Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

However, the presence of a large amount of hieroglyphs, which are restricted in use, at this place that is suspected to be a tomb is highly unusual. What's even more unusual is that, just as he inexplicably gained the ability to understand ancient Egyptian priestly script, the seahorse found that he could also inexplicably understand what was written in the hieroglyphs before him.

“KanaKht-erymaat

“Mekkemetwafkhasut”

“Userrenput-aanehktu

"Usermaatre-Setepenre (Uthermaatre Setepenre)"

"Ramesses-Meryamun"

As the seahorse uttered word after word, the names he spoke lit up, emitting tiny points of light that drifted into the distance. The seahorse saw before him a figure clad in a black robe standing amidst the shimmering light!

Chapter 870 Getting any closer will melt you

"Who are you?! Did you orchestrate everything that just happened?!"

Seeing the mysterious person suddenly appear before him, Kaiba, who had been suddenly transported to this unfamiliar place, was not at a loss for his guard. At this moment, while questioning the other party, he also raised the Duel Disk that he always wore on his wrist and was ready to play cards.

However, seeing the seahorse so wary of him, the mysterious man calmly stepped out from among the lights and stood in the light illuminated by the flames. He spoke in a slightly hoarse voice, "It's been a long, long time, Seth."

"No, I'm mistaken. You are not Seth. After all, three thousand years have passed. Neither you nor I are what we were back then."

The mysterious man's voice carried a hint of nostalgia, making Kaiba realize once again that he definitely heard his voice somewhere before. However, Kaiba didn't need to rack his brains to guess, because the mysterious man had already taken the initiative to lift his hood, revealing a face that Kaiba remembered quite well.

"Kalim?!"

"Hmm? You still recognize me, Set. Could it be that reincarnation is different from what I know, and that one can retain memories of the previous life?" A middle-aged, muscular man with bangs that reach his eyebrows, hair that curls slightly inward at the sides and earlobes, and a gold headband on his head—who else could it be but the priest Kalim from three thousand years ago?

"No, after all, you later became a pharaoh. Perhaps the reincarnation of a pharaoh has some special privileges."

Unlike the arrogant and acerbic aristocrat in the seahorse's memory, the Kalim who appeared before him was not as stern and overly reserved as in the world of his memories; he even joked around.

This aroused the seahorse's suspicion: "You, are you really Kalim? Why are you here when you should have died three thousand years ago?"

Because of his superstitious belief in science, Kaiba still firmly believes that the events that happened in the world of "King's Memory" were merely past scenes he saw when he was accidentally in a "quantum entangled state," and that it was impossible for humans to survive for more than three thousand years. He believes that the "Kalim" in front of him is definitely someone in disguise!

Ghosts? Those things are simply beyond the scope of President Kaiba's genius mind.

Kalim glanced at the suspicious-looking seahorse and frowned: "What's with that expression? Of course I'm Kalim. It's rare for me to see someone I recognize before my remnant soul dissipates. I wanted to have a good chat. Do you have to say something nasty before you'll believe my identity?"

Hearing the stern expression on Kalim's face as he spoke, Kaiba nodded. That tone was more like it. Looking at Kalim, he said, "No, now I'm sure you are Kalim. But let me make this clear beforehand: don't associate me with Seth. I have no connection with that person. My name is Seto Kaiba."

"Whatever, Seto and Seto, they're still pronounced the same thing," Kalim shrugged, saying indifferently.

Shifting his gaze from Kalim, Set looked around again. When he looked up, he saw that the ceiling was painted dark blue, which made him even more certain that this was a tomb. In the world of "King's Memory," he had overheard Hayato mention that the ancient Egyptians painted the ceilings of their tombs blue to represent the starry sky and to symbolize Nut, the goddess of the sky and mother of the stars.

"Where exactly is this place? Did you just bring me here, Kalim?" The confused seahorse asked Kalim. "Why are you here now, three thousand years ago? What was your purpose in bringing me here? How did you manage to do all those things before? And what did you mean by 'a remnant soul about to dissipate'?"

Hearing Kaiba's barrage of questions, Kalim frowned again: "You should ask questions one by one. I remember Priest Aknadi taught you about etiquette. With so many questions, where do you expect me to start answering them? Seto Kaiba, no, Seto Kaiba."

Even so, Kalim noticed that the seahorse's expression hadn't changed at all; it was still staring at him intently, seemingly waiting for an answer. He sighed helplessly, "They say it's a reincarnation, but it's still the same stubborn and annoying personality. Oh well, I'll start by answering the easier ones."

As he spoke, Kalim waved to Kaiba, signaling him to follow him, and turned to walk into the darkness in the distance. Kaiba, without any concern about whether there were any traps ahead, followed without hesitation.

As the two stepped into the darkness one after the other, the brazier behind them went out on its own as if it had burned out. The light that had appeared earlier because the seahorse had read the hieroglyphs on the wall found the unlit braziers in the darkness and drifted over. One by one, the braziers were lit as the seahorse and Kalim moved forward, and then went out as the two went away, so that the two were always in the light, but could only see the darkness in the distance.

"Your first question is, where is this place?" Kalim kept his eyes fixed ahead, as if the darkness that the seahorse could not see through did not exist for him. He said calmly, "It seems that although you can recognize me, it is not through the memories you retained from your reincarnation, but through some other means. Otherwise, you should be able to recognize this place."

"This is the same stone slab temple as the one around the royal city, used to place stone slabs that sealed demons. But this is also a tomb, a tomb of stone slabs. The [Millennium Artifacts] that we priests possess can strip the demons residing in people's hearts from their seals. Although most of the stone slabs that sealed demons can be used by us, a considerable number of them are too evil and have to be abandoned, which is why this tomb exists."

Although that's what Kalim said, Kaiba had already translated Kalim's words to some extent using his card-playing brain: "So, you priests made Duel Monster cards and then found that you couldn't use them well and it was a pity to throw them away, so you simply prepared this storage room to store the cards?"

Kalim turned his head and gave the seahorse a deep look before finally managing to utter a sentence: "You could say that, albeit reluctantly."

"Also, there's a trap where you're standing."

The seahorse stopped abruptly as it raised its foot to step down. Looking down, it realized that because its attention had been focused on Kalim and the walls on either side, it had completely missed the fact that a stone slab with a relief carving had appeared under its feet. The slab depicted a monster with the head of a crocodile, the upper body of a lion, and the lower body of a hippopotamus.

"Amit, the divine beast representing truth, fairness and order, is also the assistant of Anubis, the god of death who devours the sinful and prevents them from resting. I should have mentioned that this is a tomb, so it's only natural that there would be traps prepared for tomb raiders."

Kalim watched as the seahorse cautiously circled the conspicuous stone paving stone, his voice slightly amused as if he were watching the seahorse's antics, "Be careful, or you'll be melted. That acid is very potent, if it hasn't lost its potency yet."

Seahorse glared at Kalim. If he didn't still have several questions waiting for Kalim's answers, he would have already started cursing at him.

"You bastard, you're deliberately trying to make a fool of me, aren't you!"

Okay, he's already sworn it out.

"Ahem, next is your second question, why am I here? I can explain this together with the reason I brought you here. However, I think 'seeing' might be more appropriate than 'talking'."

As he spoke, Kalim stretched out his palm into the darkness ahead. The points of light around them obeyed his command and flew forward, illuminating a stone slab standing in the darkness in the distance. However, despite being called a stone slab, the seahorse noticed that it was slightly different from the stone slab he had seen in the world of "King's Memory".

It's not about size or material, but rather that unlike other stone slabs used to seal spirits, this stone slab didn't have any carved patterns; it was strangely flat. Even stranger and more perplexing was the irregular hole in the very center of the slab, as if it had been intentionally carved out.

As the points of light approached the stone slab, the seahorse's eyes widened, for he saw several figures vaguely emerging around the slab.

Seth, holding the Millennium Scepter; Kalim, balancing the Millennium Scales; and Aknadi, wearing the Millennium Eye and looking majestic—Kaiba actually saw the priests who had served the Pharaoh three thousand years ago reappear before him.

Looking at Kalim beside him, Kaiba asked, "Kalim, why are there two of you?"

“No, look closely, Seto Kaiba. That is me, yet it is not me.” Kalim shook his head, answering Kaiba with ambiguous words. Although Kaiba did not understand what he meant, he looked at the priests again and found that “Seto,” “Kalim,” and “Aknadi” were all looking down at another figure in front of them with serious expressions.

The figure was dressed in a simple white robe, but the wide collar of the Usekhe collar around his neck indicated that he was a member of the elite class and not a commoner. Yet, this very person was kneeling with his head bowed before the three priests, his hands bound behind his back, like a prisoner being judged.

Because his back was to this side, the seahorse couldn't see what the person kneeling down looked like.

"Tragodia, as the Pharaoh's astrologer, why did you infiltrate this stone temple that seals away monsters!" "Aknadi" had a serious expression on his face, speaking with righteous indignation, making it hard to imagine that he would later become the dark high priest who rebelled against the Pharaoh.

"The reason? Ha, priests, shouldn't you know the answer to that better than anyone? You hold the answer in your hands, the answer that keeps my anger burning." Hearing Aknadi's question, the astrologer Tragodia answered without reservation, his voice full of sarcasm.

"Seth" frowned upon hearing this: "We have the answer in our hands? Hmph, are we coveting the powerful [Millennium Artifact]? Fool, daring to trespass into a forbidden temple just because you covet power, you third-rate mediocre talent with fourth-rate ambition."

"Spying? I thought you, Priest Set, who also rose from the bottom to the top, could understand my anger, the anger at the destruction of my village." Hearing "Set's" words, Tragodia laughed, and ominous black energy began to emanate from his body. "My homeland, my village, my family, were destroyed by the kingdom, all for those [Millennium Artifacts] in your hands!"

"This is... the power of the sealed monsters!?" Noticing the anomaly on Tragodia, "Aknadi" was somewhat surprised. "Unbelievable, even we priests with the [Millennium Artifact] cannot control these buried stone tablets."

"No, it's not manipulation, it's assimilation! He has become one with the spirit within the stone tablet!" "Kalim" saw through Tragodia's true condition at a glance. "Unbelievable! The forbidden technique that Priest Mahad and I were still researching has been used by such an astrologer!"

"He is no longer human, but a monster called [Tragodia]!"

Tragodia, who was kneeling on the ground, ignored "Kalim's" astonishment. Under the corruption of the dark power around him, his body rapidly morphed, and his voice changed: "Don't try to persuade me with your so-called 'justice,' 'protection,' or 'righteousness.' What you can easily give up is all that we little people have. You big shots above don't understand anything at all!"

"Look closely, this is the wrath of Klay Elna, the thief village you destroyed—"

Just as its body was about to completely transform into the enormous, ferocious monster [Tragodia], its voice suddenly stopped. Seth suddenly drew a hidden blade from the [Millennium Scepter] in his hand and plunged it directly into [Tragodia]'s chest.

The human body that had not fully transformed into an elf died instantly because its heart was pierced, and the elf power that had not yet been unleashed was forcibly extracted by the power of the Millennium Scepter.

While "Kalim" and "Aknadi" seemed quite surprised when they spoke, their expressions hadn't changed much from the beginning, and they weren't surprised that "Seth" had so easily taken control of the [Tragodia] in front of them.

Tragodia, an astrologer, was just an ordinary person with no particular talent, and the monster that merged with him was a beast that had been sealed away by the priests. It was not surprising that the two of them were easily defeated. What would be surprising was that they could make Set, the second strongest priest after Mahad, struggle.

The two priests used the power of their respective Millennium Items to transfer the power of the monster stolen by Tragodia back from their bodies to the stone tablet, transforming it into the monster Tragodia sealed within the tablet. Meanwhile, Seth pulled out his blade and with a flick of his wrist, took a portion of the power of Tragodia that had been extracted and placed it in his hand.

Looking at the fallen [Tragodia], "Seth" said disdainfully, "You talk too much nonsense. All that fancy talk, and you're still just a nobody."

Chapter 871 Boring, I want to see rivers of blood.

As "Kalim" and "Aknadi" sealed [Tragodia] into the stone tablet, it seems that because "Seth" used the [Millennium Scepter] to extract some of its power, the relief of [Tragodia] on the stone tablet appeared for only a moment before disappearing again, and a hole appeared in the center of the stone tablet.

The phantoms dissipated one by one, and the figures of "Aknadi" and the others disappeared. Only the image of the stone slab remained, which coincided with the stone slab illuminated by the light that the seahorse had seen earlier.

"That was...?" Kaiba looked at Kalim beside him with a questioning gaze, seeking an explanation.

“That was a scene etched into our minds three thousand years ago, before King Aknamkanon passed away and before the Pharaoh we served ascended the throne. What the astrologer Tragodia did for commit his sins was not important to us at the time, and we thought that simply sealing away the monster [Tragodia] would solve everything.”

Seahorse nodded, because he had heard the name of the Thieves' Village from that Tragodia, and even though Kalim was embarrassed to say it, he could roughly guess what it was about.

What was unexpected was that, in the village of thieves chosen by Aknadi to create the "Millennium Artifact," besides Bakura, who called himself the Thief King and was a survivor who had personally experienced the massacre, there were also people who had gone out and had not returned to the village and had escaped the calamity.

Moreover, despite hailing from a village of notorious thieves, Tragodia was able to become an astrologer for the Pharaoh, which clearly indicates that he possessed considerable abilities.

Kalim paused, then continued, "At least for the first few decades, that was certainly true."

"However, after a very, very long time, long enough for the three priests who sealed away [Tragodia]—Akhnadi, who betrayed the Pharaoh and became the 'Dark High Priest'; I, Kalim, who sacrificed myself in the battle against the great evil god Zorc Nelofa; and you, Seto Kaiba, who became the Pharaoh—no, your past life."

"The last order of Pharaoh Set I was to scatter and seal away the Millennium Items, which possessed extraordinary power and which humanity was not yet ready to receive. However, just as the priests abandoned the Millennium Items passed down from their ancestors, the sealed Terragodia quietly awoke."

Upon hearing this, Kaiba asked, somewhat puzzled, "Wait a minute, didn't you say before that the power of [Tragodia] wasn't strong? Even Seth alone could suppress it. But why did the subsequent priests become so useless? Even without something like the [Millennium Item], they couldn't suppress [Tragodia]?"

"Could it be that [Tragodia] is still growing inside that so-called stone tablet that seals the spirits?"

Kalim shook his head, dismissing the seahorse's whimsical idea: "No, although Aknadi later betrayed us, the knowledge he used was undoubtedly real. The monsters sealed in the stone tablets can still sense the outside world, but all they can do is 'resentment' and 'impotent rage.' Their power will not change in the slightest. Instead, their intelligence will be completely worn away over the long years."

"However, the fact that the internal power has not changed does not mean that the strength of [Tragodia] cannot become stronger. There is something that humans cannot speed up or slow down, and it is also something that the astrologer Tragodia is most familiar with."

As he spoke, Kalim pointed to the top of his head.

The seahorse raised its head and saw the deep blue top of the tomb again. Kalim was not referring to the tomb itself, but to the starry sky above.

"That Tragodia can actually use the power of 'Stars'?"

Although he doesn't believe in those mystical things, Kaiba, as a duelist, can easily accept the "Cyber ​​Dragon" that supposedly uses the "Cyber ​​Stream" from the radiance of the Draco constellation, as well as the "Dragon Light Takumi" that is the birth of the Draco constellation itself. And now it seems that he has encountered a third Duel Monster related to "stars"?

Human astrology? No good; the power of stars from Duel Monster cards, sure!

Kalim nodded in affirmation, “So-called astrology is the ability to predict the future based on known celestial phenomena. It seems vague, but it is actually a rather profound subject. This power became extremely strong three thousand years ago due to the appearance of an extremely rare celestial phenomenon. That is, ‘planetary alignment,’ also known as ‘nine planets aligned’ or something like that.”

"Do you believe in gravity, Seto Kaiba? Gravity exists between all things, and all things have gravity. The stars surrounding the supreme sun have always been pulling each other with gravity. When the signs of the 'planetary alignment' appear, the gravity between the stars will be in a perfect superposition state, and at this time, the originally limited power of astrology will burst forth with great power."

"It can even provide power to [Tragodia], who was once the best astrologer under the Pharaoh but later became a monster sealed in a stone tablet, so that its power can even break through the limitations of the stone tablet originally prepared for ordinary monsters and extend to the outside world."

"Mind control, that's the power of the monster that was fused with Tragodia. Its original strength was quite weak, probably only enough to make someone suddenly feel like they need to go to the toilet, and it wouldn't even have any effect on someone who has just finished using the toilet."

"However, with the power of astrology amplified, [Tragodia], who had been completely driven mad by decades of sealing and whose mind had become entirely demonic, possessed abilities so powerful that they could have a slight effect on priests who had undergone arduous training and possessed the [Millennium Artifact]!"

Although Kalim said the effect on the priests was only "slight," Kaiba still noticed the key point: "The premise is that the Millennium Items are still in the hands of the priests, right? But you said before that Set's last order as Pharaoh was to seal the Millennium Items separately?"

"This is troublesome, isn't it? Monsters invaded and darkness enveloped the kingdom, plunging it into crisis. I was thinking of telling a similar story to make it more exciting and suspenseful, and to showcase my storytelling skills, but alas, it didn't work, because the actual impact of [Tragodia] stopped before it even had a chance to spread."

"The 'Planetary Alignment,' which can maximize the 'power of the stars,' certainly benefited [Tragodia] due to the influence of astrology, but ultimately, the astrology he used only utilized the residual power of the stars." Kalim shrugged. "Mere starlight, how can it compete with the blazing sun?"

"Even if it were any other pharaoh from a different era, Tragodia might have been able to make quite a stir. But the pharaoh who succeeded Set was the strongest and most supreme figure in the thousands of years of Egyptian history. Ramses II was far superior to other pharaohs, dared to proclaim himself a god during his lifetime, and was the only person on earth who could not be disobeyed. He was the embodiment of the sun."

According to Karim's account, Ramses II's resolution of Tragodia was roughly as follows:

【Tragodia】Using power to manipulate people's hearts, she successfully controlled the temple guardians;

【Tragodia】A trap was set up to successfully lure Ramses II to its home ground, the sealed stone temple;

[Tragodia] felt they had a huge advantage, and [Tragodia] went up in A;

【Tragodia】, sent.