Yu-Gi-Oh!: This is the real duel!

"Huh?!" Jonouchi, who was standing nearby, was shocked to hear this. His teacher was clearly Yugi Muto's grandfather, Sugoroku Muto. When did he become this guy, Kenta?

Honda chuckled awkwardly, and just as he was wondering how to explain, the five giants suddenly spoke up to stop him: "No! Each of you must build your own deck!"

"Lord Naia has been merciful enough to you. If you still want to take advantage, we don't mind starting our duel right away!"

The five giants are fighting against everyone this time with the aim of seizing their bodies.

Since being defeated in the previous virtual game, their souls have been imprisoned in the boundless digital world.

Driven by an intense desire to return to the real world, they staked everything on this day, believing that if they could defeat the crowd, they could possess these young bodies.

If it weren't for Kaiba Noa's orders, they would have loved to throw these blond-haired boys and girls into the arena for the actual battle, letting them encounter adventures while building their decks.

Right now, the main characters are actually colluding with each other when building their card decks?

They would never agree to that.

Shizuka frowned, looking aggrieved, and silently pouted.

Nearby, Jonouchi, who was actively adjusting his card deck, patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Shizuka! Just gather forty cards, and your brother will definitely protect you!"

Hearing this, Shizuka felt relieved and finally smiled, boldly picking out cards from the interface.

However, the five powerful figures lurking in the shadows sneered inwardly: "Ha! You think you can protect others? I'm afraid you won't even be able to protect yourselves in the end~"

A full hour passed, and everyone finally finished building their respective decks.

After everyone clicked the "OK" button on the screen in front of them, the entire world transformed from the ancient Jurassic world into a void and dark universe!

The voices of the five giants ceased to be heard; instead, the green-haired youth emerged from the distant, blinding starlight, smiling like a creator as he announced to the crowd:

"As you can see, our world will begin in this boundless universe!"

"Next, the battlefield you are on will gradually evolve like the course of history, going through five great eras of earth-shattering change."

“In each era, the enemies you encounter will be different. If you want to win and move on to the next era, you must defeat the lord of that era.”

"The five giants will appear as the lords of five different eras."

"If you are all wiped out in some era, your souls will be sealed here forever, and your bodies will become the vessels of the five giants."

"But if you safely pass through the five eras in turn, you can challenge me as the creator!"

"Even if I lose to any one of them, I will let you leave."

"Otherwise, you'd better be prepared to stay here with me forever."

Upon hearing Noa Kaiba's words, Seto Kaiba sneered, "You dare to call yourself the creator? I feel like throwing up!"

"Become a vessel for the Five Giants? That sounds even more disgusting!" Kong Que Wu frowned. She didn't want her body to be controlled by some old geezer.

You Che stood among the crowd, deep in thought.

Five eras?!

Five lords?!

Clearly, this is no longer a development of the original anime.

As I recall, Kaiba Noa's deck also unfolds according to the historical timeline. If I'm not mistaken, the group will next experience several eras, including mythology, dinosaurs, and the Ice Age...

Standing arrogantly in the void of the virtual universe, Seto Kaiba sneered, "Well then, this boring game is about to begin, isn't it?"

"But before I waste my time fooling around with you boring guys, I need to verify something!"

"Kaiba Noa, you must be Gosaburo's biological son, right?"

During the long period of his adoption, Seto Kaiba learned more or less about his adoptive father, Gosaburo Kaiba's, past.

Despite the limited information available, it is not difficult to deduce his true identity from Haimania's surname and appearance.

The usually composed Kaimania's expression turned unusually grim. Amidst the dazzling starlight, he waved his hand and sneered:

"You don't need to know these things right now, Seto. Just remember that I am someone who completely surpasses you!"

"Since you already have the leisure to meddle in other people's past, it seems you're ready for the worst."

"Now, let the game begin!!"

"The First Era—The Mythological Age!!!"

As Kaimanaya swung his arm, his figure vanished from everyone's sight in an instant.

The enormous star that had been shining behind him exploded, and the burst of fire engulfed everyone present!

Before the exclamation could reach his ears, You Che's vision went black, and he lost consciousness once again.

When he slowly awoke, he found that everyone around him had disappeared. Looking around, he saw only barren, cracked earth and bare, steep mountains.

There were no trees, no rivers, and almost no life existed in this earliest era.

Youche first adjusted to the thin air, then stood up and looked at the Duel Disk on his arm. A line of light blue text appeared as the Duel Disk unfolded, and then disappeared into thin air after about ten seconds.

[The First Era - The Mythological Era]

[Synopsis: When demons appear on land, God will unleash a devastating flood to cleanse the earth. Innocent beings, if they wish to escape this calamity, must board the ark called "Noah."]

After reading that line of text, You Che began to speculate.

The hints given by Haimania are quite obvious.

In this era, demon units will occasionally launch attacks on everyone. At the same time, the entire era will enter a countdown. When the countdown ends, everyone must board Noah's Ark, or they will be eliminated and become a vessel for one of the five giants.

Following this line of thought, the most crucial thing right now is to find that Noah's Ark that will save the world!

Youche looked around again. Since there were no trees or other things to block the view, the entire field of vision was very open. On one side was a plain where the horizon could be seen directly, and on the other side were rolling hills.

Noah's Ark must have been quite large. Since it wasn't found anywhere on the entire plain, its location is more likely behind those hills.

With this in mind, You Che prepared to set off.

Just then, a dazzling golden light flashed, and the young armed dragon, which had originally transformed into Lv3 form, evolved back into Lv7 form and appeared in front of Youche!

The armed dragon spirit shook its head, gave a smug smile, and gestured for its master to ride on its back.

You Che was stunned for a few seconds, then smiled and sat down.

Is that even possible?!

Is this the power of the spirits, or is it simply allowed by the rules of this world?

Similar designs have appeared in previous virtual games. In one instance, to complete a villager's task, Youche used a magical scroll that fell from the sky to shower the NPC villagers with a massive rain of gold coins.

Although the card could no longer be used in duels afterward due to its cooldown period, Yuche still obtained very important clues and items by exceeding the mission requirements.

To determine whether Armed Dragon's appearance was due to the power of the spirits or the rules, Yuche opened the Duel Disk panel and checked the status of the monster card—Armed Dragon Lv7.

The card in the deck was unaffected, meaning that Yuzuriha can still play it during a duel.

But when Yuche tried to use other cards as he had done in the virtual game, a line of dark red warning text popped up in front of him.

[Note: In each era, duelists can only use one card outside of duels.]

You Che blinked blankly.

Is that how it is?

It seems that in the mythological era he could only use armed dragons.

"Roar..." The armed dragon, which was connected to its master's mind, roared unhappily as it sped through the wilderness.

Sitting behind the armed dragon, You Che smiled and patted its metal-armored head: "That's not what I meant. You're so strong, you can be useful in any era."

"Hmph..." Armed Dragon responded with a cold snort, and continued to look into the distance as instructed by Youche, trying to find the huge "Noah's Ark".

Just as the man and the dragon had raced over several hills, a cry of surprise suddenly came from not far away.

Youche quickly signaled Armed Dragon to stop. Looking in the direction of the sound, he saw two familiar figures being chased by a giant, shadowy demon!

"You, you control?!"

"Help us! Youche!!"

The two figures gradually approached, and from a distance, they looked like Kyoko and Honda!

Without the slightest hesitation, You Che immediately stepped forward to provide support.

When Honda and Kyoko escaped behind Yuzuru, the enormous shadow demon seemed to stop in its tracks out of fear of the Armored Dragon Lv7.

Gasping for breath, Honda exclaimed in surprise, "This... this is an Armored Dragon?! It can actually be summoned directly?"

Honda was about to imitate summoning a monster when Yusuke immediately stopped him: "Wait! Each person can only use one card like this in an era. It's better to save this opportunity if it's not necessary!"

"So that's how it is..." Anzu wiped the sweat from her face.

It was dusk.

The setting sun cast long shadows across the hills, and standing in the shadows, the demon rubbed his hands together, revealing a sinister smile.

"Why don't you fight it?" You Che asked. "Logically speaking, this should be resolved through a duel, right?"

Kyoko was still a little out of breath: "We...we wanted to too! But what if we couldn't win? We'd be doomed! So we had to run...Luckily we met you, Yu Che!"

After observing the armed dragon for a long time, the shadow demon grew bolder and approached the three of them.

Seeing this, Yu Che, being the strongest of the three, had no choice but to unfold his Duel Disk, select his deck leader, and initiate a duel.

For this type of monster, Yu Che planned to kill it in one turn, so instead of choosing the Armed Dragon, which has a stronger overall strength, as the leader of the deck, he chose an aggressive monster that is a double-edged sword.

"My deck's commander is—the Goblin Assault Force!" Yu Che shouted loudly. "The duel begins!!"

Cruiser, LP: 4000

Terror from the Dark, LP: 4000

The moment the duel began, an almost rule-like force field separated the two sides, and a faint dark red grid appeared from the ground, dividing the battlefield into areas.

The shadow demon naturally chose itself as the leader of the deck.

When Honda and Kyoko saw that Yuzuru had chosen Goblin Assault Force as the deck leader, they were both a little confused.

"Goblin?"

"Is this serious?"

"I thought even if it wasn't an Armored Dragon... it would at least be a disruptive force..."

In this virtual world belonging to Kaiba Noa, the order of play is not determined by traditional card draws, but is randomly determined by the system at the very beginning of the duel.