It's possible that I decided to extend the duel between the Beasts and Shepperd and Ria a bit, and abused cinematic time to get away with it, but you probably won't notice unless I tell you.
Chapter Twenty-FourThe Beasts Attack!
Retaliation
Ria had tears in her eyes as she cried out, “You’ll pay for that, you Diablo! Your monster is gonna die, right here, right now!”
“That doesn’t really seem possible to me,” Armityle responded arrogantly, “especially now that the annoying boy’s ‘Burden of the Mighty’ is out of play. With it gone, my ‘Raviel’ regains his original, overwhelming strength (ATK: 4000).”
“Do you think I’m joking?” Ria demanded. “Do you?! Well I’m not! I discard ‘Combo Fighter’ and ‘Combo Master’ to activate two copies of the Trap card ‘Rising Energy’. This boosts the Attack of my ‘Monk Fighter’ by three thousand!”
‘Monk Fighter’’s eyes filled with rage that was uncharacteristic of a monk and more characteristic of his master, and an aura burned around him like fire. His muscles filled out, and he balled his hands into fists (1300+3000=4300).
I see, I thought. Ria was planning this combo to take down the next Sacred Beast to battle her monster. When Thomas was about to die, Ria almost sacrificed this combo to save his Life, an action that would have indeed saved Thomas, but left ‘Raviel’ alive as well. Seeing this, Thomas told Ria to stop. He sacrificed himself so that Ria could defeat the Beast this turn.
I smiled, Thomas, you were far more brave than you ever realized.
“Go my ‘Monk Fighter’,” Ria commanded, “destroy the demon with your undeniable fist!”
‘Monk Fighter’ jumped at the massive demon, an insignificant-looking figure alongside one so massive, but when he punched, when his fist connected with the demon’s armor-like flesh, the impact was severe enough to shake the ground beneath the demon’s feet so hard that the school shook with it. ‘Monk Fighter’ spun in midair and heel kicked the demon in the side of the head, pushed off of the demon with his foot, and spun again. ‘Monk Fighter’ summoned all of his energy into his aura, and propelled himself forward through the demon’s chest. ‘Raviel’ seemed to cry out, though it was hard to tell. He may have been roaring. Either way, in mere moments, the Beast was gone (4500+4000-4300=4200).
“That’s impossible!” Armityle exclaimed. “No regular monster can defeat one of my devil gods!”
“Apparently that’s not true,” I replied, “because one just did. Now it’s my turn, and I think it’s safe to say that things are going to become even more unpleasant for you very shortly. I draw, and I discard ‘Cyberdark Magician Girl’ to activate ‘Monster Reincarnation’, returning ‘Cyber Ogre’ from my Graveyard to my hand.”
A card ejected from my Duel Disk’s Graveyard slot.
“I follow up with ‘Polymerization’,” I continued, “fusing ‘Cyber Ogre’ in my hand with ‘Cyberdark Magician’ on the field to summon,” ‘Cyber Ogre’ appeared alongside my magician and roared as ‘Cyberdark Magician’ transformed into a cloud of smoke charged with magical energy and poured around ‘Cyber Ogre’, taking the form of a huge, muscular torso with a machine panel in its forehead and glowing green eyes, “‘Cyber Magical Ogre’ (ATK: 2900)!
“My monster attacks,” I commanded, “with Magi-Static Blast!”
‘Cyber Magical Ogre’ summoned a ball of combined electrical and magical energies into his palm and released it, hitting Armityle directly. He cried out in pain as my monster’s considerable power washed over him (4200-2900=1300).
“My turn’s over,” I spat, “you monster.”
Armityle waited, catching his breath and allowing the pain to subside. Then he continued the duel with the beginning of his turn.
“You humans are truly an amusingly stubborn species,” Armityle announced, “but frankly I’ve grown tired of you. Of your voices. Of your faces. If I didn’t need this human body at the moment to hold my essence while I recharge myself to my full power, I’d gladly destroy it along with the rest of you.”
He sighed, “Oh well, I’ll just destroy this body later. You two, however, I will destroy now. I play ‘Card of Sanctity’.”
He drew six new cards and examined them with interest.
“Next,” Armityle declared, “I play ‘Heavy Storm’ to destroy the annoying ‘Lone Wolf’ Trap card.”
“No!” Ria exclaimed as her Trap, her last real line of defense, was torn apart by a powerful gust of air.
“I’ll also play the Continuous Spell ‘Triangle Force’,” Armityle declared, “which lets me play two more ‘Triangle Force’ cards from my deck, and because I control three Continuous Spells, I can send all three of them to the Graveyard to summon the second great Devil God, ‘Hammon, Lord of Striking Thunder’!”
Lightning struck the ground outside and took form, becoming a second massive creature, yellow in color, with huge, transparent, fan-like wings, long, brutish arms, short legs, and a beak-like snout. Electricity lanced between his wings and his claws as he let out a piercing roar (ATK: 4000).
“I also play ‘Sacred Revival’,” Armityle declared, “to summon back my fallen Sacred Beast!”
‘Raviel’ appeared once again from a bright flash of golden light.
“Live again,” Armityle cried, “‘Raviel, Lord of Phantasms’!”
The supposed strongest Sacred Beast roared, the second Beast roaring as well, shaking the building under our feet.
“Go ahead and attack me,” I told Armityle defiantly. “My ‘Ogre’ and I aren’t afraid of your Beasts!”
“No,” said Ria, “he’s not after you. He’s gonna attack me. After all, I’m the one who killed his strongest card with a low level monster and humiliated him, right?”
I looked over at her. She was putting up a tough front, but I could see her knees shaking, and there was a certain look of terror in her eyes, just below the surface.
“That’s right, girl,” Armityle replied, a vengeful fire flickering in his stolen eyes. “‘Raviel’, seize your revenge and attack the ‘Monk Fighter’!”
“As I explained before,” Ria countered defiantly, “‘Monk Fighter’ meets your attack with his entire being, preventing any damage to my Life!”
As she spoke, the ‘Monk Fighter’ lunged at the swiping claws of the demon ‘Raviel’, and was obliterated.
“‘Hammon’,” Armityle continued, “finish it. Destroy her with your divine lightning!”
Electricity lanced from ‘Hammon’’s wings, striking Ria from many directions at once. She received the full force of the attack, and I heard her cry out in agony, even over the crackling of lightning. The attack ended, and Ria fell to her knees in tears. She looked over at me as the rest of her body began to fade away, pleading silently for me to save her from her fate, but there was nothing I could do. In another instant she was gone.
I looked at Armityle, hatred flashing in my eyes, “You’ll pay for this. All of this!”
“I’m not too sure of that,” Armityle replied confidently and arrogantly, “but I am sure of one thing, this duel is finally down to you and me, just as I always wanted. You see, this human that I currently inhabit has faith in your ability to save him. I look forward to crushing that faith completely.
“I want you to show me what Duel Academy’s number one professor can do,” Armityle explained, “so that I may prove my superiority once and for all! But first, I close out my turn with the Spell card ‘Trap Reincarnation’, discarding ‘Dual Gate’ to return a Trap card in my Graveyard to my hand. I set that card, ending my turn. As powerful as your ‘Cyber Magical Ogre’ is, it is no match for my Sacred Beasts!”
“I guess it’s lucky for me then,” I countered, “that ‘Cyber Magical Ogre’ isn’t my strongest monster. My next monster is a match for your Devil Gods, and is more than powerful enough to finish you off this turn! Activate the Spell card ‘De-Fusion’, separating my ‘Cyber Magical Ogre’ into ‘Cyber Ogre’ and ‘Cyberdark Magician’!”
The magical smoke separated from the ‘Cyber Ogre’ at its core and reformed into the computerized Spellcaster. He stood alongside ‘Cyber Ogre’, ready to offer whatever support he could.
“Next,” I continued, “I play ‘Polymerization’, fusing ‘Cyber Ogre’ with a second ‘Cyber Ogre’ in my hand!”
My two ‘Ogres’ merged in a flash of light. A figure emerged from that light. It was a more streamlined, more advanced-looking ‘Cyber Ogre’ with a legless, serpentine body from the waist down, and fixed metal wings on its back.
“This is my strongest monster,” I exclaimed, “‘Cyber Ogre 2’ (ATK: 2600)! I increase his power with the Spell card ‘Rare Metal Soul’.”
My monster’s wings extended and dissolved into streams of light that surged outward, shimmering in the darkness that surrounded us (2600+1000=3600).
“My monster attacks ‘Raviel’,” I commanded.
Armityle laughed, “I think maybe you’ve miscounted.”
“Not quite,” I replied as my machine spread his new wings and flew straight at the massive figure looming before him. “When my ‘Cyber Ogre 2’ attacks a monster, he gains Attack equal to half the Attack of the monster he’s fighting!”
My monster was bathed in a deadly-looking red light (3600+2000=5600).
I looked at my hand, at the ‘Shield Sphere’ card that would protect my monster if the Trap that Armityle had set was something capable of destroying it, and I said, “In case you’ve miscounted, you only have thirteen hundred Life Points. You won’t survive my attack!”
Armityle looked shocked, and I saw him mouth the word “no”. Then he regained his composure and declared, “‘Raviel’ won’t fall so easily. ‘Raviel’, meet his attack head on!”
The demon reached out with his massive claws to intercept the outstretched metallic claws of my ‘Ogre’, and the machine tore right through the demon’s claws, up his arm, and pierced him right through the chest. The demon’s body broke apart and erupted into smoke and fire as it was incinerated by my monster’s aura. Smoke filled the room, pouring out through the gap in the wall and into the sky. I let out a sigh of relief.
I did it. I actually won. With Armityle’s spell broken, the others should return-.
But my internal dialogue was cut short by the sound of laughter. I looked, shocked, into the cloud of smoke as it began to clear. ‘Hammon’ was still hanging in the air outside, the ‘Cyber Ogre 2’ was at my side, and the others were still nowhere to be seen. Worst of all, Armityle still stood before me, in the body of my friend. He laughed, and I realized that he’d never been worried at all. It had all been a show for my benefit.
As the smoke faded entirely, I saw why Armityle had survived. Three orbs floated in a triangular formation between me and my opponent. An energy barrier spread between them. I was horrified, How could I have been so stupid?! I assumed he would retrieve a Trap capable of destroying my monster, but I completely forgot about his most dangerous Trap, the ‘Delta Barrier’, a card that I sent to his Graveyard myself!
“In case you missed it,” Armityle declared, “I revealed my ‘Delta Barrier’, allowing me to play two more ‘Delta Barriers’ from my Graveyard, and while I control three ‘Delta Barriers’ I can protect myself from damage from one attack per turn.
I looked at my hand desperately, and I saw one last chance.
“I set a card,” I said, “and end my turn.”
Come on, let this work…
“Good,” said Armityle, “because I don’t feel like waiting any longer to kill you. You actually managed to destroy one of my lesser forms, and that cannot be forgiven.
“I draw,” Armityle announced, “and I send three copies of ‘Delta Barrier’ to the Graveyard to summon the third and final of the Sacred Beasts.”
I scowled, I thought so. I was really hoping I was wrong.
Flames burst from the ground far behind Armityle, forming a fiery pillar which stretched, curled, and took the form of a huge, red, serpentine dragon, over one hundred yards long, with four relatively stubby legs and wide, transparent bat-like wings.
“Cower in fear,” Armityle taunted, “before ‘Uria, Lord of Searing Flames’! This monster has Attack power of one thousand times the number of Continuous Traps in my Graveyard (ATK: 3000), and he can destroy any one of your Spell or Trap cards per turn!”
I knew right then, in that moment, that the duel was over. I had failed.
‘Uria’ launched flames from his mouth, incinerating the ‘Mirror Force’ card that had been my last line of defense. Some of the flames splashed up, either singeing me or passing through the large gaps in my faded body.
“Now, my Sacred Beasts,” Armityle continued, speaking calmly, satisfaction apparent in his prideful smile, “destroy him.”
I stood, defeated, as ‘Hammon’ rained lightning and Uria rained fire down upon me, their attacks washing over me and my monster at the same time. ‘Cyber Ogre 2’ was vaporized, and I was struck with so much force that I couldn’t breathe. As the attacks ended the rest of my body faded into the Shadows, and I was gone.
John
The shadows that had surrounded my duel with Shin fell away completely just in time for me to see two massive figures in the distance fade away, revealing a ruined school building behind them. I looked closely, and I saw a lone figure standing in the midst of the destruction. That figure turned to face me, sneering cruelly. I wasn’t surprised to see that it was Kagemaru, but not Kagemaru.
It was the Sacred Beasts. They were waiting for me in the frail body of an old man, wielding powers that rivaled anything that I’d ever seen.
Fine, I thought, if you want me, you’ve got me.
My Soul of Darkness flashed, and I passed into the shadows.
Card of the Day:
Cyber Magical Ogre
Played by: Shepherd
Shepherd didn't really get to do enough in his canon appearances, so I really wanted to give him a lot to do in this book, and, as mentioned before, this meant making a lot of new cards for him. Of them, this is my favorite, and while it isn't Shepherd's big finisher in this chapter, it does stick around the longest.
Original Cards in This Chapter:
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