[Incoming call: Keihei Kaiba].
Glancing at the caller ID, Yugen thought for a moment and answered the phone.
"Hello? Keihei?"
"Yes."
Keihei was at this moment typing rapidly in front of the computer in his office.
"Are you busy right now?"
"Not really... not too busy..."
As soon as Yugen said this, Keihei heard an unfamiliar voice shouting from the other end of the line: "Activate the Trap 'Blast Armor'! Destroy the attacking Monster during the opponent's attack declaration..."
Then came the lazy voice of Yugen.
"Then Counterattack Trap 'Thief's Seven Tools'. Pay 1000 Life Points to negate the Trap's activation and destroy it."
The opponent: "What?!"
"Therefore, the attack of the swiftly fleeing Zik continues, a direct attack."
"Ahhh..."
Keihei pondered for a moment.
"Are you dueling?"
"Yes." Yugen said casually, "Dark Duel, dealing with a dueling scum... but it's nothing, he's not much of a challenge. Just say whatever you need to."
"Uh, is this... really okay..."
Even Keihei was left speechless.
Making a phone call during a duel is already rare, but during a Life Bet Card period...
It's really unheard of.
I can only say Yugen is a person whose understanding transcends ordinary comprehension in all aspects.
Keihei: "If the timing isn't right, I can call back later..."
"No, it's fine, you called at just the right time. It's about to end, give me half a minute."
Yugen said casually.
"Zik's effect, when dealing battle damage, returns the Continuous Trap 'Call of the Living Dead' on the field to the hand."
"..." (slightly omitted)
Half a minute later, simply by listening to the sound, Keihei began to mourn for the opposite duelist he had never met.
He didn't know who it was, but estimated they should be a wicked person with many sins. Such crimes weren't enough to meet someone like Yugen and suffer such torment...
"Alright, I'm done here," Yugen said, "What's up?"
"Oh, it's nothing much. Just the matter we talked about previously about appearing at the opening ceremony of the competition. There are some details I want to finalize with you, like the exact time of your appearance, the theme of your speech, and whether you'll appear normally or air-drop alongside your brother..."
Air-drop? Like the president descending from the Blue-Eyes White Dragon?
Yugen pondered.
If it were before, he might have felt such a spectacle was too exaggerated. But now he seems to think there's nothing wrong with it.
"It's fine. Just wait a bit, I'll come over once I'm done here."
"Alright."
After the discussion concluded, the call ended.
After finishing the talk, Yugen hung up the call, and walked slowly to stand in front of the nearly lifeless Soul Eater.
Soul Eater raised his head with difficulty, looking at the person in front of him, only to feel that this person's face was largely hidden in shadow, momentarily resembling the reaper Satan.
His heart suddenly tensed: "You... what are you going to do?"
"Nothing."
Yugen slowly raised his hand, spreading five fingers toward the person.
"You've rarely encountered the extraordinary, gained power, yet you use it only to harm others, tainting the Duel itself. So, this power...
...should be handed over to the right person."
Saying this, he suddenly opened his eyes, and his opened palm became like a bottomless Black Hole. Soul Eater suddenly felt as if caught by an endless gravitational force, under a series of harsh screams, a stream of black energy was forcibly pulled out of his body by that gravity, a little bit absorbed into Yugen's body.
For about half a minute, until there seemed to be no trace left in that person's body, Yugen lowered his hand, and the dueling killer had turned into a shriveled piece of flesh, round eyes wide open with no sign of life.
Yugen turned and walked slowly out while pressing on the earpiece.
"It's done, you can come in now."
The Hanuo Knights, already on standby outside, swarmed in to clean up the aftermath. Yugen didn't stop, not even turning his head, as he walked out.
This time he not only took the Card Deck from Soul Eater's Duel Disc, but also absorbed its power—literally.
This was a new trick he learned from the ancient Alchemy Scripture that Takaga left him. A skill that can be used to loot, easily making oneself stronger by absorbing other people's power.
Through this method, even without Divine-level tools like the Thousand-Year Divine Artifact, without Divine-level Spirits like the Phantom God, one can still ascend to a sufficient level through absorption and accumulation.
Such a capability is not uncommon. Even outside the Alchemy System, many villains are like this. For instance, Yubel can repair himself by devouring the opponent's inner darkness through dueling, just as Little Lobster can use Dark Duels to devour the opponent's soul and power, bringing himself closer to complete resurrection.
It's just that such abilities clearly sound quite evil, not like tricks used by good people.
But it doesn't matter. Yugen also doesn't think he counts as a good person.
This is also why he began using the resources of the Hanuo Knights during this period to find Dark Duelists like Soul Eater. After all, some people are societal and dueling realm scum while alive, so why not let them be more valuable even in death.
Back on the plane, Yugen headed straight for Kaiba Company.
The Black Scorpion Five-man Team sat in the cabin, chattering noisily.
"I'm sure I took down one more than you!" Zik shouted.
Cliff laughed heartily: "Ridiculous, I clearly counted. You only took down five, while I knocked down six."
"You definitely counted wrong." Zik said confidently, "Besides, I took down the most crucial one. The Soul Eater's head is mine."
Cliff angrily replied: "That one was defeated in the master's duel, what does it have to do with you?"
"Then tell me who the master summoned for the final strike in that duel?"
Cliff was momentarily speechless.
He realized something. Zik was supposed to be the designated most cowardly in the team, otherwise he wouldn't be called 'Zik the Swiftly Fleeing'.
But since following the current master, discovering Zik's self-imposed LOOP with Call of the Living Dead and Executioner Demon Asura, his demeanor seemed to become somewhat arrogant.
Then matters escalated as the group began arguing over who should be the master's most capable Grand General.
Zarug pretentiously spun his Revolver, saying the strongest is to let opponents have no cards to play. His 'Hand Destruction' combination with the master can strangle opponents at the stage of possibility, losing cards before even dueling, who can be stronger than him?
Mina put her hands on her hips and said that according to this logic, her virus could destroy the opponent's Monsters even in the Card Deck, which is more devastating than Hand Destruction, isn't it?
Zik disagreed, saying that do you even know the value of Infinite LOOP?
Cliff, feeling overlooked by the new master, was unhappy, saying it's the collective strength of the Black Scorpion Group. He felt it was the teamwork to achieve Jackpot Pot 7's ultimate victory that was the strongest.
Takaga just stroked his belly, contemplating when the next meal would be.
Finally, the five brothers reached an agreement and felt five men united should be the master's most capable Grand General...
Until they turned around and found Senior Sister Silent Magician had somehow materialized in the cabin, watching them coldly.
Though her face showed no expression, one could amazingly read a certain undeniable authority.
The five little ones seemed to understand something, and immediately quietened down.
From then on, they never argued about who was the top Grand General again.