Yami no Game: Dark Saga
Chapter 39
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'Black Magician...your sacrifice will not be wasted.' Yami thought solemnly as a glare was directed at Pandora. Pandora only growled as he watched their cards disappeared from the field. 'I gave up my magician's life to kill you but it didn't work! You will pay for this!' he thought as a smirk grew. 'But I got rid of his only one while I still have two more resting in my deck. Either way he's a goner.'
"Enough with the look. To end my turn, I'll play a card face down." Pandora said as he watched Yami. "Now, I know your deck only contains one Black Magician but I still have two left! The title of master magician is still mine to claim!" Pandora exclaimed. "We'll see about that. If you were a true magician, then the heart filled cries of the soul you sacrificed would ring like a haunting melody in your ears." Yami snapped. "Oh, I hear nothing of the sort! Just the sweet sound of a circular saw waiting to slice you up!" Pandora claimed with glee. "You only have 700 life points left, the moment the counter hits zero, that blade will move pass the zero mark and cut you up! Then the greatest escape of the century will be completed!"
"Only the cards will know how this battle shall end and it won't be with my life lost." Yami hissed as he drew his card. 'He has no monsters on the field so this is ample time to attack him.' he thought. "I summon Gazelle, the King of Mythical Beast onto the field." he announced as the beast monster appeared on the field with a snarl. But Pandora only grinned. 'So eager to die!' he thought before hitting a button on his duel disk. "Activating trap! Devil's Scales!" The conjurer called as the demonic looking scales appeared on the field. "This handy trap will measure the monster on both sides of the field to make sure there's equality but seeing as I have none, means yours will be destroyed!"
"Damn you..."
"Now, let's the scales decide your fate!" Both Guardna and Gazelle appeared on the scales and with there being more monsters on Yami's side of the field, the teeth-like plate crushed both and they were destroyed before fading from the field. "Now you have no monsters, and just after you summoned too. Such a shame." Pandora mocked as he took his turn. Yami growled in anger, teeth clenched and very tempted to rip Pandora's head from his shoulders. Alas, with the binds keeping him in place even with his strength made that impossible at the moment but he was sure it will happen soon enough. After drawing his card, Pandora glanced to it and smirked darkly. 'With this trump, I can't lose!' he thought and Yami could tell that whoever can summon a monster first will win. "You've played right into my hands, Yami. I have a card that can summon a high level monster in a pinch!" Pandora whispered and Yami's eyes widened, knowing exactly what the other was going for. "I can see by your expression you know exactly what's going to happen! Yes, a card to summon the most powerful spellcaster! The Black Magician!" he cackled as he took the card from hand.
"With this, I shall win! Now activate, Dark Magic Curtain!" he called as he played the card and a dark curtain appeared onto the field. "It cost me half my life points but it's well worth it to finish you off for good!" Pandora's life points decreased to 750 but for it, the Black Magician appeared from the curtain and glared down at Yami who snarled in anger. "Well now, who has the perfect magician deck now?! Speed of attack, speed of summoning, spell cards to assist no matter the situation...either way you put it, mine is superior to yours!" Pandora gloated before cackling. "You have to admit to it now! I am the ultimate magician! The ultimate archmage of magician decks everywhere!" Yami's eyes narrowed as the other continued to gloat and knew somehow, he had to stop Pandora. "You don't have a single monster on the field! One more strike and I will win. Of course, your only hope is your face down cards...so let's be rid of them so I have nothing getting in my way. Activating spell! Anti-Magic Arrows!" he called as arrows materialized before making targets of Yami's cards, destroying them and he snarled.
"Now there's nothing left to stop me! Go, Black Magician! Finish him off!" The Black Magician shot forward, staff ready to make the killing blow when something odd happened that threw Pandora off his game as it materialized onto the field. 'No! How can this be!' he thought in shock as the Black Magic Curtain appeared on Yami's side of the field. 'How did he get the spell too?! I've cancelled all of his retaliations!'
"You must be wondering why this happened...that's because Black Magic Curtain affects the entire field, and therefore allows me to summon a magician as well." Yami explained, smirk on his face while his life points decreased to 350. "But how?! I know your deck! You only have one Black Magician! Who else could you possibly send out?!" Pandora squawked, horrified at the turn of events and hoped that the other couldn't possibly send out a stronger magician than his own. "You are right, while I don't have another Black Magician...who ever said anything about me not having his apprentice hiding within my deck. Behind every great magician, there is an apprentice to carry on their magic should something happen to them." he spoke, making Pandora gape in horror. 'I...I didn't know that! So, who can it possibly be?!'
"Now let me show you! Come forth, Black Magician Girl!" The curtain opened and the small female magician appeared out from the curtain, smiling softly. Pandora let out a relieved breath. 'She's nothing. With only a mere 2000 attack, she can't hold a candle to Black Magician. You just signed your death warrant, demon!' Pandora thought. "Kill them! Kill them both, Black Magician!"
"Counter with Black Burning!" The two clashed in the center of the field, a large cloud of smoke obscuring their vision but Pandora could only believe that his magician won over Black Magician Girl. 'I win! I finally win!'
"Do you now?" Yami questioned and Pandora's eyes widened at the proclamation and gasped when the smoke cleared, revealing that his magician had been the one to fall. 'No...this can't be! He was much more powerful than her! How did he lose?!'
"I'll explain to that feeble mind of yours, conjurer. Black Magician Girl's attack raises by 500 for each Black Magician in the graveyard. The apprentice carries on her master's legacy and he will watch over her even in death." he explained, the soul of his Black Magician appearing behind his apprentice. "B-but that doesn't explain anything!" Pandora exclaimed in horror. 'There's only one Black Magician in Yami's graveyard! She would only gain 500 and therefore the match should've ended in a stalemate!' he thought as he tried to piece together exactly what happened. Yami's eyes narrowed as cerise darkened into crimson.
"Take a closer look, conjurer. Remember how I told you that you would hear the cries of the monsters you sacrificed selfishly in hopes to defeat me before. Now hear his now as he returns the favor by killing you!" he hissed as Pandora's magician appeared beside Yami's, giving Black Magician Girl another 500 and left her with a grand total of 3000 attack points. "Now, prepare yourself, Pandora! You have betrayed your cards and I've heard their cries! Now time to pay for your ruthless sacrifice! Black Burning!" he called and Black Magician Girl casted her spell once more, hitting Pandora directly and finished off the last 750 life points he held. "Remember this, Pandora, cards are to be respected. If not then soon, they will turn on their masters. You discarded your so called "slave" so he turned against you by assisting me." Yami whispered. "Th-this can't be...I lost. I can't lose...this was supposed to be my grand escape! Cards don't have souls or minds of their own! They are to only obey their masters!" Pandora screeched.
"And look where it has gotten you. You cut up your cards to cheat then slaughtered your monsters to win. This is their payback and now, it's time for you to die." he whispered as the box beneath him opened while the saw blade advance onto Pandora. 'Augh! No! The saw blade will slice me in half now that my life points are at zero!' he thought in horror as he tried to escape in panic but forgotten his own trap kept him bound there. Yami looked down to see the key as well as a puzzle card sitting within the box. "Shit!" Pandora cursed as the blade got closer and closer but he smirked. 'A conjurer is never to be underestimated! I have a spare key hidden right in my sleeve just in case.' he thought as he pulled out the key. 'As long as I have this, I can escape...' he thought before everything came to a screeching halt as a familiar presence entered his mind. 'M-Master Malik?!'
/Didn't you lose the duel, Pandora?/ he questioned mentally. /For that, you must pay the price with your life!/ With his presence in his mind and controlling him, he could move, therefore leaving him open for the saw to finish the job. "H-help me...forgive me! Please master, forgive me!" Pandora cried as he looked to the hand that once held the key but saw nothing although it was but an illusion to his eye and the key was still there. "No, where is it! Where's the key! I just had it!" he wailed. /I've erased it from your memory. You can't see it nor feel it, slave. You shouldn't forget that I have complete control over everything you do./ Malik spoke. "Noooo!" he cried before wailing in pain as the blade began to slice at his leg slowly.
But his saving grace came in the form of Yugi running up to him, kneeling down and unlocked the ankle cuffs before a rope of shadows pulled Pandora and Yugi from the blade. "You have done wrong but no game is worth dying for." Yugi whispered as Yami walked up to him. "Be grateful he was willing to show you mercy." Yami sneered. Pandora was silent before he moved to stand, Sennen eye blazing on his forehead as Malik took over. "Now why would you do such a thing? You just gave him his sentence yet you save him." Malik spoke before glancing down to Yugi. "So, you are the demons' lover." he whispered. "How do you know that?! Who are you?!" Yugi demanded as he stepped back closer to Yami who set a hand on his shoulder.
"Ah yes, I haven't introduced myself to you yet. I am Malik. I can control this fool from a distance. His mind and all his senses...his sight and his hearing. It's how I can hear and see you even from far away as well as speak with you." he explained. "Ok then! I don't care about that right now! Why are you trying to kill Yami for! He hasn't done a thing to you!" Yugi cried. "For revenge, dear Yugi. I am the heir of the clan of tomb guardians who have lived within the darkness for 3000 years...and for such, I will avenge them."
'Tomb Guardians...where have I heard that before...' Yugi thought to himself before his focus was back on Malik as he began to speak. "In the most remote parts of Egypt...near the tomb of the kings...we tomb guardians have lived apart from society, from the world even, hiding away in the darkness, passing a task from mother to daughter and father to son. It was to protect the eight secrets...the memories of the lost kings so that one day, they will arise again." he explained. 'Wait...eight secrets...memories...he must mean...!'
"Wait, do you speak of the Sennen items! How do you know of them?!" Yugi demanded. "I hold one of course. I must guard it even if it means sacrificing my life for it. Until I present it to the royals of 3000 years. It was what I was taught as a child. Of course, the problem was finding their souls for when they were lost, it said they were corrupted with dark powers far surpassing their shadow magic. But there was a clue...a clue written in the original hieroglyphics of the pert em hru, the Book of the Dead. It told us that the king will be known by "the three god cards he wields". In other words, the one to collect the three god cards in this tournament will be marked as the king of old and regain the lost memories and the Sennen items!"
'So that's it, the god cards are the key to bring back their memories...' Yugi thought quietly while Yami listened to this all with a passive expression. "But for countless generations, my family has protected the Sennen items all at the cost of our suffering and pain. But now, I will put an end to it all and free us from such binds...but not by welcoming the king and sovereign as told by the tomb keepers. I will kill them for good and not only get revenge but take their power as demons! And if the prophecy speaks of the king that wields the three god cards, then I will fulfill that prophecy and become the new demon king of this world!" Malik spoke and Yugi gasped. "You can't do this!"
"I can and will! I formed the Rare Hunters to hunt down the three gods. I have obtained two and the last lurks in this Battle City." Yami growled in anger and Yugi reached up to rest his hand over his, he felt they were at the halfway mark now. He knew the purpose of Yami participating in this event. Not for a title but to reclaim that which he and Aqua had lost overtime. 'I have to help them...we have to find the god cards, it's the only way to get back their memories now. They have longed for this chance and I can't hold them back.' Yugi thought, his other hand reaching up to grip tightly on the chains that held the puzzle. 'I wish...even longed for them to stay with me...but even if we do get separated, at least they'll be able to rest peacefully and least had a chance at love during their time out in this world. There's just some things you have to let go for the greater good!'
"I won't let you kill him or Aqua! Yami will fight you and he will win! He will have the support of me and the friends he had made over the time he has returned to the living world!" Yugi said. "Your words are nothing. You may be their lover but you were nothing but a vessel before..." Malik murmured. 'And soon, you too will die so that I have no other competition.' he thought. "It will take me some time to get to Domino City. But I surely wouldn't want you to get bored while you wait for my arrival so I'll give you something to work for if you're so adamant to stop me. Already there is a Rare Hunter with a god card lurking within the city. A man who holds Osiris. You see him before you know it so remember this...beware the silent doll..."
Yami buried his words into mind as he gave a snort and looked away. 'Now, to tie up loose ends with this failed pawn.' Malik thought as he began to sift through Pandora's mind and the networking of his past. 'Hmm, so he has considered the idea of suicide twice in his life. Well then, let's stir them up a bit so that when he wakes, he will be in hysterics as suicidal impulses take over until he can't take them no more and kills himself.' he thought, using the Rod to do just that before leaving the other's mind and the wadjet eye faded from Pandora's forehead. 'Soon, we will meet, Yami…'
Pandora collapsed onto the ground and Yugi ran over to the other man to check and see if he was alright. Yami walked over to him, causing Yugi to look up to him. He knew by his gaze that there was no time to worry about the other and stood. "I'm here for you, Yami. I will help you both through this. Now let's get going since Aqua is still out there and will wonder where you are if he doesn't see you." he murmured before disappearing back into his soul room. Yami let out a breath, touching the puzzle gently. 'We have our lead and we know what we must do to get our memories back...but will it cause us to return back to the dead and leave Yugi here all alone? I truly hope not cause I don't want to lose him...' he thought before stepping over the fallen conjurer despite his instincts telling him to finish the job but ignored them, knowing that he'll probably get his dues thanks to Malik's influence.
Enough souls were sacrificed, he can spare at least one to house another that was
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Zypher: And that's that. Hope you all liked and now it's time for another page out of the big book of duel monster stories.
-Shadow Realm: Yami and Yugi's Deck-
"Mahaado! Mahaado, where are you?!" Celtic called as he ran about the realm in search of the spellcaster. He came across Gazelle and stopped as he looked to the beast king. "Hey, Gazelle, have you seen Mahaado?" he asked. Gazelle looked to him and nodded. /"Last I saw, after the battle, he returned to the spellcasters dorm to work with Mana on her magic some."/ he explained. "Alright, thanks." he said and was about to run off once more for the spellcasters' dorm when Gazelle held a paw up to him. /"Need a lift?"/
"That would make things quicker." Celtic climbed onto Gazelle's back and the beast king was off towards the spellcasters' dorm, soon arriving in the large courtyard which was being occupied by said spellcasters, Mahaado watching as Mana practiced her spells. He looked to them and smiled warmly before waving them over. Gazelle did so, trotting over to his side before Celtic climbed off and walked up to his lover. "How goes it?"
"A few backlashes but she is improving. I'm glad she came through in battle. I didn't expect to see the other Black Magician to assist her but he told me he felt betrayed to be sacrificed so easily by Pandora that he was willing to help just to see him die." he murmured, crossing his arms and sighed. "To be treated that way, it not only pained Master Yami but me as well to see a fellow spellcaster in such conditions." Celtic frowned and reached up, resting a hand on his arm. "Well hopefully things will look up for him. Master Yami didn't pick him up but hopefully someone better than that man will."
"I hope so too." he replied, smiling down to Celtic before leaning down and kissed his forehead gently. "Did you miss me?"
"A whole lot since I wasn't there but it looks like you definitely got a workout of your magical prowess." Celtic murmured. "I did indeed but I'm only grateful to have help Master Yami. I had to protect him, no matter what it took so thankfully, as evil as it was, the Ectoplasmer came in handy for me to do just that." he said. "I'm glad to hear that, Mahaado. I wish I could be just a devoted as you are to Master Yami."
"You are in your own special way, Celtic. Never forget that." Mahaado whispered, leaning down more to kiss him softly before a long bang stopped him and he looked up. "Mana! Remember to focus!" he called before looking down to Celtic once more. "I shouldn't take my eye of her for a minute. Wait for me in my room and we'll continue our conversation there." he said, a glint in his eyes that Celtic knew well and he blushed a little before nodding. Gazelle only laughed from where he was before heading back to the beast dorm while Celtic headed into the spellcasters to wait for Mahaado to finish his lesson with Mana. He did, however, have the sneaking suspicion that the other was going to end it early just so that he can get back to his room and his waiting lover.