"Duel King."
Professor Kobra's eyes quickly turned cold.
The reason he chose this abandoned laboratory as a hideout was to avoid drawing attention. Or more precisely, to avoid being noticed by Yugen.
Now that the other party had already gotten here, his concealment seemed a bit excessive.
Kobra felt a bit annoyed.
What the hell? He had set up a rather advanced alarm system here, yet people came in like it was their personal toilet. Didn't that make all his preparations look dumb?
"Mr. Yugen." Ammon took a deep breath, recovering from the oppressive force of the dark power, "Why are you here?"
"I originally wanted to wait and observe some more, but I didn't expect you to be in such a hurry." Yugen shrugged, "So forget it, I won't wait any longer. Let's lay our cards on the table."
Kobra's face grew even colder upon hearing their conversation, and he said in a deep voice, "Oh, so you guys are in cahoots?"
"Don't misunderstand, we just know each other."
Yugen said.
"Initially, I wanted to observe longer, because I still haven't found where that elf is..."
Yugen said, looking around.
"There's a bit of her aura here, but it's not her true self." Yugen's gaze fell on Kobra, "Just the power she left on you, right?"
In the original plot, Yubel should have been in this laboratory, in this room, inside a container similar to a petri dish.
But now the timeline had changed; she seemed not to be here. In fact, Yugen felt he couldn't detect her anywhere in the entire facility.
Kobra's brow furrowed.
Alright, even the Duel King came for that elf.
"Oh, it seems the elf in the professor's hands is indeed as special as rumored." Ammon said, "Even Mr. Yugen is interested."
Kobra shot him a sidelong glance: "Galem Financial Group wants to get involved too, doesn't it?"
"That was before." Ammon folded his arms and smiled, "But now the situation has changed. Since it's something Mr. Yugen is interested in, I won't humiliate myself. Galem Financial Group will no longer participate in this matter."
Kobra frowned.
This surprised him. He felt that Ammon didn't seem like someone who would give up easily like this. The mysterious spies of the Galem Financial Group had quite a reputation in the past, said to stop at nothing to achieve their goals, never letting go of anything they set their sights on.
But now, knowing that the king is interested in the elf, he decided to give up without even trying?
What Kobra didn't know was that Ammon had already had a confrontation with Yugen and had reached a special agreement.
If Ammon in the past was willing to be a shadow doing dirty work for the family and the financial group by any means necessary, his mindset had now changed.
Yugen showed him a new path, one that let him rediscover forgotten dreams and realize his self-worth. Now, family and the financial group no longer mattered to him.
His trip to capture Yubel was just a task assigned by the family, for the benefit of the family. But now it no longer mattered to Ammon.
Kobra's gaze quickly returned to Yugen, even more solemn.
"I see, even the shadow of Galem Financial Group is conquered by the king. It's becoming more and more curious what kind of incredible means the king possesses."
"I know your plan." Yugen said calmly, "You invited me to duel at the opening dinner, then take the opportunity to hold a school-wide duel competition.
You want to use the wristwatch device to extract energy from the dueling students to resurrect that elf, isn't that right?"
Kobra: "!"
Even a man like Kobra, experienced and having seen countless storms, could not conceal his shock at this moment.
Even if he knew of the elf's existence, even if he guessed that his goal was to revive the elf, how could he know the details so thoroughly?
Could it be true as those unreliable rumors said that the Duel King could read minds?
This isn't entirely outlandish; some powerful dark duelists with special abilities did have mind-reading powers. For example, Beckas J. Croverdo, the Father of Duel Monsters, had the "Mind Scanning" ability to see through opponents' thoughts before losing the Thousand-Year Eye.
"Forget it, we don't need to wait until dinner time. Since you want to play, I'll play with you."
Yugen activated his Duel Disc.
Kobra frowned: "Right now?"
"Certainly." Yugen smiled, "Of course, not just playing. In this duel, I'm betting on getting that elf. If I win, you have to hand over that elf."
Kobra: "What if I win?"
"Simple, I'll give you what you want most." Yugen said indifferently, "I'll help you bring that elf back to life."
Kobra was moved.
Indeed, this was his ultimate goal, even the only reason he was still alive now. He needed the power of that elf to bring his deceased child back to life.
"Alright." Kobra said in a deep voice, "Then let me see how much truth there is in the legend of the king."
Seeing the two about to battle, Ammon wisely stepped back to make space.
He already knew Professor Kobra's exceptional strength, and after suffering a setback just now, he realized that the elf's power Kobra wielded exceeded his estimates.
He was also curious about what would happen in the confrontation of these two strong opponents.
Of course, before coming to Academy Island, Ammon was absolutely confident in his own dueling. But after that night's battle with Yugen, that confidence had shifted to him.
Now Ammon believed that a duelist who could defeat the king probably didn't exist in this world.
"Duel!" x2
[Yugen, LP4000]
[Kobra, LP4000]
Yugen took the first move: "I go first, draw."
He leisurely drew two cards from his hand.
"Set a monster in the front field, face down one card in the back field, end my turn."
Kobra mused. A simple start; it was hard to discern anything just from this opening.
"My turn, draw." Kobra looked up, the light from his eyes resembling a serpent's.
"Anyway, without attacking, it's impossible to probe the depths... I summon 'Snake Venom Rattlesnake'!"
Thick scales covered its winding body, the head on the snake's body bared its fangs, hissing with its tongue.
[Snake Venom Rattlesnake, Attack Power 1200]
"Snake Venom Rattlesnake, attack the facedown monster!"
On Kobra's command, the rattlesnake lunged, wrapping its body around the facedown card. The card flipped over, revealing the image of a tomato struggling to breathe under the snake's constriction.
[Killer Tomato, Defense Power 1100]
"Killer Tomato's effect." Yugen said, "When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, you can Special Summon a Dark Attribute monster with 1500 or less Attack Power from the deck in attack position."