Chapter 47: Invitation

The final three also collapsed; the entire bar had been thoroughly slaughtered by the President. Standing at the doorway, Fujimoto watched this blood-chilling scene and could not stop trembling, thinking to himself that he was lucky to have switched sides quickly enough to stand on this side.

Facing three of their organization's strongest, the Four Heavenly Kings of Blood Moon, all at once, and achieving a triple kill in a single round—this crushing posture exceeded their past imagination of what the so-called "peak of the duel world" could be.

Kaiba Seto had not played cards publicly for many years, leading to widespread speculation about his strength outside. There were even rumors that he had become so obsessed with business and making money that his card skills had deteriorated, and his power in the current environment might be nothing special.

Only now did Fujimoto truly realize how ridiculous such claims were.

The duel environment had developed over these years, but that did not mean the gap between others and the top tier had narrowed. On the contrary, the gap was even more exaggerated than it had been many years ago.

This man was no longer playing the same game as them.

You Xuan, however, remained quite calm.

Fortunately, the Blue-Eyes alternate identities the President had used so far were all ones he recognized; at least he hadn't pulled some alternate identity out of thin air that You Xuan had never seen even in his previous life. Their strength was undoubtedly fishing in a pond of ordinary contemporary duelists, but it had not yet reached the peak of Blue-Eyes.

After watching these two duels, You Xuan became increasingly aware that under the suppression of Fate Power, the strong in this world could truly do as they pleased; secondly, he realized even more clearly that having money and a team to conduct research and print alternate identities allowed one to do as they pleased even more.

It seemed that in the future, he would not only need to seek ways to increase his Fate Power but also seriously study scientific research and development.

After the President finished his duel, personnel from Kaiba Corporation followed in to clean up the battlefield.

Kaiba walked over to the trio who had been knocked down last.

"You have won," Ryosuke, one of the Three Heavenly Kings, said weakly. "We are convinced and submit. Our Blood Moon is at your disposal, Kaiba Seto."

Although Kaiba had adjusted the output power of the Duel Disk's image quality and did not take their lives, experiencing such an explosive slaughter still left them all severely injured.

"I have no interest in an organization of trash," Kaiba said coldly. "From the very beginning, the only thing I was interested in was the 'Arbiter'."

Upon hearing this title, all the dark duelists who had been beaten senseless in the room immediately trembled all over, as if they had heard the whisper of a demon.

Aikawa fell to his knees and stammered with difficulty, "How do you know that Lord's title!?"

"Of course I know it. I also know that your so-called organization is nothing but a group of worthless cannon fodder," Kaiba said indifferently.

The faces of all the dark duelists immediately turned ugly.

"Our understanding of that Lord is limited to this title alone; we usually don't even dare to mention it casually."

The female bartender steadied her erratic breathing and spoke.

"Besides, if you had truly heard of that Lord's terrifying nature, you should understand that even if we did know something, it would be impossible for us to tell you."

"That is not necessarily true," Kaiba said icily. "I naturally have ways to make you talk."

He turned away, no longer wasting words with these people, leaving the subsequent cleanup to his subordinates, who escorted each of the arrested dark figures out one by one, seemingly intending to take them back for interrogation later.

Only after this was done did Kaiba turn and walk toward the doorway.

At this moment, Fujimoto, who had completely switched sides to the opposition, hurriedly put on a beaming smile and tried to rush forward: "President, you are magnificent! A triple kill in one round—I truly didn't expect it; you are too strong!"

However, before he could even reach him, there was a click. His smile froze; looking down, he found a small soldier in a Kaiba Corporation uniform had ruthlessly slapped a pair of icy silver handcuffs onto his wrist.

"Eh?"

Fujimoto looked up in a daze.

"Big brother, isn't there a mistake? We're on the same side, aren't we?"

No one paid him any heed; two small soldiers escorted him outward.

Even after exiting the door, his shouts continued to ring out: "Same side! I made a contribution for the President; I guided the way for the President! I want to see the President!"

The sounds vanished outside the door.

Kaiba turned a deaf ear to the superfluous noise and went straight to where You Xuan stood.

"You Xuan... is that right?"

"Greetings, President," You Xuan said, shaking his hand.

"I have heard about the situation from others, and on behalf of Kaiba Corporation, I express our gratitude," Kaiba nodded and said. "Katsuya has told me about his plan, and I have no objection to his arrangements."

"The prize money and cards he arranged will be delivered to you as usual as your reward."

He paused for a moment, then narrowed his eyes.

"However, I have one additional condition."

Saying this, he held a piece of paper between two fingers and gave his arm a slight flick; the paper immediately floated straight toward You Xuan.

To be honest, You Xuan quite admired the President's divine skill of flying cards. In the anime, he could flick a card from his fingertips like a dart, and it seemed to possess considerable lethal force, making it hard not to suspect that he had practiced some ultimate technique like Finger Flicking Divine Power.

You Xuan caught it and took a look; it was a card, but not a Duel Monster card. Instead, it was a strange card printed with a five-pointed star shape.

"What is this?"

"An entry card," Kaiba said, crossing his arms and curling the corner of his mouth. "In six months, right here in Domino City, Kaiba Corporation will host 'Duel City GX'."

You Xuan seemed to understand: "You wish for me to participate?"

The Duel City tournament was not a one-time event; besides the inaugural one during the DM storyline, it had been held in subsequent years. However, Kaiba Seto himself had never participated again, and the overall quality of the competitors could not compare to the first, so attention had declined.

Seeming to read his thoughts, Kaiba said Dandan ly, "This edition will be different from previous years. I will participate personally, and I will invite the most top-tier competitors to join."

Is the President making a comeback? You Xuan felt somewhat surprised in his heart.

Rumors everywhere claimed that after Yugi retired, President Kaiba had lost the will to fight again; in all these years, regardless of the type or scale of the tournament, his figure had never been seen again.

Perhaps he felt that without that specific opponent he absolutely had to defeat, even winning against every other duelist in the world would prove nothing.

But now it seemed he was showing signs of a comeback.

Of course, one could not rule out the possibility that he simply could no longer suppress his years-long addiction to cards.

Actually, when Duel Academy was established, it claimed to be a school founded "to cultivate the next generation Duel King." Seeing this slogan, You Xuan had imagined in his mind: Atem had returned to the afterlife, Table Yugi had retired from the martial world, and the President, looking across the rivers and lakes, sought defeat but could not find it, yet his card addiction flared up from time to time, becoming increasingly hard to suppress. Thus, he decided to invest heavily to build a top-tier institution, searching for the most talented seeds under heaven, maxing out resources to cultivate the next Duel King to solve the card addiction that had tormented him for many years.

"Very well."

You Xuan nodded and accepted the entry card.

Since it was a tournament where the President would personally descend, aside from everything else, the prize money would certainly be substantial.

Recalling back when Pegasus hosted the Duelist Kingdom tournament, he had even generously declared that whoever became the champion would receive sixty percent of his company's shares; winning a tournament of this level just once would achieve lifetime financial freedom.

At this moment, Kaiba had already withdrawn, stepping onto the rope ladder hanging down from an airborne helicopter.

As he ascended with the helicopter, gripping the lift with one hand, his trench coat fluttered like a battle flag in the hurricane-force winds from the rotors, while he sneered from above.

"If you are a true duelist, then cut through thorns and brambles, surpass all high walls and obstacles, and come before me in this dog-eat-dog Duel City!"

"I hope you will not disappoint me like that commoner Jonouchi did!"

You Xuan: "..."

So, President, when you speak, why must you always persecute Jonouchi?

(End of Chapter)