Academy Island, wilderness of the forest, a dark and windy night, just the right time to get things done.
The Black Scorpion group huddled together, moving through the underbrush and grass.
"Why did this school have to be built on such an island anyway?"
Zik kept looking around as he walked, unable to resist mumbling softly.
"It's so eerie and creepy."
Mina gave him a disdainful glance: "As a member of our Black Scorpion Thief Gang, being so cowardly is really an embarrassment to the gang."
Cliff adjusted his glasses, squinting at Mina: "Mina, there's a snake by your foot."
Mina's face turned pale, and she almost reflexively jumped away: "Ahhhh!"
Zik looked discontent: "You're supposed to be an elf, but you're not much better than I am in being afraid of snakes."
Mina: "Shut up!"
The big guy, Takaga, rubbed his belly, his eyes looking like he'd already wandered off to another world: "I'm hungry..."
Finally, it was Zarug, the big brother, who stepped forward impatiently, turning around: "I say, aren't we professionals? Can you guys act more professionally?
The boss's subordinates are becoming more powerful, and if we keep acting so amateurish, there'll soon be no place for us!"
The noisy thieves instantly fell silent.
Hmm... It did seem to be a problem.
In fact, they were already feeling more and more pressured. Yugen's elves were growing stronger, and heavyweights were increasing. They often felt like little shrimps caught in the middle...
"Wait."
Cliff suddenly spoke.
Zarug impatiently: "What now? I already said..."
"No, boss. I feel like I discovered something." Cliff's glasses reflected a cold glint, "There's someone else's presence."
The thieves immediately grew tense.
"I don't feel anything."
Mina lowered her voice. But her senses weren't as sharp as Cliff's to begin with.
"Is it the elf we're looking for? Should we...notify the master?"
"No, I'm afraid not," Cliff said softly, "It's the presence of a living person, not like an elf."
The thieves exchanged strange looks.
They were now searching an area within the academy's restricted zone, not far from the abandoned dormitory. Normally, no one should appear in this place.
Another intruder?
Recently, there have been quite a few intruders at the academy...
But since they were already here, they didn't mind taking care of an intruder for the master.
After walking in that direction a few steps, they suddenly heard a loud "ah" from within their formation. Startled, they turned around abruptly and saw that it was Zik who had cried out.
Zik had stepped on something unknown, and his ankle was bound by an energy tether, pulling him forcefully into the air, hanging upside down. Then a capsule-like object suddenly exploded, enclosing Zik completely within.
Everyone was shocked.
"A trap!?"
"This is...human technology!" Cliff said gravely.
Zik struggled desperately inside the capsule: "Human technology? But that's impossible, this...whoaaaa!"
Suddenly, the capsule released electricity, making Zik scream in pain.
"Zik!"
While everyone was alarmed, doubts also arose in their minds.
Can human technology actually harm elves?
While they were stunned, footsteps sounded in the forest ahead.
A dark figure slowly walked out.
...
...
Within a day, rumors spread.
It was said that Professor Kobra from another school and the Duel King of this school had a disagreement due to differing educational philosophies, leading them to immediately draw their cards and duel. As a result, the Master of the Yellow Robe sent the overconfident external professor straight to the ICU, and the person hasn't woken up yet...
"People really like spreading rumors these days."
Yugen shook his head repeatedly in his laboratory, expressing dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs.
"They keep spreading false statements, tarnishing other people's reputations."
Making it sound like he's some kind of unpardonable demon, the tyrant of the academy, using card games to eliminate all opposition...
Mitsuzawa and Asuka stood by, watching Yugen complain while fiddling with a deck of cards that seemed to have been taken from Professor Kobra's Duel Disc, exchanging glances.
They both thought it was really unconvincing for him to say such things while holding the spoils of victory...
It was true that Professor Kobra ended up in the ICU. But truth be told, Yugen insisted he did nothing this time.
They did have a Dark Duel, but it was initiated by Professor Kobra. Yugen never used his own powers to inflict real damage, and it wasn't him who dealt the heavy blow in the end, it was Yubel.
Ever since Professor Kobra discovered Yubel, who had fallen back to Earth from space, he had essentially become Yubel's puppet. Once he lost his usefulness, he turned from a puppet into Yubel's sustenance.
Yubel possesses the ability to unleash the darkness within people's hearts, and she enjoys nurturing and feeding on this darkness once it grows strong enough, restoring her power.
In the original story, she nurtured Ammon and guided him to find his path as a king in the Otherworld for the same purpose. However, that time, Sister Yubel played too far and almost got herself countered by Ammon assembling Exodia.
Yugen was indeed browsing through Kobra's card deck at the moment.
Actually, speaking of card decks, Professor Kobra's Snake Venom Card Deck was quite useless... Alright, calling it the Snake Venom Card Deck's fault is a bit unfair; it's more accurate to say it's the Reptile Race's issue as a whole.
This point is evident from the fact that the Reptile Race, despite having a powerful card like "Snake Rain," is still languishing.
But even though the card deck wasn't great, the strength of Kobra's big monster couldn't be denied.
Poisonous Snake God Vino Minaka.
"Anyway, it's still quite a remarkable card we've acquired this time,"
Thousand Gold chuckled from beside him, holding an umbrella.
"Looks like our team is gaining another formidable character."
"Yeah, full immunity, high attack, rule-based victory," Yugen nodded, "If not for the extremely difficult summoning condition, it would indeed be close to invincible."
At that moment, the card deck emitted a faint muffled sound, and a transparent flame flashed, as if expressing dissatisfaction.
That was the Tamashi Lava Demon God, who was usually lurking from the sidelines.
Yugen laughed: "Of course, it still can't beat my Tamashi Lava Demon God. Full immunity is nothing impressive."
The flame extinguished, seemingly satisfied with the confirmation.
Although the Poisonous Snake God is hard to handle, Yugen did think of a couple of possible practical constructions. Besides being devoured by the Lava Demon God, summoning this thing brings quite a strong suppressive force...
"Hmm?"
He sensed something and took out a card deck from the card holder at his waist, drawing a few cards related to the Black Scorpion Thief Gang.
These guys were out on a job, but their main cards were still with Yugen. This was to prevent any mishaps and to allow remote communication with Yugen through the cards.
"What, did you find something?" Yugen asked.
"Boss!"
Zik's card started vibrating the most, babbling incomprehensibly.
"Rescue! Rescue! Rescue!"