CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: Unending Horror

Shadowcat: Thanks, man.

Metal Overlord 2.0: Cool card. Unfortunately, Marik can't use it. Consult the closing note when you are done with the chapter. Thanks for the comments.

Princess Yunariana: Wait and watch.

It was Kaiba's turn. He shakily drew a card. He knew that if he wasn't able to destroy Jörmungandr within two turns, it was all over for him. But glancing up to his field, he felt a ring of confidence pass through him. He controlled the Blue Eyes White Dragons. With them by his side, the chance of losing was nonexistent. He examined his hand and nodded in satisfaction. He would need a couple of good draws, but yes, defeating Jörmungandr was feasible.

He looked Anubis directly in the eye, coldly.

"I will see you fall." The words rolled from his tongue like daggers, determined to stab Anubis. The God of Death laughed at this comment. Kaiba shook off the insult and made his move.

"I activate Tribute to the Doomed! By discarding Kaiser Seahorse from my hand, I can destroy your Jörmungandr!" A zombie covered in bandages began to creep out of the ground. It groaned and attempted to latch onto Jörmungandr's tail. The serpent roared angrily and shook it off. The mummy immediately disappeared.

"Jörmungandr is immune to all magic and traps that specifically target it," said Anubis nastily. Kaiba glanced around helplessly. There was nothing he could do. In two more turns, Jörmungandr would be free.

Anubis' laughter rang out through the air as Seto fell to his knees. "You should have joined me Kaiba. Nothing will save you. Your pathetic little brother will be dealt with when I get back! It will be quite fun to tell him how his brother, the great Seto Kaiba begged and pleaded for mercy!"

Kaiba stopped. "Mokuba…." He stood up, a snarl forming on his face. The rage with which he screamed was uncomprehendable. "DON'T YOU DARE MENTION MY BROTHER YOU PATHETIC DOG!!!!"

Even Anubis was taken aback by the sheer force of Kaiba's words. He had never felt anything like this. Jörmungandr roared in indignation at this insult, but the Blue Eyes let out a sound so earth shattering than the Norse demon was silenced. "YOU AND YOUR FRIEND MARIK MADE ONE MISTAKE," roared Kaiba. "YOU DARED TO MESS WITH MY FAMILY! AND NOW YOU PATHETIC CREEPS ARE GOING TO PAY! IN BLOOD!!!!"

"A fine speech, Kaiba," said Anubis coldly. All arrogance was lost. "But actions speak louder than words."

Kaiba laughed mirthlessly. "I see you don't understand yet. You don't have a clue what's coming."

"I know that you're going to die," spat Anubis. "Oh no. I'm not going do die," retorted Kaiba. "No?"

"You are truly clueless. You think you're a God. At this point, you probably are. Well let me tell you something. God thinks of eternity, Satan reasons like a man. You're trying to combine both those characteristics into one being: yourself. As I can tell, you're doing a pathetic job. By the end of this duel, I'll be picking you apart. Your mind is failing. Its over."

Anubis stood silently. "And since you want actions, I'll be only too happy to give them to you. Prepare for the combo that will take out your reptile." He held up the index and middle finger of his right hand. "Two turns. In exactly three turns, Swords of Revealing Light will expire. That will signal the end of your monster." He ended his turn a with a morbid smile.

Anubis drew, the sordid smirk slipping of his face as he watched Kaiba's crazed expression. Anubis really did know how to push buttons on people, but always ended up doing it at the wrong time so that his opponents became psychos. He hated having to deal with emotionally-driven psychos. Intimidating adversaries was Anubis' specialty. But intimidating psychos was frickin' impossible! Of course, Anubis could go psycho himself, but he had been trying to change his brutal, violent demeanor to that of a smooth-talking, sinister gentleman after seeing how effective it was for Marik.

What the heck. He frowned at Kaiba and shook his head. "I end my turn." The second sword disappeared.

Kaiba's crazy look faded, but only a bit. "Hmmm… I find myself wondering whether to smash Jörmungandr with brute force, or to use one of my badass combos?"

Anubis ignored the taunts. Kaiba continued, "I set two cards facedown and end my turn."

The God of Death drew, and glanced at his card in disgust. "I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn. Now the Swords will expire, and Jörmungandr will be able to rip you apart next turn!"

Kaiba drew. His expression was back to normal, the classic smirk spread across his face. "For now I'll set another card facedown and end my turn."

Anubis drew and laughed to himself. "Activate Stop Defense to shift your Luster Dragon to attack mode!" "Sorry," intervened Kaiba. "I'm afraid I must activate Shift, to change your target to the Blue Eyes!"

The massive dragon growled and opened its wings. It let out an earth-shattering roar.

Anubis roared in frustration. "ATTACK HIS BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON WITH RAGNAROK BURST!" A ball of black flame formed in the back of its mouth and it fired the blaze of unholy energy at the powerful dragon.

"I will defeat you in this turn," snarled Anubis. "Activate my quick-play spell, Unshakable Fury! It boosts the ATK of one monster on my field by 2000 at the cost of two discards. I discard Sleipnir, the Eight Legged Horse (1900/0) and Heimdall the Divine Guard (3000/3000), more Norse monsters, boosting Jörmungandr to a massive 12000!"

Kaiba chuckled. "You've sealed your fate. I chain Reverse Trap, reversing all increases and decreases in attack points." Anubis gasped as Jörmungandr's ATK shot down to a comparatively tiny 2500 after skyrocketing to 12000.

"Counter attack with White Lightning!" roared Kaiba. Anubis snarled in anger as the Blue Eyes countered with a massive ball of white energy. The two orbs clashed for a few minutes, and then with a roar from the dragon, the white ball crashed into Jörmungandr and obliterated it. The explosion that destroyed the god was extremely powerful, and even forced Anubis to his knees.

"Victory!" boomed Kaiba. "Its mine, its all mine!"

"Not quite," grunted Anubis as he stood up against the powerful winds. "I activate Hellish Ascension, which only activates when I take over four thousand points of damage in one attack. Instead, I can remove five monsters in my graveyard from play to negate all damage, and instead double the amount of potential damage and increase my life-points by that amount!"

Kaiba swore. His one golden chance the wipe out Anubis had been snatched from the tips of his fingers. Nails dug into his palm as he glared at his opponent in agitation.

Anubis gloated to himself. He had lost a truly powerful beast to carelessness, but he was still very much in the game. "I set a card and end my turn."

(Anubis: 10200, Kaiba: 4800)

Kaiba ripped the next card off the top of his deck. A dark smile graced his features. "You fool! Its over! I activate Dragon Heart, send three dragons from my deck to the graveyard to boost the ATK of my Blue Eyes by a thousand! Next I activate my face down continuous trap, Dragon's Rage, which gives all dragons on my field trample!" He laughed out loud as the Blue Eyes glowed with extra power.

"This is my true power! This is what you wished to witness. ATTACK HIS MONSTER WITH WHITE LIGHTNING!" The Blue Eyes' attack rushed towards the facedown monster (7800/2500).

"Idiot," snarled Anubis. "This particularly useful facedown is known as Azure Fiend- Traitor from the Depths (0/0)!" A purplish demon appeared, with long horns and disgustingly filthy teeth. Dressed in only a loin-cloth, it screeched and leapt straight towards the Blue Eyes, avoiding the attack. Catching onto the Blue Eyes' neck, it smirked. Anubis continued, "When its attacked, I get a choice. Either let it be destroyed, or activate its effect."

He drew the top card of his deck, and didn't look at it. Instead, he held it up for Kaiba to see. "I have to guess whether my top card is a magic, trap, or monster. If I guess right, then your Blue Eyes is destroyed, no damage is done, and I can also draw cards equal to half your monster's level. If, however, I guess wrong, your attack goes through and I also lose life-points equal to your monsters attack points!"

Kaiba looked at him as if the God of Death was stupid. "If you end up guessing wrong, then you lose fifteen thousand six hundred life-points. Far more than you currently have." Anubis nodded. "True…. True… But who cares? I've created this Shadow Game. No matter how much you try, you can't defeat someone in their home turf. Now for the defining moment….."

"I choose magic!" Anubis flipped the card around and looked at it. His face was expressionless. He showed it to Kaiba. It was a trap card: the Pyramid of Light.

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Dartz's complexion showed a mixture of absolute shock, yet, at the same time, curiosity. "Isn't that your second god card?"

Marik let out a chilling laugh, unlike anything the prince of Atlantis had ever heard. "Yes, it is. And let me tell you, Dartz, Ragnarok Dragon is a god unlike anything you have ever faced."

Dartz frowned. "I've faced gods before. What do you think I did against the Pharaoh? My leviathan battled the Egyptian gods. What makes you say that your Ragnarok Dragon is anything different from those monsters?"

Marik shook his head, as if unable to explain to a child that one plus one was two. He held up three fingers.

"Allow me to explain. The gods are on different tiers, according to their power. On tier one, are the immortals. Not quite gods, nor even demi-gods. Your Divine Serpent, Orichalcos Demon Dragon, and of course that fool Yakou Tenma's fake gods fit the bill perfectly. More like angels and demons of the pantheon. Do remember that I am speaking of the creatures themselves, and not the cards."

He dropped a finger, indicating that one was counted off. "Next comes tier two. Definitely more powerful. This includes the more powerful god cards, such as Obelisk the Tormentor and Slifer the Sky Dragon. Giglamesh the Chaos Warrior ranks evenly with these two. Even one of these gods has more than enough power to wipe out every one of the tier one gods I mentioned. Problem is, things are different in actual duels." He dropped a second finger; a wide, bloodthirsty grin coming to his face.

Dartz sighed. "You fool…. Are you done with your ranting? Let me just end this duel and kill you already!" Marik glared at him darkly.

"We now come to my favorite tier: tier three. This one contains the extremely feared and deadly Winged Dragon of Ra. In its original god form, Ra was invincible. Even in a duel, it has six effects, making it more powerful than any conventional monster, even the Chaos Warrior. What I'm about to show you ranks a little below Ra, but what it lacks in raw power, it makes up in many other ways. Now, allow me to show you the ultimate strength of the RAGNAROK DRAGON!"

Marik held a card aloft. "It ends now! I play Dimension Fusion, to revive Gene-Warped Warwolf (2000/0), Frostosaurus (2600/1700), and Spiral Serpent (2900/2900)." The wolf, dinosaur, and sea-serpent all appeared behind their master, growling at Orichalcos Shunoros. Dartz was amused. "Weaklings, each and every one of them."

Marik ignored him. "The time has come! You will feel true retribution. I sacrifice these three monsters to summon the scion of the End. Meet my Ragnarok Dragon (?/?)!!!" The three monsters disappeared in flashes of light.

The Shadow Realm began to quiver. Pulses of power began to come into existence around Marik, whose face showed absolute seriousness. He raised his hand and clenched it into a tight fist, which he brought to bear near his chest. The Rod was glowing with power, and the darkness began to swirl around Marik, like a tornado of shadows.

Dartz shivered. Sounds; evil, ancient sounds were plaguing him… It was the sound of the end. The sound of Apocalypse. He heard people screaming… children crying. He heard beast's cries, along with the roars of monstrous beings not of this world. He was listening to the sadness of the end.

There was a roar. It sounded like it was coming from a time before anything had begun. It was a sound that was coming from a time before Creation. Shadows began to coalesce together and form body parts. Dartz watched in horror as the monster finally formed. In an explosion of light, it gained color.

The god was a two hundred and fifty foot long beast, making Giglamesh look small. Its sinuous neck snaked out from massive shoulders, with a house-sized head nestled on the neck. Its wings were each perhaps the size of a Boeing 747-400, and when they stretched out, it was as if the world was thrown into darkness (it was impossible in this case, as the Shadow Realm was filled with darkness in any case). Titanic spikes started between its eyes, and continued on to the very tip of its tail. The dragon was golden and blood-red in color, with evil eyes. The hellish maw opened. A roar so loud thundered out that the entire Shadow Realm began to shake.

"Behold," boomed Marik. "The power of the Ragnarok Dragon. A god that eats beasts like Shunoros for breakfast."

Dartz started in fear and shock. He knew he was up against the might of a creature of inconceivable strength. It would strike him down, just like the Knight of Destiny did all those years ago. He fell to his knees, shaking.

"No matter what you do now, you're finished," continued Marik. "Pull any combo you want to save yourself, but it will end your life as well. My god can crush all your mightiest beasts at the same time."

Dartz suddenly looked up, a mad glint in his eyes. "No… you fool." Marik raised an eyebrow.

"There is yet one monster left in my deck that will tear you apart. And by doing what I think you plan to do, its all over. Go ahead and make your move. Seal your fate."

Marik scoffed. "That's enough bravado from you. After twenty-six turns, it's over. Your fate is what is sealed. Witness my Ragnarok Dragon's absolute power! I activate its effect!" The colossal beast began to glow.

"Its attack and defense points are increased by five hundred, for every monster in both our graveyard and removed from play piles. Between all the monsters destroyed in battle, discarded due to various effects, and of course my Chaos Emperor Dragon's explosion, I count a grand total of thirty-two. My dragon gains sixteen thousand attack points."

The dragon let out a growl as its stats increased to a deadly 16000/16000. They were dealing with five digits here, but it was still thirty nine thousand attack-points short of Shunoros.

"My, my," drawled Dartz. "All those attack points, but they won't help you." Marik glared at him, and spat, "I don't think so. First, I attack Orichalcos Dexia! Darkness Divinity Blast!" The titanic dragon threw back its head, and a multi-colored orb that reflected a thousand faucets of light began to appear in its mouth. With a roar, it let out the blast in full force.

The miniscule monster was hit head on, and by all rights should have been annihilated. However, it was a duel, and the rules of the game could not be neglected, even by a Shadow Game. By the time the smoke cleared, Marik's life-points were down by three hundred, to thirty-three hundred.

"Of course," agreed Dartz. "Shunoros will lose attack points equivalent to the defense points that Dexia had. It doesn't matter. He's still more than twice as strong as your Ragnarok Dragon. Shunoros gave a strange groan as its ATK decreased to 38700.

Marik chuckled. "Fool. This is my winning play. I activate Ragnarok Dragon's second ability, Hell Barrage! For every extra card that your hand includes that I don't, I can attack one more time! So Shunoros, say goodbye to another sixteen thousand three hundred attack points! Darkness Divinity Blast!" Dartz braced himself for the attack as his Orichalcos Dexia was hit by another devastating attack.

Shunoros had grown weaker again. It was at less than half its original strength, at twenty-two thousand four hundred, but still far above the Ragnarok Dragon. "It doesn't matter!" boomed Dartz. "Nothing can stop me!"

Marik raised an eyebrow. "I see. I activate my quick-play magic card, It Comes Back to Haunt You. If you possess a monster stronger than mine, you take one hundred points of damage for the combined levels of all your monsters. However, I must discard a card for this effect." Shunoros was level twelve, and both its arms were level three. Dartz took eighteen hundred points of damage.

But Dartz didn't care. He looked on in horror. Marik had lost another two cards, which meant that he got another attack, crippling Shunoros. "Now, bring about the end of this fool!" Dartz roared in anger as the Ragnarok Dragon powered up a beam of pure energy and blasted its target once again. Once again, it weathered the attack, resulting in Marik having only twenty-seven hundred life-points left.

Shunoros (6100/0) still had more attack points than the base ATK of any other monster, but it was now much weaker than the Ragnarok Dragon.

Dartz's eyes bulged against the triumphant look on Marik's face. "Now, end it all with Darkness Divinity Blast!" The massive god let out a deathly growl, and fired a blast of energy bigger than all the previous ones combined. Shunoros glowed, and Dexia and Aristeros attached themselves to Shunoros' arm sockets. Stretching out its arms, Shunoros caught the oncoming ball of energy.

"I WILL NOT LOSE!" screamed Dartz as Shunoros attempted to push the attack back towards Marik.

"YOU ALREADY DID!" replied Marik angrily. "Ragnarok Dragon, end it now!" The divine dragon roared and suddenly its attack continued on, shattering Shunoros in a mind-blowing explosion. Marik laughed out loud crazily through the thick smoke.

"Finally, I win… It's over!"

A panting voice called out from within the noxious gas. "Not…quite…" Marik stopped laughing immediately and stared into the smoke, as if he desired to use the mere power of his sight to annihilate the only living being there…

As Dartz revealed himself, he was holding up a card. "A quick-play spell card, Orichalcos Immortal Warrior. If you've had more than three attacks this turn, I can reduce the total battle damage taken from one attack by two thousand for each attack you've had this turn, before this one. I was to take ninety-nine hundred points of damage this turn. However, it was reduced to thirty-nine hundred thanks to my card. I'm still in the game."

Marik remained calm. "Take a look at our life-points. There's nothing you can do. My Ragnarok Dragon is invincible. End turn."

(Marik: 2700, Dartz: 100)

The Orichalcos duelist didn't bother taking his draw. "So, you've realized it," smirked Marik. "You cannot win. At this point, nothing short of an infinite loop can defeat my god."

Dartz glanced at him strangely. "Hmmm…. I'm not planning an infinite loop. But something very similar. I'd like to congratulate you. You've just done yourself in."

All of a sudden, a massive vortex appeared in the sky, and green snake of immeasurable size shot. Only a part of the snake was sticking out of the vortex, but that part was at least fifty feet long. It was dull green in color, and had evil, yellow eyes. Marik stared at it in horror, and the Ragnarok Dragon roared in anger at the new arrival.

"When Shunoros is destroyed, Divine Serpent (∞/∞) arises," whispered Dartz, sanity barely discernible in his mad eyes. Marik took a step back in fear.

"My life-points go down to zero and my must discard my hand. I cannot lose until Divine Serpent is destroyed. But it ends now. I discard ten cards from my deck to give my Divine Serpent the chance to attack your god."

The hellish serpent opened its maw. A screech was heard. Marik recoiled, looking around in panic.

"End it."

Suddenly, as a ball of energy formed in the reptilian beast's mouth, Marik's face went blank, and all signs of emotion left his face. The Divine Serpent let out the titanic blast of energy in the direction of the Ragnarok Dragon. In the midst of the explosion, Dartz was sure he saw a small grin cross Marik's face, followed by a glow of light. He thought for a second that he had activated a card to protect himself, but after glancing at the life-point counter, he knew it was over.

(Dartz: 0, Marik: 0)

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"YOU LOSE," roared Kaiba. The fiend was about to explode, when Anubis wordlessly played another card from his hand. "Unfortunately for you, I had a backup plan," chuckled Anubis.

"I activate Hellish Retribution. I can only activate it if I'm going to lose life-points equal to or more than the ATK of your strongest monster. In that case, I can automatically negate that loss of life-points." Kaiba growled. In any case, the Azure Fiend was destroyed, and Anubis lost seventy-eight hundred life-points. The God of Death shrugged. "I still get to add the Pyramid of Light to my hand. So it doesn't matter. I have a feeling that this duel won't last too long now."

(Anubis: 2400, Kaiba: 4800)

Anubis drew aggressively. "I activate the magic card, United Gain. By sending three monsters from each of our decks to the graveyard, we both gain three hundred life-points for each monster. You may choose your monsters." Without hesitation, Kaiba discarded Luster Dragon #2 (2400/1400), Spear Dragon (1900/0), and Rare Metal Dragon (2300/1200).

Anubis chose his three monsters silently. "Another effect of United Gain was that if the total combined ATK of your three chosen monsters was above five thousand, I draw cards equal to the level of your weakest monster." Kaiba grunted angrily. The nine hundred life-point gain meant nothing to him. Not when Anubis had replenished his hand with such pathetic ease.

Anubis glanced at his new card. "I set one card facedown, and activate the effect of my Leo Sphinx (2400/1200), which allows me to remove three monsters in my graveyard from play to summon it." A sphinx appeared. It was sandy-golden in color. However, it looked alive, and sharp claws flexed themselves, and the terrifying head of a lion revealed itself.

"It has less than a third of my dragon's strength. It does not help you."

Anubis shook his head, bemused. "The Leo Sphinx has an especially nasty effect. It only activates if you hold more than five cards, and my hand size yet exceeds yours. I can attack you directly. Leo Sphinx, Nemean Claw!"

Kaiba braced himself as the powerful sphinx rushed forward, bypassing the Blue Eyes and slashing him across the chest. He grunted in pain, and straightened himself, glaring at the retreating attacker. "By leaving your monster in attack mode, you've just ended the game," chuckled Kaiba.

"Really? I activate the magic card, Ancient Doom. If you have a normal monster on the field, I can destroy it." Kaiba's eyes bulged with rage. A zombie-like dragon appeared above the Blue Eyes, flapping its wings obscenely. It screeched, and a bolt of lightning descended out of nowhere, blowing Kaiba's monster to dust.

"You'll pay for that," roared Kaiba as the mighty deity ended his turn with a facedown.

(Anubis: 2400, Kaiba: 2400)

Before Kaiba could draw, Anubis gave a hollow laugh, and spoke in a creepy voice. "Activate trap card, Pyramid of Light." Kaiba gasped as a shining ball appeared in the air. Four bluish-white beams began to shoot out of the ball, extending all over the Shadow Realm. The four beams then began to fill in with blue energy. The walls blocked out everything outside of the duel. It was eerie experience, being surrounded by absolute light and darkness at the same time.

"Next I pay a thousand life-points to special summon special summon Andro Sphinx (3000/2500) and Sphinx Teleia (2500/3000), both in attack mode!" The first creature to appear was a monster that looked like it had the head of a lion, with a long flowing sandy blonde mane. It was bipedal, and dressed in a large blue robes. It had sharp, large claws. The second creature that then appeared had the head of a young woman with long pink hair. Her eyes were golden colored. From her neck down though, she had a gray fur covered body of what looked like a lion that had wings. Her feet bore strong, powerful sharp claws.

Kaiba remembered these monsters from Anubis' first duel with Yugi. It was unwise to trifle with these beasts, but when he was fueled by rage and fury, they wouldn't stop Kaiba. Nothing would.

"Hmm… now you're really dead. I activate Premature Burial, resurrecting my Blue Eyes at the cost of eight hundred life-points." Anubis raised an eyebrow. The mighty dragon rose once again (3000/2500).

"Now I have a beast that can go toe to toe with your stronger sphinx. Blue Eyes, obliterate Sphinx Teleia!" "I'm afraid I cannot allow that," interrupted Anubis loudly. "I activate my facedown card, Draining Shield, negating your attack and granting me three thousand life-points." Kaiba snarled as Anubis' life-points shot up to 5400. With nothing he could do, he ended with a facedown.

Anubis drew, almost lazily. "Hmm….. there's not much I can do. I switch Sphinx Teleia to defense mode and end my turn with a facedown."

Kaiba drew carelessly, utterly confident of his power. A slow grin spread across his face. "It's over, Anubis. Its time for you to face one of the most powerful beasts in the game! I activate the magic card Polymerization to fuse the Blue Eyes on the field with the two in my hand to summon a creature that is truly powerful. Meet the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon (4500/3800)!"

Two more metallic looking dragons with large wings then appeared on the field with a loud roar. The three dragons then roared in unison and swirled together. When the swirling ended, a new three headed dragon appeared on the field, each head roaring loudly. The massive dragon glared at Anubis, seemingly signaling what was to come.

'

Anubis was quiet throughout the summoning. "Yes," he whispered to himself. "This is the power to end all… I will take it."

Kaiba heard this, and scoffed. "Pathetic. Do you think you can command the Blue-Eyes? It takes more skill than you possess. Only I can do it. And if you want me to be truthful, Yugi Moto can do it just as well as I can. But that's it."

Anubis ignored him. "Make your move," he pressed.

"With pleasure!" roared Kaiba. "I attack your disgusting Andro Sphinx with Neutron Blast!" Each of the dragon's heads fired a massive blast of energy in the stronger sphinx's direction. The three blasts combined into one, completely obliterating the large hybrid. The very walls of the pyramid shook.

"Sorry," interjected Anubis. "I activate my facedown card, Sibling's Sacrifice. It only works with Andro Sphinx and Sphinx Teleia. If one is destroyed in battle, I can immediately sacrifice the other to skip the Damage Step!"

"A pathetic card," snorted Kaiba. "You have to give up a specific monster to negate all damage when another specific monster is destroyed?"

"Actually," retorted Anubis, "it gives me another effect. You see, when the two sphinxes are destroyed at the same time, I can pay 500 life-points summon a new monster. One I'm sure you're familiar with."

Kaiba gasped in realization. Anubis was about to summon a monster of unspeakable power. Shadows were coalescing from all over the Shadow Realm. The point of accumulation was beginning to take shape. Soon, the shadows disappeared to reveal a new creature. A monster that looked like a combination of the two sphinxes that were just destroyed then appeared. Its torso up was made up of the blonde haired sphinx, but on his back was the female sphinx. Below his torso, the sphinx had the female sphinx's body. It had two large, golden wings.

"Meet Thenien the Great Sphinx (3500/3000)!" roared Anubis. The Pyramid around his neck was going haywire. Sphinx and dragon roared at each other, neither willing to back down.

Kaiba relaxed. "My dragon is a thousand attack points stronger than your lion cub. I'm afraid you are out of luck." Anubis scoffed. "I cannot be restricted by such pathetic technicalities. First I equip Thenien with Fallout, boosting his ATK by 4000!"

Thenien immediately grew in size, and his ATK rose to seventy-five hundred. Kaiba's heart missed a beat. "What kind of broken equip card is that?" "A very powerful one. However, I must skip my next five draw phases, Main phases, and Battle-Phases."

Kaiba began to laugh. "No card is worth such a cost. You are truly a fool."

Anubis shook his head. "Not quite. I activate the powerful magic card, End of Cruelty! By removing five cards in my deck from play, I can reduce the number of turns required by Fallout's effect by one for each card." Kaiba gaped as Anubis took five cards from his deck and removed them from play.

"Next I activate Thenien's own effect, paying five hundred life-points to boost his attack points by three thousand!" The titanic sphinx's ATK once again rose, this time to 10500.

"Now, attack with Rage of the Sphinx!" The massive hybrid roared and rushed forward. It threw its fist back and slugged the dragon hard in the chest. Kaiba stood by helplessly in horror as his dragon attempted a weak counterattack, before it was shattered by another attack.

"You lose!" roared Anubis. "Not quite," said Kaiba weakly. "I activate the quick-play magic card, Reduction barrier, reducing all damage I take to ten percent. Sorry, I'm still in the game."

Anubis snarled but quickly calmed down and said, "We will see. Although Thenien's effect wears off, 7500 is still too much for you. End turn."

(Anubis: 3400, Kaiba: 1000)

Kaiba closed his eyes. For the first time in his life, he understood what Yugi meant about the Heart of the Cards. There came a time when logic and power deserted one, and they were left to rely on faith and faith only. His eyes snapped open. Only one card could save him now.

He pulled his card off the top of his deck, and smirked. He laughed. "It ends now. I activate Monster Reborn to revive my Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" The three-headed behemoth reappeared, roaring at the sphinx that destroyed it. It was silenced by a single grunt.

"Next I sacrifice for my truly supreme dragon! I'm sure you remember him Anubis! Welcome my Blue Eyes Shining Dragon (3000/2500) to the field!" Anubis roared in rage, unable to accept the fact that one of the only two that had defeated him in the past had returned.

A blinding white light then filled the field, everyone, except Seto, cover their faces. Anubis glanced back up, only to see a figure forming in the black light. Slowly, large wings, with a long neck and powerful head formed. Finally, the light died down enough to reveal the figure was a mighty dragon made of silver metal. It had no arms, but powerful metallic legs, along with mighty metallic wings, and a powerful metal tail. It's head was powerful and coated in the same metal, and it had several blue half spheres on it's body. One on each of the top of it's wings, then one in it's chest, one on the top of it's head, and several down it's back. The dragon let out a higher pitched screech than the other previous Blue-Eyed dragons had.

Kaiba laughed haughtily, knowing his victory was secured. The Shining Dragon was special, and it wouldn't let him down, he knew it. "I activate its effect, allowing it gain three hundred attack points for every dragon in my graveyard. Let's do a little count. I have ten, meaning my dragon is already at six thousand."

"Not enough," scoffed Anubis, relaxing.

"Not yet. I activate Excavation of Mage Stones, discarding two more dragons from my hand to get back my Ultimate Dragon's Sanctuary." The Blue Eyes Shining Dragon's ATK went up to 6600, yet not enough to take out Thenien. "Finally, I replay Ultimate Dragon's Sanctuary, discarding Repayment of Losses and Paladin of White Dragon (1900/1200) to boost its ATK by another twenty-three hundred!"

Kaiba's ultimate monster was now at a huge 8900, more than enough to beat Thenien. "Since I discarded Repayment of Losses, I'll draw another card." Kaiba did so, and smirked. "I'll discard it to the effect of Ultimate Dragon's Sanctuary as well, boosting my dragon to a titanic 9900! End it with Shining Neutron Blast!"

The powerful dragon screeched loudly and opened its jaws, causing a sphere of rainbow energy to come pouring out. After a moment, the dragon then shot the powerful sphere of rainbow energy straight at the weaker sphinx. The blast struck the hybrid, making it roar loudly in pain as it's body was turned into dust. Within a few seconds, Thenien was finally shattered, allowing the remainder of the dragon's blast to go flying at Anubis. The blast struck him hard, throwing him into the air a short ways backwards.

Kaiba was laughing in a crazed manner. "You're done, Anubis! I've won."

Anubis struggled to his feet, cuts visible all over his body. Rage was written all over his face, but there was nothing he could do. He was still in the game, but he had only 700 life-points left, and now Kaiba had an uber-powerful monster on the field.

"You might as well surrender now," laughed Kaiba.

Anubis ignored him, and drew his next card, silently fuming at the loss of Thenien. Kaiba would pay. He grinned at the next card. "You're finished, Kaiba! I will end it with a true winning combo. I first play a magic card so powerful, that one could call it the magical equivalent to the Egyptian Gods. I play Infinite End! I may remove all cards in your graveyard from play, at the cost of granting you eight thousand life-points."

Kaiba was visibly shaken. He now had nine thousand life-points, but his Shining Dragon was down to its base three thousand attack points. Still, it was formidable, what with its immunities. "Now you are doomed, Kaiba. My finishing move! I activate Reversal of Worlds! If I have more than fifteen cards in my graveyard, we both switch our decks with our graveyards!"

Kaiba casually slid his deck into his graveyard slot, and froze. He had no graveyard to switch his deck with. Anubis was laughing heartily at this. "Perfect combo, isn't it? I removed your entire graveyard from play, and now you don't have a deck!"

Kaiba fell to his knees, silent screams echoing from his mouth. Anubis continued, "Ah well. Its been fun, but I've got things to do, people to kill. All I have to do is end my turn, and you lose from being unable to draw a card!"

"Impossible," whispered Kaiba. "Damn this…."

"All right then. I end my turn."

Anubis watched in triumph as Kaiba tried in vain to draw a card from his empty deck. The Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon began to disappear. But it didn't matter. Nothing else mattered. Anubis had defeated Seto Kaiba.

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Boo-yah! Eat your heart out, Kazuki Takahashi! They would never do something like that in the anime, eh? Marik has lost, and so has Kaiba! It's a ridiculous one a.m., so I'm not bothering with original cards. Metal Overlord 2.0, this is why Marik can't use Orochi. Anyway, thanks.

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