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Chapter 618: A Promise Must Be Kept

Stimulated by the bright light, Kujaku Mai slammed on the brake and twisted the steering wheel to avoid colliding with Marik ahead, bringing the RV to a spectacular drift stop.

Yugi, sitting in the passenger seat, used the inertia to open the car door. Without waiting for the car to stop, he unbuckled his seatbelt and leaped out, landing simultaneously with a briefcase he had thrown out beforehand. He tossed his hair back and looked at That Person standing in the light.

Spiky yellow hair stood up, a dark grey vest under a deep blue trench coat – it was Rafael, who had been waiting for a long time at Paradius Tower.

"Rafael," Yugi took out his Duel Disk and Deck from the box. He straightened up and looked at Rafael on the Stairs, putting on his Duel Disk as he spoke, "Were those things sent by you?"

"Those Orichalcos Soldiers?" Rafael glanced at the Soldiers chasing the RV in the distance and said calmly, "I wanted an opportunity for a one-on-one Duel with you. To prevent your Companions from interfering, I sent them out to try and separate you."

"However, after all, they are just tools without sanity. They couldn't even threaten your Companions to force you to Duel me."

Yugi frowned, "There's no need for that. To get Hayato back, and to settle accounts for the sinful acts of taking others' lives, the people of Doma are opponents I wouldn't let go of anyway. Besides, I was already planning to defeat you one-on-one, Rafael."

Up until now, Yugi had Dueled Rafael twice. One was in a KC Cup public event where Rafael wasn't serious, and the other time Rafael had included **Uria, Lord of Searing Flames**, which didn't fit his style, in the Deck. In both Duels, Rafael had not shown his true strength.

Even without going full power, Yugi could still feel the unique aura of a True Duelist from Rafael at that time. Simply defeating an unserious Rafael couldn't calm his Duelist Spirit.

But now, Rafael, one of the Doma Three Swordsmen, and Yugi, the User of the Legendary Dragon, had an irreconcilable stance conflict, naturally providing the condition for a full power Duel. However, the last time Yugi met Rafael, his attention was completely attracted by Hayato, who had appeared for the first time since his disappearance, and he hadn't dueled a full power Rafael.

But now, finally, there was an opportunity for the two of them to duel one-on-one with full power.

"Yugi!" In the RV, Tristan , who was sitting in the back row, slowly opened the car door and glanced behind. The Orichalcos Soldiers they had just managed to shake off were still relentlessly pursuing them, closing the distance with the RV. He anxiously called out to Yugi.

The RV's bumper, which had collided with the Orichalcos Soldiers, was completely shattered due to the rebound shock from their sturdy armor. The car body, which had been scraped against by the Orichalcos Soldiers before, was also full of scratches. The RV, originally worth a hundred thousand US dollars, was now estimated to have depreciated to less than five thousand US dollars. Tristan had struggled with the deformed door for a long time because of this before finally opening it.

It was hard to imagine what the outcome would be for Yugi if he were caught by those Orichalcos Soldiers without the protection of the car body.

Honda wanted to tell Yugi to get back in the car first to shake off those Orichalcos Soldiers, and then find a way to enter Paradius Tower when it was a bit safer, at least without Rafael blocking the way at the entrance. But when Yugi heard Tristan 's call, he just turned his head and said to Tristan with confidence, "You guys leave first with the others, Tristan . I'll be fine."

From the fact that Rafael was standing alone at the entrance of Paradius Tower waiting for Yugi, it could be seen that although he had arranged for the Orichalcos Soldiers to attack the group, he merely wanted to disperse the others so they wouldn't interfere with his duel with Yugi. And at this moment, Yugi had gone out alone as Rafael wished, so those Orichalcos Soldiers he had arranged had no reason to attack Yugi.

"But—" Tristan hesitated, unsure whether to believe what Yugi said. After all, those fierce-looking Orichalcos Soldiers just now were so scary and very aggressive. But looking at Yugi's confident gaze, his trust in his friend convinced Tristan . "I understand. Be careful, Yugi."

"After we shake off these guys, we'll be back!" In the driver's seat, Kujaku Mai called out, stepped on the accelerator and accelerated, causing an Orichalcos Soldier who had closed in on the RV to swing its arm blade at empty air.

As Marik and Kujaku Mai drove away, it was indeed as Yugi had conjectured; the Orichalcos Soldiers had no idea of attacking Yugi, and didn't even approach Paradius Tower by a single step, chasing after the two cars that drove away.

"Next, no one is troublesome, but this is not the place for a duel." Rafael glanced at himself standing on the Stairs and Yugi standing below the Stairs. To prevent Yugi from saying things like "This is a trial," he chose to transfer the Battlefield and turned around first, walking towards the open gate behind him. "Come with me, Nameless Pharaoh."

As if he wasn't afraid of a sneak attack at all, Rafael upright revealed his completely defenseless back and walked into the open gate. Out of caution, Yugi did not follow closely immediately, but fell behind by a couple of steps, maintaining a distance, and walked into the gate a few seconds later.

But after walking into Paradius Tower, Yugi immediately froze, because he found that Rafael, who had just walked in moments before, had disappeared in the blink of an eye?

Where did he go?

Yugi looked left and right, but saw a pure white feather slowly drifting down in mid-air in front of him. Seems like it was a bird's feather? How strange, why would there be something like that indoors?

Just as Yugi was about to reach out a hand to catch that unusual feather and observe it carefully, he found that the white feather was gradually becoming transparent as it drifted down, like an illusion. At the same time, a "ding" sound came from not far away.

Turning his head to look, an Elevator door automatically opened because it had arrived at the first Floor, revealing an empty elevator car. The display screen above the Elevator showed an upward arrow.

Although Yugi wasn't quite sure what was going on with the suddenly disappeared Rafael and that feather just now, the situation before him clearly indicated that Rafael was inviting him to step into the Elevator. Especially since the Elevator door, which should have only opened for a few seconds, remained open as if waiting for Yugi to enter.

Although he became more suspicious that it was a trap, Yugi still walked towards the Elevator. Just as he walked inside the Elevator, the Elevator door proved it wasn't broken; it automatically closed, and without pressing any button, the Elevator ascended towards the upper floors. This made Yugi even more certain that Rafael was most likely waiting for him on the Floor where the Elevator would stop.

Yugi, or rather, Dark Yugi, had always been the type who, even knowing clearly it was a trap, would at most be a little careful but would not avoid it. Because of this personality, he had suffered losses from Hayato and Yugi Mutou more than once in duels. However, even so, Dark Yugi would not become slick and engage in evasive behavior because of this. Although a bit stubborn, this was also Dark Yugi's personality.

Now that he had entered the enclosed Elevator car, Yugi didn't feel nervous. Instead, knowing that a battle would inevitably be waiting for him when the Elevator stopped, he directly took out the Deck he had brought with him before, spread it open, and partially exchanged cards with his spare cards, starting to adjust the composition of the cards in the Deck.

Even knowing clearly that there was a camera behind his head in the Elevator, Yugi believed that with Rafael's personality, he wouldn't peek at other people's cards. After all, that would involve the risk of hospitalization.

(Someone is furious: Achoo!)

The Eye of Wjat/Udjat on the Millennium Puzzle flickered with golden light. Yugi Mutou's figure floated beside Dark Yugi, who was arranging his Deck.

"The Other Me," Yugi Mutou said with a worried expression, looking at Dark Yugi, "I don't know why, but I have a bad premonition in my heart. You must be careful."

Yugi Mutou naturally knew The Other Self's personality inside and out. It wasn't that he wasn't serious in duels; rather, he was too serious, to the extent that he always attacked with full power in duels, which made him very easily fall into others' traps.

Yugi Mutou's personality was exactly the opposite; he was better at defense than attack. The strengths and flaws of the two people could be said to be complementary existences. However, compared to Yugi Mutou, who had gradually grown up and overcome his flaws due to the influence of many friends like Dark Yugi, Joey Wheeler , Hayato, and even Kaiba, Dark Yugi had actually gone further and further in "attack" without compensating for his flaws.

Although there was the saying "Strength can overcome cunning," even without compensating for his flaws and relying on his strength in attack, Dark Yugi had the strength to compete on the same stage as Hayato and Kaiba. But he was just afraid that someone would target his personality and deliberately attack his weak point.

Because he himself had done that more than once, Yugi Mutou knew deeply that The Other Self was very easily fooled.

Since there were no other people here, Dark Yugi also didn't choose mental communication, but chose the more accustomed method of speaking directly: "Aibo, believe me. I will definitely achieve victory."

"Before pulling the sword from **Timaeus**, we made a promise with **Dark Magician Girl** in the Spirit World that we would definitely defeat Doma and save the two Worlds."

"Things that were promised must definitely be done, right?"

Yugi Mutou naturally also remembered what Dark Yugi said. After all, it was the two of them together who pulled the sword at that time, and they also together agreed to Dark Magician Girl's request. Although Dark Magician Girl's expression at that time was quite awkward, like she had just sent off a plague god, slightly gleeful, it was probably because she saw the hope of the world being saved and was happy.

However, even if Dark Yugi mentioned the promise from back then, Yugi Mutou still felt a bit worried.

In this recent period, Grimo's attack stole the **Slifer the Sky Dragon** card, and he suffered a crushing defeat by Hayato's **Starving Venom Fusion Dragon** at Industrial Illusions. He always felt that because of the pressure of the promise and the repeated setbacks, The Other Me was getting more and more impatient.

He hoped that nothing unexpected would happen in the upcoming duel.

The display screen inside the Elevator did not show the Floor it was rising to. Yugi only felt that the Elevator had been rising for a while before finally having the feeling of gradually decelerating and about to stop. He didn't know which Floor it had reached. After a "ding" sound rang out, the Elevator door opened, and a cool breeze blew into the Elevator car.

Yugi, who had already finished adjusting his Deck, put the Deck into his Duel Disk, allowing it to deploy. He looked towards the outside of the Elevator and found that he had actually arrived at an outdoor Rooftop at this moment. Rafael, with his arms crossed over his chest, was standing not far away with closed eyes. It seems like he had been waiting here for a long time.

Yugi, who walked out of the Elevator, looked up at the sky above him. It was a dim and lightless night sky, with the stars avoiding, leaving behind only patches of dark clouds. So that means he had actually taken the Elevator from the first Floor of Paradius Tower all the way up to the Rooftop on the top floor? No wonder it felt like some time had passed.

However, what attracted Yugi's attention more than himself standing on the Rooftop was a pair of transparent wings spread out behind Rafael. A few pure white feathers drifted down from the wings as they spread open. Rafael at this moment truly lived up to his name, as if he were an angel "Raphael" who had walked out of mythology into the modern era.

"Even until now, I still don't understand, Rafael." Yugi did not rush impatiently to start a life-and-death struggle with Rafael. He looked at Rafael, who opened his eyes as his wings disappeared, and said, "From my previous duels with you, I can feel that you have unparalleled unique feelings towards Duel Monsters. You are a True Duelist."

"You, who loves Duel Monsters, why would you join Organization Doma?"

"Do you know, Hitler was also a vegetarian. Regarding Duel Monsters, regarding my Deck's feelings, I will not deny them, but I don't think this conflicts with me being a member of Organization Doma," Rafael said calmly, facing Yugi's questioning.

Yugi frowned and denied, "That's wrong. If a True Duelist possesses the power of Duel Monsters, they would absolutely not use it for committing evil deeds!"

"Evil? You think Doma is doing evil, Nameless Pharaoh." Rafael's gaze met Yugi's. He looked directly into Yugi's eyes without wavering. "But that's wrong. Power and even the World have never been clearly black and white. I don't think anyone or any faction can be differentiated simply by such simple and meaningless labels as 'Justice' and 'Evil'. Sweet soda and bitter tea can both quench thirst."

"Nameless Pharaoh, you only take 'responsive' action when I, when Doma, take action. This habit has already bound your body and mind. Although you certainly have quite excellent talent, that kind of idea of 'self-defense' bound in your heart absolutely cannot make you actively raise the idea of 'killing me'."

"I believe this gap in will can better differentiate people than 'Justice' and 'Evil'. In my eyes, you are just a passive 'responder'."

Rafael raised his Duel Disk. "The 'will' to take action and kill the opponent without hesitation when necessary, that is the real difference between you and me. Let me tell you about this gap in will with a duel, Nameless Pharaoh!"

"Duel!"

Rafael: 4000 LP

Thanks to "Duel Qing" for the 500 Points Tip. Thank you, old friend.
How satisfying it was to torment Phoenix Enforcer with a lighter before; that's how miserable it is this month getting head-chopped by Dark Law's neighbor. It seems like more and more people are playing Heroes in Master Duel. I played five games today and encountered three.

End of Chapter

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