Disclaimer: Yugioh...is...not...mine....Bleah!

Demon Duelist Legacy-Dark Soul Arc

Chapter 30: Balance

Envirius yawned and shifted from his resting position against the wall of the chamber that housed the darkness ball where Rikuo and Daniel were dueling. The dark-suited man chuckled at the thought of Rikuo getting destroyed by his own host. ("It's the ironies that I love so much.") The greatest part of all of it was that Pilkington was doing it willingly.

In front of him stood the darkness sphere, which was currently pulsing and shivering rapidly. ("It looks like the duel between the two of them will be over soon. Now let's see which one of them emerged the winner.")

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He raised his voice enough for the voice recognition system of the duel disk. "I am redirecting the Hell Meteor at myself!" The mirror shuddered and then exploded, the blast launching the fireball towards Rikuo now.

Daniel watched through blurry eyes as his other half was about to be barbecued by the very Hell Meteor that had been about to consume him. ("Rikuo?")

Rikuo smiled sadly. "Later." And then he was engulfed by the Hell Meteor.

Daniel watched the pulsing flame in front of him, amazement painted across his face. Why was Rikuo doing this? What purpose did it serve? ("He's going to obliterate himself for me...")

The boy looked at his face-down card. ("Rikuo...I should just let you burn.") What would that make him though? It wouldn't really solve anything, except that he would be killing part of himself.

"I won't let you sacrifice yourself, Rikuo. You're not going to become a martyr for my madness..." His face-down card flipped up. "Reveal face-down card, Gambit of Life! Using its effect, I'll sacrifice 6000 life points so that in three turns I'll gain 12000 life points!" Bracing himself, Daniel felt the pull of the trap card on his body as his life was drained.

Rikuo- 0

Daniel- 0

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Rikuo felt the flames of the Hell Meteor burning at his skin. ("So this is how I am going to truly die? Being consumed by the power of a card? How stupidly funny...")

Yet, just as quickly as the flames had begun to burn him, they stopped. The red and black flames disappeared, leaving him in the darkness sphere once more. In front of him, Daniel has his eyes to the ground and was on his knees.

Rikuo understood what had happened when he looked at the life point counter on the duel disk. "So that's it..."

Daniel braced himself, getting ready to either be physically smacked around or verbally abused for his insane behavior.

Rikuo did neither though. He broke down into helpless laughter.

Daniel stared at his other half. "How...how...can you laugh at this? You were going to be destroyed."

The wolf demon walked over to his hikari, helping the drained boy to his feet. "I can laugh because it's funny that you decided to save me." He smiled and patted Daniel on the shoulder. "You've done well, Daniel."

"..........." Daniel stared at Rikuo like the wolf demon had just lost his mind. "Are you feeling okay? I mean...you don't want to kill me?"

Rikuo sat down on the ground and shook his head. "Quite the contrary. I'm amazed that you decided to change your mind." He looked up at his other half quizzically. "By the way, why the sudden change of heart?"

Daniel sighed and sat down next to his demon. "Well...I'm not sure." He put his head in his hands and frowned. "I should just want you dead, but despite the anger I felt towards you, I just couldn't bring myself to let you destroy yourself."

Rikuo snickered. "Do you even realize yet that I'm not the reason you are a half-demon? I mean, does Yami tan Yugi's skin when they switch bodies? Of course not."

"What are you getting at?"

The ancient wolf demon rolled his eyes. "I figured out a while ago that you are my..." He did a few math equations in his head, and then realized he didn't know how to do math. "Err...let's just say I'm an ancestor of yours."

Daniel frowned. "So even if you were gone, I wouldn't be able to become human again?"

Rikuo muttered something about 'idiot' and then brought his face a few inches from Daniel's. "Listen to me! You....are....a....natural....demon!"

It took a few seconds for that information to digest, but when it did Daniel looked down at the ground and sighed. "So I can't get away from it?" His voice was so meek that Rikuo knew he had to be gentle with this next part.

"No, you can't. That doesn't mean anything though. You're still you and you will always be you. I didn't ever mean to treat you like I did before." He felt Daniel's emotions through their link and he did something that he knew he was going to regret later.

He wrapped his arms around his hikari and comforted him while Daniel sobbed at the fact that all of his efforts to become a human were pointless, because he never was one in the first place.

Eventually, Daniel had gotten all of it out of his system. He understood now that this was a fate that he couldn't change. ("I'm a demon...whether I want to admit it or not.")

("That's right, you are. Why is that such a bad thing?") Rikuo slid back from his other half. ("Do you really hate it that much?")

("No, but I don't want to have my life chosen for me. Also, I'm a demon, a monster...I don't want that. I'm not even cut out for it.") Daniel curled his legs to his chest. "I assume you want to control our body for the rest of this conflict?"

"No." Rikuo knew exactly what the best method for helping his hikari through this was. "Not exactly. We're a team, whether you wish to believe it or not." He touched his claw to Daniel's shoulder.

Daniel felt a momentary pain as he was placed back within his own body, but then he felt something that he hadn't felt for the last few days. He felt the confidence to go on.

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Envirius tapped his foot impatiently as he watched the sphere. "Come on...the end of the world won't wait forever. Finish killing each other!"

In response, the darkness sphere shivered once more and then began to dissipate.

When Envirius saw a wolf-eared outline in the fading blackness, he frowned. ("So Daniel lost hmm? That's too bad.")

He applauded the wolf demon, whose eyes were closed and looking to the ground. In his hands rested the Howling Sword, the weapon life-less. "Congratulations Rikuo. I assume you beheaded him, or something of the like, for betraying you like he did. I hope you enjoyed my little surprise."

The voice that came from the demon's mouth was one tinged with calm. "Envirius...you got my hopes up...you made me believe that I could escape from the madness that I was placed into. You made me think that my heritage was a curse."

The wolf demon lifted his eyes to reveal a pair of dark brown irises. "For that...." His voice grew deeper and the Howling Sword exploded into phantom flames. His irises shimmered, though only one of them turned golden-amber. "...you must pay!" His voice had become an overlap of both Rikuo and Daniel's voices.

Envirius took a couple of healthy steps back, ready to fade into the shadows if he had to. "What in the hell is this? Are you Daniel or Rikuo?"

The being lifted the sword up, his different-colored eyes gleaming in the light. "Your attempts to destroy us failed. Now our purpose is clear. We will defeat you, and then we'll extract our fee from your corpse." He smiled enough to reveal his fangs. "I am both Daniel and Rikuo, and yet I am neither."

Envirius spat upon the stone floor. "How disappointing. I had so looked forward to seeing one of you gone. Oh well, see you inside." He threw the two become one a wink and then faded away.

Rikuo/Daniel growled and sheathed their sword. ("He won't get away.")

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The eight duelists all entered into the final chamber of the temple at nearly the same time.

The chamber before them was impossibly big. Its ceiling was at least a mile away, far out of immediate sight. The whole room was circular-shaped and lined with torches that illuminated the room in a weak orange light. Inlaid in the floor of the cavern were lines of dark crystal that pulsed with energy, like they were the veins of some creature of unbelievable size.

The thing that truly made the area stand out was the giant crystal pillar that took of the center of the room. It was the same black color as the veins that led to it, and it pulsed with a power all its own. From within its abyssal surface, purple and black energy swirled around each other as if they were dancing.

"There is a mighty demon dragoness known as Yamidra. She is by far the most powerful of beings in the known universe, and yet at the same time she is the weakest. For she exists in a plane of nothing but nightmares and shadows. Some call this place the shadow realm; some call it the plane of darkness. I like to think of it as the Abyss, myself."

Entirius turned to face his eight guests. He was standing in front of the giant black crystal pillar, with a silver and black duel disk attached to his arm. "This is the place that separates our world from the Abyss. The pillar that stands behind me is the door. And you..." He lifted his hand to point at all eight of them, "...are the keys to that door."

Yami stepped forward, the Eye of Ra glowing faintly on his forehead. He could feel the intense magic in this place, and it frightened him. ("Such incredible power and all of it is coming from that crystal pillar.") "What are you talking about? The shadow realm does not possess a physical gateway."

"You're partially correct. Behind me is the not a gate to the Abyss itself, but to the place where Yamidra rests." Envirius looked up at the pillar's center, where a black void was beginning to develop. "My family has been around for over ten millennia. We created the Legendary Weapons, and we gave them to the twelve demon lords." He brought his gaze down to the eight again. "And now I need those weapons to open the gateway."

Ryu stepped up next to Yami. "We'll never help you."

Envirius didn't seem particularly angry. "You already did. The purpose of the Seal of Dark Souls is not to steal the souls of people, but it was to gather the power that the twelve legendary weapons emitted." He held up a small stack of cards. Fanning them out, he showed that they were all Seal of Dark Souls Cards. "Understand now? I'm not after your souls. I just wanted the power of your weapons. Even the tiniest bit of power was enough."

He ran a fingertip along the top of one card. "I had already collected the power of seven of the cards. I just needed the remaining five. Could you imagine my surprise when I found out that the demon that destroyed Giovan Garlin possessed one? And then there were his friends, each of which possessed a weapon as well?" He snapped his hand and the fan of Seal cards slid together. "It was too good of an opportunity to pass up."

Deondre stepped forward next. "Alright, so why call Yugi and his friends here? What purpose do they serve in your sick little plans?"

"Ah yes, why did I summon the Pharaoh to this place? I summoned him here because I wanted to make sure that all threats to Yamidra's power were destroyed in one fell swoop." He looked back at the black void in the crystal pillar with a smile on his face. "Soon Yamidra will shatter the barrier between the Abyss and this world. When he does, it will be such a beautiful sight, don't you think?"

Rikuo/Daniel was next, his one golden-amber and one brown eye glaring at the dark-suited man's back. "No it won't. Your plan won't work."

"Oh really? You intend to stop me?" Envirius casually tossed the stack of Seal cards into the void. "Oops, too late."

The black pillar rumbled and the void in its surface expanded, until a perfectly circular hole had formed. The darkness within the portal pulsed angrily, as if enraged at the fact that it was being summoned.

Rikuo/Daniel growled and drew the Howling Sword. "There's still one downside to your plan. If we defeat Yamidra, then it won't matter that she is free."

Envirius smiled a little at that idea. "So you wish to challenge the mistress of the realm of darkness to a darkness game? You're biting off more than you can chew, little wolf."

Deondre stepped forward, along with CJ, Siegfried, and Ryu. "He won't be fighting alone."

Siegfried nodded. "This is our battle as well."

CJ cracked his knuckles. "We'll crush this Yamidra and then we'll crush you."

Ryu frowned. He knew the name Yamidra well, and he didn't think anyone could defeat a force of darkness that powerful. ("But that doesn't mean that we cannot at least try to defeat her.") "We will stand together against Yamidra."

Envirius closed his eyes for a few seconds, and his smile got a little bigger. "Interesting. It looks like Yamidra accepts your challenge. Since none of your could possibly hope to defeat her in physical combat, she has decided to give you a sporting chance. If all five of you can defeat her in a duel, then she will seal away her side of the gate."

Yami looked intently at the black void. "I will duel as well."

Envirius shook his head. "That's not an option Pharaoh. I'll be your opponent." He pointed at Joey and Kaiba, who had both planned on staying out of this conflict, for differing reasons. "I also challenge them as well."

Joey walked to stand next to his friend. "Don't worry Yug, we can't lose to this guy."

Kaiba snorted and didn't move from his spot. "Yeah right, like I would have any incentive to work with those two."

Envirius shrugged. "So you don't want to see your brother ever again?"

Kaiba knew he couldn't argue against that. Walking to stand next to Yami, he muttered, "This is only for my brother, so stay out of my way."

The Pharaoh ignored Kaiba's idle threat.

The void screamed and spat out a cloud of darkness that engulfed Rikuo/Daniel, CJ, Ryu, Deondre and Siegfried. It held itself in place for a moment, and then it withdrew into the void. They were gone.

Yami clicked his duel disk into place, while Joey and Kaiba took their places on both sides of him. "Alright Envirius, let's get this game over with."

Envirius clicked his duel disk into place and yawned. "I agree. I'd much prefer to watch Yamidra completely obliterate your five friends all at once, then be stuck here destroying the three of you."

Joey's duel disk clicked into place. "You might want to check your ego at the door. If you haven't noticed, it's three on one. The odds aren't in your favor."

Kaiba clicked his duel disk into place. "This is one of the few times that the Mutt is right. You're out of your league."

Envirius drew his five and smiled calmly. "I'm afraid you're wrong Seto. The three of you have no idea what you are in for."

To be continued...

Next Chapter: Dueling the Darkness

Author's Notes: To john: They always say 'I'll be back' because it's just what they do. Especially the annoying bad guys that never want to just go away.

In response to a few of your reviews: Cliché? Well I'm sorry if I being a little cliché with some of this stuff. I for one don't mind cliché, if used properly. Plus, what exactly am I supposed to use instead?

I thought it was interesting to have Siegfried duel Crystal, because if he had taken on anyone else, then he wouldn't have had anywhere near the incentive he does now to destroy Envirius. As for Daniel and Rikuo, you have to admit, that is a pretty un-cliché situation.

These are my opinions. If you dislike them, then please let me know in your reviews. I'm sorry if I came off as nasty or disrespectful to any of you, but these are the kinds of plots I like. Alright, no more ranting on my part. Later.