"What's going on?!" With his powerful, almost superhuman, sense of balance, Kaiba stabilized himself without needing to grab the handrail. He turned his head and shouted at Croquet, who was gripping the handrail tightly with both hands.
"Stabilize this Airship immediately!"
"And what's going on? Who shut down the Duel System?!"
"This is completely unexpected! It's nothing like what we were told!" Mokuba gripped the handrail tightly with both hands, complaining.
Because Hayato had previously paid 2000 Life Points to activate [Red Reboot], his lifting platform had risen. To ensure a suitable viewing area, the Audience Seating had also ascended a section, positioning them between Kaiba and his two companions, and Hayato.
During that sudden tremor, Mokuba had lost his balance and fallen from his seat, almost dropping out of the Audience Seating.
"P-President!" Croquet stammered. "The pilot reported that the Airship's automatic navigation system had just made an automatic adjustment to its flight path, diverting it from the preset route."
"However, no one manually operated the Airship, neither to shut down the Duel System nor to correct the automatic navigation system's course!"
Kaiba's expression changed. "Are you trying to say that the automatic navigation system tampered with the preset route on its own accord?"
"Th-That's what it means." Croquet adjusted the communicator at his ear. After listening to the pilot's report through his earpiece, he continued, "The cockpit crew has already tried, but the modified flight path is locked and cannot be changed again. They speculate that a super-hacker might have infiltrated the Airship's network."
"Damn it!"
This time, it wasn't Kaiba who spoke, but Hayato, still suspended in mid-air. "Hacking KaibaCorp's firewall is one thing, but to interfere with a sacred Duel's progress is unforgivable!"
With a perfect opening hand for his Mill/Graveyard Control Deck, he was just one card away from the winning move. At this moment, Hayato felt as if he had become one with Kalin, truly experiencing the frustration of a sure victory slipping through his fingers due to an absurd, game-stopping interruption.
Joey shivered, looking at the fury on Hayato's face. "Hayato has such a terrifying expression for the first time. It's like a meat fanatic who had fasted for a week, just as he was about to savor a T-bone steak placed before him, only for someone to snatch away the plate, knife, and fork."
Whether it was an illusion or not, the lines on Joey's face seemed to become much more expressive as he spoke.
"This Seeding Match before the Semi-finals is hereby suspended."
Kaiba, his duel addiction slightly appeased but not fully satisfied, his already haughty face grim, announced loudly to those present. Ever since they boarded the Airship, the Duel Disk's Solid Vision System had already been taken over by the airship's large projection device. Now, with the Duel System powered off, this Seeding Match could no longer continue.
Because the power was off, Hayato even had to jump from the lifting platform to the Audience Seating, then slide down to solid ground with everyone else using the emergency ropes provided in the Audience Seating.
"Contestants, please return to your respective waiting rooms for now. The Seeding Match will be rescheduled later." Croquet adjusted the sunglasses on his nose and said. Although he had been startled by the sudden incident, due to his professional demeanor, he forced himself to remain calm.
"Croquet, take me to the main control room." Kaiba said with a scowl on his face. He then led the way towards the main control room, with Croquet accompanying him, and Mokuba quickly followed.
"Should we go with them?" Joey suggested, watching Kaiba leave. "It doesn't feel good not knowing what's going on. If we go, maybe we can help out."
Hayato, meanwhile, looked at Tristan, Téa, and Serenity Wheeler, who were still shaken, and said, "Tristan, Duke Devlin, the task of escorting the ladies back to their rooms falls to you two."
"Oh, don't worry, leave Serenity Wheeler to me, I'll protect her!" both said in unison.
Joey retorted playfully, "That's precisely why I don't trust you two to look after my sister!"
The group split into two. Yugi, Hayato, and Joey followed Kaiba, rushing towards the main control room, while Tristan, Duke Devlin, Téa, Serenity Wheeler, and Ishizu returned together to the waiting rooms.
Although Ishizu initially wanted to go to the main control room with Hayato and the others, considering that few of the ladies had self-preservation skills — specifically, Dueling ability — Hayato had asked Ishizu to stay behind and protect them.
Hurrying to the main control room, Hayato and the others saw a huge screen at the front of the room. On it, a black dot appeared on the horizon and rapidly grew larger.
The Airship's altered course seemed to be pointing directly at that black dot.
On the navigation map in front of the pilot, in the other direction from that unknown black dot, was a specially marked waypoint named "Devil's Island." That was the Airship's original final destination for this voyage.
Kaiba had originally planned to hold the Battle City Finals and Semi-finals there, but with the Airship's route now altered, who knew when they would be able to reach it.
Kaiba, greatly displeased by this, stood behind the nervous, sweating pilot and said sharply, "Still can't change it? Hmph!"
"S-Sorry, President!" The pilot said, his fingers rapidly dancing over the complex control system. Yet the Airship's course still pointed directly at the mysterious black dot. "Even switching to manual control failed."
"Something's not right, big brother." Meanwhile, Mokuba connected his laptop to the control system. Lines of code flew across his screen. "The takeover of control systems throughout the Airship happened with less than a second's difference. The firewall I personally programmed didn't do anything. Could a human really do this?"
Kaiba's face was also grim. Both brothers were true geniuses, but their talents gravitated towards different fields based on their preferences. Compared to Kaiba, who excelled in research and strategic command, Mokuba's talent lay primarily in the field of information technology; even Kaiba couldn't compare to Mokuba's mastery of network technology.
Ordinarily, the firewall Mokuba programmed would be impenetrable even to many ordinary hackers combined, yet it couldn't even delay this mysterious hacker's intrusion for a second?
"Not only that, President, I sent a distress signal towards Devil's Island," the pilot said, wiping away the beads of sweat. "But Devil's Island rejected our signal access."
"Not only the Airship's control systems, but our communications have also been hijacked. Our current situation is just like a snow-bound mountain villa in a mystery novel, completely cut off from all outside communication!"
"Clap, clap, clap."
In the main control room, a round of applause suddenly echoed. The large screen, which had previously displayed the view from the front of the Airship, flickered with distorted lines. A somewhat unfamiliar, yet vaguely familiar, figure appeared on the screen, smiling casually and applauding.
It was a young boy, no more than ten years old. Although his hair was a vibrant green, different from Kaiba's brown hair, it was astonishing that the child's face was an exact replica of Kaiba's, as if cast from the same mold!?
"He looks exactly like big brother when he was a kid?!" Mokuba, his eyes wide, looked at Kaiba. "C-Could it be—"
"Big brother, do you actually have a child already?"
"Idiot, I'm only nineteen!" Even if it was his own brother, Kaiba retorted mercilessly against such a slander to his reputation. His eyes fixed on the person on the screen. "You're the one who controlled the Airship and is trying to kill us, huh?!"
Looking at the young boy on the screen who shared his exact face, Kaiba found it incredibly jarring, especially since the guy's hair was green. Is that really a normal hair color?
Evidently, Kaiba still hadn't gotten used to the strange hairstyles and hair colors in this world.
"No, Seto, I wouldn't be willing to kill you off just like that. That would be so boring." A mysterious smile hung on the boy's face. "I merely wanted to play an interesting game with you all. But considering you're such an eccentric fellow, you'd likely refuse my invitation, which is why I specifically took control of the entire Airship."
"Still, the Airship's firewall was pretty strong. I was just a hair's breadth away from failing to breach it." As he spoke, the boy raised a finger, making a "finger-tip universe" gesture. "So first, by normal etiquette, I should introduce myself, right?"
"My name is Noah. My full name is Kaiba Noah, a being who surpasses you in every way. Seto, you are merely my substitute."
"Kaiba, Noah." Kaiba repeated the name, his expression turning ugly, his tone laced with fury. "Spouting such nonsense, and daring to play such a joke on me!"
"I'm not joking, Kaiba; I'll prove it to you right away." Noah's face was still full of smiles. "But before that, allow me to invite you, Seto, and all the Duelists to my side."
As Noah's voice momentarily faded, the screen returned to the view from the front of the Airship. Only then did everyone see that during their conversation, the Airship had significantly closed the distance to the black dot on the horizon. The true form of the black dot was finally revealed.
It was clearly a colossal military fortress that had just emerged from beneath the waves. Complete with aircraft runways, close-in weapon systems, radar sonar, missile launch bays, and more, it was undeniably a mobile war fortress!
(end of chapter)