Chapter 40

"The duel is over. The winner is Chiyuki Hoshino!"

<Victory detected. Assessing duelist level.>

<You have two unread system messages.>

Mai Valentine, tears in her eyes, exclaimed, "She won! Chiyuki really won."

"Hoshino!~" Yugi and his friends, following the light from Excalibur, finally arrived at the scene.

"Was Hoshino dueling?" Yugi asked concernedly, watching Hoshino jump off the dueling platform. "I wonder what the result was."

"Isn't it obvious?" Jounouchi clapped Yugi on the shoulder, answering first. "There's no way Hoshino would lose to a novice like him."

"Clearly, you're the most novice here," Anzu thought to herself, rolling her eyes at Jounouchi.

Hoshino, having jumped off the platform, slowly approached the still-dazed Scar Man and snatched the six star chips from the table. "These are Mai's six stars. It's best to return things won through such underhanded tactics."

Playing with the metallic stars, Hoshino turned and walked towards the waiting Mai.

" Hoshino, be careful!!" Suddenly, Mai's face turned to horror, and she screamed loudly.

The events happened too quickly for anyone to react. Infuriated by his loss, Scar Man abandoned all semblance of honor as a duelist, pulled out a large dagger, and charged at Chiyuki.

"Don't be too cocky, girl! I'll show you what happens when you anger me!" he roared, thrusting the dagger towards Hoshino's back.

Hoshino, unaware of the attack, could only infer what was happening from the horrified expressions of Mai and Yugi. "Oh no, did I go too far with the taunting?" she thought, her body trembling with fear, unable to move.

At this critical moment, the Millennium Bracelet on Hoshino's wrist emitted a blinding light in the darkness.

"Master, look out!" The semi-transparent Mash materialized, raising her massive shield to block Scar Man's strike.

Scar Man, unable to see Mash, felt like he'd collided with an invisible wall.

"How can this be?" he grunted, pushing with all his might but unable to get any closer to Hoshino. "I've never been so humiliated! I have to kill this girl today..."

"How dare you attack our master!" The half-phantom Okita appeared, her eyes filled with rage. "Instant Movement! Then... Mumyō Sandan-Zuki."

With three rapid strikes, too fast for the naked eye to see, Scar Man was silenced and fell to the ground, rolling his eyes back.

"Another flawless kill from the most stylish and powerful Okita," she said, sheathing her sword and giving a V-sign before gradually fading away.

"Mash, Okita..." Hoshino, who had been on the brink of death, felt immense relief seeing the two servants.

"Be careful next time, master. The energy stored in the bracelet can't keep us materialized for long. We jumped out without your permission because it was an emergency," Mash explained, her body also starting to fade.

"Ha, I'm the servant that uses the least energy? That makes me sound weak," Okita grumbled, trying to maintain her cool pose but failing and coughing up blood.

"Thank you! I love you both!" Chiyuki Hoshino called out, watching the two disappear.

As Mai, shaken by the events, finally regained her composure, she rushed to Chiyuki. " Hoshino, are you okay?"

"Mai, I was so scared!" Chiyuki cried, burying her face in Mai's chest, rubbing against her and letting a small smile play at her lips.

Mai, feeling a tingling sensation from Chiyuki's actions, gasped but gently patted her head in comfort.

"Hoshino!" Anzu arrived, feeling an inexplicable annoyance at the scene.

Sensing a tense atmosphere, Chiyuki quickly looked up at Anzu with a pitiful expression.

"Anzu, just now...!" she cried, throwing herself into Anzu's arms and recounting the events.

"Don't cry, it's okay," Anzu comforted her, understanding Chiyuki's fear after hearing the story.

"That bastard! How dare he do this to Hoshino!" Jounouchi, having heard the story too, angrily kicked the unconscious Scar Man.

"But why did he suddenly collapse?" Yugi asked, puzzled.

"Who knows?" Chiyuki said, scratching her head awkwardly. "Maybe he couldn't handle the stress."

At that moment, several black-clad figures emerged from the bushes.

"Apologies, we received orders from Master Pegasus to take this man back to the castle dungeon," one of them said, preparing to drag Scar Man away.

"You're too late! Do you know how dangerous it was just now?" Mai scolded, unable to contain her anger. "How could you let such a dangerous person participate in an official match? I will file a complaint!"

"Apologies, miss. This was indeed our oversight," the lead figure bowed deeply, his face full of regret.

Seeing their sincerity, Mai relented a bit. "Humph, you should be apologizing to Chiyuki Hoshino, not me."

"Deepest apologies, Miss Chiyuki Hoshino," the man said, bowing again.

"It's okay, Mai. Nothing terrible happened, so let's leave it at that," Chiyuki said, not wanting to blame them entirely since she had indeed provoked Scar Man excessively during the duel.

...

In Pegasus's castle dungeon:

"I am Master Pegasus's designated duelist! Let me out! I need to see Pegasus!" Scar Man, now conscious and aware of his situation, grasped the cold bars and shouted.

In the silent, empty dungeon, his roars echoed, accompanied only by the eerie sound of a distant bell.

"Why is there a bell in a dungeon?" Sensing something was wrong, Scar Man, who had been roaring angrily, suddenly felt a chill of fear and instinctively huddled in a corner.

A terrifying figure in a skull mask, dragging a large sword, slowly emerged from the darkness...

"Dost thou hear the tolling of the bell?"