Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

He, however, was driven by a desire to uncover the truth, and he meticulously examined Pandora's deck, card by card. Although, like Epimetheus, Pandora's deck contained a large number of counterfeit cards, she hadn't gone too far; at least she still had some genuine cards.

For example, Hayato currently holds three "Dark Magician" cards. Pandora, despite having fake cards like "Magic Spellbook," "Transfer," and "Safe Zone," has three genuine ace monsters, and...

Looking at the Dark Magician card spirit in Pandora's Dark Magician deck, glaring angrily at him for defeating its master, Hayato smiled and put the three Dark Magician cards back into Pandora's Duel Disk.

Although he has a habit of stealing other people's things, monsters that have awakened their card spirits are not within his hunting range.

Furthermore, Hayato observed through the magic of the Millennium Wisdom Wheel that on the backs of several Dark Magician cards, there were faint traces of blood beneath the cut-off card backs, but there was no "resentment" or "obsession" on the Dark Magician card spirits.

In particular, although the Dark Magician in the card art is male, Pandora's Dark Magician has a more feminine appearance, which led Hayato to have a guess.

He remembered that Pandora wore a mask because he was disfigured after a failed magic performance, and it was also after that magic performance that he lost his beloved wife.

In that case, maybe this [Dark Magician]...

"Hehehehe..." Hayato's thoughts were interrupted by Pandora, who was lying on the ground and suddenly bursting into laughter. As if her upper body had no bones, Pandora sat up from the ground without even using her hands for support, her eyes behind the mask looking at Hayato in front of her.

His pupils turned gray, and even though there was a mask in between, Hayato could see the "Eye of Ugato" appearing on Pandora's forehead.

“Malik?” Hayato frowned and looked at Pandora. “Can’t you afford a voice actor? You’re using someone else’s voice every day.”

"Hehehe, actually I was quite surprised too. My good-for-nothing subordinate's voice is exactly the same as the Duel King's. What an honor for this guy." Malik, who was thousands of miles away, was browsing through Pandora's past memories with great interest and discovered some interesting things.

Although Pandora and Epimetheus claimed to be elite officers of Gruus, Malik didn't value them highly because of it. In fact, the entire Gruus was nothing more than a pawn that Malik could discard at any time.

I had originally planned to keep Pandora to deal with Yugi Muto, but judging from Epimetheus's fate, Malik's men were utterly useless. Since they were useless, I might as well throw them away.

Kaiba, who was standing nearby, noticed Pandora's current state. He first kicked Epimetheus unconscious and then took the opportunity to tear the deck apart one by one before walking over to Hayato.

"Huh, even President Seto Kaiba is here? No wonder those two good-for-nothings lost."

Hayato curled his lip: "You talk as if you don't know anything. You clearly watched it from beginning to end. The Millennium Scepter is pretty handy, isn't it, Malik? You can control others from thousands of miles away."

“Malik? Isn’t that the second personality that ‘Thief’ Keith split off from?” Kaiba heard the familiar name.

This guy refused to believe in the existence of the Millennium Items, and firmly believed that it was another personality of Keith named "Malik" who wanted to take his Obelisk.

Ironically, to some extent, the term "dissociative identity disorder" is indeed accurate; Malik really does have a dissociative identity disorder.

"Heh heh ha ha ha, President Kaiba is still the same as always." Pandora chuckled sinisterly, then suddenly turned to Hayato. "Duel King, since you know the power of the Millennium Scepter, you should also understand that if I wanted to, I could control even both of you, right?"

"The two of you who were just fighting side by side have suddenly been forced to become enemies. For the two of you who dared to offend our Gurus, there is no more fitting punishment than this!"

Pandora's Eye of Ugato flashed suddenly, and an invisible dark power swept over her. A strange gust of wind appeared in the basement!

Malik looked at Hayato expectantly, anticipating the awkward, helpless struggle Hayato would face once he was under his control. Hayato had used a dark game at the Egyptian antiquities exhibition, forcing Malik to "carry a bag of rice up several flights of stairs," and Malik held a grudge.

As the air currents subsided, Malik frowned, looking down at the Millennium Scepter in his hand. It hadn't slipped from his grasp accidentally like last time, so why couldn't he sense Hayato being controlled by him this time?

Hayato looked at the lifeless "Pandora" with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot, and chuckled, "Can't do it anymore? It's inevitable when you get old, do you want to try again?" As he spoke, he raised his finger and tapped the [Millennium Wisdom Wheel] hanging on his chest.

Malik wasn't very bright, and his eyesight wasn't great either. It wasn't until this moment that he noticed the existence of the Millennium Wisdom Wheel: "So that's how it is. You actually have a Millennium Artifact. No wonder you can block my power."

"But can you protect your companions?"

The dark forces struck again. Kaiba felt a sudden gust of wind blow in front of him, and then—

Nothing happened.

"What on earth is going on!" Malik was clearly unable to accept it. The Millennium Scepter in his hand was glowing eerily, flashing like a bomb about to explode.

"Is this guy an idiot?" the seahorse asked, puzzled.

After thinking about all the things a three-year-old could do, Hayato nodded in agreement.

If it were any other Millennium Item, that would be one thing, but the Millennium Scepter originally belonged to Set. Trying to control the seahorse? No way!

Chapter 229 Eye

First Hayato, then Kaiba—Malik was quite embarrassed by his two failed attempts to control others. Although Pandora and Epimetheus were the ones present, Malik felt utterly ashamed.

He's supposed to be the leader of the international criminal organization Gurus, a powerful duelist who commands two phantom gods, and the user of the Millennium Scepter, so why does he always end up getting the short end of the stick when he faces the duo of Hayato Kobayashi and Seto Kaiba?

While he was busy controlling Pandora to deliver threats to Hayato and Seto Kaiba, he also opened the tablet computer that his trembling subordinate had handed him, which contained information on well-known duelists. He searched for "Hayato Kobayashi & Seto Kaiba duo" to see if there was any information he didn't know.

Tied for number one on the "Most Desired Person to Date" list at Domino City Junior High School? What kind of weird thing is that?!

With a wave of his hand, Malik ordered the others to drag the guy who delivered the information away and punish him. Controlling Pandora thousands of miles away, Malik grinned maliciously: "This is the second time, isn't it? President Kaiba and Duel King, you two have offended us for the second time now."

"Hmph, just for the unauthorized printing of counterfeit [Blue Eye] cards, I've already offended you scum of the earth!" Seahorse said coldly. "Besides, the Seahorse Group's legal team is no pushover. Even if you're schizophrenic, it won't help you. Just wait to spend the rest of your life in jail!"

Hayato didn't bother to comment on Kaiba's continued refusal to accept that the Millennium Scepter could control others, even though Pegasus had sealed his mind with the Millennium Eye. Looking at "Pandora," Hayato said provocatively, "Grandma said that no bad restaurant can make money, and no evil can run rampant."

"Malik, you should be on your way to Domino City, right? Hurry up and get here. I can't wait to enjoy the pleasure of defeating you."

"Hmph, you're no different, Duel King. Enjoy your last moments of glory before I reach Domino City. When I arrive before you, it will be the time for you to face divine punishment!"

After uttering those harsh words, Pandora rolled her eyes and fainted. Hayato grabbed her by the collar and found that her forehead was burning hot, as if she had a fever, almost 40 degrees Celsius.

"A useless pawn would actually kill him to prevent him from betraying him?" Hayato frowned, dragging Pandora to touch Epimetheus, who was also unconscious, and found that his condition was the same as Pandora's.

Although he liked to make threats during duels, Hayato couldn't bear to watch two people die right before his eyes. The Millennium Wisdom Ring on his chest glowed faintly, resonating with the dark power of the Millennium Scepter that remained within the two individuals.

However, Hayato hadn't completely cleansed the dark power within himself, so naturally he couldn't channel this power into his own body. Waving away Kaiba, who was watching the spectacle, Hayato picked up the glasses of the unconscious card shop owner on the ground and channeled the power into them.

Just like when Hayato created the Dark Lasso, the originally ordinary eye, after being infused with dark magic, began to transform, much like the Cybertronians, into a prosthetic eye somewhat similar to the Millennium Eye that Hayato had once seen. Let's tentatively name it the Dark Eye.

While removing the magic from Pandora and Epimetheus, Hayato also expended some of his own magic, though due to the dual operation, a considerable amount of energy dissipated. Once the magic within them was mostly removed and the [Eye of Darkness] was nearly fully formed, Hayato stopped the induction and left the two unconscious individuals aside.

"Hmph, brilliant magic trick, I can give you a round of applause." Kaiba crossed his arms. Even though Hayato had shown him the process of making the dark props, this guy still believed in science.

"Whatever." Hayato plopped down on the sofa next to him, panting heavily. He glanced at the [Eye of Darkness] in his hand and, right in front of Kaiba, stored it in his system [Storage]. Anyway, this guy would just think he'd accidentally picked it up, like a traditional magic trick called "Three-Star Cave Exploration."

Incidentally, Hayato also checked the system's settlement rewards. The settlement score was only 500 points, which was not unexpected for Hayato. However, what surprised Hayato was that Pandora had dropped two cards at once. One of them was the [Murder Tomato] that he had used in the duel, which has a fairly versatile ability to search for special moves, with the only restrictions being "DARK attribute" and "ATK below 1500".

The other card, which Pandora had never used and wasn't even in the deck Hayato had just reviewed, was one that Hayato somehow managed to draw. It banishes Fusion Materials from your field or Graveyard, essentially a Spellcaster version of "Dragon's Mirror." While it's usually translated as "Magic Fusion," Hayato prefers its other name—"Fusion Magic."

Hayato glanced at the limited-time discount card pushed out by the system's [Shop]. The price was exactly the same as his remaining balance of 10,000 points after adding the 500 DP he had just received. Combined with the card he had just acquired, Hayato had reason to suspect that this was a scam by the system.

Unfortunately, while Hayato's [brain] saw through the system's scheme, his [hand] betrayed him, pressing [Confirm Purchase] before Hayato's [whole body] could even vote. As his balance instantly dropped to zero, Hayato's card pool gained that powerful and versatile Spellcaster-type Fusion Monster—[Five-Element Magician].

Kaiba glanced at Hayato, who seemed lost in thought, browsing his card pool and editing his deck, snorted, and leaned down to check on Pandora and Epimetheus. Because Hayato had promptly cleared the magic from their bodies, their high fevers had gradually subsided, but the damage hadn't healed quickly enough, so they remained unconscious.

"What are you going to do with those two?" Noticing that Kaiba had taken out his phone with a Blue-Eyes White Dragon case, Hayato, who had also roughly finished adjusting his deck, asked.

Kaiba seemed to have finished editing the message, put his phone away again, and glanced at Hayato: "Of course, I'll have them sent to prison. I mean what I say."

"Is this your ninja way? Stealing Keihei's lines, you're such a scumbag brother." Seeing Kaiba grab Epimetheus by the collar, Hayato also lifted Pandora off the ground, and the two walked out of the basement side by side.

However, what Hayato didn't know was that a portion of his remaining dark magic had lingered in the room for a long time, eventually attaching itself to several blank cards that had been printed with the background color but hadn't yet been printed with detailed information such as card art and names. On those cards, five humanoid monsters of different forms slowly emerged.

—Pandora: I deeply regret it now—

The next morning, Hayato curled up in his blankets, enjoying this rare moment of tranquility.

Unfortunately—

“I am the storm that is approaching!!!”

As the catchy Jackpot music started playing, Hayato answered the phone: "Who the hell is disturbing my sleep?!"

"Hayato boy, are you still asleep? I should have checked the time difference by now, right?" Pegasus's voice, which made you want to punch him, came from the other end of the phone. "The weather in Japan should be pretty good today, don't waste such a nice day."

"Mind your own business!" Hayato rolled over, lying on his back on the bed staring at the ceiling. "You're not the kind of person who would take on wake-up call services, are you? Instead of focusing on recovering, what do you want from me?"

"Ah, I almost forgot, I have something important to discuss with you." Pegasus said, feigning a sudden realization. "Hayato-boy, I remember, Kaiba-boy announced the 'Duel City' tournament this morning... oh, in Japan it was last night, right?"

"That's right, six days from now."

"So, in this Duel City tournament, I'd like to ask you to help me defeat someone, Hayato-kun." For once, Pegasus's tone became serious, which also proved once again that the so-called verbal tic was just this old man being silly. "That person is from Egypt. If you encounter him, you must be very careful."

"Although I know his name, I'm not sure if it's his real name because I haven't found anyone with that name in the population records."

"That impressive?" Hayato's interest was piqued. "Who is this person who makes you so wary?"

"His name is Shadi."

Hayato instinctively exclaimed, "Shady!?"

"What's wrong, Hayato boy? Do you know him?" Pegasus asked over the phone.

Hayato sat up in bed and continued speaking to Pegasus on the phone: "It's nothing, I just repeated it subconsciously. You just want me to defeat that guy named Shady, right?"

"Well, actually, my Millennium Eye was forcibly implanted by that person named Shadi. If my memory serves me right, in the place where I obtained the Millennium Eye, that Shadi also possessed at least three Millennium Items, including your Millennium Wisdom Wheel, Hayato-boy."

“Just a few days ago, that Shadi came to me again.” Pegasus’s voice was somewhat low. “My ward was heavily guarded, and I hadn’t revealed my location, but that Shadi, like a ghost, made his way to my bedside, confirmed the disappearance of the [Millennium Eye], said ‘everything is normal’ and then disappeared.”

"I don't know what's going on with that guy, but anyway, watch out for your safety during this time, Hayato boy. I have a feeling that guy will definitely come after you once Duel City starts."

Hayato sighed, "Your hunch isn't very reliable at all. You couldn't even predict the [Magic Hat] in the game. Okay, that's all for now, I'm hanging up, Ciao~"

After accepting the call, Hayato calmly looked at the white-robed, turbaned man who had somehow appeared in his room: "Hey, could you give me some privacy to change my clothes?"

Chapter 230 Xia Di

"Hayato Kobayashi, who exactly are you?" The man in the white robe and turban said calmly, watching Hayato change his clothes without any expression.

“Who else could I be, Mr. Shadi? Just a duelist passing by.” Hayato put on his clothes, using them as a disguise to calmly retrieve his deck from the system. “As for you, I just got off the phone with Pegasus, and here you are.”

"My appearance was not intentional; it was simply fate that brought me here." Shadi glanced somewhat warily at the [Millennium Wisdom Wheel] on Hayato's chest. "You actually stole this item...?"

"What do you mean by 'seize'? It sounds awful. I obtained this item by defeating Bakura in a fair and square duel. How come it sounds so bad to you?"

With his hands behind his back, Hayato continuously channeled dark magic into the awakened card spirits in his deck. However, although there were many awakened spirits, Hayato only had three cards with any real combat power: Gaia, Sky Magician, and Rainbow Kuriboh.

The rest either haven't reached the second stage and therefore lack the ability to interfere with reality, or they are like the three brothers who, although they have reached the second stage, are still useless mortals without any combat power.

Even Hayato, who has a certain understanding of the DM storyline, can't quite figure out Shadi's true nature. While he seems detached from the main plot, all three of the protagonist Yugi Muto, who possesses the three Dark Millennium Items, are influenced by Shadi.

Pegasus was forcibly fitted with the Millennium Eye, Malik was deceived into believing that the Pharaoh had killed his father, and even Bakura's Millennium Wisdom Wheel was obtained from Shadi.

Of course, the Millennium Wisdom Wheel now belongs to Hayato, and even if Dark Bakura comes knocking on his door now, he can't get Hayato to return it unless Bakura calls it and it responds.

Hayato remembered very clearly that in the manga version of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Shadi was a cold-blooded guy who had no pity for innocent people and could even turn them all into tools in his hands without any remorse.

If Shadi does anything unusual, Hayato will immediately release Gaia to attack Shadi.

“Hayato Kobayashi, you should understand what I mean. All I see in you is a mottled mess.” Shadi stared with those empty, lifeless eyes. “Prana, the Soul of the Duelist, the Favored One of the Elves, and even the Radiance of the Sun God.”

"To be entangled by such a quantity and quality of awe-inspiring light without suffering a mental breakdown, this is the first time in the world I have ever seen an existence like you."

"So, you've learned something new now, haven't you?" Hayato appeared nonchalant, but his nerves were on edge. Shadi's words sounded like a final warning before action, and Hayato was naturally prepared. The moment Shadi made his move…

Hayato was shocked to find that Shadi, who was at least ten meters away from him, appeared in front of him almost instantly without blinking an eye, holding a golden key shaped like an "Anka" [Millennium Key] in his hand as if it were a dagger, and thrusting it towards his heart!