And with this chapter book three comes to an end, in a really over the top and spectacular way, as does what I like to call the Duelists of the Order arch, as after this chapter, the Order, while being present in the books from time to time, are never the main villains again. Just as I finished establishing the themes and tropes of the series, it moves into a new arch with new themes and tropes. So yeah, get ready for that.
Chapter Twenty-FourSoul of Chaos;
A Power to Surpass a God
“‘Osiris’ attacks,” Marik declared, “and destroys your ‘Fiend Megacyber’, Thunder Force!” Light fell from ‘Osiris’’ lower mouth, vaporizing my monster.
“With that,” said Marik, “I end my turn. You only have two turns left. Then my other monsters will be able to attack again, and I’ll overwhelm you and take your life!” He started laughing, and I started to sweat.
“My move,” I said, drawing, “and this time I won’t make the same mistake I made last turn. I activate the Spell card ‘Painful Choice’, allowing me to search my deck for five cards and show them to you. You pick one, I add that card to my hand, and then discard the rest.” I fanned out my deck and picked my cards, “I choose ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’, ‘Giant Orc’, ‘Jinzo’, ‘Strike Ninja’, and ‘Magician of Faith’.”
“Add,” said Marik, “the ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’ to your hand.”
I smiled, “I expected as much, which is why I was ready with my next card, ‘Monster Reincarnation’, discarding ‘Red-Eyes’ to move ‘Strike Ninja’ from my Graveyard to my hand.” I discarded the dragon, and my ‘Strike Ninja’ slid from the Graveyard. “Now I summon ‘Strike Ninja’ to the field in defense mode.” The black-clad ninja appeared, kunai in hand (DEF: 1600).
“Did you forget already,” Marik asked, “about my God’s Summon Lightning Shot? When you summon a monster, ‘Osiris’ attacks it!” ‘Osiris’ opened his second mouth and fired, but I was prepared.
“Of course I didn’t forget, Marik,” I replied, “but you seem to have forgotten that my monsters have abilities too. By removing two Dark monsters in my Graveyard from play, I can remove my ‘Strike Ninja’ from play until the end of the turn.” Just before ‘Osiris’’ attack hit, ‘Strike Ninja’ jumped up and flickered away in an instant. The blast hit the stone at my feet, nearly blinding me with its brightness, and then faded away.
“Heh,” said Marik, smirking, “your ‘Ninja’ may be safe for now, but it won’t be long before I destroy him the old fashioned way. I draw, and your ‘Ninja’ returns. ‘Osiris’, attack with Thunder Force!” ‘Osiris’’ attack fired, blowing my monster apart just as he reappeared, leaving me with only one card, and one more turn before my ‘Swords’ expired and Marik could attack with his many monsters en masse.
“I draw,” I declared, and I looked down at my card. When I saw it I finally realized how John meant to use ‘Gren Maju Da Eiza’. I smiled, so that’s what you’re planning!
Yeah, John answered, and you know what, I think I’m getting used to the God’s aura. What do you say we finish this duel together!
The Soul of Darkness flared again, and John’s mind and my mind merged into one.
John
I reached up, wiped the sweat from my brow, and asked, “Are you ready, Marik? Because I’m about to win this duel!” I looked up at Marik’s dragon, “And don’t worry ‘Osiris’, I’m going to free you from this evil man.”
I looked back at Marik and said, “Now I think it’s time to get things underway. I begin by activating the face-down ‘Darkness Approaches’, discarding two cards to conceal ‘Osiris’ in a magical darkness.” The Shadows gathered, but ‘Osiris’’ divine powers quickly dispelled them and they thinned and faded away.
“Did you really think that you could cancel out the increase to ‘Osiris’’ Attack by flipping him face-down?” Marik asked, dumbfounded. I ignored him.
“Next I activate ‘Dark Core’,” I declared, “discarding a card from my hand to remove ‘Revival Jam’ from the game.” A static filled black hole appeared, slurping the plasma monster into its depths, and disappearing, Almost there.
“Next up,” I continued, “I remove two Spell cards from play for the effect of ‘Chaosrider Gustaph’,” my ‘Rider’ gained a green aura, “and I discard one card to activate ‘Karma Cut’, removing ‘Osiris’ from play!”
A blade of rippling white light spun through the air toward the God dragon, bouncing off harmlessly. Marik’s look of confusion grew even more pronounced.
“I set a card face-down,” I said, “and end my turn. Give me your best shot!”
“Gladly,” said Marik, smiling wickedly. “I draw, raising the power of my God even further (ATK: 13,000). I don’t know what you were trying to do in your last turn, but it doesn’t matter now. ‘Osiris’ attacks your ‘Chaosrider’, leaving you defenseless!”
‘Osiris’ launched his attack, blowing the ‘Chaosrider’ away, and allowing me to complete my combination, and just in time too. I only had two cards in my hand. Marik’s turn ended, and my ‘Swords’ faded away.
“My move,” I said, and I prepared to draw my next card. Alright, I thought, taking deep, calming breaths, I still need one card to make this work. If I don’t draw it this turn, I’ll die.
Everyone’s counting on me here. If I fail, the spirits of my friends will be trapped for eternity in that orb, or worse, absorbed into Marik to make him stronger, and the world will be subjected to Marik’s return to our dimension. This match isn’t just about me, it’s about everyone! The only way I can win is to find true balance like Keeper said, unlocking my True Soul and using its power to control my fate!
I focused hard, closing my eyes, and I saw two separate planes within my spirit. One was pure white, and the other was pure black, the blackness overpowering the white. This must be the light and the darkness in my heart, I realized, the light and darkness that has to balance out before I can find my True Soul. But even if I knew what that meant, I wouldn’t know how to do it.
Suddenly I found myself floating in a void, watching the light fighting a losing battle against the darkness for control of my spirit.
Then I heard Sarah’s voice. Don’t give up John!
Yeah, came Tucker’s voice, you can’t give up now bro! You’re so close!
Around me, in a circle, appeared the spirits of Sarah, Tucker, Karen, and Max.
I can’t believe you’re thinking about giving up, said Max. I’m disgusted to call you a rival.
And I can’t believe, said Karen, that I trusted you to lead me and my team.
I get it, you guys are disappointed, I replied, not knowing or caring whether or not I was speaking to my real friends or if I was just losing my mind, but I don’t know what to do! I wasn’t ready for this. I’m in over my head!
You are ready, said Karen. She took my hand and looked into my eyes. I’m here supporting you. We all are.
I looked around, and the spirits of the other Duel Force members faded into existence all around me. Rocky and Kimi, then Jen, and Monty and Lawrence. Even Jen’s sister, Kris, who I’d suspected was the final Soul Bearer for a while now. I could feel their support rolling off of them, giving me strength, and I saw it, the key to my true power. True balance didn’t just mean a balance between the two sides of my spirit, it meant balance between me and my friends! I’d thought that I was here fighting Marik alone, but I’d forgotten that, no matter what, and no matter where they were, my friends would always be there for me. They’d always be a part of me.
You’ve got it now, said Karen. She kissed me lightly and then stepped back. Now finish this, okay?
I nodded, and my friends were gone. All around me, the darkness and light swirled and mixed together, resulting in a brilliant flash of light. I suddenly found myself in the midst of the duel once again. I felt different. Something was different with my Soul. I looked down. It had changed. It was one half clear yellow crystal, and one half dark violet crystal. On the dark half was a silvery sun, and on the light half was a dark violet moon. It had become the symbol of perfect balance between darkness and light: the symbol of chaos. I looked right into Marik’s eyes, my Soul glowing, and I smiled as I drew my card.
“It’s about time I finished this,” I said, “once and for all. To win, I need every card I have left, but I will win. I begin with the face-down Trap, ‘Skull Lair’. By removing ten monsters in my Graveyard from play, I can destroy a level ten monster!” Energy built and launched at ‘Osiris’. In the energy wave I could see the spirits of my monsters, led by ‘The Fiend Megacyber’. The energy hit, and after a few seconds, was dispersed without so much as leaving a scratch.
“Good try,” said Marik, “but ‘Osiris’ still stands.”
“True," I agreed, "but I said all of my cards, not just one. Activate the Spell card ‘Soul Release’, removing five more cards in my Graveyard from the game, increasing the number of cards that I have removed from play to twenty-two. Next I play the Spell card ‘Premature Burial’, giving eight hundred of my Life Points to call a monster back from the dead (3600-800=2800).” Another portion of my body melted away, but I didn't care, “Rise, ‘Gren Maju Da Eiza’!”
My monster appeared. It was a red creature with a demonic torso resembling the Archfiends, or the 'Great Maju Garzett' that I'd summoned to defeat them. From it's waste down, the red creature resembled a giant, armored centipede.
“My monster’s Attack power,” I explained, “equals four hundred times the number of my cards removed from play!” The demon grew larger (ATK: 8800).
“As powerful as your monster is,” Marik said, his face contorting menacingly, “it’s not nearly as strong as mine. And, of course, your monster is in no way immune to ‘Osiris’’ Summon Lightning Shot!” ‘Osiris’ launched his second mouth attack, blasting away two thousand of my monster’s Attack (8800-2000=6800).
“But remember,” I said, “I still have one more card left to play, and it’s by far the strongest one I have. I sacrifice ‘Gren Maju Da Eiza’ to summon the face of my Soul, the demon king ‘Great Maju Garzett’, a monster whose Attack power is twice the starting Attack of the sacrifice used to summon him! Twice eighty-eight hundred!”
My greatest card, the closest thing to a God card that I had, rose from the ground beneath me, shattering the half of the structure on which I stood. I jumped back as the demon rose, landing on his shoulder, as he looked directly into God’s eyes. ‘Osiris’ launched his Summon Lightning Shot, but ‘Great Maju Garzett’ simply raised his arm, brushing off the attack (17,600-2000=15,600).
“’Great Maju Garzett’,” I commanded, “destroy ‘Osiris’, Vile Energy!” My monster summoned his beam, firing it at the God, ripping him to shreds. He faded away, breaking down into a thick black smoke (5700+13,000-15,600=3100).
“Th-That’s not possible,” Marik exclaimed, eyes wide, horrified, his body frozen in fear as large portions of it melted away and rolled off into the shadows around us, “no normal monster can defeat ‘Osiris’. It doesn’t make sense! No way one kid can beat a God!”
“I didn’t beat ‘Osiris’ alone,” I said, feeling that the spirits of my friends were still there with me. “I beat you with the help of the Duel Force!”
Marik was angry, “I can still win. I just need to take the God back! And I just need one card to do it! But until I get it, I summon ‘Mystic Tomato’ in defense mode.” A giant living tomato appeared, guarding its master.
“Sorry Marik,” I said, “but it’s over. I’m stronger than you now. Even if you were to draw your ‘Monster Reborn’ and call back ‘Osiris’, what would it get you? My monster is still stronger. And if you really do possess the other two Gods as well, there’s no way you can summon them in time, because I’m ending this duel in this turn. When I defeated ‘Osiris’ I freed his from you forever. His allegiances are to me now.
“I draw," I declared, "and I activate ‘Card of Sanctity’ to draw six cards. Next I play the Spell card ‘Magical Designator’, paying half of my Life Points,” more of my body faded away (2800/2=1400), “to take one Spell card from your deck. I choose ‘Monster Reborn’! I activate it now to call a monster from your Graveyard. Be reborn, ‘Sky Dragon of Osiris’!”
A glowing red ankh appeared in the air above behind me, a red bolt of lightning striking through it. From the lightning emerged the massive form of the God, ‘Osiris’, restored to life at my side (ATK: 5000).
“‘Great Maju’, destroy his monster,” I commanded. My demon brandished his palm, and the tomato was blown away instantly. “Go ahead Marik, summon a new monster with the 'Tomato''s effect.”
But Marik could only stare wide-eyed at the God that had appeared before him, struck speechless.
“Okay,” I said, “suit yourself. I’ll help ‘Osiris’ get his revenge against you. ‘Osiris’, finish this, Thunder Force!”
The dragon breathed his light down on Marik, and the Master of the Order melted away. I took a deep breath, and separated my mind from Hiro’s.
I called the Shadows to take me back inside what remained of the ruined structure and searched around for the glowing orb. When I finally found it, it was dark, the spirits inside having been released. I’d done it. Next to the orb I found the God card that I had won, ‘Sky Dragon of Osiris’. I picked it up, feeling the power that lay dormant inside. I looked around. Were the other two cards really here somewhere? If I left now and they were, they might never be found. As dangerous as they were, maybe that was for the best.
I summoned the Shadows to take me home, letting my Soul, returned to normal now, find its way back for me. I arrived outside of the hospital. The rest of the Duel Force was nearby, talking quietly.
Karen was the first to see me. “John!!” she cried, and ran to me. “We thought you didn’t make!” She jumped up and threw her arms around me.
I looked around. There was no sign of the Dark Duel Force. I reasoned that defeating Marik had freed their souls as well. That meant that the Dark Duel Force was still out there somewhere. That they still posed a threat.
That, however, wasn’t something for us to worry about, at least not yet. If the Dark Duel Force attacked, they attacked. We would have to deal with it as it happened. I knew that whatever we faced, we would be okay, because we would face it together.
Card of the Day:
Gren Maju Da Eiza
Played by: John
The third and, at the time of writing this chapter, final "Maju" card, with variable ATK, "Gren Maju" is a card that John has used I think once before, but to much lesser effect. In this chapter we learn that this monster is, with the right preparation, probably the most powerful monster in John's deck.
Continue to Book 4 >>
No comments:
Post a Comment