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Chapter 607: Is That So?
This wasn't the first time Kaiba had come to Pegasus's, or rather, what used to be Pegasus's Castle. Whether it was during the Duelist Kingdom to rescue Keipei, who was held hostage by Pegasus, or just before the "Pyramid of Light" incident when he sought the card Pegasus had created.
However, this was the first time he had ventured deep inside the Castle of his own volition.
After all, Kaiba had actually been imprisoned in the Castle's Dungeon by Pegasus and rescued by Hayato, though that particular incident wasn't in Kaiba's memory.
Kaiba, completely uninterested in the antiques, cultural relics, and art scattered throughout the Castle, headed straight for the Data Center whose location he had investigated beforehand.
Yes, the Data Center. Although the Castle felt ancient and indeed had a long history, because the capricious Pegasus had hosted the "Duelist Kingdom" event on This Island, the Castle also contained distributed data from the Virtual Projection System to manage the Duel Platforms and Duel Monsters data across the Island.
Industrial Illusions has branches in major countries around the world, and the data for the Virtual Projection System, which is of great significance to Duel Monsters today, naturally doesn't exist solely on the Headquarters Building's server. However, Kaiba is a rather impatient person.
Rather than flying across the ocean to other branches of Industrial Illusions to trace the data back to the Headquarters, it was better to come directly to Duel Kingdom Island and use the Data Center in Pegasus Castle, which had an access level comparable to the Headquarters server, to search for the data.
After finding the reason for the Duel Monster Materialization worldwide, Kaiba was eager to go back and find Yugi and the others, who were acting separately, to search for clues together and have the decisive battle with the people from Doma.
It wasn't just the humiliation of having Obelisk the Tormentor taken from him due to Rafael's sneak attack last time; more importantly, that guy Hayato Kobayashi was now rumored to have joined Doma.
Even if Joey Wheeler and Yugi had told him this news, and it had been confirmed by Rex, the only one who had woken up from the serial coma incident, Kaiba wouldn't believe it.
That guy Hayato must be playing some boring trick again. That guy, full of dark humor, wasn't trustworthy, but he was also worth trusting. Kaiba could swear on Joey Wheeler 's gambling luck.
Kaiba, stubbornly believing that Hayato was playing some kind of game, didn't care that he had joined Doma. On the contrary, this was for the best, as it provided Kaiba with a perfectly valid reason to defeat Hayato openly and then reclaim the "Duel King" title he had missed out on during Battle City.
In a Corridor leading to the Data Center located underground in the Castle, Kaiba stopped. Keipei, who was following closely behind Kaiba, couldn't stop in time and bumped into Kaiba.
"Brother, what are you doing?" Complaining about Kaiba suddenly stopping, Keipei stood steady and looked down the Corridor Kaiba was facing. "What's wrong there?"
The wide Corridor wasn't illuminated by classical oil lamps like other parts of the Castle. Instead, electric lights with a slightly retro style that didn't seem out of place were chosen.
However, for some reason, perhaps the light bulbs had reached the end of their lifespan, perhaps due to neglect, or perhaps a circuit malfunction, the direction where Kaiba and Keipei were was fine, but the closer they got to the Data Center, the dimmer the light bulbs became. In the middle section, several lights flickered uneasily, and at the end of the Corridor, all the lights were out.
The pitch-black end of the Corridor was like a vicious beast with its mouth wide open, waiting for its prey to step inside.
Alister, hidden in the darkness, watched Kaiba Seto and Keipei stop and sneered.
The abnormality with the light bulbs was, of course, his doing. He had made a slight adjustment to the circuit, which took less than ten minutes, but the effect was quite good. At least, Alister felt the atmosphere he had created was excellent.
In such a dim environment, stepping from light into darkness required considerable courage, enough to diminish the aura of the usually arrogant Kaiba Seto. And when he suddenly appeared from the darkness, he could transform this heavy atmosphere into fear and impose it upon Kaiba Seto.
Although it sounded like a scary game played by children, Alister believed that a Duelist's aura was very important for a duel. If he could suppress Kaiba's aura, he could also suppress Kaiba's fortune in the duel.
Seeing that the atmosphere was about right, Alister intended to step out of the darkness and reveal himself. But just then, Keipei, who couldn't see what was in the darkness, casually raised the watch on his wrist, turning its side towards Alister. With a "click," a strong light suddenly flared up, nearly blinding Alister, who had adapted to the light in the darkness!
"Ugh!" "Ugh!"
Alister, covering his tearing eye, and Keipei, startled by a person suddenly appearing in the darkness, shouted in unison!
"W-What's wrong with this guy? Why is he hiding in that pitch-black place!" Keipei said, his face full of anger, but his body instinctively hid behind Kaiba, only showing his head. "I haven't seen anyone since entering Pegasus's Castle. I thought there was no one here anymore."
"I totally didn't expect someone to just be standing there! You scared the hell out of me!"
Even Kaiba hadn't expected Alister, a living person, to be hiding in the darkness. He was somewhat startled too, but being skilled at pretending, he maintained a calm and collected expression on the surface, even showing some disdain, as if to say, "I knew he was there all along." "Hmph, this kind of rat in the gutter probably wants to catch someone off guard and sneak attack again."
"It's even more disgusting than Frog's Urine."
"What the hell, is that so?" Keipei raised an eyebrow. "Brother, go! Beat the hell out of him."
"Keipei, who taught you that?"
"Brother Hayato. He said it was a famous quote from a lawyer."
"Don't learn that again."
Meanwhile, Alister heard the voice of Kaiba Seto, whom he was obsessed with. Although his eyes were still very uncomfortable, he forced them open, bloodshot and teary, and glared at Kaiba. "Onore Kaiba Seto!"
You knew I was here all along, yet you pretended to be wary and unaware, and then secretly instructed your younger brother to ambush me. Such cunning schemes and using your younger brother as a tool are unforgivable, Kaiba Seto!
"You bastard, you're noisy!" Kaiba roared back, annoyed. Not to mention that he wasn't scared just now and was just pretending, it was Keipei who shone the flashlight on his arm at you. By your logic, are you trying to blame me?
Could I, Kaiba Seto, tolerate this insult?
"Talking is useless! Let's duel!"
"Hmph, I don't care. After all, the winner can only be me."
"That's not necessarily true. This is your end point of despair, Kaiba Seto!"
"Duel!" x2
Watching Kaiba Seto and Alister, who had suddenly raised their respective Duel Disks and started a duel without a word, Keipei couldn't help but mutter, "Well, they are duelists, after all. As expected, still dueling."
[Kaiba Seto: 4000 LP]
[Alister: 4000 LP]
Although the duel started seemingly like child's play. Actually, neither Kaiba nor Alister felt it was abrupt.
Alister desired revenge, wanting to defeat Kaiba's pride in Duel Monsters, which he was best at, and then kill him.
As for Kaiba, he was also dissatisfied with the draw result against Alister last time and wanted to win. Furthermore, Alister was now blocking the sole entrance to the Data Center. If he didn't defeat him, advancing was basically out of the question.
'Neither of us is the type to sit down and make small talk. In that case, we just need to kill the other with a duel!'
The two, who seemed completely different yet somehow similar in spirit in certain aspects, drew the card from the Top of Deck with the same conviction.
"I'll take the first turn! Draw!"
It wasn't Alister who took the first turn, but Kaiba. Rarely having a "high-level opening hand" without three Blue-Eyes White Dragons, he drew a card.
Although he used a Blue-Eyes Deck, that didn't mean Kaiba was only good at beatdown strategy. Actually, the number of Trap Cards in his Deck was not small either. As for who influenced him? It wasn't Hayato, probably.
Inserting a card into the Spell & Trap Zone, Kaiba declared: "From my Hand, I activate this Spell Card, Dragon Shrine! Send one Dragon-Type monster from my Deck to the Graveyard."
"And when the monster sent to the Graveyard by this Effect is a Dragon-Type Normal Monster, I can additionally send one Dragon-Type monster from my Deck to the Graveyard." While saying this, Kaiba drew the two cards automatically searched by his Duel Disk. "The monsters I send to Graveyard are Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Then, because it's a Normal Monster, I will send another Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my Deck to the Graveyard."
"Just a Foolish Burial limited to Dragon-Type monsters. You send your important Blue-Eyes White Dragon to the Graveyard without changing your expression, Kaiba Seto, you cold-blooded animal." Although it was just a standard milling operation, Alister, who couldn't stand Kaiba, seized the opportunity to find fault and sneered at Kaiba.
Kaiba just drew another card and said with disdain, "Hmph, there's no need to explain my idea to a rat droppings in the toilet like you."
"Spell Card, Return of the Dragon Lords! Target one Level 7 or 8 Dragon-Type monster in my Graveyard and activate! Special Summon that monster!" Kaiba raised his arm, pointed his finger upwards, and shouted, "Come to my side, my soul!"
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Radiance dispelled the darkness, and the giant dragon soared up. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon, searched from the Deck and sent to Graveyard by Dragon Shrine, revived here and descended onto Kaiba's Field!
[Blue-Eyes White Dragon] [ATK 3000]
After Summoning Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Kaiba drew another card and Set it horizontally on his Duel Disk. "Moreover! Send the last Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my Deck to the Graveyard, and Special Summon Lord of D. - The Dominator from my Hand in Defense Position."
"Next, I Set two cards from my Hand. My Turn ends."
[Kaiba: 4000 LP, Hand 1]
[Blue-Eyes White Dragon] [ATK 3000]
[Lord of D. - The Dominator] [DEF 1100]
[Set Card] x2
Seeing Lord of D. - The Dominator appear on Kaiba's Field, Alister raised an eyebrow. If he remembered correctly, that monster had the ability: "While a Blue-Eyes monster is on my Field, your monster's attack target is decided by me, Kaiba Seto!"
This effect is a Continuous Effect and does not enter a Chain. As long as this monster exists, to Battle Destruction this monster with only 1100 DEF, you would instead have to first face the Blue-Eyes White Dragon with a high ATK of 3000. And if you wanted to use a high attack power monster to destroy Blue-Eyes White Dragon, you would instead attack Lord of D. - The Dominator, which cannot be destroyed by battle and prevents you from inflicting damage.
In short, it was a monster with a simple but troublesome effect.
"My Turn, draw a card."
However, even knowing the effect of Lord of D. - The Dominator, Alister was still full of confidence. After all, there were only two monsters on Kaiba's Field with no resistance whatsoever.
Playing the card he drew directly, Alister sneered, "I activate the effect of Machina Cannon from my Hand! Discard and Send Machina Colonel from my Hand to the Graveyard, and Special Summon Machina Cannon onto my Field in Attack Position!"
A card was sent to Graveyard by Alister, and then a huge machine soldier appeared on his Field.
[Machina Cannon] [ATK 1700]
Although it was a Level 8 Higher-Level Monster, Machina Cannon's stats were clearly weak, with an ATK of only 1700. After seeing Alister only Summon such a weak monster, a contemptuous smile appeared on Kaiba's face.
However, Kaiba, who had suffered losses from "weak monsters" more than once, wisely didn't speak up to taunt directly, but Alister had already entered his Battle Phase.
"Begin Battle! I will use Machina Cannon to Attack Lord of D. - The Dominator on your Field, Kaiba Seto!"
Saying this, Machina Cannon's integrated cannon aimed at the Lord of D. - The Dominator in Defense Position, and a laser cannon beam shot out!
Although somewhat confused that Alister had simply Summoned a monster and then immediately started the Battle Phase, Kaiba still spoke. "Hmph, don't even think about approaching my monster! Lord of D. - The Dominator's ability is: "While a Blue-Eyes monster is on my Field, your monster's attack target is decided by me, Kaiba Seto!""
"I order your monster to Attack Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and then turn to dust under the radiance of Blue-Eyes!"
Following Kaiba's command, the beam of light that was originally aimed at Lord of D. - The Dominator took a turn in mid-air and flew towards Blue-Eyes White Dragon. But to Kaiba's unexpectedness, Alister proudly played a card.
"This is a trial, Kaiba, a trial from our past. Only the winner can overcome it and go to the future." Inserting the card into his Duel Disk, the Quick-Play Spell Card manifested in Alister's Spell/Trap Zone. "At this moment, I activate the Quick-Play Spell Card Limiter Removal! Double the Attack Power of all Machine-Type monsters on the Field!"
"The trial will be declared ended with the blood you shed!"
(End of Chapter)
This wasn't the first time Kaiba had come to Pegasus's, or rather, what used to be Pegasus's Castle. Whether it was during the Duelist Kingdom to rescue Keipei, who was held hostage by Pegasus, or just before the "Pyramid of Light" incident when he sought the card Pegasus had created.
However, this was the first time he had ventured deep inside the Castle of his own volition.
After all, Kaiba had actually been imprisoned in the Castle's Dungeon by Pegasus and rescued by Hayato, though that particular incident wasn't in Kaiba's memory.
Kaiba, completely uninterested in the antiques, cultural relics, and art scattered throughout the Castle, headed straight for the Data Center whose location he had investigated beforehand.
Yes, the Data Center. Although the Castle felt ancient and indeed had a long history, because the capricious Pegasus had hosted the "Duelist Kingdom" event on This Island, the Castle also contained distributed data from the Virtual Projection System to manage the Duel Platforms and Duel Monsters data across the Island.
Industrial Illusions has branches in major countries around the world, and the data for the Virtual Projection System, which is of great significance to Duel Monsters today, naturally doesn't exist solely on the Headquarters Building's server. However, Kaiba is a rather impatient person.
Rather than flying across the ocean to other branches of Industrial Illusions to trace the data back to the Headquarters, it was better to come directly to Duel Kingdom Island and use the Data Center in Pegasus Castle, which had an access level comparable to the Headquarters server, to search for the data.
After finding the reason for the Duel Monster Materialization worldwide, Kaiba was eager to go back and find Yugi and the others, who were acting separately, to search for clues together and have the decisive battle with the people from Doma.
It wasn't just the humiliation of having Obelisk the Tormentor taken from him due to Rafael's sneak attack last time; more importantly, that guy Hayato Kobayashi was now rumored to have joined Doma.
Even if Joey Wheeler and Yugi had told him this news, and it had been confirmed by Rex, the only one who had woken up from the serial coma incident, Kaiba wouldn't believe it.
That guy Hayato must be playing some boring trick again. That guy, full of dark humor, wasn't trustworthy, but he was also worth trusting. Kaiba could swear on Joey Wheeler 's gambling luck.
Kaiba, stubbornly believing that Hayato was playing some kind of game, didn't care that he had joined Doma. On the contrary, this was for the best, as it provided Kaiba with a perfectly valid reason to defeat Hayato openly and then reclaim the "Duel King" title he had missed out on during Battle City.
In a Corridor leading to the Data Center located underground in the Castle, Kaiba stopped. Keipei, who was following closely behind Kaiba, couldn't stop in time and bumped into Kaiba.
"Brother, what are you doing?" Complaining about Kaiba suddenly stopping, Keipei stood steady and looked down the Corridor Kaiba was facing. "What's wrong there?"
The wide Corridor wasn't illuminated by classical oil lamps like other parts of the Castle. Instead, electric lights with a slightly retro style that didn't seem out of place were chosen.
However, for some reason, perhaps the light bulbs had reached the end of their lifespan, perhaps due to neglect, or perhaps a circuit malfunction, the direction where Kaiba and Keipei were was fine, but the closer they got to the Data Center, the dimmer the light bulbs became. In the middle section, several lights flickered uneasily, and at the end of the Corridor, all the lights were out.
The pitch-black end of the Corridor was like a vicious beast with its mouth wide open, waiting for its prey to step inside.
Alister, hidden in the darkness, watched Kaiba Seto and Keipei stop and sneered.
The abnormality with the light bulbs was, of course, his doing. He had made a slight adjustment to the circuit, which took less than ten minutes, but the effect was quite good. At least, Alister felt the atmosphere he had created was excellent.
In such a dim environment, stepping from light into darkness required considerable courage, enough to diminish the aura of the usually arrogant Kaiba Seto. And when he suddenly appeared from the darkness, he could transform this heavy atmosphere into fear and impose it upon Kaiba Seto.
Although it sounded like a scary game played by children, Alister believed that a Duelist's aura was very important for a duel. If he could suppress Kaiba's aura, he could also suppress Kaiba's fortune in the duel.
Seeing that the atmosphere was about right, Alister intended to step out of the darkness and reveal himself. But just then, Keipei, who couldn't see what was in the darkness, casually raised the watch on his wrist, turning its side towards Alister. With a "click," a strong light suddenly flared up, nearly blinding Alister, who had adapted to the light in the darkness!
"Ugh!" "Ugh!"
Alister, covering his tearing eye, and Keipei, startled by a person suddenly appearing in the darkness, shouted in unison!
"W-What's wrong with this guy? Why is he hiding in that pitch-black place!" Keipei said, his face full of anger, but his body instinctively hid behind Kaiba, only showing his head. "I haven't seen anyone since entering Pegasus's Castle. I thought there was no one here anymore."
"I totally didn't expect someone to just be standing there! You scared the hell out of me!"
Even Kaiba hadn't expected Alister, a living person, to be hiding in the darkness. He was somewhat startled too, but being skilled at pretending, he maintained a calm and collected expression on the surface, even showing some disdain, as if to say, "I knew he was there all along." "Hmph, this kind of rat in the gutter probably wants to catch someone off guard and sneak attack again."
"It's even more disgusting than Frog's Urine."
"What the hell, is that so?" Keipei raised an eyebrow. "Brother, go! Beat the hell out of him."
"Keipei, who taught you that?"
"Brother Hayato. He said it was a famous quote from a lawyer."
"Don't learn that again."
Meanwhile, Alister heard the voice of Kaiba Seto, whom he was obsessed with. Although his eyes were still very uncomfortable, he forced them open, bloodshot and teary, and glared at Kaiba. "Onore Kaiba Seto!"
You knew I was here all along, yet you pretended to be wary and unaware, and then secretly instructed your younger brother to ambush me. Such cunning schemes and using your younger brother as a tool are unforgivable, Kaiba Seto!
"You bastard, you're noisy!" Kaiba roared back, annoyed. Not to mention that he wasn't scared just now and was just pretending, it was Keipei who shone the flashlight on his arm at you. By your logic, are you trying to blame me?
Could I, Kaiba Seto, tolerate this insult?
"Talking is useless! Let's duel!"
"Hmph, I don't care. After all, the winner can only be me."
"That's not necessarily true. This is your end point of despair, Kaiba Seto!"
"Duel!" x2
Watching Kaiba Seto and Alister, who had suddenly raised their respective Duel Disks and started a duel without a word, Keipei couldn't help but mutter, "Well, they are duelists, after all. As expected, still dueling."
[Kaiba Seto: 4000 LP]
[Alister: 4000 LP]
Although the duel started seemingly like child's play. Actually, neither Kaiba nor Alister felt it was abrupt.
Alister desired revenge, wanting to defeat Kaiba's pride in Duel Monsters, which he was best at, and then kill him.
As for Kaiba, he was also dissatisfied with the draw result against Alister last time and wanted to win. Furthermore, Alister was now blocking the sole entrance to the Data Center. If he didn't defeat him, advancing was basically out of the question.
'Neither of us is the type to sit down and make small talk. In that case, we just need to kill the other with a duel!'
The two, who seemed completely different yet somehow similar in spirit in certain aspects, drew the card from the Top of Deck with the same conviction.
"I'll take the first turn! Draw!"
It wasn't Alister who took the first turn, but Kaiba. Rarely having a "high-level opening hand" without three Blue-Eyes White Dragons, he drew a card.
Although he used a Blue-Eyes Deck, that didn't mean Kaiba was only good at beatdown strategy. Actually, the number of Trap Cards in his Deck was not small either. As for who influenced him? It wasn't Hayato, probably.
Inserting a card into the Spell & Trap Zone, Kaiba declared: "From my Hand, I activate this Spell Card, Dragon Shrine! Send one Dragon-Type monster from my Deck to the Graveyard."
"And when the monster sent to the Graveyard by this Effect is a Dragon-Type Normal Monster, I can additionally send one Dragon-Type monster from my Deck to the Graveyard." While saying this, Kaiba drew the two cards automatically searched by his Duel Disk. "The monsters I send to Graveyard are Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Then, because it's a Normal Monster, I will send another Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my Deck to the Graveyard."
"Just a Foolish Burial limited to Dragon-Type monsters. You send your important Blue-Eyes White Dragon to the Graveyard without changing your expression, Kaiba Seto, you cold-blooded animal." Although it was just a standard milling operation, Alister, who couldn't stand Kaiba, seized the opportunity to find fault and sneered at Kaiba.
Kaiba just drew another card and said with disdain, "Hmph, there's no need to explain my idea to a rat droppings in the toilet like you."
"Spell Card, Return of the Dragon Lords! Target one Level 7 or 8 Dragon-Type monster in my Graveyard and activate! Special Summon that monster!" Kaiba raised his arm, pointed his finger upwards, and shouted, "Come to my side, my soul!"
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Radiance dispelled the darkness, and the giant dragon soared up. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon, searched from the Deck and sent to Graveyard by Dragon Shrine, revived here and descended onto Kaiba's Field!
[Blue-Eyes White Dragon] [ATK 3000]
After Summoning Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Kaiba drew another card and Set it horizontally on his Duel Disk. "Moreover! Send the last Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my Deck to the Graveyard, and Special Summon Lord of D. - The Dominator from my Hand in Defense Position."
"Next, I Set two cards from my Hand. My Turn ends."
[Kaiba: 4000 LP, Hand 1]
[Blue-Eyes White Dragon] [ATK 3000]
[Lord of D. - The Dominator] [DEF 1100]
[Set Card] x2
Seeing Lord of D. - The Dominator appear on Kaiba's Field, Alister raised an eyebrow. If he remembered correctly, that monster had the ability: "While a Blue-Eyes monster is on my Field, your monster's attack target is decided by me, Kaiba Seto!"
This effect is a Continuous Effect and does not enter a Chain. As long as this monster exists, to Battle Destruction this monster with only 1100 DEF, you would instead have to first face the Blue-Eyes White Dragon with a high ATK of 3000. And if you wanted to use a high attack power monster to destroy Blue-Eyes White Dragon, you would instead attack Lord of D. - The Dominator, which cannot be destroyed by battle and prevents you from inflicting damage.
In short, it was a monster with a simple but troublesome effect.
"My Turn, draw a card."
However, even knowing the effect of Lord of D. - The Dominator, Alister was still full of confidence. After all, there were only two monsters on Kaiba's Field with no resistance whatsoever.
Playing the card he drew directly, Alister sneered, "I activate the effect of Machina Cannon from my Hand! Discard and Send Machina Colonel from my Hand to the Graveyard, and Special Summon Machina Cannon onto my Field in Attack Position!"
A card was sent to Graveyard by Alister, and then a huge machine soldier appeared on his Field.
[Machina Cannon] [ATK 1700]
Although it was a Level 8 Higher-Level Monster, Machina Cannon's stats were clearly weak, with an ATK of only 1700. After seeing Alister only Summon such a weak monster, a contemptuous smile appeared on Kaiba's face.
However, Kaiba, who had suffered losses from "weak monsters" more than once, wisely didn't speak up to taunt directly, but Alister had already entered his Battle Phase.
"Begin Battle! I will use Machina Cannon to Attack Lord of D. - The Dominator on your Field, Kaiba Seto!"
Saying this, Machina Cannon's integrated cannon aimed at the Lord of D. - The Dominator in Defense Position, and a laser cannon beam shot out!
Although somewhat confused that Alister had simply Summoned a monster and then immediately started the Battle Phase, Kaiba still spoke. "Hmph, don't even think about approaching my monster! Lord of D. - The Dominator's ability is: "While a Blue-Eyes monster is on my Field, your monster's attack target is decided by me, Kaiba Seto!""
"I order your monster to Attack Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and then turn to dust under the radiance of Blue-Eyes!"
Following Kaiba's command, the beam of light that was originally aimed at Lord of D. - The Dominator took a turn in mid-air and flew towards Blue-Eyes White Dragon. But to Kaiba's unexpectedness, Alister proudly played a card.
"This is a trial, Kaiba, a trial from our past. Only the winner can overcome it and go to the future." Inserting the card into his Duel Disk, the Quick-Play Spell Card manifested in Alister's Spell/Trap Zone. "At this moment, I activate the Quick-Play Spell Card Limiter Removal! Double the Attack Power of all Machine-Type monsters on the Field!"
"The trial will be declared ended with the blood you shed!"
(End of Chapter)
