What Was, What Is, and What Shall Be

by thegymrat

The climatic end to the final duel of light and dark! The might of these two forces push against each other in order to decide a winner. If dark succeeds then all life ceases to exist. Pray for your very soul that light succeeds. Epilogue time.

38. Ballad of Lost Souls

Disclaimer: Don't own Yugioh

Author's Note: I will dispense with an advertisement and a quote for this chapter. This isclimactic conclusion in the duel between Kevin and Dalin, which will be followed by a concluding epilogue. That's right, this story is almost over. Then the sequel will start.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Ballad of Lost Souls

The song of Lucifer mixed itself with the everlasting song of Hell, forming the haunting lullaby that had dragged Dalin's angels over to Kevin's side of the field. In this manner Kevin had managed to gain an even greater advantage, and things were starting to look bleak for Dalin. Kevin had just pronounced that in the next turn Dalin would fail, that he would die. "I now place one card face down, completing my turn."

Dalin nodded and took in a deep breath, hiding his nervousness. He had no cards in his hand, so he was no top decking. If he was unable to draw something useful then in the next turn he would most certainly perish under the assault of Kevin's monsters....and his own. "I draw my card!" He slowly slid the card off the top of his deck and brought it up before his eyes, glancing to the image. He could recognize his cards by picture so didn't need to check the text.

"If it pleases the audience, I think I'll stay alive for more then another turn. After all, we wouldn't want to cut down on their fun. So for the moment I simply set one magic or trap card face down on the field, ending my turn." A little flow of feathers combined themselves together into his now face down card, giving him just a few cards between himself and Kevin's numerous monsters. This wasn't going to be easy.

Kevin smirked as soon as he drew his card, raising one arm to point directly at Dalin. As soon as he declared his attack this duel would be finished, for his monsters had more total attack points then Dalin had life points. "First Gate of the Dead summons a Lost Soul token!" The doorway opened and out came the little black glowing sphere in its weak form, however it was quickly boosted in power by Hell.

"Now Circles of Hell boosts the attack strength of all my demons on the field, so Thanatos and the Lost Soul token each gain five hundred attack and defense points!" The surge of energy flowed along the nine different lines, coming together in those two monsters. The Lost Soul token rose to the decent level of sixteen hundred, and Thanatos reached a total of forty-two hundred attack points. Lucifer, Zerato, and Absorbing Angel remained at their base attack points because they weren't demons and therefore couldn't receive the bonus.

"Now all of my monsters will attack you directly, finish him now!" Dalin counted carefully, aware that the total attacks would leave him with a mere two hundred and fifty life points, not much to work with. The various attacks all streaked towards him, and he hastily erected a barrier of positive energy to counteract their negative energy. The attacks exploded across his barrier, shaking his entire body and much of the stadium. He barely managed to maintain it.

"Kevin! I'm chaining that attack with Pain Slicer! This trap card will reduce any damage dealt to me in this turn by half, keeping me safe for the moment. Looks like you failed to follow through!" His trap card flipped up, and it erected a partial energy barrier within his, successfully dropping the total damage by half. This would mean that he'd be left with a far greater amount, a much better amount to work with. (DLP: 6525)

Kevin sneered and gestured to his Lost Soul token before announcing the next part of his move. "It doesn't matter, damage is still damage. For now I think I'll prepare myself to introduce Thanatos' effect. First I offer up the Lost Soul token in order to place a counter on my demon." The grim reaper swung with his scythe, cutting the innocent Lost Soul token in half. A glowing light appeared on the side of the scythe, displaying that it now had a counter on it.

"What is the purpose of that counter?" As Dalin spoke these words, he noticed out of the corner of his eyes that his companions were raised slightly out of the flames, not by a large amount, but still enough. He was certain that damage dealt to Kevin would drop them farther then damage dealt to him raised them. That was the way the duel had been working out so far. Their fear was practically tangible....except Drake's. He must be working on something.

"You'll see next turn, but for now I've juts got to continue my move. Now I activate my placed card, Fall From Grace! By its effect I can discard my hand to place one card from my deck into my hand. Since I've only got one card in my hand its not exactly a great loss." He ejected his deck from its spiked clamps and shuffled through it, looking for the card he wanted. As soon as he spotted it a grin flicked across his features and he took it out before reshuffling his deck.

"With that out of the way, I think I'll end my turn since Fall From Grace prevents me from using that card in the turn I got it. Oh well, guess I'll just have to show it off next turn. Go ahead and show me if you can recover, it would amuse me." The demons roared in pleasure, certain that with his current advantage their favored contender would win this duel easily. They could see it coming, they knew it was coming. There was no other option. They could practically taste the pain as Dalin's life points dropped to zero. It would come, it was destiny.

As soon as it became Dalin's turn, he extended one arm forwards and declared his move. "Reveal remaining face down card! It's called Life Renewal, and by its effect I regain half the damage dealt to me in the previous turn!" He smirked right back at his opponent as the trap card's effect went off, sending flows of energy into his body. It wouldn't be the same as the level of life points he had before, but it would certainly help him out. (DLP: 9663)

Dalin lowered his eyes to the card he had drawn and then he let a small smile touch his lips. It was nothing that would help in a normal duel. That would mean he had no way of defending himself in the next turn. He would be finished for certain. Unless of course things worked as differently as they had throughout the rest of the duel. Perhaps he could make this to his advantage. "I activate the magic card Heaven's Hand!"

Kevin looked at him with confusion in his eyes, and then he started laughing. "You absolute idiot! That card requires you to sacrifice angel sub-type monsters in order to draw cards equal to half their total levels. But you don't have any angels on the field whatsoever!" His laughter was echoed by the crowd, yet despite the onslaught of laughter Dalin seemed perfectly untouched by it. Kevin narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what Dalin was getting at.

"That's very true, at least part of it. But the truth is different as it so often is from what is obvious. While you don't see any angels on my field, I see my angels on your field. And they are my angels. A change of allegiance means nothing in the long run, therefore I'm going to sacrifice Zerato and Absorbing Angel in order to draw six cards from my deck!" The magic of the card started to take effect, wrapping around the two angels. Kevin's eyes widened as that glow increased.

"But it's impossible! There's no rule to govern such a thing! It shouldn't happen at all, it's an illegal move. How the Hell is this possible?" Despite his words of protest there was nothing he could do as the two angels were consumed by the light, raised up to heaven in order to assist Dalin in his quest to save the universe and to win this duel. Kevin raged over and over again, and the demons booed, but it couldn't stop Dalin. Nothing could stop him in this moment.

He deftly drew his six cards and looked them over, trying to decide exactly what he should use. As long as he played his cards right he could turn any bad situation into a good one. There was no way he was going to be stopped now, because there was just too much at stake. "How is it possible? Simple, because the rules have been twisted in this place. Don't forget that everything that is dark and wrong is what makes up Hell, and therefore rules are never exactly as they should be in this place. The mere presence of Hell is what allowed me to use Heaven's Hand in such a manner."

Kevin grimaced, realizing the truth of these words. The place he had brought them to had been meant to give Dalin a disadvantage, and so far it had. But now it had just assisted him in recovering from his disadvantage, giving him new cards to work with and eliminating a threat to his life points that was controlled by Kevin. "I set two cards face down and a monster in defense mode. That's all."

With Kevin's draw he now had two cards in his hand. Upon drawing yet another Lost Soul token was brought out onto the field. The power of the nine circles flowed into the two demons on the field, bringing them to an even greater level of power. Now Thanatos was only three hundred attack points away from reaching five thousand. In the next turn he would break that number. "I'll start this simply by sacrificing my Lost Soul token to Thanatos."

Thanatos reached out with his hand and took hold of the Lost Soul, his deadly touch doing its work. The soul turned into gray stone and crumbled away. As soon as this was done a little light appeared next to the first one on the scythe. "Now to use his effect. By sacrifice two counters off of Thanatos I can force you to discard one card from the top of your deck!" With a sweep of his blade Thanatos sent an arc of fire at Dalin. Dalin stopped it with his energy, but still had to discard his top card.

"Now is the time for me to use the card that I got in the previous turn. You see, this card will show you the truth of the power of Hell, the deadliest essence that can be contained in such a place. Dark Ruler Hades may rule the Greek underworld, but he certainly isn't the ruler of this place." He fingered the card he was holding, and then slapped it onto his duel disk. As soon as he did a column of darkness erupted from the flames, swirling all around the monsters on Kevin's field.

"Behold the might of my monster, the monster that all creatures here but me bow to! The power of Satan-True Ruler of Hell(3200/2700) who can only be summoned by sacrificing Lucifer while Hell is the field!" The black column converged on Lucifer and the angel reached out, grasping hold of the darkness. Suddenly it was pulled into him, and it became obvious to Dalin what was happening. Lucifer was absorbing the pure evil that composed that column of darkness.

The darkness faded, revealing the true ruler of Hell. He stood over nine feet tall, nearly reaching the top of the platform that Kevin stood on. His skin was a charcoal black, and craggy lines of red could be seen. He was like lava made flesh, and evil surged off his body in waves. Sweeping horns extended from the back of his head, and spiked shoulders maintained the presence of a cape that was blacker then night. With the power of Hell it's attack was four thousand and its defense was twenty-two hundred.

"Now, I attack your set monster with Satan!" The ruler of Hell raised one arm and then released his darkness. A pitch black wave of energy erupted from his palm, rolling over whatever monster Dalin had set. Dalin was astonished to discover that the effect of his monster didn't go off upon being destroyed as it should have. He started to open his mouth to protest, but Kevin got there first.

"According to one of the effects of Satan, monsters attacked by him don't get their effects activated. Therefore whatever your monster was, it has become useless. And furthermore, since Satan destroyed a monster I get to summon a Devil Servant token with one thousand attack and zero defense. However you know what happens, it gains eight hundred attack points!" The monster that was summoned was a rotting corpse, held together by negative energy. It held a curved blade in one hand and a shield in the other.

Dalin wasn't about to be finished though, he wasn't going to let Kevin defeat him. "The destruction of my monster may not have triggered its effect, but it does allow me to activate one of my two face down cards. Reveal Angel Renewal! This now lets me special summon an angel from my cemetery, so I revive Zerato!" His archangel assumed its position on the field, looking like nothing against the might of Satan. However it was not intimidated by the lord of Hell as some creatures might be. It simply held its blade at the ready.

"How pathetic. That angel won't save you any more then any other creature of yours. So Thanatos, destroy it!" Thanatos charge across the field on his steed, and then swung his scythe at Zerato. The angel raised his blade to block, but instead of metal clashing against metal and shimmering barrier of light deflect the attack of Thanatos. Kevin's eyes widened in surprise, and he saw Dalin's other face down card activating.

"My angel does indeed save me, because using its presence I can use my face down card, Protection of Grace. This will protect my Zerato from all damage of any kind. Unless you can get rid of Protection of Grace, you can't get to me." Kevin grinned as Dalin spoke these words, and the angel duelist began to wonder why Kevin seemed to be so confident. Did he already have a method for eliminating Protection of Grace....or was he just being his usual creepy self?

"Very well, since I can't continue to attack I guess I'll just have to settle for using my remaining card. It's called Heart of a Demon, and upon activating it I can place a demon from my deck into my hand." Yet again he ejected his deck and searched through it. It took him less time to find the card he wanted then it had with Satan and soon he was putting his deck back in, shuffled once more. Now he had what he wanted, but since it was a demon he couldn't use it until next turn.

Now it was once again Dalin's turn, and by drawing he gave himself a fourth card to work with. He didn't have that many things he could do, but he still had Protection of Grace keeping him safe. For the moment he had a protection advantage, but Kevin still held the majority advantage and power advantage. He had to change that, and he might have a way to do so. "I place one card face down."

His face down card was just insurance. He was still counting on his Protection of Grace/Zerato combo. However he also had the option to grant himself more options, and that he was most certainly going to do. "Now I activate the permanent magic card Joyful Light of the Heavenly Realm. A long winded name yes, but it's also effective. Now each turn I can draw two cards in the draw phase. However, that's all I can do right now, so I end my turn."

Upon Kevin's draw another Lost Soul token appeared, giving him an option of sacrifice for Thanatos. The demon duelist grinned at the sight of his new card, which allow him to open up some options for himself. He was certain Dalin would find it interesting. "Alright then, I think I'll start by sacrificing my Lost Soul to Thanatos."

The grip of Thanatos turned the token into dust, putting him one counter away from using his effect again. Dalin knew it wasn't extremely deadly, but any card he lost might be a critical one, so he had to find a way out of this trap. "Now I'm going to use a permanent magic card of my own. It isn't as long winded but it's equally effective. Expanding Shadows lets me use each of my magic and trap zones twice, expanding my options."

A stream of shadow raced across the field, granting Kevin the stated effect. Dalin didn't know how much of a danger that could be, but anything that helped Kevin wasn't good for him, that was for certain. What was worse, the effect of Circles of Hell had just pumped Thanatos above five thousand points and made Satan as strong as the Ultimate Dragon. The Devil Servant now had over two thousand points.

"I now summon Demon of Black Tokens(1200/700) who gains the bonus, but that's not important. What's important is that I can sacrifice him to special summon three Devil Servant tokens." The demon appeared on the field, only to vanish and be replaced by three precious little skeletal tokens, rotting just as much as the first one. Dalin blinked, and then grimaced that these tokens must not count towards Kevin's monster total...just like the Lost Souls.

"Next I'll reveal one of the effects of Satan and his Devil Servants. By sacrificing two Devil Servants I can destroy one magic or trap card on the field. By sacrificing all four of my tokens I can destroy both your set card and Protection of Grace! So watch as your protection falls apart!" The four tokens shattered, and energy rushed into Satan.

The Lord of the Flies raised his arms and fired two balls of flame. The streaks of fire crashed into the two cards that Dalin had on the field. Both Protection of Grace and his face down card shattered, leaving him defenseless. "Now it's all over for you! You've got no way to protect yourself!"

Suddenly the face down card that Kevin had destroyed reformed itself, only this time it was face up. Dalin announced his action, and Kevin cursed as soon as he heard it. "I chain the destruction effect with my set card, Thunder of Ruler. This card prevents you from going into the battle phase in this turn, protecting me." Unable to do anything else for the turn, Kevin was forced to finish up with that. Yet it didn't matter, since Dalin had no way to defend himself and virtually no options.

Dalin followed the effect of Joyful Light of the Heavenly Realm by drawing two cards instead of one. That gave him a total of four cards in his hand, two of them he couldn't use yet. He glanced at his two new cards, and then slipped them into his m/t zones. "I set two cards face down." The cards appeared in front him, ready to be used at a moment's notice.

"Kevin, I swear this right now. Even if it takes the same measures as it did in the distant past I will still defeat you. That is my promise." Kevin only chuckled, uncaring of whatever promises Dalin made. No such thing had any meaning to him. He had nothing to fear of such a pathetic meat puppet such as this. Dalin wasn't the threat or the prize, it was Ammut whose consumption would allow Kevin to release the Forbidden One.

"You don't get it do you? I can't lose because my reasons are more pure then yours. You want to save the world? From what? Its already the most terrible thing that anyone could imagine. Even Hell doesn't compare to what the world really is. It's just a damned cycle of repeating events!" As he spoke Dalin could feel Kevin's anger, and the demon duelist smashed one of his hands against the spikes on his platform, shattering the bones in his hand.

"Is that the case? Then why don't you finally explain it to me. Tell me who or what you are so that I can at last understand." Kevin narrowed his eyes at Dalin and then glanced down at his shattered hand. He shook it, restoring the bones instantly. Physical damage was nothing to him, but this question was different. Should he answer? That was truly an interesting prospect, it might even assist him in this duel if Dalin were to know.

"Alright then, I'll explain. You see, I'm just a mere fragment of something much greater. That greater thing was also a fragment of something greater then itself. You know well enough that what inhabits me was at one point in the past called the Hand of the Forbidden One. Well what really is in me is just a fragment of the Hand." As he spoke Dalin could feel himself flowing backwards, could feel the truth in this words. He could picture the dark form of the Hand in his mind, and he knew that Kevin spoke the truth.

"The Hand of the Forbidden one was created as a puppet of the greatest and most terrible of all Egyptian gods...or rather not a god, but the opposite. A dark god. The Hand was merely the tool of Apep, the Great Destroyer who devoured the Sun, who devoured Ra. Even the god Set was not feared as much as Apep, none was." Dalin could see the image in his mind, things he had seen in drawings long ago. A giant pitch black serpent swallowing the god Ra.

"It was all the fucking same! A damned cycle of attempting to devour Ra. There was never any choice for Apep, alone amongst all the other gods he was forced into such a situation, it was simply his, or rather its roll. No choices, always the same thing...and like any mortal Apep grew tired of it all. So Apep made the choice to destroy everything to make it stop, and that would required the Essence of Destruction.

But Apep was trapped, trapped helpless within that cycle. He couldn't take any direction action to release the Essence, therefore he had to find an alternate route, an indirect route. He partitioned a peace of himself into the Hand of Exodia. In order to manipulate humans the Hand partitioned a peace of itself to possess humans. That's me. That is my purpose, to end the suffering of my greater self. But its truly a pity isn't it? I don't have a choice in the matter, and I actually enjoy torturing mortals. Oh well, I was never truly alive in the first place."

Kevin concluded his speech, ignoring the strange looks he was getting from Drake and Dalin, and the odd silence of the demonic crowd. They were just now beginning to truly comprehend that the being they were cheering for was intent upon bringing about their destruction, which wasn't a good thing. The door opened, and out came a Lost Soul token, signaling that Kevin's turn had started.

Next as was the norm the power of Circles of Hell kicked in, bringing Satan up to five thousand and Thanatos to nearly six thousand. These monsters were enormously powerful, and there was little Dalin could do to stop them. Kevin smirked as soon as he saw his card, and slid it into an activation slot. "My first card should be familiar. It's Twilight Renewal, letting me draw five cards into my hand!"

He deftly pulled the cards free, giving him an entirely new hand to work with. With five cards versus the smaller number that Dalin had, the advantage of options had now become Kevin's once again. That was hardly a good thing for Dalin, but Kevin was certainly satisfied. "Now that I've got these cards, I'm going to remove Heart of a Demon from the cemetery in order to use its effect one last time!"

The card shot out from his cemetery slot and it fell into a lava pit below. It was incinerated almost instantly, effectively removing it from the game for good. Kevin smirked as he searched his deck for the monster he wanted, coming across it fairly quickly. He added it to his hand and returned his deck to its correct position. Now he had six cards to work with. "Before I summon this monster, I think I'll activate a permanent magic card first. It's called Enhanced Production!"

The card appeared on the field, displaying the images of multiple assembly lines. Even in the enlarged form Dalin couldn't quite make out what the text said at this distance. He would have to wait for an explanation. "Now any effect that produces a token will double the number of tokens produced! Instead of one Devil's Servant I'll get two, and two as well from Gate of the Dead." He snickered, and Dalin realized what this would mean. Each turn Kevin could sacrifice two Lost Soul tokens to Thanatos in order to blast away another of Dalin's cards.

"Things are getting interesting aren't they? Well now I'll make them more interesting by completing Hell once and for all! I summon Ferryman of the River Styx(300/2000) in defense mode! And since River of Styx is in play he won't lose any defense points from Hell and gains fifteen hundred defense from River of Styx! He can't attack though....but his defense and his effect easily make up for that." The monster that appeared stood on a simple brown ferry on the river that flowed through the flames.

This monster was tall and gray skinned, his face covered by a brown mask. He rowed through the river on his ferry using a giant oar that was at least twice as long as a normal human. He seemed unconsidered by the pleading faces and hands that reached out from underneath the water of the river, all begging him for help. That was not his duty, his duty was only to ferry souls, not to pick them up if they were stupid enough to fall into the river of the dead. "With the Ferryman on the field, this entire duel changes!"

Dalin's eyes widened, wondering what effect the Ferryman could possibly have that would make Kevin so confident that it would grant him victory. What could this simplistic looking creature do that was so dangerous? "The Ferryman has the duty of taking souls across the River Styx into Hell proper. Well he can ferry demons as well, and that's exactly what his effect does. He allows me to ferry my demons straight to your life points!"

Kevin couldn't help but laughing at the look on his opponent's face, on the fear he felt being held inside. On the fear he felt from every creature in the entire stadium. They were all now terrified of the outcome of this duel, and it was all because they knew the truth. He was going to win, and there was no stopping him. "By reducing the attack strength of my demons by half for the duration of the turn, I allow them all the ability to attack directly!"

With this power he could avoid any defensive monsters that Dalin might put in his path, could just waltz right past them and straight to Dalin's life points. The Ferryman made everything much easier. As soon as he declared an attack, the entire duel would be cast in the light of the winner....or rather shadowed in his darkness. "Satan, Thanatos, Lost Soul, all of you will now attack directly!"

The three named monsters waited for only a few moments as the Ferryman approached. He allowed them each onto his large but simple ferry and then pushed off towards Dalin. The ferry took them through the river and right around Dalin's Zerato, bringing the monsters in line with him directly. The unleashed their separate attacks, and he erected his barrier as quickly as he could. But it was worse. The pressure on his energy, on his very being was getting worse. (DLP: 3513)

Dalin wasn't going to allow that energy to just drift aside, so he was going to recover as much of it as he could. He had to, otherwise he'd never make it through this duel for much longer. "Reveal face down card, Poison of the Old Man!" He used the quick-play magic card's effect to boost his life points by twelve hundred, restoring his life points and his energy by a slight amount. But it wasn't anywhere near as much as he had lost. It would simply serve to delay what appeared to be inevitable. (DLP: 4713)

Kevin just grinned at his opponent before intoning the next part of his move. He selected two cards from his hand and slid them on top of a couple of his other cards. Circles of Hell and River of Styx he was fairly certain. "I set two cards face down on the field, using the effect of Expanding Shadows." The two cards appeared in front of him, right in front of his respective face up cards that he had placed them over.

"Next I'll sacrifice my Lost Soul token to Thanatos to grant myself that last counter I need. Then I sacrifice the two counters to destroy another of your cards!" The token offered itself up easily and with no struggle. Thanatos used its energy and the energy of the last one to strike out at Dalin, blasting against Dalin's barrier with that scythe of his. Dalin could only grimace and slid the card off the top of his deck, checking what it was, before pushing it into his cemetery slot. In Kevin's next turn it would happen again.

With Kevin's turn completed it was now Dalin's turn to see what he could do. He drew two more cards off his slowly reducing deck and then chose which cards he could make use of. In fact he knew of a combo he could use fairly quickly in order to gain an advantage...a slight advantage that would probably be brief. "I summon Zolga(1700/1000)!" The trapezoid-like angel appeared on the field slowly, made more difficult by Dalin's weakening energies.

"I place a single card face down, and then play Hope of Renewal to draw cards from my deck equal to the level of the weakest angel on my field. So I get to draw four more cards thanks to Zolga!" He had chosen not to use it while Zerato was his weakest monster because he couldn't afford to draw out eight cards at this moment. Not with the effects Kevin was using against him. He didn't want to risk it at this moment, so he simply drew his four cards.

With five cards in his hand and plenty of options he decided exactly what to do. He selected his cards, and then declared his move. "Reveal trap card, Angelic Rage! All your sickening habits have incurred the wrath of my angels, and now they will strike back at you! Zerato and Zolga will now attack you directly, returning the favor you gave to me in the last turn!"

The two monsters attacked in their own ways. Zolga launched a beam of energy that was halted by a barrier that Kevin erected, and Zerato's blade was deflected by the exact same barrier. Their combined attacks would reduce Kevin's life points by more then half of what he had, putting Dalin in a bare lead. "Now I've got you down and out demon!"

His opponent didn't seemed troubled by the damage, in fact he seemed amused. He raised one hand and extended his pointer finger straight up, wagging it back and forth. "Tsk tsk little Dalin. You should know better then to strike your superiors, for they will certainly strike back with greater force. I'll teach you how to respect your superiors with the Play Nice trap card, which reflects half that damage back to you!" The trap card flipped up, depicting a Buster Blader and a Blue Eyes on a see-saw.

Dalin crossed his arms in front of him, raising his barrier as quickly as he could as a red line shot out of the trap and straight at him. He had no cards to protect himself from a redirected attack like that, so this was going to hurt. The line of power connected with his barrier and started forcing him backwards, only fading when he was mere centimeters away from death by impaling. He felt a trickle of blood run down his back where the tip of one of the spikes had pricked him. (DLP: 2463, KLP: 6350)

"Not just that, but since you've attacked me I can also reveal my other set card! It's called Appearance of Lost Souls! Upon activation it summons a number of Lost Souls equal to the number of monsters on your side. So here come two more of them!" The two black spheres shimmered into view, and Dalin cursed the gods of fate for what they were doing. Next turn he would lose two cards, something he could not afford. This duel just wasn't going right at all, everything about it was going wrong.

"I place two cards face down and end my turn. Be warned Sumatin, though things are to your advantage at the moment, I will turn this duel around as soon as I can. Your efforts will have all been for naught!" His two cards appeared in front of him, but Kevin wasn't watching them. He was watching Dalin with an amused grin on his face. Why he was grinning Dalin wasn't sure of.

"You're joking right? Do you have any idea how much I've played you mortals since the beginning of Kaiba's stupid tournament? Allow me to enlighten you. You see, it all started when I used my influence to gain temporary control of Industrial Illusions while Pegasus was incapacitated....not be me surprisingly. By that thief." His words became truth, and a flickering image appeared high above and between them. Dalin's eyes raised up to watch it.

He saw Taichi talking on a phone with someone, heard his words as he requested a package, as he asked about the god cards. Heard him specifically request for the Toon World card. "I made my way through Battle City using the deck originally constructed by my host, with only one minor addition, the powerful card known as Toon World. Quickly it gained the attention that I wanted, and I got Kaiba to show up. When he was there I manipulated his mind so that he would allow extra entrants into the tournament, entrants that I wanted to be there."

Kaiba descended into an alley from the ladder of a helicopter and the two held a brief chat, Taichi as amused as ever and Kaiba as irritated. In the end Taichi challenged Kaiba to a duel, but the other duelist refused and left, claiming that he had better things to do. "Following that I got as many locator cards as I could, because I had two entrants I wanted in the tournament. My spiritual reports claimed that one of the two had the Millennium Gauntlet, which I wished to be present."

There followed an image of the group outside the stadium before they took the blip. It was when they had found the note with the twelve locator cards in it, inviting Ryu and Kensai to join in the tournament and have some fun. "The purpose for this was to make my presence and the presence of so many items an attention grabber for that pathetic tomb keeper called Shadi. He arrived and informed the Pharaoh and you about me and my plans, just as I wanted to, and then we dueled. As you all saw, I won the duel and claimed his two items as a prize, thereby increasing my power."

Dalin saw Shadi approach himself and Yugi, telling them the story just as had happened. Then the image shifted to Taichi and Shadi facing each other on platforms forged of fire, showing Exodia blasting Shadi off the platform. It also showed Taichi crushing the two items and absorbing their power. "I also arranged to alter the draws of Drake Ihachi in his Battle City duels so that he would win, and also so that Kirani would get into the finals. Autumn was easier, since her yami Misuno just cheated for her."

There followed a few flashes of some of Drake's duels in Battle City, how he had seemed to draw critical cards just when he needed them. Then it showed him stepping up onto the blimp, a cocky grin on his face as he and Kirani boarded together. "I needed Drake and Autumn there because they were item holders and I knew the great power that any holder of the Millennium Disc would have. Kirani was there so that I could take her soul, which I knew would trigger an increase in power in Drake....that and it was amusing to me."

Next came scenes of Kirani dueling Taichi and losing to the power of Exodia, and then Drake facing Autumn with his power raging through Obelisk and onto the field. The enormous power that had been unleashed at that moment. "Wait, here comes the best part. I arranged for a certain person who I my spirit guides had informed me was the selected host for Ammut, who would arise at a sign of my threat. So I arranged for that person to be in Egypt and for an accident to occur when Ammut took over. He therefore landed in the hands of Malik who had been manipulated by dreams I gave him, and Malik used him to his own ends."

Dalin's teeth ground against each other nearly hard enough to crack them as he saw himself lying prone and naked in the desert, saw Malik helping him up and Malik setting him off towards Battle City. There were a few flashes of the duels that Dalin had been through in order to reach the finals. "Once I had all the necessary pieces in the finals it was even easier from then on. Because Malik and Isis, his sister, had each had the same dreams, she came to intercept me. I defeated her easily and gained the power of her Tauk, which allowed me peeks into the future."

They could see Taichi standing about a dozen feet away from Isis, a duel in progress. They were only a few meters away from the stadium as they dueled, and Dalin saw Isis collapse to the ground from a strike by a toon monster. Then Taichi took the Tauk and shattered it in his hand, absorbing the power. "Using those visions I foresaw that you would defeat Malik and destroy his body. Therefore I arranged to swap his soul with that of his hikari, and therefore gained the allegiance and a piece of the power of that lunatic. It also allowed me to drain his Millennium Rod and gain that power."

Dalin stood tall and proud, declaring the attack of Winged Divine Dragon of Ra. The golden wave of energy washed over Malik's body and incinerated it, making it appear that he was truly gone. Then it showed Taichi sitting on a couch in his room on the blimp and crushing the Rod, gaining its power like the others. "With all that out of the way it was my time to duel Drake. I crushed him easily enough, and then Ihachi reared her head in an unexpected manner. I realized the power she would have should I drain her, but knew I couldn't do that without going into her realm, and in her realm she was a goddess, too strong to crush."

Dalin saw Drake fall as the attack of Invader of Darkness became to much for him, blood dripping from his lips as he passed on. Then it showed moments of Taichi's duel against Ihachi, the two going at it like crazy. "I understood that the only way to crush her without any real effort was to get her to commit to a game of my making, and I needed players. Therefore I lost my duel against Drake in order to give an excuse for my sending you all to the shadows, and I launched th missiles I had commandeered, wiping out all but 2% of Earth's population."

He saw the final moments of Drake's duel with Taichi as Exodia blasted the Metal Devil token, thereby ending the duel. Then it showed Taichi's performance, the appearance of the shadow above him and the casting of them into the shadows. "Of course from there I manipulated who would win what, and got the needed duelists into Ihachi's true realm, just as I wanted. From there, in the form of Kevin Hunter, I secretly stole away a few of the people there, including Autumn, taking the power of her item without destroying it since it was in the Shadow Realm and easier. I also arranged for Ryu to duel Hinata, and by his lose and the darkness that came with that duel I easily took the power of his gauntlet."

Dalin grimaced as the recent memories reappeared, showing the explosion that ended Ryu and Hinata's duel, showing them lying helpless under the rain. It showed Kevin touching the shoulders of several of the gathered duelists and taking them away to take their souls. There was the loss of Autumn, and everything was becoming clear. "I had wormed my way into that place through manipulation, and I allowed the thought of 'Taichi' as a threat by having my host duel Kensai and manipulated Kensai's draw so that he would eliminate them both. There was no more Taichi, so the presence of my darkness in Kevin was easily dismissed by even you."

The last frantic moments of the duel of Kensai and Taichi, the explosion of Self-Destruct Switch and the last smile that Taichi flashed. Then there was Yami and Dalin looking Kevin right in the eye, seeing straight into that darkness. But their own minds dismissed it casually as an impossibility. "Once that was all out of the way I assisted Yami in defeating Yami Malik, thereby collecting his debt to me in the form of his dark soul and all his power. Everyone went in to duel Ihachi, and I assisted her in her draws so that she could make the only possibility of defeating her to be Drake dueling her."

He saw Yami Malik's final moments in the duel against Yami, and then various pieces of the duel against Ihachi. The things that happened that eliminated Yami, Kai, Bakura, and nearly Serenity and Kirani. Drake arrived and they started their duel. "Once they started dueling it was only a matter of fate and a little manipulation to get Drake's god out, thereby winning the duel for him. Using it completely exhausted him, making him easy pickings for me. I took the energy from him and his ancient twin, even the power of the Millennium Disc."

At these words Drake's eyes lit up, but he couldn't get Dalin's attention without alerting Kevin to it. Kevin had missed, he hadn't gotten all the power of the Disc because he still had access. The images above displayed the climax of Drake's duel against Ihachi, and then the appearance of Kevin to take their energy. "Finally I manipulated you into coming to this place where I would have you at a disadvantage. Of course the one place where it almost screwed up was that bloody idiot host of mine smiling in that last moment. Had anybody but Kensai seen it there would have been trouble, but I got lucky."

The last images that showed before the flickering images above faded was that of Dalin and Kevin entering through the Gates of the Dead and coming to this coliseum to begin their duel. Dalin grimaced, and he felt true despair. They had been manipulated the whole way through....Kevin, or the spirit within, had manipulated them all to bring about this final end. All it needed now was Dalin's defeat so it could gain his power and destroy Ammut. "It's hopeless then isn't it?"

He didn't even notice as he fell to his knees, the will starting to drain out of him. How could he possibly fight back against such a force? It had been around for most likely millions of years, and had been manipulating events in humans since before recorded history. This force was too great, too smart, too deadly to be fought. There was no way to win. "I....I embrace...."

Kevin's grin widened as he awaited those words. The instant that Dalin submitted and spoke those words he would have won the duel and all things would come to an end! He just had to finish the sentence, had to complete the phrase and then it would al be over. "Yes? Yes? What do you embrace?!"

Dalin picked up his head to speak those words, but he couldn't say them. There was too much noise. He scanned the coliseum, watching the demons as they roared out their responses. They were shouting for him to get up....they were telling him to continue, to not give up, to persevere. He was their only hope so he couldn't quit. He could hear the voices of the endless lost ones speaking to him, begging him to continue. And most of all, he could heard the voice of Ammut, ordering him to rise or be devoured. It was too important for him to surrender.

Slowly he rose to his feet, the strength returning to his limbs, to his eyes. He felt his eyes travel slowly towards Drake, and he could see the smile etched on the punk duelist's lips. The Millennium Disc worked, and it had allowed Drake to transmit the feelings of all those lost to Dalin. Turning his gaze back to Kevin, he completed his sentence. "I embrace the light. I embrace my strength and the strength of those long past. I embrace the unending desire of the human heart to live on!"

Kevin's roar of anger shook the entire stadium and a blazing column of darkness surrounded his body. It was power such as none could have ever imagined, the power of a million years of hatred and desire for death and destruction. It was the raw power of the darkness. "SO BE IT! EMBRACE YOUR DEATH!" With that said he snapped a card off the top of his deck, and began his turn.

As soon as his turn began the power of Gate of the Dead brought forth a Lost Soul, and then Enhanced Production allowed it to bring forth another, joining the two that Kevin already had. Their power shot up to sixteen hundred, and the other demons also increased their power yet again. The combos were having their effect, and there was nothing that Dalin could do about. "You see? It's hopeless for you. So I set one card, and now my monsters will enter the ferry!"

The four Lost Souls floated over and into the ferry, followed by the powerful forms of Satan and Thanatos. Dalin carefully counted up their attack strength when reduced, and found himself severly lacking in enough life points to survive such an attack. Cut in half their total attack strength was nine thousand and fifty, nearly five times the number of life points he had available. "Destroy him!"

The ferry was rowed across the river, and the six monsters assaulted Dalin. He grasped hold of all the feelings he was receiving to prepare himself, and then remembered what he had on the field. "Reveal face down card, Light Barrier! This quick-play magic card prevents me from being attack by monsters this turn!" A barrier of light shot up between Dalin and the attacking monsters, for once not of his making. It took a little bit of effort, but the barrier of light stopped in the incoming attacks, protecting Dalin for the duration of the turn. It was the light version of Dark Wall of Air, and it had just saved his life and the world.

"But that's not all! I activate my set card, Joy of the Card! At a cost of one thousand life points I can now place a card from my deck into my hand!" His trap also flipped up, and he let the energy flow through it, dropping his power to a much lower level. He ejected his deck and searched through it, finally having exactly what he needed. He reshuffled the deck and placed it back where it belonged, and relaxed for the rest of the turn. (DLP: 1463)

Kevin just smirked, totally confident in his superior strength. No single card that Dalin could have gotten for himself would help in this instance, and it would only take a single attack by one of his monsters to finish Dalin off. Of course he could always help out a bit using his Thanatos' effect. "You're really trying to destroy yourself and give up the lives of all living things aren't you? After all, you can hardly afford those one thousand life points, no matter what card it was for."

Dalin chose not to respond, and gestured for Kevin to continue. He rolled his eyes and declared exactly what he wanted to do. It was all too easy. "I sacrifice my four Lost Souls to give Thanatos four more counters. Then I sacrifice those four counters to destroy two of your cards." Thanatos sliced straight through the four souls and gained their power. Then he lashed out with that power at Dalin, forcing him to expend some critical energy to defend himself from being cut up. It took far too much effort to keep form being speared on the spikes behind him.

"End turn." Kevin's turn was over, but Dalin was still discarding the two needed cards. His eyes lit up briefly at the sight of one of them, but he hid it well and discarded them both. Then he drew the two cards from his deck thanks to Joyful Light of the Heavenly Realm. He glanced at them both, and then swiftly selected the first card he wanted to use. Things were about to change really fast.

"I use the magic card Veil of Light! By sacrificing one monster on the field, in this case Zolga, I can place one card from my deck into my hand!" Zolga shattered into a million pieces, giving up his life for the greater good. Kevin just leered at him, so Dalin ignored it and searched his deck for the card he wanted. He placed it in his hand, and prepared himself for what he was about to do. This would work, it just had to.

"Now this duel will come crashing down on you, just as I said it would! Activate magic card, Harpie's Feather Duster to blow away all of your precious strategies!" Kevin let out a shout of shock and horror as the gust of wind erupted from the magic card, sweeping across his waters and his fires. Every single card there suffered under that gale, and then shattered, becoming nothingness. Now even the field of Hell was gone, taking some of the pressure off of Dalin.

"It's about to get worse, because I play Heaven's Wrath! I chose this card specifically for dueling you, because its effect destroys every demon on the entire field!" This mover was even more shocking to Kevin, who could do nothing but watch as a roaring tornado of light swept across the field, sucking all of his monsters into it. The demons struggled to escape, but the power was too great. Soon they were all consumed by the overwhelming strength of the wrath of Heaven itself. Hell had gone, and Heaven was taking over.

"It's not done though Dalin! You've sent my face down Bloody Hand of the Demon Prophet to the cemetery! So if I guess my bottom card correctly I get to draw five cards. And I guess that it's a magic card!" He drew the card off the bottom of his deck and displayed it to Dalin, revealing the Treasure of Hell. He sent the card to the cemetery, and swiftly drew his five cards, giving him a total of seven cards in his hand, enough to make up for what he had just lost, partially at least.

"Now I play the card that will make or break this duel, but it will be for me that it breaks the duel....against you. I activate Sacrifice the Light! I must offer up a total level of light monsters on my field that is at least two less then a monster I will then summon normally to the field from the grave. And by normal summoning this next monster, I can keep it for more then a turn. I raise Saint Dragon Osiris(4000/4000)!"

Kevin didn't think it was possible for Dalin to bring out the mighty dragon yet again, but here he was, doing it. It was only then that he noticed the lines of power trickling from the crowd. The pathetic demons were offering up parts of their strength to keep Dalin going, to let him summon Osiris! "Now Osiris, Thunderstroke Attack!" The blaze of purple energy rammed into Kevin's barrier and forced him backwards into the spikes. (KLP: 2350)

The demon duelist pulled himself off of the spikes and passed a hand in front of the holes in his belly. They faded away and he shot a glare around the room, finally settling on Dalin. He was furious, but yet Dalin could still feel confidence and arrogance rolling off the other duelist in waves. What could have him so confident in victory even when he was now at a sever disadvantage. "You think a god can defeat me? Osiris is nothing to me, none of the gods matter to me! Bring them all on and I'll still achieve victory! I'll do it by singing the ballad of the lost souls, for their essence will help me achieve victory!"

Dalin didn't understand what his opponent meant, couldn't understand what the lost souls had to do with anything. If he meant Lost Soul tokens then he was insane for sure. Those things had been pathetically weak, and could never defeat Dalin, they could never even get past Osiris. The instant one of those weak things was summoned it would be destroyed by Osiris' second mouth. "Your confidence is amazing, but not exactly well founded. I end my turn."

Kevin drew forth another card, giving him eight cards in hand and not a single card on the field. No monster that he could summon would survive thanks to the power of Osiris, so he was essentially helpless. Traps and magic couldn't destroy gods so that wasn't an option either. Now Kevin was in much the same position that Dalin had been in earlier. "Victory is imminent."

Dalin gave his opponent a flat disbelieving stare. How could he think that victory could be achieved against the power Dalin was wielding? The true advantage belonged to him, and there was no way for Kevin to dispute that. No matter what cards he held it didn't matter, in fact the only way he had a chance of winning was with Exodia. With that thought Dalin's mind shot into a tangent, wondering if Kevin held pieces of Exodia in his hand. If he did, he must be hoping to draw the others to bring victory.

"By the look on your face and the powers I have I can guess what you're thinking. You think I plan to use Exodia right? Well that's not even a part of my strategy. In fact, I won't be using any monster cards for the moment. I'll just set four cards face down and end my turn." The four cards appeared down in front of him, the only barrier between him and Osiris. And a paltry barrier at that. There was no way it would stand against the Saint Dragon.

Dalin drew two cards and smirked, confident of victory as Osiris shot up to six thousand attack and defense points. It had taken much more work for Kevin to get monsters of such great power. There was no way he could deny that. "How the tables have turned. Now the idea of your victory is completely laughable, because as defenseless as you are you can't stop a god like this. So Osiris will attack and end the duel!"

Kevin let out a laugh and spread his arms open wide as if inviting the attack of Osiris. However as he did so two of his cards flipped up and revealed their power. "I chain with two of my cards! The first is called The Laughing Dead which grants me a number of Lost Soul tokens equal to the level of an attacking monster, and since Osiris is a level ten, I get ten Lost Souls!" Ten of the little black spheres shimmered into view on the field, and to Dalin's surprise Osiris payed them no mind and didn't launch his attack at them. However his attack was still heading towards Dalin.

"Didn't you realize? The Lost Souls don't take up monster zones, therefore I can't defend with them and Osiris can't use his second mouth effect on them. But now I can defend with them, using my permanent trap card Needs of the Many! It draws one of the Lost Souls in the way to take the brunt of your attack!" Dalin gasped as one of the black things zipped in the way of the enormous sweeping purple attack. It was consumed by it, but Kevin was perfectly safe. Saved by a token with only three hundred attack and defense points.

"Not only that but I'll activate another permanent trap called Vampiric Aura! During each of my standby phases I'll gain one hundred life points times the total levels of all of your monsters! Things are changing again aren't they?" Dalin grimaced and declared the completion of his turn, knowing that he had nothing more he could do. He might as well keep Osiris at the level of power it was at, and wait till the next turn to use cards so he wouldn't have to discard.

As soon as Kevin drew his card he started gaining life points from Vampiric Aura. Yet he was about to spend those life points with great ease. He chuckled as he activated his card. "I play Blood Sacrifice, offering up the one thousand life points I just gained in order to special summon a demon from my cemetery. So here comes the Ferryman of the River Styx!" The familiar ferryman appeared, but he was stranded in his ferry with no river to travel upon. It was kind of sad actually.

Osiris opened its second mouth and shot its attack at the Ferryman. However one of the Lost Soul tokens swept into its path and took the attack, saving the Ferryman. There were eight more tokens left, so Kevin was perfectly fine for quite some time. And with the Ferryman those tokens would be able to attack in the this turn. "I set one card and play a second Gate of the Dead!" The familiar form of the gate took shape, and next to it was a set card. Now Kevin was safe for even more turns.

"Now, Ferryman will take the Lost Souls across the field to assault your life points directly!" The ferry was forcefully pushed across the ground, going right under the coils of Osiris with each of the eight tokens in tow. The tokens shot straight out of the boat and raced towards Dalin. He raised a paltry barrier, hardly able to stop the attacks from finishing him off. He felt his energy weak with each barrage by one of the tokens, and even the continuous trickles of power from the crowd and his three companions wasn't enough to keep him going for long. (DLP: 263)

Now it was once again Dalin's turn, and his hand rose to eight cards along with the power of Osiris. He surveyed the eight cards in his hand, choosing what he had to use in this turn. He knew that with the deadly combo Kevin had going it had to be good. Any attack he made would be stopped by a token, and Gate of the Dead would produce another token each turn to do so. Of course Kevin could then attack directly with those tokens.

"I place two cards face down, and next I activate Angel Glow and Holy Water, increasing my life points by one thousand and seven hundred respectively." The effects of the cards assisted him, increasing his life points by a good deal. It also helped to restore a certain degree of his energy. Unfortunately it was just a replacement, and not as good as the original. He was truly running low on power. (DLP: 1963)

If he attacked it wouldn't make any difference, but he needed to get rid of more of those tokens. So he would have to attack. "Osiris, attack the Ferryman!" Osiris opened its jaws wide and shot a stream of purple light at the monster. The effect of Needs of the Many activated, and one of the lost souls took the hit, dropping their number to seven. Of course in the next turn it would be replaced, but that didn't matter.

"Thank's for helping me Dalin. Because a Lost Soul was destroyed in battle I can now activate Army of Darkness, producing ten more Lost Souls, giving me a total of seventeen!" Multiplying in place of the one destroyed came ten more, bolstering the ranks of the tiny little lost souls. Dalin grimaced as he began to be aware of what Kevin had meant by the ballad of lost souls. These things were far more dangerous then he ever would have thought possible.

Kevin drew a card and he gained more life points. He grinned at the sight of whatever card it was that he had drawn, and then he swiftly slapped it onto his dark duel disk. The image wavered and then appeared in front of Dalin, revealing a twisted demon hugging the green pot from the card Pot of Greed. It looked around furtively and then hunkered over the pot. "I summon Demon of Greed(1400/900 to the field. And in this case, I don't think I'll block with a token." (KLP: 3350)

Dalin was confused by this action and he watched Osiris assault the weaker monster, destroying it utterly. As soon as he saw the look on Kevin's face, he wished that the effect of Osiris was optional and not mandatory. "By destroying Demon of Greed you activated its effect, letting me draw four cards!" He quickly increased his hand size to a total of six cards, a full hand of cards that he could use to engineer Dalin's defeat. Whatever he did with them would be bad.

"I play Arrival of Lost Souls. This card lets me discard monsters to summon lost souls. For each monster I discard I get three lost souls. So I discard four monsters from my hand to produce twelve more!" He shoved the four cards he had chosen into his cemetery slot, and Dalin watched as twelve more of the black spheres shimmered into view. They were so weak that it didn't even strain Kevin at all. Not that any summoning had in the whole duel. Counting the one summoned by Gate of the Dead, that made thirty lost souls total.

"Lost Souls, take off and use the power of the Ferryman to destroy Dalin once and for all!" The souls put themselves into the ferry and once again made their way under the coils of Osiris. They assaulted Dalin with a power great enough to do forty-five hundred points of damage total. It would finish him off, and keeping a barrier up was taking more then he could manage. Slowly he turned himself so he could grip the spikes, using his physical strength to keep from being forced onto them.

"I chain your assault with my two face down cards, Nutrient Z and Backlash of Life, which decreases your life points by five hundred when I gain life points!" According to the effect of Nutrient Z he would gain four thousand life points before the damage, and because of Backlash of Life Kevin would take five hundred. Thanks to Nutrient Z he would only effectively be taking five hundred points of damage, but that was still only a temporary safeguard. (DLP: 1463, KLP: 2850)

"I set a single card face down and then end my turn." The card appeared in front of Kevin, emptying his hand completely of all cards. Yet that didn't matter, because with the cards he had, he was already practically guaranteed victory. Thirty untouchable monsters that could defend him at no cost to himself since Needs of the Many just sacrificed one to deflect any sort of attack. And with the defended Ferryman those thirty monsters could attack directly, and of course he gained more each turn.

Dalin drew in a deep breath and then swiftly activated one of the cards he had drawn. It was a familiar card, and he needed its use. The power of Graceful Charity let him draw three more cards off his nearly gone deck and then he had to discard two cards from his hand. He quickly chose the cards he wanted to discard, and went on with his move. "When I have three monsters of the same name in my cemetery I can activate this card, Renewal of Triplets. It lets me special summon all three onto the field in attack mode!"

As soon as he spoke these words three shining silver spheres appeared across from the army of black spheres. These were the Holy Shines Spheres(500/500 X3) each with just a little bit more attack power then the lost souls. They were still weak, but that wasn't what Dalin wanted them forth. Kevin grinned and motioned with his hands, gesturing towards his body. "Yes, give me the power! Bring forth the might of god!"

Drawing heavily on the power of the crowd and his companions he sacrificed his three monsters and played the monster onto the field. Its power would come in handy, though he knew not how. Yet he felt that it was right to summon it. "I sacrifice the three spheres to summon Winged Divine Dragon of Ra(1500/1500)!" The light converged and he felt all the power flow into him to summon the large golden god, its bird-like form ready and willing to deal out death to infidels.

"I place two cards onto the field, and now I will attack with both of my monsters!" The two gods opened their jaws wide and unleashed their respective attacks. One beam of gold and one beam of purple. The blasts streaked towards the Ferryman, and as close the attacks were getting no lost souls were moving in the way to take the attacks. He glanced up from Ferryman at Kevin, and saw the dark grin on his features.

"Reveal trap, Flames of Hell! Upon activation it lets me place the field card Hell from my cemetery onto the field! So let's give a heartfelt welcome back to the field that will make this duel even worse for you yet again!" The earth shattered and flames shot up, stoking the intense fires of hatred and fear within them all. Its presence was weakening Dalin, and the demons were unaffected by it, so they couldn't offer anymore power to him.

With Hell as the field the attacks of the gods collided against the Ferryman harmlessly, dealing no damage whatsoever. Hell prevented that battle damage, so therefore it was safe, and so were the tokens....but worse yet, they each gained eight hundred attack points making them eleven hundred attack strength strong. Dalin shuddered as he felt the despair creeping up on him. "End turn."

Since Dalin had two level ten monsters on the field as soon as Kevin drew he gained a total of two thousand life points. It was just a little bit more power to Kevin, and he didn't even notice it. He just grinned and slipped his card into an activation slot. "I play The Black Hand, paying one thousand life points to draw five cards." He slipped the cards off of his deck and grinned in satisfaction. (KLP: 3850)

"Now I play Bring on the Night which will completely conceal the field, hiding my moves from you unless I choose to announce them!" Dalin grimaced as a heavy fog seeped out of Kevin's newest card, swiftly blanketing the field in darkness. Now all he could see was his gods and his set cards, and then there was just a black cloud that prevented him from seeing past it. Whatever Kevin did it would be good for him.

"Worried about Bring on the Night? Don't be, because now I play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy it!" As quickly as the darkness had covered the field, it faded away as a bolt of lightning shot out from Kevin's own card and shattered the card that produced the darkness. Dalin couldn't understand what Kevin was up to, playing his card and then destroying it just as quickly. It simply made no sense.

"Confused? I bet you are. Well I'll make it clear. When Bring on the Night is destroyed I can select one monster and special summon a number of tokens identical to that monster, and equal in number to however many there are. That includes effect as well. So since I already had thirty-one lost souls, I now get thirty-one more of them!" Dalin gulped as he saw the tokens replicate themselves, becoming a giant swarm of black spheres capable of dealing out death as Kevin saw fit. Things were becoming grim as an army was arrayed against him.

"Also since Bring on the Night was destroyed I can destroy your two set cards. Now my sixty-two lost souls will attack you directly using the effect of the Ferryman!" There were simply too many tokens to fit into the ferry, so they just swarmed around it as it moved forwards. As they attacked Dalin knew that he had just one option left to him, an option he didn't want to use but would have to without his set cards to protect him.

"I activate Sanctity of the Buried! By removing this magic card from the cemetery, a magic card you forced me to send to the grave, I can then remove five more cards from my graveyard in order to negate your attack!" He swiftly selected his five cards and watched as they were plucked from his hands and sent plunging into the flames below, consumed instantly. However it was worth it as the lost souls wailed helplessly against an invisible barrier that stopped their attacks with great ease.

Kevin just shrugged it off, still confident that he could achieve victory. And he was right, for there were almost no cards left in Dalin's deck to keep him going. It was worse because he still had to draw two cards each draw phase, which was normally good but currently dangerous to him because it might deck him out. "I set one card face down, ending my turn. Next turn will be the moment of your absolute defeat! All the demons have seen it including me, seen you fallen, beaten and dead, your life points at zero! It's simply destiny!"

Dalin grimaced, perfectly aware that he was running out of options and running out of a deck. He drew his two cards and glanced at them, he closed his eyes tightly, worried that this wouldn't work. Would he be able to stop Kevin after all, or was the other duelist right? Was it his destiny to lose? Well like his duel against Yami, there was only one way to find out. Forge onwards. "I place one card face down. That's all I can do."

Kevin smirked wickedly, seeing that his opponent was perfectly out of options. His deck had dwindled to just about six or seven cards left, so the duel wouldn't last much longer even if Kevin didn't manage to kill him here and now. But with the cards he held in his hand, he was certain that he would be able to finish it here and now. "Draw card!"

He grinned and placed the card onto the field, watching as a familiar purple skinned demon was summon to the field in attack mode. Osiris unleashed its attack, but because of Hell the demon was able to survive the attack, its stats reduced by two thousand to a measly seven hundred. "The might of Demon Soldier haunts you once again Dalin. But it will be worse this time, for I don't intend to attack with him." (KLP: 5850)

He slipped on of the cards in his hand out and pushed it into its activation slot, activating it immediately. With this card things would get even more interesting, as would another card in his hand do the same thing. "I play Soul Sacrifice. I can offer up a monster to summon a number of lost souls equal to its base attack power divided by one hundred. So I offer up Demon Soldier to gain nineteen tokens!"

The nineteen more that were produced were barely noticable amongst the already massive swarm of lost souls. They were so many of them that Dalin was certain he could have walked on top of them all the way to Kevin's platform. Total there were eight-two lost souls, a number that was far too great not to be worried about. "Let's make things more poetic shall we? A hundred little soldiers lined up in a row should do it. So I play Come All Ye Faithless, paying increments of one hundred to summon lost souls! And I give up eighteen hundred life points!" (KLP: 4050)

More of them joined the swarm, more of them to make the killing crowd more poetic, just like Kevin wanted. There were now one hundred of the lost souls, their swarming created a song that rivaled that of the Choir of Hell and that of Lucifer. This was the Ballad of Lost Souls, which sang out for all those who had fallen and wished to move on. All those who wished to but couldn't. It was the song that sang out and gave the message, 'We will release you from your burden.'

That was what they were to do to Dalin. They were going to release him from his burden. The burden of being expected to save the world. The burden of having an ancient demon spirit inside him, waiting to leave and devour his soul in the process. The burden of being a man with a purpose but no past. The burden of having to make decisions that cost other people their lives. They would give him release. "Now my Lost Souls, send Dalin to the great beyond! Fulfill his destiny! Relieve him of his burden!"

They moved like a swarm of locusts, coming towards him like a black cloud. They swept straight past the two gods, coming right at him. They slammed into the barrier he put up, crushed that barrier as his power gave out and the supply of energy from outside sources dried out. They kept going, smashing apart the entire platform in their frenzied attacks, colliding with Dalin's flesh. The platform exploded as they swept completely past, and Dalin was hurled into the air.

He felt bones shatter as he collided heavily with the ground. His breath left him and he vainly struggled to regain it, aware that he must have broken several of his ribs in the fall. He started to grasp the air around him, to let it fill his lungs. Suddenly a spinning object caught his eye, and he had only that one second to recognize its form before the spike drove directly into his chest. He did not survive. The lost souls had achieved their goal and released him of his burden. Only death could release someone from their burden. (DLP: 0)

Kevin's laughter rang true as he felt Dalin's life fade away, watched as the last of Dalin's life points vanished. He gestured with his hand and banished the coliseum from his sight, allowing him to walk amongst the flames of Hell. The demons were now standing in a large crowd around him, trying to block him from getting to Dalin and getting what he wanted. They were nothing but moths to him, ants, lambs to the slaughter.

He clenched his fists and allowed his power to roar around him. Black streaks of fire shot off from his body, consuming the demons as they charged him, trying to rend his flesh. He burned them where they stood, burned them as they charged, burned them all. They could not match his power, for they were merely worms against a god. He was death incarnate.

Spikes erupted from the ground, spearing them and cutting their flesh to pieces. Slowly they backed away, preparing themself for the next charge. Kevin grinned wickedly as he let his senses stretch out, counting them all. There must have been a hundred thousand demons gathered to protect Dalin, to save themselves in truth. Yet they are all pathetically weak.

"Is this what you wish? It would be better to simply embrace the truth. You will be destroyed one way or another, now or later. I suggest you save yourself the pain of being destroyed by me and simply allow yourself to be negated from existence by the power of the Essence of Destruction. Far more merciful." He spoke in the way that one speak to the vast ocean. The ocean would not answer, but it was felt nice to have spoken anyways, to have said what should be said.

They did what any creatures discovering their mortality would have done. They charged forwards, surrounding him in a ring of flesh intent on crushing him, on ending his life and ending the threat to theirs. Like all mortal beings they rushed towards any opportunity to save their lives. They rushed into death, but they did it not from courage but from cowardice. He despised every last one of them.

The first line of demons exploded. There was no other way to put it. Dark and craggy bodies burst apart in sprays of blood and flesh. Flows of dark power reached through that thick mist, darting from figure to figure in the blink of an eye, and the next rank of demons died. Then the next, and the next, as though they were running into an enormous meet grinder.

Kevin's grin widened as they came on and on. Up above Serenity tilted her head to the side and emptied her stomach of whatever was in it, and Kevin simply laughed. Another rank died. Kirani closed her eyes, trying to turn her head away. But the smell was there. The bloody ruins of demonic creatures began to make a wall.

No one could stand up to that. Between one blast of death and the next, the demons in front were suddenly struggling the other way, forcing themselves back into the mass fighting to get forward. The milling tangle itself began to explode, and then all of them were falling back. No, running. Drake shuddered in horror, unable to watch it any longer. Not even demons deserved this.

"Don't run, don't run! We were just starting to enjoy ourselves!" Beneath the feet of the demons nearest to Kevin, the ground suddenly erupted in fountains of flame and dirt, hurling demons in every direction. While bodies still hung in the air, more gouts of flame roared from the ground, and more, in an expanding ring all the way around Kevin in a massive circle. It pursued the demons for fifty meters, a hundred, two hundred. There was nothing but panic and death out there now.

The demons cast aside whatever weapons they had on them, crude or otherwise. The rings of death caused plumes of smoke to fill the dark sky above, rising up from the ranks of the dead. "Stop!" The roar of explosions swallowed the shout as well as it did demon's screams. Suddenly the voice came again, stronger then before. "Stop it now!" The voice crashed like thunder over everything.

One more ring of eruptions, and Kevin let his power dim. The demons did not stop fleeing, they were more afraid now of the immediate death that they faced. For a moment a deafening silence seemed to fill the air, Kevin's ears rang. Then he could hear screams and moans. Wounded heaved among the piles of dead. And beyond them the demons ran, leaving the hateful thing of death behind them.

With no demons in the way Kevin had a clear view of the speaker. He narrowed his eyes, unable to believe what he saw. It seemed he had been wrong. The defeated one had not died, merely been knocked unconscious for a moment. Dalin stood there about two hundred meters away, his right hand covering the wound on his chest which was leaking blood. His left arm with the duel disk hung limply at his side. "Just stop the killing. It's just too much."

Kevin let out a roaring laughter and started to reach out with his power. He would shatter Dalin just as he had shattered the demons, it would be no different. Then he would take his power, take the power of Ammut. Then the release would come. He had won, and there was no stopping that. "Why even bother moving? You're just going to die anyways. It's over, and to be honest, even if you had won it wouldn't have changed anything. All those who have died would remain dead, the world would be practically lifeless."

Dalin's eyes and features were lifeless, but still he kept walking towards Kevin. It was a determination that Kevin couldn't understand, he just couldn't see how Dalin was able to keep himself moving. What reason was there to bother? He had already lost. "Practically lifeless....is not the same....as lifeless. There....would still be....life." Still he walked on, even as he spoke these words. Kevin halted the flow of his power for a moment, surprised that his opponent was still coming. Why? It just didn't make any sense!

Suddenly a voice shouted out, and he turned his gaze to see the speaker. It was Drake, who stood now about fifty meters behind him. He stood in front of the girls, his body nearly as limp as Dalin's. None of the three had any power left in them whatsoever. "This duel isn't over yet Kevin, or had you not noticed the card he placed down in the turn before yours?"

Kevin's eyes widened and he looked around. Finally he spotted the where the dueling field had been, and his eyes widened at the sight of Dalin's card flipped up. He couldn't see what it was from here, but still it didn't make any sense. "But his life points dropped to zero! I saw it with my own eyes!"

Dalin finally stopped about twenty feet away from him, his body close to collapsing. He propped himself against a discarded sword that was buried end first into the ground, using it to keep himself up. "The card....I placed....called Fated....Turn. Sets my....my....life points." He took a moment to breath, trying to gather himself together, trying to speak through the pain and weakness.

"Life points....to....eight thousand. Second of my....turns....after activation....I lose." As soon as he finished speaking these words, Kevin couldn't help but laugh. This was the threat they hoped to pose? Two turns with eight thousand life points? It was absolutely ridiculous, but then again it was a truly desperate move. Worthy of cowardly humans, always trying to escape their destined ends. It was sickening to him how they held on like life had meaning. Disgusting. (DLP: 8000)

"Very well, I set one card face down and end my turn. Let's see what you can accomplish." The card appeared in front of him, a long way away from all their other cards. His army of lost souls floated over to him, ready to attack on his command. These lost souls and his other cards were all that he needed, with them this duel would be over soon. After all, Dalin only had two turns to win....in a manner of speaking.

Dalin struggling to lift his arm from his chest, and shakily drew two cards. He was laboring for breath just from that effort, and Kevin could feel his life slipping away with each and every moment. It was just disgusting to see him struggling so hard in the name of life. "I won't even allow you two turns. I activate Pyro Clock of Destiny! This speeds up the turn count by one, meaning that at the end of this turn, you lose!"

The angel duelist forced himself to nod, acknowledging that he understand this. With painful effort he lifted his arm and slipped the card into one of his magic and trap zones. Since he had put it in face-up it was automatically activated, not requiring any effort to it. Of course he still had to use his power, and even the restored power he got from Fated Turn he barely managed. "Rise...From The Abyss."

Kevin shrugged. He recognized the card. It required the player to discard their hand in order to summon up to twelve levels of monsters from their cemetery. Dalin couldn't possibly summon even one, how he was maintaining the gods that stood behind Kevin was a mystery in itself. "Summon....Obelisk." Kevin's eyes widened as his opponent spoke these words. Was he stupid? He couldn't manage to summon the third god while maintaining the other two!

But despite Kevin's disbelief, the god slowly rose onto the field, joined by its companions. The three mighty Egyptian gods towered over Kevin, and yet he was not threatened. They couldn't get past his army of lost souls, not in one turn. It was absolutely impossible, especially since Dalin had no more cards to work with. "Discarded Repay....ment of....Losses. Draw one....card."

Yet again the angel duelist struggled to draw a card, just one card was all he had to do and yet it was killing him. Kevin rolled his eyes, wanting to puke his guts out from this display. None of these things made sense to him, it all seemed perfectly pointless. One turn, one card, one chance. That was all there was, and yet still he struggled to make his move.

Slowly Dalin brought the card up and slipped it into his duel disk, activating its effect. The card that materialized in front of Dalin displayed a series of Egyptian characters, which spelled out a name. Kevin blinked when he recognized what it said. "In His Name....together." Kevin shook his head in denial, unable to comprehend how it was possible. And yet it was happening. The three gods were being pulled together into a vortex of light, and something was coming out of it.

The thing that rose from the point of light was a heavenly being. That was the best way to describe it. It was a figure of such intense light and beauty that Kevin hated it instantly. He wanted to destroy it completely, he wanted to blot it out of existence for all time. He had to, it sickened him! It all sickened him! With this creature's appearance Dalin seemed to regain a little bit of his vigor, as if its light was renewing him.

"Creator of Light, Horakhti. To attack requires that I pay all but one of my life points, however its attack....like that of Exodia." Kevin shook his head in denial, refusing to believe that this was happening. Slowly the giant being of light turned its gaze on him, a gaze so full of purity that he wanted to vomit. Bile rose in his throat and he fought it back. Drawing on all of his power, all the powers of the dark and Hell itself, he reached out to attack.

"Horakhti, Light of Purification. End it, please, just make it end." With these words spoken the angel duelist fell the ground face first, his blood pooling around him. Light exploded from the mere presence of Horakhti, and Kevin reacted violently with all the power within him. Millions of years of hatred and darkness all combined into one strike. Titanic waves of darkness and light crashed against each other, and the entire world was suddenly consumed.

Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Earth back to Earth. Heaven back to Heaven. All things must return to the way they were. Yet nothing could possibly return to the way it was before there came Taichi, before there was Kevin, before there was this thing that took them both and stole the lives of so many for the purpose of ending its own suffering.

Perhaps it was only proper that he who would use the power of the lost souls to do battle with would be the one to hear the last string of their fateful ballad. The Ballad of Lost Souls sang for Kevin Hunter, for the thing within him. The hateful creature that desired an end to its own life and all others had been granted that one special thing. Release from its burden, the burden of life.

All life comes to an end. All things come to an end. People, history, countries, planets, stars, and most of all....stories. All stories must come to an end. It never feels right that stories end, and yet they must end. For with all endings come beginnings, and with the end of the story comes the start of another. One day even that hateful spirit would begin again, gain a second chance.

For the moment the world was at peace. The world was dead, and that was a form of peace. That was as it should be. The story was over, so there was nothing left. But there would be another beginning, that was always something that could be counted on.

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Author's Note: This is it. In case you hadn't guessed that was the end of my story. There will be an epilogue, but first I'd like to take this moment to thank everyone who has read this fic, even if they didn't review. Time Mage, G.O.T Nick, my two most avid supporters I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Zatken for those kind reviews even if they haven't reached this point yet. Vaurnut for his constant following, even if he didn't review I knew he was reading. GearfriedIronAngel read some of it on and off in his unusual manner, and I thank him for that. Edgar for his short but enthusiastic reviews. The Helldragon has reviewed a little and read a little, so I thank him as well. There are perhaps some that I've missed, people who have reviewed once or twice. Know that though I didn't mention you I still give my gracious thanks to you. Thanks all, this story is because of you and for you.

Original Cards-Wow, that's a lot of original cards isn't it?

Kevin: Thanatos, Gate of the Dead, Fall From Grace, Heart of a Demon, Expanding Shadows, Demon of Black Tokens, Twilight Renewal, Enhanced Production, Ferryman of the River Styx, Play Nice, Appearance of Lost Souls, Bloody Hand of Demon Prophets, The Laughing Dead, Needs of the Many, Vampiric Aura, Blood Sacrifice, Army of Darkness, Demon of Greed, Arrival of Lost Souls, Flames of Hell, The Black Hand, Bring on the Night, Soul Sacrifice, Come All Ye Faithless

Dalin: Pain Slicer, Life Renewal, Heaven's Hand, Angel Renewal, Protection of Grace, Joyful Light of the Heavenly Realm, Hope of Renewal, Angelic Rage, Light Barrier, Joy of the Card, Veil of Light, Heaven's Wrath, Sacrifice the Light, Angel Glow, Holy Water, Backlash of Life, Renewal of Triplets, Fated Turn, Rise From The Abyss, Repayment of Losses, In His Name, Creator of Light-Horakhti

Original Cards not by me

Kevin: Satan-True Lord of Hell(Vaurnut), Lucifer-The Morning Star(Vaurnut), Hell(Vaurnut)

Anime Original Cards

Dalin: Sanctity of the Buried(used by Raphael)