Author's Notes: Drake/Daisuke now faces off against the Dark Spirit once again! Can he defeat it, or will the spirit be unleashed onto the world once again with more power than ever? Found out this chapter! Probably....

Chapter Seventeen: The Dark Spirit's Return!

"That's right, I'm not dead. And do you wanna know why?" Daisuke slowly nodded his head, uncertain exactly what he wanted to hear. It all seemed so impossible, yet the proof was right in front of him. And it was beginning to laugh in an eerily familiar manner. Even with Yumi's voice that laugh was instantly recognizable.

"I'm not dead because I was never alive to begin with! And now here I am as part of you, and when I win this Darkness Game not only will I gain your body, but I'll gain the powers of the Heart of Light and Dark, together in one form thanks to the Millennium Disc and the spirit that resides within! I'll be unleashed with more power than ever when Eikyuu is defeated!" Yumi smirked smugly, fiddling with the cards in her hand as she looked across the field at Daisuke.

"And with that power within me, it will be easy to strip away the other Hearts of Man, and then I'll have more than enough power to unleash the destruction I wished for. When I win this duel I'll have guaranteed the absolute end of the universe!"

'Damn it...that means the stakes of this duel are even higher than I had previously thought. So if I lose, so does everyone!' Across from him the dark spirit, having elected on remaining in Yumi's form for the time being, was deciding on what move to make. And Daisuke had a bad feeling it wouldn't end well for him.

"Hmmm....tell me, what do you know about banshees?" Yumi smiled slyly as she asked the question, obviously having something in mind. Daisuke couldn't help but wonder what it was. And he wasn't sure whether he wanted to answer or not.

"According to most legends about the banshee they are a death omen. When you hear the voice of a banshee it means you are about to die." By the broad smirk he got in response to his explanation he got the feeling he was spot on. He also got the feeling being spot on in this case was a bad thing.

"That's right, they are a death omen. And so is my next card, Death Banshee! By activating this card I automatically create a Death Banshee(2200/1500) in play!" A dark cloud hovered before him, forging itself into a vaguely female form. When it was done the banshee was revealed, and it generated a cold aura, like that of death itself.

"Suffer fool! Death Banshee, attack him directly!" The banshee didn't move at all. All it did was open its mouth and scream. It was a noise so terrible that Daisuke nearly collapsed from the pain it brought on. His head felt like it was trying to crack in half, and he could feel the blade of the reaper pressing harder against him. (DLP: 2500)

"Luckily for you having a monster with such a high power at no cost comes at a price. Any time Death Banshee attacks directly the damage inflicted is reduced by half. Oh well, it still speeds up the process of killing you." She smirked and took hold of her next two cards, sliding them onto her Doom Slider.

"Those two cards go face down. Then it's up to you to continue the duel. Or do you not think you can? Too weak to fight on are we?" Daisuke felt a growl building in his chest, frustration making him want to leap across the field and pound her face in. Or maybe it was just the fact that he hated both Yumi and the dark spirit, and having them be one and the same was too much.

Taking in a deep breath he took hold of the top card of his deck, and then turned his eyes upon Yumi. "Too weak? We'll see right now if I'm weak, because I can guarantee in this turn I'll defeat Death Banshee and create a way around your combos! And this is how I'll do it, draw!" He snapped the card off his deck and held it up to the light along with his other two cards. (DLP: 1000)

"This is the moment! I'll combo my cards together, all three of them! And I'll begin by summoning Blue Magician of the Shield(1200/1700)!" A monster similar to one of Daisuke's previous ones appeared, only this one had a blue shield in the center of his robe. The power wasn't incredible, but an aura was started to build up around it.

"Since Blue Magician of the Shield is my only creature it automatically allows me to revive one monster from the cemetery. And I'll revive Red Magician of the Cross(1700/1200)!" The companion to his newest monster took shape, giving him a set of creatures to work with. And as Unity Magicians they were bound to have new powers unlocked by being together.

"So what? Not only are your two creatures too weak to defeat Death Banshee, but you wouldn't be able to get past my mine field of traps. In other words, your play is useless!" Daisuke held one card up in his hand and showed it to her, instantly letting her know that her words were meaningless.

"My monsters can get past your mine field with this card, Halt Play! And I'm also going to add my last card into the mix, but it's really this one that makes the difference! Until the end of your turn neither of us can set or activate any magic or trap cards!" Streamers of energy descended upon Yumi's large number of set cards, but it didn't look like she was in trouble quite yet.

"I may not be able to stop them, but I can use a card combo that doesn't stop it since Halt Play is invincible. I use Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy my face down Bloody Hand of the Demon Prophet, and guess trap as my bottom card." Yumi slipped the bottom card of her deck away and showed it, revealing that it was indeed a trap. And because of the effect of her magic card she now got to draw five cards.

"Oh, and not just that but...your monsters can't defeat my Death Banshee. So even without my traps for the turn, you can't do anything. Heck, you're lucky you can attack at all what with Fear's Release negated until the end of my turn." She drummed her fingers together, obviously satisfied that he couldn't do anything at all.

Daisuke sighed and motioned to a card that was just now appearing on his field and flipping face up. It was a magic card and showed two magicians holding their staffs together while inside a mystical looking symbol. "Believe it or not my monsters can defeat yours. The power of Magician's Cross will let my two magicians attack together for a total of three thousand strength during this turn. Meaning Death Banshee is about to die."

He extended his arm palm outwards to Death Banshee and made the official declaration. "Cross of Magic!" His two magicians crossed their staffs and launched an attack on Death Banshee that completely consumed it, leaving no trace behind whatsoever.

"I'm impressed you managed to beat Death Banshee so easily. But of course it doesn't matter since I don't take life point damage when Death Banshee is destroyed. And since you have no more cards that means your turn is over and mine is just beginning." All it took was a few moments and Yumi had her new cards, giving her a total of eight cards in her hand. (YLP: 7300)

The dark spirit in female form looked over her eight cards, smirking all the while. But Daisuke was highly confident that it didn't matter at all. "I've got so many cards here that could be used to defeat you, it's just a pity I can't set or activate any of them during this turn."

"That's right. And without the ability to set or use your magic and traps you're nothing. Since your entire strategy revolves around having a massive defense wall of trap cards all that needs to be done is to take them away from you and you become helpless." His trench coat flared out as he spoke this words, his power flaring as well. He felt the final moments of the duel coming, he knew it.

Yumi tapped a finger against her chin, gazing off into space as if considering something. Then she started to raise her fingers one by one, mouthing numbers. Finally she smirked and let her eyes meet Daisuke's. "Useless am I? Your move was the useless one. Since I've got thirteen cards face down on the field, in your next turn Death Awaits will drain you of thirteen hundred life points."

Daisuke glanced down at his duel disk, which clearly displayed the number one thousand on it. Next he looked back up at Yumi, still looking confident. "If you say so. We'll just have to find out won't we. Now end your turn since you can't do anything."

"Yes well, I suppose in that case you are right. I can't accomplish anything this turn. So now I end, discarding two cards to reduce my hand size back to six cards. And as soon as you draw, this duel is mine." She picked two of her cards and slid them into the cemetery slot of her Doom Slider, barely even noticing what ones she got rid of. She was deadly confident that Death Awaits was about to end the duel.

The magician duelist picked up his next card and glanced at it and then sighed as his two monsters shifted into defense mode. The power of Fear's Release was now active once again, and that meant all his monsters had to be in defense mode. "This is it Daisuke! The duel is over! My reaper will finish off your last remaining life points!"

Yumi's opponent glanced up at the reaper who was standing there with his blade to Daisuke's neck, not doing anything. Yumi's eyes lit up with anger and she began to yell. "What the hell do you think you're doing? FINISH HIM OFF I SAID!"

Daisuke smirked, and began to explain. "He's not deaf, so there's no need to shout. He just can't do anything to me. See, when Red Magician of the Cross and Blue Magician of the Shield are face-up on the field together I can't take life point damage in any manner. Which means I'm safe from Death Awaits." (DLP: 1000)

"Not only that, but each turn they will regenerate some of my life points equal to one hundred times the number of cards in my cemetery. Since I have seven cards in the cemetery, that means I gain seven hundred life points." A blue healing glow surrounded Daisuke, replenishing his life points and taking him out of the red zone. (DLP: 1700)

"That's fine with me! It means I can hurt you even more! Now I insist that you attack me, and I'll make sure you do by playing an Invitation of the Earth Spirits! Now Blue Magician of the Shield is going to attack, and I'll just play whatever trap it hits!" The magician aimed his staff and fired off a volley of magic.

The beam of light struck one of Yumi's set cards, which immediately flipped face-up. She smirked as it was revealed, and it's power became active. "You hit Revenge of Hell. When this card is activated it destroys one of your monsters and allows me to inflict half of its attack points in damage to your life points at the end of the turn."

She smirked and pressed another button on her Doom Slider, and a second trap flipped up. It appeared to be a man in a uniform with determination blazing in his eyes despite severe injuries. "My next card is called Second Wind! I can now reactivate the first trap I played this turn, meaning Invitation of the Earth Spirits works once again and your Red Magician will now attack and fall into his doom!"

The remaining magician attacked just as his brethren had, a beam of red light colliding with another of Yumi's cards. And this one was shown as a very familiar card indeed. "Would you look at that? A second Drag To Hell, so say goodbye to your magician for good!"

Black chains erupted from the ground and wrapped around the magician, dragging him underneath the ground beneath them. Daisuke grimaced and slipped the monster into his pocket. "You may have gotten rid of my preventative monster combo, but I'm not out of this yet. One card face down, and that's my turn." (DLP: 1100)

The female duelist drew, and then swiftly drew twice more. Her hand was now even bigger than before, being a total of nine cards. She looked over her field and then sighed, obviously annoyed by something. "Such a pity. I only have nine cards face down on the field. We'll have to remedy that won't we?" (YLP: 7200)

She grinned and fiddled with her nine cards, looking overjoyed about something. And Daisuke knew that was bad for him. "Let's see, I've got eight more spaces available on my field and nine cards in my hand....this works out well doesn't it? So I guess I'll set eight cards face down." Multiple cards shimmered and appeared on the field, totally replenishing all that she had lost and filling up her zones.

"I realize something now. This situation might be totally compromised by say, a Jinzo. But luckily for me your soul deck runs magicians just like normal, so I'm absolutely fine. And wait, with seventeen cards face down that means I'll be inflicting seventeen hundred life points of damage to you next turn." Her smirk was highly evident, and Daisuke knew why.

"Of course if we continue to do the math that means you'll lose all your life points next turn. And considering that you don't have your monster combo anymore the duel belongs to me." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, also brushing at an imaginary tear.

"It feels so sad to have it end, but I'll just have to move on. Once you're dead and gone I can be happy in the fact that I'll have a new body to work with and lots of power. But here's a bigger secret...this place...is on the border of all dimensions." By the quizzical look on Daisuke's face the dark spirit knew that he didn't understand at all.

"Where we are is like the filament of every single dimension. What I am exists in such a sense that as long as I've been here I've been spreading my presence into other dimensions. Of course I can't take a full form in any yet, but I will once I win this duel. Or hell, when this place is pricked like a soup bubble. Wanna know why?" Yumi didn't bother to wait for a response, and instead continued to explain.

"Because I can't be destroyed in any way, it's impossible since I don't exist like a normal spirit, I'll be able to truly express my power throughout the dimensions once the bulk of me is no longer trapped in this place. And with my knowledge and power I can easily traverse dimensions, while even when this place is broken you might not be able to return to yours." Daisuke felt the grip of terror, because he knew that when the dark spirit rarely lied, especially about something like this.

"So, no matter what you do I'll continue to exist. Not only that but even should I lose I'll be able to continue my purpose in life and one day I'll succeed. As a matter of fact, this is the best thing that could possibly have happened to me, because by being spread amongst dimensions I'll be even more impossible to stop, and it won't take long before I succeed in my goal." Yumi raised her arms up to the top of the black dome that surrounded them, her eyes alight with a dark fire.

"And when I do the cycle of the universe will be halted as the Essence of Destruction unleashes its power! All will fall, the universe will be no more, and if I have my say it will never begin again! I'm going to find a way to enhance the utter power of the Essence of Destruction, and have it destroy the other Essences as well. And without the Essence of Creation, the universe will stay dead and gone!" She threw back her head and began to laugh that frightening laugh of hers.

"With all of the Essences destroyed the Essence of Destruction will follow its absolute nature and obliterate the only remaining thing in existence. Itself! And with that final act everything that was, is, and will be shall be stricken from memory! This will be the absolute end of all things!" Daisuke knew deep in his heart that the dark spirit was telling the truth, and that even if they won the day now, somehow they'd have to find a way to stop him before it all ended.

"I won't let you win, no matter what I'll keep fighting! So it's my turn, my duel, and it's going to be my victory!" He viciously drew his next card, feeling power rage through his body. This might very well be his final chance to turn this duel around, to figure out a way to stop the dark spirit from erasing existence once and for all.

'Please let this draw be what I need to win! If I don't then everything will end, and I can't let that happen!' He didn't get a chance to look at the card as the pressure of the reaper's blade caught him off guard. It was about to deal seventeen hundred damage, and take it out of his blood.

"And now the final blow is struck! Say goodbye Daisuke, because your life and all of existence is now over!" Her dark laugh filled Daisuke's ears as he felt blood pounding through his heart. A wave of dizziness struck him, nearly knocking him to his feet as more of his blood slipped down the reaper's scythe.

"My magicians won't let me down! They have one last thing they can do for me, and they're going to save me by doing it! Reveal set card, Magician's Last Gift! This will remove all magic users from my cemetery and increase my life points by their total attack points!" Several spirits rose up from the ground and plunged into his body, raising his life points in this last moment. (DLP: 7000)

"Damn it! You just never die do you? Well you still lose seventeen hundred life points, and you're stuck with just one card in your hand and nothing on the field to save you!" Daisuke nodded, accepting this as a fact. It was true that he only had one chance at victory, and he was holding it. He just had to hope it was the card that would save him. (DLP: 5300)

He casually flipped the card up so he could get a good view of it, and then he smiled ever so slightly and slid the card into his disk. And as he did so he silently praised whatever gods were watching over him. 'Thank you for helping me, thank you.'

"Ready yourself Yumi, because I trigger the magic card Magic of Revival! This allows me to special summon one magician from my cemetery or my out of play pile to the field!" He slipped his removed from play pile out of his pocket and sifted through it till he found the card he was looking for. Then he slapped it down onto the field.

"Time to get reacquainted with the power of my Magician of the Storm(1600/1400)! And his effect is going to turn this duel around once and for all!" Yumi raised an eyebrow as the yellow clad mage appeared. It was still a puny wimp, and she had seventeen face down cards capable of totally crushing it.

"How is that thing going to help? Without the power of Amendment it can't blow up my magic and trap cards. Seems to me it's a pretty useless card." Daisuke scoffed at this, and pointed at Yumi, his whole body suffused with confidence and satisfaction.

"Obviously you don't know much about my magician. And how could you? It comes from my soul. Amendment ended up getting rid of its original effect and changing it, so I'll tell you what it really does. Although it destroys all of my magic and trap cards at the start of each of my turns it also prevents the power of your magic and traps from being active during my turn." Yumi's eyes went wide as she realized the implications of this.

"But that means Fear's Release and Death Awaits don't do anything at all, and I can't play any of my traps against it!" Daisuke smirked and put his fingers on top of his deck and began sliding cards off of it. Yumi began to protest, but the other duelist raised his hand to stop her.

"It gets worse. See, Magician's Last Gift also allows me to draw one card for each removed magician. Meaning I get four cards. But the worst part for you is that since your entire field is full and you can't play any new cards, you're screwed. I've just totally locked you down!" Now the dark spirit understood what he just happened, and knew that the entire duel had just turned in Daisuke's favor.

"Setting magic or trap cards at this point would be pointless, so I'll just summon Skilled Chaos Magician(1800/1600) to add some more fire power to my field!" The golden robed magician appeared next to the magician in yellow, giving Daisuke a total of thirty-four hundred attack points to work with. And that was all that he needed.

"Now my two magicians, attack the dark spirit directly!" Yumi gritted her teeth as the two attacks collided with her, having passed harmlessly over her field of traps. And the damage was significant, meaning for the first time in the entire duel she had less life points than Daisuke did. (YLP: 3800)

"I guess it's your turn spirit. And I think the best part is that you have to pay for Hell Greed, so you'll get more useless cards and lose life points. All it'll take is a few more turns before I win the duel." Yumi grimaced and picked up her three cards, seeing that each and every one of them was totally useless to her. (YLP: 3700)

'I can't believe it...I've screwed myself over! With a full field of cards I have no way of getting rid of his Magician of the Storm. And as long as that's in play I can't activate cards in his turn to reduce the number I have. I've just lost the duel...' She snarled and made a shooing motion, obviously meaning that now it was Daisuke's turn since she couldn't do anything.

Daisuke grabbed a new card, but sighed when he saw that he had no monster. That meant he couldn't finish the duel in this turn. It was a pity, because even though he currently had his opponent locked down he knew that the dark spirit had gotten itself out of binds before. It was bad to give it chances.

'I'll just have to do as much damage as I can so that I can leave her with as little chance as possible to recover. Even if Death Awaits is reactivated somehow it won't finish me off before Hell Greed kills her off. So that's all that I need to do, deal as much damage as I can!' Thrusting one arm forwards Daisuke declared his attack.

"Now my two magicians, burn away most of her remaining life points!" Magician of the Storm sent a barrage of lightning to collide with Yumi, causing her entire body to jerk about under the electric power. Then a sphere of chaos energy exploded across her chest, knocking her flat on her back. (YLP: 300)

"That may not have finished you, but the duel is almost over. Until it is, all that's really over is my turn. So go ahead and take yours." He let out his breath and folded his arms, patiently awaiting whatever move that Yumi had to make. Hopefully she couldn't do anything and that would mean he had won.

"You'll see soon enough Daisuke! I cannot lose, because it is my purpose, it is my destiny! No matter what I'm going to win, even if I lose the duel!" She drew and card, and then following the effect of Hell Greed she payed one hundred more life points in order to draw two more cards. (YLP: 200)

Yumi's gaze was drawn to a card in her hand, and it stayed there. Daisuke tapped his foot while waiting, not sure what was taking her so long. 'Either she drew nothing worthwhile and is all blanked out because she just lost, or she drew something useful. But what could she possibly have drawn that could save her when she can't play any cards?'

Some sort of quiet noise reached Daisuke's ears, and it took him several seconds to realize that the sound was laughter. And it was growing louder. In moments Yumi was laughing full force, a terrifying look upon her face. "I've just drawn what I need to end you! So here I go, activate magic card: Expanding Shadows!"

Her eyes were filled with a deep hatred and satisfaction as the permanent magic card appeared on the field, and gave her the same ability as the first one. "Imagine that. With the power of a second Expanding Shadows active I can now have forty magic or trap cards on the field at one time!"

With so many chances open for playing cards it seemed that Yumi had everything she needed to put the duel back in her favor. "I know what I'll do now....I'll play a magic card. Steal The Sleeping's Breath! This magic card will seal the effect of your Magician of the Storm, and it will only be released upon death!"

A little trickle of wind came out of the magician's mouth, flowing away and vanishing. The crackling of power from his staff disappeared, and he was left as a powerless monster. Just as normal as anyone else. "Of course freeing him in death comes with a price, because it will deal you five hundred points of damage. Makes it a perfect card for effect monsters like your magician now doesn't it?"

"I don't care how perfect it is. Just locking down my magician won't take me out of this duel. One way or another I'm going to win, I swear it." Despite his confident words he didn't feel it, because with so many cards in play and without his lock he was in big trouble. He would once again have to find a way around the mine field of traps or have his throat slit by Death Awaits.

"Yeah, whatever. I taunt you, you say you'll win, it gets to be a vicious and stupid cycle now doesn't it? That sort of comment always comes back to haunt you, and here's the proof. The Haunting Cycle is now activated!" A new card appeared face up on the field, and the wailing of ghosts could be heard as spirits sailed all around them. It was an eerie feeling, something deep and primal. The feeling of death coming closer.

"When The Haunting Cycle is activated I can shuffle all magic and trap cards in my cemetery back into my deck. Since it's a permanent card from now on whenever a magic or trap card of mine would go to the cemetery it gets shuffled into my deck. Meaning it's impossible for me to deck out!" Daisuke grumbled, realizing that the duel was going to get more difficult thanks to that. But at least he could count on winning because Yumi would run out of life points in two turns.

"Now here comes another part, see I've got eighteen available spaces and four cards in my hand. So I set three of them, and then I'll use my last card. Go Death Bomb! This magic card is one-time, but it has the same effect has Death Awaits!" A glow black sphere appeared on Daisuke's side of the field, hovering directly in front of him. And then it exploded.

Daisuke hadn't noticed passing out. All he realized was that he was just now waking up, meaning the blast had knocked him out. And he could see why, as it had gone off too fast for him to set up a barrier. His pants were gone below the knees and his trench coat was in shreds and on the ground behind him. He was left shirtless, blood staining his chest from various cuts. (DLP: 3300)

'I'm in bad shape. And next turn it'll just get work. And now that she has that many cards face down I can't outlast her. I have to find a way to stop at least one turn of damage to myself, and then I can win. That's all I need to do.' Taking a deep breath he pushed himself back to his feet, once again being grabbed by the reaper and having the scythe pressed to his throat.

"Can you even last another turn against me? If it were anyone else I doubt they could, but you're tough. You took all that damage during our first Darkness Game without giving up. But in case you had forgotten what happened, no matter how powerful you are you can't stop death...unless you're me that is!" Daisuke groaned at having to once again listen to that irritating evil laugh. It got worse every time he heard it.

Snapping a card off his deck Daisuke knew that this turn he was going to have to make good on his own promises. He was going to have to find a way to win, or else in his next turn he would lose. "To start with I'll sacrifice Skilled Chaos Magician and its three counters to special summon Black Magician of Chaos!"

"Denied! I flip Broken Heart, which negates the summon and removes the monster from the game. Sorry, no such luck." He grimaced and slid his favorite monster into his pocket along with his other removed from play cards. It was a steadily growing pile, and he got the feeling it would get larger as the duel went on.

"Fine. I guess I can't do anything else this turn. So I'll end my turn." He slipped the last four cards of his hand onto his duel disk and watched them appear. They were his last ditch effort, they were his last chance. These cards were all that stood between him and defeat, and he was going to have to hope they were enough.

"Trying to play the trap game as well are we? It's rather pointless as soon you'll lose the duel anyways. So why even bother?" She smirked and picked up three cards, barely even noticing as she was drained of half of her remaining life points, giving her just a meager hand full to work with. (YLP: 100)

"Why? Because I have to. You should know that by now." She sighed and rolled her eyes, obviously well aware of his reasons.

"Yes yes, I know by now. But it gets a little lame in my opinion. Not like it matters to me though, so I'll just continue my turn shall I?" Casually she picked out a card and slid it onto her disk, thereby activating its effect. And as she did so the creature behind Daisuke left him and moved forwards.

"I play Touch of the Reaper! This will destroy one monster on your field and remove it from the game, and since I'm destroying Magician of the Storm you'll take five hundred damage from the effect of Steal The Sleeping's Breath." The reaper swung his scythe, cutting straight through Magician of the Storm, splattering his blood across the ground. (DLP: 800)

"It's not done yet, because I'm enhancing the damage with a permanent trap called Meat Grinder! Now whenever a monster of yours dies you'll take five hundred damage! So now my reaper, toss the corpse in here!" The reaper swept the remains into the massive grinder, and blood and flesh sprayed out the other end, becoming nothing but pulpy goo. (DLP: 300)

"Now, for my next act I'm going to have to get rid of the small chance that Hell Greed would kill me. You see, although Death Awaits should kill you next turn, I won't hold my breath. You have a propensity for getting out of sticky situations. So I'll play Evil Absorption, which soaks up negative energy and increases my life points by the total amount you have lost this duel. Now watch my life points rise!"

Tendrils of darkness were soaked up into Yumi's body, empowering the dark spirit with further energy and restoring her life points. This meant that she'd be able to survive in the next turn, and if Daisuke's calculations were right, she'd have a significant advantage. 'Shit...' (YLP: 13800)

"Looks like I've got enough life points to pay for Hell Greed for a long time now. Guess it's your turn, and maybe your last at that." Casually she added another card to her field, giving her nineteen face down cards for the coming assault by the reaper. And hopefully for her it would finish off Daisuke right here and now.

The punk duelist drew another card, and then the reaper pressed the blade to his throat. Only...nothing happened. "My soul has come through for me, because I activate Pikeru's Magic Circle, which prevents me from taking effect damage this turn!"

"Hmph, not that it matters. I have cards that can reduce your life points by card text that doesn't say damage, and therefore can still work." Daisuke shrugged and placed a card onto his field, watching as a well dressed man with ruffled hair and a crazy look appeared in front of him.

"I summon Twisted Spellweaver(1800/800) in defense mode." He didn't get a chance to say anything else, because Yumi was busy activating one of her face down cards. When she did, this duel was going to come to a close.

"Reveal Shriek of the Banshee! This will force your monster to attack from defense mode, and it will strike my trap, Rip to Pieces, which will deduct half of it's defense points from your life points while adding half of it's attack to mine. And that's all that I need!" Daisuke looked away as his monster was literally torn apart by Yumi's trap card, leaving fleshy chunks all over the field. And it drained away his life points. (DLP: 100)

"Luckily for me one of my four remaining set cards was Shrink, which reduced its power by half therefore making its defense only four hundred. So I lost two hundred and remained safe." He sighed with relief, having escaped that challenge. Now there were only several dozen other hurdles to clear before he was home free.

"Aren't you forgetting something? The power of Meat Grinder will go to work and drain you of five hundred life points. But not before I flip two of my Nightmare Life Thief traps which can reduce your life points by half and add that to mine so long as you have fewer life points than I do and have less than three thousand. So here come more points!" (DLP: 25, YLP: 14775)

"And of course as I said, Meat Grinder will finish you off. I just felt it was funnier to have so many more life points at the very end!" As the blades of the grinder began to churn, Daisuke flipped one of his last face down cards. It was going to come down to this.

"I use my set card Emergency Provisions to send one of my last two face down cards to the cemetery to gain one thousand points before losing five hundred, so I survive." The fury in Yumi's eyes as he survived that damage was highly gratifying to Daisuke. It felt good to piss off the evil bitch from hell. (DLP: 525)

"Go to hell you stupid little runt! Activate Severed Spine! This trap will deduct three hundred life points from you whenever one of your cards goes to the cemetery through an effect other than its own or through activation and sacrifice! Since you sent your face down card to the cemetery using Emergency Provisions you lose three hundred and I gain it!" Although he lost even more points, Daisuke still felt confident in himself. (DLP: 225, YLP: 15075)

"I may not be able to kill you in this turn but I can sure make it impossible for you to win! I'll play the trap version of Evil Absorption, it's called Devil Life Absorption. More life points to me!" Just like before dark energy flowed into her body, meaning that her life points soared far behind a level that Daisuke had ever seen before in a duel. (YLP: 29850)

"Think that's all? Well it's not! I can only play this next card when I've used five or more traps in a turn, and since I've played six it's perfect. Still Beating Heart! This trap will automatically double my life points!" Daisuke's breath left him as Yumi's life points shot up to staggering amounts, making the duel seem even more impossible for him. (YLP: 59700)

"And now I'll finish up by using Instant Replay! This card as I'm sure you know lets me instantly reactivate the effect of the last card I played, so I get to double my life points once more, leaving yours so far in the dust it's hilarious!" To Daisuke's mind, the worst part was that each of those cards she had just played went back into her deck, making it possible for her to do all that again. (YLP: 119400)

"I think I've proven my point. So unless you actually have something else you can do, I suggest ending your turn right now." Daisuke sighed and nodded his head. There wasn't anything that he could do this turn. So he might as well end it and let Yumi continue the duel.

"Oh...it's such a pity. I only have twelve face down cards. While I know that's more than enough to finish you off next turn, I don't like just having that few. So let's really heat things up shall we?" She picked up her three cards, her turn truly beginning. (YLP: 119300)

"Ah yes, I set two cards, and then I play Twilight Renewal. As you may know Twilight Renewal can only be played when it is the only card in my hand and it lets me draw till I hold five cards." She drew five cards in one swift motion, giving her a brand new hand to work with. It was impressive how that could be so easily accomplished.

"Next up is the magic card Payment of Debt. I know you know this card, and it lets me draw three more. I just keep upping the number of cards I have don't I?" Again she drew, and she now had seven cards in her hand. She couldn't help but smirk confidently as she played her next card.

"I've slaughtered so many of your monsters in this duel that I think it's time we did a little math. So I play Body Count, which lets me draw one card for each monster I've destroyed or removed from the game. Care to calculate the number?" Daisuke's eyes went wide as he did the math, and knew exactly what the trouble was.

"But....but that's ten monsters. Are you really going to draw ten cards?" She nodded and drew ten cards from her deck, giving her a total of sixteen cards. Daisuke had never seen anyone draw that many cards from a single effect, and he was beginning to be afraid what with that many cards to work with.

"I've had some of these earlier in the duel. Oh well, not that it matters. I'm just going to make this as painful as possible for you by setting all sixteen of them face down. And if I'm counting right that means I have thirty magic or trap cards. Hard to beat that isn't it?" He could only nod, uncertain as to what was going to happen next.

"Ah, with the seven cards I have face-up and the thirty cards I have face down my army of traps is nearly complete. There's no getting around it, so just prepare yourself for utter defeat!" Daisuke felt a shiver of fear arc through his body, until he noticed something. What he noticed was Yumi's deck.

"I see it now! Your deck is forty cards, and you have thirty-seven on the field. That means you have only three cards left in your deck, so you'll draw them all next turn. So I just need to last two more turns to deck you out." Yumi raised an eyebrow and then shrugged, obviously unmindful of the fact that she was so close to losing by default.

"You let me worry about that. I think you should be worrying about surviving your turn. Oh, and by the way, your turn is about to begin, because mine is over." She smirked and folded her arms, well aware that he had only one card on the field and just two hundred and twenty-five life points. It was hard to escape death when you had such a small chance of success.

Slowly he drew his card, and then instantly he pressed a button on his duel disk, just as the reaper's blade was pressing against his neck to make the kill. "I play Energy Stasis! It instantly negates all effects for this turn played by the opponent."

A blue barrier of light arose around him, shoving the reaper away. He smirked broadly at Yumi, knowing that he had just survived the turn. However she didn't seem very bothered, as he only had one card in his hand to work with. "You're not out of the frying pan yet, so don't get your hopes up."

"Oh but I am out of the frying pan. And here's the reason why! Activate Life Point Recount! I can only play this card if I have less life points than my opponent and one thousand or less points." He smirked as a holographic counter appeared in front of him, proudly displaying the number 225 in glowing green light.

"And what's the point of this? I already know your life point score, so showing it to me in big bold neon lighting isn't going to change anything." She chuckled at her own joke, but stopped when Daisuke joined her in laughing.

"It is pretty funny. Allow me to explain why it's funny. See, so long as I meet the requirements for Life Point Recount I can automatically use it to set my life points at four thousand. Now I've got more than enough to survive!" The glowing numbers began changing at a great pace, the numbers counting upwards until at last it came to rest on the number he had stated. (DLP: 4000)

"Since I don't have any cards on my field whatsoever you can't trigger any cards to damage me. So I'm safe. Next turn you'll draw three cards, and then it will become my turn. Even if you set those three cards you'll only be able to deal thirty-three hundred damage to me. Then I just have to end my turn to deck you out." He grinned and ran a hand through his hair, happy that he had outsmarted the dark spirit and grabbed the win.

"Since that happens to be how it's going to go down, how about I end my turn? Oh, and by the way, I also have one more move before that. I remove Magician's Last Gift that's in my cemetery from the game in order to prevent me from taking any damage until my next turn. And I'm all set for the win." It had taken a few cards and some tough work, but victory was knocking at his door.

Yumi smiled when she drew her cards. A very sickeningly sweet smile that Daisuke didn't think the dark spirit or the real Yumi was capable of. Seeing something like that put a bad taste in his mouth, and he got the feeling it wasn't a good thing. "Your plan has flaws. Let me show them to you." (YLP: 119200)

She slapped two cards down onto her Doom Slider, and they appeared as face down cards, filling up all but one spot on her field. She had just one more card that she could use. "Actually, it's not a 'them' but rather an 'it'. My permanent card, No Need For Greed! As long as this card is in play I don't have to draw a card if I want or discard! You see, my soul also comes through for me, and grants me a method for victory!"

Daisuke felt his confidence slip away along with his chance for victory. Everything he had ever hoped for was gone, and his chance to win was as well. Now there was no way to win, no way for him to save himself. "I can see that you've lost your confidence. Now my turn is over. Let's see if you can find a way to top deck yourself to victory."

He glanced at his deck and then he began to grin broadly. Despite appearances, he felt happy about one thing. "Screw it. I'm tired of trying to fall back into a role I can't fit. I left the name Daisuke far behind when I began my second life, and in this third and final chance I won't screw up, and I'll remain Drake for good! Do you hear me spirit? I am Drake Ihachi now and forever!" (DLP: 800)

Drake drew, feeling power flow through his body. He held up his newest card, then he turned his eyes to Yumi's. He met her gaze with fire in his eyes, shocking the dark spirit with his heart's confidence. "Whether or not I can win I don't know, but the duel is going to end in this turn for me or for you! So here I go!"

He activated his magic card, the one card, the one draw that could change the entire game. "I activate Absolute Determination! This magic card will now allow me to draw my entire deck in one swift motion!"

The punk duelist ejected his deck and fanned it out, looking it over to see what combinations were possible. Yumi didn't feel fear though, because she had thirty-three face down cards and so many life points that even if she sat back and let him he'd never be able to harm her. "Go ahead and do what you like. I'll even allow you to do it. It won't matter one bit to me."

"We'll see. For my starting move I play these two cards in combination, Type Shift and Chaos Fusion! Type Shift will change my Chaos Fusion magic card into a permanent card. And that's where the fun really begins." A shining vortex appeared in front of him, permanently there thanks to his card combo.

"I fuse two cards from my hand together using Chaos Fusion. These cards are Sage of Everlasting Light(500/400) and Sage of Unending Darkness(400/500). Together they form Sage of Eternity(2800/2800)!" The new monster that was created was a powerful creature in black and gold robes.

"Next I'll play the magic card Magician's Dimension Travel. This will add all magicians from out of play back to my hand." He slipped his out of play pile out of his pocket and added the magicians to his hand, giving him even more to work with. And it was going to keep getting better.

"Using Chaos Fusion I combine Black Sorcerer and White Sorcerer to create Sorcerer of Soul(3400/3400)!" Another monster appeared, giving him two, this one with shining silver robes and no wand. His hands however glowed with an intensely bright light.

"White Magic Summoner and Black Magic Summoner together to create Ultima Summoner(3000/3000)! Ghost Magician and Ghost Sorcerer into Poltergeist Mage(2700/2700)!" He now had four monsters, each with a very impressive amount of attack points. However together all they had was over eleven thousand. Not over one hundred thousand.

He grinned at their combined power, and then he flipped around two more cards. The next two cards he planned on combining. "Let's see the ultimate power of my soul shall we? Chaos Fusion! Black Magician of Chaos and White Magician of Chaos!"

Yumi shielded her eyes as the two named monsters merged together and created a towering being of pure and unadulterated light. She felt hatred for it, just as she had instantly hated Holakhti. It was just so pure it pissed her off. "Spirit, meet Supreme Sage of Balance(4000/4000)!"

"First off, Supreme Sage of Balance will require that our removed from play piles cannot be accessed, and the fusion components go out of play. Along with any monsters absorbed into her. And speaking of absorbing, it now absorbs all four of my other monsters and gains one hundred points times their level!" The four monsters turned into spheres of light and joined with the sage, increasing it's general size.

"I'd like to state that every Chaos Fusion is a level ten, so that means Supreme Sage of Balance now has eight thousand attack points. And I don't intend to stop fusing! I fuse Twisted and Refined Spellweaver for Master Spellweaver(2400/2400)!"

"Now comes the fusion of my two Guardian Magicians into Guardian Magician of the Eclipse(3200/3200)! Red Magician and Blue Magician into Golden Magician of Light(2650/2650)! Sunrise Magician and Sunset Magician into Mage of Starlight(3300/3300)!" The four named monsters then merged together as balls of light with Supreme Sage of Balance, giving it twelve thousand attack points.

"By the way. Since Supreme Sage of Balance has absorbed more than five monsters he now has the immunities of the gods. Which means all of your cards are useless." Yumi shrugged, unworried because the monster was still nowhere near strong enough to finish her off in this turn. It wouldn't do any good whatsoever.

"I'm not done. Scholarly Magician fuses with Apprentice Magician to create Master Scholar(2000/2000)! Lastly Chaos Magician Girl and Chaos Magician fuse to create Chaos Sage(2900/2900)! And those two are absorbed!" With these last absorptions Supreme Sage of Balance was given a total of fourteen thousand attack points.

"Guess what. Supreme Sage of Balance gains the effects of all monsters it absorbs. Chaos Magician Girl gains three hundred attack for every monster removed from the game. Chaos Sage gains five hundred for that same. So those effects stack to give Supreme Sage of Balance eight hundred attack points for each removed from the game." Yumi totaled up the attack points and came to the conclusion that with thirty-two monsters removed from the game, counting the Chaos Fusions themselves, it meant Supreme Sage of Balance had thirty-nine thousand six hundred attack points.

"There's one more monster that I have left. It can't fuse with anything, but it'll go as an offering to my Supreme Sage and increase its attack and defense by that monster's attack and defense. So I summon Quick-Silver Magician(1400/1200) and then offer him." This monster also was absorbed into Supreme Sage of Balance, increasing its attack by a total of twenty-four hundred.

"I'm still not done though. Because I can play Chaos Mastery, which will increase the power of every monster on my field by 300 for each monster removed from play. Of course it also increases the attack of those monster's by one thousand if they happen to be a Chaos Fusion. Meaning my Supreme Sage of Balance now has over fifty thousand attack. Half of what is needed." Yumi was highly impressed at this point, what with him nearly reaching half of the life points she had.

"How very awe inspiring. You've created a god monster with an attack of nearly half that of my life points. Pity you can't more than double it's power during this turn, now can you?" Drake shook his head. There was in fact no way for him to double its power. It was win or lose in this one instant. There was no going back, because it was all over one way or another.

"I attack with Purifying Touch!" Yumi screamed out in agony as the pure light surged down over her body, and the dark spirit struck back with a barrier of darkness that shoved the Supreme Sage of Balance backwards. But the damage was done. (YLP: 67300)

"Ah, but you didn't manage to finish him off this turn. So it looks like I win, now doesn't it?" Drake lowered his head and Yumi smirked in triumph. It had been a good attempt, but in the end it had been truly impossible to deal so much damage in a single turn. Yes, utterly impossible.

Drake's head snapped up, and he had a big grin on his face. "Sorry, this is the final turn, like I said. Now allow me to activate this two card combo! The first you'll see is Shot From The Dark to reactivate Halt Play!" Yumi raised an eyebrow, confused as to why he was playing a card to prevent him from using his face down cards when he had already attacked with his monster which couldn't have been stopped anyways.

"Gee, that was pretty stupid now wasn't it?" She rolled her eyes at his blind stupidity...until she saw the next card that he had activated along with Shot From The Dark. The appearance of a warrior charging head long down a tunnel of darkness was easily recognizable. "Impossible!"

"I thought you would have learned by now that nothing is impossible when I'm involved! My magic card, Surprise Attack From The Darkness, means that every monster summoned or special summoned during this turn has an attack during my end phase. So all of my monsters will attack you from the darkness, even the Supreme Sage of Balance. And all told...." He let it trail off, because she knew quite well that the total attack was far more than she had as life points.

She shook her head in denial as thirty-three magic users appeared beside Supreme Sage of Balance, all of them facing her down. And every last one of them was gathering energy for one final attack that would end the duel. "Even if I'm defeated now I'll still succeed, and you know it! You can't possibly win!"

"Yeah, well that's a battle for another day. For the moment there's only one thing I want from you. I WANT YOU TO GO TO HELL!" Then a rain of thirty-four different attacks sprayed over Yumi's body, vaporizing it and sending the dark spirit careening into the farthest reaches of the darkness, to remain trapped in this place between dimensions for who knew how long.

"That was an interesting way to spend the day." With that supreme understatement out of the way, Drake collapsed from exhaustion. It was time for some very well earned rest, after all, he had just delayed the end of all things. If that doesn't earn a guy some peace and quiet, what else possibly could?
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Author's Notes: That ended up slightly longer than I wanted because I would have just had to extend it into the next chapter (pointlessly) in order to make it shorter. And of course that would have lengthened the next chapter, and then the next, and so on. So I made it like this. Hope you all enjoyed! Oh yeah, and just think about it. Drake did over one hundred and twenty thousand damage in one turn. Cool huh?

Time Mage: Right on both counts! Err, I think. Also, I hope this answered some of your questions.

WolfGeneral: Last time the dark spirit defeated himself and that was partially on purpose. But as you can see Drake managed to best him/her this time without dying.

The White Mage: The point was for Hell Greed to be an unfair card. And your other question was just answered.

G.O.T. Nick: Eh, it's one of those anime/manga things.

Original Cards(Drake played more original cards in this chapter than any single person in any single chapter I've ever written. Just look)

Yumi(wow, that's a lot): Death Banshee, Bloody Hand of the Demon Prophet, Revenge of Hell, Second Wind, Expaning Shadows, The Haunting Cycle, Death Bomb, Broken Heart, Touch of the Reaper, Meat Grinder, Evil Absorption, Shriek of the Banshee, Rip to Pieces, Nightmare Life Thief, Severed Spine, Devil's Life Absorption, Still Beating Heart, Instant Replay, Twilight Renewal, Payment of Debt, Body Count, No Need For Greed

Daisuke: Halt Play, Blue Magician of the Shield, Red Magician of the Cross, Magician's Last Gift, Magic of Revival, Magician of the Storm, Skilled Chaos Magician, Energy Stasis, Life Point Recount, Absolute Determination, Type Shift, Chaos Fusion, White Magician of Chaos, Chaos Magician Girl, Black Sorcerer, White Sorcerer, Twisted Spellweaver, Refined Spellweaver, Sage of Everlasting Light, Sage of Unending Darkness, White Magic Summoner, Black Magic Summoner, Ghost Sorcerer, Ghost Magician, Scholarly Magician, Quick-Silver Magician, Sunrise Magician, Sunset Magician, Guardian Magician of the Day, Guardian Magician of the Night, Master Spellweaver, Sage of Eternity, Guardian Magician of the Eclipse, Sorcerer of Soul, Ultima Summoner, Poltergeist Mage, Golden Magician of Light, Mage of Starlight, Chaos Sage, Master Scholar, Chaos Mastery, Shot From The Dark, Supreme Sage of Balance

Anime Original Cards

Daisuke: Magician's Cross, Surprise Attack From The Darkness

Yumi: Steal The Sleeping's Breath(Bakura uses it on Kaiba's Lord of Dragons at the start of the Egyptian Arc)