Somewhere, in a dimly lit room.
Bang!
A sound of something being shattered on the floor.
"Fools! Idiots! A bunch of useless trash!"
The man in white angrily kicked the table, causing the long table to topple over, its contents clattering to the ground.
"Professor... calm down, professor..."
"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down?"
Professor Mackenzie from the American Duel Academy, the true form of Tragodia, furiously turned and glared at the two subordinates behind him.
The two of them couldn't help but lower their heads under his gaze, not daring to make eye contact.
"I gave you instructions, clear instructions. And I gave you power, enough to rival the world's top experts."
He raised his voice, almost roaring.
"And then? Is this how you repay me?"
"Such simple orders, such simple instructions—can't you understand them?"
"Do you have to go up and give them away?"
"Giving them away is bad enough, but taking the cards and power I bestowed upon you with it?"
Yes, he was angry that Alinora had given them away, and just incidentally handed over Mercury too.
Even the Little Lobster wasn't aware of every move made by every person he controlled. Otherwise, in the comic, Mizuki wouldn't have been able to make plans to break free from Little Lobster and challenge Professor Hibiki alone.
By now, several cards from the Planet Series had already been given away.
He felt like he was some sort of star-giving messenger boy.
This is no exaggeration.
Since waking in modern times, Little Lobster discovered that the legendary Planet Series was linked to him, and subsequently used every means, exhausting resources to collect the nine cards of the Planet Series worldwide.
Indeed, back when the Planet Series was born, it was universally acknowledged that there were nine planets, so naturally, there were nine cards in the series. If it were released today, it would naturally become eight cards.
In fact, even with Tragodia's capabilities, collecting these nine cards was by no means easy.
The nine cards were scattered amongst different people, in different regions and countries. For someone as famous as Hibiki Momiji, a renowned duelist known for the Planet Series as her trump card, it would be fine to go directly and seize it by sheer strength.
The more troublesome ones were some of the cardholders who hardly showed themselves and never made it known they possessed a Planet Series card. Therefore, Little Lobster had to investigate worldwide, searching for whose hands those cards had fallen into.
Fortunately, Little Lobster had a knack for manipulating minds, adept in mind reading, mind control, and extracting the information he wanted through interrogations, easily acquiring all sorts of intelligence that was difficult for ordinary people to obtain.
Even so, it took him a long time and considerable resources to gather the few cards he held.
Afterward, he carefully selected duelists he favored and handed a few Planet Series cards to his subordinates as their trump cards.
The Planet Series was not only a powerful set of cards but also a card container with the best resonance with Little Lobster. He sealed his power within these cards, boosting the power of his trusted subordinates, while also enabling him to invade their bodies and control them at any time.
And yet, in the blink of an eye, these useless individuals had given away several of them.
The planets he painstakingly collected over so long, was it all for nothing for the Duel King after all!?
I'm furious, absolutely furious!
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Little Lobster let out a roar, and dark energy burst from his body, faintly manifesting his true form's shadow. The rampant, invisible force shattered all the tables and chairs in the room, leaving the two subordinates struggling to breathe under the pressure.
But the two of them kept their heads down, not daring to make a sound, silently enduring while their boss vented his anger.
After a moment, the storm subsided. Tragodia seemed to have vented enough, calming down as he stepped back, looking as if he wanted to sit at the table and catch his breath.
But as he began to sit, he suddenly realized the chair had been pulverized by his earlier rage, leaving nowhere to sit. Awkwardly pausing mid-air for a second, he let out another heavy snort before standing upright again.
The two subordinates also kept their heads down, not daring to speak.
"Mercury has already fallen into enemy hands." He said coldly, "We must make a change. We cannot continue like this."
He turned his gaze on the two, his eyes flashing coldly.
"I said do not approach Duel Academy Island for now." He said in a low voice, "And do not seek out Joey Wheeler either. Wait for my instructions.
If anyone else acts on their own without following my instructions, they will become my nourishment."
"Understood, Professor." One subordinate quickly bowed his head.
Another said, "But Professor... haven't we already discovered that what we're looking for, Bai Yu's elf and Maut's feather... they're all on Academy Island, aren't they?
Don't we need to take them back..."
Tragodia pondered for a few seconds.
Then he got up, walked to the window, deep and profound light hidden in his dark pupils.
"Seto Kaiba seems to be the reincarnation of one of those detestable Seven Divine Officials from long ago."
"Huh?"
The two subordinates were both confused, perhaps struggling to follow this leap.
"Hmph."
Tragodia snorted heavily, placing his hands behind his back.
"Seto Kaiba's group seems to be half of today's Dueling Realm." He said with a cold smile, "Interesting. Just right, I haven't settled accounts with Pharaoh and those priests from back then yet."
Saying this, he paused for a moment before bursting out in laughter.
The two subordinates looked at each other, worry plastered on their faces.
The professor wouldn't... be sending them to confront Seto Kaiba next, would he?
Me take on Kaiba?
Really?
...
...
At the same time, Duel Academy Island.
In the dense forest, vines and weeds partly covered the mouth of a dry well. The traces of time marked the well's wall with mottled imprints, with moss growing over them. Dim light barely penetrated the well's entrance and seeped into the depths, but it vanished like a stone sunk into the sea.
And in this cold and damp underworld sat several figures.
"Really?"
A short, thin man sitting on the ground spoke in a low voice.
"The boss is coming? Really?"
"Finally, after all this time waiting... I thought the boss had forgotten about us."
This time, the speaker was a tall, burly man.
"Finally, we get to start our work." He said gruffly, "This time the mission sure took a long while."
On a stone on the other side sat a woman, gently waving a whip in her hand.
"Steal nothing from the poor!"
"Honor the Thief's Three Principles!" chimed a man with glasses.
"Even thieves have honor, to restore the glory of being a thief, it is our duty!"
"This is——"
The four of them raised their weapons in their hands, touching them in midair, making a show of unity, and spoke in unison.
"The Black Scorpion Thief Gang!"