"Anyway, I don't have to work today," Alister said, "after I saw Seto Kaiba and Mokuba, I followed behind them, thinking about when I should appear before them, to give Seto Kaiba a taste of what surprise really means."
Alister said, frowning, "However, while tracking the two of them, there were several times I was almost discovered by that guy, Seto Kaiba. His senses are far too sharp. While I didn't intend to stay hidden forever, there's a difference between me jumping out and Seto Kaiba finding me."
"So you hid in a trash can?" Hayato asked.
"That's not the point!" Alister glared at Hayato, then his expression turned serious. "Anyway, when I saw Mokuba almost fall, I thought that was the perfect moment for me to appear, and I was about to step out. But right then, Seto Kaiba suddenly vanished, and Mokuba, who had almost fallen, was standing steadily in place."
"In that instant, Mokuba, who perhaps couldn't yet be called a powerful Duelist, might not have felt it, but my keen sense of smell as a Duelist picked up a very ancient scent."
"Eh? But didn't you just say you'd given up Duel Monsters?"
"That's not the point either!" Alister said with a frown. "The important thing is, that presence gave me a very familiar feeling, just like this suspicious card."
Saying this, Alister pulled a card from his clothes and revealed it. "It's not bragging, but even without Doma's power — that 'Orichalcos shard' — I still have the ability to see Duel Monster spirits, and I can even 'forge my own future draws' — which is to say, perform Card Creation."
"But how could a card like this awaken in my Machina Deck?"
The card in Alister's hand depicted an elegant, feminine monster wielding two swords, with a classic blue and white color scheme, named Light Mercury.
It wasn't just Alister; several others who knew he used a Machine-Type focused Machina Deck shared his view. If Light Mercury, an Aqua-Type and Water Attribute monster, were a card created by a Duel Monster spirit unexpectedly awakened by an Aqua-Type Deck user, it would make sense. But for a Machine-Type Deck to awaken such a card? It was impossible to imagine.
But the more important point was that — no matter how you looked at it, this card was clearly a 'Planet' series card!
The 'Planet' series cards mysteriously appearing in Duelists' Decks, and Alister's earlier statement about sensing a presence similar to Light Mercury's when Seto Kaiba disappeared, made it hard for Hayato not to think of Tragoedia once again.
Could Seto Kaiba's sudden disappearance be due to its intervention? And what about Yako? What was his relationship with Tragoedia, and what role was he playing?
Hayato had no way of knowing. Looking at Light Mercury in Alister's hand, he could only say, "This card is a 'Planet' series card, belonging to the 'Planet' series. I can't explain its exact origin, but it's not the first time I've encountered cards belonging to the same series."
"Without formally activating a 'Planet' series card in a Duel, it possesses no extraordinary qualities. But once used, that card emits an imperceptible dark energy that corrodes the user's Deck."
"Even Decks that haven't reached the level of awakening a Duel Monster spirit will be forced to manifest a card spirit under the influence of this power. However, such awakened card spirits are by no means pure spirits with deep bonds to their user. Spirits filled with twisted dark power are not only difficult to command; a single slip-up could even result in them controlling the Duelist themselves."
Hayato's words might have sounded alarmist, but he wasn't exaggerating in the slightest. Currently, Hayato had obtained a total of four 'Planet' series cards and had already encountered three Duelists who had included 'Planet' series cards in their Decks.
Tilla Mook, whom Hayato met and Dueled at the KC Cup, used a Vampire Deck but was instead controlled and made a slave by the awakened Vampire Lady. She had The Blazing Mars in her Deck;
His own father, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, who claimed to be undefeated across London, had a newly drawn Deck that quickly awakened the Dragonmaid family Duel Monster spirits due to the inclusion of Tyrant Neptune. However, the compatibility between the two was unimaginably poor, and the spirits were closer to Hayato than to Hiroyuki Kobayashi;
Gekko, who was overseeing the overall operations in the backend control zone during the KC Cup jointly organized by Industrial Illusions and KaibaCorp, appeared normal. Still, in Hayato's eyes, he was the most abnormal one. Not only was he not the "perfect Duelist" Hayato remembered, but he had also completely forgotten everything related to his younger brother, Yako, just like Pegasus.
Counting them all, Hayato's The Great Saturn, obtained from the System, was actually the one with the most normal origin. Hayato was also the most normal and proper one among them. Hayato remembered that when he obtained The Great Saturn, the System had mentioned that while this card's effect was from a real card rather than the manga original, it was actually an ownerless card collected by the System from this world.
Among them, besides Gekko, both Tilla Mook and Hiroyuki Kobayashi showed signs of awakening card spirits due to their respective 'Planet' series cards. And without exception, the awakened Duel Monster spirits were not the obedient type.
For instance, Hayato noticed that recently, Little Blue — or rather, House Dragonmaid — had started playing with the Ojama brothers and had even learned to talk back and deflect blame when her sisters scolded her. At this rate, she'd turn bad sooner or later.
However, on the other hand, Hayato noticed that if a Duelist himself possessed spirit power, it wouldn't matter if he awakened a Duel Monster spirit that was completely disadvantageous to the user, like Vampire Lady. A Duelist protected by spirit power wouldn't be affected, and there was indeed a Duel Monster spirit present beside Alister.
Glancing at Alister's side, Hayato saw the phantom of Machina Fortress. Although he hadn't witnessed Alister's Duel with Raphael in front of the Doma headquarters, it was clear that Machina Fortress, once a symbol of Alister's will for revenge, had now transformed into a symbol of guardianship due to his resolve and will.
Alister didn't pay attention to Hayato's gaze. He slightly raised his hand and looked at the Light Mercury in his hand. "The ability to awaken Duel Monster spirits' power, but in a state of being corroded by dark power?"
"Such a thing might look beautiful, but only an idiot whose eyes are solely fixed on revenge would accept such power, even though I was once such an idiot."
Pausing, Alister flicked his finger, flipping the card, and extended his arm forward without a hint of reluctance. "But that's wrong. Something so similar to an 'Orichalcos shard' is too hot to handle. I don't want it."
As he spoke, Alister's eyes fixed on Hayato. "Although I haven't seen you actually pull one out, since you said you've encountered them many times, with your personality, you've probably already acquired quite a few of these 'Planet' series cards, haven't you, Hayato?"
Hayato frowned upon hearing this. "How dare you accuse me without proof!?"
"Just tell me, have you or have you not taken these so-called 'Planet' series cards from others?"
"...Yes."
"Hmph, there you have it. Your personality hasn't changed, has it? Just like before, even when your opponent wasn't the 'Bandit Keith' you defeated the first time, you still took his entire Deck after defeating him, didn't you?"
Snorting coldly, Alister directly flicked the card in his hand towards Hayato. Watching Hayato catch it, he said, "I believe my senses aren't wrong. When Seto Kaiba disappeared, there was definitely a presence similar to the one on this card. Go ahead and use this card, which hasn't yet absorbed my scent, to find Seto Kaiba."
"Don't make me sound like some drug-sniffing dog," Hayato grumbled, but he pulled the Millennium Ring, which had always hung around his neck, from his pocket and gripped it in his hand. As Hayato's thoughts stirred, a soft golden light illuminated the golden ring and spread to the several golden cones around its central disk.
"Card Swap!" accompanied by a line of unknown meaning, Hayato touched the Millennium Ring and Light Mercury together in a card-swiping motion. It seemed he was using this to make the Millennium Ring remember the presence of Light Mercury. The several cones on the golden disk suddenly moved, rising together and pointing in one direction.
"Although it's not the first time I've seen it, the Millennium Ring really is useful," Joey exclaimed, watching Hayato use the Millennium Ring to seemingly find Seto Kaiba. "Sometimes it's even more useful than the Millennium Eye, which can see through girls' complicated thoughts."
"Indeed, just like last time when I couldn't decide what gift to give Serenity Wheeler, I had Hayato use the Millennium Ring to find the answer," Tristan casually agreed.
Joey unconsciously nodded, then belatedly realized what Tristan had just said. "Wait, 'give Serenity Wheeler a gift'!? When was that, Tristan? Why don't I know anything about it?"
"Ahaha, the weather's really nice today~"
"See? Last time, when I borrowed your phone to call Serenity Wheeler, I didn't even dial, and it connected directly. You must have saved Serenity Wheeler's number on your phone behind my back, didn't you? Come on, let me see!"
"Joey, no! What~ are~ you~ doing, hey!"
Watching Joey clamp Tristan's head in the crook of his arm, trying to make Tristan's head explode with his bicep, Hayato didn't stop their usual bickering. Instead, he glanced at the time and said, "Pegasus, Bakura, Yugi, and Téa, I wonder how their shopping trip is going. Someone needs to stay behind and tell them where we're going, so they don't get lost."
"I'll go with you, Hayato-bro, to find big brother!" Mokuba immediately stated upon hearing Hayato's words. Alister, standing nearby, also spoke up, "I want to go too. Maybe I'll get to see Seto Kaiba's embarrassing, frustrated look."
"Me too, me too! I've always wanted to see that guy Seto Kaiba make an embarrassing expression!" Joey showed his signature goofy expression and laughed.
Compared to Joey and Alister, who both eagerly wanted to see Seto Kaiba's misfortune, Tristan and Marik were relatively uninterested. "In that case, Tristan and I will stay here," Marik said, picking up the large bucket of popcorn Joey hadn't finished, his face beaming as if he'd found money.
Once the team was divided, Hayato and the others didn't linger. With the thought of getting an early start, finding their person quickly, and calling it a day, they immediately followed the direction pointed by the Millennium Ring, arriving on the main street outside the cordoned-off area and proceeding straight down it.
"Alister, are you familiar with this city?" Hayato asked Alister as they walked.
Shaking his head, Alister casually said, "While it's true I arrived a bit earlier than you all, Doma only disbanded a short while ago, so my head start was limited. I'm also not very familiar with this city; I only have a slight impression of this main street, which is usually near my workplace."
"Having an impression is enough," Hayato replied. "The Millennium Ring found the target so quickly, which means Seto Kaiba, or rather, something related to the presence on Light Mercury, should be on this street, not too far from us. Do you know of anything on this street that we should pay a little attention to?"
"Things to pay attention to? I don't know what we *should* pay attention to," Alister said, frowning in thought, sounding somewhat uncertain. "There seems to be a Chinese restaurant on this street called Hongzhou Yansuiguan - Taishan, and the owner is named Ba. Her Chinese cuisine has a hell-level spiciness that could kill a person. And there's also a Japanese restaurant called Kouhei Restaurant..."
"Alright, pretend I didn't ask," Hayato said, rolling his eyes at Alister. He couldn't help but marvel at the other's significant change. Not long ago, when Doma still existed, Alister's mind could hold nothing but "I must find a way to scheme against Seto Kaiba." Now that he'd let go of that obsession, he'd assimilated into the role of chef so quickly.
But on second thought, it seemed that even when Hayato was still with Doma, the employee meals at an organization like Doma were terribly unappetizing. Hayato and Rex had always gone to Alister for private meals, and sometimes even Dartz would join them.
Raphael? Raphael was holed up in his room, maintaining his cards.
This guy has an unexpected talent in this area.
Thinking this, Hayato noticed that the golden light on the Millennium Ring flickered slightly, seemingly because they had approached within a certain distance. At the same time, a familiar voice suddenly echoed from afar:
"Generations! Waga Soul!"
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!!!"
(end of chapter)