"Elemental Hero Airman," Youyu repeated, still wearing a "You can't possibly not have this, can you?" expression.
Marik: "..."
Luckily, while talking to Youyu, there was a puppet in between, so Marik's actual expression and reaction were unseen. Otherwise, Youyu would see the newly ascended Underworld leader looking thoroughly frustrated.
Right now, Marik's reaction was much like that of a hard-of-hearing gatekeeper—
What Airman?
What hero?
What Air Hero?
No wonder he felt embarrassed; being the chief of the world's largest counterfeit card business, he had just bragged that his place had every card imaginable, and then along comes one he's never even heard of...
"Ahem, our Ghouls group's deck is very comprehensive, with a wide variety. Some names inevitably slip my mind. Could you describe the card you mentioned in more detail?"
Of course, it was no pressure for Youyu. The Airman's effect was engraved in every Hero player's DNA; they could recite it backward.
"Level 4, Warrior-Type monster, Attack 1800, Defense 300, possesses two special abilities. Upon successful summon, you can choose to add a monster with 'Hero' in its name from your deck to your hand, or destroy magic trap cards on the field based on the number of 'Hero' monsters present."
Marik fell into deep thought.
With his extensive experience dealing with people, Marik felt the other person was not fooling him. From the detailed card description given so swiftly, he thought this card might really exist.
Yet he truly had no idea...
But surprisingly, Youyu seemed quite easygoing: "If you really don't have it, it's fine. I have other needs as well. My Dark Magician is also a main battle force; I happen to be missing some complementary cards..."
At hearing this, Marik immediately perked up: "As for the Dark Magician series, we've got everything in our Ghouls! Tell me, which card do you need?"
"Let me think," Youyu pondered slightly, "Then... how about a 'Dark Magic Circle'?"
"Dark Magic...what?" Marik felt like he was going deaf again.
What might that be?
"Continuous Magic Card, key to the Dark Magician deck... don't have this either? Never mind. What about 'Eternal Soul'? You must have this, right?
...still don't have it? Alright, alright, how about a 'Dark Burning Magic'?
What? Don't tell me you don't even have this one? Can't be, can't be!
What kind of crappy group are you running here? How can you not have any of these rip-off cards?
You don't even know how to print your own cards, spending all day printing some meaningless cards, no wonder you can't beat Yugi..."
The image of a gold eye on top of Pandora's head flickered slightly, seemingly from Marik's near angry disconnection.
He said gloomily: "So, are you saying you don't plan on joining us?"
"No plans, I think your group is destined to fail." Youyu shrugged.
Marik let out a heavy snort.
Though before contact, he was quite certain Youyu would turn down his offer, he never imagined he'd be so enraged upon rejection.
"Fine, then don't regret this choice," Marik said coldly, "Your decision will incur the wrath of the gods. Not only that, but your weak organization, including that second-rate Dark Duelist Tosawa, will all become the darkness's...
...what are you doing!?"
Marik couldn't help but pause midway.
Because at that moment, Youyu had already taken a Shooting Star stride right before the body Marik was remotely controlling with big steps, and had already lifted his arm.
Then, quite brazenly in front of Marik, he lifted Pandora's Duel Disc and without a word pulled out the entire deck...
Marik looked down at the empty Duel Disc in his hand, falling into a long silence.
This guy, did he actually... pull out my deck while I was talking tough???
Seriously...
Even adding to Yue Hua's live stream chat was buzzing.
"666666, didn't expect someone to pull out of the deck halfway through a conversation."
"I am willing to call him the strongest!"
"I'm dying of laughter, Rare Card Hunter can't even compete in stealing cards red-red-fire-fire-stunned..."
"Fake Rare Card Hunter: must win the duel and obediently take one card. True Rare Card Hunter: I don't even care about the dialogue; I just pull out the deck..."
Youyu shook the deck of cards in his hand and explained: "Oh, according to Duel City rules, winning allows you to take a card. But since a large part of this is fake cards, I can't quickly figure out which one is real, so I'll just take them back to select slowly.
Don't worry, I'm a man of my word; if we meet again by chance, I'll return the leftovers after selection..."
Is it excessive? Youyu felt he wasn't excessive at all.
After winning the second round against Pandora, the system task reward granted him another Dark Magician, but being the task reward, and following the betting rules of Duel City, he still had the right to take one Rare Card from Pandora.
Actually, he felt a bit sorry for Pandora's immediate KO after the duel, as it meant he'd lose his chance to beat Pandora a third time, and consequently, lose his third Dark Magician...
Though Pandora's deck was likely more than half fake cards, even taking them back as junk still provided some minimal returns.
What? You say the rules only permit one card, any excess is a foul?
Perhaps you forgot, Youyu isn't just a contestant, he's also a consultant in Kaiba Company's Duel Monster department, nearly a half-official of the tournament.
As an organizer, discovering the opponent's suspected use of fake cards during a match, so temporarily taking the deck back for inspection and review, no problem, right?
In any case, he personally didn't see a problem...
At that moment, remotely controlling Pandora from elsewhere was Marik, with his forehead full of '井' characters typical in manga.
Marik manipulated Pandora to raise his arm, furiously pointing at Youyu: "You're all brazen now, thinking you'd be safe hiding under the protection of that second-rate Nightwalker World organization, as if I wouldn't dare touch you.
Don't be too proud of yourself! I'm telling you, right here, Duel City will be your grave! Just wait, I'm about to..."
The words were not yet finished, seeing Youyu have turned back, casually stripping the Duel Disc from his raised arm.
Marik: "........"
Arghhh I'm so furious! How can there be such a shameless Duelist!!!
"You, you, you..."
Pandora's body raised a finger pointing at Youyu, infuriated and seeming like trying to say something, but unable to speak out in the end and fell straight down, shook twice and fainted out.
Youyu: "..."
Marik... hope I didn't really kill you out of anger?
The live stream chat at this moment blossomed with joy.
"66666, getting mad to the point of fainting is something."
"Historical parallels have Kong Ming angering to death Zhou Yu, now there's Yan Yi Wang's spontaneous explosion..."
Too exaggerated to truly die, yet Marik indeed exploded with anger, and accidentally disconnected from Pandora's mind control in agitation, directly going offline.
Though the disconnecting so abruptly made it appear as if he died of sheer anger was quite comical...
At the moment, far away outside Domino City, Marik was shaking with rage sitting on a stone-chair,.
His most loyal and muscular subordinate Rishid approached: "Lord Marik..."
Bang!
That was the sound of the Millennium Rod in Marik's hand hitting the floor hard, sparks flying off the golden cane's end.
"The plan has changed," Marik said in a deep voice, "We're heading to Domino now."
Was he heartbroken over the cards Youyu took, or the Duel Disc?
Not at all, their Ghouls couldn't care less about such trifles.
What angered him was the other's attitude.
To dare snatch away a Duelist's most crucial cards and Duel Disc, how could such a scum be fit to call himself a Duelist!
So pondered the head of the world's largest card robbery group/counterfeit card publishing group, Marik Ishtar.