AUTHOR'S NOTE: My apologies for not posting any new chapters for so long. I had an issue with my two on-going fanfics which I managed to sort out, so you have 4 new chapters of this one today! The first of them is Chapter 16, so that's where you need to start reading. I hope you enjoy the chapters!
Tournament of Shadows
Chapter 16: The Finals - Day 2
By Shadow's Mirror
The second day of the Domino City Treasure Quest Tournament Finals dawned with skies covered by clouds so dense and dark that barely any daylight managed to pass through them. It was almost as if night itself had decided to stay a little longer so it could also watch the day's duels.
The threat of another storm did nothing to deter the fans, however. They still flocked to the auditorium before the start of the event, determined to cheer on their favourite duelists and be there in person to see every last play of the cards.
At 11am, just like the day before, the finalists walked out to thunderous applause as the announcer introduced them. It wasn't until the duelists then headed towards the competitor seats off to one side of the stage area, where they would sit while waiting for their turns, that the fans noticed that something was very different that day.
Half of the seats there were already occupied.
When the fans realised who was sitting there, over half the stadium immediately stood and applauded again.
Avril smiled slightly, giving a gracious nod of her head in response.
Rina smirked and waved to the cheering crowd with her good arm, the other still in a sling.
Callie blushed and smiled so shyly that there was an audible chorus of 'awww' from the audience.
Despite it being only three days since the attack that had taken the three girls out of the first stage of the contest, the sling on Rina's broken arm was the only sign that they'd been injured at all.
They weren't the only ones occupying the seats that day, though. Rex, Weevil, Malik and Marik were there too, along with a tall man with a bald head and a large facial tattoo.
Whispers ran through the crowd as recognition sparked. The competitors' seats were also for special guests of the duelists in the contest, but it seemed that only Marik, Malik and Isis had brought anyone with them that day. He definitely fit the definition of 'special guest', though. Most of the crowd knew him as the only one of the eight finalists for Battle City who hadn't been selected for participation in the current contest; however only the majority of the other duelists seated with the man knew the reason for that.
Odion Ishtar had entered the Battle City competition using his younger brother, Malik's, name. So he had not been eligible for the rankings that had been the Domino City Treasure Quest Tournament's entry criteria.
The same duelists also knew that Odion didn't care about that in the slightest. He had done what he had needed to do for Battle City and he was also more than content not to be involved in the current tournament. The whole thing was turning out to be rather stress-inducing for everyone involved, rather than the fun tournament it should have been.
Now, seated behind Malik where he could easily grab both Malik and Marik's collars if necessary, Odion didn't look stressed. Instead, his expression was more than a little intimidating. He was wearing his very best stern glare as he watched Evian Sanders walk towards the seats, directly behind Isis. Odion's glare was so good, in fact, that Evian actually stumbled slightly when he noticed it.
If he also stopped walking as closely to Isis as he had been, no one commented on it.
Just as no one commented on the fact that all of the other duelists sat around the girls in a human barricade, so Evian couldn't get anywhere near them.
Sanders had a rather odd look on his face as he sat down in the chair at one end of the front row. It looked rather like he had swallowed a lemon and was trying his hardest not to spit it out again. His strange expression only returned to his normal self-satisfied sneer when the announcer stepped up to the microphone.
"For the first duel of the day, we're going to start things off big, folks! It's Yugi Moto versus Isis Ishtar!"
Isis sighed softly as she stood, sending a resigned but good-natured glance to the smaller tri-coloured haired boy who had also stood. Yugi smiled apologetically back at her before they walked side by side out to the duel arena.
In all fairness to Isis, despite knowing the final outcome of their duel the moment the announcer called Yugi's name with her own, she put on a wonderful show for the audience.
For over an hour, the two traded attacks on each other's lifepoints, brought out monsters that neither of them had used in their previous contest duels and pulled together several combo attacks that left the audience alternating between cheering and stunned into silence. This was the high level of duel mastery that the fans had been waiting for and they were not disappointed. It was a duel that would be remembered and talked about for weeks, if not months, afterwards.
It ended with one sudden attack by Yugi that was nothing short of spectacular as he took out Isis's carefully laid defence strategy with one card combo, followed by a direct attack on her lifepoints with his Dark Magician.
With the audience cheering so loudly, the quiet words the two duelists shared as they headed back to rejoin the others went entirely unheard by the one duelist straining his ears with his attempt at eavesdropping.
"Good duel, Isis. You nearly had me a couple of times." Yugi smiled brightly at the older woman.
Isis arched an eyebrow slightly as she smiled back at him. "You honour me, Yugi. If I was that good... it would not have been you the entire time." Her voice was barely more than a whisper for the last part, despite the covering cheers.
A trace of guilt flickered through the short teen's eyes. "Ah. He thought you'd notice that. Sorry. He wanted to, but..."
"No, it was the right call, I believe." She dropped her voice again. "It is better not to give too much away at this point."
Yugi gave a slight nod of agreement. "That's what he said last night."
"I doubt he and I are the only ones thinking so." Isis glanced over at the others as the announcer called the next pair of duelists to the arena. Bakura and Mai both looked a little too calm as they stood and headed over.
Isis smiled at them both as they passed, then spoke softly to Yugi again. "I suspect today's duels may be more interesting than yesterday's."
Yugi had no time for more than a soft hum in reply before they reached the seats and Sander's listening range.
Ryou and Bakura had discussed the current state of the tournament well into the previous night. Both had agreed that Bakura needed to be more subtle in hiding his true level of skill. He would bring out more monsters and use some of his better known combos, only keeping back his strongest traps, spells and the new combos he had come up with for this particular tournament, but hadn't yet needed to use. They had also agreed that Bakura's attack strategy would depend on who he dueled against, however. Neither had any wish to force someone who had not already dueled against Evian Sanders into revealing more than they wanted to about their cards or strategies. Just in case.
Fortunately, since Mai had already faced Sanders, Bakura didn't have to hold back. His first attack was fast, direct and stronger than any opening move he'd made in the tournament so far.
From the grin on her face as she met his first attack head-on, Mai was clearly happy to not have to hold back against him, as well.
If the first duel of the day had been the best the tournament had offered up until then, the second was definitely the most cheerfully insulting match. The sarcasm was thick enough to be cut with a knife as Bakura and Mai traded quips, barbs, snarky comments and amusing insults while both pulled off tricky combos with such ease and skill that the spectators watched completely silent with awe from Bakura's third turn right through to the end of the duel.
It was clear to all watching that these were two duelists who were not only comfortable enough with each other to tease while dueling, but also truly respected each other. Neither held back with their jibes when the other fell to a monster or attack, but they also weren't short with their compliments when the other did something cool.
While the duel wasn't as awe-inspiring as the previous match, it was still full of a wide range of attacks and defences, strategies and moments of 'how did they do that?' that had the whole auditorium enthralled. By the time Bakura pulled off one last combo attack to take out the last of Mai's lifepoints, the audience needed a couple of moments for the realisation of what he'd done to sink in before they all surged to their feet, applauding his victory.
Bakura grinned across the duel arena to his very worthwhile opponent and nodded to her. That had been perfect. Their duel had lasted a whole hour and it was the best hour he'd had during the tournament so far. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been so drained by a duel, yet also so energised. There was just one thing that would make the duel even more perfect and, as he turned to leave the arena, Bakura allowed himself the luxury of a glance over at Sanders, to gauge the guy's reaction.
He wasn't disappointed.
Sanders' face was pinched into a cross between a scowl and a frown, with just a dash of confusion over what he'd just witnessed. He obviously hadn't been prepared for Mai, who had defeated him the day before, to have been defeated. Since Mai's skill level in that day's duel had far exceeded what she'd used against Sanders, though... Well it was all rather embarrassing for Sanders, really.
Bakura managed not to smirk as he headed back to the seats with Mai. "Good duel. Best I've had so far."
Mai grinned at that. "Now that's a compliment I'm honoured to get. Same to you. Did you see the look on his face?"
"He looked like a guy who just realised he had completely underestimated his opposition."
Fortunately, they were walking close together; otherwise his words would have been drowned out as the audience suddenly grew very loud as the announcer stepped up to the microphone to call for the next duelists. "Would Seto Kaiba and Evian Sanders please take their places for the next match!"
Bakura and Mai both blinked and then glanced at each other, but they politely waited until the other two duelists had passed them before they both smirked.
It seemed likely that Sanders was about to be embarrassed even more.
Kaiba took exactly two seconds to have his first turn. He only placed a single card on the field.
Sanders smirked a little too widely as he made a grand gesture towards his opponent after putting four cards down on his own side. "Go ahead, Seto. Let's see what you've got!"
The other teen didn't even blink as he immediately activated the spell card he had on the field.
Sanders' smirk froze on his face as all four of his cards were immediately sent to the graveyard. When, a second later, Kaiba's Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon appeared on the field and immediately attacked Sanders' lifepoints directly, his smirk became more than a little strained.
His eyes darted to the only card in Kaiba's hand as if he expected it to be put on the field as well. Sanders' eyes narrowed and his lips tightened when the other teen merely ended his turn.
"Well. That was certainly quite a good show, Seto. Let's see how you deal with this!"
He drew a card and looked shocked for a moment, before his mask slipped back into place. He quickly set his other two cards, acting as if he'd drawn the exact card he'd wanted. His smirk was only a little shaky and quickly firmed up, as if he'd just remembered something that made things all right again. Sanders' eyes gleamed as he watched his opponent.
Kaiba looked almost bored as he drew a card and then discarded it with only a cursory glance at it. Apparently that was the criteria needed for the remaining card in his hand to activate.
As the two cards on Sanders' side of the field were destroyed, his eyes showed his shock for only a moment before narrowing in rage. Unable to do anything to stop it, Evian Sanders could only glare as the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon attacked his lifepoints directly for the second time, wiping him out completely and giving Seto Kaiba the victory.
Thanks to the speed of Kaiba's turns, the whole duel had lasted no more than five minutes.
The stunned audience didn't know whether to applaud or not.
To be fair, most of them had no idea what had just happened since Kaiba had moved so quickly.
As the equally confused announcer stepped up to the microphone to confirm the winner, Joey leaned over to speak quietly to the woman sitting next to him. "Hey Mai, that first card Kaiba used... Wasn't that...?"
Mai looked at him, grinning. "Harpy's Feather Duster. Yeah. One of my personal favourite spell cards. It wipes out all spell and trap cards under your opponent's control with no need for tribute or payment."
She glanced back at the two duelists, now heading back to the seats. Even though they were nowhere near within hearing range, her voice still dropped to little more than a whisper. "I didn't catch the second card he used, though."
Joey hummed thoughtfully as he watched the two approach. His reply was just as quiet, for once. "I'm not sure, but the only one I can think of that needs a discard to take out multiple spells or traps would be Twin Twisters. I didn't think Kaiba had that in his deck, though."
Bakura, sitting in the seat directly behind Mai, leaned forward to speak softly to both of them. "He does. He used it in his second duel in the first stage. It was on the Recap Show, but only a glimpse. One of those 'blink and you'd miss it' bits as the show cut over to his duel just as he used it. Chances are good not many caught it." By 'not many', he obviously meant Evian Sanders.
Joey was just nodding in reply when he winced and frowned at Mai. "Ow! Quit elbowing me, Mai! What is it?"
"You're up next. Good luck. You too, Hon!" Mai turned to grin at the one on her other side and Joey made an undignified squawking sort of sound as he realised who his opponent in the next duel was.
"Thanks, Mai. Good luck, Joey." Nyc grinned at him as she stood up.
Joey grinned back. "Ah. Thanks. Good luck to you, too, Nyc." He stood, but then paused to look at Mai.
"Do I stand a chance?" He looked like he wasn't quite sure he wanted to know the answer.
Mai grinned at him. "Now that would be telling."
Ignoring the snicker from his soon-to-be-opponent, Joey smirked and followed Nyc out to the arena for their duel.
Bakura was still leaning forward in his seat. "Seriously... does he stand a chance?" His voice was very quiet.
Mai didn't glance at him as Sanders was almost within hearing range and she didn't want him to realise she was about to say something. She pretended to yawn, giving her an excuse to cover her mouth and her voice was even quieter than Bakura's. "If his luck is with him and if Nyc's up to what I think she is." The smallest smile turned up the corners of her lips.
"Tell me more later?" Bakura was now very intrigued.
"Maybe."
The duel between Joey and Nyc was so fast-paced and intense that everyone watching was soon on the edge of their seats, straining to make out what was happening and hoping they didn't miss anything.
Joey had won the first turn and he hadn't disappointed his legion of fans, immediately getting his Baby Dragon onto the field. After that, his duel had consisted of a great mix of cards, combos and chance. He'd had some good solid plays, but his friends had all realised early in that he was still holding back. Then again, it had looked as if Nyc would not have been able to handle Joey at all if he had been going all-out.
From the first turn, Nyc had played an obviously defensive game. She had been meticulous in her use of spells and traps to keep her monster cards protected, even using Swords of Revealing Light at one point, to keep Joey from attacking. Oddly though, she had never tributed any of her monsters to get a stronger monster onto the field. Her plays had been quick and decisive, so it was obviously intentional, but the audience were confused and less than impressed at her apparent choice of number over strength.
Joey had quickly taken full advantage of her weaker monsters, focusing on getting one of his strongest monsters onto the field. Nyc hadn't made it easy on him, so when he finally succeeded in summoning his Red-Eyes Black Dragon onto the field, he glanced over to smirk at her in triumph even as his hand moved towards one of his other cards.
Nyc was smiling ever so slightly.
While his sudden pause was obvious to everyone watching, only those who knew Joey best noticed the slight frown as it flickered over his face, followed by a sudden shift in the direction his hand had been moving in. The next moment, his whole face lit up with an unexpected grin.
"Oh! You nearly got me!" He laughed and it was bright and loud and unexpectedly good tempered.
The audience gasped as Joey activated a spell card, causing fierce bolts of lightning to strike on Nyc's side of the field. Nyc winced at the attack before she sighed and pouted a little at her opponent.
"Drat. I had rather hoped you wouldn't realise what I was doing until I was finished." She didn't sound all that put out about it, though.
"Sorry." Joey's irrepressible grin shone even more brightly. "Feel free to try it again!" As he spoke, he finished off his turn by making a direct attack that left her with a respectable 3800 lifepoints.
Nyc didn't try it again. She merely smiled a little too sweetly at her opponent while discarding one of her cards. "I think I'd rather get a little vengeance for my monsters." Cracks of lightning again covered the field, but this time on Joey's side. Also, this time, Joey wasn't prepared for the noisy attack.
There were quite a few snickers from the audience when the blonde teen let out a startled 'eek' sound and flinched back before he caught himself. Recovering fast, he grinned at Nyc, even as she called the monster Fairy Archer onto her side of the field and attacked his lifepoints directly, leaving him with only 1400.
"Thanks."
Nyc blinked and then looked as if she very much regretted her act of revenge. "Oh no."
Joey grinned more widely at her. "Oh yes."
With a flick of his wrist, he activated the spell card Monster Reborn to call his Red-Eyes Black Dragon back from the Graveyard. Joey wasn't finished, though. He nodded once to his dragon, silently thanking it for the help, then tributed it to summon another card from his hand.
Nyc pouted at him as the newly summoned Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon appeared but she didn't look too worried... until Joey's grin became a mischievous smirk and he flicked one more card onto the field.
When Ancient Dragon took form on the arena, there was a lot of confused mumbling from the audience, but Nyc just sighed heavily. She didn't look at all surprised when Joey's dragon took out her fairy, destroying itself in the process as both cards were the same strength.
Nyc did wince slightly when Joey's other dragon then took out her remaining lifepoints with its attack, though.
Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon only had an original strength of 2400, however it gained 300 bonus attack points for each dragon in its partnered duelist's graveyard. Even so, Joey had needed five dragons in his graveyard to defeat her and, after her attack had cleared out his side, he'd only had four.
The Ancient Dragon that Joey had deliberately summoned and then sent to the graveyard through its attack had been the last dragon needed to give his monster enough strength to take out her lifepoints directly.
As the stunned announcer announced Joey Wheeler as the winner and called up the next duelists, the distracted blonde teen joined Nyc for the walk back to the others. He almost looked apologetic. "Sorry about that."
"What are you apologising for? That was the best play I've seen in a long time." Nyc grinned at him. "Have you been saving that up for a special occasion? If so, I'm flattered."
Relaxing again, Joey grinned back at her. "I hate to disappoint you but nah, it was pure luck I had the cards I needed in my hand."
Nyc chuckled. "Joey, you are truly terrifying." She said it so softly, Joey barely heard it. He shot her a curious look and she shook her head slightly but there was a gentle slope to her smile. "Don't mention that within his hearing. It would be a bad thing if he knew." It was barely a whisper but Joey caught it and gave the barest hint of a nod in agreement.
Isis met them on her way to the arena and gave Joey an odd look as she paused.
Joey grinned at her. "Hey Isis! Good luck with your duel!"
"Thank you, Joey, the same to you. Speaking of... are you perhaps not aware that you and I are dueling next?"
Nyc snickered all the way back to the seats as Joey, his face as red as his favourite dragon's eyes, did a sharp about-face and walked back to the arena with a highly amused Isis.
As Joey and Isis took their places for the next duel, everyone in the competitors' seats was enjoying Evian Sanders still gaping in shock from what he had just witnessed. It seemed the young man was having considerable trouble getting over the fact that Joey had won the previous match.
When Nyc approached, her path somehow taking her within speaking distance of him even though her seat was on the other side of the area to his, Sanders finally managed to shake himself out of his daze. As she passed in front of him, he smirked. "Being defeated by him... wow that must sting."
Nyc paused and glanced at him. The other duelists near enough to hear him also glanced their way, distracted from the impending duel by something odd in his voice. Slightly off. Slightly wrong. Whatever it was, only Nyc could see the expression on his face at that moment, though. Whatever she was seeing there, she didn't react to it. She just arched one eyebrow as if it was his words that were strange, rather than the tone of his voice.
"Why? It was a good duel. Fun and fair. So much better than some other duels I've had." Her voice was quiet but as she walked away, back to her seat, the others watching noticed that Sander's hands were both fisted tightly in the material of his expensive-looking pants.
More than one of them hoped it left them wrinkled.
Although Joey's duel against Nyc had been intense, it had also been quite short at barely twenty minutes. His duel against Isis wasn't as fast-paced. Every move they both made was careful; calculated for maximum effect.
Isis played a strong game and Joey seemed to struggle against it, to the point that a certain duelist watching soon had his usual smug expression on his face again. But every now and then, Joey would change things up.
Forty-five minutes into their match, with both duelists down to their last 600 lifepoints and only one monster each on the field, Joey paused with his hand on the card he was about to play. A faint frown flickered across his face and his eyes glanced over to his opponent as his hand moved to another card. As he set it, the blonde teen didn't look as sure as he normally did.
Isis gave Joey's slightly odd behaviour no thought as she drew her next card, then played it with no more than a glance to be certain it was the one she needed. She had only one monster on the field and it was a little weaker than Joey's, but when paired with her new card, it became considerably stronger. One attack and she would win. Which was good, because the card she was equipping was The Axe of Fools, and while it would add 1000 to her monster's attack strength, there was a heavy cost incurred. Isis needed to pay 500 points in each standby phase, so she could only afford to use the axe for a single turn.
Fortunately, one turn was all she needed. Her necklace had shown her Joey's entire strategy at the start of their duel. She knew the card he'd set in his previous turn was Amulet of Ambition, a card that added 500 attack for every level of difference between two monsters, if attached to the one with the lower level. With only 1 level between the two monsters on the field, it was enough for Joey to win an attack against her card's original strength; however it wasn't enough to defend against her attack, strengthened by the axe.
This would be the last turn of their duel.
Isis declared her attack.
Joey grinned as he immediately activated his face-down card.
Isis's eyes widened in shock as Fairy Box appeared on the field. A coin was flipped and Joey's voice rang confidently out. "I call heads!"
The coin seemed to spin forever before it landed and the referee confirmed that Joey had successfully completed the terms of Fairy Box's trap. Which meant...
Isis could only watch helplessly as her monster's attack strength became 0 moments before it tried to strike Joey's monster. Its resulting defeat took out the last of Isis's lifepoints.
It took Isis a moment to re-gather her usual serenity before she was able to smile at Joey and nod in congratulations. "Well played, Joey."
Joey smiled back. "Thanks, Isis! You too. That was a great duel."
The audience was cheering too loudly for anyone to overhear them as they headed back to their seats. Even the announcer had to hold back his call for the next duelists until he could be heard over the thunderous roar.
"You changed your plan at the last moment. Might I ask why?" Isis knew there were ways around her necklace's future divining ability however, as far as she was aware, they all required the duelist to have their own Millennium Item.
Joey looked a bit sheepish. "It wasn't exactly a change of plan. Fairy Box just caught my eye. It was the first card I drew today and I had a gut instinct that I should use it instead. I knew we were close to the end of the duel and I figured it was worth the risk of having to pay 500 lifepoints to keep it on the field for another turn if you didn't call an attack."
Isis nodded slightly. "I see. It was a bold move."
It had also been extremely lucky, but she knew Joey didn't need to be told that and it was perhaps best that she not say it aloud. They were almost back to the seats and the audience was beginning to quiet down again.
Although the full situation was still unclear to her, there was one point on which Isis had become absolutely sure.
It would be a very bad thing for Evian Sanders to learn about Joey's naturally high level of luck.
The next duelists up were Mai and Kaiba and an expectant hush fell over the crowd as the two took their places on the field and cordially nodded to each other. After their previous duels that day, no one knew what was going to happen. Mai's duel had been incredible, but no one could deny Kaiba's extraordinary level of ability. Of course, most of the crowd was reasonably sure that it would be Kaiba's win; the only question was how long Mai would last against him.
The answer was twenty turns and twenty-five minutes of the most intense and fast-paced dueling the audience had seen in the competition. After Joey and Nyc's earlier match, that was an achievement all on its own.
In the end, Mai's Harpy Lady fell to Kaiba's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon but not before she'd managed to send two of his Blue Eyes White Dragons to the graveyard in separate turns. It was the first time in the tournament that someone had managed to delay his dragons' fusion so successfully. Kaiba didn't look any less composed than usual, though, as they walked back to the seats while the announcer called for the competitors of the next duel.
"Good duel." His voice was barely audible over the announcer's. Mai glanced at him, an easy grin on her face.
"You too. Think he's realised yet that I took it easy on him when I beat him?"
Kaiba's lips twitched ever so slightly that no one would have seen it if they hadn't been looking. Fortunately, Mai had been expecting it. "I doubt it. He likely believes you just got lucky or something. He regards his skills too highly."
Mai considered that for a moment before making a soft sound of agreement. "True. It's probably a good thing if it takes him a bit longer to work out the truth. The more overconfident he is, the easier he is to beat. It's a bit odd, though." Kaiba arched an eyebrow very slightly at her, as she paused to put her thoughts into words. "Nyc's seen him duel before. The girls, too. From what they've told me, I expected him to be more... Well, just more, really."
Kaiba considered that, careful not to show any expression on his face as they were nearing the seats. When he spoke, his voice was so quiet Mai could barely hear him. "Perhaps he is also holding back."
He didn't sound sure of it and Mai understood why. Evien Sanders had simply been too angry and bitter at his defeats. The mask he wore was a good one, but it had slipped a few times. Always after he lost. He was definitely not losing his duels on purpose. Then again, if he was constantly underestimating his opponents, it could be possible that he was accidentally holding himself back too far for him to win.
Whatever was going on, Mai had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to stand losing too many more duels. He still had one to go that day. She hoped his losing streak continued, but she had a bad feeling about what might happen if it did.
Mai took a slow, deep breath as she sat down, forcing such thoughts out of her mind so she could focus on the duel that was just getting underway out in the arena.
With Bakura going up against Nyc, it promised to be an interesting match.
Bakura hadn't been sure what to expect.
After Nyc's battle with Isis the day before, he'd thought that she had stopped holding back. Then her duel against Joey earlier in the day had been more strategic and long-term planned, with the exception of her one impulsive act of revenge that he'd found both amusing and oddly familiar. It had seemed like something he might have done in the same situation. The problem was, he still couldn't get a proper read of her strength, skill or playing style. It was frustrating, but at the same time Bakura was impressed at how well she'd managed to hide in what was pretty much plain sight, during the first stage of the competition.
Now he just needed to work out why she was going so far, and what her duelist level really was. Yeah, that second thing in particular might help if he was going to beat her in their current duel.
Which really meant he should be focusing more on their match and less on the puzzle that Nyc was presenting to him with her every cautious move.
He glanced at his cards and thought for a moment before he made his next draw, keeping his smirk off his face as the card he needed for his plan obediently showed up. Despite the Shadow Magic's current weirdness, his connection to the Heart of the Cards was still strong and stable. His deck was responding to him as easily as always. That was good. It made ridiculously convoluted combos so much easier to pull off. He allowed his smirk to show as he played a card.
As the duel progressed, Bakura's smirk grew along with his enjoyment. Nyc wasn't doing anything too fancy or showy, but she was keeping pace with him. He doubted many of their audience could tell just how easily she was doing so, or how much skill it took to do so without making it obvious that she was doing anything that required such skill. The only reason he knew was because he was close enough to her that he could make out the gleam in her eyes.
She was enjoying this duel just as much as he was.
It wasn't that she was holding back on showing her strength, but rather that she was just matching him. Deliberately. It was like they'd unconsciously come to some sort of agreement about this duel. That neither should make it easy on the other, but neither should pull out all the stops, either. Instead their duel was going straight down the middle. More or less. She did use a couple of stronger combos, but he thought that was fair considering the combo he was playing. Just two more cards to go. He played the second last and knew from the expression that flashed across her face that she'd recognised his gambit.
Now he had a new question. Would she deliberately go into his trap or would she make a move that would reveal her true skill? He suspected the former... but he could not deny that he very much wanted to see the latter.
Nyc gave the smallest smile as she played a single card. Her answer to his question. He wasn't disappointed, exactly. In a way, she had done both the possibilities at once, after all. Her move had shown him a glimpse into her mind.
How could he truly be disappointed with such a prize as that?
Bakura played his final card and the combo activated. The resulting chain of attacks, defences, traps, anti-traps, anti-anti-traps, a spell and one very sneaky effect monster culminated in one final, glorious, attack that took out the last of Nyc's lifepoints and left the audience blinking in stunned silence for almost a minute as they tried to work out what they had just witnessed. When the announcer finally pulled himself together enough to announce that the winner of the duel was Ryou Bakura, the crowd went wild!
As they walked back to their seats, the roar of the crowd nicely disguised Bakura's soft voice. "Well played. I want a rematch to see how you would get out of it."
Nyc's lips twitched as she forced herself not to smirk at his words. "I'm honoured you believe I could. You're right, of course, but I'm no less honoured."
Bakura didn't hide his own smirk. "Is that a yes to the rematch?"
Nyc's voice dropped until it was barely audible over the continuing noise of the crowd, but Bakura managed to tune that out enough to hear her. "It might be easier to just redo the entire finals." They were almost back to the seats, so he just made a soft humming sound of agreement. He was fine with that idea, as long as he got his rematch.
It was only when he took his seat and looked up to see two duelists heading to the arena that Bakura realised he'd forgotten something rather important.
His and Nyc's duel had been the second last of the day.
There was still one duel left.
Evien Sanders was about to duel Yugi Moto.
There was a general mumble rising from the audience, however the participants' seats were not only completely silent, but the tension in the air noticeably thickened with every step the two duelists took towards the arena.
Bakura glanced over his shoulder to where Kaiba and Wheeler were sitting together. They both looked back at him and nodded slightly. He looked back out at the arena, a little surprised by the depth of his relief.
If anything happened, they were as ready as they could be.
It turned out; they hadn't needed to be so wary.
Yugi (and it was always Yugi, Bakura confirmed it eight times during the duel) absolutely decimated Sanders from the first flip of a card.
He never relaxed for a moment.
Not a single smile.
Not a single word.
Not a single opening for his opponent to take advantage of.
Every card was savage in its effect.
Every combo was brutal in its efficiency.
Every attack struck Sanders' monsters hard and his lifepoints harder.
It was like no match Yugi (or Yami, for that matter) had ever dueled in.
The duel was won in barely fifteen minutes.
For all of that time, the entire auditorium remained completely silent, the crowd stunned by what they were seeing.
Even when the winner was announced, the audience needed a minute to remember how to breathe before they began to cheer the loudest they'd cheered so far in the competition.
While the other duelists gathered around a rather embarrassed Yugi, Evien Sanders again proved what a bad loser he was, storming out of the auditorium even before the announcer began to give his closing speech.
Joey moved until he was standing beside Kaiba, a bit back from the others. "Huh, that was weird." He didn't wait for Kaiba to reply, knowing he had his attention. "I was sure this was like all the other times. Some bad guy does some stuff. Battles against Yugi. Yugi wins in a spectacular duel that he almost seems to lose at least once. Trouble all sorted and we can get back to normal."
Kaiba sighed softly. "It seems this time is not so straightforward."
"Yeah." Joey winced. "Well, there's still one day to go, but he's dueled Yugi and nothing happened so... Maybe nothing will happen. Maybe what's been going on has nothing to do with that guy and he's just a jerk. Maybe we're all paranoid and this is just a regular contest with nothing weird going on at all."
He glanced at Kaiba and winced again as the brunette merely raised one eyebrow in silent judgement of his level of intelligence.
"Yeah. I know, Kaiba. I don't believe it, either."
To be Continued...