---Yu-Gi-Oh! Tournament of the Millennium! ---

Chapter 20: Occult Battle – Who is the Dark Ruler?

Bakura smirked as he watched Kal draw his next card. As the situation stood, Kal had 7550 Life Points left, with no cards on the field, and a large horned demon known as the Dark Ruler Ha Des behind him. Bakura had a single green, many-horned demonic figure, the Demon of Desire (1950/0), crouching on the field, and his deckmaster, Diabound, hung back behind him, the snake snapping it's jaws shut every now and then.

Kal drew his card and calmly picked another from his hand, then set it on the field. Then he chose another card from his hand and played it. In front of him, a creaking coffin appeared, bloodstained and burnt.

"I summon Hell Coffin (1300/900) in Attack Mode and end my turn."

Joey nudged Yugi cautiously on the sidelines.

"Hey Yuge, whadda ya reckon? Is it a trap? Or is he bluffing?" Joey seemed nervous about this duel. Yugi seemed fairly calm about it though.

"Bakura's always been confident about his abilities. He's pretty careless about how he uses his Life Points. He'll attack, even if he suspects it's a trap," Yugi stated confidently. Joey seemed confused by the notion of running into an obvious trap, then shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the duel.

"I hope he knows what he's doing."

Bakura snorted as he drew his card. Playing a weaker monster like that could mean only one of 2 things; a trap, or a bluff.

"Well, it seems that you would play that card in Attack Mode for only 2 reasons. A) You're trying to lure me into a trap, or B) You're bluffing. Either way, I'm going to attack you. Your pathetic cards don't worry me."

Bakura took one monster from his hand and placed it onto his DuelDisk. In front of him, a toothed boomerang appeared and whirled about.

"I summon Dokuroyaiba (1000/400) in Attack Mode. Now, Demon of Desire, wipe out that box!" ordered Bakura viciously. Kal pressed a button on his DuelDisk and an ornate mask fixed itself onto the demon's face. It began to writhe and swipe wildly at the coffin, which creaked open and shards of bone sprayed out, ventilating the Demon of Desire. Blue blood trickled from the many wounds, before the demon shattered, dropping Bakura's Life Points to 7950.

"I activated Mask of Weakness to reduce it's ATK by 700, down to 1250. Now, is it my turn?" asked Kal dully. Bakura sneered and nodded. Kal took up his card and placed it on the field.

"I summon Sangan (1000/600) in Attack Mode and now, I summon my DeckMaster, Dark Ruler Ha Des (2450/1600) in Attack Mode!" called Kal, some emotion finally creeping into his voice. The crouching demon stood up and stomped over to Kal's side, then roared viciously. The other duelists seemed surprised by what Kal had just done.

"What's he doing? He's leaving his DeckMaster open to any form of counter attack. And if it gets destroyed, he'll lose!" Seto seemed taken aback by Kal's apparent foolishness.

"Now then, Sangan, attack Dokuroyaiba and kill it!"

The small orange-furred creature slashed it's claws out, scoring the boomerang along it's length, just as the boomerang's sides snapped shut, causing a leathal wound to Sangan. Both shattered at once.

"Now, because Sangan was sent to the Graveyard, I may now search my deck for a monster with under 1500 Attack, and place it in my hand," pointed out Kal. He flipped through his deck and took one card. He held it out for Bakura to see.

"I take Shadow Tamer. Now that that's taken care of, Hell Coffin, Ha Des, attack Bakura directly!" ordered Kal commandingly. Ha des leapt forward, followed by a hailstorm of bone shards. The Dark Ruler ripped through Bakura, and then Bakura howled in agony as the bone shards tore into his flesh and faded. Bakura gasped for air as his Life Points fell to 4200. Yugi and the gang looked concerned.

"Oh man! Look at that! Bakura just got slammed!" shouted Tristen unnecessarily. Teá seemed alarmed for Bakura, who had managed to struggle to his feet.

"Are you okay Bakura?" she cried. Seto snorted.

"Of course he is. Now let the buffoon play!"

Bakura shot a glare at Seto, before pulling the top card of his deck into his hand. He smirked and placed it facedown on the field.

"Next, I'll summon Gurnia (1300/1200), and I'll also play Kishido Spirit. This card means that when monsters of equal power Battle, mine will always survive. A useful card." Bakura then reached down and turned up the card in his DuelDisk.

"Now, I'll invoke the Puppet Magic of Dark Ruler! By offering 4 Levels of monsters on my field as a sacrifice, I can call back to life my powerful Demon of Desire! So now, I say goodbye to Guria and welcome back to my Demon of Desire," explained Bakura nastily.

On his duelfield, the purple figure of Gurnia was sucked into the ground, from which 4 strings of sinew burst. They were yanked upwards by an invisible force and the Demon of Desire followed, its face contorted in pain. The lines of sinew had been torn from the length of its arms and legs, leaving the strings to trail from its hands and feet.

Bakura grinned at the gruesome scene and then pulled another card from his hand. He placed it on the field and a smoky crystal materialized around the neck of Bakura's newly-revived demon.

"I activate Black Pendant! This equipment Spell boosts the power of my demon by 500, raising it, conveniently, to 2450. And it seems you have no cards to stop an attack against Ha Des. So this duel was even less of a challenge than I'd imagined. Now, attack, Demon of Desire!" ordered Bakura coldly. The sinew lines at its legs tugged forward, making it walk at a slow, jerky pace towards the Dark Ruler. The tendon line attached to the demon's right arm raised up, hefting the demon's arm up, and the claws scythed out. Then the line slackened, dropping the deadly claws right over the head of the demon's master, the Dark Ruler.

Ha Des blocked the attack by slamming his wrist into the forearm of the Demon of Desire, then raised his own spare hand. Out of it ripped claws at least twice as big as those on the Demon of Desire, but the demon didn't even react. Ha Des' claws burst out of its chest, ripping out the spinal column as the arm plowed through. The Demon of Desire gave a sigh of relief as it died, then shattered. Bakura's eyes widened involuntarily, and he shot an accusing look at Kal.

Kal laughed, flicking his dreadlocks back off his face, and then explained.

"Seems you've just discovered the DeckMaster effect of Dark Ruler Ha Des. By removing 2 fiends from my Graveyard, I can negate a card that would destroy Ha Des and destroy it instead." Kal smirked. Bakura didn't seem overly worried by this new piece of information, though.

"That poses no problem whatsoever. I'll simply make sure to not destroy any more of your fiends, until I get rid of that Dark Ruler. Now then…" Bakura picked a card from his hand and played it.

"I activate Requisition of the Dead. By discarding a card from my hand, I can search my deck for a Spell card and place it in my hand. However, you are allowed to take a Trap and place it in your hand also." Bakura smirked, watching Kal carefully. If Kal was going to try and protect his Dark Ruler, he'd surely pull an attack-halting trap, in case Bakura tried to pull something like he just had. And that was all part of Bakura's plan.

"I'll take Exchange and place it in my hand. Now, I'll activate it!" called Bakura to Kal, who's face took on a shocked quality as he realized that he'd just played into Bakura's hands.

Kal grimaced and handed his hand over to Bakura. Since Bakura had no other cards in his hand, Kal would be getting nothing out of this.

"Hmm…" Bakura shot a look at Kal and grinned. "Skull Lair, Spear Cretin, Shadow Tamer, The Cheerful Coffin, Keisitai and… oh look. A trap card. Mask of Impregnability. I think I'll just take that, and set it, shall I?" laughed Bakura. He slid it into his dueldisk and Kal stalked back to his side of the platform, shooting Bakura a look of utter loathing.

"That was a great play by Bakura. He planned for Kal to take a Trap card to protect himself. It's really a nice tactic," noted Grandpa Moto, impressed. Yugi, Joey and Mokuba nodded their heads in agreement, and turned back to watch the action.

Kal drew his card and then picked another from his hand. He slipped it into a slot and the platform transformed into a demonic looking place, with piles of skulls in the four corners. Wispy green spirits floated around Bakura and Kal's faces.

Teá pulled a disgusted looking face at the new surroundings.

"Oh gross. Why do these kind of guys always have to have such creepy cards? It's disgusting!" shuddered Teá mournfully.

"I'll activate my Spell card, Skull Lair. And now, I'll play… The Cheerful Coffin! Using this, I can send the Keisitai and Spear Cretin in my hand to the Graveyard. Oh look Bakura, I have two Fiends in my Graveyard," Kal laughed sinisterly, then he took the card he'd just drawn and played it.

"Now I activate Painful Choice! So, I take 5 cards from my deck, and you choose 1 to be placed in my hand. The rest are discarded."

Kal picked 5 cards from his deck and revealed them to Bakura. As Bakura had expected, all were fiends. There were 3 Melkid the Four-Face Beast, along with a Gren Maju Da Eiza and a Wall of Illusion. Bakura quickly did some calculations. Currently the Maju would have only 800 Attack, but its power would keep increasing for every fiend Kal removed for his Dark Ruler.

"Keep a Melkid the Four-Face Beast, and discard the rest," ordered Bakura. Kal shrugged and dumped four of the cards into his graveyard. Kal then ordered his Dark Ruler to attack Bakura directly.

"Activate Mask of Impregnability. Since this is your card, I'm sure you know what it does, but for the spectators, I can end your Battle Phase and draw 1 card." Bakura slipped a card from his deck into his hand and smiled. Then, since it was his turn, Bakura drew another card.

"Ha…excellent. I activate Dark Hell Portal. This destroys all monsters on the field and we lose LP equal to half the attack of our destroyed monsters!" explained Bakura. Kal, of course, decided to negate it.

"I'll remove my 2 Melkid the Four-Face Beast to negate the effect of it. What now, Bakura?" smirked Kal. Bakura sneered in turn.

"I plan to activate this… Assets of the Dead! By paying 2000 LP I can draw 3 cards… Let's see what I get, shall we?" chuckled Bakura as his LP fell to 2200. He smirked as he viewed his cards.

"Now, I'll play Millennium Eye!" declared Bakura nastily. A golden orb with the eye of Set appeared on the field. Kal glanced at it lazily. However, the eyes of the man with the silvery ponytail widened slightly, and his lips became pressed into a thin, cold line.

"So? What does it do?" asked Ashley after a few moments of silence. Bakura glared at her and in return received a piercing glare from Zeak.

"It reveals the opponent's hand, and once per turn I can remove a monster on the field from the game. Let's see your DeckMaster effect stop this Kal…"

The golden orb started to glow brightly, but was halted by the Dark Master Ha Des hitting it open-palmed, knocking the hologramatic globe out of the arena, so it faded into nothingness.

"There you go. Stopped. What do you think of that?" sneered Kal. Bakura seemed somewhat surprised, but he continued on anyway.

"Fine. You may have stopped me from destroying your DeckMaster, but I can still take it! Activate Millennium Ring!" shouted Bakura, somewhat angered. Kal laughed it off as he removed Wall of Illusion and Gren Maju Da Eiza from the game.

"Hah! Ha Des' effect prevents anything from affecting it if I so choose." Kal seemed supremely confident. Bakura growled and hit his fist onto the Dueling Platform. He set his one remaining card and then suddenly smiled. Just as he smiled Kal realized something.

"Ahh! I have no fiends left in my Graveyard!!!!" cried Kal melodramatically. Zeak winced. Kal tended to lose it once he had no fiends to defend his Dark Master with.

Kal's eyes began to twitch and he started to shake spasmodically. He started to emit a high-pitched keening sound and was rocking back and forth on his feet. Bakura watched him with some incredulity. Zeak watched for a few moments more and then chucked his water bottle at Kal's head. It hit him in the temple, and seemed to bring him to his senses, though his eyes still darted around furtively.

"it's your turn Kal, make your move." Bakura seemed to be enjoying Kal's distress.

"Yeah… my turn. Okay, yeah…. My turn… yep, I'm with you, I… what?" Kal seemed to be muttering to himself and paused to think.

"Oh yeah, right. My turn. My turn. Just… just draw a card, huh?" Kal seemed to have become suddenly very conversational with himself, and the spectators watched with varying feelings, mainly amusement, pity or worry.

Kal slowly drew his card and stared at it. He stared at it for almost ten seconds before Bakura snapped.

"Just do something already!" roared Bakura. Kal jumped, as if he'd forgotten Bakura was there.

"Oh… oh yeah. Okay… just play this then? Yeah… that'll work." Kal stopped talking to himself and stared at Bakura, though his eyes kept flicking over to his Dark Ruler Ha Des.

"I'll play… play… Graceful Charity! That's it. Draw 3 cards… and discard 2," muttered Kal, his talk turning back to himself. He drew the cards, muttering as he did.

"Hmm… okay, yeah, that's good. Oh, a fiend. Cool, need one more. And… damn." Kal looked up at Zeak, crestfallen.

"I'll discard Opticlops and that other card… Mask of Restrict! That's the one. And um…" Kal turned his gaze to Bakura's facedown card. Could it destroy his Dark Ruler Ha Des? Only one way to find out.

"Ha Des, attack directly!" ordered Kal nervously. He moaned as the face-down card swung up to reveal itself.

"I'll activate Dark Spirit of the Silent to force Shadow Tamer to attack instead," instructed Bakura, as the attack hit him and reduced his Life Points to 1400. Kal sighed with relief. It didn't destroy his Ha Des after all. Now he could continue to attack.

"Hell Coffin, attack now!" called Kal. He was going to win right now! The coffin creaked open and holographic bone shards skewered Bakura, reducing his Life Points to a mere 100. Kal stared at his monster.

"Oh… too weak… yeah, too weak…" trailed off Kal. It was now Bakura's turn. Bakura drew his card and decided to play it.

"I'll activate Card of Sanctity. It allows us both to draw until we have 6 cards in our hands. And then…" Bakura drew his cards, looking for some he could play. He took 3 and played them.

"I'll summon Hannibal Necromancer (1400/1800) in Attack Mode and set 2 cards. Now, Hannibal Necromancer, destroy the Hell Coffin!" ordered Bakura resolutely. The purple nightmare of a beast leapt forward and razor sharp claws embedded in it's wrists ripped away the door of the coffin, which collapsed into a pile of broken timber.

"Heh, woodchips…" commented Bakura nastily as Kal's Life Points fell to 6950. "End Turn."

Kal drew his card nervously, his eye twitching noticeably. He stared down at it and began to grin widely. Then he threw back his head and cackled hysterically.

As the laughter echoed around the hallway, most of the spectators glanced at each other uneasily, wondering what could invoke such a reaction. Bakura, arms crossed, glared at Kal, silently daring him to try and do something with the card he'd drawn.

"YES! YES, ALRIGHT!" crowed Kal. He slipped the card he drew into his disk and watched as Ha Des and the Shadow Tamer faded away. Bakura looked on in shock. Wouldn't he lose if Ha Des left the field?

"Ah ha ha! Activate Curse of the Masked Beast! If a DeckMaster is offered as a Tribute or in a Fusion, the new monster becomes the new DeckMaster! So face my DeckMaster, The Masked Beast (3200/2500)!" yelled Kal ferociously as the strange centaur-like beast rose and lifted its masked face to howl an unearthly howl at Bakura. Then it picked up its weapon and hurled it at Bakura's two trap cards. Bakura realized what was happening a split second before the weapon speared through them, turning them both black before they shattered.

"My DeckMaster negates every facedown card on the field and destroys them. Goodbye Bakura."

Left with only his Hannibal Necromancer stuck in Attack Mode, and only 100 Life Points, Bakura's demise was now inevitable.

Kal smirked and pointed at Bakura.

"Finish him."

Yugi and Joey looked shocked at the sudden turnaround. Seto was staring intensely at Bakura and Kal. Zeak stood, unmoving, impassive. The rest of Zeak's team were congratulating each other and giving each other high fives. Bakura was smirking.

The Masked Beast hefted its weapon and hurled it bodily at the purple beast cowering in front of Bakura. Just before the attack struck, a spirit drifted out of Bakura's Graveyard and the spear passed through it. Right back at the Masked Beast.

The spear slammed into the beast, driving deep into its body. The Masked Beast looked down, let out a howl of agony and shattered. Kal's holograms faded to nothingness and Bakura laughed once, a dry snicker. Kal looked up at him, disbelief and confusion flashing through his eyes.

"H…how?"

"You should be careful what you send to the Graveyard. My Vengeance Sprite trap card only activates in the Graveyard. It allows me to change the target of 1 attack to any monster on the field, including the one that attacked. So your DeckMaster was destroyed and sadly, you have lost." Bakura held out his hand demandingly.

"You owe me a card."

"NOOOOO!!!" Kal collapsed to his knees and his cards scattered everywhere. Bakura bent down and picked one up. He flipped it over and smirked.

"This will do nicely. Now, clear the platform you sniveling whelp, before I drag you off myself. The next duel is to take place." Bakura jumped nimbly down off the platform, right in front of Zeak. He casually stuck his index finger up at Zeak and spun around to face Yami's half-amused form.

"No congratulations needed. I know I'm the best." Bakura slapped Yami roughly on the chest and stepped back to the sidelines.

"Okay, that didn't go as planned, but there's still four more duels to play. Michael! You're up," ordered Zeak coldly. His demeanor told Kal that his boss wasn't pleased. Kal gulped slightly and slunk to the back of the group.

Mai stepped up to her side of the platform and winked at Michael.

"You start, big guy. And can you try to provide some kind of challenge?"

Michael shook his head, as if he'd heard it all before.

"I draw. Now, let's see you survive the forces of water!"

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