Atem folded his arms and looked into the dark throat of the cave. The weight under his ribs—the hum of his Spirit Deck, the warm pressure of Millennium Soul, the faint taste of magicules—felt like a promise and a warning at once.
"I will not leave until I am ready," he said aloud. "The world outside can wait. I have to master these gifts first."
<
He began like a student taking the first step on a long road: small, methodical, and steady.
Time here had no sun; it had rhythm. Atem counted by breaths, by the way his hands learned new gestures. He woke each time he practiced more sure of the next movement, and he slept when the cave and his body demanded it.
At first, his sessions were short: summon—test—dismiss—stabilize. Then they lengthened. He fought until his legs shook, then sat and intoned the Oracle's stabilization rites until his breath smoothed. He recorded tactics in his mind and repeated them until they became reflex.
With each combat he did three things, always in this order:
1. Study the prey with King of Games—trace probable moves.
2. Assign a guardian or a formation from the Spirit Deck.
Execute, using Pharaoh's Authority or binding duels to shape the field, then finishing the kill and confirming absorption.
Between fights, the Oracle whispered improvements and probabilities.
<
<
Because he had not yet evolved enough to summon advanced or god-tier creatures, Atem worked exclusively with his basic roster. He learned not just what each guardian was, but what role each filled in a battlefield—how to combine them the way a duelist combines cards.
Dark Magician — arcane artillery and anchor. In this world he manifested as a fully solid spellcaster who could weave layered wards and focus bursts of mana. Atem used Dark Magician as his main damage dealer and anti-magical counter. Tactics: pin an enemy in a binding ring, then command Dark Magician to use dense, directed orbs to break armor.
Kuriboh — the self-sacrificing buffer. Small, round, and absurdly useful. Kuriboh could fragment into many pieces to intercept lethal blows or distract packs of small foes. Tactics: use Kuriboh to eat an opening strike, then let Silver Fang or Celtic Guardian exploit the stagger.
Celtic Guardian — a quick duelist archetype. Sleek, precise, best in narrow passages. Tactics: bait with Celtic's speed, force weak attacks, then counter when the monster telegraphs a strike—an echo of Atem's duels where a false weakness invited a trap.
Gaia the Fierce Knight — heavy frontline shock trooper. Mounted spirit, heavy lance strike. Tactics: break formations, pin large monsters, create openings for Dark Magician's spells.
Mystical Elf — defensive spirit. Provides small healing sigils and status resistance. Tactics: keep Mystical Elf near heavier guardians; use her shields to counter poison or paralysis from centipedes.
Silver Fang — wolf-pack spirits. Fast and coordinated. Tactics: swarm control, flank attacks; very effective when combined with Kuriboh decoys.
Baby Dragon — small aerial spirit. Harassing fire and distraction. Tactics: harass wyverns, bait altitude changes, force big flyers into predictable swoops.
Neo the Magic Swordsman — a hybrid who merges arcane strikes with swordplay. Tactics: flexible duelist who can adapt mid-fight—useful when a monster changes strategy.
Atem drilled every combination until muscle memory married calculation. He practiced summoning Dark Magician while simultaneously scattering Kuriboh fragments, then having Silver Fangs rush in the gap—he called this "tempo control," a duel trick he remembered from Yugi's battles and Kaiba's aggressive plays. He adapted Kaiba's blunt-force timing: pressure the opponent so it reacts, then punish that reaction with a precise strike.
He encountered the cave's usual horrors in rapid cycles.
Giant Bats came first—fast, squealing, erratic. Atem used Kuriboh as decoys. Kuriboh fragmented into soft orbs that intercepted the first waves while Baby Dragon swooped in tight circles to strip the bats' momentum. Dark Magician finished the wounded ones with pinpoint orbs. After the fight, the Oracle noted: <
Black Spiders dropped in silk curtains. Atem set a binding ring and used Celtic Guardian as bait. When the spider lunged, Dark Magician cast a layered sigil to harden the ring and Gaia the Knight charged through to crush the abdomen. He learned to avoid the webs and direct fights to small arenas. Oracle: <
Evil Centipedes forced him to re-evaluate close-quarter tactics. He began using Mystical Elf not only for healing but as a live shield for Celtc Guardian's flanks; Neo the Magic Swordsman exploited the centipedes' joint seams like a swordsman finding chinks in armor. Each centipede's venom sample, when absorbed, taught him minor resistances.
Tempest Serpent was the first real test of combined strategy. The serpent struck with lightning-fast coils. Atem opened a binding duel and used King of Games to predict its arcs. He deployed Baby Dragon to force vertical motions, then had Dark Magician concentrate a lightning-cancel field using a sigil pattern the Oracle suggested. The serpent's final turn gave him the chance to absorb its essence; afterward he felt lightning-flow—his hands tingled when he called a spell.
Armorsaurus required brute force. He used Gaia the Fierce Knight to pin its legs and ordered Silver Fang packs to bite at the joints while Dark Magician blasted from a safe angle. This was the first time Atem deliberately grafted a minor trait—centipede toxin—into Gaia's lance. The graft was unstable at first; he stabilized it with the Oracle's ritual. The knight's strikes now carried a faint sting that could open small wounds in otherwise thick hides.
Wyverns were aerial nightmares. Atem learned to force them into constrained space: he used Pharaoh's Authority to push wyverns' flight paths into a gorge, then summoned packed bats and Baby Dragons to confuse them while Dark Magician's orbs targeted the wing roots. He remembered Kaiba's reckless tempo—mount pressure with a monstrous lead—and tempered it with Yugi's patience. The result was a careful, crushing pace rather than reckless haste.
Stamina and reflexes improved. Each integration increased his base stats a measurable amount. He felt lighter in the legs, quicker in the hands. The Oracle reported increments in percentages after each absorption.
<
Strategic intuition sharpened. King of Games became less noisy and more precise. At first the probability threads crowded his mind; later they drew crisp lines. He could predict not just a monster's immediate move but its preferred tactic patterns—useful against wyverns and serpents.
Deck mastery grew. Summoning became faster and cheaper. Atem learned to estimate exact magicule cost for each guardian and mix cheaper summons to conserve power for heavier strikes. He learned which guardians synergized and which combinations wasted will.
Emotional steadiness. Staring into the seeds of so many lives could have worn him down, but his vows—spoken quietly to the Oracle, to the cave, to Yugi's memory—kept him anchored. He learned to honor spirits before absorption, and the guardians' emergent small personalities made the weight feel less like possession and more like companionship.
After long sessions, Atem would sit and talk as he meditated. Sometimes the guardians answered.
"Dark Magician," he said once, "what would you do if a knight refuses to fight for me?"
The Dark Magician's voice was flat and sure. "I would test his heart. If it failed, I would press until the truth showed. A commander requires people who choose to stand."
Kuriboh chirped in a way that made the corners of Atem's mouth lift. Neo the Magic Swordsman offered a tactical note on footwork; Celtic Guardian corrected a minor overreach in Atem's parry. The Oracle observed and recorded.
<
Atem closed his eyes, feeling the cave like a living map under his palms. He thought of Kaiba's blunt force and Yugi's quiet patience. He was carving a new style: a Pharaoh who combined calculation with mercy.
It came during a long, bruising fight with a wyvern-then-armorsaurus pair. He executed a complex pattern without thinking: Kuriboh fragments in front, Silver Fangs flanking, Dark Magician drawing a layered sigil while Gaia pinned the armorsaurus. Everything fell into place with a smoothness that surprised him.
When the dust settled, he stood and felt a new steadiness in his center. The Oracle's voice in his head was almost pleased.
<
Atem drew a breath that tasted faintly of the cave and of motes of victory. He tapped the new sigils near his heart and felt them hum. The Spirit Deck was no longer a nascent thing; it was an army in embryo.
He looked toward the deeper darkness where the sealed presence waited. He had trained, fought, and learned. He had grafted skills learned from Kaiba's audacity and Yugi's discipline into moves made of magicules and will.
"Tomorrow," he said softly, "I will press further."
<