I took a small peek at how many chapters there are left in the Duelist section - just the list, not the spoilery pretty pictures - and while we are getting very close the the end, we're not close ENOUGH for me to believe the trap referred to is going to clinch the duel for either opponent. It was probably a good title when the chapter first came out to continue to build tension by implication alone, but even then there couldn't have been much expectation that the final duel in this tournament would have spanned a single chapter, so it couldn't have garnered MUCH in the way of nail-biting. To be fair, though, it doesn't take much more than that to convince me to keep reading things I'm not habitually putting under a microscope for blogging purposes. But can you blame a gal for rolling her eyes at the barest of tension hints when she's ridden out the past four years with nerves stretched as taut as a rubber band only to allow them to slack over the past WEEKEND?
Of course you can't.
This isn't how I normally operate, I SWEAR.
Yami is appalled that other!Marik's sacrifice is regular-sized Marik, while other!Marik says they were both chosen by the Millennium Items. I thought he might find some way to connect how his this game is connected to why they were both chosen, but instead other!Marik just reiterates that the rule is simply that the loser dies, otherwise the duel doesn't differ much from the others Yami plays. He keeps one TINY little exception to himself, though - if other!Marik destroys Yuugi, Yami's vessel, Yami will disappear too, but other!Marik will remain even after his sacrifice is devoured by darkness. Not sure why there's this difference in how it works between them, considering other!Marik shouldn't be any less connected to his original personality than Yami is to Yuugi. He's probably just cheating, like all the other villains in this comic who refuse to play by their own rules.
Sweating, Yami clenches his jaw and hunches, until Yuugi calls for his attention from his side.
Still, I'm sure it means a lot for Yuugi to encourage Yami, telling him to defeat Marik's evil heart, fight the light he's searching for, and that he can do it. Yami considers Yuugi with a serious, concentrated glare for a moment, while Yuugi thinks that it was him who was chosen by the Millennium Items, to lend Yami strength. Cinnamon roll that Yuugi is, he DOES put up with a lot of shit with a smile, so I can see what kind of strength those items were getting at. Yami bows his head in thanks to his partner, then strikes a power pose as he bids Yuugi have faith in him, for he will win. After Yuugi already pretty much gave him all the faith before-hand. Unnecessary, dude.
Multiple bolts of lightning arc over the tower. Below the platform, Jonouchi reminds his friends that it just LOOKS like Yami and other!Marik are facing off against each other, and ranting wildly about sacrifices and whatnot, but in the minds of the competitors, it's a whole other ball game. Honda wonders out loud what kind of shadow game they're playing right now, but all Jonouchi has by way of answer is a clenched fist and a tense curse under his breath. Anzu frets silently over how dangerous these games are, begging for Yami not to lose or to get hurt. Around the bend of the platform, the Kaiba brothers stare up at Yami as well, the elder pondering whether Yami will use the card given to him (characterized as the strength of another duelist) to better his dismal odds, and if Yami loses, whether he will realize his foolishness. Same ol' desperate refusal to even consider believing in and supporting another human being. He's really over-correcting for his sudden flood of empathy for Ishizu earlier.
Speaking of Ishizu, she's standing on the other side of him. She broods on the possibility of even Yami losing to Marik's evil, which would leave the world cloaked in darkness and the entire world would eventually fall to it. You know, Revelations shit. Other!Marik chuckles at Yami, but Yami only has a harsh glare to offer him back. Their "sacrifices" hang in their backgrounds.
And now that we've cycled through the stakes to remind ourselves why literally EVERYONE needs Yami to win here, the opponents take a moment to stand all cool and dramatic, then other!Marik says his turn isn't yet over. Of course it's not. He never stops talking, why wouldn't his TURNS ramble on forever too? He says Vampiric Leech has a special ability, which has come to be expected at this point, which allows other!Marik to put his leech into defense once it's finished sucking on Yami's face in its thoroughly non-sexy way once other!Marik discards a card from his hand. Yami is incensed that this worm think can quick-attack and just as quickly go into defense, while other!Marik makes a big show of which card he's going to get rid of. As if this finale isn't going to be dragged out long enough. Other!Marik chooses a VERY SPECIFIC card.
Don't hold your breath.
Hunched and wary, Yami wonders what the card was that other!Marik put in the graveyard, and it looks for all the world that he may have figured out which one it was. Still, other!Marik plays out the rest of his turn without any more pageantry, putting Vampiric Leech into defense as he said he would and putting a card face down on his Duel Disk before stating he's done with a relatively mild sneer. Which in and of itself is suspicious as FUCK, considering how ready this guy is at every moment to crow about bullshit.
It's not like he's fooling anyone either. Elder Kaiba considers this a rather deadly strategy, assuming the card other!Marik discarded was indeed Ra. From there, all other!Marik needs is Monster Reborn to activate his one-turn kill, as we've already seen. Doesn't always hurt to be reminded, I guess. At least it doesn't make me wince right now... goodness, what's gotten into me??
Anyway, Yami claims his turn, draws a new card, glances at it, and finds it's the "Exchange" card yet again. But, operating on the obvious possibility that other!Marik has already discarded Ra, he thinks it's probably too late and puts the card in his hand. He chooses another card to play instead, calling out the summon in typical overly dramatic style.
Seems like BOTH these kids are utterly transparent. I know my shoulders aren't hunched up to my ears for the first time in literal YEARS, but you guys have got to give me at least a couple of surprises in the finale here. It doesn't bode well when you're reading each other like two 4th-grade-level books.
Queen's Knight is ordered to attack the leech, at which she launches herself and slices in half with one stroke of her sword, apparently called a "Saber Crush". Other!Marik is completely unimpressed as the leech dissolves next to him, and opens his eyes from his smug unconcerned expression when he reminds Yami that it was in defense, so his life points are safe. Too bad so sad for him. Yami doesn't respond, just plays two cards face down and ends his turn. With his tongue lolling once again, other!Marik announces his turn and draws a new card. Yami watches warily, a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek. Below, Jonouchi silently prays that other!Marik doesn't draw Monster Reborn, and that Yami doesn't lose the same way he did.
Other!Marik performs a flourish with his arm before looking at his new card and widening his beady eyes to indicate increased manic delight. He chuckles that he's drawn a really nice one, and Yami's heart thuds in his heightened anxiety. To maintain that dread, I assume, other!Marik says he's going to summon another monster before playing the "nice" one he just drew.
I'm going to be honest, I only took this particular screenshot because I just wasn't sure how to describe that thing in actual words. I mean, what the hell even IS that??
Yuugi groans, a chunk of his shin and forearm erased from existence. Yami shouts out to him in concern, but Yuugi haltingly insists he's still fine, and not to worry about him. He just wants Yami to watch out for the spell card other!Marik is about to use. Yami turns a glare back on other!Marik, growling and grinding his teeth, as other!Marik holds a new card over his Duel Disk and grins. He says it's the card that will kill him, a card called "Left Hand Offering", which instructs the player to discard their whole hand in exchange for one particular card out of their deck, and reshuffling again when finished choosing. Yami's eyes widen at the name of the card in alarm.
Other!Marik reiterates what the card does, entire hand for a single spell card, but it's super worth it, because he's already using it to pull Monster Reborn from deep in the recesses of his deck.
In his likely SUPREME irritation, I wonder if other!Marik will think to take Kuriboh from Yami. Dude's always pulling some crazy shit with that card, so I'd personally be stoked to see it in the list of offerings.
But that's just me.
Honda exclaims his happiness that Yami narrowly escaped death, Jonouchi cheers that he totally took other!Marik's Monster Reborn, Anzu shouts generic congratulations; you know, basic cheerleader business. Kaiba has on his impassive face, behind which is mild scorn for other!Marik losing such an important card so easily. Like he can talk. Other!Marik is still smiling, though, as he slouches back into place on his side of the platform, ending his turn. He hopes Yami is happy for taking Monster Reborn, but he knows as long as he continues to have a certain card face down on his side, the exchange they had means absolutely nothing.
Yami announces it's his turn again and draws a card, scoffing when he glances at it. He doesn't waste a single second playing King's Knight, and playing the Monster Reborn he just got to bring back Queen's Knight as well. Other!Marik smirks at him, seeing quite clearly where Yami is going with this while Yami explains that both the queen and king being out and about means that he can summon their loyal servant as well. No shortage of THOSE in this game.
Man I am getting deja vu over here. This duel isn't just a copy-paste of the last one with enough changes to slip past copyright, is it?
So what did I think of this chapter overall? Very worrying, despite how laid-back my reading of it was. When the bones of the thing are so familiar that even CHARACTERS are pointing it out (Yami receiving the Exchange card in the way one might an overabundant one out of several booster packs), the reader has to wonder if KT has prematurely pulled out all his stops. Thankfully, this is just the beginning of the duel, there's only so many ways it can start, and so I'm hopeful that there might be more creativity pending down the line. Still I think part of the reason I've had such a cavalier attitude toward this chapter is that I feel like I've seen a lot of this stuff before multiple times, and it's all starting to blur together for me.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that KT finds a way to freshen the formula up with some character drama like he did in the last few chapters, on top of throwing in some new unexpected ways the players use their cards. He's got a good start to it here - I AM liking that Yami is more vulnerable than ever with Yuugi on the line, and Yuugi having to show a level of toughness that is surprising. It's ALMOST out of character for him, because he's usually navigating situations with his kindness rather than having to rely on pure grit. Unfortunately, there is no way for him to do that in this particular situation, and no friends who can carry his unconscious ass out of there, so he's kind of stuck playing the tough guy here. The only situation I can think of that comes close to him having to display this level of stamina was when he and Yami were switching out for their duel with Pegasus. Perhaps there's a similar resolution here?
We shall see...
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