Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

[Sheep Derivative] [1☆/Land]

[Orcs/Derivatives]

[0/0]

"Now that you only have two monsters on the field that haven't attacked yet, you can no longer get through my defenses and attack me directly!"

Just as Atolis finished speaking, he saw Hayato draw a card from the graveyard and say helplessly, "Really? That's strong, too strong. It's actually the invincible [Scapegoat]. If you were to use them to link summon a card player's one and only wife, Hades, next turn, wouldn't I be doomed? Luckily, I'm a step ahead and brought this card with me. Besides, it was already pushed into the graveyard by Blue's effect before."

Hayato placed the card on the Duel Disk and said, "If [Token Collector] is in my hand or Graveyard and a Token is Special Summoned, I Special Summon it from my Graveyard. Then, if [Token Collector] is successfully Special Summoned, I destroy all Tokens on the field and its ATK increases by 400 for each Token destroyed!"

The sheep tokens on Atolis's field had only been there for a moment when suddenly a white net caught them all. A young goblin, holding the net, appeared on Hayato's field with an excited expression.

[Derivative Collector] [ATK 0 → 1600]

Although Hayato's Fiend-type spirits seem to be isolated in the cards and unable to respond to him due to the environment of Avalon, this never means that Hayato can't use Fiend-type cards. It just means that the interaction between the cards and him will be a little more difficult without the spirits. It's like when Little Blue sent a completely useless [Token Collector] to the graveyard when he was building up the graveyard before - but it's also possible that Little Blue was just too stupid.

However, Hayato did not expect that Atolis would use the card "Scapegoat". The "Token Collector", which he thought would not be of any use, was actually used successfully, clearing out the "Sheep Tokens" that Atolis wanted to use as a barrier to block the attack in one hit.

The attack of [Shadowdew - Seven Sages Giant Kun Demon], which had been temporarily halted due to the triggering of the battle rewind, resumed, and the water column slammed into Atoris!

[Artoria: 3000→500LP]

"Well!"

Seeing Atolis blasted several meters away by the water jet, his life points dwindling to almost nothing, Hayato issued the final attack command without hesitation, "Then the final attack is [Half-Dragon Maid - Laundry Dragon Girl]'s direct attack, Little Blue Little Blue's ultimate strike!"

"Oh, so it's me, Little Blue, who's going to deliver the final blow? Master, you did a great job! You did a great job!" Little Blue, with two bumps on her head, looked at Artorius confidently and said, "The one who defeated you is me, Little Blue!"

As he spoke, Little Blue began to run and charge, leaping up to deliver a flying kick towards Artorius.

Just as Artorias was recovering from being sprayed in the face by [Shadowdew-Seven Sages Giant Kun Demon], he saw the sole of Xiao Lan's waterproof boots rapidly enlarging in front of him. Before he could even make a blocking move, Xiao Lan kicked Artorias in the face, knocking him unconscious.

[Artorius: 500LP→0]

Chapter 1023 Merlin, the Legendary Prophet

As Little Blue unleashed a Little Blue Flying Kick that struck Atolis, Hayato watched in utter disappointment as the man who resembled King Arthur was easily sent flying and collapsed unconscious on the ground.

It was rare for him to draw cards so enthusiastically in a duel, but there were hardly any places where he could use them. Let's not even mention cards like [Dragon's Mirror] and [Super Polymerization] that can create a powerful card with one card, nor the fact that the mere [Lancelot] was not worth bringing [Ra's Winged Dragon of Ra] into play. Hayato didn't even have time to throw out [Turtle Kaiju] in his hand.

After all, if other people's strongest monster becomes a turtle, it's a weakening, but if Atolis's [Magic Knight - Lancelot] is eaten by a turtle, it can actually be considered a strengthening.

However, what disappointed Hayato the most was that Ran's direct attack actually wiped out Atolis's last 500 basic points, leaving him no chance to use [Summoning Exophysis] to finish him off!

Weak, weak, weak, weak!

Hayato, still looking annoyed from not having had enough of playing cards, picked up his backpack and approached the fallen Atolis. Meanwhile, in Hayato's unpacked deck, the [Ruins' Magic Mine Warrior], which hadn't gotten a chance to be played, flattered, "Celebrate! The Hero has achieved another complete victory! He's taken another step closer to ruling... and saving the world!"

Someone took the lead, and [Summoner - Aleister] poked his head out and said, "Master has humiliated Artorius! Master is invincible!"

"Master, we love you so much!!" Little Blue, who had just landed the final blow, joined in the cheers. Meanwhile, [Half-Dragon Maid - Dragon Girl Butler] was too busy stopping [Shadowdew - Seven Sages Giant Kun Demon] from getting close to Hayato to pay attention to Little Blue.

However, before she could see, [Shadowy Midrash] jumped out of the card. Although her little face was expressionless, she stretched out her arms straight and gave Hayato a thumbs up, expecting his praise. Hayato helplessly ruffled her long green hair.

—Although [Shadowdome Midrash] did not appear directly in this duel, she is also featured in the card art for [Assimilation of False Souls], so it can be considered that she did make an appearance.

However, Hayato did not forget his mission because of the lively spirits around him. The first thing he did when he came to the fallen Atolis was to remove the deck from the Duel Disk on his left wrist.

To be clear, Hayato did this purely to disarm Atolis and prevent him from retaliating after waking up, thus reducing the threat he could pose. He didn't intend to steal his deck. As for how to return Atolis's deck after he wakes up?

What nonsense is that? The deck that ends up in Hayato's hands is Hayato's deck, isn't it? There's no such thing as an Atolis deck.

The idea was good, but the problem was that when Hayato grabbed Atolis's wrist and was about to pull out the deck, Atolis's deck, which was touched by Hayato's fingertips, shattered as if it had activated Sword Twenty-Three, and suddenly turned into light spots and disappeared, leaving nothing behind.

This was quite a pity for Hayato. After all, although Artorias was terrible at cards, as if he had only practiced for two and a half years, his deck had quite a few strong cards, such as the "Bitter Choice". Even Hayato only had the one that Isis gave him back then.

"Because it was a hastily made deck, it was already gone after the duel." Unable to take Artoria's deck away, Hayato wasn't discouraged. He then set his sights on the uniquely designed Duel Disk on Artoria's wrist. As a Duel Disk collector, his main tactic was to steal it...

Well, if you don't pick it up when you go out, you'll lose it. Since you've come all this way, you can't leave empty-handed; you have to take something with you.

The Duel Disk, which resembled an arm guard and was nestled on Atolis's left arm, was not a design released by Kaiba Corporation. However, to Hayato's surprise, its fixing structure was not as old-fashioned as the armor Atolis wore, but rather had a structure similar to Hayato's Duel Disk. Hayato easily removed it and put it in his backpack.

When Hayato took the Duel Disk off his bag and put it away, and lowered Artorias's arm, he saw that Artorias had somehow woken up and was lying on the ground with his head turned to the side, meeting Hayato's gaze.

"What are you looking at? It's normal to get rewards for winning and punishments for losing in a card game, right? What's wrong with me taking the loot?" Even though it was clearly the owner of the loot that was discovered, Hayato acted like a Paradox player being accused of being a war criminal and then righteously declaring that he wasn't a war criminal because he didn't lose. He glared at Atolis and demanded, "Where did you hide my deck, you brat?"

Atolis truly hadn't expected Hayato to so brazenly ask him for his deck. Was this guy utterly shameless? And why was someone like that even allowed into Avalon?!

Artorius questioned Avalon's selection mechanism in his heart, wondering how they could tell that the person in front of him was "kind-hearted, pure, and innocent." However, he did not continue to be wary of Hayato. Since he had lost, he was willing to accept his defeat and said to Hayato, "Since you are the victor, then fine. As the loser, you can do whatever you want with me."

Atolis offered no resistance, already prepared to be killed by Hayato. Hayato, upon hearing Atolis's words, raised an eyebrow and grinned maliciously, saying, "Alright, then give me back my deck."

"Not refuting you doesn't mean I agree with you. It seems that something has become your deck!" Artorius's expressionless face instantly broke down, and he said with some annoyance.

Hayato, hands on his hips, declared confidently, "Because I knew I would be the winner before the duel even began, that deck was my spoils from the very beginning."

Artorius clenched his teeth, and after a long while, he said, "I can't do it, I can't do that kind of thing."

"Hey, seriously? You just said you were at my mercy." Not caring at all that he had just been dueling with Atolis, Hayato put his hand on Atolis's shoulder and said kindly, "Just hand over your deck. Anyway, you said that ordinary people can't enter this Avalon, right? That means your deck is basically useless. I might as well sell it and get... let me use it properly."

“You just said you were planning to sell it, right!” Atolis didn’t shake off Hayato’s hand, glaring at the slip-up Hayato. “But I just can’t do it. I don’t really want to, but more than that, I can’t.”

"Can't do it? If you can't do it, then take the hit—"

Hayato was speaking when a voice came from behind him: "Atolis really can't do it yet, so please don't make things difficult for him, sir."

Turning his head curiously, Hayato saw someone running towards him from a distance on the grassland where he and Atolis had previously been alone. The voice he had just heard seemed to be him speaking from a great distance.

As the person ran towards them, they were still singing cheerfully: "Waves, waves, waves~ The scenery is so beautiful under the bright sun, red flowers and green grass, I run happily forward, traversing green hills without growing old~"

Singing and running, the white-bearded old man who suddenly appeared came to Hayato and Atolis. Although he looked somewhat serious, his frivolous personality and carefree nature were exposed when he spoke: "Oh dear, I came over because I sensed that you were fighting, Atolis."

"You lost before I even arrived. That was fast."

"Merlin!" Atolis said angrily, looking at the white-bearded old man in front of him. "It's not just that you sensed me fighting, it's that you sent me here, and then I ran into this person. I'm afraid you already knew he would come, and you even let him into Avalon!"

"Oh dear, I'm getting old and I think I'm a little hard of hearing, so I can't hear anything."

"Merlin, you nightmare—!" Atolis was about to say something to the old man when Hayato covered his mouth and pushed him aside, so that Hayato could stand directly opposite the white-bearded old man. Seeing Hayato's actions, the old man did not stop him and seemed to be happy to see Atolis being treated this way.

The purple mage's robes, edged with gold patterns, looked quite extraordinary. The slender wand in his hand didn't seem to be the kind used to praise various martial arts like Mahad's, but the large, transparent green gem at its tip constantly radiated powerful magic, as if proving that amplifying spells was the correct way to use the wand.

Hayato looked the white-bearded old man up and down, frowned, and asked, "Are you Merlin?"

"What, doesn't it look like me? I'm quite confident in my appearance." Merlin tugged at the sleeve of his mage's robe and looked at Hayato with a smile, his narrowed eyes making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

"It's not about the outfit, it's just that I'm really disappointed. It's one thing that King Arthur isn't a girl, but even Merlin isn't some trash with Ayako Kawasumi's voice. It's so disappointing." Shaking his head, Hayato looked at Merlin with disdain. "He's not even a VTuber who breathes with gills. I thought we could exchange NTR hobbies."

Subconsciously, Merlin complained, "You, stop mixing up characters and voices... no, what nonsense am I talking about? Never mind."

“I’m truly sorry if she’s not the woman you expected or an online scammer, but why does the human world have such a strange impression of ‘Merlin’?” Stroking his long beard that reached his knees, Merlin sighed helplessly, glanced at Artoria beside him, and then spread his hands, saying, “But speaking of which, I’m also a little disappointed. Artoria is actually a man. I thought she would be one of those cute girls like lilies.”

"Is there anything wrong with the name 'Atolis' being a man's name? I'm a man too, a knight!" Atolis retorted angrily when Merlin mocked him. "Just because you're a nightmare doesn't mean you can manipulate other people's dreams at will. Don't let me see you when I wake up!"

Hayato felt something was off when he heard Atolis's words. What did he mean by "after I wake up"?

"Tsk tsk, what a noble ideal. Well then, in order to become a great knight in the future and make Britain great again, continue to train hard, Artorius." Merlin glanced at Hayato, but didn't explain anything to him. Instead, he smiled at Artorius.

Then, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Hayato immediately saw a semi-transparent barrier appear in front of Atolis, separating him and Merlin from Atolis. Atolis seemed unable to see Hayato and Merlin from the other side of the barrier. He frowned but then paid no more attention to it, returned to the sword he had previously stuck in the ground, pulled it out, and began practicing slashing at the air.

"You're curious about what Artorius said, aren't you, sir...?"

Upon hearing Merlin's words, Hayato introduced himself: "Emporio, my name is Emporio."

“Yes, Mr. Dan Kuroto.”

Merlin pretended not to hear the new alias Hayato made up on the spot and called out the alias Hayato had used when he first entered Avalon and introduced himself to Atolis, which earned him a disapproving look from Hayato.

"As expected, you've been here from the very beginning, yet you're pretending to have just arrived. You even knew I'd be here all along, according to Artorius. How despicable, so true to my stereotype of you, Merlin, the court wizard from the Arthurian legend."

Seeing Hayato looking at him with disdain and wariness, Merlin waved his hand dismissively: "Oh, actually I prefer the title 'Merlin the Legendary Prophet,' but I can accept just calling me Merlin."

“[Merlin, the legendary prophet]…” Hayato scrutinized Merlin before him once more. Although he hadn't played the Paladin deck much, he had encountered people using it and knew that Atolis's Paladin deck did indeed contain a card whose appearance was remarkably similar to Merlin's. However, Hayato felt something was still missing.

After thinking for a moment, Hayato suddenly opened his backpack and found that the golden cloak of Mold was still shining, and the aura it was calling out seemed to be coming from Merlin in front of him.

"Wow, your reaction is quite sharp, Mr. Dan Kuroto." Seeing Hayato take out the golden shawl, Merlin smiled and beckoned to him. The broken golden shawl flew from Hayato's hand and landed on Merlin's shoulder. It disintegrated and then reassembled, and in the blink of an eye, it became a complete shawl with magical light flashing on it.

"This thing is actually yours?" Hayato scratched his head, feeling an itch as if he needed to find his brain. "After putting it on, it seems to be pretty much the same as I remember, but things are really a bit of a mess."

"Don't rush, Mr. Dan Kuroto, we have plenty of time to talk slowly. I will answer all your questions. After that, I would like to ask you for a favor," Merlin said with a smile.

Chapter 1024 Artoria

Although most dreams are chaotic and illogical random fragments composed of disordered recall of memories during subconscious activity, there are occasional, miraculous cases of "premonitory dreams" where events in reality are encountered in advance.

Dreams, aren't they amazing?

Even among different ethnic groups and countries, there are various legends about dreams. For example, Wei Zheng of Yan dreamed of beheading the Dragon King, and Baldur of Norse mythology foresaw Ragnarok in his dream. Naturally, the ancient Celts did not leave out dream-related content in their mythology.

King Arthur, who concealed his royal lineage, was adopted by Sir Hector. Without noble status and not a knight but merely a squire, he received various instruction from the court wizard Merlin through dreams, thus learning martial arts and the skills of being a king.

“I see, I understand completely now.” Hayato slapped his fist against his palm. “So I’ve traveled through time, right? I’ve traveled back to ancient Britain.”

Hearing Hayato's words, Merlin rolled his eyes: "You understand Gawain? If traveling in and out of Avalon could be done through time, I would have gone back to before that animation company called 'Dion' was founded and ruined their studio. It's one thing to make up stories about the Fairy King Oberon being Morgan's child, but to make up stories about me being his son?"

"In that case, Merlin is Morgan's grandson, and then Morgan's grandson becomes Morgan's brother's teacher, and there's also the entanglement between the Lady of the Lake and Merlin... Tsk tsk, just thinking about it makes me feel pretty confused." Hayato teased, "But it's not bad that they only made up interpersonal relationships, at least they didn't change your skin color."

"The documentary 'Polar Bear' will star a black bear, right?" Merlin quipped, then added, "Wait, you've steered the conversation off course again. Where were we? Oh right, Artorius's growth is all thanks to me teaching him all sorts of things in my dreams."

That means 24 hours a day, without rest.

“I didn’t want to either, but it was a task entrusted to me by Artorius’ father, King Uther, and I only trained him that way after obtaining Artorius’s consent. I even originally planned to teach one day and then slack off the next, but Artorius took the initiative to ask for extra training.”

"These are Artorius's 'dreams' during his growth, and the last dream he had was on the day he pulled out that sword." Merlin recalled the past. "On the day he pulled out the sword, I guided him to that place of destiny, to the [Holy Sword - Sword in the Stone]. However, I, not being human, softened my heart and let him have one last dream, a dream of the future he had to resist after pulling out the sword, giving this fool who had always walked on a path arranged by fate since childhood a chance to choose."

"That's why I call him an idiot. He saw the tragic fate that awaited him after drawing his sword, yet he still drew it. And from that moment on, the young man named 'Artorius' who wanted to become a knight, the [Holy Knight-Artorius], disappeared, leaving only the [Holy Knight King-Artorius] known as 'King Arthur'."

"As the King of Knights, 'Arthur' cannot dream, because dreams can be said to be a person's ideals, and 'Arthur' exists in place of the ideals of his [Holy Knights], he is the king of ideals, how can an ideal itself possess an ideal?"

At this point, Merlin sighed and added, "He can only dream at one time, and that is after he has done everything he can."

Hayato was somewhat surprised by Merlin's words: "Wait a minute, could it be that the Artorias we just heard was—"

"At the end of the Arthurian legend, King Arthur, who suffered a fatal wound in the battle with Mordred, entrusted his last knight Bedivere to return the sword in the lake, and he himself was taken to Avalon to sleep forever." Merlin nodded, spreading his hands to gesture for Hayato to look around, "So you understand now, this is indeed Avalon, but a more accurate description would be the dream of King Arthur, who sleeps in Avalon."

“No wonder. I thought even if it was Avalon, there was no reason why I, who had already entered this world, couldn’t release the spirits. If it was a dream, then it would make sense.” Hayato nodded. “It’s not that spirits of the machine race or the demon race can’t appear, but only spirits of the dragon race, the warrior race, the mage race, etc. can appear. It’s because King Arthur’s dream couldn’t contain things that were beyond his memory.”

"And thinking about it carefully, I seem to have all the cards that Atolis used in our duel just now, except for the Paladin cards. Whether it's Bitter Choice, Inherited Power, or something else, I do have that card, Bubble Collapse, even though I haven't used it. Could it be that he built that deck by adding his own memories to my memories?"

"That's about right, basically it is." Merlin nodded in confirmation of Hayato's guess, and looked at Hayato, saying, "However, Artoria is not Arthur. After all, as you know, at the end of the Arthurian legend, King Arthur undoubtedly fell into eternal sleep. The Artoria you saw was, to be precise, a part of Artoria's memories before he became 'King Arthur' that I awakened by using my ability as a Nightmare."

"So that's why he had that attitude towards the Paladins—a little feeling, but not much emotion. And the Paladin cards don't have any spirits residing in them, because those are cards constructed by Atolis from his memories, not their actual physical bodies inhabited by spirits." Hayato suddenly realized. "But I remember there's an oak coffin in Glastonbury containing the remains of King Arthur and Guinevere—"