So here we actually have someone address Karen's recent uncertainty, if only in his own inner dialogue. I figure that Max would have heard stories about Karen and her ruthless, cold, chessmaster persona during her time in the Order, and he would be disappointed by the way she is acting now. He's frustrated, because he suspects, rightly so, that if he were fighting alongside Duelists of the Order Karen, they would have won.
Chapter Eighteen
Karen Falls to Fear
Max
Fiend drew his card and began his turn. “First,” he declared, “I manage Life Points (Fiend: 1650 -> 350/Me: 5100 -> 3000). Next I place a card face-down, and I reveal the Spell card ‘Emergency Provisions’, sending my face-down card, ‘Battle-Scarred’, and ‘Life-Absorbing Machine’ to the Graveyard to recover one thousand Life Points for each card (350+3000=3350)."
The pair of cards that had caused me and my partner so much trouble disappeared, but I didn't feel good about it. The only reason that Fiend would get rid of them was if he had something worse planned.
"I also activate ‘Infernalqueen’’s effect again," Fiend continued, "increasing my ‘Terrorking’’s Attack by another one thousand (3000+1000 =4000). Finally, I discard ‘Ultimate Offering’ on hand to activate ‘Tribute to the Doomed’, destroying ‘Reaper on the Nightmare’.”
The ground opened up beneath my monster. Mummy wraps burst from the broken ground, reaching toward my monster, threatening to pull him down into an early grave. The wraps, however, were deflected by a barrier projected from a mask that appeared over my monster’s face.
“Reveal,” I declared, “the Trap card ‘Mask of the Undead’, negating your card. Come on. You seem to know all about us. You didn’t really expect a move like that to affect me, did you?”
Fiend only smiled and said, “I attack the ‘Toon Mermaid’ with ‘Terrorking Archfiend’, Checkmate Slash!”
“Not on your life,” countered Karen. “Reveal two-card combo, ‘Physical Double’ and ‘Staunch Defender’, summoning a ‘Mirage Token’ in the form of your monster and sending the ‘Mirage Token’ to block your attack.”
Suddenly everything seemed to pause, including ‘Terrorking’’s attack and the half molded ball of living clay that was ‘Mirage Token’, and the Fiend Roulette appeared. “I’m sure you were watching my duel with your ally,” said Fiend, “so I’m sure you know what this ability does and how it works. The magic numbers this time around are one, three, and five.”
The fire danced from orb to orb, finally stopping on three. Fiend chuckled and said, “Too bad. Looks like my attack will hit after all.” The ‘Terrorking’ slashed, slicing the ‘Mermaid’ in half. “I take another piece,” said Fiend. “Now I hope you don’t mind if I reset the board.” He spread his arms wide and curved bony spires rose up all around us, “Duel Force, welcome to ‘Pandemonium’!”
John
“My turn,” I announced. Okay, I only have a few turns left before he'll finally wear me down. My face-down card is my best chance. I just have to use it right. “I draw,” I declared, and looked at my card. Bingo! “Reveal ‘Double Spell’, discarding the spell card I just top-decked to activate a Spell card from your Graveyard, a Spell like ‘Card of Sanctity’!”
I drew six cards from my deck and looked them over. I almost laughed when I realized how lucky I'd just gotten. “My next card will be a Ritual, the ‘Contract with Dark Master’,” I explained. A black fire flared up behind me, “I sacrifice my ‘Fiend Megacyber’ and my ‘Night Assailant’ on hand to Ritual Summon the demon Game Master.”
Out of the fire emerged a bare-chested demon with long purple horns and a red cape that could become a pair of broad and powerful wings if he so chose, “Introducing the ‘Dark Master – Zorc’ (ATK: 2700)!
“My monster reflects my true talents in gaming: tabletop role playing games. I’m better at those than anything else. You see,” I explained to my opponent, “my ‘Dark Master’ has a very special ability known as Attack Dice! Once per turn I can roll a six-sided dice and activate an effect based on the roll, the lower the roll, the more powerful the result.”
I held out my palm and a dice appeared from the darkness swirling around us. With a flick of my wrist I sent the dice skipping across the sandy stone floor. It finally stopped on a one. I stood with my arms crossed and said, “Super Critical! Activate my monster's special attack, Zorc Black Magic, Dark Catastrophe! This attack has enough power to destroy every monster you control!”
‘Zorc’ rose high into the air and raised his palms, aiming them at Keeper’s field. Energy built in his palms. 'Zorc' fired the energy at the ‘Ghost of Egypt’, and the resulting explosion vaporized him, blossomed outward, and vaporized the rest of Keeper’s monsters as well before fading away.
“Next,” I said, “I activate ‘Mystical Space Typhoon’, destroying the ‘Ordeal of a Traveler’.” A gust of wind tore the hologram of Keeper’s card to shreds. “You now have no way to defend yourself. ‘Zorc’ attacks!”
‘Zorc’ fired a wave of dark energy at the Keeper (5800-2700=3100).
"I also attack directly with ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’," I declared, "Inferno Fire Blast!” ‘Red-Eyes’’s fire rained down over Keeper’s field. He was hit, but seemed completely unharmed (3100-2400=700).”
“I end my turn,” I said, “with one card face-down.”
“And I draw,” said Keeper, finally looking impressed, “and I’ll summon ‘Pyramid Turtle’ in defense mode as a Special Summon using the effect of my ‘Call of the Mummy’.” As he spoke a huge turtle with a pyramid for a shell appeared behind him (DEF: 1400). “I also summon my ‘Sangan’ in defense mode.” A three-eyed brown fur ball appeared at Keeper’s feet (DEF: 600).
“Reveal,” I countered, “the Continuous Trap card ‘Skull Lair’. I remove three monsters in my Graveyard from play to destroy your level three ‘Sangan’.” An energy ball formed just ahead of me. I commanded it forward and it engulfed the fur ball, vaporizing it. Using ‘Sangan’’s effect Keeper searched his deck for a new monster to place in his hand. Too bad for him he wouldn’t get to use it.
“I begin my turn,” I declared, “with the Spell card ‘Painful Choice’. I pick five cards from deck and you pick one. That card is added to my hand, and the others are discarded. Of course, because they are all monsters, you know what’s coming.”
I sent four of the cards to the Graveyard and said, “I re-activate ‘Skull Lair’, removing four monsters in my Graveyard from play to destroy the level four ‘Pyramid Turtle’.” An energy ball blasted the pyramid on the turtle’s back, shattering it. Chunks of stone rained down on the turtle’s head, crushing it. It became smoke and faded away.
“Now,” I declared triumphantly, “I strike the finishing blow. ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’, finish this duel. Attack with Inferno Fire Blast!”
My dragon launched its attack with a roar, and in a violent torrent of smoke and flames the duel finally ended (700-2400=0).
Max
“I draw,” said Karen. She was frustrated and nervous, her hands shaking. She was a great Duelist, but since this duel had started I’d gotten the sense that there was something wrong. I sensed guilt resulting from her actions under Yami's control, and I got a feeling that dueling simply didn't hold much interest for her anymore. I knew she didn’t want to be here, fighting with the weapons which she had used to do so much evil in another's name, but she knew that she didn’t have a choice. It was making her weak, and the worst part was, I don't think that she even realized it yet.
For a Duelist, such weakness and such a lack of self awareness is unacceptable, and something that I would usually condemn that Duelist for, but I owed Karen. Because of her joining up with the Duel Force, they were more accepting of me when the time came. So I stood by her side and kept fighting to repay my debt.
“For my next move,” Karen declared, “I summon my ‘Thousand-Eyes Idol’, and I activate ‘Black Illusion Ritual’, sacrificing my ‘Idol’ to summon my strongest card.”
A pot-shaped creature with many eyes appeared. It was caught in a black flame and infused with power, changing form. It became a creature more bizarre than any other in Duel Monsters. It looked like a sphere resting on a disk, two spikes protruding from the disk, with strong arms. In the center of its chest was a small sphere bearing an Egyptian-style eye symbol. The creature was blue and gray in color (ATK: 0).
“Once per turn,” Karen explained, “my monster can assimilate any other monster on the field, gaining all of its attack and defense. ‘Relinquished’, go, Assimilation Spell! Absorb his key monster, the ‘Terrorking Archfiend’!” The ‘Relinquished’’s body opened, forming two flaps, and revealing an opening that served to draw monsters inside. A powerful suction drew the ‘Terrorking’ toward ‘Relinquished’, and suddenly everything paused again as the Fiend Roulette appeared yet again. The flame danced from number to number, stopping on a one.
No, I thought. I looked over at Karen. She'd been stupid and used another targeting effect against the Archfiend and fallen prey to its Fiend Roulette again, and now she had no moves left. The Karen who I'd heard stories of during my time in the Order would have never made a mistake like that. She'd have come up with an entirely different way to fight back, and seized control of the duel. But instead she was shaking even harder than before, and she was so frustrated that she was growing teary-eyed. “I end my turn,” she said. Her voice was tense and full of fear. I probably should have said something to comfort her, but I didn’t know what to say, and quite frankly I was too disappointed with her to have meant it, anyway.
“I draw,” I declared. I don’t know how to help you, Karen, I thought, but I’ll do everything I can to protect you from this enemy instead. I owe you that much if nothing else. I smiled confidently and said, “I start my move by sacrificing my ‘Spirit Reaper’ and my ‘Chaosrider Gustaph’ to summon my ‘Despair from the Dark’.” My two weaker monsters disappeared, and they were replaced by a massive shadow that rose out of the ground. It had red eyes and long, strong claws (ATK: 2800).
“Now I increase the power of my monsters with the Spell card ‘Pyramid Energy’, increasing the Attack of both of my monsters by two hundred (‘Despair from the Dark’: 2800+200 =3000/ ‘Reaper on the Nightmare’: 800+200=1000/Karen’s LP: 1300+500=1800). “I attack with ‘Reaper on the Nightmare’ and destroy your ‘Infernalqueen Archfiend’,” ‘Reaper’ brought his scythe down, slicing the ‘Infernalqueen’ in half (3350+900-1000=3250).
“Because ‘Infernalqueen’ is gone,” I explained, “her effect ends. This means that your ‘Terrorking’ loses all Attack bonuses that he gained from her (4000-2000=2000). Now that your ‘Terrorking’’s power has returned to normal and I don’t have to worry about him anymore, I have ‘Despair from the Dark’ attack the ‘Toon Summoned Skull’, Terror Claw Strike!”
My monster’s arms stretched toward the demon Toon, slicing him to pieces (3250+2500-3000=2750). With the once-formidable monster gone, the field was much safer and I began to relax, which was, of course, a huge mistake.
“My move,” said Fiend, still completely un-fazed by my attacks, so much so that he actually seemed to be enjoying himself.
“You made a mistake,” Fiend explained. “You took the Knight, not the King.
"Activate,” Fiend declared, “the Spell card ‘Heavy Storm’, destroying every Spell and Trap card on the field (Karen’s LP: 1800+500=2300).” A heavy gale picked up and tore every Spell and Trap card on the field to pieces. Everything, including the Field card ‘Pandemonium’, was gone, the bony spires fading away, and the green mist lifting. Even Karen’s ‘Toon World’ wasn’t immune to the effects of the enemy's card. I scowled knowingly, and Karen actually took a fearful step back from our opponent.
“Next,” Fiend continued excitedly, “I equip ‘Reaper on the Nightmare’ with ‘Black Pendant’, but because ‘Reaper’ was targeted by an effect, his second effect activates, and he’s destroyed!”
A necklace with a black stone in it appeared around my ‘Reaper’’s neck, it’s magic mixing negatively with his, causing him to melt away. The necklace rose into the air and fired bolts of black energy at me and Karen, dealing damage to our Life Points.
“When ‘Black Pendant’ is destroyed,” Fiend explained, “you each take five hundred points of damage (3000-500=2500/2300-500=1800). Now I activate the Spell card ‘Monster Reborn’, returning my defeated ‘Vilepawn’ to the field, and I’ll go one step further and summon the ‘Pandemonium Watchbear’ as well.”
The ‘Vilepawn’ reappeared alongside a large red bear wearing a chain collar (ATK: 1200/ ATK: 1300).
“I equip ‘Vilepawn’,” Fiend announced, “with one of your least favorite cards, the ‘Black Pendant’, and I sacrifice ‘Vilepawn’ to activate my Ace Card, ‘Checkmate’!”
‘Vilepawn’, the ‘Black Pedant’ hanging around his neck, became a cloud of black smoke that was drawn into the ‘Terrorking’’s body. 'Terrorking' was surrounded by a dark aura. From his aura lanced a bolt of energy that hit us both via the ‘Pendant’’s effect (1800-500=1300/2500-500=2000).
“Now to wrap this up,” Fiend declared, his expression contorting into one of sick pleasure, “I attack the girl with my ‘Pandemonium Watchbear’!”
I looked over at Karen. I was shocked by how easily our opponent had overcome every move we’d made, without us even realizing just how easy a time he was having. Some of it was the fault of Karen's shortsightedness, but a lot of our troubles came from Fiend's overwhelming strategy. Here he was attacking my ally, someone who I’d sworn to protect, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it, short of letting him kill me instead, and that was something that I couldn’t justify with the way Karen had been playing today.
The red bear ran toward Karen and slashed with his claws, bringing one of the strongest people I’d ever known to her knees.
(1300-1300=0).
Archfiend Ruler looked me right in the eyes, “Check.”
Card of the Day:
Dark Master - Zorc
Played by: John
In the last book, John mentions that of all the games that he's skilled at, he considers himself best as tabletop role-playing games, like the premier RPG of the Yu-Gi-Oh! world, called Monster World, of which "Zorc" here is the villain. It makes sense that this card would find its way into John's deck, and be one of his most potent and prolific resources going forward.
Original Cards in This Chapter:
Original Cards in This Chapter:
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