Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Results of Ambition
Characters: Chaos Sorcerer, Yuuki Juudai (Haou)
Word Count: 3,000||Status: One-shot
Genre: Drama||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Written for the 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge, day #4; Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section D, #98, fic that starts and ends with the same letter
Summary: [one-shot, Chaos Sorcerer, Haou; 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge; Diversity Writing Challenge] Chaos Sorcerer has always sought power. And if he can gain power by serving Haou, then so be it.
During Brron's rule over the world, Chaos Sorcerer had been a low ranking warrior, one who infrequently took on opponents in the arena, and finished every single one of them. There wasn't anything unusual about that; only winners became survivors, after all.
He'd never expected to see the day when Brron, perished. If he'd thought of it at all, he would've described such an event as only happening through non-dueling combat, through some great warrior arriving in their world and not attempting to duel Brron at all. The Mad King had bodyguards but such a thing was not unthinkable.
Never had he considered the fact that a human child, one who wasn't even an adult by human standards, would be the one to bring about the fall of the evil monarch.
Though the more he grew to know Yuuki Juudai, the more he wondered precisely how human he really was. He'd been in position during the duel against Brron to see an amazing event: the human's eyes changed color, becoming a glistening and merciless gold. The human himself hadn't seemed to be aware of it, only focused on bringing Brron as much pain and damage as he possibly could, but Chaos Sorcerer noticed all the same.
Matters had been very confused in the immediate aftermath of Brron's death, with everyone scattering in fear of their lives. The few that Chaos Sorcerer had spoken to in those nervous days all held the same idea: Yuuki Juudai would kill them all. Why wouldn't he? They'd all served Brron. They'd all cheered when his friends perished thanks to Brron's actions.
What reason did he have to let any of them live?
The call came to many throughout the world. Some had been in Brron's army and some hadn't been. Gold and Silver weren't there, though some of the other Dark World beings were. Chaos Sorcerer could not be certain of why the metal twins weren't there; so far as he knew, they'd never returned after their last trip to find the other humans in their world.
Or if they had, they'd never left again after returning. He had never asked Haou-sama. He knew that he never would. Some answers no one actually wanted.
The call brought all who heard it to gather outside of a castle that hadn't been there not long before. Situated over a river of lava, it rose cold and dark and stern against the shadow-filled skies. The power used to build it thrummed against him like a living brand. This was power on a scale he'd never imagined before. Power he'd never dreamed could exist before.
Power that lived within the armored figure that waited for them, silent and motionless as they all gathered, one by one kneeling before him. None of them said a word. Chaos Sorcerer wondered if they could have if they'd tried.
The warrior moved through their ranks, staring down at them. What expression he had none could say. The helmet concealed everything. All Chaos Sorcerer, or any other, could guess was that whoever it was, was at least nominally human-shaped. Anything else could not be guessed at.
There were many demons and warriors gathered together, as well as a smattering of magicians, beasts, and beast-warriors. A fine collection of fighters, in Chaos Sorcerer's opinion, far more so than anything Brron had ever accomplished. One of the demons there he recognized, but not because of Brron.
What is Belial doing here? He'd heard rumors that Belial, the Marquis of Darkness, desired to set up his own kingdom in opposition to Brron, or even take over the Mad King's realm entirely. So what he'd be doing here, at a gathering clearly meant to signify the ascension of a new overlord, Chaos Sorcerer did not understand at all.
Belial was not the type to bow down to anyone else. Seeing him on his knees, his sword sheathed, his wings bent in submission, made Chaos Sorcerer more wary than anything else. He kept himself tense and ready, aware that something was off in many ways here.
The armored warrior moved among them still, passing not far from Chaos Sorcerer himself. Belial knelt only one row away, to all appearances as humble as all the others.
"I am Haou." His voice rang oddly familiar to Chaos Sorcerer, despite how it was distorted by the helmet. "I will rule this world." There wasn't a shred of doubt in his voice at all. "You will be my army." Chaos Sorcerer wondered how one could advance in this warrior's ranks.
He'd continued to move as he spoke and now stood but a pace or two away from Belial, his back turned to the demon. Belial's movements were quick, to the point that anyone not watching might have thought he'd flown. He pulled his sword out and charged at the armored warrior, tip of the blade pointed toward the other's heart.
Chaos Sorcerer leaped forward himself, conjuring spheres of dark and light energy from the centers of his palms as he did, and blasting them toward Belial. In a standard duel, he knew, the higher ranked monster would be able to brush the attack off easily. This, however, wasn't a standard duel, and he knew he would at least take Belial by surprise.
The other staggered only for a moment, then turned toward Chaos Sorcerer, eyes blazing with demon's fury. "You would defend a mere human against one of your own?"
Chaos Sorcerer lifted his head in defiance. "As I just did that, the answer is yes." He didn't know if Haou were indeed human, but he didn't feel it mattered. He knew just from the few words spoken that Haou held power unlike any other in this world, and that alone won his loyalty.
Haou himself stood unperturbed, having turned to observe the interaction. Then, he reached up and slid his faceplate up, revealing a face that made Chaos Sorcerer understand at once why he found the other's voice so familiar.
Yuuki Juudai! The boy he'd seen defeat Brron, who'd staggered out of the arena in shock and confusion, whom Chaos Sorcerer had thought would either perish to some other duelist in his state or find a way back to his own world, leaving theirs in chaos. Instead, here he stood now, cold and golden-eyed once again, armored and armed as only a warrior could be, and with the goal of ruling this world.
By all rights, this boy – this warrior – had every right to the kingship left vacant by Brron. Brron had no heir of his own and the other Dark World monsters would likely fight among themselves for the right. But Juudai, Haou, had killed Brron himself. Who else would rule? Chaos Sorcerer didn't trust Belial; he'd heard many stories about the other and what he did to those who displeased him.
Haou spoke. "Chaos Sorcerer. Can you use your effect on him?" Golden eyes flicked for a brief moment toward Belial.
Chaos Sorcerer nodded at once. "Do you wish me to do so?" He hesitated only for a moment before he added something else. "Haou-sama?"
There was no smile to indicate approval of the honorific, but Chaos Sorcerer suspected that he liked it anyway. Or at least didn't disapprove of it. His only indication was a slight nod. "If you can remove him to a place where I can retrieve him later. I have...plans."
Chaos Sorcerer nodded; retrieving a removed creature wasn't easy but with the right spell or trap he could do it. Perhaps something along the lines of Return From The Different Dimension.
Belial started to stand up, shaking his head in fury. "Do you think someone like you can stop me, human?"
He froze where he stood. Chaos Sorcerer wasn't entirely certain of why, until he looked to see Haou staring at Belial, his eyes glowing brilliantly.
Humans don't do that, do they? The spellcaster hadn't met many of them, but none of those he'd seen could.
Lest those glowing eyes be turned on him, he concentrated his abilities and briefly brushed his fingers against the side of the other's face. Still frozen by whatever power Haou-sama used, Belial glimmered for a moment, then vanished, a simple winking out, being there one moment and not the next, unlike the complete shattering of existence that came with death. Chaos Sorcerer breathed in for a moment; using his effect took some effort. He much preferred his conjurations or an outright duel to that.
When he focused again, he found Haou looking at him, a thoughtful tilt to his head. "Is there something else you desire, Haou-sama?" Chaos Sorcerer knew many things. High among those things was the art of knowing when to suck up to someone clearly superior.
"You will be one of my Death Duelists," Haou-sama said after a few nerve-wracklingly quiet moments. There was no question of the matter. Chaos Sorcerer bowed his head in quick submission.
"As you wish, Haou-sama." He didn't know what the position entailed, but after what had just happened, he doubted it was one he would dislike.
And that had been true; being a Death Duelist granted one power and prestige in the new regime. Everyone knew that the five favorites of Haou-sama were talented duelists, far beyond the common run of warriors, and each of them ruled over a certain portion of Haou-sama's army, bringing the various regions of the world under his command.
Chaos Sorcerer loved every second of it. He could and did threaten and kill people at Haou-sama's command, and he seldom took greater pleasure than when he watched villages burn to the ground and captured prisoners to be dealt with as Haou-sama wished.
"You'll wish you were dead, really." Those were words that he often spoken to the prisoners, and he meant them. He'd always heard of fates worse than death but he'd never truly believed it until he'd seen the fate Haou-sama had in mind for Belial.
That in and of itself was far more terrifying than killing the attempted assassin actually would have been. Very few saw Belial anymore, but those who did who had known him, such as Chaos Sorcerer himself, could not believe the change in him.
From a powerful, prideful warrior who spent his days planning how to destroy everything in his path and bring whatever survived under his control, Belial now spent his time serving Haou in any manner that the other deemed suitable. So far as Chaos Sorcerer was aware, this included cooking Haou's meals, cleaning his quarters, and on occasion, if Haou were in a generous mood, killing low level fools who dared to make attempts on Haou's life.
It seemed their new lord and master had something of a taste for irony. Rumors of what Haou had done to Belial also spread far and wide, bringing more people to serve him, and more to fear him, than might have done so otherwise.
Chaos Sorcerer thought very little of Belial these days, however. With more and more of the land coming under Haou's rule, he had far too much to do to worry about a fallen demon who was little more than a kitchen slave now.
But no matter his responsibilities, he never turned down the chance to watch Haou-sama duel, and this particular duel certainly was worth watching. Haou's opponent was one of the few humans who lived in their world, and who it seemed hadn't been one of Haou's former companions. Chaos Sorcerer didn't know what had become of those, but this wasn't one of them.
She stood against Haou bravely, he would give her that much. Legs planted firmly on the ground, a battered duel disk on her arm, and an array of magician monsters on her side, she looked ready to go down fighting. She would, of course, do exactly that. Chaos Sorcerer had no doubts. He knew how his liege lord dueled and this girl didn't have it in her to so much as scratch his life points, much less actually defeat him.
A stray bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face as she attempted to stare him down. Haou, of course, looked more like he were having a calm evening's stroll than anything else. He flicked one finger toward her and Evil Hero Malicious Edge shot forward, slicing through the defense position Cosmo Queen on his opponent's field, and bringing her last hundred life points to a complete zero.
"No! I can't... I can't lose like this! I can't!" She had time for no more noble dying speeches, as the effect of the world wrapped around her and she exploded into stardust, her duel disk falling to the ground, the cards scattering uselessly.
"I wonder how she would've preferred to lose," Chaos Sorcerer murmured to Guardian Baou, who snickered softly.
"I'm sure Haou-sama could've accommodated her if she'd asked," Baou replied, a smirk flicking across his lips. "He's very good at making people die the way that they want to."
With the lone defender out of the way, Haou's warriors moved in to gather up the rest of the inhabitants of the village. Chaos Sorcerer's spies had informed him that those few duelists there were weak and would be easily defeated or even intimidated, and that had proven true. The one who'd stood up to Haou had been the best of the lot and even so, Haou had defeated her within three turns. Chaos Sorcerer suspected he could've done it sooner.
Chaos Sorcerer found himself standing beside Haou-sama as the new prisoners were loaded up into wagons in preparation for return to the castle. Haou didn't hold the same kind of death games that Brron had, but he frequently would have his warriors duel against prisoners. If any of those captives survived the duels, they were given the option to join Haou's forces. If they chose not to, they dueled again and again until they perished. It usually didn't take long. Each new opponent was higher ranking and more skilled than the last. Only a handful of them had ever reached the heights of dueling the Death Duelists, and none of them had ever been strong enough to fight Haou himself. When he dueled, it was usually out on the field, when someone dared to challenge him personally.
Haou now stood staring at the card in his hand. Chaos Sorcerer recognized it as Super Fusion. He'd seen it when Brron fought Yuuki Juudai, and had seen it once or twice in Haou's hands.
"It grows stronger, Haou-sama," he said quietly. "You've given it many lives."
Haou didn't look up from the card as it pulsed quietly between his fingers. "I can't remember how many people have died because of this card." He sounded so neutral about it. As if all of those deaths meant nothing to him. Perhaps they didn't. Chaos Sorcerer knew well that his master's only purpose in this world was to create Super Fusion. Why he wanted it, Chaos Sorcerer did not know.
He had a suspicion, however, based off what had happened when Yuuki Juudai entered Brron's arena, and on orders Haou-sama had given shortly after establishing his authority in the area.
"Should anyone find a human claiming to be Johan Andersen, that human is to be brought to me at once for immediate execution. The same goes for anyone using a Gem Beast deck. Claiming the name Johan Andersen or owning Gem Beasts is a crime punishable by death, delivered by me."
Chaos Sorcerer knew only the barest bones of what had happened to Haou before coming to this world, but what he gathered was this: that this Johan Andersen had been close to Yuuki Juudai and due to some unknown event had been lost in the twelve dimensions. Brron told Juudai that Johan had died in their arena. Chaos Sorcerer didn't know one way or the other, and Haou had never asked. So now Haou determined that anyone who claimed to be Johan was lying.
"How many more do you feel it will need, Haou-sama?" Chaos Sorcerer had chosen many of their targets because of the strength of their dueling skills. The stronger the duelist, the stronger the soul that fed Super Fusion and its unknown powers. The more he knew, the more he would be able to help his liege.
Haou considered the question only for a moment. "Not many more. Another month or two should do it."
To think that he considered the products of a month of conquest to be 'not many more'. Chaos Sorcerer could not have been prouder in his choice of masters. This was the kind of warrior and leader that Brron had pretended he was and that Belial longed to be, and neither of them could compare to this child from another world.
Skull Bishop stepped up closer, bowing quickly to Haou-sama. "We're all ready to go, my lord."
Haou-sama nodded, sliding Super Fusion back into his deck. Even in the incomplete form, he always kept it on him. Chaos Sorcerer, knowing something as he did of magic, suspected this was because it needed to be, in order to absorb all the lives that were lost in the vicinity.
Sometimes he wondered if it accepted lives that weren't lost by dueling. For all that he knew of magic, he still hadn't studied the creation of this card in any real detail. Only Brron had known much of it, and Chaos Sorcerer hadn't ranked highly enough to ask then. Now all that they knew was that it fed off death by duel.
He put that thought away. It was time to go home and enjoy the fruits of their day's work. Soon this world would be completely under Haou's domination, but until then, there was still work to do. Work that had ended for the moment.
The army headed out. Chaos Sorcerer strode behind his liege, content with his place in Haou's regard and in the world.
The End