Yeah, the title of these past couple of chapters was completely literal. Blackheart can seriously do that thing that he just did to Karen's Soul. I hope this comes off as being as scarey as it was supposed to be. These kids have been fighting for three books to keep baddies from getting the Soul powers, and then this randomly happens.
Chapter ThreeThe Soul Breaker;
Karen vs. Sky Dragon of Osiris!
So this is the God Card ‘Osiris’, I thought. I’ve heard of him of course, from John and just in general. Every Duelist knows about ‘Osiris’ by reputation, but few get to see him like this: in person, with all of his impressive power on full display.
I stared up at the monstrous dragon, the remains of my duplicate ‘Osiris’ still fading back into the Shadows all around me. Despite the fear and the pain that I felt, the prospect of fighting such a strong card actually excited me a bit.
He’s huge, with massive Attack strength, and the power to weaken or even destroy every monster placed before him, but if I’m remembering right, ‘Osiris’ only destroys monsters placed in defense mode and only weakens monsters placed in attack mode. So if I summon a monster in attack mode it should remain on the field, even if it doesn’t have any Attack Points at all!
I smiled. I had a plan, even if I wasn’t even remotely sure that it would work.
“To counterattack,” I said, “I’ll summon my own 'God'. The Spell card ‘Black Illusion Ritual’ will summon the God of Illusion, ‘Relinquished’!” A small pot covered in eyes appeared and was enveloped in black fire that transformed it into the mighty ‘Relinquished’. He was blue and gray and, quite simply, strange enough that you really should Google him. In the center of the bizarre creature's chest was a small sphere bearing the millennium eye symbol common to so many Duel Monsters cards (ATK: 0).
The God ignored it, just as I'd thought.
My smile widened, “Next, I activate ‘Metamorphosis’, transforming ‘Relinquished’ into his true form!” ‘Relinquished’’s entire body rippled and his skin changed color, becoming a rusty brown. One thousand eyes opened all over the monster’s body. “What do you think of my ‘Thousand Eyes Restrict’ (ATK: 0)?”
Blackheart looked enticed. “Interesting monster,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Show me what it can do before I destroy it.”
“You asked for it,” I said. “‘Restrict’, use your magic to restrain the God and then absorb his power!”
‘Thousand Eyes Restrict’ trained all of his eyes on ‘Osiris’ and the God was wreathed in a yellow light, meant to hold him in place, but Blackheart laughed, as in flat out, maniacal laughter. “Do you think a God could be hurt by such a simple attack?” he asked. “‘Osiris’, break the creature’s spell.”
‘Osiris’ roared, and the light from my monster’s eyes was dispersed.
“I won’t go down easily,” I said, far more worried than I was letting on, though I felt that Blackheart knew that. “Two face-down cards. End turn.”
Blackheart laughed as he drew his next card. “Even if you set up a Trap,” he said, “it won’t protect you. I know everything that this host knows. I know every strategy in your deck. There are none that can defeat a God. ‘Osiris’, attack with Thunder Force!”
The God attacked, but I was ready.
“Reveal,” I commanded, “the Trap card ‘Absolute End’, turning ‘Osiris’’ attack into a direct attack.”
‘Restrict’ drifted to the side as thunder built in the mouth of the God that I faced. John beat a God, which means it can be beaten. If beating a God is what it takes to save him, then that’s what I’ll do.
“‘Osiris’,” Blackheart commanded, “if she’d rather die than her monster, so be it. Kill her.”
The God attacked, and I smiled. “Reveal, ‘Spirit Barrier’, protecting me from damage.”
Blackheart laughed, “Sorry, but that won’t work. Counter Trap, ‘Seven Tools of the Bandit’!”
No!
My barrier shattered, the God’s attack overcome me and my Life Points fell (LP: 0). I nearly collapsed, the pain that I felt at the hands of the God’s attack was far beyond anything that I’d ever experienced, to the point that I thought I’d die. Then it passed, and I fell to my knees, my entire body singed and steaming. Blackheart walked toward me.
“Are you going to kill me?” I asked him, my tone weak but defiant.
“Eventually,” Blackheart replied, eerily calm and conversational, “but I’m a very specific type of killer. I prefer that there be no hope remaining in my enemy’s entire being when I kill them. I’m going to wait until the population of this world is tortured and broken so completely that you pitiful creatures can’t even cry yourselves to sleep at night, and then I’m going to kill you all at once. But for now, you lose, so I get to name my terms. The power within your Soul is mine.”
The Soul of Darkness that hung around his neck glowed, and my Soul cracked.
Tucker
“Okay, this is weird,” I said. “I keep getting this strange feeling.”
“You too?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah, I wonder what it could be.”
“John and Karen have been gone for a while,” said Rocky, looking toward the Game Center entrance. “Maybe we should go find them.”
“Yeah,” I said, his words feeling unusually spot-on, “good plan.”
Sarah, Jen, Rocky, and I rose, as if guided by our Souls, and headed for the exit. Jenna tried to follow. I turned to her, and for reasons I didn’t understand, said, “Stay here, Kid. This could be really dangerous.”
She bit her lip in frustration, but nodded in agreement. I guess she could tell that I was serious.
I turned back around and ran after the others.
We arrived behind the mall in only a few minutes. Blackheart (though we didn’t know that it was Blackheart at the time) was standing over an unconscious Karen. Light was streaming from her Soul into his.
“What’s John doing?” Rocky asked, but Sarah, Jen, and I already knew.
“That,” I said, “is not John.”
His hair was growing darker before our eyes, becoming jet black, and the expression on his face was fierce. Evil.
“Back off!” I cried, charging forward, Rocky at my side. I threw a punch at the thing. He ducked to the side, surprised, but my true goal had been achieved. The stream of light had broken.
My opponent looked pissed. He reached down to the Dark Disk and separated the platform from the base. They became a sword and a shield. He struck with his sword. I jumped back, avoiding it, and threw a burst of heat straight at my opponent’s face. He raised his shield, deflecting my attack, and lunged, stabbing with his blade. Rocky jumped in the way, summoning up a wall of asphalt. The blade hit and was broken, melting back into the Shadows from which it came.
Blackheart, looking worried, gritted his teeth. “You may have won for now,” he said, “but you won’t be able to stop me for long. The power within your Souls will be mine, and then I’ll finally have the power to take what I deserve and rule over everything!”
With that, Blackheart melted into thick black smoke and disappeared into the Shadows. Karen was just regaining consciousness. Sarah and Jen knelt by her side.
“What’s going on, Karen?” I asked.
She rose unsteadily to her feet and answered, her voice quivering with pain, “We have to bring together the Duel Force. Blackheart has emerged.”
Blackheart
The girl’s power had been surprising enough, but then the two boys had struck against me, and even broken my blade. I’d realized in that moment that my powers were even weaker than I’d thought. I realized that I hadn’t even been controlling the God through the strength of my magic, but through a tangible magic bond that I felt between the God and my host. I could feel myself getting stronger, but I needed time. Time that I wouldn’t have should the Duel Force come looking for me. I knew what my host knew, and he knew that the girl was smart enough not to waste time.
I need a distraction, I decided, a way to keep the bulk of the Duel Force busy while I seek out strong opponents and take their Duel Energy. Pawns, if you will.
I reached into the Shadows, and pulled three spirits from it, something that I could only do because they were still near the surface, and because my knowledge of the Shadows is greater than anyone else’s. I separated their evil aspects from the good ones, discarding those good aspects as I restored their bodies. In moments, the three Card Takers appeared before me, kneeing respectfully.
“I’ve given you magic of your own,” I told my new minions. “Go and earn that power by destroying the Duel Force in my name!”
They nodded and spread out to find their opponents. I smiled, They’ll die, of course, but they’ll give me the time I need and then some before they do.
With that I set out to restore my strength in preparation for my final plan.
Karen
I called Max, Monty and Lawrence, Kimi, and Amanda and told them to meet us at Jen’s. Amanda walked the short distance there from her house and waited with Jen’s sister Kris for us to arrive.
We walked through the door. Amanda and Kris were waiting on the couch just inside the door. Amanda was wearing a pink t-shirt with green trim and green shorts. The brightness of the colors really made her short dark hair stand out. Kris was wearing jeans and a tank top under a gray jacket. She was twirling her long brown hair absentmindedly around her finger when we arrived.
Max arrived right after us, wearing a gray hoody and a ball cap over his blond hair. His blue eyes were as intense as ever. I don’t know how he managed to get there so fast from wherever it is that he lives. Monty and Lawrence showed up next. They were arguing about something stupid. Lawrence, his sandy hair hanging down into his yellow eyes, was wearing one of his favorite dragon print shirts. Monty, with his much darker long spiky hair, was wearing a purple vest over a dark red long sleeved t-shirt and ragged gray jeans.
The last to arrive was Kimi. She lived the furthest away. I’d gotten to know Kimi pretty well recently. I’d been staying with her and her family ever since John and the others freed me from Yami’s control. I was dangerously close to thinking of her as family. She was wearing a white t-shirt under a yellow jacket, with black jeans. She was unique. Quiet at first, but really outgoing once you got to know her. She was Japanese, and because of it she often had trouble fitting in. With her arrival, everyone was together, and we headed down to Jen’s large finished basement. It was a perfect place for a discreet meeting.
“So Blackheart, in control of John’s body,” I said, wrapping up my summation of events, “beat me with the God card and used John’s power to break my Soul and take the magic from it, but Tucker and Rocky stopped him short. He didn’t get it all. Still, this makes the Soul of Darkness much more powerful than any other single Soul, even more so than it already was. If he were to attack us separately, he would simply use the Soul to strip us of our power. But if we to seek him out in pairs, our Souls will still be stronger and he’ll be forced to face us in a duel.”
“Why not just wait it out?” Monty asked. “If Blackheart wants the Soul powers to control the Gods, he’ll have to attack us at some point. If we stay put and he comes after us, we’ll control the time and the place of our encounter.”
“He’s not after the power of the other Souls specifically,” I replied. “He told me he wants to build up so much power than he can’t be opposed, even if everyone on Earth challenges his at once, which is why I know that he wants the Gods. There’s only one scenario that I can think of that will give him that power, and that's calling the Gods to battle all at once. And, from what I know of the Gods, there’s one other way to do that.”
Monty’s eyes grew wide, “You mean Duel Energy.”
I nodded, glad that, at this point, everyone on the team knew what Duel Energy was and I could skip the explanation.
“Yeah,” said Rocky in agreement, “it makes sense. If Duel Energy is the reason that average Duelists can even control their monsters during Shadow Games, if they don’t have magic items, then it makes sense that Duel Energy can bend even a God monster to a Duelist’s will, given that the Duelist in question has enough of it. We have to find Blackheart and stop him. If not he’ll just go around hurting or killing any Duelist he can find and taking their energy. Hopefully he’d rather have our power. If we go out there looking for him, maybe he’ll leave the civilians alone and focus his attention on us.”
It was the longest statement I’d ever heard shy Rocky utter at once, and I found that I was rather impressed with his reasoning.
“Do we really want him to focus his attention on us?” Amanda asked, her voice trembling a bit, “This guy sounds scary.”
“Of course we don’t want him to attack us,” I said, “but we don’t really have a choice. If we leave him alone, he’ll just keep attacking innocent people. This is our fight, not theirs.”
“But we don’t even know where he went, or even what general direction he went in,” said Kris.
“Yes,” I said, “we do. Duel Energy in the average person is pretty weak. To get the same power in Duel Energy as Soul Energy, Blackheart will have to search in the most highly populated area around. That's downtown.”
I looked at the ten people who sat before me, looking to me for instruction. Some of them were kids. I couldn’t afford to keep any of them back, but I couldn’t send the kids out without ample protection. “There’s an even number of you guys,” I said, “So pairing up really is the best option. I’m going to pair you up and pick a section of the city for each of you to police. We’ll focus on secluded areas. Blackheart won’t want to draw more attention that he has to.”
I looked at Jen. She was protective, and both of those younger members were her family. She hesitated, but then she nodded her support.
“What about you?” Sarah asked.
“I have a backup plan, but to pull it off I’ll first have to get in contact with an old friend. I’ll call everyone back when it’s time to put my plan into action.”
I watched as my friends left, worried that I’d just sentenced them to die, and a little afraid when I realized that I still thought I’d made the right choice.
Card of the Day:
Thousand-Eyes Restrict
Played by: Karen
Against any monster other than an Egyptian God, this card would have very likely won Karen the duel. It's a shame. Blackheart is just that powerful. Either way, this is a big deal kind of monster, and so it secures this slot easily.
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