Seto narrowed his eyes venomously. Yugi had accepted the duel. That gave him his chance. If he couldn't win this he didn't deserve to be in the tournament.
The edges of Seto's lips turned up slightly and he snapped his deck into place. He had already selected his DeckMaster. The Ancient Princess. A beautiful young woman from ages past. Seto had chosen her due to a niggling sense of familiarity he had experienced upon first laying eyes on the card. In the past half hour he'd been conversing heavily with her, since the advanced DeckMaster program allowed for almost human-like personalities.
"Yugi. Hurry and pick your DeckMaster! I want to duel now." His DuelDisk arms snapped together and the holographic generators exploded outwards. Seto drew his five cards and waited. Since he challenged Yugi he would have to wait for Yugi to take his turn.
Yami was leaning towards the Dark Magician but, as he pulled it out of his deck, changed his mind and placed Obelisk into the DeckMaster position. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not, but being able to bring out a God at anytime would come in handy.
Obelisk rose dramatically from the ground and loomed imposingly over Seto. Seto's eye twitched almost imperceptibly before his mask dropped back over his face and his cool composure returned. Yugi wanted to play that way? Fine. Seto would still win.
A crowd began to gather around them. And why wouldn't they?
After all, I am the greatest duellist ever. Of course they would want to watch me. Seto grinned coldly.
"Well Yugi, start it off. We wouldn't want to keep the crowd waiting, now, would we?"
Yami drew his cards. Not a bad hand. He'd have to keep his wits about him though. Seto had most likely given his deck a complete overhaul. He changed it like that every time an important duel came around.
Yami considered his options carefully, and then selected one card. He summoned it onto the field, along with another card face-down.
"I'll summon Matasa the Surprising (1300/800) in Attack Mode, and 1 card face-down. And that shall end my turn." Yami confidently folded his arms across his chest. A warrior emerged from the card in front of Yami, clutching a small iron sword.
Seto snorted. If that's the best you have then this will be a piece of cake. He drew his new card and smirked. He put his new card onto the DuelDisk.
"I'll summon Dongame (1100/1200) in Attack Mode. That allows me to Special Summon another Dongame from my hand. And finally, I'll play Aqua Symphony. This magic card will increase the Attack Power of both my Dongame by 500, making them powerful enough to destroy your Matasa!"
The two small reptiles appeared on the field, accompanied by a choir of mermaids. Just as Seto was about to declare his attack Yami flipped his face-down card.
"I'll activate United We Stand. It'll increase the power of Matasa to 2100, so it would be best not to attack." Yami watched Seto carefully. Seto pulled a face and ended his turn.
Yami smiled. Perfect. He drew his card and smiled. He lay it on the field and summoned a second monster.
"Alright Kaiba. I'll summon Breaker the Mage Knight (1600/1000) in Attack Mode! And it gains 300 more ATK because it has a spell counter on it." Yami smiled. Kaiba stood to lose a lot of life points after this. "And Matasa's attack is increased to 2900, since I now have another monster on the field. If I calculate correctly, then you will lose 2600 Life Points from Matasa destroying your Dongame, since he can attack twice in a turn. Add that to Breaker's attack and you will be left with 3500 Life Points. So if I summon Obelisk from the DeckMaster position..." Yami let his sentence drop off, allowing Seto to feel the maximum humiliation before destroying him.
Yami clicked the button to eject the DeckMaster so he could summon it, but Obelisk would not come out. Frustrated, Yami pressed it again. Nothing happened. Then Yami realised. Of course Obelisk couldn't be summoned. However, Yami could use Obelisk's effect, since it was accessible to him already. And that effect was the Soul Energy Max. Kaiba would be wiped out. This would be one of his easiest duels ever.
Seto slyly pressed the button on his DeckMaster Module. He knew the effect of Ancient Princess, and now was as good a time as ever to activate it.
Matasa lunged forward and destroyed both Dongame, reducing Seto's Life Points to 5400. Breaker then lunged past, giving Seto a swift chop with his sword. Finally, Obelisk stepped over Yami and grabbed Matasa and Breaker. Both were dissolved into it's mighty being. The crowd began to roar as they sensed a killing blow. Seto only had 3500 Life Points left. Obelisk could do 4000. Seto would be wiped out. Yami sighed.
"You weren't even a challenge this time Kaiba. It seems you will have to hand a Blue-Eyes White Dragon over to me. And do you know who I shall give it to? My grandpa, whose own Blue-Eyes you so heartlessly destroyed. What do you think about that Kaiba?" Yami stared imposingly at Seto. Seto merely narrowed his eyes.
"Bring it on, Yugi."
"You willingly admit defeat in the face of the god you once controlled?" Yami queried.
"Just use it's effect Yugi! Get it over and done with!" snapped Seto testily.
Obelisk's fist glowed yellow as it speared down towards Seto. Seto simply smirked as the holographic fist smashed into him. His body was flung backwards by the force and smashed into the footpath. Seto propped himself up on one arm and hauled himself up. His left cheek was grazed and his lip was split.
Yami was about to go and collect his prize when he noticed that the DuelDisks were still active and Seto's life point indicator was frozen at 3500. He stared at Seto angrily.
"What's this Kaiba? Why aren't you finished?" exclaimed Yami in surprise.
Seto motioned to the Ancient Princess beside him, who was glowing slightly.
"My Ancient Princess absorbs any Life Point damage from a single turn and sends it back to my Life Point counter. So basically, my Life Points are reset to 8000. Then I gain the 8500 points of damage you did to me last turn. So, thanks to you, I have 16500 Life Points and you have no monsters protecting your Life Points!" Seto gave a dry laugh, before drawing his card.
"Excellent. I'll play Curtain of Black Magic. It allows me to summon a high-level monster from my deck at the cost of half my Life Points," Kaiba's Life Points dropped to 8250 ",which leaves me with 250 more Life Points than you. And I'll summon..." Kaiba held a card in the air, before slamming it down on the DuelDisk, "Blue-Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500)!"
"Wow. That's a big surprise," sighed Tea. "Kaiba is so predictable."
Yami stared at the great beast. With no cards on his side of the field his Life Points would soon be cut down to 5000.
Seto threw his hand out in front of him, his silvery jacket flying behind him. The Blue-Eyes roared fiercely.
"Now Blue-Eyes! Burst Stream attack!" Seto shouted maliciously. It was happening. He would be able to beat Yugi. And without a god card too!
Yami covered his face with his arms as the energy washed over him, forcing him into a crouch. His body was wracked with pain.
Yami hoisted himself up and brushed some dust off of his cape. Then he drew. Calmly, he set a monster face-down, along with another two cards.
"That shall end my turn."
Seto sneered.
"Nothing? Oh, I'm so disappointed Yugi. But that's too bad. I think I'll just set a card and attack with my Blue-Eyes White Dragon."
As the white electricity crackled towards Yugi's face-down monster it flipped up to reveal Newt (1900/400). Newt's attack power increased to 2400. Then Yugi's other two cards rose up to reveal Negate Attack and Spellbinding Circle. The lightning disappeared into a whirling vortex and a glowing hexagon tightened around the Blue-Eyes, reducing it's ATK to 2300.
Yami smiled. Hook, line and sinker.
"Excellent. I think I'll play both my Monster Reborn cards to revive Matasa the Surprising and Breaker the Mage Knight. And now I'll summon Big Shield Gardna (100/2600) in Defense Mode!" Yami scanned over his field. He'd be able to do 4300 Life Points of damage if he decided to destroy Kaiba's face-down card with Breaker. A good option.
"Alright Kaiba, I'll use Breaker to destroy your face-down card." Yami watched Breaker lunge forward and slice through Rope of Life. Seto grimaced.
"Now I'll attack you for 4300 damage when Newt destroys Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and Breaker and Matasa attack. So you have 3950 Life Points left." Yami crossed his arms as his monsters leapt forward.
Newt gored the Blue-Eyes with it's claws, then Breaker and Matasa charged past and slashed Kaiba three times. His life points plummeted.
Groaning slightly, Seto pulled a card from his deck and bared his teeth in a semblance of a wicked grin. He summoned a monster.
"Hah! I summon Lord of Dragons (1200/1100) in Attack Mode and play Flute of Summoning Dragon. That allows me to summon my second Blue--Eyes White Dragon!" Kaiba watched impassively as the dragon master and his tame dragon appeared.
'"Next I'll play Monster Reborn to revive my original Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Finally, I'll activate Hitori no Burst Stream, which annihilates all your monsters!"
The two Blue-Eyes swept their lightning over the field, destroying all Yami's monsters. Yami threw his arm over his face to protect it from the stray sparks.
"No! My monsters! You're free to attack." Yami winced. He'd only have 800 Life Points left over.
"Too bad Yugi. Looks like I'll be getting Obelisk after all. Now, all of you attack at once!" cried Seto furiously.
Yami was knocked clear off his feet and into a telephone pole. His translator fell off his face and sparked slightly. As Yami struggled back up he pocketed it and drew what could be his last card.
Come on, Heart of the Cards, don't let me down...
Yugi gave a mental whoop when he saw what Yami had drawn.
Play it Yami, play it!
Alright, alright.
"I shall play... Millennium Puzzle! It allows me to summon a Darkness Token (2500/2100). And I shall do so. It also allows me to draw a card when I activate it," Yami pulled a card from his deck and played it, " so I'll summon Obnoxious Celtic Guardian (1400/1200) along with the powerful magic of Raigeki!"
Seto shouted in horror as his monsters were all destroyed. A person whose face was swathed in shadows appeared out of the huge Millennium Puzzle floating above the battle. All Seto could discern was that it's hair looked like a porcupine and it had an Egyptian-style loincloth on. Seto was sure he'd seen the person somewhere before but couldn't place it.
He didn't get a chance to work it out as the figure threw out it's hand. Seto's mind felt like it had been shattered inside his head. The situation only got worse as the Celtic Guardian tore through him. Seto was left gasping with just 50 Life Points left. Definitely not good.
Seto drew his card and began to laugh, a dry, cold snicker. It built up into a pealing bout of laughter.
"Yugi, I play Ookazi! It lowers your Life Points down to 0. Mwa ha ha ha! I claim this victory for Kaiba! I am once again the top duellist. I am KING OF GAMES!" crowed Seto.
Yami was stunned. He'd lost. The crowd was completely silent. Then Yami retreated to his soul room. Yugi tried to contact him, but Yami was shutting himself off. Yugi pulled Obelisk out of the DeckMaster slot and strode over to Seto. Seto extended his hand expectantly. Yugi dropped Obelisk into his hand, along with the Right Arm of Exodia. Seto and Yugi stared at each other silently. Yugi broke the silence with an enthusiastic, if slightly strained, voice.
"Great duel Kaiba. You deserve Obelisk. But you do know I'll win it back in the finals, right?" Yugi grinned. The corner's of Seto's lips twitched in an almost imperceptible smile.
"Not a chance Yugi. Not a chance."
A man carefully opened the door into Thomas Harris' office. It was incredibly well furnished, with all sorts of things scattered artfully around the place. He quietly knocked on a connecting door. Thomas was likely to be meditating. He opened the door and stepped into a thick mist.
This didn't surprise him. After all, that was how Thomas meditated. He also wasn't surprised when the mist started to whirl and sweep towards the centre of the room. Even when the mist began to form into a vaguely human shape he wasn't worried. The mist began to thicken and become almost solid. It opened it's mouth and spoke, a deep, reverberating voice.
"What is it, mortal?"
"Just a report, sir. Yugi Moto has just been defeated by Seto Kaiba. Kaiba now possesses Obelisk the Tormentor. Oh, and Ryou Bakura showed an instance of dis-personalization. We believe the Spirit of the Ring has returned. No report on the other Millennium Item holders."
"No matter. It is no concern of ours if Moto loses the God Cards. The one who battles us will have collected all of them by that point anyway." The misty being paused before continuing. "And if the Spirit of the Ring has returned we may be able to employ his services. Being non-corporeal can be such a bother. Contact the Spirit of the Ring, but only if he makes it to round 2."
"Yes, Mr. Harris!" snapped the man.
"How many times must we tell you? You must call us Legion. For we are many."
The mist began to disperse. The man strode out of the room, his skin clammy with cold sweat. It was not good to anger Mr Har- Legion.
**************************************************