Earth 299

Great Drake Hall was filled to the brim in a way it hadn't been in nearly a decade and a half.

Lord Seto had not been one for feasts and pageantry, believing it to be a waste of good coin. He sought only to improve his realm, to see it grow stronger and the people secure. Many of the trinkets his father had gathered had been sold off to fund his many projects and that had won him the love of the smallfolk and some minor grumbles from his bannermen. But he hadn't cared… it was his nature to think little of those around him who did not contribute. And besides, even if he had been one for trinkets items that reminded him of his father, the man who had dishonored his wife and taken Seto's mother as a pleasure slave, were the last thing he'd have wanted.

So Great Drake Hall and its grand ballrooms had lain empty for 12 years.

But no longer.

Lord Seto was dead; killed by his own traitorous advisors on orders of his exiled half brother. Lord Noah had only ruled for 6 months though, his plot with King Atem of House Muto brought crashing down by a sellsword of all people. A stranger to the lands.

A stranger who was now being judged by the gathered lords.

Ser Espa had risen from his chair, waving his hand in the man's direction. He wasn't in chains and he had been treated quite fairly despite killing a Dueling Lord… but the question remained what to do with him.

"We are thankful for his service," Ser Espa declared. "Were it not for him many of us would be hiding behind our gates, wondering if our castles would be the next to fall. But-"

"And that is why he should be rewarded!" Lord Mako shouted.

"You are not of these lands, my lord," Ser Espa said. "You are here as a curtsey." Ser Espa looked back to the sellsword who sat quietly in the chair at the table closest to the High Table. "The same as this sellsword."

"If it were not for that sellsword my men and I would not have summoned our Aquatic monsters to turn the tide of battle that saw this castle liberated. And if it were not for that sellsword Noah Kayba would still be ruling over you along with the Great Five!" The crowd murmured at that, grumbling at the reminder of the boy tyrant and the five traitors. "He must be rewarded."

" But what you ask…" Ser Espa stated only to be cut off by Lord Hassleberry, who stood with his young son Tyranno.

"Are you the lord of this castle, good ser?" He gestured to the high table where a young man sat. "Lord Seto's brother, Mokuba, is now the Lord of Great Drake and these lands. Should he not have a say in the sellsword's reward? I would hear his words."

"He… he is but a child…" Ser Espa sputtered. "And he is not fit to rule. He has said so himself."

Mokuba… Lord Mokuba… raised his hand and the hall fell quiet.

"It is true what Ser Espa says," the boy stated softly. "I never planned to rule. Seto would have given me a castle of my own, if I wished. But all I wanted was to serve him." He swallowed, closing his eyes. "But my brother is dead. Slain by King Atem."

"We have not proven that the King gave the order-" someone said.

"But it was given all the same. And the King has done nothing to make it right. He instead turns his focus to petty squabbles while our realms burn." Mokuba shook his head. "No… the person who made it right sits before us." Mokuba rose and the gathered lords and knights fell silent as he took out his brother's deck. The deck of House Kaiba. "My brother was a bastard who slew our father and saved these lands. He had no right to rule… only because he had the strength to do so. It would be foolish for me to take the seat." He slowly moved away from his chair and strode over to the sellsword, placing the deck before him. "I don't care if Edwyn Kaos is a stranger to these lands. He is my brother's heir in spirit and in strength."

The crowd was rendered speechless.

Never… never had a lord given up their birthright to a strange not of their blood. While it had been unusual for Lord Seto to become master of Great Drake Hall and its lands he had still been the bastard son of Lord Gozaburo. The blood of House Kaiba had flowed through his veins. And while Lord Mokuba was not a Kaiba by blood Lord Seto had named him his heir when he'd taken his seat. Edwyn Kaos was not that. No one knew who the blond man was, only that he was a cunning warrior who had seemed to understand Lord Noah's plans to such a degree he appeared to be in the council of the usurper. A good man… but a lord?

After several long moments, Lord Hassleberry rose and walked over to Edwyn.

"No," he said, his voice deep and gruff. "Our lord? No… that is too small for him." He turned towards the gathered lords. "Once we ruled ourselves! It was to the might of Exodia we bent the knee! But Exoida is lost and House Muto in shambles! King Atem finds himself adrift… it is said even his brother Yugi questions him! He gives stations of power to the unworthy while his Council dreams of further war. We want no part of that! So why should we not rule ourselves again? In the old ways… not because some king squirted his seed into the right woman… but because a man showed himself strong enough to bring us victory and peace!" He drew his Ultimate Conductor Tyranno and knelt, placing it face down on the ground. "Edwyn Kaos avenged Lord Seto! He is the Ultimate Dragon! The King of the Cards!"

Lord Mako rose next. "I am not of these lands… but that does not mean what happens here does not affect me and my people. You have been a good friend, Edwyn… you will make a better king. The King of Cards."

And with that he placed The Fortress Whale face down and bent the knee.

Lord Fudo, old and half blind thanks to a wound he taken in the battle, shuffled forward. Though injured as he was he still kept his back straight and his shoulder squared. "For too long we forgot what it meant to rule. We allowed ourselves to have decks passed from father to son and assumed that made them strong. Noble. But Edwyn Kaos has shown us that the tales and songs of good men are not myth. They are real. Dark days lay before us… some will not see them through. But if I am to die… I will die standing with him." He placed the Stardust Dragon upon the ground. "The King of the Cards!"

The cry went up in the hall as others raised the cards of their Houses, placing down facedown on the ground. Edwyn Kaos looked on, his façade of calm breaking into shock before he slowly reached out, drawing Lord Seto's Blue Eyes White Dragon and lifting it above his head…

…and the card blazed with light, the roar of the mighty dragon filling the hall as it became his.

Introducing Edwyn Kaos

The King of the Cards