Yu-Gi-Oh!: This is the real duel!

Cold footsteps echoed from the dark tunnel. A white-haired man carrying a torch descended the steps. One of his eyes had been replaced with a golden, thousand-year-old eye, while his remaining eye radiated a sinister and fierce light.

Hidden within the secret underground chamber of the royal library lies a vital secret, one that remains unknown to this day, not even to Simon, the courtier responsible for designing the pharaoh's tomb.

Now, three strangers have come here. Although they have the Pharaoh's permission, it means nothing to this old man.

To protect the terrible secret buried underground for so many years, he must bury these three people forever!

"Whoosh——————————————————"

Upon arriving at the basement of the Royal Library, Yugi Muto gently lit the lamps on the wall. The bright light illuminated the underground chamber, revealing it to be a serrated circle. Judging from the patterns on the floor, the serrations symbolized the rays of the sun, while the central circle represented the supreme sun of Egypt.

"There really is a secret room!" Jonouchi was somewhat surprised. He flipped through the documents on the bookshelf and then realized that he could no longer understand these ancient characters.

“Don’t rush, Jonouchi.” Yugi Muto said, skillfully finding a page from the spellbook and chanting the incantation. It was a knowledge spell that could grant the target knowledge of a certain thing or civilization up to level three for a short time.

In almost all civilizations, writing and symbols are the most basic, so even though Yugi Muto's level is only three, he can still grant himself, Jonouchi, and Mai the power to read Egyptian hieroglyphs.

As the clear light gradually shone down, the strange and unfamiliar characters began to become familiar. After gaining the ability to read, the three immediately began searching.

The room wasn't very big, so there weren't many things to look through.

After some thought, Yugi Muto decided to start by examining the genealogies of the nobles of past dynasties, hoping to find records related to the pyramid tombs.

As Yugi Muto flipped through the dark yellow pages, he quickly scanned and read. Soon, he found the location corresponding to Yugi, but like the records elsewhere, there was a blank space next to his name, with only scattered notes next to the blank space.

"Ugh……"

Yugi Muto sighed in disappointment and prepared to look for the next document, but just then, his gaze was suddenly drawn to another name on the family tree.

“Akenadin…” Yugi Muto seemed to have discovered some earth-shattering secret, his eyes widening in disbelief. “He, he is actually…”

"What's wrong? The game?" Jonouchi asked.

Yugi Muto pointed to the information in the book and said, "Look, this is the name of the priest who possesses the Millennium Eye! He's actually the brother of the former Pharaoh!!"

Kong Quewu blinked: "But what does that prove?"

Yugi Muto said with a serious expression, "Logically speaking, this should be common knowledge, but after the revelation at the banquet, it's clear that no one knows his other identity!"

"Being brothers with the former Pharaoh...that's an honor no matter what."

"But this priest Aknadin has been hiding this matter all along. What is his purpose? What is he planning to do?!"

Jonouchi scratched the back of his head and chuckled, "Aren't you being too sensitive? It's just a game? Maybe they're just being low-key?"

Yugi Muto shook his head: "No, while researching in the Royal Library, I learned from a certain period of history that the person responsible for forging the Millennium Item was the priest Aknadin."

"People in this world think that the Millennium Items are sacred things, but after so many events, we all know that unimaginable darkness resides within them."

"These seven ancient artifacts all contain immeasurable magical power, so what methods did the person who created them use?!"

"Moreover, at the banquet, another version of me mentioned that his rival, Bakura, told him something—the reason his soul has been preserved from three thousand years ago to the present is because an invincible demon king appeared. In order to seal that demon king, he had to make a sacrifice and imprison himself and that demon king in the Millennium Puzzle... And the Millennium Stone Tablet is not only the key for him to regain his memories, but also the seal on that demon king."

"Based on this clue, the Millennium Stone Tablet and the Millennium Artifact are closely related. The Millennium Stone Tablet was also the tool used to seal the Demon King. Therefore, it seems that the appearance of the Demon King is likely related to the Millennium Artifact. In that case, the guy who created the Millennium Artifact is even more worthy of suspicion!"

This analysis immediately sent chills down the spines of Jonouchi and Mai.

If this is true, then it is equivalent to having a terrible enemy lurking among the priests, and the entire royal city and the Pharaoh could be in danger at any time.

To confirm this hypothesis, the three quickly searched for other materials.

But just then, a loud rumbling sound rang out, and the sixteen walls of this secret room, arranged in a circle, began to move closer to the center!

"What?! What happened?!" Jonouchi exclaimed.

In the midst of the crisis, Yugi Muto chanted the third-level vision spell he had used earlier. Through layers of walls, he finally saw a white-haired man hiding in the shadows: "It's...it's him! It's him! Aknadin wants to kill us!!"

"Oh no!!" Kongque Wu gritted her teeth. "Once these walls close together, they'll block all the exits, and we'll be trapped here!!"

Countless sand and stones fell from above, and the sixteen walls pressed down on the center. At this point, the three could only choose to escape into one of the "spikes," which was a wall groove designed to mimic sunlight.

The entire secret chamber was designed in the shape of a shining sun. In addition to the circular center, there were spike-shaped grooves attached to the outside, each containing a torch to illuminate the entire chamber.

"We can't be trapped here!" Yugi Muto gritted his teeth. "Our only option is to escape into one of the rays of sunlight!!"

"But even if we could find a way out, which one should we choose?!" Peacock Dance was sweating profusely. "There are sixteen in total! There's simply no time to determine which torch hides a trap!!"

Peacock Dance could use her thieving skills to figure out the structure of a building or mechanism, but that would take time. The sixteen walls were about to close into a sealed "jar," and they simply didn't have time to do these things.

In a moment of crisis, Jonouchi had a flash of inspiration and thought of his gambler skills. One of his skills allowed him to obtain the desired result from random events. Could the current situation also be considered a random event?

He was doomed to lose when he gambled in the royal city, but by triggering this skill, he happened to encounter Youche and Priest Mahad who were on their way to the royal city, thus preventing him from losing his money to the gamblers.

"This is the only way we can try!" Jonouchi's eyes widened suddenly, and he used his class skill. The golden gauntlets on his arms lit up abruptly, and a bright light appeared, pointing directly behind them. "This way!!"

With nowhere else to turn, the three could only trust the castle.

As they passed through the gap and finally arrived at the narrow triangular space, the entire chamber closed, forming a cage with no way to escape.

In a dark corner, the priest Akhenaten noticed this scene, but he merely gave a contemptuous sneer.

"Heh...did they flee there in a panic?"

"Since you don't want to be trapped here to die, then go and get torn to pieces by those monsters!!"

Aknadin smiled coldly and then walked out of the secret room.

The place where Yugi Muto and his two companions escaped to did indeed contain a secret passage, but that passage led to a hellish place—an underground area used for training and nurturing monsters.

In order to obtain powerful monsters, Akhenaten secretly captured many monsters and put them together to fight each other.

The monsters there, after enduring prolonged torture and battle, had become insane beyond imagination. He didn't believe that Yugi Muto and his companions could escape from that place, but just to be safe, he still sent a trusted confidant to keep an eye on them...

Outside the pyramid tomb of the former king, the elven messenger Youche and several squads of guards stood watch.

They had just received news that the Thief King Bakula had stormed the palace, but was ultimately defeated and fled.

In his letter, Wang Yang stated that during the battle, Bakura's spirit, Diaband, killed many of the priests' monsters, thereby gaining immense power. Most importantly, it acquired the illusion magician's clone ability.

With this clone, Diaband will no longer be outnumbered, so Bakula will most likely no longer be interested in the Sacred Duel Disk in the former king's pyramid.

Now, the damaged royal city needs to be repaired, and more manpower is needed to guard it, so the king hopes that Yu Che can bring the troops back.

You Che frowned as he put the letter away.

A clone...?

That would be very troublesome...

However, what worries him most is Mahathir's movements.

In the original story, Mahad lured Bakura to the training cave of the mage in order to defeat him. Despite his thorough preparations, he was ultimately defeated by Bakura and the Millennium Wisdom Wheel was taken away.

At the coronation banquet, You Che had told Wang Yang everything about himself, emphasizing several points that he should pay special attention to. Although the world had changed a lot because of his appearance, it seemed that some things were still developing in the original direction.

late at night.

Unable to sleep, King Yang stood atop the city wall, gazing at the royal city that had just suffered a calamity.

After the battle, Bakula was nowhere to be found on the sand table. Although he had the advantage in resources compared to Bakula, Bakula's understanding and memory of three thousand years was something he could not match.

Where did he escape to, and what kind of conspiracy will he plot next?

Wang Yang was unaware of the matter and had no way of verifying it.

Recalling Youche's earlier warning, he felt a vague unease. He worried that Priest Mahad might really die in the battle with Bakula and transform into an elf, just as Youche had said...

Although Mahad is now just an NPC in this dark game, Yugi knows very well that he is also guarding his card spirit—Dark Magician—in the real world.

If they are harmed in this world, it will also affect the spirits...

That would be terrible...

As King Yang was pondering, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind. Priest Mahad walked over and knelt on one knee with some remorse, saying, "Pharaoh, for your safety, it is best not to stay here alone... Such a thing just happened last night, please be careful!"

Wang Yang turned around and subconsciously replied, "That's right, I was too careless, I'll be more careful."

Such a response would be perfectly normal for King Yu, but it sounded quite different to Mahad, who was a priest.

Thinking he had offended the Pharaoh, Mahad quickly apologized: "No, that was not my intention!"

Under Mahad's protection, Wang Yang returned to the palace. Just as the two were about to descend the city wall, a slight sound suddenly came from a jar nearby.

Mahad immediately became alert: "Who! Who's there!"

The jar shook gently a few times, and suddenly a young girl who looked just like the Dark Magician Girl jumped out. Her skin was a little dark, and her face was full of innocence and surprise. As soon as she jumped out of the jar, she hugged King directly and wrapped her legs tightly around him, just like when they were playing and acting cute together as children.

"Mana!!" Mahad exclaimed in shock, "How could you do such a thing! Release the Pharaoh at once!!"

With that, Mahad pulled Mana off Wang Yang.

Mana laughed and said, "Master, I've been listening to you since just now. What are you doing? Why are you always acting so pretentious?! It's just you and the prince together. You can talk to him like you always have!"

Mahad crossed his arms in exasperation: "He's not a prince, he's a pharaoh!"

Wang Yang was somewhat surprised: "I...we knew each other before, didn't we?!"

Mana turned her head in confusion: "What are you talking about? Don't the three of us often study magic and practice martial arts together? We're like brothers and sisters!"

“Yes, yes…” Wang Yang said slowly with a smile.

"Are you really a prince?!" Mana brought her face close to Wang Yang's, scrutinizing him closely. "Why do you seem... a little different from before..."

"Damn it!" Mahad scolded. "He's become the Pharaoh! The prince carries a burden we can't even begin to comprehend! How can he still be the same as before?!"

Mana laughed mischievously, "Haha! Master, you're calling him Prince now~"

Mahathir was taken aback, only then realizing that he had misspoke.

Mana laughed happily, and Wang Yang felt much more relaxed looking at the two people who were both strangers and familiar.

Chapter 299 Monsters

"Ahem!!" A slightly embarrassed Mahad cleared his throat and said, "Let's not talk about that for now. How did you get here?"

Mana smiled slyly, turned slightly to the side, and made way for the steps leading down to the city wall. Without exception, the guards on duty were frozen in place by the spell, all of them standing still.

"How is it, Master?!" Mana laughed happily. "My magic has improved quite a bit, hasn't it?"

"A binding spell?!" Mahad was stunned for a moment, then scolded, "Idiot!! Turn them back to normal!! Do you want the royal city to be completely unprepared?!"

"Hehe..." Mana chuckled, waving her fingers in an attempt to free the guards from their restraints, but the magical light flickered twice at her fingertips before extinguishing, leaving the guards still rooted to the spot.

Mana was a little embarrassed. She quickly tried to cast a few more spells, but still couldn't break the binding spell.

"What's wrong? Hurry up!" Mahad urged.