Light Amongst Shadows Part 18

At those words the Vampire Lord fired a stream of bats at the Dark Magician, trying to distract the much more powerful creature. It did not work, the spellcaster blew the bats away before launching the second Dark Magic Attack that forced the vampire to take to the skies to avoid it.

The Dark Magician went after it, having no trouble flying using his magic. The Vampire Lord flickered once and then vanished into the Shadows surrounding the battle. The spellcaster paused in midair, looking around and trying to get a feel for where his adversary was hiding.

The Vampire Lord attacked from behind, scoring a blow that caused the Dark Magician to tumble in midair. By the time he had righted himself, the cloaked monstrosity was on him and it was only an instinctive reaction that saved him from being destroyed.

Instead he flipped in midair, avoiding the claws attempting to pierce him, and blasted the Vampire Lord at close range. The creature went crashing into the floor, beginning to shatter even before it landed. The moment it slammed into the ground, it burst into what looked like a billion little pieces and the tablet behind it’s summoner, the one with the Vampire Lord’s image on, went the same way.

“Round one to me.” Oneesan smirked both vindictively and victoriously, her Dark Magician landing at her side and glowering at the man.

“Yeah, yeah.” The Leader looked unconcerned, “You got lucky. I’ll destroy your next three monsters, no problem.”

“I doubt that.” Oneesan replied, “Ready when you are.”

“Vampire’s Curse!” He snarled, a second teal haired man, this one broader, armoured and with only one wing.

“I see a theme.” Oneesan frowned, gesturing to her next tablet. From it sprung the creature who her Imoto-chan had saved from destruction at the hands of Kaiba two years ago and whose card now rested in their deck. The giant white dragon let out a furious roar as it glared down at both opposing monster and its caller.

“No way.” The man complained, “There’s no way a Blue Eyes White Dragon answers to you.”

“You don’t know how you’re dealing with, do you?” Bakura, who could see the entire game with no problems even if the Shadows were thick enough to choke, let out a bark of laughter. “You picked this city, targeted the home of the most powerful Item holder ever to live and you don’t even realise what a mistake you’ve made.”

“Oh?” The Leader demanded, “And why should I be so scared?”

“Because you’re facing the Queen of Games.” Bakura sniggered, “I can’t beat her and I’ve been trying for over five thousand years, so you don’t stand a chance.”

“Queen of...” The man stared at Oneesan, “You’re Mutou Yugi!”

“Yes. And no.” Oneesan shook her head, “My Imoto-chan, Yugi, gave her life to save our home. I’m her older sister, her guardian and the Nameless Pharaoh of legend.” She saw him blanch, “I thought you’d recognise that title if you’ve been researching the Millennium Items.”

“Mutou Yugi...is the Nameless Pharaoh...” He gasped, backing up, “The one who sealed all the Shadows away. Making it almost impossible to use them and defeating a power greater than anything on this entire planet...”

“I think you frightened him.” Bakura smirked. “I didn’t think you were that scary.”

“You didn’t see me when I first awoke.” Oneesan snorted back, “Now, I have game to win. Blue Eyes!” Before Vampire’s Curse could react, the dragon blew him away with one burst. “And that’s two.”

“I...” The man’s voice trembled now, “I had no way to win...”

“There’s always a way to win.” Oneesan retorted, “The Shadow Games have to be fair. You could still turn this around.”

“Not against you. Not against the Nameless Pharaoh or the Thief King.” He looked over to Bakura, who was examining her nails as if bored.

“Well you can’t run.” Bakura pointed out, “The only way out is to win. So I suggest you keep trying.”

“No...no,” The man shook his head, “But I can think of a different way to solve this...” With that he clicked his fingers and the two Vampire monsters Oneesan had destroyed were back. One had its hands around Bakura’s throat. While the other held Oneesan’s hair with one hand and held her shoulder in place with the other taloned hand. “I can kill you.”

“Any harm comes to me, you lose. Remember that.” Oneesan reminded him.

“I’m dead either way. At least this way, I can take you with me.” The Leader smirked, “Vampire Lord!”

The creature dug its fangs into Oneesan’s neck. It only got a taste of her blood before the Shadows blasted it away, tearing the skin as it was thrown away by the power. The Blue Eyes White Dragon, who had yet to fade away and had hesitated when Oneesan had come under threat, finished it off with a blast of light.

Bakura did not need such fancy tricks, the blade she kept in her boot was enough to force the Duel Monster to release its grip on her throat and recoil before being disintegrated by the Shadows.

With the Shadows binding the Leader in place and his monsters gone, Oneesan stalked towards him, fury obvious as she pressed one hand against the bleeding wound. “You lose. Now how do I break the seal on the city?”

“I won’t tell you.” The Leader snapped, “You can die here and join your other self.” The Shadows that were wrapped around his limbs tightened, crushing them enough to cause pain, “Arg! You freak!”

“How do I break the seal?” Oneesan snarled. “Tell me and it’ll be easier on you.”

“You really think that I’d share that information? After you ruined everything?” The Leader snapped and the Shadows tightened again. “Ahh!”

“I’m not doing that.” The Nameless Pharaoh growled, “The Shadows will enforce the rules, if you want to retain any sense of yourself, tell me and don’t force the Shadows to possess you for the information. You cheated, I’m only holding back the Penalty by sheer force of will. Give me that information and I might, might consider going lightly on you.”

The Shadows did not like that one bit, they wanted the man, he was their prey. Not even the Pharaoh could stop that. They were not holding back at her discression and they did not really want the spirit of the Puzzle to have that information.

It that end, they possessed the Leader, found the route that was least likely to work and spoke through him.

“I’m surprised that your focus is on breaking the Seal, Nameless Pharaoh.” The Shadows taunted. “What with your ‘lmoto-chan’ shattered.”

The Pharaoh tensed up as she realised that the Leader of her enemies was not the one speaking. “You’re... the Shadows.”

“Yes,” They agreed, “Yes we are.” They used the cheater’s body to smirk at her, “As long as the Seal is still in play, we’ll feed. But if you break the seal, we’ll leave and we’ll take any souls with us that are loose or fragmented.”

“Imoto-chan...” Oneesan realised, fear replacing anger on her features.

“That’s right.” The Shadows made their puppet nod, “Tell you what, we’ll tell you how to break the seal and then you can decide. Either to break the seal and send us away, but risk destroying any chance you ever had of putting your precious Imoto-chan’s soul back together.” Oneesan hesitated, “Or leave the seal up a little longer, spend a few hours reassembling her soul and risk letting a few people die. Your choice.”