Yugen realized that he might have been away from the Academy a bit too much recently since he didn't even know about the big events happening there.
Ed Phoenix is coming to Duel Academy.
At first glance, it doesn't seem surprising because Ed had already enrolled as a first-year student at the Academy at the start of the semester.
But the truth is, he hadn't shown up at the Academy even once since the semester began. He didn't attend the opening ceremony, skipped all classes, and even missed the periodic assessments.
Of course, the Academy had given him the green light for all these absences so far because Interim Principal Chronos highly valued this professional duelist student. Ed's joining had indeed brought a positive impact to the Academy, making it one of the most significant achievements during his tenure as interim principal.
Not to mention the large sum of money Ed personally donated to the Academy.
So in fact, Ed's situation was a bit similar to Yugen's; no one doubted that even if these two didn't show up until the end of the semester, they could still finish the term with excellent grades without any issues.
But now Ed Phoenix has appeared on his own, announcing the reason for his attendance.
For one person, a student of Duel Academy.
Yuki Judai.
Actually, when Ed said he wanted to challenge a student of Duel Academy, everyone, including Interim Principal Chronos, thought he was surely going to name Yugen. After all, Yugen is now the Duel King, and there are dozens of people wanting to challenge him every day.
It's imaginable that if he accepted every challenger, Yugen wouldn't have time to live, being busy with dueling all the time. So it's not easy to challenge him now. Even some high-level competitions outside use the privilege of challenging Yu-Gi-Oh! as a gimmick for the champion.
For example, the inaugural KC Cup organized by President Kaiba back then.
But surprisingly, the person Ed named was Yuki Judai, a student of Osiris Red.
That made it naturally effortless. Judai was always a dueling maniac, and as long as there was a duel, he never refused, not to mention a rare opponent from the pro circle.
Thus, Judai cheerfully grabbed his Duel Disc and stepped into the arena at Duel Academy, battling Ed, hero against hero, in a royal clash.
Yugen himself didn't return to the Academy, but he was somewhat interested and remotely watched the duel.
In the original story, this was indeed a turning point in Judai's destiny. Facing Ed was initially his most painful defeat, and after losing to Ed's Destiny Heroes, Judai not only lost the ability to communicate with elves but also couldn't even see regular cards, becoming completely unable to duel.
It was the arrival of the New Space Hero that gave him new strength, allowing him to counterattack Ed in the second round, and additionally, he succeeded in inverse brainwashing, making Ed part of the group.
With the change of timespace, Yugen was curious to see how this duel would unfold today.
Well, the outcome... he somewhat could guess.
"Ed!"
When Judai hopped onto the stage, he waved excitedly at Ed.
"Which side, your heroes or mine, is stronger? I'm super excited! Let's have the most amazing hero duel!"
Ed didn't respond, just smirked.
This shallow guy, how could he possibly be the one Saio mentioned as someone who could change his destiny...
Of course, Saio had also long predicted his duel with Yuki Judai. The outcome was still that card, the chariot, an absolute victory.
However, with so many things happening lately, Ed's trust in Saio, built over the years, had already started to waver...
"Come on, Yuki Judai!" Ed shouted as he activated his Duel Disc. "I'm going to show you what a real hero is!"
"Alright!"
Judai responded eagerly.
"..."
Moments later.
Ed: "Activate trap 'Endless Fear', placing two 'Time Indicators' on my Field Spell 'Netherworld Clock Tower'!"
"With this, my 'Netherworld Clock Tower' has accumulated four 'Time Indicators'!" Ed shouted. "Activate the cover card, Trap Card 'Sand Tornado'! Destroy a Magic or Trap Card on the field.
I destroy my own field 'Netherworld Clock Tower'!"
"When the Netherworld Clock Tower with more than four indicators is destroyed, Special Summon my trump card from the deck! Come On—
——Destiny Hero: Fear Man!"
"Fear Man summoned successfully, I Special Summon two other Destiny Heroes from the graveyard. And Fear Man's attack power becomes the total value of the attack power of the other Destiny Heroes on my field!
Moreover, during the turn it's summoned, all Destiny Heroes on my field cannot be destroyed by card effects, and any battle damage to myself becomes zero, basically making me absolutely invincible!"
"Oh oh, so this is Ed's Destiny Hero, so strong, too strong!"
Judai was excited.
"Then I Normal Summon 'New Space Hero: Earth Mole' and attack 'Destiny Hero: Fear Man'.
Earth Mole's effect: when this card battles your monster, battle damage is not calculated and both are returned to their respective hands!"
Ed: "Nani!?"
And so he watched, wide-eyed, as his painstakingly accumulated indicators, along with a whole pile of cards expended, finally producing Fear Man, only for it to be knocked back to his hand the moment it hit the field by the critter mole.
"So this is the power of the New Space Heroes..." Ed gritted his teeth, "Don't get too cocky yet!"
And moments later.
"..."
"The effect of the 'Destiny Hero: Doomsday Man' destroyed by battle last turn! When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, at the next preparation phase— which is this turn, I can Special Summon a 'Destiny Hero' from the graveyard.
Come On, Destiny Hero: Tenacious Man!"
"Then activate the Magic Card 'Transcend Destiny', choose the Demon in the graveyard, special summon a Demon Man from the deck with half or less star level of the Demon."
"Then the Demon in the graveyard is removed from play, Special Summon another Demon from the deck!"
"Using the three Destiny Heroes as a sacrifice, show yourself, my other trump card!
Destiny Hero: Dogma!!!"
Judai was even more excited: "Oh oh, it's a three-tribute summon, another amazing hero has appeared!"
"Dogma's attack!" Ed shouted.
But Judai was not to be outdone: "Then activate the cover card, Trap Card 'Enemy Attack Alert'. Special Summon a monster from the hand and force it to battle with the attacking monster.
I Special Summon the 'New Space Hero: Earth Mole' returned to my hand and forcibly battle Dogma.
Then Earth Mole's effect, both monsters are returned to the hand."
Ed: "......"
Damn it...
Again.
Once again, he executed an impressive chain of actions, laying out many setups, depleting a bunch of resources, finally bringing out a big monster, only for the opponent to casually slap down that mole critter, and with one drill, it smashes his big monster beyond recognition.
After the drill, this critter mole, which is actually also an elf, even wiped sweat, muttering to itself, "Destiny Heroes are indeed formidable, good thing I had the upper hand."
Ed almost spat blood.
"So is this the power of your so-called New Space Heroes?" Ed yelled in fury, "Can you only keep summoning this lousy mole?"
"Of course not."
Then Judai, smiling cheerfully, fulfilled Ed's wish to see more Cosmic Heroes in the next turn.
"I Normal Summon 'New Space Hero: Water-colored Dolphin'."
"Brother Dolphin's effect, discard a card, check the opponent's hand and choose a monster..."
"Then activate Brother Dolphin's effect again, discard another card and select another monster..."
Ed: "........."