Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

He wanted to beg for mercy, but the tomb guardian elder said something he didn't want to say again: "Six years ago, I was the one who lured that brat Malik Ishdar outside the clan territory to violate the ancestral teachings, thinking that I would use this to overthrow his father's position. I didn't expect that this brat would actually kill his father. That's even better, I have a greater chance to become the clan leader. But it's all Isis's fault for interfering with me again!"

"Hmm!?" Malik's wicked smile faltered for a moment, and he looked at the tomb guardian with a hint of anger. To be honest, he wasn't a good person, but he couldn't bring himself to kill his own father. If his father hadn't angrily punished Lishid for not keeping a close watch on him, allowing the other version of himself to escape, his father wouldn't have died.

And this actually came from the scheme of this disgusting guy in front of him!? The anger of being used as a weapon made Malik punch the tomb guardian elder in the face.

The tomb guardian elder was struck hard in the face four times and fell to the ground in pain. But just as he was about to cry out in agony while clutching his bleeding nose, he discovered that the control over him seemed to have been released.

“That’s not it either.” Hayato shook his head again, looking at the grave-guarding elder whose face was covered in blood.

Hayato's words reminded the gravedigger that his life was still in the hands of the person before him. As the victor of the Dark Game, Hayato could kill him at any moment. He immediately begged for mercy: "Please, spare me! I will never again covet Isis's position—no, I will never again covet Lady Isis's position!"

Looking at the disheveled tomb guardian elder, Hayato shook his head again: "To be honest, I still prefer how you were just being stubborn. Unfortunately, it's not that."

As he spoke, Hayato pointed a finger at the gravedigger elder's forehead. In an instant, a massive surge of magical energy flooded into his brain and surged around.

Chapter 706

Because the elder's words were so informative and explosive, before the people in black robes could even process the reality that "the elder is a liar who spreads rumors" and "the elder killed the previous clan chief," Hayato had already withdrawn his fingers from the elder's head.

Hayato has always been kind-hearted. Although he was the winner of the Dark Game, he did not take the life of the Elder of the Graveyard. He merely used the power of the Millennium Key to forcibly access the Elder's inner world to see if there was anything interesting to see.

Although it had only been a day since he inexplicably obtained the Millennium Key from Shadi, Hayato felt quite adept at using it, just as he had when he first obtained the Millennium Wisdom Wheel and the Millennium Scepter, as if he had used them for decades.

The flow of time in the mental world seems to differ from that in the outside world. After Hayato finished reviewing the old man's deeds over the past few decades in the mental world of the tomb guardian and returned to reality, only a blink of an eye had passed. Knowing that the old man had committed evil deeds, Hayato orchestrated the scene that just occurred.

For someone who will stop at nothing to create a good reputation and climb higher, there is nothing more cruel than publicly shattering their carefully constructed image and exposing all the dark secrets beneath, thus cutting off their path to advancement.

Hayato even thoughtfully destroyed the other person's thinking ability after the other person had completely given up and fallen into despair, turning him into an idiot. Hayato is indeed too kind-hearted.

However, Malik still seemed somewhat unsatisfied. He coldly watched the tomb guardian elder, who was grinning like an idiot and drooling in a daze, and casually grabbed one end of the Millennium Scepter that Hayato had handed him, pulled out the hidden blade, and slashed it across the elder's neck.

"Puchi-"

Yugi immediately stood in front of Kyoko, blocking the slightly bloody scene, but the now-present Yami Yugi didn't think Hayato and Malik had done anything wrong. When the Gravekeeper and his men appeared earlier, they were acting with the intention of killing, which meant they were prepared to be killed as well.

The group under the tomb guardian were unable to accept reality and did not understand their current position or what they should do. When they saw Malik, the sinner, actually kill the elder, they did not react at all.

Malik wiped the blood off the elder's robe, glanced around at the people, smiled coldly, and sheathed the blade back into the Millennium Scepter. Although he didn't know what the person who designed and created the Millennium Items a thousand years ago was thinking, Malik personally liked the design of the Tibetan knife and found it very easy to use.

Of course, it would be even better if the Millennium Scepter didn't act like a sycophant, always being summoned and dismissed at will by Seto Kaiba.

Hayato hung the Millennium Scepter back on his waist and casually asked Malik, "Is it alright to just kill people from your clan like this?"

“It’s not the first time. I’ve even killed the clan chief, so what’s one more elder?” Malik said nonchalantly. “Putting aside the fact that I was expelled from the Tomb Keeper Clan long ago, even if my sister is the clan chief, it has nothing to do with me. In the Tomb Keeper Clan, the strong are always the most important. So, it’s fine if this old guy dies.”

As a lineage that has been passed down for three thousand years, the Ishdar clan, the guardians of the tombs, would probably have been lost to the world long ago, just like another lineage of tomb guardians, if they hadn't possessed real strength and only talked about their heritage. Although the clan leader has been a direct descendant for three thousand years, that's largely because the descendants of Malik and Isis have always been the strongest.

If Isis didn't possess the strength, even as the daughter of the previous clan leader, she probably wouldn't have been able to convince the people to accept her position. Of course, with the ancestral cheat code [Millennium Jewelry] in her possession, and knowing everything her opponent did throughout the game, it would be strange if Isis lost.

Although the tomb guardian elder had been killed by Malik, there was still a problem facing everyone: the guards under the elder who remained here.

After Isis informed the Tomb Keeper Clan in advance of Hayato and his group's arrival, the guards who accompanied the elder to carry out the mission of intercepting the clan leader's guests, and who even openly stated their intention to frame him, were undoubtedly the Tomb Keeper Elder's trusted subordinates. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they stood firmly on the elder's side.

Although their initial reasons for loyalty were the rumors circulating within the clan about the current clan leader, as well as the elder's formidable strength and prestige within the clan, once their stance was chosen, it was a choice. Even now, with the tomb-guarding elder's lies being exposed by him personally, leading to the shattering of their illusions and the wavering of their loyalty, the guards' stance remains firmly tied to the elder's side.

After all, putting everything else aside, just the fact that they obeyed the elders' orders, disobeyed the clan leader's command, and attacked these formidable individuals already gave the guards a glimpse of what fate awaited them.

Hayato had also anticipated the trouble these guards might face. He didn't intend to pursue the matter further with these lackeys. After surveying the guards around him, Hayato said loudly, "You've probably all heard what this old man said. He's just a fraud."

“Not only did you spread rumors about your clan leader within the clan, but you also instigated your attack on us. You deserve to die. And don’t think you can escape responsibility.” Hayato paused, noticing the tense expressions on the guards’ faces, and the trembling hands of several of them holding their swords, he continued solemnly, “Next time I see your clan leader, I will make sure she punishes you by making you do hard labor for several years.”

Upon hearing Hayato's words, the guards were initially taken aback, but instead of being angry, they couldn't help but show expressions of joy. The tomb-guarding clan, including their servants, numbered only about a hundred. There was hard labor involved, but it was only a bit tough; it was far better than losing their heads.

Judging from the man's tone, it's clear he doesn't intend to pursue these small fry. That's perfect!

Some quick-witted individuals even remembered that Malik, the guy who had been expelled from the tomb-guarding clan and stripped of his Ishdar surname, had just called the person in front of them "brother-in-law." Who was Malik's sister? She was the current clan leader, Isis!

Why don't we quickly grab onto this incredibly powerful figure and switch sides to the clan leader?

Immediately, the black-clad guards who had just been brandishing knives and about to attack immediately put away their weapons and, like the lackeys often seen around spoiled rich kids in movies, rushed to Hayato's side, showering him with concern and offering to take him to the tomb-guarding clan's territory.

Chapter 707: A sequel to "The Temptation of Going Home," titled "The Resistance to Going Home."

From the location where Hayato and his group were attacked by the elder and his men, they could already see the ancestral home of the Tomb Guardians hidden in the desert in the distance. However, as the saying goes, "looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death," and in reality, they still had a considerable distance to travel to reach that place.

However, led by the elders and guards who had "defected," Hayato and his group entered a secret passage that allowed them to traverse the complex terrain and reach the Tomb Keeper's territory directly, saving a considerable amount of time. Naturally, this secret passage was unknown to Malik, who had left the Tomb Keeper's clan years ago and had little experience venturing out.

Emerging from the underground passage, which was only a little over a meter high, Hayato's vision suddenly opened up. Before him lay a cluster of ancient buildings in a unified style, the ancestral home of the tomb-guarding clan, which had been passed down for three thousand years!

"Impressive~" Following Hayato out of the secret passage were Jonouchi and Honda. Instead of looking from afar, they came into the tomb-guarding clan's territory. The two of them couldn't help but marvel at the unique charm of this place. "A tomb-guarding clan that has existed for three thousand years, truly amazing."

“Me too, just walking through the corridors between these buildings, I can feel inspiration gushing from my head.” Pegasus, whose initial purpose was to gather material, was also quite interested in the scenery of the Tomb Keeper's territory. “Ah, my brain is trembling~”

The ancient and heavy sense of history perfectly matched the gem card he wanted to design. If it weren't for the fact that people kept coming out and staring at them from the moment they left the secret passage, he probably would have already gone to the houses to touch the weathered rock walls and feel the traces of time up close.

"Is it just my imagination, Yugi?" Kyoko turned to look at Yugi walking beside her and complained, "Why do I feel like Pegasus has become more and more twisted ever since he was resurrected because of Doma?"

"Well, maybe it's because Mr. Pegasus completely let go after dying again?" Yugi scratched his cheek slightly awkwardly as he answered Kyoko, trying to hide his discomfort under the gaze of the tomb guardians on both sides of the road.

Since they no longer needed to ride camels after taking the secret passage, Yami Yugi had already returned to the Millennium Puzzle and given his body back to Omoikami.

"Huh? Why did you say 'again'?"

"Uh, it's nothing, don't worry about it, Anzu."

The game told Kyoko not to worry about it, so Kyoko naturally didn't press for details. Instead, she looked ahead and asked with some confusion, "Is this our first time visiting the Tomb Guardians' territory? Where are we going?"

Upon hearing this, Hayato, who was walking at the front, explained, "Isis specifically told me before we set off that she wanted me to keep an eye on Malik, and also to have him go home if we arrived at the Tomb Keeper's territory together."

“Even if I didn’t find a detailed map of the tomb-guarding clan in that old man’s head, just by looking at that house over there, even someone who’s here for the first time can guess that it’s Malik’s house.” As he spoke, Hayato pointed to a two-story house with a sign not far away, “It clearly says ‘Clan Chief’s House’ on it.”

Following Hayato's pointing finger, Honda scratched his head in confusion and said, "'Clan Head's House'? Where can I find such a word? But I did see a sign with something that looks like graffiti."

As Honda said, although there was a two-story house built in the most conspicuous place in the tomb-guarding clan's territory, and there was indeed a stone slab hanging on it, the stone slab was just a bunch of hieroglyphic characters that Honda, Jonouchi, and Kyoko could not understand what it meant.

In fact, even Pegasus was the same. After seeing the stone tablet with the inscription, he recalled for a moment and said, "It's very similar to the inscription I made when I created the cards for the 'Three Egyptian Gods'."

"When I was creating the 'Three Egyptian Gods' based on the images on the stone tablet, I was struggling to reproduce the power of the gods by ordinary means. So I thought of inscribing the ancient, undecipherable characters on the stone tablet into the cards. I succeeded on my first try and successfully created two of the cards."

After a pause, Pegasus looked at Hayato and continued, "However, when creating the third card, perhaps the power it represented was too great, and even the method of transcribing text could not fully contain its power, which gave it special conditions for use."

“【Ra】?” Hayato recalled the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that would automatically appear in the originally blank description area when the 【Ra】 card was used. According to the setting, anyone must read those words to have the power to control 【Ra】, but Hayato didn’t seem to have read those words seriously. “So it’s ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.”

Although he hadn't read them much, that didn't mean Hayato lacked the ability to read those characters. Hayato seemed to have an innate ability to understand and read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs at a glance, something that even Hayato himself found strange.

The script, whose meaning is inherent in its pronunciation, was originally lost. Apart from Hayato, the only people who have the ability to pronounce those characters are Yami Yugi, who is the amnesiac pharaoh from three thousand years ago, and Malik and Isis, a brother and sister who learned this lost script from the education of the tomb guardians. That's all there is to it.

Perhaps we could also include Mr. Muto Soroku, who once demonstrated the ability to read ancient Shinto script, but he could only understand the general meaning and could not pronounce the specific words, so he could only be counted as half.

"It feels like Harry Potter naturally uses Parsley's tongue when talking to snakes. I subconsciously read the translation out loud," Hayato scratched his head and turned back to ask, "Speaking of which, where did Malik go?"

Upon hearing Hayato's words, everyone made the same move almost simultaneously—turning around to look at Malik, who was standing at the back of the group, dawdling and dragging his feet as long as he could.

"Oh my, the weather is really nice today, not a cloud in the sky."

Whistling, Malik stubbornly continued his snail's pace, but Hayato didn't have the patience to wait for him to slowly inch forward. He reached out and grabbed Malik's ear: "Alright, stop wasting time there. It's sunny and there's nowhere to go. Let's hurry up and go to your house. Isis specifically told me to do this."

"Ouch~ Gently, gently! Brother-in-law, can't you be a little more assertive? If you keep going like this, you'll become henpecked if you marry my sister."

"I've already said, who's your brother-in-law?!"

Without being hindered by any of the tomb guardians, Hayato led Malik to their destination, stood in front of the house, and pushed open the door.

As soon as they entered, they saw a man dressed entirely in gold standing inside the house. He looked at Hayato and Malik standing at the door and said with a serious expression, "So you know how to come back, Malik."

Upon seeing the man's face, Malik's eyes widened, and he took a deep breath and shouted:

"Ghost!!!"

Chapter 708 Kobayashi Hayato and the Secret Room

At Malik's house, the group sat quite formally on the sofa, watching the man, who was almost transparent and shrouded in golden mist, with his arms crossed over his chest and silently listening to Hayato speak. Malik, who was usually carefree and nonchalant, sat like a quail next to the man, with his head down and not saying a word.

Meanwhile, Jonouchi leaned closer to Honda, who was sitting upright, and whispered, "Hey, Honda, I remember Malik said that his father was dead, right? And that he was killed by his dark personality with that exaggerated laugh. Why is his father still sitting here perfectly fine?"

"Where did you get the idea that he's perfectly fine? Even an idiot could see that he's clearly not in a normal state." Honda glanced at Malik's father, whose transparent body even revealed the wrinkles on the sofa, and rolled his eyes at Jonouchi. "Besides, instead of me who doesn't know anything, why don't you just go and ask him directly?"

"Hey, this is a little embarrassing, isn't it? I can't exactly ask someone why they're still alive, can I?" Jonouchi scratched the back of his head and said awkwardly in a low voice.

Hayato's words fell at that very moment: "...And so, we've arrived here."

The man in front of Hayato nodded, paused for a moment, and then said, "...I see, I understand completely now."

"First, let me introduce myself. My name is Gab Ishdar, the former patriarch of the Tomb Keeper Clan, the father of Isis and Malik, and also the one who died because of the Millennium Scepter."

"Mr. Geb, it's really true—!" Yugi stared at Geb's transparent body. Although he had suspected something when they first met, hearing Geb, who was standing right there, say that he was truly dead still left Yugi with a shocked expression. But then he asked with some confusion, "But, why..."

“From the moment Malik stabbed me to death, I lost consciousness and fell into chaos. When I woke up, I had become like this.”

As he spoke, Gab raised one hand, and with the movement of his arm, wisps of golden mist drifted from his body and then gathered back into his arm, making him appear as if he were made of golden mist.

"In my mind, only a few minutes had passed, but when I opened my eyes, I saw Isis, now grown up. Only then did I realize that a full six years had passed since I died."

"Six years..." Hayato was quite concerned about the time Geb mentioned, because if he remembered correctly, Malik should have killed Geb seven years ago, which meant that Geb had "revived" in this form about a year ago, and a year ago was roughly the time in Duel City.

"For the past year since my self-recovery, I have stayed here without leaving. On the one hand, I don't want to show my face in public, so as not to cause panic in the clan if others see the deceased former clan chief. On the other hand, I am also looking for a reason for me to reappear in the world in this form."

"Finally, I found the reason. Perhaps it was because of the treasure passed down in the clan, which only the clan leader was qualified to see, that I was left in the world in this form."

After explaining his situation, Gab turned around and said, "Nameless Pharaoh, whose soul has wandered aimlessly in the world for three thousand years, helping you regain your lost memories is also one of the duties of our tomb-guarding clan for thousands of years."

"If you need anything, just ask. Whether it's me, the deceased, or Isis, the current clan leader, I will lend you a helping hand."

The man glanced at the game, or rather, at the Millennium Puzzle on the game's chest, then turned his gaze to Pegasus, who was standing next to the game with a curious expression. "The aura you carry... were you once entangled by the power of the Millennium Item? It seems you've fallen into an unfortunate quagmire because of it. I hope you don't end up like me."

"May you find the inspiration you seek among the gravediggers."

“Thanks, but I feel like I’ve found the inspiration I’ve been looking for.” Pegasus smiled at the man and said with great interest, “Even the dead don’t leave this world. I feel like I’ve found another power that I can add to the new card.”

Gab then looked at Jonouchi and Honda, who were whispering to each other. Before he could say anything, Kyoko suddenly nudged the two of them and said sternly, "You two idiots have been talking about other people since the beginning. It's so rude! And your voices are quite loud!"

He then gave Gab a forced smile and said apologetically, "I'm really sorry, Mr. Gab. My friends didn't mean any harm. I apologize to you on their behalf."

"No, it's nothing. I just heard what they were saying, and it's also true that I am the deceased."

Frowning, Gaibu sized up the three and said, "The Tomb Guardians have extremely strict rules. Not only are clan members not allowed to leave the clan territory without permission, but outsiders are also not allowed to enter here at will. According to the clan rules, even if the elder is guilty, killing him and then trespassing into the clan territory would not be too harsh a sentence of death."

Upon hearing this, Jonouchi and Honda's breath hitched, but Kyoko could tell that Gab had no intention of attacking them. If he were going to attack, there would have been no need for Gab to have them sit in his house in the first place.

As expected, Gab continued, "However, as I have said before, it is a fact that I am a dead one. The current head of the Tomb Keeper Clan is Isis, and that old fellow in charge of punishments who was always against me is also dead. Until the head of the clan returns to the clan or a new elder is elected, you have no need to accept our clan's punishment."

"Phew~ That scared me to death, I thought I was going to be killed."