Yugioh [867-869] (Patreon)

Chapter 867 – A Final Wish

Mr. Stein leaned back against the corner, tipped his head up, and drew in a deep breath.

Then he looked up at the sky.

“As expected… I still lost.”

He shook his head, regret on his face.

Kira stood silently in front of him for a moment, then walked over and sat down beside him.

“From how you’re talking, you already expected this result, didn’t you?”

He looked over at Stein.

Stein let out a bitter laugh. “You’re the undefeated king of the dueling world. The number of strong duelists you’ve beaten can’t even be counted. And I can’t even remember how long it’s been since I last set foot on a real tournament field. Do I even need to say how this was going to end?”

Earlier, Kira could faintly feel the influence of dark energy around Stein. He knew that was most likely due to Yubel.

But that fluctuation had already vanished.

He could tell that, for now, Stein was back to normal—or at least, he was free of the dark power’s influence.

As for whether his mental state was actually normal, that was another question.

Noticing the way Kira was looking at him, Stein waved a hand. “Don’t look at me so suspiciously, Kira-kun. I no longer have the strength to fight. I can’t… cough, cough… drag this ruined body of mine into causing you more trouble.”

As he spoke he shook his head, looking at Kira with a somewhat aggrieved expression.

“But you really are full of tricks, Kira-kun. The Dark Scorpion Burglars, and then the Storm Caller… you deliberately gave me those monsters, didn’t you?”

“You knew the effect of Scab Scarknight from the start, and you understood my dueling style. You purposely chose those mole-type cards for me, then turned around and used my own monsters’ effects to help you assemble your kill-combo.”

Kira neither admitted nor denied it.

“Haha, as expected of the Duel King,” Stein said. “Even if you say my classes are worthless, even if you say my dueling is outdated… in the end, it turns out the champion slacker who keeps cutting my class understands me best, understands my duels and my tactics more than anyone… cough, cough…”

He shook his head and gave a bitter smile.

“What a joke, huh.”

Strictly speaking, Kira didn’t think of himself as cutting class.

The school allowed free course selection. But it didn’t matter. He didn’t bother to correct or argue.

Mr. Stein was now truly experiencing firsthand why this sunny student before him was so famous around the academy as the Lord in Yellow.

Stein, who wielded Scab Scarknight, had played NTR decks his whole life, and yet he had never once run into a situation like today—enough to make a NTR player of ten years cough blood and convert to pure romance.

Now he’d probably have a psychological shadow and never dare to casually NTR someone else’s monsters again.

It was a bit cruel to do this to a professor who’d given so much to teaching, but the fact was, his teaching methods were outdated.

In the anime, other than Jaden, fewer and fewer students bothered to attend his lectures, until in the end almost no one went.

Even the academy’s most exemplary student, Alexis Rhodes, eventually started skipping his class. If even Alexis felt it was too dull and boring…

Stein looked up at the sky. “Looks like you’ve proven you were right, Kira-kun.”

“About what?”

“About me.” Stein gently closed his eyes. “Whether as a professor or as a duelist, I’m just… a failure.”

Saying that line seemed to cost him a tremendous amount of courage.

“No one comes to my class. I’m rejected by my students. It’s not because of you, or any other student. It’s because of me. Because I failed. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t live up to expectations, couldn’t become someone others needed, and so…”

He shook his head.

“I just desperately needed a reason to tell myself it was all someone else’s fault. I blamed you for it, but in truth it was never like that. This is my failure as a professor. Nothing more.”

Kira, sitting beside him like a friend chatting, patted his shoulder.

“Maybe I don’t like your class, professor, but a lot of what I said just now was just trash talk in the middle of the duel. You know—pros do that all the time to throw off their opponents, right?

I said your dueling is outdated and worthless, but that’s not really true. You’re a very good duelist, Professor. Just from looking at Scab Scarknight, you can tell how much expectation you placed in that monster, how much of your fighting spirit as a duelist you entrusted to it.

It’s a shame your body won’t let you keep fighting. If it weren’t for that, I’m sure you would have gone much further in the pro circuit.”

Stein glanced sideways at him, met his eyes for a few seconds, and suddenly snorted with laughter.

“I didn’t expect that from you, Kira-kun. To think that you could actually say something so comforting and encouraging.”

Kira: “…”

Is that really the image he had in his professor’s heart?

“Enough.” Stein shook his head and said blandly, “I knew I probably couldn’t beat you, but I still came. Partly because… I was egged on, that much is true.”

“Professor Viper, right?” Kira asked.

Stein smiled. “Looks like nothing on this island can be hidden from the King. So you already knew.”

He paused, then continued. “The other reason is that… at the very end, no matter what, I wanted to settle things with you. As a professor, and as a duelist.”

He picked up Scab Scarknight from his hand and smiled.

“In the very end, if I still hadn’t dueled you at least once, my old friend here probably wouldn’t forgive me.”

As he spoke, Kira really did see the spirit of Scab Scarknight appear as a faint illusion, drifting at Stein’s side, quietly watching him, eyes carrying a hint of grievance.

Kira frowned slightly.

“Professor, you said, ‘at the very end’?”

“Ah. That’s right.”

Stein slowly raised his head and looked at him.

“My time is running out. It’s probably all those accumulated injuries from the years of high-intensity matches back in the pro scene… They’ve become a condition that can’t be cured anymore…”

Kira was silent for a moment.

“KaibaCorp’s medical tech is extremely advanced these days. I don’t know what illness you have, Professor, but it might not be hopeless—”

Stein shook his head.

“It’s too late. This is the fate of a warrior. A fighter who carries countless expectations and heavy hopes will one day have no choice but to fall.

But before that…”

He took a deep breath and held the card out to Kira.

This time, Kira was genuinely surprised.

He looked at the Scab Scarknight in Stein’s hand, but didn’t take it. He just frowned. “Isn’t that your most important card, Professor?”

“It is.” Stein nodded, smiling. “I’ve heard the Duel King loves to collect the cards of his defeated opponents as proof of his victories, isn’t that right?”

Kira shook his head and pushed Stein’s hand back.

“Not this time. Not yours, Professor.”

“That only makes it more necessary for me to insist.” Stein said seriously, “I told you, I’m finished. And even if I do luck out and keep this life, with this body, it’ll be almost impossible for me to ever return to the competitive field.

But I don’t want, and I can’t allow, Scab Scarknight to go down with me. He’s a warrior. He should return to the arena—no, I want him to stand at the very top of the world.

And among all the people I know, only you, Kira-kun, are capable of that. So, as your professor’s final wish… please. I’m begging you, will you accept him?”

Kira looked at the card he was offering, then at the sincere look in his eyes.

After thinking for a moment, Kira reached out and took it.

“Alright.”

Chapter 868– The Conglomerate’s Spy

“One useless pawn after another…”

Professor Viper shook his head and shut off the screen.

Stein was the best piece he’d found at this academy.

The man had harbored vast darkness in his heart for years, always desperately suppressing it. With that much built-up negativity, it only took a little guidance to turn him into a very convenient pawn.

More importantly, he was a former professional duelist—decent strength, plenty of experience. If even this guy couldn’t force out the opponent’s true power, then there probably weren’t many people in the world who could.

“Fine. Looks like I’ll have to take the field myself.”

Viper snorted. He turned off the device in front of him and looked down at his right hand.

The monitor had gone dark, and the lights in the facility were all shut off. In the endless darkness, the only source of light was his right hand, glowing red, flickering on and off.

From that luminous outline, it didn’t quite look like a human arm…

Viper stared at it, lost in thought. In his eyes, a boy wrapped in that radiance seemed to appear, beaming brilliantly at him.

“Just a little more. Just a little bit…”

“Soon, we can be together again. Forever.”

The boy’s childish voice said.

“Yes… just a little more.”

Viper murmured.

Those painful memories, and that utter despair from back then, all surged up again at once.

His child. The child who used to be so bright and lively. Who loved dueling so much, who dreamed of growing up to become a duelist himself…

But he never got to grow up.

Viper’s memories of his child were forever frozen at that one bloody, mangled instant, and the deck cards scattering through the air.

He closed his eyes and clenched his fist.

“Just a little more, and we can be together forever.”

He’d only taken a few steps when his expression suddenly changed.

“Who’s there?”

Someone had broken in.

Viper was inwardly shocked. Even though this research facility was just a temporary base, he had still set up layer upon layer of security. Even a mosquito shouldn’t have been able to get in unnoticed.

The first person he thought of, naturally, was the Duel King—the greatest threat on this island.

But when he turned around, it seemed it wasn’t.

“For a professor at Duel Academy, your senses are surprisingly sharp.”

A man’s amused voice sounded. Then a red-haired young man with glasses strolled out of the darkness and appeared before Viper.

“Adrian Gecko?”

Realizing it wasn’t the Duel King, Viper’s taut nerves relaxed a bit, and he let out a hearty laugh.

“How interesting.”

“Oh?” Adrian raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve long heard the rumors: the Gecko Conglomerate has a shadow—their invisible hand, a super-spy who can infiltrate anywhere and accomplish any task. But who would have thought?”

Viper looked Adrian up and down with a playful expression.

“That he’d actually be the young master of the Gecko family himself.”

Adrian smiled and pushed his glasses up. “I’m troubled too, you know. There’s no one else in the world as qualified for the job as I am.”

“You’re certainly confident.”

Viper narrowed his eyes.

“So that means you’re not just here as a representative of Duel Academy’s branch campus. I’m guessing the Gecko Conglomerate has its fingers in this as well?”

“You could put it that way.” Adrian said coolly. “Since we’ve laid it all out, that makes things easier. I won’t beat around the bush.”

He reached a hand out toward Viper.

Viper frowned.

“The card,” Adrian said bluntly. “That spirit. We want it.”

“Oh?”

Viper clasped his hands behind his back and gave a cold smile.

“So you people know about ‘her’ existence.”

“Don’t underestimate the intel network of a top-tier conglomerate.” Adrian smiled. “An extraterrestrial visitor—a fallen object from outer space. And within the wreckage, a spirit was found, evaluated as possessing power of the highest rank. It’s said…”

He paused, his gaze turning colder.

“It’s said she can even do something like bring the dead back to life. Isn’t that right?”

Viper’s smile vanished, and he met Adrian’s eyes with a frosty stare.

After a while, he said, “That has nothing to do with you, Adrian Gecko.”

“I figured it wouldn’t be that easy.”

Adrian said.

“Originally, since this was about taking a card, I thought I should resolve it in the proper way—a duel. But then I realized: you’re the kind of man who’ll stop at nothing to reach his goal, and you have that dangerous spirit’s power. A duel would only put me at a disadvantage.”

Viper: “So?”

Adrian had already started to strip his jacket off.

He took off his outer clothes, revealing a solid, well-defined musculature beneath that bookish exterior, and took a grappling stance.

“Don’t be fooled by appearances,” Adrian grinned. “I’ve got plenty of confidence in my physical strength.”

Viper snorted, took off his own jacket, assumed a fighting pose, and crooking a finger at him in invitation.

And just like that, the two musclebound card players started throwing punches in the pitch-black underground.

With a shout, Adrian stepped in, swinging a punch at Viper’s face. Viper focused, reaching out to grab it—but the punch was just a feint. His hand closed on empty air.

Adrian’s right leg whipped up in a sudden kick that slammed into Viper’s side.

Scoring the first hit, Adrian’s face showed a flash of triumph. But before he could smile, he suddenly felt a powerful force surge out from the spot his leg had hit.

It was like a sideways gravity hammering into his torso—an invisible blow that seemed to shove his organs out of place, sending him flying backward to crash hard against the wall.

Adrian spat a mouthful of blood. When he tried to get up, he realized his arms and legs were pinned to the wall. His whole body wouldn’t move.

“Wha…?”

Adrian looked up, stunned.

The intel had clearly said that the spirit in Viper’s possession was in a dormant state, and that without a duel it would be difficult for him to draw out its power.

“Don’t tell me this is how strong it is even while dormant…”

Adrian grit his teeth.

Then how powerful is that spirit, really?

“Fool.”

Viper sneered.

“You knew I carried Her Excellency’s power and you still dared to challenge me. How stupid can you be?”

Hands behind his back, he walked up to Adrian and looked him over—first his muscular torso, then his eyes.

Suddenly, he laughed.

“Young master of the Gecko Conglomerate. As a spy, a fighter, and a duelist, you’re quite the talent. But it seems you’ve got a massive shadow in your heart as well.”

“Get away from me.” Adrian growled. But he couldn’t resist at all.

“Don’t fight it, it’s alright.” Viper said. “Her Excellency can see everything, and she can soothe any pain. Tell her your suffering. Speak your wish. And then everything will—”

Before he could finish, Adrian’s fist shot out and smashed straight into his face. Viper took the punch full on, almost coughed up blood, and staggered back two steps.

He raised his head, staring at Adrian in disbelief. “Impossible. You were already bound by Her Excellency’s power. How could you…?”

Then a lazy voice sounded behind him. “It’s just the power of a half-crippled spirit. Breaking that much isn’t difficult.”

Viper turned. This time, he finally saw, with his own eyes, the one person on this island he considered his greatest obstacle.

Fujiki Kira.

Chapter 869 – Viper’s Secret

“Duel King.”

Professor Viper’s gaze went cold in an instant.

He had chosen this abandoned lab as his base specifically to avoid prying eyes. Or more accurately, to avoid Kira’s eyes.

Now that the guy was standing right here, all that hiding felt pointless.

Viper was irritated.

What the hell?

He’d set up some pretty advanced alarms in here, and yet people kept walking in like it was his own bathroom—come and go as they pleased. Didn’t that make all his preparations look stupid?

“Mr. Kira.”

Adrian sucked in a breath, finally shaking off the oppressive weight of the dark power. “What brings you here?”

“I was planning to keep watching from the sidelines a bit longer, but I didn’t expect you to move this fast.” Kira shrugged. “So I changed my mind. No more waiting. Let’s just lay our cards on the table.”

Hearing their exchange, Viper’s face grew even darker.

“So you two are working together, huh?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. We just know each other, that’s all.”

Kira said.

“I was going to observe you for a while longer, since I still haven’t found where that spirit actually is…”

He glanced around the room.

“There’s a faint trace of her here, but this isn’t the real thing.” Kira’s eyes fell on Viper. “Just the portion of her power that’s lingered on you, right?”

In the original timeline, Yubel should have been right here in this lab, in this very room, inside something like a big culture tank.

But with the worldline having shifted, she wasn’t here. In fact, Kira couldn’t feel her presence anywhere in the whole facility.

Viper frowned deeply.

So even the Duel King was here for that spirit.

“Oh? It seems the professor’s spirit really is as special as the rumors say,” Adrian remarked. “Special enough for even Mr. Kira to be interested.”

Viper shot him a sideways glare. “And the Gecko Conglomerate isn’t trying to muscle in?”

“That was before,” Adrian said, folding his arms with a slight smile. “But the situation’s changed. Since it’s something Mr. Kira has his eye on, I won’t embarrass myself. The Gecko Conglomerate is withdrawing from this matter.”

Viper frowned again.

That was unexpected. Adrian didn’t strike him as someone who’d give up easily. The Gecko family’s shadow had a notorious reputation; they said he’d stop at nothing to achieve his goal, and that once he targeted something, he never let it go.

And yet now, just because he learned the King was interested, he chose to give up without even trying?

What Viper didn’t know was that Adrian had already faced Kira once, and they’d come to a rather special agreement.

In the past, Adrian had been willing to dirty his hands for the sake of his family and conglomerate. But now, his mindset was different.

Kira had shown him a new path—a way to reclaim a forgotten dream and find his own true value. The family and the company no longer mattered to him.

This mission to take Yubel had just been a job for the family’s interests. To Adrian now, it was meaningless.

Viper soon shifted his gaze fully onto Kira, his expression growing heavier.

“I see. Even the Gecko Conglomerate’s shadow is won over by the King. I’m getting more and more curious about what kind of unbelievable means you have.”

“I know your plan.” Kira said calmly. “You challenged me to a duel at the opening banquet, and used that as a springboard to hold a school-wide tournament.

You’re going to use those wrist devices to drain the students’ energy during their duels, to revive that spirit. That’s it, isn’t it?”

Viper: “!”

Even someone as battle-hardened as Viper couldn’t hide his shock now.

It was one thing if Kira knew about the spirit’s existence, or guessed that Viper wanted to revive it. But how could he know the details so precisely?

Don’t tell him those ridiculous rumors are true—that the Duel King can read minds?

It wasn’t completely unheard of.

Some powerful dark duelists with special abilities could read minds. For example, Maximillion Pegasus, the father of Duel Monsters, had possessed mind reading with his Millennium Eye, able to read his opponent’s thoughts.

“We don’t have to wait until the banquet.” Kira said. “If you want to play, I’ll play with you.”

He raised his Duel Disk.

“Right now?” Viper frowned.

“Of course.” Kira smiled. “And this isn’t just for fun. This duel, I’m betting that spirit on it. If I win, you hand her over to me.”

“And if I win?” Viper asked.

“Simple. I’ll give you exactly what you want most.” Kira said mildly. “I’ll take responsibility for reviving that spirit for you.”

Viper’s heart stirred.

That was his ultimate goal, the sole meaning he still had for living. He needed that spirit’s power to bring his dead child back to life.

“Fine.” Viper said in a low voice. “Then let me see how much truth there is in the legend of the King.”

Seeing the two of them about to go at it, Adrian wisely backed off to give them space.

He had always known Professor Viper was strong, and after getting flattened earlier he understood that, with that spirit’s power, Viper was even more dangerous than he’d thought.

He was very curious to see what would happen when two such powerhouses clashed.

Of course, before coming to the academy island, Adrian had absolute confidence in his own dueling. But after his duel with Kira that night, that confidence had transferred to the other man.

Now, Adrian believed there probably wasn’t a duelist in the world who could defeat the Duel King.

“Duel!” ×2

[Kira – LP 4000]

[Viper – LP 4000]

Kira took the first turn. “I’ll go first. Draw.”

He drew two cards without haste.

“I set one monster in face-down defense, and set one card in my back row. Turn end.”

Viper pondered. A simple opening like that didn’t reveal anything.

“My turn. Draw.”

He lifted his eyes, the light in them as sharp as a viper.

“If I don’t attack, I can’t test the waters… I Normal Summon ‘Venom Snake’!”

Thick scales covered a sinuous body. A serpent’s head jutted from its coils, fangs bared, tongue flicking.

[Venom Snake – ATK 1200]

“Venom Snake, attack the set monster!”

At his command, the rattlesnake lunged, body coiling around the face-down card. The card flipped, revealing a tomato bound so tightly in its coils it could barely breathe, struggling desperately.

[Mystic Tomato – DEF 1100]

“Mystic Tomato’s effect,” Kira said. “When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon a DARK monster with 1500 or less ATK from my Deck in Attack Position.”