The Valley of the Kings, where the hidden Pharaoh's Tomb is located.
As soon as Youyu touched the stone slab, light gathered in his hand and formed the shape of a card. But the card had no text, no image; it was completely blank.
Youyu was a bit dumbfounded.
What's with this lousy system? Giving me a blank card, aren't you looking down on me too much?
Do you think I'm Yugi with his starfish hair? Anyway, a blank card can mean whatever, right?
The group of people traveling alongside him were also extremely curious. Mana couldn't help but lean forward—since she was too short, she simply hung onto Youyu's arm, craned her little head and asked, "What is this?"
Youyu didn't answer.
Because what he was thinking was... darn, I really want to know too!
A low humming came from inside the palace, sounding like metal parts were grinding, as some mechanism was operating.
The walls adorned with golden light suddenly began to slide open to both sides, the stairs ahead split apart, and the stone slab placed in the center of the room abruptly sank and disappeared below the floor.
Golden carvings appeared on the innermost wall, protruding with clear lines, flickering with a golden glow.
Carved into that wall was the abstract art style of the Three Egyptian Gods of Ancient Egypt!
Youyu quickly associated it with the ancient stone slab in the Egyptian Museum.
It was by presenting the Three Egyptian God Cards to that stone slab that Yugi unlocked the memory world sealed within, opening this Ultimate Darkness Game.
The three Egyptian God Cards were essentially keys to unlocking the seal.
So maybe it works similarly here?
Youyu also had the Three Egyptian God Cards in his hand, but compared to Yugi's original versions, these contained less power, and it was unknown if there would be any differences.
With a mindset to give it a try, Youyu took out the Three Egyptian God Cards and presented them to the golden carvings.
And you wouldn't believe it, he actually guessed right.
The three cards shot out red, blue, and gold beams of light, corresponding to the positions of the three Egyptian Gods, and flew into the carvings. Every line of the three god carvings was distinctly outlined by the light, and the divine power sealed within the walls for ages burst forth.
Then the wall... actually cracked open!
The raging energy storm made it difficult for people to keep their eyes open. Youyu raised his arm to shield his face, took two steps back, and the hem of his coat was fluttering wildly in the wind.
"Ah, what's going on?" Mana asked, holding her little head down.
"It seems like something is about to come out!" Jonouchi shouted.
At the same time, Youyu noticed that his task panel for "Finding the Name of the King" had been updated.
Although the progress was still 0/1, a new description appeared beneath the task content, supplementing the details.
"Task Description: Three thousand years ago, the Great Evil God Sok descended to the mortal world and within a short time broke through the siege of the six priests, defeated the Dark Great Mage Exodia guarding the royal capital, and overpowered the Three Egyptian Gods protecting the Pharaoh.
The Pharaoh from three thousand years ago failed to find a way to defeat Sok and could only re-seal the Great Evil God Sok back to the Netherworld. But as a price, the Pharaoh's true name was completely erased from the world, and his soul was trapped in the Millennium Pendant, eternally wandering the mortal world.
Three thousand years later, Sok returns. Can the world survive Sok's grasp this time?"
"Task Goal: Through the 'King's Trial,' find the 'True Name'."
Looking at this series of task descriptions, Youyu was stunned for a while.
As we all know, a protagonist's cheat system can never be fully sealed.
A higher level of magic counters the demons, and even if some villain occasionally gets lucky and manages to seal the protagonist's cheat system, the protagonist will certainly patch and upgrade it before the final battle.
As long as my cheat updates fast enough, the GM can't catch up with me.
The Great Evil God Sok's attempt to remove the "Name of the King" from this RPG game clearly triggered a chain reaction with his outrageous move.
Now the conditions to obtain the "Name of the King" have changed. One only needs to pass the "King's Trial" in this tomb to obtain the true name.
Youyu boldly conjectured that this trial, named the "King's Trial," was probably designed for Dark Yugi to take on the role of the Pharaoh and come here personally.
Because the Egyptian God Cards themselves are a symbol of the Pharaoh's identity, and since they are required here to unlock this, it was likely designed for Yugi.
But perhaps the design of this level didn't foresee a variable like Youyu, who happened to have a set of the Three Egyptian Gods.
Anyway, the challenge has been unlocked. Now, the one about to face this trial, is Youyu.
A door opened, and a black silhouette of a figure emerged from behind the door. He walked out with slow yet steady and powerful steps, his blue cloak rising and falling like a battle flag in the light.
He stopped in front of Youyu, slowly raised his head, and when his imposing and domineering gaze fell, it instinctively increased pressure on everyone. The golden ornament gently swayed on his chest, and the golden eye in the center seemed to pierce through one's soul.
Yugi was dumbfounded: "Another me?"
"Prince! Oh no, it's the Pharaoh, Your Majesty?" Mana also covered her mouth.
Youyu was equally stunned for a moment.
Is this... Dark Yugi?
Shouldn't he be in the royal capital?
But the figure showed no response to the crowd's reaction, expressionless, as if he didn't recognize anyone present... or more accurately, had no emotional fluctuations whatsoever.
Like a robot.
"That's it!" Yugi's mind turned the fastest, "This is the projection of the other me from three thousand years ago... No, or more accurately, it's his projection!"
"What do you mean?" Honda said, struggling to keep up.
"Remember what Shadi, the Tomb Guardian, told us when we came in?" Yugi said. "The greatest enemy of the other me?"
Jonouchi tried to think for a moment: "Come to think of it, he did mention something like that. Was it some Great Evil God Sok... Sok... Sock?"
"It's Sok," Anzu said, "Your memory is really as bad as a goldfish, Jonouchi."
"What did you say!?" Jonouchi exclaimed in anger.
"That's right, he said that three thousand years ago, the other me couldn't find a way to defeat Sok. So this trial here is definitely for that purpose," Yugi said, looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar image on the stage, clenching his fist, "'Only by surpassing your past self,' can you have the possibility to defeat Sok."
"That's it!" Jonouchi realized.
Which means, the Dark Yugi now appearing before everyone is essentially the humanoid version of the Darkness Game, a complete reproduction of everything about the three-thousand-year-old Pharaoh.
The Millennium AI.
Understanding this, Youyu raised an eyebrow.
It seems he underestimated the situation.
In retrospect, he should have tricked the CEO into coming as well; he excels at fighting against AI...