Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

“Everything I have, take it all as spoils if you want, even though you’ve already taken almost all of it,” Paradox’s voice was weak. “I hope it really can change the course of destruction, as you say…”

In a post-apocalyptic future, among the last survivors, the paradox "Paradox" occurs: bodily functions cease.

"Dead..." Hayato paused for a moment, then leaned down, placed his hand on Paradox's neck, and turned his face to the side, revealing the undamaged half of his face. "At least, he ended it as a human."

The solemn atmosphere didn't last long. Hayato picked up Paradox's deck and looked at [Ghost Rabbit], [Growing G], and other cards that existed in Paradox's deck but he hadn't used, cards that even Hayato envied. Emotional tears involuntarily streamed down his face.

Behind Hayato, Jaden watched Hayato collect his spoils with a look of embarrassment: "As expected of Mr. Hayato, you've had this habit since back then?"

"Has Hayato kept this habit into the future?" After their duel ended, Yami Yugi and Omoikazuchi switched places again, like magical girls undoing their transformations. Yugi was somewhat helpless that Jaden, who came from ten years in the future, also knew about Hayato's habit.

He had originally thought that in front of future guests, these seniors and elder brothers should at least maintain a good image, but judging from Judai's expression, it was clear that he hadn't been able to restrain himself much in the past ten years.

Hayato wasn't deaf either. After the duel ended and with the fleeing crowd not returning, the plaza was very quiet, so he naturally overheard the conversation between Yugi and Jaden.

"Don't make me sound like some kind of evil spirit. I have a legitimate purpose." Turning around, Hayato held several black cards with semi-transparent borders in his hand, and threw one of them at Yusei.

Yusei instinctively caught the card with both hands, but it shattered the instant it touched him, turning into a stream of light that entered his deck. Following the trail, Yusei discovered that the card that absorbed the light was none other than his own [Stardust Dragon].

The Stardust Dragon card, which had been stolen and left blank, was restored to its original state. Seeing the Stardust Dragon card that had been lost and found again, even Yusei, who was usually unmoved by emotions, showed a genuine and bright smile.

He looked up and thanked Hayato, who was handing out cards from his era to Jaden, saying, "Thank you very much, Mr. Hayato!"

"Wow, I never imagined Paradox would steal so many cards." Jaden exclaimed, looking at the huge pile of cards Hayato had shoved into his hands. "But even though he stole so many, he hasn't used them all."

“After all, a duel isn’t just about powerful cards; the duelist’s own strength is also a very important factor.” Hayato said, noticing Jaden curiously rubbing the glass-like outer shell of the translucent card, and reminded him, “Also, if you break that shell, I won’t help you deal with any potential history changes, Jaden.”

"Huh? Could that happen?" Upon hearing this, Judai obediently stopped what he was doing, carefully put the card into his backpack, and casually opened a bag of snacks to feed the orange cat "Pharaoh" that had been sleeping in his backpack.

While the four of them were having a great time with Paradox outside, it seemed that the guy and Daitokuji, whom he had swallowed, had a good sleep.

Just then, Hayato heard the sound of helicopter rotors above the central square. Although it was still quite a distance from the ground, the airflow blowing towards the ground had already messed up his hairstyle.

Turning his head, Hayato looked at the clock in the central square, only to find that it was still five minutes before 12:00, the time Pegasus was supposed to arrive, which surprised Hayato. How did Pegasus arrive early?

But in the next second, a rope was thrown out from the descending helicopter, and a man wearing a white trench coat, without gloves, grabbed the rope and jumped out of the helicopter, quickly descending to the ground!

"Bah."

With his pointed leather shoes clicking on the ground, the famous dragon cancer Seto Kaiba ignored the surprised expressions on the faces of the four people in front of him and said coldly, "Twenty minutes ago, Kaiba Corporation's satellites detected a duel data."

"They actually dared to use the Blue-Eyes White Dragon in Domino City, and it seems they even created other Blue-Eyes Dragons without permission. They're really despicable!"

Kaiba's target was Jaden, who hadn't yet stuffed all the cards into his backpack; he was still holding two cards in his hand.

The oddly framed "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" card placed on top was instantly ignored by Kaiba. Although "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" is a rare card worth millions of dollars on the market, Kaiba didn't care about that cheap card at all.

However, the card below the "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" card, due to the obstruction of the "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" card and the angle of Jaden's hand, only revealed a corner of the card art, and even only the tip of the claw was visible.

but!

For Kaiba, who needs to stare at the Blue-Eyes White Dragon for twenty minutes every night before bed to get a good night's sleep until eight in the morning, he could tell just by looking at this fingernail that the card must be the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!

"You are... Seto Kaiba!?" Before Hayato and Yugi could say anything, Jaden looked Kaiba up and down in surprise. "You're kidding me, right? Why does Mr. Kaiba from ten years ago look exactly the same as Mr. Kaiba from ten years later?"

"This isn't just about having the ability to preserve youth; it's like the creators of an anime with a continuous world view simply reused characters from previous works to save time and didn't even bother to draw new designs!"

Yusei was also quite surprised: "It's actually that legendary duelist who wields the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon and whose strength is second only to the Duel King, Seto Kaiba?"

Yusei comes from the future, several decades later, when Duel Monsters has been developing for many years. During that time, many famous duelists, along with the cards they used, have been forgotten and eliminated by the environment and the times, and only a few people have left their names.

Pegasus J. Crawford, the father of Duel Monsters

Yugi Muto, the Duel King who is always accompanied by the spirit of the nameless Pharaoh.

The Duelist King of the Ages with a Diverse Style—Hayato Kobayashi

The Black Dragon Messenger of Dice and Coins—Katsuya Jonouchi

And, Seto Kaiba, the strongest under Duel King, who controls three Blue-Eyes White Dragons.

Yusei even knew that his good friend Jack Atlas, while liking the first Duel King Hayato Kobayashi like most people, greatly admired Seto Kaiba.

There was even a time when Jack had some free time and unintentionally complained to Yusei that his ace monster, Crimson Dragon, which has the same attack power of 3000 as Blue-Eyes White Dragon, didn't have a three-in-one fusion form.

"Hmph, so noisy and rambling." Kaiba snorted coldly, not taking Yusei's praise to heart. To him, the phrase "second only to the Duel King" was completely superfluous.

Even though Kaiba can get along normally with Hayato in ordinary times, the goal of defeating Hayato and becoming the true strongest has never disappeared from his mind, not even for a moment.

However, if Kaiba knew that Yusei's evaluation of him came from decades later, and that he himself had never succeeded in his entire life, Kaiba's expression at that time would probably be quite interesting.

Staring intently at Jaden, who was holding a backpack and looking on with curiosity, Kaiba frowned: "Who exactly are you? And what's with that Blue-Eyes White Dragon you're wearing?"

“Ah, this [Blue-Eyes White Dragon]? Uh, would you believe me if I said this card was obtained by someone who wanted to rewrite history from ten years in the future?” Jaden said, pointing to himself with his thumb. “Also, my name is Yuki Jaden, also from ten years in the future.”

Upon hearing Jaden's explanation, Kaiba's serious expression didn't disappear; instead, his face darkened even more. He even turned to look at Hayato beside him.

“Yuki Judai? You mentioned that name to me before, right? Kobayashi Hayato. I remember you told me he was an eight-year-old child.” Kaiba stared at Hayato. “Eight years old!?”

"What time traveler? You think I'm stupid and easy to fool, don't you!"

“That Kaiba, Yusei, and Jaden are all from the future, they really didn’t lie to you.” Yugi testified for Jaden’s words, “Jendai is indeed from ten years in the future.”

Hayato is usually quite unserious, but Yugi always appears to be an honest person. So when Kaiba heard what Yugi said, even though he still didn't quite believe it, he calmed down his serious expression slightly, glanced at Jaden with his jellyfish-shaped head, and looked at Yusei with his crab-shaped head.

After pondering whether Yugi, who also sported a fish-like hairstyle, might be from the future like the other two, Kaiba asked, "Are you also from ten years in the future?"

"No, Yusei comes from several decades in the future, though I'm not entirely sure, but at least twenty or thirty years from now."

Jaden took the initiative to introduce Yuseido to Kaiba, but didn't notice that Kaiba's expression had become even more sour.

"According to Yusei, the city of Domino in the future seems to have been rebuilt, and the people of the future are all fighting on the highways on motorcycles called 'D-Wheels'—"

"enough!"

Jaden's introduction was interrupted by Kaiba, who raised the Duel Disk on his left hand and said angrily, "Enough of your nonsense. I don't have time to listen to your rubbish anymore."

"Since you keep stalling for time with nonsense, then I'll defeat you in a duel and interrogate you about the Blue Eye card in your hand!"

Hayato sighed helplessly, "As expected, in the end, playing cards solves everything."

"Is this the world of card dealers? Yada Thieves!"

Chapter 504 Obsequious to outsiders, but fiercely combative at home.

So, Jaden and Kaiba stood on opposite sides of the open space and started playing cards without warning.

[Junior: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

[Seahorse: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

"Hmph, I'll let you have the first strike, kid." Although Kaiba was actually not even 20 years old while Jaden was already in his twenties, because of the difference in height and aura between the two, even Jaden didn't feel anything was wrong with Kaiba calling him "kid".

"Although I'm quite happy to be able to duel with Mr. Kaiba, even I feel that the reason for the duel is too hasty." Jaden muttered to himself, his fingers resting on the deck, but his expression was quite excited. "But then again, it's not like I can't be a little more serious."

"My turn, draw a card!"

Looking at the card he had drawn, Jaden's lips curled up: "Yosh, I drew a pretty good card."

"I summon [E·hero Solid Man] in Attack Position, and then activate the effect of [E·hero Solid Man] when it is successfully summoned. Special Summon one [Hero] monster of 4 stars or lower from my hand. I choose [E·hero Sky Man].

Wearing small shields on both arms and lightweight armor that clearly indicates his expertise in defense, [E·hero Solid Man] appeared on the stage of Jaden. At the same time, a blue figure soared into the air behind him, accompanied by [E·hero Sky Man], who wore a propeller-driven flight backpack.

【E·hero Solid State Vehicle】【4☆/Location】

[Warrior Race/Effect]

[1300/1100]

【E·hero Sky Warrior】【4☆/Wind】

[Warrior Race/Effect]

[1800/300]

"Hmph, no matter how many small fry gather together, they're still just small fry. But, [E·hero]..."

Kaiba glanced at Hayato.

Hayato ignored Kaiba's murderous glare, instead looking at the [E·hero Sky Warrior] summoned by Jaden and sighing, "If there were three Sky Warriors, who wouldn't want to be a hero?"

Hayato ignored him, and Kaiba snorted coldly, looking back at the arena, deep in thought.

Due to recent business collaborations, the relationship between Kaiba Entertainment Group and Illusion International can be considered ambiguous. Kaiba is fairly aware of Illusion International's movements and therefore knows that Pegasus was originally scheduled to release the [E·hero] deck at the Duel Monsters Tournament today.

However, Kaiba also knows that while the newly released [E·hero] series does not consist entirely of ordinary monsters, there are no monsters like [E·hero Solid Man] or [E·hero Sky Man].

Moreover, Kaiba and other Duel Monsters fans who followed the competition had actually seen the [E·hero] deck in the previous "KC Cup". It was used by Kobayashi Hayato under the alias "Dan Kuroto" and a boy named "Yuki Judai".

Hayato is a 30% major shareholder of Mirage International. After Kaiba investigated Jaden Yuki's background, he also discovered that Jaden's father was a designer in Mirage International's card design department. Therefore, when Kaiba learned that Mirage International's newly released card was "E·hero", he wondered if Hayato had previously used the hype to promote the new card deck.

The guy in front of me, who was laughing like a fool like Jonouchi, did look a lot like the boy named "Yuki Judai." He called himself "Yuki Judai" and was using a new version of [E·hero] that even Kaiba didn't know about. This seemed to provide some evidence that he was indeed from the future and wasn't lying.

However, it doesn't matter if the other party really is from the future. Kaiba glanced at his perfect hand and a smile appeared on his lips.

Before my invincible Bruis, no ordinary duelist could close the gap with me even after ten years. Next round, watch me utterly crush my opponent in one turn!

After Judai used [E·hero Solid Man] to summon [E·hero Sky Man] by pulling two others, there were subsequent effects.

"When [E·Hero Sky Warrior] is successfully Summoned or Special Summoned, you can choose one of your own effects to activate. The first effect is to destroy Spell/Trap Cards that target the same number of [Hero] monsters banished from this card on the field," Jaden explained to Kaiba. "However, since there are no Spell/Trap Cards on the field, I will choose to activate its second effect."

"I'm adding a [Hero] monster from my deck to my hand," Jaden said, showing Kaiba a card he had retrieved from his deck—a female monster wearing cool black armor. "The one I'm adding to my hand is this [E·Hero Shadow Mist Lady]."

Kaiba watched Jaden's search with an indifferent expression, while Hayato, who was observing from the sidelines, had his eyelids twitching.

'First the eldest brother, then the eldest sister, the future Jaden is really showing off his skills,' Hayato thought to himself. 'Next, will he be showcasing that classic [Hero] deck combo?'

'You were basically slacking off and feeding cards when you played Paradox, but suddenly you got serious against Kaiba? Did he beat you up before?'

Jaden added [E·hero Shadow Mist Lady] to his hand and chuckled at Kaiba: "Mr. Kaiba, now comes the most exciting part of my [E·hero] deck, so don't blink."

"I will activate the Spell Card [Fusion], selecting [E·Hero Liquid Man] from my hand and [E·Hero Sky Man] from the field as Fusion Materials!"

The vortex of [Fusion] swallowed a monster wearing liquid armor from Jaden's hand and his [E·Hero Skyman] on the field, and a pure white figure came into Kaiba's view.

"The boundless power of the storm and the pure power of the flowing water converge, transforming into solid ice that stands guard at the front!"

"Fusion Summoning! [E·hero Absolute Zero]!"

The armor was a pure, flawless white, like the snow and ice of the polar regions. Its sharp angles didn't convey a sense of menace, but rather a cool, calming feeling. Glistening ice flowers bloomed on the ground beneath his boots, supporting the warrior who had appeared on the battlefield!

【E·hero Absolute Zero】【8☆/Water】

[Warrior Race/Fusion/Effect]

[2500/2000]