With one strike, he secured victory by blowing up the red pit and burning blood. The victorious Artificial Human Telekinesis King did not immediately vanish but stood with arms crossed in front of his chest, proudly tilting his head back and lingering for a few seconds as if savoring his hard-won victory.
Finally!
Soga no longer remembers when he last scored a kill.
Ever since joining his current master, he hardly gets any opportunities to appear throughout the year. Moreover, it feels like he is cursed by something strange; even when given a chance, he usually ends up as cannon fodder. Before this, his biggest goal was nothing more than "survive until the next round, and it'll count as a win."
But today the tides have turned… well, actually the curse hasn't been broken since he died quite quickly today. However, his master gave him more chances today, and although he died fast, he resurrected quickly as well, jumping back and forth between the underworld and the mortal realm. Instead of staying stubbornly on the field, this tactic disrupts the opponent's mindset even more.
More importantly, he finally landed the finishing blow!
This is enough for him to boast endlessly in front of that difficult Evil Emperor Gaius for a whole year.
But as a great person once said, happiness in this world tends to be conserved. When someone gains, inevitably someone else loses.
So it is now. Soga has reaped his happiness, while a sunny Gravekeeper has consequently lost theirs.
Although Yugen is not familiar with Lixid, he speculates from his own experience that this Gravekeeper elder usually enjoys his duels. After all, this person often starts games with three set cards in the back and passes the turn with the front empty. Whether he wins or not is uncertain, but he seems to enjoy dueling.
Trap Master Lixid has been tripping people up for a lifetime, and perhaps never has he been as frustrated as today.
He was instructed from above that he could seek guidance from the Duel King, not expecting to win initially. But even a loss wasn't anticipated to be so annoying. Now, Lixid already feels that he and this person don't mix well, secretly deciding that if possible, he will never again want to face the Duel King's expertise.
…Oh right, but he could encourage his master Malik to ask for guidance from the King.
No other meaning behind this, just that the King's dueling has a unique style, strong and distinctive, beneficial for honing a duelist's skills and broadening their horizons.
Although his master Malik was originally a legendary duelist, nowadays he hasn't been engaging in duels for years, and whenever he does, his opponents are merely small fry from a fishpond, resulting in nothing more than idle fish bombing.
But when facile victories accumulate, one's own skills may deteriorate. With this rare opportunity, he certainly hopes Malik will take the chance to exchange insights with a master to keep his skills sharp.
…Absolutely no other intention.
"Sorry about that, are you alright?"
Yugen retracted his Duel Disc and approached Lixid. At this moment, the enormous palace behind them had already disappeared. This palace was originally materialized by Lixid using dark forces to resemble the Royal Divine Hall, partially to catch Yugen's attention and draw him into the duel, and partly to gain initial advantage, ensuring his main stage support made him appear more imposing.
This isn't just for show. High-level duelists often duel for momentum. Many actions may seem meaningless, merely boosting style points, but sometimes those style points can overpower the opponent, making one's performance more stable and gaining advantage during the duel.
Of course, this refers to situations where both sides are within a certain level range. If the inherent strength gap between the two is too large, everything amounts to adding buffs that at most make the loss a bit more dignified.
Just like Lixid, although he initially seized the main-stage advantage through intimidation, under the suppression of the Artificial Human, he still had no leverage.
However, he maintained a good mindset, merely waving at Yugen, "I'm okay."
He took another breath and continued, "A duelist with the title of King is indeed worthy of the name. I truly am no match."
After all, Lixid himself is an Underworld person, having trapped countless people during his life, and repeatedly criticized for "winning unfairly." Yet he never cared about those words. In duels, only victory matters, whether by monster battles or immobilizing opponents with traps; what matters is winning.
If he traps the opponent so they have no cards to play, that demonstrates greater skill; where is the notion of unfair victory?
Correspondingly, today his traps were all arranged by Soga's family combo, plain and simple, leaving him nothing to say. Losing because the opponent is genuinely stronger, he won't begrudge or complain about losing unfairly.
"The Tomb Guardian Race's quarterfinalist from Duel City, Lixid, indeed has remarkable skills in trap tactics." Yugen remarked.
After exchanging mutual compliments, Yugen then said, "However, Mr. Lixid waited here especially for me; I assume it's not entirely for dueling guidance, is it?"
"Traveling from Egypt is quite a distance."
Lixid replied, "These past days, Lord Malik has had official business and has been staying in Tongshiyi with Lady Isis, so I accompanied them here.
However, both have been busy with official duties recently and couldn't come personally, hence sending me to invite you. They specifically instructed me that if circumstances permit, they will assuredly come personally."
"An invitation?" Yugen asked.
Lixid replied, "In regards to some troubles you've been encountering recently. If possible, we hope you could visit Egypt. There's something we'd like to show you, which might relate to the Descent Sect and the adversaries you've recently faced."
Lixid paused, turned his head toward the Descent Sect gathering site earlier, and then lowered his voice.
"You should have… already encountered the 'Evil God,' right?"
Yugen pondered.
He recalled that during DM's story, the Phantom God saga started with the sibling duo of the Tomb Guardian Race. Malik took "Osiris's Sky Dragon" and "Winged Divine Dragon of Ra" to set forth in Duel City, while Isis handed "Obelisk's Giant Divine Soldiers" to Seto Kaiba to counter her rebellious brother.
The Tomb Guardian Race guards not only the Pharaoh's secrets but also the three Phantom God cards. Even though these Phantom Gods no longer exist in the mortal realm, given the opposition between the Three Evil Gods and the Three Phantom Gods, it's possible the Tomb Guardians know a thing or two.
"The Evil God cards from back then, surely weren't all thoroughly destroyed, were they?" Yugen said, "Does the Tomb Guardian Race know some inside information?"
Lixid simply shook his head, "I'm merely a servant keeper of the tomb, knowing little. But I imagine Lord Malik and Lady Isis can surely resolve your doubts."
"Alright, I understand." Yugen nodded.
"I will attend the meeting."