CHAPTER 333: CHAPTER 332: ONE BY ONE

"Elemental HERO Stratos, direct attack!"

"Uwah!"

At Jaden’s command, Stratos’s blaster exploded in the face of one of the New Doma duo, who screamed and collapsed as his LP hit zero.

"We won!"

Jaden flashed a victory gesture.

"That was such a fun duel!"

"Ugh..."

Though Kira’s shadow game didn’t gamble with lives, it still dealt a certain amount of real damage. Getting blasted point-blank by an Elemental HERO was no joke.

"Damn..."

The black-robed man gritted his teeth. No wonder Yemo, their boss Necromancer, and even the now-Demon King—all got taken down by these two students.

They were just too strong. With Jaden’s continuous HERO fusions and combos, he was suppressed from start to finish, completely outclassed.

Even when it looked like they’d emptied their hand in one turn, Jaden would just topdeck Bubbleman, special summon, draw two cards, then Pot of Greed for two more—like alchemy, conjuring cards out of thin air, with no regard for equivalent exchange.

But when he looked at his teammate—

"..."

"Continuous Trap: Rivalry of Warlords. While it’s on the field, we can each only control one monster type," Kira said with a smile.

"You have three ’Ojama Tokens’ on your field, so you can’t summon any other monsters."

"Then I’ll attack directly with ’Submarineroid’."

"After attacking directly, Submarineroid goes into defense mode, so sorry, you can’t even crash your tokens into me."

"..."

Watching his teammate rage at the useless tokens while Kira calmly sipped tea, he suddenly didn’t feel so bad about losing.

Compared to his teammate, his own loss wasn’t so bad—a fun duel, at least.

"Alright, as promised."

Kira clapped his hands and approached.

"Lead the way. Where’s your base?"

The two black-robed men exchanged a look of pain.

In the end, they gave in.

"Alright, let’s go."

They didn’t want to betray their allies, but the rules of a shadow game were absolute—there was nothing they could do.

That’s just how it is.

If you can’t fight back, just go along.

As they left the Dark Star Club, a cold glint flashed in their eyes.

All their brothers would share the pain.

....

Meanwhile, at the New Doma branch...

"Now that the boss is down and we have no orders from HQ, things aren’t looking good," said the member codenamed Black Flame, glancing around.

"So, until HQ gives new orders, I’ll take over as acting leader. Anyone object?"

Candlelight flickered strangely, shadows dancing on faces and walls. No one spoke.

"Good, then it’s settled." Black Flame paused. "The Demon King says he’s taken care of Kira. That’s good news. Venom Fang is already on his way and should bring the item soon.

I’ve contacted HQ and am waiting for a reply. Getting the ’Sealing Device’ should earn us major credit—"

Before he finished, someone entered.

"I’m back."

"Oh? Venom Fang, you took a while," Black Flame said, turning. "Did the Demon King try to haggle?"

"No, things... got a bit complicated," Venom Fang said awkwardly.

"What happened?"

Black Flame frowned.

"Don’t tell me he failed the mission?"

Venom Fang hesitated, then nodded.

"Kira’s still alive?" Black Flame frowned. "What’s with the Demon King? He botched the job and lied about it?"

"But I’ve led him to the designated place," Venom Fang whispered.

"Hm, that’s fine too."

Black Flame nodded, opening a map of Duel City.

"Tell me, where is he now? What’s your plan?"

"Actually... we might not need the map," Venom Fang said even more quietly.

"He’s waiting outside the door."

"..."

A few seconds of silence.

Black Flame’s face twisted in rage. "You led him here!?"

"I had no choice. It’s a shadow game—lose and you’re at their mercy. What could I do?"

A black-robed man at the table slammed his fist down. "Let’s strangle this traitor first—"

Venom Fang jumped back in panic. "Calm down, guys! I’m just relaying a message for the Yellow-robed One. If you touch me, think twice—"

Black Flame was furious. "You’re bragging now?"

"..."

Amid the chaos, the door opened. Two figures in red and yellow uniforms appeared.

"So many duelists!" cried Jaden, excitedly fingering his duel disk. "So many new decks to try!"

Kira smiled.

"No rush. We’ll go one by one. Who’s first?"

The room went silent.

Black Flame gritted his teeth.

"Don’t get cocky. Think just because you beat Necromancer that our branch is helpless?"

Another at the table slammed the table. "That’s right! Don’t get cocky!"

Black Flame turned to him. "Alright! Gale, you go first. Show him our power!"

Gale: "?"

Before he could respond, Kira nodded. "You first? Fine, let’s duel."

Gale glared at Black Flame.

You set me up!?

"Who cares! Let’s just duel already!" Jaden grabbed a random opponent.

"Duel!" x4

The four began dueling. The room filled with light and shadow, monsters flying, screams and howls echoing endlessly.

Black Flame watched Gale get tormented by Submarineroid and gulped, glad he hadn’t jumped in himself.

But this was an opportunity.

No matter how strong Kira was, taking everyone down would take time. Now was his chance to slip away—

But as soon as he stepped out, the world spun and he found himself back in the room.

Just like before.

Stunned, he looked over to see Kira smiling at him from the duel.

"Don’t rush. The duels aren’t over yet—where are you going?

I said, it’s one by one. Everyone gets a turn—no need to run."

He narrowed his eyes.

"Unless you all defeat me, or I fall, no one’s leaving this room."

Black Flame trembled all over, stumbling back and collapsing on the floor.

He had never felt such despair in his life.

PS: 3 Bonus Chapters at 2000 PS