Destined to be Yours

Chapter 53: Double Duel

The shorter duelist's Life Points drop to 3800.

"Hahahaha, destroying my monster activated its effect. This allows me to activate "Mask of Remnants" from my Deck and equip it to "Valkyrion the Magna Warrior". This will give me control of your "Valkyrion!"" The white-masked cloaked duelist cackled. It was now the turn of the one with the black mask. The air was so tense that Akia didn't dare make a sound that might distract Yugi and Kaiba. The tall man activated "Masquerade" which gave him control of "Valkyrion the Magna Warrior." He then targeted Yugi with "Valkyrion" directly to finish him off. However, Yugi activated his face-down "De-Fusion" to return "Valkyrion the Magna Warrior" to his Deck and Special Summon "Alpha The Magnet Warrior" (1400/1700), "Beta The Magnet Warrior" (1700/1600), and "Gamma The Magnet Warrior" (1500/1800) from his Graveyard to his opponent's side of the field in Attack Position.

"My turn, I draw! I activate "Soul Exchange." This allows me to use the monsters you control as tributes. I will tribute "Alpha The Magnet Warrior", "Beta The Magnet Warrior", and "Gamma The Magnet Warrior" to summon "The God of Obelisk" (4000/4000). I will attack Umbra directly! Disappear weaklings! God Hand Crusher!" Kaiba yelled out.

The tall one called Umbra screamed as the explosives go off, causing the glass beneath him to shatter, sending him down, plunging to his death. That was when, however, he opened up a parachute that he was hiding, which then got caught on a flag pole.

"Hey! Partner! Are you safe?" The one remaining called out.

"Parachute, huh? Well I expected that of you guys from the start. This isn't much of death match then, is it? You no longer have any hopes of defeating us. How about you surrender?" The Spirit of the Puzzle told the cowering man.

Kaiba and Yugi's opponent was shaking in fear. He dropped down to his knees, speechless.

"I won't accept that! To win, we need to defeat both of them. I will send him straight to hell!" Kaiba interjected.

"Wait, Kaiba. There's no reason to harm him also. Why tarnish our humanity for such a duel."

"To crush my enemy is the only "humanity" I believe in."

While they were arguing, Akia noticed the cloaked man holding his head in his hands and then he started screaming in pain. That was when she decided to finally make her presence known. "Yugi, Kaiba!"

"Akia!" Yugi called out.

"What are you doing here? And what's happening to that lunatic?" Kaiba asked.

"Ma... ri...!" The rare hunter said with difficulty.

"Marik?" The pharaoh inquired.

Akia's eyes widened at the mention of his name. The masked individual seemed calmer in demeanour, but his tone was completely different. His exposed eye was rolled back up and he started talking. "I saw Obelisk clearly! The power of the god is very strong."

"Marik! Stop hiding and show yourself!" The Spirit of the Puzzle challenged.

The man that Marik was now controlling chuckled.

"His personality changed!" Kaiba exclaimed.

"Yeah. Right now he's being controlled by someone else entirely," Yugi replied.

"Impossible! By who, exactly?"

"The leader of the Ghouls, Marik. The man who owns the final God Card."

"The owner of "Ra the Winged Dragon"?"

"Marik" chuckled some more. "Pleased to meet you, Kaiba-kun. Right, right! Thank you for taking care of my weak underlings in this duel. They bought me the time I needed. Now I have an idea of both your decks as well. On top of that, my Ra has a terrifying power, stronger than both your God Cards. There's one more part to my plan. Yugi, this is about the fight that lasted over 3000 years between us. You must perish at my hands to ease the anger of our Tomb Keepers' clan and carry out our revenge. In order to ensure my revenge, I've prepared a few extra soldiers on my team. The little followers you call friends have already fallen into my control and have become warriors that will be used against you."

"No... Jounouchi-kun... What have you done? Please Marik, stop this!" Akia shouted out, surprising everyone. Tears were forming in her eyes.

"It's too late to stop," He answered her.

"It's not! Please... Let's meet up, figure things out together... All of this can only end badly for everyone and even for you," Akia pleaded.

"I don't need you lecturing me like you know me. You know nothing about me, Akia. You've lived such a sheltered life while I had to suffer because of the spirit inside your brother!" Marik yelled out.

Akia walked closer to the Ghoul, hoping to see Marik in there somewhere. "Then help me understand you... All these years since I met you when we were children, I've been longing to see you again..."

Due to her tears, she was unable to finish her sentence. On the other side, Marik's heart squeezed uncomfortably. Kaiba, not caring about any of it, walked up to Marik's puppet, pushing Akia out of the way. "Move."

She almost lost her balance, but Yugi stabilized her in time.

"Still such an asshole..." She muttered as she dried off her tears.

"We won the duel so tell me where you took Mokuba! Where's my little brother? You promised you'd return him to me!" Kaiba shouted at the puppet.

"Promised to return him?" The man chuckled.

Kaiba lifted the short man by the collar. "You bastard."

"There's no point in threatening him, he's not even conscious..." The pharaoh said.

The controlled body let out an eerie laugh before collapsing on the floor.

"Kaiba, help me find my friends. I'm sure Mokuba will be there as well," Yugi asked.

"Yes, I will definitely go find Mokuba. Before that, though, let's take the puzzle cards." Kaiba went to the unconscious man and took out two puzzle cards, giving one to Yugi. "Now we both have six, which qualify us to enter Battle City finals."

"Kaiba, this is not the time or place to think about the finals," Yugi reprimanded him.

"But he's right, Yugi, even though I hate to admit it. We need to also think about the finals, since that's the best way to stop Marik," Akia told him.

The other Yugi sighed in defeat then looked at his host's sister. "Do you have enough puzzle cards?"

"Yeah, I do," she replied.

Their conversation was then cut short when a Kaiba helicopter came up to their location. To everyone's surprise, Mokuba showed up at its entrance. "Big brother!"

"Mokuba!" The young CEO called out.

The helicopter then landed on the roof and the three of them ran towards it to join Mokuba. Since all of them thought that Marik had caught him, he explained to them that Anzu helped him escape. Kaiba then decided to help Yugi and Akia find their friends, since it was thanks to Anzu that Mokuba was safe.

On the other side of town, Honda was riding the train with Shizuka who was still recovering from her eye surgery. They were chatting about how Jounouchi would be thrilled to have his sister by his side during the tournament. They hadn't gotten the news yet of the kidnapping of their friends. Little did they know, Marik had his eyes on them, planning to catch them next.