Chapter 59

Catilin was taking covertly deep breaths and avoiding making eye contact with either Crovell or SK. Even after Jo explained to them why Crovell believed so completely SK was Duke she still couldn't accept the idea herself. Or at least not the idea SK didn't have anything to do with it. Taking another few deeply covert breaths she half wished herself back on her bed in her room in a state of unspeakable shock. At least then she wouldn't have to ride the in the agonising torment which combined her husband and SK into one being.

Even as her mind continued to dwell on the SK question, the conversation around her changed focus. The threat of hell rising concerned everybody and the conversation became stuck on two points. The beast and the Power Limitless.

'Do you really think we can trust her,' Lus pulled an uncertain face.

'Well she cured you, didn't she,' False folded his arms, 'what else can she do to prove she's on our side?'

'I've no doubt she's on our side, but I just get this feeling about her from what everyone else has said. Her loyalties seem to turn on a hairpin.'

'I disagree,' Kaiba shook his head, 'I think she's a lot more set in her loyalties than anyone here would give her credit for.'

'But that doesn't mean she's not dangerous,' Drake pouted, 'she can be anyone and anything, remember. And I'm sure she's much better at disguising her power signature than she would claim to be.'

'You really don't trust her, do you?'

'She's not from our Realm, how can she be trusted?'

'The beast isn't from our Realm either,' False gave a heavy sigh, 'its army really should have to be our problem, but it is.'

'Great, because that makes things so much better.'

'Stop it the pair of you,' Yugi half snapped, 'you're giving me a headache.'

'Sorry,' Drake pouted and averted his gaze, 'but he started it.'

'This shouldn't be a question of whether or not we can trust the Power Limitless girl,' Kaiba took over. 'It's a question of whether or not we'll accept her help in confronting the beast's army.'

'What I want to know is what makes her such an expert on it,' Mai frowned, speaking up for the first time.

'There's not much she doesn't seem to know about,' SK licked his lips. 'Part of the reason she's so powerful is because she's so knowledgeable. At least if her reputation is to be believed.'

'Well they do say knowledge is power,' she rolled her eyes. 'Why am I not surprised to be hearing that paraphrased again?'

'You've heard it paraphrased before now,' Kaiba frowned.

'She's spent a lot of the last few days with Kashmana MacTay,' Joey offered, much to Mai's clear embarrassment. 'She must have heard something similar at least once.'

'Of course,' he shook his head dismissively.

'Aren't you going to ask why she's spent so much time with Kashmana the last few days,' Kisara sounded curious and defensive at the same time.

'I'm guessing you employed your kin to keep an eye on her whilst you were otherwise occupied,' Kaiba folded his arms and shrugged. 'And it was a good idea for you to do so, the MacTays…'

'Can we please just get back to the matter at hand,' Joey interrupted, 'we have to concentrate on the beast here. Right now there's no greater threat to us than that.'

'Is the beast really so bad,' Arados frowned. 'I mean, what kind of power does it have? How does it kill? Why is it considered to be worse than Ni?'

'Because it is,' False turned towards him, 'it's the most feared creature in all existence.'

'Is it that deadly?'

At the word deadly Tristan began laughing strangely. Instantly everyone turned their gaze towards him and even Catilin found herself waiting in anticipation of his answer.

'The beast isn't feared because it's deadly. In fact it prefers to leave its victims alive,' his voice toned almost bitterly, 'because once dead its victims become a part of it, meaning their suffering ends. And the beast likes suffering.'

'The beast has the power to torture and torment anyone at the blink of an eye,' Joey picked up. 'It can make you suffer unimaginable terrors, bring you within a hairbreadth of death, then pull you right back again, only to repeat your suffering at its heart's content.'

'Content,' Kaiba shook his head, 'the beast is unable to feel contentment. Only pleasure at the suffering of others,' half disgusted he shifted his gaze away from them. 'You don't fear what the beast will do if it wants to kill you, but rather you fear what it will do if it does not.'

'I still don't see…' Arados's frown deepened.

'You don't get it do you,' Joey sighed.

'They don't get it because you've failed to tell them,' Tristan lowered his gaze, 'the real reason we and everybody else fears the beast.'

'And what is that reason exactly,' Arados prompted.

'After the beast got out of the control of its creators it created the Army of Sen Pay,' Kaiba spoke with a deliberate kind of care. 'An army of soul demons that will never deplete in size, because you can't kill a soul demon, only the host body it shares.'

'So that's why there appeared to be no end to them,' for the first time in a long time Crovell spoke to the group, his gaze shifting away from SK as it did, 'I was just killing their host bodies.'

'That was exactly what the Odraians found,' Kaiba continued. 'It was so soon after their own evolution, they were barely content with their pacification. Barely able to contain the chaos still lurking within. But even remembering their roots was not enough.'

'What do you mean?' Arados pressed.

'The beast has managed to do the one thing Ni never has,' Joey tensed. 'The beast brought hell to Earth. Not by intent or by design, but by the sheer inability for the mortals to stop it.'

'It took nearly three hundred years before we were able to contain the beast and its army,' Yugi tilted his head thoughtfully, as though he were remembering. 'It's what made the Odraians of that reality arrogant in a way no others ever were. Because they'd survived such torture and still managed to be pacified. What they neglect to remember is that it was the evolution of the Silkoneons in their Realm which allowed for the beast and its army to be contained. Trapped within the bloodlines.'

'That's why the Silkoneons of that Realm are looked down upon,' Joey shook his head in mild disgust. 'What should be considered an honourable duty, is called a curse. But if it wasn't for them…'

'The beast had set its sights on the rest of the multiverse,' Kaiba's voice was low and almost inaudible, 'torturing a people so used to its presence they practically slept at its feet bored it. It was looking for a challenge and it was coming for the rest of us.'

'If the Silkoneons hadn't evolved and become strong enough to entrap those creatures then it would have meant hell for the rest of us,' Yugi swallowed hard. 'For so many millennia now we've been protected from them, but now… How many times can we stop hell from rising and expect to win?'