At this point in the story, John has definitely surpassed the power of his friends and allies. He takes his time, learns the weaknesses of his opponent's deck, and manages to win without even tapping his new powers. Sorry, spoilers, but really did you ever doubt that John would beat this guy?
One Weakness;
Overcome Fiend Roulette
“I end my turn,” said Fiend, “with two Spell cards. My first card will be ‘Heart of Clear Water’ to make my ‘Darkbishop’ impervious to Battle Damage,” a bubble appeared around the ‘Darkbishop’, “and the Field Spell ‘Pandemonium’. Now we continue this little skirmish on my terms.” Curved spires rose from the ground, circling us, boxing us in as the air filled with a pale green mist.
“This,” said Fiend, gesturing proudly, “is the home realm of my Archfiends. As long as this card is active neither player has to pay Life to the Archfiend monsters that they control, and each time you manage to destroy one of my Archfiends with a card effect, I can search my deck for a lower level Archfiend to replace it. Essentially, the greatest weaknesses of my Archfiends are erased for as long as we remain here!”
“That’s fine,” I said, getting pumped up at this point. “That’ll make things more fair, and more interesting. I like a fair fight, and I’ve been interested in Archfiend monsters for a while now.
"I draw,” I declared, “and I sacrifice my ‘Gemini Elf’ to summon an Archfiend of my own, the great skull demon, ‘Summoned Skull’!” The elves disappeared. A bolt of lightning struck the ground where they’d stood. From the lightning emerged a violet-colored skeletal demon, lightning gathering in his massive claws (ATK: 2500).
“‘Summoned Skull’,” I commanded, “destroy the ‘Archfiend Soldier’, Demon Lightning!”
Lightning poured from the demon’s claws into the sky above, gathering into a cloud forming overhead. Then the lightning lanced down from the cloud, pouring over the ‘Archfiend Soldier’. The ‘Soldier’ was vaporized, but my opponent was unharmed.
“I’m done for now,” I said with a smirk. “I end my turn.”
“Draw,” said Fiend. He laughed, “You know, I really had hoped, after all that Yami said about you, that you’d be more of a challenge, but so far you’ve been a complete disappointment. I summon, ‘Terrorking Archfiend’, and I pay five hundred Life Points (6300-500=5800) to summon my ‘Infernalqueen Archfiend’.” The red ‘Infernalqueen’ and the much larger ‘Terrorking’ appeared side by side.
“‘Infernalqueen’’s effect activates,” Fiend explained, “increasing the Attack of my ‘Terrorking’ by one thousand (ATK: 2000+1000=3000/ATK: 900).
“‘Terrorking’ attacks the ‘Summoned Skull’,” ‘Terrorking’ rushed my monster and cleaved him in half at the waist with his sword (8000+2500-3000=7500), “and I attack directly with my remaining monsters.” ‘Darkbishop Archfiend’ raised his staff, and I felt my Life Points burning away (7500-300=7200). I fell to my knees. The ‘Infernalqueen’ ran past me and slashed with her dagger (7200-900=6300). I felt a stinging in my right shoulder. I felt my shoulder and found that I was cut pretty bad. There was blood running down my arm. I held the wound until the bleeding stopped, and then I stood up, looking my opponent in the eyes.
He had more monsters than me, but he was low on cards in his hand. Still, even taking that into account though, I was still in a bad spot. While he had ‘Darkbishop’ out Fiend could use the Fiend Roulette twice for every one of his other Archfiends instead of just once, and while ‘Darkbishop’ was equipped with the ‘Heart of Clear Water’, he couldn’t even be targeted for the effects of Spell cards.
Target, I thought. Wait! That reminds me of something. The article I read about the Archfiend series last year, that talked about the Roulette, what did it say? Something about how the power of the Fiend Roulette was considered too great, so it was limited just before the final versions were approved for printing. The version that was approved only allowed the Fiend Roulette to counter effects that targeted an Archfiend monster specifically.
I smiled, forming a plan, That means that cards that affect multiple monsters at once, or cards that don't call for the player to declare a target, will activate without even setting the Roulette off. That’s why the Roulette didn’t trigger against my ‘Waboku’ card! I have a few cards in my deck that affect multiple monsters. Looks like I’ll have to rely on those cards more than the rest in this duel.
I looked through my hand. The only monster I had was the ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’, and I had no cards in my hand with effects that didn’t designate a target, but the card I’d just drawn to begin my turn could be of serious help.
“I activate ‘Graceful Charity’,” I declared, “drawing three cards and discarding two from my hand.”
I drew, and I got a few powerful cards, but none that would get me out of this predicament. I did, however, get a card that would give me another chance. I sent my ‘Darkness Approaches’ and ‘Red-Eyes’ to the Graveyard, and declared, “Next I activate ‘Pot of Greed’, letting me draw two more cards.” I drew again, and thought, Bingo!
“I set one monster,” I said, “and end my turn.”
“I guess I’ve got you running scared,” Fiend said. “Perfect. That’s Check!”
He chose a card from his hand, “I activate ‘Card of Demise’. I can draw until I hold five cards, as long as I agree to give up my entire hand in five turns. I chain ‘Emergency Provisions’ before my ‘Card of Demise’ can resolve, sending ‘Card of Demise’ to the Graveyard to gain one thousand Life Points (5800+1000=6800).
“I continue,” Fiend declared, “with the ‘Shadowknight Archfiend’.” An Archfiend with long blue hair, a sword arm and a claw arm appeared (ATK: 2000). “Then I pay five hundred Life Points to summon a second copy of ‘Vilepawn Archfiend’.” A new ‘Vilepawn’ appeared, his sword raised (ATK: 1200).
“Finally I activate the effect of my ‘Infernalqueen’ again, increasing the attack of ‘Terrorking’ even further,” ‘Terrorking’’s aura burned bright (ATK: 3000+1000=4000).
“With all five of my monsters attacking at once,” Fiend explained, “I have enough power to cause you sixty-four hundred points of damage, more than enough to kill you right now, and even if your face-down monster has an effect to destroy one of my monsters, I have the Fiend Roulette to protect me.
“I attack in this order: ‘Shadowknight’, ‘Darkbishop’, ‘Vilepawn’, ‘Infernalqueen’, ‘Terrorking’. That’s Checkmate!”
“Not exactly,” I said, smiling wide, “because my monster is one that you clearly didn’t count on.”
My monster card flipped up, and my hidden monster appeared from the darkness. It was a pot covered in mechanical parts and wires. Where the opening of the pot should have been there was a lens that looked like a robotic eye above a mechanical mouth. The mouth slid open and the eye lit up.
“My monster is the powerful ‘Cyber Jar’,” I explained. “When flipped up, ‘Cyber Jar’ destroys every monster on the field. Then we both pick up five cards, show them to each other, and then either Special Summon or Set every level four or lower monster among those cards, adding the rest to our hands.” A beam from the monster’s eye swept across the field, destroying all of Fiend’s monsters, and then my ‘Cyber Jar’ self-destructed.
Fiend and I both picked up five cards and placed them on our five monster card zones. Holograms of the cards appeared above our heads. My cards were ‘Skull Lair’, ‘Makyura the Destructor’, ‘Polymerization’, ‘Sword of Dark Destruction’, and ‘Sangan’. Fiend’s cards were ‘Dice Re-Roll’, ‘Archfiend’s Oath’, ‘Archfiend Soldier’, ‘Vilepawn Archfiend’, and ‘Desrook Archfiend’. Fiend summoned ‘Archfiend Soldier’ and ‘Vilepawn’ in attack mode (ATK: 1900/ATK: 1200), and the castle-tower-shaped demon ‘Desrook Archfiend’ in defense mode (DEF: 1800). I summoned both of my monsters in defense mode.
“Thanks to your monster’s effect,” said Fiend, unshaken by the loss of so many of his monsters, “I can search my deck for up to five Archfiends using the effect of ‘Pandemonium’, but I’ll only need four.” He fanned out his deck and picked four cards, adding them to his hand.
“Now,” Fiend continued, “I attack ‘Makyura the Destructor’ with ‘Archfiend Soldier’.” ‘Makyura’, an armored warrior wearing a mask bearing an Egyptian eye symbol, or Wdjat eye, and wielding metal claws (DEF: 1200), was slashed apart by the Archfiend’s claws. “And I attack ‘Sangan’ with ‘Vilepawn Archfiend’,” Fiend declared. The second monster cut the three-eyed fur ball ‘Sangan’ in half with his blade.
“Because ‘Sangan’ was sent to the Graveyard,” I explained, “I can move a monster with low attack from my deck to my hand.” I fanned out my deck and picked my card.
“My turn ends,” said Fiend, “and I can activate the effect of a monster in my hand. I discard my second ‘Desrook Archfiend’ to revive the ‘Terrorking Archfiend’ destroyed during this turn.” ‘Terrorking’ returned, spread hid ragged wings, and roared (ATK: 2000).
“I chain,” I declared, “a Trap from my hand, using ‘Makyura’’s effect. Activate, ‘Call of the Haunted’, Special Summoning ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’ to the field.” My dragon appeared, spread his wings and roared back, putting the ‘Terrorking’ in perspective (ATK: 2400).
“I draw,” I announced, “and I activate ‘Monster Reborn’, calling ‘Summoned Skull’ back to the field as well, and I play ‘Polymerization’, fusing ‘Red-Eyes’ and ‘Summoned Skull’ into the mighty ‘Black Skull Dragon’!”
The skeletal demon appeared alongside my dragon, and the two merged together, becoming a strong and bulky skeletal dragon with dark gray and violet skin hanging thin over its muscle and bone, massive claws, and bright red eyes. Flames burned within his snarling maw. He looked up, opened his mouth, and roared, spewing flames up into the air (ATK: 3200).
“Next I activate the Spell card ‘Lightning Vortex’," I continued, "discarding ‘D.D. Warrior Lady’ to activate it.” Lightning rained down on Fiend’s monsters, spreading from the ‘Terrorking’ to the others, vaporizing them before Fiend's very eyes. For the first time since the duel began, he seemed worried.
“Finally, I summon my final monster," I said, "the one I added to my hand by ‘Sangan’’s effect. The last monster you’ll ever see. I sacrifice ‘Black Skull Dragon’ to summon the face of my Soul. Appear before me, ‘Great Maju Garzett’!”
My dragon seemed to melt away, becoming thick black smoke. The smoke reformed, becoming a massive brown skeletal demon with red crystal orbs in both shoulders and in his forehead. He opened his yellow eyes and spat a ferocious growl (ATK: 6400).
“‘Maju Garzett’, pick up the ‘Sword of Dark Destruction’,” I commanded. A black sword appeared in his right hand. He raised it over his head and it was surrounded by an evil aura (6400+400-6800). I smirked and looked Fiend in the eyes. He had a look of pure terror and disbelief. Clearly he never expected something like this could ever happen.
“‘Great Maju Garzett’,” I commanded, “punish this jerk for what he did to my friends. Vile Energy!”
My monster thrust his palm, releasing a beam that overtook Fiend’s body completely. His Life Points fell to zero and I gave him a thumbs down, “that’s Checkmate.”
Archfiend Ruler’s once wild eyes went blank. I felt his soul enter the Shadows. And that’s when I got an idea. Yami, I’m coming for you!
I stepped into the Shadows and located Fiend’s soul within them. I could follow it, leading me straight to Yami, but who or what would I find waiting for me when I reached him?
Card of the Day:
Cyber Jar
Played by: John
John doesn't use this monster often, but when he does it always makes a big impact. Still, this card is powerful enough that, from a writing standpoint, I limited its use to "in case of emergency: break jar" kinds of situations.
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