Wow, this chapter is short. I wish I could think of something to pad it out with to fix that. I think I originally planned for Kimi's duel with Ghost to go on longer, but it got redundant so I cut some of it out. On the bright side, its a landmark chapter in that is the first time that chapter ten of one of my books hasn't been all exposition. So, you know, yay!
Chapter TenDouble K.O. of Zoma the Spirit
Everything had come together. I'd managed to summon 'Shinato', the rarest monster I owned, and one of the most powerful monsters in the game. He radiated power, the power of my Duelist's Soul, and looking up at him, still bathing in the light of the 'Arc', Ghost Ruler looked nervous for the first time. But he didn't know the half of it. 'Shinato' wasn't just a big stick. I had a strategy to go with him. A strategy that wouldn't even allow my opponent to defend. I wouldn't relent. Ghost Ruler had accomplished a monumental feet during my duel with him: he had made me angry. He would live to regret that.
“This duel ends,” I declared, “when I summon the Spirit Monster ‘Tsukuyomi’.” A woman in a long navy robe appeared on the field (ATK: 1100). “When ‘Tsukuyomi’ is summoned," I explained, "I can change the battle position of any face-up monster to defense position. I choose ‘Dark Ruler Ha Des’ (DEF: 1600), and then attack it with ‘Shinato’’s Celestial Ring!”
My monster, a tall male angel with blue skin and six golden wings, wearing Hindu garbs, emerged from the fading glow of the ‘Arc’, his hands raised. Six shining spheres appeared and spun in a circle until they formed a golden ring that shot forward and cut ‘Ha Des’ in half. “Now,” I explained, “because your monster was destroyed while in defense mode, you take damage equal to his Attack points. Because you only have twenty-three hundred fifty Life Points left, you’ll die!”
Ghost had beads of sweat running down the side of his face, but he acted as if the effect of my monster hadn't surprised him. “I doubt that,” he countered, “because I was prepared for something like this. Reveal, the Counter Trap ‘Trap of Board Eraser’, negating effect damage to my Life Points.”
‘Shinato’ fired a beam of light at Ghost, but a barrier came up, deflecting the light. “Also,” said Ghost, “you have to discard a random card from your hand.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said dismissively, “because at the end of my turn my ‘Tsukuyomi’ returns to my hand, meaning that I can use its effect next turn as well. If not this turn, then you’ll die next turn, or the turn after. It doesn’t matter. No matter what you do, I will make you feel the pain of a hundred deaths at the hands of my ‘Shinato’ for what you’ve put us through today!”
Ghost laughed almost hysterically, “Do you think I care?! The taste of death sustains me! Mine, yours, I don’t care! I live for it! Now do your worst. Entertain me if you can. Turn end!”
“Suite yourself." I told him, not letting on how much he'd just managed to intimidate me. "I draw (2050+500=2550), and I summon ‘Tsukuyomi’, changing your ‘Earl of Demise' to defense mode! Attack, Celestial Ring!” ‘Shinato’ released his attack. It tore through the gentleman ghost and hit Ghost Ruler. He cried out in pain, but his cries became a fit of maniacal laughter as his Life Points fell to dangerous levels (2350-2000=350).
Ghost drew. “Uh oh. All I can do is set a card and end my turn!”
“Then it ends now,” I said, drawing a card (2550+500=3050). “This is for Kris and Rocky. ‘Shinato’, kill ‘Dark Necrofear’, Celestial Ring!”
Ghost smiled wide, “I don’t think so. If I’m gonna die, I’m gonna take you with me. Reveal, my greatest two card combo, ‘Zoma the Spirit’ and ‘Call of the Earthbound’! When used together, these two cards let me summon the ectoplasmic ghost ‘Zoma the Spirit’ and allows it to intercept your attack!”
A ghostly form made of a semi-solid mist appeared and moved to take the brunt of ‘Shinato’’s attack (ATK: 1800). The Celestial Ring cut through the creature, and it seemed to break down into mist. The ring continued through and hit Ghost in the chest (350+1800-3300=0). He was thrown onto his back. “Good try,” I said, “but this duel is over.”
But before my eyes, Ghost struggled into a sitting position, a wide smile spread across his face. “’Zoma’,” he said, “Ectoplasm Attack!” He fell back, his lifeless face frozen in a wicked sneer as his spirit was stripped away. The mist took form, resembling the dead monster ‘Zoma’. It plunged through my chest, and I felt like my soul was burning (3050-3300=0).
The last thing I remember as I felt my spirit torn from my body was a pang of fear gripping my heart, and the echo of Ghost Ruler’s horrific laughter following me to my fate.
Monty
“Well,” said Spiky Hair as Lawrence and I moved Kimi over to lie beside her three fallen allies. “That was quite an unusual conclusion. I never even considered that Ghost Ruler wouldn’t survive a Shadow Game against someone of such low level. Oh well. He wasn’t even close to our strongest. All it means is that you losers are a bit more powerful than I realized. War Ruler. Guardian Ruler. You’re up.”
The muscular man and the young man in his twenties stepped forward. Based on their posture, and the fact that they seemed completely unsurprised by the outcome of the previous duel, I could tell that they were strong. In fact, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they were willing to take us all on at once. But that wasn’t the plan.
“This is supposed to be two on one,” I argued, trying to steer the Game back on course.
“You never said that,” Spiky Hair replied evilly. “In fact you specified very few rules at the start of this game. In fact all you said is that it would be two of you fighting. Feel lucky that I didn’t choose to interpret that particular statement as two of you fighting all of us at once.”
That shut me up, even if I wasn’t happy about it. I nodded at Lawrence and he and I stepped forward to face the two enemy Duelists, “Fine, we’ll be your opponents.”
“And,” said Lawrence, as impulsive as ever, “I’m going first.”
He drew, “For my opening move, I activate ‘Super Rejuvenation’. At the end of the turn I draw one card for every Dragon that I discarded or sacrificed during the turn. Next I play ‘Graceful Charity’, drawing three cards and then discarding two, both dragons. And I'll summon my ‘Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands’ to the field.” A fairy with thousands upon thousands of arms appeared, his entire body glowing with a golden light (DEF: 1000).
“When ‘Manju’ is summoned,” Lawrence explained, “I can add my ‘White Dragon Ritual’ to my hand from my deck and activate it, sacrificing the ‘Spirit Ryu’ in my hand to summon ‘Paladin of White Dragon’!”
On Lawrence’s field appeared a second monster. He wore gleaming white armor and rode aback a small white dragon (ATK: 1900).
“Next,” said Lawrence, “I summon ‘Kaibaman’.” A man appeared, wearing a white suite and a helm resembling the head of a ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragon’, carrying a Duel Monsters card in his right hand (ATK: 300). “I sacrifice ‘Kaibaman’ and ‘Paladin of White Dragon’ to summon two copies of the ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragon’, one from my hand, and one from my deck!”
Lawrence’s monsters disappeared, and in their place appeared two of the legendary white dragons. They spread their wings and roared their signature roar (ATK: 3000).
“Now,” said Lawrence, “I end my turn, and because I sacrificed or discarded a total of four Dragon-type monsters, I draw four new cards!”
Lawrence crossed his arms defiantly, and I stood calmly with my right arm behind my back. Things might not be easy for us in this duel, I thought, but I’m gonna help Lawrence make sure things are even harder for our opponents. No matter what the cost, we will stop them here!
Card of the Day:
Shinato, King of a Higher Plane
Played by: Kimi
At the time of the original draft of this chapter, this monster was one of the biggest and scariest in the game. It still would be today if it had any built-in defenses. The fact that Kimi owns it is impressive, and the fact that she is able to use it to take down a clearly much more experienced Duelist is even more impressive.
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