The cold wind outside the high-voltage substation swept up fine snow, striking the wire fence with a mournful whistle.
The black-purple death lightning coiling around Summoned Skull gradually subsided. Its massive, bone-winged demonic body, over three meters tall, dissolved into streams of dense, dark demonic energy and slowly vanished into the void.
As for Jinzo, who had just been forced to sign a master-servant contract, he turned into a stream of deep purple light and obediently slipped into the Deck Box at Yūki's waist, unable to muster even the slightest thought of resistance.
Silence returned to the world.
Yūki lowered his eyes slightly. Before him, a translucent blue panel that only he could see quietly appeared.
[Ding! Duel settlement complete.] [Defeated "Jinzo"] [Soul Power gained: 4 points.] [Duel Coins gained: 11,000.] [Current status updated:] [Host: Fujiwara Yūki] [Soul Power Level: Lv4 (14%)] [Duel Coins: 29,300]
Watching the numbers change on the panel, Yūki's lips curved into a faint, satisfied smile.
His Soul Power progress had climbed steadily from ten percent to fourteen percent, while his Duel Coins had shot up by eleven thousand, bringing his total straight to twenty-nine thousand three hundred!
He was only a few hundred away from the thirty-thousand mark.
Coming out to the back mountain in the freezing cold in the middle of the night had been a ridiculously profitable deal, no matter how he looked at it.
"Y-Yūki?!"
A startled cry, its pitch distorted, suddenly came from behind him, breaking the substation's silence.
Yūki calmly closed the system panel and turned around.
Jaden rushed up from behind in a few strides, pressing both hands firmly against his knees. His eyes were as wide as saucers, his face filled with disbelief.
"What... what on earth just happened?!"
Jaden strode up to Yūki in two