Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

However, miraculously, with the arrival of the Yugi group, Dark Yugi's "soul," which should have been completely reduced to zero, miraculously rebounded slightly. Even Seth couldn't explain this incredible situation, especially since he couldn't actually see the Yugi group right next to him, and he didn't even notice when Jonouchi was just centimeters away from his face.

"Phew, thank goodness the Pharaoh isn't in any danger." After standing up and checking on the Dark Game's condition, Seth looked at Hayato beside him. "This time, we really owe you a lot, Hayato Kobayashi."

Upon hearing Seth's words, Jonouchi put his hands on his hips and said confidently, "Yoshi, I'm sure of it, this guy is definitely not that Kaiba guy."

“Idiot, didn’t Hayato just explain to us that this is a world of memories spanning three thousand years within the stone tablet? Perhaps some people will resemble some of the people in our memories, but they are not the same person. This priest who looks a lot like Seto Kaiba is named Setora.” Kyoko said helplessly after hearing Jonouchi’s words.

Jonouchi scoffed, "I found it strange because Hayato said this guy's name is Seto. 'Seto' and 'Seto' are practically the same sound. And that Bakura who looked exactly like Bakura just now, the sound of 'Bakura' is exactly the same as 'Bakura'."

"If I weren't so sure that Kaiba would never thank anyone, and that this 'Seto' couldn't possibly be Seto Kaiba, I would almost suspect that Kaiba and Hayato were teaming up to lie to us."

"Compared to that, our current situation is more bizarre, isn't it?" Honda's words drew the attention of the two. Honda was reaching out to touch the warhorse carrying the sleeping priestess Shada, but he found that his outstretched hand could not touch anything at all and passed straight through the warhorse's body. "Not only can that Seto who looks like Seto Kaiba not see us, we can't even touch anything. It's like we're ghosts!"

Since Seth had been checking on Dark Game's condition and hadn't gone near him, Yugi thought for a moment after hearing Honda's words and said, "Is it because we're in another world of my memories? And we weren't pulled into this world by Bakura using Dark Game like Hayato."

"In this world of memories from three thousand years ago, no one knows of our existence, which means that we do not exist in the eyes of this world. This explains why others cannot see us or touch us."

Yugi glanced worriedly at the Dark Yugi on the ground and said, "The reason why the other me and Hayato can see us is probably because they have memories related to us."

It must be said that people cannot be generalized. Both of them came to this world of memories and encountered the same situation. The conjecture given by the game is not similar to that of a terminally ill dragon cancer patient whose mind is full of nothing but playing cards and science. It is completely unrelated.

When Jonouchi heard what Yugi said, he looked at Hayato and said, "Speaking of which, it's only just begun, why is Hayato just sitting there without moving? Is he asleep? No wonder that Seth who looks like Kaiba said thank you."

With Xia Da asleep, Hayato motionless, and Yami Yugi unconscious, Seth, who couldn't see Yugi and the others except for the soldiers, would naturally assume that he was the only one still awake. Therefore, it's understandable that he spoke his mind without any pretense.

However, Hayato was not asleep. The reason he remained silent was that he was currently immersing his mind in the Millennium Wisdom Wheel.

The sun disappeared from the sky, replaced by the soft moonlight that could not illuminate everything. Even so, a large dark cloud drifted in and covered the only light, shrouding the small village in darkness.

In the darkness of night, a guest arrived in the small village. It was a time of war and chaos, but the villagers knew that life was hard for those who wandered far from home, so they still welcomed the cloaked guest into the village.

Then, the mischievous boy, who was hiding in the closet waiting for his family to come find him, found everything in his sight covered in blood.

They thought the other party was a wandering traveler, but upon entering the village, the other party immediately killed the two guards at the village entrance and used their blood to create a barrier separating the inside from the outside, just like a butcher closing the gate of the pigpen before slaughtering the pig.

"For the continuation of the kingdom, the power of the [Millennium Artifact] is essential. Fellow villagers of Thieves Village, sacrifice yourselves for the greater good of the kingdom!" Perhaps to intimidate the villagers, or perhaps to convince himself, the cloaked butcher went on a killing spree among them.

The villagers, fleeing in panic, were killed one by one by the man wielding a sharp sword. The way he killed them was as if he were not killing his own kind, but merely puppets, with effortless ease. Even when he had the opportunity, the butcher deliberately inflicted wounds on the villagers he captured, not rushing to kill them instantly, but letting them experience pain and die in despair.

What could the boy do? Go out and fight, only to have his weapon easily cut off and be killed by the butcher's sword, just like the other rebellious adults? All he could do was huddle in the closet, peering through the crack in the door at the bloody massacre outside the window, desperately covering his mouth with his hand, afraid to make a sound.

Were the villagers innocent? The boy knew they weren't. Although it was just an ordinary village at the beginning, because it was near the Valley of the Kings, where the pharaohs of the past were buried, the village's main industry was building pyramids and various tombs. They weren't rich or powerful, but they were generally doing well.

But after the new pharaoh ascended the throne, the king named Akhenam Khanon heard from an uncle in the village who liked to gossip about state affairs that, apparently in order to fight against the old religious aristocratic forces and promote religious reform, he moved the capital from Thebes to the newly built Akhtaton. As a result, his tomb was also built to the east of the new capital, instead of in the Valley of the Kings.

This resulted in the entire village losing their jobs. Not only could they not maintain their previous comfortable lives, but given their expertise in construction but lack of farming skills, they couldn't even afford basic sustenance. Fearful of the future and driven by the need to survive, the village adults chose to commit the kingdom's most serious crime—to use their newly awakened tomb to plunder the nearby royal mausoleum.

Clay Elna, once known as the "Village of Craftsmen," has become infamous and reviled as the "Village of Thieves" after a series of adults were captured by the Tomb Keepers.

The boy, who grew up in this village, naturally knew that if the adults who had been captured hadn't insisted that they had nothing to do with the village to avoid implicating their families, the entire village would have been unforgivable sinners according to the kingdom's laws.

However, this is not the punishment he should receive. Even according to the laws of the kingdom, there should be some people in the village who, like himself, have never been involved in tomb raiding, who should be allowed to survive, even if it means being enslaved or imprisoned, instead of the bloody scene before his eyes, where familiar villagers are dying one after another in the massacre!

The village wasn't very big, with a total population of only a hundred. The boy, his limbs cold, curled up in the wardrobe, watching the cloaked butcher pull the sword from the chest of the pregnant woman next door, then plunge it into her stomach, wiping out the unborn child as well.

Seemingly convinced that the villagers had been killed, or perhaps they had simply gathered the required number, the butcher removed his hood, revealing a face the boy had once recognized. Before the current pharaoh moved the capital, the boy had also gone to the capital to join the festivities on the day of his coronation. The butcher who had slaughtered the entire village was a member of the royal family who served the pharaoh at that time!

Was it the Pharaoh? Did the Pharaoh issue the order to massacre the village? It must be!

The boy's heart was filled with fear, resentment, and anger, as if he wanted to completely etch the appearance of the person in front of him into his mind, watching the other person use a long sword stained with blood to carve intricate patterns on the ground.

The moment the intricate pattern was completed, the river of blood flowing on the ground seemed to be drawn towards the design, completely filling the depression in the ground. The despair, resentment, and hatred in the blood were extracted in a unique way. In the golden light that should have been sacred and brilliant but now gave people darkness and despair, a huge stone slab rose from the ground.

On the stone slab was a human-shaped protrusion. The uneducated boy did not recognize what kind of deity it was, and his gaze was fixed on the gold jewelry and decorations on the human figure.

The blood within the barrier on the ground surged towards the stone slabs and flowed into the golden implements. However, just before the implements were completed, the royal member who had massacred the village removed several of them immediately, ensuring that those implements remained unstained by blood.

Blood surged into the stone slab, granting the remaining three golden artifacts their most powerful abilities. However, the incomplete state caused a being within the slab to roar in fury: "Akhenadi!"

Black mist rose from the stone slab, transforming into a sharp claw that was about to grab the golden artifacts from the royal's arms. However, the royal was faster, preemptively taking the remaining three artifacts from the stone slab, causing the claw formed from the black mist to dissipate before it could strike him.

Having lost all the golden artifacts, the entity within the stone slab seemed to have also lost all its power and fallen silent, slowly sinking into the ground. The magic array that had devoured the blood of nearly a hundred people also lost its light and disappeared after that.

All that remained were corpses scattered on the ground, and the royal family member named "Akhenadi" who already possessed seven pieces of gold artifacts.

"Is this the 'Millennium Artifact' recorded in the 'Millennium Magic Book,' possessing the power to achieve anything? It's so powerful, I can already feel its power!" The boy heard Aknadi mutter to himself, holding up a golden eyeball before his eyes. "The 'Millennium Eye,' capable of reading minds, is only yours. To prevent others from learning my secret, I must be the one to use you."

Aknadi, who easily slaughtered the entire village, was ruthless to others and even more ruthless to himself. Without hesitation, he stuffed the third-to-last item he had taken out, the [Millennium Eye], into his own eye socket, crushing his left eye and replacing it with this golden eye!

After a moment, seemingly having adapted to the power of the [Millennium Eye], Aknadi's face revealed an expression of ecstatic joy. However, after glancing down at the corpses scattered on the ground, he sighed and muttered to himself, "Ninety-nine lives were exchanged for the power of the [Millennium Artifact]. But I will use the sacrifice of these ninety-nine lives to save nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine people. All of this is for the continuation of the kingdom!"

"My heart and actions are as clear as a mirror, and everything I do is just!"

As he spoke, Aknadi picked up a torch used for lighting the village and began to set it on fire without hesitation. He wanted to bury this evil in ashes with flames.

Flames began to spread in the village, and the intense heat engulfed everything. Aknadi watched for a long time, and only left after seeing another house collapse. He did not see a small figure wrapped in corpses, escaping from the sea of ​​fire!

The next moment, everything froze. Hayato, who had been standing beside the boy and observing everything from the beginning, heard a voice in his ear:

"This is the dark truth behind the Millennium Item..."

"This is the past of the kingdom you protect..."

Even after seeing this truth, will you still stand on the side of this disgusting kingdom?

Hayato glanced at the white-haired boy who was protecting him with a corpse, and said coldly, "Heh, what does it have to do with me how people died three thousand years ago? I don't care about those boring things. Stop pretending to be a god, Bakura."

"No, Bakura!"

Chapter 758 The Dynasty's Demise? It doesn't matter, I'll take action.

While Hayato was facing an illusion in the spiritual world inside the Millennium Wisdom Wheel, Seth led his troops to escort everyone back to the city.

After all, putting everything else aside, the Pharaoh's condition alone forced Set to take him back to the city for proper care and treatment by the court physicians. Although Yami Yugi was fortunate enough to survive, the injuries he sustained were still real and had not disappeared.

Although the Pharaoh's initial purpose in leaving the city was to find something, there were simply no spare people to do it now, and Shada was not in the right state of mind. Compared to the item whose importance was uncertain and whose even finding was uncertain, Set decided that the Pharaoh's safety was more important.

Because Hayato had immersed his mind in the [Millennium Wisdom Wheel], he appeared to be asleep, just like Shada. Seth, thinking that treating one or two was the same as treating one, took Hayato back to the palace as well.

However, what Seth didn't know was that the Yugi group, whom he couldn't see because he lacked the relevant memories, were precisely the "items" that Dark Yugi was looking for, and they had entered the city with Seth's troops. Since no one could see them, the four Yugi members simply hitched a ride on the Pharaoh's personal carriage.

Although Seth had tried his best to choose a route that would have less impact on the public, as instructed by Yami Yugi, the sheer size of the army meant that the commotion was far from insignificant. The vehicle escorting Yami Yugi, Shada, and Hayato attracted considerable attention.

If Set hadn't been so thoughtful, considering the turmoil the people would feel upon learning that the holy Pharaoh had been attacked and was in danger, and hadn't specially arranged for a sealed wooden carriage to escort An Yuxi and the others, the people would probably already be in a state of panic because the new Pharaoh was on the verge of death just a few days after taking office.

First, Bakula launched a night raid on the palace, then he ordered his men to set fire to the city, and then even the "most powerful priest" Mahad died. If the people were to find out that the pharaoh had been attacked again and had almost died, the dignity of the royal family would be completely destroyed.

Meanwhile, although Bobasa's voracious appetite prevented Kaiba from fully satisfying his hunger, he was content, wandering the streets in search of Duel Monsters from this era. Having witnessed Ra's Winged Dragon of Ra appear outside the city, Kaiba firmly believed that duelists existed in this era as well, and that they could serve as nourishment for his growth and strength, allowing him to surpass Yugi and Hayato upon returning to the modern world.

However, Kaiba only received disappointment. This era was different from the future. Not to mention duelists, he couldn't even find a trace of the existence of Duel Monsters, as if Duel Monsters didn't exist at all.

However, Ra's Winged Dragon of Ra was definitely not an illusion. Kaiba had a certain degree of confidence in his eyesight and did not believe that he had misjudged it. Since Ra's Winged Dragon of Ra, one of the "Three Egyptian Gods" at the pinnacle of Duel Monsters, existed, Kaiba believed that Duel Monsters must also exist in this era, only in a different form than the cards of the modern era.

Because Bobasha was a riddle-teller who only pretended to be stupid, and after bringing breakfast to the seahorse, he disappeared. The seahorse stood alone in the middle of the road, letting pedestrians walk through his body, calmly thinking.

He is temporarily forgetting the common sense he subconsciously remembered in modern times, trying to think from an outsider's perspective.

Because of the influence of numerous tournaments such as "Duel Kingdom" and "Duel City," as well as the vigorous promotion by various Duel Monster beneficiaries, including the International Mirage Company, Kaiba Entertainment Group, Schreid Corporation, and the Manjoume Foundation, Duel Monsters experienced a surge in popularity and became a hit many years after Pegasus created it.

Before that, Duel Monsters was just a niche hobby. Kaiba remembered that during his few school years, only Yugi in the whole class knew how to play Duel Monsters cards in his spare time, and Jonouchi and the others only learned to play Duel Monsters later.

Because of the lack of promotion of the cards, Kaiba remembers that when he went to the game shop run by his grandfather, Sugoroku Muto, the shop sold many other miscellaneous items such as building blocks and puzzles in addition to Duel Monsters cards in order to increase revenue.

It wasn't until he hosted "Duel City" that Duel Monsters truly became popular, with even old men in roadside parks enthusiastically playing a couple of rounds of cards.

After removing the preconceived notion that "Duel Monsters are everywhere," Kaiba felt that perhaps in this era, Duel Monsters was not yet widely popularized and was merely a hobby for a small group of people.

Considering that ordinary people in ancient times would only focus their energy on basic needs, Kaiba reasoned that if we were to ask who in this era would be most likely to come into contact with Duel Monsters or have knowledge related to Duel Monsters, we would probably have to look at those wealthy and powerful figures who had no worries about food and clothing. And the easiest place to find such powerful figures would be the royal palace.

Relying on its so-called "quantum entanglement state," the seahorse completely ignored the soldiers blocking the streets to allow the troops to enter the city in an orderly manner, and headed towards the most prominent palace in the city.

But after passing the soldiers blocking his way, he hadn't gone far when he suddenly froze, staring intently at the figure riding a warhorse and guarding a carriage.

Isn't that Priest Seto, who escorted the injured Yami Yugi and the others back to the palace?

"That's... me?"

"No, impossible, absolutely impossible! How could I possibly exist in an era thousands of years ago!"

Frowning, Kaiba went unnoticed by Priest Set, watching as the other headed towards the palace. A thought flashed through his mind, and Kaiba quickly filled in the blank: "It's because of the state of quantum entanglement; my existence has been projected into a part of this era, which is why that person looks exactly like the person I remember."

"As expected, there are many unsolved mysteries in the quantum realm. Since there are people who look just like me, I don't need to care if I see people who look like Yugi or Hayato. They are just fictional shells projected onto people of this era because of my memories."

"I see, I understand completely now."

Thinking this through, Kaiba believed he understood everything. He looked down at the Duel Disk on Set's hand, smiled confidently, and muttered to himself, "Just as I thought. Although it's different from the Duel Disk I created, its design is definitely related to Duel Monsters."

"Judging from their attire, are they priests or royalty from ancient Egypt? Like wealth and resources, Duel Monsters are concentrated in the hands of those at the top of the pyramid."

As Seth, who was escorting the carriage, gradually disappeared into the distance, Seahorse frowned. "However, it's like knowing that the cup next to you has been knocked over, but you can only watch it fall to the ground. Just seeing someone who looks exactly like me makes you feel uneasy from the bottom of your heart."

"Is this direction leading to the royal palace? If so, I might as well go and take a look. The direction this army came from seems to be the same direction where we saw the Winged Dragon Ra earlier. Perhaps the pharaohs of this era have even more powerful Duel Monsters at their disposal. Even I can't help but feel a little excited."

Following the marching army, Kaiba followed Seth towards the palace. Before long, they saw the square in front of the palace that had been the site of Yami Yugi's coronation, where all the people who came to worship had come.

Seahorse wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but the closer he got to the palace, the more he felt something drawing him in, as if something vital and closely connected to him was inside. This feeling intensified until it reached its peak when he arrived at the palace square, causing Seahorse to momentarily freeze in shock.

In front of the square, Seth dismissed the army, sending the soldiers, who had been drawn from various parts of the city, back to their original posts. There was no need for soldiers to guard the palace for the time being; Seth could manage it alone, and not just anyone could enter the palace.

Watching the soldiers around him disperse in an orderly fashion, the person who looked just like him got into a carriage and was about to enter the ancient palace in front of him. The seahorse, who had come to his senses, naturally followed. However, Seth, who wanted Pharaoh and Shada to receive treatment as soon as possible and was also very worried about Aknadi's condition, acted faster than he had expected, so much so that he couldn't keep up with the other person.

No sooner had Seth driven his carriage into the palace than the palace gates were closed, giving the seahorse no chance to follow.

The seahorse, locked outside the palace gates, had a dark expression on its face. It couldn't help but feel annoyed that it had suddenly become absent-minded and hadn't been able to follow them into the palace.

Although he is currently in a "quantum entangled state" and cannot come into contact with ordinary people and things in this era, if he really couldn't come into contact with any matter, the seahorse would have already fallen into the Earth's core due to gravity. The ground and buildings beneath his feet are things he can touch but cannot pass through. Therefore, facing the closed, heavy gate, the seahorse cannot enter the palace.

"Hmph!" The seahorse snorted angrily, unwilling to give up because of the inexplicable attraction. It had to find a way to enter the palace; the mere gate could not stop its progress.

But first, let's look for other entrances. There's no need to stubbornly stick to one door. That's called being flexible, hmm.

Meanwhile, inside the palace, Aknadi, who had just woken up, was listening to information from the guards in front of him.

According to the two soldiers, not long after Aknadhi entered the Pharaoh's stone temple, a scream suddenly came from inside the temple, accompanied by lightning and a dragon's roar. When the guards at the temple gate entered the temple, they only saw Aknadhi lying on the altar.

Apart from that, there was no one else in the temple, and one of the three stone tablets enshrining the pharaoh's guardian beasts had been fitted with a sinister longsword.

Naturally, the guards concluded that thieves had broken into the palace again to try to damage the stone slabs in the Pharaoh's temple, but their plan was thwarted by Aknadi's sacrifice, causing the invincible Aknadi to fall once more.

“Ahem, ‘again’ is superfluous.” Aknadi coughed lightly twice, recalling his memories. For some reason, Aknadi’s memories of meeting the Pharaoh, awakening [Anka Kutau] for Shada, and up until he returned home and finished breakfast were still relatively clear, but his memories after that were inexplicably somewhat blurry.

However, combining the words of the two guards, Aknadi's memory became clearer in part. It seemed that, as they said, he had indeed fought with some being, but in the end, he was unable to stop it and watched helplessly as it destroyed the Pharaoh's stone tablet before his eyes. However, Aknadi couldn't quite remember who that being was.

Perhaps it was because of the fight with the other party that his memory had become somewhat blurred. Aknadi subconsciously found a reason to convince himself, and then asked the guards about the Pharaoh and Priest Set who had left the city.

Upon hearing that Seth and his group had been ambushed by Bakula, Aknadi panicked and immediately inquired about the current situation of the battle.