Feeling better now? Green-eyes asked.

"If by 'better' you mean 'slightly less homicidal', then yes." Ryou looked around, stepping over the body he'd just finished with. "Doesn't seem like we're getting any closer to them, though, does it?"

Not really, no.

He huffed. "Well dammit, now I'm frustrated again."

Kill another one.

"Good idea." He rounded a corner, senses on high alert as he searched for another grunt to disembowel and/or otherwise torment.

There was the nearby sound of footsteps. But something was different… They weren't rushed like all the ones he'd heard before. They were slow, deliberate. Accompanying them was an occasional, quiet sigh. It sounded like the steps of someone who was wandering without a purpose, broken on the inside.

He could relate.

He rounded another corner, coming face to face with a very perplexed man with long blue hair. They stared at each other for a long moment before the blue-haired man blinked his heterochromatic eyes and took a step back, placing himself in a fighting stance.

Ryou merely shrugged and did the same. "This works too."

Yeah, I guess it does. Kick his ass.

"He seems important, though." He cocked his head to the side, not bothering to lower his voice, since this man was likely to die soon. "What's your name?"

"I am Dartz. And you are the Bandit King, yes?"

"That would be me. Ya know, the Pharaoh told me there was a guy named Dartz that I was supposed to spare if I came into contact with…" He frowned. "There go my plans."

"You follow the orders of the Pharaoh?"

"I'm doing a favor for a friend." The frown deepened into a scowl. "Don't just assume I'm following orders."

He laughed. It was a hollow, dead sound. Again, Ryou could relate. "But you are, aren't you? You know he's the boss."

He wasn't sure he liked the sudden pang of inferiority in his gut. He wasn't inferior to anyone. He was the best. He was the Bandit King and just because Yugi was the Pharaoh that didn't mean he was better. Didn't mean he was more powerful. Except it did, and he knew that, but Yugi was the one who got on his knees for him. Yugi was the one who got bent over the nearest flat surface or shoved against the wall. It wasn't him. He was the alpha. Yugi wasn't shit.

Except he was. He only submitted because he was a bottom. Ryou knew that. He hated it.

"That doesn't mean I listen." He said after a moment and an uncharacteristically gentle nudge from Green-eyes. "And that doesn't mean he can order me around in the first place. He doesn't have the balls."

"But when he does decide to have them, it pisses you off to no end, doesn't it? You feel inferior and weak and it's an all too familiar feeling for you to be comfortable with it."

Ryou let his instincts win out this time, rather than just stewing in what Dartz had said. He lashed out physically, for once, actually expressed his displeasure at this particular line of conversation non-verbally. And his physical response was, to be exact, a hard set of knuckles to Dartz's cheekbone.

Clearly surprised by the reaction, Dartz stumbled back, nearly losing his footing. Ryou almost regretted it - not because he hadn't wanted to punch Dartz, but because Dartz was probably a little bit better in a fist fight than he was. He could only cheat so much, after all, seeing as he'd been using most of his power on the grunts out of spite. He was essentially fucked - not in the way he liked -, but the look on Dartz's face was well worth the ass-kicking he was probably about to receive.

With the punch that Dartz threw in retaliation, he realized he was right. Dartz was better than he was… But he was faster. Through some small miracle, he managed to duck in time for Dartz to miss his head by about an inch. Dartz, however, was quick enough to grab a handful of Ryou's hair and yank him to his feet.

Good thing we fight dirty, eh? Green-eyes laughed.

Ryou only spared him an affirmative hum before he struck out at Dartz's solar plexus, knocking the air out of him. The man's grip loosened for a fraction of a second while he tried to suck in a breath and Ryou pulled away as much as he could before slamming his foot into the man's shin.

They went back and forth for a little while, after Dartz caught his breath and Ryou had successfully freed himself. A punch or two here, a kick, a grab for the other's hair… Dartz went back to antagonizing him, after a bit. Went back to teasing him and he was overwhelmed by the all-consuming desire to just kill the bastard and get it over with.

He's baiting us. Don't fall for it.

He'd have to remember to thank Green-eyes for being the voice of reason.

But even with that knowledge it was hard to shove down the urge to snap Dartz's neck when he finally got him down on the ground and pinned him. He was almost deaf to the sound of himself growling deep in his throat while he held the older man by his neck. But only almost. He heard himself. He was honestly starting to scare himself with this shit. It was so much like how Bakura used to act that he was almost entirely sure that when he'd started falling deeper into the abyss he'd started emulating the only person he knew that could be vaguely frail-looking and still be intimidating.

He didn't want to be Bakura. He wanted to be Ryou and he wanted to find Bakura, beat his ass, and then cuddle him for the rest of eternity.

Yeah. That sounded like a plan. He liked that plan.

He just had to get this bastard out of the way in order to take the next step in that plan.

"I see you're stronger than I thought you were." Dartz said after the growl faded off in his throat.

He hummed. "I get that a lot. And I didn't even cheat this time."

"Cheat?"

A one shouldered shrug. "Usually I tend to augment my strength and speed with Shadow Magic."

"Why didn't you this time?"

"Tired. I've been systematically taking out every grunt I come in contact with, so…"

"So that's where they're all going. The other Kings are here too, aren't they?"

"Yep. I don't think the Pharaoh's killing anyone, but I'm sure a couple of my own grunts are, and I have no doubt that the Phantom King has killed a few." He hummed. "Though, the ones that you can't find after this would be the victims of one of my best trackers."

"Why wouldn't there be bodies?"

"He eats them whole to steal their life force." He shrugged.

Dartz paled considerably.

"Look, I'd say I won, wouldn't you?" Ryou chose to change the subject so he could be on his way. Dartz nodded. "Then I'm gonna spare you now." He got up. "And tell you something I'm sure you need to hear."

Dartz raised a brow as he sat up. "How do you know what I need to hear?"

"Because I needed to hear essentially the same thing for the past three years." He cracked a smile. "Pegasus is alive. He's perfectly fine and he's currently on his island."

Ryou didn't think he'd ever seen someone move so fast in his entire life. His smile widened as he watched Dartz bolt down the hallway at top speed. He threw a 'thank you' over his shoulder and then he was gone. Ryou snorted, then, and shook his head, moving in the other direction.

As he walked, he felt his phone begin to vibrate in his back pocket. Confused, he fished it out.

Malik.

"Hello?" He put it on speakerphone, holding it a foot or so from his face.

"Hey. I found them." There was a brief silence, followed by two exasperated groans. "Unfortunately they can't hear me through this shitty door. And I can't get said shitty door open. Viper, you having any luck?"

There was a soft negative, followed by a curse.

"I'll be there in a minute. I think. Which direction did you go in?"

"Um. I turned left from where I came from and I went mostly in a straight line, so…"

"Right. I'll be there in a minute." He paused for a moment and decided to try and track Malik. Sure, it hadn't worked with trying to track Yami, but Yami had been here for a while and there was a heavy dark presence blocking him. Maybe he'd have better luck with Malik. "See you then." He said, a smirk prominent in his voice as he latched onto Malik's presence.

"Right."

With renewed fervor, he bolted down the hall.


"So which way did Malik go, again?"

"I dunno." Atem sighed. "I think he went that way?" He pointed.

"Eh, hell with it, let's just go this way. We'd probably have just as much luck with any other direction."

"No kidding."

They began to head down a hall… Right in time for Malik to call them as well. An exchange similar to the one he'd had with Ryou passed, ending in much the same way. "Looks like we're already heading the right way, 'Tem. Should we book it?"

"Let's."


On arrival, Ryou paused only for a second to kiss Malik on the cheek before shoving Viper out of his way. The younger man managed to catch himself before he face planted on the cold concrete floor, and while he didn't look pleased for a moment or two, he didn't retaliate. Malik felt a little sorry for him, and Ryou only regretted it a little bit.

"Well no fuckin' wonder you can't get it unlocked." He said after a moment. "Whoever put 'em in here put six fucking Shadow Seals on it."

"You seem irritated by that."

"It's hard enough to force open one Shadow Seal, Malik." He frowned. "That's not to say I can't do it, though. It'll just take some time. I'll need someone to cover me until I can break them."

"I can arrange that." Malik fished his phone back out of his pocket while Viper quickly took up a position beside Ryou.

Still loyal even when he wasn't particularly thrilled to be around his boss. That was rare. Then again, most of the Bandits weren't ever particularly thrilled to be around their boss and yet none of them had a traitorous bone in them when it came to him. Maybe they were scared? It seemed like a very real possibility to Malik, and after ordering some backup he too took up a defensive position near Ryou until their troops arrived.

Yugi and Atem arrived moments later, trotting up the hallway to them. Yugi gave the scene a once-over before shrugging and also standing defensively near Ryou, Atem following suit. He didn't question what they were doing.

Ten minutes passed. No one approached. There wasn't even a sound besides that of Ryou grunting quietly and muttering under his breath.

"This is… Suspicious." Yugi eventually muttered. "Shouldn't there be grunts bothering us?"

"Yeah. There should." Malik frowned. "I don't like this."

"Good." A new voice spoke. "I'd be worried for your mental health if you liked it."

A man melted from the shadows nearby, grinning a huge shark-toothed grin at them. Each and every single tooth was like a sharpened alabaster blade. His eyes, unblinking, glowed crimson.

"Who are you?" Atem asked, but before he received an answer he felt Ryou's presence directly behind him, piercing eyes staring past him at the man.

"Zorc Necrophades." Ryou growled softly. "The patron god of Shadow Magic. He's not supposed to be able to take a human form."

"Oh, don't be so literal, little witch!" Zorc chortled. "They merely meant my own body cannot be condensed into such a small shape."

"Then what poor schmuck did you possess, hm? How long's he been dead, now?"

"Oh, he's not dead! He's handling my possession quite nicely!"

"I highly doubt that."

"So he needs frequent breaks." Zorc waved a hand dismissively. "I rarely really need to use his body, but as you can probably tell this place is far too small for me to appear to you in my true form."

A snort from Ryou. "Oh, please. Your true form is trapped in Ancient Egypt, forever stuck in a time loop of being summoned and being defeated." He sneered, and for a second Zorc's grin became a scowl. "You couldn't appear to us without your host even if we were outside."

"How did you know about that?"

"Any self-respecting mage knows the story of their patron." He gave him a sickly sweet grin of his own.

"Hmph. Very well, you've gotten my interest, little witch. What say you to a Shadow Game?"

"Depends on what the game is, my lord." It rolled off his tongue, sarcasm dripping with fake adoration.

Malik really wished he could be that salty without even trying. It was like an art style or some shit.

"The 'game', my pet, is more of a challenge. You have to do whatever you can to remove my six Shadow Seals before time runs out, and I have to try and stop you. If you manage it, I will admit defeat and you can take your little fuck toys and go. If you fail, I win and the only three people in the world who can stop me will be mine."

Ryou considered it for a moment. "Their lives are in my hands, then?"

"Essentially."

"Hmph. Hope you two trust me a whole fucking lot."

"So you accept then?" Zorc seemed to brighten again. He let loose a cackle, saying, "Wonderful!" when Ryou nodded.

An hourglass appeared nearby, setting on the ground before floating upwards. It was about waist-high to Zorc, who's vessel appeared to be about six feet tall.

That's a huge fucking hourglass. Yugi found himself thinking. He had to immediately refrain from smacking himself in the face for having such an obvious thought and almost repeating it aloud. Of course it was a big hourglass. Villains always did dumb shit like summoning 3 foot tall hourglasses out of nowhere to track how long the hero was taking.

Funny… When did he start thinking of himself and the other Kings as the good guys again? For the past three years they'd been the villains and embraced it. He guessed he was just thinking that way because Zorc was worse than they were and they were technically trying to stop him.

Oh well.

"You will have two hours." Zorc said. "I'm not unreasonable, I know how difficult it is to force open Shadow Seals."

"Six in two hours is still pushing it a bit." Ryou murmured, turning back to the door. "But alright."

"Your friends will be permitted to try and stop me from, well, stopping you, but I doubt four mere mortals will do much against a god."

Ryou wanted to make a remark about gods in human shells being significantly weaker, but chose not to. It'd be easier to beat him if he was in a good mood, after all. No need to piss him off.

"Your time begins… Now."

The hourglass lurched and flipped itself over. The entire island quivered, which was clearly supposed to make Ryou's job harder by knocking him over and making him waste time, but it only succeeded in making him scowl and brace himself on the door frame for a moment. He shot a glare over his shoulder at the four protecting him.

"I'd suggest you keep your guards up if you want any chance of me winning this."

Normally Malik and Yugi would have been offended by the implication that they didn't have their guard up, but they could understand the need for him to say it out loud. Especially when they looked into his eyes. Ryou was uncertain about this, but something told them that taking this gamble was the best bet that he could give them, when it came to Zorc.

The moment they turned their eyes away from Ryou, they were met with four dogs melting out of the shadows and lunging at them. Yugi actually caught the one that jumped at him, seeing as it was somewhat small, and held it about an inch out of reach of his face. It snapped and growled and kicked its legs but quickly tired itself out and began trying to lick him. He sat it down on the floor.

Malik's first instinct was to knee the one that came at him. It yelped and melted away. Atem and Viper had much the same reaction to theirs. All of them gave Yugi a mildly perplexed look as he sat his down.

"It's kinda cute." He said with a shrug, reaching up to block when a tendril of shadows smacked at him. He grimaced. "That stung. Hey, why don't you bite that instead?" He looked at the dog, which perked up and sunk its teeth into the tendril. "Aw, good… Boy?"

Over his own snort, Malik barely heard Ryou murmur, "I'm doomed."