“I’ll take the first turn.” The possessed boy announced, looking downright ghoulish from the multitude of injuries he'd sustained from the veritable gauntlet of duels he'd taken part in up to this point. His voice was confident and unwavering.
Bastion could see Rose and Chazz flinch, but he settled their worries with a firm nod. Allowing Phil to go first would undoubtedly give their opponent the advantage he sought, but Bastion had already accounted for that very same possibility! Arguing about the point would go nowhere. As was generally an accepted practice it would be up to a coin toss as soon as anyone protested an opponent's decision to go first or second. That was fine in a normal game, but Ms. Lumina had made it quite clear that there was some amount of luck manipulation going on behind the scenes. With that taken into consideration, the next best bet was to simply plan for Phil to go first and develop a strategy around it.
Chazz stepped forward after Phil’s declaration.
“I shall take the turn after.”
“Then this princess will move.” Princess Rose followed suit.
“The rotation will end with me.” Bastion brought things to their natural conclusion. This was the best formation he could think of with the time constraints and limited resources available. Frankly even now he still wondered if it would be enough. If their preparation, their decks, their strategies would be enough to deal with a man who was not only the strongest of Ra Yellow, but was confident enough in his abilities that he was challenging three duelists at once. Three duelists who Phil knew the skill levels of, and undoubtedly knew that Bastion would have prepared for the duel ahead of time. They would have three turns to Phil’s one.
Not only that, but even Bastion could easily tell that Phil, at this point, could barely stand. His friend’s uniform wasn’t its usual mustard yellow anymore. It was soaked scarlet red, like Phil had decided at the last minute to defect to the Slifer Red dorm.
It was bad.
“It’s worse than when he first XYZ summoned.” Lumina muttered from somewhere behind him. Her voice was thick with concern. “Link summoning.” She elaborated before Bastion could ask her about the details. That was good. She’d explained that she could limit who could see her, and Phil didn’t need to see Lumina right now. He didn’t need to know the full extent of the information Bastion had at his fingertips.
“Phil link summoned three times in his duel against Zane and Atticus. He’s XYZ summoned… I don’t even know how often by now. His training helped with that, but even training can only do so much. At the end of the day, neither of those summons are natural. The shadows do not like it.”
So, that meant Phil was definitely weakened and could continue declining in strength as the duel progressed. Equal parts good and bad.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Phil drank in the fear like he was the thirstiest man in the world who was given the perfect drink to slake his thirst. Would this finally prove a challenge? Or would they fall like the rest, like a bundle of wheat before the scythe? It would be quick. He’d make sure of that. Once these three fell, then the rest of the island would follow. The professors still fought in the background, with Banner putting up a pitifully desperate defense against Hibiki and Crowler.
Hm. Perhaps he should have been a bit easier on them. Those two were clearly struggling to stay conscious in the shadow duel, a fact that Banner was blatantly taking advantage of. It was the only reason the game was still going on.
On the other hand, the drawn-out duel also seemed to be hurting Banner as well. The cat clearly cared for his former comrades.
How adorable.
“I draw!” Phil redirected his wandering thoughts back to the duel. Taking the first turn against three opponents was a bit of a gamble, but that would make things all that more interesting. Being able to go first was to his advantage, but going first against three opponents meant he would have to weather through three turns before he could take one of his own. Three turns of attacks, three turns of spells, traps, and whatever other pitiful plays they could think of. On the other hand, he would have six cards to work with and his traps would be live immediately. Moreover, only Bastion would get to attack in the first round, putting Chazz and Rose at an inherent disadvantage since their decks were more aggressive.
Of course, that meant Bastion had to have a plan. Otherwise, the turn order would be completely different.
"First off, Graceful Charity!” Phil said with a vicious grin. “Drawing three, discarding Electromagnetic Turtle and Forbidden Chalice! Then I’ll normal summon Swap Frog (1000/500), using its effect to send Ronintoadin from my deck to my graveyard. Swap’s second effect will activate to return it to my hand. To end things off, I place five cards face down and end my turn!”
This was it. Would they be able to clear his five traps? How many resources would be left at his fingertips by the time the turn order came back around?
Phil grinned, wide and gleeful. His excitement from the disadvantageous situation was almost enough to completely drown out the relentless ranting and raving of the Light in his head, to nearly shut off the different views of the different duels happening at the exact same time. Of valiant heroes facing off against familiar aliens. Of proud dragons roaring in defiance of silver-armored monsters singing their droning chants of the Light’s glory as they advanced across the expanse of a beautiful nebula toward a space station, the construct seeming downright minuscule in comparison.
Almost as if they sensed his stray thoughts considering them, the views crowded together, jostling around for his attention.
A single line of blood slipped out of Phil’s nose to drip against the ground.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“He’s setting up to summon Toadally Awesome next turn! Don’t let him do it! That card is how he swarms out frogs! It lets him negate and steal your cards!”
Chazz wore a thick sneer on his face as the woman’s voice rang out around the classroom in warning. She was standing near them, far enough away so that she wouldn’t get caught in the aftershocks of any attacks, but close enough that she could call out Phil’s moves. Funny. They all knew Phil well by now, but Lumina was apparently the only one who knew him well enough to even know about the strange new deck the dweeb was sporting.
Frankly, he didn’t blame Phil all that much. Any good duelist always needed an ace up their sleeve. It just so happened that Phil’s ace was powerful enough that he only pulled it out when the chips were really down.
The fact still rankled Chazz that Phil had never considered them worthy enough opponents to use that… Paleofrog deck against them until now.
“I draw!” The proud Obelisk Blue snarled. So what if it was his friend standing against them? That didn’t mean jack! It would be a cold day in hell before The Chazz would go easy on anyone!
He slapped a card onto his duel disk without pausing. “Reasoning!” Chazz yelled, “Pick a level!”
“Four.” Phil called out.
Chazz sent ten cards to his graveyard before he reached a monster that could be normal summoned or set, a requirement set by the spell card Reasoning.
“Five.” Chazz sneered. “Fight by my side, Darkflare Dragon (2400/1200)! Of course, I have better uses for this one other than being a simple threat. Because my next move is to activate the spell card A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon! By returning my level five Darkflare Dragon to my hand, I can destroy all spells and traps on the field!”
Phil laughed, the sudden action causing flecks of blood to fly from his lips.
“Only if your monster is returned to your hand. Funny story, the ‘returning’ part isn’t cost. Here’s my Paleozoic Dinomischus! I target your Darkflare Dragon to banish, and if it does end up being banished, I have to discard a card.”
Just like that, Chazz’s obsidian-colored dragon faded away into the darkness, with one last weak sputter of the orange gem in its chest being the only sign that it used to exist. Wingbeat fizzled into nothing. Phil was right, that spell card was unable to carry out its effect if the chosen dragon monster was not successfully returned to the hand.
Still, Chazz grinned. One trap down and the Swap Frog was no longer in Phil’s hand. Even though he’d been forced to use three cards to make it happen, it didn’t matter.
“I summon Shining Angel (1400/800) to my field in defense position. Turn end!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Rose glanced at the pure white angel on Chazz’s field, noting with approval that even if her knight took back the offensive, Shining Angel’s effect would allow them to stall since all three of their fields would need to be cleared before a direct attack was declared.
Her eyes flitted back to rest on her knight. The shape he was in… well, he was battle-worn. That was for certain. Her hands ached to take her handkerchief out of her pocket to tie around his wounds, but a princess could hardly give her favor to an enemy, even if that enemy was still her sworn knight. He was just blinded by foul magic. That was all. Underneath that hatred and cruelty that filled Sir Phil’s vision, there was still the same kind man Rose once knew. All they had to do was win the battle to snap him out of it.
However, what concerned her more than Sir Phil's physical shape, was how the expression on his face kept changing. One moment it would be filled with a sick sense of inhuman savagery, then the next it was like a whiteboard in a classroom being cleared by an eraser, leaving nothing but cold emptiness. Then there would be a wince, and his face transformed once more. Her knight was distracted.
Princess Rose’s eyes flashed, and she revealed a card in her hand once she finished drawing.
“Here’s a Swap Frog (1000/500) of my own, summoned by discarding T.A.D.P.O.L.E!”
A familiar prince, taking the form of a horned frog of red and yellow skin, hopped onto the field with a croak of greeting, instantly igniting its own effect to send one Treeborn Frog from her deck to her graveyard.
“But that isn’t all.” Rose firmly declared. Another card in her hand was turned over to reveal a spell card. “The Flute of Hamelin sounds! I will select one monster in my graveyard that was sent there this turn. Each one of us must send all cards with the same name as the selected monster from their hands and decks to the graveyard!”
The selected monster was, of course, T.A.D.P.O.L.E.
Two were sent from her deck. As predicted, no one else in the duel played the card, so it solely benefited Rose.
“My next prince will heed this princess’s call!” Rose mustered her dignity and declared the move. “By sacrificing my valiant Swap Frog, I can summon the level five Des Frog (1900/0). Then, when this prince is summoned, I can special summon a number of Des Frogs from my deck equal to the number of T.A.D.P.O.L.E.’s in my graveyard!”
Two more green frogs, their skin shimmering with a cool blue aura, hopped onto the field before Phil’s face took on an ice-cold look. His arm moved in a smooth arc to reveal another trap card.
“Crackdown!” Phil coldly announced. Rose shivered. That look, so alien on her friend’s face, felt like it was freezing her body down to her very core. Where was that silly, easy-going grin that used to always be plastered on her knight’s face, so reassuring with its warm light? Back then, the expression had felt like a pleasant sun warming her shoulders.
“While this continuous trap card remains on the field, I can take control of one of your Des Frogs.” Phil explained in that terrible monotone voice.
Rose’s eyes slipped downward to look at another spell card in her hand. Losing a Des Frog… it meant the Des Croaking in her hand was no longer something she could use. Not for this turn, at least.
“Very well.” Rose coolly replied. “I place one card face down and end my turn.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bastion’s eyes flicked across the field as he drank in every single detail, no matter how minute it was. Phil was down two trap cards and had no cards in his hand. There were still three unknown face down cards, and he had a monster with 1900 attack stolen from Rose. Meaning no offense to either of his comrades, but this turn was the most important of the duel.
Bastion scanned his hand. He had the keys at his fingertips, but the problem was that any of those three set cards could potentially stop his primary plan in its tracks. Then in that case he should…
Yes. Activate his secondary plan in an attempt to bait out any disruptions, and then leap into his primary plan if those disruptions were revealed.
“I draw!” Bastion announced and instantly leaped into his line of play. “Terraforming, grab the perfect field spell from my deck! Zombie World!”
Phil’s eyes flickered as Bastion added the field spell to his hand. A flicker that Bastion noticed. So, Phil knew of the card. Even better.
“Field spell, activate. Zombie World!”
But Phil said nothing.
Bastion’s eyes narrowed. This…
“He’s not going for Toadally Awesome?” Lumina muttered. “Or has he decided it’s not worth the trouble to contest…”
Chazz gave Lumina a side-eye, silently prodding for the tanned woman to elaborate. Bastion, meanwhile, stayed silent. He already knew. The detail had been small, nothing more than a footnote in Lumina’s strategy briefing, but Bastion made sure to memorize every word she said.
Lumina gestured at Bastion’s field spell. “Toadally Awesome requires Aqua monsters to summon, like I told you before. Zombie World changes every monster on the field and in the graveyard to zombies. However, I don’t think any of his Paleozoic XYZ monsters require a specific type to summon, only a specific level. He must be going for one of them.”
Bastion took in the information without saying a word. That woman, the same one who was staring at Phil with eyes flush with concern, was undoubtedly their greatest weapon against the Ra Yellow. She was determined to save Phil and was perhaps the only other person who knew the ins and outs of the boy’s deck.
Bastion’s eyes wandered around the eerie field that Zombie World had summoned forth while he thought. The rotting trees, the skulls that now littered the ground, even the droning of the carrion-feeding insects felt strangely real. A fact that he was almost used to at this point, with how many shadow duels he’d been a part of by now.
So. Toadally Awesome wasn’t in the works. Interesting, but the fact was that Zombie World still prevented Phil from abruptly switching gears anyway, essentially forcing Phil to either get rid of the field spell or stick with summoning the monsters that don’t require specific types.
“Very well.” Bastion concluded. “If you want to play that way, it’s fine by me. I activate my ritual spell, Litmus Doom Ritual! Do you have a response?”
Phil shrugged, the cruel, yet playful mask sliding over his face once more.
“Naw.”
Bastion hid a smile. The effects of his ritual monster were obviously unknown to Phil. Good.
“I sacrifice the level eight Litmus Doom Swordsman in my hand to ritual summon my other Litmus Doom Swordsman (0/0)!”
As the duel-wielding swordsman elegantly stepped onto the field, its dark red cloak flapping in the wind, Bastion began to explain its effects.
“While my monster is on the field and there is a trap card on the field, it gains 3000 attack and defense points. Your Crackdown is a trap, so there you have it. Then, since I have a Litmus Doom Swordsman in my graveyard, I can activate the second effect of Litmus Doom Ritual! By shuffling the ritual spell and my spare swordsman back into my deck from the graveyard, I can draw one card.”
Litmus Doom Swordsman (0/0 -> 3000/3000).
Understanding bloomed in Phil’s eyes and he flipped over another trap card.
“Paleozoic Marella activates! It allows me to send one trap card from my deck to my graveyard. That will be another copy of Paleozoic Marella. Furthermore, because I activated a trap card, I can summon Paleozoic Dinomischus (1200/0) as a monster in defense position.”
Bastion drew a card and spared a glance to look over the red ball of goo on Phil’s field, watching how it floated aimlessly in the air as it waved its neon-blue tentacles around like it was treading through an ocean current.
He could wipe out both of them at once, but a nagging voice at the back of his head told Bastion that Phil had a plan. He would still attack with Litmus Doom Swordsman, but there was little point in leaving their shared life points open too much.
"Fine by me," Bastion concluded. "I summon Fox Fire (300/200) in defense position, place one card face down, and then I will go to my battle phase.”
"Which will activate the effect of my Electromagnetic Turtle." Phil grinned. He raised a finger and moved it side to side like he was admonishing Bastion for daring to think that he could attack. "During your battle phase, I can banish my turtle from my graveyard to end the battle phase."
Bastion reluctantly dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Understood. I end my turn.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Two traps left. That was what stood between Phil and the very large swordsman. That, a Des Frog that couldn’t attack due to Crackdown’s effect, and a Dinomischus that didn’t have the stats to matter. Oh, and a Ronin in the grave with a frog to banish for its effect.
Excitement bloomed in Phil’s chest, even managing to make its way past the incessant yammering of the Light. These were the times he lived for.
And then the cold light slammed down on his brain like a vice grip around his head, and his excitement was snuffed out like a candle. He would make them suffer but would end the duel quickly. The Light required all the energy it could spare to reinforce the seer and aid in its own battle against Kaiba.
Bastion, he was the problem here. The Ra Yellow was the sturdy foundation of their formation that hid the other two, so they could dart out of the shelter to nip at his heels. He glanced around. Rose had a face down, and Bastion had a face down. Chazz only had that angel, a type of monster that was known as a ‘recruiter’ due to its ability to ‘recruit’, or summon, a light monster with 1500 or fewer attack points to Chazz's field when it fell in battle.
He could link away the Des Frog and his Paleo monster for Mistar Boy, therefore returning the swordsman’s attack points to zero with Crackdown’s destruction, but knowing Bastion, his face down card was a continuous trap. There was no way his opponent would summon a monster that relied on face-up traps without having one or two of his own.
That, and there was no way that Litmus Doom Swordsman only had an attack gain effect. No point in summoning it otherwise. The question was what other effects did it have? He didn’t recognize the monster. Nor did the Light know of it, and the seer was too busy dealing with the little brown-haired Slifer problem to do a quick divination for him.
The gears in Phil’s aching head clicked together and he finally launched into his turn.
“I banish Swap Frog from my graveyard to summon Ronintoadin (100/2000) in defense position.
The blue, katana-wielding toad flashed onto the field but didn't stay there long as Phil overlayed the toad and his Dinomischus to XYZ summon Paleozoic Opabinia (0/2400) in defense position.
“I use my monster’s effect immediately.” Phil announced. “By detaching Ronintoadin I can add one Paleozoic trap card from my deck to my hand. Paleozoic Olenoides shall fit my needs.”
Phil flicked his eyes between Bastion’s face down card and Rose’s face down card. Rose was playing frogs. The only in-archetype card worth playing face down was Froggy Forcefield. So, it was either that or a generic trap. Or… an unknown card like Flute of Hamelin. Bastion’s was likely a continuous trap aimed at keeping his Doom Swordsman live, one that also probably afforded him some sort of advantage at the same time. It would be unlike that boy to play a card that did not have multiple uses for when the swordman wasn’t around.
Phil made up his mind quickly. A Froggy Forcefield would only matter if he attacked a frog monster. Generic backrow would be triggered eventually. The key was limiting Bastion, the wiliest of the three.
“Paleozoic Opabinia is face up on my field, so I can activate Paleozoic trap cards straight from my hand without setting them first.” Phil declared. “With that in mind, I activate Paleozoic Olenoides from my hand to destroy your face down card, Bastion.”
Bastion sent his trap, a face down Graveyard of Wandering Souls, to the graveyard with a perfectly crafted poker face keeping his true thoughts under wraps. Meanwhile, once it was clear there would be no response, Phil special summoned Paleozoic Marella (1200/0) from his graveyard in defense position.
Phil tucked away the knowledge that the card was indeed a continuous trap card into the back of his head and considered his options. He had one level two monster on the field, one XYZ monster, and one worthless level five. But with the card he drew for his turn…
“I’ll activate Paleozoic Canadia from my hand, next.” Phil settled his gaze on Litmus Doom Swordsman. It was time to test things, while it was still his turn and he had some leeway left. “My target is Litmus Doom Swordsman, with Canadia applying its effect to place the swordsman in face down defense position.”
“Ah, sorry Phil.” Bastion grinned, “My monster is unaffected by trap effects.”
Another scrap of knowledge. Phil closed his eyes and activated the effect of his second Marella in the graveyard while he thought, summoning it as another monster in defense position. A deck to counter his usage of traps by simply ignoring them in the first place.
How interesting.
Phil’s eyes flew back open and he grinned, the motion filled with malice that almost felt like a physical wall slamming into those who saw it.
“He doesn’t care about traps, huh? Fine by me. I overlay my pair of level two Marellas to XYZ summon the lightning prophet of the Light, Number 45: Crumble Logos the Prophet of Demolition (2200/0)!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Lightning flashed around the classroom as a familiar monster galloped into view, steel hooves sparking against the floor. Lumina stared at it with narrowed eyes. Somehow it looked even more crazed than it had when Phil summoned it against Sartorius. The centaur’s beard was long and grey, but also quite frazzled. The book the prophet held in its hand shone with scorching white light, and she could hear faint whispers, maddening in their tone, emanating from the object that was clearly by now much more than a simple stack of paper bound by string.
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“Careful!” She yelled out a warning to Bastion, who had narrowly dodged a stray whisp of blue lightning from the monster’s summon. “He can use Crumble Logos to negate the effect of a face up card! He’ll drain your swordsman’s attack to zero and strike past its battle protection! It’s not a quick effect, though.”
Bastion nodded his understanding and Lumina moved closer to Rose to pat her reassuringly on the back. The very atmosphere itself was almost claustrophobic at this point. She didn’t blame the girl for getting a bit nervous. Frankly, Lumina was a bit nervous herself. With each XYZ summon Phil conducted, she could see him getting weaker and weaker. The boy’s breathing was ragged, the possession from the Light no longer able to fully dull the pain.
“Come on Phil.” She muttered. “Go down fast. We can get you help after that. I’ll carry you to the nurse myself if I have to.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
A bolt of pure blue lightning struck Litmus Doom Swordsman square in the chest as Phil activated its effect, directing his card to target Bastion’s ritual monster and reduce its attack to zero. Soon after that was the strike, a charge of metal flesh that saw the swordsman disintegrate into a flurry of bloody shards that left the student’s shared life points reeling. However, the warrior, with its final breath, swiped the Graveyard of Wandering Souls from Bastion's graveyard to place face-down on his field as if it had never been removed in the first place.
Phil: 4000 Bastion, Rose, and Chazz: 1800
“Turn end.” Phil said, his smile sickly and strained.
Chazz drew a card. The ritual was down. All that meant was that he would have a bigger part to play. A part that was made for a true Obelisk Blue. A part of pure destruction. Phil only had two set cards, no cards in his hand, and two of those weird ‘XYZ’ monsters. That was all.
Paltry. Such a paltry defense in the face of a roaring dragon!
“I activate a field spell of my own!” Chazz spat, “Chaos Zone!”
The field of rotting corpses and buzzing flies was still there, but now the sky (or at least the bit in the air between the duelists and the ceiling) turned a dark blue, with dozens of swirling vortexes spinning in the air like a collection of miniature galaxies turning before his very eyes.
“Then I banish the light attribute White Dragon Wyverburster and the dark Attribute Black Dragon Collapserpent, both sent to the graveyard via Reasoning, to special summon Chaos Sorcerer (2300/2000)!”
The grinning dark sorcerer crawled out of one of the blue vortexes as Chazz placed two Chaos Counters on his field spell.
“Each time a monster is banished,” Chazz explained, “I place a counter on Chaos Zone for each monster. Then when I have four or more counters, I can remove counters from it equal to the level of a banished monster and summon that monster to my field.”
“Don’t target Opabinia with your monster’s effect! It’s unaffected by all monster effects! It’s a shared trait all of his Paleozoic monsters possess!” Lumina quickly bit out the word of warning. Chazz didn’t even bother to nod his understanding. He was perfectly capable of remembering at least part of the brief the woman in the white dress had made up for them before the duel. Yet, he also understood why she spoke up. She was concerned about Phil, that was all. Chazz could respect that.
“Prophet this, prophet that, prophesize the reason why you’re still a nerd! Chaos Sorcerer, banish Crumble Logos and earn my field spell another counter!”
Chazz took a deep breath and steeled himself for his next move. The monster wouldn’t hurt him, but the atmosphere of the shadow duel was downright oppressive, the shadows that clustered around each duelist making it legitimately difficult to breathe. It felt like they were pressing down against his chest in an attempt to still his lungs forever.
“You made a mistake, focusing on the yellow geek instead of me. I sacrifice Shining Angel and Chaos Sorcerer to tribute summon Light and Darkness Dragon (2800/2400)!”
“USELESS!” Phil roared. He flung his hand out wide to reveal a trap. “Solemn Judgment! I pay half of my life points to negate the summon and destroy your card!”
Phil: 2000 Bastion, Rose, and Chazz: 1800
Good. Phil was wary of the ace monster. Chazz’s lips curled up in a grin. It was a pity to lose his field spell before it could be used, but this was too good of a chance now that Phil only possessed one more face down card. Plus, using up the Solemn Judgment? That was huge if his teammates could properly exploit the opening.
“I see you remembered how strong my dragon is. I see you also forgot that my strongest monster has an effect that triggers when it is destroyed! It doesn’t matter why, or where from. It was destroyed. All cards I control will be annihilated to make room for a monster from my graveyard, that being Chaos Sorcerer. I can summon him without banishing monsters because he has already been properly summoned once before.”
In the span of mere seconds a beautiful dragon, half angelic white and half demonic black, formed onto the field and was struck down by a godly lightning bolt. The two halves of the monster split apart like an atom being torn in half, causing Chazz’s entire field to disappear in a flash of light – that was immediately swallowed by a ravenous void.
"No." The cold emptiness was back in Phil's voice. "You would destroy a card on the field, so I activate the trap card Dark Sacrifice. I negate that effect and send Absolute King Back Jack from my deck to my graveyard. Then Back Jack’s effect triggers, allowing me to look at the top three cards of my deck and reorder them as I please.”
Chazz clenched his fists. The final face down card was revealed, but it took his entire turn to do so. Bastion sent him a reassuring nod, even as Phil slipped the cards back on top of his deck, having placed the middle card above the first and made no further alterations beyond that.
“I end my turn.”
He could dimly hear Phil declaring the second effect of Absolute King Back Jack, revealing and setting the normal trap card, Paleozoic Canadia, by banishing the monster from his graveyard, but he paid it no mind. The frustration swirling around his head was like a thick fog, one that Chazz had to brutally suppress so that it would not interfere with his concentration any longer.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Rose leaped into her turn like a horse at the races hearing the starting gunshot.
“I draw! Monster card! By sacrificing my two Des Frogs, I can special summon Amphibian Angel – Frog-Hael (1400/800) from my hand, who will then allow me to special summon as many frog monsters as possible from my graveyard. Come to me, my princes!”
Des Frog (1900/0), Des Frog (1900/0), Treeborn Frog (100/100)
The orange frog, resplendent white wings sprouting from its back like those of an angel, sang its sweet melody to revive her battle-worn frogs from the great beyond. They were proud, strong princes, raring to go and help Rose take her knight back, even if they had to bruise him up a bit in the process. The green Des Frogs flexed their muscles reassuringly, and the tan Treeborn Frog simply floated in the air defensively with its own pair of angel wings.
“Then I place one monster in the face down defense position and end my turn.” Rose concluded. She couldn’t defeat the Paleozoic Opabinia monster, and there was not much value in crashing her Des Frog against Phil’s stolen one.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bastion’s gaze narrowed as he looked at his next card. Behind him, Lumina’s breath sharpened.
“That can…”
“Indeed.” Bastion grunted. It had the potential to backfire, but he was left with no choice. Without the power of Litmus Doom Swordsman, he simply could not destroy Paleozoic Opabinia by battle. None of his cards possessed the required attack points. However, he similarly could not allow Phil to receive the benefits of the search effect for a second time.
Bastion revealed the card in his hand. “Lava Golem. You know what this means, Phil. By sacrificing your Des Frog and your Paleozoic Opabinia, I can special summon this torturous monster to your field in defense position. I’m… sorry for what this will do.”
Phil's gaze was like one carved out of stone, the boy simply watching as his monsters, one stolen, one not, were both incinerated in the lava grip of the melting stone monster. Soon after, a cage of thick black iron formed around Phil to trap him.
The game was now under a time limit, one that Bastion had the utmost advantage in.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“I draw.” Phil glanced up at the monster towering above him once Bastion ended his turn. Several droplets of lava splashed down from the monster’s limbs. While it possessed formidable attack points…
A thick gob of lava landed on the back of Phil’s neck. He groaned in agony, causing the three students before him to flinch.
Phil: 1000 Bastion, Rose, and Chazz: 1800
He couldn't Canadia the Lava Golem since it wasn't under an opponent's control. He had a few more Paleozoic traps in his graveyard thanks to his Opabinia, but he only had one face down trap card. That meant he could trigger one Paleozoic graveyard effect unless Bastion or Rose revealed their own face down cards. They would be fools to do so unless they were forced.
However.
Phil could feel a fire roar to life in his belly, burning far hotter than the dripping magma above him. He still had a play worth making. Among all three of his opponents, only Rose had any monsters with attack points above 1500, those being her duo of Des Frogs. Bastion had a weak little fox monster defensively slinking around in the background, and Chazz had nothing after his summoning of Light and Darkness Dragon ended in failure. Their board was just as strained as his own. The only difference was that he had no choice but to get rid of the Lava Golem ASAP.
“Allow me to open your eyes to the visage of a true threat, far greater than some worthless Lava Golem!” Phil roared, “I activate Paleozoic Canadia to flip one of your Des Frogs into face down defense position. It doesn’t matter which one. Marella in my graveyard chains to Canadia, special summoning it as a monster. Then…”
Phil braced himself. All over his body he could feel his various aches and pains, more clearly than ever. There were flashes of visions in the corner of his eyes, but he paid them no heed. Something was going wrong, but that didn’t matter right now. He already knew something was wrong. He could feel his wounds. That was something that would normally not happen to a possessed man.
Phil could feel his cracked and dented ribs. His bloodied shoulder. The various burns. The built-up backlash from XYZ summons and Link summons alike. He could barely stand. But the exhilaration he felt? It was real. For mere moments at a time, it overpowered even his desire to hurt his opponents for the Light’s amusement. Here he was, dueling against three at once, one of them being the strongest of his generation of Obelisk Blue. Another was a strategist acknowledged by the entire island, and the third being so in tune with her deck that it spoke to her. Literally.
And he was matching them blow-for-blow. A brutal back and forth that stirred feelings the Light had been trying to suppress before it was forced to redirect much of its attention to the battle in the heavens. His head was still foggy. That was without a doubt.
Still, the grin was wide on his face and his heart was beating at what felt like a million miles per hour.
“Then I send Lava Golem and Paleozoic Canadia away from the field to link summon I:P Masquerena (800/Link-2)!”
A grinning girl wearing skintight purple leggings winked at Phil as she skated out of the ashes created by the dying golem and ancient sea creature, but Phil wasn’t done yet.
“Monster card! I summon Absolute King Back Jack (0/0) from my hand! Using Back Jack and I:P Masquerena, I complete the link once more! Come to me, Triple Burst Dragon (2400/Link-3)!”
At the same time as the metallic dragon formed in the air, the triple guns bursting out of its chest gleaming under the faint moonlight that made its way through the windows, Phil’s Absolute King Back Jack activated its effect once more, allowing him to reorder the top three cards of his deck as he pleased.
“Battle phase.”
Those two words were spoken with such viciousness, dripped with such malice, that all who heard it shuddered in fear.
Bastion visibly flinched and then looked back to the thin air behind him before shouting out a warning toward Rose.
“It has piercing!”
Phil’s eyes narrowed, but before he could question how they knew that, Rose revealed her long-awaited trap card.
“Trap card activate! Gift of the Mystical Elf! I gain 300 life points for each monster on the field!”
There were six monsters on the field, so that meant 1800 points were added to their total.
Phil: 1000 Bastion, Rose, and Chazz: 3600
His eyes stayed narrowed. The existence of Triple Burst Dragon hadn’t been revealed before now. It wasn't summoned against Zane and Atticus. Nor against the professors or even Sartorius. The only one who would know…
“Lumina. You’re there, aren’t you? Show yourself!”
The air shimmered to reveal a tanned woman in a resplendent white dress, her hair short and swept behind her ears to keep it out of the way. She looked at him with a bitter, almost forlorn smile.
“Phil.”
“Lumina.” Phil returned the curt greeting and proceeded to ignore the woman. She would fall after the others. Who cared if she called out some of his plays? He would crush his enemies all the same.
“Triple Burst Dr-“
Phil’s head reared back as the Light screamed with unholy volcanic rage in his head. For a full five seconds, his mind was blank from the force of the mental lashing. It was like bulls in a china shop, a room full of lit fireworks, and getting flash banged in the face all rolled together in one package.
Then there was silence. His orders still stood. Destroy all resistance on the island. Only, the Light had retreated its presence from his mind. Something up there, in the heavens, demanded its full and undivided attention.
Four sets of eyes were boring deep into his skull with concern clearly etched into wide pupils. Liquid dripped down from his nose. Phil held out his hand and caught some of it in his palm.
Bright red.
“Triple Burst Dragon, destroy the face down Des Frog. Inflict maximum piercing damage!” Phil’s head snapped up as he shouted out the order. The guns in the dragon’s chest roared to life, obliterating the defending frog monster in a shower of bullets and tattered green skin.
Phil: 1000 Bastion, Rose, and Chazz: 1200
“My turn is over.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“He’s never used it, but Phil showed me the card when he was building his deck.” Lumina’s voice floated into Bastion’s right ear, her hands cupped around it so that their opponent could not make out her words. “It can negate spells, traps, and monster effects during the damage step. Because it was summoned using that I:P monster, it also cannot be destroyed by card effects.”
Troubling, but not impossible to deal with. The key fact, which Lumina had not appeared to notice yet, was that the negation could only happen during the damage step. Cards like Mirror Force could still stop it. However, a cheeky attack modulation that one would normally use in the damage step, well that could be stopped.
Bastion furrowed his brows as Chazz began his turn. The main issue with that ‘link’ monster was its high attack and invulnerability to effect destruction, which was a popular method in dealing with high-attack monsters.
“-Greed!”
Bastion’s head snapped up, Chazz’s move breaking him out of his thoughts. A green pot floated in the air, lending its energy to add two cards to his teammate’s hand. Two cards which were swiftly revealed. Meanwhile, the effect of Phil’s Absolute King Back Jack was activated in the graveyard, banishing it to reveal and set the normal trap card Lost Wind.
“I activate Dragon Shrine! It lets me send the dragon-type Hunter Dragon from my deck to my graveyard, and then since it was a normal monster, I can send an additional dragon to follow it to the grave. Sending Axe Dragonute!”
Bastion’s eyes gleamed. Dragon Shrine had its uses, but by his calculations, there were three dark-attribute monsters in Chazz’s graveyard – Chaos Sorcerer, Hunter Dragon, and Axe Dragonute. Did he have it?
Did Chazz Princeton have Dark Armed Dragon, a monster that was just as much as his ace as Light and Darkness Dragon was by now?
Not quite.
“I place one card face down and end my turn.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Rose glanced at Sir Chazz’s face down card, and then at Sir Bastion’s defenses. She knew her fellow Obelisk Blue had great trust in his cards, to end his turn with only one face down card.
Considering that, Rose herself needed to trust in her amphibian princes.
“This princess has a Pot of Greed of her own!” Rose revealed. “I draw two more cards. Then, I activate the spell card Frog Resurrection, discarding Treeborn Frog from my hand to return my fallen Des Frog to my field in attack position! Turn end!”
Bastion nodded. The unspoken communication between him and his teammates was simple. Trust their teammates. Regroup, rebuild resources, and take down the link monster. Once that obstacle was hurtled, Phil would have nothing to protect himself.
All he would need to do was firm up the defense.
“Alright, here goes!” Bastion shouted with steely determination in his eyes. “I sacrifice Fox Fire to tribute summon the vampire duke, Patrician of Darkness (2000/1400)! Sadly, he lacks the attack points to destroy your dragon, so I’ll have to simply end my turn here and now.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Phil tore a card off the top of his duel disk. The adrenaline was building, building high enough that he could once more ignore his injuries. Finally, the Light had shut up, too focused on its own battle to distract Phil.
“Battle phase!” He shouted. “Triple Burst, smash right into Rose’s face down monster! Pierce through her defenses!”
The dragon moved to attack, but one stern glare from the blue-skinned vampire noble under Bastion’s control stopped it dead in its tracks.
“The effect of Patrician of Darkness activates.” Bastion cooly announced. “I get to choose your attack targets.”
“Bastion! Send it to me! Save your monster!” Chazz leaped into action and revealed his own trap card. “I activate Call of the Haunted! Serve me, Axe Dragonute (2000/1200)!”
Bastion nodded. He flicked his fingers and motioned toward the axe-wielding black dragon on Chazz’s field.
“Then, on the redeclaration of the attack, I activate my face down card!” Bastion continued.
Phil sneered. “Triple Burst is immune to effect destruction.”
Bastion nodded his head. He accepted those words easily.
“And my card doesn’t destroy anything. Instead, it’s the Graveyard of Wandering Souls! It will have no effect yet, but from now on, if my monster is destroyed by battle, it will summon a token to defend me.”
At that, even Phil was forced to nod his head, ending his turn by placing one card face down.
Phil: 1000 Bastion, Rose, and Chazz: 800
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Chazz forced his face to keep its usual dignified frown. Even so, he felt a flutter of excitement in his heart. Just like Bastion had planned, it had become a slugfest, with few possibilities for Phil to regain the card advantage he was bleeding each turn. A war of top-decking.
One that he would win.
“Here’s Dark Armed Dragon (2800/1000)!”
A vicious light glimmered in Chazz's eyes while the dragon, pitch-black aside from its gleaming silver blades, tore its way through the side of the classroom to stand in front of its master, a perfect picture of barely restrained savagery. In other words, a perfect dragon. It was a pity Phil’s monster was protected. Less of a pity that his backrow wasn’t.
“Dark Armed Dragon’s effect activates!” Chazz cried out. “I banish Chaos Sorcerer to destroy your face down Lost Wind, Phil!”
“All that does is force the activation,” Phil coldly responded. “I activate Lost Wind! Its target is Dark Armed Dragon, and the effect will permanently halve its attack and negate its effect!”
Dark Armed Dragon (2800/1000 -> 1400/1000).
One face down card left.
“Turn end!”
Rose’s face, unlike Chazz’s, was flushed with excitement and worry. Worry about Phil’s condition, excitement because this is what they’d planned.
“Well done, Sir Chazz! I activate Pot of Avarice, shuffling back all three T.A.D.P.O.L.E.’s, Swap Frog, and Des Frog from my graveyard back to my deck in return for drawing two cards.”
One glance was enough for her face to shine with radiant joy.
“The heart of the cards is with me!” She announced, “I sacrifice Amphibian Angel – Frog-Hael and my Treeborn Frog to tribute summon Spiral Serpent (2900/2900)!”
However, the giant sea serpent barely had time to splash onto the field before Princess Rose activated another spell, though she did shoot a look of apology toward her monster. He was strong, but her next monster would be stronger. Strong enough to make a serious splash.
“Here’s Metamorphosis! I sacrifice the level eight Spiral Serpent to special summon the great patriarch of all frogs, D.3.S. Frog (2500/2000)!”
Phil’s body shuddered visibly once the giant green frog stepped onto the field. His eyes were wavering, and he even dropped to a single knee, panting and gasping for breath.
Instantly Rose and her companions took that previous chance.
“Phil! Buddy!” Bastion shouted, “If you’re in there, keep fighting! We know about it all! We don’t care that you’re from some other world, or that you’ve been keeping secrets! It doesn’t change that we’re friends! All for one and one for all, right? Just like the story goes!”
Leaping in right after Bastion was Chazz’s voice, somehow harsh and gentle at the same time.
“Yeah. Besides, you’ve taken a headshot before and you’re still around! Throwing off something as cowardly as possession should be easy!”
“Knights fight until the very end!” Rose added on. Phil continued to shudder and gasp, making no obvious moves that showed he was even listening to them. “I still need to show you your land, as is my duty as your princess! You can’t give up now!”
Lumina swung out her hands. “We’re road trip buddies, Phil! We still need to go on another one, though I think that one would be better if we don’t squeeze in any world-ending events in the middle of it!”
Silence followed.
There were no words in reply. No acknowledgment of their pleas.
Just silence, that echoed around the half-destroyed room, that echoed despite the fact that it was silence.
“Just get on with it.” Phil’s icy voice filled the room to replace the suffocating silence with a winter colder than an arctic storm. “You have the points to kill my dragon, so attack. Do it. Or don’t. I’ve got stuff to do. People to convert. Keys to find. I wonder. What will the planet look like when it goes boom? A bright flash or light, or will it be over before my mind can even process the sight?”
Rose closed her eyes. This was the moment she dreaded most.
“D.3.S. Frog…” She choked out the words. Only the comforting presence of her fusion monster, given to her by Ms. Lumina, kept her going. The same fusion monster that used to belong to her knight. That, and the duty a princess had to her knight. “There are two Treeborn Frogs in the graveyard now. D.3.S. Frog gains 1000 attack points.”
D.3.S. Frog (2500/2000 -> 3500/2000).
Bastion’s stilted voice continued where her own voice failed.
“Which means her fusion monster has just enough attack points to win. 1100 is the difference and I see you only have 1000 life points left.”
Chazz walked over to place a hand on her shoulder.
“He has one face down card left.”
Bastion placed his hand on her other shoulder. “Strike. If his trap stops you, I will follow up.”
Rose’s eyes drooped and then rapidly filled with fighting spirit.
“D.3.S. Frog. Attack Triple Burst Dragon.”
“Breakthrough Skill.” Phil emotionlessly responded. “D….” Even saying the name appeared difficult for him. “D.3.S. Frog’s effect is negated for this turn only.”
D.3.S. Frog (3500/2000 -> 2500/2000).
A grey tongue shot out of the frog’s mouth to catch the mechanical dragon like a fly flitting through the air, destroying it and dealing 100 points of damage.
Phil: 900 Bastion, Rose, and Chazz: 800
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bastion regretfully closed his eyes.
“Which means it is my turn.”
Two hands placed themselves on his shoulders, and a third settled on his head to pat it reassuringly. Bastion reluctantly opened his eyes. He hated to see what was going to happen. There were no monsters left on Phil’s field. No traps either.
“Draw. Monster card! I sacrifice my Patrician of Darkness to tribute summon Mobius the Frost Monarch (2400/1000)! Mobius! End it!”
Two face down cards on the field were destroyed, but no one paid attention to them. The icy fist of the monarch flew through the air like a flurry of snow during a blizzard, reducing Phil’s life points to zero and…
Phil: 0 Bastion, Rose, and Chazz: 1200
A colossal green blob launched itself from Rose’s field and the fist disappeared. It simply disappeared. It was almost as if Mobius had always possessed only one arm, instead of the two it showed on the card art. But as the blob stilled, all was revealed. D.3.S. Frog gulped down the last bits of the limb, glaring at every monster on the field, even the shadows swarming around the duelists, as if the mighty creature dared anyone watching to try and damage Phil further now that the duel was over. A defiant croak saw the shadows swirl around the field faster and faster until they were naught but a blur, or perhaps a shadowy fog intent on choking away all life within its center. The shadows drew even closer until the mighty green flanks of D.3.S. Frog were completely obscured. A mighty bellowing croak followed and somehow, even though it shouldn’t have been possible, the shadows screamed. Not with anger. Nor triumph.
The shadows screamed in pain as D.3.S. Frog tore through them just as they tore through his own flesh. Shadows eating the frog, and the frog eating the shadows. They swirled, bit, chewed, and screamed, until…
Phil collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, lying in a puddle of his own blood. His chest faintly rose up and down, so faintly that they almost missed it. D.3.S. Frog disappeared, and the shadows fled with pitiful wails.
And so small that only those concerned friends of Phil crowding around him could see, a tadpole dropped onto the boy’s chest. Two pink eyes glumly looked out at the world, and its little bitty tail wiggled around as the creature experimented with a form it hadn’t held for millions of years.
“Ow.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
At the same exact time as the duels on the cliff and in the classroom were taking place, Kaiba was losing his patience. The crackling nebula of energy and malice still floated within sight of his glorious space station. Those gashes in the nebula, the ones that so very much resembled two eyes and a grinning mouth mocked him.
Seto Kaiba’s lips curled in disgust and he raised the radio to his mouth.
“Mokuba. It’s time. Launch the nuke.”
“Roger that big bro!” Mokuba’s crackling voice cheerfully replied.
Seconds passed and a thin rocket burst out of the space station. It traveled away from the planet, but not to the nebula.
No, it was on a collision course with a satellite. A certain satellite. Any other target would only be a waste of time.
A roar of rage as the entity discovered Kaiba’s ploy. But it was too late. Even something as powerful as the Light couldn’t move fast enough. Not when the nuclear bomb was already inches away from the satellite those fools on the island were fighting over.
The darkness of space was dyed pure white, but somehow pure blue at the same time. Lightning crackled, and impossibility in the void of space. Fire roared, that too an impossibility in the void of space. Shadows gibbered, the sound somehow traveling through the void of space.
One moment the satellite was there, and the next it was gone. Reduced to atoms. Considering the payload on the nuke, perhaps even less than that. The destructive capabilities of the Sacred Beasts, when properly harnessed, were capable of that.
It was a pity those cards were most likely destroyed in the explosion. That was the only thing his scientists could agree on. The duel spirits inhabiting the cards would move back to their world and the force of the explosion would destroy the man-made objects.
Kaiba patted himself on the back for thinking that bit up, with the Sacred-Beast-powered-nuke. The Light, however, was far less pleased about Kaiba’s triumph. A cosmic scream of rage split across space and time, but was foiled by the shields of his station.
Next was the spike. Not a physical spike, but a mental one.
Seto Kaiba could admit he was in no way prepared for what that would entail. A lance of pain tore through his brain, ravaging through the fragile grey matter, tearing his secrets out of his skull, superheating his head so that it felt like the contents were literally boiling.
A chorus of hoarse screams filled the air. Kaiba opened his mouth to tell whoever was screaming to shut up…
Then he realized that person was him. He realized it around the same time a glorious and gentle cooling sensation wrapped around his body to ease his pain. It felt like ice placed against his aching head, but somehow so much more than that. The one being in the world he cared about as much as Mokuba.
“I’m here.”
For a moment Kaiba closed his eyes and leaned into the sensation of the white-haired woman with eyes of beautiful blue holding him, but the next his eyes snapped open, and she was gone.
Kisara.
Seto Kaiba violently shook his head. He stood, eyes glaring defiantly at the frenzied nebula in front of his space station. In his space. Yes! This was his space! Seto Kaiba purchased all the space around the planet five years ago! No one stopped him, not after he’d finished dueling every world leader from every country into submission. Not after he’d taken down every general of every army and then forced them all to sign an eternal peace under the eyes of his mighty Blue-Eyes White Dragons.
“So, what now!” Kaiba roared at the nebula. His arms were held out wide and his frame trembled. Not from fear, but from the rage gathered by the understanding that some pitiful, worthless existence was warping his game to invade his island all so it could destroy his world. It didn’t even ask him for permission first! Imagine that! Not asking Seto Kaiba for permission before messing with his stuff!
“You and me!” Kaiba continued to scream. Spittle flew out of his mouth. He mounted his motorcycle and revved the engine as loud as possible to further emphasize his words, so loud that the windows on the space station, rated for asteroid collisions, flexed in their frames. “You and me! 4000 life points each, to the death!”
The nebula stilled. The face, still formed out of three lopsided gashes in the cloud, smiled and parted. Not to reveal any sort of ship or planet. No, instead a humanoid figure walked out from behind the cosmic clouds. A man, or at least a figure resembling a man, clad in a shimmering black suit that would not have looked out of place in a professional business meeting. The buttons on the suit were planets. The fabric of the tie was filled with stars. Aside from the suit, the man had few features to boast of. There were two hands made of energy poking out from the arms of the suit. A head that looked like a neutron star so bright that even Kaiba could barely look at it for fear of losing his vision forever. Feet that were clusters of asteroids shrunk to miniature sizes. The tie swayed in the solar winds once and then a duel disk, made of shining stars with a gaping black hole at its centerpiece slipped out from under the entity’s suit.
Kaiba’s lips quirked upwards. So the creature wanted to appear as a gentleman in a suit and tie. How interesting. He slid on a pair of sunglasses to counteract the brightness and readied his motorcycle. The loop was already cleared. His machine was filled with gasoline of such quality that no one else in the world even had a single drop. His deck was primed, stronger and more vicious than ever.
“Your terms are acceptable, mortal.”
Seto Kaiba: 4000 The Light of Destruction: 4000