Chapter 272: Harvest
Chapter 272: Harvest
"Gozaburoooooo!"
The final scream echoed like a soul's lament. Gozaburo charged through the white light, putting forth his utmost effort to reach Kaiba, as if he wanted to reach out to him one last time. But in the end, he couldn't quite make it.
The radiant glory of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon swept over him like an endless flood, causing his virtual body to rapidly disintegrate under the onslaught of the brilliant light. Countless data streams were washed away by the radiance of Ultimate Burst Harpie's Feather Duster, vanishing like droplets in an endless river.
From start to finish, Kaiba stood there with his arms crossed, coldly watching as the figure in the red suit faded away.
"The dead should stay dead," Kaiba said coldly. "There's no place for you in this world anymore."
As the white light faded, the remaining shadow was completely obliterated by the light, leaving the pitch-black space quiet once more, enveloped in silence.
After a few seconds, Kaiba suddenly spoke up.
"Have you seen enough?"
After a brief pause, Ryuuen stepped out from the shadows nearby, a smile on his face as he said, "President Kaiba is as sharp as ever, remaining vigilant even in a virtual space like this."
However, he thought to himself, President, if you enjoy secretly watching me play cards and even ask your brother to record it when you're not around, why shouldn't I secretly spy on your dueling skills? Ryuuen was currently in a good mood.
With his prior experience navigating the link system, he quickly became familiar with moving and exploring in this similar virtual space. As a result, he soon learned how to navigate freely in this new environment.
Along the way, he encountered several of Gozaburo's other AI creations and engaged in friendly duels with them. But Delta's reputation did precede him—he seemed to be the most formidable among Gozaburo's children, and even Alpha, whom Ryuuen dueled initially, appeared to be one of the best among this batch of AIs.
The rest were truly a sorry bunch, and Ryuuen had no trouble dealing with them. He swiftly achieved victory while also sharing the joy of dueling with the AIs, and they seemed quite excited after their matches.
At this moment, Kaiba seemed to associate the duel he had just witnessed with the one Gozaburo had shown him earlier, and a slight smile curved his lips. However, it was unclear if this smile indicated approval or if he simply found the duel itself amusing, especially since the opponent this time had a personal grudge against Kaiba, and Delta, whom Ryuuen faced, seemed to be Gozaburo's most trusted AI commander.
Thus, watching Delta's composure gradually crumble before Ryuuen, eventually leading to his defeat by his own monster, Kaiba was quite satisfied.
This was how enemies should be treated—with no mercy, crushing them both mentally and physically with the cruelest means. That was the way of a true ruler.
Just then, a storm of data suddenly whipped up in the pitch-black space. In the enclosed area, a vortex of data swirled, giving rise to a towering whirlwind from which an image of a blood-red demon emerged.
It had an abstract, twisted, gigantic body with sharp claws and fangs, but its true form was so blurry that it was almost impossible to make out. It let out an ear-piercing roar filled with endless sorrow and rage, and its body, made of data, was dissipating as if it were on the verge of extinction.
"SEEEEEEIIIIIITOOOOOO!"
The demon howled in fury.
Kaiba frowned. "Gozaburo?"
"It's me... I lost. But I won't go alone."
The vortex of data converged towards its body, causing the demon's shell to swell to ten times its original size in an instant! The sharp claws lunged downward, accompanied by a piercing cry as they tore through the air!
"I want you to come with me!"
Kaiba leaped backward, agilely dodging the strike of the claws. The corridor where he had been standing a moment ago was instantly pierced by the demon's claws, and a wave of data burst forth.
"SEITO!"
Gozaburo's demon continued to roar, attempting to pursue.
"Tch, old ghost, don't you ever give up? Blue-Eyes, now!"
A dazzling white light burst forth from Kaiba, shining brightly like a beacon in the midst of the darkness.
"Burst Stream of Destruction!" Kaiba shouted, "Perish once more, Gozaburo!"
A high-pitched dragon's roar echoed as the white dragon exhaled a burst of destructive white light from its mouth. The entire virtual space was as if pierced by the beam of light, dispersing the endless darkness, and the wave of destruction swept away everything in its path.
As it turned out, the power of sprites was just as effective in virtual space, not to mention the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon," a divine-level sprite that could even rival the three illusory gods of ancient Egypt three thousand years ago.
In the face of such transcendent divine might, Gozaburo's digital undead paled in comparison, and the outline of the proud blood-red demon was mercilessly pierced through.
He let out a final roar of anger, but it, too, was eventually swallowed up by the dragon's roar. The body he had struggled to maintain finally disintegrated in the white light, turning into data streams that vanished completely.
It was over.
A minute later, a flood of data rushed past them. The darkness that surrounded them faded, as if truly banished by the strike of the dragon of light.
Everything that had been constructed by virtual data, the space they occupied, vanished without a trace.
All the virtual scenes disappeared, and after the system shut down, a mix of scents from electronic components and the cooling system filled the air.
The surroundings changed abruptly. Metal racks were neatly arranged on the walls, like silver fortresses guarding the server clusters. Each rack was filled with servers of various sizes, their indicator lights blinking. A faint buzzing filled the air, like a low, rumbling melody from the servers' operation.
They had returned to reality.
Gozaburo Kaiba's digital undead had been defeated once more, and the company's data was quickly taken over by the Kaiba Corporation. From their server data, they also found records proving that the recent hacking attempts on the Kaiba Corporation and International Illusion Society were the work of Gozaburo and the AI under his control.
But now, it was all over.
It wasn't just their research data and information that was taken over; the building's entire inventory of sealed cards was also seized.
This time, Gozaburo seemed to finally realize that military warships and the like were outdated in this world, and that dueling was the true path to power. So, in his efforts to counter Kaiba, he had also collected and independently developed quite a few new cards.
Naturally, all of these now belonged to the Kaiba Corporation.
You Xuan, too, had obtained what he sought on this trip.
First and foremost was the god card, "Future Fusion," a long-banned card from years ago that allowed for violent graveyard stacking. With the expansion of the card pool and the increasing number of fusion monster cards that allowed for free fusion material requirements, this card's value in the modern game would only increase year after year. If it hadn't been nerfed, it might never have seen the light of day again in this lifetime.
In addition, there were quite a few other good cards, and after being added to the Kaiba Corporation's inventory, You Xuan was given the freedom to choose whichever cards he desired. He didn't hold back and selected quite a few cards that piqued his interest.
However, he was surprised to find that the "Destructive Sword" deck that Gozaburo had used to target the dragon tribe so effectively was simply tossed into the inventory.
Naturally, he had no reason not to choose this deck, as it could be considered the ultimate weapon against dragon-type monsters.
The unexpected part was that the CEO didn't seem to mind at all.
But You Xuan could more or less guess what the CEO was thinking.
He just didn't care.
Whether it was targeted or not, whether there were racial attribute counters, he simply didn't care. No matter who used whatever tactics, as long as it was a challenge in the form of a duel, he would accept it without fear.
This was the path of Kaiba Seto.
(End of Chapter)
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