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Chapter 873: What Are You Doing, Ow!
"Anyway, I don't have to work today. After seeing Kaiba Seto and Keipei, I followed behind them, thinking about when to appear before them and give Kaiba Seto a surprise."
Alister said, frowning. "But while tracking them, there were several times I was almost discovered by that guy Kaiba. His senses are way too sharp. Although I didn't plan on staying hidden the whole time, there's a difference between me jumping out on my own and Kaiba Seto finding me."
"So you hid in a trash can?"
"That's not the point!" Glaring at Hayato, Alister also showed a serious expression. "In short, when I saw Keipei almost fall, I thought that was the most suitable moment for me to appear, and I was already planning to walk out. But just then, Kaiba Seto suddenly disappeared, and Keipei, who had almost fallen, was standing perfectly fine in place."
"At that instant, Keipei, who perhaps couldn't yet be called a strong Duelist, might not have been able to sense it, but my keen sense of smell as a Duelist detected a very ancient scent."
"Huh? But didn't you just say you had put down Duel Monsters?"
"That's not the point!" Alister said with a frown. "The important thing is, that aura gave me a very familiar feeling, exactly like this suspicious card."
Saying that, Alister took a card out of his clothes and showed it, saying, "I'm not boasting, even without Doma's power—that 'Orichalcos Fragment'—I still have the ability to see the existence of spirits, and even 'Draw a Card's future is created by oneself'—that is, 'Card Printing'—is possible."
"But how could such a card awaken in my Meklord Army?"
The card in Alister's hand depicted an elegant female monster holding two swords, with a classic blue and white hybrid color scheme, named 【Fairy Mercury】.
Not only Alister, but the others who knew that his deck was primarily a Machine-Type Meklord deck also shared the same view. If 【Fairy Mercury】, an Aqua-Type and WATER-Attribute monster, was a card created by a spirit unexpectedly awakened by an Aqua deck User, that would be understandable. But for a Machine-Type to awaken this kind of card, it's impossible no matter how you think about it.
But an even more important point is—no matter how you look at it, this card is clearly also a "Planet" series card!
The "Planet" cards mysteriously appearing in Duelists' decks, and what Alister just said about sensing a certain aura similar to the one on 【Fairy Mercury】 appearing when Kaiba disappeared, made it hard for Hayato not to associate it with 【Tragoedia】 again.
Could it be that 【Tragoedia】 is involved behind the scenes of Kaiba's sudden disappearance? And Tenma Yexing, what kind of relationship does he have with 【Tragoedia】, and what kind of role is he playing?
Hayato had no way of knowing. Looking at the 【Fairy Mercury】 in Alister's hand, he could only say this: "This card is a 'Planet' card, belonging to the 'Planet' series. I can't explain the specific source either, but it's not the first time I've encountered cards belonging to the same series."
"As long as it hasn't been officially activated in a duel, a 'Planet' card won't have any extraordinary qualities. But once it's used, that card will emit undetectable dark energy to corrupt the User's Deck."
"Even decks that haven't reached the level of awakening a spirit will be forcibly produce card spirits under the effect of this power. But card spirits awakened in this way are definitely not pure spirits with deep bonds with the User. Spirits filled with twisted dark power are not only difficult to command, but if one is not careful, they might even turn and control the Duelist themselves."
Hayato's words sounded like he was exaggerating, but he actually wasn't exaggerating at all. Currently, Hayato has already obtained a full four "Planet" series cards and has also encountered three Duelists who put "Planet" series cards in their Decks.
Tila Muku, whom he encountered and became opponents with at the KC Cup, who used a 【Vampire】 deck but was instead controlled by the awakened 【Vampire Fraulein】 and became a servant, had 【Blazing Mars】 placed in her deck;
His father, Kobayashi Hiroyuki, who claimed to be invincible throughout London, although it was a newly drawn deck, quickly awakened the spirits of the 【Dragonmaid】 family because he put in 【Tyrant Neptune】. However, the synergy between the two was unimaginably poor; compared to Kobayashi Hiroyuki, they were closer to Hayato;
Tenma Tsukihiro, who was commanding the overall coordination work in the backstage control area because Industrial Illusions and KaibaCorp jointly held the KC Cup. Although he seemed normal, in Hayato's opinion, he was the most abnormal one. Not only was he not the "perfect Duelist" in Hayato's impression, but he also, like Pegasus, completely forgot everything related to his younger brother Tenma Yexing.
Counting them up, on the contrary, the 【Grand Saturn】 Hayato obtained from the system can be considered the one with the most normal source. Hayato was also the most normal and serious one among them. Hayato remembered the system mentioning when he obtained 【Grand Saturn】 that although this card's effect is not from the manga original work but from the real card, it is actually an ownerless card collected by the system from this world.
Among them, except for Tenma Tsukihiro, both Tila Muku and Kobayashi Hiroyuki showed signs of awakening card spirits because of their respective "Planet" cards, and the awakened spirits were, without exception, not the obedient type.
For example, Hayato discovered that recently Little Blue—that is, 【Dragonmaid Laundry Dragon】—actually started hanging out with the 【Ojama】 brothers and even learned to talk back and shift blame when her older sisters disciplined her. If this continues, she'll turn bad sooner or later.
However, considering it from another perspective, Hayato found that if the Duelist themselves has spirit power, even if they awaken a spirit that is completely detrimental to the User like 【Vampire Fraulein】, it doesn't matter. Duelists protected by spirit power will not be affected, and there is indeed a spirit present beside Alister.
Glancing towards Alister's side, Hayato saw the Phantom of 【Meklord Army of Skiel】. Although he didn't witness the duel between Alister and Rafael in front of the Doma Headquarters, clearly, 【Meklord Army of Skiel】, which was once the symbol of Alister's will for revenge, has now transformed into a symbol of protection because of his resolve and will.
Alister didn't pay attention to Hayato's line of sight. He slightly raised his hand and looked at the 【Fairy Mercury】 in his hand: "Can awaken the power of spirits, but is in a state of being corrupted by the power of darkness?"
"Something like this looks beautiful, but only idiots whose eyes are filled with nothing but revenge would accept this kind of power, although I used to be that kind of idiot."
He paused, Alister moved his finger slightly and flipped the card, extending his arm forward without hesitation. "But that's wrong. Something so similar to the 'Orichalcos Fragment' is too hot to handle. I don't want it."
While saying that, Alister looked straight at Hayato with both eyes. "Although I didn't see you take it out, since you said you've encountered it many times, given your personality, you must have already gotten quite a few of these so-called 'Planet' cards in your hand, right, Hayato Kobayashi?"
Hayato frowned upon hearing this. "Why are you baselessly slandering my innocence!?"
"Just tell me if you took this so-called 'Planet' card from someone else or not."
"...Yes."
"Hmph, then that settles it. Your temperament is still the same as before, isn't it? Just like before, even if your opponent wasn't The Bandit Keith, whom you had defeated before, you still took his deck after defeating him, didn't you?"
With a cold snort, Alister threw the card in his hand directly towards Hayato. Watching Hayato catch it, he said, "I'm confident my feeling isn't wrong. When Kaiba Seto disappeared, there was definitely an aura similar to this card's present. Feel free to use this card, which hasn't been tainted by my aura yet, to look for Kaiba Seto."
"Don't make me sound like some kind of drug-sniffing dog," Hayato muttered. Instead, he took out the 【Millennium Ring】 that had been hanging around his neck and held it in his hand. As Hayato willed it, the golden ring lit up with a soft golden radiance, spreading to the several golden cones around the disk.
"Card Exchange!" Accompanied by a line of unknown meaning, Hayato touched the 【Millennium Ring】 and 【Fairy Mercury】 together, making a motion similar to swiping a card. It seemed like this allowed the 【Millennium Ring】 to remember 【Fairy Mercury】's aura. The several cones on the golden disk suddenly moved, all floating up together and pointing in one direction.
"Although it's not the first time I've seen it, as expected, the 【Millennium Ring】 is really useful!" Looking at Hayato using the 【Millennium Ring】, seemingly having found Kaiba, Joey Wheeler exclaimed. "Sometimes it's even more useful than the 【Millennium Eye】 that can see through girls' complex thoughts."
"Indeed," Tristan casually agreed. "Just like last time when I couldn't decide what gift to give Shizuka, I also had Hayato use the 【Millennium Ring】 to find the answer."
Joey Wheeler subconsciously nodded, then suddenly realized what Tristan had just said. "Wait a minute, 'give Shizuka a gift'!? When was that, Tristan ? Why didn't I know about this?"
"Ahaha, the weather is really nice today, isn't it~"
"As expected! Last time when I borrowed your mobile phone to call Shizuka, I didn't even dial the number and it connected directly! You actually saved Shizuka's number on your mobile phone behind my back, didn't you? Alright, let me check it out!"
"Joey Wheeler, stop it! What~ are~ you~ doing~ ow!"
Watching Joey Wheeler, who was clamping Tristan's head with his arm, trying to crush Tristan's head with his biceps, Hayato didn't stop the two of them from their daily scuffle. Instead, he glanced at the time and said, "I wonder how their shopping went, Pegasus, Bakura, Yugi, and Téa. Someone needs to stay behind and tell them where we're going so they don't get lost looking for us."
"I'll go with Brother Hayato to look for Brother!" Hearing Hayato's words, Keipei immediately stated his position. And Alister on the side also said. "I also want to go and see. Maybe I can see that embarrassing sight of Kaiba Seto suffering a setback."
"Me too, me too! I've always wanted to see it, that guy Kaiba showing an embarrassing expression." Joey Wheeler also showed his Face Art and laughed.
Compared to Joey Wheeler and Alister, who both really wanted to see Kaiba's misfortune, Tristan and Marik were relatively uninterested. "In that case, Tristan and I will stay here." Holding the large bucket of popcorn Joey Wheeler hadn't finished, Marik had a face full of smiles as if he had found money.
Team assignment completed, Hayato and the others didn't linger any longer. With the idea of setting off early, finding the person early, and finishing up, they immediately advanced along the direction pointed out by the 【Millennium Ring】, arriving at the Main Street outside the Isolation Block and walking straight ahead along the Main Street.
"Alister, are you familiar with this city?" While walking, Hayato asked Alister.
He shook his head, Alister casually said, "Although I did arrive a bit earlier than you, it's only been a short time since Doma disbanded. The time I arrived earlier than you is very limited, and I'm also not very familiar with this city. I only have a slight impression of this Main Street near my workplace."
"Having an impression is enough. The 【Millennium Ring】 found the goal so quickly. This indicates that Kaiba, or rather, something related to 【Fairy Mercury】's aura, should be on this Main Street, not too far from us. Do you know if there's anything on this street that we should pay a little attention to?"
"Something worth paying attention to? I don't know what needs to be paid attention to either." Alister frowned and thought for a moment, said somewhat uncertainly, "Seems like there's a Chinese restaurant on this street called Hongzhou Banquet Hall: Mount Tai. The owner is called Ba. The Chinese cuisine she makes is hellishly spicy, enough to kill someone. And there's a Japanese restaurant called Yukihira..."
"Alright, pretend I didn't ask." Rolling his eyes at Alister, Hayato couldn't help but exclaim at the great change in the other party. Just recently, when Doma still existed, Alister's head couldn't hold anything except "I need to find a way to scheme against Kaiba Seto." Once this obsession was put down, he actually integrated into the identity of a chef so quickly!
But thinking about it carefully, it seems like when Hayato was still with Doma, even the employee meals of an organization like Doma were terribly unappetizing. Hayato and Valon always went to Alister's place for special meals and to mooch meals. Sometimes even Dartz would come.
Rafael? Rafael locked himself in his Room to maintain his cards.
This guy is unexpectedly talented in this aspect.
Thinking this, Hayato noticed that perhaps because they had approached within a certain distance, the golden light on the 【Millennium Ring】 flickered slightly. At the same time, a familiar voice suddenly came from the distance:
"First Generation! Wagatama Soul!"
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!!!"
"Anyway, I don't have to work today. After seeing Kaiba Seto and Keipei, I followed behind them, thinking about when to appear before them and give Kaiba Seto a surprise."
Alister said, frowning. "But while tracking them, there were several times I was almost discovered by that guy Kaiba. His senses are way too sharp. Although I didn't plan on staying hidden the whole time, there's a difference between me jumping out on my own and Kaiba Seto finding me."
"So you hid in a trash can?"
"That's not the point!" Glaring at Hayato, Alister also showed a serious expression. "In short, when I saw Keipei almost fall, I thought that was the most suitable moment for me to appear, and I was already planning to walk out. But just then, Kaiba Seto suddenly disappeared, and Keipei, who had almost fallen, was standing perfectly fine in place."
"At that instant, Keipei, who perhaps couldn't yet be called a strong Duelist, might not have been able to sense it, but my keen sense of smell as a Duelist detected a very ancient scent."
"Huh? But didn't you just say you had put down Duel Monsters?"
"That's not the point!" Alister said with a frown. "The important thing is, that aura gave me a very familiar feeling, exactly like this suspicious card."
Saying that, Alister took a card out of his clothes and showed it, saying, "I'm not boasting, even without Doma's power—that 'Orichalcos Fragment'—I still have the ability to see the existence of spirits, and even 'Draw a Card's future is created by oneself'—that is, 'Card Printing'—is possible."
"But how could such a card awaken in my Meklord Army?"
The card in Alister's hand depicted an elegant female monster holding two swords, with a classic blue and white hybrid color scheme, named 【Fairy Mercury】.
Not only Alister, but the others who knew that his deck was primarily a Machine-Type Meklord deck also shared the same view. If 【Fairy Mercury】, an Aqua-Type and WATER-Attribute monster, was a card created by a spirit unexpectedly awakened by an Aqua deck User, that would be understandable. But for a Machine-Type to awaken this kind of card, it's impossible no matter how you think about it.
But an even more important point is—no matter how you look at it, this card is clearly also a "Planet" series card!
The "Planet" cards mysteriously appearing in Duelists' decks, and what Alister just said about sensing a certain aura similar to the one on 【Fairy Mercury】 appearing when Kaiba disappeared, made it hard for Hayato not to associate it with 【Tragoedia】 again.
Could it be that 【Tragoedia】 is involved behind the scenes of Kaiba's sudden disappearance? And Tenma Yexing, what kind of relationship does he have with 【Tragoedia】, and what kind of role is he playing?
Hayato had no way of knowing. Looking at the 【Fairy Mercury】 in Alister's hand, he could only say this: "This card is a 'Planet' card, belonging to the 'Planet' series. I can't explain the specific source either, but it's not the first time I've encountered cards belonging to the same series."
"As long as it hasn't been officially activated in a duel, a 'Planet' card won't have any extraordinary qualities. But once it's used, that card will emit undetectable dark energy to corrupt the User's Deck."
"Even decks that haven't reached the level of awakening a spirit will be forcibly produce card spirits under the effect of this power. But card spirits awakened in this way are definitely not pure spirits with deep bonds with the User. Spirits filled with twisted dark power are not only difficult to command, but if one is not careful, they might even turn and control the Duelist themselves."
Hayato's words sounded like he was exaggerating, but he actually wasn't exaggerating at all. Currently, Hayato has already obtained a full four "Planet" series cards and has also encountered three Duelists who put "Planet" series cards in their Decks.
Tila Muku, whom he encountered and became opponents with at the KC Cup, who used a 【Vampire】 deck but was instead controlled by the awakened 【Vampire Fraulein】 and became a servant, had 【Blazing Mars】 placed in her deck;
His father, Kobayashi Hiroyuki, who claimed to be invincible throughout London, although it was a newly drawn deck, quickly awakened the spirits of the 【Dragonmaid】 family because he put in 【Tyrant Neptune】. However, the synergy between the two was unimaginably poor; compared to Kobayashi Hiroyuki, they were closer to Hayato;
Tenma Tsukihiro, who was commanding the overall coordination work in the backstage control area because Industrial Illusions and KaibaCorp jointly held the KC Cup. Although he seemed normal, in Hayato's opinion, he was the most abnormal one. Not only was he not the "perfect Duelist" in Hayato's impression, but he also, like Pegasus, completely forgot everything related to his younger brother Tenma Yexing.
Counting them up, on the contrary, the 【Grand Saturn】 Hayato obtained from the system can be considered the one with the most normal source. Hayato was also the most normal and serious one among them. Hayato remembered the system mentioning when he obtained 【Grand Saturn】 that although this card's effect is not from the manga original work but from the real card, it is actually an ownerless card collected by the system from this world.
Among them, except for Tenma Tsukihiro, both Tila Muku and Kobayashi Hiroyuki showed signs of awakening card spirits because of their respective "Planet" cards, and the awakened spirits were, without exception, not the obedient type.
For example, Hayato discovered that recently Little Blue—that is, 【Dragonmaid Laundry Dragon】—actually started hanging out with the 【Ojama】 brothers and even learned to talk back and shift blame when her older sisters disciplined her. If this continues, she'll turn bad sooner or later.
However, considering it from another perspective, Hayato found that if the Duelist themselves has spirit power, even if they awaken a spirit that is completely detrimental to the User like 【Vampire Fraulein】, it doesn't matter. Duelists protected by spirit power will not be affected, and there is indeed a spirit present beside Alister.
Glancing towards Alister's side, Hayato saw the Phantom of 【Meklord Army of Skiel】. Although he didn't witness the duel between Alister and Rafael in front of the Doma Headquarters, clearly, 【Meklord Army of Skiel】, which was once the symbol of Alister's will for revenge, has now transformed into a symbol of protection because of his resolve and will.
Alister didn't pay attention to Hayato's line of sight. He slightly raised his hand and looked at the 【Fairy Mercury】 in his hand: "Can awaken the power of spirits, but is in a state of being corrupted by the power of darkness?"
"Something like this looks beautiful, but only idiots whose eyes are filled with nothing but revenge would accept this kind of power, although I used to be that kind of idiot."
He paused, Alister moved his finger slightly and flipped the card, extending his arm forward without hesitation. "But that's wrong. Something so similar to the 'Orichalcos Fragment' is too hot to handle. I don't want it."
While saying that, Alister looked straight at Hayato with both eyes. "Although I didn't see you take it out, since you said you've encountered it many times, given your personality, you must have already gotten quite a few of these so-called 'Planet' cards in your hand, right, Hayato Kobayashi?"
Hayato frowned upon hearing this. "Why are you baselessly slandering my innocence!?"
"Just tell me if you took this so-called 'Planet' card from someone else or not."
"...Yes."
"Hmph, then that settles it. Your temperament is still the same as before, isn't it? Just like before, even if your opponent wasn't The Bandit Keith, whom you had defeated before, you still took his deck after defeating him, didn't you?"
With a cold snort, Alister threw the card in his hand directly towards Hayato. Watching Hayato catch it, he said, "I'm confident my feeling isn't wrong. When Kaiba Seto disappeared, there was definitely an aura similar to this card's present. Feel free to use this card, which hasn't been tainted by my aura yet, to look for Kaiba Seto."
"Don't make me sound like some kind of drug-sniffing dog," Hayato muttered. Instead, he took out the 【Millennium Ring】 that had been hanging around his neck and held it in his hand. As Hayato willed it, the golden ring lit up with a soft golden radiance, spreading to the several golden cones around the disk.
"Card Exchange!" Accompanied by a line of unknown meaning, Hayato touched the 【Millennium Ring】 and 【Fairy Mercury】 together, making a motion similar to swiping a card. It seemed like this allowed the 【Millennium Ring】 to remember 【Fairy Mercury】's aura. The several cones on the golden disk suddenly moved, all floating up together and pointing in one direction.
"Although it's not the first time I've seen it, as expected, the 【Millennium Ring】 is really useful!" Looking at Hayato using the 【Millennium Ring】, seemingly having found Kaiba, Joey Wheeler exclaimed. "Sometimes it's even more useful than the 【Millennium Eye】 that can see through girls' complex thoughts."
"Indeed," Tristan casually agreed. "Just like last time when I couldn't decide what gift to give Shizuka, I also had Hayato use the 【Millennium Ring】 to find the answer."
Joey Wheeler subconsciously nodded, then suddenly realized what Tristan had just said. "Wait a minute, 'give Shizuka a gift'!? When was that, Tristan ? Why didn't I know about this?"
"Ahaha, the weather is really nice today, isn't it~"
"As expected! Last time when I borrowed your mobile phone to call Shizuka, I didn't even dial the number and it connected directly! You actually saved Shizuka's number on your mobile phone behind my back, didn't you? Alright, let me check it out!"
"Joey Wheeler, stop it! What~ are~ you~ doing~ ow!"
Watching Joey Wheeler, who was clamping Tristan's head with his arm, trying to crush Tristan's head with his biceps, Hayato didn't stop the two of them from their daily scuffle. Instead, he glanced at the time and said, "I wonder how their shopping went, Pegasus, Bakura, Yugi, and Téa. Someone needs to stay behind and tell them where we're going so they don't get lost looking for us."
"I'll go with Brother Hayato to look for Brother!" Hearing Hayato's words, Keipei immediately stated his position. And Alister on the side also said. "I also want to go and see. Maybe I can see that embarrassing sight of Kaiba Seto suffering a setback."
"Me too, me too! I've always wanted to see it, that guy Kaiba showing an embarrassing expression." Joey Wheeler also showed his Face Art and laughed.
Compared to Joey Wheeler and Alister, who both really wanted to see Kaiba's misfortune, Tristan and Marik were relatively uninterested. "In that case, Tristan and I will stay here." Holding the large bucket of popcorn Joey Wheeler hadn't finished, Marik had a face full of smiles as if he had found money.
Team assignment completed, Hayato and the others didn't linger any longer. With the idea of setting off early, finding the person early, and finishing up, they immediately advanced along the direction pointed out by the 【Millennium Ring】, arriving at the Main Street outside the Isolation Block and walking straight ahead along the Main Street.
"Alister, are you familiar with this city?" While walking, Hayato asked Alister.
He shook his head, Alister casually said, "Although I did arrive a bit earlier than you, it's only been a short time since Doma disbanded. The time I arrived earlier than you is very limited, and I'm also not very familiar with this city. I only have a slight impression of this Main Street near my workplace."
"Having an impression is enough. The 【Millennium Ring】 found the goal so quickly. This indicates that Kaiba, or rather, something related to 【Fairy Mercury】's aura, should be on this Main Street, not too far from us. Do you know if there's anything on this street that we should pay a little attention to?"
"Something worth paying attention to? I don't know what needs to be paid attention to either." Alister frowned and thought for a moment, said somewhat uncertainly, "Seems like there's a Chinese restaurant on this street called Hongzhou Banquet Hall: Mount Tai. The owner is called Ba. The Chinese cuisine she makes is hellishly spicy, enough to kill someone. And there's a Japanese restaurant called Yukihira..."
"Alright, pretend I didn't ask." Rolling his eyes at Alister, Hayato couldn't help but exclaim at the great change in the other party. Just recently, when Doma still existed, Alister's head couldn't hold anything except "I need to find a way to scheme against Kaiba Seto." Once this obsession was put down, he actually integrated into the identity of a chef so quickly!
But thinking about it carefully, it seems like when Hayato was still with Doma, even the employee meals of an organization like Doma were terribly unappetizing. Hayato and Valon always went to Alister's place for special meals and to mooch meals. Sometimes even Dartz would come.
Rafael? Rafael locked himself in his Room to maintain his cards.
This guy is unexpectedly talented in this aspect.
Thinking this, Hayato noticed that perhaps because they had approached within a certain distance, the golden light on the 【Millennium Ring】 flickered slightly. At the same time, a familiar voice suddenly came from the distance:
"First Generation! Wagatama Soul!"
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!!!"
