Light Amongst Shadows Part 14

Yugi could not see Bakura as she was dragged out of the building, but she trusted the thief was there, if only because the mook in front of her had the Millennium Puzzle and the Thief King would never let some random stranger walk away with a prize she had already claimed as hers.

She could no longer feel the Puzzle’s magic weaving around her, protecting her from the Shadows, and the darkness was tearing at her mind and soul, causing her to shiver as she tried to avoid showing how badly it hurt. Oneesan had known it would get this bad this quickly and argued against the plan. However Yugi had known when there had been no smell of burning or abnormal levels of heat that this was not the base they were looking for. If the Ring had led them here, it was not likely to lead them elsewhere, they needed another plan.

Allowing herself to be captured and taken to their leader was the fastest way she had been able to think of doing it. Admittedly she had not thought about the fact she could almost get her throat slit, but otherwise it had seemed like a good idea at the time. So she had gone ahead without Oneesan’s permission.

She almost regretted it but she had not given up before, they would suspect something if she went docilely now, so she struggled and fought against the men as best she could, earning herself blow after blow, needing to make her capture seem ‘real.’

It was not each extra bruise she gained that finally forced her to give up the fight, it was the Shadows swarming the city. The damage they did to her mind and soul reducing her to a barely conscious mess, even as each blow left her with less fight than before.

She was carried, barely awake, into the main building where the leader was working and tossed down at the boss’s feet.

“Wait. Didn’t I kill her already?” The leader demanded, looking down at Yugi as Bakura moved into place to interfere if she needed to.

“Apparently not.” The guy who had dragged the Pharaoh’s little sister to their main base shrugged, “That other holder must have healed her up and shipped her out.”

“Oh? She jumped in, fought us all off and then saved this girl’s life all to let her go and ignore what she got up to.” The leader was scornful, making Bakura to have to increase her opinion of him, “Go back and check your blasted Soul Seal. Our items won’t be as powerful as they could be if we don’t capture every last soul.”

“What about her?” The mook kicked Yugi in the stomach, causing Yugi to yelp in pain.

“I’ll deal with her myself.” The leader replied, “Get going.”

“Yes, sir.” The mook saluted and darted off.

“Get her up.” The leader snarled at the thugs, two of whom dragged Yugi to her feet. The girl hung limply between the pair of them as the leader took her Puzzle from his goon and examined it. “You know girl, if you had been captured a few minutes ago, I would have killed you on the spot but I found something.”

“Wha...What...?” Yugi asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Someone had tampered with my seal, two of the runes had been switched. That was why it failed. The light that erupted from the seal was because of that. Not because of you. Your light is still a threat, but it couldn’t overwhelm our spells, not on its own. You would need a huge power boost to even start to stop our plans.” He smirked as Yugi seemed to sink in on herself at that news, as if what had kept her going was the thought that her light was protecting the city, “So I’ve changed my mind.” He gestured and they cut Yugi’s wrists loose. Her arms fell limply to her side as he continued, “I think that it would be ironic to use the blood and soul of the holder of the lead item of the elder set as the First sacrifice to forge our new one.”

Yugi’s eyes widened but she did not even struggle against her captor’s grip. The fight seemed to have drained out of her completely.  

“Oh don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” The leader laughed, forcing her chin up so she had no choice but to look at him, “You won’t feel a thing once it starts and you’ll be around about five minutes longer. Once they’ve checked the other seals, we can try again.” He pointed to a circle in the centre of the seal that had been painted on the floor, “Put her there.”

Yugi was practically tossed into the circle, the goons not wanting to spend too long within the seal, and as she crossed into the lines, they lit up with the same blood red light as every other barrier the bad guys had created.

Bakura let out a frustrated growl as Yugi crashed into the wall of light behind her and lay almost still. The brat was done. That much was obvious. She would have to do this on her own now.