Chapter 547: The Curse of the Thousand Eyes (7k, seeking monthly tickets)

"Welcome, Tenjou-boy~"

Industrial Illusions, Tenjou Hikari followed Ansel through the image corridor. Not far away, a man walked toward them.

The man had long silver-white hair, wore a very formal red gentleman's coat, and used his long hair to block his left eye.

He clapped while laughing and came to not far from Tenjou Hikari, greeting Tenjou Hikari.

His accent was very strange. To say it was broken English, he was a standard American after all. His father was a big casino boss in Las Vegas and a son of a super rich man.

But to say his speech was normal, it didn't conform to common sense.

Because his words seemed to be singing, and the ups and downs were very strange, like in an opera.

"Mr. Pegasus, hello." Tenjou Hikari also returned the salute.

Subsequently, he glanced at the scene around him again.

This place...

Tenjou Hikari vaguely felt that this place was somewhat familiar.

"Hehehe, that's right, Tenjou-boy~ The place you are in right now is where Kaiba-boy and I dueled back then~"

Sure enough—

When Tenjou Hikari first came to this place, he actually had a slight sense of familiarity. He had some impression of the appearance nearby, but he had never been to Industrial Illusions. Now seeing the various equipment and virtual image machines laid out nearby, as well as the huge "Duel Platform" that could stand a few people, all made Tenjou Hikari feel somewhat familiar.

However, he didn't expect to come to this kind of place all of a sudden.

He was still vaguely somewhat excited.

However, after the excitement, he suddenly looked at Pegasus, and a trace of surprise appeared in his eyes.

Pegasus still maintained a smile.

Tenjou Hikari hesitated for a moment, immediately put his hand on the "Emerald Tablet," and then asked with a slight hesitation: "I heard that Mr. Pegasus possesses the ability to read the thoughts of the human heart..."

Tenjou Hikari knew that asking this kind of question at this time was somewhat inappropriate, but being instantly perceived of his inner thoughts, Tenjou Hikari was still instinctively on guard in his heart, so he took the initiative to ask.

"Hmm~ of course, that's right~"

He said it openly and honestly.

"President?" "So this is true—" Hayato Maeda and Ansel couldn't help but exclaim.

The two had actually always been very curious about the rumor that Pegasus possessed "mind reading," but although they looked successful in their careers and lively in personality, the former had been autistic in the Duel Academy dormitory for several years, and the latter looked like he was entertaining others, but was actually a pessimist. Neither of them were people who would open their mouths to ask Pegasus.

But they were also genuinely curious, so when Tenjou Hikari asked, they also looked at Pegasus curiously.

Other people, like the Paradox Brothers and Pegasus's bodyguards, didn't have that many reactions to this.

After all, they were all old employees and knew Pegasus's secrets more or less.

But Tenjou Hikari was somewhat confused.

By logic, shouldn't Pegasus not have this mind-reading ability anymore?

Tenjou Hikari frowned.

In the original work, Pegasus was originally famous as a painter, but his lover died young, and he gave up his dream of becoming a painter. In order to find a way to resurrect his lover, he went to Egypt and obtained the "Millennium Eye," thereby possessing the ability to read minds.

But at this time point, his Millennium Eye should have been gone long ago. How could it still be like this?

And this mind reading wasn't an innate ability like Sartorius's, could it also be retained?

"Sorry, Tenjou-boy~" Pegasus gently rubbed his forehead. "Me didn't want to deliberately read your inner thoughts just now either."

What's the situation?

Tenjou Hikari was somewhat puzzled.

Pegasus shook his head gently, turned around, and signaled everyone to follow.

Passing through some commemorative buildings in front of Industrial Illusions, they gradually walked into the design layer of Industrial Illusions, which was more cutting-edge and also simpler.

While walking, a curly-haired designer from Industrial Illusions walked out of the studio, saw Pegasus, hurriedly saluted him, and followed.

"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. France."

"No, no, no, it's nothing, Mr. Pegasus." The gray-haired curly-haired man kept saying it didn't matter, while raising his eyebrows and winking at Hayato Maeda, looking proud.

France...

This was a genius designer.

Tenjou Hikari remembered this person.

In the world of "Yu-Gi-Oh! GX," card design wasn't a simple matter. Many cards were first "spirits" and then cards appeared.

For example, the "Three Phantom Gods" cards made by Pegasus were all first stone slabs, then Pegasus designed the Three Phantom God cards through his personal ability, and then the "souls" of the Three Phantom Gods were transferred into the God cards.

Similarly, after that, the Three Phantom God cards left this world along with the soul of the Nameless Pharaoh. It was also Pegasus who relied on his personal ability to copy a "Slifer the Sky Dragon" for research.

Another example was Aster's father, the famous "World-Ending Card Designer" Mr. Phoenix.

Whether it was animation or manga, those bosses without form, or whose bodies disappeared, all needed to rely on his heaven-defying design talent to produce carrier cards or cards to break the seal.

Planet series, Destiny HERO - Plasma, all had to rely on him.

But, the entire "GX" world wasn't just him as a designer, and it wasn't that all the blame was thrown on Mr. Phoenix.

For example, Hayato Maeda later became a card designer and designed new environments and cards for Jūdai.

In the original work, there were other excellent designers in this world, that is, the "France" in front of him.

Unlike Hayato Maeda, who paid more attention to art and "design sense," France's idea was very simple. Duelists all pursued more powerful cards, so the cards he designed were relatively powerful cards.

Precisely because of this idea, in the original work, Pegasus awarded the annual best to Hayato Maeda, which made France, who had always wanted to get Pegasus's recognition, resent Hayato Maeda, and to some extent developed a jealous psychology toward Hayato Maeda.

In this situation, France stole the "Slifer the Sky Dragon" card that Pegasus used for research from the company, and then participated in the GX tournament.

Normal people couldn't possibly use God cards.

If you wanted to touch God, you would be punished by God.

But—France was a "genius."

The "Mound of the Bound Creator" he designed could even control the will of Slifer, allowing him to use Slifer to duel Jūdai in the duel!

Just this point alone, he could leave all other designers of the same era behind, unable to even see him.

It was precisely because he had this talent that Pegasus actually always valued him and wanted to cultivate him.

It was a pity that he didn't understand Pegasus's design philosophy—strength was one aspect, but more importantly, it was "design sense."

It seemed that France in this world didn't steal the Slifer card, but he was still competing with Hayato Maeda.

"Actually, a long time ago, me discovered this matter."

Pegasus brought two of his most appreciated designers, and Ansel, the "Duel Academy representative" selected by Industrial Illusions, while walking, while saying.

"That's right, just like you know, me possessed the ability to read minds... but, that was a very, very long time ago."

Pegasus walked steadily forward, while continuing to explain: "More than ten years ago, I wanted to resurrect my lover, produced evil thoughts, and forced quite a few people to duel me.

At that time, I obtained the 【Millennium Items】 that are circulating in the market now...

Yes, those stories are not exaggerated, but are things that Yugi-boy indeed experienced."

Pegasus walked with his hands behind his back, without touching his left eye socket.

"The Millennium Item I possessed, the 【Millennium Eye】, could read the human heart, allowing me to see what others were thinking. Precisely because of this, I could be invincible."

But later—

He continued.

After losing to Yugi, he gave up the previous things and prepared to be a rich boss with peace of mind, but unexpectedly was attacked, and his eye was taken away.

After that, he was

The Paradox Brothers listened to Pegasus's self-introduction, their mouths twitching.

In short, after that, Pegasus didn't really obsess over much; he simply managed Industrial Illusions, pushed the development of Duel Monsters, and incidentally manufactured various "Toon Monsters" for his collection according to his own preferences.

As for other matters, he basically stopped asking.

Even in the original "Yu-Gi-Oh! GX," aside from matters regarding his own designers, he only held discussions with his acquaintance, Principal Jiaodao, because he had discovered the "Light of Ruin."

After all, the latter was indeed a cosmic-level "disaster" that threatened the entire Earth.

"But—" Pegasus walked up to a massive laboratory, stopped his steps, then turned around, hands behind his back, smiling gently as he spoke to the few people around him.

"About two years ago, me suddenly discovered that, by chance, me had heard someone's inner voice again."

"Ah!" "Wow—"

Two years ago?

Tiancheng Guang listened to the story in amazement.

Pegasus nodded and continued.

At first, he thought he was having auditory hallucinations, thinking he was still that person who possessed the Millennium Item, but later, as the voices he heard became more accurate, he gradually realized that he seemed to truly be able to hear others' inner voices again.

Initially, he was actually very nervous.

Because he actually knew about "Lord Lord Zhai Wang Zhuomo"—he was one of the few in this world who had discovered the "Light of Ruin" in advance and made preparations for it, so he knew that the Light of Ruin could enhance this ability, making those infected by the power of the Light of Ruin more inclined to destroy and ruin.

But later, he gradually discovered that his situation was different from Lord Lord Zhai Wang Zhuomo's.

Although he could indeed hear people's inner voices again, he actually could not actively listen to people's inner thoughts.

It was more like a return and an incidental gift.

Then, he considered another possibility.

Namely, "Spirit Adaptability."

Originally, he didn't actually have the ability of Spirit Power; he himself couldn't see spirits, and without a Millennium Item, he could almost never do these things.

But with the emergence of dimensional exploration and the development of the concept of "Spirit Adaptability," Pegasus, as the world's number one designer and president of Industrial Illusions, naturally had to work hard to train this ability.

Regardless of anything else, being able to see spirits was quite tempting to Pegasus.

At the very least, if he could see "Toon" monsters, he would be very happy.

Therefore, in his spare time, Pegasus was also learning methods to improve Spirit Adaptability. Over these few years, it had gradually increased to a fairly high level, reaching a nine-star level, much higher than Tiancheng Guang, a student who had only started learning for less than two years.

"Actually, it is not much different from me's guess—"

Pegasus said with a smile.

Although he no longer had the Millennium Item, with the increase in Spirit Adaptability, he once again possessed the ability to hear others' inner thoughts, and it seemed that the higher the Spirit Adaptability, the clearer the voices he could hear.

It was precisely because of this that this year, he heard the misunderstanding in France's heart and his confusion regarding his own behavior, so after watching Tiancheng Guang's duel, inspiration struck, and he created the "Magician of Dark Illusion" specifically to assist with Fusion, and through this, conveyed his thoughts to all designers.

Strength is always secondary; the philosophy of their Industrial Illusions designers is always to combine design, spirituality, strength, and art. Purely pursuing strength is not a thought a designer should have.

Relying on this mind-reading ability that had returned to his body, he resolved the small conflicts within the company and guided France's thoughts, preventing France from wasting time—as for the competition between France and Maeda Hayato, he didn't pay much attention to it.

People need to compete with each other to progress faster; besides, Maeda Hayato had a sloth-like temperament with no one chasing him.

In short.

This mind-reading ability made Pegasus very satisfied, as if he had returned to the past.

"As expected of Mr. Pegasus! Too strong!" France, this super fanboy of Pegasus, immediately shouted excitedly, not minding at all that he had been mind-read.

"But..." Pegasus closed his eyes and said.

The second "turning point."

The smile on his face gradually faded.

Indeed, mind-reading is a quite powerful ability; countless gamblers yearn to obtain "mind-reading" to easily see through the dealer's actions and easily know which is the most "profitable" choice.

However—

Pegasus, who had seen through the stupidity of gamblers since childhood and had even become a "gambler" to resurrect his lover, knew deeply that there was no such thing as a free lunch in the world, just as he was "gifted" the Millennium Eye back then, which was never "luck."

Therefore, for the past year, he had been researching and exploring why he had regained the ability to read minds.

And then...

He finally discovered it!

"Then, everyone, be careful—"

Pegasus turned back, signaling the two bodyguards to open the door. The bodyguards looked at each other, nodded, and came to the gate. First, they entered the password to unlock the mechanical lock.

Subsequently, after the electronic password was unlocked and the first layer of the gate opened, what appeared before everyone was actually a new layer of the gate closed by a metal spiral lock.

The two bodyguards struggled to rotate the gate.

Several people couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.

Pegasus being so cautious in telling everyone to be careful, and the sealed gate being so heavily layered, couldn't help but make them feel pressure and tension.

The second layer of the metal security door was slowly unlocked, and then, the door slowly pushed open.

What appeared before them was a hollow, pitch-black room.

But then, a golden flash lit up.

The air instantly froze.

Cold sweat seeped from Maeda Hayato's forehead, and France no longer had a relaxed smile on his face.

The Paradox Brothers gasped, and the two bodyguards hurriedly dodged.

Just by being swept by the light, the group felt as if their bodies were being pierced, filled with a cold, chilling sensation.

And the next second...

In the darkness, an 【Eye】 slowly opened. The eye scanned everyone, and almost everyone felt as if their throats were being choked, filled with a sense of suffocation.

Maeda Hayato was so scared that he hid directly behind France, and France was also sweating and trembling slightly.

Wh, what is going on.

Feeling as if he had been seen through all at once.

Tiancheng Guang blinked his eyes. Beside him, Tiera had already automatically flown out, whispering "Wow..." in amazement, sizing up the 【Eye】 in the darkness.

"... Mr. Pegasus, this, could this be the legendary..." someone asked with a shiver.

"Hmm~~ That's right, hahaha~~ This is exactly the 【Millennium Eye】 from the story of the Duel King that has been passed down!" Pegasus joked and laughed.

"Millennium Eye? Mr. Pegasus, could it be that you have regained—"

"No... not regained." Pegasus shook his head.

"That is not the real 【Millennium Eye】... no—that is not the 【physical】 Millennium Eye."

Pegasus gently tapped his forehead and then continued to explain: "What should I use to describe it?

That should be the 【Millennium Eye】's... spirit?"

"Do Millennium Items also have 【spirits】!?" France exclaimed.

How could Millennium Items have any spirits?

Tiancheng Guang frowned as he looked at the Millennium Eye in the darkness, then hesitated and pondered.

Not the Millennium Eye, but the Millennium Eye's "spirit"?

Could it be...

【Illusion Magic】!

In Tiancheng Guang's impression, Illusion Magic was a "brand new race" of monsters that had been released not long ago, and the biggest feature of this race of monsters was that every monster must have an 【Eye】 mark on its body!

"After more than a year of research, me gradually discovered that me did not regain the talent for mind-reading, but rather attracted the power of a past soul. This power allowed me to regain the ability to read minds, but also made me exhausted every day by the non-stop mind-reading."

He used to read minds selectively, so he only needed to know key information at critical moments.

But now, automatic mind-reading 24/7 is really quite torturous for someone like him who is slowly getting older and lacks exercise.

"Therefore, me calls it the curse of the 【Thousand Eyes】."

It's actually a curse?

Several members of Industrial Illusions immediately asked Pegasus in a panic how to handle this matter.

Pegasus shook his head gently and said: "It doesn't matter—"

What kind of person is Pegasus? He has been through many battles and has seen it all.

God cards, Wicked God cards, pyramids, Light Dragons—which card didn't appear in the world through his hands?

The curse of the Thousand Eyes indeed existed on him, but this curse was also a kind of "opportunity."

Because he discovered that behind the heavy fog and darkness lay brand new "possibilities"!

If he could resolve the "soul" that hovered here and never dissipated, and cross the curse of the 【Eye】, then he might be able to explore and create brand new monsters!

"A, a brand new monster?" "A race that doesn't exist today?" "This, is Mr. Pegasus going to create a new design myth again!?"

Maeda Hayato and France, the two designers, exclaimed one after another.

Compared to creating cards, Mr. Pegasus is truly the father of Duel Monsters; he has already started thinking about "designing" a brand new race!

"The only problem is, on my body, that kind of possibility no longer exists—" Pegasus shook his head softly, tapped his forehead with his hand, and then looked at Tiancheng Guang, "Tiancheng boy, at this point, you should also understand why me called you here, right?"

He had actually tried hard to duel this 【Eye】 before, but unfortunately, having not dueled for many years, he was almost instantly killed. Plus, his physical fitness was notoriously bad without the Millennium Eye. After being defeated, he almost lay in a hospital bed for a month. Knowing he couldn't do this, he started looking for someone who could do it for him.

And in the process of dueling the 【Eye】, although he didn't defeat his opponent, he also knew what kind of possibilities those "brand new monsters" were, so he knew he needed someone excellent who possessed the possibility of 【Fusion】.

Then... who else could this 【possibility】 be?

Tiancheng Guang barely nodded.

Pegasus then spoke: "Very sorry, I didn't tell you beforehand what you were coming to do. I just entrusted the Paradox Brothers to invite you to duel me.

After all, I didn't tell them about the situation here either."

"I watched your duel at the GX tournament, I asked Ans boy to observe you up close, and I also sent you the 【Magician of Dark Illusion】 card. Incidentally, I also entrusted Mr. Muto Sugoroku to use the World of Forgetting to test your resilience.

The result is undoubtedly perfect.

You are indeed the duelist I need!"

Only then did Tiancheng Guang know that there were such details involved.

The Paradox Brothers looked at each other; the older brother shrugged, and the younger brother spread his hands indifferently.

They really thought Pegasus invited Tiancheng Guang because he wanted to duel an excellent junior, so they wanted to see Pegasus make a fool of himself.

For so many years, although Pegasus had made many new cards, he really hadn't dueled much for over a decade, and couldn't even handle a Duel Disk properly. They actually really wanted to see Pegasus duel Tiancheng Guang, this excellent and powerful duelist of the new era.

Unfortunately, they couldn't see it.

After explaining everything, Pegasus bowed and apologized to Tiancheng Guang solemnly. Under the surprise of the people around him and Tiancheng Guang's support, he stood up and began to tell his thoughts.

As the father of Duel Monsters, it was hard for him to accept that a "brand new race" was right in front of him, yet he could only watch and couldn't touch it.

So he really wanted to cross the 【Eye】.

"Mr. Pegasus, since that's the case, let me do it!" France shouted, preparing to take out his deck directly from his pocket.

For Pegasus, he was prepared to take out the "Mound of the Bound Creator" that he had never dared to let Pegasus see.

Pegasus shook his head: "Mr. France, you are a genius designer, but you are also just a genius designer. If it were just about defeating the 【Eye】, then it's not like there is no one in the world who can defeat it.

But—me needs to preserve the brand new possibility while defeating the Eye."

This kind of thing requires a specialized person to be competent.

Except for Tiancheng Guang, he didn't see a second person. Even his most admired Edo and Johan didn't have talent in this area.

Is that so...

Tiancheng Guang knew that Pegasus at this time probably hadn't seen Jūdai's duel, otherwise there should have been another choice.

But actually, Tiancheng Guang didn't mind.

Because he had already secretly heard from Maeda Hayato beforehand that Pegasus at this time could be said to be frighteningly weak in dueling, and it might be difficult for him to have an evenly matched duel.

Since that's the case, it doesn't matter.

"Mr. Pegasus, actually you could have told me about the situation here in advance, so I could have had preparations—however, since you trust me so much, then I won't let you down." Tiancheng Guang lit up his Duel Disk, "Then leave it to me!"

"Oh! As expected of Tiancheng boy!" Pegasus couldn't help but applaud.

"Then..." Pegasus took a card out of his suit and handed it to Tiancheng Guang with a smile, "Then, this card is handed to you. Regardless of whether you can defeat 【him】, me believes that the person most suitable for this card should be you."

Fusion Birth!

Tiancheng Guang's eyes lit up suddenly.

Too strong—

Tiancheng Guang cheered in his heart.

This seemed to be the first time Tiancheng Guang had received a "prize" before a duel.

The card Fusion Birth is a Normal Spell card that can be directly searched by the Magician of Dark Illusion. Regardless of whether he can fuse or not, sending 5 cards to the Graveyard is a profit for his deck!

Subsequently, Pegasus added that if Tiancheng Guang defeated the 【Eye】, then in the future, he would definitely give the 【brand new race】 cards to Tiancheng Guang in advance.

That's even better—

Who said artists are crazy? This is great!

Tiancheng Guang walked into the room, and the door slowly closed automatically. In the darkness, Tiancheng Guang looked at that 【Eye】.

Then, the room suddenly lit up!

Countless lights shone on the floor, and Tiancheng Guang finally saw the structure of the entire room.

This was a large-scale duel arena. After the 【Eye】 floating in the sky hovered for a long time, it flew to the other side of the duel arena. Then, it emitted golden light again, and after shining for a while, it gradually transformed into a phantom.

A...

Phantom of a man in a red gentleman's coat, with long silver-white hair, looking refined and gentle.

Pegasus!

The designers and employees who were outside the door looking at the scene inside whispered simultaneously.

No wonder—

No wonder Mr. Pegasus couldn't solve it by himself.

It turns out the opponent was 【himself】!

Several people looked at each other.

The 【current】 Mr. Pegasus would never be able to beat another version of himself.

Pegasus, outside the massive laboratory, picked up the microphone and said to the inside: "Tiancheng boy, be careful, that 【Eye】 possesses the ultimate mind-reading ability. Even if you have any magic techniques to avoid mind-reading, it cannot be avoided!"

Tiancheng Guang frowned.

So that's it; that is indeed difficult to deal with.

Tiancheng Guang flicked his left hand, and the Duel Disk automatically unfolded, lighting up with a faint purple glow. Opposite him, that figure wore a smile, raised his left hand slightly, and it transformed into a semi-transparent Duel Disk with an "eye mark."

"Duel!"

Tiancheng Guang, LP: 4000.

Shadow of the Millennium Eye, LP: 4000.

(End of chapter)