Chapter 102: As Soon As I Entered, I Saw Laifu Violently Beating Changwei
Standing before the Castle gates, the gatekeeper Staff - "Saruwatari", who had previously worked for KaibaCorp and then betrayed them for Industrial Illusions - yawned boredly, wondering why the shift change hadn't arrived yet.
More than ten minutes ago, his former boss - Seto Kaiba - had entered the Castle with his help, the payment being a Gun he had taken from Saruwatari.
'That arrogant bastard, I wonder where he's gotten to now? Could he have already been caught?' With his sunglasses blocking the sun, Saruwatari felt today's sun wasn't too harsh, even a little warm. 'Whatever, as long as he doesn't rat me out, it's fine. Being threatened by such a kid is too embarrassing.'
As he was thinking this, Saruwatari suddenly noticed several people walking up the Stairs not far in front of him.
"Who goes there!"
"Since you asked so sincerely, we shall tell you with great mercy. Skipping everything in between, ta-da!" Hayato raised his Right Hand, his Duelist Glove inlaid with exactly ten Star Chips. Mai Valentine, Yugi, and Joey Wheeler, standing behind him, also raised the hands wearing their Duelist Gloves, displaying the inlaid Star Chips.
"The four of us have collected all ten Star Chips! We are the Top 8 Duelists of the Duelist Kingdom tournament!"
Téa Gardner, panting, walked at the back, supporting Bakura, and Ranted at the people in front: "After finally climbing those long Stairs, you guys are really energetic."
"You've actually collected ten Stars already." Saruwatari confirmed the number of Star Chips on the gloves of Hayato and the other three, then stepped aside. "Inlay your Star Chips into the door, and you can turn the mechanism to open it."
As he spoke, he looked at Téa Gardner, Tristan Taylor, and Bakura standing behind them: "You guys aren't Participants, why are you here?"
"Heh heh, you, you probably haven't been with Industrial Illusions for long, right? I remember seeing you at the KaibaCorp Headquarters Building." Hayato smiled smugly, patting his shoulder. "I'm Pegasus's Special Guest, and these are the people I brought onto This Island. Now we're going in, what, got a problem?"
Hayato wasn't wrong. Although Saruwatari had been bought by Pegasus long ago, drawing a salary from KaibaCorp while ready to betray them at any moment, joining Industrial Illusions was a recent event. He had indeed heard that Pegasus had Special Guests for this Duelist Kingdom tournament, but he wasn't very clear on who they were.
"N-no problem." Forcing his facial muscles to squeeze out a smile, Saruwatari bowed slightly, hoping he wouldn't offend this "Important Person" whose identity is still unclear. "This humble one was just confirming according to the Rules for safety's sake, please enter."
Pegasus had invested heavily in this Duelist Kingdom tournament. Not only did he use all the connections he had accumulated at once, but he also spent most of Industrial Illusions' available funds. Besides building This Island for the Duelist Kingdom and holding Qualifiers worldwide to invite Players, he also invited big shots from various industries as Special Guests.
Just among those Saruwatari knew, the King of the Shipping World Anasis, the Garem Corporation involved in various industries, and the Paradius Company, which could be called the strongest globally, were all invited. Although not everyone invited participated, it was certain that those qualified to be Special Guests were people he couldn't afford to offend.
The only exception might be KaibaCorp, where Saruwatari previously worked. Although the acting President Mokuba Kaiba was also a Special Guest, his current status... heh heh.
Hayato glanced at the respectful Saruwatari, then ignored him. This type of person was exactly what you'd call someone who bullies the weak and fears the strong. Just then, Yugi had already activated the mechanism on the Castle door, and the group walked into the Castle without looking back.
Since Hayato had been here before, he walked in front to lead the way. After entering the main gate, there was an extremely long corridor, and at the end of the corridor was a flight of Stairs leading to the second floor. As soon as the group started up the Stairs, they heard a very familiar voice from afar:
"I challenge you to a Duel, Pegasus!"
"Whose voice is that?" Mai Valentine couldn't tell who was speaking and asked Joey Wheeler, who was standing beside her with a displeased look, as Joey Wheeler's expression indicated he knew the speaker.
Yugi and Hayato exchanged glances, then Yugi replied to Mai Valentine: "That voice should be Kaiba. Could it be that he's already found Pegasus and is confronting him?"
"Then we need to hurry!" Joey Wheeler became anxious. "If that guy Kaiba defeats Pegasus, won't all our hard work collecting Star Chips be for nothing!"
"Tch, some of your Chips are mine, Joey Wheeler," Mai Valentine said. Shortly after Kaiba left, Mai Valentine found Yugi and the others and gave Yugi five Star Chips to fill his deficit.
Yugi only needed three, so the extra two were used by Joey Wheeler. Mai Valentine was quite displeased about this, because she felt that although she gave the Chips to Yugi, it was something she owed Yugi, and Joey Wheeler was just freeloading.
Last night, it seemed there was a Duelist Hunter sent by Pegasus, operating under the name "Dark Duelist", who conducted a midnight raid. The purpose seemed to be to accelerate the Duelist Kingdom tournament's progress. Unfortunately, Mai Valentine, who had sought out Yugi for a Duel on Hayato's suggestion but was defeated by Joey Wheeler instead, was chosen as a target and lost a full five Star Chips.
Afterwards, Yugi defeated that "Dark Duelist" and gave five of the Star Chips he won from him back to Mai Valentine, because Yugi felt that Mai Valentine definitely wouldn't have lost in a regular Match.
The strong-willed Mai Valentine desperately wanted those five Chips, but her pride made it difficult to accept them. In the end, she chose to consider those five as "temporarily borrowed" and went to collect Chips herself separately.
Joey Wheeler didn't care if the direction he was running was correct or not, he directly overtook Hayato and ran to the front to find where Kaiba's voice had come from. Hayato and the others had no choice; they were originally walking leisurely through the Castle, but now they had to follow Joey Wheeler and run.
But not long after reaching the second floor, the group - or more accurately, Yugi and the others - encountered someone they knew. A man wearing an American flag bandana, a scruffy Beard, a cowboy shirt, leather jacket, and sunglasses was leaning against a Railing, looking down below.
"Bandit Keith!"
Joey Wheeler angrily shouted the other person's name. Hearing Joey Wheeler's loud voice, the bandana man turned his head, looking slightly surprised at Yugi and the others. Then, he revealed a provocative smile: "Yugi Mutou, and some guys I don't know the names of? Didn't expect you guys to be so fast, I thought you'd be locked underground until the Match ended."
"You shameless bas—" Joey Wheeler angrily stepped forward, only to see the bandana man - Bandit Keith - place a Finger on his flat palm, signaling Joey Wheeler to be quiet.
"Shhh~" As he spoke, Keith turned his head back towards the Railing. "Quiet down, kids. Don't disturb the good show happening below."
The curiosity of the group was also piqued. They walked a couple of steps and looked down from the Railing—
They saw Kaiba and Pegasus standing on opposite sides of a Duel Platform, about to place down their respective Decks?!
It's been six years since FGO's sixth anniversary, and they've updated a bunch of messy stuff, but it still feels like nothing was updated.
I saved up over 130 Stones and threw them all into the Koyanskaya pool, and as expected, I didn't even get a single gold Servant. As expected, gacha pools without a safety net are trash.
I bought the Merlin pool and even got a Lobo. I chose Old Man Li from the freebie. Even if it's just grinding from now on, I have things to do.
Ah, writing, writing.
(End of Chapter)