The pitch-black clouds gathered high in the sky, with rumbling thunder sounding like the beat of drums.
The black sky seemed to have caught fire, and leaping flames transformed into the shape of wings. A divine dragon, entirely crimson, appeared in the middle of those wings, its massive body circling intermittently among the dark clouds, so immense that from below, only a fraction of its true form could be glimpsed from any angle.
The dragon extended its head from behind the seemingly red-hot clouds. It stretched its neck and let out a thunderous roar. The invisible sound waves reverberated between heaven and earth, shattering valleys and cracking the ground.
Slifer the Sky Dragon!
The Obliterator and the Sky Dragon, two gods whose status just happens to correspond to each other among the Evil God and Egyptian God. As they say, enemies meeting face to face are exceptionally hostile. Even before clashing, the divine might and aura of the Egyptian God and Evil God had already collided thousands of times.
The Evil God opened its hideous mouth, within which black flames seemed to churn, as if from the depths of Hell.
Slifer the Sky Dragon wouldn't admit defeat either, opening its mouth as well. Lightning and thunder flashed on the horizon, with dazzling golden lightning gathering in its mouth, ready to burst out at any moment.
Thunderforce Attack!
Judgement Black Flame!
The clash between the Egyptian God and the Evil God, the collision of the golden thunder and black flame, unleashed an earth-shattering impact toward the sky, crossing and piercing the heavens, making it look as if a huge hole had been torn in the sky!
The dragon's roar echoed incessantly, and the divine power's aftershock swept across the ground, instantly turning countless undead and monster spirits into dust. The body of the Sky Dragon, trailing black smoke, was knocked back, and with a roar, it dissipated into a shadow and faded away. The Obliterator was not much stronger in its condition, quickly dissipating back into the Void after being shaken by the Thunderforce Attack.
In the formation, Dark Yugi staggered, blood rushing up his throat, and his vision going black as he nearly fell, but was supported in time by Yugi beside him.
His lips turned pale as he managed to squeeze out a smile: "I'm alright."
Summoning spirits consumed one's own Soul Power, and the damage the spirits received would directly reflect on the controller, just like in some future Dark Duels.
The duel between the Sky Dragon and the Evil God ended with both sides losing, and as its master, Yugi naturally suffered the same damage as the Sky Dragon.
But the Evil God was also repelled, so Bakura shouldn't be feeling well either.
Mahad, who had set up a barrier, closed his eyes to sense for a moment, then suddenly opened his eyes, stepped forward, and bowed to Dark Yugi: "Pharaoh, the aftershock from the clash of the two gods just tore open a gap behind the barrier, and Bakura escaped from there!"
"We won't let him escape."
Dark Yugi took a deep breath, stood up, and leaped onto his mount, personally leading the pursuit without another word.
Sure enough, when the aftershock of the gods' clash erupted into chaos below, a horse burst through the rear gap at full speed, fleeing in the opposite direction as if its life depended on it.
Bakura wore a large hood, his red robe, full of tears and holes from the explosion, fluttered wildly in the wind. Nearby, a team of Egyptian soldiers stepped forward to try to block him, but an Evil Demon blasted out of the smoke with a long tail trailing behind, sweeping down the soldiers coming at it with a single swing.
Snake-Tailed Demon, Dirabound!
It's the powerhouse monster Dirabound that Bakura used to fight the Three Egyptian God in the original Egypt arc!
The soldiers were no match for Dirabound, and their defenses were easily torn apart. Spirits driven by priests pursued, but Dirabound knocked them away in a single exchange, failing to stop Bakura.
The King rode a horse, leaping down from a high place—the physique of this horse might as well have come from the set of Assassin's Creed—personally leading the charge, pursuing straight in Bakura's fleeing direction.
The priests quickly followed, backed by a team of Egyptian soldiers, and a large crowd of spirits pursued Bakura in the direction of his escape.
A group pursuing and blocking, winding around the valleys, occasionally exchanging a few long-range attacks between their spirits and Dirabound.
Meanwhile, our Evil God comrade kept his head low the whole time, hiding in his large robe, making a direct run without looking back, with a large group following him, seeming both quite pitiable and somewhat humorous...
I wonder where this horse under the Evil God comrade comes from; it seems quite capable of running. The Pharaoh led the chase personally, and yet so many of them have been pursuing him almost all day, unable to catch up.
But eventually, after many twists and turns, he finally stopped.
There was no road ahead.
Dirabound struggled to resist—though this Snake-Tailed Demon was indeed very strong, it no longer possessed the special abilities of numerous powerful monsters, including the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and even Obelisk the Tormentor, like in the anime, limiting its own combat strength.
And as the saying goes, "Two fists can't match four hands"—moreover, it's far more than four hands here—the Pharaoh and priests summoned spirits that swarmed in, pulling off a classic "justice beatdown," quickly reducing Dirabound to a bruised and battered state, crying "unethical" before exploding on the spot.
Bakura, on the horse, was cornered and silent, with his back facing them.
"It's over, Bakura!" Yugi shouted, "Your Darkness Game has come to an end, you've lost!"
Bakura stood silent for a long time, and though his shoulders started to tremble slightly... he unexpectedly tilted his head back and laughed.
The large hood fell, revealing a head of explosive white hair. "Bakura" turned his head, his facial muscles twisting at an inhuman angle as he stuck out a long tongue.
"Did you miss me, nameless Pharaoh?"
Yugi's pupils shrunk in surprise: "You are... Marik!?"
This guy was wearing Bakura's coat, riding Bakura's horse, and even the spirit with him was Bakura's...
...turns out it was the sixth grader Marik!
This was a Stand attack.
"Hahahaha! Completely fooled, nameless Pharaoh." The sixth grader looked quite pleased.
Even though you might think he's in a tight spot, on the brink of defeat, maybe even betrayed by his allies... overall, he's just very happy.
No help for it, the sixth grader is like this. He just wants to see the surprised and flustered look on Yugi's face.
And another notable feature of the sixth grader is that he hasn't won many card games, but he is puffed up with pride and has a big addiction to dueling.
It's precisely because he has his own little schemes in mind (and also because his lifeline is in someone else's hands) that he agreed to act as Bakura's Stand in this frontal role.
"Come on, nameless Pharaoh." Marik showed the golden alchemical Dueling Disc on his wrist, "Let's cross three thousand years of time and resolve our grievances!"
He licked the corner of his mouth, grinning.
"'The Winged Dragon of Ra', I'd be grateful if you returned it to me."