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## Chapter 515: The Changing Prophecy
Helping Ishizu move the tablet from the box to a Glass Case at the end of the Exhibition Hall, Ishizu put on gloves to prevent sweat from corroding the tablet and opened the box.
Watching Ishizu take the tablet out of the box and place it in the opened Glass Case, Hayato's gaze was drawn to something next to the tablet she had just put down.
It was a crystal-like pyramid model, almost exactly the same size as the triangular tablet Ishizu had just taken out. In the center of the front was a golden engraving of the "Eye of Wjat/Udjat", but the eyeball was red.
If Pegasus were here, he would recognize at a glance that this was the pyramid that sealed the 【Three Egyptian Gods】 in his dream last night. Unfortunately, Pegasus was indeed interested in artifacts from various countries at that time, but his goal was only to revive his first love. Now, he no longer had any interest in anything related to artifacts.
"This tablet and this crystal pyramid were excavated together. Although the tablet looks very similar to the 【Millennium Puzzle】 where the Nameless Pharaoh is hosted, even like it's directly inverted, based on the direction of the ancient Egyptian text on the tablet, this is indeed correct."
Ishizu explained to Hayato as she leaned the tablet against the stand. As the Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, an important figure in the Egyptian Government, and the Family Head of the Tomb Keepers, this basic knowledge came naturally to Ishizu.
"It is recorded on the tablet that this crystal pyramid was called 'Light' in Ancient Egypt and was a symbol of the King of Light. It can be said to be the complete opposite existence of the 【Millennium Puzzle】 of the 'King of Darkness', the Nameless Pharaoh, or perhaps the 【Millennium Rod】."
"But compared to the 【Millennium Puzzle】, which very clearly symbolizes 'royal authority', the symbol of the 'Light' pyramid is much more vague."
Ishizu reached out and pointed to the tablet she had placed steadily, signaling Hayato to look at it. Her finger brushed over several hieroglyphs on the tablet. "'Deity', 'banishment', 'destruction and creation', 'Light'. On the tablet, only the specific description of the 'Light' pyramid was damaged and could not be identified. Only these few characters could be read."
Marik also listened to Ishizu's explanation of the tablet from the side, looking annoyed. "This feeling of having information cut off at the crucial point is just like when reading a serialized novel and the author deliberately leaves suspense at the end of the chapter by only saying half of something. I'm suddenly starting to hate those tomb robbers too."
Hearing Marik's words, Ishizu knew he might have misunderstood the damage to the tablet as being caused by tomb robbers. She casually closed the Glass Case door containing the tablet and the "Light" pyramid, shaking her head as she continued to explain. "No, the damage to this tablet was not man-made, but an accident. At that time, the Egyptian Government's Archaeological Team discovered this tablet and the 'Light' pyramid. However, a strange cave-in occurred at the archaeological site, which led to the complete annihilation of the Archaeological Team buried underneath and the damage to the tablet."
Ishizu paused slightly after saying this, looking towards a Glass Case not far away, in which a coffin was exhibited.
That coffin was excavated in the same Tomb as the tablet and the "Light" pyramid. Among the three artifacts, only the crystal pyramid "Light", which looked the most fragile, was completely undamaged. The wooden coffin and the stone tablet were damaged to varying degrees.
The mummy in that coffin was undamaged, and the engraving of the underworld god "Anubis" on the outside of the coffin was also completely intact. Only a part of the ancient Egyptian text on the side of the coffin, which also recorded something, was destroyed, leaving only about half of the record.
It recorded...
"Oh, this coffin?" Just as Ishizu was lost in thought, Hayato heard a familiar voice from not far away. Looking over, he saw two starfish with different colors stuck next to a Glass Case.
Hayato looked again, oh, he was mistaken. It turned out to be Yugi and his Millennium Hostage Grandpa Solomon Muto standing in front of the display, and with them were Joey Wheeler , Téa , and Tristan .
"Huh? Hayato is here too?" Compared to Yugi and his Grandpa, who were staring intently at the mummy by the coffin with great interest, Joey Wheeler wasn't very interested in mummies or anything like that. He was looking around and was the first to notice Hayato and the other two who had also spotted them.
Although usually carefree, outgoing, and lively, Téa was still a girl after all. Since just now, she had been hiding behind Yugi, who was shorter than her, to avoid seeing the scary mummy. Hearing Joey Wheeler 's words, she finally had a way to distract herself and immediately turned her head. "Miss Ishizu too? Are you on a date with Hayato?"
"Even if you're looking for thrills in a Haunted House, no one would come to a Museum full of mummies for a date. Besides, Miss Ishizu is the Director, so it's perfectly normal for her to be here," Tristan ranted casually. After seeing Marik, they nodded to each other from a distance as a greeting.
The camera hanging around Hayato's neck swayed as he walked. Hayato lifted it by the strap with one hand. "That Kid Marik was roped in by Ishizu, and I just came along to take photos for the Newspaper Agency's promotion."
"But what about you guys? I remember there was a 'Suspended Operation' sign hanging at the main entrance of the Exhibition Hall, how did you get in?"
Hearing Hayato's question, Joey Wheeler and the other two didn't react much, but Solomon Muto and Yugi, the grandfather and grandson pair, who had been looking at the mummy with great interest, exchanged glances and looked at Hayato with embarrassed expressions, honestly confessing the whole truth.
The story actually goes back to yesterday, after the first Duel Monsters Convention held at the Central Shopping District Plaza ended, when Hayato and Yugi saw Yusei Fudo and Judai off and went their separate ways home.
Although they had been out all day, during which they not only had to duel Paradox for the future of the world but also deal with even more troublesome fans, Yugi wasn't very tired when he got home and still had plenty of energy.
Grandpa Solomon Muto was also quite old, but he didn't feel tired at all after looking at pretty girls for most of the day and was also full of energy.
So, as soon as the two energetic people got home, they accidentally broke the trash bag that Yugi's mom had spent a whole day tidying up and putting into bags. The only fortunate thing was that what fell onto the ground and scattered everywhere was just some recyclable trash like discarded newspaper.
Thus, Yugi's mom, whose presence was very low and who Joey Wheeler had once mistakenly thought didn't live with Yugi, was so angry that she lectured the grandfather and grandson for a long time and punished them by making them clean up the cardboard and newspaper on the floor.
Yugi and Solomon also knew that it was indeed their fault, so they could only honestly clean up the paper on the ground after seeing Mom leave to make dinner.
As they were cleaning, Yugi and Grandpa Solomon actually found many objects from the past, such as drawings Yugi had made in elementary school art class, a life plan Grandpa Solomon had made when he was young but never carried out, and an IOU from when Professor Arthur borrowed money from Solomon because he didn't bring any when they were doing archaeology in Egypt.
For a moment, it also brought back many memories for the two of them.
As they searched, Solomon Muto found an old newspaper from about seven or eight years ago, which reported an accident where the Egyptian Archaeological Team encountered a cave-in during an archaeological expedition, resulting in the death of dozens of people. This brought back many of Solomon Muto's memories from when he was doing archaeology in Egypt. He also told Yugi that he had encountered many dangers before, and cave-ins were the most terrifying.
Other crises, whether it was mechanisms in the Tomb, poisonous creatures in the Desert, etc., pain and death only existed for an instant, but a cave-in could trap people in a confined space, dying little by little in dryness, shackles, hunger, darkness, and complete lack of hope. It was the most despairing way to die.
At that time, Professor Arthur and Solomon Muto were buried together under the ruins of a cave-in. It was also during that time that Professor Arthur gave his 【Blue-Eyes White Dragon】 card to Solomon Muto as a symbol of friendship.
Because he heard his Grandpa mention this again, Yugi also suddenly remembered that after seeing Paradox's 【Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon】 before, when he asked Paradox how he could steal Kaiba's 【Blue-Eyes】, Paradox said that his Deck gathered the most powerful cards from various eras, but he kept avoiding answering his question directly.
---Could it be that guy actually stole the 【Blue-Eyes White Dragon】 from Ji-chan in the future, so he was too embarrassed to say something so shameful?
Incidentally, Yugi also noticed a black and white photo printed on the newspaper reporting the archaeological accident. That was the "Light" pyramid that Ishizu mentioned. He asked Solomon Muto what that thing was.
Because he had experience in Egyptian archaeology, although Solomon Muto couldn't read ancient Egyptian hieratic text, he could barely read some basic and simple ancient Egyptian text. Through the tablet next to the "Light" pyramid, Solomon Muto translated an explanation basically the same as Ishizu's.
It just so happened that at this time, the opened television was broadcasting the news, saying that the exhibition period for the previous batch of artifacts at the "Egyptian Artifact Traveling Exhibition Hall" had ended and a new batch of artifacts would be replaced soon. They also showed several photos officially taken by the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, including the "Light" pyramid that Yugi and Solomon Muto had just noticed.
Yugi felt subconsciously that there seemed to be some connection between the 【Millennium Puzzle】 where his Other Self resided and that crystal pyramid. Solomon Muto was interested in the coffin that was unearthed from the same batch but whose side text couldn't be read because the photo was taken eight years ago and wasn't clear enough. The grandfather and grandson hit it off and decided to come to the Exhibition Hall the next day to take a look.
And when they went out the next day, the grandfather and grandson happened to encounter Joey Wheeler , Téa , and Tristan , who had come to find Yugi to play. So they extended an invitation to accompany them, and the group of five came to the Exhibition Hall.
As for the "Suspended Operation" notice at the entrance of the Exhibition Hall and the security responsible for blocking unrelated personnel from entering, unfortunately, although they were very professional and dedicated, they were no match for the delinquent Joey Wheeler and the gang leader Tristan . They were easily tricked into leaving their post, allowing the group of five to "sneak in" openly and honestly.
After Yugi finished speaking, Ishizu was also quite helpless. It was fortunate that the person who sneaked in was Mutou Yuugi, the host of the Nameless Pharaoh, and the other few people had no idea of theft. Otherwise, if precious artifacts were stolen, it would be terrible news.
Especially since there were several important coffins here, containing the mummies of the most important pharaohs in Egyptian history. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them national treasures, such as the mummy of Pharaoh Tutankhamun that Hayato had just photographed, and the mummy of Ramesses II, which had been removed but not yet transported away.
"Next time, you can say you're here to see me," Ishizu could only say this.
Yugi and the others also knew that what they did was wrong, and they were caught red-handed by the owner, so they apologized very sincerely. "We're sorry, we will absolutely never do this again in the future."
After a very standard 90° bow and a sincere apology, Solomon Muto's gaze returned to the coffin next to him, his face full of pity. "It's really a pity. About half of the text recorded on this coffin was destroyed by that cave-in back then. The text after that is almost completely unidentifiable."
"And I didn't learn much of that previous section. I should have known to learn a few more phrases from Arthur when I was in Egypt back then."
"Huh? Master can't understand it either?" Joey Wheeler scratched his head, troubled. Tristan also looked regretful. "That's too bad, then we broke in for nothing."
Grandpa Solomon was curious about the incomplete record on the tablet and wanted to come to the Museum to see if the coffin unearthed from the same batch would record anything. Now he knew that something was indeed written on the coffin, but half was destroyed and the other half he couldn't understand, which was truly a bit of a pity.
But Téa remembered something else. "Grandpa Solomon , did you forget? Miss Ishizu is right beside us."
Hearing this, Yugi, who was also very interested in the coffin, had his eyes light up. "That's right, Miss Ishizu is from the Tomb Keepers, and the Egyptian Antiquities Organization has been researching this coffin for so many years, they must know what is written on it." Saying this, he looked at Ishizu with an expectant gaze.
Ishizu was being watched by several people's gazes. She turned her head and glanced at Hayato, saw him shrug helplessly, nodded, walked to the coffin, and looked at the coffin. "Although the text on the lower half of the coffin was basically damaged by the accident at that time, after many years of repair, the Egyptian Antiquities Organization has barely filled in a part of the text. It specifically wrote---"
"'The King of Light will bury the King of Darkness through battle, but when light overflows, the King of Destruction will resurrect from the light',"
"And,"
"'The Sun King will set destruction with [], but destruction will also take []'."
Ishizu finished speaking and added, "That later sentence was filled in by the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, but the specific blank has exceeded the limit of repair, and we have no way of knowing."
Helping Ishizu move the tablet from the box to a Glass Case at the end of the Exhibition Hall, Ishizu put on gloves to prevent sweat from corroding the tablet and opened the box.
Watching Ishizu take the tablet out of the box and place it in the opened Glass Case, Hayato's gaze was drawn to something next to the tablet she had just put down.
It was a crystal-like pyramid model, almost exactly the same size as the triangular tablet Ishizu had just taken out. In the center of the front was a golden engraving of the "Eye of Wjat/Udjat", but the eyeball was red.
If Pegasus were here, he would recognize at a glance that this was the pyramid that sealed the 【Three Egyptian Gods】 in his dream last night. Unfortunately, Pegasus was indeed interested in artifacts from various countries at that time, but his goal was only to revive his first love. Now, he no longer had any interest in anything related to artifacts.
"This tablet and this crystal pyramid were excavated together. Although the tablet looks very similar to the 【Millennium Puzzle】 where the Nameless Pharaoh is hosted, even like it's directly inverted, based on the direction of the ancient Egyptian text on the tablet, this is indeed correct."
Ishizu explained to Hayato as she leaned the tablet against the stand. As the Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, an important figure in the Egyptian Government, and the Family Head of the Tomb Keepers, this basic knowledge came naturally to Ishizu.
"It is recorded on the tablet that this crystal pyramid was called 'Light' in Ancient Egypt and was a symbol of the King of Light. It can be said to be the complete opposite existence of the 【Millennium Puzzle】 of the 'King of Darkness', the Nameless Pharaoh, or perhaps the 【Millennium Rod】."
"But compared to the 【Millennium Puzzle】, which very clearly symbolizes 'royal authority', the symbol of the 'Light' pyramid is much more vague."
Ishizu reached out and pointed to the tablet she had placed steadily, signaling Hayato to look at it. Her finger brushed over several hieroglyphs on the tablet. "'Deity', 'banishment', 'destruction and creation', 'Light'. On the tablet, only the specific description of the 'Light' pyramid was damaged and could not be identified. Only these few characters could be read."
Marik also listened to Ishizu's explanation of the tablet from the side, looking annoyed. "This feeling of having information cut off at the crucial point is just like when reading a serialized novel and the author deliberately leaves suspense at the end of the chapter by only saying half of something. I'm suddenly starting to hate those tomb robbers too."
Hearing Marik's words, Ishizu knew he might have misunderstood the damage to the tablet as being caused by tomb robbers. She casually closed the Glass Case door containing the tablet and the "Light" pyramid, shaking her head as she continued to explain. "No, the damage to this tablet was not man-made, but an accident. At that time, the Egyptian Government's Archaeological Team discovered this tablet and the 'Light' pyramid. However, a strange cave-in occurred at the archaeological site, which led to the complete annihilation of the Archaeological Team buried underneath and the damage to the tablet."
Ishizu paused slightly after saying this, looking towards a Glass Case not far away, in which a coffin was exhibited.
That coffin was excavated in the same Tomb as the tablet and the "Light" pyramid. Among the three artifacts, only the crystal pyramid "Light", which looked the most fragile, was completely undamaged. The wooden coffin and the stone tablet were damaged to varying degrees.
The mummy in that coffin was undamaged, and the engraving of the underworld god "Anubis" on the outside of the coffin was also completely intact. Only a part of the ancient Egyptian text on the side of the coffin, which also recorded something, was destroyed, leaving only about half of the record.
It recorded...
"Oh, this coffin?" Just as Ishizu was lost in thought, Hayato heard a familiar voice from not far away. Looking over, he saw two starfish with different colors stuck next to a Glass Case.
Hayato looked again, oh, he was mistaken. It turned out to be Yugi and his Millennium Hostage Grandpa Solomon Muto standing in front of the display, and with them were Joey Wheeler , Téa , and Tristan .
"Huh? Hayato is here too?" Compared to Yugi and his Grandpa, who were staring intently at the mummy by the coffin with great interest, Joey Wheeler wasn't very interested in mummies or anything like that. He was looking around and was the first to notice Hayato and the other two who had also spotted them.
Although usually carefree, outgoing, and lively, Téa was still a girl after all. Since just now, she had been hiding behind Yugi, who was shorter than her, to avoid seeing the scary mummy. Hearing Joey Wheeler 's words, she finally had a way to distract herself and immediately turned her head. "Miss Ishizu too? Are you on a date with Hayato?"
"Even if you're looking for thrills in a Haunted House, no one would come to a Museum full of mummies for a date. Besides, Miss Ishizu is the Director, so it's perfectly normal for her to be here," Tristan ranted casually. After seeing Marik, they nodded to each other from a distance as a greeting.
The camera hanging around Hayato's neck swayed as he walked. Hayato lifted it by the strap with one hand. "That Kid Marik was roped in by Ishizu, and I just came along to take photos for the Newspaper Agency's promotion."
"But what about you guys? I remember there was a 'Suspended Operation' sign hanging at the main entrance of the Exhibition Hall, how did you get in?"
Hearing Hayato's question, Joey Wheeler and the other two didn't react much, but Solomon Muto and Yugi, the grandfather and grandson pair, who had been looking at the mummy with great interest, exchanged glances and looked at Hayato with embarrassed expressions, honestly confessing the whole truth.
The story actually goes back to yesterday, after the first Duel Monsters Convention held at the Central Shopping District Plaza ended, when Hayato and Yugi saw Yusei Fudo and Judai off and went their separate ways home.
Although they had been out all day, during which they not only had to duel Paradox for the future of the world but also deal with even more troublesome fans, Yugi wasn't very tired when he got home and still had plenty of energy.
Grandpa Solomon Muto was also quite old, but he didn't feel tired at all after looking at pretty girls for most of the day and was also full of energy.
So, as soon as the two energetic people got home, they accidentally broke the trash bag that Yugi's mom had spent a whole day tidying up and putting into bags. The only fortunate thing was that what fell onto the ground and scattered everywhere was just some recyclable trash like discarded newspaper.
Thus, Yugi's mom, whose presence was very low and who Joey Wheeler had once mistakenly thought didn't live with Yugi, was so angry that she lectured the grandfather and grandson for a long time and punished them by making them clean up the cardboard and newspaper on the floor.
Yugi and Solomon also knew that it was indeed their fault, so they could only honestly clean up the paper on the ground after seeing Mom leave to make dinner.
As they were cleaning, Yugi and Grandpa Solomon actually found many objects from the past, such as drawings Yugi had made in elementary school art class, a life plan Grandpa Solomon had made when he was young but never carried out, and an IOU from when Professor Arthur borrowed money from Solomon because he didn't bring any when they were doing archaeology in Egypt.
For a moment, it also brought back many memories for the two of them.
As they searched, Solomon Muto found an old newspaper from about seven or eight years ago, which reported an accident where the Egyptian Archaeological Team encountered a cave-in during an archaeological expedition, resulting in the death of dozens of people. This brought back many of Solomon Muto's memories from when he was doing archaeology in Egypt. He also told Yugi that he had encountered many dangers before, and cave-ins were the most terrifying.
Other crises, whether it was mechanisms in the Tomb, poisonous creatures in the Desert, etc., pain and death only existed for an instant, but a cave-in could trap people in a confined space, dying little by little in dryness, shackles, hunger, darkness, and complete lack of hope. It was the most despairing way to die.
At that time, Professor Arthur and Solomon Muto were buried together under the ruins of a cave-in. It was also during that time that Professor Arthur gave his 【Blue-Eyes White Dragon】 card to Solomon Muto as a symbol of friendship.
Because he heard his Grandpa mention this again, Yugi also suddenly remembered that after seeing Paradox's 【Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon】 before, when he asked Paradox how he could steal Kaiba's 【Blue-Eyes】, Paradox said that his Deck gathered the most powerful cards from various eras, but he kept avoiding answering his question directly.
---Could it be that guy actually stole the 【Blue-Eyes White Dragon】 from Ji-chan in the future, so he was too embarrassed to say something so shameful?
Incidentally, Yugi also noticed a black and white photo printed on the newspaper reporting the archaeological accident. That was the "Light" pyramid that Ishizu mentioned. He asked Solomon Muto what that thing was.
Because he had experience in Egyptian archaeology, although Solomon Muto couldn't read ancient Egyptian hieratic text, he could barely read some basic and simple ancient Egyptian text. Through the tablet next to the "Light" pyramid, Solomon Muto translated an explanation basically the same as Ishizu's.
It just so happened that at this time, the opened television was broadcasting the news, saying that the exhibition period for the previous batch of artifacts at the "Egyptian Artifact Traveling Exhibition Hall" had ended and a new batch of artifacts would be replaced soon. They also showed several photos officially taken by the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, including the "Light" pyramid that Yugi and Solomon Muto had just noticed.
Yugi felt subconsciously that there seemed to be some connection between the 【Millennium Puzzle】 where his Other Self resided and that crystal pyramid. Solomon Muto was interested in the coffin that was unearthed from the same batch but whose side text couldn't be read because the photo was taken eight years ago and wasn't clear enough. The grandfather and grandson hit it off and decided to come to the Exhibition Hall the next day to take a look.
And when they went out the next day, the grandfather and grandson happened to encounter Joey Wheeler , Téa , and Tristan , who had come to find Yugi to play. So they extended an invitation to accompany them, and the group of five came to the Exhibition Hall.
As for the "Suspended Operation" notice at the entrance of the Exhibition Hall and the security responsible for blocking unrelated personnel from entering, unfortunately, although they were very professional and dedicated, they were no match for the delinquent Joey Wheeler and the gang leader Tristan . They were easily tricked into leaving their post, allowing the group of five to "sneak in" openly and honestly.
After Yugi finished speaking, Ishizu was also quite helpless. It was fortunate that the person who sneaked in was Mutou Yuugi, the host of the Nameless Pharaoh, and the other few people had no idea of theft. Otherwise, if precious artifacts were stolen, it would be terrible news.
Especially since there were several important coffins here, containing the mummies of the most important pharaohs in Egyptian history. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them national treasures, such as the mummy of Pharaoh Tutankhamun that Hayato had just photographed, and the mummy of Ramesses II, which had been removed but not yet transported away.
"Next time, you can say you're here to see me," Ishizu could only say this.
Yugi and the others also knew that what they did was wrong, and they were caught red-handed by the owner, so they apologized very sincerely. "We're sorry, we will absolutely never do this again in the future."
After a very standard 90° bow and a sincere apology, Solomon Muto's gaze returned to the coffin next to him, his face full of pity. "It's really a pity. About half of the text recorded on this coffin was destroyed by that cave-in back then. The text after that is almost completely unidentifiable."
"And I didn't learn much of that previous section. I should have known to learn a few more phrases from Arthur when I was in Egypt back then."
"Huh? Master can't understand it either?" Joey Wheeler scratched his head, troubled. Tristan also looked regretful. "That's too bad, then we broke in for nothing."
Grandpa Solomon was curious about the incomplete record on the tablet and wanted to come to the Museum to see if the coffin unearthed from the same batch would record anything. Now he knew that something was indeed written on the coffin, but half was destroyed and the other half he couldn't understand, which was truly a bit of a pity.
But Téa remembered something else. "Grandpa Solomon , did you forget? Miss Ishizu is right beside us."
Hearing this, Yugi, who was also very interested in the coffin, had his eyes light up. "That's right, Miss Ishizu is from the Tomb Keepers, and the Egyptian Antiquities Organization has been researching this coffin for so many years, they must know what is written on it." Saying this, he looked at Ishizu with an expectant gaze.
Ishizu was being watched by several people's gazes. She turned her head and glanced at Hayato, saw him shrug helplessly, nodded, walked to the coffin, and looked at the coffin. "Although the text on the lower half of the coffin was basically damaged by the accident at that time, after many years of repair, the Egyptian Antiquities Organization has barely filled in a part of the text. It specifically wrote---"
"'The King of Light will bury the King of Darkness through battle, but when light overflows, the King of Destruction will resurrect from the light',"
"And,"
"'The Sun King will set destruction with [], but destruction will also take []'."
Ishizu finished speaking and added, "That later sentence was filled in by the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, but the specific blank has exceeded the limit of repair, and we have no way of knowing."
