At Zorc's castle, the Dark One himself sat upon his infernal throne of black stone, coping with the frustration his servants had brought upon him with the recent defeat at Leo's castle. Barely able to contain his anger, he sat, nearly clawing at his own forehead with his sharp nails, which jutted out of his hands like knives. This loss was critical and he knew that if such routine kept up, he would surely lose everything he had already gained. Before him stood his most trusted and high-ranking servants, expressing their sincerest apologies for the defeat.

"I apologize, my lord. You'll have to excuse us," explained Nightshroud, bowing his head.

"Yes, it is not in our nature to lose, but this time the circumstances were a bit odd and we were so outnumbered. We haven't even used the best of our warriors against them yet. We didn't conquer this planet for nothing. We did it with the help of our most ferocious creatures and we have yet to unleash most of them upon our adversaries," explained Don Thousand.

"Yes, I want to make note of that that we haven't yet unleashed upon them our most terrifying creatures," began Zorc, scratching his chin.

Zorc's castle was the most visually frightening place one could ever imagine. The exterior was much like that of Leo's castle, but far larger. There were many tall towers surrounding a gargantuan central building, being connected by numerous bridges and smaller chambers. The castle itself was made of large black stone that seemed to repel any light from entering its shadowy territory. Many gargoyles jutted out from edges upon its roofs, displaying an aura of absolute evil. It truly was a sanctuary for infernal majesty such as the God of Darkness himself, allowing him to maliciously sit upon his throne and conduct his imperial tyranny so as to afflict the lives of billions forced into submission unto him. [AUTHOR'S NOTE: If any of you have ever played the Legend of Zelda, try to think more along the lines of a combination of Ganon's castle from Ocarina of Time combined with Hyrule Castle from Twilight Princess and Castle Volkihar from Skyrim, but with an even more extreme evil/demonic/dark twist and bigger.

The throne room, which they were now in, was a massive hall near the top of the castle. It almost resembled a cathedral's interior, but lacking pews or seating of any kind, despite the throne itself. It was long, probably well over two hundred feet in length, and the ceiling was very high, at a hundred feet or so. In terms fo width, the room was around forty-five feet.. Numerous black pillars of stone lined the edges of the room as a blood-red carpet ran along its dead center, leading to the end where the mighty throne itself sat, facing all before it.

Zorc, in his primary form, was about seven feet tall and had large black leathery wings that jutted from his back and each of them bore spikes lining their sides. His eyes were black and lifeless, but had the ability to glow blood red when he was angered, while his toe and finger nails protruded from said body parts as if they were knives, sharp and deadly, being much longer and razor-esque than mere claws. His body itself was muscular and impressive, boasting behemoth biceps and triceps and rock-hard abs. His face, ugliest and most demonic of all, had two curled horns protruding from its sides, while possessing deadly fangs of knife-like teeth in his mouth, and crooked nose. Long, raven-colored hair fell beyond his shoulders as his skin shone black as night.

Dissatisfied, he grew impatient with his servants, slamming his fist upon the arm of his throne, cursing their very names as he demanded better than what he knew was happening.

"I want the Pharaoh brought to me and I will tend to him myself! We're losing territory rapidly as his forces encroach upon what is rightfully mine! I can't trust any of you with anything. You all have shown such disregard for my empire in allowing him to do this. Even you two! You two are supposed to be my two greatest generals" he shouted, pointing directly at both Nightshroud and Don Thousand.

Nightshroud, a tall skeletal figure of great bone density with glowing blue eyes and concealment under a flowing and long black cloak, and Don Thousand, whom was a tall and flamboyant-looking figure with black armor covering his entire body as his long blonde hair with red bangs hung from his head, both gazed at their master, speechless at how he could accuse them of such an act as failure.

"Two greatest generals? What about me? I'm just as powerful and great as both of them!" shrieked a shocked Yami Marik as he gasped before his lord, astonished at how he could disregard him before his two comrades.

Don Thousand couldn't help but conceal a minor chuckle as Zorc slapped his forehead, shaking his head at Yami Marik's claim.

"You are no where near as powerful as either of them and I don't expect nearly as much from you, you buffoon. Your powers are limited compared to these two, whom are practically deities in their own rights and possess credentials truly deserving of the rank of generals. You are nothing more than a high-ranking soldier! Don't make me laugh," Zorc taunted.

"My lord," began Don Thousand, bowing to the Dark One. "The Pharaoh has beaten us not because we failed you. Both Nightshroud and myself have barely dealt with either him or his forces. The one whom has been dealing with them and that has failed you miserably is Seto Kaiba, but don't worry because I'm sure that we probably won't be seeing him any longer. You see, my lord, he nearly lost his life at the hands of Zane Truesdale, but Nightshroud and I arrived at the last moment, just in time to save him. I, disgusted at his failure, used my power to send him flying away from the battle scene. He landed somewhere else at the castle and likely got caught in the explosion. He wasn't strong enough to serve you , my lord. He's not worth our time. He couldn't even escape the castle's destruction."

"I never trusted him," scowled Nightshroud, crossing his arms. "There was always something about him… Like he wasn't truly one of us. I feel that he was more in this for his own goals rather than for a unified empire of darkness under you, my master."

"Our powers are growing and soon we will be what we once were," said Nightshroud.

"Yes," agreed Nightshroud. "My lord, when we revived you from your prior state, we drained so much of our own power to do so and we are eagerly anticipating the return of our former powers, which we gave unto you to fuel your return to power. Don Thousand, myself, and even the Great Leviathan have lost so much of what we once had and we did it all for you."

"Yes, as I have promised, Nightshroud, your powers will return to you when the time is right. As of now, you are gradually regaining them over time and once I acquire what I want, you will be more powerful than you can ever imagine for I will reward you for your loyalty. You are my highest-ranking generals and you will rule under me as lords, governing various regions of this wretched planet," explained Zorc.

"Of course, my lord," he replied, bowing his head in reverence.

Suddenly, the great doors at the entrance to the throne room were slammed wide open and someone, fueled with rage, stormed inward, pacing towards them all.

"You three!" his cold voice shrieked a she pointed abruptly at the three standing before Zorc.

"How is he still alive?" whispered Don Thousand.

"Damn you, child," muttered Nightshroud.

"Oh, great. You're back," scowled Yami Marik, rolling his eyes.

"Of course I am!" shouted Kaiba as he, scarred and weary, approached them. "You left me at that forsaken place to die! You wanted me to die so I'd be sent to the Gods and they'd wipe me form exist after I failed their judgment. You better hope our master forbids me from killing all three of you!"

"You've done nothing but disappoint and fail our lord ever since you were swore allegiance to him!" accused Nightshroud.

"Someone as apthetic as you isn't worthy of our lord!" Don Thousand smirked.

The air in the room grew so tense that it was as if it could be severed with a knife. Boiling between Kaiba and is rivals was a grandiose feud of unimaginable magnitude. They didn't like him and he didn't like them. Adversaries working fort he same master they were, blatantly longing to slaughter one another.

"You!" screamed Kaiba as he reached for Don Thousand's neck.

"Enough!" demanded Zorc, making them halt their argument. "You all have disappointed me in recent weeks for allowing the Pharaoh to gain this much victory, but especially you, Kaiba! You've had more failures under your watch than anyone else and it is your fault that they were able to re-capture their green-haired friend and take him back to the side of light!"

"Please… my lord…" whimpered Kaiba.

"Agh!" screamed Zorc, rising form his throne as he held out his hand and levitated Kaiba into the air, slamming him against one of the giant pillars at the side of the room numerous times as he cringed with pain until Zorc returned him to the floor before the throne, slamming him against the three stairs that led to the throne's platform. Reaching his hand upward, Kaiba begged.

"I'm sorry!"

Insulted, Zorc shot from his hands black lightning that shocked Kaiba, sending an exploding sensation of pain all throughout his body as agony and despair dominated over him, making him wish for mercy.

When the madness stopped, Kaiba remained silent as Zorc laughed.

"You are weak. Now, get out of my sight until I give you your next mission. You're lucky I'm keeping you at all."

Kaiba, rising, turned around, escorting himself out of the room while his rivals laughed under their breaths, feeling the pleasant sensation of conquest surge through their minds as the one they loathed was punished and rightfully so.

"He disgusts me," Zorc scowled.

"What are your orders, my lord?" asked Nightshroud.

"We are going to plan something truly extravagant. You see, this will quake the Pharaoh's entire agenda and make him want to run to his pathetic gods, trembling and crying as he begs them for protection. We are going to launch a surprise assault on that castle of theirs and they'll never see it coming. Yes, I think this will truly be the greatest act of revenge we can conjure - destroying their primary base camp and allowing our forces to overrun it."

"This sounds delightfully clever," whispered Don Thousand.

"Yes, but first, we must prepare our assault upon Astral World and its putrid inhabitants. They disgust me with their purity and light. We'll destroy their entire world and enslave their survivors. I'll bash their skulls against rocks and sever their genitals from their body before throwing them in a grinder!" Zorc assured.

Little did the Pharaoh know that in time he would potentially lose everything. The battles were growing more intense with each passing day and more lives were being lost. In a time of such great distress, darkness dominated, evoking sheer detriment upon all whom cling to light. Such was arbitrary for to Zorc, the destruction was sheer bliss, while to others it was sheer horror.

He imagined the Pharaoh, trapped in his grasp, and laying upon a guillotine as his final words were said. All before the sharp blade would fall, slicing off his head and dealing a major blow of damage to the forces of light. This was his desire for the Pharaoh if he was ever captured and he delighted in envisioning it.