Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"If [Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia] is successfully Special Summoned, its effect can be activated," Virtual Hayato declared, reaching for his deck as he spoke.

But at that moment, countless streaks of fire suddenly erupted from the ground, entangling the unsuspecting [Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia].

"Summoned Gaia in the first round? Hmph, I expected that." The one who made this move was naturally Hayato.

Hayato glanced at his own figure, who had stopped moving and was now calm, and snapped his fingers, saying casually, "The Gaia deck excels at riding warriors and dragons, and is also proficient in defensive penetration."

"Others may not know, but as the user of this deck, how could I carelessly set a monster down? As expected, a machine is just a machine."

In Hayato's back row, a card silently opened, and Hayato calmly explained: "【Hell Aggregator】, a card that can only be activated when the opponent successfully Fusion Summons a Fusion Monster. Its effect is to sacrifice one of my monsters to gain control of that Fusion Monster."

"【Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia】, that's a pretty good card, but as expected, the ace will still come into my hands."

"Come here, my [Gaia]!"

"boom!"

As Hayato spoke, the flames binding [Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia] were suddenly broken free. Gaia, now free, shook his head, clearly much more lively than the previous simple image.

Looking at the virtual Hayato behind him, and then at the real Hayato opposite him, the [Sky Dragon Knight]'s [Infernal Curse Dragon] flapped its wings and flew from "Hayato's" field to Hayato's field.

"Wow, Hayato!" Keihei, watching from the sidelines, was very excited to see Hayato give the virtual Hayato's monster to the Minotaur. "He easily restricted the Duel Robots' ability to operate."

But Pegasus shook his head: "No, no, no, Keipai boy, although Hayato boy is very strong, it's too early to say he completely suppresses him~"

Pegasus looked at the virtual Hayato standing opposite him, his right eye not covered by his long silver hair, and said with unusual seriousness, "The most dangerous thing in Duel Monsters is not the invincible being that has already revealed its full form, but the fear of the unknown. These are Hayato-boy's own words."

"As a dueling robot that incorporates his dueling logic, how could the virtual Hayato Boy not know this principle?"

In the duel, because of Hayato's activation of [Hell Aggregate], the [Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia] summoned by the virtual Hayato was transferred to Hayato's field. Then, the effect of [Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia] was dealt with, and he added [Spiral Shot] from his deck to his hand.

However, without [Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia] on the field, what's the point of adding [Spiral Shot] to your hand?

Virtual Hayato remained calm, unaffected by the interference with his deployment: "I activate the Spell Card [Dragon's Mirror]."

The seemingly indifferent virtual Hayato played a card that was anything but ordinary.

“【Dragon Mirror】? Could it be!” Guiping thought of the two fusion materials that Virtual Hayato had just sent to the graveyard. Pegasus, on the other hand, had an “I knew it” look on his face: “You had already anticipated that the first fusion would be interfered with, so you deliberately used 【Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia】, which doesn’t matter if it’s destroyed or taken away?”

"Even the virtual Hayato boy is just as meticulous."

In the towering [Dragon Mirror] erected behind the virtual Hayato, the figures of the [Cursed Dragon] and [Dark Knight Gaia] flashed by one after the other. As a lance shattered the mirror, the knight riding the demonic dragon appeared in another form!

Chapter 393 Those who are bull-headed will always be bullied.

"The effect of 【Dragon's Mirror】 is that I can banish materials from the field or graveyard to Fusion Summon a Dragon-Type Fusion Monster."

Virtual Hayato explained the card's effect, even though everyone present was fully aware of the card's effect he was activating: "I banish [Cursed Dragon] and [Dark Knight Gaia] from my Graveyard to Fusion Summon [Dragon Spell Knight Gaia]."

【Dragon Knight - Gaia】【7☆/Wind】

[Dragon/Fusion/Effect]

[2600/2100]

"Wow, they even included the data from this card? I've hardly ever used it."

Hayato clapped along quite cooperatively, but didn't activate any cards, seemingly because he didn't have any useful cards.

"【Dragon Magic Knight - Gaia】has the effect of increasing a monster's attack power by a whopping 2600 points after it destroys it in battle, and it can also destroy a card on the field by decreasing its attack power by 2600 points." Guiping was clearly very worried. "If used for attack, it is almost an invincible monster."

"Well, but because of Hayato Boy's [Hellish Aggregate], he obtained the [Sky Soaring Dragon Knight], which has the same attack power as the [Dragon Demon Knight]. If the virtual Hayato Boy attacks, it will only result in mutual destruction."

No sooner had Pegasus finished speaking than Virtual Hayato activated a card: "I will activate the Spell Card 'Owner's Mark' in my hand, to restore control of all monsters on the field to their original owners!"

"Back to my field, [Gaia]!"

As the [Owner's Mark] was activated, an invisible force swept across the entire arena. After passing over [Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia] on Hayato's field, its body began to move on its own.

Despite his reluctance, [Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia] rode his dragon back onto the virtual Hayato's field, and for a moment, Hayato inexplicably had the illusion of being attacked by a minotaur.

If I am a minotaur, but I am also a minotaur, then who is the minotaur? For a moment, Hayato was troubled by this philosophical question.

Now, Virtual Hayato has two monsters on his field at the same time, and their combined attack power is as high as 5200 points, enough to wipe out Hayato's life points in one turn!

Despite Keihei's obvious anxiety for Hayato from the sidelines, Hayato on the field remained completely relaxed.

"Next, let's enter the battle phase." As soon as the battle phase began, Virtual Hayato drew another card and inserted it into the Duel Disk. "I can only activate this card, the Quick-Play Spell Card [Sealing Arrow], when both sides' battle phases begin."

"After [Arrow of Seal] is activated, neither player can activate the effects of Spell/Trap Cards until the end of the turn. Furthermore, [Arrow of Seal] cannot be activated in response to the effects of Spell/Trap/Monster Cards!"

As the virtual Hayato played his card, a dense barrage of arrows appeared out of thin air above the field and rained down, firmly pinning all three of Hayato's remaining face-down cards to the ground.

The arrows were shimmering with magical light, and it seemed that Hayato wouldn't be able to activate these cards until the magic's effects wore off.

"During the battle phase, I will first use [Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia] to directly attack the opponent's duelist! Sky Shot Kill!"

At the command of the virtual Hayato, the Dragon of Hellfire Cursed beneath Gaia flapped its wings and took flight, its sharp lance firmly held by Gaia as it swooped down from the sky to stab Hayato.

Hayato, whose Spell & Trap Cards were completely sealed, was thinking at this moment—

"Seriously, the accuracy is terrible. How could I possibly use a move with that name?" The sharp lance was about to hit him and take away a lot of life points, but Hayato revealed a contemptuous smile. "Besides, you're still 20,000 years away from hitting me!"

"I'm going to activate the effects of the monsters in my hand!"

"Kugumball, save me!"

As Hayato declared, just as Gaia, the Sky Dragon Knight, was about to deliver his lance, a seven-colored rainbow suddenly leaped out of his hand, slamming Gaia away!

It is the eternal god—[Rainbow Kuriboh]!

"It's here! It's Rainbow Kuriboh!"

"What a brilliant tactic!" Pegasus exclaimed. "Although his magic and trap cards were sealed by [Arrow of the Seal], seemingly putting him in an unavoidable dead end, he still managed to find a loophole in the monster's effect. Genius!"

"The effect of [Rainbow Kuriboh] is that when an opponent's monster declares an attack, you can equip [Rainbow Kuriboh] from your hand to that attacking monster." Hayato inserted the [Rainbow Kuriboh] card into his Duel Disk. "The monster equipped with [Rainbow Kuriboh] cannot attack."

The attack that almost secured victory was sealed away, but the virtual Hayato's expression remained expressionless: "In that case, I will use [Dragon Magic Knight - Gaia] to launch another attack."

For a Duel Robot that has no emotions and only the mindset of fighting monsters, neither the success nor failure of its tactics can affect its already empty mind.

After receiving the order, 【Dragon Magic Knight - Gaia】 attacked Hayato. This time, Hayato had no monsters in his hand to defend against the attack. The sharp spear pierced Hayato directly. Although it had no physical form, the impact of the 2600 attack power still made Hayato take two steps back.

[Hayato: 4000→1400LP]

"Ouch, that hurts a bit. Hey Keipai, is this thing really a dueling device for kids who come to Kaiba Park?" Rubbing his chest, Hayato seemed completely unconcerned about the current situation and even had the mind to turn around and talk to Keipai.

After the attack ended, the virtual Hayato calmly said, "My combat phase is over, and I will now proceed to main phase two."

"I place the cards from my hand face down on the field and end my turn."

[Virtual Hayato: 4000LP, 0 cards in hand]

【Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia】【ATK2600】

【Dragon Knight - Gaia】【ATK2600】

[GaiK] X2

Hearing that the virtual Hayato had ended his turn, Hayato couldn't help but yawn and complained somewhat helplessly, "So, that's all there is to it?"

"I was thinking that a dueling robot that included the dueling strategies of various duelists would be more interesting. I even went out of my way to take the first strike to see your offensive capabilities. But if that's the case, no wonder Kaiba abandoned the machine. After all, it's really useless."

After stretching his limbs, Hayato placed his fingers on the Duel Disk and smiled, "Then I'll crush you in this one turn!"

"My turn, draw a card!"

Chapter 394 Unleashing Ultimate Power

"My turn, draw a card!"

Hayato drew a card from his deck and quickly pressed a button on the Duel Disk: "The effect of your [Sealing Arrow] only lasts until the end of the previous turn, so during my Standby Phase, I will activate this card. Quick-Play Spell Card [Extraordinary Food]!"

"I'm sending my [Nightmare Mirage] to the Graveyard, and my Life Points will be restored by sending 1000 Life Points to the Graveyard card!"

[Hayato: 1400→2400LP]

Because Hayato sent [Nightmare Mirage] to the graveyard, the cards in his hand were preserved. Drawing one of the cards, a smug smile appeared on Hayato's face: "Let me show you the strongest evolved Gaia!"

"Attack signal summons [Magic Knight - Gaia]!"

Gaia, whose name differs from that of Dragon Knight Gaia by only one character and whose appearance is largely the same except that Gaia rides a warhorse instead of a dragon, appeared on Hayato's field, and its attack power surprised Keihei.

【Gaia, the Mage of Magic】【7☆/Light】

[Warrior Race/Effect]

【2300/ 2100】

"A monster with an attack power of 2300 was summoned directly using Normal Summoning without any tributes?!"

Upon hearing this, Hayato explained, "After all, the main advantage of cavalry is their speed, which far surpasses that of other troop types. A slow and leisurely entrance is not the style of a knight."

“If there are no monsters on my field, [Magic Knight Gaia] can be Normal Summoned directly without Tribute.” As he spoke, Hayato snapped his fingers again, “Furthermore, if [Magic Knight Gaia] is successfully Normal or Special Summoned, its other effect can be activated.”

On Hayato's field, the newly appeared [Magic Knight Gaia] first glanced strangely at the [Dragon Magic Knight Gaia] standing opposite him, the [Sky Dragon Knight Gaia] who was entangled by the seven-colored light curtain of [Rainbow Kuriboh], and the virtual Hayato who was calm to the point of being somewhat eerie. Then, he shook his head, temporarily putting aside all the questions in his mind, and drew a magic circle on the ground with his lance.

Compared to the conventional long lances used by other [Gaia]s, [Dragon Knight Gaia] and [Magic Knight Gaia] use smaller twin short lances. Although they lack some of the imposing presence in attack, they make it easier to use magic to assist in combat.

Within the magic circle drawn by [Magic Knight Gaia], a loud dragon roar resounded, and a swift yellow shadow flew out, appearing on Hayato's field. Although its appearance was somewhat different, it was still clear that this yellow flying dragon was the [Cursed Dragon]!

【The Cursed Dragon - The Cursed Dragon】【5☆/Dark】

[Dragon Clan/Effect]

[2000/1500]

"The effect of 【Gaia the Sorcerer】 is to Special Summon a Level 5 Dragon-Type monster from my hand or Graveyard. The one I summoned was 【Cursed Dragon】 from my hand."

As Hayato spoke, he pointed to the [Cursed Dragon - Cursed Dragon], which had a very different appearance: "Because of its cooperation with [Gaia], the [Cursed Dragon] has evolved through the power of magic and has become a completely new form."

"【Cursed Dragon - Cursed Dragon】 Its effect can also be activated if it is successfully Summoned or Special Summoned."

"I add a Spell/Trap Card with the name [Dragon Knight Gaia] from my deck to my hand."

"The card I want to add to my hand is [Spiral Fusion]."

Hayato added a card to his hand, and in the time it takes to perform a normal summon, he had gathered the elements of "Gaia" and "Dragon" on his field, completing the preliminary preparations for the Fusion Summon of the "Dragon Knight - Gaia" series Fusion Monster.

Next, it seems that all Hayato needs is a single Fusion card to summon Dragon Knight Gaia.

The card [Spiral Fusion] that Hayato just added to his hand, [The Cursed Dragon - The Cursed Dragon], is one that I haven't seen much of before. However, it has the [Spiral] keyword, which is very common in the [Gaia] series, and the name also contains the word "fusion". So, its effect can't possibly be drawing two cards, right?

Everything is ready except for the east wind? This statement is somewhat inappropriate, because theoretically, Hayato can activate the east wind at any time.