Very Good story!

Wow. Six years. I remember seeing this update. It’s a shame this story was never finished, it was tremendous and I’m sure would only have gotten better near the end.

This is probably pointless. Considering your last post to any story was two and a half years ago, it’s unlikely you use here any more. But either way, I just wanted to say your story was one of the best yugioh stories I’ve ever read. You were ahead of your time. I hope you’re doing well.

Hope everything is going good. I got kind of bored and felt the urge to reread this story and Advent of Power, so I figured I may as well drop another review to let you know how good this story is/was. I'm pretty well assuming you're done with it at this point considering it's been over two years now, but I hope it's just because you lost interest and not due to anything serious. If you are done with it though and still doing fine maybe you could consider adding a Wikipedia-type summary chapter to tie it all up and let everyone know where it was heading? Just a suggestion, I'd hate to let an epic like this go without any ending whatsoever.

This is probably one of the best Yu-Gi-Oh fanfics out there and it would be
great if you would update it soon.

Gearfroed here again, just reviewing the amazing story again because I noticed something you messed up with. It isn't that important, but Mystical Space Typhoon and Dust Tornado don't actually negate cards. Back to business though, I am loving this story, I must have had trouble breathing like 50 times with all the suspense. Now, this review won't be as long as Metal Overlord's, his mission seems to be making long ass reviews LOL.

I do hope you have not lost your motivation, but if you are busy, I fully understand.

*Plops down in an easy chair with a soda hat, popcorn, and nachos* There we go, I don't want to miss any of the action in Yugi and Kaiba's latest rematch, especially since this is the first time you've had them lock horns since the first major duel of 'Advent of Power' and as much fun as that story was you've improved by leaps and bounds since then so all I can say is GO KAIBA! *Wags foam hat with 'SETO #1' on it* Heh, I know I know Yugi's technically the main hero of the series, but I have to agree that Seto Kaiba was always far more interesting a character to see in action, especially since you've illuminated some of what he must have gone through during the years he competed with Yugi for the King of Games crown.

What blew me away the most was how you're treating this match as more then just fanservice, but a crossroads in Kaiba's life as he struggles to move out of Yugi's shadow once and for all and walk his own path. It's funny but I never really thought about what it must feel like to always be the second best in something no matter how hard you try, sure Seto gives the other characters no end of flak but there's some real insecurities in always casting your own abilities into doubt. Hell, in some ways you could compare Seto's rivalry to Yugi to the one shared by Roronoa Zoro and Dracule Mihawk from 'One Piece'.

But yeah, enough navel gazing this IS still technically a review LOL The opening figght between Sylar and Zeruge was incredible, it was clear with every punch, kick and energy blast how much you've studied Dragon Ball Z and other fight heavy anime/manga, as the last chapter seemed to capture everything I loved about those shows with FAR less of the filler dialogue (yes Frieza, we know your about to transform but for the love of all that's holy do you HAVE to brag about it for five minutes prior?). And now that Sigma's shown up? As far as I'm concerned that part of the current arc has already been worth it so don't try and strain your brain topping yourself too much pal your already in great shape LOL

As for the actual duel so far between Yugi and Kaiba? Well as impressive as it's been so far your probably the only guy I know who could make the use of a GOD CARD be considered 'testing the waters' so I'm already dying to see what happens when these two start letting loose the floodgates. A fantastic couple of chapters and as usual, the next one can't come soon enough. Here's hoping to hear from you soon, later!

So it begins.

Sorry I've been away for so long. My interest in fanfiction as a whole has been waning. There aren't terribly many stories I bother to read anymore, but I assure that Nightrise is one of the few I will continue to enjoy.

Atem and Kaiba, at it again. The duel is off to a great start. It's clear that neither duelist is pulling any punches. I can't wait to see how it all turns out. Personally, I'm rooting for Kaiba. He has a lot more to lose than the Pharaoh does, if those "dreams" of his are of any indication. And besides...I think he deserves the victory.

I'm all caught up now, and there is one thing about your story that I really feel should be brought to your attention: you are dealing with WAY too many characters and WAY too many plot threads. Not only is it difficult at times for myself, as a reader, to keep track of everything, but I can't imagine it's easy for you to give everything the attention it deserves. Nightrise is dangerously close to becoming unnecessarily and ridiculously convoluted. There are so many original characters in here that I don't even bother to get invested in them. There is so much going on that I find it hard to remember or care about the story's original premise (finding the Seals). Characters are disappearing for chapters at a time, plot threads are revisited at infrequent intervals, and we STILL have new characters popping up when we're already up to our EARS in them! It's nothing short of a miracle that this story hasn't collapsed on itself yet.

My advice? Lose the OC's. I don't care how you do it. You can kill them, have them outlive their usefulness, whatever. Not all of them have to go (especially since some of them are pretty intgral to the plot), but I honestly believe it'd be in the story's best interest to have only a limited amount of characters it focuses on. And to be quite frank, the majority of them mean less than nothing to me.

Also? Excuse me for being so blunt, but it needs to be said: there's a lot of crap that needs to be resolved (or just straight up dropped). Like I said before, there's so much going on now that the original premise of the story has been buried under literally a ton of new material. Prime example: Angel and that bratty kid who hates Kaiba (Kevin?). When was the last time we saw them? Why was it necessary to give them their own subplot? This story is so unnecessarily cluttered. It shouldn't this hard to keep up with everything. If you really insist on having so much going on at once, maybe you should put some of it in another story.

And another thing: I think you have one too many omnipotent characters in here. Pretty much everyone who isn't a good guy is a god. Haou, Blight, Belial...I could go on and on. Take Dartz for example. The last time we saw him, he said, "I am God." That should be a big deal. But...it isn't. It REALLY isn't. Because since everyone ELSE is ALSO God, having one more doesn't make much of a difference.

That's my constructive criticism. Do with it what you will. I look forward to the next update.

Dark Onyx

Omigod omigod omigod omigod! Soooooo epic. It is looking to be a great duel, I'm not surprised that it's hyping you up. More than that, it seems authentic, like they have upgraded their decks with the lastest cards over time. Somehow, Kaiba has just become more epic. I take back what I said about these two last fic; now I'm really getting into this! Although, I'm not entirely sure about the Egyptian Gods, but what the hell, include a sacred card of that magnitude, and you have epicness. I need to make my redoing of my alteration of Yugi vs Yako that epic with all six gods out. I have an aim now!
I ramble. Just epic, mate. Bloody legendary.

Aha! This is what got you so hyped! I have to say, your portrayal of Kaiba in this story is pretty flawless, and this has only added to it. It makes him feel very human in a way that a lot of stories can't manage. And of course, the duels are awesome, as always. Good job my friend.

Sorry, forgot to say this is GearfriedThe Synchro

Wow the way you delved so deep into Kaiba's emotions were amazing. Even in other stories, it is explored bit by bit, but you took a whole other approach and hit us with all you had. Kind of reminds me of the last Harry Potter book LOL

Moving on from that, I love the way you are having Kaiba duel to his full potential, though I am wondering why I haven't seen Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, or will he never use any card with Red-Eyes in it's name because of "the mutt"?

Next up, is it just me or is Yami starting to get cocky again? It kinda reminds me of his duel with Jason and how Jason proved no card is truly invincible, which is what I look forward to Kaiba proving.

This next question is a long shot, but could you please take a look at the first chapter of my fic and tell me what you think about it? You can either review it or pm me but I would really appreciate it. I just want to make this story the best it can be.

Another great chapter. I can't wait to see where you're going to take Kaiba in all of this.

Oh for the love of god you two...still, I guess it's a chance to show off their new Synchro monsters. Now, as for Marik...jeez, he's probably safer than anyone else at the mo'

But hey, AWESOME chapter. Zerato is selecting five? Bakura, Bakura, Bakura.

Another awesome chapter. I really love the similarities between Tristan-Sylar from this story and the Sylar from Heroes, especially considering that I loved the first 2 1/2 seasons of Heroes. I'm stoked about the duel between Yami and Kaiba too, there's nothing better than when those two go at it. I was kind of hoping Kaiba would come back into the story a bit, he's my favorite.

HUZZAH! At last you update *blows a noisemaker* admittedly I should be the last person to comment on this, so I'll move along now and say how glad I was to see a new chapter pop up after a long day of work. While obviously the last two chapters have been mostly to bridge to the next high tier event of the story (namely Zeruge vs Sylar in a no holds barred grudge match) it didn't hurt that you took a moment to try and make sure the current situation with Jason's psychotic alter ego Quinn and how he came to be was thoroughly explained.

In the middle of a story this complex it's always important to make sure the audience knows as much as you are willing to reveal so as not to be left at the end of a chapter scratching their heads in confusion, which I can safely say you've avoided admirably thus far. The current arc with Zeruge, Joey and the Ishtars is shaping up to be pretty interesting. With a little luck Marik will get the character development and power boost he needs to come into his own more amidst the chaos going on among the other characters.

Speaking of chaos PLEASE DON'T KILL OFF ISHIZU! Sorry little bit of a fanboy outburst there but yes, considering she was one of the few characters in the show to never back down to Kaiba and, despite how short her match with Sylar was, managed to bring his life points down lower then anyone thus far, I think she deserves a second chance to kick some ass.

You know its funny, but if it weren't for the fact that bringing Exceeds into things would only make things TEN TIMES more complicated, I'd say the new Hieroghlyph archetype would be perfect for one of the Ishtars, especially since several of them resemble different stages of the Winged Dragon of Ra. BUT I digress, and on a side note I loved how you based the scene with Zeruge powering up on Goku's iconic first transformation into a Super Saiyan, I can only hope Sylar gets the same can of whoopass opened on him that Frieza did (though I can understand if you digress on having him get chopped in half with an energy disk LOL).

A fine job as usual, let me know if you need any help, and with a little luck I'll see you update soon, later pal!