The impact beam mercilessly blasted through the vampire, nearly shattering her into pieces with fourteen thousand output. After a shriek, the long-legged vampire knelt in pain, supporting herself with her hands on the ground, panting heavily.
Marufuji Ryo won.
Though the process seemed somewhat bumpy, Yugen was not surprised by the outcome from the start. In his view, although Camilla's strength was upper-tier among ordinary Dark Duelists, her dueling power was only so-so. Her strength was artificially boosted by Forbidden Cards and the "Phantom Demon's Gate," equal to a blatant cheat, but still not enough to match Marufuji Ryo.
Marufuji Ryo appeared to have struggled because his resolve was shaken and was in the process of rebuilding, which inevitably affected his performance in the duel. Moreover, the protagonist's deck was traditionally locked at low life points, making the situation seem precarious, but in reality, it was stable as an old dog, with minimal chances of losing.
In the original story, Camilla activated the "Phantom Demon's Gate," which involved external coercion. The gate should stake one's soul as a bet, with the loser needing to offer their soul as a sacrifice to the Phantom Demon.
But she, being a duelist who used any means necessary for racial revival, cared nothing about dueling honor. She blatantly exploited the main group who lacked knowledge of dark powers, using her own powers to forcibly alter the game rules, substituting Caesar's brother, Marufuji Sho's soul, for hers.
This way, not only did she avoid the risk of losing, but if Marufuji Ryo won, it would be Marufuji Sho whose soul would be taken by the Phantom Demon. Without any risk and having constrained the opponent, plus using the "Phantom Demon's Gate" cheat, winning naturally became effortless.
Yet, out of fear of drawing Yugen's attention while secretly ambushing Marufuji Ryo, there was no audience around her to act as a hostage to replace her soul.
The only observer was Yugen. As a Dark Duelist, Camilla might not have directly witnessed Duel City's finals, but she had heard about it. She knew this Duel King had emerged from a battle against some world-ending boss.
Cheating in front of a group ignorant of dark powers was one thing, but trying any tricks against someone of this level would surely end in a worse demise.
Hence her current predicament.
The duel ended, and the Phantom Demon's Gate reappeared behind her. The heavy, ancient door opened slowly, revealing nothing but a bottomless, deep darkness.
Like a demon's claw, it reached out, grasping tightly around Camilla's pale neck, making her face turn bright red from suffocation, only able to utter pitiful cries with no complete words.
Yugen wanted to intervene—having encountered the second Seven-Star, he hoped to test the method that failed against Shadow Blizzard, to see if he could use his powers to alter the rules of the Dark Duel, at least sparing Camilla's life to turn her into a remote-controlled puppet to gather information from within the Seven-Stars.
But it was unfortunate. Though Yugen's dark powers had advanced considerably, he found minor modifications to the Dark Duel's stakes possible under Marufuji Ryo's victory, but they couldn't shake the rule of the "Phantom Demon's Gate."
With a brief test, he realized the card's power level was much higher than that of Camilla's initiated Dark Duel. The power of the Phantom Demon hidden behind the door was majestic and unwavering, never allowing the souls used as sacrifices after borrowing its power to escape.
Forcing interference could trigger retaliatory backlash from the Phantom Demon, which was not worth it. Thus, Yugen retreated quickly after a brief probe, watching Camilla ensnare herself.
The Phantom Demon's power activated, dragging the vampire into the abyssal darkness akin to the Nine Nether Hell beyond the door. A soul-wrenching scream emanated from behind the door, echoing before fading into the distance.
The door closed.
The Phantom Demon, satisfied with acquiring the soul, slowly vanished into a spectral illusion, with a bat on the door seemingly sneering in mockery, as if awaiting the next destined person to open the gate.
The second Seven-Star was down for the count.
Marufuji Ryo watched the seductive body, now an empty shell without a soul, haunted by the vampire's last struggles and despair as she was dragged into darkness, falling silent.
If he had made a single misstep, if he hadn't turned the tide and lost at her hands...
Marufuji Ryo couldn't bear to think further.
He clenched his fists, looking down at the Duel Disc not yet put away and the "Chimeric Fortress Dragon" still loaded on it.
The first card he acquired from Yugen's lab.
This card, which had made him question his life in Duel City but saved him today.
Suddenly, he truly appreciated the value of victory.
Victory meant remaining here, still alive, greedily breathing the air of freedom.
Failure meant becoming like Camilla now, cold and lifeless, like a broken doll lying on the ground, her soul trapped in unknown darkness, undergoing endless torment, becoming a demon's plaything.
He unconsciously tightened his grip.
Then, as the former Academy Caesar, he suddenly spoke.
"Thank you, Yugen."
"Huh?"
Yugen, adeptly pulling out the card deck, looked up.
"Thanks for today's intelligence. This vampire wasn't weak. If she had known about my deck in advance and countered it accordingly..."
He felt a shiver of fear.
What if Camilla hadn't mistaken him for using the Dragon Race but had discerned his real deck composition?
What if she prepared ways to immobilize the Mechanical Race, forcing him to fight under such high pressure...
The thought was terrifying.
"And... thank you for your guidance," Marufuji Ryo said earnestly.
After facing Yugen in the Duel City preliminaries, he didn't think much. But Yugen's unexpected championship win, and becoming the Duel King astonished Marufuji Ryo.
If Yugen had been an outstanding classmate before, he now seemed like a legendary mentor.
Looking back on that duel, Marufuji Ryo realized Yugen saw the limits in his path and purposely offered guidance through the duel.
Indeed, he broke through those limits post-duel, feeling a sudden clarity today, as if seeing the light of day after a fog.
He understood the weight of a personal lesson from the Duel King, priceless even in the Dueling Realm.
"Oh, that... trivial matter, we're all classmates, helping each other improve," Yugen smiled, stuffing the vampire's deck into his pocket.
He pondered how best to further investigate the organization since controlling two Seven-Stars hadn't worked well.
After bidding farewell to Yugen, Marufuji Ryo turned and walked away, feeling extraordinarily fatigued from the daunting battle, his racing heart yet to calm. But his steps were lighter than ever in the past month, and the new path ahead clearer than before.
He remembered.
Back then, Jiaodao Master handed him the mantle of the Electronic School but not everything.
He inherited only what's called the "Surface Electronic Stream", while there was also the "Inner Electronic Stream."
The Surface Electronic Stream was light, while the Inner opposed light as dark.
This force was too powerful, too evil. The Electronic Flow Dojo had strictly sealed it, never passing it on. Marufuji Ryo once believed in Master's teachings, never considering that deck.
But now, his thinking changed.
Light or dark, all necessary means must be maximized for victory.
He wanted the Electronic School complete again by his hands.
He sought the dark secrets of the Cyber Dragon that history hid away.