Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 223 Profound Darkness

When I was a kid, I lived out in the middle of nowhere. Dirt roads and sparse neighbors, just a hop, skip and a jump from a forest preserve where we would occasionally go for a Christmas tree if we could score a permit. No streetlamps, so I would sometimes wake up during a power-outage in the middle of the night to complete and total darkness and silence. And pretty cold too, because for a while all we had was an old woodstove instead of a central heating system. A pretty innocuous situation in the grand scheme, but pretty terrifying to little Writch. I'm pretty sure I remained panicky in the dark a bit beyond where fear of it would have faded from my peers because of this.

If I had read this comic way back then, I might have been okay in the dark.

It seems WAY better than facing the sun in Mai's condition, anyway.

Marik, you'll recall, has coaxed Ra out of its fetal position with his fancy ancient chant to bring him victory, because apparently that's the only alarm clock the god card will heed. Jonouchi's freaking out as he yells Mai's name, and Yami looks desperate over the fact that if Marik attacks this turn, Mai's life points will go down to zero. He knows Mai will die if this is a real Game of Darkness (TM), giving the impression it's a futile hope that all the indications are contrary to the truth. It can't be easy to contemplate a torture and death happening RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES, especially when it's a buddy.

Mai lifts her head in her complicated contraption, looking ragged and every bit as abused as she's been. Marik laughs that she's the perfect sacrifice, apparently because her hands and feet are bound and she can't so much as place a card to defend herself. Seems like the literal prevention of player action should be against the rules? I know that there is zero chance of Moar Cards Guy even TRYING to intervene, given that he refused in the previous two matches, but I don't think I will ever NOT be annoyed by the lack of adult action in this comic.

Marik says Ra will only have to attack once to kill Mai, who doesn't reply because she's too exhausted and in pain. He starts fantasizing about her burning into ash and disappearing into darkness, and I'm really glad the panel only includes his crazy grin and bulging eyes, rather than anything below the waist. Even Jonouchi is aware that Mai's going to die with this continued torture, though to be fair, he could just be referring to the disappearance of her life points than a literal passing.

Yami yells at Marik to stop again, telling him that there's no need for this torture porn to continue because the winner has already been declared. Has it? I don't recall Moar Cards Guy saying that Marik won yet. Lemme check...

... Yeah, the guy doesn't so much as show up in the last couple of chapters. An absence that is even more conspicuous now that Yami's pointed it out. Maybe he was trying to bluff his way to a less deadly resolution to this duel? If that's his goal, it's not working. Marik smirks down at him, bidding he watch Mai be sacrificed, and THEN he can let his anger come out to play. Dude, I think he's already angry enough, what with his teeth grinding away and his glare set to maximum. If you're looking for Yami to be PEAK pissed off, mission accomplished, bro. You can stop trying so hard now.

He does PAUSE to reveal that the scar of memories is on his back. The phrase is repeated by Yami, who has no reason to understand how literal that is, so he's probably mostly confused by it. Marik doesn't bother to clarify, and just states that his family has been guarding the scar for generations, waiting for the Pharaoh to return so they can present those memories to him. Marik facepalms over this being the fundamental reason his family has had to endure darkness and pain for so long in the land of lost hope. Another untranslated panel later, probably more mumbly self-pity, he draws his hand away from his face to reveal he's laughing about having complete control over his host's body now. He starts rambling about those who lost freedom in their hearts and darkness forming a new darkness or something.

"I only exist because of the shitty circumstances in the shitty cult that my family built around your shitty memories, Yami. That totally justifies my shitty torture of your friends!"

And so the cycle continues.

Yami identifies this Marik as the OTHER personality. There are TWO??? I was hard-pressed to find even ONE in there, but hey... Other!Marik says he was born on Marik's 10th birthday during that tattoo ritual, using Marik's pain and anger toward his father to, I don't know, coagulate or whatever. Marik was trying to protect and help himself, survive the horrible abuse, and other!Marik was a result of this instinct. Other!Marik had THOUGHT he could control the original personality, but his ability to do so was severely limited to when Marik was angry. Somehow, Rishid performing the ritual on his face kept that anger in check, and kept other!Marik sealed up. There's not really a bridge to connect these things. Anyway, now that Rishid is unconscious, because Rishid never slept before this moment I suppose, other!Marik can totally control his shared body with Marik.

Yami asks what other!Marik's purpose is, other than the god cards, of course. Other!Marik questions the word "purpose" like he'd never considered it before, and says he doesn't really NEED one of those things.

"Burn everything" still seems like a purpose to me. You kind of have to go out of your way to do it. Other!Marik says it's fun to destroy stuff, and once he's had his fill of destruction and the world is under his control, it'll become a brand new world of darkness. His double-imaged face stretches all the more for his fantasy, and Yami looks torn between sustained rage and complete shock, eyes wide as they stare at batshit other!Marik.

Meanwhile, Jonouchi is consumed with concern for Mai and runs forward, thinking he has to try and rescue her before Ra attacks. He's chosen a hell of a time to start this rescue plan, considering other!Marik has finally turned his attention back to the woman strapped into his holographic torture device, ready to send her on her way into that good night. Jonouchi runs around the base to where we FINALLY see Moar Cards Guy again, and demands to be let up onto the platform. Moar Cards Guy insists they can't interfere with the duel, like the cowardly piece of garbage he is, so Jonouchi pushes him away and starts looking for a way up himself, even while Moar Cards Guy threatens that he can be disqualified. Jonouchi finds a simple panel with up and down buttons on it, assuming this must be the control for it, casting an anxious glance up at Mai. She's hanging her head still, thinking at him that this is the end for her.

Announcing his turn with little fanfare, other!Marik tells Ra to burn Mai until she dies with an "Inferno Flames of God attack, much to the panic of Yami. Anzu and Shizuka stare in alarm at the spectacle, Yami yells Mai won't survive the attack, and Kaiba just glares shrewdly. Other!Marik, because I guess we all need him to drag this shit out, adds one more "die" command at a thoroughly exhausted Mai, who looks like she's ready to just get this shit over with already.

Classic villain, being so verbose about everything from backstory to attacks. Maybe should have hurried the fuck up, because...

Both Anzu and Shizuka call out to Jonouchi with urgency, but he ignores them, and ignores Mai when she asks him what the fuck he's doing here and tells him to go away. He calls her an idiot, but immediately thereafter a friend, and therefore unable to just stand there and watch her suffer. Gracious this boy is just precious. Mai says that her life points aren't zero yet, and that she can't just walk away from a duel, but Jonouchi doesn't want to entertain this nonsense and is determined to get her out of this.

But Mai mumbles it's useless, because she can't move anymore. He tries to reason that this is just more nonsense, that the torture device is just a hologram, and reaches up to grab Mai's wrist and pull her away from it because there's no way she can't move. But in the next panel, he's looking floored, wondering if THIS is other!Marik's Game of Darkness (TM). Not sure what this is in reference to, since we don't see him explicitly FAIL to move her arm or anything, or feel the solidity of a supposed hologram. All we see at this point is a massive, and growing, fireball backlighting Jonouchi, and Mai demanding that Jonouchi not worry about her and get the hell out of here, since he still has a duel later. As the fireball VERY slowly grows behind him,  Jonouchi tells Mai not to joke with him, and Mai can't help but be amazed that he's still trying to help her out at a time like this, and it makes her a tad happy in a weird way too. While she silently gives thanks to Jonouchi for saying that they're friends, she's still urging him to run the fuck away out loud. He yells her name, she admits (either aloud or to herself, I'm not sure) that the entire reason she's in the tournament was because she wanted to duel with Jonouchi and the rest of her buddies again, and that was the prerequisite for telling him her feelings. Jonouchi grits his teeth, Mai hangs her head, both sweating, and it's a strangely suggestive image, especially in the current context.

... This fireball is slow as shit, guys.

FINALLY!!

Wait, what?

That's right, Yami has leaped between Jonouchi and the blast, grinding his teeth as he absorbs it and other!Marik laughs his ass off. He glares at other!Marik out of his periphery and promises to take responsibility for the hatred and pain that made him. He plans to seal other!Marik away again.

Does this mean you're getting yourself a sick-ass face-tat, Yami?

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? On the last page, the translator said that they have more direct translating to do and they don't necessarily understand what's being said there. It's possible they're saying they've ALREADY done all the translating directly and just don't understand the euphemisms being used, or that they have left mystifying things untranslated for for of them being incomprehensible upon direct translation. Because the only thing that's clear here is that the translator hasn't quite mastered English yet, either one of these possibilities is likely to give us incomplete information on the story in the chapter. I'm afraid my analysis might not be very accurate for this very reason.

But this is what I can glean given the limited info I've been able to pull:

A. Other!Marik is NOT a spirit of the Millennium Rod like Yami is of the puzzle, or asshole!Bakura is of the ring. He's entirely a product of Marik's survival instinct as a child in an abusive situation. What's interesting about this is it provides us with a just a little more of an idea of what these items are like to have. Here's confirmation that not every item has an active SOUL-type being inhabiting them. Pegasus had stated that there was an evil presence in them, but there was no evidence that his eye was possessed by another being like Yami. Perhaps the items themselves are what contain a sort of general unsettling "evil" and can lend themselves to host or strengthen a spirit who taps into it. After all, other!Marik seemed to suggest above that his growing nourishment was Marik's resentment and anger and fear not only for his father, but for the entire situation. The Millennium Items are the CENTER of that situation, and I doubt other!Marik would have been able to gain so much power without the rod lending at least a little of that to him in the context. Also, it's just an interesting thing to think about - the rod and other items contributing to the possession of them and the host, a grotesque triad of a feedback loop.

B. It may be that Rishid giving himself the ritualistic tattoo was a symbol of solidarity for Marik, and that's why other!Marik was sealed with it. Fear and anger get stronger with loneliness, and if Marik had felt completely alone in his suffering during the ritual, other!Marik might have overcome him right then and there. But because Rishid subjected himself to the suffering as well, sharing that pain with Marik, the both of them were able to bear the load together. It also helps to explain why Rishid's collapse at this point released other!Marik from his seal. Both Rishid and Marik are now convinced that his "punishment" for using the fake card is a rejection; to them it means he's not really part of the family or the cult. Rishid's been disowned by his god, and his tattoo sacrifice doesn't mean squat now. In a way, that moment must have driven a wedge between Marik and Rishid too, because if Rishid didn't belong to the clan this entire time, then Marik really was alone in bearing the pressure of carrying on the family mission. Rishid's not conscious to try to reason with him, and maybe would need to be reasoned with himself even if he was awake. Marik was alone and ripe for exploitation. Hello other!Marik.

C. This may be how Yami is thinking too, because his putting himself between Ra's attack and his friends is a similar act of solidarity as Rishid's deliberate participation in a painful ritual to share the pain of it. It's more than possible that it will be insufficient, however, because there's still an awfully big gulf between himself and Marik, who still thinks Yami is the cause of all his woes. As long as he does, that anger and fear will continue to fester in the form of other!Marik, whose only medicine is to infect the whole damn world with the same affliction, because misery loves company. Even so, it's nice to see Yami trying to take responsibility for something. For once.

D. Aside from Jonouchi's jump to rescue Mai being just adorable, it's also the FIRST explicit acknowledgement so far that it's super weird how solid and able to affect reality these holograms are, guys. It seems almost like a regression, because all the characters have been accepting this odd fact for dozens of chapters now, BEFORE other!Marik's Game of Darkness (TM), by the way. You can't just blame it on him, Jonouchi, there is CLEARLY something else going on here.

E. If KT can make magical holograms a normal part of the world, I feel like he should be able to pull off a sense of responsibility in the adults of this world, even if they have to fail in carrying it out. Can Moar Cards Guy AT LEAST TRY to protect the duelists bodily integrity? Please? I'm begging for ONE of these grown-ass men to DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS MADNESS!!!

Ahem. That is all.