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Chapter 723: You're Such a Baby!
He was just a hair's breadth away from defeating Bakura and, in Hayato's view, securing victory in this Dark Game. Yet, Bakura unexpectedly managed to find a Hostage on the street and seize them.
Even if it were any other ordinary person, Hayato might have gritted his teeth and steeled himself, perhaps convincing himself with the reason, "The opponent is just an NPC in the Memory World," to ignore the Hostage and continue to attack Bakura.
But of all people, the one Bakura had taken Hostage was Nefertari, who had been by Hayato's side ever since he woke up in the Memory World. Subconsciously, Hayato resisted the possibility of her being harmed. Looking at Bakura, he also stopped in his tracks.
And when Bakura heard that Hayato actually knew the Little Girl he had grabbed at random, he raised an eyebrow, grinned, and said, "Seems like my luck is actually better than I thought. I was originally thinking that if I just grabbed a random person, a guy like you, Hayato, might ignore the Hostage and continue to attack me. I was already preparing to keep escaping."
"As it turns out, she's someone you know in this era? I'm really lucky, hehe."
Smiling, Bakura pulled out a small knife from his person, his expression twisted into something perverse. He leaned closer to Nefertari and continued speaking to Hayato, "Don't come any closer. This little knife of mine is coated with a potent poison that kills on contact with blood. If you don't want to see this Little Girl cut by my sharp blade, you're not allowed to take another step closer to me. Also, remove the Duel Arena from your wrist!"
Although he acted arrogant, Bakura's eye remained fixed on Hayato, not daring to look away for a moment. He worried that his demands might be too excessive, causing Hayato to wouldn't accept them and attack while shouting things like "Sacrifice yourself for the great cause."
However, what gave him a sense of peace of mind was that after a few seconds of silence, Hayato did not remove the Duel Arena, but also didn't directly refuse. Instead, he looked at Nefertari and said to Bakura, "You can forget about me removing the Duel Arena. I don't trust that you won't sneak attack me after I remove it and can't summon monsters."
Although he refused to remove the Duel Arena, Hayato did follow Bakura's demand and did not advance even a single step. At the same time, one of the two **Drytron** that were originally present disappeared, leaving only **Drytron Meteonis Draconids** guarding him. This made Bakura feel a slight sense of peace of mind.
At the same time, Bakura was also confused about something. This Hayato Kobayashi, although he didn't know how he did it, had somehow entered the Memory World with that identity. But logically, at that point in the Memory World's timeline, he shouldn't have known anyone. What was going on with this Little Girl?
Although there might be a slight deviation in when they entered the Memory World, Hayato, Dark Yugi, and Bakura should all have arrived around the same time. Did he get to know someone from this era in such a short time?
Forget it, that kind of thing doesn't matter. He doesn't have the habit of getting to the bottom of everything. As long as he can utilize this Little Girl to make Hayato Kobayashi hesitant and afraid to attack him, allowing himself to escape, that's enough.
"Hey, Hayato Kobayashi, let's make a deal. You let me leave here, and then I'll release this woman and return her to you unharmed. How about it? Isn't that fair? After all, you don't have a reason to kill me even if it means killing this woman, do you?"
Hearing Bakura's words, Hayato showed an indifferent expression. "No reason? I don't think so. If I defeat you, won't this Dark Game end? In that case, sacrificing one or two people isn't a problem."
"Heh, the way you stopped so decisively just now because this woman was taken Hostage by me doesn't quite match what you're saying." Bakura paused, seemed like he thought of something interesting. "And, killing me will end this Dark Game? Then you really are..."
With an expression that seemed to be holding back laughter, Bakura grinned and let out a few sinister chuckles, then continued, "Although it would be more beneficial for me not to say it, I really cannot resist the temptation of showing off and satisfying my vanity. So, I'll give you a little reminder, you who are completely ignorant of this ultimate Dark Game."
"You should know, right? Your current body isn't 'Hayato Kobayashi'. Just like The Other Yugi Three Thousand Years Ago was the Pharaoh, in this Dark Game, every Player has their own identity in the plot." Playing with the sharp blade, Bakura pointed to himself and said, "To enhance the sense of immersion, let me introduce myself now."
"Here, my name isn't Bakura Ryo, that high school student I chose Three Thousand Years Ago. It's Bakura, the Grave Robber who robbed the Pharaoh's tomb, Thief King Bakura. Don't call me by the name Bakura anymore."
After Bakura, no, Bakura finished speaking, regardless of whether Hayato understood his "kind" hint or whether he agreed to the deal he had proposed earlier, he retreated about ten meters while watching Hayato, accompanied by the **Diabound** beside him.
Hayato frowned and took a step forward. But just then, the **Diabound**, whose lower body white snake was still tightly binding Nefertari, swung its arm and violently smashed a nearby mansion, scattering stone and building wreckage everywhere, forming a line.
"Don't move, Hayato Kobayashi!" Bakura pressed the small knife back against Nefertari's neck and threatened Hayato sharply, "I told you, stand still and don't advance half a step. Don't think I won't harm this woman. Stand there obediently like a mouse caught on a sticky board and don't come any closer! Or do you not care if this woman gets hurt?"
Hearing Bakura's words, the Hostage Nefertari instead protested, "That's not true! Meriamun cares about me very much, even though he's a very shy person."
"Meriamun? Tsk, is that Hayato Kobayashi's name? As expected, it's that guy." Bakura glanced at Nefertari, who clearly had no sense of being a Hostage, and pouted. "Although I don't know where you got the idea that this guy is shy, the more he cares about you, the more advantageous it is for me."
Pointing at the line formed by the building wreckage, Bakura shouted to Hayato, who was standing still, "Until I've moved to a safe distance, you stay where you are and don't move. Don't cross that line, not even a single step. Otherwise, I'll kill this woman. Once I'm safe, I'll naturally let her go."
"You have no right to negotiate!"
Watching the distance between Bakura and himself gradually increase, Hayato felt helpless but could do nothing, only allowing the opponent to move away.
When the distance was sufficient, Bakura looked at Hayato, who had indeed stayed put obediently, and sneered, "That's quite unexpected. I thought you'd try some more schemes. You've become more obedient, Hayato. Is it because of this woman?"
Hayato didn't speak, just glared at Bakura.
"Don't look at me like that. Worried I'll go back on my word? Heh, I'm not you."
As he spoke, Bakura did indeed release Nefertari, pushing her away to create distance. But in the very next moment, the **Diabound** suddenly unleashed an attack on Nefertari, who had been pushed away by Bakura!
"Boom!"
The **Drytron Meteonis Dracodes** that Hayato had previously recalled had somehow crept up near Bakura and was set. Hayato had originally planned to have it sneak attack Bakura, but he didn't expect Bakura to attack Nefertari after releasing her. This forced Hayato to expose the existence of **Drytron Meteonis Dracodes** prematurely to take the attack from **Diabound** and shield Nefertari from the damage.
"Attacking Nefertari? Bakura, you're too despicable!"
"What gives you the right to say that, you guy who just tried to sneak attack me!" Bakura turned and desperately escaped, not forgetting to throw a threat at Hayato, "This is it for now, but don't think my offensive will end this easily. I will definitely return!"
Because he had deliberately created distance earlier, in just the blink of an eye, Bakura quickly escaped without a trace under the cover of **Diabound**, leaving **Diabound** to toughly take the attack of two monsters and be destroyed. Although it wailed quite miserably when attacked by the two **Drytron**, what did its pain matter to Hayato?
Seeing Nefertari return to his side unharmed, Hayato also breathed a sigh of relief. He said to the smiling Nefertari with annoyance, "You're too carefree, Nefertari. You just escaped danger, why are you smiling so happily?"
"Hehehe, because Meriamun, you looked so worried about me just now, when you saw I was almost attacked," Nefertari said with a smile.
Hayato rubbed his forehead helplessly. "Honestly, aren't you worried at all about being attacked and getting hurt?"
Nefertari thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No, because Meriamun, you're here. I believe you can protect me well."
Looking at the naive Nefertari, who for some reason believed in him so much, Hayato really didn't know what to say. He could only reach out and take the bottle of beer she had been holding since just now.
"Give it here, this is the beer you saved for me, right?"
"Ta-da! This is high quality beer that I finally managed to find. That's why I came over here. Although I got caught by that guy with the sinister smile because of it, I successfully waited for my reunion with you, Meriamun."
Watching Hayato take the beer and twist open the bottle cap, Nefertari had an expectant expression. "How is it? How does beer taste? Is it good?"
"Uh, to be honest, it didn't quite live up to my expectations." Swallowing a mouthful of the beer he had been looking forward to for a long time, Hayato looked at the beer bottle in his hand with some distaste. "Although it does have a bit of an alcoholic taste, to be honest, it's fundamentally just fermented porridge. Super disappointing."
"That's why I advised you long ago, Meriamun. The reason the common people drink beer is because they have to drink it as a source of water. How could you possibly get used to drinking it? If you're going to drink, wine or other fruit wines would be more suitable."
While Hayato and Nefertari were talking, he also noticed that in the direction Bakura had left, a Priest on a horse was leading Soldiers towards a direction where black smoke was rising, likely to suppress the chaos caused by Bakura's Subordinate.
He hoped they had better luck and didn't run into Bakura face-to-face. Otherwise, even if Bakura was in a hurry to escape, it wasn't impossible for him to casually defeat a weaker Priest, considering he couldn't be defeated by the combined strength of the seven Priests and required Hayato and Dark Yugi to team up to defeat him.
And Bakura indeed had no interest in these ordinary Soldiers. His resentment and hatred were more concentrated on the Previous Pharaoh, Aknamkanon, and the Current Pharaoh, Dark Yugi.
For revenge, he could drag Innocent People into it as sacrifice without hesitation. But if it didn't have any influence on his revenge, he wasn't a madman who would attack everyone he saw.
Especially now, when he hadn't been away from Hayato for too long, Bakura knew that the reason Hayato wasn't continuing the pursuit was because he saw that pursuing him with his means of escape would just be wasted time.
But if he wasted time massacring the Soldiers he encountered, Bakura had no doubt that Hayato wouldn't miss this opportunity to launch a pursuit again.
Therefore, even while watching the well-trained Soldiers organized by the organization defeat his Subordinate, whom he had arranged to cause chaos and destroy the City in various places, one by one, Bakura had no intention of stopping. However, although he didn't harm the Soldiers, the Priest leading the Soldiers noticed him.
"He's on my side?" Aknadin saw Bakura's figure darting across the street and about to escape into the distance. He quickly moved his legs, which were old but still had some strength left, to pursue and try to intercept him on his path. At the same time, a golden light shone from his Millennium Eye on his left eye.
"Before in the Great Hall, I didn't use this power to keep a low profile. I'll take this opportunity and use my Millennium Eye to control your mind!"
The eyes are a projection of the spirit. Aknadin, who had held the Millennium Eye for decades, was different from the younger Priests who had only inherited their respective Millennium Items from the previous Priests for a few years at most. His development of the Millennium Eye's power was actually quite deep already.
Not limited to the original ability to display the appearance of the Spirit within one's inner thoughts, Aknadin had expanded upon this ability, developing a terrifying ability to read inner thoughts, influence others' thoughts, and even imprint his own thoughts into others' minds, which was almost mind control.
But the moment Aknadin imprinted his will into Bakura's mind, who seemed completely defenseless, his thought suddenly plunged into a darkness. That darkness even surged back through the power of the Millennium Eye and entered Aknadin's mind. Spitting up blood, Aknadin rolled his eyes and fell to the ground.
Absorbing the will in his brain, Bakura instead gained Aknadin's memory. He looked at him with interest. "How interesting, this guy is actually... This ambition that isn't for himself but grows in the darkness, perhaps it can be utilized."
"However, not now." Glancing back and seeing that Hayato hadn't pursued him, Bakura's footsteps didn't stop for a moment as he escaped the City-State, passing Aknadin, mounting the camel he had hidden beforehand, and fleeing into the sandstorm.
It seems like there's an update today, update early, Happy National Day everyone, except for Numeron Player (lol).
End of Chapter
He was just a hair's breadth away from defeating Bakura and, in Hayato's view, securing victory in this Dark Game. Yet, Bakura unexpectedly managed to find a Hostage on the street and seize them.
Even if it were any other ordinary person, Hayato might have gritted his teeth and steeled himself, perhaps convincing himself with the reason, "The opponent is just an NPC in the Memory World," to ignore the Hostage and continue to attack Bakura.
But of all people, the one Bakura had taken Hostage was Nefertari, who had been by Hayato's side ever since he woke up in the Memory World. Subconsciously, Hayato resisted the possibility of her being harmed. Looking at Bakura, he also stopped in his tracks.
And when Bakura heard that Hayato actually knew the Little Girl he had grabbed at random, he raised an eyebrow, grinned, and said, "Seems like my luck is actually better than I thought. I was originally thinking that if I just grabbed a random person, a guy like you, Hayato, might ignore the Hostage and continue to attack me. I was already preparing to keep escaping."
"As it turns out, she's someone you know in this era? I'm really lucky, hehe."
Smiling, Bakura pulled out a small knife from his person, his expression twisted into something perverse. He leaned closer to Nefertari and continued speaking to Hayato, "Don't come any closer. This little knife of mine is coated with a potent poison that kills on contact with blood. If you don't want to see this Little Girl cut by my sharp blade, you're not allowed to take another step closer to me. Also, remove the Duel Arena from your wrist!"
Although he acted arrogant, Bakura's eye remained fixed on Hayato, not daring to look away for a moment. He worried that his demands might be too excessive, causing Hayato to wouldn't accept them and attack while shouting things like "Sacrifice yourself for the great cause."
However, what gave him a sense of peace of mind was that after a few seconds of silence, Hayato did not remove the Duel Arena, but also didn't directly refuse. Instead, he looked at Nefertari and said to Bakura, "You can forget about me removing the Duel Arena. I don't trust that you won't sneak attack me after I remove it and can't summon monsters."
Although he refused to remove the Duel Arena, Hayato did follow Bakura's demand and did not advance even a single step. At the same time, one of the two **Drytron** that were originally present disappeared, leaving only **Drytron Meteonis Draconids** guarding him. This made Bakura feel a slight sense of peace of mind.
At the same time, Bakura was also confused about something. This Hayato Kobayashi, although he didn't know how he did it, had somehow entered the Memory World with that identity. But logically, at that point in the Memory World's timeline, he shouldn't have known anyone. What was going on with this Little Girl?
Although there might be a slight deviation in when they entered the Memory World, Hayato, Dark Yugi, and Bakura should all have arrived around the same time. Did he get to know someone from this era in such a short time?
Forget it, that kind of thing doesn't matter. He doesn't have the habit of getting to the bottom of everything. As long as he can utilize this Little Girl to make Hayato Kobayashi hesitant and afraid to attack him, allowing himself to escape, that's enough.
"Hey, Hayato Kobayashi, let's make a deal. You let me leave here, and then I'll release this woman and return her to you unharmed. How about it? Isn't that fair? After all, you don't have a reason to kill me even if it means killing this woman, do you?"
Hearing Bakura's words, Hayato showed an indifferent expression. "No reason? I don't think so. If I defeat you, won't this Dark Game end? In that case, sacrificing one or two people isn't a problem."
"Heh, the way you stopped so decisively just now because this woman was taken Hostage by me doesn't quite match what you're saying." Bakura paused, seemed like he thought of something interesting. "And, killing me will end this Dark Game? Then you really are..."
With an expression that seemed to be holding back laughter, Bakura grinned and let out a few sinister chuckles, then continued, "Although it would be more beneficial for me not to say it, I really cannot resist the temptation of showing off and satisfying my vanity. So, I'll give you a little reminder, you who are completely ignorant of this ultimate Dark Game."
"You should know, right? Your current body isn't 'Hayato Kobayashi'. Just like The Other Yugi Three Thousand Years Ago was the Pharaoh, in this Dark Game, every Player has their own identity in the plot." Playing with the sharp blade, Bakura pointed to himself and said, "To enhance the sense of immersion, let me introduce myself now."
"Here, my name isn't Bakura Ryo, that high school student I chose Three Thousand Years Ago. It's Bakura, the Grave Robber who robbed the Pharaoh's tomb, Thief King Bakura. Don't call me by the name Bakura anymore."
After Bakura, no, Bakura finished speaking, regardless of whether Hayato understood his "kind" hint or whether he agreed to the deal he had proposed earlier, he retreated about ten meters while watching Hayato, accompanied by the **Diabound** beside him.
Hayato frowned and took a step forward. But just then, the **Diabound**, whose lower body white snake was still tightly binding Nefertari, swung its arm and violently smashed a nearby mansion, scattering stone and building wreckage everywhere, forming a line.
"Don't move, Hayato Kobayashi!" Bakura pressed the small knife back against Nefertari's neck and threatened Hayato sharply, "I told you, stand still and don't advance half a step. Don't think I won't harm this woman. Stand there obediently like a mouse caught on a sticky board and don't come any closer! Or do you not care if this woman gets hurt?"
Hearing Bakura's words, the Hostage Nefertari instead protested, "That's not true! Meriamun cares about me very much, even though he's a very shy person."
"Meriamun? Tsk, is that Hayato Kobayashi's name? As expected, it's that guy." Bakura glanced at Nefertari, who clearly had no sense of being a Hostage, and pouted. "Although I don't know where you got the idea that this guy is shy, the more he cares about you, the more advantageous it is for me."
Pointing at the line formed by the building wreckage, Bakura shouted to Hayato, who was standing still, "Until I've moved to a safe distance, you stay where you are and don't move. Don't cross that line, not even a single step. Otherwise, I'll kill this woman. Once I'm safe, I'll naturally let her go."
"You have no right to negotiate!"
Watching the distance between Bakura and himself gradually increase, Hayato felt helpless but could do nothing, only allowing the opponent to move away.
When the distance was sufficient, Bakura looked at Hayato, who had indeed stayed put obediently, and sneered, "That's quite unexpected. I thought you'd try some more schemes. You've become more obedient, Hayato. Is it because of this woman?"
Hayato didn't speak, just glared at Bakura.
"Don't look at me like that. Worried I'll go back on my word? Heh, I'm not you."
As he spoke, Bakura did indeed release Nefertari, pushing her away to create distance. But in the very next moment, the **Diabound** suddenly unleashed an attack on Nefertari, who had been pushed away by Bakura!
"Boom!"
The **Drytron Meteonis Dracodes** that Hayato had previously recalled had somehow crept up near Bakura and was set. Hayato had originally planned to have it sneak attack Bakura, but he didn't expect Bakura to attack Nefertari after releasing her. This forced Hayato to expose the existence of **Drytron Meteonis Dracodes** prematurely to take the attack from **Diabound** and shield Nefertari from the damage.
"Attacking Nefertari? Bakura, you're too despicable!"
"What gives you the right to say that, you guy who just tried to sneak attack me!" Bakura turned and desperately escaped, not forgetting to throw a threat at Hayato, "This is it for now, but don't think my offensive will end this easily. I will definitely return!"
Because he had deliberately created distance earlier, in just the blink of an eye, Bakura quickly escaped without a trace under the cover of **Diabound**, leaving **Diabound** to toughly take the attack of two monsters and be destroyed. Although it wailed quite miserably when attacked by the two **Drytron**, what did its pain matter to Hayato?
Seeing Nefertari return to his side unharmed, Hayato also breathed a sigh of relief. He said to the smiling Nefertari with annoyance, "You're too carefree, Nefertari. You just escaped danger, why are you smiling so happily?"
"Hehehe, because Meriamun, you looked so worried about me just now, when you saw I was almost attacked," Nefertari said with a smile.
Hayato rubbed his forehead helplessly. "Honestly, aren't you worried at all about being attacked and getting hurt?"
Nefertari thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No, because Meriamun, you're here. I believe you can protect me well."
Looking at the naive Nefertari, who for some reason believed in him so much, Hayato really didn't know what to say. He could only reach out and take the bottle of beer she had been holding since just now.
"Give it here, this is the beer you saved for me, right?"
"Ta-da! This is high quality beer that I finally managed to find. That's why I came over here. Although I got caught by that guy with the sinister smile because of it, I successfully waited for my reunion with you, Meriamun."
Watching Hayato take the beer and twist open the bottle cap, Nefertari had an expectant expression. "How is it? How does beer taste? Is it good?"
"Uh, to be honest, it didn't quite live up to my expectations." Swallowing a mouthful of the beer he had been looking forward to for a long time, Hayato looked at the beer bottle in his hand with some distaste. "Although it does have a bit of an alcoholic taste, to be honest, it's fundamentally just fermented porridge. Super disappointing."
"That's why I advised you long ago, Meriamun. The reason the common people drink beer is because they have to drink it as a source of water. How could you possibly get used to drinking it? If you're going to drink, wine or other fruit wines would be more suitable."
While Hayato and Nefertari were talking, he also noticed that in the direction Bakura had left, a Priest on a horse was leading Soldiers towards a direction where black smoke was rising, likely to suppress the chaos caused by Bakura's Subordinate.
He hoped they had better luck and didn't run into Bakura face-to-face. Otherwise, even if Bakura was in a hurry to escape, it wasn't impossible for him to casually defeat a weaker Priest, considering he couldn't be defeated by the combined strength of the seven Priests and required Hayato and Dark Yugi to team up to defeat him.
And Bakura indeed had no interest in these ordinary Soldiers. His resentment and hatred were more concentrated on the Previous Pharaoh, Aknamkanon, and the Current Pharaoh, Dark Yugi.
For revenge, he could drag Innocent People into it as sacrifice without hesitation. But if it didn't have any influence on his revenge, he wasn't a madman who would attack everyone he saw.
Especially now, when he hadn't been away from Hayato for too long, Bakura knew that the reason Hayato wasn't continuing the pursuit was because he saw that pursuing him with his means of escape would just be wasted time.
But if he wasted time massacring the Soldiers he encountered, Bakura had no doubt that Hayato wouldn't miss this opportunity to launch a pursuit again.
Therefore, even while watching the well-trained Soldiers organized by the organization defeat his Subordinate, whom he had arranged to cause chaos and destroy the City in various places, one by one, Bakura had no intention of stopping. However, although he didn't harm the Soldiers, the Priest leading the Soldiers noticed him.
"He's on my side?" Aknadin saw Bakura's figure darting across the street and about to escape into the distance. He quickly moved his legs, which were old but still had some strength left, to pursue and try to intercept him on his path. At the same time, a golden light shone from his Millennium Eye on his left eye.
"Before in the Great Hall, I didn't use this power to keep a low profile. I'll take this opportunity and use my Millennium Eye to control your mind!"
The eyes are a projection of the spirit. Aknadin, who had held the Millennium Eye for decades, was different from the younger Priests who had only inherited their respective Millennium Items from the previous Priests for a few years at most. His development of the Millennium Eye's power was actually quite deep already.
Not limited to the original ability to display the appearance of the Spirit within one's inner thoughts, Aknadin had expanded upon this ability, developing a terrifying ability to read inner thoughts, influence others' thoughts, and even imprint his own thoughts into others' minds, which was almost mind control.
But the moment Aknadin imprinted his will into Bakura's mind, who seemed completely defenseless, his thought suddenly plunged into a darkness. That darkness even surged back through the power of the Millennium Eye and entered Aknadin's mind. Spitting up blood, Aknadin rolled his eyes and fell to the ground.
Absorbing the will in his brain, Bakura instead gained Aknadin's memory. He looked at him with interest. "How interesting, this guy is actually... This ambition that isn't for himself but grows in the darkness, perhaps it can be utilized."
"However, not now." Glancing back and seeing that Hayato hadn't pursued him, Bakura's footsteps didn't stop for a moment as he escaped the City-State, passing Aknadin, mounting the camel he had hidden beforehand, and fleeing into the sandstorm.
It seems like there's an update today, update early, Happy National Day everyone, except for Numeron Player (lol).
End of Chapter
