Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 293 Dark Genesis

Is that why Phil Collins struck out on his own? Genesis just got too dark to see the drum kit? I know what you're thinking; this happened in the last post. No doubt you're assuming I'm just bringing up Phil Collins because I listened to Invisible Touch in the past couple of days and it's stuck in my brain, but I'd like to dispel that notion right now. This blog is FAR too sophisticated for me to opine about Invisible Touch in a cold open immediately following a cold open where I mentioned Zombie Zoo. 

It was Sussudio, actually. 

The magus is only projected out there because Mahado doesn't have sleeves to wear it on.

Grinning, thief!Bakura says it looks like Mahado's spirit ka got a little bigger and a LOT more powerful. Mahado tells him he released the magic that he was using to seal the evil of the Millennium Ring, and promises this fight won't be the same as the last. A tall panel featuring the beefed-up Diabound confirms what thief!Bakura counters with a the very bottom of it: HIS spirit ka has evolved a whole lot more. Thief!Bakura says that Mahado and his spirit ka will be the ones to sleep forever in this tomb. 

Mahado reiterates to thief!Bakura that there is no way for him to escape even if he does defeat the magician before him, because while they've been chatting, workmen have been piling tons of stone on the entrance of the tomb. He insists that the only way out of here is death. Thief!Bakura laughs that he's going to make a counter-prediction; he'll kill Mahado, take the Millennium Ring, and get out of there alive and well. Probably with those powers to pass through walls that he's not bothering to mention again, because OF COURSE he shouldn't have to. 

The magus has easily slipped out of Diabound's direct way, reappearing behind monster and thief!Bakura, which seems to freak him out pretty hardcore with how fast the movement was. Mahado mutters a spell and unleashes a Magic Blast at Diabound from its periphery. Diabound seems to be destabilized by this attack, thief!Bakura twisting to examine it as it falls on its elbow behind him. Mahado announces he's giving his heka to his spirit ka to power a second attack, much to thief!Bakura's alarm. The magus lets loose a THOUSAND Magic Blasts at the already howling Diabound, thief!Bakura having to shield his face with a raised arm while the attacks scatter near him below as well. 

As Mahado peers ahead, the smoke wafts away a bit, and he's surprised to find that massive Diabound seems to have disappeared. Immediately he glances right, wondering if it walked through the walls. Or slithered, whatever. From behind the remains of the misty aftermath of the attack, thief!Bakura says he understands now about how providing the spirit ka with heka makes the attack more powerful - he concludes from this that Mahado isn't just ANY kind of sorcerer, but a "spirit sorcerer". Forgive me if the difference between the former and the latter just looks like an extra word to me, guy. 

Mahado just kind of glares at him as he slowly emerges from the fog, and says that just like a wizard has ways of fighting so too does a thief. He then steps on a small button set in the floor. 

Whoops, watch your head.

Mahado has to duck out of the way of one of the blades as it swings back down, sweating and glaring past them at thief!Bakura, who smarms at him that he remembers all the traps of a tomb he's already robbed. Thief!Bakura claims it's ironic that he gets to use these traps to HIS advantage now, but I think it's just an annoying oversight on Mahado's part. I mean, seriously? YOU didn't think to study the traps in the tomb to use to your own advantage or at least disable them for that particular chamber during your fight, Mahado? I'm disappointed in you.

Thief!Bakura hops up on the blunt underside of one of those swinging axes, laughing all the way. Mahado is trying to take stock of the situation, noting that he can't move or he'll be sliced up, and if Diabound attacks now, he's done for. He calls to his Magus of Illusion to attack thief!Bakura, who rejects this attempt with another grin. It turns out that Diabound has appeared coiled around the shaft of the swinging blade directly in front of Mahado; he looks up and remarks on this with alarm as thief!Bakura commands Diabound to kill both Mahado and the magus.

Yukking it up, thief!Bakura tells Mahado he can regret his foolishness in Hell, and insists he'll never catch the great thief!Bakura in a thousand years. Mahado is still in the throes of searing pain from Diabound's attack while thief!Bakura jumps down from his perch to reiterate his plan to kill all the priests one-by-one and take their Millennium Items, and how it's all moving in the direction he wants so far. He's really going for the GOLD in premature gloating, isn't he? Mahado thinks on the pharaoh, the attack dispelling around him. Thief!Bakura hums in curiosity at the fact that Mahado isn't burnt to an ineffectual crisp by now. In fact, the guy looks pretty good for how much that blast was supposed to fuck him up. He's only hunching and panting a little as he stutters that he won't let any of thief!Bakura's plans happen. 

Thief!Bakura marvels in alarm that this guy is still alive after that. Meanwhile, Mahado explains that there's a spell a spirit sorcerer like him can cast only once, because it involves giving his life to fuse his ka and ba, the spirit monster with his soul. This really gets thief!Bakura's eyes bulging, and Mahado promises that his soul will be his pharaoh's eternal servant. Then he crosses his arm over his chest and mutters his spell, thief!Bakura staring on with astonishment.

...

Soooooo, it's NOT a last-minute fake-out?

Thief!Bakura stares a moment at the blood-smear on the walkway, taking a moment to smirk and say that it's one priest down. He then immediately switches back to pure eye-popping shock when he sees the magus solidly floating right in front of him, surrounded by a powerful aura. In disbelief, he questions how Mahado's ka can still be here when Mahado himself is dead, insisting that this cannot be. He rationalizes that this specter is just an "echo" and commands Diabound to finish it off.

But its eyes, which were hidden in the shadow of its hooded cloak before are now sharp and clear and FAMILIAR when they snap open.

Outside, the many guards and soldiers watch the tablet as the sun rises behind it, gaping. 

Back at the palace, Mahado's name is called in disbelief. The tablet now stands a distance in front of Yami's throne, facing it, as Siamun tries to haltingly explain what happened with it as the sun rose. Yami sweatdrops and stares in shock at the tablet. Priest Seto don't give a fuck, trying to shift the subject to if Mahado managed to kill thief!Bakura, if the Millennium Ring was stolen. The guards answer that they can't be sure, no body no crime and all that, but they DID watch the tomb and didn't see anyone escape from it. Yeah, that's not particularly reassuring when you're talking about a guy who's been known to get away through solid walls. 

Yami walks up to the tablet, face settled into stoic severity. 

Is your favorite monster actually a guy who sacrificed himself to become a monster and push a guy off a cliff? Bummer.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I was expecting Mahado to die and essentially become the Dark Magician, as I've said before, but I didn't expect it to happen THIS soon. I thought perhaps there would be a very public death maybe halfway through this division of the manga, and more of a buildup. This was so very sudden...

But it was GOOD. Like REALLY GOOD. Besides the weird lack of foresight Mahado had with the traps in the tomb, Mahado's death was an emotional catharsis that was fitting for his short arc. We didn't have a lot of time with Mahado, but I felt like the previous chapter gave him RT levels of expert speedy character development that work exceedingly well at showing us who he is and what his motivations are. I felt I could understand him and connect to him as a character well enough that, while this was a shocking escalation and end for him, it seemed well-timed regardless. It's got the color of senseless tragedy, because allowing himself to get cut down in his prime was an attempt to end this whole ordeal for Yami and the other priests, but his sacrifice will ultimately just slow down thief!Bakura.

Because we all know he's going to get out of that tomb with the Millennium Ring. The only question here is HOW. He's in a dark pit with no obvious way to look for the ring, and unless Diabound glows in the dark, I'm not sure there's a way for him to manage it. I hope there's not too much of a gloss-over of this daring escape, even if I'm not expecting thief!Bakura's adventure in the pit to be covered play-by-play in detail.

Speaking of detailed accounts here, it just occurred to me that this is supposed to be Yami's Memory World (TM). Is it a little strange that events he's not present for are shown to the audience in full specificity? Awkward, but we wouldn't have Mahado's very satisfying development without this happening so... maybe we'll just say the Millennium Items share a memory between themselves and their wielders, creating a collective memory record that is a semi-accurate representation of what really happened. 

I know, it's flimsy, but I'm going with it. I like Mahado's story a little too much for my own good.