Alexis was lying in her bed, deep in thought about the day’s events when she saw the thing outside the window. At first, she thought it was only a rather large bird, which was strange in itself. It definitely wasn’t an owl. The creature was the wrong shape. It seemed more like a large… pigeon? Or perhaps a crow. She had never known too much about birds, other than that they flew. That had been Atticus’s hobby. Birdwatching. But then Alexis looked closer at the creature that had perched on a small outcropping of stone on the other side of the window. The crow, or at least what she thought might be a crow in accordance to how menacing it looked, had no feathers. Then, with mounting horror, the implications of what she truly saw ran through her head like a train with no brakes. It had no feathers. Where there would normally be feathers, there was skin. Human skin. The bird appeared to be covered in an ill-fitting cloak of human skin. Only one single eye balefully poked out of that skin, considering her with a gaze that threatened to make bile rise to the top of Alexis’s mouth. However, before that could happen, before she could shout in alarm to waken the sleeping forms of Jasmine and Mindy in the beds near her, the crow walked through the glass towards her. Not even a single inch of the glass shattered, nor did it even bend. The crow walked through the glass with its skinny pale legs like the obstacle didn’t even exist. Age-old instincts drilled into her by Atticus immediately took hold and she let a blisteringly fast right hook off towards the beast in spite of the sheer terror she felt from seeing the disgusting abomination.
Who caught her fist daintily in its beak. Alexis took that in stride as best as she could while the smart part of her mind whirred into action to implement her backup plan and the scared part of her mind screamed at her to run for the hills as fast as she could. Opting for the middle ground, she opened her mouth, took a deep breath to shout for help, and… all became dark. A suffocating, inky pool devoid of all light. Something struck her side, something slimy. A… tongue? Despite the horror of the situation, Alexis instantly realized what was happening. A crow-bird-thing either wearing or made of human flesh had walked through solid glass and eaten her specifically. It hadn’t even glanced at Jasmine and Mindy, Alexis noted with some relief amid the mind-numbing fear brought on by a bird made of human flesh eating her. The tongue brushing her must be to make sure she was still in the thing’s mouth. It must not want to swallow her, Alexis noted. Either that, or it was saving Alexis as a savory snack for later. A sort of Obelisk Blue éclair.
Honestly, with how absolutely insane the situation was, a part of her was having a difficult time being convinced that this was not simply another odd dream. Birds straight-up did not go around eating people whole. The didn’t, not in the real world! Still, she knew that dream or no dream, by now that there was little she could do to get out of the crow’s mouth for now. The fact that her situation was completely out of her control was scary, but the smart part of Alexis’s mind slapped the scared part and reminded her that all she could do now is think. More specifically, consider why the crow went straight for her. It only took Alexis a few seconds to decide it was probably something to do with the key keepers. She didn’t possess one, so the crow, or its master, either assumed she did as one of the top duelists of Obelisk Blue, or wanted to use her as a hostage like Phil had warned. If the former was right, then Alexis was about to duel with her soul on the line. It was a prospect that frightened her… but also a prospect that sent quite a thrill down her spine as a duelist, despite how reckless that sounded to her. If it was the latter, then Alexis had to be prepared. If she was fast enough, decisive enough, and had a bit of luck on her side, she could find a way to force a duel.
She stumbled as the soft, warm surface below her shuddered all of a sudden, presumably because the crow had taken flight. Now. The funny thing was, or at least as funny as it could considering the whole bird thing, is that she kind of remembered what a person was supposed to do in a dangerous situation like this. Atticus had taken her with him to a few classes that went over the whole ‘self-defense’ thing during his martial arts obsession phase, after she had annoyed him enough to do so. Most of them simply taught general strikes, throws, holds, and blocks, but there were a few that liked to use hypothetical situations to train the mind. It had been quite a number of years since those times, since Atticus… disappeared.
Alexis shook her head violently to clear her thoughts. She couldn’t get wrapped up in the past and she had to push her own terror to the side. Scared girls die, calm girls survive! There was no time. Now, the instructors had always told them to think first. She had done that. An obviously magical crow zeroed right onto her instead of the two other girls in the room. It had grabbed her, but it wasn’t trying to eat her. All the shuddering and bumping of the floor made her think it was flying. Where to? A nest, or to its owner? No matter if she was about to duel or if she was a hostage, or even a snack for some baby monsters, the crow would have to spit her out. She can’t duel inside a crow’s mouth, a hostage is useless if they can’t be seen, and a baby flesh-bird-thing couldn’t chow down on her if she’s in mama bird’s mouth.
That meant there might be a window of time where she would be free of the crow’s mouth while not being in whatever prison or chains or whatever the crow’s master would hold her in if she truly was being used as a hostage. Of course, this wouldn’t matter much if she was being transported to duel after being mistaken as a key keeper. Alexis glanced to where she knew her left arm was, even though she couldn’t see the duel disk strapped to it in the darkness. Ever since she had been brought into the fold by Bastion and Phil, she had made sure to always keep her duel disk on her at all times, even while she slept. It was extremely uncomfortable to sleep with it strapped to her arm, but a situation like this made it all worth it. She was ready. All Alexis needed to do was exploit that small window of time once the crow spat her out, and…
Despite herself, Alexis mentally dropped a string of curse words that would even impress Phil. She had forgotten, somehow, even though she was in the mouth of a freaking flesh crow of all things! Magic. Jaden, Bastion, Chazz, Phil, all of them had made it clear that the Shadow Riders would definitely be using the same sort of freaky magic Jinzo had. Heck, they might even have more than that duel spirit had when Jaden dueled him. She was just a normal girl. No magic, none at all. For a moment Alexis was caught up in her own frustration at forgetting about that, until eventually she sighed and let out a resigned laugh. Magic. You had to be freaking kidding her right now. Whatever. She would do her best to duel her way out of the situation, no matter if she was a hostage or not. Alexis hated even the very thought of being that much of a burden.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Nightshroud stood in the pit of the volcano with his arms crossed. Two hours had passed since the flesh crow had been sent out. It was quite a wait indeed, but Nightshroud had time. He had nothing but time, as he kept reminding himself whenever he was tempted to lash out. As someone who followed the logic of the world, there was no need for haste. The end result would be the same whether Nightshroud had to wait two hours or ten years. Even if the world chose another existence to act as the hands that carried its scalpel, the end result would be the same. It was inevitable. It had to be. Otherwise, what was the point of his many years of work? Still, the creature gifted to Kagemaru by the American was a little bit slow for his taste. Nightshroud had sent it out as soon as he had left the presence of the man in the tiger mask, and then immediately had headed towards the supposed location of the Slifer Red dorm to collect The Fool. The fact that The Fool was not there hardly mattered as it allowed Nightshroud to collect two more hostages to make his eventual total be three hostages. At least, when the flesh crow returned with the girl. The children named ‘Syrus’ and ‘Chumley’ turned out to be subpar hostages. Far too noisy, especially after Nightshroud had deposited them into the glass cube hung directly over the lava. It was a nifty device made by Amnael, allowing for the maximum distress of hostages and opposing duelists alike as they saw the bottom of the glass cube gradually erode away in time. The girl named ‘Alexis’ would surely prove to be a better hostage. Hopefully.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Finally! Light! Alexis noticed immediately as the crow’s mouth opened. The back of her mind registered that it was an extremely red light, almost like… lava? The crow spat her out with a disgusting retching sound, retreating to the side of the platform she was on to preen its flesh wings. A calm voice came from beside her, causing Alexis’s head to snap in its direction.
“I am Nightsh-“ the man wearing a mask with a blood red ruby in its center managed to get out before Alexis raised her right arm, cocked it back with all the speed she could muster, and decked him flat in the face, using the aggression of the action to further push down her fear and steady her shaking legs. Then, before the man in the mask could recover from the surprise attack, Alexis unfolded her duel disk with a crisp ‘snap’, pushing down every sliver of fear that was racing through her body into her core, centering herself so that she could prevent any tremors in her voice from betraying her fear.
“And I am Alexis. I challenge you to a duel!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Nightshroud cocked his head to the side as he processed the girl’s declaration. A drop of blood fell from the lips of his host body, but he felt nothing. It was one of the many benefits of having a host body to begin with. A horrible grin stretched across his face, replacing the empty expression that usually covered it.
“You are no key keeper. The ancient rules do not protect you. I see no need to begin a magician’s duel with you.” Then, still keeping that horrendously wide grin on his face, Nightshroud mustered his dark power and pointed towards the girl. The shadows that formerly danced around the volcano trembled, forming their abstract shapes into long, grasping claws that snaked toward the girl faster than any normal human could react. A flash of blue and pink light seared out as soon as the first shadow claw touched the girl’s arm, causing the shadows to reel back in pain and Nightshroud to slightly flinch. Nightshroud’s eyebrows furrowed and his grin slipped as he locked eyes with the shimmering, pink and blue angel that hovered behind the girl. The angel’s four arms were splayed wide while a single large gear with profound symbols rotated behind its shoulders, all working together to create a rather clear non-verbal message of ‘back off asshole, or I’ll slap you into next Tuesday’. His shadows struck again, over and over in a flurry of movement that was thrown back each time with a single rotation of the angel’s gear.
Nightshroud’s face twitched in irritation. A duel spirit, and not a weak one at that. Admittedly the strength hardly even mattered, as the presence of even the weakest duel spirit would be enough to require Nightshroud to follow the ancient rules or face serious consequences if a higher existence noticed the breach in conduct.
“Fine. As required by the accords struck by the pharaohs of old, I, Nightshroud, accept this mage’s duel against you, Alexis.” Nightshroud eventually replied, spitting out the girl’s name with a voice filled with venom. This would still work. He still had two hostages, and he could throw the girl’s soul into a card to prove to The Fool that the other hostages were in serious danger. Then once The Fool was dead at his feet, he could keep the girl as a backup host. It was always good to have a backup host, Nightshroud had eventually learned during his long life. It was not a lesson he was particularly happy to learn, but after many years of pondering the matter and going over the information he had at the time, Nightshroud had eventually concluded that there was no way he could have known that the Americans were actually serious about giving Hiroshima a close-up view of the sun. No matter. Nightshroud deployed his own duel disk, walking on thin air to the other end of the volcano in a casual display of power. As he passed the flesh crow, it cackled maniacally at his setback. Nightshroud purposely ignored the cheeky piece of shit. More than likely the crow’s true master was peering through its beady eyes to enjoy the show. Or perhaps not. There were whispers that he had entered seclusion to comprehend some bizarre new truth. Nightshroud hardly put stock in the rumors, though. That creature wasn’t fully sane. It hadn’t ever been, and even Nightshroud couldn’t fault it for that after he discovered the reason for its creation all those years ago in Kul Elna.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Now that strange Nightshroud man had accepted her duel and backed off, Alexis frantically took stock of her surroundings. The man had walked away to the other side of the volcano and was currently standing on thin air, while she stood on a rocky outcropping near where the flesh crow had initially spat her out. They were definitely not at the top of the volcano, she decided upon noticing the faint outlines of rocky walls rising up high, almost higher than she could see. There was enough light so she could see her cards, but Alexis could also see that poor Syrus and Chumley had been dumped into a clear glass cube right over the lava. Syrus was rocking himself back and forth while he was curled in the fetal position, while Chumley wasn’t moving at all. Was he unconscious? Or… worse? This was bad. She had to win, and win as fast as possible to get them out of the cube and to safety. Fortunately, she seemed to have a bit of help from high places, Alexis decided as she glanced once more to the spot behind her where that strange four-armed angel had briefly appeared. It was a surprise, but more than that, when she had seen the flash of blue and pink light casually vaporize those freaky shadow hands, Alexis had felt almost… reassured. Reassured enough to put the fact that the angel looked strikingly familiar to one of the cards Phil had given her a couple weeks ago around the time of the Jinzo incident to the back of her mind.
A movement from Nightshroud snapped Alexis’s thoughts back to the present and the duel at hand as the masked man took the first turn, placing two cards face down and summoning Troop Dragon (700/800) in defense position. Alexis narrowed her eyes as the familiar actions of a duel were able to almost make her forget that she was inside the crater of a volcano dueling a crazy wizard. Not only that, but even the monster Nightshroud played was familiar. While the two lightly armored green lizards didn’t look threatening, she had seen Chazz use that card a couple times in the past and knew what to expect. If she killed it, Nightshroud would be able to summon another Troop Dragon to his side of the field. It was prime material for a tribute summon, stalling, or even just being annoying. Alexis considered her options as she started her turn and the gears inside her duelist mind began to turn. Troop Dragon meant that her opponent likely favored a pure dragon deck, which was a mixture of good and bad. It was good because the weekly study group she had with the guys got her used to dealing with Chazz’s dragon deck. The bad part, though, was that she knew all too well how brutally strong that type of deck was.
“Well, here goes!” Alexis narrowed her eyes as she made up her mind. “I activate the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy one of your face down cards, and then I summon Shining Angel (1400/800) in attack position!”
Alexis mentally gave herself a thumbs up as a tide of swirling water obliterated Nightshroud’s face down Call of the Haunted trap card. Most excellent. That stopped and easy way for Nightshroud to get a second monster on the field for a high-level tribute summon.
“Now! Shining Angel, destroy Troop Dragon!”
The attack went through as the red glow of the volcano was briefly surpassed by the blinding white light of a blonde four-winged angel picking up the two green dragons, mashing them into a ball, and drop-kicking them into the lava below where they screamed in agony while they melted into a pile of slag metal and deformed scales. However, as Alexis thought earlier, Nightshroud simply smirked as another Troop Dragon monster was summoned in defense position to replace the fallen one. Then, Alexis placed a face down card of her own and ended her turn.
“I draw.” Nightshroud barely even looked at the new addition to his hand before he summoned yet another dragon monster. “Dwarf Star Dragon Planeter (1700/1200), show yourself and activate your effect to add one level seven light or dark monster from my deck to my hand!” Right next to the dull green figures of Troop Dragon, another monster sprang into the dull red gleam of the volcano with a defiant roar. Alexis’s eyes widened as the dragon, whose body was split into a light and a dark side, pulsed rhythmically until eventually the light side faded to favor the pitch-black color of the other.
“I add Red-Eyes Black Dragon to my hand. Now, I switch Troop Dragon to attack mode and move to my battle phase. Dwarf Star Dragon Planeter, destroy that pathetic Shining angel!”
Alexis grimaced as a ray of shimmering black light tore a hole clear through her angel’s torso, dropping her life points from 4000 to 3700. No matter. Shining Angel was in her deck specifically to be sacrificed for the greater good, even if it made her feel like she was throwing away a card for a slight gain. “Not so fast! I activate my fallen Shining Angel’s effect, which allows me to special summon any one light monster with 1500 or less attack from my deck in attack position. I choose you, Cyber Petit Angel (300/200)! Now, activate your effect! When Cyber Petit Angel hits the field, she allows me to add one Cyber Angel monster or Machine Angel Ritual from my deck to my hand. I choose the Cyber Angel option, bringing forth one Cyber Angel Benten from my deck to my hand!”
There was no doubt in Alexis’s mind that her flurry of actions had left Nightshroud annoyed as he ordered his Troop Dragon to annihilate her cute pink ball of an angel with a quick stab of their spears.
Alexis: 3300, Nightshroud: 4000
Then, Nightshroud ended his turn by placing another card face down. Alexis drew her card and smiled. Oh yeah, it was all coming together. “Thanks to the brave sacrifice of my two angels, I now have the pieces I need right here in my hand.” Alexis confidently announced. “I activate the ritual spell, Machine Angel Ritual, tributing the level six Cyber Angel Idaten from my hand to ritual summon Cyber Angel Benten (1800/1500) from my hand! Then, Idaten’s effect activates in the graveyard. Since she was tributed, I can make all my ritual monsters currently on the field gain 1000 attack and defense! Oh, and by the way, that’s permanent.” Alexis smirked as the fierce fan-wielding figure of Benten breathed in the flames of the ritual pyre created by her ritual spell, causing her attack and defense to shoot up to a respectable 2800/2500. The sense of satisfaction it gave her was almost enough to overpower the memory of Phil screaming ‘what alien do you want’ whenever he saw Alexis summoning Benten in their study group. Even now she had absolutely no idea what he meant by that. Alexis mentally shrugged. Even Bastion couldn’t always understand that guy, and the two were practically always together finding new and weirder ways to bend the game to their will.
“Syrus, hang on over there, buddy!” She shouted as she entered her battle phase. “Cyber Angel Benten, cleanse that Dwarf Star Dragon Planeter from the Earth!”
Nightshroud’s life points dropped for the first time, going from 4000 to 2900 as Benten’s red and tan war fan sliced through the half black half gold dragon like a hot knife through butter. Then dropping another 1200 points as Cyber Angel Benten’s effect activated to inflict damage equal to the defense of the monster that was destroyed by it in battle. It was a pity that she could only do this much damage, Alexis had the feeling that destroying Troop Dragon and therefore allowing Nightshroud to start his turn with two monsters on his side of the field was a bad idea. No sense in giving a dragon master two monsters to tribute away, after all.
“I draw.” Nightshroud said in a cold voice. “Fine. You destroyed my Dwarf Star, it matters not. The pieces are already in place. I activate my spell card, Cards of the Red Stone! By sending my Red-Eyes Black Dragon from my hand to my graveyard, I can draw two cards and send an additional level seven Red-Eyes monster from my deck to my graveyard. That monster will be another Red-Eyes Black Dragon!” Nightshroud grinned, the very unnatural motion causing Alexis’s skin to break out in goosebumps. “I admit it, girl. You slowed my plans to bring forth my dragons of fire and fury. What a worthless attempt. Allow me to teach you the truth of the matter – all you can do is stall the inevitable. I switch Troop Dragon to defense mode, which I will follow up with by activating my trap card, Red-Eyes Spirit! It’s quite the useful card, as it allows me to special summon one Red-Eyes monster from my graveyard. Come forth, Red-Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000)! Then, I activate the spell card Inferno Fire Blast, which inflicts damage directly to your life points equal to the original attack of my Red-Eyes Black Dragon!”
The newly summoned pitch-black dragon narrowed its beady red eyes, arcing its neck to let loose a black and red blast of light to directly slam into Alexis’s side. All of a sudden Alexis gasped in pain as her flesh felt like it was being held right up against an oven. The sheer unexpected pain caused her eyes to fly wide, her brain racing to try and explain the impossible situation. All around her the shadowy mists gathered, becoming thick enough to almost drown out the soft red light of the lava below. There was no mistaking it, Alexis realized. While it hadn’t started this way, as soon as that charcoal-black dragon had flown on the field, this had become a shadow duel like Jaden’s had against that Jinzo monster. Alexis shuddered as the flesh at her side began to blister up from the burn, the heat from the sensation causing her will to waver. In front of her the red and white angel’s visage flickered as Alexis’s breath began to quicken.
Alexis: 900, Nightshroud: 1700
And then she heard a faint cry of pure, unadulterated fear tear from Syrus’s lips. Alexis glanced towards the glass cube that suspended the two boys above the lava and her heartrate spiked. The floor beneath them was melting. Her heart rate spiked again, but this time it was not fear. Alexis closed her eyes, breathing in, breathing out. In, and out, just as Atticus taught her to do when she felt unimaginable pressure. With each intake of the sulfuric air and each exhalation from her lungs, the searing pain at her side moved to the back of her mind. It didn’t matter. Atticus’s words, faint as they were through the ravages of time, flew through her head like a cool, calming river.
‘Hey sis, forget about it!’ Atticus had said the morning she had skinned her knee learning how to ride a bike. Alexis couldn’t quite remember how old she had been at the time, but it must’ve been at least eight years ago, or was it six? ‘Your knee, it hurts, yeah? Well, we’ve done all that can be done to help it heal. It’s washed and bandaged. Yes, yes. I know, sis. It hurts. But there’s nothing we can do about it. That pain is out of our control. Why be concerned about something that we can’t affect? You cannot control the pain, so why worry about it? In a few hours, this pain will be but an ache. In a day, maybe a few days, there will be no pain once the scab forms. Don’t get upset about something outside of your control.’ Alexis had still gotten quite upset about that skinned knee at the time, but after Atticus’s… disappearance, those words of his had become treasured memories, even if she wasn’t particularly great at putting them into practice.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Alexis let out the deepest breath she could muster and shoved the pain at her side to the back of her mind. Atticus was right. She couldn’t control that pain. There was nothing she could do to make it stop at the moment. So what if this was a shadow duel. That glass cube was melting, and Alexis would be damned before she would let poor Syrus and Chumley take a lava bath. She would beat this jerk within an inch of his life, get him to fess up the Shadow Rider’s plans, and take the boys back to the dorms. Besides, every weekend at the study sessions showed Syrus becoming more and more of a formidable duelist. There was no way Alexis could accept Syrus taking a death-induced rain check on their planned duel next weekend, not when she had only just recently gotten him to start considering using Power Bond in his duels!
Almost as if he could hear her internal dialogue, Nightshroud let out an unpleasant laugh. “Ha! Now if you think Red-Eyes alone is a problem, I activate my spell card, Polymerization! By fusing Red-Eyes Black Dragon from my field with Meteor Dragon in my hand, I summon the monster forged from a thousand volcanos! The infernal dragon that melts all who oppose me! Meteor Black Dragon (3500/2000)!
Alexis narrowed her eyes in alarm as the utterly gigantic purple and orange form of Nightshroud’s dragon rose out of the lava like a kaiju in one of those movies Jaden always liked to drag her into watching. Yet, the alarm in her eyes was not for the dragon itself. It was for the fact that as soon as the dragon rose from the lava, the glass cube began to melt even faster, with howls of pain coming from Chumley as a droplet of molten glass landed on his cheek and woke him up through the sensation.
“And if you thought Meteor Black Dragon alone was a problem, then I have great news for you!” Nightshroud triumphantly shouted. “I activate another spell card. Monster Reborn! Come forth from the grave once more, Red-Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000)! Now. Meteor Black Dragon, annihilate that lesser angel with the flames of your rage!”
Alexis’s eyes flashed with defiance. “Not so fast! Since Machine Angel Ritual is in my graveyard, I use its effect to banish itself from the graveyard to protect Cyber Angel Benten from being destroyed by this battle!”
Nightshroud scowled. “But you still take the damage.”
“Aye. I still take the damage.” Alexis shakily replied as she shoved the sensation of her left leg being burned to the back of her mind, even though the weakest part of her felt like vomiting from the sheer pain of it all.
Alexis: 200 Nightshroud: 1700
Alexis began her turn, inhaling and exhaling deeply to focus herself once more. It was much more difficult this time around, and even the jarringly unpleasant sulfuric smell in the air was not enough to fully clear her foggy head.
‘-remember sis, focus on what you can control, what you can change.’ Atticus’s voice sprang once more from her faded memories. Alexis shook her head. She knew. If only hanging on in this shadow duel was as easy as moving past a skinned knee.
“Sorry Benten, but I have no choice.” Alexis muttered consolingly towards the angel. Even though the monster was only a card, she hated to throw away her monsters. It gave her a bad taste in her mouth, like biting into an apple with a rotten inside. “I activate Merciful Machine Angel, which allows me to tribute Cyber Angel Benten in return for being able to draw two cards, though I also have to place one other card from my hand to the bottom of my deck. Then, since brave Benten was tributed, she allows me to add one light fairy monster from my deck to my hand. I choose to add Cyber Angel Dakini.”
Directly behind Alexis, a ghostly pale figure reminiscent of the blue and pink angel that deflected Nightshroud’s attack earlier faintly appeared. While two of the angel’s arms held powerful-looking weapons, the other two were graciously extended in a gesture of mercy, appearing as if they were promising salvation towards even the most vile and despicable of criminals. Nightshroud’s eyes widened behind his black mask as one of the empty hands of the angel slowly unfolded, and then was gently placed over Benten’s head as the angel disappeared with a faint smile.
Alexis narrowed her eyes as she drew two cards and got rid of a card in her hand that would likely never be useful in this specific duel. Almost as perfect as she could have wished, despite the circumstances. “Due to Benten’s brave sacrifice, I now have the pieces in my hand that I need! I activate Machine Angel Absolute Ritual! By tributing monsters from my hand or field, or by shuffling fairy or warrior type monsters from my graveyard into my deck, I can ritual summon a Cyber Angel monster from my hand whose level equals the monsters used! I shuffle Cyber Angel Benten and Cyber Petit Angel from my graveyard into my deck to ritual summon the level eight Cyber Angel Dakini (2700/2400) in defense position! Dakini, it’s time to show off! Activate your effect!”
The blue angel with orange armor fiercely nodded in response to Alexis’s command, pointing her spear and two swords directly towards Nightshroud as they glowed with ominous blue light.
“Now, Nightshroud! Choose which one of your monsters will be sent to the graveyard!” Nightshroud scowled, but ultimately made the wise choice and sent his Red-Eyes Black Dragon back to the graveyard. “Of course, I realize that Dakini doesn’t have the attack power needed to end your Meteor Dragon, so I place two cards face down and end my turn. Oh, and during my end phase, Dakini’s effect activates to add Cyber Angel Idaten from my graveyard back to my hand.”
“On your last legs, are you worm?” Nightshroud boasted. “Well, it only gets worse from here! Prepare your feeble mortal flesh, for I summon Vanguard of the Dragon (1700/1300) and activate his effect to send Red-Eyes Wyvern from my hand to my graveyard to boost its attack by 300, permanently!” (1700/1300 -> 2000/1300)
“I’ll then set one card face down and enter my battle phase! Meteor Black Dragon, consume the flesh of that ridiculous blue angel to soothe your hunger!”
“Ha! You wish!” Alexis countered. “I activate my trap card, Mirror Force! Say goodbye to all of your monsters in attack position!”
Right as the enormous jaws of Meteor Black Dragon were about to close around Dakini’s armored body, a flash of white and blue light sprang forth from the ground to instantly incinerate both Meteor Black Dragon and Vanguard of the Dragon. Then, as if the titanic mass of the fusion dragon had never existed to begin with, the light continued past the ashes of the two dragon monsters to strike Nightshroud himself.
Nightshroud coughed wetly, but Alexis hardly even registered his voice activating the effect of Vanguard of the Dragon to resurrect Red-Eyes Black Dragon from the grave in defense position once more due to the Vanguard’s destruction by card effect. No, her eyes were glued to the fact that the backlash from Mirror Force had destroyed the bulk of the black mask that had covered his eyes. It hadn’t done any damage, of course, and it hadn’t completely destroyed the mask, but that wasn’t what Alexis cared about. No, there was only one thing that crossed her mind at that point.
“A-Atticu-s?” Alexis stammered, her mind reeling from seeing the face of her brother that had disappeared all those years ago. Was it a trick? Was it an illusion? Nightshroud’s reply answered her first question, but it only left her with more afterward.
“Oh. Do you know the face of this host? Was he your friend? Your lover? Or perhaps he’s more.” Alexis jerked back in shock as Atticus’s face was covered in a horrible, mocking grin, something that she could have never even imagined her brother could even make. “Oh hoh. A family member. Your father? No, your brother. This host is your brother.” Every word that came out of Atticus’s twisted face sounded like it was being chewed up with relish before being spat out like a piece of gristle.
No, this… thing was not Atticus. Not fully. Her big brother would never do things like this. Alexis firmly reminded herself. Whether Nightshroud was telling the truth and he was some sort of spirit or monster or whatever that had turned her brother into a puppet, or if this was just some freaky illusion to mess with her head now that her opponent had walked into her trap, there was nothing she could do about it until she won. Nothing she could do until she saved herself, saved Syrus, and saved Chumley. More importantly, Alexis had to find some way to defeat Nightshroud before he could activate yet another spell that could directly damage her life points. Normally something like Inferno Fire Blast would be an oddity (unless it was being played by Phil, in that case it would be the first of many). However, that spell card was tuned precisely for Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and the pessimistic part of Alexis figured that if there could be one burn card made specifically for Red-Eyes, then there could be two, three, four, or even more.
Alexis began her turn with an uneasy heart as she considered her options. Dakini could annihilate the Red-Eyes Black Dragon that was summoned off of Vanguard’s effect, but what next? She needed a way to close out the game with Atti- with Nightshroud as soon as possible. Unfortunately, there was no way she could do that quite yet since she lacked the resources. It was one of the major drawbacks of her deck, one that even Phil, Bastion, and herself working together could only mitigate instead of completely solve.
“Fine. I switch Cyber Angel Dakini to attack position, and I activate the continuous spell Ritual Cage, which will prevent me from taking battle damage involving any of my ritual monsters while also protecting them from monster card effects. Cyber Angel Dakini! Destroy that Red-Eyes again!”
Despite the fact that the blue angel was surrounded by bars of thick white light, the three weapons in her hands struck true, cleaving the obsidian-colored dragon in half in one clean motion. Even so, Alexis grumbled in irritation as Nightshroud almost immediately revealed his face down trap to be yet another Red-Eyes Spirit to resurrect his dragon again, making her entire turn nearly useless in terms of progress. “I end my turn.” Alexis sighed. Each turn the duel dragged on made it increasingly difficult to push her burns to the back of her mind.
“What a waste.” Nightshroud’s foul smirk widened with every word. “It seems that destroying my Meteor Black Dragon only bought you more time to consider your situation. See, now that I have a Red-Eyes Black Dragon on my side of the field, I can show you the true meaning of darkness. This, girl, is the logic of the world. As a flash of fire lights up the night, the ever-consuming darkness follows to swallow up all hope. I tribute my Red-Eyes Black Dragon to special summon Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon (2400/2000) from my hand! Then, since I have eight dragon monsters in my graveyard, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon gains 300 attack for each one!” (2400/2000 -> 4800/2000)
Alexis’s mouth hung open in shock. 4800 attack points. Was this what that man had been building towards this entire duel? Shoving dragons into the dark hell of his graveyard one by one while she was forced to deal with his fusion monster and the repeated summoning of Red-Eyes? Absolutely preposterous.
“I would tell you to say goodbye to your friends, but you’ll be seeing them soon enough! Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, attack Cyber Angel Dakini! Wipe out her remaining life points!” Nightshroud shouted jubilantly.
The long, terrible neck of Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon creaked unsteadily to look at Alexis while a shadowy miasma gathered around its pitch-black wings, managing to even darken the blood red rubies that were scattered liberally around the dragon’s body. Its chest contorted as its lungs worked like a pair of super-sized bellows, dragging massive quantities of the shadows that filled the volcano into its cavernous maw. The shadows began to boil while the air crackled with pure, undiluted power. The world was quiet for a second. Not even the gentle burble of lava, nor the soft drip-dropping of melting glass could be heard. The world was quiet, and then the insidious dragon let loose a beam consisting of not even a single centimeter of light towards Cyber Angel Dakini. It was no shadow, it was no darkness. No, the beam was the complete and utter absence of light. It was the void itself.
Alexis laughed and the tension that had manifested itself on her shoulders slid away like water along with the shocked expression that she had halfway faked. “You may have my brother’s body, but not his brain. He would have known better not to take bait as tempting as this. In response to your attack, I activate my facedown quickplay spell card. Magnificent Machine Angel! By tributing one Cyber Angel ritual monster from my hand or my field, one light fairy monster I control will gain attack and defense equal to the tributed monster’s level times 200! I choose to tribute Cyber Angel Idaten from my hand, meaning that Dakini will gain 1200 attack points. But! That isn’t all, for now that Idaten has been tributed, I can activate her effect to give Dakini an additional 1000 attack points! (2700/2400 -> 4900/4600)”
“But that means!” Nightshroud shouted in shock.
Alexis nodded with a fierce smile. “Yes. Exactly 100 attack points above your own dragon. Cyber Angel Dakini, chop that overgrown lizard into sushi!”
The four-armed armored woman did much more than that. One of her blue palms backhanded the beam of void energy into the side of the volcano like an annoying fly so hard it tore a large trench into the rock, while the other three arms lunged forwards with various weapons to skewer the Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon like a shish-kebab.
Alexis: 200 Nightshroud: 1600
Nightshroud closed his eyes in frustration. “Very well. During my end phase, since I did not normal summon or set any monsters this turn, I banish my Red-Eyes Wyvern to special summon Red-Eyes Black Dragon from my graveyard in defense position.” Every syllable was said through gritted teeth, Alexis noted in approval. Now she only had to get through his Red-Eyes, take care of the Troop Dragon that she hadn’t gotten around to destroying yet, and then ram through the third Troop Dragon if he still had another one left in his deck. Then she could rescue the boys and find out for sure what had happened to her brother. However, that also meant she couldn’t be reckless. Not with 200 life points remaining. Those burns on her body would be the least of her concerns if those 200 life points became zero life points.
“I draw. I activate Preparation of Rites, which allows me to grab Cyber Angel Benten from my deck and Machine Angel Absolute Ritual from my graveyard to add to my hand. Now that I have a ritual monster and a spell available, I activate that very same Machine Angel Absolute Ritual, shuffling Cyber Angel Idaten from my graveyard to my deck to ritual summon Cyber Angel Benten (1800/1500). Battle phase start! Now, since Dakini’s attack has lost the Magnificent Machine Angel boost, she’s back down to 3700 attack points due to Idaten’s effect. Not like that matters, because that’s more than enough to deal with your dragon. Cyber Angel Dakini, destroy Red-Eyes Black Dragon! Cyber Angel Benten, destroy Troop Dragon!”
Nightshroud’s side of the field was rapidly emptied as the metallic black dragon was pierced through the heart by Dakini’s spear and the duo of green dragons were chopped to pieces by Benten’s war fan, which then slipped forwards as quickly as a striking snake to cut deeply through Nightshroud’s cheek to deal damage equal to Troop Dragon’s defense points.
Alexis: 200 Nightshroud: 800
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Syrus gazed morosely up towards the duel between Alexis and the terrifying masked man. Well, calling him a masked man wasn’t quite accurate anymore, not after the backlash from Alexis’s Mirror Force blasted a great deal of the mask away. All around him the glass cage continued to slowly melt, forcing him and Chumley to move every so often to prevent their bodies from gradually sinking into the softened, putty-like glass. In a way, the situation didn’t feel all that bad anymore. Sure, there was nothing but boiling hot lava below him, but Syrus just felt… numb to it all at this point. His fear, something that had been so utterly overpowering from the moment that maniac had stuffed him and his grilled-cheese buddy in the glass cube was certainly not completely gone. Yet, his knees no longer shook. Was it shock? Or was this caused by the ever-encroaching thoughts whispered into his ears, pointing out that while Alexis was winning, she wasn’t doing it fast enough. If that didn’t change soon, then he and Chumley were going to die and there was nothing they could do about it.
And it was all his fault.
His fault that he was captured without a fight. Alexis had at least forced the masked man to duel her. That was much more than what he did when that man took him and Chumley.
His fault that he was scared.
His fault that he lacked the guts to use the Power Bond spell Zane gave him. Maybe if he was better, then he wouldn’t be in this death trap to begin with. He could have tried to duel his way out like Alexis was doing.
So it was his fault he was bait for bro, his fault he was dead weight.
Syrus glanced at his shoes, noting halfheartedly that they had sunk almost half an inch into the glass floor. He lifted his legs, and with an uncomfortable sucking sound his shoes came free. Somehow the rubber had yet to melt off the bottoms. Syrus shrugged. Silver lining, he supposed. Silver lining around the cloud of molten death flowing below them.
“Hey, it’s okay.” A thick arm wrapped around Syrus’s neck as Chumley tried to console him. “Alexis is a beast of a duelist, look at how she has that freak cornered! I bet he hates grilled cheese sandwiches too! Aw heck, once she gets us out of this box I’ll whip up an entire batch of my grilled cheese special to celebrate! To heck with anyone who tries to stop me, too! I’ll bribe Professor Banner with delicious sandwiches if he comes by, and same with Ms. Hibiki! We’ll make a whole party out of it with the entire dorm, for sure!”
Syrus numbly nodded along. Chumley was at least trying to cheer the both of them up. It wasn’t working, but the thought counted.
Then he saw it. At first Syrus thought that it was a trick of the light, distorted and muffled as it was through the dripping glass of the cube. But no, it was there. She was real. An inhumanly tall angel of pink and blue floated serenely above the brutal slugfest that Alexis’s duel had turned into. It was a ritual summon for sure, but that monster, no, that angel, was not one Syrus had ever seen Alexis summon before. Four arms extended to the side of the angel in a gesture of pure, beautiful mercy, while several wings of pure light fluttered gently around her. Behind the angel floated a stunning golden gear, one that rotated with a gentle grace. A droplet of liquid splashed down Syrus’s face, causing him to experience an initial bout of panic until he realized it wasn’t liquid glass like what had burned Chumley’s cheek earlier. It was a teardrop.
Syrus and Chumley both sat back, right onto the soft glass that bowed beneath their weight. They didn’t care anymore. Who could, upon seeing what they saw? The most beautiful angel in the world summoned to Alexis’s field. It was all okay now. In a heartbeat it was all over as the angel tore through the masked man’s dragons like wet tissue paper and reduced his life points to zero. Despite himself, despite his earlier numbness, Syrus closed his eyes and let out a deep breath while Chumley erupted in laughter beside him.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Alexis rushed towards the collapsed figure of Atticus that had thumped to the ground on the ledge next to her, with almost no signs that he had once been suspended over thin air just a few moments ago. A second later and a feeling of relief stole over her heart as she heard Syrus and Chumley hit the ground behind her with a few scattered groans. They were alright. They were all alright. Now she just had to make sure about Atticus. She kneeled down beside her brother’s unmoving form. It was definitely him. The birthmark on his collar, his brown hair, his faint smile, it was all there. Since the mask had broken with Cyber Angel Vrash’s final attack, she didn’t think that any magic was still in play, though in all honesty she could only go off of her gut on that one since she was in no way an expert on freaky evil magic.
“Atticus. Atticus! Can you hear me?” Alexis called out with a wavering voice as she lightly patted his bloody cheek, her palm barely missing the large gash that had been carved into it by one of her attacks. “Shit.” She swore, the foul word that uncharacteristically dropped from her lips doing nothing to help the situation. Okay. Okay. She could do this. Atticus might be bleeding all over a ledge in the crater of the island’s volcano, but she could do this. Syrus walked with unsteady feet up to Alexis and asked her a question with a frankly concerningly numb look on his face, but all Alexis could think about was how exactly to get Atticus to the infirmary without making the injuries he sustained from the duel worse. Syrus was too small and skinny to be of much help, and every move Alexis made only served to make her burns feel worse and worse by the second. Chumley was a big guy, but most of that wasn’t muscle, and Atticus was tall enough to make carrying him uninjured quite a feat. With the wounds he had now? Well, even Alexis knew that would be a great way to make things so much worse.
“Alexis!” Syrus eventually got her attention by shaking her arm. Alexis hesitated for a second, forcing a brave look across her face before she turned to face him.
“Alexis, do you know that guy?” Syrus asked with a flick of his eyes towards Atticus’s unconscious body.
Alexis nodded. “He’s my brother. You’ve met him before, remember? Atticus and Zane were friends before he… disappeared. I think that mask he was wearing was controlling him or something. He kept saying things about being a host.”
Syrus sucked in his breath, a spark of realization lighting up his dim eyes as he finally recognized Atticus’s face. “And his wounds… from the shadow duel? We need to be careful moving him. Wait a sec, I’ll call bro.” Just like that, Syrus pulled out a box-like flip phone with a slightly melted cover. “I couldn’t get any service in that cube, but it takes more than some heat to kill a Nokia. Hopefully bro will hear the landline in the dorm going off.”
A few moments later and it was apparent to all that Jaden did, in fact, not hear the landline go off. Nor had he ever bothered to get a cellphone of his own, a fact that Syrus revealed with no small amount of frustration. Not after Jaden had apparently broken one too many on accident for his parents to replace.
“Okay, what about Bastion? I have his number too.” Syrus muttered as he dialed another number. No answer. Syrus nodded to himself. Of course there would be no answer. “Fine. Phil, come ‘on you’d better pick up. I don’t have any other numbers on my phone.”
None of them noticed the crow clothed in human flesh shake its wings in disappointment and silently take off into the night sky.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Phil blinked some gunk out of his eyes as the infernal ringing of the landline in his room went off in the middle of the fucking night.
“Better not be another damn prank call…” Phil muttered to himself as he heaved himself out of his bed while ignoring Lumina’s cries to ‘turn the damn thing off!’
“Phil’s Morgue, you stab ‘em, we slab ‘em, how can I help you? Oh hey Syrus, awful late fo-“ Phil’s face stiffened as soon as Syrus’s words interrupted him, lapsing into silence as the Slifer Red caught him up to speed. “Roger that. I’ll cobble up some wheels and meet you at the volcano ASAP.” Phil eventually responded in an extremely serious tone of voice.
“Phil? What’s the deal?” Lumina asked with a yawn as Phil rushed around the room in a flurry of activity, grabbing his Ra Yellow jacket and his Chaos Warrior deck. Phil hardly even glanced towards his roommate before responding. “It was Syrus, seems that him, Chumley, and Alexis got yoinked by a Shadow Rider. Alexis dropped him in a duel, but it turns out that the bad guy was a possessed version of her brother. Since it was a shadow duel, no one’s in any shape to lug an unconscious dude off the side of a volcano.”
Lumina rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and frowned. “And a skinny guy like you is going to help? Wouldn’t you be best off going to the teachers for help?”
“You would think.” Phil agreed. “But apparently her brother is pretty banged up and I wouldn’t put it past the professors to think this is a prank seeing as it’s coming from me considering that they didn’t trust me with a key. And that’s if I can wake them up in the first place. No, we need max speed on this one. I have no time to convince anyone of my methods!” Phil shouted as he ran out the door. One by one he passed the hallways, only pausing at the janitor’s closet to swipe a flathead screwdriver and at Bastion’s door to frantically knock away at it. A few loud knocks later, and Bastion opened the door with a dazed and confused expression.
“Phil? It’s a bit la-“ Was all that Bastion could say before Phil clapped him on the shoulders, telling Bastion to grab his deck and to pick up his damn phone next time. With Phil now joined with the more level-headed, albeit confused Bastion, the pair made great progress until they eventually exited the dorms to reach the maintenance building.
“Phil! Wait up buddy!” Bastion panted while Phil fiddled with the lock to the building. “What the hell is happening? Answer the phone? No one’s called me for days! Trust me, the ringtone is loud enough to wake me. And why are you breaking into the maintenance building? Please don’t tell me I’m about to become an accessory to a crime.”
Phil answered Bastion’s questions one by one while he picked the simple door lock. “Alexis, Syrus, and Chumley got nabbed by a Shadow Rider. Alexis won the duel, but they’re at the volcano with her injured brother and need an evac. Moving him by hand could make things worse if we fuck up, so I’m jacking one of the golf carts the janitors use to zoom around the place looking for stuff to clean up. I guess it is a crime, but it’s for a good cause and I swear I’ll put it back when I’m done. I’m really trying to be better now.”
“Oh. Okay.” Were the only words Bastion could muster in response to Phil’s barrage of answers. Then, he shrugged and crouched next to Phil to minimize the chance of a passerby seeing them. Who exactly would pass by at this time of night, he didn’t know, but it couldn’t hurt. Then, with a click of the lock and a smile, Phil was in. Inside the building there was hardly any space to move at all, but there was in fact a small scattering of golf carts sitting around. Ones that, Bastion noted with a groan, did not have keys to prevent this very situation from occurring. It seemed like there had been issues with students doing this in the past. However, Phil’s only response was to tap his nose with a smile and reveal a flat-headed screwdriver that was stuffed in his pocket.
“Pay attention dear Bastion, because Uncle Phil’s only going to show you this trick once.” Phil muttered with a smile as he slid into the driver’s seat of the nearest golf cart while Bastion claimed shotgun with raised eyebrows.
“Hm. They take decent care of these. Not even any dust to blow out.” Phil noticed as he maneuvered the tip of his flathead screwdriver right into the ignition switch where the keys would normally go. “Easy does it… easy does it…” Bit by bit Phil twisted the screwdriver with the tip of his tongue poking out between his lips. Then, with a coughing stutter, the golf cart came to life. Phil flashed Bastion a smile. “See, you don’t need keys with a golf cart. You can just make your own. Now! Onwards, my brother! My trusty steed shall take us to our friends, and to glory!”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Bastion shook his head with a wry grin as Phil put the pedal to the metal to zoom out of the building at the extreme speed of just over ten miles per hour.