Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 298 Out of the Darkness

I've been getting a bit of that these days, for sure, though not in the way this chapter means. There's been a steady uptick in spam comments on the older posts in the blog - lots of incomprehensible word vomit with shady links nested in there. With there being over 500 posts here, I'm not really surprised, as my blog has all the more opportunity to pop up in search engines and to bots with that amount of content. The digital entities crawling out of the darkness to tell me about their friend's cousin's essays being the best, or advertising some virus-riddled manga/anime website is absolutely mundane, and yet it's hilarious to me. There's something about a randomly generated message dancing in out of nowhere to invite you into unsavory territory that tickles me.

Probably not going to be able to say the same for whatever's coming out of the darkness here, though. 

It's just so hard to make a decision in these card tablet shops. He's been perusing for HOURS now. 

While Akhenaden just kind of stands there sullenly, someone calls out to him, and its no surprise when he turns to find it's Priest Seto. They're awfully chummy, despite there being not much reason shown for it. As Akhenaden acknowledges him, Priest Seto reports that his "ka hunt" went much better than expected, but then immediately follows up with the statement that there were many people in the city hiding superior ka, just as he thought. Well, which is it? Did you expect to find stuff, or not? Akhenaden is much more interested to know if Priest Seto ARRESTED these people, a little alarmed by the implications again. Priest Seto says the 20 they found were confined to the prison tower, where the pharaoh never goes and will never find them. Judging by the look on Akhenaden's face in the next panel, the pharaoh FINDING these people Priest Seto has unlawfully detained isn't exactly his concern. 

Akhenaden tells Priest Seto that it's not too late, and that he should let all of those people go, warning that they'll start down the path of darkness otherwise. I think Priest Seto is already WAAAAAY further down that road than is reversible, friend. Still he tries to explain how sin creates fear in the heart, and fear leads one to endless darkness. Bless his precious soul, lol. Priest Seto agrees that an ORDINARY person might feel fear in the face of a potential fall of the dynasty, and leaves the smug statement hanging, implying that he doesn't consider himself one of THOSE losers. Akhenaden doesn't say anything in response, leaving Priest Seto to tease that he may have found a ka to rival the gods. Akhenaden is alarmed yet again at this claim, in complete disbelief.

Why does it not surprise me that this is ridiculously similar to the center square on my anti choice bingo card? Next he'll be talking about how it might cure cancer one day or something.

Priest Seto says that the one who holds the ka is a woman who is very weak, so he's letting her rest a bit. He plans to find a way to draw the greatest amount of power possible from that ka the moment she regains her strength, though, using the prisoners he rounded up from the city to research the best way, torturing them in any way he can think of. He's inappropriately excited about the prospect of the prisoners clawing in agony from behind bars AND forcing the development of a monster that DOESN'T BELONG TO HIM. Akhenaden gapes while Priest Seto turns to walk back down the steps, promising to come back when he can show off his "work", pausing to smirk over his shoulder and reiterate that he'll come back to show off the White Dragon. Akhenaden repeats this phrase, teeth clenched in anxiety. 

Priest Seto proceeds to descend the stairs and leave, repeating that he'll see Akhenaden then. Akhenaden remains speechless, yet holding his hand half-out as though not quite deciding to call out to Priest Seto. Then, the moment Priest Seto is gone, Akhenaden collapses to his knees on the stone floor, groaning. I don't blame him; I've been crawling around on the hardwood floor for hours building furniture, and my knees are in AGONY. 

Akhenaden admits to himself that he's getting more and more afraid, wondering if this is the temptation of the Millennium Eye.

OH! That explains why they're always chilling. 

Wait, what's this about committing the same sin before...?

Guess bastardry runs in the family.

Outside of the palace, thief!Bakura kneels in the shadow of a statue's base, watching the many guards stationed around the entrance from around the corner. He mumbles that he's attacking at NIGHT this time, as a good thief should. Love the idea that he has to remind himself that thieves don't GENERALLY strut around in broad daylight to steal shit, lol! He observes that they've certainly increased the guard, but he's unconcerned, saying a hundred guards and a hundred walls couldn't keep him out. I hope he doesn't let THEM hear him say that, given that sort of statement acts more of a challenge than a deterrent in my experience.

Thank fuck he just lets them hear his footsteps as he steps right through the guards' ranks while they demand to know who's there and where the sounds are coming from. They ask each other if they're hearing things, only to receive the answer that it is DEFINITELY footsteps they're picking up. It's the ultimate gaslight.

Something it ABSOLUTELY needed. 

Thief!Bakura describes this as a camouflage technique which changes Diabound's scales to match the environment, effectively becoming a cloaking device and hiding him from the soldier's eyes. Once he reaches the base of one of the massive statues flanking the door amid the confounded guards on the outside of Diabound's shielding embrace, he takes that grappling hook from his shoulder and tosses it upward, so he can climb and leap into the statue's lap. He manages to get to the top of the wall, from which he can see in the distance the Wedju Shrine.

He considers himself reckless last time; trying to take on a the priests and the pharaoh at once because he wanted all the Millennium Items in bulk. He wants to take the more cautious route this time, killing them one at a time, because it DID work rather well for him the last time. He peers through the dark at the spire at the top of the shrine, marking it as his first field for priest-hunting. Imagine that, he and Priest Seto having very similar hunts going on at the same time. 

Once he walks into the shrine, the still sulking Akhenaden senses his presence creeping at the bottom of the steps behind him. 

Thief!Bakura looks marvelously deranged as he grins up at Akhenaden from the base of the stairs, I have to say. As he begins to climb the stairs, Akhenaden notes the Millennium Ring around thief!Bakura's neck, and trails in a conclusion of Mahado's death, as if that was ever in question to begin with. Akhenaden has not been paying the SLIGHTEST bit of attention, apparently. He's been too busy angsting about his shitty son's shitty actions. 

Thief!Bakura confirms as he ascends that he did indeed kill a priest in the former pharaoh's tomb, neglecting to mention that it was really a swinging ax that Mahado walked into of his own volition. Can't really blame him, that's a bit less impressive. He says the ring his his spoils of war, and now he's come here to get some more war AND spoils. Thief!Bakura insists that he HAS to collect all seven of these items, presumably because it's easier than catching the thousands of kinds of pokemon out there instead. Less labor intensive. 

Akhenaden gesticulates while he vows not to let this happen, reprimands thief!Bakura for entering this holy place, and returning to the promise to defeat him as the guardian of the holy stones. A little all over the place, honestly. He turns to address one of the tablets on the wall, and it glows in response, preparing to manifest in its spectral fire. Thief!Bakura conversationally recalls how Akhenaden can summon from the stone slabs due to his possession of a Millennium Items, but says his Diabound is faster, spurring it into action with his outstretched fists. The target slab is approached by a blur darting up the wall, then shatters. 

Thief!Bakura says he's too old and slow, because Diabound will tear this temple apart before Akhenaden will be able to summon a single ka. Akhenaden is in resigned disbelief over this, while thief!Bakura basks in the erratic energy crackling off the ring rattling around his neck, considering himself invincible due to absorbing it. He laughs, throwing out his hand to telepathically pick up Akhenaden, who gapes and gurgles in surprise. He groans when he's thrown straight back into the wall behind him, stone crumbling off the indent he made. His bones should be downright liquefied from it, but he still seems solid, so he should be okay.

Right?

My choice would be the sweet release of death from the amount of agony cracking solid rock with my body would bring, but that's just me. 

So what did I think of this chapter overall? I'm intrigued by the notion that Priest Seto is Akhenaden's son, because I don't think this has been hinted at before. I'm curious as to whether Priest Seto KNOWS that Akhenaden is his father, because he's never referred to Akhenaden as such, given I think I would have noticed before now. Either that, or he wants to put some distance between himself and his father to put down any suggestions of nepotism/that he didn't EARN his place in the priesthood. Seems like a very Kaiba thing to do, even in an environment where nepotism is pretty much everything. No one loves keeping it in the family like the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, of course, so it's not like proto-Kaiba would be the odd one out here. Still, Kaiba was all ABOUT the mythology he'd built around him being a self-made man, so I can imagine Priest Seto would have a similar mindset. 

I'm also all the more intrigued by what looks to be a resemblance between Akhenaden and MARIK'S father. There's a little bit of a difference in the facial hair, and Marik's dad has a fringe of bangs that can be seen from beneath his hood, but otherwise, they're twins. There have been no coincidences thus far when characters from the past resemble ones from the future, so I'm convinced they're one in the same. What it MEANS seems obscure right now. Over multiple lifetimes, this guy seems INCAPABLE of being a good father, but I feel like his fear of the cycle of violence he's instigated here is more of a point than anything. He's genuinely terrified of what he has wrought, and there appears to be some guilt buried in there too. I can't wait to learn more about just WHAT it is he did that fucked his and everyone else's reincarnation cycles, because he seems to have some grasp of how long-lasting the consequences will be, even now. 

Thief!Bakura is just out here doing thief!Bakura, so not much to say about his actions here. I think his change to a one-by-one strategy is less pragmatism and more how powerful he feels when he's squaring off against a single priest. Probably a little bit of the high from already having ONE Millennium Item and how much stronger that made him too. The playful way he claimed to have been reckless before and needing to be careful just strikes me as almost a jest, especially when he approaches Akhenaden with a that deranged serial-killer smile. That's not the face of a guy being "cautious", he's just having a ball.