Chapter 220: Hayato Returns to His Old Ways
Because Marik's control temporarily vanished, this Shadow Game was forced to stop. However, Hayato's initial objective in deploying his field had already been achieved.
Looking at the figures lying on the ground, Hayato squatted down and patted Bandit Keith's face. They were completely unconscious; if left unattended, they probably wouldn't wake up until dawn tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Kaiba and Yugi put away their Duel Disks and walked towards Hayato.
"Hmph, they lost consciousness because the prototype Duel Disk's Impact Simulation System went out of control?" Kaiba merely glanced at the black-robed figures and drew his own conclusion. "Daring to steal KaibaCorp's property? They deserve it!"
"Yes, yes, exactly as Kaiba said." Hayato knew Kaiba's temperament and didn't force himself to correct his thoughts. But the fact that Kaiba so easily came up with such a possibility made him wonder, had the Duel Disk really had such issues before?
Thinking of this, Hayato stuffed the Decks he had taken from the unconscious figures into his pocket, then prepared to remove the Duel Disk he wore on his wrist.
"Hey, Ishizu, how should we handle these guys?" First ambushed, and then during the Duel, just as he was about to turn the tide, the Match was interrupted. Kaiba's mood was terrible, and he said to Ishizu impatiently.
Ishizu glanced at the four fallen figures: "They are all puppets controlled by Marik. To prevent them from being controlled by Marik again, I suggest sending them to the police station for detention."
"Hmph, as it should be." Kaiba acted as if he had already thought of a solution.
After making a phone call and waiting for the police to arrive, Hayato took the opportunity to ask Ishizu: "Ishizu—"
"No need for formalities, Hayato-kun, just call me Ishizu." Ishizu said with a smile.
"Alright, Ishizu." Hayato glanced at Kaiba, who was deep in thought, holding the Obelisk the Tormentor card, and Yugi, who was staring blankly at the stone tablet. "First, I must apologize to you. The reason your prophecies failed was actually because of me."
Saying this, Hayato held up the Millennium Ring on his chest: "This Millennium Ring has the ability to interfere with other Millennium Items. I think the reason why the future you foresaw went wrong might be because my Millennium Ring was interfering with your power."
"The Dark Millennium Items, the Millennium Ring…" Ishizu looked at the Millennium Ring, but then spoke to Hayato about something else, "Hayato-kun, do you know? Among the Tomb Keepers to whom I belong, there is a prophecy that dates back three thousand years."
"A certain Pharaoh from three thousand years ago will reappear three thousand years later, but will have lost his name and memory. The Nameless Pharaoh will, along with the Millennium Puzzle symbolizing royal authority, successively defeat three users of Dark Millennium Items, and finally return to the Underworld."
"I know this, the Millennium Eye, the Millennium Rod, and the Millennium Ring, right? Actually, I snatched this thing from someone else—I mean, I won it in a Duel, and the other party agreed." Hayato didn't blush at all. "The so-called Nameless Pharaoh refers to the other Yugi, right?"
"Yes, the Pharaoh will defeat powerful enemies one after another in the Ritual of the Duel, regaining his power and memory, and the Egyptian God Cards are one of the key keys to regaining the Pharaoh's memory." Ishizu said, looking at Yugi, whose attention had been drawn back by their conversation. "And the mission of the Tomb Keepers is to assist the Pharaoh in regaining his memory in the present, three thousand years later."
"But before that, Yugi needs to retrieve the Egyptian God Cards first." Hayato looked at Kaiba, lowered his voice, and leaned his head close to Ishizu's ear, asking somewhat strangely, "But Ishizu, you said you want to help Yugi regain his memory, so why did you give Obelisk the Tormentor to Kaiba?"
"I can hear you, Hayato." Kaiba glared at Hayato. Seeing him raise his hands in surrender, he snorted coldly, then lowered his gaze back to the Obelisk the Tormentor card in his Hand. On the card Obelisk the Tormentor, although it was marked as Level 10, Divine-Beast Type, and Divine Attribute, the Effect section was filled with strange Ancient Egyptian characters.
Kaiba could swear by Blue-Eyes that he had never studied Ancient Egyptian characters; after all, his profession wasn't archaeology, and he had no interest in things of the past. Yet, somehow, he always felt he could read the words and understand their meaning.
Having held the card for only a short while, Kaiba had already managed to decipher the first few lines, whose general meaning was that three Monsters were required as Tribute to Summon the God, and that Trap Cards and Monster Effects of Level 10 or below were Negated against the God, and Spell Cards were only effective for one turn.
As for more details, Kaiba would have to return to KaibaCorp for careful research.
'Once I fully understand the power of Obelisk the Tormentor, that will be the time for me to launch my revenge battle against you, Yugi!'
Ishizu found Hayato's playful gesture of surrendering to Kaiba rather amusing, and she smiled as she answered Hayato's question: "Although the Egyptian God Cards serve as keys, the divinity residing within them is truly real. Only by using the Ritual of the Duel—that is, through the battle style of Duel Monsters—to subdue the Gods can the Egyptian God Cards be used to unlock the Pharaoh's memory."
"Just like Exodia?" Yugi also recalled what his grandfather had said, "Although Exodia possesses the powerful Effect of directly winning the Duel if all its pieces are drawn into the Hand, they must be drawn one by one from the Deck. Without undergoing this Ritual, even gathering all the Exodia pieces at the very start of the Duel would be useless."
"Yes, exactly. Most of this prophecy has now come true, including the emergence of Duel Monsters, the creation of the Egyptian God Cards, and up until the defeat of the Millennium Eye user." Ishizu paused, her hand resting on the Millennium Necklace, "However, my younger brother, Marik Ishtar, the leader of the Rare Hunters, does not wish to follow our ancestral teachings."
"Therefore, he stole two of the Egyptian God Cards and took one of the Dark Millennium Items, the Millennium Rod, passed down through our ancestors, and founded the Rare Hunters organization. And this, too, is still aligned with the prophecy."
"So that 'three-year-old' doesn't want to follow the prophecy, but made a decision that goes against ancestral teachings based on his own ideas? I wonder if he even considered it for two months." Hayato complained, "Anyway, everything he did, after all the twists and turns, ended up aligning with the prophecy again, right?"
"Whatever, as long as one thing is clear now, right, Yugi?"
"Ah, find Marik, then defeat him and claim the other two God cards." Yami Yugi, who had switched out again, said with determined eyes. After finishing his sentence, his gaze met Kaiba's, who had turned his head to them at some point.
Kaiba placed the Obelisk the Tormentor card into his briefcase and said coldly, "I won't waste my brain cells trying to understand your nonsense. However, if you want to take my Obelisk the Tormentor, then prepare suitable collateral, Yugi!"
Judging by that attitude, one might not have known that Yugi was the one who lost in their Duel.
His plan was also quite good. What could Yugi prepare as suitable collateral for Obelisk the Tormentor other than the other two God cards?
After agreeing to a future Duel, Kaiba turned and walked out of the exhibition hall. Hayato quickly called out, "Hey, Seto, you haven't taken your Duel Disk yet."
"I haven't stooped to the level of needing to take things others have used." Kaiba said without looking back. Hayato had a feeling this guy was hinting at something. "Consider it my repayment for the favor I owed last time. These things are enough to settle the debt."
"Let your hearts pound for the upcoming grand event, Hayato, Yugi!"
Kaiba's back disappeared from the exhibition hall, but his parting words left Yugi somewhat puzzled. He asked Ishizu: "Miss Ishizu, do you know what Kaiba meant?"
"Yes, that was a transaction between Kaiba and me, and it was one of the reasons he was willing to come here." Ishizu nodded. "The Rare Hunters organization is an international card theft organization. In order to lure out its leader, Marik, and to catch all the Rare Hunters in one fell swoop, KaibaCorp will host a super-large Duel Monsters tournament next month."
"Although it hasn't been officially announced, many people have already heard rumors about it and are rushing towards Domino City. The provisional code name for that match is 'Battle City'."
"I think Kaiba should pay Pegasus some royalties." Hayato patted the Duel Disk on his hand. "Combined with this gadget, isn't the so-called 'Battle City' quite easy to understand?"
"Just like 'Duelist Kingdom', the entire island will become the battle stage for Duel Monsters. With the Duel Disks allowing Duels anytime, the entire city transforms into a battlefield. Then Kaiba might also come up with some qualification tokens, just like Pegasus did with the Star Chips in Duelist Kingdom, and have the Top 8 Duelists compete for the champion in a place similar to Duelist Castle."
Hayato spoke with such excessive detail that Yugi even suspected Hayato already knew some inside information.
"But don't think too much for now. No matter what kind of match it is, just keep winning, right?" Hayato smiled and patted Yugi's shoulder, then began to wander around the exhibition hall. He coincidentally walked to the mummy he had been curious about earlier.
It seemed that the exhibition hall had not been built long ago; although most of the exhibits were already displayed, the corresponding textual descriptions were not yet fully prepared, and the mummy in front of Hayato was one of them. However, even without a text description, Hayato had Ishizu as his "guide."
"Hayato-kun, you seem quite interested in this mummy? I noticed you kept looking over here earlier." Ishizu asked, walking up to Hayato.
Hayato nodded: "I don't know why, but this mummy feels strangely familiar." Compared to other mummies Hayato had seen before, this mummy in front of him was taller, and the sarcophagus looked more ornate. "This isn't a Pharaoh's mummy, is it?"
"Yes, this mummy belongs to one of the most famous Pharaohs in all of Egypt. His name is Ramesses II, also known as Meryamun. However, he is now more commonly referred to as Ozymandias."
"That sausage? Ah-choo! Who's talking bad about me?" Hayato suddenly sneezed.
(end of chapter)