Author's Note: Welcome all to the beginning of The Last Rays of Twilight, the final segment of the three part What Was, What Is, and What Shall Be trilogy. Read and enjoy. Also, I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. Only time I'm saying it for this story.

The Last Rays of Twilight

Prologue: Echoes of Days Past

The ground itself shook as hundreds of thousands of feet marched endlessly on through the night. Small fires lit the area, allowing a vague outline of the approaching army to be seen. The men standing by the fire quivered in fear, knowing what was soon to come.

"Stand tall men, remember who you serve! Remember who will stand at the front of our defense, we will annihilate these and all foes under the power of our god! YOU SERVE THE POWER OF ORDER, AND YOU CANNOT LOSE!" A ragged and half-hearted cheer rose amongst the huddled masses despite the inspirational words.

The one who had spoken didn't blame them. All of their advanced scouts had given word that the army that was heading for them numbered over five hundred thousand men, all of them battle hardened. 'Only we can stand between this army and the complete annihilation of our way of life. We cannot fall.'

A sudden scream ripped him from his thoughts, and his eyes widened in horror as he saw a man not ten feet away with a long spear skewered through his belly. The fallen soldier stared at his stomach and the spear, gurgling on the blood that pooled in his throat. "The attack has come! Defend yourselves!"

Seconds after he had spoken a rain of spears showered down upon them, bringing with it a staggering death toll. The shields that they raised to fend off the spears did no good, because the spears simply were to heavy and too forceful to be stopped, they pierced through the shields and into men's flesh.

Screams of horror and death filled the air, clogging it up even more than the endless numbers of spears could. The man charged forwards, his swords held up high and his shield at the ready as his screamed his battle cry. All around him blood and death seemed to conquer all, but he wouldn't let that stop him. 'If I die, I die for order! I die for our god!'

Mere moments later he plunged into the mass of enemy soldiers, swinging his sword with wild abandon. In his mind the men he hacked down weren't humans, they were weeds. It was the only way his brain could cope with the horror he was causing, with all the death he saw.

The image of weeds in his mind was shattered when a spear buried itself into his shoulder, and he hit the ground with his body wreathed in agony. He saw death just moments away, knew that it was coming as a shadow covered him, the sure sign that an enemy soldier was about to finish him off.

Suddenly the shadow was ripped away and he heard a distinct scream from above him. He dared to lift his head, and saw one of the enemy soldiers running in the opposite direction, his body covered in flames. "They've come!"

He looked back, and standing on the ridge next to the tent fires that the men had set up was a tall black haired figure in simple armor. Yet as unimpressive as he appeared, he was a godsend, quite literally. The man gestured with one hand and a ball of flame shot out from the fire and slammed into the ranks of enemy soldiers, incinerated a dozen of them.

A few hundred feet away blades of solid air ripped into the mass of men, cutting them in half as if they were test targets. At yet another spot amongst the enemy army the ground itself reached up and swallowed men whole. The carnage of death had begun.

Earth heaved, fire burned, air became death, the shadows came alive, light itself became so bright that it burnt the flesh from bones, and a tidal wave of water washed away a tide of men. The elements had come to life to annihilate the attacking army, and the brutal power was turning the battle in their favor.

The enemy ranks parted as a lone figure darted in amongst them, swinging his sword with deadly precision. It wasn't simply his sword that they parted for, but also for what came with that sword. With every swing of his blade flesh boiled under the assault of fire, the air turned thick and choked men to death, and the ground blew apart sending bodies flying. This man was death incarnate, the leader of the men that were turning the tide of battle.

The battle raged on and soon the night became day. The meager army that originally opposed the massive force was now cut down to a mere handful, but the bulk of the fighting was being done by a group of eight warriors, each one wielding devastating power. The enemy army was breaking, and its once massive force was reduced by nearly half. It was still deadly, but at this rate the army knew it couldn't win.

Hefting his sword over his shoulders the leader of these men smirked and started calmly walking into the ranks of the enemy army. The soldiers backed up, holding their spears at the ready. They had learned not to hurl their spears at these men, because inevitably those spears would simply come flying back at them. "Is that really all you men have to offer? Is there no force on this world that can oppose our power? You cannot stand against our might for you are merely mortal men!"

He chuckled in amusement, and motioned with his sword for the warriors behind him to follow. In that brief moment when he glanced back to see if they were following he was struck by a burst of raw power that sent him hurling through the air. "I oppose you."

The leader pulled himself up from the ground and turned to find a man standing at the head of the enemy army. His body seemed to be burning with a blue light, making his features undetectable. "You've got power...power like I've never felt before. What strength is it that's great enough to oppose us?"

The man extended his hand, and a beam of blue light shot out of it. The warrior flipped up into the air, the wind itself carrying him out of harms way. The blast struck the ground a hundred feet away and blew a sizable crater in it. "This is the power of the Hearts of Man...and it will be your end and the end of your god's threat!"

"Then let's see which is stronger! That's something I'd really like to find out!" Instantly he and his men charged forwards. A handful of auras sprang up amongst the enemy soldiers, and more opponents stepped forward to face them.

Both armies were torn asunder in the following hours of battle as the two groups of warriors battled, their powers raging so greatly that anything caught in the maelstrom was instantly killed. Together the armies turned and fled, trying to escape the raw power of death that had come to life in the battle field.

Then in the middle of this deadly battle, where death itself seemed to be alive, death truly came to life. The face of true death stared back at the combatants, and they knew fear, the knew precisely what death was. It was

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Dalin Imaki Sumatin jerked awake, sweat covering his body. Never before had he experienced such a vivid dream, never had he felt terror like that. "That was death incarnate...that was...that was the past?"

He frowned and reached across the bed and picked up the telephone. "If that was the past, there's only one person left in the world who can help me find out."

He dialed in a number he hadn't used in quite a few years, and waited as it began to ring. "The peace is going to break soon, I can feel it. When it does, there will be blood and death such as this world has never seen before."

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Author's Notes: Yes, I know it's short. However, it's just the prologue, so no worries.

Next Time: Daisuke Ihachi has been living a peaceful life for quite some time, and he is happy. Peace is something that he can successfully enjoy, but there will always be annoyances, like work...and old acquaintances.

See it in all in, A Contented Peace

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