Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 304 The Summoning of Ra!

I'm going to take this as a metaphor for the coming spring, simply because I'm ready as HELL for it. I'm so sick of constantly being cold and wrapping myself in wool blankets/housecoats to avoid turning on the heat as long as possible. Our power company, like so many others across the country right now, is price gouging us. I have to wince every time I look at the power bill, I swear. Besides that, I've got some seedlings currently sitting in the window, and I can WAIT to get them in the ground/planters. This is the first time I've had my own yard that I can garden in, and I'm STOKED get experimenting with what my microclimate will support. I bought way too many seeds to start I was so excited.

Buuuuuuut, since the ground was dusted with snow this morning, I'm guessing it's still going to be a while before I can get out and get my hands dirty. Or just, you know, warm them up.

Oh well, at least these characters get to enjoy a good sun-burst. Enjoyment may vary among them, of course.

Kalim (I'm FINALLY starting to remember this guy's name!) urges everyone to look, for there's a light shining on Diabound and it's bringing Diabound into view. Priest Seto gapes, identifying this as the third of those gods that only answers to the pharaoh. Thief!Bakura is pissing and moaning on his ledge, yelling that it's the middle of the night, and asking if this is the sun, like a crotchety old bastard bemoaning his young neighbor's loud music. Yami seems to have recovered somewhat, hardly sweating at all as he gazes up at the splitting clouds. He thinks at thief!Bakura that it's over for him and his mad darkness/slaughter, because he's going to destroy it with his god. Though Ra is already arriving, Yami performatively calls it forth again. For the drama of it. 

You don't get to complain about how your opponent somehow found the strength to turn the tides in the battle when your biggest assets in it so far were invisibility and holding an entire city hostage. Cry moar while I admire this giant lion-bird-thing.

As Yami is backed by his group of friends, and Yuugi floats next to him with a determined expression, Yami thinks he can feel the presence of his partner/the other soul inside him. Clearly he has not actually seen any of them, but they're so practiced in their unyielding support that he doesn't HAVE to. Their friendship is just that LOUD.

The city-dwellers ooh and ahh at the scene above them, marveling at how fast night turned into day, not the gradual change it usually is. One man gushes that it's the power of the gods. I would be concerned that they were the harbingers of the end of the world.

Kalim points out the obvious that Diabound can't hide itself without the shadows and dark, and that this is their chance. Though thief!Bakura tries to chuckle off this little Ra-sun-god-shaped snag in his plan, thinking it's lucky that Diabound already has the power of a god itself, he's clenching his teeth in tense unease. He has Diabound shoot a "Thunderforce" blast from the snake mouth on its tail, targeting Ra. Yami is horrified to see that Slifer's power has already been copied, while thief!Bakura appears a bit more confident at its confirmation. He reiterates that Diabound steals the power of whatever he defeats, even the power of gods, taking what he can get. Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose. Settling for god-powers must be SUCH a bummer for it./sarcasm

Priest Seto is not having ANY of this shit. While Yami makes an impotent noise in the face of the attack, Priest Seto calls to his own ka, Duos, to attack, announcing he's putting all his mana into its sword. Said sword glows with the excess of power, and Duos lunges forward to put it between Ra and the stolen attack. As the three come closer to converging, Priest Seto postulates that he can deflect the blow if he hits the front of it with all his power. He doesn't look the MOST confident, but that could just be his low energy, having poured it all into this gamble.

Looks like the gamble paid off!

And all it cost was all of Priest Seto's strength, which kinda limits him to an exhausted groan for celebration. 

Thief!Bakura grinds his teeth all the harder at the attack being knocked off course by Priest Seto's puny ka, while Yami looks over at Priest Seto in concern. Priest Seto urges Yami on, not sure if it's either out loud or in his head, insisting that now is his chance. Whether internal or external, Yami's gotten the message, and throws out a hand to direct Ra to attack. The people down below recoil as the giant bird-dragon bursts into flame, and thief!Bakura seems to be genuinely concerned that the thing is covered in fire.

The battle must be wrapping up, if everyone's gotten to the point where they're using every last scrap of energy they have on these attacks.

Meanwhile, back at the smoking and partially firebombed palace, Akhenaden lays on a slab with a bandage over his partially removed magic eyeball. Someone calls his name in the semi-darkness, and a shadowy figure appears at his side. He opens his normal eye, groaning at the disturbance to his recovery sleep, but is wide awake REAL fast when he sees the looming figure next to him. He stutters out a weak demand to know who this is creeping on him.

Ugh, it's like my sleep paralysis demon. Right down to the fact that it just popped in for a moment before the great fiery sun busts its way back into view. 

While those agonized screams are promising, I definitely wouldn't count on it, friend.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I'm not going to lie, watching thief!Bakura lose this hard was satisfying, as was watching everyone pour everything they had into their final attacks. Ra shining a literal light on the shady situation didn't automatically wipe out Diabound either, which I appreciate. I was a little concerned that, since Ra IS the strongest of the three god-monsters, it would just dominate the rest of the battle, if it wasn't just resolved without fuss right then and there. I'm glad to see that there was plenty of struggle to maintain tension pretty much to the very end. 

But there is still something that bothers me about this victory: it was entirely dependent on the actions of a spirit that was not there for the actual event. In the original iteration, it was just Yami there, and he didn't have the strength to summon Ra himself. Yuugi DID say that he has half of Yami's soul, though, so perhaps when everything actually went down in the past, Yami had twice the amount of strength, not being split between two people? I don't know, seems pretty flimsy, and while thief!Bakura's defeat at the end there is VERY convincing, it's still too soon to know for sure if he's going to recover. Yami himself questions if he actually got thief!Bakura in the very last panel. It's all very fishy.

Also, I definitely don't like Akhenaden's mummified doppelganger. It better stay away from my blood.