Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 312 The Pharaoh Returns!

Though the title here means to be triumphant, I'm sure, I can't help but feel a little anxious about that prospect. Usually, when a pharaoh is returning in a story, it's in the form of mummy; an incredibly dusty, curse-riddled mummy. This specific pharaoh wouldn't have had the privilege of being mummified if he HAD died, given the circumstances of his disappearance, of course. This was probably an added feature of thief!Bakura's presumed victory over Yami before, denying him his ferry into the afterlife. But that mummy image keeps popping into my head just by virtue of horror culture conditioning. Forgive me. 

I don't think the assumptions of Shada here are too far from my own, though. Just subtract the intricate wrappings and preparations, and we're probz in the ballpark.

Shada thinks that he can't return to the palace until he's found Yami, and done something else he doesn't elaborate on as well. Trying to be mysterious, it seems. He asks one of the men accompanying him on horseback if the group that was following thief!Bakura has caught onto his trail yet, and the horseman confirms that they have found the thief's hideout. When Shada asks where that is, he looks serious at the answer - Kul Elna near the Valley of the Kings. Sounds familiar!

Something catches his eye above and he looks up, humming in question. It appears to be a VERY big bird at first, but after a moment, Shada recognizes the more humanoid form and spectral fire surrounding it, identifying it as Spiria, Isis's ka. Spiria flits around in the sky, directed by the remotely meditation Isis, and flies nearby a pass leading up to a cave. 

Yes, THAT cave.

Yami is still contemplating who that weird guy was who called himself the watcher or all memories. But I guess he decides he can contemplate and walk around at the same time, because he stands stiffly with a groan. He wonders how many days have passed since thief!Bakura stole the Millennium Puzzle - Clearly not enough for him to NOT look like he just got thrown around in a cyclone - and hopes that the palace is safe as he wobbles toward the cave entrance. Telling himself he can't stay here, Yami uses the cave wall to lean on, keeping himself upright as he silently insists on getting back those Millennium Items no matter what. 

Upon reaching the circle of daylight, squinting against it, Yami looks up to see Spiria as well, hanging in the air, having caught sight of him as well.

Well, now that Isis has beat you to your ONE JOB, Shada, maybe you can go do that other thing that I'm sure is super important or something. 

Back at the palace, behind massive arches and guards flanking them, Kisara is back in her barred room that is DEFINITELY not a prison cell, snoozing away. Priest Seto gazes at her through the bars of her not!cell, thinking about how the white dragon resides in her, but the dragon is her very soul. He reiterates the revelation from the last chapter that this gives her body animation and life, so to remove the dragon is to kill her. Just for the potential new-comers of course. He recalls how Akhenaden suggested a bit too eagerly that if Priest Seto sacrificed the girl, the dragon would be his. As he contemplates that Akhenaden ACTUALLY advised him to kill the girl and take her god-soul, not to mention become pharaoh, the bars are drawn a bit translucent where they would hide his shoulder and the Millennium Rod. The latter I can maybe understand, but who needs an unobstructed view of his shoulder? Those bars are still faded when we get a view of him just over Kisara's sleeping form, too. It's very weird? Did KT just forget to fill them in once he'd drawn the guy behind them or what?

Anyway, Priest Seto closes his eyes, trying to puzzle this out - Akhenaden is the highest priest who has always shown mercy to even the worst of sinners, but Priest Seto has now seen how hateful Akhenaden's eyes can be recently, with a close-up panel of them for effect. He looks almost forlorn when he wonders why, unfocused gaze on the floor now. He goes over all the values that Akhenaden personally taught him when he first rose to the priesthood as a child: morality, philosophy, the eternal order, the law of Ma'at, just to name a few. Wow, he took a special interest in your education and is now taking one in a possible path for you to become the next pharaoh? Seems like you should have suspected the obvious VERY early on, my dude. 

Suddenly, Priest Seto's brief consideration of the word "pharaoh" makes him chuckle. He thinks he's just an orphan whose father died on the battlefield (lol) and that his duty is to protect the pharaoh, the true heir to the throne. He's now pretty sure that he wants to be the heir to the protector of the palace and throne, AKHENADEN'S heir. 

Just... waiting for the other shoe to drop. Any minute now. 

As he continues to stand there staring into Kisara's not!cell, failing to put two and two together, a guard runs up to him, calling out his title. His message is that the pharaoh has been found, and he's alright, to which Priest Seto responds with a little disbelief. 

Just to drive home the obvious fact that he's fallen apart in the past twenty seconds for no discernible reason, Priest Seto stops laughing abruptly and spins on his heel, cape flapping. As he strides off, he orders the guard to move the woman to another room, and tell no one except him where. There is no arguing or question, the guard just gives his affirmative. 

Elsewhere, Akhenaden tenses up, grinding his teeth, before falling to his knees in front of the alarmed guard who gave HIM the news. He is looking downright agonized as he repeats in his head that the pharaoh is alive. So much for putting your dense-ass son in his place the easy way, huh? 

In the throne room, the throne itself is still empty, but the priests and a horde of guards have gathered in front of it to share in the positive update. Siamun announces to everyone present that Isis's ka Spiria spotted the pharaoh in a canyon outside the city, a little banged up, but alive. A cheer roars in the chamber, as Isis tells Siamun that she's sending Shada to rescue Yami, since he's the closest to him. Siamun says it's good to know that Shada is well too, but the Isis drops the bad news that it's possible Yami's Millennium Item was stolen. Everyone settles into an alarmed silence, Isis using this opportunity to close her eyes and hover her palms around her necklace again, before she looks back up and tells everyone that Shada's men have found thief!Bakura's lair. Siamun practically demands to know where it is. 

When Shada confirms that Kul Elna is indeed the place, Yami thinks on thief!Bakura with a determined expression, and concludes that he can't return to the palace WITHOUT the Millennium Puzzle his father had entrusted him with. He invites Shada and his men to come with him and take back what belongs to them now that they know where thief!Bakura is hanging out. Gonna go over there with blood still smeared all over your face from the last time you two crossed paths? Think that'll be a good look? Shada yells that he CAN'T do that, as if he's not talking to a LITERAL king right now, citing Yami's wounds as the reason Yami should be returning to the palace. 

Yami retorts that thief!Bakura is planning his next attack even as they speak, and may even be on his way to the palace with a plan in place already. He insists that they have to take the battle to thief!Bakura instead, and not let him use the people and city as a shield like last time. Shada begins to protest, perhaps to remind Yami that home field advantage is a thing, but Yami has made up his mind. He announces that the final battle will happen in Kul Elna. 

After a slight impotent pause, Shada looks up and calls to Spiria, hovering over them, asking if Isis hears them. In the palace, Isis IS listening in, eyes closed and hands poised around her necklace. She tells her audience to send the priests to Kul Elna at once, to fight alongside the pharaoh in the Valley of the Kings. Akhenaden recognizes the name of the village as he sweats in the wings, but he DOES manage to keep his footing this time, which is good, I suppose. 

Yami, Shada and the men are next seen racing through the canyon on horseback, the former gritting his teeth and grimacing. They eventually reach an abandoned town, all the buildings half-crumbled away, and with wisps of breeze blowing in and out of what's left of doors and windows.

Oh, shit, never mind, those are definitely ghosts.

They watch the spirits float and stretch about, Shada complaining that this place has a pretty sinister aura. The guy who made it that way is heading down - you might want to tell it to HIM. Yami is preoccupied with finding wherever thief!Bakura is, so he doesn't appear to be listening.

Can't be too terribly far.

Thief!Bakura has fit the Millennium Ring in its impression in the tablet beneath him, and a couple of the cones decorating its edge are standing up, possibly drawing energy from the ghosts flying around, based on the jagged outline extending from them. Thief!Bakura comments on these needles stirring, and asserts that this must mean the priests are in town. He says he would LIKE to welcome them to the village, which I very much doubt, but they'll soon see the reason he can't.

You're going to charge them admission instead, right? That's been my experience with ghost towns.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? To be honest, I'm not sure what to think quite yet at all. This one is mostly focused on getting all of the characters on the same page, so there wasn't a LOT happening except the mass regroup. A big exchange of what little information that is available, although, Yami never gets an answer to his question of how long it's been since thief!Bakura stole his puzzle.

Not that it matters much - he's still banged up enough that it's probably one been a couple of days at most. His eagerness to go meet thief!Bakura where he is in this condition is understandable, though, even if it IS a risky move. It makes sense that Yami is anxious about the safety of the city's inhabitants being put in danger again, which turned out to be an insurmountable liability in their last scuffle. But the fact that they're meeting thief!Bakura on his own home turf at the end of the chapter makes me a tad nervous, and Yami's ragged appearance will probably only instill MORE confidence in thief!Bakura. What else are you supposed to think when your opponent shows up half-dead except that you've got this thing in the bag? And yet, the urgency of the situation is undeniable.

This is a really good sign for the upcoming confrontation, all-in-all. Usually I can kinda guess where things are going, but KT has managed to keep things rather unpredictable with all the little variables at play here. 

I should also mention that Priest Seto's reaction to the news that Yami was alive and well was utterly HILARIOUS. I couldn't help but laugh along with the lunatic, it was THAT ridiculous. Possibly this is him expressing relief, considering he was just silently expounding upon how he wasn't really interested in becoming pharaoh, and was more into the idea of being his secret dad's heir. I'm not quite certain, though, because this little monologue was a little unclear. Regardless, his reaction is even better in contrast with Akhenaden's who has an actual breakdown for a minute, lol.

Serves that jerk right.