Later on in the story, we see one of the Card Takers return when I need a minion for one of the villains. It isn't this one. It's the first one, with the Lightsworns, but he doesn't use them anymore. His deck is completely different. Clever continuity or an attempt at the illusion of such? You decide!
Chapter EightEndymion, and the Truth of the Card Takers
My opponent was smiling. At first I thought that he was still just enjoying the duel, but then I realized that it was something more. He saw my monster, and he wasn’t worried. In fact, it was almost as if the appearance of my monster had strengthened his resolve. After several seconds, my opponent took a deep breath and drew a card, giving him seven.
“You’re strong,” he said. “Stronger than I expected. As strong as I’d hoped. But I’m going to win regardless. I can’t lose, not with my next card. Now, witness my full power!”
He raised a card over his head. The card shone with a brilliant light.
“I remove six of my Spell Counters from the Field Spell card ‘Magical Citadel of Endymion -.”
As he spoke, I looked up at the Counters swirling overhead. Something didn’t look right, so I counted, One…two…three…four……eleven? How?
“Wait,” I interrupted, “you should only have eight Spell Counters left. How do you have eleven?”
My opponent smiled, “When a card with Spell Counters on it is destroyed while I control ‘Citadel’, those Spell Counters move to my ‘Citadel’. My ‘Dark Red Enchanter’ had three Counters on him when he fell, and three added to eight is eleven. More than enough. I continue. I remove six Spell Counters from my ‘Citadel’ to summon my most powerful card. Appear, ‘Endymion, the Master Magician’!”
Six of the eleven Spell Counters formed a large circle that floated above my opponent’s head. The Spell Counters flashed, and they connected, forming a ring of light. Across the width of the ring formed a swirling vortex. From it emerged a monster unlike any I’d ever seen.
He wore thick robes, folded into layers, so dark purple that they looked black until the light hit them just right. He wore a helm with wing-ears, and a flowing purple cape. Then eleven points across his body, on his waste, arms and chest, and one on his forehead flashed, and on them appeared gleaming, glistening, crystal Spell Counters. He held up his hand and gripped the air, and in a flash of light a staff appeared in the wizard’s hand. The staff was tipped with yet another large Spell Counter, resting in a curved hook.
As the staff appeared, a metal ring appeared, hanging in the air behind ‘Endymion’’s back. On the ring were eight Spell Counters, equally spaced in an alternating pattern with eight triangular Spell Counter crests (ATK: 2700).
“When ‘Endymion’ is summoned by his own effect,” my opponent explained, “I can return a Spell card in my Graveyard to my hand.” A card ejected from his Graveyard. I had no way of knowing what it was.
“Now,” my opponent declared, “I activate my ‘Endymion’’s second effect. I discard a Spell card, like ‘Spell Power Grasp’, to destroy one card on the field. ‘Endymion’,” my opponent commanded, “destroy ‘Great Maju Garzett’!”
My opponent fed a card to his Graveyard, and ‘Endymion’ slashed with the tip of his staff, slinging a blade of light at the demon, slicing him to bits.
“Now I attack directly, Master’s Magic Attack!”
‘Endymion’ aimed his staff and released a blossoming wave of violet light. My Life Points plummeted (4000-2700=1300).
Well, I thought, that’s not good.
“I place two cards face-down,” my opponent concluded, “and I end my turn. You may have defeated my other monsters, but my ‘Endymion’ is unique. He won’t fall so easily.”
I drew a card, “We’ll see, because I’ve got an ace up my sleeve too. Meet a monster so controversial that I only summon it as a last resort. A monster so rare and so powerful that it is rightfully called a legend. I remove ‘D.D. Warrior Lady’ and ‘Twin-Sword Marauder’ in my Graveyard from play to open the doors of chaos, where darkness and light meet. From that realm, I summon forth my ultimate trump card, the ‘Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning’!”
As I spoke, a swordsman in extravagant, shining black armor appeared, carrying a long curved blade and a shield bearing a symbol like a dragon’s head (ATK: 3000).
“My monster has an effect,” I said. “Once per turn, he can cut open the barrier between this dimension and the Different Dimension and send a monster through, out of play.”
My monster swung his sword, releasing a wave of light that literally cut open the sky above ‘Endymion’’s head. Slowly ‘Endymion’ was pulled toward this hole.
“I told you that my ‘Endymion’ would be difficult for you to kill,” my opponent countered, “and I meant it. Rather than let you defeat him, my monster sacrifices himself to activate the Spell card that I recovered, my ‘Magical Dimension’!”
The metallic frame appeared, the coffin suspended within it. The coffin opened and ‘Endymion’ fell into it. It slammed closed, remaining closed until the effect of my monster ended and the sky sealed up again.
“With the power of my Spell card,” my opponent continued, “I Special Summon ‘Apprentice Magician’ in defense mode and destroy your monster.”
A young man carrying a staff emerged from the coffin (DEF: 400), and the coffin disappeared. The young man raised his staff and my monster blew apart.
“Your ‘Endymion’ is gone,” I said, “and that’s what matters. I summon ‘Giant Orc’ and attack your monster.”
My monster, a giant gray-skinned, club-wielding goblin appeared (ATK: 2200) and lunged at ‘Apprentice Magician’, crushing him. Then my monster stumbled back and fell over, as if exhausted (DEF: 0).
“When ‘Apprentice Magician’ is destroyed,” my opponent explained, fanning out his deck, “I get to pick a low level Spellcaster and set it on the field.”
He set his monster, and a hologram of his face-down monster card appeared.
“I set a card,” I said, “and I end my turn. Show me what you have left, if anything.”
“You only presume that I’m out of options because you haven’t seen the full power of my ‘Endymion’ yet.”
I was confused, What could he mean, “full power of ‘Endymion’”? I might not have destroyed ‘Endymion’ myself, but it’s gone, in the Graveyard, where it can’t use any of its effects. Isn’t it?
I was sure that ‘Endymion’ was gone, but I was in for a surprise. My opponent drew his next card and said, “Since I played ‘Magical Dimension’, my ‘Citadel’ has six Spell Counters on it again. I remove all of them to activate my ‘Endymion’’s final effect, summoning him back from the Graveyard!”
No way! I thought. The six Spell Counters formed a circle on the ground, and from within the circle ‘Endymion’ appeared. It was then that it finally clicked that ‘Endymion’, when combined with ‘Citadel’, was even more powerful that my ‘Black Luster Soldier’, and therefore stronger than any individual monster in my deck. All of my most powerful Monster cards were already used up, and if the Spellcaster face-down on my opponent’s field was the monster I thought it was, this duel could very well be over. I had two cards, but I needed both to win. If I was right and he destroyed one of my face-down cards with ‘Endymion’’s effect, I’d have a fifty-fifty shot of being left crippled. I was left waiting and watching, wondering what my opponent would do.
“When ‘Endymion’ is summoned by his own effect,” my opponent explained for the second time, “I can return a Spell in my Graveyard to my hand. I choose ‘Magical Dimension’. Next I flip-summon my ‘Old Vindictive Magician’, using his flip effect to destroy the ‘Orc’.”
An elderly, hunch-backed wizard in armor that resembled robes appeared. He slashed with his staff, and ‘Giant Orc’ was reduced to a cloud of thick black smoke.
Damn, I thought. He’s doing exactly what I was afraid he’d do. Fifty-fifty. Those are my chances. If he makes the right choice here, I loose.
“Now,” my opponent said, “I discard my ‘Magical Dimension’ to destroy the face-down card on the left.”
I breathed a relieved sigh and even as a white line appeared along the back of my card’s hologram, I called out, “Activate Trap card, ‘Waboku’. Even though my Trap is destroyed, it protects me from all damage this turn, buying me the time I need to turn this thing around and end this duel.”
Granted, I thought, that I draw the last card for my combo.
I drew. I didn’t get it. But I did get something almost as good.
“I play ‘Pot of Greed’,” I declared. I drew two cards, and I smiled.
“Reveal,” I declared, “the face-down Trap card ‘Return from the Different Dimension’. I pay half of my Life Points to re-summon every one of my monsters that have been removed from play.”
A rift appeared in the sky, and my ‘D.D. Warrior Lady’, ‘Twin-Sword Marauder’ and ‘Stygian Street Patrol’ emerged from it (ATK: 1500/ATK: 1600/ATK: 1600).
“Your monsters can’t beat me,” my opponent said. “Unlike some, I go for quality, not quantity.”
“Who said I was finished?” I asked, smiling a confident smile. “I play the Ritual Spell card ‘Contract with the Dark Master’, tributing ‘D.D. Warrior Lady’ and removing from play ‘Djinn Presider of Rituals’ in my Graveyard to summon the ‘Dark Master – Zorc’!”
A bare-chested demon wearing a blood red cape descended from above me, snarling menacingly (ATK: 2700).
“Once per turn,” I said, “my monster lets me roll a six-sided dice.”
I held up my palm, and I summoned shadows to me. They took form, becoming a transparent dark purple dice with the sign of the Soul of Darkness, the moon overpowering and encircling the sun, in place of a one. I tossed it, and it skidded across the bridge, stopping inches from my opponent’s feet.
“A one,” he said, holding up the dice and showing me my sign. He tossed it back to me, “No big deal, right?”
I caught the dice and smiled, “Wrong. You see, my ‘Dark Master –Zorc’ isn’t exactly what you would call a Duel Monster. He’s actually a boss monster from the game Monster World, a tabletop RPG. In monster world, a dice roll determines the modifier to the character’s attack each turn. The lower the roll, the higher the modifier. Rolling a one right now is like rolling a Super Critical.”
‘Zorc’ summoned a ball of fiery red light and swirling darkness into his palms and rose into the air, above the two Spellcasters.
“‘Zorc’,” I commanded, “destroy them, Zorc Black Magic, Dark Catastrophe!”
‘Zorc’ let fly with his special attack. The red and black energy blossomed out, vaporizing both of my opponent’s monsters.
“Now,” I said, “I attack with all three of my monsters.”
‘Marauder’ attacked, followed by ‘Stygian Street Patrol’, and then finally ‘Zorc’. My opponent’s Life Points fell to zero. He switched off his Duel Disk and walked over to stand near me. His friend followed. I got a good look at them both. The Lightsworn Duelist had sharp eyes and a generally neutral expression, with a thoughtfulness that seemed to hide just below the surface. My most recent opponent was more outwardly expressive. He had dark, intelligent, mischievous eyes and wore a confident smirk. He reached into his pocket and presented ‘The Fiend Megacyber’. I took it.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “we never really planned on keeping any of the cards we won. Once we’re finished here, we’re going to leave the cards where their owners will find them. That was always our plan.”
“We only bet cards,” the Lightsworn Duelist said, “so that we could bring out the best in our opponents.”
“And,” the Spell Counter Duelist continued, “so that we could draw you out.”
“Regardless of your motives,” I said, “you didn’t have the right.”
The Spell Counter Duelist smiled, “Maybe not, but that’s not something that’s for you to decide.”
I frowned. He did have a point. After all, I’m not the Duel Monsters police (what a silly idea!).
“Fine,” I said, “but if you try this again, I’ll be there to make sure you’ll never try it a third time. And I will be paying attention. If you don’t return the cards you took, I’ll be back.”
Neither Duelist seemed all too worried, so I decided to give them something to worry about. I turned to my friends and said, “Let’s go.” My Soul of Darkness flashed, and the three of us disappeared.
Card of the Day:
Endymion, the Master Magician
Played by: Sky
Because clearly this is the card that the second Card Taker's (AKA Sky's) deck was building up to the entire time. And it's a pretty nice card.
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