The elimination tournament in Duel City is proceeding fiercely, with the dueling airship continuously moving along.
Speaking of which, Kaiba has truly gone to great lengths to play this card game, even building such a flamboyant and impressive airship to serve as the competition venue.
Moreover, judging by Kaiba's behavior, this airship doesn't even seem to be the final venue for the finals; it's merely the elimination site where the top eight advance to the semi-finals. As the competition proceeds, the airship will continue moving toward another venue that Kaiba has specially arranged.
... Playing cards can take you to the sky, can you believe that?
What's more extravagant is spending so much money on such a grand setup, yet from the qualification rounds to the top eight matches, there's not a single offline audience or live broadcast - no spectators, no tickets sold. Only when the semi-finals at the Sky Arena start will there be an online broadcast.
President Haima's exaggerated approach appears to be trying to snatch the headlines from Grandpa Suzuki from the neighboring detective's film set...
This also shows that the president spent this money purely for personal interest, to put it bluntly, it's a card addiction; he never intended to make money from the start.
The Sky Arena has a broadcast probably also to satisfy the president's desire to show off, bragging to duelists worldwide about his Egyptian God, and letting the world see him defeat Yugi and win the Duel King title.
Of course, President losing to Yugi is a natural law of the Yu-Gi-Oh World, so in the end, the president still loses in the animation.
Therefore, in this tournament, the president spent money, lost the Egyptian God Card, and didn't get the Duel King title, truly losing both money and assets, a complete avalanche...
The top eight matches aren't played one after another; there's a short break between each match.
After watching the game outside the dueling arena, if players are inspired by previous matches, they can modify their card deck and adjust their tactics before going on stage.
Additionally, sometimes after a duel, participants might faint or even die due to various uncontrollable factors. Hence, President Haima cleverly arranged a medical team on the dueling boat in advance.
After all, it's well known that playing cards can be a life-threatening high-risk sport.
However, during Jonouchi and Kaiba's third match, Marik didn't show up to watch.
Actually, like Kaiba, Marik also thinks Jonouchi is just a "talentless duelist," feeling there's no suspense in this game and nothing worth watching.
Moreover, he has more important things to do now.
While everyone was watching from the deck, Marik silently left his room, traversed half the ship, and arrived at the medical room door.
The metallic door slid open automatically in front of him, Marik holding the Millennium Rod, walked into the room with a sinister grin on his face.
Lying in bed is Bakura, who fell into a mysterious coma after losing to Yugi in a Darkness Game.
Marik chuckled as he lightly spun the rod, looking quite lewd, as if seizing the opportunity in the empty medical room to approach comatose Bakura hehehe...
He reached the bedside and rudely uncovered the sheet over Bakura, revealing what was underneath...
... the Millennium Ring.
Ahem, what are you thinking? Marik is a proper villain.
Remember the time in the animation when he brainwashed the pure and beautiful Anzu for so long, making her obey him like a puppet. Though during that time, he ordered Anzu to do nothing more than wander around, run errands, deliver messages...
... That's it.
This shows Marik Ishtar is a virtuous villain with upright principles and no perverse intentions, unlike those lowly internet users who flood scenes with brainwashing screaming for "the possibility here" and lust over others...
So here, Marik is only after Bakura's Millennium Ring.
Yet surprisingly, Bakura— or the Great Evil God Sock, suddenly awoke.
The Millennium Ring emitted a golden divine ray, bouncing Marik away from the bedside. Bakura sat up alertly, glaring at Marik with an expression saying "What are you trying to do?".
Marik squinted his eyes: "You guy... you lost in the Darkness Game and haven't been eliminated?"
"Humph." Bakura snorted haughtily, "Who do you think I am? Just a mere game of Darkness is all."
Marik frowned without speaking.
Losing in the Darkness Game yet escaping its punishment... he'd heard of such things but never witnessed them.
Indeed, the Darkness Game is somewhat idealistic; rather than physical strength, spiritual power is key.
Take Dark Marik in the animation; bullets and lasers were ineffective with the Millennium Rod in hand, and he could casually destroy a heap of advanced automated defense robots. (Noah arc)
Yet no matter how high his dark powers are, his Darkness Game couldn't sanction the invincible Jonouchi. Jonouchi, knocked down by Marik, soon hopped off the hospital bed lively.
But Bakura before Marik now is entirely different from Jonouchi's situation.
Not due to outstanding spiritual power but simply because he's extraordinarily resilient.
Bakura is likely the one who lost the most in Darkness Games in the entire animation series. He lost to Yugi several times, lost once to Dark Marik, taking direct attacks from Slifer the Sky Dragon and The Winged Dragon of Ra in Darkness Games...
... Yet still unscathed, ready to incite trouble again next time.
"Hey, hey, aren't we allies?" Bakura taunted, "What do you mean by sneaking here to molest me?"
"Humph, because I've changed my mind." Marik said, "Seeing you defeated by Yugi, your power seems mediocre; I have no reason to continue collaborating with you.
But there's indeed considerable strength hidden within your Millennium Ring, which might aid me."
"So you're saying you want to rob me?" Bakura sneered.
"That's right." Marik raised the Millennium Rod, looking supremely confident.
Clearly, Marik hasn't realized the severity of the issue...
"Then bring it on!" Bakura showed an aggressive smile, as the ring shining on his chest emitted a glorious divine halo.
After all, dueling isn't within Great Evil God Sock's expertise; in the original work, he nearly never won against significant figures...
However, directly fighting people is his forte. Remember back in Duelist Kingdom, Bakura directly used brute force to pry the Millennium Eyes out of Pegasus' eye, cleverly skipping the dueling sequence.
Sure enough, the duel between two dark powers wasn't long before Marik was utterly dominated by the Millennium Ring's power.
"... how's this possible!?" Marik was stunned, "Such vast dark power... stronger than our last encounter! Who on earth is he? Could his ring's power surpass my Millennium Rod?"
Being unable to defeat someone in a card game was tolerable, but now he seemingly can't even match up in a direct fight!
"Hehehe."
Bakura laughed smugly, pressing closer as the Millennium Ring unleashed immense terrifying energy, filling the room like roaring sea waves.
Marik gritted his teeth, barely maintaining a thin golden transparent shield to block, but he was already cornered.
Weak, pitiful, and helpless.
Even somewhat wanting to shout...
... please don't come over!!!
Yet there's still a chance!
Though his dark power is insufficient, the Millennium Rod has special abilities that the ring doesn't!
Seeing Bakura feeling victorious, seeming to have lowered his guard, Marik's pupils shrank, and he thrust the rod forward—
— It's now!
Carrying Marik's consciousness, the artifact's light launched a surprise attack, piercing through the ring's barriers with the target being... Bakura's brain!
Bakura suddenly sensed an intrusion and exclaimed, fierce-faced: "You scoundrel!"
"Hahahaha!" Already inside Bakura's consciousness, Marik laughed heartily, "Bakura, I'm in!"