Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

'A demon capable of rivaling the power of a god? In other words, defeating it would prove I'm the strongest, but only if I obtain power comparable to a god.'

Recalling the attack from the blue giant, Seth narrowed his eyes. 'The Titan of Obelisk—that's the name of a god? Although it's a high and mighty god, since that boy could summon spirits almost on par with gods, it proves that while gods are powerful, there are still spirits with abilities approaching divine power. I am not without a chance to obtain equally powerful strength!'

“Seth…” Someone reached out and patted Seth’s shoulder, bringing him back to his senses. Seth loosened his clenched fist, glanced back, and turned to face the person. “Lord Aknadi?”

“I can tell you’re still upset about your recent defeat.” Although he didn’t use the Millennium Eye in his left eye to read Seth’s thoughts, Aknadi easily guessed Seth’s mind and comforted him, “Don’t take it too seriously. Although it’s just a rough intuition, I think that tomb raider wasn’t human at all.”

"Did you see that with your [Millennium Eye], Lord Aknadi?"

Aknadi nodded: "Ah, I saw the darkness in that tomb raider's heart, if what I saw was indeed his heart. Compared to humans, that guy was almost as if he was made of pure evil and resentment, which was enough to maintain his form."

“You have already done the best that ordinary people can do, Seth. Even Mahad, who is hailed as the strongest priest by others, was far inferior to your stone tablet monsters in terms of combat power just now.”

When Set heard Aknadi say that he had done enough, his resentment was not relieved in the slightest. Instead, it fueled his competitive spirit even more.

“But Lord Aknadi, that boy, and the Pharaoh are not—”

“I don’t know about that boy, Set, but the Pharaoh is special. As the representative of God on earth, the Pharaoh cannot be compared with ordinary humans.” Aknadi interrupted Set, glanced at the somewhat distant Dark Game, and sighed, seemingly lost in thought.

Hearing Aknadi's words, Seth gritted his teeth: "Is that so? Are there limits to humanity? No matter how many demons are collected from the hearts of sinners and sealed into the stone tablets, the power obtained can never compare to the gods controlled by the Pharaoh?"

"In that case..." Seth kept the rest of his thoughts to himself, bowed slightly to Aknadi as a way of thanking him for his understanding, and walked forward, a dark thought that even he found somewhat alarming surfacing in his mind.

—If the power of the demons gestating in the heart of a heinous criminal is not enough, what would happen if a group of sinners combined the power of the demons within their hearts?

Going a step further, if monsters are born from the human heart, then is it possible that monsters could also be conceived in the hearts of ordinary people, in addition to sinners?

However, Seth rejected this idea as soon as it came to mind. Although he pursued power, he felt that the price of gaining power should never cross his bottom line. He would not stoop to using power if it came at the cost of harming the weak who should be under his protection as a high-ranking priest.

Watching Set walk away quickly, Aknadi sighed again. Having read Set's thoughts with the power of the Millennium Eye, he was surprised by Set's pursuit and persistence of power, and proud of Set's pride. However, a feeling of resentment also arose in Aknadi's heart.

'Humans have their limits, and pharaohs cannot be compared to humans. But, Set, you should have had a chance too, you originally had the potential…'

“All spirits feel pain and fear when attacked or injured, which affects their combat power and exposes their weaknesses.” Hayato’s face showed a solemn expression. “However, [Diabund] does not feel that way!”

"Nobody's ever said anything like that except you, you self-righteous bum. Don't give me any random assumptions, Hayato Kobayashi!"

With the help of the white snake on Diaband's lower body, Bakura's body was thrown out, dodging the attack of Ryugi Takumi - Tenryu Meteor = QUA, leaving Diaband with a wail as he was struck by the attack of Ryugi Takumi - Tenryu Meteor = QUA.

Although he had previously managed to obtain power comparable to [Dragon Skill - Heavenly Dragon Meteor = QUA], [Diabund]'s power was merely "transformed" rather than "increased," so he could only achieve parity with [Dragon Skill - Heavenly Dragon Meteor = QUA] but could not surpass it.

If Hayato only had [Ryugi Takumi - Tenryu Meteor = QUA] available, Bakura wouldn't have needed to make threats while running away. However, right next to [Ryugi Takumi - Tenryu Meteor = QUA] at this moment, there was another [Ryugi Takumi - Tenryu Meteor = DRA]!

"boom!"

As the attack of 【Dragon's Gathering - Heavenly Dragon Meteor = DRA】 landed, the already injured 【Diaband】 took the initiative to meet the attack in order to protect Bakura from being hit. His body exploded and was directly destroyed. Even though 【Diaband】 could regenerate infinitely, Bakura was still inevitably affected by the destruction. He staggered and almost fell to the ground, which allowed Hayato behind him to close the distance between them.

Without daring to linger, Bakura continued running forward, summoning Diaband, who had just died once, behind him to delay Hayato as much as possible.

Because Hayato pursued him in time, he successfully located Bakura, who had escaped from the palace, in just a short while. Bakura, who was hiding in the alley, did not try to escape after discovering Hayato heading straight for him. Instead, he summoned Diaband in return because of the two [Dragon Artifacts] Hayato had summoned, thus beginning the current chase.

'No, at this rate, that kid will catch up with us soon. I have to find a way to get rid of him!'

Seeing that Diaband had only bought him a little over ten seconds before being defeated again, Bakura was extremely anxious.

At first, he could buy himself almost a minute's time and nearly shake off Hayato, but after only a few rounds, Hayato's two [Dragon Art] monsters had mastered the method of defeating [Diabund], and their slaughter efficiency was getting higher and higher. [Diabund] was like a dead pig facing a meat processing plant's assembly line, completely powerless against the two monsters!

Just then, the sharp-eyed Bakura suddenly spotted a young girl in the distance, carrying two bottles of beer and walking down the street, looking on with a hint of curiosity as she watched what was going on.

'I've got it! It's you I've chosen!' An idea flashed into Bakura's mind, and he summoned Diaband again. But this time, Bakura didn't abandon it. Instead, he controlled the white snake on its lower body and rushed towards the little girl in the distance, shouting, "You forced me to do this, Kobayashi Hayato, look over there!"

"If you take another step closer to me, don't blame me for attacking that little girl over there. You don't want innocent people to get hurt because of your actions, do you?"

Hayato frowned as he looked at the girl captured by Bakura's Diaband. "This is truly a terrible outcome. Why are you here, Nefertari?"

"Hey, didn't you ask me to find you two bottles of beer, Meliamon?" [Diabund] grabbed the girl who was being held hostage and whose body was entangled by the white snake, unable to move. As if he didn't see the situation clearly, he tilted his head and looked at Hayato.

Chapter 723 You're Too Baby Hot

Hayato was just one step away from defeating Bakura. In his mind, defeating Bakura would secure victory in this dark game. However, Bakura managed to find hostages on the street and take them hostage.

Even if it were any other ordinary person, if Hayato gritted his teeth and hardened his heart, he might be able to convince himself that "the other party is just an NPC in the memory world" and continue to attack Bakura while ignoring the hostages.

However, the one being held hostage by Bakura was Nefertari, who had been by Hayato's side ever since he awoke in the world of his memories. Instinctively, Hayato resisted the possibility of her getting hurt, and looking at Bakura, he also stopped in his tracks.

When Bakura heard that Hayato actually knew the little girl he had just grabbed, he raised an eyebrow, grinned, and said, "Looks like my luck is actually better than I thought. I was thinking that if I just grabbed a random passerby, someone like you might ignore the hostage and continue to attack me. I was even prepared to keep running away."

"So, it turns out you met someone in this era? I'm really lucky, hehe."

With a smile on his face, Bakura pulled a small knife from his pocket, a twisted expression on his face, and moved closer to Nefertari, saying to Hayato, "Don't come any closer, okay? This knife of mine is coated with a deadly poison that kills on contact with blood. If you don't want to see this little girl burned by my blade, you're not allowed to come any closer to me. Also, take off the gladiator's disc from your wrist!"

Although he acted arrogantly, Bakura kept his eyes fixed on Hayato, not daring to look away for a moment, worried that his demands might be too much and that Hayato wouldn't accept them. Then, while shouting things like "Sacrifice yourself for the greater good," he attacked.

To his relief, Hayato remained silent for a few seconds, then neither removed the Gladiator's Disk nor refused outright. Instead, he looked at Nefertari and said to Bakura, "You can forget about me removing the Gladiator's Disk. I'm worried you might take advantage of me not being able to summon monsters to ambush me after I remove it."

Although he refused to remove the gladiator's disk, Hayato did not take another step forward as Bakura had requested. At the same time, one of the two [Ryugi Takumi] who was originally present disappeared, leaving only [Ryugi Takumi - Tenryu Meteor = QUA] to guard him, which made Bakura feel slightly relieved.

At the same time, Bakura was also puzzled by something. He didn't know how Kobayashi Hayato managed to enter the memory world in that person's name. Logically speaking, the other party shouldn't have known anyone at that point in time in the memory world. So what was going on with this girl?

Although the timing of their entry into the world of memories may vary slightly, it should all be around the same time period for Hayato, Yami Yugi, and Bakura. Did they get to know people from this era in such a short time?

Forget it, that kind of thing doesn't matter. I don't have the habit of digging into everything. As long as I can use this girl to make Kobayashi Hayato hesitate to attack me and allow me to escape, that's enough.

"Hey, Hayato Kobayashi, let's make a deal. You let me leave here, and I'll release this woman and return her to you safely. How about that? Fair enough? After all, you don't have a reason to kill me even if it means killing this woman, do you?"

Hearing Bakura's words, Hayato showed a dismissive expression: "No reason? I don't think so. As long as we kill you, this dark game can end. In that case, it wouldn't be a problem to sacrifice one or two people."

"Heh, the way you stopped so decisively just now because I took this woman hostage doesn't quite match what you said." Bakura paused, as if thinking of something amusing. "Besides, killing me will end this dark game? You really are..."

With a suppressed laugh on his face, Bakura grinned and chuckled a few times before saying, "Although it would be more advantageous for me to keep quiet, I simply can't resist the temptation to show off and satisfy my vanity. So, I'll just give you a little reminder since you know nothing about this ultimate dark game."

“You should know that your current body isn’t ‘Hayato Kobayashi’. Just like the other game from three thousand years ago, where the Pharaoh was the protagonist, in this dark game, each player has their own identity in the story.” Playing with a sharp dagger, Bakura pointed to himself and said, “To enhance the immersion, let me introduce myself.”

"Here, my name isn't Bakura, that high school student I chose three thousand years later, but Bakura, the tomb raider who stole the pharaoh's tomb, the King of Thieves Bakura. Don't keep calling me by that name Bakura."

After Bakura finished speaking, without caring whether Hayato understood his "well-intentioned" suggestion or agreed to the deal he had proposed earlier, he followed Diaband beside him, looking at Hayato as he backed away, walking about ten meters backward.

Hayato frowned and took a step forward, but at that moment, Diaband, whose lower body was still tightly bound to Nefertari, swung his arm and smashed a famous mansion next to him, scattering stones and building debris all over the ground in a line.

"Don't move, Hayato Kobayashi!" Bakura pressed the knife back against Nefertari's neck and threatened Hayato sharply, "I told you, you stand still and don't take a single step forward. Don't think I'm afraid to lay a hand on this woman. Stand there like a blind mouse that's stepped on a sticky trap and don't come any closer! Or do you not care if this woman gets hurt?"

Upon hearing Bakula's words, Nefertari, who was being held hostage, protested instead: "No, that's not true. Meliamon cares about me a lot, even though he's a very shy person."

“Meriamon? Tch, is that Kobayashi Hayato’s name? It really is that guy.” Bakura glanced at Nefertari, who had no sense of being a hostage at all, and curled her lip. “Although I don’t know where you got the idea that this guy was ever shy, the more he cares about you, the more advantageous it is for me.”

Pointing to a line drawn by the rubble, Bakura shouted to Hayato, who was standing still, "You stay where you are until I am at a safe distance. Do not move or cross that line even a step, or I will kill this woman. Once I am safe, I will release her."

"You have no right to negotiate!"

Hayato watched helplessly as Bakura grew further and further away from him, but there was nothing he could do but let her go.

Once they were close enough, Bakura looked at Hayato, who had indeed obediently stayed where he was, and said with a cold smile, "That's quite surprising. I thought you would resort to some more tricks. You've become obedient, Hayato. Is it because of this woman?"

Hayato didn't say anything, he just stared at Bakura.

"Don't look at me like that. Are you worried I'll break the contract? Ha, I'm not you."

As he spoke, Bakula did release Nefertari and pushed her away to create some distance between them. But in the next instant, Diaband suddenly launched an attack on Nefertari, who had been pushed away by Bakula!

"boom!"

The [Dragon's Gathering - Heavenly Dragon Meteor = DRA] that Hayato had originally put away somehow found itself lying in ambush near Bakura. Hayato had originally planned to have it attack Bakura, but unexpectedly, Bakura attacked Nefertari after releasing her. This forced Hayato to prematurely reveal the existence of [Dragon's Gathering - Heavenly Dragon Meteor = DRA] and take the attack launched by [Diabund] to shield Nefertari from the damage.

"You actually attacked Nefertari! Bakura, you're so despicable!"

"What right do you have to say such things, you who just tried to ambush me!" Bakura turned and ran for his life, not forgetting to threaten Hayato as he did so, "This is the end of it, but don't think my offensive will end so easily. I will definitely be back!"

Because they had deliberately created distance beforehand, in the blink of an eye, Bakura quickly escaped without a trace under the cover of Diaband, leaving Diaband to bravely withstand the attacks of the two monsters and be destroyed. Although it howled quite miserably when attacked by the two Ryugi Takumi, whether it felt pain or not was none of Hayato's business.

Seeing Nefertari return to his side unharmed, Hayato breathed a sigh of relief. He then said to the smiling Nefertari with a hint of annoyance, "You're so heartless, Nefertari! You just escaped danger, why are you smiling so happily?"

"Hehe, it's because you looked really worried about me just now, Meliamon, when you saw I was almost attacked," Nefertari said with a laugh.

Hayato sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Seriously, aren't you worried at all about getting attacked and hurt?"

Nefertari thought for a moment, then shook her head: "No, because you're here, Meliamon. I believe you can protect me."

Looking at Nefertari, who had such an innocent look on her face and seemed to trust him for some reason, Hayato didn't know what to say. He could only reach out and take the bottle of beer that she had been holding since the beginning.

"Here, this is the beer you saved for me, right?"

"Ta-da! This is the best quality beer I've ever found. That's why I came all the way here. Although I got caught by that sly guy, I finally got to see you again, Meliamon."

Watching Hayato take the beer and unscrew the cap, Nefertari looked on with anticipation, "So, how does it taste? Is it good?"

"Uh, to be honest, it's a bit different from what I expected." After swallowing a mouthful of beer he had been looking forward to for so long, Hayato looked at the beer bottle in his hand with some disdain. "Although it does have a bit of a beer flavor, to be honest, it's just fermented porridge. I'm so disappointed."

"That's why I advised you, Meliamon, a long time ago. The reason why the lower classes drink beer is because they have no choice but to drink it as a source of water. How could you possibly get used to drinking it? If you want to drink beer, you should drink wine or other fruit wines."

As Hayato and Nefertari were talking, they noticed a priest riding a horse and leading soldiers in the direction Bakura had left. They were heading towards a place where black smoke was rising, to suppress what might have been the chaos caused by Bakura's men.

Hopefully, they'll have some luck and avoid running into Bakura head-on. Otherwise, Bakura, who couldn't even be defeated by the combined efforts of seven priests and required Hayato and Yami Yugi to work together, might easily kill a weaker priest while in a hurry to escape.

Bakula indeed had little interest in these ordinary soldiers; his resentment and hatred were more focused on the former Pharaoh Aknam and the current Pharaoh, Yami Yugi.

Driven by revenge, he would not hesitate to drag innocent people into the mess as sacrifices, but if it didn't affect his revenge, he wasn't a madman who would attack anyone he saw.

Especially now that he hasn't been away from Hayato for too long, Bakura knows that the reason Hayato isn't continuing to pursue him is because he realizes that chasing him with his escape methods would only be a waste of time.

But if he wasted his time slaughtering the soldiers he encountered, Bakura had no doubt that Hayato would not let the opportunity pass and would launch another attack on him.

Therefore, even as he watched his men, whom he had arranged to sabotage the city, being killed one by one by well-trained soldiers, Bakula did not stop. However, although he did not attack the soldiers, the priest who led them here noticed him.

"So he's actually on my side?" Aknadi saw Bakura's figure dart across the street and try to escape into the distance. He quickly took off after him, using his old but still somewhat strong legs to try and intercept him. At the same time, a golden light shone from the [Millennium Eye] in his left eye.

"I didn't use this power in the main hall before to keep a low profile, but now I'll use my [Millennium Eye] to control your mind!"

The eyes are a projection of the soul. Aknadi, who has possessed the Millennium Eye for decades, is different from other young priests who have inherited their Millennium Items from their predecessors for at most a few years. His development of the power of the Millennium Eye is actually quite profound.

Not limited to the original ability to reveal the appearance of the monsters in one's mind, Aknadi has expanded outward along this ability and has developed a terrifying ability to read people's thoughts, influence the thinking of others, and even imprint one's own thoughts into the minds of others, which is almost a form of mind control.

But the instant Aknadi imprinted his will into the seemingly unguarded mind of Bakula, his thoughts suddenly plunged into darkness. That darkness even surged back into Aknadi's mind along with the power of the [Millennium Eye]. He coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground with his eyes rolled back.

By devouring the will in his mind, Bakula gained Aknadi's memories instead, and looked him over with interest: "How interesting, this guy is actually... This ambition that grows in the shadows not for his own benefit might be useful."

“But not now.” Glancing back and finding that Hayato hadn’t caught up, Bakura continued his journey without stopping, crossing Aknadi and fleeing the city-state. He mounted a camel he had hidden beforehand and escaped into the sandstorm.

Chapter 724 Mahad, You Are So Gentle

“That’s how it is, Pharaoh.” The lights in the palace dispelled the night, and Mahad and a group of priests knelt before the throne of Dark Game. “The ones who attacked the city were the henchmen of that tomb raider—Bakura, who was arrested for ‘stealing the Pharaoh’s tomb.’ They have all been wiped out.”

“We found traces of dark forces on the attackers. It was with the help of these forces that they were able to evade the guards’ search and sneak into the royal city with their weapons to cause chaos.”

Perhaps to make up for his previous dereliction of duty, when all the priests were ordered to go to various parts of the city to rescue the citizens and quell the chaos, Mahad not only completed the Dark Game's order to defeat the attackers who caused the chaos, but also took the opportunity to complete the interrogation work and learned from Bakura, who was Bakura's subordinate, how they broke into the royal city.