20. The Shadow War
Mai watched, helpless, as Master of Dragon Knight blew through Dark Magician of Chaos and blasted Yugi. Téa and Joey both screamed his name as he collapsed into Téa's arms. Holding him tightly, she eased him to the limestone floor.
Joey, Tristan, and Rebecca were at her side in an instant and they knelt down beside her. Serenity bolted from Mai's side and joined them.
Meanwhile, Kaiba roared in rage, "I don't know who you are or what kind of game you think you're playing, but Master of Dragon Knight comes back to me now. Master of Dragon Knight, attack Reshef the Dark Being!"
The huge three-headed dragon with Black Luster Soldier perched astride its middle neck blasted Reshef with white lightning attack from all three of its mouths.
I CALL FORTH THE RING OF NINE LIVES TO PROTECT RESHEF THE DARK BEING, Mai felt reverberate through her head.
Oh my God, he's created a whole new Shadow Game! In an instant she knew what would happen next. The attack would fail and Reshef would take control of Master of Dragon Knight once more, only this time there would be nothing to protect them…
I think that Mystical Elf may be your special guardian monster. You may be bonded to her the way I am to Dark Magician or Joey to Red-Eyes or Mai to Harpie Lady or Kaiba to Blue-Eyes. Somehow the puzzle box let you summon her. Yugi's words to Serenity came back to her now and she knew what they needed to do.
"We need a line of defense NOW!" she barked. "Serenity! We need—"
"I have it, Mai," Serenity interrupted, already on the same wavelength. She had her right hand on Yugi's neck, checking for his pulse, and in her left hand she cradled his puzzle box.
Not sure what to do next but operating on pure instinct, Mai ordered, "Everyone hold hands!"
"What?" Joey asked, bewildered.
"Just do it!" she snapped. "We're still in a cavern surrounded by Orichalcos stones!" She reached for Joey's hand, letting him keep his other one on Yugi's shoulder. Téa and Rebecca, each also leaving one hand on Yugi's shoulder or chest, took Tristan's and Duke's hands respectively. Mokuba was there, too, she realized. He'd grabbed Kaiba with one hand and Tristan's free hand with the other.
"Our guardians, our special monsters," Mai ordered. "We need to call them!"
Mai could see the puzzle box start to glow and immediately she closed her eyes, letting her Harpie Ladies sprang to her mind. She felt a warm glow surround all of them and envelop her like a warm bath. When the glow dissipated, she opened her eyes and saw that they were now surrounded by a small army of Duel Monsters. In addition to Kaiba's Master of Dragon Knight, Mokuba had summoned Spirit Ryu, Tristan had summoned something she didn't recognize, but it was a warrior of some type with serrated armor and a flowing cape. Duke had summoned Orgoth the Relentless; Rebecca, Fire Princess. Dark Magician Girl hovered above Téa, Joey of course had Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and Cyber Harpie Lady stood boldly behind Mai.
In the center of it all, above Serenity and Yugi, knelt Mystical Elf. Before Mai even realized what was happening, the delicate blue-skinned creature was chanting something, producing a glowing orb in her hands, just as she had before, with Téa. She released it and it floated over Yugi before settling on his chest. Mai felt another warm glow as the ball of light dissipated and Yugi's eyes opened.
"Yugi!" Téa cried.
"Téa? What happened?"
"No time buddy," Joey said, his voice business-like but infused with relief. He let go of Mai and held out his hand to Yugi, who took it and let Joey pull him to his feet. "You might wanna call for Dark Magician," Joey advised.
Yugi was immediately alert and seemed to understand right away what was happening because the words were no sooner out of Joey's mouth when Dark Magician materialized above them.
At that moment, something tore through Mai's head, a wordless cry of profound agony. She grabbed her head, trying to stop the pain. As it started to fade, she saw that all of her teammates had felt it as well and she realized that it wasn't her pain at all, but Ramesses's, the staggering damage done to him through Master of Dragon Knight's attack on Reshef echoing through all of their minds.
It hit her then that everything that had happened from the moment that she had told them to hold hands until Yugi awakened and summoned Dark Magician had all occurred in the amount of time it had taken for Ring of Nine Lives to activate and protect Reshef from Master of Dragon Knight's attack.
As Ramesses's cry of pain ceased, the ten of them linked hands and spread across the chamber in a semi-circle facing Reshef and his altar: Téa, Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Serenity, Mai, Duke, Rebecca, Mokuba, and Kaiba. Their monsters formed a vanguard before them, all of them in attack position with the exception of Mystical Elf, who was kneeling in defense.
ONCE AGAIN I TAKE CONTROL OF MASTER OF DRAGON KNIGHT— came the voice in Mai's head again, but Kaiba was ready.
"I separate Master of Dragon Knight into its component monsters: Black Luster Soldier and three Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"
Whatever skepticism Kaiba might have about the Shadow Realm, at least he was quick on his feet. Right now they were better off with four powerful monsters than one ultra-powerful one, and he'd seemed to instinctively know that in this kind of Shadow Game—or Shadow War, Ramesses had called it, and it did seem more like an all-out war than a game—he didn't need to draw a card to defuse them.
Mai wondered what other moves they had access to. Could she use Elegant Egotist to multiply her Harpie into the three Harpie Lady Sisters? Could they summon Harpie's Pet Dragon? Could she perform Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation? Harpie Lady Sparrow Formation? Summon Harpie's Feather Duster?
Master of Dragon Knight divided itself into three Blue-Eyes White Dragons, which placed themselves before Kaiba, and Black Luster Soldier, which joined Dark Magician before Yugi. Reshef took control of Black Luster Soldier instead, forcing it to attack one of Kaiba's Blue-Eyes. Mai expected them both to be destroyed as they had equal attack strength, but to her surprise, Tristan's monster glowed red briefly and then a single flame came from him and landed on Black Luster Soldier as he attacked Blue-Eyes. Black Luster Soldier prevailed and the majestic white dragon blew apart, causing Kaiba to double over in pain from the attack. Did he lose Life Points? Mai wondered, but then Mystical Elf began chanting again and this time her glowing orb settled itself on Kaiba and he was fine. As soon as he straightened up, Rebecca's Fire Princess, a woman with flowing ash-colored hair and robes of flame, pointed her staff at Reshef. Mai threw her hands up to her head again as another wordless cry of pain echoed through her skull, weaker than before, but piercing nonetheless. And then as soon as it started, it stopped.
"What the hell just happened?" Joey asked, putting words to Mai's thoughts.
"I… I think Fire Princess just dealt direct damage to Ramesses because Mystical Elf healed Kaiba," Rebecca said, sounding a little stunned. "Whenever you increase your Life Points, she deals five hundred points of direct damage to your opponents."
"It's a true Shadow Game," Yugi confirmed. "Kaiba took battle damage to his Ba, his life source, and Mystical Elf healed him. This activated Fire Princess's special ability to attack Ramesses's Ba directly."
"Oookay," Joey said, still looking confused, "but how did Black Luster soldier beat Blue-Eyes? They should have equal strength!"
"Tristan's guardian," Yugi nodded his head toward the warrior behind Tristan. "It's Command Knight. He can't be attacked while any other monster is on the field and he gives four hundred attack points to all other Warriors. Orgoth the Relentless should be stronger, too."
"Guys, here comes Reshef," Duke warned, and Mai saw that he was preparing to attack.
"Who's the target? Who's the target?" Joey shouted, bracing himself, and then they all heard the answer in their heads.
RESHEF THE DARK BEING, ATTACK FIRE PRINCESS!
"Activate Orgoth's special ability!" Duke cried. "Whenever a Light Attribute monster attacks, Orgoth can draw the attack to himself!"
Another cycle of bright light, static, and silence struck and it was indeed Orgoth who was hit. Tristan's Command Knight glowed again, this time sending his flame onto Orgoth, making him more powerful than Reshef, but Ring of Nine Lives kept Reshef safe from destruction. There was a third wail of pain that shot through their minds and then the first gold ring disappeared from Reshef.
That means his turn's over, Mai realized, now let's see what I have access to. "I use the magic of Elegant Egotist to multiply my Cyber Harpie into three Harpie Lady Sisters!" Immediately a red-haired and a blue-haired Harpie Lady, each with Cyber Shield armor, joined their pink-haired sister behind Mai. It worked! she thought, amazed. "Next I'll arm one of my Harpies with Arrow Nail," she announced, and a giant blade attached itself to her pink-haired Harpie's wrist. "Next, Harpie Ladies, summon your Pet Dragon!" she called, and a roaring red dragon with a golden chain around its neck also appeared.
"Way to go Mai!" Joey cried.
"Mai, can you get Harpie's Feather Duster?" Yugi asked.
"Way ahead of you, hon," Mai replied. With Harpie's Feather Duster, she could destroy all Ramesses trap and magic cards on the field, which meant, in theory, that she should be able to destroy Ring of Nine Lives. "I call for Harpie's Feather Duster!"
This time, however, nothing happened. She frowned and looked at Yugi, who shrugged back at her. "Maybe Harpie's Feather Duster isn't specific enough to the Harpies. Anyone can use it."
"Reshef used Ring of Nine Lives," Rebecca pointed out.
Yugi frowned. "I don't get it, either. I don't know why that card would be specific to Reshef or to Ramesses, other than the fact that it only can be equipped to monsters with special summoning requirements."
"Meanwhile, back at the duel, we need to do Ramesses some damage even if we can't destroy Reshef," Kaiba said impatiently. "We need to attack him with everything we've got."
"Right," Yugi agreed. "Every monster that's higher than twenty-five hundred attack points needs to attack!"
"Blue-Eyes, use white lightning attack!" Kaiba ordered as both his dragons began their assault. Yugi called for Black Luster Soldier to attack, and Duke and Mai joined in with Orgoth the Relentless and Harpie's Pet Dragon.
If that doesn't get him, nothing will, Mai thought, bracing for Ramesses's cry of pain.
Ramesses doubled over on his leather sofa, crying out in pain as the equivalent of twenty-seven hundred points of damage attacked his Ba. It was worst hit yet, even worse than when Master of Dragon Knight had attacked. He felt it in every limb, every nerve ending, pain coursing through his body, pulling him into a fetal position on his sofa. Finally, however, the pain subsided. Breathing heavily with sweat pouring off his face in waves, he slowly sat back up. Weakly, he started laughing.
If this had been a normal duel, or even a regular Shadow Game, he would have already received enough damage several times over to lose. This, however, was anything but a normal duel. It wasn't even a normal Shadow Game. It was all-out war, and no matter how much damage he took, no matter how much pain they caused him, he could not lose so long as Reshef stayed on the field. Reshef had already supplied him with an almost infinite supply of Ba energy, energy he'd stolen from Pegasus and from Raptor and Underwood and from Gardner and most of all from Evan when Reshef had attacked them. And he had a plan to make sure that Reshef did, indeed, stay on the field. By the time Ring of Nine Lives disappeared, he would have picked them all off, one by one.
He could sense their confusion. They weren't used to such a battle as this, they were confused on how to proceed. They didn't understand why they hadn't already won.
The answer was simple, really. "You cannot win!" he shouted at the flames in his fireplace. "I am the great pharaoh, Ramesses! I will control the Shadows!"
Yugi felt another blast of pain echoed off of Ramesses shoot through his mind. It was almost enough to knock him off his feet and he wanted to grab his head to shut it out, but instead he gripped Téa's and Joey's hands as if they were the only things keeping him from falling into a bottomless pit.
When it faded, he looked up at Reshef hopefully. Doing the math, that blow should've been overkill, far more than what was necessary to win the battle. Master of Dragon Knight would have taken most of his Life Points in one shot, and then between Fire Princess's effect, Orgoth's counterattack defending Fire Princess, and now the combined attack of Black Luster Soldier, two Blue-Eyes White Dragons, Orgoth, and Harpie's Pet Dragon, he should have been damaged well beyond what it would take to defeat him. But as the pain subsided, it was replaced by laughter. Weak laughter, but the laughter of someone who was very much alive and in the game.
Yugi looked down the line at the equally confused faces of his friends. Why hadn't that worked? Why hadn't they won?
As if Ramesses had heard his thoughts, an answer rang out through his mind, YOU CANNOT WIN! I AM THE GREAT PHARAOH, RAMESSES! I WILL CONTROL THE SHADOWS!
"Blah blah blah," Kaiba said blandly, obviously having felt the same message Yugi did and the first one to recover from the shock of Ramesses's recovery. "And I thought Yugi's speeches were pompous and tedious."
Yugi looked across the field to Kaiba. "Attacking Ramesses's Ba isn't going to be enough. We have to destroy Reshef!"
"Unfortunately, he's not going anywhere with those Rings around his chest," Joey grumbled. "And it's his turn again."
Confirming Joey's assessment, they felt Ramesses's voice ring through their heads. I USE RESHEF'S SPECIAL ABILITY TO CONTROL BLACK LUSTER SOLDIER!
Once again Black Luster Soldier shuddered and bucked in protest to Reshef's taking control of him before going slack and then moving to Reshef's side.
BLACK LUSTER SOLDIER, ATTACK ORGOTH THE RELENTLESS!
Black Luster Soldier obediently raised his sword and charged at Orgoth the Relentless. Orgoth withered under the onslaught and Duke's legs buckled as he took the equivalent of five hundred points of damage. Immediately Mystical Elf began chanting and her sphere of healing restored Duke to full strength. Fire Princess then raised her staff and pointed at Reshef again and they all felt the now familiar echo of Ramesses's pain at receiving damage. Yugi grimaced when he still didn't fall.
RESHEF THE DARK BEING, ATTACK FIRE PRINCESS!
Rebecca was hit hard as Fire Princess imploded.
"Rebecca!" Yugi cried out, but he held fast to Téa's and Joey's hands while Duke and Mokuba both held her up. Mystical Elf once again sent her white light of healing out and Rebecca was fine. Yugi breathed a sigh of relief, and then the second golden ring around Reshef disappeared, leaving seven.
"Since you enjoyed it so much the last time, I'll give you another taste of Blue-Eyes' fury," Kaiba growled, once again ordering his Blue-Eyes White Dragons to attack. Black Luster Soldier and Harpie's Pet Dragon joined in once more. Again they felt Ramesses's agony and again they felt him recover.
"Why won't you die?" Kaiba complained.
I ONCE AGAIN TAKE CONTROL OF BLACK LUSTER SOLDIER USING RESHEF'S SPECIAL ABILITY. BLACK LUSTER SOLDIER, ATTACK SPIRIT RYU!
Spirit Ryu? Yugi frowned. Why would he waste such a powerful monster attacking such a weak one, unless he wanted to really hurt Mokuba? Surely he knew Mystical Elf would heal him.
"I sacrifice my two Blue-Eyes White Dragons to activate Spirit Ryu's special effect and increase his attack strength by one thousand points for every dragon sent to the graveyard!" Kaiba called out. Of course Kaiba would defend his brother—and Yugi realized that was exactly what Ramesses had been expecting him to do, but it wasn't enough…
"That's not gonna be enough," Joey cried. "I sacrifice Red-Eyes Black Dragon to add another one thousand attack points to Spirit Ryu—"
"Joey wait!" Yugi cried out, but it was too late. Red-Eyes Black Dragon was gone and Spirit Ryu now had four thousand attack points, making it stronger than Black Luster Soldier. When Black Luster Soldier attacked, he was destroyed, causing Ramesses some damage from which he easily recovered.
RESHEF THE DARK BEING, ATTACK WHEELER DIRECTLY!
"Dark Magician, defend Joey!" Yugi ordered.
Dark Magician flew to Joey's aid, taking Reshef's sonic blast. Although Dark Magician and Reshef were equal in strength, Reshef had Ring of Nine Lives to keep it from being destroyed, so Dark Magician alone imploded. One more ring around Reshef dissolved, leaving him with six. Six turns before they could touch him.
"Thanks, Yuge," Joey breathed.
"And thank you for sacrificing Red-Eyes for me, Joey," Mokuba said, and Yugi noticed that Kaiba gave Joey a look that was sort of a pained gratitude. It was killing Kaiba to be indebted to Joey of all people. Under ordinary circumstances, Yugi would have enjoyed Kaiba's discomfiture, but in this case…
"That was Ramesses's plan," Yugi grimaced. "He was counting on you two to defend Mokuba and power up Spirit Ryu so that Black Luster Soldier and both Blue-Eyes would be destroyed. The boost on Spirit Ryu's strength only lasts one turn, so now we've only got two monsters left that are stronger than Reshef: Harpie's Pet Dragon and Dark Magician Girl." The latter had gained another three hundred points from the destruction of Dark Magician, putting her at twenty-six hundred.
Joey blanched. "Oh man, I just messed up, didn't I?"
"It's okay, we only need one monster strong enough to destroy him once those Rings are gone," Yugi consoled his friend. He noticed with annoyance that Kaiba didn't bother to take any of the blame.
"Never mind," Mai said. "It's time for the women to take control of this battle. Whaddaya say, Téa, let's give him a little pain to contemplate while we're waiting for those rings to disappear."
"Right with you, Mai," Téa said, and Harpie's Pet Dragon and Dark Magician Girl both attacked Reshef, dealing the equivalent of five hundred points of damage. It wasn't enough to keep Ramesses down for long, but when Ring of Nine Lives was gone….
Then it hit Yugi. Harpie's Pet Dragon's strength depended on the presence of Harpies on the field. All Ramesses had to do was use it to destroy Dark Magician Girl and then pick off the Harpies until their Pet Dragon was too low to damage Reshef. They'd have nothing on the field strong enough to destroy him.
Sure enough, Reshef took control of Harpie's Pet Dragon. Across the field he saw Kaiba's eyes widen and Yugi knew he'd just figured it out, too. "Oh crap, Dark Magician Girl," Joey breathed beside him.
Yugi's mind raced for a way to protect her, something specific to one of their guardian monsters still on the field. Just as he felt Ramesses call his attack, Yugi locked on something. Magical Pigeons! "Téa! Call for Magical Pigeons!" Yugi cried, squeezing her hand.
For a non-duelist, she had quick reflexes. The words were barely out of his mouth when Téa cried out, "I call for Magical Pigeons!" A spell that only worked with Dark Magician Girl, Magical Pigeons immediate produced a giant top hat that covered Dark Magician Girl. When Harpie's Pet Dragon's attack hit the hat, Dark Magician was gone and in her place, two pigeons. The attack destroyed one pigeon, leaving the other unharmed.
"Yes! Nicely played, Téa!" Rebecca called out while Joey sagged in relief.
Yugi could feel Ramesses's frustration through Reshef as the attack failed to hit its mark.
RESHEF THE DARK BEING, ATTACK ONE OF THE UNARMED HARPIE LADIES!
Reshef chose the red-haired Harpie Lady, one of the two that was not armed with Arrow Nail. Mai buckled under the equivalent of seven hundred points of damage to her Ba and then she was suffused by Mystical Elf's radiant sphere. While Mai recovered completely, however, Serenity wilted.
"Serenity!" Mai called out in alarm, gripping her hand tightly. On Serenity's other side, Tristan moved closer to her so she could lean against him.
"Serenity!" Joey screamed, but Tristan held him back
"She's okay."
"I'm just tired," Serenity agreed. "It's getting harder for Mystical Elf to keep healing everyone and I can feel her fatigue."
"The Gift of the Mystical Elf depends upon the number of monsters on the field," Yugi explained. "Like us, she derives her power from her friends. With so many monsters destroyed…."
"She's not as effective," Serenity nodded. "I'm okay, though, really."
Mai shook her head, pure fury radiating from her. "I've had enough of this. Eventually he's gotta have enough damage to his… whatever you cal it to put him out of the duel. Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack Reshef the Dark Being!"
"Dark Magician Girl, attack!" Téa chimed in.
Yugi could tell Ramesses barely felt the attack, which would have dealt him only two hundred points of damage total now that the loss of one Harpie on the field brought Harpie's Pet Dragon down to twenty-six hundred attack points. Now that the dragon and Dark Magician girl were equal in strength, when Ramesses took control of one, he'd destroy them both. This time he chose Dark Magician Girl, who struggled fiercely against Reshef's control before going slack like all the others had.
"Mai," Joey warned, but she merely nodded.
"Got it covered."
DARK MAGICIAN GIRL, ATTACK HARPIE'S PET DRAGON!
"Harpie Lady Sparrow Formation!" Mai called out, and her two remaining Harpies joined together to negate Dark Magician Girl's attack.
Yugi and Téa simultaneously sighed in relief, but Yugi knew they were running out of ways to protect Harpie's Pet Dragon and Dark Magician Girl. At the end of this turn, Reshef would still have four rings left protecting him from destruction and they didn't have four turns left of options. They had to get rid of Ring of Nine Lives on their next turn or they wouldn't survive.
But for now, Ramesses's turn wasn't done yet. He wouldn't destroy another Harpie Lady because he needed their Pet Dragon's attack to be equal to Dark Magician Girl's, but there was still Spirit Ryu or—
RESHEF THE DARK BEING, ATTACK MYSTICAL ELF!
"NO!" Joey screamed in anguish as Reshef's sonic blast crumpled his sister's monster. As Mystical Elf was in defense mode, Serenity didn't take a hit to her Ba, but she sagged nevertheless, obviously exhausted from the connection between her and her monster and all the healing she'd had to do. Joey let go of Yugi's hand and he, Tristan, Mai, and Duke all knelt beside Serenity.
"I'm okay," Serenity assured them, and Yugi felt another wash of relief, but in truth, she didn't look great. She was a little wobbly and needed to lean on Tristan to stand.
"Just stay down, hon," Mai advised. "You've done enough. We're all still standing because of you. We'll take care of the rest."
"But how?" Serenity asked, and Mai had no answer.
Yugi looked across the field to Kaiba, his eyebrows raised in silent question, but Kaiba merely shook his head. He had no idea what to do, either. They needed some way to attack Ring of Nine Lives, something that was specific to one of their guardians, something—
IF YOU DO NOT ATTACK, YOU WILL LOSE THE OPPORTUNITY, Yugi felt the cold presence of Ramesses echo in his head. EVEN NOW RESHEF IS ALMOST REFRESHED, PREPARED TO DO BATTLE AGAIN.
"You want an attack, I'll give you an attack!" Tristan cried out in fury as he sent Command Knight hurtling toward Reshef.
"Tristan, no!" Yugi and Joey called out simultaneously, but it was too late. Command Knight wasn't powerful enough for Reshef and was destroyed, taking an eight-hundred point chunk out of Tristan's Ba. He fell to his knees, clutching his chest.
"If we're done with the brainless heroics, can we come up with a real plan of attack?" Kaiba rebuked Tristan.
"You're one to talk, sacrificing two of our best monsters for your little brother!" Duke shot back.
"We don't have time for infighting!" Mai snapped. "Come on Téa, let's give it another go."
"No!" Yugi shouted, but Mai was already sending Harpie's Pet Dragon after Reshef. Yugi turned to Téa. "Don't attack yet! We can't just keep butting our heads against a wall. We have to attack Ring of Nine Lives, not Reshef, we have to—"
Attack Ring of Nine Lives. Yugi's mind raced. Ring of Nine Lives is a trap. Dark Magic Attack can be used against traps and spells!
"I need to get Dark Magician back on the field," Yugi told his teammates. "Like, now."
The problem was, they were already in the Battle Phase. Even if he did get Dark Magician onto the field, it would take them out of their Battle Phase. He'd still be able to get rid of Ring of Nine Lives because it would be a spell, not an attack, but they wouldn't be able to attack again this turn and it would be too late. But then, Dark Magician's return would change the dynamics anyway. Dark Magician Girl would drop down to twenty-three hundred attack points, putting her too low to destroy Reshef. On the other hand, Dark Magician was equal in strength to Reshef, which would be enough to destroy him if Ring of Nine Lives were gone. Harpie's Pet Dragon would still be a problem, though, as Ramesses could control it to destroy Dark Magician. Unless….
IF YOU DON'T KEEP ATTACKING, YOU WILL PASS! Ramesses insisted.
"Yugi?" Téa asked.
"Attack with Dark Magician Girl again, then Mai, attack with your Cyber Harpie, the one with Arrow Nail."
"What? That will bring down Harpie's Pet Dragon—"
"Exactly. Just do it!"
Téa attacked without hesitation and Ramesses took a small hit to his Ba, though as Yugi expected, it did nothing to end the battle.
"If you say so," Mai said, calling for her Arrow Nail-equipped Cyber Harpie to attack. She was destroyed and Mai doubled over as her Ba took a small hit, but then Arrow Nail returned and equipped itself to the one remaining Harpie.
"Now I use Dark Magic Curtain to bring back my Dark Magician from the Graveyard!" Yugi called out.
Joey sucked in his breath. "Yuge! That costs you half your Life Points!"
"It's worth it," Yugi assured him. Dark Magician reappeared on the field before him, but Yugi crumpled at the equivalent of two thousand points attacking his Ba.
"Yugi!" Téa screamed, kneeling beside him.
For a moment, he couldn't breathe and his vision swam dangerously, but then it passed and he sucked in a ragged breath. "I'm… okay…"
"No you're not!"
"I'm okay," he tried again, getting slowly to his feet with Téa's help. Taking a moment to steady himself against her, he caught his breath. "Okay," he repeated, nodding, trying to reassure her.
"What good will Dark Magician do?" Kaiba asked. "You can't attack Reshef or you'll only send him right back to the Graveyard and now Dark Magician Girl and Harpie's Pet Dragon are both too weak. And the Battle Phase is over."
"I'm not going to attack Reshef," Yugi replied, "I'm going to attack Ring of Nine Lives, and that's a spell, not an attack. It doesn't need to be the Battle Phase. Dark Magician, use Dark Magic Attack to destroy Ring of Nine Lives!"
Dark Magician pointed his staff at Reshef's midsection and the remaining four rings blew apart.
A huge cheer went up from several of them as Reshef stood unprotected.
"We can't attack this turn, Ramesses, but on your next turn, Reshef is gone," Yugi said, trying to throw Atem's authority into his voice, although weakened from the loss to his Ba, he didn't quite pull it off.
DON'T BE TOO SURE. I AM RAMESSES AND YOU ARE BUT A NAMELESS PHARAOH. YOU'D BE SURPISED THE DEFENSES I HAVE FOR RESHEF.
Yugi's heart sunk. If he found another way to defend Reshef, he could keep attacking them, and with Mystical Elf gone, eventually he would deplete their Bas.
He felt defeated, too tired to think, in too much pain to make another plan. But then out of the corner of his eye he saw Mai step forward with a broad smile. "You won't get the chance, Pharaoh," she said smugly. "It may take more than one Harpie to do their Sparrow Formation, but Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation only requires one Harpie."
Yugi's heart soared again. Of course! Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation!
"One Harpie to destroy one monster on your side of the field," Mai continued. "And like Dark Magic Attack, it's a spell, so it doesn't matter that our Battle Phase is over."
"Mai, yes!" Joey cried.
"Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation! Destroy Reshef the Dark Being!"
The cry of distress from Ramesses was almost too much for them to bear. It rang through their minds as if it had been blasted into their ears at close range. But as Mai's single remaining Harpie performed the Phoenix Formation, Reshef disintegrated into nothing and Ramesses's cry was silenced.
Ramesses was gone and the Shadow War was over.