Angel

Bakura

He stood on the branches of a tree watching as the owner, Mr. Roberts was teaching Daveed how to walk in the backyard. Though he knew it was his intent to kill him, Bakura kept his composure and just observed him from afar. He knew now was not a time to execute his plan.

Deep down he had the means to keep the child alive thus far. He had a feeling he would be of more use living than dead.

He grinned, and wished the others in his order saw this as well, but they were assassins who loved their job and were deeply determined to see their contract complete.

At the moment, nobody but Bakura knew the child was living here on Earth under the care of the self-proclaimed Duel Monsters creator. He bit into an apple, keeping an eye on the boy as he wobbled towards Mr. Roberts

Many seasons went by, but in this tropical climate, Bakura couldn't tell. But he was content. After many months of planning, he finally got a family to adopt Daveed from the orphanage.

Not just any family. It was the Montgomery Family, the owners of the island. Daveed was playing football with his new siblings, while the owner, Mr. Montgomery, was having a barbeque celebrating Daveed's acceptance into the family.

A Yata-Garasu, a raven-like Duel Monster, flew into a tree branch and morphed into Bakura. He hid in the shadows of the leaves keeping his watch on the child.

Bakura sat down on the tree branch and swung his leg back and forth watching the Termnnian prince kick the football back to his brother, who lightly tackled him to the ground. Daveed laughing wildly as he tickled his stomach.

This warmed Bakura's heart and brought a smile to his face. It almost bothered him that Yami and the others sent him to live in some orphanage.

But, he did not bring the Montgomery family to Yuri from the good in his heart. There was no good in it (if he had one at all). This favor he did for the prince was nothing more than a means to his own end.

"Ah there he is!" announced a bulky Russian man. "Come here little Yuri!"

"Why do you call him that, Sergei?" Paula Montgomery asked. "Lately we've all been calling him that. It just sticks for some reason."

"Because it means flower, and isn't he as sweet as one!"

"Sergei!" called Jacob. "Come help me with the meat."

"Da, we know you're no good at cooking."

Bakura smirked. "Yuri, huh?" He nodded. "Sounds almost like Yugi. It would be something if he grew to be quite the Duelist."

The football rolled towards the bottom of the tree Bakura was perched in. He looked down and spotted Yuri running towards it. The little boy looked up and saw the Eldori man looking down at him.

"Shhh!" Bakura said placing a gloved finger to his lips. He tossed the child a candy from his pocket to keep him quiet.

"Shhh!" Yuri said mimicking Bakura's actions.

"Shhh!" Bakura said again.

"Shhh!" Yuri mimicked again. He began to laugh hysterically. He thought Bakura was playing with him. Bakura realized this and made funny faces to entertain the child.

"Hey, Yuri, come on!" called Buzz. "Your little friend, Ren, is here."

Yuri picked up the ball and waved goodbye to Bakura before sprinting off back to his family.

"You're lucky I still have some form of a heart left in me, little Prince," Bakura whispered.

"I don't know what your son did to Josh and his friends, Mrs. Montgomery," the principal said during a meeting after school. "But he has the other children spooked. They won't go near him."

"I don't care what happened to them," Paula said coldly. "Lady, you have a lot of nerve letting those little bastards off easy after what they did to my son!"

She looked down at Yuri, his face bruised and there was dried blood on his lip. The bully at school wrapped Yuri to a tree with a jump rope and took turns beating him with his friends.

"I can't punish them," said the principal. "Not after what they've been through. It will be lucky if they ever retain their sanity again. We found them so scared their hair turned bleach white. They kept muttering about a pink-haired demon that Daveed summons at his command. Has Yuri been known to have any imaginary friends?"

"He talks of a man in black, but I figured it is just that; his imagination."

"That may be so, but imagination doesn't scare children senseless. I recommend psychiatric help for your son, Mrs. Montgomery, and a specialist to see that glowing eye of his because I've been receiving a lot of complaints from concerned parents. Some have even taken their kids to go to school elsewhere because they fear his eye is contagious."

"Bullshit!"

The principal ignored her outburst. "I also have a list of programs Daveed should take here on campus."

"You mean to isolate him?"

"Until we can figure out what's going on with your son, ma'am, I fear he is an endangerment to the students here in my school."

"My boy is harmless!" Paula retorted. "I don't know who or what screwed those boys up so bad. But I commend them! Because they did a better job executing justice than this poor excuse of an institution. Come on, Yuri, let's go."

She grabbed her child and left the office despite not being excused to leave. "Come on, baby. Let's go see if your friend Ren wants to play."

Little Yuri, now five years old, sat alone under the shade of a tree eating his lunch. It was his birthday but no one wanted to get near him to celebrate.

"He's so scary," said a child eating his lunch with his friends. "I heard they transferred him here from that other school because he summoned a monster or something that put those kids in a coma."

"I heard that glowing eye is how he summons that monster," said another. "They say it's some sort of demon with spiky hair."

"Those two kids are crazy befriending him."

Yuri finished his lunch. But as he got up to throw his trash away a cupcake appeared before him.

"What's a birthday without some sort of celebration?" Bakura asked from the top of the tree. He had the hood of his black armored coat up in case anyone spotted him. He was already some sort of monster in an urban legend, and the children around the little prince were already fearful enough of him as it was. Bakura jumped down from the tree and sat down in front of the boy. He tossed him a party hat, crumpled from being in his pocket. He placed it on the prince's head.

"Well, aren't you going to make a wish?" Bakura asked.

The boy just stared at him with a confused look.

"It's your birthday after all. Aren't you supposed to celebrate?"

Yuri swallowed and just looked at Bakura, examining his strange features. Yuri was young, still but an infant, but he was smart enough to know Bakura was not human.

"Blow out the candle now before the wind does you damn fool."

Still nothing but a stare from the child.

Bakura was growing impatient.

"Look, I risked a lot getting this stuff for you!" snapped Bakura. "The least you can do is say thank you."

The boy still said nothing and stared sadly into Bakura's brown eyes.

"I swear if I didn't need you alive," Bakura growled grinding his teeth. "Stop looking at me like that!"

"Aren't you supposed to give me a present?" the prince said at last.

"Present!" Bakura stammered slamming his fist on the table almost knocking over the cupcake. "The things I do for you, my lord." Bakura muttered, but the 'lord' he was referring to was not Prince Yuri.

"I will be right back." Bakura leaped over the chain-link fence and dashed away.

"Yuri!" called a cute little blonde girl with green and blue eyes. She was carrying a bouquet of linen balloons in one hand and a pack of cards in the other. "Look what I got you!"

"You mean look what I got you!" said a boy with short red hair. "I bought that pack."

"You got me a pack?" Yuri asked.

The little blonde girl nodded. "Uh-huh, and look! You even got yourself a cupcake with a candle and everything." The girl clapped her hands while sitting down. "Now we can have a proper party."

"Who was that guy you were talking to?" the red-haired boy asked.

"Nobody," Yuri replied. "There was nothing there."

"Good," said the blonde girl. "Because it's bad talking to strangers!"

"What's this?" Bakura said clutching onto a teddy bear he stole from a vendor's stall. "Ah, so his little friends have come to join him."

He watched the children all day and followed them to the beach where they splashed each other in the water and played in the sand.

As he stood hidden in the cool shade of the palm trees, he couldn't help but feel jealous of the prince. He was having fun. Something Bakura was denied for far too long.

After all these years of being so close to the child, Bakura was fighting an urge in his being, his heart perhaps, to spare the child of the malicious plans that were in store for him in the future.

But he was loyal to his order and his lord. He made a name for himself being a cold and emotionless killer on the battlefield and in the game of Duel Monsters. He could not afford to let this boy change that.

Another year went by leading to a dark and rainy night. Bakura was leaning against the wall outside the mansion. His hood down over his head to shield him from the cold rain beating down on him. He could hear Mrs. Montgomery crying inside the kitchen from the window beside him.

"My baby!" she sobbed.

"Mrs. Montgomery, it will be all right." The sheriff confided to her, rubbing her back to soothe her. "We're doing all we can to find him. We have helicopters searching the sea and boats forming a perimeter around Aquarius to make sure the kidnappers don't get far. I assure you we'll find him safe and sound."

The front door opened. Sergei came in with the blonde little girl. Paula gave the little girl a long hard hug as she wailed in her chest.

"It's okay, sweetie." Paula soothed the child.

"Any word yet?"

"None," said Jacob. "The kidnappers still demand money from me. We've got until midnight to pay the ransom. Otherwise, we'll never see our son again."

The blonde girl let out a sorrowful wail when she heard him say that.

"Please, ma'am," said the sheriff. "We're doing all we can."

"It's not good enough," scoffed Bakura from his hiding place. "I found the boy's location hours ago," he grinned. "I was hoping to spare the fool who took the little prince the pain of having to contend with me, but your amateurish search has gone on long enough. You leave me no choice."

And so Bakura dashed into the city keeping to the darkness. It was too windy for him to turn into Yata Garasu, and as he went deeper into the city there were more obstacles to fly around. He couldn't afford to get hurt tonight.

As much as it pained him to admit, the child needed him. He found a rundown apartment building nestled in between two large hotel rooms. The apartment building was scheduled to be torn down soon. Inside Yuri sobbed uncontrollably as four men walked about the room with guns.

"You got four hours. If you don't pay up, he's dead." The leader of the gang said hanging up the phone. He was a skinny old man with gray hair, balding all around the top, and a short-cut beard. He was wearing a white tank top, mattered, and dirty and torn work jeans. He reached into a bag of chocolate chip cookies and ate one savagely. He peered to the left and saw the child he kidnapped looking at the cookies hungrily.

They heard a scream from downstairs. It was one of the guards.

"Go check it out!" the leader ordered. His men switched the safety off their MP5s and dashed downstairs.

"You're gonna be okay kid," the leader said looking at Yuri. "Come here," he signaled him to get close. Yuri didn't want to move but then the man took out a gun from his pocket and pointed it at him. "I said come here."

Yuri moved forward cautiously until he was directly in front of him. He offered the child a cookie.

Yuri smiled and reached for it.

"Syke!" he laughed swiping the cookie away and stuffing it into his mouth. "That's the fourth time you fell for that you stupid kid! You know what Yuri means in Japanese?" he asked. "Lilly flower. I hear they call you that because you're a nice kid. And you are a nice kid aren't ya?"

Yuri nodded his head twice...Three times.

"Yeah, you're a real nice kid."

He had a look on his face that was scaring the boy. "What is with that eye of yours, kid? Your eye glows like a nightlight," he laughed. "I wonder if anything else glows on you."

Without warning, he yanked down both Yuri's pants and underwear with a powerful tug.

"I wouldn't do anything brash if I were you," the chilling voice of Bakura said from the darkness of the apartment roon. He grinned, entering the room. Yuri dashed for a bed and went under the sheets to hide.

"What the hell are you?" the kidnapper asked, staring at the Eldori creature coming into the light.

"Is this how you get your sick kicks?" Bakura asked with a sneer. "By going after children? I'm by no means a saint myself, but you. Animals such as yourself make me vomit. You poor excuse of a Homo sapien."

The man was about to ask Bakura where his men were, but he could see his twin blades were dripping with blood.

"You killed my guys!"

"I would do the same to you, but your death would be quick and painless. A form of punishment I don't like. So, I have something else in mind."

"Oh yeah, tough guy?"

"Are you accustomed to the game Duel Monsters?"

"So, you want to Duel huh?"

"Yes, and the boy will be at stake."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because if you win, I will hand you these," Bakura took a black sack out of his coat. He walked to a table and poured egg-sized diamonds onto it.

"Are those real?" gasped the man.

"They are very real. And they will be all yours if you win the Duel. And you can keep the child."

"Very well, but I warn you. I'm good."

"We'll just see about that," sneered Bakura. "Come sit."

Bakura used his arm to clear the table of empty beer bottles and boxes of takeout Chinese food before opening his game mat to set his cards down.

"You first," said Bakura. "We'll play with two-thousand Life Points."

"Why so little?"

"Because the police already have a bead on your location. If you wish to escape with the boy and the diamonds on time you'll play with what you have. You did say you are a skilled player?"

"I am. After this match, you're going to make me filthy rich," he drew his first card. Then, with is free hand reached into the bag of cookies and ate one. "You know, I should thank you for taking out my boys. After I win this Duel and get the ransom from Montgomerys all that money will be mine and I don't have to share it. Fewer hands mean more pie. Anyways, to start my turn, I summon Flame Manipulator!"

Flame Manipulator

ATK/900 DEF/1000

"My fiery spellcaster is going to roast ya!"

"Is that so?" Bakura said drawing his card. "I shall summon The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams in attack mode!"

"Hey, how come I've never seen that card before?"

"The game evolves from day to day," said Bakura, laying down a face-down card. "A well-experienced Duelist knows how to adapt to these changes. The game; ever-changing. And now I will destroy your Flame Manipulator with my Souls of the Forgotten."

"Okay, not bad," the kidnapper said, tossing his defeated card in the Graveyard. "But how can you go against this? Ancient One of the Deep Forest with an attack strength of eighteen-hundred points."

"Oh dear," Bakura grimaced.

The sheep-like monster easily defeated his ghostly creature and dropped his Life Points down to 1100.

"It's your turn, freak. If you summon another pathetic monster you're going to get wiped out. And then your diamonds and the kid are all mine."

"Very well," said Bakura. "I shall use the spell card Polymerization to fuse Tainted Wisdom and Ancient Brain in order to create Skull Knight."

Bakura's fusion monster had an ATK of 2650. The kidnapper gawked in shock. But Bakura was not done yet.

"I now use the spell: Shrink, to reduce your goat's attack in half reducing it to a pitiful nine hundred attack points. Then I will attack with my Skull Knight and finish you off with a little Hinotama which does five hundred points of damage to your Life Points which have been reduced to a measly two-hundred-fifty because of the devastating attack of my Skull Knight."

"But the match just started!" gasped Yuri's kidnapper. "That just isn't fair!"

"You're another fool who plays with nothing but aggressive monsters in his deck," Bakura picked up his card. "This world plays so primitively. Now if you don't mind, I will take the child."

The kidnapper stood up and pulled out the pistol tucked in his waistband. He shot Bakura four times in the chest. Bakura grunted and fell backward in his chair laying lifeless on the floor. The kidnapper fired more rounds into Bakura's corpse until the clip was empty.

Yuri screamed with fright, covering his ears from the blasts.

"You thought it was going to be that easy, huh?" the kidnapper said picking up the bag of diamonds from the table. He even looted Bakura's golden cards. "Look at this deck," he said greedily. "I've never seen such cards. These creatures. They all just reek of pure darkness. I could be world champ with a deck like this. After I get my money of course."

He stuffed Bakura's deck into his back pocket and undid his belt.

"Okay, kid. Where were we?"

Yuri wailed doing everything in his power to keep from being sodomized by the sick man who had no clue Bakura was getting up from the floor with a smile on his face.

The kidnapper finally yanked the sheets away, but before he could commit his dastardly crime he felt a sharp pain in his back. He gasped in shock looking down at his chest and seeing a bloody katana poking out of his body dripping with his blood.

"You thought it was going to be that easy, huh?" Bakura whispered in his ear. He then shouted: "Penalty Game!"

Yuri cried trying to make sense of what was going on around him. Bakura wiped the blood off his blade with a towel hanging on a kitchen rack and then he tossed the frightened child his pants.

"Stop your wailing you fool!" he snapped. "Now get dressed so we can get you home."

Yuri sobbed pulling his jeans back on. He suddenly ran to Bakura and hugged him then started wailing in his lap.

Bakura stood rooted to the spot.

"Come off it!" he said, patting the child on the back of the head. "You're all right. Want a cookie to make you feel better?"

Yuri wiped his face and nodded taking the cookie from Bakura's hand.

"Well, go on then, eat it."

Yuri gave a wan smile little knowing of the face wailing in fear at the bottom of the cookie.

Where am I? What have you done? Why can't I move? Where are my arms and legs?

Yuri bit into the cookie with a loud crunch. Thanks to Bakura's shadow magic he couldn't hear the scream of agony erupting from the treat.

"Finish it," said Bakura. "It's a sin to waste food. Well, I don't know about that cookie though. You really shouldn't eat junk food."

Yuri did as he was told and finished eating the cookie thus ending the sorry excuse of a life the kidnapper once had.

After Bakura led the child out of the apartment he summoned a mischievous Pyro-type Duel Monster called Hinotama Soul. The fiery creature laughed maniacally as it bounced into the apartment, hopping from room to room and setting everything it touched ablaze.

"Come on," Bakura yanked the child by the arm leading him away deeper into the city as police cruisers and fire trucks wailed down the rainy streets towards the burning building.

Later, Bakura and Yuri were strolling through the rainy night back to the Montgomery estate. Since leaving the nightmare of the apartment complex Yuri said nothing. But as they reached the entrance of the neighborhood, Yuri looked up at Bakura.

"Are you an angel?" the boy asked timidly.

Bakura stopped.

"What did you say?" he asked coldly, looking down at Yuri from the corner of his eye.

"Mom said if I prayed hard enough, God would send me an angel to take care of me. I think he answered me. You always come to save me and are there to make me feel better when I'm alone. "

"No."

"You have to be a one. You are a very good person!"

"SHUT UP!" Bakura shouted unsheathing his katana.

He swung hard and stopped just inches from Yuri's throat.

"I may have watched your back all these years, but I implore you to understand that you are needed for a fell purpose in the future. When the time comes, my lord, my service to you will be over and I swear, child, I will let the shadows devour your soul!"

Yuri stood motionless, staring into Bakura's eyes. He could feel the cold steel caressing his little neck. Yet, his feelings for Bakura did not change. He was still young and figured Bakura was trying hard to convince Yuri he was a bad guy.

But five years of kindness failed to convince him otherwise. Bakura was still his hero in his eyes.

"Thank you, for saving me tonight," Yuri said anyway.

"Ugh!" Bakura gasped, his eyes widening.

Strong and brave. Any other fool would have begged for mercy upon seeing me, but, even with my blade to his throat, he still loves me. A remarkable child.

Bakura sighed, put his sword away, and grimaced for a minute before saying, "You're welcome." He ruffled the prince's jet-black hair.

Bakura offered Yuri his hand. The child took it and followed his angel, for lack of a better word, up the hill back to his home. He watched as the boy slowly walked into his house.

He rang the doorbell and was later met with a crying, sobbing Paula Montgomery. She picked him up and brought him inside the house.

"Some night, eh?" said an Eldori with wild, spiked hair leaning against a tree while hiding in the shadows.

"Marik?" said Bakura.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've grown attached to the boy, Bakura."

"We need him alive in order for our plan to work," said Bakura. "I thought he'd be better off here than that orphanage that Yugi sent him to. Obviously, he's been so pampered that he's a weak boy. Plus, his father refuses to give him cards, so his skills in Duel Monsters will never grow. At this rate, he'll be dead before he turns eighteen. I don't know what else to do. Everyone is after him. I lost sight of him for just a few seconds and look at the trouble he's been in this night."

"Arrr." Marik grinned as he crossed his arms over his chest. "So see to it that he grows up big and strong. He has a great power inside of him that has yet to see its full potential. It would be a shame to let it go to waste so soon. I do hope you're going to keep those assassins in line."

"They don't know he's here," said Bakura. "It's going to be difficult watching over him and keeping him a secret from them."

"I will aid in suppressing his power so they don't sense him here," Marik said, holding up a golden rod-shaped item. A Millennium Item, just like the ring around Bakura's neck. "In the meantime, raise the child as though he were your own. Raise him properly, Bakura. I want a man returning to Termnnia, not a prince."

The next day, Bakura met with Yuri again, safe and secluded in the backyard beach behind the estate. He sneered and tossed the boy a wooden rod. Yuri caught it with ease. Bakura unzipped his jacket, stripping down to his black belted vest. He picked up a wooden rod on the ground and spun it around. Yuri then realized that Bakura wanted to fight, and he shook his head no.

"I'm not going to watch you forever, boy! It's time you learned to defend yourself! Pick it up and fight me!"

Yuri dropped the rod and attempted to run. Bakura grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him on the sand.

"Do you want bad people to come after you again!?" he shouted. "FIGHT!"

Yuri whimpered. He knew he had no choice, but at the same time, he knew Bakura was right. He suddenly felt determination and picked up his rod, ready for battle.

"That's it!" said Bakura.

Yuri charged and started to swing his rod wildly. Bakura blocked each messy attack and tripped Yuri. To punish him for his mistake, Bakura slapped his staff on Yuri's rump.

"Ow!" yelped Yuri.

"Again!" said Bakura, twirling his staff. "If you want to go back inside with mommy and daddy then fight!"

For hours, Yuri was beaten by Bakura. When he decided he had enough, Bakura cleaned the boy up and let him back into the house. "I expect you back here tomorrow!" said Bakura.

When Yuri remained in bed, refusing to go out. He was wakened by a firm grasp on his neck. Bakura dragged the boy out of bed by the scruff of his shirt. He took him outside and threw him in the sand again. It was time to spar with him again.

They continued fighting with the staves for days until Yuri grew quicker and stronger, whacking Bakura's thighs and back. When he was good and ready, Bakura nodded.

Five Years Later

Bakura stood on the roof of the pharmacy watching as Yuri, now ten years old, ran out of the store with an armful of goods from candy to packs of Duel Monster cards. Yuri ran into a crowd and started secretly giving them to his friends, who were helping him with the robbery. The owner of the store came running out of the store, chasing Yuri with a broom.

When he finally caught Yuri he attempted to swing at him with the broom. Yuri dodged the owner's weapon with lightning-quick reflexes. He finally took the broom from the store owner's hands and beat his legs with it until he could no longer get up. Yuri looked at the top of the building. Bakura was looking at him with an evil sneer and nodded his head, congratulating him for a job well done.

At school the next day, Yuri stole some goods from one of the teachers and shared the loot with his friends who ordered him to pull off the heist. When he demanded his cut of the items, they turned on him.

Yuri's training with the wooden staves could not defend him from hand-to-hand combat. The boys beat him and tossed him into the bay. Bakura saw this and shook his head disapprovingly. He fished Yuri out of the water and slapped him for his weakness.

The following day, Bakura brought two Dueling Mercenaries known as the Paradox Brothers from Termnnia. They were expert Duelists, but they were also well-trained in martial arts, being masters of kung-fu. They helped Yuri with his hand-to-hand skills. Naturally, he was beaten and bruised by their fists which came at him as fast as thinking.

Normally, one would give up after having such a beating, but being secretly raised by a man like Yami Bakura poisoned and strengthened his mindset. Yuri took the pain as motivation to keep on going. He trained with them for months in secret on the sands of his father's private beach.

Bakura played with the minds of his parents and staff with his Millennium Ring so as to keep them from worrying about Yuri or even thinking about him when he was in the backyard undergoing his training. Yuri fought with the Paradox Brothers until his fists were just as fast as theirs were. He blocked both of their attacks in a two-on-two battle.

When they saw that their work was done, they placed their hands together and bowed. Yuri bowed back.

Three Years Later

Now a teenager, Yuri was stalking the streets of the slums stealing Duel Monster cards from gullible little kids. He traded his fake cards in exchange for their rares. The children were too young to realize they were being cheated.

He laughed cruelly, for he could not believe they were so stupid not to see the text on the cards he gave them was bigger and the surface of the cards were a lot brighter and faded. Nevertheless, someone caught on.

The son of a slum overlord caught on with Yuri's actions. He and his goons beat him and dunked his head into the water of a fountain as punishment for his schemes. He had to be a lot more careful from then on. He learned never to linger in one spot or his entire operation would be ruined. Still, he had a desire to be stronger.

Still seething from his mistake Yuri started a racketeering ring in Los Angeles Rojas, charging the poor people for money to keep them safe from both the mafia and the island's private security force, RAPTOR. He paid the roughest boys in the slums with large amounts of money and ultra-rare cards to form a gang to help him collect the dues owed by those who desired his protection.

He marched through the town with his gang, and with his newfound muscle, Tyson, he was able to shake the stowaways into paying him, and he would spend his money on cards, video games, and expensive dates with girls whose names he could not remember.

Bakura enjoyed seeing Yuri's transformation from his shadowy perches over the streets; watching Yuri's every move. The little angel Yugi Muto and his friends worked so hard to keep pure was now a juvenile delinquent, a spoiled rich kid, and a bully. Clearly, he was losing the qualifications to be king.

But, once again, Yuri would find himself in trouble. A woman from the slums reported Yuri's activity to the authorities. He was arrested and spent months in a detention center and put him into even more trouble with Jacob.

At sixteen, Yuri lost a fight trying to defend Crystal from her abusive boyfriend. Even though he had spent weeks of training with the Paradox Brothers, he was outmatched. Bakura helped him back on his feet and told Yuri to keep getting stronger.

"Every failure is a lesson," he said to him while cleaning his wound. "Learn from it, understand? That is the only way you can get revenge for your lady friend."

Not long after hearing Bakura's pep talk, Yuri joined a gym and began to spar in the ring, learning mixed martial arts techniques, much to Bakura's joy.

While in the form of Yata-Garasu, he watched as Yuri was beaten and stood back up again to take more punishment until his opponents were the ones on the floor, groaning in agony and defeat.

Every morning Yuri would walk to the beach and do exercises to get better. His muscles were like iron and he grew taller and leaner. A year later, he joined an MMA tournament, going up the brackets until he finished fourth place.

Bakura shrugged when he saw the progress he made and decided his job was done. Yuri was a man now. A man with a cold, black heart. With him behaving this way, there was no way those back home would allow him to be king.

Bakura would watch Yuri for another few months before he disappeared never to be seen again. With one final shadow spell from his Millennium Ring, he faded away from Yuri's memory, erasing decades of memories.

Lore

The Divine Beasts - The three mightiest monsters of the Goddesses and children of Horakhty. When summoned to the world, angelic singers, called The Meleyan, or Harbingers of the Divines, blast their powerful song announcing their coming. The three beasts first came to the earth to serve with the Pharaohs of Sobek, the golden continent. They battled Zorc alongside Exodia and three Ancient Beasts of Power in the War of the Giants that ended the first age and shattered Termnnia into five continents. When the Nameless Pharoah passed away, the Divine Beasts were left without a master until the beginning of the Second Age.

After Tiberius the Uniter brought Termnnia into order in his campaign for peace and unity from the Norman Invaders, the Divine Beasts vowed to remain in the World of Men and serve the High Kings of Termnnia forever.

Nelerung, Hammer of the Underworld - A weapon once used by Dark Master Zorc in the first Termnnian war.

The Giants of Belroth - A fell race of gigantic, cannibalistic humanoids who rose from Belroth (Meaning hunger in elvish), a plane of the Shadow Realm. Anubis used them to fight the armies of Men and Elves in the Titan Wars bringing both races to the brink of extinction. The giants were all but wiped out when a mysterious girl with silver hair and eyes of brilliant blue summoned an army of Blue-Eyes White Dragons and slaughtered them all.

High King Antar Wollcroft - The last living member of the House of Plantegrast, a cadet branch of the house of Pendragon, the House of Tiberius the Uniter. He, Yami Yugi, and Gabriel the Black led a long and bloody rebellion to take back the Diamond Throne from the Dragonheart Family, who murdered the High King Lenneth Plantegrast and his family and took the throne. After taking the Diamond Throne back from the Dragonhearts, Antar was named High King and accepted by Slifer, Obelisk, and Ra as their new master. He ruled well for twenty years. In the final days of his life, Antar adopted Prince Daveed after he destroyed Anubis in the mountain fortress of Karad-Antha, naming him his heir.

The House of Wollcroft - A small and extinct branch from the House of Plantegrast founded by Darrion Wollcroft, a bastard son of High King James Plantegrast (The Plant King). Their House lost all of its members in the Battle of Red Pass, where King Julius Dragonheart ambushed their caravan atop his dragon (A Des Volstgalph) and burned them alive. The survivors were slaughtered by the House's mercenary forces. Antar Wollcroft was the sole survivor of the battle and sought the aid of Yugi, Yami, and Gabriel to fight back the Dragonhearts and avenge his family. It went extinct after Antar's passing.

Sobek - The Land of the Sun, often called the Continent of Gold; for mountains and mountains of it is harvested daily. Sobek is home to the Rjel, a fair-faced race of people with ebony or silvery hair and skin kissed by the sun. After the land was separated in the War of the Giants, it sailed to an inhospitable part of the world. The trees died out and the lakes dried up turning the land into a harsh desert. But the people fought back against the elements and adapted to the hot, barbaric conditions creating a vast empire ruled by a leader called a Pharaoh. After the Nameless Pharaoh of the Second Age defeated Zorc Necrophades with the aid of Horakhty and the Divine Beasts, the Pharaohs were replaced with Sultans who rule their land with loving care, putting people over wealth because there is so much to be had. Many foolish kings in Termnnia have tried to conquer Sobek, but all have failed.

Eyar (eh-yar)-Powerful wizards sent down by Horakhty, the Mother of Monsters to combat Zorc Nercophades. They include Yami Yugi, Aigami, Bakura, and Dartz.

Karad-Antha - Meaning Heart of the Mountain in the Old Norman language, is the fortress where our story begins.

Nala - Goddess of arts and songs. She is the creator of the Eldori, a race of beings who arose from her paintings in the dawn of time. For this, she is highly praised by them. Artists, bards, and storytellers also pray to her in various temples across the land.