Ryou stood in the chamber of Osiris, facing the lord of the dead himself. The challenge was duel monsters, and the duel was nearing its final stages. Ryou, with one monster face down on his side of the field, was barely standing. His life points had been reduced to 900 in the last turn. One more direct hit, and he would lose.

Defeat, of course, would surely mean his death. Not once, but twice, as in accordance with Egyptian law. As were the terms of the challenge – he would face the same fate as the one he was fighting for. And Bakura, the king of thieves, had already been sentenced to have his body and heart devoured by Ammut.

The Lord of the Dead was faring better, although his life points were also low. After sacrificing so much to bring out the most powerful monsters in his deck, Osiris only had 1700 life points remaining. It was almost twice that of Ryou's, but should the tide turn, only one monster would be needed to seal his fate as well.

Ryou drew a deep breath.

Should he manage to do that, and defeat Osiris, his yami would be given life, in a body of his own, and could return with Ryou to the land of the living. It was the ultimate duel, with the ultimate stakes.

And it was still anybody's game.

"It's your move, Osiris…" Ryou announced weakly.

The deity drew his next card.

"I see." Osiris glanced at the card in his hand, and set it, along with another card, on the field. "I play these two cards, face down, and now, my great sphinx will attack your face down monster!"

He pointed at the tiny card, and his mammoth beast lunged forward. Its yellow mane and wings trailed behind sharpened fangs and claws. And the ground trembled with its massive footsteps.

Theinen the Great Sphinx slashed through the card.

"Now you are unprotected." Osiris added, while the dust from the attack settled.

"Not so fast…" Ryou gasped, choking on that very dust. "My monster may be destroyed… but not without a price!"

In an instant before it disappeared, Ryou's monster was revealed. A wall of flesh, with a human face, it was clearly the Wall of Illusion.

"And the Wall of Illusion has a special effect. Any attacking monster goes back to the owner's hand…" he smiled. "And since your monster needed so… so much to bring it out… It's going to stay in your hand…"

Osiris froze, as his creature disappeared from the field, and the card reappeared in his hand. The loss of his monster was about to leave his life points unprotected.

"I must end my turn." Osiris answered.

"Come on Ryou!" Bakura cheered again from the sidelines "You can win it! You can win it all!"

"Silence!" Anubis shouted, thrusting his foot into Bakura's back, and tightening his grip on the chains. The jackal-headed deity struck the thief in the face, pulling him up. "You will be silent!"

"I'll be whatever I damn want!"

Knocking him to the ground again, Anubis pressed his staff against the thief's neck.

"And you will be punished!"

Ryou tried to tune out the distractions. He knew this was going to be the last move of the duel, and he wanted to make certain he made the best choices.

"Yami… this… this move is for you…" he whispered. "And you… you can come home with me… and neither of us will ever be alone again…"

He closed his eyes, and drew a card from his deck.

He looked at the card, and smiled.

"This is it, Osiris." Ryou whispered. "This is the end…"