Chapter 441: The Troubles of Young Manjoume
Although the sight of the Vampire Fraulein being crushed under the rules of the Dark Game was quite gruesome, very few people actually witnessed this scene.
It wasn't that the many audience members in the Kaiba Dome Venue were blind; it was because most people didn't have the ability to see Card Spirits, not even powerful duelists like Joey Wheeler and Kujaku Mai.
In the understanding of the vast majority of the audience, the female duelist named Tila Muku simply had a slightly strange "XP" for Duel Monsters, liking to call her monsters "Master." At most, she was a bit wild after summoning her ace monster; everything else was quite normal.
As for the one named Dan Kuroto, who was second only to the legendary duelist Kaiba Seto during the qualifiers, he won the duel as usual. Although the strategy he used to decide the victory at the end was a bit disgusting, practically writing "Stall Tactic" on the card face.
However, the winner is justice, and they still offered applause and cheers for Dan Kuroto's advancement.
As for Vampire Fraulein, in their eyes, she was just an ordinary Duel Monsters monster that had disappeared when the duel ended.
However, it wasn't that no one saw the scene of Vampire Fraulein begging Hayato for mercy. Besides Alister and Yugi, Judai Yuki, who was sitting in his seat, also saw that moment.
"He decisively rejected the evil temptation? As expected, that's a true hero! So cool!"
Although it was strange that besides Hayato and himself, there were others who also possessed the E HERO Deck that Hayato said would only be released next month, perhaps due to the mutual admiration between fellow hero users, Judai had a high basic affection for Hayato's disguised identity, Dan Kuroto.
Coupled with Dan Kuroto's display of extraordinary understanding with the E HEROs and his firm resistance to evil temptation, which had only been seen in the TV anime, Judai thought Dan Kuroto was incredibly cool.
However, while Judai approved of Dan Kuroto, Manjoume Jun, who happened to be sitting right next to Judai, was unimpressed by the attention-grabbing Dan Kuroto: "What kind of Stall Tactic is that? If it were me up there, he absolutely wouldn't have had a chance to win."
Although he had repeatedly confirmed that the seats in the Kaiba Dome Venue were completely randomly assigned, Manjoume found it completely unacceptable that Judai always seemed to be seated next to him for three consecutive days. He felt that this must be related to Judai's parents who work in the Card Design Department at Industrial Illusions; it was definitely a rigged operation.
Even though Judai told him that even if his parents had enough influence, they couldn't interfere with KaibaCorp from Industrial Illusions, and that even if there was a rigged operation, the probability of it being done by KaibaCorp's President Kaiba Seto himself was higher, Manjoume still scoffed.
Are you kidding? Kaiba Seto is a legendary duelist who dueled the Duel King Hayato Kobayashi in Battle City! How could he possibly engage in a rigged operation?
Could it be that the great Kaiba Seto would specifically interfere to arrange the duel order to guide certain people to face each other? Impossible, okay? No one understands Kaiba Seto better than Yours Truly.
Glancing at Judai Yuki next to him, who was replaying the strategy Dan Kuroto had just used, trying to learn something from it, Manjoume Jun stood up, hands on his hips, and said proudly, "Sigh, the vision of an Eliminated Duelist like you is only this much. After all, you're just a guy of this level."
"Unlike Yours Truly, I'm going to charge forward all the way and become the most dazzling rising star in this KC Cup, and then win the championship!"
Just looking at Manjoume Jun's arrogant appearance, it was as if he had already defeated a host of strong players like Mutou Yuugi, Kaiba Seto, and Katsuya Jounouchi, and was about to duel Hayato Kobayashi as the champion of the KC Cup under the spotlights.
"You're really confident, Lightning-chan~" Although Manjoume looked down on Judai, Judai just laughed cheerfully, not taking Manjoume's words to heart. "You have to keep that kind of aura! Go duel your best, even though you've never beaten me."
"It's Manjoume-san! And don't get ahead of yourself! I'm different from you; you've already been eliminated, and I haven't lost yet!"
"But you really haven't beaten me, have you?"
"I am the Young Master of the great Manjoume Conglomerate! I am an elite!"
"But you haven't won against me, you know."
Manjoume was getting frantic: "You! Don't bring that up again!"
"Also, I was the runner-up of the Domino City Elementary and Middle School Duel Monsters Tournament, which gathered countless strong players!"
"Ah, I remember that too, but I was the champion, right?"
"YAKAMASHI!"
And just as Judai was teasing and Manjoume was getting exasperated, a person wearing a cloak passed by them in the aisle.
Looking at the two playful youths, or perhaps just staring at the carefree Judai Yuki who was chuckling foolishly, the white-haired, rabbit-eared man's face, obscured by the hood's shadow, revealed a bizarre smile. He seemed to casually move his body slightly closer to them.
Sensing a certain dark power that was sealed by the power of the Millennium Ring, which he was quite familiar with, the man's hand emerged from his robe sleeve. He subtly hid a card in his palm, swinging it seemingly unintentionally with his steps as he walked, as if accidentally bumping into the Duel Disk Manjoume was wearing as he stood up.
"Ah, sorry, sorry, I bumped into you by accident."
His Duel Disk was lightly bumped. Manjoume turned his head, looking at the cloaked figure who was apologizing after accidentally hitting his Duel Disk.
The face revealed beneath the hood looked quite handsome. The white-haired man, who seemed to be around the same age as Hayato, had a look of apology: "I'm truly sorry, I was spaced out just now and didn't notice you. Are you alright?"
Although he always put on an arrogant front in front of familiar people, Manjoume Jun was actually quite polite in front of strangers. The other party apologized directly and politely, and his attitude was sincere. Also, he looked quite handsome. Manjoume replied, "Ah, it's nothing. It was my fault for standing too far out."
He lowered his head and looked at his Duel Disk. Because the impact was very light, Manjoume's Duel Disk, which was of reliable quality and production, showed no sign of damage, not even a bit of paint chipping. Manjoume didn't take the matter to heart.
However, he didn't notice that in his Deck, which he had conveniently placed directly on his Duel Disk, an extra card seemed to have accidentally appeared.
Please, I like Recommendation Tickets!
(End of Chapter)
# Chapter 442: Tragoedia
Hayato, who had left the Duel Field, was unaware of what was happening with Judai and Manjoume. At this moment, he looked at the card in his hand with a serious expression.
Due to the KC Cup format, Hayato hadn't enjoyed the thrill of taking someone's entire Deck after a duel victory for a long time. Today, taking advantage of Tila Muku being unconscious from losing the dark game, he seized the opportunity to take her Deck.
Tila Muku, who should have lost her life due to being harmed by her card spirit, Vampire Fraulein, was now merely unconscious from excessive mental damage. Hayato, who saved her life, also successfully took her Deck. This was what they called a "win-win."
However, after obtaining Tila Muku's Deck, Hayato discovered something quite strange—a faint, eerie aura was attached to every card in Tila Muku's Deck. To Hayato, it felt exactly the same as the feeling given off by the already disappeared Vampire Fraulein.
At first, Hayato speculated that this might be left behind by Vampire Fraulein when she died. But upon discovering that even using the power of the Millennium Ring felt like a weakness when trying to purify this power, Hayato was certain that the source of this power was absolutely not simple, at least not a monster of Vampire Fraulein's level.
This speculation was strongly supported when Hayato found the card with the most concentrated mysterious power in Tila Muku's Deck.
Looking at The Great Saturn in his hand, seeing Tenma Tsukihiro's Splendid Venus for the first time might have been an accident, but this was already the second one. Hayato's previous guess seemed to be gradually becoming reality.
Whether it was Tila Muku's The Great Saturn, which wasn't used in the duel, or the Splendid Venus that Hayato had previously defeated, although they had no connection in terms of attribute, type, card name, or effect, they all belonged to the Planet Series, named after celestial bodies in the Solar System, including the Sun and Pluto.
Each individual monster in the Planet Series itself wasn't too important. What was important was that together, they sealed an evil monster that was born in Ancient Egypt—Tragoedia.
Legend said that monster had the ability to control minds. Even after being sealed for thousands of years, it didn't disperse, but instead waited for an opportunity to escape throughout the long years. Putting everything else aside, just this willpower was stronger than Kars, who gave up thinking so easily.
Wait, control minds?
Hayato's finger, which was holding The Great Saturn, stopped moving. He began to recall all the information he had gathered during this time.
The accounts of "Night" and Tenma Yexing, Pegasus and Tenma Tsukihiro, the photos collected by Kaiba, plus the Planet Series that sealed Tragoedia—then there was indeed only one answer.
Although he didn't know how it was done, Hayato had sufficient reason to suspect that Tragoedia, after modifying the memories of most people related to "Tenma Yexing," had also deleted most of the data about "Tenma Yexing" on the network.
Hayato even suspected that Tragoedia was currently possessing Tenma Yexing. Although he didn't have absolute certainty, the probability was quite high.
"No, let's think about it calmly. If Tragoedia had left the seal long ago, things would have escalated significantly. How could it be as simple as 'Tenma Yexing''s existence disappearing from countless people's memories?"
"But strangely, there's no trend of anyone collecting the Planet Series, which are the keys to the seal. It's less like preparing to break the seal and more like the seal has already been broken, so there's no longer a need for the Planet Series."
"Why is that?"
Just as Hayato was deep in thought, Rainbow Kuriboh ran out of the Card Box and perched on Hayato's shoulder.
"Kuriboh~"
"Hmm?" Turning his head, Hayato's gaze met Rainbow Kuriboh's. He found that Rainbow Kuriboh was looking at him eagerly, and even pointed a finger at Tila Muku's Deck that Hayato was holding in his other hand.
"You want this, Aibo?"
As he spoke, Hayato raised his hand. But to his surprise, Rainbow Kuriboh, who had initially been full of interest in Tila Muku's Deck, seemed to confirm something after getting closer. Like smelling a durian that had been left under the sun for three days and run over by cars five or six times, it fled back as if flying.
"Kuriboh! Kuriri!"
Hayato, who possessed the basic Duelist skill of Kuriboh Language, easily understood Rainbow Kuriboh's meaning.
"You're saying this thing can accelerate the awakening of card spirits?"
"Kuriboh!" Rainbow Kuriboh first nodded in affirmation, then shook its head vigorously. "Kuriboh Kuriboh, Kuriboh!"
After a thorough explanation, Hayato was quite surprised to learn from Rainbow Kuriboh that the mysterious power in Tila Muku's Deck could not only accelerate the birth of card spirits but also had the ability to make already awakened card spirits grow and fully awakened card spirits gain stronger power.
However, powerful cards often come with risk. Miracles and magic are not free. According to Rainbow Kuriboh, this power, while accelerating growth, would also subtly permeate into the card spirits' body, gradually twisting their hearts.
It was just like the hormone used to stimulate growth for harvesting pork prematurely. While it could speed up the process, it would degrade the quality of the harvested pork—the card spirits.
Thinking this way, it's quite possible that Vampire Fraulein also received this power. It's even possible that she herself was only a semi-awakened card spirit, and after being stimulated by the "hormone," she successfully awakened while also having her mind twisted by this power, leading to the idea of controlling Tila Muku.
Without this power, although Vampire Fraulein's awakening might have been delayed indefinitely, she would never have become the way she was before.
With Rainbow Kuriboh's answer, Hayato finally resolved his confusion. The scattered Planet Series and the power that accelerates spirit birth were not unrelated to the idea of breaking the seal. Rather, this was one of the necessary conditions for breaking the seal, such as "the Planet Series, as keys, must have awakened card spirits."
This couldn't help but remind Hayato of a joke he heard before: someone selling pet pigs online and promising that the pet pig would never grow large, only staying at its size from when it was young. If it grew larger, they would offer a 100% refund at the original price.
This wasn't selling pigs; it was clearly getting others to raise pigs for free. The only cost throughout the process was the shipping fee, and someone even prepared the pig farm for him.
Hayato looked at the screen broadcasting the Kaiba Dome Venue.
Even with the stimulation of 'hormones,' the birth of card spirits is inseparable from the fierce clash between duelists' souls. And battles capable of giving birth to card spirits were certainly not lacking within the Kaiba Dome, where the KC Cup was being held.
——————Kaiba the Professional Freeloader——————
"Hmm? This feeling is..."
Slightly furrowing his brow, Pegasus felt a sense of oppression coming from the air and released the joystick he was gripping tightly.
Turning his head, he found that at some point, a man with a white turban wrapped around his head and wearing a pure white robe had appeared in the game room that should have only contained him. One of the man's hands was slowly taking something out of his embrace.
"You are, Shadi?!"
Pegasus naturally recognized the man before him. Wasn't it Shadi, who had forced the Millennium Eye onto him when he was traveling in Egypt? Although many years had passed, those vacant eyes were still deeply etched in his memory.
However, he had already lost the Millennium Eye now. What did this guy want with him?
The silent Shadi said nothing. He merely took out a scale made of gold from his embrace—the Millennium Scale, one of the Millennium Items—and placed it on the table closest to him. One end of the two empty trays on the scale pointed in Pegasus's direction.
After swaying back and forth several times, the scale gradually returned to a state of balance. And as if confirming something by this, Shadi finally spoke: "Pegasus, you should have died."
"Heh heh, indeed. I truly walked through the gates of hell." One hand touched the left side of his face. Through the drooping silver hair, Pegasus didn't push the strands aside to reveal the empty eye socket underneath. Instead, he savored the pain of losing the Millennium Eye. "Having been with me for so long, suddenly losing the Millennium Eye, I'm still not quite used to it even now."
Facing Shadi, whom he still couldn't figure out, Pegasus didn't continue using his strange way of speaking but spoke properly in Japanese. However, it was quite strange to think of Shadi, an Egyptian, and Pegasus, an American, communicating in Japanese.
Shadi heard this but shook his head: "No, I didn't mean you almost died, but that you 'should have died'."
"Your destiny of 'possessing the power of the Millennium Eye' should have ended after the duel with the soul of the Nameless Pharaoh. But the existence of a certain will extended and continued your destiny out of thin air. Along with it, the originally ordered threads of destiny were completely disrupted, even drawing out other buried darkness."
"The ripple disturbing the calm has already spread. Now, even recycling the remaining Millennium Eye power on you is useless." Shadi paused. At some point, he was holding an Ankh symbol made of gold in his other hand. One end of the symbol had a shape like a key.
Pegasus couldn't help but become nervous. A faint gold pattern even lit up on his forehead, revealing the symbol of the Eye of Wjat/Udjat.
It wasn't that he was being overly suspicious. The main reason was that the man before him was too mysterious. And no matter how many times they met, he always acted like a Riddler, never explaining things clearly. And most importantly—
Last time in Egypt, when he accidentally stumbled upon his identity, he was distracted by listening to this guy's riddling speech, then controlled by his Subordinates and forced to wear the Millennium Eye. It hurt like hell!
Shadi, however, seemed not to notice Pegasus's vigilance, or perhaps he simply didn't take Pegasus, who could only use the residual power of the Millennium Eye, seriously. He aimed the Ankh symbol—the Millennium Key—at the location of his heart, inserted it forcefully as if harming himself, and then twisted it like unlocking something.
As if a switch had been flipped, a radiance lit up from Shadi's chest. His other hand reached into it, grabbed something, and threw it out. An orb of light was thrown towards Pegasus.
Under Pegasus's gaze, the orb of light slowly floating in mid-air gradually dimmed, revealing the orb of light's true form—a blank Duel Monsters card.
The card stopped in front of Pegasus. Looking at Pegasus, who didn't dare to touch the card at all, Shadi put away the Millennium Key and the Millennium Scale. His voice, unable to hide its weakness, explained: "This power is a necessary condition to pull chaotic destiny back to its original order."
"To use this power, one must possess the power of 'Prana' that has broken free from dimensional restraint and transcended destiny, as well as the power of the 'Pharaoh' acknowledged by destiny." Under Pegasus's gaze, as if a projector's battery had a poor connection, Shadi's figure flickered, visibly dimming. "You can find someone who can use it, Pegasus."
Although Shadi looked like he was about to die and was giving his last words, Pegasus still didn't relax. He said cautiously, "Then why don't you personally give it to the person who has the ability to use it?"
"Also, what are 'Pharaoh' and 'Prana'?"
Pegasus considered himself quite up-to-date, even though he preferred low-age manga and cartoons. Yet, he couldn't understand the words Shadi was saying.
Could it be some code used in a small circle, or some meaningless abbreviation? For example, AAAAA is the abbreviation for the "Association Against Absurd Abbreviations."
"The power I possess, originating from the 'Pharaoh,' merely relies on an external object, the Millennium Item. The power of 'Prana' is also incomplete. Holding this power until now is my limit, and from now on, I can no longer gaze upon the Nameless Pharaoh."
Shadi muttered to himself. His figure had dimmed so much that Pegasus could see the clock on the wall behind his body.
"The key to this power is to fusion summon and then transcend the limit. Only by integrating everything can it exert the power to correct destiny."
Having finished his final riddling speech, Shadi seemed to have said something, yet also seemed to have said nothing, and disappeared from before Pegasus.
"Did he answer my question?" Pegasus frowned and recalled. He confirmed that Shadi indeed hadn't said anything. "This feeling, it's definitely what Hayato boy called a 'Riddler,' isn't it? Talking to people like this is really tiring."
Although he still suspected Shadi might be up to something, after some hesitation, Pegasus still grasped the Duel Monsters card floating before him. From Pegasus's perspective, there was nothing on the card. At most, he could only determine it was a fusion monster card based on the card's background color.
"Fusion summon, and then transcend the limit?" Pegasus recalled Shadi's words, then suddenly thought of something. "That sounds interesting. I think I have an inspiration!"
"Speaking of the limit of fusion monsters, it's definitely that monster!"
Pegasus's gaze fell upon the clock on the wall. It was one of the few decorations in this America Limited Edition Kaiba Land that still retained Blue-Eyes White Dragon elements.
(End of Chapter)
# Chapter 443: God?
"Schroeder, and Doma, who I've never heard of before."
"Hmph, just bring it on. If you want to crush KaibaCorp, you'll have to go through me."
Recalling the information he had "overheard" from Hayato, Kaiba leaned back in his chair, looking at the computer screen before him, and picked up his Deck.
Because of Bakura's agreement with Hayato, Hayato couldn't share the information he had gathered with Kaiba. However, Kaiba himself possessed powerful information-gathering abilities, and he had successfully collected quite a bit of information on his own, displayed on the computer screen.
"Schroeder Corporation's New President"
"Paradius Company Board of Directors Reshuffled"
"Kaiba and Schroeder? The Future of the Virtual Projection System"
...
On the other side of this information was the backend program Kaiba had recovered from the Duel Robots at Kaiba Land. He had mostly completed the reverse engineering and successfully located the vulnerability where the Duel Robots were originally invaded and controlled.
As Kaiba stood up and left the office, his computer screen went dark.
Although Kaiba still didn't know when or how Schroeder Corporation planned to make a move against KaibaCorp, and whether Paradius Company had any connection to Doma was merely Kaiba's suspicion, Kaiba's consistent approach was "to meet all changes with no change."
Whatever schemes and plots you plan to use, I will defeat you head-on. This was Kaiba's arrogance.
It was already the fourth day of the KC Cup. The event had reached the third round, with 16 players remaining. After today's Duels, the final Top 8 Duelists would be decided, and tomorrow would be the day to determine the strongest in the group stage.
After that would be the Top 4 showdowns.
According to the original plan, Kaiba intended to have Pegasus, that guy who always freeloaded at Kaiba Land, serve as the Referee for the KC Cup Finals. However, after the KC Cup ended yesterday, Pegasus hurriedly sought out Kaiba, asked him for a copy of the card data for Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and then left, saying he had inspiration for new cards.
Kaiba was initially a bit reluctant, after all, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon was his ace monster. But Pegasus had an expression like "I'll give you a surprise in three days," and Kaiba didn't make him explain what surprise meant, just copied the data for him.
Anyway, he didn't take the card itself, so giving the data was fine. However, Kaiba didn't think Pegasus could come up with anything new. If he were going to research something, it should be Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon that was more suitable.
Following his usual practice, Kaiba arranged for Joey Wheeler, that mediocre talent, to go first today, and planned to have him go first every day until he was eliminated. Although he constantly looked down on Joey Wheeler, Kaiba believed that Joey Wheeler could definitely win his way into the Top 4.
For today's Duel, Kaiba arranged Joey Wheeler's opponent to be "Valon," who had registered alongside "Raphael." The result was indeed Joey Wheeler's victory, although his Life Points dropped to 50 LP, a number practically equal to 0. But in the end, the strategy of using Time Wizard to flip Heads and then Graceful Dice to roll a six was truly Joey Wheeler's style of "doesn't get serious until he's low on Life Points."
What annoyed Kaiba even more was that the other two Duelists in Joey Wheeler's group actually ended in a draw using Ring of Destruction during their Duel. This meant that Joey Wheeler's group was left with only him, and he could advance directly to the Top 4 without doing anything else.
There was nothing more absurd luck than this.
Except for Yugi's Duel.
Yugi's opponent today was the guy named "Raphael." Kaiba wanted to see how Yugi would deal with "Raphael," whom he himself couldn't defeat.
Everything started normally, but halfway through the Duel, after Yugi used a Mirror Force to counter and destroy "Raphael's" monsters, that guy actually surrendered voluntarily, giving Yugi a "Quick Victory."
Watching the Duel between the two almost reach its climax, even making him feel a bit excited, and then Raphael just surrendered like that?
Right now, Kaiba was in a very bad mood, even a little angry.
And the best way for him to vent the itch to duel that had been stirred up was to immediately go up and play a match.
Unfortunately, even if Kaiba wanted to manipulate the Duel grouping, he had to prepare it a day in advance. Kaiba had arranged himself to go last. The Duel about to start now was Hayato's, and his opponent was a kid named "Rayne Wilson."
Right now, Kaiba could at most go watch Hayato to see what new tricks that guy would try, so he could guard against them later.
----Meanwhile, in the Player Waiting Room----
"Daitokuji, Amnael."
"Alright, Daitokuji."
Looking at the man standing before him, whose body was covered by a cloak and who coughed occasionally, Hayato couldn't help but think to himself about whether everyone was into wearing cloaks these days. He then introduced himself, "My name is Dan Kuroto, 33 years old, living in the Villa Area of Domino City, Japan, unmarried. Ah, I think I got my lines mixed up."
"But, this is the Player Waiting Room, how did you get in?"
"As the winner of the previous match, plus a little trick." "Daitokuji Amnael," whose face was hidden by the cloak, extended a slightly withered finger from beneath the cloak, covering his mouth and nose as he coughed. "Also, my name is Amnael."
"Alright, Daitokuji."
Although the other party looked like he was dying, as if he would cough up blood any second, Hayato, who already knew the other party's identity, completely ignored the true name he reported and continued to call him by the nickname he was more familiar with.
"My name is, cough cough cough. Forget it, just call me Daitokuji. That name sounds pretty good." Although he didn't know why the other party was calling him by that name, "Daitokuji Amnael" was easygoing and readily accepted the address. "Mr. Dan Kuroto, I'd like to confirm, you should also be an alchemist, right?"
"Alchemy? No, I'm not an alchemist." Under Daitokuji's expectant gaze, Hayato shook his head and shrugged, indicating that he knew nothing about alchemy.
However, Hayato did remember that he possessed something that alchemists considered their ultimate pursuit. He reached out and took out that card from the Card Box at his waist.
Looking at the perfect sphere on the card in Hayato's hand, Daitokuji seemed quite excited: "Indeed, indeed it's possible! Alchemy isn't without a future!"
"That's great, to be able to see its existence, I *pfft*—!!"
"Hey, don't suddenly spit blood!"
----Three minutes later----
Rayne Wilson, who had been waiting on the Duel Platform for a long time, finally saw Dan Kuroto appear before him.
Because he had arrived at the Duel Field early, he naturally noticed that a large group of medical personnel who were on standby at the venue had just entered the Player Waiting Room on the opposite side, proving that they were useful even on the field.
When the commotion occurred, Rayne was a little worried if something had happened to his opponent for this match. However, upon seeing Dan Kuroto walk up strutting like an idiot, he felt relieved.
Although his itch wasn't as strong as Kaiba's, it would still be regrettable if the Duel he had prepared for a while ended so abruptly.
"Rayne Wilson, right?" Raising his Duel Disk and inserting his Deck, Hayato temporarily kept what Daitokuji had said before being carried away in mind. He showed a healthy smile to Rayne on the opposite field. "Sorry to keep you waiting, young man!"
"Ah, actually it's fine, I didn't wait too long."
The shy Rayne Wilson also raised his Duel Disk. "Yes, I am Rayne Wilson."
As he spoke, Rayne, who was using a pseudonym, felt a little unsure of himself. Although it wasn't the first time he had entered a match using a pseudonym, using a pseudonym was one thing, calling himself by the pseudonym was another.
But Hayato didn't pay attention to Rayne's expression. Instead, he gave his Deck a slightly meaningful glance.
The Referee confirmed that both sides were ready and announced the start of the match.
"Duel!"
"Duel."
[Rayne: 4000 LP]
[Dan Kuroto: 4000 LP]
Compared to Hayato, Rayne's voice was slightly smaller, but his action when drawing a card was not slow at all. "I'll take the first turn, draw a card."
"I Attack Position Summon Iron Knight to my field, then I Set three cards in my Spell/Trap Zone. I End Turn."
After Attack Position Summoning a monster to the field, Rayne ended his turn.
Although it was also called Iron Knight, the monster that appeared on Rayne's field was not Joey Wheeler's Gearfried the Iron Knight, but another monster. It was riding a tall steed, holding a long lance in its hand, looking mighty and impressive.
[Iron Knight][Level 4 / Earth Attribute]
[Warrior Type / Effect]
[1700 ATK / 700 DEF]
Seeing Hayato staring intently at the Iron Knight on his field, Rayne couldn't help but say proudly, "My Iron Knight is based on the prince from the Fairy Tale 'Iron Hans.' Among Level 4 monsters, it has one of the best battle power and has defeated many enemies for me."
"Is that so? 1700 ATK is indeed not bad, but to say it's one of the best is far from it. At least I have many ways to easily deal with it." Hayato said indifferently, drawing a card from his hand. "But before that, my turn, draw a card!"
"Activate Magic Card, Change of Heart! Until the end of the turn, I gain control of the Iron Knight on your field. Then I activate Magic Card, Star Blast! For every 500 Life Points I pay, I can decrease the Level of one card in my hand by one star. At this moment, I will pay 2000 Life Points to decrease the Level of Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca in my hand by 4 stars!"
Hayato's Life Points instantly disappeared by a full half, turning into four stars that appeared above his field. The Iron Knight that was originally standing on Rayne Wilson's field was also hit by the power of the Magic Card Change of Heart and moved to Hayato's field.
Seeing this, Rayne couldn't help but feel troubled.
His Iron Knight's ATK wasn't very strong, but what was important was that if Iron Knight was destroyed by battle or sent to the Graveyard by a card effect, he could directly add an "Iron Hans" from his Deck to his hand. Its primary purpose was resource gathering, not direct battle.
However, in order to mislead Dan Kuroto, Rayne deliberately acted as if he heavily relied on Iron Knight. In reality, he secretly Set Divine Wrath, Sakuretsu Armor, and Dimensional Prison in his Spell/Trap Zone. Among these three cards, Divine Wrath has the ability to negate the activation of a monster effect and destroy the monster. Sakuretsu Armor and Dimensional Prison are Traps activated during an attack declaration.
But, against a card like Change of Heart, he really had no way.
But even if it was controlled, it didn't matter. At most, the opponent would just attack with Iron Knight, or perhaps use Iron Knight to Summon the monster whose Level was decreased by Star Blast just now?
In that case, his Sakuretsu Armor and Dimensional Prison could come in handy.
Thinking this, Rayne suddenly felt a bit tired, as if something had suddenly pressed down on him.
Hayato drew out a card from his hand and activated it: "Activate Magic Card, Planet Pathfinder! I add the Field Spell Card Temple of the Mind's Eye to my hand, then I activate Field Spell Card, Temple of the Mind's Eye!"
Following the activation of the Field Spell Card, a Temple slowly rose from beneath the Duel Field. Standing in the center of the Temple, Hayato's expression was quite serious: "Perhaps I'm overreacting, but this is to be safe."
"Using the Iron Knight on my field as Tribute, the stage for the descent is ready. Come forth, Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca!"
As the figure of Iron Knight disappeared from Hayato's field and returned to Rayne Wilson's Graveyard, a huge shadow appeared on Hayato's field.
Only to see a huge purple stone heart suddenly appear at the top of the Temple, constantly beating. After absorbing the Iron Knight that left the field, the heart split open, and a giant raptor appeared on the field!
[Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca][Level 10 / Dark Attribute → Level 6 / Dark Attribute]
[Winged Beast Type / Effect]
[1 ATK / 1 DEF]
Although its ATK was only 1 point, Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca's mere appearance made Rayne feel a bit breathless. He widened his eyes, looking at the giant eagle that seemed to almost pierce through the dome of the Kaiba Dome.
"Earthbound Immortal?"
Rayne, his voice a bit stuttering, had never seen a monster with such a heavy sense of oppression, not even the Three Egyptian Gods he had seen on television. It wasn't a gap in power, but that sense of threat.
Although they had the name of "God," Earthbound Immortal
# Chapter 444: Upheaval
"[Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca]?" Yugi, sitting in the Spectator Area, frowned, looking at the raptor that appeared on the Duel Field. "Hayato actually summoned this monster?"
"That monster looks so familiar... I feel like I've seen it somewhere before?" Joey Wheeler couldn't recall for a moment where he had seen [Wiraqocha Rasca], but Tristan's memory was quite good.
"Idiot, it was during Battle City! Before Shizuka's surgery, weren't we stopped by the Rare Hunters?" Because that day was the day of Shizuka's surgery and also the day Joey Wheeler received his Duel Disk from Manjoume Shouji, Tristan had a deep impression of the [Wiraqocha Rasca] Hayato summoned that day.
It wasn't just because the event deepened the memory; another reason was that it was the monster that instilled the most 'fear' in him since he started playing Duel Monsters, even up to now.
The [Relinquished] Pegasus used at most just disgusted the onlookers. The first impression the [Three Egyptian Gods] gave bystanders was merely awe-inspiring; only the Duelists who faced them directly could fully experience the fear they brought.
But the [Earthbound Immortals] were different. They conveyed a clear sense of 'threat' that even onlookers could feel, as if the Duel Monsters had broken free from the card's restrictions and could inflict actual damage at any moment, resisting the duel's rules.
To describe it more specifically, it was probably the feeling of a rabbit being targeted by a hawk—a fear that originated from the bloodline.
"That monster... it feels so terrifying." Rebecca swallowed nervously, looking at Rayne von Schroeder, who was facing the [Earthbound Immortal], and frowned. "It's clearly just a small fry monster with only 1 ATK and DEF, so why does it give off this feeling?"
Even Marik put down his French fries, looking at the [Earthbound Immortal] that appeared on the Duel Field, his finger trembling slightly.
He was also one of the Duelists who had faced an [Earthbound Immortal] directly. In fact, it seemed he was the only Duelist who had faced [Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca] directly up to now. This was because Hayato had only used this card against the Rare Hunters during Battle City.
And coincidentally, almost all the Rare Hunters members, except Rishid, had a part of their heart remotely controlled by Marik at that time. This allowed Marik to remotely access their thoughts and knowledge, but he also endured the pressure from the [Earthbound Immortal] many times.
Also, on the night before the official opening of Battle City, Marik, who had just arrived in Domino City, specifically sought out Hayato for a Duel. The result was a spectacular defeat. Although the final blow was delivered by [The Winged Dragon of Ra], what left the deepest impression on Marik was undoubtedly—
"When a Field Spell Card is present, [Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca] can use its effect."
Hayato pointed his finger at Rayne von Schroeder: "Once per turn, by skipping my Battle Phase, I can unleash [Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca]'s most powerful strength."
"Directly change the opponent Duelist's Life Points to 1!"
"Polar Star Obedience!"
The giant vulture, coming out for air after a long time, opened its mouth. Having not tasted delicious souls for a long time, it noticed the aura from the countless audience members around and was almost overjoyed, wanting to feast freely. However, remembering the guy who had freed it from its seal standing behind it, [Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca] could only obediently release its authority, suppressed to the minimum.
Hayato had instructed it beforehand when adding it to his Deck. Although it would appear in the upcoming Duel, it had to be obedient when taking action and absolutely must not directly devour the opponent's soul like it used to against the Rare Hunters. It had to achieve the level of 'running over an ant without injuring it.'
In other words, knock Rayne von Schroeder unconscious.
In the Player Waiting Room, Professor Banner had told Hayato that he had detected certain things placed within the Kaiba Dome during this time. Although Professor Banner's expertise was alchemy, by analogy, he also knew a little about magic circles and similar things. He learned that the items within the Venue could be used to activate a magic circle with a certain function.
Furthermore, unlike conventional magic circles, this technique was controlled by some kind of computer program. This was also why Professor Banner couldn't figure out what the magic circle was for, but he knew it was definitely nothing good.
However, Professor Banner did manage to extract some of the placed items for research using his own methods without being detected by the placer. Hayato recognized the true form of the green stone Professor Banner held—wasn't it the Orichalcos Fragment that the Doma Swordsmen carried with them?!
Combined with what Bakura had said before, Hayato had sufficient reason to suspect that the ones who set up that magic circle were from Doma, and since they were collaborating with the Schroeder Corporation, the prerequisite for activating the magic circle was very likely that truly fake card held by Zigfried von Schroeder's younger brother, Rayne von Schroeder—[Golden Castle of Stromberg].
After all, in the original plot, Zigfried von Schroeder used that card to activate a Trojan program placed within KaibaCorp, almost succeeding in destroying KaibaCorp's internal data.
Hayato didn't have concrete evidence or absolute certainty about whether the key to activating the magic circle was [Golden Castle of Stromberg]. Furthermore, Professor Banner said that while he could find the placed magic circle, extracting some of the placed items was already his limit, and dissolving the formation was beyond his limit.
In that case, although it wasn't entirely fair to Rayne von Schroeder, Hayato only had one option: defeat Rayne von Schroeder in one turn, preventing him from using that [Golden Castle of Stromberg].
As a hawk cry echoed in his ears, Rayne von Schroeder felt a buzzing in his head, as if something was resonating with his trembling soul.
Rayne, enduring the sensation, extended his finger and pressed the Activate Set Card button on his Duel Disk: "B-Before that, because of the Effect Monster's effect activation, I activate my Set Card!"
"[Divine Wrath]! By discarding one card from my Hand, I negate the effect activation of [Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca] and destroy it!"
[Divine Wrath] successfully activated. As Rayne von Schroeder sent a card to the Graveyard, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, and a thick bolt of lightning struck the body of the giant [Earthbound Immortal]!
However, before Rayne could show an expression of relief, he found that the [Earthbound Immortal] struck by the lightning was completely unaffected, as if the lightning bolt just now was merely an illusion.
"H-How is that possible?!" Rayne looked at the [Divine Wrath] on his Field, which had successfully activated but wasn't destroyed, and Hayato's Spell/Trap Zone, which had no other cards. The opponent clearly didn't activate any countermeasures, so why did his activated card fail? "Your monster should have been destroyed by [Divine Wrath]!"
"Idiot, this isn't a monster, it's Kami-da!"
"When a Field Spell Card is present, [Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca] is unaffected by the opponent's Spell/Trap Card effects!"
"Bow down to this divine talent!"
The stripes on the giant vulture lit up with Hayato's voice. After a brief moment of dizziness, Rayne von Schroeder's Life Points plummeted!
[Rayne: 4000 → 1 LP]
A Life Point change of a full 3999 points. Even in a normal Duel, this would be enough to put a certain burden on the body. Moreover, what Rayne was currently enduring was the strongest ability from an [Earthbound Immortal] that was like a wicked god. The environment that felt like his soul was being ripped from his body left Rayne just a hair's breadth away from fainting.
"Hmm?" Hayato frowned, looking at Rayne von Schroeder, who was standing on the Field hunched over and swaying, visibly struggling but not falling down.
Although he used the [Earthbound Immortal] that he originally planned to keep sealed and only use against Dark Duelists, Hayato had no intention of harming anyone. While instructing [Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca] to hold back, he specifically emphasized that it was better to hold back too much strength and fail to achieve the desired effect than to cause actual damage to the opponent.
After all, it was already embarrassing enough to be serious against a child to resolve this conspiracy targeting KaibaCorp.
And now, it seemed the desired goal was not achieved.
"Ha, ha, ha..." Gasping for breath, Rayne's pinkish-purple short hair was soaked with the large amount of sweat he was secreting, falling onto his forehead and covering half of his face.
The fear, which existed for only an instant but felt as if it had been etched into his memory and was constantly present, lingered in Rayne's heart. Looking up from under the shadow of the [Earthbound Immortal] in the sky, Rayne von Schroeder's voice trembled slightly, but he still said firmly: "I, I won't... lose just like this!"
Hayato looked at Rayne, glancing at his Hand: "You didn't faint just like that? Impressive willpower. But it would have been better if you had fainted just now."
Although [Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca] only had 1 ATK, Rayne von Schroeder now only had 1 Life Point. However, due to the stakes of activating the [Earthbound Immortal]'s effect, Hayato couldn't attack Rayne von Schroeder this turn, at least.
However, defeating the opponent by depleting their Life Points wasn't the only way to achieve victory.
"I activate the Continuous Spell Card [Psychic Feel Zone]." After activating the card in his Hand, Hayato Set his last Hand Card as well, announcing, "I Set my last Hand Card, and then I End my Turn."
"However, at the End Phase of my Turn, I can use the effect of [Psychic Feel Zone] on my Field."
[Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca], out for a breath of fresh air after a long time, couldn't harm others' souls due to Hayato's instructions, but even just smelling them was quite enjoyable for it. Like an old chain smoker, [Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca] was greedily inhaling the fragrant souls emanating from the countless people in the Kaiba Dome when it was somewhat surprised to find its body beginning to disperse.
"Once per End Phase of each Duelist's Turn, Tribute one face-up position monster on your Field to inflict damage to your opponent equal to half the Tributed Monster's value."
As Hayato spoke, he pointed at Rayne's mere 1 Life Point: "In Duel Monsters, half of 1 ATK is also 1 damage. It would be good for everyone if your KC Cup journey ends here."
"Sacrifice yourself for the greater good!"
[Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca] was like garbage discarded after its usefulness was squeezed out. Despite having resistance to the opponent's Spell and Trap Cards, it was tricked by its own side's Spell Card. With an expression of unwillingness, it was sent to the Graveyard.
And on Hayato's Field, a transparent giant hawk, manifested by [Psychic Feel Zone] after extracting the last of [Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca]'s usefulness, swooped towards Rayne von Schroeder.
If this attack hit, his Life Points would be completely cleared.
Facing the swooping giant hawk, Rayne von Schroeder's heart recalled his goal in Dueling up to this point.
Unlike his Brother, Zigfried von Schroeder, who was solely focused on defeating Kaiba Seto, making the Schroeder Corporation bigger and stronger, and viewing Duel Monsters as useful tools, Rayne von Schroeder had always regarded Duel Monsters as his partners. While loving Duel Monsters, he also firmly believed that perhaps in some world, there existed real Duel Monsters.
And his passion was rewarded by Pegasus. The Father of Duel Monsters custom designed a set of [Fairy Tale] cards specifically for Rayne von Schroeder because of his passion. From that moment on, a small 'ambition' formed in the heart of Rayne von Schroeder, who aspired to Duel Monsters—he wanted to take his partners to meet more Duel Monsters and see the view from the highest point.
And after watching the Battle City replay and witnessing Hayato Kobayashi become the Duel King, Rayne confirmed how he could reach the highest point—he didn't need to defeat Hayato Kobayashi; as long as he dueled him, he would definitely gain something.
To achieve this goal, he had to become the Champion of the KC Cup to gain the qualification to Duel Hayato Kobayashi. This also aligned with his Brother's wish. Rayne von Schroeder felt he had to do it.
With only 1 Life Point remaining, deducting this effect damage would reduce it completely to zero. Rayne von Schroeder's answer to that was a firm refusal!
"Boom!"
The phantom vulture crashed into Rayne von Schroeder's body. The impact, which should have been full of destructive power, seemed to be blocked by something just before reaching Rayne.
Just then, in front of Rayne von Schroeder, a Toon-style tomato wearing a football helmet appeared out of nowhere. Facing the phantom of [Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca] with a determined expression, it completely absorbed the damage intended for Rayne von Schroeder.
As the power carried by the phantom of [Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca] completely disappeared, the armor on the Toon tomato also shattered and turned into ash, dispersing from Rayne von Schroeder's Field.
"You saved my life, partner." Catching a card that popped out of the Graveyard, a gentle smile appeared on Rayne von Schroeder's face. Putting the card into his pocket, he regained his determined expression, seemingly re-energized with fighting spirit by the monster just now.
"During the opponent's Turn, the effect of [Tomato in Zuit] can be activated."
"By banishing this card from my Graveyard, the effect damage I take this Turn becomes 0."
Although his limbs were trembling just moments ago from the pressure of [Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca], in this desperate situation, Rayne von Schroeder instead tapped into his potential, looking at Hayato with a determined gaze.
"Although I'm not a strong-willed person, I will absolutely not easily give up on my understanding of Duel Monsters."
"Even if my Life Points are down to the last 1, I will fight until the end! Did you hear that, Dan Kuroto!"
[Dan Kuroto: 2000 LP, Hand 0]
[Set Card][Psychic Feel Zone]
Field: [Shrine of the Mind's Eye]
Listening to Rayne von Schroeder's words, Hayato's expression was a little strange.
I know the monster I just summoned is a standard villain boss module, and its aura doesn't look like a good guy, but I should be a protagonist, right?
From the sound of this guy, it's like I've become the antagonist standing opposite the protagonist? And the kind of mob villain in a hot-blooded anime who beats the protagonist to near death, gives the opponent a power-up opportunity, and then gets instantly defeated by the powered-up protagonist?
Hayato's rant in his heart didn't come out of his mouth, and since his Turn had already ended, he couldn't do anything more, as it was now Rayne von Schroeder's Turn.
The two Set Cards on the Field were [Dimensional Prison] and [Sakuretsu Armor] for defense against attacks. If it were just summoning a monster and engaging in battle, they could be considered double safety measures. However, his Life Points were already down to the last 1, like shattered porcelain that would break with a touch; he couldn't withstand even 1 point of damage.
That [Psychic Feel Zone] on the opponent's Field meant that in the next Turn, as long as the opponent could summon even one monster with 0 or more ATK, his Life Points would be cleared. In that case, he had to defeat the opponent this Turn.
Rayne von Schroeder's thoughts were incredibly clear at this moment. He glanced at the Spell Card [Revival Water] in his Hand. This card had the effect of Special Summoning one monster from the Graveyard in Attack Position when there were no monsters on his Field. It could be used to revive the [Iron Knight] he summoned last Turn to attack the opponent Duelist.
However, due to the effect of [Shrine of the Mind's Eye], no matter how powerful the monster he summoned was, the Battle Damage it could inflict would only be 1000 Points. This meant that even with [Iron Knight] on the Field, he would need another monster to assist in the attack to achieve the goal of ending the Duel this Turn.
As for that [Psychic Feel Zone] whose effect both players could use? That card was not within Rayne von Schroeder's consideration from the start. Let him Tribute his own monster to achieve victory? Don't even think about it.
Rayne took a deep breath, held his breath, and tried to calm his rapid heartbeat slightly, concentrating his mind to the best of his ability.
Whether he could win this Duel depended on his draw this Turn. As long as he could draw a card capable of changing the tide of the battle, he could advance to the next round of the Duel and then step by step reach the Duel King.
'They say Duel Monsters have hearts. I firmly believe this.'
'And cards with hearts can respond to a Duelist's call and create a future.'
'Although to this day I still haven't heard the voice of the cards, nor can I feel the heart within the cards.'
'But please, respond to me, my Deck!'
"My Turn, Draw!"
His two fingers on the Deck slid horizontally, drawing the card from the top of the Deck. At the same time, Rayne von Schroeder also heard a peculiar voice: "Oh, these fools, idiots, and simpletons, flocking to such a dangerous place like moths."
"Bad luck, truly bad luck. The smell here is really unpleasant, and coincidentally, the fool Rayne can't hear me talking."
"Hey, wait, what is the fool Rayne looking at?"
To Rayne's surprised gaze, on the card he had just drawn, a strange bird with beautiful reddish-brown feathers was sitting on the card like a person, looking at the surroundings of the Kaiba Dome with a contemptuous expression, while also constantly complaining about something.
However, upon noticing Rayne's gaze towards him, the *Gryphon Winged Beast* from the card art, known as the 'All-Knowing,' looked at Rayne with a surprised expression: "Thank that damned bastard God, fool Rayne, you can see me?"
"The card... is talking?" Rayne von Schroeder looked at the phantom-like [Gryphon Winged Beast] on the card with a dumbfounded expression.
"Hey, fool Rayne, celebrate that you're not a hateful Christian, and then feel free to surrender and run for your life," the card in Rayne's Hand, [Gryphon Winged Beast], chattered on, "This is Lord Gryphon's advice to you!"
Listening to the voice that sounded like an illusion coming from the card, Rayne fell silent for a moment.
Was what he was seeing real?
Or was it the excessive stimulation just now that caused him to have an illusion?
He had fantasized countless times about seeing the heart residing within Duel Monster cards, but he never expected to actually see [Gryphon Winged Beast]. It was like a dream.
However...
"But, I refuse!"
Looking up at Dan Kuroto opposite him, Rayne von Schroeder completely ignored [Gryphon Winged Beast]'s words and directly revealed the card: "Surrendering? I said I can't do it, and I can't, even if you kill me!"
"I will definitely keep winning, with my cards!"
[Gryphon Winged Beast] looked at Rayne, who had clearly heard him but went ahead and sent his card to the Graveyard, with a dumbfounded expression: "You, you idiot, you don't mean to!!"
"I activate the effect of [Gryphon Winged Beast] from my Hand, discarding it from my Hand to search [Golden Castle of Stromberg] from my Deck and add it to my Hand."
"Then I activate the Field Spell Card, [Golden Castle of Stromberg]!"
Rayne von Schroeder's plan was quite thorough—as long as he activated the effect of [Gryphon Winged Beast] to search [Golden Castle of Stromberg] from his Deck and activate it, the Field Spell Card would become beneficial to him, and the damage his monsters could inflict would no longer be affected by [Shrine of the Mind's Eye].
Furthermore, [Golden Castle of Stromberg] also had the ability to Special Summon one monster directly from the Deck to the Field in Attack Position once per Main Phase. By using the effect of [Revival Water] to revive [Iron Knight] and then using [Golden Castle of Stromberg] to summon any other monster, his Field would have the monster combination needed to defeat the opponent!
The plan was so perfect, but at the very moment Rayne von Schroeder placed the [Golden Castle of Stromberg] he searched from his Deck onto the Field Zone of his Duel Disk...
Inside the Kaiba Dome, there was a sudden blackout.
Chapter 445: Konoha Collapse... KaibaCorp Collapse Plan
Logically speaking, it would seem quite strange for Zigfried von Schroeder, who strongly disliked KaibaCorp and Kaiba Seto himself, to buy an expensive ticket inside the Kaiba Dome and give Kaiba money.
However, today Zigfried von Schroeder was uncharacteristically sitting inside the Kaiba Dome Venue. After the Kaiba Dome suddenly blacked out and plunged into darkness, a proud and cunning smile appeared on his face.
The darkness only lasted for a few seconds. The audience didn't even have time to panic. With the standby generator, the various equipment inside the Kaiba Dome were repowered, and the lighting turned on, as if the power outage just now was merely an illusion.
However, above the central Duel Field in the Kaiba Dome, on the multi-directional big screen, the data of Hayato and Rayne, who were currently dueling, was no longer displayed. Instead, a strange clock appeared. The second hand was not rotating clockwise; instead, it was counting down counter-clockwise, retreating one second at a time like a countdown.
Tenma Tsukihiro, who was in the Monitoring Room Backstage and had arranged manpower to urgently activate the pre-prepared generator to restore the power supply, frowned when he saw the clock appearing on the screen. The time currently displayed on the clock was 1:00, but the second hand was moving backward two seconds per second, expected to retreat to 12:00 in half an hour.
Tenma Tsukihiro remembered that the original program shouldn't have such a strange function.
"Check the master control program. What is that anomaly?" he instructed. The standby programmers immediately began checking the program, and lines of code appeared on the computer screens in front of them.
However, the result of the check was that everything was normal.
And just at this moment, Tenma Tsukihiro received a phone call from Kaiba.
"Hello, Tenma Tsukihiro, what is that clock?!" It was clear that Kaiba's mood didn't seem very good. "I shouldn't have arranged this kind of 'unexpected surprise' for you. Quickly get rid of that thing for me!"
Although Tenma Tsukihiro was not an employee of KaibaCorp, as the organizer of the KC Cup, KaibaCorp had the absolute qualification to question Tenma Tsukihiro, who was dispatched to be in charge of Backstage supervision.
Tenma Tsukihiro's hands were not idle either. After ordering his subordinates to check the program situation without result, he also personally got to work, typing on the keyboard keys. Holding his mobile phone between his shoulder and ear while tilting his head, he calmly said, "I'm checking with others, Kaiba."
"But the current question isn't 'being unable to remove that clock', it's 'we can't see that clock at all'!"
"Cannot see the clock?" On the other end of the phone, Kaiba frowned. "At least ten thousand people saw that clock."
"No, not the clock that can be seen with the naked eye, but the clock written in the Kaiba Dome's Backstage master control program. There is fundamentally no 'clock' existence here!"
Tenma Tsukihiro paused for a moment, as if he suddenly remembered something, and then hurriedly added, "Besides here, are there other places that can control the situation within the Venue, Kaiba!"
Hearing Tenma Tsukihiro's words, Kaiba's expression froze.
Although according to the agreement with Pegasus, Kaiba had handed over the Backstage of the Kaiba Dome Venue to Tenma Tsukihiro, who was dispatched by Industrial Illusions for supervision, due to Kaiba's personal dislike for Pegasus, he had actually secretly made some arrangements.
The Monitoring Room Backstage could indeed serve as a dispatch center to control the lighting, power supply, speakers, and even the data transmission of the Duel System within the Kaiba Dome Venue. However, besides there, the Kaiba Land Building right next door also had control authority, and its authority was even higher than the Backstage here at the Kaiba Dome.
Reminded by Tenma Tsukihiro like this, Kaiba not only remembered that Kaiba Land had control authority but also recalled the incident where Kaiba Land's duel robots were hacked just recently.
The answer was obvious.
Even if it was breached by someone, the Monitoring Room shouldn't be unable to find the existence of a "clock" even when searching the underlying code. After all, even a Trojan horse virus needs space to store the "Trojan horse". Since there were no problems on the Kaiba Dome side, the problem must be the Kaiba Land side.
After verbally giving a perfunctory response telling Tenma Tsukihiro to continue his efforts to find the problem, Kaiba hurriedly hung up the phone and was about to turn around and rush towards the direction of the Passage from the Kaiba Dome to Kaiba Land, but suddenly discovered that not far from himself, a pink-haired man stood up from his seat and walked towards the direction of the Emergency Exit with a proud expression.
Zigfried von Schroeder?
No, it should be Zigfried von Schroeder.
Because he had completely exposed the Valkyrie Deck during the duel with Yugi, Kaiba followed the clues and found information related to Valkyrie on the network. He discovered that a long time ago, after Schroeder Corporation's new President, Zigfried von Schroeder, took office, while transforming the Arms Conglomerate into an Entertainment Conglomerate, he announced the acquisition of the Valkyrie Deck.
It can almost be said to be an operation completely identical to Kaiba's at that time: acquiring powerful Duel Monsters cards—Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Valkyrie—while simultaneously releasing information about the company's transformation, letting stockholders know that the transformation is not child's play but a major undertaking, utilizing double the traffic to stabilize the stock price.
Just like the one who uses Blue-Eyes White Dragon is Kaiba Seto, only Zigfried von Schroeder can use the rare Valkyrie Deck. Kaiba also confirmed the opponent's identity because of this.
However, it was also after that that Kaiba also became confused.
Because ever since Zigfried von Schroeder took office, the conflict between KaibaCorp and Schroeder Corporation, which had a slight conflict since the Arms Conglomerate era, had intensified, even after both transformed into Entertainment Conglomerates. Although Kaiba himself didn't really pay attention to the opponent, that Zigfried von Schroeder has always considered Kaiba a thorn in one's side.
So why would a guy who doesn't get along with himself come to participate in the KC Cup? Although the opponent had been defeated by Yugi and eliminated, Kaiba was still very concerned about Zigfried von Schroeder's presence, especially since he had never bought a ticket before and did not have the habit of watching KC Cup matches, yet he unexpectedly bought a ticket.
And at the moment, although his current sanity tells Kaiba that he needs to quickly go to the Kaiba Land Building, which is not too far from here, and dispel the countdown clock that currently appeared within the Kaiba Dome, his personal intuition tells Kaiba that he needs to quickly go and stop Zigfried von Schroeder, who stood up and was preparing to leave.
That guy absolutely knows something!
———Coughing sound coming from somewhere———
"Cough cough—"
Téa , who was sitting next to Yugi and happened to be drinking water, was a bit scared by the sudden darkness and couldn't help but cough, getting a bit choked.
"Are you okay, Téa ?" Yugi gave a concerned greeting to Téa who was coughing while covering her mouth, and also reached out and patted Téa 's back to help her breathe smoothly. This attracted a gaze full of jealousy from Rebecca sitting on the other side.
"Cough, cough!" Rebecca coughed twice very stiffly, then reached out and pulled one of Yugi's arms. "Darling~ I think I'm choked, it's so uncomfortable."
With such terrible acting, let alone Yugi, even Joey Wheeler, Tristan , and others sitting behind could tell Rebecca was faking it.
It's just that Tristan was quite perceptive and didn't say anything, but the outspoken Joey Wheeler pointed it out directly: "No way! You have nothing wrong at all. How can someone who is choked have such a strong voice!"
"So noisy, idiot!"
Rebecca, who was pointed out directly, became angry out of shame, turned her head and roared at Joey Wheeler with a red face, but only received a cheap smile from Joey Wheeler.
Honda was also laughing hehehe, but at this moment, he noticed that Keipei sitting next to him had a very serious expression.
"What's going on with that clock?" Although not old, Keipei, whose personality is quite mature for his age, seriously looked at the countdown clock displayed on the central screen. "Although I didn't help Brother arrange the various work for the KC Cup this time, I did check some minor problems."
"But that clock never appeared in any arrangement. I even checked the code of the Venue's Backstage master control program. What exactly is that thing?"
"And the blackout just now, what exactly was that?"
Honda listened to Keipei's monologue and was also stunned: "That just now, wasn't that a special performance arranged by Kaiba?"
"Who would arrange something that could accidentally cause panic as a special performance?!" Keipei ranted, standing up. "No way, I have to quickly go to the Backstage. The Backstage program is very likely to have problems, and it's even possible that like a few days ago, someone used hacking methods to break through the firewall!"
But just as he stood up, Keipei was stopped by Marik sitting by the Passage.
"Wait a moment, kid." At this moment, Marik's face didn't have the same lazy appearance as before. His expression became serious, as if he had turned back into the Leader of the Rare Hunters from before. He pointed around with a serious gaze. "Before taking action, you'd better first pay attention to the surrounding situation."
"Surrounding situation?"
Reminded by Marik like this, the few people present looked around, and then they were quite surprised to find that Téa 's cough just now seemed to be contagious, and someone else was also coughing. Although they were clearly within the Kaiba Venue where the KC Cup is being held, it looked like a concentration treatment center for some infectious disease.
Téa put down the hand covering her mouth. Although her cough had somewhat recovered, she suddenly felt a sense of weakness, as if she had a severe cold and her whole body was weak. While her breathing was a bit heavy, her eyelids also drooped a bit: "Yu, Yugi!"
" Téa !" Seeing his friend's state was quite bad, Yugi nervously pulled Téa who almost fell off her seat, and Tristan and Joey Wheeler were also quite nervous. Joey Wheeler, concerned about his Companion, even directly asked Marik loudly: "Do you know what happened, Marik!"
"Idiot, I don't even know where the End of the Universe is, how could I possibly know that kind of answer?" Marik sat down on the chair and raised his head, making Joey Wheeler notice that his expression was also quite bad. Leaning against the back of the chair, Marik calmly said, "Although not very sure, pay a little attention to the characteristics of those weak people, Joey Wheeler."
"It's Joey Wheeler, not ' Joey Wheeler-juice'!" Ranted, Joey Wheeler and Tristan immediately followed what Marik said and began observing the audience around them who were clearly showing signs of weakness. But the composition of the audience in poor condition was too mixed; while there were old people and children, there were also strong men and youth, both men and women.
"There are old people, teenagers, and youth. Seems like it has nothing to do with age?"
"And the proportion of men and women is also similar."
"This is some randomly appearing disease, right?"
Honda and Joey Wheeler didn't see any problems, but Kujaku Mai very keenly noticed something: "No, this isn't random? Don't look at those weak guys, pay a little attention to the people who haven't had problems!"
"They are all Duelists!"
Prompted by Kujaku Mai, Joey Wheeler then discovered that it was indeed the case. The characteristics of the people who collapsed are different, but those who are still completely normal are without exception all Duelists. Although they don't necessarily all wear their Duel Disk on their wrist, at least you can see that they seem to be wearing a shiny metal Deck Box on their waist as a Card Box for placing their Deck!
Yugi also raised his head and looked at the audience around him. And it was fine if he didn't look up, but as soon as he looked up, he noticed that far away there was a blonde man looking straight at him, and there was nothing unusual about him.
Yugi recognized the opponent. Wasn't that the person named "Rafael" who he dueled against in the previous round, but who surrendered halfway through?
'Aibo, that guy—'
Dark Yugi's voice came from within the Millennium Puzzle. Yugi nodded: "Yes, it's him. He suddenly surrendered during the duel yesterday."
'That Person's performance during the duel proved that he should be a True Duelist who can resonate with the Heart of the Cards. Logically speaking, he wouldn't just abandon the duel without reason.'
"But he still just abandoned the duel, without any reason." Yugi watched as Rafael in the distance stopped watching them and turned and walked towards somewhere. After lowering his head and looking at Téa , Yugi firmly said, "My Duelist's intuition tells me, Rafael, he should, no, he absolutely knows something!"
Looking at Rebecca, whose state was still okay, Yugi solemnly said to her, "Rebecca, can I ask you for a favor?"
"Darling?" Looking at Yugi's determined expression, Rebecca's confusion was temporarily thrown to the back of her mind, and she revealed a smile. "Are you asking me to help take care of Téa -chan? Okay, go and do what you need to do with peace of mind, Darling."
"Yes, I'm counting on you, Rebecca." Yugi nodded, then looked back at everyone. "Sorry everyone, I'm going to find That Person. Regarding what happened to Téa and the others, I think he definitely knows something."
Saying this, Yugi carried the Duel Disk he had taken off and put into his backpack earlier, as well as the Card Box for his Side Deck, and ran towards the direction where Rafael disappeared. While running, he put on his Duel Disk.
And just after running a couple of steps, Yugi heard Joey Wheeler's voice coming from behind: "Wait for me, Yugi!"
Turning his head, Yugi saw Joey Wheeler also fumbling to take out his Duel Disk from his backpack. It's just that he accidentally snagged and broke a thread on his backpack and was trying to use force to tear the thread and take out the Duel Disk, while ranting, "Why did that bastard Kaiba make the Duel Disk so sharp? Can't he make it a bit rounder, bastard!"
Finally managed to take out the Duel Disk, Joey Wheeler nodded at Kujaku Mai and jogged to Yugi's side: "Don't think about going it alone, Yugi! I also need to get a piece of that honor. I'll go with you."
Saying this, Joey Wheeler patted Yugi's shoulder without question: "Alright! Domino City Legendary Duelist squad, move out! Hero Joey Wheeler, Hero Yugi invincible, full power, unstoppable!"
"Joey Wheeler," Yugi looked at Joey Wheeler, smiled and nodded. "Okay, then let's hurry and depart!"
"Alright! Let's go!" Joey Wheeler said, turning his head with a grin. "Honda, you just stay here with Téa and wait for Lord Joey Wheeler and Yugi. Mai, I'll leave them to you!"
"Who are you looking down on, Joey Wheeler!" Tristan said disdainfully. "You novice better not come back missing an arm or a leg!"
And Kujaku Mai, after hearing Joey Wheeler's words, just proudly raised her head and crossed her arms over her chest, as if not wanting Joey Wheeler to see her slightly flushed cheeks.
Watching Joey Wheeler and Yugi leave, belatedly, Tristan seemed to suddenly remember something and turned to look at Marik sitting on the chair: "That's not right. How do I remember, Marik, you were originally a very strong Duelist, right?"
"Very strong? Who are you looking down on?" Although Marik was a bit weak, after hearing Tristan 's words, he still tried hard to strike a cool pose on the seat. "Let me explain beforehand, Yours Truly is super~ strong."
In the International Crime Organization Rare Hunters, the supreme leader who ruled with absolute power and fear, controlling two of the Three Egyptian Gods, even among all the Duelists in Battle City, he was one of the top existences in terms of power. Marik at that time, saying "super strong" is not an exaggeration at all.
"If that's the case, how did you, as a Duelist, also become like this?" Tristan said with some suspicion.
As time passed, more and more people among the audience in the Kaiba Dome had their situation worsen. One by one, they sat down in their seats, fatigued like internet addicts who hadn't slept for three days and nights to reach "King" rank. However, there were still some people who could remain standing and move within the Venue, and these people were almost all Duelists.
Although there are 64 participants in the KC Cup Main Tournament, the number of Duelists among the spectators in the Venue is more than 64. It's just that compared to the large quantity of audience members who fell into weakness, the number of Duelists who can still move is a drop in the bucket. Even if they had the idea of wanting to take care of the audience who had problems, they couldn't take care of them all.
As for calling medical team? Someone had already made a phone call the moment someone next to them had a problem, but unfortunately, even the medical team was paralyzed because most of its members had "fallen ill".
Hearing Tristan 's words, Marik could only answer with an eye roll.
He was indeed incredibly awesome at that time, but that was at that time. Although Hayato "cured" his personality disorder, his body was left "worn out" by another Dark Personality that had already dispersed. Since then, even normal duels had to be played with some restraint and couldn't be played too much, let alone Dark Games.
To put it another way is, although he can still act as a Duelist to fight, he is fundamentally a glass cannon. Hitting people is fine, but once hit, he's finished.
And the current situation, although he doesn't know exactly what's going on, it's clearly some kind of supernatural event again. It's quite normal for him to be finished, right?
But this guy...
Looking at Tristan , who was completely normal, Marik frowned, his finger trembled as he put a french fry into his mouth: "What's going on with you?"
Honda, being asked by Marik like this, also forgot to rant that Marik, in this state, still didn't forget to get some french fries. He looked himself up and down with some confusion, scratched the back of his head strangely, and said uncertainly, "Probably, it's my natural strength?"
Marik and Tristan 's clowning around and banter somewhat eased the tense atmosphere. And Keipei, sitting in his seat, also gradually began to feel a bit of weakness. Because of Téa 's example, although Keipei wasn't completely weak yet, he also knew his upcoming situation. He had no choice but to take out his mobile phone and dial Kaiba's number.
It's just that, he didn't know if it was a signal problem or some other reason, the call failed.
'What exactly happened?' Keipei thought in his heart. 'Don't let anything happen, Brother.'
————————
"Rafael!!"
Listening to the voice coming from behind, the blonde man who had observed Yugi and the others from afar before—Rafael—straightened his trench coat and turned around to look at Yugi and Joey Wheeler who were running quickly: "Nameless Pharaoh..."
"Do you know something, Rafael!" At some point, Dark Yugi, who had already switched personalities, said urgently. The Duel Disk and Deck on his wrist were already set up.
Compared to Yugi Mutou, who is relatively more rule-abiding, Dark Yugi, or Pharaoh, has a more direct style of action. If it were Yugi Mutou, he might try to persuade the opponent patiently, but Dark Yugi would choose to directly use force to get the answer.
It's not that there's a difference in how much they care about their Companion, but compared to Yugi Mutou, Dark Yugi is more dismissive of rules and has more boldness to judge what can be given up.
Looking at Yugi's urgent expression, and Joey Wheeler, who looked like "If you don't speak, I'm going to take action", Rafael's expression was quite calm: "Yes, Nameless Pharaoh, I know where the incident within the Kaiba Dome originated."
"Moreover, it is in my hand."
While saying this, Rafael took out a card from his body that wasn't with his Deck.
Seeing that card, Joey Wheeler's expression was still relatively normal, but Yugi's pupils shrank.
Because that card was clearly the first enemy Yugi encountered during Battle City—
Uria, Lord of Searing Flames.
End of Chapter