Chapter 380

A burning village, a scene like purgatory. Flames, like dancing demons, greedily devoured every inch of land; the originally lush fields and quaint houses were all reduced to ashes. The air was filled with the scent of wood, fabric, and anything flammable struggling in the raging fire.

People walked through this human purgatory like walking corpses, their bodies twisted and deformed, their skin festering. Some had even been burned to charcoal, but those pitch-black human shapes still mechanically moved forward.

The boy sat on the ground, his vision already blurred by tears. He looked ahead in fear, wanting to speak but unable to make a sound.

A man lay on the ground with difficulty, revealing charred skin, yet struggling to crawl slowly toward him. The man opened his mouth, and in the eyes looking at him, there was only a hunger like that of a starving beast.

"."

The dream ended.

The last of the Xin Xin Duoma Three Musketeers, Luoren, sat up, tears sliding from the corners of his eyes involuntarily.

"That dream again?"

A voice sounded from beside him.

Luoren got up and bowed respectfully to the person who had come behind him.

"Arbiter."

The Arbiter had the image of a delicate man, standing quietly to the side watching him.

"Yes, a nightmare again."

Luoren sat up and rubbed his temples.

"It's fine, everything is about to end. As long as I defeat that guy—"

He glanced at the duel disk he had placed to the side, as well as the deck loaded within it.

Yes, as long as he defeated that guy—

Or perhaps, if he himself were defeated.

That wouldn't be bad either. No matter the result, at least he could escape this nightmare.

"Prepare yourself, the time has come," the Arbiter said. "The gears of fate have begun to turn, a new era is about to arrive, and no one can stop it."

"Okay."

Luoren nodded and stood up.

Marufuji Ryo was the sixth to arrive at the registration desk.

Although the setback at Fujiki You Xuan's hands seemed to have had an impact, Kaiser quickly found his rhythm again. After the schedule resumed, he quickly won his final puzzle card and secured the sixth spot in the top eight.

"Oh, Kaiser is here too!"

Seeing an acquaintance, Yugi immediately went up to greet him enthusiastically.

"Maybe we'll run into each other on the field later; I won't lose this time," Yugi said with a chuckle.

Seeing him, Marufuji Ryo immediately regained his fighting spirit, crossed his arms, and smiled. "Good. But I don't intend to hand over victory just like that either."

"Hehe, then let's both give it our all and have a duel with no regrets."

"Good!" Marufuji Ryo was high-spirited and accepted the invitation.

Then Fujiki You Xuan appeared: "Student Marufuji has also advanced, congratulations. Looking forward to meeting again in the tournament?"

"Huh?"

Seeing him, the fire of fighting spirit that had just ignited in Marufuji Ryo seemed to dim a bit.

"Uh, sure."

Although he said "sure" with his mouth, there was no expectation visible on his face. Or rather, it was as if it were written that any opponent would do as long as it wasn't you.

Fujiki You Xuan didn't mind and just smiled.

Can't be helped, I don't have the talent of being loved by everyone like Student Yugi. But it doesn't matter, it's a duel, winning is enough.

Fujiki You Xuan looked around.

Looking at it this way, the top eight are basically familiar faces. But the remaining two spots...

After waiting a while longer, the last two people appeared before everyone at a leisurely pace.

The two from Xin Xin Duoma, the Arbiter as the leader, and the final musketeer, Luoren.

Kaiba, who had been waiting coldly to the side without moving, only then cast his gaze over, followed by a meaningful chuckle.

"Just arrived?" Kaiba said flatly. "Good luck, just enough for the last two spots. I thought you were planning to run away."

The Arbiter said calmly, "Fate has already been decided, you just haven't seen it clearly yet, Kaiba Seto. The final spots are for the two of us, just as the direction of the tournament has already been decided."

Kaiba laughed disdainfully.

"Heh, I've heard too much of this kind of bullshit. But so-called fate has always been nothing more than an excuse for the weak; the strong carve out their own fate with their own hands.

Being full of this kind of rhetoric only proves that you are nothing more than a shallow person."

The Arbiter smiled but did not refute.

Kaiba only then noticed the person accompanying him, whose gaze seemed to have been staring straight at him from beginning to end, as if he were the only one in his eyes.

"Finally waited for this moment, Kaiba Seto," he said coldly.

"And who are you?"

"My name is Luoren, the last of the Xin Xin Duoma Three Musketeers, an avenger returned from hell," Luoren glared at him coldly. "You took everything from me, and I am your angel of vengeance."

Perhaps he thought this would attract some attention, but unfortunately, it didn't. Kaiba just snorted and ignored him.

"Then you'll have to get in line; there are too many avengers looking for me."

He didn't even bother to ask why he wanted revenge.

"You!"

This attitude only made Luoren more furious; he took a step forward as if to strike.

Of course, facing Kaiba, who had superhuman physical fitness, there probably weren't many people who could benefit from summoning fists to fight.

"Oh, want to do it right here?" Kaiba narrowed his eyes.

"That doesn't matter either."

The Arbiter narrowed his eyes.

Whether it was an illusion or not, just as he spoke, dark clouds seemed to gather above everyone, and the sunlight dimmed. Heavy light-gray clouds gathered, and rolling thunder sounded like ten thousand drums, as if an ancient giant beast were roaring hidden in the black clouds.

Even someone as slow as Yugi realized this person was not right.

"How did it get dark all of a sudden?" Yugi looked at this person in surprise.

Could it be this person?

But someone could actually cause weather changes with a single look?

Does someone with this kind of ability really exist in the world?

". Although we could solve the problem right here, since we already made an agreement before, I propose we solve it through a duel. What do you say, Kaiba Seto?"

"I still have the same answer," Kaiba said, crossing his arms. "As long as it's a duel, I will accept anyone."

The Arbiter smiled slightly and said nothing more. But the black clouds brewing in the sky suddenly dissipated, and the sky seemed to instantly return to clarity.

Solving it through a duel was already a consensus reached by both sides.

Kaiba's consideration was that if they directly summoned spirits to blast each other, the scope of the disaster would be hard to control. And if the other party was the Snake God that blasted the Three Phantom Gods back then, he had more confidence in his own dueling than in spirit blasting.

As for the Arbiter's side...

He walked to the side with a calm and indifferent look, having a sense of confidence that "everything is under control." But when passing by, he couldn't help but glance secretly at Fujiki You Xuan's direction.

He didn't even care much about Kaiba Seto and his White Dragon, but among everyone present, the only one he cared about was this yellow-clad boy...

Or to be more precise, the thing that had been unsealed by him.

As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, one is afraid of a well rope for ten years; the slippery snake is the same. After being beaten by those three back then, it still seemed to hurt now. If he had a choice, he didn't really want to come for a Pokémon battle again.

Relying on playing cards to conquer the world is more reliable.

(End of Chapter)