Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Chapter 443 God?

“Schrad, and Dorma, whom I’ve never heard of before…”

"Hmph, bring it on. If you want to crush the Haima Group, you'll have to run over me first."

Recalling the information he had "overheard" from Hayato, Kaiba leaned back in his chair, stared at the computer screen in front of him, and picked up his deck.

Because of the agreement between Bakura and Hayato, Hayato cannot share the information he has collected with Kaiba. However, Kaiba himself has a very strong information gathering ability, and he has successfully collected a lot of information by himself and put it on the computer screen.

Schreid Group's New President

Paradis Corporation Board of Directors Reshuffled

"Seahorse and Schreid? The Future of Virtual Projection Systems"

……

On the other side of these intelligence reports was the backend program that Kaiba had retrieved from the Duel Robots at Kaiba Park. He had already completed most of the reverse engineering and successfully found the vulnerability that had caused the Duel Robots to be hacked and controlled.

As Haima stood up and left the office, his computer screen went out.

Although Haima still doesn't know when or how the Schreid Group plans to take action against Haima Group, and whether the Paradis Group has any connection with Doma is only Haima's suspicion, Haima's consistent approach has always been "to remain unchanged in the face of all changes".

No matter what tricks or schemes you plan to use, I will defeat you fair and square. That's the arrogance of a seahorse.

It's already the fourth day of the KC Cup, and the competition has reached the third round. There are 16 players left, and the final eight duelists will be determined after today's duels. Tomorrow will be the day to determine the strongest player in the group stage.

After that, it will be the battle for the semi-finals.

As originally planned, Kaiba intended for Pegasus, the guy who spends all his time freeloading at Kaiba Park, to be the referee at the KC Cup finals. However, after the KC Cup ended yesterday, Pegasus hurriedly approached Kaiba, asked him for a copy of the card data for [Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon], and then left, saying that he had some inspiration for a new card.

Kaiba was initially reluctant, after all, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon was his ace monster, but Pegasus acted like he was going to give him a surprise in three days, so Kaiba didn't ask him to translate what the surprise meant and just copied the data for him.

Since they didn't take the card away, they gave it away. However, Kaiba didn't think Pegasus could come up with anything new. If they really wanted to research something, it would be more appropriate to use [True Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon].

As usual, Kaiba once again scheduled Jonouchi, that mediocre talent, to play first today, and planned to keep him there as long as he wasn't eliminated. Although he looked down on Jonouchi all the time, Kaiba felt that Jonouchi would have no problem winning in the semifinals.

In today's duel, Kaiba arranged for Jonouchi's opponent to be "Baron," who had registered with "Rafael." As expected, Jonouchi won. Although his life points dropped to 50 LP, which is practically zero, his strategy of rolling a head with Time Magician and then rolling a six with Angel's Dice was still Jonouchi's "not serious until he's low on health" style.

What made Kaiba even more upset was that the other two duelists in the same group as Jonouchi had used the Destruction Wheel to take each other down in their duel. This meant that he was now the only one left in Jonouchi's group, and he could advance to the semifinals without having to do anything else.

There couldn't be any luckier than this.

Apart from that duel in the game.

Yugi's opponent today is that guy named "Rafael". Kaiba wants to see how Yugi will deal with "Rafael", whom he failed to defeat.

Everything was normal at the beginning, but halfway through the duel, after Yugi used a [Divine Shield - Mirror Power -] to defeat Rafael's monsters, that guy actually surrendered, giving Yugi an immediate "quick victory".

As the duel between the two was almost at its climax, and even I was getting a little excited, Rafael just surrendered like that.

The seahorse is currently in a very bad mood, even somewhat angry.

His best way to vent his card addiction was to immediately go out and play a game of cards.

Unfortunately, even if Kaiba wanted to tamper with the duel pairings, he had to prepare a day in advance. Kaiba arranged for himself to go on stage last. The duel that was about to begin was with Hayato, whose opponent was a kid named "Rayne Wilson".

At most, Kaiba can only go to the scene to see what new tricks Hayato is going to use, so he can at least be a little more prepared for the future.

————Meanwhile, in the players' preparation room————

"Daitokuji, Amunaeru."

"Okay, Daitoku-ji Temple."

Looking at the man standing in front of him, who was hiding his body in a cloak and coughing occasionally, Hayato thought to himself, "Is it fashionable for everyone to wear cloaks these days?" He then introduced himself, "My name is Dan Kuroto, I am 33 years old, I live in the villa area of ​​Domino City, Japan, and I am unmarried. Ah, I seem to have mixed up my words."

"But this is the athletes' preparation room, right? How did you manage to barge in?"

"As the victor of the previous duel, plus a few tricks, that's all." The cloak-covered "Daitokuji Amunaeru" coughed, sticking out slightly withered fingers from under the cloak to cover his mouth and nose. "Also, my name is Amunaeru."

"Okay, Daitoku-ji Temple."

Although the other person looked like he was about to die and cough up blood at any moment, Hayato, who already knew the other person's identity, completely ignored the real name the other person gave and instead called him by the nickname he was more familiar with.

“My name is… cough cough cough. Never mind, just call me Daitokuji, it sounds pretty good.” Although he didn’t know why the other party wanted to call him by that name, “Daitokuji Amunaeru” was easygoing and readily accepted the title. “Mr. Dan Kuroto, I’d like to confirm that you must also be an alchemist.”

"Alchemy? No, I'm not an alchemist." Under the expectant gaze of Daitokuji, Hayato shook his head and shrugged to indicate that he knew nothing about alchemy.

However, Hayato remembered that he had something that alchemists considered the ultimate goal, so he reached out and took the card from the card box at his waist.

Looking at the perfect sphere on the card in Hayato's hand, Daitokuji was quite excited: "As expected, it really is possible! Alchemy isn't without a future!"

"Great! I can see it! I can't believe it!"

"Hey, don't suddenly vomit blood!"

————Three minutes later————

After waiting for a long time on the dueling platform, Ryan Wilson finally saw Dan Kuroto appear before him.

Because he arrived at the duel arena early, he naturally noticed that a large group of medical personnel who were on standby had just entered the opposing team's preparation room, proving that they were also useful on the field.

When the commotion broke out, Ren was a little worried that something might have happened to his opponent, but when he saw Dan Kuroto walking up to him like a complete idiot, he felt relieved.

Although his addiction wasn't as intense as Seahorse's, Rein would still be disappointed that the duel he had prepared for for so long ended so abruptly.

"Rein Wilson, right?" Hayato lifted the Duel Disk and inserted his deck into it, temporarily putting aside what Daitokuji had said before he was carried away, and gave Rein on the opposite side of the field a healthy smile, "Sorry to keep you waiting, boy!"

"Ah, it's actually not too bad, we didn't have to wait too long."

The shy Ryan Wilson raised his Duel Disk: "Yes, I am Ryan Wilson."

As he spoke, Renn, who was using a pseudonym, seemed somewhat insecure. Although this wasn't the first time he had used a pseudonym in a competition, using a pseudonym was one thing, and referring to himself as a pseudonym was quite another.

Hayato didn't pay attention to Rein's expression, but instead glanced at his deck with a slightly meaningful look.

After the referee confirmed that both sides were ready, he announced the start of the match.

"Duel!"

"Duel".

[Raine: 4000LP]

【Dan Kuroto: 4000 LP】

Compared to Hayato, Rein's voice was slightly softer, but his card-drawing movements were anything but slow: "I'll take the initiative, draw a card."

"I summon [Iron Knight] in Attack Position on my field, then set three cards face down on my back field and end my turn."

After summoning a monster in Attack Position, Raine ends his turn.

Although both are called "Iron Knights," the one that appeared on the field in Raine was not the "Iron Knight - Gia Fried" from the castle, but another monster, riding a tall steed and holding a long spear, majestic and imposing.

【Iron Knight】【4☆/Land】

[Warrior Race/Effect]

[1700/700]

Seeing Hayato staring intently at his Iron Knight on the field, Rein couldn't help but say with a touch of pride, "My Iron Knight is modeled after the prince from the fairy tale 'Iron Hans.' It has one of the best combat abilities among level 4 monsters and has helped me defeat many enemies."

"Is that so? 1700 attack power is indeed not bad, but it's far from being one of the best. I have plenty of ways to easily take him down." Hayato casually drew a card from his hand. "But before that, it's my turn. Draw!"

"I activate the Spell Card [Change of Heart]. Until the end of this turn, I gain control of your [Iron Knight] on the field. Then I activate the Spell Card [Starburst]. For every 500 Life Points I pay, I can reduce the Level of one card in my hand by one star. Right now, I have to pay 2000 Life Points to reduce the Level of [Earthbound God - Veracocha Raska] in my hand by 4 stars!"

Hayato's Life Points instantly vanished by half, transforming into four stars that appeared above his field. Meanwhile, the Iron Knight, which had been standing on Rein Wilson's field, was struck by the Spell Card Change and moved to Hayato's field.

Seeing this, Renn couldn't help but feel troubled.

His [Iron Knight]'s attack power isn't very strong, but the important thing is that if [Iron Knight] is destroyed by battle or sent to the graveyard by effect, you can directly add a [Iron Hans] to Renn's hand, mainly for the purpose of mobilizing resources rather than for direct use in battle.

However, in order to mislead Dan Kuroto, Rein deliberately acted as if he relied heavily on "Iron Knight," while secretly setting "Heavenly Punishment," "Explosive Armor," and "Dimensional Confinement" to his back row. Among these three cards, "Heavenly Punishment" has the ability to negate and destroy the effect when a monster activates its effect, while "Explosive Armor" and "Dimensional Confinement" are traps used when declaring an attack.

However, he really had no way to deal with the "Change of Heart" card.

Even if they are controlled, it doesn't matter. At worst, the opponent will just attack with the [Iron Knight], or use the [Iron Knight] to summon a monster whose level was lowered due to [Star Blast]?

In that case, my [Explosive Armor] and [Dimensional Confinement] will come in handy.

Thinking this, Renn suddenly felt a little tired, as if something had suddenly pressed down on him.

Hayato drew a card from his hand and activated it: "I activate the Spell Card [Planetary Transformation], I add the Field Spell Card [Temple of the Mind's Eye] to my hand, and then I activate the Field Spell Card [Temple of the Mind's Eye]!"

As the Field Spell Card was activated, a temple slowly rose from beneath the arena. Standing in the center of the temple, Hayato's expression was quite serious: "Perhaps I'm overreacting, but this is just to be on the safe side."

"Iron Knight is my sacrifice. The stage is ready for your arrival, come forth, Earthbound God - Veracocha Raska!"

As the figure of the Iron Knight disappeared from Hayato's field and returned to Rein Wilson's graveyard, a huge shadow appeared on Hayato's field.

Suddenly, a huge purple stone heart appeared on the top of the temple, beating continuously. After absorbing the [Iron Knight] who had left the field, the heart cracked open, and a huge raptor appeared on the field!

[Earthbound God - Veracocha Raska] [10☆/Dark→6☆/Dark]

[Bird/Beast Race/Effect]

[1/1]

Although its attack power was only 1 point, the appearance of [Earthbound God - Veracocha Raska] made Rein feel a little breathless, staring wide-eyed at the giant eagle that was about to pierce the dome of the seahorse egg.

"【Earthbound God】?"

The slightly stuttering Ren had never seen a monster so imposing, not even the Egyptian God Cards he had seen on television. It wasn't the difference in power, but the sheer threat it posed.

Despite having the name of a god, the "Earthbound God" only instilled pure fear in Rein, as if the other party was sucking his soul!

Chapter 444 Dramatic Change

"【Earthbound God - Veracocha Raska】?" Yugi, sitting in the audience, frowned as he looked at the raptor that had appeared in the arena. "Hayato actually summoned this monster?"

"That monster looks so familiar. I feel like I've seen it somewhere before." Jonouchi couldn't recall where he had seen [Veracocha Lasca] for a moment, but Honda had a good memory.

"Idiot, it was during Duel City! Weren't we stopped by the people of Gurus before Shizuka's surgery?" Honda had a deep impression of the [Veracocha Raska] that Hayato summoned that day because it was the day Shizuka had her surgery and also the day Jonouchi got the Duel Disk from Manjoume Seiji.

It wasn't just because the event deepened his memory; it was also because it was the most "frightening" monster Honda had ever encountered since he first came into contact with Duel Monsters, even to this day.

Pegasus's [Narcissus] could only disgust onlookers at most, and the first impression of the [Three Egyptian Gods] was only that they were imposing. Only duelists who faced them directly could truly experience the fear they brought.

However, [Earthbound God] is different. It is a kind of "threat" that even onlookers can clearly feel, as if the Duel Monster has broken free from the restrictions of the card and can resist the rules of the duel at any time to cause real damage.

To describe it more specifically, it's like a rabbit being targeted by an eagle—a fear that comes from the very blood of its being.

"That monster...it's terrifying." Rebecca swallowed nervously, frowning as she looked at Rein Wilson, who was facing the [Earthbound God]. "It's just a weak monster with only 1 point of attack and defense, so why does it give off this feeling?"

Even Malik put down his fries, his fingers trembling slightly as he looked at the [Earthbound God] that had appeared in the arena.