Overlord.
Hearing that name once more, Judai was silent for a moment, as if pondering.
But he soon looked up and laughed heartily.
"It's all good now."
"But you said that he is now within you, that you two are inseparable," Yugen leaned back, sinking into the sofa, holding the teacup Alice had just handed him.
"So we have to consider the possibility of him losing control, right?" Yugen paused and added, "Or maybe, even if things are stable usually, there's still a risk of going out of control in specific situations, right?"
"You mean, like if one day all my friends suddenly turned against me, or worse, someone might die because of me?"
Judai's face was serious.
Yugen remained silent, staring back at him solemnly.
This eerie stare-off lasted a few seconds before Judai suddenly burst out laughing.
"That's too far-fetched, don't you think?"
But Yugen didn't laugh.
"Wait, are you serious?" Judai raised an eyebrow.
"Just have to consider the possibility," Yugen said, "We're dealing with an Overlord who once ruled twelve dimensions. You've faced him personally, you should know how dangerous he is."
"I know, but... how should I put it?"
Judai scratched his head, thinking. But then he flashed his trademark smile and gave Yugen a thumbs up.
"Anyway... it's not going to be a problem. I guarantee, he won't be trouble anymore."
Yugen held his gaze for a moment, and Judai maintained the pose.
Until Yugen shrugged.
"Alright, if you're so insistent."
That was originally his plan anyway.
Dazi had said back then, the darkness within people's hearts couldn't be eradicated. At that time, Lafiru of the Doma Three Musketeers thought he had eradicated his inner darkness, even the activated Orichalcos Barrier disappeared without drawing a soul.
But when facing Dazi again later, with just a few words, Dazi reignited Lafiru's fury, bringing back the barrier that was supposed to have vanished along with Lafiru's supposedly extinguished inner darkness.
The Overlord was Judai's inner darkness, similarly impossible to truly eradicate—unless Judai was destroyed along with it.
So the optimal solution for Judai, and a lesson many strong duelists have to learn, is to face the darkest part of themselves and coexist with it.
In fact, Yugen believed that although Judai could mobilize the Overlord's power in the later stages of the animation, he leaned more towards the belief that Judai had only absorbed a part of the Overlord or at least couldn't fully wield that power.
But now Judai had this opportunity.
"By the way, Mr. Joey Wheeler left the island today," Judai said.
He and Joey got along well and had been getting along quite nicely recently.
"He left?" Yugen asked.
But Joey had initially stayed to pioneer the Other Dimension with them. Now that the task was done, it seemed natural for him to leave.
"Yeah... but he told me he just had something to do first and would come back for the celebration party... to celebrate us clearing the Twelfth Dimension instance completely."
Judai tilted his head, thinking.
"He seemed to say... President Beckas had something to discuss with him."
"Beckas, looking for Mr. Joey Wheeler?" Yugen felt a bit odd.
Did those two maintain contact after the Duel Kingdom?
...
...
In fact, it wasn't just Yugen who thought so. At this moment, the person involved was thinking the same.
Taking a private jet from the International Fantasy Association straight to the island where the Duel Kingdom was held, Joey Wheeler got off the plane, gazed at the familiar yet strange island, and couldn't help but feel a myriad of emotions.
This was his starting point as a duelist, a place of special meaning to him.
When he first stepped onto this island, he was a nameless duelist. At that time, he hadn't even fully figured out the card game rules, his best achievement before was being in the top eight at a small-town duel, and he often made silly mistakes on the field.
It was on this island that he truly transformed into a duelist and felt for the first time that he was following the footsteps of his dear friend Muto Yuugi.
Things have changed since then. Yuugi had long gone abroad to explore, this island was no longer the Duel Kingdom it once was, all the competitive facilities had been dismantled, and it basically served as the retirement home of President Beckas, who was in a semi-retirement state.
But he also felt strange. Perhaps Yuugi, who became the nominal largest shareholder of the International Fantasy Association after winning the Duel Kingdom, and Kaiba, as Illusion Association's main partner, had maintained some contact with Beckas over the years; he, however, hadn't really interacted much with Beckas since leaving the Duel Kingdom.
So it was indeed peculiar that Beckas would invite him to his retirement island for a private talk.
"Joey Boy, welcome."
Upon entering the castle, President Beckas personally came out to greet him, waving to signal the staff to give them some privacy.
"Beckas, long time no see."
Joey casually moved forward, waving in greeting as well.
"Your accent is still so interesting after all these years, ahaha..."
Beckas elegantly smiled, not at all annoyed: "After all these years, Joey Boy hasn't changed either."
Having accepted the invitation, Joey didn't hold back, directly sitting at the table and helping himself to the desserts and tea on it.
He commented as he ate.
"Hmm, the taste is pretty good."
"Oh, and this coffee is great too. Your retirement life seems quite comfortable, Beckas, really enviable..."
Beckas watched him indulge, crossing his legs without joining in, smiling as he said, "Retirement life... if only I could really retire so leisurely, that would be wonderful."
"Hmm?"
Joey looked up in confusion.
"Why, is something not going smoothly?"
"That's precisely why I invited you here, Joey BOY." Beckas straightened up, speaking seriously, "Have you heard about it?
The cutting-edge astronomical unit collaborating with our International Fantasy Association has observed light fluctuations from a cosmic white hole that have the potential to destroy the world. We've been monitoring the potential impact of that malevolent fluctuation on Earth alongside the Kaiba Group."
Joey nodded: "Not really, but I've heard snippets. What's up?"
"Recently, that frontier astronomical unit has discovered something new." Beckas stated gravely, "The threat to our world isn't just from that light fluctuation alone.
Opposing that force is a dark power, which we've temporarily named 'Darkness of the Universe,' which also has the potential to engulf our world in darkness.
And Joey Boy, according to our observations, you..."
Beckas paused, squinting at him.
"...may have had close contact with an important source of that 'Darkness of the Universe.'"