~Chapter XXXVIII~

Tauren helped Ryo up to his feet, but when the world became dark he immediately looked towards the palace. Apophis was standing on the balcony.

"No..." he gasped. "He has awoken!"

Ryo also turned to look, his eyes as wide as they could be despite still appearing weak and weary. They were too late. Apophis was finally free.

"He's in a mortal form," Akefia noted, frowning.

"But he's still powerful," Tauren added. "He may not look as monstrous as Zorc, but he's strong. I doubt magic can be used against him in this world; this world is his own."

"If we do nothing he'll destroy us all," Nefertari stated. "We have to get to the palace!"

"I have to take this boy to safety," Tauren said, referring to Ryo. "He has been wounded."

Akefia folded his arms. "He won't be of any use to us, anyway," he muttered. "This is a task for those who know how to fight."

Tauren frowned slightly at him. "You never were the apologetic type, were you?" he responded. Akefia simply flashed a grin, so Tauren sighed and turned to face Nefertari. "I'll take him back to the inn; you two should look for some of the others."

"We don't need anyone else's help," Akefia spat.

"You think you can go against a god by yourself?" Tauren replied, tension evident in his tone.

"I was a god!" Akefia countered proudly. "I fused my soul with Zorc's and became a powerful entity!"

"Well, now you're just Akefia," Tauren told him simply before turning and carrying Ryo away. Akefia narrowed his eyes.

"That smug little spellcaster..." he grumbled. "I preferred him when he was the timid slave boy!"

"We don't have time for this, Akefia," Nefertari spoke up. "We don't have time to hate anyone. We have to stop Apophis before he erases all of our souls!"

"Then let's go!" Akefia barked. "We don't need anyone else to help us!" He was about to run towards the palace, but Nefertari suddenly grabbed his hand. The scar-faced male turned his head sharply to look back at her with a glare, but the woman had tears in her eyes.

"No, Akefia..." she wavered, shaking her head slowly. "I watched you work alone once. I watched you fail and die, and then I waited for five thousand years... I'm not losing you again; we have to work with the others! We need as many allies as possible!"

Akefia's glare slowly softened before he glanced aside, pulling his hand away from hers. "Fine," he hissed. The blue-haired woman smiled happily.

"Let's just head to Haku's inn," she suggested. "That's where the others might be heading."

Akefia grumbled and lowered his head, wearing a scowl upon his face, but he obeyed the woman's commands. He began to walk despite not knowing which inn Nefertari was referring to, causing the woman to sigh quietly. She hurried after him and held onto his arm, catching his attention. Fortunately he didn't seem to mind and continued to walk with her holding onto him.

...

Haku's Inn, There Is No Time

Janeiro was sitting with many of the others who, as predicted by Nefertari, had retreated to Haku's inn, as that had always been a known safe spot in the city even in ancient times. She, along with the many who had returned to the inn, were being cared for by Haku, who was asking for the names of those who were not present. Upon hearing the door open, he saw the last two individuals to account for: Tauren and Ryo. Janeiro immediately stood up and covered her own mouth, gasping in pure horror when seeing Ryo's burn wounds. She jogged over as Tauren lay Ryo in the corner of the room.

"Ryo!" she cried, falling to her kneeds beside him. "Ryo, what happened?!"

Ryo let out a quiet groan, keeping his eyes closed. He needed to rest and could not find the energy to deliver an answer.

"He was attacked," Tauren answered for him.

"Who by?" Janeiro questioned. "Was it Yami Bakura? Apophis? ...No; it was Akefia, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Tauren confirmed. "Akefia sicked his Diabound on him, but he was rescued."

"By who?" Janeiro queried.

Before Tauren could answer, the door swung open once again. Everyone instantly became tense, expecting a threat to walk in, but many of the ancient individuals, including Atem, went wide-eyed upon seeing the return of Nefertari, who helped Akefia walk inside.

Marik stood himself up in shock, recognizing that this was the same woman portrayed in the tomb he discovered in the present day. "That's her," he said. "You. You're the woman buried in the tomb I discovered."

Nefertari stared at Marik as if confused, mostly baffled by his clothing. However, as someone who had watched time go by for thousands of years, she quickly identified that Marik was a modern-day individual much like Ryo. "You discovered my tomb?" she queried.

"Yes," Marik replied in awe.

"It's nice to meet you," Nefertari responded. "How does it feel talking to a spirit from the past?"

"It happens more often than you think," Marik admitted, laughing awkwardly.

Riko stepped up and nudged Marik to the side, glaring at Nefertari. "We have more important things to be talking about," she grumbled, though it was really quite obvious that she was just paranoid about other women talking to the man she had her eyes on.

"...Indeed we do," Nefertari agreed awkwardly after a slight pause.

Only now did the young woman notice that Akefia had turned his attention to Atem, and that Atem had returned the favour. Atem simply frowned at the sight of him while Akefia bared his teeth and gave him the most hateful glare a man could give.

Atem slowly approached, seeing that Nefertari became somewhat defensive as she pulled Akefia even closer to her despite already holding him to keep him supported.

"I thought your soul had been destroyed," the young Pharaoh commented.

"Guess again, Pharaoh," Akefia spat viciously. "It took me thousands of years to put my plan into place; my soul will not be so easy to annihilate."

"It was not you who planned what happened in those events," Atem corrected. "It was Zorc. He was controlling you; I saw it. When he left your body, you were confused. You didn't even know who I was."

Akefia narrowed his eyes and attempted to step closer to the Pharaoh, but Nefertari stopped him. "Don't," she commanded. "We don't have time for this. Apophis is about to consume the timelines and we aren't even at our full strength to fight him with; please, you must restrain yourself until we defeat him, Akefia."

The thief glared at her before allowing his hateful stare to soften. "Fine," his hissed, looking away from Atem.

"Hold on!" Riko exclaimed suddenly. "Isn't this the guy we were just after not too long ago? The guy who almost killed Ryo?"

Janeiro was the one to stand up and look at Akefia, her expression one of fear but also one of determination. "We can trust him," she announced, though her voice, as always, was not that loud. She was still able to get the attention of the others, luckily, and even Akefia gave her a somewhat surprised gaze. "He's done bad, but he's not as bad as you think he is. Our enemy is Apophis; we do not have time to fight among ourselves when we should be fighting the one trying to destroy everything!"

Nefertari nodded in agreement, staring at Janeiro thoughtfully as she verbally responded. "The girl is right," she agreed. "Apophis is the embodiment of chaos and evil. We must stop him before he destroys us all."

Kubui was looking outside at the dark city before he retreated into the building completely, a look of horror on his face. "Um... I don't want to alarm anyone, but I think I know why Apophis was summoned after sunset," he revealed. Most of the modern individuals looked completely confused, but the ancient spirits were full of shock at the understanding of Kubui's words.

The Desert Children.

...

The Palace Which Was Once For Pharaohs

Apophis stared down at the city gleefully, a wide grin on his face as he stood upon the palace balcony and giggled to himself. However, the sound of footsteps behind him caught his attention, though his grin did not fade at all.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," he mused, turning around to lock his bright green eyes onto Yami Bakura. "If it isn't Zorc's weakening soul. Tell me; how does it feel now that you are but a shadow of your former self while I am all of me?"

Bakura narrowed his eyes while wearing a frown. "You know, you shouldn't sound so confident when we appear to be evenly matched," he retorted. "If this truly is you at full power, you must be no stronger than I am at this moment. Have you weakened over the years?"

Apophis let out a cackle. "Oh, Bakura, how you have always kept me amused," he responded. "You always talk big before defeat. When will you ever change?"

"Today," Bakura answered, "because I'm not talking before defeat." The pale man's words prompted a loud chortle from Apophis.

"You truly are a fool!" he insulted. "Then again, I should expect nothing less from a conscious cloud of nothing but shadows and darkness. You're doomed to be blind; you have no power over me here!" His green eyes glowed brightly as he held out his arms. "This is my world, Yami Bakura; I can see everything here. I am in control of everything here. This world is my playground, and here I will pick off each soul one by one. Then when I am done here, I will consume the timelines and become the ultimate god! I will exist in the past, present and future, and no matter where you look, living creatures will be obeying me!"

Bakura flashed a grin. "Your playful nature will be the end of you," he told him. "If you would just be done with everyone here then you would win, but instead you choose to take your time, giving myself and those mortals time destroy you. Although, I really cannot criticize you, can I? I, too, love to play games, but I suppose I have learned after the Pharaoh defeated me during the Shadow Game I forced him into."

"Unlike you, Bakura, there is no way that these mortals can defeat me - or you, for that matter," Apophis countered. "If they do somehow find a weakness and come close to winning this battle, I have the power to... well, I suppose comparing it to a self-destruct sequence gives you the clear picture."

Bakura could only chuckle, shrugging his shoulders. "You think far too highly of yourself," he stated. "I am the master of all things evil. You are just a god of chaos. In fact, I don't think you deserve to be known as a "god" anymore. You were defeated millenia ago, and then you were reborn into a mortal child. It seems that I am not the only one of us who is but a mere shadow of a greater being."

Again, Apophis laughed loudly. "That's where you're wrong, Bakura!" he announced. "The human form you see before you is only used to make encounters with mortals a little easier; I will enter my true form when the time is right, and that will be when my right to reclaim my eternal position as a god is restored!"

"You will have to wait a little longer for that, I'm afraid," Bakura announced, stepping closer to the other white-haired male as he held up his wrist, revealing a glowing DiaDhank. "Why not settle this over a Shadow Game?"

"Oh, Bakura..." Apophis chuckled darkly, his eyes once again glowing with the reptillian slits becoming even thinner. "Your Shadow Games are like my Nightmare Games... but there's only one difference: in Nightmare Games, there are no rules at all!"

Bakura stopped walking, raising his eyebrow in confusion, when a loud hiss could be heard echoing through the palace. The incarnation of Zorc turned around swiftly, seeing that in the shadows a large snake's body winded throughout the structure.

"There are no limits," Apophis claimed as a three-headed green snake slithered towards Bakura. Bakura took a few steps back, only to almost step on a white cobra which reared up at him. "No rules at all," Apophis continued. A striped snake dangled from the ceiling, hissing at Bakura. "And no chance for any of my opponents to win!"

"Hmph," Bakura grunted, not looking intimidated by the amount of monsters Apophis had control over. "Perhaps I will be the first opponent to win one of your Nightmare Games," he replied, once again holding out his DiaDhank. "Now then, I summon my own monster! Dark Necrofear!"

As Dark Necrofear began to materialize beside him, doll in hand, Bakura grinned in a way which almost made him look like he had gone insane. "And now, I'm going to turn your world into my playing field! I activate Dark Sanctuary!"

A sound of pain seemed to come from his throat as the DiaDhank on his wrist cracked and suddenly fell to the ground in a pile of golden shards, and as he fell to his knees, clutching his chest, the entire sky became dark red, filling with eyeballs and lips.

Bakura had brought modern duelist techniques into the ancient world.

If he was going to fight Apophis, then he needed to use everything he could.

~End of Chapter~