Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Oh no, that means—!!"

Keihei's face was quite grim, and he anxiously reminded Hayato in the dueling arena, "Hayato-kun, the card that Duel Robot was originally using should definitely be your original card. That [Magic Cylinder] didn't exist originally. The robot should have set down a different card!"

"But now the data used by the robot has been completely modified. In order not to be defeated, he has started printing cards!"

"That kind of thing is easy, who doesn't know how to print cards these days?" Hayato retorted, focusing intently on the [Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia] that was about to hit the virtual Hayato.

Wrapped in a swirling force that had accelerated to its maximum and manifested as a golden hue, Gaia's spear tip was about to pierce through the virtual Hayato's body when a beam of light unfolded in front of him, completely blocking his attack.

Beneath the virtual Hayato's feet appeared a deep, cylindrical object with obscure patterns. It looked quite small, but the deeper one looked inside, the darker and more bottomless it seemed. A similar device had also appeared abruptly at Hayato's feet.

In that instant, a screen of light emerged from this cylinder, blocking the attack of [Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia]. At that moment, a suction force appeared inside the cylinder, as if trying to transfer [Gaia's] attack into the cylinder and then move it to Hayato's face to unleash it!

Just like the card "The Force," there are two versions of "Magic Cylinder" on the market. The version of "Magic Cylinder" used in the game requires a Spellcaster monster to be on the field for activation. The virtual Hayato, whose field is currently empty, is obviously not using that version, but rather another one.

Its effect is—

"The effect of [Magic Cylinder] is that when the opponent's monster declares an attack, it is activated on that attacking monster, negating the attack and dealing damage equal to its attack power to the opponent," Virtual Hayato said casually. "[Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia] has an attack power of 5200, while your Life Points are only 2400."

"The outcome of this duel has been revealed."

Even Gaia, the Sky Dragon Knight with an attack power exceeding 5000, struggled for a long time but ultimately could not resist the interference of the Magic Cylinder's effect. The lance in her hand, along with all the swirling power wrapped around her body, was completely sealed into the Magic Cylinder in front of the virtual Hayato.

Before Hayato, the light barrier that had just blocked Gaia's attack unfolded, and a spear wreathed in swirling power appeared before him.

As the light barrier vanished abruptly, the sharp spear spun and pierced through—

"puff!"

"Crack!"

Two strange sounds rang out one after another. With a worried look on his face, Guiping was surprised to find that the lance of [Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia], which should have hit Hayato at point-blank range, had strangely veered off course due to its rotation and landed at Hayato's feet. It was just a hair's breadth away from hitting Hayato and taking away his remaining 2400 basic points.

The spinning lance detached from Gaia, its swirling force suddenly dissipating. Although it still pierced the ground, it didn't go too deep, so it made a "plop" sound.

And the "click" sound was...

Pegasus's one eye glanced at a gunman wearing a skull mask who had suddenly appeared beside the virtual Hayato, his outstretched arm holding a revolver pressed firmly against the virtual Hayato's head. Pegasus smiled with interest: "Interesting! Hayato boy, what kind of new Duel Monster is this? And when did it happen?"

"There's no other way. Since they've started shamelessly forcing us to print cards, I have no choice but to resort to this tactic."

Just moments ago, Hayato had been panicked, seemingly helpless and at a loss against the virtual Hayato's counterattack. Now, however, he was calm and somewhat helpless, shrugging and saying, "As for this monster? Its name is [Eternal Fire Death Gunner]."

"I summoned it back in the first round."

“I see. A Monster sent to the graveyard by the [Hell Aggregate]? And, Infernity? That sounds like an impressive name.” Pegasus exclaimed, smiling as he said, “Just one glance at it and I feel countless Duel Monster ideas flooding my mind.”

Guiping reacted a beat slower, asking in surprise, "What just happened?"

The virtual Hayato remained silent, partly because he also wanted to hear Hayato explain the card's effect, and partly because—with a gun pointed at his head, was he "moved" or "afraid to move"?

"【Magic Cylinder】is indeed a very strong card. It returns damage equal to the monster's attack power, making it perfect for dealing with aggressive decks, especially the kind of reckless decks like those of Kaiba and Jonouchi," Hayato patiently explained. "However, its only drawback is that it doesn't return the damage itself, but rather the 'effect damage' caused by the trap card."

"After I activated [Inherited Power], my hand size became 0. When my hand is 0 and my opponent activates a Spell/Trap/Monster effect that would inflict damage on me, the effect of [Infernal Death Gunner] in my Graveyard is activated."

"Remove the [Eternal Flame Death Gunner] from my graveyard, reducing the effect damage I receive to 0." Hayato said, glancing at the virtual Hayato with a pistol pressed against his head. "However, although I escaped certain death, death is quite fair."

"【Eternal Fire Death Gunner】After negating the effect damage, the opponent can choose whether to activate the subsequent ability."

Pegasus smiled with interest: "Oh, so the opponent chooses whether to activate it? Amazing~"

"Just like a cowboy from the West!"

Hayato smiled and said, "Actually, it does have some connection to cowboys in the West, because the next ability is similar to roulette."

"I flip over the top card of my deck. If that card is a monster card, I inflict damage to my opponent equal to the sum of the effect damage I received this turn and the effect damage that was negated. Conversely, if the card I draw is a Spell/Trap Card, I take effect damage that was already negated."

"Of course, this effect only applies if you are willing to activate it. If the opponent chooses not to activate the subsequent effects, they will not be able to inflict effect damage on me this turn."

Hayato, with an air of composure, said, "Should we say it's dancing on the edge of a knife, or putting a gun in your mouth? In any case, the effect of the card [Infernal Death Gunner] can be said to be an interpretation of what it means to be a 'Grim Reaper'."

"Oh, what should we do? What's your choice?"

Hayato ran his fingers over the deck, feeling the texture of the cards, and smiled, looking at the virtual Hayato's calm expression. "To be honest, although I clearly remember that I currently use a deck with a total of forty cards, unfortunately, because I frequently add or remove cards,"

"Even I myself have forgotten how many monsters I actually put in my deck."

"Oh no, what should we do?"

In sync with Hayato's movements, the finger of the [Eternal Fire Death Gunner] standing next to the virtual Hayato, pointing a gun at him, rested on the trigger of his revolver. It seemed that as long as the virtual Hayato made a decision, Hayato and the [Eternal Fire Death Gunner] would draw their cards and pull the trigger like cowboys dueling at noon in the West.

At this moment, the virtual Hayato's computing logic unit is operating at full capacity, processing all sorts of possibilities.

If the effect of [Infernal Death Gunner] is activated, then the outcome of this duel will depend entirely on that card in Hayato's deck; if the effect of [Infernal Death Gunner] is not activated, the effect of [Magic Cylinder] will be completely wasted, and the duel will once again descend into fierce combat.

According to Duel Robot's calculations, the probability of it drawing a key card sufficient to clear the field in its next draw is less than 5%. In other words, if it doesn't use [Magic Cylinder] to deal with Hayato here, it will most likely lose to Duel Robot again.

On the other hand, Duel Bot also calculated the most probable composition of the [Gaia] deck that Hayato would use in theory, resulting in a ratio of 15 monster cards, 15 spell cards, and 10 trap cards.

In Hayato's duel, he has already used 4 monster cards (excluding Fusion Monsters), 7 spell cards, and 1 trap card from his deck. This means that theoretically, he still has 11 monster cards, 8 spell cards, and 9 trap cards left in his deck. The probability of drawing a card other than a monster card is 60%, which is more than 50% success rate.

Therefore, the result is quite clear.

Virtual Hayato said, "I choose to activate the effect of [Eternal Fire Death Gunner]."

"Pull the trigger."

"Shh!"

Just as the virtual Hayato finished speaking, Hayato's fingers, which were resting on the top of the deck, exerted a slight force, like a swordsman drawing a long-sheathed blade from its sheath as he focused his will on a single moment, and pulled out the card from the top of the deck.

A few golden lights flashed across the air, but vanished in the blink of an eye, as if they were just a simple illusion.

"So, as I said, machines are really boring." Hayato, who had just drawn a card, didn't bother to check what card he had drawn, but just sighed helplessly. "Although I don't think you can learn anything from a mere machine, let me teach you a little bit."

"Lesson 1: A duelist's deck has a limited number of cards, but the possibilities for drawing cards each time are infinite."

"Lesson 2: Duelists must trust their decks, and the decks will naturally respond to that trust."

"Lesson 3: As long as you don't give up on the future, the future can move forward infinitely."

"Lesson 4: The most important thing for a duelist is not powerful cards, but intuition."

"And Lesson 5."

As he spoke, Hayato held up the cards in his hand: "For a true duelist, everything is inevitable, even the card draw itself is created by the duelist!"

"You're just a computer program, calculating every card without any trust, abandoning future possibilities based solely on probability, and relying solely on powerful cards without any intuition. Someone like you is destined to fail from the very beginning of the duel!"

"The top card in my deck is, 'Cute to Death Card,' [Dark Knight—]"

"【Gaia!!!】"

"Bang!!"

As [Eternal Fire Death Gunner] curled his finger and pulled the trigger, a gunshot echoed through Seahorse Park. However, in America, a mere gunshot was nothing.

The virtual image of Hayato, with a hole punched in his temple, vanished like dust in the wind. At the same time, seemingly due to overload, the red ring above the arena exploded with a "bang," crashing heavily to the ground as if it were a salute to the defeated Duel Robot.

Hayato gave a high-five to the [Eternal Flame Death Gunner], whose figure was gradually dissipating and walking towards him. He glanced at the opposite field, now obscured by the fallen virtual projection device: "Yeah, at times like these, you really have to say something..."

"...That's enough."

Chapter 396 Making a Pair of Deals with Criminals

[Virtual Hayato: 4000LP→0]

Because of [Infernal Death Gunner], the 5200 points of effect damage that were countered by [Magic Cylinder] and then nullified by [Infernal Death Gunner] instantly wiped out Virtual Hayato's base points.

As the virtual projection was defeated, the high-speed computing logic that was operating during the duel instantly overloaded, causing the red ring, which combined information processing and virtual projection functions, to fall from the duel arena.

This has absolutely nothing to do with Hayato "slightly" using some of the magic power of the Millennium Wisdom Wheel when he used the [Eternal Flame Death Gunner], hmm.

Guiping received a report from the staff through his earpiece that "the occupied information channel has been released and the matter has been resolved," and he couldn't help but breathe a long sigh of relief.

"Looks like things are settled, Keihei boy~" Pegasus said to Keihei, watching with interest as Hayato organized his deck and walked up the steps from the dueling arena. "Another interesting duel, Hayato boy."

"On the contrary, it's incredibly boring, not even a warm-up." Hayato said helplessly, reaching into his duel disk to take two cards. Those two cards were the ones Hayato had set face-down in his first turn.

The card was flipped over, and Pegasus smiled: "I see. So it is indeed as you said, Hayato-boy, very boring."

"【Spiral Resurrection】and 【Mysterious Chinese Pot】?" Guiping read out the names of the two cards in Hayato's hand, looking at Hayato speechlessly. "So, in the so-called 'Russian Roulette' game just now, you weren't going to lose from the very beginning, Hayato-kun?"

The Magic Cylinder, which is nullified by the Infernal Death Gunner effect, deals a staggering 5200 damage. Neither Hayato, with 2400 points remaining in his base score, nor Duel Bot, with no points lost, can withstand such a high amount of damage.

Only when there is no way out for either side can a situation like "Russian Roulette" occur, making Hayato's decision to gamble the outcome of the duel on the next card of fate seem so carefree.

As a result, Hayato built a mysterious Chinese pot in his own backfield!? Everyone else was taking the bullets with their bare hands, but he cheated by hiding a bulletproof vest!

Even more outrageous is that Hayato also has a Trap Card called "Spiral Resurrection," whose effect states that you can Special Summon a Level 7 or higher Dragon-Type monster from your Graveyard. If the Special Summoned monster is "Dragon Knight Gaia," it gains the ability to not be targeted by your opponent's card effects or destroyed by their card effects.

From the moment the Duel Robot activated its [Magic Cylinder] to counterattack, only to have it blocked by Hayato's [Infernal Death Gunner] effect, there were only three possible outcomes facing him—

Alternatively, you can not gamble with Hayato, then Hayato can use the [Mysterious Chinese Pot] to release [Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia] and recover 5200 base points in one go, and then use [Spiral Resurrection] to revive him again and gain a second chance to attack;

Alternatively, you can gamble with Hayato, but regardless of whether you win or lose, Hayato can use the [Mysterious Chinese Pot] to ensure that he won't have his base score wiped out by the 5200-point effect damage.

This isn't roulette; it's clearly a one-sided threat of pointing a gun at someone's head. No wonder the [Eternal Fire Death Gunner] didn't even point his gun at Hayato; he obviously knew Hayato had no chance of being the loser.

"That's why I said, no wonder Seth chose to give up on this dueling robot. Although there's a saying that 'playing games is all about winning,' a machine that can't let you use your true strength is just too boring."

As Hayato spoke, in front of Pegasus and Keihei, he flipped over several cards from his deck. "Look, [Earthbound God], [Obelisk the Tormentor], and even [Ra the Winged Dragon of Ra]. It's rare that I used all of those cards. The robot couldn't force me to show my true strength at all."

"More than that, I'm concerned about whether Hayato-kun's deck is really the 'pure Gaia' deck you mentioned," Keihei retorted, but didn't dwell on it for long. "Well, it's good that we were able to resolve this incident, but this project might need to be taken back and the code modified before it can be reactivated."

"An accident?" Hayato didn't say anything upon hearing this, but simply smiled and looked back at the dueling arena, now obscured by the virtual projection system that had been smashed to the ground. "Of course, of course it was an accident. After all, who could bypass Kaiba Corporation's complex network firewall and tamper with the dueling robots?"

——————Naya: In short, exclude me first——————

Through the display screen, Rafael watched as the Kaiba Corporation staff came to clean up the scene, and as Hayato Keihei, Pegasus, and the other two left. He calmly said, "Duel King Kobayashi Hayato, the bond between him and the cards is truly deep. He is a worthy opponent."

"Hey, hey, hey, I didn't ask you to come here to praise that Hayato Kobayashi guy." A man wearing a gray hooded robe spoke up next to Rafael, seemingly quite displeased with Rafael's praise of Hayato.

Although they were talking, the gray-robed man remained hidden in the shadows, refusing to take even a step closer to the bright screen, as if he didn't want his true face to be revealed by the screen.

Pointing to another screen, the gray-robed man said, "In short, you've already seen the effectiveness of this vulnerability in Haima Group's firewall program, right? Although this vulnerability will probably be fixed soon, I still have a considerable number of security vulnerabilities of the same level in my possession."

“Does this prove that I am qualified to trade with you in Dorma?” The gray-robed man said, pulling up a chair and sitting down. “Even if you and the guy behind you disagree, I will approach your companion named ‘Ameruda.’ He will definitely be very interested in this.”

Rafiru glanced at the gray-robed man, his brows furrowing slightly.

After leaving the Kaiba Dome with Hayato and Keibai, Rafael originally planned to follow them to see what Hayato and the others were up to, and also to test Hayato's true strength after gathering the three Egyptian God cards.

After all, if we take the strength Hayato showed in the video of the Duel City finals as the standard, it is ultimately just outdated and flawed information and cannot be used as a reliable indicator.

Just as Rafiru was about to follow, he was stopped by the gray-robed, sullen man beside him, who even called out the name of the organization he belonged to, "Doma".