Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"I won. What an interesting duel." Malik said with a bored expression, "Yeah, right. How could you leave me with only a paltry 500 life points? Unforgivable, Jonouchi!"

"Huh? I've already saved my last hit for you, you should be grateful that you even have a chance to fight." Jonouchi looked over when he heard Malik's sarcastic remark. "I didn't even use anything like Red-Eyes Fusion in this duel, I just performed a normal Special Summon, I've already given you plenty of room to maneuver, okay?"

"Besides, I clearly left you with 1000 base points. It was Blue God who cut his own health, okay?" As the duel ended and the environmental effects faded, Blue God's skin was revealed, turning completely red. Jonouchi glanced at him and said, "Although whether it's 500 points or 1000 points, it's all the same as not being able to withstand the effect of [Lava Demon God]."

Although Blue God did not engage in a dimensional battle, and Malik did not use the Millennium Item to employ the Dark Game, under the power of the Lava Demon's spirit, a portion of the final blow Malik delivered to Blue God still resulted in true damage. However, Malik did not finish the job, only causing Blue God to experience some pain.

—It was probably just the sensation of being drenched in lava at a temperature of approximately 1400 degrees Celsius. However, it was just the sensation of pain, not actual lava exposure, otherwise Jonouchi would probably not be able to see the Blue God by now.

Suddenly, he appeared and approached Bakura, and even attacked Hayato. During the duel, Blue God kept spouting things like "Prana," leaving Malik completely confused. Malik felt it was necessary to spare his life to interrogate him and find out who he was and what his purpose was.

"Compared to those, my [Sacrifice Sealing Mask] isn't bad, is it? Although I didn't save it for that guy, I wanted to trick my brother-in-law." Malik put away his Duel Disk, holding the card he had activated last. "If it weren't for this card, that guy called Blue God might have been able to turn the tide. After all, you idiot Jonouchi used a card like [Red-Eyes Incinerate] and used up all our Life Points."

"Without a doubt, I am the one who contributed the most in this duel."

"Hayato calling you a three-year-old is no mistake. Where did you learn math? You only took away 500 of that guy's base points. Even if you add the 3000 base points you prevented him from recovering, let's say you got 3500 points in total." Jounouchi pointed a thumb at himself, not giving an inch. "But I took away a full 7000 of that guy's base points!"

"You even hurt yourself, otherwise you could have won without taking any damage. You have to deduct the 2400 points of damage from your self-harm!"

"That's still more than you. It's because I, Old Man Jonouchi, contributed more!"

"You mere mortal!"

"A three-year-old!"

"Enough!" Listening to Jonouchi and Malik's argument, Blue God, who had recovered slightly from the burning pain all over his body, struggled to his feet and glared angrily at the two of them. "How dare you use such despicable tactics to defeat me! Unforgivable! I will punish you with divine retribution!"

Malik and Jonouchi drew a card and held it up. They recognized the red-bordered card as the [Sky Dragon of Osiris] that Blue God had used in their previous duel. Exchanging a glance, they both pointed at Blue God and exclaimed in unison:

"You jerk, you can't take a joke?!" X2

"Shut up! This is your punishment for humiliating me!" Blue God said angrily. "So what if you beat me in the Duel Monsters game? Do you dare to defy me, who possesses the power of a god!"

“Tsk, I shouldn’t have held back just now.” Malik glanced behind Blue God and said loudly, “But do you know who I am? I am Malik Ishdar, my sister is Isis Ishdar, the director of the Egyptian Antiquities Authority and the head of the tomb-guarding clan, my brother-in-law is the invincible Hayato Kobayashi, and then I don’t seem to have any background. You can make your move!”

Blue God found Malik's behavior somewhat inexplicable. What was the point of suddenly telling him about his background and connections? Did he think he would be afraid to attack Kobayashi Hayato? He had come to seek revenge on Bakura Ryo to test the power of God, not because he was afraid of losing to Kobayashi Hayato again.

Just as Blue God was about to unleash the power of the God Cards, he suddenly heard a whooshing sound. Turning his head, he instantly realized something—Malik's earlier words, "It's time to act," didn't seem to be directed at him.

"Domino High School's Secret Ultimate Move - The Friendship Face-Breaking Fist!"

Honda, having somehow circled behind Blue God, launched a powerful attack!

Chapter 963 Memories of the Past

Where am I?

Lying face up on the ground, Lan Shen's mind was blank. For a moment, he couldn't remember anything, nor how he ended up lying on the ground. After a brief moment of stunned silence, the lingering pain on his cheek made Lan Shen vaguely recall something.

Raising his head slightly, Ayane saw Honda standing not far away, retracting his fist, and remembered what had just happened. While he was engaged in a duel, Honda had somehow circled around to his back and attacked him, interrupting his attempt to use the power of [Sky Dragon of Osiris].

"Hit...hit me!?" The thought filled Blue God with rage. "You bastard, you actually hit me!"

Just as he was about to get up, Lan Shen saw that Honda, who had landed a successful blow, had no intention of retreating or keeping his distance. Instead, he stepped forward and delivered another punch to Lan Shen!

Honda, who landed another punch on Lan Shen, was quite pleased that his fighting skills hadn't diminished. Looking at Lan Shen, he arrogantly said, "What's wrong with hitting you? Do you expect me to smile at someone who attacked us like this?!"

"Ugh! You hit me twice!" After being knocked to the ground by the second punch, Blue God felt dizzy and instinctively covered the spot where he had been hit twice, glaring venomously at Honda. "Even Lord Shadi couldn't beat me!"

"Shadi...?" Upon hearing the familiar name, Bakura, who had recovered somewhat during the duel, couldn't help but turn his gaze to Aragami. Because he recalled his buried memories, Bakura gradually felt a sense of familiarity with Aragami's appearance, and from those painful memories, he recalled some information about him.

"You wouldn't happen to be—"

"Ha, so you've finally remembered, you evil one who threatens the entire world! You've finally remembered the wicked things you did back then!"

Hearing that Bakura seemed to have remembered something, Blue God momentarily forgot the pain in his body and glared at Bakura, saying, "If it weren't for you, none of this would have happened. It's all your fault!"

Jonouchi glanced at Bakura, who was looking down and not refuting Aogami, then looked at Aogami, whose goal was clearly to target Bakura from the beginning, and scratched his head: "So, Bakura, you really know this guy? But given your personality, what did you do to make him so angry?"

"Well, though I hate to admit it, it's all because of mistakes I made when I was young." Malik put away his Duel Disk, hands on his hips, and said in a pretentious manner, "Who doesn't have a dark past?"

“For example, you were just talking nonsense about that Blue God, weren’t you?” Jonouchi said in a low voice. “The effect of that continuous trap card [Sacrifice Seal Mask] is indeed continuous and does not need to be activated, but the trap card itself needs to be activated, and at that moment it is considered to be not on the field and its effect has not yet taken effect.”

"In other words, although you used [Sacrifice Seal Mask] to chain the effect of [Lava Demon], that guy Blue God can also chain [Sacrifice Seal Mask] to activate [Mysterious Chinese Pot] to release [Lava Demon]."

"Talking nonsense is an important part of the Duel Monsters experience, and you can't miss it." Malik also lowered his voice and said, "Who told that guy to be an idiot? I told him that he couldn't chain it and he really didn't try to activate it again. The cards were bounced away at first simply because I had cards to activate. He was so easily fooled, he deserved to lose."

The two whispered secrets went unheard by Ayaka. With only Bakura in his eyes, Ayaka pushed himself up with his hands and immediately distanced himself from Honda. Watching Ayaka disappear into the illusory purple figures, Honda regretfully took a few steps back and returned to Bakura and the others' side.

As Blue God distanced himself from the others, the Duel Disk he had previously deployed retracted into his hand, transforming into a golden cube called the Quantum Cube. At the same time, a familiar female voice came from behind Blue God.

"Diwa..."

Turning around, Blue God saw his sister Sera, whose body was in a phantom state. Her appearance delighted him: "You've come to help me, Sera? Perfect, if you could assist me—"

“No, Diva, don’t act rashly anymore.” Sera looked at Blue God with worry in her eyes. “Ever since you entered ‘Dimensional Ascension’, you’ve been acting strangely. Remember what Lord Shadi said: don’t let unnecessary emotions like hatred and anger control you.”

Hearing Sera's words, Blue God took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down:

"If I am bound by negative emotions, I will not be able to ascend to the next dimension and will only fall into the dark side of the dimension. I have never forgotten Lord Shadi's words for even a moment."

Sera thought that Blue God's calm face might have made him see things differently after she reminded him, but the moment he mentioned "Shadi," the expression on Blue God's face instantly turned into a twisted hatred. "But it is because I remember Lord Shadi's words that I cannot forget that night!"

"I'm not acting out of revenge. That person—Bakura," Aogami said, raising the Quantum Cube in his hand as he looked towards Bakura. "That guy is the ultimate evil that threatens the world, a threat that must be separated from this dimension. I'm fighting for all of humanity!"

"Now that you've remembered everything, then right here, I'll use the power of the Quantum Cube to reveal the truth about you, Bakura!"

The Quantum Cube in Blue God's hand emitted a strong light, filling everyone's entire field of vision with gold.

Jonouchi rubbed his aching eyes. The environment they had been in was quite dark because of the Blue God, and the sudden exposure to the bright light had made his eyes water. It took him a while to recover. However, when Jonouchi opened his eyes, he could hardly believe what he was seeing.

Because just a moment ago he was in Domino City, but now he has somehow ended up on a boat!

"Am I dreaming?" Looking left and right, Jonouchi saw Malik standing next to him, still rubbing his eyes. He quickly reached for Malik's thigh and then twisted it hard!

"Awooo!" Malik let out a sound like a British Shorthair cat that was good at everything except catching mice. This time, he stopped rubbing his eyes, jumped away from Jonouchi, and glared at him, saying, "What are you doing!?"

"Let me try to see if I'm dreaming. Does it hurt a lot? If it hurts, it probably isn't a dream."

Jōnei nodded to himself and said.

"Then try it on your own leg! What does my pain have to do with whether you're dreaming or not?" Malik said irritably. "Katsuya Jonouchi, are you awake?"

"Hey, stop arguing, you two." Honda tugged at Malik's shoulder. "Let's take a look outside first and figure out where we are. That's more important."

Looking out the window, the group realized that their ship was sailing on the water, surrounded by a tranquil nightscape. However, after only a glance, Jonouchi remarked with some surprise, "Huh? I feel like I've been here before?"

“Of course you’ve been here before, not just you, but all of us.” Anzu, who had already remembered where they were, rubbed her arms, a chill running down her spine. “This is the Nile River in Egypt. Have we gone back a week?”

"The Nile!?" Jonouchi glanced outside again and realized that this was indeed the Nile River they had visited just last week. Not long ago, on the night they sent Atum back to the underworld, Jonouchi had spent a long time enjoying the wind on the deck.

However, something seems off—if we go back to a week ago, the ship they were on back then didn't seem to have this structure, did it?

“This wasn’t a week ago…” Bakura’s voice came. The group looked over and saw Bakura with his back to them, looking in another direction. He said somewhat dejectedly, “The time difference between here and where we were before is measured in years.”

Following Bakura's gaze, the group saw a middle-aged man standing on the deck at the ship's exit, his back to them. He was tightly clutching a satchel and gazing into the distance, seemingly anticipating something. Inside the cabin behind the middle-aged man, a white-haired boy was hiding behind a chair, watching him.

Even though they had made quite a commotion inside the castle, no one seemed to have noticed anything amiss. The sense of something unusual reached its peak when the castle glimpsed the white-haired boy's profile: "That's... Bakura!?"

"Bakura?!" Honda looked at Bakura, then at the boy hiding. "There are two? And that old man looks like Bakura too."

“That’s my father… This is a long time ago, when I was little, before I transferred from Egypt to Domino City.” Bakura looked at the man in front of him with nostalgic eyes. He hadn’t seen the man for many years, and he never expected to have the chance to see him again in this way.

“My father was the former owner of the Domino City Museum. He collected antiques all over the world for many years, and our family rarely got to see each other. That night, he found out the location of a rare antique in our home. We finally got together, but he left in a hurry. So I followed him…”

"Then, we arrived at that place."

As Bakura reminisces, the scene before him seems to be sped up as if on fast forward. In the blink of an eye, the ship has already sailed to its destination. Bakura's father, who has disembarked and stepped onto land, walks along a road that is well-known to everyone and arrives at a valley.

"here it is!?"

Hearing their surprised expressions, Bakura nodded: "Yes, this is it, the Netherworld Temple where the Netherworld Gate from another game is located, and the Netherworld Stone Tablet used to house the Millennium Item. It was also here that my life began to change..."

“Listen carefully, everyone. When the Pharaoh’s seven Millennium Artifacts are gathered on this Netherworld Slab, the gates of the Netherworld will open.” The bald man in a white robe sat cross-legged on the ground and spoke to the children in front of him. “After the Pharaoh’s soul finds peace, a beautiful world without nations, racial conflicts, or language barriers will come.”

"And as the chosen being, the pioneer of evolution among mankind, Prana will guide all mankind to salvation."

Hearing his description, the children's eyes filled with anticipation. In their past, these adopted children had suffered enough from the conflicts arising from differences between people. How wonderful it would be to have a world without war, discrimination, and conflict.

“However,” the man continued, “although he was bald and tattooed with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on his head, making him look like some kind of yakuza, he also gave off a dignified and solemn air, “once the Pharaoh’s soul returns to the world, the dimensional gate will be cut off from any possibility of reopening, and you will be bound to this dimension forever.”

A golden anka ornament hanging from the man's chest flashed with light; it was none other than the Millennium Key, one of the seven Millennium Items. The identity of the man who possessed this Millennium Key was immediately apparent. "Remember, fear will overwhelm everything..."

“Fear will overwhelm everything…” The blue-haired boy listened to the man’s words and repeated them to reinforce his understanding. “I remember, Lord Shadi.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the boy heard footsteps behind him. He turned around instinctively and saw a white-haired man carrying a satchel, panting as he rushed into the underground temple where they were.

"Everyone, step back a bit." Xia Di stood up, looked at the white-haired man, gestured for the children to hide behind him, and walked towards the man.

While this wasn't a restricted area off-limits to others, it was still a rather secluded place; otherwise, Xia Di wouldn't have considered using it as a base. He needed to first ascertain who the man before him was, how he had found this place, and what his purpose was.

But before Xia Di could even raise his hand to touch the [Millennium Key] on his chest, the white-haired man, who had been paying no attention to Xia Di and had been watching him closely, suddenly realized his target as the distance between them had closed. His fatigue from the long journey vanished instantly, and he excitedly bypassed Xia Di and ran towards the Netherworld Slab behind him.

Standing before the Netherworld stone slab, the man completely ignored everything else on the slab, his eyes fixed solely on the golden ring with five cones hanging from it—the Millennium Wisdom Wheel, the most powerful dark artifact among the seven Millennium Artifacts!

"Finally, finally found it!" The man's eyes were filled with desire as he eagerly awaited the treasure before him. He exclaimed excitedly, "It really is here!"

"It is said to be an ancient treasure with a history of over three thousand years, once possessed by the legendary King of Kings, the Pharaoh among Pharaohs, the 'Sun King' Ozymandias. Finally, I've seen it—this golden wheel!"

Chapter 964 Memories of the Past 2.0

Hearing the man's knowledge of the Millennium Wisdom Wheel, Shadi became even more eager to use the power of the Millennium Key to examine the man's mind.

But just as the [Millennium Key] on his chest was ready and about to take effect, the white-haired man turned to look at Xia Di and said, "You are the owner of the Golden Wheel, right? Please, please sell me the Golden Wheel!"

He put down the satchel he was carrying and unzipped it, revealing a bulge of banknotes—all bundles of $100. Franklin's face looked so reassuring. Grabbing a few bundles of bills, the white-haired man pleaded with Shady, "You can have as much money as you want, all of this is yours, please sell me the Golden Wheel!"

Seeing the desire and longing in the man's eyes that overwhelmed reason, Xia Di lowered his raised hand from beside the Millennium Key, looked at the man waiting for his answer, and shook his head: "Unfortunately, the Millennium Artifact will find its own master. The owner of this wheel has already been determined, and that is not you."

The Millennium Scepter and Millennium Jewelry passed down by the Ishdar clan will be inherited within the Tomb Keeper clan for a long time, as will the Millennium Scales and Millennium Key passed down by the Sin clan. However, Shadi is the last member of the Sin clan to have passed down the scepter. The Millennium Scales and Millennium Key were chosen by him, but Shadi suppressed his own desires and ultimately only carried the Millennium Key.

As for the other three [Millennium Artifacts], Shadi traveled around the world over the years, adopting children with Prana talents and taking them back along the way. He also managed to find clues about the other [Millennium Cone], but his search for it was fruitless.

His main method of collecting the "Millennium Artifacts" was to use the power of the "Millennium Key" to manipulate and change people's minds. However, the place where the "Millennium Cone" was suspected to be located was an ancient tomb full of traps, leaving no room for mind manipulation.

Shadi possesses four Millennium Artifacts: the Millennium Scale, the Millennium Key, the Millennium Eye, and the Millennium Wisdom Wheel. However, Shadi carries the Millennium Key with him, and the Millennium Eye recently found a suitable owner—a foreign tourist who, like the man before him, wandered into this place.

Therefore, at this moment, only two [Millennium Artifacts] are embedded in the Netherworld Stone Slab—the [Millennium Wisdom Wheel] and the [Millennium Scales].

However, unlike the owner of the [Millennium Eye], the man in front of Shadi did not accidentally stumble upon this place but deliberately sought it out. At the same time, he was unable to gain the recognition of any [Millennium Artifact] like the owner of the [Millennium Eye], who also had white hair. After all, the powerful dark force of the [Millennium Wisdom Wheel] would never look favorably upon an ordinary person, and the [Millennium Scales] had chosen Shadi long ago.

At the same time, although Shadi did not use the power of the Millennium Key, he noticed that the desire in the man's heart was constantly expanding—under the subtle influence of the power emanating from the Millennium Wisdom Wheel, which was not intentional but merely unconscious.

"This wheel seals an evil spirit. If possible, it's best to stay away from it and avoid getting involved, otherwise you'll suffer misfortune." Although he didn't care about the man's life or death, Xia Di still reminded him to stay away from the [Millennium Wisdom Wheel] so that he could escape its influence and recover a little.