This World Was Too Chaotic

Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Also known as: Card King, Card-Loss King, Nonsense King, Yu-Gi King.

Because of differences between the anime's plot and the rules and effects of the physical cards that came later, it had acquired all sorts of nicknames. But its essence was obvious—playing cards.

No matter what anyone did, they could not escape playing cards. This thing had practically replaced every clash of blades and fistfight, becoming this world's mainstream form of entertainment and combat.

It might sound hard to believe, but in this world, police officers went out carrying Duel Disks and cards rather than guns.

Even when street punks shouted about having a brawl, they would not grab bricks and clubs for a gang fight. They would pull out Duel Disks and start playing cards instead.

If you transmigrated into a world like this, you should be able to relax a little, right?

But things were not that simple.

As everyone knew, Yu-Gi-Oh! was a typical "high-magic world." All sorts of monsters and lunatics could jump out under the banner of a Shadow Game and cause trouble.

There were three-thousand-year-old ancient Egyptian Pharaohs, sources of darkness, Great Evil Gods of the underworld, and later anime spinoffs involving the overused Emerald Tablet from every fantasy novel imaginable, dimensional crises, and conflicts between the light and darkness of the universe.

Never mind the stories depicted in card art that looked ferocious at a glance—even the things shown in the anime could destroy the world in minutes.

—Of course, if that were all, it would have been fine.

As everyone knew, anime had things called "protagonists," and Yu-Gi-Oh!'s protagonists were not normal people either.

For example:

The original Pharaoh was already involved with ancient Egyptian Dark Magic Attack and mysterious powers, and Shadow Games came as naturally to him as breathing.

Jaden from GX might have seemed ordinary, but setting aside his identity as the Supreme King's reincarnation, he was also a genius alchemist who had refined the Philosopher's Stone and inherited the Book of Emerald at fifteen. Put him in any fantasy setting, and he would have been a once-in-a-millennium talent.

This was exactly what it meant when people said that tall people held up the sky when it fell. As an anime aimed at the vast majority of teenagers, every crisis in this world would basically be resolved by its powerful protagonists.

If he did not have any intention of forcefully getting involved and accomplishing something huge, then hiding somewhere until everything was over would not be a bad way to stay alive.

But there was one prerequisite for doing that—you had to truly be an insignificant passerby.

Yu Ming did not know whether he was one, nor did he know whether the original owner of this body had been one. But at least now, he no longer was.

"Millennium Items..."

Staring at the profound artifact that seemed to gleam with golden light, Yu Ming could not stop the corner of his mouth from twitching.

"I should have thought of it. I should have identified that guy from the very beginning."

Shadi—full name Shadi Shin—was ostensibly a member of another branch of the Tomb Keepers, responsible for safeguarding three Millennium Items. Then the movie revealed that he was some kind of dimensional traveler.

But none of that was important. Setting aside anime-original plots, every major issue in the original anime's main storyline had been set in motion by him.

He had forcibly bestowed the Millennium Eye upon Father of Duel Monsters Maximillion Pegasus, making cards popular throughout the world. After listening to his riddles, Marik, the King of Facial Expressions, had begun to hate the Pharaoh.

And even after he had completely vanished, the children he had adopted, who called themselves Plana, had nearly pulled off something massive.

From a certain perspective, he could be called the standard source of all evil.

And now, that very person had handed him the Millennium Scale, which should have been in Shadi's possession.

So what did that mean?

Scene one:

"I offer two gods as sacrifices to summon the wrath of 'Obelisk'!"

Scene two:

"This is the only combo in my deck that can defeat you—Dimension Triangle Pyramid!"

Just thinking of those two lords' heroic appearances in the anime made Yu Ming shudder.

Do not ask why he had to become enemies with the protagonists. That was simply what happened when you got tangled up with someone like Shadi.

Had no one seen what Aigami, who claimed he wanted to enter a higher dimension, had turned into? And the Tomb Keepers burdened with the "mission" he spoke of had become completely twisted inside.

So the question was, what exactly was this "saving the world" he talked about?

"Anyway, it has nothing to do with me."

After some thought, he reached that conclusion.

After all, the timeline was basically clear now. There were only so many world-level crises in the original series.

Doma counted as one. If the anime's direction was included, then the Ultimate RPG launched by Dark Bakura counted as another. But even counting both of those, they could be resolved by Little Yugi, the protagonist.

So what he needed to do next was simple.

"Just deliver this thing to the Pharaoh and Little Yugi."

But before that...

Bang

"Ahhh!! Save me! Hurry and save me!!"

Crunch

Wails, sobs, chewing.

All kinds of sounds echoed from beyond the wall, giving Yu Ming goosebumps.

To be honest, even now, he had no idea where this place actually was.

Some primitive cave? An underground labyrinth?

Or perhaps the base of some mysterious cult?

But no matter what, one conclusion was certain.

"I need to find a way out of this damned place."

However, that did not mean he should act immediately.

To deal with every possible crisis, he needed to make thorough preparations.

And the first thing concerned his personal safety!

"Weapons..."

Sorting through the few thoughts he had, Yu Ming turned his gaze toward the deck and Duel Disk in his hands.

In the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, what could be called a weapon was not swords, spears, axes, or halberds, much less guns and cannons. It was the seemingly ordinary little cards in his hands.

"First, I'll test the most basic thing."

He casually slapped a card in his hand onto the Duel Disk.

"'Axe of Despair.'"

Light and shadow flashed, and a battle axe that seemed to echo with a sinister laugh appeared in his hand.

Its heavy weight proved that it was not merely a projection. It felt as though it truly existed.

Then there was...

"'Zera.'"

It had not been summoned through any proper method, yet a massive, vicious monster that nearly burst through the ceiling appeared all the same.

"Good... I don't know whether this is a function of the Duel Disk or an ability of my own, but at least I can materialize cards."

That made things much simpler.

"What I need to consider next is deck construction."

As everyone knew, in the Yu-Gi-Oh! worldview, playing cards determined everything, so he needed to build his own deck.

"Now then, let's see what Shadi left me."

He casually flipped through the other cards.

"'Amulet of Usurpation,' 'Advanced Ritual Art,' 'Hyper Magic Sword of Raptinus'..."

But after looking through them one by one, he felt like he was about to lose it.

"Shadi, what the hell did you leave me? How can there not be a single monster card among sixty cards... Oh, no, there is one."

Staring at "Zera," which was still on the Duel Disk, Yu Ming fell into strange contemplation.

He suddenly noticed something—aside from the ritual magic, these cards seemed to be the armor and weapons he had seen before. Even their card art was exactly the same.

"So, Shadi, you really are stingy as hell, huh? Could you leave me some monsters I can Normal Summon? You didn't even leave any tributes, so how am I supposed to summon Ritual Monsters?"

Oh, he did not play cards in the story either?

Then never mind!

"One day, I'm going to launch your mother into outer space..."

"Please, please spare me... Aahhh!!"

Crack

Squelch

"..."

Although Yu Ming had wanted to curse a little more, the sounds from outside, as if something were chewing bones and flesh, made him shut his mouth early.

He tiptoed over to the pile of rubble. Peering through the blocked gaps, he could only make out a sturdy figure.

Accompanied by a foul stench, a creature of seemingly rotting flesh crawled along the ground, tearing into mangled limbs.

Gulp

A ruined head rolled toward him, and Yu Ming found himself staring into its grotesque face, its eyes still open in death.

"..."

He quietly backed away and returned to his seat.

"Building a deck is more important."

Still, even if he said that, using only the things currently in his possession to build a qualified deck was nothing more than a fool's dream.

Unless he could find another source of cards... Could he?

The answer was obvious:

Absolutely!

Easily!

As a transmigrator, he still had one final trump card!

No matter what predicament he faced, it could turn danger into safety.

Its name was...

"System."

Ding-dong

He set down the pile of equipment cards in his hands. The moment that world-shaking word left his mouth, that wonderful prompt formally appeared before his eyes.

Dear host, welcome back.

That was more like it.

Since transmigration had already happened, there was no reason that strange dream should be ignored.

It did not matter that Shadi had screwed him over. He was someone with a system too!

But before he could celebrate for long, the words appearing before him gradually froze the corners of his mouth.

This year marks the tenth year you and this system have spent together.

"Huh?"

How many years did you say?

After ten years together through wind and rain, your annual report has been generated. Please check it.

"?"

Did you even hear what you were saying?