Once again, our brilliant author ragnarok has decided to let another chapter be posted! He thanks you for all of your reviews and asks you to keep it up so the story will be posted faster. And I've talked to long here, here's the next chapter of Shining Friendship's Guiding Light by my friend Ragnarok.


Chapter 29

"The time has come to reinforce the Seal of Orichalcos with the most powerful layer of them all," Dartz said, holding up a card. "Behold the ancient magic of my Orichalcos Tritos!"

"Pharaoh, Ms. Valentine, welcome to level three!" Dartz announced, as a third ring began to form around them.

"How can the Seal of Orichalcos possibility get any stronger?" Yami asked, as a third layer formed around the Seal of Orichalcos.

"We're dealing with a force that's greater than the darkest shadows, and older than time itself." Dartz replied, as his LP increase to 19000 from the effect of Orichalcos Deuteros. "And with this layer, the two of you won't even be able to delay your downfall!" he continued, looking at Mai's Different Dimension Dragon.

"Now, I play the magic card: Orichalcos Reflectance!" Dartz announced, activating his face down card. "This card allows me to choose a monster on your side of the field and destroy it, and I choose Blade Knight!"

Yami's Blade Knight, still at 3200 atk from the Excalibur magic card's effect, is destroyed. "After the monster is destroyed, I can now add half of its atk strength to one of my monsters, and I choose my remaining Orichalcos Malevolence!" Dartz continued, as Orichalcos Malevolence's atk increases to 4100, gaining the 1600 atk pts from Blade Knight.

"That won't help you, Dartz!" Yami shouted. "I activate one of my three face down cards: Natural Selection! This trap allows me to make a duplicate of one of your monsters and destroy the original one!"

But suddenly, the Orichalcos Tritos shined bright green, and Yami's trap card is destroyed. "It is beginning to sink in yet? When used properly, the Seal of Orichalcos is unmatched by any other card in the game. And thanks to its third layer, your magic and trap cards can no longer destroy or negatively affect my monsters!" Dartz said, and the crystal seal imprisoning Yugi, Joey, Valon, and Pegasus is shattered.

Dartz is right. Each layer is more powerful than the next. If we don't think of something quick, we'll lose the duel! Yami thought.

"Orichalcos Malevolence, destroy Ms. Valentine's Different Dimension Dragon!" Dartz ordered. Orichalcos Malevolence smashes the ground again, sending the blast at Mai's monster.

"I activate one my face down cards!" Mai countered. "It's another one compliments of Joey: Graceful Dice! A dice will now be rolled. Whatever the dice lands on, all monsters on our side of the field will receive that number of atk and def points multiplied by 100!"

"That won't help you," Dartz replied, as the dice landed on a six, bringing Different Dimension Dragon's stats to 1800/2100 and Big Shield Guardna's stats to 700/3200. "Since the dice landed on a six, your Different Dimension Dragon and the pharaoh's Big Shield Guardna only gained 600 attack and defense points. You only have 1200 LP remaining, and as soon as this blast hits your dragon, you'll lose 2300 LP!"

Mai looked at Yami. Please pharaoh, she thought desperately, tell me one of your face down cards can help me. I have to save Joey, and I've come too far just to be beaten!

"I think not, Dartz!" Yami shouted. "I activate my second trap card: Ambush! This allows me to sacrifice a monster on my side of the field, then add its def pts to another monster's atk pts!" Big Shield Guardna disappears from the field, and Different Dimension Dragon's atk increases to 5000.

"Different Dimension Dragon, counterattack and destroy Orichalcos Malevolence!" Mai shouted. Different Dimension Dragon fires its rainbow beam, and Orichalcos Malevolence is destroyed. "And since it was destroyed on your turn Dartz, you can't activate its special ability and have two more take its place this time!"

"Orichalcos Kyutora, absorb the damage!" Dartz ordered. Kyutora's eye flashes again, sucking all the energy waves into it. (Kyutora's Damage Absorption: 15300)

"It's ok, pharaoh." Mai said gently. "Dartz may not have lost any LP, but at least both of us are still standing."

"Well the pharaoh is about to lose, Ms. Valentine!" Dartz said, laughing evilly, turning to Yami. "When you sacrificed your Big Shield Guardna, you left no monsters on your side of the field to protect yourself, pharaoh! Which means your LP are now wide open for my Mirror Knights to attack with! And since you only have 800 LP remaining, you'll lose your soul as soon as I call my attack!"

"Mirror Knights, attack the pharaoh and bring his soul to me!" Dartz ordered. Yugi, Joey, Valon, and Pegasus all leap forward, hitting Yami with their swords. "You see, pharaoh, now that all three layers of the seal are on the field, it is no longer possible for my knights to defy me!"

But as Pegasus hit Yami, he suddenly stopped. "Yugi, please tell me you have the card I gave you, for that card unlocks the secret of the legendary dragons…"

"What are you waiting for? Attack the pharaoh!" Dartz shouted. Pegasus continues his attack, then leaps back with Yugi, Joey, and Valon.

"You lose, pharaoh!" Dartz said. But to his surprise, Yami's LP increase to 4800, then decrease to 2800.

"I was hoping you'd do that, Dartz!" Yami said, activating his last face down card. "And I was also hoping that all four of your Mirror Knights would attack! It allowed me to activate my trap card: Nutrient Z! If I'm to take 2000 or more points of damage in one turn, Nutrient Z gives me 4000 more LP before the damage is calculated!"

However, the situation is getting worse by the minute, Yami thought. Mai and I can barely hold on, while Dartz continues to grow stronger. Now, what could Pegasus mean by unlocking the secret of the Legendary Dragons? Could the card he gave me be the secret to defeating Dartz?

"I'll place these two cards face down on the field and end my turn for now." Dartz said, inserting the cards into his slot. "All right Ms. Valentine, go ahead and make your final move. With only 1200 LP remaining, your time is just about up anyway."

As Mai is about to draw her card, Dartz cut her off. "Now, I activate one of my face down cards: Battle After the Storm! The trap card will render you defenseless. First, all three of us must discard one card from our hands." As Yami and Mai both discarded a card from their hands, Dartz continued, "Next, it allows me to choose one of the monsters on your side of the field and destroy it, and I choose your Different Dimension Dragon! And I know your Different Dimension Dragon's weakness: it cannot be destroyed by magic or trap cards unless it specifically designates a target, like my Battle After the Storm trap card."

Mai's Different Dimension Dragon is destroyed. "Finally, if the monster I chose is destroyed, I can then choose one of my monsters and allow it to attack you." Dartz continued. "And since you only have one face down card as defense, I can attack you directly. So, I'll choose Mirror Knight Joseph and let him strike you!"

"NO! Joey, please fight it! I know you can still hear me!" Mai screamed, as Joey raised his sword and leapt forward.

To Dartz's surprise, Joey stopped in the middle of the attack, his sword less than an inch from Mai's face. His entire body shook, beads of sweat rolled down his face. But he lowered his sword and shield, and to Mai's relief, jumped back to Dartz's side of the field.

A tear slid down Mai's cheek. During the few seconds Joey was only an inch away from her, she saw the pain in Joey's eyes, and the strain he was forced to confront to stop his attack on her.

Every part of Joey is being pushed to his limits to defy Dartz now, Mai thought sadly. Even in this state, after everything I put him through, Joey is still trying to protect me. I have to find a way to protect HIM! But due to the third layer of the seal, no magic and trap card can negatively affect or destroy Dartz's monsters, which means now I have to rely solely on monster special abilities now. And even if I succeed in sending his Mirror Knights off the field, Joey could be killed in that process! But if I do nothing, Dartz may find a way to send his Mirror Knights off the field anyway, which means I would still lose him! There's got to be something I haven't thought of yet that get protect Joey!

"What!?" Dartz exclaimed in disbelief. "How can he be strong enough to withstand three layers of the seal?"

"The two of us go back quite some time, Dartz. There is a bond between the two of us that you'll never break! In fact, I bet Joey could have defied you in attacking the pharaoh. He only did it to help the pharaoh activate his Nutrient Z trap card, allowing him to stay in the game." Mai replied.

"You don't even have any respect for three who once worked for you." Mai accused, pointing to Valon. "Valon was poisoned by the Orichalcos, but during that time, he was loyal to you until the end, and look at how you rewarded him!"

Dartz laughed. "Perhaps you should know the entire story, Ms. Valentine. Just take a look at my stone walls." he said, as the torches that surround room lit up again. "Every single person engraved on the stone tablets gave in to the their darkness and was captured by the Seal of Orichalcos. You are no different, Ms. Valentine. You actually thought Joseph Wheeler helped set you free? He merely deceived you."

"Knock it off!" Mai shouted. "Joey and I have something that you'd never understand, Dartz! And I know he would never do such a thing!"

"Since he was captured by the seal, it means he's evil, just like all humans." Dartz replied. "Which is why I was chosen to wipe them out and start all over again. You see, you can't just walk away from the darkness, Ms. Valentine. That darkness is a part of who you truly are."

Mai raised her eyebrows in confusion. "If your story was true, then I should have lost my soul the instant you gave me the power of the Orichalcos, just like Rafael, Alister, and Valon."

"Wrong, Ms. Valentine." Dartz corrected. "I didn't capture your soul, along with Rafael, Alister, and Valon because your rage and anger made it easy for me to carry out my plan."

"That's only me. What does this have to do with the three of them?" Mai demanded. "And if all humans are truly evil, then why didn't you get captured by the Seal of Orichalcos?"

"I'm a pioneer, chosen by the Orichalcos to recreate paradise on Earth, Ms. Valentine." Dartz replied. "And my task is nearly complete. Soon I'll have enough power to raise the Leviathan and rebuild civilization!"

"You see Ms. Valentine, I've been gathering human souls for 10,000 years in order to regenerate the Great Beast." Dartz explained. "But it became clear that time was running out, so I needed help. That's the upside to the human mind: it is so easily deceived. Rafael, Alister, and Valon may have been hired, but they were going to be sacrificed for my goals anyway."

"A few subordinates were needed to carry out my plan, and that's where the three of them came in. They needed to be filled with enough anger in order to tap the full power of the Orichalcos, as well as have a reason for hating the people of this world as much as I do." Dartz continued. "When I encountered Rafael, Alister, and Valon, I knew I had found the people I was looking for. All I needed was a way to influence certain events in their lives."

"What do you mean, influence? All three of them said that the chaos that happened in their lives were natural disasters!" Mai protested.

"It looks like I have to spell it out for you. Alister and his family suffered when Gozaburo Kaiba's tanks destroyed their town so that Gozaburo Kaiba the town's township. Alister blamed Kaiba for his brother and his family's suffering, since he believed it was Gozaburo who did it to his family and his brother. That was only partially true. The Kaiba Corp tanks were indeed the ones that destroyed Alister's town, but no member of Alister's family was captured. And while Gozaburo didn't care about the destruction done to the town, he did care about its inhabitants, which is why tried to keep the casualty list low. By using the power of the Orichalcos, it was easy for me to disguise myself as Gozaburo Kaiba and capture Alister's family and his brother." Dartz revealed.

Mai gasped in shock as Dartz continued, "Valon was a lot harder to make that happen, since he was an outsider when he was young, just like yourself, Ms. Valentine. I concluded that bringing chaos into his life would certainly not be easy. But the Australian had it even harder than you, Ms. Valentine. While you grew up with a rich family with nearly complete luxury, Valon's parents abandoned him in an orphanage almost right after he was born. It became clear to me that only a juvenile detention center would be worse, and I found a perfect one near Valon's location in Sydney, Australia. And thanks to the power of the Orichalcos, I was easily able to set up a dueling club in several of them. Valon was thrown in and out of 12 different detention centers, but I knew he'd settle down in one of them eventually. As for how I got him into a juvenile detention center in the first place, I'm sure you recall Valon telling you his story of being accused of burning down his entire orphanage after he brought you to me."

"You did that!?" Mai screamed in anger.

"Of course," Dartz replied. "It was the only way to get Valon in a juvenile detention center really quickly. And by framing him for that crime at the age of nine, Valon's dueling skills rapidly increased during the time he dueled in the detention center, allowing him to make the perfect candidate for me. As for Rafael, his childhood was very similar to yours, Ms. Valentine. Just like yourself, Rafael also grew up in a world of luxury, having practically everything a kid could ever want."

"I'm aware of Rafael's story, Dartz!" Mai shouted. "He told me that on one particular day, the luxury liner he was on when he was just a kid was caught in a typhoon. His family escaped, but Rafael was stranded on an island for three full years, with nothing but his duel monsters deck."

"True," Dartz replied. "But answer me this, Ms. Valentine. I know you're not a weather expert, but I do know that you are smart enough to know that typhoons cannot just come out of nowhere, nor can they be formed all of a sudden out of nothing. When Rafael told you his life story, I'm sure he told you that the seas were calm when the typhoon began."

"Wait a minute, Dartz! Are you telling me that you created that typhoon?" Mai demanded angrily.

"With the power of the Orichalcos, all I had to do was chant a spell and a typhoon of any magnitude could easily materialize." Dartz replied. "Besides, I found that Rafael's life was too perfect, and adjustments were necessary. And even if he didn't have such a luxurious life, it was still necessary."

"Why's that?" Yami demanded.

"Rafael had practically mastered the game of duel monsters at a young age, and he was a better duelist than Alister and Valon since he had practiced duel monsters long before he became my employee. Alister and Valon, on the other hand, didn't start practicing until after I gave them the power of the Orichalcos. I had observed Rafael's skills for quite some time, and I was quite impressed with them. But it was necessary to release Rafael's anger. I needed his agony and his thirst for vengeance. After all, I knew that a time may come that I would have to deal with the three legendary dragons once again." Dartz replied.

Mai clenched her teeth in anger as Dartz continued, "And that is how the perfect match ups were formed. Alister blamed Kaiba for his family's suffering, allowing him to tap the full power of the Seal of Orichalcos when he dueled him. As for you, pharaoh, I knew that Rafael would match quite well against you. He had already mastered the game, and what better opponent to challenge him than the one who claimed that he could never be beaten under all circumstances?"

"And just what does Valon have to do with Joey?" Mai demanded. "I'm sure it can't be just about me!"

"How right you are, Ms. Valentine." Dartz replied. "I kept very minor tabs on Joseph Wheeler when he was just a kid. His parents' divorce was tough on him, and being left with an alcoholic father hardened his heart. This was the reason why he became a bully in his teens, as well as why he liked to fight all the time. But I also know that looks can be deceiving. And I was right when he met Yugi Mutou. From that point on, he began to change. His heart softened. That's what made Valon going up against Joseph so interesting. In that duel, Joseph was looking into a mirror of himself: the way he is now, and the way he once was."

Mai's eyes widened. This was exactly what Joey thought when he was dueling against Valon. "Then answer me this Dartz: if I wasn't what you were looking for, why did you even give me the power of the Orichalcos in the first place?" she asked angrily. "I'm sure it couldn't be solely for the purpose of saving you the trouble of capturing Joey's soul!"

"Of course not, Ms. Valentine." Dartz answered. "When Valon brought you in, I almost didn't want to give you the power of the Orichalcos because you were way too power hungry, where infinite power was still insufficient for you. But like Rafael, you grew up in a world of luxury, where you also had nearly everything you ever wanted, except maybe friends. That is what fueled your anger and rage: your desire for friends, but only saw other people in your life as stepping stones to achieve your own ends."

"When you met Yugi and Joey at Duelist Kingdom, that part of you began to change. You began to view people are more than mere stepping stones." Dartz continued, "At the same time, however, you became increasingly angry that your dueling reputation was being ruined, especially by Joseph Wheeler, who you believed was nothing more than a mere bug that should have been squashed ages ago. I realized that the power of the Orichalcos had to be adjusted in your mind to achieve the same results of Alister, Rafael, and Valon. So, when I gave you the power of the Orichalcos, I adjusted it to make you think that it was Joseph Wheeler who took away your glory that you always wanted. You wouldn't even believe how little you resisted!" Dartz ended, laughing evilly, as Mai's eyes bulged in anger and fury.

"Mai, whatever you do, don't listen to him!" Yami warned. "He's just trying to corrupt you again!"

"You're too late for that, pharaoh." Dartz replied, as the Seal of Orichalcos began to reappear on Mai's forehead. "The power of the Orichalcos I gave to her can never be extinguished. In just a few more seconds, her dark side will reemerge, allowing me to take full control of her once again. Granted, I did have a tough time controlling her before when she had the power of the Orichalcos, but she will be on my side once again! For in a few moments, the Seal of Orichalcos will reappear on her, bringing her back to me!"

But to Dartz's surprise, the seal on Mai's forehead suddenly disappeared. "What!? How did you suppress your true self once again?" Dartz demanded.

Tilting her face back up, Mai smiled. "I'm sure you recall just as Joey appeared on your stone wall, the Orichalcos link was severed from within me, Dartz."

"I remember," Dartz said. "Then, all of a sudden, Joseph Wheeler disappeared from my wall for a brief period of time."

"During those moments, Joey came back to me." Mai revealed, chuckling. "You thought there was still Orichalcos magic left in me, didn't you, Dartz? You would have been right, had Joey not purified me. And with that, I am now free from all Orichalcos ties from within me."

"So it looks like your little speech for the Orichalcos to regain control of me didn't work!" Mai continued, smiling. "And now, I know the entire story of your cruelties!"