Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Furthermore, if needed, the spirits can transfer their true form between cards, such as [Ra's Winged Dragon of Ra]. Also, although there may be more than one [Dark Magician] in the game deck, there is only one [Dark Magician] spirit, but it can appear from any [Dark Magician] card.

The [Disruption Black] captured by Tenma Yagyō was at best a projection; its true form was always the card that Hayato carried with him. This is why Hayato casually sent out [Disruption Black] as if it were cannon fodder.

The reason is that ordinary people like Guiping can't even see [Disruption Black], and conventional methods can't even interfere with the spirits, let alone "kill" them like Pegasus Nightwalker threatened.

Seeing that Hayato didn't seem to believe him, Tenma Yagyō sneered, "Hmph, it's normal that you don't believe me. Then let me prove it to you."

As he spoke, Tianma Yexing walked to another device and inserted the jar in his hand into a slot on it. Upon detecting the object's access, the device began to operate, and [Disruption Black], which had been trapped inside the jar, suddenly awoke.

"Whoa! Where am I!? Am I not dead?" Seemingly unaware of what had happened, [Disruption Black] sat up in a daze, looking around. Upon seeing Hayato, [Disruption Black] frantically got up and pressed himself against the glass, shouting to Hayato, "Anee! Help me!"

"This guy isn't human! He's—"

"Alright, swallow your words!" Just as [Disruption Black] was about to say something, as if he had seen something before, Pegasus Night Walk frowned and pressed down on the jar again. Suddenly, a large amount of electricity was released from under [Disruption Black]'s feet, filling the entire jar.

"Waaaaahh ...

As [Disruption Black]'s scream ceased, [Disruption Yellow] and [Disruption Green], who were beside Hayato, rushed out and said to him in a somewhat panicked manner:

"Ani-gei! [Black] Brother is in danger!" "Quick, check the card!"

Upon hearing this, Hayato also took out a card from his person and discovered that in the card art of the true form of the [Disruption] Trio—[Disruption Trio]—only [Disruption Yellow] and [Disruption Green] remained, looking flustered. [Disruption Black] had completely disappeared!?

It's as if the actions of the Pegasus in the Night were actually effective against [Disruption - Black] itself, stripping it from the card!

"Surprised, Hayato Kobayashi? Your Pokémon has been stolen. How do you feel now?" Tenma Yagyō was quite pleased with the surprised expression on Hayato's face, a look of enjoyment on his face. "Now you should believe me, I have the ability to kill your Pokémon at any time, right?"

"This device has the ability to extract the spirit power sealed in the jar. You should have already met the researchers of this technology. I can sense the aura of the card I gave him from you."

Upon hearing Tenma Yako's words, Hayato took out several cards from the card box at his waist. The top card was the [Grand Jupiter] card he had previously obtained from Misawa Hiroya.

“Hiroya Misawa? That guy did mention before that his research was about the mass-energy conversion of energy in Duel Monster cards.” Kaiba frowned as well. “He said he had already achieved some results, and it wasn’t just exaggeration but could actually be put into practice?”

Not only was he surprised that Hiroya Misawa had partially solved the problem of the subject he hadn't initially thought highly of, but he was also somewhat constrained by Hayato's spirit being captured by Tenma Yagyō.

Although he felt nothing for Hayato's weak Pokémon and even looked down on them somewhat, Kaiba put himself in their shoes and realized that if his Blue-Eyes Pokémon were captured, he certainly wouldn't want anyone else to act rashly and kill it.

"So you do know him, huh? Well, you already have that [Grand Jupiter] card he had. Looks like my mission to send him as an assassin to attack you failed after all," Tianma Yexing said with some regret. "Where is that guy now?"

“Although I realized that guy was being controlled by you, it’s also true that he attacked me and Kaiba. Of course, he’s already been taken away by the police.” Hayato took out the card [Grand Jupiter] and looked at Tenma Yako. “Although we haven’t known each other for long, Misawa Hiroya should just be an ordinary person. He doesn’t have enough dueling skills, perseverance, courage, or determination.”

"You want to ask me how I managed to get him to become my ally? It's simple, isn't it? The answer is those cards in your hand." Tenma Yagyō didn't answer Hayato directly, but pointed to the cards in Hayato's hand.

Standing on high, Kaiba glanced at the cards in Hayato's hand, thought for a moment, and said, "Those cards, I seem to remember them. Someone told me that they were cards from the 'Planet' series, corresponding to the nine planets of the solar system and the sun. They were used as a seal for a spirit called [Tragodia]."

“That’s right, [Tragodia], it was sealed in a stone slab for a full three thousand years. Do you know its pain?” Pegasus Nightwalker put on a sympathetic expression. “Oh, how pitiful. At least I felt quite sorry for it after seeing the stone slab that sealed it in the ruins. For this, I spent a lot of effort to finally collect all ten cards to break the seal.”

"Have you heard the rumors about poisonous plants and their antidotes? There is a good chance that the antidote is right next to a highly poisonous plant. And these 'planet' cards were used as the key to the seal of [Tragonia], and now that the seal has been broken, they have become the best medium to carry its power."

"I hid these cards, imbued with the power of [Tragodia], in card packs issued by the International Illusion Society and scattered them to various places. Those who obtain these cards will awaken the power of the spirits under the guidance of their power, but in exchange, they will also dedicate their hearts to [Tragodia]. Every battle they fight with the 'Planet' card will amplify the power of [Tragodia]."

"The same goes for Hiroshi Misawa, and the same goes for Hiroyuki Kobayashi."

As Tenma Yagyō finished speaking, neither Hayato nor Kaiba reacted much, but Ameruda, standing next to Keihei, couldn't help but examine her own body: "Wait a minute, I think I also got a card called 'Light Mercury'. Could it be that I'm actually being controlled now?"

“No, you don’t need to worry too much about that.” Hayato said without turning around, his back to Ameruda. “Just like this guy said, the premise for those ‘Planet’ cards to control others is the power of the [Tragodia] within them. For that power to work, the first thing to do is to awaken a Spirit, and then use the Spirit that shares the same mind as the duelist to control others in reverse. You have your own Spirit, so you don’t need to worry about being controlled.”

"Even the cards you give can rewrite other people's minds, so what about you? Judging from what you're saying, it seems you've already been able to use the power of [Tragodia], right? Could it be that you used that power to rewrite the memories of your brother, Tenma Tsukiyuki, and even the memories of everyone else who knows you, and erase your own existence?"

Kaiba looked at Pegasus Night Walk, who gave an affirmative answer: "That's right. Pegasus Night Walk, under the power of [Tragodia], has completely forgotten that he has a younger brother who was adopted by Mr. Pegasus at the same time. The same goes for other people who know me. I even used the power of the International Illusion Society to completely erase my traces on the Internet."

"After that, I stayed at the place where [Tragodia] was discovered, and continued to study its power in depth. After your Kaiba Group planned to establish a branch here, I once again used the power of [Tragodia] to guide your Kaiba Group to choose the location where I am to build an industrial park, so that I could make the most of your Kaiba Group's technology."

Pegasus Yexing patted the device that had just spat out the can and said smugly, "Take this for example. This is a production equipment that I assembled myself from parts I selected from your company's product line. In addition to the container that can hold the Pokémon, the Duel Disks that Kobayashi Hiroyuki and Misawa Hiroya had before were also made from this thing."

"And that power generation device overhead, what's it called, the 'Ark Reactor'? I have to say it's really useful; it completely met my power needs while I was researching [Tragodia]."

With arms outstretched and arms wide open, Tianma Yexing seemed to be showing off his great achievements, proudly declaring, "There is no trace of me in the world, yet I can influence it at will. This underground space is my invisible empire!"

"What Yhwach?" Hayato quipped, looking up at his surroundings. As he turned, he noticed Kaiba giving him a subtle nod. Without leaving a trace, he turned to Pegasus Yagyō and said, "Speaking of which, you really do answer every question. You've really taught us a lot and answered many of our long-standing questions."

"Is that what you think? Hmph, I just wanted to see the despair on your faces when you learned the whole truth. Let me tell you the truth, even that door you just went through, did you really think you could open it by breaking the combination lock? Actually, I deliberately brought you here."

The device next to Tenma Yagyō slowly opened, revealing a card inside. The sharp-eyed Hayato recognized the name [Tragodia] written on the card.

"You will die here, and the spirits within you will be captured by me to become fodder for [Tragodia], making it even stronger. I'll start with you, Hayato Kobayashi!" As he spoke, Tenma Yago picked up a Duel Disk from the side, put it on his wrist, and took out three cards from the deck that was already on the Duel Disk, about to place them on the Duel Disk.

But just then, a loud bang suddenly came from above their heads!

"boom!"

The explosion seemed to come from the arc reactor overhead. The violent tremor shattered many windows in the underground space. But what shocked Tianma Yexing the most was that the arc reactor's power supply suddenly stopped. The device containing the [Tragodia] shut down instantly due to the power outage pulse, and the [Tragodia] card was locked and stuck inside the device!?

While Hayato and the others were distracting them, Keihei, who was wearing the same glasses that Kaiba had worn before, excitedly said, "Yosh! Self-destruct program loaded successfully, in two and a half minutes. Only my brother is so wasteful; I've been wanting to blow something up for a while now!"

Chapter 891 Kobayashi Hayato, I'll kill you a thousand times!

The instant the explosion occurred, Hayato rushed towards Tenma Yagyō, grabbing a nearby chair and hurling it at him. However, Tenma Yagyō reacted quickly, dodging the flying chair and avoiding being hit.

However, taking advantage of the opportunity when he dodged, Hayato came to the side of [Disruption Black], smashed the jar that was holding it with a punch, and retrieved [Disruption Black], which he thought was unconscious but was actually just sleeping soundly without a care in the world.

"The target is actually your own Pokémon? Although there are rumors that you're a rather ruthless guy who would casually sacrifice your own Pokémon, it's clear that's not the truth, Hayato Kobayashi!" After a pause, Tenma Yako continued, "But, what exactly is going on?!"

"Since you've asked so sincerely, I'll mercifully tell you." After bringing back [Disruption Black], Hayato retreated to create distance between himself and Pegasus Yagyō, pointed at Keihei, and said, "In your eyes, whether it's me, Kaiba, or Ameruda, the three of us possess a certain level of combat power, so you think we need to be kept at a distance and on guard, right?"

"But you never paid any attention to Keiping from beginning to end, not only because he was young, but also because he didn't have much strength in the Duel Monsters field. As a result, you never expected that he would actually use Kaiba's equipment to connect to the Kaiba Corporation's network and load a hastily written self-destruct program into the Arc Reactor."

"Your next sentence will be, 'Were you stalling for time before, Hayato Kobayashi?'"

As Hayato finished speaking, Tenma Yagyō also spoke up: "Were you stalling for time before—what!?"

While Pegasus was distracted, Ameruda had already planted a bomb on the iron gate blocking their path behind them and shouted to Kaiba and the others, "Get out of the way, it's going to explode—"

"boom!"

The bomb exploded before Ameruda could finish speaking, the directional explosive blasting open the sturdy metal door and allowing the group to evacuate.

"Next time, speak up more promptly!" Guiping complained. "And why would you carry a bomb with you? Aren't you a chef?"

"Is there a problem? I occasionally run into annoying diners who deliberately nitpick," Ameruda said casually, then called out to Hayato, "Stop wasting your breath on that guy. Once you've brought back your Pokémon, get out of here! This place's about to explode!"

Although the self-destruct program that Guiping loaded into the Ark reactor was temporarily written using the AR glasses he was wearing, it was not simply a detonation program; it also included two explosion stages.

The first stage was the explosion just now. Since the equipment of the Night Horse cannot be detected by conventional detection, Guiping simply overloaded the Ark Reactor and then used an explosion to damage all the equipment connected to it, which directly caused the card of [Tragonia] to be stuck in the device and unable to be removed.

The second-stage explosion was set by Guiping two minutes after the first explosion. When the countdown reached zero, the Ark Reactor would be completely destroyed from the inside out. The power of the explosion was precisely calculated to be concentrated in two directions, up and down, to minimize damage to a wider area while ensuring the destruction of the underground space where Tianma Yexing was located.

Before the countdown reached zero, all Hayato and the others wanted to do was leave this place as quickly as possible, if they didn't want to be destroyed by the intense heat and pressure of the Arc Reactor explosion.

Upon hearing Ameruda's words, Tenma Yagyō immediately glared at Hayato: "Wait a minute, are you trying to run away, Kobayashi Hayato! Aren't you the Duel King? Show me the courage to fight to the very end and never give up!"

"Huh? Where did you come from, you idiot? I'd never die with you. I'm running away now, so you can just drown in your fantasies." Imitating the lines of a passing archer, Hayato turned around without hesitation, climbed the steps, and ran towards the reopened maintenance passage. Ameruda had already run away with Keipai, while Kaiba was still waiting for Hayato at the entrance.

"You bastard!" Tenma Yako wanted to chase after Hayato, but just as he took a step in the direction Hayato had left, he glanced at the [Tragodia] card stuck on the device next to him.

Logically speaking, when weighing the pursuit of Hayato and saving his own life against a card, the latter is undoubtedly more important than the former. However, Tenma Yako gritted his teeth and chose without hesitation to stay and forcibly remove the jamming device in an attempt to retrieve the card.

Hayato, who had already reached the entrance, glanced at Tenma Yako, who seemed to have given up on escaping, and couldn't help but shout from his high vantage point, "Remember this day, Tenma Yako, because today, you almost caught the great Kobayashi Hayato!"

"Whose lines are those from?" Kaiba raised an eyebrow and said impatiently, "Hurry up, we only have one minute left."

"Okay, coming right away."

Hayato and Kaiba entered the passage and quickly moved forward. After reaching the exit of the passage, they immediately rushed towards the entrance of the lobby on the first floor of the central building. Meanwhile, Tenma Yagyō was still struggling with the device that had lost power and was stuck.

With a strange black aura swirling around his hands clinging to the mechanism, Tianma Yexing watched as he forcefully pried open the tough metal bit by bit. He felt somewhat annoyed that when he was stealing the Haima Group's product and crafting this device by hand, he had worried about the safety of the cards inside and instead stole the high-quality metal.

While food packaging does need to be of higher quality, excessively high quality that makes it difficult to open the packaging can be frustrating.

Just as Hayato, Kaiba, and Ameruda, who was with Keihei, had successfully escaped to a position a few dozen meters away from the Central Building, the last piece that was holding the [Tragodia] card in place was ripped off, and Tenma Yagyō revealed a joyful smile: "A☆Da☆Thief!"

"boom!"

Pegasus Yagyō, who was clutching the [Tragodia] card tightly in his hand, was engulfed by a blue energy shock that crashed down from above.

The countdown to the self-destruction of the Ark Reactor reached zero, and a blue energy pillar rose straight into the sky from its location. Even the sturdy building was pierced through more than ten floors. The energy that had not been able to completely break through the entire building had nowhere to go and began to be released horizontally. The strong wind completely messed up the hairstyles of Hayato and the others who were not yet completely away from the central building. Keihei was only prevented from being blown away by Kaiba holding him tightly.

On a commercial street several kilometers away, the ground suddenly shook and trembled slightly. Kyoko, who had practiced dancing and had excellent balance, seemed a little unsteady and happened to fall into Yugi's arms, where he caught her.

He looked with some concern in the direction from which the tremor came. Hayato and Kaiba had told him about their destination before they set off. Had something happened at the Kaiba Group?

Fortunately, President Kaiba, who has always loved peace, was friendly, and had a global perspective, also cared about the environment. When building the Arc Reactor, he did not choose the old-style nuclear power generator, which had mature technology but would cause radiation pollution, but instead overcame the cold fusion technology to create this clean energy device. Hayato and the others, who faced the hot wind from the explosion, were spared the test of nuclear radiation.

The explosion came and went quickly. Guiping, who was sitting on the ground, looked up at the building in front of him. Although the explosion did not completely destroy the reliable building, the massive explosion from the inside out had severely damaged its supporting structure. Even though it was still standing in front of them, it was estimated that no one would want to work in the building with a huge hole in the center, and it definitely wouldn't last long.

Although it was quite exhilarating to detonate the Arc Reactor, seeing his own business in such a state of ruin, Keihei couldn't help but reflect, saying with regret and heartache, "The explosion was indeed quite satisfying, but this building is basically a total loss, with direct losses of at least a billion yen. If this continues, the Kaiba Group will go bankrupt in another thousand years."

“Out with the old, in with the new, right? Mankichi,” Hayato said casually. “Besides, it’s not collapsed yet, so maybe we can fix it up and it’ll still work.”

"boom!"

The moment Hayato finished speaking, a dark figure suddenly flew out from the rubble piled up in the completely ruined first-floor hall after the explosion. It flew dozens of meters upwards, passed through several floors, shattered the cracked exterior wall of the building, and crashed down on the location where Hayato and the others were.

Hayato and the others quickly retreated, dodging the attack from the unidentified object. The dark figure crashed to the ground, creating a large crater filled with smoke and dust that made it impossible to see what it was. However, Keihei could see that behind it, the building, which had been severely damaged again, was collapsing from top to bottom.

The Central Building looked exactly like this after Hayato demolished the headquarters of the International Illusion Society in America. As the building collapsed completely, Keihei fell silent.

"Hayato Kobayashi!" Just as Hayato was about to rub salt into Keihei's wounds and offer a few words of comfort, a venomous voice came from the crater created by the object that had almost hit them. It sounded like a voice from the night, "Once again, you've ruined everything I've had!"

"What I want to say is that life is full of disappointments..." Hayato appeared completely unguarded, but in reality, he had already drawn several cards behind his back, ready to be used, watching the smoke gradually dissipate in the pit. But halfway through his sentence, when he saw what had appeared in the pit, even Hayato was stunned.

Emerging from the pit, more like crawling out, was a jet-black monster resembling a lobster. The same voice as Pegasus Night Walk emanated from it: "Kobayashi Hayato! I could kill you a thousand times over!"

"No, who are you? Do we know each other?"

Hayato recognized the monster before him as [Tragodia]. After all, in the Yu-Gi-Oh! era long before his previous life, there was a time when the dominance of Zombie Synchro was dragged into "Zombie Hell," and [Great Cold Wave] was rampant. At that time, [Tragodia] was a popular one-turn kill counter card and even became a noble limited card.

But what's with this [Tragodia] in front of me? Why does it harbor such deep hatred for me? Could it be that the [Tragodia] spirit from my past life, which I always summoned to shield me from harm and sell me off, has also transmigrated?

"Ha, I'm in this state entirely because of you, Hayato Kobayashi!" [Tragodia] said through gritted teeth. "I originally intended to fully analyze and assimilate the power of this card before taking this step, but because of you, you cunning fellow, I was forced to fuse with the card prematurely!"

"Although the power I gained hasn't changed, it has been transformed into this ugly form. It doesn't matter if you don't recognize me; I will show you who I am with the invincible power I have obtained!"

As Tragodia spoke, he raised an arm, spread his five fingers, and faced Hayato and the others. In an instant, dark power gathered in his hand into a sphere, which flew out and smashed into the card that Hayato had thrown out!

"Curry!" With an uppercut stance, [Rainbow Kuriboh] blocked the energy ball attack. Although it was quickly destroyed and returned to the card to recuperate, it protected Hayato and the others from injury.

Hayato, who was constantly watching Tragodia, caught a glimpse of a fleeting afterimage near Tragodia's head the instant it launched its attack—a fleeting, elusive image. For some reason, Hayato thought of Mahad and the "Illusionary Magician," and a conjecture formed in his mind, which he immediately blurted out.

"You're Pegasus at Night?! You've actually turned into a card sprite?!"

"What? That's impossible!" Amelda looked at Hayato in shock. "What are you thinking, Hayato Kobayashi? How can a human become a spirit?"

However, Kaiba spoke up. Having also experienced the battle of "King's Memory" and knowing what Mahad had gone through, he could understand Hayato's words: "No, that guy really is a Pegasus in the Night, actually turning himself into a Duel Monster?"

"This is the third time I've seen something like this, but I have to say, this is the most disgusting one yet." Hayato said with a look of disgust as he looked at [Tragodia], or rather, at Pegasus Yagyō who had completely abandoned his human identity.