Following what is mostly a lighthearted book up to this point, we get a chapter where John must decide if he will kill a man to save others. Lovely.
Chapter NineThe Coming Exodus;
The Three Gods vs. Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord
“So you’re the one whose power has been upsetting the ‘Ultimate Forbidden Lord’,” Exodus stated as the shadows around us deepened.
I didn’t respond, ignoring the extra strain placed on my body by the Shadow Game at hand. I tried to reach out to Hiro, but either he’d heard my earlier revelation and was ignoring me, or Exodus was blocking him somehow, probably without even realizing it. I could draw on his strength, but not his skill.
“Your power will soon belong to the ‘Ultimate Forbidden Lord’,” said Exodus in a matter-of-fact tone that told me that this was a job to him, a responsibility placed upon him by the evil card as much as a desire of his own. “I activate the Spell card ‘Graceful Charity’ allowing me to draw three cards, and then discard two cards, my ‘Nubian Guard’ and ‘Right Arm of the Forbidden One’. Next I shuffle the monsters already in my Graveyard back into my deck to summon ‘Exodius, the Ultimate Forbidden Lord’!”
I watched as a swirling black aura rose up behind Exodus. In the center of the aura appeared a large humanoid monster with dark skin wearing Ancient Egyptian garbs, a black shoulder dress and a black headdress, identical in design to the shoulder dress and headdress worn by the legendary monster ‘Exodia’. The ‘Forbidden Lord’ flexed his thick, muscular arms (ATK: 0).
It might have zero Attack power now, I thought, but it’s still a God, so its current strength could be deceptive. And it’s sure as hell easier to summon than any of my Gods. I need to stay on my toes.
“The ‘Forbidden Lord’,” Exodus explained, “gains one thousand Attack for every Normal Monster in my Graveyard. He can also mill one monster from my hand or deck as he attacks, each time he attacks, and if he mills all five pieces of the legendary God ‘Exodia’, I can summon ‘Exodia’ and use his infinite power to destroy my opponent without contest.”
Well, I thought, that’s something.
“Next,” said Exodus, “I activate ‘Painful Choice’. I choose five cards from my deck and show them to you. You pick one to let me keep in my hand, and the rest go to the Graveyard.”
He searched his deck and then showed me three copies of ‘Pharaonic Protector’ and two copies of ‘Pharaoh’s Servant’.
“Add the ‘Protector’ to your hand,” I said. Exodus sent the remaining four cards to his Graveyard, and ‘Exodius’ gained four thousand Attack points (ATK: 4000). In addition, his monster grew in size, the dark aura returning and glowing around him.
“Two cards face-down,” said Exodus, “and I end my turn.”
“Then it's time for me to destroy your God,” I said. I wasn’t being smug and I wasn’t bluffing. “I draw, and I discard one card to activate ‘Dark Core’, removing your monster from play.”
A dark orb appeared above the ‘Forbidden God’, threatening to pull him into it, but ‘Exodius’ seemed to flicker out, only reappearing once the dark orb had run its course and faded away.
“I activate,” said Exodus, “the Counter Trap card ‘Dark Illusion’, negating any effect that targets a Dark monster.”
I smiled, Well, now I know it’s a Dark monster, not a Divine monster. That means it’s vulnerable to Spells and Traps.
“In that case I play ‘Monster Reborn’,” I declared, a glowing red ankh appearing behind me. “With the power of this Spell card I revive the monster that I sent to the Graveyard to activate ‘Dark Core’’s effect, the God card ‘Obelisk the Tormentor’!”
The red ankh flashed and faded away, and a massive blue soldier with huge fists, a fiendish face, spiked shoulders and broad, powerful wings appeared. He towered over even ‘Exodius’, standing as tall as the stadium itself (ATK: 4000).
“Since ‘Obelisk’ will only remain in play for the turn,” I said, “I don’t think he’ll mind taking your God with him. ‘Obelisk’, attack with Fist of Fate!”
A yellow light appeared around ‘Obelisk’’s right fist and he punched at ‘Exodius’. ‘Exodius’ raised his left arm, desperately trying to hold back his foe’s attack.
“Reveal,” said Exodus, completely unconcerned, “the Trap card ‘Fine’, letting me discard two cards from my hand.” He discarded ‘Pharaonic Protector’ and ‘Pharaoh’s Servant’ from his hand, and ‘Exodius’ grew even larger, growing until he was nearly as tall as ‘Obelisk’ himself (ATK: 4000+2000=6000). His arms and fists bulked up and he punched ‘Obelisk’ in the gut, destroying him and reducing him to wisps of smoke (8000+4000-6000=6000).
No, ‘Obelisk’ failed!
I coughed and fought back the pain I experienced as a result of my plummeting Life. I couldn’t believe it! One of the Three Gods had been beaten, and the power of Exodus’ monster would only continue to grow. I had to come up with a new plan fast.
“I place one card face-down,” I said, breathing heavily, “and end my turn.”
“Draw,” Exodus called, “and I place a card of my own face-down, set a monster, and attack, sending ‘Right Arm of the Forbidden One’ to the Graveyard (ATK: 6000 +1000=7000).” ‘Exodius’ bulked up his arms again and punched, but his attack was repelled by an invisible force.
“You triggered my ‘Negate Attack’ card,” I said, “halting your attack and ending your turn.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that my Trap could even affect his monster, “Now I draw, and I activate ‘Pot of Greed’.” I drew two cards, “I summon ‘D.D. Warrior Lady’.”
My female warrior appeared, brandishing her beam sword (ATK: 1500).
“Any monster that battles with my ‘Warrior Lady’,” I explained, “is immediately removed from play. My Life Points will fall, but your God will be dead.” My warrior lunged, and I steeled myself against the coming impact. ‘Exodius’ raised his hand, aiming his palm at her, and she hit an invisible wall and was repelled, spiraling through the air and falling heavily at my side.
What? Does his God have another effect?
“Reveal,” said Exodus, “the Continuous Trap ‘Defense Seal Wall’. As long as I control this card and ‘Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord’ your monsters cannot attack. Now I draw, and I Flip Summon ‘Mask of Darkness’, returning ‘Dark Illusion’ to my hand.”
A yellow clay mask appeared (ATK: 900).
“I set a card,” Exodus continued, “and I end my turn.”
That face-down card is obviously ‘Dark Illusion’, I reasoned, which means next turn when he attacks my monster he can use it to negate her effect. This guy’s really good.
For a moment I found myself enjoying the duel, but I caught myself. I couldn't allow myself to become distracted from my goal.
“I change ‘D.D. Warrior Lady’ to defense mode (DEF: 1600)," I declared, "and I’ll activate my own ‘Painful Choice’ card.”
I fanned out my deck and picked five cards. I showed them to my opponent. They were ‘Sky Dragon of Osiris’, ‘Jinzo’, ‘Summoned Skull’, ‘Dark Ruler Ha Des’, and ‘The Fiend Megacyber’.
“I can see from the aura around that ‘Megacyber’ card that it’s your favorite, so I’ll let you hold it in your hand as I kill you.” Exodus told me, smiling with confidence.
“It won’t stay in my hand,” I told him. “I tribute ‘D.D. Warrior Lady’ to summon ‘The Fiend Megacyber’ in defense mode.”
The yellow warrior appeared, crouching down and crossing his arms over his chest, forming a living wall between me and the opposing monster (DEF: 1600).
“I draw,” said Exodus. “You shouldn’t have summoned your monster,” Exodus told me. “Now that you did, I’m going to have to destroy it. I attack your ‘Fiend Megacyber’, sending ‘Left Arm of the Forbidden One’ to the Graveyard (ATK: 7000 +1000=8000).”
‘Exodius’ punched, crushing my monster. “Now,” said Exodus, “I attack you directly with ‘Mask of Darkness’.”
Alright, I thought as the mask slammed into me rather painfully (6000-900=5100) and then returned to its master’s side, this has gone on long enough.
I clutched my chest above my heart, and I felt my heart racing, This guy’s magic is putting too much strain on me, and the strain is getting worse with every second. With as much power as his God card has, this is easily the most stressful Shadow Game that I've ever faced, even worse than the one against Marik. I won’t last much longer. I have to end this duel right here and right now.
I drew, “I activate ‘Soul Release’ and ‘Soul Absorption’, removing four monsters in my Graveyard from play and recovering two thousand Life Points (5100+2000 =7100).”
I gasped, relieved as the strain on my body lessened.
“Next,” I continued, “I pay the two thousand Life that I just gained (7100-2000 =5100) to activate ‘Dimension Fusion’, opening up a vortex to the Different Dimension.”
As I spoke the sky opened up and ‘The Fiend Megacyber’, ‘Obelisk the Tormentor’, ‘D.D. Warrior Lady’, and a massive red dragon the length of two football fields with two mouths, the ‘Sky Dragon of Osiris’, appeared all around me, standing defiantly against their foe. ‘Osiris’ opened his lower mouth and roared at ‘Exodius’ (ATK: 2200/4000/1500/1000).
“Of course,” I said, “none of these monsters can defeat your God, so I sacrifice ‘Obelisk the Tormentor’, ‘Sky Dragon of Osiris’, and ‘D.D. Warrior Lady’ to summon the final Egyptian God.”
Clouds built in the sky overhead and lightning cracked. Then the clouds were dispersed by an intense ray of light. From the light emerged a massive eagle-like dragon, colored pure gold, with an arch over its back. It spread its wings and roared, “Introducing ‘The Winged Dragon of Ra’ (ATK: 6500)!”
“I pay two thousand Life Points,” I declared, fighting the sharp pain in my chest that only intensified as my Life Points fell even further, “To change my God into the Egyptian God Phoenix, giving him the power to destroy both of your monsters (5100-2000=3100)!”
The golden eagle dragon erupted into flames, becoming a phoenix made of golden fire. It swooped down on Exodus’ field and engulfed his monsters. Then it rose back into the air and returned to its original form. It was at that moment that ‘Exodius’ flickered back into existence.
“I saved my monster,” said Exodus, “with ‘Dark Illusion’.”
I smiled, “Then you know you’ve lost.”
Exodus only glared at me, angry.
“I pay one thousand Life Points,” I declared, my impending victory pushing the pain from my mind, ‘Megacyber’ standing at my side with his arms crossed, “to destroy your monster (3100-1000=2100).” ‘Ra’ returned to his phoenix form and incinerated the evil God, and then returned to his eagle dragon form once he was finished.
“Now I pay all but one of my Life Points to increase the Attack of my monster by the same amount (2100-2099=1/6500+2099=8599),” I declared. I took a deep breath as my Life literally poured into the dragon, nearly causing me to pass out, but I held on. “‘Ra’,” I commanded, “attack with Blaze Cannon!”
Energy poured from beneath the arch on the God’s back into his mouth, and a ball of fire appeared, burning nearly as bright as the sun. The fire was discharged in a massive stream that engulfed Exodus completely. The attack ended, the shadows faded, and Exodus fell to his knees, defeated (8000-8599=0). My monsters disappeared. I walked over and stood to face my opponent. He looked up at me, his face full of rage.
“Your heart has been judged evil,” I said. “You agreed to spread death throughout the world in the name of the evil God Monster in exchange for power, and as your punishment you will experience what you wished to inflict on others.” I aimed my palm at his face and called, “Penalty Game!”
My Soul flashed, and Exodus fell limp onto his back. He stopped breathing, his face growing blank and lifeless. He would never endanger anyone again. I reached down and picked up the ‘Exodius’ card from where it had fallen at the end of the duel. Its dark magic burned my fingertips. With one swift motion I ripped it to shreds, destroying its evil powers forever. Hiro, even more exhausted than I was, separated his mind from my own and retreated back into my Duelist's Soul.
His power was foul, Hiro said in my mind. and strong, and it tried to draw me into it. Once I emerged to help you, it took everything I had not to be destroyed. Sorry I wasn't more help.
I said nothing, merely nodding. I'd done something today that I'd told myself I'd never have to do again, and it had left me contemplative. As I turned and made my way back into the stadium, I was determined not to regret what I had just done.
Card of the Day:
The Winged Dragon of Ra
Played by: John
I treat "Exodius" in this story a lot like they treat him in the GX anime: like a fourth God Card powerful enough to control the unstoppable "Exodia". In light of that I showed him proper respect by defeating him with this monster, the most powerful of the Egyptian Gods.
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