Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Once stimulated by an external electric current, it will cause bioelectrical disorder and loss of control, making it unable to move."

“Seto Kaiba…” Looking at the seahorse in front of him, Ayane panted, “Are you going to stand in front of our Prana with Hayato Kobayashi and his gang?”

"Blocking my way? Hmph, nonsense!" Kaiba said contemptuously. "From beginning to end, I have been walking on the bright path to the future. Others have only chased after my shadow. Do you think you have the right to surpass me? More than that, I am curious about how you Prana managed to break into Domino City."

"Heh, are you afraid of the power of us, the Pranah?" Blue God, not wanting to be outdone in terms of imposing manner, looked at Kaiba and said, "Is it because we, the Pranah, can ignore your tyrannical rule over Domino City and freely enter and leave your 'territory' that you are jealous and wary? Are you afraid of our talents as the chosen ones?"

Upon hearing Blue God's words, Kaiba actually admitted, "That's right. Domino City, where the GeneX tournament is about to be held, is the starting point for me to bring new vitality to Duel Monsters. I can't let you troublemakers cause a disturbance in the city."

"However, there's no need to worry anymore now that you've been caught."

As Kaiba finished speaking, a semi-transparent screen suddenly appeared in front of him, displaying a 3D design of one of Domino City's landmark buildings—the Kaiba Dome. However, the interior design of the Kaiba Dome on the screen was different from what Hayato remembered.

"About a week ago, after my brother returned from Egypt, he suddenly had the idea to renovate the Seahorse Dome for the GeneX competition. It's only been a short time since it was rebuilt," Guiping explained, expressing his regret and heartache over his brother's wasteful style.

The Kaiba Dome in Domino City was never used to host any large-scale events after it was built. The first duel it experienced after its completion was between Kaiba and Atem, who were wielding the Pyramid of Light and the Blue-Eyes Dragon. It was destroyed in that duel.

Afterwards, while the Kaiba Dome was being rebuilt, the Doma organization started causing trouble again. The Kaiba Dome was only fully rebuilt after the Doma issue was resolved. However, after Kaiba failed to test his knock-off "Dragon Wheel," he suddenly went to Egypt to play cards with Atem, only returning to Domino City a week ago. This led to the second and first dueling tournament at the Kaiba Dome after its reconstruction: the GeneX tournament.

The Seahorse Dome, which had been painstakingly rebuilt, was renovated again to accommodate the extremely capricious and unpredictable ideas of the Seahorse. The design used was the one that was now presented to the Seahorse and Blue God.

Given Haima Group's speed, the renovation is probably almost complete and will be finished in a few more days. It will reopen after the GeneX race next month.

However, when Kaiba showed the blueprints of the Kaiba Dome to Blue God, it wasn't to show off. Instead, he highlighted several locations with flashing red dots and said, "As the first GeneX tournament, we can't afford to be anything less than perfect. The most important and anticipated event is the opening duel."

"Although we can't find your scattered accomplices for the time being, if I put you in the opening duel, will your accomplices come to the Seahorse Dome on their own initiative?"

Haima's lips curled into a cold smile, like a villain's. "And once they appear, the 'Plana Detection Device 2.0' will immediately detect their location, no matter where they are, and then no one can escape from it."

Now Blue God understood what the red dots on the design blueprints of the Seahorse Dome meant. Had they actually installed detection devices in such a place? If they hadn't known this, Sera and the others would probably have taken it for granted that they could infiltrate with Prana's abilities and get caught red-handed!

"You...you're actually using me as bait?! You bastard!" Blue God was furious, not expecting that the seahorse's elaborate plan to capture him was for this purpose. "Gurgle! Just kill me!"

"Hmph, I won't lay a hand on you. I'm a pacifist and I don't like killing." As he spoke, Kaiba switched the design in front of him to another image, which was the [Quantum Cube] that Blue God had previously possessed, but it had been taken away by Sera in time and had not fallen into the hands of Kaiba and Hayato. "Aside from its use as bait, I'm quite interested in this thing."

“Even I am not proficient enough in the quantum field. After accidentally entering the quantum field once, I unexpectedly saw the appearance of the past history, but even if I replicated the process at that time, I was unable to enter it again.”

Recalling his experience of secretly conducting a second test of the "Dragon Wheel" behind everyone's back, only to be blown away again and unable to re-enter the world of the "King's Memory," Kaiba was somewhat annoyed and continued, "But your [Quantum Cube] seems to have this ability, which is of great help to my research."

"Once Kobayashi Hayato finishes using this thing, I'm going to use it to advance my research. If your accomplice comes to rescue you, he'll definitely bring this with him, right?"

Blue God gritted his teeth in anger: "You actually have your eye on the [Quantum Cube]? You greedy hyena! That's something Lord Shadi left me!"

"It is for now, but it will soon become part of the Kaiba Group's assets." Kaiba looked coldly at Ayami, seemingly having lost interest in him, and turned to leave without hesitation. Keihei and Hayato also left the room, leaving Ayami alone in impotent rage.

However, as soon as he stepped out of the room and the door behind him closed to block out the sound, Guiping complained, "I have to say, brother, you really brought the villain role to life, although it felt a bit overdone."

"Really?" Hayato raised an eyebrow. "I told Kaiba that if he toned it down even halfway, he could already play a villainous character convincingly. Isn't that overdoing it?"

"Hmph, boring." Kaiba frowned and walked ahead, saying to Hayato beside him, "What exactly are you planning, Hayato Kobayashi? Do you expect Keihei and me to help you put on this farce with that guy called Blue God?"

"Well, it's hard to describe in words, but if you, Seth, have the talent of a new human—what Blue God called 'Prana'—you should be able to sense it too, the darkness residing in that guy's body."

As he reached into his coat, Hayato said, “Although that guy had received special training from a certain bald director and learned the skill of suppressing emotions, hatred doesn’t disappear just because it’s suppressed; on the contrary, it becomes even stronger. And after that guy recklessly connected with the collective consciousness, his hatred was triggered by this thing and even amplified several times over.”

Hayato extended his hand, holding a golden disc—the Millennium Wisdom Wheel. However, the Millennium Wisdom Wheel that had previously tormented Mani and Blue God was now silent in Hayato's hand. "Of all the memories he could have linked to, he chose Bakura's out of hatred, and conjured up the Millennium Wisdom Wheel from Bakura's memory—the one that killed his father."

“Although this ‘Millennium Wisdom Wheel’ is just a fake, and the darkness that comes with it is not the real thing but just an illusion, it is still quite a troublesome existence.” Hayato glanced behind him. “To destroy that thing, we first need to give it enough nutrients to make it sprout and show its head. Malice, terror, anger, hatred, despair, struggle, and killing intent are the best catalysts.”

"But that's all for later," Hayato shrugged, saying to the Kaiba brothers. "It's about time, I need to get to the airport. See you next time, Ciao~"

Hayato waved goodbye to the two and left, while Kaiba crossed his arms and casually remarked, "That last 'Ciao,' is Italian for 'hello' and 'goodbye,' right? What kind of silly joke is that guy playing now?"

"When I was traveling in Egypt before, I think I heard Sister Isis say something." Hearing Kaiba's words, Keihei suddenly remembered something and said, "The more someone likes to amuse themselves with jokes that only they know, the lonelier that person is. Hayato, he's very lonely, isn't he?"

"Hmph, the strong are always lonely, which is why I have a reason to defeat him."

"Don't worry, I've already bought the movie tickets." Under the gaze of the two single men, the "lonely" Hayato sent a voice message to Isis.

Chapter 968 Lamentations, Grinsing, and Falling Apart

"Whoosh-!"

Several advanced fighter jets flew in formation over the Seahorse Dome, attracting the attention of the spectators gathered inside. After all, in Domino City, which is some distance from the US military base, it is rare to see fighter jets taking to the skies.

Although they came for the GeneX competition that was about to begin today, it didn't stop them from looking up and subconsciously exclaiming in admiration as the fighter jets flew by.

"Hey, what's with Seto Kaiba? Today's supposed to be the GeneX tournament opening ceremony followed by a card game, right? It's like an arms launch event." Malik said, raising his hand to cast a shadow over his brow, blocking the glaring sunlight. "And wasn't it cloudy when we came? How come the weather's suddenly so nice?"

"Unforgivable, Seahorse, to torture the audience in this open-air venue when the sun is so bright!"

Jonouchi chimed in with a complaint, while Honda patted Jonouchi on the shoulder: "Hey, you didn't pay for a ticket anyway, right? Since you're a junior competitor, you get a free seat. What's there to complain about when you get something for free?"

"I did get the ticket for free, but why did you take up the guardian's ticket on mine?" Jonouchi asked back when Honda brought it up, only to see Honda shrug and say, "I can afford the ticket, but don't you think it's especially great to get something for free? Besides, I'm helping you get a good deal on Kaiba, you know."

'Even if we take advantage of such prices for a hundred years, it won't make Haima Group lose money.'

Honda kept the last sentence to himself and didn't say it out loud, while Jonouchi laughed happily when he heard what Honda said earlier. Honda then teased Jonouchi and added, "And the guardian ticket for all the junior contestants is for the guardians of those who are only twelve or thirteen years old. If I use this ticket, it means that I am your guardian, Jonouchi."

"Get out of my way!"

"You guys are so boring." Kyoko and Yugi sat to the side watching Jonouchi and Honda bickering over this matter. After exchanging a glance, Kyoko said with a sigh.

“That’s not true. Don’t lump all men together, okay? Only these two guys are that boring.” Upon hearing Kyoko’s words, Malik immediately said, “Price determines requirements. The more expensive something is, the higher the requirements will be. Since this ticket is free, I won’t have any requirements.”

"But then again, my sister could have used my guardian's ticket, even if it's because she went to see her brother-in-law, why don't you want to use the same ticket as me?"

Upon hearing Malik's words, Honda and Jonouchi, who were bickering, stopped and looked Malik up and down, their gazes lingering on his unsightly jacket covered in anime girl ahegao faces: "Hello sir, do we know you? Could you please stop talking to us like that?"

"Yeah, it would be really troublesome if other people misunderstood and thought we knew you."

"Huh? Weren't you two just arguing? How come you've suddenly joined forces?"

"We'd rather die than confirm the father-son relationship, sir."

As they were talking, Bakura, who was looking up at the sky, suddenly said in a panic, "Wait, wait a minute, everyone, let's talk about that later. Something seems very bad up there!"

Upon hearing Bakura's words, the group looked up together and saw that among the fighter jets flying in a V-formation, one of the jets was ascending at a 90° vertical angle. It was unclear whether the strong sunlight caused an operational error, a malfunction, or both.

In short, black smoke suddenly billowed from the tail thruster of the fighter jet, stalled and stopped ascending, and was rapidly falling in a manner that looked like a falling leaf maneuver but was actually completely out of control. And below it was the Seahorse Dome, where tens of thousands of people were gathered at that moment!

The open field was completely unprotected, with nowhere to stop the falling fighter jet. It was about to crash into the giant seahorse egg and cause a disaster!

"Oh no!" Upon seeing this, Jonouchi, Yugi, and Malik immediately stood up and were about to draw the cards they were carrying. If they didn't use them when they were supposed to, their spirit powers would be meaningless. Now was the time for them, the capable ones, to step forward and protect others!

But before they could even draw their cards, several cracks flashing with blue light suddenly appeared on an ordinary circular stage in the center of the Seahorse Dome. Then, three huge white dragon heads broke through the stage and emerged from the ground.

"【True Blue-Eyes】!?" Jonouchi paused, staring in astonishment at the 【True Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon】 flying towards the crashing fighter jet. "Kaiba's card? But why—"

As it closed the distance to the fighter jet, the three-headed dragon unleashed a triple-ejaculate beam of ultimate white light from its mouth. The three beams intersected at the fighter jet's location, piercing through the malfunctioning aircraft before continuing their trajectory into the distant sky.

Pierced and torn apart by three breaths, the crashed fighter jet exploded into a huge fireball before continuing its descent!

To the others in the castle, Kaiba's actions were undoubtedly a failure. They could have easily averted the crisis by having the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon catch the fighter jet, ensuring no one died. But now, not only had the fighter pilot died from Kaiba's attack, but because of the earlier pause, it was too late for them to summon a monster to block the fireball formed by the fighter jet!

However, as the fighter jet transformed into a fireball and crashed into the ground at an abnormally high speed, the bright flames suddenly spread throughout the entire seahorse dome. Yet, the group found that the flames around them did not cause them any burning pain. Apart from the strong wind blowing in their faces and the tremors under their feet, the crashing fighter jet had no effect whatsoever!

On the circular stage at the center of the Seahorse Dome, at the spot where the crashing fighter jet struck, a voice suddenly rang out amidst the towering flames:

"I ask you, what exactly is combat?"

"From the moment a person is born into this world, their soul resides in the vessel of the body. In other words, the body is the prison of the soul, a cage from which one can never escape until death!"

"So the body takes up arms to protect the soul."

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Yugi paused, looking uncertainly at the figure standing amidst the flames: "That's... Seahorse?"

With a sudden wave of the hand from the figure in the flames, the game players saw everything in front of them change abruptly without even blinking. The flames vanished in an instant, and even the bright sky above them transformed into a ceiling lit up with countless lights.

"That's a virtual projection system?" Jonouchi squinted, his eyes widening in disbelief as he looked at the countless devices covering the ceiling. "Could all of those have been that?!"

As the flames dissipated, the stage, which showed no signs of damage whatsoever—more like it had been completely renewed than unscathed from the start—revealed itself in the center. Wearing his usual long white trench coat and a pair of futuristic AR glasses, he echoed his earlier words:

Are your enemies your own family? Are your enemies other people? Are your enemies other countries?

Raising his hand in a loose clenching motion, the seahorse surveyed the audience inside the Seahorse Dome, whose gazes were fixed on him. "We fight for those we should protect, we fight against those who hold different ideologies, and through the foolish mutual slaughter of war, the history of battle repeats itself endlessly like a Möbius strip!"

"Ironically, even the victors cannot escape prison." He clenched his fist, then relaxed it, and looked down at the audience. "That's why there's a need for succession!"

"If we cannot escape the cycle of reincarnation, we will burn ourselves into firewood, leaving light and heat for the next generation. Once enough energy has been gathered, those who inherit our energy will become supernovae and create a brand new world!"

"Borders, autonomy, thought, language—all boundaries will be transcended, and we will march toward a brand new future, entrusting our souls to the next generation!" the seahorse shouted, raising its arms. "To fight for the sake of no more fighting—that is the meaning of 'Generation neXt'!"

"I hereby declare the GeneX tournament officially open! Duelists of the world, tatataka! Keep tatataka!"

Standing backstage, Guiping watched Kaiba finish his speech and leave the stage, nodding in satisfaction: "Although there was no rehearsal beforehand, the effect of that virtual projection performance was really good, and my brother's speaking ability was also excellent. However, the best part was still that impassioned speech, hmm."

Seeing the unusually smug look on Keihei's face, Hayato guessed, "Did you write that speech?"

"Oh dear, Hayato-nii, you noticed? Hmph, what can I say? After all, outstanding people can't hide their dazzling brilliance no matter where they are." Keihei said narcissistically, straightening his suit jacket. "How does it feel, Hayato-nii? If I were to write some product descriptions, you'd definitely be tempted to buy them after reading them, right?"

"I think it's alright, but it's obvious that when you wrote this speech, you didn't consider that Kaiba would be reading it." Hayato paused. "If Kaiba were giving his evaluation, it would definitely be—"

"Hmph, who wrote this speech? It's awful!" Kaiba turned off the inscription function on his AR glasses as he walked backstage where Hayato and Keihei were. He said with a disgruntled expression, "It's just a bunch of boring words like 'soul' and 'body'."

"The idea that you can't fulfill your own ideals and then pass them on to the next generation is ridiculous. You should fulfill your own mission. Besides, for me, it's only the times that should keep up with me. Where does this ridiculous notion of needing successors to keep up with the times come from?"

"Guiping, help me find out which idiot in the advertising department wrote this copy and who is in charge? Fire him tomorrow on some random excuse and let him go with his salary. How can we run Haima Group well with such a worm around... Why are you looking at me like that?"

"So Seth, what was your original idea? Why did you choose a name like 'GeneX'?" Hayato interrupted Kaiba, who was still talking. Didn't this guy notice his younger brother's expression?

"Hmph, of course it's to cultivate more outstanding duelists! Although those I've defeated can't possibly defeat me, if their abilities are passed down from generation to generation, although it might take a while, maybe after a decade or so, I can cultivate outstanding duelists who can catch my eye."

Inside the Seahorse Dome, after Seahorse finished his speech and left, the stage was temporarily empty. According to the schedule, the next event was an opening duel, which served as a warm-up for the formal duel that was about to take place. However, before the contestants took the stage, Seahorse chose to fill the gap with an advertisement.

On the virtual screen that appeared in mid-air, a white-haired boy slowly opened his eyes and looked at everyone: "Have you heard the children's cries of anguish?"

"Can you feel the city falling apart?"

"You didn't notice the sinister grin of the conspirators who succeeded!"

Have you ever thought about this...? Friends are no longer friends, and a home is no longer a home!

As the white-haired boy delivers his emotionally charged lines, the scenes behind him shift, each one depicting a tragic aftermath of war.

He reached out his hand towards the screen, as if inviting or pleading, "Let's create a better future together."

"GeneX Competition, I'll be waiting for you here."

As for the effectiveness of this advertisement, it is undoubtedly quite good. A significant portion of the audience here today had seen the advertisement through various channels before coming to the Haima Arena. However, the problem is that this advertisement has actually been run too many times in the past month.

"Take it down quickly, we've already tasted enough."

However, unlike the casual complaints of those who had seen the ads too many times, Bakura had already hidden under his seat and buried his head in his hands: "Ugh, Kaiba-kun never told me that we were going to play this ad in front of so many people!"

"No, what's there to be shy about?" Jonouchi asked, puzzled. "This ad has been running in Domino City for several weeks now, why aren't you used to it yet?"