Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Amid Malik's sarcastic remark, "He didn't even get divine punishment, his backing must be really strong," Camus saw [Ra's Winged Dragon - Sphere] begin to transform. Its golden wings spread out, and the majestic ring symbolizing the sun moved behind it. [Ra's Winged Dragon - Sphere], which was originally just a minor monster, transformed into a form that truly proved its status as a "god"—[Ra's Winged Dragon]!

【Ra's Winged Dragon】【10☆/God】

[Phantom Beast Race/Effect]

【？ /？ →4000/4000】

"The Winged Dragon Ra, which transforms from the 'Spherical' form, will have its Attack and Defense stats increased to 4000." Hayato paused, then opened his arms under Camus's questioning gaze.

The next moment, Camus saw Hayato fly into the air and appear above the head of Ra's Winged Dragon, with half of his body merging into the interior of the sun god.

“Using the special effect of [Ra's Winged Dragon of Ra], I can combine with her and increase [Ra's Winged Dragon of Ra]'s ATK and DEF by the amount of Life Points I paid until I pay 1 Life Point.” Hayato said, pointing to Camus on the ground below him. “The blessing of the card spirit, the resolve to sacrifice, and Camus's 'Throw Away'!”

"Right now, I'm stronger. Then, with the power of Kami, you vampire who doesn't even have the right to hide in the shadows!"

"Surfer Assault!"

[Hayato: 7600→1LP]

In just a moment, Hayato's high amount of Life Points gained from unleashing [Hellfire Teara] was reduced to 1 point, and this power was completely absorbed by [Ra's Winged Dragon] which was connected to it, causing its attack power, which was already comparable to [Obelisk the Tormentor], to surge even higher!

【Ra's Winged Dragon】【ATK4000→11599】

Looking at the Winged Dragon of Ra radiating divine light, and imagining him spewing out golden solar fire that could incinerate everything, Camus's eyes widened: "Impossible! How could a mere Card Spirit possess such power!"

"My ambition to revive the vampire clan! I—"

"boom!"

Hayato had no intention of listening to Camus finish his dying words. The divine fire descended, instantly burning away Camus's life points, along with the shameful traitor in his deck, [Hellfire Machine Tierra].

(【Tiera】: Why don't you think back to how you sent me to the grave?)

[Camus: 4000LP → 0]

As expected, Kamille's Life Points were instantly reduced to zero by the power of the Winged Dragon of Ra. The moment Hayato won the duel, the Dark Game domain he had created dissipated, and Hayato, Malik, and the defeated Kamille returned to the aircraft cabin.

Chapter 681 Although I don't want to admit it, it's all because of mistakes I made when I was young.

As mentioned before, in the Dark Games, the Winged Dragon of Ra is a monster of a much higher level than other monsters. Regardless of its attack power, the damage it can cause is far beyond what other monsters can do. Not to mention that Hayato also increased the Winged Dragon of Ra's attack power to a full 11599 points in one go.

Generally speaking, this damage would be enough to incinerate an opponent facing the attack of the Winged Dragon Ra from body to soul. However, the vampire Camus was still alive. Although Hayato held back, it was largely due to the superhuman vitality that vampires, as supernatural beings, possess.

However, this does not mean that Camus will survive.

The realm of the Dark Game dissipated as the duel ended, and the monsters vanished. Only behind Camus, who lay on the ground, did the [Phantom Gate], which he had used during the duel, reappear.

"W-What's going on? Why has the [Gate of Illusions] reappeared?!" Camus seemed completely unprepared for this situation. The more arrogant he had been during the duel, the more terrified he was of the [Gate of Illusions] standing behind him.

He already paid the [Gate of Illusions] his soul as Cost, so why is the [Gate of Illusions] reappearing now as if it wants to take his soul back?!

This wasn't the first time I'd used a more powerful [Phantom Gate] to rewrite the rules in an already unfolding dark game, but why was I feeling this pull on my soul?

As a vampire, Camus's body has extremely high vitality. Even if someone cleaves his entire body vertically with a sword, he can stick his body back together with his hands. He can also survive if his head is cut off. He can even squeeze the water out of his eyes like a laser without any problem.

Ordinary methods cannot kill vampires, but the power of the Dark Games and the secret card of the vampire clan, the "Gate of the Illusion," are different. They directly target life and the soul, and no matter how strong Camus's body is, he cannot escape death.

Camus felt his soul being pulled out of his body, filled with resentment and confusion. Just then, he saw Hayato calmly take out three cards from a card box at his waist.

"【Gate of Illusions】Ah, I don't know what the connection is between your card and their combined form, since they are all called 'Gate of Illusions'."

By turning the three cards in his hand, Camus saw that the three cards in Hayato's hand—[Divine Flame Emperor - Uria], [Thunder Emperor - Hamon], and [Phantom Demon Emperor - Labiell]—merged into one, forming a card also named [Phantom Demon Gate].

"But who gave you permission to use those cards to tamper with the dark game I was playing?"

Holding the [Gate of the Phantom Demons] card, which he had temporarily "transformed" using the method of fusing the three Phantom Demons that he had learned from Anubis, Hayato felt that he now had absolute control over the [Gate of the Phantom Demons] behind Camus, which was not a card but a real entity. Camus's life or death, having lost the duel, was entirely in Hayato's hands.

In that case, what's the point of saying anything? Are we just going to keep Camus alive until the New Year?

With that thought in mind, Hayato was about to use the power of the [Gate of Illusion] to re-impose the punishment that Camus had escaped from the dark game—the soul being devoured by darkness—on him.

"Those disrespectful cards are now out of print—"

"Wait, please wait, please spare my life!" Just before Hayato was about to take Camus's soul, Camus, who was shocked by the [Gate of Illusions] card in Hayato's hand, seemed to sense that his death was imminent. To the surprise of Hayato and Malik, he suddenly knelt down and frantically begged Hayato for mercy.

The stark contrast between Camus's current pathetic and pleading appearance and his arrogant attitude before the duel was striking. The contrast surprised even Hayato. Camus, fearing that he might change Hayato's mind if he spoke too late, quickly said, "If you let me go, Lord Hayato Kobayashi, I can tell you who hired me to hurt you!"

"Think about it, I am so weak and powerless in front of you, I pose no threat to you at all. But if you know who hired me, you can be more cautious on your journey ahead, right? It's a very worthwhile deal!"

As Camus knelt on the ground, he forced a rather strained "smile" while his hands, resting on his knees, gripped his flesh so tightly that his nails almost dug into his skin.

What a disgrace! So utterly disgraceful! A noble vampire kneeling and begging for mercy from a human, who is nothing but food. To survive, he has to be so humble and subservient. The dignity of a noble vampire is being trampled on like dirt. What a disgrace!

However, I must survive. For the sake of the revival of the vampire clan, I, as a member of the vampire clan, must survive!

It's just a temporary humiliation. Compared to my precious life, I might as well give up my dignity. Anyway, only two humans, Kobayashi Hayato and that foul-mouthed guy next to him, know about my shameful state. Once those two short-lived humans die of old age, my stain will naturally disappear.

If they survive today...

Camus lowered his head slightly, hiding his sinister gaze from Hayato.

"Using information about your employer that should be kept confidential to exchange for your own life? Ha, as a mercenary, you really have professional ethics." Hayato looked at Camus, who was kneeling and begging for mercy, with disdain, thought for a moment, and said, "Fine, I really want to know who wants to kill me so badly. I grant your request."

Camus was overjoyed to hear Hayato agree to let him go and instinctively wanted to ask who had hired him, but before he could even raise his head and say anything, he suddenly remembered that in the intelligence he had gathered, someone had described Kobayashi Hayato as an extremely cunning and treacherous person.

While others might be capable of betrayal, breach of contract, or selling out teammates, Kobayashi Hayato does these things without any psychological burden.

Thinking of this, Camus hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "You have to swear that you will never hurt me, otherwise I will swallow this secret and take it to the underworld rather than tell it!"

Despite his tough talk, Camus knew he had no right to negotiate with Hayato. He feared Hayato might lose interest in the information because of his demands and then kill him. He was simply gambling that Hayato didn't see him as someone who needed to be killed and that he would value the information that "someone wants to kill him."

Fortunately, Camus seemed to have made the right bet. Hayato said helplessly, "I'm a man of my word, okay? If I promise something, I will never break it. You don't believe my promise? Fine, then I swear, as long as you tell me who hired you, I will absolutely not hurt you."

"I'm betting my Tamashi."

Hayato had gone to such lengths, even risking the Soul Card that every duelist considers their life, and Camus believed that Hayato truly wouldn't harm him.

Malik, standing to the side, glanced at Hayato with a hint of surprise: "Seriously, brother-in-law? Are you really going to let this guy go? He's not a good person, and if we let him go like this, who knows if he'll come back and attack us again?"

“Otherwise what? I’ve already staked my beloved Tamashi on this. I can’t just break my promise if this guy reveals the information.” Turning his head, Hayato pulled out three cards and showed them to everyone. “You know, [Disruption Yellow] and the others are my dearest friends, my brothers and sisters.”

"Ani Gei~" x3

Amidst the moved voices of the [Disruption] brothers, Hayato winked at Malik. Upon seeing this, Malik recalled what Hayato had just said and seemed to understand something, nodding knowingly.

Camus, oblivious to their exchange of glances, hurriedly spoke up, fearing that Hayato might change his mind because of Malik's words: "It's a guy who calls himself 'Pegasus Night Walker.' I've never seen him before and don't know what he looks like. I only know that someone with that name wants to kill you."

"He promised me a piece of land that once belonged to my family as payment for hiring me, and his reason for wanting to kill you seems to be because you killed Pegasus J. Crawford."

Camus blurted out all the information he knew, holding almost nothing back, all in order to satisfy Hayato and make him let him leave.

“Pegasus at Night?” Malik rubbed his chin. “Why do I feel like I’ve seen a similar name somewhere before? Right, doesn’t Pegasus have an adopted son named Pegasus at Night? I even saw him hosting during halftime at the KC Cup.”

"The Heavenly Horse Travels at Night, the Heavenly Horse Travels by Moonlight—is there any connection between these two people? Their names are so similar."

"Well, I'm not too sure either. I don't know much about you humans, but it shouldn't be related, right?" Camus replied to Malik. Although he looked down on Malik, who seemed weak and had a foul mouth and had just said some things he shouldn't have, Camus didn't show any dissatisfaction with Malik because of Hayato. After all, this guy was obviously someone who got in through connections.

How did you figure that out? Just kidding, he even calls Hayato "brother-in-law," Camus has very sharp ears.

“It’s alright? Probably, but to send someone to kill you, brother-in-law, just because of something like ‘killing Pegasus’…” Malik said, turning to look at Hayato.

Hayato turned his head and glanced at the scenery outside the cabin: "Although I don't want to admit it, it's all because of mistakes I made when I was young."

"Brother-in-law, you've only just come of age, right? When you say 'younger,' are you referring to your teenage years when you were thirteen or fourteen and had a severe case of chuunibyou (middle school syndrome)?" Malik delivered a precise sarcastic remark.

"No, in Japan, you're considered an adult at 20, and you can't drink alcohol until you're 20. But you can get married at 16."

Hayato said casually, feeling a little strange about what was going on with this guy, Tenma Yagyō.

According to the information Kaiba had previously investigated, it was indeed the brothers Tenma Yako and Tenma Tsukiko who were adopted by Pegasus. However, for some reason, Tenma Yako disappeared from almost everyone's memory, as if his outstanding older brother, Tenma Tsukiko, had attracted everyone's attention, causing his own presence to disappear. Even Pegasus and Tenma Tsukiko were unaware of Tenma Yako's existence.

Besides the defeated Schreid Group and the Paradis Group that perished along with Doma, the commotion at the KC Cup also involved Pegasus Yagyō, who seemed to have allied with Bakura. It was at that time that I made a grudge against them by first promising not to help the Kaiba Group and then going back on my word.

But if he wanted revenge, couldn't he have done it long ago? Why wait until now, using the fact that he killed Pegasus as an excuse? It's not like he's playing a game where you need an excuse to declare war. Besides, even though he did kill Pegasus, Pegasus was later resurrected after Hayato destroyed "Orichalcos God," so he didn't lose anything.

In other words, Pegasus originally held 40% of the shares in International Fantasy Company, but due to the back-and-forth transactions, he lost about 10%, so now Pegasus's shareholding is the same as that of Hayato and Yugi.

Well, it's not a big deal at all. Didn't Pegasus say things like "100 million is a small goal for me," "I have no interest in money," and "founding the International Illusion Society was my biggest mistake"? Even if he didn't say it, we can just assume he did.

Hayato was pondering what Pegasus Night Walk was all about, while Camus, after revealing all the information he knew, didn't rush to get up. Instead, he remained kneeling on the ground, looking up at Hayato, and cautiously said, "That's all I know. I've made the deal. Can you let me go now? You promised me with your precious Pokémon."

Under the suppression of the [Gate of Illusion], Camus dared not make any big moves. Who knew if Hayato could control the card? It would be terrible if he accidentally sucked himself in.

Although he hadn't yet asked Camus about the differences between the three Phantom Demons' "Gate of Phantom Demons" and the "Gate of Phantom Demons" that Camus claimed to have inherited, Hayato wasn't particularly interested in figuring it out. With a casual wave of his hand, the "Gate of Phantom Demons" card in his hand transformed back into three Phantom Demon cards, and the Phantom Demons behind Camus, which had been tearing at his soul, stopped moving, its open doors beginning to slowly close.

Camus breathed a sigh of relief; the feeling of entrusting one's life to another was truly unpleasant, but he had survived. Feeling his soul, which had almost been ripped out, return to his body, Camus, feeling he had successfully saved his life, prepared to stand up.

Camus had barely moved his foot and hadn't even straightened up when suddenly he saw Malik take a golden object from Hayato's hand and swing it around, smashing it into his face!

Chapter 682 Hayato Kobayashi, you tricked me!

Three thousand years ago, a dark and bloody ritual gave birth to the seven artifacts known as the "Millennium Artifacts," each possessing immense dark power.

Although the seven props appear to be made of gold, their hardness is far beyond that of gold, a soft metal with a Mohs hardness of only 2.5, due to the immense power they contain. They are even harder than diamonds, which have a hardness of 10, and their strength is such that even hydraulic equipment measured in tons cannot be deformed.

How did Hayato know? It certainly wasn't out of curiosity that he wanted to cut open the dagger that came with the Millennium Scepter to see its internal structure.

Therefore, Malik was not worried at all that his actions at this moment would damage the Millennium Scepter. After taking the Millennium Scepter from Hayato, he gripped the long handle with both hands and, like someone in "The Last Miracle" smashing the previous protagonist in the head with a golf club, swung it around and smashed it into Camus's face!

Camus is a vampire, and his physical strength does indeed surpass that of ordinary people, but he is still a long way from becoming stronger by sunbathing like a Kryptonian. Halfway up his feet, he was hit by Malik and knocked backwards to the ground.

Because of his deal with Hayato, Camus had no idea he would be attacked, so he didn't even have time to react when Malik attacked him. But when he was lying on the ground again, the pain on his face triggered the anger that Camus had been hiding inside him.

"How dare you!" Camus leaped up from the ground, his mouth twisting into a monstrous grin, and was about to pounce on Malik, who was standing right next to him. However, his attack only took the first step. As the symbol of the "Eye of Ugato" appeared on his face, which had just been struck by the Millennium Scepter, his entire body became immobilized.

"What kind of power is this!?" Even without counting the time he spent sleeping at the bottom of the sea, Camus was already several hundred years old. However, as a vampire who would never leave his castle unless he needed to capture humans for food, Camus had never even left his own country in the past few hundred years and had no idea what the "Millennium Artifact" was.

"Hmm, let me see. These are supernatural artifacts left behind by ancient civilizations. They have different functions; some can control people's minds, some are mainly golden, and some can be used to smash people... I understand, this is the Golden Apple." Hayato watched as Malik used the Millennium Scepter to control Camus's actions, spouting nonsense that even Malik couldn't understand.

"Why, Hayato Kobayashi? Didn't we make a promise? I've told you everything I know. You can't hurt me. You swore an oath with your card!"

Although he couldn't move his body, it didn't stop Camus from glaring angrily at Hayato and Malik, reminding them of the deal they had just made.

Hayato looked puzzled upon hearing this: "Huh? That's strange. I don't remember breaking the agreement. Didn't we agree that if you tell me the information, I will let you go and not hurt you?"

"However, just like you deliberately didn't say you wouldn't attack us again, I also didn't say Malik couldn't hurt you." Hayato said, a smug look on his face, and shrugged. "It was Malik who attacked you, what does that have to do with me, Hayato Kobayashi?"

"Hayato Kobayashi, you fat pig!"

Camus was so enraged by Hayato's shameless expression that his eyes widened, and he wished he could shoot the tears from his eyes and pierce Hayato in front of him. But the next moment, he couldn't even move his eyes.

The Millennium Scepter is shaped like two ears surrounding the head, symbolizing the control of the mind. Although it is unknown why a certain priest in ancient Egypt who wielded the Millennium Scepter and had a particular fondness for "humming" when speaking could only "seal the spirit in people's hearts into the stone tablet" when using it, in Malik's hands, its ability is particularly prominent in the manipulation of thoughts.

During the time of Gurus, Malik left a mark containing the power of the Millennium Scepter on most of his subordinates. With this power, he could freely read their minds and even erase their minds at any time, turning them into his puppets. This is why Malik, who was only ten years old, was able to establish the huge international criminal organization Gurus without being betrayed or sidelined.