Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Duel City! I want to see a super-large tournament like Duel City, where duelists dominate everything and reign supreme in the world of ordinary people, reappear, and where you and the other top eight players stand at the pinnacle of the world, fighting for the authority of the gods!"

"For this reason, I have been working secretly to improve the strength of duelists in Domino City, a city that has produced many legendary duelists, and I have also prepared a powerful duelist comparable to the 'Three Egyptian Gods'—"

In a moment of confusion, Tenma Tsukiyuki's eyes suddenly cleared, and he quickly realized what he had said. He looked abruptly at Hayato and exclaimed, "Hayato-san!? What did you do to me?"

"To be honest, I really don't want to doubt you, Yuexing. After all, in my impression, you seem to be more of an important supporting character than a villain. However, your brother Tianma Yexing is already involved with [Tragodia], so I don't know if there will be other situations involving you."

As he spoke, Hayato took out a golden scepter from his pocket. "The Millennium Scepter, although it has less control over the mind than the Millennium Eye, it is better at manipulating thought. It is perfect for inducing you to reveal your true thoughts rather than controlling people."

The Millennium Scepter, which was only temporarily obtained with the help of the Quantum Cube, shattered into golden light and dissipated in Hayato's hand. Hayato pointed to his forehead and said, "'After eliminating all possibilities, what remains, however improbable, is the truth.' Conan Doyle's words couldn't be more fitting now."

"The Heavenly Horse gallops, the Moon travels!"

"Why didn't Pegasus go back to Crawford Island to slack off as you said, and why did you suddenly appear in Domino City without any reason?!"

"Why has this legitimate card shop, certified by the International Illusion Society, become a base for 'New Gurus' to sell the rare cards they've acquired?!"

"Why is it that every time I have a lead, it's as if someone is watching me and interrupting my investigation in time?!"

Pointing to Pegasus Moonwalker, Hayato said, "There's only one answer: Pegasus Moonwalker!"

"So you are the leader of New Gurus!"

Seeing Hayato pointing at him, Tenma Tsukiyuki took a step back and lowered his head.

At Tenma Tsukiyuki's waist, a faint black aura emanated from his card case and coiled around his right hand. An ominous aura began to spread throughout the alley where Hayato and Tenma Tsukiyuki were, and the lights used for illumination began to flicker as if they were malfunctioning.

He glanced at the phone he had pulled out, and sure enough, just like when "Light and Dark Mask" used a special Field Magic Card before, the signal was cut off. It seemed that Kaiba Corporation's "Airborne Loop" had also lost its signal here at the same time. Thinking of this, Hayato took out the card he had previously seized from Light and Dark Mask, and saw that images and words finally began to appear on the originally blank Field Magic Card.

Pegasus Moonwalker, using the "Accomplice" deck, surprisingly didn't create the clan's Field Spell Card "Sky Sanctuary," but instead created a card previously used by Bakura: "Dark Sanctuary"!?

Chapter 1107 Unforgivable, Pegasus!

At the American company, Illusion International, Yugi wasn't quite sure why Hayato told Pegasus to "take good care of your previous drawings," but finding Pegasus wasn't difficult for him. He simply swiped his employee card in the elevator and arrived at Pegasus's office on the top floor.

Incidentally, ever since the game learned that Hayato had saved his contact as "Kazama Shunsuke," it changed Hayato's contact name to "Koyasu Takehito" in return.

As the elevator ascended, Yugi couldn't help but recall the last time he took the elevator to the top floor of the International Illusion Society headquarters building because of Hayato. It was during the time when Dartz's Doma organization was rampant. At that time, he and Jonouchi went straight to Pegasus's office on the top floor, just like now. As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, they saw Pegasus being killed by Hayato and lying on the ground.

Thinking about this, Game shook his head, wondering why he was also getting old like Chicken Sauce, always thinking about things from the past.

Why did Pegasus suddenly fail again?

"Ding ~"

The elevator doors opened, and the game looked out from inside the elevator and immediately saw Pegasus fall to the ground with a "thud".

"Bekas?"

"Game boy~" Pegasus lay on the ground clutching his foot, looking pained, "Because I played on go-karts for too long, my foot is completely numb, ouch~"

"Even though your office space is quite large, why would you put that kind of thing in a place like this?" Game complained, but still went over to help Pegasus pull his numb and immobile foot out of the go-kart and helped him sit in a chair. "You're just taking advantage of the fact that no one is supervising your work, so you're really slacking off without any qualms."

"Hehe~"

Despite his advanced age, Pegasus was still deliberately trying to act young and cute, winking at the game in an attempt to "cutely" get through the level. However, the game clearly wasn't buying it, and under Pegasus's sorrowful gaze, it pulled a thick stack of documents from his desk drawer.

"No way! If you want me to start working, it'll be at least ten years from now!" Pegasus said sadly. "Even if Moonwalker were here, he'd give me things one at a time, it wouldn't be that shocking!"

"That's because you had to work under Yuexing's supervision, so you only got one assignment at a time. But how long has it been since you took leave and haven't worked seriously? Reap the bitter fruits of your slacking off!"

"Oh no, how could this happen..."

Pegasus sighed, "If Moonwalker were here, he could help me with some unimportant documents. I don't have to worry about him abusing his power for personal gain, because I've always known very well that he's someone who almost never acts on his own desires."

"I was so naive, so real. I only knew that Moonwalker Boy would take leave with me to go back to Crawford Island in the summer, but I didn't know that Spring would too. I got up early this morning, opened the door, and asked Moonwalker Boy to decan a glass of red wine for me. He's a very obedient boy; he listens to everything I say. I called 'Moonwalker Boy,' but he didn't answer..."

Hearing Bekas nagging like an old woman, You rubbed her temples and interrupted him, saying, "You've been nagging about Yuexing taking leave more than sixty times already, Bekas."

"This shows how much I care about Moonwalker Boy~"

“But Yuexing only took half a month off.” Game shook his head helplessly. “Try to work independently at least a little bit. How long has it been since you drew a new card? Get down to business, Pegasus.”

"Can a designer's job be called slacking off? I call this finding inspiration!" Pegasus pointed to the go-karts next to him and said confidently, "For example, by driving go-karts, I came up with the idea of ​​designing a new card series based on various racing cars. I've even thought of a name for it: 'Formula Athlete.' Sounds interesting, right?"

"Have you finished the sketch yet?"

Pegasus, who had just been looking smug, froze, slumped into his chair, and muttered resentfully, "Mental work counts as work too," and "1% inspiration and more than 99% effort."

“Speaking of design, I remember now.” Yugi, who had almost forgotten his business because of Pegasus, suddenly remembered his original purpose for coming here and said to Pegasus, who was looking at a document and twirling a pen absentmindedly, “I just called Hayato and he asked me to pass on a message to you, something like ‘I have high hopes for your previous drawings,’ that should be it.”

"'Have faith in my previous artwork'?" Pegasus scratched his head, puzzled, feeling an itch on his scalp as if his brain was about to sprout. "But aren't all the original artworks for the cards I drew before kept in the card design department? And there are backups online, so there's no need to worry about them being lost or burned. Besides, those original artworks aren't really worth stealing, are they?"

"Those original manuscripts are still very meaningful to me, after all, they are proof of my hard work in my youth. I even turned my hair white while drawing those works~"

"Your hair is obviously white by nature," Yugi retorted, not quite understanding Hayato's meaning. "Isn't there anything you've kept hidden away that hasn't been officially made into a card? Like those 'Three Egyptian God Cards' from before?"

The "game" comment was just a casual remark, because Pegasus has always been the kind of person who can be a bit lewd when he talks. Why do I say that? It's because Pegasus had already designed the cards, but he just wouldn't release them until people couldn't stand wanting them anymore.

Sometimes he would even deliberately create some particularly powerful cards and hide them in his collection. As a result, if a villain wanted to kill Pegasus before causing trouble, he could also pick up the gold coins he dropped and get a free enhancement card pack.

The best example is the "Pyramid of Light" incident. He had prepared the Blue-Eyes Light Dragon for Kaiba but didn't give it to him. He only let Kaiba take the card after being beaten up, which indirectly led to the "Pyramid of Light" incident and Hayato's disappearance.

In short—unforgivable, Pegasus!

However, to the game's surprise, Pegasus, after hearing his own words, began to look around nervously: "Ahahaha, how could I possibly still have cards like the 'Three Egyptian Gods'? Ahahaha..."

Pegasus's reaction made Yugi realize that he had inadvertently hit the nail on the head, and he looked at Pegasus and said, "You don't have the original manuscripts of cards like the 'Three Egyptian Gods' hidden away, right?"

However, Pegasus couldn't help wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

After a moment, as if he had finally figured something out, Pegasus sighed and said, "All right, I do have some original drafts of cards that I haven't made yet, but I've hidden those cards in a place where no one can steal them."

As he spoke, Pegasus turned 180 degrees in his swivel chair to face behind him, and rummaged through the pile of plush toys behind him to find a [Heart Key Fairy] plush toy. He said to the game, "You see? This is the key that can open the place where the original card manuscript is hidden. Even if a thief came to my office, he would never find this."

Looking at the limp key in the Heart Key Fairy's hand, Yugi tilted his head: "But, this key is probably just a piece of cloth sewn with cotton, right?"

“That’s where my genius lies!” Pegasus said proudly, unzipping the side of the plush key. The cotton inside was restrained by cloth on both sides, revealing a small key hidden deep inside. “If we didn’t know beforehand, who would have guessed that I would hide a key here?”

"Even the key was hidden so well, not to mention that only Yuexing Boy and I knew where the card was hidden."

As he spoke, Pegasus led the game to an arcade machine in a corner of the office. He bent down and frantically operated the machine, performing the "↑↑↓↓←→←→BA" commands. Instead of gaining twenty extra lives or acquiring top-tier equipment, a large metal box appeared at the bottom of the arcade machine, resembling a box for holding tokens inserted into the machine.

However, even though Pegasus shook the box several times, no sound came out of it, just like he hadn't collected a single token from the arcade.

"The three cards here, although not as important as the 'Three Egyptian God Cards' in terms of their significance to Pharaoh's Soul, still possess a power that is no less than that of the 'Three Egyptian God Cards'."

Pegasus rarely showed a serious expression. "Back when we were making the 'Three Egyptian Gods' card, everyone except me died because of Kamui. I was terrified of the powerful and dangerous power of the 'Three Egyptian Gods' and decided to keep them as far away from me as possible."

"While entrusting the cards of the 'Three Egyptian Gods' to Miss Isis of Egypt, I wanted to create cards that could rival the 'Three Egyptian Gods' and have the power to counterbalance them. The three original drafts sealed in this box are the cards I designed. However, I did not expect that the cards I placed so much hope in, while indeed possessing the power to counter the 'Three Egyptian Gods,' would be far more dangerous and brutal than the 'Three Egyptian Gods.'"

"So in the end, I just kept these three original manuscripts without making them into cards, and even sealed them away."

The game player asked somewhat strangely, "If it's just a draft and not a finished card, how did you know those three cards were dangerous, Pegasus?"

"Of course, it's my intuition as a duelist!"

With a look of "Do you think I'd believe that?" from Yugi, Pegasus chuckled to himself as soon as he finished speaking. If he truly possessed the so-called "duelist's intuition" that Yugi and Hayato seemed to have read the script, he would have already defeated the combination of Hayato and Yugi in the final battle of Duelist Kingdom.

After making a joke, Pegasus inserted the key into the lock on the front of the box and said, "Actually, it's my [Millennium Eye]. At that time, I had only recently acquired the [Millennium Eye], and my control over it was not very stable. Although it wouldn't be the case that I could casually joke with someone and have them mentally controlled and go on a killing spree, I really couldn't control what I saw."

"Just by looking at someone, I can tell what kind of thoughts are hidden beneath their appearance. A seemingly honest person may be plotting betrayal, while a seemingly cunning person may be genuinely doing what's best for you. Even a 'millennium artifact' like the 'Millennium Eye' can only see people's hearts, not understand them."

With a sigh, Pegasus watched the box slowly unfold as he turned the key and said, "In the original manuscripts of those three cards, I saw an extremely profound darkness, a despair that seemed to devour the world, and an evil that would even overwhelm the gods. Fear, obliteration, and evil gods—these three concepts reside in those three cards. If they were made into cards, even the 'Three Egyptian Gods' probably wouldn't be a match for them, would they?"

After a pause, Pegasus said thankfully, "Luckily, I stopped in time and didn't turn the manuscript into a card. I also hid the manuscript here, so it's absolutely impossible for anyone to take it."

However, Yugi noticed Pegasus looking at him and pointed downwards, gesturing for Pegasus to look. Following Yugi's gesture, Pegasus saw that the box containing the sealed manuscripts, once opened, revealed three empty card slots; the original cards that should have been inside were all gone!

"Impossible!"

Pegasus stared incredulously at the empty box, a sense of foreboding creeping into his heart.

His adopted son, Tenma Tsukiyuki, unusually took leave from the International Illusion Society; the location of the hidden card, known only to himself and Tsukiyuki; and Hayato's strange hint... After eliminating all possibilities, what remains, however improbable, is the truth!

'Moonwalker, what exactly are you—'

"Unlimited-Blade-Works"

Hayato shouted out the strange name of his technique, and the newly materialized Millennium Wisdom Wheel immediately became the medium for the Dark Game to unfold, completely surrounding the alley and creating an alternate dimension.

Beside Tianma Yuexing, a three-dimensional, blurry monster appearing in the form of black mist was just a hair's breadth away from escaping from this alley, but was trapped in this alternate dimension due to the timely commencement of the Dark Game.

Seeing the three phantoms—one serpentine, one spherical, and one giant—glaring at him, Hayato revealed a knowing expression: "So I wasn't wrong after all. There really is a dark power residing within you, Tsukigami. By the way, what are they called again?"

“The Three Evil Gods are powerful cards created by Mr. Pegasus to rival the God Cards, cards that surpass them in power. They are also the cards I sought out as prizes for the ‘New Duel City’ tournament.” Tenma Tsukiyuki raised his head and said calmly, “However, Mr. Hayato, it seems you want to stop me? But why?”

"Wouldn't it be a good thing to increase the strength of all the cards held by the citizens of Domino City? If I can achieve my goal, then in this world where the status of duelists is rising, Domino City will gradually become the center of the world as more and more duelists are born. Wouldn't you like to see your hometown get better and better?"

Upon hearing this, Hayato sneered, "Heh, it's 'New Grous' and 'New Duel City' again. Are you trying to create a 'New Domino City'? But there's no need for that. One powerful duelist is enough for me, Hayato Kobayashi. Instead of giving those fools your powerful rare cards, you should offer them to me."

Hearing Hayato's words, Tenma Tsukiyuki shook his head: "That's definitely not what you really think, Mr. Hayato, is it? Otherwise, you would never have taken on the role of principal of the Duel Academy, even if you were only half-heartedly accepted under the machinations of President Seto Kaiba. I'm pretty sure you, like me, want to see more outstanding duelists born into the world."

"Without a doubt, we are on the same side. I know better than anyone what your radiant figure represents. It is a dueling ability that transcends the times, a divine ability. This era cannot keep up with your pace of progress at all. That is why it is necessary to concentrate the resources of this world to cultivate as many pioneers as possible to catch up with you!"

Looking into Tenma Tsukiyuki's clear eyes, Hayato raised an eyebrow: "Seeing so much dark magic suddenly surging out, I thought you were controlled by these three cards like your brother, but your thinking is still so clear?"

Instead of responding directly to him, Hayato brought up his own situation. Tenma Tsukiyuki took a deep breath and said, "I know exactly what I'm doing, Mr. Hayato. I got these three cards from Mr. Pegasus, but to me they are just props. My thoughts and actions come entirely from my true inner thoughts and have not been interfered with by them in the slightest."

“Now that ‘New Gurus’ has already distributed a large number of cards to most people in the city, all I need to do is reveal the ‘Three Evil Gods’ as the prize, and my goal will be achieved immediately: to transform this city back into a battle metropolis capable of forging excellent duelists!” Raising his Duel Disk, Tenma Tsukiyuki looked at Hayato and said, “Even though I know that I am no match for you even if you only have one ‘Three Evil Gods’, I may not be without the power to fight you if you use the ‘Three Evil Gods’!”

The whites of his eyes were covered in black, but Pegasus Moonwalker's green eyes remained clear. He raised his duel disk and shouted:

"Even if it's overestimating my abilities, I will do it without hesitation for my vision! Fight me, Mr. Hayato!"

Hayato looked at Tenma Tsukiyuki, opened his arms, and said, "Since this can be solved by playing cards, it couldn't be simpler. It's been a long time, let's have one more fan service session, Tenma Tsukiyuki!"

"Duel!" x2

[Pegasus Moon Journey: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

[Kobayashi Hayato: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

Chapter 1108 A Battle of Extremely Pure Card Stacks

[Pegasus Moon Journey: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

[Kobayashi Hayato: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

"I'll take the first turn. Draw a card!"

It's less that Tenma Tsukiko seized the initiative and more that Hayato let him have the first move. Looking at Hayato, who showed no intention of taking the initiative, he glanced at the card he had drawn and said, "Watch closely, Mr. Hayato, as I prepare!"

"During my main phase, I first activate the spell card 'Pot of Greed' and draw two cards from my deck."