Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

As a result, Jonouchi, who repeatedly challenged the game, experienced many ways of failing—failing because the monsters on the field were melted by the "Angel's Mirror" and the field was emptied, or failing because a large number of monsters were killed in one go by the "Divine Shield" and his life was depleted, and so on.

Hayato initially considered replacing his existing Spell Cards, such as Time Machine and Disruption Trio, but the system surprisingly offered a free replacement with the new version, saving Hayato some trouble.

Meanwhile, Hayato also dueled with others several times during the month, accumulating a considerable number of DP points, which he used to open packs, greatly increasing the strength of his deck. In fact, in Hayato's most frequently used mixed deck, the only monsters with an attack power below 1000 were "Death Stalker" and the "Disruptor" brothers.

He also noticed something: the basic card packs in the system's [Shop] seemed to adjust slightly depending on the composition of his deck, just like the [Custom Booster Pack] he had purchased. Initially, Hayato mostly opened Warrior-type monsters, but as the card pool deepened, the number of Beast-type and Dragon-type monsters gradually increased.

The only thing Hayato regretted was that Pegasus couldn't agree to implement the rules from the later Duel City era. 4000 LP, hand fusion, tribute upgrades, and direct attacks—those would have made duels much more interesting.

"Whether it's the insect-like Yu-moth or the dinosaur-like Ryuzaki, both are incredibly powerful duelists," Yugi remarked, watching the match on TV. "Just because of the addition of Trap Cards, Duel Monsters have become so interesting. I really look forward to seeing how far Duel Monsters will evolve in the future."

Of course, it's because the environment is constantly accelerating due to the emergence of synchro, resulting in a fast-forward to the point of world destruction.

"Speaking of which, why didn't Hayato and Yugi participate in the selection tournament?" Kyoko noticed something and turned to ask.

Hayato was taking out his deck from the system and putting five cards on his person when he heard Kyoko's question. After thinking for a moment, he gave his answer: "It's probably because I feel that the 'national' level is too low. Although I can't beat Yugi yet, my goal is to be the strongest duelist in the world."

"Hayato, you can definitely do it." Yugi smiled encouragingly, then replied to Kyoko, "As for me, it's because I want to duel with that person."

Jonouchi frowned: "That person, are you referring to Kaiba?"

“Hmm.” Yugi nodded. “Kaiba didn’t understand the power of ‘heart’ contained in the cards before. I want to have a fair duel with Kaiba again after he has understood the ‘heart’ of the cards.”

Jonouchi, however, disagreed with Yugi's statement: "Can Kaiba really understand the 'heart' of the card? I really can't trust that guy."

"Hey, it looks like the battle is about to end." Honda's view of Duel Monsters was more of an interesting game, not quite reaching the level of "dueler's honor and dignity" that Yugi and Jonouchi had, let alone any mystical "power of the heart," so he didn't join their discussion. However, the physical Duel Monsters on TV were still pretty cool.

It was only after Honda reminded them that everyone turned their attention back to the television screen.

On Yuga's field, there was only one Insect Man with an attack power of only 500 and a face-down card. Ryuzaki, on the other hand, summoned a powerful Dinosaur-type monster with an attack power of 1800 and equipped it with the Spell Card "Body Temperature Rise", which increased its attack power to a total of 2100.

[Ryuzaki: 100LP]

【Feathered Moth: 600 LP】

"You have the advantage in terms of Life Points, but my monster will soon wipe out all your Life Points in one go, Yuga!" Ryuzaki laughed excitedly, victory seemed to be within his grasp. "[Hyperdragon] Attack [Insect Man]!"

Yuga chuckled and activated the face card: "Still no lesson learned, Ryuzaki. I'm activating the face card, [Savior's Ant Hell]!"

A sandstorm swept in, and the massive [Horned Dragon] was trapped by the sudden appearance of quicksand before it could take a single step, rendering it unable to move.

"My [Hyperpisteon]!"

"Now you're basically fish on a chopping board, Ryuzaki." With a sinister smile, Haga played two spell cards in quick succession: "[Laser Cannon Armor] and [Firearm Armor] will be equipped on [Insect Man], and then attack the helpless [Horned Dragon]!"

Two beams of light flew out from the card activated by Yu Moth and landed on the [Insect Man], transforming into two sets of cannons that looked incredibly powerful, greatly increasing the [Insect Man]'s attack power.

A laser beam shot out from the cannon on the back of "Insect Man," defeating "Ceratops." Ryuzaki's Life Points were reduced to zero, and the match was decided. In the end, "Insect" Haga became the champion of the Japanese National Duel Monster Tournament.

Chapter 48 Did Your Thousand-Year Eye Go to University?

"Now, we present the commemorative trophy and the tournament prize money to the victorious Hana." On television, Ryuzaki's dueling ring, the loser in the duel, was retracted backstage, while Hana's dueling ring was lowered to the ground. The host, microphone in hand, announced, "The presenter is the president of International Illusion Company, and also the genius game designer who created 'Duel Monsters'—"

“Mr. Pegasus J. Crawford!”

The ground mechanism in front of Yuga's dueling platform activated, and a man dressed in a formal red suit appeared on the stage via a lift, holding a gleaming gold trophy. His long silver hair cascaded down to his chest, obscuring his left eye, leaving only half of his face visible.

Walking slowly to Yu Moth, the tall Pegasus bent down slightly and gracefully handed the trophy to the short Yu Moth: "Congratulations."

"Th-thank you!" With a mysterious blush on his face, Yuga accepted the trophy from Pegasus's hand. Although he had a terrible personality, he still admired Pegasus, the great man who designed Duel Monsters.

"The bonus will be delivered to you later, and you will also be able to participate in a special event that our company will be holding soon, unconditionally."

Pegasus watched as Yu Moth lowered her head shyly, a golden glint flashing between her silver hair, a mysterious smile playing on her lips, lost in thought.

Meanwhile, in front of the television, everyone's attention had shifted from the concluded Duel Monsters tournament to the cardboard box that the game had previously placed aside.

"This package is indeed quite intriguing." Holding the cardboard box, Jonouchi looked it over from left to right, as if trying to find out what was inside. "If I don't know what's inside, I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep well tonight."

"Then let's open it and take a look."

Yugi took the box from Jonouchi, picked up a box cutter, and cut open the seal on top, revealing its contents. Inside this box of unknown origin, a thick layer of cushioning protected the items inside, and among them were several items:

The two star-shaped items, packaged in a sealed card box, are jewelry made of thick metal.

A fingerless glove worn on the right hand, with several star-shaped grooves at the wrist, seemingly designed to match the two previous stars;

The videotape next to it had no labels on its contents, but it was clear that the tape was quite long.

"What are all these things?" Yu picked up a glove and put it on his right hand. The size fit his palm perfectly, as if it were tailor-made. The material was also very breathable and did not cause sweating. The heavy wrist ring did not interfere with the use of his arm.

Jonouchi took the two stars out of the box: "They feel heavy, and they look like they're made of metal. Could they be metal?"

"Do you think this might be a videotape for instructions?" Kyoko picked up the videotape and shook it.

Just as the group was circling the box, Honda noticed that Hayato glanced at the contents of the box and then went to rummage through his bag. Just as he turned his head, Hayato took out a few things from his bag.

"Ahem, about that, I know the answer." Hayato coughed to draw everyone's attention, then picked up two items and shook them. "Because I received these two items as well."

"Huh? Isn't that one?" Jonouchi glanced at the gloves and metal stars in Hayato's hand, then looked down at the two stars he was holding.

"I don't know if you noticed something, but the competition we just watched was the 'National Selection Tournament' organized by the International Illusion Society. What are they selecting?"

"The answer is that the International Illusion Society is about to hold a super-large event. The event will no longer be open to regions and countries, but to the whole world. Duelists selected from all over the world will gather together to select the strongest duelist through duels and give him the title of 'Duel King'."

"The King of Duels..." Jonouchi was already getting excited just listening to Hayato's explanation. "Yoshi! I'm definitely going to participate in that competition!"

Honda patted Jonouchi on the shoulder: "Idiot Jonouchi, haven't you figured out what Hayato means yet?"

"Ugh?"

“I understand now. The selection tournament held by the International Illusion Club was to select participants who were qualified to compete in the tournament to determine the ‘King of Duels.’ At the same time, players who didn’t participate in the selection tournament but were still quite skilled also received invitations.” Yugi seemed to understand Hayato’s meaning. “So, this glove and the star are probably the credentials for being invited?”

"Huh?! So that means Hayato and Yugi were both invited?!" Jonouchi was dumbfounded. "Why? Why wasn't such a powerful duelist like me invited? Pegasus is really blind!"

He's good at cursing, and he's also a prophet. Isn't Pegasus's left eye supposed to be "eye" but not "eye"?

"You really dare to say that. Jonouchi is just one of the top eight teams in Domino City, and that's without Yugi and Hayato participating," Honda retorted. "It would be surprising if you were invited."

"Yugi's reputation is built on 'defeating Seto Kaiba, who had three Blue-Eyes White Dragons,' so Pegasus's invitation to Yugi was to be expected. As for me, it's not because of my dueling skills, but because I met Pegasus by chance and we talked a few times about the future development of Duel Monsters, so he invited me to give it a try."

Hayato explained why he was invited, paused, looked at the videotape in Kyoko's hand with slight hesitation, but finally said, "However, I only received these two things, not the videotape."

"Perhaps this videotape was recorded by the person who invited the game to participate in that competition, and they want to show it to the game? Should we back out?"

Hayato desperately wants to change Yugi's fate of being sealed away because he lost the game, but he knows very well that this is the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, a world where "fate" truly exists. Pegasus will stop at nothing to force Yugi to attend the "Duel Kingdom" in order to achieve his goal of taking over the Kaiba Corporation.

Even if he tells Yugi, "The videotape isn't important, just throw it away," it probably won't change his fate. Pegasus might just physically kidnap Yugi's people, just like he did with Kaiba.

In the end, all Hayato could do was lead the others away from the television set that would become the medium for the duel, and then try to block Pegasus's dark power with "that thing" that he had been preparing for nearly a month.

He subconsciously touched his pocket, feeling the cards he had taken out earlier. Hayato prayed inwardly, "I've been training you for a thousand days to use you for one. You guys better give it your all this time."

"That's what my older brother said~"

"We'll definitely be fine!"

"Probably?"

"Curry~"

Chapter 49 Hayato: I anticipated Pegasus's actions

Hayato led Chicken Sauce and the others out of the living room and closed the door. Almost at the same time, Yugi put the videotape in his hand into the TV.

A static-filled image appeared on the screen, but quickly distorted, transforming into the figure of a silver-haired man. The man, quite familiar with the game, waved and smiled, greeting the image: "Hello~ Game boy, I've been waiting for you for so long."

"Pegasus, who just appeared on TV!?" Yugi had considered many possibilities, but he never expected that this videotape would actually contain footage of Pegasus, the father of Duel Monsters. Yugi was also somewhat surprised to see the important figure he had just discussed with his friends appear.

"Nice to meet you, Yugi-boy~ This is a videotape I gave to dear Yugi-boy. The reason is, as Hayato-boy just explained, it's because I acknowledge your dueling prowess in defeating Kaiba-boy." With a smile on his face, Pegasus inadvertently uttered words that caused Yugi's expression to change drastically.

"What Hayato just said?! This is clearly just a videotape."

Game Boy muttered something unconsciously, but to his surprise, Pegasus in the videotape actually answered him: "Of course, it's just a videotape. But I already foresaw what would happen in the future, whether it's Hayato-boy making an explanation or whatever you do next, Game Boy."

"For example, your next sentence is: 'Predicting the future?! How could such a thing be true!'"

"Predicting the future!? How could such a thing be possible!" The game blurted out, but before he could finish, he was shocked to find that what he had subconsciously said was exactly the same as what Pegasus had just "predicted".

“Although we could chat for a long time, unfortunately, my time is really tight, and the videotape time is also limited.” As Pegasus spoke, the smile on his face faded, but a slight curve remained at the corner of his mouth. “Then, let’s quickly start the test on you, Game Boy.”

Just as Yugi was about to say that he had no intention of participating in the competition Hayato had mentioned, as the vague title of "King of Duels" wasn't important to him, an invisible ripple suddenly surged from the television screen, rapidly spreading and filling the entire room in an instant.

Outside the room, Hayato was explaining to Jonouchi and the others why he had brought them out.

"Ah~ I'm so curious about what was recorded on that videotape." Jonouchi felt like a cat was scratching at her heart. Although she had walked outside the door, her eyes kept glancing towards the living room.

Hayato moved a chair over for Sugoroku to sit down and explained to Jonouchi, "Think, think, Jonouchi. Who would be qualified to invite Yugi to that competition, and what is his reason for recording the video?"

Even if you ask me, I don't know.

"Actually, the answer isn't important. What's important is that the other party is definitely a very important person in some way. The videotape he mailed to the game might contain some extremely confidential information. If we can, that would be best—"

Halfway through his sentence, Hayato suddenly felt a powerful dark force coming from behind him. He could feel his consciousness gradually becoming sluggish, and his body could no longer move at all.

The same thing happened to the people in front of them. The bodies of Old Master Sugoroku, Kyoko, Honda, and Jonouchi were swept by that invisible wave, and their bodies instantly stiffened, their eyes became empty, as if they had been frozen.

Although Hayato's condition was slightly better than Jonouchi's and the others, and he could still sense that something was happening, his mind was undoubtedly being frozen little by little. On the verge of completely losing his self-awareness and being unable to perceive anything around him, Hayato used his last strength to utter a single sentence:

"You lot, get out there and get to work!"

At his command, five orbs of light flew out of Hayato's pocket and attached themselves to various parts of his body.

The taciturn Dark Knight Gaia restored Hayato's left hand to its original freedom;

[Disruption] The brothers each grabbed Hayato's left foot, right foot, and right hand, while dancing a strange dance to entertain themselves;

Finally, a multicolored Kuriboh landed on Hayato's hair.

The five monsters each protected a part of Hayato's body, just like the sealed Exodia, combining their powers together. With the convergence of spirit power, Hayato's originally droopy hair stood up, making him look like someone who was using hair gel to achieve a perfect look.

The dark power emanating from the living room clashed with the power of the five spirits, but the outcome was quickly decided. It was as if the power that was about to stop time was shattered by the combined spirit power. Hayato's body trembled violently, and he knelt on one knee on the ground. His clothes were soaked with sweat as if he had just been pulled out of the water, and he was panting heavily.

"Phew~ We almost failed. Luckily, Gaia awakened before today, otherwise the others wouldn't have been enough." Hayato smiled wearily, looking at the five cards that slipped out of his pocket, and said to the figures before him, "Thanks for your hard work, Gaia."

"Fortunately, I have not failed you." [Dark Knight Gaia]'s face was hidden by his helmet, so Hayato couldn't see his expression, only his deep voice coming from inside. [Gaia] readily accepted Hayato's praise, but the others were less than pleased—

[Disruption·Yellow] jumped off Hayato's arm and stood with the other brothers, protesting to Hayato: "Annie, that's really going too far! They clearly put in a lot of effort too!"

"That's right! I'm so tired that I've used up all the muscles in my body!" [Disruption Green] bent its arm, seemingly trying to show off the muscles it didn't have in the first place.

“We won’t forgive you if you don’t treat us to a meal, Ani. Oh right, what should we eat?” [Disruption Black] opened its beady eyes, which were practically nonexistent, and managed to put on a serious expression, but soon the drool dripping from the corner of its mouth revealed its silly nature—though it had never tried to hide it.

Hayato ignored the clowning around by the Disruptive Brothers and looked at the rainbow-colored Kuriboh flying into his palm: "I have to thank you, Aibo."