Author's Notes: Now for the climax of the Kai vs. D'harim duel! Also, take a look at the note below.

Ready? DEATH KNIGHTS ARE NOT LIKE VALKYRIES! The similarities?

1. Both ride horses.

2. Both have a card with a similar name.

3. ...Oh wait! Those two were the only similarities.

See, I didn't base Death Knights on Valkyries in any way, shape, or form. That is all, sorry, just had to get that off my chest.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Suffering of Kai Kaethen

D'harim drew a new card, and was about to say something when Kai triggered his face down card. "I activate Hand Rebirth, forcing us each to discard our hands and draw five new cards. So whatever card you chose is gone."

They both drew new hands, and Kai was ready to continue. "Since I have no monsters out of play at the moment I can activate the other effect of Gates of Time. I can special summon one level four or lower monster from my hand the moment I draw it. So I summon Chaotic Magician(1600/2000) in defense mode."

Kai's new monster had wild hair, sticking out from under his magician's hat and a crazed look on his face. "I don't really need this defense since I still have my Maiden of the Dormant Shields in the graveyard. So I'm safe until you can get rid of all my monsters in the grave."

D'harim smirked and shook his head in amusement. "You certainly are pulling off some impressive moves. But...not good enough. Because the card I chose can even be activated in the cemetery. Activate magic card! Ride of the Death Knights!"

Kai felt his hopes slip away as one by one Death Knights began appearing on the field, until a total of ten were assembled. "Ride of the Death Knights fills my field with Death Knights and prevents their attacks from being chained to this turn, it also forces me to return my hand to my deck. Oh, and they can attack directly this turn."

"It's too much...if I can't chain...then Maiden of the Dormant Shields is useless, and I'm finished." D'harim nodded, smirking as he answered Kai's unspoken question.

"You should feel glad, since it also destroys all cards on my field outside of Death Knights, getting rid of that Nightmare Lash you didn't seem to like. On the other hand...I have ten Death Knights who will all be attacking you directly right now. Poor you." Kai averted his eyes, awaiting the blows that would soon fall.

"Suffer Kai Kaethen. You will learn to suffer at the hands of my Death Knights!"

Kai didn't even have a chance to react before the ten knights were upon him, swinging their weapons, beating at him with their blades. Yet to his shock, each attack hurt far less than it should. When they parted he was bloodied up and heavily bruised, but not dead yet. "I'm...alive?"

"Indeed you are Kai. I guess I neglected to mention that all damage by my Death Knights is reduced to three hundred for the turn, so you only lost three thousand life points there. Unfortunately for you...I just used Death Knight Torture Master's effect, one of the Death Knights I summoned. It's the same as Nightmare Lash, so discard ten cards from your deck." Kai groaned and slid the top ten cards of his deck into his graveyard, reducing the number of cards he had yet again. (KLP: 6000)

"On the other hand my Death Knight Recruiter(1200/1100) allows me to draw a brand new hand of five cards since a Death Knight did damage this turn and that damage was negated. Lucky for you my Death Knights go to the grave at the end of this turn though. So I set two cards and end my turn." His cards appeared, and each of the Death Knights faded away, leaving his field almost empty.

Kai groaned and drew a new card. He took a glance at it and then immediately placed it onto his disk right next to his Chaotic Magician. "Using the effect of Gates of Time I now summon Quasar Magician(1800/1500) in attack mode."

A simple magician in plain black robes now stood to Kai's left. The only thing setting this monster apart from other magicians was that its eyes were each and endless sea of stars, like a looking glass into the depths of space. "I switch Chaotic Magician(1600/2000) into attack mode.

"Now I summon Gravity Mage(1800/0) to complete my attack force." Kai now had four monsters on his field, each one with decent attack power. Together they had nearly enough attack power to drain D'harim of his life points. It would significantly put Kai into the lead, along with severely weakening D'harim's chances of victory.

Kai looked at the four remaining cards in his hand, and finally decided on what to do. It was time to go out on a limb. 'If I wait I just give D'harim a chance to call back his Death Knights. This is my best chance to really hurt him, so I have to take it even with the risk of those face down cards.'

"Okay D'harim, I'm ready to go offensive again. All four of my monsters attack you directly!" The four mages raised their weapons and attacked. Four different types of magical attacks shot towards the dark knight who calmly awaited them.

"I'll be using both of my set cards. Open set card, quick-play magic card Pins and Needles! This will return every card in your cemetery to your deck!" Kai's eyes went wide as a massive barrage of pins and needles shot at him. He threw up his arms and tried to get out of the way, but still the slashed past him, cutting him, and a few bouncing off bones as they pierced skin.

'No...he returned my Maiden of the Dormant Shields to my deck, that means my best defense is gone!' He grimaced, and wiped away some of the blood that now covered him. Despite the pain he wasn't really bothered, because that effect hadn't negated his attack.

"D'harim, it's still going through, so you'll take a large degree of damage!" D'harim smirked and snapped his fingers, allowing his final face down card to flip up. A tornado of dark energy sprang up around him, and the blasts bounced off.

"My other quick-play card was Dark Wall of Air, which prevents me from being attack this turn by monsters. And now I'll tell you the last effect of Pins and Needles. You take one hundred damage for each card shuffled into your deck that way." Kai kept his face calm, knowing that he was still mostly safe because D'harim had a tendency to negate most damage he did just to cause pain. (KLP: 3300)

"I'm done for now D'harim. I set these two cards face down and end my turn." He knew that he still had the field advantage, but the power of D'harim's deck would quickly change that. He had no idea what to expect, and they both had about the same number of cards in their hand. Right now it seemed even.

D'harim took a single glance at his newest card, and then he smirked. "I activate Black Tide of Death, similar to my Black Wind of Death, only this will sweep away all monsters on your field into you grave!"

A mighty wave of black waters roared past D'harim and plunged down on Kai's field, and each of Kai's monsters was lost within it. When the waters settled there was nothing left on Kai's field at all. "What happened to my two face down cards?"

"Those? Destroyed by my magic card. Oh, and discard your hand as well. As compensation I have to discard ten cards from my deck and give up my battle phase. No matter though, I don't mind." He plucked ten cards and looked them over, then he shoved them into his graveyard slot.

On the other side of the duel Kai took the two remaining cards in his hand and shoved them into his cemetery. Now the only thing he had going for him was his Gates of Time field card, which wasn't going to be much help instantly. 'If he wasn't so focused on causing me pain I'd have been finished by now...I'm just getting lucky in a way.'

"Have you forgotten the power of my Death Knights? No? Good, because I discard the top card of my deck to revive Death Knight Paladin(2300/2200)!" The mighty magic using knight clawed his way up from the grave, and leveled his sword in Kai's direction.

"I activate only one of his effects and revive my Death Knight Warlord(2650/1800). These two monsters are what I needed to use the power of my next magic card. Hangman's Noose!" Kai was caught off guard as a rope suddenly lowered around his neck, and tightened up. Now he was standing on a wooden platform, with the rope around his neck and a trap door beneath his feet.

"This continuous magic card will force you to discard one card from the top of your deck to the grave equal to the number of Death Knights on my field. It will tighten whenever you do that, but it will tighten worse if you refuse. You can destroy it by refusing, but you will take two thousand points of damage." D'harim smirked, well aware of the pain and panic that his magic card could cause.

"I won't fall to you scare tactics or your pain tactics. That's something I can't do." Kai took a deep breath, readying himself for what was to come. Although D'harim couldn't attack this turn he was bound to get an even stronger force out in the next turn.

"If you say so Kai. But I'll believe it when I see it. Until later, I set one card face down and end my turn." D'harim had all but emptied his hand in that turn, not that it mattered since he had literally emptied everything from Kai's field and hand. D'harim was just too strong.

Kai glanced at his newest card, and sighed deeply. "I set a monster in defense mode. That's all I can do." His monster appeared before him, and that was all there was for him to do. He couldn't stop the next assault with just one monster. Not only that, but the noose tightened, and two cards went to his graveyard.

D'harim smirked and snapped a card off his deck, glad to get the duel back up and moving. He glanced at the card and then slid it into his disk immediately. "Black Wind of Death returns once more, and I'll use it to obliterate your field magic card!"

Razor winds swept past him, cutting his skin even more, and he felt his knees nearly buckle as a wave of sickness crashed down on him. Blood loss was weakening him, and he didn't know how long he would be able to stay focused. 'It's too much...just too much.' (KLP: 2800)

"I activate the power of Death Knight Paladin and revive my Death Knight General(2500/1900). Next I discard a card from the top of my deck and resurrect Death Knight Swordmaster(2400/1700)!" With minimal effort D'harim had just unleashed an attack force of four monsters, all of whom could easily attack this turn with only one monster defending Kai.

"I hope you remember my Warlord's effect, because you're about to feel it. However, first I summon a brand new Death Knight Mechanist(300/2200) whose face-up effect will help me out quite a bit. Death Knight Paladin attacks!" The paladin slashed his pitch black blade through Kai's set monster.

D'harim grinned as Kai screamed in pain, echoing the cry of agony from his monster. It was revealed as a magician with green robes and a glowing bow strapped across its back. Death Knight Paladin's blade had cut through the bones of its shoulder and cut through its opposite hip, effectively cutting it in half. "Now Death Knight Warlord will inflict four hundred damage to you!"

The Warlord rode over to Kai and slammed his fist into the side of the teenager's head, knocking him flat on his back. Kai passed out for a moment, and awoke to vision clouded by blood dripping from the heavy wound inflicted on his brow by the Warlord. 'Too much...' (KLP: 2400)

"Death Knight Mechanist allows me to negate battle damage inflicted by a Death Knight in order to draw one card. Of course you'll still feel the attack. So, Death Knight Swordmaster, show him your stuff!" The knight wielding two swords proceeded to smash the flats of those blades into Kai's stomach, doubling him over. D'harim smirked when he saw Kai spit up a decent amount of blood. He then slid a card off his deck and started to make his next declaration.

"No...hold it. I can use this trap from my grave, so I do. Archmage's Judgement can be used when I receive a direct attack. It then destroys all enemy monsters that haven't attacked this turn." A wave of blue light descended onto D'harim's field and his monsters were burned into ashes, leaving only Paladin and Swordmaster.

"Impressive maneuver Kaethen. I set two cards face down and end my turn." His lips turned up in a sneer as Kai moved his hand, struggling to reach for his next card. If he wasn't able to draw, he would end up losing the duel.

Finally Kai got it in his hand, and then sent a glare D'harim's way. "You destroyed Mystic Archer From Afar(1000/1400) who removes himself from the game when destroyed. Now as long as he is the only monster in my removed from play pile I can destroy one of your cards. So I destroy your Paladin."

A glowing arrow lanced down from above and speared into the Paladin's chest. The Death Knight collapsed, and turned to dust. "Another impressive weak monster. But impressive weak monsters won't save you from me."

"Pot of Greed." He slid another two cards off his deck and into his hand, ignoring the green pot that appeared in front of him when the effect was activated. He needed the cards too much to pay attention to special effects.

"Perfect. I play Spell Overlap, which can only be played after I activate a magic card. That magic card activates itself a second time." The magical grinning green pot took form on the field again as Kai drew another two cards, giving him three cards in his hand to work with.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, and Kai had absolutely no method to stop the next assault. So now was the time to get desperate. "I play Mystical Space Typhoon on your left face down card." D'harim smirked as is card was blown away.

"Now I summon Monster Breaker(1900/1000) to the field!" His black armored breaker hit the field, the first of them to get played during the duel. He looked to his monster and smiled slightly before gesturing to his opponent's Swordmaster.

"I remove Monster Breaker's counter in order to destroy your Swordmaster." Monster Breaker jumped forward, his sword ablaze with light, and slashed it through Swordmaster's chest. The Swordmaster burst into dust, leaving D'harim with only a single face down card between Monster Breaker and D'harim's life points.

"Impressive move, but do you really think you'll actually manage to hurt me with that measly creature of yours and its pathetic sixteen hundred attack points. I do have a face down card after all." Kai nodded and flipped around the final card in his hand, showing a group of magicians gathered around a glowing piece of parchment.

"Lost Text requires I sacrifice a magician on my field. Then I can replace it with any other magician from my deck. So I sacrifice Monster Breaker to summon my faithful Breaker the Magical Warrior(1900/1000)!" The black armor suddenly shimmered and changed colors, becoming a crimson color instead.

"I'll use Breaker's special ability to destroy your face down card. It's time for me to even up this duel!" Breaker raises his sword above his head, which now glowed with a great inner light. Then he swung it down, send a wave of energy at the set card.

"I activate that set card, Exchange of Life! I return every card in my cemetery to my deck at a cost of giving you one hundred life points per card. I have twenty-six cards in my cemetery, so you gain quite a few life points." Kai grimaced when he saw his life point counter raise, but didn't feel any energy returned. Apparently Heart of Suffering was one way. You got all the pain but none of the pleasure. (KLP: 5000)

"Thanks for raising my life points, but it was pointless. Breaker, attack him directly!" Breaker charged and slashed his sword at D'harim, but to Kai's shock an unarmored undead creature wearing dark breeches and a shirt jumped in the way and was cut down.

"Stupid amateur. I used Exchange of Life to return my Death Knight Page(400/1400) to my deck from my cemetery. He can be special summon from my deck at any time to block an opponent's attack. When he dies I get to draw two cards, so thank you for that." Kai grimaced, realizing that his best chance at undoing D'harim had just fallen apart.

'Now my Breaker is defenseless. I have no more cards in my hand and nothing left to use. I had been hoping to just deal some damage that turn as a last desperate act, but even that failed. Now what is left for me?' He bit back a groan as a wash of pain flowed through his body, nearly knocking him off his feet. Things just kept getting worse.

Lastly two more cards went from his deck to the cemetery as Hangman's Noose did its work, chocking Kai in the process. He could refuse to discard and take the damage, but he doubted he would like the effect. In fact, he was sure if he did so he would be hung, and he wouldn't recover from that.

"I take it that my turn is about to begin, so I draw!" The first knight of order looked at his new card and then with a glance at his other two cards began to smirk devilishly. Even though Kai could barely see it with his vision clouded, he knew it was bad.

"Now the time has come for you to lose, although that time will be slightly prolonged in order to fulfill my promise. Step one...introduce you to several of the methods of torture. I'll do so by equipping Breaker with Torture Rack!" A black metal table appeared out of nowhere, and brown straps pressed Breaker down upon it.

"The monster equipped by Torture Rack is considered to be out of play, so your Mystic Archer's effect is useless. Each turn the opponent will lose one hundred life points times the monster's level. So each of your turns you will lose four hundred life points." So far that didn't sound bad to Kai, but it was the name of the card that had him worried.

"Unfortunately for you it does so by using many methods of torture on the monster. Not only that, but thanks to Heart of Suffering..." D'harim left it hanging, knowing that Kai would realize what had gone unsaid. He did know.

Each turn his Breaker would be tortured. Each turn Heart of Suffering would make him feel that torture as well. Each turn he would lose four hundred life points. Unless he found a way to free his Breaker soon, he wouldn't last long enough to make any sort of come back. 'Only a few methods left to destroy magic or trap cards in my deck...'

"I hope you weren't thinking about top decking your way out of this situation, because I have a way to stop that. Tell me Kai, are you a religious person? Are you a Christian?" Kai shook his head, not sure what D'harim was getting at by this line of questioning.

"Pity, I was hoping this card would offend you more then. I activate Cross of Lightning!" Kai grimaced as suddenly the hangman's noose was replaced by a massive steel cross, and he was strapped to it by what looked like barbed wire, which was cutting into his skin.

"By giving up my battle phase I can force you to give up your draw phase. An even trade I'd say. Especially considering my card is continuous. Come your turn you'll learn why it's called the Cross of Lightning." D'harim's smirk meant trouble for Kai, and so did this card. Especially when he realized the implications of this combo.

'I have no cards on the field, none in my hand, and now his Cross of Lightning prevents me from drawing so long as he gives up his battle phase. While that may save me from attacks, I won't be able to recover because each turn I'll lose two cards, four hundred life points, and experience a whole new level of pain. It's an unbeatable combo...I'm completely locked down!' He would have let his head sag, but a strap was holding his head against the back of the cross.

"I see that you understand. Good thing too, otherwise this wouldn't be as much fun. I may not be able to attack you, but I can build up a sizable force just in case." He took the last card in his hand and slapped it down on his Duel Pod, watching as his creature was summoned.

"Death Knight Priest(1000/1100) isn't particularly powerful, but I can forfeit my draw phase to have him send a Death Knight to the grave. Quite useful, yes? End turn." It didn't matter what cards that D'harim played from now on, because this single combo had already decided the fate of the game. There was no way to escape it.

Since D'harim's turn ended Kai's officially began, but he didn't have a draw phase. And he learned exactly what that meant as streaks of electricity suddenly zapped through his body, causing him to convulse violently. The barbed wire slashed his skin horribly while he convulsed, dealing even greater damage to him. "Nowhere near as powerful as the electric chair, but effective nonetheless."

"You'll pay...somehow I know it. Right now Dalin is watching and I know he's figuring out how to defeat you." Kai managed a slight smirk despite the pain, at last revealing his true plan.

"Are you saying that you dueled me knowing that you couldn't win, but with the intent of just revealing all of my strategy to Dalin? You're giving up your life so that he can defeat me in a duel?" Kai's smirk broadened, showing D'harim that he was correct.

"It may not be the best plan in the world, but it's strategy. I told you before we started that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and I know Dalin will learn from this duel. His strength will defeat you in the end, I know it!" D'harim's eyes narrowed in anger, and then he smirked.

"That may be, but I believe you're forgetting what comes after the draw phase. That would be the standby phase, and now that we have reached the appropriate phase...Torture Rack activates!" The straps on the rack tightened, and suddenly chains wrapped around Breaker's stomach, tightening further and further with each second.

Kai could barely breath as he felt his ribs squeeze in on his lungs. He knew in his mind that it wasn't happening to him, but it felt so real that it didn't seem possible that it was anything else. He had no idea how long it lasted, but he did know that his mind barely seemed to be functioning afterwards. He drifted in and out of consciousness. (KLP: 4500)

D'harim gestured to his deck, and suddenly a card shot out of it. He caught it without even looking, and then slid it into his cemetery. "If you're aware of my actions, I'm announcing my move at the moment. And I just used Death Knight Priest's effect."

His opponent muttered something that vaguely sounded like recognition, but D'harim couldn't be bothered to discover the real details. No point when he already had the duel finished. "The Death Knight ability...I activate it now."

Another card slid into his cemetery, and the one he had sent in previously popped out, allowing him to play it on his Duel Pod. "The ever familiar Death Knight Paladin(2300/2200) is revived, and I use his effect to shuffle that card I discarded back into my deck."

"Since I've forfeited my battle phase, I think it's time for you to learn another lesson in pain. End Turn!" He waited with baited breath as Kai's duel disk registered the start of his turn, and the effects of D'harim's cards kicked in.

Thin little blades slid down into Breaker's armor, parting it like butter. They pushed in farther, running across the skin below, putting just the right amount of pressure to cause pain. Then suddenly a needle thin blade stabbed down into his shoulder, and one by one the others did the same, peppering Breaker's body with little wounds.

Kai's body quivered under the relentless assault that his brain and body felt, but it wasn't over, because just as it seemed to stop the effect of Cross of Lightning kicked in. Thousands of volts of electricity coursed through Kai's body, and he didn't even bother to try and hold back the scream that was building. (KLP: 4000)

D'harim looked on with those cold blank eyes of his, a cruel smirk plastered on his face. Just by looking at him one wouldn't be able to tell wether he was enjoying this, or simply satisfied that his promise was being fulfilled. "Are you beginning to understand Kai Kaethen? All your pathetic thoughts about pain and the reality of the world...they are nothing. You have never known true pain until this moment."

Kai was hardly in the position to respond, so D'harim felt the need to simply continue speaking. "The Heart of Suffering draws on your pain and tells me all that I could ever need to know. You love history, your parents were both deeply involved in it, giving you that great love."

The dark duelist slid a card off his deck, choosing not to activate the effect of his Priest. "Because of your love of history some of the students at your school chose not to accept you. Sob sob, boo hoo. They didn't like you and you withdrew into yourself, choosing to focus only on a few things in life. History, and Duel Monsters."

Languidly the duelist placed his drawn card onto his duel disk right next to his Death Knight Paladin. The form of Death Knight Reaper(1800/1600) took shape, granting him even more attack points to use at a later date. "The few friends you ever had were never true friends, but rather companions, or acquaintances who saw eye to eye with you on certain things. You drew deeper into yourself, always thinking that mankind had done you some sort of disservice by not accepting you into the fold."

With no actions taken by him, the disks transferred control of the duel to Kai, who was immediately shocked by the arcs of electricity that ran through his body courtesy of Cross of Lightning. "You were cold and lonely, but that isn't pain! You were the one who pushed the world away, not the other way around. And you are responsible for all of that!"

Almost as if in response to his actions the Torture Rack chose its newest method of torturing Breaker, and in turn torturing Kai. Breaker's arms and legs were wrapped up in chains, and some unseen object began pulling on them. The magical warrior's body and bones creaked as it was pulled into unnatural angles, forced past the breaking bone. (KLP: 3500)

"I'm not done with you Kai Kaethen, but since its my turn I'll be using my Priest's effect, and combining it with Paladin's effect in order to revive my Death Knight Warlord(2650/1800)!" A fourth monster appeared on D'harim's field, granting him more than enough brute power to easily crush Kai should he choose to do so.

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"I don't understand. Why is he doing this to that friend of yours? He seemed like such a nice person before, if a little cold." Hikari stared into the void, her body shivering in fear. Never before had she thought such acts could be committed on a person. Now she was seeing it for herself, the true suffering that could be inflicted upon a human being.

Dalin set a massive hand on her should, his eyes also watching the field. But his eyes held no compassion like hers did. Instead they held nothing that could be used to interpret his thinking. "I don't claim to understand his thinking. But I do know that what you sensed, what you experienced, was the true person underneath all of what you now see."

'Kai, I respect your decision. However, should I have faced D'harim I would have done so under my own strength. If you want anyone to defeat D'harim, you must somehow make that person yourself.' Dalin did not know how that could be accomplished, but it was what he felt. He wanted for Kai to win, he didn't want to have to defeat D'harim.

Because that would mean that Kai had fallen before D'harim's power. Anyone who was defeated by the Knight of Darkness would die. So in order to defeat the Knight of Darkness, Dalin would be forced to do so by mounting the rampart set forth by Kai's death.

Off to his right Kirani was in the middle of feeling something close to guilt. She had been rather insulting of Kai lately, though mostly in her head, because of his callous attitude about things that had been happening.

First he had seemingly not cared that Yami, Kaiba, and Joey were gone. Then he had expressed his lack of concern for Mai and the others being defeated as they were. The last straw was when he had brushed off Ryu and Autumn's loss. It was as if he were a completely heartless person.

Yet here he was, struggling against a stronger opponent, suffering intense agony, and all so that Dalin could defeat D'harim and they could move on. 'Maybe there's more to Kai than I thought. But even if I'm wrong, I still hope he can find a way out of this and win. I'm setting my faith in you Kai, so don't knuckle under.'

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D'harim watched with satisfaction as the joint abilities of Cross of Lightning and Torture Rack kicked in, draining Kai of another five hundred life points and preventing him from drawing. It was an utterly perfect lock, and there was no way in the entire game of Duel Monsters to defeat it. "My turn again Kai." (KLP: 3000)

A card popped out of his deck and he slid it into his graveyard following the effect of his Death Knight Priest. "Now I activate the power of my Death Knight Paladin and revive Death Knight General(2500/1900)!"

His second strongest Death Knight rode out to meet with his other monsters, filling up his monster zone. He didn't seem bothered in the slightest by this or by his lack of magic or trap cards. "Again, my turn is forfeited along with my battle phase. But so is yours!"

Kai wasn't even able to scream as D'harim's cards activated, forcing unspeakable horrors upon him. Although there wasn't any physical damage apparent to Kai, he was obviously feeling every little bit of it. Each turn it was getting worse as his life points drained away. (KLP: 2500)

D'harim slid a card off the top of his deck, and then immediately slipped it onto his Duel Pod. "I'll set a card face down. Then I give up my battle phase again to keep Cross of Lightning in play. Then we know what happens don't we?"

The shadows were alive with Kai's pain, and to him all his life seemed to be fading away. He was no longer aware of the duel, or of anything going on around him. All he knew was absolute pain, beyond everything else. It consumed his world, it was his world. He was pain. (KLP: 2000)

"You know Kai, you look half-dead. Maybe more. Can you even tell that I'm setting a card face down right now? No? That's fine with me. End turn." He smirked as Kai's entire body spasmed with the pain he was experiencing and from the volts of electricity being pumped through his body. His gaze fell on Breaker and what was happening to it, and he could only smile. That was definitely not pretty. (KLP: 1500)

D'harim inspect Kai for several seconds before drawing his card for the turn. Satisfied with what he saw, he nodded and drew. "Yes, I've decided. You are more than half-dead. I doubt you'll last more than another turn. I'm impressed you've lasted this long."

He saw the glares of the three watching the duel, but he didn't care. He was enjoying the look on Kai's face, seeing the muscles in his body convulse as he experienced different levels and types of pain. By now he was sure that Kai knew nothing but the pain. 'Nothing is so joyous as suffering. I wonder if he's learned that lesson yet, or if he's too far gone to know anything at all.'

The electricity's flow ceased, as did the torture, leaving Kai's life points at an unimpressive one thousand. All four others present had their trains of thought cut off when they noticed something rather peculiar. There was absolute no motion from Kai at all. "Has it happened already?"

The dark knight approached and lifted his arm up to Kai. His fingers pressed up against the side of the other duelist's neck, and he paused for several seconds there. Then he leaned his head up against Kai's chest, and passed a hand in front of his mouth and nose.

Within the darkness, Dalin, Kirani, and Hikari all waited with baited breath. This was the moment of truth. And now D'harim was turning to look directly at them, and his blank eyes seemed all the more horrible because of the situation.

"I was right. He's more than half-dead. He's all-dead."

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Author's Notes: Don't really have much to say. Oh, and I pulled the 'all-dead' thing from The Princess Bride.

Review Response

VoidTemplar: As I said above, Death Knights are not like Valkyries except in those two completely insignificant ways.

The White Mage: Same as what I said above and to VoidTemplar.

Time Mage: Paul...D'harim isn't going to fear Kai's deck at all as you can plainly see. D'harim is extremely powerful, far more so than Kai. No, Hikari didn't choose Valkyries.

G.O.T. Nick: You were right about that hurting, you just had no clue how right you were.

WolfGeneral: Boy does he ever like to inflict pain. And as you have just read, no he can't survive this.

Original Cards(If I put a TM next to a card, that means it was created by Time Mage who created Kai, if it has WG next to it, it was created by WolfGeneral)

D'harim: Ride of the Death Knights, Death Knight Torture Master, Death Knight Recruiter, Pins and Needles, Black Tide of Death, Death Knight Paladin, Death Knight Warlord, Hangman's Noose, Death Knight General, Death Knight Swordmaster, Black Wind of Death, Death Knight Mechanist, Exchange of Life, Death Knight Page, Torture Rack, Cross Of Lightning, Death Knight Priest, Death Knight Reaper

Kai: Chaotic Magician(TM), Gates of Time(TM), Quasar Magician(TM), Gravity Mage(TM), Archmage's Judgement(TM), Mystic Archer from Afar(TM), Spell Overlap, Monster Breaker, Lost Text(TM)