Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, and Aurora Valentine belongs to me. Selena Weston belongs to a dear friend of mine.
Preface
On a midnight on September 9, 1888, the misty streets of London were dimly lit and empty, as faint tolls could be heard from the clock tower Big Ben. The residents had gone to their homes and sheltered in place, in fear that their city's killer would strike again. He was a man with spiked sandy blonde hair donning a golden mask that had a Millennium eye on the forehead, and his exact identity was unknown for that reason. His purple cape was billowing in the breeze as he was eyeing on the streets, ready to make his move. His weapon of choice: a golden dagger with an orb that had two blades on the sides. When it would be connected to an extended rod, it would become the Millennium Rod, which would allow the masked man to take control of people's minds. To him, he would consider them as "mind slaves"; however, it was like pulling puppets by their strings and he would be their puppet master.
In the city's cemetery, where the bodies of the deceased would be laid to rest, screams were heard throughout. A young couple was scrambling frantically, horrified by what they had just encountered. Bonz and his two goons Sid and Zygor were laughing maniacally at the terrified lovebirds, as they each removed hideous masks from their heads. They had planned to pull off a practical joke that involved scaring people away at the cemetery, and so far, they had successfully petrified a total of five people—including the couple.
"This is so much fun!" Bonz said with a wicked laugh. "I told ya that putting on these masks and scaring away anyone at the cemetery was a great idea!"
"You said it, Bonz," Sid replied, nodding in concord. "Especially since the city's been on edge about this masked killer that's been on the loose lately."
"Whoever's behind the mask is gonna be afraid of us!" Zygor claimed, grinning mischievously. "We ain't afraid of him!"
With one more laugh, Bonz took a head start as he said to his goons:
"Now that our prank was a hit at the cemetery, let's go into town to find more people to scare off!"
Sid and Zygor soon followed him, joining him in the chorus of laughter as they departed the cemetery. But from within the mist that shrouded the graveyard was the masked man, who had been observing their entire prank whilst in hiding from behind a tombstone. He believed that it was a foolish act they carried out, and hearing their claims about not being afraid of him caused a smirk to form across his lips.
Somewhere downtown, Bonz and his goons were scavenging the streets in search of any new targets for them to pick. However, they had no luck and Bonz was growing frustrated.
"Arrgh! We haven't had found a single person to terrify!" he grimaced.
"I think it's because they're too afraid about the masked murderer to even be out on the streets tonight," Sid assumed.
"Yeah," Zygor said, nodding in agreement. "But we don't run away, 'cause we ain't scared of him. If he does come, we'll give him a scare he'll never forget."
"Ohh, he'll be in for it, alright," Bonz said, grinning maliciously. "In fact, he'll be so afraid that he'll never come back to the city! And then, we'll be hailed as heroes for scaring him away and we'll be rich!"
A vision of gold coins, jewels and rare treasures raining all around the boys had them seeing stars twinkling in their eyes, and he could hear cheers coming from the citizens as well as the creator of duel monsters and famous painter, Maximillian Pegasus. They would be so close to grasping those riches, they could taste it!
All of a sudden, they jolted at the sound of a wicked laugh that echoed throughout the misty street, and they turned to see the masked man emerging from the fog.
Could it be….?! Bonz thought, his eyes blinking in surprise.
"You'll be hailed, alright… but not as heroes of your city," the killer warned them. "In fact, the shadows are calling your names, and they are eager to consume your souls."
"So you're the masked man everyone's been talking about, eh?" Zygor asked.
"The rumors are true after all! He's for real!" Sid exclaimed, his eyes widening in shock.
"Why don't you go make your dramatic entrance elsewhere, creepazoid, because this is our street and we were here first!" Bonz insisted.
The killer was still standing, like a statue in an art gallery, and no response was made from him. To him, these three men were merely nothing more than annoyances; however, it was Bonz and his goons who were starting to become annoyed by the killer's refusal to leave.
"Not moving a muscle, eh?" Sid asked, an unamused frown forming on his face.
"Your mask makes you look ridiculous. Did you make it yourself?" Bonz taunted cruelly. "It doesn't even cover your entire face! And for that, you call yourself the masked killer?"
"You may have scared off the entire city, but we think you can do better than make appearances in the mist and wearing a mask that covers half your face," Zygor sneered. "It makes you look like a magician rather than a murderer."
He grabbed hold of the masked man's crimson vest and white shirt and pulled him close to him, glaring crossly at him as he boasted:
"Now you listen here, tough guy. If you think we're scared of ya, well, you're dead wrong! We've heard of the stories about ya, but that doesn't mean we should run away and hide. That makes us cowards, and we are not cowards! You're the coward by hiding all of the time after killing people! Do I make myself clear, mister?"
Though he did understand what Zygor had to say, the trio's insults did not bother him, not even for one bit. Instead, he emitted a low chuckle that crescendoed into a malicious laughter that started to intimidate Bonz and Sid.
"And just what do ya think is so funny?" Zygor questioned, raising an eyebrow.
Sounding in a tone of voice that is just as dark as a demon, the masked murderer answered:
"It is you who is the coward."
A sinister grin formed on the killer's face, and he pulled out his dagger from the rod and stabbed it into Zygor's chest, causing the tall black-haired man's eyes to widen in shock.
Bonz and Sid were horrified at the sight of their friend, with their jaws dropped and their eyes bulging out. They could hardly believe that on a night like this, Zygor would be the first of them to die at the hands of the killer.
"No! Zygor!" Sid cried.
Zygor began to cough up blood, and he could see some of it dripping onto the cobblestone street as the stab wound started oozing a cascading stream of crimson gore. The moment the dagger was pulled out, Zygor's body collapsed onto the street and a pool of his blood formed beneath him.
Satisfied about his first kill of the night, the masked man glanced over at Bonz and Sid with the same sinister smile on his face, aiming the dagger directly at them.
"Who's next?" he asked in a dark tone of voice.
Sid and Bonz embraced one another as they were screaming in fright. They knew right away that they were marked for death by him, due to neglecting their own safety and putting their lives on the line just to carry out their practical joke.
"Run for it!" Bonz cried, as the two immediately took off.
However, the killer had another trick up his sleeve as he drew out a card from his right sleeve and held it out. It began to emit a white light that flashed brightly as he called out:
"I summon Holding Arms!"
A pair of golden handcuffs with the Millennium Eye on it emerged from the card, as the cuffs clasped like crab claws. Its target was Sid, who was running alongside Bonz in a state of panic.
"Seize him!" the killer instructed the monster.
The Holding Arms hovered toward Sid and cuffed onto his wrists, preventing him from moving his arms. They slammed him onto a wall, and all Sid could do was struggle to break free from their grasp.
"Sid! No!" Bonz screamed in horror.
The spiked sandy blonde killer approached Sid, polishing the dagger of Zygor's blood with a handkerchief he pulled out from the pocket of his vest. He was eager to carry out his second killing after having ended Zygor's life.
"Get me out of here!" Sid cried, as he continued to struggle.
"It's no use, foolish boy," the masked man said darkly. "Death is now at your doorstep, and there is no turning back."
He aimed the dagger at Sid and pierced it into his chest, causing Sid to spit up blood. A stream of gore poured down the stab wound and the brick wall, and droplets of blood dripped onto the street right before Bonz's very eyes. All the tiny young man could do was watch in horror as the killer pulled out the dagger from Sid's chest, and Sid's eyes closed as he took his final breath.
"That's two down…," the masked man said, as he turned to Bonz. "And one to go."
With a frightened scream, Bonz rose up from the street and dashed as quickly as he could, with the killer watching him. The tiny man continued running for about a minute until he turned a corner and ran into an alleyway. Unfortunately for him, it was a dead end because of a wall blocking the way.
"No! A dead end! I'm trapped!" he cried, leaning his back against the wall. "But at least he won't find me here because I ran faster than him, and this alley is hardly ever taken by anyone."
"Are you sure?"
Chills were brought up Bonz's spine the moment he heard the killer's voice, and his body began trembling in trepidation. How could he have found him in an alleyway with a lack of lighting?
The killer emerged from the shadows beneath, his laughter echoing throughout the alley. Bonz could hardly believe his eyes; he had never seen anyone rising up from below in his entire life!
"N-No way!" Bonz exclaimed. "He can come up from the shadows?!"
"That's correct, foolish boy," the killer explained to him. "I have the power of the darkness, thanks to my Millennium Rod. And it's not the only thing that I can do with it; I can use it to take control of people's minds as well, making them my mind slaves."
"Heh. No way in hell you will make me your puppet," Bonz said, a smirk forming on his face. "I'd rather listen to myself than be controlled by some freak in a mask."
"You shall not judge a book by its cover," the killer warned him, as he grabbed hold of Bonz by the front of his navy jacket and slammed him against the wall. To his horror, Bonz witnessed his wrists being sucked into the shadows, preventing him from moving.
"H-Hey! My wrists!" he exclaimed. "Is this some sort of trickery?"
"This is the moment that will seal your fate!" the killer answered malevolently, and with a wicked laugh, he pierced the blade into Bonz's chest, causing him to scream in agony from the pain. Blood was gushing out of the wound as the killer removed it from his chest, but that wasn't enough for him. He then proceeded to pierce the dagger into Bonz's throat, and he could hear feeble coughs coming from Bonz as he moved the dagger across his throat, forming a slit that oozed blood down his body.
Once Bonz took his final breath and his eyes closed, the killer removed the dagger from his throat and stashed it back into the rod as the shadows freed Bonz's wrists, causing his body to collapse onto the street.
"And that makes three…," the killer stated. "My work here for the night is complete."
And with that, he walked away from the corpse and into the mist, where he vanished almost instantly. That terrifying night marked the ongoing murder spree he had been on for five months—and exactly five months ago, Marik Ishtar had disappeared without a trace. A missing poster of him blew off of the wall and fell onto the ground, as Bonz's blood continued to spill from his corpse, forming a gory pool.