In fact, despite how powerful Cyber Blader's third effect was, Asuka Tenjoin had only ever used it once in the entire anime. That time, her opponent happened to have exactly three Monster on the field, and she used it to break the stalemate and finish the Duel in a single push. So in truth, she had very little experience with that third effect.
But after watching Yugen today, she felt as if a door to an entirely new world had opened before her. Even so, she had a feeling that although the world beyond that door was vast, it was also extremely dark. Once she stepped through, she might never be able to return.
After thinking over the Duel for a long time, she finally came back to herself. Her expression turned complicated as she looked again at Yugen, who calmly put away his Duel Disk as if he had done nothing worth mentioning. When she first joined Yugen's team, she had not felt much, but now she was slowly beginning to feel as if she had made a deal with a Fiend.
If she stayed around a Fiend for too long, she might gain power, but she also risked being stained black by association. And once she was dyed in a Fiend's color, there might be no going back.
Finally freed from the torment of the Duel, Kohara raised his head to the sky and let out a long breath. Maybe he really was not suited for Duel after all. Maybe he should just go home and farm.
The next morning, at the Duel Academy Student Council, Seika Kohinata stared at Yugen in shock. "You found them already? You only heard about this mysterious Duelist the day before yesterday, and now you've already caught them?"
"Yeah. I already had plans the night before last, so I didn't have time and had to put it off for a day," Yugen said. "I only acted last night."
Seika Kohinata fell silent. So if he had been free that night, he would have gone out and caught the culprits immediately. Their Duel Academy Student Council members had been investigating for several days without making any progress, and this made them look painfully incompetent.
"Fine then, Detective Yugen," Senior Xinghua said as she sat back down. "First, on behalf of all the students of Obelisk Blue, thank you."
"Not at all. It's only what a member of the Duel Academy Student Council should do." Yugen waved a hand broadly, then smiled. "But if Senior insists on thanking me, then I guess I can only reluctantly go pick a couple of cards from the Duel Academy Student Council storage as a token of appreciation."
Senior Xinghua fell silent again. That really was just like him.
She coughed lightly and said, "I honestly didn't expect this mysterious Duelist to turn out to be a Ra Yellow student. But for a Ra Yellow student to defeat so many Blue elites, this year's Ra Yellow really is full of hidden talent."
Yugen felt there was nothing strange about that. In the ninja village next door, grabbing a random genin to beat up a jonin was normal too.
"Life is hard to predict. Sometimes strange things happen, and that's normal," Yugen said.
Senior Xinghua glanced at him and nodded deeply. "True."
You are the strangest one of all.
"But I really didn't expect you to bring all the stolen goods back," Senior Xinghua muttered under her breath. She looked over the Rare Card spread across the desk in front of her. They were all the Rare Card stolen from the victimized students.
Yugen raised a brow. "Isn't that just basic ethics for us officers?"
They had been obtained illegally and taken against their owners' wishes, so of course they should be returned. That was not really surprising. But when Yugen brought the cards back, Senior Xinghua's first instinctive thought had been, Huh? You're actually on the side of justice?
Up to now, every time Yugen came to the Duel Academy Student Council, he was either looking for a Duel or asking for cards. Combined with Senior Xinghua's own painful experience with Lava Golem plus Torture Wheel, she had instinctively placed him in the camp of the dark forces.
"Our Student Council will handle returning these Rare Card," Senior Xinghua said. "Once again, thank you on behalf of their owners."
"Not at all. It's what I should do. No need for thanks, I just have one small request." Yugen smiled. "How about this? Before the owners come to collect their cards, each of them can Duel me once. Just a friendly exchange. What do you think, Senior?"
Seika Kohinata fell silent again. What did she think? She thought he had completely given up on being human.
But Senior Xinghua only smiled faintly and nodded without much hesitation. "Sure."
After all, this was Duel Academy. A harmless friendly match was perfectly acceptable. Besides, she wanted to watch too.
The scene would definitely be very interesting.
"Of course, this trip was dangerous for me too," Yugen added, still sounding shaken. "Those two together were truly formidable. To uphold justice and order on behalf of the Duel Academy Student Council, I even risked my soul-like Deck, and in the end I only barely managed to win through a very dangerous battle."
Senior Xinghua narrowed her eyes. Dangerous? From what she had seen, if those two had managed to touch his LP even once, that would have counted as their victory.
Still, she did not expose him. She simply turned and called out, "Sato, bring me the storage key."
"Coming."
The student officer named Sato hurried over. Senior Xinghua said, "Student Yugen made a great contribution today. Take him to the storage and let him look through our inventory as a reward."
"Sure thing."
Sato nodded, but then remembered something and could not help asking, "Wait, which section is he supposed to pick from, and how many cards, Student Council President?"
"How would I know how many? Ask him yourself." Senior Xinghua waved her hand impatiently.
Sato stared with his mouth hanging open. Huh? That casual? What if this guy emptied the entire warehouse?
"Go on, go on," Senior Xinghua said with another wave. It did not matter anymore. She had a feeling that if things kept developing like this, then even if all of Duel Academy one day changed its surname to Yugi Muto, it would not be surprising.
"Student Council President is truly generous," Yugen said politely. Then he followed Sato toward the storage with light steps.
That was exactly the point. With a whole legal warehouse full of Rare Card to choose from, who would still care about a little stolen property?
Even though he had already received quite a few Rare Card as rewards from the Duel Academy Student Council, this was his first time entering the storage itself. Most of the cards here had once appeared through Academy Department channels, but many Rare Card had sold out and gone out of print, so they could no longer be bought through Academy Department. Yugen wandered through the place, sorting and taking notes as he went.
If something gave him the instinct that it might be useful, but he still could not think of an exact combo for it, he wrote it down for later. For now, he still prioritized cards he could use immediately. There was no rush anyway. He would probably have plenty of chances to come back.