Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Although the hat John wore covered most of his hair, the bits peeking out from the corners revealed that his hair color was the same lake blue as his eyes. In addition, he was the same age as Jaden Yuki and Jun Manjoume, and had almost the same personality and the rare ability to see spirits.

Hayato is certain that John, whom Rafael adopted, is most likely the future user of the [Jewel Beast], John Anderson. Although he can't help but marvel at how coincidental things are, perhaps it's true, as the saying goes, "People meet because of attraction."

"Insect-type cards, and such a simple opening at that... it really feels like returning to Duel Kingdom," Hayato said casually. "But, that [Guardian Power] card is......"

Upon hearing this, John glanced at Rafael beside him, who also lowered his hat: "Even I couldn't just stand by and watch Johnny use the deck he opened without offering any help. I only gave him one of the [Guardian Power] cards, which I didn't really need."

"One card? It's pretty good that you can draw the only card in your deck in the first turn." Hayato smiled, but then said, "However, without a single magic counter, [Guardian Power] is basically just a blank card. I can easily destroy your [Earth Spider] with a card like [Lightning Strike]."

“I’m not so oblivious as to not have thought of that, Mr. Hayato. To avoid that situation, we can just add a magic counter to [Guardian Power].” John smiled and played another card from his hand. “Activate the spell card [Magic Mastery], targeting [Guardian Power] on my field where I can place magic counters.”

"Place a magic counter on top of it, and then add another [Magic Mastery] to my hand from my deck."

[Guardian's Power] (Counter 0→1)

【Earth Spider】【0/1500→500/2000】

With the placement of the magic counter, John's Earth Spider's attack and defense were increased. John then drew two more cards from his hand and placed them on the back field: "Now, with these two cards face down, my turn is over, Mr. Hayato."

John: 4000LP, 2 cards in hand

[Earth Spider] (Guardian's Power) [DEF2000]

[GaiK] X2

When it was Hayato's turn, he first drew a card from his deck, glanced at John's "Earth Spider" on the field, and then, in the same manner, Normal Summoned a monster: "My turn, draw a card, and then I Normal Summon 'Half-Dragon Maid - Laundry Dragon Girl'."

"Whew, Little Blue, here I come!"

At Hayato's event, Blue hurriedly appeared carrying a basket of clothes. After placing the basket on the ground, she tried to spin around and strike a cool pose, but her tail accidentally swung onto the basket, knocking it over. The clean clothes fell to the ground and got dirty again.

Little Blue: "Waaaaah~"

【Half-Dragon Maid - Laundry Dragon Girl】【ATK500】

"Do you believe in blind stacking? I admire the first person to put three Little Blue cards in their deck, because they might end up sending all of 'Pot of Greed' to the graveyard." Saying this cryptic line, Hayato waved his hand and said, "If Little Blue is successfully Normal Summoned, activate her effect to send three cards from the top of my deck to the graveyard."

"These are the three cards I sent to the cemetery!"

Revealing the three cards at the top of the deck, Hayato's cards are [Summoner - Aleister], [Rainbow Kuriboh], and [Pot of Greed].

With a raised eyebrow, Hayato sent all three cards to the graveyard, sighing helplessly, "As expected of the graveyard that Little Blue can build, so disappointing. However, although it's a pity that [Pot of Greed] was sent to the graveyard, it's not like I didn't send any useful cards to the graveyard."

"Fusion Summoning is the noblest way to summon, I must activate the Spell Card immediately, [Summoning Magic]!" Hayato played the card in his hand, "This card's effect is to send the Fusion Materials of the Fusion Monster from my hand to the Graveyard, and Fusion Summon that Fusion Monster from the Fusion Deck."

"However, when I Fusion Summon a Fusion Monster of the [Summoned Beast] type, I can choose Fusion Materials from my field and both players' Graveyards."

The two cards, [Summoner Aleister] and [Rainbow Kuriboh], which had just been sent to the graveyard, were retrieved from the graveyard by Hayato and turned into phantoms on the field.

"The chariot of light, fused with the materials of [Summoner-Aleister] and a light-attribute monster, named after the hexagram of God, dispel all and bring me victory!"

"[Summoned Beast - Merkaba]!"

[Summoned Beast - Merkaba] [ATK2500]

Chapter 845 Primitive Life Forms Attack!

"Descend, [Summoned Beast - Merkaba]!"

The silver-white chariot, a perfect blend of man and machine, descended upon Hayato's arena. Its standard protagonist ace attack power of 2500 points meant it was not to be trifled with.

Although John only started learning Duel Monsters under Rafael's guidance, he had seen Duel Monsters tournaments through various channels before that and knew a lot of cards. However, John didn't know the effect of [Summoned Beast - Merkaba], which was only owned by Hayato and not used very often by him.

But no matter what, the best course of action is to take down the opponent first.

"At this moment, Mr. Hayato, I will use one of the two face-down cards in the back row." John pressed the button on the Duel Disk to activate a face-down card, flipped a card to reveal its true form, and called out the card's name, "When the opponent successfully Normal, Flip Summon, or Special Summons, the activation conditions for Torrential Tribute are met, and I will activate this Trap Card!"

"Destroy all monsters on both sides of the field!"

As John Gaika unveils the card, a torrent of turbid energy will surge forth from it, indiscriminately assaulting all the monsters on the field, whether it be [Earth Spider], [Summoned Beast - Merkaba], or [Half-Dragon Maid - Laundry Dragon Girl].

Although Xiao Lan is a water-type character, she was almost terrified when she saw the giant wave that was more than ten washing machines taller than her.

"Using such a table-flipping card, are you trying to destroy your own monster as well?" Jonouchi said strangely. "Trading two for two doesn't create any card advantage at all. In Hayato's words, not gaining anything is a huge loss."

However, Pegasus, who was standing to the side, shook his head with a smile when he heard what Jonouchi said, and said, "No, no, no, Jonouchi boy, it's not two for two, it's one for two. John boy, the Earth Spider on the field has an Equip card with Guardian's Power."

Because of the magic indicator granted by [Magic Mastery], [Guardian Power] was in an active state. This made Bakura, who was not very familiar with Duel Monsters, ask the others in confusion, "What effect does that card have?", because neither the Dark Bakura who was once possessed by it nor the original personality who has now regained its freedom knew much about Duel Monsters.

"Bakura, you should have already seen that the [Earth Spider]'s attack and defense are increased in tandem with the placement of the magic counter on [Guardian Power]. That's just the first effect of [Guardian Power]. Each magic counter will increase the equipped monster's attack and defense by 500 points, and there is no upper limit."

Because he was present at the duel between Atem and Rafael on the rooftop of the Paradis Group headquarters, Malik knew about this equipment card from the [Guardian] series. He explained to Bakura, "Besides using card effects like [Magic Mastery] to directly increase magic counters, you also gain one each time you equip a monster in battle."

"But the most outrageous thing is the third effect. Every time an equipped monster is destroyed in battle or by an effect, it can be replaced by removing a magic counter." Malik paused, then said in realization, "I see. That's why it's called one for two."

“By removing the magic counter, John’s Earth Spider’s defense will decrease, but it won’t be destroyed by Torrential Tribute. Instead, both of Hayato’s monsters will be destroyed by Torrential Tribute.” Atum nodded. For John, who had only been playing Duel Monsters for such a short time, being able to use such a tactic was already quite impressive.

"However, Hayato is not the kind of person who can easily succeed by just watching other people's plans."

The surging waves almost swallowed Hayato whole. John said with a hint of smugness, "Be careful, Mr. Hayato, don't get swallowed by the torrent. But [Earth Spider] and I will have to take cover for now."

It spit out a silk thread that pulls itself up into the air, and the moment the Earth Spider dodges, a wave crashes in. Little Blue is already crouching on the ground in fear, covering its head and crouching in defense.

However, as Hayato watched the torrent approach, he sent a card from his hand to the graveyard, saying, "A good timing for activation; even I would feel excited. But the 'chariot' that can summon victory has already appeared on my field!"

"Once per turn, the effect of [Summoned Beast - Merkaba] is activated! When a monster's effect, Spell Card, or Trap Card is activated, I send one card of the same type as that card from my hand to the Graveyard to activate it, negate that activation, and banish it!"

Pointing forward, Hayato shouted, "Discard my trap card [Disruptive Duo], unleash a flash of iron fist to shatter steel, strike a steel fist to pierce a dragon, show me your power, [Merkaba]!"

Facing the oncoming giant wave, [Summoned Beast - Merkaba] stretched its body, and the humanoid figure on the chariot raised its spear with both hands and swung it out fiercely.

"boom!"

The [Torrent Burial], which was supposed to sweep away everything, failed to devour anything at all. It was easily cut in two by the power of [Merkaba], just like Moses parting the Red Sea in mythology!

Seeing that the crisis was over, the trembling little blue emerged from behind Hayato again and suddenly became arrogant: "What? Cards of this level can't do anything to the invincible little blue me! Little blue and [Merkaba] together are simply invincible and can slaughter everyone indiscriminately!"

John showed a slightly regretful expression when he saw that Hayato had neutralized the Torrent Burial, but he wasn't too surprised, after all, his opponent was that Kobayashi Hayato.

"Then I continue my turn and activate the effect of the [Summoning Magic] card that I just used in the graveyard. If this card is in the graveyard, I can target one of my banished [Summoner - Aleister] cards, return the [Summoning Magic] card to the deck, and add the targeted [Summoner - Aleister] card to my hand."

After retrieving Alai's card, Hayato glanced at the four cards in his hand and drew one more: "Then, I activate the spell card [Monster Gate]."

On Hayato's field, a wormhole opened, its interior pitch black, making it impossible to see what might emerge. Seeing this, Xiao Lan glanced curiously at the magic card behind her, wanting to see what its effect was.

"You can activate this effect by Tributing one monster you control. Until a monster that can be Normal Summoned appears, flip cards from the top of your Deck. Special Summon that monster, and send the remaining flipped cards to the Graveyard." Scratching her head, Xiao Lan looked around in confusion. Besides herself, the only other monster on Hayato's field was [Summoned Beast - Merkaba].

Without thinking, Little Blue instinctively felt that Hayato was about to unleash [Summon - Merkaba], and immediately mocked it: "Hahahaha, what's this? You've only used it once, and you're already being unleashed by your master? Hehehe, you're just a pathetic piece of trash~"

However, both Merkaba and Hayato looked at Blue with pity, and after she laughed twice, they also realized that something was wrong.

"Huh? Master, you're going to release him, right?" Turning around, Xiao Lan asked Hayato uncertainly, only to see Hayato shake his head in response.

However, the slow-witted Little Blue still didn't realize who would be freed. He scratched his head in confusion and looked around, but couldn't find any other monsters that could be freed.

Until light rose beneath her feet.

"Quack! What is this?!" Little Blue was startled by the wormhole that opened up beneath her feet. Even though she was slow to react, she finally realized that she was the one who was about to be freed. She panicked and looked at Hayato, saying, "W-could it be that I'm the one who's going to be freed?"

"Damn it, Master! You can't do that! You can't do that!"

"My great mind cannot disappear from the world!"

"Master! Meow!"

However, Xiao Lan's screams of despair were met with Hayato's merciless snap of his fingers: "Goodbye, Xiao Lan, and my cowardice."

"Ya-me-ge-!"

The wormhole swallowed Little Blue amidst her unwilling wails, while Hayato flipped over the top card of his deck.

The effect of 【Monster Gate】 is to reveal the top card of your deck and send it to the graveyard until a monster that can be Normal Summoned appears. If you are determined, it is even possible to send the entire deck to the graveyard in one go. It is one of the top blind deck cards.

However, the deck Hayato is using today is not a deck like [Inferno], [Shadowdo], or [Netherworld] that can gain a lot of benefits when filling the graveyard. Instead, it is a pure [Half-Dragon Maid] deck. The benefits of filling the graveyard are not very great. Therefore, the main role of [Monster Gate] is just to squeeze out as much value as possible from Little Blue.

The card at the very top of Hayato's deck happens to be the kind of card that can be Normal Summoned and has no Special Summon restrictions. Because of the effect of [Monster Gate], Hayato lifts up that monster: "This is the card that is flipped up at the top of my deck, so I Special Summon it to my field in Attack Position."

"Primitive life forms are attacking; the gates of monsters are calling for miracles!"

"Hahaha, the meteorite is here!"

With a slightly unconventional summoning chant, as Hayato placed the card on the Duel Disk, a point of light appeared in the sky as if a shooting star had streaked across the sky. Then, with a loud "boom," a meteorite crashed onto the field!

[Primitive Life Form - Nibiru] [11☆/Light]

[Rock Faction/Effect]

[3000/600]

With its noble rank of 11☆ and a whopping 3000 attack power (equivalent to Blue-Eyes White Dragon), the top card in Hayato's deck is none other than the ultimate removal card that countless card players both love and hate: Primal Life Form - Nibiru, also known as the Meteor.

Although this card is often activated from the hand to Special Summon all monsters on the field by its own effect when the opponent is overextending themselves, it does not have any restrictions on Special Summoning and can be Special Summoned using the effect of [Monster Gate].

Although it doesn't have any troublesome effects, its 3000 attack power is itself a symbol of great strength.

While John was unaware of the power of [Primal Life Form - Nibiru], he could still look at the stats. Hayato now had two monsters with high attack power on his field, but he did not panic.

"As expected of Mr. Hayato, he easily accomplished what ordinary people cannot, summoning two powerful monsters on the field. However, due to the existence of the [Guardian Power], even if you repeatedly attack the [Earth Spider] with high-attack monsters, you still cannot destroy it."

After a pause, John smiled and said with a smug expression, "Not only that, because [Earth Spider] is in Defense Position, my Element Points will absolutely not be damaged in battle."

Looking at John, who was laughing like a child (though he himself was a child), Hayato glanced at the card in his hand, smiled, and said, "That's true, but you have a mistake that I need to correct. That is, there is no 'absolute' in the face of duelists."

"I activate the Continuous Spell Card, [Fiery Duelists]!"

As Hayato placed the card on his Duel Disk, the BGM function, which had also been modified and added by Keihei, activated, and suddenly rousing music filled the air. However, what caught the attention of the onlookers, especially Jonouchi, Atem, Yugi, and Malik, even more than the music was the black silhouettes of the opposing [Blue-Eyes White Dragon] and [Dark Magician] on the card Hayato activated!

"That's... Dark Magician?" "And Kaiba's Blue-Eyes?"

“Oh, it’s that card. It was commissioned by Hayato Boy back in Duel City a long time ago.” Pegasus looked like he already knew about the card. “I made a lot of cards based on that special stone tablet that was once exhibited at the Egyptian Antiquities Exhibition in Domino City. This card is based on the modern battle between Kaiba Boy and Yugi Boy.”

"Huh? That stone tablet of the King's Memory?" Jonouchi raised an eyebrow, sizing up Pegasus. "How come you can turn anything into a card? What other tricks are you hiding?"

"Isn't this a basic skill for a card designer?" Pegasus spread his hands innocently. "Besides, you didn't even ask me, did you?"

Honda quipped, "I really suspect that Pegasus has a lot of weird stuff in his inventory, maybe even cards of the level of the Three Egyptian Gods. If someone were to steal some cards from Pegasus one day, who knows what kind of trouble that would cause."

This is not without precedent. Just like the "Pyramid of Light" incident, it was Kaiba Tsevich who took the "Pyramid of Light" card, which led to the final outcome.

After making a few comments about Pegasus, the group turned their attention back to the duel, and no one noticed the extremely obvious guilty expression on Pegasus's face.

Chapter 846 Scammed

After activating the Continuous Spell Card [Fiery Duelists], Hayato explained the card's effect to John amidst the playing background music: