The scorching sun hung in the sky, with the gravel refracting the sunlight like shattered gold. The sky was as clear as a washed canvas, with white clouds floating by like cotton. The high temperature seemed to distort the air, and the ground sizzled as if it were cracking under the heat.
The lively and energetic girl Mana was sprawled languidly on her horse's back, looking weary, as if she had been sun-dried.
"Aren't we there yet?" she asked in a small voice.
The girl who had been so full of energy at the start of their journey now seemed to have exhausted all her strength. Especially when she looked out at the endless desert shining ahead, she felt even more drained.
"Indeed, we've been traveling for too long, haven't we?" Honda added.
Each of them was riding a horse carefully selected from the Royal Palace's stables — after all, covering such a long distance on foot would be too torturous.
However, the horse beneath Honda didn't seem very fond of him, nearly throwing him off twice. Honda had to hunch over and stay tightly pressed against the horse's back, resembling a large shrimp.
"We're almost there," Youyu checked the coordinates on the forum, "maybe another half an hour or so."
Everyone felt a boost of energy. The oven-like heat and the distant journey had sapped all their enthusiasm, and there was nothing more energizing than knowing their destination was close at hand.
Riding her horse, Mana lifted her collar to fan herself, causing waves to undulate across her chest...
"I actually have a question I've been meaning to ask..." Anzu sidled up and asked Mana, "Are you... the Dark Magician Girl?"
"I actually thought the same, you look exactly like her!" Jonouchi chimed in.
"Dark Magician Girl?" Mana tilted her little head in confusion.
"She's a very powerful magic girl in our world," Yugi said, "If you train seriously, you can surely become just as strong!"
...And then she can make a living by being cute, tricking otaku out of their money. Youyu thought silently.
"Dark Magician Girl... sounds like such a cool name!" Mana perked up a bit, puffing out her chest, "Alright! From today on, I am the Dark Magician Girl!"
Upon reaching the end of their journey, they finally arrived at the location of the hidden tomb.
Heart Flying with the Wind was already waiting at the entrance. After being stuck for several days, he was so excited to see reinforcements arrive that he almost whistled, hurriedly leading the group into the tomb.
If the mechanisms inside the tomb were exactly the same as depicted in the animation, it would be no big deal — after all, the original only showed two simple trials.
The first trial merely required putting the left foot forward and walking through the maze, which was easily passable. The second trial required courage at heart — even a hint of fear would have the monsters emerging from the stone slab tear you apart.
If there were truly only these two trials, it would be too easy for players with a strategy guide. The first trial poses no difficulty if you know the guide, and as for the second... there's no such word as fear in a foolhardy player's dictionary.
But the problem lay in the fact that the design structure and mechanism setup in the tomb were not entirely the same as in the original work.
For example, Heart Flying with the Wind's first life was lost to a trap known as the "Spiked Ceiling" — he was directly pierced through by the ceiling full of spikes.
With his second life upon revival, Heart Flying with the Wind learned his lesson. At the same spot, he made a small jump to perfectly avoid the trap trigger on the floor, landing on the tile ahead, even turning back to taunt, "Is that it?"
Then...
...he was suddenly launched by something like a spring beneath the floor, shooting up like a rocket and smashing his head against the spike-covered ceiling.
Heart Flying with the Wind was understandably upset.
Damn, perhaps this tomb was built by Brother Liang's ancestors?
Not only sinister but also studying psychology?
Double traps, really?
Fortunately, this tomb was built by Grandpa Sugoroku in a past life, and three thousand years later, it was unraveled by him again. Even luckier was the fact that he told this story repeatedly to his grandson, so Yugi remembered every word grandpa said, including the location and countermeasures for each mechanism, thoroughly.
Thanks to Yugi's extraordinary memory and Grandpa Sugoroku's assistance despite his absence, they smoothly navigated through layers of obstacles and made it inside.
And they also had to thank the gambling god Jonouchi - when they discovered a dead end in the tomb, Jonouchi randomly leaned on a pillar, triggering a secret mechanism and opening the final hidden door...
They finally arrived.
The tomb of the Pharaoh, the only place containing Dark Yugi's true name, the hidden spot of the ultimate RPG game item.
When they pushed open the final hidden door and stepped into the magnificent golden chamber, even Youyu couldn't have predicted what awaited them —
——Nothing at all.
A majestic golden hall, long staircases, and a stone slab etched with hieroglyphs placed at the end of those steps.
No more hidden doors, no mechanisms or trials. Youyu was very sure this tablet was supposed to have the Pharaoh's true name engraved upon it... or rather, it should have been.
But now, what was originally carved on the tablet was indecipherable. Someone had defaced the contents, leaving broken hieroglyphs scattered across. Especially the part where the Pharaoh's name should have been, it was completely gouged out, like a piece of cake scooped away with a spoon.
Yugi thoroughly examined the entire room and the stone slab, only to step back in disappointment.
"His name is not here either."
It seemed this hidden tomb was much like the Royal Palace. All the NPCs around the Pharaoh in the palace had forgotten his true name, and the spot where the names of past Pharaohs were listed was missing Dark Yugi's name.
Anywhere you can think of that could possibly record his name, all have shown omissions.
It's as if this person's existence has been completely erased from history by some powerful force.
Youyu frowned.
This tomb should be different from other places. It should be the place where the ultimate artifact "Name of the King" is hidden, and the only place in the Memory World to obtain this item.
There's no reason for the Pharaoh's name to be missing even here.
There's only one explanation.
It's that the plot has deviated from the original work—Bakura has already beaten Yugi to it, found the location of this tomb, and removed this ultimate artifact "Name of the King" ahead of time.
"This is a bit troubling..." Youyu felt a bit of a headache.
Isn't the Great Evil God being a bit unsporting?
The showdown hasn't started yet, and he's already sealed off the protagonist's cheat. How can this be?
He checked the system's task panel, and it seemed that even if the tablet was found, the task "Find the Name of the King" still showed as (0/1), indicating it was not completed.
Doesn't this mean that the item has been deleted from the game?
Unwilling to give up, Youyu tried his luck and approached, lightly touching the tablet.
Unexpectedly, the system actually reacted!
The entire tablet gave off a faint white glow upon his touch, with a soft white light flow slowly converging into his hand...
...transforming into the shape of a card!
However, the content of the card seemed to be... just a blank slate?
...
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
"Hahahahaha!"
Having lost his base, his cannon fodder, his hostages, and even the monster spirits caught for labor, the Great Evil God, now stripped to the bare essentials, was sitting on horseback, laughing loudly.
With Youyu's involvement, the progression of this Darkness Game had completely exceeded his expectations. But fortunately, he was lucky enough to find the "Name of the King" before the opposition and removed this ultimate artifact that could decide victory.
This way, even if Youyu is truly a fragment of the Light Creation God, it's useless!
Just as the Great Evil God Sok must gather the seven Divine Artifacts to revive his true form, the Light Creation God also requires the "Name of the King" artifact to resurrect. This is the rule of the Darkness Game.
Now that I've swallowed the key to your revival, how are you going to fight me?
Bakura thought smugly as he rode to a deserted village.
This is Kruelna Village, the birthplace of the Millennium Item. Every living person in this village has been used as a sacrifice to call upon those seven wicked artifacts from the Netherworld.
But besides that, there is a sealed secret.
Besides the Seven Great Millennium Item, in this village, the original birthplace of the Millennium Items, there remains a tablet embedded with the seven artifacts. That is the ultimate artifact for the Great Evil God Sok in the game; once the seven artifacts are embedded, the Great Evil God Sok will resurrect.
Next, all he has to do is flatten the Royal Capital, kill the Pharaoh, and win the Darkness Game, then not only in the Memory World, but even in reality, the true form of the Great Evil God Sok will resurrect!
At that point, destroying the world and devouring the Earth would only be a trivial effort.
Bakura became more and more pleased with himself, feeling as if he had seen the dawn of victory. He arrived at the entrance to the secret chamber that created the seven artifacts, dismounted, tread the dim stairway to the chamber's bottom, only to be instantly dumbfounded.
What the...!?
Where's the tablet I was supposed to use for revival?
Where's my giant tablet!? Why is it missing?
...
Near the Royal Capital, among the ranks of the Egyptian Army.
A few Egyptian soldiers hoisted thick ropes on their shoulders, panting and gasping as they dragged a makeshift wooden cart, on which lay the Millennium Tablet taken from Kruelna Village's hidden chamber.
"Suddenly, what's this thing for?" one soldier asked in confusion.
"I heard it's something a friend of Pharaoh wants. I think his name was... Lord Youyu?"
"Shut your mouth and work hard; we just need to follow Pharaoh's orders!"
"Yes!"
Thus, the soldiers dragged the ultimate artifact for the resurrection of the Great Evil God Sok, farther and farther away...