Chapter 66. ZEXAL Feature Unlocked—Deck Gifting! Galaxy-Eyes vs. Utopia!
Maximillion Pegasus and Bakura's shifting expressions were all noticed by the Duelists around them.
Duelists without Millennium Items looked at one another.
At the same time, they became even more curious about this higher world.
This higher world really has everything!
Mysterious deck explainers!
Transcendent Duel showcases!
Bootleg counterfeit-card videos!
A banlist explainer index…
Realizing this, the entire Duel Monsters World grew a little restless.
What other strange video content is going to show up next?
GX World.
In the parallel-fusion world that at least knows a bit about the Millennium Items, once they finished watching the effects of the seven bootleg counterfeit Millennium Item cards, Duel Academy erupted.
"Whoa!
What is this?
There are actually bootleg Millennium Item cards?"
"The bootleg designers in Mr. Yuki's world are freaking geniuses!
Why do these cards look so fun?"
"Uh, fun is fun, but you can tell these cards have no internal logic."
"True.
They're just for laughs.
If you're already using counterfeit cards, you can only Duel them against other counterfeit cards, right?"
"..."
After a round of debate, the students gradually calmed down.
They were shocked that those legendary Millennium Items would be made into bootleg counterfeit cards in the higher world's World Cup, sure.
But once they confirmed the cards couldn't be used in official Duels, those bootlegs were nothing more than a joke.
"Amazing!
I wonder what else we'll get to see from Mr. Yuki's world!"
"Are there bootlegs for HERO too?"
Jaden Yuki was quite interested in this short-video series.
He also wanted to see how the bootlegs would handle HERO.
As for the other worlds—
They didn't have much concept of the Millennium Items to begin with.
So when they saw those bootleg Millennium Item cards, they were momentarily stunned.
They exclaimed how ridiculously fake those effects were.
And once they learned the cards couldn't be used, they immediately returned to normal.
After all—
If you can't use them, who cares how fake or how busted they look?
Main World.
After watching the three worlds' reactions, Sei Yuki was very satisfied.
Especially the Duel Monsters World and GX World.
Sure enough, the Millennium Items sparked intense discussion!
Likewise—
The original holders of the Millennium Items, after watching, couldn't hold it in and started talking at length about how turning them into cards was a pure nerf.
For example, the Millennium Eye's Pegasus.
There were also people who thought the cardified versions were actually easier to use.
For example, Bakura's Millennium Ring.
Amid these discussions, Sei Yuki took his payout for finishing the video and immediately opened the chat function for the next video.
That is—the ZEXAL World.
"Phew, almost there, almost there!"
"If I unlock the ZEXAL world feature, let me see how much this app wants from me."
After searching for a bit, Sei Yuki finally found the function.
The requirement had doubled from before.
It came to 4,000 bucks!
Along with the doubling, there were additional auxiliary features to unlock.
Sei Yuki narrowed his eyes and scanned through, finally understanding what the feature did.
"A card… 'Deck Gifting' function?"
"In other words—"
"I can use the app to gift my world's deck builds to specified users?"
"Hold on, hold on."
"Does that mean I can gift decks to people in these chat groups?"
Thinking of this, Sei Yuki became interested.
He immediately spent the cost and unlocked the brand-new feature!
As soon as the feature was unlocked, text messages popped up on his phone screen.
"Congratulations, user Sei Yuki, on successfully unlocking the ZEXAL chat world feature."
"Congratulations, user Sei Yuki, on successfully unlocking the Deck Gifting feature."
"For a better experience, we will grant you 2 decks to test the feature."
With the messages displayed, Sei Yuki had finally unlocked this new function.
Next—
The two decks, [Utopia] and [Galaxy-Eyes], appeared in his backend as prompts.
"Galaxy-Eyes, and Utopia?"
"Interesting."
"Let me see what's so special about this 'gifting' feature!"
He opened the ZEXAL chat.
Bullet comments began streaming in one after another.
Yuma Tsukumo: "So, does any Duelist here know what the Millennium Items are?"
Kite Tenjo: "Doesn't matter.
Cards you can't use in Duels.
Why the interest, Yuma?"
Tori Meadows: "Um, did you guys notice something off?
I think I heard a voice just now?"
Rio Kastle: "I didn't.
Maybe you misheard, Tori?
By the way, where did my brother go?"
After reading the Xyz world's chatter, Sei Yuki cleared his throat and looked at Rio Kastle.
Among all the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime—
To be honest—
Sei Yuki's favorite was Rio Kastle.
Right.
Does this app have a friend-add feature?
Thinking that, Sei Yuki tried tapping on Rio's avatar.
With one tap, a single option appeared.
The pop-up function was Deck Gifting.
There was nothing else.
That left Sei Yuki a bit disappointed.
He'd wanted to add Rio and see if he could private-message her or something.
Maybe those features just aren't fully unlocked yet.
"In that case, let's chat with them first!"
Taking a deep breath, Sei Yuki quickly sent his messages.
Sei Yuki: "Glad to successfully connect with the ZEXAL World."
Sei Yuki: "I am from the higher world, the controller of the systems that play all your videos."
Sei Yuki: "I'm Sei Yuki.
If you have any questions about future content, you can contact me."
ZEXAL World.
Hearing an unfamiliar man's voice out of nowhere, all the Duelists who'd been bantering fell silent.
And once they processed what Sei Yuki said—
More than a few Duelists felt a chill down their spines!
Some even stared wide-eyed at the display screens in terror!
A controller from the higher world?
Yuma Tsukumo and Astral both turned pale.
By his words—
All this video content was under his control?!
For real?
Was this just an auditory hallucination?!
But if it were a hallucination, there's no way both he and Astral heard it at the same time, right?
That leaves only one possibility.
The voice really exists!
Yuma Tsukumo: "What do you mean?
You're saying those pieces—like the Tenyi Swordsoul explainer, the bootleg Millennium Item cards, Stardust Dragon vs. Red Dragon Archfiend—"
Yuma Tsukumo: "All of those came from you?"
Tori Meadows: "Huh?
Yuma, don't scare me!
Are we being controlled by a higher world?"
Astral: "It may be true.
I believe you, Mr. Yuki.
After all, the world is vast.
I myself come from the Astral World."
Reading their comments, Sei Yuki blinked.
He'd expected Astral to doubt him, but Astral accepted it immediately!
That wasn't even the main surprise.
The key was what Yuma said next.
Yuma actually changed his tune!
Yuma Tsukumo: "I believe you too.
If possible, Mr. Yuki, can I see how [Utopia] performs in your higher world?"
Yuma Tsukumo: "To be honest, my deck is [Utopia].
I've poured so much effort into this build."
Astral: "If possible, could you tell us what the endpoint of Xyz is in your world?"
Astral: "Also, any information about other Numbers cards?"
...
Sei Yuki twitched the corner of his mouth.
Good grief.
These guys were starting to make requests of him instead.
Strictly speaking—
Tori's reaction was the one that made sense, wasn't it?
Sure enough, having a world with otherworldly Duel Worlds makes Yuma and Astral much easier to talk to.
Sei Yuki: "Of course.
But this time will be different."
Sei Yuki: "I will gift two decks from our world to you for testing."
Sei Yuki: "Your Duel will be mirrored across the other Duel Worlds as reference."
"The decks are [Utopia] and [Galaxy-Eyes]."
"Any objections?"
ZEXAL World.
Hearing that Sei Yuki would gift them higher-world decks to test—
Yuma Tsukumo and Kite Tenjo both shuddered!
There's a deal this good?!
Of course they agreed!
No question about it!
Yuma Tsukumo: "No objections from me!"
Kite Tenjo: "Nor from me."
After the two spoke, Sei Yuki gifted each of them one deck.
For Sei Yuki, the whole process was simple.
Like tipping—tap an avatar, choose a deck, send.
But in the Xyz World—
Two beams of light descended from the sky, so dazzling that all Duelists reflexively closed their eyes!
The light vanished almost instantly.
In barely three seconds, it was gone.
When they opened their eyes—
It was as if nothing had happened.
But Yuma Tsukumo and Kite Tenjo's decks had completely changed!
Or rather—
Their Duel Disks now contained an additional, separate deck!
Then a title appeared on the big screen.
"Utopia vs. Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!
Bear witness to a sky-soaring takeoff!"
The other six Duel Worlds quickly noticed something off in this video.
Because in it, two Duelists with very odd outfits showed up.
It left them a bit confused.
Are Duelists in the higher world all this fashion-forward?
Before they could think on it more, the short video—or rather, the livestream—began to play.
The two Duelists:
Yuma Tsukumo vs. Kite Tenjo.
Life Points: 8000 LP each.
First turn: Kite Tenjo.
Second: Yuma Tsukumo.
ZEXAL World.
The instant they realized they were the protagonists of the short-video content, Yuma and Kite were both stunned.
You could say—
They hadn't even processed it yet.
"It's starting already?
Who's going first?"
"Kite Tenjo?"
"It's your first turn!"
"Hurry, hurry!
Draw—get ready to Duel!"
"A sky-soaring takeoff, here I go!"
Yuma, excited, slotted the newly received Utopia deck into his Duel Disk.
His opponent, Kite, started the Duel before he even recovered his wits.
After drawing and looking at his opening five, Kite froze—no, he was dumbfounded.
Monster: [Galaxy Soldier].
Monster: [Photon Emperor].
Spell: [Called by the Grave].
Monster (hand trap): [Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring].
Trap: [Eternal Galaxy].
With those five cards, Kite had no idea what to do.
He checked his Extra Deck—
A full spread of Xyz Monsters he'd never seen before, along with the previously explained Galaxy-Eyes "trinity."
Kite felt like he was running out of brain cells.
With this hand—
How was he supposed to develop a line that fully used his resources?
"M-my… my turn."
"I activate [Galaxy Soldier].
I send [Photon Emperor] from my hand to the Graveyard."
"Special Summon [Galaxy Soldier], then the [Photon Emperor] in my Graveyard activates."
"Soldier's effect adds [Galaxy Wizard] from my Deck to my hand."
"Photon Emperor's effect:
Special Summon itself from the Graveyard in Defense Position, and it lets me Normal Summon a LIGHT monster once more this turn."
Facing so many search targets, Kite's scalp was already tingling.
But he had to grit his teeth and rely on years of Galaxy-Eyes intuition—his sixth sense—to search and build a board.
Even the other Duelists could tell:
This legendary Numbers-hunter—
Using a Galaxy-Eyes deck, he was actually sweating from nerves.
Huh?
A card game made him this anxious?
Doesn't he know his own deck?
And in fact, that was true.
Even so, Kite quickly settled down, took a steadying breath, and continued building.
"I Normal Summon [Galaxy Wizard]!"
"Wizard's effect—Tribute this card to add from my Deck… [Galaxy Summoner]!"
"I still have one more shot.
I Normal Summon [Galaxy Summoner]!"
"I activate Summoner's effect to revive [Galaxy Wizard] from my Graveyard."
He seemed to be finding the rhythm.
Kite's nerves gradually faded, and a keen light flashed in his eyes.
"I activate Summoner again, making [Galaxy Soldier] Level 4!"
"I activate Wizard to make itself Level 8!"
"I have two Level 4s!
And two Level 8s!"
"Construct the Xyz network!
I overlay [Galaxy Soldier] and [Galaxy Summoner]!"
"Xyz Summon!
[Galaxy Photon Dragon]!!"
"At the same time—continue constructing the Xyz network!"
"I overlay [Galaxy Wizard] and [Photon Emperor]!"
"Xyz Summon!
Number 90—"
"[Number 90: Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord]!!!"
Two Xyz Summons in one breath left the rest of the Xyz-world Duelists stunned on the spot.
Kite grew even more excited.
"It's not over!
[Galaxy Photon Dragon] effect!"
"I can detach one material from this card to either add one 'Photon' or 'Galaxy' card from my Deck to my hand, or send it to the Graveyard."
"I add—[Galaxy-Eyes Afterglow Dragon]!!!"
"I Special Summon [Galaxy-Eyes Afterglow Dragon] in Defense Position!"
"I Set one card!"
"My turn ends, Yuma!
It's your move!"
With his setup complete, Kite felt immensely proud.
As expected of a higher-world deck build.
The power it brings is terrifying.
Even though he wasn't familiar yet—
He still found a basic combo line in very little time.
That was what Kite was pleased about.
While the board wasn't unbreakable—
[Number 90: Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord] was strong enough.
Protection from effect destruction.
Monster-effect negate.
An opponent's-turn search.
A 3000 DEF wall.
Plenty to anchor the first turn.
Plus [Called by the Grave] and [Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring] in hand.
That should do it.
Also, ending early—
Kite wanted to use the opponent's turn to look through his Extra Deck more, to understand what other Galaxy-Eyes Extra Deck pieces the higher world had.
Across from him, Yuma's face tightened slightly.
Kite had just picked up this deck—
And he could already pilot it smoothly into two Xyz Summons.
He even managed to summon a monster with 3000 ATK and 2500 DEF—[Galaxy-Eyes Afterglow Dragon].
Those three monsters were clearly no joke.
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