"Overlord?"
Judai was visibly stunned for a moment upon hearing the name.
It was as if some dormant part of his memory was jolted awake, causing a fleeting daze in his expression.
But he quickly snapped out of it and suddenly burst into laughter.
"Seriously? Who would have such a tacky name?" Judai laughed.
Yugen: "..."
"But ruling over twelve dimensions with the power of dueling... wouldn't that make him incredibly strong?"
There was even a hint of anticipation in Judai's expression. Yugen recognized that look—it was the look of a true duelist's spirit burning passionately, an uncontrollable itch to duel someone.
Yugen suddenly thought, maybe in the future, they should find an opportunity to pair up the president and Judai as card buddies. A duel every few days could help ease their craving for playing and prevent them from always needing to drag others into it.
"But this Overlord, you said he's the king of the Elf Dimension, right? What does that have to do with me?" Judai was even more puzzled.
"Because you're the reincarnation of the Overlord's innate card holder," Yugen said casually, "Only by defeating each other can you become whole."
Judai burst out laughing.
"Haha... sorry, sorry. It's just so funny to hear Yugen spew such nonsense with a straight face..."
Yugen remained expressionless.
Judai's smile faded: "Wait, are you serious?"
His expression turned a bit strange.
If it wasn't Yugen telling him this, he would have thought they hadn't woken up yet and were joking. Suddenly, this whole reincarnation and Overlord setting popped up—Judai found it utterly ludicrous, like a joke.
But he soon realized that Yugen seemed serious...
After holding back for a while, he couldn't help but ask, "Yugen... how do you know so much?"
Judai was generally thick-skinned and didn't like to delve into anything other than dueling. But even so, he increasingly felt that this companion was shrouded in mystery.
He didn't know when it all started, but Yugen always gave them an unfathomable feeling. Not only was Yugen's strategy and tactics endlessly peculiar, but he also seemed to possess an omniscient perspective as if he knew everything.
However, the conversation couldn't continue because they were nearing their destination.
The blonde girl was leading the way in front all along, and while the two were talking, they kept their voices low, so the girl didn't hear them from the front.
Judai looked up in the distance and pointed: "Ah, the tree struck by lightning!"
Yugen followed the direction and indeed saw the bare mountainside with a tree split in half by the wrath of lightning—quite conspicuous. It must be the place the girl mentioned.
But as he withdrew his gaze, Yugen squinted his eyes lightly.
"Where did she go?"
"Huh?"
It was only then that Judai snapped back to reality and looked around, only to find that the girl leading the way had disappeared.
In the blink of an eye, the guiding girl had vanished.
Looking around, all they saw were stretches of mountains with no sign of life, only unknown dead grass and exposed rocks. The path beneath their feet was overgrown with weeds, and vines sprawled everywhere. A chilling wind blew, making the dead branches and leaves rustle as if specters were wandering and sighing in the night.
"It's a barrier," Yugen suddenly said.
"What?"
Judai looked at him in surprise.
"We've been set up and ambushed; this place is a trap."
Even though Yugen said this, his tone remained calm and indifferent, as if he were talking about something unrelated to himself. Judai, hearing him speak so serenely about such a dire situation, didn't immediately grasp the gravity.
In the next moment, he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet shift, and a hand shot up from the ground, grabbing his ankle.
"Whoa!"
Judai was startled and instinctively tried to pull his leg away, but the grip was so strong he couldn't lift his leg.
The Silent Magician, ready and waiting, flew out from Yugen's side, tapped lightly with his magic staff, and a Magic Burst shot towards Judai's feet. The explosion scattered the muddy soil, and a sinister humanoid figure was blasted out from underground, rolling to the side while emitting black smoke.
The thing seemed humanoid, but its face was gaunt, and its appearance was decrepit, looking mostly like an Undead Race creation.
At the same time, more eerie figures began to emerge from the black fog around them. They resembled Demon Race soldiers, similar to the undead beings earlier. Even a giant black flower let out a shriek and opened its petals, with tentacles fiercely stabbing through the air at the two of them.
Yugen stood still in place, as if completely unaware of the tentacle attacking his back. But just as the tentacle was about to hit, a flash of sword light appeared out of nowhere, and in a swift, invisible strike, the tentacle was cut into several pieces.
The phantom of the Chaos Warrior flashed by, seemingly without ever drawing his sword. Still, the Chaos Sword Qi swept back along the tentacle's path, shredding the dangerous giant flower to pieces.
"Flame Winged People!"
Judai shouted loudly. He casually drew from the top of his card deck, without even looking, pulling out the Model Worker Couple and a Fusion—a perfect two-in-one combination.
Flames erupted in the fusion vortex, and the Elemental Hero Flame Wingman descended majestically with its single wing extended. The dragon head in its hand struck out through the air, as if a Fire Dragon were spewing flames.
The group of demons daring to close in was instantly scattered by the Fire Dragon, breaking up their formation, and the two in the forefront were directly blown away, turning into charcoal midair.
From being ambushed to counterattacking, the process of change was swift, and in an instant, the two found themselves protected by upper-level monsters like an iron fortress.
Though the enemy was numerous, their strength, if converted to Duel Monsters' star level, would at most be two or three stars. With Yugen and Judai's trump cards present, their sheer presence was already enough to intimidate the surrounding minions, making them too afraid to move, but only daring to glare at them with seemingly fierce, but actually wary eyes.
This standoff lasted about two or three seconds when a hoarse voice emerged from the shadows further in the forest.
"Duelists... truly rare, to run into such figures this time."
The dark figure slowly walked out. Upon hearing this voice, the lackeys' expressions changed, and they quickly retreated to the sides.
The Silent Magician lightly waved his magic staff, and white light burst in mid-air, floating like a small sun, flickering. It seemed to be some sort of lighting technique.
With the magic light illuminating, the two finally saw clearly—the newcomer had a ferocious green face, wore a crown with demon horns, had ornate robes distinct from the simple look of the lackeys, and on the chest was a decoration of a skull with red eyes.
Netherworld Demon King Hades.
The Demon King eyed the two back and forth.
"Tsk tsk, this aura... could it be travelers from the Duelist World? Haha, what a catch—a big fish indeed."
Hades sneered. He then raised his arm, and a blood-like liquid swirled and condensed around his arm, forming into the shape of a Duel Disc.
"But no matter who you are," he said, "since you're here... you're not going anywhere."