infamous student Yuki Judai.
The VWXYZ series for which Chazz later became famous originated from there.
At this point, Yugen brightened up.
Chazz's VWXYZ series was very formidable in this setting. In the anime, Chazz showcased several support cards that hadn't been made into physical cards, such as the notably representative Continuous Magic [Interdimensional Storage], which seemed like an early version of the very powerful new card [Union Hanger] for the VWXYZ series released over a decade later.
Though the GX anime-limited VWXYZ might not be as strong as the physical card version that was later reinforced by new cards from K Society, it should still be quite prominent in this setting.
As for what happens if Chazz's cards get intercepted...
Well, that's not something he needs to worry about.
That series, while rare, shouldn't be as rare as some characters' signature cards. In the anime, when Chazz got shipwrecked and lost his original card deck, he had to patch together a new deck at the Northern Academy.
So theoretically, the VWXYZ given to him by Chronos should have been lost.
He indeed didn't use this series for a while afterward, but later on in the plot, he suddenly brought out this deck again. So, either he didn't take this deck when leaving the academy, or he bought a new one using the Chazz Group's money later.
"When the cards arrive in a few days, I'll let you know to take a look," Keihei smiled.
"Thanks a lot."
"Oh, you're welcome. But rather than that, you should worry more about the upcoming match," Keihei chuckled, "If you can get stronger, your brother would probably be happy.
If you're defeated in just a few moves at the competition, your brother might get really angry."
Yugen: "..."
Talking about this suddenly put him under pressure again.
Indeed, although there's no requirement that he has to win in the match, President Kaiba would probably be upset if he lost pathetically.
"Oh, by the way, the head of the research team here said they have some questions they want to ask you."
"Research team?"
"Yes, the team responsible for studying the ruins," Keihei said, "The development of the Chaos Warrior has been at a bottleneck in academia for a long time; the head believes this time has great potential.
Perhaps you'll be the first duelist to assist in developing a new power for the Chaos Warrior."