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Chapter 635: Kaiba.gif
Rafael and Alister didn't know what happened in the Temple after they left; they simply walked towards the outside in silence.
Rafael walked ahead, while Alister walked behind.
"Speaking of which, Alister, I thought you were dead before," Rafael broke the silence, saying as he walked, "After all, you used a bomber to bomb Duel Kingdom Island, but neither you nor Seto Kaiba died."
After saying this, based on Alister's obsession with revenge against Seto Kaiba that Rafael knew about, he expected Alister to be annoyed about not killing Seto Kaiba and completing his revenge, or even lash out defensively at him for bringing it up.
But hearing Rafael's words, Alister merely smiled it off and said nothing. This made Rafael a little curious. He couldn't help but stop and look back at Alister, watching him walk past him.
Alister, being stared at by Rafael, asked in a confused tone, "What's wrong?"
"No, nothing. I just feel like you're a little different," Rafael couldn't tell if anything was wrong with Alister. He shook his head and walked ahead again.
Alister glanced at Rafael's back and replied casually, "Perhaps it's because I realized that one cannot move towards the future by merely dwelling in the past. It's somewhat ironic, considering I dueled him with the idea of mutual destruction with Seto Kaiba, but it was precisely him who taught me this."
'Moving towards the future...' Rafael's steps paused slightly, but his forward momentum didn't hesitate at all.
If it were just losing his family, it would certainly make Rafael heartbroken, but the reason he insisted on realizing the new world Lord Dartz spoke of now was because of everything he saw after returning from the shipwreck back then.
There is a darkness in the human heart that cannot be eradicated. Without removing this darkness and without the resolve to sacrifice everything for it, humans cannot embrace happiness. Rafael had never seen anyone who could defeat the darkness in their heart. Such humans, even if they moved towards the future, would only fall into darkness and ruin.
Although he didn't agree with Alister's saying, Rafael didn't refute him. Instead, he walked ahead and said, "Indeed, you've changed a lot, Alister. Is it because you escaped death once?"
Hearing Rafael's words, Alister couldn't help but think of the few cards in his Deck that had turned blank. He smiled and said, "Perhaps that's the case."
"However, although Lord Dartz said you would be the first barrier, Rafael, can I go first later? You can watch from the side for a while?" Alister said, catching up to Rafael and walking side-by-side with him, "There's something I absolutely must do."
Turning his head, Rafael met Alister's gaze. He found that Alister's eyes, which were usually shrouded in the haze of hatred, were now clear.
After a brief moment's thought, Rafael nodded. Seeing Rafael agree, Alister also showed a smile.
Although the Temple was not small, it eventually had an end. Rafael and Alister walked out of the long corridor leading from the Temple to the Altar and arrived at the Temple Entrance located high on the Mountain Peak.
Based on the time, the sky outside the Temple should have been brightened by the rising sun, but thick black clouds covered most of the sunshine, making the sky appear gloomy and somewhat dim. From a distance, Rafael and Alister saw a helicopter flying towards them.
The large KC logo on the helicopter made it seem as if they were afraid others wouldn't know it was a KaibaCorp helicopter.
Without any action, Rafael and Alister watched the helicopter approach their Temple and land in the Open Space not far in front of them.
Opening the helicopter cabin door, the first people to step out were Yugi and Kaiba. Seeing Alister and Rafael appear before the Temple Entrance, they weren't surprised. They had already come to the enemy's lair; it would have been stranger if Rafael and Alister hadn't come to meet them.
"You unexpectedly gained a life but don't know how to cherish it, and now you've come to die again, Nameless Pharaoh?" Rafael's gaze swept over Yugi and Joey Wheeler, who followed him out of the helicopter. "For Lord Dartz, the priority is to deal with Joey Wheeler, who holds the 'Legendary Dragon', but dealing with you, the Nameless Pharaoh, who no longer has the 'Legendary Dragon', won't take me too much time either."
"Rafael..." Looking at Rafael, who had previously dealt him a crushing defeat, Yugi's lowered fist tightened.
Although Yugi Mutou, for certain reasons, didn't tell him who had helped him within the Seal of Orichalcos, Dark Yugi was incredibly grateful for That Person's help, as he couldn't imagine what a nightmare it would be if he lost Aibo.
Rafael had said that he and Yugi were very similar. Although Yugi wanted to deny it, he had to admit that if he lost Aibo, he would very likely walk the old path Rafael took after losing his family and fall into darkness.
It's truly good that Aibo is still by my side now.
Thinking this, Yugi's gaze met Rafael's firmly: "This time, I won't lose! I will definitely defeat you!"
Hearing this, Rafael was about to step forward, but he saw Alister, who was standing beside him, take a few steps forward. He remembered what Alister had said to him on the way here and lowered the arm he had raised.
"I will defeat you again and seal your soul, Nameless Pharaoh, but not now," Rafael said, looking at Alister walking forward, "Before your duel and mine begins, it is Alister's battle."
Although Alister didn't explicitly say what he was going to do, Rafael subconsciously felt that he was probably going to duel Kaiba again.
And it wasn't just Rafael who thought this; Kaiba thought so too.
The helicopter landed about twenty meters away from where Rafael was standing. Alister had already walked about halfway there while Rafael was speaking and was still moving forward.
"Hmph, still stubbornly acting for Doma, idiot?" Although he was a little confused as to why Alister was walking perhaps a bit too close, Kaiba first expressed his usual contempt. However, after looking at Alister for a couple more seconds, he frowned again, "You, you seem a little different from before?"
"Hmph, but it doesn't matter. If I've defeated you once, there's no possibility of you posing a threat to me. Get out of my way, Alister, don't obstruct my path!"
Hearing Kaiba's words, Alister shook his head and said, "I can't do that, Seto Kaiba. There's a duel I absolutely must have."
Kaiba heard Alister say this and was already ready to raise his Duel Disk, but what he didn't expect was that Alister only stood firm when the distance between them was only about five meters. Then, he turned around and actually raised his Duel Disk towards Rafael!?
"Duel!"
【Alister: 4000 LP】
The sudden change left not only Yugi and Kaiba confused, but even Rafael hadn't expected Alister to suddenly challenge him to a duel.
"What are you doing, Alister?! Seto Kaiba is standing behind you, you've got the direction wrong!" He frowned, looking at the calm-faced Alister.
Alister held up his Duel Disk, his expression unchanged: "Of course I know Seto Kaiba is behind me, but Rafael, I don't remember saying that the target of my duel was him, did I?"
"You bastard!" Rafael's expression was very unpleasant, "Could it be that you've betrayed Doma?!"
"And didn't you say that your younger brother Milk was killed by KaibaCorp? How could you stand on the side of your enemy!"
Hearing Rafael say the word "enemy", Alister finally showed a smile on his face, but it was a smile that was hard to describe: "Enemy, huh? Indeed, I've been standing on my enemy's side for far too long."
Alister's sudden turning against Rafael left Yugi and the others standing behind him also confused about the situation. Joey Wheeler looked at Tristan next to him in confusion and said, "Alister should be a Doma person, right? Why did he suddenly duel Rafael?"
"I don't even know where the End of the Universe is, how could I possibly know the answer to the question?" Tristan retorted with a rant, "After all, dueling at the drop of a hat is strange in itself."
"You don't need to understand duelists' matters so clearly," Keipei interjected, looking at Alister's back with a strange expression, muttering in a low voice, "Just as I thought, Alister knows about that thing."
"That thing?" Others couldn't hear Keipei's muttering, but Rex, who was standing next to Keipei and wasn't much different in height, heard it clearly. Kaiba also noticed Keipei's expression, which seemed to be concealing something, "Are you concealing something from us, Keipei?"
Keipei hesitated slightly, then nodded and said, "Last night, wasn't I kidnapped by Alister on the helicopter? Actually, before Brother Hayato threw me off the helicopter, he stuffed something into my clothes. At first, I thought it was a hallucination, but after escaping Industrial Illusions by helicopter, I found a note."
"On the note, there was a message left by Brother Hayato, asking me to collect information about a secret plan when KaibaCorp was still the Arms Conglomerate controlled by Gozaburo, which instigated the Rebel Army to battle the Government Army in certain remote areas of Italy to test weapons."
Marik heard Keipei's words and said with some curiosity, "How do you know it was a message left by Brother-in-law? By the handwriting?"
"No, the words on the note were printed, so I couldn't tell the handwriting," Keipei said with some helplessness, "But my name is so easy to remember, only Brother Hayato would call me Takuya Kanbara. That name always gives the illusion of being skilled with FIRE Attribute Dragon Monsters."
"In short, although it was a long time ago and a plan that was considered confidential even within KaibaCorp, because Brother previously arranged for me to rebuild the network after the KaibaCorp network was breached again, I conveniently wrote a data filtering program and easily found the information about that incident, and sent it to the email address Brother Hayato left behind."
Speaking of that time, Keipei couldn't help but look at Alister ahead: "Instigating war to test weapons was undoubtedly one of the countless evil deeds committed by Gozaburo Kaiba, but more importantly, there was also an oversight in the war that was instigated. One area chosen to test the weapon of mass destruction was thought to be No Man's Land, but it was actually a village."
Alister took a deep breath and continued Keipei's words: "That village was my village. On that day, the reaper descended, I lost my family, and under Dartz's guide, I hated Gozaburo Kaiba, who had committed such unforgivable sin."
Hearing Alister say this, Rafael was even more confused: "In that case, shouldn't you be—"
"Rafael, I know what you want to say, but didn't you hear?" Alister's corner of his mouth curved up, "I was 'under Dartz's guide'. While Gozaburo Kaiba was certainly responsible for that tragedy, the fire of hatred that ignited made me dizzy, causing me to simply hate Gozaburo Kaiba and extend that hatred to Seto Kaiba."
"But I completely ignored the mastermind who used Gozaburo Kaiba and KaibaCorp as a tool."
As he spoke, Alister took out a card from his pocket and revealed it to Rafael. Rafael followed Alister's movement and saw that he was holding a The Seal of Orichalcos that had sealed the soul of an unfamiliar stranger. The only thing that could confirm the person's identity was the Standard Issue Duel Disk revealed on his raised arm as he struggled with unwillingness.
"What is that?"
"Outside World reports are ultimately not as detailed as the data stored within KaibaCorp. In the information Hayato helped me get, I learned that the person responsible for choosing the weapon testing area back then—the so-called 'scapegoat' Gozaburo Kaiba blamed afterwards—was this guy. At least before I knew his true identity, I really thought he was a 'scapegoat' and that Gozaburo Kaiba was just passing the buck."
Alister looked at the card in his hand. Although he was smiling, his expression was one of gnashing teeth, "But I didn't expect that the utterly wicked Gozaburo Kaiba was only telling the truth this one time about not passing the buck. Do you know who this guy is? From the very beginning, he was a spy arranged by Dartz to infiltrate KaibaCorp. The 'accident' of that war was never a mistake from beginning to end, but merely Dartz's 'arrangement'!"
"Furthermore, in order to keep the secret, after this spy completed the tasks of my hometown's destruction, Dartz discarded his soul like a useless card and handed it over to the Orichalcos God!" Alister sneered, "Isn't it ridiculous? I walked past the mural where the soul of the true executor who destroyed my hometown was sealed countless times, and pledged loyalty to the mastermind."
"If it weren't for Hayato Kobayashi, I might still be kept in the dark by Dartz and serving him even now!"
Looking at the excited Alister, Rafael finally confirmed that his former Companion was now truly standing on his opposite side. While he could give everything for Dartz's plan, seeing Alister at this moment, it was false to say that Rafael's heart wasn't wavering.
Taking a deep breath, Rafael made an effort to suppress his other emotions and maintain an indifferent expression: "So, you are rebelling against Lord Dartz, obstructing the descent of the new world, and standing on my opposite side to kill me, Alister?"
"So far, I have killed countless people who obstruct Lord Dartz's plan. Humans are ultimately going to welcome the new world. I will clear all obstructions for Lord Dartz, even you, Alister." Saying this, Rafael raised his Duel Disk, "Return your soul to Lord Dartz."
"Duel!"
【Rafael: 4000 LP】
Looking at Rafael who faced the challenge, Alister silently sighed in his heart.
'Kill you, Rafael? No, that's not the reason I'm dueling you here.'
'Having stood side-by-side for so many years, I know better than anyone that you are the most obsessed among the three of us. Words cannot convince you, only by dueling can I.'
'Realize it quickly, Rafael, realize Dartz's true nature!'
End of Chapter
Rafael and Alister didn't know what happened in the Temple after they left; they simply walked towards the outside in silence.
Rafael walked ahead, while Alister walked behind.
"Speaking of which, Alister, I thought you were dead before," Rafael broke the silence, saying as he walked, "After all, you used a bomber to bomb Duel Kingdom Island, but neither you nor Seto Kaiba died."
After saying this, based on Alister's obsession with revenge against Seto Kaiba that Rafael knew about, he expected Alister to be annoyed about not killing Seto Kaiba and completing his revenge, or even lash out defensively at him for bringing it up.
But hearing Rafael's words, Alister merely smiled it off and said nothing. This made Rafael a little curious. He couldn't help but stop and look back at Alister, watching him walk past him.
Alister, being stared at by Rafael, asked in a confused tone, "What's wrong?"
"No, nothing. I just feel like you're a little different," Rafael couldn't tell if anything was wrong with Alister. He shook his head and walked ahead again.
Alister glanced at Rafael's back and replied casually, "Perhaps it's because I realized that one cannot move towards the future by merely dwelling in the past. It's somewhat ironic, considering I dueled him with the idea of mutual destruction with Seto Kaiba, but it was precisely him who taught me this."
'Moving towards the future...' Rafael's steps paused slightly, but his forward momentum didn't hesitate at all.
If it were just losing his family, it would certainly make Rafael heartbroken, but the reason he insisted on realizing the new world Lord Dartz spoke of now was because of everything he saw after returning from the shipwreck back then.
There is a darkness in the human heart that cannot be eradicated. Without removing this darkness and without the resolve to sacrifice everything for it, humans cannot embrace happiness. Rafael had never seen anyone who could defeat the darkness in their heart. Such humans, even if they moved towards the future, would only fall into darkness and ruin.
Although he didn't agree with Alister's saying, Rafael didn't refute him. Instead, he walked ahead and said, "Indeed, you've changed a lot, Alister. Is it because you escaped death once?"
Hearing Rafael's words, Alister couldn't help but think of the few cards in his Deck that had turned blank. He smiled and said, "Perhaps that's the case."
"However, although Lord Dartz said you would be the first barrier, Rafael, can I go first later? You can watch from the side for a while?" Alister said, catching up to Rafael and walking side-by-side with him, "There's something I absolutely must do."
Turning his head, Rafael met Alister's gaze. He found that Alister's eyes, which were usually shrouded in the haze of hatred, were now clear.
After a brief moment's thought, Rafael nodded. Seeing Rafael agree, Alister also showed a smile.
Although the Temple was not small, it eventually had an end. Rafael and Alister walked out of the long corridor leading from the Temple to the Altar and arrived at the Temple Entrance located high on the Mountain Peak.
Based on the time, the sky outside the Temple should have been brightened by the rising sun, but thick black clouds covered most of the sunshine, making the sky appear gloomy and somewhat dim. From a distance, Rafael and Alister saw a helicopter flying towards them.
The large KC logo on the helicopter made it seem as if they were afraid others wouldn't know it was a KaibaCorp helicopter.
Without any action, Rafael and Alister watched the helicopter approach their Temple and land in the Open Space not far in front of them.
Opening the helicopter cabin door, the first people to step out were Yugi and Kaiba. Seeing Alister and Rafael appear before the Temple Entrance, they weren't surprised. They had already come to the enemy's lair; it would have been stranger if Rafael and Alister hadn't come to meet them.
"You unexpectedly gained a life but don't know how to cherish it, and now you've come to die again, Nameless Pharaoh?" Rafael's gaze swept over Yugi and Joey Wheeler, who followed him out of the helicopter. "For Lord Dartz, the priority is to deal with Joey Wheeler, who holds the 'Legendary Dragon', but dealing with you, the Nameless Pharaoh, who no longer has the 'Legendary Dragon', won't take me too much time either."
"Rafael..." Looking at Rafael, who had previously dealt him a crushing defeat, Yugi's lowered fist tightened.
Although Yugi Mutou, for certain reasons, didn't tell him who had helped him within the Seal of Orichalcos, Dark Yugi was incredibly grateful for That Person's help, as he couldn't imagine what a nightmare it would be if he lost Aibo.
Rafael had said that he and Yugi were very similar. Although Yugi wanted to deny it, he had to admit that if he lost Aibo, he would very likely walk the old path Rafael took after losing his family and fall into darkness.
It's truly good that Aibo is still by my side now.
Thinking this, Yugi's gaze met Rafael's firmly: "This time, I won't lose! I will definitely defeat you!"
Hearing this, Rafael was about to step forward, but he saw Alister, who was standing beside him, take a few steps forward. He remembered what Alister had said to him on the way here and lowered the arm he had raised.
"I will defeat you again and seal your soul, Nameless Pharaoh, but not now," Rafael said, looking at Alister walking forward, "Before your duel and mine begins, it is Alister's battle."
Although Alister didn't explicitly say what he was going to do, Rafael subconsciously felt that he was probably going to duel Kaiba again.
And it wasn't just Rafael who thought this; Kaiba thought so too.
The helicopter landed about twenty meters away from where Rafael was standing. Alister had already walked about halfway there while Rafael was speaking and was still moving forward.
"Hmph, still stubbornly acting for Doma, idiot?" Although he was a little confused as to why Alister was walking perhaps a bit too close, Kaiba first expressed his usual contempt. However, after looking at Alister for a couple more seconds, he frowned again, "You, you seem a little different from before?"
"Hmph, but it doesn't matter. If I've defeated you once, there's no possibility of you posing a threat to me. Get out of my way, Alister, don't obstruct my path!"
Hearing Kaiba's words, Alister shook his head and said, "I can't do that, Seto Kaiba. There's a duel I absolutely must have."
Kaiba heard Alister say this and was already ready to raise his Duel Disk, but what he didn't expect was that Alister only stood firm when the distance between them was only about five meters. Then, he turned around and actually raised his Duel Disk towards Rafael!?
"Duel!"
【Alister: 4000 LP】
The sudden change left not only Yugi and Kaiba confused, but even Rafael hadn't expected Alister to suddenly challenge him to a duel.
"What are you doing, Alister?! Seto Kaiba is standing behind you, you've got the direction wrong!" He frowned, looking at the calm-faced Alister.
Alister held up his Duel Disk, his expression unchanged: "Of course I know Seto Kaiba is behind me, but Rafael, I don't remember saying that the target of my duel was him, did I?"
"You bastard!" Rafael's expression was very unpleasant, "Could it be that you've betrayed Doma?!"
"And didn't you say that your younger brother Milk was killed by KaibaCorp? How could you stand on the side of your enemy!"
Hearing Rafael say the word "enemy", Alister finally showed a smile on his face, but it was a smile that was hard to describe: "Enemy, huh? Indeed, I've been standing on my enemy's side for far too long."
Alister's sudden turning against Rafael left Yugi and the others standing behind him also confused about the situation. Joey Wheeler looked at Tristan next to him in confusion and said, "Alister should be a Doma person, right? Why did he suddenly duel Rafael?"
"I don't even know where the End of the Universe is, how could I possibly know the answer to the question?" Tristan retorted with a rant, "After all, dueling at the drop of a hat is strange in itself."
"You don't need to understand duelists' matters so clearly," Keipei interjected, looking at Alister's back with a strange expression, muttering in a low voice, "Just as I thought, Alister knows about that thing."
"That thing?" Others couldn't hear Keipei's muttering, but Rex, who was standing next to Keipei and wasn't much different in height, heard it clearly. Kaiba also noticed Keipei's expression, which seemed to be concealing something, "Are you concealing something from us, Keipei?"
Keipei hesitated slightly, then nodded and said, "Last night, wasn't I kidnapped by Alister on the helicopter? Actually, before Brother Hayato threw me off the helicopter, he stuffed something into my clothes. At first, I thought it was a hallucination, but after escaping Industrial Illusions by helicopter, I found a note."
"On the note, there was a message left by Brother Hayato, asking me to collect information about a secret plan when KaibaCorp was still the Arms Conglomerate controlled by Gozaburo, which instigated the Rebel Army to battle the Government Army in certain remote areas of Italy to test weapons."
Marik heard Keipei's words and said with some curiosity, "How do you know it was a message left by Brother-in-law? By the handwriting?"
"No, the words on the note were printed, so I couldn't tell the handwriting," Keipei said with some helplessness, "But my name is so easy to remember, only Brother Hayato would call me Takuya Kanbara. That name always gives the illusion of being skilled with FIRE Attribute Dragon Monsters."
"In short, although it was a long time ago and a plan that was considered confidential even within KaibaCorp, because Brother previously arranged for me to rebuild the network after the KaibaCorp network was breached again, I conveniently wrote a data filtering program and easily found the information about that incident, and sent it to the email address Brother Hayato left behind."
Speaking of that time, Keipei couldn't help but look at Alister ahead: "Instigating war to test weapons was undoubtedly one of the countless evil deeds committed by Gozaburo Kaiba, but more importantly, there was also an oversight in the war that was instigated. One area chosen to test the weapon of mass destruction was thought to be No Man's Land, but it was actually a village."
Alister took a deep breath and continued Keipei's words: "That village was my village. On that day, the reaper descended, I lost my family, and under Dartz's guide, I hated Gozaburo Kaiba, who had committed such unforgivable sin."
Hearing Alister say this, Rafael was even more confused: "In that case, shouldn't you be—"
"Rafael, I know what you want to say, but didn't you hear?" Alister's corner of his mouth curved up, "I was 'under Dartz's guide'. While Gozaburo Kaiba was certainly responsible for that tragedy, the fire of hatred that ignited made me dizzy, causing me to simply hate Gozaburo Kaiba and extend that hatred to Seto Kaiba."
"But I completely ignored the mastermind who used Gozaburo Kaiba and KaibaCorp as a tool."
As he spoke, Alister took out a card from his pocket and revealed it to Rafael. Rafael followed Alister's movement and saw that he was holding a The Seal of Orichalcos that had sealed the soul of an unfamiliar stranger. The only thing that could confirm the person's identity was the Standard Issue Duel Disk revealed on his raised arm as he struggled with unwillingness.
"What is that?"
"Outside World reports are ultimately not as detailed as the data stored within KaibaCorp. In the information Hayato helped me get, I learned that the person responsible for choosing the weapon testing area back then—the so-called 'scapegoat' Gozaburo Kaiba blamed afterwards—was this guy. At least before I knew his true identity, I really thought he was a 'scapegoat' and that Gozaburo Kaiba was just passing the buck."
Alister looked at the card in his hand. Although he was smiling, his expression was one of gnashing teeth, "But I didn't expect that the utterly wicked Gozaburo Kaiba was only telling the truth this one time about not passing the buck. Do you know who this guy is? From the very beginning, he was a spy arranged by Dartz to infiltrate KaibaCorp. The 'accident' of that war was never a mistake from beginning to end, but merely Dartz's 'arrangement'!"
"Furthermore, in order to keep the secret, after this spy completed the tasks of my hometown's destruction, Dartz discarded his soul like a useless card and handed it over to the Orichalcos God!" Alister sneered, "Isn't it ridiculous? I walked past the mural where the soul of the true executor who destroyed my hometown was sealed countless times, and pledged loyalty to the mastermind."
"If it weren't for Hayato Kobayashi, I might still be kept in the dark by Dartz and serving him even now!"
Looking at the excited Alister, Rafael finally confirmed that his former Companion was now truly standing on his opposite side. While he could give everything for Dartz's plan, seeing Alister at this moment, it was false to say that Rafael's heart wasn't wavering.
Taking a deep breath, Rafael made an effort to suppress his other emotions and maintain an indifferent expression: "So, you are rebelling against Lord Dartz, obstructing the descent of the new world, and standing on my opposite side to kill me, Alister?"
"So far, I have killed countless people who obstruct Lord Dartz's plan. Humans are ultimately going to welcome the new world. I will clear all obstructions for Lord Dartz, even you, Alister." Saying this, Rafael raised his Duel Disk, "Return your soul to Lord Dartz."
"Duel!"
【Rafael: 4000 LP】
Looking at Rafael who faced the challenge, Alister silently sighed in his heart.
'Kill you, Rafael? No, that's not the reason I'm dueling you here.'
'Having stood side-by-side for so many years, I know better than anyone that you are the most obsessed among the three of us. Words cannot convince you, only by dueling can I.'
'Realize it quickly, Rafael, realize Dartz's true nature!'
End of Chapter
