Author's Note: Time for Nikolas Selket to strut his stuff again.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Broken Earth

Nikolas Selket could only scowl as he marched through the desert. There was a certain sense of irony in his target being in this desolate wasteland, but that didn't change anything. "I'm the Dark Thief of the Desert, that doesn't mean I love deserts. This is too much irony even for me."

His partner sighed, trying to ignore the intense heat that beat down upon her. Not only that, but she tried to ignore his complaining. She had dealt with annoying people before, and Nikolas was certainly that, even if only because he was extremely irritable. "At least this isn't real…"

Nick glanced back at Ihami and raised his one visible eyebrow. "What did you say?" The immortal girl chuckled and waved the comment off.

'Forming an illusionary body to accompany him was a good idea in theory, but I can't actually participate in a Darkness Game like this. Maybe Sumatin is putting too much confidence in this man's abilities.' Nick's scowl darkened and he continued marching through the desert with the silent woman trialing behind him.

"Whose idea was it to have the setting as Death Valley of all places? I've been in the Sahara before and still this place is drearier. No place on the planet could possible be more like death than this place." Nick stopped suddenly, his trained senses picking something up that he had at first thought to be his imagination.

"An illusion? Come out, whoever you are!" A shimmer about fifteen feet to their left that Nick had at first assumed was a heat apparition faded away, revealing a man over six feet in height wearing a black robe that hid his appearance. At the top was a symbol of infinity.

"You saw through my illusion so then you must be the one that Lord Eikyuu said would be coming. I am Gorman, High Priest of Earth, who guards the Death-Sealing Spell of Earth. It is…pleasant to see you again, Lord Nikolas." He offered Nikolas a half-bow, which Nikolas responded to with a bare nod of the head.

"Gorman, it's been quite a few years. I won't beat around the bush since you already know. Unlock your duel disk and let this Darkness Game begin. And believe me; this won't be as simple as you tend to think because I need to release some tension." An orb of darkness immediately grew around them and the cold feeling traveled through their bodies. This was a level four Darkness Game. (NLP: 4000)

Gorman didn't bother to look around at the darkness. His immediate reply was to flip out a pitch black duel disk and slip a deck into. "Lord Nikolas, I refuse to go easy on you. Duel!" (GLP: 4000)

Both duelists drew their opening hands, and Gorman drew six cards. "I summon Rock Dragon(1900/1500) in attack mode to start with!"

A giant winged beast with craggy flesh of brown and red stone slammed down onto the dusty ground and spread its clay wings out above it. "One card face down. Turn end."

Nick snapped a card off his deck and immediately added it to his hand. Then he grabbed a different card. "I begin by summoning Dark Scorpion-Chick the Yellow(1000/1000), also in attack mode!"

The little scorpion lifted his mallet in both hands and snickered as he stared at Gorman and the huge dragon the duelist was using. "You knew me as Lord Nikolas, Third Knight of Order, and the Knight of Earth. So you should know, you can't win!"

"We'll see Lord Nikolas. Perhaps you should prove those words before declaring them." Ihami snickered, only stopping when Nikolas shot a glare in her direction.

"You're right, I will wait. Now, Chick is eager for a bit of treasure, but the normal path takes too long. So I'll show him a shortcut by playing Secret Passage to the Treasure!" A corridor of stone bricks formed between Nikolas and Gorman, with Chick standing at Nick's end.

"I choose one monster on my field with one thousand or less attack points and during this turn it gets the ability to attack directly. So now Chick will attack you directly with Mallet of the Scorpion!" Chick raced down the hallway and jumped out the other end, smashing his mallet into Gorman's stomach. The priest fell to his knees and coughed violently, the wind knocked out of him. (GLP: 3000)

"Now, Chick the Yellow's special ability activates since he dealt damage. He'll return a card on the field back to its owner's hand. So Rock Dragon is bounced back!" The stone dragon vanished at the same time the corridor did, leaving his opponent's field empty aside from the apparently useless set card.

Gorman finally recovered his breath and stood back up to his full height. Once he had a clear view of the field he saw that Nick had placed a card on the field. And by the smirk on Nick's face, it meant he was done for the moment. "Draw!"

The priest slapped down a card from his hand and instantly the Rock Dragon materialized again, easily dominating the field. Chick scooted closer to Nick, trying to get as far away from the beast as was possible. "Rock Dragon is obviously a rock type, which means I can now activate my magic card Rock Smash, which destroys a magic or trap on your field if I have a rock monster in play. The target cannot be chained!"

Rock Dragon picked up one beefy foot and brought it back down again. The concussive force of that step shook the ground, and Nick's set card flipped up briefly showing itself as a trap card before it shattered. Nick grimaced at the sight. "Damn…"

"Rock Dragon will attack Chick the Yellow now that your defenses have been breached! Boulder Wing!" The stone dragon flapped its rock wings and a shower of pebbles sprayed out of each one. The pebbles peppered Chick and the little thief withstood them as long as possible before being blown away. (NLP: 3100)

Gorman selected another card and slid it down onto his duel disk. The holographic representation appeared face down next to his original set card. "End."

Nikolas drew swiftly, determined to get this over with as quickly as possible. The brute force he had so far seen of his opponent's deck was a strategy his deck could defeat, but not if he just sat around. 'In terms of brute strength the Dark Scorpions nearly always lose. So to defeat a beat down strategy I'll have to do it quickly.'

At first his hand seemed to hold absolutely no promise. The three cards that were left in his hand in the previous turn he couldn't use here and now, but with the card he had just drawn he had an excellent option. "You shouldn't have destroyed my set card last turn, because it gets activated from the grave once during each duel by removing itself from the game!"

The trap card slid out of his graveyard and he held it up. It was a picture of the Dark Scorpions descending through an opening in a window that apparently they had created, as a perfect circle of the glass had been cut out. "Feat of Expertise-Break In lets me remove it from the game to special summon a Dark Scorpion from my hand to the field!"

Gorman was unworried. None of the Dark Scorpions could surpass his Rock Dragon in terms of strength. "Don't look so casual, I'm summoning the brute strength of the group. Dark Scorpion-Gorg the Strong(1800/1500)!"

The muscular thief slung a heavy hammer over his right shoulder and looked impassively across the field. "Next I set two cards face down, matching your number perfectly. And for the next step of my plan I play a magic card known as Bargaining!"

A sleazy looking man in a fancy suit and greased back hair now stood to Nick's right and was glancing back and forth between their magic and trap cards. "This card needs us both to have two magic and trap cards in play. We can each choose to sacrifice one of those cards to destroy one of the opponent's. If we choose that option, we draw two cards. I sacrifice my card on the right to destroy the card on your right!"

The lawyer bent down and bodily picked up the set card, then ran across the field and picked up the targeted card on Gorman's field. Surprisingly he slid them both into his jacket pocket, despite how large they were. Gorman paused at the sight, and then pointed at his remaining set card. "I sacrifice my own face down card to destroy your remaining card."

Again the process was repeated, and once the lawyer was done with his dirty work he handed each duelist a business card and proceeded to fade away. "Now, we draw our two cards!"

At the same time the two duelists drew. "Now, I'll show you where you made some mistakes. First of all the card you destroyed was my Dying to Steal magic card, and since it went to the grave I'll use its effect to discard two cards from your hand."

Gorman frowned beneath his hood and ditched two of the cards in his hand, effectively making his previous draws useless. "Based on your attitude, your other face down was a similar card wasn't it?"

Nick nodded and drew a card from his deck, giving him three in hand. "Right you are. It was the widely used Repayment of Losses, so I got to draw an additional card. And now that I've taken care of your defenses, I'll deal with your rock."

Taking one of the newly acquired cards he fitted it into his duel disk, and watched with satisfaction as Gorg's muscles bulged with new power. "Thieves' Might is a continuous magic card that increases the attack of all Dark Scorpions by three hundred."

Gorg's power rose to twenty-one hundred making it stronger than the dragon, but Nick wasn't done yet. "Next I summon Dark Scorpion-Maenae the Thorn(1000 +300/1800)!"

The female thief smirked and tossed her dark brown hair behind her back, then cracked her whip in the air. "Gorg the Strong will bash your rock to pieces! And once he does damage you'll lose the top card of your deck!"

Gorg's heavy hammer literally shattered the stone dragon into pieces, and Gorman complied in discarding his top card to the grave. "Now I assume you'll attack with Maenae, is that right?" (GLP: 2800)

"That's right! Whip him good Maenae!" She vanished from view and reappeared behind Gorman. She cracked her whip against his backside, making him jump and yelp, both in surprise and in pain. It hurt to take a whip to the ass. (GLP: 1500)

"Using Maenae's ability I'll pick up a card with 'Dark Scorpion' in its name from my grave. My choice is obvious." He took the card his graveyard offered him, showing it as Chick the Yellow before adding it back to his hand.

Since he had used the previous magic and trap cards he held, he now had only one choice for defending. "I set one card face down. Let's see if you can recover priest."

Gorman drew and held up the card. "I activate Scapegoat, generating four goat tokens(0/0) to the field." Four different colored goats with closed eyes appeared in front of him, all of them apparently asleep.

He nodded to Nick, signifying that his turn was at an end. Nick drew, satisfied at his prospects in the duel. "This is all you're capable of? I'd be saddened if I cared. But since I don't I'll just summon Dark Scorpion-Chick the Yellow(1000 +300/1000) and have my three monsters destroy three goats!"

Together his three Dark Scorpions used their respective weapons to slay one goat each. In the end the only goat the remained was the pink one, and its eyes were now open and alert. After all, its siblings had just been slain. "How pathetic. It doesn't even matter if you take a turn or not, this duel is already nearly over."

Gorman took one glance at his drawn card and his shoulders seemed to lose the tension they previously had. "Prepare yourself Lord Nikolas. I remove Rock Dragon from the grave to special summon Rock Spirit(1900/1100), but he won't be staying long!"

A mighty warrior stood on Gorman's field next to the goat, but swiftly he and the goat vanished. "Since this is a special summon I can even tribute my goat token. Meaning I tribute both of my earth types to special summon my key monster, Demon of the Broken Earth(1800/1500)!"

Despite the weak stats of the monster, its form was fearsome. It stood a dozen feet in height and had a dark brown body. Its head was huge, mostly taken up by a slavering maw and each of its arms was huge and rounded like a sledgehammer. It looked like a living bulldozer. "Let me show you why it is called Demon of the Broken Earth. Activate your effect, Earth Breaker!"

The demon raised its sledgehammer arms high into the air and then brought each one crashing down at high speeds. The impact shattered an area of rocky ground at the far right edge and far left edge of what would be Nick's field. The ground now stuck up like jagged edges there. "What did that do?"

"Demon of the Broken Earth permanently makes two monster zones on the opponent's field unusable the instant it is summoned. Now you can only play three monsters the rest of this duel, and cannot complete your set!" Nick's single eye narrowed and he felt his heart skip a beat.

He looked down at his deck and considered the situation. 'Not good. If I can't complete the set then my Duel Presence is useless, and they work best together anyways. Then again, I don't absolutely have to have all five to win a duel.'

"I won't be beaten just because I can't fight together with all five Dark Scorpions! Try me all you want and it won't change a thing!" Gorman didn't respond, instead he slapped two more cards into play.

"I activate the equip card Gravity Hammer-Grarl, and then since he's the only card in my hand I special summon Guardian Grarl(2500/1200)! And when equipped with his substitute weapon he gains five hundred attack points!" The monster was a dinosaur in all but body-shape, instead of being crouched over it was humanoid and wore clothing. In its hands was a heavy silver hammer.

Nick pointed to his set card, knowing exactly what was coming. "I wouldn't try it, because I use Honor Among Thieves! During this turn I can prevent the death of a Dark Scorpion once for every Dark Scorpion in play minus one. And I take no life point damage from battle with them this turn either!"

Gorman scowled, knowing that he couldn't do anything yet. With only two monsters he couldn't destroy any of the Dark Scorpions this turn, and he couldn't do any damage either. "End turn."

"Pity for you, because during the end of the turn that Honor Among Thieves is used I draw one card for each Dark Scorpion left in play. So I draw three cards, plus one for the start of my turn." In all of three seconds he had managed to boost his hand up to five cards.

Nick looked over his new cards and couldn't help but frown. He had drawn several monsters all in one go, so his hand was nearly useless. "I switch my three scorpions to defense mode and set one card down. End!"

Gorman played his drawn card immediately, not giving Nick any chance to react. "Titan of Stone(2000/0) in attack mode!" His monster was made of dark orange stone and looked like a living statue holding a stone shield in its left hand and a stone sword in its right hand.

Nick snapped his fingers and his face down card flipped up. "Activate trap card, Dark Scorpion Poison! Though I can't beat your monsters right now, I can stop your from attacking and deal you damage! In this case it's three hundred damage!"

The priest shuddered as the false poison leaked into his body. Not only did it drain him of his life points but it kept him from declaring an attack. "Very well, the inevitable is delayed slightly longer." (GLP: 1200)

The former Knight of Earth drew, and scowled as he saw yet another monster. Even though he had a distinctive lead in the way of life points he didn't feel very confident at the moment. "I pass."

The area around them shimmered, and the desert faded away as Gorman placed a card into his field slot. Plants sprang up everywhere and trees bloomed in seconds that would have taken hundreds of years under normal circumstances. "This is Gaia Power, a field that boosts earth types by five hundred attack points while draining their defense of four hundred points."

Each of his respective monsters shot upwards in attack strength, giving them twenty-three hundred, twenty-five hundred, and thirty-five hundred respectively for the demon, the titan, and Grarl. "All out assault!"

Grarl's hammer cracked Gorg's skull in, finishing him off easily. The Titan's sword cleaved Chick the Yellow in half, and Maenae was obliterated by the crushing power of Demon of the Broken Earth. "The effect of Gravity Hammer triggers, destroying the monster zone of the monster that was just slain!"

Grarl slammed his hammer down again, breaking apart the ground that Gorg had seconds before been standing upon. Then the monsters retreated back to Gorman's side of the field. "I'm not out of monster zones yet!"

"Maybe not, but you're close! I activate Demon of the Broken Earth's next effect, which lets him sacrifice two earth type monsters to destroy another monster zone. In other words I offer Grarl and Titan to blast another monster zone!" Like a pile driver the demon's arm slammed into the ground, crushing it just like it had with the previous two zones.

"Ha, and now all you have left is one monster zone. And might I add that Demon of the Broken Earth makes any destroyed monster zone permanent for as long as it isn't removed from play. With one monster zone you can't possibly survive!" Nick kept his face devoid of emotion as he drew, but he couldn't help but think that Gorman was right. Using only one Dark Scorpion how could he win this duel?

As soon as he had drawn Nick placed a card down onto his duel disk. A brown-backed card formed horizontally in front of him above the only remaining monster zone. "One monster in defense mode. That's all."

"Yes, that is all. Demon of the Broken Earth attacks!" Its hammer hand squashed the defensive monster, leaving nothing left over. But suddenly the pieces of the monster card reformed into a large pitch-black scorpion.

"You destroyed Dark Scorpion(200/300) and when it dies in battle I can special summon a Dark Scorpion to the field. I special summon from my hand Cliff the Trap Remover(1200/1000) in defense mode." The blonde haired thief took his place on to the field in a crouched position and the scorpion shrank, crawled up his arm, and then imprinted itself as the tattoo.

"How nice, you've prevented me from finishing you off completely. I play Sacrificial Lambs, creating two lamb tokens (0/0) much like my Scapegoat card. Only these monsters can be used to tribute summon. And with that I end my turn." A tiny blue and a tiny red goat were now hovering on his feed, sleeping like the goat tokens had been.

Nick felt a rush of determination as he saw his path to changing the tide of the duel right in front of him. As soon as he had the chance he drew and slammed one of his cards down onto the field. "I tribute Cliff the Trap Remover in order to summon Don Zaloog-Hunter of Treasures(1900/1500)!"

The older version of Don Zaloog appeared and upholstered his pistol and aimed it at the demon. "Normally Hunter of Treasures would let me special summon Dark Scorpions from the grave, but since he can't instead he gains a bonus of three hundred attack points."

His attack points counted up until they reached twenty-two hundred, but Gorman just scoffed. "Still he's not strong enough to even match Demon of the Broken Earth, let alone defeat him."

"Really? Apparently you've forgotten my continuous magic card Thieves' Might, which boosts him by three hundred more attack points. And with twenty-five hundred attack points he's more than strong enough. Guns of the King!" Gorman grimaced as Don unloaded his revolver into the demon's forehead. Despite its impressive stature it went down like a ton of bricks. (GLP: 1000)

"You see Gorman? Victory isn't impossible, even in such a negative situation. End turn!" He didn't relax, despite his words of confidence. He had a distinctive life point lead, but should he lose Hunter of Treasures the duel could go south for him very quickly.

Gorman drew and after ascertaining what it was he lifted it up and the ground around him began to rumble. "I activate Gaia Renewal, which revives an earth type monster from the grave with an additional bonus of five hundred attack points. My choice is Demon of the Broken Earth(1800 +1000/1500 -400)!"

The demonic bulldozer reformed and raised one sledgehammer arm poised above Don. "Demon of the Broken Earth will crush Don Zaloog!"

Its heavy arm smashed Don deep into the earth, leaving no trace of him for anyone to find. Nick grimaced as he realized that the chances of him making it had fallen just like he feared them to. And there were also those tokens. "Damn…not good…" (NLP: 2700)

"Worse than you think. Though I'm confident in my strategy I'm not stupid. Gaia Power increases all earth types by five hundred attack, including my stray lambs. So now both of my lamb tokens will attack you directly!" The sight of two fuzzy round goats charging at him and head butting his chest would have been more amusing if it hadn't drained his life points. (NLP: 1700)

"Now, in my second main phase I offer both of my stray lambs to Demon of the Broken Earth's effect. Say farewell to your final monster zone and your chances of winning this duel!" The demon raised its arm high into the air and then dropped it down, blowing apart the final zone just like it had with three of the four others.

Nick couldn't help it when he fell to his knees. He stared at the field, particularly his broken zones, and understood completely that he had failed. 'I…I can't win like this. Without my Dark Scorpions, without the ability to use monsters…I can't beat this kind of strategy!'

Gorman had no more cards to play so he placed his hands inside his sleeves and waited for Nick to come to his senses. "You see now that the duel is ended. And in my victory I will punish you for ever leaving Lord Eikyuu's side by stripping you of your precious memory. Of everything that makes you Nikolas Selket."

'Memories…strip me of my memories. But in the end, that's all I have isn't it? My memories that keep me going, keep me striving towards my goal of…revenge!' He reached up with his left hand and felt the cloth that covered his ruined eye and understood what would really happen should he lose here.

He rose to his feet and drew, his remaining eye burning with fury. "I can't lose to someone like you, because if I did then I could never get my revenge! My memories and my vengeance are all that sustain me so I won't let them be taken away!"

Despite his strong words he had very little to back it up. Scowling he slid his drawn card into his duel disk. "One card face down and end turn."

The high priest drew and smirked at what he had drawn. "Ah, perfect for the situation. Since it is the only card in my hand I can play Hand Obliteration, sending your entire hand to the cemetery."

It wasn't honestly that great a loss, since they were all monsters and currently of no help, so he wasn't worried about discarding them. What he was worried about was the mystery of how he could win the duel. "Demon of the Broken Earth attacks!"

"I'll chain your attack with Thief's Booby Trap, which negates your attack! Then it lets me pick up a Dark Scorpion card from the cemetery and add it to my hand." The demon's attack stopped before it moved much farther than raising its arm above its head. Then Nick picked up a card from his cemetery.

"I feel perfectly safe in ending my turn. After all, what can you do in your current situation?" As he drew for his turn Nick couldn't help but admit to himself that he had no real answer to that question. Although he could defend for at least one more turn, victory seemed out of reach at the moment.

"I'll defend myself with one card. That's all I can manage." His brain was being rummaged through for options, but he couldn't seem to remember any way in his deck to save him and win the duel. His deck simply wasn't designed to counteract this situation.

Nick was drawn out of his distraction by the appearance of another monster on Gorman's field, this one a steel version of Titan of Stone. "Iron Golem(1700 +500/1200 -400) isn't entirely necessary, but I find it best not to take risks. And now he attacks!"

"No he doesn't, because I use my recovered card, Dark Scorpion Poison. Although I have no Dark Scorpions in play I can still prevent your attacks, even if I can't deal damage." The golem lowered its sword before it had even managed to leave its spot, and the demon hadn't even managed to lift an arm in action.

Gorman shrugged and placed his arms back in the sleeves of his robe. "My turn is ended former Lord Selket. Soon you will be nothing but a memory in the minds of others. And good riddance I say."

"A memory…you call me a memory? I will not be left as nothing but a memory in the minds of others! I will have my revenge and not a single man or woman on this green Earth can stop me! So let me show you the power of my desire for revenge, as it's now my turn!" He drew and Gorman was suddenly being pushed backwards by heavy force issuing out of Nikolas' body.

'I had forgotten how powerful the three Knights of Order were! It's incredible!' Nick's arm snapped all the way out to the side and then he brought it in closer so he could see the drawn card. He stared at it for a moment and then raised his one eye to stare out at the priest.

"Priest, I'll end this in the last way that I know how, by letting it all rest on a gamble! Activate magic card, Thief's Secret Code! First I take one card from my hand, and I've only got one so there's no question about it." He held the remaining card up in his right hand, away from his duel disk.

"Now, you have to guess exactly what type of card I'm holding, whether it is magic, trap, or monster. If you guess right then next turn you get to attack me directly even if I had a monster in play, so no change there for me." Gorman nodded, keeping up with the effect so far.

"On the other hand if you fail to guess right you take a penalty of a thousand points of damage! So now it all comes down to this one guess, so make it a good one Priest or this game is mine!" Gorman frowned and began considering carefully.

He was now in an unlucky situation himself. He had a one-third chance of guessing right and winning the duel, but a two-thirds chance of guessing wrong and losing the duel. Yet still the risk was great enough to Nikolas that it seemed strange to make the risk. "Ah…I see…the answer is obvious."

Nick raised his eyebrow. "Oh? Elaborate then and make your guess."

"Yes, that's right. The answer is obvious because you wouldn't take such a risk if you knew you couldn't benefit either way. In other words you'd only do so if the card in your hand could protect you if your gamble failed!" Nikolas frowned upon hearing the deduction and shot a worried glance at the card in his hand.

"So…what are you saying my card is then?"

"I'm saying the answer is as obvious as a dot on the wall! The only card you'd risk using that gamble with is a trap card! So that is the answer!" Nick closed his eyes and Gorman smirked as he saw the despair in his opponent.

Slowly Nick opened his eye and suddenly his frown reversed and became a cocky smirk. Gorman's eyes widened in surprise at the sight. "Wrong answer! I always trust my Dark Scorpions and they didn't fail me now either, because the card in my hand was none other than Don Zaloog(1400/1000)!"

The purple haired thief took shape, revolver pointed at Gorman's forehead. The priest dropped his arms to his side, knowing what was about to happen. "Impossible!"

Nikolas smirked, unable to stop the words that he had heard from his only real opponent coming to the surface. "Nothing is impossible when I'm involved! Now, this duel is over! Guns of the King!"

The bullet caught Gorman right between the eyes and he keeled over. As soon as his back hit the ground the thief leader and the field card faded away, leaving them back in an empty desert. Ihami approached Nikolas and flashed him a grin. "Impressive work, I must admit." (GLP: 0)

The thief of the desert bent down and snatched an orb from within the priest's cloak. It was crystal clear except for the center which held a dark brown sphere. "Yes, impressive. Let's go."

Together they started the walk back to the private jet that had flown them here to begin with. As they walked Nikolas couldn't help but bring up a question that had been on his mind the whole time. "I've been wondering, besides the universe not ending, why are you doing this? Helping I mean. You could do this without aiding Sumatin, so what is it that you really want?"

Ihami put a hand to her mouth and tittered. "Why how clever of you Nikolas! You're right, I did know all about this to begin with, and I could just as easily do all that needs to be done faster than you guys since I can teleport around the world at a whim. So yes, what do I want is the perfect choice of question."

Nick stared at her expectantly. "Well?"

She smirked but didn't lower her hand from her mouth. "I've got a rebuttal question before I bring up an answer. What is it that you really want?"

The thief snorted and rolled his eye, brushing the comment off with a single wave of a hand. "What kind of question is that? The answer is obvious that I want revenge on Sumatin for taking my family from me and taking my happiness."

Ihami snickered and turned away, looking back over her shoulder as she walked. "And then what?"

The question caught Nick so off guard that he couldn't move or speak in reaction for several seconds. When finally he could take action again, his answer was unsteady. "I…I don't know."

"Poor boy. Until you know what you want, you have no reason to be asking anyone else what they want. So, ask me again once you've really figured out the answer to that all consuming question." She kept walking and Nikolas could only stare at her retreating back, his mind in turmoil. Eventually he followed her, but he was mute for the rest of their trip back.

It wasn't until their jet was actually in the air that he realized she had never actually answered his question.

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Author's Notes: Good question.

Next Time: Although the first four Death-Sealing Spells have been gained the journey isn't over yet. So far the battles for the seals have been growing more difficult progressively, and now only two remain. Standing tall Ihami moves into action against the next and seemingly strongest priest. But if her motives are unknown, should she even be allowed to win?

See it all in, Ignite the Fires of Lust Within!