The intense Puzzle Card competition in the preliminary round has basically come to an end. Youyu placed the six collected Puzzle Cards on the Duel Disc, and the projection of the six cards formed a map in mid-air, seemingly indicating a specific coordinate in Domino City.
Following the guidance of the map, Youyu quickly found the location pointed to by the coordinates, which was also the starting point of the Duel City finals venue.
The reason it's called a starting point is that Youyu knows it's not the true final venue. Kaiba Company will wait there for the first eight duelists to arrive. Once all eight are gathered, the organizers will send out hovering Duel Boats to welcome everyone to board.
Next, they will fly toward the real final venue while dueling in the air, completing the quarterfinal elimination to determine the final four finalists.
Youyu seemed to be the second person to arrive at the finals venue. The first to arrive was naturally Kaiba Seto, the owner of the tournament's organizing company.
Speaking of which, Youyu had secretly wondered, if Kaiba really couldn't secure a spot in the top eight, would the organizers dare to eliminate their own boss?
There's always a feeling that there might be some backstage manipulation...
Ahem, of course, bias takes precedence, and now, no matter what, Youyu counts as half a member of the tournament organizers. Even if there were some manipulation, naturally, he wouldn't have any issues.
To speak of it, he was on the same helicopter as Kaiba when flying over...
Even though after defeating the Mask of Light and Dark both of them had collected six Puzzle Cards, it wasn't hard to imagine that Kaiba would definitely not actively invite others to ride his helicopter.
The Kaiba Group's helicopter landed, and the president swung his trench coat and strode toward the helicopter. Following closely behind him, Youyu very "consciously" followed him on board...
...Sure enough, the president just glanced at him without saying a word, implicitly allowing it.
At this point, the onlookers naturally couldn't follow any further. However, after seeking the president's personal consent, Youyu allowed his tool, Miss Yue Hua, to continue following along.
After all, she was practically his mobile camera, and he planned to take the streamer lady aboard the Duel Boat to broadcast the entire journey.
Plus, at this moment, she was still holding onto the Ghouls's Duel Disc that Youyu had snatched...
Strictly speaking, when Youyu sought the president's opinion, the president said nothing, just turned his head with a "hmph." So Youyu assumed that was approval.
At this moment, Miss Yue Hua's mood was beyond excitement. She felt like her heart was like 108 little deer running around everywhere... which sounded like a traffic accident scene?
Being in the same cockpit with Youyu and President Kaiba!
Can anyone else have this treatment?
No, right?
The helicopter arrived at the designated location for the semifinals as the sun neared the horizon.
As expected, they were the first two contestants on-site.
The third qualifying contestant appeared about twenty minutes later.
He was a tall, dark-skinned contestant with stylish white hair and sharp eyes...
...Could it be Marik?
According to the anime plot, Marik hid his identity when boarding the boat, but now he didn't. Standing there openly holding the Millennium Rod was tantamount to explicitly stating, "I am Marik, come at me if you dare."
Kaiba waved grandly: "Marik! I could disqualify you from the competition right now as an organizer, but as a duelist, I'll at least give you this chance! I will defeat you openly and take the Divine Card from you!"
Marik smiled, with a confident look, staying silent, as if everything was under his control.
Youyu glanced at him and said nothing.
Actually, how could he not know Marik's little schemes? Marik came mainly to snatch the Divine Card and was also plotting to find an opportunity to use the Millennium Rod to brainwash Kaiba, seize Obelisk, and learn Kaiba's secret.
If Marik's simple plan succeeded, Youyu thought he could change his last name to Marik right then.
Not to mention, with Kaiba's temperament, Marik trying to earn his trust and find a chance to act is something he might have to wait for in his next life. Moreover, even if Marik seizes such an opportunity, this plan is unlikely to succeed.
To be fair, Youyu really wanted to see what Marik using the Millennium Rod to brainwash the president would be like. Kaiba's true identity is the reincarnation of Priest Seto from three thousand years ago. Three thousand years ago, the Millennium Rod belonged to Priest Seto. On the tablets unearthed in Egypt from that epic battle, the Millennium Rod was in Priest Seto's hand.
Moreover, in the anime, during Kaiba's critical moment in a duel, the Millennium Rod, clearly in Marik's hand, didn't obey him, and secretly assisted Kaiba to cheat and rewrite the destined defeat.
This shows that the Rod seems to prefer its old owner, having no strong feelings for the new one.
If the unsuspecting Marik foolishly used the Millennium Rod on Kaiba, and the Rod rebelled on the spot to help Kaiba retrieve the memories of his past life's priesthood, it would be hilarious...
Bakura arrived after Marik, the vessel possessed by the Great Evil God Sok.
To say the least, this guy has quite the skill. Even though it was almost night by the time he started participating in the Duel City Tournament, he somehow managed to collect six Puzzle Cards in no time.
According to the original plot, Marik should also have sent his subordinate, Rishid, to impersonate himself in the competition, but at this point, that guy hadn't shown up.
Youyu speculated that it might be because Rishid had already confronted him before and had his identity exposed, or perhaps because the big guy had one "Temple of the Kings" taken from him and was too disheartened...
After a while, the next to appear was a mature, graceful woman in a white robe, wearing a veil.
Like Marik, she had dark skin, walked with elegant confidence, her gaze wise and insightful, as if a faint water curtain veiled her, able to perceive everything.
That was Ishizu Ishtar, Marik's sister.
Marik's heart skipped a beat the moment he saw his sister, and his eyes turned sharp. However, before he had a chance to say hello, he saw his sister walk past him as if she didn't see him, pulling out six Puzzle Cards to show to Kaiba as an organizer.
Kaiba "hmph-ed" and nodded, and Ishizu put away the Puzzle Cards and stood aside quietly.
She didn't even raise her eyes to look at Marik the whole time.
Marik felt displeased, wanting to step forward and question her, but ultimately held back, also standing aside without saying anything.
With this, the contestants on the scene were Youyu, Kaiba, Marik, Bakura, and Ishizu—a total of five, leaving only three spots.
Although President Kaiba appeared silent on the surface, he had actually begun worrying about a particular focus in his mind.
What are you delaying for, Yugi? Why haven't you arrived yet?
You can't be the kind of duelist that can't even make it to this stage, right?
...So, what's Yugi doing now?
With so many having collected six Puzzle Cards, the true protagonist, Yugi Muto, was, of course, not an exception.
He had six Puzzle Cards in hand and had met up with Kujaku Mai and Jonouchi, who also had collected Puzzle Cards, and they were heading together toward the semifinals location.
...They just encountered a bit of surprise along the way.
A foreign uncle in a white suit suddenly sprang up from somewhere—reportedly a Hollywood movie star—clinging to Kujaku Mai, pestering her to go back with him to be his wife...
This uncle claimed he fell in love with Mai at first sight. He wanted to challenge her with a duel. If Mai lost, she'd have to go back with him to be his wife...
Kujaku Mai turned her eyes, ready to refuse without even thinking.
Kidding, why should I become your wife if I lose?
Besides, Sister Mai's entire mind is now on Jonouchi by her side, she's wholly uninterested in Hollywood stars...
"So handsome, Mai! A Hollywood star is actually chasing after you!" Jonouchi, on the other hand, was excited, "I think marrying him isn't bad, this way, when I bragged, I could say my friend's husband is a star hahaha!"
Mai: "........."