Howdy all. Wow, I got a few more reviews than usual, so happy day! Lol, me be silly since it's 5 A.M., and I went to bed at midnight. 'Sighs' Oh well, I'll get over it. At any rate, enough complaining about my fun life, lol. Time to move onto the reviews.

pink-kiss-candy: Good question about Gozaburo. This chapter will show you actually, so that's one less question, lol. As for the spirit, yep, he's gone. Forever though, well, most likely unless Illidan has a change of heart, which is rather unlikely due that the two don't get along.

Isis the Sphinx: If you look closely, he does have one major weakness. He may not show it much, but his major weakness will become rather apparent soon.

Divine Weapon: Currently, he is eighteen. Same for Marie, but they're ages were different in ancient times. 'Sniffle' Big meanie! Lol, kidding as well. Thanks for the comment.

Metal Overlord 2.0: Yeah, I thought I'd have Gozaburo's reaction be a bit different. He didn't think the spirit could win, but wanted to make sure, just to test Illidan out. Good question as to what he has up his sleeve. As I said earlier, you'll find out this chapter. Lol, yeah, Bakura put up a heck of a fight, but he went down swinging still. As for about Diabound, well, when I began work on this story, the show hadn't gotten that far. I think it had just gotten into the Seal series, or was getting ready to. In either case, I had no clue about Diabound till recently. Lol, and no problem about your story. I know everyone needs a little feedback to help them along. Lol, that's what makes posting this story so fun. I love seeing the feedback on it.

Well, I'm done for the morning now. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. A few things might just be answered here. Till tomorrow, enjoy.

Chapter 52

Once the day's duels finished out, the rankings were updated as usual. The duel between Illidan and Bakura was decided as Illidan winning. Yugi and Marik dueled after Illidan, and Yugi won by using Slifer the Sky Dragon. After that, Seto and Noa had their duel, with Noa pulling an upset victory over Seto. Mai and Joey then dueled, and Joey prevailed due to the luck of his Time Wizard. The final duel was Marie and Bandit Keith. Marie easily picked Keith's machines apart piece by piece.

The rankings shaped up to be as follows: 1st Illidan Stormrage, 2nd Yugi Moto, 3rd Marie O'Dell, 4th Marik Ishtar, 5th Seto Kaiba, 6th Joey Wheeler, 7th Noa Kaiba, 8th Mai Valentine, 9th Bakura Ryou, and 10th Bandit Keith.

Once the duels were finished, Illidan headed for his room. He was exhausted from play the Shadow Game, and as well tired from having to seal the spirit of the Millennium Ring. "I haven't played many of those Shadow Games in forever, but still, I don't like them no matter what. They just take a lot of my energy to play."

Illidan returned to his room and laid down on his bed. He was drifting off to sleep when he heard the loud speaker come on, which made him jump. It scared him half to death, for he was nearly asleep.

The judge's familiar voice then said "Attention duelists. There will be a Tag Team Title duel tonight. It will be Illidan and Marie, the champions, against Seto and Noa. I repeat, Illidan Stormrage and Marie O'Dell vs. Seto and Noa Kaiba. Don't forget, the duel starts at 7 P.M. That is all."

Illidan slowly regained his calmness and composure. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was already 3:00 P.M. "Hmm, a tag team duel against Seto and Noa. I wonder what Gozaburo was thinking when he paired those two up. No matter I guess. Me and Marie will win it, one way or another. I just need some sleep before then though." he mused quietly.

He was almost asleep again when he heard his door being banged on. Growling, Illidan got out of bed, intent on telling whoever it was to just go away. He didn't even look to see who it was. Once he opened the door, he was shocked to see none other than Gozaburo Kaiba. Illidan's mind immediately woke up at this sight.

"What does he want? Is he here to fight me?"

Smirking, Gozaburo said "Mind if I come in Illidan?"

Slightly shocked, Illidan said "Sure, come on in."

As Gozaburo came in, Illidan noticed that he was wearing the Millennium Crown on his head. Immediately Illidan was on edge, thinking "He has become so powerful now. I really have to be cautious."

"Acting cautiously around me won't work too well Illidan." stated Gozaburo.

Shocked, Illidan said "Huh? How did you know what I was … I see. You used the power of the Millennium Crown. It has all the abilities of the seven Millennium Items, and you were using Pegasus's Millennium Eye's power."

Smirking, Gozaburo nodded. Illidan then concentrated created a small mind shield with the power of his Millennium Key, hoping that it would be enough to keep him safe. Once he was certain Gozaburo couldn't enter his mind again, he began to let his thoughts return.

In a curious, yet cautious voice, Illidan asked "What do you want Gozaburo?"

Lightly chuckling, Gozaburo replied, saying "Illidan, I'm surprised you got right to the point. As you know, you are in this contest to defeat me, or at least try. Well, you should know that I won't let you win that easily. I've known for quite sometime that you were the reincarnated version of your past self. You see, the reason I even allowed you entry to this contest was my Millennium Crown showed me that you was possibly the reincarnation of the one that destroyed the original owner of the crown, one known in ancient times as Gozaburo Tark. Over the last week, I've found out the crown was right, and watched you as you have grown stronger each duel. I'm sure you have plenty of questions for me. So, go ahead and ask me."

Taking a seat right in front of Illidan, Gozaburo smirked, making Illidan think "Bold now, isn't he."

Taking a seat himself, Illidan sat straight across from Gozaburo. He tried looking into the eyes of his bitter enemy of the past, knowing that talking with him could be a bad thing.

"First, I want to know something. Are you the true reincarnation of Gozaburo of the past? You look exactly as he did from that time. You know I'm the reincarnation of Illidan, but I want to know, are you Gozaburo's reincarnation?"

An evil laugh escaped Gozaburo, as he said "You know, I get that from each of you fools from that time period. That foolish spirit of the Millennium Ring, or the one once known as Bakura in ancient times, asked the same thing. He seemed afraid that I was. I think it is mostly due to what that Gozaburo did to you and the others of your little group. Anyways, I'm not the reincarnation of that Gozaburo. I do have his memories thanks to the Millennium Crown, but I am not him. If I was, you'd be dead by now. So, enough chit chat about that. I still know how you killed him, and I know the anger he felt by it. And I know of the remorse that he felt for having to attack Marie. Yes, he felt so much remorse for it."

Illidan growled in anger that that monster could even feel anything for Marie. He then spat out angrily "The only reason he felt remorse was due that he loved her! She didn't want a thing to do with him, yet he tried desperately to win her heart. And I know it destroyed him when she chose me over him, but he wouldn't let it go. No matter what I tried to do, he wouldn't let it go. Marie had told him then, and she'd tell you now if she was around, that …"

Holding up a hand, Gozaburo interrupted, saying "Hold on Illidan. You can't fool me. Marie is alive, and she is here in this tower. I know that she is the one that controls the Millennium Necklace now. I knew when I invited her here that she was possibly Marie as well, so I invited her like I did you. Also, I saw that she has the Millennium Necklace from when you and the others came out of the Shadow Realm. Don't try and deny it. She will be mine in the end, or be destroyed!"

Illidan was growling rather loudly now as his anger caused him to think "How dare he threaten her!"

Still growling, Illidan then said "You won't lay a hand on her. Do, and I'll do much worse to you than what I did to the Gozaburo of the past. He was a mad man, and threatened the one I love, as well as all of my friends. If you do the same, I'll do as I did to him to you. I am not threatening you, I'm telling you. Do as you want to me, but leave Marie and the others out of this!"

Laughing evilly, Gozaburo replied "You're still the same Illidan. According to the memories I have, you would still throw your life away to protect those fools. You told the former owner of the crown the same thing, yet he persisted due to his love for Marie. You will lose her in the end Illidan, and she'll join me or perish in the process."

Standing, Illidan stared at Gozaburo with great anger in his eyes. Gozaburo stood as well, making the two look face to face. Suddenly, the room started filling with tremendous energy as both Gozaburo and Illidan were powering up their Millennium Items. Small bolts of electricity were pouring off of both as a golden aura showed around them.

Smirking, Gozaburo said "So Illidan, you're stronger than you were back then. I'm surprised."

Illidan only showed his ice cold eyes straight at Gozaburo. "I won't let him hurt you Marie! I'll die protecting you before I let him harm you again!"

Lightly chuckling, Gozaburo said "Interesting. You seem confident that you can defeat me Illidan. Very interesting."

Illidan simply replied with steel in his voice "Just can it Gozaburo. I don't care if you're the reincarnation or not of Gozaburo, but I won't let you harm Marie! She doesn't love you, and never has. She only loves me, and I love only her. If you dare try to harm her, I will destroy you."

Gozaburo continued to stare at Illidan as his aura continued to flare out. He then said "Ah, such a fiery will you have Illidan. But do you honestly think you can defeat me? You know that your pathetic Millennium Key doesn't have enough strength to combat my Millennium Crown, so you must realize you're at a major disadvantage. My Millennium Crown is several times stronger than your pathetic Millennium Key, so why bother to try and stand against me?"

Illidan only smirked, replying with "The reason is I can never let you harm anyone I care about, or the world for that matter. I'll never let you plunge this world into darkness. Sure, I may be no match for the Millennium Crown, but I was no match five millennia ago either, yet I stopped you then, and I'll stop you now. Sure, you could kill me, but someone else will take my place in stopping you."

Gozaburo only laughed evilly at this response and stopped powering up. The aura of the Millennium Crown dissipated as he turned to leave the room.

He only continued to laugh till he reached the door, where he turned to look at Illidan, saying "Till we meet again Illidan. I hope you realize you'll die at that duel!"

With that said, Gozaburo left Illidan's room, leaving a bewildered Illidan standing there with his power still flaring out. Slowly, Illidan let his power dissipate when he was sure everything was alright.

Standing there, Illidan looked at his Millennium Key, curious to when he became so strong. Earlier in the day, he had noticed his power was much greater when facing the spirit of the Millennium Ring. "When did I get so strong? I never was this strong in ancient times. I must find out the answer to this question. Perhaps Marie can help me. Yes, I'll ask her later tonight, after our duel."

Illidan then looked at the clock, realizing it was already 5:30 P.M.

Sighing, he said "I guess I'd better get ready."

After a quick shower, Illidan returned to the kitchen for some Ramen Noodles. Sitting there eating the beef flavored noodles, he couldn't help but think about how he somewhat resembled the character Inuyasha, who loved Ramen Noodles as well. "At least I don't live off of these like he does." he mused to himself.

After eating, he quickly checked his deck, making sure he had all his cards still there. Then Illidan grabbed his Duel Disk and deck and headed out the door. He slowly walked down the hall towards Marie's room. He knocked on the door only once and she answered him. Quickly grabbing a quick kiss from her, the two then headed towards the elevator while holding hands.

Once there, Illidan saw Seto and Noa was there. Seto said in a sarcastic voice "Ah, how cute. The geeks are showing love for each other. I only hope you're prepared to lose your titles."

Smirking, Illidan replied "Nice comment as usual Seto. Marie, just ignore him."

Marie only smiled at Illidan for his comment. Even Noa cracked a smile, but Seto growled at his step brother for it.

The judge finally showed up after another minute and the five entered the elevator. Within seconds they were at the top to see a beautiful evening coming about with a wonderful sunset in the background.

The judge made his usual comments, saying the Tag Team Titles were on the line, and for the four to shake hands and to shuffle their decks. Once that was done, he said for them to report to their positions.

Each followed their instructions and finally made it to their designated spots.

Once there, the judge said "The champions have the choice of which team goes first."

After discussing it, Marie and Illidan let Seto and Noa go first. Seto of course would take the first turn, followed by Marie, then Noa, then Illidan.

"Now activate your Duel Disks and bring out your Deck Masters, then draw your first five cards and begin." ordered the judge.

All four complied and fired their holo projectors, and then their Duel Disks unfolded and powered up.

Seto smirked, saying "Prepare to meet your end at the hands of my Kaiser Sea Horse (1700/1650)!" The large blue and purple sea horse warrior with a lance then appeared beside of Seto.

Smiling, Marie said "Meet my Guardian Angel Joan (2800/2000)!" Marie's large pink skinned angel with golden wings appeared beside of her.

Noa then slightly smirked, saying "Time for Shinato, the King of a Higher Plane (3300/3000) to come out!" A large blue skinned angel, much different from Marie's, then appeared beside Noa.

Illidan smiled and said "Alright Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (3000/2500), come on out!" Illidan's large black armored soldier with his sword and shield then appeared right beside him.

Each then drew their first five cards and screamed in unison "Time to duel!"