Chapter 39: You Xuan's Effortless Favor

At the same time, elsewhere.

Rex Raptor was in a pretty good mood today. After holing himself up for several days, he had finally headed to the arena, where he regained his confidence and his feel for dueling by crushing a series of noobs.

Right, this is what dueling is supposed to be like. The previous string of losses clearly wasn't his fault.

After pulling off a seven-game winning streak, Rex left the arena feeling thoroughly satisfied. He grabbed some dinner at a local eatery, only to accidentally run into a fan on his way out.

"Ah! It's Rex Raptor!"

A young boy’s eyes lit up from across the street, and he came scurrying over. "I'm your fan! Can I get an autograph?"

Rex was secretly delighted. It felt like an entire century since someone last asked for his signature, which had led him to believe he was a has-been—though, of course, that might have had something to do with him not participating in tournaments or appearing in public for years.

"Consider yourself lucky, kid. I'm in a good mood today."

Rex happily took the autograph board the boy offered and scribbled his flamboyant signature across it.

"Thank you!" The boy took the board and turned to leave, looking thrilled.

"Hey, hold on. Don't be in such a rush." Rex grabbed him by the back of his collar and hauled him back. "You think you can just take my autograph and walk away?"

The boy was taken aback. "Huh? Then..."

Rex held out his hand and wiggled his fingers. "Money. Pay up. My signature isn't cheap. If you don't have cash, you can pay with cards."

"What?" The boy looked stunned. "Do I have to pay?"

"What's that?" Rex put on an indignant expression. "I am the one and only Rex Raptor! Do you think my autograph is really worth so little?"

"No... I wouldn't dare..."

A few minutes later, Rex walked down the street with a few new cards and a wallet in his hand.

"Tch, broke brat. Nothing of real value here..." he muttered, curling his lip.

In truth, he wasn't exactly short on cards or money; he just enjoyed doing this. It reminded him of his old buddy Weevil Underwood. Once upon a time, they had been inseparable, doing things like autograph extortion together... and, of course, getting beaten half to death when they got caught.

***

He didn't know where his old pal had ended up or what he was doing now.

As he snapped back to reality, he suddenly realized the atmosphere felt off. It was broad daylight, yet for some reason, the street was completely empty. No, it wasn't just that—the sky had darkened, and the heavy air was becoming difficult to breathe.

"Finally found you, Rex Raptor."

A rough voice echoed from a nearby alleyway. A man in a suit stepped out, a green light glowing in his eyes, wearing a uniquely designed Duel Disk on his arm.

Rex: "Who are you?"

"I am Fujimoto, the sworn brother of Onizuka, whom you killed."

Rex: "?"

Who was that again? Should he know him?

Rex looked lost, but Fujimoto gave him no chance to think, immediately activating his Duel Disk.

"Playing dumb won't help you! Enough talk. Dark Duel, commence! I will use your soul to pay tribute to the fallen Onizuka today!"

Rex: "???"

*Seriously, who are you talking about? Have I ever met them?*

***

Kaiba Land, Duel Arena.

As the duel AI's life points hit zero, the system lock finally disengaged. The armored shutters covering the windows retracted with a clatter, the roll-up doors rose, and sunlight flooded back into the hall.

The projected hologram of the AI remained on stage in a glitched state, flickering as it repeated, "Beat... *zzzt*... you... *zzzt*..."

"Is that AI okay?"
"It must be broken, right?"
"Yeah, it looks completely fried. How pathetic..."

The onlookers whispered among themselves. But soon, no one paid it any mind, as all focus shifted to Yuxuan, who had won the duel in such spectacular fashion and broken the system lockdown.

At least in the eyes of the audience, this "Yu-" named youth had transcended into a god. The AI had been equipped with Seto Kaiba’s deck data, and at least to the spectators, it had imitated Kaiba's thinking, tactics, and even his occasional cryptic, edgy dialogue perfectly. Throughout the duel, the AI had displayed the overwhelming dominance of the Blue-Eyes, yet this youth had deflected every move with ease. Most impressively, he had even managed to finish off the AI with the breath attack of its own "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon."

The students from the dojo, led by Senior Brother Sato Koji, had been filled with awe throughout the duel. From their perspective on the floor, they felt as if chilling winds were blowing across the arena, yet from the outside, they strangely felt a sense of joy watching it.

As fellow dojo members, they shared in the pride and could brag to others later that "I have a buddy like this." Yet, while they admired him, their hearts were conflicted. If even the legendary, power-house deck of the pinnacle of the dueling world could lose to their "dark-sided" junior, what would the future of the dueling world become?

The thought made them realize that as this new star, Yuxuan, rose, a dark, ominous cloud was settling over the entire card game world—a future that was concerningly dim.

Kaiba Land staff had already arrived to apologize to the trapped visitors and offer compensation while shutting down the system for repairs. Soon, someone from the company arrived as well—Mokuba Kaiba, Seto Kaiba's younger brother, led the team to assess the situation.

"Fujiki... Yuxuan, right? You're the one who stopped that duel AI?" Mokuba shook Yuxuan's hand. "Thanks to your intervention, I represent the Kaiba Corporation in thanking you."

Yuxuan waved a hand dismissively. "It's nothing. I just did what any duelist should do. Cash rewards aren't necessary, and I don't need any rare cards either. Really, there's no need to be so polite..."

Mokuba blinked in surprise, then let out a laugh.

"You really are an interesting guy. Tell you what, I'm heading back to the local Kaiba Corp branch, and the warehouse there should have plenty of card stock. Why don't you come with us? We'd also like to ask for the details of the accident and the duel."

*Hiss!* Straight to the Kaiba family warehouse?

"Oh, how can I? That would be too much trouble..." Yuxuan said, even as he was already following Mokuba, as if they had been best friends since birth.

"It's no trouble at all. The losses you saved us from are worth much more..." Mokuba laughed.

***

The students watched Yuxuan’s retreating figure, speechless.

Half a minute later, Sato Koji couldn't help but say, "Junior brother... why does he look so experienced at this?"

"Heh, you don't get it, do you? That's a talent in itself." Master Takeuchi watched the direction Yuxuan had gone, nodding slightly with an expression that suggested he was a student worth teaching. "You lot still have a lot to learn from him."

The students: "..."