In this world, buying cards isn't a simple task.
Some affluent individuals, even if they purchase cards, can only get their hands on so-called "rare cards" that may appear powerful at first glance but are essentially just high ATK Normal Monsters.
And for those who truly understand, like Duelist Cronos, no matter how much money you give them, there are cards they simply cannot buy.
For instance, the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon," of which there are only three in the world, the legendary God's Card "Three Egyptian God," and the limited edition "Destiny Hero" card made by a designer who died right after finishing it.
Aside from these legendary, limited edition cards, there are others that, while not "legendary," are still extremely popular and well-known by almost everyone—cards that could be called "idol" cards—
Dark Magician Girl.
In the original story, it was a card "owned only by Muto Yugi."
Yes.
It's a card that only Muto Yugi has, the only one in the world!
It's no exaggeration to say that in this world, Dark Magician Girl is the "idol" of Duel Monsters, adored by everyone. Every year, various works featuring her are produced, but no matter how many people create works or craft stories, they can't get their hands on the "Dark Magician Girl."
Because this card belongs only to Muto Yugi.
It's worth noting that even cards like Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon exist in multiples, yet there is only one Dark Magician Girl—similarly, put it this way: as long as there's a "Dark Magician Girl," it represents the authentic "Dark Magician Girl," the "spirit of Muto Yugi," and "Dark Magician's apprentice"!
Originally, Tenjo Hikari had been pondering how to perform a Polymerization with "Master of Chaos" since the simplest way was to Sacrifice an LV 8 Monster to Metamorphosis. However, LV 8 Monsters weren't weak in this era, and summoning them was quite difficult, so he kept thinking that since he'd acquired so many gemstones, he might as well use half of them to see if there's a chance—
Unfortunately, Professor Cronos explicitly told him he couldn't afford it.
That's to be expected, right?
In his world, Blue-Eyes White Dragon at 87 million was just a hellish joke, in this world... well, okay, it's likely a meme.
After all, in the original Kaiba story, acquiring Kaiba Company didn't cost nearly as much.
Overall, the price of Dark Magician is certainly not low, especially after it became the signature card of the first Duel King, Muto Yugi. Its value has only risen, and those who own Dark Magician wouldn't sell it unless they had no other choice.
However, as the school festival started, Tenjo Hikari suddenly remembered—the spirit of Dark Magician Girl once passed by the school in the original story, felt the festive atmosphere, and couldn't help but participate in the "cosplay duel."
Even though history in this world has changed, it's uncertain whether Dark Magician Girl would still appear.
If she did appear, there would likely be some changes due to the changes in the world, right?
Even more so—what if Dark Magician also came?
So, taking this opportunity, Tenjo Hikari decided to have a good look around during the festival.
"Integration Department? What's this? A rural-urban integration?"
"No, no, no, Manjome, that's integration, integration—uh, I mean Polymerization—"
"Integration Department recruiting new members?"
Unlike the original story, because Daitokuji hadn't disappeared, Judai was in high spirits at the festival with Manjome. As they walked around, they suddenly encountered a strange club, which sparked a conversation, catching the interest of Tenjo Hikari, who happened to be passing by.
"Integration... isn't that a bit sneaky?" For some reason, Asuka, who had been following along, couldn't help but frown. "Even though they lost to Hikari..."
"Hey, Hikari, you made it?" As they were chatting, they saw Tenjo Hikari and waved.
Tenjo Hikari came over and saw a group of students in purple uniforms handing out prizes to "visitors" with smiles.
Saying "visitors," but they were just students from different schools, mostly girls.
By the way, in the entire Duel Academy, only Blue Academy has girls.
Tenjo Hikari glanced once and noted the name on the sign.
Integration Department?
I see, they've changed "Polymerization" to Integration Department?
That baldy really came up with a straightforward trick.
In the Yu Gi Oh card game, "Polymerization" is sometimes written as "Integration." As of now, the game hasn't clearly distinguished between the two, but indeed part of it is Polymerization and part Integration.
However, textually speaking, "Polymerization" is definitely the mainstream, or rather, "Polymerization" encompasses "Integration."
After all, all Fusion Monsters are Fusion Monsters, not Integration Monsters.
"Judai, what are you doing here? Isn't your Red Academy preparing something?" Tenjo Hikari clearly remembered that Red Academy's tradition was "cosplay duel," dressing up as Duel Monsters to play cards.
Logically, Judai, as Red Academy's representative, should be participating in the competition.
"Shou is really interested, he wants to make a set of Dark Magician Girl's cosplay costume," Judai looked up and thought for a moment, "but you, shouldn't your Fusion Department be recruiting now?"
"Well... there's no rush." Nowadays, the Fusion Department had quite a few students. You could say the vast majority of first-year students interested in "Polymerization" had already joined Tenjo Hikari's Fusion Department, while those who remained in the Integration Department were either the privileged Blue students, the bullies, or, in very few cases, bullied students whom Tenjo Hikari found hard to manage.
In such circumstances, there's no need for him to recruit like the Integration Department.
After all, the Integration Department was missing people. They needed to regain their footing, whereas the Fusion Department, known for its "elite" status and having claimed the "Polymerization" name, was the obvious choice for normal students.
So, he wanted to take this opportunity to find Dark Magician Girl.
However!
At that moment, they suddenly heard a thunderous cheer erupt from the Integration Department, followed by a group of students in purple clothes, wearing masks, rushing out from the Integration Department stall wildly, not even bothering to pack up bear, wolf, and penguin dolls, running like mad towards Red Academy.
Tenjo Hikari and the others exchanged glances, sensed something unusual, and quickly chased after them.
When they arrived at the dueling ground in Red Academy, they saw Shou Marufuji on the "judge's seat," holding a microphone excitedly, seemingly a different person, full of energy and vigor, shouting excitedly: "Wow, a perfect strategy! As long as there are two Magician's Valkyria present, your opponent can't attack!"
"This way, Dark Magician Girl has the absolute advantage now!"
"Oh oh oh!!"
A group of students, who at some point gathered around and surrounded the Red Academy dueling ground, cheered with excitement.
"Hehe, I'll do my best!" At the same time, in the dueling ground, a blonde girl with a bright smile, like an angel, waved her magic staff and greeted the audience, and even Tenjo Hikari saw that Professor Cronos was amongst the crowd, cheering along with them.
"The Duelist's field actually has Dark Magician Girl?" Mitsuzawa Daichi, who wanted to try cosplay and wore a tiger costume, said in surprise.
"It's the real deal!" Caesar, accustomed to seeing spirits, immediately realized it.
Strange?
Tenjo Hikari quickly looked for Dark Magician Girl's opponent.
If it's not Judai, then it must be...
He scanned a few glances, and his pupils contracted.
Across from Dark Magician Girl, at her opponent's seat, a girl with her hair tied into a single ponytail with a yellow ribbon, wearing a jacket modified from Red Academy's uniform, was frowning and agonizingly staring at her hand cards!
Isn't this—
Serena!?
Akaba Leo's "daughter"!