Chapter 9

With the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon on the field, Seto was almost ready to claim victory over Yami. Packed with 4500 attack points, it could easily destroy any monster that Yami had in his deck. At least, all but one, as Kaiba would find out.

"You're dragon is everything but immortal," said Yami. "And I know just how to show you why that's so."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow.

"You're kidding," he laughed. "My dragon will rip any monster you have to shreds! Face it, you've already lost it!"

"Not quite."

He was still very weak, but he had the strength to continue on. He would begin his process of destroying Kaiba's Blue-Eyes by activating a magic card.

"Monster Reborn," he called out. "And I will bring back Dark Magician Girl (2100/1900). And now I can automatically summon my Dark Magician (2500/2000)."

He took his favorite card from his deck and placed it on the field. The Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl on the field at the same time was already a deadly duo, but neither had the strength that compared to the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

"That accomplished nothing," Seto sighed.

"But watch as I sacrifice them both so I can summon the monster that will slay your dragon," Yami finally started to grin, knowing he was about to bring down Kaiba's great beast. "By sacrificing them, I can summon the Sorceror of Dark Magic (3200/2500)."

Seto looked at Yami's new monster and laughed, seeing how it still did not have the strength to take down the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. His laughter came to an immediate stop once he saw his Blue-Eyes' attack going down. It dropped a good 2000 points, making its attack points only 2500, weaker than the 3200 attack points of Yami's Sorceror. Confused and enraged, Seto demanded an explanation.

"With his special ability, Sorceror of Dark Magic can weaken your monster's attack points by 500 for every Spellcaster-type monster in my graveyard. With two Darky Valkyrias, Dark Magician, and Dark Magician Girl in the Graveyard, your dragon loses 2000 attack points," he explained briefly. Seto stood in shock, seeing how his strategy was almost destroyed in just one turn. "Sorceror of Dark Magic, attack!"

The Sorceror's thick, tall wand pointed at the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and a wide stream of dark energy blasted from the bulb at the end of wand. It blasted into the Blue-Eyes, and it was then destroyed. Seto's Life Points dropped to 1300 as he stood straight up, quite upset his mighty beast had gone. Worst of all, Seto again felt weaker than before. It came quite suddenly, but his entire body seemed to lose energy and strength. His sight became blurrier, and he grew a mind-splitting headache.

"You have lost strength, haven't you?" pointed out Yami.

"No! I haven't! I'm fine!" he yelled, but that did not make him feel better. He was more hurt by the fact that his great beast had been destroyed and that he may not be able to defeat Yami the way he had wanted to. He could defeat him another way: his trap card Deck Destruction Virus, which would destroy the rest of Yami's deck. As much as he despised defeating him this way, Seto would still at least win this way.

"Negate the trap!" Yami was already aware of the trap card and called to the Sorceror to destroy it. With its second special ability, the Sorceror of Dark Magic could negate the effect any magic, trap, or spell card on the field. The trap card on the field was blasted in half and then destroyed, its effect no longer taking place.

"You," Seto, feeling worse, growled.

"I end my turn," Yami concluded. His left hand was put back over his wound, but it did not bother him as much for he had just gained much confidence. Yet he was in no physical shape to do much.

Seto was mindless. He did not know what to do at this point. Somehow, Yugi had found a way to get out of a mess and pull away with a probable victory, as he had done so many times before. He could use Monster Reborn to bring back his Ultimate Dragon, but the Sorceror would just weaken it again. Frustrated and in some pain, Kaiba drew his card to begin his turn. His heart stopped. He had almost forgotten about this card. The tides would turn to his favor once again.

"You think you have me beat now?" he laughed weakly. "Your Sorceror is strong, but it does not compare to what I have in my hand. Watch and learn."

Seto played Monster Reborn, just as Yami had done a turn ago, bringing back his Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Yami thought Seto was insane to do this, knowing the effects of his Sorceror, but with that kind of grin on Seto's face, the move was obviously intended.

"You'll like my new monster. Its beauty and power shines through everything, including your Sorceror," he stated. "I sacrifice my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

Yami was completely lost now. Seto, who had loved to use his Blue-Eyes to defeat his opponents with, just sacrificed it for a different monster, one he assumed did not compare in power to Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

"And now I can summon the card that has your defeat all of over it: Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon!"

Inside the pyramid, it was dark and the light was dim, but when this monster emerged from the card, it brought light to it. Its skin shined with a beautiful silver and white color. It spread its large wings like an eagle that had just taken flight in the air. For a few moments, it floated in the air, twirling about and crying its smooth call. It softly landed back on the ground on its two long legs, its thick tail whipping behind it. Never before had Yami heard of or seen such a creature or card. Taller than both the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon packed 3000 attack points and 2500 defense points, similar to a normal Blue-Eyes, but it held its own powerful weapons and effects. Judging it by only its attack and defense points, Yami would be decieved by its lower attack points to that of the Ultimate Dragon Seto had just sacrificed.

"You sacrificed a better monster than what you have summoned. Now you will lose the remainder of your Life Points once my Sorceror's effect takes place!" Yami told him, figuring that the Sorceror of Dark magic would be able to defeat it with one shot. The Sorceror raised his wand, signalling to decrease the attack points of his foe. He stood tacit after seeing the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon's attack points not drop, but increase to 5100.

"There is no mistake," Seto laughed, seeing the shock on Yami's face. "There's a very good explanation for why my dragon's attack rose rather than fall. For one thing, the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon can negate any special effect of any trap, magic, spell, or monster cards that desgnates it. So your Sorceror's effect would have no affect on it anyways. And to top it off, it gains 300 attack points for every dragon type monster in my graveyard."

There were seven dragons total in Seto's graveyard. All three Blue-Eyes White Dragons, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Rare Metal Dragon, Dragon Dwelling in the Cave, and Paladin of White Dragon were all in his graveyard. Rare Metal Dragon and Dragon Dwelling in the cave were the more unnoticable ones as they had been destroyed earlier in duel. Seven dragons in the graveyard meant 2100 attack points were added to the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon's 3000 original attack points.

"I told you I've managed to come up with the perfect strategy," he said. "And I'd be lying if said that this new card wasn't part of it."

Yami looked blankly to other end of the field at this new, nearly unbeatable card in disbelief. With 5100 attack points and the vulnerability to the effects of magic, trap, spell or monster cards, it was almost unbeatable. It was still Kaiba's turn and there was no doubt that he would attack. There was nothing he could do to embrace himself for the great loss of Life Points and possible life health. He was in bad enough shape as it was, and losing 1900 Life Points could do more than increase the severity of his condition. It was among the first times he had feared pain before.

"Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, attack now!" Seto ordered. The Blue-Eyes opened its gaping jaws and energy composed of an unknown, yet unbelievably powerful force began to build. Strengthening much faster than any other attack, the force of energy exploded out of its mouth and hit the Sorceror of Dark Magic head on. The Sorceror had been blown to shreds as was 1900 of Yami's Life Points. The explosion was so great that smoke shrouded in the pyramid, making everything almost invisible, even with the light from the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon lighting the room.

Right when the attack struck his monster and he lost Life Points, strength fell out of Yami immediately. It was as if he felt all of his muscles rip and bones crack. The wound on his left side shot out more blood, some of it splattering on the field. Where the Servant of Catabolism had hit him was now a bruise that was more annoyingly painful that a mosquito bite. Every function a normal body would be able to perform was near impossible for Yami. He had lost the strength to stand, falling to the ground and remained lying on the ground on his stomach, his left hand no longer covering his stab. He tried to lift his head to see if he could see Seto, but his eyesight had become so poor and the room was dark and smoky that he could hardly see anything. Adding on to that, it was painful to his neck to hold his head up. It was worse physical pain that he had ever endured, and he was somehow still alive.

"You have but 300 Life Points remaining while I have 1300," Seto reported the Life Point comparison. He also could not see his opponent lying helplessly on the ground. "You're through."

The tires from a car squeeled outside the Dome, and Tea swung the limousine door open, nearly breaking it off. Worrying less about Pegasus and Duke, who seemed to be garrulous couple for such a short ride, Tea made her way quickly into the building and onto the arena. She had meant to go to the stands, where she was supposed to go, but she had never been in the building before and therefore went down the first hallway she saw. A bit of ways behind, Duke and Pegasus chased after her.

Almost running right into the black pyramid on the field, Tea came to an immediate holt. Duke and Pegasus walked into to stay Tea looking up at the random pyramid. They too became inquisitive on what precisely it was and why it was there.

"Never seen this before," noted Duke. "You think some kind of card caused this?"

"Had to. There's no other explanation," said Tea.

"But I do not recall of card being made that could cause such a thing," sighed Pegasus. "What the hell is this thing?"

Like a child wanting to go pet a wild animal, Pegasus slowly approached it and went to place a finger on it, but Duke pulled him away.

"Whoa, do you think Kaiba and Yugi are inside of that thing?" Tea exclaimed in fear.

Just then, Mokuba ran up to them. He had been alone for a bit, worrying about Seto and Yugi trapped in the pyramid. Mokuba had groped around the pyramid and tried playing with the mechanics, but nothing seemed to be working. The large television that was supposed to show the duel had gone black, and he even tried deactivating the holograms.

"Tea!" Mokuba cried for her. "I'm so glad you're here!"

"What's going on?" Tea asked first, not giving him the proper greeting.

"I don't know if it's the mechanics or whatever, but something is definitely wrong," he began, though it was difficult to explain what had happened. "Seto played some kind of card called Gods' Forsaken Tomb, and then before I knew it, Seto and Yugi were trapped in that pyramid that's on the field. Joey and Tristan ran around to see if they could peak into it, but then they disappeared. So then I started looking around here, but I haven't been able to find anything. The mechanics aren't disabling anything either."

"Gods Forsaken Tomb? I've never heard of that card before. As far as I know, I don't even think it was ever made," Pegasus, acting as if he were omniscient about every card made, stated.

"How could you possibly know, you snake? You're always too drunk to know these kind of things," Mokuba insulted. He still had a strong feeling that opposed Pegasus since Duelist Kingdom.

"Sheesh, with that attitude, a donkey with its head up its ass could tell that you were Seto's brother," Pegasus said, being mordant. "Besides, who gave you the idiotic idea that I get drunk?"

"Seto saw you when he went to your house, and he tells me that you have quite the feminine side," he laughed. Pegasus had been unaware that Seto saw him in such an ugly state of mind, but then concluded that he did steal the card he had come for that day.

Pegasus and Mokuba had been too busy arguing and Duke was distracted by the humor of it all that no one noticed Tea walk away. She wanted to find a way in there, or at least find something that would let her see inside. Now she felt even more guilty that she had been late. Something obviously had happened and she had not been there to prevent it.

It seemed to take them forever to retrace his steps back to the odd room, but Yugi eventually lead himself, Joey, and Tristan back to their destination. The mummies seemed to be gone, so they were left alone with the body that had been in the process of revival. The eye hanging on the wall behind it glowed with a red light again, and the body began to recover health and strength. The eye seemed to shine red for a long time until the light finally faded, but the body seemed to have been completely healed. It no longer looked old and dead, but healthy and reborn into its strongest physique. The body still looked as if it had no soul, but in the hands of the male body was a crystal pyramid with a black marble in the middle of it.

"Oh man, that guy's gotta be on steroids," commented Joey of the man's overly large muscles.

The man turned his head to them. He looked like he was suffering from a severe case of amnesia, confused and unaware. The pupils in his eyes seemed to be looking upward, like he was dead tired. He seemed to have no life in him, though his body was functioning.

"He doesn't have a soul in him," Yugi knew right away that the body did not possess a soul. He had remembered what a man with no soul looked like, and was able to recognize it this time around.

"Well, I'd say he looks like he's just on something, but knowing the strange crap that's been going on, you're probably right," agreed Tristan.

There was a brief flash that came from the man's eyes. The look on the man's face suddenly went from exhausted looking to wildly heinous. Luckily wearing pants and a long cape, he stood up from his coffin and put the crystal pyramid, attached to a string, around his neck. Looking like he was some kind of psychopath, the man stared down at all three of them, particularly Yugi.

"Whoa, man, did that guy just wake up from hibernation or something?" Joey's sarcasm continued, though the timing could not have been much more inappropriate.

"A five thousand year slumber would better suit this situation," the man spoke. He, like Yami, had a deep voice, though it was less raspy but more dark.

Speechless, the three of them watched him step out of his coffin and off the platform. The man's big feet were bear foot, but it did not make him look any shorter. He crossed his arms and stood before them, somewhat laughing under his breath.

"Hulk Hogan?" Joey couldn't help but ask, because the man did somewhat represent the same phsyique as the world famous wrestler, only taller and he lacked facial hair.

"You," his big finger pointed at Yugi. Though intimidated, Yugi took a step forward. "I want to thank you."

"For what?" Yugi asked in a harsh tone, unsure of what he had done to help the man.

"For setting me free," the man smiled. "And letting me return so I can complete my desired goals. Not many people get another opportunity to do what they wish once they have disintegrated, but you have granted me my second chance. For that I thank you."

"What do you mean?" Yugi and the man spoke back and forth. "Don't think I'm not aware of who you are, Anubis."

"So you do know who I am," he applauded. "Congratulations for knowing as much as you do. That is more than any other pathetic living being would be able to figure out."

"Enough with the sarcasm. What did I do to release you?"

Anubis pointed his finger all around the room.

"Look at this masterpiece you have constructed. It really is a wonderful puzzle, but it would never have be my home of choice to live in for five thousand years. We cannot always get what we want, though. Besides, I should not be the one to complain, for if it had not been for this place, I would never have returned."

He understood now. Anubis' soul had rested in the puzzle for years, along with Yami. And once the puzzle had been assembled, his soul had been released while Yami's remained in the puzzle to unite him and Yugi's spirits.

"Funny how I never ran into the pharaoh once as long as I was here," mentioned Anubis. "Oh wait, could that be because that was how it was intended? Oh yes, it was only the start to a marvelous plot that I would begin to build."

"You want to destroy the world again," Yugi could read Anubis' intentions. "That's your desired goal!"

"'T would be only one. When I was sealed into this puzzle, my single goal grew into two."

"And what would your second one be?"

"Backlash," he snarled. "And I must say, I am doing a remarkable job so far."

The black marble began shining a dim, black light. The light shined onto a wall nearby, and the wall turned into a large screen-like picture. It was like an outdoor theatre, but the showing was worse than any movie. They were only quick flashes, but the marble played the abuse Yami had been taking from the duel, starting with the destruction of the Egyptian God cards. Everything, from the stab to the direct attack from Servant of Catabolism, was shown, and the last thing shown was Yami lying in a puddle of his own blood. The image disappeared after that, but it had been enough for them to see.

Yugi became enraged.

"You bastard!" he cursed, which was quite the rare occasion. "What are you doing to him?"

"Merely stepping closer to achieving one of my goals," Anubis smiled as he played with the crystal pyramid around his neck. "And technically, I am doing nothing as Seto Kaiba duels on, sucking the life out of your pharaoh friend."

Things were beginning to fit into place now. This duel had been set up completely by Anubis, and even Seto had been fooled by this trickery. Everyone had been decieved, and now it seemed that they would be stuck in the puzzle so they could be stopped from preventing anything.

"Do not be too upset. I will need to thank my old friend, for if it were not for his life energy, I would not obtained the health for my body to function properly and normally again. Kaiba, too, for that matter."

Yugi grinded his teeth.

"Yet really, I owe it all to you, mortal. You liberated my soul from this place and let me to set the stage as perfectly as it is. I just thought I would tell you that before I were to take my leave."

Behind him, the mummies rose from their coffins again. They had not been gone afterall, and were returning to fill out their master's order from before.

"I will leave you with some of my greatest friends. I have other wishes of my own to carry out right now, so I shall be gone. Keep in mind that I am always watching you."

He pointed to the eye hanging on the wall behind him. The pupil turned green, which indicated that Anubis would be able to watch them inside the puzzle within his mind. His own magic allowed him to do so.

"And remember, mortal, it was all because of you," Anubis winked at him as his body began sinking in a puddle of blood. As if he were in quick sand, his body lowered into the red liquid and disappeared once his entire body had sunk in. When he was no longer visible, the puddle of blood dried up on the ground and was no longer there. The mummies, faster than before, dashed after the three of them. Tristan and Joey readied themselves for a fight they knew they could not win, as Yugi stood in front of them, feeling isolated from everything else. He was aware of his surroundings, but cared less at the moment. He was too upset with himself to care, for he felt he was the one responsible for it all.