Player Killer of Darkness

Panik is an eliminator hired by Pegasus in the Duelist Kingdom arc of Yu-Gi-Oh.

The Anime
Panik is a cruel, brutal and cowardly man. He is paid by Pegasus to duel duelists of Duelist Kingdom and take all their star chips if he wins. He usually hides in the dark and only duels or stalks at night. He wins through intimidation rather than skill, as he continuously threatens his opponents with flamethrowers.

Panik was undefeated in dueling, and easily defeated Mai Valentine, taking all her star chips. Yami Yugi challenged him to a duel to take Mai's star chips back. Panik agreed, as Pegasus promised him a generous amount of money for defeating Yugi. He shackled Yugi in place and threatened him with flamethrowers, then used his Castle of Dark Illusions to shroud his entire side of the field in darkness. But Yugi remained in control throughout most of the duel, calling Panik a coward for hiding in the dark. He dispelled the darkness with his Swords of Revealing Light, paralyzing Panik's monsters for three turns, but Panik protected them with his Chaos Shield card. Soon, Panik was the one beginning to panic, and was quite agitated by Yugi's insults. He was defeated when Yugi launched his dragon champion at the castle to knock its flotation ring off and make it fall and crush Panik's monsters (which never could have happened in the actual card game).

Panik was angry about being defeated by Yugi, and attempted to kill him with his flamethrowers, but his Millennium Puzzle protected him, and he used a Mind Crush to banish Panik to the Shadow Realm.

In Season 4, Waking the Dragons, an apparition of Panik appeared as a lost soul in a circle while Yami was trying to find Yugi. It is debatable whether this was really Panik's soul and not an illusion, however, as four other lost souls who appeared alongside him (Arkana, the Paradox Brothers, and Bandit Keith), were neither dead nor trapped in the Shadow Realm or taken by the Orichalcos. However, it is possible that the Paradox Brothers were sent to the Shadow Realm by Pegasus for failing him, and that Marik did the same to Keith and Arkana.

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version, his name is Player Killer.
 * It is possible that in addition to his soul going to the Shadow Realm, his body was incinerated by his own flames, as the flames appear to be moving in his direction while he is shadowed during the Mind Crush. His box in the duel arena is never shown clearly afterward.