When someone returns to seek revenge after spending decades in seclusion and training relentlessly, the cruelest thing you can do is not just beat them to show their efforts were pointless, but to do so and then ask, bewildered: Who are you? Have we met?
Zigfried Lloyd is currently facing just this situation.
He considers Kaiba Seto as his greatest lifelong enemy, his nemesis, the biggest obstacle to his family's and company's rise, and has expended every effort to overthrow Kaiba over the years.
Now he has come to realize it was all his own wishful thinking; the other side doesn't even remember him...
It's a pity that back then, Zigfried wasn't a particularly skilled player, otherwise, even if they'd only met once when Zigfried was very young, President Kaiba would never forget any skilled Duelist.
For instance, take Youyu. Even if several years have passed, even if Youyu turned to ashes, the President could probably still recognize him...
Hardly had the President recalled his identity, Zigfried struck a pose, ready to restore some dignity, only to be confounded by Kaiba's burst of "Ha Ha Ha," which directly bewildered Zigfried.
"To think it's you, this defeated dog," Kaiba continued to mock, "A loser who's been suppressed by the Kaiba Group from arms to the gaming industry, characters like you don't deserve to be remembered by me."
Zigfried (almost spat out old blood): "You..."
Words bore little fruit, defeated in the duel and already at a disadvantage, Zigfried lost his temper entirely, snorted heavily, threw a few impotent threats around, and turned to leave.
Not only failing to infiltrate the KC Cup, his intentions and movements were exposed. Thus, his current plans were all ruined, needing a complete reconsideration.
After Zigfried left, President Kaiba turned to his brother and said, "Mokuba, keep an eye on Lloyd Consortium's movements. Let this guy, and everyone secretly targeting the Kaiba Group understand, what kinds of consequences await them!"
"Yes, brother," Mokuba nodded.
With this arrangement, Zigfried's threat becomes much smaller than in the original story.
In the animation, as the boss of the KC Chapter, he could bring significant troubles to the Kaiba Group, mainly due to his concealed advantages. The enemy lurked in darkness, while the Kaiba stood in the light, even unaware of the opponent's identity.
However, with prior precautions taken by Kaiba's side now, though Zigfried will certainly continue to stir up trouble, the threat is not as great.
Once the KC Cup Grand Prix concludes, acquiring their fallen Lloyd Consortium shouldn't be a difficult affair for Kaiba Company.
Youyu has at least helped Kaiba Company remove a significant thorn. Zigfried Lloyd is proficient in duels and hacking technology, if truly left unchecked to stir in the shadows, this very juncture might see Kaiba Company inadvertently run aground.
Yet, regarding this, President Kaiba shows no signs of gratitude at all, instead turning to glare at Youyu with a "humph," a flick of his coat with no further words and walks away.
But Youyu is already accustomed to it. After all, that's just how the President is; when he owes you, he pulls a long face without a word, but actually deep down he remembers it more clearly than you do...
However, Kaiba had barely taken two steps, when he paused momentarily, suddenly recalling something.
"That card deck developed by Zigfried, the 'Valkyrie' series," Kaiba coldly said to Mokuba, "Once we've dealt with their Lloyd Consortium, get a set prepared for our company's card inventory."
Youyu secretly plotting how to steady Zigfried's "Valkyrie" for himself, raised his head in surprise.
"!"
He had just been contemplating that the Valkyrie card deck's strength presently seemed passable, with several animation cards inside strong enough to resemble Fake Cards. More importantly, the Valkyrie ladies, with their cool, revealing outfits were sure to appeal to those silly players.
While Youyu was still scheming to find an opportunity to obtain them, President Kaiba resolved it in one sentence.
If it enters the Kaiba Company Deck, doesn't that pretty much equivalate to me owning them?
President Kaiba is generous!
...
In merely half a day, Youyu saw the video produced by the famous YouTuber Tun Ma Seto on the player forum, showcasing his duel with Zigfried.
Under the creator's consistent stellar editing, music choices, and crucially, the captivating commentary, the video's views soared, reaching the six-digit mark within less than an hour post-release.
The thread below was flooded with eager player comments and replies.
"Greedy developers, take my stones and shut up already!"
"When's the wife's card pack going to be available?"
"My roommate desperately wants to draw a Chocolate Magician Girl before he dies..."
Youyu was very satisfied with the advertising effect, extremely satisfied indeed.
Of course, nonetheless, he didn't intend to launch the Magician Girl card pack immediately.
Firstly, because he hadn't yet warmed up to the card deck, and the stock wasn't very plentiful.
Secondly, because he'd only recently updated the The Six Samurai card pool, and its sales were still thriving.
After all, players need time to grind and gather resources.
Considering all this, Youyu suddenly thought Zigfried is actually a useful tool.
In truth, this guy's dueling skills aren't bad; finding a durable opponent who provides good entertainment in duels isn't easy.
"If only he could come more often," Youyu thought in admiration.
Truly successful people should be tenacious, standing up wherever they fall.
How could Zigfried lose once and then stop battling?
If he doesn't accept it, he can come and challenge a few more times. Youyu can switch decks and crush him a few times, while also promoting several decks along the way.
Ah, whatever, whatever, he's really a useless villain.
Youyu shook his head, expressing regret.
...
With Jie Ke out of the way, the KC Cup officially commenced.
First, in order to decide who can go to Kaiba Land for the finals, preliminary rounds were held worldwide over two days.
Only those duelists acknowledged by Kaiba Company with a certain level of skill could qualify for the competition.
Of course, troublemakers like Zigfried Lloyd were directly disqualified by the organizers.
What surprised Youyu was that he had obviously already informed President Kaiba, saying that Jie Ke had a younger brother using an alias, named Reyn Wilson, who might use an alias to enter the competition, and suggested denying entry...
...However, President Kaiba didn't listen.
The president had reviewed the resume and participation history of Jie Ke's brother in various duel tournaments and seemed to think this kid was different from his scheming brother, considering him a "genuine duelist," so he graciously allowed him to compete.
"Scheming? If he dares to come, let him!" the president said with his nose in the air. "He'll only realize his own folly that way!"
Youyu: "..."
Alright then, since the president as the organizer said so, Youyu naturally had no objections.
Judai, who was staying at Youyu's place, became thrilled when he heard about the card tournament.
"Eh? KC Cup, huh? I think I heard about it when I was at Duel Academy," Judai mused. "How wonderful, I wish I could participate too..."
For card players, the cruelest thing is everyone playing with passion while you can only watch...
"Appearing in such a large-scale event, wouldn't that rewrite history?" Yubel in spirit form said behind him.
Yusei remained characteristically silent but agreed as well.
He had come back from the future because Paradox had altered the past and his timeline started collapsing.
Precisely because they didn't want this time-traveling journey to affect history too much, Judai and Yusei hadn't really ventured out much.
On this point, the two of them saw eye to eye.
But if you ask Youyu...
...He actually thought that compared to the original Yu-Gi-Oh storyline, history was already messed up, so as long as it wasn't a history-wiping change like Paradox's erasure of Duel Monsters, minor alterations didn't really matter...
However, Youyu did have a bold idea.
"If you want to check out the grand tournament, it's not impossible."
"Huh?" Judai's eyes lit up. "Does Youyu-sensei have a way?"
Youyu silently opened the contribution point exchange shop for faction battles.
He spent a million contribution points to redeem a Timaeus the Knight of Destiny card, and most of the rest on occasionally useful cards or Crystal Stones, though he still had plenty to spare.
This was where his leftover contribution points came into play.
Moments later, the two duel kings from different eras, Judai and Yusei, the Children of the Worlds, were each holding a bunny headpiece and a unicorn headpiece, looking a bit bewildered.
Judai voiced his doubt: "Wearing this... won't it look weird?"
"Not at all." Youyu waved his hand. "The finals are at Kaiba Land. It's an amusement park, so dressing up for fun is fine, right?"
Besides, there was one more thing he hadn't said.
Actually, even if you wore these things regularly outside, it wouldn't be a big deal.
After all, many people are wearing these on the streets now...
The KC Cup is about to start, and it wouldn't do to keep Judai and Yusei cooped up here forever.
Especially knowing that Paradox is lurking somewhere, always ready to cause trouble. With these two around, the tournament's safety factor would increase significantly.
If something else unexpected happened during the tournament, these two big shots might be able to help sort it out.
Since Youyu-sensei said so, Judai naturally had no objection.
He didn't mind dressing oddly, as long as he could join in on the fun.
As for Yusei, he had even less of an opinion.
Yusei said, you're all the bosses here, you call the shots, I'm just the newbie...
Following the boss's arrangement.JPG.