Be Weary When Gods Show Without Summons (Part 2)

DIMENSION: MANGA (The One That Saves the Day)

Atem wouldn't falter. "No one gave you the right to come here and destroy the world."

"The state of mankind is reprehensible. I am giving the ones who survived a chance to prove themselves before I wipe the rest out."

"What does that mean?" He wasn't protecting mankind, he still meant to destroy it? "Billions of lives went agonizingly into the dark with no recourse! I will not let you rule, only to slowly have the rest suffer."

"Pharaoh, is a nice term. A quieted down term. Not even regarding a person, but the Great House a man of the gods lived in. Even now my subjects continue to add to it's wording," he said, "but it's not truly me. I was chosen as I passed on to become a god and rule my own empire. I am Set, named after the ancient god I revered. While the afterlife was satisfying, I found a gateway back and I looked through it. Into it. I saw the decay of today's world and took matters into my own hands." He started to glow. "I must thank Seto Kaiba for the safe return."

"You used your powers to escape and come here? No one stopped you?" No. Surely someone. How could . . .?

"Gods don't often like to go against gods," Set reminded him. "Especially for something as simple as mortals." Set took his staff with the head of a cobra and pointed it at Atem. "What makes you so special that you can defy me? You weren't even worthy of becoming a god."

"Atem got just as glowy as you are!" Yuugi's words weren't on the brightest side of smart, but he was enraged and miserable over what would happen to Anzu if Atem didn't stop them. "He was different last time. Maybe Atem had been a god, you don't know, you just cheated to come down to this world."

"It's a has-been dead king versus a god." Set put it into perspective.

"Ra is still following Atem," Yuugi pointed out. "Maybe gods don't want to start battles, but someone believes in him."

Set looked around them again, seemingly noticing what he missed before. "The cats? "That's not for you, that's for her." He gestured to Anzu and Masika. "There is no one here on your side, Atem. No god is here to help you, and once she is gone from you, Ra will leave and you'll go down and be rejudged again. Especially for standing against me!"

"Seto Kaiba never made that platform for you," Atem shouted toward him. "How dare you use it to cross over and destroy everything mankind has made of itself!" He was unphased by Set's words. "I don't care which king you were, our station was to protect the people. If this was really condoned, you would never have needed a platform. Your power would have brought you here itself."

"Pharaoh gods were confined to their own empires in the afterlife. Their own people. None of the others have made a sound, even knowing what happened. They are all content in their afterlife and they know nothing lasts forever. Even now, this is probably over. I doubt I will see enough to spare them. However, those who prove themselves worthy enough of survival will be welcomed into my kingdom in the afterlife when I detach myself from this world. Life will blossom again, taking whichever form it shall."

"On one hand, it's beautiful," Jounouchi said, caring none if he was talking to a god or not. "At the end, people are taken away and life begins anew. But? Mankind wasn't even close to being done, you stole those powers from the afterlife, or you could have made it here without Kaiba's help!"

Atem saw exactly what he wanted to do with that outburst. "Hurt Jounouchi, and I will send Ra onto you." Meanwhile. "Jounouchi, don't, or you will never live to see your own child."

"What's the use, even if I make it, this guy plans on taking everyone away anyhow. Why did Mai even get Mana if it was going to end like this, I can't believe it."

///Atem: Keep it together. I summoned the Winged God Dragon of Ra. I can summon Obelisk perhaps, but the Dragon of Osiris will not come. I have to try again./// He looked toward Anzu and Masika. "Why them? Still no one answers that basic question." Maybe the answer was in them.

Set took his hands, drawing an ankh in the air, and then dividing the line. Anzu and Masika froze as they both started to move into each other.

"Anzuuu!"

"Stop it, I command you!" Atem didn't even care about the chances. "Winged God Dragon of Ra, attack Set!"

It didn't move. Anzu and Masika both screamed as they started to merge. Their scream wasn't human, but like static echoes falling into each other. Then it stopped, and they both shot back from each other. As they each landed, the cats licked them.

"Osiris, God of the Heavenly Skies!" Set summoned with his own words. "Osiris, decimate Atem, Yuugi, and their ally!"

Osiris was coming, his second mouth was ready to attack. "Winged God Dragon of Ra." What should he do, attack? There was no guarantee that would work. "Protect my friends!"

The Winged Dragon spread its wings over them, sheltering them from the blast. Then? It went.

It left.

Instead, a new god Atem did not know appeared. A smaller god, about the size of him. One not summoned to the field by anyone. With the head of a cat but a body of a woman, she drifted in the air, wearing a green dress. Even Set was stunned by her appearance.

Then, another god, one with a lion's head and a woman's body also appeared. She did not float but crouched to the ground in a red dress. She snarled at Set.

"What is this?" Set asked the god with the lion's head. "You were on my side."

She didn't stop snarling.

Saying who or what any god was, was not easy. History, mythology, culture and time made several ideas run together. Yet, Atem had to try to piece this together. ///Atem: This lion and cat goddess were trying to help. Please let me get this correct./// Names. The correct names. They held power.

"Is that Bastet and Sekhmet? The cat and lion goddesses?" Jounouchi was first to attempt it. After his time with Atem, he must have picked up a book on Ancient Egypt a time or two. "Bast? Basset?"

"I don't know." What would they be doing there? Without being summoned? Sekhmet could be helping the other Pharaoh, this horror might be right up her alley if the history he knew of her was correct. Once summoned by her father and/or husband, she almost wiped out mankind with her own bare claws. The other could be Bast. She was a protective god over woman. Birth. Cats. Fertility. The moon. Why would they care to show up for Anzu and Masika? Is Masika a goddess? No. Atem would have felt that kind of energy from Masika. She could never have been trapped in cards or lived inside Anzu. She even breathed in his mouth, and he only felt his power come back.

"Do you believe people deserve a second chance?" Set asked the lion goddess.

"No," the woman with the Lion head said. Her voice, thick and deep "People are a plague and they should all be wiped out!" She bared her teeth and roared. "There are bigger things that matter." She glared at Atem and then Yuugi. "I am currently called Sekhmet. Summon me and I'll be wiping your blood from my claws afterward. I do nothing for you! I am here for other reasons."

Okay, she was not an ally. ///Atem: I figured as much. She must be lending help to her sister. That means the other must be Bast or Bastet.///

The cat god flipped a Seristrum, a tool for making music, in her hand over and over, like she was about to fight with the instrument. "Not them." Her voice purred, making the cats around them meow. "Even Sekhmet agrees." Her eyes glowed in the dark. "We are their protectors."

"Her protector," Set answered. "The tear should be one."

"Their protector!" Sekhmet and Bastet said at the same time. "They are two!"

"I watch over them as the goddess of protection," Bastet added. "Try as you might, you can't make them one."

Set ignored the warning and Anzu and Masika were brought together once again, and once again, it wouldn't work. They repelled each other.

"Why is it not working?" Set asked. "What did you goddesses do?"

"The tear is separated, it will never be the same." Sekhmet came toward Set, bringing out her ankh scepter. She pointed to Atem. "He is a nameless spirit become man." She pointed toward Yuugi. "He is Yugi of the Mutoh family. Together, they are Atem!"

Bastet pointed toward Masika. "She is a nameless spirit become woman." She pointed toward Anzu. "She is Anzu of the Mazaki family. Together, they are Masika, the first human tear of Ra!"

"I am Sekhmet," Sekhmet said proudly.

"I am Bastet," the cat goddess said.

They both moved back to back, both Ankh scepter and Sistrum facing toward Set. "We were once Hathor!"

"Smite humanity all you want, but we defend the privilege to be separate," Sekhmet shouted.

"No, don't smite humanity, not without a fight," Bastet disagreed. "You have a challenge for the throne and the winners will win the ruling over humanity. Whether it lives or dies." She purred. "We've been given a chance. Ra has spoken, Thoth has written. Would you like to play a god game?"

"A game? A god game?" Set smiled. "I have never played one of those. What's the difference?"

"The amount put up to play the game weighs heavy," Bastet said. "Very. Heavy. All players must win and lose."

"Ooh," Set said. "Yes, I would be interested. What's involved in the game?"

Then, Set and the goddesses disappeared.

"That? That was some freaky gods I'm not used to," Jounouchi said. "The lion looked like she wants to eat me alive."

"Sekhmet. She may have once tried to kill all of humanity. It . . . tasted too good to stop," Atem settled on. "Best not to mess with her." Masika and Anzu came over. "Are you two okay?"

"I am." Yuugi brought Anzu closer to him. "Are you okay?"

"I hope so? I don't think I should hope too much, Yuugi." She accepted his embrace back.

"Is it just me, or do these gods not seem like . . . like uhh . . ." Jounouchi was trying to think.

"Like we shouldn't even be involved in the terms of the game," Atem finished for Jounouchi. "Agreed. It is troubling, but they came of their own volition, and Ra, The Sun God." He left. "Gods don't just show up without a summoning unless they want to be."

"Whatever the deal is, they better make it good!" Jounouchi demanded.

Then, they all returned back.

Sekhmet moved forward. "I have one more role and then Bastet will take care of the rest." She moved toward Jounouchi. "Welp! You're at least a doable fighter of the choices I had, release the monster inside that we put in you."

Atem held his hand out toward Jounouchi, holding himself steady not to react badly. "Rise, Dark Magician." Even though Atem had cooperated, he found himself frozen.

When Dark Magician arose, Sekhmet grabbed a hold of him, biting onto his neck. He struggled and she let go. Then, she turned toward Jounouchi.

"No, no, down kitty." She bit on Jounouchi. "Bad kitty." Jounouchi rubbed his neck. "That lion bit me!"

"Suck it up," Sekhmet demanded as she licked her claws in delight.

Jounouchi held his neck where she bit him. "Oh, it stings!" His skin started to burn, healing itself into a marked scar. Atem saw the hieroglyphics on Jounouchi's neck from her.

Like it or not, Sekhmet's awesome power had been sealed into Jounouchi and the Dark Magician.

After Sekhmet left, they all found themselves being transported someplace else.