I don't want to be that jerk who is always arguing about semantics... but I AM that jerk regardless, and I am just baffled by this title. Walls aren't even living things that can die, therefore they can't be mortal, and therefore they can't be IMMORTAL either. And aside from this phrase being simply nonsensical all around, it's vaguely triggered my trauma brain to recall the "big beautiful wall" that a certain wannabe dictator tried to install over his first and only term as president of the United States, and that leads me to think about his unhinged supporters attempting a coup for him, and...
Let's just say, this word will probably leave me flinching a little for YEARS to come.
So, when we left off, it was on this extremely satisfying moment of other!Marik getting clocked right in the jaw. I very much appreciate KT's recap of this extending onto the next page, taking several panels to show him screaming, slamming back onto the platform, cards scattered every which way, and groaning with the force of the blow. I don't think I realized how much I needed to see him get punched until this very moment.
Kaiba next, please!
Yami announces the direct attack on his opponent, and the 4000 points he lost, unnecessarily. I think the computer is fully capable of making that simple calculation all on its own, kiddo. Indeed, when other!Marik sits up, swiping the back of his hand across his lips spitefully, his life points have officially been reduced to 700. Yami's friends cheer at this development while pumping their fists and striking slightly strange poses in Jonouchi's case, going on about how Yami has almost won and how Obelisk clobbered other!Marik's ass.
But Kaiba is silently critical, wondering what's going on, because he thinks other!Marik should have been able to dodge that attack. Or... counter it, anyway, since physically DODGING wouldn't really do anything when you get your points docked with no contact needed. I assume that's what he means, anyway. Other!Marik hams it up on his way to his feet, groaning theatrically. Ishizu skips skeptical and jumps straight to alarmed when she considers what other!Marik's face down card could be. She doesn't say what that is, but thinks at Yami to be careful, because she's certain that other!Marik took Obelisk's attack on purpose. As he continues his slow stand, Ishizu is sure there can be only two reasons that other!Marik would want to purposefully get he shit knocked out of him; planting seeds of doubt in Yami's mind, and summoning a monster more powerful than Yami's god card.
She forgot the third: that he's an established sado-masochist and wants daddy to punish him. But I'm sure that one is less likely than the other two because the plot demands it. Jonouchi and Anzu have stopped celebrating, the former asking the latter what is up with Yami's face, which has a very uncertain, paranoid look now. Not exactly the triumphant one he should be wearing. Jonouchi elaborates unnecessarily that Yami looks worried when he's so close to winning, and reiterates his question about what's wrong.
Other!Marik finally lifts his head, tongue lolling out of a huge grin, and gushing to Yami about how absolutely agonizing that was, almost as a kind of congratulations. But he warns Yami not to forget that he's not the only one who is hurt by that attack. Other!Marik jabs a thumb at regular-sized Marik to his right, who is disappearing in wisps of virtual smoke, and says HE'S the one who really feels the pain. Obelisk's attack has caused the original Marik to be eaten away by darkness.
Life be like that sometimes.
Yami growls at other!Marik, who gloats about the flavor of Yami's hatred making regular-sized Marik a delicious sacrifice. Yuugi calls out to him, and he weighs his options; keep fighting and the original Marik dies, and if he's defeated, YUUGI will disappear instead. He wonders what he should do, and Yuugi responds that their true enemy is Marik's evil side, and in turn wonders if there's a way to target JUST other!Marik. Meanwhile other!Marik is crowing that this is it - he's going to devour Yami's soul and feed the scraps to the darkness. I should think it would be the other way around, but...
Tongue still out in almost a juvenile mocking way, other!Marik says he's going to repay Yami for the shot from Obelisk, two-fold. He insists that he LET Yami summon Obelisk, and it was his trap.
Look at this little bastard, trying to be a Victorian ghost boy with unfinished business. He says he'll be going into the dark soon, and there's something he want's to tell Rishid before he does. He sads about how he did an awful terrible thing to his father, disobeying the laws of his forefathers, and eternal darkness isn't enough to punish him for all that. Eternal punishments for finite crimes have always seemed a bit on the excessive side to ME, but I'm sure it's just self-deprecating hyperbole.
Rishid, still unconscious, doesn't respond. Just lays there. So naturally, Marik continues his confession, acknowledging that Rishid went through the same pain he did when he went through the ritual of the tomb guardians. Marik says Rishid made the decision to live with him in darkness, sharing his sin and destiny. And Marik assures the conked Rishid that he doesn't have to do that anymore. It looks like he's been taking a hefty break from all that anyway, but no doubt he'd thank Marik for the permission. Marik admits he doesn't know where Rishid is wandering right now, though "his head" is a clear enough fact, but Marik asserts that he doesn't have to suffer anymore.
And with that, Marik fades into ever decreasing spectral wisps, eventually disappearing over Rishid's sleeping head altogether. Unfinished business: ACCOMPLISHED.
Back atop the Duel Tower, other!Marik is STILL gloating. This time he's telling Yami that while he may have been hurt and lost a lot of life from Yami's last attack, but Yami ALSO triggered his trap card in the process of kicking his ass. Yami is in utter disbelief about other!Marik having a trap as well, as if this ISN'T the final match in a tournament where both players are the best out of all of the participants. Jonouchi calls hacks, because he thought traps couldn't be played against god cards, the concept that the trap could be against something else apparently not occurring to him. Dryly, other!Marik explains that while a god's attack won't trigger a trap, the loss of his life points will. Then he proceeds to reveal Metal Reflect Slime, a permanent trap, before Jonouchi can make any more inane remarks.
Yami stares in alarm at what Metal Reflect Slime, what he understands to be a trap monster. I love it when this game blends the categories. It always needs to be MORE complicated. Other!Marik explains that his slime becomes a shiny replica of the enemy monster with its reflection ability, becoming a wall with defense 3/4 worth of the original monster's attack. We get a real close-up on Yami's widened eye as he considers in disbelief a copy of his god monster. It's not long before the slime starts morphing and stretching into what he's imagining either, as Jonouchi gives confused commentary on the transformation.
Just thank your lucky stars it's not a giant version of this guy.
That would definitely be worse than a punch in the face.
The two gods face each other, like they're looking in a mirror over their respective duelists. Honda blurts that there are two Obelisks now, but Jonouchi scoffs, stating that one of them is just a fake slime version while shaking his fist at it. He adds that the fake one has only 3000 defense points, so it can be destroyed by the real Obelisk pretty easily. But other!Marik is looking pretty smug on the platform up there, so I'm guessing there's a bit of a catch. Probably has something to do with the fact that the trap is permanent. Kaiba grumbles about how he can't believe other!Marik copied Obelisk, because that is DEFINITELY the most important thing about this whole development.
Yami knows that if it's a defense monster, then other!Marik won't get hurt if it's attacked, but it seems like he might have an idea when he plays a card face down and ends his turn. Other!Marik is smirking harder than ever before when he declares it's his turn, but he has to take stock of his hand for a moment. He doesn't have a card that can bring Monster Reborn back from the graveyard this time, but he decides to bide his time and use the slime Obelisk as his wall until he can summon Ra again. He's positively giddy over the thought of wiping Obelisk out in an instant if he can bring Ra out. The word "IF" doing a lot of heavy lifting, of course.
He starts rambling about the theme of his deck, "immortality", saying it's designed to bring his god card back over and over until the enemy is done. This is the backdrop for his new slime, which he claims is a god too. Yami glares intently as other!Marik announces his next summon.
Other!Marik gives a sinister chuckle while Yami declares his turn. He begins by summoning Big Shield Guardna in defense, as one does, and follows up in his battle phase with the obvious - he commands Obelisk to attack the slime impersonating it. That giant fist moves toward the God Slime, but before it reaches the imposter, other!Marik scoffs and reveals his face down card. Again.
Obelisk's fist punches right through the God Slime like a simple jello mold, splattering it out of shape, and for one moment, Yami dares to entertain the thought that he defeated it. The small amount of disbelief and skepticism in that thought was entirely warrented, however, when Yami adopts even MORE disbelief at the sight of the slime reforming before his wide eye, of which we have yet another intense close-up.
For fuck's sake, dude! Do you think you've proven your mastery of the fusing technology yet, or what??
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I was touched by Marik's acknowledgement of Rishid, because for a while there it didn't seem like he really SAW Rishid and all he did for him. Marik's cold disregard for what was best for Rishid, and using Rishid's devotion to play stupid games with his enemies, gave the distinct impression that he didn't really see Rishid as a person so much as a tool to use for whatever silly little schemes he had in mind. It's good to know that there was a part of Marik that recognized the way he was treating Rishid was callous; it's just a shame that it took being on the edge of death to, even in the smallest way, tell Rishid that he wants him to go towards the light instead of staying holed up in the dark with him. But considering that's usually how it goes down in the real world, it gives Marik a level of depth and empathy that was missing before, which I appreciate.
To be honest, I'm not sure what to make of the rest of the chapter. I'm never very excited when there aren't any new cards or strategies being employed, and other!Marik basically admitted here that he's just biding his time, which is rather the OPPOSITE of riveting. I suppose I was hoping for this duel to wrap up in this chapter, but I know they have to figure out a way to save the original Marik - as far as I'm aware, dude's whole family has been passing down the tradition of keeping certain information for Yami for generations, so he'll definitely need to stick around for the plot. I'm interested to see how they manage it, but this chapter feels like stalling until KT figures it out, though.
Keeping my fingers crossed the next chapter can push a little tension if a resolution isn't forthcoming.
This is another instance of "Marik is treating a thing like fusion without it actually being a real fusion" and I hate it. Polymerization always creates a new monster, not the same monster but with the ability of another monster.
ReplyDeleteI'm so tired of Marik's BS!
Me too, especially since it's the kind of BS that draws out a duel to absolutely absurd lengths - I was EXHAUSTED by the time I reached the end of this one!
Delete