Well, this, as one might imagine, is essentially my own take on a Supreme King AU.
Amongst other things, it will feature the Supreme King, as he truly is, a superhuman force of nature, devoted utterly to his own purposes, regardless of what those who obey the sometimes arbitrary dictates of black/white morality have to say about it.
As the Space-Time co-ordinates listed below might imply, this story takes place in the same 24-universe multiverse as my other Digimon stories. Despite that, it won't be a true cross-over between the two stories; it might come to feature characters from my concurrent Digimon Fanfic, but that isn't a guarantee, nor will they even be minor characters, should they appear.
Without further ado, I bid you fond reading.
Universe 24, Yu-Gi-Oh Timeline 03, 2007, October 17, The Darkness World, Castle of the Supreme King
The Supreme King sat on his throne, sharply eyeing the invader into his throne room. The dark-skinned teen took firm, brisk steps towards him.
"Supreme King," Axel addressed him sternly.
"You again?" The dark monarch returned wearily, somewhat surprised by his return. The voice was Jaden Yuki's, though the inflection was far too cold and metallic to be human. "I didn't think you'll ever stop running."
"Well, you better think again," Axel glared at him, narrowing his eyes. "I've returned to face you, and finish off what our friend Jim started to do. I'm here to defeat your dark half Jaden!"
"Those are big words, coming from a man who ran away, yelling and screaming like a child!" The Supreme King spat.
"You managed to get under my skin," Axel conceded. "You scared me. You took away all my confidence. I always believed that power was the only thing that mattered; those with more power crush those with less, and you have a lot more power than I do. You beat my friend, and I knew I was next. I was done for-"
"And yet we're face-to-face again," The tyrant cut in. "Do you wish to be destroyed?"
"Actually, I'm here to destroy you," Axel revealed, pausing minutely. "I'm not afraid anymore. There's more to Dueling than power! I see that now! 'Cuz I got something to fight for! People who look up to me, people who put their trust in me! Their trust makes me strong, so here's how it's gonna work, your highness, we're gonna duel, and after I finish wiping the floor with your black heart, your reign over my friend is done!"
"Not quite!" The ruler of darkness countered, darkly amused by his bravado. "Here's how it's gonna work; you'll bow to me, and plead mercy, and I might spare you..."
"Or maybe, you'll accept my challenge, and I'll beat you," Axel retorted. "Only, I have no intention of sparing you. I'll defeat the darkness! And rid the world of your terror!
"You'll pay for your insolence!" The Supreme King proclaimed angrily, though he remained seated. If Axel had desired a reaction, he had most certainly gotten that. With no more to say, both Duellists engaged their Duel Disks.
Axel's gun-themed model needed no time to be readied, while the Supreme King's did, its card-zones spinning rapidly, giving it a superficial similarity to a buzz-saw.
"And I go!" Axel proclaimed, taking a brief look at his drawn card. "I place one card face-down, your move."
"A feeble start," The monarch scoffed, drawing his Dark Fusion card, adding it to his other five. "Allow me to tell you something; care to remember your friend? You should, because he's the one who made this possible!"
"Made what possible, Jaden?" Axel questioned, a hint of fear creeping into his voice. "What did you do to Jim?!"
"If you want to know, I'll gladly tell you," The monarch said, with a cruel smirk. "He was sacrificed, to empower my monsters further! Him and his crocodile!"
Axel's eyes widened. He had believed, or wanted to, that even in his current state of mind, Jaden wouldn't pointlessly sacrifice his friends, but it seemed he was wrong. "I'm sorry to hear that, Jaden, but I'm still going to beat you, no matter what!"
The Supreme King responded with a darkly amused chuckle at his arrogance. Just what enabled Axel to believe that he'll succeed where Jim had failed, he wondered. "But regardless of all that, I believe we were in the middle of a Duel! I'll activate Dark Fusion, allowing me to merge Evil Hero Hurricane and Evil Hero Wildfire together, forming Evil Hero Inferno Wing!"
Before the Supreme King, Axel briefly saw Elemental Hero Avian and Elemental Hero Burstinatrix appear before they were sucked into the fusion vortex. From a spiral of bright blue flames emerged the demonic look-alike of Flame Wingman. [2100/1200]
The very fact that Jaden now used Evil Heroes for his Fusion Summons only served to underline Axel's worst fears. If their Deck was the symbol of a Duellist's soul, well, then, Jaden's might well be corrupted beyond repair, he thought to himself. He simply prayed that it wasn't too late to save Jaden; the fact that his ordinary Evil Heroes didn't look any different than normal gave him some hope.
"Next, I activate the special ability of the other Evil Hero Hurricane in my hand!" The Supreme King proclaimed. "Since I control an Evil Hero, I can reveal Hurricane in my hand to destroy a Spell or Trap on the field!"
"N-no way!" Axel stammered in shock, seeing his set Fire Wall card become ripped to shreds by the tornado that had suddenly formed around it.
"Oh, it's quite possibly," The king contradicted. "Now, Inferno Wing, rid me of this worm! Inferno Barrage!"
Axel heard something behind him, a split-second before he was engulfed in an ocean of cerulean flames. [Axel: 1900 Life Points]
"I'll set two cards face-down, and declare the end of my turn," The Supreme King sneered at him, while his cards materialized in flashes of golden light behind his Inferno Wing.
Axel scowled when the flames had subsided, cursing inwardly, while his mind raced to find a solution to his dilemma. He knew that he couldn't use either of his Blaze Accelerators; if he did, that Evil Hero Hurricane would just destroy them before they could be used.
Even worse, neither Volcanic Slicer or Volcanic Counter had the attack nor defense points to last him a turn against that Evil Hero. He didn't have any ways to fight back, but he refused to abandon Jaden, and let Jim have died in vain.
Then, he glanced briefly at Jaden, seeing the possessed teen tower over him, glaring comtemptuously down his nose at him with those ice-gold eyes, an overpowering sense of fear and despair pouring off him in waves.
In that moment, Axel felt his body give out on him and become numb, his mind paralyzed with dread. Though he had seen many times in his life, visited many places and countries, and even occasionally killed people, everyone he'd ever fought or Duelled against had been certifiably human, whether good or evil. Now, he truly began to question whether Jaden ever truly had been.
He felt true, nauseating fear, for the first time he could remember. In his head, every combat instinct he'd acquired screamed at him to flee as before, from the colossal, world-shaking power before his eyes.
"Well?" The Supreme King's voice called out to him, echoing in his fear-stricken mind. "Didn't you come with some crazed notion to defeat me? Where is your false courage now?"
Overcome with fear, Axel simply placed his Volcanic Slicer for the Supreme King to slaughter, dimly registering his Life-Points being wiped away, savoring the freedom from the fear he gained momentarily.
The monarch smirked, savoring his victory, before his shadowy miasma formed a ceremonial pentagram rune around where Axel had just been. His golden eyes flared as Axel's energies were condensed into a single card.
Though it was still blank, he suspected that the pooled energies of about ten mighty Duellists were sufficient to complete his Evil Hero Supreme Inferno Wing. Looking to his staircase, he noted the presence of three further sacrifices, all lined up.
"I remember you," The monarch commented idly, to the shocked trio. "You're Zane Truesdale, Aster Phoenix and Syrus Truesdale, powerful Duellists. Such power makes you valuable assets, and I could use new followers, to replace those you defeated to come here. Pledge eternal loyalty, and you will live."
The tallest of the three stepped forward, scowling, his simple action speaking louder than words, his Duel Disk and deck ready. "You fool!" The Supreme King snarled as he rose to his full height, which didn't quite match Zane's.
Behind Zane, he noted that Syrus and Aster fled, as befitting of such lowly creatures, he thought with contempt. Both Zane and the monarch were quick to draw their hands.
Zane was pleased to note the presences of all three Cyber Dragons in his hand, along with Polymerization and Power Wall. He simply wished that he would last long enough to make Jaden come to his senses.
In his chest, he felt his heart pound away, almost threatening to burst out of his chest at any moment.
Had Zane been aware of the contents of the Supreme King's hand, he might not have been as confident.
The dark monarch inspected the six cards, Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy, Alternate Dark Calling, Super Polymerization, Evil Blast, Evil Hero Wildfire and Evil Hero Behemoth, his mind racing, processing millions upon millions of thought per second, to determine a suitable punishment for this arrogant human.
"I'll summon Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy, and I'll set a card as well," The possessed Jaden spat at his opponent. "Now depart, coward, lest you wish to face your doom!"
Before the armored ruler appeared now a demonic humanoid in a crouching position, and a brown-backed card adorned with a black dot. [300/600]
Jaden's eyes narrowed before widening, as if he had come to a sudden realization. "Your Cyber Dragons symbolize Yang... Your Cyberdark Dragons symbolize Yin... Serve me, and I shall grant you power beyond your wildest imagination!"
"That won't happen, Jaden!" Zane refused, drawing Limiter Removal. "I already have all the power I need! AND I'LL PROVE IT!" He hollered, sliding a spell into his Duel Disk. "Activate Spell card, Polymerization! With this card, I'll fuse my three Cyber Dragons together, forming my invincible Cyber End Dragon!"
The three serpent-like machines appeared briefly as Zane slid their cards into his Duel Disk's graveyard slot. From a blaze of white light, their merged form emerged into reality, assuming a position around their master. [4000/2800]
"Next, I'll activate Limiter Removal, doubling his attack power!" Zane proclaimed, while Cyber End Dragon's body shone with a golden light, wheezing noises emanating from within as its systems were pushed to their uttermost limits and beyond. [8000/2800]
The Supreme King was far from impressed with his display. "Wasted effort," He scoffed at him. "I'll activate my face-down card, Super Polymerization! With this card, after discarding a card from my hand, I can fuse any monsters on the field. So say goodbye to your Cyber End Dragon!"
"What?" Zane exclaimed as his opponent slid Evil Hero Wildfire into his graveyard. Unable to do anything about it, Zane was forced to watch both Jaden's Prodigy and his own Cyber End Dragon get sucked into the swirling vortex, and with the mighty machine-dragon, his last line of defense.
In their place emerged a being whose appearance was obscured from sight by the large ebon-black cloak it wore, save for the blood-red eyes, in the shape of a sharply-angled triangle, gleaming from within the hood. [1200/2400]
Zane was utterly dumbfounded at the ease of which Jaden had disposed of Cyber End Dragon; even in their second duel, he had only managed to make it a draw. Just how much stronger than him had Jaden become now, he wondered with what he realized to be fear.
"Behold Evil Hero Lord of True Evil," The Supreme King introduced to Zane. "He's not as strong as most other Evil Heroes, but he possesses three very useful powers. I think I'll make use of his first: You have to put a card in your hand back in your deck, while I get to draw a card."
Zane groaned in frustration as he shuffled Power Wall into his deck. The Supreme King, however, drew the most useful card, Consigned Sacrifice.
"Now, unless you have a move to make, I suggest you end your turn," The king chuckled at Zane, amused with his defenseless state.
As Axel had before him, Zane acknowledged that the powergap between himself and Jaden was far too great to be closed, though he was resolved to keep fighting regardless, and declared the end of his turn.
That determination, however, proved ultimately futile; during the Supreme King's turns, Lord of True Evil's second power took away a thousand of Zane's Life Points and gave them to Jaden, while during Zane's turns, the first power did away with whatever Zane drew before it could be used, even if there had been anything to use those cards on.
[The Supreme King: 8000 Life Points] [Zane: 0 Life Points]
With the weaklings dispatched of, the lord of the castle resumed his position in his second throne, to survey the land he had conquered.
And we're off to a good start.
By 'good start' I mean killing Jim, Shirley, Axel and Zane off. Yeah.
Next chapter, we'll see the wider-scale repercussions of the Supreme King retaining his power and hold over Jaden. Plus, of course, what Aster and Syrus are up to.
As for the 2007 date-mark, it was the closest thing I could think of; GX is set during the vague time 'ten years after the time of Yugi Muto', which I've chosen to interpret as starting in 1996; ample time for nearly every arc, Anime/Manga/Game, of Duel Monsters, as well as covering why people occasionally refer to Seto Kaiba as having been trying to beat Yugi/Yami "for years".
As per the suggestion of the Beta-Reader, here's a brief summary of Haou's cards.
. . . . .
VS Axel
Evil Hero Hurricane
3/WIND/Fiend/Effect
1000/1000
During either player's turn, if you control an "Evil Hero" monster, you can reveal this card in your hand: Destroy 1 Spell/Trap card on the field. If you do this, this card remains revealed in your hand, until the End Phase. Treat this card as "Elemental Hero Avian" for the Fusion Summon of an "Evil Hero" monster.
. . . . .
VS Zane
Evil Hero Lord of True Evil
8/DARK/Fiend/Effect/Fusion
1200/2400
"Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy" + 1 Level 6 or higher monster
Must be Special Summoned with "Super Polymerization", and cannot be summoned in other ways. Cannot declare an attack. Once per turn, during either player's turn, you can activate one of these effects.
● Your opponent shuffles a card in their hand into their deck, then you draw a card.
● Your opponent loses 1000 Life-Points, then you gain 1000 Life-Points.
● All monsters your opponent controls loses 1000 ATK/DEF, then all other monsters you control gains 1000 ATK/DEF.
