Since the President invited him so sincerely, Youyu decided to give him some face and attend the tournament for him.
It's not just about giving President Kaiba face; attending the tournament is also beneficial for Youyu himself. For example, increasing exposure, maintaining his reputation among players, promoting his new card deck, and advertising for the upcoming new card boxes in his personal store...
...it's definitely not to help that awkward guy Kaiba.
Yeah, that's right. Anyway, Youyu convinced himself.
Based on Youyu's past life experiences, this KC tournament is different from the previous Duel City tournaments during the beta test.
When Duel City was first launched, players all held useless Normal Decks.
As the saying goes, even the best cook can't make a meal without ingredients. No matter how experienced a duelist, they can't perform magic without cards.
Plus, the top eight NPCs in Duel City were all big shots, and players couldn't gain much from them. Getting into the top eight was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
In the end, only a certain lucky performer Xue Lang, with an entertaining Elemental Hero deck, managed to squeeze into the top eight...
But since the game has been live for so long, and especially after all players went through the Orichalcos storyline, gaining abundant rewards, some top elite players, through hard work or paying, have managed to acquire some battle-ready card decks, which will undoubtedly pose more threats.
Moreover, as an anime-original arc, the KC Cup participants, though labeled as 'strong duelists' from around the world, are visibly less impressive compared to those in Duel City.
All participants in Duel City's top eight were later known as 'Legendary Duelists,' whereas the original KC Cup seemed to be a bit of a chicken fight...
With this background, Youyu has no doubt that many elite players will emerge, and even making it to the finals is not impossible.
Speaking of the KC Cup, there's one more thing.
Every major tournament has a conspiracy; it's common knowledge in any anime. But fortunately for President Kaiba, Youyu already knows who plans to cause trouble this time.
Since it's just a small effort, Youyu thought, why not take advantage of the tournament's pause and eliminate this potential threat for the President?
...
In the depths of the forest, a luxurious palace with a grand hall boasting a luxurious bathtub.
Uniformed, well-trained maids stood around like soldiers on duty. A certain flamboyant pink-haired naked man lay elegantly in the tub, holding a rose.
He stood up from the tub with a splash, spreading his arms wide.
The pretty maidens hurried over, some with towels to dry him, others to blow dry his hair, and others holding clean clothes, waiting at the side.
Yet in this scene, the pink-haired man had no scattered thoughts in his mind, not even the slightest physiological reaction...
...and was instead thinking entirely about a man.
"Kaiba Seto!"
The pink-haired man smiled evilly, sniffing the rose in his hand.
Anyone unaware might think he had some tangled fate with President Kaiba...
His name is Zigfried Lloyd, full name Zigfried von Schroeder, chairman of the European Lloyd Entertainment Group.
His first encounter with Kaiba was when both were very young. Zigfried attended a banquet hosted by Kaiba Company with his parents, where he live-hacked into Kaiba Company's computer control program in front of young Kaiba, earning young Seto's admiration.
The original Lloyd Consortium was, like Kaiba Group, founded on the arms business, both being world-renowned arms giants.
But, as they say, industry competitors are enemies. In its growth, the Lloyd Consortium was maliciously suppressed by Kaiba Group, and they couldn't compete with the ever-emerging black technologies of Kaiba Group in terms of weapons technology. In the end, the consortium's president, Zigfried's father, died from overwork, and the company neared bankruptcy.
The young Zigfried, tasked with a mission in crisis, took over the company. Realizing they couldn't revive in the arms industry under Kaiba Group's suppression, he made a bold decision—
—from now on, our company won't sell arms, but will vigorously develop the tabletop game business!
Simply put, his strategy was: if you can't fight, hide. They abandoned the arms market entirely, leaving it to Kaiba Group, and sought a new path in the tabletop field.
Then, just as Zigfried was staking everything, investing everything the company had left into the newly rising Duel Monsters realm, an astonishing news came during a board meeting.
"Reporting!!"
An employee hurriedly burst in, looking like those little demons delivering the message "Monkey King is attacking."
"President! The new president of Kaiba Group, Kaiba Seto, just announced at the press conference that they won't sell arms either and will fully develop the Duel Monsters business instead!"
Zigfried almost spewed blood.
I'm struggling in the arms field and switched to games, and now you, Kaiba Seto, want to join the hype?
What's not wonderful about selling your tanks and guns?
Yet despite this, Zigfried had no retreat. He started working day and night, fully investing himself in research and development...
...and got beaten by President Kaiba again and again.
Kaiba Company not only developed the Duel Monsters holographic projection system earlier than him but also outperformed his equipment in terms of performance, cost, and convenience.
Kaiba snatched the contract with the International Fantasy Society, and the Lloyd Consortium suffered significant losses once more...
This grudge must be avenged!
Thinking about it, Zigfried displayed a sinister smile.
He had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Kaiba Company had suffered a series of blows and was now in its most critical juncture. The KC Cup is Kaiba Group's Hail Mary. If he can ruin the tournament, cause a major incident, Kaiba Company will surely collapse.
At that time, the Lloyd Consortium might have a chance to rise again, replacing Kaiba Company as a giant in the Duel Monster Realm!
Zigfried already had a script ready. First, he would disguise himself as an ordinary participant to infiltrate the tournament, hack into Kaiba Company's system, lure Kaiba Seto to appear, defeat him in his most proud dueling domain, and then cause a total crash of Kaiba Company's entire Duel Monster system...
He was deep in thought when someone rushed in frantically from outside the palace.
"Lo... Lord Lloyd!" The butler looked panicked. "Your KC Cup application was rejected by the organizers!"
"!"
Zigfried was taken aback.
Rejected?
How could it be?
Kaiba Seto shouldn't remember him?
No, even if Kaiba Seto remembered him, he shouldn't know Zigfried was planning to cause trouble at the KC Cup?
Zigfried frowned, snorted, took the wine glass handed by a maid, elegantly sipping the red wine.
Though he didn't know how his plan was leaked, it seemed he underestimated Kaiba Seto's vigilance.
But it doesn't matter; a truly excellent schemer always has a backup plan.
He had an infallible trump card, a true ace up his sleeve.
That was his brother, Reyn Wilson.
Reyn Wilson was actually a fake name his brother adopted initially, to secretly participate in various dueling tournaments without the family's knowledge. But eventually, his brother Zigfried discovered it.
Reyn was not only a genius Duelist far surpassing Zigfried but also won championships under this alias in several large tournaments and had become a well-known figure in the Duel World over the years.
More importantly, no one knew Reyn's real identity was a member of the Lloyd Family.
Having his brother Reyn participate in the KC Cup, no one would suspect his identity. Then, simply hand the virus software to Reyn, have Reyn as his right-hand man causing chaos in the KC Cup to paralyze Kaiba Company's system, achieving the same result...
Just then, another person hurriedly ran in from outside the hall.
"Lo... Lord Lloyd!" The person shouted, "Master Reyn's application for the KC Cup... was also rejected by the organizers!"
Zigfried spit out wine far and wide, the scene looking much like spewing a mouthful of blood.
"What!?" Zigfried was shocked.
Reyn was rejected too?
That's impossible!
Could it be Kaiba Seto observed the celestial signs and predicted I was up to something?