Chapter 289: [Millennium Eye]+[Millennium Rod]=?
As Bakura's Life Points were reduced to zero and the duel was decided, the virtual images of the Duel Monsters slowly dissipated. The shattered [Dark Sanctuary] in the sky rapidly dissolved like snow under the warm sun, and the figure of [Obelisk the Tormentor], which had just secured Kaiba's victory, also gradually disappeared from the Field.
"Hmph, using Traps against a God, there's no more foolish reason for defeat than that." Marik crossed his arms over his chest, looking contemptuously at Bakura, who was still lying on the ground and hadn't gotten up. "For a God, underhanded Traps and Low-Level Monster Effects are negated. Even High-Level Monsters and Spell Cards only have effect for one turn."
"Not only that, God Cards cannot be equipped, and the effect of [Dark Sanctuary] requires a Grudge Spirit to possess the God," Hayato glanced at Marik and added, "But Six-Year-Old, you actually think Trap Cards are underhanded?"
Marik snorted, "I told you, I'm Marik, not Six-Year-Old. While Trap Cards may be underhanded, they are perfectly suited as punishment for those who offend Divine Power."
"Kobayashi Hayato, you'd better pray you don't run into me later. As punishment for taking Ra from my other self, I'll make sure to torment you properly, hehehehe."
Saying this, Marik turned his head to look at Kaiba, who was sorting the Cards in his Hand within the Duel Arena. He thought to himself, 'There's no reason for this. Only those holding Millennium Items should have the qualification to use the Three Egyptian God Cards. How is this guy able to control [Obelisk the Tormentor]?'
'Furthermore, rather than gaining the qualification to use the God, that last drawing cards felt more like [Obelisk the Tormentor] willingly submitting to his Hand?'
After defeating Bakura, Kaiba walked over to him, looking at Bakura lying on the ground and his Duel Disk that had fallen from his grasp. He snorted, picked up Bakura's Duel Disk, and pulled out his Cards to examine them. At a glance, Bakura's Deck was filled with supernatural things like Grudge Spirits and ghosts, with hardly any powerful Monsters.
Disdainfully looking down on Bakura's Deck, which contained nothing good, Kaiba put his Deck back into the Duel Disk and threw it back to the fallen Bakura. "Although Battle City has the rule that 'the winner takes one Card from the loser', you're just a Fourth-Rate Duelist using a Third-Rate Deck. If your Cards were put into my Deck, they would only lower my Deck's purity."
As he spoke, Kaiba turned to leave. But just then, Bakura, who was lying face up on the ground, suddenly sat up as if resurrected, and grabbed Kaiba's wrist! "Purity, is that useful?"
"What?!" Kaiba was startled by Bakura's "resurrection". He shook his wrist, trying to break free, but found that although Bakura looked quite thin, his hand at this moment felt like a hydraulic clamp, gripping Kaiba's wrist tightly!
Bakura swallowed and opened his mouth, disgustingly spitting out a golden eye. The moment Kaiba saw that eye, unpleasant memories were stirred within him.
"That's, Pegasus's eye?"
"Oh, I thought President Kaiba had long forgotten about what happened during Duelist Kingdom, which is why you so firmly deny Supernatural Power."
The golden eye rolled on Bakura's tongue, but strangely, the "pupil" side of the eye always faced Kaiba. The pattern of the Eye of Wdjat gradually began to glow.
"This is bad, that guy Bakura!" Hayato noticed the swirling darkness around Bakura. And at this moment, he was so close to Kaiba that there was no time to rescue him. Leaping over the Audience Seats railing, Hayato jumped into the Duel Field and ran towards Kaiba, shouting to him, "Seto, get away from him!"
"It's too late, Kobayashi Hayato, even you can't reach this distance!" Bakura said with an inhuman laugh, sticking out his tongue. "Two seconds, three seconds? How long will it take you to get here? It won't even take me one second to control Seto Kaiba with the [Millennium Eye]!"
"This is your limit! Now, I will control him!"
As he spoke, a strong light burst from the [Millennium Eye], almost blinding Kaiba. With virtually zero distance, the [Millennium Eye]'s Dark Magic Power poured entirely into Kaiba's body.
But just as Hayato thought Kaiba would be invaded by the [Millennium Eye]'s Magic Power and become Bakura's puppet again, just like during Duelist Kingdom, suddenly, from the direction of the Audience Seats behind him, another surge of Magic Power erupted. Then, to Hayato's stunned expression, Marik, gripping his [Millennium Rod] tightly with both hands, was forcibly dragged away from the Audience Seats, moving even faster than Hayato, and instantly crashed into Kaiba, who was being affected by the [Millennium Eye]'s Magic Power?!
In a pure white space, Kaiba opened his eyes.
"Where is this?" He looked around in confusion. In this pure white space, there was nothing but Kaiba himself. "Hey!"
But there was no echo, as if this space was infinite.
Confused, Kaiba took a step forward, wanting to see what was going on here. But as soon as he took a step, countless fragmented images surged before him like a flood—
An adult woman in Egyptian clothing holding a brown-haired, blue-eyed boy by the hand, wandering everywhere;
The brown-haired, blue-eyed boy, seemingly grown up, riding a horse with a white-haired girl, seemingly escaping;
In what appeared to be an ancient Egyptian library, an old man in a white robe instructing the brown-haired, blue-eyed boy who had changed into blue and white clothing;
At the same time, blurred voices echoed one after another:
"[], you have the qualification to become Pharaoh!"
"Kill []? I refuse!"
"My proud father died in battle when I was young!"
"Sorry [], I might have to go first..."
In a daze, Kaiba opened his eyes again, only to find himself back on the Airship. Bakura, who had been gripping his wrist tightly, had somehow fallen down again.
"That was..." Kaiba subconsciously raised his hand and wiped his cheek, finding it wet. "I'm, crying?"
Kaiba clearly remembered having just seen those fragmented images and heard those blurred voices, but no matter how he tried to recall, he couldn't remember what he had just heard or seen.
"Before you wipe away your tears," a resentful voice sounded in Kaiba's ear. He turned his head and saw one of the Top 8 participants, the one said to hold two God Cards, "Marik Ishtar", standing beside him with an indignant expression. "Give me back my [Millennium Rod]!"
Reminded by Marik, Kaiba then noticed that he was tightly gripping a golden Rod in his hand, which Marik had previously cherished. Marik was pulling at one end of the Rod, trying to yank it away.
"Hmph, some mystical thing, do you think I'd be interested?" Although he had just experienced a rather strange and even slightly eerie scene, Kaiba was still Kaiba. Being superstitious about science, he had no great interest in things like the [Millennium Rod]. He simply let go, allowing Marik to take the [Millennium Rod] back into his Hand.
Leaving Marik, who was examining the [Millennium Rod] with a strange expression, wondering what was wrong with it, Kaiba turned around, as if he had forgotten everything that had just happened, and walked towards the Audience Seats. As he walked, he said to Iso at the Judge's Stand, who was constantly monitoring the situation, "Get someone to clean up the Duel Field and carry that Lackey away."
"Lackey" referred to Bakura, who had fallen down again.
After taking Bakura's Deck, Hayato caught up with the calm-looking Kaiba, sizing him up and down, and asked strangely, "I say Seto, you are still yourself, right?"
"Could it be that your brain was fried from the excessive Impact during the Elimination Round, Kobayashi Hayato?" Kaiba glanced at Hayato, his expression quite calm. "If you get seriously injured just taking a Puzzle Card from a Lackey, perhaps I should re-evaluate your Strength and adjust the intensity of the Impact Simulation System."
"Still as sharp-tongued as ever, looks like it's definitely Seto." Hayato said, patting Kaiba's shoulder. "But I'm a little curious, how did you do that just now?"
Bakura, who was lying on the ground, was carried to the Infirmary equipped on the Airship. Téa and Serenity Wheeler, who were still unaware of "Dark Bakura"'s existence, volunteered to go to the Infirmary to check on Bakura's condition. Devoted friend #1 Tristan and devoted friend #2 Duke Devlin naturally followed along.
While everyone in the Audience Seats waited, the hilarious [Blue-Eyes White Dragon Lottery Machine GO! GO!] that had been seen in the Hall earlier was raised to the Sky Duel Arena and activated again to determine the players for the second match.
Under everyone's expectant gazes, two balls were spat out one after another. The numbers on them differed by just one, "5" and "6", representing player number five - Joey Wheeler and player number six - Mai Valentine, respectively.
Iso announced loudly, "Then, the second match of the Battle City Top 8 to Top 4 selection tournament, the Duelists are—"
"Joey Wheeler, and Mai Valentine!"
Hearing this, Joey Wheeler, with a stunned expression, turned his head to look at Mai Valentine, who also had a stunned expression. They both said in unison, "My opponent, is him/her?"
Compared to the slow-witted Joey Wheeler, Mai Valentine had gradually come to terms with her feelings for Joey Wheeler after such a long time. Therefore, she seemed quite troubled that she was paired against Joey Wheeler. "Even Yugi would be fine, why does it have to be this guy Joey Wheeler?"
"Huh? Don't look down on me! I'm 1000% stronger now than I was during Duelist Kingdom!" Joey Wheeler didn't understand Mai Valentine's meaning, thinking she felt dueling him wasn't challenging. He immediately retorted, "If you underestimate me, be careful you don't get easily defeated by This Great One like last time, Mai."
"You arrogant, dense guy!" Mai Valentine said unhappily. "Do you think only you have grown? I'm not the same as I used to be either!"
As she spoke, she crossed her arms over her chest, seemingly unconsciously supporting her chest. Unfortunately, while Joey Wheeler is normally a pervert like most men, his Dueling Addiction had taken over, and his brain's memory was only enough for Dueling.
"Since you're so confident, how about we make a bet?" This was the first time in her life she had such feelings for a man, but this guy Joey Wheeler was a blockhead—no, he was basically a humanoid Steel Knight. This made Mai Valentine somewhat angry. She said with a cold laugh, "If I win, I don't want your [Red-Eyes Black Dragon]. You just have to be my Attendant for a month."
'A month's time, I refuse to believe I can't win him over!' Mai Valentine thought to herself.
"Hmph hmph, I won't lose!" Joey Wheeler said.
Although Yugi looked a bit short, he saw things clearly. He immediately saw Mai Valentine's feelings for Joey Wheeler and showed a knowing smile from the side. And Hayato, watching the two blondes argue, chuckled softly and whispered to Ishizu Ishtar beside him, "When these two get married, I'll sit at the wedding banquet with the kids."
The staff members, who had finished adjusting the Camera Device that was slightly crooked and out of focus due to [Obelisk the Tormentor]'s Attack earlier, left the Field. Joey Wheeler and Mai Valentine stood on opposite sides of the Duel Field, waiting for Iso at the Judge's Stand to give the order.
In the Audience Seats, Ishizu Ishtar was discussing with Hayato whether it was more cost-effective to sit at the kids' table or the elders' table at the wedding banquet. Marik's gaze shifted back and forth between the [Millennium Rod] in his Hand and the calm-faced Kaiba, seemingly still unable to figure out how his [Millennium Rod] had dragged him over to Kaiba.
Kaiba was discussing various matters with Mokuba, such as the Airship's itinerary, whether anything had happened at KaibaCorp, and the online reaction to the first Duel Video that had just been released. Meanwhile, Yugi was thinking in his mind about what method he should use if he had to face Kaiba's [Obelisk the Tormentor].
On the Duel Field, Mai Valentine and Joey Wheeler's eyes met.
"Just wait to be my Attendant for a month, Joey Wheeler," Mai Valentine said with a smile.
"No way, I'll definitely win against you!" Joey Wheeler returned a confident smile and turned to look at the Camera beside him. "Heh heh, I never thought I'd have a day where I'm on TV."
"I announce, the second match of the Battle City Top 8 to Top 4 selection tournament," Iso raised both hands high, confirmed that both players were ready, and then sharply brought them down. "Now, Duel Start!"
"Duel!" X2
[Joey Wheeler: 4000 LP, Hand 5]
[Mai Valentine: 4000 LP, Hand 5]