Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Dawn of Destiny ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

Priestess: I'm having a vote to see it if should Aishisu/Mahaado or Mana/Mahaado, because I've seen hints of both. What do you think?

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Kaiba looked out of the window, swirling the amber liquid of his double scotch in his wine glass. He could see his reflection, his slender body sitting upon the black armchair, his chestnut hair half obscuring dark sapphire eyes that stared accusingly back at him.

Fuck! Why the hell can't I stop thinking about Yugi?

He had to admit, when he first met the kid he had been pretty annoying-so sweet it had been unnatural. But so clever, too! And the way he could act so kind when what he should be was angry-it had scared him. His very touch had scared him enough to make him strike him with his briefcase.

And that sharper presence within him, the `Pharaoh.' Though he would never tell anyone, it seemed pretty clear to him that there were two Yugis-and, perhaps, it was easier to believe that. The sweet, innocent boy he knew would have never killed anyone or driven them insane.

But, unfortunately, this completely shattered everything he had thought he knew. And that wasn't the only thing that shattered.

Kaiba looked down at the crushed glass in his hand and on the ground. He frowned, confused. They seemed to flash blue-white. He looked at his hand. There were only a few cuts, and not even the tiniest of the fragments had gotten embedded in his palm.

There was no pain.

Almost casually, he shook out his hand. No pain. In spite of the nearly nonexistent light, the fragments were glittering.

Feeling unusually tentative, he bent over and picked up a fragment. It didn't sting. It didn't burn. It felt like a regular shard of glass.

It was still sparkling. He shut the windows, bathing the room in darkness. A glint of lightning danced in each sliver, now impossible to ignore.

It was lightning. Lightning had sprung out of his hand.

And he was holding it.

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Adrenaline pumped through Atemu's body, making his ears roar. The power of a hundred generations of Pharaohs pulsed through his blood, making it impossible to stand still.

It had been a massive risk, he knew, calling on the power of his ancestors-but it had been the only way he could summon all three Egyptian gods at once.

Touzoku Ou had surprised even him with his resilience, but Atemu was almost certain that he would finally gain a permanent win this time-that is, that Touzoku Ou would die.

He and his great kaa Diabaundo were trying to fight against three gods and six millennium items. His other monsters-how he could have the power to summon eight creatures besides Diabaundo was beyond any of their comprehension-were trying to fight the Priests' monsters, the Dark Magician Mahaado, the Dark Magician Girl belonging to his apprentice Mana, and the white-blue dragon which had come (unbeknownst to anyone but Seth) from the unnaturally pale girl sleeping in a small carriage. Behind him lay the corpses that had been an army, who Touzoku Ou had somehow destroyed with a wave of his hand-though with his magic or the magic of the Ring Atemu was uncertain.

He was somehow still standing, though his breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. For maybe the thirtieth time, the Priests blasted at him with their Millennium Items. For maybe the thirtieth time, he sent out a wave of power which destroyed theirs.

I should have had this battle in Kuru Eruna, he thought fiercely, head aching as he dictated the actions of nine monsters at once. I'm so much stronger there…

The pale, shining dragon blasted a stream of blue-white lightning at one of his monsters. It barely dodged, and from a sudden sting in Touzoku Ou's arm he knew that it had blasted its wing. Luckily, the creature was not its soul monster, so the sting didn't linger.

There were two creatures fighting the dragon, since the creature he had summoned against Priestess Aishisu had destroyed Mystical Elf easily.

This is insane! There are too many of them!

Then, with a vicious determination, he thought, I can't give up! I have to avenge my family, or they'll never rest in peace! I won't let them beat me…I can't…

He couldn't suppress a scream as Osiris (Slypher) managed to take a huge bite out of Diabaundo's arm. Diabaundo was his soul monster, so it felt as if his own arm had been bit into.

He was too focused on surviving the fight and ignoring the anguish to notice the smirks at his scream-it was the first time he had shown the slightest sign of pain, and it was obviously creeping them out that he could fight with such inhuman strength when he should have been long dead.

Don't think you've won just yet! He thought angrily, and Diabaundo's snakes suddenly lashed out and destroyed one of the Priests. The monster he had summoned vanished, and the monster fighting it was able to focus its attention on the dragon.

It's going to lose! Seth thought, panicking. Kisara…she's going to die! He commanded the Blue-Eyes White Dragon back into the body of the sleeping girl.

"Karimu!" shouted Mahaado. A fierce rage at the death of his best friend coursed through his veins, and he blasted at the monster he was fighting.

The training in death, mixed with his training in life and the strength of his fury, did the trick. The monster uttered a shriek and died.

"Yea Mahaado!" yelled Mana. But she was still a child, and the moment of distraction gave Touzoku Ou's creature an opening to destroy the Dark Magician Girl. Mana gasped and went limp.

The horrible wave fury at the loss of his best friend became an unbearable tsunami at the injury to his apprentice. He blasted directly at Touzoku Ou with all his might.

The Bandit King was busy trying to help his creatures fend off the other monsters, and didn't seem to notice. Just as the blast was about to hit, two of the four monsters who had been fighting the Blue-Eyes soared up and took the blast.

In case you aren't following, let me help: Karimu is dead, and his creature is, too. Mana is unconscious, and the Dark Magician Girl is gone. Aishisu summoned a new monster, and it's fighting one of Touzoku Ou's that was fighting the dragon. Diabaundo is trying to fight all three Egyptian Gods. Atemu and Touzoku Ou are dictating their creatures-Atemu has three to control and the power of a hundred Pharaohs behind him, Touzoku Ou has four to control and the power of himself alone-power that is much weakened from destroying an army, fighting six items, and losing four creatures. Seth's creature is fighting one of Touzoku Ou's, as is Akunadin's. Mahaado is trying to fight the creature that was fighting Karimu-something which, in his current state, is easier than it should have been.

I feel very sorry for Touzoku Ou right about now.

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It was turning out to be a horribly hot day for Domino. No one knew where the sudden heat wave had sprung up from, but it had, and the school's paltry air conditioning was no match.

Malik and Kaiba, being Egyptian (though Kaiba still gave no clue of believing this) didn't seem to notice the sweltering heat, but Yugi sure as hell did. Because of this, he insisted Yu-Gi-Oh take control.

And it seemed Ryou and Bakura had had similar ideas-that or Yu-Gi-Oh was just going crazy, because he kept seeing that man that was and at the same time was not Bakura. Combined with the stress of school and the lack of knowledge in most academics (except math and a little history) Yu-Gi-Oh was going half-mad.

"Dammit! You can't just break your fucking head off when the great Pharaoh is using you!" Yu-Gi-Oh screamed as the pencil lead broke for maybe the millionth time. "This piece-of-shit pencil is disobedient to its king! I have never seen such a lazy ass pencil!"

He began smashing it against the table, when suddenly he decided to notice that everybody was staring at him as if he had gone insane-which, with all the pressure lately, was sadly likely.

"Umm…I…" he turned brilliant red and wished he could melt in the seat and disappear. "The…the heat…it was…umm…getting to me?"

"Well, taking this into account, I won't suspend you for swearing," said the teacher, a voluptuous woman with dark curly hair and pale skin that was getting astoundingly flushed by the heat. "Here's a one-hour detention and a new pencil."

Yu-Gi-Oh's first thought was that Yugi would be furious. His next was that he deserved it for getting him here in the first place. The barely-suppressed snickers from just about everyone in class-even Anzu, Honda, and Jou-weren't helping. He glared at Kaiba, at the back of Yami no Bakura (stupid…illusions…) and at total strangers.

He also glared at Jou, because he wouldn't be able to see him anyway.

He decided not to glare at Honda or Anzu because they were his friends and because Anzu would probably scream his ear off for it.

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I hold my breath as this life starts to take its toll
I hide behind a smile as this perfect plan unfolds

I…even Touzoku Ou's mental voice felt weak and tired and half-dead. Akunadin was dead now, and Seth in his disbelief at the death of his mentor had summoned him enough strength to destroy the monster his was fighting.

While it was a relief to have one less monster to maintain, Seth's creature was now fighting the one he had summoned to fight Akunadin and it looked as if he might win. Meanwhile, Diabaundo was having enormous difficulty fighting three Egyptian Gods. One it could defeat, perhaps even two, but not three.

But oh, god, I feel I've been lied to
Lost all faith in the things I have achieved

Atemu commanded Ra and Osiris to attack Diabaundo, too overcome by the power of a hundred souls to be in awe of how Diabaundo was somehow taking them all on.

Then, making sure that all of the bandit king's monsters were too distracted to help, he ordered Obelisk to attack Touzoku Ou directly.

And I, I've woken now to find myself
In the shadows of a lie I've created

As Atemu had planned, Touzoku Ou was too distracted by making sure no more of his monsters died to think strait as Obelisk attacked.

His hands swung up as Obelisk's attack came at him, his palms slamming against the huge fist.

I'm longing to be lost in you
Away from this place I've made
Won't you take me away from me

Jaws dropped as his hands stopped Obelisk's fists.

Even Atemu, whose consciousness had almost disappeared among the consciousness and sheer power of the Pharaohs in his much smaller body, gaped as the white-haired man's tanned hands held fast against the gigantic blue fist of an Egyptian god.

Crawling through this word as disease flows through my veins
I look into myself but my own heart has been changed

Touzoku Ou's teeth clenched, knees buckling, pain blurring his eyes. Once, he had been blasted right in the eye by the Dark Magician and survived with only a little blood.

But Mahaado was no god, and Touzoku Ou hadn't been in such a weakened state.

I can't go on like this…I loathe all I've become…

"It was just a village, your majesty," he whispered, not even knowing he was speaking.

"A mere speck of your vast kingdom. Naturally I can understand your overlooking its demise. And after all, they were all thieves, weren't they? Just as evil and heartless as I. In fact, you did the world good to use the people as Kuru Eruna as sacrifices. Every last one of them. And yet…"

And I, I've woken now to find myself
In the shadows of a lie I've created

"And yet, somehow I seem to remember members of that town who were not so cruel. Do you think I perhaps dreamed them all up? That I really am some demon, summoned by the creation of the items, and watching the slaughter, I somehow dreamed up my family and friends?"

He didn't know why he was speaking or who he was speaking to, but his lips continued moving. "Oh, but surely the individual is not what matters in the eyes of the Pharaoh. Their deaths were for the good of the kingdom."

I'm longing to be lost in you
Away from this place I've made
Won't you take me away from me

More blasts came, but he waved them away without a hitch as he continued speaking, knowing that no living being would understand his words.

"Just kill off every damn being in this whole country, mutilate them beyond all hopes of an afterlife and toss their forgotten remains into some ditch somewhere, and you go ahead and sit there on your thrown so noble and pleased with yourself because it was for the good of the bloody kingdom!"

Lost in a dying world I reach for something more
I have grown so weary of this lie I live

Something burned in Atemu, and the Pharaohs vanished, leaving him just Atemu again. The Egyptian gods vanished, and Touzoku Ou straightened. His eyes seemed to burn into his as he continued speaking words no one understood.

"And yet, when matters become personal, the loss of a life-or afterlife, should I say-matters quite a lot to you. A bit of a hypocrite, are we?

And I, I've woken now to find myself
In the shadows of a lie I've created

"But tell me: Exactly what is it about your particular bloodline that makes it so deserving for an afterlife, while my people were given no consideration for the privilege at all? The destined royal bloodline? Hah! Don't act like you've never heard of usurpers. For your brave and pure spirits, hmm?"

His voice dropped to a venomous whisper. "You never know what's going on in people's minds. There is no mortal capable of passing judgment to another. This land's assumption that there exists such a man will lead to its destruction."

I'm longing to be lost in you

Four monsters (the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was back) and six Millennium Items (Shaadi used both the Key and Scales, Seth used both the Rod and Eye) attacked him, but a pure white light flowed from his palms to destroy the attack.

He didn't know where that power had come from, and he didn't care. He was too far gone to stop speaking, he had to finish.

I've woken now to find myself
Lost in shadows of my own

"Do you obviously believe that, if I die, this country isn't going to crumble to dust? Even if I'm not there, mark my words, this kingdom will fall into nothingness-its achievements forgotten, its tombs ravaged, its gods ridiculed. Damned to the lowest pit of hell for all time."

There were screams of distress from the crowd at this declaration, everything erupting into chaos. Touzoku Ou fell silent. The Priests shouted incantations and tried to attack, but nothing happened.

I'm longing to be lost in you

No, I take that back. Something was happening.

Something big.

Away from me

Energy swirled through the air, energy not belonging to any of them. Light could be seen, five different colors-silvery blue, gold, white, sky blue, and red-beginning to take human form. The white one was female, the others were male-though the sky blue and gold ones seemed to be males with long hair.

The light swirled away, and five bodies fell to the ground.

Woken…