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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 1, 2010 1:15:22 GMT -5
Izanagi's expression was flat as Malik lowered his knife. He wasn't stupid enough to think he was giving up, which was confirmed as Malik asked his odd question.
"Perhaps. Why do you ask?" He didn't like that arrogant expression on Malik's face.
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 1, 2010 1:22:44 GMT -5
"Simply because if you felt confident in your ability to win here, Anpu would already be lacking a head."
Anpu was glaring. It seemed unlikely Malik was trying to get him killed. If the teenager wanted him dead he just had to turn around and let Izanagi finish things. Malik took another step forward. There were still a solid five steps between him and Izanagi, quite enough to dodge if Malik went stupid.
"A wager. If I lose, you can kill us both. It's not like Anpu can dodge you as he is in the first place," Malik ignored Anpu's growl, "If I win, you let him and me go. Oh, if you win, you won't have to worry about anyone finding the bodies. You can have my word on that."
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 1, 2010 1:40:42 GMT -5
Izanagi scowled. Malik was taunting him, that much was obvious, but Izanagi was never the type to pass up a wager like that. The one thing that was making him not consider it was the fact that such a deal seemed too good to be true... There was something nagging him about this, too, but he wasn't sure what it quite was.
"Alright. I'll take you up on that," Izanagi stated.
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 1, 2010 2:07:44 GMT -5
Malik said nothing. If the man wasn't even going to ask what the wager involved, he wasn't going to share the information. He pulled out a second dagger, but held them loose as he took a two more steps forward. They were at his side and there was no indication he was going to use them to attack. He glanced back at Izanagi for a moment, seeming to gauge something, before driving a dagger into the ground so that it would be steady but the blade was exposed. He walked about two and a half steps in the direction he had come from and drove the other dagger into the ground.
The man wasn't human, Malik was pretty sure of that. And he was the one invited into this, so he'd be fine. He closed his eyes with his back turned for a second and a pulse of energy came from the Ring. Izanagi would feel a dark oppression wash over the general area with the pulse. Given his strength, he'd even be able to see the dark distortions at either end of the alley they were in, but it didn't prevent him from seeing out. Anpu felt a sudden headache, and then out of nowhere silver shackles appeared over his hands and ankles, yanking him into a restrained position against the side of the wall.
"What the hell!?" He lost all composure at the shock.
Malik didn't tell Izanagi that if he attempted to kill Anpu now, he'd automatically lose. It would be his fault for not asking any questions. Malik hadn't reacted to Anpu's shout, merely turning around to look at Izanagi. He gestured for the man to come over to the two blades.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 1, 2010 2:17:25 GMT -5
Izanagi glared at Malik as the dark energy washed out from the Ring. So that was it, this was some sort of dark game or something like that. In retrospect, he should have asked what the game entailed beforehand, but this aspect of Izanagi was not known for making the world's smartest decisions.
Izanagi allowed himself to smirk as Anpu was chained to the wall. Well, that would at least keep him from running away. Seeing that there was nothing else he could do now (for now, at least), Izanagi walked over to Malik.
"Explain the rules," Izanagi ordered.
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 1, 2010 2:29:20 GMT -5
Anpu had turned back to glaring after the initial shock. The position wasn't the most comfortable in the world, but at least he didn't have a blade to his throat at the moment. He'd been allowed to keep range of movement in his neck, so he leaned it forward a bit and looked at Malik and Izanagi. The air here was oppressing, it reminded him of the air after summoning Zorc. He smirked for a moment. So this was a hidden power of the Millenium Items, huh?
"We remove our shoes and each place the sole of one foot against the daggers. The other foot has to remain in the circle indicated by the position of the daggers. The basic game involves pushing against each other's linked hands to try and force the other to either collapse or be unable to stand on both feet. However, both parties may call on any powers they have access to providing they don't kill the other party. This is a nonlethal game," Malik smirked and gestured to the side. The darkness seemed to pulse in response, "The darkess of the hearts and minds of those involved can and will interfere. Forfeiting equals a loss, but that's not all that disadvantageous to you, is it?"
Malik had realized something even before suggesting the game. He'd seen this man before. No, he'd seen this man's body. The stance had been different. Having dealt with what he had in his life, it was likely a case of posession. "The darkness of the hearts and minds of those involved" - The person was using someone else's body, thereby involving them. It was not only possible, but likely, that whatever darkness that person had could prove a far greater disadvantage to Izanagi than Malik's own dark past.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 1, 2010 2:45:50 GMT -5
Izanagi didn't like that last line about the "darkness of the hearts and minds of those involved." Malik hadn't been clear about what exactly that entailed. It was possible Adachi would be an even greater hindrance in this. Even still, Izanagi reached a foot up and pulled off Adachi's shoe, setting it outside the circle. He did the same with the other shoe, and then pressed his foot up against the dagger like he had been told to.
"I'm ready to start at any time," Izanagi stated. He would have to hope that idiot Adachi didn't screw things up any...
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 1, 2010 3:12:15 GMT -5
Malik put a hand on the wall to support his feet as he pulled his shoes and socks off. The taunt hadn't worked, but he hadn't really expected it to. Anpu still wasn't please with the situation, as evidenced by his expression. Right now his life completely depended on Malik, who looked as Egyptian as he had in his past. He couldn't know if the teenager had ever spent a winter outside of Egypt, but Malik's clear focused expression as his bare feet touched the snow didn't bode well. The former thief king tched.
Malik walked over to the dagger and balanced himself onto the edge of it. He was already clearly focused. While he didn't know what would eat at this man, he knew what would eat at him. Hell, he'd even seen the manifestation of his hate before thanks to the Dark Game he'd performed with the Pharaoh and Yuugi's spirit. He held up his hands and waited for Izanagi to link them with his own.
"Start."
Almost immediately the shadows seemed to bend. Behind Malik appeared what seemed to be a harsher looking version of himself. The smirk was more like a psychotic grin. The hair was all over the place in comparison and the outfit was completely different. Sleeveless black shirt exposing his belly, dark grey cargo pants. Quite a bit in the way of gold bracelets and a tattered purple cloak. It was clearly an alternate version of Malik, and the earrings at least remained the same.
Worth extra note was the staff he had in his hands. Malik tensed up and a bit of blood welled up on his foot before he pushed back and regained his former position. It was all because the manfestation had held the odd staff in front of Malik's neck and leaned over to whisper in his ears. A single eye flicked towards Izanagi, and the voice was just loud enough for the other man to hear if he wasn't too distracted with the manifestations of himself or his host.
"Looks like I'm still a part of you, doesn't it?" the Dark Malik specter whispered.
Anpu's eyes had widened for a moment as Dark Malik appeared. The Millenium Rod...? They fel back into a harsher glare than before, and he shouted at Malik. However, the sound didn't carry to the Egyptian's ears, although Izanagi would hear it just fine. Malik merely looked like he was trying to concentrate more. If he gave in too much, his darkness could interfere far more than it already had...
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 1, 2010 3:49:36 GMT -5
Izanagi had balanced himself on the edge of the dagger and linked his hands with Malik's. Malik announced the game start, and Izanagi finally saw what Malik had meant, not just because of the strange doppelganger of Malik that had manifested behind him. Because similar manifestations had appeared near Izanagi.
The one that manifested on Izanagi's left Malik was a silver-haired man that all three of them would recognize, though unlike the manifestation Malik's mind had created, this manifestation of Souji was completely emotionless.
"You're still hanging around? I thought I chased you off. It's not like I want you anyways," the Souji doppelganger said. He wasn't even bothering to whisper. Izanagi tensed up for a moment before quickly regaining his balance, with only the consequence of a small cut. He attempted to push Malik a little more forward.
To his right, what appeared to be living corpses stood. One was a short-haired woman who looked like she might have been very beautiful in life, while the other was a long-haired girl wearing a school uniform.
"You might be trying to redeem yourself, but all you do is dig yourself deeper into this ditch."
"How much longer will it be before you do something you can't take back... Wait, too late for that, huh?"
Izanagi fell back onto the knife a bit again, worsening the cut. Dammit, Adachi. His own problems were bad enough, he didn't need Adachi's problems making him lose.
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 1, 2010 5:47:27 GMT -5
There was a combination of two reasons Malik was faring better. The more obvious one was Izanagi wasn't doing as well. He did have two hearts to deal with, after all. Second, Malik had expected this particular manifestation. Really, his past could be summed up in his darker half. Unique among Bakura and Yuugi in that his "Dark" self really was a manifestation of himself.
Malik had Izanagi's manifestations more or less blocked out and tried to push back. He was aware that whatever was the dominant personality here either wasn't something that had or could express greater strength or what was haunting it was having more effect. Quite possibly thanks to the weakness of two. The push, in any case, wasn't successful. Malik grunted a bit as Dark Malik pulled the Rod closer to Malik's neck, slightly constricting air flow.
"You've pretty much eliminated me haven't you? See, there's no reason to let you win this little fight as a result," Dark Malik reached up with the hand not holding his rod and grabbed the tip of it between his pointer finger and thumb. He gave a slight jerk, and the bottom seemed to pop off a bit. It wasn't off, but it made it pretty clear it was a sheath. The manifestation smirked and paused, "Then again, whose to say I can't come back? You hatred is growing again... after all, hasn't all your suffering to this point been made pointless...?"
There was a slight balance issue, and the attempt to regain pushed Malik's free foot dangerously close to the edge of the boundary that had been marked. Malik hissed and repositioned his foot, aware that it would and did cause a slight increase in the cut on his foot. He hadn't expected that direction, and he had no one to blame for that but himself. But as it was, his pulse was increasing. Dark Malik... these were expressions of himself, it wasn't really his other personality. Dark Malik laughed to himself, and Malik had to put all his concentration into not being thrown off balance again due to the manifestations shaking shoulders. As it was, he wasn't doing much in the way of reverse force at the moment.
"Hey! Watch the hell out! Isn't that damn thing just a hallucination!?" Anpu shouted.
Anpu growled and jerked at the shackles. Whatever this insanity was, it made restraints stronger than he'd ever seen. No key hole, and it didn't appear the things could be pulled out of the wall even by a god. He looked back up and glared. Malik wasn't even hearing him. Damn fool had clearly started a 'game' that put him at a disadvantage. What Anpu didn't realize is the "hallucinations" could physically effect their creators... it all related to how they felt about the darkness and how much they allowed themselves to fall to it.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 1, 2010 12:35:39 GMT -5
Izanagi wasn't concentrating much on the situation with Malik, as he was currently busy dealing with the manifestations of both his own darkness and Adachi's. The fact that his had taken the form of Souji was not surprising to Izanagi, nor was the fact that Adachi's had taken the form of the two women he had murdered. He was having a hard time ignoring Souji, and the two women were making things even worse.
"Can't stand to see that whore Izanami in love with me, huh? So that's why you're just going to kill me?" the manifestation of Souji spat. "Doesn't matter anyways. After all, I'm just another shell, right? Shells aren't human; they're easily replaceable." Izanagi worked to ignore it. If it was just going to call him out on some of his recent decisions, it was a pretty weak bit of darkness.
Adachi's darkness, on the other hand... one of the corpses had grabbed a hold of his arm, and was trying to wrench it free from Malik's hand. Another one seemed to be trying to push Izanagi out of the boundary. They were making a much more active attempt to make him lose than Dark Malik was with Malik.
"You enjoy killing people like that, don't you? If all you're going to do is kill these people after you win, then maybe we shouldn't let you win!" Yamano's corpse stated. Izanagi fell back on the knife again, worsening the cut further. He closed his eyes and got balance again, but at the same time he was concentrating his energy. Well, he'd planned on using this before on Anpu...
"Mudoon!" A dark circle formed around Malik's feet and sent up a spike of darkness. Izanagi had intended for it to just knock him out, but the distractions from both the Shadow-Souji and the women's corpses had caused him to put a little more energy into it than he'd intended.
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 1, 2010 13:06:14 GMT -5
Dark Malik pulled off the sheath of the Rod, dropping it to the ground as the large needle was exposed. The manifestation pressed the sharp point of the rod gently against Malik's neck. Malik narrowed his eyes and tried to push back, having some success despite his foot getting a deeper cut for his effort. He winced as Dark Malik pressed the blade forward just enough to draw a single drop of blood. He leaned over and whispered in Malik's ear. This time Izanagi wouldn't hear.
"That Pharaoh will live to the end of his days. You know, they say blood can never be fully removed. I suppose that makes it a good thing the blood of the father you killed thanks to the Pharaoh already flows in your veins...."
Malik's eyes widened and there was a point that he seemed to be pushed back. A point that had things continued as they had been, Malik would have lost. However, it was at that instant that Mudoon hit. Malik's eyes rolled into the back of his head, his weakness to the attack showing. He looked about ready to fall out, and it was possible to think the fight was over. After all, Dark Malik vanished. The man had given a psychotic grin as he flashed out, and less than half a second later...
Malik's expression and stance changed to almost a different person, and there was quite a bit in the way of force being exerted on causing Izanagi to fall out of the ring. Malik's eyes were narrowed and even as the cut on his foot got deeper, the teenager seemed to be enjoying the pain. There was a slight chuckle...
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 1, 2010 14:51:32 GMT -5
Izanagi knew something was up as he saw the grin on Malik's face as the Mudoon hit. About half a second later, his expression and stance had changed, and Izanagi suddenly found himself being pushed much more strongly than Malik had been doing before. Izanagi winced as the dagger dug into his foot, and continued to push at Malik, but whatever had taken over Malik's body was winning now.
"What the hell are you..." Izanagi growled. He moved his foot back a little bit to try to get a better balance while at the same time keeping his other foot pressed up against the dagger. It didn't work, and Izanagi ended up getting shoved out of the ring, the manifestations his and Adachi's minds had summoned disappearing as he did so.
He landed on the ground and glared up at Malik, or at least, whatever had taken over Malik's body. He clenched his hand into a fist a couple times, and then held out one hand.
"Vorpal Blade!" Izanagi yelled. Several razor sharp blades of wind moved through the area, cutting into the ground, buildings, and most importantly, anyone unlucky enough to be near the attack.
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 1, 2010 15:23:43 GMT -5
It wasn't just the manifestations that vanished. In that instant, the entire dark presence in the area left, and Anpu's shackles vanished along with it. The former thief king's feet hit the ground and he rubbed his wrists. He was keeping a very close eye on Malik. It didn't seem so much that it was a different person, but something was very wrong. Just about anyone could see his muscles were wound, and he was ready to spring at a given moment.
Dark Malik lowered his foot and pressed it down on an area of undisturbed snow, smiling like a psychopath at what should have hurt like hell. He looked towards Izanagi and his smirk shifted a bit. He was about to take a step forward when Izanagi released the razor wind at him. He only took a small step to the side to avoid the worst of it. Quite a few blades cut into him with their edges. Two cuts on his left arm, one on his right, a slice on his cheek, and one on his right leg. A bit of platinum blond hair fell to the ground where one had clipped.
He ran forward after the attack and slammed his uninjured foot down on the man's right hand. He didn't seem to be thrown off balance by putting most of his weight on the sliced foot. He took the moment of pain to grab Izanagi's collar and slam him against the side of a building. He leaned forward very close and spoke.
"It's no fun if I just kill you," he stated with a wide grin, "Especially after you did me that favor."
Anpu took off. Dark Malik's eyes flicked towards the teenager and he chuckled. It wasn't long enough to grant Izanagi much of an opening though.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 1, 2010 15:56:54 GMT -5
Izanagi didn't like how this other Malik kept smiling like that. He didn't like how he'd managed to dodge the worst of the attack while still taking the other smaller slices with a smile. This guy was insane. Izanagi gave out a gasp of pain as Dark Malik stomped down on his foot, which made it easy for the man to grab him and shove him against the wall.
Izanagi winced and glared at Dark Malik. Did him a favor...? Izanagi wasn't sure how he'd helped, other than attacking Malik with a Mudoon. It had been after that that the shift had occurred.
"Who do you think you are, talking to a god like that...?" Izanagi spat. He reached down a hand and grasped his gun. If Dark Malik tried to torture him (which was looking rather likely), he'd shoot him. Say it was a matter of self-defense; not like Izanagi cared about what the law had to say.
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