Chapter 9: - Seeking the End
Half an hour before...
Draco shuffled in place, feeling almost naked in the Muggle clothes that Golden had insisted he wear.
Golden looked up from her perusal of hats, none of which had a point, nor a peak, and many seemed to be made of dried grass or something.
"Draco." She hesitated, which made the teenage boy look up. Her eyes were not on him, but some distant point only she could see. Suddenly she turned to him. "Something is about to go very bad indeed."
Draco snorted. "So the great Seer can't see everything then? You sound like that fake Twit-yawn."
She tilted her head, and narrowed her eyes at him, but let the insult slide.
"What were Bakura's orders?"
Draco paled and clammed up.
"Come. We must fetch Ryou."
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"You've killed all of them," Bakura commented as he set two cards face down and summoned his Disgraced Mage in attack mode, sounding for the world like he was commenting on the weather, "Everyone who followed you, you realise that?"
"What?" Yugi croaked, glancing at Joey before turning his attention back to the duel, trying not to let Bakura's words get to him, even as concern trickled through his mind.
"You're outside the rules and have no guaranteed path back to your bodies. Even if the Pharaoh wins, which he won't, if you lot are still here when the game ends, you'll be lost to the Shadows. Unable to return to the real world." Bakura told him, "Not that you'll be around that long."
"I'm not afraid of you Bakura." Yugi's confidence was shaken though, at the thought that his friends had followed him to their deaths even if he managed to help Yami, and it showed.
"Really? Then why are you on the defensive already?" Bakura asked. "Disgraced Mage!"
The Zombie monster attempted to blast Yugi's face down card, only for the attack to bounce off and Bakura's life points to drop by 1000 as a cute looking pink blob appeared on the field, wobbling like it was made out of jelly and smiling happily.
"Marshmallon." Yugi explained, amused at Joey's whoop. It wasn't the first time he'd pulled that stunt to stop an overconfident opponent in their tracks and Joey always found it highly amusing - as long as he wasn't on the other end of it.
If Yugi remembered rightly Joey had a similar reaction to Magical Hat.
"Fine." Bakura scowled, "Your move."
Yugi drew, "First off I activate Marshmallon Glasses." A pair of glasses attached themselves to Bakura's Disgraced Mage. "Until this card is removed from the field, you have to attack my Marshmallon, which means that I can summon this safely," Yugi summoned his second creature, one Joey hadn't seen before, in a green tunic with a huge collar, white trousers and a ridiculously pointy yellow hat, "My Tuned Magician, which has more than enough attack points to take down your Disgraced Mage."
"I activate Zoma the Spirit and Call of the Earthbound!"
Yugi's Spellcaster attempted to blast Bakura's zombie only to stop mid attack and blast the skeletal form of Zoma instead, which reformed on the field as a spirit and lashed out at Yugi.
The heir was knocked onto his back by the force of the blow, losing 1800 points in one fell swoop, landing a little too close to the edge for Joey's liking. The heir got to his feet slowly, wincing slightly as he did so and retook his place on the platform.
"I guess that ends my turn." Joey had to fight to hold back a wince at how horse Yugi's voice was and the concern at the tiredness that was becoming rapidly evident.
"Then I'll draw..."
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"When I get my hands on the person who cast this spell, I'm going to..." Hermione trailed off when she saw the fear on Sera's face, anger turning into guilt as the woman darted between stacks, pulling down scroll after scroll and handing them to the small group of servants, Priests in training and guards who could read.
When she'd first come up with the spell excuse, it had been because she'd needed something that would sound semi-plausible and would make the woman who looked like her want to help her search. She hadn't meant to throw Sera into a complete panic.
But that had been exactly what she had done with her lie. The thought of the Pharaoh, who, from everything Hermione had heard from the people of the palace who had piled in to help, was a brave and noble ruler, being doomed to wander for eternity as a restless spirit either here on Earth or through Duat had thrown Sera for a loop.
Hermione didn't have the heart to tell her the truth though, that this was all some sort of game.
Nor could she tell Sera that the Prince Yugi that she supposedly served was in fact the reincarnation of the Pharaoh, the light half of the soul of the King who had given up everything, more than everything in fact, to keep his people safe and doomed himself to five thousand years of loneliness and pain in the dark.
In fact she didn't know what to say. Desperation was beginning to set in for her too. She knew time flowed differently in the Shadow Realm but it felt like days since she'd last seen Yugi, even though, even by the game's clock, it had only been maybe eighteen hours at worst.
She knew where Yugi and Joey had gone, but she didn't know if they were alright. After eighteen hours it was obvious that something had gone seriously wrong in Yami's tomb but...
"Priestess Hermione, Lady Sera," One of the men helping them stood up, stretching as he did so, "If I might be excu..."
He didn't get to complete his sentence as the huge door exploded inwards, flying across the room and crashing into a bookcase. Before anyone could react, a man in tattered robes and a strange mask had darted into the room and seized Sera, twisting one hand behind her back and holding his long, sharp claws to her throat.
Everyone in the room froze.
"Where is she?"
"I... I don't know who you're talking about." Sera stammered as Hermione slowly drew a card, preparing to defend the woman, only for the creature to stagger and release Sera as something hit him from behind.
Hermione pulled the woman behind her and called Kari's Dark Magician Girl to her aid as the creature wheeled around and took a swipe at the guard that had tackled him.
"Joey!" Hermione yelped as the blonde went flying into one of the many shelving units, which collapsed on top of him.
"That's not your friend." Sera informed Hermione, less concerned for the Captain of the Palace Guard and more concerned about the creature that was turning towards the two girls as everyone who couldn't summon their Ka beasts fled the room. "That's Nen. He's in charge of security."
"I'll hold him here," Hermione murmured, wondering if Joey was Nen's reincarnation and if all of Yugi's friends had had an analogue in Egypt, "Get out of here. Take Seth's friend with you."
Sera hesitated momentarily, shocked by the fact that the Priestess could summon not only her Ka beast, but Mana's too. The Ka beasts on those 'cards' seemed strange somehow, different...
"Sera!" Hermione snapped slightly, gesturing towards the creature, using a trick taught to her by Kari to snap someone out of their train of thoughts. The older brunette had often used it to interrupt the telepathic conversations between Yugi and Yami, "I'll fight him! Take Kisara and run."
Sera darted towards her rooms, ducking under the creature's outstretched arm as Hermione's Dark Magician Girl attacked the creature, backed up by the Millennium Witch that had been guarding Sera's room.
"Leave her alone." Hermione said, getting in the way, her two Duel Monsters guarding her, the Millennium Witch's effect boosting Mana's attack points. The Dark Magician Girl hovered protectively in front of Hermione as the creature considered her.
"Who are you?" The creature demanded, his voice defiantly human, though that didn't mean much, "How do you control the Shadows?"
"I..." Hermione paused as she realised that both Mana and the Millennium Witch were acting on their own, not only responding to her orders. A memory crossed her mind, of Luna telling her something...
"Aylth?" She asked the Millennium Witch, who nodded, giving her a small smile. "Guess Harry's not the only one who's spent too much time around the Millennium Items." She muttered, both amused and frustrated.
"Who. Are. You?"
Hermione's gaze snapped up to the creature as she took in the details. She hadn't seen anything like it before, a tall, badly proportioned humanoid in purple robes, long red hair and a strange white mask with a black mark over one eye. That wasn't what caught her attention though.
What did that was that the creature was wearing the same gold armlet that the High Priests had been wearing. If she was right, this meant one very important thing. The creature was a player character.
"I am Priestess Hermione, loyal servant to Prince Yugi. I am part of the Royal Court where I am from." She told him, sticking to her established story. She was already involved in the plot after all, "Who, or what, are you?"
The creature snorted, looking her over, "I was unaware we had royal guests. Step aside girl. You are no match for my power."
"My Prince would never forgive me if I stepped aside and let a friend get hurt." Hermione shook her head as Aylth boosted her own attack points. Hermione got it. The longer she kept him talking, the stronger her monsters would be when it came to the fight, "Who are you? And what do you want?"
He didn't bother answering. Instead he took a swipe at her protectors. Aylth was alright, but Mana let out a pained cry and exploded, causing Hermione to let out a pained moan and shudder as she lost 1750 life points, half of Mana's attack points.
Aylth snarled angrily and attacked the creature sending it flying across the room and crashing into the tables.
Sera and Kisara slipped out the door as the creature picked himself up, Hermione and her partner monster moving to intercept him as he tried to dart after them.
"I don't think so." Alyth told him, tapping her hand with her staff before glancing over her shoulder at Hermione, "Let's take him down, partner."
Hermione nodded, pointing her wand at the creature. "You never did tell me your name."
"I am the Shadow Magus Akhenaden, former High Priest to the Pharaoh of this land." The creature crowed, "Now I serve a greater power. Stand aside or die."
Hermione scowled. This creature in front of her, this 'Shadow Magus', was a traitor who had betrayed Yami.
"I won't let you hurt Kisara." Hermione stated, having already worked out that it was the dragon Akhenaden was after, not her or Sera. She set a shield spell at the door, hoping to use it to trap Akhenaden in the room with her.
She couldn't let him get to Sera and Kisara. Especially since she'd read all the scrolls and understood how Kisara the dragon had come to be. Kisara the girl would have to die for the Kisara she knew in the modern age to be born.
As she obviously had the first time around.
But everything was different now. Just the addition of their NPC characters to the story changed the flow and direction and if she could protect Kisara and Sera, she would. It was the right thing to do.
It was what Yugi would have done.
"Then I'm afraid," Akhenaden created a huge ball of black energy that seemed to absorb the light around it and grow bigger, "You're going to have to die."
With that he launched the attack. Hermione was faster, drawing a card and holding it up, "Draining Shield!"
Her life points shot up to 7250 when the attack hit the shield and Aylth boosted own her attack points again before she attacked. The Millennium Witch's magic striking the Shadow Magus who was flung across the room again but didn't seem to be destroyed.
Aylth didn't get a chance to press her advantage as Shadows rose around Hermione, only to take the shape of Akhenaden, who had vanished from the crater of tables, only to reappear at Hermione's side with his claws pressed against the teen's throat.
Aylth froze.
"So the trick doesn't only work on God monsters." Akhenaden commented as Hermione gulped, feeling something tickling down her throat, "All monsters who care about their summoner will stop if their caller's in trouble."
Fear coursed through Hermione. She hadn't even been aware that she could be harmed by player characters, unless this was a direct result of inserting herself into the plot...
Or perhaps the GM was adjusting the rules to take in the new players, but she wasn't aware that could be done once the game was in motion.
A thought tricked through Hermione's mind. There was a human form underneath that billowing robe...
She grabbed Akhenaden's wrist with both hands and slammed her boot onto his foot.
Akhenaden let out a pained cry, the shock allowing Hermione to pull herself free. Aylth yanked her partner behind her and launched an attack before the Shadow Magus could recover, blasting the creature.
Or attempted to. Akhenaden vanished in a swirl of Shadows. Hermione moved the moment the shadows started to swirl by her feet, not stupid enough to let herself be grabbed a second time.
"Negate Attack!" Hermione bellowed as Akhenaden launched an attack on Aylth. The Shadow Magus bounced back off of an invisible wall, letting out a frustrated growl as he cast his own shield spell to protect himself from Aylth's counter attack which bounced across the room and hit another shelving unit which exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere.
The wood and stone scraps distracted the pair, allowing Akhenaden to strike. Hermione drew a card just as his attack hit. The witch went flying into her shield spell and Aylth disintegrated.
Hermione whispered something as her life points shot down, trying to get up as she lost 5000 from his attack on her and 2950 from Aylth's destruction, her Duel Disk beeping as the damage was taken from her total.
The moment the counter hit zero and the beeping stopped, Hermione collapsed.
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Voldemort was aware of the shifting tides of magic, it was impossible for him not to be. He knew the power that had pervaded his base as he spoke with his senior Death Eaters, basic control over it had been granted to him by the Pharaoh when 'Yami' had ripped the soul fragment that had been inside Potter (not that he'd been aware he'd had a soul fragment inside Potter until that point) out of the boy and sent it to the Shadow Realm.
But now the Shadows were uncontrollable, wild, free, hungry...
Casting a basic incendio spell wandlessly gave him a chance to draw his wand, but gave him time for little else before the creatures, long limbed bipedal creatures who were pure black in colour with spindly claws and glowing red eyes who seemed to be multiplying in the darkness, launched an attack on himself and the Death Eaters around him.
Nagini let out a startled hiss and Voldemort wheeled around to find that one of the creatures had its hand in her head.
"Avada Kedava!"
The spell struck the creature, but it wasn't quick enough. Before the spell hit, it had withdrawn its clawed hand, revealing a barely visible sphere of light, and while the spell disintegrated that creature, the three that attacked afterwards murdered the snake and devoured the sphere.
Voldemort snarled as he felt the bond snap, then almost in succession three more links vanished as the soul fragments on the other end of them were devoured by the darkness in an instinctive urge to finish the meal that had been offered to the Shadows by the Pharaoh whose need to seek his past had freed them.
The Shadows were feasting and the horocruxes made easy meals as the shadow creatures slipped through defences and tore the pieces away.
The objects themselves were almost impossible to destroy, but the fragments inside them were fragile and, it appeared, not shielded from these creatures.
And with the destruction of four more of his horocruxes, his ties to life were being ripped away. What was worse was that his soul was too unstable to create any more, there just wasn't enough of it left.
Now he had no choice but to put all his faith in his one remaining Horocrux. The pendant around his neck, which he'd transformed into a soul container when the Pharaoh had sent the soul fragment in Potter to the Shadow Realm, was never out of his sight.
Even as he defended his own life, watching lesser Wizards fall by the wayside as weaker spells slid off of the creatures like water, his mind was already on the cause of all this.
There were only a few people who could command the Shadows, and Voldemort or his Death Eaters had made an adversary of almost all of them, but he was certain who was to blame for this.
Potter wasn't the most powerful of the known Shadow wielders but he had the ear of the two most powerful Item holders and access to their power. One didn't have to be the one in power to have control over the throne after all.
He didn't think they had the power to do this, but if Potter's pet Kings could then he was certain that they had.
And all three of them were going to pay...
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Draco was standing outside the hotel room, listening, while Golden proceeded to 'fetch' Ryou and trying to ignore the Shadows swirling around outside.
Inside the room the events proceeded like this.
Robyn entered the room and filled a cup with water.
"Ryou." She spoke calmly and firmly, ducking the pillow the white haired man threw as she entered the bedchamber before tipping the contents of the cup over the man in question.
Ryou instantly came awake ready for battle. The cup went flying, clattering against the wall, but not before Ryou was pulled out of the bed, tossed to the floor and ruthlessly dragged up by his hair.
"Ow! Get off of me!" There was a little too much of his other self in Ryou's tone, which faded quickly when Robyn tugged harder on his hair.
"I have no time for temper tantrums. You are to shower, get dressed and be ready to leave in ten minutes."
"What the...!" Ryou demanded, having been more than willing to sleep the whole, horrible day away. He knew what his other was doing. There was no way he couldn't have done and he didn't want to be awake when the end came.
"I am leaving the country. You are coming with me. Understand?" Robyn snapped at him, causing him to consider her carefully, "Do. You. Understand?" She repeated.
"Yes ma'am." Ryou finally nodded, figuring that if anyone could help him if Bakura fell and he went crazy, it would be someone who knew what insanity looked like and knew how to, if not cope, then deal with it.
She dropped him, not that he had far to fall and he dashed into the bathroom, confused as to why she was coming to help them now and why they needed to leave the country.
Robyn slammed open the door and pulled Draco inside, "Get your things."
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Down in the tomb Yugi was in trouble.
Although he still had plenty of lifepoints, in fact he'd had them boosted up to 6150, he couldn't get to Bakura's. The Tomb Robber had shut Yugi down completely, destroying his own graveyard to implement a strategy that forced Yugi to discard almost half his deck each turn.
In just one more turn, Yugi was going to lose the duel.
Yugi swallowed hard as he considered the field, wincing at both the pain in his neck and the state of play. He had a card that could save him in his deck, at least he hoped it was still in his deck, with only six cards left, all of which would be discarded in his end phase, it was much more likely that the Monster Reborn he needed was in his Graveyard...
Yugi's hand shook as it hovered over his deck, fear coursing through him. He didn't think he could do this, not now. Yami had gotten out of tougher spots, but he wasn't his dark side and the cards had already been in place in that duel...
Yugi hated to admit it, but it was all over for him. Bakura couldn't get to his life points, but Yugi couldn't get to Bakura's either and on his next turn he wouldn't even get to his standby phase. He'd lose automatically when he was unable to draw...
"If you don't move soon, little Yugi, you'll lose." Bakura taunted him, enjoying Yugi's panic, having never managed to throw the Pharaoh pair this badly off their game before, "Hurry up."
Joey scowled at the Tomb Robber, easily able to see how scared Yugi was. It wasn't the first time that the world had rested on Yugi's shoulders, but it was the first time that everything had rested on just one turn. Joey was fully aware that, if Yugi couldn't beat Bakura, he didn't stand much of a chance.
But unlike like Yugi, Joey still had faith. Yugi didn't lose, not to anyone but Yami. If Yugi was waiting for a specific card, he would draw it. That was how his and Yami's luck worked.
"Yugi." The heir turned around to look at him, causing Joey to have "Listen to me and listen hard."
Yugi, still shaking, nodded.
"Remember what you taught me? That a true Duelist never surrenders? You can still win this."
Yugi looked down at his Duel Disk.
"You've fought tougher opponents then this freak." Joey continued, offering the support Yugi so badly needed, "Now hurry up and beat him. Yami needs us."
The heir nodded, taking a deep, pained, breath as he turned back to the duel, settling himself down.
And he drew.
Joey knew that he'd drawn something good by the way that Yugi straightened and his stance changed, that and it was like the area surrounding him got slightly brighter.
"Alright Bakura this is over." Yugi said, his tone confident, "I play Monster Reborn to bring back my Marshmallon, then tribute it with my Tuned Magician to syncro summon my Arcanite Magician!"
The white and blue robed, blue skinned spellcaster appeared on the field and pointed his staff at the enemy monsters.
"And I equip him with my two Mage Powers." Yugi continued.
Yugi already had four spell and trap cards on the field, one of which was a second Mage Power, so Arcanite Magician's attack climbed by 5000.
"And now I activate his special ability." Yugi continued, "Removing the two spell counters he gained when I summoned him," Arcanite Magician's attack points dropped from 7400 to 5400, "To destroy your Narrow Corridor and All Killing Death Curse cards."
"What?" Bakura yelped as his two cards disappeared, taking his strategy with them.
"And I active Stop Defence." Arcanite Magician's attack dropped by another 1000 as Yugi's Stop Defence activated and switched Bakura's Necrosoldier, who had no attack or defence points, to attack mode.
Joey whooped as he worked out Bakura's life points were too low to survive an attack from Yugi's syncro monster.
"Arcanite Magician! Attack his Necrosoldier!"
"Nooooooo!" Bakura bellowed as Yugi's spellcaster blew his Necrosoldier into next week, dealing 4400 points of damage directly to Bakura's life points.
When the dust from the attack faded, Bakura was gone.
Yugi's disc deactivated of its own accord as the heir let out a soft sigh. Joey moved to his side as his hand came up to his throat, which was badly bruised, "Because Bakura lost, he's banished." Yugi whispered, unable to speak much louder now the adrenaline had worn off, sounding almost sad.
Joey frowned slightly, but didn't say anything. Yugi wouldn't be Yugi if he didn't feel sorry for everyone who got hurt, even his enemies.
"Come on, Yuge." Joey urged his friend across the bridge of tablets, "We have to get moving."
Yugi nodded, still seeming a little stunned about his victory, and followed him into the next room. The room seemed like a highly decorated dead end, but, as Yugi read the tablet embedded in the wall he slowly paled and backed away, shaking his head.
"Yuge? I don't read Egyptian." Joey poked his friend.
"S...sorry. The final task... it's for me." Yugi whispered, beginning to panic again.
"What is it?" Joey demanded, hoping that it wouldn't be too difficult.
"He who completed the Millennium Puzzle must give up his wish."
Joey who had been examining the room around them, nearly missed what Yugi said and when it finally registered in his head what his friend had just come out with, he rolled his eyes.
"Remember what I told you at Christmas?" The blonde asked as he pushed Yugi onto one end of the scale like structure on the floor and headed for the other end himself, confidence waning slightly when the rest of the floor fell away and the scale part started wobbling up and down as a door opened up in the wall.
Yugi gazed at him cluelessly for a moment then it twigged.
"You wasted your wish, Yuge."
He turned to look at the door, which had opened up behind him, then turned back to Joey. "I'm not leaving without you."
"Just jump." Joey growled at him, "I'll be fine."
"But..." Yugi looked down and blanched slightly when he realised that he couldn't see the floor to the pit.
"Go. I'll be with you in a minute. I promise."
"Joey..."
"If you don't jump, I'm going to burn your deck when we get out of here."
"You wouldn't..."
"Do you really want to take that risk?" Joey asked, putting on a dramatic look. "Go. Now. Before it's too late to help Yami."
It took Yugi a real effort but he turned and jumped, making it through the door.
Almost immediately the scales started falling. Joey darted across and jumped to the door as Yugi's side tilted up, his back foot missing the stone ledge only for Yugi to pull him into the room before he could fall, the pair collapsing on the floor long enough to hear the scales fall.
"Heh." Joey snorted, "Thanks Yuge."
"You're welcome Joey." Yugi whispered back, relief obvious, getting to his feet first and offering Joey a hand up. The blonde was distracted, however, by something huge and gold behind Yugi.
"Yuge... I think we found it..." He gestured and Yugi turned around, freezing when he read the letters in the giant golden cartouche. "Bird, rock, lamb chop, bird, bird in a bigger bird."
Yugi didn't chuckle because he could read the cartouche, he now knew Yami's name, his name... the name that they had shared so many Millennia ago...
"Our name..." Yugi breathed, "It's..."
Something started rumbling and sand trickled down from above.
"We've got to go." Joey interrupted, wanting to know, but realising that the tomb was collapsing. Then he swore as he realised the way back had collapsed.
"It's alright." Yugi promised, somehow knowing about a secret passageway out, not that he'd be able to explain how he knew later, and pushing him towards the exit. "Come on..."
The pair started running down the hidden passageway as the tomb started collapsing around them.
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Yami blinked and looked away from events on the board and the bright light radiating from the Puzzle as Bakura coughed heavily, suddenly looking ill.
'Bakura looks ill... what happened?' Realisation hit Yami, 'Yugi! It has to be!'
"Your host was stronger then I realised." Bakura sounded almost impressed as he explained to the Pharaoh, already internally crowing over what he was planning to do, "He found your name."
Yami's eyes widened as he realised how close he was to both defeating Bakura and to finally finding out something that he'd wanted to know for close to a decade...
"Of course if I let him talk to you, I'll be in trouble. Your name is, after all, the key to winning this game." Bakura commented, completely unconcerned, "Five thousand years ago you sealed yourself into the Millennium Puzzle, shattering your soul and memories, and your True Name, the key to the seal that bound not only yourself but the great evil you sealed with you, was lost."
Bakura smirked at Yami, "I planned on defeating your host in your tomb, after all it was his too. It would have saved on a burial, but he surprised me, turning it around at the very last moment. So now I'm going to have to waste this."
Yami froze as Bakura reached for the third hourglass, the one that had yet to drain.
"Natural Catastrophe."
The moment the words left Bakura's lips the sand started pouring out of the diorama into the huge hourglasses that made up the legs of the table, starting with the corners, pulling the diorama apart.
The Valley of the Kings was sucked down in a vortex.
"Yugi!" Yami practically screamed, getting to his feet, tears building up, as the valley disappeared completely.
"By now he's gone." Bakura commented as if he was commenting on the weather, "Buried alive. Nasty way to go." Yami sat down heavily, staring blankly at the spot where the Valley of the Kings had been just moments ago, "Now not only have you lost the other half of your soul, but any chance you ever had at finding your name."
It didn't seem to register with the Pharaoh, who rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and gave Bakura the most impressive death glare ever, not that it really mattered to the Tomb Robber who already had Yami's true name and who was amused by the fact that tears were building up in the Pharaoh's eyes all over again.
"Now nothing will stop Zorc! This game isn't over until his power destroys the entire world!" The Tomb Robber continued to crow, "Now, back to the game, the catastrophic earthquake worsens!"
Suddenly Yami was launched back into his role as the Pharaoh.
"Yami?" Seto demanded, noticing the change in the Pharaoh's demeanour almost instantly as they caught up with Zorc and Yami dismounted, grief and pain obvious in his body language.
"Yugi's..." Yami's voice caught in his throat.
"You can't know that." Seto told him, understanding almost instantly.
"I'm here, but I'm overseeing the game too." Yami told him as he tried to concentrate, finding it difficult in the face of this news, "The Valley of the Kings is gone. Yugi was there."
Seto cursed as Yami called Osiris, Ra and Obelisk to his side.
Both Yugi and the Mutt were dead... it wasn't something the CEO wanted to think about. When they'd split up Seto had expected to see the pair again. They seemed too lucky and too skilled to die... He supposed that even a charmed life had an expiration date.
"Stay back." Yami ordered Seto, "I'm not losing anyone else today." The three God monsters dove into battle but they weren't fighting in any way that Seto recognised. It wasn't Yami's typically tactically minded strategies, but a desperate attempt to destroy a foe that there was no way he could win against.
Then it hit Seto.
Yami wanted to win, but he didn't care if he survived. With Yugi dead, Yami had no interest in living...
Osiris, the God Seto more typically knew as Slifer the Sky Dragon, landed a blow on Zorc's back only to bellow in pain when the huge demon's claws raked his wings. Ra counter attacked, turning into Egyptian God Phoenix and striking at Zorc, setting the creature on fire, as it passed, and Obelisk the Tormentor landed a punch.
The combination of the three blows drove Zorc backwards. The Shadow Demon bellowed angrily at the three God monsters.
"Zorc Catastrophe!"
The cry seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time and Yami ordered his god monsters to retreat.
They weren't fast enough and Seto didn't have enough time to react before the huge black ball of energy struck the three God beasts at the same time, sending all three flying.
Seto, who had, along with Yami, been blasted off of his feet when the ball had exploded on contact with the Gods monsters, pushed himself to his hands and knees in time to see all three of the God beasts, who were unmoving in the sand where they'd landed, turn to stone.
The CEO's eyes widened and he wheeled around to look at Yami, who was half buried in the sand and unnaturally still. The Dark Magician unwillingly vanished from the field as the CEO darted to Yami's side and pulled him free of the sand only to realise that the Pharaoh's chest wasn't rising or falling.
He quickly checked the Pharaoh over, only to find Yami's Ba meter completely empty, no breath passing the Pharaoh's lips and only an incredibly weak pulse beating under the CEO's fingers when he tried to check it.
He didn't get a chance to try to resuscitate the King, as Zorc tried to finish what he started. Seto drew a hand, summoning his Different Dimension Dragon who took the hit and exploded, causing the CEO to tremble in exhaustion as his points dropped below the 1000 mark.
The world around them was slowly vanishing, the sand sliding away and the light fading more and more as Seto summoned his Blue Eyes White Dragons to protect them, not believing that they would do anything if Zorc could defeat all three God monsters at once, but needing to do something, unwilling to just quietly accept defeat.
Not that it mattered. He turned back to Yami, trusting his dragons to do their best, only to find the weak pulse that had been there just moments ago, was gone and the Pharaoh was already beginning to fade away.
Yami was dead.
Zorc had won.
The game was over.