8. Bait

Mai had lost her patience with all the male posturing. "Hello, my turn!" She directed her attention to the field once again, trying to get her head back in the game. While figuring out the rules to Julius's out-of-game attacks was all well and good, the duel itself had been a little too close for comfort, with them first losing Five-Headed Dragon and then Slifer. Even with Slifer back on their side, however, Julius still had Reshef, which meant they couldn't count on any of their monsters sticking with them. Time for a new tactic. She drew, and smiled. Elegant Egotist. And considering she had another Cyber Harpie in her hand along with Arrow Nail and a recent addition to her deck, Hysteric Party, it looked like a new tactic in the making.

"All right boys, let's get back to why we came, shall we? And I say it's time to bring the ladies back to the party." She summoned Cyber Harpie Lady and played Elegant Egotist to multiply her into the three Harpie Lady Sisters. She then equipped her first Harpie with Arrow Nail, increasing its attack points from 1800 to 2100. But she used one of her unequipped Harpies to attack. "Say bye-bye to Reshef, Professor!"

"I don't think so. Activate Ring of Nine Lives!"

Mai groaned, as did several of her teammates and their friends. Ring of Nine Lives was a card they'd seen Ramesses use before to protect Reshef. When equipped to a monster with special summoning requirements, like a ritual monster, it would make it impervious to attacks and all card effects for nine turns. Her first attack thwarted, Mai sent her Harpie with Arrow Nail to go after to his facedown card, which turned out to be Helpoemer, a five-star monster with 1900 defense points.

"Thank you, my dear, that was most helpful."

Mai wrinkled her nose. "Come again?"

"Helpoemer has a special ability that activates when it is in the graveyard. As long as it remains there, my opponent—or opponents—loose one card randomly from their hands at the end of each of their Battle Phases.

Joey grunted. "I remember that card. Psycho-Marik played it in our Battle City duel. Must be all the rage among deranged bad guys."

Mai's Battle Phase was over, so a ghostly hand immediately came out of Julius's graveyard and reached for her hand. She held her breath—not Hysteric Party, please not Hysteric Party—and then let it out slowly when it grabbed Dark Witch and sent it to her graveyard. She set Hysteric Party facedown to get it out of her hand and Helpoemer's grasp for future turns, then ended her turn. Well, that could've been much worse.

"I'll take it from here," Joey said as he took her place on the playing field, giving her a high five as she passed.

"He's all yours, hon."


Yugi watched as Joey took the field, praying silently that his boisterous friend would use some discretion and not provoke Julius into attacking him. Although it had been a brilliant strategy to lure Julius into sending both his monsters to attack so that he could use Hyper Refresh to protect his Life Points, Ultimate Obedient Fiend made Yugi more than a little nervous, and he wasn't interested in seeing Joey test exactly what kind of damage it could really do. He'd seen the results of an out-of-bonds attack from Reshef, and Ultimate Obedient Fiend was 1000 attack points stronger.

Joey seemed too mad for banter, however. He played one monster in facedown defense mode and set three spell or trap cards facedown. Bypassing his battle phase all together, thus saving himself from losing a card to Helpoemer's effect, he ended his turn without so much as a single taunt directed at their opponent.

Apparently, Yugi wasn't the only one who noticed. Julius's lips slid into a slippery smile. "What? Not only do you not play anything worthwhile, you don't even have some of that witty repartee for which you're so famous?"

Yugi growled in the back of his throat. Don't take the bait, Joey.

"You're not worth wasting my breath. I'll let our cards do the talking. And since Yugi is up next, I have a feeling Slifer will have a few things to say."

Yugi breathed a sigh of relief when Joey stepped off the field without further comment. Stepping into the place Joey had just vacated, Yugi drew a card.

Obelisk the Tormentor.

Keeping his face completely blank, he slipped Obelisk into his hand, which now consisted of Unity, Gazelle King of Mythical Beasts, and the four cards he'd drawn when Kaiba had played Card of Sanctity: Red Gadget, Soul Shield, Magical Pigeons, and Sangan.

Yugi raised an eyebrow. Sangan. And Ra's attack was zero until monsters had been sacrificed to summon it….

He allowed himself a satisfied smirk. "I summon Sangan to the field. Then I sacrifice it along with two of Mai's Harpies to special summon the second god of Egypt, Obelisk the Tormentor!"

His friends behind him erupted into cheers as the two Harpies and Sangan dissolved. Lightning flashed around them and a tremendous wind tore at them as if a storm had just blown in. One of the bolts of lightning struck the ground in front of Yugi, filling the field with a flare of blinding light. As the light dimmed, a shadowy figure crouched on the ground like a gargoyle with wings wrapped around it. It slowly unfolded its wing, rising to loom over them, dwarfing everything else in the chamber, including Professor Julius's Ultimate Obedient Fiend and even Slifer the Sky Dragon.

Joey let out a joyous whoop. "YES! Way to go, Yuge! Two gods on the field!"

And the third in my hand, thanks to Sangan's special effect. When it was sent from the field to the graveyard, Sangan allowed him to take one monster with fewer than 1500 attack points from his deck and add it to his hand. The catch was, he had to show it to his opponent first.

Kaiba's eyes widened as he watched Yugi carefully before he'd even chosen his card, and Yugi wondered if Professor Julius had also figured out what monster he was after. He met the professor's eyes as he flipped through his deck. "The interesting thing about the Egyptian gods, Professor, is that they all have several effects that make them quite different from most cards. Take Slifer, whose attack can either be very weak or very powerful, all depending on the number of cards its wielder holds in his hand. Or Winged Dragon of Ra. Widely regarded as the most powerful of the three Egyptian gods, and yet, do you know that until it has been correctly summoned by sacrificing three monsters, its attack is zero?" He found the card and pulled it out of his deck, showing it to Julius. "Zero, Professor. The most powerful Egyptian god, and its attack is less than 1500." He slipped the card into his hand. "I wonder, Professor. Do you have what it takes to stop three Egyptian gods?"

Julius sneered at him. "In your hand isn't the same thing as on the field, Mr. Mutou."

"Well, yes. So in the meantime, I'll concentrate on the two gods that are on the field and sacrifice Joey's facedown monster and the remaining Harpie Lady to activate Obelisk's special ability. Obelisk, destroy everything in your path, and take 4000 of the professor's Life Points as well!"

Obelisk bent down and picked up the Harpie and Joey's monster—Rocket Warrior—as if he were a child picking up a pair of action figures. The two sacrifices glowed brilliant white, then disappeared, as Obelisk reared back. Lurching forward, his mammoth fist blew through first Five-Headed Dragon, then Reshef the Dark Being, melting his Ring of Nine Lives on contact, and then finally Professor Julius himself. A cloud of dust rose up, obscuring everything, and Yugi shielded his eyes with his arm.

When the dust cleared, Yugi looked up. Julius was doubled over, reeling from the 4000-point hit that had left him with only 400 Life Points. "And now, Slifer the Sky Dragon, finish him off with Thunderforce Strike!"

"Activate trap!"

In front of the professor, a trap card depicting a sword-wielding knight sprang up, and Five-Headed Dragon reappeared on the field, followed closely behind by Reshef the Dark Being, its Ring of Nine Lives still intact.

"What just happened? What is that?" Yugi heard Mai ask behind him.

But Yugi knew what it was. He'd used the exact same card to defeat the Egyptian god cards once before. He shook his head. "You are quite the scholar, aren't you, Professor? I see you've even managed to study the Ceremonial Battle."

Joey let out an annoyed hiss. "I remember now. Mirage Ruler. You used it to beat the Pharaoh when he played the god cards against you."

Yugi nodded and explained to Mai. "Mirage Ruler can be activated when all its controller's monsters are destroyed. It restores all the monsters that were destroyed and the Life Points that were lost. Professor Julius only has to pay 1000 Life Points." And Yugi could see that his Life Point counter had, in fact, gone back up to 4400, then down to 3400. He looked at his former professor. "How did you know? No records were kept of the Ceremonial Battle. You couldn't have even asked Ishizu without explaining why you cared about 'romantic nonsense.'"

"True enough. But you forget that one of my servants was a witness to the Ceremonial Battle. I have seen the whole thing through his eyes, his memory."

Yugi frowned, then his eyes narrowed. "Marik."

"Right again. Trying to prove you're at least an average student after all?"

"I have nothing to prove to you, Professor. And my turn isn't over yet. The return of your monsters to the field triggered a reply, so Slifer the Sky Dragon has yet to attack. He has 6000 attack points—more than enough to take out either of your monsters."

He considered for a moment which one he should attack. Five-Headed Dragon could only be destroyed by a Light-attribute monster, but the god cards were exempt from such limitations, so he could attack and Julius would lose his strongest monster and 1000 more Life Points. Reshef, however, was potentially a more serious threat. Only a god could get past Ring of Nine Lives, and as long as Reshef was on the field, they had to worry about losing their monsters for a turn. Deciding that getting rid of Reshef was their greater priority, he attacked and destroyed it, once again melting through Ring of Nine Lives as if it were nothing more substantial than a chocolate bar on a hot day. When it was over, Reshef the Dark Being was gone and Yugi's battle phase was over. A ghostly hand came out of the professor's grave, taking Yugi's Magical Pigeons card from his hand and sending it to his own graveyard, and then Yugi ended his turn.

One more turn, Professor. One more turn and I'll have all three god cards on the field, and even if you studied the Ceremonial Battle move for move, you won't defeat them.

Professor Julius clucked his tongue. "Well, well, I am more disappointed with every turn. I would've thought that any true son of Egypt would have been able to crush an opponent with two gods on the field, yet here I stand."

But Yugi saw something behind his boast. He knows he can't win.


The moves and monsters had been a little too complicated for Sara to follow, but she could tell Professor Julius had just saved himself from what should have been his defeat. "I hope you can do better, Mr. Kaiba. I was anticipating a little more challenge." He sounded cocky, but Sara knew her mentor—or she'd thought she knew him before all this—and there was something in his voice that belied the brash tone. He's afraid. Whatever card that was that Yugi got to put into his hand that last turn is something that scares him. As if he'd read her thoughts, he glanced at her, then turned back to Seto. "I'd hate for my poor protégé to lose her soul to the Shadow Realm without even a real fight."

Seto didn't look at her as he stepped up to the field. "I told you, Julius. Leave her out of this."

"I'm not the one who brought her into this. I wasn't the one who sacrificed a young girl just to control her powerful Ka."

Sara wanted to scream. Stop trying to make me be this other person! I'm not Kisara, I'm not!

Seto looked ready to spit fire. "That wasn't what happened." He met her eyes briefly, and her horror and anger and denial all melted into an entirely different feeling. Then, he shook his head in a way that she would have described as self-reproach were it anyone other than Seto. "And the ancient past has nothing to do with Sara, and nothing to do with me."

She bit her lip, not sure if she was relieved or disappointed by his disavowal.

Professor Julius wasted no time jumping on Seto's discomfort. "Your denial of the truth would be almost charming if it weren't so pitiful. You stake not only your own soul, but Sara's and your brother's—"

The disquiet was gone in a flash of protective fury. "You deal with me, not my brother, do you understand me, you pathetic loser?"

"Kaiba…" Yugi warned, turning to flash him an admonishing look as he brushed past.

The professor was livid. "Loser, am I? Not one, but two Egyptian gods failed to defeat me!"

"You're a hack who copies moves from better duelists, but those kind of tricks only take you so far. Just ask Wheeler." Seto cocked his thumb in Joey's direction.

"Hey! Watch it, Moneybags—"

Seto continued his rant unabated. "I mean seriously, even he kicked your worthless ass the last turn. You're a pathetic nobody. Now let's get on with it before I die of boredom."

"It isn't boredom you should worry about killing you, Mr. Kaiba."

Something sour turned in Sara's stomach. "Seto, no!"

The atmosphere crackled with electricity as Ultimate Obedient Fiend drew on the ions in the air around them to charge itself. Before Sara could even realize what was happening, Yugi, who hadn't yet left the field, grabbed Seto's arm and pulled him back as hard as he could. Although Seto had a good nine inches and somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty pounds on him, he'd been so caught off-guard that he was thrown off balance and onto the edge of the field as Yugi pivoted on his boot heel and almost toppled onto him.

Then the blast hit, a shockwave of lightning slamming into Yugi's back, knocking him clear off his feet and into Seto, sending them both flying to the ground as Sara started screaming. "NOOOOO!"