Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.

Demon Duelist Legacy-Dark Soul Arc

Chapter 14: Seto vs. Valeus

For the fiftieth time since he had woken up this morning, Seto Kaiba muttered a few choice curses towards whoever's sick idea it was to make his trudge to the tournament location on foot.

Ever since the plane crash, he had not been enjoying himself. He had packed supplies with the assumption that he was going to be staying in a nice hotel, not walking through the wilderness for over two days.

He reached the top of the mountain that he had woken up on at around noon, and had finally decided to break for lunch. Though in his opinion, eating rations did not constitute as any kind of meal at all.

As he sat looking out at the valley that waited for him, he wondered if maybe he had been better off waiting in the plane's wreckage.

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Envirius sat back in his chair, looking out at the afternoon sun with a smile on his face.

After his initial reaction to losing Rikuo, he realized that having the wolf demon's other half would be even more helpful to his cause. ("I wanted to crush him with my own deck anyway. Now I have motivation for him to get here sooner.")

He was brought out of his musings by the beeping of his desk. He turned and tapped the intercom button. "What?"

"Sire, we have an intruder in the compound, and he is approaching your location rapidly."

Envirius removed his hand from the intercom button and smirked as he watched his door. "Alright then, let them come. It's been a while since I have had a good fight."

Less than a minute later, the door to his office exploded open. A dark-skinned teenager wearing black clothing strolled in casually through the now open doorway. "I'm here to speak with you."

Envirius laced his hands together and glared at the incredibly insolent tone of the boy. "You talk as though you had a right to intrude."

The boy smirked, his dark violet orbs shimmering. "Of course I do. I don't think you would have let me in if I had asked nicely, so I decided just to forgo the niceties and come in the old fashioned way."

Envirius felt it now. He understood that he was talking with a spirit that radiated dark energy. In fact... "You're Valeus."

Valeus smirked and performed a little bow. "I'm honored that I am known by one as powerful as you. How did you come across my name?"

Envirius was scowling now. "It's hard not to hear about someone as despicable as you. Even by my standards you are a scumbag."

Valeus continued to smirk, the insults fueling his pride.

"In fact Valeus, I know all too well who you are. You are the ancient demon mage that went on a rampage during the feudal era, killing millions of humans and demons alike. You were such a threat that for the first time in a thousand years the twelve demon lords combined their powers and sealed you away in the plane of darkness."

Envirius lay back in his chair. "The question I have on my mind is how exactly did you escape your inter-dimensional prison? And what the hell would you want with me?"

Valeus snickered. "I escaped thanks to luck. A human boy had challenged one of your lower henchmen to a darkness game. He quickly had his soul taken away, and I simply used the opportunity to slip into his body. As for what I want with you? I want power. I want my powers back. So far I have been only able to kill single beings where originally I possessed the power to kill thousands in one spell. Since you are the one who is organizing this little magical adventure, I thought that perhaps you and I could come to a deal?"

Envirius tapped his fingertips together a couple of times as he pondered this unexpected little development. "Perhaps we can. I do have an opening in my ranks for an Emissary, and you do possess the knowledge of ages at your disposal."

Valeus crossed his arms underneath the folds of his make-shift cloak. "Why not test me? If I succeed in your test then you allow me this opening."

Envirius had just the challenge in mind too. "Alright, that sounds acceptable. You are going to duel an opponent of incredible skill. If you succeed, then the spot is yours and you will begin your rise to power."

Valeus smirked arrogantly. "I'm glad we could come to this agreement. Shall we shake on it?"

Envirius snickered. "Don't tempt me to kill you. Now go."

Valeus bowed once again and turned, casually strolling out through the ruined remains of Envirius's door.

The dark-suited businessman frowned and tapped the button on his desk. "Make sure that our 'intruder' is given the following supplies before he leaves..."

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Kaiba looked up at the full moon and for about the hundredth time today he muttered a curse to whoever thought it funny to do this to him.

"Greetings Seto Kaiba," A voice from behind him casually said.

Kaiba, while surprised, kept any and all feeling in check. He slowly turned and found himself face to face with Deondre Anderson. "Well, if it isn't Pilkington's peanut gallery. What do you want?"

Valeus held up his arm to show off his new silver and black duel disk. "I challenge you to a duel. If I win then you will give me all three of your Blue-Eyes White Dragons."

Kaiba frowned at the demands. "And what exactly would make me want to risk my three Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards? What could you possibly offer me?"

Valeus's next words were all the incentive Kaiba needed to hear to duel. "If you win then I will tell you where to find your brother."

Kaiba turned to fully face Valeus, his duel disk clicking into place. "So you work for Shadow Corporation now? How interesting. Perhaps I underestimated your resourcefulness."

Valeus clicked his duel disk into place. "Seto Kaiba...I am not longer Deondre Anderson. You may simply call me Valeus."

The young CEO snorted and drew his five cards. "I could care less what your name is. By the time I am done with you it won't matter anyway."

Valeus drew his five and then his sixth. "Heh...Why don't we up the ante of this duel? Are you ready to lose your soul Kaiba?" He popped open his duel disk's field magic card slot and slid a card into it. "I'll start this duel off with the field magic card Seal of Dark Souls!" All around them the air began to turn black and gray, the very life of the area being forced out by the dark magic of Envirius's personal power that was infused within the magic card.

Valeus snickered and held up his hand to show the black fang tattoo that now rested on it. "As long as this field magic card remains in play all of my monsters will gain 500 extra attack points. That's not all though. Take a look at your duel disk Kaiba."

Kaiba glanced down at his disk and blinked in confusion at what he was seeing. "I have two life point totals?"

Kaiba- 8000/8000

Valeus- 8000/8000

Valeus chuckled at the CEO's misconception. "Of course not. The second total is your soul points. If you run out of either you will lose this game, so be careful. You can lose life points as normal, but...." He stopped himself.

"Perhaps it is better if I show you what I mean." He slipped a card out of his hand and placed it into his disk. "I summon Skilled Dark Magician (2400/1700) in attack mode." A purple and grey robed mage appeared on his field. "Then I set one card face-down on my field. End turn."

Kaiba drew and frowned at the fact that he was already facing off against a 2400 attack point monster. ("Not that it will matter. I will take on any challenge if it will get Mokuba back.")

He looked down at his hand and smiled at the combo he already saw forming. "I summon Death Gremlin (1600/1800) in defense mode." A tall, dark green humanoid reptile appeared on his field in a crouching position. "And I'll set two cards face-down." The two cards appeared in front of him on the field. "End turn."

Valeus drew, glanced at his cards, and then smirked arrogantly. He tapped a button on his duel disk. "First I flip up the continuous trap card Dark Soul Barrier, which will defend me against a special effect of my Seal of Dark Souls card."

He slid a card into his duel disk. "Next I play Pot of Greed to draw two cards from my deck." He drew and slid another card into his disk. "Then I play Gather Your Mind, which lets me search my deck another copy of itself and place it into my hand." He popped free his deck and searched amongst the cards for the next Gather Your Mind. He quickly found it and slid it into his hand.

Kaiba narrowed his eyes as he figured out his opponent's strategy. ("He's planning on playing three magic cards so that he can summon the Dark Magician to his field.")

Valeus slid a third card into his duel disk. "Now I'll play the magic card Poison of the Old Man. This allows me to either deal you 800 life points in damage or gain 1200 life points. I decide to raise my life points by 1200." He was enveloped by a green glow that invigorated him.

Kaiba- 8000/8000

Valeus- 9200/8000

Valeus motioned to his Skilled Dark Magician. "Now I activate the special ability of my magician. Since I have played three magic cards, it now has three magic counters on it. When it has three magic counters on it I may send it to the graveyard to special summon the Dark Magician (3000/2100) from my deck to the field." The purple and grey mage exploded into digital bits to be replaced by the purple-robed form of a spellcaster that Kaiba hated all too well.

The CEO smirked as he considered just what was about to happen to his opponent though. "You've activated my trap cards! Reveal Ring of Destruction and Barrel Behind the Door!" A metal ring with grenades attached to it appeared around the spellcaster's neck and a golden gun appeared on Kaiba's field.

"Ring of Destruction will destroy your monster and deal its attack in damage to both of us." He own arrogant smirk widened. "Or it would if not for my Barrel Behind the Door trap card, which will reflect the damage that I would take back at you."

Valeus looked at the trap card combo and chuckled. "That is a fairly impressive play. Go right ahead and destroy my Dark Magician."

Kaiba tapped a button on his duel disk. "As you wish fool! Activate damage combo now!" There was an echoing click as the Ring of Destruction exploded, destroying the Dark Magician instantly. At the same time the golden gun fired at Valeus, sending a spray of flame and smoke against the Emissary's body.

Kaiba- 8000/8000

Valeus- 3200/2000

And through it all Valeus continued to smirk. His hand reached up and slid a card free from his remaining five. "All right, now that you effectively think me beaten, it's time to bring your hopes of victory crashing down." He slid the card into his duel disk. "I activate the continuous magic card Dark Soul Engine." Right next to him on the field, a large jet black machine appeared and started to whine curiously. "Now I summon Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer (2300/800) in attack mode."

A masked monk appeared on his field and began to chant. "Kycoo, attack his Death Gremlin with Banishment Ofuda." The monk nodded and flicked a piece of paper across the field. When it hit the Death Gremlin the green-skinned monster howled in pain and exploded.

Valeus slid two of his remaining cards into his duel disk. "Now I set two cards face-down. End turn."

Kaiba drew and immediately slid the card into his duel disk. "First let's increase my options by playing Pot of Greed." He drew two cards off the top of his deck and slid one of them into his disk. "I'll set one card face-down."

He snatched a monster and slapped it down. "Now I summon Twin-Headed Behemoth (1500/1200) in defense mode." A two-headed dragon appeared on his field with its wings folded around itself. "End turn."

Valeus drew and slapped down a new monster. "Now I summon Gemini Elf (2400/900) in attack mode." A pair of female elves appeared on his field. "Ladies, if you would please show our dear Seto Kaiba that he can't win?"

The two elves placed their hands together and began to chant, a ball of glowing energy developing right in front of them. "Attack Twin-Headed Behemoth now!" They unleashed the ball and blew the dragon apart. The pieces of it shuddered and then came back together.

Kaiba glared coldly at his opponent. "You've triggered my Twin-Headed Behemoth's special ability. When they are destroyed by an opponent's effect or attack, they immediately reform on my field with lowered stats." (1000/1000)

Valeus pointed at the Twin-Headed Behemoth. "Kycoo, blow it away! Banishment Ofuda!" The monk threw another slip of paper that blew the dual-headed dragon into oblivion. "End turn."

Kaiba drew and snickered. "I hope you liked making me wait to destroy you. Because the wait is over!" He tapped a button on his duel disk and his face-down card flipped up. "I activate the magic card Heavy Storm, which will destroy all magic and trap cards on the field!" A heavy wind picked up around them and Valeus's cards began to shudder.

The Emissary tapped a button on his duel disk and one of his face-down cards flipped up. "I reveal the trap card Magic Drain. If you wish for your Heavy Storm to continue then you are going to have to discard a magic card from your hand."

Kaiba frowned and slid one of the cards he was holding into his graveyard. "That's fine with me. You'll be losing a lot more than I will."

Valeus tapped another button on his duel disk. "Actually I won't. I activate my other face-down card. Reveal Dark Magic Barricade!" He slid a card from his hand into his graveyard. "By discarding a spellcaster sub-type monster I may negate any magic card you play." The wind instantly died down.

Kaiba looked down at his three remaining cards and was glad he still had a combo that he had yet to exploit. "You may have thwarted my magic card, but now you have no more face-down cards. So I can play these last three cards without interruption."

He slammed one card into his duel disk. "First up is the magic card Enemy Controller! At the cost of 1000 life points I may either destroy one monster on your field or seize control of one creature on your field. I choose to seize control of a monster." He pointed to the Gemini Elf. "Now come to me!"

Kaiba- 7000/8000

Valeus- 3200/2000

The pair of elves floated over to Kaiba's field and then exploded into dust. "Now I sacrifice them to summon my Emerald Dragon (2400/1400) in attack mode." A huge green dragon appeared on Kaiba's field and roared. "Now destroy his Kycoo!" The dragon opened its jaws and sprayed out a burst of flame that instantly consumed the monk.

Kaiba- 7000/5600

Valeus- 5400/4300

Kaiba stared down at his life point gauge in confusion. "What happened? Why did I lose soul points? And why did you gain life points instead of lose them?"

Valeus snickered and motioned to the black and grey mist that pulsed around them. "Allow me to explain the second special ability of my Seal of Dark Souls. Not only does it give all of my monsters 500 extra attack points, but it also summons a Dark Soul Token to the field. At the beginning of each player's turn the Dark Soul Token finds a random monster and attaches to it. Whenever the attached monster attacks, the owner of it loses soul points equal to its attack power."

Valeus motioned to his Dark Soul Barrier trap card. "Thanks to this trap though, the dark soul cannot target my monsters. That means that it will be specifically your problem Kaiba."

His hand pointed at the black machine next to him. "As for why my life points and soul points went up? It's all thanks to this little machine. As long as Dark Soul Engine is on the field, I will gain life and soul points equal to the amount of soul points an opponent loses because of the dark soul attachment effect of my Seal."

Kaiba could already see just how dangerous this combo his opponent had was. "That means that whenever I attack with the marked monster then you will not take any damage at all from battle. The best I could hope to achieve is no change in your life points."

Valeus sneered and nodded. "Exactly right, Seto Kaiba. Do you understand now that you cannot win as long as my combo remains on the field? Or would you like to continue losing?"

Kaiba gave an icy glare to his opponent for an answer to that question. "My brother's life is on the line. I will not lose!"

To be continued...

Next Chapter: Valeus's Life Gain Defense