November 25th: - 2117 words
“The latest group of arrivals just got here. They’re the last.” Lucian told the red Dark Magician as he came into Medan’s main study.
They had used this cave system as a hideaway before. Long before they’d taken the ruins they had been using this set of caverns to hide away important things. Now it was going to be the hiding place for the group that followed Medan.
“The last?” Medan scowled, confused because there should have been at least six other groups.
“The camp was attacked.” Lucian replied, staying well out of range, wary of Medan’s mood, “By a pair of Blue Eyes White Dragons and a Red Eyes.”
Medan let out a low growl, well aware of what that meant. Mahado would have informed the others in his group that Medan had captured Yugi again and the dragons, who were able to get miles ahead of the rest of the group, had obviously attacked the camp in an attempt to free the Pharaoh’s cast off vessel. “How many did we lose?”
“Without the Level Limit spell we didn’t stand a chance. We lost over half our forces and they won’t Resummon for another twelve hours.” Lucian looked around, “Where’s the…”
Medan merely indicated towards a corner of the room, where an unconscious Yugi was led, still bound just as tightly as he had been the last time Lucian had seen him. “He’s what the dragons were after.”
Lucian didn’t call Medan on his statement of the obvious but just nodded, “So what do we do?” The Vanity’s Fiend asked, as he watched Medan spread his notes out.
“I can’t do anything with him,” Medan scowled at Yugi, “Until he wakes up, and from what you told me I don’t have enough men to reclaim ground.”
“I’m afraid not, Master Medan.” Lucian’s hesitation made the red Dark Magician look at him sharply.
“What?”
Lucian didn’t answer.
“What Lucian?” Medan demanded, mad.
“I don’t know whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but Xu was defeated by one of the Blue Eyes White Dragons. He’s gone.” Lucian told him, passing Medan a deck box, “He did, however, go for this before the dragons invaded.”
Medan snorted, taking the deck, unsure himself whether it was a good or a bad thing. On the one hand, Xu had been actively trying to help him, but on the other the Swordstalker had been pushing for something Medan didn’t want, so there were ups and downs to the fact he wouldn’t be back for another twelve hours.
“What are you going to do with the Li… the vessel in the meantime?” Lucian asked, changing what he was about to say at Medan’s scowl and concerned about the safety of leaving a Duellist, even bound as he was, in close quarters with them for any length of time.
“Since I apparently can’t rely on anyone else, I’m going to be watching him from now on.” Medan growled.
“But…”
“Unless you want someone to escape with him again?” Medan snapped.
Lucian just shook his head, not mentioning the fact that he too had been Resummoning when Marie the Fallen One, along with a Dark Necrofear, had aided Yugi and Harry’s escape from the ruins.
“Organise those we have left, get everyone settled. Then I want to speak with the more powerful monsters. Even if I can complete the ritual before Mahado reaches us, and he will, since he appears to be able to hone in on where he,” Medan indicated Yugi, “Is unerringly, we will, at some point, need to prepare a defence against Mahado and his forces.”
“Does it have to be his Ka beast?” Lucian asked, trying to think of ways to speed up the ritual.
“No. It could be any Light Spellcaster of a high level.” Medan shook his head, “But we’re not just talking those who in the current ranking system are five or six star monsters. No, it has be level seven or higher.”
There weren’t many of those, Lucian frowned and those there were weren’t easy to find. Possibly the easiest one to get their hands on would be the Silent Magician Level 7 that played librarian for the Royal Magical Library and even then they’d have to march into the capital of the Light Lands and kidnap her. The others were paranoid about their safety or lived in really hard to reach places. “Oh.”
“Go and sort things out.” Medan waved dismissively, not really wanting to discuss the long term plans right now, not when there was so much to do that was important in the short term.
Lucian left to follow Medan’s earlier orders and the red Dark Magician turned back to his notes, considering everything carefully.
The attack on the camp, while frustrating, hadn’t been unexpected. If anything he’d been waiting on an invasion from those of the palace before now. What it was was a distraction that he couldn’t currently afford, especially since he could see his plans swirling down the drain.
His master plan was sound, do the ritual, including the sacrifices, destroy Mahado and defeat the Reaper of the Cards, that much was simple. The problem now arose that while he was a Dark Spellcaster, he had no light Spellcaster of an equivalent level and he wasn’t actually certain he could use the Ka beast of the Pharaoh’s vessel, no matter what he had said to the others.
The boy’s Ka beast was the right attribute, type and level, but was too strong to control and, quite obviously, disliked Medan. There was no way he could see that he could use the brat if he turned into his Ka beast and forcing the Pharaoh’s cast off vessel to summon the beast would do nothing but create a creature that could and would quite easily help him escape.
He didn’t even know why he was keeping him around. He’d only grabbed him in the first place because he’d been looking for a way to distract Mahado and the Pharaoh long enough to escape and he’d wanted to inflict some pain on the cause of all his problems.
Now it looked like that moment of indulgence was going to cost him and he wasn’t sure if the result would be worth keeping the brat around. The only thing preventing him from just getting the brat dumped in the ocean or blasting him into the next life was the thought that if the Pharaoh was going to cause severe bodily harm now, killing his vessel would, most likely, just cause the Pharaoh to go on a rampage.
There was the option of handing him over to his friends, but Medan didn’t want to do that.
The brat should pay for everything he’d caused, it was only right. The Pharaoh too was complicit in Julius’s death, especially considering that it had been him who had been in control during the duel with Arkana, and he should pay, just like his vessel...
Medan snorted as he looked over at the young man who had yet to wake up again. When Yugi had first passed out, he’s assumed that it was because of the injuries the heir had sustained.
Now, considering that, while cracked ribs would still be painful, the worst of the bruising from any previous blows would have healed up by now, he was half convinced he’d managed to break the vessel’s spirit, something that only one person had ever managed before and he had been a human Duellist on the edge of his own mental breakdown.
If he’d known that telling the brat that his friends were dead because of him would shut him down so effectively, he’d have sent Potter away and lied to the vessel a long time ago. It would have made holding him so much easier even if Medan wasn’t sure that Yugi could summon his Ka beast or use his magic in this state.
Of course if he had broken Yugi, then it did open up a whole new group of options. A broken vessel would be easier to control then one whose mind was actively fighting against the control and it wouldn’t even require the aid of a Memory Crush King, there were plenty of other spells available to do the job.
Spells he could use easily without the aid of a ridiculously complicated potion or ritual.
He didn’t want to work with Yugi, but Xu had been right about one thing. Pitting the vessel against the Pharaoh and Mahado would be incredibly effective and would hurt both of them and it wasn’t working with Yugi if he was controlling his actions. It wasn’t like he had to like or trust the brat in order to use him effectively.
Flipping quickly through the notes he found the ones he wanted but didn’t get a chance to cast the spell he wanted before his ‘study’ was invaded by a group of rather loud, rather obnoxious Fiends, who all looked rather miffed about something.
“Why is he here?” One of them said as he entered the room, one of the ones that was more powerful than him and picked, choosing which orders to follow and only sticking with Medan’s group because he and his followers had been involved in a fight with Lord of the Dark Kingdom, gesturing towards Yugi as he did so, “Mahado had no clue where we were until you brought him to our world! And the Pha...”
“He is here,” Medan interrupted, cutting off the Fiend, not wanting them to mention the Pharaoh’s status amongst the living in case it brought Yugi out of his current state, “Because I can still use him.”
“But the...”
“Can do nothing.” Medan interrupted again; well aware that the Fiends would just walk if things continued to go this badly, as both of them were using the other group and neither side was very loyal to the other, “Not now. Not where he is.”
The Fiend scowled but didn’t press the matter for the moment, though he would later, if there was a later considering who they’d pissed off. “What is it you want?”
“Mahado will be coming here.” Medan told them, as a couple of Spellcasters and a Warrior wandered in, “We have one advantage,” He gestured towards the vessel, “We can use. We also know this cave system much better than he does and know the best places for ambushes. I have several spells ready that will cause Mahado a great deal of difficultly and I have another one to prepare that will deal with our other problem, but we need to prepare for the attack now.”
“You’re an idiot.” The Fiend growled, “You brought this down on us with your completely irrational actions. You should never have brought humans here! Do you even have a plan or did you throw this together at the last minute?”
Medan scowled but didn’t deny that, in hindsight, bringing the humans here had been a bad move. He wasn’t sorry though, not considering what he had planned. “I have a plan that will solve our problem.” He told the Fiend, irritation at being questioned obvious, deciding in that moment exactly what he was going to do, “We don’t have to hold Mahado off long.”
“What do you mean, Spellcaster?” The leader of the group of fiends asked with a low, dangerous growl, angry that his concerns were being blown off so easily.
“We’re not as helpless as you might think.” Medan said, skimming quickly through the cards in the deck Xu had left behind and smirking as he realised what kind of deck it was that Xu had expected the vessel to use on their behalf, “Listen carefully.”
They had used this cave system as a hideaway before. Long before they’d taken the ruins they had been using this set of caverns to hide away important things. Now it was going to be the hiding place for the group that followed Medan.
“The last?” Medan scowled, confused because there should have been at least six other groups.
“The camp was attacked.” Lucian replied, staying well out of range, wary of Medan’s mood, “By a pair of Blue Eyes White Dragons and a Red Eyes.”
Medan let out a low growl, well aware of what that meant. Mahado would have informed the others in his group that Medan had captured Yugi again and the dragons, who were able to get miles ahead of the rest of the group, had obviously attacked the camp in an attempt to free the Pharaoh’s cast off vessel. “How many did we lose?”
“Without the Level Limit spell we didn’t stand a chance. We lost over half our forces and they won’t Resummon for another twelve hours.” Lucian looked around, “Where’s the…”
Medan merely indicated towards a corner of the room, where an unconscious Yugi was led, still bound just as tightly as he had been the last time Lucian had seen him. “He’s what the dragons were after.”
Lucian didn’t call Medan on his statement of the obvious but just nodded, “So what do we do?” The Vanity’s Fiend asked, as he watched Medan spread his notes out.
“I can’t do anything with him,” Medan scowled at Yugi, “Until he wakes up, and from what you told me I don’t have enough men to reclaim ground.”
“I’m afraid not, Master Medan.” Lucian’s hesitation made the red Dark Magician look at him sharply.
“What?”
Lucian didn’t answer.
“What Lucian?” Medan demanded, mad.
“I don’t know whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but Xu was defeated by one of the Blue Eyes White Dragons. He’s gone.” Lucian told him, passing Medan a deck box, “He did, however, go for this before the dragons invaded.”
Medan snorted, taking the deck, unsure himself whether it was a good or a bad thing. On the one hand, Xu had been actively trying to help him, but on the other the Swordstalker had been pushing for something Medan didn’t want, so there were ups and downs to the fact he wouldn’t be back for another twelve hours.
“What are you going to do with the Li… the vessel in the meantime?” Lucian asked, changing what he was about to say at Medan’s scowl and concerned about the safety of leaving a Duellist, even bound as he was, in close quarters with them for any length of time.
“Since I apparently can’t rely on anyone else, I’m going to be watching him from now on.” Medan growled.
“But…”
“Unless you want someone to escape with him again?” Medan snapped.
Lucian just shook his head, not mentioning the fact that he too had been Resummoning when Marie the Fallen One, along with a Dark Necrofear, had aided Yugi and Harry’s escape from the ruins.
“Organise those we have left, get everyone settled. Then I want to speak with the more powerful monsters. Even if I can complete the ritual before Mahado reaches us, and he will, since he appears to be able to hone in on where he,” Medan indicated Yugi, “Is unerringly, we will, at some point, need to prepare a defence against Mahado and his forces.”
“Does it have to be his Ka beast?” Lucian asked, trying to think of ways to speed up the ritual.
“No. It could be any Light Spellcaster of a high level.” Medan shook his head, “But we’re not just talking those who in the current ranking system are five or six star monsters. No, it has be level seven or higher.”
There weren’t many of those, Lucian frowned and those there were weren’t easy to find. Possibly the easiest one to get their hands on would be the Silent Magician Level 7 that played librarian for the Royal Magical Library and even then they’d have to march into the capital of the Light Lands and kidnap her. The others were paranoid about their safety or lived in really hard to reach places. “Oh.”
“Go and sort things out.” Medan waved dismissively, not really wanting to discuss the long term plans right now, not when there was so much to do that was important in the short term.
Lucian left to follow Medan’s earlier orders and the red Dark Magician turned back to his notes, considering everything carefully.
The attack on the camp, while frustrating, hadn’t been unexpected. If anything he’d been waiting on an invasion from those of the palace before now. What it was was a distraction that he couldn’t currently afford, especially since he could see his plans swirling down the drain.
His master plan was sound, do the ritual, including the sacrifices, destroy Mahado and defeat the Reaper of the Cards, that much was simple. The problem now arose that while he was a Dark Spellcaster, he had no light Spellcaster of an equivalent level and he wasn’t actually certain he could use the Ka beast of the Pharaoh’s vessel, no matter what he had said to the others.
The boy’s Ka beast was the right attribute, type and level, but was too strong to control and, quite obviously, disliked Medan. There was no way he could see that he could use the brat if he turned into his Ka beast and forcing the Pharaoh’s cast off vessel to summon the beast would do nothing but create a creature that could and would quite easily help him escape.
He didn’t even know why he was keeping him around. He’d only grabbed him in the first place because he’d been looking for a way to distract Mahado and the Pharaoh long enough to escape and he’d wanted to inflict some pain on the cause of all his problems.
Now it looked like that moment of indulgence was going to cost him and he wasn’t sure if the result would be worth keeping the brat around. The only thing preventing him from just getting the brat dumped in the ocean or blasting him into the next life was the thought that if the Pharaoh was going to cause severe bodily harm now, killing his vessel would, most likely, just cause the Pharaoh to go on a rampage.
There was the option of handing him over to his friends, but Medan didn’t want to do that.
The brat should pay for everything he’d caused, it was only right. The Pharaoh too was complicit in Julius’s death, especially considering that it had been him who had been in control during the duel with Arkana, and he should pay, just like his vessel...
Medan snorted as he looked over at the young man who had yet to wake up again. When Yugi had first passed out, he’s assumed that it was because of the injuries the heir had sustained.
Now, considering that, while cracked ribs would still be painful, the worst of the bruising from any previous blows would have healed up by now, he was half convinced he’d managed to break the vessel’s spirit, something that only one person had ever managed before and he had been a human Duellist on the edge of his own mental breakdown.
If he’d known that telling the brat that his friends were dead because of him would shut him down so effectively, he’d have sent Potter away and lied to the vessel a long time ago. It would have made holding him so much easier even if Medan wasn’t sure that Yugi could summon his Ka beast or use his magic in this state.
Of course if he had broken Yugi, then it did open up a whole new group of options. A broken vessel would be easier to control then one whose mind was actively fighting against the control and it wouldn’t even require the aid of a Memory Crush King, there were plenty of other spells available to do the job.
Spells he could use easily without the aid of a ridiculously complicated potion or ritual.
He didn’t want to work with Yugi, but Xu had been right about one thing. Pitting the vessel against the Pharaoh and Mahado would be incredibly effective and would hurt both of them and it wasn’t working with Yugi if he was controlling his actions. It wasn’t like he had to like or trust the brat in order to use him effectively.
Flipping quickly through the notes he found the ones he wanted but didn’t get a chance to cast the spell he wanted before his ‘study’ was invaded by a group of rather loud, rather obnoxious Fiends, who all looked rather miffed about something.
“Why is he here?” One of them said as he entered the room, one of the ones that was more powerful than him and picked, choosing which orders to follow and only sticking with Medan’s group because he and his followers had been involved in a fight with Lord of the Dark Kingdom, gesturing towards Yugi as he did so, “Mahado had no clue where we were until you brought him to our world! And the Pha...”
“He is here,” Medan interrupted, cutting off the Fiend, not wanting them to mention the Pharaoh’s status amongst the living in case it brought Yugi out of his current state, “Because I can still use him.”
“But the...”
“Can do nothing.” Medan interrupted again; well aware that the Fiends would just walk if things continued to go this badly, as both of them were using the other group and neither side was very loyal to the other, “Not now. Not where he is.”
The Fiend scowled but didn’t press the matter for the moment, though he would later, if there was a later considering who they’d pissed off. “What is it you want?”
“Mahado will be coming here.” Medan told them, as a couple of Spellcasters and a Warrior wandered in, “We have one advantage,” He gestured towards the vessel, “We can use. We also know this cave system much better than he does and know the best places for ambushes. I have several spells ready that will cause Mahado a great deal of difficultly and I have another one to prepare that will deal with our other problem, but we need to prepare for the attack now.”
“You’re an idiot.” The Fiend growled, “You brought this down on us with your completely irrational actions. You should never have brought humans here! Do you even have a plan or did you throw this together at the last minute?”
Medan scowled but didn’t deny that, in hindsight, bringing the humans here had been a bad move. He wasn’t sorry though, not considering what he had planned. “I have a plan that will solve our problem.” He told the Fiend, irritation at being questioned obvious, deciding in that moment exactly what he was going to do, “We don’t have to hold Mahado off long.”
“What do you mean, Spellcaster?” The leader of the group of fiends asked with a low, dangerous growl, angry that his concerns were being blown off so easily.
“We’re not as helpless as you might think.” Medan said, skimming quickly through the cards in the deck Xu had left behind and smirking as he realised what kind of deck it was that Xu had expected the vessel to use on their behalf, “Listen carefully.”