Chapter XI: The Return of Seto
A/N: Yes, I know this took a mighty long time to do, thigns just got in the way. There were problems with friends, dealt with stuff of my own, and just pure chaos. It drastically slowed down all the updates for every story. And also, half the time I'm playing World of Warcraft instead of anything else so yeah. Sorry this took so long to update. The next chpater may take a while to do because I still need to update Resident Evil 4. But I'll try to update these stories faster. This one has about two more chapters to go, almost done.
A few days later, Atem went outside to check up on things. The town was still in the process of being rebuilt with the help of survivors, soldiers, and even Atem and X-zale themselves along with their friends. But it was close to being finished at last. Peace had also been restored. Atem's wounds had almost healed as well as those of his friends and the citizen survivors.
Since the attack, Atem had been busy creating the trap that would contain the monsters the Dark Sorcerers had at their control. He was creating stone slabs, which would have a spell put upon it with the power of the Millennium Puzzle that would trap any monster spirit with the help of the pharaoh and his Puzzle. They were almost six feet tall, six feet wide, and about four feet thick. He had already tested a few with his own monsters, as he would have to trap his own as well as the Dark Sorcerers to avoid theft of his monsters. The Dark Sorcerers would surely try to steal his monsters and use them against him. The monsters he had used to test the slabs were now trapped within the stone slabs and could not get out unless called upon by one with that kind of power. The picture of the monster would instantly materialize on the slab as soon as the monster was captured.
With the tests showing successful results, Atem was making sure that his workers continued to create stone slabs for the monsters. He wasn't entirely sure how many slabs he would need as he had to trap the rest of his monsters, all of the Dark Sorcerers monsters, and also those of X-zale's odd underground forest. There were countless ones to make. For now, he would have to lure the monsters of all three to the newly built stone slabs until he had captured all of them, which could take weeks or even months to do. But no matter. Whatever it took to stop the Dark Sorcerers, cripple their link of power, and protect his kingdom.
"Hey Atem!" Jono yelled out. Atem looked and smiled at Jono as he approached him. Jono's wounds had almost healed but scars still remained from the day of the attack.
"Hi Jono," Atem greeted.
"What are you up to?"
"Nothing much. Just had some time to think."
"Am I bothering you?"
"No, you're fine."
"Okay, just making sure. So if you're not busy, you want to just hang out?"
"Yeah I guess. I could use the break."
Atem joined Jono and together, the two friends walked around and talked along with Tridan and Lesaro who joined them later on. Their time together cleared Atem's mind of the stressful issue with the monsters and the Dark Sorcerers, but in the back of his mind, he always kept a vigilant eye out for the Dark Sorcerers and thought about the future with the monsters trapped in stone slabs.
Two months later…
Eight stressful, hardworking weeks later, Atem was lying in his bed on his back with his hands behind his head, resting. Atem's workers had finished the stone slabs and Atem had captured every monster he had planned to take. With the help of his Millennium Puzzle, Atem had lured every monster into each slab, trapping them forever. He had high confidence that every monster had been caught and was now inside the stone slabs. Several times he had done a few tests to make sure of that and no new monsters showed up.
Atem ordered his workers to place the stone slabs in a temple outside of the palace, guarded heavily by Atem's loyal guards. The king soon dismissed his workers after giving them their reward for their hard work.
For two months, Atem had kept the stone slabs a secret. If his project was to be discovered, the Dark Sorcerers might come and attack his kingdom again, ready to kill to get their hands on the stone slabs and steal his monsters as well as get theirs back. Teana and X-zale were the only ones who knew about the project. The guards of the palace didn't know about the monsters. The servants didn't know about the monsters. Not even the workers themselves knew about the monsters. Although they were the ones making the stone slabs, they were never told what the slabs would be used for. Atem captured the monsters in secret, making sure no other person was watching when he did that. He was successfully able to capture all the monsters in secret.
With the stone slabs and monsters now over with, Atem had changed his concern to his kingdom. Problems had been plaguing Egypt for some time and he wanted to get all of that fixed as soon as possible. But the creation of the stone slabs and the capture of the monsters had taken his attention away from that, leaving Egypt's problems for Teana to fix.
Now however, he could finally bring his attention back to Egypt's problems and help Teana with them. Right now, he had to head into the Court Room, where thieves and other criminals would be taken to speak before the pharaoh about their crimes and Atem would determine what was to happen to them.
Ready to continue his duty as a king, Atem got up from bed and headed out of his room. He walked to the Court Room, ready to punish those who deserved it.
Later that night, Seto was pacing back and forth in his room, now greatly angry. He had just been informed that their monsters were gone and they didn't know where they were. Seto had a feeling that Atem had something to do with the disappearance of their monsters. He balled up his fist in anger. His best legion of fighters were now gone and he didn't have any other way to fight. The sneak attack he foolishly planned hurt his army badly. He had lost a great number of soldiers in the fight. Attacking the pharaoh's army would be suicide. He didn't want to have to wait until his army grew again. He had waited long enough to get his vengeance.
But thinking about it more closely, he realized something. Even if the pharaoh has my monsters trapped in something, I can still control them. I can still fight that fool and get my monsters back. I can still kill him right then and there.
Then it would be just that. Seto would go face to face with Atem. And this time, he wasn't going to fail.
The next morning, Atem went outside to get a breath of fresh air for a while before he went back to work. Once again, Jono greeted him at the palace entrance. "Good morning, Atem," he greeted.
"Good morning to you too Jono," Atem greeted. "What have you been up to?"
"Nothing much really. Hey, did you want to just hang out again? You've been busy for the past several weeks. It might get things off of your mind."
"Perhaps for a while but not too long. Soon I have to get back to my work."
"Ok Atem. Come on, we can take a short walk around here."
A short walk might do him some good. "Alright, let's go."
Jono and Atem were about to take off when X-zale suddenly landed in front of them, panting heavily. His muscular shoulders were shaking badly. "X-zale!" Atem cried, concerned for his friend.
He ran up to him and knelt by his side. Jono did the same. "X-zale, what's wrong?" Atem demanded, knowing that if X-zale was heavily exhausted, something terrible was happening.
"Atem…we have to…clear this…town now…" X-zale panted.
"Why?"
"Seto…he's heading over here…on horseback…"
"What??! Do you know why?"
"He's coming back to…finish was he started long ago. He's going to…come and fight you…he found out about his monsters being taken by you…and now he's coming to fight you and get them back."
Atem was afraid of this. He didn't think Seto would've been able to figure it out so fast but it seems he underestimated him. And now he was coming back to get what belonged to him by any means necessary. He knew he had to act fast. "Trapped? You have Seto's monsters?" Jono wondered.
"Jono, I need you to find Lesaro and Tridan and immediately bring them to the palace, including yourself. I need you to stay with Teana and Sethos," Atem ordered.
"Ok Atem but—" Jono was about to ask.
"Move!" Atem yelled.
Without wasting any more time, Jono stood up and quickly ran towards the bustling crowd in the marketplace of Egypt. "Atem…where are the stone slabs? I can tell the guards of the palace to quickly defend that area," X-hale explained.
"No you will not do that. I will. Go and tell all the civilians to go home immediately. Everyone is to abandon what they are doing and find someplace safe to stay," Atem ordered. "As soon as you're done with that, go inside and check up on Teana and Sethos."
X-zale was about to ask the same question but he decided to leave it for later. He wasn't to question the king's orders. "I shall do as you say," he said with a little bow. He quickly ran towards the marketplace as well, fulfilling Atem's orders.
Atem immediately ran towards the nearby temple that held the stone slabs with all the monsters. He ordered the guards around the temple to line up outside on both sides of the very path that led to the temple. Although perplexed by the pharaoh's request, the guards did as they were told. Atem also asked several guards to heavily arm themselves, get on horseback immediately, and wait for his command.
Without wasting any more time, Atem went inside and into a big room within the temple. At his command, several of his guards moved ten of the large stone slabs into the room, none of them carved with the image of any monster one the front. He ordered them to place the stone slabs face up on the ground, even though it didn't really matter since both sides of the slabs were blank. The slabs were face-up on the ground, five on the right side of the room and five on the left. They were all across from each other. In between the path that was formed from the ten stone slabs being across from each other, there was a golden royal chair in the back of the room, made for only the ruler to sit in.
The room had been built during the eight weeks of the construction of the stone slabs. Something had told Atem that one day, he might have to fight his enemy using monsters. He had built this room as a precaution lest that were to happen. Unfortunately, his fears had been confirmed today as now he would have to fight Seto in a battle of beasts…or have X-zale do so, as the dragon/dinosaur beast would most certainly make it and ensure it his job to fight Seto, not Atem himself.
When the guards had left the room, Atem said a few words and the stone slabs glowed with a bright white light. Suddenly, ten spheres of light came from the ceiling after a few minutes and into the stone slabs. Atem had summoned ten random monsters to inhabit the slabs, having them prepared ahead of time.
As soon as he had the room prepared, Atem went back outside to give the mounted guardsmen their orders, which were to wait for Seto in front of the palace as he would most likely go there first for Atem and immediately lead him to the temple. The heavily armed guards ran off, fulfilling Atem's orders. After he was sure he had all of his guards doing what he wanted them to do, he headed back to the palace. He went inside and looked for his family and friends. He found them inside his room, guards patrolling outside.
He went inside to find Teana sitting down on the edge of the bed, Sethos setting right by her, looking fearful. Jono, Tridan, and Lesaro were sitting around them. Teana looked at Atem and practically smiled in relief. Sethos looked up and beamed when he saw his father. Jono, Tridan, and Lesaro smiled in relief as well. Sethos practically jumped off the bed and embraced Atem tightly. He returned his son's hug.
"Thank the gods you're alright," Teana mentioned, walking up to him and embracing him tightly. "I thought something had happened to you."
"No. Didn't Jono tell you I was fine?" Atem wondered.
"Yeah but I was still worried about you."
"Glad to see your back in one piece," Tridan added.
"C'mon Tridan, he's the pharaoh. Of course he's gonna comes back in one piece," Jono said, trying to lighten up the mood a bit.
"Dad, what's going on?" Sethos said, looking up at his father with relieved, but still fearful eyes. He didn't know why everyone was happy and all or even trying to lighten up the mood; quite frankly he didn't like it.
Atem hated to see him like that. He knelt down in front of Sethos and said in a low voice, "Our enemy has returned and he wants to fight me. I need you to not be afraid, Sethos. I need you to stay here with your mother and be brave for her because I will not be here to do that. Jono, Tridan, and Lesaro will protect you in my absence. Everything will be alright, I promise."
Despite his father's reassurance, Sethos was still afraid. But because he didn't want to worry his father more, he did his best to look brave. He wrapped his arms around Atem's neck, hugging him tightly. He didn't know whether Atem would return or not.
Atem returned his son's hug, which could very well be his last. He kissed Sethos on the forehead and looked into his eyes, saying "I'll be back Sethos. I promise."
With one last determined look at Sethos, Atem got up and started heading out. Before he left, Teana came up to him and whispered, "Please be careful Atem. Try to come back unscathed. We'll be fine here. We're with you until the end."
"I will be careful Teana. I will come back, I promise," Atem again assured. He kissed Teana on the lips for a few seconds. With one last into her eyes, Atem walked out of the room and headed outside to wait on the arrival of Seto.
Teana could only watch as Atem left them to fight the very man who had tried to kill him before. Despite her fears, she had great confidence that Atem would be able to rid Egypt of this man, Seto. She knew he would return at whatever cost and if for some reason he didn't, she would spread his legacy throughout Egypt, telling others of Atem's great courage and honor as pharaoh of Egypt. She was only hoping that it wouldn't get to that point.
Seto, mounted on a strong black horse, reached the town where the pharaoh himself lived. He made the horse trot through the town, which was like a ghost town. No one was outside or anything, it was deserted. Seto figured Atem had told them all to hide.
He saw the great entrance to the palace when he barely got into town and, lightly kicking the horse's sides, made the horse run towards it. But as he got closer, Seto could see a wall of armed guardsmen on horseback blocking the entrance. He growled in frustration. He wasn't going to back off now, not when he was so close. If he just had his monsters, he'd be able to get rid of this group of guardsmen.
As he approached the palace entrance, the guardsmen didn't do anything. Not attack, not charge, nothing. Seto was perplexed by their actions. The guardsmen of the pharaoh were known to be very alert and protective, fiercely guarding their ruler. But the horsemen…they did nothing. Just watch Seto as he approached the entrance. He slowed the horse to a complete halt when he was in front of the mounted guardsmen. One of them spoke. "You, Seto, are to be escorted to the king with us. If you wish to fight him, I suggest you come with us. If any moves to attack are made, you will be killed."
By the look on the guard's face, the threat was no joke. If Seto attacked them now, he could easily kill them all with speed and the use of his dark powers. But if the guardmen's threat wasn't a bluff, then surely there would be back up soldiers to hunt and kill Seto. He considered the fact that he'd be able to rid many of the pharaoh's men with the use of his dark power alone, but the guard had said that if any moves were made, he would be killed. And the pharaoh was no fool; he didn't make simple mistakes. More than likely, the pharaoh wanted Seto to think that the king was overestimating him so he would fall into his trap and be killed, not by his soldiers but by the monsters under the king's control.
Instead of taking the risk, Seto said, "Fine, I'll follow you."
The guard nodded and made the horse make a right to head towards somewhere else. The other guardsmen followed behind, Seto right behind them all. All except the leading guard surrounded Seto, making sure all corners were blocked. Seto was surprised by Atem's determination to make whatever it was he wanted happen. It made Seto all the more cautious of what was to come.
The guardsmen lead Seto to a huge temple structure, many other guardsmen lining up on both sides of the path that led to the entrance. Seto wasn't sure what was about to happen, but he realized that it had to be something big for Atem to bring out all these guards and ensure that Seto actually made it inside this temple, whatever it may hold.
When they reached the entrance, the guard asked Seto to dismount as they would continue on foot to their destination. Doing as he was told and surrounded by guards again, Seto followed the man to wherever it was that they were going. Torches were lit in the hallway that they walked in. Dead silence, except for the crackle of the flaming torches, had developed since Seto's agreement to follow the guards.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Seto reached his destination. The leading guard slid the heavy stone door open and made some room for Seto to go in. But as soon as Seto entered, the guard slid the door closed. Seto ran to the door and tried to open it himself, but for some reason it refused to budge. "There's no way out, Seto," a deep voice said from behind him.
He looked back to see the pharaoh himself, Atem, standing several feet away from him and by his side, a beast with a muscular and fearsome figure standing on all fours. Seto had never seen this beast before, but it looked deadly. They stood in between five stone slabs on both sides of them. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he kept his guard up. "So, we meet again, pharaoh," Seto sneered.
"We do indeed," Atem said. "For the past few years, you've hunted me down, tried to kill me and my family and take over Egypt along with the world. You used men, monster, and sorcery to do whatever it took to achieve your goal. And each time, you failed."
Seto stood there, a little confused. Where was the pharaoh going with this?
"Well today is the end of all this. Today I will defeat you once and for all and make you pay for your crimes against the gods themselves." With a firm voice, Atem yelled, "Today…we shall duel!"
As if on queue, the flaming torches burst with a sudden explosion of bright fire, illuminating the room with more light. Within seconds, it eventually died down again.
"Unless of course…you're too much of a coward to fight me and my guardian," Atem said with a slight smile.
That got Seto. How dare the pharaoh call him such a coward?! "You will pay for being overconfident in your abilities. I believe it will be you to die today," he claimed.
"Then let us begin," Atem said.
Almost immediately he turned around and headed towards a royal looking chair at the far side of the room. The unknown beast moved to the right side of the room. Set slowly took his place across from the monster, on the left side. The creature stood up on twos, looked at Seto with narrowed eyes, and said, "I am X-zale and as the king's guardian, I will be the first one you will fight."
Seto almost wanted to laugh. "Just comes to show that a king of mighty power is a coward himself, eh pharaoh?" he sneered.
"If you're so confident that you can beat my guardian then make this battle quick so you and I can have our own fight," Atem explained.
"With pleasure," Seto added. "You will regret the day you challenged me to a fight! Both of you!"
"Then come and fight me because I'm ready to murder you for your crimes!" X-zale challenged. He growled loudly. "Let's duel!"
Suddenly the five stone cards on both sides rose on their own and quickly faced their controllers. Both Seto and even X-zale were surprised by it. These were the very stone slabs that Atem had done to capture monsters. X-zale had been told about them but had never seen them himself. And as new as they were to the whole idea of using stone slabs to fight, that didn't stop them from their ultimate goal: kill the enemy.
Seto looked at all the monsters carved into the stone slabs. None of them were of his dragon, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Disappointment crossed his face. But when he looked at X-zale through the narrow space between the stone slabs, the beast didn't have the same expression.
X-zale and Atem had long since learned how to fight using the spirit monsters and what to do if they wanted a bigger and stronger beast in case they didn't already have one at their disposal. They trained with the monsters in the Monster Crypt during their free time, challenging each other and mastering the powers of the monsters. They had done this for a few years until the birth of Sethos finally stopped them.
X-zale looked at his opponent and smiled. By the looks of it, Seto didn't have any good monsters in his chosen "hand" or row of stone slabs. "I'll make the first move," he said, "And first I'll call upon the Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress!"
The chosen stone slab flipped around. A large blue dragon appeared in front of the stone slab. It had a large snout, deadly looking fangs sticking out of its jaws, spikes jutting from its back, and wings attached to its arms. It roared loudly in challenge. Seto had also learned to control and fight with monsters like Atem and X-zale. He was no stranger to summoning monsters. He held his hand out in front of him and cried, "I'll summon Pale Beast!"
A large and ugly blue monster appeared. Its head was strange, as it had something like a dorsal fin on top of its head but also at the bottom as well as two yellow eyes on both top and bottom. It had a muscular body and many sharp teeth.
"Let's see who is the stronger of the two, shall we?" X-zale challenged.
Monsters didn't have points to win such as now. Its power is what would determine a battle as well as the strength of the monster controller's spiritual will, as once it was weak, the controller could no longer fight and possibly die.
The Winged Dragon flew into the air and opened its large jaws. A fireball materialized and was fired at Pale Beast. Pale Beast fired with its own dark energy. Both monsters' attacks met mid-air, but when the smoke cleared, Winged Dragon remained standing. Its attack had stopped Pale Beast's attack and destroyed the monster in the process. At the same time, pain shot through Seto's heart. He almost collapsed on his knees from the sudden wake of pain. This was the drawback to fighting with the monsters. Every time a monster was destroyed, it drained the controller's energy from his heart and in the process, brought pain. If the controller suffered too many of these, he would die.
The stone card that had previously held Pale Beast was destroyed. The only way to win a battle was to destroy all the monsters in a fighter's "hand." But if the monster was destroyed in battle, a new stone slab would take its place. If the opponent destroyed the card itself with their monster, then it would not be replaced. One slab was already down, and another suddenly appeared and took its place. Both Seto and X-zale were beginning to understand how battle with stone slabs instead of the monsters themselves worked, but the battle had just begun.
Seto gritted his teeth and glared at X-zale. X-zale returned Seto's glare with a smile of small victory and retaliated, "I'll summon Petit Dragon and combine both Winged Dragon and Petit Dragon to get…Winged Serpent, Guardian of the Skies!"
A long serpent with large overlapping scales, tan color, red eyes, long snout, and four massive wings rather than two appeared in the place of Petit Dragon and Winged Dragon. Almost as if X-zale sent a mental command to the serpent, Winged Serpent attacked one of Seto's stone slabs. Seto placed his arm in front of his face to shield himself from the flying debris. It was Seto's turn again. He searched his hand for a monster to fight Winged Serpent. "I'll summon Launcher Spider!" he yelled.
A large robotic spider appeared. It had two large missile launchers on its back, big pincers, and spikes jutting from various parts of its body. "Attack!" Seto commanded.
Launcher Spider shot a fury of missiles at Winged Serpent while the dragon fired a massive sphere of fire at the spider. The missiles hit its target and the fireball hit its own. X-zale, Atem, and Seto had to close their eyes from the smoke that formed from the two attacks. Suddenly the smoke was cleared and there stood the Winged Serpent. Its four massive wings had helped clear the smoke as well as actually protect it from the missiles. Its arachnid opponent was gone. More pain shot through Seto's heart. He placed his hand on his chest and groaned.
"It looks like I have yet to suffer a hit, eh Seto?" X-zale sneered, smiling a toothy grin.
Winged Serpent was ordered to attack one of Seto's stone slabs once more. Now he had four remaining stone slabs, when both started out with six. He looked at his newest stone slab and yelled, "I summon Gaia the Fierce Knight!"
A large purple horse with a yellow mane and tail appeared. The knight on its back had blue and red armor with two large cone shaped weapons in both hands. Gaia and Winged Serpent attacked each other again, Gaia charging at Winged Serpent and the dragon firing another deadly sphere of fire. This time, one of Gaia's weapons pierced Winged Serpent's strong scales and destroyed the dragon. X-zale felt a shot of pain within his heart. Gaia then charged and attacked one of X-zale's stone slabs. When a new stone slabs replaced both Petit Dragon and Winged Dragon, as there was no single card for Winged Serpent, he couldn't believe what he had gotten. The Black Skull Dragon!
Fusion, effect, and ritual monsters from the present card game were nonexistent then. They would be summoned like normal monsters. Spell and trap cards also didn't exist, which was what gave the controller the ability to summon much stronger monsters. The drawback was it drained more energy if the monster was destroyed; therefore, bringing the controller more deadly pain. Despite that, it was still possible to fuse monsters together if the controller wished to drain less energy.
With a big grin, X-zale shouted, "I summon the Black Skull Dragon!"
A massive black dragon appeared. The combined form of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon and the Summoned Skull, the Black Skull Dragon snorted smoke from its nose, its eyes glowing red with a desire for destruction.
Dragon monsters were X-zale's favorite kind. He always saw the dragon monsters as some of the most powerful beasts of all the monster spirits. He respected their awesome power and made sure that others who challenged him knew the same.
The Black Skull Dragon opened its deadly jaws and spewed forth a massive almost crimson ball of fire. It blasted Gaia, destroying the knight with ease. Then the dragon destroyed one of Seto's stone slabs.
Seto's hands balled up into fists. He was getting frustrated with his opponent's sheer luck of having such powerful monsters at his disposal. But then, something clicked in his head. I don't have to have the Blue-Eyes White Dragon in my hand to fight with it, he thought. It'll cost me two monsters to summon it this way, but it'll be worth it once I see the look of fear on that beast's face.
"I call forth both the Battle Ox and the Mystic Swordsman," he cried out. "I'll sacrifice these two monsters to summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
"What?!" X-zale shouted, shocked.
At the sound of the dragon's name, Atem quickly got up and watched in horror as Seto summoned one of the most powerful beasts of all spirit monsters. The Battle Ox and Mystic Swordsman disappeared from their spots and in their place a massive bluish white dragon appeared. The mighty beast gave out a roar of defiance. "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Seto laughed. "I bet you weren't expecting me to bring out the ultimate beast of them all! Now it's time I finish you off and kill your pharaoh afterwards! Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack!!"
The powerful dragon powered up its electric attack and fired a beam of blue electricity at Black Skull Dragon. The powerful black dragon was no match for the Blue-Eyes. "Now my awesome dragon," Seto ordered, "Destroy the rest of his stone slabs and kill him!!"
With one swipe of its mighty beam, the Blue-Eyes destroyed all of X-zale's stone slabs. Then it began charging up its attack once more to fulfill its master's last command: kill X-zale.
"No!" Atem cried when he saw the great beast charge up its attack for one final blow. He immediately took off towards X-zale, hoping to reach his friend before it was too late.
The Blue-Eyes fired its attack at X-zale. He could only stand there, frozen in fear and horror. The attack was about to blast him when suddenly, Atem stood in front of him and blocked the attack. The force of the beam was slowly pushing Atem back. X-zale was searching for how Atem was about to stop the attack. When his eyes fell to Atem's Millennium Puzzle, he figured out how. Atem was drawing upon the power of the Puzzle to create an impenetrable barrier around him and X-zale. Utilizing its power once more, Atem forced the Blue-Eyes to retreat into its stony prison.
"What?!" Seto demanded. "How can this be?!"
"You're a fool to believe that I would just allow you to release such a beast to destroy my guardian," Atem admitted. "You will pay for this Seto. Its time for you and I to duel now."
"Indeed it is," Seto snickered. "But not in this form. You and I will duel…but not in this world. In another world, a world ruled by darkness, a realm in which beasts rule freely and a foolish mind can lead one to insanity. A world where the winner of this battle will live while the other one dies. A world where you will meet your death!"
Seto pointed at Atem and mumbled something. Atem could feel some kind of invisible dark force encircling him, weakening him. Then suddenly, he fainted. Seto fainted at the same time he did. "Atem!" X-zale cried out.
He rushed to his king's side and tried to wake him. But it was no use. Whatever Seto had done had now taken them into another world, beyond the reach of any mortal, including X-zale himself. There was nothing he could do. All he could hope for was that wherever Atem was now, he would be ok.
And wherever Atem was now, he would return…alive.