Sorry for the long wait everyone, hope it's worth it.


My mind felt like a hurricane twirling with the fragments of my mind and pounding them against my scalp until they were liberated. The shadow magic swept across the field and submerged my enemies, drowning them and sending them somewhere far, far away. My world was taking shape, but sadly, I could not see it. My eyes were sealed shut as I focused on creating my new kingdom from memory. When the strong gusts of wind and the thundering of lighting ceased, my body was smeared in a warm fuzzy feeling. I blinked my eyes open and took in my surroundings…

I sat on my marble throne leaning to the side where I rested my cheek on my fist as I watched for what felt like a gazillion times, a spectacle of belly dancers, shaking their hips left and right and all around. It had been a year since that fateful event, and I had grown accustomed to my rule. I could do anything I wanted and whenever I wanted it! I used to love watching half-naked women dance for my pleasure, but now, I was growing bored of watching the same routine day after day. I needed to get out of here, I felt tired.

As I stood, I felt a soft material tickled my ankles. My violet toga felt so light compared to what the other Marik used to wear, I often forgot I was even wearing it. The toga was tightened with a golden ribbon around my waist, and the top half hung around one shoulder, exposing a portion of my chest and midriff. A golden wing held my matching cape hanging loosely behind my back. I still wore golden bracelets and earrings, though their patterns were more intricate, and I now paired them with rings around my fingers. A golden crown of leaves circled behind my head and intertwined with my messy blond hair. To top it off, I had knee-high gladiator shoes. I had to admit, I was feeling damn sexy!

Suddenly, a hand was placed on my shoulder and spun me around. It was the director of the belly-dancers.

How dare he!

"Your majesty, it is rude to leave in the middle of this presentation. Please wait until they are finished."

Without a second thought I tightened my hold on the millennium rod and in one swift move, sliced the man's neck. The ladies shrieked and huddled together pathetically while the rest of my entourage was set on edge. I wiped the bloody end of my weapon on his white chiton. Unfortunately I had blood splatter on my clothes, and my temper took over.

"This is all your fault!" I spat in the direction of the dancers. I brandished the rod in their direction.

The hurtle of women scattered rather quickly, but I managed to grab one of them by the arm. I didn't give her any time to react, for as soon as she was in my grip, I plunged the golden artifact into her stomach and repeated the action, encouraged by her screams. It was only when the screams had stopped that I too could finally calm down. I dropped the corpse onto the ground nonchalantly and stared at it with disgust.

What a waste of a perfectly fertile body.

My stare reached every corner of the tall vast room, aiming specifically at the women wailing for their fallen comrade.

"I never want to see any of you again, or else you'll suffer the same fate as her!" I threatened and meant every word of it. They pushed each other out the entrance and I too, spun on my heels and exited the room while telling them to NEVER tell their King what to do! No one dared to stop me after that.

I glided from hallway to hallway with my cape fluttering majestically behind me until I stood before the large door leading into my chamber. I pushed the wooden object open, but today, I was too depressed to be astonished by the beauty I had created for myself: stain drapes hanging from wall to wall, alternating between dark shades, a king size canopy bed with black translucent drapes falling around it, though not in a cheesy princess way, with a dark marble flooring.

I dropped onto my mattress and slung my arm over my forehead. I wanted to scream, but if I did, a servant would run into my room and ask what was wrong, and then I would have to kill him out of annoyance, and I had already killed one-too-many people today. Damn… There was nothing interesting in my life anymore. It was so boring and plain, there was never anything new! It felt like there was something missing in my life, but that was ridiculous, I already had everything I ever asked for: A body for myself, my own kingdom… why wasn't it enough?

A part of me wished the old Marik could see this so I could rub my achievements in his face! At first, I thought that would be impossible since I destroyed him in the process of bringing my fantasy to life. He was too weak, a mere eyeball in the darkness of the shadow realm. Further proof of this was that I no longer felt him inside of me.

He must be dead. I thought.

But there was something bothering me. My connection with the shadows seemed torn somehow, as if I had created a gash in the portal between this world and the Shadow Realm. I could no longer sense my fallen victims, which either meant one of two things: either the Shadow Realm had been destroyed in the making of this new world and had created a void in which all of my victims no longer existed, or, everyone had been sent back into this world before its collapse. If that was true, then everyone, including Yugi, his Yami, and the other me, were alive somewhere in this world.

Fuck! There's no way I'm ever letting that fool back in my body!

I began to tense, my body shook and my veins started to show again. Out of nowhere I began to laugh nervously and loudly, and calmed myself down. The thought of my enemies returning from the shadows set me on edge at first, but then I thought about the Pharaoh and the joy it would bring me to defeat him all over again! I chuckled at the thought and grew excited to cross paths with him again, after all, what was the point of ruling if I never got a challenge out of it?

I laughed and laughed again, I was hysterical! I needed to act soon or else I would drive myself mad!

I pushed myself off the bed and moved towards the balcony shielded with black drapes. I blinked my eyes open as I pushed open the double doors and immediately brought an arm over my forehead to shield my eyes from the blazing sun. I still wasn't used to so much sunlight. A grin made its way across my face as I admired my land. I took a few steps until I reached the end and pressed my palms against the large stone rail. I could see the city and its brick and muddy buildings lining up the streets as well as the poorer regions consisting of huts and tiny market stands. The richer peasants lived closer to my palace, just before my field of gardens. You heard me. My palace is surrounded with flowers, pillars ornamented with vines, grape bushes, statues of the Egyptian Gods, etc. What's the point of living in a world already ruined? Some might say I'm crazy, but destroying things is what I'm good at, so I needed to create a beautiful world first and then butcher it!

My view was breathtaking! I could see every corner of my kingdom, at least, what I had conquered so far. Funny how when you leave a place unattended, people start a rebellion! Hmm. I had viziers represent me to keep order in the nearby kingdoms. Unfortunately, some of them grew late on reports, and some simply failed to respond back to me. That's how I knew something fishy was going on. I soon learnt of a rebellion that had overthrown my installed regime on the east coast. It also seemed they had spies in almost every single land, and growing in numbers. I would have to put an end to that…

My gaze made its way to the small arena a few yards away from the palace.

Such a beautiful coliseum!

I had it modeled after Kaiba's during his semi-final match against the Pharaoh. Stealing was another thing I was good at and enjoyed doing. I stepped back inside and lifted the sheet of my bed to pull out a large safe. I changed the number slots to my passcode 12231999, my birth date, or rather my weaker self's birth date. I pulled the lid up, and the objects inside seemed to glow in my presence. The six other Millennium Items lay stocked against one another in my secret box no one knew about, I made sure of that. A grin of satisfaction lit up my face. I quickly wiped the blood off the rod on my toga, it was already dirty anyway, and placed the seventh item with its brothers. I gave my bank of power one last glance before closing the lid gleefully.

All of the power in the world belongs to me!

I quickly changed into my combat outfit which consisted of a cingulum and a subarmalis. I descended back to the main floor and marched across the throne room where a few guards followed me out. The dead belly dancer had been removed and my floor cleaned, thank the Gods! Some servants still lingered around. I gave them my best menacing smirk and laughed maniacally at their retreating form.

Oh how I enjoy scaring frail little minds!

My walk to the coliseum was short, though I felt awkward for most parts. I was King, which meant I had a duty towards my people and as much as I like hurting them, the last thing I needed was a revolt. I needed to watch myself now. So, when some of the nobles crossed my path and greeted me, I nodded back, though the gesture seemed out of place.

Why should I show my respect to a commoner?

I pushed the thought out of my head, not wanting to dwell on something so insignificant when I should be marvelling over my creation. And what a creation it was! It stood over 165 ft tall and 510 ft wide, making it large enough for track races, entire parades or circus' to fit into and perfect for gladiator brawls. That, I was excited to test out.

I watched as the chief instructed his men the basic sword wielding techniques. No doubt had he been a commander in the military before, and when brought to this world, had woken up chief of army. Most people's jobs had been blended into ancient practices, for instance, a car salesman would sell chariots in my world. That's how I wanted it. I wanted everything to feel real, like me.

The soldiers-in-training were paired up and practiced the basic steps with wooden swords. I snorted at their silly attempts to strike one another down, which caught the chief's attention who made his way over to me. The middle-aged was short in size and rather husky, giving him a strong presence around the others. He also had a deep booming voice and a shaved scalp which also contributed to his intimidating appearance. Well, intimidating to the recruits, I had dealt with this kind before, and I didn't doubt for one second that he relied on his looks more than his rude personality to gain order.

"My King, to what do I owe this pleasure?" the husky man lowered his head in a bow.

His men stopped and followed his example, as I had predicted. I eyed them nonchalantly before turning to the chief. "What is your name, General?"

"Ammar El-Hashem, sir." He said proudly with hands akimbo. I wasn't impressed.

"Hmm. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders, Ammar. Make sure it stays there…" I brought my Millennium Rod up to his neck and grazed the tip against his jugular, hoping he got the message.

"M-my King?" He stuttered, taken aback by my odd response, but trying not to show it.

I grinned, satisfied with the confirmation of my theory. "Yes, that is who I am. And you do well to remember that." I removed the golden artifact from his neck and he brought his hands protectively around his throat and taking deep breathes.

In one swift move, I kneed him in the stomach, spun around low and tripped the frazzled man, sending him crashing to the ground. His pupils whispered to each other as the scene unfolded, and I graciously swiped his sword out of its sheath as I stood up and pointed it in his direction.

"In a month we shall travel north to Fahida to restore order, our trainees better be ready by then."

"One month?!" Ammar almost choked, and grew even more stressed when I pressed the tip of his sword against his throat. "I-I just don't think t-that's enough time!"

I could hear the panic in his voice and I couldn't help but smirk and cross my arms. "Well then, I guess I better go find someone who can get the job done then." I lifted my arm, weapon ready to be swung, and he threw his hands back.

"Alright, alright! I can do it no problem! One month, we'll be ready!"

I chuckled to myself, spun around and threw the sword behind my back as I began to walk away. Without turning my head, I told him I'd visit regularly to see the progress, and I could practically visualise his anguish. The poor man was going to go spend countless sleepless nights worrying over his recruits' training. Little did he know, it didn't matter to me whether they were ready or not, the Millennium Rod would give me an immense advantage over my enemies. If a few – or a lot of – men died, I wouldn't care, in fact, it would actually make me happy, truly happy.

I do love a good massacre!

Fahida was a few days distance from my kingdom. I led my army through the vast forest near the shore, and encountered several rebel troops which we annihilated no problem. When we arrived at the village, there wasn't much they could do. I brandished the Rod and sent all of their weapons flying, leaving them defenceless. It was easy for my men to overpower my enemies, but I preferred the rush and thrill of killing someone with my bare hands.

It wasn't long before the entire village was burnt down and the remaining civilians arrested. They were shackled and thrown into the back of chariots where they would be escorted back to Elsaphir, my kingdom, and hanged for treason. This would send a message to the other kingdoms to never betray their King.

I watched as my men quickly build a gallows in a day's time. Impressive. The sun was beginning to set, which seemed perfect for sending someone to their demise. My soldiers kept the people in line as they complained and tried to fight back. A special seat was built for me so that I could watch up close my victims fall into chaos. It was splendid, but almost over. The last four lined up on the podium and my jaw dropped open as I recognised one of them. I squinted and rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

No, I'm not.

There, in front of me, with the red sun flashing from behind him, stood the spirit of the millennium rod! His hair was messy and he was dirty all over. His eyes were tired and he offered no resistance. He had given up.

Pathetic.

This excited me, I was going to watch one of my rivals fall at my feat all over again! Literally! But then, it struck me. I had sent this boy to the Shadow Realm, which meant if he was standing here before, me, my other victims were probably alive somewhere too. Maybe they were behind the rebellion… maybe the spirit knows where they are! In a jiff, I stood up a swung my millennium item in the style of a boomerang, and it cut the rope connecting the knot around Bakura's neck to the wooden stand above, just as the executioner pulled the lever. The white-haired boy landed ungracefully at my feat, while the others at his side weren't as lucky.

"Tie his arms together and his legs separately. This boy is dangerous, so be careful when you throw him in his cell!" I ordered and spun around, my cape waving in the air behind me as I made my way back to my palace.


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I don't know when I'll be able to publish next since it's a new semester of University starting and I'll be pretty busy.