"I can still feel him!"

The voice rang out over his head again. Yami Bakura, motionless against the rock, prayed that his hikari would somehow find him before one of the pharaoh's guardians did. He wasn't sure exactly what Ryou intended to do, but anything would be better than death at their hands.

"I sense the tomb robber nearby."

Another voice rang from behind the stone wall. It wasn't Ryou's.

"Yes, Mahado." The more feminine voice answered. "He must have been trapped by the crumbling rocks, just as the Celtic Guardian was. He is right through that passageway."

There was a short pause.

"Shall we attack now?"

Yami Bakura froze.

This was it. He closed his eyes, and let his body fall limp upon the crumbled stone. This was where millennia of scheming had brought him - A death far more painful than when he was first sealed into the millennium ring, at the hands of the pharaoh's guardians, inside the trinket he most wanted to steal. That is, if the ritual hadn't already killed him, and this was just his own imagination playing wicked shadow games with him.

"I've almost got him…" Ryou's voice quivered. "I think…"

"No." the male pursuer's voice softly added. For a moment, Yami Bakura smiled at the fate the gods had dealt. "That is no longer necessary, Mana. I shall finish this myself."

"As you wish." The other voice responded. And again, his heart fell to the bottom of his lacerated chest.

"See to the pharaoh and his smaller companion." Mahado ordered. "Help them find their way through the depths of the puzzle."

"Right away." She responded.

Yami Bakura could hear her footsteps as she ran farther away. And he could hear the solid pounding of purple boots against uneven stone. A dark magic blast burst through the ceiling above him, sending another shower of stone pellets onto the passageway below.

"Tomb robber!" the Dark Magician announced, jumping through the hole he had just created. He landed in an offensive stance, and pointed his long wand at the intruder. "At last, we meet again!"

Yami Bakura refused to look his captor in the face.

"You fought me once, and killed me." The purple-robed wizard announced forcefully. "Or do you not remember?"

Again, Yami Bakura refused to acknowledge him. Both of them could feel the presence of the millennium ring hovering nearby.

"Or are you merely hoping that the priest who took my place could protect you?"

"I don't know what you're getting at, magician." Yami Bakura finally sneered.

"Oh don't you? It was you who stole the millennium ring from me!"

Yami Bakura clenched his fists.

"If you're going to blast me. Do it now."

"And I am the one who created the ritual of purification!"

"Stop bragging!" Yami Bakura shouted, slamming his right fist onto a nearby stone. It crumbled under his anger. "If you're going to kill me, get it over with already!"

"I… I found him!"

The tomb robber gasped. Could Ryou get to him before the guardian? Could he even work the ring?

"Ryou…"

"I can hear him! He's calling my name!" the voice was more certain this time.

"Yes!" Yami Bakura's eyes lit up with hope. "Ryou! I'm right here! Ryou!"

He struggled to sit up, arching his back as far as he could manage.

"Not this time." The Dark Magician whispered, and pointed his wand at the unsteady pile of rubble on top of the tomb robber. "You may not believe this… but I'm doing this for your own good."

Yami Bakura didn't have time to react before the dark magic blast struck the rocks. An uncontrollable avalanche of stone slid down the makeshift hillside, literally covering the tomb robber in its wake.

"Ryou!" he cried, just as his face was completely buried in the dust.

"He must take me instead…" the Dark Magician let out a deep breath, and climbed to the top of the rubble.

"I've got him!"

The Dark Magician stood, his body completely enveloped in the aura of the millennium ring. The faint gold light surrounded him, and penetrated him, breaking his spiritual body into a fine white mist. He closed what was left of his eyes, and waited to awaken in a new form, all the while praying to Ra that his sacrifice would not have been in vain.