The sand kicked up in the wind, making even the sun nearly impossible to see. While it did make everyone's visibility poor, it did not harm the skin. It had to be the strangest sandstorm ever to be in, and though they did notice the oddness of the storm, they were too distracted with battle to care. No matter what kind of past he had, they could never forgive him for what happened to Yugi.

War was at hand. Duel monsters clashed, many already being destroyed. Fireballs, lightning strikes, magic, or other forms of monster attacks flew everywhere, making each step in the battle even more dangerous. The fight seemed to be even, each side taking its fair share of strong strikes and slaughtering. Those with weapons did as much as they could to contribute to the fight on their side as well, yet it was difficult to give much. They were mere humans after all, and a single blow from any monster in battle could instantly kill them. Knowing this, they were cautious.

Yami Yugi on the other hand, had his own plans. He had not a care about his own life. He went straight in the middle of the fight, being the strongest warrior of the humans. There must have never been a second, even when in flight on the back of Curse of Dragon, when he was not swinging his sword. With these swings of fury, he had struck down more monsters than anyone else. Not keeping track of how many had slain, he simply kept on fighting, ignoring his exhaustion. He would not be at rest until he had avenged for his partner.

The defense around Yugi was beginning to fall. Anzu had left long ago to help the others with their fights. Observing this from the sky, Yami Yugi ordered to land into the nearest open area. Quickly, his Curse of Dragon dove to the ground and let Yami Yugi off. He hopped off and Curse of Dragon returned to the battles in the sky. With many enemies in his path, he began to clear the way, no matter the strength of his enemy.

Nearby, his greatest enemy had awaited the landing of Yami Yugi. Standing with two of his monsters, Dark Assailant and Pharaoh's Servant, he stalked him for a bit, waiting until he had cleared most of the path. When the time arose, he used the dull part of his large sword to knock him hard in the back of the head. At the time, he had been prepared for a swing forward, but the hit in the back of the head caused the releasing of his weapon, sending it flying feet away. Once down, the two monsters with Anubis grabbed a hold of Yami Yugi's arms. They kept him on his knees, but restrained him from movement.

"You didn't kill me…" Yami Yugi said to him, fully aware that Anubis had the opportunity to kill him when he had his back turned to him.

"Need not to kill you yet. Not when you do not expect it. The exhilaration of killing you would be taken away then," he said.

He kneed him in the gut, causing him to lean over and look downward. The two weak monsters that held him grasped him tighter, trying to keep him straight.

"Now you know," Anubis told him. "Death to you now would be a beautiful thing."

Yami Yugi tried to stand, but Dark Assailant and Pharaoh's Servant kept him on his knees. He tried pulling and fighting out of the hold, but it was too tight, and he himself had worn himself out with his vicious battling. Instead, he was delivered another blow to the gut to help keep him down.

"Shit!" Honda screamed from several feet away. "Yugi's in trouble!"

The six others involved looked over to see Yami Yugi helplessly held as he was being beaten and possibly about to be killed. Far from him, they attempted to make their way to him to help, but it was no use. There were too many foes in their path to be able to get to him. With his monsters distracted by other fights, he could get help from nowhere else. Yami Yugi was doomed.

Slowly, Anubis raised the sword above his head with his two massive hands. His aim straight for the back of the neck, he swung down to behead his enemy.

Clink!

His swing was stopped. A sword had come across the path of the swing. At the sound of the swords colliding, he looked over to the wielder of it. Bloody and ragged, Yugi barely held the sword up with his two short arms and small hands. Everyone was shocked as blood spilled from the wound Yugi had caused from the wound. He had removed the dagger from him. The sword he held was the same that hand been knocked from Yami Yugi's hand. It had landed near him, and with it he would make one final stand.

"You," he glared and smiled at Yugi has he viciously lifted the sword upward, moving Anubis' sword away from Yami Yugi's head. Yugi pointed the tip of the blade at him, which was his way of showing he wished for battle. Anubis couldn't help but laugh at him. "If it is your death wish, then I shall grant it."

A weakened, physically disadvantaged Yugi and a God powered Anubis began to duel sword on sword. Yugi's friends continued to try to come aid him, but they were still stuck. Yami Yugi was still grasped by the two monsters, still unable to break free. Every time he tried to pull away, he was knocked back down. This time it was real: no one could help Yugi. Nobody could save him if he failed.

The two exchanged several swings at one another, each one getting blocked. Everyone, mostly Anubis, was surprised at the fighting spirit and strength of Yugi. Obviously, his physical ability was extremely limited, especially with an open stab wound. Despite that, he fought hard and courageously, but the outcome was inevitable. He stood no chance, especially in the condition he was in. He lasted longer than expectations, but eventually, he slashed a wild, hard swing that ended up not only missing miserably, but also making his body off balance, making it truly impossible for him to counter. Even with his blurry sight and light head, he saw the blow coming.

"Stop!" Yami Yugi called to him.

Yugi dropped the sword next to him, collapsing as blood hurled from his chest. Even deeper than the wound before, that had sapped the last bit of strength left in him. He lied in the sand, shaking from pain, spitting blood from his mouth. He turned to his Jounouchi and the rest, who had, despite the sandstorm and the monsters in their way, seen him fall. He then turned his head to Yami Yugi, still held by the enemies. There was nothing more he could do to help his other self anymore. This was the end.

Anubis put a foot on Yugi's chest, holding the sword straight above his throat with his hands tightly on the handle. A stab would finish him instantly, and for good.

Yami Yugi stopped his movement when looking into Yugi's dying eyes. He knew that despite he had not given into Anubis, his partner was about to die. As hard as he tried to get out of the hold, he could not breakaway. The rest of them were too far away to stop it. His fate was about to be sealed.

"Other I…" Yugi said silently and weakly. Yami Yugi listened closely. "I've suffered. I am about to lose, but you have to keep going. Against all the odds that might be ahead, rise against this darkness and shine the light through it. Trust in your friends…in your monsters…in our bond…in yourself. I'm always with you, and I…I trust you…my friend."

These were his last words before Anubis transfixed his throat. Yugi was gone. Anubis removed the sword and fled back to his side.

Witnessing the death of his closest friend, Yami Yugi became enraged. He pulled his arms in front of him, forcing the monsters that held him to collide and release their hold. He leaped over them and grabbed his sword. Having no emotion but hate, anger, and sadness, he destroyed both Pharaoh's Servant and Dark Assailant with a single swing. Immediately, he ran to his friend's lifeless body, holding him close, once again getting more blood on him.

"I will keep going!" he promised. "And I won't stop until I've won!"

He carried Yugi's body back to the top of the hill of sand on his side of the battle field. He called back all his monsters and Jounouchi, Kaiba, Bakura, Anzu, Honda, and Otogi. Unworried of his decision, they obeyed. All stood behind Yami Yugi, as he gave a stare of coldness to Anubis on the other side with his monsters behind him.

"Tell me not that you are surrendering!" Anubis yelled to him. "It is true my monsters will sweep the remainder your fighters, but to give up is cowardly!"

Anubis sent his monsters to attack him. In a large herd, his monsters charged ahead. Yugi's puzzle then began to glow as Anubis' monsters continued to come towards him. Lighting began to fill the sky as Yugi's puzzle grew brighter. As the monsters drew close, three lightning strikes of different colors, yellow, red and blue, flashed behind him and struck the ground. These bolts of lightning began to form the shape of three massive duel monsters. The lightning and storm faded, and what were left of the colorful lightning bolts were the legendary Egyptian God monsters: sky dragon Osiris, sun of God Ra, and God of Obelisk. Yugi's puzzle stopped glowing.

"I have called upon the most powerful monsters of my deck: the true Egyptian Gods!" he hollered.

He knew they would come now. The three monsters created from a similar pearl as his were before him, and his arm of duel monsters were nothing compared to them. Of course, he saw his monsters as nothing more but one big shield. While his monsters would be easily blown away by the three Gods, he would prepare his escape.

Each bursting a stream of intense, colorful energy, Obelisk, Ra, and Osiris swept the desert with their attacks. Any enemy coming in contact with these attacks were instantly destroyed. One by one, Anubis' monsters were quickly being destroyed. His monsters did not even bother attempting an attack on them, knowing that it would fail. Some helplessly tried to flee, but they too, were caught in the blast of the attacks. Finally, all that remained of his monsters was a large cloud of smoke, making their sight to the other side of the field even harder to see. Anubis himself was shadowed in their sight.

"You've nothing left on your side to protect you!" Seto shouted to him.

"Ha! Ha! You're screwed!" Jounouchi teased, thinking all would end sooner than he had figured.

"Consider the punishment of the Gods a punishment from me!" Yami Yugi told him. "Great saint dragon Osiris, God of Obelisk, winged dragon Ra, atta-"

He stopped his attack. The smoke had cleared. In his arm, despite being dead, was Yugi. His large arm was wrapped around Yugi's neck, and he held the smaller body in front of his, using it similarly to body armor. This would be his escape.

"You would not dare damage him even more, would you? He may be dead, but the damage you do cannot be fixed," he grinned.

Anubis had him where he wanted him. Attacking him would now result in attacking Yugi as well. Yami Yugi glanced at his friends, who were all in agreement. It was indubitable that he was right. They could not rescue Yugi now. He called off Osiris, Obelisk, and Ra, knowing they were rendered useless. Emotionally suffering at that time, Yami Yugi enviously fell to his knees, breathing heavily, hardly holding back the tears in his eyes.

"That is what I thought," he laughed. "Take a good look at him, because it is the last you will be seeing of him for some time. What a shame he can only look back at you with a dead stare."

Yami Yugi's hands became fists. He was about to run over to him and strangle him with his bare hands.

"Savor this victory while you can, for it is the only round that you will win. This is merely an opener," he briefly explained. "There is so much more for you. And it will slowly make you languish until death. We shall meet again."

His pearl glowing once more, he walked backwards, still holding Yugi, until the sandstorm made him invisible from them. After he disappeared, the sandstorm began to subside, and the sand beneath their feet was blowing away. Beautiful green grass lied underneath this sand, and the hills of sand blew away became a gorgeous, miniature fountain pouring down the most natural, clean water any could drink or see. At then end of the sandstorm, the sky was blue and clear, the sun shining brightly above them. The temperature was near perfection, and the wind had gone away. What had been a rough, dry desert had disintegrated into a land of life, purity and beauty.

The setting which it had become was just the opposite of their feelings. They had not noticed the change in scenery, because the dark emotion which they held shadowed everything else. They had not moved since Anubis had left, being much too shocked, too tormented, too sad to do so. They could only stare in the direction which he disappeared in. Yugi, among their greatest of friends, was gone. Not only taken by Anubis, but gone from the world. He was dead.

"I…I…I can't believe…he's…" Jounouchi said silently to everyone.

Even Seto and Bakura had remorse. They stood with them, though not as emotionally distraught as the rest.

"No…" Anzu cried for him, as did the rest of his friends.

"It can't end like this!" Yami Yugi cried to the sky, still on his knees. "He suffered too much; he fought too hard for it to end this way! He can't be dead!"

He pounded the ground, feeling minimum pain in his hand. The pain told him that this was real. It was no illusion, no dream. What was really happening was for real, and what had happened truly occurred. He found now that it was his hope that was shattered. What he considered his light, it was gone, and he felt as an empty shell without it.

"Aibou!" he cried to the sky, his tears flooding down his face.