AN: Yes I left the last chapter ending at a bit of a cliffhanger, but I wanted the first half to end so that people could read that while I worked on this part.

Rupert Giles barely had time to dive out of the library before it was decimated by dragons rising from the floor, and then he was running as fast as he could.

The destruction went skywards as he finally reached a safe distance and turned to observe what was happening.

He saw a female form, something he described with one word, "Beautiful."

"What sorcery is this?" the master gasped at the entity standing between him and the human who had dared to enter his sanctum.

"This is the magic of shadows, the powers of old that have greater power than you can comprehend," Yami responded, "In simpler terms, you and your playthings as well as myself have entered what is known as a Shadowgame, and one that has very real consequences, you may not know it, but the winner decides the fate of the loser, and if you break the rules, you suffer a penalty game to the others chosing."

"How?"

"How is not important at the moment, you must chose to either accept the game and play it through, or well, forfeit," the duelist said calmly as darkness surrounded everyone in the chamber, "So do you want to know the rules?"

"I'll play your game, what are the rules," the inhuman bloodsucker snarled reluctantly.

Two cards appeared on the ground and rose into the air, both twirling slowly.

"There are two cards, the first represents Tiamat," Yami said as one of the cards stopped spinning to show that it was of the monster, "Something quite capable of destroying everything in this chamber, not to mention the city if she was unleashed."

The Master nodded slowly, obviously contemplating the raw power such a creature would grant him if he controlled it.

"And the other," Xander said to reveal it as a Yami field magic card, "Represents total oblivion, now the rules are simple, both cards will be mixed and then face down, we each choose one, you and your followers pick one, and I will take the other, the one with Tiamat controls the monster, the other is trapped in the Shadow Realm for eternity."

The cards spun rapidly, faces darkening, and then they landed face down on the floor, massive forms.

"Your pick," Yami said calmly with a wicked smirk.

Flutie was standing back and watching the swirling darkness that domed over the city, a massive monster hanging above the school as a hawk waits for a flushed rodent.

He thought for a moment, the creature seemed familiar as he remembered something an old friend of his had mentioned. A smile crossed his lips as he matched a recent memory of one of the students with something his friend had taught him when he had spent some time in Egypt when he was younger.

"The pharoh," he whispered in awe, "Has returned."

"Make your choice," the duelist said with a calm tone, "And luck will determine if it leads to power or oblivion."

The master paused for a moment and stepped onto one of them with a nod to one of his underlings who rushed for the other one, only to be stopped by a flash of lightning.

"You cheated and such, before we finish this, we get to play the penalty game," Yami said with a wide and evil smile as he held up his deck, "Choose one card from the deck and then you deal with its consequences."

The vampire pulled one, it had the image of a lamp.

"Dark Piercing Light," Xander said as the golden eye on his forehead grew brighter an instant before a pulse of bright light flashed through the darkness and most of the vampires burst into flames as if in sunlight, "And the morning light clenses a few demons from the world, but take heart, you are protected by the magic of the game itself, until it's over, you are safe from other effects, and this one is only a instantanious effect, not a lasting one."

As the minions turned to dust around him, the Master hesitated before finally choosing a card, "I'll take this one."

"Then the other is mine to pick," Yami said calmly as he stepped onto it with a smile, "And now, both cards reveal your faces!"

The cards slowly seemed to shift, revealing their identities, and Xander stood before Tiamat, the master before the swirling void of the Yami card.

"Sorry," Xander said in a cold tone of authority, "You lose, but I will give you a choice, an eternity in the Shadow Realm or destruction."

"It doesn't matter," the vampire snarled, "I will be avenged!"

"I sentence you to destruction then," Xander said calmly, "Tiamat, Dragon Queen Starlight Disruption Blast!"

The creature nodded and began to collect energy that swirled a deep crimson as the light from countless stars seemed to pierce the veil of shadows that surrounded them. Energy streaks shot towards the creature to be caught in the vortex forming. And then it fired a single, minute shimmer of bright light that struck the vampire in the chest.

"What?" the creature laughed, "Is that all?"

"No, the attack draws in the raw fury of every star, and focuses it into one tiny space, then when that hits the target..." he paused with a smile as the light grew brighter, blinding enough to make him shade his eyes with his arm.

"Nooooooo!" the Master shrieked as he exploded into a beam of light that pierced the shadows, causing them to vanish.

"And causes destruction," Yami finished as he caught the two cards that descended on the wind, his monster vanishing back into one of them.

He turned to face Buffy, who was under the water at the edge of the chamber and walked over, picking her up and sitting her on the ground.

"I was to late to save you from death," Xander said with a tear in his eye, "But not to late to bring you back."

He pulled out a magic card with a smile, "This should do, Reborn the Monster!"

Bright light flooded the area as a two hundred foot tall symbol appeared in the sky above the dead slayer, the energy pouring into her.

With a cough, the blondes eyes fluttered open just as Xander replaced the cards and slipped his deck back into its case.

"Wha...what happened?" she asked.

And the king of games slowly shook his head with a smirk and a chuckle, "Something interesting, and let's leave it at that."

As the veil vanished, Flutie pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and dialed a number.

"Shadi, yeah, it's me, I just discovered something you ought to know..."