Chapter Text
“Now, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, wipe out Graydle Dragon and the rest of this loser’s Life Points!”
As the three brilliant bursts of light ripped forward and combined into one mighty beam, rippingstraight through the core of the shifting, liquid-metallic dragonoid and rupturing it utterly, scattering its remnants like thick iridescent rain in its wake, it carried Seto Kaiba’s challenger off his feet and deposited him at the feet of the circle of spectators who had been stunned into silence by the turnaround victory. Some of them looked to the victor, expecting some kind of comment.
His only action was to raise the wrist that didn’t carry his Duel Disk and examine his watch. “Four minutes, twenty-six seconds. I told you you wouldn’t last five. That’s why my name’s on that Duel Disk you’re wasting, and why nobody remembers yours.”
Kaiba didn’t waste any more words, turning and leaving the groaning heap of his defeated opponent behind as he walked back up the stairs of KaibaCorp, straight through the lobby and past the congratulatory boot-lickers and ass-kissers into the elevator that lead up to his office. As the doors slid shut on him, Kaiba leant against the wall and sighed, closing his eyes as the lift ascended.
Of course he had won: there had never been any doubt about that. He was Seto Kaiba: losing was something he just didn’t do. But until he had summoned Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon at the last possible moment, it had been down to the wire. Loser though he may have been, that faceless chump had proved something to Kaiba that he’d been trying to deny for some time now.
He was being left behind.
Once upon a time, his Blue-Eyes was all that he’d needed. No monster could overcome its raw power, but Duel Monsters was evolving, accelerating. Synchro and Xyz Monsters, and even new methods of Fusion… Though it quite literally turned his stomach to consider, Kaiba’s Deck was no longer the most powerful of its kind. If he wanted to keep his place at the top, he, too, had to step up to the next level.
He opened his eyes as the lift pinged, opening onto his top floor office. Stepping out, he took his seat and examined his deck, watching the cards catch the light.
Blue-Eyes had carried him this far, and it would again. Leave the spirit crap to Yugi and his nerd herd, but the card was his in a way nothing else was. It was his icon, part of him, and Kaiba never gave up on his own.
As for the rest of the cards, though, they were there only because they were once the strongest. If that was no longer the case, well, then—
His thoughts were interrupted by the trill of the phone beside his desk.
Picking up the receiver, he didn’t speak. If someone had this number, they knew who they were talking to, and even then only a few people did.
“Seto.”
And fewer still addressed him so casually.
“Ishizu.”
It had been some time since he’d heard from the Egyptian woman. He knew she was in Japan, but he’d had no reason to contact her, nor she him. Till now, it seemed.
“I’m at the hospital.”
“I’ll send flowers.” He moved to hang up.
She cut him off before he could. “You should come, soon. There’s somebody here I think you want to see.”
Silence filled the line as Kaiba considered. This was all too vague for his taste, and if it was more of her ancient mumbo-jumbo he could do without. But… Ishizu had proved to be useful before. The first time they met, she had bestowed an Egyptian God card upon him, and that reflected all too closely on his current dilemma…
“Ten minutes to get there, and I’ll give you another ten. Meet me on the roof. He didn’t wait for a reply, dropping the call before calling for his helicopter.
This had better be good, he thought.
Across the city, closed eyes stirred behind pale lids.