"Hayato!" Hesiod suddenly interrupted Hayato, his wide eyes bloodshot. "You can't do that!"
"Look closely, Hayato, I have the qualifications to become a God of Duel Monsters. I can't just lose like this!"
As Hesiod spoke, he raised a hand and pointed behind Hayato: "Before you confirm your Attack on me, look closely at what's happening there first!"
Hayato turned his head, a little puzzled.
He wasn't too worried that Hesiod would use some underhanded tricks while he was looking away, like unscrewing parts or adding Cards from his Deck to his Hand. The Game had already reached its final moments, and in essence, it had already turned into a Shadow Game. If one were to cheat in a Shadow Game, only Hesiod himself would suffer.
However, what Hayato hadn't expected was that Hesiod had actually come up with a method that could be considered cheating, yet wouldn't be punished by the Shadow Game.
After Hayato had Summoned (Quintet Magician) and stopped (Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder) from draining the surrounding vital energy, many of the onlookers entered a state of exhaustion, including the two Princeton brothers.
Among the many weakened Duelists, only one brawny man in a black robe stood normally. Unbeknownst to anyone, he had moved next to the Princeton brothers, holding a pistol, aiming it at the defenseless Chazz Princeton and Chazz Princeton.
"A True Duelist should reasonably utilize informational advantages. You might not know this, Duel King, but we Rare Hunters often operate in pairs."
"Don't blame me for being despicable. Who told you to gain the upper hand?" Hesiod said with a ferocious expression, his eyes bloodshot. "If you had just obediently lost to me, nothing would have happened, right?"
"Do you really think I'd become hesitant and afraid to deliver the final blow just because those two guys became your hostages?" Hayato felt quite annoyed by the threat, but while he said that, "hostages" truly were his weak point.
For a moment, he really didn't dare to Attack Hesiod.
"Then keep Attacking me, Duel King? If you can be indifferent to the death of your friends, then let your (Quintet Magician) deliver the final blow!" Although Hesiod's mental state had become somewhat deranged due to the influence of (Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder), he immediately saw that Hayato no longer dared to Attack him. "You don't dare to Attack now, do you?"
"As the Cost for offending the Gods, hey, 'Regulus', kill that brat!"
Hayato's gaze firmly locked onto the brawny man. At the same time, he quietly pulled out the Card for (The Winged Dragon of Ra) from his Deck box at his waist, holding it ready to act. As soon as the brawny man made any move, Hayato would immediately throw out the Card.
Although Hayato had always adhered to the principle of not killing, if the brawny man named "Regulus" truly followed Hesiod's command and intended to kill the Princeton brothers, Hayato wouldn't mind breaking his own principles.
However, to Hayato's slight surprise, "Regulus" held the pistol but didn't fire immediately upon hearing Hesiod's command. Instead, he spoke: "Hesiod-senpai, may I understand this as an order or a request from you to me?"
"Yes, that's right, so hurry up and shoot, you idiot!" Hesiod said impatiently. "I am your senior; are you trying to defy me, who possesses (Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder)?"
"Hmm, I suppose so."
Hesiod froze for a moment: "What did you just say?"
"I said, I refuse your request. I cannot bring myself to follow your order to shoot."
As the brawny man spoke, he tossed the pistol, whose safety was still on, aside. Under the hood of his cloak, his eyes, buried in Darkness, stared directly at Hesiod: "It's not for some trivial reason like not wanting to harm innocent people; my hands have been stained with countless blood since I fell into Darkness."
"However, Hesiod, what I absolutely cannot tolerate is your behavior of treating Duel Monsters as mere tools to be used. It truly disgusts me."
"What did you say?!" Hesiod was furious. "You defy me for a reason more despicable than frog's piss? You betray me, a God, for those Duel Monster Spirits stranger than termites in rice!?"
"Unforgivable, unforgivable, you imbecile!"
"That's enough, Hesiod." Hayato interrupted the impotently raging Hesiod. "It seems the comrade you relied on for your final stand has also betrayed you. I was actually a little nervous just now."
"In that case, you should be truly 'out of options' now, shouldn't you?"
"(Quintet Magician), final Attack, go!"
"Wait, wait, Hayato!" Hesiod panicked, seeing (Quintet Magician) ready to launch another Attack. "I can't lose this Duel! I'm supposed to become a God; my brilliant mind cannot disappear from this World!"
"Please, let me go, won't you? I'll tell you where the Rare Hunters' base is, and my Deck, I'll give it all to you!"
But his current pathetic state only earned him a cold sneer from Hayato.
"First, using the Power of Duel Monsters to drain Life Points from others. Second, threatening others' lives during a Duel." Hayato held out his hand, his pinky and ring finger bent, the remaining three fingers forming a gun shape. "Even just these two sins are enough reason to punish you."
"Enjoy the pleasures of hell, and count your sins."
And in (Quintet Magician)'s hand, the Attack's charge was complete. Another Magical Energy orb passed through five magic circles and struck (Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder)'s body: "He says, 'You may proceed.'"
[Hesiod: 13000 LP → 0]
With a crisp shattering sound like cracking glass, the Attack from (Quintet Magician), with nearly 20,000 Attack Power, simultaneously Destroyed (Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder) and instantly emptied Hesiod's Life Points. Even if it weren't a Shadow Game but a normal Duel, 14,000 points of Battle Damage would be more than enough to knock someone out, let alone a Shadow Game where the Damage directly affects the mind?
Hesiod collapsed to the ground, a terrified expression still etched on his face. The Duel Disk on his wrist also exploded into countless fragments with a "bang", having sustained Damage beyond its limit.
Hayato didn't immediately go forward to pick up the scattered Cards around Hesiod. Instead, he turned around and looked at the brawny man who had taken off his black robe to reveal his true face: "You, are you really a Rare Hunter?"
The brawny man silently tossed aside the discarded black robe, glanced at Hayato, and said in a deep voice, "Are you doubting my identity, Duel King?"
"Not doubt, just some speculation. First, you look somewhat different from the Rare Hunters I know." Hayato scrutinized the brawny man, but didn't immediately recognize his identity.
Honestly, putting aside the vast differences in character appearances between 2D and 3D, there were so many characters introduced just in the first season of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga. Unless someone had a distinctive hairstyle, Hayato wouldn't be able to recognize who was who at all.
"Most Rare Hunters are just guys seeking the Power of Cards. Even if they don't go as far as using Bootleg Cards, they only join the Rare Hunters to get powerful Cards from others without working for them." Whether it was Hert, Weevil, Epimetheus, Pandora, or just now Hesiod, none of the Rare Hunters Hayato had met so far were good people.
After all, the leader of the Rare Hunters, Marik, wasn't a good person himself, so what kind of quality could one expect from the Rare Hunters?
"So I was exposed by such a detail... It doesn't matter. Joining the Rare Hunters was just a spur-of-the-moment decision anyway." The brawny man wasn't too bothered that Hayato had seen through his non-Rare Hunter identity. "But since there's a 'first,' there should also be a 'second,' right, Duel King?"
"Of course. First, you possess a visible passion for Duel Monsters, or rather, Duel Monster Spirits, that is completely at odds with the Rare Hunters. And second," Hayato tapped the (Millennium Ring) on his chest. In the center of the golden disc, the Eye of Udjat lit up, and the five cones around it all pointed in the brawny man's direction.
"You are shrouded in a mystery of quality comparable to the (Millennium Items). Although I can't discern its true form, it's definitely not something Marik could have bestowed. It's something far older."
"So do you think Marik would tolerate someone among the Rare Hunters possessing such Power, capable of rivaling the (Millennium Rod) and threatening his absolute authority?"
"Based on my observations of Marik during this period, I don't think so." The brawny man recalled for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
Looking at Hayato, who had put away his Duel Disk, the brawny man said earnestly, "Although you've figured out that I'm not a member of the Rare Hunters, Duel King, don't think for a moment that I won't be your enemy because of it. If you stand in the way of Dartz, no matter how strong you are, I will become Dartz's sword and strike you down."
"Therefore, you may continue to call me by my Rare Hunters codename—'Regulus'. Although we are not yet enemies, don't expect me to reveal my True Name just yet."
(end of chapter)