Chaos Effect

Chapter 44

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/UzumakiLegacy

Seto smirked as his opponent cringed before him, having fallen onto his rear and throwing his arms up in a desperate attempt to shield himself. It would do him no good... he had been doomed the moment he had agreed to face Seto in a duel. Though he imagined that the poor fool hadn't understood just what he was going to face. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon? Terrifying but something a very skilled duelist could handle. It would take some cunning and skill but Seto was man enough to admit that even his might Blue-Eyes White Dragon could be slain if someone used the right combos.

But... the duelist didn't face a mere dragon.

"W-w-what is that thing?" his opponent stammered, staring up at the towering blue creature Seto had just summoned forth. "A demon? A freak?"

"Neither," Seto said coolly. "It's a god. Obelisk, put an end to this duel right now! Attack him with Fist of Fate!"

His opponent cried out in terror as the giant slammed his fist down on his monster, reducing it to nothing and sending him flying back as his lifepoints were reduced to nothing. Seto let out a scoff and walked over, grabbing the deck he'd "gifted" him, made entirely of rare cards, from his opponent's duel disc before claiming his locator card. "That's one, Mokuba."

"Yeah, now we both are one step closer to the finals!" his little brother cheered and Seto smiled slightly before they continued to walk on, Mokuba putting the cards back into Seto's briefcase while he locked his deck back up in his deck box (he might think Edwin a fool but the man had the right of it when it came to protecting his cards; never again would he allow his deck to be taken). "Soon we'll be taking on the best of the best!"

'Yes, Mokuba, that we will. Though I hope you don't lose your excitement when this tournament comes to a close.' His smile fell as he thought about what was to come. 'For you this is merely a fun excursion but for me... it is everything. This is my chance to make right what happened these last few months.' His mind drifted to where it had all began: Yugi defeating him by summoning Exodia the Forbidden One. He remembered the terror of Yugi managing to do the impossible, of the fury and power of Exodia...'That duel showing me how far I had slipped. Destroying the Blue-Eyes White Dragon I claimed from Yugi's grandfather... Edwin was right, I should have given that to you, little brother, and I will always regret that. My defeat showed me that I had lost who I was as a duelist... and Pegasus trying to take my company made me remember who I was again. It gave me the fire and passion to return to the man I was when I first took control of Kaibacorp. Those defeats reminded me what it was like to be on the bottom and gave me the drive to return to the top once more.

'I thought I had put the ghosts of my defeat at Yugi's hands to rest when I defeated him at Pegasus' castle... but that was a hollow victory, won only through a cheap trick. He would have defeated me and my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon had I not forced his hand with a move that had nothing to do with the card game. And then to have that smirking fool Edwin Chaos trick his way into becoming my Board of Directors? Followed by Pegasus defeating me with those gibbering toons?' Seto clenched his fist. 'I might have remembered who I was and how I wished to duel but I still find myself looking up at the mountain, needing to climb it while tossing aside those that get in my way. I can't even claim I saved you, Mokuba... that was Edwin and Yugi and his friends. They protected you while all I did was lick my wounds.

'Battle City is my chance to make that right. When I win this tournament and claim the God Cards there will be no duelist that will be able to defeat me. All will know that I am the best duelist in the world and-'

"Seto!" Mokuba exclaimed, breaking him out of this thoughts. "We just got a notification from the Battle City Command Center! Yugi Muto and Edwin just disappeared from the Battle City network."

"Disappeared?" Seto asked, brow furrowing. "That isn't right. Even if they left Battle City it would tell us they had moved out of range and give us the last known location."

"It's giving us their last location but it's no where near the boundaries of Battle City. It's right in the middle!"

Seto frowned. "Something is going on here and I don't like it. Someone is trying to mess with my tournament and they are going to pay. Come on, Mokuba, we're heading for their last known location. We're going to get to the bottom of this!"

"Yeah, we have to save Edwin and Yugi."

'I'm not interested in saving them,' Seto thought to himself. 'I just won't have those two disappear and cost me my chance to eliminate them myself. I won't win Battle City on a technically... that means whoever thought they could rob me of challenging them is going to pay.'

~MC~MC~MC~

'I... I don't believe it!' Yugi exclaimed, staring at the monster Cabal had summoned. 'That monster... it's a more powerful version of our Magician of Black Chaos.'

'Indeed,' the Pharaoh said grimly, looking over his field. 'And it is a dangerous one. It was able to defeat our Dark Magician in a single blow and with his destruction she was able to reclaim a spell card from her graveyard.'

'That means she can just keep using our monsters to replenish her hand, utterly destroying us if we don't think of something fast! But what?'

'I don't know but we must trust in the Heart of the Cards to see this through. Cabal battles from a position of grief and revenge, casting off all sense of honor in the name of claiming an easy victory. We however fight from the side of respect for our cards and our opponents and that will see us through to the end.'

'You're right! We just have to trust in our deck and find a way to defeat her and her new magician.'

"Trembling?" Cabal taunted, bringing the Pharaoh out of his thoughts. "Cowering? Wishing you'd never accepted this challenge? I don't blame you... if I were facing down such an impressive mage as this I would be rethinking my life choices as well." She paused, looking down and for a moment the madness left her and she was just a sad woman dealing with her grief. "Choices... that is what matters. We all make decisions that we regret. But we can't change them... we can only move on and make them right." Her head snapped back up and the moment was gone. "And I will make them right when I deliver to Master Marik your puzzle, your Dark Magician, and your defeat!"

"Has... has everyone forgotten I'm here?"

Cabal and the Pharaoh turned to see Edwin staring at them, tapping his foot in annoyance.

"I mean... I am a part of this too, as much as I really don't want to be at the moment because I feel like I was told this was an orgy but you two just want to hate fuck each other while I sit in the corner." He shrugged and drew his next card. "But hey... thanks for using all those spell cards, kids." He smirked. "They really did light up my city."

The Pharaoh looked about the Citadel and realized that Edwin was right. While he had been focused on Cabal and countering her moves Edwin had quietly been gathering spell counters and now the Citadel of Endymion, even under the light of Cabal's cursed moon, glowed with the thrumming power of magic.

"For those curious," Edwin said, "my Citadel now has five spell counters, my Servant of Endymion has six spell counters, and my Frequency Magician," he smirked, "thanks for not destroying him, by the way, has one. And that allows me to do so much fun things. For starts... I remove three spell counters from my Servant of Endymion to activate her effect!" The Servant lifted up three Counters, each of them embedded in the seal on a scroll, and shattered them, causing a great wind to blow around her. "By doing this I can summon Servant from my spell zone to my field as a monster!" The mage appeared in solid form, a slight smirk forming on her lips as she nodded. "And when she is summoned she heralds the arrival of her master." Edwin threw his arms out wide. "We all know what that means!"

Renard chuckled. "Always the showman."

"Come on forth Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic!"

The Pharaoh had seen Edwin's Ace monster before. He'd battled against it and knew its power. But this new and improved version... he knew at once that if he had faced it with his Duelist Kingdom deck he would have lost. Endymion was far more regal in his stance. His robes were finer and his staff, hovering beside him, all the more grand. He was older too, his hair now white but it wasn't age that had done that but rather the power that pulsed in his veins. Endymion was a mage who had reached a pinnacle that few others had ever managed and thus earned the right to call himself 'The Mighty'.

"Now then," Edwin said, making it clear that no matter what had happened before everyone in the duel needed to focus on him, "my servant activates her final effect, giving herself and Endymion a spell counter each." The glowing orbs appeared, one in the Servant's robes, the other in Endymion's staff. "And now I think it is time to deal with your Magician of Black Chaos MAX."

Cabal merely chuckled, rallying after the surprise of Endymion being summoned. "Maybe you haven't been paying attention but your Endymion and my Magician of Black Chaos MAX are equals in power. You can sacrifice your monster if you wish to defeat him... but I warn you..." Her eyes gleamed through her mask, "magicians always have a way to get out of death defying stunts."

"Too bad this isn't a stunt," Edwin taunted. "See... Endymion is all about power, yes... but that power came from years of work. Did you know that he once studied with Aleister, the founder of the Spellbook Tower? And while Endymion now feuds with those mages that keep the tower... that doesn't mean he didn't keep some books from his time there. Including... a rather special one." He slapped a card on this duel disc. "I activate Book of the Moon!"

"No!" Cabal cried out as her Magician of Black Chaos MAX began to grunt and strain, struggling as he found himself kneeling even as Endymion opened the Book of the Moon and began to chant. "What are you doing to my Magician?"

"Forcing him to respect the authority of his better," Edwin snapped. "The Book of the Moon allowed me to force one of your monsters into downface defense position, ensuring they can't activate their effects or attack back when faced with the power of one of my monsters. Think of it as the... sun setting on your hopes of winning this duel." Finally the Magician of Black Chaos MAX couldn't fight the power of Endymion's spell and found himself shifted completed into a downface card, helpless to what Edwin was about to do next.

"Now then... we've seen two pros show off their dueling skills." Edwin threaded his fingers together before stretching, cracking his knuckles. "Now its time for the master to show how he does things!"

"I will not be referred to as Torgo," Renard jested.

"Heh," Edwin snickered before pointing at Cabal. "Endymion, destroy the downface card. And my Servant, attack Cabal directly! Spell Power Blast and Enchantment Ensnae!"

The two mages nodded and brought their staffs together, Cabal's downface card unable to fight back against the blow and shattering into pieces while the Servant's attack hit her, causing her to wobble and fight to remain standing thanks to being unable to move her feet. As she finally righted herself the saw blade on her side of the field began to move closer to her. (Cabal-3100)

"Well done Edwin!" the Pharaoh said with a smile. "That was a brilliant move!"

"Thanks Pharaoh," Edwin said and it never ceased to amaze him how Edwin seemed to know just when he was in charge and when it was Yugi. "Couldn't have done it without you buying me time with your Dark Magician." He selected a card from his hand and set it on the field.

"You... you think that did anything?"

"Well, it did do something," Edwin teased. "I mean at minimum you can see that the saw blade is now closer to you so that proves that I did something-"

Cabal cut him off. "That was merely some parlor tricks you performed... it is time for me to show you some true magic. Startling with lifting the curtain and truly beginning the show! I activate Dark Magic Veil!" The spell card, a magician's curtain with a skeleton looming on top of it, appeared on the field. "I can sacrifice half my lifepoints to resurrect my Dark Magician from the graveyard!" Her lifepoints ticked down to 1550 and a drum roll filled the air. "Welcome back-"

"Activate Endymion's special ability," Edwin said with a shrug. "By sending his Servant back to his hand he gains her spellcounters and that allows him to activate his effect, negating your card's effect and destroying it. So I'm afraid the curtain... has fallen." Endymion suddenly rushed forward as the Servant disappeared, grasping the Dark Magic Veil and ripping it down, causing it to turn into tiny shreds of cloth. "But I'll take the loss of your lifepoints, of course."

'Edwin has her on the ropes!' Yugi exclaimed. 'If she can't think of something quick to do to protect herself on our next turn we merely need to summon a monster and attack directly for the win!'

'Yes,' the Pharaoh thought, lips pressed together. 'But I fear it won't be that easy, Yugi. Cabal might be many things but we can't forget she is also a skilled magician in her own right. And if there is one thing our own Dark Magician as taught us it's that their ilk always have something hidden in their sleeve.'

Cabal stared at Edwin for a long moment... before smirking. "Thank you for wasting your Endymion's effect on stopping my Dark Magic Veil. I was worried you wouldn't take the bait!"

"Really? Going to play up that you saw that coming? You don't even know my monster's effect."

"I know what MY monster can do though!" Cabal declared. "Because my Dark Magician is far from finished. In fact... even from the grave he is ready to make his grand return! I activate the Ritual Spell Chaos Form!" The Ritual Spell Appeared on the field and a swirl of black and white light began to warp around Cabal's side of the ring. "This card allows me to banish one Dark Magician from my graveyard in order to summon his Chaos Form from my hand. So behold as my Dark Magician is transformed in the Magician of Chaos!"

Two blue versions of the Dark Magic Circle appeared on the field and from the larger one rose a more armored and elegant Dark Magician. His robes were more ornate, gaining some more blue along with the red, and his skin had become blue as well though his hair was pale white. The second of the Dark Magic Circles rose up and surrounded his staff, allowing it to hover in the air without the Magician of Chaos needing to even touch it.

"Hmmm... it has the same attack and defense as your Dark Magician," the Pharaoh stated. "That can only mean that it must have gained a powerful effect for you to summon it."

"That's correct!" Cabal said with a flourish of her hand in the direction of the Magician of Chaos. "My upgraded Dark Magician gained the ability to destroy one card on the field if another one if activated. Dealer's choice."

"If you are hoping to defeat my Endymion that way then it won't work," Edwin stated. "Thanks to the spell counter he has on himself he is immune to all card effects you might send his way and can't be destroyed by any effect, targeting him or not."

Cabal glowered at him. "If the audience would kindly be quiet during the show..." Edwin merely wagged his eyebrows at her and Cabal continued. "I activate Dark Magic Expanded!" A burst of energy radiated out from the Magician of Chaos, causing the Pharaoh's duel disc to glow.

"What is the meaning of this?" the Pharaoh asked.

"Don't you know of this card?" Cabal asked. "For every Dark Magician on the field or in the graveyard I get to apply special effects. My Magician of Chaos is counted as a Dark Magician as it is merely an upgraded form so that means I can increase his attack to 3500, more than a match for Endymion! And with the power of your Dark Magician-"

"No!" the Pharaoh exclaimed. "You have no right to use my Dark Magician for your scheme, Cabal!" on the field the Pharaoh's Dark Magician struggled to stop himself but finally gave in, his spirit giving power to the Magician of Chaos who sneered at him in derision.

"He has no choice. He must answer the call. And now then... I think I'll attack little Yugi directly!" She laughed as the Magician of Chaos held up his hands and his staff spun till its end was pointed right at the Pharaoh's heart. "Will you sacrifice your beloved Endymion to save little Yugi? Or will you allow him to lose it all? Choices choice Edwin!"

"Tell me... have you ever heard of the Kobayashi Maru?"

Everyone stopped at that. The duelists, the monsters, everyone stared at Edwin in confusion over that very odd question.

"The Kobayashi Maru is a civilian freighter. It has become disabled and floated into Klingon space. There is a treaty that states that the Federation can not enter that space... to do so would break the treaty and could lead to battle. A captain receives a distress call from the freighter, begging for help, and must make a decision what to do: risk war to save the civilians or leave them to torture and death? The only problem is if you do attempt to save the ship you and your crew will die. Because it's just a computer simulation... and the computer cheats. No matter what you do the system will always create more Klingon ships until your ship is destroyed."

"Is there a point to this?" Cabal complained. "Or are you just wasting time."

"I never waste time unless I mean to," Edwin said and everyone tried to figure out what exactly that meant. "The Kobayashi Maru is the No Win Scenario. You can't beat it. You are doomed. The point though is to see how you handle a crisis. How you handle certain death. How you handle life not going your way and no matter how good you are, no matter how cunning, you will fail. You can do everything right and the universe will still say, "Not good enough". It is a very important test."

"And you find yourself in such a situation right now," Cabal warned him. "If you allow me to attack Yugi is will lose the duel and his legs. But if you sacrifice your Endymion to save him you will lose lifepoints and be utterly defenseless. And next turn I will attack and destroy you. No Win."

Edwin bobbed his head back and forth. "Maybe. See... the thing is... there are ways to beat the No Win scenario. But first you must dismiss the half victories. You can choose not to fight, reasoning that the ones everyone expects you to save are already doomed so why kill yourself? Obviously not going with that. Another way is to use a lot of technical moves that look good on paper but won't work in real life. Not my thing. Heroic Suicide? Life is full of tasty morsels I haven't sampled yet. Cheat? Perhaps... but doesn't work here. Thus... my solution to the Kobayashi Maru: Stall... stall... stall. Book of the Moon!" The spell card flipped up onto the field.

"I'll just destroy it!" Cabal proclaimed.

"But not negate, sweetheart." Edwin said with a smirk and Cabal's eyes went wide as her Magician of Chaos still shifted to defense mode. "And now for part two: calling for fucking backup. Pharaoh! Waste this literal bitch!"

"I must admit, Cabal," the Pharaoh said as he drew his next card, "you do know how to bring out great power from the Dark Magician. You have seen yours grow and evolve, constantly adding to his strength."

"Flattery?" Cabal asked. "I suppose it is a worthy thing to attempt when you face such danger as you do. Admitting I am better than you is certainly one way to try and win your freedom." She shook her head though. "But I am afraid it will do you little good here. I am going to defeat you all the same, Yugi Muto, and claim your Dark Magician. Then I will defeat you, Edwin Chaos, and make you regret ever trying to usurp my Arkana's position."

"I've never even met him!" Edwin complained. "And don't say he's right there because I'm pretty sure what's behind that curtain is a cardboard cutout!"

The Pharaoh spoke up before Cabal could snap at him. "You misunderstand, Cabal. I never said you were better than me. You understand how to bring out the power of the Dark Magician but you do not understand what makes him strong. All your rituals and spells focus on the same thing: The Dark Magician. You do not understand that it takes more than just the mage himself in order to craft true magic. Something you have forgotten about Arkana as well."

"What?" Cabal said, jaw twitching.

Edwin spoke up. "You were his partner. He worked with you. Yet in this duel you use every monster other than the Dark Magician in service TO the Dark Magician. They don't work together. That means he's always alone."

"And that means he is doomed to fail," the Pharaoh said, holding up a card. "Behold the folly of your ways! I first activate Soul Servant, allowing me to place once Dark Magician themed card on the top of my deck." He quickly sorted through his cards, finding the perfect one. "Next will use the first Soul Servant card in my graveyard, banishing it to draw two cards." He smirked as he drew the card he'd selected. "I now summon the Magician's Rod, adding yet another Dark Magician themed card to my hand." Another quick peak through his deck allowed him to find just what he needed. "And now I order the Magician's Rod to attack your downface monster!"

Cabal raised an eyebrow as the staff of the Dark Magician appeared on the field. "Have you gone mad, Yugi? My Magician of Chaos is simply more powerful than your Magician's Rod, even in its downface position."

"I know," the Pharaoh said with a slight smile as his Magician's Rod shattered, the Magician of Chaos revealing himself to snap it apart. (Yugi-1400)

"Is that your game then? To rob me of defeating you by defeating yourself?"

"Not at all. Magic is energy. And Energy can not be destroyed. Merely altered and changed. I needed the Magician's Rod to be destroyed in order to call upon the magic trapped within it to perform a new spell... one aided by a special friend." He held up a card. "I activate the effect of my Magikuriboh!"

On the field a Kuriboh appeared... a very special one. It wore the hat of the Dark Magician and the shoulder armor and had a tiny little staff in his claws. It let out a coo as it began to gather the magic of the Magician's Rod to it.

"Oh... my god," Edwin said.

The Pharaoh grimaced. "Edwin," he warned, "I know you will make jokes but-"

"He's so cute!" Edwin squealed.

The Pharaoh was so shocked Yugi suddenly found himself in control of their body. "W-what?"

"Look at his little wand!" Edwin said with a massive smile stretching across his face. "Please tell me they sell plushies of him! I want to cuddle him!" The Magikuriboh blinked at that, looking at Yugi in surprise. "And I want a Kuriboh now too! One that makes spell counters! Get Konami-"

"Who?"

"-on that right now! Mystical Beast of Endymion-Kuriboh!" Edwin was nearly vibrating. "eeeeeeeeee!"

Yugi cleared his throat. "Uh... well... I send Magikuriboh to the graveyard-"

"Aaaawwww," Edwin complained.

"-to activate his effect. When I take battle damage I am able to summon a Dark Magician from my deck or graveyard."

"Resurrecting your Dark Magician then, are you?" Cabal taunted. "It won't help. I have cards at the ready to ensure you pay for that."

"No, I in fact plan to summon something else." Yugi went through his deck and pulled out a card. "Behold the student of the Dark Magician: The Dark Magician Girl!"

A swirl of hearts danced about the field and from it came the smiling, bubbly apprentice of the Dark Magician. She gave a wink to everyone, twirling her staff before then flashing the V for Victory pose.

"...so they don't do subtle at her version of Hogwarts, do they?" Edwin stated.

"There is a Dark Magician Girl?!?" Cabal exclaimed. "No... that isn't possible! There is only one-"

"What's her House?"

Cabal's rant stopped short.

"What?" Yugi said, turning to admit.

"What house is she in? Not Slytherin... no Slyterhin, no matter the scheme, would dress like that." The hologram looked down at her outfit and frowned. "Ravenclaw? Nah... I'm thinking Hufflepuff."

"I would be a Hufflepuff," Renard said.

Edwin grinned. "I always get Ravenclaw. But I'd hate it there because I can't stand know-it-alls."

"So you hate yourself."

"Pretty much."

Cabal glared at Edwin. "Must you constantly gibber and gabber?"

"Not constantly. I do have to sleep." He rolled his eyes. "Come on, we all know what you are going to say." He held up his hands, making them look like puppets. "There can't be a Dark Magician! There is only one of them!" he said in a falsetto voice.

"While that might be true," he said, trying and failing to mimic the Pharaoh's voice, "that doesn't mean that the Dark Magician works alone! You should know that magicians always have assistants and partners and aides to help them pull off their stunts. You yourself did that role, didn't you?"

"Don't act like you know me!" the Cabal hand whined.

"But I do know you, Cabal! You are hurt! Suffering. Desperate to save someone you love. Believe me, I get that. Yugi's grandpa's soul was taken recently and I went to rescue him. But I was faced with a choice at one point... to let someone I didn't even really like get hurt... maybe even die... in order to save him. I nearly gave in, Cabal, until my friends reminded me that sacrificing others is something my friends would never want me to do. Nor Yugi;'s grandpa. And if you were honest with yourself you'd admit Arkana wouldn't want you to do that either."

"You don't know my beloved!" Hand Cabal snapped. "He would slit your throat in an instant if it meant saving me! I will win and we will be happy and there is nothing you can do about it."

Edwin stuck his head between his hands. "And then they banged."

"Wait, what?!?" Yugi exclaimed as Edwin began to beat the heels of his hands together.

"Oh Yugi, you're so much bigger than Marik!" Cabal Hand cooed.

"Everyone is bigger than Marik!" Hand Yugi proclaimed.

"If I filmed this I could make so much money," Renard said.

"WOULD YOU TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!?!" Cabal roared.

Edwin's eyes BLAZED black and gold. "NO I WILL NOT!" he suddenly bellowed, all humor gone. "Because that's what you want, you pathetic whining child! You've decided that because you are suffering the whole world must suffer!" He took a step forward, jabbing his finger at a startled Cabal. "Something horrible happened to the man you love. I feel for you... a truly do. I would help if I could. But that pain does not give you the right to make others suffer. Yugi's grandfather had his soul ripped out of him. I lost my mother just when it looked like she was finally getting better! They told us they knew what was wrong and 4 days later she was gone. You don't see me running around kidnapping people and torturing them while using her death as a fucking excuse to avoid blame for my crimes!" He shook his head. "All you care about is your pain. You don't even care about Arkana... he's just a means to an end. And that disgusts me. So no... I won't take you serious for a second. You don't have the right or privilege to get such respect from me. Now shut your mouth and allow Yugi to whoop your candy ass!"

'Yugi,' the Pharaoh said.

'Yes?'

'Let us be... very careful... should we ever broach the subject of Edwin's mother to him.'

'Agreed,' Yugi said before clearing his throat. "Edwin is right... it's still my turn. Now, my Dark Magician Girl learns from the Dark Magician and as such gains power from him and his forms. Thus for every Dark Magician and Magician of Black Chaos on the field or the graveyard she gains 300 attack. And that includes the ones you control or once did!"

Cabal shook herself from the daze Edwin had left him in. "But that means your Dark Magician girl-"

"That's right! Her power increases to 2600! More than enough to take out your Magician of Chaos! Dark Magician Girl, attack with Dark Magic Burning!" The Dark Magician Girl nodded, lifting her rod into the air to gather magical energies before bringing it down like a mace, striking the ground and causing a flare of magic to race along the dueling field before it stuck the Magician of Chaos, shattering it.

But Cabal merely smirked as the shards remained floating on the field.

"Uh oh," Edwin muttered.

"I activate the Magician of Chaos' final effect. When he is destroyed I can summon directly from my hand another ritual monster, without needing to perform the Ritual Summon. Come forth my second Magician of Black Chaos MAX!" The final form of her Dark Magician appeared on the field once again, gripping his blade as he stared down the Dark Magician Girl. "On my next turn my mage will cut down your little harlot and then he will cut down you!"

'This isn't good! We have to stall for now, to give us time to figure out a way to deal with that monster.' Yugi pulled a card from his hand. "I activate Swords of Revealing Light!" The swords appeared, locking Cabal's monster in place. "Now I'll be able to protect myself for three turns."

Cabal merely shook her head. "You are quite mistaken."

"What do you mean?"

"The Swords of Revealing Light work for three of MY turns, not yours. And since I get a turn each time either of you play-"

"That means the swords won't last that long!" Yugi exclaimed.

"Exactly. And then there is this: Dark Magic Cloak!" The spell card, which showed the Dark Magician with a long cape which he was using to block a blast of magic, appeared on the field before summoning that very cape, putting it on her Magician of Black Chaos MAX. "This Equip Spell ensures that my Magician of Black Chaos MAX can't be targeted by card effects that would destroy him. Meaning that only raw power will be able to stop him! Face it Yugi, no matter what you do you're doomed to fail. There is nothing you can do to stop me!"

~MC~MC~MC~

"I don't like this," Yuri muttered, holding up phone as if giving it an extra foot in the air would suddenly make it work and pick up Edwin and Renard's cells and allow her to contact them. "Those things were top of the line. No way simply going into a parking garage would knock them out..."

"I know," Mai muttered, looking about in worry. They had been lingering around the area where she'd beaten Espa Roba, hoping that maybe Edwin and Renard would show up, but all they had to show for their troubles were seeing a bunch of little versions of Espa walk past them... and Mai was pretty sure the baby Roba flipped her off!

"Edwin didn't mention any backups to find him?"

"The phones were his backups," Mai grumbled before letting out a sigh. "Sorry, Yuri... I'm just worried, same as you."

"Well, I'm sure... sorry, I almost was condescending," the former detective said as they made their way down a side alley; Mai had already been challenged once by another duelist, some punk kid with a pathetic deck who made her wonder how the hell he'd been invited to Battle City, let alone manage to get two locator cards! She'd beaten him within a few minutes and claimed the cards but now knew that with four she was a target for those looking to hit it big and thus wanted to avoid drawing attention to herself until she got out of the area. "I hope they are okay but if they aren't we'll find them."

"Yes, we will," Mai said, reaching out and patting Yuri on the shoulder.

The former detective suddenly slumped down, sliding down the wall as her eyes slammed shut.

Selene rolled her neck back and forth before looking at her attendant.

"I'm going to keep you," the goddess of the moon said, kneeling down and running her fingers along Yuri's sleeping features. "Give you the waters of eternal life so you can serve me forever. You are strong and powerful and that is what I deserve from those that worship me." She smiled and patted Yuri on the cheek. "Rest. I have work to do. None will bother you as you sleep." She stood back up only to frown as she looked herself over. "My fashion taste does suffer when I lack my memories." She tugged on the skirt she was wearing, not used to showing off so much bare skin. "I do like how it flatters my hips," she commented, admitting that her Mai personality did know how to make her curves look perfect. "Now then... where oh where has my Endymion gone..."

Selene shut her eyes before snapping them open and if the Nameless Pharaoh and his friends had been there they would have commented on the fact that Selene's eyes looked rather like her Endymion's. They too were pitch black but where his were golden thanks to the power of the Millennium Key hers were silvery white, radiating the cold glory of the Moon. Along her skin faint veins of silver began to trickle along her flesh, pulsing with power.

The goddess began to twist her head in odd directions, the jerking movements so quick and violent that they would have broken the neck of a mortal. Her gaze swept not past buildings but through then, taking in all the lives that went about without realizing an immortal was so close to them. She dismissed them within moments; they didn't worship her so why would she care about them?

She followed the magic her Endymion radiated, even in his most amusing mundane ways. 'Oh, when he is brought back to how he was,' she thought to herself, remembering how skilled her love was with his magic; all had trembled when he had raged and adored him when he showed his kindness. And what kindness... it had been his gentle ways with her, when she had come to him as the lost small and desperate of humanity, that had won her interest in him. 'It was supposed to have been a game.'

She remembered it well.

Selene forced herself not to smirk as she looked at her chosen form. She'd wiped the years away from her body, leaving her young and, while still beautiful, far more innocent. She was cold for the moon was cold just as it was captivating, but in this mortal form she looked innocent and sweet. A perfect little treat waiting to be snatched. And like all fruits she would bruise so easily; humanity so did seem to love it when she was bruised.

She didn't mind... it made smiting them so much more delicious. Her own tasty morsel.

The goddess wondered who would find her there outside the city walls. She'd played this game so many times and it always amused her just who would find her. Farmers. Scholars. Soldiers. A king once... that had been interesting. Women who dreamed far too big and men who minds were just so small. If they ignored her then she would wait and come to them in their hour of need and mock them for the failure to notice that the child they passed by was so much more. If they tried to enslave her she would do their work... and then reveal herself in her glory and shatter all they had made for themselves. If they hurt her... well, Hades might complain but his realm could always use more wailing souls.

Her moon hung overhead as the figure approached and Selene was nearly giddy was delight. What creature was about to stumble into her clutches? A brute? A rapist? A vile cretin? A dim-witted fool?

The clouds shifted on her whim and through her childish eyes she gazed upon him. He was dressed in the robes of a scholar but there wasn't the dusty stuffiness that she was used to when it came to those types. He could sort through scrolls, that was clear, but he wasn't shackled to them. He was dressed in robes of black and purple and blue and carried in one hand a golden staff with an orb of... of magic! Oh, he practiced magic! How utterly silly. Selene did so love it when mortals tried to mimic the powers of the gods. He was handsome enough, with dark hair and a small patch-like beard on his chin. A scar ran through his right eye but that only made him look all the more appealing.

The games she'd have with this one...

And what games Selene had had. Though... not what she'd expected.

She was pulled from the memory when she found the trail of magic lingering like a fog around a circus tent. Looking it over she slowly allowed her gaze to go down... and grit her teeth and clenched her fists in rage at the sight of her Endymion with another woman.

'I'll tear her to pieces before him!' She took a step forward and the pavement cracked and buckled under her foot. 'I'll make him watch as I peel her like a fig and remove each of her organs, crushing them to make sweet wine. Wine he will drink as he does all he can to make up for this betrayal with that whore-!'

She stopped, giving the scene another look, and laughed to herself, her rage gone in an instant. "Oh... oh Endymion what a mess you find yourself in!" She smiled as she saw him dueling, seeing now that he wasn't caring for the strange masked creature before him but battling her. He'd escaped a trap she had set up and was attacking her... good. That was very good. For him.

Selene did feel a slight... pulse...of anger that the temptress had dared to try and harm her Endymion but that was fine. He would win, she knew it.

"Though," she murmured as she narrowed her gaze onto his deck, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I... helped him."

It so amused her that he wielded, of all cards, himself. The Mighty Master of Magic was a reflection of him from his true life, before all of this. Not that he accepted that of course. They did look rather different; Selene had decided that in this life he would have her coloring, dipping his black locks into the dark gold pots to give him a blond mane that so well matched her own. And she did enjoy playing with that fuller beard of his...

The goddess focused, pulling her mind away from Endymion and what he should be doing to her each and every night. Instead she focused on his deck and just as she had done to create her Mai persona she took a tiny piece of herself and sent it racing towards his cards...

~MC~MC~MC~

I stared down Cabal's Magician of Black Chaos MAX, considering him carefully. 'It's a powerful monster but with my Endymion I match her blow for blow. But if I move to sacrifice my Endymion there is the chance that she will summon another monster and force Yugi to defend. As much as I hate to do it... I need to play defense.' I drew only to frown as I felt a twinge of... something... shoot through my finger. It rather reminded me of the spark I'd felt when I'd first held my Endymion card. It was an odd feeling but there was no way I was going to ignore the call that was coming to play that card. "Alright, I set Reflection of Endymion in my right most spell zone and then use her effect, removing counters from my Citadel so I can summon her to the field. And when she is summoned she also brings forth Servant with her!" The two female mages appeared on the field; Servant bowing her head while Reflection in her white robes and golden mask that hide her eyes merely smirked before shifting to defense position beside Endymion. "I end my turn."

"And while I could wait a bit longer I think I will deal with your Swords of Revealing Light now," Cabal stated. "I was never a fan of such tricks to begin with. I activate Mystical Space Typhoon-"

"I return Servant to my hand to activate Endymion's effect," I said. "Destroying your Typhoon while negating its activation!" I smiled at the spell shattered. "Nice try."

"It was. So is this. Turn Skip!" The spell card flashed on the field. "I can now discard cards to advance the duel that many turns ahead. I'll discard two to leap two turns forward, destroying the Swords of Revealing Light and freeing my Magician of Black Chaos MAX!" The swords shattered and the ritual summoned magic rolled his shoulders before smirking. "And now I think its time to destroy your Dark Magician Girl!"

I frowned. I got the feeling that Yugi had something planned with his Dark Magician Girl and letting her be destroyed would set himself up to be in a dangerous situation. I looked over my field, doing the math quickly in my head, before nodding to myself, committed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Pardon?" Cabal said.

"I said why am I not surprised you're taking the coward's way out." I gave a shrug. "You've been going on and on about how my Endymion is a usurper and a fraud but when the chance comes to actually do something about it you squander your moment going after Yugi's monsters. You keep doing that, have you noticed that yet? Keep focusing on him while leaving me all by myself. It's... its almost as if you're afraid of my monsters."

"I am not afraid of you are your fake magicians."

"Really? Because if you were so sure you could defeat Endymion... you'd take him out now." I grinned. "But you can't, can you?"

"I can easily."

"No you can't," I taunted. "I can tell. You have no moves. You'd just ram your stupid little magician with his 'I'm trying too hard to be edgy' sword staff into my Endymion and next turn Yugi would attack and defeat you."

"You... you don't-"

"Honestly... I wonder if that's why Arkana won't wake up. Just like your deck... he's useless."

Cabal let out a scream and pointed at Endymion, her Magician of Black Chaos MAX understanding at once. She slammed down Dark Magic Expanded, increasing his attack to 3800 and I braced myself as my mage shattered. The Magician of Black Chaos MAX hadn't bothered to actually throw a spell at my monster, choosing to just hack at Endymion in a blind rage. Neither of us said a word as she instantly added Dark magic Expanded back to her hand while I merely searched my deck for a spell card and added it to my hand. The saw blade continued till it was close to my original position but I merely made sure to move closer to Yugi to keep myself out of harm's way. (Edwin-100)

"Thank you, Edwin," Yugi said, taking a deep breath as he slowly reached for his deck. I knew in that instant he was asking for help from the Heart of the Cards and even my jaded ass whispered a mental plea for this to work. The young man drew, raised the card up...

...and smiled.

"I activate Spell Claiming!" Yugi called out. "This card allows me to select one spell card from your graveyard and activate its effect."

"And what spell will that be? My Dark Magic Veil, perhaps?"

"No," Yugi said. "I select... the Secrets of Dark Magic!"

"What?!" Cabal exclaimed in shock as that card appeared on the field before the ritual area flashed. "How... how can you use it? You have no Dark Magician on the field!"

"The Secrets of Dark Magic works not just for the Dark Magician... but the Dark Magician Girl as well!" Yugi said with a determined look. "And you also said it yourself: it can allow for a Ritual Summon... or a Fusion!" The spell expanded and Yugi looked towards me. "Edwin... will you lend me your strength?"

I grinned and gave him a thumbs up. "Let's do this. We tribute Reflection of Endymion!"

"And the Dark Magician Girl!"

Together we called out, "to summon The Dark Magicians!"

The two female spellcasters flew at each other, glowing bright white, before spinning around before landing. While, as the glow receded, revealing their united front. The Dark Magician Girl's outfit had changed, forming into a longer set of robes that mimicked the Dark Magician's but in her colors while the Reflection of Endymion's robes had gone from white to black. The Dark Magician Girl also gained a mask like the Reflection of Endymion while my monster's robes got pink armor detailing. Behind them the Golden Moon and the Dark Magic Circle merged into a single unified emblem that blazed with light.

"I can't attack this turn so I'll set one card and end my turn," Yugi declared.

"You should have done more than waste your resources!" Cabal declared. "Because now this is your end! The curtain falls, the doves flutter away, and I tip my cap as you are sawed in half! I activate Chaos Collusion! This card allows me to summon one Chaos Ritual Monsters from my graveyard but its effect is negated." Her original Magician of Black Chaos MAX appeared on the field. "now I will simply ram one into your Dark Magicians, destroying them and leaving you open to attack. And with Dark Magic Expanded I'll be able to end the duel now! Magician of Black Chaos MAX! With Dark Magic Expanded attack Edwin Chaos directly, forcing Yugi to doom his Dark Magicians!"

"Activate Negate Attack!" Yugi said and I breathed a sigh of relief. "You won't get to attack this turn, Cabal. Your turn is now over."

"And so is this duel," I said, holding up the card I'd drawn my last turn. "I needed everyone to play a few more spells to get me just the right amount of spell counters to activate this: The Mega Ton Magical Cannon!" On top of one of the walls of the Citadel a large jar-like cannon appeared. "By pouring 10 spell counters from the field into it I can open fire on your entire field, destroying all your monsters, spells, and traps. And since it doesn't target your Magician of Black Chaos MAX's cloak won't protect him."

"No...no this isn't possible!" Cabal cried out.

"Oh, it very much is," I said. "FIRE EVERYTHING!"

The Cannon let loose a barrage of magical cannon balls, shattering with ease every card on Cabal's side of the field. She rocked back and forth, the manacles forcing her to stay in place, though I could tell she was knocked silly by my attack.

"And now... because Yugi used one of my monsters to create that fusion... it is also treated as one of mine. The Dark Magicians! Attack With Dark Spell Power Burning!" Reflection of Endymion and the Dark Magician Girl raised their staffs, crossing them and summoning a great burning X that crackled with magic. "Attack Cabal directly and end this duel!"

"NO!" Cabal screamed but it was too late, the blast hitting her and sending her LP to zero...

...and causing the saw blade to rev towards her.

"Cabal!" Yugi cried out as he grabbed his key to free himself.

I however raced forward, the power of the key thrumming through me as I tackled Cabal, the manacles breaking open the moment I was near them, and drove her away from the saw just as it sliced through the air she'd been occupying moments earlier. I stood up as Renard ran over, Yugi a second behind him as I brushed myself off.

"Well... that was interesting," I muttered.

"Indeed it was," "Cabal" said.

There was a flash and the Pharaoh took control. "Marik."

"I think it's time we talked."

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