Not much to say here. John acts kinda like an arrogant ass, but that's pretty normal. We also get to see some of the upward limits of the shadow beings, and they're pretty impressive.
Chapter Seven
Things Actually Get Worse
Rocky
The Shadowy Behemoth lunged
right at me, its claws outstretched, teeth gleaming in its mouth.
Lucky for me, my opponent had acted too prematurely. In a regular
Duel it would not have been able to attack for a full turn and the
effect of 'The Reliable Guardian' would have worn off. Unluckily for
me, my opponent's monster, despite being only a one-tribute monster,
had twenty-eight hundred Attack, and Piercing. It shattered my
'Statue' and caught me in the chest with the tips of two of its claws
(4000 -> 3900).
As I was wondering what kind
of one-tribute monster could have so much Attack and a strong effect,
I was relieved to see that, as my new opponent's turn ended, the
shadows which made up the body of the monstrous creature begin to
melt away. The monster would fall apart completely in only another
one or two turns. Worse come to worse, I would just have to last that
long. Of course if it was at all like the Shadow Soldier, when it did
self destruct, it would leave a piece of itself behind, a problem
that I would just have to deal with as it came.
I drew and I played a Spell,
"'Miracle Rupture' let's me send a Rock monster from my deck to
the Graveyard and draw a card."
I leafed through my deck and
discarded 'Criosphinx', shuffled, and drew again, "Next I play
'Premature Burial', paying eight hundred Life (3900 -> 3100) to
revive a monster from the Graveyard, like the monster I just
discarded. Come out 'Criosphinx'!"
A living stone statue with
the body of a lion, the torso of a man, and the head of a ram rose up
out of the ground, his arms crossed.
"And I tribute
'Criosphinx'," I declared, "to summon my strongest
monster."
'Criosphinx' grew larger and
glowed gold, charging shape until it was a towering golden Egyptian
statue with large fists, sealed to each other at the knuckles, and a
large headdress, resembling the legendary 'Exodia'.
"Introducing 'Exodd,
Master of the Guard'," I said proudly (DEF: 4000). "You
can't get past us, but you're welcome to try. I end my turn."
Rachel
As I fought my opponent, I
watched out of the corner of my eye as Marco's opponent summoned
another of the Shadowy Warriors. Marco retaliated with a face-down
card, and the summoning of his 'Armored Dragon', a humanoid dragon in
green armor (ATK: 1900). The dragon charged the warrior and destroyed
him brutally (4000 -> 3800), leaving behind a Wisp.
Meanwhile Charlie took his
next turn, "I equip my 'Grandmaster of the Six' with 'Legendary
Ebon Steed'."
A black warhorse in black
armor appeared, and the elderly samurai mounted it (ATK: 2100 ->
2300).
"'Shien' attack,"
Charlie commanded, and 'Shien' swung his fiery blade at the Shadow
Phantom, destroying it. Charlie's opponent would have taken
considerable damage, but he instead revealed a Trap which projected a
black barrier, turning the flames from 'Shien''s blade back at
Charlie (3000 -> 1500), and of course destroying the Phantom left
a Wisp behind. Charlie being Charlie, however, didn't react in the
slightest to his sharp loss of Life. Instead he commanded 'Zanji' to
destroy the Wisp, and 'Grandmaster' to attack directly (4000 ->
1600).
Of course, calm and stoic as
he is, Charlie didn't hold a candle to his opponent, who, having no
face, couldn't react even if he wanted to. He gave no indication of
his hand or his coming play as he revealed another Shadowy Trap card,
a corrupted version of the Spell 'Monster Reborn', unhampered by
'Shien''s effect. The Shadow Phantom appeared again, rising up out of
the ground.
Charlie ended his turn. His
hand was mostly depleted, and he had no Traps to set, so he could
only let come what might come. I saw the Shadow Creature play a
Shadow Spell card. Darkness poured from that card and swirled around
the Phantom, becoming a dark aura, which increased the monster's
power, though I'm not sure just how much. All I know is that when the
Phantom struck my brother this time, he fell to his knees and then
slumped over backward, unconscious. I imagined that I hadn't seen it,
that my brother was, as far as I knew, still fighting at my side.
Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to remain focused on the task at
hand.
It was about then that Kimi
was defeated as well. I heard her cry out as a Phantom summoned by
her opponent struck her, knocking her onto her back, where she lay
unmoving. Having dueled Kimi myself, I knew her to be one of our
strongest. If it weren't for the small amount of pleasure I got from
seeing her former opponent turn to the unpleasant girl, Ria
Something, whose 'Combo Fighter' had just managed to strike down a
Shadow Creature with a flurry of kicks (ATK: 1600/LP: 2700), I
probably would have panicked. Instead I watched Ria turn to face her
new enemy with determination in her eyes as she set a card and
passed, and I turned back to the duel at hand.
John
My opponent, of course,
wasted no time demolishing my good mood. He drew, and he summoned
'Phantom Skyblaster', a fiendish blue beast with twin cannons on its
back (ATK: 1100 -> 1600), which, as soon as it was summoned,
spawned two weaker, paler clones of itself (ATK: 500 -> 1000).
That wasn't too bad by itself, but my opponent also activated the
Spell card 'Solidarity', increasing the Attack of all of his monsters
further (Giant Germs: 1500 -> 2300/Skyblaster: 1600 ->
2400/Skyblaster Tokens: 1000 -> 1800), and revealed the Trap card
'Aqua Chorus', increasing the Attack of some of his monsters even
more (Germs: 2300 -> 2800/Skyblaster Tokens: 1800 -> 2300).
"Well," I said,
taken aback and trying to save face, "that sucks in so many
ways, but you still can't get past my 'Supremacy Sun'."
I gestured at my monster,
and he gestured impressively, reminding the enemy monsters who really
had control of the field. They didn't seem impressed, either because
they were hideous demonic creatures incapable of forming human facial
expressions, or because my opponent still wasn't through with his
turn. My opponent revealed a second Trap, 'Burst of Darkness', which
can only be activated by a player who controls three or more Dark
monsters. The card weakens opposing monsters up to the number of Dark
monsters that its controller has in play. I watched energy from the
Trap spread to my field, constricting 'Sun', weakening him just
enough (3500 -> 2700). I was stunned. I'd underestimated my
opponent at every turn and left myself vulnerable, and as I stood
there, I wondered why. I'd come into this battle planning to take it
completely seriously, and yet I'd allowed myself to be arrogant? What
had I been thinking?
So as the Core Creature
gestured again, directing the first of his 'Giant Germs' to slam into
my 'Supremacy Sun' and destroy it (6700 -> 6600), I stood there,
resolved to take this duel seriously from that moment forward. The
second 'Germ' rushed forward, meaning to slam into me, and I
deflected it with my Neo Dark Disk (6600 -> 3800). 'Skyblaster'
opened fire, and I sidestepped the blasts, all except for one, which
clipped me in the shoulder, nearly knocking me off of my feet and
leaving behind a nasty burn (3800 -> 1400).
The two 'Skyblaster Tokens'
opened fire as well. "Reveal," I declared, "'Quick
Summon', calling 'Necro Guardna' from my hand."
A warrior in black and red
armor appeared, his arms crossed defensively. He absorbed the blasts
from the first 'Token', and was destroyed, but his spirit remained to
absorb the blast from the second 'Token', preventing further damage
to my Life. Despite myself, I smiled at the challenge placed before
me.
This duel just got
serious, I thought, and I get the feeling that its going to
take everything I've got to win this one, and then some.
Rocky
My opponent wasted no time
calling my bluff and proving my "Ultimate Shield" to be
effectively useless. It played two Spells, both made of Shadows. One
spread Shadows around my monster, draining him of his strength (4000
-> 3200), and the other wrapped the Behemoth in a dark aura,
making him stronger. I only know how powerful the Behemoth became
thanks to the damage I took from his subsequent attack (2800 ->
3500). The Behemoth tore through my monster, reducing him to dust,
and slamming the ground so hard that I nearly lost my footing (3100
-> 2800). Then more darkness melted away from the Behemoth, and it
slumped as it grew even nearer to its inevitable fate, even if its
limited time on the field wasn't over yet.
Ria
I turned toward another of
the many Shadow People, continuing to fight without hesitation. I
knew from experience that it was best to think on my feet. I'd
learned a long time ago that taking time to regroup just gives your
enemies the chance to do the same.
So I set a card, and then I
declared, "I tribute 'Combo Fighter' for 'Combo Master'!"
My monster, fit,
well-muscled a young man wearing loose pants and a headband sharing
the same yellow zig-zag pattern, matured into an older, more muscular
version of himself (ATK: 2200).
"'Combo Master',"
I commanded, planting my right hand on my almost-bare bikini-clad hip
defiantly, "kill that 'Shadow Phantom'."
My monster unleashed a
flurry of expertly-placed blows which dispersed the airy creature,
sending it back to the Shadows, and leaving a Wisp behind (4000 ->
2800). I would have preferred not to leave the Wisp on the field, but
at the moment I didn't have a choice, so I simply declared the end of
my turn.
My opponent drew and
wordlessly tributed the Wisp for a massive Shadow Behemoth, which
roared so loudly that it nearly knocked me over. It reached out with
a giant, clawed, paw-like hand and tore my 'Combo Master' apart (2700
-> 2100), leaving me picking up pieces. Lucky for me, I knew just
how to go about turning those pieces into something great.
Rachel
"Time for my
counterattack," I told my opponent, still struggling to ignore
my brother lying on the ground a few yards away. "I tribute
'Cross-Wing', incidentally adding another 'Cross-Wing' to my
Graveyard at the same time, to summon 'Phantom Beast Rock-Lizard'!"
My monster, a creature kind
of like a centaur, except that it had a lizard body rather than a
body of a horse, and its "human" body was more like a
human-like lizard's body than anything else, replaced the many-winged
bird at my side, drawing power from the three copies of my favorite
monster in my Graveyard (ATK: 2200 -> 3100).
"I equip my monster
with 'Fairy Meteor Crush'," I declared, "giving my monster
Piercing, and I attack your Shadow Wisp, revealing my face-down 'Horn
of the Phantom Beast'."
Horns grew from my
'Rock-Lizard''s head (3100 -> 3800), and he charged, tearing right
through the Wisp and the Shadow Creature which it had been
protecting, causing them both to melt right back into the Shadows.
There were, however, plenty more where it had come from. Immediately
another Shadow Creature stepped up to face me.
"I draw a card," I
told my new opponent, "from the effect of 'Horn of the Phantom
Beast', and I end my turn. Let's see if you're any better than your
buddy."
I acted confident, and to an
extent I was, because I was going to such lengths to keep myself that
way, but I couldn't help take notice of the battles still happening
all around me, at the poor direction that those battles were
beginning to take. It was obvious that we couldn't keep fighting much
longer. All I could hope to do was take as many of the enemies with
me as possible when I went.
Next Chapter >>
Card of the Day:
Giant Germ
Played by: the Core Creature
It is clear that the Core Creature relies on swarming the field with DARK monsters and powering them up, and there are few monsters better for such a strategy than this one.
Original Cards in This Chapter:
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