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Chapter 741: This is a Stand Attack!
At night, in a Stone Tablet Temple near the Royal Palace, Seto encountered Aknadin.
"Seto, what brings you here?" Standing on the Altar in the center of the Temple, Aknadin turned his head, wanting to see who had intruded into the Temple where he had specifically Ordered Soldiers to prevent anyone from entering. But upon realizing the footsteps were Seto's, he felt a sense of relief and asked Seto kindly.
"I couldn't find you in your Bedroom. I thought I might find you here at the Stone Tablet Temple. When I saw the Soldiers guarding the Temple entrance, I knew you must be here, Lord Aknadin."
Seto walked to the Altar, looked up at Aknadin, and said seriously, "You remember that today the Pharaoh Ordered Shada and me to be responsible for the Royal City's security work, right?"
Aknadin put down the work he was doing and turned to face Seto. "Of course, I remember. Seto, the Pharaoh's handling of this matter was not wrong. He had his own considerations. You mustn't harbor resentment towards the Pharaoh because of this."
Aknadin was very familiar with Seto's temper. Fearing he might be angry at the Pharaoh because the Pharaoh didn't support his idea today, he specifically advised him.
Hearing this, Seto nodded calmly. "Please rest assured, Lord Aknadin. I know what the Pharaoh meant; it was merely to ease the conflict between me and that fellow Karim. I stopped caring about that guy a long time ago. What I want to talk about is something else entirely."
Looking at Aknadin, Seto took a deep breath and repeated the words he had spoken to Shada earlier that day.
Upon hearing Seto say that using the power of the **Millennium Key**, one could excavate the hidden Spirit Power from the inner thoughts of the People and utilize it, Aknadin's face suddenly changed color. Looking at the calm Seto, he asked urgently, "Seto, you didn't actually utilize your position today to conduct Spirit Hunting on the People, did you!?"
"That kind of thing is undoubtedly wrong!"
Believing that Seto had gone ahead with the Spirit Hunting without consulting him, after forming such an idea and having the convenience of his position to put the idea into reality, Aknadin appeared very anxious.
"It's not too late to stop now. If you've captured anyone, release them quickly. The power of the **Millennium Items** is a power of justice meant to protect the People; it must never be used to damage Innocent People!" Aknadin advised him earnestly, "Actions that cause you guilt will leave a flaw in your inner thoughts. The fear that arises from it will one day tempt a person to fall into infinite Hell and darkness..."
As he spoke, Aknadin continuously clutched his chest.
Seeing Aknadin's actions, Seto only thought that his existing injuries hadn't fully healed. Hearing that even Aknadin didn't agree with his previous idea, he let out a breath and then said to Aknadin, "No, you're overthinking it, Lord Aknadin. I haven't put this immature idea into action. Actually—"
Turning to Aknadin, Seto began recounting what had happened earlier that day:
"From your perspective, did I just zone out for about five or six seconds?"
He clearly had the certain victory and was about to defeat the guy who wore his face and called himself "Pharaoh". He knew the opponent's identity, but because Seto shook him awake, the duel was suddenly interrupted, making Hayato very annoyed.
He had experienced this mood twice before: once during the Battle City Top 4 free-for-all when he was close to using Present-Underworld OTK on everyone but Noah Kaiba stopped the duel, and even earlier during the Duelist Kingdom when his first duel with Kaiba was interrupted by Keipei's cry for help after being kidnapped.
Thinking about it, Kaiba's presence in all three instances made him even more annoyed. Looking at Seto before him, Hayato thought angrily.
Seto didn't know what Hayato had been thinking just then; he just wanted to know what was going on with Hayato. It wasn't the first time he had seen Shada use the **Millennium Key**, nor was it the first time he had encountered Sinners with particularly powerful inner Spirits, but Hayato's situation was something he had never seen before.
The inner Spirit that should have been revealed with the unsealing of the Lock of the Heart didn't appear. Yet, at the same time, Hayato fell into a dazed, distracted state.
If it weren't for the fact that the power of the **Millennium Key** had indeed activated right beside him just then, even triggering the power of his own **Millennium Rod**, Seto would have started to suspect that Shada had absolutely no self-control, not only losing all his hair but also rendering the **Millennium Key** useless.
"That's pretty much it. Also, the **Millennium Key** unusually didn't reflect the appearance of the Spirit in your inner thoughts." Shada, unaware that his close friend Seto beside him was grumbling internally about his physical condition, looked at the **Millennium Key** in his hand and said, "And it wasn't like the situation with Thief Bakura before."
"If Thief Bakura's inner thoughts were complete darkness, unable to be illuminated by any radiance, then in contrast, the depths of your heart, Hayato Kobayashi, possess a radiance as dazzling as the sun. Even the light of the **Millennium Key** couldn't make it brighter, which is why the result was an inability to awaken the Spirit."
Pausing, Shada seemed amused by his own words. "But thinking about it, that's impossible. How could a mortal body contain a dazzling sun? You must know that even the Pharaoh, who far surpasses us mortals, can only become an existence on par with gods in the Afterlife."
Hearing Shada's conclusion, Seto completely ignored the parts he didn't care about and only focused on the fact that their attempt had yielded no result. "Hmph, so ultimately it was still a failure. Even you, Hayato Kobayashi, who commands Spirits with power close to that of gods, couldn't achieve the awakening of a Spirit with the power we need..."
Although Seto was somewhat stubborn and difficult to advise, he had been somewhat persuaded before because Hayato had already analyzed the feasibility and benefit efficiency of the plan. However, to make him give up the plan of using the **Millennium Key** on the People, one more thing was needed.
That was for Hayato, the one who proposed the different opinion, to actually achieve the awakening of a Spirit as he himself claimed. And the Spirit Power didn't need to be too strong, but at least strong enough to catch Seto's eye.
According to the knowledge that Seto, Shada, and the other Priests had received over the years, the inner Spirits of a person were born from the convergence of malice such as resentment and despair. The more evil the inner thoughts, the more powerful the inner Spirit that could be born. By this reasoning, the more powerful the inner Spirit in one's inner thoughts, the more evil their inner thoughts were, and the more likely they were to commit crimes and do evil compared to ordinary people.
Based on this theory, although the inner Spirits that ordinary people might have wouldn't be very strong, by concentrating the power of these inner Spirits from a large quantity of people and boosting the evil in their hosts' inner thoughts, the power of these inner Spirits would naturally grow stronger. Like the Gu method, this cruelty could ultimately yield inner Spirits with power so strong they could almost surpass gods.
However, Hayato, who came from the modern era, had a different understanding of this. The core of his theory was completely different from the knowledge of Seto and the others.
The essence of what they called "inner Spirits" was what would later be known as "Spirits". Hayato acknowledged that malice could catalyze the birth of Spirits. Although he himself couldn't do it, before, during the Doma arc, both Rafael and Alister had created cards representing their inner darkness under the use of the power of the **Seal of Orichalcos**, which could excavate the darkness in the human heart.
However, Spirits weren't only born through malice. Hayato, as a Duelist, had witnessed the best proof of this more than once: the God Draw/Print Card of Duelists who placed their trust in their Cards and poured all their passion into them.
Hayato himself had even done card printing more than once. For example, the successive alternate forms born from **Gaia**. This was one of the few Decks Hayato didn't exchange from the System; instead, it was awakened (printed) little by little through the bond between him and **Gaia**.
Not to mention **Red Dad**, born from the combination of Yugi and Joey Wheeler 's bond when Hayato dueled them during his time siding with Doma. A Spirit born from malice? Malice couldn't give birth to a Spirit with **Red Dad's** strength. In fact, in front of **Red Dad**, malice could even be negated and blown away.
It was also because of this that Hayato so strongly disagreed with Seto's method of seeking Spirit Power from Innocent People, gathering it, and cultivating powerful inner Spirits. The main reason wasn't actually that he found it inhumane or anything, but rather that he thought it was too low in efficiency, and if the resulting inner Spirit was too strong to control, it would be wasted time and not worth the effort.
As long as Hayato could provide proof that he could achieve the awakening of even one Spirit without malice as a catalyst, Seto could be persuaded and change his mind.
Looking at his empty palm, Hayato's heart stirred as if sensing something, and his expression became slightly strange.
"Um, Seto, Shada?" Wiggling his fingers, Hayato called out to the somewhat disappointed duo, and after getting their attention, he continued, "Although it seems I really didn't excavate a Spirit under the power of the **Millennium Key**, I think I accidentally developed something incredible."
Seto and Shada followed Hayato's movements with their eyes. They saw that Hayato's fingers were indeed moving freely according to his will. However, as those five fingers, along with his palm, moved, they could also see a phantom arm overlapping with the position of Hayato's arm, continuously repeating the action of overlapping and separating as Hayato moved.
No, it wasn't just the arm!
Seeing the phantom human figure that remained in place after Hayato took a step back, Seto and Shada were both dumbfounded, unsure what they were seeing. "Is that... your Soul? Hayato Kobayashi, did you separate your soul from your body?!"
"If my soul has already left my body, then who is the 'me' still in my body?" Hayato ranted internally. His heart stirred slightly, and a Card was taken out from the System Warehouse and landed in his hand.
The Card depicted a soul floating away from a body. Speaking of this Card, it was one of the powerful Cards Hayato had "borrowed" from Bakura during the Duelist Kingdom arc, and it had helped Hayato several times since then. Okay, maybe a dozen times, or at most a few dozen times.
The Card's name was **Psychic Ectoplasm**.
Although it was just a subconscious feeling in his heart, Hayato's intuition told him that the Card whose Spirit had awakened after the Lock of the Heart was opened by the power of the **Millennium Key** seemed to be this very **Psychic Ectoplasm** in his hand!?!
This was too strange! Although there was indeed a saying that "no matter how strong or weak, all Cards have a heart within them, and all have Spirits residing in them," every Duelist Hayato knew who had awakened Card Spirits had, without exception, awakened the Spirit of a Monster Card!
Even Rex's **Dinosaur Egg**, if there were no accidents, should have been a Monster Card. So why, when it came to him, was it a Spell Card like **Psychic Ectoplasm** with a "sunny" effect that awakened a Spirit!?
Subconsciously, Hayato completely forgot something—
Although in the eyes of most who knew, the earliest Card Spirits to appear beside Hayato were **Ojama Yellow**, **Ojama Green**, and **Ojama Black**, the **Ojama Three Brothers**, Yugi, Joey Wheeler , and a few others who knew more remembered very clearly that Hayato's first Card to house a Spirit should actually have been the Trap Card **Ojama Trio**.
"It's not a Soul?"
Examining the phantom that remained in place, looking very similar to Hayato's appearance, Seto reached out and found he couldn't touch the opponent at all. Conversely, under Hayato's deliberate control, the phantom existence could touch him when it raised its hand. This one-sided invincible ability made Seto quite excited.
"What kind of power is this?"
Hayato retrieved the **Psychic Ectoplasm** Card, put on a serious expression, and said solemnly, "It seems under the stimulation of the power of the Outside World, my Stand has finally awakened. That's right, this is my Stand da!"
Completely ignoring Hayato's nonsense, Shada nodded understandingly. "I see, so there's actually this kind of Spirit? A Spirit that can't be touched even when attacked... it's almost like the host is adhering to a double standard, allowing themselves to murder and burn but not allowing others to defy them."
Hearing this, Hayato glared at Shada, but the latter didn't notice at all and continued speaking to himself. "But regardless, a Spirit like this is strong, much stronger than the inner Spirits found in most ordinary people!"
"Hayato Kobayashi's theory is correct. In that case, even without using the power of the **Millennium Key** on the People, we can still obtain great power to protect the Pharaoh and guard the Country!"
People who haven't undergone sufficient training cannot even see the appearance of Spirits. This was one of the important reasons why the Previous Pharaoh and his Priests could command Spirits to protect the Country. Therefore, although Hayato, Shada, and Seto were all astonished by Hayato's Stand—I mean, **Psychic Ectoplasm**—actually, in the eyes of the Soldiers and pedestrians, the Important Figures above were just raving at the air.
However, in the Marketplace, a Traveler seemed to accidentally see the **Psychic Ectoplasm** that others couldn't see, and revealed an interested smile.
At night, in a Stone Tablet Temple near the Royal Palace, Seto encountered Aknadin.
"Seto, what brings you here?" Standing on the Altar in the center of the Temple, Aknadin turned his head, wanting to see who had intruded into the Temple where he had specifically Ordered Soldiers to prevent anyone from entering. But upon realizing the footsteps were Seto's, he felt a sense of relief and asked Seto kindly.
"I couldn't find you in your Bedroom. I thought I might find you here at the Stone Tablet Temple. When I saw the Soldiers guarding the Temple entrance, I knew you must be here, Lord Aknadin."
Seto walked to the Altar, looked up at Aknadin, and said seriously, "You remember that today the Pharaoh Ordered Shada and me to be responsible for the Royal City's security work, right?"
Aknadin put down the work he was doing and turned to face Seto. "Of course, I remember. Seto, the Pharaoh's handling of this matter was not wrong. He had his own considerations. You mustn't harbor resentment towards the Pharaoh because of this."
Aknadin was very familiar with Seto's temper. Fearing he might be angry at the Pharaoh because the Pharaoh didn't support his idea today, he specifically advised him.
Hearing this, Seto nodded calmly. "Please rest assured, Lord Aknadin. I know what the Pharaoh meant; it was merely to ease the conflict between me and that fellow Karim. I stopped caring about that guy a long time ago. What I want to talk about is something else entirely."
Looking at Aknadin, Seto took a deep breath and repeated the words he had spoken to Shada earlier that day.
Upon hearing Seto say that using the power of the **Millennium Key**, one could excavate the hidden Spirit Power from the inner thoughts of the People and utilize it, Aknadin's face suddenly changed color. Looking at the calm Seto, he asked urgently, "Seto, you didn't actually utilize your position today to conduct Spirit Hunting on the People, did you!?"
"That kind of thing is undoubtedly wrong!"
Believing that Seto had gone ahead with the Spirit Hunting without consulting him, after forming such an idea and having the convenience of his position to put the idea into reality, Aknadin appeared very anxious.
"It's not too late to stop now. If you've captured anyone, release them quickly. The power of the **Millennium Items** is a power of justice meant to protect the People; it must never be used to damage Innocent People!" Aknadin advised him earnestly, "Actions that cause you guilt will leave a flaw in your inner thoughts. The fear that arises from it will one day tempt a person to fall into infinite Hell and darkness..."
As he spoke, Aknadin continuously clutched his chest.
Seeing Aknadin's actions, Seto only thought that his existing injuries hadn't fully healed. Hearing that even Aknadin didn't agree with his previous idea, he let out a breath and then said to Aknadin, "No, you're overthinking it, Lord Aknadin. I haven't put this immature idea into action. Actually—"
Turning to Aknadin, Seto began recounting what had happened earlier that day:
"From your perspective, did I just zone out for about five or six seconds?"
He clearly had the certain victory and was about to defeat the guy who wore his face and called himself "Pharaoh". He knew the opponent's identity, but because Seto shook him awake, the duel was suddenly interrupted, making Hayato very annoyed.
He had experienced this mood twice before: once during the Battle City Top 4 free-for-all when he was close to using Present-Underworld OTK on everyone but Noah Kaiba stopped the duel, and even earlier during the Duelist Kingdom when his first duel with Kaiba was interrupted by Keipei's cry for help after being kidnapped.
Thinking about it, Kaiba's presence in all three instances made him even more annoyed. Looking at Seto before him, Hayato thought angrily.
Seto didn't know what Hayato had been thinking just then; he just wanted to know what was going on with Hayato. It wasn't the first time he had seen Shada use the **Millennium Key**, nor was it the first time he had encountered Sinners with particularly powerful inner Spirits, but Hayato's situation was something he had never seen before.
The inner Spirit that should have been revealed with the unsealing of the Lock of the Heart didn't appear. Yet, at the same time, Hayato fell into a dazed, distracted state.
If it weren't for the fact that the power of the **Millennium Key** had indeed activated right beside him just then, even triggering the power of his own **Millennium Rod**, Seto would have started to suspect that Shada had absolutely no self-control, not only losing all his hair but also rendering the **Millennium Key** useless.
"That's pretty much it. Also, the **Millennium Key** unusually didn't reflect the appearance of the Spirit in your inner thoughts." Shada, unaware that his close friend Seto beside him was grumbling internally about his physical condition, looked at the **Millennium Key** in his hand and said, "And it wasn't like the situation with Thief Bakura before."
"If Thief Bakura's inner thoughts were complete darkness, unable to be illuminated by any radiance, then in contrast, the depths of your heart, Hayato Kobayashi, possess a radiance as dazzling as the sun. Even the light of the **Millennium Key** couldn't make it brighter, which is why the result was an inability to awaken the Spirit."
Pausing, Shada seemed amused by his own words. "But thinking about it, that's impossible. How could a mortal body contain a dazzling sun? You must know that even the Pharaoh, who far surpasses us mortals, can only become an existence on par with gods in the Afterlife."
Hearing Shada's conclusion, Seto completely ignored the parts he didn't care about and only focused on the fact that their attempt had yielded no result. "Hmph, so ultimately it was still a failure. Even you, Hayato Kobayashi, who commands Spirits with power close to that of gods, couldn't achieve the awakening of a Spirit with the power we need..."
Although Seto was somewhat stubborn and difficult to advise, he had been somewhat persuaded before because Hayato had already analyzed the feasibility and benefit efficiency of the plan. However, to make him give up the plan of using the **Millennium Key** on the People, one more thing was needed.
That was for Hayato, the one who proposed the different opinion, to actually achieve the awakening of a Spirit as he himself claimed. And the Spirit Power didn't need to be too strong, but at least strong enough to catch Seto's eye.
According to the knowledge that Seto, Shada, and the other Priests had received over the years, the inner Spirits of a person were born from the convergence of malice such as resentment and despair. The more evil the inner thoughts, the more powerful the inner Spirit that could be born. By this reasoning, the more powerful the inner Spirit in one's inner thoughts, the more evil their inner thoughts were, and the more likely they were to commit crimes and do evil compared to ordinary people.
Based on this theory, although the inner Spirits that ordinary people might have wouldn't be very strong, by concentrating the power of these inner Spirits from a large quantity of people and boosting the evil in their hosts' inner thoughts, the power of these inner Spirits would naturally grow stronger. Like the Gu method, this cruelty could ultimately yield inner Spirits with power so strong they could almost surpass gods.
However, Hayato, who came from the modern era, had a different understanding of this. The core of his theory was completely different from the knowledge of Seto and the others.
The essence of what they called "inner Spirits" was what would later be known as "Spirits". Hayato acknowledged that malice could catalyze the birth of Spirits. Although he himself couldn't do it, before, during the Doma arc, both Rafael and Alister had created cards representing their inner darkness under the use of the power of the **Seal of Orichalcos**, which could excavate the darkness in the human heart.
However, Spirits weren't only born through malice. Hayato, as a Duelist, had witnessed the best proof of this more than once: the God Draw/Print Card of Duelists who placed their trust in their Cards and poured all their passion into them.
Hayato himself had even done card printing more than once. For example, the successive alternate forms born from **Gaia**. This was one of the few Decks Hayato didn't exchange from the System; instead, it was awakened (printed) little by little through the bond between him and **Gaia**.
Not to mention **Red Dad**, born from the combination of Yugi and Joey Wheeler 's bond when Hayato dueled them during his time siding with Doma. A Spirit born from malice? Malice couldn't give birth to a Spirit with **Red Dad's** strength. In fact, in front of **Red Dad**, malice could even be negated and blown away.
It was also because of this that Hayato so strongly disagreed with Seto's method of seeking Spirit Power from Innocent People, gathering it, and cultivating powerful inner Spirits. The main reason wasn't actually that he found it inhumane or anything, but rather that he thought it was too low in efficiency, and if the resulting inner Spirit was too strong to control, it would be wasted time and not worth the effort.
As long as Hayato could provide proof that he could achieve the awakening of even one Spirit without malice as a catalyst, Seto could be persuaded and change his mind.
Looking at his empty palm, Hayato's heart stirred as if sensing something, and his expression became slightly strange.
"Um, Seto, Shada?" Wiggling his fingers, Hayato called out to the somewhat disappointed duo, and after getting their attention, he continued, "Although it seems I really didn't excavate a Spirit under the power of the **Millennium Key**, I think I accidentally developed something incredible."
Seto and Shada followed Hayato's movements with their eyes. They saw that Hayato's fingers were indeed moving freely according to his will. However, as those five fingers, along with his palm, moved, they could also see a phantom arm overlapping with the position of Hayato's arm, continuously repeating the action of overlapping and separating as Hayato moved.
No, it wasn't just the arm!
Seeing the phantom human figure that remained in place after Hayato took a step back, Seto and Shada were both dumbfounded, unsure what they were seeing. "Is that... your Soul? Hayato Kobayashi, did you separate your soul from your body?!"
"If my soul has already left my body, then who is the 'me' still in my body?" Hayato ranted internally. His heart stirred slightly, and a Card was taken out from the System Warehouse and landed in his hand.
The Card depicted a soul floating away from a body. Speaking of this Card, it was one of the powerful Cards Hayato had "borrowed" from Bakura during the Duelist Kingdom arc, and it had helped Hayato several times since then. Okay, maybe a dozen times, or at most a few dozen times.
The Card's name was **Psychic Ectoplasm**.
Although it was just a subconscious feeling in his heart, Hayato's intuition told him that the Card whose Spirit had awakened after the Lock of the Heart was opened by the power of the **Millennium Key** seemed to be this very **Psychic Ectoplasm** in his hand!?!
This was too strange! Although there was indeed a saying that "no matter how strong or weak, all Cards have a heart within them, and all have Spirits residing in them," every Duelist Hayato knew who had awakened Card Spirits had, without exception, awakened the Spirit of a Monster Card!
Even Rex's **Dinosaur Egg**, if there were no accidents, should have been a Monster Card. So why, when it came to him, was it a Spell Card like **Psychic Ectoplasm** with a "sunny" effect that awakened a Spirit!?
Subconsciously, Hayato completely forgot something—
Although in the eyes of most who knew, the earliest Card Spirits to appear beside Hayato were **Ojama Yellow**, **Ojama Green**, and **Ojama Black**, the **Ojama Three Brothers**, Yugi, Joey Wheeler , and a few others who knew more remembered very clearly that Hayato's first Card to house a Spirit should actually have been the Trap Card **Ojama Trio**.
"It's not a Soul?"
Examining the phantom that remained in place, looking very similar to Hayato's appearance, Seto reached out and found he couldn't touch the opponent at all. Conversely, under Hayato's deliberate control, the phantom existence could touch him when it raised its hand. This one-sided invincible ability made Seto quite excited.
"What kind of power is this?"
Hayato retrieved the **Psychic Ectoplasm** Card, put on a serious expression, and said solemnly, "It seems under the stimulation of the power of the Outside World, my Stand has finally awakened. That's right, this is my Stand da!"
Completely ignoring Hayato's nonsense, Shada nodded understandingly. "I see, so there's actually this kind of Spirit? A Spirit that can't be touched even when attacked... it's almost like the host is adhering to a double standard, allowing themselves to murder and burn but not allowing others to defy them."
Hearing this, Hayato glared at Shada, but the latter didn't notice at all and continued speaking to himself. "But regardless, a Spirit like this is strong, much stronger than the inner Spirits found in most ordinary people!"
"Hayato Kobayashi's theory is correct. In that case, even without using the power of the **Millennium Key** on the People, we can still obtain great power to protect the Pharaoh and guard the Country!"
People who haven't undergone sufficient training cannot even see the appearance of Spirits. This was one of the important reasons why the Previous Pharaoh and his Priests could command Spirits to protect the Country. Therefore, although Hayato, Shada, and Seto were all astonished by Hayato's Stand—I mean, **Psychic Ectoplasm**—actually, in the eyes of the Soldiers and pedestrians, the Important Figures above were just raving at the air.
However, in the Marketplace, a Traveler seemed to accidentally see the **Psychic Ectoplasm** that others couldn't see, and revealed an interested smile.
