Chapter 137: One Turn, World Annihilation

"An amazing duel."

After his life points reached zero, Max dodged the virtual avatar's attack and sighed.

"No way, that Tenjo Kou defeated a professional duelist?!" A student from the Fusion Army covered his mouth with one hand, as if unable to believe this reality.

"What's so strange about that?" Gloria's gaze burned with aggressive interest, fixed firmly on Tenjo Kou.

Her sister, the silver-haired Grace, smiled elegantly: "Professional duelists are still duelists. If you're a duelist, there must be wins and losses."

"Besides, Max was just here to show us around," Gloria lowered her gaze and chuckled a few times, then fell silent.

On the other side, Max had already reached Tenjo Kou's side. While Judai and the others were still cheering for Tenjo Kou's victory over the professional duelist, Max extended his hand. Tenjo Kou understood and reached out, shaking it warmly.

"Fusion all the way to the end... I once believed that too," Max's face flickered with nostalgia. "Unfortunately, on the professional circuit, I was constantly targeted. In the end, for the company's sake, I had to abandon fusion and keep changing tactics."

"That's only natural. I understand." Tenjo Kou didn't say anything negative about him. He had his own convictions, but if others couldn't hold to theirs—as long as they didn't deceive or cheat—it didn't matter.

Even though Max was a professional duelist of the Fusion Army, he never truly wanted fusion to begin with. To Tenjo Kou, that wasn't really a big deal.

"Actually, recently I've been thinking about learning Xyz Summoning. There are many special summon monsters from outer space, and strategies to quickly assemble monsters of the same level." Max released his grip and glanced toward the Fusion Army. "But Xyz Summoning seems completely impossible in our world. In the end, I had to give up."

He actually wanted to learn Xyz?

Tenjo Kou was even more surprised upon hearing this.

Max took a deep breath.

Tenjo Kou's pursuit of fusion stirred memories of his school days, when he had genuinely loved fusion—and when the Fusion Department hadn't been as strange as the current Combined Department.

At least at first, the Fusion Department had been nothing more than a tiny hobby club.

Until one day, Akuma Zero-O suddenly changed direction, applying to Kaiba Corporation for access to the Dimensional Gate, slowly transforming into today's Combined Department.

He didn't know whether Professor Akuma had planned this from the start or if some event had triggered it. He only knew that after that, Professor Akuma's ambition grew larger and larger. A single academy's Fusion Army was no longer enough—he began infiltrating other branches. It even seemed he'd started operations in the Alternate Dimensions.

But none of that was his concern anymore.

Professional duelists weren't as glamorous as they seemed. He struggled just to avoid consecutive losses—there was no mental energy left to study other things.

Besides, he hadn't seen Akuma Zero-O in a long time. He himself was a professional duelist promoted by the Fusion Army, having enjoyed all its resources—he couldn't possibly change the status quo. Today, he'd only come to help the Taylor sisters with their tour and to look for Aid Phoenix.

He'd originally been instructed by Akuma Zero-O to directly take Aid Phoenix to the Fusion Army for a visit. He never expected it to turn out like this.

Strange. The professor clearly told me to just lead the person away directly. Why did it become like this?

He didn't understand the situation, so he tried saying a few words to Aid. But Aid coughed twice and said he'd come because he'd heard there was a powerful fusion club on the island, only to find that Max hadn't used a single fusion monster, leaving him momentarily speechless.

Unfortunately, Max knew his mission had failed.

He would never force Aid Phoenix. He had no right to. In truth, on the path of professional dueling, Aid Phoenix was someone he looked up to. And beyond that, just by looking at Aid's expression, he knew this wasn't "not knowing what to say"—it was a firm decision already made.

Sigh—

I should've brought a fusion deck.

"By the way, take this too."

"Fusion Prohibited Zone? Senior, I can't use this card..." Tenjo Kou frowned as he saw the card.

"Just consider it my respect for you. Besides, you might need it someday." He slipped the card into Tenjo Kou's hand.

Hmm... Tenjo Kou stared at the card, unsure when it could be used. But since it at least carried the word "fusion," he might as well keep it.

"Tenjo Kou, you're interesting." Gloria, having finished talking, walked over with other Fusion Army members, staring at Tenjo Kou.

"After witnessing your duel, my sister and I were thrilled."

As the two steel-sister duo approached, neither intimidating nor claiming the duel didn't count, Tenjo Kou was unsure of their intent and cautiously asked: "Who are you?"

"Gloria Taylor."

"Grace Taylor."

"The best tag fusion duelists."

"We have no opponents before us."

Each spoke one line, radiating confidence—no, even arrogance.

"What? Tag duelists? I'll go!" Hearing "tag duel," Judai shouted loudly and stepped forward. Facing tag dueling, Tenjo Kou couldn't possibly fight alone—that'd be a huge disadvantage!

"Uh, I—" Sanzou opened his mouth.

"Hahaha, Judai, you're not going anywhere this time! Let me handle it!" Wan Wan Zhangmu confidently pulled out his deck. "My deck just got upgraded—I've been waiting for a worthy opponent!"

"Uh... so, I—" Sanzou Sanze Dadi still tried to speak.

But on the other side, the Taylor sisters shook their heads: "Today, we only came to say hello."

Gloria Taylor pointed her thumb over her shoulder: "We're students from the American branch of the Duel Academy. Uh, Fusion Army. We're here for a visit. Next semester, we'll transfer to the main campus."

"There'll be plenty of chances then," Grace murmured with a smile. "We'll see just how impressive the students who claim the name of 'Fusion' truly are."

Then, one laughed loudly, the other smiled lightly, and they turned and walked away with their group. Max, compared to a leader, looked more like a bodyguard.

"Ocean, next time something like this happens, my advice is to jump out and claim your spot first," Tenjo Kou said, glancing back at Sanzou Sanze Dadi after the two sisters had inexplicably declared war and then just as inexplicably left. "Like when I claimed the spot first and fought the vampires."

Sanzou Sanze Dadi's temple veins bulged as he clenched his fists.

"Haha, yeah, Sanzou, your presence is just too low," Wan Wan Zhangmu casually teased.

"Transfer students from a branch campus!" Judai had his entire focus on those three words. "This is so interesting—next semester will definitely be more fun!"

So... finally...

Tenjo Kou looked at Aid.

"Aid, so?"

"Hmm." Aid picked up his bag without refusing anything. "I've witnessed a truly unique duel... I think, during the opening season, I'll definitely come back to the Fusion Department. Seniors."

"Then, I'll take my leave, seniors."

He bowed with a smile.

"Yay! Now we've got a new member from the freshmen class!" Judai cheered. "And it's an Hero deck too—perfect! Now we can duel against similar decks all we want!"

Also an 【Hero】 deck?

Tenjo Kou watched Aid's retreating figure.

The first arc of the original "Yu-Gi-Oh! GX" could only be called minor skirmishes. But with Aid's appearance, everything would shift abruptly into a "world-destroying" arc!

Light of Annihilation...

Tenjo Kou silently repeated those words, burdened with worries.

Chapter One

Recommend a friend's new book—it's a kaidan genre. Interested readers can check it out.

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(End of Chapter)