Chapter 1359: The Scattered Artifacts

The Millennium Ring, one of the seven Millennium Items.

Although this item appeared early on, it was never phased out by the meta due to the traditional "power creep" seen in later stages of the game. Throughout the entire *Yu-Gi-Oh! * system, the seven Millennium Items have always maintained a remarkably high level of prestige, belonging to the absolute top tier of Dark artifacts.

Years ago, after the Thief King's entire village was massacred and sacrificed to forge the seven Millennium Items, a sliver of the Great Evil God Zorc's malice attached itself to the Ring, persisting all the way to the modern day.

Precisely because of this, when people speak of the seven items, the Millennium Puzzle is viewed as the symbol of the Pharaoh, while the Millennium Ring is viewed as the representative of the Great Evil God Zorc.

At this moment, both the remnant soul of Zorc and the evil soul of Bakura had been dispelled by the duel that had just concluded, leaving not a shred behind. Logically, the Millennium Ring should have reverted to an ordinary artifact, free of any miscellaneous impurities, becoming nothing more than a high-level tool.

But as Fujiki You Xuan picked it up to inspect it in his hand, he couldn't help but slightly knit his brows.

He could feel that Zorc's remnant soul was indeed gone, and there was no lingering malice or the like. Yet, he could still sense that this object was not clean.

It wasn't as if Fujiki You Xuan hadn't seen Millennium Items before; he knew what their power was like and what kind of feeling they gave off. That was why he was certain this Ring was by no means just an ordinary Millennium Item—many strange, varied energies had been mixed into it.

Dark Yugi: "Let me see."

Fujiki You Xuan handed the Ring to Dark Yugi. Although Fujiki You Xuan was quite well-versed in Dark artifacts, when it came to the Millennium Items, naturally no one was more professional than the Pharaoh.

Dark Yugi took the Ring and closed his eyes, seemingly extending his own consciousness to conduct a thorough investigation of it.

The Millennium Puzzle hanging on Dark Yugi's chest also radiated brilliance; the Eye of Horus in its center seemed to open, erupting with golden light.

A moment later, Dark Yugi opened his eyes, his expression somewhat solemn and tinged with confusion.

"This Ring has absorbed a lot of energy—all kinds of energy," Dark Yugi said. "Some are similar to the energy we've recently encountered, the kind you said came from the 'Academy'."

Fujiki You Xuan asked curiously: "Similar to the 'Academy'?"

Dark Yugi nodded: "Yes, like the energy released during the summoning methods called 'Synchro' and 'Xyz'. And that's only a part of it; this Ring has absorbed various other energies as well."

"It's as if... as if it's being intentionally used as some kind of collection vessel."

Fujiki You Xuan's heart stirred.

What did this mean?

Was that guy, the Great Evil God Zorc, using the Millennium Ring as a container to collect all sorts of power across different multiverses?

Did this have any connection to what Zorc said about his determination to "transcend the fate of death"?

"Wait, I think I can feel something else..."

Dark Yugi closed his eyes, attempting to feel it with even greater focus.

He could sense that this Ring could tell him more than just the fact that it had absorbed those miscellaneous energies. Hidden within were deeper secrets, a larger layout that the "Great Evil God Zorc" was currently executing...

The next moment, he snapped his eyes open. The Eye of Horus on both the Millennium Puzzle and the Millennium Ring erupted with astonishing energy, looking as if the two artifacts were resonating.

Surging energy erupted simultaneously from both artifacts. In an instant, Fujiki You Xuan saw the surrounding temple vanish, replaced by an endless starry sky—or rather, a darkness similar to a starry sky.

Amidst the vast, boundless darkness, one golden light spot after another emerged.

If one looked closely, one could barely make out the very blurry outlines of those light spots. One looked like the shape of an eye, one like a scale, another like a scepter, a piece of jewelry, a key...

Those were the remaining five Millennium Items, excluding the Millennium Puzzle and the Millennium Ring.

Fujiki You Xuan quickly realized that the boundless darkness surrounding them symbolized the infinite multiverse.

"The Millennium Items of this world," Fujiki You Xuan said, "besides the Puzzle and the Ring, the other five were scattered to other dimensions?"

Dark Yugi opened his eyes again, his expression solemn: "It seems so."

Zorc had no idea what he was thinking. He had scattered five of the seven Millennium Items from the base dimension to various corners of the multiverse, using these artifacts as containers for various extraordinary energies by absorbing the local energy of those dimensions.

Previously, Zorc had instructed the people of the "Academy" to try and snatch the Millennium Puzzle from Dark Yugi; one part of that idea was likely just to test what kind of potential the Pharaoh of the base dimension would display when faced with the stimulation of these future decks, while the other part was not without the genuine intention of wanting to snatch the Puzzle.

It seemed the Millennium Items played an important role in Zorc's plan.

"We must retrieve the four lost artifacts," Dark Yugi said sternly.

For him, this was a matter of no choice.

It wasn't just to stop Zorc's evil plan. The seven Millennium Items were the Pharaoh's possessions; gathering all the artifacts was a necessary process for the Pharaoh to reclaim his self from three thousand years ago and return to the Underworld.

If the artifacts were scattered across the multiverse, he had no choice but to go to each universe one by one to find them all. There was no other way.

"Regarding that point," Fujiki You Xuan smiled, "I can actually offer some help."

Bakura and Anubis had both been dealt with; at this moment, only Akhenaden remained in the camp of the dead.

Akhenaden, once one of the seven high priests and the Dark High Priest of Zorc, returned to the present world with incomparably complex emotions, blocking the path of Kaiba, who had just defeated the Doma duelist Alister and was rushing toward Dartz's temple.

Although Kaiba was a reincarnation at this time and long since no longer the High Priest Seto of the past, through this reincarnated shell, Akhenaden seemed to recognize the soul of his proud son at a single glance.

"Seto!"

Akhenaden was incomparably agitated.

"Finally... do you know how much I have longed to see you? Seto? Look at what you have become now, no longer bowing to others, no longer some mere subject... You now possess the eyes of a king, the gaze of a king!"

The more Akhenaden spoke, the prouder he became.

"This is my son, Seto! And from now on, I will assist you in defeating that false king and truly winning the throne that belongs to you!"

However, his passionate declaration only earned him a look from Kaiba as if he were looking at a lunatic.

Who is this old man?

Not only was he dressed in a bizarre manner, but he also tried to claim him as his son the moment he appeared—it couldn't be that he was coveting the billions in assets of his Kaiba Corporation, could it?