150 The Moment of Seeing the Paradoxical Uncle of the DM Era Protagonist

Just as the protagonists of two eras—the GX and 5D’s eras—were being hindered in their duels by the masked man’s four robotic servants as they traveled through time and space, the official timeline of this story had reached the present day: the DM era, one month after the conclusion of Battle City.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!…”

Fireworks burst overhead one after another, accompanied by cheerful music that sounded as though it had come straight from an amusement park. On the ground, the duelists who had come to attend the “New Cards and New Rules Launch Festival” were having the time of their lives. Some were dueling in the designated areas, while others browsed through the duel-monster costumes sponsored and supplied by the Kaiba Corporation, choosing the characters they wished to cosplay.

In short, the entire venue was filled with a warm and festive atmosphere.

“Wow, there are so many people!”

Jaden, who had been invited to the event, gazed at the crowds gathered throughout the area. Hearing bursts of laughter from time to time, he wore an expression of delighted surprise.

“Of course there are. This launch festival is being jointly hosted by Yuya and Kaiba, and Mr. Pegasus, the former president of Industrial Illusions, is going to appear in person. It’s only natural that so many people would come.”

Nearly a month had passed since Battle City ended. Yugi had been expecting life to return to its ordinary rhythm of school and home when Pegasus contacted him and invited him to attend the launch festival he would personally host.

He would not need to participate in every duel. He merely had to appear as the sole victor’s opponent in the final match of the Friendship Tournament—in other words, as a special guest.

“Thank you all for waiting!”

At that moment, on the newly erected stage, two men and a woman dressed as pirates each lifted a microphone and addressed the duelists below.

“And now, let us welcome the Father of Duel Monsters and former president of Industrial Illusions—”

“Maximillion Pegasus!”

As they announced him one after another, the door of the helicopter that had just arrived opened, and Pegasus stepped out in dazzling fashion, purple hair gleaming above his red suit.

“Good afternoon, everyone~! I am absolutely delighted that you have all come to this Duel Monsters ‘New Cards and New Rules’ launch festival today~!”

“Wooo!”

Pegasus had stepped down as president nearly half a year ago, and the crowd was especially thrilled to hear his unmistakable accent once more. Everyone present erupted into excited cheers.

Pegasus was just preparing to distribute Industrial Illusions’ newest Duel Monsters cards free of charge and announce the revised, all-new Duel Monsters rules when six entirely different dragon roars suddenly rang out from the heavens.

A silver-white dragon with sky-blue armor and purple crystals set into its chest and shoulders—Stardust Dragon.

A dragon with blood-red wings and a black-and-crimson muscular body radiating an overwhelming kingly presence—Red Dragon Archfiend.

A slender black dragon with white feathers sprouting one by one from its wings, its body resembling that of a centipede—Black-Winged Dragon.

A white mechanical dragon with three heads, its form bearing a striking resemblance to the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon of Seto Kaiba—Cyber End Dragon.

A gigantic dragon with a pure-white body and multicolored crystalline jewels, as though it had been born from a rainbow—Rainbow Dragon.

And finally, a mechanical chimera dragon whose component parts seemed incompatible at first glance, yet became unbelievably stylish once fused together—Armityle the Chaos Phantasm!

“Oh, are these some kind of special performance arranged by Pegasus or Kaiba Corporation? Very impressive!”

Though Grandpa Muto did not recognize a single one of the six dragons flying overhead, he nodded approvingly all the same.

There was something ominous about these six dragons…

The spirit of Atem suddenly emerged from the Millennium Puzzle and stood beside Yugi. Gazing at the six unfamiliar dragons hovering above the crowd, he spoke with a grave expression.

On the surface, the six dragons appeared to be nothing more than projections of Duel Monsters cards. Yet after leaving the Millennium Puzzle, Atem focused his senses and immediately detected a trace of darkness hidden so deeply that no one but him could have perceived it.

Just as Atem was about to tell Yugi what he had discovered, the six dragons in the sky suddenly stopped flying. Hovering in midair, they opened their jaws toward the surrounding high-rise buildings.

The people’s expressions shifted gradually from curiosity to terror.

Then six beams of destructive energy, each a different color, erupted from the dragons’ mouths!

“BOOM—!”

The surrounding buildings struck by the beams exploded in an instant.

“Ahhh!”

As the buildings detonated and fragments scattered in every direction, the people on the ground immediately fled in panic.

“Grandpa!”

“Yugi!”

Warned by his other self, Yugi had reached out to pull his grandfather away the instant the explosions began. Unfortunately, they were caught in the middle of the crowd. Though Yugi desperately tried to get to him first, the terrified people rushing for their lives forced them apart.

“Oh, my God! This is terrible~!”

Pegasus stood at the center of the stage, staring at the people fleeing for their lives and the buildings continuing to explode beneath the dragons’ attacks. The entire situation seemed utterly unbelievable.

Then a tremendous boom rang out, as though it had exploded right beside his ear.

Pegasus’s attention was drawn toward it at once.

A huge shadow had fallen over him.

His body turned instinctively, and he saw that the more-than-ten-story building behind him had been severed through the middle by the dragons’ attack. Its upper half was collapsing toward the ground with a thunderous roar.

That was the source of the shadow.

At the same time, Yugi—separated from his grandfather by the fleeing crowd—finally forced his way out, gasping for breath as he searched desperately for him.

At last, thanks to his sharp eyes, he spotted his grandfather barely ten meters away.

Ten meters—a distance he could normally cover in only a few strides—now seemed like an uncrossable chasm.

Especially when a beam of white light suddenly shot from the mouth of the white dragon.

Its target was no longer the surrounding buildings.

It was the people on the ground.

Under Yugi’s disbelieving gaze, his grandfather’s figure was gradually swallowed by the blazing white light.

“Jaden—!!!”

Amid that heart-wrenching cry, two familiar voices suddenly rang out—voices every person present knew.

“Divine Immortal Hero! Hold back those falling building fragments!”

“Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon! Raise an energy barrier and protect the civilians!”

A flash of six-colored light passed through the air. When it appeared again, it had transformed into a golden hero wearing a red cloak.

The six elemental powers surged forth together, effortlessly intercepting the explosive debris raining down from above.

On the other side, the dazzling white light became a miniature sun. Its radiance formed a visible barrier that enveloped the fleeing people on the ground, protecting them from the smaller fragments and choking dust thrown up by the explosions.

“Yuya! Kaiba!”

At Yugi’s excited cry, Yuya came slowly toward them, supporting a short, elderly man beneath one arm. Kaiba followed beside them, his expression unusually stern as he looked up at the six unknown dragons in the sky.

The falling debris had been intercepted, and the people on the ground had been protected. Seeing this, the six dragons were just about to increase the intensity of their attacks when their master spoke.

“Stop for now.”

Upon receiving the order, the six dragons dispersed the energy that had already gathered halfway inside their mouths. They then beat their wings lightly and glided sideways toward a nearby high-rise that remained completely intact.

Kaiba, who had been watching them without blinking, noticed what they were doing. He called out a warning to Yuya and Yugi behind him, and all three turned their eyes toward the place surrounded by the dragons.

“Sakaki Yuya, Seto Kaiba, and Yugi Muto… The three strongest duelists of this era are all here. No—the four strongest, if one counts the other presence as well.”

The blond man whose face was concealed behind a black-and-white mask had stolen the monsters of Yusei and his companions, as well as those belonging to Jaden’s friends. Now, having traveled through time and space, he had arrived at the ultimate destination of his journey: Domino City, the site of Battle City a hundred years in the past.

“With the three strongest people of this era all gathered in one place, I won’t have to waste time searching for them.”

The masked man looked down from above at Yuya, Kaiba, and Yugi as he murmured to himself. On the ground, Yuya quietly signaled to Pegasus, whom Divine Immortal Hero had rescued, telling him to lead the civilians away from the area first.

“Who are you? Why have you made Duel Monsters materialize—and why are you having them attack the city?”

With his golden hair, black-and-white mask, handsome trench coat, and six unfamiliar dragon monsters surrounding him, combined with the system notification he had received a month earlier, Yuya had already guessed the man’s identity.

But knowing it himself did not mean that Yugi and Kaiba knew it as well. So, following protocol, he asked the stranger to identify himself.

The masked man appeared not to notice Pegasus leading the civilians away. He simply allowed it to happen, never taking his eyes off the three duelists as he began to introduce himself.

“Me? I am a pitiable man from the distant future, traveling through time and space in pursuit of the ‘perfect history’—Paradox!”