Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 334 The Survivors

Count me among them. I live to see another week, but unfortunately my fight isn't quite over. Professional despair is looming over me and I'm at my wit's end with a worsening cyclical problem at work. Thankfully, my sponsor with the company should return from vacation next week, so we should be able to have a little talk about it then, but in the meantime, I'll have to gather my arms - an updated resume and receipts. Lots of receipts.

Not as good a negotiation to the end of my troubles as an almighty creatrix, but better than nothing.

I'm still mighty jealous, though.

The flaming viscera of Zorc rains down around them from the sky, which is GENUINELY kind of disturbing, but most of the lookers-on are smiling wide about it. Jonouchi's elated comment is a very bare-bones mention of how Horakhty beat Zorc. Atem is the only one not grinning or gaping, but I think he's just being stoic. Watching part of Zorc's skull burning away upon reentry into the atmosphere or something, Atem considers how the demon god born of the darkness in peoples' hearts has been defeated, but also acknowledging that there are an awful lot of people (Shada, Kalim, and Siamun being the principle examples he thinks about) who lost their lives. He hangs his head.

As he continues to cling to the chain dangling the cartouche from his fist, Horakhty addresses him from above, citing his name as both the identity he had lost and also the spell to drive back the shadows. He looks up at her, looking somewhat surprised, while she informs him that his power alone wasn't enough to break the 3,000-year seal. She at last drops the straight face and puts on a little warm smile when she tells him that the people who fought for him, the friends who care about him so much, were the true keys that unlocked his long lost name. He smiles too, agreeing wholeheartedly, holding up the cartouche clenched in his fist. 

The friends she mentioned surround him, cheering; Jonouchi yelling that he did it, Anzu asking if he's okay, Honda admitting that the Zorc thing had him scared for a while, but he always knew their pharaoh buddy could defeat him. They ALL call him Yuugi. Atem makes an awkward, hesitant noise, and the excitement drops into uncomfortable silence for a moment. Yuugi sheepishly recalls the obvious, and Jonouchi interjects boisterously his recollection that Atem isn't "Yuugi" to them anymore, but has got his own Name. Yuugi suggests that he can't call Atem his other self anymore, but Atem stutters in alarm that it's okay, he doesn't mind, they don't need to call him by anything else. Anzu disagrees - she says he's ATEM, and that's his real name. 

Atem looks down at the cartouche wordlessly, pondering it.

A unique and confusing situation for all. 

Yuugi himself is thinking the whole thing over too, smiling at Atem, acknowledging that this all means he's him, and Atem is no one else but himself too. He has to admit that he feels a little sad about this, but he knows this is just... how it had to be. Yuugi just keeps on smiling, which isn't a bad way to handle the whole thing, honestly.

Atem thanks Anzu, saying the cartouche she got saved him. As he looks at it some more, this time in his palm, Anzu blushes and says she GUESSES that's so. Come on, girl, take credit - it was a DAMN good idea! Suddenly, Atem looks back up at his friends and addresses the others, declaring that he couldn't have defeated Zorc if they hadn't found his name. He says thank you to all of them, allowing himself a little grin of gratitude again. Jonouchi asks Atem (correcting himself halfway through calling him Yuugi again) what he expected, their friendship being valid no matter where they are and what anyone's name is. Yuugi says that Atem's name changing doesn't make a THING different. 

A rumble surrounds them and the ground shakes some more. A guard approaches Atem and informs him that the earth still quakes even though Zorc is dead, another shouting that the area is still dangerous. Atem looks over and calls to Isis and Mana, asking them who else is left of their company. 

I'm not going to lie. I completely forgot about those guys, lol. 

Atem twists around to cast the heaving landscape a suspicious glare, wondering if Akhenaden is still alive. He turns back to Yuugi and friends, telling them that he has no idea what's going to happen in this world and that they need to leave ASAP. He asserts that they don't belong in "ancient Egypt", and that there has to be a way for them to get out of there. Yuugi protests that Atem must come with them, expression collapsing into anxiety, Honda looking about the same next to him. Atem refuses, reminding them that this is the world of his memories, a world he has to see through to its future. Before Yuugi can voice his clear alarm, Atem tells them not to be afraid, assuring them that he'll get back to them no matter what, urging everyone to go back to the real world and wait for him there. Jonouchi affirms the order, and says Atem better come back to them, which Atem responds to with his solemn promise. 

The ground is still rattling around around them, by the way. It sure is polite letting them get on with their conversation like it is, though. Yuugi and company start to run, with the shouted intention of getting the duck out of fodge. Isis bids their backs farewell, Mana beside her thanking them for lending their assistance to the pharaoh and themselves. Yuugi twists to direct a goodbye back at them before he and Atem's other friends all rise straight up into the sky toward the tip of the inverted pyramid they came from - the puzzle hanging over the diorama.

Atem looks over his shoulder to watch them go, then looks forward with a determined glare. He's still feeling the "pulse" of the land (not sure if that's the quaking or somewhere beneath it...), and concludes that the shadows still linger. He starts running as well, thinking about Priest Seto. 

I was starting to wonder if this image would ever pop up again.

Priest Seto looks down at Kisara's face, thinking that the light which destroyed the evil god cannot reach his heart, presuming that the world will never truly be bright for him again. Dammit, is the story going to make his grieving a PROBLEM for everybody? That tracks. Priest Seto wishes for Kisara to forgive him, admitting to himself in this moment that he never wanted to let her go, likening his own heart to a prison in which he wanted to lock her up, as the one point of light in the darkness of his soul. After the really painful edgy middle school poetry, Priest Seto concludes that he didn't want Kisara's spirit ka, her dragon creature, but HER. Considering her expression in death is something akin to a kissy face, I'm sure she felt the same way. Inappropriate, yes, but this is literally how she's drawn, and it's uncomfortable. 

Suddenly, Priest Seto becomes alarmed while contemplating Kisara, hearing her voice calling to him. Her voice suggests that he let her protect him with the light of her spirit. He just responds with her name, so I'm not sure if he's agreeing to this arrangement quite yet.

Meanwhile...

Have you been stumbling around in the background whining this whole time?

He makes some more gurgling noises while oscillating like the madman he is, raising a clawed hand and declaring that now the only thing that can defeat the pharaoh's gods is his son Priest Seto. I... thought that was what you were trying to set him up for this whole time, but I guess that was just the backup plan? I am so confused right now. 

Anyway, he turns to Priest Seto with claws outstretched, shouting at him that he's destined to be king and that he must kill the pharaoh, as well as steep the world in shadows. Dude has been drinking too much KoolAid to snap out of the cult mindset even when his big bad leader is dead. Priest Seto looks around, jaw clenched, strangely lucid about how the shadows of hatred fill his heart for this man who calls himself his father. He squeezes his eyes shut, haltingly reasoning that no matter what form this guy takes, he's still his father, and Akhenaden too, whom he swore fealty and owes so much. Uh, what? You said before that you're actually sworn to serve the pharaoh, not the guy who brought you up in the priesthood. What happened to THAT fair reasoning???

Out loud, Priest Seto makes a GOOD point, finally: that Egypt is in ruins, everything is fucked, so what does it even matter anymore? Who gives a shit about killing a king and having power over a wasteland anyway? Akhenaden takes off his mask, revealing his wrinkled emaciated face and his one remaining eye glowing blank opposite the Millennium Eye. He asserts that with his son's power, he can erase the stain of failure in their blood, which I SUPPOSE is supposed to be an answer for why he still gives a crap about Priest Seto ruling the husk of Egypt instead of Atem? 

So, what exactly what Akhenaden's blood failure here? Being born second? Being the brother of a king and being raised in a royal family where he and his family want for nothing as well? Having a long and comfortable career in the head priesthood? Performing a dark blood ritual that created artifacts which were instrumental in almost bringing about the end of the world? No doubt that last one - just couldn't QUITE get the apocalypse to work out. 

Man, if only his privileged ass had the GALL to whine about his "fail blood" to people who have REAL problems. That might be entertaining.

Priest Seto just grimaces at his terrible dad, the ellipses over his head indicating the lack of words to really address the dipshittery he's having to listen to. Akhenaden says that Priest Seto's flesh and blood are a part of him, and his last gift to him will be to give Priest Seto his soul, a strange and shocking statement to his son. Akhenaden declares his love for Priest Seto from the bottom of his heart, while Priest Seto stares in alarm at Akhenaden stepping backward over a chasm in the ground behind him. With a final yell, Akhenaden calls to the blood in Priest Seto's veins to flow with his love, and boil with his hatred of the pharaoh.

"Aw Dad, you shouldn't have! No, really, does this literal curse come with a gift receipt?"

Into a palace that's in complete shambles, Atem runs calling for Priest Seto. He stops, looking on in alarm when he sees the tall form of Priest Seto standing with its arms crossed in front of the stone tablet that now has the form of a familiar dragon etched upon it, saying in calm delight that he's been waiting foe the pharaoh. 

Priest Seto's eyes are blank, but he's grinning, chuckling about what a tragedy it is that the palace has fallen, and Atem is now a naked king without wealth or power. Atem gapes.

A kingdom without wealth or power? Yeah, that's totes worth it. *eyeroll*

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I'm really seeing what KT was talking about in his quote regarding wanting to elaborate a bit more on Priest Seto's "rebellion" against the pharaoh. This is where all the stress fractures from the timeline squeeze are turning into some WIDE cracks. There's unfortunately not enough development of character motivation here - how Akhenaden's resentment over not being pharaoh turned into pure hatred and the irresistible urge to overthrow his nephew, how Priest Seto keeps flip-flopping between the reasonable conclusion to resist his father's unhinged demands and the urge to obey and respect the man who got him where he is. Clearly there was WAY more planned in that department, but a lot of it had to be cut so most of what's left comes across as abrupt, to say the least. 

Thankfully, there are enough indications of how the characters' minds are supposed to be working that I MIGHT be able to glean what KT meant to get across. For instance, Akhenaden's claws, his inhumanly contorted face as he speaks, points to him being more Zorc than human at this point, so Zorc's hatred for the pharaoh might have permanently melded with Akhenaden's deep resentment. Priest Seto was showing odd signs of being subconsciously influenced by his father's demands for a while before this, unable to refuse despite his personal convictions on his own. For whatever reason, whenever Akhenaden was around and telling Priest Seto what to do and what the plan was, Priest Seto is struck dumb and incapable of expressing his own will. I suggested a couple of possibilities, from the more mundane explanation of him being subconsciously deferential to his dad, to the idea that perhaps the Millennium Eye was influencing the both of them to try and fulfill Akhenaden's wish. These are just guesses, mind, I don't have access to KT's true intent, but they seem plausible in the absence of more concrete explanations in the truncated text.

There is one kind of BLARING indication of one of the things that left Priest Seto vulnerable to possession though - losing Kisara. He even says outright that the light of the creatrix can't even touch the shadows in his heart right now. While I see how the emotional turmoil of Kisara's death could be an interesting catalyst for a downward spiral, it would be much more understandable if the mourning was overly extended and the pain was festering instead of getting easier to deal with. As it stands, Priest Seto has been mourning for about FIVE SECONDS before his dad comes waltzing up and possesses him, and that makes it look more like the negative emotion of mourning is the problem instead of its mishandling. This comic kind of already has a problem with toxic positivity and presenting negative emotions as something to be denounced instead of helpful indicators for healing, so that's not GREAT. 

Also, it's such a shame that this keeps happening to SETO of all the characters. For fuck's sake, it's no wonder this guy has such huge issues across lifetimes! He's never allowed to just feel his feelings and DEAL with them!

But I at least wasn't frustrated by the beginning of the chapter. Seeing everyone stumble around trying to get Atem's name right and generally be cute was super wholesome. But I am VERY anxious to learn what happens when Yuugi and company gets out of the diorama. How PISSED is asshole!Bakura going to be? What kind of SHAPE is he going to be in???

Not the kind for closing the coffin lids on our heroes, I hope!