Author's Note: Dark Yugi: Thank you so much for your review! I'm so glad you're liking the story so far! I hope you love this chapter!

"A constant struggle, a ceaseless battle to bring success from inhospitable surroundings, is the price of all great achievements." -Orison Swett Marden

Inside the helicopter, everyone crowded into the doorway to watch through the windshield. Roland's mouth hung open at the sight of the sky ahead as he kept piloting. Mokuba stood at the doorway to the back, looking worried, Téa halfway behind the doorframe. Yami and Kaiba were both poker-faced. Cecelia stood behind them with an inscrutable expression. Tristan, standing behind her, was less resolute.

"Just stay calm. I'm sure Dartz wants us to reach him." Said Yami.

"Ah..! Hey look!" Said Mokuba. Just barely visible up ahead was Dartz's temple in the middle of the sea, amid the raging whirlwinds and waterspouts. "That must be the place!"

"There's no turning back, now." Murmured Yami.

"Let's go." Said Kaiba.

Dartz's temple awaited them, The helicopter set down outside it, with Roland and Fugata standing off to the side. Mokuba stood near them, Tristan and Téa on the other side of the helicopter, Cecelia and Croquet next to them, and Yami and Kaiba at the center of the group. Cecelia had decided to leave her husband's body in the helicopter for now. She didn't want him anywhere near this madman until he could be defeated.

"We've arrived at the heart of evil." Said Yami.

Kaiba started walking, Yami following, and Mokuba ran after his brother.

"D'you always have to be so dramatic?" Asked Kaiba, annoyed.

Inside the temple, the torches along the main aisle to the altar were lit, illuminating the giant stone snakes that twined around the columns. Yami, Kaiba, Mokuba, Tristan, and Téa walked past them.

"Man! And I thought Pegasus had a creepy pad!" Exclaimed Tristan.

"Yeah..." Said Mokuba.

Tèa elbowed them in the ribs, and they remembered that Cecelia was right there. "Er... No offense."

"None taken." She said with a smile.

"I'm not a big fan of the whole 'snake' motif." Said Tèa. Cecelia nodded in agreement.

Soon they stood before the altar of three stone snake heads with open mouths.

"Enough; can't you wait outside?" Asked Kaiba irritably.

"Listen; we must all stick together. The seven of us are strongest as a team."

But Something seemed to be watching them from the gullet of one of the altar snakes.

Yami and Kaiba lead the group deeper into the temple, past smaller twining snake columns, until they reached a room covered from floor to ceiling with stone portraits.

"Dude- what's with all these people chiseled in stone?!" Asked Tristan.

"They're not just any people!" Cried Tèa, pointing to the far wall, which was the only wall with lit torches placed near it. "Take a look!"

Among the portraits on the wall were Weevil, Alister, Valon, Rex, Mai, and Joey.

"Oh no! There's Mai! And Weevil!" Said Yami, shocked.

"This must be everyone who lost their soul!" Concluded Tristan.

As they looked further on the wall, Cecelia's hand flew over her mouth when her eyes caught sight of one of the portraits.

"Max..." She whispered. "Oh Max, what have they done to you?!" She started moving toward his portrait unconsciously, just as Yami caught sight of another familiar face on the wall.

"Yugi!"

Yami started to run across the room, his friends close behind, but stopped short when they heard an eerily familiar voice.

"What a touching reunion. Too bad your friends turned out to be a bunch of stiffs." He laughed.

Between the two flaming torches, a third fire lit, growing quickly, and formed into Dartz himself, wearing his robes, in all of his sinister glory.

"Dartz!" Cried the pharaoh.

"You were expecting someone else? Well, due to the carelessness of my employees, I'm the only one left. You can't find good help these days."

"Look, I want my company back, so can the small-talk." Kaiba demanded.

"Is that so. Well guess what, we all want something. As for me, I want your souls for my wall. I even have the spot picked out."

The two portraits next to Yugi's and above Weevil's and Alister's turned blank, emptied of their previous occupants.

"Save it, Dartz. It'll take a lot more than a few party tricks to scare me!" Kaiba stated.

"Now, for the last time, release our friends!" Cried Yami.

"That's not possible."

"What do you mean?!"

"I mean, they've already been put to use. As we speak, their life energy supplies power to the most devastating creature that ever lived!

"Oh, great; now what?" Asked Tèa to no one in particular.

"My ten-thousand-year-old collection is almost complete." Said Dartz. "Once I get you two, the beast can rise!"

"Hold on! You've been collecting souls for all those years?! Do you know how many lives you've destroyed?!" Asked Yami.

Dartz laughed. "Millions! And each one of them deserved their fate! Take a moment and look around, won't you?"

He beckoned with one hand, and the torches set around the spacious room lit up one by one, revealing the hundreds and hundreds of trapped souls on the wall.

"Some of my favorite conquests are in this very room." He continued. "And since it's taken me ten millennia to complete, it's quite the history lesson."

They looked around and saw a portrait who wears full-body plate armor, beside another trapped soul who wears a military uniform reminiscent of the American Civil War.

"He's right; look at the outfits on these guys!" Said Tèa.

Mokuba looked at a woman on the floor in a draped gown.

"So some of these people lived in the past?!"

"Now you're catching on. Ever since the Great Leviathan was laid to rest, I've been gathering the energy necessary to fuel its rebirth!"

"Come on. You expect us to believe that junk?" Kaiba said, unimpressed.

"Ye of little faith. Just duel me, and I promise I'll make a believer out of you." Dartz walked forward into the room brandishing his left arm and an Orichalcos duel disk appeared on it. "For when you lose, there will be no denying my power!"

"Then let's stop talking and start dueling!"

"You can't, Kaiba- not alone. This lunatic is far too dangerous." Said Yami.

"So why don't you join him?" Said Dartz, activating his duel disk. "And when I defeat you, I'll get two souls for the price of one!" He laughed.

Kaiba and Yami responded with fierce, bitter glares- each one good and ready to wipe that smile off of his face- and activated their duel disks simultaneously.

"Alright- ready, Kaiba?" Asked Yami.

"I'm way ahead of you."

In perfect synchronization, they put their decks in the designated slot.

It was time to duel.