A/N: No awesome YGO characters in this chapter, I'm afraid. But they're be coming back next chapter, I promise. The title of this is alluding to the Book of Revelations in the Bible due to both the gods and the revelations made by the character in this chapter. Couple quick things though:
1) Most of the Greek gods in this chapter are not OCs but Greek God characters from other anime. I try to keep OCs to a minimum, but sometimes I have to use them. The gods from other anime are listed below If anyone wants to look up their appearances for reference sake. The gods not listed are OCs because I couldn't find a good reference for them other than the original mythologies. With the exception of the goddess Athena. There's a statue of Athena in my college town and I based her appearance and mannerisms in this fic on her statue. No, this wn't be a crossover with the anime mentioned below, I'm just using the characters from tere as references so I can keep the OCs to a minimum.
Side note, not Artemis is not the god of the moon and Apollo is not the god of the sun. They are associated with the moon and sun respectively because those are their astronomical signs. The god of the sun and moon in the Greek pantheon are Helios and Selene respectively.
Saint Beast Kouin Jojishi Tenshitan - Zeus
Kamigami no Asobi (god forms) - Apollo/Apollon, Dionysus, Hades
Sailor Moon - Helios (SuperS human/priest form), Selene (Silver Millennium form)
2) The Great Serpent and the Witch King of Atlants of Old are the Leviathan and Dartz from the DOMA arc in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime.
3) In this universe, the Egyptian pantheon that we know is not the real one. The Egyptian gods/goddesses and myths we know and love are mostly legends created around or true stories about people retold so many times as to become distorted and fantastical. Thus why Seth/Set is a god opposed to Osiris and Ra, Isis and Osiris are sisters/spouses, etc. The true Egyptian gods, or the old Egyptian pantheon, in his universe are the Three Egyptian Gods: Ra, Osiris, and Obelisk.
4) Reply to my anonymous reviewer Guest: The Shadow Thief is strong because he's using a perverted versio of Shadow Magic when he should not be able to. Imagine spinning around a bat ten times then looking around. That's kinda what his affect on Kaiba and Shadow users is like. Also, yes, Luthor does have a reason for being here. It's just hard to say withou revealing too much too soon. Btw, nice guess as to the bad guy, but not correct. You are very close though. ^_~
Revelations
"You are sure of this?"
"I am. The Amazons would not lie to their protector," Artemis said.
Zeus considered the younger goddess's words carefully. "If this is true, then the Egyptian pantheon we know of must be flawed in some respect."
"It would make sense, husband," the goddess sitting in the throne next to him said, eyes hooded in thought. "They have been silent for millennia To the point even we have questioned their existence on occasion."
"Because they were inactive and their worshippers dwindled," Aphrodite said, agreeing with Hera. The goddess of love and beauty reclined on her couch, propping her head comfortably on an elegant fist. Her form shifted depending on who viewed her for beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.
"Yes, but so have ours," Artemis countered, nudging her ponytail of dark gold hair over her shoulder so it tumbled down her back. "There are not many on Earth who still worship us."
"They worship science now, sister," Apollo said. His long blond hair glimmered like the sun's rays framing a young face and clear blue eyes. "A noble thing, certainly, but flawed and limited by the concepts of the mortal mind."
"Nevertheless," another voice said, "we should take this seriously." A goddess with auburn curls falling over her shoulders in curled circlets. A helmet rested by her side and her hands were stained with ink. "If this is simply the Egyptian pantheon attempting to make a comeback, then it should not be much cause for worry. The more well known Egyptian pantheon were mostly mortals deified over time through legend or mortals posing as gods to begin with. They had powers certainly, but nowhere near our level. Also, it is not the Egyptian mythology that is studied in most schools these days, after all, but ours. However," she sat up, brown eyes sharp, "if this is the old pantheon, the Dark Ones, then we would be remiss in at least taking steps towards our protection just in case."
"You're implying we are weaker than them, Athena," the boisterous voice of Ares countered. "Goddess of wisdom you may be, but as the god of war, I almost feel personally insulted by such a claim."
"Athena speaks true," Zeus said. His lightning white hair framed a face that had seen more years than his companions, but still appeared young in a way only immortals could embody. "If this young man truly wields the powers of the old pantheon, than we have cause to worry. I am sure all of you are aware of the awakening of the Great Serpent from the depths of the sea no less than four years ago."
The collective nods were both wary and alert. "Then you know my brother, Poseidon, had nothing to do with it."
"I heard it was the doing of the Witch King who brought about the downfall of the Atlantis of Old, returned," Dionysus said, shifting in his cushioned nest and glancing at Hades nearby. His wine red hair fell into his face as he took another sip from his goblet.
Hades shook his dark head. "He did not return simply because he never came to my realm." Black eyes narrowed. "He never died."
"But...how is that possible?" Helios asked, brushing a hand through his snowy white hair, clearly discomfited by the idea. His sun gold eyes were shadowed with worry. "Death is not something that can be avoided."
"And yet it has been done before," Selene said softly, placing a comforting hand over her brother's. Her moon silver hair and gentle gray eyes calmed her brother's spirit. "My husband succeeded in cheating death, as have many others."
"But the Witch King did not go through us to avoid death, nor did he use anything native to the planet below," Athena countered.
"Indeed. He used the Orichalcos," Hades said, hatred darkening his voice. "That is a power not of Earth and therefore out of our jurisdiction thus rendering the Witch King outside of our jurisdiction."
"And let's not forget the ridiculous weather and natural disasters in the months following the Witch King's fall," Artemis said, fingering her knife. "Whoever had the power to do that without Zeus's or any of our influences is a power to be reckoned with."
"What if we treated all of these incidents as related instead of separate entities," Athena said, lifting her head.
"You think they are?" Dionysus asked, setting his goblet aside in interest.
Athena nodded turning to Artemis. "And now we hear of a young man capable of wielding a power that which has not been seen or heard of in millennia."
"We do not know that for sure yet," Ares said.
"No, but it would make sense if you consider everything that has happened," Apollo said. "If the Shadows returned," he said, turning to Zeus curiously, "how would you suggest we handle it?"
Zeus glanced at his wife who lifted a shoulder in a shrug. He turned back to Artemis and said, "Monitor the situation closely. Let them show their hand first."
"And if it is the Old Egyptian pantheon returned?" Artemis asked.
"Then we will deal with it then."
The goddess of womanhood and the hunt bowed respectfully and left.
Green Lantern sat back after watching the video. The film had been shaky and obvious filmed by someone who did not want anyone to be noticed, but judging from the content it was obvious why. Some of the things he had heard their so-called allies discuss were not things to be taken lightly.
For instance, souls? How on earth did souls fit into all this? As far as John was concerned, the soul was something that should not be toyed with. It was held on the same of sanctity as the mind. A person's mind was theirs alone, the same went for a person's soul no matter what religion anyone adhered to.
When his mind had been invaded, John had felt violated in a very intimate way. The very idea of all his personal thoughts and feelings held out for whoever was controlling him to see and judge was offensive. If whatever these people worked with had to do with souls...
"They certainly hide many secrets," Diana said. "They hardly answered any of the questions."
"I agree," John said, resting his chin on his folded hands. "They said a lot without saying anything important."
The Amazon princess nodded. "I wonder what Hades would think about the soul play these people hinted at."
"I was thinking something similar. You don't think they're involved in some ridiculous cult or anything, do you?" he asked, green eyes glancing at his friend.
Diana crossed her legs and pinched her chin between her thumb and index finger in thought. "I'm not sure. My gods seem aware of them, but Artemis left before she could tell me anything useful."
"Maybe she didn't know enough herself to answer right away," John said.
"Maybe," Diana said, eyes narrowed.
"Or," John added a minute later, "she left because she was afraid."
"Of what?" Diana countered, offended by the idea of her patron goddess fearing a mortal.
John tilted his head. "Now don't take this the wrong way, but I'm sure your gods aren't the most powerful things out there. Your gods came from somewhere, right? Nothing can come from nothing. I'm just speculating, but I think whatever these people are involved with may be a little more dangerous than we first thought."
"And Green Arrow's caught in the middle of it," Diana said worriedly.
"Hey," John said, resting an encouraging hand on Wonder Woman's shoulder, "he was doing fine on his own before he met us. I'm sure Green Arrow will be alright."
"I wouldn't be too sure," a new said, interrupting the duo.
"Batman," John said in surprise.
The Dark Knight took a moment to pulled out a small device from his pocket and flip a switch before replying. "There's been an attack in Starling City," Batman said, all business.
"Another one of those Shadow Games Kaiba was talking about?" Diana asked, resting a hand on her Lasso.
"Not this time. It was the Shadow Thief."
"What? What's he doing there?" Green Lantern asked, fisting the hand with his ring of power.
"He attacked Green Arrow," Superman said, appearing behind the Dark Knight.
Both Diana and John gasped at the shape the Kryptonian was in. His suit was in shreds and his skin was covered in lesions and burns marks.
"My god man, what happened to you?" John exclaimed, rushing over help Batman and Diana bring their wounded compatriot over to the couch.
"Kaiba attacked me."
"What?" John gasped.
"Kaiba did this?" Diana breathed, taking in the extent of the damage. She knew how hard it was to hurt Superman first hand. If one man could cause Superman this much harm, who knew what else he was capable of.
"I don't think it was deliberate," Clark said, sitting down. His wounds were visibly healing, if a bit slower than normal. "I was watching when Shadow Thief attacked. He was going for a surprise attack from behind when I jumped in. Unfortunately, Kaiba didn't see me in time and cast a spell or whatever that was."
"And that spell did this?" John said, sitting back in shock. He glanced shrewdly at Diana. "I'm beginning to go with my theory that your gods either fear these guys or want nothing to do with them."
The black haired woman nodded seriously. "As hesitant as I am to admit, I'm starting to agree."
"Where's Kaiba now?" Batman asked.
"I was blown away by the explosion," Clark said, rubbing his neck. "You teleported me here before I could go back and check."
"And the vigilante?"
"Throwing up last I saw."
"Green Arrow was vomiting?" Green Lantern said in surprise.
"Something about the Shadow Thief affected Kaiba physically. He very neary threw up himself before I got involved."
"And since Green Arrow supposedly has the same affinity to this Shadow magic stuff as Kaiba, he reacted the same way," Diana said.
"Makes sense," Batman agreed.
"But that still means Kaiba was able to cause this much damage while sick," Green Lantern said, crossing his arms. "That's a lot of power from person."
"He also cast several other spells before I got involved." Clark lifted his head to meet his friends' stares seriously. "I saw him summon clowns to fight for him."
"Clowns?" Batman deadpanned in the silence. "As in make-a-kid-balloon-pet clown or insane-Joker clown?"
"I'm leaning towards insane-Joker clown," Clark said. "One of them stabbed the Shadow Thief with a knife."
Green Lantern stiffened. "It hit him?"
Clark nodded. "I saw blood on the blade."
"That's more than Shayera and I managed to do when he attacked us in the tomb a couple weeks ago," John said seriously. "No matter what we did, nothing could hurt it."
"Another testament to his powers, then," Diana commented. "And from what I hear, Kaiba's only the Regent of this Shadow Court."
"Which brings to mind, what did you make of the Pharaoh and the King?" Batman asked.
"I'd be interested in hearing about that, too," Superman chimed in.
Diana spoke first. "They're almost identical but there's no way I would ever confuse one for the other. They have completely different presences. The Pharaoh is intimidating but I get the feeling he won't make a move without the King's approval. The King is hard to read. He seems to be a nice young man on the surface, but I'm learning nothing is exactly what it seems."
"I agree," John said. "If I had to make a guess, I'd say the King is the one calling all the shots. From the way the Pharaoh hangs on Yuugi's words, I'd almost call them lovers."
"And Kaiba?" Superman asked, his burns now mostly healed. "Where does he fit in all this?"
"He's the Regent and the head of this Neutral Trial, whatever that is," John answered. "I'd say he acts as a mediator between the Dark and the Light Triads, possibly even the King and the Pharaoh themselves. He's pretty possessive of people he considers to be under his authority. Nearly bit the Pharaoh's head off when he heard the guy was tracking Green Arrow."
Batman nodded silently, his facing giving nothing away. "Anything else?"
"He did seem preoccupied by whatever was in the room next door. I assume that's where this 'Mokuba' person was," Diana said.
"Mokuba Kaiba," Batman said. "And yes, that makes sense. Everything I've been able to find leads me to believe the Kaiba brothers are close. I'm not a psychologist by any means, but from what I've found, I would label their relationship as dangerously codependent. They're rarely apart for long and have been known to act rashly when the other was in trouble."
"You're saying Mokuba could be Kaiba's weakness?" Clark said.
"I'm saying he is Kaiba's weakness, the only one I've been able to find," Batman confirmed. "And if I could find it, it would make sense others could as well. It's possible they already have."
"There was a buzz in the business community when Gozaboro Kaiba died suddenly three years ago," Green Lantern said. "Some people thought it was murder, but no one could ever get anything to stick. Two years later, KaibaCorp is a booming business constantly making advances in technology raking a staggering profit."
"What are you suggesting, John?" Batman said.
"I'm not suggesting anything. I just think it's a bit odd that someone who regularly worked in a skyscraper would fall out of a thirty story window and no one see anything."
"That was three years ago. Kaiba was cleared of charges.," Clark countered.
"Only because they couldn't prove anything," Batman said. "I see where you're going Green Lantern, but I fail to see how Mokuba has anything to do with that."
"I did some digging of my own since this whole fiasco started and found there were suspicions of abuse aimed at Gozaboro that were dropped when he died," John said, eyes hard.
Batman's eyes narrowed. "You think Gozaboro abused the Kaibas?"
"Think about it. We already know how possessive Kaiba is about anything he sees to be 'his'. If you're right and Mokuba is his weakness, then what would happen if someone tried to hurt Mokuba?"
It was Diana who answered. "That's a serious allegation, even though, I admit, it does fit the circumstances."
"Also, I had an interesting conversation with Noa while everyone was gone. Apparently, Noa was human at one point."
"Human?" Clark exclaimed, eyes wide with surprise. "Then how..."
Green Lantern shook his head. "I never got the chance to ask and Noa never elaborated. He did say he was Kaiba's older brother. I looked it up and found Kaiba and Mokuba were adopted by Gozaboro when they were ten and five respectively. There were no records of any sibling named Noa."
"Maybe he went by another name?" Diana offered, but John was already holding up a finger for her to wait.
"However, when I looked further back, I found there was a boy named Noa Kaiba, but he died in a hit-and-run accident two years before Kaiba and Mokuba were adopted."
"That's unsettling, but not unheard of. It sounds like something from science fiction novels," Clark said.
Batman glanced at his friend ironically. "Coming from you, that's almost funny."
Superman shrugged. "That still leaves the King and Pharaoh," Clark said. "Find anything on them?"
"Plenty on Yuugi Motou. He's the King of Games in Duel Monsters, an American strategy card game that recently gained popularity in Japan."
"Duel Monsters?" Green Lantern asked, surprised.
Batman nodded. "You heard of it?"
"Yeah, Noa was teaching me how to play. It's a lot harder than you'd think, but the art's nice." His eyes hardened. "Now that you mention it, Noa also said something about the creator of Duel Monsters trying to kill the Kaiba brothers and apparently Yuugi too."
"Where is he now?" Diana asked.
"That's the thing," Green Lantern said. "The creator's dead. Which leads me to something else, Noa also said the Pharaoh was insanely protective of Yuugi. He said someone tricked the Pharaoh into thinking Yuugi died and ended up regretting it."
"How?" Diana asked, already suspecting the answer.
"The Pharaoh tortured the person long after the trickster lost a Shadow Game. Only someone named Anzu was able to stop him. Also, Noa said the loser lost his soul by some seal. I can't remember what it was called exactly, but I'd remember if I heard it again."
"That's another thing that seems to be recurring," Diana said. "These people speak of souls as if its something they can readily manipulate."
"Yeah. They talk about it as casually as we talk about mind control," John said, disconcerted.
"So, that makes at least three people who were directly involved with these three," Batman gestured to the people still visible on the computer screen, "and caused them harm. And they're all dead. I'm beginning to see a trend."
"So am I," Diana said. "And I'm not sure I like it."
"So young," Clark said softly, staring at the people on the screen in sympathy.
"They may be young, but they're dangerous," Green Lantern said.
"And strong enough to take out Superman," Batman said. "That makes them a threat."
"So what do you suggest we do?" Diana asked.
"Find out exactly what's going on here, and deal with it," Batman said. "As far as I'm concerned, this Shadow Court is an enemy who just happens to have an enemy that coincides with ours."
"'The enemy of my enemy is my friend,' you mean?" Clark asked.
"Ironic the guy who said that ended up dying by the people he trusted," John said, with a raised eyebrow.
"Then we do the next best thing," Batman said. "Keep an eye out for each other and stay informed. Right now, Green Arrow is a liability. Watch him and keep him in the loop, but don't tell him anything important. We don't know how far we can trust him right now."
"He's one of us, Bruce," Clark said, eyeing his friend suspiciously.
"He is, but right now he's Kaiba's new pet project. That in and of itself is enough for me to doubt anything that comes out of his mouth. Not to mention, whatever he hears will most likely make it to Kaiba and I think we can all agree, that wouldn't be a good thing."
"I'll play along," Diana said reluctantly. "But I won't attack a friend."
"I'm not asking you too," Batman said, meeting her eyes evenly. "I'm asking you to watch him and make sure he stays our friend."
"What about whatever's attacking Starling City?" Superman asked.
"We get rid of it."
"You think it's the Shadow Thief?" Diana asked.
Superman shook his head. "No. I doubt it. If we're assuming the Shadow Thief is behind the theft in Egypt, then he couldn't be the culprit. The first...Game happened too soon after the theft for the Shadow Thief to get here in time."
"Then who is it?"
"I think the Shadow Court knows," Diana murmured. "They may not be aware of the person's identity, but they did say the culprit's...Shadows felt familiar."
"Yet another reason not to trust them," Batman said. "It's probably someone they know personally."
"I for one think we should at least make sure this is dealt with before taking action against the Court," Clark said.
"I agree," Diana said. "I say we help them get rid of our mutual enemy, but be ready to deal with them before this is over."
"Not to play devil's advocate here, but what if this goes south?" Green Lantern asked.
Batman hesitated only a moment before speaking. "We know their weaknesses. We use them."
"And Noa? Last I checked, he's stalking our computer systems," Green Lantern said,
Batman smiled and pulled out the small device again so everyone could see it clearly. It was a portable electronic jammer. "Already taken care of."