Chaos Effect

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"You mean to… kill the gods?" Renard asked.

I opened my mouth before Selene could say a word. "The Egyptian God Cards are powerful but a lot of people make the mistake and think they are gods. They aren't. They are the vessels of the gods, the weapons of them. The divine beasts. The servants. It's even in their actual names, before Pegasus butchered them." I began to tick them off. "The Giant Divine Soldier of Obelisk. The Heavenly Dragon of Osiris. The Winged Dragon of Ra." I shock my head in annoyance. "How he got the one with the most foreign text on it the proper name I'll never understand but the point is they aren't gods."

"We'll still kill them all the same," Selene said and I shot her a dark look because honestly she wasn't helping in the slightest. She moved to lean against a wall, reaching down and slowly pulling Mai's boots off, looking relieved as she pressed her bare feet against the sidewalk. She tossed the footwear to Renard who caught them without thinking. "They hold the power of the gods in them, fractions of those that created them."

Yuri folded her arms over her chest and gave us a dry look. "We are still talking about trading cards, right?" Selene turned and her eyes flared with moon light at the same moment I allowed the power of the Millennium Key to shine through my own eyes. "Right," the former detective found herself saying with a slight shiver. "I forgot who I was talking to. So trading cards with godly powers."

"The containing vessels of the servants of the gods," Selene correct. "Pegasus found the carvings and he turned them into trading cards despite the nightmares they brought about. Only his eye allowed him to do so, just as the priests of old were taught to do."

I'd always wondered about that. "So the original tablets?"

Selene began to circle us, waving her hand about lazily as she did so. "Destroyed now. Most likely their power was already nearly drained… the gods can survive a lack of faith and worship but their vessels can not. It matters not as when Pegasus created the cards he transferred control of the divine beasts from the tablets to them."

"What would have happened if they had been drained completely?" Yuri asked, curious.

"The servants would have slumbered till a priest was able to provide them a new vessel or a god called upon them. Power such as that can not be destroyed… energy does not disappear. Your mortal scientists have rediscovered that." She let out a chuckle, staring right at me.

"What?"

She smirked, moving to stand behind me so she could trickle her fingertips along my shoulder blades. "You were the one that discovered that, my Endymion. When I taught you the secrets of creating the summoning tablets and you crafted your Mythical Beasts so that you might rival the Egyptian Priests in terms of power."

I wiggled my shoulder, trying to get her to back off. I knew it was a useless gesture though. A god did as they wished and I couldn't honestly stop her if she wanted to continue pressing her fingertips against my skin. And it seemed she didn't just want to do that but far more, as she moved closer, resting her chin on my shoulder and letting her warm breath dance along the nape of my neck.

"Energy can not be created or destroyed. All that existed at the beginning of time remains and not a drop more will be created. The death of one with power, be they merely a powerful mortal, a being blessed or created by the divine, or one of my kind… it does not spell the end for that power." The fucking minx then leaned forward and grasped my earlobe with her teeth, giving it a playful tug even as she reached around and slide her hands along my chest. "Instead it is caught by the earth, soaking into its core. Or it feeds life around it… do you realize how many patches of paradise exist because one with great power died there and life suckled upon its leaking corpse? Man lives now because gods fought and died and from them sprang life.

"Some foolish Egyptians believed that they were creating the monsters they summoned from whole cloth. That they were like the gods for they were able to create something from nothing. Even when they understood that it was their magic that they were using to call forth that which already existed they thought it mattered little for it was only magic and what was that?" She let out a cruel laugh. "The ones with few brains died soon after they made their creations, draining themselves of their power."

My mind went to my counterpart of Earth-2, Aiden Order, and his Invoking.

"You were smarter, my love. You found how to harvest magic and use it to craft your miracles. You created your Mythical Beasts and powered your servants who guarded you with such skill."

I finally turned and Selene allowed me to actually pull from her embrace. "And yet you want me to kill the God Cards. Why? You said it yourself that power can't be destroyed."

"Your life before coming here… it was a line of farmers, was it not?" she asked. "And of men who would raise the cattle, seeing to their care until it was time for their slaughter. Have you forgotten so soon the ways of your ancestors?"

Yuri let out a groan. "With all the respect in the world-" Because Yuri was clearly no fool and knew it to be very stupid to insult a goddess, "-what are you getting at?"

"We are going to harvest the power of the divine beasts," she said.

Renard let out a bemused huff. "That isn't vague."

Before I could even open my mouth to agree with him the sky darkened and a pulse of power filled the air. It was like a summer storm just before the downpour broke and you knew that the lightning was coming. You could feel the electricity in the air and it made you tense and prepare to run for shelter.

Turning as one we looked to our right but didn't see anything at first. It was only when I noticed Selene tilting her head upward that I realized I was looking far too low and craned my neck up…

…and saw Slifer the Sky Dragon slowly descending from the storm clouds.

"And the servant of Osiris shows himself," Selene said. "We weren't together when the divine soldier rose up, called forth by the Pharaoh Set's reincarnation. But Osiris' pet… he will make for fine prey." With that she began to march towards where Yugi must have been battling Strings, holding out her right hand and causing a golden bow to appear in her fingers, a glimmering spell counter in its center. "It has been far too long since I've hunted…"

I quickly darted forward and without thinking grabbing the goddess' arm. Thankfully for me her lust was far greater than her pride and instead of smiting me right there she instead merely grabbed me with her free hand and shoved me into a wall before pressing a searing kiss onto me that made my lips feel like they were suffering from frost burn.

"Save the passion for after the hunt, my Endymion," she told me before letting me go.

"Selene!" I called out again, trying to get her to stop. "Why?"

"Because it is so much better to feel you slide inside of me after a successful hunt than before. Artemis taught us that."

I decided to file away the tidbit that apparently in another life I'd had a fucking threesome with two goddesses away (and most likely process it while having a panic attack) and instead said, "I meant why do you want to kill the god cards?"

Selene flashed me a cold radiant smile. "To fulfill your plan."

And with that she continued on towards Slifer… who was opening his first mouth and preparing to attack.

~MC~MC~MC ~

'Its… its gigantic!' Yugi thought. It was terrifying yet awe-inspiring. It was something that was too grand to be a nightmare but too terrible to be a dream. A being of red scales and power that made him feel small in ways that had nothing to do with its great size. He stared up at the coiling monstrosity and was thankful that the Pharaoh was in control of their body as he knew if it had been him he would have dropped to his knees at the sight of the Slifer the Sky Dragon.

Not that the Pharaoh wasn't feeling the same sensation of overwhelming power that Yugi was struggling with.

"Behold the instrument of your doom, Pharaoh!" Strings declared though it was Marik's voice that came out of his mouth. "Slifer the Sky Dragon, the Egyptian God Card! Once the tool of the Pharaoh it now serves me! And with it I will defeat you and claim your puzzle, your life, and all else you hold dear!"

That boast though was Marik's mistake as Yugi felt at once the Pharaoh bristle at that the threat, narrowing his eyes and steeling his nerves before glaring right at the Rare Hunter Marik was controlling.

"It seems that is a pattern in your life, Marik."

"Defeating weak fools like you?"

"Relying on what you can steal rather than earning victory through your own might." Even though String's face didn't twitch at all Yugi could sense that the one that was controlling the mime was scowling in fury at that comment. "The Millennium Rod came to you through theft, did it not? You steal the minds of others and set them out to do your business. Your Rare Hunters use cheap tricks to steal cards. And now you wield Slifer, which you stole from you sister. But my puzzle?" Here the Pharaoh closed his eyes, a smile forming on his lips. "You will not claim it, Marik. Because I will not allow you to take it. And more than that I will work to grasp all you have stolen and return it all to those you robbed. What will you be then, Marik?" He snapped his eyes open. "Tell me, thief… what will you be then?"

Strings let loose a growl. "Even a mouse can squeak when confronted by a cat… but that does not change its fate! You face the wrath of the gods and you will not be able to stand against the power I now bring to bear against you!" With that declaration Strings held his hand up high, the cards he grasped glowing. "The first power of Slifer the Sky Dragon: For every card I hold in my hand he gains 1000 attack points!" The divine beast let out a challenging bellow as the light of the cards struck him, causing lightning to crackle along his form.

'5000 attack points!' Yugi thought to himself. 'That is more than even Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragon!'

"Tremble and despair as my Egyptian God Card wipes out your pathetic Curse of Dragon!" Slifer opened up his mouth and the Pharaoh barely had time to shield his face before the Egyptian God Card unleashed a beam of crackling energy that reduced Curse of Dragon into dust and sent the Pharaoh skidding back several feet, his body aching just from the air blasting away from the impact point of the blast. (Yugi-1000)

"That blast left utterly nothing!" the Pharaoh exclaimed.

"And it has taken from you nearly all of your lifepoints!" Marik laughed. "How can you ever hope to defeat a creature such as this? Slifer is far more than any other card you have ever faced. You might as well surrender now, Little Yugi… my wrath is saved only for the Pharaoh, not you. If you stand down now I will allow you to walk away. I will even allow you to keep your deck… even your locator cards. Continue on with this tournament. My feud is with the Pharaoh… surrender the puzzle and you can walk away."

"You believe Yugi and I can be separated so easily?" the Pharaoh challenged. "You clearly have no understanding of the bonds of friendship."

That only caused Marik to laugh. "Friendship? Is it friendship that sees the dead take over the livings' body to use as their own? Who don't even let those they claim are their partners speak? Or perhaps friendship is risking the lives of others while you hide from the world. Your friend Joey Wheeler? He was only targeted because of you, Pharaoh. Right now my Rare Hunters seek out the rest of your so called friends. Tristan. Tea. Young Mokuba. I will take them all and I will rip apart their minds because you were a coward who clung to life because you are too stubborn to accept that your time is over. Your partner nearly died in that fire because of you, Pharaoh. They aren't your friends… they are servants, same as my family… and you have betrayed the as you betrayed me!"

The Pharaoh grimaced at that. 'Perhaps Marik is right. Before I came into his life Yugi never faced these kinds of threats. Pegasus taking his grandfather's soul. Being hunted during Duelist Kingdom. The warehouse fire. Now Marik is going after not only him but his friends as well. Edwin and Joey both got beaten up by the Rare Hunters and who knows what they are doing now to Tea, Tristan, and the rest of our friends.' He glanced down at the puzzle. 'Perhaps it would be better to surrender…'

But the Pharaoh had forgotten that Yugi was with him, could hear his thoughts as if he had screamed them at the top of his lungs, and he wasn't having any of that talk. 'You're wrong, Pharaoh. My life before you? Joey and I would never have become friends. Kaiba would have still gone after grandpa's Blue-Eyes White Dragon. And it was defeating Kaiba that drew Pegasus' attention to me, not the puzzle. I would have still been hunted on Duelist Kingdom. And with Marik? We have no idea what powers the Millennium Puzzle has. Edwin has shown that the Millennium Items are very powerful… it only takes having the right state of mind to access abilities that break the laws of physics! We can't risk someone like Marik, who so easily dominates the minds of others and sees life as something to be bartered with and then tossed aside, with the Puzzle!'

The Pharaoh smiled as Yugi finished his speech. "Yes," he murmured, "you're right Yugi. Thank you." He narrowed his eyes as he glared at Strings. "Perhaps, had you been a better person, Marik, I might just have been tempted to surrender to you. Yes, my presence has threatened those I care about… but I have also protected them each and every time. What have you done though? Who have you ever protected? Saved? You see the lives of others as merely tools to be used in your grasping attempts at revenge! And for that reason you have no right to the Puzzle OR the God Cards!" He thrust out his hand, pointing right at Strings. "I am going to do what you believe to be so impossible, Marik! I am going to defeat you and claim Silfer the Sky Dragon! And then I will use it to defeat the rest of your Rare Hunters and put a stop to your plans. And it starts here!" With a flourish he went for his deck. "DRAW!"

Yugi looked over the card they had drawn. 'Perfect! With this we can set up a devastating combo that will help slay that dragon!'

The Pharaoh nodded before tapping his duel disc. "I start by activating my downface card: Call of the Phantom! This card allows me to select one monster from my graveyard and add it back to my hand. And I select my Curse of Dragon the Cursed Dragon!" The card shot out of the duel disc, the Pharaoh easily catching it. "And now I active the card I just drew: Spiral Fusion!" The spell card appeared on the field. "I now fuse together my Curse of Dragon the Cursed Dragon and Charging Gaia the Fierce Knight to summon forth Sky Galloping Gaia the Dragon Champion!" On the field Gaia appeared, riding on the back of the Cursed Dragon, a heavy lance held in his armored hand. "This card allows me to add one Spiral Spear Strike from my deck to my hand." The Pharaoh took that spell from his deck and did just that. "And I'm not done yet, Marik! Thanks to the power of Spiral Fusion when I summoned a Gaia the Dragon Champion monster with it that monster gains 2600 attack points, doubling my Sky Galloping Champion's attack to 5200!" He smirked. "More than enough to slay your god card!"

But Strings merely continued to stare at him. "That is where you are wrong, Pharaoh! You of all people should know it isn't mere brute force that decides the outcome of a duel! It is the effects and abilities of ones spells, traps, and monsters that can seal the fate of a duelist for good or ill! And Slifer the Sky Dragon has more than one effect!"

"More than one effect?" the Pharaoh said, worried.

"Indeed! Whenever a monster is summoned to your side of the field Slifer opens its second mouth, which unleashes a beam of godly energy that reduces the monster's attack by 2000 points."

"Oh no!"

"Slifer! Unleash the power of your second mouth and reduce that so called 'Dragon Champion' to a trembling wreck!" Slifer slowly opened its second mouth and energy began to crackle along its fanged teeth before it fired off a beam of concentrated energy that hit the Pharaoh Sky Galloping Gaia the Dragon Champion full on. The monster cried out as it mount began to tremble, wings drooping, and Gaia himself lowered his lance as his strength was drained from him. "Luckily for you your monster had more than 2000 attack points… if its attack had been zero it would have been instantly destroyed. Now it must deal with have only 3200 attack points."

'This isn't good,' Yugi thought. 'Our monster is stronger than even Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon but that is nothing compared to the power of Marik's Egyptian God Card!'

'And its worse than that, Yugi. Should Marik attack us next turn he will wipe out our lifepoints completely! We must find a way to survive this next strike or we are finished!'

~MC~MC~MC~

Seto let out a scoff as the hologram generators for his duel disc turned off, causing the field and his monsters to disappear. Not that they mattered anymore because his opponent's lifepoints had dropped to zero, leaving him defeated.

"I… I lost," the duelist said softly, shoulders slumped.

"You did," Seto said, walking over and taking the locator card out of the duelist's hand. "And with that you have nothing more to offer me."

But his opponent blinked at that comment, confused. "Wait… aren't you going to demand my rarest card?"

"Unless it is better than the monsters you just threw at me I'll say no. I don't want your incompetence to infect my deck." With that he turned on his heels and marched off.

"That wasn't very nice, Seto," Mokuba said, hurrying to catch up to him.

Seto merely shook his head though. "He wasn't worth my time. If it weren't for the locator card I wouldn't have even dueled him to begin with. But I need to make sure that I have secured my place in the finals so he did well enough." He shook his head though, annoyed that he was reduced to dueling such trash in his own tournament. "I drew Obelisk the Tormentor in my opening hand and never even played him."

"You did?" Mokuba said, surprised. "Why did you do that, Seto?"

"Because the power of a god card shouldn't be wasted on someone like that, Mokuba. Only duelists worthy of facing his might should experience it. I only used the god card on that first duelist to ensure that the Battle City network could handle it. Now I can wait till I face an opponent who deserves to have such a force end their time in the tournament."

In his head Seto saw the image of two duelists in particular. 'Yugi… I know you are out there somewhere, battling to earn a place in the finals. And I'm willing to bet that you've somehow learned of the Egyptian God Cards as well. You better be giving it your all because I am not going to allow myself to lose out on my chance to finally settle which of us is the better duelist because you were drummed out!' His mind shifted to the other duelist, with his blond beard and arrogant smirk. 'And Edwin… I need you to do well to show that KaibaCorp is the best in the world. Never again will I allow anyone to think us weak. But… that doesn't mean I won't crush you the first chance I get. You need to learn your place: under my heel.'

His thoughts of victory against the two were cast off when a limo pulled up and one of his security agents stepped out. "Mr. Kaiba, we tried to reach you but you weren't answering your calls."

"I was dueling," Seto said; he had switched off his phone to ensure he wouldn't be distracted. Even taking on such a weak duelist as his past opponent there was simply no way he was going to allow his attention to be pulled from the duel and thus risk a loss. "What is it?"

"Energy spike over at the Domino City Park where Yugi Muto is facing off with a duelist known only as Strings. It's similar to Obelisk the Tormentor."

'En Egyptian God Card!' Seto thought to himself. 'That Strings must be one of the men Ishizu warned me would be lured to Battle City!' He turned to Mokuba. "Come on, we need to get to that duel."

"Yeah!" Mokuba said happily, not caring that time was ticking away and while Seto was only 2 locator cards away from making it to the next round of Battle City Mokuba still need 3. He wanted to see Yugi duel! "Let's go watch Yugi kick that duelist's butt."

'Yes,' Seto thought to himself as he got into the limo, 'or be there to take on that Rare Hunter should Yugi lose…'

~MC~MC~MC~

"Ready to surrender Pharaoh?" Marik asked. "I have already shown you how futile it is to face off against the might of the Egyptian God Cards! There is no monster in your deck strong enough to defeat Slifer the Sky Dragon! All you do is prolong the inevitable!"

"Only a weak duelist believes a duel is won before the final lifepoint trickles away, Marik. My deck is full of cards that you have never glimpsed before. And I know I hold the right combination to defeat your God Card!" He held up two cards. "And to start I will set these two cards on the field and end my turn."

Strings drew his next card. "I would laugh at how pathetic your boasts were, Pharaoh, but… no, wait, I will laugh all the same!" Marik cackled. "Have you not noticed something? I have added another card to my hand and with it my Sky Dragon's power grows! It now has an attack of 6000! More than enough to defeat your withered Sky Galloping Gaia! Which I believe I will do right now! Slifer, bring down your divine judgement and end the Pharaoh's time in Battle City forever!"

"Not so fast, Marik!" the Pharaoh declared, thrusting out his hand even as Slifer began to power up his first mouth. "I activate the first card I placed on the field: The Book of the Moon! This card allows me to shift one monster from attack mode to facedown defense!"

Marik tsked at that. "Sorry Pharaoh but that won't do it. You see the Egyptian God Cards can not be targeted by most spell or trap cards. That means that you just wasted your Book of the Moon! Silfer attack!" The Egyptian God Card fired off its blast of heavenly lightning at Gaia, engulfing the Pharaoh's side of the field in light. "And thus ends your time in this world, Pharaoh!"

"It's like I said, Maraik," the Pharaoh said as the light faded, revealing him still standing there, his lifepoints remaining intact, "only a foolish duelist believes the game is over before the last lifepoint ticks down… or the last card is played."

Marik growled. "How!? Slifer destroyed your Sky Galloping Gaia!"

"He did," the Pharaoh confirmed. "But what you missed Marik was that when I played Book of the Moon I never targeted your Egyptian God Card. My target… was my own Gaia! Turning him to defense mode and sparing my lifepoints!"

"grrrr…." Marik snarled. "All you have done is delay your suffering."

"Perhaps. Or I am giving myself the time needed to defeat your Egyptian God!" The Pharaoh drew and looked over his hand. 'Only I don't have anything that can slay that beast. I can at the very least continue to protect my lifepoints.' He held up a card. "Because you control a monster with an attack power greater than 2500 I am able to normal summon this monster without tribute. Come forth Gaia the Magicial Knight!" The Gaia that appeared had a longer cloak and as his horse stomped its hooves on the ground sparks of magic flared up around them. "And by summoning in defense mode I protect my lifepoints from Slifer!"

"But you don't protect yourself from Slifer's second mouth! Watch as your Magicial Knight withers and wilts like a flower against an arctic storm. So too fade away your hopes of defeating me!" Slifer opened up its second mouth and unleashed a blast of energy that left Gaia's horse flagging and the knight himself barely able to lift his head. "And now I finish him off! First I draw…" He took the top card from his deck and Slifer roared as his lifepoints increased to 7000, "And now my Egyptian God Card will destroy another of your pathetic defenses!" Slifer let out a screeching battle cry and fired off a blast of energy from his main mouth, which reduced Gaia the Magicial Knight to ashes. "Give up now, Pharaoh! You have no hope of defeating me!"

"That is where you are wrong, Marik!" The Pharaoh declared, noticing out of the corner of his eye a limo pulling up. "There is always hope so long as one has the will to continue on. And I am growing to prove that to you and everyone else!" As he drew though he saw another group rushing forward and realized that he'd attracted not just Seto and Mokuba to his duel… but Edwin and his group.

~MC~MC~MC~

Ishizu wondered if Kaiba even realized how many people in Domino actually rooted for him.

Oh, he wasn't the most popular duelist in the world. Not even close. Yugi Muto currently was rather popular and thanks to his stunt at the announcement of the tournament Edwin Chaos was moving up the ranks. The people did love a ham who cared only for himself…

~Days Earlier…~

"This scholarship, named after my mother to carry on her spirit, will ensure that those students wishing to explore their creative sides will be able to do so!"

The crowd cheered as Edwin waved. Cassie Garnett had already presented Pegasus' scholarship, the Cecelia Pegasus Memorial Scholarship for Creative Excellence, so she allowed Edwin to enjoy the cheers of the crowd. Of course there were many wiping their eyes as the tale he had told of how his mother had encouraged him to always dream and be creative but that only added to the joy that was radiating out.

"Captain," Renard whispered, "we still have to go to the hospital to give them the check for their new optic center."

"We got to name that after Serenity, right?" Edwin whispered.

Renard nodded. "She doesn't know though."

"Perfect."

~MC~MC~MC~

Yes, the people loved their clowns.

Seto Kaiba would never be loved by the populous. Feared? Oh yes. Respected? Sure. Envied? Definitely. But loved? No… and he clearly didn't wish to be. But that didn't mean that Kaiba didn't have those that saw him and admired him. Rooted for him. Were focused on him and no other.

Ishizu gracefully made her way through the outdoor café, knowing that people were watching her. She was exotic and different and she knew that made all pay attention to her. It was how she had managed to convince the Egyptian government to give her a position of power. Well… that and the Millennium Necklace allowing her to be at the right moments at the right times in order to give fate the nudges it needed. However while they all looked at her she had eyes for only one person. The girl she had seen, thanks to her Millennium Necklace, dueling Kaiba in the future. The one that would allow him to slip into destiny's plan.

"Can I have this seat?" Ishizu asked, easily sliding into the chair across from the young woman. She knew she was there alone, wanting to eat and watch the tournament… and hope to see clips of Seto Kaiba. She had viewed as much thanks to the power of her Millennium Necklace. "It is quite crowded with the tournament."

"Of course," the young woman said.

She didn't look entirely like Kisara. Her hair was more pale yellow than white, her eyes blue but flecked with dark flakes. Kisara had been nearly gaunt from hunger while this woman had a healthy body; not bloated but clearly someone who hadn't needed to worry if she'd starve. Kisara had dressed in rags she had stitched together herself while the teen before Ishizu wore one of the recently released Industrial Illusions Blue-Eyes White Dragon shirts and a pair of jeans that Ishizu was sure she had paid extra to have pre-ripped.

"Ishizu Ishtar," she said, offering her hand.

The teen, sensing that Ishizu wasn't going to quietly sit there, let out a sigh but shook her hand anyway. "Susan Marison," she stated.

"Enjoying the tournament?"

"I would if they'd show more than a few clips of the duels. I tried to track down some famous duelists but I had no luck. Found a few randos but nothing too exciting."

"Oh, I completely understand," Ishizu said. "It can be rather hard when you are kept from what you want." She paused, leaning over the table, locking eyes with Susan and forcing her to hold her gaze. "What do YOU want, I wonder?"

"I…" Susan began to say only for Ishizu to activate her Millennium Item.

"I have an idea," Ishizu said with a smile. "In my home lands we believe that death is not the final departure but merely a doorway. While some souls will only pass through that way once others can come and go. I have met people like that."

"You… have?" Susan asked softly.

"I have," Ishizu assured her. "To the point that I believe I can spot a soul who has crossed over and returned… a soul that nearly needs to be reminded of their past."

She ignored the voice that whispered this was wrong. That she was going to show this woman memories that weren't her own. That she was tampering with her mind and what right did she have to do that?

And in the same moment she thought of her brother. She thought of how happy she had been to hold him when he was born. How she had helped him when they were children because they only had each other. How she had missed all the warning signs of his growing madness and she would give ANYTHING for them to be united again.

She also thought of the terrible threats to the world. The darkness that was destined to return once again and threaten the world. The cruelty of Selene. The machinations of Endymion.

What was one woman's memories when weighed against all that?

'It is not as if I am controlling her,' Ishizu assured herself. 'I am merely showing her something magical. She would have begged me to do this if she had known what I was planning. Yes… she would have begged to play this part! No harm comes to her and exchange for seeing the past she helps save the world! It is heroic! Noble!'

The voice in her head wondered if her brother thought the same thing but she flung those thoughts aside.

"I am going to show you something. I shall awaken memories of love... and crime... and death..."

Susan's jaw dropped as her eyes glowed gold, the Eye of Horus appearing on her forehead…

~MC~MC~MC~

"Ah, Osiris' beast," Selene told us as she finally came to a stop. "He looks so much bigger that I'm used to."

"Do I even want to know?" Yuri asked.

Selene chuckled. "Oh my priestess, this is merely the mortal shell I used to communicate with all of you. Were I in my true grandeur you would be but ants to me." Now that we'd stopped running Selene once again began to cuddle up to me, rubbing her head against my shoulder. "Mmm… my Endymion so did strive to use his magics to match me in size and power, in hopes of showing me pleasure in my titan form as well as this much smaller body."

All I wanna do is see you turn into a giant woman

A giant woman

All I wanna be is someone who gets to see a giant woman

"Fuck you, Troy," I growled at my phone.

"Chaos," Seto grumbled as he stepped out of the limo. "I suppose it was too much to ask to not see you until tonight."

"Aw, you assumed I'd make it to the next round!" I said… though admittedly my sarcasm lost a bit of punch when I had Selene trying to unbutton my shirt so she could rub my chest; apparently being around the Egyptian God Cards and their power made her horny as fuck.

Seto noticed though and his frown only deepened. "Must you and your dye job girlfriend do that in front of my brother."

"Dye job?" Selene said, her mood going from lustful to rage-filled in an instant. She glared at Seto, eyes flashing pure quicksilver and what appeared to be silvery tattoo-like runes beginning to flare on her skin, and she held up a hand which began to crackle with energy. "My mortal half was born with this hair color you insignificant-"

I grabbed onto Selene's face, twisted her towards me, and giving her a toe curling kiss.

"Well," I heard Renard said, "that is one way to stop a god."

"Think he'll have to do that to the red dragon thing?" Yuri quipped.

I pulled away and took several quick breaths to calm myself before looking right at the titan. "Be nice and there might be more of that waiting for you."

She gave me a teasing smile. "I love it when you think you have a say in things." But thankfully she just placed herself under my arm, cuddling up close.

"What is wrong with her?" Seto finally said gruffly.

"Turns out there is a goddess living in Mai's body," Yuri said.

"Oh, like Yugi and that Spirit in the Puzzle?" Mokuba asked. I shot a look at him and he rolled his eyes. "You'd have to be blind not to notice." I slid my eyes towards his brother and Mokuba began to snicker.

"No and no," Selene purred as she reached up and began to play with my hair. "Mai and I are the same being. She is merely me if I didn't realize I was a goddess. Two facets of the same being."

Seto just glanced at us from the corner of his eye before crossing his arms over his chest. "I gave up trying to understand what you people do a long time ago."

"I find it interesting that we are ignoring the giant dragon that is looming towards our friend," Renard said, making me pull my attention back to the duel because god damn he was right Slifer was a big fucker.

"I think Marik is trying to compensate for something," Yuri said with a smirk.

"Now now, let's not belittle him…" I added.

"Is there any way Yugi can defeat that thing, Seto?" Mokuba asked.

"If anyone could its Yugi Muto," Seto said gruffly.

'And me,' I thought. 'But no need to let Seto know my strata-GEEEEE!' I let out a little gasp and glared at Selene who smirked impishly. "Could you please not grab my ass like that?"

"Would you prefer I grab something else?"

I shut my eyes. "There is no way to answer that question without getting into serious trouble…"

Thankfully the Pharaoh began to speak before Selene could figure out what other parts of my body she wanted to fondle. "Now then, it's my turn Marik! And the start of me defeating your Egyptian God Card! I start with this: Mystical Space Typhoon!" The spell card appeared and with a blast of wind Marik's own spell card was shattered. "Now you won't be able to keep bulking up Slifer, limiting the damage he can do to me! Your handsize must be reduced to normal!"

"You haven't been paying attention to the duel, have you Pharaoh?" Marik taunted. "If you had you'd have realized that even with Slifer limited in attack points one blow from him will be enough to end you!"

"He's right!" Mokuba exclaimed. "Yugi only has 1000 life points yet and he hasn't even damaged that other duelist's lifepoints in the slightest!"

"Don't worry, Mokuba," Renard said. "I think Yugi has something in mind that will make your concerns rather moot."

"Next I will summon my Arisen Gaia the Fierce Knight in defense mode! I can bring him forth without tribute because you have more monsters than I do!"

"Hmm, interesting," Seto said softly to himself, probably not even realizing the rest of us could hear him. "He's found a way with his cards to get past my tribute rule. Of course… I already came up with ways to beat that stipulation…"

"And now I will activate my downface card: Spiral Reborn! This card allows me to resurrect one Gaia monster from my graveyard in defense mode, so come forth once more to the field my Sky Galloping Gaia the Dragon Champion!" The warrior appeared on the back of his red Curse of Dragon, lifting his lance up high while bellowing to us all.

"And I in turn will use Slifer's second mouth to reduce your monsters' attacks by 2000!" The beam of energy fired from Slifer, causing the Arisen Gaia to nearly fall off his horse. But when it moved to strike the Dragon Champion his lance glowed with energy and he thrust it right into the beam, cleaving it and two and ensuring it didn't strike him. "What?!? Your Dragon Champion was able to beat back Slifer's attack!"

"With the help of his Spiral Reborn Lance. When this weapon returned him to the field it also granted him the power to become immune to all of your monsters effects!" The Pharaoh smirked. "It isn't so much fun when it is you who finds yourself unable to deal with a monster, is it Marik?"

"That's Marik?" Mokuba said as Marik snarled in frustration. "I did not see that coming."

"It's just another of his Rare Hunters," I told him. "A puppet doing his bidding."

"Like a coward," Seto said with a huff.

The Pharaoh shook his head. "You can growl and grumble all you want Marik but it won't change the fact that my Sky Galloping Gaia has kept every one of his lifepoints. Though I would think if your Slifer was so powerful as you claim him to be this would be a simple matter for you to overcome."

Strings drew his next card. "You dare to belittle Slifer?"

"I belittle you, Marik. Kaiba is right: you are a coward. You hide behind others but the moment you are exposed you flee. Edwin defeated you in Cabal's mind, Joey defeated your Rare Hunter, and now I am going to defeat your God Card. Time and again you have bellowed about how you were going to win and each time my friends and I have driven you back! And this time will be no different!"

"Allow me then to show you how wrong you are!" Strings held up a card. "Since I can no longer have Infinite Cards in my hand I will use some of them to protect myself, just as you protect your lifepoints. I summon my Marauding Captain!" The warrior appeared, bracing himself before bringing his sword up in a defensive position. "And Slifer still has 7000 attack points, which are more than enough to defeat your Sky Galloping Gaia! You clearly plan to use him to defeat Slifer so I will eliminate him now! Slifer!"

The Egyptian God Card let out a roar before firing a blast of energy at the Dragon Champion, taking out him and his mount.

"All that work and your plans are left in tatters again!" Marik taunted… only to blink when he saw the Pharaoh smirked. "What… what is this? Why are you doing that?"

"What? Smiling?" the Pharaoh asked. "The answer is quite simple, Marik. You just provided me with the means to defeat you!"

"No! How? You're lying… you have to be! There is no way you can defeat an Egyptian God Card!"

"Oh, there is, Marik! You see I've been watching you very carefully these turns, studying Slifer and his effects. And it became clear to be very quickly that there is a weakness to the Sky Dragon… and your deck. With only the right combination of cards I can bring you crashing down! And it begins with this: the spell card Creature Swap!" The spell card appeared on the Pharaoh's side of the field. "With this card we are forced to give each other a monster."

Strings remained still but Marik's laughter could be heard all the same. "Fool! Even if you were allowed to select which of my monsters you would take with Creature Swap Slifer is immune to your spell! Meaning all you've done is caused us to swap pathetic warrior monsters while my Egyptian God remains on the field-"

"Card," Selene said with a dismissive sniff. "Egyptian God CARD. It is not a god… merely a piece of a god's power. No different than Mokuba's fragile brother or a squirrel."

"I don't know if it's more insulting to him that you called him fragile or compared him to a squirrel," I said with a light chuckle.

The Pharaoh smiled. "Oh, but that is the thing, Marik… it was your Marauding Captain that I wanted."

"What?!?" Marik exclaimed. "Why… why would you ever want that weak monster?"

"You said it yourself, Marik: it is the effects that matter sometimes, not the attack points. You have been so focused on how powerful you can make Slifer that you never considered that his greatest strength was also his greatest weakness. Just as your single minded focus would be the end of you!" He selected a card from his hand. "A good duelist Marik doesn't build their deck around a single card. They plan for every possibility, including that their mightiest monsters might be slain. They have other monsters that can rise up and help win the day.

"But you never considered that, did you Marik? You thought that with the power of Slifer you would be able to overwhelm me and as such you built your deck around getting him out as quickly as possible and then flooding your hand with cards to increase his attack. Cards that didn't actually matter in terms of dueling… they were only there to help Slifer's attack points grow. That shows how little you understand this game, for if you were a true duelist Marik you would know that every card in your deck matters. Allow me to show you with this: Monster Reborn!"

The card flashed on the field and the Pharaoh called back his Sky Galloping Gaia.

"You bring that pathetic dragon rider out yet again? You have no card that will save him this time! His attack points once more drop down to nothing!"

"While it is true that you have reduced my Gaia's attack power his defense remains," the Pharaoh pointed out. "And even if it didn't that wouldn't matter as I merely need him on the field in order to place this final card and seal your defeat: Spiral Duplication!"

The Spell Card flashed on the field, causing Gaia's lances to transform into replicas of the Marauding Captain's swords, which he crossed to defend himself.

"Son of a bitch," I murmured, a grin slowly forming on my features.

"It doesn't matter what your spell card does Slifer will still destroy your monsters! Starting with your Sky Galloping Gaia once again! Slifer, eliminate him!" Slifer opened his mouth… only for his to clamp shut, unable to finish the attack. "Slifer! I order you to attack!"

"He can't, Marik," the Pharaoh stated. "No matter how loud you yell Slifer will never be able to attack."

"What have you done?!? Slifer is immune to nearly all effects!"

"Nearly… not all. And the one that is stopping him is important. You see, Spiral Duplication allowed me to give one Gaia monster on my side of the field an effect that belonged to a monster on the field or graveyard. You would have assumed I'd go after Slifer's effect, to try and outpower you. But I chose something far different."

"Hmmm… clever move, Yugi," Seto admitted. "You gave him the Marauding Captain's effect."

"With your Marauding Captain's effect Gaia and him form the very same lock you created before you summoned Slifer. No monsters can attack anything other than the other… except they protect themselves at the same time. Meaning Slifer can do nothing."

"But… but that means…"

"Yes," the Pharaoh said with a smirk. "As I said, you built your deck around drawing cards and summoning warriors to defend you until Slifer the Sky Dragon could be summoned. That is the weakness of your deck, Marik: the moment Slifer can't attack he becomes worthless. And you failed to put any cards in your deck that can eliminate Gaia or the Marauding Captain and break the lock. That leaves us trapped, forced to only draw-" The Pharaoh did so, "and end our turn. And considering you have called out more cards than I have in your rush to fill your hand…"

"No…no!" Marik screamed "This can't be happening! There must be a way… there must-" His duel disk suddenly began to flash red and he stared at it, startled. "What is this?"

Seto stepped forward. "I can answer that. My duel discs are programmed to detect if an opponent has been locked and will be unable to win the duel. Because you registered every card in your deck the duel disc can confirm if there is nothing you can do to break a lock… and end the duel so you don't waste any more time. You're done."

"No…no!" Marik wailed. "This can't be happening!" Behind him Slifer began to smoke and steam as he slowly crumbled into a heap, unable to do little more than let out a planative roar. "You managed to defeat my Egyptian God Card! Curse you Pharaoh! Curse you Yugi Muto!"

"I believe," I said, stepping forward myself and allowing my eyes to blaze black and gold, "you mean Yuig's Egyptian God Card. Per the Battle City Rules you must now give up your rarest card and that is Slifer."

"No! You can't claim it! Slifer belongs to me… the same with Ra and soon Kaiba's Obelisk the Tormentor-"

"That's where you're wrong, Marik," Seto said. "Obelisk is mine and soon the other god cards will be as well!"

Selene let out a yawn. "This bores me and my Endymion and I have much to do." With a flick of her hand Strings stiffened before falling to a boneless heap. "The little dirt crawler has been banished from his mind. Now take your prize, Nameless Pharaoh, so my Edwin can challenge you and claim it-"

Mokuba cleared his throat. "Sorry Mai but the Battle City Rules give every duelist a 30 minute break where they can't be challenged, to prevent duelists from lingering and pouncing on someone who just dueled. Edwin can't challenge him."

"Excuse me?" Selene said dangerously, taking a step towards Mokuba… and finding me blocking her path, the Millennium Key dangling from my neck. The Shadow Realm magic flared around me as I stared the goddess down, not even twitching.

"If you even THINK of doing anything other than apologizing to him I don't care what you are the goddess of you and I are going to have… words."

Selene stared me down.

Then she began to giggle.

"Oh, I love it when you pretend you are a match for me!" She wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a kiss on the nse. "Tell me how indigent you are, my love! How you will… punish me…" She snickered and began to nuzzle me… even as I winced as she drew her fingers along the back of my neck, cutting it up only to heal it second later. A reminder of how much she could do to me if she wanted to.

Renard looked at Yuri. "I can't tell which one is crazier."

"Us. Because we are still working for them."

"Yugi," Seto said, moving towards the fallen Strings and picking up the Slifer the Sky Dragon card. He stared at it rather intently before holding it out. "Enjoy holding onto the power of that Egyptian God Card as long as you can. Because Obelisk and I will ensure that you won't be its bearer for much longer." With that he turned and began to walk away. "Come on, Mokuba."

"Right."

The Pharaoh though began to follow after him. "Kaiba, wait!"

Me and my group remained behind, watching as the three hurried off. "Well?" I finally asked. "You were saying how you wanted to destroy the Egyptian God Cards… mind explaining just what your endgame is?"

"But of course," Selene replied, finally pulling away from me. "But haven't you guessed it?"

I rolled my eyes. "I hate guessing games. Just tell me."

She let out an airy sigh. "I thought it was obvious… I made it rather clear early. Power can not be destroyed or created. The energy of all beings remains… when you destroy the vessel the energy must go somewhere. The Egyptian Gods created their three divine beasts and placed a fraction of their powers into them. The plan was to use them as the gateway to allow them to return to face Zorc but that proved to be unneeded. 5000 years ago we were prevented from completing our plan but now at last the age of the duelists will allow us to harvest the power of the Egyptian God Cards!"

"To. What. End." I snapped.

Selene locked eyes with me. "To make you my equal at long last. You have tried so many ways to match. Made new life. Cast spells to match my titan size. Mastered magic itself. But… you are still a mortal. Thus our place, so that we will never need to be parted by your mortality. You, my love… will become a god."

I stared at her.

I didn't say a word.

"Now then," Selene said with a breezy smile, "I was never one for dueling so I'll let my human side handle the next part." And with that Selene blinked… and I knew at once I was staring once more at Mai.

"Uh… did I miss something?" she said in confusion, looking around and see we weren't where we had started, she was missing her boots, and I was staring at her while having a full blown religion panic attack.

"Oh," I answered, fighting the trembles building in my body, "just some Mary Sue Bullshit."

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