Marik Ishtar, an important antagonist in the early stage of Yu-Gi-Oh!, is a descendant of the Gravekeeper Race, and the founder and manager of the Rare Card Hunter Ghouls Group.
More importantly, he is also the holder of one of the Seven Great Millennium Item, the Millennium Rod, and the strongest Egyptian God Card among the three, "The Winged Dragon of Ra."
The Winged Dragon of Ra here isn't the ambiguous-effect waste from the physical card; the Winged Dragon of Ra in this world truly lives up to its title of the "Strongest God" with its mighty capability. If the effect of the animated Winged Dragon of Ra were directly transplanted into the physical card environment, even twenty years into the future, it would still be considered a powerful monster, absolutely nothing to underestimate.
In comparison, the physical card Winged Dragon of Ra lacks attack power, resistance, and its special abilities are pitiful. Not to mention the reputation of being an Egyptian God, as a card needing a Tribute Summon with three offerings, the Winged Dragon of Ra's power doesn't justify the cost.
Now, what they face in this dilapidated warehouse is naturally not Marik himself, but a puppet remotely controlled by Marik using the mind-control ability of the "Millennium Rod."
As for Marik himself, he's probably not even in this city right now.
"Greetings, members of the Nightwalker World." Marik slowly spoke to the crowd through the mouth of this bald puppet, "I believe that for most of you, this is our first meeting."
"Marik." Kusunoki squinted his eyes, "What do you want?"
By this time, everyone should be able to see that their actions have been exposed. The Ghoul Group had foreseen that they would come here and had already withdrawn and abandoned this base, leaving only this puppet to act as Marik's mouthpiece to talk to them.
"What do I want? I think you should all know the answer." Marik said, "This is my war. My target has always been the nameless Pharaoh, nothing to do with you,
If possible, I wouldn't want to conflict with you, but if you insist, I just want you to know that the Ghoul Group won't shy away from challenges.
So today, this is just a small warning, I advise you not to interfere. If next time you dare to stand in my way, what you'll face will be Divine Wrath."
"What did you say!?"
A group of people are about to explode, only to see that bald puppet's body suddenly wobbled and fell limply from the chair like an unplugged doll.
Marik is gone, leaving only an empty shell here.
"This guy is too arrogant!" someone in the group said angrily.
"He doesn't even put us in his eyes!"
"I say we should simply go and destroy the Ghoul's base, let this Gravekeeper brat know what is never-ending Darkness..."
"Wake up, he holds an Egyptian God Card, ordinary duelists have no chance of winning."
"..."
The group was chattering noisily, Kusunoki Manager frowned and said: "Wait, something's not right."
Everyone immediately quieted down.
Indeed, Youyu also shared the same view at this moment.
Since Marik had already foreseen their actions, did he empty the entire warehouse only to leave this puppet here just to threaten them with a few empty words?
No matter how you think about it, it doesn't seem realistic.
Marik had just mentioned "this is just a warning."
So what exactly does the warning refer to?
Outside the empty warehouse came a rumbling sound, sounding like a heavy hum. Light penetrated through all the windows and crevices, illuminating the entire warehouse as bright as day in the crisscrossing rays.
Forming a line, the Dark Duelists walked out of the warehouse only to find that at some point they were surrounded. Black sedans blocked the only exit like roadblocks, and dazzling white light formed a sword array surrounding the warehouse.
Standing behind the cars were a large group of men in black suits and sunglasses, each standing with a straight posture, forming solid bodies that seemed like black walls.
Though no one seemed inclined to come up and make trouble, it was clear they wouldn't let the people in the middle leave easily.
A turbine-like buzzing approached from the sky, and a beam of light sliced through the grim night like a radiant sword.
A black helicopter with the KC mark slowly descended in height, the cabin door was pulled open from the inside, and a man in a white coat, tall and slender, stood single-footed on the helicopter's descending rod, his coat black inside white outside like a king's cape fluttering in the wind stirred by the propeller.
That man was the Legendary Duelist, the man at the pinnacle of the Duel Monster Realm, Kaiba Seto.
By this time, everyone understood what had happened. It was evident that Marik had deliberately let someone tip off the Kaiba Corporation, intentionally using the Kaiba Corporation.
In truth, in Domino, Nightwalker World and Kaiba Corporation are both local power players, and although one is in the light and the other in the dark, they both have tight ties to the Duel Monsters game, they should have some connections.
After all, generally speaking, such large groups should have some link with local underground forces.
However, Kaiba Corporation is an exception because President Kaiba Seto is extremely averse to anything related to the "Darkness Game."
It's not that he doesn't believe in the existence of the Darkness Game, because he had witnessed it firsthand and even had been a victim of the Darkness Game.
In the Duelist Kingdom chapter storyline, Kaiba Seto's younger brother Kaiba Mokuba was captured by Pegasus, with his soul sealed into a card. Kaiba fearlessly headed to Duelist Kingdom trying to rescue his brother, but he was no match for the Divine Power of the Millennium Eyes and himself was defeated by Pegasus, with his soul sealed into a card.
In the end, it was Muto Yugi who defeated Pegasus, saving the souls of both brothers.
Because of such unpleasant memories, President Kaiba is quite resistant to things like "Darkness Game". Furthermore, he is a staunch scientific believer, he believes that supernatural powers including "Darkness Game" are things explicable by science, hence he always scoffs when mentioning these.
So Nightwalker World and Kaiba Corporation, though they had some contact, rarely ended pleasantly.
The helicopter still hovering, President Kaiba didn't want to wait any longer, he directly leaped from the helicopter. His white coat filled with wind behind him, reminiscent of spreading wings.
Kaiba landed in a half-crouch, the hem of his coat fell, looking like a superhero from a neighboring American comic book set.
Here, the Dark Duelists exchanged glances, and then Kusunoki Manager took the lead and walked up.
"President Kaiba, long time no see."
Kaiba crossed his arms, squinting his eyes, his gaze as sharp as a knife, with no intention of pleasantries: "What are you doing here?"
"We received information that the Ghoul Group has a base here, but unfortunately we came too late, they've already left." Kusunoki explained, "We're on the same front, Mr. President, just as we've expressed many times before."
"Humph, I don't remember ever agreeing to that."
Kaiba said coldly, raising the Duel Disc on his arm.
"But since you all claim to be duelists, then I'll give you this opportunity." He spoke deeply, "If you want to get past here, then try using your vaunted Darkness Game."