Clatter, clatter…
The classic Dark Duel defeat: Yubel dropped to her knees, and the cards in her Deck sprayed out of her Duel Disk, scattering across the ground.
Yubel shut her eyes in despair.
She lost.
In that moment, countless images seemed to flash back uncontrollably before her eyes.
It looked like some ancient castle. She and Jaden, clad in armor, held hands and vowed never to betray each other.
They rode side by side across battlefields; old comrades fell one after another around them. In the end, beneath the dying light of the apocalypse, the battlefield was filled with spears and swords, corpses everywhere—until only the two of them remained.
She seemed to hear her own voice.
"We promised. No matter which life, no matter what world… I will find you."
"We will always, always be together. Even death a thousand times will not separate us."
It seemed… that in this life, she couldn't do it.
But she tried.
Who could've imagined there'd be such a demon king at Duel Academy? This time, even she couldn't turn the tide.
Yet she kept her eyes closed and waited.
Until she felt the duel barrier vanish. Cold rain struck her face and body again. A chill that seemed to seep into her bones made her shudder, snapping her back to awareness.
She cautiously opened her eyes and looked around in confusion.
She's… alive?
It took several seconds before she could accept the unbelievable truth.
That had definitely been a Dark Duel. And the opponent she faced had possessed considerable dark power. Losing to such a monster should've meant no chance of survival.
So she'd already let go of her last shred of hope and waited for death to arrive. But death never came.
Yubel lifted her head blankly. Rain slid down her face and body. She looked at the man before her. His Duel Disk had already been put away, and he stood there unhurried. Behind him, an unusually beautiful black-dressed girl with skin pale enough to seem inhuman held a black umbrella over him.
After hesitating for a long time, Yubel finally spoke.
"Why didn't you kill me?"
Kira looked at her as if speechless.
"You made it so melodramatic—like I'd be separating you two forever. If I killed you, wouldn't that make me the true villain?"
"Huh?" Vampire Fraulein chimed in, grinning. "So, Master, you think you aren't already?"
"Cough, cough."
Kira cleared his throat.
"Like I said—I'm Jaden's friend. I hope he gets the best. If you're part of his fate, I don't want to erase you."
He paused, his expression turning colder.
"But that's only 'don't want to.' It doesn't mean I won't do it if necessary."
Yubel said nothing.
Having just walked through the gates of death and already prepared herself to die, then suddenly being alive again, Yubel immediately adjusted her attitude and became a lot more obedient.
"Simply put: you can go back to find Jaden. I won't stop you," Kira said calmly. "If you insist that the best way to express love is to hurt each other, then go ahead.
That's between you and Jaden. You two can resolve it yourselves."
From the beginning, Kira had no intention of interfering in Jaden and Yubel's grievances. As he said, this was a matter for the two reincarnations themselves. And he believed the current Jaden could handle it.
The reason he stood here, appearing in front of Yubel, was only to warn her.
"But if you let this grudge spill onto people who have nothing to do with it," Kira's voice turned stern, "if you harm the people around Jaden or threaten this academy's safety—then I'm sorry.
I've already warned you: my tolerance has limits. The next time we stand on a duel field, what awaits you won't be just a judgment."
Yubel fell silent.
Indeed, after that duel she had realized: he wasn't joking.
In her current state she was absolutely not his match. Even if she recovered further, she might still not be able to handle him.
This guy was unusually strong… and not only that, he seemed to know her.
Even her new evolutions in space—stage two "Terror Incarnate" and stage three "The Ultimate Nightmare"—forms that should never have been shown to anyone and couldn't possibly have been known in advance… he seemed to know them too.
That was terrifying.
Mind reading? Precognition? Or some other ability that could see through opponents?
Any of those would be enough to prove how frightening he was. If possible, Yubel no longer wanted to provoke him at all.
But her expression twisted, and she still struggled for a moment.
"But I can't allow my Jaden to be taken by someone else!"
Yubel's face turned savage as she gritted her teeth.
"You—and all those other people around him… look! While I was gone, how many friends has he made!?"
"I never approved that!" she raved. "He's mine! I'm his only friend! Anyone extra has to be eliminated…"
Kira nodded.
"Alright. Looks like negotiations failed—we can't come to an agreement."
He raised his Duel Disk.
"Then let's go again. This time I'll make sure you die for real."
Yubel's expression changed; then she coughed.
"Cough…Cough…"
"However… you're right. My grudge with Jaden has nothing to do with other people. I'll go settle it with him instead."
Kira smiled again and lowered his Duel Disk.
"That's more like it. As they say, couples fight at the head of the bed and make up at the foot. I'm sure you two can get past it."
Yubel didn't refute him, but the way she looked at him was full of resentment.
Damn it—if only I could beat him…
"Alright. Then first, to show your sincerity," Kira said flatly.
"Release the boy you kidnapped."
Yubel's expression shifted. She lowered her head and looked at her current body—Marcel Bonaparte, a student of the Yellow Dorm.
Then she shook her head.
"No. Without a host, I can barely move freely. It's too inconvenient. At least until after I find Jaden…"
Kira didn't speak. He simply raised his Duel Disk again.
"Fine, fine."
Yubel lifted both hands in frustration.
In the next moment, Marcel's body convulsed, and his right arm turned into a demon's claw. The demonic claw slowly separated from his body and dropped to the side. The moment Marcel lost the claw, he collapsed like a puppet whose strings were cut, slumping unconscious to the ground.
Yubel—now only a single claw—snapped angrily, "Satisfied now?"
"More or less."
Kira lowered the Duel Disk again and smiled.
"See? We can still communicate nicely."
Yubel was seething, but didn't dare vent it. She could only silently carve this smiling tiger into a thousand pieces in her mind.
"Don't worry," Kira said with a smile. "We'll figure out a solution for your body problem."