If the murder scene in Reaper is the most physically messed up thing I've ever written, them the reveal of the villain's powers and personality is easily the most psychologically messed up thing I've ever written. And these DF book can be pretty psychologically messed up. The characters who see this the most are mostly able to dismiss it because they don't see any other choice, and John gets the brunt of it, being basically darkness personified (this will catch up with him eventually, I promise), and he's just so aloof about everything, but it's all there. Still, the way this chapter goes from humorous to scarey was absolutely deliberate. I wanted the reveal of just how far this guy was willing to go so casually to be as jarring and brutal as possible. First this guy destroys a plane to declare the start of a death game, and now this. We get a sense right away that there are virtually no lengths that this guy won't go to to accomplish his goals, or at least that was my intention.
No Card of the Day today. All of the cards played this chapter have been seen before, so I decided to just skip it. Also, just so all of you know, this is a good spot for a cliffhanger. Next week I'll be posting a few entries in Johan Abbot's journal (see, I didn't forget about it!), and then the week after next, Reaper will return.
Chapter Four
Retention of Dignity (Thank God!)
This can’t be happening, I
thought, and I imagine that the look on my face way pretty hilarious at this
point, I can’t actually be losing to Nate!
I steeled myself up, “Don’t think that just because you control the
field that you’ve won.” I looked at Nate defiantly, and declared, “I draw!”
Looking at my newest card, I was relieved that it seemed that I had a
chance to actually turn things around now, before I fell even further behind.
“I activate,” I announced, “the Spell card ‘Graceful Charity’. I draw three
cards, and then discard two.”
With just one card I was able to refresh my hand and set up a move to
recover control of the duel all at once. I just love how some cards can so immediately
and effectively change the course of a game. If it changes in my favor, at
least.
“I send ‘Terraforming’ and ‘Terrain Change’ to the Graveyard,” I
explained, getting back in the groove, “and while both are in the Graveyard, I
can remove them both from play to reactivate my ‘A Legendary Ocean’!”
Nate remained completely calm as he watched the holographic water
spread once again across the field. Usually this trick was used to restore the
waters of my ‘Ocean’ once ‘Levia Dragon’ used them to fuel his effect, but I
would settle for this instead.
“You can’t defeat me, Nate,” I declared, “because I control the oceans,
and with the ocean comes a glorious bounty, like the one I receive by playing
‘Card of Sanctity’! With this card we each get to draw until we hold six
cards.”
“Pretty telling that you’re so desperate to draw a better hand that
you’d risk giving me an even bigger advantage, Sugar,” said Nate. I don’t think
he was trying to sound like a
colossal jerk, but he was, and it pissed me off. I started fuming as he and I
both drew to refill our hands.
“I’ve had enough of you today, Captain Douchebag,” I told him. “I’m
going to finish this. I play ‘Monster Reborn’ to revive the ‘Levia Dragon –
Daedalus’ that you destroyed.”
Finally Nate actually looked concerned as, in a burst of red light, the
gleaming silvery dragon reappeared, his fins spread wide, and roared at
‘Illusionist Mirror Dragon’, as well as his own doppelganger. The doppelganger
roared back.
Water swirled fiercely around my sea monster, churning faster and
faster as a gleaming jewel in his forehead flashed brighter and brighter. “I
use my monster’s effect,” I announced, “sending ‘A Legendary Ocean’ to the
Graveyard to destroy every card on the field aside from my 'Levia' himself.”
The water wrapped my dragon, and then surged outward from him. It
washed over everything, washing all of Nate’s cards away, leaving ‘Levia
Dragon’ alone on the field.
“Next,” I continued triumphantly, “I play the Spell card ‘Double
Attack’, discarding a monster with a higher Level than the ‘Levia Dragon’ to
allow him to attack twice this turn. And I finish things up with ‘Megamorph’.”
“Oh well,” said Nate with a little half smile, as I discarded ‘Ocean
Dragon Lord – Neo Daedalus’, and a magic ring appeared around my monster,
causing him to double in size and strength (ATK: 2600 -> 5200), “Nate
tried.”
“My monster attacks,” I commanded, “with Ocean’s Rage!”
My dragon unleashed his attack, overwhelming Nate, causing his Life
Points to plummet (7400 -> 2200). Because my opponent now had fewer Life
Points than I did, my monster shrunk until he was smaller than he’d been when
he started (ATK: 5200 -> 1300).
“I play ‘Mystical Space Typhoon’,” I declared, “restoring my monster
to his original strength by destroying my own Spell, and I attack again!”
A gust of wind shattered the magic circle, and my monster returned to
his original size (ATK: 2600). With just one more stream of blue light, Nate’s
Life was reduced to zero, the duel ended, and my monster faded from the field.
I looked up at the stars twinkling above me in the deep twilight, satisfied to
have saved my dignity. I sighed, and then looked to my opponent once again.
“Well, Nate,” I told him gloatingly, stepping down from the platform,
“that was pretty impressive, but you lost, so you have to get lost. And remember, I’d be super appreciative if you didn’t
talk to me again, thanks.”
I turned away from him, but I stopped when he spoke, a sound of victory
resonating in his voice, “Oh, but if Nate recalls, you never said that Nate had
to win, just that Nate had to impress.”
I was, for the second time today, flabbergasted as I remembered my
exact words. I turned slowly, horrified, to face Nate, who was now standing
just two feet away, smiling triumphantly. I looked around. We were surrounded
by spectators, many of whom had heard me talk to Nate at the sign up table, and
here, just now, and knew what I’d said. If I went back on my word, it would
hurt the reputation of the team!
I facepalmed hard, peeling my hand slowly from my face, taking my
shocked expression with it and replacing it with a mask of friendliness and
acceptance that I just didn’t feel for this guy yet, and that I doubted I ever
would, and said, quite against my better judgment, “In that case, welcome,
Nate, to the Duel Force.”
Meanwhile, in a place so private that it had no name or purpose as far
as the general public was concerned, a group of young people sat in a lavish,
if dark, hall, decorated with chairs and sofas of various sizes and designs.
Despite the welcoming, informal surroundings, few of these people were
relaxed. They didn’t talk to each other, and many seemed content to completely
avoid the others, standing as far removed from the group as possible. One young
man was talking up an entire sofa, laying back and sleeping, and one nervous
young woman looked completely out of place. The glanced warily around the room,
as if they were waiting for something that not one of them was looking forward
to.
Suddenly, the awkwardness of the scene was broken when a set of double
doors at the far end of the hall swung open, waking the sleeping young man, and
drawing the gaze of the others. Through the doors walked Depre Scott. His arm
where he had once worn the Black Duel Disk was devoid of any Duel Disk at all.
As Depre stepped into the midst of the group, a particularly tall young man
with long, spiky hair nodded, and Depre nodded back. Not everyone, however, was
as respectful.
“You’ve called us together, Depre,” said a gangly young man with medium
length blonde hair and a goatee, his tone harsh, as he stepped right up into
Depre’s face. “This is unheard of, except when the client is particularly
important and demands a face to face, in case you forgot. But I don’t see any
client, important or otherwise. Want to explain what we’re doing here?”
“That’s no longer my place, Cedar,” Depre replied, his gaze lowered
from the taller man’s. “There is a reason why I come disarmed.”
“Wait, you lost?” asked the young man who had been sleeping, swinging
his legs around to sit upright. He laughed, “How’d you take the top spot back
from Richie of all people,” he gestured at the tall, spiky-haired man, “if any
ol’ pushover can beat ya. I didn’t know that I’d joined a weak group, but if
you’re its best, I must have!”
“You assume that Depre was defeated by a weakling,” came a cold voice
from the doorway behind Depre, in the shadow of the door frame. Depre stepped
aside, and his former opponent stepped into the room, wearing the black Duel
Disk on his arm. “I defeated Depre,” he announced, “and I could easily defeat
any of you, but I don’t need to. Despite all of your indifference and
posturing, you all know just how strong Depre is.”
He held the black Duel Disk above his head, “I am the number one Card
Professor now, and so it is my responsibility to bring jobs before the Guild
for consideration.”
He lowered his arm again, grinning wickedly, “And it just so happens
that I have a job for you.”
“Can that even happen?” asked an attractive goth girl, stepping out of the
shadows in a dark corner of the room.”
“Yeah,” the sleeping young man added, “Tilla’s right. The number one
has never actually hired the Guild
himself before.”
“Like you would know, James,” a fit man with long hair, wearing a
beanie cap chided. “You just joined what, a month ago?”
“Shut up, Mendo!” James snapped, as if he was teased for this often,
but Mendo only snickered.
“Be quiet,” said Richie from his place leaning against the wall in a
corner, his voice calm but commanding. James and Mendo fell in line
immediately. Richie stepped away from the wall, standing across from the
mysterious young man, his expression stern, his arms crossed, “You are number
one, so we have no choice but to give consideration to any job you bring before
us. What do you have in mind?”
The mystery man only smiled. After a moment, Depre realized that the
mystery man was waiting for him to
reveal the details of the job to the rest of the guild. He almost didn’t,
recognizing this as a blatant attempt by the mystery man to exert power over
Depre, but then Depre remembered him duel with this young man, and the great
power that he felt rolling off of him during their battle. Between this, and
the sight of the black Duel Disk on the man’s arm to remind him of the man’s
authority, Depre decided that he had no choice. After all, if the guild
refused, there would be no harm done.
So Depre, without meeting the eyes of anyone in the room, announced,
“He wants us to attack the Duel Force.”
“Whoa,” said James, gesturing extravagantly, “Ever since their
tactician, Jen, knocked me out of a Team Duel and got me kicked off of Team
Beatdown, I’ve been following those guys. Rumor has it that they’ve gotten
involved in some craaazy shit. Got them some Shadow Charms of some kind and
caused all kinds of trouble, coming out with little more than some scratches.
They’re big league.”
“He’s right,” Cedar cut in, standing directly in front of the mystery
man, though much more confrontational in his stance than Richie had been,
“We’re all tough, but I don’t think we can beat the Duel Force.”
“That’s fine,” the mystery man replied dismissively.
“No, it’s not,” Cedar argued, confronting the mystery man, getting
right up in his face, the mystery man retaining his calm demeanor all the time,
“The Guild decided a long time ago to stay out of all that Shadow Magic bull.
Too dangerous. We fight for money, and we live on reputation.”
He stuck his finger right in the mystery man’s face, an inch from his
nose, “What can you offer us that’s worth taking such a huge risk with our
wellbeing? Can you offset their magical powers? Can you guarantee that this
won’t harm our reputation? What can you offer?”
For only the second time since entering the hall, the mystery man
showed a reaction to a member of the Guild. Just as before, he smiled slightly,
in a sinister way, as he looked at Cedar down his outstretched hand. In his
eyes there was a momentary flash of hatred at the outspoken Cedar Mills. “To
offset the magic of the Duel Force,” the mystery man replied, “I’ll offer you a
plan years in the making, and…”
He reached toward his waist and disappeared, reappearing behind Cedar a
moment later.
“…Magic of my own. And as payment, I’ll offer you,” from his waist,
below his long coat, he drew a thin, single-edged sword about two feet long
that shimmered like a shadow, which he plunged through Cedar’s back, “your
lives.”
As he said the words, Cedar slumped and slid from the blade,
motionless. Everyone else in the room was too stunned to move or to speak,
unable to take their eyes off of the man, who was happy to find himself with a
captive audience, even if the term was a bit literal in this case.
“In your laziness,” he declared, “you have congregated after my game
with the Duel Force was already declared. They know that someone has attacked
them. Sooner or later, that will lead them to me, which will lead them to you.
Understand, I don’t want you to beat them, just to draw their attention from
the one who I seek to destroy long enough for me to get what I deserve. Do this,
and we will have no quarrel.
“But I’m impatient. I don’t wish to wait for the Duel Force to find me.
That is why the next step in my plan will utilize you, the Card Professors, to
move the game forward.”
He scanned the onlookers, seeing acceptance of their new situation dawn
in their eyes, until his sight fell upon the nervous girl in the corner, who
could not have looked more terrified. She was shaking with fear, on the verge
of tears. He turned his blade in his hand, and suddenly he was next to her. Desperately
she tried to shrink away.
“Reiko Kitamori, isn’t it?” the mystery man asked. “Stop whimpering and
look at me.”
But Reiko retracted further into herself, trying to disappear.
“Look at me!” the mystery man cried furiously, and slowly, Reiko met
his gaze, terror flashing across her face.
“I can see that you might be a weak link in my plan,” the mystery man
told Reiko, turning suddenly calm once again. “Maybe I should remove you from
the equation as I did your obstinate comrade?”
“N-no,” Reiko stammered desperately.
“No, I shouldn’t kill you?” the man replied. “Well them, you must prove
to me that I can depend on you.”
He smiled, turning his blade in his hand again, “Just remember, if you
lose to him, you die.”
Next Chapter >>
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