spiritfire: All their sayings in their heads are all in italics again...(sigh)
XII. Austere
Vilepawn Archfiend kept attacking Dark and Yami even though it already had a massive damage. Dark can barely defend himself as the claws of the archfiend kept whamming at him then finally he pushed him out of the way and decide that Yami will be his prey. The child on the other hand was afraid so he hid himself in the bushes. Dark wonders what's with the red eyes and also he saw an imagery of full back angelwings on his back.
"By the gods, is he aware of what he's doing?" Dark asked in surprise. Yami fixed his eyes on Dark and suddenly he felt a muderous intent. He was paralyzed in fear as well
"His eyes...they show blood... if I make one wrong move, it'll be the end of me" Dark said, feeling afraid and insecure
"You don't have to worry, I never let my anything happened to my 'fatih'" Yami smiled as the color of his eyes became as red as a rose and giving comfort to Dark
"Is he protecting me?" Dark asked himself, dumbfounded. "And what does 'fatih' mean?"
"Mighty Guard" Yami chanted and colors of skyblue and red began to circle around him, protecting him as well. Vilepawn Archfiend began to breath shadow fog and both Yami and Dark can't see the entire field
"Dark, where are you?" Yami shouted but no response
- - -
"Imya (darkness)...Is this where I was meant to be?" Dark asked himself as the shadow fog began to haunt him
Flashback: After his parents died, he was left ophaned. No one even dared to adopt him in any other way. Many weeks have passeed and still no one laid a finger on him until a blu-robed mage saw him. He took him under his wing and he had private tutelage. All went well until...
"Hey, isn't that the boy who survived the magical war?" one of the townspeople asked
"Yeah but he's nothing but a worthless shit" one of the women replied
"...So he's the guy...let's see if he's the 'survivor' when I get through with him" one of the boys said and he called his gang then they went towards Yugi
"Is it true that you're the guy who lived the war?" he asked but Yugi fell silent
"Answer me you son of a bitch" he said again this time grabbing his shirt
"Eide(Die)!" Yugi replied and suddenly his eyes turned silver. "Shockwave Crash"
The sky became black and the Solarian continent was nearly destroyed. Everyone who touched the dark power automatically dies
"Azu nen toide sol(Everyone is a fool)" Yugi said coldly and almost everyone bacame afraid of him since. His silver eyes vanished
"Darkness" Dark mumbled and suddenly Vilepawn Archfiend clawed his left arm. Blood began to drip all over the ground and the fog began to vanished. Yami can see now but Dark was wounded. The archfiend tried to claw the prince but due to his Mighty Guard spell, it didn't scratch him one bit.
"Oh dear prince, you didn't give my pet the advantage so..." said a familiar yet a sinister voice. "Spell Cancellation"
All of a sudden, Yami's Mighty Guard began to dissipate and Vilepawn Archfiend clawed his right arm. Blood began to drip also and his sleeve was ripped. Some one came out of the bushes and Yami growled when he saw the person who was behind it
"Bakura!" Yami growled
"Oh, I'm hurt that you say that" Bakura said in a mock tone, his hazel eyes were full of malice. Yami just scowled at the warlock as he was clutching his bleeding arm
"Well now that's over...I should stomp you with Vilepawn Archfiend now" the warlock shrugged and the archfiend was going to go for the kill but suddenly nothing came. Instead to Yami surprise, it was Dark who took the attack and used his bleeding left arm to shield the prince
"Dark, but why?" Yami asked sadly as the red in his eyes vanished
"You said that that you would protect me so...I'm just returning the favor to you and frankly, I never want to see death the third time.I don't want lose anything that is too important to me" Dark replied, his hair overshadowed his eyes then he kneeled down and inspected Yami's right arm. He let his left arm meet to his and he said something that even the prince couldn't understand
"Austere" Dark chanted and the blood that the two of them have began to heal itself and some kind of mark appeared. It was a winged shaped but its more curvelike and the color is different as well. Yami's mark was gold while Dark is rainbow colored.
"What's this?" Yami asked , staring at the mark on his right arm
"It's the mark of protection. As long as this mark exists no one will even dare to lay a finger on you. The mark will disappear once I get stronger or obtain higher level magic" Dark replied. "Don't think I trust you yet...it's payback for saving my life"
"That's it you're going down! Vilepawn Archfiend... finish them" Bakura scowled and his minion was about to do another attack and then something went...
BLAM!
"What now?" Yami asked and to everyone's surprise, Magician Valkyria appeared out of nowhere and she looked angry...literally
"What are you doing here?" Dark asked in surprised
"Your power have already reached their limit... take a look at your staff" Valkyria replied, pointing at his weapon. Dark stared and suddenly it changed shaped. This time, it's shape became thicker and the spikes and the curve parts disappeared. It's height extended a little and a golden orb was replaced. The handle became slender plus the can shaped vanished and it was straighten. Finally, the light died down and another spirit appeared. She wore a blue mage hat and her robes were nearly skyblue. Her jewel at her robe has the same symbol as the Millennium Puzzle. She has long blond hair and wore a sweet smile at Dark.
"You must be my new master" she said smiling but Dark just stared
"Who are you?" Dark asked and as the rest of the people here they have no idea what Dark was talking about
"Not again" Yami whined. "This is the second time he did that" but Dark didn't listened
"My name is Dark Magicain Girl but you can call me Mana for short" she replied, laughing mischievoulsly. Dark thought he heard a 'click' on his head
"Wait a minute, you're the one I heard yesterday night!" Dark said but Mana smiled then her face suddenly turned to serious
"Since my sister Magician Valkyria appeared, I guess she explained about the staff but I'll explain mine. You already know what that is...Question is...do you" Mana said, staring. Dark looked at his newly acquired weapon and his eyes widen in surprise
"Is this the Apprentice Rod but it can't be" Dark said in dismay. "But how"
"It was your origin that draw me out and your will to protect the most valuable treasure of all" Mana smiled
"I can understand my origin but I don't know about my will to protect the one I value the most" Dark frowned
"See for yourself and by the way, you shouldn't use that 'name' for long because I've foreseen something that'll devastate you and your 'lover'" Mana said and her inner self was actually snickering
"He's not my 'lover' if you know what I'm talking about!" Dark exclaimed, trying to fight his blushes while Yami sweatdropped at Dark's uneasiness
"Yes... before I go, your new weapon has only two offensive spells but most of my spells are supportive. Good luck" Mana said and vanished
"I can't believe it ... you had the Apprentice Rod" Bakura snarled and Dark turned his eyes on him
"...Valkyria...Kilre no...(Kill him)" Dark said coldly
"Um...what is he saying?" Yami asked, wondering what Dark said
"Literally, he's pissed of" Valkyria said in a short sentence
"Mystic Scepter Blast" Dark commanded pointing his newly acquired weapon at Bakura. Magician Valkyria leapt up in front of him and began to charge energy from her staff then she hurled the blast to Bakura who was sent flying far away from the forest then she disappeared. Vile pawn Archfiend roared in anger and began to charged at Dark
"Slow" Dark chanted and suddenly the time entered the body of the archfiend and somehow it slowed down. Yami was amazed at Dark's newly acquired magic
"Eide(DIE)...Gravity!" Dark leered and the whole body of Vilepawn archfiend suddenly became black. At the center was a circular black sphere. The sphere quickly became thinner and some invisible force hit it.
"Yami, now!" Dark shouted and the prince concentrated his energy on the target
"Thundercrash!" Yami chanted and several severe lightning blots struck the creature. As a result, it turned to ashes
"One down and now time to deal the moron" Dark said. "Haste"
A golden time entered his body and suddenly he was already at Bakura's feet. Yami didn't notice one bit at all
"Ugh...freakin' hell I didn't expect this" Bakura grunted and Dark pointed the Apprentice Rod threateningly to the warlock
"Folre(fool)...Water!" Dark said coldly and a spherical blue sphere took Bakura's body lifting him and hit dead on the ground but the warlock was ready to counter this move
"Spell Cancellation!" Bakura countered but Dark was one step ahead
"Reflect!" Dark chanted and red sparks appeared around his body bouncing Bakura's magic back to itself. He got hit and instead his magic went neutral
"Get out before I changed my mind" Dark said acidly and Bakura smirked
"I will get you for this. Mark my words" the warlock said and used a teleportation spell. Dark walked back to Yami who just in time to see the ashes of Vilepawn Archfiend got blown away by the wind
- - -
Kaiba, Riku, and Mahad wondered what happened since someone launched the Flare Bomb. The three of them were able to meet up after the bandit assaults and now they're looking for Yami and Dark
"So where do you think they went?" Riku asked as they went along the forest
"Well, the flare bomb already told us the location" Mahad replied, pointing his staff where Dark threw
"I like to see their troubling faces if the prince launch it" Kaiba chuckled but Riku gave him a death glare
"Will you stop it" Riku said as they were passing some bushes
"I'm sure he's just joking" Mahad said then to their surprise, he saw blood tracks. Riku touched a small portion of it and smelled it
"They look like someone is hurt we better hurry" Riku said, wiping the blood off his fingers. They followed the trail until they saw Yami and Dark trying to comfort the child who was shiveruing in fear
"Dark, Yami! Are you alright?" Mahad asked worried ly
"Yeah but Dark got nearly fried if it weren't for his new magic" Yami replied, pointing at the Apprentice Rod
"What's that?" Riku asked curiously
"That's the Apprentice Rod" Dark replied
"WHAT! Impossible" Kaiba exclaimed and so did Riku and Mahad
"I'll explain later right now you guys should handle the child. He's the only one who knows where the rest are" Yami said and everyone agrees
- - -
"Hmmm... I see that he has a grudge on you guys" Riku said. Everyone was at the mayor's house listening to Yami's explanation
"I can't believe he used Summoned Magic" Mahad growled in disgust
"Actually not only that...his Vilepawn Archfiend clawed Dark's left arm and my right arm" Yami said, showing them the nearly ripped sleeve
"That would explain the trail of blood then" Kaiba said sternly
"So what did you guys did?" Mahad asked, still growling
"I used the puzzle powers for the first time but Bakura has 'Spell Cancellation' magic. My spells began to break and I can't even do any spells since he can cancel it. That creature clawed me and it did. Blood was dripping everywhere and that Archfiend tried to kill me but..." Yami replied, his voice began to trail off
"But?" Tristan asked
"Dark used his injured arm to protect me" Yami replied, tears began to fall
"My word... and then what happened" Mahad asked, his growling ceased
"He used his left arm to meet my injured right arm and muttered some kind of unknown spell. It healed both of us. Dark said it's payment for saving his life even though he still doesn't trust me" Yami replied and again this time he clenched his fist
"He reminds me of Sora...well a little" Riku mumbled
"Vilepawn Archfiend was going for another attack and Magician Valkyria appeared. Dark was surprised that she came and then his staff became the Apprentice Rod" Yami continued, wiping his tears off his face
"Let me guess he got new powers?" Kaiba asked and Yami nods
"He muttered some unknown language. I have no idea what he was talking about. Magician Valkyria translated it and said Dark was literally pissed off. He casted some kind of time magic and a offensive magic and told me to cast mine so I did. Bakura's monster was turned to ashes the he used another kind of time magic. Unfortunately, Dark was too fast that I didn't know what happened. Last thing I know, Dark told me that Bakura used a teleportation spell to escape" Yami said and sighed in relief
"Wow, what a guy and I thought he was just a small kid" Kaiba said incredously
"Teasing won't help Kaiba" Yami glared
"Sorry" Kaiba grunted
"Anyway we should get some rest...I need to tend the wounded" Mahad suggested
"Yeah we're a bit weary from the bandit assault" Riku said and left.
"Whatever" Kaiba said and followed Riku while Yami and Mahad went to Dark's room
- - -
It was a very dull day ever since the meeting was finished and Mahad was deep in his thoughts. After Yami told them about the Apprentice Rod, it seems that it wouldn't be long before he's involved as well. Yami noticed his guardian's uneasiness and it wasn't the first time he was like this. Nonetheless this wasn't the problem. They opened the door where Dark was held and it seems that he hasn't woken up yet
"My... I would hve never thought that he would save you from that..." Mahad sighed
"Yeah.. I better get this sleeve stiched up before we get out of here and report back to Alexandria" Yami said. "I better not let him know about the mark it'll cause trouble already". Mahad noticed that Yami was muttering in his thoughts
"Is there something on your mind?" Mahad asked
"Nothing...nothing at all" Yami replied as he covered his right arm from him
spiritfire: Sorry about that I was suppose to update this yesterday but my sister is hogging the computer again and Angel Nocturne please whatever you do, if you meet a tall and lanky cousin of mine smack him for me will you...My younger sister and my cousins hate him very much because of his ...bothersome behavior by the way he lives in Texas...and I also hate him as well because he won't accept defeat when I dueled him in Duel monsters
Note: I won't do TBC anymore because it's tiring but if you want to bring it back just tell me and sorry for the spelling and grammar error