Chapter 953: The Return of Darkness

You Xuan learned the development status of various projects during his absence and soon discovered that the “Wu Teng Game Research Project,” which he had placed great hopes on, had made some progress during this period.

As previously mentioned, the Wu Teng Game Research Project focused specifically on developing card sets previously used by Wu Teng’s alternate persona.

It is widely known that in the main DM series, nearly all of the original Duel King’s duels were fought by Atem, while Yugi himself rarely fought directly; thus, the card sets used by Atem naturally outnumbered those used by Yugi himself, and since Yugi retired quickly after gaining fame, the cards Atem used gained even greater recognition.

Moreover, since Kaiba Seto, the head of card printing, is Atem’s biggest fan, he has invested even more heavily in developing the Pharaoh card sets centered on the Dark Magician over the years, making Yugi’s own card sets comparatively less popular during this time.

Yet You Xuan saw this as an excellent entry point and led a collaboration between Kaiba Corporation and Pegasus’s International Fantasy Society to deeply develop the card sets used by Yugi’s alter ego.

The latest result he received upon returning was a new series called “Magical Girl.”

This card series had not yet been introduced in the main DM series but was first used by Yugi in the movie “Dimensional Dark Side.”

Strictly speaking, the Magical Girl series is a spin-off of the famous “Dark Magician Girl,” sharing the same card category; Dark Magician Girl herself is effectively the very first monster in this set.

In the movie “Dimensional Dark Side,” Yugi summoned two monsters: “Apple Magical Girl” and “Lemon Magical Girl.” After this period of development and refinement, You Xuan’s project team has now completed designs for five Magical Girls in total, including Apple and Lemon.

The five cards are: Berry Magical Girl, Lemon Magical Girl, Apple Magical Girl, Chocolate Magical Girl, and Kiwi Magical Girl.

The five monsters are ranked from one to five stars, all themed around fruits; the first letter of each monster’s name spells out B, L, A, C, K—forming “black”—symbolizing that these five Magical Girls perfectly lead into the six-star “Dark Magician Girl.”

Of course, from their names alone, it’s clear these monsters are mostly young girls dressed in revealing, pale, and voluptuous outfits—clearly a deck meant for hardcore male players.

As a deck first introduced in the hands of Yugi’s alter ego, it carries his signature style: the girls appear frail and delicate, with pale, slender limbs that look incapable of even twisting a bottle cap, yet in battle, a single staff strike can shatter an opponent’s skull.

They are not designed for direct offense but for defensive, trap-like effects; most Magical Girls possess the ability: “When attacked, halve the attacker’s ATK, Special Summon a new Magical Girl, and redirect the attack target to the new girl.”

Opponents attacking them often feel as if they’re being deflected with a feather against a boulder—each attack only sinks them deeper. In the movie, even Kaiba’s formidable “Blue-Eyes Chaos Max Dragon” was mocked and defeated by the Magical Girls, leaving the CEO furious.

After acquiring the deck, You Xuan visited the Duel Academy.

At the Duel Academy, the research team You Xuan had left behind had also been busy during this time and produced considerable results. Upon seeing their leader return, each team head immediately reported their recent achievements.

Although You Xuan had crossed dimensions, he had told no one at the academy, and in truth, he had only been gone for one month.

One month may seem long, but for You Xuan, who often left the academy to handle his own affairs, such absences were normal and rarely questioned. Moreover, he had left during the academy’s holiday period, so no one found it odd.

You Xuan reviewed the research department’s output at the academy: there was plenty, but overall, each division had only scattered individual cards, most of which could not yet deliver decisive improvements to any overarching theme deck series. Thus, while promising, none could be deployed immediately.

Notably, with the voluntary cooperation of Jaden and his New Space companions, the “New Space” deck was successfully replicated from the single original copy unique to Jaden in the world.

This was a significant advancement for both You Xuan and Jaden himself, since any card player knows: a powerful card restricted to one copy in the banlist still allows three copies to be played, a major difference.

All cards in Jaden’s New Space deck are physically limited to one copy—because only one exists in the world, no more can be added even if desired.

But imagine if the New Space heroes could produce more copies: powerful cards like Invincible Mole-Guy and Dolphin-Guy, who can strip the opponent’s hand on first turn, could be included in multiple copies, greatly strengthening Jaden’s deck.

From a real-card construction perspective, the New Space deck is overall mediocre, but that doesn’t mean it lacks value. For instance, Invincible Mole-Guy was nearly an all-purpose tool in early slow metas and found a place in nearly every deck—otherwise, Mole-Guy wouldn’t have been restricted at all.

You Xuan had no intention of building a full New Space hero deck or Hero deck—he knew those were Jaden’s personal signature. But acquiring one or two powerful support cards to create interesting combos in specific decks was perfectly feasible.

Of course, the reprinted New Space heroes were just ordinary cards; unlike Jaden’s originals, they weren’t actual spirits or genuine extraterrestrials, nor did they carry the same potent fate-enhancing power.

But it didn’t matter—You Xuan never wanted those things anyway. As long as they worked in duels, that was enough.

Just as he arrived at the Duel Academy, You Xuan sensed a dark aura.

Following the aura, he traced it deep into the island’s volcano, where he found Jaden Yuki facing off against Mr. T.

“It’s you again,” Jaden said. “You guys just won’t let this go.”

Mr. T snorted: “This time won’t be like before, Jaden Yuki.”

As he spoke, dark energy coalesced in his hand, forming a black dueling disk. Vast clouds of dark mist solidified into countless floating cards, which lined up one by one and slid into the slots of his dueling disk, assembling a deck brimming with dark aura.

“This time,” Mr. T said gravely, “I’ll make sure you never rise again!”

(End of Chapter)