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: Red To Black: Chapter 10: Supreme Victory
Characters: Juudai
Word Count: chapter: 1,030||story: 10,800
Genre: Drama, Angst||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Yu-Gi-Oh GX Non-Flash Bingo; Diversity Challenge, section I, #19, chapters between 1000-2000 word
Notes: This begins in episode 136, just after Jim and O'Brien leave to follow Shou. Juudai's mind did not fracture into Juudai & Haou and this will be a retelling of how he came to power.
Summary: Juudai's always won before and it always fixed everything. But now that he's won and it's fixed nothing, what can he do?

Her laugh trilled and danced around, a spray of dark diamonds against black velvet. Black demon's wings rose from her shoulders, while large claws graced her hands. She neither looked nor sounded like Flame Wingman or Phoenix Guy.

But Juudai found her beautiful. He found her powerful. He found she was just what he needed in this battle.

Illusion Snatch had summoned a defense monster after halving Juudai's life points with his effect damage. Juudai looked at where Millennium Shield, with three thousand defense points, hovered before Illusion Snatch. It would be almost impossible for any normal attack to get through it, especially with a freshly summoned monster.

Juudai liked a challenge. Especially when he saw the answer to the challenge right there in his hand.

He didn't usually like one-turn kills. They never really gave him that much fun, and he'd always liked enjoying his duels. But he knew very well where that had gotten him, so he decided to try something else: absolute power. Absolute destruction and domination.

"Well, are you going to do something else? I admit your monster there is pretty flashy, but can she get past my shield?" Illusion Snatch asked, a smirk twisting on his lips.

"Since you ask, yes," Juudai replied, "and it's thanks to you that she can."

"What?"

Juudai slipped one of his cards into his hand. "Because you just had to hit me with that direct damage, which puts my life points lower than yours. So, now I play Giant's Might, equipping it onto Evil Hero Inferno Wing, and doubling her attack!"

Illusion Snatch's eyes widened and he took a shifting step backward before he rallied himself. "I'll still have life points left. And I still have cards left."

Indeed he had cards; or card if one wished to be accurate. Two of his first cards had gone for the direct damage attack on Juudai, while the third, Double Summon, allowed Illusion Snatch to first summon a low level monster, then tribute it to call Millennium Shield to the field. Only one card remained in his hand, and while Juudai couldn't be certain of what it was, he really had no plans to let Illusion Snatch play it in the first place.

Juudai couldn't find it in himself to smile. What did he have to smile about? But there was satisfaction, nevertheless, as he made his move.

"Inferno Wing, attack his Millennium Shield. Inferno Blast!" Another spray of dark laughter echoed and she rose into the air, claws striking the defense monster and shattering it to pieces. Illusion Snatch covered his face with one hand as the shards blew past him.

"Is that all?"

"When Inferno Wing attacks a monster that's in defense mode, then you take the difference in her attack points and your monster's defense points as damage," Juudai told him. Inferno Wing's claws lifted and struck, slashing across Illusion Snatch's face and sending him stumbling backward. But Juudai wasn't done yet still. "And when Inferno Wing destroys a monster in battle and it goes to the cemetery, then the attack or defense points of that monster are also inflicted to you, whichever ends up being higher."

Millennium Shield had no attack points at all, but three thousand defense. Illusion Snatch had twenty-eight hundred life points to his name. With the satisfied command of "Hell Backfire!", those life points vanished into nothingness.

"No..." Illusion Snatch groped at the air, falling backwards, eyes far wider and in more shock than in all of his life. "How could you… who are you? Who are you?"

Juudai took a step forward. Never before had he felt so cold or so empty inside. Being like this was strangely freeing. He didn't have to worry about anything at all, anything except for getting the results that he wanted. He did worry about his friends who still roamed this land. They needed to be protected, so that they wouldn't go the way of the others.

So, it would be death. And destruction. And the savage, bloodthirsty rule of a conqueror that would protect them. Because he'd seen what had happened when he stayed soft and weak and tried to be a good guy. It didn't work. All it did was get his friends killed, and he'd had more than enough of that.

The thoughts slotted slowly into place, one by one. He'd thought them before in the last few days as he'd searched this world for any sign of anyone who was genuinely good, and as he'd searched for answers to the strangeness of his deck and the mysteries of Super Fusion.

He had those answers now. With Super Fusion he could rule this world, and he would rule this world in order to bring life to Super Fusion itself. His deck now reflected his own heart, enclosed in a deep shadow that he did not want lifted.

There wasn't anyone good in this world, no one worth saving or protecting aside from his own friends. For them, he would do this. For them, he would grow up and become the person that he should've been all along.

They won't like it, he told himself. They won't understand. Shou already didn't. He'd seen that for himself. But it needed to be done even if they didn't. Perhaps once it was settled, they would find him and he could explain it to them then. They might even agree, once they saw how his rule would benefit this place. It would take so much effort, but what else was he going to do with his time? It wasn't as if he had homework anymore.

Illusion Snatch was no more, nothing but dust in the wind. He'd had his first true victory and the taste of it was sweet indeed.

The people of this village drew closer, each one nervous and on edge, staring at him. Then, starting with a Red Ace, each of them knelt down before him, whispering one single word. It took him a few moments to understand what that word was, but when he did, he could only nod.

Over and over it sounded, a litany that would not fade.

"Haou. Haou. Haou."

To Be Continued