Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

[Mech Forces - Destroy Armed Forces] [ATK4600→4600]

【Guardian - Desceth】】【ATK5500→2500】

As several monstrous spirits flew out from the scythe, Amelda inserted the card into the magic trap zone. Because of the strain of driving the [Mech Force - Destruction Armed Force] attack, he was pushing himself to the limit. The dense sweat on his forehead, his pale lips, and his trembling fingers all testified that he was nearing his limit and could faint at any moment.

However, all of this could not conceal his invincible momentum and his determination to win.

"Rafael, in this duel, it was you, no, it was Dorma who lost." Although it was a bit of a struggle, Amelda felt it was necessary to tell Rafael what was on his mind before the duel was completely over. "Don't believe Dorma or Dartz anymore. Humanity is not just a dark existence. The coexistence of light and darkness is the true form of civilization that can move towards the future."

"Try to believe in the light in people's hearts and the possibilities of humanity. Darkness will never swallow up the brilliance of humanity. On the contrary, it is precisely because of this that the heart of light shines so brightly!"

Amidst a sudden loss of footing, Amelda nearly stumbled and fell. Barely straightening his spine, he proclaimed, "End the last monster of Rafiel affected by the [Orichalcos Barrier]! [Mech Force - Destruction Force]!"

"Destroy Burst Shoot!"

Normally, the name of the attack shouted during the fight would have been met with a roar from Kaiba, but at this moment, even the usually sharp-tongued Kaiba didn't say anything, and just quietly watched the two fighting.

This is the final showdown between their respective ace monsters, and also a battle of their beliefs; no one else has the right to interfere.

The [Mech Force - Destruction Armed Force], which was close to [Guardian - Desceth], fired a beam cannon at point-blank range, piercing through the opponent's body. Facing the oncoming bombardment, Rafiru struggled for a long time before finally showing a hint of relief.

With a long sigh, Rafael activated his last face-down card in his back row just as the cannonball was about to land: "I activate a Trap Card..."

Seeing that Rafael had activated a trap card, Ameluda was somewhat disappointed, but he quickly noticed that the face-down card Rafael had opened in the back row was [Explosive Ambush].

"Pay me 2000 Life Points, and I'll Special Summon a monster from my Graveyard in face-down Defense Position. I Special Summon [Guardian - Etos]." Rafael looked up, a smile spreading across his face. "At least, get them out of the Graveyard..."

"boom!"

[Rafiru: 625LP → 0]

Chapter 642 Invincible, Unstoppable, Full Power

Amelda never expected that Rafael's final card wasn't any other card, but rather "Explosive Ambush," a monster resurrected from the graveyard.

With the attack of [Mech Force - Destruction Force] already destroying [Guardian - Desceths], Raphiel was already doomed to defeat. However, before that, he deliberately paid out 0 of his Life Points, just to Special Summon [Guardian - Etos] from the Graveyard.

The death-like figure of [Guardian - Desceth] vanished in the light amidst the bombardment that accompanied hope and courage. With no hand cards to replace destruction, it disappeared, while the remaining impact of the bombardment landed on Rafiru.

When their vision returned, everyone saw Rafiru's body fall limply backward, only to be caught by a pair of hands.

Turning his head to the side, Rafael saw [Guardian - Etos] again, just as she had sheltered him after the shipwreck when he was stranded on a deserted island. She was still by his side.

Not only that, but when Rafael looked back through [Guardian-Aetos], the figures of [Guardian-Glar] and [Guardian-Kest] appeared one after another beside him, quietly protecting him. In them, Rafael vaguely saw the figures of his relatives whom he hadn't seen for over a decade, yet who had never disappeared from his memory.

Her parents, younger brother, and younger sister have never left her side; they have always been there with the Guardians, protecting her.

A strange light flickered in Rafiru's eyes, and the [Orichalcos Barrier] emblem on his forehead melted away like snow without him realizing it. With a smile playing on his lips, he slowly closed his eyes.

[Guardian-Aetos] gently laid Raferu's closed eyes flat on the ground, as she gradually dissipated after the duel ended. Before disappearing, [Guardian-Aetos] bowed to Amelda before turning into a few drifting white feathers and vanishing.

On the card 【Guardian - Desceth】 that fell from Rafael's Duel Disk and landed on the ground, the figure of the dark and desperate Grim Reaper was slowly turning into white paper and disappearing.

Looking at the scene before him, Yugi couldn't help but sigh, "Rafael has reconciled with the darkness within himself."

"Just like Ameruda."

Looking at Rafael lying on the ground, Jonouchi asked, "Is he dead?"

Upon hearing Jonouchi's words, Ameruda, who was standing in front of the group, turned around and smiled, "No, it's just that Rafael used too much of the power of the [Orichalcos Barrier] in the previous duel. I didn't use any [Orichalcos Barrier] cards to turn this duel into a dark game."

“Neither Rafael nor I actually wanted to kill each other, so we tacitly refrained from using the [Orichalcohol Barrier] card. Rafael just needs some rest now.” Ameruda said, pointing to herself, “The one who's truly in trouble is me—”

Before he could finish speaking, Ameluda's body went limp and he almost collapsed to the ground, but Guiping and Ryuzaki, being smaller in stature, managed to catch him in time.

"Ouch! Don't just collapse without a sound!" "Would it kill you to say something instead of trying to look cool!"

Supported by the two, Ameruda raised her head, looked at the seahorse in front of her, and said with difficulty, "Heh, don't worry about me. I've done what I wanted to do in the end. You also have things you want to do and enemies you have to defeat, don't you?"

"Keep moving forward, let me see what your future holds, Seto Kaiba..." With that, Amelda's head slowly lowered, and she fell into a deep sleep.

Forced to operate the [Mech Force - Destruction Armed Force] during the duel, Ameruda, having already secured victory, finally succumbed to the pressure and collapsed. Thus, the last two members of the original "Doma Three Musketeers," Rafael and Ameruda, were no longer able to rise again.

Although they were once rivals, Kaiba showed a rare act of kindness, instructing Isono to place Raferl and Amelda on a transport plane with ample space. After assigning the tasks, he turned around and looked back at the temple entrance, which was now free of powerful enemies.

"The key to destroying Doma lies in defeating Darz, who has survived from ten thousand years ago. Once we defeat him, we can release the souls of all those who have been sealed away." Jonouchi rarely analyzed. "That guy is in here right now. Once we defeat him, everything will be over."

The game nodded: "But before that, we might have to defeat one more person..."

Kaiba and Jonouchi exchanged a glance. Although neither said it explicitly, they both knew that the person Yugi was referring to was Hayato, who had joined the Doma organization.

"To defeat Hayato Kobayashi? If this were an RPG, it would probably be an ultimate mission of SSS difficulty." Kaiba frowned. "However, even he can't stop me from moving forward."

Unlike his older brother Seto Kaiba, Keihei believed in Hayato: "No, Hayato must have had his reasons for joining the Doma organization. I've always believed that, especially after the Paradis Building incident."

“That’s right, Keihei. You can’t not have faith in your friends.” Jonouchi patted Keihei on the shoulder and stepped forward to stand next to the seahorse. “Although we are on different paths, I believe that Hayato is still our partner. He must be fighting for justice in his own way.”

“In that case, let’s go. We can’t let Hayato fight alone.” Yugi stood between Jonouchi and Kaiba, taking a firm step forward. “Let’s bring our friend back, let’s defeat Dartz and save the world!”

The camera gradually zoomed out, focusing on the group of gamers walking into the temple entrance, which resembled the maw of a giant beast. Dartz smiled and said, "You really put on a wonderful show for me. Raferal and Ameruda, you performed exceptionally well."

"However, it is too naive to think that the darkness rooted in people's hearts is something that can be so easily removed and cut off. It is really presumptuous of them to try to refute my understanding of thousands of years based on their own few decades of experience."

"To put it another way, it's like, 'I've eaten more salt than they've eaten bread,' something like that," Dartz said, turning to look behind him. "What do you think, Hayato-kun?"

"I think it's because you have a heavy palate, and nobody counts how many loaves of bread they've eaten." Surrounded by several [Orichalcohol Barriers], Hayato said casually with an impatient look.

Not long after Rafael and Amelda left the altar where Dartz was, Hayato took the cards of the "Three Egyptian God Cards" that he had taken the opportunity to retrieve during his time in Doma and challenged Dartz to a duel, intending to take down Dartz before he could play them.

Hayato had been preparing for Dartz's immortality gained through his connection with "Orichalcos," and it was precisely because he was confident in defeating Dartz that he chose this time to make his move.

To this end, he even specially commissioned Keiping to help him gather intelligence to turn Ameruda against his own side, so that he could hold off Rafiru outside and allow him to have a one-on-one duel with Dartz.

Hayato's initial idea was quite good, but having been in this world of card players for so long, he had been subtly influenced by the common mindset of most people, believing that if things got heated, a game of cards would suffice. However, he forgot that in this world, having no sense of honor when playing cards was an essential quality of a high-level villain.

First there was a certain evil god who could be knocked down with a single punch and had never won a card game. Then there's the old immortal Dartz who Hayato is going to deal with this time. Dartz is the kind of person who can suddenly "tear off the screws" and run away when he's about to lose.

When faced with Hayato pulling out three "God Cards" to duel, Dartz shamelessly chose to avoid the fight. With just a snap of his fingers, he temporarily banished Hayato to another dimension using the power of the altar he was in.

To keep Hayato from getting bored, Dartz also left a projection of himself and an image of the outside world in the alternate dimension, so that Hayato could clearly see how Rafael and Amelda were dueling with the other two.

However, Dartz's oversight led to Amelda and Raferu, who were intended to wear down the morale of the others, turning into a fight among themselves. Not only did they both suffer heavy losses, but crucially, neither of them activated the [Orichalcos Barrier] to seal the loser's soul as a replenishment, which was truly a pity.

As Yugi and the others gradually made their way through the temple's passages towards the altar, Dartz withdrew the projection he needed to control, preparing to deal with Yugi and the others. He left only one sentence for Hayato in the alternate dimension:

"Wait here with peace of mind, Hayato-kun. I will soon deal with the nameless pharaoh and the other 'legendary dragon' user. Soon, no one will be able to stop me from creating a new world. The future of the world will be decided by me."

As Dartz disappeared, Hayato pursed his lips, then looked at the images on the virtual screen that moved with the other players in the game, and muttered to himself, "Move faster, Ari, are you even capable?"

"Don't question me, I've already tried my best, okay?" Hayato heard the voice of [Summoner Aleister] in his ear. "Not only do I have to break this barrier that's trapping you, but I also have to find a way to leave this other world. Even I would have a headache."

"Huh? I thought you were pretty amazing as one of the three great sages, but you can't even handle something like this? Is that all?"

“Hey, I didn’t say I couldn’t handle it, it just needs a little more time,” Alai said defiantly. “Ten minutes, I can finish it in ten more minutes. In the meantime, Master, why don’t you watch the video outside for a bit of entertainment?”

While Alai was painstakingly deciphering the alternate dimension where Hayato was, in the outside world, Yugi and his group had already traversed a long corridor and arrived at the altar deep within the temple.

By the flickering firelight, the city dweller saw countless miniature human figures on a mural he had just passed. These figures were dressed in different ways; some wore suits, while others wore ancient robes. They seemed to come from different worlds and eras.

The only thing they had in common was that each of them wore an expression of resentment and terror, as if they had seen something utterly frightening.

"Hey, game, did you see that?"

A guess popped into Jonouchi's mind, and he quickly said it to Yugi, who was walking ahead. Yugi also noticed the "murals" they were passing by and nodded, saying, "Ah, if I'm not mistaken, the walls here are probably the souls that Doma has collected for Daz over the past tens of thousands of years."

Despite aligning with the game's concept, Jonouchi still wore an expression of disbelief as he looked at the murals around him: "These... are all..."

The deeper one goes into the temple, the more spacious the space becomes, which means that the area of ​​the "murals" becomes larger and larger. It is hard to imagine how many souls are sealed here if such a large area is filled with souls that are about the size of a card.

"Are there really so many people harmed by Dorma? Just how many are there...?" Although the "scientific filter" in his mind subconsciously filtered the "sealed souls" into "statues of victims," ​​it did not prevent Kaiba from understanding that the people on the "murals" around him were victims of the Dorma organization for tens of thousands of years. Finally, he reached the end of the passage and stood in the wide space in front of the altar. Kaiba said with a cold face.

In response to the seahorse's words, Dartz, who had been waiting in front of the altar for a long time, looked down at the group that had arrived at the "finish line" and said arrogantly, "To answer to Hayato's question, do you remember how many slices of bread you've eaten?"

“Thirteen pieces. I’m a Japanese food enthusiast.” Ryuzaki answered instinctively. Then, he realized that everyone was staring at him, and belatedly realized that he didn’t actually need to answer the question.

Game stepped forward, glaring at the green-haired man he had met via video call at the Paradis Building: "Darz!"

"Where is Hayato?!"

“Hayato-kun? He’s in a very safe place, waiting for me to prepare the new world for him.” Dartz coldly looked at Yugi and said, “Unlike you filthy old humans who should be swept into the dust, Hayato-kun is my hero, destined to step into the new world.”

"I don't understand what you're saying, it's weird." Jonouchi frowned. "But, defeating you means I can take Hayato away, right? Well then, accept my challenge, Dartz. The Jonouchi I'm standing in front of you is going all out!"

"Hmph, mediocre talent, step back." Unwilling to be left behind in the castle, Kaiba stepped forward, raising his left hand to unfold the Duel Disk. "Don't waste your time on this mere second-rate duelist. I'll use my invincible Blue-Eyes to take him down!"

"Let's go together, Kaiba, Jonouchi! When we're united, we're unstoppable!" Yugi and the other two stood in a row, the three of them raising the Duel Disk towards Dartz. "Come on, Dartz!"

"Duel!" x3

[Haima: 4000LP]

[Within the city: 4000LP]

[Game: 4000LP]

Chapter 643 Profound Dark Fantasy

"Duel!" x3

[Haima: 4000LP]

[Within the city: 4000LP]

[Game: 4000LP]

Looking at the three people who had each unfolded their duel disks in front of the altar, Dartz smiled coldly: "Fine, if the three of them come at me together, it will actually save me a lot of time."

"Nameless Pharaoh, Set, and any unknown fodder (Jounouchi: Hey!), standing before you is the supreme leader of Doma, the president of the Paradis Group, the overseer of human civilization, the emperor of the Atlantis civilization ten thousand years ago, and the one who will cleanse the earth and create a new world!"

"My name is Dartz, and I will preside over the final judgment!"

【Dartz: 12000LP】

As he spoke, a Duel Disk appeared out of thin air on Dartz's wrist, displaying his Life Points.

Dartz's base score was 12000 points, which was the sum of the three's base scores. None of the three felt there was anything wrong with it. After all, for a true duelist, as long as the base score is not zero, it is infinite, and even an infinite base score can be reduced to zero.

However, Hayato from the other dimension raised an eyebrow, feeling that Dartz's move was rather underhanded.

Others might not know, but how could he not? Dartz's deck contained a Reptile that almost became a legendary Beast-type card, and one of its troublesome summoning conditions was having over 10000 Life Points.

While raising your Life Points to over 10000 in a normal duel isn't impossible, it's not easy either, and could even be considered difficult. However, Dartz achieved this from the very beginning using a 1 vs 3 duel. So, in this duel, as long as he keeps his Life Points above 10000 and meets other conditions, he can summon that troublesome monster.

However, the other players outside the game were unaware of Dartz's scheme, which had already begun before the duel even started; they were simply on high alert for Dartz.