Bastion propped himself up on aching arms as the enormous white tiger finally spat his leg out of its mouth after dragging him through what felt like the entire forest. He looked around at his surroundings. Trees, rocks, more trees… and some sort of stone structure. A rather impressive one too. Bastion’s eyes narrowed as his lightning-fast mind immediately made the connection between the structure and the original Roman Colosseum through similar looks alone. The only main difference, aside from the location, was that this coliseum was much quieter, without even a single chatty tourist in sight. The difference in size was also somewhat noticeable.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” A woman spoke from behind Bastion. He whirled around in surprise with his duel disk ready. However, the muscular ponytailed woman hardly reacted to Bastion’s caution, only choosing to further elaborate on the building in question.

“It’s my coliseum, built through the fair exchange of labor for compensation by some of the fine lads on this island. My name is Tania, by the way.”

Bastion remained silent as he took in the woman’s appearance and the duel disk on her arm.

The master of the tiger from before perhaps? It could be that the tiger was a duel spirit too. Either way, it seems this Tania lady is my opponent. Only a Shadow Rider would have a reason to drag me out of the dorms by force.

Unperturbed by the silence, Tania gestured widely with her extremely buff arms. “Yes, isn’t this a perfect scene for our duel, Bastion Misawa? Come, join me in the coliseum proper, and we can have a true duel for the ages! May the strongest duelist gain ownership over your key!”

“Very well then.” Bastion stiffly responded before following the woman through one of the many impressively large entrances into the stone structure. While walking through, he even managed to catch a closer glimpse at the stonework.

Definitely new. As of this week? It’s still hard to believe this thing was built by the people on this island without my knowledge though. Not bad for a rush job either way, but this definitely falls flat compared to Seto Kaiba’s arena.

The two duelists came to a halt in the middle of the arena. It had a floor of stamped-down earth, with no stone or even gravel to be seen. The marble spectators stands rose up high into the air, but there wasn’t a single witness seated in the whole structure. It was, for all intents and purposes, a ghost town aside from Tania and Bastion.

The wind whistled through the trees, bringing the cold night air forward to chill Bastion’s body. Tania looked around, and seemed to discover the same problem Bastion noticed.

“Ah. Right. It wouldn’t be a proper duel without an audience.” She mumbled bashfully as if to acknowledge her mistake and clapped her hands. In an instant there was a silent explosion of grey mist. The shadows around the stands darkened, thickening into barely decipherable shapes that waved their sticklike, shadowy appendages in a pale imitation of clapping and cheering motions.

“There we go!” Tania beamed. The wide smile on her face hardly made the woman seem like a shadow rider, but as Tania’s duel disk activated with a ‘click’ and the air began to thicken, that same smile felt all the more menacing.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll take the first turn.” Tania said. Bastion tilted his head in thought.

Interesting. From the tone of her voice, this seems like a legitimate question, instead of a declaration disguised as a question. Most duelists would simply say ‘I’ll take the first turn’ and then do just that. The tone of Tania’s voice implies that if I were to object, she would allow me to take the first turn instead. This… yes, she seems to be a different kind of Shadow Rider than the others that have shown up so far. I don’t see any hostages either. An honorable woman for sure. But, considering my current strategy… it would be best to see what I am up against.

Bastion’s consideration took barely a couple of seconds before he nodded his head for Tania to go ahead.

Bastion: 4000 Tania: 4000

“Perfect!” Tania crowed. “I summon Amazoness Paladin (1700/300) in attack position! While she’s on the field, she gains 100 attack points for every Amazoness monster I control, including herself (1700/300 -> 1800/300). Then, I place two cards face down and end my turn!”

Bastion’s eyes narrowed in thought as he stared down the tanned, muscular woman on Tania’s field. She wielded a rather sharp-looking longsword and her thick yellow hair was partially hidden under her tan robe.

“An Amazoness deck?” Bastion muttered the rhetorical question as he drew a card to start his turn. A quick glance at his own hand gave him all the information he needed for his next step. “That is rather unfortunate. For you, at least. I’ve studied the battle city duels extensively in order to glean inspiration from the best duelists in the world! Because of that, I have a good amount of familiarity with how an Amazoness deck functions. Now that your moves have allowed me to roughly guess the contents of your starting hand, the last few missing numbers in my calculations have been handed to me on a silver platter.”

After his confident declaration, Bastion let loose a flurry of moves. “I activate the spell Card Destruction! Both players must discard their entire hands and draw a number of cards equal to the amount they discarded earlier! And now that I have fed an ample number of spirits to the river of the afterlife in my graveyard, I normal summon Tristan, Knight of the Underworld (1800/0)! On his summon, Tristan’s effect allows me to take one zombie monster with zero defense points in my graveyard and add it to my hand. I choose to add Zombie Mammoth to my hand. Then, like you did on your turn Tania, I place two cards face down and end my turn!”

Tania’s lips cracked upwards in a smile. “What a declaration! It’s a pity your monster only has attack points that equal my paladin. I draw. Now, I shall show you your mistake of letting Amazoness Paladin live! I summon Command Knight (1200/1900) in attack position. While she’s on the field, all of my warrior monsters gain 400 attack.”

Command Knight (1200/1900 -> 1600/1900), Amazoness Paladin (1800/300 -> 2200/300).

“Battle phase!” Tania shouted with glee. “Amazoness Paladin, send that knight back to the grave where it belongs!”

“Not so fast!” Bastion replied with narrowed eyes. “I activate my trap card. Call of the Haunted! I special summon one of the monsters I discarded last turn, Crow Tengu (1400/1200), from my graveyard in attack position. Since he was special summoned from the afterlife, I can activate his effect! Crow Tengu, target Command Knight for destruction!”

From the misty surroundings, a purple-feathered bipedal crow man leapt out and pointed a staff with several mystical rings on its end towards the brown-armored knight on Tania’s field. The air shook as several slips of paper shot out from the crow’s sleeves to plaster themselves on the woman knight’s face. One, two, three, a total of four paper tags covered her face, where they stuck on her skin and fluttered in the wind. For a moment, nothing happened, until bit by bit her form appeared to disappear like a pencil drawing being removed by a thick artist’s eraser.

Tania scowled. “And that drops the attack of Amazoness Paladin back down to 1800 points. Well played. At least, if I didn’t have this face down!” Tania’s eyes flashed with triumph as she flipped over one of her two set cards. “I activate the trap card Kunai with Chain, equipping it to Amazoness Paladin to increase her attack by 500 points! Paladin, continue your attack on Bastion’s underworld knight!”

It was as if Bastion’s earlier play hadn’t even occurred. The sword-wielding paladin, now swinging a curved piece of steel attached to a metal chain cut through the rusted metal armor of Tristan, Knight of the Underworld with ease, even though the knight had gained an additional 300 attack due to Bastion having another zombie monster on the field.

Bastion: 3800 Tania: 4000

Yet, to Tania’s shock, several gravestones with incantations scrawled upon their surfaces had erupted from the ground at some point during the attack. The air cooled even further, causing a chill to run down her spine.

“Sorry, but I’ll activate the effect of my other trap card at this time.” Bastion calmly stated, pushing past the various aches and pains that the backlash of the attack made him experience. “On your attack declaration, I activated my continuous trap, Graveyard of Wandering Souls. So, with my knight being sent back into the underworld by the result of a battle, I can special summon one Fireball Token (100/100) in defense position on my side of the field. Thus the cycle of souls continues. From the grave, experiencing the miracle of rebirth, and then fading back to the gloomy river of the underworld once more. A perfect circle that has existed since the beginning of time itself.”

“Ha! A funny trick, yellow boy!” Tania barked with laughter. Bastion adjusted his mustard-yellow Ra jacket with an awkward expression.

“Hey… I happen to like this color.” He said indignantly. “To borrow a term from Jaden, this jacket’s rad as heck. I draw!”

Bastion adjusted the straps on his duel disk with a smile. “Perfect. I activate Graceful Charity, which allows me to draw three cards and discard two cards from my hand. I choose to discard Il Blud and Bone Crusher. That spell card is simply too perfect for my deck! Now, I activate another spell, Book of Life, which lets me special summon a zombie monster from my graveyard and banish a card from your graveyard. I choose to special summon Il Blud (2100/800) and banish Command Knight.”

A series of unearthly groaning noises filled the air as an extraordinarily tall obese man wearing prison clothes with a ball and chain attached to one of his feet hefted himself out from the plot of earth he was buried under near one of the cracked gravestones. The movement, as simple as it was, caused his prison uniform to split at the seams in the middle, revealing a deformed, hairless face that poked out from what could be seen of the enormously fat man’s belly. The man then groaned and heaved as Bastion used the unique properties of its gemini typing to normal summon it again in order to gain its full effect.

“Il Blud, dip your hands in the river of souls you have dominion over! Open the floodgates of hell to bring forth the age of the Yokai upon the earth! I activate his effect to special summon Bone Crusher (1600/200) from my graveyard! And, since Bone Crusher was summoned from the grave by the effect of a zombie monster, I can destroy one spell or trap card you control, Tania! I pick the most obvious choice, your Kunai with Chain.”

Contrary to the viking-helmeted bone skeleton’s rather barbaric appearance, the monster simply hoisted its bone mallet, patted its little bone doggy on the head, and tapped the face up trap card elegantly with its weapon to shatter it into a million pieces.

Now I only have to be wary of her remaining face down card. Bastion thought as he considered the situation. Knowing what I know of Tania’s style so far, there is a high likelihood of it being another trap or quick play spell that modulates attack and defense. Though, it could very well be a battle trap too. My Il Blud is the only monster with enough attack points to beat over the paladin’s 1800 attack points, but if Tania does indeed have a way to increase her paladin’s attack over 2100 again then I’ll have a problem. Hm.

Bastion pursed his lips at the multiple-choice question he faced. To attack, or not to attack? That was the question. Whether it was nobler in the mind to suffer the attack modulations of outrageous fortune…

His eyes flickered as a strange, almost Phil-like voice in the back of his head yelled at Bastion to stop playing around with Shakespeare verses and make a damn choice. Well, if it is indeed a card that becomes relevant in battle, Il Blud will die either way. It is only a question of it being this turn or the next.

“Very well. Il Blud, send Tania’s monster to the afterlife! Skull Crusher, follow up with a direct attack!” Bastion roared, using the strength of his own voice to help convince himself that his choice was the correct one.

Tania opened her mouth as if she was about to interject, but eventually closed it with a frustrated glare as Il Blud’s attack continued on unimpeded to punch a hole straight through the Amazoness’s chest.

Bastion: 3800 Tania: 2100

Tania let loose a brilliant smile. She licked her lips, tasting the slight tinge of blood that was forced out once the very tip of Il Blud’s fist grazed her own abdomen while the head of Bone Crusher's hammer slammed directly into the side of her head.

“Oh, I do love a close fight.” She purred like a large cat as Bastion ended his turn and Bone Crusher faded back into the graveyard due to the downsides of its own effect. “I draw, and then I activate the spell card Reinforcement of the Army, which allows me to add one level four or lower warrior monster from my deck to my hand. I choose Amazoness Sage to receive that honor. Then, I activate Pot of Greed to draw two more cards.” Tania’s smile widened. “Ha. This is perfect for getting my blood pumping. I activate the field spell card Amazoness Village, and then I normal summon Amazoness Sage (1400/700) in attack position.”

The walls of the coliseum rumbled as several grass huts sprung into existence between the pre-existing gravestones. Lights flashed in a few of the windows, and countless fierce-looking women filed into the stands, each one shouting and jeering at the two duelists for them to speed the game up and draw more blood.

“Thanks to the effect of my Amazoness Village, all of my Amazoness monsters gain 200 attack points. Then, to make things worse for you and better for me, I activate my other face down card. The continuous trap card Amazoness Willpower! It allows me to special summon one of my fallen Amazoness monsters in attack position, and infuses her with an unending rage that forces her to attack during each of my battle phases. I bring forth Amazoness Paladin once more!”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Amazoness Sage (1400/700 -> 1600/700), Amazoness Paladin (1700/300 -> 2100/300).

“Amazoness Paladin, attack my opponent’s Il Blud! Destroy each other in your mutual hatred!” Tania shouted in glee. Bastion scowled as the bloodied and scratched Amazoness Paladin screamed out an incoherent battle cry filled with undiluted rage and suicidally charged into Il Blud’s bulk, causing both of the monsters to be destroyed.

“Then, since my Amazoness monster was destroyed by battle, the second effect of Amazoness Village activates to special summon an Amazoness monster with a level less than or equal to my monster that was destroyed. I choose to summon Amazoness Trainee (1500/1300 -> 1700/1300).

Bastion’s face paled. That was one of the newer cards that Mai Valentine had showcased in her most recent professional duel! Not only would the sage be able to destroy one of his traps after attacking, but the trainee would get stronger with every battle it won. Not even the additional Fireball Token (100/100) that was brought forth by the effect of Graveyard of Wandering Souls after Il Blud’s death was much help.

In fact… my earlier play that focused on token generation for easier tribute summoning is proving to bite me in the backside now. Since trainee doesn’t need to send the destroyed monster to the grave to trigger her effect, that means she can power up easily through the deaths of my Fireball Tokens. Bastion realized as his thoughts began to wander in unpleasant directions. If Tania makes the right decisions going forwards… nearly all of my monsters will be obliterated in one fell swoop!

“Now! Amazoness Sage, attack the oldest Fireball Token and activate your effect to destroy Call of the Haunted after the damage step!”

It was just as Bastion had predicted not even a moment earlier. The blue-haired woman waved her feathered staff to freeze one of his Fireball Tokens in a block of chilly ice, and then smashed the wooden weapon into its side to shatter the block of ice into a million pieces. Not only that, but as the sage’s effect activated to destroy Bastion’s Call of the Haunted, that meant that his Crow Tengu was destroyed upon the resolution of that effect. That also meant that Bastion wouldn’t be able to receive a Fireball Token for either of those actions, since the activation condition of Graveyard of Wandering Souls required for the monster to be sent to the graveyard by result of battle. Tokens didn’t go to the graveyard, and Crow Tengu was destroyed by Call of the Haunted’s own effect!

Then, the blue-clothed Amazoness Trainee lashed out with her weapon, a knife attached to a length of chain, to target the weak point of the remaining Fireball Token to destroy it in one blow and raise her attack by 200 points.

Amazoness Trainee (1700/1300 -> 1900/1300).

“I draw…” Bastion muttered with brows furrowed. “Not great… but not terrible.” He muttered. “I place one monster in face down defense position, place another card face down, and end my turn.”

Tania smirked. “Playing hard to get now, are you? Naughty boy. I summon Amazoness Scouts (500/1100 -> 700/1100) in attack position and move to my battle phase. Amazoness Trainee, destroy his face down monster!”

The monster adjusted her golden gauntlets and let loose a snake-like smirk before whirling her chain weapon to strike at Bastion’s set monster. A flash of smoke filled the field, and for a moment the surroundings felt slightly warm, like they had been touched by the afternoon sun. A mysterious brown turtle revealed itself as it strained to protect the golden pyramid upon its back from the Amazoness’s unrelenting attacks. Eventually though, one attack too many broke through the creature’s desperate defense and the pyramid was shattered into a fine dust.

“Pyramid Turtle’s (1200/1400) effect activates! The death of Pyramid Turtle allows me to take one zombie monster with 2000 or less defense points from my deck and special summon it onto my field. I shall bring forth the wise messenger of Enma, the Nine-Tailed Fox (2200/2000) in attack position! Graveyard of Wandering Souls, ease the loneliness of Nine-Tailed Fox by summoning another Fireball Token (100/100) in defense position!”

Tania’s eyes widened in surprise. “And you think that’s not great? Boy, you might not be clear on the definition of ‘not great’ if being able to easily summon a monster with over 2000 attack doesn’t give you a thrill. Still, since your monster was destroyed, Amazoness Trainee will become even stronger (1900/1300 -> 2100/1300). After that, I order my Amazoness Sage to destroy the Fireball Token to trigger her effect, removing your face down card from the field at the end of the damage step.”

Bastion nodded sheepishly towards Tania’s point. “Yes, I did say ‘not great’, but I admit it might have been a bit more difficult if your monster had been allowed more time to be trained into her final form as a veteran fighter. As the situation is now, Nine-Tailed Fox will just barely be enough. I draw.”

That card… Bastion mentally added several more potential paths of play in his mental map of his deck as he added the card to his hand. Phil would argue that it focuses too much on my opponent taking certain actions… but I’m rather fond of it myself. He looked towards his graveyard, mentally cataloguing the new additions. It was a shame that his Haunted Shrine trap failed to see use while it was on the field, but there were still possibilities for it if Bastion could reach that point in the game. That was one of the biggest perks of his Yokai deck. The graveyard was like a second hand if the conditions were right!

“I place one card face down. Nine-Tailed Fox, show your might as a high-ranking Yokai! Strike down Amazoness Trainee before she becomes too strong to defeat!”

On Bastion’s side of the field, a white fox with nine white tails that looked like their ends had been generously dipped into buckets of light-red paint snarled and flexed its claws. The Amazoness woman gulped in fear, but ultimately was vanquished with a scream as the fox let loose several balls of fire from the ends of each of its tails to burn the opposing monster to a fine crisp.

Bastion: 3800 Tania: 2000

“Not so fast!” Tania bellowed. “The effect of Amazoness Village activates once more, allowing me to summon Amazoness Blowpiper (800/1500 -> 1000/1500) in defense position.”

A blue-haired woman wielding a blowpipe and covered in several demonic skulls carefully stepped over the ashy outline of her fallen battle sister. She carefully watched every single movement of the Nine-Tailed Fox like a hunter would for a particularly juicy piece of prey that had fallen within their sights.

Bastion indicated with a nod of his head that the action was fine with him, and he ended his turn in short order.

“My turn. During my standby phase, the effect of Amazoness Blowpiper activates, allowing me to reduce the attack of your Nine-Tailed Fox by 500 points until the end of this turn.” Tania began. At her command, the woman gently lifted one of the demonic skulls covering her knees to withdraw a dart that was dripping with a sickly green poison. The ‘puff’ of sound was barely noticeable in the ghostly battlefield, but the aftereffects on the fox were undeniable. Two of the fox’s tails withered into pale, skinny imitations of their former glory.

Nine-Tailed Fox (2200/2000 -> 1700/2000).

“Of course, I still lack a monster with enough attack points to destroy the fox, but that will change soon enough.” Tania continued. By using Amazoness Sage as a sacrifice, I tribute summon the one woman all true Amazoness warriors pay fealty to! The battle queen on her throne of skulls, Amazoness Queen (2400/1800 -> 2600/1800)!”

Bastion’s eyes shot open. That monster! Not only does it possess respectably high attack power, but while she remains on the field, none of Tania’s Amazoness monsters can be destroyed by battle! Not even the queen herself!

Oblivious to Bastion’s internal turmoil, Tania raced through her turn to enter her battle phase. “Amazoness Queen, grant the Nine-Tailed Fox the sweet release of death!”

Bastion trembled as the sharp blade of the muscular queen destroyed his fox. His shoulder began to bleed heavily as it was nicked from the strike, the lifeblood of his arm dripping down to mix with the fabric strap of his duel disk.

Bastion: 2900 Tania: 2000

“On her destruction,” Bastion bit out the words past his own pain. “Nine-Tailed Fox will summon two Fox Tokens (500/500) in defense position. In addition, the Graveyard of Wandering Souls will summon another Fireball Token (100/100) in defense position.”

Tania nodded, and had her Amazoness Scouts destroy one of the Fox Tokens before ending her turn.

“My turn.” Bastion said. “First off, I activate the effect of Nine-Tailed Fox in my graveyard. By tributing the remaining Fox Token and one of my two Fireball Tokens, I can special summon it back to the field in attack position. I then place one card face down. Nine-Tailed Fox, though your opponents cannot be destroyed by battle, you can still deal a significant amount of damage. Attack the Amazoness Scouts!”

The Nine-Tailed Fox snarled in agreement with Bastion’s point and let loose a flurry of wild slashes with its claws to strike cleanly on the chest of the Amazoness Scouts. Among the two monsters that made up the scouts, the yellow-clad, sword-wielding girl shouted in agony as her stomach was sliced open to allow her guts to spill out onto the ground, while the blue-haired archer girl next to her couldn’t even manage a scream of pain before her throat was neatly cut.

The girls gasped and flailed on the ground as their blood stained the mist-covered earth a deep, dark red. Suddenly, the bored-looking queen on her throne of white bones lifted her sword with an exasperated look. A green aura filled the air, and just as quickly as the wounds were caused, they were healed in an instant.

Bastion: 2900 Tania: 500

A commotion broke out in the stands as several of the muscular amazons in the crowd began to jeer at the ineffectiveness of Bastion’s attack. Yet, Bastion did not quail from the power of their voices. A faint smirk, one so small it almost didn’t exist flashed across his mouth for a second before he ended his turn.

“I draw!” Tania looked rather amused by the fact that the state of the field was almost exactly the same as it had been the turn before. “What a tenacious fox you have there, Bastion. I hope for the sake of our fun little game that you have a way to turn around this situation before my next turn. Blowpiper, reduce the attack points of his Nine-Tailed Fox by 500 once more! I then switch my scouts to defense position. Amazoness Queen, destroy his Nine-Tailed Fox once more!”

Just like how it played out last turn, the broad blade of Amazoness Queen’s sword sliced right through the marble-white fur of Nine-Tailed Fox, dealing another 900 points of damage to Bastion’s life points.

Bastion: 2000 Tania: 500

“Then, I place one card face down and end my turn.”

Bastion let out a long, slow hissing breath as he gingerly poked at the new gash on his leg to discover the extent of the damage from the backlash of Amazoness Queen’s attack. His head felt slightly fuzzy, most likely due to blood loss, and while Tania was in hardly better shape than him physically at this point, she seemed to be withstanding the pain much better than him. She barely even seemed to be registering the countless burns and gashes that littered her body.

One Fireball Token left from last turn, plus another Fireball from Nine-Tails’s most recent death, and two Fox Tokens on top of that. If I didn’t have a sinking feeling that Tania had a way to take care of all my tokens, I would consider this a half-decent defense. Considering that she’s transitioned from trying to keep clearing my tokens to a stance that focuses on temporarily conserving life points while keeping my Nine-Tails off the field… and what she just said last turn.

Bastion hummed in thought. There were a few different possibilities that came to mind. First off, Tania had found a delayed way to add piercing damage to her attacks. It would obviously have to be delayed, otherwise Tania would have simply used it during her most recent turn to deal lethal amounts of damage. The second possibility was that she had a trap card that allowed her to force battle position changes. Again, it would definitely be a trap card since that effect wasn’t used in the previous turn to end the game. Neither of those thoughts were impossible to put in action. Right off the top of his head, Bastion could think of several cards that would be able to use those effects.

Therefore… Bastion realized, unless this is a master-class bluff to make me abandon my defense for a rash offense, I only have this turn to think up a way to counter her hypothetical next move. The main issue is her queen. If I can get a way to bring tengu back again, there’s the out, but I don’t have any direct lines to that combo right now. Nine-Tailed Fox is at most a stopgap measure right now. I can’t even deal battle damage anymore since Tania wisely changed her weaker monsters to defense position. Yes. I think the best call right now is to see what I can draw. Best-case is that I can see something extremely useful like Zombie Master, Monster Reborn, or another Book of Life.

“Alright, first things first, I activate Graceful Charity once more.” Bastion steeled his voice as the faint outline of an angelic figure appeared behind his shoulder and warmly held out a few cards. “I draw three cards, discarding Shutendoji and Onmoraki to resolve the effect. Now. I believe I shall warn you as well, Tania. I have at my fingertips the perfect counter for your next move!”

“What?” Tania shouted in alarm. “Your fox has nowhere near enough attack points to do anything to me. Is this some sort of mockery before I win this game?”

“Hardly.” Bastion dipped his head towards Tania in a slight bow of respect. “If this was at the beginning of the year, then I might have still held some amount of arrogance in my heart. But Phil broadened my horizons in our duel. No, this is my respect towards you and your deck, Tania. I truly am sorry that we have to be enemies. You seem rather nice, after all. So please, allow me to show my willpower. I cannot afford to lose here, no matter your reasons for coveting my key. I will not lose. And with my next move, unless I have gravely miscalculated, my victory marches closer. By sacrificing one of my tokens, I tribute summon the red Yokai of war, the malevolent beast that hides in the dust swept up by the armies of ancient memories. I summon the Dark Dust Spirit (2200/1800)! On his normal summon, all other face up monsters on the field are destroyed, except for the dust spirit himself!”

One by one the Amazoness monsters and the remaining tokens were shattered into thick clouds of dust that swirled around the army of unmoving gravestones to settle restlessly behind the monster Bastion summoned. It was a feral-looking creature, with sharp claws, baleful yellow eyes, red skin, and a tiny pair of horns that poked out from a shock of long, white hair. The beast growled and huffed. Even its breathing seemed to echo in the ears of the duelists and the audience of amazon warriors like drumbeats calling the listeners to an eternal life of war.

“Is this what you call your victory marching closer?” Tania let loose a full-throated laugh. “Such a cute boy! You forget about the effect of Amazoness Village, which also triggers when my monsters die from a card effect. Even though I can only use the effect on one monster once per turn, I can still make attacking for you quite pointless. I summon forth another Amazoness Queen (2400/1800 -> 2600/1800) in defense position!”

“And Phil said that I would have a hard time using this card to the fullest!” Bastion said with his eyes filled to the brim with fighting spirit, as if Tania hadn’t just replaced her board with another way to prevent all Amazoness monsters from being destroyed by battle.

“Since you have special summoned at least one monster, I call the court of the underworld to session! Trap card Enma’s Judgment, activate! I destroy all of the monsters you just special summoned, and then I can banish five zombie monsters from my graveyard in order to summon a level seven or higher zombie monster from my hand or deck. By banishing Tristan, Knight of the Underworld, Crow Tengu, Il Blud, Bone Crusher, and Nine-Tailed Fox, the court makes its decision. Bring forth Enma’s striking judgments upon the newly deceased, sorting them between heaven and hell. I summon the scarlet executioner of the underworld, Red Ogre (2800/2100)! Besides, while I thank you for calling me cute, my heart belongs to Alexis Rhodes!”

Tania’s mouth hung open in shock towards the unexpected turnaround. She hardly even reacted as, with her queen stricken down by the result of Enma’s Judgment, the Dark Dust Spirit ran wildly towards her like a rabid animal to sink its yellow, rotting teeth into the meat of her neck and reduce her life points to zero.

“What… luck…” She wheezed as the gravestones, the monster, even the coliseum faded into nothing along with the dark mist. Her body began to fade soon after, and it was only when her neck vanished that her eyes began to regain hints of lucidity.

“Yes.” Bastion solemnly agreed. His eyes trembled as he glanced at one of the cards that had flown from Tania’s duel disk from the force of the strike.

Final Attack Orders! That continuous trap would have forced all of my monsters into attack position! He shouted in his mind in shock. It was all crystal clear now. His second hypothesis was proven true. Bastion diverted his gaze from the fallen cards to look at the brown and gold gauntlet that Tania’s faded body had left behind.

“Her shadow charm?” Bastion questioned. His words echoed around the otherwise silent forest. It roughly fit what Chancellor Sheppard had described when the key keepers had first gathered in his office. He sighed. “If I hadn’t drawn Dark Dust Spirit with Graceful Charity… if Phil hadn’t convinced me to add multiple copies of that spell card to my deck… if Tania had been more careful and kept Amazoness Sage around to destroy my face down Enma’s Judgment… I cannot say who might have won.”

The warm sensation of blood sliding down his leg distracted Bastion from the legion of what-ifs that pounded through his head. There would be time for reflection later. For now, all he could do was get back to the dorms and make sure the rest of his friends were alright.

And if they weren’t? Well, then the march of the Yokai would once more be seen upon the mortal world.