## Chapter 716: Body Seems Like a Child, Mind Far Surpasses Ordinary People
My name is Hayato Kobayashi, a high school Duelist who has defeated countless powerful opponents in the past.
However, to stop an evil will, I was dragged into an unprecedented Dark Game along with it.
When I woke up, I had turned into a child!?
"It doesn't matter if my body has shrunk, my mind is still that of a high school Duelist, and I can still beautifully defeat Dark Duelists that even adults are helpless against. That's the famous Duelist Hayato!" Hayato said confidently. "The Truth is only one!"
"Oh oh oh oh, that's amazing!" The young girl sitting across from Hayato applauded enthusiastically at his words. "But, I feel like the beginning and end don't quite match up. Did you hear that from somewhere else, Meriamun?"
"Who knows about that?" Hayato spread his hands and looked at the young girl in front of him. "But I've already explained it many times. I'm not that Meriamun you're talking about. My name is Hayato Kobayashi, and I don't know why I appeared here."
The young girl's face showed a helpless expression: "But even if you say that, aren't you still Meriamun, Meriamun? I completely don't understand~"
Looking at the young girl acting cute towards him, Hayato covered his forehead with a helpless expression, looking like he had a headache.
Ever since entering the Stone Tablet of Memories with Dark Yugi and Bakura, Hayato was dragged into the Dark Game by Bakura and came to this world, where he encountered the young girl in front of him, who seemed to be called "Nefertari," calling out to wake up the person named "Meriamun," who was himself.
Hayato, whose understanding of Ancient Egypt basically came from the Card World, had practically no memory of these two names. Although he felt like he might have heard these names somewhere before, Hayato finally concluded that the format of Egyptian names was generally similar and put it aside for the time being.
After entering this world, Hayato's body became that of a child. His appearance was somewhat similar to how he looked before entering the Dark Game, as if he existed in a state of rejuvenation. However, the young girl named "Nefertari" repeatedly insisted that "Meriamun" had always looked this way.
No matter what Hayato said, the young girl always insisted on this point. Hayato couldn't argue with her anymore and let her call him by the name "Meriamun."
Besides the change in his body, naturally, Hayato didn't bring the things he had on him when he entered this world. Both his Duel Disk and the Millennium Items seemed to have been left outside. However, Hayato had previously left his Duel Monsters cards in the System Warehouse.
However, when Hayato took out the cards to check, he found that the Card Spirits, who were usually incredibly noisy, were unusually quiet. If Hayato hadn't been able to clearly feel the spirits sleeping within the cards, he might have thought they hadn't been able to enter this world either.
But it seemed there wasn't much difference even if they did come in, because Hayato didn't know how to awaken them.
"Ehehehe..."
Looking at the troubled Hayato, Nefertari laughed, which made Hayato look at her. "What are you laughing at, Nefertari?"
"Because it's rare to see you looking so troubled, Meriamun. Normally, no problem can stump you, and even if you're temporarily troubled, you can solve it quickly," Nefertari said with a smile. But as she laughed, she also showed a confused expression. "But, it's strange. I feel like I've forgotten something."
"What could it be..."
As she spoke, Nefertari glanced out the window. "Oh, right, right! The ritual is about to begin!"
"Oh no, bad! I was supposed to come and call you, Meriamun, and now it seems even I'm going to be late!" Without explanation, Nefertari grabbed Hayato's hand and dragged him up to run outside. "Quick, quick, we're running out of time!"
Without resisting, Hayato was quite cooperatively dragged along by Nefertari, asking as he went, "Hey, don't be in such a hurry, Nefertari. What kind of ritual are you so anxious about?"
"Honestly, Meriamun, did you oversleep? Today is the Pharaoh's Coronation Ceremony! Most people only get to encounter something like this once or twice in their life. If we don't hurry, we'll only be able to stand far away where we can't even see the Pharaoh clearly."
Hearing Nefertari's words, Hayato's face couldn't help but show a pondering expression. If there were no exceptions, Dark Yugi, Bakura, and Hayato himself, since they were dragged into the Dark Game Bakura set up, should have started at the same time. It was impossible for someone to have entered ten years earlier.
So, following this line of thought, the Pharaoh ascending the throne today is probably...
Opening his eyes, Dark Yugi felt a bit lost.
He remembered that the moment before, he had used the three God Cards lent by Hayato to open the gate to the Stone Tablet of Memories. His soul, which had been confined within the Millennium Puzzle, left Aibo's body and merged into the Stone Tablet of Memories. Then, in that tunnel-like space, a dark power seemed to sweep over him.
Immediately after, he left that Tunnel of Memories and appeared in the sky, looking down at the Earth. The view he captured in that instant was enough for Dark Yugi to know one thing: he seemed to have arrived in Ancient Egypt. Then, falling from the sky, he suddenly woke up at this moment, as if all his previous experiences were just a dream.
Raising his head slightly in confusion, looking straight ahead, Dark Yugi was speechless in this instant, his thoughts almost stopping.
What did he see?
At this moment, Dark Yugi seemed to be standing on an Observation Deck. The Observation Deck itself was made of stone, finely polished and beautifully carved, clearly not cheap. But the important thing wasn't the Observation Deck, but the view below.
He saw dense crowds gathered below, filling every spot Dark Yugi could see. The people were shoulder to shoulder, all looking up at Dark Yugi standing on the High Platform, shouting in unison, "Pharaoh! Pharaoh!"
This made Dark Yugi subconsciously repeat, "Pharaoh, me?"
He lowered his head to look at his hands. They were not Aibo's slender, long, white hands, but a pair of slightly tanned, strong, and powerful hands that gave off a healthy, sunshine feeling, with some muscle.
At the same time, on Dark Yugi's fingers, wrist, and even arm, he wore gold ornaments that perfectly matched his own aesthetic. And on his left hand's wrist, there was even a folded golden Duel Disk that Dark Yugi had seen before with the Gravekeeper's Elder and Geb Ishtar.
Had his appearance been changed?!
No, rather than his appearance being changed, another conjecture suddenly arose in Dark Yugi's heart - this body before him might be his own from three thousand years ago, when he was alive!
And just as Dark Yugi was startled and uncertain about this baseless conjecture that arose in his heart without concrete evidence, a short man wearing a finely woven white robe and a black cloth wrapped around his upper body and head to conceal his face walked towards Dark Yugi from the side and whispered to him, "Pharaoh, the people are waiting for your answer. Please respond to the people."
The words the man spoke were not English, Japanese, or Arabic, but Ancient Egyptian, which had long disappeared into the river of history. Although Dark Yugi had never learned this language, he could clearly understand what the other party was trying to express, and at the same time, he could subconsciously answer, as if it were an instinct.
And after hearing the other party's title for him was indeed "Pharaoh," Dark Yugi took a deep breath, allowing himself to recover his calm mood: "I am, the Pharaoh..."
"Pharaoh!" "Pharaoh!" "Pharaoh!"
Not knowing what he should do at this moment, Dark Yugi looked at the crowd below and raised his hand as a greeting. But with just this simple action, the people below immediately stopped their noisy shouting and all prostrated themselves on the ground, bowing completely.
"Uh..." A drop of cold sweat ran down Dark Yugi's forehead. To be honest, he was just following the instructions of the man beside him, responding to the call of the people and wanting to give a warm greeting. How did they all kneel down just because he raised his hand?
He was completely thrown off.
Could it be that raising one's hand as a greeting in Ancient Egypt meant being angry? Oh no, I didn't learn anything like this. In modern times, I was only focused on dueling with Aibo.
After all, although he had learned from Ishizu Ishtar of the Tomb Keepers in modern times that he was the Nameless Pharaoh from three thousand years ago, the time he remembered living was all in modern times. He was fundamentally a modern person, and even knowing that he was now the Pharaoh, he couldn't adapt at all.
Dark Yugi looked at the people below who were prostrated and not getting up, seemingly fearful of him, feeling a bit at a loss. Fortunately, at this moment, the short man beside him reminded him, "Pharaoh, please come. Your subjects at the banquet are also eagerly awaiting the appearance of the new Pharaoh."
Dark Yugi nodded. Although he didn't know what would happen at the banquet, he thought it would be much better than continuing to stand here like he was on display, watching others kneel before him. So he followed the man and left the High Platform, walking towards the interior of the magnificent Royal Palace behind him.
And with the Pharaoh's departure, the people outside finally dared to get up and disperse, returning to their daily life and work.
"Eh~ We completely missed it," Nefertari said with a regretful expression, arriving late with Hayato only after everyone had finished the ritual of gazing upon the new Pharaoh's appearance. "In the end, we didn't even get to see the Pharaoh's face. We just saw a back from so far away."
"A back is enough. That Starfish Head is too noticeable for me," Hayato said with a shrug, not caring too much about not seeing the Pharaoh's face. With Yugi's ancestral multi-colored Starfish Head that had been passed down for three thousand years from Ancient Egypt, it would be hard for Hayato to mistake him.
As expected, he did indeed arrive in this world at the same time as Dark Yugi. However, Dark Yugi had an identity he could step into, so he appeared directly as the Nameless Pharaoh himself from three thousand years ago.
As for Hayato, it was like playing DND without a character sheet or playing Warhammer without preparing game pieces. He wasn't within Bakura's calculations, so he didn't have an identity he could directly substitute into. Thus, Bakura probably just found a Commoner to use as his character.
And if Hayato remembered correctly, the subsequent development should be that after the new Pharaoh's Coronation Ceremony, the character controlled by Bakura, Thief King Bakura, would cause chaos at the banquet. His powerful power wouldn't be defeated until the Pharaoh took action, but he wouldn't be captured, causing the Pharaoh and the Priests to lose face completely, thus kicking off the prelude to this Dark Game that would overthrow the Dynasty.
However, that was only under the premise that only Dark Yugi and Bakura were playing the Dark Game. Since he had also joined this Dark Game, how could he not find a way to participate in that banquet that would be interrupted and interfere with Bakura's actions?
Thinking this, Hayato's mouth curved into a smile. Nefertari, who was beside him, glanced at Hayato and said, "Ee~ Meriamun, your smile is so gross."
"Nonsense, this is clearly a smile full of positive energy," Hayato glanced at Nefertari and asked, "By the way, Nefertari, do you know if there's a more secret entrance to the Royal Palace somewhere?"
"Uh, I was thinking too much. Important locations like the Royal Palace entrance must be heavily guarded. Even a secluded spot would surely have someone watching to prevent people from breaking in. Why would I think I could just ask anyone and..."
"Ah, I know one," But to Hayato's surprise, Nefertari thought for a moment and actually nodded, saying, "A more secret, more secluded entrance with fewer people, I know one. I'll take you there now."
"There actually is one?" Hayato was also a bit surprised. How would Nefertari know about the existence of such a place?
Following Nefertari, they walked a long way around the magnificent Palace, almost reaching the back. Led by Nefertari, Hayato did indeed find a small door on the side of the Royal Palace, which seemed to be used by servants.
"There, that's it, the secret entrance you were looking for, Meriamun," Nefertari said, blinking. "Well, it's not really a secret. Actually, quite a few people use this way, but today, since it's the day of the new Pharaoh's Ascension, the Royal Palace is very lively, so probably no one will be using this side."
Just as she finished speaking, they saw two Soldiers walk out from behind the door, one after the other, and stand on both sides of the door.
"Eh? Why are there guards again?" Nefertari sighed when she saw the Soldiers appear. "I only knew about this one spot. Sorry, Meriamun, I couldn't help you."
"This feeling of NPCs refreshing as you move locations, is Bakura trying to save game memory?" Looking at the door that was previously unguarded now having guards, Hayato muttered while rubbing Nefertari's soft, long black hair, which was very much to his aesthetic. He stood up. "However, this level can't stop me."
"I already prepared my secret weapon on the way here!"
Chapter 717: The Gatekeepers Are Just for Show, the Important Figures Above Wouldn't Understand
"What bad luck, why is it our turn to be on gate duty today?"
"It's the first time I've caught the Pharaoh's Ascension day, and the first time as a Royal Palace guard I'm qualified to watch the dance at the banquet. These two firsts combined should have made for such a happy time, but why is it like this?"
Listening to his companion's complaints, the other guard beside him, with his hand on the weapon at his waist, said dismissively, "Isn't it because, even though today is a great day because it's the new Pharaoh's Coronation Ceremony, the important figures in the Royal Palace also demanded increased security everywhere?"
"That's to prevent any intruders from breaking into the Royal Palace and attacking the Pharaoh." As he spoke, the complaining soldier idly picked at the dirt under his fingernails, "But ultimately, we soldiers who guard the gate are just for show. Those important figures above wouldn't understand."
"Sigh, what bad luck~" X2
Looking at each other, the two soldiers said in unison.
But no sooner had they finished speaking than one of them, sharp-eyed, spotted a tree branch trembling in the bush not far from them, as if something was about to emerge from it.
"Who's there!" Although the two guards had a somewhat negative attitude, they weren't slacking off. They assumed a stance of vigilance, both placing their hands on the hilts of the sickle swords at their waists, ready to draw their weapons at the slightest disturbance.
Under their watch, a person walked out from the bush. Their figure was neither tall nor short, but overall quite well-proportioned, and accentuated by the women's robe they wore, they had a somewhat curvy figure. In one hand, they carried a clay basket, which seemed to contain two bottles of beverages.
Just looking at the lower half, the guards might have thought the "Woman" before them was a maid who had gone out. But when their line of sight moved up, they were stunned, because they saw a heavily made-up face on a rugged, masculine face, giving a strong sense of bizarre incongruity.
"Excuse me, sirs. I brought two bottles of beer, can I pass?"
The "Woman," who would have been a handsome guy if not for the thick makeup on their face, struck several charming poses, seemingly "seducing" the two guards. But the two guards just stared at the "Woman" with dead fish eyes.
Seeing this, the "Woman" became even more enthusiastic, making a fist with one hand and bringing it to their cheek, sticking out half their tongue and winking playfully.
Unexpectedly, this action had the opposite effect. The two guards, with expressions of disgust, simultaneously drew the sickle swords they were wearing and pointed at the "Woman," shouting, "Hands up!"
"Move again and we won't be so polite!"
"Ah?! Why?!" Cooperating with the two guards' actions, the "Woman" also showed a look of panic, while took out the two pottery bottles of beer from the clay basket and held them in their hands, as if to reveal they weren't carrying any dangerous items and could be inspected by the opponent. They subtly took two steps closer to the two guards, closing the distance. "What's suddenly wrong?"
However, the two guards also noticed this and exchanged glances before communicating loudly, "His behavior is strange!"
"Let's move!"
As they spoke, they were about to attack the "Woman."
"Ah! Don't kill me!" Facing the threat of the sharp blade, the "Woman" stopped approaching, raising the hands holding the two bottles of beer above their head in a surrender gesture, finally daring not to move an inch, just as the two guards had said. "I, I understand, I won't move!"
Seeing that the "Woman" didn't continue to act, the two guards also stopped swinging the weapons in their hands, but continued to maintain their stance of vigilance. One after the other, they approached the "Woman," intending to subdue them and hand them over to the important figures above for punishment. Incidentally, maybe they could go to the banquet and watch the dancers perform.
The "Woman" turned their head with an annoyed expression and said, "Damn it, as expected of the Royal Palace guards, they actually saw through my perfect disguise!"
Looking closely at the "Woman's" appearance again, who else could it be but Hayato?
"Idiot! It was obvious at a glance!" The guard walking in front said to Hayato with a disgusted expression, "How disgusting!"
The guard walking behind also chimed in with a rant, "What kind of woman in the world has hands full of muscles and a face that rugged? Idiot!"
"Can't you look at yourself objectively? Idiot!"
The two guards' back-and-forth seemed to enrage Hayato. He glared at the two guards, "What did you say?!"
With an angry look, Hayato suddenly threw the two bottles of beer he was holding high in his hands at the guard in front of him. The guard standing in front, being closer to Hayato, noticed the small movement in his hand and dodged Hayato's attack.
But the other guard behind him wasn't so lucky. Because his companion blocked his line of sight, his face was directly hit by the bottoms of the two thick pottery bottles, and he immediately fell unconscious.
---In fact, before Hayato got these two bottles of beer, he didn't expect that even three thousand years ago, Ancient Egypt's pottery technology could create pottery bottles with such good hardness.
"Hey, are you okay!?" Unexpectedly, dodging the beer bottles resulted in his companion being defeated. The guard subconsciously glanced at his companion, then immediately nervously swung the sickle sword in his hand, slashing at Hayato, who dared to attack the two of them.
However, the sharp blade didn't even have time to move an inch. Hayato, who had thrown the beer bottles, wasn't just standing there foolishly doing nothing. Before the guard could attack him, a punch mark appeared on the guard's chin.
"Ora!"
Accompanied by a battle cry, the guard fell in response.
"Although the original plan was to sneak through with my perfect disguise, luckily I had an extra plan B. My secret ace card is this pair of strong fists."
Although the boy named Meriamun was young, Hayato, using this body, felt the great power contained within it from the very beginning. This could be seen just from the well-built biceps and the chest muscles even larger than Rebecca's, and there was even an "Egyptian booty."
Hayato even felt like he could learn from a certain dolphin enthusiast and be able to Ora adults at the age of eight.
"This punch, twenty years of skill, how can you block it!" Hayato shouted at the two fallen guards.
Seeing Hayato deal with the guards, Nefertari, who had lent her clothes to Hayato and put on Hayato's clothes, also walked out from the bush. "But, I remember Meriamun, aren't you only eight years old this year? Huh? Or was it nine? I can't quite remember."
"This is eight years old?" Hayato glanced at the muscles on his arm, arguing, "Although I'm only eight years old this year, I have extraordinary talent. One year of training is worth a hundred years of someone else's training. The advantage is with me."
As he spoke, Hayato squatted down to deal with the two guards he had knocked unconscious. Besides confirming the guard he directly knocked out with a punch, the other one he knocked out with the beer bottles seemed to show signs of waking up when Hayato moved his body. Hayato immediately gave him another punch to refresh the duration of the coma buff.
"These two bastards, they really hurt my self-esteem. I clearly thought my disguise was quite good," After stripping off their slightly long clothes and putting them on himself, Hayato didn't hesitate to throw the two guards into the bush to hide them. "But now that I've changed into guard clothes, I surely won't be exposed again, right?"
"Huh?! Meriamun, are you going to infiltrate the Royal Palace?" Realizing later, Nefertari didn't react to Hayato's plan until she saw him change into the guards' clothes and wear their weapons. "I was wondering why you were looking for a more hidden entrance before."
Hayato said helplessly, "Why are you so slow to react in a place like this, Nefertari? But speaking of which, didn't I tell you before not to follow me and just hide in the jungle? That way, even if something goes wrong with my action, it won't implicate you."
"Although I don't quite understand Ancient Egypt's law, the crime of attacking a Royal Palace guard can't be low, right? It wouldn't be good if you were considered an accomplice because you acted with me."
Hearing this, Nefertari smiled at Hayato. "Hehehe, Meriamun, are you worried about me? But it's okay, if I'm with you, I won't be afraid of any danger, even death, I'll stay with you."
As she spoke, Nefertari imitated the action Hayato had made before, making a playful expression. As cringeworthy as the action Hayato made before was, the action Nefertari made now was just as cute.
But Hayato was unmoved, reaching out and gently tapping Nefertari on the head.
"Ouch, that hurts." Covering her forehead, Nefertari looked at Hayato in confusion.
"Now isn't the time to say such touching things, and that kind of flag makes it sound like I'm going to my death." Hayato put his hands on his waist and said quite seriously, "Next, I'm going to enter the Royal Palace. Nefertari, you absolutely cannot continue to follow me. Alright, hurry back. Hmm, help me prepare some beer or something. I was thinking of trying the so-called 'Gift of the Nile' before, but I ended up wasted it on those two guards."
"Huh~ Meriamun, how can you drink at such a young age?" Nefertari looked at Hayato's serious expression and said helplessly, "Okay, I'll prepare it for you. Be sure to come back early, and be careful in the Royal Palace."
----Minors are not allowed to drink alcohol----
"Clang~"
"Clang~~"
Accompanied by the striking of a huge golden gong, Dark Yugi was led by the short man into the interior of the palace. Everywhere he looked along the path was a scene of splendor, and on both sides of Dark Yugi's path were devoutly kneeling servants.
"Pharaoh, please, please go to your throne," the short man said beside Dark Yugi. For some reason, at first, there was just a subtle feeling, but as the time of contact grew longer, Dark Yugi felt an increasingly special sense of familiarity from this short man, as if he had been in contact with the opponent for a long time.
This was too strange. He clearly knew that there wasn't even a single trace of memory from three thousand years ago in his mind right now. The only memories were just those few years of life in the present. How could he feel familiar with someone who lived three thousand years ago?
Dark Yugi temporarily attributed this familiarity to the opponent's appearance. Just from the golden priest's hat inlaid with gold on the short man's head, one could tell his identity was not low. Perhaps he had left his name in history, and that's why he felt familiar?
Dark Yugi, with a restless mood, walked among the kneeling servants on both sides of the path, ascending the stairs step by step, and arrived before the empty throne. He somewhat awkwardly straightened the knee-length cape he was wearing and sat on the throne, placing his hands on the two handrails, stroking the snake relief on the golden throne's handrails, trying to put on a dignified appearance worthy of the Pharaoh's name.
"Is this the world from my memories?"
Thinking this, Dark Yugi saw the short man standing not far in front of him, waving a hand at the many kneeling attendants and declaring, "Everyone, raise your heads, the new Pharaoh has appeared before you!"
Being able to command the officials before the Pharaoh further proved that the short man's identity was indeed not low. As he retreated to the right hand side of Dark Yugi's throne and moved aside so as not to block the Pharaoh's line of sight, the priests close to the throne and the attendants in the distance all raised their previously lowered heads and looked towards their new Pharaoh.
Dark Yugi also glanced at them, but this one glance surprised him again, because he actually saw acquaintances appearing in this Ancient Egyptian Royal Palace from three thousand years ago.
"Miss Ishizu, Kaiba!?" The appearance of a man and a woman among the priests was exactly the same as Kaiba Seto and Ishizu Ishtar, whom Dark Yugi knew, with absolutely no difference. Incidentally, Dark Yugi also suddenly recalled that their appearance seemed extremely similar to the golden statue where the Millennium Items were placed, which he had seen in the Underground Secret Room of the Tomb Keepers' Clan Territory before.
Shocked, Dark Yugi subconsciously turned his head, only to see the short man, who had been covering his face with a black cloth, taking off the cloth from his face, revealing a very familiar face with a beard. "Grandpa!?"
"G-Grandpa?!" Dark Yugi's title made "Solomon Muto" beside him widen his eyes. He couldn't understand why the Pharaoh would call him that and was quite helpless.
"Hmm?" Seeing this, the priest among the kneeling priests who looked like Kaiba Seto spoke with an accent almost identical to the Kaiba in Dark Yugi's impression, "Lord Shimon, is the Pharaoh too tired?"
And when Dark Yugi heard that "Kaiba" would actually use honorifics towards someone else, he also realized his mistake and knew that this priest who looked exactly like Kaiba Seto was definitely not Kaiba, and the others were not the acquaintances he knew. He shook his head and said, "No, I'm fine, continue."
"Yes, Pharaoh." Nodding, "Kaiba Seto" stood up, his right hand emerging from his wide cape. Dark Yugi saw the very familiar Millennium Rod was now being held by "Kaiba Seto." Walking to the front of the priests, "Kaiba" raised both hands, looking down at the countless servants before him and ordered, "Only a grand banquet can display the strength of the dynasty and the wealth of the Pharaoh."
"Everyone, continue the music, continue the dance!"
In the next few chapters, there won't be any dueling plot in the short term, but will there be dueling in the Egypt Arc after all?
Before. Will there be? I am also looking for the answer to the question.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter 718: Shuffle Deck is the Nightmare of Tablet Duels
At the call of "Kaiba Seto", the attendants and dancers began the performance they had rehearsed many times for the banquet after today's coronation ceremony. With gongs and drums beating, skirts fluttering, and slender limbs dancing to the rhythm of the music, the scene was breathtakingly beautiful.
Leaving others aside for now, although Dark Yugi wasn't in the mood to appreciate the performance, the priest standing beside him, who looked exactly like Solomon Muto and was addressed as "Lord Shimon" by "Kaiba Seto", was staring with his eyes wide. From this point of view, Priest Shimon's resemblance to Solomon Muto wasn't just in appearance.
At this moment, Dark Yugi's gaze kept sweeping over "Kaiba Seto", "Ishizu Ishtar", and Priest Shimon beside him, unable to understand why the ancient Egyptians three thousand years ago would look exactly like the people he knew in the modern era.
If it were just "Ishizu Ishtar", that would be one thing, as she was originally Egyptian. But what was the situation with "Kaiba Seto" and Priest Shimon? Why would the two of you look exactly like people from an island in the Far East on another continent three thousand years later?
'What's going on? What exactly is happening?'
It wasn't just Priest Shimon and the other few "familiar strangers"; Dark Yugi also didn't ignore the other priests.
An old man wearing a hood and a cloak, with only an aged face visible, wore the [Millennium Eye] that once belonged to Pegasus over his left eye;
A youth also covering most of his appearance with a hood, bare-chested and revealing muscular arms, holding the [Millennium Key];
Compared to the previous youth who merely did training, a middle-aged man with a resolute expression, looking more like a fitness fanatic, exposing his robust muscles with an open chest and back, held the [Millennium Scale] quite steadily in his hand;
And the last person, Dark Yugi felt extremely familiar looking at the heroic face under his golden helmet, yet he just couldn't remember where he had seen this person before. On his chest, he wore the [Millennium Ring], which Dark Yugi didn't know how many times he had dealt with.
"The [Millennium Items]... Who exactly are they..."
Dark Yugi's low muttering, although others couldn't hear it, was heard clearly by Priest Shimon who was close beside him. Although just a moment ago he was concentrating on appreciating the gorgeous dance moves so as not to disappoint the palace maids' efforts in rehearsing during this time, upon hearing the Pharaoh's words, he immediately leaned into Dark Yugi's ear.
"Pharaoh, what did you just say?" Although he felt that today's Pharaoh had suddenly become a little strange since the coronation ceremony where he overlooked his subjects, Simon didn't think too much about it and also lowered his voice, saying, "Aren't they the six priests chosen by the [Millennium Items]?"
Looking at the [Millennium Items] held by the six priests, some familiar and some stranger, Dark Yugi couldn't help but lower his head and look at the [Millennium Puzzle] hanging on his chest, which he had long grown accustomed to its weight, just like three thousand years later. However, in its current complete state, perhaps it should be called the [Millennium Rod] instead.
Dark Yugi also recalled that the priest who looked similar but wasn't "Kaiba Seto", the one holding the [Millennium Rod], must be the priest he had seen on the stone tablet of memories in the Memory World, the one who confronted "himself" controlling a monster that looked like [Blue-Eyes White Dragon] and a monster with the appearance of [Dark Magician].
And Priest Shimon, the Pharaoh's attendant, who looked exactly like Solomon Muto and was even just as lustful, perhaps it wasn't a coincidence that Solomon Muto could retrieve the [Millennium Puzzle] from the ancient tomb that no one had ever successfully challenged three thousand years later.
His heart was filled with all sorts of doubts, but they were in the midst of a grand banquet now, and Dark Yugi had no one to ask. He could only temporarily keep his doubts in his heart, trying his best to play the role of a "Pharaoh" for which he had no experience.
On such a great day as the Pharaoh's ascension, the banquet held in the royal palace to entertain the subjects was naturally exceptionally lavish, with roast beef smeared with honey, lamb and fish stewed together, seasonal fruit platter, staple bread filled with the aroma of wheat, and endless wine, etc. To Dark Yugi's surprise, he even saw foie gras served in almost unlimited quantities.
Although it was three thousand years ago, Dark Yugi had completely not expected the diet of the ancient Egyptians to be so rich. One must know that even in the modern era three thousand years later, Dark Yugi had only eaten foie gras at Pegasus's Castle during the Duelist Kingdom.
However, among everyone Dark Yugi knew, it seemed that besides Kaiba who liked to eat foie gras steak, no one else, whether it was Hayato, Joey Wheeler , Téa , or Tristan , was interested in these fatty livers that were just a mouthful of oil. He was the same. At the same time, the wheat bread, which wasn't soft at all but crunchy and even mixed with ultra-fine sand/dust, completely refreshed Dark Yugi's understanding of "bread".
Therefore, after just a few sips of wine, which he had never drunk in the modern era because he was underage, Dark Yugi considered the banquet finished and sat on the throne, watching the officials before him enjoying the extravagance of the banquet.
The priests didn't mind why their Pharaoh didn't have a big appetite despite the rich dishes, only assuming that the Pharaoh's daily meals weren't much worse than today's.
And while Dark Yugi was trying his best to play the role of "the Pharaoh watching his subjects enjoy themselves", in front of the Pharaoh's sacred majesty, the priests other than Simon were not indulging in pleasure and were quite seriously guarding Dark Yugi's side.
Just then, the [Millennium Necklace] worn by the only female priest, who looked like Ishizu, emitted a faint golden radiance. She frowned and suddenly turned her head to look at a corner of the palace. In that corner, a man was actually crouching, holding a blowgun and wearing a strange smile on his face.
"Someone is trying to assassinate the Pharaoh!" the female priest shouted, calling out to her companion closest to the Pharaoh, besides Priest Shimon, "Mahad!"
Just then, the assassin blew a pitch-black poison needle from the blowgun, heading straight for Dark Yugi. Seeing this, the male priest whom Dark Yugi found very familiar suddenly flicked his cape, accepted the attack of the poison needle, and glared in the assassin's direction.
"Damn it, you scoundrel!" Priest Mahad guarded Dark Yugi's side, while the priest who looked like "Kaiba Seto" angrily pointed his finger at the assassin and ordered the soldiers in the palace, "Go and arrest that person who deserves ten thousand deaths! How dare you assassinate the Pharaoh!"
Although today was the day of the new Pharaoh's ascension banquet, the soldiers guarding the Pharaoh, except for the important figures who were qualified to directly participate in the banquet, were not lazy or relaxed. Almost at the same time as "Kaiba Seto" ordered, soldiers surrounded them from all sides, easily subduing the assassin without surprise. They used sharp blades to escort him down from the high place and brought him before the Pharaoh.
With the attempted assassination of the new Pharaoh, the banquet in the palace came to an abrupt end. The dancers and musicians quickly retreated with the palace maids who were cleaning up the food, emptying the palace. Almost in an instant, the banquet venue turned into an Execution Ground for the treasonous assassin.
"To dare to assassinate the Pharaoh and attempt to take his life is truly terrifying!" The female priest looked at the assassin, who was escorted by the guards and knelt before the Pharaoh's throne, and showed an expression of wrath.
However, as a woman, even though she tried hard to appear fierce, her pressure was still too insufficient. The assassin didn't put her threat in his eye at all. After glancing lightly at the female priest, his gaze swept over the people remaining on the scene. Not even the Pharaoh could make his line of sight linger for a moment, but it paused when he met the gaze of the oldest priest among them.
The assassin had not the slightest bit of fear about the situation he was about to face, because he knew the ability of the person who hired him. Even if he had committed an unforgivable crime, the other party had the ability to get him out. But this kind of arrogant behavior only further intensified the priests' wrath.
"Although you didn't succeed in assassinating the Pharaoh, according to your crime, even sentencing you to insect punishment, being devoured alive by one hundred thousand scarabs, would not be excessive," Priest Mahad said angrily, looking at the arrogant assassin. "But because today is a celebration, take this fellow to the Prison and lock him up."
On such an important day as the new Pharaoh's ascension, there absolutely could not be any ominous bloodshed; that would be a desecration of the Pharaoh. Even the assassin who attempted to kill the Pharaoh could only be dealt with the next day.
"No, Priest Mahad, I have a better idea." But just as Mahad ordered the guards to take the assassin away, and the assassin revealed a smug smile on his face, the oldest priest among them spoke. As he removed the hood from his head, his aged appearance and the [Millennium Eye] on his left eye looked down at the assassin with full presence.
For an instant, the assassin's brain went blank, and he couldn't say anything.
"Priest Aknadin?" Everyone didn't notice the assassin's abnormality but were attracted by the old man who removed his hood — Priest "Aknadin". Priest Mahad looked towards him and asked what exactly he meant.
Priest Aknadin hadn't spoken yet, but "Kaiba Seto" standing beside him spoke: "I understand what you mean, Lord Aknadin. You are thinking of using this great opportunity to reveal the power of our new Pharaoh's strongest priests, aren't you? That's a great idea."
"What do you think, Lord Shimon, and Pharaoh?"
"That's a very good idea, Priest Seto. This way, the ominous blood won't stain the Pharaoh's sacredness," Priest Shimon said approvingly, glancing at Dark Yugi. "What do you think, Pharaoh?"
What opinion could Dark Yugi offer at this moment? To be honest, he knew nothing about Egypt three thousand years ago. If his priests had already discussed a plan, he just needed to be a quiet Pharaoh and give his permission: "Do as you say, Mahad, Aknadin, Simon, Seto."
Although he didn't actively ask, just by sitting here, Dark Yugi had already figured out the names of four of the priests around him. The names of the others were fine, but the name Priest Seto really made Dark Yugi not know what to say, silently complaining in his inner thoughts.
'Seto, Seto. It's too much of a coincidence. It's so coincidental that I don't even know where to start complaining.' Dark Yugi thought to himself, looking at Priest Seto who had turned around and was surrounding the assassin with the other priests. 'Could it be that Kaiba's past life was Priest Seto? In that case, maybe Grandpa and Priest Shimon, Miss Ishizu and that female priest too?'
"Starting now, the judgment of this man!" Following Priest Seto's loud shout, the six priests holding [Millennium Items] stepped forward, ready to take action against the assassin who had somehow fallen into a dazed state.
"Today's Egypt, under the sacred rule of successive Pharaohs, has become a great country, but Pharaoh, the appearance of villains who envy Egypt and envy your radiance has never ceased," Priest Shimon said seriously, standing before Dark Yugi.
The female priest continued: "But please have peace of mind, Pharaoh."
"As long as we seven priests are still standing here," Priest Aknadin said, casting a subtle glance at Priest Seto beside him with his right eye, which wasn't covered by the [Millennium Eye], "not even a single finger of the Pharaoh will be harmed."
"The sanction of the [Millennium Items] begins now! First is I, Priest Shada, the power of the [Millennium Key]!" The youthful priest, who spoke less than Aknadin and Seto, held the [Millennium Key] in his hand. As he stepped out of the group, he removed the hood from his head, revealing a shiny bald head.
The moment Dark Yugi saw the bald head, he remembered where he had seen that face before. Wasn't it Shadi? He really didn't recognize him with the bald head covered.
Oh no, not Shadi. If his previous guess was correct, the past life of Shadi Shin of the Tomb Keepers three thousand years later should be this priest before him, Priest Shada.
Standing before the assassin, not caring about his bewildered expression, Shada raised the [Millennium Key] in his hand and said, "The [Millennium Key] has the power to open the door of the heart, and it will see through the inner thoughts of the Sinner before me!"
As the [Millennium Key] released radiance, the assassin's shadow changed shape, and the shape of a monster appeared. Shada said without surprise, "Hmm, I can see the shadow of an evil monster in this person's heart."
Just as Dark Yugi thought Shada might do something else, to his slight surprise, Shada actually retreated back into the group, and Aknadin stepped forward, replacing Shada: "Next is my [Millennium Eye], Aknadin! The monster within the heart will reveal its true form under the power of this eye of the heart!"
Accompanied by a flash of light from the [Millennium Eye], the disoriented assassin suddenly cried out in pain. A large amount of shaped dark aura suddenly spewed from his wide-open mouth and gathered in the air.
"Monsters born in the human heart from wrath and resentment will manipulate people to commit crimes and increase their wrath and resentment in order to gain power," Simon explained, seemingly afraid that Dark Yugi wouldn't understand. "However, the [Millennium Key] can discover the monster in the human heart, and the [Millennium Eye] can extract the monster. What comes after that is this."
It was at this moment that several muscular soldiers nearby were carrying a large rectangular stone tablet into the palace. They temporarily placed the tablet before the Pharaoh's throne, and Priest Seto stood in front of the tablet, directly facing the "monster" in the air.
"Hmph, ugly monster, get into the tablet! Under the power of the [Millennium Rod]!" Raising the golden scepter in his hand, Priest Seto looked at the monster in the air and sneered. That arrogant stance was too similar to Kaiba Seto. Immediately after, the [Millennium Rod] shone brightly, and the monster in the air began to twist and struggle, seemingly unwilling to be sealed in the tablet like this.
However, Seto wasn't someone to be trifled with. He swung the [Millennium Rod] in his hand again and shouted confidently, "It's not the monster that has the upper hand in power, it's me, Seto! Crush! Destroy! Great Applause!"
The light on the [Millennium Rod] surged again, suppressing the monster in an instant and pushing it forcefully into the tablet carried by the soldiers.
Turn it off, Kaiba, I know it's you.
Although he should have been amazed by the true power possessed by the [Millennium Items], hearing the words that were so familiar coming from Priest Seto's mouth, Dark Yugi couldn't help but want to cover his face.
However, upon seeing the shape of the monster gradually appearing on the tablet, Dark Yugi remembered something else — not long ago, based on Real World time, during the Doma incident, after Dartz's decisive battle with Dark Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey Wheeler , he seemed to have mentioned something.
As a dual personality, he had lost confidence in humanity and decided to continue his actions of destroying humanity because he had witnessed Duel Monsters and Dark Game being brought back to humanity three thousand years ago, which was Dark Yugi's "present".
Combining the Duel Monsters cards created by Pegasus and the game of Duel Monsters, the inspiration for which originally came from ancient Egypt, could the tablet before him be the predecessor of Duel Monsters?
Looking at the massive tablet, Dark Yugi's face showed a confused expression, which made Simon beside him couldn't help but ask with concern, "Pharaoh, what's wrong? Is it because it's your first time seeing the process of sealing a monster, coupled with the day's fatigue, that you're a bit tired?"
"No, I was just thinking, if you duel with a tablet, shuffle deck would be exhausting."
After sealing the monster in the tablet, this judgment of the Sinner was temporarily concluded. The assassin temporarily fell into a coma, kneeling on the ground with his head down. The priests left the subsequent handling of the assassin to the Pharaoh's decision and ordered the soldiers to take the tablet away and store it for now.
But just then, a frivolous voice came from the Great Hall, which had just finished the judgment of the assassin: "Oh? I'm a step late and missed a performance. It's a bit of a pity I couldn't see how the tablet was sealed."
"That voice?!" Dark Yugi's eyes widened as he looked in the direction the voice came from. Only to see a white-haired man walk out from the shadow. Although his white hair was messy with quite a bit of sand/dust unavoidable in desert areas, a pair of rabbit-ear-like hair strands stuck up stubbornly and conspicuously, as if to prove their presence.
Chapter 719: Invader Bakura
"Who goes there!?" Priest Seto looked at the mysterious newcomer in the Royal Palace Hall, his eyes slightly narrowed in annoyance. So, with the new Pharaoh's ascension today, the Assassins just keep coming, huh? Just dealt with one, and another one shows up.
Not only was he annoyed by the audacious Assassin who didn't know his place, Seto also glanced at the other two Priests beside him: "Isis, what's going on? Why didn't you give a warning?"
"Just by standing here, I can smell the stench of the Evil Power emanating from this incredibly foul-smelling fellow, a smell worse than vomit. Why didn't you, who possess the Millennium Necklace capable of Future Sight, foresee this and inform us beforehand!"
Seto, in a bad mood, didn't even bother maintaining the pretense of harmony among colleagues, and questioned the female Priest.
The Priest named Isis frowned, her hands touching the Millennium Necklace around her neck, which only now belatedly emitted a golden light as a warning: "My apologies, my synergy with the Millennium Necklace is insufficient. I can only detect one person at a time, and I was restrained by that Assassin just now."
"Hmph, is that so? They exploited the opening between two instances of Future Sight? It seems your training is indeed lacking. Make an effort to be worthy of the title of the Pharaoh's Priest, and stop holding me back." Seto reluctantly accepted Isis's reason, then glanced at Mahad on the other side, "And what's your deal, Mahad?"
"Aren't you in charge of the Royal Palace Guard? What's with Assassins repeatedly breaking in? Is your Millennium Ring just a pretty decoration?" Questioning Mahad, who posed the biggest threat to his status among all the Priests, Seto sneered, "Didn't the Pharaoh's Tomb you were in charge of also get attacked by Grave Robbers before?"
"You are not the Pharaoh I pledge my loyalty to, Priest Seto. I have no need to report to you!" Mahad didn't seem like someone who would passively accept things either. Facing the aggressive Seto, he also adopted a confrontational stance.
Even though a mysterious Invader had appeared in the Great Hall and had even quietly approached the Pharaoh's Throne, the Priests under the Pharaoh were actually quarreling at this moment. Seeing this, the white-haired Invader wasn't in a hurry to do anything. He watched the scene with interest, and even spoke to Seto and Mahad, "Tsk tsk tsk, is this the skill level of the Pharaoh's Priests? You're arguing right in front of me, completely ignoring me."
What he didn't notice, however, was that although both Mahad and Seto looked like they were about to argue, there was no anger in their eyes. Instead, they were watching the Soldiers quietly approaching the Invader from behind under their cover.
"Now!" A Soldier suddenly reached out and directly locked one of the Invader's arms with a chain, restraining him, while the other Soldiers also moved in unison, "There's only one person opposite us, let's all go together and grab him!"
For a moment, the Soldiers surrounded the Invader, seemingly having successfully restrained him. Beside Dark Yugi, who had stood up with a vigilant expression after just beginning to see the Invader, Priest Shimon leaned over and said, "Although Priest Mahad and Priest Seto do have some friction between them on a daily basis, rest assured, Pharaoh, they were just trying to confuse the enemy just now."
"Hmph, it is confirmed to be as Priest Shimon said, but I wasn't hiding my opinion of Mahad. As a Priest, he is very incompetent." With his arms crossed over his chest, Seto said with a cold snort.
Hearing Seto's words, Mahad didn't show an angry appearance like before. Instead, he accepted it by default, knelt down before Dark Yugi, and lowered his head: "Pharaoh, as Priest Seto said, I, who am responsible for the City's security and the Royal Tomb, failed to do my job properly. Recently, the pointer of the Millennium Ring has been spinning wildly, unable to fully detect the malice of Sinners. Please, Pharaoh, bestow punishment upon me."
"We can discuss that later, Mahad." Dark Yugi glanced at the Priests in the Great Hall, then pointed towards the Invader surrounded by Soldiers in the center of the Palace, "That Invader is fundamentally not an opponent that Soldiers can deal with by just swarming him. That guy is an existence that must be countered with full power."
"I'm right, aren't I, Bakura!"
As Dark Yugi's words fell, the Soldiers surrounding the Invader were suddenly pushed away by a powerful repulsive force, revealing the completely unharmed figure of Bakura.
"Hahaha, it's me, Yugi! No, in this era, I should call you Pharaoh, right?" Looking at the many fallen Soldiers before him, and the Priests who were treating him as a formidable enemy, Bakura's face showed a proud smile, "We finally meet. This ultimate Dark Game should officially begin now. What excites me even more is that the Millennium Items are all here!"
"Come now, Pharaoh's Priests. If you are not short-sighted fools, understand that the Pharaoh behind you cannot bring you a sufficient future. Why not pledge your loyalty to me instead, and offer up the Millennium Items? I can bestow many things upon you!"
As he spoke, Bakura reached into his cloak and pulled something out, throwing it outwards. It turned out to be countless gold and silver jewelry, necklaces, and other ornaments, pulled from beneath his cloak and thrown towards the Priests.
However, the Priests were unmoved. Mere jewelry was fundamentally not enough to attract their attention. They weren't villains from the slums who were single-mindedly focused on getting rich, even willing to harm the wealthy Family that adopted them for it. Moreover, they quickly noticed something: the jewelry thrown by Bakura was fundamentally not ordinary jewelry.
"That's... the Pharaoh's burial goods!" Simon, who had been in charge of matters concerning this, was the quickest to recognize the source of the jewelry. He glared at Bakura and said, "Where did you get that from— Wait, white hair?!"
"You're that Grave Robber who stole from the Pharaoh's Tomb, the one who should have been caught before!"
"Hahaha, it's Yours Truly! After all, this white hair is quite rare in Egypt, isn't it?" Bakura didn't hide it, generously admitting his identity. At the same time, he glanced at the Priests and said, "What, not interested in my gift? It's alright. Besides this jewelry, I've brought an even bigger gift."
As he spoke, Bakura blew a whistle, and from the darkness behind him, a coffin was actually thrown out. After sliding a distance on the ground, it was stopped by Bakura stepping on it. Witnessing this scene and seeing the pattern on the coffin clearly, Simon's eyes widened in fury, and he shouted, "That's... the coffin of the Previous Pharaoh - King Aknamkanon!"
"The Previous Pharaoh... isn't that my Father!?" Dark Yugi also clenched his fists, "Bakura, you bastard!"
"Bringing the Previous Pharaoh's coffin here as a provocation, not subjecting you to the most severe punishment would simply be the greatest humiliation to us Priests!" Aknadin looked at the Previous Pharaoh's coffin, his face full of an angry expression, but within that anger, there was also a strange look that was hard to describe.
"Listen up, Grave Robber! These seven Millennium Items are treasures that our dynasty finally obtained with great effort. They possess the divine power to maintain the World's order and are extremely precious. Only we Priests, who have undergone arduous training and been chosen by the Millennium Items, as well as the incarnation of God on Earth, the noble Pharaoh, are qualified to use them. A petty scoundrel like you, whose inner thoughts are filled with evil, doesn't even have the qualification to touch them. You will be burned to ashes along with your soul!"
While angrily rebuking Bakura, Aknadin quietly used the power of the Millennium Eye to observe the darkness on Bakura's body. But with just one glance, he was so astonished that he was speechless. Because he saw a terrifying monster that was difficult to describe with his meager words!
"Hard-earned treasures, even souls will be burned to ashes? You say such funny things, it just makes me want to get my hands on all of them even more." Bakura's hooked smile turned into a cold snort, "But it seems that merely tempting you with benefits won't make you obediently hand over the Millennium Items."
"It doesn't matter. Anyway, I never thought I could achieve my goal so easily from the start. Before 'temptation', there's also the word 'coercion'."
As soon as Bakura finished speaking, sensing the evil power released from his body, Aknadin quickly reminded everyone, "Everyone be careful! This man is absolutely no ordinary person. The powerful darkness on his body is a terror I have never witnessed in my life!"
"Even Lord Aknadin says so!" My Millennium Key is the same. The spirit in this man's heart is unlike anything I've seen before; it simply is as if it came from another world!" Priest Shada also said so.
"Boom!"
Before the Priests' horrified gaze, the darkness in Bakura's heart, without being controlled by the power of the Millennium Items they held, actually emerged from Bakura's body on its own and gathered into a form behind Bakura. It was a tall existence, completely white, with two pairs of wings on its back like an angel. But whether it was the lower body that was fundamentally a snake, or the ferocious face, it all proved that a spirit is ultimately a spirit.
"He actually released the spirit within his inner thoughts on his own, without the power of the Millennium Items!?" The last of the Priests, the middle-aged man holding the Millennium Scale - Priest Karim, looked at the scales in his hand, which were shaking non-stop and unable to recover balance, and said in astonishment, "No, this strength is fundamentally not an existence that can be sealed by a stone tablet!"
"Hmph, I don't care what rules you use to measure it. How will you know if you don't try?" Although Karim had said it couldn't be done, Seto, as if defying evil, swung the Millennium Rod in his hand, "I will annihilate that ugly spirit completely! That is my rule!"
As he spoke, the Millennium Rod suddenly radiated light. Fortunately, there was more than just the one stone tablet for sealing monsters in the Great Hall that was used to seal the spirit in the Assassin's heart before. The white, half-human, half-snake spirit behind Bakura, restrained by the Millennium Rod, turned into a black smoke and disappeared into a stone tablet.
Seeing the monster enter the stone tablet, Seto's lips curled up. But before he could laugh out loud, he heard a "crack".
"Don't think a stone tablet of this level can seal my Diabound, Seto!" Looking at Priest Seto, who was extremely similar to Kaiba Seto, Bakura sneered, and raised his hand to snap his fingers.
Only to see the stone tablet that had just sealed Bakura's spirit - Diabound suddenly develop a large number of rifts, and then violently crack open. Diabound was fundamentally not successfully sealed by the Millennium Rod; it merely entered the stone tablet for an instant before successfully breaking free!
"No, this is bad! Such a powerful opponent!" Seeing that the six Priests holding Millennium Items seemed unable to withstand Bakura and his spirit, Diabound, Priest Shimon gritted his teeth and said to Dark Yugi beside him, "Please leave here quickly, Pharaoh. Let us, The Seven Priests, deal with this villain. Don't look at me like this, I was also a Priest who used the Millennium Key, just like Aknadin."
"Yes, Pharaoh, your dragon body is important. You absolutely must not get injured." A Soldier who had appeared beside Dark Yugi at some point also spoke up to persuade him, "Quickly hide to the side. We will deal with this guy."
But facing their persuasion, Dark Yugi did not obey. Instead, he stubbornly said, "No, the person Bakura is looking for is me. I will be his opponent."
As he spoke, Dark Yugi took a step forward. Then, suddenly, he recalled something: the Soldier who had just spoken seemed to have used slightly incorrect wording. Who in Ancient Egypt would refer to the Pharaoh's body as a "dragon body"?
"Honestly, you haven't changed at all. Even at a critical moment like this, you still don't prioritize your own safety," the strange Soldier removed the white cloth from his head, revealing a face that was both familiar and unfamiliar to Dark Yugi, a confident smile lingering on his lips, "In this ultimate Dark Game, your safety is clearly quite important."
"Well, I'm not qualified to say anything either, so let's go together, Yugi!"
"You are—" Looking at the clearly young boy in loose clothing before him, Dark Yugi said in astonishment, "Hayato?!"
"Hayato Kobayashi!?" Bakura was equally astonished by Hayato's appearing, "You bastard, why are you here!"
"Could it be that you also infiltrated through that Entrance that was inexplicably unguarded?!"
"Huh? An unguarded Entrance?" Hayato raised an eyebrow, "Hold on, you bastard, don't tell me you broke into the Royal Palace from the side where I took care of the Guard! Hey, hey, pay the toll, you jerk! And we're both visiting the Royal Palace of Ancient Egypt for the first time, right? Why did you get here faster than me? I circled around several times before I finally managed to find this place!"
"Don't you know to head towards the busiest place, idiot?" Bakura looked Hayato up and down and said disdainfully, "Haha, you turned into a kid after entering this World? How lucky! This is a great opportunity to take care of both Yugi and you while you can't use those troublesome Duel Monsters like before!"
"Go, Diabound! Kill everyone here and bring me the Millennium Items!"
Chapter 720: How Could Spirits Be Such Inconvenient Things?
"Go, [Diabound]!"
Following Bakura's order, the Monster behind him attacked towards everyone. Seeing this, Seto, who had been standing at the forefront attempting to seal [Diabound] earlier, snorted coldly: "I'll say it again, with us priests here, don't even think about harming the Pharaoh!"
"My Spirit that slumbers within the Stone Tablet Temple, descend here and become my power!" While raising his left hand high, Dark Yugi and Hayato saw the golden Duel Disk Seto was wearing on his left hand suddenly unfolded, then radiated golden light. "[Monster Beast - Galest]!"
A light beam shot into the Royal Palace from afar, falling straight down and engraving itself onto the golden Duel Disk on Seto's hand. An engraving of a Monster appeared on the previously flat surface.
At the same time, as the light converged, a wingless, four-legged dragon beast the same size as Bakura's [Diabound] also manifested in front of Seto.
The scene before them was simply a recreation of the Duel Monsters Game three thousand years later. No, perhaps the causality is mistaken; the Duel Monsters Game created by Pegasus was precisely born from scenes like this, where Monsters are manipulated to battle each other!
"Within the seven Stone Tablet Temples surrounding this Royal Palace, tablets left by the Previous Pharaoh and the Priests before him, which seal Monsters, are stored. The Duel Arena, which possesses the ability to summon Spirits from the tablets for battle, is precisely the peak of our country's alchemy!"
Standing beside Dark Yugi and Hayato, Simon glanced at Hayato. Although he didn't know who this person was, since he knew the Pharaoh, he could tentatively place trust in him. "It is precisely by sealing Monsters with the [Millennium Items] and then summoning Spirits with the Duel Arena that our country has been able to resist foreign enemies, quell surrounding conflicts, and bring peace and prosperity to the people."
"Even if there's a somewhat powerful Monster, so what? It's fundamentally not an opponent for us seven priests!" Saying this, Simon placed his hands on his waist and spoke with confidence. As Simon's voice fell, the dragon beast [Monster Beast - Galest] that Seto summoned pounced towards Bakura and [Diabound], and for a moment, it did successfully suppress them. It seemed evenly matched.
Seeing this, Aknadin frowned. He also revealed the Duel Arena that every Priest wears on their left wrist, as if to summon his own Spirit to assist Seto.
But Seto glanced back and saw that the priests behind him seemed to have the plan to join the battle. He turned his head and snorted coldly: "Hmph, an opponent like this is enough for me to handle alone. You don't need to join the battle."
Seto's line of sight focused on Mahad. Although he was arrogant, his original background was not prominent. He had only managed to climb to his current position through his own effort and an absolute competitiveness to become the first. Mahad, however, held the title of Strongest Priest, so Seto had always regarded him as an opponent.
He wanted to become the strongest and most supreme, and to do that, he had to surpass Mahad. This battle today was precisely the best opportunity. While Mahad had repeatedly failed to handle matters effectively, he could subdue the Assassin who broke into the Royal Palace by himself, proving that he was stronger than Mahad!
Seto's plan was quite good, but he didn't expect that after seeing Seto summon a Spirit, Bakura pursed his lips and said to himself: "You like dragons that much? Your taste won't improve even a single bit after three thousand years. But I have no interest in wasting time on a Monster of this mere level."
While speaking, Bakura actually pulled out a Duel Arena identical to the ones the priests had on their hands from his embrace, put it on his wrist, raised his hand, and shouted, "[Falcos]!"
A light beam rose from the coffin Bakura was stepping on. It summoned a half-human, half-bird Monster Beast in the sky, which joined the battle between [Diabound] and [Monster Beast - Galest]. The other priests were interrupted by Seto's summoning just now and fundamentally didn't have time to call upon the tablets to join the battle.
The originally evenly matched battle changed because one side received reinforcements. The dragon beast, which had just been fighting evenly, was almost instantaneously annihilated by the combined power of Bakura's two Monsters!
"What in the world is that Duel Arena!?" Aknadin frowned, confused, looking at the Duel Arena in Bakura's hand. He couldn't understand why a Duel Arena, which should have been exclusive to the Royal Family, had fallen into the opponent's hand. But thinking that the opponent was a Grave Robber who had just stolen from the Pharaoh's Tomb, Aknadin's eyes widened due to the conjecture in his heart. "Could it be, from the Previous Pharaoh's Tomb—"
"Hahaha, that's right. As a Grave Robber, I have a lot of professional ethics. I specifically ran into the Pharaoh's Graveyard, so of course, I couldn't just come out carrying some jewelry and mummies. How could I miss such a valuable and precious souvenir?"
"Including these Millennium Stone Spirits as well. Who told you you like the custom of burying things with the dead so much? I'm used to being frugal, and I can't stand wasting things."
Bakura smiled coldly and proudly and waved his hand again. "Come on, come out, all of you! Monsters sealed in the tablets, let's make a big fuss together!"
Several light beams manifested consecutively. One after another, Millennium Stone Spirits that had been sealed by the Previous Pharaoh and used by him to protect the country were summoned by Bakura. But at this moment, their appearance was to bare their fangs at the Current Pharaoh and the priests under his command.
Even though Seto had said before that he could handle it, the current situation, no matter how you look at it, was no longer a situation that Seto alone could resolve. The priests all began their summoning, and several Monster Beasts manifested one after another, engaging in battle with Bakura's Monsters.
Seeing this, Dark Yugi glanced at the Duel Arena in his hand and also wanted to join the battle. He imitated Seto's actions just now and raised his hand, but after a long time, not even a single Monster appeared.
"What's going on, Simon?" Dark Yugi looked confusedly at the human Google beside him who answered every question—Priest Shimon.
"Although among the seven Stone Tablet Temples near the Royal Palace corresponding to the seven [Millennium Items], there is indeed one prepared for the Current Pharaoh, which is you, because you only took office today, there is fundamentally no tablet reserve inside." Simon scratched his head, feeling a bit awkward, and looked at a corner of the Great Hall. "The sole tablet intended to be placed in your Palace is still lying here."
Because of Bakura's sudden arrival, the soldiers had already dispersed. The tablet that had sealed the Monster stripped from that Assassin before was naturally not carried away by anyone. It lay alone on the earth, and it was uncertain if it would be shattered by a stray bullet from somewhere later.
It was also for this reason that Simon had asked Dark Yugi to leave first before. After all, compared to the other priests, a Pharaoh who couldn't even summon a single Spirit could almost be said to have no combat power—although, it wasn't that he couldn't summon a single Spirit at all.
It is said that there are three Phantom Beasts holding the Name of God that have been guarding the successive Pharaohs. But the question is, no one knows what the Name of God is. Only the chosen Pharaoh has the ability to call out its Name. Rather than placing hope in such an ethereal legend that Simon, who had already served two generations of Pharaohs, had never seen even once, it was more appropriate to just let the Pharaoh temporarily retreat.
However, the new Pharaoh wouldn't listen to advice, and Simon really had no way to deal with this.
Watching Mahad and the others' Millennium Stone Spirits being beaten back step by step under the offensive of Bakura's Millennium Stone Spirits inherited from the Previous Pharaoh, six fighting one yet almost being counter-killed, and now only able to shrink their defense circle, Dark Yugi wanted to extend a helping hand with his top-tier understanding of Duel Monsters learned from three thousand years later, but was willing but powerless.
It was at this moment that prolonged defense inevitably leads to loss. Bakura grabbed an opportunity and ordered several Monsters to jointly delay the priests' Monsters, freeing up his [Diabound]. The white snake on the lower half of the Monster's body opened its mouth and wantonly accumulated power, then suddenly breathed out!
"Spiral Impact!"
The powerful impact instantaneously swept across the entire area. The Stone Tablet Monsters summoned by the priests present—[Minotaurus], [Bastet], [Zera], [Gadius], and [Illusion Magician]—facing [Diabound]'s full power strike, didn't even have the ability to stalemate and were almost instantaneously broken through!
"[Spiria]!" Priest Isis gritted her teeth and controlled her Millennium Stone Spirit to block in front of everyone.
The pixie held up a barrier, transferring the impact of the attack for everyone to bear itself. It successfully preserved the Stone Tablet Monsters everyone had summoned, but the cost was that [Spiria] itself was directly crushed, and Isis, who was controlling her, was also blasted away, her Duel Arena she was wearing sliding to the side.
Hayato looked at the Duel Arena that had landed at his feet, bent down to pick it up, and put it on his wrist.
"Hey, young man over there, doing that is useless." Seeing this, Simon couldn't help but remind Hayato. "If you don't have the power of the [Millennium Items] and aren't the sacred Pharaoh, you cannot use that Duel Arena to summon Monsters, because you cannot connect to any temple where tablets are stored. Even that Grave Robber stole the tablets buried with the Previous Pharaoh to summon the Spirits within the tablets."
"Even if you have the Duel Arena now, you won't be able to summon anything."
"Present? No, what I'm going to summon is the future, Old Man." Hayato looked at the unfolded Duel Arena, slowly raising his empty right hand above his head. "Only tablets can summon Monsters? How could Spirits be such inconvenient things?"
He suddenly clenched his hand, and a Duel Monsters Card actually appeared in Hayato's hand. It turned into light points and he slammed it onto the Duel Arena!
"Even if time flows, what remains unchanged is the brilliant Starry Sky in the sky. Shining Cyber Dragon Constellation, descend! In the Name of the North Star from a thousand years ago!"
"[Drytron Alpha Thuban]!"
Ever since arriving in the Memory World, neither Dark Yugi, who hadn't brought his cards in, nor Hayato, who had placed his cards in the system beforehand, could summon the Duel Monsters they used in the present era. Even when Hayato held the cards directly in his hand, he could only feel the Spirits had fallen into an unwakeable slumber.
But just now, when Priest Isis's Duel Arena was dropped to Hayato's feet, he heard the call of a Spirit. It didn't come from within the card, nor from within the tablet, but from even higher in the Sky, from within the boundless sea of stars!
Using the Duel Arena he held and the card containing the slumbering Spirit, Hayato drew down the power from the Starry Sky. The true identity of that Spirit's voice was the ultimate Secret Technique Hayato obtained from the Cyber Style Dojo three thousand years later, the transformation of the Cyber Dragon Constellation, [Drytron]!
"Such brilliant and unfamiliar starlight, who exactly are you?"
The [Drytron Alpha Thuban] that appeared in front of Hayato spread its hollowed wings behind it, scattering starlight. It didn't rush to attack Bakura and [Diabound], but instead looked down at Hayato, and a voice entered Hayato's ears.
Without waiting for Hayato to answer, just by looking at Hayato, [Drytron Alpha Thuban] seemed like it had already obtained the answer. "So that's it, you have obtained the recognition of us from the future? Time holds no meaning for us, therefore, extend that contract and use our power to your heart's content, shining one!"
As the voice in his mind fell, the body of the [Drytron Alpha Thuban] that had just appeared suddenly shattered into countless shining stardust. This caused Bakura, who had just been facing a formidable enemy, to be stunned.
"I thought you pulled some kind of magic trick again to summon a Spirit, Hayato. Is a Monster that ruins itself without even needing to attack supposed to be funny?" A corner of his mouth curved up, and Bakura said contemptuously. But upon hearing this, Hayato shook his finger. "Do you know, Bakura? Although Stardust is eternal and unchanging, its position in the Sky is not fixed."
"The rising and setting of the sun can change the power of the Sun God, and the celestial body of the Cyber Dragon Constellation was not the same view three thousand years ago as it is three thousand years later." Hayato reached out and pointed to the Dome above his head. A large hole had been made in the Royal Palace Hall before because [Spiria] had transferred [Diabound]'s attack, revealing the clear sky.
"Four thousand years before the present era, Alpha Thuban of the Cyber Dragon Constellation was the North Star! Although this power has faded somewhat over a thousand years, it is still strong enough!"
Although it was clearly daytime, several bright stars in the sky lit up with unusually bright radiance. The cluster of stars forming the shape of a long dragon cast down light, shining upon the Stardust in front of Hayato!
"Shine! Like a shooting star! The strongest dragon among the stars!"
"[Drytron Meteonis Draconids]!"
"Descend, [Wagatama Soul]!"
Taller than [Diabound], the largest Monster among all those present, and as tall as the Palace, the Starry Sky Dragon opened its eyes, looking down at Bakura and [Diabound].
"No, impossible! Why can you summon a Monster from the future, Hayato Kobayashi?!" Bakura looked at the descent of the Monster before him, whose specification far exceeded the era, with an expression of disbelief.
"Impossible? Hahahaha, nothing is impossible for me on the World! All things are within the palm of my hand!" Hayato casually brushed his bangs aside, his hair standing up as if gelled, looking hyped up. "Witness my [Kamui]! Hehe, hehahahahaha!"
[Drytron Meteonis Draconids] attacked as Hayato waved his hand. The Starry Sky Dragon's breath was just one attack, overwhelmingly destroying all the Stone Tablet Monsters of the Previous Pharaoh that Bakura had summoned. Even [Diabound] was struggling to hold on and was on the verge of being broken through.
Within the radiance, Bakura looked at Hayato's figure. In a trance, it overlapped with a figure taller than his current one, causing Bakura's eyes to widen suddenly. "You, you are! Why are you appearing in this era!"
"Boom!"
The white half-snake, half-fiend Monster was crushed, and Bakura himself was blasted away, smashing into the wall, his life and death unknown!
(End of Chapter)