"You're just putting on a show. I Set one card and End my Turn!" Bakura easily ended his turn. Although he said Hayato was just putting on an act, Summoning the same monster couldn't possibly be a coincidence.
[Bakura: 4000 LP, Hand: 4]
[Newt] [ATK 1400]
[Set Card]
'Could this guy be reading my thoughts right now?' Bakura wondered as he looked at Hayato.
Hayato neither knew nor cared about Bakura's thoughts. He simply drew a card. "My Turn, Draw!"
Seeing the Spell Card he added to his hand, Hayato raised an eyebrow and looked at Bakura. "This is terrible. My hand isn't good at all. What about you, Bakura?"
"Heh heh, a pointless question." Looking at his hand full of "powerful monsters," Bakura said calmly, "My hand is full of good cards. Thanks to Pegasus's new rules, I'll be able to Direct Attack you next turn."
As if.
Because Pegasus's new rules hadn't been revealed beforehand, many duelists suffered after the Duelist Kingdom rules were announced due to having too many Level 4 or higher monsters in their Decks. Under the previous rules, a monster's Level was mostly for show and didn't have much of an effect. High-Level monsters usually meant higher ATK and DEF, so many people packed their Decks full of them.
Then the rules for Tribute Summoning were updated, and a whole bunch of people were left speechless.
Professional players like Weevil and Rex often had a Side Deck in addition to their Main Deck, so the impact was relatively minor. However, many people didn't have replacement cards for their Decks, leading them to often have an opening hand full of high-Level monsters—including Bakura.
"I see, so your hand isn't that great either." Seeing Bakura's 'so you really can read minds' expression, Hayato felt the urge to tease him for how he barely concealed his awkwardness every time he looked at his hand. "In that case, let me help you out."
"I Activate [Card Destruction]! Both players discard their entire hands, then draw the same number of cards they discarded." As he spoke, Hayato showed the back of his hand to Bakura. "Excluding the [Card Destruction] I just activated, I have 4 cards in my hand, so I can draw 4 cards from my Deck."
"I also have four cards." Bakura drew four cards. Looking at his newly refreshed hand, a look of delight appeared on his face. He looked up at Hayato. "Hahaha, I really have you to thank for that [Card Destruction], Hayato. My hand is quite excellent now."
"Is that so? If my [Card Destruction] brought a smile to your face, then nothing could be better. But... how about experiencing double the joy?" Hayato flipped over the Set card he had on his Field. "I Activate [Mind Crush]! I declare one card name. The card name I'm declaring is—"
"[Dark Necrofear]!"
"Nani! Bakana!"
With Hayato's declaration, the Set card in his Back Row flipped open. A wave of energy shot out from the card, striking Bakura's hand directly. If the card name Hayato declared wasn't in Bakura's hand, the bolt of light would have connected to Hayato's hand instead. But from the looks of it, it was clear: Bakura really did have [Dark Necrofear] in his hand!
"You actually managed to get the Millennium Eye beforehand? You...!" Bakura, or rather, the Great Evil God within him, was getting agitated.
The Millennium Eye's power is to see through to the truth; mind reading is merely its most basic application. This wasn't the first time the Hayato before him had displayed strange abilities. There was no doubt he possessed the Millennium Eye. Bakura even suspected that Hayato had seen through his true identity.
"Just who are you, and how much do you know!"
"Just a passing-through duelist. Remember that." Plagiarizing a line from a certain account-stealing maniac, Hayato commanded, "Possession confirmed, effect executed! Feel the [Mind Crush], Bakura!"
The bolt of light connected to Bakura's hand suddenly surged, growing thicker. The electric shock traveled through the card to the hand Bakura was holding it with. Something around him suddenly seemed to shatter, leaving Bakura stunned for a moment. When he came to his senses, he discovered that all the cards in his hand had left his grasp, scattering on the ground and vanishing.
"Damn you, Hayato!" An angry expression appeared on Bakura's face, but only for an instant before it twisted into a sinister smile. "Did you think I would say that? Fool, you fell for it! I knew all along you would use a card like this to make the most of your Millennium Eye's ability!"
Hayato, who had only put the card in his Deck because [Mind Crush] was really good (actually, it's because the author misremembered the effect) and hadn't sold it off with Weevil's other cards: ???
"The moment [Dark Necrofear] is sent to the Graveyard, I can Activate the card I Set last turn! [Destiny Board]!"
The card Bakura had previously Set flipped up. A cloud of skeletal-shaped mist emerged from the Card Art, sending a chill down one's spine just by looking at it.
"The effect of [Destiny Board] is that at the end of each of your turns, I can place one [Spirit Message] card in my Back Row." The word 'smug' was practically carved on Bakura's face. "If you can't defeat me within five turns, when I've assembled all five cards—'D', 'E', 'A', 'T', 'H'—on my Field, I will instantly win the game!"
"Let the countdown to the end of your life begin, Hayato!"
"Oh? A Trap Card version of [Exodia]? How strong, truly powerful. In that case, I'll Set two cards, and then I'll end my turn." Hayato looked at Bakura's sinister Field, but he didn't seem to take the threat seriously at all. "Oh my, how dangerous. I actually have an Empty Field."
[Hayato: 4000 LP, Hand: 2]
[Set Card] [Set Card]
"Hayato, cut the sarcasm! If you keep putting on this act, you'll become fertilizer for my Dark Deck!" With one sentence, Bakura had unintentionally made a pun out of Hayato's name, though from his expression, it didn't seem intentional.
Hayato. In Japanese, "Kobayashi" sounds the same as "koyashi" (fertilizer), and "Hayato" sounds similar to "aiya" (an expression of surprise like "oh my").
"The moment your turn ends, the effect of [Destiny Board] activates! The [Spirit Message] card 'E' will come to my Field!"
The forehead of the skull representing [Destiny Board] revealed the letter 'D'. The mist surrounding it spread and split, and a mist inscribed with the letter 'E' appeared in an adjacent position.
"E after D, huh. I'd suggest you gather the letters V, M, or X instead. Those are a bit more impressive."
"My Turn, Draw!" Ignoring Hayato's nonsensical words, Bakura drew a card, bringing his hand size to 1. "Since your gates are wide open, I won't hold back. I Normal Summon [Goblin Zombie] and Direct Attack you with it and the [Newt] on my Field!"
A [Goblin Zombie], its skin completely rotted away leaving only pale bones and muscle, appeared on the Field. As soon as it appeared, it and the [Newt] next to it—which seemed to be twitching uncontrollably—charged toward Hayato, blades swinging.
(end of chapter)