Looking down at the unconscious body lying on the ground, Yumi let out a quiet sigh before glancing up at his Harpie Lady, who had dropped Koyo in a panic the moment Obelisk appeared.
Yumi looked back down at the man sprawled across the sand, then over at Raye as she appeared beside him and casually poked Koyo with a stick.
"I think he's dead."
She said it with complete seriousness before turning back toward her Master.
Yumi walked over and gave Koyo a light kick. A painful groan immediately escaped his mouth.
Yumi paused for a moment, then slowly pulled his leg back.
"...Still alive."
He kicked him again, just to make sure.
After that, Yumi snapped his fingers, and his Harpie Lady quickly flew back down from above. Her talons caught Koyo by the shoulders, and with a strong flap of her wings, she lifted him off the ground.
Raye then simply carried Yumi back toward Duel Academy princess-style.
With Slifer the Sky Dragon still protecting the academy, no other monsters dared to get too close to the building. Getting within range meant eating a Lightning Impact straight to the face, and even if they somehow survived that, they would still have to get through Slifer's massive body coiled around the academy.
At that point, there was nothing to gain from attacking the school. They would only be putting themselves at risk of being picked off by the other Duel Spirits.
Still, while the students were relatively safe from the monsters outside, the situation inside the academy was becoming increasingly difficult.
The rations had to be stretched thin to keep more than four hundred mouths fed, and nobody knew how long they would be trapped in the Spirit World before help finally arrived.
It had only been three days since the academy was transferred here, yet several students were already becoming irritated and dissatisfied with the amount of food they received each day.
Chazz and Jim had even stepped up to defend the ration storage from a group of students who were demanding more food for themselves, despite knowing that there was barely enough for everyone.
Yumi was completely disappointed in them.
Three days with limited food, and they were already complaining?
Pathetic.
Besides the first day, when Celina had practically forced him to eat, Yumi hadn't touched any food for two days straight. He had only been drinking water while giving the rest of his rations to his little sister, Kazuko.
The Kawakami Style required a tremendous amount of energy from its user. Even though Kazuko had temporarily stopped training, her body was still accustomed to burning through energy much faster than an ordinary person's, and she hadn't quite learned how to endure hunger yet.
Physical pain was a different story.
Kazuko had once survived getting hit by a car, stood back up, and calmly walked toward one of the hospitals owned by the Kawakami Foundation.
The workers there probably still remembered the look on each other's faces when the young lady walked through the front door with dried blood covering part of her face.
They immediately rushed her into the emergency room, only to discover that, aside from a few minor cuts, there was practically nothing wrong with her. Her bones and muscles were tough enough to withstand an impact that would have seriously injured an ordinary person.
As for the runaway driver who had panicked and sped away after hitting her...
Well, let's just say their subscription to life was canceled shortly afterward.
Their family even ended up putting up missing-person notices sometime later.
"Onii-san, you should at least eat something."
Kazuko gently pushed the half-eaten piece of bread toward her older brother.
"You don't need to worry about me, Wanko." Yumi reached over and patted her head. "I'm fine."
"But you ha-"
Before Kazuko could finish, Yumi casually shoved the half-eaten bread into her mouth.
"No buts. Even if I can still feel hunger, I can survive without food."
Kazuko stared at him with her cheeks puffed out, clearly unhappy with his answer, but Yumi simply turned his attention back toward the night sky.
By now, it was already the beginning of the fourth day since they had been transferred into the Spirit World.
And despite defeating that big lobster, things hadn't gotten any better.
If anything, the entire situation had gone completely off the rails compared to what Yumi vaguely remembered from the original timeline.
That was starting to worry him more than he wanted to admit.
Well... Now that he thought about it, he didn't even remember the entire story that clearly anymore.
It couldn't really be helped.
When he first came to this world all those years ago, survival had been his only concern. He had spent most of his time learning how to duel, improving his abilities, and figuring out how to survive in a world filled with monsters, magic, and all kinds of ridiculous supernatural nonsense.
As the years passed, trying to remember every single detail from the original works became less and less important.
Eventually, those memories faded into little more than scattered fragments.
Yumi had incredible dueling skills. He had the special ability possessed by the protagonists and final bosses of Yu-Gi-Oh, the ability to somehow print whatever ridiculous card he needed, and he had an army of Duel Spirits willing to fight alongside him.
Those were his cheats.
Unfortunately, he hadn't received some kind of super-intelligence or perfect memory that allowed him to perfectly remember everything he had ever seen in his previous life.
So...
Did it really matter that he couldn't remember all the details of the original story anymore?
Yumi honestly didn't know.
His current life was far more fulfilling than his previous one could ever have been.
He lived as a trickster, someone who was perfectly willing to lie, deceive, and manipulate others if it helped him achieve what he wanted. He was selfish, caring far more about the people he had formed genuine bonds with than strangers he had never met.
He wasn't exactly faithful to a single woman either, having no problem rotating between girls whenever the opportunity presented itself.
And he had ended up becoming a selfish, sadistic, narcissistic, egotistical...
And righteous duelist fighting for justice and peace.
Yumi stared at the night sky for a moment.
Honestly, without that last part, anyone looking at his personality would probably assume he was the villain.
And the worst part?
He couldn't even completely argue against them at this point, already being treated as a Hidden BOSS.
After comforting Kazuko and reassuring her that everything would be fine, she reluctantly left to return inside the academy.
Yumi then walked over to greet Jaden and Celina. Aside from himself, the two were currently among the strongest duelists in Duel Academy, so having them help guard the students was important.
"Tch! Those idiots really have a death wish or something!" Celina complained, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall.
"The remaining rations could probably keep us going for another five days," Jaden explained, his expression becoming more worried. "But I don't think some of the other students are going to last that long."
Only three days had passed, and some of the students were already acting like lunatics who had just escaped from a mental hospital.
Even Jaden, with his naturally optimistic personality, wasn't dumb enough to ignore what was happening.
The rations were becoming a serious problem.
"Then you two stay here and keep guarding the academy. I'll go outside and look for resources." Yumi said, already making up his mind.
He couldn't just keep standing around anymore.
Especially now that the enemy had obtained the three Sacred Beasts.
Slifer the Sky Dragon might be powerful, but without its Master fighting alongside it, expecting one Egyptian God to hold off all three Sacred Beasts at once was unrealistic.
And even if Slifer could somehow keep them away, that wouldn't solve the other problem.
Food.
If they continued sitting inside the academy and rationing what little they had left, eventually, people would start dying from starvation.
Yumi wasn't about to let that happen.
"Besides," Yumi added, turning toward the two of them with his usual confident grin, "if I can find something useful out there, it'll make everyone's lives a lot easier."
Celina and Jaden frowned slightly.
"Are you sure you should be going alone?"
Yumi simply waved his hand.
"Relax. I'm the strongest. I'm more of a threat than anything."
Celina rolled her eyes.
"That's exactly the kind of thing someone says right before something goes wrong."
"Then I'll make sure nothing goes wrong."
...
Before Yumi could leave, he suddenly stopped at the entrance of Duel Academy.
"If you want to say something, spit it out." Yumi spoke coldly, not even bothering to turn around toward the person who had been following him.
"Is that really how you speak to your family?"
Aki's calm voice came from behind him, carrying the same noble elegance she always seemed to have.
She stepped out from behind one of the pillars, her eyes fixed on Yumi's back.
"Last I checked, you don't even belong to the Kawakami." Yumi replied simply, still refusing to turn around.
Aki's eyes narrowed as her frown deepened.
She had been waiting for an opportunity to speak with him alone, and now she finally had it.
Although she had been ordered to bring Yumi back to the Izinski family, there was a part of her that had never been comfortable with the idea.
After all, Aki Izinski was currently the temporary heiress of the Izinski family.
She had earned that position herself by defeating every one of her siblings and cousins who had challenged her, proving to the family head that she possessed the strength necessary to lead them.
Yet the old woman had given her a completely different mission.
Bring back the discarded relative. Then hand the position of future head of the family over to him. All because Yumi had been born with the good fortune of awakening the Izinski family's long-lost power.
How was she supposed to accept that?
She had spent years fighting for her position, only for someone who had willingly abandoned the family name to suddenly appear and be declared the rightful heir.
Maybe it was because Aki didn't understand just how enormous the difference between them actually was.
Maybe she didn't understand what kind of monsters the Izinski family had been capable of producing back in ancient times, when their ability to command Duel Monster Spirits had made them one of the most powerful families in the world.
To Aki, Yumi Uzushi was simply another talented duelist. A very talented duelist, perhaps, but still someone she could eventually surpass with enough training.
She still believed that the distance between them wasn't impossible to overcome.
If she worked harder, trained harder, and pushed herself further, then one day she could defeat him.
She simply refused to believe that she, a young noblewoman who had been raised with every advantage imaginable, could lose to a commoner who had thrown away his own family name.
And that duel with Kazuko didn't count! She and Blair had teamed up to suppress her!
Turned it into an unfair two-on-one!
Blair: "Wait, I did what now?"
Kazuko: "Something about that explanation feels strangely incorrect."
Either way, because of her upbringing, pride, and confidence in her own abilities, Aki genuinely believed that Yumi was someone she could surpass.
She just needed to try harder.
"If that's all you wanted to say, then I'm leaving." Yumi said after waiting several seconds for her to continue.
"Duel me!"
Aki suddenly shouted as she rushed forward, raising her Duel Disk.
"I refuse to believe that you are worthy of that title!"
She couldn't accept it.
She couldn't accept that Yumi Uzushi, someone who had willingly abandoned the Izinski family name, could simply walk back into their lives and claim the position of heir.
She refused to believe that Yumi Uzushi was worthy of the title of Heir of the Izinski.
"Heh?"
Yumi finally turned around, staring at Aki with genuine confusion.
This first-year brat dared to challenge him for the title of Strongest?
Oh, right.
She hadn't gotten her beating yet.
That explained it.
Yumi had completely forgotten about her, becoming too bored to care about the first-year students to go and farm Spirit Energy from them. Besides, he already held a massive amount at that time, giving him less reason to seek them out for a one-on-one lesson.
So she had simply slipped out of his mind.
Apparently, she had taken his lack of attention as a sign that she was close enough to challenge him.
"Alright, then."
Yumi finally turned fully toward her, lifting his left arm as his Duel Disk activated.
"If that's what you want."
"DUEL!"
[Yumi, LP 4000]
[Aki, LP 4000]
"I'll go first! Draw!"
Aki drew her opening card, her eyes quickly scanning the cards in her hand before she made her move.
"I Normal Summon Rose Girl!"
She placed the card onto her Duel Disk, and a tiny girl wearing a dress made entirely of roses appeared on her field, a single rose held in her hand.
[Rose Girl, 800 ATK]
"Next, I activate Fallen Angel of Roses from my hand! By returning the Plant-Type Rose Girl on my field to my hand, I can Special Summon her!"
The small girl vanished from the field, replaced by a much larger figure.
A mature woman with pale skin appeared, her massive dark, leafy wings spreading behind her as she gripped a long, thorn-covered whip.
[Fallen Angel of Roses, 2400 ATK]
"I set three cards face-down. Turn end."
Aki placed the remaining cards onto her Duel Disk, and three large face-down cards materialized behind Fallen Angel of Roses.
Yumi simply placed his fingers on top of his deck.
"Draw."
He drew his card and glanced at his hand.
"Spell Card, Take Over 5. I send the top five cards from my Deck to my Graveyard."
The spell activated, and five cards were ejected from the top of his deck before disappearing into his Graveyard one after another.
"I Normal Summon and Special Summon Raye and Roze!"
Yumi placed two cards onto his Duel Disk.
Blue data gathered across his field, forming the two familiar figures of Raye and Roze.
[Sky Striker Ace - Raye, 1500 ATK]
[Sky Striker Ace - Roze, 1500 ATK]
"The conditions are a Sky Striker Ace and a DARK monster."
Raye and Roze looked toward each other before intertwining their fingers.
Their bodies began to glow as their forms merged together in a flash of light.
"Contact Fusion!"
A mature woman stepped out from the light, carrying the combined features of both Raye and Roze. Her long silver hair flowed behind her as she stood clad in black armor, countless ominous crimson orbs attached across her body.
A pair of black wings spread behind her back, revealing even more crimson orbs embedded within them.
"Sky Striker Ace - Gandora!"
[Sky Striker Ace - Gandora, 1500 ATK]
Yumi didn't give her time to react.
"Once per turn, I can pay half my Life Points to destroy every other card on the field!"
[Yumi, LP 4000 -> 2000]
"I activate-"
"It's useless!" Yumi interrupted immediately. "I already have three or more Spells in my Graveyard, so you can't respond to the activation of this effect!"
Aki's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Zero Horizon!"
The crimson orbs covering Gandora's body suddenly glowed.
In the next instant, crimson beams of energy erupted in every direction.
The entire field was engulfed in a massive explosion as every other card on the field was destroyed.
Yumi's golden eyes remained fixed on Aki.
"You take damage equal to the monster with the highest ATK among the monsters destroyed by Gandora's effect. And Gandora gains 300 ATK for every card destroyed!"
[Aki, LP 4000 -> 1600]
[Sky Striker Ace - Gandora, 1500 -> 2700 ATK]
"Battle!" Yumi waved his hand. "Gandora, direct attack!"
The crimson orbs across Gandora's body glowed once more.
"Giga Ray Ruination!"
A barrage of crimson beams fired across the field, striking Aki directly.
[Aki, LP 1600 -> 0]
The duel ended as quickly as it had begun.
Aki dropped to her knees, cold sweat running down her face as she stared across the field.
Her hands trembled slightly. She had known that Yumi was strong. She had heard the rumors of him and his siblings.
Everyone at the academy had admitted that he was the Strongest.
But hearing about someone's strength and actually experiencing it were two completely different things.
"So... those weren't... just rumors..." Aki finally managed to say.
Yumi simply glanced at her for a moment. Then he turned around and walked away.
By the time Aki looked up again, Yumi had already disappeared into the academy building.