Forget the "ancient" duel; have you ever heard of the dueling craze of the late 1700's to early 1800's? Men throughout the Americas and Europe drawing firearms on each other left and right; it seemed at the time to be a weird, deadly FAD. The book Six Frigates by Ian W. Toll (phenomenal book about early American naval development, would recommend) lists a few honest-to-goodness examples of why duels were fought in the U.S. Navy; entering the wardroom wearing a hat, spilling water on a letter, an argument about whether a bottle was green or black. Famous naval hero Stephen Decatur and his friend were just teasing one another and, because bystanders mistook the jests as genuine insults, this lead to a sequential duel between said friend and the many bystanders who demanded one. Decatur was his second, and had to prop up his injured and bleeding friend's pistol arm before the dumbass challenge was finally called off. This isn't even to mention the most famous example of American dueling dipshittery - Alexander Hamilton being shot dead by Aaron Burr in Weehawken.
Man, the more things change, the more they stay the same, am I right?
Wait... they're running damn DRILLS?
I mean, perfectly logical, but it seems exceedingly strange to me that I'm reading a comic about ancient Egyptian gym class...
Yami sits on his throne while Siamun addressed the phalanx of priests standing in front of him - he asks if they're ready to split into two teams of three, each team having three stones, essentially one per person. Yami sits with his arms crossed, glaring critically ahead, Siamun laying out more rules about summoning one monster each, either from the shrine or their own ka. As the priests split into two lines facing one another quietly, Siamun says that the team that defeats the other's monsters first wins.
Everybody watch out for the psycho on the center right, okay? He's real shady.
Said psycho summons his spirit ka, Duos, which is an eyeless monstrosity with a dark base and white armor/decorative contouring embellishments. Also kind of looks like he has a big ass sword, but the weapon is a little obscure in the next panel. Next, Shada holds out his key and calls forth a monster from a slab called Zerua, an eagle-headed-and-winged buff dude. On the other side of the aisle, we have Mahado summoning Magus of Illusion and Isis bringing out Spiria, who I'm pleasantly surprised to see again. Still pretty certain that Spiria won't make much of a plot difference, but KT still has time to change my mind.
Siamun plays the sportscaster role, yammering about Akhenaden's team having two monster ka, Duos from Priest Seto and Zerua from Shada. He also says that Mahado's team has two personal spirits, resulting in not one of their slabs being used in the initial summoning. I'm a little confused because Priest Seto's dialog made it seem like Duos was his own personal ka too, but perhaps his proto-Kaiba flair for the dramatic exaggerated the relationship a bit, I dunno. Anyway, Siamun says that if he knows Kalim, the dude has a trap monster hiding in one of those unused slabs on his side.
He definitely WOULDN'T destroy random people on the street, though, so don't read too much into that when it happens later on guys.
Mahado asks if Priest Seto has forgotten the power of the Magus, to which Priest Seto reacts with mild dopey surprise. It kind of looks like he took a hit off a joint a moment ago and temporarily forgot where he is. Anyway, the Magus comes at him with a command to use Spell-Binding Phantasm on the enemy, but Priest Seto scoffs that it won't be that easy for Mahado. Meanwhile, Akhenaden chooses this very moment to summon a ka too - Dark Ushebti, which looks not so strangely familiar. Should have been summoned by Shada to make the nostalgia that much more potent, in my opinion.
In any case, this irritates Mahado because the Ushebti will take Duos's place, and Priest Seto takes it upon himself to exposit on how the Ushebti are sacrificial substitutes, therefore it absorbs the attack meant for Duos. Indeed, the Spell-Binding Phantasm locks onto the Ushebti, and Priest Seto calls for Duos to resume attack. Suppose he was on pause for the moment. But Isis declares that she's not going to let this happen. Spiria waves its hand and produces a Rainbow Barrier, exactly what it says on the tin, its special power per Isis. Priest Seto gets all upset that he can't get to them for the barrier wall in the way, while Siamun chuckles about Mahado's side having good teamwork, reiterating that they use special abilities to block Priest Seto every time he tries to crush them with pure force.
Shada insists that he'll handle this, and proceeds to commands Zerua to use its power, Dispell Magic. Isis is in shock that Zerua cancelled her rainbow spell, as the pleasant light diffusion is destroyed right in front of Duos.
Getting that psychopathic look in his smirking face, Priest Seto thanks Shada for getting rid of the Rainbow Barrier, and offers to return the favor. Duos proceeds to slice Zerua in half at the waist, because Priest Seto has to re-establish how much of a dick he is, of course. Shada grinds his teeth over the betrayal (and loss of mana, I'm sure), and Mahado is in disbelief that Priest Seto has destroyed his own team's monster. Priest Seto grins in grim delight, explaining that sacrificing an ally doubles Duos's power. This is starting to seem strangely "card-game" structured at this point...
Anyway, Priest Seto has Duos slice up the Ushebti as well, just to triple Duos's attack force, because what's a little overkill among friends?
This is why no one wants to play board games with this asshole.
Kaiba's stepfather gave him a complex that equated losing with DEATH; what's this trashfire's excuse, exactly?
As if he needed to emphasize how much of a bag of dicks he is any more than he already has, Priest Seto starts berating Mahado for how weak his ka is and how he should be ashamed trying to protect the pharaoh's tomb with such a dud. While Mahado is kneeling to try and recover from the massive wollop he just got from the guy no less. Mahado looks nothing like Rodney Dangerfield, but he ain't getting NO respect over there, I tell ya.
Kalim addresses Mr. Sore Winner, admitting his side lost, but asking what the value is in winning when you have to sacrifice your allies to do so. Priest Seto bows his head, but he's anything but humble when he says war isn't won by the number of soldiers or the number of words. But generally they're not won by ONE GUY cannibalizing his fellow soldiers either, sooooo... Priest Seto tells Kalim he doesn't want to hear shit from him until he becomes a better opponent. At least he didn't tell Kalim to collect 10,000 cards.
Priest Seto has dropped his mic and is sauntering off with Kalim's glare at his back when Yami calls to him. He pauses, and Yami says that a battle strategy that relies on strength can reveal some unforeseen weaknesses, at which claim Priest Seto grins and asks if it's so. Yami asserts that true power would never mean hurting allies, FRIENDS, and here we go again, folks. Priest Seto asks for the REAL definition of power, then, showing an alarming amount of smarm to his god-emperor here. I mean, the sarcasm is THICK when he suggests, as presumptuous as it may be of him, that he'd appreciate some instruction from the great pharaoh, and asks if they could duel on the spot. SHIT, dude!
Siamun barks that Priest Seto insults the pharaoh, but Yami stands up and accepts the challenge, triggering Siamun's protest. Yami just walks right on past him, though, reiterating that they should totally fight. Priest Seto says he'll enjoy seeing the power of the gods, but Yami replies that he has no intention of summoning any of THOSE, which seems to surprise Priest Seto. As they take their places across from one another, Yami declares one tablet will be all he needs. Priest Seto, appearing downright DELIGHTED, asks if Yami is sure he doesn't want to use a god against the Duos. Yami says with a smile that Priest Seto doesn't need to hold back. Even in this context, they are so. Fucking. GAY.
Priest Seto wastes no time in summoning Duos again, as Siamun and Akhenaden clutch their pearls on the sidelines. Yami announces he's chosen a ka, and a familiar furball image begins to emerge on the tablet he gestures to behind him. Something Isis feels the need to emphasize in words, for some reason. We all know how this works by now, lady, no need for commentary.
It's not like you're making it difficult for him, are you? Hell, you're not even making it difficult for ME.
Grinding his teeth, Priest Seto resolves to use his power to destroy the slab before this little joke can even be summoned. He has Duos stab the tablet with its Aura Crush attack, shattering the stone and giving Priest Seto a grin as well as a feeling of momentary accomplishment. But Yami is smiling too, asking if he's really sure he did it. While the tone fragments fall around him, Priest Seto is shocked to see that every piece seems to adopting the whole image of the ka.
Yami gloats that this ka has a special ability to multiply when its slab is broken, and if one attacks it without thinking they lose. With this, Yami summons all his little creatures now, and a multitude of Kuribohs burst from their individual bits of rock.
Not to put too fine a point on it or anything...
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It seemed to revolve around solidifying how ruthless and calculating Priest Seto is, which strikes me with intense deja vu. It's like KT hit the "reset" button on Kaiba's character. This would be the time and place to do it; this setup seems to be ideal for going back and combing back through a character's development. But at the same time, there seems to be very little that's NEW happening here so far, so little that the callbacks to the beginning of the manga were a bit heavy-handed. There's still time, so I'm not exactly worried yet, but it does have me wincing that I feel as though I've read this all before already.
Even more so when I can see Yami gearing up to make his appeals for proto-Kaiba's friendship yet again. Slight yikes. Only slight, but it's there.
