Changes

Just as he was about to leave, however, Dartz, who had been observing the Pharaoh's activities, conjures a spell to bring forth an [[Orichalcos Soldier]]. While fighting the Orichalcos Soldier, however, the Pharaoh realizes that Timaeus is his only hope of winning, yet he cannot use it as he does not have the card in his deck (after having given it to Ironheart, believing him to be unworthy of the card's power). Ironheart and his family (consisting of grand-daughter [[Ironheart#Chris.2C Ironheart and Skye|Chris]] and pet wolf [[Ironheart#Chris.2C Ironheart and Skye|Skye]]) would sacrifice their lives to deliver the card to Yugi, who uses it successfully to defeat the Orichalcos Soldier. With the darkness within himself defeated, the Pharaoh could finally move on, and hope to find and free Yugi, wherever he may be.

Each of the three swordsmen were chosen for their apparent misfortunes in life - all of which, as it turns out, was orchestrated by Dartz.

He manages to hijack the plane [[Seto Kaiba|Seto]] and [[Mokuba Kaiba|Mokuba]] were piloting, and seeks a rematch with Seto to end it once and for all. As the duel moves on, Alister recounts his history with the Kaiba Corporation, and notes that whether he wins or loses, the plane will crash, allowing "[[The Seal of Orichalcos]]" to claim all three lives. Kaiba, willing to protect Mokuba at any cost, would use Critias to prevail. On the last turn of the duel, Aliter gave in so that mokuba would not lose his brother as Alister did. In his brief moment of defeat before being claimed by the Orichalcos, Alister sees a bit of his brother in Mokuba, allowing him to stop living in the past and move on with his life.

[[File:Yugioh165.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Valon making full use of his [[Armor Monsters]]]]

''[[Valon]]'' was a child delinquent, always getting into fights. When he gets into a fight with a gang of street thugs, they retaliate by burning a local church down, along with a nun who had taken care of him. In revenge, he had killed the street thugs, and as a result, he was sent to prison (this detail was omitted from the English adaptation - there, Valon was imprisoned for numerous street fights that were orchestrated by [[Dartz]]). He was sent in and out of twelve detention centers, before a warden turns him into Duel Monsters. There, the warden sets forth a Battle Royale style challenge, where the winner would be set free. Valon would eventually be the winner, having trapped all others within "[[The Seal of Orichalcos]]". He is granted release, into the custody of the prison's "sponsor" - [[Dartz]].

The duel between Valon and Joey would arouse Mai's interest, and Joey would be forced to duel her in order to set the record straight. Joey, tired and physically beaten from the previous duel, is unable to concentrate on the duel, yet manages to deal serious damage to Mai - yet, he manages to reach out to her just as Joey is about to lose. Mai would ultimately not attack Joey (and win the duel), but Joey collapses in exhaustion, allowing "[[The Seal of Orichalcos]]" to take his soul. Taking the fallen Hermos with her, she proceeds to confront Rafael, the last of the three swordsmen, where it is implied that her soul was also taken.

[[File:Yugioh176.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Guardians]] arise: Rafael finally sees the light]]

''[[Rafael]]'' came from a well-off family, which was taken from him when they were separated from each other at a young age. He was the sole survivor of a luxury liner disaster, and washed up ashore on a deserted island (the English adaption mentions that his family had survived the shipwreck, but had completely forgotten about Rafael) Rafael would live on the island for three years (according to [[Rebecca Hawkins]]), with his [[Guardians|Guardian cards]] the only thing allowing him to retain his sanity. His attitude in dueling was simple - as the cards had cared for him during those years, he would try to do the same to his monsters. When he was eventually rescued, he found that the world he lived in had changed. Unwilling to accept the outside world 9 years after the events of his accident before the events of the series, Rafael turned to [[Dartz]].