18. Reshef the Dark Being
The outline of Reshef on the stone tablet behind Evan began glowing brightly, filling the room with light as a loud hum echoed through the stone tablets, becoming more like the sound of rushing wind and growing louder and louder as the light grew brighter. Kaiba and Mokuba covered their faces with their arms while Yugi and Téa bowed their head together to shield them from the light. He felt her grip his shoulder more tightly and he reached his right arm around her protectively. He can't attack illegally, he can't hurt her…
Abruptly the light flared and dimmed and the loud rushing noise stopped. Reshef the Dark Being was on the field.
Yugi and Téa raised their heads and Kaiba and Mokuba lowered their arms. Yugi looked over at Kaiba, who was waiting expectantly, a grim look of determination on his face.
"Now the fun begins," Evan smiled. "I discard one spell card from my hand to activate Reshef's special effect and take control of Blue-Eyes White Dragon for one turn."
Blue-Eyes let out a roar of protest then disappeared from above Kaiba and reappeared beside Reshef.
"This doesn't look good," Téa moaned. "Blue-Eyes has enough strength to destroy Chimera and all the rest of your Life Points."
"Kaiba has a plan," Yugi assured her, his voice more certain than he actually felt. "I trust him." Please let him have a plan, because I'm out of options right now. He found himself wishing Atem were here. Despite what he'd told Téa when he drew Magician of Faith, he could feel his confidence wane. The stakes were so high. Let me be as good as you were, other me…
"Now, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack Yugi's Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast with white lightning blast!"
"I don't think so," Kaiba called out. "As much as I enjoy the sight of Blue-Eyes taking out all of Yugi's Life Points, I think we'll wait until the tournament championship for that. Activate Magical Trick Mirror!" His facedown card popped up, revealing an odd creature dressed like a witch but with a mirror for a face. "Magical Trick Mirror allows me to take one magic card from your Graveyard and activate it immediately, and I choose Brain Control!"
The giant writhing brain with arms rose up from Evan's Graveyard and flew to hover before Kaiba. "Now I use Brain Control to take back my Blue-Eyes White Dragon."
Blue-Eyes roared again, and Yugi could've sworn it was a joyful sound. It disappeared from Evan's side of the field and reformed above Kaiba once more. "Now let's try conducting that battle phase one more time."
Evan growled angrily then ordered Reshef to attack Yugi's Chimera. There was the same flash of white light as when he'd attacked Téa and then the three colored balls of energy glowed. Yugi felt that strange energy, like lightning was about to strike and then the weird silence just before Chimera imploded, collapsing upon itself until it was nothing, bringing Yugi down to three hundred Life Points. Evan then attacked Yugi's facedown Magician of Faith with Manju, which destroyed her, but also activated her special effect, allowing Yugi to take one spell card from his Graveyard and add it to his hand. He chose Polymerization.
Finally, Evan played his last card, another Card of Sanctity. He drew six more cards, giving him another five hundred Life Points from Solemn Wishes. Kaiba drew five, and Yugi already had five cards in his hand, so he only drew one—Berserker Soul. He glanced at Téa, whose lips were pressed into a tight line. He didn't want to say anything aloud to give Evan a clue as to the contents of his hand, but he tried to reassure her with his eyes that if he had to play this card he would use it fairly. She seemed to understand, squeezing his shoulder and offering him a slight nod of assent.
Evan played Dian Keto the Cure Master, giving him an additional one thousand Life Points, bringing him up to forty-one hundred. He then set one more card face down.
Kaiba drew and then sacrificed Kaiser Sea Horse, whose special ability allowed it to act as two tributes to summon a high level Light Attribute monster, to summon a second Blue-Eyes White Dragon to the field.
"Yes!" Mokuba cried in jubilation.
"Now Blue-Eyes, attack Reshef the Dark Being!"
"Activate Ring of Nine Lives!" Evan shouted. Nine glowing golden rings appeared and encircled Reshef's midsection.
"Oh no, not that card again," Téa moaned.
Yugi remembered it as well from his duel with Alrik Cronhielm. It would protect a monster with special summoning requirements, such as Ritual Monsters like Reshef, for nine turns ending with each of Evan's End Phases, although battle damage would be applied normally. Reshef wasn't destroyed, but Evan lost five hundred Life Points. Kaiba's second Blue-Eyes attacked Manju, which disappeared along with sixteen hundred more of Evan's Life Points. He was now back down to two thousand. Kaiba set two trap or magic cards and then it was Yugi's turn.
Yugi drew. Black Luster Ritual! "I play the magic card Black Luster Ritual, offering Dark Magician and Kuriboh from my hand as tributes to play Black Luster Soldier!" Black Luster Soldier appeared on the field with much less fanfare than Reshef had, but with five hundred more attack points.
He attacked Reshef, knowing he couldn't destroy it, but that he would take five hundred Life Points from Evan. Now he only had fifteen hundred. Yugi eyed his Polymerization card. He was pretty sure Kaiba was working on summoning Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and if he did, Yugi wanted to be able to fuse him with Black Luster Soldier if necessary. However, he had set Rope of Life, which would require him to discard his entire hand to activate, so he set Polymerization on the field to take it out of his hand, reserving it for later.
It was back to Evan's turn. He drew and his Life Points went up to two thousand thanks to Solemn Wishes. He then switched Reshef into defense mode, which along with Ring of Nine Lives, made him virtually impervious to attacks. "Now you'll see the true strength of my deck," he told them as he set one monster in defense mode. "Now I'll use my Book of Taiyou magic card to switch my Dragon Manipulator monster into attack mode. This activates his special effect, which allows him to control one dragon-type monster on the field. Then I discard one spell card from my hand to activate Reshef's special effect, allowing me to control a second monster. I believe, Kaiba, that I would like your two Blue-Eyes White Dragons to join my forces for one turn."
The two Blue-Eyes again roared mournfully as they disappeared from above Kaiba and reappeared beside Reshef.
"Now Blue-Eyes Number One, attack Yugi's Black Luster Soldier!"
"But they have the same attack points. They'll both be destroyed!" Mokuba cried in dismay.
"But we won't lose any Life Points," Yugi reassured him as Blue-Eyes attacked Black Luster Soldier and both of them disappeared from the field.
"But you don't have any monsters protecting your Life Points and he still has Seto's other Blue-Eyes!"
"But I do have another monster," Yugi corrected him. "Activate Rope of Life!" he commanded, discarding his hand, which at this point consisted only of two cards—Dark Magician Girl and Berserker Soul—to do so. He was sorry to see Dark Magician Girl go to the Graveyard, but he was pretty sure he heard Téa breathe a sigh of relief, probably at the loss of Berserker Soul. Well, he supposed she had good reason to dislike that card. "Rope of Life allows me to bring back a monster that has just been destroyed, only with eight hundred additional attack points."
Black Luster Soldier reappeared in front of Yugi, this time with thirty-eight hundred attack points. He watched as Evan weighed his options. He could still chose to attack, thus destroying Kaiba's last Blue-Eyes White Dragon, but it would cost him eight hundred Life Points to do so. In the end, he decided not to use up the Life Points. He played one card facedown and ended his turn. As he did, the first ring around Reshef's midsection disappeared, leaving eight rings to protect him from destruction.
Kaiba drew and then gave Evan a smug look. "You just made a fatal mistake, Evan. Don't you know better than toleave me with a Blue-Eyes on the field? It would've been worth those eight hundred Life Points to get rid of her. But since you didn't, I think I'll invite a few of her friends to the party. I play Monster Reborn to bring back my first Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Then I'll use the Polymerization Magic card with the two Blue-Eyes on the field and the one in my hand to form Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"
The two Blue-Eyes White Dragons on the field disappeared and in their place appeared a mammoth silver dragon with three heads and a staggering forty-five hundred attack points. "This duel is over, Evan! Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon has more than enough attack points to take out your pathetic Dragon Manipulator and the rest of your Life Points!"
"Not if Dragon Manipulator is in Defense Mode," Evan replied, activating his instant magic card, Book of Moon. It immediately flipped Dragon Manipulator into facedown defense mode. He was destroyed, but Evan's Life Points were safe.
It was Yugi's turn again, so he drew, looking at his card. The instant magic card De-Fusion. He played it facedown. He had Polymerization and could fuse Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon with Black Luster Soldier, but at this point he wasn't sure having one mega monster was better than having several monsters on the field. He had nothing else in his hand, so he ended his turn.
Kaiba glared at him. "Is that it?"
"For now," Yugi replied, again with more confidence than he actually felt.
Evan drew and his Life Points went up to twenty-five hundred thanks to Solemn Wishes. He then played Pot of Greed, drew two more cards, and his Life Points increased another five hundred to three thousand. "I'll discard one magic card to activate Reshef's special ability and take control of Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon."
"Activate De-Fusion!" Yugi called out, relieved he'd drawn that card when he had. Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon split into three Blue-Eyes White Dragons.
"That will still help me," Evan replied. "Instead I'll take control of Black Luster Soldier." When Yugi's dark-armored knight, still at thirty-eight hundred attack points thanks to Rope of Life, had moved from his side of the field to Evan's side, Evan called on him to attack one of Kaiba's Blue-Eyes. Kaiba lost eight hundred Life Points bringing him down to forty-two hundred. Evan ended his turn and another ring around Reshef disappeared, leaving seven.
Kaiba drew then special-summoned Chaos Emperor Dragon to the field by removing one Light and one Dark Attribute monster in his Graveyard from play. He chose Kaiser Sea Horse and Pitch-Dark Dragon. He now had three monsters on the field with three thousand attack points each, but with Reshef in Defense Mode and protected by Ring of Nine Lives, attacking was pointless. "Your move, Yugi," he said, with an unmistakable note of warning in his voice that Yugi knew meant don't screw up.
Yugi drew Monster Reborn. Well, if this didn't make Kaiba happy, nothing would. He used Monster Reborn to bring back Kaiba's last Blue-Eyes White Dragon in defense mode. Now all three Blue-Eyes were back on the field, along with Black Luster Soldier and Polymerization. If they needed to fuse them later….
It was Evan's turn once more and he gained another five hundred Life Points bringing him to thirty-five hundred. Once again he took control of Yugi's powered-up Black Luster Soldier to attack one of Kaiba's Blue-Eyes. "Just taking your excellent advice and getting rid of another Blue-Eyes," Evan grinned.
"Unfortunately, that advice only works when you can get rid of a Blue-Eyes," Kaiba retorted as he activated one of his trap cards. "Attack Guidance Armor, redirect Black Luster Soldier's attack to Chaos Emperor Dragon!" Black Luster Soldier attacked and destroyed Chaos Emperor Dragon, taking Kaiba down to thirty-four hundred Life Points.
"And now that you've destroyed one of my monsters, you've also activated my Last Hope trap card. This increases my Life Points by the same amount as the attack of the monster you just destroyed. Only… I think I have enough Life Points, don't you? And seeing as I'm such a Robin Hood type of guy—" Yugi heard Téa snort at this— "I think I'll rob from the rich—myself—and give to the poor—Yugi. Just don't spend them all in one place, Yugi. You may need them later."
Yugi looked at Kaiba, who was giving him a sideways glance. He has something planned that's going to cost us Life Points. He was just waiting for a chance to boost mine first. Yugi nodded his understanding as his Life Points went from three hundred to thirty-three hundred.
"Well wouldja look at that! Kaiba being generous. Never thought I'd see the day!"
Yugi whirled around at the familiar voice behind him. "Joey!"
Ramesses frowned as he watched the duel unfold from the comfort of his San Francisco penthouse through the eyes of Reshef. He'd expected Raptor and Underwood to be virtually worthless, but couldn't they at least have held off Wheeler a little longer? First the Gardner girl and the younger Kaiba and now this.
The girl. That was particularly troublesome. She and the younger Kaiba had already been there when Evan had summoned Reshef, so he had no idea how she'd gotten there, but she shouldn't be conscious, much less standing at Mutou's side. Reshef's sonic blast was supposed to be devastating. Victims were more than lost to the Shadow Realm; their souls hung suspended in neither darkness nor light, neither wakefulness nor slumber. Reshef left no mark on his victims, but he also left no soul. He was the only one who had the power to bring people back after a direct attack from Reshef, and when they came back, they came back as his servants.
But instead, she was not only awake and alive but standing at Mutou's side. Keeping the Orichalcos at bay. He could sense it, like a bubble around him. The younger Kaiba boy did the same for his older brother. Not only was Kaiba's heart not surrendering to the darkness, he'd just voluntarily offered Life Points to Mutou. A wise move considering Mutou's loss would be his as well, but still so very unlike everything he ever knew about Seto Kaiba. He was playing like a team in this duel. Since when did Kaiba ever willingly cooperate with anyone?
And now Wheeler and those other two, the soldier and the dice player. And the Hawkins brat of all people! All of them, backing up Mutou, backing up the ever solitary Kaiba.
This was a disaster.
"Tjaty! You must not lose, do you understand me?"
He could feel more than hear the response. My Life Points increase with every draw. Reshef is invulnerable. My Pharaoh, I cannot lose.
"DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THEIR BOND TJATY! YOU WILL LOSE IF YOU DO!"
He could sense his Vizier reeling from his verbal assault. I will not fail you, my Pharaoh.
"Like you failed me with Pegasus?"
There was silence and he sensed Evan's remorse. This time I will win.
"They beat Dartz, Tjaty. They can beat you."
Dartz was a fool.
"Dartz had only half the picture, but I assure you, he was no fool. Do you understand what is at stake? Do you understand the power of the Shadow Realm? We must keep it open. I will not suffer another failure, Tjaty."
I understand.
Ramesses was sure, in fact, that he did not understand at all. But whether Evan understood or not was of little importance in the end so long as he succeeded in one task: keeping Reshef on the field. If he could do that, then his failure or success was irrelevant. He was merely the Vizier, and where the Vizier failed, the Pharaoh would succeed.