"I volunteer myself…" He repeated the words inside his head. When he turned around, he realized that everyone was staring at him.
They continued to stare.
"What?"
Even the pharaoh was stunned.
"You…"
"I volunteer myself. What, have you got spores in your ears?" Yami Bakura repeated, not entirely sure why he was so adamant about causing himself more pain. Or doing the very thing that Khons warned him against.
Yami Yugi placed his hand on the white knight's shoulder.
"Are you sure, tomb robber?" he whispered. His voice almost sounded concerned.
Yami Bakura nodded.
"Ryou doesn't have much time left. And that means neither do I." He sighed. "Here. Take my sword. I want you to jam it through that thing's fucking heart. Or whatever the hell it has in it."
"I will." He replied quickly. "With pleasure."
Yami Yugi took the sword, offering a smile to the tomb robber. Whether or not he wanted to admit it, the thief was doing something extremely honorable.
"You… you won't have long once it takes me." He grunted, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"The tomb robber's right." Yami Yugi added. "We'll all have to attack at once. And we won't get another shot at this."
"What should we do? Combine our weapons together?" Malik asked. "All four of them?"
"I don't know if even that would be powerful enough." The pharaoh admitted. The source was so large compared to their shrunken forms. Even the most powerful blast might diffuse, missing its target.
"What else have we got?" Kaiba snorted. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the tentacles start to come out of hiding again.
"Unless we could get close enough to insure a direct hit at its very lifeline." Yami Yugi pondered. "That would be the only way to be certain it was dead."
Malik eyed the source. It was so dark, he couldn't see beneath its surface. Where was its heart?
"How would we know where to aim?"
"We'd need to get close." He sighed. "Maybe even inside of it."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Kaiba shouted, clenching his fists. He stood his ground. "The thing barely touched me, and I was nearly fried. If you think I'm about to walk anywhere near that black jellyfish, you've got another thing coming."
"We don't have a choice." Malik shouted back.
Kaiba was going to return with a comment of his own, but he was quickly silenced.
"Shut up! All of you!" Yami Bakura screamed.
Again, they turned and stared.
"We've come this far." He grumbled loudly, moving his dagger back and forth between his hands. It rung out each time it struck against his metal gloves. "And I am not about to waste the last few minutes of my existence watching you fight over who wants to sit this one out!"
He stood facing the source head on. His helmet rattled from the constant rush of mechanized air above him. Blood started to pool in the soft tissue around his feet, certainly not a good sign for Ryou.
"If you want to let him die, fine." He continued to snarl. "But I've got my own plans. This is my body too. And if you're not with me, then you're fucking against me."
Before anybody could react, Yami Bakura started running straight at the creature, his tiny dagger primed to make contact.
"Tomb robber!" Yami Yugi shouted.
"He's going to attack it head on." Malik gasped, the sudden realization of the thief king's intent. "He's going to cut into it… for us…"
Yami Yugi gulped. Had the white knight gone mad? What he was doing was nothing short of suicide! And yet, the pharaoh would have probably done the same exact thing if it were Yugi's life at stake…
"Follow him!" the pharaoh shouted, motioning them forward. He started running towards the creature, both his sword and Yami Bakura's ready to strike.
"Right." Malik nodded. He put his sword in front of him, and started dashing as well.
Even Seto Kaiba found an impulse to run, his blade emblazoned with renewed passion.
"Put everything you have into this one, guys!" Yami Yugi shouted, like a battle cry. His voice echoed in the chamber around them. "This is the final attack! This is for everything! This is for Ryou!"
As Yami Bakura ran, he could feel the creature growing stronger. It had fed on Ryou's life for this long, and it was about to take its ultimate prize. In ways he refused to admit, even to himself, he just couldn't let that happen.
Within seconds, it encompassed his entire field of vision. And he knew there was no turning back now. There was no way that he could stop running even if he wanted to.
"This is for Ryou…" he whispered to himself, lunging at the source. The other three watched in amazement. As he leapt forward, his whole body glistened with a faint white light.
His blade struck the creature, and it squirmed. The surface penetrated, it's tentacles lashed out from every direction to try and squelch its attacker. The thief king screamed as the thick appendages wrapped tightly around every part of his body. Within seconds, the pain had blinded him to everything else.
By the time Kaiba, Malik, and the pharaoh reached him, he had lost even the ability to scream.
"It's distracted." Yami Yugi shouted, watching as tentacle after tentacle went after Yami Bakura's already captured form. "Now's our chance!"
The wound caused by the tomb robber festered and oozed. Black tar bubbled at their feet, taking the color off of their boots. But his dagger was still in place. The white beam it emitted shone like a spotlight into the creature's insides.
"There. Do you see it?" Malik pointed into the source. A small black bubble floated inside. It had to be their target. It was the only thing inside.
"Yeah." Kaiba and Yami Yugi answered in unison. They held up their swords alongside Malik.
"Let's show this curse that it messed with the wrong person!" Yami Yugi shouted, adding Yami Bakura's sword to the artillery. "And send it back to the shadow realm where it belongs!"
Within seconds, a beam of light shot from the four swords. It blasted straight through the source's black nucleus, forcing it to explode on contact.
The force of the blast threw the three knights into the wall of Ryou's left lung. The impact was so great that Malik swore he felt the boy's rib cage strike back under his neck before he rolled down the side.
They tumbled onto each other, the cushioned floor breaking their fall.
"Is… is it over?" Kaiba grunted as he tried to lift his head.
Malik looked around. The creature they had just fought was gone, although the remnants of the battle remained. Lifeless spores littered the ground, and still clung to the walls.
Yami Yugi looked around, suddenly gasping.
"Tomb robber!" he shouted, and dashed over to where the tentacles were last seen. Puddles of thick tar were everywhere. The body of the thief king, however, was nowhere to be found. The only thing remaining of his valiant sacrifice was his sword and dagger. And the dagger was still glowing.