Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

“So it is, so it is.” Hayato sat at the round table in the room, telling Yugi and the others what he had done, one by one.

"That bastard Pegasus not only sealed away Kaiba and Keihei's souls, but he also threw their bodies into the dungeon. That's outrageous!" Jonouchi said angrily.

Honda breathed a sigh of relief: "However, it's also thanks to Hayato for bringing them out. Now Pegasus can't use Kaiba and Keipi as threats or cheat in the duel, right?"

Mai glanced at Kaiba, who was sitting next to Hayato in the same pose as before: "Compared to those, don't you guys find it strange to keep that Kaiba Seto in this pose? Especially his eyes, they're really creepy."

Hayato casually grabbed a pair of sunglasses from the side and put them on Kaiba's face. After examining them carefully, he nodded in satisfaction: "How about this? Hmm, the synchronization rate with Commander Ikari is even higher now."

"Speaking of which, I remember you told me, Hayato-kun, that Pegasus and the Kaiba Group seem to have some kind of bet." As Hayato fiddled with Kaiba's stiff face, making all sorts of bizarre expressions, Yugi suddenly remembered something.

“Ah, that’s true. You defeated Kaiba, didn’t you, Yugi? And it was when Kaiba was at the height of his power that you defeated him head-on after he summoned the three-body ‘Blue Eyes’.” Hayato recalled for a moment, “And just before you defeated him, the Kaiba Corporation had been loudly proclaiming their ambition to enter the Duel Monsters field.”

"Then, because you defeated Haima and plunged him into a prolonged slump, all of Haima Group's previous publicity went down the drain. Just a moment ago they were saying they had the strongest Trisolaran White Dragon, and the next second they were defeated. It was a slap in the face, and Haima Group's stock price plummeted. And at this moment, Pegasus approached five executives of Haima Group and proposed an acquisition."

"The five big bosses of the Kaiba Group made a demand: if Pegasus could defeat Yugi, who had previously defeated Seto Kaiba, in a public tournament, the Kaiba Group and the virtual projection technology, which is crucial to Duel Monsters, would fall into the hands of Mirage International. That's why Pegasus sealed away Sugoroku's soul to coerce you into participating in the Duel Kingdom tournament."

"For such a reason, you stole Chicken's soul!" Even the usually mild-mannered Yugi clenched his fists in anger after hearing Hayato's explanation. "Kaiba, Keipi, Chicken—their souls were sealed away simply because of Pegasus's selfish desires. It's unforgivable, Pegasus!"

Hayato sighed inwardly as he watched the enraged Yugi. He hadn't actually told Yugi the whole truth; he had deliberately revealed only half of it. His goal was to provoke Yugi so that Yugi would give his all in his duel with Pegasus.

It wasn't that Pegasus wanted to acquire the Haima Group, but rather that the five elders of the Haima Group wanted to betray Haima and sell out the group because of past grudges; Pegasus's need for virtual projection technology was not to expand the International Illusion Society, but to use it to combine with the power of the [Millennium Eye] to resurrect his deceased lover.

However, revealing these truths would only affect morale. In any case, Pegasus, whose mind has been influenced by the dark power of the Millennium Eye, is no good either, so let him take the blame.

"What a bastard, he's not even human!" Jonouchi said angrily, looking at Yugi and Hayato, and suddenly said seriously, "Yugi, Hayato! I'm begging you two! You must rescue Sugoroku-san, and also, take me with you, you must teach that Pegasus guy a good lesson!"

"So Pegasus is such a nasty person." Even Mai's expression turned angry because she realized that if she were in the game's situation, she would probably want to kill Pegasus on the spot. "Although I'm not very familiar with that Kaiba, if possible, I'd like to teach that bastard Pegasus a lesson."

Hayato, noticing the gazes directed at him and Yugi, nodded earnestly in agreement: "Of course. After all, the thought of Pegasus turning my soul into a card is really unpleasant. I don't want to end up like Kaiba."

The game, within his mind, is a dialogue with "another self"—

'Please, my other self, you absolutely have to win tomorrow's duel!'

"Yeah, don't worry, Aibo, I'll definitely defeat Pegasus." A voice, audible only to the game, came from within the Millennium Puzzle. After a pause, the voice continued, "However, I still haven't figured out a way to break Pegasus's mind-reading ability."

"Regarding mind-reading abilities, Hayato secretly told me that his 'Millennium Wisdom Wheel' seems to be able to block Pegasus's 'Millennium Eye,' but only against himself. And tomorrow's duel will see Pegasus fight both of them simultaneously."

"So, while Hayato can devise his own tactics, our thoughts can be read?" Yami Yugi's voice remained silent for a long time, as if he were pondering something. "Aibo, do you remember that day, the duel between Kaiba and Pegasus?"

The game player recalled the choice Kaiba made after discovering Pegasus's mind-reading ability during the duel: 'I remember, after Kaiba discovered Pegasus's mind-reading ability, he seemed to choose to discard his own hand and only use the cards he drew each turn?'

"To be more precise, Kaiba chose to use a card he drew that he himself didn't know about, instead of using known resources," Yami Yugi stated his thoughts. "Although Pegasus can read people's minds, it seems to be limited to information that the person already knows; he can't read minds about things that are unknown to them."

"Speaking of which, this time, whether it's you, me, Hayato, or Pegasus, all three of us in the final battle wield the Millennium Items. Since Pegasus cheated by using the power of the Millennium Eye during the duel, Aibo, perhaps we could also try using the power of the Millennium Puzzle in our duel?"

The game heard the idea from "his other self," thought about it for a moment, and found it quite feasible. He looked down at his deck, which he was adjusting in preparation for tomorrow's duel, and drew a card from the top of the deck.

It's a magic card, [Switch].

Chapter 161 Pegasus J. Crawford, the Father of Duel Monsters

The next day. The Duel Hall inside the Duel Kingdom Castle.

Taking a deep breath, Yugi, holding his final, fully-tuned deck, pushed open the door to the player preparation room and walked into the corridor leading to the lobby. Turning to his right, he saw Hayato also leaving the preparation room at the same time, his deck in hand. The two exchanged a glance, nodded to each other, and walked forward in silence.

At the end of the corridor is a dueling ring that Hayato once used, where he faced both of the Labyrinth Brothers at the same time. Perhaps Pegasus had already foreseen that there would eventually be two Duel Kings standing before him.

Surrounding the dueling platform were the spectator stands, filled with people from all walks of life invited by Pegasus. Pegasus seemed to intend to use the momentum of this Duel Kingdom Tournament to elevate the status of the International Illusion Society in one fell swoop, while also fulfilling the condition of "public duels" proposed by the Five Elders.

Jonouchi, Kyoko, Honda, Bakura, Samejima, and Mai Kujaku were quickly spotted by Hayato in the audience. Upon seeing Yugi and Hayato, they excitedly wanted to stand up and cheer, but due to the presence of the International Illusion Society staff maintaining order around them, they could only wave in the end.

Hayato also found some familiar faces—

The runner-up of the Japanese national selection tournament, "Dinosaur" Ryuzaki, and the third-place winner, "Fisherman" Kajiki Ryota, who was shirtless, seem to have not been eliminated from Duel Kingdom except for Haga. They just failed to compete for the top eight.

He fought once when he had collected all the star chips, and even sold his information to Uncle Anasis of Same Island.

After being eliminated a few days ago, Hayato left the castle in a huff and looked at Samejima and Jonouchi's Ptah Garlem sitting in front of him with a displeased expression. Hayato guessed that perhaps he was forced by his family to come and watch the duel.

Hayato even saw a guy who looked a lot like Manjoume Masaji, except he was only slightly older than him. He was probably the eldest of the three Manjoume brothers.

Hayato turned his gaze from the audience seats to Yugi—or rather, Yugi—beside him. The instant he stepped out of the corridor, Hayato sensed a change in the demeanor of the person beside him.

After nodding in response to Jonouchi and the others in the audience, Yuuki looked at Pegasus, who had already stepped onto the dueling platform, with a serious expression: "Pegasus, your days of running rampant with the [Millennium Eye] are over. Hand over the souls of Kaiba, Keipi, and Chicken Sauce!"

"If you want it, you have to become the winner of the duel. You know the rules," Pegasus said with a smile, gesturing behind him. The old deacon respectfully stepped forward with a tray, on which lay Pegasus's deck of cards.

Hayato turned his head and said, "I knew he would say that." He then took a step and stepped onto the dueling platform on the right, while Yugi stepped onto the one on the left.

Seeing that the two were ready, Pegasus picked up the deck from the tray and placed it on the dueling platform in front of him. He said in an operatic tone, "You came to me to rescue someone important. Hayato boy, Yugi boy, your determination really moves me. You must have fought countless battles along the way, right?"

"Who knows? Anyway, no matter what the situation, I always solve it by playing cards," Hayato remarked, placing his deck on the dueling platform after Pegasus.

Yugi put down his deck, looked at Pegasus seriously, and said, "It's time to settle this, Pegasus! Let's end this once and for all!"

"Duel!" x2

"Duel~"

[Hayato: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

[Game: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

[Bekas: 8000LP, 5 cards in hand]

“My Turn, Draw.” Seemingly considering the large audience, Pegasus spoke in English for once, though his pronunciation was as strange as ever, making one wonder if he was actually a Japanese man pretending to be an American.

The duel order is "Pegasus → Yugi → Pegasus → Hayato". None of the three can enter the battle phase until Hayato's turn ends; the battle can only begin in the fifth turn, Pegasus's third turn. As compensation for the 1v2 situation, Pegasus's base score is doubled to 8000 points.

"First, I activate this spell card, [Toon Catalog]." An open book appeared on Pegasus's field, and from the revealed pages, seven-colored, rainbow-like words flew out, "Add one [Toon] card from my deck to my hand."

“To deal with you two ‘Duel Kings,’ even I have to be serious~” Pegasus playfully squinted one eye and acted cute. He didn’t even need to flip through the cards; he just drew a card from the top of his deck. “The card I’m adding to my hand is this [Toon World].

Ignoring Hayato's comment, "You didn't shuffle the cards at all," Pegasus revealed the cards and activated them on the field: "Set one card, and then I activate the [Toon World] that I just added to my hand."

"That card that transformed [Blue-Eyes White Dragon] into the ugly [Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon]?" Yugi stared intently at the book that appeared in Pegasus's back row. The book opened, and from it rose a city shrouded in darkness. That was the core of the [Toon] deck, [Toon World].

“Fairy tales are quite expensive fantasies. In order to maintain the [Cartoon World], I will have to pay 500 base points every turn.” Pegasus smiled. “Because I can’t enter the battle phase, I will summon a monster in defense position and then end my turn.”

[Bekas: 8000LP, 3 cards in hand]

[Inner Side Guardian Monster]

【Gaika】【Cartoon World】

"It's my turn, draw a card." The game draws a card, [Dark Magician Girl]. He has already drawn [Reduce Cost], a card that is very suitable for [Dark Magician Girl]. Theoretically, he can summon [Dark Magician Girl] this turn.

However, before the duel, Hayato had warned him that Pegasus was a minotaur enthusiast and very skilled at stealing other people's monsters. Although he didn't know what Hayato meant by "minotaur," Yugi remembered one thing: he had to be careful that Pegasus didn't steal his monsters.

Since we can't enter the battle phase, summoning a powerful monster too early will only increase the risk. In that case...

"I set two cards face down, then summon a monster face down in defense position." Yugi set down three cards and looked at Pegasus. "My turn is over."

"Tsk tsk tsk, game boy, you can't do this~" Pegasus looked disappointed. "You were all set to crush me to dust before, but in the end you just cowered in the back?"

"Hmph, say what you will." Wang Yang didn't pay much attention to Pegasus's words, but instead looked down at the card on the field, thinking to himself, 'Can that guy Pegasus see through my card?'

[Game: 4000LP, 3 cards in hand]

[Inner Side Guardian Monster]

【Signature Card】【Signature Card】

Chapter 162 The atmosphere suddenly became more entertaining.

[Becas: 8000→7500LP]

“So, it’s my turn again, draw.” Pegasus pulled out a card, feigning surprise on his face. “Wow, I’m really lucky today, game boy.”

“I drew a pretty good card.” As he spoke, Pegasus flipped over the card he had just drawn, revealing a monster that had left a deep impression on him from the game—[Blue-Eyes White Dragon]!

"That's... the legendary Duel Monster, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon?!"

"Isn't it supposed to be in the hands of Haima Group? How did it end up in Bekas's hands?"

"Could that be the fourth one? To actually use the designer's authority to create a backdoor for himself, Pegasus is really going too far."

A gasp of surprise came from the audience. After all, thanks to the Kaiba Corporation's relentless promotion in order to enter the Duel Monsters field, everyone interested in Duel Monsters knew that "Seto Kaiba has three Blue-Eyes White Dragons". Most people were just a little annoyed that Pegasus had brought out a "fourth Blue-Eyes".

However, whether it was Jonouchi and the others in the audience, or Hayato and Yugi, they all knew that the fourth card, "Blue Eyes," was actually in the hands of Yugi's grandfather, Sugoroku Muto, and had already been torn up by Kaiba himself.

In that case, it would be obvious where Pegasus got the Blue-Eyes White Dragon from. However, to Pegasus's surprise, although Yugi and Hayato showed barely suppressed indignation and dissatisfaction on their faces, Pegasus did not detect any surprise.

Although the attempt to read Hayato's mind ended in failure, Pegasus found the answer in the game.

"So that's how it is. You searched Kaiba Boy immediately after rescuing him, but didn't find his card deck. Hayato Boy really is..." Even Pegasus almost couldn't keep his composure, his lips twitching. "No wonder Hayato Boy was so helpful in taking Kaiba Boy away from me."

However, incidentally, Pegasus also learned from the game's mind about the cards he had covered.

'The [Man-Eating Insect] that destroys monsters upon flipping, the [Spell Interference Array] that negates one Spell Card activation, and a [Dark Magician Resurrection Coffin]? So you have a [Dark Magician] in your hand, huh? I see.' Pegasus couldn't help but smile confidently as he calmly activated his cards. 'First, I'll discard one card from my hand to activate the Spell Card [Reduce Cost]—'

"Then I'll chain your Spell Card and activate Faceless! [Spell Interference Array]!" Seeing Pegasus activate [Reduce Cost], which lowers a monster's level, Yugi quickly activated Faceless. "Trying to lower a monster's level to summon [Blue-Eyes]? Not so easy!"

"Discard one of my cards to negate one spell card!"

Watching Yugi send his Dark Magician to the graveyard, Pegasus couldn't help but smile: "You're really impatient, Yugi boy. Did you not want to see Kaiba Boy's Blue-Eyes appear on my field and turn into a cute cartoon monster? To avoid facing Blue-Eyes again, you even sent your Dark Magician to the graveyard~"

Yugi glared at Pegasus: "Hmph, Pegasus, sealing Kaiba's soul wasn't enough for you, do you also want to desecrate his card? I will stop you, even if it costs me my soul!"

No, Game, you've basically gambled everything on [Dark Magician], haven't you? Where did you come from, Sento? Hayato thought to himself.

But Pegasus suddenly laughed at Yugi's puzzled look: "Hahaha, Yugi boy, I understand. Your heart is filled with anger right now, and you've even lost your rationality in the duels you used to have."

"What do you mean?"

“What I mean is—” Pegasus smiled, casting a magic card from his hand, “You could have waited a little longer just now.”

"A magic card, [Monster Resurrection], which can revive any Monster from either player's Graveyard onto my field." Pegasus grinned smugly, pointing at Yugi. "The one I'm going to revive is [Dark Magician], which you just sent to the Graveyard, Yugi boy!"

"What!" Yugi looked on in surprise as his Dark Magician was resurrected by Pegasus's Monster Reborn and appeared on Pegasus's field. Before he could even struggle, Dark Magician was sucked into Pegasus's Toon World card in the back row.

The book closed, and the figure of [Dark Magician] disappeared within it. However, Yugi knew that his [Dark Magician] had probably been transformed into a [Cartoon] monster by Pegasus.

"Oh dear, this is terrible. I wanted to stop my friend's ace monster from being controlled by me, but I ended up accidentally getting my own monster into my hands." Pegasus chuckled and placed another card face down on the field. "However, since it can't battle yet, [Dark Magician] has temporarily returned to the back row to prepare for his spectacular magic show."

“Cover a card, turn end.”

[Bekas: 7500LP, 0 cards in hand]

[Inner Side Guardian Monster]

[Given] [Cartoon World] (Dark Magician) [Given]