After Yūga Hōzumi drove around the Orion District at night, he discovered a sorrowful truth: as the leader here, he was lost again.
Fortunately, a few patrolling members of the Resistance Army promptly discovered Yūga Hōzumi, who was flailing around like a headless fly, and brought him back to the church at the center of the camp.
Just then, Kaito and Yao also returned to the camp with their people.
"You're back. Did you bring Ruri back? And where's Shun?" Kaito asked, looking at the face revealed by Serena's cloak.
"She's not Ruri. And help me get the stuff out of the trunk. Be careful, these were exchanged for Shun Kurosaki," Yūga Hōzumi explained, opening the trunk and motioning for Kaito and the others to move the 15,000 cards and the miniature card maker into the church.
After they entered the church, Sugihara Yo couldn't help but ask, "Is she really not Ruri? But she looks exactly like her no matter how you look at it. And what's all this stuff? Since when was Shun worth so much?"
"That's a long story," Yūga Hōzumi said, recounting his experiences over this period to Kaito, Yao, and Garros, who had arrived upon hearing the news, and informed them of Serena's identity.
"This person is from the Academy?" Upon hearing this, Sugihara Yo's and Kaito's gazes towards Serena immediately turned hostile.
At this moment, Serena showed no reaction, staring blankly, lost in thought.
The sights she had witnessed on the journey from Starlight Amusement Park to the Orion District had dealt a tremendous psychological shock to her, as she had always believed the Academy was on the side of justice in the war. She had now become withdrawn.
"Calm down, Kaito, Yao. She's just a pitiful person who was kept in the dark by Akaba Leo. She doesn't know anything," Yuto said from the side.
"Exactly. Besides, we're still counting on her to get Ruri back," Yūga Hōzumi said, untying the ropes binding Serena.
He wasn't afraid of her running away; even the locals could get lost on these streets, let alone a newcomer like her.
Moreover, her deck was still in Yūga Hōzumi's hands, so she couldn't stir up any trouble. After all, not everyone could take her descendant-ending kick like that Tomato.
Serena, freed from her restraints, still sat on the spot, head bowed and dispirited. Yūga Hōzumi didn't bother with her further, turning instead to ask Garros.
"How's the camp's situation recently?"
"It's not bad. Thanks to the Orion District's strategic advantage, the enemy doesn't dare to attack rashly. They only dare to set up strongholds outside the five main roads leading into the Orion District. With Kaito occasionally showing his strength to deter them, we've been relatively peaceful," Garros said.
"However, there have been more and more Obelisk Force strongholds recently. The enemy seems to be accumulating military force, intending to attack," Garros said with concern.
"It seems the guys who narrowly escaped last time have forgotten their pain after their wounds healed," Yūga Hōzumi said coldly upon hearing this.
"However, although their numbers are currently several times ours, they have no choice but the five main road entrances if they want to attack the Orion District. If they try to sneak in from other places and engage in urban warfare, we can easily bury them all here by leveraging our familiarity with the terrain," Garros said.
"Another thing is the card shortage for the new recruits that Sheng and the others are training. Originally, I planned to have Kaito take people to the old site of the card factory to see if we could bring anything back. However, with what you, Leader, brought back, we can postpone that for now."
"However, once this batch of new recruits can enter the battlefield, we'll still need to rebuild the card factory. In particular, we must find a way to replicate the Rank-Up-Magic data. Otherwise, relying solely on this miniature card maker from another dimension will provide very limited improvement to our combat power," Sugihara Yo, who had experience as a card maker, added from the side.
"Let's first deal with the immediate problems," Yūga Hōzumi said. "This time, the enemy's actions might be very significant, and we must hit them hard in one go to buy ourselves more development time."
"Our ally, the army of the Standard Dimension, has only just been established. Having been peaceful for a long time, their current combat power is probably even worse than the new recruits we're currently training. So, for this battle, we have to rely on ourselves," Yūga Hōzumi said solemnly.
"Also, distribute all these 15,000 cards."
It had to be said that Reiji Akaba was quite generous. These 15,000 cards came in sets of three, all of them unique cards from this world that Yūga Hōzumi had never seen in his previous life:
[Blaze Shield Soldier: Rank 4, 2 x Level 4 monsters. Once per turn, you can detach 1 Xyz Material; the effect damage you take this turn becomes 0. This effect can also be activated during your opponent's Main Phase. ATK: 0 / DEF: 2100]
[Black Flame Lancer: Rank 4, 2 x Level 4 monsters. Once per turn, when your opponent activates a Spell Card that Special Summons a monster, you can detach 2 Xyz Materials; negate the activation. If this card has no Xyz Materials, it is destroyed. ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1000]
[White Flame Cavalry: Rank 4, 2 x Level 4 monsters. Once per turn, when this card attacks a Fusion Monster, you can detach 1 Xyz Material; during damage calculation, it gains 1000 ATK. This card cannot attack directly. ATK: 2100 / DEF: 0]
Although these three Xyz monsters' effects might seem a bit underwhelming in Yūga Hōzumi's opinion, they practically had "anti-Ancient Gear deck" written on their faces. With this batch of cards as a supplement, Yūga Hōzumi felt a renewed confidence for the upcoming battle.
"If there's nothing else, I'll head off now. I'll deliver these cards to them," Sugihara Yo said, but before he had taken two steps, he seemed to remember something and turned back to Yuto and Yūga Hōzumi. "Oh right, since you're back, why don't you two go instead of Kaito and me to take out the Obelisk Force stronghold on the east side tomorrow? Kaito's been completely exhausted lately."
"Alright. It's time to settle the score for their last siege on the Black Spades," Yuto said.
After everyone dispersed, Garros helped Yuto and Serena arrange rooms in the church. However, Serena remained seated blankly on a church pew, unwilling to move. Seeing this, Yūga Hōzumi couldn't be bothered; he was exhausted after driving all day.
...
Back in his room, Yūga Hōzumi opened the system as usual and looked at the golden-glowing Number Monster Dream Scroll in his inventory.
"If this Dream Scroll screws me over like the last Generic Spell/Trap Dream Scroll, I swear I'm going to turn on you, you shitty system." Cursing the system before drawing prizes had become a habit for Yūga Hōzumi, just like how he used to habitually curse K-Company before opening booster packs in his previous life.
"Huh, I can directly exchange it for any Number monster from Number 3 to Number 98?" Yūga Hōzumi was stunned after clicking on the Dream Scroll. "Did this shitty system have a change of heart today? So generous? Right, it is a main quest reward, so it can't be too bad."
"What should I exchange it for?" Yūga Hōzumi mused, stroking his chin.
(end of chapter)