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## Great Sick Ward Daily Life: Devil May Cry
Rafael had finally managed to make the "Legendary Dragon" abandon Yugi and defeat him, but when he went to claim the spoils of that Duel—the card that should have sealed the Nameless Pharaoh's soul, the 【Seal of Orichalcos】—he discovered that the soul sealed within his card was not Yugi's.
Meanwhile, downstairs in Paradius Tower, the group successfully escaped the pursuit of the Orichalcos Soldiers.
During this time, they relied on the efforts of many people. For example, Ishizu continuously used Predict Future to provide guidance, and Marik used the 【Millennium Rod】 to interfere, utilizing the large number of Trap Cards Rishid carried. In short, after Rex and Tristan worked together to throw a 【Falling Stone】 that hit the last relentlessly pursuing Orichalcos Soldier, causing him to fall into a 【Trap Hole】, they finally arrived in front of Paradius Tower without any pursuers behind them.
"Finally got rid of these troublesome guys. I wonder how Yugi is doing," Tristan muttered to himself as he pushed open the badly deformed RV door and stepped out with Rex and Téa, looking at Paradius Tower with its transparent glass doors closed.
In front of the three, Marik also slowly stopped the Jeep and got out. Hearing Tristan's words, Marik waved his hand, "You're worrying too much. Yugi Mutou isn't some Small Fry. With the Pharaoh's soul residing in his 【Millennium Puzzle】, how could he easily encounter danger?"
"I didn't have a chance just now, but now I remember. Tristan, you sent me a message before saying that the Pharaoh and that Joey Wheeler were defeated even when they Teamed Up. Was that true or false? I still can't believe it."
Rishid, who was following Marik, also chimed in, "Three Thousand Years Ago, the Nameless Pharaoh could be said to have stood at the peak as a Duelist. If he were defeated by an existence like Hayato-sama, it might be somewhat acceptable, but Mr. Tristan's message said that the one who defeated the Nameless Pharaoh was an unknown Duelist."
"Even a science fiction writer wouldn't dare to use such an exaggerated setting, right?" Marik said, crossing his arms over his chest, and nodded his head in affirmation.
Both of them had an air of doubting the truth of Tristan's message, which made Tristan quite helpless. He couldn't possibly tell Marik now that the one who defeated Joey Wheeler and Yugi was Hayato. They had agreed back then to tell Marik and Ishizu after they rescued Hayato from Organization Doma.
"Yes, the result of that Duel was indeed as Tristan said, Yugi and I lost."
The one who saved Tristan from being labeled a "boaster" and vouched for his words was Joey Wheeler, who got out of the car right after the others. Although he hadn't fully recovered and his steps were slightly unsteady, Joey Wheeler still firmly got out of the car. "However, at that time, I was dragging Yugi down. If I hadn't been dragging him down, Yugi wouldn't necessarily have lost then."
Hearing Joey Wheeler's words, Marik nodded in satisfaction. "That makes sense. If just anyone could come out and defeat the Nameless Pharaoh, wouldn't that make it seem lame that my Dark Personality, who defeated me back then, was easily defeated by the Nameless Pharaoh?"
"And Joey Wheeler, you also said that you were dragging the Nameless Pharaoh down in that Duel. In that case, there's even less need to worry about him now. The Pharaoh is very safe, unless Organization Doma suddenly produces a character who has been hidden from the world for many years, like a sweeping monk from Eastern Wuxia Novels."
Marik was convinced by Joey Wheeler's reason, while Tristan looked at Joey Wheeler with some surprise. Thinking back, Joey Wheeler had also grown a lot without realizing it.
The Joey Wheeler who first entered Duel Monsters back then only stopped being a delinquent after becoming friends with Yugi. He was usually full of desire to show off, very competitive, and unwilling to fall behind others. Because of this, Kaiba could easily provoke Joey Wheeler into flaring up with just a few words.
However, the current Joey Wheeler was actively putting himself down. Although he hadn't witnessed firsthand the Duel between Yugi, Joey Wheeler, and Hayato at that time, Tristan believed that no matter how much Joey Wheeler lagged behind the other two, he wouldn't be the one dragging them down.
And Tristan's intuition was quite accurate. Actually, the 【Super Magician Knight - Red-Eyes Dragoon】 that almost allowed Yugi and Joey Wheeler to make a comeback at that time was summoned only after Joey Wheeler awakened his Card Spirit.
Kujaku Mai, who got out of the driver's seat, saw Joey Wheeler also jump out of the car and said helplessly, "Honestly, do you really have to tough it out like this?"
"Ah, I can't help it. After all, I'm not as smart as the others. Besides recklessly pushing through like an idiot with 'Backbone' and 'Grit', I don't know anything else," Joey Wheeler smiled at Kujaku Mai. "So I definitely have to go too."
Seeing Joey Wheeler's obsession, although she knew that Joey Wheeler was definitely enduring his physical discomfort and acting tough at this moment, Kujaku Mai didn't say anything more to dissuade him. She just sighed, "Indeed, that's just the kind of person you are. In that case, as expected, we can only take you with us. However, if you can't hold on, you're not allowed to keep forcing yourself!"
Kujaku Mai said, pointing at Joey Wheeler's chest quite seriously, and reminded him while staring at his face. Joey Wheeler also smiled and met Kujaku Mai's gaze. "Okay, if I can't hold on, I'll leave it to you to take care of me, Mai."
When Joey Wheeler said this, looked at by his equally serious gaze, Kujaku Mai suddenly withdrew her hand shyly, turned her head, and softly said "Mm" as a response.
Joey Wheeler smiled shyly, glanced at the towering Paradius Tower, and the smile on his face slightly faded.
Among the Companions present, Joey Wheeler believed that he currently knew the most information. Although the others didn't have a deep impression of Rafael and weren't too worried about Yugi, Joey Wheeler was the sole bystander of Rafael and Yugi's Duel during the KC Cup and knew that the opponent's strength was absolutely not to be underestimated.
Furthermore, Joey Wheeler knew one more thing: ever since the Duel at Industrial Illusions where he suffered a painful defeat by Hayato in a two-on-one, Yugi—or more precisely, the Dark Yugi known as the "Nameless Pharaoh"—his mindset had been somewhat off. This was something Joey Wheeler felt when he practiced using 【The Claw of Hermos】 with Yugi in a practice Duel before.
Joey Wheeler, who didn't have mind reading ability, didn't know exactly what Yugi was thinking, but in Duels with Dark Yugi, Joey Wheeler could feel that Dark Yugi seemed to always have a feeling of being constantly chased by something. Although he had this feeling before the Duel at Industrial Illusions, after being defeated by Hayato that time, that feeling had become increasingly strong.
Although this didn't affect the strength Yugi could usually display in Duels, Joey Wheeler knew that the higher one stood at the peak of Duel Monsters, the greater the influence of the power of the heart on Duels. No one knew when this abnormal mindset might become a hidden danger for Yugi in Duels.
It was even possible that if someone specifically used a strategy targeting the opponent's heart/mind, it could cause Yugi to underperform in a Duel and make fatal mistakes.
Therefore, Joey Wheeler was more worried about Yugi's current situation than the others. He had encountered the person named Rafael in front of the Paradius Tower before. That person was also a considerably powerful Duelist. He wondered how their Duel was going now.
Just then, Joey Wheeler heard the roaring sound of an engine, but the engine sound didn't sound like a land transportation tool such as a car or motorcycle, and the sound source seemed to be coming from the sky.
Thinking of this, Joey Wheeler looked up, and at the same time heard Marik's voice from the side, "If my Saint-level Vision of 7.1 hasn't become nearsighted from staying up late reading light novels recently, doesn't that helicopter above us have 'KC' written on it?"
Honda and Téa also looked up. Although they also saw a helicopter flying from a distance, their vision was only at the normal human level, unlike the super vision possessed by the other Duelists—after all, they didn't usually have the need to see what cards the opponent discarded across most of the Field.
"KC?" Joey Wheeler was startled. Although this term, like other abbreviations, represented many things, the first thing that came to his mind was, as expected, "Kaiba Company," or KaibaCorp.
"It must be Kaiba! That guy moves pretty fast too!" Like a special sensation between New Humans, Joey Wheeler's intuition told him that Kaiba was definitely on that incoming helicopter. Although he was still a bit weak just now, Joey Wheeler suddenly became excited at this moment. "Alright! Can't let Kaiba get there first, let's hurry up and go too!"
Saying this, he took the lead and walked up the Stairs towards the gate of Paradius Tower. Tristan, Téa, and Rex also hurriedly followed, and Rishid followed Marik walking behind.
Looking at the figure of Joey Wheeler, who suddenly started competing over something trivial like an overgrown child whenever Kaiba was mentioned, Kujaku Mai smiled slightly and was about to follow, but noticed Ishizu, who was also walking at the back, was currently fingering the 【Millennium Necklace】 hanging around her neck.
"What's wrong, Miss Ishizu?" Kujaku Mai asked, staring blankly at the 【Millennium Necklace】.
Kujaku Mai wasn't a materialistic woman who valued wealth above all else, but the 【Millennium Necklace】 was simply too big. No woman could refuse such a beautiful large piece of gold jewelry. However, on the other hand, such a large mass of gold, even if it was hollow, wouldn't be too light in weight—a truly beautiful "heavy burden."
However, the 【Millennium Necklace】 wasn't just ordinary gold; its Future Sight ability was worth the "burden." Kujaku Mai wondered, was Ishizu perhaps feeling some fatigue because she had been using the power of the 【Millennium Necklace】 continuously just now?
Hearing Kujaku Mai's concern, Ishizu just calmly shook her head, moved her hand away from the 【Millennium Necklace】, revealing the dim and dull 【Millennium Necklace】, and said, "I'm fine. It's just that since just now, the 【Millennium Necklace】 has been unable to use Future Sight."
"It's like it's being interfered with." Although she was saying bad news, a smile appeared on Ishizu's face.
And on the Rooftop, having discovered that the 【Seal of Orichalcos】 had sealed the wrong soul, Rafael immediately turned around and glanced at Yugi, who was still lying motionless on the Ground.
Although he didn't know what happened, if the sealed soul was wrong, he would just seal it again. Fortunately, he hadn't left and had checked it, otherwise, wouldn't the Nameless Pharaoh have gotten lucky and saved his life?
As for Yugi being unconscious now and unable to duel Rafael again consciously, that was irrelevant.
The instant a human admits his defeat, their soul energy will be infinitely close to 0. The collection of tough souls by things like the 【Seal of Orichalcos】 and Dark Game is achieved based on this point. Rafael had already defeated Yugi once; sealing Yugi's soul while he was unconscious was the same.
Casually throwing the 【Seal of Orichalcos】 card, which had sealed the soul of some unknown minor character, onto the Ground—after all, a 【Seal of Orichalcos】 that has already sealed a soul cannot be used a second time—Rafael took out a spare blank 【Seal of Orichalcos】 card and walked towards Yugi.
Kaiba, who was arriving at the Rooftop by helicopter, also immediately saw Rafael, dressed in black and quite conspicuous on the white Ground, and his action. Quickly calculating in his mind, Kaiba, sitting in the driver's seat, actually unbuckled his seatbelt and pushed open the door, much to Keipei's terrified gaze in the passenger seat?
"Bro- Brother!?!?"
"Hold the control stick tight, Keipei." Letting go of the control stick, which Keipei frantically took over, Kaiba, not worried at all about whether Keipei could fly a helicopter, was wearing his Duel Disk and actually jumped out of the helicopter!
Due to inertia, Kaiba, who jumped out of the helicopter, cut an arc through the air. Accompanied by a "bang," Kaiba just barely landed on the edge of the Rooftop, rolled to absorb the impact and stood up, then fiercely threw a card towards Rafael!
"Get out of my way, Doma lackey!"
Although he spoke, Kaiba threw the card before shouting, which was no different from a sneak attack. Although Rafael heard the sound of Kaiba landing, he was just a powerful Duelist, not some martial artist, and couldn't react to Kaiba's sneak attack at all. When he turned his head to look towards Kaiba, he could only watch as a 【Goddess of the Reverse】 card flew towards him.
As Kaiba Seto's designated card for card throwing, 【Goddess of the Reverse】 had never been used by Kaiba for dueling in its life, but it had cut through iron chains, severed steel wires, cut through human flesh, and even blocked a handgun about to be fired. However, although Rafael was surprised by the sudden appearance of Kaiba, he wasn't worried about suffering any damage.
He wasn't standing here alone; 【Guardian Eatos】 was ready to act and block that flying card.
But just before 【Guardian Eatos】 acted, a small yellow monster was thrown onto the flight path of 【Goddess of the Reverse】 and precisely "caught" that card.
"Ugh ga!" The yellow monster that appeared unaccountably—【Ojama Yellow】—cried out in pain, clutching the card, and fell beside Rafael, while a pleased voice came from the side: "Well now, I threw it quite accurately."
Rafael turned his head to look, looking confusedly at the person who had suddenly appeared here. "Hayato Kobayashi? When did you appear here?"
Remotely returning 【Ojama Yellow】 to the card, Hayato casually spread his hands and said with a smile, "I took the Stairs."
Holding the 【Ojama Yellow】 card in his hand, which was constantly complaining about being sold out again, Hayato looked at the 【Seal of Orichalcos】 card that Rafael had thrown on the Ground.
It seems Yugi did bring the 【Gaia the Fierce Knight】 card into his Deck. Hayato thought to himself.
The 【Seal of Orichalcos】 was as mechanical as a low-level program with only a counting function when collecting souls; any single soul could satisfy the requirement for sealing. Knowing this, Hayato had specifically left the 【Gaia the Fierce Knight】 card, which had sealed a useless soul, in Conflict Town to be picked up by Yugi, precisely to prevent the situation in the original work where Yugi was sealed.
As for where that useless soul came from, actually, after getting the 【Uria, Lord of Searing Flames】 card after the KC Cup, Hayato found a way to remove the special influence left by Bakura on that card, affecting Yugi. The specific method of removal was to take out all the cards in his hand that had awakened spirits and have a "one-on-one fight."
【Uria】 had a lot of backbone. Its mouth was like it was being held by 【Obelisk the Tormentor】; it didn't let out a scream until it was electrocuted by 【Slifer the Sky Dragon】 and spat it out. And after 【Uria, Lord of Searing Flames】 spat out all the souls it had swallowed before, the card also returned to normal.
What Hayato didn't expect was that influence actually came from the obsession with Yugi of a Duelist who once died from 【Uria, Lord of Searing Flames】.
That is, the "former Japan National Champion," "Insect Expert," "Kid with Glasses," "Earliest Provider of 'Candle in the Wind Kill'," "Ai Killer," "Insect Bastard," Weevil, who joined the Rare Hunters Organization during Battle City, carried the 【Uria, Lord of Searing Flames】 card, foolishly sought "Revenge" against Yugi, but was killed by 【Uria, Lord of Searing Flames】 because of his defeat.
To be honest, at that time, Hayato had the idea of simply letting 【Uria】 swallow Weevil's soul again, but it seemed to have been scared by 【Slifer the Sky Dragon】. After 【Uria, Lord of Searing Flames】 returned to normal, it refused to come out of the card no matter what. Hayato simply used Weevil's soul as an experiment and accidentally learned the soul storage technique.
Although it sounds simple, Hayato can guarantee that if you have experience performing soul surgery on people, a group of card spirits that cooperate very well and also have great power, and at the same time, don't feel any regret about whether the experimental soul would be damaged, anyone can learn it after trying seven or eight times.
And with the assistance of 【Aleister the Invoker】, Hayato even set his sights on the "Orichalcos God."
However, the plan targeting the "Orichalcos God" still needs some time to complete. Compared to that, Hayato is more interested in the serious-faced Kaiba before him right now.
"To jump out of a helicopter, that's just like you, Seto." Stepping past Rafael, Hayato walked towards Kaiba, as if to block Kaiba who was interfering with his sealing of Yugi's soul. "However, your carefree days should be coming to an end. Give me 【The Fang of Critias】."
"If you want it, you should come and get it yourself. You know the Duelist's rule." Looking at Hayato standing opposite him, Kaiba didn't show an expression of not wanting to fight like Yugi and Joey Wheeler. He just calmly raised the Duel Disk on his wrist.
Hayato, who originally didn't think that Kaiba would hand over the card just because he said so, also smiled indifferently. "I knew you'd say that."
Watching Hayato also raise his Duel Disk and activate it, Kaiba didn't know what he was thinking, and said, "How many times have we dueled?"
"I don't know. Anyway, in my memories, every time I went to KaibaCorp to find you, you would always duel me," Hayato recalled, like friends chatting. "But I won more times."
"Where did you learn your math? It was clearly a draw!" Kaiba corrected him quite seriously. "And you, you always aren't serious in informal duels and use me as a test subject for all sorts of strange Decks."
"But you seemed to enjoy dueling too," Hayato smiled. "It really has been a long time."
Drawing a card and holding it between his fingertips, the figure of a giant blue fiend gradually appeared behind Hayato.
The card he drew was 【Raviel, Lord of Phantasms】.
"Although recalling the past is also quite interesting, everything has an end, even us. It's about time to..."
"...end everything." Kaiba looked at the extremely unscientific materialization of the card spirit that appeared behind Hayato. Rarely, he didn't rant, but instead took a deep breath and reached out towards Rafael's direction.
Rafael looked at Kaiba reaching out with some confusion. He didn't understand what Kaiba was doing reaching out to him when he hadn't interrupted their conversation.
However, accompanied by a "ding," Rafael heard the sound of the Elevator door opening behind him and realized that Kaiba wasn't reaching out to him.
Decisively, Rafael turned sideways and then saw a strange sight of the White-Haired One being dragged by a golden short staff flying towards Kaiba.
Seeing the Elevator stopped at the top floor, Marik, who had just ridden the Elevator to the Rooftop with everyone, was originally still confused why the 【Millennium Rod】 tucked at his waist suddenly started glowing and vibrating. After the Elevator arrived at the Rooftop and the door opened, when he saw Kaiba reaching out towards him, he recalled his past experience.
The Battle City Quarterfinals, when Bakura Ryo planned to use the 【Millennium Eye】 to control Kaiba Seto—Marik hasn't forgotten that experience to this day!
"WDNMD! Again!?" Only having time to say that much, Marik was dragged by the 【Millennium Rod】 and flew out of the Elevator Room, flying towards Kaiba.
End of Chapter
Rafael had finally managed to make the "Legendary Dragon" abandon Yugi and defeat him, but when he went to claim the spoils of that Duel—the card that should have sealed the Nameless Pharaoh's soul, the 【Seal of Orichalcos】—he discovered that the soul sealed within his card was not Yugi's.
Meanwhile, downstairs in Paradius Tower, the group successfully escaped the pursuit of the Orichalcos Soldiers.
During this time, they relied on the efforts of many people. For example, Ishizu continuously used Predict Future to provide guidance, and Marik used the 【Millennium Rod】 to interfere, utilizing the large number of Trap Cards Rishid carried. In short, after Rex and Tristan worked together to throw a 【Falling Stone】 that hit the last relentlessly pursuing Orichalcos Soldier, causing him to fall into a 【Trap Hole】, they finally arrived in front of Paradius Tower without any pursuers behind them.
"Finally got rid of these troublesome guys. I wonder how Yugi is doing," Tristan muttered to himself as he pushed open the badly deformed RV door and stepped out with Rex and Téa, looking at Paradius Tower with its transparent glass doors closed.
In front of the three, Marik also slowly stopped the Jeep and got out. Hearing Tristan's words, Marik waved his hand, "You're worrying too much. Yugi Mutou isn't some Small Fry. With the Pharaoh's soul residing in his 【Millennium Puzzle】, how could he easily encounter danger?"
"I didn't have a chance just now, but now I remember. Tristan, you sent me a message before saying that the Pharaoh and that Joey Wheeler were defeated even when they Teamed Up. Was that true or false? I still can't believe it."
Rishid, who was following Marik, also chimed in, "Three Thousand Years Ago, the Nameless Pharaoh could be said to have stood at the peak as a Duelist. If he were defeated by an existence like Hayato-sama, it might be somewhat acceptable, but Mr. Tristan's message said that the one who defeated the Nameless Pharaoh was an unknown Duelist."
"Even a science fiction writer wouldn't dare to use such an exaggerated setting, right?" Marik said, crossing his arms over his chest, and nodded his head in affirmation.
Both of them had an air of doubting the truth of Tristan's message, which made Tristan quite helpless. He couldn't possibly tell Marik now that the one who defeated Joey Wheeler and Yugi was Hayato. They had agreed back then to tell Marik and Ishizu after they rescued Hayato from Organization Doma.
"Yes, the result of that Duel was indeed as Tristan said, Yugi and I lost."
The one who saved Tristan from being labeled a "boaster" and vouched for his words was Joey Wheeler, who got out of the car right after the others. Although he hadn't fully recovered and his steps were slightly unsteady, Joey Wheeler still firmly got out of the car. "However, at that time, I was dragging Yugi down. If I hadn't been dragging him down, Yugi wouldn't necessarily have lost then."
Hearing Joey Wheeler's words, Marik nodded in satisfaction. "That makes sense. If just anyone could come out and defeat the Nameless Pharaoh, wouldn't that make it seem lame that my Dark Personality, who defeated me back then, was easily defeated by the Nameless Pharaoh?"
"And Joey Wheeler, you also said that you were dragging the Nameless Pharaoh down in that Duel. In that case, there's even less need to worry about him now. The Pharaoh is very safe, unless Organization Doma suddenly produces a character who has been hidden from the world for many years, like a sweeping monk from Eastern Wuxia Novels."
Marik was convinced by Joey Wheeler's reason, while Tristan looked at Joey Wheeler with some surprise. Thinking back, Joey Wheeler had also grown a lot without realizing it.
The Joey Wheeler who first entered Duel Monsters back then only stopped being a delinquent after becoming friends with Yugi. He was usually full of desire to show off, very competitive, and unwilling to fall behind others. Because of this, Kaiba could easily provoke Joey Wheeler into flaring up with just a few words.
However, the current Joey Wheeler was actively putting himself down. Although he hadn't witnessed firsthand the Duel between Yugi, Joey Wheeler, and Hayato at that time, Tristan believed that no matter how much Joey Wheeler lagged behind the other two, he wouldn't be the one dragging them down.
And Tristan's intuition was quite accurate. Actually, the 【Super Magician Knight - Red-Eyes Dragoon】 that almost allowed Yugi and Joey Wheeler to make a comeback at that time was summoned only after Joey Wheeler awakened his Card Spirit.
Kujaku Mai, who got out of the driver's seat, saw Joey Wheeler also jump out of the car and said helplessly, "Honestly, do you really have to tough it out like this?"
"Ah, I can't help it. After all, I'm not as smart as the others. Besides recklessly pushing through like an idiot with 'Backbone' and 'Grit', I don't know anything else," Joey Wheeler smiled at Kujaku Mai. "So I definitely have to go too."
Seeing Joey Wheeler's obsession, although she knew that Joey Wheeler was definitely enduring his physical discomfort and acting tough at this moment, Kujaku Mai didn't say anything more to dissuade him. She just sighed, "Indeed, that's just the kind of person you are. In that case, as expected, we can only take you with us. However, if you can't hold on, you're not allowed to keep forcing yourself!"
Kujaku Mai said, pointing at Joey Wheeler's chest quite seriously, and reminded him while staring at his face. Joey Wheeler also smiled and met Kujaku Mai's gaze. "Okay, if I can't hold on, I'll leave it to you to take care of me, Mai."
When Joey Wheeler said this, looked at by his equally serious gaze, Kujaku Mai suddenly withdrew her hand shyly, turned her head, and softly said "Mm" as a response.
Joey Wheeler smiled shyly, glanced at the towering Paradius Tower, and the smile on his face slightly faded.
Among the Companions present, Joey Wheeler believed that he currently knew the most information. Although the others didn't have a deep impression of Rafael and weren't too worried about Yugi, Joey Wheeler was the sole bystander of Rafael and Yugi's Duel during the KC Cup and knew that the opponent's strength was absolutely not to be underestimated.
Furthermore, Joey Wheeler knew one more thing: ever since the Duel at Industrial Illusions where he suffered a painful defeat by Hayato in a two-on-one, Yugi—or more precisely, the Dark Yugi known as the "Nameless Pharaoh"—his mindset had been somewhat off. This was something Joey Wheeler felt when he practiced using 【The Claw of Hermos】 with Yugi in a practice Duel before.
Joey Wheeler, who didn't have mind reading ability, didn't know exactly what Yugi was thinking, but in Duels with Dark Yugi, Joey Wheeler could feel that Dark Yugi seemed to always have a feeling of being constantly chased by something. Although he had this feeling before the Duel at Industrial Illusions, after being defeated by Hayato that time, that feeling had become increasingly strong.
Although this didn't affect the strength Yugi could usually display in Duels, Joey Wheeler knew that the higher one stood at the peak of Duel Monsters, the greater the influence of the power of the heart on Duels. No one knew when this abnormal mindset might become a hidden danger for Yugi in Duels.
It was even possible that if someone specifically used a strategy targeting the opponent's heart/mind, it could cause Yugi to underperform in a Duel and make fatal mistakes.
Therefore, Joey Wheeler was more worried about Yugi's current situation than the others. He had encountered the person named Rafael in front of the Paradius Tower before. That person was also a considerably powerful Duelist. He wondered how their Duel was going now.
Just then, Joey Wheeler heard the roaring sound of an engine, but the engine sound didn't sound like a land transportation tool such as a car or motorcycle, and the sound source seemed to be coming from the sky.
Thinking of this, Joey Wheeler looked up, and at the same time heard Marik's voice from the side, "If my Saint-level Vision of 7.1 hasn't become nearsighted from staying up late reading light novels recently, doesn't that helicopter above us have 'KC' written on it?"
Honda and Téa also looked up. Although they also saw a helicopter flying from a distance, their vision was only at the normal human level, unlike the super vision possessed by the other Duelists—after all, they didn't usually have the need to see what cards the opponent discarded across most of the Field.
"KC?" Joey Wheeler was startled. Although this term, like other abbreviations, represented many things, the first thing that came to his mind was, as expected, "Kaiba Company," or KaibaCorp.
"It must be Kaiba! That guy moves pretty fast too!" Like a special sensation between New Humans, Joey Wheeler's intuition told him that Kaiba was definitely on that incoming helicopter. Although he was still a bit weak just now, Joey Wheeler suddenly became excited at this moment. "Alright! Can't let Kaiba get there first, let's hurry up and go too!"
Saying this, he took the lead and walked up the Stairs towards the gate of Paradius Tower. Tristan, Téa, and Rex also hurriedly followed, and Rishid followed Marik walking behind.
Looking at the figure of Joey Wheeler, who suddenly started competing over something trivial like an overgrown child whenever Kaiba was mentioned, Kujaku Mai smiled slightly and was about to follow, but noticed Ishizu, who was also walking at the back, was currently fingering the 【Millennium Necklace】 hanging around her neck.
"What's wrong, Miss Ishizu?" Kujaku Mai asked, staring blankly at the 【Millennium Necklace】.
Kujaku Mai wasn't a materialistic woman who valued wealth above all else, but the 【Millennium Necklace】 was simply too big. No woman could refuse such a beautiful large piece of gold jewelry. However, on the other hand, such a large mass of gold, even if it was hollow, wouldn't be too light in weight—a truly beautiful "heavy burden."
However, the 【Millennium Necklace】 wasn't just ordinary gold; its Future Sight ability was worth the "burden." Kujaku Mai wondered, was Ishizu perhaps feeling some fatigue because she had been using the power of the 【Millennium Necklace】 continuously just now?
Hearing Kujaku Mai's concern, Ishizu just calmly shook her head, moved her hand away from the 【Millennium Necklace】, revealing the dim and dull 【Millennium Necklace】, and said, "I'm fine. It's just that since just now, the 【Millennium Necklace】 has been unable to use Future Sight."
"It's like it's being interfered with." Although she was saying bad news, a smile appeared on Ishizu's face.
And on the Rooftop, having discovered that the 【Seal of Orichalcos】 had sealed the wrong soul, Rafael immediately turned around and glanced at Yugi, who was still lying motionless on the Ground.
Although he didn't know what happened, if the sealed soul was wrong, he would just seal it again. Fortunately, he hadn't left and had checked it, otherwise, wouldn't the Nameless Pharaoh have gotten lucky and saved his life?
As for Yugi being unconscious now and unable to duel Rafael again consciously, that was irrelevant.
The instant a human admits his defeat, their soul energy will be infinitely close to 0. The collection of tough souls by things like the 【Seal of Orichalcos】 and Dark Game is achieved based on this point. Rafael had already defeated Yugi once; sealing Yugi's soul while he was unconscious was the same.
Casually throwing the 【Seal of Orichalcos】 card, which had sealed the soul of some unknown minor character, onto the Ground—after all, a 【Seal of Orichalcos】 that has already sealed a soul cannot be used a second time—Rafael took out a spare blank 【Seal of Orichalcos】 card and walked towards Yugi.
Kaiba, who was arriving at the Rooftop by helicopter, also immediately saw Rafael, dressed in black and quite conspicuous on the white Ground, and his action. Quickly calculating in his mind, Kaiba, sitting in the driver's seat, actually unbuckled his seatbelt and pushed open the door, much to Keipei's terrified gaze in the passenger seat?
"Bro- Brother!?!?"
"Hold the control stick tight, Keipei." Letting go of the control stick, which Keipei frantically took over, Kaiba, not worried at all about whether Keipei could fly a helicopter, was wearing his Duel Disk and actually jumped out of the helicopter!
Due to inertia, Kaiba, who jumped out of the helicopter, cut an arc through the air. Accompanied by a "bang," Kaiba just barely landed on the edge of the Rooftop, rolled to absorb the impact and stood up, then fiercely threw a card towards Rafael!
"Get out of my way, Doma lackey!"
Although he spoke, Kaiba threw the card before shouting, which was no different from a sneak attack. Although Rafael heard the sound of Kaiba landing, he was just a powerful Duelist, not some martial artist, and couldn't react to Kaiba's sneak attack at all. When he turned his head to look towards Kaiba, he could only watch as a 【Goddess of the Reverse】 card flew towards him.
As Kaiba Seto's designated card for card throwing, 【Goddess of the Reverse】 had never been used by Kaiba for dueling in its life, but it had cut through iron chains, severed steel wires, cut through human flesh, and even blocked a handgun about to be fired. However, although Rafael was surprised by the sudden appearance of Kaiba, he wasn't worried about suffering any damage.
He wasn't standing here alone; 【Guardian Eatos】 was ready to act and block that flying card.
But just before 【Guardian Eatos】 acted, a small yellow monster was thrown onto the flight path of 【Goddess of the Reverse】 and precisely "caught" that card.
"Ugh ga!" The yellow monster that appeared unaccountably—【Ojama Yellow】—cried out in pain, clutching the card, and fell beside Rafael, while a pleased voice came from the side: "Well now, I threw it quite accurately."
Rafael turned his head to look, looking confusedly at the person who had suddenly appeared here. "Hayato Kobayashi? When did you appear here?"
Remotely returning 【Ojama Yellow】 to the card, Hayato casually spread his hands and said with a smile, "I took the Stairs."
Holding the 【Ojama Yellow】 card in his hand, which was constantly complaining about being sold out again, Hayato looked at the 【Seal of Orichalcos】 card that Rafael had thrown on the Ground.
It seems Yugi did bring the 【Gaia the Fierce Knight】 card into his Deck. Hayato thought to himself.
The 【Seal of Orichalcos】 was as mechanical as a low-level program with only a counting function when collecting souls; any single soul could satisfy the requirement for sealing. Knowing this, Hayato had specifically left the 【Gaia the Fierce Knight】 card, which had sealed a useless soul, in Conflict Town to be picked up by Yugi, precisely to prevent the situation in the original work where Yugi was sealed.
As for where that useless soul came from, actually, after getting the 【Uria, Lord of Searing Flames】 card after the KC Cup, Hayato found a way to remove the special influence left by Bakura on that card, affecting Yugi. The specific method of removal was to take out all the cards in his hand that had awakened spirits and have a "one-on-one fight."
【Uria】 had a lot of backbone. Its mouth was like it was being held by 【Obelisk the Tormentor】; it didn't let out a scream until it was electrocuted by 【Slifer the Sky Dragon】 and spat it out. And after 【Uria, Lord of Searing Flames】 spat out all the souls it had swallowed before, the card also returned to normal.
What Hayato didn't expect was that influence actually came from the obsession with Yugi of a Duelist who once died from 【Uria, Lord of Searing Flames】.
That is, the "former Japan National Champion," "Insect Expert," "Kid with Glasses," "Earliest Provider of 'Candle in the Wind Kill'," "Ai Killer," "Insect Bastard," Weevil, who joined the Rare Hunters Organization during Battle City, carried the 【Uria, Lord of Searing Flames】 card, foolishly sought "Revenge" against Yugi, but was killed by 【Uria, Lord of Searing Flames】 because of his defeat.
To be honest, at that time, Hayato had the idea of simply letting 【Uria】 swallow Weevil's soul again, but it seemed to have been scared by 【Slifer the Sky Dragon】. After 【Uria, Lord of Searing Flames】 returned to normal, it refused to come out of the card no matter what. Hayato simply used Weevil's soul as an experiment and accidentally learned the soul storage technique.
Although it sounds simple, Hayato can guarantee that if you have experience performing soul surgery on people, a group of card spirits that cooperate very well and also have great power, and at the same time, don't feel any regret about whether the experimental soul would be damaged, anyone can learn it after trying seven or eight times.
And with the assistance of 【Aleister the Invoker】, Hayato even set his sights on the "Orichalcos God."
However, the plan targeting the "Orichalcos God" still needs some time to complete. Compared to that, Hayato is more interested in the serious-faced Kaiba before him right now.
"To jump out of a helicopter, that's just like you, Seto." Stepping past Rafael, Hayato walked towards Kaiba, as if to block Kaiba who was interfering with his sealing of Yugi's soul. "However, your carefree days should be coming to an end. Give me 【The Fang of Critias】."
"If you want it, you should come and get it yourself. You know the Duelist's rule." Looking at Hayato standing opposite him, Kaiba didn't show an expression of not wanting to fight like Yugi and Joey Wheeler. He just calmly raised the Duel Disk on his wrist.
Hayato, who originally didn't think that Kaiba would hand over the card just because he said so, also smiled indifferently. "I knew you'd say that."
Watching Hayato also raise his Duel Disk and activate it, Kaiba didn't know what he was thinking, and said, "How many times have we dueled?"
"I don't know. Anyway, in my memories, every time I went to KaibaCorp to find you, you would always duel me," Hayato recalled, like friends chatting. "But I won more times."
"Where did you learn your math? It was clearly a draw!" Kaiba corrected him quite seriously. "And you, you always aren't serious in informal duels and use me as a test subject for all sorts of strange Decks."
"But you seemed to enjoy dueling too," Hayato smiled. "It really has been a long time."
Drawing a card and holding it between his fingertips, the figure of a giant blue fiend gradually appeared behind Hayato.
The card he drew was 【Raviel, Lord of Phantasms】.
"Although recalling the past is also quite interesting, everything has an end, even us. It's about time to..."
"...end everything." Kaiba looked at the extremely unscientific materialization of the card spirit that appeared behind Hayato. Rarely, he didn't rant, but instead took a deep breath and reached out towards Rafael's direction.
Rafael looked at Kaiba reaching out with some confusion. He didn't understand what Kaiba was doing reaching out to him when he hadn't interrupted their conversation.
However, accompanied by a "ding," Rafael heard the sound of the Elevator door opening behind him and realized that Kaiba wasn't reaching out to him.
Decisively, Rafael turned sideways and then saw a strange sight of the White-Haired One being dragged by a golden short staff flying towards Kaiba.
Seeing the Elevator stopped at the top floor, Marik, who had just ridden the Elevator to the Rooftop with everyone, was originally still confused why the 【Millennium Rod】 tucked at his waist suddenly started glowing and vibrating. After the Elevator arrived at the Rooftop and the door opened, when he saw Kaiba reaching out towards him, he recalled his past experience.
The Battle City Quarterfinals, when Bakura Ryo planned to use the 【Millennium Eye】 to control Kaiba Seto—Marik hasn't forgotten that experience to this day!
"WDNMD! Again!?" Only having time to say that much, Marik was dragged by the 【Millennium Rod】 and flew out of the Elevator Room, flying towards Kaiba.
End of Chapter
