Hey, it's Slifer the Sky Dragon! Except that he uses his original Japanese name, Osiris, here, since my book doesn't have an Executive Producer with the last name Slifer. Seriously, that's why he's named that in the dub, Google it.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Fight for Their Spirits;
The Power of God!
“I’m about to summon a monster unlike anything you’ve ever seen,” said Marik, “but first, I have to sacrifice three monsters!”
My heart skipped a beat, No way! He can’t! My eyes went wide with fear, and I had trouble breathing.
Ever since the end of the Battle City Tournament three years ago, the God Cards had only been seen a few times. Then they disappeared from Yugi Muto’s deck. Most of the sources I’d checked claimed that Yugi had allowed Pegasus to lock the God Cards away, while others, mostly ones funded by Pegasus himself, stated that the God Cards had been destroyed. Either way, was it possible that Marik had managed to get his hands on one?
“Ah,” Marik said, “I can tell from your expression that you’ve figured out what I have planned. That’s right, I’m sacrificing three monsters to summon a God! As a special treat, I’ll tell you exactly how before you die. Not long ago, I was killed. I was defeated at the Battle City Tournament and sent to the Shadows by the reincarnated Unnamed Pharaoh in our final round duel."
"Wait," I said, unable to resist speaking up despite, what I knew was about to happen, "I saw footage of that tournament. You were defeated by Yugi Muto."
That's when it hit me. Yami was Marik. The Keeper had said that Yami was originally sent to the Shadows by an ancient hero. Marik was beaten and sent to the Shadows by Yugi. "So hold on," I blurted, "does that mean Yugi Muto is a reincarnated hero from ancient Egypt?"
Marik laughed wickedly, "That's right, and I wasn't the only villain he defeated in a Shadow Game during that tournament. Have you gone back and watched footage from the day since you got your magical powers?"
I hadn't, but in that moment I decided that, if I survived this duel, I'd do just that.
"After I was killed," Marik continued, "and banished from my rightful body, I immediately began trying to find my way back. In only a few months’ time, through sheer force of my formidable will, I was able to see events that were taking place in this realm. I seemed to have a lasting special connection with my homeland of Egypt, and I soon began using my new ability to search the ancient magical texts of my people for a way to return.
“My search took six months,” Marik went on, his voice full of pride, “before I discovered a magical rite originally designed to revive the Nameless Pharaoh after his demise three thousand years ago, when the Pharaoh’s spirit was sealed into his Millennium Puzzle, but was abandoned because it could only reproduce the body of a departed person, not their spirit. But if I were to use the rite to recreate my body, I could enter it, and I would be whole again! The only problem was, the rite required the power of the Seven Millennium Items, the most powerful magical artifacts ever created.
"By then, however, the Millennium Items had been destroyed, so I continued my search, this time for a new way to fuel this ancient unnamed magical rite, my only hope to regain what I had lost. It wasn’t long before I discovered the legend of the Twelve Duelist’s Souls, and being a creature no longer of this realm, the curse of the Duelist had no effect on my memory.
“At this time I’d already taught myself to manipulate the Shadows around me to a moderate degree with my will," Marik explained. "Soon I perfected two abilities that would by key to my plans: the power to use the Shadows to create for myself a temporary body, and the power to reach into the minds of other Duelists who had pain or darkness in their hearts and reshape them into my followers,”
I perked up a bit. This part I did care about.
“I reshaped the minds of many young Duelists,” Yami continued, grinning, “gaining the benefit of their numbers and their skills. My minions grew in numbers every day, and the most powerful of them, the original three that made up what became the Dark Duel Force, managed to steal for me the Egyptian God Cards from their place in a vault at Industrial Illusions, replacing them with exact replicas.
"It was about then that my forces located the Burial of the Soul. Because my most powerful three were busy retrieving the Gods, I selected three different, but only somewhat less promising followers, students of my old enemy, Yugi Muto, his rival Seto Kaiba, and game master Maxamillion Pegasus respectively, and sent them to intercept your pathetic team and retrieve the Souls. I'd hoped to restore my body and add the Gods to my deck with my own, true hands, but my minions failed to bring the Souls! You and your team mates had powerful magic of your own on your side, and you were persistent.
“But I was persistent as well!" Marik digressed. "Now my persistence is about to pay off!” He threw up his arms and laughed wildly at nothing but his own wit. “You are about to die by the hand of the first of the Gods sleeping in my deck, and when you do your Soul will be mine and I’ll find the freedom that I so crave!”
“No way Marik,” I said, my mind still reeling with all that I’d just learned. “Show me God, and I’ll destroy it.”
I’m terrified, I thought, and I’m uncertain. I can talk big, but I do I have the cards to defeat a God?
“Hah ha hah!” Marik laughed savagely. “If a pathetic excuse for a Duelist like you can kill God, I’ll give him to you!”
I smiled, “Did you just challenge me, Marik? Because I never, ever fail at a challenge. Summon your God. I’ll defeat him and free him from your control. You’ll be left with even more nothing than you already have!”
“My next monster’s a pretty big one,” said Marik. “Maybe we should take this battle outside.”
“No problem,” I replied. My Soul flared, and both of us and all of our cards were engulfed in Shadows. The Shadows parted, and we found ourselves on the roof of the structure. A violent storm was brewing overhead.
“By the sacrifice of three ‘Freightening Cars’,” Marik declared, “I summon the God of Earth and Sky.” A red bolt of lightning struck the ground far behind him and took on the solid form of a long serpentine creature. “Descend, ‘Sky Dragon of Osiris’!”
The creature swung his head, as large as a two story house, around to face me. He had two mouths, one atop the other, and black spikes running down his back. There were two thin legs a third and two thirds of the way down its body. He had bright yellow eyes, and broad, sky-spanning wings.
“My God’s power is equal to one thousand times the number of cards in my hand." Marik explained. "Since I have ten cards in my hand, my dragon has, how much Attack power?”
My eyes grew wide “T-Ten thousand points?!”
I was overwhelmed. I could feel my psyche begin to split from Hiro’s.
Hiro, I pleaded, help me, how can I beat a God?
I don’t know for sure, Hiro replied. This isn’t something that I can help you through, and the stress of facing the God is breaking our mental connection. Let me take the front of our mind and duel him through you. While I’m dueling, you can look for weaknesses and hopefully come up with a way for us to win this duel!
Can we do that?
I think so, Hiro answered.
Alright, I agreed reluctantly, and I let Hiro take control of my body as I receded into the back of my own mind by the light of my Soul.
Hiro
So far John and I had done poorly. We’d been led around in circles by our enemy’s unusual strategy. The only thing redeeming us in the duel so far was the fact that we’d managed set up a few cards that would at least buy us some time, even if our defenses couldn’t last long against a creature as strong as the one we now faced. As of now I couldn’t think of any card in John’s deck that could defeat a God. All I could do was stall until John came up with a move that we could use, if he could come up with anything at all.
“Now,” Marik declared, finally returning his attention to the battle at hand, “I kill you with the power of my god. ‘Osiris’, destroy the ‘Chaosrider Gustaph’, and take his life!” ‘Osiris’ opened his lower mouth and breathed a beam of brilliant light.
“Reveal,” I countered, “the Trap card ‘Flashing Light Barrier’, protecting my monster and reducing battle damage from your attack by half!” A flashing mass of light appeared in the path of ‘Osiris’’ attack, dispersing most, but not all, of it. I couldn’t help but scream as John's body melted away and our Life Points fell (LP: 3600). John's body still aching painfully, I looked up at Marik with fire in my eyes.
“I have to say,” Marik said, “I’m surprised that the attack alone didn't kill you. Your spirit must be tougher than most. But don’t get cocky, child. You only saved yourself from one of ‘Osiris’’ attacks. And remember, the God’s power increases with every card I draw!”
“Don’t worry,” I replied, “I won’t ever forget this. I draw,” I announced, and I looked down at my newest card. ‘Gren Maju Da Eiza’? That won’t help. But at least it’s another defensive monster.
I was about to place ‘Gren Maju’ on the field in defense mode when John interrupted me.
Wait, he said, don’t play that yet! I have an idea, but we’re gonna need that card and a lot of luck if we’re gonna pull it off.
Will this idea work?
It doesn’t matter, John answered. It’s all that I have.
Alright, I assured him, I’ll just have to use something else for now. Only problem is, if I ever knew ‘Osiris’’ powers from my time as a part of the Forgotten Duelist, I forgot them over the years. That monster could have any number of powerful abilities, and I have no idea what they might be. I’ll have to tread lightly.
Just remember this, John said, for my plan to work you have to put as many monsters in our Graveyard and remove as many cards from play as possible.
I nodded, Got it.
“For my turn,” I announced, “I play the Spell card ‘Swords of Revealing Light’, sealing all of your monsters so that you cannot declare any attacks.” Swords of light rained down, surrounding Marik’s side of the field.
“Nice try,” said Marik, oozing arrogance, “but my ‘Osiris’ in unaffected by Spell and Trap card effects.”
“I assumed so,” I said dismissively. “Oh well, at least your other monsters can’t attack, leaving you with only one attack per turn for the next three turns. I change my monsters to Defense mode (‘Gustaph’: 1200/’Megacyber’: 1600), and I remove ‘Pot of Greed’ from play using ‘Gustaph’’s effect. And finally I summon my ‘Whiptail Crow’ in defense mode as well.”
The orange, whip-tailed demon bird appeared, and Marik began laughing uncontrollably. “What’s so funny?” I asked.
“You triggered my ‘Osiris’’ ability," he answered. "‘Osiris’, attack the ‘Whiptail Crow’ with Summon Lightning Shot!”
‘Osiris’ opened his upper mouth and energy built within it. He fired the energy. It overtook my monster, blowing it away. “You see,” Marik declared, prideful, “whenever you summon a monster in attack mode, ‘Osiris’ attacks that monster and lowers its Attack by two thousand to a minimum of zero. But when you summon a monster in defense mode, ‘Osiris’ attacks it and it loses two thousand Defense, and if its Defense reaches zero or below, it’s destroyed!”
“Thanks for telling me that ahead of time,” I said sarcastically.
“I'm so sorry,” Marik replied, mock apologetically, and laughed again.
I ignored him. “Anyway,” I said bitterly, “I place another card face-down and I end my turn.”
“Then,” Marik said as he drew his card, “let the slaughter begin! Because I have eleven cards in my hand, the Attack of my monster rises to eleven thousand!”
I watched as ‘Osiris’’ power increased, point by point, and I couldn’t help but dwell on the fact that with each point of Attack that the God gained, my chances of victory fell.
Card of the Day:
Slifer the Sky Dragon
(AKA Sky Dragon of Osiris)
Played by: Dark Marik
Was there ever any doubt?
Original Cards in This Chapter:
Original Cards in This Chapter:
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