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Chapter 522: But, This is a Dueling World
KaibaCorp Headquarters Building, Data Center.
A programmer in a white coat pushed up his slightly slipping glasses. Sitting in front of the screen for a long time made his neck feel a bit sore and stiff, so he twisted it left and right.
First, he looked behind him to confirm no one was there. Programmer A, who had started slacking off due to boredom, struck up a conversation with his colleague, Programmer B, next to him: "Are your data organized yet?"
"Huh? Still a long way to go." Programmer B, who was spoken to, also first turned his head to confirm no one was behind him. After making sure no one was watching, he took his hands off the keyboard and replied while stretching his wrist: "Validating the data for the new cards released by Industrial Illusions recently is a huge project."
"Even if I'm only responsible for a small part of it, I'll need to work overtime for at least another week to have any hope of finishing."
It was around ten o'clock at night, and only the two of them were still at the Data Center. Programmer A was on the night shift, while Programmer B chose to enjoy double pay for working overtime due to the excessive workload.
"Ah~ That's really tough." Programmer A, having experienced such massive workloads himself, could really empathize with Programmer B's situation. "And I remember we also have to keep a separate encoding to prevent fake cards, right? It's a really big project."
Programmer B wore a helpless expression: "No way. After all, this kind of work has to be manually inputted card by card. With Industrial Illusions' descriptions of card effects, a difference of just one word can be a world of difference. Didn't someone try to be lazy and use AI for automatic processing last time, and ended up creating a bug where **Fissure** could be treated as a Monster Summon?"
"That was the new employee from the next team, right? I remember, I remember." Programmer A seemed to have also heard about the accident his colleague mentioned. "Even though he graduated from Todai and finally got into the conglomerate, just because of that laziness, his future promotions became difficult."
"That guy was still lucky. At least that bug was controlled before it leaked. Otherwise, the next team, or even our entire department, would probably have had their performance docked."
Programmer B's face showed a helpless expression. "That's why this kind of work can't be done lazily; it has to be done manually. And looking at the current popularity of Duel Monsters, it won't be a problem for it to remain popular for decades. There will definitely be no shortage of card input work in the future. I've already prepared myself mentally."
"You're really optimistic then," Programmer A smiled. "My luck is much better than yours. I just need to save the card data detected on the few Duel Disks that the President specially marked in time. It seems to be Mutou Yuugi, Hayato Kobayashi, and Katsuya Jounouchi? They're all well-known duelists."
"Although there are almost no holidays, the work is very easy. However, relatively speaking, I don't get overtime pay as high as yours."
Programmer B shrugged: "Come on. KaibaCorp's benefits are among the top-tier in all of Japan. Even without overtime pay, your monthly money definitely won't be little. Besides, you're not dating anyway, isn't it enough if your salary is enough?"
"Hmph hmph, *sore wa dou kana*?" Programmer A showed a silly grin. "Industrial Illusions seems to be releasing a blind box next month containing female Duel Monsters figures, including **Dark Magician Girl**. I don't have much confidence in my luck, so the more salary I save, the better, in order to pull my wife!"
Looking at his colleague who suddenly became passionate, Programmer B felt slightly embarrassed: "Really, I remember every time they do this blind box thing, aren't there second-hand dealers on the market who directly sell opened blind boxes? Couldn't you just buy **Dark Magician Girl** directly? Although it's more expensive than the normal price, it's still cheaper than you opening many boxes, right?"
"What do you know? Only by opening them box by box myself can I show my deep and devoted love for **Dark Magician Girl**. And I heard that this time, they might also mix in the figures of the new card monsters to be released next time. I really want that too."
Programmer A said righteously.
Just as Programmer B was about to rant about his companion's scumbag remark—saying he was devoted to **Dark Magician Girl** one moment, then immediately "cheating" on a new Duel Monster the next—a voice suddenly sounded behind them, scaring them so much they trembled all over:
"Hey, you two---"
"!" "!"
Because they got into talking and completely forgot to pay attention to what was behind them, the two, A and B, immediately recognized the owner of the voice. Their bodies instantly became stiff, and their hands and feet felt a trace of coldness. Slowly turning their heads, the two who were caught slacking off looked at Kaiba, who had appeared in the Data Center, and said fearfully: "P-President, Kaiba President!"
“What to do when caught red-handed by the President slacking off during work hours? Waiting online, urgent!”
You know, job hunting in Japan is not like in other countries. If you work here, once you join a certain company group, work is generally a lifelong matter. Your entire life is tied to the group you belong to. Even if you resign and look for other jobs, other groups won't give you good treatment because you have resignation experience.
Relatively speaking, general small mistakes within the group you belong to won't make you resign, but they will inevitably affect future promotions. The two programmers also had thoughts of climbing up, so at this moment, they were inevitably extremely nervous in front of Kaiba.
Fortunately, however, Kaiba didn't care that he had caught them slacking off and chatting red-handed earlier.
After getting two cards from Pegasus, Kaiba took his beloved Blue-Eyes Jet back to the KaibaCorp Headquarters Building in Domino City overnight and went straight to the Data Center as soon as he returned.
"You two, each record the data of one card for me," Kaiba ordered the two. While speaking, he walked to an unused computer in the Data Center, took out the cards he had gotten from Pegasus from his pocket earlier, and inserted them into a device similar to a card reader.
The card data was transmitted by Kaiba via the card reader to the computers of the two programmers, waiting for manual processing. Kaiba added, "Also, bring up the data from the previous simulations of my duels against Hayato Kobayashi and Mutou Yuugi."
"Yes!"
Hearing that the President only ordered them to work and didn't scold them, the two scared and worried programmers naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to specially bring up the previous matter again. They quickly started operating and controlled the two previously archived data sets to be projected onto the big screen in the Data Center.
The footage that first appeared in Kaiba's field of vision simulated his duel with Yugi. After a long back and forth, it changed to a scene where his **Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon**, empowered by **True Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon** and having invincible resistance, was dueling against **Super Magician - Dark Magician Apprentice** on Yugi's Field.
The full resistance granted by **True Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon** allowed **Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon** to ignore the **Mirror Force** Yugi activated and attack and destroy **Super Magician - Dark Magician Apprentice**. Yugi's Life Points were thus reduced to only 200.
Although the destroyed **Super Magician - Dark Magician Apprentice** Special Summoned **Dark Magician** and **Dark Magician Girl** from Yugi's Graveyard, Kaiba also had the invincible **Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon** with field presence and 2000 Life Points, fully ten times Yugi's.
But under these circumstances, Yugi actually summoned **Catapult Turtle** by Tributing **Dark Magician Girl**, and used **Dark Magic Barrage** to make **Dark Magician's** ATK soar to 4500, blasting himself to death with one shot by Tributing **Dark Magician**!
The familiar finishing blow made Kaiba's face extremely ugly. After all, he had experienced losing in the same way countless times against Hayato. This annoyed aura was like a tangible presence, oppressing the two programmers who were working with their heads down, pretending to be invisible.
Although Kaiba had read some of Hayato's new cards' data, such as **Drytron** and **Dragonmaid**, through a chip planted in Hayato's Duel Disk, in Kaiba's view, Hayato's strongest card was not these, but his most trusted **Gaia** Deck.
Adhering to the idea of defeating an opponent in their strongest state, Kaiba set Hayato's duel data to use a **Gaia** Deck that included the **Three Egyptian Gods**. Although it also included other cards Hayato often had, such as **Rainbow Kuriboh**, the **Ojama** cards that Kaiba disliked the most were specifically removed by him.
In the simulated duel screen, Kaiba gained the upper hand by relying on the power of one **Blue-Eyes** after another. But Hayato also countered by relying on **Gaia's** Special Summon ability and **Super Polymerization**. After a few turns, he even summoned **Obelisk the Tormentor** on the Field, which he had won from Kaiba.
Once taken by Hayato in the Battle City Finals, although Kaiba acknowledged the idea that the winner is king and the loser is vanquished, he was still very angry. Not only was he annoyed that Hayato once again took the victory in the form of a superior, but he was also angry that he had suffered another humiliating defeat.
More importantly, Kaiba really liked **Obelisk the Tormentor**, this God Card. Although Ishizu, Marik, and Hayato, who understood the Three Egyptian Gods deeply, all stated that **The Winged Dragon of Ra** was the strongest card among the Three Egyptian Gods, if Kaiba were to choose, he might be more willing to take **Obelisk**.
It had nothing to do with "sentiment" like it being the first God Card he obtained. It was purely because Kaiba had a certain natural sense of familiarity with **Obelisk**. Although not as much as **Blue-Eyes**, using **Obelisk** was quite handy, so he was also very annoyed after losing it.
On the other hand, because Hayato gained another God Card while he lost one, this change in strength gap was also one of the reasons Kaiba was annoyed.
Looking at **Obelisk's** fists, which activated its special effect by using two monsters as stakes, crushed **Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon**, Kaiba silently watched his Life Points on the screen become 0.
Kaiba performed a simple operation to edit his Deck data, incorporating the data of the two cards, and started the simulation once again.
'Although **Obelisk's** power is quite powerful, that kind of power ultimately belongs to the past and is not suitable for me who needs to move towards the future.'
'What is Kaiba Seto's Ace Card? The current me has an undisputed answer, and that is **Blue-Eyes**. My ace card, my glory, my soul, is **Blue-Eyes White Dragon**.'
'However, this doesn't mean I've given up on **Obelisk**. Wait for me to take back **Obelisk** from your hands with a brand new form of **Blue-Eyes**, Hayato!'
Watching himself use the cards he got from Pegasus to banish **Obelisk the Tormentor**, and with another **Blue-Eyes**, took away Hayato's last bit of flickering candle-like Life Points, even Kaiba, who always had a cold face, couldn't help but reveal a satisfied big laugh.
"Hmph hmph, hehe, hahahaha!"
"As expected, this power didn't disappoint me. It seems the time has finally come to end this endlessly entangled destiny!"
Kaiba pulled out the two cards from the card reader, glanced at the cautious two programmers beside him. Because he was in a good mood, he didn't pursue the two's ideas, and just walked towards outside the Data Center proudly: "It's fine now, you can continue work."
While walking, Kaiba also used his personal terminal to bring up the stock transfer agreement he had used before and started editing it again, although some of the details were modified by him.
'I'll use this to make Yugi and Hayato duel me.' Kaiba walked into the elevator going to the top floor, and looked through the glass towards a large industrial park in the distance. A piece of land there was contracted by KaibaCorp, and right on the cliff at the very end, a building extremely similar to the Kaiba Dome during the KC Cup had been completed. 'In that place, I will become the Strongest Duelist!'
On one of the cards in his arms, an ominous red light lit up, but the other card, as if protecting Kaiba, tried hard to suppress this red light from affecting Kaiba.
KaibaCorp Headquarters Building, Data Center.
A programmer in a white coat pushed up his slightly slipping glasses. Sitting in front of the screen for a long time made his neck feel a bit sore and stiff, so he twisted it left and right.
First, he looked behind him to confirm no one was there. Programmer A, who had started slacking off due to boredom, struck up a conversation with his colleague, Programmer B, next to him: "Are your data organized yet?"
"Huh? Still a long way to go." Programmer B, who was spoken to, also first turned his head to confirm no one was behind him. After making sure no one was watching, he took his hands off the keyboard and replied while stretching his wrist: "Validating the data for the new cards released by Industrial Illusions recently is a huge project."
"Even if I'm only responsible for a small part of it, I'll need to work overtime for at least another week to have any hope of finishing."
It was around ten o'clock at night, and only the two of them were still at the Data Center. Programmer A was on the night shift, while Programmer B chose to enjoy double pay for working overtime due to the excessive workload.
"Ah~ That's really tough." Programmer A, having experienced such massive workloads himself, could really empathize with Programmer B's situation. "And I remember we also have to keep a separate encoding to prevent fake cards, right? It's a really big project."
Programmer B wore a helpless expression: "No way. After all, this kind of work has to be manually inputted card by card. With Industrial Illusions' descriptions of card effects, a difference of just one word can be a world of difference. Didn't someone try to be lazy and use AI for automatic processing last time, and ended up creating a bug where **Fissure** could be treated as a Monster Summon?"
"That was the new employee from the next team, right? I remember, I remember." Programmer A seemed to have also heard about the accident his colleague mentioned. "Even though he graduated from Todai and finally got into the conglomerate, just because of that laziness, his future promotions became difficult."
"That guy was still lucky. At least that bug was controlled before it leaked. Otherwise, the next team, or even our entire department, would probably have had their performance docked."
Programmer B's face showed a helpless expression. "That's why this kind of work can't be done lazily; it has to be done manually. And looking at the current popularity of Duel Monsters, it won't be a problem for it to remain popular for decades. There will definitely be no shortage of card input work in the future. I've already prepared myself mentally."
"You're really optimistic then," Programmer A smiled. "My luck is much better than yours. I just need to save the card data detected on the few Duel Disks that the President specially marked in time. It seems to be Mutou Yuugi, Hayato Kobayashi, and Katsuya Jounouchi? They're all well-known duelists."
"Although there are almost no holidays, the work is very easy. However, relatively speaking, I don't get overtime pay as high as yours."
Programmer B shrugged: "Come on. KaibaCorp's benefits are among the top-tier in all of Japan. Even without overtime pay, your monthly money definitely won't be little. Besides, you're not dating anyway, isn't it enough if your salary is enough?"
"Hmph hmph, *sore wa dou kana*?" Programmer A showed a silly grin. "Industrial Illusions seems to be releasing a blind box next month containing female Duel Monsters figures, including **Dark Magician Girl**. I don't have much confidence in my luck, so the more salary I save, the better, in order to pull my wife!"
Looking at his colleague who suddenly became passionate, Programmer B felt slightly embarrassed: "Really, I remember every time they do this blind box thing, aren't there second-hand dealers on the market who directly sell opened blind boxes? Couldn't you just buy **Dark Magician Girl** directly? Although it's more expensive than the normal price, it's still cheaper than you opening many boxes, right?"
"What do you know? Only by opening them box by box myself can I show my deep and devoted love for **Dark Magician Girl**. And I heard that this time, they might also mix in the figures of the new card monsters to be released next time. I really want that too."
Programmer A said righteously.
Just as Programmer B was about to rant about his companion's scumbag remark—saying he was devoted to **Dark Magician Girl** one moment, then immediately "cheating" on a new Duel Monster the next—a voice suddenly sounded behind them, scaring them so much they trembled all over:
"Hey, you two---"
"!" "!"
Because they got into talking and completely forgot to pay attention to what was behind them, the two, A and B, immediately recognized the owner of the voice. Their bodies instantly became stiff, and their hands and feet felt a trace of coldness. Slowly turning their heads, the two who were caught slacking off looked at Kaiba, who had appeared in the Data Center, and said fearfully: "P-President, Kaiba President!"
“What to do when caught red-handed by the President slacking off during work hours? Waiting online, urgent!”
You know, job hunting in Japan is not like in other countries. If you work here, once you join a certain company group, work is generally a lifelong matter. Your entire life is tied to the group you belong to. Even if you resign and look for other jobs, other groups won't give you good treatment because you have resignation experience.
Relatively speaking, general small mistakes within the group you belong to won't make you resign, but they will inevitably affect future promotions. The two programmers also had thoughts of climbing up, so at this moment, they were inevitably extremely nervous in front of Kaiba.
Fortunately, however, Kaiba didn't care that he had caught them slacking off and chatting red-handed earlier.
After getting two cards from Pegasus, Kaiba took his beloved Blue-Eyes Jet back to the KaibaCorp Headquarters Building in Domino City overnight and went straight to the Data Center as soon as he returned.
"You two, each record the data of one card for me," Kaiba ordered the two. While speaking, he walked to an unused computer in the Data Center, took out the cards he had gotten from Pegasus from his pocket earlier, and inserted them into a device similar to a card reader.
The card data was transmitted by Kaiba via the card reader to the computers of the two programmers, waiting for manual processing. Kaiba added, "Also, bring up the data from the previous simulations of my duels against Hayato Kobayashi and Mutou Yuugi."
"Yes!"
Hearing that the President only ordered them to work and didn't scold them, the two scared and worried programmers naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to specially bring up the previous matter again. They quickly started operating and controlled the two previously archived data sets to be projected onto the big screen in the Data Center.
The footage that first appeared in Kaiba's field of vision simulated his duel with Yugi. After a long back and forth, it changed to a scene where his **Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon**, empowered by **True Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon** and having invincible resistance, was dueling against **Super Magician - Dark Magician Apprentice** on Yugi's Field.
The full resistance granted by **True Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon** allowed **Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon** to ignore the **Mirror Force** Yugi activated and attack and destroy **Super Magician - Dark Magician Apprentice**. Yugi's Life Points were thus reduced to only 200.
Although the destroyed **Super Magician - Dark Magician Apprentice** Special Summoned **Dark Magician** and **Dark Magician Girl** from Yugi's Graveyard, Kaiba also had the invincible **Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon** with field presence and 2000 Life Points, fully ten times Yugi's.
But under these circumstances, Yugi actually summoned **Catapult Turtle** by Tributing **Dark Magician Girl**, and used **Dark Magic Barrage** to make **Dark Magician's** ATK soar to 4500, blasting himself to death with one shot by Tributing **Dark Magician**!
The familiar finishing blow made Kaiba's face extremely ugly. After all, he had experienced losing in the same way countless times against Hayato. This annoyed aura was like a tangible presence, oppressing the two programmers who were working with their heads down, pretending to be invisible.
Although Kaiba had read some of Hayato's new cards' data, such as **Drytron** and **Dragonmaid**, through a chip planted in Hayato's Duel Disk, in Kaiba's view, Hayato's strongest card was not these, but his most trusted **Gaia** Deck.
Adhering to the idea of defeating an opponent in their strongest state, Kaiba set Hayato's duel data to use a **Gaia** Deck that included the **Three Egyptian Gods**. Although it also included other cards Hayato often had, such as **Rainbow Kuriboh**, the **Ojama** cards that Kaiba disliked the most were specifically removed by him.
In the simulated duel screen, Kaiba gained the upper hand by relying on the power of one **Blue-Eyes** after another. But Hayato also countered by relying on **Gaia's** Special Summon ability and **Super Polymerization**. After a few turns, he even summoned **Obelisk the Tormentor** on the Field, which he had won from Kaiba.
Once taken by Hayato in the Battle City Finals, although Kaiba acknowledged the idea that the winner is king and the loser is vanquished, he was still very angry. Not only was he annoyed that Hayato once again took the victory in the form of a superior, but he was also angry that he had suffered another humiliating defeat.
More importantly, Kaiba really liked **Obelisk the Tormentor**, this God Card. Although Ishizu, Marik, and Hayato, who understood the Three Egyptian Gods deeply, all stated that **The Winged Dragon of Ra** was the strongest card among the Three Egyptian Gods, if Kaiba were to choose, he might be more willing to take **Obelisk**.
It had nothing to do with "sentiment" like it being the first God Card he obtained. It was purely because Kaiba had a certain natural sense of familiarity with **Obelisk**. Although not as much as **Blue-Eyes**, using **Obelisk** was quite handy, so he was also very annoyed after losing it.
On the other hand, because Hayato gained another God Card while he lost one, this change in strength gap was also one of the reasons Kaiba was annoyed.
Looking at **Obelisk's** fists, which activated its special effect by using two monsters as stakes, crushed **Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon**, Kaiba silently watched his Life Points on the screen become 0.
Kaiba performed a simple operation to edit his Deck data, incorporating the data of the two cards, and started the simulation once again.
'Although **Obelisk's** power is quite powerful, that kind of power ultimately belongs to the past and is not suitable for me who needs to move towards the future.'
'What is Kaiba Seto's Ace Card? The current me has an undisputed answer, and that is **Blue-Eyes**. My ace card, my glory, my soul, is **Blue-Eyes White Dragon**.'
'However, this doesn't mean I've given up on **Obelisk**. Wait for me to take back **Obelisk** from your hands with a brand new form of **Blue-Eyes**, Hayato!'
Watching himself use the cards he got from Pegasus to banish **Obelisk the Tormentor**, and with another **Blue-Eyes**, took away Hayato's last bit of flickering candle-like Life Points, even Kaiba, who always had a cold face, couldn't help but reveal a satisfied big laugh.
"Hmph hmph, hehe, hahahaha!"
"As expected, this power didn't disappoint me. It seems the time has finally come to end this endlessly entangled destiny!"
Kaiba pulled out the two cards from the card reader, glanced at the cautious two programmers beside him. Because he was in a good mood, he didn't pursue the two's ideas, and just walked towards outside the Data Center proudly: "It's fine now, you can continue work."
While walking, Kaiba also used his personal terminal to bring up the stock transfer agreement he had used before and started editing it again, although some of the details were modified by him.
'I'll use this to make Yugi and Hayato duel me.' Kaiba walked into the elevator going to the top floor, and looked through the glass towards a large industrial park in the distance. A piece of land there was contracted by KaibaCorp, and right on the cliff at the very end, a building extremely similar to the Kaiba Dome during the KC Cup had been completed. 'In that place, I will become the Strongest Duelist!'
On one of the cards in his arms, an ominous red light lit up, but the other card, as if protecting Kaiba, tried hard to suppress this red light from affecting Kaiba.
