Yugi nodded to the others, taking one last look over the proceedings before activating his duel disk. The room had been cleared, the conference table pushed to the back wall, and everyone keeping their distance from Yugi. Most of the monsters had disappeared after Pariah was beaten back, but there was still some fear that the cards they summoned would still come out tangible.
Better safe than sorry.
"I call upon the Dark Magician Girl!"
With a flash of light and a pillar of rising sparks, Yugi's trusted ally arrived, forming in the center of the room. Her usual pristine image, however, was more than a little tarnished as she stumbled forward, rubbing her head in pain.
"Dark Magician Girl! Are you okay?" Yugi was at her side in an instant, helping her stand straight as she nodded in confirmation.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Just… Tired." Despite her answer, she didn't look it. Her outfit was disheveled and torn, her iconic headpiece entirely missing. Yet, through everything, she managed to give a smile.
Jaden tapped his elbow into Syrus's side, pulling his friend from his wide-eyed gaze.
"I'm as excited as you are, buddy, but hold off on the staring," he whispered with a laugh. Cupping his hands next, Jaden called out. "Hey Dark Magician Girl! It's good seeing you again! How're you holding up? Also, ya mind explaining to my buddies everything you told me?"
"Jaden?" Disconnecting from Yugi, the Dark Magician Girl looked to Jaden and then the room overall. Right, she had some work to do. "Of course, right. Let me just—"
With a flash of light, a thick tome and wand appeared at her side, as she quickly began looking through it. Yet, she very quickly began to slow down, as something was obviously on her mind. Jaden could see it clear on her face.
"I'm sorry, but— My master, I must check if he's okay," she said, putting aside the tome and turning her back to the room. A few moments of silence took the air as she fiddled with something.
"If you told me this was how I was going to spend my afternoon," Zane whispered rather loudly.
"Aha!" Twirling around, the Dark Magician Girl revealed something entirely new: a purple crystal in the shape of a teardrop. And before she could give someone the chance to ask what it was, she tossed it into the air. "I call upon my master, the Dark Magician, with Sage's Stone!"
With a mighty downward swing, she slammed the top of the crystal with her wand, shattering it into a cloud of dust. Flickers of light sparkled throughout it, until—
It all came together.
Swirling into a second pillar of sparks, the cloud of dust quickly coalesced into a solidifying outline. With a burst, it disappeared, leaving in its place a familiar sight: The Dark Magician.
Bruised and beaten.
"Dark Magician!?" Yugi rushed to his ace's side now, moments from helping him stand before the eternal servant raised a hand, asking him to leave him be.
"Mahad, please. You're hurt." Dark Magician Girl pleaded at her master's side, evoking his true name in the process. "Please rest. Your injuries are dire."
"The situation in the Duel Monster Spirit World is even more dire," the Dark Magician explained, standing straight as he faced the room. So many new faces, bright and perhaps a bit naive. He wasn't one to dismiss allies, however. "I take you all to be friends of Yugi?"
"In a roundabout way," Jaden answered, taking a step forward, ahead of the gang. "What the heck happened to you? You're even more roughed up than Yugi."
Observant, the Dark Magician thought, somewhat sarcastically. He nodded, taking a moment to raise his staff and cast a light incantation, repairing his and his apprentice's clothes.
"The origin of all this, Pariah, struck when we were most vulnerable," he explained, nursing a bruise in his chest as he began to step across the room. "I was far away from my apprentice and many of our strongest spirits were called away to your world."
"The beginning of the tournament," Alexis said aloud, as the realization came to her. The Dark Magician nodded. She was a smart one, he thought.
"Kingdoms all over were overrun in hours. The ones that weren't, sealed themselves off and cut off any chance of communications," he continued, leaving his staff standing straight as he rubbed his wrist. "In a bout of desperation, my apprentice and I called upon the Legendary Knights to beat back the threat. But, we were unprepared."
"I think you're gonna have to run the knights thing by them again, guys," Jaden called out, leaning onto the table and crossing his arms.
Nodding, the Dark Magician turned to his apprentice, the Dark Magician Girl, who stepped forward with her tome from earlier.
"The gist of it is, three great warriors have protected the Duel Monster Spirit World from threats such as Pariah for thousands of years," she explained, turning the book over and revealing a page depicting the knights in question. "But then, they were cursed by a great evil and locked away, turned into—"
With a flick of the page, the three warriors became three new beings—
"Legendary Dragons," she continued, before closing the book. "Legend said that three duelists would wield the power of the dragons until they could be freed once more, and those three were the great heroes, Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba!"
A moment of silence took the room at that, as they all processed the absolutely ludicrous story they were being told.
"To be honest, wouldn't bein' dragons make 'em stronger than just some puny guys with sharp sticks?" Hassleberry asked, half-joking to break the quiet. That got a few giggles out of the others.
One of them, however, wasn't laughing very much.
"Who cares about dat?" Joey said, standing up and slamming his hands onto the table. "What ah wanna know is what dat kid is doin' with my dragon!"
"I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation, Joey," Yugi replied, raising his hands and calming his old friend down. He glanced at the Dark Magician Girl. "Right?"
Pursing her lips, she shook her head no.
"We don't know why, but it seems the Legendary Dragons require new heroes to unlock them this time," she explained, earning a furrowed brow from Joey. "All we know is that they still match the descriptions from legend."
Pulling out the tome again, the Dark Magician Girl quickly found a passage she had been pouring over for hours today.
"It is said three great heroes, duelists of the era, will rise to release the great knights from their imprisonment," she recited, translating on the fly. "Avatars of their names, they shall be— The boy with a ruler's soul, the aspiring checkmate king, and the master of the odds."
Finishing the passage, the Dark Magician Girl closed the book for what she hoped would be the final time.
"For whatever reason, Yugi isn't the boy with a ruler's soul anymore," she explained, looking up to the room. "It's Jaden."
Yugi's eyes went to the floor, a thought making its way through his mind.
"I can think of a good reason," he said under his breath, his hand going to his chest. No time to dwell on the past. Looking up, Yugi continued. "Whatever the case, it sounds like freeing the knights from their imprisonment again will be our number one priority."
Yugi turned to the Dark Magician Girl.
"Do we have any idea who the other two duelists will be?" he asked, earning a sullen shake no.
"Like last time, we'll just have to wait for them to make themselves known," she explained looking towards where the Duel Academy crew were grouped together. "Hopefully, they will be close at hand."
"In the meantime—" The Dark Magician spoke up then, breaking out from behind Yugi and his apprentice and pulling the room's attention to himself. "—We must find allies in our fight against this great threat."
With a glance, he turned to Ishizu and Marik.
"And thankfully, they're not far off."
Yugi gave one last thumbs up to Joey before he closed the door to the conference room, stepping out fully onto the roof with the others. His back pressed against the door as he looked over to those joining him— The Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl, obvious inclusions. Less obvious was the inclusion of Marik and Ishizu. He was curious as to what the Dark Magician meant by allies exactly.
"When Pariah launched his assault on the Duel Monster Spirit World, I was on a mission to the Kingdom of Dogmatika," the Dark Magician explained as Yugi left the door and approached the others. "Their lands were overrun, and they don't take well to outsiders on the best of days."
He rubbed his wrist then, as it was clear a memory was crossing his mind.
"They'd be keen on allying with our efforts to strike back at Pariah," the Dark Magician Girl followed up, earning a nod from her master.
"And our best shot at contacting them now is you, Ishizu," he said then, earning a look of shock from Marik and an amused snort from his sister. "You wield the Dogmatika, in your deck. You're connected to their spirits like Yugi is to ours. I imagine they've been speaking to you before you even came here."
"Hm, so that's how you know what's been happening," Marik sneered as he crossed his arms.
"Ever since I parted ways with the Millenium Necklace, I've found it useful to have connections to the spiritual such as this," Ishizu explained, a small smile crossing her lips as she reached into her bag for her deck. All these years later and she was still one step ahead of her brother. She couldn't lie and say she didn't enjoy it on some level. "I could have never known that it would come up like this."
"Well, let's be glad it did," Yugi said, rubbing the back of his neck as Ishizu activated her duel disk. She nodded, placing a hand on her cards.
But, then she paused.
"As you said, the followers of Dogmatika don't take kindly to strangers." Ishizu looked up from her deck, her eyes landing on the Dark Magician. "Even you weren't very well received."
"What are you talking about?" Yugi asked then, looking between the two.
Standing straight, the Dark Magician answered.
"The Dogmatika have… fundamental views, on those who participate in Fusion Summoning," he explained. "We must be wary not to offend them, or we could make another enemy out of an ally."
"And so I ask, who do you think we should speak to?" Ishizu pressed.
Sighing, the Dark Magician shook his head.
"I don't know. I wasn't there long enough to determine who'd be a good advocate to our cause." With a hum in thought, the Dark Magician rubbed his chin, a thought working its way through his mind. "Quite simply, we'd need a saint."
Ishizu let a small smile cross her face.
"I know exactly who then," Ishizu replied, her hand returning to her deck. With a nod, she drew the top card, placing it onto her duel disk without even pausing to look up on it. "I call upon Ecclesia, the Virtuous."
A pillar of light formed in the center of the group as they parted to make space, the outline of an armoured individual appearing after a few moments. Yet, their appearance would only cut a regal figure for so long, as seconds later, the person in question stumbled outwards, nearly slamming into Yugi.
"For Father Maxi—!" The warrior, obviously a girl by the pitch of their voice, came to an awkward halt, turning once then twice before fully realizing she wasn't in a combat scenario. Soon her eyes found a familiar sight. "Mother Ishizu! For what great occasion do you honor me with your presence?"
The girl, apparently named Ecclesia, was an odd sight. Physically smaller than the rest of the party, save Yugi, she nevertheless seemed perfectly comfortable with the thick layer of metal armor adorning her, not to mention the absolutely massive ornate hammer she carried around like it was a light staff.
The most striking part of her appearance was not anything she carried, however. No, that was reserved for the intricate scar on her forehead, a star-like cross with six points.
"Mother?" Marik said under his breath, nudging his sister with his elbow.
"They're fond of their titles," she answered, taking a step forward. "Salutations, Ecclesia. How are the efforts to secure your homeland going?"
Straightening up, Ecclesia took on a more serious expression, wiping away that hopeful glint in her eyes and going more stoic.
"Things have been going well, at least better than earlier. We've managed to secure the city at least, thank the Lord, with the help of Sister Fleurdelis and the Ashiyan," she answered, much of her explanation going over the heads of the others. Yet all the same, Ishizu nodded her head in understanding, offering a hand forward for Ecclesia to squeeze. "And what of you! His Holiness, Father Maximus, said your world was struck as well. Have you managed to stave off the threat?"
Nodding once again, Ishizu confirmed yes before smiling.
"Yes, with our own Gods and allies, we've… managed," she answered, separating her hand from Ecclesia's. At that, the girl turned, parsing for the first time that there were others on the roof along with them. She tensed up.
"Mother Ishizu? Who are these?" she asked, holding her hammer forward towards Yugi, causing him to step back. "They, they bear the aura of Fusion."
Speaking up before Ecclesia could ask another question, Ishizu continued.
"Ecclesia, we have something very important to ask of you and your people. The great force which attacked you today is not finished, far from it. And if we don't ally ourselves, we risk being swept away before we can possibly begin to recover." Ishizu took Ecclesia's palm into her hands, squeezing as she held the girl's attention. "We ask, can you and your people put aside your crusade in this effort? Work with us, so we may all live to fight another day?"
Yugi pursed his lips as he watched the scene unfold before him. For a moment, he doubted Ishizu's pleas would do much to persuade the girl, Ecclesia. All this talk of crusades and homelands and people, it all seemed so, dogmatic, to say the least.
Yet, when Ecclesia's expression turned, brightened with a smile, Yugi was left proven wrong. With a vigorous nod, Ecclesia agreed.
"Of course! I'll speak to His Holiness, Father Maximus at once!" she answered, pulling away from Ishizu and turning her attention to her hammer. With a flick and whirl, she began turning the ornate handle, causing it to shift and move and transform. "He's a very reasonable man. Surely, he'll see that the threat is—"
Ecclesia froze, her eyes shooting up as she went suddenly quiet. Shuddering, her voice cracked out a stammered cry, a pained sound she couldn't stop from leaking through her lips.
"Ecclesia?" Ishizu took a step forward as Ecclesia hunched forward, shakes moving through her.
"Is something wrong, young one?" the Dark Magician asked then, as everyone came in to try to help.
"F-fine, just—" Ecclesia whipped to face Yugi, startling him back a few paces as her face came into view. Because on her face was her scar—
And her scar was glowing.
"Get back."
Without much argument, the entire party of five made room, leaving Ecclesia stammering and whimpering in pain as she tried her best to stand straight. With a great effort, she slammed the butt of her hammer into the ground, using it to support herself.
"What's going on?!" Yugi called out.
"Ahhh!" All at once, the hammer came alight, rich golden energy shooting out to the front and forming a distinct, complex sigil. In the space of a breath, it expanded, reaching all the way from the ground to high above Ecclesia, three meters at the very least. "H-hark thee that know h-her name! F-for I am the herald of—"
Ecclesia was blown back from her hammer, which stood upright without her. Left to its own devices, the ornate weapon began to hum loudly, metal pieces whirring and spinning on their own. And then, all at once, it all came to a stop.
The sigil pulsed, solidifying from its complex pattern into a new more solid mass, swirling with bright golden energy. It was no longer a sigil, it was—
"A portal," the Dark Magician muttered under his breath.
From her spot on the ground a few meters away, Ecclesia managed to call out through panted breath.
"For I— am the herald of— Fleurdelis." And with that, she collapsed.
"Ecclesia!" Ishizu shouted, rushing off to the girl's aid.
The roof went silent as the party stared in apprehension at the sight before them. The golden portal swirled with an ominous aura, calling them all to wonder what would come from it.
"Ready yourself, my apprentice," the Dark Magician whispered, holding his staff with two hands and approaching where Yugi stood, the front of the portal. The Dark Magician Girl nodded as she followed.
Yet, they all froze once more, as a distinct clang rang through the portal: the sound of metal steps on stone. Someone was coming.
Before another move could be made, a figure stepped through— an astonishingly tall figure, nearly three meters tall from head to toe, decked out in thick silver armor stylized just like Ecclesia's. This, however, was where the comparisons to Ecclesia ceased. For where the girl carried an ornate hammer, used more as a ceremonial staff than a weapon, this new warrior carried something that couldn't be mistaken for anything but a tool meant for carnage.
A long and broad sword, made of thick solid metal, sat ready at their hip. It looked like it could fell a dragon with a single blow.
Standing straight in the center of the five, this warrior, Fleurdelis, stared them down, the visor of their helmet aimed straight for Yugi. And then, they reached for their weapon.
"Heretics." The voice— a woman's, they soon realized —was piercingly clear, with only a touch of an echo due to the armor. It was so clear in fact, it was almost possible to miss the absolute livid vitriol behind every word. "To hound a fair maiden of Dogmatika? Give me one reason to not strike you down where you stand!"
"That! Will not be necessary," the Dark Magician shot out in front of Yugi, holding his staff up in defense against the massive warrior. "We mean no ill will. We were merely asking for assistance!"
In a flash too fast to catch, Fleurdelis unsheathed her sword, outmatching the Dark Magician's weapon tit for tat.
"Guys? Who is this?!" Yugi blurted out, taking a few apprehensive steps back. Grumbling, the Dark Magician sighed.
"Fleurdelis, the Warrior-Saint of the Dogmatika," he explained, as the Dark Magician Girl rushed to his side.
"Slayer of heathens, scourge of infidels," Fleurdelis continued, pressing her sword against the Dark Magician's staff. In an instant, he was pushed back, the immense weight far too much for him. "And the mighty arm of the Lord."
"Enough!" Unable to match her in strength, the Dark Magician leapt back, making distance and pushing Yugi away in the process. "Can you not see that there are greater priorities than us!"
"Whether you die now or tomorrow, all heretics will fall," Fleurdelis answered. With a massive heave, she raised her sword forward, forcing the Dark Magician back even further to avoid being hit. "As the Lord sayeth, my priority is the sinner before me."
The Dark Magician Girl hopped in between the two, pressing a hand against Fleurdelis's sword, prompting her to pull back.
"The one that attacked your homeland, Pariah! Should we not put aside our differences for that fight?" Her pleas fell on deaf ears, as Fleurdelis swung her blade down, narrowly missing the Dark Magician Girl as she leapt away.
"Enough! Let your profane words cease!" Fleurdelis raised her sword to the sky, causing a wave of static to charge in the air. Dark clouds began to gather and, for a moment, they could almost hear the roll of thunder. "The mortal flesh shall burn, and the Lord will—!"
"Fleurdelis!"
At the sound of her name, the Warrior-Saint came to a stop, her fiery passion wilting away as she turned.
"Ecclesia," she whispered.
Across and away from Yugi and his monsters, Ecclesia stood, holding herself up by her hammer. Supporting her at her side was Ishizu, whose steely gaze broke Fleurdelis's resolve further. With a huff, Ecclesia lifted her weapon from the ground, holding it with two hands.
"What are you doing?" she asked, stepping forward. "Dogmatika cannot stand alone against the threat we face! Would you prefer to see our lands fall to the hordes of sin crows?"
"I, uh, think they're called Synchros," Yugi interjected, hoping to help calm the temperature in the room. The glare he received from Fleurdelis confirmed it did not. How did she manage that through her helmet?
"Synchros, Fusions, it's all the same, Ecclesia" she explained, raising her sword forward before sheathing it once more. "Heresy to our Lord."
"So it may be," the Dark Magician shot out, taking advantage of this surprising calm from their supposed ally. "However, it is not Fusion Summoning that overran your kingdom, sacked your temples, killed your fellow man. It was Pariah."
The Dark Magician's words rang true, despite how obviously Fleurdelis didn't want to hear them. Perhaps a friendlier voice would be better received.
"Could you not consider a truce?" Ishizu suggested, placing her hand on Ecclesia's shoulder. The girl nodded in kind, signaling her support.
Fleurdelis scoffed at the notion, turning with a whip of her shoulders. Yet as she did, she grunted, a shot of pain ringing through her as she stepped away from everyone. She gripped her arm and grumbled. An injury from an earlier encounter with Pariah, no doubt.
"I shall, bring the proposal to His Holiness, Father Maximus," she finally answered, drawing a wide smile from Ecclesia and a sigh of relief from the Dark Magician. "If this building is not smitten with holy fury, you will know our answer."
"That doesn't inspire much confidence," the Dark Magician commented, as Ecclesia left Ishizu's side and approached Fleurdelis's.
"Neither do you." Fleurdelis's words were cutting, but he'd survive. "Come Ecclesia."
With a heavy heave of her hammer, Ecclesia summoned forth the portal from before, inviting her companion to step through first. Once she did, Ecclesia would have only a few moments to follow.
She took that moment to look out onto the party of five once again.
"You fusioners are, kinder, than my Lord had led me to believe," she simply said. Before another word could be exchanged, she scurried into the portal, leaving the rooftop in silence.
Quiet sat in the air for a few moments, before one voice shattered it.
"So, what's next?" Marik asked.
"Oh, so you know the spirit of Aleister?" Marik's question was followed by a moment of silence as he searched his deck for the card in question. The Dark Magician seemed apprehensive to answer, glancing at Yugi and Ishizu without saying anything to start.
"Well, in a way," he finally said. "He's, a friend of a friend, really."
"Well, as they say, an enemy of my enemy is my friend," Marik quipped, as he finally found Aleister's card and pulled it out. "So a friend of a friend must be the greatest ally there is!"
"Yep!" the Dark Magician Girl answered, a bit of tension in her behind that smile.
"Well, here goes nothing." Activating his duel disk, Marik readied himself for the deed, taking a step back in the process to make room. With nothing else, he raised the card in question forward. "I Normal Summon, Aleister the Invoker!"
A plume of light took the space in the center of the group, rising sparks thickening for a few moments until the solid figure of a man in robes formed. Not long after, the light dissipated, leaving the man in its place.
"So many times in one day?" Aleister quipped, his eyes closed shut as he stepped forth, proud and unyielding. "My, my, my, you're a busy—"
Aleister froze as he finally opened his eyes, coming face to face with the Dark Magician. A tense pause followed.
"Hello, Crowley," the Dark Magician said first, making introductions. "It's been a long—"
"Olethros!" With a cry that was like a thunderclap, Aleister struck, wrenching his staff at the Dark Magician and sending out a blast of energy.
"Watch out!" Quick as a flash, the Dark Magician Girl leapt into action, swirling her wand and firing a spell in turn. "Magical Cylinder!"
Appearing in a flash of light, two decorative tubes formed in between the Dark Magician and Aleister, one pointed straight into the air. Another move couldn't be made before Aleister's attack disappeared into one tube, and fired out the other in the next second.
"Great work, my apprentice!" the Dark Magician called, jumping out from behind the Magical Cylinders and firing out his own incantation in quick succession. "Spellbinding Circle!"
"What's going on!?" Marik cried out in anger, only just now breaking from his shock alongside Yugi and Ishizu.
Aleister was too slow to avoid the hit, as a magical disk of energy encircled him at the waist and stopped him in his tracks.
"Crowley, please! This is not the time for fighting!" The Dark Magician pleaded, as Aleister struggled against his bindings.
"I thought you said he was a friend!" Marik shot out, drawing a pained groan from the Dark Magician.
"Friend of a friend, I said," he explained, approaching Aleister with his staff raised. "And Crowley's more, a rival of a friend, really."
"Don't you dare call me Crowley!" Aleister roared, summoning forth his spellbook and turning through the pages. "And how dare you show your faces to me? After siding with that scoundrel, Endymion!?"
"Endymion? What is he talking about?" Yugi asked then, finally breaking into the conversation.
"It's, a long story. A story for later, " The Dark Magician explained, as he came to a stop in front of the struggling mage. "Do you think we want to talk to you, Aleister?"
At that, Aleister paused from his pained struggles, looking to the Dark Magician with a familiar inquisitive stare.
"You don't? Who wouldn't want to talk to me, though?" he asked, his stance relaxing. Despite that, he wouldn't stop fingering through the pages of his book. He was looking for something.
"Circumstances can lead people to the most desperate of decisions." Muttering under his breath, the Dark Magician raised his staff into the air, calling upon his magic and tightening Aleister's bonds. "Our line of contact to Endymion was severed after Pariah's forces made their move."
Aleister grunted against the tightened pressure of the magic circle, still managing to flick through his spellbook as he looked the Dark Magician in the eye.
"So Pariah is his name, huh?" he said, somehow both ignoring and engaging with what the Dark Magician was talking about.
"We suspect he's put the Citadel under lockdown, to keep his city safe," he continued. "Suffice it to say, you're the only other great mage we can contact for help."
"Ooooh, say that again." Aleister's serious demeanor melted away in an instant, as he stopped flicking through pages and leaned forward. The Dark Magician could only look on in confusion.
"I— What? He's put the Citadel under—"
"No, no, after that," Aleister clarified, a moment of pause from the Dark Magician following. The others in the room could only look at the proceedings with confused bemusement. Sighing, the Dark Magician continued.
"…You're the only other great mage we can contact for help," he said, earning an infuriating chuckle from Aleister.
"All these years later and it's still music to my ears." With a flick of his staff, Aleister raised his spellbook up to eye level, shattering the Spellbinding Circle at his waist in an instant. "Alright Mahad, I will assist you in defeating this Pariah. Do keep in mind that I will hold this over you and Endymion forever."
"I'm sure you will," the Dark Magician muttered as he heard his apprentice giggle from behind him. Turning, he faced Yugi and the others. "I believe that should be all. With this, the forces of the Duel Monster Spirit World will be marshalled."
As the Dark Magician and the others began speaking, Marik's attention was pulled away, off to Aleister as he motioned Marik to follow him. With a final glance at the others, Marik approached his loyal deck master.
"Hello there. I believe this is the first time we've been able to speak this way." Aleister's voice took a new tone as he faced Marik, turning his back to the rest of the group in the process. While it couldn't be called respect, it was certainly close. "I must admit, it is a pleasure to meet someone of your caliber."
Marik snorted, uncrossing his arms as he followed Aleister away from the others.
"This is a change. You don't seem to be the one to pay your respects," he noted, earning a smirk from Aleister.
"Au contraire. It would be remiss of me to not acknowledge a superior spirit when I see it." With a flick of his staff and a flutter of his spellbook, Aleister summoned forth the sigil of his magic in the air, causing Marik to jump in surprise. "Well, superior to most. Men like you and I must stay in good company."
That phrasing caught Marik off guard, making him pause in thought as Aleister got to work on his magic, strengthening the power and brightness of the sigil he had summoned.
"And how are you and I alike, exactly?" he asked, making Aleister chuckle. With a pound of his staff against the floor, the sigil morphed, melting into a swirling pool of blue light. A sigil it was no longer. Now, it was a portal.
"It's obvious, is it not? The pride we carry ourselves with? The haughty spirit that fills our voices?" Aleister looked over his work one final time before shutting his spellbook tight, and turning to face Marik fully. He was ready to leave. "You and I? We've been touched by gods."
End of Intermission 2