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Chapter 546: Millennium Hostage
Real World.
"Hayato!" Yugi suddenly woke up, sitting up from bed covered in sweat, only to find that he had just been dreaming. However, the dream was of a real event he had personally experienced a few days prior.
"Aibo," Dark Yugi's voice came from within the Millennium Puzzle. As an existence as a soul, he didn't need sleep like Yugi, so the moment Yugi woke up, he floated out from the Millennium Puzzle, looking at him, still shaken. "Are you okay?"
"Yugi." Also awakened by Yugi's startled cry was the lightly sleeping Solomon Muto. He gently knocked a few times on the door outside Yugi's Room, asking, "Did you have a nightmare?"
".Mm, I'm fine," Yugi said, raising his pajama-clad arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead, while answering The Other Self and his Grandpa outside the door who was concerned about him. But his state clearly showed he was far from fine.
When Anubis, following the knowledge he obtained from the Millennium Spellbook, activated the hidden Power of the Sacred Beasts called the Gate of Phantasms, everything in the World instantly entered a state of stillness. Only Hayato and Anubis still retained the ability to speak.
But in reality, Yugi at that time actually also retained clear consciousness; it was just that he didn't even have the ability to move his eyeballs. He could only watch with extreme clarity as Hayato left behind "Last Words" that couldn't be conveyed.
After the Card named Super Polymerization was activated, Hayato took Anubis down with him, directly disappearing from this World without leaving even a trace, except for the three "Three Egyptian Gods" Cards left behind.
At first, Joey Wheeler and the others, who hadn't witnessed Hayato's final actions like Yugi had, felt briefly excited because of Anubis's disappearance, thinking they had successfully defeated it. Even Kaiba, Marik, and Ishizu were just slightly strange about how Hayato had also disappeared in an instant; they didn't think in the direction of "Hayato sacrificed himself" at all.
But Yugi's silence, which was out of place with the cheerful crowd, was so abrupt. Facing the news of Hayato's "death" spoken by Yugi, the atmosphere at the scene instantly grew cold, as if a basin of cold water had been poured over them.
Even now, Yugi can still recall the unpleasant expressions on everyone's faces at that time.
Solomon Muto outside the door was silent for a moment, then said, "If you're fine, then rest early. If that child Hayato were here, he wouldn't want his friend to harm his body."
"Mm, I know, Grandpa."
Grandpa Solomon has gone through so many years of trials and tribulations; he has seen and experienced a lot. He could fully understand Yugi's mood at this moment, after all, he had also experienced that kind of pain from losing a friend.
But what else could he say? It was precisely because he had experienced it that he understood that this kind of thing couldn't be soothed with just a few words of comfort; only time could dilute the sadness. Moreover, talking to someone who shares the same sadness can also have a certain effect.
Someone as shrewd as Solomon Muto, how could he not notice that his grandson sometimes turned into another person?
However, that child Hayato, to lose his life at such a young age... what a pity.
Lamenting the fragility of life in his heart, Solomon Muto turned off the light in the hallway and returned to his Room.
However, in Yugi's Room, Yugi, awakened in the middle of the night, couldn't immediately fall back asleep so quickly. Instead, he got out of bed, walked in his slippers to the desk in his Room, pulled out a chair and sat down, and took out a golden cabinet he used to store Cards.
This golden cabinet was once used to store the fragments of the Millennium Puzzle, but later, because the size was just right and there was ample space, Yugi used it to store his Deck and Spare Cards. After opening the golden cabinet, Yugi's Deck, face down, was revealed. He reached out and drew the red-bordered Card placed on top.
'Slifer the Sky Dragon.' Behind Yugi, Dark Yugi quietly watched Yugi's actions, silently reciting the name of the Card in his hand in his heart. In that still World, he also witnessed Hayato doing what he had always said: "sacrificing oneself for the greater good."
After knowing the news of Hayato's "death," everyone first denied it, almost completely unable to accept that Hayato, who had been fine just before, had suddenly died like this. They felt it was impossible for Hayato, who always had a confident aura, to have died so uneventfully; it must be that he was playing some kind of prank again, after all, Hayato had such a dark sense of humor.
But, it was indeed the truth.
And so, Joey Wheeler, Tristan, Marik, and even Kaiba, all fell into a state of angry emotion. They were angry that that bastard Anubis had just taken the life of someone important to them, but also discovered with immense frustration that they didn't even have a place to vent their anger.
The anger transformed into an incredibly oppressive atmosphere. In the end, everyone reluctantly accepted the fact that "Hayato was already dead."
And as the last of the objects left behind by Hayato, the Card of Slifer the Sky Dragon, one of the Three Egyptian Gods, remained in Yugi's hand. But Yugi completely lacked the feeling of excitement he had back during Battle City, when he first got Slifer the Sky Dragon from Dark Marik's hand. Instead, he merely looked at the object and thought of Hayato, recalling the bits and pieces of Hayato "before his death."
'What a cunning guy, after defeating me, he actually just escaped without permission.'
The words Kaiba said a few days ago when he took Obelisk the Tormentor seemed to still be in Yugi's ears.
The last of the Three Egyptian Gods, and the one that best represented Hayato, The Winged Dragon of Ra, it was taken by Miss Ishizu, who had always been gentle and kind in the past. Yugi found it hard to describe with words what her expression was at that time.
Although Miss Ishizu's statement, "Ra is the most powerful existence among the Three Egyptian Gods and must be properly kept," didn't sound very reasonable, but at that time, even Kaiba, who had a fanatical pursuit for the Power of powerful Cards, didn't stop Ishizu.
"CRASH!"
"Uwaaaaah—!!!"
A sound of breaking glass suddenly rang out from outside the door, interrupting their memories, immediately followed by a scream!
"That sound is, Ji-chan!" Yugi immediately recognized the source of the sound: his Grandpa Solomon Muto, who had just left. He didn't even have time to put the golden cabinet and Deck in his hand back properly, grabbed the folded Duel Disk and Cards nearby, grabbed the jacket from the back of the chair, and pushed open the door and ran outside.
And in the hallway, following the bright moonlight shining into the house from outside the broken window, Yugi saw a strange guy wearing a hood making a hand chop motion, and his Grandpa Solomon Muto was falling into the hooded man's arms, seized by him!
"Ji-chan!" Almost instantly, accompanied by a flash of radiance from the Millennium Puzzle, Dark Yugi appeared, replacing Yugi Mutou, and sharply demanded, "Who exactly are you!"
While asking, Yugi's actions weren't slow at all. He threw out the Card of Mystical Elf with a flick of his hand. Under the effect of Dark Power, the card spirit of Mystical Elf directly materialized, and accompanied by the spinning flight of the Card, its sharp sword slashed towards the hooded man!
(End of Chapter)
Real World.
"Hayato!" Yugi suddenly woke up, sitting up from bed covered in sweat, only to find that he had just been dreaming. However, the dream was of a real event he had personally experienced a few days prior.
"Aibo," Dark Yugi's voice came from within the Millennium Puzzle. As an existence as a soul, he didn't need sleep like Yugi, so the moment Yugi woke up, he floated out from the Millennium Puzzle, looking at him, still shaken. "Are you okay?"
"Yugi." Also awakened by Yugi's startled cry was the lightly sleeping Solomon Muto. He gently knocked a few times on the door outside Yugi's Room, asking, "Did you have a nightmare?"
".Mm, I'm fine," Yugi said, raising his pajama-clad arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead, while answering The Other Self and his Grandpa outside the door who was concerned about him. But his state clearly showed he was far from fine.
When Anubis, following the knowledge he obtained from the Millennium Spellbook, activated the hidden Power of the Sacred Beasts called the Gate of Phantasms, everything in the World instantly entered a state of stillness. Only Hayato and Anubis still retained the ability to speak.
But in reality, Yugi at that time actually also retained clear consciousness; it was just that he didn't even have the ability to move his eyeballs. He could only watch with extreme clarity as Hayato left behind "Last Words" that couldn't be conveyed.
After the Card named Super Polymerization was activated, Hayato took Anubis down with him, directly disappearing from this World without leaving even a trace, except for the three "Three Egyptian Gods" Cards left behind.
At first, Joey Wheeler and the others, who hadn't witnessed Hayato's final actions like Yugi had, felt briefly excited because of Anubis's disappearance, thinking they had successfully defeated it. Even Kaiba, Marik, and Ishizu were just slightly strange about how Hayato had also disappeared in an instant; they didn't think in the direction of "Hayato sacrificed himself" at all.
But Yugi's silence, which was out of place with the cheerful crowd, was so abrupt. Facing the news of Hayato's "death" spoken by Yugi, the atmosphere at the scene instantly grew cold, as if a basin of cold water had been poured over them.
Even now, Yugi can still recall the unpleasant expressions on everyone's faces at that time.
Solomon Muto outside the door was silent for a moment, then said, "If you're fine, then rest early. If that child Hayato were here, he wouldn't want his friend to harm his body."
"Mm, I know, Grandpa."
Grandpa Solomon has gone through so many years of trials and tribulations; he has seen and experienced a lot. He could fully understand Yugi's mood at this moment, after all, he had also experienced that kind of pain from losing a friend.
But what else could he say? It was precisely because he had experienced it that he understood that this kind of thing couldn't be soothed with just a few words of comfort; only time could dilute the sadness. Moreover, talking to someone who shares the same sadness can also have a certain effect.
Someone as shrewd as Solomon Muto, how could he not notice that his grandson sometimes turned into another person?
However, that child Hayato, to lose his life at such a young age... what a pity.
Lamenting the fragility of life in his heart, Solomon Muto turned off the light in the hallway and returned to his Room.
However, in Yugi's Room, Yugi, awakened in the middle of the night, couldn't immediately fall back asleep so quickly. Instead, he got out of bed, walked in his slippers to the desk in his Room, pulled out a chair and sat down, and took out a golden cabinet he used to store Cards.
This golden cabinet was once used to store the fragments of the Millennium Puzzle, but later, because the size was just right and there was ample space, Yugi used it to store his Deck and Spare Cards. After opening the golden cabinet, Yugi's Deck, face down, was revealed. He reached out and drew the red-bordered Card placed on top.
'Slifer the Sky Dragon.' Behind Yugi, Dark Yugi quietly watched Yugi's actions, silently reciting the name of the Card in his hand in his heart. In that still World, he also witnessed Hayato doing what he had always said: "sacrificing oneself for the greater good."
After knowing the news of Hayato's "death," everyone first denied it, almost completely unable to accept that Hayato, who had been fine just before, had suddenly died like this. They felt it was impossible for Hayato, who always had a confident aura, to have died so uneventfully; it must be that he was playing some kind of prank again, after all, Hayato had such a dark sense of humor.
But, it was indeed the truth.
And so, Joey Wheeler, Tristan, Marik, and even Kaiba, all fell into a state of angry emotion. They were angry that that bastard Anubis had just taken the life of someone important to them, but also discovered with immense frustration that they didn't even have a place to vent their anger.
The anger transformed into an incredibly oppressive atmosphere. In the end, everyone reluctantly accepted the fact that "Hayato was already dead."
And as the last of the objects left behind by Hayato, the Card of Slifer the Sky Dragon, one of the Three Egyptian Gods, remained in Yugi's hand. But Yugi completely lacked the feeling of excitement he had back during Battle City, when he first got Slifer the Sky Dragon from Dark Marik's hand. Instead, he merely looked at the object and thought of Hayato, recalling the bits and pieces of Hayato "before his death."
'What a cunning guy, after defeating me, he actually just escaped without permission.'
The words Kaiba said a few days ago when he took Obelisk the Tormentor seemed to still be in Yugi's ears.
The last of the Three Egyptian Gods, and the one that best represented Hayato, The Winged Dragon of Ra, it was taken by Miss Ishizu, who had always been gentle and kind in the past. Yugi found it hard to describe with words what her expression was at that time.
Although Miss Ishizu's statement, "Ra is the most powerful existence among the Three Egyptian Gods and must be properly kept," didn't sound very reasonable, but at that time, even Kaiba, who had a fanatical pursuit for the Power of powerful Cards, didn't stop Ishizu.
"CRASH!"
"Uwaaaaah—!!!"
A sound of breaking glass suddenly rang out from outside the door, interrupting their memories, immediately followed by a scream!
"That sound is, Ji-chan!" Yugi immediately recognized the source of the sound: his Grandpa Solomon Muto, who had just left. He didn't even have time to put the golden cabinet and Deck in his hand back properly, grabbed the folded Duel Disk and Cards nearby, grabbed the jacket from the back of the chair, and pushed open the door and ran outside.
And in the hallway, following the bright moonlight shining into the house from outside the broken window, Yugi saw a strange guy wearing a hood making a hand chop motion, and his Grandpa Solomon Muto was falling into the hooded man's arms, seized by him!
"Ji-chan!" Almost instantly, accompanied by a flash of radiance from the Millennium Puzzle, Dark Yugi appeared, replacing Yugi Mutou, and sharply demanded, "Who exactly are you!"
While asking, Yugi's actions weren't slow at all. He threw out the Card of Mystical Elf with a flick of his hand. Under the effect of Dark Power, the card spirit of Mystical Elf directly materialized, and accompanied by the spinning flight of the Card, its sharp sword slashed towards the hooded man!
(End of Chapter)
