Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 263 The Monster of Victory or Defeat

After this morning, I know which one of those monsters is on my side! My husband and I saw a new apartment today and it's not only big enough to not be constantly be tripping over everything, but it's got a full-sized washer/dryer, plenty of storage space, and a fireplace. It'll cost a little more than our current place, but I'm not going to complain much. It'll only slow down saving for a house a little, and it'll mean I can actually STAND the apartment because I won't be constantly battling mold. Once my husband comes home from work, we're putting in the application, and our notice on this apartment, because we're in the EXTREMELY fortunate position to both have very good stable jobs at the moment and the apartment is most assuredly ours for that reason alone. 

Just don't tell the current apartment. I have a feeling that this place has it in for me...

I feel like if losing is all it took for him to defeat his madness, he would have defeated his madness by now. In case you haven't noticed, Yami, boy has a habit of losing to you. 

While Moar Cards Guy announces that they have a winner, and Yami is that winner, Seto Kaiba stands unsteady on his toes for some reason. His thoughts are as slow as the remnants of dragon disappearing around him, haltingly referring to his Battle City, the hatred instilled in him by his late adoptive father, his tower of revenge and standing at the top of it. Kaiba stares at Yami standing across from him, thinking that all he wanted was to beat that guy. His hand tries to grasp the ephemeral shreds of the Blue Eyes in front of him, internally lamenting that he was going to be the king of duelists. 

... Is he in another coma?

No, no, he's conscious, because he looks down at his hand with the horrified understanding that it's all over. He lost. Mokuba screams his disappointment from the sidelines, tearfully wondering how Yami beat his big brother AGAIN, who's allegedly the best. Allegedly. 

Seto is still staring at his hand, thoughts about his ultimate deck/ultimate servant drifting through his head. Now he looks at the Duel Disk on his arm, insisting silently that his strategy was flawless, his deck perfect in every way. He just can't get over the fact that he lost, his eyes ready to pop right out of his skull with the pressure this reality is putting on his brain. For real, it looks like it HURTS to be him right now.

Yami addresses him at last, confirming that it is indeed true: he won and Kaiba lost. But Yami says they have no difference in skill, at which declaration Kaiba growls, eyes immediately narrowing again. He flings his arm out in a gesture of offense, asking if that's supposed to be pity. Yami responds calmly that he recognizes Kaiba's skills as a duelist, but he wants to tell him something...

But, didn't you just say he had to lose to DEFEAT the madness and hatred? Did he lose to it or defeat it? A or B?

He elaborates that the monsters on the cards are not the only demons in a duel, listing the hatred in the players' hearts, sadness, jealousy and greed as the worst enemies, as they are inside us. Doesn't really explain how Kaiba losing the duel means he both wins and loses against these things, but he patronizes Kaiba by claiming he can only be on the road to true duelist status once he defeats all of them. So, get rid of all your negative feelings or you can never be good at this game? This Jordan Peterson shit is giving me a headache. Kaiba's grimacing in much the same way I am right now as he repeats that "true duelist" phrase. 

Meanwhile, Yami considers the fantasy of him and Jonouchi standing off against each other as HIS Battle City. He smiles down at his Duel Disk, certain that Jonouchi is still fighting to find that place in their shared delusion. Good luck with that, considering Jonouchi has already been eliminated in the Battle City outside his skull, and for all Yami knows, lying cold in a hospital cot. But Yami still believes that Jonouchi is fighting to be worthy of his soul card and become that impossibly true duelist with all positive motivation and nary a dark thought. The soul card, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, is the subject of Yami's smile. 

Yami looks up to address Kaiba again, saying he would have lost if he hadn't had Red-Eyes. He takes it off the Duel Disk to hold it up, reiterate that it was given to him by a friend, whose soul is in its shape. In the shape of a card so those gross Millennium Items can more easily play it as a pawn for their own shadowy ends, no doubt. Yami says he won through the power of friendship, which really pisses Kaiba off. Shaking his fist, he asks what power that is again. Eyes bloodshot and filled with drama, Kaiba yells that Yami is a fool, that he doesn't want to win if it means depending on others, that he doesn't NEED friends, and he needs no one but himself. Ignoring the fact that he lives in a society that he depends on and needs every day to manufacture and buy his products and give meaning to the wealth and power he hoards like one of his dragons, it's clear he'd prefer to think of himself as a robotic island with no need for human connection.

And that's the saddest thing I've seen today. But good news, Kaiba...

Yami only turns up the patronizing tone when he says Kaiba's name, and admits that he's only been able to win throughout this whole tournament because he had a rival striving for a higher place. I'm sure this is VERY comforting to Kaiba, who I'm sure isn't at all done tantruming. Still, Yami knows that winning because he had a rival to challenge him is the same for Kaiba too, then wonders what Kaiba even IS to him.

I feel like there should be another possibility added to those two. Can't quite put my finger on what, though...

Kaiba scoffs and scowls, grousing that boasting is the privilege of winners, so he promises to quiet down and step off for now. Because he's incapable of either one of those things for very long, Kaiba growls and pulls a card from his deck, chucking it aggressively at Yami as he states that per the ante rule, it's his now. As it's soaring through the air, it's revealed to be Obelisk by both Kaiba and the low angle from which it's drawn, and Yami catches it effortlessly between his first and middle finger. After affirming he has his second god card, he does the same aloud to Kaiba that he accepts the ante, at while Kaiba scoffs once more while he turns to make his way off the platform. He looks back at Yami one more time to state that he's not going to allow the guy who beat him lose in the final duel, and Yami agrees. Kaiba barks at Mokuba to come along, Mokuba dutifully running to join him in retreat.

Still, Kaiba can't help but think Yami is no match for other!Marik's Ra, even with two whole god cards at his disposal. Supposing they'll see if Yami can reverse his future of defeat, Kaiba walks off, Yami watching him leave, probably loving it for many, MANY reasons.

In addition to Obelisk as a prize, Yami gets another bonus.

Just keeps getting better and better!

Both Yami and Yuugi look ecstatic that Jonouchi is back among the living while Jonouchi swipes his finger under his nose in that not quite comprehensible gesture of resilience. Yami goes to him, grasping his hand in solidarity, asking what took him so long. Jonouchi winks and apologizes. On his way into the elevator with his brother, Mokuba looks back and exclaims in disbelief that Jonouchi is alive. Seto glances over his should and scoffs AGAIN, saying Jonouchi should have stayed dead. Maybe he should have stayed in a fucking coma, if that's going to be his attitude. They're heading down a hallway, which is quite the horizontal length in a TOWER, and I don't remember seeing it before, but okay. On their way, Ishizu appears, looking somber as ever. 

Back at the top, Anzu is explaining to Yami that they actually got there earlier, but Jonouchi didn't want to interrupt the duel. Jonouchi agrees that, as a duelist, he couldn't let THEM interrupt, as if HIS miraculous appearance wouldn't have been the show-stopper. They shoot the shit about how Kaiba is a pretty tough opponent, and Jonouchi brags that it was his own Red-Eyes Black Dragon that took him down. Arms crossed, Honda reminds Jonouchi it's not his card anymore. Clearly it didn't take long for Jonouchi to get back on his friends' nerves once he could speak again. 

But Yami gives Jonouchi a grateful look, thinking that he owes Jonouchi for giving him his power along with the dragon. Anzu asks if the next match isn't the very last, and Yami confirms it is, looking over his shoulder at other!Marik leaning on one of the massive projectors at the edge of the tower. He chuckles evilly about his upcoming opponent being Yami as Yami glares at him.

... Someone give this dude the Heimlich Maneuver, because I think he might be choking?  

Anyway, Seto and Mokuba Kaiba are looking strangely defensive when greeting the placid Ishizu in the hallway there. She tells them that other!Marik's shadow power has grown to it's limit, but for delivering the good news that he can't get any more wack, Ishizu doesn't look too happy. Ishizu asks Kaiba if he believes Yami can beat other!Marik with the two god cards he now has. Kaiba pauses, seriously considering, then answers honestly that the probability is extremely low because of how OP Ra is. 

He then brushes past her, insisting none of this in any longer his concern because Battle City is over. Whether Yami wins or loses, he's sinking the whole garbage island in two hours with a shit ton of explosives. Just in case Ishizu is a decent person who's concerned about the well-being and safety of the other people on the island (or even just selfishly wondering about her own), Kaiba assures her that he's no murderer; he'll leave them the airship as a life boat. It's actually a pretty generous life boat, to be honest. Assuming, of course, two hours isn't severely underestimating the amount of time the final tournament duel will need to conclude.

But Kaiba's TOTES not a murderer, guys. 

Ishizu isn't letting him just walk off. She states most matter-of-factly at the space Kaiba has since vacated that Yami needs his help. It gets Kaiba to pause and glance at her over his shoulder, though, scoffing. He asks what she's talking about, and if her stupid Millennium Item gave her another revelation. Considering how useless the last one involving Kaiba was, I don't blame him at all for his maintained skepticism. When Ishizu doesn't respond, just stands there with her eyes closed. Kaiba tells Mokuba they're leaving, but not before activating two timed bombs to destroy Alcatraz Island. If he can't win his freedom from the past, I guess he thinks he can just kind of... blow up the reminders of his imprisonment in it. 

Ishizu pauses again for drama, then mutters something about prayer for the dead, Pert Kertu. It seems to strike a chord with Kaiba, whose eyes widen in over exaggerated shock. Ishizu asks if Kaiba has read the stone slab from the museum, translated its carvings, as Kaiba gets himself lost in a vision of that very stone tablet to which she's referring. She turns to address his back, stating that the tablet recovered from the pharaoh's temple bears a prayer for the dead in Hieratic, a poem dedicated to the late pharaoh by his greatest friend. 

It was the least he could do after he sicced his pet dragon on the pharaoh's magician, no doubt.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It's just about the most expected thing in the world that Kaiba's tantrum would not only be big enough to destroy the entire island upon his loss, but that he would PREMEDITATE his own calculated breakdown. Kaiba continues to have no chill, and is VERY aware of that fact. The alarming ease with which he just plans to be a gigantic baby about not getting what he wants is astounding, not in how unhinged it is (even though it's definitely that), but in how... familiar that kind of behavior is for an ultra rich boy character. Seeing them behave like this in real life has really left me so numb to it in fiction. You'd think it would be the other way around, but, well, maybe it is, in a way. 

My annoyance is actually more with Yami here, for his somewhat self-serving view of Kaiba's loss. Yami's assertion that Kaiba lost to his anger to win the greater battle over his reliance on it as a motivator isn't necessarily as contradictory as I made it out to be above. Losing the duel over being blinded by rage could absolutely open the door to re-examining one's temper and how powerful it makes one FEEL in balance with how it may actually cloud one's judgment at the same time... for any other character. Because Kaiba's issue isn't anger. It's manifesting as anger and hyper-independence because he has a childhood rooted in being passed between unreliable adult and abusive adult so they could extract what they wanted from him only to let the rest of him wither in neglect. Kaiba's ultimate issue is not letting go of his anger and being all fucking zen and shit, because the negative emotions here are justified. What he really needs to overcome is the years and years of programming that tells him mutually-supportive relationships are weak or somehow not real.

Telling Kaiba that his winning depends on him defeating all his justified negative feelings because they're not "legitimate" enough motivations sounds less like Yami was giving sage advice and more like he was trying to convince himself that beating Kaiba was GOOD for him. Despite the skew in motivation from doling out judgments on evil-doers to exploring his own past, Yami is still that dark justice spirit from the very beginning of the series. Given that this duel is implied to have been pending for literally thousands of years, unlike the other ones in this tournament, perhaps it's throwing Yami back into that sense of responsibility for explaining the lesson in the loser's punishment. It HAS been a long while since he's done that, and Kaiba's suffering from his loss, so maybe Yami has mistaken the obvious pain for one of his classic penalty games. 

At least Kaiba is actually conscious for the moralizing bullshit this time.