Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh or anything that has to do with Yugioh.
Chapter 34: Cutting the strings
Yami's barrier started to bend and twist, small cracks appearing in it. He threw more energy against it to reinforce it, but it was too late to repair the damage. The cracks started to spread.
Giovan sneered from the other side of the barrier. "As soon as your little shield is gone pharaoh, I will kill you."
Yami was too busy trying to strengthen his defenses to answer.
Giovan felt the edges of his claw pierce the barrier, and start their slow advance on the pharaoh. "Looks like you are out of time Yami. Say whatever prayers you wish to your gods. You will not survive this." With one final push the barrier shattered and Giovan's black streaked claw was heading in a downward arc for Yami's chest.
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Rebecca was too busy watching as an aura of both gold and black sprang up around Kaigen's body. His hood flapped in the wind that had picked up around him. The black and gold auras seemed to be battling, tearing away at each other like enraged animals.
She was about to ask someone on the side-lines what was going on, but then the aura's blew the hood of Kaigen's cloak off. Whatever words she had planned to say died in her throat...
"Daniel...." She fell to her knees, eyes wide open in shock. Her mind reeled at the impossibility of the situation. ("He's alive...")
Standing before her was her brother. His red hair had looked like someone had put it through an egg beater fifty times, and his eyes may have been sunken and lined with dark circles, but it was her brother. Something was wrong though...
It was his eyes. They were flickering in color, going from blood crimson to a deep violet within a matter of seconds. His irises continued to shift insanely. It was almost as if something was trying to get out of his body. He stared blankly forward, mouth ajar slightly.
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Yami was thrown through the air, spectral blood spraying from the wound in his arm. He bounced and skidded a few times along the phantom ground, before finally coming to a stop at the edge of the door that led into Daniel's soul room. His head lifted slightly and he managed one weak growl of frustration before he slumped, pain draining the strength from his limbs.
Giovan slowly trudged back to the mental portal that connected Daniel's mind to Daniel's body. He wouldn't lose his newest servant. Not to anyone. Not until he killed the little wench who had dared to insult him. ("None shall oppose me. I am king...")
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Yugi looked down at the Millennium Puzzle in concern. It was glowing brightly. ("Yami? Are you okay?") When he got no response he felt the icy touch of fear grip his heart. He knew that if he went into the puzzle then no one out here would be able to reach him if they needed his help out here. Finally he decided just to trust in Yami and hope his friend was alright.
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Giovan saw it right in front of him. The pulsing core of dark light that symbolized the portal from Daniel's mind to Daniel's body. ("I know that you can hear me Daniel.")
He felt his servant's mental body slowly lift its head. ("So, are you ready to watch as I kill your sister?")
Daniel's weak cry reached his ears. ("Don't......")
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The chaotic light show in Daniel's eyes had gone back to a solid bright crimson again. His open mouth closed into a sneer.
Rebecca stared in horror. This wasn't her brother. "Who are you!? What have you done with Daniel!?"
Kaigen/Giovan smiled and pointed up at the soulless body that sat in the chair up in the balcony. "That would be who I am, little wench."
If glares could kill, Rebecca's would have destroyed Kaigen in an instant. "Why are you doing this to my brother!? You said that he was going to die, not be your slave!"
Kaigen continued to sneer. "That was a little twist on words. You see Daniel Pilkington did die in that duel. All that is left is his body and a twisted husk of a mind." He lifted up his hand and drew off the top of his deck. "Now get ready because here is your demise. I play the magic card..."
He stopped in mid-sentence and fell to one knee, eyes wide in surprise. The crimson glow of his irises dimmed, and it was being replaced by an odd mix of crimson and violet light.
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Giovan felt Yami pull him back out of the portal slowly. "You would dare oppose me again!?"
Yami put all that remained of his waning mental strength into throwing Giovan away from the portal. ("If I can seize control of Daniel and make him tear up the Hell Meteor card, then Rebecca will be safe!") He lunged for the portal, only to be tackled in mid-air and sent into a rolling heap.
Giovan looked at the form of the pharaoh with rage clear in his eyes. "Idiotic human. For you to think that your pitiful power could match me in here." He lifted his hand and a ball of black energy began to develop. "I will destroy you right now."
He was so intent on killing Yami that he didn't sense someone charging him from behind until he was flying through the air. He quickly recovered from his surprise and skidded to a halt in mid-air.
Next to the portal was Daniel. The boy's mental image was cut and bloodied, but still very much alive. Eyes that burned with a righteous fury glared at the torture king as Daniel croaked out, "I lost to you in that duel...but I won't let you hurt her! I don't care what deal we had!" He tried to summon up some kind of weapon or power from the darkness around him, but nothing happened.
Giovan's laughter brought him back to the reality of the situation. "What are you going to do about it boy? This isn't your mind anymore. The only reason you still exist is because you entertain me with your pitiful screams of pain. That and your body will die if you are destroyed." He began to slowly approach his prey.
Daniel didn't know what to do. He couldn't hope to fight this guy off on his own. He looked over at the prostrate form of Yami. ("I can't fight him. Yami is the only one with enough power to fight him in here.") He had no choice though. Yelling a wordless cry of anger, he charged Giovan...
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Daniel's body twitched for a moment and then his irises turned full crimson again.
Rebecca felt tears begin to develop in her eyes as she looked upon Kaigen again. Her brother was gone. "No..."
Kaigen threw his head back and laughed maniacally, the sound echoing off of the cold steel walls. "YES!! No one can challenge me! I am the king!"
He literally slammed his magic card into the duel disk slot. "NOW DIE BITCH! I PLAY HELL METEOR!" Above the sky screamed in pain and tore open, revealing the dark dimension where a ball of black and red flame was rapidly developing.
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Giovan was smiling from ear to ear within Daniel's mind...
"I've won. I just defeated the pharaoh and now this insolent boy is about to watch his sister be immolated. Life is good when you are king." He sat back to watch the show, not noticing that the darkness around him had started to grow thicker and deeper.
If he had been paying attention to his surroundings then he might have noticed the pair of gold-amber eyes that were watching him in the gathering darkness.
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Rebecca watched the house-sized ball of red and black flame finish growing. Then it slowly began its descent towards her. From below her she could hear the others yelling at her to run for cover and to get off of the dueling ring. Her attention wasn't on them though. It was on the Hell Meteor that was flying towards her. In her mind, it represented the evil that was within her brother. It was an evil that she planned to purge right now.
Kaigen crossed his arms across his chest and chuckled. "I see you accept your fate? That's too bad, I wanted to watch you scream and run in terror." He shrugged acceptingly. "Oh well though, at least you are going to die."
Rebecca pressed a button her duel disk. "I beg to differ..."
The meteor froze in mid-air and started to shrink, the flames diminishing to nothing.
Kaigen's crimson eyes were locked in a state of shock. "It...how..."
Rebecca held up her middle face-down card. "Your Hell Meteor magic card triggered my Draining Screen trap card. It negates all damage I would take from one source and increases my life points by that amount instead. That means that your evil has been removed. You've lost your best weapon in this duel."
Rebecca- 4450
Kaigen- 5850
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From within Daniel's mind, Giovan roared in rage. "DAMN YOU!!" He had been robbed of his prize.
He spun around to find Daniel's mental body. If he couldn't kill the wench, then he would kill her brother. At least he could get some small satisfaction out of killing one Pilkington this day.
The only thing he saw when he turned around was darkness. "Where'd he go!?"
Behind him a low growl rumbled out right next to his ear. Giovan spun around, only to find nothing there. He could feel something out there in the darkness of Daniel's mind. It was stalking him slowly.
His initial fear quickly changed into rage. "I don't know who you are. I don't care either!" He raised his claw and began to fire blasts of his dark mental energy into the darkness.
A few seconds passed and all he could hear was silence. Then the silence was broken by a rough laugh that echoed in the cold nothingness around him.
Giovan was about to begin firing again, but someone tapped his on the shoulder silently. The demon king spun to find himself face to face with a pair of gold-amber eyes. "Rikuo!!"
That was all he got to say right before Rikuo's claw pierced right into his chest and ripped out his heart. Giovan looked down at the hole in his chest in horror. Using every ounce of his remaining strength, he withdrew his consciousness from Daniel's mind as quickly as he could.
As Giovan's mental body started to fade, he heard the wolf demon say calmly, "Funny how history repeats itself sometimes, huh?"
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The eyes of Giovan's body snapped open and he clutched at his chest where Rikuo's mental claws had pierced him. After checking for a moment and making sure that he was alright, he looked out at the field and the now vacant body of Daniel. ("I thought I got rid of that blasted wolf when I took control of Daniel's mind. How did he survive!?") He clenched his fists tightly and grinded his teeth. ("It matters not. This was just a minor set-back. In the end I will emerge the victor!")
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Rikuo looked down at the wounded mental body of Daniel and he sighed. "How in the bloody hell do you get yourself into these messes?" He brushed a lock of Daniel's hair back and stood up. Now was not the time for reflection. Now was the time for action.
The wolf demon walked up to the prone form of Yami and kicked the floored pharaoh in the side a couple of times. "You alive?" When Yami coughed in pain Rikuo walked over to the portal. "I'd advise you to still be here when I get back. I have some questions for you." With that he stepped in.
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Daniel's body changed yet again. This time his vacant eyes slotted and turned gold-amber. His red hair lengthened to his back and his fingernails lengthened to form claws. From the back of his bodysuit a black wolf's tail sprung free and curled around his waist reflexively.
Rebecca knew instantly who she was facing this time. "It's you...Rikuo, right?"
Rikuo chuckled and nodded. "That would be me." He turned his head to look up at Giovan, who was glaring in anger at him. "Aw, you're still alive Sestros?"
With every fiber in his body Giovan wanted to smite Rikuo right then and there, but he was too tired from his battle against Yami to do much more then glare.
Rikuo threw him a wink and then looked back to Rebecca. "Your brother is fine. He will most likely be out of reach for a little while though. He has been through the wringer, in every sense of the term."
Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief. "I really couldn't care about that. Just as long as he will be alright."
Rikuo nodded to her and announced, "Kaigen surrenders this duel to Rebecca Pilkington. Which means that Team Topdeck is going to the finals." He looked up at Giovan. "Right?" His smirk left no room for argument.
Giovan frowned but nodded. "Correct. Team Topdeck has gathered the necessary wins to get themselves a position in the finals of the tournament." He hid his growl of frustration amidst the cheering from the duelists on the side-lines.
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When the ring lowered to ground level Rikuo hopped down and instantly found himself surrounded by the other duelists. Every instinct in his body wanted him to snarl and let them know he didn't like being stared at, but he knew that it would be best if their first impression of him was a good one, so he stayed silent and let them all look him over.
"That was quite an impressive victory you had Rebecca," said Siegfried from off to the side, drawing a little brush from Rebecca's cheeks. If anyone had been listening closely they would have heard a threateningly low growl which was aimed at Siegfried escape Rikuo's throat.
The ex-general of war tilted his head to the side and came face to face with Joey, whose face was inches from his own. "Can I help you?"
Joey nodded sagely and gave his evaluation. "Even though you look scary, I guess you aren't evil. I mean you did forfeit the duel to Rebecca." Everyone else nodded in agreement with that.
Rikuo rolled his eyes and looked away from the blond-haired duelist. "The only reason I did that is because the little girl has nothing to do with my war against Sestros. Which reminds me..." He made sure that his glare met everyones' eyes in turn.
"If any of you dare to try and rob me of the pleasure of ripping Sestro's heart out of his chest, then I will have no qualms with killing you. Are we are clear?" He got pale nods from almost everyone, Siegfried, Devan, and Kaiba excluded. By the look in their eyes though, he knew that they had no intention of stopping him when the time came for Giovan to face judgment.
Looking back at Rebecca, Rikuo gave her a slight smile. "I'm going to be out of reach for an hour, so don't panic when I collapse." He didn't wait for her nod of affirmation. He didn't really care what she thought about it.
He looked over at Yugi next. "I'm going to borrow the pharaoh too. I need to speak with him on some matters." Without another word his body slumped to the ground, now vacant of any controller.
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From within the abyss of Daniel's mind, Rikuo walked over to the now standing Yami. "I'm glad to see that you decided to stay. It would have been inconvenient for me to chase after you." He knew for a fact that he could not leave Daniel's body, but it didn't hurt to bluff.
Yami clutched his still bloody arm and frowned. "I didn't stay here for you demon. I stayed here because your host is still in a state of mental shock." He motioned with his still good hand over at the curled up body of Daniel.
Rikuo snorted and hefted his host's body over his shoulder. "He'll be fine. A little psychological trauma builds character."
Yami sighed and trudged past him, heading in the direction of the soul door that led to Daniel's room. "You don't know the first thing about the human psyche, do you?"
Rikuo chuckled and scratched the back of his head, despite the severity of the situation. "Nope."
To be continued...
Next Chapter: Recovery; Blitz vs. Domino
Author's notes: Before any of you complain about Rikuo so easily dispatching Giovan, keep in mind that this was within a battlefield of the mind. Here, perceived strength is much more important than real strength. Perceived strength is something that the prideful Rikuo has in spades and beyond. Giovan has it too, but he was drained from his battle against Yami. Anyhow, please read and review.
P.S. I know that I didn't address what is wrong with Daniel, but all of that will be explained in the next chapter.