The cards on the field were not looking good for Akia. She only had Soul Absorption active and one other card set facedown. Marik, on the other hand had three facedown cards, Coffin Seller active, Vengeful Bog Spirit active, and two monsters in face-up attack position, Helpoemer (2000/1400) and Masked Beast Des Gradius (3300/2500). Marik's Life Points stood at 4750, and Akia's were 5900. She still had an advantage, but she feared it wouldn't last if she didn't find a way to get rid of his monsters.
"Draw!" The young woman started her turn. Her eyes widened at her luck. "First, I'll set three cards facedown. Then, I will summon D.D. Assailant (1700/1600) in attack position! Now… Say hello to my new monster! It requires a very specific way to summon it. Only by banishing a Light and a Dark attribute monster from my graveyard, can I make this monster come out. I will remove from play my Banisher of the Radiance and D.D. Survivor! Chaos Sorcerer (2300/2000)! Come out!"
The field lit up as Akia's monster materialized, smirking, and holding an orb of light in one hand, and an orb of darkness in the other. Akia's Life Points went up by 1000 points.
"Whoa! Where did she get that card from?" Otogi asked.
"Oh, I gave it to her because I thought it would suit her deck more than mine," Yugi replied. "I'm surprised she hasn't used it yet."
"But it's not strong enough for Marik's monster!" Jounouchi exclaimed.
"There's more to it than meets the eye," Yugi winked.
Marik's evil personality scoffed. He had heard of that card and knew what was coming.
Akia smiled smugly. "By the look on your face, you know what I'm about to do. I'll activate Chaos Sorcerer's special ability! Once per turn, I can target one monster and remove it from play at the cost of not being able to attack. Since your Vengeful Bog Spirit is in play anyways, I was not going to be able to attack this turn. Now… I'll target Masked Beast Des Gardius and remove it from play!"
Marik's monster was warped out play, at the cheers of Akia's friends. Marik's dominant personality let out a sigh of relief as Akia prevailed in recovering from the past turns. Her Life Points went up again, bringing them to 7400. As soon as she ended her turn, her D.D. Survivor (1800/200) returned to her field in defence position, since she had removed it from play to summon her Chaos Sorcerer.
"My turn. Draw!" Marik started his next turn. "First, I'll get rid of your D.D. Survivor. Helpoemer! Attack!"
"Trap card! Activate!" Akia interjected. "Karma Cut! By discarding one card from my hand, I can banish one of your monsters and I, of course, choose Helpoemer!"
Akia's Life Points went up by another 500 points, bringing them up to 7900.
"So persistent," Marik's evil personality scoffed. "You haven't even touched my Life Points since I triggered your Judgment of Anubis. Turn end!"
The young woman hated to admit it, but he was right. If it wasn't for her insanely high Life Points, she would have lost multiple times over.
"Don't let what he says get to you, Akia!" Yugi called out to his sister.
Her brother's encouragement brought a smile to her face. She nodded and looked straight into Marik's eyes. "You're right. I haven't been able to lower your Life Points since the first turns of this duel. That doesn't mean that I won't ultimately beat you, though. The fact is that I have way more Life Points than you right now and I'm about to widen the gap! Draw! Banisher of the Light (100/2000)! Come out, old friend, in face-up defence position! Now all cards will once again be banished instead of going to the graveyard."
"Yeah! Go Akia!" Jounouchi cheered.
"I'll switch D.D. Survivor to attack position. Now, full on assault! I'll attack you directly with Chaos Sorcerer!" Akia started her attack.
"Quick Magic, activate! Spell of Pain! I'm sure you remember what that card does from our tag duel. Any damage that I would be getting from this attack is switched to you instead!" Marik intercepted her first attack.
Akia's Life Points went up by 500 points, then down by 2300. The redirected damage caused her to wince at the burning sensation. She tried to quickly regain her composure, however, so that she wouldn't worry the people who cared about her.
She was not done, however. She attacked with D.D. Assailant, which prompted Marik to use his second quick spell, Dark Spell Regeneration. This allowed him to pick one spell card from either player's graveyard and to use it instantly.
"I will choose Hammer Shot, using it to destroy the monster with the most attack on the field," Marik said. "That monster happens to be your Chaos Sorcerer!"
As her Chaos Sorcerer got destroyed, Akia gained another 500 Life Points. "Even so, my D.D. Assailant's attack is still going!"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Marik's dark side chuckled. "I'll activate my third quick spell card! Dark Wall of Wind!"
When the spell card came into effect, Marik disappeared in a thick dark fog, making it impossible for Akia's monsters to attack him.
"This spell makes me impervious to direct attacks for the duration of the turn," his mocking voice sounded. "I told you, you cannot touch me!" His eerie laugh then resonated.
Even though she had received damage from her own monster, due to Soul Absorption, her Life Points were at 8100 by the end of her turn. Marik drew his next card. He then summoned Revival Jam (1500/500) in face-up defence position and set two cards facedown.
"My turn, draw!" Akia looked at her cards then looked at the field. She knew from watching Mai's duel against Marik that Revival Slime was invincible. Not having any other options available for her to play, she ended her turn.
"Draw," Marik's evil personality picked his next card. "First, I'll set a card facedown. I'll then activate my facedown trap Rope of Life to summon back Juragedo from the grave, giving him an 800 attack points boost (2500/1300). I'll also use Premature Burial to summon Swallowtail Spike Lizard (1900/700) in face-up defence mode at the cost of 800 of my Life Points."
When his Life Points were brought down to 3950, a small part of his dominant personality disappeared. This brought back Akia's fear of losing him. Her resolve started shaking. Was she really willing to hurt him by lowering her opponent's Life Points?
"It'll be alright," a reassuring voice came from behind her. She turned her head towards her past self. "You're doing great so far. I'll help you when the time is right. It shouldn't be long now…"
Akia nodded to her look-alike and turned her gaze back to Marik. She drew her next card and looked at his Swallowtail Spike Lizard. She knew she couldn't leave it on the field or it would raise Marik's Life Points. Against her better judgement, she called an attack on it with her D.D. Survivor.
"I didn't think you'd fall for such a simple trick," Marik laughed sarcastically. "Trap card, activate! Malevolent Catastrophe! I can only activate this trap when you declare an attack. When it's activated, though, it destroys all monsters you control! Since your Banisher of the Light is also destroyed, all your monsters are sent to the Graveyard, triggering my trap card, Coffin Seller!"
"I should've know it was a trap card…" Akia mumbled to herself. She was still shaken from seeing Marik's dominant personality start disappearing and wasn't thinking as straight as she would usually. Then again, she knew she had nothing in her deck left that could counter the trap card. She also lost 900 Life Points due to Coffin Seller, bringing her Life Points down to 7700. She still had a facedown trap card that would cover her for next turn, though. "I'll end my turn…" Akia sighed.
The evil personality then let out a low laugh.
"What is going on? Why is he getting creepier?" Jounouchi asked.
"This can't be good…" Otogi added.
The Egyptian man then burst out laughing, his eyes seeming to have lost all sanity. There were veins popping up all over his face and his tongue was hanging out. There was only one word to describe the scene that was unfolding: insanity. A sense of dread was filling his dominant personality. He knew this couldn't be good. Yugi was also quite worried about his sister. Akia was quite shook as well, feeling the ball of anxiety grow larger once more.
When Marik's calmed down from his laughing fit, he held his face in one hand and stared at Akia with a demented grin. "It's time… For god to smite you down."
Everyone's eyes widened. Akia's body started shaking in fear, remembering how painful it was when she was attacked by Ra during her duel with Rishid. She also knew that her trap was useless against a god card.
"Almost there…" Her past self whispered to her. "You just need to withstand the first attack and defeat god once. You think you can do that?"
Hearing that made Akia hope once more. She steadied her breathing and shared her resolve with the other her. "If there's even the slightest chance of saving Marik, no matter how difficult it is, I will do it."
"Nothing you do can prevent this!" Marik's evil personality yelled out. "Draw!" His Life Points went up by 1000 thanks to his Swallowtail Spike Lizard, bringing them to 4950. "I sacrifice my three monsters to summon the Winged Dragon of Ra!"
A bright shining light engulfed the arena, causing everyone to either close their eyes or shield them. The Winged Dragon of Ra then materialized in all its majesty, with the combined stats of Marik's three monsters (5900/2500).
"Brace yourself…" Akia's past self said to her, knowing full-well how painful this was about to be.
Akia quickly picked up her Millennium Scale, hoping it could provide some form of protection. Yugi was almost about to run up there to shield his sister, but he stopped himself, opting to have faith in her instead. He even held Jounouchi back who was just as ready to run to Akia.
"No, don't do it! Stop!" Marik's dominant personality yelled out.
"Let's see if you can withstand a direct attack from god!" Marik's evil personality shouted. "Ra! Attack Akia directly! God Blaze Cannon!"
"Akia!" Her friends yelled out her name as both she and the other her screamed in pain, the former feeling as though she was burning alive and the latter being eaten away by the darkness as Akia's Life Points plummeted to 1800. Her Millennium Scale lit up, shielding her as much as possible. Once the attack subsided, the young woman collapsed to the ground, motionless.
"Akia!" Yugi yelled out to his sister.
"Akia, no… Please get up!" Marik's dominant personality called out.
"Akia-chan!" Otogi exclaimed.
"Akia…!" Jounouchi clenched his fists. He didn't want to see another one of his friends fall victim.
Both Akia and her past self were now unconscious. Her Millennium Scale then lit up, transporting their spirits to a different time, showing them a vision of the past.
Akia opened her eyes and found herself floating in an unfamiliar setting.
"Akia…" Her past self called out to her. She was also floating alongside her. The scene unfolding below them was that of a man resembling Marik, holding Akia's past self's body in his arms and crying.
"What… happened?" Akia asked her other self.
"This is our tragedy. All we wanted was to live happily together," she explained. "But the Dark Lord needed me. I was the last piece to summon him. I was the sacrificial lamb. We were ripped away from each other, Marik and I, for the purpose of one person's revenge that degenerated into the near destruction of the world."
Akia's eyes widened at the revelation. Before she could ask any more questions, she heard her friends' voices calling out to her.
"I'm sure you'll find everything out in due time," her past self said to her. "For now though, we need to get up and save Marik together."
Akia nodded and they both floated towards the voices, everything around them fading to black.
I have taken some liberties with the Winged Dragon of Ra's abilities in the next chapter, since it is pretty vague in the anime and it works better for the story :)