Chapter 177: Duelist Kingdom, Concluded
The violet and blue Magic Cannon attacks intertwined and surged forward, piercing through the body of Thousand-Eyes Restrict and completely clearing Pegasus's remaining Life Points.
[Pegasus: 1000 → 0]
There was no need for the Referee's judgment; the Victory or Defeat of the Duel was already clear—the final Winners were Mutou Yuugi and Hayato Kobayashi.
"Alright~ We finally won." Looking at their own and Yugi's Avatars lighting up on the Scoreboard, Hayato, who had been forcing himself to stay alert, let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the ground without any regard for appearances, watching the Solid Vision on the field gradually Disperse.
The Dark Magicians dissolved the moment Victory was achieved. Performapal Sky Magician shamelessly accepted the Applause offered by the surrounding Audience, while Dark Magician, after bowing respectfully to Yugi, voluntarily Dispersed his form.
The Corpse of Thousand-Eyes Restrict, its abdominal Maw pierced, was trampled like a sandbag by Blue-Eyes White Dragon. After spewing white Breath to burn it to Burned to Ashes, the White Dragon nodded towards Hayato's side and also vanished.
"I announce that the Winners of this Duel are the two Players, Mutou Yuugi and Hayato Kobayashi!" Although the Old Butler was shocked by Pegasus's defeat, his professional demeanor allowed him to step forward and announce the result of the Match. "The two Duelists have defeated Mr. Pegasus. Congratulations to them both on becoming the well-deserved King of Games!"
"Present a Salute for the birth of the King!"
"We won," the Pharaoh returned to the Millennium Puzzle, and Yugi Mutou regained control of his Body. "That was really, quite the struggle."
Amidst the Audience's Applause and the excited cheers of Joey Wheeler and Tristan , the nearly exhausted Hayato and Yugi supported each other and walked around to the opposite side of the Duel Platform.
While Yugi went to wake up the unconscious Pegasus and have him release the Souls he had sealed, Hayato picked up the Cards scattered in front of Pegasus's Duel Platform. After a quick search, he found the few Blue-Eyes White Dragon Cards that Pegasus had put into his own Deck. However, he wasn't very interested in Blue-Eyes.
Without more support Cards, Blue-Eyes, in the end, was just a Normal Monster with 3000 ATK. Furthermore, although Hayato liked taking control of other people's Monsters, he was actually a "pure love" type. Blue-Eyes White Dragon should really be used by Kaiba Seto.
However, not wanting Blue-Eyes didn't mean Hayato wasn't interested in the other Cards in Pegasus's Deck.
Meanwhile, Yugi successfully woke up Pegasus.
"Me, this is... Right, me lost the Duel." Opening his right eye, Pegasus saw Yugi's face and recalled what had happened.
Yugi had no fondness for Pegasus. "Pegasus, since we've won the Duel, hurry up and release Ji-chan and the Kaiba Brothers' Souls!" This was Yugi's main purpose for coming to the Duelist Kingdom. Being the Duel King wasn't his Pursuit.
"Cough cough, don't worry, Yugi-boy, me is a man of me word." Coughing twice, Pegasus sat up from the ground somewhat weakly and took out three Cards from his chest pocket.
When he first took them out, Yugi could still see the figures of Solomon Muto, Kaiba Seto, and Keipei on the Cards. But as time passed minute by minute, illusory Flames ignited on the Card Art, and the figures within quickly faded and disappeared.
"The Dark Game is a Game with Stakes of life. Me, who lost the Duel, should have died at that very moment." Pegasus raised his hand and brushed aside the long hair covering his left face. Only then did Yugi notice that the Millennium Eye embedded in Pegasus's left eye socket was now dim and lifeless, with a tear of blood flowing down.
"However, it seems because the main entity controlling me's Spirit at the time was the Millennium Eye, me was able to save me life."
Pegasus's tone was full of emotion. "The Millennium Eye's Power was largely Dispersed the moment me lost. The Soul Prison Cards that imprisoned the Souls became invalid at that time. Yugi-boy's Grandpa, and Kaiba boy, Keipei boy, their Souls have returned to where they should have been."
"Ji-chan..." Hearing Pegasus's words, Yugi finally felt relieved. Only after defeating Pegasus and ending the Duel did he belatedly remember that Pegasus held the Souls of several others. If he had defeated Pegasus but failed to Unseal the Souls, that would have been Bad.
"Pegasus."
Hayato's voice came, and Pegasus turned his head to see Hayato walking towards him with a Deck of Cards.
"Hayato boy."
"Your Story with your beloved is quite touching, but that doesn't mean you can harm others because of it." Casually tossing Pegasus's Cartoon Deck back into his hand, Hayato conveniently stuffed a few Cards he could use into his pants pocket. "The Duel is over, but that doesn't mean your Sins have been completely offset."
"Use the time left in this life you salvaged to properly repay your Debt."
"That's quite the sharp remark, Hayato boy." Pegasus smiled bitterly and stood up, gently putting away his beloved Cartoon Deck before looking directly into Hayato's eyes. "However, even if you hadn't said that, me would have done so."
"Speaking of which, after losing the Duel, although me's head and Body are aching all over and it's not comfortable at all, me feels me Spirit is much more relaxed."
Hayato knew why Pegasus felt this way, but he didn't say it out loud.
Among the seven Millennium Items, there were three items leaning towards the "Dark" side—the Millennium Rod, the Millennium Ring, and the Millennium Eye. Compared to the others, these three had a stronger Darkness Aura and were more likely to lead people to corruption.
Pegasus was once just an ordinary person from an "ordinary family" with the dream of becoming a painter, without any outstanding qualities. After the death of his childhood friend and beloved, Cecilia, he was in great pain and began searching for a way to Revive the deceased, searching all the way to Egypt.
There, Pegasus met Shadi, known as the "Millennium Director". After learning about the existence of the Millennium Items, he was forced to accept the Trial of the Millennium Eye, which resulted in one of his Eyeballs being directly popped. After enduring the pain, Pegasus successfully passed the test and gained the Power of the Millennium Eye, even getting to glimpse the Soul of his long-dead beloved again.
However, powerful Cards come with risks, and great Power always has a Stakes. With repeated use of the Millennium Eye's Power, Pegasus's Will was gradually twisted towards the Darkness. To obtain KaibaCorp's Virtual Projection System, Pegasus even went so far as to seal others' Souls. It wasn't until now, when the Mystical Power of the Millennium Eye was Dispersed due to the Stakes of the Dark Game, that Pegasus's Will finally regained consciousness after many years.
However...
Hayato glanced at the Card Spirits behind him that had suddenly awakened after absorbing the scattered Darkness Power, feeling quite a headache. He thought, "I'm just someone who Duels, so how come other people's spirit companions can Duel on their behalf, Fusion Summon, or even Overlay, while mine are just a bunch of a zoo?"
Let me write two chapters of Daily Life, considered an explanation of the subsequent development.
The next chapter will enter Battle City, but it won't start immediately; there's still some Plot to write in between.
(End of this chapter)