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**Chapter 837: Aren't Fools People? Do They Deserve to Be Teased?**
Holding the Millennium Key, Funny Valentine felt his spirit undergo an endless ascension, and power surged forth with it. Even his originally bloated figure slimmed down in a very short time.
"Oh no, this is terrible! The Millennium Key was actually snatched away just like that, something bad is going to happen!" Seeing such a change appear on Funny Valentine after he obtained the Millennium Key, Hayato couldn't help but say, his tone very surprised. However, the expression on his face quite contradicted his words, looking completely calm, making his words sound extremely artificial.
Anyone who had enough contact with Hayato and had some understanding of his personality could tell that Hayato was clearly being sarcastic towards Funny Valentine. The Millennium Key being snatched by him was completely within the plan. However, there was one person who took Hayato's words seriously.
"Huh!? Is something terrible going to happen?!" Bakura said with an anxious expression, "Hayato, quickly use your invincible brains to think of a way!"
"It's too late, Bakura. Why don't you stay behind and die to stall for us? It's better for one person to die than for all of us to be finished."
"N-no way! What kind of sense does it make for you, Hayato, to tell me to die as soon as we start?"
Listening to the conversation between Hayato and Bakura, Marik pursed his lips somewhat helplessly: "Brother-in-law, even I can't stand watching this anymore. Why are you teasing the fool? He's already foolish, and you're still teasing him."
Seeing that Marik also seemed to be like Hayato, not at all worried about what Funny Valentine, who had completely changed image after getting the Millennium Key, would do to everyone—as if he had gone to a Parallel World and swapped with someone else—Honda scratched his head, feeling somewhat confused, despite feeling a sense of peace.
"Even I, who have no supernatural power, can see that guy named Valentine has obtained great power from the Millennium Key. Is it really okay to just leave him alone like this?"
Hearing Tristan's words, Marik also smiled and said carelessly: "Heh heh, you've asked the right person about this, Tristan. No one understands the Millennium Items better than I do. Although their abilities vary and only have slight overlaps in certain domains, when it comes to the Millennium Items, there's a common characteristic."
"The Millennium Items will choose qualified Users. Those with insufficient talent cannot obtain a response from the Millennium Items at all. Those with limited talent can hardly reach the lower limit of the Millennium Items even by exhausting their life."
Reminded by Marik like this, Joey Wheeler also remembered the concept they had heard about in the World of Memories: "Those who are not qualified just by touching the Millennium Items will suffer the backlash of the power on them and have their souls scattered!?"
"But that Funny Valentine doesn't look like he's about to have his soul scattered at all, does he? It's more like he's completely lost his mind." Looking at Funny Valentine, who was intoxicated by the power of the Millennium Key, with the golden "Eye of Wjat/Udjat" on his forehead becoming increasingly brighter, Téa commented.
"Speaking of which, I seem to have had such an out-of-control appearance before. Once was in Egypt back then when Mr. Shadi forcibly granted me the Millennium Eye, and another was during the Duelist Kingdom when I must have absorbed too much Dark Power, causing the Millennium Eye to go berserk and lose control. Also, this is the first time I've heard of such a concept. Was Mr. Shadi actually trying to kill me back then?"
Looking at Funny Valentine's appearance, Pegasus couldn't help but recall bad memories. And knowing for the first time that "those who are not qualified will die if they touch the Millennium Items" made it difficult for him to remain calm. He couldn't help but feel a little lucky that he didn't die on the spot back then.
However, although Pegasus usually acted like a playful child, he was an adult after all and was quite quick to accept Reality. Looking at Funny Valentine, he said to Téa: "However, don't mind those external illusions, Miss Téa. The more power seems to inflate, sometimes it precisely means the foam is about to burst."
Listening to the others talking without any reservations about him, Funny Valentine didn't care at all what they were saying. He clenched his fist, feeling the great power within it.
"Unparalleled exhilaration, I'm even about to sing a song excitedly." As he spoke, Funny Valentine stared directly at Hayato and said, "Just now you said I was next? Snatching away your Millennium Key is the so-called 'move' in the battle, and also the defeat of the person who is 'one move short', right?"
"Hayato Kobayashi, this passage describes you, not me. It seems you are one move short! The next person to suffer should be you, because just now you actually dared to kick a God!"
"A God? A crazy guy, his brains have been clouded by power, arrogantly calling himself a 'God'?" Hayato looked at Funny Valentine and said contemptuously, "And instead of using the power you got to escape with the fallen Axel O'Brien, you're approaching me?"
"That lowly beggar? Why would I take that trash and escape? There's no need for that!" Funny Valentine also felt he had a certain victory and said proudly, "You think that as the Employer, I could have stayed out of it and waited for him to bring the required things and hand them into my hand, but I deliberately came here to put myself in danger?"
"From the very beginning, I had no plan of making a 'deal' or negotiating equally with that lowly beggar, but was thinking of taking the opportunity to kill him here!"
As he spoke, Funny Valentine actually pulled out a handgun from his clothes. As a person from the American system, it was a very reasonable thing for him to carry a gun at all times.
Staring intently at Hayato, Funny Valentine's eyes were full of the fire of desire: "I can feel it, not just the Millennium Key. On your body, and on the body of that starfish head kid Mutou Yuugi, there are sources of other, greater power. They are the same type as the Millennium Key, the so-called Millennium Items, right!"
"I will snatch those things and make them mine. This way, eternal happiness will surround me, rejecting all misfortune!"
Thinking of it, he acted. Funny Valentine lifted up his hand and was about to point at Hayato. But as he lifted up his hand, he saw on the arm holding the Millennium Key, a change appeared starting from his palm.
His previously fat arm had become toned and strong because the power of the Millennium Key changed his heart, further promoting his body to become fit and powerful. But now, on that arm which was well-proportioned and not excessively bulky, a strange spiral distortion appeared at a speed visible to the naked eye. The skin in the part where the distortion passed was rapidly aging!
If that were all, it would be fine. As the spiral distortion passed, Funny Valentine could feel that the affected area was beneath the aging surface. Bones, blood vessels, nerves, blood, cells, etc. Everything in his body seemed to start rotating. Under the distortion, his body began to fall apart!
"W-what is happening?! Why is my body starting to spiral?!"
Looking at Funny Valentine shouting in panic, Hayato said calmly: "Did you forget what I just said? Or are you so foolish that you wouldn't realize it unless I pointed it out directly? I did say it, didn't I? The Millennium Key has the ability to manipulate people's hearts by connecting them like a puzzle."
"The body will change with the mind's understanding. Your body slimmed down under the power of the Millennium Key. Naturally, the same principle can be used to make your body collapse."
Funny Valentine glared ferociously at Hayato: "You bastard, did you tamper with the Millennium Key? You actually easily committed such a despicable act. Was even my act of snatching the Millennium Key within your calculations?!"
"I won't let you get away with this, Hayato Kobayashi!" As the composition of his body spiraled, Funny Valentine's body largely aged and disintegrated, falling onto the Ground and melting downwards. He unwillingly roared at Hayato, "I will absolutely not let you get away with this, Onore—"
Even his last curse couldn't be fully spoken. Funny Valentine completely disappeared from the World because he attempted to meddle with the power of the Millennium Key. And the Millennium Key that had just killed him also fell onto the Ground because there was no hand holding it, making a "clink" sound.
Hayato didn't care how dangerous the Millennium Key was, which could easily murder and take life. He bent down and picked it up from the Ground and checked if it was scratched, had paint chipping, or was deformed.
"Although the result is like this before us, I clearly only planned at first to make this guy roll around like a circus clown for a day as a penalty." Putting away the Millennium Key, Hayato also said helplessly, "Blame it on your own name then. It made me subconsciously think of an ending that matched that name, and also that greedy heart of yours that couldn't see your own ability."
Although Hayato said this, Marik behind him didn't quite believe Hayato's words and said with a chuckle: "Although you say that, Brother-in-law, I don't believe you didn't notice his movement. You could have even directly used the power of the Millennium Key, but you insisted on reaching out your hand to let the Millennium Key approach."
"There's no such thing. I, Hayato Kobayashi, have always been upright and honest and never do such sinister things to scheme against others." Even though Marik had already said this, Hayato still had a calm expression: "I really didn't react to his movement."
"Is that so? You were so fast when you controlled that Mercenary's movement with the Millennium Rod before. What you're saying has very low credibility, Brother-in-law."
And seeing Funny Valentine erased from this World just like that, without even a last trace, Yugi, who had already switched back into his own body when Hayato's Duel ended, felt some emotion, though not much.
It wasn't that he was cold-blooded. Just as Hayato said, Funny Valentine was the one who took action against them first and had stepped onto the path of death. If he hadn't gone to snatch the Millennium Key because of greed, he wouldn't have died at all. If anyone was to blame, it could only truly be his greedy heart.
Also, Funny Valentine's performance was truly not qualified in Yugi's eyes. First, he refused the Duel and instead let Axel O'Brien Duel in his place. After Exodia showed eye-catching excellent will as a Duelist, he then subjected the Exodia who lost the Duel to extreme taunt. And finally, after getting the Millennium Key, he completely inflated and arrogantly called himself a God, he was just short of saying lines like "Hayato Kobayashi, I have ascended to godhood".
Even Yugi, whose personality was already very gentle, somewhat looked down on Funny Valentine. As for Atem within the Millennium Puzzle, there was even less to say. Having found his Lost Name and recovered all his memories, although his personality wouldn't change drastically, his way of thinking was somewhat influenced by the memories of those ten-plus years three thousand years ago. For a person like Funny Valentine, he completely didn't think Hayato's handling was wrong in any way.
There was only one thing that made Atem and Yugi somewhat concerned—
Lifting up the Millennium Puzzle on his chest, the golden inverted pyramid and the silver-white chain swayed together before Yugi's eyes. He couldn't help but mutter to himself: "Is Funny Valentine truly too greedy, or is the power of the Millennium Items too easy to make people's desire rise?"
This question, even Atem in the Millennium Puzzle couldn't give Yugi a suitable answer.
Power itself doesn't inherently have good or bad. Only the stance of the person using the power can determine where the power can be used. The power of the Millennium Items is like this. Three Thousand Years Ago, the Millennium Items could help Atem's country pacify the surroundings and bring peace, but it was also the Millennium Items that caused High Priest Akhenaden to stir up a greatly harmful rebellion.
In the present, the power of the Millennium Items helped Yugi achieve his wish — obtain friends, and also assisted them along the way to defeat many strengths, and also defeated Dartz, who intended to destroy all humans and create a New World, saving the World. But at the same time, as described in Ishizu's prophecy back then, the three "Dark" Millennium Items - the Millennium Eye, the Millennium Rod, and the Millennium Ring - also once stood against them, bringing considerable threat.
Oh, the Millennium Ring doesn't count. The time Hayato ran off to Doma doesn't count. How can you say the Duel King's matters were a betrayal? If you ask, the fact of joining Doma has already been Negated by Herald of Perfection.
Yugi didn't expect to get an answer from others, he was truly just talking to himself, but unexpectedly, a male voice sounded, answering his words:
"Both are true. Humans are not perfect, they have excessively strong desire. At the same time, it's an undeniable fact that the Millennium Items have an irresistible temptation for humans. Vessel of the Pharaoh."
Looking towards the sound, a man wearing a white Egyptian-style long robe, with white fabric wrapped around his head, slowly walked out from around the corner not far away, as if he had been waiting for a long time. And in his hand, he was holding a golden scale before his chest.
Shadi looked directly at Yugi with unfocused eyes and said calmly: "Therefore, I have come to assist you in sealing the Millennium Items forever, as long as the Pharaoh returns to the Underworld."
The purpose of this Minor Character Funny Valentine was to introduce Shadi. Once useless, he's naturally discontinued here. This method of leaving the field was thought out long ago, that's why he's called Funny Valentine.
It was for this plate of vinegar that I wrapped this plate of dumplings.
(End of Chapter)
Holding the Millennium Key, Funny Valentine felt his spirit undergo an endless ascension, and power surged forth with it. Even his originally bloated figure slimmed down in a very short time.
"Oh no, this is terrible! The Millennium Key was actually snatched away just like that, something bad is going to happen!" Seeing such a change appear on Funny Valentine after he obtained the Millennium Key, Hayato couldn't help but say, his tone very surprised. However, the expression on his face quite contradicted his words, looking completely calm, making his words sound extremely artificial.
Anyone who had enough contact with Hayato and had some understanding of his personality could tell that Hayato was clearly being sarcastic towards Funny Valentine. The Millennium Key being snatched by him was completely within the plan. However, there was one person who took Hayato's words seriously.
"Huh!? Is something terrible going to happen?!" Bakura said with an anxious expression, "Hayato, quickly use your invincible brains to think of a way!"
"It's too late, Bakura. Why don't you stay behind and die to stall for us? It's better for one person to die than for all of us to be finished."
"N-no way! What kind of sense does it make for you, Hayato, to tell me to die as soon as we start?"
Listening to the conversation between Hayato and Bakura, Marik pursed his lips somewhat helplessly: "Brother-in-law, even I can't stand watching this anymore. Why are you teasing the fool? He's already foolish, and you're still teasing him."
Seeing that Marik also seemed to be like Hayato, not at all worried about what Funny Valentine, who had completely changed image after getting the Millennium Key, would do to everyone—as if he had gone to a Parallel World and swapped with someone else—Honda scratched his head, feeling somewhat confused, despite feeling a sense of peace.
"Even I, who have no supernatural power, can see that guy named Valentine has obtained great power from the Millennium Key. Is it really okay to just leave him alone like this?"
Hearing Tristan's words, Marik also smiled and said carelessly: "Heh heh, you've asked the right person about this, Tristan. No one understands the Millennium Items better than I do. Although their abilities vary and only have slight overlaps in certain domains, when it comes to the Millennium Items, there's a common characteristic."
"The Millennium Items will choose qualified Users. Those with insufficient talent cannot obtain a response from the Millennium Items at all. Those with limited talent can hardly reach the lower limit of the Millennium Items even by exhausting their life."
Reminded by Marik like this, Joey Wheeler also remembered the concept they had heard about in the World of Memories: "Those who are not qualified just by touching the Millennium Items will suffer the backlash of the power on them and have their souls scattered!?"
"But that Funny Valentine doesn't look like he's about to have his soul scattered at all, does he? It's more like he's completely lost his mind." Looking at Funny Valentine, who was intoxicated by the power of the Millennium Key, with the golden "Eye of Wjat/Udjat" on his forehead becoming increasingly brighter, Téa commented.
"Speaking of which, I seem to have had such an out-of-control appearance before. Once was in Egypt back then when Mr. Shadi forcibly granted me the Millennium Eye, and another was during the Duelist Kingdom when I must have absorbed too much Dark Power, causing the Millennium Eye to go berserk and lose control. Also, this is the first time I've heard of such a concept. Was Mr. Shadi actually trying to kill me back then?"
Looking at Funny Valentine's appearance, Pegasus couldn't help but recall bad memories. And knowing for the first time that "those who are not qualified will die if they touch the Millennium Items" made it difficult for him to remain calm. He couldn't help but feel a little lucky that he didn't die on the spot back then.
However, although Pegasus usually acted like a playful child, he was an adult after all and was quite quick to accept Reality. Looking at Funny Valentine, he said to Téa: "However, don't mind those external illusions, Miss Téa. The more power seems to inflate, sometimes it precisely means the foam is about to burst."
Listening to the others talking without any reservations about him, Funny Valentine didn't care at all what they were saying. He clenched his fist, feeling the great power within it.
"Unparalleled exhilaration, I'm even about to sing a song excitedly." As he spoke, Funny Valentine stared directly at Hayato and said, "Just now you said I was next? Snatching away your Millennium Key is the so-called 'move' in the battle, and also the defeat of the person who is 'one move short', right?"
"Hayato Kobayashi, this passage describes you, not me. It seems you are one move short! The next person to suffer should be you, because just now you actually dared to kick a God!"
"A God? A crazy guy, his brains have been clouded by power, arrogantly calling himself a 'God'?" Hayato looked at Funny Valentine and said contemptuously, "And instead of using the power you got to escape with the fallen Axel O'Brien, you're approaching me?"
"That lowly beggar? Why would I take that trash and escape? There's no need for that!" Funny Valentine also felt he had a certain victory and said proudly, "You think that as the Employer, I could have stayed out of it and waited for him to bring the required things and hand them into my hand, but I deliberately came here to put myself in danger?"
"From the very beginning, I had no plan of making a 'deal' or negotiating equally with that lowly beggar, but was thinking of taking the opportunity to kill him here!"
As he spoke, Funny Valentine actually pulled out a handgun from his clothes. As a person from the American system, it was a very reasonable thing for him to carry a gun at all times.
Staring intently at Hayato, Funny Valentine's eyes were full of the fire of desire: "I can feel it, not just the Millennium Key. On your body, and on the body of that starfish head kid Mutou Yuugi, there are sources of other, greater power. They are the same type as the Millennium Key, the so-called Millennium Items, right!"
"I will snatch those things and make them mine. This way, eternal happiness will surround me, rejecting all misfortune!"
Thinking of it, he acted. Funny Valentine lifted up his hand and was about to point at Hayato. But as he lifted up his hand, he saw on the arm holding the Millennium Key, a change appeared starting from his palm.
His previously fat arm had become toned and strong because the power of the Millennium Key changed his heart, further promoting his body to become fit and powerful. But now, on that arm which was well-proportioned and not excessively bulky, a strange spiral distortion appeared at a speed visible to the naked eye. The skin in the part where the distortion passed was rapidly aging!
If that were all, it would be fine. As the spiral distortion passed, Funny Valentine could feel that the affected area was beneath the aging surface. Bones, blood vessels, nerves, blood, cells, etc. Everything in his body seemed to start rotating. Under the distortion, his body began to fall apart!
"W-what is happening?! Why is my body starting to spiral?!"
Looking at Funny Valentine shouting in panic, Hayato said calmly: "Did you forget what I just said? Or are you so foolish that you wouldn't realize it unless I pointed it out directly? I did say it, didn't I? The Millennium Key has the ability to manipulate people's hearts by connecting them like a puzzle."
"The body will change with the mind's understanding. Your body slimmed down under the power of the Millennium Key. Naturally, the same principle can be used to make your body collapse."
Funny Valentine glared ferociously at Hayato: "You bastard, did you tamper with the Millennium Key? You actually easily committed such a despicable act. Was even my act of snatching the Millennium Key within your calculations?!"
"I won't let you get away with this, Hayato Kobayashi!" As the composition of his body spiraled, Funny Valentine's body largely aged and disintegrated, falling onto the Ground and melting downwards. He unwillingly roared at Hayato, "I will absolutely not let you get away with this, Onore—"
Even his last curse couldn't be fully spoken. Funny Valentine completely disappeared from the World because he attempted to meddle with the power of the Millennium Key. And the Millennium Key that had just killed him also fell onto the Ground because there was no hand holding it, making a "clink" sound.
Hayato didn't care how dangerous the Millennium Key was, which could easily murder and take life. He bent down and picked it up from the Ground and checked if it was scratched, had paint chipping, or was deformed.
"Although the result is like this before us, I clearly only planned at first to make this guy roll around like a circus clown for a day as a penalty." Putting away the Millennium Key, Hayato also said helplessly, "Blame it on your own name then. It made me subconsciously think of an ending that matched that name, and also that greedy heart of yours that couldn't see your own ability."
Although Hayato said this, Marik behind him didn't quite believe Hayato's words and said with a chuckle: "Although you say that, Brother-in-law, I don't believe you didn't notice his movement. You could have even directly used the power of the Millennium Key, but you insisted on reaching out your hand to let the Millennium Key approach."
"There's no such thing. I, Hayato Kobayashi, have always been upright and honest and never do such sinister things to scheme against others." Even though Marik had already said this, Hayato still had a calm expression: "I really didn't react to his movement."
"Is that so? You were so fast when you controlled that Mercenary's movement with the Millennium Rod before. What you're saying has very low credibility, Brother-in-law."
And seeing Funny Valentine erased from this World just like that, without even a last trace, Yugi, who had already switched back into his own body when Hayato's Duel ended, felt some emotion, though not much.
It wasn't that he was cold-blooded. Just as Hayato said, Funny Valentine was the one who took action against them first and had stepped onto the path of death. If he hadn't gone to snatch the Millennium Key because of greed, he wouldn't have died at all. If anyone was to blame, it could only truly be his greedy heart.
Also, Funny Valentine's performance was truly not qualified in Yugi's eyes. First, he refused the Duel and instead let Axel O'Brien Duel in his place. After Exodia showed eye-catching excellent will as a Duelist, he then subjected the Exodia who lost the Duel to extreme taunt. And finally, after getting the Millennium Key, he completely inflated and arrogantly called himself a God, he was just short of saying lines like "Hayato Kobayashi, I have ascended to godhood".
Even Yugi, whose personality was already very gentle, somewhat looked down on Funny Valentine. As for Atem within the Millennium Puzzle, there was even less to say. Having found his Lost Name and recovered all his memories, although his personality wouldn't change drastically, his way of thinking was somewhat influenced by the memories of those ten-plus years three thousand years ago. For a person like Funny Valentine, he completely didn't think Hayato's handling was wrong in any way.
There was only one thing that made Atem and Yugi somewhat concerned—
Lifting up the Millennium Puzzle on his chest, the golden inverted pyramid and the silver-white chain swayed together before Yugi's eyes. He couldn't help but mutter to himself: "Is Funny Valentine truly too greedy, or is the power of the Millennium Items too easy to make people's desire rise?"
This question, even Atem in the Millennium Puzzle couldn't give Yugi a suitable answer.
Power itself doesn't inherently have good or bad. Only the stance of the person using the power can determine where the power can be used. The power of the Millennium Items is like this. Three Thousand Years Ago, the Millennium Items could help Atem's country pacify the surroundings and bring peace, but it was also the Millennium Items that caused High Priest Akhenaden to stir up a greatly harmful rebellion.
In the present, the power of the Millennium Items helped Yugi achieve his wish — obtain friends, and also assisted them along the way to defeat many strengths, and also defeated Dartz, who intended to destroy all humans and create a New World, saving the World. But at the same time, as described in Ishizu's prophecy back then, the three "Dark" Millennium Items - the Millennium Eye, the Millennium Rod, and the Millennium Ring - also once stood against them, bringing considerable threat.
Oh, the Millennium Ring doesn't count. The time Hayato ran off to Doma doesn't count. How can you say the Duel King's matters were a betrayal? If you ask, the fact of joining Doma has already been Negated by Herald of Perfection.
Yugi didn't expect to get an answer from others, he was truly just talking to himself, but unexpectedly, a male voice sounded, answering his words:
"Both are true. Humans are not perfect, they have excessively strong desire. At the same time, it's an undeniable fact that the Millennium Items have an irresistible temptation for humans. Vessel of the Pharaoh."
Looking towards the sound, a man wearing a white Egyptian-style long robe, with white fabric wrapped around his head, slowly walked out from around the corner not far away, as if he had been waiting for a long time. And in his hand, he was holding a golden scale before his chest.
Shadi looked directly at Yugi with unfocused eyes and said calmly: "Therefore, I have come to assist you in sealing the Millennium Items forever, as long as the Pharaoh returns to the Underworld."
The purpose of this Minor Character Funny Valentine was to introduce Shadi. Once useless, he's naturally discontinued here. This method of leaving the field was thought out long ago, that's why he's called Funny Valentine.
It was for this plate of vinegar that I wrapped this plate of dumplings.
(End of Chapter)
