Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 317 Return of the Priests!

Honestly, I know that priests are the protagonists in this story, but I can't help but feel a little threatened by this chapter's declaration. Religious officials of many religions have been known to abuse the shit out of their power, and one of the ones IN this narrative is engaging in some gross abuse himself, which is in the process of being written off a little at the moment in light of his random change of heart. It looks a bit like the long-standing tradition of shrugging at the open secret that these powerful individuals actively hurting people under their authority and pretending that it's justified in some way. I mean, hey, at least the wiping out the village of Kul Elna was based on the need of the theocracy to oust invaders, and not bigoted views of the moral/cultural degeneracy of the people living there - oh wait. Oh.

Is it just me, or is the size of that chamber rather reduced? In the next panel, the wide perspective from the ceiling to include Diabound roaring in irritation makes it look much bigger again, though, so I don't know what's up. 

Thief!Bakura says this is a great honor through a wide grin still leaking blood as Siamun rushes toward Yami supporting the exhausted and injured Shada, thanking the gods for the pharaoh's safety. Yami insists he's fine, but gestures to Shada under his arm and says he's been hit very hard, Shada giving a quiet painful sound in confirmation. Kalim calls to Shada, asking if he's okay, and though it's very obviously a lie, Shada answers that he's fine. He's always doubled over in agony in his natural state, don't you know?

Too be fair, Shada DOES feel well enough to talk at length about how they must combine their power or they will never defeat Diabound's "infinite" strength. Ugh, the misuse of this fucking word again. Still, Siamun hums in agreement, and there's a declaration that it's time for the pharaoh to fight together with the five remaining priests. Not sure if this comes from Siamun or someone else, given it's another of those ambiguous speech/thought bubbles used to make the scene of Yami and a couple newly-arrived priests standing firm opposite the menacing Diabound more dramatic, I suppose. 

But Yami has a correction to make. 

Kalim is ecstatic at Mahado's reappearance, Isis looking just as jubilant, while Priest Seto looks meh about it and Siamun... well most of his face is covered, so it's hard to say what his expression is. 

Mana's manifestation of DMG floats next to Mahado, exclaiming happily that her master is back. He looks over at her in wonder at first, then smiles and chuckles that he's been saved by his own student. Isn't that how you know you did a good teach? He observes that she's been studying WAY hard while he's been gone, and she answers in the affirmative. It's TOO cute and wholesome, and I'm living for it.

Thief!Bakura breaks in on the happy reunion with a dark chuckle, stating that they've come to him with gifts hanging around their necks, saving him an AWFUL lot of trouble. He displays both the ring and the puzzle around his own neck, holding up the rod he just acquired through totally bullshit means, I might repeat, saying he's already got these three. He supposes that if he defeats them all here, he'll have the whole set.

How much more can the shadow power possibly offer you than what you already have, my dude? You and Diabound are already pretty much unstoppable. 

Priest Seto vows that he and his colleagues standing at the ready behind him will crush thief!Bakura's mad ambitions, advising him to get ready. With another chuckle, thief!Bakura thinks that this time, the PRIESTS will be the sacrifice. That certainly would be ironic. Kalim, Priest Seto, and Isis waste no time in summoning their ka, and presenting them like they're entering them into some sort of contest or something. Thief!Bakura orders Diabound to massacre them.

Diabound's massive fist goes for Spiria first, which ducks and dodges around it with little effort. Priest Seto yells at the others to get into position to surround thief!Bakura's spirit, and it's not very subtle how he refuses to call Diabound by name, by the way. Meanwhile, Siamun urges a still groaning Yami to stay out of the fight because he's done enough. Yami says he's okay, but glancing at the Magus, acknowledges that he's in pretty bad shape. Mahado is grinding his teeth in the air, but otherwise just looks frustrated rather than seriously injured. 

Mana tells him through the OG DMG that her ka can't fight yet, but he offers to transfer his magic over to her so she can. He calls her name with urgency, and with a slight reluctance but relenting, holds up her hands and closes her eyes to accept whatever magic he can give her. I'm getting a serious sense of deja vu at the moment. 

In the meantime, Siamun is still assuring Yami that his high priests have got this in the bag, and that he should leave it all to them. While all their ka are getting into their positions around Diabound and they're declaring their intentions to get this attack going, it's only NOW that Priest Seto notices that bad ol' Akhenaden is missing, wondering where he is. Great observation there, dude. Regardless, they decide to go ahead with the "Attack from Four Directions at Once" attack, despite it being fairly obvious there are only three directions being covered here. 

Thief!Bakura calls them fools and tells them to give up, which, you know, I can't blame him for, since from his point of view, they just can't COUNT. 

Having Akhenaden here TOTALLY would have made the difference, I'm sure.

Yami states that the ghosts are still helping Diabound by forming a shield around it with their auras, because there's a fair amount of newcomers to the scene who haven't gotten the run-down of where this extra layer of protection is coming from. Thief!Bakura calls them all weaklings, no matter how many of them there are, and aims Diabound's snake-head tail at Spiria with a thousand poison fang attack. This must be a mash-up of the Magus's "thousand" attack and the snakebite inherent to the tail, though it's strange that Diabound didn't just do the thousand strikes with the magic blasts that he undoubtedly took from Mahado.

Isis cries out and doubles over, Kalim calling her name in concerned disbelief. They look up at the pristine Diabound that towers over them without the slightest injury, and Yami has to wonder how to defeat it. 

Oh, and in case you were wondering where Akhenaden got to while everyone else is fighting...

That's right, this punk-ass weenie is still at the top of the stairs. 

As he slowly makes his way down the steps like the coward he is, he whines internally about the memories of the slaughter coming back to him, clawing at his face in mental agony. When his tightly shut eyes pop open again, he gasps in horror.

These ghosts are busy as FUCK today. 

A soldier hurries down to ask Akhenaden what's up, since he just doesn't see any of this, and when Akhenaden blinks, he doesn't see it anymore either. Maybe the ghosts aren't working overtime after all, and Akhenaden has just fully lost it? Either way, the guy is sweating like mad from his little ghostly encounter.

Meanwhile, thief!Bakura is ordering a Lightning Shot on Duos and Diabound complies, firing a bolt with a crackling ball of energy on the business end. Duos dodges backward so the lightning scorches the floor where it was standing instead. Priest Seto complains that their individual attacks haven't even scratched Diabound, but Kalim holds up his Millennium Scales and says there's a way to combine separate ka into one with its power. Yami recognizes ka fusion, triggering an epiphany that the true power of the Millennium Items is unity. 

What... is our definition of unity here?

Kalim holds out the scales in front of him, the rest of them fanned out behind, and calls for the ba of two ka to be combined. 

Dammit, why did you say this is his last duel? You jinxed it!

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Yami's declaration that the true power of the Millennium Items is "unity" is a bit shaky for me. If you tilt your head and squint, I can see a couple of angles where that might be a natural conclusion to draw; they work best when they're being used in tandem have powers that are complimentary in their use, and they need to all be in thief!Bakura's possession in order for him to gain that ultimate power he's gunning for at the moment. But the items were forged in blood by an empire on the verge of total invasion, and REQUIRED the dehumanization and elimination of an entire village in order to come into being. Not to mention they maintain a strict hierarchy in which those at the top are stealing the ka of those they deem less-than-virtuous, othering them in order to take their ka and throw them in jail. That's just about as antithetical to unity as it is possible to get, so it's a little laughable to consider these artifacts representing and embodying any kind of unity. 

Remember when Kaiba spent several chapters agonizing over the concept of teamwork and struggling to grasp how it works? I thought about that a lot during this chapter where Priest Seto very smoothly directed a coordinated attack on Diabound, and where he didn't say a PEEP when Kalim fused Duos with his own ka. Not that I'm ungrateful for Priest Seto's lack of a need to completely halt the progression of battle so that he can scratch his head over how to work with others or anything, but it did strike me that he's not only putting up as much of a fight about it as his spazzy modern counterpart would, but he's not even being as calculated as he was earlier in the arc when he sacrificed his teammate's ka to power up his own in a mere exercise. I find myself hoping that that earlier moment is a setup that will pay off a little later, but given how cooperative Priest Seto is being with his allies at the moment, I'm not sure what to expect. 

Speaking of setups I'm hoping will pay off, what about Mahado transferring his power to Mana? I really hope that gets her in the battle in the next chapter. I want to see OG DMG shoot Diabound in its big dumb face.