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Chapter 325: Super Polymerization?
As Noah raised his hand and pointed towards Hayato, Kaiba, who had always appeared cold and aloof, also cast a worried gaze towards Hayato.
Having just witnessed the "enthusiastic" demonstration by the Big Five, Kaiba could fully imagine what Noah was about to do to Hayato.
"Stop it, Noah! This is a grudge between you and me!"
"Who do you think you are, Seto? You're just an adopted son, I am the rightful heir to KaibaCorp, and I don't need your permission!" Noah had no intention of stopping, and he clenched his fist tightly. "Die, Kobayashi Hayato!"
A gentle breeze blew through the woods, but Hayato stood rooted to the spot, not moving an inch.
"Hmm?" Noah frowned. He had used his consciousness to modify the Virtual World and issue the "Complete Deletion" command to the data he wanted to erase countless times over the years. Why had it suddenly failed?
"Want to try again? If you count your age, you're actually older than Kaiba, aren't you? Things not working out, you know, is pretty normal for a man your age." Hayato wore a nonchalant expression and a mocking smile. "However, no matter how many times you try, the result will be the same."
"If you want to know why—"
Noah's consciousness once again entered the underlying code of the Virtual World. But as he attempted to erase Hayato again, he was surprised to find that he received a "No Access Permissions" feedback!
This had never happened in the past decade or more!
"Heh, that look on your face... surprised that you, with administrator authority in the Virtual World, can't delete the data of me, a mere visitor?" Hayato snapped his fingers. To Noah's astonished expression, the surrounding scenery, just like when Noah had arbitrarily modified it before, changed freely according to Hayato's will. In just a few breaths, it transformed from a primeval jungle to a medieval castle, and then back to the Domino City streets that everyone was quite familiar with.
"You didn't think that a Duel Ritual's unequal rules could be unilaterally decided by mere administrator authority in the network world, did you?"
"Remember the pain you felt when my attack hit you earlier? To tell you the truth, from the moment your duel with me began, I turned this duel into a Dark Game with equal stakes."
As he spoke, Hayato shook the Millennium Puzzle hanging on his chest. At the same time, Yugi and the others who had been rushing towards them also had their space coordinates modified by Hayato and were teleported to the platform where Hayato was.
Inside the Millennium Puzzle, Marik's tone was quite helpless. "You actually secretly decided the stake for your opponent was administrator authority, brother-in-law, you really are shameless."
"That's not it, Marik. I didn't strip Noah of his administrator authority. Don't forget he still successfully deleted the data of the Big Five just now—or rather, the Big Four now, right?—He successfully deleted the data of the Big Four. Administrator authority isn't something you can just take away. All I did was place my read/write permissions as a 'visitor' above Noah's as an 'administrator'."
With another snap of Hayato's fingers, Kaiba, who had been immobilized under Noah's control, was also teleported over. Noah, who had been planning to go all out and forcibly erase the personality of Kaiba, who was closest to him, and take over his body, ended up grabbing empty air.
Noah, who had fallen to the ground, had his final struggle seen through by the prepared Hayato. He angrily pounded the ground with his fists and roared, "Kobayashi Hayato! Damn you!"
The one who responded to the impotently raging Noah was not Hayato, but a male voice that abruptly sounded from behind him. "Really now, you've disappointed me quite a bit, Noah..."
Raising his head in surprise, Noah, who was extremely familiar with this voice, didn't turn around immediately. Instead, he noticed the look of astonishment and rage on Kaiba's face standing opposite him.
"Kaiba... Gozaburo!"
Noah heard Kaiba indeed speak the name of the father from his memory. With a look of joy, he scrambled up from the ground and turned around, wanting to get a good look at the face of the father he remembered, who he thought had died because of Kaiba.
"Splurch—"
The expression on Noah's face froze.
In his life, as the sole heir of KaibaCorp, Noah had only a few memories of pain caused by illness, but they were no longer clear due to the passage of time. As for the truck in the rain that led to his death, it came too fast, leaving no opportunity for rescue, let alone leaving "pain" in Noah's memory.
After being converted into an unknown data lifeform, through KaibaCorp's advanced technology, Noah's body retained touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight, but pain was extremely weak for him.
For so many years, Noah had barely felt pain, until today, when he experienced it twice in succession.
One time was because of the so-called "Dark Game" Hayato played with him, and the second time...
"Father..." Noah, with dilated pupils, lay weakly on his back on the ground. His body gradually disappeared, turning into green data. The last image left in his mind was of his cold-faced father, Gozaburo Kaiba, holding the data core extracted from his body.
Noah's "brain" suspended in the sky also had its pulsating light source dim because the data core that formed Noah's body had been removed.
Holding the data core taken from Noah, Gozaburo ignored everyone else present and turned his gaze towards Kaiba. "It's been a long time, Seto."
The reunion of father and son after a long separation should have been warm and harmonious, but Kaiba's gaze towards Gozaburo was extremely cold. "So that's it. You turned yourself into a data lifeform too, Gozaburo. Does that mean Noah Kaiba's death was also something you exploited? What a heartless and wicked man."
"Seeing your father after so long, is that all you have to say, Seto?" Gozaburo frowned, quite displeased with Kaiba's attitude towards him. Then, he gave a cold laugh. "But it doesn't matter. First, let me congratulate you, Seto. Congratulations on passing the final trial I set."
"Honestly, saying I have no feelings is truly unfair to me. When that child Noah died, I was truly terrified. I invested so much but received no return whatsoever, how regrettable." Playing with Noah's data core in his hand, Gozaburo sneered. "Therefore, this world was born."
Spreading his arms wide, Gozaburo sighed. "With this world as the stage, Noah would engage in a fierce battle with you. The one who passed the trial would become the rightful heir with the qualification to inherit KaibaCorp. That was my original plan, but Noah actually failed against someone other than you."
"Hey, old man, could you not look at me when you're talking?" Hayato spoke up.
"Kobayashi Hayato, is it? Heh heh, truly a remarkable young man. You ruined the trial I prepared for Seto. By all rights, I suppose I should hate you, but considering you gave me the strongest weapon, I still have to thank you."
Gozaburo sneered as he looked at Hayato. As he spoke, a character appeared on Noah's data core that he held in his hand. "Since Noah has already lost the qualification for the trial, then of course, I must extract as much commercial value from him as possible."
Hayato couldn't help but widen his eyes after seeing the character clearly. Because he seemed to have just seen the character "Sorrow" on Noah's data core?
Hayato couldn't help but think of a possibility.
"Ah, I actually have some regrets, Seto. I once made a big mistake." Gozaburo showed a sincere expression. "I used to think Duel Monsters was a boring game, but I truly never imagined that such immense power was hidden within Duel Monsters."
As he spoke, Gozaburo waved his hand towards his side. Four beams of light flashed, and the Big Four, whose data had been deleted by Noah in his rage, were actually revived by Gozaburo restoring their data!
"Where are we?" Shuzo Otaki touched his body, finding that his avatar as Warrior of the Deep Sea had been released, and he had returned to his appearance from before his death.
"Didn't we just die?"
"Where is Lord Noah?"
Gozaburo glanced at the Big Four, his presence commanding without anger. "Heh heh, the Big Five, your names truly sound imposing, you lot."
"G-Gozaburo-sama?!" Kogorou Oomon was startled upon seeing Gozaburo Kaiba. Remembering what they had done in life, and fearing Gozaburo's revenge, he quickly spoke, "Please listen to our explanation, Gozaburo-sama! We were actually trying to save KaibaCorp—"
"Whatever about that. I'm not interested in KaibaCorp matters right now." Gozaburo couldn't be bothered to listen to the panicked Big Four explain their actions of seizing power over KaibaCorp during their lives, and their earlier betrayal of Gozaburo alongside Seto Kaiba.
He snapped his fingers. Just like on Noah's data core in his hand, a character appeared simultaneously on the faces of the Big Four, and they were all different.
"Hatred, rage, suffering, sorrow, doubt... Hey, Gozaburo Kaiba, you're not planning to!" Hayato felt extremely nervous. He wanted to stop what Gozaburo was about to do, but he had already tried.
Just as Noah had no read/write permissions over his data, Hayato's attempt to read/write Gozaburo Kaiba's data also ended in failure.
As for what Gozaburo was about to do, Hayato remembered it the moment he saw the character "Sorrow" on Noah's data core. This was clearly how the card spirits of the Malicious Doctrine created Super Polymerization in the future GX Era!
Where did Gozaburo Kaiba learn this?
After the five characters gathered in Gozaburo Kaiba's hand, they transformed into a blank card. A sinister smile appeared on Gozaburo Kaiba's face. "With this, the framework is complete. Now, I just need to gather enough energy, and this card will be finished!"
Let's start a Duel
As Noah raised his hand and pointed towards Hayato, Kaiba, who had always appeared cold and aloof, also cast a worried gaze towards Hayato.
Having just witnessed the "enthusiastic" demonstration by the Big Five, Kaiba could fully imagine what Noah was about to do to Hayato.
"Stop it, Noah! This is a grudge between you and me!"
"Who do you think you are, Seto? You're just an adopted son, I am the rightful heir to KaibaCorp, and I don't need your permission!" Noah had no intention of stopping, and he clenched his fist tightly. "Die, Kobayashi Hayato!"
A gentle breeze blew through the woods, but Hayato stood rooted to the spot, not moving an inch.
"Hmm?" Noah frowned. He had used his consciousness to modify the Virtual World and issue the "Complete Deletion" command to the data he wanted to erase countless times over the years. Why had it suddenly failed?
"Want to try again? If you count your age, you're actually older than Kaiba, aren't you? Things not working out, you know, is pretty normal for a man your age." Hayato wore a nonchalant expression and a mocking smile. "However, no matter how many times you try, the result will be the same."
"If you want to know why—"
Noah's consciousness once again entered the underlying code of the Virtual World. But as he attempted to erase Hayato again, he was surprised to find that he received a "No Access Permissions" feedback!
This had never happened in the past decade or more!
"Heh, that look on your face... surprised that you, with administrator authority in the Virtual World, can't delete the data of me, a mere visitor?" Hayato snapped his fingers. To Noah's astonished expression, the surrounding scenery, just like when Noah had arbitrarily modified it before, changed freely according to Hayato's will. In just a few breaths, it transformed from a primeval jungle to a medieval castle, and then back to the Domino City streets that everyone was quite familiar with.
"You didn't think that a Duel Ritual's unequal rules could be unilaterally decided by mere administrator authority in the network world, did you?"
"Remember the pain you felt when my attack hit you earlier? To tell you the truth, from the moment your duel with me began, I turned this duel into a Dark Game with equal stakes."
As he spoke, Hayato shook the Millennium Puzzle hanging on his chest. At the same time, Yugi and the others who had been rushing towards them also had their space coordinates modified by Hayato and were teleported to the platform where Hayato was.
Inside the Millennium Puzzle, Marik's tone was quite helpless. "You actually secretly decided the stake for your opponent was administrator authority, brother-in-law, you really are shameless."
"That's not it, Marik. I didn't strip Noah of his administrator authority. Don't forget he still successfully deleted the data of the Big Five just now—or rather, the Big Four now, right?—He successfully deleted the data of the Big Four. Administrator authority isn't something you can just take away. All I did was place my read/write permissions as a 'visitor' above Noah's as an 'administrator'."
With another snap of Hayato's fingers, Kaiba, who had been immobilized under Noah's control, was also teleported over. Noah, who had been planning to go all out and forcibly erase the personality of Kaiba, who was closest to him, and take over his body, ended up grabbing empty air.
Noah, who had fallen to the ground, had his final struggle seen through by the prepared Hayato. He angrily pounded the ground with his fists and roared, "Kobayashi Hayato! Damn you!"
The one who responded to the impotently raging Noah was not Hayato, but a male voice that abruptly sounded from behind him. "Really now, you've disappointed me quite a bit, Noah..."
Raising his head in surprise, Noah, who was extremely familiar with this voice, didn't turn around immediately. Instead, he noticed the look of astonishment and rage on Kaiba's face standing opposite him.
"Kaiba... Gozaburo!"
Noah heard Kaiba indeed speak the name of the father from his memory. With a look of joy, he scrambled up from the ground and turned around, wanting to get a good look at the face of the father he remembered, who he thought had died because of Kaiba.
"Splurch—"
The expression on Noah's face froze.
In his life, as the sole heir of KaibaCorp, Noah had only a few memories of pain caused by illness, but they were no longer clear due to the passage of time. As for the truck in the rain that led to his death, it came too fast, leaving no opportunity for rescue, let alone leaving "pain" in Noah's memory.
After being converted into an unknown data lifeform, through KaibaCorp's advanced technology, Noah's body retained touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight, but pain was extremely weak for him.
For so many years, Noah had barely felt pain, until today, when he experienced it twice in succession.
One time was because of the so-called "Dark Game" Hayato played with him, and the second time...
"Father..." Noah, with dilated pupils, lay weakly on his back on the ground. His body gradually disappeared, turning into green data. The last image left in his mind was of his cold-faced father, Gozaburo Kaiba, holding the data core extracted from his body.
Noah's "brain" suspended in the sky also had its pulsating light source dim because the data core that formed Noah's body had been removed.
Holding the data core taken from Noah, Gozaburo ignored everyone else present and turned his gaze towards Kaiba. "It's been a long time, Seto."
The reunion of father and son after a long separation should have been warm and harmonious, but Kaiba's gaze towards Gozaburo was extremely cold. "So that's it. You turned yourself into a data lifeform too, Gozaburo. Does that mean Noah Kaiba's death was also something you exploited? What a heartless and wicked man."
"Seeing your father after so long, is that all you have to say, Seto?" Gozaburo frowned, quite displeased with Kaiba's attitude towards him. Then, he gave a cold laugh. "But it doesn't matter. First, let me congratulate you, Seto. Congratulations on passing the final trial I set."
"Honestly, saying I have no feelings is truly unfair to me. When that child Noah died, I was truly terrified. I invested so much but received no return whatsoever, how regrettable." Playing with Noah's data core in his hand, Gozaburo sneered. "Therefore, this world was born."
Spreading his arms wide, Gozaburo sighed. "With this world as the stage, Noah would engage in a fierce battle with you. The one who passed the trial would become the rightful heir with the qualification to inherit KaibaCorp. That was my original plan, but Noah actually failed against someone other than you."
"Hey, old man, could you not look at me when you're talking?" Hayato spoke up.
"Kobayashi Hayato, is it? Heh heh, truly a remarkable young man. You ruined the trial I prepared for Seto. By all rights, I suppose I should hate you, but considering you gave me the strongest weapon, I still have to thank you."
Gozaburo sneered as he looked at Hayato. As he spoke, a character appeared on Noah's data core that he held in his hand. "Since Noah has already lost the qualification for the trial, then of course, I must extract as much commercial value from him as possible."
Hayato couldn't help but widen his eyes after seeing the character clearly. Because he seemed to have just seen the character "Sorrow" on Noah's data core?
Hayato couldn't help but think of a possibility.
"Ah, I actually have some regrets, Seto. I once made a big mistake." Gozaburo showed a sincere expression. "I used to think Duel Monsters was a boring game, but I truly never imagined that such immense power was hidden within Duel Monsters."
As he spoke, Gozaburo waved his hand towards his side. Four beams of light flashed, and the Big Four, whose data had been deleted by Noah in his rage, were actually revived by Gozaburo restoring their data!
"Where are we?" Shuzo Otaki touched his body, finding that his avatar as Warrior of the Deep Sea had been released, and he had returned to his appearance from before his death.
"Didn't we just die?"
"Where is Lord Noah?"
Gozaburo glanced at the Big Four, his presence commanding without anger. "Heh heh, the Big Five, your names truly sound imposing, you lot."
"G-Gozaburo-sama?!" Kogorou Oomon was startled upon seeing Gozaburo Kaiba. Remembering what they had done in life, and fearing Gozaburo's revenge, he quickly spoke, "Please listen to our explanation, Gozaburo-sama! We were actually trying to save KaibaCorp—"
"Whatever about that. I'm not interested in KaibaCorp matters right now." Gozaburo couldn't be bothered to listen to the panicked Big Four explain their actions of seizing power over KaibaCorp during their lives, and their earlier betrayal of Gozaburo alongside Seto Kaiba.
He snapped his fingers. Just like on Noah's data core in his hand, a character appeared simultaneously on the faces of the Big Four, and they were all different.
"Hatred, rage, suffering, sorrow, doubt... Hey, Gozaburo Kaiba, you're not planning to!" Hayato felt extremely nervous. He wanted to stop what Gozaburo was about to do, but he had already tried.
Just as Noah had no read/write permissions over his data, Hayato's attempt to read/write Gozaburo Kaiba's data also ended in failure.
As for what Gozaburo was about to do, Hayato remembered it the moment he saw the character "Sorrow" on Noah's data core. This was clearly how the card spirits of the Malicious Doctrine created Super Polymerization in the future GX Era!
Where did Gozaburo Kaiba learn this?
After the five characters gathered in Gozaburo Kaiba's hand, they transformed into a blank card. A sinister smile appeared on Gozaburo Kaiba's face. "With this, the framework is complete. Now, I just need to gather enough energy, and this card will be finished!"
Let's start a Duel
