Absolutely nothing is a surprise to me anymore, including the power being used to throw these so-called surprises at all of us. Political ineptitude? Predictable. Inaction in the face of multiple crises because they ultimately benefit moneyed interests? That was my first guess. Under-privileged peoples being increasingly ignored or actively hurt because our fucked-up systems demand a blood sacrifice like the ancient gods of old? Tell me something new.
Hell, the only thing that would actually raise an eyebrow from me these days is the creeps in power stepping down and giving up their enormous wealth for the greater good. That would come out of NOWHERE.
Or from the shadows, as it were.
Slifer fizzles and writhes in the air, while Yami reflects with disbelief on how Diabound can hide in the darkness between the stars. He worries that if Slifer takes another surprise shot in the dark it's finished, AND that Diabound will be able to attack any point in the city from that high up. His strategy to force Diabound up off the street really bit Yami in the ass, didn't it? He doesn't have time to dwell, though - he knows he HAS to protect the innocent lives Diabound might target.
How is KT producing all of these poster-worthy shots, man??
Yami's horse skids to a stop at the foot of the small hill that thief!Bakura decided to pause on, finally catching up. Thief!Bakura laughs, asking if Yami now sees how NOTHING his royal power is before the big bad king of thieves. He claws the fingers of his hand, palm up, covered in ACTUAL blood, as he states that all lives of both men and gods are in his hands. I'm guessing that's Akhenaden's blood from when he half-ripped out the Millennium Eye? I guess there wasn't any time for him to clean up, so makes sense.
With the speed-lines in the next panel, you're kind of tricked into thinking that Yami has spurred his horse back into motion, but thief!Bakura appears stationary as he continues talking in the one after that? He offers to tell the "great pharaoh" why he's so much more powerful, claiming that his thirst for death and literal blood on his hands is the will of the Millennium Items. Yami sweats, questioning the assertion in his head. Thief!Bakura enthusiastically explains that the souls of his fellow thieves from Kul Elna sealed into the Millennium Items are using them as a direct line to him from hell, telling him that the one who gathers all seven items together will be granted a special "shadow power" and will rule the world.
Thief!Bakura is downright exuberant at this prospect, but Yami doesn't respond with anything more than a glare, hiding his shock behind it. Still holding out that bloodied hand, thief!Bakura demands the Millennium Puzzle from Yami, threatening to bombard the city until it looks like the surrounding desert if he doesn't get what he wants. You know, like an overgrown toddler taking a shit on the carpet because he didn't get a toy at the store. Yami grunts, recalling that Diabound is hiding in the shadows, able to attack the city whenever it wants, and he REALLY doesn't want anyone else innocent to die.
I hope he watched a lot of movies with Yuugi in the present day - the villain that promises not to hurt anyone if they get something and then immediately goes back on their word the moment their desire is secured is one of the most basic cliches. In fact, a quick peek into thief!Bakura's head on our end confirms that he's going to kill Yami no matter what he does, at the very least. Meanwhile, Yami acknowledges that if thief!Bakura gets all of the Millennium Items, the world will be condemned to eternal night. Leaving out the part that it won't matter how many innocents he's saved now in that circumstance, of course.
Slifer is still writhing in the air, by the way. Yami looks up at it, thinking it still has a bit of power left, and realizes there's still one way he can draw Diabound out of hiding so her can know where it is. He thinks hard at Slifer, commanding it to listen to his thoughts. In the meantime, Yami takes off the puzzle and holds it in the air in front of thief!Bakura, who gloats that Yami wants to do this the easy way with his bloodied hand raised. Yami just thinks about the number of seconds he'll have while thief!Bakura's attention is on the puzzle, which he estimates to be three or four, more likely the former.
Slifer dives right for thief!Bakura's head at Yami's direction to surprise attack him. It indeed doesn't take long for thief!Bakura to look up and notice with horror what's happening.
At least it was a fairer gamble than any appeal for change to the status quo.
Yami sits as still as he can with his jaw clenched, tensely staring at the claws curling in front of his eyes. Thief!Bakura says that even the swiftest of gods can't move when its master is held hostage; with Slifer hovering in mid-dive above him, he points a bloody finger at Yami as he reiterates that his goal is to get all the Millennium Items, and he can't do that as long as Yami is alive. Eyes wide in horror, Yami tries to deny to himself that this is his last moment, but thief!Bakura soon utters a "Muut" order to him, which VIZ notes is Ancient Egyptian for "Die". I don't know if I should be cringing more at VIZ's translators insisting on carrying the gratuitous foreign language use through to its English readers, or KT's initial gratuitous foreign language use in the first place. I'm cringing at both, regardless.
A splatter of blood claims the next panel.
Now THAT was a surprise attack.
Thief!Bakura recoils in alarm, his bloody hand feeling the pain of Diabound's severed wrist as he wonders just what the hell happened here. Yami gapes, realizing in wonder that his savior is Duos, Priest Seto's spirit. Good thing he reminded me, because I'm still having trouble remembering all of these guys and which ka are associated with whom. A couple more spirits that I'm failing to identify are hovering in the background as well, an eagle with a man's body and a winged lion. Yami looks around to see the cavalry has arrived.
Took their sweet time, didn't they? Well, Priest Seto thinks they're just in time, anyway. Kalim asks his pharaoh if he's alright, and Yami responds he's fine, while thief!Bakura's horse rears and he groans that they're all scum. Priest Seto's focus is on Diabound, that he draws attention to as it launches itself back into the sky and dissolves into the night. Yami warns them all that it's hiding in the darkness so it can launch another surprise attack. Shada notes the dust cloud of the fleeing thief!Bakura on a nearby ridge as him disappearing as well.
Yami shouts that they have to protect the city's people, and can't let thief!Bakura continue his killing spree. After stating that Diabound is totally invisible, Priest Seto calls for them not to fear, even though they can't see their enemy - he encourages them to aim the attacks of their collective ka at the sky. Before they do, though, a starburst extends from horizon to horizon. The shocked spirits watch the light beams swirl, until a blast extends from the epicenter and engulfs Zerua, the eagle-headed ka at the forefront of the formation. I only re-learn that its name is Zerua when Shada clutches his chest in sympathetic pain with his monster. Kinda feel bad for forgetting it now.
A half-shadowed and grinning thief!Bakura asserts that he can't be beat in city warfare as long as there is darkness. He promises that the Nile will run red with the blood of the priests and Yami's subjects.
Cool affirmation, bro, but doesn't this whole debacle prove that there are some things that AREN'T worth doing to defeat the bad guy?
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? As fun as this battle is, it's putting into sharper relief a problem this conflict has had since thief!Bakura first burst into the palace: thief!Bakura's goals and motivations are so much more... tangible than Yami's. While I don't know all the details yet, there seems to be a clear line of cause and effect to thief!Bakura's actions, and this gives them a much more developed foundation. The same can't be said for Yami, who's trying desperately to be a good, upstanding king, but this is such a vague concept that it ends up producing the kinds of nebulous and meaningless statements like the one above. It also pits his own attempts at protection/kindness to his people against themselves, because he bumps up against the knowledge that thief!Bakura will kill a whole bunch of innocents in the city if he doesn't get the puzzle, but will plunge the world into chaos if he DOES. And this isn't even taking into account the very NATURE of being a king that will eventually be buried in expensive gold and finery in a tomb built with slave labor. His insistence on saving his innocent subjects is at fundamental odds with his position above them. It depends on them having LESS and being oppressed by him.
And part of vagueness is due to the issue that Yami just doesn't have many memories in this world. He's missing a LOT of this context, so it's hard to build a solid set of underpinning motivations or working goals for him. But another part of it is the fuzzy nature of the "good guy" that Yami is being cast as here, which is kind of a RESULT of the first part. As much as I understand the impulse to want to save EVERYONE he can in this situation, but it strikes me less as a genuine love for his subjects (whom he doesn't remember ANYWAY) and more as trying to preserve his own pure ideology. It's so much less personal when he's missing the lived experience of being a pharaoh to these people, so it comes across as a video game he's trying to do an angelic run on.
But I like the potential poster. I support the potential poster.
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