Duels should be played with a smile.

But at the moment he fell to the ground and his soul left his body, Leyou clearly saw two souls fly out of this body.

One of them was sealed by the Orichalcos barrier, while the other escaped at lightning speed.

Upon seeing something unexpected appear, Leyou hurriedly used his ability to capture the soul. Unfortunately, he was not yet proficient in this ability and failed to capture the uninvited guest. Then, this guy, who was filled with despair because of his defeat, finally escaped the barrier and fled outside the arena, only to run into someone who clearly fed on despair but hadn't been able to eat it recently.

Leyou isn't a villain, so there's no need for him to practice soul manipulation, an ability that's not very useful for playing cards. However, the card spirits all have their own special abilities.

The exhibition match ended there, and the remaining stage was handed over to Kaiba. After Philvo informed Kaiba, Leyou took the Orichalcos barrier that sealed the soul and returned to the audience, trying to find some clues. He planned to study it carefully and practice his strange abilities when he got back.

He was unaware that his target had been turned into food for printing new cards.

A few minutes later.

Isono, who had returned to Kaiba's side, glanced at Kaiba's uncertain expression and cautiously asked, "President, should we put the KC Cup matter on hold for now?"

"I have my own plans. You go and prepare. I'll be on stage right away."

With a flick of his trench coat, Kaiba walked away with a flourish, waving at the empty space beside him before leaving, leaving Isono somewhat bewildered.

"Things are getting more and more interesting. Even in death, Gosaburo left me with so many messes. He's like a persistent ghost. Fortunately, from that day on, I was prepared to face anything without fear."

"No one can stop me from realizing my dream!"

"Let's take advantage of this KC Cup to gather you all together and then wipe you all out in one fell swoop! Whether it's supernatural, real, or sci-fi, if you want me to admit defeat, you'd better beat me in a duel first!"

"It's already a fully-fledged Blue-Eye, so it has absolutely no fear of those cowardly rats hiding in the shadows!"

"Kisara, come with me and sweep away all obstacles!"

The seahorse looked at the girl beside it with an unprecedented tenderness.

"Yes, Seto! Together!"

……

"Duelers all over the world! I believe you have been longing for this for a long time since Duel City! I know you are even more eager now that you know dueling has entered a new era!"

"Now, a golden opportunity is before you!"

With a wave of his hand, the scene of the modified virtual world, called Duel Link, was projected onto the big screen.

"One month from now, Kaiba Corporation will join forces with the International Illusion Society to host the Strongest Duelist Tournament! The winner of this dueling tournament will have the opportunity to challenge the current Duel King—and the ultimate winner's reward will be the three God Cards held by the Duel King!"

"In addition, those who perform well in this competition may be selected as participants in the next project of the Seahorse Corporation, and as long as they participate in this competition, they may obtain powerful rare cards!"

"Duelists, are you ready? The feast for duelists is about to begin!"

"I have put everything you want in the Duel Link. Those who want it, go there, challenge, win, and become the ultimate winner, the strongest Duel King!"

"Duelists of the world! Let this grand feast, a celebration exclusively for duelists, usher in a new era!"

Chapter 128 A certain toy is back online, and it costs 26.

Following the announcement of the birth of Link Summoning, news of the upcoming tournament for the strongest duelists spread across the globe in an instant.

Every duelist who purchases the new Duel Disk and can access the Duel Links to climb the ladder will qualify for the competition.

One month later, at midnight three days before the official start of the tournament, the top eight duelists with the highest ladder scores will be tallied. Kaiba Corporation will extend invitations to them. If they accept, Kaiba Corporation will cover all expenses. If they decline, the spot will be passed on to the next eligible duelist.

The eight duelists selected through the online competition will join eight other duelists directly invited by Haima Corporation to come offline for the final offline competition at a super-large Haima theme park located at Haima Corporation's US branch.

At that time, Haima Corporation will once again showcase its cutting-edge technology, blending reality and virtuality, allowing the duelists present to appreciate a broader landscape.

Spending all his time with Kisara, even while engrossed in his research, Kaiba learned a great deal about the secrets of Duel Monsters from her. With his intelligence and the test data he had collected on the Duel Links world, he could easily guess that Leyu had been hiding something from him.

"Beyond Link Summoning, Duel Monsters have even richer possibilities. As long as you can find that moment of inspiration, you can have infinite possibilities!"

This is a promotional phrase that appears somewhat baffling to many duelists, left at the end of a recent announcement from Haima Corporation.

However, many duelists, after playing Duel Links, began to seriously consider the deeper meaning of this promotional slogan.

As we all know, when a game has a high degree of freedom, the Fourth Scourge can create all sorts of strange and wonderful things for you.

Many hardcore duelists are already battling it out on the ladder, trying to qualify for the tournament. There are also many more duelists who simply enjoy the fun of dueling and the novelty of dueling connecting the world to the world, exploring everywhere in this virtual world.

Because the game is so realistic, many duelists treat the "NPCs" as real people and feel as if they are communicating with real intelligent beings rather than intelligent programs.

Many more sentimental duelists even became friends with a number of the NPCs and received gifts from them—after a duel where the only purpose was to enjoy the fun, regardless of winning or losing, many duelists received cards related to those NPCs.

Among them are some rare Link Monsters.

Even more bizarrely, they obtained cards with black and white borders, but had no idea how to use them.

Only a very small number of powerful duelists who don't need to climb the ladder, and who are also handsome and have good personalities, can defeat NPCs in duels and gain their true recognition.

Then, after obtaining the black and white bordered cards, they are taken by the NPCs to a larger area where they learn a new and powerful summoning method that is no less novel than Link Summoning.

Moreover, all the duelists who obtained the cards in this way were surprised to find that they had obtained the same cards in the real world after returning to reality, which made them start to think more about Duel Monsters.

……

"Lord Dartz!"

Inside the Paradis Corporation, Dartz, dressed in a suit and tie, sat in a chair listening to the Three Musketeers report on recent intelligence.

"Link Summoning?! This is... interesting. I never imagined that the Elf Realm, which existed millions of years ago, would undergo such a strange change three thousand years later after the nameless Pharaoh opened the gates to the underworld."

"Then, Lord Dartz, now that the original plan has been altered, will it still be carried out?"

"No need, let me think..."

The three musketeers stood quietly behind Dartz with their heads bowed and eyes lowered, not uttering a word, but each had their own thoughts.

"To awaken our great god Orichalcos, we need the souls of powerful duelists... The legendary dragon has not yet awakened, and no one can threaten the god. The previous plan is temporarily put on hold. You should go and participate in that tournament."

"Although I haven't experienced that mysterious duel link yet, I imagine that the eight duelists who have emerged from the world are all true powerhouses, and they are exactly the sacrifices that our gods need most."

While making the Three Musketeers the overt plan, Dartz had secretly prepared several additional contingency plans. Now that the seal on the legendary dragon was still intact, he only needed to leisurely collect souls and then, when the time was right, awaken the great god.

"Yes, Lord Dartz!"

“Raphael, your goal is to capture the Pharaoh’s soul within Yugi Muto. Ameruda, you go and defeat Seto Kaiba. Baron, you go and defeat Jonouchi. After you have completed your respective goals, your next goal will be the three God Cards. That is what you will be doing next.”

"Yes!"

"Alright, you may all leave now. Let the young master who has been waiting outside come in."

"Yes!"

The three musketeers withdrew after receiving their orders, and half a minute later, a young man with long pink hair and dressed in a well-fitting suit walked in.

Even though he considered himself a genius with talents far exceeding those of ordinary people, and even though he always held himself in high esteem, Zieg dared not show the slightest disrespect in front of this person.

He came to seek to revive his family's glory, not to push his family into hell.

Even though he didn't understand why this person, who looked even younger than himself, could become the sole person in charge of the Paradis Corporation, he could only be respectful and ask him for help.

"Siegfried von Schreidt?"

"Yes!"

“Raise your head.”

"Yes!"

A powerful aura emanated from in front of him. Although the person in front of him said he was going to look up, the immense pressure on his body was hindering his movements.

It took a great deal of effort for Zieg to finally manage to lift his head under such immense pressure.

Then I met those eyes.

His heterochromatic eyes concealed endless darkness, like a bottomless abyss.

"You want to revitalize your family?"

"Yes!"

Zig wanted to explain his thoughts, but he found that he could only mechanically answer the questions asked by the person in front of him.

That was the only answer I could give.

"Become my pawn, participate in that tournament, become the champion, and win back the three God Cards, and I will grant your request."

"Yes!"

"Go back."

"Yes!"

Zig didn't know how he got out of that room. He only remembered that after he came out, he walked aimlessly until he reached the elevator. He was startled awake by the elevator bell and realized that he had left the room of the man whose face he couldn't remember at all.

In the instant he awoke, he gasped for breath, as if he had narrowly escaped death.

"What a terrifying... tournament, huh? Perfect for me, I just need to take care of Seto Kaiba!"

The three musketeers had been arranged, and the young nobleman had become a pawn whose usefulness was uncertain. Dartz finally called back Anubis, who had been sent out to deal with the Duel King but had failed to find him. He gave Anubis a severe scolding and a threat before taking off his suit again and returning to his usual temple.

As king, he only needed to delegate tasks to his subordinates.

If these subordinates win and achieve their goal, that would be good. But even if they fail, it doesn't matter. As long as they win even one battle, the god of Orichalcos will descend and take away the souls of the losers.

In that situation, if a duelist were to fall unconscious, it would surely cause great panic and awaken the darkness hidden in the hearts of many.

However he may think, it all depends on his subordinates getting into the offline competition.

So his subordinates are now doing something remarkably similar—first, buy a new Duel Disk, and then, having already fallen behind by several days, try to climb the ladder.

……

A few days later, as more and more duelists entered Duel Links, the Duel Links world became incredibly lively.

In addition, many interesting things also happened in the real world.

Many duelists have claimed to have encountered NPCs similar to those in the Duel Links world in real life.

The duelists' accounts differed, but they all shared the common characteristic of having interacted with the NPCs they claimed to have seen in the linked world.

These kinds of incidents didn't attract much attention at first, but as their numbers gradually increased, they caught the attention of some media outlets that chased sensational stories and reported them with exaggerated headlines.

Shocking! There's a way to get cards without buying them!

It turns out, Kaiba Corporation is from another world!

Experts say that Duel Monsters will destroy the world!

"Some parents' tearful accusations against Haima Company and International Illusion Society—the truth is actually..."