Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Malik and Honda's playful banter eased the tense atmosphere somewhat, while Keihei, sitting in his seat, gradually felt himself growing weaker. Because of Kyoko's example, although not completely exhausted, Keihei knew his condition was about to worsen, and he had no choice but to take out his phone and dial Kaiba's number.

However, whether it was a signal problem or something else, the phone call failed.

'What on earth happened?' Guiping thought to himself, 'Please, nothing bad should happen, brother.'

--------

"Rafiru!!"

Hearing the voice behind them, Rafael, the blond man who had been observing Yugi and Jonouchi from afar, straightened his trench coat and turned to look at Yugi and Jonouchi, who were running towards them: "The nameless pharaoh..."

"Do you know something, Rafael!" Yami Yugi, who had switched personalities at some point, said urgently, his Duel Disk and Card Deck already set up on his wrist.

Compared to the relatively conventional Yugi, Yami Yugi (also known as the King) has a more direct approach. While the Surface Yugi might try to persuade his opponent, Yami Yugi would choose to use force directly to get the answer.

It's not that the two care about their partners to varying degrees, but rather that, compared to the surface game, the dark game is more indifferent to the rules and has more courage to judge what can be given up.

Looking at the anxious Yugi and the "I'm going to attack if you don't speak" attitude of Jonouchi, Rafael's expression remained quite calm: "Yes, nameless pharaoh, I know where the changes inside the Seahorse Dome came from."

"And it's right here in my hands."

As he spoke, Rafael took out a card that wasn't in his deck.

Upon seeing the card, Jonouchi's expression remained relatively normal, but Yugi's pupils contracted.

Because that card was clearly the first enemy I encountered in the game during Duel City—

【Divine Flame Emperor - Uriah】.

Chapter 446 Seahorse vs. Chigurhfrid

"Chigu Lloyd".

"No, Chigurh Lloyd is the name used to refer to one of the participants in the KC Cup. If you're the one who's already been eliminated, then just call me Chigurh Fried von Schreid."

With an unpleasant expression, Kigu Lloyd—that is, Kigufrid von Schreid—looked at Seto Kaiba, who stood in front of him with his usual arrogant expression.

"Although there's no concrete evidence, always needing solid intelligence before taking action will only cause us to miss many prime opportunities," the seahorse said coldly, arms crossed. "While I don't know exactly how you did it, the anomalies here are probably caused by you, aren't they?"

Logically speaking, even if Chigurhfried von Schreidt was indeed the one who instigated the anomaly around him, he wouldn't have readily confessed everything just because of Kaiba's baseless questioning. He should at least have denied it by saying, "I didn't do it," if not by offering misleading arguments to distance himself.

However, Chigurhfrid von Schreid, whose purpose was precisely to target Seto Kaiba, gave a cold smile: "That's right, it's me, Seto Kaiba."

"Do you remember the strange change that happened to the dueling robot a few days ago?"

The seahorse's eyes sharpened: "So, that time was also related to you?"

The Seahorse Dome and the Seahorse Paradise building were completed one after the other. The Seahorse Dome has only been open for less than ten days, and the same is true for the Seahorse Paradise. As a result, many projects have not yet been promoted, and many projects are still in the preparation stage and have not yet opened.

After all, even if most people have time and want to visit, their choice is usually the Seahorse Dome, which is currently hosting the KC Cup. Only freeloaders like Pegasus would spend all their time playing video games at Seahorse Park. If Tianma Yuexing tries to call him, he'll just say he's annoyed.

Duelbots, or rather, projects that utilize Duelbots, and Duel Portal, which focuses on battling virtual legendary duelists, are among the projects that are still in the preparation stage and have not yet been released. If it weren't for the fact that the hacked Duelbots consumed too much data, it might not have been discovered until the staff responsible for routine checks came to work.

Since Duel Portal hasn't been released yet, the fact that Duel Bots have been hacked naturally won't attract much attention or be known by outsiders. After all, if something goes wrong with something that's still in the experimental stage, it's just an internal laboratory issue. Even the most unscrupulous reporters wouldn't want to waste their ink on such a thing, unless someone dies or it involves a major politically correct matter.

That's why it's so strange that Chigurhfrid von Schreid would know about the Duel Robots going out of control. The only people who should know this are the Kaiba Corporation employees, Hayato, and Pegasus; besides them, there's only the intruder. Chigurhfrid von Schreid couldn't be from Kaiba Corporation, nor could he be Hayato or Pegasus, so logically, he could only be the intruder.

Although he wasn't actually the one who hacked into the Hikari Group, but merely a wingman who used Bakura as his agent to distract others and then brazenly planted a Trojan program into the Hikari server, that didn't stop Chigurhfrid von Schreid from using this as a front.

"Who else could it be but me?"

Chigurhfrid von Schreidt said proudly, "You haven't forgotten, have you, Seto Kaiba? At your first birthday party after being adopted, I easily cracked the firewall you wrote."

Upon hearing this, Haima thought back carefully for a moment and remembered that there really was such a thing. He laughed and said, "So that person was you. Hehe, it's you who's only concerned with those meaningless vanities on the surface. You didn't even know your network had been hacked."

"And the fact that he still remembers such old, trivial matters is something I've almost forgotten about. What a boring guy."

Even the arrogant expression on Chigurhfried von Schreidt's face faltered. It wasn't that Kaiba's recounting of the aftermath of that incident embarrassed him, but rather that Kaiba had actually said it was a trivial matter?

"You're saying you've almost forgotten?" Chigurhfrid's expression turned ferocious. "Do you know what you're saying? That incident is a disgrace to me, the first time I've been defeated by a guy like you!"

"I carefully kept the diary entry I wrote that day. Every time I was defeated by you, I would write a diary entry. A total of 3000 times. I was defeated by you a total of 3000 times, and you didn't even remember the first time!?"

"3000 times? You've been defeated by me so many times, it seems you really are a piece of trash." Kaiba said with a look of disdain. "No, calling you trash is an insult to trash. Even some mediocre people are better than you."

"You bastard!!"

Chigurhfrid von Schreidt's expression twisted: "Don't tell me you don't remember any of the times you defeated me. I consider you my nemesis!!"

"Hmph, I don't have the habit of remembering the faces of those I've defeated. Besides, I only have one nemesis, and that's Yugi Muto."

"I had a plan to defeat Yugi in this KC Cup, and then sweep away Kobayashi Hayato along with me," Kaiba said coldly, pointing at Chigurhfrid. "But you, like a fly that just flew out of the sewer and into a bowl of carefully prepared soup, have completely ruined my plans!"

"Prepare yourself to bear my wrath, you scum!!"

Upon hearing the seahorse's words, Chigurhfrid lowered his head, covered half of his face with one hand, and trembled all over.

He wasn't trembling with fear, but rather—

"As a genius, as an elite, as the president of the Schreid Group, how come you've never taken me seriously?"

"Kaiba, Seto!!"

"You bastard! Only you should bear the brunt of my anger, the anger of Chigurhfrid von Schreid!!"

"I will completely crush you with your most prized Duel Monster, and then make you watch helplessly as the Kaiba Corporation's skyscrapers collapse!"

"Duel!!"

[Chigurfred von Schreidt: 4000 LP]

Watching Chigfrid unfold his deck in the Duel Disk, Kaiba revealed a bloodthirsty smile: "Stop spouting nonsense, you scum. If you could do that, I would have thought more highly of you."

"Since you want to humiliate yourself, then I will not hesitate to bestow upon you the punishment called 'despair'!"

"I'll use my [Blue Eyes]!"

"Duel!"

Seto Kaiba: 4000 LP

"I'll take the first strike, Draw!"

Because both of them used a Duel Disk with an automatic card ejection function, the fight between Kaiba and Chigfried depended entirely on their hand speed to gain the first move. Kaiba was obviously faster and drew his card first, thus gaining the right to attack.

"I activate the effect of [Dragon Dominator - Dragon Dictator -] in my hand. This card can be Special Summoned from my Deck by sending one [Blue-Eyes] from my Deck or hand to the Graveyard. I choose to discard [Blue-Eyes White Dragon] from my Deck to Special Summon it!"

"Come forth, [Dragon Ruler - Dragon Dictator]!"

【Dragon Ruler - Dragon Dictator-】【4☆/Dark】

[Mage Race/Effect]

[1200/1100]

After sending a card automatically retrieved from the deck to the graveyard, Kaiba's field appears with a new form of his frequently used [Dragon Ruler]. The familiar dragonbone armor and dashing cloak are present, but the difference lies in the fact that [Dragon Ruler - Dragon Dictator -] wields a limited edition [Blue-Eyes White Dragon] [Dragon Summoning Flute].

As a spell card commonly used by the "Dragon Ruler" archetype, the "Dragon Summoning Flute" has the effect of directly Special Summoning two Dragon-Type monsters from the hand. Although the designs have been modified, the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" version of the "Dragon Summoning Flute" from "Dragon Ruler - Dragon Dictator" also retains the ability to Special Summon Dragon-Type monsters, but with some additional restrictions.

"The second effect of [Dragon Ruler - Dragon Dictator -] is that you can send one [Blue-Eyes White Dragon] or a card with the name [Blue-Eyes White Dragon] from your hand to the Graveyard."

Kaiba sneered as he sent a monster card into the Graveyard. "Resurrect, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the one I sent to the Graveyard to Special Summon [Dragon Ruler - Dragon Dictator-]!"

"Right here and let your so-called 'Goddess of War' witness the strongest dragon that you cannot defeat, Chigfrid!"

Pure white holy light bloomed on the seahorse's field. As the [Dragon Ruler - Dragon Dictator -] played his flute, a white dragon soared into the holy light and descended before the seahorse.

Both the strongest "spear" and the most solid "shield," this is the most trusted and strongest dragon of all—the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!!

[Blue-Eyes White Dragon] [ATK3000]

"He actually summoned [Blue Eyes] in the first round?!" Chigurhfrid's expression twisted in pain. "Damn it, don't get too cocky, Seto Kaiba!"

"Don't tell me I can't defeat it. I will definitely kill the Blue-Eyes White Dragon right in front of you next round!"

For some reason, listening to Chigfried's words made the seahorse feel even worse, which made his already bad mood even worse.

Because Zigfried's name is taken from Siegfried, the dragon-slaying hero in the famous mythological poem "The Nibelungenlied," and because the deck he uses is based on the Valkyrie, the goddess who helped Siegfried in mythology, Zigfried himself has been promoted in Europe as a "great hero who stepped out of mythology."

In the Nibelungenlied, the greatest achievement of the great hero Siegfried is undoubtedly slaying the dragon Fafnir. It is precisely for this reason that Kaiba just deliberately mocked and ridiculed Siegfried, implying that he could not defeat his fellow dragon, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

However, Kaiba is now extremely displeased by Chigfried's retort and outrageous remarks, including his threat to kill the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

"Hmph, save your daydreams for when you're locked up in jail, alone and suffering." With a cold snort, Kaiba drew two cards from his hand and placed them in the Spell & Trap Zone. "I'll set both cards face down on my back field to end my turn."

[Seahorse: 4000LP, 2 cards in hand]

[Blue-Eyes White Dragon] [ATK3000]

【Dragon Ruler - Dragon Dictator-】【ATK1200】

[GaiK] X2

"My turn, draw a card!" Filled with anger at being slighted, Chigurhfrid drew a card. After seeing the card he had drawn this turn, he curled his lip in displeasure.

The card he drew at that moment was "Time Goddess's Mischief," which grants his monsters an additional second battle phase and gives them another chance to attack. If the opponent doesn't have enough monsters on their field to act as a barrier, it can be considered a very powerful card.

Combined with "War Goddess's Ride," which can summon a large number of "War Goddesses" to the field at once, it is easy to achieve OTK (One-Turn Kill) or even FTK (One-Turn Kill in the First Round).

The problem is that Kaiba currently has a Blue-Eyes White Dragon with 3000 ATK on his field, and Chigurhfrid doesn't have a powerful monster in his hand that can defeat it. Activating this card would be a complete waste.

We must find a way to defeat the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, or at least get around it.

Remembering the existence of a card in his deck, Chigurhfrid played a card with a sour face: "I activate the Spell Card [Time Capsule]. The effect of this card is to put one card from my deck into the [Time Capsule] and send it to my Standby Phase two turns from now."

"When I get that card, without a doubt, you will suffer a humiliating defeat, Seto Kaiba!"

"Before that, I summon a monster in defense position on my field, then set two cards face down, and end my turn."

[Chigurhfrid: 4000LP, 2 cards in hand]

[Inner Side Guardian Monster]

[Time Capsule] [Gaicard] X2

"My turn, draw a card." After drawing a card, Kaiba's lips curled into a cold smile.

"Hmph, all that boasting and bravado, and you really are just a useless coward?" Kaiba coldly added the card he had just drawn to his hand and said, "I was even a little bit serious, how boring. Well then, I'll finish you off this turn."

"Spell Card [Double Tornado]: Discard one card from my hand, and then I can destroy up to two Spell/Trap Cards on the field."

Sending a card from his hand to the graveyard, Kaiba points to Chigurhfrid's back row: "I'm going to crush those two face-down cards in your back row!"

"Don't even think about it!" Chigurhfrid triumphantly opened his face-down card. "Chain! [Double Tornado]! I activate the Trap Card [Seal of Time]! Skip your next draw phase!"

"Then another card will be destroyed by [Double Tornado], and because of the effect of [Frea's Apple] being destroyed, I draw a card from my deck."