SHADOW OF TORMENT (3)
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It was still Yugi's turn, and he had to decide how to proceed.
The fiery avian form of the Winged Dragon of Ra was still present behind him but it had already served its objective. He had already used its effect and it had zero attack points; not to mention the fact that since he had summoned it from his graveyard it would return at the end of his turn.
For all intents and purposes it might as well have not existed on his field anymore and Yugi would proceed with the rest of his turn as such.
"I summon Silent Magician LV4 (1000/1000) in attack mode," he stated quietly.
A white-haired female magician with blue eyes and boots appeared on the field. She held a thin, white staff, which arched up towards the top, upon which sat a dark-turquoise orb. The magician's white clothes had the symbol of an Egyptian cross around her neck, with a blue, jewel-like object on the front of her hat.
Having watched silently through the entire divine battle thus far, Tea gasped softly at the appearance of the newest monster. It was one that would forever be imprinted into her mind, for it was the card that Yugi had used to win the Ceremonial Battle against Atem.
"Attack his life-points directly… Silent Magic Attack."
The white robed mage raised her weapon, and a halcyon of blue energy appeared around it. Briskly, she pointed the staff at Pharaoh, launching the attack at him. He was momentarily consumed by the blaze and the ensuing cloud of smoke, but emerged unscathed when it cleared.
(Pharaoh: 500, Yugi: 600)
"I place one card facedown and end my turn."
With that, the flaming God behind him vanished.
Pharaoh hadn't spoken since Yugi had used Ra to destroy his Wicked God – Avatar, and remained stony-faced as he slid the top card off his deck.
At this, Silent Magician LV4 glowed with blue energy briefly as her strength increased (1500/1000).
"Not bad, aibou, not bad," he finally uttered. "But how will you do without being able to rely on literal divine intervention?"
He flipped a green bordered card in his hand around.
"I activate Ancient Rules, which allows me to special summon one level five or higher normal monster from my hand. I choose the card I added to my hand when Legion Field Jester was destroyed… Dark Magician (2500/2100)."
Yugi froze as a hunched over humanoid form appeared on Pharaoh's field. Slowly, it rose to reveal the iconic spellcaster that Yugi himself had played earlier in the duel… Yet this one was very different in terms of appearance. Its robes were a bloody maroon instead of purple, with shock-white hair visible from the sides of his hat. He carried the same pale-green staff, but displayed gaunt features and a malicious smile that matched the one that often graced Pharaoh's face.
"Surprised?" mocked Pharaoh. "When you played this card earlier in the duel I said it was a servant of mine from a time long past… And that was true, for the version that you played. As you can see, as my purpose changed my Dark Magician took on some changes himself… Changing into a more suitable servant."
The mage flashed another cruel grin at this, locking eyes with Silent Magician LV4, who did not back down.
"That creature is an abomination, just like you," responded Yugi finally, venom in his voice.
"Oh is it? If your memories serve me correctly, the weak and miserable excuse for a Pharaoh from this dimension tried and failed to use his Dark Magician against you and the very monster you have on your field right now. If mine succeeds, it should suffice to say it's an upgrade."
He thrust a hand forward. "Let's find out if that is indeed the case, shall we? Dark Magic Attack!"
His monster raised its staff and fired off a blood-red ball of magical energy at this. Just as it was about to collide with its target, Yugi reacted.
"My Silent Magician won't go down that easily! I activate my trap, Magical Hats!"
A large black top hat app appeared over his mage, before lowering itself down over her. Then, the hat glowed and split into four smaller copies of itself. Dark Magician's crimson attack slammed into one of them, causing it to explode and showing nothing behind it.
"It seems like you got it wrong this time around, my Silent Magician is safe behind one of the other hats… And as long as that remains the case, so are my life-points," stated Yugi confidently.
Pharaoh's face contorted with rage momentarily before slipping back to an arrogant if somewhat forced smile. "You can't escape me forever, aibou. Just like you ran out of Gods to hide behind, you will run out of tricks as well."
"I'm not running," replied Yugi calmly. "I will face your Dark Magician eventually, but until then you will need to keep playing this game."
Pharaoh's eyes flared once again but then he simply nodded. "Fine. I place one card facedown and end my turn."
Yugi drew, considering his now three card hand. He could see the beginnings of a counter-strategy, but he did not yet have the cards he needed to truly fight back.
"I end my turn here."
It was another risk, a calculated one though. He still had a two in three chance of Pharaoh getting it wrong, and even if he didn't, Silent Magician would be strengthened by another five hundred during his opponent's draw phase, leaving her just strong enough for Yugi to survive a successful attack.
Pharaoh drew and barely glanced at his newest card.
"Dark Magician, attack another one of his pitiful hats."
Another crimson sphere from the wizard's staff slammed into one of the hats on Yugi's field, which was incinerated on impact, once again revealing nothing.
"Looks like you guessed wrong again," chuckled Yugi.
Pharaoh glared at him once again but simply stated, "Turn end. You only have two hats left, therefore next turn your pathetic excuse for a magician will fall, as will you."
Yugi drew.
"Well, Silent Magician will gain another five hundred attack points after his next draw, putting it on par with his Dark Magician… He knows this and still seems confident in his ability to destroy it. I should probably take precautions…"
"I'll place one card facedown and end my turn," he declared.
Pharaoh ripped the top card off his deck savagely, as if he couldn't wait to move to the battle phase and put the duel to rest.
"Now I know well and good your Silent Magician has still been gaining attack points under those hats every time I draw… So I am going to equip it with Magic Formula, increasing its attack points by seven hundred."
A book bound with brown leather materialized in front of the mage, floating in mid-air. He reached out and grabbed it with a savage grin. The book glowed with purple energy before it disintegrated, with the energy then being absorbed by Dark Magician himself (3200/2100).
"Now, attack one of his pathetic remaining hats."
With another sadistic grin that looked very out of place on its features, the Dark Magician blasted off another red energy ball at Yugi's field.
"Looks like you've gotten it right this time," admitted Yugi, as the attack neared. Then his expression morphed into a confident one as he tapped a button on his Duel Disk. "But I was prepared for that… I activate Spellbinding Circle!"
The hat vanished, revealing Silent Magician LV4 (2500/1000) with a determined expression on her face, while a green circle with strange golden symbols with formed on the top, left, right, and bottom formed, with a white question mark like symbol in the center appeared above the field. The circle took up a defensive stance in front of Yugi's magician, quelling the Dark Magician's attack. Pushing said attack backward, the circle finally wrapped around the crimson-robed magician, which struggled momentarily but remained held in place, unable to move a muscle in any direction.
"As you well know, Spellbinding Circle will render your Dark Magician unable to attack or change its battle position," stated Yugi.
Pharaoh glared at him. "Once again you remain unable to face your problems head-on, buying time with parlor tricks. This time, however, you won't be able to beg the Gods to save you."
He whipped another card out of his hand and placed it into his Dia-Dhank.
"I place one card facedown and end my turn."
Yugi drew.
"You want to see how I face my problems?" he snapped. "Fine… I play Level Up, which allows me to sacrifice my Silent Magician LV4 to special summon Silent Magician LV8 (3500/1000) from my deck!"
As he spoke, Silent Magician glowed and grew at least twice her regular height. Her attire and staff had remained the same, though the two blue orbs on her hat and staff had now ignited with magic. Her spikey white hair grew longer as well, waving out behind her.
Pharaoh seemed to stiffen at the appearance of this newest monster, now stronger even than Dark Magician equipped with Magic Formula.
"Now, destroy his Dark Magician!"
The white-robed magician leapt into the air, pointing its staff downward and firing out a shining bluish-white orb at its target, who snarled in response and raised his own staff in defense. There was an explosion, a comparatively minor one compared to the ones generated by the various divine battles earlier, and when it cleared Pharaoh's field was bare.
(Pharaoh: 200, Yugi: 600)
"Of course, that mediocre creature failed me," spat Pharaoh, a disgusted sneer spread across his face.
Yugi simply stared at him, his mouth slightly agape, before mumbling, "That… that monster contains the spirit of your most loyal servant from ancient Egypt."
"So what?" challenged his opponent. "As I've told you before, I evolved… I never bothered going after my memories from my past life but I'm aware of enough to know that I was weak and without the stomach to do what was needed to put this wretched planet on the right path. If the Dark Magician served me back then it is simply unfit to serve me as I am now… and it literally just proved that."
"Not everything is about YOU!" snapped back Yugi. "People and things exist on their own and their worth is not determined by how much use they have to you and you alone."
"If you were ordained by the Gods as I am, then perhaps you'd understand," retorted Pharaoh. "The purpose I serve is far above the mundane lives you lead, and anything that doesn't serve that purpose is worthless!"
"If you really are ordained by the real Gods of Egypt, then why were they helping me in this duel and not you?" challenged Yugi, a glint in his eyes. "In some ways I feel a little bad for you, something really had to have snapped inside you badly to make you this high on your own supply… You're genuinely insane."
"Silence, knave!" hissed Pharaoh, his own eyes flashing in anger at what Yugi had just said. "I am Pharaoh, the God-King of humanity. If I am insane then everyone is insane!"
"We are all insane," shouted Yugi, his voice trembling at this.
Pharaoh flinched slightly, seemingly a bit taken aback at the level of ferocity Yugi had injected into that statement.
"Everyone is a bit crazy deep down, you know, we have to be to live in the world we do. The struggles we endure and the pain we feel can chip away at our sanity, but it's the people we love that help keep us rooted down in reality. That's the value of having friends and allies, it literally keeps us human. You, on the other hand, have let it get this far precisely because you think you're better than everyone else and that you can go at life alone."
He took a quick breath and continued on, "You mock me for being weak because I value others… Well, honestly, coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment. You value no one besides yourself, and look where that's gotten you? If it really made you that strong then you'd think this duel would have gone differently so far, wouldn't it?"
He gestured at the field in front of them, with Silent Magician LV8 on his and only one facedown card on Pharaoh's.
"Your overconfidence is showing, aibou," snapped Pharaoh, his voice growing dangerous again. Clearly Yugi's rant had unsettled him. "This duel isn't over yet, and things can change very quickly."
"Fine," Yugi shrugged. "I place one card facedown and end my turn."
"Don't forget, when Magic Formula is destroyed I gain one thousand life-points," growled Pharaoh as he added a sixth card to his hand.
(Pharaoh: 1200, Yugi: 600)
"First, I activate my facedown continuous trap Birthright, which allows me to summon one normal monster from my graveyard to the field in attack mode. I'll call back Dark Magician (2500/2100) to serve me once more."
The red-robed wizard reappeared before him, another fiendish smile on its face.
"I have decided, however, that the best way for him to be of use to me is in another form. So I will tribute him to summon from my hand Dark Eradicator Warlock (2500/2100)!"
The Dark Magician vanished in a puff of smoke, and almost immediately the silhouette of a new monster appeared within it. As the vapor lifted, it was revealed to be yet another spellcaster that looked a lot like the one it had just replaced, but clad in maroon-purple robes, with a cape extending out of the back of its shoulders. Its face had become much more demented-looking than before, and his staff had changed to that of a trident of sorts, glowing a bright purple color and having an orb with bubbling liquid in the inside of it.
"It's still not powerful enough to challenge Silent Magician, so it must have some kind of effect," thought Yugi.
As if on cue, Pharaoh slid another card into his Dia-Dhank.
"Then I activate Magical Blast, which will deal you two hundred points of damage for every spellcaster-type monster I have in play."
The Warlock raised its staff and fired a sphere of swirling blue and red energy at Yugi. It hit him in the abdomen, drawing a grunt.
(Pharaoh: 1200, Yugi: 400)
"That wasn't too bad though, there has to be a catch…"
"My Dark Eradicator Warlock deals you one thousand points of damage every time a normal spell card is activated," announced Pharaoh coldly. "And it just so happens that Magical Blast is one."
The Warlock raised its staff again, a jet-black sphere this time appearing on the tip of it.
"So much for the strength you acquired through others helping you win," scoffed Pharaoh. "Farewell, aibou."
Tea had watched in silence for a while now but now, with her friend seemingly at the brink, she cried out in panic. "YUGI!"
The Warlock released its attack, which raced across the field again, bypassing the Silent Magician.
"I activate Barrel Behind the Door, which takes any effect damage done to me and inflicts it on you instead!" shouted Yugi, tapping a button on his Duel Disk.
Appearing right in front of Yugi was a golden revolver floating in mid-air. Pharaoh froze as the energy sphere from Dark Eradicator Warlock's staff was absorbed into the gun's barrel before the trigger was pulled by an invisible force and the energy was fired back out directly at him, knocking him down to one knee as it exploded.
(Pharaoh: 200, Yugi: 400)
It was the first time Pharaoh had lost his footing at all during the entire duel. He got back to a standing position quickly enough, still breathing heavily but with a look of absolute fury on his face.
"Oh, you really think you're a smart one, don't you, aibou?" he hissed. "Well, I have bad news for you. During my next draw phase I can skip my draw and instead add Magical Blast from my graveyard to my hand. In other words, you're history."
"Seems like you're forgetting that I have a monster in play that's a full one thousand points stronger than your Dark Eradicator Warlock, who you've conveniently left in attack mode," responded Yugi coolly. "So maybe put your plans for your next turn on hold."
A glint entered Pharaoh's eyes. "Ah yes, about that…"
Black steel bars formed in mid-air around Yugi's field, encasing both him and his Silent Magician completely in a half-circular cage.
"Nightmare's Steelcage will remain active for the next two of your turns and in that time neither of us can attack with any monsters," informed Pharaoh. He then slid another card into his Dia-Dhank. "Then I set one card facedown and end my turn."
"Well, unlucky for him, Silent Magician LV8 is unaffected by any of his spells, so…" thought Yugi as he drew, a half-smile forming on his face.
"I activate my facedown Fiendish Chain," sneered Pharaoh, interrupting his opponent's internal monologue.
Yugi's eyes widened as a number of rusted old chains sprang out of nowhere, each one wrapping itself around one of his Silent Magician's limbs, effectively completely immobilizing her.
"This negates your monster's effects as long as its in play and leaves it unable to attack. You didn't think I'd allow myself to be beaten by the same pitiful creature as my hapless counterpart in this existence, did you?" taunted Pharaoh.
Yugi simply growled in response, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead.
"Well, that's not good at all… I need to get rid of his Warlock next turn without even being able to attack it and without using a normal spell card, or else I'm going to lose."
He looked over his hand again and saw the beginnings of a plan start to form.
"Luckily, it looks like I should be able to do just that."
"I summon Berry Magician Girl (400/400) in attack mode," he declared.
A diminutive baby pixie appeared next to the much taller Silent Magician LV8. She was dressed in brown, complete with a wizard's hat, though her limbs were as transparent as her wings. She clutched an even tinier staff in her right hand, and rather adorably, had a pacifier in her mouth.
Pharaoh threw his head back and laughed harshly. "You go from the literal Gods to this thing? How the mighty have fallen, aibou."
Yugi roundly ignored him. "When Berry Magician Girl is summoned, I can add one other card with "Magician Girl" in its name to my hand. I choose Dark Magician Girl (2000/1700)."
He located the card quickly and continued, "Then I'll summon it immediately, by activating Quick Summon, which by the way is a quickplay spell, so your Warlock's effect is not going to activate, and tributing Berry Magician Girl!"
The pixie vanished, and in her place appeared a young woman with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a somewhat revealing blue and pink mage's dress and hat, while clutching a yellow staff in her right hand.
"And just how is that supposed to help save you?" mocked Pharaoh. "Even if it could attack its far too weak to challenge my Dark Eradicator Warlock."
"That's because I can still play this," retorted Yugi, holding up the final card in his hand. "I activate Dark Burning Attack!"
Dark Magician Girl raised her staff, a determined expression on her face, and the end of it began to glow red.
"What is-…" began Pharaoh, but he was cut off as a thin red beam shot right out of her staff, passing through a hole in the cage and striking his Dark Eradicator Warlock in the chest. At first, it seemed insufficient to do any real damage but then it simply caused him to explode into pixels before anyone could react any further.
"Dark Burning Attack will destroy all your face-up monsters if I have Dark Magician Girl in play," stated Yugi simply. "And while it might be a normal spell, your Dark Eradicator Warlock's effect only activates after the spell's effect resolves. Given that when Dark Burning Attack resolved, your Warlock was gone, I won't take any damage from that."
Pharaoh simply glared at him.
"Well, I have no more cards in my hand, so I'll end my turn there. But it's only one more of my turns until your Nightmare's Steelcage is gone," commented Yugi.
His opponent drew savagely. Clearly, Yugi observed, he didn't have a spellcaster in hand to make use of Magical Blast so he opted to forgo retrieving it from his graveyard for this turn.
"The friendships you value are what make you weak and will be your undoing. I will show that to you now. I summon Senju of the Thousand Hands (1400/1000) in attack mode."
A crimson wooden statue materialized on his field. It seemed to be a carving of a shaman of some kind, complete with a tall hat framing its head, and true to its name, many uncountable arms sprouting out of its back.
"When I summon Senju I can add one ritual monster from my deck to my hand. I choose Black Luster Soldier (3000/2500)."
Yugi shifted a bit uneasily. Where was this going?
"Then, I activate Swing of Memories, which allows me to summon a normal monster from my graveyard to the field until the end of the turn. I choose Dark Magician (2500/2100)."
The red-robed Dark Magician reappeared once more, flanking Senju with a leering grin.
"As I said, he failed me before so he won't serve me directly again… He will, however, do so in another form. I activate Polymerization, to fuse Dark Magician with the Black Luster Soldier in my hand."
Yugi's eyes widened as the translucent form of a knight clad in black and green armor materialized next to the red Dark Magician. The knight grasped a curved scimitar in one hand and had a shield with a black and green design similar to its armor in the other. Before long, a vortex appeared behind the both of them and sucked them in.
After it spun for a moment, a new form began to emerge from the vortex. It was a man dressed in similar armor to the Black Luster Soldier, only with a purple and gold color scheme and blue gems set into it at various points. The same went for its scimitar and shield, both of which were much bigger. Gold spikes stuck out of its shoulder pads, both of which framed the pointed wizards hat that covered most of its head with the exception of cruel red eyes.
"I can't believe it… He's fused two of my oldest and most powerful cards!"
"Master of Chaos (3000/2500) will be the final agent of my will," proclaimed Pharaoh.
As he spoke, the crimson spellcaster that just been sent to the graveyard reappeared once again, flanking either side of the new fusion with Senju.
"Master of Chaos lets me summon one light or dark attribute monster from my graveyard when he's summoned, so I chose Dark Magician (2500/2100)," revealed Pharaoh. "Again, don't get too used to him… Now I will activate Master of Chaos' second effect!"
As he spoke, both Dark Magician and Senju glowed and dematerialized into spheres of black and white energy respectively, both of which were then absorbed into Master of Chaos' blade.
"By tributing one light and one dark attribute monster, Master of Chaos will then banish all monsters on your field," finished Pharaoh smugly. "Dark Chaos Wave!"
The soldier's scimitar was now crackling with black and white lightning. It brought it down hard, generating a shockwave of energy that blanketed Yugi's field. The bars of the Nightmare's Steelcage remained intact, but both Silent Magician LV8 and Dark Magician Girl were impacted, letting out pained cries before they were atomized.
Tea almost let out a pained cry of shock from her position on the sidelines but managed to strangle it in her throat.
Yugi had no cards in his hand and now a clear field, with four hundred life-points left. How was he supposed to win from here, she panicked.
"I told you things could change quickly, aibou," spat Pharaoh. "This is what relying on others gets you: your weakness has been laid bare for all to see. Make your final move."
Yugi hadn't reacted outwardly to the scouring of his monsters as he was simply too stunned at first, and then once reality set in his mind quickly shifted to figuring out how to break out of this predicament. He knew that this was quite a precarious situation. If he didn't draw a monster or some way to delay, this really would be his final move.
"Heart of the Cards... You were always there for Atem when he needed you and the fate of the world was on the line. Please, come through for me this time as well."
He blocked out Pharaoh's taunts and closed his eyes, slowly pulling the top card off his deck. Opening his eyes, he glanced at it and allowed himself a faint smile.
"I activate the spell card Soul Servant. This allows me to take one card that mentions "Dark Magician" or "Dark Magician Girl" in its text and place it on the top of my deck. I choose Magician's Souls (0/0)."
He located the card, which was easy to do in this thinning deck, and placed it on top.
"Then: Soul Servant's next effect. I can banish it from my graveyard and then draw one card for every Dark Magician monsters on either of our fields or graveyards. Since Dark Magician Girl is banished, it means we have one Dark Magician each and I have my Skilled Dark Magician. That means I get to draw three times."
Pharaoh hissed in annoyance at this. "I don't care how many cards you draw, nothing you do will be able to overcome my Master of Chaos!"
Yugi ignored him and shakily drew the requisite three cards, which at this point was a good chunk of what he had left in his deck.
"I place one monster facedown in defense mode and end my turn."
At this, the steel bars around him disintegrated as Nightmare's Steelcage left the field.
Pharaoh paused, seeming to consider his options. He seemed ready to rip Magical Blast out of his graveyard and use it again, which he could given that Master of Chaos was a spellcaster, but the resources that Yugi had just added seemed to have changed his mind, and he drew instead himself.
He glanced at his newest card and then across the field.
"Master of Chaos, bring this duel one step closer to its end and destroy his miserable facedown monster."
The blade descended again and another shockwave was set across the field. As the facedown card flipped, it revealed a young female mage with long pink hair, purple robes and a yellow belt, who held a long golden staff with a crescent moon at the top of the staff. Just like Yugi's monsters the previous turn, she was atomized instantly.
Tea let out an audible gasp that caught Yugi's attention.
He turned to her and smiled briefly before looking back at his opponent. "You just destroyed my Magician of Faith (300/400). When she's flipped face-up, I can return one spell card from my graveyard to my hand. I choose Monster Reborn."
Pharaoh almost cursed out loud, but then seemed to allow himself a self-congratulatory smile.
"Very clever, aibou. A fine strategy. I will set this card facedown and end my turn."
Just as Yugi drew, his opponent reacted immediately once again.
"I activate my facedown Transmigration Prophecy! This allows me to return two cards from your graveyard back to your deck… And I am going to choose the ones that I am quite certain you were banking on saving you once again. Obelisk the Tormentor and Slifer the Sky Dragon!"
He threw his head back and broke out into malicious laughter for a moment, clearly very proud of the foresight it had taken not to forgo his draw phase the previous turn.
Once he was done he looked back down at both his opponent and their spectator. Tea was… horrified. Clearly she had gotten her hopes up when she saw the Magician of Faith, only to have them horribly dashed. There was no other monster in Yugi's graveyard that could challenge his Master of Chaos. Ra was useless in this situation without Yugi having life-points to pay either to increase its attack points or use its God Phoenix effect. It was over.
Yet… Yugi didn't seem perturbed. At all.
He calmly located the two God cards and shuffled them back into what was left of his deck.
"That was smart," he admitted calmly. "You were right to prepare for something like this and also right that my first choice would have been Obelisk. But… I also had a plan B."
"There's not a single pathetic card in your graveyard that can help you out of this," snapped Pharaoh. "Nothing."
Yugi raised an eyebrow. "Funny, I seem to remember someone back in the day saying something about this deck having no pathetic cards."
"Quit stalling!" snarled his opponent.
"As you wish. I activate Monster Reborn to summon Silent Magician LV4 (1000/1000) from my graveyard."
The white-robed, white-haired and blue-eyed spellcaster reappeared on his field, the same determined look in her eyes as she clutched her staff and glared at Master of Chaos.
Pharaoh laughed mockingly once again for the second time in as many minutes.
"That's the best you can do? I already proved that this creature was no match for me, unlike the fool from this dimension."
"Trust me, if she's enough to beat the Pharaoh I knew then she's definitely overkill for you," responded Yugi calmly, before sliding one of the last two cards in his hand into his Duel Disk. "I activate Hidden Armory, which allows me to mill the top card off my deck to add one equip spell from either my deck or my graveyard to my hand. I also can't normal summon this turn, but given I've already summoned Silent Magician from the graveyard… That's not gonna be a problem."
He quickly located the card he wanted given it was one of only a handful of cards left in his deck, and then paused before sliding it into his Duel Disk.
"You know, it's funny how at the start of this duel you said that people used to underestimate me just how I underestimated your Ojamachine Yellow. Yet here you are, underestimating my Silent Magician just because of her low base attack points, and by extension me."
"And where exactly are you going with this line of thought?" snapped Pharaoh. "In case you haven't noticed, we are still in the middle of a duel."
"Oh, nowhere really. Just pointing out the irony of this situation, and the fact that it means you probably don't know me as well as you think. Then again, you're really just an apparition of my own darkest thoughts, so maybe I didn't know myself as well as I thought until now, which means this duel has actually helped me figure some things out about myself."
He raised a card. "Don't worry, I'm getting to it. I activate Buster Rancher and equip it to Silent Magician LV4!"
An enormous red rifle fell from the cloudless heavens. Silent Magician dropped her staff and caught the weapon in both hands, resting the area between the barrel and the power-pack connected to the other end on her shoulder.
"Buster Rancher can only be equipped to a monster with one thousand or less attack points. Then, if that monster attacks or is attacked by another with twenty-five hundred or more attack points… It gains twenty-five hundred attack points."
Pharaoh's derisive expression suddenly morphed into one of sheer panic. "NO…!"
"Like I said, this duel has helped me figure some things out about myself," continued Yugi. "There may have been a time before I had the Millennium Puzzle that I was alone, lost and by your perception, weak because I wanted friends. Atem helped me realize that the opposite was true: it's our friends that give us strength. Maybe you've forgotten this, but as humans we're not meant to be alone. We're stronger together, and I may have temporarily forgotten that after Atem left, but this duel helped remind me of the truth."
He looked over at Tea again with a brief smile before turning back. "I wouldn't have won this duel without Magician of Faith, and that's a card that represents one of the most important friendships I have. So maybe, once you return to spend an eternity inside the Quantum Cube, think about how you've been wrong."
His unwavering gaze met Pharaoh's panicked one.
"Silent Magic Attack."
The red rifle glowed, and Silent Magician (3500/1000) pulled the trigger. A massive pulse of red and blue energy issued forth, slamming into the Master of Chaos, who raised its shield in defense. There was a brief struggle before the pulse broke through, going on to consume the fusion and reduce it to nothingness within seconds.
(Pharaoh: 0, Yugi: 400)
Pharaoh's face remained fixed with disbelief as the landscape around them began to warp and shift. The sand under their feet and the open sky above their heads began to vanish, being replaced by a carpeted conference room floor and a white ceiling respectively. Pharaoh's own body was beginning to dematerialize as well.
He lowered his head to look at Yugi blankly, and began opening his mouth to speak, but it seemed as if no words could come in light of the sheer shock he was experiencing. It was as if his brain had short-circuited.
Yugi simply kept staring back at him, refusing to look away until his erstwhile opponent had vanished completely.
When it was over, Yugi deactivated his Duel Disk and sighed.
"Yugi…" came Tea's trembling voice.
He turned to look at her, more than half dazed. The incredible toll this extended duel had taken on him was beginning to be felt now.
"Tea…" he managed.
She took a step closer. "Yugi, I'm glad you won obviously… But the things he said… That I preferred Atem to you…"
"Tea, it's fine, you don't have to explain yourself," he mumbled. "Everything he said was just mind games."
"Sure, but Yugi… If he said those things it's because a part of you believes them right?" she replied quietly.
Yugi pressed a head to his forehead. "Tea, we don't need to talk about this. I-…I know you liked him. It's fine, you don't have to explain…"
"No, Yugi, you're wrong," she stammered.
He stopped short and looked at her, still breathing heavily.
"Yugi, I thought I liked Atem at one point, but it was just so confusing because for a long time we all thought you and him were the same person. There was the kind and gentle side of you and then there was the confident and strong one… And once we realized Atem was a separate person I didn't know what to think because it was really all those parts of you that I had feelings for." She took a shaky breath before continuing, "But then, we went to America and we lost you to the Orichalcos and Atem was left behind… And Yugi, it was awful."
Yugi's head was spinning. Half of him really couldn't believe where Tea was going with this and the other was ready to pass out from how taxing the last hour had been.
"I just… I couldn't even begin to fathom the idea that we might've lost you forever back then. It was the worst I've ever felt about anything… But at the same time it began to clear some things up for me, and that process was finished after Atem left… Look, I admired him, I think we all did: he was a great man. A part of me probably had a bit of a schoolgirl crush on him too… but dealing with his leaving was way easier for me than dealing with the thought of losing you."
"Tea…" Yugi whispered. "Why did you never say anything before this?"
"Because the timing never felt right!" Tea groaned. "After Atem left I knew that you were coping with losing him and I couldn't bring myself to encroach on your grief. Not to mention I was supposed to be leaving for New York soon, and I didn't want to make things weird between us in the time we had left together… I was just scared, Yugi, scared of taking a risk after everything it felt like we had already lost. But now, with the world feeling like it's going to collapse around us again… I realized the timing will never be right and I just had to be a bit braver because nothing in this life is guaranteed, and if we don't seize the moments that are given to us we might never get them back.."
She had stepped even closer to him now.
"Tea," mumbled Yugi again. "I really hope I'm not misinterpreting this…"
Closer.
"No, Yugi, you're not," she breathed.
Closer.
Yugi wasn't sure if he was hallucinating with exhaustion, or if her face was moving towards his… or was it his moving towards hers?
BANG!
Both Yugi and Tea almost literally jumped out of their skins and away from each other and whirled to face the source of the noise.
It was the main door of the conference room and it had just been swung open by… Kaiba.
One half of Yugi's mind was ready to go and latch onto the CEO's collar and scream at him about his timing, or lack thereof, while the other decided to freeze everything else and politely greet him with, "Kaiba."
His rival strode into the room, and spoke quietly but fast, "Yugi… The God cards… Did you just do what I think you did?"
"Yeah," mumbled Yugi with a forced half-smile. "I don't think I'd have even thought to attempt it if Mokuba hadn't told me that you did it first while dueling Diva, so I guess I owe you for that one."
"Who was your opponent?" asked Kaiba, coming to a halt about three feet from where Yugi and Tea were awkwardly standing a few inches from each other.
"Well, honestly uh-… Probably best we don't talk about that now. We've got to go find Apep-…"
At that point, it seemed like the bulk of the exhaustion that had been held back by the adrenaline of what Tea and him had been about to do seemed to hit him like a train, and Yugi gasped and collapsed down onto his knees.
"Yugi!" Tea dropped down onto one knee as well and placed a hand on his arm, trying to hold him steady.
"No, that was always going to be my job," replied Kaiba, shaking his head. "And it doesn't look like you're in any shape to duel again anyway."
"No, Kaiba, I can-…" Yugi managed as he tried to push himself up off the ground with his hand, but then fell backward again with another groan.
Kaiba lowered himself to one knee as well, seemingly out of some measure of concern. Despite how their relationship had evolved, Yugi still found this to be very uncharacteristic of the CEO.
"Yugi, it has to be me alone. I know we teamed up against Dartz and Diva, but Apep won't duel anyone else because only I can provide what he's after. You and the others have done enough."
Yugi's shoulders sagged, and he seemed to admit defeat. At the same time, he noted the very rare sincerity in Kaiba's voice, and a part of him would've almost chuckled if he had the strength.
"Where are the others?" asked Tea.
"Well, Pegasus won his duel but just like you he was too out of it to continue. The elevators didn't work past the floors they were assigned too so I took the stairs up here and ran into Wheeler and Taylor who were on their way down. They won their duel too, and were on their way to go check on the others. I'd suggest you two find a way to get down to them as well."
Tea seemed amenable to this but Yugi spoke up in protest again. "Kaiba, you can't just do this alone… We have no idea tricks he has planned. What if he blackmails you with the safety of Mokuba's body again?"
Kaiba flinched at this, but shook his head as he stood up. "He won't. When he did that before it was just to get me to come to him. Once I'm there that won't serve his purpose anymore."
"How do you know this?" muttered Yugi suspiciously.
Kaiba didn't reply, simply inclining his head to one side.
Yugi's eyes widened with realization. "Of course… In Egypt… You were able to use the portal to get inside his head."
"I know what he's after," Kaiba nodded. "And I do have a plan."
Yugi simply nodded. "Ok, if that's the case then I trust you know what you're doing. Good luck."
Kaiba nodded again, and seemed ready to walk over to the door on the other side the room, which contained the private staircase to his office, when Yugi made another attempt to get to his feet. This time, with significant help from Tea, he was successful.
Kaiba paused as Yugi sifted through his deck and located a card. Then, after two painful steps forward he held it up in a shaking hand to Kaiba.
Kaiba took the card and looked at it and then back at Yugi. "Yugi-…"
"Kaiba, take it," stated Yugi firmly. "Look, you helped me against Marik at Battle City, right? Just consider this the same thing. Assuming you will be dueling him, Apep has access to Mokuba's memories then he already knows every card in your deck and exactly how you duel. You might get to a situation where you'll need something he won't expect. I wouldn't have beaten Marik unless I had that. So please, Kaiba… Just trust me."
There seemed to be a degree of conflict in Kaiba's eyes for a moment, but eventually he relented. Taking it, he slipped the card into the top of his deck where it had sat snugly in its case on his belt since Roland had broken him out of captivity at Tokyo Metropolitan Hospital earlier in the week.
He turned his eyes back up from his belt to see Yugi's hand still extended. A part of him seemed to hesitate, this wasn't something he did, he was Seto Kaiba. The other part, the same one that had likely humbled him enough to go to Kame Game Shop to ask for Yugi's help in the first place two days ago, guided his hand forward instead.
Seemingly through either a strange coincidence or perhaps something more, they didn't shake hands but instead clasped each other by the forearm, closer to the elbow than the wrist.
It was a warrior's gesture, one shared by two men who had shed blood for each other and faced the worst of demons together in the darkest of hours.
Finally they both let go. Despite the fact that literally anything he did was painful at this point, Yugi was smiling.
"Yugi, I-… Thank you," muttered Kaiba.
"Don't mention it, Kaiba. Now go save your brother."
His rival nodded, and then walked across the room and exited through the other door, leaving Yugi still standing in the same spot, supported by Tea.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
There was a private elevator Kaiba could take to his office, but it responded to a scan of his retina and he was fairly certain that Apep had likely had that changed once he took up residence in that office while wearing Mokuba's body.
He took the service staircase instead, guessing that since Apep did want to see him at least that wouldn't be barred.
It was pointless not to pretend this wasn't fairly new territory for him, as loathe as he was to admit it. Yugi was right, any participation by him in prior endgames had been as a part of a team. The sole exception was his duel against his wretched stepfather in the Virtual World, yet the stakes there hadn't felt anywhere near as existential as this did.
Yet, he welcomed it. Not only because it was him alone that Apep was after but also because, as unlikely as it was that he'd ever admit it to anyone else, a part of Kaiba had internally accepted that on some level the responsibility for the events of the last two days lay with him… and as such he couldn't allow anyone else to interfere with the process of rectifying it. It was by his own mistakes that the situation had even arose, and it would be by his own hand that it would be resolved.
This was the way it was meant to be. It was his battle to win. It was his brother that had been wronged. This was his burden to bear.
Kaiba arrived at the top of the service staircase, and the normally triple-bolted door to his office was ajar.
He paused and collected himself.
Then, Seto Kaiba let a roar escape his mouth before pushing the door open and walking into the room that contained his destiny.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Well, ladies and gentlemen, we are well and truly in the endgame now.
This was another quick update but man this whole duel was just so easy to write. I guess it had something to do with the fact that both Pharaoh and Yugi were using classic cards that I am still very familiar with.
I didn't want the rest of this duel to be a re-tread of the Ceremonial Battle and I hope no one else thought it was but in some ways it was a bit of a tribute to it, with Yugi obviously making Silent Magician his weapon of choice here, plus this time it being Pharaoh who countered YUGI'S choice to try and resurrect a God near the end, although the difference of course was that Yugi had other plans himself.
Other than that I also hope the symbolism of him using Magician of Faith to win the duel worked.
The other big elephant in the room is obviously the scene with Yugi and Tea. Full disclosure, writing romance never comes naturally to me and I cringe really hard at the bits I wrote back in the day for Advent and Nightrise.
Yugi and Tea are actually pretty complicated to write as well because of the added complication of Atem. Joey and Mai are just much easier to write. I think I did a passable job here but it's definitely not my forte.
As for the return of Kaiba, well, I was very hyped to write that. The sequence where he was walking up the stairs ruminating on what had come to pass was something I had imagined over a year ago at this point and it was VERY exciting to finally put down. I was listening to Departure from Rurouni Kenshin while writing it and drawing on the scene from the Kyoto arc when Kenshin, Sano and Yumi are climbing the stairs for the final battle with Shishio.
I appreciate everyone sticking around this far, and I hope the remainder of this story is as good as I hope it'll be.
One last thing: what's everyone's guess on the card that Yugi gave Kaiba?
Reaver72: I'm glad you felt like that about it! Like I said, I most definitely was trying to capture the feel of the final duel of Advent which was also an all-out God war. And I'm glad you feel the character development isn't lost in this too… Like I've said before I always wanted this story to be character driven first and foremost.
Galaxyquest240: I am very happy you enjoyed that my friend. I agree the Wicked Gods are basically the exact antithesis of the originals and it makes for great duel choreography.
Gigachad23: Thank you for the review! Hmm, hard for me to answer your question yet without spoiling the rest of the story but you'll see in due time!
Metal Overlord 2.0: Man you're really getting a kick out of this Ojama thing aren't you haha? That was 7th Librarian's idea and I think it worked out pretty well! I do hope the rest of the chapter was to your liking, both the duel and the character stuff.
7th Librarian: Well, we talked about your thoughts here already and suffice to say it's sufficiently humbled me (in a good way haha). But no genuinely I appreciate the criticism as I'm always trying to improve as an author. I believe that going forward now I know I need to get better at differentiating my villains' voices, and I'm sure I will with your input!
Very exciting times coming up folks, stay tuned!
