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Chapter 577: If You Don't Know the Reason, Just Blame Pegasus For Now
"Morning News: At 3 AM today, the famous professional duelists the Paradox Brothers and Rex Raptor were discovered unconscious in front of the newly completed Kaiba Stadium due to unknown reasons. This marks the forty-ninth duelist coma incident in the past week."
"After receiving emergency calls, the three individuals mentioned above were sent to Washington University Medical Center to receive treatment along with other victims. However, the reason for the collective coma is still unknown, and the Professional Duelist League has expressed its protest regarding the situation. The Washington Police have intervened in the investigation, and we will continue to report on related news."
Watching the news broadcast by the host on the screen inside the car, everyone's faces weren't looking good, especially Joey Wheeler and Yugi.
"The Paradox Brothers were defeated?" "Rex too..."
During Duelist Kingdom, the Paradox Brothers were duelists hired by Pegasus, assigned as guardians for the trials given to Yugi and the others. They had a tag duel with Yugi and Joey Wheeler, and later dueled Hayato as the keepers of the Duelist Kingdom Castle Dungeon.
As for Rex, he could be said to be Joey Wheeler's most important opponent during Duelist Kingdom. The Red-Eyes Black Dragon that has accompanied him to this day was won by Joey Wheeler from Rex. However, after their duel in the KC Cup, both of them had long since moved past that matter.
But now, in the news, skilled duelists like the Paradox Brothers and Rex had also become victims.
"The earliest case was the former All-American Champion, 'The Bandit' Keith Howard, who was found unconscious in an Alley." Keipei pulled up a file and projected it onto the screen, replacing the news that had started reporting on the President's latest appearance. "Initially, this was just thought to be a coma caused by alcohol poisoning from poor quality liquor due to Keith Howard's own heavy drinking."
"But after that, victims began appearing one after another."
On the screen, Keipei listed the portraits of the victims, densely packed in several rows. Among them, Yugi and Joey Wheeler also saw many people they knew, having dueled against them a few times.
But now, all these people had fallen into a coma.
What was the reason for the continuous coma incidents among duelists in America? Or rather, who was causing them to fall into a coma?
Yugi lowered his head in thought. The continuous comas of unknown cause, from their external appearance, seemed as if the duelists' souls had been stripped away, which was why they couldn't awaken despite their bodies being alive. The first thing that could achieve this was the Dark Game.
Was there a killer who had mastered the power of the Dark Game conducting a hunting game in America? No, more than that, Yugi was reminded of Grimo, whom he had faced in a duel not long ago. He claimed to be from the "Doma" organization, and in order to awaken their god, they needed the Three Egyptian Gods as tribute.
Not long after the God Cards were all taken, extremely strange Duel Monster image materialization incidents occurred throughout Domino City and even the entire World, causing global panic.
Furthermore, some duelists who possessed the ability to see Card Spirits discovered a giant Vertical Eye suspended in the darkened sky, as if a giant snake was wrapped around the Earth, looking down at the panicked human beings on the surface.
At the Egyptian Artifact Traveling Exhibition Hall in Domino City at the time, Yugi and Dark Yugi within the Millennium Puzzle, after witnessing the appearance of the Vertical Eye, were summoned by a cry for help and traveled to the Spirit World in spirit form for a short period.
There, the two Yugis discovered that the Vertical Eye also appeared in the Spirit World and was greatly devouring Card Spirits who couldn't resist its power to replenish itself. Under the guidance of Dark Magician Girl, the two Yugis worked together to pull out a long sword stuck in the eye of a Dragon Statue and returned to the Real World.
After that, an extra card appeared in Yugi's hand.
"Eye of Timaeus..." Yugi took out the card that had appeared in his hand out of nowhere at that time. He had used the power of this card to call forth an Azure Blue Giant Dragon to defeat the Vertical Eye in the sky, resolving the global Duel Monster materialization incident. "Could it be Doma?"
Keipei sighed when he heard Yugi's words. "Unfortunately, as of now, there are still no witnesses. Even if it was done by the 'Doma' organization that stole the Three Egyptian Gods, they covered their tracks too well to be traced."
"However, I did find an unconfirmed rumor. It says that the Paradox Brothers and Rex Raptor, who were found attacked this morning, were sent to the Hospital by ambulance, but the person who called the ambulance was Rex himself, who was also unconscious."
"Since it's impossible for an unconscious person to call an ambulance themselves, I speculate that Rex Raptor was likely a witness, whether fortunate or unfortunate. After witnessing the Paradox Brothers being attacked, he made the emergency call, but afterwards, he himself was silenced because he saw too much."
"Damn it, that idiot Rex!" Joey Wheeler said angrily upon hearing Keipei's analysis of the situation at the time. "Didn't that guy say he was going to become the top professional duelist?! Why was he trying to be a hero?"
"He hadn't even won a single championship yet and was killed off like this, it's unforgivable!"
Although he was cursing Rex, everyone could see that Joey Wheeler's anger was directed at the unknown assailant. If that person dared to reveal their identity in front of Joey Wheeler now, they would definitely be beaten up by the enraged Joey Wheeler.
Kaiba, who had been sitting calmly listening to Keipei's analysis for a long time, also spoke up. "To be honest, who those third-rate duelists using fourth-rate decks are, and what they experienced to fall into a coma, has nothing to do with me. I won't concern myself with them."
His ruthless words drew a glare from Joey Wheeler, but Kaiba's habit as an arrogant old man was to put the important words in the latter half of his sentence, while the first half could usually be ignored. "However, every Duel Monsters player is a valuable asset of KaibaCorp. If I find out who is acting against KaibaCorp's interests, I will personally bring down judgment upon them!"
While they were talking, the limousine they were riding in drove onto the Golden Gate Bridge, a famous bridge that collapses every time it appears in various movies and TV shows. Across the Bay, they could see a building that stood out among the high-rise buildings on the opposite shore.
"That is..." Even Téa, who hadn't been to America many times, instantly recognized where it was just by glancing at the extremely eye-catching Toon Alligator Neon Logo on top of the building from afar. "Industrial Illusions?"
"Hmph, KaibaCorp hasn't fully gotten rid of the trouble from the global Duel Monster visual glitch incident not long ago." Kaiba glanced at the Industrial Illusions Headquarters Building outside the window and said, annoyed, "Undoubtedly, the data stored by KaibaCorp has no problems, so the problem can only be with Industrial Illusions."
"No, I told you it wasn't a visual glitch, the Duel Monsters really materialized!" Tristan retorted, but clearly, Kaiba's understanding was in read-only mode, and he still stubbornly interpreted it using his own scientific knowledge.
"I don't trust that unreliable fake American, Pegasus, so the first thing I need to do here in America is to inspect their data at the Industrial Illusions Headquarters. Incidentally, the last location locked by the tracker Keipei left behind earlier is also near there. Maybe we can find some clues."
As he spoke, Kaiba also glanced at Yugi, or more precisely, at the Eye of Timaeus Card in Yugi's hand.
On the day of the global Duel Monster materialization, Kaiba, whose Obelisk the Tormentor had been taken, was also at the Egyptian Artifact Traveling Exhibition Hall at Ishizu's invitation. Naturally, he witnessed Yugi use the power of the Eye of Timaeus Card to defeat the Vertical Eye in the sky.
—Yes, Kaiba had already acquired a certain ability to see Spirits, and naturally, he could also see the Vertical Eye in the sky.
However, even though Kaiba often saw the Spirits around Yugi, he stubbornly refused to believe in the existence of Card Spirits. To change this, he would probably have to see his own Card Spirit—
Because of that scene, Kaiba was naturally very interested in the powerful Dragon-Type Monster Card in Yugi's hand. That day, he almost threw aside other matters like getting back the God Card and couldn't wait to duel with Blue-Eyes and Eye of Timaeus to see who was the Strongest Dragon.
What Kaiba didn't expect at the time was that the Eye of Timaeus Yugi held, despite summoning a Giant Dragon no matter how you looked at it, was somehow not a Dragon Type Monster. It was even hard to say it was a Monster Card.
Its border was not the color of any Spell Card, Trap Card, or Monster Card, but an azure blue as transparent as jade. In the center of the card art was a giant dragon named Timaeus with one injured eye, but this name was not recorded anywhere on the card.
There wasn't even a single piece of text or pattern on the entire card. There was no attribute, card name, star level, effect, or description whatsoever. It looked exactly like a semi-finished card with only the card art printed on it.
Kaiba immediately recalled one of Yugi's identities: he was a major shareholder of Industrial Illusions, holding a shareholding of up to 30%, second only to Pegasus and ranked alongside Hayato. Naturally, Kaiba interpreted the Eye of Timaeus as an "official engine" given to Yugi by Pegasus.
He had one more reason to find trouble with Pegasus! How dare he casually print cards like this with no text, allowing people to Rule Bend the effects however they want? Unforgivable, Pegasus!
Although the Industrial Illusions Headquarters Building was located in the Prosperous Former Gold Rush Capital, San Francisco, because the streets were quite wide, even though the traffic flow was heavy, the drive didn't feel congested. Shortly after safely leaving the Golden Gate Bridge, the car the group was in arrived at the Industrial Park where Industrial Illusions was located, and they got out of the car in front of the Headquarters Building.
Even though Yugi was a major shareholder of Industrial Illusions, this was the first time he had ever been to the Industrial Illusions Headquarters.
This situation could only occur at Industrial Illusions, which was originally 100% under Pegasus's absolute control with no Board of Directors.
"It's so big, it even looks a bit taller than the KaibaCorp Building," Joey Wheeler exclaimed as he looked up at the Industrial Illusions Headquarters Building soaring into the clouds.
Although KaibaCorp's influence was increasing daily, Industrial Illusions was a giant that had been established long ago. Its status was much higher than Kaiba Entertainment Group, which had only transformed midway. Even though President Pegasus himself was slacking off daily, a dying camel is still bigger than a horse, and Kaiba still had a lot of space to catch up.
This was slightly reflected in the headquarters buildings of the two groups. KaibaCorp's headquarters was not built in Tokyo but in the relatively remote Domino City, while Industrial Illusions could set up its headquarters almost in the City Center of San Francisco.
However, the headquarters buildings of the two groups were actually the same height. As for Joey Wheeler saying Industrial Illusions' was taller, was it because he had seen the KaibaCorp Building in Domino City too much, or was he intentionally trying to belittle Kaiba?
Who knows.
Kaiba ignored Joey Wheeler's childish words, but another person responded to Joey Wheeler: "It is quite tall, but the KaibaCorp Building in Domino City is about the same, isn't it? Don't act like a country bumpkin who's never seen the world, it's too embarrassing."
Before seeing the person, their voice was heard. Joey Wheeler even smelled a familiar scent, and a figure instantly appeared in Joey Wheeler's mind.
But he wasn't certain it was them. Excitedly, he turned his head towards the source of the voice. Only to see Kujaku Mai, dressed stylishly, getting off a stopped motorcycle. She took off her helmet, straightened her pinned-up golden long hair, and smiled at Joey Wheeler: "Long time no see."
"Jo~nou~chi~"
"Mai!" Although he recognized Kujaku Mai's voice when he heard it, Joey Wheeler was clearly quite surprised to see her here. "Why are you here?"
"But, I'm glad you're okay. After I saw the news about a large number of duelists falling into a coma, I subconsciously worried if something had happened to you too."
"Heh heh, don't underestimate me, Joey Wheeler. I'm going to prove to the world that female duelists are very strong too! I won't be casually defeated halfway through. Oh ho ho ho."
"Haha, yeah, I guess." Joey Wheeler rubbed the back of his head with a silly grin as he heard Kujaku Mai confidently let out her signature queen's laugh. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he said, "Oh right, I saw the duel where you won the championship not long ago. Congratulations, Mai."
This time, it was Kujaku Mai who suddenly became a bit shy, blushing slightly as she softly said, "Mm."
Beside them, Tristan poked the proud Keipei with his finger: "I say, could it be..."
"Mm-hmm, we're Saving the World, you know. I only invited the current All-American Champion Kujaku Mai to help just to increase our strength." He subconsciously rubbed his nose, a habitual action he did when lying. "It's not because I wanted to see what kind of idiot Joey Wheeler would be."
Honda retorted, "Compared to Kaiba, Keipei, you're much more accepting of the existence of Duel Monsters."
"But then again," Tristan grinned mischievously as he watched Kujaku Mai and Joey Wheeler looking at each other quite shyly, "I'm actually quite interested too."
"Morning News: At 3 AM today, the famous professional duelists the Paradox Brothers and Rex Raptor were discovered unconscious in front of the newly completed Kaiba Stadium due to unknown reasons. This marks the forty-ninth duelist coma incident in the past week."
"After receiving emergency calls, the three individuals mentioned above were sent to Washington University Medical Center to receive treatment along with other victims. However, the reason for the collective coma is still unknown, and the Professional Duelist League has expressed its protest regarding the situation. The Washington Police have intervened in the investigation, and we will continue to report on related news."
Watching the news broadcast by the host on the screen inside the car, everyone's faces weren't looking good, especially Joey Wheeler and Yugi.
"The Paradox Brothers were defeated?" "Rex too..."
During Duelist Kingdom, the Paradox Brothers were duelists hired by Pegasus, assigned as guardians for the trials given to Yugi and the others. They had a tag duel with Yugi and Joey Wheeler, and later dueled Hayato as the keepers of the Duelist Kingdom Castle Dungeon.
As for Rex, he could be said to be Joey Wheeler's most important opponent during Duelist Kingdom. The Red-Eyes Black Dragon that has accompanied him to this day was won by Joey Wheeler from Rex. However, after their duel in the KC Cup, both of them had long since moved past that matter.
But now, in the news, skilled duelists like the Paradox Brothers and Rex had also become victims.
"The earliest case was the former All-American Champion, 'The Bandit' Keith Howard, who was found unconscious in an Alley." Keipei pulled up a file and projected it onto the screen, replacing the news that had started reporting on the President's latest appearance. "Initially, this was just thought to be a coma caused by alcohol poisoning from poor quality liquor due to Keith Howard's own heavy drinking."
"But after that, victims began appearing one after another."
On the screen, Keipei listed the portraits of the victims, densely packed in several rows. Among them, Yugi and Joey Wheeler also saw many people they knew, having dueled against them a few times.
But now, all these people had fallen into a coma.
What was the reason for the continuous coma incidents among duelists in America? Or rather, who was causing them to fall into a coma?
Yugi lowered his head in thought. The continuous comas of unknown cause, from their external appearance, seemed as if the duelists' souls had been stripped away, which was why they couldn't awaken despite their bodies being alive. The first thing that could achieve this was the Dark Game.
Was there a killer who had mastered the power of the Dark Game conducting a hunting game in America? No, more than that, Yugi was reminded of Grimo, whom he had faced in a duel not long ago. He claimed to be from the "Doma" organization, and in order to awaken their god, they needed the Three Egyptian Gods as tribute.
Not long after the God Cards were all taken, extremely strange Duel Monster image materialization incidents occurred throughout Domino City and even the entire World, causing global panic.
Furthermore, some duelists who possessed the ability to see Card Spirits discovered a giant Vertical Eye suspended in the darkened sky, as if a giant snake was wrapped around the Earth, looking down at the panicked human beings on the surface.
At the Egyptian Artifact Traveling Exhibition Hall in Domino City at the time, Yugi and Dark Yugi within the Millennium Puzzle, after witnessing the appearance of the Vertical Eye, were summoned by a cry for help and traveled to the Spirit World in spirit form for a short period.
There, the two Yugis discovered that the Vertical Eye also appeared in the Spirit World and was greatly devouring Card Spirits who couldn't resist its power to replenish itself. Under the guidance of Dark Magician Girl, the two Yugis worked together to pull out a long sword stuck in the eye of a Dragon Statue and returned to the Real World.
After that, an extra card appeared in Yugi's hand.
"Eye of Timaeus..." Yugi took out the card that had appeared in his hand out of nowhere at that time. He had used the power of this card to call forth an Azure Blue Giant Dragon to defeat the Vertical Eye in the sky, resolving the global Duel Monster materialization incident. "Could it be Doma?"
Keipei sighed when he heard Yugi's words. "Unfortunately, as of now, there are still no witnesses. Even if it was done by the 'Doma' organization that stole the Three Egyptian Gods, they covered their tracks too well to be traced."
"However, I did find an unconfirmed rumor. It says that the Paradox Brothers and Rex Raptor, who were found attacked this morning, were sent to the Hospital by ambulance, but the person who called the ambulance was Rex himself, who was also unconscious."
"Since it's impossible for an unconscious person to call an ambulance themselves, I speculate that Rex Raptor was likely a witness, whether fortunate or unfortunate. After witnessing the Paradox Brothers being attacked, he made the emergency call, but afterwards, he himself was silenced because he saw too much."
"Damn it, that idiot Rex!" Joey Wheeler said angrily upon hearing Keipei's analysis of the situation at the time. "Didn't that guy say he was going to become the top professional duelist?! Why was he trying to be a hero?"
"He hadn't even won a single championship yet and was killed off like this, it's unforgivable!"
Although he was cursing Rex, everyone could see that Joey Wheeler's anger was directed at the unknown assailant. If that person dared to reveal their identity in front of Joey Wheeler now, they would definitely be beaten up by the enraged Joey Wheeler.
Kaiba, who had been sitting calmly listening to Keipei's analysis for a long time, also spoke up. "To be honest, who those third-rate duelists using fourth-rate decks are, and what they experienced to fall into a coma, has nothing to do with me. I won't concern myself with them."
His ruthless words drew a glare from Joey Wheeler, but Kaiba's habit as an arrogant old man was to put the important words in the latter half of his sentence, while the first half could usually be ignored. "However, every Duel Monsters player is a valuable asset of KaibaCorp. If I find out who is acting against KaibaCorp's interests, I will personally bring down judgment upon them!"
While they were talking, the limousine they were riding in drove onto the Golden Gate Bridge, a famous bridge that collapses every time it appears in various movies and TV shows. Across the Bay, they could see a building that stood out among the high-rise buildings on the opposite shore.
"That is..." Even Téa, who hadn't been to America many times, instantly recognized where it was just by glancing at the extremely eye-catching Toon Alligator Neon Logo on top of the building from afar. "Industrial Illusions?"
"Hmph, KaibaCorp hasn't fully gotten rid of the trouble from the global Duel Monster visual glitch incident not long ago." Kaiba glanced at the Industrial Illusions Headquarters Building outside the window and said, annoyed, "Undoubtedly, the data stored by KaibaCorp has no problems, so the problem can only be with Industrial Illusions."
"No, I told you it wasn't a visual glitch, the Duel Monsters really materialized!" Tristan retorted, but clearly, Kaiba's understanding was in read-only mode, and he still stubbornly interpreted it using his own scientific knowledge.
"I don't trust that unreliable fake American, Pegasus, so the first thing I need to do here in America is to inspect their data at the Industrial Illusions Headquarters. Incidentally, the last location locked by the tracker Keipei left behind earlier is also near there. Maybe we can find some clues."
As he spoke, Kaiba also glanced at Yugi, or more precisely, at the Eye of Timaeus Card in Yugi's hand.
On the day of the global Duel Monster materialization, Kaiba, whose Obelisk the Tormentor had been taken, was also at the Egyptian Artifact Traveling Exhibition Hall at Ishizu's invitation. Naturally, he witnessed Yugi use the power of the Eye of Timaeus Card to defeat the Vertical Eye in the sky.
—Yes, Kaiba had already acquired a certain ability to see Spirits, and naturally, he could also see the Vertical Eye in the sky.
However, even though Kaiba often saw the Spirits around Yugi, he stubbornly refused to believe in the existence of Card Spirits. To change this, he would probably have to see his own Card Spirit—
Because of that scene, Kaiba was naturally very interested in the powerful Dragon-Type Monster Card in Yugi's hand. That day, he almost threw aside other matters like getting back the God Card and couldn't wait to duel with Blue-Eyes and Eye of Timaeus to see who was the Strongest Dragon.
What Kaiba didn't expect at the time was that the Eye of Timaeus Yugi held, despite summoning a Giant Dragon no matter how you looked at it, was somehow not a Dragon Type Monster. It was even hard to say it was a Monster Card.
Its border was not the color of any Spell Card, Trap Card, or Monster Card, but an azure blue as transparent as jade. In the center of the card art was a giant dragon named Timaeus with one injured eye, but this name was not recorded anywhere on the card.
There wasn't even a single piece of text or pattern on the entire card. There was no attribute, card name, star level, effect, or description whatsoever. It looked exactly like a semi-finished card with only the card art printed on it.
Kaiba immediately recalled one of Yugi's identities: he was a major shareholder of Industrial Illusions, holding a shareholding of up to 30%, second only to Pegasus and ranked alongside Hayato. Naturally, Kaiba interpreted the Eye of Timaeus as an "official engine" given to Yugi by Pegasus.
He had one more reason to find trouble with Pegasus! How dare he casually print cards like this with no text, allowing people to Rule Bend the effects however they want? Unforgivable, Pegasus!
Although the Industrial Illusions Headquarters Building was located in the Prosperous Former Gold Rush Capital, San Francisco, because the streets were quite wide, even though the traffic flow was heavy, the drive didn't feel congested. Shortly after safely leaving the Golden Gate Bridge, the car the group was in arrived at the Industrial Park where Industrial Illusions was located, and they got out of the car in front of the Headquarters Building.
Even though Yugi was a major shareholder of Industrial Illusions, this was the first time he had ever been to the Industrial Illusions Headquarters.
This situation could only occur at Industrial Illusions, which was originally 100% under Pegasus's absolute control with no Board of Directors.
"It's so big, it even looks a bit taller than the KaibaCorp Building," Joey Wheeler exclaimed as he looked up at the Industrial Illusions Headquarters Building soaring into the clouds.
Although KaibaCorp's influence was increasing daily, Industrial Illusions was a giant that had been established long ago. Its status was much higher than Kaiba Entertainment Group, which had only transformed midway. Even though President Pegasus himself was slacking off daily, a dying camel is still bigger than a horse, and Kaiba still had a lot of space to catch up.
This was slightly reflected in the headquarters buildings of the two groups. KaibaCorp's headquarters was not built in Tokyo but in the relatively remote Domino City, while Industrial Illusions could set up its headquarters almost in the City Center of San Francisco.
However, the headquarters buildings of the two groups were actually the same height. As for Joey Wheeler saying Industrial Illusions' was taller, was it because he had seen the KaibaCorp Building in Domino City too much, or was he intentionally trying to belittle Kaiba?
Who knows.
Kaiba ignored Joey Wheeler's childish words, but another person responded to Joey Wheeler: "It is quite tall, but the KaibaCorp Building in Domino City is about the same, isn't it? Don't act like a country bumpkin who's never seen the world, it's too embarrassing."
Before seeing the person, their voice was heard. Joey Wheeler even smelled a familiar scent, and a figure instantly appeared in Joey Wheeler's mind.
But he wasn't certain it was them. Excitedly, he turned his head towards the source of the voice. Only to see Kujaku Mai, dressed stylishly, getting off a stopped motorcycle. She took off her helmet, straightened her pinned-up golden long hair, and smiled at Joey Wheeler: "Long time no see."
"Jo~nou~chi~"
"Mai!" Although he recognized Kujaku Mai's voice when he heard it, Joey Wheeler was clearly quite surprised to see her here. "Why are you here?"
"But, I'm glad you're okay. After I saw the news about a large number of duelists falling into a coma, I subconsciously worried if something had happened to you too."
"Heh heh, don't underestimate me, Joey Wheeler. I'm going to prove to the world that female duelists are very strong too! I won't be casually defeated halfway through. Oh ho ho ho."
"Haha, yeah, I guess." Joey Wheeler rubbed the back of his head with a silly grin as he heard Kujaku Mai confidently let out her signature queen's laugh. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he said, "Oh right, I saw the duel where you won the championship not long ago. Congratulations, Mai."
This time, it was Kujaku Mai who suddenly became a bit shy, blushing slightly as she softly said, "Mm."
Beside them, Tristan poked the proud Keipei with his finger: "I say, could it be..."
"Mm-hmm, we're Saving the World, you know. I only invited the current All-American Champion Kujaku Mai to help just to increase our strength." He subconsciously rubbed his nose, a habitual action he did when lying. "It's not because I wanted to see what kind of idiot Joey Wheeler would be."
Honda retorted, "Compared to Kaiba, Keipei, you're much more accepting of the existence of Duel Monsters."
"But then again," Tristan grinned mischievously as he watched Kujaku Mai and Joey Wheeler looking at each other quite shyly, "I'm actually quite interested too."
