Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Keith, the formula for victory in my deck is complete!" Hayato said with a smile as he looked at the cards he had drawn. "Face my infinite power!"

"I activate the Spell Card, [Calling Stars], return one Level 6 monster from my hand or field to my Deck, then draw two cards. I choose [Disruptor King] to return to my Deck!"

"Activate the Spell Card, [Double Summon]! This turn I can summon twice. I will Normal Summon [Iron Knight - Gia Freed] and [Blazing Girl]!"

The figure of the "Disruptor King" disappeared from Hayato's field, replaced by an iron knight clad in heavy metal armor and a witch who wielded flames.

"Ha, mere trash monsters. Where do you get the confidence to call them infinite power?" Keith sneered, while Malik, hidden behind him, was utterly disdainful of Hayato's declaration of "infinity." In his view, only the power of Osiris, one of the three Egyptian God cards he possessed, deserved to be called infinite power.

"Don't be too hasty, three-year-old. My equation is much more perfect than you think." Hayato said, activating three cards in succession. "First is [Whirlwind], to destroy that annoying [Mirror of Darkness] on your field. Then there's the Continuous Spell Card [High Morale] and the Spell Card [Angel's Charity]!"

[Whirlwind] swept away [Mirror of Darkness], whose power enveloped the entire field, and [High Morale], which has the ability to "recover Life Points when equipping a monster with a card", also appeared on Hayato's field.

Seeing this, Keith on the other side had not yet noticed anything amiss, but Isis next to Hayato's pupils shrank, clearly having instantly understood what the "infinite power" Hayato was about to use was.

'When equipped with a card, [High Morale] restores Life Points, and then [Blazing Maiden]'s effect deals effect damage to the opponent's duelist when Life Points are restored.'

'But what is the purpose of the [Iron Knight]? Isn't its only function to destroy equipment cards?'

Hayato drew three cards and, under Keith's deadpan gaze, laughed, proudly showing Keith the cards he was about to send to the grave: "Hey, Malik, I'm about to show you infinite power, are you ready?"

Of the two cards he sent to the graveyard, one was the [Dark Demon - Kilpha Demon], which he had previously used in the game.

"The moment it is sent to the Graveyard, the effect of [Dark Demon - Gilfair Demon] activates, equipping it as an Equip Card that reduces its ATK by 500 to a monster on the field!"

Looking at the resurrected spirit of the [Kilpha Demon] from Hayato's grave, Malik remained oblivious to the impending danger: "Hmph, so you intend to equip this monster on my [Mech Sniper]? For a monster in defense position, a decrease in attack power is utterly insignificant!"

"Who told you I was going to equip it to your monster? [Kilfa Demon] is equipped to my [Iron Knight - Gia Freed]!" Hayato pointed at his [Iron Knight], "At the same time, because of the [High Morale] effect, I recover 1000 Life Points!"

"Chain effect of [Blazing Girl]! When my base stats recover, inflict 500 damage to the opposing duelist!"

[Keys: 2500 → 2000 LP]

This card is different from the 1500 life points lost before, which Keith paid for himself to activate [Divine Announcement]. This time, it's the effect damage caused by Hayato's monster.

"Cough!" Malik, who was sitting comfortably in his chair and focused on controlling the duel of the four people, suddenly felt a pain coming from his body. Even Keith, who was the one he controlled the most, couldn't help but show a painful expression on his face.

"This, how is this possible?!" Under Malik's control, Keith glared at Hayato with a twisted expression. "The one who participated in the Dark Games was clearly him, not me, so how could you hurt me?!"

Isis looked at Hayato with equal astonishment. From Malik's words, Hayato had actually used a puppet controlled by Malik to harm his main body in this dark game?!

Although Isis tried to maintain a cold demeanor as if she had severed ties with Malik, she instinctively worried about him after learning that his life might be in danger.

Noticing the worry in Isis's eyes, Hayato smiled and said, "Don't forget that I'm the one who started this dark game. Surely I'm not so foolish as to get the person who should be punished wrong?"

"Unfortunately, because of the distance, it's only some mental anguish at most, not life-threatening. You've escaped with your life, oh, Malik."

Isis noticed that although Hayato seemed to be threatening Malik, his eyes were actually looking in her direction, so she understood that he was saying those things to reassure her. Relieved, she also felt grateful to Hayato.

"Keith" took a few deep breaths, and although he could barely keep his zombie face up, he finally recovered from the pain. Although he often played the Dark Games to torture others, Malik was a coward and always used his Millennium Scepter to control the puppets in battle, so even when he suffered the punishments of the Dark Games, he did not feel any pain himself.

This was the first time he'd ever suffered because of a dark game, which instilled in him a deep-seated malice towards Hayato. Despite the pain, he outwardly taunted, "It's just a mere 500 points of damage, it doesn't even hurt! Come on, Hayato Kobayashi, come on then!"

"Hey, you said it yourself, I didn't force you."

Hayato immediately chimed in, causing Keith's expression to stiffen.

'This guy actually actually showed up?'

"Honestly, I've never heard of such a shameless request." Hayato shrugged at Isis beside him, then looked at Keith. "Speaking of which, have you noticed the changes in the Iron Knights equipped with [Dark Demon]?"

Keith instinctively looked at the Iron Knight.

【Iron Knight - Kia Fried】【4☆/Land】

[Warrior Race/Effect]

[1800/1600]

"【Iron Knight】 hasn't changed? Huh?! There's not a single change!?" Malik didn't react at first, but the lingering pain in his body suddenly reminded him that Hayato had just equipped 【Dark Demon - Gilfa Demon】 to 【Iron Knight】!

"【Iron Knight】has excellent attack and defense among Warrior-type monsters, but as a trade-off, it cannot use any Equip Cards and will destroy them," Hayato said calmly. "That should have been a flaw."

“But true duelists not only know how to use the strengths of monsters, but they can also make use of their weaknesses,” Isis said with a smile, continuing Hayato’s words.

Just as the [Dark Demon - Kilpha], which had previously resurrected from the graveyard, was about to possess the [Iron Knight], it was thwarted by a single chop and sent back to the graveyard. Then, to Malik's horrified gaze, the [Dark Demon] sent to the graveyard was resurrected once more!

"The old simp [Dark Demon] tried to possess [Iron Knight] again, but was kicked away by [Iron Knight]'s aloofness!" Hayato explained in a strange way, "At the same time, [High Morale] and [Blazing Girl] appreciate each other, Best Match!"

"This...this is!"

One after another, bursts of flame shot out from the body of the [Blazing Girl], accompanied by the life force of [High Morale] that appeared and disappeared time and time again, and the [Dark Demons] that relentlessly crawled out of the graveyard!

-500!

[Keys: 2000 → 1500 LP]

"Ugh!"

-500

[Keys: 1500 → 1000 LP]

"Ah!"

-500

[Keys: 1000 → 500 LP]

"Aaaaaah!"

"Manipulating other people's bodies to try to escape punishment, Malik, ask yourself honestly, is there such a good thing in the world?" Hayato pointed at Keith, and Malik, who was controlling Keith from behind, felt as if Hayato was pointing at him, even in his pain.

"Sacrifice, count your sins!"

-500!

[Keith/Malik: 500→0]

"Hmph, haa ...

With a scream from Malik, the Millennium Scepter slipped from his hand, and the four people he was controlling, including Keith, screamed and fell backward to the ground.

"Looks like that three-year-old has already learned his lesson." Hayato put away his Duel Disk, watching the Dark Game Realm gradually dissipate as one side was unable to fight. He then looked at the fading Iron Knights and the others. "It's rare to see such a powerful combo. I didn't get to enjoy it at all."

“If the duel just now wasn’t enough, I’d be happy to play a few more rounds with you, Mr. Kobayashi,” Isis said with a smile.

Hayato waved his hand: "Hey, just kidding, just kidding. It's getting late, we still need to arrest these guys and send them to the Metropolitan Police Department. We'll talk about it later."

Just kidding, I'd rather go find a newbie who just started playing Duel Monsters and stomp on low-level players than duel with a real player.

Isis smiled and said, "Then next time is definitely the time, Mr. Kobayashi."

"Maybe next time!" Hayato quickly changed the subject: "It feels a bit strange to call me Mr. Kobayashi. Everyone else calls me Hayato, so you can just call me Hayato, Miss Isis."

"Yes, Hayato-kun."

Chapter 220 Hayato Returns to His Old Habit

Because Malik's control temporarily disappeared, this dark game was forced to stop. However, Hayato's initial goal of creating the Domain had already been achieved.

Seeing the state of the people lying on the ground, Hayato crouched down and patted Keith's face. They were completely unconscious, and if left unattended, they might not wake up until dawn.

Kaiba and Yugi put away their Duel Disks and walked towards Hayato.

"Hmph, he lost consciousness because the impact simulation system of the prototype Duel Disk malfunctioned?" Kaiba glanced at the few men in black robes and drew his own conclusion. "Serves him right for daring to steal Kaiba Corporation's property!"

"Yes, yes, yes, just like you said, Shrimp Dumpling." Hayato knew Kaiba's character well and didn't try to correct him. But the fact that Kaiba so easily came up with this possibility... could it be that the Duel Disk really had that kind of problem before?

Thinking of this, Hayato stuffed the card decks he had taken from the people on the ground into his pocket and was about to take the Duel Disk from his wrist.

"Hey, Isis, what do we do with these guys?" First, they were ambushed, and then their card game was interrupted just as they were about to turn the tide. Kaiba was in a bad mood and said to Isis irritably.

Isis glanced at the four people lying on the ground: "They are all puppets controlled by Malik. In order to prevent them from being controlled by Malik again, I suggest that it is best to send them to the Metropolitan Police Department for detention."

"Hmph, that's how it should be." The seahorse acted arrogantly, as if he had already thought of a solution.

While waiting for the police to arrive, Hayato took the opportunity to ask Isis, "Miss Isis..."

"No need to be so polite, Hayato-kun. Just call me Isis," Isis said with a smile.

“Alright, Isis.” Hayato glanced at Kaiba, who was deep in thought holding the [Obelisk] card, and Yugi, who was staring blankly at the stone tablet. “First of all, I have to apologize to you. Those prophecies about you failing were actually because of me.”

As he spoke, Hayato picked up the Millennium Wisdom Ring from his chest: "This Millennium Wisdom Ring has the ability to interfere with other Millennium Items. I think the reason why your foresight of the future is wrong may be because my Millennium Wisdom Ring is interfering with your power."

“The Dark Millennium Artifact, the Millennium Wisdom Wheel.” Isis glanced at the Millennium Wisdom Wheel, but then started talking to Hayato about something else. “Hayato-kun, do you know? Among the tomb-guarding clan to which I belong, there is a prophecy from three thousand years ago.”

"A pharaoh from three thousand years ago will reappear three thousand years later, but he has lost his name and memories. The nameless pharaoh, together with the Millennium Puzzle, a symbol of royal power, will defeat three dark users of the Millennium Items, and finally return to the underworld."

“I know this, the Millennium Eye, the Millennium Scepter, and the Millennium Wisdom Wheel, right? Actually, I stole these from someone else... I mean, I won them in a duel, and the other party agreed.” Hayato wasn’t embarrassed at all. “The so-called Nameless Pharaoh refers to another game, right?”

“Yes, the Pharaoh will defeat one powerful enemy after another in the Duel Ritual, regaining his power and memories. The cards of the Three Egyptian Gods are one of the key keys to regaining the Pharaoh’s memories.” Isis said, looking at Yugi, whose attention had been drawn back by the conversation between the two. “And the mission of my clan of tomb guardians is to assist the Pharaoh in regaining his memories three thousand years from now.”

“But before that, Yugi needs to retrieve the cards of the three Egyptian God cards first.” Hayato looked at Kaiba, lowered his voice, and leaned close to Isis’s ear, asking somewhat strangely, “But Isis, you said you wanted to help Yugi retrieve his memories, so why did you give [Obelisk] to Kaiba?”

"I can hear you, Hayato Kobayashi." Kaiba glared at Hayato, and seeing him raise his hands in surrender, he snorted coldly and looked down at the card [Obelisk] in his hand. Although the card [Obelisk the Tormentor] was marked as having a level of 10☆, a race of Mythical Beast, and an attribute of [God], its effect section contained several lines of strange ancient Egyptian text.

Seahorse can swear on his blue eyes that he has never studied ancient Egyptian writing. After all, his major is not archaeology, and he has no interest in things from the past. But for some reason, he always feels that he can read the words and understand their meaning.

Having only received the card a short while ago, Kaiba had already managed to decipher the first few lines of the card through his own efforts. The general meaning was that a three-body monster was required as a tribute to summon God, and that the effects of Trap Cards and monsters of Level 10 or lower were ineffective against God, while Spell Cards only had one turn of effect.

As for more details, we'll have to wait until Haima returns to the Haima Group to study them carefully.

'Obelisk's power will be fully understood, and that will be the time for my revenge against you, Yugi!'

Isis found Hayato's comical surrender to Kaiba amusing and smiled, answering Hayato's question: "Although the Egyptian God cards serve as keys, the divinity residing within them is real. Only by using the Duel Ritual—that is, the way of fighting monsters—to subdue the gods can the Egyptian God cards be used to unlock the Pharaoh's memories."

"Like [Exodia]?" Yugi recalled what his grandfather had said, "[Exodia] has the powerful effect of winning the duel immediately once it is drawn into the hand, but you need to draw them one by one from the deck. Without going through this ritual, it is useless even if you collect [Exodia] at the very beginning of the duel."

“Yes, that’s right. Most of the prophecy has now come true, including the appearance of Duel Monsters, the creation of the Egyptian God Cards, and the defeat of the user of the Millennium Eye.” Isis paused, her hand resting on the Millennium Jewelry. “However, my brother, Malik Ishtar, the leader of Gluth, doesn’t seem to follow the ancestral teachings.”

"Therefore, he stole two of the three Egyptian God cards and took the Millennium Scepter, one of the dark Millennium Items passed down from his ancestors, and founded the Gurus Organization. And this still conforms to the prophecy."

"So, that three-year-old didn't act according to the prophecy, but made a decision that went against the ancestral teachings based on his own ideas? I wonder if he even considered it for two months," Hayato complained. "Anyway, what he did, after going around in circles, actually ended up matching the prophecy again, right?"

"Whatever, as long as we're clear on one thing right now, right? The game."

"Ah, find Malik, then defeat him and obtain the other two God Cards." The King Yuu, who had switched back to his original form, looked determined. After saying this, his eyes met those of Kaiba, who had turned around and appeared not far away.

Kaiba stuffed the [Obelisk] card into his briefcase and said coldly, "I won't waste my brain cells trying to understand your nonsense. But if you want to take my [Obelisk], then prepare the appropriate stakes. Game!"

With that attitude, anyone who didn't know better would think that the one who lost in their duel was just playing a game.

His plan was quite shrewd. What other cards besides the other two God cards could he possibly have prepared to match [Obelisk]?

After agreeing to a future duel, Kaiba turned and walked out of the exhibition hall. Hayato quickly called out, "Hey Seth, you haven't taken the Duel Disk yet!"