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Chapter 718: Shuffle Deck is the Nightmare of Tablet Duels
At the call of "Kaiba Seto", the attendants and dancers began the performance they had rehearsed many times for the banquet after today's coronation ceremony. With gongs and drums beating, skirts fluttering, and slender limbs dancing to the rhythm of the music, the scene was breathtakingly beautiful.
Leaving others aside for now, although Dark Yugi wasn't in the mood to appreciate the performance, the priest standing beside him, who looked exactly like Solomon Muto and was addressed as "Lord Shimon" by "Kaiba Seto", was staring with his eyes wide. From this point of view, Priest Shimon's resemblance to Solomon Muto wasn't just in appearance.
At this moment, Dark Yugi's gaze kept sweeping over "Kaiba Seto", "Ishizu Ishtar", and Priest Shimon beside him, unable to understand why the ancient Egyptians three thousand years ago would look exactly like the people he knew in the modern era.
If it were just "Ishizu Ishtar", that would be one thing, as she was originally Egyptian. But what was the situation with "Kaiba Seto" and Priest Shimon? Why would the two of you look exactly like people from an island in the Far East on another continent three thousand years later?
'What's going on? What exactly is happening?'
It wasn't just Priest Shimon and the other few "familiar strangers"; Dark Yugi also didn't ignore the other priests.
An old man wearing a hood and a cloak, with only an aged face visible, wore the Millennium Eye that once belonged to Pegasus over his left eye;
A youth also covering most of his appearance with a hood, bare-chested and revealing muscular arms, holding the Millennium Key;
Compared to the previous youth who merely did training, a middle-aged man with a resolute expression, looking more like a fitness fanatic, exposing his robust muscles with an open chest and back, held the Millennium Scale quite steadily in his hand;
And the last person, Dark Yugi felt extremely familiar looking at the heroic face under his golden helmet, yet he just couldn't remember where he had seen this person before. On his chest, he wore the Millennium Ring, which Dark Yugi didn't know how many times he had dealt with.
"The Millennium Items... Who exactly are they..."
Dark Yugi's low muttering, although others couldn't hear it, was heard clearly by Priest Shimon who was close beside him. Although just a moment ago he was concentrating on appreciating the gorgeous dance moves so as not to disappoint the palace maids' efforts in rehearsing during this time, upon hearing the Pharaoh's words, he immediately leaned into Dark Yugi's ear.
"Pharaoh, what did you just say?" Although he felt that today's Pharaoh had suddenly become a little strange since the coronation ceremony where he overlooked his subjects, Simon didn't think too much about it and also lowered his voice, saying, "Aren't they the six priests chosen by the Millennium Items?"
Looking at the Millennium Items held by the six priests, some familiar and some stranger, Dark Yugi couldn't help but lower his head and look at the Millennium Puzzle hanging on his chest, which he had long grown accustomed to its weight, just like three thousand years later. However, in its current complete state, perhaps it should be called the Millennium Rod instead.
Dark Yugi also recalled that the priest who looked similar but wasn't "Kaiba Seto", the one holding the Millennium Rod, must be the priest he had seen on the stone tablet of memories in the Memory World, the one who confronted "himself" controlling a monster that looked like Blue-Eyes White Dragon and a monster with the appearance of Dark Magician.
And Priest Shimon, the Pharaoh's attendant, who looked exactly like Solomon Muto and was even just as lustful, perhaps it wasn't a coincidence that Solomon Muto could retrieve the Millennium Puzzle from the ancient tomb that no one had ever successfully challenged three thousand years later.
His heart was filled with all sorts of doubts, but they were in the midst of a grand banquet now, and Dark Yugi had no one to ask. He could only temporarily keep his doubts in his heart, trying his best to play the role of a "Pharaoh" for which he had no experience.
On such a great day as the Pharaoh's ascension, the banquet held in the royal palace to entertain the subjects was naturally exceptionally lavish, with roast beef smeared with honey, lamb and fish stewed together, seasonal fruit platter, staple bread filled with the aroma of wheat, and endless wine, etc. To Dark Yugi's surprise, he even saw foie gras served in almost unlimited quantities.
Although it was three thousand years ago, Dark Yugi had completely not expected the diet of the ancient Egyptians to be so rich. One must know that even in the modern era three thousand years later, Dark Yugi had only eaten foie gras at Pegasus's Castle during the Duelist Kingdom.
However, among everyone Dark Yugi knew, it seemed that besides Kaiba who liked to eat foie gras steak, no one else, whether it was Hayato, Joey Wheeler, Téa, or Tristan, was interested in these fatty livers that were just a mouthful of oil. He was the same. At the same time, the wheat bread, which wasn't soft at all but crunchy and even mixed with ultra-fine sand/dust, completely refreshed Dark Yugi's understanding of "bread".
Therefore, after just a few sips of wine, which he had never drunk in the modern era because he was underage, Dark Yugi considered the banquet finished and sat on the throne, watching the officials before him enjoying the extravagance of the banquet.
The priests didn't mind why their Pharaoh didn't have a big appetite despite the rich dishes, only assuming that the Pharaoh's daily meals weren't much worse than today's.
And while Dark Yugi was trying his best to play the role of "the Pharaoh watching his subjects enjoy themselves", in front of the Pharaoh's sacred majesty, the priests other than Simon were not indulging in pleasure and were quite seriously guarding Dark Yugi's side.
Just then, the Millennium Necklace worn by the only female priest, who looked like Ishizu, emitted a faint golden radiance. She frowned and suddenly turned her head to look at a corner of the palace. In that corner, a man was actually crouching, holding a blowgun and wearing a strange smile on his face.
"Someone is trying to assassinate the Pharaoh!" the female priest shouted, calling out to her companion closest to the Pharaoh, besides Priest Shimon, "Mahad!"
Just then, the assassin blew a pitch-black poison needle from the blowgun, heading straight for Dark Yugi. Seeing this, the male priest whom Dark Yugi found very familiar suddenly flicked his cape, accepted the attack of the poison needle, and glared in the assassin's direction.
"Damn it, you scoundrel!" Priest Mahad guarded Dark Yugi's side, while the priest who looked like "Kaiba Seto" angrily pointed his finger at the assassin and ordered the soldiers in the palace, "Go and arrest that person who deserves ten thousand deaths! How dare you assassinate the Pharaoh!"
Although today was the day of the new Pharaoh's ascension banquet, the soldiers guarding the Pharaoh, except for the important figures who were qualified to directly participate in the banquet, were not lazy or relaxed. Almost at the same time as "Kaiba Seto" ordered, soldiers surrounded them from all sides, easily subduing the assassin without surprise. They used sharp blades to escort him down from the high place and brought him before the Pharaoh.
With the attempted assassination of the new Pharaoh, the banquet in the palace came to an abrupt end. The dancers and musicians quickly retreated with the palace maids who were cleaning up the food, emptying the palace. Almost in an instant, the banquet venue turned into an Execution Ground for the treasonous assassin.
"To dare to assassinate the Pharaoh and attempt to take his life is truly terrifying!" The female priest looked at the assassin, who was escorted by the guards and knelt before the Pharaoh's throne, and showed an expression of wrath.
However, as a woman, even though she tried hard to appear fierce, her pressure was still too insufficient. The assassin didn't put her threat in his eye at all. After glancing lightly at the female priest, his gaze swept over the people remaining on the scene. Not even the Pharaoh could make his line of sight linger for a moment, but it paused when he met the gaze of the oldest priest among them.
The assassin had not the slightest bit of fear about the situation he was about to face, because he knew the ability of the person who hired him. Even if he had committed an unforgivable crime, the other party had the ability to get him out. But this kind of arrogant behavior only further intensified the priests' wrath.
"Although you didn't succeed in assassinating the Pharaoh, according to your crime, even sentencing you to insect punishment, being devoured alive by one hundred thousand scarabs, would not be excessive," Priest Mahad said angrily, looking at the arrogant assassin. "But because today is a celebration, take this fellow to the Prison and lock him up."
On such an important day as the new Pharaoh's ascension, there absolutely could not be any ominous bloodshed; that would be a desecration of the Pharaoh. Even the assassin who attempted to kill the Pharaoh could only be dealt with the next day.
"No, Priest Mahad, I have a better idea." But just as Mahad ordered the guards to take the assassin away, and the assassin revealed a smug smile on his face, the oldest priest among them spoke. As he removed the hood from his head, his aged appearance and the Millennium Eye on his left eye looked down at the assassin with full presence.
For an instant, the assassin's brain went blank, and he couldn't say anything.
"Priest Aknadin?" Everyone didn't notice the assassin's abnormality but were attracted by the old man who removed his hood — Priest "Aknadin". Priest Mahad looked towards him and asked what exactly he meant.
Priest Aknadin hadn't spoken yet, but "Kaiba Seto" standing beside him spoke: "I understand what you mean, Lord Aknadin. You are thinking of using this great opportunity to reveal the power of our new Pharaoh's strongest priests, aren't you? That's a great idea."
"What do you think, Lord Shimon, and Pharaoh?"
"That's a very good idea, Priest Seto. This way, the ominous blood won't stain the Pharaoh's sacredness," Priest Shimon said approvingly, glancing at Dark Yugi. "What do you think, Pharaoh?"
What opinion could Dark Yugi offer at this moment? To be honest, he knew nothing about Egypt three thousand years ago. If his priests had already discussed a plan, he just needed to be a quiet Pharaoh and give his permission: "Do as you say, Mahad, Aknadin, Simon, Seto."
Although he didn't actively ask, just by sitting here, Dark Yugi had already figured out the names of four of the priests around him. The names of the others were fine, but the name Priest Seto really made Dark Yugi not know what to say, silently complaining in his inner thoughts.
'Seto, Seto. It's too much of a coincidence. It's so coincidental that I don't even know where to start complaining.' Dark Yugi thought to himself, looking at Priest Seto who had turned around and was surrounding the assassin with the other priests. 'Could it be that Kaiba's past life was Priest Seto? In that case, maybe Grandpa and Priest Shimon, Miss Ishizu and that female priest too?'
"Starting now, the judgment of this man!" Following Priest Seto's loud shout, the six priests holding Millennium Items stepped forward, ready to take action against the assassin who had somehow fallen into a dazed state.
"Today's Egypt, under the sacred rule of successive Pharaohs, has become a great country, but Pharaoh, the appearance of villains who envy Egypt and envy your radiance has never ceased," Priest Shimon said seriously, standing before Dark Yugi.
The female priest continued: "But please have peace of mind, Pharaoh."
"As long as we seven priests are still standing here," Priest Aknadin said, casting a subtle glance at Priest Seto beside him with his right eye, which wasn't covered by the Millennium Eye, "not even a single finger of the Pharaoh will be harmed."
"The sanction of the Millennium Items begins now! First is I, Priest Shada, the power of the Millennium Key!" The youthful priest, who spoke less than Aknadin and Seto, held the Millennium Key in his hand. As he stepped out of the group, he removed the hood from his head, revealing a shiny bald head.
The moment Dark Yugi saw the bald head, he remembered where he had seen that face before. Wasn't it Shadi? He really didn't recognize him with the bald head covered.
Oh no, not Shadi. If his previous guess was correct, the past life of Shadi Shin of the Tomb Keepers three thousand years later should be this priest before him, Priest Shada.
Standing before the assassin, not caring about his bewildered expression, Shada raised the Millennium Key in his hand and said, "The Millennium Key has the power to open the door of the heart, and it will see through the inner thoughts of the Sinner before me!"
As the Millennium Key released radiance, the assassin's shadow changed shape, and the shape of a monster appeared. Shada said without surprise, "Hmm, I can see the shadow of an evil monster in this person's heart."
Just as Dark Yugi thought Shada might do something else, to his slight surprise, Shada actually retreated back into the group, and Aknadin stepped forward, replacing Shada: "Next is my Millennium Eye, Aknadin! The monster within the heart will reveal its true form under the power of this eye of the heart!"
Accompanied by a flash of light from the Millennium Eye, the disoriented assassin suddenly cried out in pain. A large amount of shaped dark aura suddenly spewed from his wide-open mouth and gathered in the air.
"Monsters born in the human heart from wrath and resentment will manipulate people to commit crimes and increase their wrath and resentment in order to gain power," Simon explained, seemingly afraid that Dark Yugi wouldn't understand. "However, the Millennium Key can discover the monster in the human heart, and the Millennium Eye can extract the monster. What comes after that is this."
It was at this moment that several muscular soldiers nearby were carrying a large rectangular stone tablet into the palace. They temporarily placed the tablet before the Pharaoh's throne, and Priest Seto stood in front of the tablet, directly facing the "monster" in the air.
"Hmph, ugly monster, get into the tablet! Under the power of the Millennium Rod!" Raising the golden scepter in his hand, Priest Seto looked at the monster in the air and sneered. That arrogant stance was too similar to Kaiba Seto. Immediately after, the Millennium Rod shone brightly, and the monster in the air began to twist and struggle, seemingly unwilling to be sealed in the tablet like this.
However, Seto wasn't someone to be trifled with. He swung the Millennium Rod in his hand again and shouted confidently, "It's not the monster that has the upper hand in power, it's me, Seto! Crush! Destroy! Great Applause!"
The light on the Millennium Rod surged again, suppressing the monster in an instant and pushing it forcefully into the tablet carried by the soldiers.
Turn it off, Kaiba, I know it's you.
Although he should have been amazed by the true power possessed by the Millennium Items, hearing the words that were so familiar coming from Priest Seto's mouth, Dark Yugi couldn't help but want to cover his face.
However, upon seeing the shape of the monster gradually appearing on the tablet, Dark Yugi remembered something else — not long ago, based on Real World time, during the Doma incident, after Dartz's decisive battle with Dark Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey Wheeler, he seemed to have mentioned something.
As a dual personality, he had lost confidence in humanity and decided to continue his actions of destroying humanity because he had witnessed Duel Monsters and Dark Game being brought back to humanity three thousand years ago, which was Dark Yugi's "present".
Combining the Duel Monsters cards created by Pegasus and the game of Duel Monsters, the inspiration for which originally came from ancient Egypt, could the tablet before him be the predecessor of Duel Monsters?
Looking at the massive tablet, Dark Yugi's face showed a confused expression, which made Simon beside him couldn't help but ask with concern, "Pharaoh, what's wrong? Is it because it's your first time seeing the process of sealing a monster, coupled with the day's fatigue, that you're a bit tired?"
"No, I was just thinking, if you duel with a tablet, shuffle deck would be exhausting."
After sealing the monster in the tablet, this judgment of the Sinner was temporarily concluded. The assassin temporarily fell into a coma, kneeling on the ground with his head down. The priests left the subsequent handling of the assassin to the Pharaoh's decision and ordered the soldiers to take the tablet away and store it for now.
But just then, a frivolous voice came from the Great Hall, which had just finished the judgment of the assassin: "Oh? I'm a step late and missed a performance. It's a bit of a pity I couldn't see how the tablet was sealed."
"That voice?!" Dark Yugi's eyes widened as he looked in the direction the voice came from. Only to see a white-haired man walk out from the shadow. Although his white hair was messy with quite a bit of sand/dust unavoidable in desert areas, a pair of rabbit-ear-like hair strands stuck up stubbornly and conspicuously, as if to prove their presence.
At the call of "Kaiba Seto", the attendants and dancers began the performance they had rehearsed many times for the banquet after today's coronation ceremony. With gongs and drums beating, skirts fluttering, and slender limbs dancing to the rhythm of the music, the scene was breathtakingly beautiful.
Leaving others aside for now, although Dark Yugi wasn't in the mood to appreciate the performance, the priest standing beside him, who looked exactly like Solomon Muto and was addressed as "Lord Shimon" by "Kaiba Seto", was staring with his eyes wide. From this point of view, Priest Shimon's resemblance to Solomon Muto wasn't just in appearance.
At this moment, Dark Yugi's gaze kept sweeping over "Kaiba Seto", "Ishizu Ishtar", and Priest Shimon beside him, unable to understand why the ancient Egyptians three thousand years ago would look exactly like the people he knew in the modern era.
If it were just "Ishizu Ishtar", that would be one thing, as she was originally Egyptian. But what was the situation with "Kaiba Seto" and Priest Shimon? Why would the two of you look exactly like people from an island in the Far East on another continent three thousand years later?
'What's going on? What exactly is happening?'
It wasn't just Priest Shimon and the other few "familiar strangers"; Dark Yugi also didn't ignore the other priests.
An old man wearing a hood and a cloak, with only an aged face visible, wore the Millennium Eye that once belonged to Pegasus over his left eye;
A youth also covering most of his appearance with a hood, bare-chested and revealing muscular arms, holding the Millennium Key;
Compared to the previous youth who merely did training, a middle-aged man with a resolute expression, looking more like a fitness fanatic, exposing his robust muscles with an open chest and back, held the Millennium Scale quite steadily in his hand;
And the last person, Dark Yugi felt extremely familiar looking at the heroic face under his golden helmet, yet he just couldn't remember where he had seen this person before. On his chest, he wore the Millennium Ring, which Dark Yugi didn't know how many times he had dealt with.
"The Millennium Items... Who exactly are they..."
Dark Yugi's low muttering, although others couldn't hear it, was heard clearly by Priest Shimon who was close beside him. Although just a moment ago he was concentrating on appreciating the gorgeous dance moves so as not to disappoint the palace maids' efforts in rehearsing during this time, upon hearing the Pharaoh's words, he immediately leaned into Dark Yugi's ear.
"Pharaoh, what did you just say?" Although he felt that today's Pharaoh had suddenly become a little strange since the coronation ceremony where he overlooked his subjects, Simon didn't think too much about it and also lowered his voice, saying, "Aren't they the six priests chosen by the Millennium Items?"
Looking at the Millennium Items held by the six priests, some familiar and some stranger, Dark Yugi couldn't help but lower his head and look at the Millennium Puzzle hanging on his chest, which he had long grown accustomed to its weight, just like three thousand years later. However, in its current complete state, perhaps it should be called the Millennium Rod instead.
Dark Yugi also recalled that the priest who looked similar but wasn't "Kaiba Seto", the one holding the Millennium Rod, must be the priest he had seen on the stone tablet of memories in the Memory World, the one who confronted "himself" controlling a monster that looked like Blue-Eyes White Dragon and a monster with the appearance of Dark Magician.
And Priest Shimon, the Pharaoh's attendant, who looked exactly like Solomon Muto and was even just as lustful, perhaps it wasn't a coincidence that Solomon Muto could retrieve the Millennium Puzzle from the ancient tomb that no one had ever successfully challenged three thousand years later.
His heart was filled with all sorts of doubts, but they were in the midst of a grand banquet now, and Dark Yugi had no one to ask. He could only temporarily keep his doubts in his heart, trying his best to play the role of a "Pharaoh" for which he had no experience.
On such a great day as the Pharaoh's ascension, the banquet held in the royal palace to entertain the subjects was naturally exceptionally lavish, with roast beef smeared with honey, lamb and fish stewed together, seasonal fruit platter, staple bread filled with the aroma of wheat, and endless wine, etc. To Dark Yugi's surprise, he even saw foie gras served in almost unlimited quantities.
Although it was three thousand years ago, Dark Yugi had completely not expected the diet of the ancient Egyptians to be so rich. One must know that even in the modern era three thousand years later, Dark Yugi had only eaten foie gras at Pegasus's Castle during the Duelist Kingdom.
However, among everyone Dark Yugi knew, it seemed that besides Kaiba who liked to eat foie gras steak, no one else, whether it was Hayato, Joey Wheeler, Téa, or Tristan, was interested in these fatty livers that were just a mouthful of oil. He was the same. At the same time, the wheat bread, which wasn't soft at all but crunchy and even mixed with ultra-fine sand/dust, completely refreshed Dark Yugi's understanding of "bread".
Therefore, after just a few sips of wine, which he had never drunk in the modern era because he was underage, Dark Yugi considered the banquet finished and sat on the throne, watching the officials before him enjoying the extravagance of the banquet.
The priests didn't mind why their Pharaoh didn't have a big appetite despite the rich dishes, only assuming that the Pharaoh's daily meals weren't much worse than today's.
And while Dark Yugi was trying his best to play the role of "the Pharaoh watching his subjects enjoy themselves", in front of the Pharaoh's sacred majesty, the priests other than Simon were not indulging in pleasure and were quite seriously guarding Dark Yugi's side.
Just then, the Millennium Necklace worn by the only female priest, who looked like Ishizu, emitted a faint golden radiance. She frowned and suddenly turned her head to look at a corner of the palace. In that corner, a man was actually crouching, holding a blowgun and wearing a strange smile on his face.
"Someone is trying to assassinate the Pharaoh!" the female priest shouted, calling out to her companion closest to the Pharaoh, besides Priest Shimon, "Mahad!"
Just then, the assassin blew a pitch-black poison needle from the blowgun, heading straight for Dark Yugi. Seeing this, the male priest whom Dark Yugi found very familiar suddenly flicked his cape, accepted the attack of the poison needle, and glared in the assassin's direction.
"Damn it, you scoundrel!" Priest Mahad guarded Dark Yugi's side, while the priest who looked like "Kaiba Seto" angrily pointed his finger at the assassin and ordered the soldiers in the palace, "Go and arrest that person who deserves ten thousand deaths! How dare you assassinate the Pharaoh!"
Although today was the day of the new Pharaoh's ascension banquet, the soldiers guarding the Pharaoh, except for the important figures who were qualified to directly participate in the banquet, were not lazy or relaxed. Almost at the same time as "Kaiba Seto" ordered, soldiers surrounded them from all sides, easily subduing the assassin without surprise. They used sharp blades to escort him down from the high place and brought him before the Pharaoh.
With the attempted assassination of the new Pharaoh, the banquet in the palace came to an abrupt end. The dancers and musicians quickly retreated with the palace maids who were cleaning up the food, emptying the palace. Almost in an instant, the banquet venue turned into an Execution Ground for the treasonous assassin.
"To dare to assassinate the Pharaoh and attempt to take his life is truly terrifying!" The female priest looked at the assassin, who was escorted by the guards and knelt before the Pharaoh's throne, and showed an expression of wrath.
However, as a woman, even though she tried hard to appear fierce, her pressure was still too insufficient. The assassin didn't put her threat in his eye at all. After glancing lightly at the female priest, his gaze swept over the people remaining on the scene. Not even the Pharaoh could make his line of sight linger for a moment, but it paused when he met the gaze of the oldest priest among them.
The assassin had not the slightest bit of fear about the situation he was about to face, because he knew the ability of the person who hired him. Even if he had committed an unforgivable crime, the other party had the ability to get him out. But this kind of arrogant behavior only further intensified the priests' wrath.
"Although you didn't succeed in assassinating the Pharaoh, according to your crime, even sentencing you to insect punishment, being devoured alive by one hundred thousand scarabs, would not be excessive," Priest Mahad said angrily, looking at the arrogant assassin. "But because today is a celebration, take this fellow to the Prison and lock him up."
On such an important day as the new Pharaoh's ascension, there absolutely could not be any ominous bloodshed; that would be a desecration of the Pharaoh. Even the assassin who attempted to kill the Pharaoh could only be dealt with the next day.
"No, Priest Mahad, I have a better idea." But just as Mahad ordered the guards to take the assassin away, and the assassin revealed a smug smile on his face, the oldest priest among them spoke. As he removed the hood from his head, his aged appearance and the Millennium Eye on his left eye looked down at the assassin with full presence.
For an instant, the assassin's brain went blank, and he couldn't say anything.
"Priest Aknadin?" Everyone didn't notice the assassin's abnormality but were attracted by the old man who removed his hood — Priest "Aknadin". Priest Mahad looked towards him and asked what exactly he meant.
Priest Aknadin hadn't spoken yet, but "Kaiba Seto" standing beside him spoke: "I understand what you mean, Lord Aknadin. You are thinking of using this great opportunity to reveal the power of our new Pharaoh's strongest priests, aren't you? That's a great idea."
"What do you think, Lord Shimon, and Pharaoh?"
"That's a very good idea, Priest Seto. This way, the ominous blood won't stain the Pharaoh's sacredness," Priest Shimon said approvingly, glancing at Dark Yugi. "What do you think, Pharaoh?"
What opinion could Dark Yugi offer at this moment? To be honest, he knew nothing about Egypt three thousand years ago. If his priests had already discussed a plan, he just needed to be a quiet Pharaoh and give his permission: "Do as you say, Mahad, Aknadin, Simon, Seto."
Although he didn't actively ask, just by sitting here, Dark Yugi had already figured out the names of four of the priests around him. The names of the others were fine, but the name Priest Seto really made Dark Yugi not know what to say, silently complaining in his inner thoughts.
'Seto, Seto. It's too much of a coincidence. It's so coincidental that I don't even know where to start complaining.' Dark Yugi thought to himself, looking at Priest Seto who had turned around and was surrounding the assassin with the other priests. 'Could it be that Kaiba's past life was Priest Seto? In that case, maybe Grandpa and Priest Shimon, Miss Ishizu and that female priest too?'
"Starting now, the judgment of this man!" Following Priest Seto's loud shout, the six priests holding Millennium Items stepped forward, ready to take action against the assassin who had somehow fallen into a dazed state.
"Today's Egypt, under the sacred rule of successive Pharaohs, has become a great country, but Pharaoh, the appearance of villains who envy Egypt and envy your radiance has never ceased," Priest Shimon said seriously, standing before Dark Yugi.
The female priest continued: "But please have peace of mind, Pharaoh."
"As long as we seven priests are still standing here," Priest Aknadin said, casting a subtle glance at Priest Seto beside him with his right eye, which wasn't covered by the Millennium Eye, "not even a single finger of the Pharaoh will be harmed."
"The sanction of the Millennium Items begins now! First is I, Priest Shada, the power of the Millennium Key!" The youthful priest, who spoke less than Aknadin and Seto, held the Millennium Key in his hand. As he stepped out of the group, he removed the hood from his head, revealing a shiny bald head.
The moment Dark Yugi saw the bald head, he remembered where he had seen that face before. Wasn't it Shadi? He really didn't recognize him with the bald head covered.
Oh no, not Shadi. If his previous guess was correct, the past life of Shadi Shin of the Tomb Keepers three thousand years later should be this priest before him, Priest Shada.
Standing before the assassin, not caring about his bewildered expression, Shada raised the Millennium Key in his hand and said, "The Millennium Key has the power to open the door of the heart, and it will see through the inner thoughts of the Sinner before me!"
As the Millennium Key released radiance, the assassin's shadow changed shape, and the shape of a monster appeared. Shada said without surprise, "Hmm, I can see the shadow of an evil monster in this person's heart."
Just as Dark Yugi thought Shada might do something else, to his slight surprise, Shada actually retreated back into the group, and Aknadin stepped forward, replacing Shada: "Next is my Millennium Eye, Aknadin! The monster within the heart will reveal its true form under the power of this eye of the heart!"
Accompanied by a flash of light from the Millennium Eye, the disoriented assassin suddenly cried out in pain. A large amount of shaped dark aura suddenly spewed from his wide-open mouth and gathered in the air.
"Monsters born in the human heart from wrath and resentment will manipulate people to commit crimes and increase their wrath and resentment in order to gain power," Simon explained, seemingly afraid that Dark Yugi wouldn't understand. "However, the Millennium Key can discover the monster in the human heart, and the Millennium Eye can extract the monster. What comes after that is this."
It was at this moment that several muscular soldiers nearby were carrying a large rectangular stone tablet into the palace. They temporarily placed the tablet before the Pharaoh's throne, and Priest Seto stood in front of the tablet, directly facing the "monster" in the air.
"Hmph, ugly monster, get into the tablet! Under the power of the Millennium Rod!" Raising the golden scepter in his hand, Priest Seto looked at the monster in the air and sneered. That arrogant stance was too similar to Kaiba Seto. Immediately after, the Millennium Rod shone brightly, and the monster in the air began to twist and struggle, seemingly unwilling to be sealed in the tablet like this.
However, Seto wasn't someone to be trifled with. He swung the Millennium Rod in his hand again and shouted confidently, "It's not the monster that has the upper hand in power, it's me, Seto! Crush! Destroy! Great Applause!"
The light on the Millennium Rod surged again, suppressing the monster in an instant and pushing it forcefully into the tablet carried by the soldiers.
Turn it off, Kaiba, I know it's you.
Although he should have been amazed by the true power possessed by the Millennium Items, hearing the words that were so familiar coming from Priest Seto's mouth, Dark Yugi couldn't help but want to cover his face.
However, upon seeing the shape of the monster gradually appearing on the tablet, Dark Yugi remembered something else — not long ago, based on Real World time, during the Doma incident, after Dartz's decisive battle with Dark Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey Wheeler, he seemed to have mentioned something.
As a dual personality, he had lost confidence in humanity and decided to continue his actions of destroying humanity because he had witnessed Duel Monsters and Dark Game being brought back to humanity three thousand years ago, which was Dark Yugi's "present".
Combining the Duel Monsters cards created by Pegasus and the game of Duel Monsters, the inspiration for which originally came from ancient Egypt, could the tablet before him be the predecessor of Duel Monsters?
Looking at the massive tablet, Dark Yugi's face showed a confused expression, which made Simon beside him couldn't help but ask with concern, "Pharaoh, what's wrong? Is it because it's your first time seeing the process of sealing a monster, coupled with the day's fatigue, that you're a bit tired?"
"No, I was just thinking, if you duel with a tablet, shuffle deck would be exhausting."
After sealing the monster in the tablet, this judgment of the Sinner was temporarily concluded. The assassin temporarily fell into a coma, kneeling on the ground with his head down. The priests left the subsequent handling of the assassin to the Pharaoh's decision and ordered the soldiers to take the tablet away and store it for now.
But just then, a frivolous voice came from the Great Hall, which had just finished the judgment of the assassin: "Oh? I'm a step late and missed a performance. It's a bit of a pity I couldn't see how the tablet was sealed."
"That voice?!" Dark Yugi's eyes widened as he looked in the direction the voice came from. Only to see a white-haired man walk out from the shadow. Although his white hair was messy with quite a bit of sand/dust unavoidable in desert areas, a pair of rabbit-ear-like hair strands stuck up stubbornly and conspicuously, as if to prove their presence.
