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**Chapter 816: The Arrivals Mean Trouble**
The sun rose as usual, shining upon Egypt.
On the Sentry Post of the Royal City City Wall, the Soldiers who hadn't been relieved from the night shift yawned. Although Ancient Egyptian people generally slept late, sleeping late and not sleeping all night were two different things. Even for them, the Soldiers, feeling tired was unavoidable.
However, what was most bothersome wasn't that there were still about two hours until the shift change, but that starting today, it seemed to be their turn for Lord Seto's "training" tasks.
This feeling was truly bad. Just thinking about having to kill Innocent People was unbearable, but they also didn't want to be executed for disobeying Seto's Order. Thinking of this, some Soldiers even envied the clever Kid from yesterday who disobeyed the military Order and became a Deserter early on.
But just then, some sharp-eyed Soldiers noticed that in the Desert far away, a unit of Troops seemed to be marching towards the Royal City. Some with particularly good eyesight even noticed that at the very front of the Troops, the person leading the Troops was Priest Isis.
"Is that, Priestess Isis? Has she returned after completing the Pharaoh's Quests?" one of the Soldiers said, somewhat confused. "And, why don't I see Lord Karim?"
"But if the Priests are starting to return, does that mean the Pharaoh will also be back soon to deal with Seto?"
"The Pharaoh? Forget it. By the time the Pharaoh and the other Priests return, our country will already be ruined by that bastard Seto," some Soldiers were pessimistic about the situation, despite hating Seto immensely. "And that Seto, he's practically as strong as Apophis now."
In Egyptian Mythology, Apophis is the incarnation of Destruction, Chaos, and Darkness, a pure Wicked God whose goal is to overthrow his twin Brothers, Ra, and drag the World into eternal Darkness, bringing Destruction.
For Seto to be regarded as a Wicked God like Apophis in just one day shows how terrible his reputation is now.
The Soldiers couldn't help but turn their heads to look at their Captain, awaiting his instructions.
As City Defense Soldiers, their duty was to first report the message of the Troops led by Isis approaching the Royal City to their superiors. This action would result in Priest Isis's arrival also becoming known to Seto. If Priest Isis and Seto were opposed to each other, then Priest Isis's movements would be exposed.
Conversely, if the Soldiers on duty didn't report the arrival of Priest Isis and her Troops to Seto immediately, the situation would become one where Priest Isis could act first, knowing the situation within the Royal City, while Seto would be completely unaware of Isis's arrival.
In other words, the decision of these City Defense Soldiers could directly determine which side would gain the First Turn Advantage. This slight advantage might not be important, but it could also be put to use at a decisive moment.
"Logically, I hate that cruel Seto just as much as you do, and I thought about perhaps concealing Priest Isis's arrival," the City Defense Captain said after a brief consideration. "However, no one can guarantee that Priest Isis can defeat that Seto with the help of us little people. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been the Strongest Priest under Lord Mahad before."
"If she wins, it's fine, but if Priest Isis fails, those of us who helped them will likely not escape death."
Sighing, looking at Isis's Army gradually approaching, the Captain waved his hand: "Don't seek merit, just avoid blame. Go notify the Important Figure above about the arrival of Priest Isis."
Before long, Isis, leading her Army, had already approached the edge of the Royal City. At the front of the Troops, Kaiba frowned, looking at the heavily guarded Soldiers on the City Wall: "Looks like it's a bit different from your judgment, Isis. The Soldiers in the City don't have the courage to resist that Seto."
"Hmph, are they afraid?"
Isis looked up at the Soldiers on the City Wall and shook her head: "They are indeed afraid of Seto, but there's also wrath in that fear."
"Presumably, upon seeing our arrival, they were also struggling with their decision. But after all, they'll help whoever wins."
As she was speaking, the City Gate slowly opened.
Since Seto announced his rule over the Royal City yesterday, he had implemented closed management, forbidding anyone from entering or leaving. This meant that the People in the City, no matter how much fear they felt, could only hide and couldn't leave the City. At the same time, no one could convey the message of Seto's usurpation to other cities.
It wasn't that Seto was worried about whether other cities would also rebel upon knowing that Seto, a Priest, had usurped the Throne. The main reason was that Seto wanted to keep them to test the strength of the Army he had trained.
However, Seto hadn't planned on using the Army, which had only been "trained" for a single day, to deal with Isis. As the City Gate slowly opened, Kaiba and Isis expected to face an attack from Seto, especially since he had already been informed of their arrival.
But unexpectedly, even though Soldiers were stationed on the City Wall, behind the open City Gate was completely empty, with no ambush at all. The only person present was a trembling ordinary Soldier.
"P-Priestess Isis, Pharaoh Seto invites you to the Royal Palace," the Soldier said, lowering his head, then stepped aside to indicate that he had no intention of being an enemy to Isis and the others, but was merely following Seto's arrangement to guide them.
However, it sounded somewhat strange. It wasn't their first time coming to the Royal City; they were all familiar with how to get to the Royal Palace. Why would they need someone to guide them? And had he already begun to refer to himself as Pharaoh and force others to call him Pharaoh?
Isis frowned and muttered to herself, "The arrivals mean trouble."
Kaiba glanced at her and said, "You're the arrival."
Following the guiding Soldier, Isis entered the City, but saw a Royal City completely different from what she had seen when she left.
The Commercial District, which was usually bustling with small businesses setting up stalls early in the morning, had disappeared. The wide street was empty, and there wasn't a single figure in the houses on both sides of the road. All the people in the City seemed to have vanished, as if afraid of being targeted.
After passing through the main road used for trade and transit, they reached the Plaza usually used for entertainment. Like the street before, there wasn't a single figure here either. Moreover, on the Plaza Stage, which should have been filled with joyful singing and laughter, there was blood spilled on the ground that hadn't been cleaned up.
The closer they got to the direction of the Royal Palace, the more shocking the scenes along the way became for Kaiba and Isis. They found it increasingly difficult to restrain the wrath in their hearts and were eager to find trouble with Seto.
And right in front of the Royal Palace, on the Plaza where Dark Yugi had met his subjects during his ascension, they saw Seto sitting on the Throne.
"It's truly unexpected that only the two of you came here," Seto said calmly, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Kaiba and Isis appearing at the end of the Plaza, sitting on the Throne. "The Pharaoh isn't with you, and the invincible Hayato Kobayashi has also fallen. What gave you the courage to come before me?"
Isis's brows furrowed. Although due to physical reasons, she couldn't use Duel Arena, 【Millennium Necklace】 and other related items recently, she still had the perception ability for Dark Magic Power that she possessed as the Priest of the 【Millennium Necklace】 before. She could tell at one glance that Seto seemed to have become stronger compared to when he turned traitor before, just like the Pharaoh and the others had speculated, had he obtained power from the Millennium Stone Tablet?
"The situation is a bit bad. Seto seems to have become stronger. Is it as the Pharaoh and the others speculated before, that he obtained power from the Millennium Stone Tablet?" Isis glanced at Kaiba beside her. "If we escape now, perhaps we still—"
"Are you trying to say we can't win? That kind of thing, I don't know."
The Soldiers who were originally arranged on the Plaza for "training" were dispersed by Seto, clearing the Field around the Plaza. When Kaiba heard Isis's words, he interrupted her with a cold laugh and walked towards Seto on his own.
As he walked, he said, "I, Kaiba Seto, will spend money to buy the cards I want, trip up those I can't stand using my authority, and can extravagantly rent out the use of Domino City just to duel to my heart's content."
"But even if I am like this, I still know what true evil is!"
"Hayato Kobayashi mentioned that this guy Seto is my Past Life? That absurd talk of soul reincarnation makes me laugh. Today, I've seen even further how ridiculous such words are." Pointing a finger at Seto, who was sitting high on the Throne, Kaiba stepped forward with a fierce aura. "You, there's absolutely no possibility that you could be me!"
"Kaiba!" Although Isis was also filled with wrath towards Seto because of everything she had seen today, she could still restrain herself with sanity. Taking action against Seto was a certainty, but before that, she wanted to at least confirm what Seto's goal was in not attacking them, so that acting after planning would have a greater success rate.
But Kaiba just walked up, driven by wrath. Seeing this, even if she had no combat power, Isis subconsciously felt that she couldn't just watch.
However, Kaiba turned back and glanced at Isis, shaking his head to signal her not to follow. It didn't matter if he died; in his opinion, his current self was in a so-called "Quantum Entanglement State" anyway, and even if he was beaten to death, he would at most just return to the Real World. But Hayato, who was still unconscious, was still with Isis's Troops.
He had to vent the wrath in his heart towards Seto, but Isis had to stay and protect Hayato.
And looking at Kaiba approaching him, Seto also stood up from the Throne and walked down the Stairs step by step: "Hmph, you think I'm evil? But I believe there's no one more loving than me."
"Weaklings without power will only suffer pain living in the World. Strong Players, even Stronger Players, can step on them as they please. It's too painful, too pitiful. And I am kind-hearted; I cannot bear to see others suffer. I might as well help them end this ordeal early, using them to help others become stronger and create a World of Strong Players."
"Those Weaklings you grieve for should feel honor and satisfaction for being able to offer their life and provide power for a Strong Player like me."
Seto's words further enraged Kaiba. He glared at Seto walking down from the Throne, his fists clenched tightly, his fingernails almost digging into his flesh: "How can you say such things, you Demon! What do you truly consider life to be!"
The distance between Seto, who had already walked down from the Throne, and Kaiba, who had reached the front of the Throne, had closed to ten meters. Looking at the extremely angry Kaiba, Seto said with a cold laugh: "Are you talking about the massacre I ordered? This is merely a necessary sacrifice for power, and I usually call it 'training'."
"If you really want to know what I see it as, it's probably entertainment."
"Yaro!"
Provoked repeatedly, Kaiba suddenly swung a punch forward. Kaiba was angry!
Since just now, accompanying Kaiba's advance, faint white smoke had been rising around him. At first glance, one might think this was steam caused by the temperature being higher than the surroundings, but as Kaiba was repeatedly stimulated by Seto, the density of the white smoke increased, almost forming a substance.
And accompanying Kaiba's punch as his wrath reached its peak, the white smoke completely covered his swung fist and even his entire arm, transforming into an armguard. Along with this, the rest of Kaiba's body was also covered by the white smoke. His original cloth clothes were replaced by a bodysuit that clung to Kaiba's body, revealing his muscle shape. The white cape remained unchanged as always, and Kaiba's short hair suddenly grew long and turned red.
And the most conspicuous thing was that his head was covered by a white helmet with an appearance resembling Blue-Eyes White Dragon!
"The one who will punish you is my transformation!"
Kaiba roared. No, the person before them was clearly "Kaibaman," who had mysteriously appeared more than once as an ally for Dark Yugi and his party!
It was just that, because Dark Yugi and Hayato had already suspected the relationship between Kaiba and Kaibaman, even if Kaiba transformed into Kaibaman in front of her and so many Soldiers, Isis felt that no one would be surprised—
"H-He appeared, it's Ally of Justice - Kaibaman!" "He's here to help us again!" "I'm really curious, who Kaibaman's identity really is?"
In the Troops behind Isis, several Soldiers who had seen Dark Yugi and their battle said excitedly.
However, the commotion behind him didn't influence Kaiba in the slightest. According to his predicted position, he slammed his fist fiercely into the position of Seto's face, who for some reason didn't summon a monster and dared to approach him. After kicking up dust, Kaiba didn't stop. He forcefully pressed Seto's head down with one hand, dragging him on the ground, and slammed him hard into the Stairs in front of the Throne that Seto had just walked down!
"Boom!"
A violent impact came, and countless spiderweb-like cracks were smashed into the golden Stairs, which then collapsed with a roar. And although he wasn't sure if the physical quality of an Ancient Person reached the skill level of a Commoner like Joey Wheeler , he had already smashed such a large stone with Seto's head. He thought there was no doubt he was dead.
Just as Kaiba was thinking this, an arm suddenly reached out from the smoke beneath him and casually rested on his shoulder, and then a fist grew larger and larger in his line of sight!
"Bang!"
Kaiba was sent flying by this sudden punch. He rolled twice on the ground before stopping, looking with astonishment at the smoke where Seto was. From within, Seto, wearing the same bodysuit and trench coat as Kaiba, and even with a helmet eerily identical to his own on his body, stood up completely unharmed: "How is that possible!?"
"Ah~ power is surging~" Raising his hand to touch his body, feeling the longed-for power flowing within his body, Seto naturally extended his hand and pointed at Kaiba, "Power, I need more power!"
(End of Chapter)
The sun rose as usual, shining upon Egypt.
On the Sentry Post of the Royal City City Wall, the Soldiers who hadn't been relieved from the night shift yawned. Although Ancient Egyptian people generally slept late, sleeping late and not sleeping all night were two different things. Even for them, the Soldiers, feeling tired was unavoidable.
However, what was most bothersome wasn't that there were still about two hours until the shift change, but that starting today, it seemed to be their turn for Lord Seto's "training" tasks.
This feeling was truly bad. Just thinking about having to kill Innocent People was unbearable, but they also didn't want to be executed for disobeying Seto's Order. Thinking of this, some Soldiers even envied the clever Kid from yesterday who disobeyed the military Order and became a Deserter early on.
But just then, some sharp-eyed Soldiers noticed that in the Desert far away, a unit of Troops seemed to be marching towards the Royal City. Some with particularly good eyesight even noticed that at the very front of the Troops, the person leading the Troops was Priest Isis.
"Is that, Priestess Isis? Has she returned after completing the Pharaoh's Quests?" one of the Soldiers said, somewhat confused. "And, why don't I see Lord Karim?"
"But if the Priests are starting to return, does that mean the Pharaoh will also be back soon to deal with Seto?"
"The Pharaoh? Forget it. By the time the Pharaoh and the other Priests return, our country will already be ruined by that bastard Seto," some Soldiers were pessimistic about the situation, despite hating Seto immensely. "And that Seto, he's practically as strong as Apophis now."
In Egyptian Mythology, Apophis is the incarnation of Destruction, Chaos, and Darkness, a pure Wicked God whose goal is to overthrow his twin Brothers, Ra, and drag the World into eternal Darkness, bringing Destruction.
For Seto to be regarded as a Wicked God like Apophis in just one day shows how terrible his reputation is now.
The Soldiers couldn't help but turn their heads to look at their Captain, awaiting his instructions.
As City Defense Soldiers, their duty was to first report the message of the Troops led by Isis approaching the Royal City to their superiors. This action would result in Priest Isis's arrival also becoming known to Seto. If Priest Isis and Seto were opposed to each other, then Priest Isis's movements would be exposed.
Conversely, if the Soldiers on duty didn't report the arrival of Priest Isis and her Troops to Seto immediately, the situation would become one where Priest Isis could act first, knowing the situation within the Royal City, while Seto would be completely unaware of Isis's arrival.
In other words, the decision of these City Defense Soldiers could directly determine which side would gain the First Turn Advantage. This slight advantage might not be important, but it could also be put to use at a decisive moment.
"Logically, I hate that cruel Seto just as much as you do, and I thought about perhaps concealing Priest Isis's arrival," the City Defense Captain said after a brief consideration. "However, no one can guarantee that Priest Isis can defeat that Seto with the help of us little people. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been the Strongest Priest under Lord Mahad before."
"If she wins, it's fine, but if Priest Isis fails, those of us who helped them will likely not escape death."
Sighing, looking at Isis's Army gradually approaching, the Captain waved his hand: "Don't seek merit, just avoid blame. Go notify the Important Figure above about the arrival of Priest Isis."
Before long, Isis, leading her Army, had already approached the edge of the Royal City. At the front of the Troops, Kaiba frowned, looking at the heavily guarded Soldiers on the City Wall: "Looks like it's a bit different from your judgment, Isis. The Soldiers in the City don't have the courage to resist that Seto."
"Hmph, are they afraid?"
Isis looked up at the Soldiers on the City Wall and shook her head: "They are indeed afraid of Seto, but there's also wrath in that fear."
"Presumably, upon seeing our arrival, they were also struggling with their decision. But after all, they'll help whoever wins."
As she was speaking, the City Gate slowly opened.
Since Seto announced his rule over the Royal City yesterday, he had implemented closed management, forbidding anyone from entering or leaving. This meant that the People in the City, no matter how much fear they felt, could only hide and couldn't leave the City. At the same time, no one could convey the message of Seto's usurpation to other cities.
It wasn't that Seto was worried about whether other cities would also rebel upon knowing that Seto, a Priest, had usurped the Throne. The main reason was that Seto wanted to keep them to test the strength of the Army he had trained.
However, Seto hadn't planned on using the Army, which had only been "trained" for a single day, to deal with Isis. As the City Gate slowly opened, Kaiba and Isis expected to face an attack from Seto, especially since he had already been informed of their arrival.
But unexpectedly, even though Soldiers were stationed on the City Wall, behind the open City Gate was completely empty, with no ambush at all. The only person present was a trembling ordinary Soldier.
"P-Priestess Isis, Pharaoh Seto invites you to the Royal Palace," the Soldier said, lowering his head, then stepped aside to indicate that he had no intention of being an enemy to Isis and the others, but was merely following Seto's arrangement to guide them.
However, it sounded somewhat strange. It wasn't their first time coming to the Royal City; they were all familiar with how to get to the Royal Palace. Why would they need someone to guide them? And had he already begun to refer to himself as Pharaoh and force others to call him Pharaoh?
Isis frowned and muttered to herself, "The arrivals mean trouble."
Kaiba glanced at her and said, "You're the arrival."
Following the guiding Soldier, Isis entered the City, but saw a Royal City completely different from what she had seen when she left.
The Commercial District, which was usually bustling with small businesses setting up stalls early in the morning, had disappeared. The wide street was empty, and there wasn't a single figure in the houses on both sides of the road. All the people in the City seemed to have vanished, as if afraid of being targeted.
After passing through the main road used for trade and transit, they reached the Plaza usually used for entertainment. Like the street before, there wasn't a single figure here either. Moreover, on the Plaza Stage, which should have been filled with joyful singing and laughter, there was blood spilled on the ground that hadn't been cleaned up.
The closer they got to the direction of the Royal Palace, the more shocking the scenes along the way became for Kaiba and Isis. They found it increasingly difficult to restrain the wrath in their hearts and were eager to find trouble with Seto.
And right in front of the Royal Palace, on the Plaza where Dark Yugi had met his subjects during his ascension, they saw Seto sitting on the Throne.
"It's truly unexpected that only the two of you came here," Seto said calmly, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Kaiba and Isis appearing at the end of the Plaza, sitting on the Throne. "The Pharaoh isn't with you, and the invincible Hayato Kobayashi has also fallen. What gave you the courage to come before me?"
Isis's brows furrowed. Although due to physical reasons, she couldn't use Duel Arena, 【Millennium Necklace】 and other related items recently, she still had the perception ability for Dark Magic Power that she possessed as the Priest of the 【Millennium Necklace】 before. She could tell at one glance that Seto seemed to have become stronger compared to when he turned traitor before, just like the Pharaoh and the others had speculated, had he obtained power from the Millennium Stone Tablet?
"The situation is a bit bad. Seto seems to have become stronger. Is it as the Pharaoh and the others speculated before, that he obtained power from the Millennium Stone Tablet?" Isis glanced at Kaiba beside her. "If we escape now, perhaps we still—"
"Are you trying to say we can't win? That kind of thing, I don't know."
The Soldiers who were originally arranged on the Plaza for "training" were dispersed by Seto, clearing the Field around the Plaza. When Kaiba heard Isis's words, he interrupted her with a cold laugh and walked towards Seto on his own.
As he walked, he said, "I, Kaiba Seto, will spend money to buy the cards I want, trip up those I can't stand using my authority, and can extravagantly rent out the use of Domino City just to duel to my heart's content."
"But even if I am like this, I still know what true evil is!"
"Hayato Kobayashi mentioned that this guy Seto is my Past Life? That absurd talk of soul reincarnation makes me laugh. Today, I've seen even further how ridiculous such words are." Pointing a finger at Seto, who was sitting high on the Throne, Kaiba stepped forward with a fierce aura. "You, there's absolutely no possibility that you could be me!"
"Kaiba!" Although Isis was also filled with wrath towards Seto because of everything she had seen today, she could still restrain herself with sanity. Taking action against Seto was a certainty, but before that, she wanted to at least confirm what Seto's goal was in not attacking them, so that acting after planning would have a greater success rate.
But Kaiba just walked up, driven by wrath. Seeing this, even if she had no combat power, Isis subconsciously felt that she couldn't just watch.
However, Kaiba turned back and glanced at Isis, shaking his head to signal her not to follow. It didn't matter if he died; in his opinion, his current self was in a so-called "Quantum Entanglement State" anyway, and even if he was beaten to death, he would at most just return to the Real World. But Hayato, who was still unconscious, was still with Isis's Troops.
He had to vent the wrath in his heart towards Seto, but Isis had to stay and protect Hayato.
And looking at Kaiba approaching him, Seto also stood up from the Throne and walked down the Stairs step by step: "Hmph, you think I'm evil? But I believe there's no one more loving than me."
"Weaklings without power will only suffer pain living in the World. Strong Players, even Stronger Players, can step on them as they please. It's too painful, too pitiful. And I am kind-hearted; I cannot bear to see others suffer. I might as well help them end this ordeal early, using them to help others become stronger and create a World of Strong Players."
"Those Weaklings you grieve for should feel honor and satisfaction for being able to offer their life and provide power for a Strong Player like me."
Seto's words further enraged Kaiba. He glared at Seto walking down from the Throne, his fists clenched tightly, his fingernails almost digging into his flesh: "How can you say such things, you Demon! What do you truly consider life to be!"
The distance between Seto, who had already walked down from the Throne, and Kaiba, who had reached the front of the Throne, had closed to ten meters. Looking at the extremely angry Kaiba, Seto said with a cold laugh: "Are you talking about the massacre I ordered? This is merely a necessary sacrifice for power, and I usually call it 'training'."
"If you really want to know what I see it as, it's probably entertainment."
"Yaro!"
Provoked repeatedly, Kaiba suddenly swung a punch forward. Kaiba was angry!
Since just now, accompanying Kaiba's advance, faint white smoke had been rising around him. At first glance, one might think this was steam caused by the temperature being higher than the surroundings, but as Kaiba was repeatedly stimulated by Seto, the density of the white smoke increased, almost forming a substance.
And accompanying Kaiba's punch as his wrath reached its peak, the white smoke completely covered his swung fist and even his entire arm, transforming into an armguard. Along with this, the rest of Kaiba's body was also covered by the white smoke. His original cloth clothes were replaced by a bodysuit that clung to Kaiba's body, revealing his muscle shape. The white cape remained unchanged as always, and Kaiba's short hair suddenly grew long and turned red.
And the most conspicuous thing was that his head was covered by a white helmet with an appearance resembling Blue-Eyes White Dragon!
"The one who will punish you is my transformation!"
Kaiba roared. No, the person before them was clearly "Kaibaman," who had mysteriously appeared more than once as an ally for Dark Yugi and his party!
It was just that, because Dark Yugi and Hayato had already suspected the relationship between Kaiba and Kaibaman, even if Kaiba transformed into Kaibaman in front of her and so many Soldiers, Isis felt that no one would be surprised—
"H-He appeared, it's Ally of Justice - Kaibaman!" "He's here to help us again!" "I'm really curious, who Kaibaman's identity really is?"
In the Troops behind Isis, several Soldiers who had seen Dark Yugi and their battle said excitedly.
However, the commotion behind him didn't influence Kaiba in the slightest. According to his predicted position, he slammed his fist fiercely into the position of Seto's face, who for some reason didn't summon a monster and dared to approach him. After kicking up dust, Kaiba didn't stop. He forcefully pressed Seto's head down with one hand, dragging him on the ground, and slammed him hard into the Stairs in front of the Throne that Seto had just walked down!
"Boom!"
A violent impact came, and countless spiderweb-like cracks were smashed into the golden Stairs, which then collapsed with a roar. And although he wasn't sure if the physical quality of an Ancient Person reached the skill level of a Commoner like Joey Wheeler , he had already smashed such a large stone with Seto's head. He thought there was no doubt he was dead.
Just as Kaiba was thinking this, an arm suddenly reached out from the smoke beneath him and casually rested on his shoulder, and then a fist grew larger and larger in his line of sight!
"Bang!"
Kaiba was sent flying by this sudden punch. He rolled twice on the ground before stopping, looking with astonishment at the smoke where Seto was. From within, Seto, wearing the same bodysuit and trench coat as Kaiba, and even with a helmet eerily identical to his own on his body, stood up completely unharmed: "How is that possible!?"
"Ah~ power is surging~" Raising his hand to touch his body, feeling the longed-for power flowing within his body, Seto naturally extended his hand and pointed at Kaiba, "Power, I need more power!"
(End of Chapter)
