Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Come, the time for awakening has come! The battle to save the world is not over, nor is the time for your noble ideals to be shattered. The will to save the world beneath the 'Star Relic' is with us. Truth is here. Gather at Baye... to the side of the [Sky Knights of the Machine Realm]!"

As Hayato uttered lines that were clearly adapted from someone's speech, a phantom appeared behind the [Azure Machine Knight], another [Machine Knight] similar to it, which Hayato added to his hand. "Because you have two cards in this column, I'm adding [Azure Machine Knight] and [Crimson Machine Knight] from my deck to my hand!"

"It can be Special Summoned directly from the hand, and it doesn't even have any self-restriction effects, but it can also use its effect to precisely retrieve two cards from the deck to the hand? What kind of fake card is that?" Atum complained, looking at Hayato's hand, which now had five cards. "But with only 2000 ATK, it's no match for [Super Magister - Dark Magister's Apprentice]."

"【Sky Knight】 wasn't originally intended to counter you. For me, besides summoning other 【Machine Knights】, it has another purpose." Hayato said, drawing a card and inserting it into the Spell Trap Zone. "Not only your card, but my cards in the same column can also be counted as the two cards required for the Special Summon of 【Machine Knight】."

"Activate the Continuous Spell Card Nightmare Mirage in the column containing the Continuous Spell Card Dark Magic Circle on your field. Increase the number of cards in that column to two, and Special Summon it using the effect of Azure Machine Knight from my hand!"

A silver-white mechanical knight, shaped like a spinning top, landed on Hayatoba. Its entire body was covered in silver-white alloy armor that connected to a pair of long blades on its hands that resembled halos. The turquoise crystals adorning its body made it look quite magnificent and gave it a sacred feel.

【Azure Machine Knight】【8☆/Light】

[Psychic Clan/Effect]

【2400/2400→2700/2700】

“Although the [Azure Machine Knight] still can’t break through [Super Magister - Dark Magister’s Apprentice] even with the bonus from the Marked Scar, it will bring more possibilities.” Hayato said, picking up the [Azure Machine Knight] card from the Duel Disk and moving it. “Its effect can be activated once per turn, targeting one [Machine Knight] on my field, and moving it to another monster zone on my field. This effect can also be activated during the opponent’s turn.”

"Move the [Sky Knight] to the column where the [Magic Sanctuary] is located. Although I can no longer Special Summon monsters in this column because my Monster Zone already has cards, the original position of the [Sky Knight] is now empty."

"Special Summon [Crimson Knight of the Machine Realm] from my hand to the column containing [Grand Magister Black Mage's Apprentice]!"

The [Sky Knight] moved aside to make room, and the mechanical knight, wielding a laser beam emitter in one hand and a giant axe in the other, landed in the empty space. Just from the scarlet core stone on his body and the crimson lines that resembled tattoos, it was clear that this was a [Mechanical Knight] who specialized in combat, not to mention his equipment configuration that was suitable for both close and long-range combat.

【Crimson Knights of the Machine World】【7☆/Light】

[Psychic Clan/Effect]

【2300/2600→2600/2900】

With only two cards left in his hand, Hayato looked at the appearance of [Crimson Knight of the Machine World] and nodded with satisfaction: "In this way, the card used to defeat [Super Magister - Black Magister's Apprentice] has been successfully summoned."

"Activate the second effect of the Spell Card [Star Relic: Scars] on the field. Discard one [Machine Knight] card from my hand for one turn and draw one card from my Deck."

After sending a card from his hand to the graveyard, Hayato draws a card and waves his hand, "Then, banish the [Azure Mage Knight] from the graveyard as Cost to activate the effect of [Crimson Mage Knight]."

"Once per turn, you can banish one [Machine Knight] monster from my Graveyard, target one face-up monster in the same column, and destroy that monster!"

"Crimson Lotus Blazing Sword!"

"No, that's an axe, not a sword!"

During Atum's commentary, a phantom of the [Azure Mage Knight] card that Hayato discarded to the graveyard appeared behind the [Crimson Mage Knight]. The mechanical knight, wielding a long staff and seemingly a spellcaster, patted his companion on the shoulder as if to encourage him before disappearing into nothingness. Meanwhile, the [Crimson Mage Knight] swung his giant axe at the [Super Magister - Black Mage Apprentice].

Without making any move to protect his monsters, Yugi calmly said as he watched the incoming slash, "Hayato, you should still remember the second effect of [Super Magister - Dark Magister's Apprentice], right? They're not so easily destroyed."

"The second effect of [Super Magician - Dark Magician's Apprentice]: If this card is destroyed, you can Special Summon one [Dark Magician] and one [Dark Magician Girl] from your hand, Deck, or Graveyard!"

Atem retrieves the card "Dark Magician Girl" from the graveyard and places it on the field along with "Dark Magician" drawn from the deck. He deliberately chooses the column containing the two empty Spell & Trap Zones in his back row to prevent Hayato from using the back row cards to Special Summon other "Machine Knights".

Although in theory, 【Crimson Knight】 destroyed 【Grand Magician - Dark Magician Apprentice】 on Atem's field, the 【Dark Magician】 and 【Dark Magician Girl】 that were Special Summoned were actually just the original 【Grand Magician - Dark Magician Apprentice】 spreading out a bit to avoid the incoming slashes and no longer crowding into the same monster zone.

1, 2, [Sanctuary of the Magic Race] [Dark Magic Circle] [Given]

Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl

1. [The inside side represents the monster] [Azure Knight of the Machine World] [Azure Knight of the Machine World] [Crimson Knight of the Machine World]

1, 2, 3, [Nightmare of the Mirage Tower], 5

Looking at the field, Atem somewhat understood what Hayato meant when he said, "Duel Monsters also require positioning." If you don't carefully consider the placement of your cards, it's easy for your opponent to take advantage of you. How interesting! It adds a new kind of fun to the original Duel Monsters game.

However, Atem did not forget to activate the effect of the "Dark Magic Circle" sticker on his back row, which can be activated when "Dark Magician" is Special Summoned.

"If [Dark Magician] is Summoned or Special Summoned to my field, target one card on your opponent's field, activate the second effect of [Dark Magician Circle], and banish that card."

After Atem finished speaking, Yugi thought for a moment and then pointed to Hayato's highest attack power unit on the field, [Azure Machine Knight], "I'm going to exclude [Azure Machine Knight]!"

After [Super Magus - Dark Mage Apprentice] is destroyed, the [Dark Mage] and [Dark Mage Girl] Special Summoned by Atem on the field have ATKs of 2500 and 2300 respectively, which is slightly weaker in terms of pressure. Therefore, the priority is naturally to take down [Azure Knight], which has the ability to destroy [Dark Mage], which has the highest ATK of Atem.

Furthermore, its second effect is also a troublesome ability: it can move the monster's position once per turn and can also be activated during the opponent's turn. This makes Yugi think that the effect of [Machine Knight] might not be as simple as he imagined, and there might be other effects that target the same column. Otherwise, why would Hayato say "positioning" instead of "deployment"?

Without knowing the effects of the other cards in the [Machine Knight] deck, perhaps due to the resonance of hardcore players, the game actually guessed part of it correctly and chose to exclude [Azure Machine Knight] from Hayato's field, even though there were actually two cards in the column where [Azure Machine Knight] was located.

A magic circle rose up from the location of the spinning mechanical knight, engulfing it. Hayato picked up the card of [Azure Machine Knight] and put it in his pocket. He glanced at the two cards remaining in his hand and smirked: "[Dark Magician] will appear after [Super Magician - Dark Magician Apprentice] is destroyed, and then trigger the effect of [Dark Magician Circle]. How could I not know that?"

"But if I play this card again, how will you respond, Pharaoh Atum?"

Hayato ran his fingers over the three remaining monster cards on the Duel Disk. Having no chance of a normal summon, he removed the three cards from the Duel Disk as if offering three sacrifices to summon a god. Looking at the three crimson pillars of light rising from his field, he said, "The gathered will will awaken the sleeping knight. Hidden beneath the terrifying exterior is a heart of love and justice!"

"Release the three-body monster on my field, and Special Summon this monster from my hand, Blood Machine Knight, [D-hero Blood Demon-D]!"

Three beams of light converged at one point, summoning a warrior with a sinister aura that was completely different from the sci-fi style of the [Machine Knights]. Hayato nodded in satisfaction and added, "Although it's a bit late to say this now, this time I'm playing a 'pure [Machine Knights] deck'!"

"Hmm, I can tell the purity is quite high." Atum glanced at [D-hero Blood Demon-D] and commented. Yugi, however, suddenly recalled the effect of [Blood Demon-D], "I remember that monster's effect was... to continuously negate the effects of all monsters on the opponent's field, and once per turn, you could equip one of the opponent's monsters as an Equip Card to it!?"

"【Blood Demon-D】, known as the Little 【Sacrifice Demon】! Although I didn't have time to absorb your 【Super Magician - Dark Magician's Apprentice】 and turn it into its equipment card, 【Dark Magician Girl】 is also quite good. Your card will be mine soon!" Hayato said, waving his hand, "Activate the effect of 【Blood Demon-D】 to turn the 【Dark Magician Girl】 on your opponent's field into its equipment card!"

"Woo-wah! Da-me! Yame-te!"

As Hayato finished speaking, [Blood Demon-D] immediately caused a large pool of blood to appear beneath its feet and spread across the field, negating the effect of the only Effect Monster, [Dark Magician Girl]. At the same time, it controlled the blood pool to rise and transform into tentacles, beginning to capture [Dark Magician Girl].

The powerless [Dark Magician Girl] struggled and resisted, and for a moment the scene looked like it was about to move towards the 18+ direction.

"【Dark Magician Girl】!" Yugi watched helplessly as 【Dark Magician Girl】 was dragged into the blood pool, her power assimilated and absorbed by 【Blood Demon-D】, and he was powerless to do anything about it.

【D-hero Blood Demon-D】(Dark Magician Girl)【ATK1900→2900】

Atem couldn't help but retort, "As always, you like targeting [Dark Magician Girl], Hayato. The attack power you gain from absorbing [Dark Magician] is actually higher. That's why [Dark Magician Girl] hates you so much."

"Idiot, if you're going to absorb something, you should definitely choose those beautiful girls, right? Just thinking about absorbing a monster into your body instead of a cute girl makes me sick."

Hearing Hayato's words, the previously silent Dark Magician couldn't help but speak up: "...I'm not a middle-aged man, I just look a little older!"

"Why don't you refute the part about being secretly passionate, Mahad?"

Chapter 990 Machine World Knight: Heavenly God's Sweep!

With only one card left in his hand, Hayato glanced at Yugi, who also had only one card left in his hand, and decisively activated the card, saying, "Activate the Spell Card [Heavenly Treasure Card], both players draw cards from their decks until they have six cards left in their hands."

"I don't have a hand of cards because I can draw six cards."

Seeing Hayato activate [Heavenly Treasure Card] without hesitation, Atem smiled slightly: "Even if it's just to let us enjoy the effect of replenishing our hand, we still have to draw cards?"

"Since we have one card in our hand, we draw five cards."

Although it appeared relaxed, the game already sensed the impending crisis.

Under Hayato's relentless pressure, he still had one card left on his back row, "Eternal Soul," which, though unrevealed, was already in a revealed state. This card had the effect of Special Summoning "Dark Magician" from the Graveyard or hand once per turn, or searching for either "Dark Magician" or "Thousand Blades," and it also granted "Dark Magician" resistance to being affected by the opponent's card effects.

However, Hayato must have known this, which is why after summoning [Blood Demon-D], he didn't even think about absorbing [Dark Magician] into his equipment and chose [Dark Magician Girl] instead. This was because if Hayato had chosen [Dark Magician] at that time, the game could have easily opened [Eternal Soul] to protect [Dark Magician].

However, now that [Blood Demon-D] has absorbed [Dark Magician Girl] and gained half of its attack power, its attack power has reached 2900 points, higher than [Dark Magician Girl], making it easy to destroy [Dark Magician Girl]. Then, Hayato drew six more cards using the effect of [Heavenly Treasure Card], and it's foreseeable that the two of them will face Hayato's second onslaught.

"Tsk, I was a bit too hasty. I should have waited a bit longer after [Dark Magician] appeared, and waited for Hayato to summon [Blood Demon-D] before using [Eternal Soul] to trigger the effect of [Dark Magician Circle]," Atum thought with some annoyance.

Ultimately, who could have imagined that while they were constantly using those [Machine Knights] to "position" and adjust the column, Hayato would suddenly play a [Blood Demon-D]? The purity has been greatly reduced. No, I should have realized this when [Shadowdragora] appeared. It seems my dueling skills have declined from playing cards with other pharaohs in the Underworld. If my opponent was Hayato, I should have known he could pull out anything at any moment.

Looking at the cards he had drawn, Yugi reassured Atum not to worry too much. Although it was unavoidable that Hayato would break through their defenses this turn, even for Hayato, achieving an OTK and defeating them this turn would not be so easy. They still had cards in their hands that could block Hayato's attacks.

Hayato, who also drew a card, checked his hand and drew one of them, saying, "The Blood Demon-D, which can be summoned without a normal summon and only by releasing a three-body monster, has a powerful suppressive force. Its compatibility with the Machine Knight is as high as 1000%. There is no problem in me calling it the 'Blood Machine Knight,' just like the high-ATK big brother of the 'D·hero' family, the Rainbow Dark Dragon."

Before Yugi could even understand what the unfamiliar cards [D·hero] and [Rainbow Dark Dragon] were, Hayato activated the cards in his hand: "Because of the departure of the [Machine Knights], many positions on the field are now empty. In the column where Atem's back row card is located, I will set a card, so that there are two cards in that column."

"Then, I will Special Summon [Golden Flower Knight of the Machines] from my hand to this column by its own effect!"

A new [Machine Knight] with a graceful, feminine figure, especially a pair of strong and powerful thighs, appeared on Hayato's field. Although it had no arms, ten diamond-shaped floating shields behind it formed wings, allowing it to float in the air. On those floating shields were yellow crystals identical to those on its entire body.

【Huang Hua's Machine Knight】【7☆/Light】

[Psychic Clan/Effect]

【2200/2800→2500/3100】

With the blessing of the [Scars Engraved by the Star Relic], the newly appeared [Huanghua Machine Knight] gained attack power comparable to that of the [Dark Magician], and Atum keenly noticed this.

"The cyan of [Azure Sky], the green of [Emerald Mist], the red of [Red Lotus], the indigo of [Azure Blue], and now [Yellow Flower], does that mean the [Machine Knight] has seven forms corresponding to the seven colors of the rainbow?"

Not only that, Hayato also retrieved the Crimson Knight from his graveyard, which had been released earlier for the appearance of the Crimson Knight. "By banishing one Crimson Knight from my graveyard, I activate the effect of the Crimson Knight: Golden Flower. Target one Spell/Trap Card in the same column as this monster and destroy it."

"Pamet Imprint 3! Go, Floating Cannon! Destroy that face-down card in Yugi Muto's back row!"

The phantom of the Crimson Lotus Machine Knight merged into the body of the Yellow Flower Machine Knight. The core stone on its body lit up, and the floating shield behind it detached from its body and flew out. The Geka, which was locked in Atum's back row, shot beams from multiple angles, destroying the Geka. Atum could only watch helplessly.

He could chain the effect of [Golden Flower Knight] to activate a face-down card, but that would be useless. Even if he used the effect of [Eternal Soul] once before it was destroyed, it would only Special Summon another [Dark Magician] from Atem's Graveyard.

After that, it's not a big deal that the face-down "Eternal Soul" is destroyed, but when the face-up "Eternal Soul" leaves the field, it will also destroy all the monsters on Atem's field. Then he will have to face a direct attack from the two monsters on Hayato's field.

"Activate the Spell Card [Angel's Charity], draw three cards from my deck, and then send two cards from my hand to the Graveyard."

After using "Angel's Charity" to change his hand and send two monster cards to the graveyard, Hayato played another card. "Then came the Quick-Play Spell Card 'Burial from Another Dimension,' which sent my banished monsters, 'Azure Machine Knight,' 'Crimson Machine Knight,' and 'Azure Machine Knight,' back to the graveyard."

Hayato took three cards out of his pocket and, while sending them to the graveyard, said, "Also, let me give you a little reminder. The two cards that were just sent to my graveyard by [Angel's Charity] are the monster cards [Light Shadow Machine Knight] and [Purple Night Machine Knight]."

As Hayato returned the three banished [Machine Knights] to the Graveyard, the Graveyard area on his Duel Disk lit up, projecting a light onto the [Golden Flower Machine Knight] on his field.

On the floating shield behind [Huang Hua's Machine Knight], the phantoms of all the [Machine Knights] Hayato has used so far appear one by one, merging into the core stone and dyeing it with his own colors, exactly the seven colors of a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

"All seven colors of the [Machine Knights] have gathered on Hayato's field and in his graveyard?" Yugi didn't know what this meant, but his intuition told him that something dangerous was about to descend. He tensed up and looked at the [Golden Flower Machine Knight] on Hayato's field. Its energy had been accumulated to the maximum, and it would fall like a boulder rolling down a mountain with just a gentle push.

“Don’t be too nervous, Yugi Muto. Although the Machine Knights have been assembled, they won’t easily use their ultimate power because they are tasked with protecting the world. We still need a little help to open the gate to heaven.” Hayato said, playing a card. “Activate the Continuous Spell Card, Devil’s Declaration.”

"I activate this card once per turn by paying 500 Life Points. I declare a card name and then reveal the top card of my deck. If it is the card with the declared name, I add it to my hand; otherwise, I send it to the Graveyard."

Hayato paused for a moment and then said, "The card name I'm declaring is, [Dark Magician]."

"Um!?"

[Hayato Kobayashi: 4000→3500LP]

Seeing Hayato pay out 500 life points, Yugi was quite surprised: "[Dark Magician]...Is there [Dark Magician] in Hayato's deck?"

"【Dark Magician】is a very rare card, but it's still possible for Hayato to get one or two. However, declaring the card name 【Dark Magician】doesn't mean that Hayato actually put 【Dark Magician】in his deck."

From the presence of [Dark Magician] Mahad on the field, Atem learned that there was no trace of [Dark Magician] in Hayato's deck. He guessed Hayato's purpose: "He just randomly declared a card name that could never appear in his own deck."

"His goal is to send the cards at the top of his deck to the graveyard!"

Because of the effect of "Demon's Declaration", Hayato flipped over the top card of his deck and showed it to Yugi and the others, saying, "The card at the top of my deck is this 'Machine Knight - Abraham', not the 'Dark Magician' I declared, so I'm sending it to the graveyard."

As Hayato delivered the card to the graveyard, he said, "One of the necessary conditions is [the Engraved Scar]."

"The second necessary condition is a reliable deck."

"The third necessary condition is the souls of the eight [Machine Knights]."