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Chapter 615: Trust Mother Jijiji!
On Organization Doma's airplane, Alister looked at Hayato, who was sitting directly across from him, with a conflicted expression.
About ten minutes ago, holding the idea of mutual destruction, "taking Kaiba Seto to die together," Alister had thought he would be buried under the firepower of the B-2 bomber. After all, as a world-class strategic weapon, the firepower of a B-2 bomber is a hundred times that of a normal bomber.
Even a professional military bunker could be leveled by a single round of bombing from a B-2 bomber, let alone a castle built by Pegasus's family hundreds of years ago.
At the same time, although he managed to get the bomber, Alister actually relied on Organization Doma's influence within the US Military. But that didn't mean Alister could command the bomber freely; he merely found a way to assign an attack target to the bomber. Once the dispatch was completed, even he couldn't easily withdraw the order.
This meant that when Alister and Kaiba began their duel, he had already decided that even if he lost the duel, he would definitely kill Kaiba there, even if he himself died along with him.
However, three things happened that were beyond Alister's expectation—his duel with Kaiba ended in defeat too quickly, Kaiba's decisive action to protect Keipei without regard for his own crisis when he discovered the crisis, and, surprisingly, Hayato also appeared on that island.
Alister was very certain that he contacted Rafael around 1 PM. At that time, according to Rafael, he and Hayato were together, having just left after recovering the deceased Valon from the Nameless Pharaoh. Kaiba arrived on the island around 2 PM, and the duel with him started before 3 PM.
But, at the moment the B-2 bomber spent about half an hour arriving in the Time-Space above the island, Hayato, who was far away in the American system with Rafael, magically crossed the ocean and arrived at Pegasus Castle!
What was even more outrageous was that he arrived together with a private jet belonging to Industrial Illusions. However, at the speed of that private jet, the time required to travel from Industrial Illusions Headquarters to Duelist Kingdom Island was about two hours. Moreover, if Alister remembered correctly, even if he wanted to use that private jet, he would have to personally arrive at Industrial Illusions Headquarters to take it.
To arrive so punctually, unless the moment Alister's contact with Rafael was cut off, that guy Hayato parted ways with Rafael and got on the private jet that had been arranged to pick him up in advance, and then flew directly to Duel Kingdom Island.
Damn it, this guy's treatment is too good, isn't it? Even their "Doma Three Swordsmen"—although now it should actually be the "Doma Duo"—don't have that much authority to command a private jet freely!
There should have been some dissatisfaction, but no matter what, Hayato at that time indeed became Alister's savior, pulling him out of the brink of death. Alister wouldn't go so far as to feel jealousy towards Hayato.
'Thinking about it carefully, maybe Hayato rushed here to check on my situation because he was worried that I was acting alone and would fall into Kaiba Seto's hands, and because of Valon's incident, he didn't want to lose another teammate.' Looking at Hayato wiping the sweat from his forehead, Alister couldn't help but think to himself.
Just before the bomber began dropping bombs, a huge protective barrier appeared above the island, enveloping Pegasus Castle and a small zone around it. That was the power of **Absorb Shield**, supported by Hayato's own power, successfully blocking the bombing for a short period of time.
Even though most people, even if they could achieve card spirit awakening, would only awaken monster card spirits, which are relatively easy to resonate with, that guy Hayato could actually awaken a Trap Card as a card spirit. This made Alister feel that he might be considered the first person in history to do so, although he also heard that his earliest card spirit, the Ojama monster, seemed to have awakened not from a Monster Card but from a Trap Card.
However, although Hayato did manage to activate the power of the Trap Card to protect the area around Pegasus Castle, this power was a considerable burden on him and difficult to sustain for too long. He seemed to only have enough time to bring Alister out before having to withdraw the barrier, leaving no time to pursue Kaiba Seto and his brother Keipei, who were also protected by the barrier.
'Even though I never trusted him after he decided to join Doma, he genuinely treated me as a companion. Thinking about it, what I did before was really wrong. From now on, I should treat him a little better—'
Thinking this, Alister saw Hayato open a cabinet inside the aircraft cabin with practiced ease. Like a master taking things from his own cabinet to entertain guests, he skillfully took out a bottle of red wine and a cup, and poured himself a glass first.
"Want some red wine? I have some top-quality Chianti here, paired with soda crackers dipped in Scamorza cheese and caviar, it tastes great." As he spoke, Hayato also found some snacks that looked expensive just by their packaging.
"No way, we just went through life and death, where do you get the mood to start enjoying red wine?" Alister covered his forehead helplessly. "And you, why are you so skilled? This private jet is Lord Dartz's exclusive vehicle on weekdays, didn't anyone tell you not to touch things randomly!"
"Huh? Someone seemed to have told me that before, but that was just talk. Humans, you know, they say one thing and do another." Hayato waved his hand dismissively, gulped down the full cup of red wine without a care, and grabbed a handful of snacks to put in his mouth. "Even if I don't eat them, the staff on the private jet usually pocket the difference anyway."
"But Dartz really knows how to enjoy himself. This passenger jet feels more comfortable to ride in than Kaiba's. The only drawback is probably that you can't go to the Sistine Chapel to see Michelangelo's mural."
This self-absorbed personality, it's because of this reason that even though Hayato saved him, Alister couldn't feel grateful towards him.
Seeing that Alister didn't pay attention to him, Hayato seemed to have had enough wine. He casually put down the wine cup, took out a deck from behind him, and handed it to Alister: "Thank me, Alister, not just because I arrived so timely and saved your life, but also because I 'accidentally' picked up your deck."
"However, there's something I need to explain beforehand." Placing the deck in Alister's hand, Hayato smoothly drew the top card of the deck, revealing several cards that had all the data a Monster Card should have, such as card name, type, effect, attribute, etc., but were missing the card art. "When I found your deck, these cards were already in this state."
"**Gizmek Arakaki, the Sky Peak Pillar**, **Ancient Gear Unbound**, **Machina Ruinforce**, **Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon**, and your ace card in the deck, **Meklord Army of Skiel Attack**, these five cards, I didn't tamper with them at all. Anyway, when I helped you recover the deck, they were already in this appearance."
Saying this, Hayato put the cards back into Alister's hand and spread his hands with an innocent expression.
Alister naturally believed Hayato, because he found that these cards happened to be the so-called "inner darkness" monsters he created using the power of the Seal of Orichalcos back then. They were "Dark" Meklord monsters, different from the conventional EARTH Attribute Meklord deck.
When he was invited by Dartz to join Organization Doma, Alister chose this deck because the Meklord deck was similar to the robots his younger brother Milk liked the most. And if the Meklord deck represented the existence of "love" for his younger brother Milk in Alister's heart, then the "Dark" Meklords were the "hate" that arose in Alister's heart because of Milk's death.
'Because of Kaiba Seto, my hate disappeared?' A bitter smile appeared on Alister's face. Although he didn't substantially achieve revenge, when his duel with Kaiba ended, Alister had actually gradually started to let go of hate.
Just as Kaiba told him before, Alister's current actions of committing evil deeds with the Meklord deck were no different from Gozaburo back then, and it was wrong. Alister himself knew this deeply. However, the feeling of powerlessness from when his younger brother died had always lingered in Alister's heart, making him unable to directly face the inner truth.
With the end of the duel and the arrival of the bomber, as he stood by the window and watched the blood-soaked Kaiba leave with Keipei, Alister's inner darkness silently let go. Presumably, it was because of this reason that the "Dark" Meklords, which were the transformation of the "hate" in his inner thoughts, disappeared from the deck.
Solemnly putting away the deck, Alister glanced at Hayato and said, "It's okay, I believe you didn't do it, Hayato."
But upon hearing Alister say this, Hayato looked at him with a strange gaze: "You're really not right, you've changed too much, haven't you?"
"But, it doesn't matter. Do you know what's most important when select someone, Alister?"
Hayato extended his finger and counted, "Is it 'what they can do'? Or higher 'IQ' and better 'talent'?"
Hayato withdrew the three extended fingers into a fist. He looked at Alister seriously and said, "No, I think there are other factors that are more important."
"That's 'trust', Alister. The most important thing when select someone is 'trust'. This is a more important standard than 'ability'. You think so too, right, Alister?"
Although it sounded like he was asking Alister, Hayato didn't wait for his answer and continued to talk to himself, "Because I 'trust' Doma can bring me powerful strength and allow me to pick up 'The First Napkin', I followed Dartz and joined Doma. And Doma indeed did not fail my 'trust', giving me quite satisfactory powerful strength."
"Then, in contrast, for Rafael, Valon—oh, Valon seems to be dead, so he's out of it—and you, Alister, for the 'trust' you three have in me, I will naturally return the equivalent reward."
Saying nonsense that even Hayato himself couldn't convince himself of to Alister, Hayato heard a man's complaining voice next to his ear: "Although I'm probably really dead, hearing you say that is way too strange, Hayato Kobayashi."
From a perspective Alister couldn't see, from the deck Hayato carried, an illusory figure of a man appeared on the card that should have housed **Rainbow Kuriboh**, floating in the air behind Hayato.
Looking at the attire with the same armor appearance as when he was alive, wasn't it Valon, who died in the duel against Joey Wheeler!
Hayato glanced at the complaining Valon but ignored him. Valon, however, showed an exaggerated expression lively: "Wow, your gaze is as indifferent as looking at pigs in a pig farm, it's so cruelty, so cruelty it's like you're telling me 'Oh, how pitiful, you'll be a piece of pork on the butcher shop tomorrow morning'."
"As if I wasn't trapped in a card because of you, you guy."
It wasn't Hayato who paid attention to Valon, but **Aleister the Invoker**, who came to the Real World from the Spirit World with Hayato. Poking his head out from the card, Aleister pressed Valon's shoulder trying to stuff him back into the card, perfunctorily saying, "Okay, okay, I know Master dislikes you, so don't run out without permission. Be a good boy, hurry up and get back."
However, what was a bit strange was that **Aleister the Invoker** didn't appear from the deck on Hayato's waist, but from the deck Alister had just accepted.
Before being stuffed back into the card, Valon looked at Alister, his former teammate, with a pitying gaze.
Valon wasn't sure when exactly, but it seemed that by using the convenience of acting in pairs, Hayato seized the opportunity to stuff the card named **Aleister the Invoker** into his deck. And because of insufficient bond, Valon didn't discover the existence of that card in his duel with Joey Wheeler until he had drew down to the last few cards in his deck.
But at the instant of his duel defeat, this card "gifted" by Hayato exerted its effect before the Seal of Orichalcos harvested his soul.
"The moment a human acknowledges their defeat, their soul energy is infinitely close to 0. Tampering at this moment is most suitable," Valon, who woke up and found that his soul hadn't been absorbed by the Seal of Orichalcos but was sealed within Hayato's card, heard Hayato say this at that time.
After stuffing Valon back into the card, Aleister also wanted to return to his card and lie in wait, waiting for the right moment. Looking at his new master, Alister, Aleister showed a cunning smile: "The existence named Orichalcos God is, after all, just the planet's assessment mechanism for civilization. Although it understands absorbing soul to replenish energy for its revival, it doesn't know what it should eat and what it shouldn't."
"The soul it thought was a great tonic was replaced with a parasite that looks good on the outside, rotten on the inside and absorbs power in reverse. As expected of Master, easily coming up with cunning scheme that normal people can't think of, I truly admire you greatly!"
End of Chapter
On Organization Doma's airplane, Alister looked at Hayato, who was sitting directly across from him, with a conflicted expression.
About ten minutes ago, holding the idea of mutual destruction, "taking Kaiba Seto to die together," Alister had thought he would be buried under the firepower of the B-2 bomber. After all, as a world-class strategic weapon, the firepower of a B-2 bomber is a hundred times that of a normal bomber.
Even a professional military bunker could be leveled by a single round of bombing from a B-2 bomber, let alone a castle built by Pegasus's family hundreds of years ago.
At the same time, although he managed to get the bomber, Alister actually relied on Organization Doma's influence within the US Military. But that didn't mean Alister could command the bomber freely; he merely found a way to assign an attack target to the bomber. Once the dispatch was completed, even he couldn't easily withdraw the order.
This meant that when Alister and Kaiba began their duel, he had already decided that even if he lost the duel, he would definitely kill Kaiba there, even if he himself died along with him.
However, three things happened that were beyond Alister's expectation—his duel with Kaiba ended in defeat too quickly, Kaiba's decisive action to protect Keipei without regard for his own crisis when he discovered the crisis, and, surprisingly, Hayato also appeared on that island.
Alister was very certain that he contacted Rafael around 1 PM. At that time, according to Rafael, he and Hayato were together, having just left after recovering the deceased Valon from the Nameless Pharaoh. Kaiba arrived on the island around 2 PM, and the duel with him started before 3 PM.
But, at the moment the B-2 bomber spent about half an hour arriving in the Time-Space above the island, Hayato, who was far away in the American system with Rafael, magically crossed the ocean and arrived at Pegasus Castle!
What was even more outrageous was that he arrived together with a private jet belonging to Industrial Illusions. However, at the speed of that private jet, the time required to travel from Industrial Illusions Headquarters to Duelist Kingdom Island was about two hours. Moreover, if Alister remembered correctly, even if he wanted to use that private jet, he would have to personally arrive at Industrial Illusions Headquarters to take it.
To arrive so punctually, unless the moment Alister's contact with Rafael was cut off, that guy Hayato parted ways with Rafael and got on the private jet that had been arranged to pick him up in advance, and then flew directly to Duel Kingdom Island.
Damn it, this guy's treatment is too good, isn't it? Even their "Doma Three Swordsmen"—although now it should actually be the "Doma Duo"—don't have that much authority to command a private jet freely!
There should have been some dissatisfaction, but no matter what, Hayato at that time indeed became Alister's savior, pulling him out of the brink of death. Alister wouldn't go so far as to feel jealousy towards Hayato.
'Thinking about it carefully, maybe Hayato rushed here to check on my situation because he was worried that I was acting alone and would fall into Kaiba Seto's hands, and because of Valon's incident, he didn't want to lose another teammate.' Looking at Hayato wiping the sweat from his forehead, Alister couldn't help but think to himself.
Just before the bomber began dropping bombs, a huge protective barrier appeared above the island, enveloping Pegasus Castle and a small zone around it. That was the power of **Absorb Shield**, supported by Hayato's own power, successfully blocking the bombing for a short period of time.
Even though most people, even if they could achieve card spirit awakening, would only awaken monster card spirits, which are relatively easy to resonate with, that guy Hayato could actually awaken a Trap Card as a card spirit. This made Alister feel that he might be considered the first person in history to do so, although he also heard that his earliest card spirit, the Ojama monster, seemed to have awakened not from a Monster Card but from a Trap Card.
However, although Hayato did manage to activate the power of the Trap Card to protect the area around Pegasus Castle, this power was a considerable burden on him and difficult to sustain for too long. He seemed to only have enough time to bring Alister out before having to withdraw the barrier, leaving no time to pursue Kaiba Seto and his brother Keipei, who were also protected by the barrier.
'Even though I never trusted him after he decided to join Doma, he genuinely treated me as a companion. Thinking about it, what I did before was really wrong. From now on, I should treat him a little better—'
Thinking this, Alister saw Hayato open a cabinet inside the aircraft cabin with practiced ease. Like a master taking things from his own cabinet to entertain guests, he skillfully took out a bottle of red wine and a cup, and poured himself a glass first.
"Want some red wine? I have some top-quality Chianti here, paired with soda crackers dipped in Scamorza cheese and caviar, it tastes great." As he spoke, Hayato also found some snacks that looked expensive just by their packaging.
"No way, we just went through life and death, where do you get the mood to start enjoying red wine?" Alister covered his forehead helplessly. "And you, why are you so skilled? This private jet is Lord Dartz's exclusive vehicle on weekdays, didn't anyone tell you not to touch things randomly!"
"Huh? Someone seemed to have told me that before, but that was just talk. Humans, you know, they say one thing and do another." Hayato waved his hand dismissively, gulped down the full cup of red wine without a care, and grabbed a handful of snacks to put in his mouth. "Even if I don't eat them, the staff on the private jet usually pocket the difference anyway."
"But Dartz really knows how to enjoy himself. This passenger jet feels more comfortable to ride in than Kaiba's. The only drawback is probably that you can't go to the Sistine Chapel to see Michelangelo's mural."
This self-absorbed personality, it's because of this reason that even though Hayato saved him, Alister couldn't feel grateful towards him.
Seeing that Alister didn't pay attention to him, Hayato seemed to have had enough wine. He casually put down the wine cup, took out a deck from behind him, and handed it to Alister: "Thank me, Alister, not just because I arrived so timely and saved your life, but also because I 'accidentally' picked up your deck."
"However, there's something I need to explain beforehand." Placing the deck in Alister's hand, Hayato smoothly drew the top card of the deck, revealing several cards that had all the data a Monster Card should have, such as card name, type, effect, attribute, etc., but were missing the card art. "When I found your deck, these cards were already in this state."
"**Gizmek Arakaki, the Sky Peak Pillar**, **Ancient Gear Unbound**, **Machina Ruinforce**, **Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon**, and your ace card in the deck, **Meklord Army of Skiel Attack**, these five cards, I didn't tamper with them at all. Anyway, when I helped you recover the deck, they were already in this appearance."
Saying this, Hayato put the cards back into Alister's hand and spread his hands with an innocent expression.
Alister naturally believed Hayato, because he found that these cards happened to be the so-called "inner darkness" monsters he created using the power of the Seal of Orichalcos back then. They were "Dark" Meklord monsters, different from the conventional EARTH Attribute Meklord deck.
When he was invited by Dartz to join Organization Doma, Alister chose this deck because the Meklord deck was similar to the robots his younger brother Milk liked the most. And if the Meklord deck represented the existence of "love" for his younger brother Milk in Alister's heart, then the "Dark" Meklords were the "hate" that arose in Alister's heart because of Milk's death.
'Because of Kaiba Seto, my hate disappeared?' A bitter smile appeared on Alister's face. Although he didn't substantially achieve revenge, when his duel with Kaiba ended, Alister had actually gradually started to let go of hate.
Just as Kaiba told him before, Alister's current actions of committing evil deeds with the Meklord deck were no different from Gozaburo back then, and it was wrong. Alister himself knew this deeply. However, the feeling of powerlessness from when his younger brother died had always lingered in Alister's heart, making him unable to directly face the inner truth.
With the end of the duel and the arrival of the bomber, as he stood by the window and watched the blood-soaked Kaiba leave with Keipei, Alister's inner darkness silently let go. Presumably, it was because of this reason that the "Dark" Meklords, which were the transformation of the "hate" in his inner thoughts, disappeared from the deck.
Solemnly putting away the deck, Alister glanced at Hayato and said, "It's okay, I believe you didn't do it, Hayato."
But upon hearing Alister say this, Hayato looked at him with a strange gaze: "You're really not right, you've changed too much, haven't you?"
"But, it doesn't matter. Do you know what's most important when select someone, Alister?"
Hayato extended his finger and counted, "Is it 'what they can do'? Or higher 'IQ' and better 'talent'?"
Hayato withdrew the three extended fingers into a fist. He looked at Alister seriously and said, "No, I think there are other factors that are more important."
"That's 'trust', Alister. The most important thing when select someone is 'trust'. This is a more important standard than 'ability'. You think so too, right, Alister?"
Although it sounded like he was asking Alister, Hayato didn't wait for his answer and continued to talk to himself, "Because I 'trust' Doma can bring me powerful strength and allow me to pick up 'The First Napkin', I followed Dartz and joined Doma. And Doma indeed did not fail my 'trust', giving me quite satisfactory powerful strength."
"Then, in contrast, for Rafael, Valon—oh, Valon seems to be dead, so he's out of it—and you, Alister, for the 'trust' you three have in me, I will naturally return the equivalent reward."
Saying nonsense that even Hayato himself couldn't convince himself of to Alister, Hayato heard a man's complaining voice next to his ear: "Although I'm probably really dead, hearing you say that is way too strange, Hayato Kobayashi."
From a perspective Alister couldn't see, from the deck Hayato carried, an illusory figure of a man appeared on the card that should have housed **Rainbow Kuriboh**, floating in the air behind Hayato.
Looking at the attire with the same armor appearance as when he was alive, wasn't it Valon, who died in the duel against Joey Wheeler!
Hayato glanced at the complaining Valon but ignored him. Valon, however, showed an exaggerated expression lively: "Wow, your gaze is as indifferent as looking at pigs in a pig farm, it's so cruelty, so cruelty it's like you're telling me 'Oh, how pitiful, you'll be a piece of pork on the butcher shop tomorrow morning'."
"As if I wasn't trapped in a card because of you, you guy."
It wasn't Hayato who paid attention to Valon, but **Aleister the Invoker**, who came to the Real World from the Spirit World with Hayato. Poking his head out from the card, Aleister pressed Valon's shoulder trying to stuff him back into the card, perfunctorily saying, "Okay, okay, I know Master dislikes you, so don't run out without permission. Be a good boy, hurry up and get back."
However, what was a bit strange was that **Aleister the Invoker** didn't appear from the deck on Hayato's waist, but from the deck Alister had just accepted.
Before being stuffed back into the card, Valon looked at Alister, his former teammate, with a pitying gaze.
Valon wasn't sure when exactly, but it seemed that by using the convenience of acting in pairs, Hayato seized the opportunity to stuff the card named **Aleister the Invoker** into his deck. And because of insufficient bond, Valon didn't discover the existence of that card in his duel with Joey Wheeler until he had drew down to the last few cards in his deck.
But at the instant of his duel defeat, this card "gifted" by Hayato exerted its effect before the Seal of Orichalcos harvested his soul.
"The moment a human acknowledges their defeat, their soul energy is infinitely close to 0. Tampering at this moment is most suitable," Valon, who woke up and found that his soul hadn't been absorbed by the Seal of Orichalcos but was sealed within Hayato's card, heard Hayato say this at that time.
After stuffing Valon back into the card, Aleister also wanted to return to his card and lie in wait, waiting for the right moment. Looking at his new master, Alister, Aleister showed a cunning smile: "The existence named Orichalcos God is, after all, just the planet's assessment mechanism for civilization. Although it understands absorbing soul to replenish energy for its revival, it doesn't know what it should eat and what it shouldn't."
"The soul it thought was a great tonic was replaced with a parasite that looks good on the outside, rotten on the inside and absorbs power in reverse. As expected of Master, easily coming up with cunning scheme that normal people can't think of, I truly admire you greatly!"
End of Chapter
