Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

【Dartz: 1200→1LP】

"Ugh!" Even Darz was shaken by the power of [Earthbound God - Veracocha Raska].

Dartz looked up at [Earthbound God - Veracocha Raska], her breathing became a little heavy, but she still held on and said, "Tch, even so, my life points haven't reached zero yet, enough to last until the next round."

"There will be no next turn, Dartz. Despair is your end." Hayato played the second card in his hand, seemingly a replica of the previous [Lightning Strike]. This time, lightning crackled above Dartz's head. "Remember the pain of stealing someone else's precious treasure. Enjoy the pleasures of the hellish path!"

"Spell Card [Lightning Smash]: Destroy both monsters on my field and inflict damage to you based on the number of monsters destroyed x 300!"

Looking at his own [Earthbound God - Veracocha Laska] and [Five Divine Dragons] on the field, Hayato said without hesitation, "Let's sacrifice ourselves for the greater good!"

The thunderbolt struck, engulfing Dartz's figure. Just when Hayato thought this attack would wipe out Dartz's Life Points, he saw the lightning that was supposed to hit Dartz deflect instead to a card that had been revealed in Dartz's back field.

"Trap Card [Energy Absorption Plate], just as I expected, Hayato. You still really like using effect damage cards." Although he only had 1 Life Point, Dartz looked confident. "You use cards like [Goblin Thief], [Summoning Exophysis], and [Lightning Smash] way too many times."

“I prepared this card precisely because I anticipated that you might use an effect damage card to wipe out my Life Points before I could enter the battle phase!” Dartz explained proudly. “【Energy Absorption Plate】can only be activated when the effect that caused me damage is activated by the opponent, restoring the same amount of Life Points as a replacement for the damage taken.”

"In other words, my current base score has actually increased instead of decreased!"

【Dartz: 1→601LP】

"What?!" Hayato stared wide-eyed at Dartz, who had actually survived his fatal blow, with an expression of disbelief.

"So, you've really run out of options, haven't you, Hayato?" Dartz sighed, looking at his Life Points, which were just one point higher than Hayato's. "It's been a long duel, like the millennia I've traversed to restart the world. But it's finally come to an end."

"If I'm not mistaken, the card you have in your hand is a blue-bordered Ritual Monster, the Ritual Monster of Chaos Warrior. But it's a real shame that even if your other card is a Ritual Spell Card, you don't have any tributes to offer. And even if you summon a monster with high attack power, you won't be able to attack it."

"If the dice you just rolled had rolled a little higher, it might have created a chance for you to win. But alas, just as no matter how many brilliant ideas a person has, they cannot create a miracle or a hopeful future, fate has been kind to me, Darz!"

"Hahahahaha!"

As she spoke, Darz laughed confidently.

But---

"Sorewadoka na!"

To Dartz's surprise, Hayato still hadn't given up. Instead, he confidently raised the card in his hand: "You say I can't summon this monster? Then watch me, Dartz, the pieces of my victory puzzle have already been put together in the graveyard!"

"Life is a process of accumulating pain and eventually coming to an end, but this does not mean that life is a story composed of death and ending."

"All the monsters who sacrificed themselves in this duel are etched in my memory. Their deaths were not meaningless. Now, reveal the name of the legend!"

The time for coronation has come!

As Hayato raised the card in his hand, the surrounding chaos began to converge towards it, and at the same time, an altar slowly rose from the ground in front of Hayato!

"【Ritual of the Super Warrior】was sent to the Graveyard by the effect of 【Half-Dragon Maid - Laundry Dragon Girl】. Its effect cannot be activated during the turn it is sent to the Graveyard." Hayato retrieved the card representing the Altar from the Graveyard. "I will banish 【Ritual of the Super Warrior】from the Graveyard, along with one LIGHT and one DARK monster. I will then Special Summon one 【Chaos Warrior】Ritual Monster from my hand, ignoring its Summoning conditions!"

"Dark attribute, [Gaia, the Dark Knight of Gale]!"

"The light-attribute monster is, [Half-Dragon Maid/Dragon Girl Butler]!"

"One soul guides the light, one soul guides the darkness; my light is eternity, my darkness is reality. Be one who illuminates all things and paves the way! Appear!"

"My Tamashi!"

"[The Legendary Gladiator - Chaos Warrior]!"

Transcending the boundaries of light and darkness, Gaia absorbed the power from the Half-Dragon Maid and Dragon Girl Butler. The power of light and darkness was harmonized in her hands, transforming into a chaotic sword that surpassed everything. The armor on her body was also transformed and sublimated under the influence of this ultimate power!

[The Legendary Gladiator - Chaos Warrior] [8 stars/land]

[Warrior Race/Ritual/Effect]

[3000/2500]

"Attack power comparable to [Blue-Eyes White Dragon]!" Dartz's eyes widened as he looked at the [Chaos Warrior] that had appeared on Hayato's field. Although Dartz knew of the existence of the [Chaos Warrior]'s ritual monster, it was certainly not like the monster on Hayato's field. That aura was like a sharp sword capable of separating light and darkness!

The one who wields this sword is undoubtedly someone who can become either a hero who saves the world or a demon king who destroys it in the blink of an eye!

Dartz glanced at Hayato, seemingly lost in thought. Then he spoke, "But Hayato, you can't enter combat mode. And speaking of the [Half-Dragon Maid, Laundry Dragon Girl], I just saw her send your [Spiritual Exophysis] into the graveyard. What offensive means do you have left?"

"Yeah, Little Blue is a master of blind stacking, sending my [Spiritual Exophysis] to the graveyard. It's infuriating to think about. I even want to remove her from my 'pure' Dragon Maid deck." Because the summoning of [Legendary Gladiator] banished [Half-Dragon Maid - Dragon Butler], Hayato naturally felt that his purity had increased once again, and inserted the card in his hand into the Duel Disk.

"But who said I could only have one [Spiritual Exophysis] in my deck?"

"Activate the Continuous Spell Card [Spirit Exophysis]: During each player's End Phase, Tribute 1 monster you control and inflict damage to your opponent equal to half of that monster's original ATK!"

"Then, my turn ends, and then [Spiritual Exophysis] takes effect—a necessary sacrifice!"

Hayato waved his hand and pointed at Dartz, "Go! [Gaia], no, [The Legendary Gladiator - Chaos Warrior]!"

Let's forge a new future!

Dartz removed his finger from the start button on the Duel Disk, realizing that even using the Forbidden Cloth couldn't stop Hayato. He watched as the Legendary Gladiator - Chaos Warrior, transformed into a spirit, charged towards him past the two monsters, one light and one dark, Nasa and Manjusaka. Raising his sword, he closed his eyes in despair.

It failed, but there's nothing that can be done about it; after all, it's Hayato.

However, the light and darkness were perfectly harmonized, and I witnessed an incredible scene. This memory will surely be useful for the next time.

"I have to admit, you're stronger now."

"It's your victory, Hayato. No, human—"

"boom!"

[Dartz: 601LP→0]

As Dartz's Life Points were reduced to zero by the attack of [Legendary Gladiator - Chaos Warrior], the Field Spell Card [Chaos Field] experienced a violent fluctuation. The light and darkness separated by the sword caused a violent impact. In an instant, Hayato appeared in mid-air and saw the giant serpent "Orichalcos" howling and falling into the sea not far away.

The system's settlement notification also rang in Hayato's ears.

[Congratulations to the duelist for winning! Dartz 1/1 has been defeated.]

[Rewards being processed...]

Chapter 666 God of Creation

Although its own system occasionally likes to spout nonsense in unimportant places, such as repeatedly slandering Hayato as a duelist from the underworld, it has not made any mistakes so far.

Although Hayato didn't know what Dartz's last face-down card was, since the system said it had defeated Dartz and even started calculating rewards, Dartz was probably already defeated.

After all, on the surface, Hayato's final attack seemed to be just a routine release of monsters to unleash a wave of effect damage and finish off the opponent. However, in reality, he truly gave his all. Not only did the Millennium Wisdom Wheel on his chest become dim and lifeless after leaving the body of "Orichalcos", but even "Gaia" returned to the card and fell into a deep sleep.

Although Hayato was also looking forward to collecting the mission rewards, there was another more important matter facing him: he had to figure out how to avoid falling to his death from the sky into the sea.

He wasn't a character from a video game who could survive a fall from any height as long as there was a puddle or a haystack. Hayato estimated the distance between himself and the sea, and if he just free-fell, crashing into a puddle of mud would be a pretty good outcome.

Fortunately, although Hayato felt that he and Dartz had been fighting inside the "Orichalcos" for quite some time, that world seemed to be a mental world, and in reality, less than a second had passed in the outside world.

In fact, above the floating city of Atlantis, Jonouchi, Kaiba, and Yugi hadn't even had time to worry about Hayato, because they had just seen Hayato and Ra's Winged Dragon, under the cover of the other two Egyptian Gods, collide with the "Orichalcos," which suddenly lit up with neon lights and stopped moving. The next moment, they saw Hayato and the "Orichalcos" fall to the ground, and Dartz had already disappeared.

Seeing that Ragnaros had caught Hayato as he fell, Kaiba secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He withdrew Blue-Eyes White Dragon, which was almost on the Duel Disk, and looked warily in the direction of Orichalcos: "What's going on? Where did Dartz go!?"

"I don't know, he was just here a second ago." Jonouchi was even faster, having already released the [Red-Eyes Black Dragon] to soar through the air. "More importantly, what's going on with Hayato? Could something have happened to him?"

"Have more faith in Hayato, Jonouchi. Judging from the appearance of [Ra's Winged Dragon], Hayato should be alright," Yugi reassured Jonouchi.

As duelists, it was only natural that they all had eyesight at the level of red-clad archers. The three of them clearly saw Hayato being caught by the Winged Dragon Ra in the distance. After he stood firm, Hayato waved to them, as if to let them know that he was alright and there was nothing wrong with him.

Seeing that Jonouchi had returned with a greeting from afar, Hayato knew they were relieved and breathed a sigh of relief, then lay down on Ra's Winged Dragon's head. Although defeating Dartz didn't mean everything was over, at least the biggest problem was gone, and Hayato could finally rest for a moment, catch his breath, and relax his tense nerves.

"Hey~"

The card 【Ra's Winged Dragon】 that had returned to his hand emitted a deliberately cutesy voice, leaving Hayato somewhat helpless: "Why don't I use you for the duel? Stop being so cutesy, there's no other way. If I take your card into that giant mudskipper's body, who will help me open the passage? That's why you're so important."

"Alright, alright, at worst, we'll prepare a magnificent stage for you next time."

While calming down the Winged Dragon Ra, who showed no arrogance or dignity befitting a "Card of God" in front of him, Hayato reached out to press the button on the system screen that appeared in front of him to claim the reward for the system's settlement.

But just then, a huge roar came from above.

"Roar!!!"

After losing Dartz's control, "Orichalcos," which should have fallen back into the deep sea, somehow roared after colliding with the sea surface and flew into the air again!

Orichalcos was in a terrible mood. Although it was essentially a screening process for surface civilizations, that didn't stop it from being so angry that it wanted to destroy everything it saw.

As the embodiment of the planet's darkness, it seems destined to be the ultimate boss, and should theoretically be incredibly powerful. With absolute power, it even has the authority to bestow power upon humanity at will, deceiving us by saying, "Humans are so interesting that I won't destroy them."

In fact, ten thousand years ago, it did just that, lending its power to Dartz to use. As a result, Dartz himself came to the conclusion that the world had to be destroyed. However, the legendary dragon from the Elf Realm stopped the world-destroying event, and Dartz was forced into a deep sleep.

However, the opponent didn't fare any better. Orichalcos's struggle before being defeated severely injured the opponent, forcing it to fall into a deep sleep even after splitting itself in two.

Originally, Orichalcos had planned to sleep for ten thousand years and then fight everyone again after waking up. However, Orichalcos never expected that Dartz, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, would have so many crooked thoughts and even set his sights on the dark power he possessed. Dartz tampered with his body while he was asleep. If someone hadn't severed the connection between Dartz and Orichalcos, Orichalcos would probably have been a background character from beginning to end.

However, there are no ifs. I have now successfully awakened. Although I have lost some of my power as a result, it doesn't matter. Even if I have to endure the wear and tear of ten thousand years, I, the god Orichalcos, am still invincible in the world!

Dartz is nowhere to be found, so next up are you, humans!

Unlike Dartz's extravagant spending, Orichalcos, upon regaining control of his body, immediately chose to shrink. Although he had been under control before, this didn't mean Orichalcos was unaware of what had happened outside. The Three Egyptian Gods were nothing to fear as long as their names remained unrevealed.

Thinking this, Orichalcos, still possessing a massive body, coiled around the floating city of Atlantis, looking down at the three gamers struggling to maintain their balance amidst the tremors of the ground on the dilapidated streets.

Before destroying the world, let's start with these three ants as an appetizer.

With his gaping maw wide open, Orichalcos thought to himself, and was about to take action.

But somehow, it noticed something was wrong.

I only wanted to shrink my body to this length and that was it, but why can I still feel my body shrinking little by little?!

From the beginning, when his head was the same size as the floating city of Atlantis, to when his winding body could wrap around the entire castle, this change was still within Orichalcos's control. But why did his body continue to shrink, to the point where his entire body could only cling to the castle?

The giant beast's inhuman face showed a human-like expression of astonishment and fear. It frantically looked at its body with its head, which was gradually becoming stiff and powerless, only to find that its body surface was emitting various colors of light, like a Christmas tree wrapped with lights!

Those are Hayato's Hellfire Machines!

With the break in the connection between Dartz and Orichalcos, the latter regained consciousness and was no longer suppressed. However, this also meant that the Hellfire monsters lost Dartz's restraint. Like vines parasitizing a giant tree, they unilaterally absorbed the former's nutrients. Led by Hellfire Decimal, the Hellfire monsters frantically plundered the dark energy that Orichalcos had stored up for ten thousand years!

Although such a brutal and crude method of plundering would inevitably waste most of the energy, Hayato wouldn't feel bad about it, since he had obtained this power for free.

Orichalcos struggled furiously, trying to rip off the parasites, but could only watch helplessly as his dark power was drained and his body withered away, while the lights on the Hellfire monsters grew brighter with each increase in the amount of dark power they absorbed.

Even after the individual [Hellfire Machines] had "eaten their fill" and reached their maximum absorption capacity, specks of light drifted toward Hayato's hand and converged on a card.

"Don't think you have a reason to throw a tantrum just because you woke up, you bastard. Do you think other people don't get tired from dueling?" With his foot on top of the Winged Dragon of Ra's head, Hayato looked down contemptuously at the Orichalcos, whom he didn't even consider a threat. "I used a pure Dragon Maid deck to finally defeat Dartz for the sake of Soul, and now you're causing trouble again without even giving me a chance to rest."

"I was planning to deal with you slowly, but since that's how it is, then don't blame me!"

Hayato said, flipping the [Hellfire Machine - Tiera] card in his hand towards the direction of Orichalcos: "Although it can't compare to the power of the Genesis System's Star Tree, I didn't intend to print the complete form from the start. Let's use the dark power accumulated on this planet over the past ten thousand years as nourishment, and let the true form emerge from this shell!"

In his other hand, Hayato pulled out the card [Philosopher's Stone - Horel], and simultaneously held both cards above his head.

"The primordial power of duality, through the reappearance of numerous souls gathered under the wings of the sun, has descended with the ultimate authority to return everything to its origin!"