The engine was idling. Phil was sure about that. He didn’t know much about motorcycles, but they were pretty common where he was from. An idling motorcycle engine sounded very different from one going full throttle. Still, Phil increased his pace to a quick run. The man who was most likely on that motorcycle could choose to head out at any moment – and Phil needed to have a better grasp of the situation before he could start following in pursuit.
Rows upon rows of cars were ignored and passed as Phil dove deeper into the depths of the parking garage, only taking a few seconds on each floor to poke his head out and look for obviously evil dudes before continuing his mad dash down the stairs. However, it was not until the fifth underground floor that Phil saw his target.
A dark-haired man in a pure white uniform partially covered with a dark grey biker jacket stared back at Phil with a malicious grin. A motorcycle helmet emblazoned with fiery shooting stars was perched at a jaunty angle on top of his head.
“Look. Another fly falls in the spider’s web.” Tragoedia’s voice rumbled out of Principal MacKenzie’s body in a deep bass tone.
“I think we might have different thoughts on who’s the spider here.” Phil calmly retorted. He shoved the other side of his thoughts to the back of his mind, one that said ‘bugger getting information, just ice this guy for his part in Dimitri’s fate and be done with it’. If the guy wanted to talk for a bit, then so be it. Playing along could get him a few more bits of information to work with.
Tragoedia chuckled, shaking his head and twisting the handle of his motorcycle to rev the engine so that the noise filled up the entire underground parking garage in a cacophony of sound. The bike itself was a bit crude, Phil noticed. It appeared to be a modified version of some sort of Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Like what a Hells Angel would ride. Except for the fact that there was no Hells Angel on the face of the planet that would ever be insane enough to weld a fucking duel disk above the handlebars where the side mirrors would normally go. Painted blue and red flames raced up the sides of the roaring two-wheeled machine, and a deck that practically glowed with barely visible whisps of blue fire was slotted perfectly in place on the disk.
“I wonder. The other one thought he was the spider as well. But can a creature that falls into its own web out of arrogance and pride truly be called a spider in the end? Or is the true spider the one that consumes that creature to become far stronger than it once was?”
“You’re talking about… John, I believe?” Phil cautiously confirmed. He didn’t know much about his fellow reincarnator, other than what David Rabb had told him in the tournament, but with the status of John’s cards still up in the air, any amount of information could prove to be crucial.
Tragoedia paused in thought. He swung a leg over his motorcycle and revved the engine once more before speaking. "Was that his name? All I remember is a boy who talked big without realizing his body could not back up his own words. Trying to synchro summon without the proper precautions in place. Foolish boy. Because of his failure, his strength is now my own. All that was left to do was to master the new path of the heavens myself.”
Tragoedia grimly smiled, and for the first time during their conversation, the man almost seemed… melancholy. “I admit. I still am at a loss whether to curse that boy or praise him. To know that all my years preparing the planet cards were nothing but a waste of time, when all I had to do was to wait for this pure, unbridled power to fall straight in my lap. All those years scattered away to nothing. All those plans were reduced to mere redundancies. All pointless now that I have this overwhelming strength at my fingertips.”
With that said, Tragoedia turned away from Phil, as if to signal that the conversation had come to an end. As the man turned his back to Phil, the back of his jacket became fully displayed. It was mostly covered with a singular cloth patch that took up the majority of the back of the jacket, a cloth patch that showed a steely-faced, grey-haired samurai riding a horse made of roaring fire.
Phil’s eyes widened a fraction. It was strange seeing that outside of a card frame, but the samurai was familiar to him. It was also a soft confirmation of his own worries. Perhaps a potential hint as to what his opponent would be playing.
“Shi-“ Phil began, but before he could get a full word out, Tragoedia hammered down the acceleration on his motorcycle and blasted up the ramp in the garage that led to the surface. “Shit!” Phil swore. He rapidly swung his head left and right, desperately looking around the garage for a vehicle he could use to pursue. If Tragoedia escaped now and was given even more time to master what the man had literally just confirmed he had stolen from John…
That would be bad.
“Son of a fucking bitch. Motorcycle, nope. No keys in it.” Phil rushed from car to motorcycle to car to motorcycle. One of the smaller motorcycles ended up actually having keys in the ignition, but that posed its own problem: Phil had no idea how to ride a motorcycle. Never mind being able to multitask on one. Doing something like that would be a death sentence.
Fine. Plan B time. Where B stands for breaking things. Phil rushed over to a nearby parking curb. The rectangular length of concrete was cracked pretty bad, most likely from generations of drunk students accidentally running their cars over the curb. In this case, that was to Phil’s benefit. He grabbed a nice fist-sized piece of concrete that had broken off the end and then ran over to a nearby car with the letters ‘KC’ stenciled on the side.
The car itself was what could generously be called ‘a beater’. Scratched yellow paint, a sort of blocky, rectangular build, and it was even missing the hubcaps on all four of its wheels. Those were most likely stolen. Yet, one glance at the front grill, which appeared to have a small token that looked like a rather fancy cursive ‘L’ told Phil all he needed. It was a Russian-made Lada, which meant it would probably still run even if half the engine was stolen alongside the hubcaps.
The sound of Tragoedia’s motorcycle became quieter by the second. Phil tensed his arm and threw the concrete through the window. His other arm hooked through the shattered glass to pop the lock on the door. Then, it only took one more movement to sweep the glass off the seat and flip the sun visor down to reveal a key.
“Bingo.” Phil muttered. He slid into the seat and slammed the key into the ignition. The engine sputtered and coughed, but after a hair-raising second it roared to life. The passenger side door opened with a click and Lumina slid in beside him.
“Lucky find.” She acknowledged. “I don’t want to think about the odds of that old movie trick actually working.” Phil slammed the car into reverse to get out of the parking spot and then threw the vehicle into drive to head off in full pursuit of the distant principal.
“You’d be surprised.” Phil responded in a strained tone. It was clear he was already experiencing difficulties multitasking. One hand worked the wheel while his other hand reached under his jacket to produce a deck, which was quickly slotted into his duel disk. “This is a company car. No other reason why the shorthand for Kaiba Corp would be on the side. Kaiba owns the academies, after all. Do you wanna know a fun fact about company cars? In my experience, nine times out of ten they’ll keep a spare key above the sun visor. Pure fucking laziness, but I’ll take it. Plus, I doubt the admins care about this old beater. I’m guessing it’s Soviet era. Judging by how minimalistic it is. If it gets stolen, they can buy another one for ten bucks off eBay.”
Lumina sat in stunned silence at the unexpected wealth of information Phil had on the subject. The rumbling of the motorcycle drew nearer, and for just a fleeting second, the pair saw Tragoedia’s flashy dark grey jacket as the man sped out of the parking garage and into traffic. Phil pressed the gas pedal straight to the floor, with the engine screeching and buckling in response.
“Should be fine.” Phil muttered. “Pretty normal for a Lada. I think. Now let’s hope I’m right about everything else. I haven’t played this pet deck of mine in a bit.”
Already he could hear the screams. And once Phil cleared the doors of the parking garage? He could also see the devastation that Tragoedia’s motorcycle had left behind. Bloodstains on the grass. A few students lay unmoving on the sidewalk like a collection of discarded cloth dolls. The sound of police sirens in the distance. Phil shuddered at the sight, but the detached part of his mind filed away the possibility that Tragoedia's motorcycle had some sort of magic element to it. There was no way a normal motorcycle could keep running after colliding with that many people. They simply weren’t built as sturdy as cars. Even Phil’s Lada would have problems. Blood, sinew, bones, all of that was pretty good at gumming up mechanical parts. Not to mention that a human body can be pretty sturdy.
Phil shook his head slightly. The non-detached part of his brain was quite frankly a bit disturbed by how easily the other bit considered all that information.
A heart-lurching crash and bump later, and Phil had cleared another curb, busting through the ruined remains of the academy gates to a scene of further destruction. It could only be described as chaos. Tragoedia appeared to be purposely driving his motorcycle in the distance so that the maximum amount of collateral damage was achieved. In fact, that simple yet horrifying point was the very reason why Phil had been able to catch up to the monster clad in human flesh in the first place. Tragoedia had too much of a head start otherwise.
The needle on the speedometer inched higher and higher. Thirty miles per hour. Forty. Fifty. By the time the Lada reached sixty miles per hour, Phil was close enough for the life point totals to flash on his duel disk.
Phil: 4000 Tragoedia: 4000
Tragoedia shot a glance backward. His face, helmet, and formerly white coat were stained a dark red with blood that was not his own.
“AHAHAHA! It’s so kind of you to join me!” He screamed with an almost fanatical air about him. Tragoedia’s voice was faint, due to the wind whipping around both vehicles and the screaming civilians fleeing the scene, but Phil got the gist of it.
“Whatever. Save your villain speech.” Phil retorted. “I’ll take the first turn!” He swerved his stolen car around a knot of pedestrians and drew a card to start his turn. This was it. No going back. But this was also the best solution he could think of. None of his GOAT decks could handle a synchro deck. Paleofrogs could do it… but losing consciousness in the middle of a turbo duel would be a death sentence. Hopefully his old deck wouldn’t let him down. The only other option in his current arsenal.
Lumina let out a shrill scream as Phil narrowly avoided a utility pole. “Alright! Let’s start things out nice and slow!” Phil shouted. His somewhat easygoing words did little to undo the knot of worry and fear in his stomach. “I summon Laval Magma Cannoneer (1700/200) in attack position! Then I activate its effect to send one fire monster from my hand to deal 500 points of damage directly to your life points!"
Above Phil’s Lada, a stoney purple-colored warrior with dual cannons dripping with searing hot magma floated in midair to keep up with the car. As soon as Phil discarded a card, which was a second copy of Magma Cannoneer, the warrior readied one of its cannons with a grim look etched out on its rocky face. A second later, a stream of high-velocity magma shot right out of the cannon, gouging a line of melted slag out of the asphalt before it impacted squarely on Tragoedia’s leg to charbroil his flesh on contact.
Phil: 4000 Tragoedia: 3500
The detached part of his brain instantly made a mental note that this was indeed a shadow duel. Just as Phil guessed. It’s what they always seemed to be these days.
“Then I place one card face down and end my turn!”
The direct hit of magma managed to set off another bout of maniacal laughter in his opponent. "Good! Good! Good!" Tragoedia shouted back to Phil. A nudge of his handlebars turned another pedestrian who hadn't managed to flee in time into a cloud of red mist and severed body parts. "I draw!” One look at his new card made Tragoedia’s grin split across his face wider than humanly possible, so wide that his own skin split apart slightly to show hints of gore-soaked bone underneath. “I summon Shiranui Squire (1500/0)! Its effect activates, allowing me to special summon one Shiranui Spectralsword monster from my deck! I choose to bring forth Shiranui Spectralsword Shade (800/0) in defense position!”
Phil’s eyes widened. In one singular play, his other theory was confirmed. He’d pretty much known by now that Tragoedia had synchros, but now Phil knew he was playing fucking Shiranui. Phil didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. There were certainly stronger synchro decks out there, but Shiranui’s, if properly built, weren’t half bad. Tragoedia probably had all the cards, too, if the likeness of their strongest boss monster being stitched to the back of his biker jacket was anything to go off of. That was what tipped Phil off in the first place. The patch on the jacket.
Still, Tragoedia was far from being finished. He gestured toward the red-robed squire, who waited patiently for Tragoedia’s orders next to a floating golden katana with a faint, ghostly shape hovering behind it.
“Now! I merge the four and the three to synchro summon the level seven Shiranui Squiresaga (2100/0) in attack position!”
“Oh no you don’t!” Phil shouted abruptly. He was familiar enough with the archetype to know what would happen next. In other words, banish shenanigans. “Your next move is known to me! In response to your summon, I activate my trap card, Dustflame Blast! By banishing every Laval monster in my graveyard, I can destroy up to that many cards on the field! I only have one to banish, but one is enough. Dustflame Blast! Focus fire on his synchro monster before it can activate its effect!”
Tragoedia growled in annoyance as the half-faded ghost of Phil’s second Magma Cannoneer floated out of the graveyard. For a second, its molten core glowed, before it detonated in one swift movement to erase Shiranui Squiresaga from the face of the earth.
“Fine. I’ll then activate the spell card, Foolish Burial, which allows me to send one copy of Shiranui Spectralsword (800/0) from my deck to my graveyard. Then, I activate my continuous spell, Call of the Mummy! Once per turn, if I control no monsters, I can special summon one zombie monster from my hand. I choose to use its effect right now, to special summon Gozuki (1700/800) in attack position. Gozuki’s effect activates! I send Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode (2900/2000) from my deck to my graveyard. Now! Gozuki, charge into my enemy’s sole monster!”
Phil grimaced and rapidly spun the wheel to dodge the flaming remains and rotten flesh of both the monsters, who had destroyed each other since they had matching attack points. He braced himself. It was not over yet.
“Gozuki’s second effect activates!” Tragoedia declared with a mad laugh. “When he is sent back to eternal rest, I can banish one zombie from my graveyard, aside from Gozuki, to special summon one zombie from my hand. I choose to banish Shiranui Squire, to special summon Goblin Zombie (1100/1050)! Goblin Zombie! Strike directly!"
A massive rent was torn right through the hood of the Lada as the green and black goblin monster’s scimitar bit deeply into Phil’s life points. The strike continued through the metal like a hot knife cutting through butter until the strike finally hit the bone in Phil’s shoulder. Meanwhile, Shiranui Squire’s effect activated upon being banished by Gozuki, allowing Tragoedia to draw one card and discard one card.
Phil: 2900 Tragoedia: 3500
As soon as the strike hit home, Phil hid a grin as Goblin Zombie’s effect activated to send the top card of his deck to the graveyard. Obviously, Tragoedia wasn’t fully familiar with his opponent’s own deck, not knowing that the effect of his zombie monster was only helping Phil in the long run. And as for Phil? Laval’s had been his pet deck for a good amount of time during the old Duel Terminal years. The graveyard was just a second hand to him.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Kaiba tilted his head. Something was happening in the distance. He could just barely hear it. Screams?
He took a moment to focus his hearing on the distant noises, pausing mid-stride. Walking a step behind him, Mokuba and Roland paused as well.
It wasn’t an aircraft. Though the three men were just departing the NYC airport, there weren’t any other planes in the sky. Kaiba had made sure of that by blocking off the entire terminal for the week. If anyone but him wanted to travel by plane, they would have to go to another city and find a terminal that Kaiba didn’t own, which would be nearly impossible. Another precaution in case the rats infesting the American branch of his Duel Academy tried to jump ship before it fully sank.
Right as Mokuba opened his mouth to ask Kaiba what was wrong, the man fully realized what he was hearing. It was indeed screams. An incredible number of them, to be loud enough that they cut over the everyday sounds of New York City. Even over the usual road-rage-induced honking that filled the streets most days. To do so was not a feat that could happen out of thin air.
“Mokuba.” Kaiba curtly ordered. “Find the city officials. Figure out why all those fools are screaming in my city. Make them stop screaming in my city. It is annoying. Roland, go with him as backup.”
“You got it big bro.” Mokuba replied in an easygoing manner. He tugged slightly at his spotless white suit, allowing the purple vest underneath to poke out momentarily. Flamboyant, yet subdued. Similar to Kaiba, there was an official Kaiba Corp duel disk strapped to his wrist. “I’ll give you a call once I get some information on the sitch. What about you?”
“Heh. I’ll be squeezing MacKenzie for answers within the hour. After that, my next move will depend on what that sewer rat tries to tell me to weasel out of the situation.”
Mokuba nodded. It was just like Roland had mentioned to him on the way over. Seto's tone… was eerily reminiscent of the old Seto. Perhaps not quite as bloodthirsty, but he had a feeling that if MacKenzie couldn’t provide satisfactory answers, there may be another body floating in the Hudson River before night fell.
He mentally shrugged. Whatever. Not like it mattered. If the rumors were true and there actually was a bunch of crazy mages running around the city, then the place could certainly do with some Seto-style cleaning up.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“HOLY SHIT!” Phil followed his observation with another string of curse words so vile they would make a sailor blush in shame as he narrowly avoided yet another screaming pedestrian. To put it mildly, participating in a high-speed chase in the middle of New York City while dueling a madman actively trying to cause as much collateral damage as possible put a bit of strain on the brain. It was a whole process. Draw a card, swerve to dodge the taxi, mentally trawl through his options, try not to commit vehicular manslaughter, the list went on and on.
It hardly helped that Lumina was still sitting in the passenger seat, her clenched knuckles pure white with fear and her voice hoarse from calling out obstacles to Phil whenever it looked like he might not react in time.
“LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT!” Another panicked scream from Lumina jolted Phil from considering the mildly annoying gamestate. Phil obliged her scream with a panicked yell of his own and sharply yanked the wheel left, taking the corner Tragoedia had just disappeared around with the Lada teetering on two wheels from the abrupt turn. The mighty jolt of the other two wheels crashing back down onto the pavement was nearly enough to make Phil lose grip on his cards. Nearly.
Phil suppressed a grimace and stared back at Tragoedia’s board state. Goblin Zombie and one face down that Tragoedia had set up right before ending his turn. Plus that Spectralsword in the grave, which he knew could be used to synchro summon the turn after it was sent using materials in the graveyard. With that level eight Doomkaiser accompanying it? That meant Tragoedia could go for a tenner, or synchro using Gozuki instead for a six.
“-il! Phil!” Lumina’s shouting broke his concentration once more. Phil glanced around, but after noticing there weren’t any obstacles he was about to run into, he looked right at Lumina.
“Phil, this is ridiculous! I’ve seen my life flash before my eyes like twenty times by now. We’re going to die at this rate. Move over. I drive, you duel.”
He stared back at her with wide eyes. That was… actually a really good idea that he really wished he’d have thought of earlier. Without losing another second, Phil leaned the driver’s seat as far back as it could go. Lumina hooked a foot over the console to keep the accelerator pressed down to the floor, and then Phil slid into the back seat to let Lumina switch over. The car swerved dangerously for a few seconds, but by the time Phil slid into the passenger seat, Lumina had regained full control of the vehicle. He nodded in satisfaction. This might work.
“Alright!” Phil roared and stuck his head out of the window to get a better view of the monster floating above Tragoedia’s head. “First things first! I activate Monster Reborn, targeting your Shiranui Spectralsword to special summon onto my field in defense position!”
Stolen story; please report.
A singular katana glowing blue with ghostly flames sputtered to life on Phil’s field. Behind the weapon, a ghostly figure with flowing purple hair looked on in confusion as it appeared on the field opposite its master.
“Next up, Molten Conduction field!” Phil wrenched his head back inside the Lada as Tragoedia turned another clump of screaming pedestrians into a fountain of red blood. The reaction occurred just in time to shield his face. Phil blinked in surprise. There was an undercurrent of nausea boiling up in his stomach, but… wow. Not as much as there once would have been. Lumina hit the wipers with a curse to clear the windshield while Phil filed that realization away in the back of his mind and continued his play.
“This spell card lets me send two Laval monsters from my deck to my graveyard. I’ll send Laval Volcano Handmaiden and Laval Lancelord! Then, since Handmaiden was sent to the graveyard with Lancelord, I can send an extra Laval monster. I’ll pick Laval Forest Sprite.”
Lumina revved the accelerator at Phil's signal and the Lada picked up speed to the point that the entire frame of the vehicle began to shake. Car and motorcycle closed in on each other. Then, just as the bumper of the Lada was about ten feet away from Tragoedia's motorcycle, Phil made his next move.
“Pot of Greed!” Phil declared. “I draw two, and then I summon Laval Lakeside Lady (200/200) in defense position! Then, since I control a tuner monster, I special summon Boost Warrior (300/200) from my hand. Now! Let’s rev it up! I send the level three tuner monster Lakeside Lady and the level one Boost Warrior to sync for four! Old Entity Hastorr (2300/1000)!”
The Lada shook and Phil braced himself for the same current of pain to burst through his body as it would if he XYZ summoned, but to his surprise… he felt completely normal. That was a good sign. Speed was undoubtedly the key factor in synchro summoning safely.
Phil let out a deep breath he’d hardly noticed he was holding and simply looked up to see his monster form into existence. The synchro monster was simple, yet elegant. A white-masked humanoid draped in yellow robes. Only when Phil’s eyes continued to look up did he begin to see various oddities. A pulsing light-blue energy. Swirling tentacles that poked out of holes in the sky at random.
Phil’s eyes began to noticeably heat up and he hastily averted his gaze.
“Battle phase.” Phil commanded. “Hastorr, destroy Goblin Zombie!”
There was no grand attack. No brilliant lights, no pulses of destruction. One moment Goblin Zombie was there, and the next moment there was nothing but thin air where the creature had once raced alongside its master in the air. Moreover, something… pulsed through the air. A mostly invisible wave of force left over from Hastorr’s strange attack. It roiled through the air until it finally struck Tragoedia clean in the side. The force alone was enough to send the man careening through the side of a nearby office building, which caused a fresh bout of panicked screaming to rush through the air.
Phil: 2900 Tragoedia: 2300
Lumina wisely decided to not follow Tragoedia into the building. Instead, she circled around it just in time to see the motorcycle come flying out of the second-story window in a cloud of shattered glass and gore to crash onto the road once more. Without missing a beat, the effect of Goblin Zombie was activated to add Shiranui Solitaire from the deck to Tragoedia’s hand. Phil growled in irritation. An expected move, but still a problem.
Tragoedia’s turn began a bit quieter than the last few, save for the sounds of approaching police sirens.
“I draw.” Tragoedia let loose a blood-soaked grin and brushed some sort of organ off his shoulder. Phil couldn’t quite tell the specifics. Nor did he want to.
“What a fool. You walked right into my trap! I normal summon Shiranui Solitaire (500/0) and use his effect. By tributing Solitaire, I can special summon a zombie tuner monster with zero defense points from my deck. That’ll be Uni-Zombie (1300/0), in attack position.
Phil scowled as he watched the solemn long-haired priest wave his staff to make way for two zombies so weak that they were leaning on each other for support. The attack points hardly mattered in this situation. What mattered was that Tragoedia had just summoned one of the best zombie tuner monsters in the game.
Tragoedia wasted no time activating both of the monster’s effects, raising its level by two stars in return for sending Mezuki from his deck to his graveyard and Plaguespreader Zombie from his hand to his graveyard. Mezuki’s effect was next to activate, returning Shiranui Solitaire to Tragoedia’s field in attack position, followed swiftly by Plaguespreader Zombie using its own effect to summon itself by placing a card in its owner's hand back on top of the deck. Tragoedia gunned the engine of his motorcycle, increasing his speed by any means necessary.
“Now! Four melds with two! I send Shiranui Solitaire and Plaguespreader Zombie to the graveyard to synchro summon Shiranui Samuraisaga (2500/0) in attack position! Uni-Zombie, destroy the traitorous Spectralsword on that runt’s field! Samuraisaga, destroy that weakling synchro monster!”
Appearing directly opposite Phil's own synchro monster, Tragoedia's red and black-robed samurai cut a gallant figure along the New York City skyline. One single, elegant slash was enough to tear through the defending Hastorr, while the two zombies bit Shiranui Spectralsword cleanly in half.
“And that activates my monster’s effect.” Phil grinned slyly. Another mark against Tragoedia to show his lack of knowledge about generic synchro monsters. “Since Hastorr was sent to the graveyard from a monster zone, it’ll equip itself to your Samuraisaga, preventing it from attacking and activating its effects from now on.”
Tragoedia grimly ended his turn and Phil took the draw while Lumina swerved around a fountain. The police sirens were getting closer, but there was some good news, at least. Now that the dueling pair was on Broadway Street, there was a suspicious lack of pedestrians. That meant only one thing – the authorities were clearing them out in advance. No way a street as popular as Broadway would be as empty as a graveyard otherwise.
“One medium-sized synchro and a small monster. Nowhere near enough!” Phil shouted. “I normal summon Flamvell Firedog (1900/200) in attack position and have it take a swing at your Uni-Zombie! Get that shit off my field!”
Phil: 2900 Tragoedia: 1700
A set of stairs near Tragoedia’s motorcycle burst into an explosion of molten fire as a slavering Doberman made completely of volcanic rock threw itself out of the ground to tear out the throats of the two zombies. The heat from the bite alone was enough to melt the body of Uni-Zombie, which bubbled and frothed as Flamvell Firedog’s effect activated.
“Now that Firedog’s destroyed a monster, I can grab any fire monster with 200 or less defense from my deck and special summon it. I’ll bring out Laval Forest Sprite (300/200) in defense position, and then go straight to my second main phase. Sending the level two Laval Forest Sprite with the level four Flamvell Firedog to synchro summon the level six Lavalval Dragun (2500/1200)! Dragun, activate your effect! I add Laval Volcano Handmaiden from my deck to my hand, and then I send that exact same card from the hand to my graveyard. Of course, Handmaiden will let me send an additional Laval monster from my deck to my graveyard, which will be my third Laval Magma Cannoneer. Turn end!”
Tragoedia swerved around another corner and pressed the gas down hard. Above his head, the spectral samurai synchro monster still raced alongside its master, but its movements were visibly sluggish and confused. Its arms and legs were restrained by a roiling mass of dark blue tentacles and a few scraps of a battered yellow robe.
Then, all of a sudden, a cop car joined the pursuit, blazing around the side of a building with lights flashing and a policeman leaning out a window with his gun drawn.
Lumina cursed and spun the wheel to avoid the new obstacle, but Tragoedia reacted faster. A wave of his hand was all it took for the shadow of a nearby building to lean over and swallow the police car whole. It was over before the cops could even scream in fear.
“AHAHAHA! Worthless interlopers!” Tragoedia crowed in delight at the chance to cause even more carnage. He nudged his handlebars to the right and blitzed through the side of an apartment block. The motorcycle was barely out of view for a single moment before Tragoedia blasted through the other side of the brick wall. “I! AM INVINCIBLE! Allow me to strike you just as hard! I activate the effect of Shiranui Spectralsword in my graveyard, banishing it and Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode to synchro summon the warlord of the underworld, blazing forth on a steed of pure heat! Shiranui Sunsaga (3500/0), make your conqueror’s aura known to the world!”
Hooves struck out a rapid-fire rhythm against the air, superheating it to the point that each step the flaming horse took sounded like a miniature explosion. Simply being in the vicinity caused the buildings near Tragoedia to begin melting, and Lumina was forced to slow the Lada down a bit to prevent its tires from vaporizing. The monster itself looked like a much larger version of the massive patch stitched to the back of Tragoedia’s biker jacket. A white-haired samurai on a flaming horse, wearing a full set of bamboo armor to allow for battle to happen at a moment’s notice.
But… Phil instantly noticed something was amiss. He knew Sunsaga had a powerful destruction effect. Yet, as Phil thought about it a bit more, he realized Tragoedia’s mistake. He’d summoned Sunsaga too early! The destruction effect required at least one zombie synchro monster to be banished or in the graveyard, and Phil hadn’t gotten around to destroying the only other one Tragoedia had summoned so far.
Whether it was haste or inexperience, Phil would take the mistake as a slight amount of advantage gained anyway. Tragoedia entered the battle phase with another wicked laugh. Sunsaga struck Lavalval Dragun cleanly through the wings, causing the molten pterodactyl to crash into the earth with a sickening thud. Then, one face down card was placed and his turn ended.
Phil: 1900 Tragoedia: 1700
The car shuddered and clanked. Lumina banged her fist on the steering wheel, but the backlash from Sunsaga’s mighty attack had already done a nearly unrepairable amount of damage to the old Soviet-era car. It still ran, of course, but barely. The speedometer strained to push past sixty-five miles per hour, meaning that Tragoedia was slowly yet surely pulling away from them.
Phil drew a card. Immediately upon seeing it, his eyes sharpened. “Lumina! Give it all you’ve got!”
“SCREW YOU PHIL! YOU CAN SEE THE DAMNED SPEEDOMETER! THIS CAR DOESN’T GO ANY FASTER AND YOU KNOW IT!”
“Just put the pedal to the metal!” Phil shouted back with considerably less volume in response to Lumina’s stressed screaming. She mimed a choking motion with one hand out of frustration, but eventually the car lurched up to seventy miles per hour.
“Hopefully highway speeds’ll be enough.” Phil muttered grimly and put his plan into action. “First off! I activate another Pot of Greed to draw two cards! Then, I bring forth the card that will be your demise, Tragoedia! I activate the absolutely fucking busted spell card Rekindling, which allows me to special summon as many fire monsters with 200 defense points as possible from my graveyard! I special summon Laval Volcano Handmaiden (100/200)! Boost Warrior (300/200)! Laval Volcano Handmaiden (100/200)! Flamvell Firedog (1900/200)! And finally, Laval Forest Sprite (200/200)!”
All of a sudden, Phil’s side of the field was swarmed by flame-coated monsters, to the point that his brow began to sweat from the heat. Lumina was hit just as hard, and she desperately pulled out a handkerchief to wipe away the liquid before it dripped into her eyes. Phil, however, powered through it all. He threw his discomfort with the heat, his nausea from the carnage, and his sheer fucking hatred of Tragoedia into his next series of rapid-fire plays.
“SPEED! POWER!” Phil screamed out so loudly that some of the skin in his throat broke, causing flecks of blood to fly out of his mouth. “CONSECUTIVE SYNCHRO SUMMMONING!”
The slavering molten Doberman threw a delighted handmaiden, covered in a cool blue dress of stone that only served to better highlight her literally flaming locks of hair, right onto its back to synchro summon the level five T.G. Hyper Librarian (2400/1800).
The second giggling handmaiden took the wide-eyed, purple-armored Boost Warrior’s hands in a dance, merging together to synchro summon the level two Formula Synchron (200/1500). Without missing a beat, Phil activated Formula Synchron’s and T.G. Hyper Librarian’s effects to draw one card each, for a total of two cards. The former’s effect being triggered due to its own summon and the latter’s effect being triggered by a synchro summoning happening on the field. Phil nodded in satisfaction. The draw was most excellent. Most excellent indeed.
“Looks like I won’t have to settle for anything but the best.” Phil announced. “I normal summon the level three Laval Miller (300/400), and use it with Laval Forest Sprite to synchro summon Laval Dual Slasher (2400/200)! Then for this next bit? Sorry to steal this from you, Yusei my dude.”
Phil paused for a second after drawing according to T.G. Hyper Librarian’s effect. Lumina brought the Lada’s speed even further beyond seventy, all the way to eight-five miles per hour.
“Sending! Level two synchro tuner Formula Synchron!”
The tiny, multi-colored formula race car performed a stylish backflip over a parked car and disappeared in a bright flash of light.
"Level five T.G. Hyper Librarian!"
A white and black-robed man with sunglasses took one last look at the unfinished work on his tablet before sighing, shaking his head, and disappearing in a bright flash of light.
“Level five Laval Dual Slasher!”
A red and black stone warrior shook its bladed wrists, smoothed out its rocky mohawk with a few deft hand movements, and then disappeared in a bright flash of light.
Phil steadied himself and took a deep breath. This next part? He wanted to get absolutely right. Keyword: wanted. For the life of himself, he couldn't remember the chant. Phil grimaced. Fine. Be that way, memory. Steal the cool moment away.
“I’ll fucking wing it! Bringing forth the badass dragon of light and power, outpacing the speed of the stars themselves to become a rock hurtling through the vacuum of space! Tragoedia! Eat shit and die! I synchro summon Shooting Quasar Dragon (4000/4000)!”
Where Shiranui Sunsaga had melted nearby buildings with its mere presence, the white and black dragon that tore through the very sky itself with an earth-shattering roar caused the nearby buildings to bend nearly in half, almost like the structures were kneeling before an absolute existence. Rings of air pulsed visibly in the sky as the dragon broke the sound barrier over. And over. And over again. Each boom overhead was the only indication that the indomitable synchro monster was still around. The booms occurred faster and faster, collecting into a keening dirge that wailed through the skies of New York City. In an instant, almost every pane of glass in the entire city was broken simultaneously.
“Shooting Quasar Dragon!” Phil thundered the order from the passenger seat of the shuddering Lada. “Demonstrate your multi-attack effect! First attack! Break through Shiranui Samuraisaga! Second attack! Charge into Shiranui Sunsaga! End this through battle damage here! And! Now!”
Another sonic boom, one far louder than all the previous ones, shook the road and the surrounding buildings as the blurred form of Shooting Quasar Dragon flew straight toward Shiranui Samuraisaga.
“Not a chance!” Tragoedia screamed. “You’ve walked right into my trap card! Shiranui Style Swallow’s Slash, activate! By sacrificing Shiranui Samuraisaga, I can destroy precisely two cards on the field and banish a Shiranui monster from my deck. Samuraisaga, point your final, greatest sword strikes towards Shooting Quasar Dragon and my own Call of the Mummy!”
Phil let loose a wild whoop in response to Tragoedia’s ploy of desperation. “Fuck off idiot! I’ll let you pay the cost by sacking your monster, but Quasar’s effect activates in response to negate and destroy your trap card!”
“As expected. Do you think this is the first time I have seen that creature? It was the very same card that exhausted the last amounts of energy from that other fool!” Tragoedia countered. “I activate my second trap card, the continuous trap Shiranui Style Samsara! It will banish my face up Shiranui Sunsaga to prevent all damage I would take this turn!”
In the span of one second, Shiranui Samuraisaga’s ghostly katana was shattered into a million pieces by a blast of white energy from Shooting Quasar Dragon, while Shiranui Sunsaga immolated its own body to form a crackling wall of shimmering purple flames to block both of Shooting Quasar Dragon’s attacks. Though Tragoedia’s board was left nearly wide open, the sacrifice was enough to save him for the moment.
Phil ended his turn with an annoyed huff.
"Now, at the start of my turn, I activate the second effect of Shiranui Style Samsara. By returning two of my banished zombie monsters with zero defense points back to my deck, I can draw one card."
Phil shook his head resolutely. “Not a chance. Shooting Quasar Dragon, activate your negation effect once more! Don’t let that fucker get a lick of card advantage!”
Just like before, another blast of white energy was spat out of Shooting Quasar Dragon’s mouth to obliterate the continuous trap card, preventing the effect from resolving.
“What a pity.” Tragoedia rumbled. “One last move, then. I normal summon Shiranui Spiritmaster (1500/0). Its effect activates, allowing me to special summon one Shiranui monster from my hand or graveyard. Come to me, Shiranui Spectralsword Shade! Alongside that, I shall also activate D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation, which allows me to special summon my banished Shiranui Squire by discarding one card from my hand. Hardly a terrible cost at this point. Sending Shiranui Spectralsword Shade with Shiranui Squire to synchro summon the level seven Shiranui Squiresaga (2100/0)”
Tragoedia glanced back at Phil with a smile. “Heh heh. This time you do not possess a trap to destroy my monster. I activate its effect, banishing the fallen fire zombie-type Shiranui Squire to raise the attack points of all my zombie monsters by 300 points. Squire’s effect activates to allow me to draw and discard a card, that being the Mezuki in my hand! Mezuki, follow the bidding of your master! Activate your effect to banish yourself to summon Shiranui Spectralsword Shade once more!”
Shiranui Squiresaga (2100/0 -> 2400/0).
Phil narrowed his eyes. It was clear as day that Tragoedia was attempting to thread the needle, making the most out of his banish and graveyard effects to try and bring something out that could destroy his Quasar and the Shooting Star Dragon that would get summoned upon Quasar's death. The question was, what would it be?
The effect of Shiranui Spectralsword Shade was activated this time, tributing itself to special summon the banished Shiranui Spectralsword and one of the Mezukis. The Spectralsword and the Mezuki were sent to the graveyard to synchro summon the level six Immortal Dragon (500/2400), which immediately proceeded to activate its effect to reduce its level down to two by sending the level four Shiranui Samurai from Tragoedia’s deck to the graveyard. The Immortal Dragon, which was also a tuner monster, was then sent with Shiranui Spiritmaster to synchro summon another level six Shiranui Samuraisaga. Finally, the Mezuki that was returned to Tragoedia’s field by Spectralsword Shade and sent back to the graveyard through synchro summoning activated its effect to bring forth the Shiranui Spectralsword one final time. The level six Samuraisaga was tuned with the level two Spectralsword to bring out Tragoedia’s final desperate ploy – the level eight Shiranui Shogunsaga (3000/0).
“Now that my Shogunsaga has been special summoned, I can activate its effect to banish Shiranui Spiritmaster from the graveyard in return for Shogunsaga gaining attack points equal to Spiritmaster’s attack until the end of the turn. That will activate Spiritmaster’s effect to destroy your Shooting Quasar Dragon!”
Shiranui Shogunsaga (3000/0 -> 4500/0)
“But that triggers an effect of my own.” Phil countered. At this point in time, Lumina was holding the steering wheel in a death grip out of desperation to keep the failing vehicle going. “Since Shooting Quasar Dragon left the field, I can special summon one Shooting Star Dragon (3300/2500) from my extra deck for free.”
“Utterly predictable!” Tragoedia let out a scream of exaltation. “You have nothing to stop me now! Shogunsaga, destroy that Shooting Star Dragon!”
"Unless my Shooting Star Dragon activates its effect, which it does! Since your monster declared an attack, I can banish Shooting Star Dragon to negate the attack, with my monster coming back to the field at the end of this turn."
“And that still falls under my prediction. Now that this fool’s field is wide open, Shiranui Squiresaga! Attack him directly! Spill his innards across the streets as a sign to those who would cross me in the future!”
Phil’s eyes widened, and for a moment he became so in tune with the battle that he didn’t even notice the maddened grin that began to spread across his own face.
“YOU FOOL!” He screamed. “Always have a negate up when attacking directly into a synchro deck! I activate a monster effect in my hand! I discard Swift Scarecrow to negate your direct attack and end the battle phase!”
A split second before the burning blade of the pink and red-robed Squiresaga would have impacted Phil directly in the chest, a screaming and hollering scarecrow with a literal rocket engine attached to its ass blasted out of nowhere to slap Shiranui Squiresaga with a speeding ticket, forcing the monster to dispute the damages in court before it could finish the strike. Tragoedia’s bike faltered for the first time since the duel began and he ended his turn. Right as the turn ended, the majestic white Shooting Star Dragon exploded back to life on Phil’s side of the field.
Phil began his turn and instantly activated Shooting Star Dragon's effect to excavate the top five cards of his deck to gain additional attacks per each tuner among the five cards. Three tuner monsters in total were revealed, Laval Lakeside Lady, Laval Forest Sprite, and Effect Veiler.
Shooting Star Dragon’s first attack lit up the sky with a brilliant white light, tearing right through the head of Shiranui Shogunsaga to explode it like a rotting watermelon now that its attack had gone back to its original value.
The second attack was just as fast, occurring before Tragoedia’s life point counter could even finish subtracting the battle damage. Shiranui Squiresaga brought its blade up to defend itself, but it was like the monster was moving in slow motion through a pool of frozen molasses. The effort was just not enough.
Shooting Star Dragon’s flight continued, somehow picking up speed after the second impact to tear through Tragoedia’s body in one singular movement almost too fast for the eye to see in an utterly brutal direct attack. The impact caused what was left of Tragoedia’s body to convulse as the pure white blur slammed into some sort of weird shadowy substance that had begun to leak out of the man’s ruined jaw. The substance dispersed with a wail under the harsh summer sunlight, unable to withstand the heat without a host body.
Tragoedia’s motorcycle spun out onto the asphalt with a fountain of sparks spitting out from the vehicle from the friction, and Lumina finally brought the sputtering Lada to a halt – just in time for its engine to fail completely.
Phil: 1900 Tragoedia: 0
All of a sudden, the surroundings were silent apart from the quiet ‘tic tic’ of the cooling engine in the Lada. The back wheel of Tragoedia’s motorcycle spun loosely in the air, still imbued with a little bit of the momentum it had once commanded. Phil lurched out of the car while Lumina attempted to convince the engine to turn back on.
There was no way he was making a mistake at this point in the game.
A few unsteady steps took Phil right up to Tragoedia’s body. A gigantic hole was torn through his chest. It looked like someone had attempted to turn the man into a human donut, but gave up around the end once various organs started flopping out of the shattered ribcage.
Phil wrinkled his nose but ultimately leaned forward and checked the man's vitals. The smell was uncomfortable. But uncomfortable hardly meant unbearable. Not like how it had been at the start of the school year.
His hands brushed over Tragoedia’s bloody neck. No pulse. His heart was obviously no longer on this plane of existence, so no need to check that. Tragoedia’s eyes looked blankly up into the sky. Not a sliver of movement there.
Phil stood, satisfied that his opponent was dead. It felt… weird. When he really thought about it. All that trouble he got to, all that waiting Phil had to do, and it was over in less than a day.
Whatever.
A few fingers on his free hand brushed against the straps of his duel disk to check that they were still sturdy. Unless the others were hiding some sort of great strength, there was still work left to do back at the academy. After all, even if the king falls his men may still run amok.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Mokuba watched it all through a pair of binoculars borrowed from Roland, who was squatting nearby to observe through the scope of a sleek, black sniper rifle.
“Good work predicting their course.” Mokuba offhandedly complimented the black-suited man. “Made evacuating the bystanders a breeze. I suppose it also helped those idiots in the top brass are too scared of Kaiba Corp to argue. Nothing like fear to lubricate the gears of bureaucracy.”
Roland wore a slight frown. It was the only pinprick of emotion that leaked from his stoic face. “Many thanks, sir.”
Mokuba gently set the pair of binoculars down on the nearby ledge and turned to Roland. Compared to the streets below, the roof the two were on was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
“Oh, don’t give me that. We didn’t have any bloody advance notice. Not even big bro could reduce collateral damage to zero in a situation like this without advance notice.”
“As you say, sir.”
Mokuba laughed bitterly and shook his head. “Come on, Roland. I know what you aren’t saying. Trust me, if you’d tried to take the shot, there would have been some idiotic shadow magic bullcrap that would have blocked the bullet, and then Seto would be out a right-hand man. Then that bloodthirsty maniac probably would have kidnapped me for the fun of it, and then big bro would get miffed and burn down the city looking for me. Just go with the flow and remember that we’ve been through this whole song and dance… how many times now?”
“The official trackers have lost count, sir. I would hazard a guess that it’s in the double digits.”
“Fair enough.” Mokuba started toward the stairs, leaving Roland to stride over to the ledge and grab the binoculars. “Alright. Roland, give it a full minute and then give the authorities the green light to move in. If those two in the Lada can’t get out before that point, then it’s their fate to be thrown in the slammer. Make sure the city firefighters are given full Kaiba Corp support. Pull out all the stops. I want this done as cleanly and quickly as possible.” Roland pressed his fist to his chest and gave a slight bow of acknowledgment.
Mokuba paused right outside of the door leading to the stairs.
There it was. Despite the grim circumstances, Mokuba smiled. Three distant roars seemed to answer him. Terrifying roars to those judged as enemies, but there was nothing more reassuring to have by your side when you were considered the opposite.
“Looks like big bro’s having a grand old time.” Mokuba remarked. He stayed still for a few moments longer to calmly watch three Blue-Eyes White Dragons circle in the sky over the American Duel Academy’s campus like a flock of hunting birds that had smelled blood.