"The Evil Gods,"
Ishizu began calmly.
"Odion told me already. You encountered one of the Three Evil Gods—the first among them, called 'The Wicked Eraser', who has the terrifying power to end all things and annihilate everything within sight.
But even so, that God is only the weakest of the three."
Ishizu poured Kira a cup of tea. He accepted and thanked her.
"Aside from Eraser, there is 'The Wicked Dreadroot' and 'The Wicked Avatar'. These three are counterparts to the Egyptian Gods, possessing world-shattering power."
Kira already knew this and wasn't surprised. "But I heard the Three Evil Gods appeared years ago, fought Yugi Muto, and were destroyed."
Ishizu nodded.
"Pegasus failed to resist the Evil Gods' mental corruption, created the three evil cards, and his adopted son Yako Tenma was possessed, nearly causing disaster.
But after Yugi's God Cards overpowered the Evil Gods, Industrial Illusions destroyed those cards. But while the cards can be destroyed, the gods themselves cannot be so easily erased.
The God Cards are gone, but the Evil Gods merely returned to their pre-card state—waiting for a new chance."
"So they're back now?"
Ishizu shook her head. "No, not yet. If they'd fully returned, there'd be no need for all these cults and schemes to revive them."
"So this is related to the spirit I found?"
At the mention of itself, the big eyeball floated to Kira's side, quietly listening.
"It's connected to the Evil Gods' resurrection?"
"That's our current theory," Ishizu said. "You know our family kept the Pharaoh's God Cards for 3,000 years; while we never truly possessed them, we developed a deep connection and some insight into the realm of gods.
Because of this, our family was recognized by the gods. We may not be Pharaoh or Priests, but we have the bloodline to wield godly power."
She glanced at the eyeball, which listened intently.
"We suspect the Evil Gods are hidden beyond this dimension, somewhere in the spirit world. That world has guardians, like our tomb keepers.
A group of guardians watched over the Evil Gods' tablets for countless years, preventing their power from falling into the wrong hands… until the seal was threatened."
"Threatened?"
"We learned this indirectly from spirits—just fragments, not necessarily precise.
But piecing it together: some outside force tried to break into the sealed land, waking the Evil Gods and weakening the seal."
"Outside force? Any suspects?"
"None so far," Ishizu said. "But rumors in the spirit world say the guardians were helpless. One guardian escaped, closed the way behind them, and hid the sealed land within the spirit realm.
Now, even if outsiders seek the Evil Gods, they can't find the seal.
The only way to reach it again is to find that guardian spirit."
"This guy?" Kira looked at the floating eyeball, which looked back, innocent and confused.
Ishizu nodded. "We weren't sure at first. But since the church hunts this spirit so relentlessly, the rumor seems credible."
That explained why the church wanted the eyeball—not for its card effect, but for what it knew.
With its memory wiped, it might have erased information to protect the seal's location. Maybe things had gotten dangerous before Kira found it, so it wiped itself as a precaution.
But was it effective? Like deleting data from a disk—unless it's physically destroyed, it might still be recoverable.
The spirit seemed to have forgotten everything, but who knew? If it fell into enemy hands, they might have ways to extract information.
Remembering Odion's invitation, Kira asked, "You said there's something in the Egyptian ruins to show me?"
Ishizu nodded.
"My official duties finish today. Tomorrow, I'll return to Egypt—if you'd like, you can come with me. You'll see when we get there."
She wouldn't say more, and Kira didn't push. After dinner, he returned to his room and quickly rested.
…
"You lost."
The highest Evil God, "Avatar", hung in the air, questioning with authority.
"This wasn't what you promised," the god said.
Trueman stood below, looking up at the shadow. "I was close, but he surprised me with some infinite loop…"
Eraser chimed in: "See! I told you! That human is crazy! Did he just loop infinitely, taking endless turns, and you lost?"
Trueman glared at it, then shook his head.
"No, he set up an infinite loop for infinite Counters on World Tree, wiped my board, then summoned an infinitely powerful Dandylion and one-shot me."
"Huh?"
Eraser was dumbfounded.
Why is it different from my version?
"Enough," Avatar said coldly. "I thought you'd be useful allies. I was wrong. The proposal is off—we don't need your strength."
Trueman frowned, wanting to argue, but was cut off.
"Begone. You're not welcome here."
Before Trueman could reply, his form twisted and dissolved into black mist.
The third Evil God, Dreadroot, spoke after a pause. "Then, should I try next?"
"No," Avatar said, "I'll go myself."
The other two were shocked.
Eraser said, "But you're weaker than us now. You can't even manifest in the real world…"
"What?" Avatar snapped. "You think I'll lose to that human like you did?"
Eraser shut up.
But for some reason, though they were on the same side, Eraser felt a sudden urge:
I hope that despicable human teaches big bro a lesson—let him see for himself!